While still in Oakhurst, Argora discovered he had a mysterious magical affinity to a shield adorned with a partial eclipse–the holy symbol of Pholtus, god of light and law–that he purchased at Soots’s Smithy.
Qeew and Kerath tried to extract information about the Smith War from a drunk dwarf named Bart, but they eventually determined he was making up exaggerated heroic stories about his past and was ultimately unhelpful.
The party left Oakhurst for Blassingdell and were ambushed by orcs at night. The orcs were easily bested, but before the fight had even begun, Hugo accidentally blasted Qeew with a frost spell when she woke him from a troubled sleep. Hugo revealed that he has these nightmares regularly. Some days later, Hugo purchased a shiny gift for Qeew as way of apology.
Soon after arriving in Blassingdell, the party’s eye was caught by a large hovering stone (roughly a 7-foot cube) covered in runes located in the town square. It is known as the Founderstone (or “Thunderstone” to Blumf), and although its power is mysterious, it is known that it fell from a tower that exploded long ago. A strange dragonborn that the town guards nicknamed “Dark Warren” has been seen carefully studying the Founderstone and its runes continuously for many days. When one member of the party approached him, the dragonborn ran off into the crowd and was lost.
In an attempt to obtain lodging, Qeew and Kerath located a rundown inn called the Stagnant Pool. The patrons seemed listless, and the innkeeper–a dwarf with “whiskers”–was unmannerly and impatient. Strangely, at one point in conversation, the innkeeper defensively blurted out “Werewolf??”, as if he’d misheard something during the conversation. The pair left the inn with the intent of finding a better place to stay the night.
Through exploration and speaking to the locals, the party learned that Blassingdell is socially and economically stratified: a town of “haves and have-nots”. The nobles look down on the commoners, who are unwelcome in some parts of town. Some of the elite see the neighboring orc menace as beneficial, since it helps “take care of the riffraff”.
One human noble, Lord Kane, is well known to extend hospitality to travelers of noble birth. Hugo and Argora, who have noble heritage, were encouraged to stay the night at Lord Kane’s manor, and it was made clear that the others were unwelcome. Those who clearly did not belong among high society–Blumf, Kavagal, Zin, Kerath, and Keeva–decided to stay the night at the Stagnant Pool after all. Hugo and Argora devised a plan with Qeew to masquerade her as their personal biographer, tasked with documenting their adventures, before the three went to Lord Kane’s manor.
The trio was invited to a dinner at Lord Kane’s home, which is finely furnished and well-guarded. Many other nobles were present, and it was clear that this was a place where political maneuvering and scheming was always ongoing. During the dinner, they struck up a conversation with one noble, and when they asked about the trade merchant Snuff Pagus–who Mayor Milnet of Oakhurst said might help establish the trade route between the two towns–he withdrew and strongly discouraged discussion about the mysterious person.
Just then, Qeew spied a hooded figure with green skin on its exposed arms overlooking the dinner from a balcony. She tried to draw Hugo and Argora’s attention to it, but they could not see what she could plainly see, before at last it vanished. Qeew later told the two that she believes this is Snuff Pagus, who she knew by the name Snuffleupagus. A few months earlier, before she left her home in the aarakocra city of Windmane, she’d seen her mentor–Perfooch the Esteemed–interacting with a person with the same description, and who only Perfooch and Qeew could see. When Qeew asked Perfooch about Snuffleupagus and why only they could see him, he would refuse to discuss it.
The next morning, the three were confronted by Lord Kane, who told them that he’d seen right through their false stories about why they were in town. In exchange for his hospitality, he requested a favor: to kill the same orcs that had frustrated Mayor Milnet’s attempts to establish a trade route and that had been killing locals. Although Lord Kane disliked Milnet and believed that Oakhurst had little to offer Blassingdell through trade, he did value the weapons crafted by Oakhurst’s blacksmith, Diana Soots. He wanted to help protect her supply chain so that she could produce more, and he would send smiths to work with her in Oakhurst if the orcs were eliminated. Kane was intent on controlling the trade between the towns instead of Snuff Pagus. Kane offered to pay double for any weapons crafted by the legendary dwarven smith Durgeddin the Black that the party could recover from the stronghold Khundrukai at Stone Tooth, currently controlled by the orcs, and roughly two days’ travel to the northwest.