AD&D Session 21: Assault on the Cult

The adventurers returned to Porto Oro on the ship with their five captives and harpy corpse. On the journey, Kai, Sir Goldborn and Ellea conducted an initial interrogation of the prisoners. They began by taking one of the captives to the private quarters of the ship and removing his helmet. The captive started screaming and shouting. Goldborn spoke some calming words and Kai offered him some food, but this did nothing to stop the mans shouts. They then presented to body of the dead harpy to the man. This caused the man to break out in a manic laughter, but did nothing to quieten him down. Realising this interrogation is futile, they refitted the captives helmet and chose a new captive to interrogate.

This new captive was quiet after removing his helmet. He tentatively accepted the food that Kai offered him. After presenting the body of the harpy, the captive says ‘thank the gods, you killed that horrid thing’. Intrigued by this reaction, the adventurers press on with their questioning. He reveals that he was recently captured from a near by village and taken to the harpy island against his will. He is scared of the ‘Father’, who seems to be a human in charge of this group of people. It is hard for him to know how the other people in the group feel about the Father and the harpys because the noise cancelling helmets made communication hard. All the other people seemed to go along with the group, but this is no indication that they were doing so willingly. There are enough beds for 24 people in total, however they were never all full with people regularly coming and going (being sacrificed). He doesn’t exactly know the Fathers motives or goals, but it seems that he is in some way worshipping the harpys and helping them. He also reveals that there is a small tunnel from the southern side of the island leading to the main residence area. The adventurers eventually ask the captives name and whether he would be willing to accompany them back to the island. His name is Bill, and says fearfully that he is far too exhausted and traumatised by the experience to return to the island now! After being reassured that he would have some time to recover before returning to the island and that they would protect him from Father, he says that it is possible that he could go with them to guide them to the tunnel entrance. Although he is only a simple villager with no combat experience. Finally, Goldborn is still confused by the disappearance of one of the captives from the previous session, so asks Bill what happened to him. Bill is also confused by this question. He says ‘wasn’t it one of your men that took him away?’ After some more discussion, Goldborn discovers that it was Kleptos who took and likely killed the other captive. The pieces fall into place for Goldborn - this explains why Kleptos suddenly had one of the captives helmets and why he was so keen to send his own men to search for the missing captive. Goldborn is of course furious at the death of a captive under his watch, especially given the new information that the captive might have been held on the island against his will, and vows that no more of the people on the island will die as long as he can help it. The remaining three captives are questioned in a similar manner with various reactions - one screams where the helmet is taken off, while another is visibly distraught when the harpy’s body is presented.

On arriving in Porto Oro, the adventurers go to Andrea to give her an update (and enquire about their reward). She is very grateful for the information about the caretaker and sheriff, and happy that the lighthouse is lit once again. She reveals that there is a lot of political pressure on her from other towns and cities along the coast, since it is Porto Oro’s because the lighthouse is very important for trade in the area and it is Porto Oro’s responsibility to keep the lighthouse functioning. However, she it disappointed to find out that the island is still not safe to send a new caretaker to tend to the lighthouse. Without a caretaker, the beacon will go out after a few days. She begrudgingly agrees to still give the full reward of 120gp per person, however she kindly asks that the adventurers finish their mission regardless and help clear the island. Goldborn asks if there would be any additional reward for this - Andrea says there is no more budget for rewards, but that she would make sure to mention all adventurers that help in her correspondence with other leaders in the area. Goldborn also asks if she can provide any soldiers to help, but with the loss of her sheriff, she is only left with a few guards which are needed to protect the village. Andrea also agrees to keep the captives in the village jail for the time being, except for Bill who is put under Goldborn’s care.

The adventurers spend a week in the village to prepare for their final assault on the island. Goldborn, still unhappy with the treachery, dismisses Kleptos for the week. Archie returns to the bath house and is excited to hear about the hot springs gala that will be happening the following weekend. Having had enough of fighting for the time being, he decides to attend this rather than assault the island. Ellea resumes her job at the bar, earning a few extra gold pieces, but is happy to rejoin the group for the assault. During the week another familiar adventurer arrives - it’s Walt the magic user! He has now levelled up to level 2 and is ready to demonstrate his new spell Ventriloquism. With him are two other aventurers - Jessie a level 1 thief and Hank a level 1 fighter. The group are happy to have them along to help. After having a week to recover, Bill also agrees to accompany them, as long as he doesn’t have to do any fighting (although Goldborn still buys his a military fork, just in case).

