The first 48 hours are a bit of a scramble. The castle is letting in refugees but is also under siege by undead. Prince Raffolk has been slain by six unlikely heroes, or maybe villains. Prince Oron and Princess Breschka are now trying to take hold of the castle and its staff, all the while save the citizens of Dravens (and foreign nationals) who happened to be in Dravens’ Port for the event. Suffice to say things are chaotic. While the heavy rain has stopped, a light rainfall continues through the night and into the morning. Most people have little time to rest or sleep. Much of the castle is abandoned and hasn’t been used in decades. In some rooms, critters or even squatters have taken up residence. Events begin after a discussion with Oron and Breschka in their new den. The party then goes back to the study to finish divvying up the loot and getting things in order. After finishing, they all trickle out of the study one by one to begin their individual individuals. The party splits up over the next few days, but they all see each other on a regular basis. While they all step into different niches in the castle, the ongoing investigation about the undead, the dark goblin, the scrolls, and the mystery of the gargoyle continues. As the investigation continues, so does the rain and armies of undead. They say things get worst before they get better, and the next 48 hours are particularly terrible for guards, soldiers and defenders. The undead assault the city, the people, and the castle 24 hours a day. Meanwhile, scouts, priests, and militia members continue to bring refugees into the castle regularly. While the castle was nearly abandoned when they first arrived, now new areas are starting to be opened up and used as the main areas begin filling up with too many refugees. Swell After leaving the study and counting his coin, Swell has a run-in with Brescka. She is dressed in her full plate mail and still covered in blood, likely from her allies. She asks him to escort her in the den. On the way Swell sees orcs, city guard, and elves taking way and disarming royal guards as well as taking off members of Prince Raffolk’s senior staff. She turns to him when they get inside the room and says, “Where is the amulet you took?” She doesn’t look threatening, but she doesn’t look quite friendly either. Swell admits he stashed it, and it is in a safe place. [Swell got a nat 20 on perception] She nods, her eyes glimmering a little bit, she has some other force at work. As a Horizon Walker, Swell can feel energies in the area right now. He’s not entirely sure what they do, but if he had to make a guess he’d guess it would be a bad idea for him to lie right now. Swell admits he intends to sell it to a third party, but only out of duress and of course, gold. The moment she hears his response, Breschka stands up straight, instead of staring directly into his eyes. She nods, and says “I understand. You must speak with Oron about this, immediately.” and turns and walks away. As she does Swell sees Ailekk in the hallway, politely asking to speak with Brescka and Oron, she points back at Swell and says something to him and then walks away with him, a hand on his shoulder. Swell looks around, wondering if he should find Oron or if Oron would just... Out of the darkness away from the fire in the darkness Oron steps, “I believe my sister said you would like to speak with me.” [Swell looks at the camera, breaking the 4th wall and says, “Really Josh? Really?”] Swell explains that the situation to Oron. Oron is now sitting on a couch, scratching at a headband around his forehead. Swell hadn’t noticed it until now. Oron says, “My friend, you are in a bit deep aren’t you? Behyla said you work for him now anyways. I suggest you take it up with him. But do it quickly. Not only will we assist, I think we can all help each other with this one. He is still in the jail, I think he’s considering taking up permanent residence there.” Swell asks about armor and equipment, specifically black studded leather and a heavy crossbow. Oron says, “Behyla’s the person who can probably help you with that. If you want me to walk you over I know we’ve got some heavy crossbows you can have, but only as long as you use them to shoot undead or anyone trying to kill me or my sister. The leather armor might be a more difficult, we can get you some ratty leather armor, most of it covered in mold and/or dust.” Swell and Oron walk to the jail on the opposite end of the courtyard from the den. On their way, they stop at the armory. Refugees are flooding in through the gates. Apparently Prince Raffolk had not been letting most people in. Outside forces are clashing with the undead. Swell can see Cassius out there, fighting a mob of zombies. At his side are various other troop irregulars, all not in army uniform, fighting the fight. Orcs, elves, Nards, humans, he even sees a gnome in their midst. [Insert Swell’s thoughts on this] At the armory Oron requests a heavy crossbow and some bolts, as well as their best studded leather armor. An orc, obviously from the Bonehammer, rummages around and sets a heavy crossbow, 5 bolts, and a pretty nice set of studded leather (it’s a dark purple color, covered in blood and has a hole in the stomach area of the torso) on the counter. Oron says something in orcish. The orc responds back in common “Well I didn’t know he’d actually be firing the fucking thing. I usually just hit people over the head with mine.” then walks off pouting and returns with 25 more bolts. When they get to the jail, Behyla has already started digging in with paperwork. People are being drug to the passageway to the north, to somewhere. Swell turns around to say something to Oron but he is gone. Creepy fucker. Behyla is lounging in an uncomfortable looking chair in the small room