The Sudden Sea –Session 6

[April 28 – Nomi Arrival and Making Splashes]

[This game uses the Hero System Fifth Revised Edition (FREd) roleplaying game.  Game sessions happen once a week.  This session happened September 25, 2023.]

[This adventure takes place on the continent of Terik, two years after the appearance of the Sudden Sea due to the sinking and flooding of ~374,385 square miles of the Plains of Syrak.]

 

Player Characters

Sorvia of Stavros – female human ranger, local to County Modon (village of Stavros in particular)

Kadruth Worldbender – male dwarf priest, serving He Who Protects, from the Northern Dwarven Kingdom

Islo Redgrass – male elf ranger, local to County Modon (village of Stavros in particular)

Via Roll20

Inserrant – female human musician, player of zills (finger cymbals) and singer

Tharduk Lavabreath – male dwarf glassmaker from the Northern Dwarven Kingdom, had a glass shop in County Modon that is now underwater, literally

Anomin – female human shapeshifter, from lots of places, most recently County Modon

 

Spring

April 28, 56 I.C. (Imperial Calendar)

12:30 PM

The group of adventurers entered the outskirts of Nomi.  The “guards” they hired could be seen riding away to the west and then south as the group walked closer to the town.  Clearly they did not want to be seen nor identified by anyone in the town.

The western outskirts of the town were farmlands, a mix of private gardens and larger farms with refugee buildings along the north bank of the river.  On the southbank, between the river and the town wall were poorer buildings, but still better than the ramshackle refugee buildings.  The eastern outskirts north of the Cephissus River were fields of cultivated flowers and fruit tree orchards with noticeable bee hives lining the fields and orchards.  The buildings they could see looked like breweries and other buildings associated with the mead production Nomi was known for.  They could not see the outskirts south of the river on the far side of town other than some rooftops to indicate buildings were there.  The town itself had a 10-foot tall stone wall surrounding it with a large manor house or small keep inside and the majority of the town buildings.

There was a small line at the gate and the adventurers chose to wait patiently.  Tharduk pulled out his merchant credentials as the group got to the front of the line.  Before he could present them, the guard saw the clearly marked crate of mail he was carrying and welcomed the group to Nomi.  He gave directions to the local post office [follow the street over the bridge and keep to the left in the market square] and waved them through the gate.

As the adventurers walked through North Ward [the small part of Nomi on the north bank of the Cephissus River, which clipped the north side of the town], a merchant sitting at a table on the veranda of The Courageous Plate, a tavern, hailed the group and Tharduk specifically.  The merchant introduced himself as Theodore Damaskos and offered to buy the group drinks at the tavern for first crack at whatever news they had from other parts.  [The players immediately recognized him as an information broker.]

The adventurers were suspicious, having been ambushed for carrying the crate of mail just over an hour ago.  Tharduk saw an opportunity to possibly network with a local merchant and wanted to take Theodore up on his offer.  The group decided to split up: Tharduk and Kadruth joining Theodore for drinks while the rest of the group delivered the crate of mail to the post office.

[At this point I followed the adventurers delivering the mail, so the players would have no idea what was happening to the two dwarves.  I told the players of the dwarves we’d come back to them in a bit.]

Delivering the Mail

Sorvia took possession of the crate of mail and she, Islo, Nomin, and Inserrant continued south down the main street, crossing the wooden bridge over the Cephissus River into the main part of Nomi. The bridge over the river opened to the town square, which was full of stalls as it was market day for the town.  The alluring smell of food hung over the area.  At the end of the first block they could see a sign hanging that displayed the crest of the County Modon Post Office.

The adventurers stood and discussed whether or not they would commit to picking up the return mail and if so, before or after they continued south to scout the Mikro Dasos.  Inserrant was concerned the group would need to sign a contract to deliver the mail back to Mouzaki and return with mail for Nomi again, getting stuck running mail back and forth between the town and city.  Anomin stated that picking up the return mail was part of their current contract with the Postmaster in Mouzaki, but the contract only specified they needed to return by the end of May to fulfill that.  This meant they could go and do the scouting job and pick up the return mail before heading back to Mouzaki.  Islo was in favor of this as it meant they would not have to carry or be responsible for the return mail while scouting to the south.

Just as they were agreeing to this plan, several of the adventurers noticed townsfolk notice them holding the crate of mail and then bolt off.  Suddenly feeling a bit conspicuous, they hustled over to the post office where a rudimentary line of people was starting to form.  Word of their arrival with the mail was spreading and people were queueing up for their mail already!

Inside the post office was a woman behind a counter.  She appeared to be reading something on the counter, but when the adventurers hailed her, she jolted and they realized she had been asleep.  She immediately spotted the mail crate and perked up.  She introduced herself as Stefania Spyros, Senior Postal Officer for Nomi.  Sorvia handed the crate over to SPO Spyros and then asked her to sign their receipt form.  SPO Spyros did so.

