This week sees our fair and true heroes . . . well sitting about on their butts. After hiking out to Sleece the heroes were involved in a bit of a party that was due to Bod’s wonderful storytelling skills (like C3PO). During the night Bod had a close encounter with an ectoplasmic being before the party decided to shove off back to Jerris, asking each other if they had found Evie Velacruz. Read on to see what zany (snoozy) adventures happen this week, to see if they get by sweet as pumpkin pie, or alternatively, are forcefully stuffed by death turkeys!

The party woke and started to filter down to the taproom to break morning fast. Consuming a range of breakfast foods the party discuss heading back to Jerris. They see that a caravan consisting of a large wagon with dwarf merchant being pulled by 4 huttuwa’s and a number of guards on duty have pulled into town early. The guards come into the taproom and were bragging about some rotting jungle cats they put to the sword earlier that morning, and how it has got the blood pumping. They get stuck into the meat and eggs followed by flagons of foamy ale. The group decide it may be best to travel with the caravan as it would provide some protection. A few of the party were still bearing marks from the previous days battles and could use an easy day of it.

The group decides Bod should go and negotiate with the Cavan Master to get a spot on his crew, as Bod had proven to be reliable in the ways of interaction. Bod talks to the Caravan Master and find out he is going to Jerris. Bod offers his groups services, pointing out they have had experience in fighting Crackerbills of the undead variety. The Caravan Master is not very impressed, pointing out that his crew took care of a pack of fighting cats with a rot problem earlier that day, but he did concede that they could tag along if they wanted protection. Bod tried to negotiate further but was not successful in getting the wily Caravan Master to offer anything for their services. At this point Charis saw that Bod was struggling, and missing that Bod was flashing her a death stare silently staying “this is what I do, I am the charismatic one!”, interjected into the conversation. She cast a spell that improved her social ability and she was able to convince the Master that their magical abilities would provide that extra bit of protection. The Caravan Master offered 100 silver in total for the party to travel along with the caravan, which was duly accepted.

The party joins the caravan, and each takes their place in the guard pattern, keeping an eye out for more Emus of pain. Charis is floating around the caravan trying to engage anyone in conversation. The guards talked about normal travelling stories, while the Caravan Master is silent, concentrating on steering the caravan quickly towards the safety of Jerris. The trip is uneventful and the party arrive at the gates of Jerris, where the Caravan Master lets the characters go, paying 100 silver in a purse to them before joining the customs queue for the city. The heroes have returned, turn towards the gate and take a breath of the stale flat air with its slight ashy taste walking towards the market and the Jerris Wheel.

Charis looks around manically, being her first visit to Jerris. Her magical sensitivity picked up the strange taint in the air, the ashy dark clouds above the city, the feel of ashfall over the city, the closeness of the terraced houses, 3 stories tall and crowded over streets, the thrum of the market and the majestic spire of the airship dock. This was a new experience for the normally cloistered dwarf. The rest of the party seem to be leading her past the edge of the market to a large hotel signed The Jerris Wheel, which looks a little dirty from the exterior, but then so does every other building. As they enter the hotel Charis sees that the hotel is not a dirty stopover, but is a sumptuously appointed hotel, with soft carpets, rugs, art, gold and silver in much abundance. The guys in the party are greeted by the hotelier as if they are known here, and after a little discussion the party asks for the rooms they stayed in before. The hotelier agrees and then steps up to Charis and introduces himself. He then offers to give you a tour of the room if you wish. Bod brightens up, pushes himself forward and then agrees to accompany Charis to inspect the room. The two go up and look at the room, which is a well sized single room, two down from Arahan and Siegfried’s room, overlooking the market. It had a large soft looking bed, some nice furnishings and a porcelain washbasin. After the inspection Bod and Charis walk downstairs to the taproom to join the party.

Grey decides that they should send letters via a runner to both Omasu and Tyrs. First to Omasu to announce they were back, and to Tyrs to request an audience. The hotelier brought parchment, a quill and wax for the letters, even assisting with sealing the letters with wax. The hotelier passes the letters on to a young boy who takes the letters off to the Council Hall.

