Chapter 1 - Arriving at the Capital
posted: 30 November 2019
After rescuing the villagers of Hythe you continue sailing along the coast for another day and a half. As the sun rises on the seventh day of your journey from Gramsby you see the mouth of a massive river merging with the sea. The captain shouts for the deckhands to furl the sails and pull out the oars as the Bottom Feeder turns northwest and begins slowly moving up the Gleaming River. You make slow progress against the river’s current, but you keep moving and over the next few days you notice more and more traffic along the river. On your third afternoon on the river you come around a bend and see the citie(s) ahead. A familiar sight for a few of you, a new and astonishing sight for others.
The cities sprawl out for quite some distance, at least a league on each side of the river. You see several incredibly tall towers on the west side of the river, each striving to reach farther into the sky than its neighbors. East of the river you see an odd collection of massive monuments, shrines, and temples. This assortment of edifices seems to be constructed out of every material you could possibly build with – stone, wood, plaster, solid metal, and even one or two surprisingly large buildings that seem to be made of dirt. Your eyes are eventually drawn to the Citadel. A massive construction of pale grey stone, the fortification sits in the middle of the river, part of both cities yet belonging to neither.
You pass well-kept fields on both sides of the river for nearly an hour before the grains transition to houses. At this point you get your first sense of how big of a divide the river truly is. While on your right-hand-side you see small but orderly houses, lined up in relatively neat rows, to your left you see countless hovels, haphazardly placed with no rhyme or reason. Soon the hovels give way to large tenement, covered in dirt and grime, and the alleys between them are dark, even in mid-afternoon.
The captain walks up to the group and says “I was contracted to bring you and the ore to the Purethought docks, on the other side of the citadel. Seeing as how your ore is now resting in the Bay of Serenity, I figured I’d give you the option of being let off in Shining Light instead if you wished. The docks there are closer (he points to the east bank, where you see long wharfs and docks jutting out into the water), but I’m happy to take you past the citadel to Purethought if that is where you’d like to go.”
Okay guys- I think we should get off at Shining so we can go report to the Citadel
i see no reason to disagree
What’s at the citadel over getting to pure thought?
Is the citadel where we report magic failing?
Quite possibly
report it to the higher up people instead of a gate guard
Reporting it to a gate guard is probably useless
i am inclined to agree with that statement
I agree with your agreeing
Pure thought is the side in which arcane magic is. Shouldn’t we report it to the arch wizards at the Arcane University there?
I'm thinking the Citadel is better- being the seat of civil power. Pretty sure there's at least one wizzer there
plus, you know how academics are: they'll forget to report it and just do their reasearch
I see. Well we’re a bunch of nobodies. We can’t just walk up and ask for an audience with the emperor
I think if we get an arch mages attention he can give the leverage to get us in the door maybe?
We have a better chance I think if we work our way up a bit
I'm pretty sure we can get an audience with someone lower down the pole- which can get things up the chain
Mages are nitwits
?
Pretty sure we can get ahold of a sherriff or baliff or some other low level functionary
Someone has a bias I think. Show me on the DND miniature where the bad mage touched you?
lol
A magistrate isn’t going to be as interested.
It’s like talking to a guard
Wanna bet? Especially as THIS LAND IS PRETTY MUCH BUILT ON MAGIC>
?
pretty dern sure everyones on a hair trigger about it
If you are so confident then why are wizards not wits?
nit wits
because they are
I don’t think we are going to dock right at the citadel. The arcanists square is right on the river.
90% of the dm's characters have been wizards, fyi 
That proves my theory then 
Let’s take the boat to pure thought. Leave the docks. Head over to the arcane uni, find someone doing the research and then also go to the citadel.
@Octavious being from the capital you would know that the Citadel does have its own wharf, but it is strictly off-limits to non-government types
@Dungeon Master That’s pretty much what I thought. It’s like the president - very secure.
I disagree- this is more a civil matter. We need to get the word out to the people quickly. While the mages (nitwits or not) would glean more info, our first priority should be alerting the civil authorities so they can initiate steps to protect the population first
I tell you what. We can split the party?
Double the speed, in half the time.
SPLIT THE PARTY???!!!?!??!?!
You know what happens when the party splits????
EVERYONE DIES \O/
But its not a bad idea in this case
I’ll risk it
You should probably take the Warlock with you
it is a terrible idea
as it means more work for the DM!
and I'm lazy!
Hahaha 
Durawin come with me. Regular people won’t solve this. Arcane-casters might
No! The people need to be warned!
plus- we can make the DM work more
I’m telling the capt to dock in pure thought.
You can get to the citadel from there.
Fine!
(lazy rogue!)
It’s not lazy it’s practical. LOL.
We should probably warn the temple district as well.
‘And say a prayer for the world.’
That way we have everyone covered.
I just know eccentric or not... wizards are smart as hell.
why are we warning anyone?
Because lava just destroyed a village. What other Magic’s are holding back natural or unnatural calamities?
First it was small spell failures. Now it’s long term arcane Magic’s I guess. Far more powerful.
I have ties in the city from being an ex-soldier, don't think we decided how high ranking I was (that could be up to DM) but I might know people
They might not be thrilled with me though given the whole "ex" part
We're also the Good Guys. They do stuff like try to warn people and stuff. I think.
We're a range of good to not-evil at least
I have ‘contacts’ as well. Though not usually used for warnings in this instance.
So let's warn peeps! Once Occy lets me get off the boat, I'll grab Ramza and whoever else wants to come and head to the Citadel and try to find a magistrate responsible for Hythe (or just a local one if we can't find one specific to the village) and spread a warning
1
Xavavor are you coming with me?
wait so whats our plan?
putting in at purethought and going to the stronghold fortress thing to let someone know about the lava problem
I figure having the warlock and wizard with me will help... since they speak the lingo.
