The great bear Balador interrogated his wayward champion Urs:
B: “You put an arrow through the heart of someone. Was he your enemy?”
U: “Yep.”
B: “Are the lives of others meaningless to you?”
U: “Yes, if it means saving my friends. It’s a simple ranking order. See, they’re here, I’m here, and everyone else is here.”
B: “But did you think the life of the man you killed was worthless?”
U: “Meh, it was like the fish I eat. When I need it to die, I kill it.”
B: “Do you think there is a balance to nature? Do you think you can be the judge of who should live and who should die?”
U: “I don’t know. Were the lives of my family members worthless? If I’d killed their killers to save my family, would that have been OK?”
Seeing that his questions were having no effect on Urs (and perhaps privately a little nonplussed by his answers), Balador cast a spell on Desmond, Vara, and Aengus, compelling them to attack their friend. Urs was entirely oblivious to what was happening and prepared to fight an unknown threat alongside them. When they knocked him out, Balador restored Urs, who just stood there to take another beating. This cycle repeated a few more times before Balador released Urs’s companions from his spell, after which they had no memory of the encounter. Ever self-sacrificing, Urs offered to lay flat on the ground and let them finish the job they started, but instead they scrambled to help their badly battered barbarian brother.
Seeing Urs adhere to his convictions, Balador said, “You really do know how to distinguish friend from foe. Still, you need to be more discerning than just knowing who your immediate friends are. I hope this will help you.” And with that, Father Bear handed Urs a fox-paw pendant and departed into the forest. When later he attuned to it, Balador’s lesson became somewhat clearer to Urs. He also found that he could now count to 100 (a ten-fold increase in his numerical prowess) and realized that he had been tipping far too much, that eating raw foods indiscriminately was risky, and that there were important differences between a sex cult and slavery.
That night, Vara prayed to Torm, asking if it was her own will that she tried to kill Urs, which she could neither recall nor understand. It became clear to her that it was the will of Urs’s god, and the encounter was a trial for him.
Aengus also prayed during his watch, expressing his regrets of rash decisions and collateral damage, his desire for the Wild Rovers to be inspiring to others and not outlaws, and asking, “Is it possible to create justice in this world without also creating new victims?” The night remained quiet, and he received no response.
Desmond messaged Tyresha, who, in addition to missing him a lot, said that Shalako had changed significantly.
In the morning, Aengus cast Identify on the magic pouch they looted off Darius and determined it was a miniature Bag of Holding. It was embroidered with the Kensington crest, and it was protected by a glyph of some kind. Desmond cast Dispel Magic on the glyph, but this failed and triggered it instead, causing it to erupt with lightning. Desmond then touched Darius’s Ring of Lightning Resistance to the pouch, and it opened. They turned it inside out, causing 15 diamonds to spill out. [5 large uncut; the rest are moderately sized, 3 of which are well cut and polished; all worth at least 300 gp]
In a bizarre discussion about the urchin organ market, initiated by confusion over one of the components for Desmond’s new Reincarnate spell (unguents), the Rovers realized they could generate revenue by the selling the organs of those they killed, or by using Reincarnate to repeatedly sacrifice their own bodies for that purpose. None thought this was a great idea. Urs made his desire clear that he preferred death to being reincarnated with a different body.
In keeping with these macabre topics, Aengus cast Speak with Dead on Darius’s severed head, speaking in a deep and ominous voice: “Darius Kensington, this is your last chance at salvation. Answer me these five questions, and you may be saved:”
- What were your schemes in Lo’Thar — Power and money
- What do you know of Urna and his schemes — He promised power and betrayed me
- What would you use the diamonds for — Pretty girls
- Do you regret Valonara? — Regret is the curse of the living
- Where is your sister? — I hope she is not too far behind me
Satisfied, they thoroughly disposed of the head outside of Shalako, leaving behind nothing to identify.
At last, they arrived at their destination. The sleepy crossroads they first found months ago were now bustling with visitors of the new gnome-owned casino, built north of the temple. Desmond went to Kitty Korner to meet up with Tyresha and his family, and the others went to check out the casino. They found many gnomes there, as well as other humanoids, and no guards or bouncers; it seemed they were unconcerned with security. The Rovers found the establishment’s owner, their gnomish friend Galin, who was very happy to see them and offered to give them a tour. Urs and Aengus stopped to have cigars with Galin. Vara shows him her size-changing drinking gauntlet, which he wanted to replicate and sell at the shop.
On the second floor, an arch labeled “Behold the Rovers” acted as an entrance to a hall of statues of the Rovers in heroic poses (or dangling from ship rigging). In the lounge area, heads turned towards the newcomers, who were recognized as the lauded heroes. A gnome woman approached Vara and asked for her autograph. It became very clear that the Rovers’ exploits across the world were generating prestige and revenue for the casino, which portrayed them as their patrons.
Galin explained how he had invented a paper substitute for gold, which he called “Gold Lite”; this cash was preferred to gold by visitors of the town for its convenience, even by those leaving it.
Galin offered the Rovers their share of the casino’s profits, giving them a chest containing roughly 16k gold (actual coins, not Gold Lite, at their request). Urs suggested and the others agreed to keep only 5k and re-invest the remaining 11k into a new casino, possibly in Clefthome.
At Kitty Korner, as he approached Tyresha, Desmond overheard her say, “I just don’t how to tell him.” They both said they had surprises for the other, which they agreed to reveal later at a dinner that night with all the Rovers.
Vara met up with Tyresha and had a conversation with her about how to be “less of an asshole”. Tyresha was excited to help and agreed to train her in social graces. She helped Vara realize she was attractive and could leverage that rather than just intimidate people all the time to get her way. Having had an exceptionally unusual and isolating childhood, Vara declared, “you’re my first girlfriend!”, and the pair decided to have a girls’ night.