2. The First Delve

Pickles eyes twinkle a little as he speaks, "Oow, a search? Are you playing hide and seek? Who are you looking for? My whole Village had a game of hide and seek with some Orcs once, though a couple of my mates took it a little too seriously. I never saw them again."

The Kopper Kettle
"Two of our brothers haven’t reported back from their patrol. You haven’t seen them have you? They’d be wearing scarves like these."

---
Day 2, 6:30 pm
Fenwick, Elf 1: 5/5
Gabbro, Elf 1: 4/7
Jessica, Cleric 1: 5/5
Luther, Cleric 1: 5/5 (Lantern)
Pickles, Halfling 1: 4/4
Ricard, Fighter 2: 12/14

Link to Gabbro's mega-maps ...

Pickles lets a look of sadness fall upon his face, "Oh no, that’s no good. I haven’t seen anything, but . . . " Pickles lowers his voice to a hush letting a conspirational look drift to the Orcs in the corner, "I did report to Zorrel that the Open Sores have been showing a lot of interest in your current activities."

Absolutely no expression disturbs the grim, hard-set look on Ricard's face as Pickles spins his yarn.

Clever lad, he thought, although he would find out soon enough wether or not that was true...

@spaceseeker19 Let's go show the architect the drawing. Maybe he can tell us something.

Fenwick shudders. "I hope they didn't get taken in for 'questioning.' You can see why a girl might find safety in numbers appealing right now."

The Kopper Kettle
Luther takes Gabbro’s sketch of the flame-chalked symbol over to the dwarven architect. He initially looks excited as you hand over the parchment, but his enthusiasm soon wanes when he sees what’s marked upon it.

"Well, it’s not Dwarven. Or, if it is, it’s a terrible drawing."

Stroking his beard, he speculates "It might be the profile of a key of some sort. Or perhaps a map where ‘X’ marks the spot. Or some sort of arcane symbol, rune or sigil. Or a hieroglyph. Or just the doodlings of a madman. Whatever it is, it’s of no interest to me I’m afraid."

---
Day 2, 6:30 pm
Fenwick, Elf 1: 5/5
Gabbro, Elf 1: 4/7
Jessica, Cleric 1: 5/5
Luther, Cleric 1: 5/5 (Lantern)
Pickles, Halfling 1: 4/4
Ricard, Fighter 2: 12/14

Link to Gabbro's mega-maps ...

Fenwick walks by the table behind the dwarves, rolls her eyes at Gabbro, and goes and to pick a bed for the night.

Jessica stands nearby as Pickles tells his story, just in case of trouble.

The Kopper Kettle
OK, let’s wrap things up for Day 2 …

There’s no further trouble, and you’re able to eat, drink and retire to the dormitory without incident.

The dormitory consists of makeshift sleeping partitions containing flea-ridden straw-and-fur beds and scratchy, filthy blankets. For company, you’re joined by Johann (the gnome you rescued from the orcs), the dwarves, and two lizardfolk.

---

That concludes Day 2. Everyone - please deduct 2 copper pieces each for drinks and board. Also, please remove 1 day of rations from your inventories.

---

You awake the following morning, refreshed and raring to go.

What’s the plan?

---
Day 3, 8:00 am
Fenwick, Elf 1: 5/5
Gabbro, Elf 1: 4/7
Jessica, Cleric 1: 5/5
Luther, Cleric 1: 5/5 (Lantern)
Pickles, Halfling 1: 4/4
Ricard, Fighter 2: 12/14

Link to Gabbro's mega-maps ...

"The Beggars said they'd meet us here today at noon, I'm hoping as recruits we can get assigned to find whatever they're looking for and get some details, also learn more about their numbers and territory for the tribe, " Fenwick says. "Do we think we'd have time to do exploring beforehand? We wouldn't want to travel far. "

Jessica examines the contents of her purse, a piece of lint, and some crumbs. "If we don't find something for our efforts soon, I'm afraid that I'm going to be sleeping under tables," she sighs.

"Well we have to do SOMETHING to pass the time until noon, may as well explore!"

Ricard straps his armor back on and checks his pack to make sure nothing is missing. After taking stock of his supplies Ricard decides to head into the marketplace and try to find some more rations. He approaches one of the vendors whose fair seems... palatable.

"Shall we go to see what's north of the Kopper Kettle? That way we keep close to our meeting place..." Like the Sister, Gabbro is feeling skint for coin.

Sounds good to me. Hearing of his partners money problems Luther thinks to himself at least things are cheap and can help those of the party who need it for a little bit anyway.

Pickles is out of bed early, Richard’s bed he perches himself on the end of it and hums quietly to himself waiting for the Fighter to wake. As everyone stirs he gives a cheery, "Good morning." He straps on his clothes and checks his equipment, while snacking on a few dried rations and offering some to everyone else. "North is a good idea Gabbro.", he finally adds as he skips out of the room after Ricard.

Kobold Market
The market is just getting going for the day as Ricard saunters in. Stall holders are setting up their wares as the first customers hunt for early bargains. A quick tour of the stalls uncovers a couple of food options, although their palatability is debatable. A snake vendor is offering fried snakes for 1 copper piece per portion, whilst a grocer has something that approximates to rations (1 silver piece for a day of standard rations, 3 silver pieces for iron - the price being a fair reflection of their quality).

---

Heading north from the Kopper Kettle takes you past the door to the "Rat Kebab Kafe" (eastern wall, immediately after the corner section that turns to the north (you visited previously but haven’t added it to your map yet).

Beyond that, the corridor continues for a further 10’ before a side passage branches off to the east. However, at this point, you are prevented from continuing any further by a spear-wielding bugbear guard. "Private," he grunts in clipped common.

---
Day 3, 8:00 am
Fenwick, Elf 1: 5/5
Gabbro, Elf 1: 4/7
Jessica, Cleric 1: 5/5
Luther, Cleric 1: 5/5 (Lantern)
Pickles, Halfling 1: 4/4
Ricard, Fighter 2: 12/14

Link to Gabbro's mega-maps ...

"Alright, turning around...!" Gabbro backs away from the armed bugbear. As they leave to join Ricard in the Kobold Market, the elf mutters to Luther: "...I don't know what I was thinking, anyway, trying to explore without our weapons..."

Gabbro eyes the snake vendor's goods with slight alarm. ::Good grief, those are actually starting to look good to me!:: He grimaces. ::I've got to get some treasure, soon, or who knows what I'll be reduced to eating!::

Fenwick follows Gabbro back to the market. "That's disappointing, so many dead ends. Can we take a quick look at your map? Maybe we try a short trip south next?"

Looking at the map Yes, maybe collect our weapons and head south out of the guard post?