Going from the Commons to the Saddle costs 2cp, keeping most of the poor out of the saddle area
Areas in the commons:
Hawker’s Square (where the initial assault happened)
The Warrens – a maze-like area of alleys & abandoned buildings
Alehouse brewery
Tavern row – drinking for common labourers that get rowdy
Well-lit (temples, etc) but Warrens stays in shadow. Wizard students from all three schools ‘slum it’ in tavern row at night and are often responsible for duels and the collateral damage Odessa spoke about.
Asking around it’s easy to get directions to the mission of Elsa Whiterose… near Griffon square. Puki learns that Elsa does receive a small stipend from The Priestess’ organization as well as small donations from the merchant class to help keep the doors open. She’s got 2 main assistants:
Goram – half-orc male
Ilsa – human female teen
Both help her run the mission in exchange for accommodations and steady meals.
Between 10-20 poor folk stay at the mission at any given time. The assistants try to pressure others to donate to the cause: The Mission of Lost Hope.
When they finally meet Elsa, she is a plain and hard-working woman. Simple clothes, calloused hands and a warm smile. Had she been born in a different time, she’d be very lovely, but this was not her destiny. Elsa goes on to say that:
Things do seem to be overall worse for people in this neighbourhood. We listen as we serve, and street people are very perceptive; we are a community. The poor folk in this area have been talking about people going missing this last month or so.
Elsa admits faces she’s seen haven’t been seen in a while. She reported it to the SIlver Shields, but they made little effort, and she couldn’t pay.
There was a rumour that two people were seen carrying off “old ralph”; they found him in an abandoned building, and he wasn’t the first.
Find out the two people thought to have been converted to zombies are:
Tolvus Rhys, a middle-aged human man with a bad leg from his years fighting with the legions who had a hard time finding work, and
Korack Stoneson, a dwarven drunk who often slept one-off at the mission. Korak has a good heart underneath his gruff exterior, but the drink had him
Heroes then go into the streets to look for more information on the two missing homeless people:
Puki
meets Jagger: male dwarf sometime labourer constant drunk. Smells of stale beer, grimy and rough clothing. Sweat-stained hat usually at his feet peddling for change:
two weeks ago, in dark hours before sunrise, woken up seeing two robed wizard struggling with old ralph, then loaded him on a hand-cart, one of ’em said, “He wants living subjects now for his experiments because things have progressed. Robes were either grey or silver. I knew one of the zombies that day, name’s Korak. We drank together, sometimes worked together. 3 days after Ralph was taken, Korak supposed to meet me for a masonry job, but he never showed. Now i’m thinking he got taken too now… that I think about it, the night before the attack he said he was afraid for his life cause two humans he didn’t know bought him beer and asked him questions in an unnatural way… name’s Paully, Paulo… something like that, the other’s name was… Sigmund… sigmund’s new to the district, works for some drug pusher”
Idris
meets 14yr old half-elf street urchin named Keelia. had to grow up fast on streets, solo but sometimes gangs press her into work
makes coin by running small errands for shop owners or helps street musicians for some copper
short dark hair and dresses like a boy
looks up to Idris; knows he’s a big player in sword n sorcery game
draws blade on Idris “This is what I do to keep the gang members outta my pants, know what i mean?”
she actually knew Tolvus; a friend who helped her out one time
he had a weakness for dreamleaf
he said he’d found a new dreamleaf pusher who was selling for half the usual rate! she hasn’t seen Tolvus since and it’s been a week
She said he’s called The Dream Master; out of a theatre nearby and he dressed very normally but may have only started a month ago
Keelia warns Idris he’s dangerous
Idris tells her to come by the temple when she’s older; maybe have some work for you
she’s scared to hope but is VERY interested in Idris‘ offer
Milo
runs into another halfling, scruffy brown-haired halfling – Riley Three Fingers
small-time local fence
Offers to fence the stuff we find for us
offers to direct us to the Relics Hunter’s Emporium
oils for the blades & runes for the armor
says that he heard Old Ralph was taken because he owed Dreammaster a lot of cash
says the Dreammaster pays the Ratsmashers a hefty fee to operate on their turf and his prices are the lowest
says some people go and don’t come back from Dream Theatre
says Dreammaster has two big guys watching his back; Sigmund and Pauly… a weird bunch cause they wear wizard robes but he knows they don’t do magic
The heroes decide to head towards the Dream Theatre and are ambushed in a narrow hallway by The Ratsmashers!
INITIATIVE!
