Café de Nuit

Kat looks over him, but relaxes as the healing spell restores him.

"Sometimes there is no right move. This is why I'm a city girl by choice. Not that they are without their perils i suppose..."

She lays a good part of the firewood into the fire and whips up a warming blaze, shedding a bit more light.

"Fire repels most animals, right?"

kintire wrote:"Sometimes there is no right move. This is why I'm a city girl by choice. Not that they are without their perils i suppose..."

"I always dealt with . . . internal affairs in the Church before we met," Klokulf replies. "I am rather maladapted for this sort of travel."

kintire wrote:She lays a good part of the firewood into the fire and whips up a warming blaze, shedding a bit more light.

"Fire repels most animals, right?"

"We can certainly hope," Klokulf says with a weak smile.

Kat does an excellent job of skinning the bear, especially so for someone who has never done such work.

Alain roasts gobbets of bear steak. It tastes good--like victory!
Klokulf may lack any skill with wild beasts, but he has no trouble calming the ponies and the mule, now that the terrible cave bear has been dispatched.
The party rests…

The next day, Klokulf calls on the power of Bane to preserve the bear pelt against corruption.

The party breaks camp, leaving the massive, skinless, carcass for the scavengers (there’s far too much dead animal to carry away more than pieces).

Two days ride up Bramble’s Climb, through rising hills into the Galenas, across a mountain pass where patches of snow and frost linger even in summer, and down the far side into the hills of southern Vaasa.

One the way, the party spots two smaller bears, and numerous small animals and hunting birds, but no monsters.
Descending the pass, the adventurers meet a group of fur traders coming up, who exchange news and share a trailside meal. The men look admiringly at the cave bear pelt, and offer the name of a tanner who lives in a hill village down below.

A brisk ride for two more days—despite sore backsides, the urbanite adventurers are getting the hang of riding their excellent Daleland ponies—down and on the evening of the second day (Flamerule 2nd, fewer then thirty days till Midsummer) the group reaches a stone walled hilltop settlement in the shadow of the Galenas, where lodging may be had at a crude but cheerful inn and tavern.
Among the men are a few smaller figures—dwarves and what might be a gnome.

Kat looks curiously at the group as they approach the village, but she has seen enough of the lands now not to be much startled my non human people. She hangs back as the group moves in letting the armoured cleric and well accoutred war wizard take the front while she moves along behind, holding horses, carrying baggage and generally seeming not at all like a person who will stab people in the back if required.

Klokulf's inquires about the road to Maur-Eturo and other matters lead him to a female gnome called Falath. The best guide around, he's told. Knows about finding hidden treasure caches, monsters, brigands.
She sits in silence near the hearth-fire, eating some hard bread and yellow cheese.
The gnome dresses like a hunter, in animal skins, leathers, and fur. She looks rather fierce for such a small person.

Falath says:"So I heard you were asking about me, so what did you want anyway ?" in a low tone of voice just above whisper so someone would have to concentrate hard to hear if there discussion .

"I intend to continue northeast soon," says Klokulf, "and I would like to know what to expect of the road. Aside of that, I am interested in the historical landmarks nearby. I might like to examine a few of them on my way."

He puts his hand on the back of a chair nearby. "Mind if I sit down?"

Kat fetches drinks for the two and waits nearby in case they want food or anything more, listening to a smuch of the conversation as she can. If nothing else, she herself is very hazy on why we have come here, and is interested in what Klokulf will ask...

"Go head . "She answers . Under her breath :hmm a human with manners interesting* in Terran.

Klokulf takes a seat. "The road to Maur-Eturo is my first concern; I know I will be going north. How soon I depart depends on what there is to see a short distance from this town."

The gnome relates the story of the Darkling Stair.
Just a few miles east of the village a cavelike stone archway opens in a low scrap, with a stairway of black stone running down into the lightless depths.
Even when the afternoon sun shines into the stairwell, the space remains murky, as if the masonry drank the light.
Since the rubble and brush were cleared from the doorway seven years ago, several parties of treasure-hunters have descended.
One lone man came back laughing insanely and burdened with a heavy sack of bloodstones and gold ingots, another group staggered back injured and muttering of 'horned horrors', and none of the others were never seen again--lately, nobody has dared the descent.
Local people believe the Sons of Orcus created, or maybe just took over, the Stair and whatever lies below it, in the chaotic, bloody days after the Witch-King's fall.

Klokulf pays rapt attention to the story. "That is exactly the sort of place I should like to survey before moving on. Tell me, did any of the returned explorers remain near enough to be contacted?"

So far as the gnome knows, no.

As Kat quietly refreshes the ale in front of the pair, she gives a very slight sigh. No one has returned sane from these depths.... and they are exactly the places Klokulf is looking for. This is going to be an exciting trip...

"Ah, a shame," Klokulf says as he settles back further in his chair. "I would have liked to arm myself with their knowledge. Caution and forethought will have to suffice."