Mootscarp Madness

With the peaceful troll couple of Gully Bridge singed and slaughtered, the party looted their fetid hovel of a cave. Nancy healed Golun-dal's festering claw wound and he was smitten--a wizard tending to him! This time, his "traditional halfling greeting" felt a little more meaningful than just a "hello." Nancy leaned in.

As they recovered, Golun-dal worked out their plan for getting off the Moor. He told them all roads converged on a place he called, "The Mootscarp," describing it as neutral land for the tribes that had forever been a place of peace, where killing and magic was forbidden. Further, each tribe had a representative permanently stationed there. They would investigate if word of Golun-dal's flight had yet reached Chekka Burr, the Red Tusk representative at the Mootscarp. The group was skeptical they needed to pass through the area at all, why not just slip by? But Golun-dal was adamant: he said it was the only trail not on tribal lands; he wanted to make sure Chekka Burr had not received word; they may learn other useful information about the lands to the east; and besides, they would be safe there. 

With that, the group set off. On the walk, Golun-dal continued to pester everyone about their magic abilities and kept working at his casting. They noticed his memory was near perfect recall and also a clever mimic: slowly his accent morphed to be almost indistinguishable from their own as they conversed. Otherwise, the going was as it was before – traipsing through rolling hills of heather and winter gorse, scattered snow piles where the drifts built up, hidden gullies, rocky outcroppings, peat topsoil, startling grouse or errant grazing animals. Occasionally Golun-dal read a sign they did not notice and he turned everyone in a different direction. Other times he ushered the group quickly through more exposed terrain.

Eventually the path merged with a few others, as tributaries with a river, all leading toward the Mootscarp. With the sun low in the sky, they crested a hill and saw a gently rolling plateau of heathland, sloping ever so slightly up toward the east. About five miles away across the open plain they could make out a building atop a bluff. As they approached, they saw the outline of two buildings. One was large and prominent, set back from the edge of the escarpment, the other was right on the precipice. They trail by this time was nearly a highway, and fellow travelers became more and more frequent. Switchbacks were cut into the steep grade and halfway up they could see the closer building was actually a large, communal, pit latrine, overlooking the Moor. It looked like it was constructed to provide the bare modicum of privacy and shelter, but they could see by the soiled color of the snow at the base that it was a fairly clever design, with access to the offal pits made easier by the face of the ridge. Golun-dal pointed this out with a professional eye.

At the top of the switchbacks they saw the other building. It was a three story, rustic inn with smoke curling out of many chimneys and frosted windows muffling the sound of bawdy music being played. From an upper window a steamy, soapy, bucket of water poured out onto the ground below, reminding the group--to Nancy's chagrin--just how long it had been since their last bath. There was one more outbuilding, some kind of storage. A few people were in front of the inn breaking down tents, while others were bringing wooden poles and canvas into the other outbuilding. There was a general bustle to the place, with humans, goblins, orcs, other races mingling about the scattered remnants of what Golun-dal called the "Tenday Market," a standing marketplace occurring every tenday between the tribes and off-Moor merchants.

The Inn itself had a simple wooden sign on it, “Mootscarp Inn,” and below it a smaller sign that read: No Killing; No Magic; No trolls.

Dala'gse and Nancy headed straight for the bar, while Ironica, Rya, and Zireael hit the market and Slothrop, Safad, Golun-dal and the goblins set up their own camp on the outskirts of the tents. Golun-dal had put on the Hat of Disguise in case this Chekka Burr was nearby. Dala'gse went to the posh side of the inn where a there was a tidy bar and a well dressed half-elf bartender with handsome features and dark eyes, named Ledo. He ordered a Mist Crow heather-breweed beer and sat down next to a hooded elf in the corner who was smoking a pipe. Nancy wandered over to the popular section where she met the yuan-ti pureblood bartender, DeRees, who said he'd be happy to have her play for drinks. 

Meanwhile, Rya came alive for the first time and started to bond with Ironica. It happened to be bonding over insidious poisons and debating their finer points and most efficient uses, but still--anything that would perk Rya up at this point was a win! Rya saw the sign she had learned from her mother meant poisons, "inquire about bitteroot out back" in front of an old goblin herbalist's tent. She and Ironica asked to see her selection of bitteroot and the goblin brought them around back. She opened up a chest and showed them her wares, introducing herself as Kalax Fen of the Night Wing tribe of the Bleak Hills. She struck up a conversation with Rya, who immediately won the old goblin over. Ironica was amazed to see such vigor in her new companion it warmed her. Eventually Rya and Ironica convinced Kalax Fen to sell them two special poisons, developed by the Night Wing leader, Drascua the Blind, herself: wormoil and midge paste. They agreed to go inside and get Kalax a beer if she would teach them how to concoct the poisons later that evening. 

