As the troupe continues with their meal, a shrill steam whistle blows. At the sound, Marniel Amberlight the Inkeep and his serving girls spring into action, tapping kegs, uncorking bottles of wine and hurriedly wiping down tables.
Very shortly, the common room begins to fill and townsfolk settle in to dinner. As the dinner crowd winds down and is replaced by a more festive evening crowd, a bard steps up to the small platform and begins playing simple rustic songs on a lute while singing catchy tunes that have the common room tapping feet and singing along. The three strangers are approached by curious townsfolk but only Mar’Khabazza entertains them with stories of far away while the dour Ravenna and the taciturn stranger sit ignoring or rejecting any overtures.
Revanna and Mar’Khabazza eventually find their way to games of change while the stranger is captivated by the strumming of the bard.
Over the course of the evening, Mar’Khabazza meets three laborers, carpenters by trade by the names of Markaru, Rumatu and Gil. They might be interested in looking at some of the lumber that Mar’Khabazza has brought from the Burnt Forest to the north of Sharn, a thousand miles to the east and agree to meet with the troupe at the Merchant’s Guild to do business.
May 13, 7761
The morning of the thirteenth comes early as the troupe finds itself rudely awoken by three blasts from a steam whistle somewhere within the city limits. As the day shift in the mines begins and the rest of the populace starts its day, the troupe decides to do some exploring of Opal before heading over to the Merchant’s Guild to do business. The trio walks north to explore the northern parts of Opal, discovering the buildings in this area are in pretty bad shape and under heavy repair. Evidently this side of town bears the brunt of winter storms that scream down the valley form the northwest.
Eventually the northern roads of the city link up with the main road that runs north-south that brought them into the city and that leads south along the canyon towards the center of town. Andrea Halloran is once again at her desk in the common room and, with a bit of prompting from Mar’Khabazza, goes back to fetch Merchant Felagunne. Merchant Felagunne is the chairman of the Merchant’s Guild in Opal and is dressed quite the dandy “in the latest imperial fashion”. He explains that “this is a company town, run by Overseer Dathrohan.
Mar’Khabazza prompts, “What is the Company?”
The Merchant simply nods his head vaguely southwards but doesn’t elaborate. Instead he gives a brief who’s-who of some of the important figures in town:
- There is the captain-commander of the watch, Sheriff Berinon, “who is probably a virgin,” Felagunne says.
- There is the lieutenant-commander of the watch, Elder Sarophas, “who is definitely a virgin and has probably never had fun in his entire life.”
- Then there is Overseer Dathrohan, a stern man completely dedicated to the smooth operation of the mines. Everything else is secondary.
The stranger then askes about repairing the salvaged musket and the merchant gets suddenly reclusive and curt. “No. No one will fix rifles like that that here.”
Anticipating an impending need to leave town quickly, Mar’Khabazza decides to unload his entire cargo onto Merchant Felagunne, who takes it all graciously at a steep discount. Business completed, and with a bulging purse, the troupe go to the Dancing Hawks down the street where Mar’Khabazza gambles the night (and part of his purse) away. Initially it is patronized by the idle rich, but when the evening whistle blows miners flood the place.
As he sits observing the goings-on and focusing on the music of the bard playing, the stranger gives himself the name Magnus Strange. He brushes aside attempts by the locals to make conversation and deflects their attempts to learn more about him. Ravenna is similarly approached and also rebuffs them, albeit more callously.
At one point in the evening, while Ravenna is threading her way through the crowded tables a petite girl with long brown hair in braids, with the severe coloring and dress of one of the local native tribes steps up close to her and whispers in her ear.
“I know what you are. When the Slenderman comes for you, and come for you he will, do not resist. Readily admit to anything he professes. If you value your life and your sanity, do not fight the mob. Throw yourself at the mercy of the Rose.”
She then ducks away into the crowd and disappears outside. Ravenna follows her into the street but there is no sign of the girl.
Disturbed by the strange message, the troupe decides to call it a night and walks home along streets illuminated by lanterns that do not flicker. Overhead the partly-cloudy and confused sky is awash with the starshower of Evet.
As they approach the Tempest there is a small figure standing in the shadows on the porch outside the light leaking from the doors. It looks like a small child with a shiny bald head, but as they approach it looks to be some kind of runt demon.
