Chapter Two: The Hippocampus on the Cracked Lintel

We still have the gold from Adan. I thought we could keep it in "Party Treasure" for now, in case we have people drop out or join, but we can share it out now if you need some spending money.

One woman pales and stares intently at her wash, the second rolls her eyes, and the third looks back and says: "Indeed we are! And where do you hail from, highwayman?"

"Don't encourage him," the eye-roller mutters.

~meanwhile~

The priest looks up skeptically as Felor drops his coins in the box. "I've never heard of Fjorgyn," he says.

While you are of course free to linger in Headlee as long as you like, those of you who expressed an interest in catching up with Zora as soon as possible will be noticing that the sun is climbing higher in the sky and you'll need to get back on the road soon if you want to reach Grine's Knot at a reasonable hour.

Yeah, let's move on.

The party gets back on the road and heads down toward Grine's Knot.

It's a bright, breezy day, the rains gone for the time being. Traffic on the road is light, but steady: mostly small-time traders and suppliers moving goods from village to village.

By the time you reach Grine's Knot you've been walking in darkness for a few hours; a patrolman from the town graciously slows his horse to allow your party and a carpetmaker from Bearshir to walk the rest of the way by the light of his torch.

Built just south of the road, on and around four low, lumpy hills dotted with huge leafless oak trees, Grine's Knot boasts a proper square with several shops and taverns, a large inn, and a cross-shaped holy house. A small stone temple stands upon one of the hills. Aside from a torch-carrying patrolman or three there's nobody out on the town at this hour, but there are lights and noise coming from the taverns.

There's a tailor, a butcher shop, a general store, a blacksmith, and a feed store. It's likely you'd find more vendors working out of carts and tables in the square during the daytime. There are two taverns: the Coiled Rope, on the ground floor of the inn, from which most of the noise (talking, laughter, music) seems to be coming from, and a quieter, darker place called the Toad and Skull on the other side of the square. The holy house likely contains a multitude of shrines, like the one in Headlee.

As for the temple, give me a Religion and a Perception check.

Squinting, Felor can just barely make out the forked bolt of Ziu-Pater crowning the roof of the temple.

Ziu-Pater

Whoa. Zeus Pater = Jupiter. I just got that.

The Toad and Skull is dark, smoky, low-ceilinged, and not very crowded. Three cloaked figures share a table, smoking pipeflower and playing a slow card game by lamplight. Two gray old men sit at the bar, several stools apart, drinking from tall cups. At another table, a sallow man with a long black beard sits beside a young woman in men's traveling clothes, talking quietly to her while she stares off into the middle distance, nodding occasionally. Mordred does a double take when his gaze falls upon her, but it's not Zora.

The barkeeper, a thick-necked young man with a shaved head, eyes Mordred & co. as they enter, while absent-mindedly drying out a leather mug with a dirty rag.