Session 20

Following the events of last session, we begin our return to Bilge City. This time, we stick to the road.

We encounter an inn along the way, where we get food and stay for the night. Almost every group keeps to itself, and the prevalence of armed guards is high.

We overhear (well, "we"---not Beans, who is too engrossed in her soup) that the siege of Korvosa has reached a standstill.

When we retire to our (shared) room, we notice that the inn was clearly not originally built to be this large. It has been extended and expanded well beyond its (farmhouse?) origins, but the room we get is nice enough.

The night passes uneventfully, other than some loud chatter in the main room downstairs.

The next morning, a number of obviously drunk and/or weary travelers remain in the main hall. We ignore them and finish the trek back to Bilge City.

Checking Back with Carson
We return to the Drunken Bat inn where we'd left Prince Bard. Rather than laying low, as we'd expected, we walk into him putting on a show for the crowd at the inn!

While he finishes his show, we check around for the information broker, Carson. He isn't present, but the barkeep has a note for us from him---a note that asks us to meet him two weeks ago. Oops.

He comes into the inn almost every evening, so we settle in and watch the show while we wait. He shows up a short time later.

We approach. Suleiman asks about the previous info, but it is stale. We also can't trade the previous info we offered for current info. He also remarks that the information was purchased by another---but will not say by whom. However, Suleiman offers details about the goings-on in Salshear and Carson agrees to trade that information for it. The details:


 * The siege is not going well for either side. Korvosa suffers from dwindling supplies, while Chult suffers from the politics of this becoming a siege rather than a simple conquest.
 * The Silver Lions purchased the info.
 * We give info about the real reason that the Baron of Salshear had hiked taxes and why he left town. We did not claim responsibility, though he may reasonably assume it.

Catching up with Prince Bard
After we trade with Carson, we grab some drinks and wait for the bard to finish his act. After about an hour, he does, and comes over to, uh, rant at us?

He thought we were dead. Oops.

While we're here, we ask around about the Silver Lions. Sounds like they had a ship come through about a week ago.

Anyway, he's been working as a bard at the inn because Carson's offer of free lodging at the Drunken Bat was for us, not him. We stay the night here (which is miserable; the Drunken Bat is not a super nice inn).

In the morning, we talk options. Since we're planning to head back towards Korvosa, Prince Bard decides to try heading north to Cerulset with a merchant caravan since the roads are safer now. Meanwhile, we head down to the docks to see [Tairin (muscle wizard) again and get more info.

Inquiring at the Pig & Whistle
Tairin is in, so Suleiman cuts straight to the point and ask about Silver Lion activity. He confirms that they were here about a week prior, and mentions a rumor that a big player hired them to help Korvosa out.

We suspect it is Cerulset because the Silver Lions main base of operations is there. They may be providing funds to keep Chult off their shores without jeopardizing trade relations by becoming formally involved. Suleiman doesn't think that Cerulset has much of a standing military anyway.

Mandalf does have a few other interesting rumors for us:


 * The pirates in Gloomwatch have been more active lately.
 * There are travelers from the Autumnal Authority in Cerulset. This is unheard of, and is itself noteworthy since so few leave the Authority. It appears to be a pair of monks traveling through the Coin Hills for unknown reasons.

We ultimately decide to head back towards Korvosa and see what we can do to prevent Chult from finding the hidden entrance through the Old City.