Well Gringle will haggle with you over whatever it is you ask for but this is more out of habit than anything else, he generally comes across as a decent type who has pretty much seen everything. In the end:

• he's kitted you out with a mix of equipment, all of it decent stuff and better than anything you've seen before. Nothing very unusual but top of the line leather armour, some bronze helmets, decent bows, javelins swords and the like, you have to hand in your existing stuff, but that seems like a fair trade. In game terms you can all have a +3 lingering benefit until the end of Sea Season.
• He doesn’t have herds, or flocks for that matter, himself but he’ll give you some credit with the Ernaldori and you can use that for purchasing some sheep, cattle, horses or indeed whatever. In game terms this will be a one off +9 when dealing with the Ernaldori clan, you can use this whenever dealing with a member of that clan.

Deal being done he expects you to keep him and his pawnshop safe but otherwise your time is your own. You have the run of his shop and he only asks you to respect the privacy of his bedroom, Quackjohn’s room and the shrine.

In the meantime he is going to write a letter to the Governor-General requesting guarantees of his safety.

You can of course explore the village, perhaps this time by day and so avoid appearing to be skulking thieves.

In reply to dashing (msg # 80):

Can I go back to the large building (assuming a temple but I was unsure of the God) that I was looking at the night before? Is it open now, in which case I'll go in - what's in there?

In reply to Ulf Skommson (msg # 81):

And I will work with Iskalla and Angara to work out the defensive angles around the villages, and where we may be best place to cover the entrances to the building.  Maybe if there are places where may be able to ambush the unwary - whether it is worth allowing them into the area in front of the desk as a place that could act to trap people.  Preference is also to not let them know where we are from.  Not sure we have shared that so far?  If not, let us keep it quiet.

In reply to dashing (msg # 80):

I shall 'snooze' in my observation spot.

If he has a nice dagger and some good arrows, I'll take those.

You return to the large building which is open now. You enter and you see a clean well-kept interior. A middle-aged appearing woman is supervising a younger woman who is sweeping the floor. The older woman spies you and approaches smiling “Welcome stranger to the Temple to All Deities, have you come here to worship?”. Well that’s… odd. Normally a temple is just to one god or pantheon, you’ve never heard of one to all Deities. The lady calls herself Kareena and she acts as a caretaker at the temple. She explains when you ask that the temple is available to anyone to worship their deities apart from Chaotic and evil gods. Apparently Kareena knows some fairly powerful healing magic but otherwise is not a priest or the like.

The village is, unfortunately, hopelessly indefensible. There are three roads in and no walls of anything similar, only the surrounding orchards provide any slight obstacle to cavalry and the like but actually they’d just provide cover for light troops. Angara’s take is a bit depressing “If they send a regiment the best we can do is spot them coming and run. If they send a small party we’d not want to be caught outside. The best we can do is watch the approaches and fortify his home, it’s built pretty solidly and I like those crossbows”.

The only person you’ve told who you are is Gringle I believe.

You obtain some nice arrows and a dagger.

Whilst snoozing you are eventually approached by a local, he is pleasant but built like a warrior and carries some impressive weaponry as well as some pretty decent clothing. Clearly a thane of some sort. He speaks “well miss, I can’t help but notice that you’ve been sleeping on that patch of dirt in my village for a little while now. Can I check if you are OK?”. He seems polite enough, how do you respond? [a bit of cultural context here – the correct action is to exchange details of who you are “the greeting”, but feel free to do whatever you want].

In reply to dashing (msg # 86):

"Greetings Sir, my name is Mica.  Who might you be?"

"I am Dronlan Swordsharp, thane of the Ernaldori and sheriff of Apple Lane". He pauses and looks expectant.

In reply to dashing (msg # 88):

I am part of the entourage of Harmast Gorgandarson, who is visiting Gringle over there.
I am too lowly to be part of the pleasantries, so I am waiting out here until Harmast calls me.
It is a pleasant spot and out of the way.  So I hoped I would not be an intrusion if I sat here in the shade.  Is that a problem Sir?

In reply to dashing (msg # 84):

Ulf asks 'to be a free place of worship for all seems strange, don't you anger the God's by refusing to show preference for one over another? Do you have a patron God or some kind of guardian who has agreed for this to be a temple to all? Is there other magic at work that protects the building from the God's wrath?'

Are there runes or anything similar on the walls of the inside of the building? Ulf will then wander round having a quick scout to see if anything else catches his eye (e.g. is there a basement entry) and pay his respects to Orlanth before leaving.

“No, that’s no problem at all”. He frowns at one of the geese which is sizing him up for some pecking. He then heads off towards the backdoor of the pawnshop (Continued in a separate post)

“It is, not common I grant you and it would be true to say that mainly gods of the Storm Tribe and the Earth tribe are worshipped here, but this temple is open to all, Argan Argar [the troll god of surface Darkness], the Seven Mothers [vile Lunars!!!] and even Praxian [more enemies!!!] rites have been seen here. There is no one patron God,, but all sanctify and protect this place. If you like this place is an echo, a memory of the Cosmic Council. Defilers would certainly find this place not undefended”.

There are lots of runes around the place, one would perhaps even think that all of them are here. You know a lot as an Orlanthi and you recognise most but there are a few that are strange and slightly unnerving or you recognise as signifying enemies such as Darkness.