I dunno- have you seen Xava's rolls?
Anyway- oh mighty DM, I think we have our actions done- when you get a moment
You tell the captain to sail on to Purethought and he grunts and nods. You sail up the river for another 30 minutes or so, various neighborhoods passing on either side. You get a pretty decent view of the citadel as you sail around it to the west - tall stone walls surround the entire island, with a massive stone keep right in the center. You see countless soldiers on the walls, seeming to keep a vigilant watch. As you sail past you see a woman in fine robes standing near a tower - she pulls out a spyglass and trains it on your boat for a minute, before putting it away and dictating something to a tall man standing next to her. The boat continues to move up the river for another ten minutes or so before you see massive docks on the left. The captain shouts to make for an empty pier on the near side of the docks, and within a few minutes the Bottom Feeder is tied securely to the wharf.
The captain comes up to the group and says "well, it has been quite the journey, and I do not doubt you fine folks will continue to get into all manner of trouble in the city. I wish you well." He walks down the ramp to a short halfling with a slate and starts talking.
@Ramza make a perception check please
/r d20+3
BOT
2
@Ramza: d20+3 = (20)+3 = 23
2
@Ramza as you gather your things and start heading towards the ramp you notice a familiar face on the docks
I furrow my brow and slow my pace as I try to recollect my memory of this person
It is a tall half-elf woman, you don't recognize her at first until you see her face. As you do you recognize Rylef, one of your fellow squadmates from the war. She seems to be moving crates.
The last time you saw her was shortly after you made the decision to leave the army - you weren't super close, but you fought together in battle, and so have a special bond
"This is what they have you doing these days, Rylef?" I quip to her as I approach. "Is the glory and praise inside the crates?"
She turns to you, startled. "Ramza, is that you? What the hell are you doing here?!"
"Odd jobs have brought us on troubling news, I regret to say. A town on the coast was swallowed by lava that magics had staved off for quite some time. We're not sure why, but it's led us here. Something unsettling is happening, and I'm quite sure this isn't the only instance."
" Lava? Magics? You care about stuff like that now? (she frowns) That doesn't sound like the Ramza I remember..."
"Well, whatever you went to do, you certainly left at the right time."
Octavious just casually observes the conversation watching her body language.
she seems like a normal dock worker to you - fit, strong, bit of sweat on her brow
"The very same cost me quite a bit of coin," I say with a scowl. "But regardless, that was some time ago, the man you knew. It was never about how much I cared, you know that damn well."
I sigh and cross my arms, then raise an eyebrow. "What do you mean, at the right time?"
she laughs "Now there's the man I remember"
"Just that about a week after you left the whole squadron was disbanded - they said we weren't needed anymore. Got kicked out on our asses, no warning at all." (she spits on the ground)
"So what are you up to these days? Looking for work? I could put in a good word with the dockmaster if you need one."
I give her a wry smirk at the first comment before my face drops again to somber. "Figures. They wouldn't know a cause from a crate. I was sick of being pulled by my coattails for a banner that couldn't care less if it was stained with my blood." I frown deeply. "Shame they did you that way, regardless. My condolences. As far as work, that depends. Do you have any contacts left in the citadel? My companions desire an audience, just about anyone will do at this point. I myself am more concerned with my next drink and my next job, so perhaps you and I could share the former and discuss the latter."
"I was never one to have contacts in high places, you know me well 'nough for that. You could try to find the Sarge, he was always going on about the 'important people' he knew." (she sneers as she says this). "I haven't talked to him since we were sent packing, but I've heard he still frequents The Soldier's Grave" (a pub your squad used to hang out at.)
"Listen, I have to get back to work," (she nods to the small halfling you saw earlier, who seems to be frowning in your direction) "but it was nice seeing you again. I'll be at the Grave tonight if you decide you need a job loading crates."
I check the crates for markings passively as we walk away.
make a perception check
Roll D20+4
/r d20+4
BOT
@Octavious: d20+4 = (1)+4 = 5
(Facepalm)
1
you see what you think is a marking from your guild on one of the crates nearby, but as you get closer you realize it is seagull crap
Awesome. “Well I’m off to the arcane university. Are you sure you don’t want to join me?”
We've been over this before- many times
No, we'll make for Ramza' drunken Sergeant
so who is going where?
(Good timing, about to go into work so this is it for me tonight) "I should have known," I jest. "I'll be there. If you decide between now and then you'd like to give the sarge some well-deserved color, I'll have a few flagons prepared." I give her shoulder a squeeze and turn back to the group, but say nothing for now, deferring to them for the next move.
I’ll ask @Xavavor and @Bongo if they care to join me?
I'm sure Durawin would love some drink that is disguised as productive work toward our goals, and maybe a light scuffle
All except the scuffle part
I figure that's where we'll be, and I would venture gumbar would follow
unless its with an attractive woman
As Ramza said- we'll make for his contacts and try to speak to someone in the Citadel
Perhaps we should investigate who that woman in the robes was who spied on us on the way in
ok sounds good, we'll do that tomorrow or thursday, heading to bed myself
1
Are you going to remember it this time, or will we have to tell you again when you get back?
I guess we'll see
Agree with Durawin, two threads to pull at. Perhaps we can have three groups
Night DM
Two gold says the lady is important.
Scorching hot take lol
thoughtful analysis.
Durawin try not to bed her down.
I dunno- that might help,eh?
1
We'll have to see when we get there
Yeah I'll head with you to the university. Bound to be some good books there
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