So we have Kai with his five crossbowmen, Sir Goldborn, Ellea, Walt, Jessie, Hank and Bill. They take the ship back to the island with Russel. Arriving at the island, the pier is empty and the group disembark at the beach and return to the lighthouse. Inside the lighthouse, all the furniture and papers have been removed, leaving the building essentially empty. The beacon has burnt out and the harpy nest has been very thoroughly searched, although some sticks from it still remain at the top of the lighthouse. Below the lighthouse, the hole in the wall from the bedroom to the cave has been filled in. The group return to the beach and ask Bill to show them the entrance to the tunnel.

The tunnel is found among some large rocks on the south side of the island. It is large enough to stand in and for two people to walk side by side. The tunnel bends to the west, and the group sees some light ahead of them. Going towards the light, they arrive to the east side of a large room. On the south side of the room facing north is a man wearing a bright coloured robe in front of a large square alter. On the alter are three eggs. The man is performing some kind of interpretative dance. There are fifteen people facing him spread throughout the rest of the room, all unarmed but wearing the noise cancelling helmets. On the north side of the room there is the bridge that the group recognise from the previous adventure to the island. On the far side of the room there are five doors. Kai summons some ants and sends them towards the robed man. The robed man notices that swarm of ants approaching him and quickly dispatches them with a fireball shooting out of his hand and continues with his interpretive dance.

Eventually the robed man stops dancing and makes a gesture, after which the men all remove their helmets. He then begins preaching, talking about making a new mother from the eggs, and asking them to help father with this creation. During this, the group have concocted a plan. Most of the group has returned to the entrance of the tunnel while Ellea casts phantasmal force, projecting a group of harpies that fly from the tunnel into the room, fly around the room and exit again through the same tunnel. The people quickly scramble to put their helmets back on. The robed man is not so easily fooled and starts shouting at the people that it is just an illusion - however with their helmets on, this falls on deaf ears. The robed man rushes towards on of the doors on the far side of the room. Of the 15 others, 8 of them run towards the tunnel where the harpies went, while the other 7 cower in terror and remain in the room. Ellea hastily retreats to the entrance of the cave, with the 8 people close behind her - running straight into the trap. The adventurers tackle the 8 men and successfully immobilise them all. Escorting them men to the forrest, they tie them all to trees.

Returning to the tunnel entrance, the group tentatively return down the corridor. Their plan is to lure the people out to the forrest where they can use entangle. Seeing into the main room, the 7 remaining people with helmets now also have weapons and light armour. The robed man is wielding a staff. He is flanked by four skeletons. The group retreat back to the entrance of the tunnel and wait. After a long wait, the 7 people with helmets appear moving slowly down the corridor. Goldborn tries to communicate, telling them to remove their helmets, but to no avail. But when Bill is brought to the front of the group, one of the helmeted men has a flash of recognition and removes his helmet. After some brief negotiating and reassurances, the seven men put down their weapons and exit the cave.

The group return to the cave where the robed man and skeletons remain to finish the job. Goldborn enters and holds a harpys egg (obtained in the previous session) above his head. He threatens to drop it. The robed man waves his staff and says ‘you will put the eggs on the alter and leave the island.’ The staff glows with a white light and Goldborn seems happy to obey the command. He starts to walk towards the alter. The rest of the group are scared to attack the robed man, not knowing his power. Even after the four skeletons disappear with a puff of smoke, they still do not want to attack. With a gust of wind, a faint sound rings through the cave, giving the impression of some words - ‘don’t be afraid… magic users must focus to recharge their spells…’. This gives the group the impetus to all attack together, before the robed man can react. Walt of course shoots his magic missile, Kai’s soldiers all shoot their crossbows and Jessie shoots some darts. Kai and Hank move in to attach in melee. All of these attacks are enough to take the robed man down who now lies unconscious on the ground. The group take away his staff, which allows Goldborn to rethink his actions and stop walking towards the alter. They also find and dagger with a black blade and twisted handle on the robed man.

The group then investigate the five doors. Behind four of them are simple dorm rooms with six beds and chests, the chests have simple items in like poor quality clothes, spare helmets and things to cook and eat with. In the fifth room (the middle door) is another simple bedroom, but with only one bed. Under the bed, Kai finds a hole. Moving the bed, they find that the hold leads to a small room. In the room they find four bottles with a blue liquid inside. There are also ten scrolls, which Walt is clearly very interested in and grabs before the others can take a look at them. In a chest, three green coloured gems and 250 gold pieces are found.

