Part 21: The Fourth Ornament

I'm worried that I'll have to stop updating lest this page be too heavy on screenshots. Feel free to post some stuff to get this to 200 posts, I guess! I'm going to try to keep up the 1 update/day as long as I can.

Chapter 20 - The Fourth Ornament



Lobart's field raider problem was taken care of, and I'd secured funding for the near future. I now had just one more assignment to complete in the city before I went and found the final ornament.

Mortis the Militia Blacksmith had a good idea of how things worked in the harbor district and Lord Andre suggested I speak with him about finding the weed supplier.

I found him in the militia armory, busy at work making a sword. I waited until he was finished before confronting him.

"What do you know about the harbor district? I want to find the one who's selling the swampweed."

He wiped some sweat from his brow. "Weeell, the guys down there really don't talk much, and they're guaranteed not to say anything to one of the city guard. If you want to learn anything down there, you should, no you HAVE to take off your armor."

That made sense. It'd just make people clam up. "All right, and then?"

"The tavern and the brothel are probably the best places for you to go. If you're going to learn anything, then you'll learn it there."

I was hoping for a better lead than that, but at least it was something. I took off my armor and made my way down to the docks, first stopping by Kardif's tavern.



I approached the bartender and leaned against the bar. "Where can I buy weed here?" I said, perhaps a bit too loudly.

"Certainly not here." he said almost instantly.

"All right, where then?"

"I'd talk to Meldor if I were you - after all, he smokes all day. "

That made sense but I wasn't sure it was such a good idea. He knew me, after all.



Just as I'd thought, the Meldor lead was useless. He ignored me and refused to acknowledge my presence*. It looked like it I'd need to try the brothel.



I walked into the brothel and announced my intentions to Nadja, one of the whores. "Where can I buy some weed around here?" I asked her.
"Leave me alone!" she yelled.

I turned to Bromor next.



"Can I get 'special' goods here?"

"Sure, all my girls are very special", he said, grinning, "If you have enough gold, you can go upstairs with Nadja."

That really wasn't what I had in mind, but it gave me an idea. If I could isolate Nadja away from the others, perhaps I could learn something from her. I paid the 50 gold to Bromor for a night with Nadja and took her to a room upstairs.



Now that we were alone, I asked her again about weed. This time, she actually answered.

"If you want me to tell you something, you'd better part with a few gold pieces."

There was always a price. "How much do you want?"

"50 gold pieces should do the trick."

I counted out the gold and gave it to her. "Now, tell me where I can buy weed."

She smiled. "Talk to Borka, baby. He'll have some weed for you." She sat down on the bed and motioned to the mattress. I ignored her.



Borka, the bouncer, was just outside the brothel.

I walked up next to him. "I've heard you're selling weed." I said quietly.

He looked displeased. "Where'd you hear that?" he asked.

"That is beside the point."

"I just want to know who sent you so I can be sure you're all right."

I wasn't about to give my informant up to this thug. I ignored his comment. "So, do you want to make a deal or not?"

"All right... let's make a deal. You give me 50 gold pieces, and then you'll get your weed. No haggling."

That was all I needed to close this. "Let's make a deal. Here's your gold."

He looked to make sure he was in the clear. Satisfied, he gave me the weed. "Here's a fresh, resinous stalk of weed."

I calmly walked away so as to not alert him, but when I turned the corner I picked up my pace and jogged toward the Militia headquarters.



I met with Andre as soon as possible to tell him the good news. "I know who's selling the weed in town. It's Borka, the doorman at the Red Lantern."

Andre rubbed his chin with his mailed hand. "Indeed? Do we have proof?"

I nodded. "He sold me some swampweed."

The Paladin gestured to a guard, who left the room. "Fine, that's enough for us. I shall have him arrested at once."

A few minutes later, the guard returned with Borka who was placed inside a cell.

Since Andre had no more assignments for me, I was free to continue my work for the Water Mages. I checked my supplies and, satisfied, I left for the east gate.



I took a different route to the east gate and came across a militiaman that I hadn't yet been introduced to.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"I'm training the boys to use a crossbow and help them become a little more dexterous."

It was no wonder I hadn't met him before: I had no interest in learning how to use a crossbow. He did have another tower key, however, and I helped myself to it when his back was turned.



I walked over to the east gate and prepared to leave for Onar's farm, the location of the final stone circle. I took this time to use the keys from Wambo and Ruga. The right tower contained a chest of five pieces of fried meat, 70 gold, and 5 small health potion. The other tower had a fine longsword.



Instead of going under the bridge as I usually did, I traveled over it. I was surprised to see that the bandit corpses were still lying on the road. Despite the bandits being gone, the tensions between the landowner's farm and the paladins were enough to keep trade slow.



I stopped by a roadside shrine, something I'd been neglecting to do, and gave an offering of 100 gold coins.



