They have decided, after some discussion, that they should return to Wohlen. They have too much loot to deal with. They also have no idea where to find Karzhad. Khragg shares his vision about Ulfgar’s final fate at Karzhad’s hands, and tells them that he has sworn vengeance. He must find him first, however. They will retrace their steps through Gyswyl, crossing the river the same way they had before, and to the road that will lead to Wald and then eventually Wohlen.
7/6/1150 – A full day of travel, they read the road and turn north. They must camp again after some travel.
7/7/1150 – In the afternoon, they see a group of men on horseback traveling from the west to intersect with the road ahead. Those travelers see the party as well and speed up to get ahead of the party. When they arrive, they see tabards on these riders showing the banner of the Confederation of Cities (Three black circles in a gold triangle on a field of green). They are ready with crossbows loaded but at rest. The sergeant in the lead recognizes their names after they have been given. Lord Nayrdon has instructed the soldiers to let them pass, and they do.
A short time later they arrive at Wald at sunset. They immediately notice that the flag of the Confederation flies at the gates and at a building just inside. The walls are now manned by soldiers in all wearing that garb, Apparently the town has joined the Confederation. The guards let them in. The city looks a bit more bustling even though it is the end of the day. They decide to go straight to Elmerdine Hunt’s house. She greets them at the door with some surprise and happiness that nothing ill befell them. She suggests that they stay at the inn at the north side of the town and she will meet them in the morning. They ride there, remembering that this inn used to be a hobgoblin headquarters but now is reverted back to its original form. Lughausen performed here before they left.
They see that the market has expanded, and across the street from the inn the former hobgoblin temple is being converted to the Confederation headquarters. Workers are leaving for the day. At the inn, they take rooms and settle in for a meal. However, they realize that the wagon is full of thousands of gold pieces that shouldn’t be unattended. Yannic volunteers to sleep in the wagon tonight in the barn.
As they eat, a dwarf comes downstairs, recognizing them. It is Graven Marker from the Guild of Wheels and Paddles whom they traveled with on their trip down from Wohlen (that is, Berg, Khragg, Peril, Yannic, and Kayleth did). He joins them for a round of drinks and news. He will be returning to Wohlen tomorrow with a load of lumber. Lughausen tells a brief tale, composed hastily (which shows), in song about their adventure in the High Temple of Arawn. Graven suggests that he would certainly welcome more swords on their trip back north. He even agrees to delay his departure a bit so they can talk to the council of elders before they leave. They retire shortly after.
7/8/1150 – In the morning, they have breakfast and step outside. They see again the workers coming into the large building to work, and then see the full council of elders approaching down the street. With them is Risiah of the Confederation, who caused them a small bit of trouble on their last meeting. They also see Graven getting his three wagons set up aside of the inn, but he looks patient. Elmerdine reintroduces the rest of the council which includes on they hadn’t met before. Susan Ikan, a priest of Duath. This makes Berg snarl a bit. Elmerdine suggests that they retire to Risiah’s office, which she has offered as a place to meet. They go into the old Temple and see that it is being converted to offices. The old pews and decorations are being removed. They go to the back. Risiah has a couple of assistants with her who take notes.
The party talks mostly about the threats they faced. The green dragon. The High Temple of Arawn which is fully functional. In turn, they learn that, yes, the town of Wald is now part of the Confederation. Lord Nayrdon has taken over the hobgoblin fortress and is converting it to an outpost for the Confederation. They also talk about vengeance on Karzhad, but that doesn’t mean anything to the elders. It is a short meeting, and they leave. As they step outside, Khragg notice a messenger in Confederation garb come out with a satchel and jump on a horse and speed away.
They get their own wagon ready to join up with Graven’s and depart.
Over the next three days, they travel north. They camp when they must, set up fires to cook, and talk a bit more. They learn that Graven has been transporting raw materials like lumber (for Halewind Ysgiliah) north, then taken down mostly Confederation military goods: arms, armor, payroll and the like. His next run south will be luxury goods, probably at the behest of Idrik Wemeson.
