Campaign Chronicles-9-Touring and Adventuring in Aspenwood

View the previous chapter of the chronicles: Campaign Chronicles-8-Welcome to Aspenwood

Chapter 9. Touring and Adventuring in Aspenwood

The next day the group decided to learn more about their new surroundings, and surely the gods smiled on them for just as they were leaving The Duke's Chalice they were assaulted... I mean greeted... by a gnome who introduced herself as Flipper, a tour guide. Flipper's taste in clothing could only be categorized as eccentric, favoring contrasting colors such as neon yellow and bold purple, with a gargantuan bow in her hair to match.

Wishing to get acquainted with the religious views of the city, the war-priest Pengarond asked about any temples in Aspenwood. There were two, actually: The Scarlet Monastery, run by the clerics of Wee Jas, and The Argent Dawn, run by the followers of St. Cuthbert. Since Pengarond wasn't interested in learning more about the deity of retribution, he asked to be taken to The Scarlet Monastery, where Wee Jas' priests and acolytes could be found alongside powerful mages and necromancers who also worshipped the Ruby Goddess.

After arriving at the cathedral and finding out that the next services would be held in two hours, the group decided to do some shopping. First up was the clothier. Some members of the party felt that they may be staying for some time in the city and could benefit from better attire than their traveling outfits. Pengarond decided to commission a royal blue cloak with silver piping and the holy symbol of his deity embroidered on the chest. Syrin purchased a small cloak for his bat, to easily identify it from far away.

Next the group traveled to the jeweler. Many fine gems and precious stones lined the shopkeeper's display cases, but Pengarond had eyes for only one - a large star blue sapphire that could be mounted on a circlet of silver, the perfect accessory for his newly-acquired cloak. He also purchased a small tiger's eye ring to give to their guide Flipper for her assistance that day.

The party headed next to the smith, but on the way they passed by a residential district wherein a commotion of guards was underfoot. Apparently a cottage had been ransacked the previous night. The party went into CSI mode, splitting up inside the two-story residence to determine what happened. They found claw marks leading upstairs, where bedsheets and pillows had been shredded, bottles and boxes overturned, but it seemed no blood had been shed, and nothing had been taken according to the two gnomes who lived there, Apnee and Lotch. The gnomes said they'd attended a play the prior night, "Twelve Nights of Troll Bashing", written by the playwright Quillan and detailing the life of Rannos Trollender, one of the rulers of Aspenwood. After leaving the play, the two went to their friends' house (the friends were named Jaroo and Poot), where they remained the rest of the night.

Thinking it possible that the gnomes were misleading them, Pengarond uttered a prayer that allowed him to see magical auras. There were several on the gnomes, actually, and most had transmutative properties. He went up to the two and asked if they could please remove their magical items. They took off some rings, but nothing happened. It turns out they were only to help around the house (doing such things as allowing them the use of mage hand, feather fall, and the like).

Syrin warned the town guards that he was about to call on the power of Nature to change into a wolf and do some more investigating, and then he did so. When he entered the house, a wicked scent filled his nostrils that seemed to be limited to just the interior of the house. The group collaborated and deduced that possibly someone had summoned a creature magically into the house to do whatever it was they did, which could have caused the claw marks on the stairs. Apnee and Lotch, the residents, had no idea what the people could have been searching for, so with that the party decided to continue towards the smith, with Pengarond splitting from them to attend the Wee Jas services at The Scarlet Monastery.

Continue on to the next chapter of the chronicles: Campaign Chronicles-10-The Cake is a Lie