It was mid afternoon before I finally arrived on Onar's land. The stone circle I was after was located just next to Sekob's farm. I decided to stop by the farm to see if they had anything interesting to say.



I found a young man, barely an adult, who claimed to speak for the owner of the farm.

"Well, kiddo-" I said condescendingly.

"That's no way for a farmhand to talk to me," Till interrupted,"Just how often do I have to remind you?"

"I'm not a farm hand" I replied bitterly.

"And what do you want here? We have nothing. So you can just leave right now."

"I need to talk to your father."

"He hasn't got time. But I'm his deputy. What can I help you with?"

"By introducing me to your father."

"You're a real tough guy and good fighter, huh?"

I puffed out my chest. "The best."

Till looked me over, having finally realized I was heavily armed. "I.. think maybe I'd better get him then."

I shook my head. "Never mind, boy. I'll find him, I'm sure."



I went inside the house and found Sekob sitting in his armchair in front of an unlit fireplace. I'd intended to speak to him about purchasing supplies and to question him about the circle that was located on his land.

He shot me an angry look as soon as he saw me. "What are you doing on my land? There's nothing to steal here. Clear off."

"Isn't there a piece of land in this blasted country that doesn't belong to anyone?"

"Go to work, then maybe some day you can call a piece of land your own. But until then, kindly loaf around somewhere else."
"Listen.."

The angry farmer raised his voice. "I don't have any work for you! Now go!"



On my way out of the home I noticed that Sekob's wife seemed somewhat unhappy. "Everything all right with you?" I said.

"Well, it's so-so. My back hurts from all this hard labor. What are you doing here? I don't get visitors here all that often."

"What are you doing here?"

"I've been asking myself that for several years. Sekob, my husband, has fallen out with everyone in the area by now. He's in debt everywhere. And so he steals goods from Onar's stocks and sells them in town. By now, he's accumulated a fortune with his underhanded dealings. And he works our farmhands until their backs break. His own people call him nothing but slave-driver these days. I'm not particularly proud to call myself the wife of Sekob, believe me. Sometimes I wish the Barrier were still in place. Would you like to buy something to eat, or perhaps something for hunting in the forest?"

Out of pity for the poor woman, I decided to look through her stocks. Shockingly, she actually had a fairly quality bow for sale. One much better than my current one. I purchased it, and some arrows, for about 550 gold. Then I left the hut for the circle.



Along the road was one of Sekob's farmhands. I thought nothing of him, but as I passed he called out to me.

"So, where are we headed, then?"

"Are you the foreman here?" I asked.

"If you want to go ambling across my land, you'll pay me 5 gold coins, or you're in for a good thrashing."

"Forget it. You won't get anything from me." I put my hand on my sword hilt. I'd had enough of two-bit thugs."

"You boys from the city guard are short of money, huh?"

"Come on and try it, then." I said, taunting the man.

"Well, in that case..." Bronko reached behind him, removing a large, two handed wood cutting axe.





The ferocity of his attack surprised me. If he managed to get a few more solid hits, he would have had me.

A few minutes later, Bronko pushed himself up, bloodied and with a bruised ego but otherwise fine.

"So? Still got that big mouth?"

"Don't beat me, please." he pleaded. "I'll even go back to work, okay?"

I shrugged, downed a potion to close my cuts, and continued on my way to the stone circle. This circle was identical for the past two. A switch was located on each set of standing stones. When all three were depressed, the ground began to shake and a white mist filled the air. A stone sentinel had awoken.



In order to reduce civilian casualties, I had to draw the sentinel away from the farms. Using my bow to keep its attention, I lured it south to the fallow fields.



I did something similar to fight it. Since I easily outpaced the sentinel, I would run a good distance ahead of it and turn to fire arrows. I continued this process for several minutes.

Eventually, the stone could take no punishment and simply collapsed in on itself. I now had every ornament. The Water Mages would be overjoyed.



The sentinel was gone, but I still had about an hour of daylight left. I took this time to thoroughly investigate the forest east of Onar's farm. Upon entering, I found the usual wolves and field raiders. I also came across a wild will'o'wisp, or ghost light. I'd been warned about such creatures in the past, so I dared not get too close.



To the north, I found a cave with a lit campfire inside. I took hold of my bow and crept inside.



I was abused by a small horde of goblins, mostly of the normal variety, but there were also some of the tougher, black type. I even encountered a goblin clad entirely in a crude chain mail. I hadn't known that such primitive, violent creatures even knew what armor was.

For taking care of the goblins, a handful of potions and a staff mace were my rewards.



The rest of the forest was crawling with skeletons, both human and goblin. I hadn't the skill, nor the time, to face them right now. I made a note to return when I could.

I walked back from the farms to the Dead Harpy, where I used my status as a member of the Ring of Water to get a free room for the night.

Other:

A note about Meldor. I accidentally broke this part of the quest in the last update. Thankfully it's not a big deal, but the "natural" progression seems to be Kardiff → Meldor → Bromor → Najda → Borka