We visit all the rest of the villages with no more notable events that the scribe was worth mentioning or the bards worth singing songs about.[1]
As we reached the capital once more to pick up the promised bounty, we found that our reputation precedes us and people are waiting for us like some sort of a second Messiah, not that the first one was ever born in this story.[2]
The First Speaker gives us fair payment for the giant heads we collected in our adventures and awards us the title of Defenders of Icewind Dale[3]. Of course this high recognition deserves a banquet worthy of the name, so off to the tavern we go.
In the tavern we are approached by the Zhentarim members, a man and a woman, who are also interested of our main quest “Finding Capusa (The Weevil)”. If we ever find him the Zhentarim will appreciate a word with him.
We rest well at the tavern/inn and we decide to look for more glory and gold, our destiny awaits us so off we go. Luckily there are some merchants that are willing to pay us if we go with them as bodyguards exactly in the direction we are headed. There is no trouble for the mighty legend Solid and his party to take such an easy task, so we agree.[4]
We reach Hundelstone and ask around, as guided by the beggar woman, to find Thwip Fund de Fier (Thwip Ironbottom). We find him on the first try, guided by a local dwarf from the village.[5]
As we reach Thwip's house we are in for a surprise, the door is opened by none other than the sheriff's deputy who ran away from Bryn Shander. She welcomes us and calls for Thwip.
Thwip is a very nice gnome who has a present for us: a tiny mechanical dog that follows us around.[6] He also gives us some useful tips that we will surely take into consideration:
1. Nearby there is a town named Lipskan[7], it is full of outlaws and we should go around it if possible (sure thing).
2. We can go to Fire Mountain[8], a place where we can learn to ride griffins for a price of course.
3. If we reach Mirabar we should go to the southern stable and ask about a dwarf named Gaspar. For now Gaspar is a mystery and we do not know how he may help us.
He also lets Ren use his lab to try and make some gadgets. All he manages to do is something resembling an iron ball.[9]
We gladly ignore the second tip as we don’t want to learn how to ride griffins if it involves us paying for the lessons.
It seems that the merchants that hired us as bodyguards are headed towards Lipskan and we agree to accompany them a little further for “fair” payment. That will come together as a bonus to have the possibility to ignore the first tip Thwip gave us.[10]
So we reach the gates of the Mighty Metropolis Lipskan, where the guards are willing to let us pass for just a little attention in gold. A flash of Szivem's breast doesn’t buys us the way in but it helps boil the blood of the guards, who then easily accept a sex bet playing dice. Selene loses the bet and finds herself whoring again for what she thinks will give her a little information.[11]
We enter the city that was recently attacked by sea, but the local mages managed to burn down the ships and repel the attack.[12] In the port there are still burning ships stupid enough to get too close to the shore. We ask around for some accommodation and to the Preoteasa Deocheata[13] inn we go.
Subtle as a tank[14] we try to find an outlaw in a “decent city” as Lipskan. Soon enough we find out that this will bring us more trouble than it’s worth if we keep this tactic so we relocate to a poorer inn, Cateaua Puricoasa[15], where again we try to find some info about Capusa. No more luck here for almost the whole party. The only lucky one was Ren, lucky to get laid with a hooker and he didn’t even get the crabs.[16]
We go back to Preoteasa Deocheata to rest and surprise: Selene is recognized by a local waiter, seems like a friend from her past. Not wasting any time she finds herself in his bed soon after. We still don’t get any useful information about Capusa at this time.[17]
[1] That pig merchant though...
[2] You would be surprised at the number of heroes and demi-gods this realm has seen and forgotten since.
[3] Achievement unlocked!
[4] It only takes a couple of gold pieces as reward to have the adventuring party go where you want them to.
[5] Who happened to be out shopping at that time.
[6] Not that you ever used it since.
[7] It's a city. A metropolis, if you will. And it's called "Luskan".
[8] That would be Fireshear, after some back-and-forth translation.
[9] An excellent first trial of some 3rd party crafting rules.
[10] When Note#4 comes back to bite me.
[11] A common occurence.
[12] Frost Giant ships.
[13] The Naughty Priestess.
[14] As always.
[15] The Mangy Cur. I was creative with tavern names that day.
[16] Unlike Selene at the guard post.
[17] But he does hook her up with a guy who stole from the wizards' guild, and wants to sell the goods. That turned out... pretty well, actually.
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