Part 97: Phoenix Inn

Chapter 73 – Phoenix Inn



The Phoenix Inn
Everybody’s a Critic
Bedwyr


I think it’s time to reiterate the main plot of the expansion.

The Black Ring has laid siege to Aleroth. Zandalor has protected it with a special shield spell, but it won’t last forever.

To save Aleroth, Zandalor needs the Eye of the Patriarch. It’s in the possession of Behrlihn. We need to reach the vault where Behrlihn is sealed. Zandalor removed the shield spell from around the vault, but it is sealed by a powerful magic lock.

To open the lock, we need to place five orbs on a set of runes. But we don’t know the configuration. Five people who imprisoned Behrlihn each knew one clue about the lock.

We don’t know who these people were, except that they had a tie to Aleroth. We have no idea where to start looking for these clues.

All we can do is roam Aleroth, hoping that some of the ordinary quests will lead to special surprises.

This is the update with the big huge list of quests to vote on. So please vote for the top five quests you are most interested in seeing done first.




Music: Phoenix Inn


Music: Bedwyr





Video: The Phoenix Inn


Music: Phoenix Inn





(Gary) Like hell that’s the wine talking! I ain’t afraid of no ghost and that’s all there’s to it!
(Ricky) I’ll bet you five gold coins you’ll run like all the others. Go on, go tell that spectre what you think of it!




Hey, ghost! Come out, come out wherever you are!
(???) Here I am! Ready to strike you down. Over here, little man.
What? Where? … No! Don’t…
I’ll find you where you sleep and let my nails sink slowly into your lungs!




No! Get away from me! Aaah!




The key on that table opens the door to the Enchanter’s room, upstairs.




From hell I call to you, soon-to-perish! Eternal torment will be thy fate!
(Yara) Just cut the crap, will you?
(Hannibal) Woah, hey! Keep your undergarments on, I’m only kidding. Hannibal’s the name. Long deceased, but far from dead. Haha!
Tell me about yourself.
When I was alive I was a blacksmith and enchanter. My only rival was a man called Bedwyr. Bedwyr had a workshop on the first floor of this inn and one day I locked his door behind him so he would miss a smithing contest. Alas when I made away with the key chuckling to myself, I fell down that blasted hole in the floor and broke my silly neck.






That’s when I decided to haunt the place so no one would dare to free dear old Bedwyr and he’d croak in turn! Simple as that!
After what you told me about Bedwyr, I can’t help but conclude you are quite the bastard.
Guilty as charged! But it’s fun to be a rascal. You know what my count is? Nine. Nine people I have scared to death by now. I’m telling you, I’ve never felt so alive!
Don’t you get tired of giving heart attacks to boozers and blowhards?
What else is there for me to do? This is the place I haunt and I’m doing a good job if I say so myself! The regulars speak fondly of me and Ricky over there never even has to pay for a tough arm to get rid of the troublemakers.
(-15000 XP) _{After all this time I still remember the secret of the paintings in the room upstairs. “The Dark Knight rides his steed towards the tower. You time has come, poor prisoner.”
Riddles. But I suppose that’s what I’m looking for, after all.}
I’ll leave you to your spooking, Hannibal.
Let’s see how long it takes before another kicks the bucket after a good ‘boo’!




(Ambrose) Let’s have another ale, barkeep!
(Ricky) Sure you haven’t had enough there, soldier?
Naah! Be a sport and pour me another!

Gods, this is fine beer! Where’d ya get it?
Comes straight from the Black Boar’s cellars. Better make it last: this is the only vat I have left!
The last? Oh crud! You’re not out of whiskey are you?


There’s a bug in Ricky’s conversations. You can either ask him “You don’t seem to mind your establishment is haunted.” OR “About your parents”, but not both. There’s no reason why they should be mutually exclusive, so I assume someone set some wrong flags somewhere. I stitched the conversations together so we can see them all.




Hey there. Want a drink, I suppose. We can all use one in these depressing times.
You don’t seem to mind your establishment is haunted.
Bah, it’s only a half-scary ghost. He likes to frighten people, but not that many have died of shock. Great way to keep out the drunks he is, though, or to get ‘em out. But the really alarming place here is upstairs. No one has gone up there for as long as I remember. Rumours of a weird entity keep people away.
Are you sure it’s not just a case of common superstition?
You’re free to go up there and see for yourself! Though you’ll probably find nothing but locked doors. They say the… living remains of an enchanter still roams the top floor of this inn. What pact with the devil he must have forged, I don’t know, but you’ll not see me upstairs – not in a hundred years!




