AD&D Session 63 - Might Makes Mayor
6th Cuersaar 835 PD
The party spent the morning discreetly following the mysterious goliath newcomer through Urzin. Whisper overheard the goliath questioning a local smith about the town's former mayor, who had recently disappeared. Intrigued by their shared interests, the group continued to follow cautiously. Soon after, they witnessed the goliath stalking an unknown bugbear. When the bugbear briefly entered an outhouse, the goliath swiftly knocked them unconscious, stuffed them into a sack, and summoned a large raven familiar to carry the abducted bugbear away.
The party, observing this from a distance, debated whether they should intervene. Reeves looked to Koro for guidance, but Koro hesitated, leading the group to remain passive. While they were deliberating, the goliath passed by the party, giving Whisper a discreet opportunity to deftly lift a note from the goliath's pocket—one she had seen earlier at the smith's shop. The note confirmed that the goliath was also investigating the strange disappearance of Urzin’s previous mayor and the questionable legitimacy of the current ogre mayor.
Their attention quickly shifted when bells rang out from the town’s central platform, signaling a dramatic confrontation: the goliath had openly challenged Urzin's ogre mayor. After a swift but decisive fistfight, the goliath emerged victorious, promptly assuming control of the town. His first act as the new mayor was to expel the stationed Aurora Watch guards from Urzin's shell, stranding them in the marshland below.
Realizing the party's moorbounders—and Koro’s brother, who had remained below guarding them—were now at risk of being commandeered by the displaced Aurora Watch guards, Reeves urged Koro to descend immediately and assert her rank. Whisper, however, insisted on petitioning the new goliath mayor to settle an unpaid debt from a goblin who owed her money from betting on the recent fistfight. While Whisper successfully recovered her owed money, this delay allowed Urzin's massive horizonback to move far ahead. By the time Whisper rejoined the party and they descended, Urzin had already moved significantly onward. The Aurora Watch soldiers, Koro’s brother, and their mounts had vanished into the marsh mist, leaving the party once again stranded and on foot in the heart of the Brokenveil swamp.