Chapter Two: The Hippocampus on the Cracked Lintel

Gotcha.

Back at the Inn, I'll relay everything that happened in the house, including splitting the 25 GP we received with the rest of the party. I'll suggest we head for Mivil Bridge and then search the river south from there. In case it was missed up thread, I burn the pouch the gold came in, in case it has magical tracking properties or something.

Just kidding about the 25 GP. I'm inclined to keep the 100 in a "Party Treasure" fund for now, unless others feel strongly about splitting it immediately.

Where is Mivil Bridge? I think Adan may have mentioned it to see whether or not we'll go there and look for Zora. It may very well be a trap.

The Mivil Bridge is a very old stone bridge that spans the Ophid about three miles northeast of Hazard.

Anybody got a History roll for me?

Well, Zangua knows bupkis about the Mivil Bridge. Anyone else want to try?

The Mivil Bridge is almost as old as Hazard itself and serves both as a chokepoint for boats to Hazard from upstream and as the only nearby crossing for foot and wagon traffic that doesn't pass through Hazard itself. As such, it is tremendously strategically important and is heavily guarded with fortified watchtowers at either end. The Bridge Authority collects tolls and taxes from all who pass over or beneath it, and functions as an autonomous entity tolerated by the government of Hazard for unclear reasons generally assumed to be an inscrutable tangle of centuries-old pacts, familial ties, secret kickbacks, and unbreakable oaths.

If you want to go to the Mivil Bridge (and don't feel like you're being railroaded into going there! There are certainly other options you could pursue) it will take about three days' travel on foot, but you're only a few hours away from places where you could catch a boat down the Ophid, which could potentially get you there in less than a day.

Culsu is not known in Jerma, but Shamush has heard of her: a minor goddess of the underworld, associated with passages and doors both literal and metaphorical.

Felor doesn't know anything about "the Implacable," either.

We have two votes for going downriver by boat and two votes for interrogating Adan Jack Bauer-style, with one strong objection to the latter option.

You've been discussing things for some time (over an hour, say) and nobody has left the house, as far as you've seen.