Rangers of Frostgrave - Tavern Tales

March 22, 2020

Tavern Tales

After returning to Felstad, Carov, along with the young barbarian Alvi and the swordswoman Cecca went their separate ways. Before they separated, Carov sold the heavy armor and the book of lore to a wizard looking to equip his team, and split the money evenly. Alvi, never having been treated as an equal before, said “If you go back into the city, look me up. If I’m not dead, I’m in!” Cecca, however, just took her share and left with a nod.

The next ship to Alladore would not be in for a month. Carov had some money - probably enough to last, but a thought kept forming in his mind.

Is the Enemy here? There are plenty of evil forces at large in this accursed city, and as long as they stay in the city, Carov didn’t care. But, could the Enemy be here, gathering forces? After all, the poison that killed the old king was unknown in Alladore, but they found the antidote here.

He had a month. He would keep his eyes and ears open. But first, he needed time to recover. So, he took a room at the Inn, bought a small construct to protect his property, and set about recovering.

He did hear that Serrol and Sakalas both made the last ship back to Alladore, and that he must have lay in the crypt for two days, barely missing them.

A few days later, Carov was sitting in the tavern, enjoying a light lunch. An older man walked into the tavern and started looking around. Carov stared at the man, his mouth agape. Could it be?

“Victor?” Carov said, his voice louder than necessary, his chair crashing to the floor as he stood. The old man smiled, burn scars on his face distorting it oddly, and walked over. “I hear you killed a dragon, boy. Left me for dead, then went on to kill the dragon, only to be left behind like poor old Victor.”

“Sakalas killed the dragon. I just weakened it before I was swarmed. But, Serrol and Sakalas made their ship.”

“I heard that also. Good for them, bad for us.”

“How did you escape those fire constructs?”

“The explosion threw me into the street. A wandering wizard healed me up a bit - enough to get me on my feet. After I healed, he hired me to help him raid an old weapon shop full of treasure. Unfortunately, a pack of trolls got him and most of the team, but I’m going back. And, it would be good to have Carov Dragonslayer with me.”

That evening, Carov sat with Victor to plan the mission. “So, you said we had more soldiers?” “Aye Carov - a Templar named Martin and a Knight named Iliana. Good fighters, strong. But we need more than that.”

“I know someone. Let me send her a message.”

“One warning, Carov. There are these things there, like snakes made of steam. Arrows don’t hurt them. We need strength.”

“She has that. I think we’ll also get a dog; if nothing else, it can lure those snakes away from us. By the way - I have something for you.” Carov took the Gloves of Strength from his pack and handed them to Victor. “I can’t apologize enough for abandoning you - but these are a start.”

The next night, Carov looked around the table. They were meeting in the Inn’s common room, so he kept his voice low. “We did a little spying - there is a large door, protected by a pair of constructs at the far end. That’s our goal. Some vents are leaking steam, and we believe that is where these smoke snakes come from. The plan is to use the dog to lure the snakes away while we move up and get to the door. We don’t want to fight them. We just want to get to the door, grab any treasure we can on our way, and get into the weapon shop. Understand?”

The team, including Victor the Guardsman, Martin the Templar, Alvi the northern Savage, and Iliana the Knight all nodded. “I don’t want anyone dying. If anyone gets engaged, we fight as a team, take out the enemy, move on, and move fast. Now, get some sleep, we leave in the morning.”

As the team went to their rooms, Victor moved to talk to Carov. “Scared?” he asked. “Terrified”, Carov replied. Victor’s response was simply “Is good thing to be, going in there.”

“If things go bad, decisions have to be made” Carov said. “Hopefully they won’t, but if things go bad, you and I get out. Understood?”

“Aye”

Carov, Conjurer of the Cascades, Alladore