There is a staircase from this room leading down into darkness. Not content with their current haul and still yet to take a hit, they continue down the stairs. At the bottom of the long staircase they arrive at a cave like room with stalactites hanging from the ceiling. Moving into the room, a one foot long stalactite jumps from the ceiling towards Sir Goldborn. A return of this campaigns biggest nemesis. Goldborn ducks and dives performing an amazing dodge and just avoiding the attack. As everyone prepares to attack, a second stalactite, this one three feet tall, jumps down and narrowly misses Kai. Since Walt doesn’t have his magic missile and Jessie is scared, they retreat. Kai, who already has a fire lit in his hand, throws it at the monsters to no effect. The others all attack but don’t do enough damage to take either of the monsters down. The next round sees Hank downed by the larger monster, but in retaliation the others are able to take down this larger one. With the help of some summoned insects from Kai, that stop the smaller monster from attacking, the group are able to take down this smaller monster as well.

Satisfied and tired from the fight, the group return to the surface with the unconscious Hank, collect the loot as well as the robed mans body and exit the cave. They return to the ship, along with the fifteen other people found in the cave.

AD&D Session 20: The Deaf Cult

Preparing to return to Argento to further investigate the lighthouse, Kai, Archie and Ellea receive welcome news of more adventurers arriving to assist. The paladin Sir Goldborn has returned from his period of grieving after the death of his apprentice, Frieda. The villagers can tell that Goldborn is a man of unquestionable morals and welcome him into the village. The same cannot be said of Kleptos the thief, who is stopped by the guards at the gates. After some suspicion, Kleptos manages to convince the guards to let him in after mentioning that he knows Kai, who is now well known in the village. The guards escort Kleptos to the harbour where the find Kai who promises to take responsibility for Kleptos’ actions. Accompanying Kleptos are his mercenaries Shaggy and four crossbowmen.

The whole group now consists of Kai with his five mercenaries, Archie, Ellea, Sir Goldborn and Kleptos with his five mercenaries. This whole group travel to the island with the ship captain Russel. The journey goes without event and they arrive at the same beach and pontoon as last adventure. The Sheriff’s boat has disappeared and in its place is a small rowing boat. The group ask is Russel would like to join them, but he says his adventuring days are behind him and that he will wait with the boat off the coast. The group then starts up the path from the beach, through the forest towards the lighthouse.

At the end of the path the group begins to see the silver lighthouse through the trees and there are six people sitting outside it around a fire. All six are wearing some strange helmet which is particularly thick over the ears. So far the people seem to have not noticed the group. Goldborn tries to get their attention by shouting while Archie enters the forest to try to hide. The people don’t respond to Goldborn’s shouts and continue at their activities. The group notice a lack of talking from the people and they seem to be communicating using signs and gestures. Moving further up the path, one of the people eventually notices the group and waves his arms and points to get the attention of the others. They quickly grab their weapons (three spears, one sword and one stick set on fire) and stand in a defensive formation. However, this is no problem for our druid Kai in his natural habitat, who casts the spell entangle. Vines and roots shoot out of the forest towards the six people, grabbing five of them and holding them to the ground. The sixth is grabbed around the ankle, but manages to shake it off and stumbles towards the entrance to the lighthouse. However, both Archie and Shaggy react quickly, rushing towards the person and grappling him to the floor. All six now captured, the group tie them up and secure them to a near by tree. Meanwhile, Kleptos stealthily checks their pockets finding a few coins and trinkets. Realising that the helmets are stopping the people from hearing them, they remove one of the peoples helmets. On their face they notice some markings, possibly tattoos, similar to the cult symbols found last week. As soon as the helmet is removed, the man starts shouting and screaming. Goldborn tries to calm the person down but to no avail. During the screaming the only words the group can understand are ‘you will not hurt mother!’. Not wanting the draw any more attention, the helmet is put back on the person and he quiets down.

