01-24 to 02-04 963: New Friends and Old Roads

Waking up early in the morning with their new travelling partner Bamford, the party quickly returned to Stenbalan to figure out what to do with him. Upon arriving, they met with Father Laren Albis and Brother Jerral Sterridge, the Bishop and a Cleric of Avandra they had dealt with previously. After Brother Jerral enabled Bamford to communicate with the rest of them, it was decided that he would be returned to Elgard with the next group of missionaries that go to that part of the world.

Returning to the carriage, the party decided to hire some guards to watch at night and deal with threats on the road. Fedrick the Goliath man, Bridget the Dwarvish woman, and Amalar the Elvish man were willing to guard them for a silver a day each. Luci bought some horses, and the party set off for the Gold Tower...again.

That day, Fedrick took a few jabs at Nexus for his height. Noticing this, Luci paid him a whole platinum piece to continue to mess with Nexus. Later that night, Chedvah and Sinata discussed the fact that prudence would be wise when dealing with Masters at the Gold Tower.

The second day saw fair weather, and the group took note of the painting that they found in Granny Preant's Portable Hole. It was discovered that the painting changes to match the next day's weather. Fedrick continued to mess with Nexus in small ways. That night, Fedrick woke Sinata up to tell him that wolves were in the area and unsettling the horses. As the guards went out into the woods to try and scare them off, a small fight ensued and Amalar was badly bitten. Despite Sinata's best efforts, the bite proved too jagged and messy to be treated. Instead, Dendra used her healing abilities to close the wound and stabilize Amalar, much to Bridget's relief. Meanwhile, Luci scared off the wolves by strafing them on his broom. With Amalar out of the action there was concern about his pay, but Sinata agreed to continue to pay him and bring him along if he taught him social graces. Once everyone returned to their beds, Luci snuck over to Amalar's tent to use his own healing abilities to speed the guard's recovery. From his bed, Nexus decided to fight fire with fire and sent messages to Fedrick, whispering dark and mysterious things to disturb him.

The third day was relatively uneventful, with Nexus using his powers to instantly bury Fedrick up to his waist.

Around the fire on the fourth night, the group was hailed by two ragged-looking figures. A goliath named Toivo in ragged clothes and sunken cheeks and eyes, alongside a brass dragonborn named Bjern with dull scales, rusted scale mail, and a nasty looking leg wound. They approached and asked the group for aid, explaining that they had been without food for days and Bjern was wounded. Sinata cleaned and dressed the wound, explaining how Bjern should care for it while it heals. Meanwhile, others in the group began asking the two ragged individuals how Bjern was hurt, where they had come from, and why they didn't go to a town nearby. The questions were largely dodged or answered unsatisfactorily, leaving much suspicion among the party. Fedrick stepped away from the fire with Nexus, and expressed his belief that the two were bandits and wanted to know what Nexus would like them to do. A short while after, Luci stepped away and flew out the way Bjern and Toivo had come and found a meager camp. Scattered around the bedrolls were spoiled scraps of food, a few rusted tools and weapons, and a sturdy locked box that looked like someone had tried to open. Luci took the box and returned to the camp. Meanwhile, sensing the suspicion from the group, Bjern and Toivo gave their thanks and returned to their camp as Luci was returning. Revealing the box, the party manages to open it, revealing gold and tax documents. Luci recognized the type of box as that of a tax collector, with a coat of arms that none of them recognized.

On the fifth day, the party rolled into the town of Calina, sitting along the Crown Circuit near the Sunlit Citadel. Sinata took Bridget and Amalar out for drinks that night, having noticed that she had been paying closer attention to him since his injury. Despite pushing drinks on the two guards, Sinata didn't drink. Instead, he pushed and prodded and coaxed them toward being more open with their feelings. As travelling companions, they only had each other and had grown to have more feelings than just coworkers. The night culminated with Bridget holding Amalar's face in her hands and sloppily telling him that he is her "reason." With his work done, Sinata brought them back to their rooms, where they instantly fell asleep in each other's arms. 

The next morning, Luci went to Canglir Cartographs, where he met an elderly human couple. Delighted to have their grandson come for a surprise visit, Thaddeus and Marlene Bellestair asked Luci how he was doing and what brought him to Calina.  Remarking on the adventurous spirit that Luci got from his father, they told him how proud they are of him and he asks them to make a map for his father's birthday and send to to Havar with a note to give to his father on his birthday.  They were also able to determine that the crest on the tax documents was from a minor house north of the Oakwood, House Haber.

Over the next few days, the party continued east along the Crown Circuit toward the Gold Tower.  The terrain, which had been farmland turned to foothills and the snowcapped peaks of the Canglir Mountains began to tower tall over them to the north.  Eventually they arrived in the town of Acshire, from where they began travelling up a valley and along the last few miles to the Gold Tower.