Bard Harder - Take me down to Paradise Inn, where the rooms are cheap and the girls are "Pretty"

After handing over the 2nd item, Theo thanks them and tells them as its late, perhaps they should head over to the Paradise Inn for a room for the night.

The band head over to the Paradise Inn. It is ordinarily fairly empty, catering primarily to folks passing through the town.

The bartender at the establishment is a "young" woman named Prudence with black hair accented by a large white streak.

She tells them that she has six rooms for a rate of 1 silver per night. The Inn has a small selection of alcohol.

In the morning the band have a surprisingly tasty breakfast, which they find out that the folks of Eden still remember how to cook a good meal, there just isn’t the need most of the time. 

After breakfast the band head out and look about the shops in Eden.

Eden General Goods. 

A small general store that provides mostly household items run by a man named Lawrence. The band find it is stocked with rope, rations, torches, and any other regularly acquired adventuring gear. 

One thing that is different from most general stores is the lack of food variety. The shelves are almost exclusively rice and beans as the people of Eden don’t have the ability to taste and these items have a long shelf life. 

There are also 4 Potions of Healing for 50 Gp each

Angelica’s Designer Boutique. 

This is the most popular store in town. Angelica and her crew of workers make all of the outfits for the people of town, making customizations to meet their needs depending on how the disease manifested on their bodies. This is also where the townsfolk get their colognes and perfumes. There is an entire wall dedicated to the scents and the store is difficult to browse as a result of how powerful the smell is for an ordinary person. 

The Cracking Hammer. 

A simple blacksmith operation where the band can purchase most basic weapons as well as some martial weapons. It is run by a dwarf named Korwin - the only dwarf known to have survived the disease out of the few that caught it. The side effects of the disease did not impact him quite the same as others and he is the only person in town that has maintained a sense of touch which is critical to his work.

The band find that the Dwarf has a magic Rune Encrusted Axe, that he will part with for a wagon full of ore from the Mountain to the North West.

Ekham and Silme determine that the Axe is:

Vicious Ax of the Dwarvish Lords

This is a simple Magical Ax. When you score a critical hit, deal an extra 7 damage. 

Plus 1 to hit (not damage)

A strand of unicorn hair.

The band follow Theos directions to a clearing that is only about 40 minutes outside of Eden, beyond the far side of Lake Tranquillity. 

The band step into a beautiful clearing in the forest. The grass here is lush and thick and giant sunflowers are scattered through the area. The tallest of these flowers are over seven feet high! On the far side of the clearing is a wooden shelter with a fire burning out front and a stack of firewood nearby. This seems to be a recent addition and the shelter is more makeshift than a permanent fixture of the area. 

The band spotted a bit of movement from inside the structure - a quick flash of colour that catches their eyes.

As the most non threating member of the Band, Gribble is volunteered to knock on the door.

Carter opens the door and after a conversation they find out that he initially came out here to take his own life, but when the time came he found he couldn’t go through with it. 

His wife - Elizabeth - finally reached her breaking point just over a year ago, leaving Carter alone as he was not yet ready to go. Their two sons - Henry and Edward - did not survive the initial infection and the pain of that loss still wears on Carter even a hundred years later. Of course, he and his wife were unable to have any additional children and this only added to the pain.

When the band ask Carter for the locket, he will tell them that he will give it to them if they are willing to kill him. He has been too cowardly to do it himself, but he wishes to be with Elizabeth and his boys. He is done with this life of not tasting food, of not feeling joy - more so in the last year than before.

Yomi and Lemmog are happy to assist with this request.

Silme and Gribble try desperately to get Carter to change his mind, telling him that they are collecting the ingredients for a cure. But Carter responds with "what is a life without my beloved Beth?"

Carter reaches for Yomi, Yomi reaches for Carter hands starting to glow.

Silme tries to pull Carter away, Gribble turns Carter invisible.

Ekam is on the fence

Heironymo is in a world all by himself meditating on the chi of if all.

Lemmog slashes the air where he thinks Carter would be.

Yomi feels a grip on his arm, then Lemmog carves the invisible Carter in two, spraying Yomi in blood.

Ekam asks Gribble to drop the invisibility so they can get the locket.

Heironymo then communes with the dead and finds that Carter is happy and can now go and meet is wife and sons in the afterlife.

Well I suppose that was one way of getting the locket.

The band then push on to the North West towards the mountains

A Mote of Elemental Water

It is known by the people of the town that water elementals frequent the origin of a spring in the hills about five miles northwest of town. They are just shy of being mountains, so it is quite a difficult climb! 

With a few stumbles the band make their way up and find the source of the stream with several differing sizes of water elementals in the brook.

Heironymo speaks aquan with them and finds out they will agree to the "capture" some of their essence using the magical vial that was given to them by Theodora, but for a price.

100 Gb each

Heironymo says how much if the rest of the band leave.

After much bartering Heironymo got is down to 100 Gb but the rest of the band must run away acting like chickens!

As the Band did not understand this conversation or barter, this did not go down well with them, till Heironymo pointed out that its either act like a chicken running away or pay 100 Gb each

So 5 band members clucked off.

For such a laugh and due to the plight of the Town below, the water elementals offer to give them a trip back down the mountain! 

Heironymo agrees and barely has time to shout a warning to the rest of the band when they are swept up into the crest of a wave as the spring becomes a stream that flows all the way back down to Lake Tranquility and the elementals will carry the band safely down in an exciting adventure through the woods! 

Surfs up dude

As the band emerge from the Lake, with all the items for Theo, do they go to Theos and get the reward....