The group carries on, opening the door to the lighthouse. They arrive in a circular room with a central column rising the the ceiling. A staircase begins to the left of the room circling around the outside of the building towards the top of the tower. To the right there is a small separate room blocked by a door. On the floor is a wooden hatch. There is also a table with some papers with cult like symbols and writing. The small room is coated in dust and the group find and open a chest inside. In here are six small items in the shape of thimbles. The group are confused by these items and start experimenting. Kleptos sniffs them and identifies them as being made of beeswax. Archie cuts one of them open and finds that it is solid. Then Archie has the idea of putting them in his ears. Ellea likes this idea and quickly does it. Like an inverse clap, this world suddenly becomes completely silent for her. The sounds of the wind and sea against the cliffs disappear. She can see the others talking but hears nothing. They conclude that there are magical earplugs that block all sound. Goldborn, Archie and Kai take one pair each and put them in before climbing the stairs to the top of the lighthouse.

At the top of the stairs they arrive at a landing with the beacon, enclosed in a glass case, in the middle. A roof covers the landing and there is a large nest on the other side of the beacon. Goldborn, Archie, Kie and Ellea make it up to the roof with Kleptos, Shaggy and a mercenary still climbing the stairs. The glass case is locked with a padlock and the nest has three eggs inside. Goldborn approaches the nest and bends down to pick up one o the eggs. As he does so, another of the creatures with the body/wings of a vulture and head/torso of a woman jumps down from the roof onto the landing. The creature has a bolt sticking out of its shoulder with the wound seemingly a couple of weeks old and scabbed over. It seems quite angry, but as it opens its mouth a beautiful song appears which begins to enchant any that can hear. Of course Goldborn, Archie and Kai have their newly acquired earplugs in and so hear none of this and begin to attack. Goldborn begins by throwing the egg he has in his hand towards the floor of the landing before swinging with his sword. Archie also charges in with his sword, while Kai summons insects. Ellea attempts to case a phantasmal force, but with the creatures song going through her head she fines that she cannot concentrate enough on the spell to make it work. Involuntarily, her legs begin walking her forward towards where the creature stands.

Kleptos, still on the stairs behind Shaggy and the mercenary, sees the others lose focus and can just hear a few notes of the song in the air. Still unaffected by it, some quick thinking leads him to grab shaggy and the mercenary and pull them back down the stairs. After stumbling down a few steps, they are away from the sound of the song and Shaggy and the mercenary look a bit confused and dazed. Kleptos hatches a plan to return downstairs to the captured people and take one of their helmets to block the sound of the song. However, he doesn’t want the person to start screaming again, so he removes one of them from a tree and takes him to the forest. Slitting the persons throat, he takes the helmet and goes running back to the top of the lighthouse.

Meanwhile, on the lighthouse roof, the creature is distracted by its egg being thrown to the floor. It leaps to the side towards the egg, which fortuitously also leads it to avoid Goldborn’s swing of his sword, and grabs the egg before it hits the ground, all while continuing to sing - very impressive. It then follows this up with some less impressive scratches at Goldborn which bounce ineffectively off his armour.  Goldborn and Archie follow up with some more melee strikes which take the creature down before Kai’s insects can even arrive. Ellea snaps out of her trance and is confused how she walked from one side of the landing to the other. With the creature still breathing on the floor they put it out of its misery. At this moment, Kleptos comes running from the top of the stairs, dagger raised in the air and shouting, wearing one of the strange helmets. Seeing the dead creature on the floor, he stops and looks around at the others who are laughing at his late arrival. Archie investigates the nest further and finds some human remains and a badge of the crest of Porto Oro.

The group take the body of the harpy to the bottom of the lighthouse and present it to their captives. There is a range of reactions with some clearly distraught, others more quietly upset and two looking more relieved. However, Goldborn in particular is confused and worried about the disappearance of one of the captives. Kleptos suggests that Shaggy and one of his mercenaries might look for the escaped captive, and quietly instructs them to dispose of the body. Goldborn doesn’t question why Kleptos has one of the captives strange helmets.

The group open the hatch at in the floor of the lighthouse and find a ladder leading down to a small room. The room seems to be a kitchen and has a door on the south wall. They find some gold as well as two red potions (which, after tasting, they conclude are more healing potions). They also find the diary of the caretaker which talks about some strange scratching noises coming from the wall of his bedroom. Going through the door they find this bedroom which has a messy bed, a wardrobe and a big hole in the western side of the room where the wall has collapsed. Kai looks in the back of the wardrobe trying to find Narnia, but instead finds a trick panel which contains a stash of 200gp. After a brief discussion, in which Goldborn argues that this gold clearly belongs to the caretaker and so taking it would be stealing, they decide to take the gold but promise to give it back to the caretaker if they find him.