On the second day, Kayleth tells the party that she believes it is time to part ways. It is here at the point on the road that she had joined them going south, when she had been seeking news of Torchon. She has that news now and must deliver it to the elves. Elowynn speaks up at this point saying that she has no idea where she is, truly. She asks Kayleth if the Golden Vale means anything to her, and it doesn’t. They talk some more and Yannic suggests that maybe it is on another plane. Lughausen remembers reading about the Feywild. Fey magic and creatures live there, and they have names that suggest that may be where she is from. Kayleth mentions that it is elven history that as they approached this Drakewind Forest that they had, as a people, an opportunity to travel to the Feywild. Half of the elven nation did and half stayed behind. Perhaps this is where she came from. She agrees to carry the question to the elders. They all promise to stay in touch and she departs.
The final night of their journey, Graven has a proposal. He would like to retain them to inform him of their travels should they find yet new places to trade with. He wants “first dibs” as it were on running goods to these new places that they find. He offers them some coin, but they refuse it. They agree instead to share information freely. He should come to them with any new information he finds and they will do the same. Somewhat satisfied, Graven agrees.
7/11/1150 – At last, in the midmorning, they arrive in Wohlen. Graven takes his leave and heads his wagons to a part of town that is known to have warehouses. The party decides that their first order of business must be visiting a number of shops to sell all the valuables they have acquired for coin.
For the next several hours they do just that. They set aside the things that they must keep, such as the arcane focuses, Duath holy symbols, magical vestments, and abjuration robes, and sell the rest. In the end, they are thousands of gold richer each. Twelve thousand gold each right, in fact. They each have some ideas about what to do with the money.
But first, they must visit Wodemar. When they reach the house, they are met at the door by Marta as per usual. She recognizes only Lughausen, and with his vouchsafing the rest, they are admitted to the study where Wodemar sits behind the desk as usual. Introductions are given, then the sad news is conveyed of the passing of Lughausen’s original companions – Sven, Baptiste, and Torchon. Brimstone Jak’s name is excluded in the fallen.
They start in on their story. About halfway through, Karzhad’s name comes up, mentioned by Khragg, and Wodemar exclaims, “Not Karzhad! That bastard!” Immediately Khragg has an ally. Wodemar recounts for this new group his own encounters with the villain and how he lost an arm and a leg in the process. He also discusses his theory about the Vaults of Zell (refer to earlier in the diary for those details).
In the end, they are decided – they will go to Zell and see if they can get in now with these things they found in the bottom vaults of the school of abjuration. But first, they must spend some time here in the city preparing. They ask if they can leave their wealth (6 chests each filled to the brim with gold and platinum) under Wodemar’s care at his house. He is a bit uncomfortable. He suggests that maybe, if they are staying here so long, that perhaps they should consider buying their own house. He will refer them to an acquaintance Shale Blackwater who can help them tomorrow. He will watch the money tonight. They retire to the Lonely Pillow Tavern. There they see Gaspar performing. Gaspar doesn’t recognize the party and Lughausen retires to bed before they can talk.
7/12/1150 – This morning as they are eating breakfast, a runner enters the tavern bearing a letter for Sir Berg, Lughausen, and company. It is an invitation to a wine tasting from a certain Nicholas Hayes, whom no one knows. A bit later another runner comes with another invitation. This one to a ball to be held by Idrik Wemeson. They RSVP to the courier that they will attend when they realize that Wemeson is the most powerful member of the Order of Coins. Next arrives a dwarven lady who joins them – this is Shale Blackwater. She had received Wodemar’s note last night and has learned that a new property went on sale recently that is very close to Wodemar’s place. Perhaps they should look at it.
Halfway through her conversation, another runner comes with another letter, this one to a dinner party in their honor from a O’Nolan. Shale knows who this is. He makes very fine furniture. They think that is a good idea to build a relationship with him especially if they are going to buy a house. They would need furniture for it. Before they can leave, one more courier arrives. This one a most courteous elf. His invitation is to an art gallery/museum opening.
