previous chapter (#17) next chapter (#19)
Navero, male human cleric, 3rd level
Dania, female 1/2-elf MU, 3rd level
Rourk Ravensbane, male drow cavalier, 3rd level
Kortul, male human fighter, 2nd level
Razuli, male human fighter, 2nd level
Arlor, male dwarf thief, 2nd level
And so, our heroes entered the great city of Propyla for the first
time. Propyla was much what you would expect of a relatively new city
- mostly clean, tolerable citizenry, good yet inexpensive
accommodations. There were several inns and taverns, a sizeable
market, upper class district, government buildings, and a street of
Learning - a small street in the rich part of town, with mages and
sages selling their services; also, one magic shop. The city had
several squares, as opposed to one, with message posts and public
fountains - an altogether hospitable place.
The party split up fairly early on, each of us going about our
own business. Rourk found an armorer capable of repairing his plate,
and a limner to repaint his shield device. Navero wandered to the
religious areas, where he found a church of the Correct and
Unalterable Way, and spent the remainder of the afternoon and evening
there. Arlor just wandered away. Dania, Kortul, and Razuli all
congregated to the magic shop, to see what sort of goodies they could
find.
Dania: "Wow! Look at all this stuff!"
Kortul: *grunt* (Inspects swords on one wall.)
Shop Keeper: (sneers in a whiny sort of way) "May I HELP you?"
Razuli: "Hey there! Got anything we could use?"
Keeper: "I wouldn't know, SIR. Were you looking for anything
SPECIFIC?"
Dania: "What do these wands do?"
Razuli: "You wanna see a wand of fireballs, wizzerd? I got one I know
you'll like."
Keeper: "THAT is a Wand of Mineral Detection, MA'AM. 5000 gp."
Dania: "Oh." (Drops wand, looks at other things.)
Kortul: "Not many weapons here."
Keeper: "No; there's LITTLE demand for them here; MOST that make their
way here ARE, shall we say, somewhat USED. Weapons are in the
back, as are ARMORS, and certain of the commoner potions."
Dania: "Hey, look at that mace. You think Navero would like that?"
Keeper: "That is a Mace of DISRUPTION, a very fine item and a rarity
indeed. It was ONLY through great fortune that I was able to get
it at all. It's function is to destroy those of the living dead
whom it hits, COMPLETELY and UTTERLY, down to the last vestiges
of their souls. I am SURE your friend would love to have it."
Razuli: "Great! Then he can take out all the undead. I can just see
them, shivering in terror, as The Great Navero appears! How
much?"
Keeper: "60,000 gp."
Dania: "Gaak!"
Kortul: "Bit expensive."
Keeper: "Sorry SIR, but I cannot accept ANY less. And please do not
LEAN on those carpets, you MAY stain them."
Dania: "What's this little statue?"
Keeper: "(sigh.) A Figurine of Wondrous Power. 30,000 gp. I PERCEIVE
that you are on a budget. Perhaps you care to look at something
ELSE, more in your range?"
Dania: "Uh... can we see what kinds of potions you have?"
Keeper: "Certainly. (sigh.) ANYTHING to please a customer. GEORGE?"
George: (From back room) "Yes?"
Keeper: "Could you tell these WONDERFUL people what kinds of POTIONS
we currently stock?"
George: "We stock: Potions of diminution, potions of growth, MegaHeals
of all varieties, one philter of love (a hot item!), potions
of..."
Dania: "What's a MegaHeal?"
Keeper: (sigh!) "I wonder just HOW long you have been out of town. A
MegaHeal is A variety of healing potion, which I SUPPOSE would
make it an attractive item to those of YOUR profession.
Normally, a healing may cure LESS, or MORE, but a MegaHeal will
consistently restore the SAME amount of damage. It is unaffected
by the PURITY of the drinker's body, or ANY of those other
factors which make the ordinary, garden variety of healing potion
so very unpredictable and undesirable." (This means: They cure 8
hit points, not 1-8. MegaHeals come as 8, 10, 16, and 32
pointers.)
Kortul: "More expensive?"
Keeper: "That USED to be the case, but the NEWER techniques have
reduced the cost to a much more REASONABLE level, which may make
them more ATTRACTIVE for you."
Razuli: "How about crossbow bolts?"
Keeper: "George? Do we have any CROSSBOW BOLTS in stock?"
George: "Light, or Heavy?"
Keeper: "LIGHT or heavy, SIR?"
Razuli: "Light, with barbed heads."
Keeper: "George? LIGHT, with barbed HEADS."
George: "Sorry, we do not have any quarrels or arrows in stock."
Kortul: "Any two-handed swords?"
Keeper: "GEORGE? Do we stock any TWO-Handed Swords?"
George: "We have one two-handed claymore, which is... +1, +4 vs.
reptiles."
Keeper: "One two-..."
Kortul: "Heard. Price on Lizard sword?"
Keeper: (Hmph!) "George? What IS the list price on the LIZARD
sword?"
George: "The list price is... 5000 gp."
Kortul: "Trade-in?"
Keeper: (sigh!) "Yes, we ACCEPT trade-ins. Are you speaking of THAT?
Well, let me SEE. Hm. Fairly standard enchantments, nothing
SPECIAL. WITH this, I BELIEVE we could settle for... 3000 gp."
Kortul: "1500."
Keeper: "GEORGE? Bring the LIZARD SWORD out here that the customer
may inspect it before purchase. I ASSUME you wish to do so,
SIR."
(Sword floats out of the back room, sets down on counter.)
Keeper: "THANK you, George. I BELIEVE you can see that this fine
item..."
(Much haggling. Settle on 2300 gp, Kortul is pretty much cleaned
out.)