Caution! Mind the gap! And don’t say we didn’t warn you.
Why is there a hole in the floor up there?
Oh, my father always wanted to install some device there. Something magical that would lift him. How he hated stairs! Never had the gold to have it constructed, so there you have it: a hole in the floor.



Mind you, I did place a sign of warning after someone fell down and damn well broke his neck.



And I can’t help but notice the skeleton at the bottom. The fellow who died, I take it?
Yeah, that was him.
So let me get this straight: Your father put a big hole in the floor in a place where people walk – often after consuming copious quantities of ale from the tavern on the main floor.
Uh-huh.
He didn’t put up temporary walls, or even a railing.
Nope.
And he left a corpse here, to just rot and dissolve into a pile of maggot-ridden, worm-infested stinking meat – in the main floor of his inn.
Er… well, nobody ever complained before.







I believe Aleroth has seen better days.
You can say that again! We’ll probably be killed in the next few days and I’ve lost my last tangible creature comfort.
Killed the wife, did they?
I’m not married, but I still think that was in very poor taste! It’s my mother’s amulet, actually, given to me when I was a lad. Told me the Divine would always protect me when I wore it, she did, and though I don’t believe that anymore, I sure would like to have it here now. Problem is, it’s in my house down in the Crow’s Nest where those undead roam. If ever you go there, I’d be much obliged if you retrieved it. But honestly: you’d have to be mad to go there.
If that amulet is a memento, I take it your mother has passed away?
I have no idea, to be honest! My parents are called Henry and Eleanor and they were the owners of the Phoenix Inn. They went on a sea voyage some weeks back and nothing has been heard of them or anybody else on the ship since. ‘Twas then that I have taken on the role of landlord and Bourdain became the head chef. You can find him in the kitchen if you’re feeling peckish.
<sub>I could go for an omelette.




…No, I think I’ve changed my mind about eating anything made here.</sub>




About your parents…
Yes? You have heard of them?
You know that island Damian gassed into oblivion? Yeah, they were on that.
Divine damn the Damned One! Has the murdering bastard not yet had his fill? My poor parents… They will be sorely missed.
_{Enough chit-chat, time for what I came for.}
Kelton, one of your regulars, tells me you have some reservations about a client of yours.
Me? Reservations? Yes, but… no. No! I don’t know where he gets that. And what is more, I… I don’t talk about my customers with strangers. It’s just not… not professional!
(-15000 XP) _{Blast! Halliwell will kill me when he finds out I lost the key to the top chamber. Must have lost it under the bridge. But I like it better locked anyway. Those strange sounds… Anyone else I’d have thrown out of my inn.}
I know the upstairs room is rented by a man called Halliwell and that you are none too happy with his presence.
Yes, all right, if you must really know. There’s no denying it anyway. I rented it out to the only one who dares to go upstairs and that turned out to be the chap from Rivertown. He’s a holy man and a great and proud warrior, but still… there is something very wrong. The lights I have seen coming from under the door… And even when he was away I heard a scuffling along the floor. Frightens me to bits, to tell you the truth.
See you around!
Aye, Dragon Knight.
_{I have to find that key.}


Reminiscence of the Past

Ricky, proprietor of The Phoenix Inn wants his mother’s necklace from her house in Crow’s Nest.


Video: Everybody’s a Critic


(Minius) I hope by gods Aulus is okay. Why, he’s so old he even fought in the battalion led by the Divine during the Great War!
…
What is it, Dragon Knight?
…Nothing, just talk to Messalina when you get the chance.




(Ambrose) Dragon Knight, what a fight! How we jeer and drink more beer! Hehehe!
(Pike) Leave me to me drinkin’! What else is left?




(Flora) Join me for a drink, Dragon Knight?
Don’t you have anything more important to do than drink?
Long as I don’t get my marching orders, no! Plus, I can use some liquid courage – what with Damian hovering above our heads.
(-15000 XP) _{Dear gods, I can’t believe I lost my pearl necklace. It was a unique jewel!}


Mind over Matter: Flora
Flora has lost her pearl necklace.