They split up at this point. Shale takes Berg and Khragg to see the house. It is a two story affair with several rooms converted to bedrooms and even has indoor plumbing of a sort. There would be enough room for them all. However, there is no stable for their horses. They want something bigger. Shale will look some more and will return at nightfall with what she finds. Berg pays her retainer of 25gp plus another 25 gp.
Lughausen and Yannic venture to the Guild of Wheels and Paddles. First Lughausen inquires about joining the guild. The clerk offers them the forms and then starts talking about the inspection of their transportation, records of their employees, and so on. Lughausen changes his mind, dropping the forms on the floor and asks about investing in the Guild, not joining it. The clerk suggests he talk to a full member and shortly they are brought before Ozan Dragomir. Lughausen proposes that he invest money in Ozan’s business at a certain percentage of its worth. Then in a year, Lughausen returns and asks for the same percentage back. The idea being that the business will have grown and the amount returned will be increased. Ozan is uncertain if this is a good deal on his end. Also, he doesn’t like the idea of having someone else claim they own his business. He will ponder on it more. Lughausen asks if Ozan will be at the dinner party (which by date of all the invitations will be the first to occur) and in fact Ozan is surprised, since he did in fact just get an invitation that morning. They depart.
Meanwhile Elowynn has decided that she needs to get out of the city and tries to go hunting. It being winter, she only finds trace of a single scrawny rabbit and the same for a few deer, which will likely take her farther away. It appears that the lands this close to the city are well hunted in winter.
Peril has decided a more direct approach to finding Karzhad. He goes into the poorer part of Wohlen and makes some inquiries. However, he turns up nothing. Having been her before, he remembers that Venlo across the river has even more areas of lower income where rumors can be found. At the Goblin and Horse Inn, he finds some talkative fellows who think that the leader of an gang (which has now been destroyed, good riddance they say) named the Skullcrushers might have mentioned that name when he was talking about his gang growing to take over the city.
That night they all sit again at the tables at the Lonely Pillow Tavern. Shale joins them after a short time with some news. She couldn’t find anything that was “just a bit bigger” with stables and such. However, she did get a lead on some property in the ruined areas that they could get cheap, and also a business that could assist them in actually building a house for them just to their needs. They will look at it in the morning.
7/13/1150 – The next morning starts a period of downtime for the party. A number of tasks are being accomplished in the next few months. The party has decided to spend the winter in Wohlen and put down some roots in the form of a residence of some kind. They will leave for Zell when spring comes in.
In pursuit of the residence, they meet with Shale in the morning at a property quite close by to the Lonely Pillow Tavern. The property has a ruined building on it that is in the shadow of the great wall. Shale has brought along Latel Bittershaper, a dwarf lady who owns a building company named Signetworks. Latel tells the party that the building is unsalvageable and must be torn down before building anew. Shale says that the property is for sale at 10,000gp from a certain Cole O’Nolan. They describe what they want, which is really a small keep with walls, towers, guards, 6 bedrooms, two rooms for shrines (Epolde and Nuath), a workshop, grand hall, kitchens, servants quarters, and stables big enough to hold at least 6 horses, probably more. Latel says something like that would cost them 50,000gp and take 400 days to build.
Someone remembers that one of the four invitations that they received was to dinner at the O’Nolan estate tomorrow evening. So they will bring up the property then. They also consider other options. Could they just build a keep on the outskirts of town and just “grow” the cities boundaries? Well, not exactly since there is farmland on the edges of the town. Still, that is usually how towns grow anyway. Farmland is bought and converted to neighborhoods and new farmland is extended outward. Shale will look into it, particularly in the southeast part where the road comes into town.