Mar’Khabazza draws Rasp and Thorn and approaches the creature warily, while Magnus stands in the nearby shadows and Ravenna remains in the street.
“Is it that the humans found a metal box,” it slurs in a deep, gravelly voice.
“Excuse me?” says Mar’Khabazza.
“Is it that the humans are the first merchants to arrive in Opal?”
“Well, yes.”
“Is it that the battered one, the merchant and the girl found a metal box. 8-7/32 inches by 8-5/32 inches by 10-1/2 inches.”
The creature moves closer. It is dressed in heavy leather clothes and what was thought to be its demonic face is actually a close-fitting helmet of red stone, streaked with white. The helmet has the scowling visage of a demon and narrow slits for eyesockets and has openings for long point ears and covers only half the face. Below the helmet a sharp beaky nose and pointed chin surround a thin mouth filled with jagged teeth.
“Is it that the battered one, the merchant and the girl will go back and get the box.”
“What business is it of ours?” Mar’Khabazza says, lowering his blades.
The creature reaches into a purse and pulls out a golden sphere roughly an inch across. In the lamplight it is clearly a perfectly smooth, perfectly polished sphere of gold.
“Is it that the merchant, the battered one, and the girl will meet me at the Keep when they have the box.”
Mar’Khabazza says, “My friends and I will discuss this. Where can we meet you tomorrow to give our answer?”
“The Keep. Walk south through town then look to the left. Is it that the humans will come tomorrow morning then,” says the creature and it walks away into the dark.
May 14, 7761
The morning whistle blows, and pulling back the heavy blackout curtains of their room at the Tempest reveals a humid and overcast morning, the sun a cold pale disk already high overhead. After a plain but hearty meal in the common room, the troupe decides to pay a visit to the Keep, wherever that is, to ask for more gold and get further information about the box.
They head through town, walking vaguely south while looking for a building that looks Keep-like. They come across a fortified building and discover it is actually the fortified mansion of the captain commander. When Mar’Khabazza askes the two guards out front about the location of “the Keep” they give directions to the south and east, “but I wouldn’t go there. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
“Oh, of course,” says Ravenna. “We only ask about it so we know where not to go.”
They continue walking south and arrive at a large open field, populated with several important-looking buildings across the expanse. To the south lies a glacial lake and the mountains of the Upheaval at the end of the valley. To the east, situated in a basin is a large stone keep, over which flies a pair of the massive stone pipes that extend from a massive dam looming hundreds of feet high.
Looking at the waterworks, Ravenna happens to notice that the pipes are constructed of a single piece of stone hundreds of feet long. There is not a seam or join to be seen across their entire length.
The troupe arrives at a squat door, barely four feet high, and after knocking are answered by a different creature, also stocky and grey-skinned, also wearing a helmet of stone with narrow slits for eyes. But this one has a helmet shaped like a leering wolf-creature and is made of a swirling grey and white mineral.
Mar’Khabazza steps forward. “We are here because we would like additional gold as payment for our journey.”
“And to get this fixed,” says Magnus, proffering his musket with the bent barrel.
Wolf-Helmet stares blackly for a moment, then turns around and walks back inside, returning minutes later with the demon-helmeted creature from last night.
Mar’Khabazza addresses the both of them. “We require additional payment due to the danger involved in the request. Travel through the unnamed forest is inherently perilous, and anything involving the Sudaar makes it more so. Two gold orbs.”
Wolf-Helmet looks at Demon-Helmet long and hard, but doesn’t say anything. Demon-Helmet simply nods and rumbles in a slurred voice. “Is it that the merchant, the battered one and the girl will take two orbs when the box is returned.”
The two creatures walk back into the keep with Magnus’ musket, leaving the troupe to wait for an hour on the stoop until Demon-Helmet returns with Magnus’ flintlock musket with a barrel as straight as a razor. The troup quickly flees from the site of the Keep, deciding to flee town immediately rather than running the risk of meeting Kyle and his rescuers in town.
They pick up Feldspar and the wagon, planning to hide behind North Hill until the rescue party and Kyle enter the city. Once they see the rescue party go by they will then attempt to slip away to the north.