Looking through the collapsed wall, they see a cliff with a narrow walk way winding downwards towards the south. Following the path they reach a small cave like room. There is a bridge like passage leading further south with two crude wooden statues of a human like form with wings either side of the entrance to the bridge. In the corner of the small room there is a body. As they approach the body they see some things crawling over the body. They realise that they are giant centipedes eating the human remains. There are 11 centipedes in total, but they are quite focussed on their meal and don’t notice the adventurers. Ellea casts phantasmal force, producing an illusion of a fire engulfing the body and the centipedes. The centipedes are all completely fooled by the illusion and react as if it is a real fire, shrivelling up and dying. Approaching the human body, there is not much left to see, but they do find a set of keys. Continuing over the bridge they arrive to another cave like room, but this one larger. The room is well lit and there are quite a few people walking about, doing tasks, each of them wearing one of the strange helmets. There are a number of different doors and exits from the room. Still unnoticed, the group decides they are too fatigued and few in number to confront this room and so retreat.

On the way out the group returns to the top of the lighthouse, using the key to open the class case and relight the beacon. They also collect their five prisoners, as well as the body of the harpy and return to the beach. After hailing Russel, they get back on the boat and head to Porto Oro.

AD&D Session 19: Chekhov's Harpoon Gun

The session begins in the evening in Borgogazze where two new and enthusiastic adventurers - Archie the archer fighter and Ellea the illusionist - have met our favourite druid Kai in a tavern (who still has his five mercenary crossbowmen in tow). After bonding over some drinks they agree to adventure together. There is also a group of sailors in the tavern and looking to make more new friends Archie buys them a round of drinks. The sailors are of course very grateful and invite the adventurers to sit with them. After some small talk, the sailors reveal that they were meant to be sailing over night, but there is news that Argento Lighthouse is not working making it too dangerous to sail at night. After finding out that the lighthouse is close to Porto Oro - a village a bit further east than Trillo - and resting over night, the adventurers set out in the morning to investigate this problem with the lighthouse.

An uneventful hike along the coast gets the adventurers to Porto Oro, where they are greeted by two guards at the gates of the village who ask what business they have in Porto Oro. After some initial attempts at deception, the adventurers reveal that they are there to help with the lighthouse problem, which the guards are happy to hear. They then lead the adventurers through the village to talk to the Mayor Andrea. While walking through the village they notice that it is a very wealthy place with clean streets, fancy buildings and well dressed people who look at the scruffy adventurers with suspicion. The main street through the village is lined with expensive shops and leads down to a small harbour with luxury recreational boats, bars and restaurants. A big building overlooking the harbour is the office and residence of the Mayor.

The Mayor Andrea is very happy that her advertising campaign to find adventurers for the lighthouse problem has been successful and explains the situation. The lighthouse is two hours sail out to see from Porto Oro and it is the responsibility of Porto Oro to maintain it. It is very important for trade routes in the area since it helps lead boats through a sequence of islands at night. A week ago the beam suddenly went out. After there was no word from the lighthouse caretaker, Andrea sent the village Sheriff to investigate. After waiting a few days with the lighthouse still extinguished and the Sheriff yet to return, Andrea sought additional help, hence the advertising campaign for adventurers. She says that she can give an 80gp reward (for the whole group) for relighting the lighthouse and an additional 20gp for information about the Sheriff and caretaker. After agreeing to help, Andrea gives the adventurers a note to give to the village Captain Russel, who can take them to the island.

The adventurers find Russel right at the end of the harbour around a corner where the luxury vessels make way for a few small fishing boats and one more militaristic ship with a small sail and harpoon gun at the front which is protected by a metallic shield. Russel is on board this ship. After showing him the note from Andrea, he agrees that he will take them to the island and they agree that they will leave the next morning. Russel is a weathered old sailor who looks just as out of place in Porto Oro as the adventurers. He tells them not to expect to be welcomed in the village and invites them to spend the night on the boat where they don’t need to put up with judging eyes. The adventurers agree, but not before taking a small walk through the village. The shops all seem to pricey for them, and anyway don’t stock any items suitable for an adventurer. Archie is interested in the hot spring bath house that is famous in the village, but he is not welcomed when he arrives. The receptionist looks at him with a hint of disgust and asks what he wants. Archie asks how much it is to use the baths. The receptionist asks how much he has. Archie says 20gp. The receptionist says it costs 40gp (and anyway, the baths are for members only). Discouraged and disgruntled, Archie and the others return to the ship.