Meanwhile, they shop. Yannic and the rest realize that they should have better clothes for the ball. Shale recommends The Royal Dress, and they go there. It is run by a very ugly half-orc woman named Khengen. She turns out to be very talented and quite often dresses all the nobility in town. Yannic takes the masterwork unfinished orange robes they got from the school and pays Khengen to finish it and dye it red since he is an evoker. The rest of the party gets fitted for clothing for the ball. Khengen takes their retainer and promises to be complete in time.
They visit Emrune Bilen at the Blue Fire, again on Shale’s recommendation because they need a gem and jewelry shop. She is a beautiful and influential half-elf woman who appears to have connections in the Order of Coins. Lughausen and Yannic are able to stock up on much-needed spell components. Yannic also purchases a ruby ring with a platinum band to serve as more portable currency. Perhaps even to use as an item to enchant, though he isn’t certain if that will work.
At this time, they begin long-term activities. Yannic has a spellbook and a number of spell scrolls to transcribe into his own spellbook. This chore is going to take him 14 days to complete. His evenings will be free for the social events. Afterwards, Yannic will do research into helping Peril create one, hopefully two, magical crossbows.
Lughausen pursues setting up a business with the Guild of Wheels and Paddles. He will also assist Yannic when he turns towards working on the magic items. Peril will also help when he can with the fabrication.
Berg, Khragg, and Elowynn will put most of their attention towards getting their home built. Khragg also pays Shale to search the three cities for anyone who might be willing to sell a belt of giant strength or a more powerful greataxe.
7/14/1150 – The night of the dinner party at the O’Nolan’s arrives. Their new clothing isn’t ready yet, so they dress as well as they can. Many of the party leave their armor and multitude of weapons behind and arrive with just one discreet weapon and clean clothes.
At the dinner, are the following people:
Cole O’Nolan, who owns several lumber and furniture shops in each of the three cities of the Confederation. He is human in his 40’s.
Ava O’Nolan, his younger wife who says very little during the entire dinner.
Eliza Dixon, who owns one of the three vineyards in Wohlen, Simply Clear Vinyard. She has provided wine for the dinner. She is another beautiful woman with jet-black hair and piercing eyes.
Johnathan Dixon, Eliza’s husband who like Ava doesn’t offer much to the conversation.
Ozan Dragomir, a member of the Guild of Wheels and Paddles. It turns out he is a competitor to Graven Marker within the Guild.
Sinta Dragomir, a half-elf lady of beauty who supports her husband’s words in the conversation with those of her own.
Lughausen makes introductions and does most of the talking. Khragg spends most of the time drinking while Yannic and Berg also chime in from time to time. They quickly learn that the dinner is an excuse for Cole to make a pitch to the party for an agreement. He feels slighted that he missed out on the new trading with Wald joining the Confederation. Ysgiliah Halewind got the jump on him. Ozan also appears to want an agreement with the party. They would like the party to come to them first the next time they venture out and find a new place to trade with. Lughausen tries to couch insults in his reply because Cole and Ozan’s concerns are so petty compared to the death and destruction that they faced down their fighting for their lives against the hobgoblins. In fact, Lughausen lost friends down there. The insults go right over Cole’s head but Ozan and Sinta catch on and try to smooth things over.
Lughausen performs his song again to recount firsthand what happened down there. His performance is average. He needs more practice. Berg has taken a dislike to Cole and Ozan, and when towards the end of the evening Khragg brings up the subject of the property they wish to buy, Berg tries kicking him under the table. Berg doesn’t want to do any business with these people. However, the cat is out of the bag and Cole seems delighted that the party wants something that he has. There is a place to bargain from after all. He says he will sell it to them for 9,000gp and a signed agreement that they will come to him first with new trading opportunities outside the Confederation.
The party says they will think about it and the dinner ends.
7/15/1150 – Tonight is the Museum opening. When they arrive, they find that it is an old pre-Cataclysm building that has been restored. It was a museum or art gallery then, and it is now. They are met by Sabiha Farlan, a human woman in her late 30’s. She is very proud of the gallery and is quite happy that the party decided to attend. The famous heroes visiting her gallery makes her very proud.
