2024 intersessional post: TLQuest epilogue

 Hi everyone - well, that flew past!  Both summer and my week off, which has mostly been spent napping, feeling fed up, and at least doing some reading - but NOT doing normal chores, never mind the other things I hoped to do.  I REALLY wish Augtember was a real thing - Augtember, shorthand for a four week period between the 31st of August and the 1st of September, 2 weeks for rest and 2 for work, is something which me and some of my colleagues wish for every year, but it never happens... 

THIS WEEK'S GAMEPLAY.

By late afternoon the next day you are walking towards Silas' cottage on the edge of the village, and as you get closer you can see Silas sitting on the bench outside the front door.  The three-legged dog galumphs to the gate to greet you, and Silas waves a greeting - he doesn't get up, but that is reasonable as he is currently acting as a cat seat.  He still looks tired and drawn, but he's clearly feeling stronger than he was when you last saw him.

His neighbour, one of those middle-aged women who is in a state of perpetual motion, has a very big heart, and is completely oblivious to how their presence and energy can wear on the nerves of people who are not like them, sweeps out of the house on hearing you arrive, tells Silas that the kettle is on the stove and the cake tin refilled, and that she'll be back tomorrow midmorning after milking, and gives you a slightly suspicious, warning look over her shoulder as she departs.  Silas seems slightly embarrassed as he says "she has a good heart, just an awkward manner sometimes.  Would one of you mind making tea?  And, of course, fetching the cake tin?"  Cornelius and Alice will go into the cottage to manage refreshments, whilst Linnet and Martha present Silas with the herbs, and start to recount their adventures. Scout will settle back and listen, ready to add details if requested, but mostly keeping an eye on the Talking Cats who are keeping a suspicious eye on the tripod dog and the cats, but so far respecting that the garden is not actually their territory.  

Silas reacts most rewardingly to your story - he says it sounds like you did all the right things faced with the Ladies, and that he hasn't encountered them for years, so they must have felt they needed your help with the fish but were not going to ask, so they created a situation where you felt you needed to do it yourselves.   He frowns over the news that the fish was apparently delivered by goblins; he doesn't tell you any more, but it seems to fill in a space in a puzzle for him, and not in a good way.  Once the tea arrives, along with slabs of an excellent apple cake with crunchy maple sugar crystals, he checks the herbs and expresses himself more than pleased with your haul. He carefully extracts a leather purse from his pocket, not disturbing the snoozing cat, and hands you five gold pieces each for your efforts (for reference, staying in one of the private rooms at the tavern with dinner, access to the bath room and hot water, and breakfast would cost less than one gold piece unless it was a very busy time so this is a decent enough reward).  

Alice shows him the fish scales that somehow came along with her, and he will inspect them seriously and advise you that if you go to a particular alchemical workshop in the city you will be able to sell them easily, and you should be prepared to barter but not accept less than 15 gold per scale.  This inspires the rest of you to check your stuff, and together you find you have 15 scales, Alice has 10, Cornelius has 2, and the others have 1 each.  You might want to keep it as a souvenir!

You finally say goodbye to Silas, his dog and his cats and go to the tavern, with a quick detour by Scout to fetch her new socks (which are comfortable, perfectly fitted, much better than anything issued to the company, and only cost 1 silver which Scout knows is an excellent price by city standards).  The tavern keeper recognises you and assures you dinner is on the house, since everyone benefits from Silas' remedies and he appreciates that your arrival stopped a couple of local youngsters trying to make the trip alone without Silas along to act as common sense and guide, so you sit down for one last meal together, sharing a large pan of sausages and onions and root vegetables in a savoury thick gravy along with fried potatoes and buttered spring greens, and a fresh white soft cheese and crisp rolls on the side.

For some reason describing fantasy food is a very important part of D&D - if a DM tells players "you get dinner at the inn" they ALWAYS want to know the details...

Thank you again everyone for coming along on this Quest and for creating such an interesting array of characters!

The comments section, as usual, can be used to talk about your week, set some goals if that helps you, and plan for the new session, whatever anyone needs.  And if you want to speculate about what your character might do next, as DEH did last week, that's another good use!