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Karamus Entry 7
The old rogue leaned over and picked up the book he had thrown at his son earlier and settled back down into his chair. With all of the children gone, he finally had some piece and quiet. With idle curiosity, he opened the book to see what was inside. He began to read over some old passages he had written after the journey to the planes. He remembered seeing the book at the market at Sasserine and thought it a good idea at the time to write a few thoughts within its pages for such a time that he couldn’t remember the minor details of the adventuring days. “Damn paladins. Damn dwarves.” He muttered and looked out the window near his chair, “I will have my revenge Durvek. I am a patient man.” With his anger abated, the cansin looked down to the book and began to read.
“Where are we Bransen? Does anyone recognize this place?” asked Jarvyk as he scanned the horizon to find a city a short distance away and a beach. Most of the group shook their heads except Ashton, who acknowledged the location. “Sasserine!” he exclaimed.
Kort looked over the city for several moments and then looked to the necromancer “You recognize this place?” I was confused myself on what he said. I must have had sand in my ears. I thought he’d said “sass Irene” which I admit didn’t make sense at the time.
“Ashton, aren’t you from here?” asked Jarvyk. Somberly the mage nodded, “Yes, this is home. We can go there to stay for now.”
The late spring breeze off of the sea felt great against my face. Of course, anything mildly refreshing would seem as a paradise compared to the oppressing landscape and “weather” of Occipitus. As we approached, the approach to the city was easy to make and just as easy to walk through. It was pleasant to see a prime city again after our last adventure and I must admit, prime women are just as beautiful. The estate of Ashton’s was a large, expensive place and I must make a note to visit this place in the future. Upon entering, Ashton mentioned it was his family’s estate, though no servants came to great us nor carry our belongings. Clearly the estate has fallen to the side. I wonder where the master of the estate is?
Everyone made their way to their own rooms to unload their packs and belongings after the weeks of travel. It was nice to have the burden off my shoulders. As we gathered back in the main room, Jarvyk suggested we hit the market place which I readily agreed to, as well as Bransen. I was famished for real food and a real merchant to haggle with. I would have been more pleasant to go alone, alas, I think the group may suspect something so I should probably lay low for awhile to throw off any suspicion.
The boat trip to the market place was decent, though the birds where a bit out of control. With our loot bags in tow, we spent the better part of the day haggling prices with merchants. Overall, Bransen does make a good haggler, even with his simple ways. While in the market, Jarvyk brought up the topic of help Ashton look for his missing father, another necromancer. I didn’t know they ran in packs, I always thought of them as loner types… well, minus the undead of course. Can’t count them for company these days, so little intelligence in today’s undead. What is the world coming to? Anyways, I offered to help ‘cause where there are mages, there is money, ‘cause spells just don’t create themselves, you know. Unless your Bransen. Sodding cleric in denial.
As we spoke the details, a rather odd elf stepped into my conversation. He mentioned that he was looking for his mentor, a half-elf (problem number one) with grey hair (problem number two) wearing a bow and leathers (problem number three). For an elf, he was really… chipper, like he stood out in an ice box for longer than was necessary. Uncommonly for an elf, well, at least the elves that I know, he assumed I was already interested in helping him. I was unsure about the whole thing until he mentioned buying breakfast at a nearby tavern. I was sold on the idea and let Bransen finish up the shopping so I could steal this man’s money… er, eat breakfast.
The food was good, the conversation was boring, and I had to break the poor man’s heart with the fact that I would charge him for my services. Why would he think I would work for free? Charity? Me? Who does he think I am? Bransen? Sheesh. Anyways, we came in an agreement that he and another guy would meet the company to help us if we would help them in return. It sounded like a decent idea because where they go, dead creatures and money are sure to follow. As well as trouble, but we won’t get into that.
The company meeting was more of the usual. Kort crying, Bransen daydreaming, Jarvyk evangelising and Ashton… well… doing something anyways. We agreed that since we had no leads to follow up on Ashton’s missing father that we would head back to Cauldron, which was about a week or two away. There was a quick suggestion about moving operations to Sasserine, which I immediately voiced against. I can’t leave my business unattended after all. We made plans to get everything ready to go when Kort voiced his thought of stepping down as captain. I personally didn’t care if he did or didn’t, we normally don’t listen to him anyway unless he’s asking us to push him into a column of hellish fire. I think he decided to continue to be captain, but I kind of lost interest as I started thinking about Cauldron and my people that got left behind. It would be a shame if the city was engulfed in full war or something equally disastrous. Bad for business unless your into weapon dealing… hmm, now there an interesting idea…