south of the torture chamber. He is smoking a pipe and somewhere a small flying creature if flitting about. Behyla says, “Come sit. It seems I made a worthwhile investment. Oron tells me you have some things to tell me.” [Note: How does Behyla already know this? Oron has been with Swell the entire time.] Swell tells the entire story since he left the boat, with no details omitted. Behyla just nods and smokes his pipe. At some point, Nate comes and sits on Behyla’s shoulder. He is smoking a very small pipe and looking at Swell inquisitively. When Swell is done, Behyla sits and puffs on his pipe for a while. This might be the most patient orc Swell has ever met. No orc is this patient. He looks at Swell inquisitively, and the two just stare at each other for a while. At some point Ailekk comes thought he secret passageway, looks through the tables in the torture chamber room, grabs a hammer and pick and scurries off to the south back into the sewers. Nate says something to Behyla in orcish. Behyla laughs. He sits up and Nate flies off his should. “Alright, Swell. Just so you know the stakes. This is a thing between you and me, and you and me only. Oron and Breschka have nothing to do with this. We’re going to sell your talisman to this Jamesyth guy. I’ll even make sure you are protected. You’ve done well by me so far, don’t change that. But just so you know, you are now going to start making money under my nose and only by my good graces. For now I’ll let your schemes run and go, but the information comes back to me. We are going to figure out where Jamesyth is taking those talismans and what he is doing with them. You just got some nice bloody studded mail and a heavy crossbow, if you need any other equipment just let me know. For the moment, your gold installments are going to have to pause for a moment. I’ve got a lot of stuff, but not enough gold to grease the right hands. My guess is, knowing the new quartermaster is going to get you far, son.” Swell, just having spilled his guts and looking his maker in the eyes possibly 3 times now, blurts out his plans for the gaming room. Behyla laughs like a heyena. “Damn son,” he says, “You don’t waste no time? What exactly do you need, and I get 25%.” [Swell gets a 20 persuasion to haggle him down] “Alright Swell, 15%. I’ll supply the material goods, as the new quartermaster. Of course these are all on loan from the army. After this shit is over you’ll need to buy the equipment outright or find your own. You’ll still need to recruit a staff. I’ll give you a quick tip, in this crowd you need a diverse staff who you can trust. You’ve got to do that part yourself.” He leans back in his seat and puffs. “Nate, here can help.” The Sprite lands on Swell’s shoulder. Behyla continues, “He’s pretty good at knowing what’s in people’s hearts. That’s why I keep him around.” Nate shoots a tiny dirty look at Behyla. “Anyways, he can help you find out who you can trust and who you can’t. My share goes up to 20%” [After some creative reason why he should still get Nate’s help without an increase, Roll 7] The two shake hands [Nate’s help can be determined later]. Behyla says, “Just find me an open spot and tell me where to take the stuff, I’ll have my men start looking for it now. Swell leaves and sees Keth. They shoot the shit for a few minutes and he bring up the Adventurers guild [Persuasion Check 6]. Keth says he has bigger fish to fry but thanks Swell for the invite. In passing he mentions his “jailbreak”. Apparently Keth, the Corrive Diplomats and some elves were in a different jail than the one Behyla is in and escaped as the undead attacks happened. Swell’s Gaming Den Swell, tired, beaten down, sweaty as hell and toting both a heavy crossbow and some studded leather goes out to find his room. After dropping his stuff off he spend the night searching the castle. He finds Ailekk in the castle library with a map of the castle, scouring over it. It is morning, neither have slept yet. On the table next to Ailekk is a stone gargoyle fact that was chiseled haphazardly out of stone. For a second Swell thinks he saw it blink then realizes he is overtired and hallucinating. Swell has a heart to heart with Ailekk and promises to try and find his brother and recruit him. He then looks on the castle blueprints for a place and finds one. Underneath the northwest tower is an old abandoned storeroom that used to be an officer’s lounge. It has a secret passage that leads out to the docks and everything. [Ask Colin if he wants something different]. Swell informs Behyla and begins recruiting staff. By the end of day 1, Swell is looking over his bustling new game room. He has a couple of elf guards, kobold table workers, a Nard floor manager, a dwarf bartender, and some orc thugs on standby just in case. Anna walks in for a drink, Swell is ridiculously tired [Exhaustion 2] and spills his guts about how thankful he is for her saving his life. He gives his best pitch for the Adventurer’s guild, [Persuasion check 21, 10 after the exhaustion penalty]. She quickly agrees. Then she escorts Swell to his room where he passes out. Over the next few days, Swell divides his time between listening to customers and managing his gaming tables. He moves his quarters nearer to his gaming den (most are vacant), and has Beyhla send furnishings. Over a total of 3+ days, Swell turns a dusty and moldy section of the castle into a gaming parlor that is packed morning, noon and night. While he hasn’t run out of booze yet (thanks to Behyla being the quartermaster), he realizes he might need to go have to talk with Rurrick who now has a few barrels outside of his tent in the castle courtyard. Throughout that time, he finds out Anna has left the castle to go check on her parents. Urd stops by on a regular basis to discuss what is going on.