Dala'gse was getting to know this self-styled elf ranger, Felix Rain, who seemed to know that he and his companions had quite the arsenal of magical items on them. He advised them to be careful of them in a place such as the Mootscarp, as magic was outlawed, and while killing was as well, thieving was still commonplace. Dala'gse learned that Felix had been hired by nobles out of Daggerford to cull the troll population on the High Moor, particularly around major caravan routes. He said he had made it all the way across the moor and unfortunately hadn't encountered a single troll to kill. Dala'gse was a bit puzzled, since his first two days on the more yielded two trolls, but he was used to strange encounters with folk not from Mbalu. Dala'gse suggested Felix simply advertise that he would purchase troll heads at a rate slightly lower than what the nobles in Daggerford were paying. Felix thought it was a grand idea. 

Zireael was interested in investigating Chekka Burr for Golun-dal, who, disguised as a human Mist Crow tribesman, pointed out Chekka Burr at a communal table on the popular side of the bar. Zireael approached him and casually asked if Mr. Burr recognized him as a member of the Brotherhood. Chekka Burr said he did, and then bragged to his companions about how weak humans were compared to Red Tusk orcs. He then sent the companions away to talk business with Zireael who seemed to be offering a service. Zireael asked if the Red Tusks were in need of anything the Brotherhood could provide, but Chekka said he would need to check with people back west at their main town. Zireael said he had heard of a Red Tusk runaway who he could help track down. Chekka Burr had not heard of this and was wondering who would be spreading such lies about the Red Tusk -- no one ever left the tribe! 

And that's when the madness began. 

What follows is a summary of how the group robbed a tribal diplomat; cheated at dice; nearly lost their precious Sveldinstone; almost got kicked out of the Mootscarp; hired three courtesans; swindled a man out of his clothes, dignity, and dragon scale--and then poisoned him; impersonated and framed an innocent traveler--and then beat him senseless; dodged some lycanthrope bloodletters; stargazed with a drunk Night Wing goblin; and went fishing for frogs in a mud puddle. 

Ironica and Rya had slipped inside to get Kalax her beer, and Ironica's itchy fingers could not be helped. While Zireael was talking to Chekka Burr, she sidled up behind him, and, feigning conversation with the table to his rear, pilfered the most accessible items from his belt pouch. Nancy saw what was going on and distracted the crowd with a jarring off-key stroke of her fiddle. Chekka Burr did not seem to notice. 

On the posh side of the inn, Dala'gse had been called over to a game of dice with a drunk explorer blow-hard who called himself Blouder Brig. He asked Dala'gse if he wasn't looking for something on the Moor, something lost, perhaps? Dala'gse had no idea what he was talking about and Blouder changed the subject, saying it was a Mootscarp tradition to play a game of dice upon arrival. He was well into his cups and anted up a real red dragon scale and said Dala'gse had to post collateral of similar value. Dala'gse had Slothrop stand in the game for him and they anted Safad's sveldinstone. Safad wouldn't mind, they agreed. 

The game was Liar's Dice, or some local variant where the players had to keep upping their calls for the number of a particular die face showing among their own hidden dice and the communal pot of dice. Blouder was an old hand and kept egging Slothrop on, telling him to "Call him a liar!"--or call his bluff. Slothrop, as always, played it cool. 

As the game began, Rya ordered a beer from the ever-present innkeeper who called himself, "Bhin." Rya told him she was from Old Weir, to which he commented, "Well then you must have a better idea of what’s going on there? We heard yesterday at Tenday Market from a metals merchant, was recently up in those parts. Flush with platinum he was. Says he was told in Estford not to bother crossing the Gap of Lodun to Old Weir, came by way of Firsburg instead. Said the local guard in Old Weir had enough of the Vostewylde Alliance Guard and pushed em out. Said they weren’t welcome. No bloodshed but apparently Old Weir wants out of the Alliance.” Rya said she hadn't heard the news, she had been on the road. 