_{A lot of people eating. I’ll check out the kitchen.}




(Bourdain) Aah! You have come to congratulate, of course, the great Bourdain: the best chef in Aleroth – nay, in the whole of Rivellon!
(-22500 XP) _{Ha, no one is as dexterous as I am with knife and fork and spoon!}
Your Dexterity has increased by 1.
So how about whipping me up an omelette?
Omelette? Omelette?! Such a meager platter is an insult to the genius of my cuisine! Surely you must have heard of my famous Coq Bourré?
Sorry to disappoint you.
Quel Barbare! I cannot believe it. I’d serve you some right now if I could, to correct this most supreme of culinary crimes! Alas, I miss the key ingredient for my celebrated stuffing without which I cannot prepare my work of art.
What ingredient is that?
Gorgombert, an exquisite, creamy blue cheese made from the milk of the famed, white giant rabbits that roam the pastures of Ferol, the mighty Dukedom.
(Lucian) _{They didn’t exist back when I roamed that land years ago. All the magic that was thrown around there during the war… it changed many of the rabbits, transforming them into giant, flesh-eating, fanged monstrosities.}
(Behrlihn) _{How utterly delightful! I must learn how to do that trick myself. Perhaps I can make a legion of flying, face-eating chipmunks!}
To think a food critic is in my restaurant right now, awaiting the result of my mouth-watering métier with ravenous anticipation. A review in the Aleroth Times can make or break my reputation.
Why do you care about your reputation as a cook so much, what with the Black Ring ready to strike and all?
Ah, but think a bit further, Dragon Knight! If Damian hears of my divine skills in the kitchen, perhaps he will spare me, yes?
_{Eh, worth a shot, I suppose.}
So tell me a bit more about this renowned recipe of yours.
Oh la la, but I can’t just give you the recipe. It shall die with me. Still, because you are my dear friend I will divulge to you the three basic ingredients. They are: a large rooster, Gorgombert cheese and lots of Rimmer Rum. The rest must remain a mystery!
Listen, tell me what you need and I’ll help you out.
_{Really, Dragon Knight?
Yes, this is ridiculous. You should be seeking a way to set me free!}
Magnifique! Please mon ami, talk to the customers and find out who the food critic is. It is he I must concentrate on. And of course I will need some Gorgombert, without which I cannot make my Coq Bourré. When I have it, I will certainly win the critic’s stomach and heart. Do this for me and the name of Bourdain will echo through the ages!
Where should I look for this rare cheese of yours?
Your guess is as good as mine, Dragon Knight! He who seeks shall find!
I must be off, Bourdain.
Au revoir!






(Shandy) Oh, the barman is sooo cute! I keep ordering beverages so I can tell him time and again how very very charming he is!
(Bailey) When I close my eyes the room spins! I may be a sorceress and I don’t even know it!




(Anona) Hey! Anona’s the name. Want to join us for a drink?
Having a good time?
Why, yes! We’re having a real girl’s night out! Certainly the Black Ring might kill us all soon – but that’s all the more reason to be merry as much as we can, I say!
So did you order any food?
Oh, just the first thing I read on the menu. With what we’ll be drinking, we’ll need a bit of a bite to keep us on our feet.
Goodbye, Anona!
Where are you going? Come back and have some brandy!




(Snister) Bugger off, will ya? I’m not in the mood for a chat.
Is there a particular reason for your general unpleasantness?
Aside from your meddling? I’m hungry. I want a decent plate of food and to read my Aleroth Times in peace. Only food in scarcer in the brains in Bourdain’s head and the forces of darkness are about to make a house call.
So, what are you having for dinner?
And what business is my Coq Bourré of yours? Go away!
Right then, Bye!
Noisy adventurers, think they can wring a quest out of anybody.




(Purvis) ‘Lo there, friend! Are you here to sample Aleroth’s palatable pleasures like me?
The state the city is in does not trouble you?
Ah, but it does! I just try to keep up my spirits and good food is the way to do that. Not that it doesn’t affect me… the dead in the streets… the smell of burning flesh… But then that scent reminds me of a good piece of wild troll steak and suddenly life is worth living again!
I perceive you delight in good food!
That I do! ‘Tis no secret I enjoy immensely the work of art that is the appetising aliment! I travel all over Rivellon to taste the best every kitchen of every city has to offer. I have even magically taken the guise of a goblin in order to taste their Shaman Bowel Soup during the yearly Festival of Blood! Unfortunately, the spell did in fact transform me into a Shaman and I had to do a runner, but never mind all that: I’m here now, in Aleroth, ready to have a good meal and Damian be damned if he interrupts it!
Have you ordered anything to eat?
But of course! I have the good hope that soon I shall be dining on Chef Bourdain’s Coq Bourré: a dish, I hear, fit for the papillae of gods!
I must take my leave.
Live well and eat well, Dragon Knight!