The place is otherwise sparsely furnished, a few niches around the walls to hold votive offerings and the like.

The temple has a basement (Kareena will explain for certain Chthonic deities of Darkness or Earth), two floors and a timber tower open to the elements (where you can feel at one with Orlanth) [speaking of whom clouds are gathering and it’s going to rain soon]. The building has the main entrance you came in by and a smaller side exit leading to the latrines.

Meanwhile back at the pawnshop:

Iskalla and Angara have examined the public room and reinforced the door to the “Fitting room” to stop it being easily broken down (it was pretty stout before). They’ve also had a play around with crossbows and found them to be “very effective”.

The roof seems fairly sturdy and although they reckon someone could eventually break in they’d make a lot of noise doing so.

Both are worried about the Kitchen and the backdoor which they think is the weakest part of the defences. Although the backdoor is sturdy it could be eventually broken down and the kitchen is, they both feel, a lot less defensible than the Public Room.

Everyone suddenly jumps when there is a knock at the backdoor and eventually QuackJohn let’s in a big warrior. Gringle greets him:

“Dronlan! Come in and meet Harmast, he’s the Grandson of King Kenstrel whom you will remember well. He’s come to warn me of trouble”.

“Hmm, yes I met your Goose favoured friend outside” He says addressing Harmast “I wanted to make sure there were no problems, what trouble is this?”

Gringle fills him in quickly and Dronlan says that anyone who causes “problems” in Apple Lane they’ll have him to answer to. It seems you have an ally of sorts here. Dronlan Swordsharp is the Sheriff of Apple Lane appointed by the King of the Colymar and his word is law here.

Dronlan won’t stay long but promises to contact the King to confirm that the sheriff can enforce the peace in the hamlet.

In reply to dashing (msg # 91):

Mica settles a little deeper into the shade and starts humming to the geese who have come to pay their respects.  To all intents and purposes, she looks like a slightly dim girl playing with the geese in the shade - if she can be spotted at all.

She lays her Totem Pole by her side, with the laces undone, but keeps the poles holding it together inside their sheath.

If it is possible to get a good hidden angle on the vulnerable back door, in a position where she cannot easily be spotted, she will.

In reply to dashing (msg # 93):

I will greet Dronlan,  and assure him we are only here to maintain the friendship between Kenstral and Gringle.  Any assistance he can provide would be appreciated, but I would not want him to get into trouble if the King of Colymar is under pressure from the Lunars.

We dont know if there will be issues, but he is probably best to protect the people of the village first, as it is not our intention for anyone to suffer from this.

In reply to dashing (msg # 92):

I will climb up the tower to feel the glory of Orlanth and praise him as it rains. Then, I will return to the pawnshop to find the others (except Mica as she's still outside).

Rather than staying behind the storehouse Mica backs off a little way to the edge of the orchard. She can see the back of Gringle’s as well the latrines, the back of the storehouse (not very interesting and part of paddock to the West where horse’s are being trained. A man and a woman are breaking in some horses. Despite the drizzly weather Mica settles down with her goose friends and observes…

Dronlan acknowledges what you say. He says to Gringle to watch himself and then leaves.

Harmast, Angara and Iskalla return to trying to figure out how to defend the shop.
This message was last edited by the GM at 11:13, Sun 21 Mar 2021.

Ulf has a good view over the village from atop the tower, in particular you have a good view of the front of the pawnshop from here.

From a magical point of view you can use Orlanth’s magics to overhear what anybody in eyeshot is saying. You can also use many other of Orlanth’s movement aspects from up here such as throwing javelins, a great leap, even moving objects. You will get a situational bonus on anything like that from atop the tower.

You return to the shop and join Iskalla, Angara and Harmast debating how to defend the shop.

In reply to dashing (msg # 97):

If I can up my Concealment & Stalking stats with the XP you've just given us, I think that might be a good idea ;0)

In reply to dashing (msg # 99):

In that case, I'll suggest to Harmast that I take watch from the top of the tower as I'll be able to see people approaching the pawnshop (at least from the front) and will be able to hear any discussions taking place. If I take a few javelins with me then I'll be at a good defensive point to also potentially flank attackers.

In reply to Ulf Skommson (msg # 101):

It sounds a great idea Ulf,  go for it.

How easy would it be to create an area in the kitchen of danger.  Is there anything such pots of boiling water or oil that we could use to make it difficult if someone gets in. Or a way to prevent entry that we could put in place if needed?

I remember that Oil burns! So anything that could catch fire would be silly -as we will be wanting to stay in the building I think.

As for Fyri - is he able to look out for us?  Is he able to take an aerial view to see if anything or people are coming.

OK i've increased Stalking to +2 and added under WIlderness Survival +1 Hide in Cover.

This leaves you with 3 HP.

I've updated your character sheet on Kanka.

Ulf stashes some javelins up in the tower. The temple is open until nightfall and there's not much point being up there when it's dark anyway so he comes down to the shop then.

Fyri can indeed keep an eye out for you. He's a bit vague about distances and can't really tell the difference between a caravan and a band of murderous cutthroats but that's a minor detail.

Ok, you fortify the kitchen as well as you are able. Eventually you decide that Angara as the most experienced warrior should stay in the kitchen with strict instructions not  to burn the place down. Iskalla and you take the public room with doors open between there and the kitchen so you can hear if there's any trouble.

I'll take this to a separate post now.