Meanwhile, Slothrop deployed some skilled sleight of hand to shift some of the die and outbid his opponent. Unfortunately, the ploy still resulted in a loss. Blouder Brig eyed the Sveldinstone greedily. The group decided to violate one of the posted laws of the Mootscarp, "No Magic," and had Safad send a cantrip breeze to turn the dice randomly. Unfortunately, Blouder caught wind and called foul, claiming the group was using magic to gang up on him! He pointed to Safad, the culprit, while Ironica pretended to be a concerned bystander and "escorted" Safad outside. Bhin intervened and suggested checking the dice to see the result to judge if any magic had been done. If Slothrop won the round, it would mean require further investigation for tampering; if Blouder won, it would rule out Slothrop cheating: no harm no foul. It turned out the Blouder won, and with it the Sveldinstone! Zireael clenched his jaw.

Ironica came back inside and had Ledo pour Blouder a celebratory peatsmoke. She congratulated him and then approached the accountant named Crollis about hiring the courtesans. Ironica paid him 30gp to parade them downstairs for Blouder to choose any two. He picked a half-orc man and a goblin woman, and upstairs they went. Blouder was overjoyed. 

With Blouder occupied upstairs, Rya and Ironica returned to Kalax with her beer. They said they would be back later for the poison-making lesson, but right now they needed a sleeping poison. She gave her favorite, Rya, a solid discount on Drow sleeping poison, and they went back in to Ledo. They ordered a peatsmoke and two light beers, poisoning the peatsmoke. Zireael then paid off the bouncer to let him take the drinks up to the courtesan quarters. He knocked on the door and Blouder let him in, where he was in flagrante delicto with his companions, and naked as the day he was born, smiling from ear-to-ear. Blouder accepted the drinks happily and Zireael waited outside until he heard a loud thump. He went in and paid the courtesans 50gp each to keep quiet. 

With Blouder slouched on the floor, Zireael delivered a couple punches to make sure he was truly out before going back back downstairs. There, he found Dala'gse ironing out the details of the troll head business plan with Felix who was going on about how he was only in this situation because some woman from the Brotherhood reneged on the contract.

The group decided Felix would make a great fall-man. They steered him outside to talk privately, while Zireael slipped into the Hat of Disguise and impersonated Felix. Rya hooked into his arm and the two strolled upstairs with a wink at the bouncer. Once at the top, Zireael-as-Felix went into Blouder's room and roused him, making sure the woozy Blouder saw "Felix" as his assailant. He then stripped the helpless man of his dragonscale, the Sveldinstone, and a pair of fancy boots, as well as Felix's signet ring that Blouder had won earlier at dice. "Felix" then knocked him out again. Slothrop had climbed outside to make sure a potential escape route was clear from the window, but a Night Wing goblin saw him climbing out the window and wanted to join him on the roof. So the two of them stared at the stars with the goblin's pet bat. They may have held hands.

While Zireael was taking care of Blouder, Rya returned to the tavern to bawdy heckling at how short a time she had spent upstairs with "Felix." She fired right back at the crowd, letting them know not everyone could be special--the crowd liked that. Nancy, still playing music, was approached by three sniffing goblins who claimed they could smell the her lycanthropy and suggested she pay tribute to their leader, the Hark. They asked if she would give them her pinky finger as tribute but settled on a thimble of blood. Strange. 

Zireael-as-Felix made a show of coming downstairs soon after, adjusting his belt victoriously--even as the popular section jeered--and swaggered out the door. Once in the shadows, he took off the Hat of Disguise and jogged over to where Dala'gse was still entertaining the excitable Felix. Zireael took over and steered him an isolating distance toward the escarpment. Once there, Zireael interrogated Felix about his claim regarding the Brotherhood. Then he pinned him down and punched him repeatedly until his was out cold. He made sure to slip Felix's lost signet ring on him. 

Meanwhile, Ironica and Rya had returned to Kalax Fen and were finishing up the Wormoil and Midge Paste workshop. Dala'gse was well into his cups by this point and wandered a mile off to find the nearest puddle where he started groping in the mud for fish. Ironica, Rya, Slothrop, and Zireael realized they had better high-tail it out of the Inn before their victims regained consciousness. They packed up camp, recovered the wayward island dwarf, and hit the road. On the way out, about a half mile from the inn, in total darkness, they came upon the Innkeeper, Bhin, who bid them farewell. He smiled at them knowingly and said:

"If you return to the High Moor and are seeking something lost, my little establishment would be the place to start." 

The group passed the man by, disappearing into the darkness, and leaving behind his inn and the chaos they caused.