NO

They realise they have left the cart up the mountain and need to get it back

Also the Ore is in the mountain and Lemmog wants a new Axe.

So the band march out AGAIN

Back up the mountain

Where Heironymo again speaks with the Elementals and finds that further up the hill it levels off then continues for a bit to a town at the foot of the mountains.

So the Band head off.

The Town of Pawney

Pawney is a quiet little town with around seven hundred inhabitants. 

The band spot the The Grumpy Groundhog Tavern and get rooms for the night.

While enjoying a delicious breakfast platter of eggs and bacon, the band overhears a conversation from a trio of gentlemen the next table over. They are discussing recent orcish raids and expressing their disappointment that Mayor Arryn has yet to send for soldiers to protect the townsfolk. They discuss how the town has no walls and almost no guards, so if those orcs come here it is certain that many will die! One even jokes that perhaps the doomsayer preaching in the town square is onto something!

The band inquires further with these men, they introduce themselves as Phillip Candors, Larry Elliott, and Ned Ryneson. They are all human men in their early forties, all with the look of farmers - rough, bearded faces, calloused hands, and muscular frames. 

They find that the town has a small jail with three cells, a sheriff (Tanya Bennett), but crime in Pawney is almost nonexistent. 

A waitress is carrying over a fresh cup of coffee to a lone gentleman sitting in the corner of the room. As she approaches the table, she stumbles and spills the entire cup of coffee down the front of his shirt. He leaps to his feet with a cry of pain and smacks the table hard enough to send food flying to the floor. He turns at the waitress and screams, “What the hell is wrong with you, woman?” and raises a hand to smack her as she gets to her feet. 

The men from the table next to you leap to action to restrain the man. Screams erupt in the bar as the intensity of the situation rises. Fist meets jaw as a brawl breaks out in seconds 

The band jump into action and try to break up (or get stuck in) with the fight.

Moments later, an excited voice is heard from upstairs cry out, “What’s happening?” as a child no older than eight years old runs out of one of the rooms and moves to bound down the stairs. He cleanly misses the top stair and soars a few feet before smashing down on the wood with the full force of his body. The boy stirs and raises a clearly broken arm as tears begin to flow down his face.

Lemmog goes to the child and tries to heal and mend the broken arm, but although the wound is closed and the bones start to knit back together, it will take some time to fully mend the broken limb.

The boy’s name is Titus and he is in town with his mother, Julie, to buy some salted meats.

His mother shows up less than a minute after Titus fell, still trying to lace up her outfit but coming quickly once the brawl dies down and she hears her son crying. 

Once the commotion in the tavern has calmed a bit, the band take a moment to get the lay of the land and about the potential of annexing Pawney as a Township under the rule and protection of Richmond. they are told to do any of that they would need to speak with the mayor. Who has the largest house in town, which is still quite modest with only five bedrooms and roughly three-thousand square feet of space.

They overhear a rumor about the crazy man who has been out in the market as of late preaching about the end of the world. 

Off to see the Mayor

Jerry Arryn - The Mayor introduces himself and invites the band into his modest home for lunch with him and his beautiful wife - Leslie. .

On display around the house are numerous relics from the town - old weapons and armor, pieces of stone from the fortress walls, ancient coins, and a beautiful key whose end is an hourglass.

Jerry is the mayor of Pawney and has been for over twenty years. He is a plump middle-aged man with a heart of gold but is incredibly clumsy and a bit naive. He is the first to raise up others for activities around the town. He is generally well liked among the people of Pawney and his family has lived in the town for centuries. He has the largest house in town, which is still quite modest with only five bedrooms and roughly three-thousand square feet of space. 

He will invite the party into his house in a heartbeat and ask if they would like to have  This key is required for the party to enter the secret tunnels beneath the Grumpy Groundhog, so they will either need to convince Mayor Arryn that they need it or they will need to steal it from its locked glass display when the time comes.

The Mayor will tell the band about what the town has to offer

• Rashida’s Potions and Wellness Oils, 
• Rekka’s Armory, 
• Gorrish’s Winter Survival Apparel
• Pawney Library (Parket The Historian)
• Sheriffs office and jail (Sheriff Tanya Bennett)
  
• There are grocers in the area and general stores

Lemmog and the Band start their sales pitch for annexing Pawney as part of Richmond and providing protection from being part of the kingdom.

Which is all fair and good, but useless if Orcs raid sooner rather than later.

Ekham enquires about the ring, which the Mayor says it is some relic from the town, and perhaps Parket The Historian at the library may know more about it.

As the band leave he warns them of the nutter Korin - The Doomsayer

At the center of town is an older gentleman wearing tattered clothes with long, matted hair and holding a sign in one hand that reads “Do Good Before You Can No Longer!” 

He cries out to people passing by to change their life because the end is fast approaching. Repent for their evil doings in this life to ensure they are embraced in loving arms in the next world. 

The band talk to him and find out this man is Korin. About a year ago, he had a near-death experience when he was lost in the mountains and nearly froze to death. In his time of greatest need, he prayed to all of the gods - seeking out even a single one that would listen to his pleas. He promised that if he made it out of this situation he would spread their holy word with all he encountered. He fell into a delirious state in which the entire world enveloped in darkness and as he tried to outrun the void he heard a voice cry out “Make the world a better place than when you arrived!” and then everything went dark. When he awoke again, he was lying in a cot in a nearby village. He had apparently wandered into the area screaming about how he would do better. 

The vision means that the world would soon be shrouded in darkness and now I try to make sure others know that the end is coming and that they need to change before it is too late! 

The band start to make their way up the mountain to the divot between two mounds where the mine was.