Sabiha takes them on a tour. There are several rooms, and each is filled with modern art recently created by local artists. It goes across the whole range of types of art from wood carvings, to statuary, to paintings, jewelry, and so on. Lughausen asks if she has anything historical here and she says no. But her other smaller gallery does. They make an appointment for a private showing at The Sightings Gallery for the evening of the 17th.
At the opening, they are given wine and wander a bit after the tour. They see a number of nobility here including the Ysgiliahs who made the lumber deals in Wald, Eliza Dixon again from last night, Khengen their tailor, Emrune Bilen from the Blue Star gem shop, and a number of dwarves laughing and enjoying themselves
They meet an interesting elf named Fenian Olajor who they learn owns one of the three wineries. Unusually, he is missing one of his ears. They learn that he makes wine with secret elven methods which sounds intriguing. Yannic is dying to ask about the missing ear and Khragg, who has immediately started drinking heavily, goes up and asks the elf directly about the ear after the party has stepped away. He tells Yannic later that Fenian lost his ear to wolves when he was a child.
Lughausen sees familiar faces in the couple Almont and Sylvia Montchartan. Almont tells him that the manor is no longer haunted thanks to their visit months ago. The couple are therefore very friendly and might be of some assistance later to the party, it is noted.
Not long after, they leave the museum.
7/16/1150 – This evening is the wine tasting at Deer End Winery. They are met at the door by a very exuberant human man named Nicholas Hayes. He loudly greets the heroes and thanks them for coming to his tasting. Khragg again goes straight to the cups while Nicholas introduces the party around the room.
They meet Fruknip, a gnome who owns the Small Frog Toystore in town. He asks the party if any of them have children. He ends up giving Berg a toy soldier.
They meet Elias and Genna Stahlecker who appear rather sad. Later on in the evening, Yannic inquires about them with Nicholas. He learns that they recently lost their son to a murderer. Yannic is intrigued and asks for more details, but Nicholas has little more to offer.
Khragg notices that Khengen is here also. She had been giving him an eye at the museum opening and then again here at the wine tasting. After getting pretty drunk, he works up the courage to sit next to her and give her a line. He blows it. She gets up and leaves.
Nicholas also has an angle for inviting the party to the tasting. He also asks about their adventures to the south to which Lughausen responds with another performance of his song. This one is the best yet. He just needed practice. Nicholas casually asks to be given a tip from the party the next time they find something interesting, much like Cole and Ozan wanted. However, Nicholas is much more casual and friendly. The party is a bit noncommittal, and he is fine with that. He just wanted to ask.
7/17/1150 – This evening is the private showing from Sabiha at the Sightings Gallery. It is indeed a much smaller and less magnificent building. She meets them outside, writing in a notebook as the walk up. She unlocks the door and takes them on a private tour. There are a number of pieces here including restored frescoes taken from ruined buildings. The party’s interest fades when they discover that just about all the old art is more personal in nature. Most of it came from private residences, though once piece probably came from a temple to Othmina. There is nothing to be learned here. They thank Sabiha for the tour and go home.
7/18/1150 – Tonight is the grand ball at the Wemeson estate. Idrik and Filia Wemeson are the most powerful and rich nobles in the Order or Coins, which runs Wohlen. Khengen is true to her word about their clothing being ready and they arrive appropriate dressed.
Outside the magnificent estate are carriages, horses, and waiting groomsman and servants to the people inside. Others are walking up like the party. A herald of some kind meets them at the door and takes their invitations. He leads them to the ballroom and announces them. The estate has several rooms open for the ball. In the dining room is a table laden with food. Servants have tapped several casks of wine and ale and are serving them out. There are the large hallways where people are conversing, and room down the hall is open for more private conversations.
The ballroom has a small chamber group of musicians playing, though it appears that no one is dancing. There are groups of people conversing and just inside the door they find a large group of dwarves laughing and enjoying their drinks. Khragg wastes no time getting two tankards, one for each hand, and joins them. The others follow.
