Chapter Seven: The Stalemate At Loton's Cove

The lieutenant lets you know that some of the initial investigators did proceed on to Old Hilltown and the valley beyond, and have since returned to Hazard, but he does not know the details of their findings. He does caution you that more orcs have been spotted in the vicinity than is usual -- just scouts on the high ridges so far, but he warns that the orcs may have been emboldened by the appearance of the dragon, taking it for an omen in their favor.

Lets try the smithy again and see if we can find out more about the bards. We can act like Domarc has some professional interest in them.

That's, like, not even a lie

Is it just Mordred and Domarc visiting the smith, or the whole party?

The town's main thoroughfare is less mournfully silent in the daytime, but still feels half-deserted. The shops are staffed, but there's little custom flowing through, and no voices hawking wares. In front of the smithy, a trio of dirty children play ball in the street. No hammer is pinging this morning; the smith is in the front of her shop, talking with another woman. Their conversation trails off as they eye your approach.

"I can," the smith says, looking at Domarc expectantly.

To the rest of you: anyone who doesn't want to accompany Domarc and Mordred to the smithy is welcome to poke their heads into any of the several taverns on this street. Some are shuttered and most are close to empty of clientele, but they aren't completely dead.

"I think they were headed east," the smith says. "Maybe to Dokling or Alband."

If everybody is on board, the party can leave and follow the map to the valley on Monday. In the meantime, let me know anything you want to do while you're still in Solyhill.

Assume you can Identify whatever you want to and relearn whatever travel/combat spells you need before you leave Solyhill, whenever that is, but let me know specifically what items you're looking at. The iron rod is just an iron rod, however it is made of sky-iron.

"They played at the Eagle's Dagger a bit, but I didn't hear much of it. Couldn't tell you what they played," the smith says. She looks to her friend, who shrugs.

"They played The Tree Who Loved A Boy and it was very sweet, then they did some bawdy songs that I wasn't much in the mood for. They weren't terrible, but I've heard better."

I feel like there's something to those bards, but none of the responses are giving me much to follow up on. It might be a dead end.

Annganne Anne tell Zangua. "The rod is just a sky-iron rod. It is also a Complete Graph for a collection of Two Vertices. You never know when you might need such a graph!"

Annganne Anne casts Identifies and squints at:

- The iridescent feather floating in the glass sphere
- The two Rings of Spell Storing, mostly to get information about capacity

Ring of Spell Storing capacity: 5 charges. The feather belonged to a couatl, and the sphere holds a minor enchantment that keeps the feather suspended.

Is everybody ready to leave town and move on, following the cohort's route using the map the lieutenant gave you? It's early enough in the day that you can still expect to reach their first campsite at Akker's Well by nightfall.

Yeah, I'm ready to go.