SPO Spyros then looked around the group at the entrance to the post office where townsfolk were already lining up.  Seeing that, she told the adventurers she had mail to go back to Mouzaki, but would they please come back in two hours to get it as she would be very busy for a while.  Sorvia told Officer Spyros her group was staying the night in Nomi and would pick up the return mail in the morning before leaving [this despite the conversation the players had just had stating differently].  SPO Spyros said that would be even better.

Sorvia then asked if SPO Spyros recommended any place for the adventurers to stay, preferably one with good food.  SPO Spyros said the only inn not full of refugees right now was the Crossed Arrows, down by the County Gate - the south gate of the town that once led back to the rest of the county by way of the Count’s Road.  Sorvia asked about the food and SPO Spyros reassured her by stating it was a Tolk establishment.  Sorvia thanked her for the information.

As an afterthought, SPO Spyros asked Sorvia if the adventurers had any issues delivering the mail.  Sorvia told her a group had waylaid them at the edge of the forest, attempting to take the box.  She told SPO Spyros the person trying to stop them was named Michael Lakis and seemed to be working for a person named Victor.  SPO Spyros was surprised at this and asked. “Agni Michelakis attacked you on Viktor’s behalf?”  Sorvia confirmed this, which left SPO Spyros puzzled.

[Note from the GM: The players believed that the talky bandit leader was someone named “Michael Lakis” as the letter he asked for should have been “addressed to Michelakis”, the players not realizing this was a single last name, instead interpreting it as two names.  I did not correct them. (Big Evil Grin)]

Officer Spyros then pulled on a nearby hanging cord, which rang a bell somewhere higher up.  Believing this was an announcement the mail was in to the townsfolk, the adventurers beat a hasty exit from the building.  Instead of going back north to the Courageous Plate, Sorvia led the adventurers south, to find the Crossed Arrows and rent a room.  The inn, a two-story building with leaded glass windows, was easy to find as it faced the County Gate and had a sign with crossed arrows hanging above the door.  [There was also some writing in Talodi, the language of Tolk, across the bottom but no one in the group speaks or reads that language so I did not translate for them.]

Inside the adventurers met the innkeeper, Hira, a slender Tolk woman.  Sorvia asked for lodgings for six.  Hira gave her the option of either the single large room or individual cots up on the second-floor mezzanine.  Sorvia wanted the single large room and Hira told her it should be available, but she wanted to go check her registry book to verify.  In the meantime, would the four of them like to sit and order lunch?  Sorvia was very interested in this and agreed to do so with Inserrant and Islo close behind.  Anomin was dubious but eventually agreed.

Dina, the human serving woman, explained the lunch menu was either a vegetable stew with a mug of bitters or boiled eggs and whey cheese with a tankard of cider.  Anomin asked if there was an all meat dish [she is a carnivore].  Dina said there was probably still some of the roasted pork with wheat bread still available from the previous day and it normally came with a tankard of beer.  Anomin asked for that without the bread, but Inserrant quickly spoke up, asking if she could have Anomin’s bread with her order of vegetable stew?  Dina said that would work.  [I don’t have Islo’s order, but I’m pretty sure it was the stew as well.]

After Dina left with the group’s lunch order, Hira returned to them and confirmed the large room was available for the night.  She quoted them a price of 2 silver for the room and their meals were a silver each.  The adventurers paid and over lunch Sorvia considered bringing some food back for Tharduk and Kadruth but decided against it.

Back at the Courageous Plate with Tharduk and Kadruth

Theodore walked the two dwarves inside the Courageous Plate so they could have some privacy while the dwarves shared the news.  Sitting over by the fire place, Tharduk and Kadruth spent the next thirty minutes sharing and discussing what news they knew of from Mouzaki.  During this time, Tharduk also engaged Theodore in the conversation [used his Conversation skill to elicit information from Theodore], learning that the interest in the mail was due to a land dispute after a will reading between Agni Michelakis and Maro Simirotov.  The local landsman ended up asking for all original deeds be displayed to determine original boundaries and if Agni could not present hers from Mouzaki, Viktor Nicabar would get the logging business on that land as an original partner and the rest of the land would go to Maro Simirotov.  Tharduk also learned about “giants” stealing cattle from local farmers to the south.

By the time Tharduk finally ran out of things to say, the tavern had filled up with over twenty large burly humans carrying clubs at their waists.  Kadruth noticed that the men were trying to not pay attention to the dwarves but were clearly keeping an eye on them.  Once out of things to relate and having finished his ale, Tharduk was ready to leave but it became apparent that the large number of burly men were not willing to let the dwarves leave.  Just as Theodore was saying something about the mail and the situation was most tense, a group of eight Tolk tourists burst into the bar!