They meet Lordurum Bronzepike and his wife Hanna. He is loud and boisterous, laughing and ready with a joke. He recognized the party from the museum. The Bronzepikes own a proper brewery in Wohlen and make all types of ale and beer. The other dwarves are Nandoick Graythane, who is a stone dealer from Venlo, Korsag and Drenni Platehand, who owns a silversmithing business named the Art of Shine, and lastly Graven Marker joins them, who they had already met in Wald.
Lordurum invites the party to the brewery any time to try the ale. Nandoick is interested in Yannic because of his Guild membership and his reputation as a troubleshooter in Venlo. Nandoick has two guild memberships and is always looking for more connections. The Platehands mention that if the party ever needs silverwork, to come down to the shop.
Next, the party notices another group of very important people. They recognize their hosts, Idrik and Filia Wemeson. Idrik owns a goldsmithing business, and Lughausen remembers meeting Idrik in his office at the guild after the fires and investigating the mapmaker. The party walks up and conversation immediately turns to them.
A particularly handsome gentlemen is present in this group, and he is named Lord Lucien. He is a trading magnate and the ranking Confederation official in Venlo. Lady Agila Bolateva is also a ranking official in the Confederation Army. She mentions that she read Sir Guyson’s report and is happy to meet them. She is crisply military in her demeanor, speech, and dress. A much older half-orc is named Horsemaster Ezrau, and he is the ranking Confederation official in Dyson. They are pleased to meet someone who trades in the famed Tinagellian horses. Fenian Olajor and Emrune Bilen are also in this group and they nod their greetings to the party.
Lady Agila turns her attention to Berg, Peril, and Khragg and starts inquiring after the Free Cities of Hemelsyn and the state of their armies. She wonders if they will be returning anytime soon. Lord Lucien is also interested in where they came from and whether there will be trade opportunities. Something about Lord Lucien rubs Berg the wrong way, and he uses his divine sense, but there is no evil present.
The three from Nenn tell what they can, and are noncommittal about returning there in any sort of official capacity. The hostess, Filia Wemeson, steers conversation to more mundane subjects.
Eventually, the party splits up and mingles. Nicholas Hayes is there, talking to a cute gnome woman named Helegnack. She excitedly quizzes Yannic and Khragg about Wald’s tinkerers. She owns a tinkers shop named the Sandy Pot.
Yannic offers his condolensces to the Stahleckers then sees Almont Montchartan again. In the side room, they find Sylvia Montchartan talking with a gaggle of women.
The evening passes pleasantly, but nothing of any note occurs. They hear a lot of random small gossip and rumors, and try to eavesdrop nonchalantly on any important matters, but there are none. It appears that they might have missed that type of conversation.
7/19/1150 – Today Shale has returned with news. She has learned that there are no belts of giant strength to be had in the Confederation for sale. She will now search for a magical greataxe. She also learned who owns the land on the southeastern edge of town that they were thinking about. They expected it to be a farmer, but no, it is a landowner by the name of Luanda Cloudfang. She rents out land to farmers and has several in her employ. Unfortunately, she has heard of the party and what they are looking for and is asking for a much higher price, 13,000 gp, for the land that might work for them. They decline.
Lughausen suddenly remembers the Tower of Salinga Penne and how they had considered at the time of finishing with it to make it a base of operations. It is three days of travel through the forest to get there, however. A swamp is there as well, but there is a waterway. They come up with the idea of taking an expedition there. Who knows what might have moved in to the tower in the months since they were there last?
They hit upon the idea of recruiting Sir Guyson because it might in fact be a threat to the city if something nasty moved in there. Therefore, an expedition of Confederation Soldiers lead by Sir Guyson embarks on the journey to the Tower. Yannic stays behind to scribe spells.
It takes 10 days for the entire journey out and back. When they arrive, they find it almost exactly like how Lughausen remembered it being when they left with one exception. The door has been re-locked and Lughausen is certain that Lydya had picked that lock and they had left it open. However, the tower is all clear.
