You are in Rose Harbor.

Rose Harbor is about a 45-minute horse ride away from the city of Sternza.

The city of Sternza is to the northwest, to be specific. To the immediate southeast is the bay, and then the ocean. The beach runs northeast and southwest. To the north, farms and woods. To the west, a few farms, but mostly more woods, turning increasingly to scrub.

Rose Harbor is the biggest port in all of Sefonia, not that it's huge. It's just that Sefonia is big on land borders and short on coast.

You are currently outdoors.

What are you doing at the moment?
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:36, Fri 05 May 2023.

Lil inhaled the fresh ocean air. She stretched a bit looking wistfully out at the waves.

"I'll have you under me sails again soon enough." Whether she was talking to the universe or to her friend Cassandra was up for debate.

Her eyes looked at the ships coming into the docks.

"So, Cass. What bit o trouble will we bet getting ourselves into ?"

Cassandra pulled back her hood, also enjoying the fresh sea air.
"That depends, my friend, on what secrets we can pry out of them."
Not as enamored with the sea as her swashbuckling companion, Cassandra quickly switched her gaze to their destination.
"I don't have a 'hot lead' today, but port cities famously are the usual starting point, or ending point, for many a treasure hunt through the years. I would bet my next bar tab that they're going to have stories and rumors about failed expeditions,
ship wrecks, or lost artifacts."

"Aye, I agree. Let's get ourselves something to wet our tongues, and may haps loosen the tongues of others." Lil has a half smile and follows her companion to a drinking establishment.

The first time in a new communal gathering spot, or, as is more colloquially known, 'the local watering hole', is always an important moment in a journey (though, admittedly, perhaps Cassandra had read too many melodramatic tales from old explorers, desperate to make their finished journeys sound more exciting to future generations).  It, was, however, and objectively, a time of first impressions, where many unsavory, and savory, people in town will decide if the new arrivals are worth the trouble to approach.

So Cassandra entered the front doors confidently, but with a minimum of swagger and cockiness.  She wanted to look capable of taking on any challengers, but not look like a target for some hungry scrapper to want to take out to make their own reputation.

Cassandra was mostly self taught, but she remembered the words of one crusty explorer, who gave her some good advice over stale beer one evening.
"Kid,remember this:  No matter how Big you are, how Strong you are, or how Good you are, there's ALWAYS going to be someone out there who's Bigger, Stronger, and Better.  And the louder you talk, the faster they're gonna find you"

As they entered, Cassandra surveyed the room, trying to assess possible threats, as well as other persons of interest


OOC:
17:33, Today: Cassandra Everquill rolled 97 using 1d100 with rolls of 97.  65 fighter to determine possible threats.

17:33, Today: Cassandra Everquill rolled 89 using 1d100 with rolls of 89.  45 Rouge to determine possible rich or important people .



Rouge goes to 70, Fighter goes to 50


Unfortunately, she might have taken her look before her eyesight properly adjusted to the dim room.   Not wanting to just stand around like a tourist, she walked to the bar
This message was last edited by the player at 22:38, Fri 05 May 2023.

Lil walks in giving Cassandra an odd look at her overexaggerated stride and swagger.
She smiles though and heads to a table sliding into a chair and looking about the place.
Ordering a drink when the barmaid approaches.

Cassandra asked for a server to approach their table, then joined her friend

"Ach, you don't have to put on aires Cassandra. We might be new but we can handle ourselves. Relax for a bit and just take in the feel of the place and see what we can hear."

Cassandra sighed and nodded to her pirate friend, and say, taking in the atmosphere

You hear-- NOT necessarily in this order:

A. Someone is considering sending an expedition to the southlands to talk to the barbarians there about something. It's hard to imagine what could be so important that someone would want to send someone down there. Lil also knows that the winds make it hard to sail to the southwest from Rose Harbor (although it would be easy to get back, at least).

B. Some mage is once again talking about sending an expedition to the northlands to look for more artifacts from the Arikh Dynasty or the Empire or whatever it was called back then. Sounds very cold and impossible to sail to.

C. There's a rumor that a dragon was sighted flying over the mountains to the west, and a bunch of knights want to go chase after it. They're looking for mages and priests and scouts to come too, to help make sure they can find it. (Sounds impossible to sail to.)

D. Undead are always a problem in Sefonia. Really big monsters have to come from outside Sefonia's borders, but all you have to do to get undead is have dead humans and extenuating circumstances. However, lately problems with undead seem to be happening a little more often in the islands to the southeast, which is concerning.

E. There's some sort of rumor going around that the winds "aren't right" lately. No one's sure what to make of that, but there sure is a lot of talking about weather going on-- a lot of it is about the biggest storms of the past.

F. The queen is looking for people for some sort of diplomatic mission to Quayern-- and her representatives are being really choosy for some reason. Aren't there enough diplomats in the capital for this sort of thing? Is it some sort of naval thing, is that why they've come to Rose Harbor? (This is mildly interesting, because one can totally sail to Quayern-- although it sounds like this might involve heading inland quite a bit after that part.)

G. There's a rumor about an old house being haunted over at Hanging Tree, a small town to the northeast. That's barely 12 miles away... That could be a fast-but-interesting way to scratch the itch for adventure.

H. Someone's looking for volunteers to go into the Pendrell Swamps to look for an escaped criminal or something. Sounds very muddy. Who wants mud in their boots? No wonder they're still looking for volunteers.

(Pick two letters you want to know more about the most. Those two will be the last two things you hear about.)