_{What’s that on the bar?}

Aleroth Times


_{Hmmm… well, that’s a clue to look for the cheese, at least. But I should go upstairs. I got that key from behind Hannibal, I should investigate the strange entity that has so terrified Ricky.}


Video: Bedwyr


Music: Bedwyr





(???) The door! You actually opened the door! What a day! Hahaa!
From the look of it, you’ve been waiting a while for that to happen.
Years, my saviour. Many slow, mindnumbing, flesh-consuming years! Finally I can invite customers again. Power up my machines. I shall make masterpieces of enchanting yet: I can feel it in my bones!
Enchanting something sounds useful, although I’m not sure how good you can be to fail at escaping a locked room.
So it’s enchanting you are after, yes? But I can’t do much more here than play the xylophone on my ribs!
Why don’t you tell me something about yourself?
(Bedwyr) Why not indeed? I am Bedwyr and as you may have guessed – gods bless that Draconic intellect – I am an enchanter. Lucrative job that: kings shower you in gold if you forge them blade and shield. And how the queens in turn show their munificent nature when you place the medallions around their neck. Alas success breeds jealousy. Hannibal was the green beast that stalked me.
What did this Hannibal do to you?
Locked me in here is what he did, so I’d miss a contest. The underhand weasel! Only the fool went and broke his neck. Then, refusing to give up the ghost, he started haunting the inn. All those cowards refused to hear my pleas and cries for help. Before long I knew I’d die here. My last resort was to drink a potion given to me by a necromancer that promised eternal life. The soul it preserved, but the damned concoction stopped short of bodily upkeep. Thus I became the skeleton in the cupboard.
(-15000 XP) _{I know it would be useless to drink it without papillae, but still I should like an amphora of High Hall wine, just to remind me of foregone days.}
Musical aspirations aside, is there a reason you can’t enchant?
These machines don’t rub on Bourdain’s food, you know, not even his famous drunk chicken! I need force stones and orbs, and special kinds too. You won’t find ‘em in Aleroth. Tell you what though: fish around for a goblin energy orb and I can fire up three old engines in one go.
That goblin energy orb is yours if you point me in the right direction.
Can’t tell you much more than the obvious. If you see a goblin, ask!
I have other places to be, Bedwyr.
No problem. Osseus greetings, my liberator!


Bedwyr’s Scribbles




Bedwyr also sells a few things:




The Wasteland leggings aren’t really infused with sand demons, unless that only works where there’s sand.


Mind over Matter: Bedwyr
Bedwyr wants an amphora of High Hall wine.

Fire ‘em Up!
We need to locate a goblin energy orb. But who in Aleroth would know about one of those?




The one that sees! Still fascinated by old Hannibal, I see.
Just so you know, I freed Bedwyr.
He is still alive? A ghost like me?
He’s a living skeleton, as a matter of fact.
That lucky son of a troll! And I can but haunt this dump unseen. Oh well. No rest for the wicked, as they say.


<sub>Well, I’m out of obvious leads as to where to go. Finding clues by random luck is all I can hope for.












I’d better get started, then.</sub>







The Phoenix Inn
Everybody’s a Critic
Bedwyr




Music: Phoenix Inn


Music: Bedwyr



Maps









If you sent Minius into the Temple of Nimir, Aulus can be found at the inn. He says one of two different things depending on whether you’ve rescued him yet. If you haven’t:

(Aulus) I hope by gods Minius is okay. He talks like a veteran, but he’s spent more days on his mother’s breast than in the field.

If you have:

(Aulus) Dragon Knight! I heard from Minius about your adventures. Imagine being trapped till death in such an uncanny temple. You must have been relieved he was there to rescue you!




From hell I call to you, soon-to-perish! Eternal torment will be thy fate!
And what did I do to deserve that?
I don’t know. Certainly you did something naughty in the past.

From hell I call to you, soon-to-perish! Eternal torment will be thy fate!
I can see you!
What? That’s a first. You must be one of them Dragon Slayers.




I believe Aleroth has seen better days.
You can say that again! We’ll probably be killed in the next few days and I’ve lost my last tangible creature comfort.
Really? Seems you have enough rum behind the counter.
No, nothing like that. It’s my mother’s amulet, actually, given to me when I was a lad.

About your parents…
Yes? You have heard of them?
Er… they relocated to a beautiful farm where they can roam free and cook all day long.
Found happiness in some far-away land have they? I’m glad to hear it! I do hope they send me a letter soon, though. How was I supposed to know I was going to be lumbered with being a landlord all of a sudden?