They take a few minutes to revisit the trophy room and look again at the portraits now that they have some more experience. They identify five more people:
1) Dr Qume – a necromancer and priest of Arawn who traveled with Duke Ulrich for a short time.
4) Sir Roderick Blukhorel – a paladin of Hysor and part of the famous Blukhorel family that was cursed.
5) Bear – a strange warrior who fought with claws and then later a spear. In fact, he was the holder of a powerful spear created by Gaal the destroyer – a fact that is interesting to Berg. History has no clue what happened to that spear. Was that knowledge stricken?
14) Magnus the Even-Handed – member of the Glaive who was held in stasis for centuries until he was freed by Duke Ulrich and his comrades.
17) Vachon – a ranger who traveled briefly with Duke Ulrich as well.
Identifying a few more portraits, 4 remain still unidentified, makes even clearer that the mistress of this tower was obsessed with Duke Ulrich – which is the common thread for all these portraits.
On the journey they thought long and hard about the practicality of using the Tower for a base and home. While the tower itself is perfect, the location is terrible. The magics that make the tower appear to move in the swamp is intact and they must repeat what they did before to get there. The river also passes through the great wall of Ap Wys on its journey from the lake the tower is on to Wohlen and Venlo. That aperture is heavily fortified with bars and does not open. They could probably march along the top of the wall, but stairs would have to be built and repairs done to some of the missing areas.
7/29/1150 - In the end, they decide that they must decide on a place and the Tower is ruled out. The farmland is also ruled out and they will just swallow their pride and make a deal with Cole O’Nolan. Khragg marches down and pays for the land (9,000 gp) and signs the agreement.
Shale has returned with her research and reports that no magical greataxes can be found.
The party meets with Shale and Latel Bittershaper to plan out the estate and begin the work. Their plans of building a walled keep are scrapped when they are reminded that their building will stick out like a sore thumb in the city. Not one building has those kinds of defenses. Even the city itself has no walls. They tone down the defenses desired and settle on a walled villa with a guardhouse inside. Guards can patrol the wall outside. They will have very little grounds, actually, because of their requirements for how much space will be built up with all the rooms they need. They figure they will have a house-staff of five, stables for 8 horses, and space for barracks for 5-10 guards.
They pool their money and put down half the 47,500gp necessary to get construction started with Signetworks.
Yannic has finished his spell scribing and gets together with Wodemar Blum to use his libraries to search for the recipe for making magical hand crossbows. They have success. In an old book they find the recipe. It will require 20 days of work by a single person, less if there are helpers. The materials will cost a mere 500 gp, but they need an exotic wood, Bronzewood. In the amount of 1,000gp. They will also need someone skilled with smithing tools and a place to do the work.
As to where to get Bronzewood, they have a number of options. They could search the black market, they could talk to the elves of Lysalenor, or they could try a lumber dealer. Khragg again just marches downto Cole O’Nolan knowing that he will be motivated to help them. And indeed, he could procure the bronzewood but it will cost extra. Khragg pays him 2,500gp out of Peril’s pocket to get enough for two hand crossbows.
The recipe will be good for any type of crossbow or bow. Lughausen and Peril volunteer to be assistants. They rent out a corner of a weaponsmith’s shop, and also purchase his aid with the smithing and crafting, that Shale found for them.
Meanwhile, Khragg has decided to learn how to use smith’s tools. He goes to the shop to learn from the smith, paying for his time as well. It will take him 50 days
Berg has decided that he should bring Nuath to Wald. He travels down and purchases part of the old Worg pens for 2,000gp. He will set it up as a shrine or small temple of Nuath, and train whoever is interested. The Confederation Army is not entirely cooperative, feeling that men who might have otherwise volunteered for the army are being drawn there instead. However, they also realize that more training might make them even more inclined to join. Berg welcomes the conflict as it is truly in the vein of Nuath.
Time passes.