A large group (7-8) of rich youths come into the bar, getting ready for a night of slumming it. They are richly dressed and carrying weapons. Following after the runner left (about 5 minutes) was a small fussy dwarf, who sat at the bar an ordered a drink looking around the room. After a minute or two he stands up and steps over to the group, asking if they are Gregoriuses Fighters? The party admit that they have been known to go by that name and he introduces himself as Omniet, Tyrs Scribe/Secretary. He turns up for a chat only minutes after the message had been sent which was strange, and asks if he could talk with the group. Omniet intimated he was sent by Tyrs to come down and talk to you, as Tyrs has heard all about the party and saw them at the presentation ceremony. Charis starts to talk about her work in rebutting his theories on Theran Slavery and Omniet says that he is sure his master would be happy to discuss her theories on his published work with her.

Bod follows the messenger lad to see that he has not been intercepted as he was worried that Omniet has done so on the way to the Jerris Wheel. He finds him dawdling along singing songs in his head, but still in possession of both letters. Has a little fun with Unseen Voices to force him into a run. Continues to follow him where he enters the Council Hall.

The large group is rowdy, and they all talk about how they are going to drink and rut and fight their way around tonight. Grey listens in to get a feel for what they are saying. One was mentioning that it was common knowledge that Tyrs had been advising the Troll Crystal Raiders to ask for more from the Jerris Council. They talked about Tyrs being inconsistent in his support for different causes.

Meanwhile Omniet is still talking to the group, about how his master has done many things and travelled, helped out groups etc etc. Grey goes to get a bottle of Glendale Wood Sparkling to try and drunken him up to get more information. Bod returns and joins the group. Omniet pours out more drinks but Grey notices he is only sipping his drinks. The group asks if Omniet knows about Evie Velacruz, and he answers that he never heard of her, he does not leave Jerris these days, and that his master would be mentoring people in the Jerris area. Charis mixes something to spike his drink with so she can take advantage of him (for more information you deviants), by asking more questions and getting more answers. Bod uses Astral Sight on him and finds the environment around Omniet is hazy (although he has seen this before in other places) an after some concentration he is able to pierce the shroud he sees the glowing outline of Omniet, and a thread attached to him leading off into the distance. Charis tries to Astral Sense but is not able to pierce the veil of astral space and get a peek.

The large group leaves and a little after Omniet decides to go back to the Council Chambers. Arahan, Bod and Charis decide to shadow him and see where he is going. Charis stuffs up and turns back toward the hotel, where she sees Grey leaving to follow the group of lads.

Grey and Charis follow the last group to a place called The Ivy, which turns out to be an outdoor bar with a dirty sprig of ivy climbing one pole. It is filled with teamsters, porters and other solid working types. Grey walks by looking to nudge the leader to preface buying him a drink and starting conversation. Grey pushes a little enthusiastically and ends up dumping the leader. He turns with his rapier half drawn and a high pitched shock of outrage, but stops suddenly when he sights the Trolls large frame and muscles. He starts to back down, but his friends are goading him into pulling the blade, which he does, demanding satisfaction. Grey looks intently at the man, and advises him in a steady but deadly tone that he “really does not want to go there” and it is followed up with “How about a drink for you and your friends instead”? The man seeing a chance to back down, huzzahing the prospects of a free drink. He introduces himself as Percy Hotspur, and he seems to be a boastful loud fellow. While the drinks are being ordered, and Charis is spiking them with her drunk concoction Grey questions Percy about Tyrs. Percy tells him that everyone on the council knows Tyrs is selfish, and looking out for himself. He looks for situations where he is involved and gets to wield influence, and he is a flip-flopper, looking to change tact if public opinion or the weight of number is against him. They pass on the pints to the group, noticing that the rest of the clientele really do not enjoy the intrusion of rich privileged people into their domain. The essence of drunkenness works and by the time Grey and Charis leave the group are headily drunk, some snoozing in the corner while other slur to each other.

Arahan and Bod ghost Omniet, but he is just walking towards the Council buildings. They follow him all the way, and at the last moment astrally view him, seeing that his thread seems to go off into the Council Hall. They think about trying to break in but a scan reveals that there are a number of guards on each door. They also notice that the Council Hall (where the council meets) is all lit up, as if it is sitting in session. The Council Admin is dark as it is closing hours and the Council Chambers have some lights on. Realising they probably would not be able to much more at this hour the group returns back to the hotel, where they meet Grey and Charis coming back from The Ivy. They all retire for the night.