Their leader saw Theodore and greeted him loudly by name, stating that the Tolk had heard Theodore had new news.  The group of Tolk made their way to where Theodore and the two dwarves were sitting and started hopping onto chairs, their leader asking for the news.  Tharduk and Kadruth quickly yielded their seats to the Tolk, one of whom made hand gestures at Tharduk while Theodore could not see them, suggesting that the two dwarves get out of the tavern as quick as they could.  Tharduk thanked Theodore for the drinks and he and Kadruth beat a hasty retreat from the tavern.  Once on the veranda, Kadruth dropped a quick Wall of Force spell across the front door to delay any pursuit.  He heard several thumps as several someones bounced off the now immovable doors.

As the duo crossed the bridge into the main part of Nomi, they noticed many of the toughs exit The Courageous Plate through the side door.  The toughs clustered on the veranda, but did not pursue the dwarves into the streets.

The dwarves headed south, keeping to the left side of the market square.  They saw a noticeable crowd at the post office with several people wearing badges keeping the crowd civil.  They approached one of the badge-wearers and asked about reporting an incident with the delivery of the mail.  The badge-wearer identified himself as a deputy and recommended the dwarves go speak with the sheriff at his office, across the street.  The dwarves thanked the deputy and made their way over to the sheriff’s office.

The sheriff and some additional deputies were sitting on the porch of the office, keeping an eye on the line at the post office.  Tharduk and Kadruth stated they were part of the group that delivered the mail and needed to report some unusual happenings, including an attack outside of town and an attempted one inside the Courageous Plate.  The sheriff suggested they go inside his office to discuss the particulars.  Kadruth described the rest of the adventuring group to one of the deputies and asked that if the deputy saw them on the way to the Courageous Plate he tell them where the dwarves were.

Inside the sheriff’s office, the sheriff sat at his desk and asked Tharduk and Kadruth to tell him what happened.  Tharduk first introduced Kadruth and himself to the sheriff, who recognized Kadruth’s clan name.  Kadruth attempted to evaluate whether or not the sheriff was involved with the shenanigans going on by name-dropping Theodore and making some other statements.  Once he was done, Kadruth was certain the sheriff had an excellent poker face.

Tharduk then described the attack on the adventurers at the edge of the forest and then the events at the Courageous Plate, minus the specific details on how the Tolk helped the dwarves escape.  Once Tharduk was done, the sheriff stated that this was worthy of an actual report and went to get some paper and ink to do so.  Tharduk and the sheriff went back through the events again, the sheriff making note of what names the dwarves had and descriptions where they had no names.

Once the sheriff had taken their statements, Tharduk explained the group’s travel plans.  The sheriff stated it was probably for the best that the group was leaving town in the morning and suggested they make an early start of it.  The dwarves agreed.

As they were leaving the sheriff’s office, Tharduk and Kadruth saw the rest of their adventuring group casually entering the market square from the south and hailed them.  Both sides quickly shared information, with the dwarves slightly outraged that Sorvia had the others stop for lunch before returning.

While there, Kadruth spotted a human woman with what looked like two bodyguards.  Suspecting he knew who she was, he left the group and approached her.  Asking if she was Agni Michelakis.  When she confirmed, he introduced himself and quickly explained that he was part of the group that had delivered the mail and that people in the employ of Viktor Nicobar had attempted to intercept the mail.  Agni was clearly not surprised that someone had attempted to intercept the mail but was very surprised that Viktor was involved.  She thanked Kadruth for the information and then, it being her turn to enter the post office, did so.

The adventuring party went back to the Crossed Arrows so the dwarves could get some food.  While there, Kadruth unobtrusively entered Sorvia into his Book of Grudges.

End of session

 

Commentary

[It took a little longer than expected to get this session typed up.  I decided to cut back on my note taking during the game to concentrate on GMing the interactions with NPCs, relying on my players to send in notes.  The party is in the small town of Nomi and so character interactions are more frequent and require more of my attention.  This of course is the first time the players were lax in getting me write-ups.  Sigh.  As a result, this write up might be a little sketchy until I get material from my players.  We’ll see.]

[Another note: I keep re-inventing the wheel for this part of the adventure.  I named the antagonist when I wrote this up originally, but forgot that by the time the players wanted the name, so I made up a completely new name.  I didn’t realize I had done that until I went to update my adventure notes and found the original name.  Sigh.  I did the same thing with Officer Spyros - she had a different name in my notes and for some reason I decided I had to create a new one.  I just now realized I did the same thing with the name of the inn the players rented a room from - I had a name but made up a new one when they went there.  Why do I keep re-creating things I already created?]

 

Sudden Sea Adventures

Sudden Sea Landing Page - Links to all the write-ups for this campaign 

Last session: Session 5

 

Next session: Session 7 [Not yet typed up]