The next morning the group is ready to set sail. Kai predicts that the weather will be good and they begin their journey towards the island. Russel is capable of piloting the ship himself, leaving the adventurers to watch the waves and horizon. After an hour or so of sailing, Russel points out a small dot in the distance that he says is Argento island (where the lighthouse is). Looking towards the island, the adventurers eventually see two smaller dots in the sky that are slowly getting bigger. Eventually they see that they are two creatures flying towards them and the group prepares for an attack. The creatures have the body and wings of a vulture but heads and upper torsos of women. After a brief discussion about whether these creatures might be friendly, the group decides they are probably not and to attack as soon as they are in range. Ellea mans the harpoon gun while Archie and the crossbowmen open fire and Kai produces a flame that he intends to throw at the creatures. A few of the arrows land hits, Kai luckily avoids causing a fire on the ship and Ellea hits one of the creatures square in the chest with the harpoon bolt. The creature falls into the sea. The bolt is attached to a rope, which is attached to the ship. They see the rope moving through the water until it is eventually dragging behind the ship. Russel shouts to Ellea that there are more bolts in a hatch next to the gun (these ones not attached to a rope) and she reloads. Another round of ranged attacks fails to take down the second creature and it arrives at the ship. Seemingly enraged at the gun for hitting its companion, it attacks the harpoon shield, scraping its claws down the metal. The group closes in for melee combat and after a few rounds of attacks with the creature still focussed on the gun, they take it down, falling into the waves. They then winch in the harpoon rope, which is still dragging behind the ship, which reveals the creature still with the bolt through its chest and spluttering blood from its mouth. Archie puts the creature out of its misery leaving the corpse attached to the front of the ship as a morbid figurehead.

The group arrives at the island where they find a small beach to the west of the island with a pontoon. The north coast of the island has tall, sheer cliffs and the south coast is full of large rocks and boulders that the sea crashes against. The rest of the small island is filled with trees on a steep hill leading up to the lighthouse at the top of the hill on the north east side of the island. The lighthouse is painted silver with gold detailing and they see that there is no light coming from the top of it. A path leads from the beach through the trees in the direction of the lighthouse. At the pontoon there is another small boat with the crest of Porto Oro on the side. Russel can tell the group that this is the Sheriff’s boat. The boat also has a harpoon gun which is covered in claw marks. The boat seems empty and has a small cabin with a locked door. The group smash the window of the cabin and gain entry. In the cabin they find a red potion (which Archie later tastes to discover that it is a healing potion), some maps of the area and a diary. The most recent entry of the diary talks of an encounter with a creature (similar to those the group encountered) which was fended off but returned injured to the island, as well as arriving to the island but being too afraid to continue up to the lighthouse. Below the entry were some strange symbols that the group didn’t recognise. Feeling similarly afraid, the group decides to return to Porto Oro and bring all this information back to Andrea. The sail back goes without incident.

The group arrives back in Porto Oro with the dead creature still attached to the front of the ship. This shocks the village people who are not used to such monstrosities, but it also seems that some are impressed or in awe of the adventurers bravery. The adventurers report back to Andrea and she agrees that backup is needed and increases the reward to 100gp (relighting) + 20gp (information about Sheriff and caretaker) per adventurer in order to attract more people. In the following week, Kai takes the strange symbols to Xenia the translator. She says she vaguely recognises them as a very crude language (they used it as practise during her training as a translator) of a cult that was in the area about twenty years ago. She doesn’t know much more about the cult other than this. Meanwhile, Archie tries to gain entry to the bath house again, this time being more welcomed due to his increased celebrity in the village. They give him a free one week membership to the baths, as long as he agrees to take a long shower before using them. The warm waters make him feel revitalised, temporarily giving him an additional 2hp. Ellea instead likes the idea of working in a bar by the harbour. She asks a few places, but it seems all the bars are well staffed and aren’t interested in someone with no experience. After all this rejection, Ellea is surprised that the last bar she goes to at the end of the harbour is interested in her services. However, as she begins work she is surprised to not have to do much, or even any, actual bar work, and instead spends the evenings with locals asking about her stories as an adventurer (being completely ignorant of adventuring, the villagers don’t realise that Ellea is only level 1 and most of her stories are made up). From a small wage and tips, Ellea receives 1gp per day for her work.