Dania: "I think I'll just get a MegaHeal or so. That way, we don't
have to depend so much on Nav."
Keeper: "SOUND thinking, MA'AM. Would you be wanting the ECONOMY
size, or one of the more EFFECTIVE ones?"
Dania: "Uh, economy."
Keeper: "Fine. The 8hp type is... 500 gp each."
(More haggling. Dania gets 2, Razuli gets 1.)
Razuli: "Well, I guess that's it. You got nothing much worth buyin'.
How do you keep people from stealing all this junk?"
(A beautifully made suit of full plate animates, grabs Razuli, and
tosses him out the door.)
Dania: "Neat. Bye, George!"
George: "Bye, come again!"
We met again in the square nearest the gate, and went out looking
for an inn to stay in. We found a very nice one; there was a common
room below, with a small stage for entertainers, and the tables were
all in good shape. Rooms were all upstairs, with thick walls to keep
the noises of nighttime revelry out; we were mostly all tired, and did
want to sleep that night. The party was mostly complete; only Rourk
and Navero were missing.
Dania: "Where's... uh, whatshisname, the stupid?"
Razuli: "Which one? There are a lot of them."
Dania: "I meant helmet-head. Wasn't he gonna be here?"
Arlor: "Um, I saw him, yup. He went into a house where there was this
woman."
Razuli: "OUR cavalier, chasing HUMAN tail? Or was she human?"
Arlor: "Yup. Not real nice-lookin', though. He seemed to like her."
Razuli: "No accounting for taste. Wonder what she tastes like? I'll
guess I'll just have to ask him, won't I?"
Dania: "Oh, please. I don't wanna hear about it."
(An elf enters, comes to our table. He is in fine red leathers, has
silver hair and golden eyes, and a lute.)
Obnoxious Bard: "Hi there! New in town?"
Razuli: "What are you?"
O Bard: "Sir! Do you not recognize me by my profession? I see you do
not; well then: how many barbarians does it take to screw in a
light bulb?"
Kortul: (glares.)
O Bard: "One, of course."
Razuli: "That's not very funny, ya know."
O Bard: "What's funny is how many light bulbs it takes."
Razuli: "Here's one for ya: how many obnoxious bards does it take to
screw in a light bulb?"
O Bard: "Depends on how big the light bulb is. But it'd have to be at
least two. Speaking of which: magic-user! Are you free tonight?"
Dania: "Do you have a name, o great minstrel?"
O Bard: "Indeed I do, oh palpitator of men's hearts! I am Kory
Silvertongue, soon to be The Incredibly Famous Kory Silvertongue,
known throughout the land for his incredible musical talents."
Razuli: "Dania's already known throughout the land for her incredible
talents."
Kory: "Oh, really?! Well! We must get together and make beau-u-u-
tiful music together sometime! How about tonight?"
Dania: "I don't know who you are, but I already know that I don't like
you. Piss off."
Kory: "Say that with a smile, sweetheart! Ah, Dania! Can't you see
what I'm trying to tell you?"
Dania: "Yes! You're a fucking pervert with his brains in his pants!"
Kory: "Oh, dear! My face would cave in every time I went to the
bathroom!"
Arlor: "Why are those guards coming over to our table?"
(Kory quickly disappears.)
Guard 1: "Who was that?"
Dania: "I don't know. I don't want to know."
Guard 2: "Well, you are all under arrest."
Razuli: "Aw, c'mon officer! We didn't know he was the governor!"
Guard 1: "What's this about the governor? We wanted to arrest you for
travelling with a dark elf."
Kortul: "Joking."
Arlor: "But we wouldn't, nope. They're not nice people!"
Guard 1: "Were you in the company of a short knight when you came into
our city, at gate #2 this afternoon?"
Dania: "Did we come in gate #2? I don't think so. That wasn't us."
Guard 3: "The color of your chits indicates otherwise. How long did
you know this person?"
Razuli: "Oh, not long. Was he a darkie? He never took his helmet off."
Guard 4: "Details, please."
Kortul: "Met a few days ago. Travelled with us, kept apart. Left us
after the gate."
Guard 1: "So you know nothing of him?"
Dania: "Nope. How'd you catch him?"
Guard 2: "We didn't. We found his body in a drainage ditch a few
hours ago. He was naked and drained of blood, through two holes
in his neck. Probably also used in some other nefarious rites as
well; the body had been mutilated. Not being worthy of a
funeral, and not wishing to have it polluting our city, we took
it out and burned it. And now, we wish you to explain his
presence here."
Arlor: "We didn't know, no no no. News to us."
Guard 1: (sigh.) "You will swear to that?"
Dania: "Sure. Right here, if you want."
Guard 2: "Not strictly necessary. Ah, well. Good evening to you."
(They leave.)
Dania: "Rourk's dead? Oh, well."
Razuli: "They probably got all his money too."
Kortul: "Hmph. Cities more dangerous than monsters."
Kory: (Reappears) "Ah, ha! So you did know this person!"
Dania: "Oh, shit. I thought they scared you off."
Kory: "Magic-user: how could one of our kind knowingly run around with
one of those filthy bastards? I find it difficult to believe,
but I'll forgive you if you sleep with me tonight."
Dania: "What if I told you I got kicked out of home for sleeping with
one of those bastards?"
Kory: "Yeesh! Then yours is a road I shall never travel! Good God,
woman! You have absolutely no morals! And I'm starting to like
you!"
Kortul: "Hmph."
Kory: "You have some opinion, o great and hairy one?"
Kortul: "Light, Dark, all the same. Are all uppity, and all bleed."
Daniel Parsons "You speak of elves as though they were meat."
"Often are."