Reader Participation

Who is the food critic? (This time I’m not even giving a hint by mind-reading, just make a guess.) Use the name please, so there's no confusion over letters with the next participation question. Thanks!

Snister, the grumpy one.
Purvis, the gourmet.
Anona, having a girl’s night out.




We’ve made it as far as Rhode did, and we’re out of trail. The only thing we can do now is side quest. All four of the questing areas in the city are open (the fifth is really just for the main quest.) I’ll do quests which I know are related at the same time, and pursue them to a conclusion before continuing down the list. I’d like as many votes as possible on this so I don’t have to do many more of these votes.

Vote for up to five choices in order (five is preferred). If you vote for all five, your first choice counts as five points, second choice counts as four points, third choice counts as three points... you get the idea.


Crow’s Nest
a) Damsel in Distress: Servus in the Ministry wants us to check up on his wife at their house in Crow’s Nest.
b) Spectre at the Feast: Caracalla wants our assistance to avenge his death in Crowell’s House in Crow’s Nest.
c) And it Burns, Burns, Burns: A woman in Crow’s Nest is watching her house burn. I should see what she wants.
d) Eternal Commitment: Decimus wants his wife’s ring from his house in Crow’s Nest. Astridax probably wants it too.
e) Reminiscience of the Past: Ricky, proprietor of The Phoenix Inn wants his mother’s amulet from his house in Crow’s Nest
f) Wild Willows Asylum / Rune Handles: Yara will search Crow’s Nest carefully for Rune Handles and also investigate the Asylum.


Great Market
g) Something Rotten: Kelton in Healer’s House wants a cure for the curse that turned him into a skeleton. *
h) Everybody’s a Critic: Bourdain’s Cheese: Chef Bourdain in Phoenix Inn needs some cheese to make his special recipe.
i) Rune Handles / Everybody’s a Critic: The Food Critic: Bourdain wants us to identify the food critic. Yara will also search the Great Market carefully for Rune Handles.
j) Fire ‘Em Up: Bedwyr in The Phoenix Inn needs a goblin orb to power up his enchanting devices.


Mardaneus Plaza
k) First Aid / Rune Handles: Peter in Mardaneus Plaza wants us to deliver the Healing Orb we retrieved from Healer’s House. Yara will also take this time to search Mardaneus Plaza for Rune Handles.
l) An Appetite for Murder: Someone has been stealing food for the unfortunates of Aleroth. A beggar in Mardaneus Plaza might know more. *


Lanilor Lane
m) A Swindler Swindled: Willy, the con man wants us to deal with assassins in his house on Lanilor Lane.
n) Earrings in Law Ransid on Lanilor Lane wants us to retrieve his mother-in-law’s earrings from the haunted playhouse on Lanilor Lane. *
o) Black Market There’s a shady-looking character hanging around the Playhouse on Lanilor Lane.
p) Beauty and the Beast: General Luxurius has someone captive in his house. We should start by investigating Taurus’ house on Lanilor Lane *
q) Rune Handles /  The Murders in the Rue Lanilor : We have no quests pointing us to Madam Eve’s on Lanilor Lane. Yara will also search Lanilor Lane carefully for Rune Handles.


* =  Leads to a piece of our ultimate gear. 

Persons and Places of Interest

There are no quests associated with these people or places at the moment, but they’re worth remembering. There will be more later.

• Rune Handles – Bellegar placed 5 of these in Aleroth. When they’re all pulled, something will probably happen. We’ve found four in plain sight, but there’s still one more somewhere. Handles Pulled: 4/5
  
• Halliwell – A holy man, a General in the New Order, with a disfigured face. Behrlihn thinks he’s worth keeping an eye on. He’s staying in the Circle of Trust Inn, but is in Healer’s House now. For some reason, he has another room in the Phoenix Inn.
  
• Wild Willows Manor – An insane asylum in Crow’s Nest. It would probably be creepy enough if it wasn’t in the part of the city overrun with undead.
  
• Laniel – Lives in Hansel’s house on Lanilor Lane. Weird guy, a loner, mysterious chanting is heard in his room occasionally.
  
• Sir Gula – An archaeologist who in recent weeks has become reclusive, abandoning his dig and shutting himself in his house on Lanilor Lane.
  
• Madam Eve’s – With a name like that, what do you think it is? It’s on Lanilor Lane.
  
• Alzbeta – A shopkeeper on Lanilor Lane who seems jumpy around Champions and other upholders of the law.