Starday 22nd of Planting, 643
An Abandoned Mine
At breakfast Grun spoke to Vayne about the Hartess Family mine that shut down suddenly. She told us that mine is about an hour’s walk from the Northwest gate, quite isolated from the town. Most of the carts and traffic to and from the mine used to go via the Northeast gate, as the Northwest gate is in the more affluent area of town.
She also let us know that the Hartess Family have not been around for a while, but that there are still people that worked for them are around. She told us of Felton, who used to run security and Amber who was a clerk for their business dealings. We asked Vayne if she can arrange a meeting with Amber.
Toom’s told us of a pawnbroker he found last night and we headed their after breakfast. The large half-orc owner, Campbell was very interested in Grun! We took a look around and Toom’s and I made a purchase - he got a feather that apparently turns into an oak tree, and I got some dust that will apparently soak up a huge amount of water. She also had a couple of magic items (a necklace of fireball for 400gp and an amulet of health for 5000gp) but they were out of our price range.
Grun spent the entire trip flirting with Campbell.
We then picked up our horses and headed to the mine out of town. On the way to the mine, Grun insisted on singing a number of the sea shanties, from the book “gifted” to him by Captain Elva, terribly.
At the mine entrance we discovered a human woman, almost dead. She was beaten up, bruised with singed clothing but after a small amount of care she comes to. She told us that “it came back after we banished it”. “A thing, a floating thing - I wish they have never bought it here”. Grun cast a healing word, helping her out somewhat, and she tells us that she was security for the mine, and she and her colleagues went in to see why it had closed.
They found a glowing skull-thing. It sets fire to things just by looking at them. They smashed it into bits and then it came back.
We head into the mine, and not far in we came across a cackling, bleached-white floating skull bathed orange and red flame. It immediately attacked, almost killing Grun. We chased the skull further into the mine and managed to destroy it, but worried that it might come back Tooms scattered holy water over the shards of skull and we saw them dissipate. We told the woman that we had defeated it and took her back to town intending to find Felton.
We waited at the Cleft Boulder for nearly an hour before Felton turned up. He told us that the Hartess Family had already left town, heading west, in a hurry - they still owe him a week’s pay. He also told us that the Hartess Family have a now-unoccupied residence in town, near the temple and he believes that they have a house in Ulsk. He also told us that if we want to talk about mining, we should talk to Endleshin, who lives very close to the tavern. He hated the Hartess Family, but he ran the mine for them.
We head to Endleshin’s house and let him know that the mine is cleared and that with the Hartesses not here he should gather a crew and work the mine themselves, which he agrees to do. We also asked him about the Hartessees, hoping we can find out if they had anything to do with the flaming skull, but apparently they were quite hands off. Endleshin doesn’t know how the mine got infested, but there are rumours that the family had brought it - they have magic in their blood, apparently a draconic line. He lets us know of Noyt, a young Hartess who caused some trouble in her time, generally badly behaved in bars, etc.
We then broke into the Hartess home, with Grun wild shaping into an ant and crawling under the door. Once inside, Grun shaped water into the keyhole, and turned it to ice to shatter the lock to let us into the lavishly decorated home. On the 2nd floor we found a strong, locked desk and quickly broke the locks. Unfortunately it sets off an alarm so Grun stuff all the paperwork from the desk into his bag while Tooms and I escape through the window.
Grun stays, in spider form, and witnessed Stine arrive - clearly the alarm is linked to the city guard.
Back at the Silver Oak, we rented a private room and went through the paperwork. It is mostly business and running a household paperwork with letters between family members as well. Biel Hartess seems to be giving the orders.
As the afternoon turns into evening, we retired into the main bar for food, and Marta entered with Amber who comes over to us and offered to sell us information - she can tell us about a conversation that she overheard for 50 gold, but after some negotiation she agrees to tell us with the hope that we will pay her later.
Noyt, Flint and Blanche were in a drawing room, a little worse for wear, talking about the king. The Hartess family are as wealthy as the king’s family - they could have been a royal family, but they are not. Privately they have a “friendly rivalry” with the royal family.
In public they fully support the royal family, but in private they are keen to maintain their strength and would take an opportunity to get one over the king.
“We must appear to be loyal to the king until the moment is just right. The family will receive word when the time is right.””
The phrasing stuck in her head - who will they get word from? They are fully independent.
Grun asks about other relationship, and she told us that they have many relationships with the other families. She mentions the Sconce and Dahru families in particular.
After noticing our reluctance she tells us that the Hartess family wouldn’t take instruction from another family, but over the last year, Noyt has been leaning into her magical abilities and she has heard her have conversations in her room with no-one else there. Noyt is a sorcerer - she doesn’t need books and potions to express her abilities.
We paid Amber 50 gold and she left shortly after
Shortly after that, we offered Marta a silver piece a day for her to keep her ear to the ground and she was very excited. She also asked to come with us when we leave the city and show us some magic that she can do. She apparently learnt this from her mother.
I also met a group of adventurers - Shabfoh Qu, Finn Mabel and Poot Shalin. We exchanged some stories of recent adventurers, and they realise that is was us in the Temple and ask our group name. Tooms asks their name - they are called the Green Cloaks, despite none of them owning green cloaks anymore.
After a couple of rounds of drinks, they told us of a trip that they were going to undertake - to a landslide nearby that has uncovered an entrance to “something”. Tooms offered to travel together, but they decline. They also refused to tell us exactly where this landslide was.