The next morning dawns and all of our party file down for breakfast, with Grey asking for goat again. The innkeeper runs off to organise some goat loin chops for the hungry Troll. When he comes back he tells Grey that he has been summoned to see Omasu at the Council Chambers. The group quickly finishes their meal and heads off with Grey to see the famed resistance leader.

The group gets to the chambers and announces themselves. They meet Garg again and he takes them to Omasu’s office. Arahan and Bod try to sneak off down a corridor to see if they can get to Tyrs chamber but are not successful as Bod failed to cover his exit from the group. Grey gets in front of Omasu and they have a chat. Omasu asks if Grey is ready to go on a quest to the Delaris Mountains in 4 days, Grey points out that he is ready to go. The group also mention the discussion with the Troll Crystal Raiders that the council has been doing, and the rumour they heard that Tyrs was advising the Trolls to ask for more than what was on offer. Omasu laughed, saying he knows Tyrs tries to engineer situations where he comes out looking like the good guy, and would not be surprised if he is advising others as well. He said that without evidence he could not do anything, and it had to be real solid evidence. He also mentioned he was so involved in the negotiations because if the agreement failed then Jerris would be more vulnerable to Thera, which would interfere with other plans he has in place. He told Grey he would have a briefing with him the day before he is set to leave and farewelled the group. Garg led them out and Arahan and Bod look to sneak off again. Both were pretty successful in sneaking off but Charis, trying to provide a distraction, ends up pointing straight at them while attempting the look at that maneuver. Garg is pretty angry at the groups ability to follow simple instructions and calls for the guards to see them out of the building.

Bod and Grey, now having a bit of a timetable decide to do some training. Bod goes to the magical guild so he can gain a new plateau of understanding from his initial instructor. The instructor was happy to help, and also was able to assist Bod in learning some new spells for the new level of enlightenment. Arahan assisted Grey in finding a trainer in the arts of war. Arahan heard a rumour about a high circle warrior teaching students around the market. Armed with that information they find him, where Arahan again demonstrated why they call him “The Haggler” in getting him to reduce the price of training to 67 silver, which Grey had to borrow from Siegfried anyway. Grey was able to train in the talents of Unarmed Combat, and spent the whole day working on this. Charis set up a table in the market to start a Horror advisory service, and gather stories from others in regards to their experiences with Horrors.

By midday everyone was interrupted by heralds bellowing out the latest proclamation. “Due to the Trolls request for a mutual defence treaty the agreed privateer contract will no longer be in effect”. Above their heads they see the troll drakkars sailing away towards the south. They had each also heard through their own methods that a Windling called Jorje Razorwing was looking for the party, and all agreed that he was very angry. The group worried little about this; it was a pissy little Windling really!

At the end of the day as the party gathers together to debrief there is a squeaky bellow from a crowd, and an impressive Windling flies out from the mass of bodies towards the group. He calls out that they have taken his sisters Anja’s jewel and he wants it back. He made a stunning First Impression and the party are a little wary of this little rooster. Bod tries to speak with him in Windling, first trying to impress him back, which was initially unsuccessful before asking for clarification about the jewel. He tells Bod that his sister Anja had a kernel of elemental air that had been cut and polished she was going to give him to present to the Windling Queen, which would allow him to compete in the annual swordmasters tournament. Bod tries to explain that they do not have it. By this stage a crowd has gathered around the spectacle, looking to see what will occur in the confrontation between the group and a Windling. Arahan spits out an insult, which gives way to Jorje Taunting back, and in the great tradition of the French Taunter wounds Arahan with his words, who remains distracted. Jorje pulls a Windling Sword from his sheath, it looked like a Windling sized back sword, all glittering and sharp. He demands satisfaction, calling on one member of the group to step forward and face him in a duel.

What will happen next week, will the Windling be splatted like an annoying bug? Or will he taunt the party into a stupid rage? How will Jerris react to the Trolls leaving? Will Grey be called on to adventure before the set timeline?

Next Week – Stepping Razor and the Threads of Fury!