(Sep 16)
Rough Guts
Shepherd’s End
Spring 9
With a hasty promise to Kibeth’s father - Kren - Ava, Esmund and Kaisi secure the last of the metal required for the Blooming Flower Festival’s central decoration. The only items left to acquire in town are the mining tools. For this, they need to visit the Dry Iron Pub and, more specifically, the old dwarves who regularly frequent the bar. Along the way, Kaisi and Esmund cajole Ava into spearheading the sales pitch for the famously ornery dwarves.
With a hastily scribbled speech in hand, Ava eloquently adequately awkwardly beseeches a member of the Rough Guts for the use of his mining equipment. Her request proves to be as resoundingly ineffective as anyone with a fear of public speaking dreads their words will be. Kaisi’s encouragement (and later antagonism) is also unable to convince the old curmudgeon into offering any kind of aid. Thankfully, the bartender is more sympathetic and he directs them to explore the local farms for the equipment.
Visiting Xalati’s stepbrother, Llewevin Theronales, at his farm the trio are able to collect a shovel, offering a valuable tool from Esmund’s parents’ shop as collateral.
In the meantime, the rest of the group has successfully tracked one of the missing chickens to the entrance of the Old Mines, known to be long abandoned. However, while tracking little avian footprints through the tunnels, the group also discovers larger, more humanoid footprints within the tunnels that led to mining equipment, both of which appear to have been placed alarmingly recent. After some discussion and debate on what to do, Seyfried leaves a small trap outside the mouth of the entrance (in hopes of catching the missing chicken) with some crumbs from one of Peaches’ pot pies as bait, and the group returns to town to discuss their findings.
After regrouping, the friends share their findings with one another before moving to eat some much needed dinner at the Wanderlust Tavern. In her continued (vaguely defined but persistent) efforts to become a bolder individual, Ava delays joining the others and instead returns alone to the Dry Iron Pub in hopes of getting some insight into the mines everyone is talking about. With some luck - and a free round of drinks - she is able to get some stories from the now complete cast of Rough Guts in the much fuller pub, but little of the information seems immediately helpful.
Meanwhile, Kaisi uses the dinnertime to notify Kibeth of her role in the deal that the group made without her consent; metal for their project with the promise that she would directly help with the blacksmithing efforts. In spite of Kaisi’s best effort, Kibeth vehemently refuses. Esmund begins to reconsider his design, concerned they will be unable to fulfill their end of the agreement and therefore, in his mind, have to return the metal.
Ava rejoins the others as the group finishes their meal. Between the food, the hakeem, and the lateness of the day, several of the friends slink off to bed. Those who remain gather supplies and equipment to head back to the mines but before leaving town, the diminished group swings by the docks to tap G-R34 (“Grea” to Esmund), - one of the automatons - to help carry rocks back from the Old Ruins. Unfortunately, the machine appears drunk and Esmund instead takes it back to the shop for later repairs.
Wily chicken (by Shaun McCallum)After that slight detour, Esmund meets up with the group (of those who haven’t gone to bed) outside of Old Mines. As he approaches, Aureya holds up the second lost chicken - Seyfried’s trap had worked!
Ava waits outside with the chicken while Esmund, Xalati, Aureya and Kaisi head into the mines with their equipment. They emerge sometime later with a startling discovery: someone or some group has been storing dwarven weapons, mining equipment, food and expensive looking jewelry inside the mine! The group left the food but collected the rest of the supplies from the hidden cache. Despite some firm objections, Xalati insists on returning to the mines immediately to explore one of the unexplored paths in hopes of learning more behind the mystery. Kaisi, never one to pass up a good time, an adventure, or a reason to spend time with his ex, dependably insists on going with her. Ava hands Xalati a piece of chalk to mark their journey and unhappily goes back into town with the others, making their way to Esmund’s shop.
Inside the cave, Xalati and Kaisi discover a small staging area that has seen recent activity. Inside the room are several boxes and inside those boxes are several pounds of explosives.
Back in his shop, Esmund makes his own discovery while examining G-R34 - the internal compass that orients the machine is off. Somehow, as implausible as it may sound, north is very slightly not north…
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