Some random encounters, a poor attempt to acquire some quick coin from a job board, and a (not terribly) shocking betrayal as Faris returns to West Haven.
When I went downstairs for breakfast, a couple thugs were roughing up the innkeeper. Some things are the same in every town. I interceded, of course.
Then I perused the local job board for some quick coin before continuing on my trip. An herbalist asked me to harvest a plant from the nearby swamp, but I couldn’t find any. A pair of neighbors were squabbling over ownership of a prized horse; I was able to retrieve it for the owner. I wasn’t able to steal his neighbor’s wife back though – the horse’s owner had the urn with her ashes. Who does that?
On the return trip to West Haven, I spotted a slave caravan. I started a rockslide as a diversion before confronting the slavers. The buffoon in charge laughed when I demanded they free the slaves, then charged at me with his goons. I left one of them alive to carry the message that slavers should reconsider their chosen career.
Again, arriving in West Haven, the guards tried to stop me, claiming they were supposed to “bring me in”… as if I weren’t already headed in. I considered bribing them to let me pass, but decided to be charming and persuasive instead. Not that it did me much good, as Edvarius revealed himself to be a villainous necromancer, with plans to abuse the items he had me retrieve in order to revive dragons under his control. His guards rushed to lock up Lord Fellmont, Rufus, and myself. We tried to fight them off, but there were just too many of them.
Victor Fellmont appeared displeased with his father, railing about his various mentors and revealing the damage he had done to the city while helping Edvarius. Then the guards seized all my equipment and tossed me into a dungeon cell.
After a poor night’s rest, I determined to escape. After a failed attempt at picking the lock (I’m really not good at that), I resorted to kicking and pulling at it until it finally broke. I surprised a guard on patrol, which gave a sword to fight with after I killed him.
I heard someone in a nearby cell, who revealed himself to be Godwin the Great. He told me of Edvarius’s plot, and that the missing Dragon Staff might be able to stop Frothaerinvid, the ancient dragon that Edvarius intended to resurrect, giving me directions to retrieve it in the Drighorn Islands, as his health was not up to the journey.
I set off in search of my equipment, sneaking through a narrow halloway and checking each room I came to. I found the kitchen and baths first, and locked some guards into the bath house as a precaution. Luckily, the next room held my equipment. I resisted the temptation to riffle through other prisoners’ gear.
Searching for the exit, I ran into a couple more guards who I dispatched quickly, catching only a scratch from one of their spears. Then I found a ladder to a locked hatch, which I resorted to forcing open.
I emerged in the upper city and rapidly made my way to the docks, seeking passage to the western isles. Word got out quickly, as one man recognized me as the escaped prisoner, but he happily accepted some coin rather than calling the guards. A dock worker, for a fee, directly me to Captain Vaughn of the Blind Buzzard. I quickly reached an agreement with the captain, paying only for my food and agreeing to work while at sea.