8/6/1150 – The two +1 hand crossbows are complete. Peril has spent 3,500gp for their construction. The winter is cold and the party continues their training and building. Yannic explores options for speeding up the construction process with spells like wall of stone. He and the other free members of the party spend a lot of their time giving assistance to the builders of Signetworks on their new property.
8/19/1150 – Khragg completes learning how to smith and use smith’s tools.
8/29/1150 – Berg finishes his small shrine to Nuath in Wald. It is a small one-room building with a bit of a training yard outside. There people can meet and learn and pray to Nuath and train as needed. There will be no permanent priest on hand, just anyone who wishes to can spend time there. Berg spends time from now on helping with the estate, taking a few days here and there to return to Wald and the shrine.
3/1/1151 – The estate is finally finished. The efforts of the party members has sped up the construction of the place significantly. They now own a completed noble manor with grounds and outbuildings. The construction cost them 9,000gp for the property, 42,500gp for the construction itself, and then 5,000gp for furnishings.
They have the following features:
A guardhouse
A stable with stalls for 8 horses and room for a wagon and a cart.
A separate barracks large enough for 10 soldiers
A separate servant’s quarters with room for a dozen servants
A training yard outside
A smithy/workshop
A great hall for entertaining
A lounge/meeting room
Entry hall
Dining room
Kitchen
Shrine to Nuath
Shrine to Epolde in the basement which includes a small library
A large library on the second floor
An arcane laboratory underground
A vault to store valuables
Large in-house servants quarter’s for four
Six bedrooms – one for each party member
A guestroom for two
Lots of storage, terraces, covered porches, and balconies. There are three gates through a curtain wall around the whole property, one for wagons, another front entry for people, and a rear servant’s gate.
While construction was in progress, they interviewed employees, screening them very carefully with magic that included zone of truth and Berg’s divine sense. They hired the following people:
· Arrel Luyarus at a wage of 2 gp/day. He is a half-elf male employed as the butler, with very good people, management, and financial skills. He is friendly and meticulous to detail. He dresses in clean pressed clothes at almost all times. He is always courteous and thoughtful, taking his time before answering a question pondering a correct and inoffensive way to answer.
· Hedra Bonthon at a wage of 2 gp/day. She is a human female in her mid-40s. She is solidly-built and is no-nonsense. She brooks no dissent in her ranks. She is the Head Chef in charge of running the kitchen and its staff, planning meals and doing the shopping for supplies.
· Horvet at a wage of 2 gp/day. He is a half-orc male. His skills are with animals and basic smithing. He can shoe a horse, crafting the horseshoes. He also can do very basic smithing repairs and creation. No weapons nor armor. He will be the stablemaster/smith.
· Captain Jayden MacGannon at a wage of 10 gp/day. He will be the captain of the guard. He is a human male in his upper 50s. Jayden is a veteran of the gnoll wars and retired from the Confederation Army. He is skilled at running a troop of guards. He missed the work after he retired and the party's offer to run a small guard force appealed to him.
· The estate can support up to 10 guards in the barracks, at a wage of 2 gp/day
· The estate can support up to 15 non-skilled servants that will handle the following types of jobs:
Stableboys
Gardener/groundskeepers
Woodsmen - firewood
Cooks
Maids
General errandboys
The estate requires general maintenance supplies of 10 gp/day. Full staffed, the estate requires 1,470 gp/month to maintain. The party sets aside enough funds to keep the estate running for 6 months before they leave.
Lughausen has cast a hallow spell in his new shrine of Epolde and protected it with the extradimensional interference power of the spell. He has also designated it as his sanctuary for the word of recall spell.
At last, it is time to depart. Yannic leaves Captain Macgannon a healing potion just in case and stocked a few for himself. Otherwise, the party has spent the last several months procuring all the supplies that they need.
They have spent almost all of their money and carry very little of it. They ask Hedra to cook a feast the night before and have Horvet get the wagon and horses ready the morning that they depart.