Nivak goes back into town to meet up with Nadon and to see if he can get our carts and money out of the inn. Growlyn wants to go with him, but Nivak won’t hear of it. He insists that the injured dwarf stay with the rest of the party. Caradryan can’t really tend to my infection because his doctor’s bag was confiscated at the jailhouse. He cleans it as best he can. It’s getting worse – the throbbing pain is almost unbearable.
Day 1606 (the next day)
Nivak returned last night with Nadon, but without our belongings. He said it’s impossible to retrieve them in our current state. We move towards Wissenburg – SLOWLY. My leg begins bleeding out and we are forced to stop so that Caradryan may tend to it.
Day 1612 (6 days later)
We’ve arrived in Wissenburg. And almost without incident – the bloody battle type of incident, I mean. I don’t remember the last six days – the pain was far too much to bear. Caradryan tells me that I began bleeding out several times, but they were able to stop it each time. He even tells me that he tried to ease my discomfort by feeding me a few magical mushrooms. I am grateful for his caring – I would likely be dead had he not been so attentive. Caradryan takes me to the local hospital for professional care. As I said earlier, we haven’t any of our money so he must commit himself to work in exchange for the cost of my surgery. The rest of the party (I’m told) check with the constable, find we are not on their “Wanted” list, and proceed to find odd jobs for themselves. They must work in order to eat. We are in dire financial straights, such as we’ve not seen in almost four years. The doc here tells me that I’m laid up for the next ten weeks. Coincides perfectly with Caradryan’s ten-week “enslavement” to the hospital. (Not my word, his.)
Day 1639 (3 weeks/3 days later)
The last three weeks have been torture for me. I HATE lying in bed doing nothing. My only contact with the outside world is Caradryan and even he is not much of a contact because he spends most of his time working and I suspect he spends his days off sleeping (although he will surely deny that “accusation”). Nadon, Nivak, Growlyn, Arvin, and Paul (someone Nivak picked up in Guvenberg – I don’t think I’ve mentioned him) return today. Caradryan thought they were out of town on a small goblin/mutant clean-up job – that’s what they said their plan was at least! They tell of their adventures these past weeks:
They had gone to the constable in search of goblin/mutant work as they had said, only this time their names were on the “Wanted” list and the constable arrested them on the spot. They claimed not to know where the rest of the party was and that most likely is what kept the rest of us from being incarcerated. They tell their story of wrong-doings in Guvenberg and the constable agrees to check into it. Nivak insists on going with him. And so Nivak is taken back to Guvenberg with the constable and his guards. Upon arriving in Guvenberg, Nivak is taken to the Sigmar temple where he is given an audience with the Cassidy, the Sigmar High Priestess. As he tells it, the Sigmar Templar was about to chop his head off for his crimes when he swung around and chopped the head off one of Cassidy’s guards instead! Of course, battle ensued. Nivak fought well and against overwhelming odds (including a larger-than-life demon). Turns out that Cassidy was not a follower of Sigmar, but of one of the Chaos cults! She had everyone in town duped into thinking she was organizing these changes for the good of humanity.
Well, back to the present once again – the Powers That Be in this party have garnered us another exciting adventure in the wilderness. Professor Herbert Valgner wants us to retrieve a book on green-tailed Fenbers which happen to be native to Lustria. However, the book apparently is native to the Wastelands and currently in the possession of mutants. Professor Valgner is far too old and decrepit to make the journey himself, but he intends to reward us with several high-class potions (the likes of which we have yet to see): Potion of Strength, Potion of Toughness, Potion of Healing (D8), and a Potion of Lesser Healing (D6). There’s still a bit of argument regarding whether we’ll keep these potions to use ourselves or sell them off for the considerable cash they’re likely to bring in. We’re leaving for Marienburg in 6 weeks. The rest of the party realizes they would be fools to attempt this mission without my expertise and, therefore, they must wait for my leg to heal.
Battle Records: Nivak = 5 kills (including the priest). Out-of-Party Records: Wilhelm the Guard (played by Scott): 5 kills (including Cassidy). Un-named Guard (played by Karen): 3 kills. Ralph the Tan Guard (played by Hackett): 2 kills, died in battle – valiantly sacrificed himself by attacking Cassidy. Un-named Guard (played by Dave): 2 kills, died in battle. Wilton the Tan Guard (played by Norm): 1 kill (the demon), High Damage Kill at 26 points. Hoodie the Tan Guard (played by Hackett): 0 kills, died in battle.
Records: Nivak receives the High XP spot at 700 points. Ilmarian receives more XP (by 14 points) than Lillay for the first and last time in his life!
Day 1647 (1 week later)
I hear Bruticus has advanced to Freelance. My congratulations to him.
Day 1648 (the next day)
The rest of the able-bodied fighters have gone off to earn some easy money disbanding a very small orc/goblin problem a few days outside town.