Tavern Brawls S04W06

As Aeric walked through the crowds inside the Tipsy Turtle Inn, she quickly sidestepped the usual rabble-rousers.  Tempers flared, and the Bounty Hunter from Sneak Attack angrily cursed at the BrawlMaster, with accusations of corruption preying upon the conspiratorial nature of the violent drunkards who frequented the inn. The combination of an underground fight club, alcohol, and gambling often led to explosive arguments, and this evening was no different.

Aeric paused once she spotted the sharpshooting ranger Hoood at a table close to the inn’s main entrance.  Not wanting to risk any interference in her trip to the mapmaker Cewona’s home, she prepared a quick incantation and gripped her Fire Staff.  As the ranger looked up, surrounded by tankards of frothy alcohol, Aeric smiled and completed the spell;  seconds later, Hoood was fast asleep. To passersby, it looked like she was just a simple drunkard; no one would suspect the trickery in play. Finally, Hoood was neutralized, leaving Aeric to travel to Cewona without any meddling from a protective sister.

Aeric climbed the stairs to the second floor of the boarding house where the mapmaker lived.

The plan was simple enough, just head to the home of the mapmaker and make the introduction. Then meet back in the private room above the Tipsy Turtle and get some assistance deciphering the map to nowhere without paying too high a fee. As a backup, Raelyn kept watch on the Counting House, where the mapmaker was employed, guaranteeing that one of them would locate the cartographer. 

As she reached the doorway, she quickly scanned for nosy neighbors or passersby; fortuitously, no one else was around.  She knocked on the door in a brisk pattern, then waited.

After a long pause, she heard a distant voice, “Hoood, is that you?” Aeric, answered, “I am a friend of your sister. My name is Sabrina, and I am a sorceress. She sent me over to get your advice on a personal matter.” After another long pause, a female voice answered, “I am in the loft, and I will be right down; let yourself in.”

Aeric responded with thanks, then entered the flat, dimly lit by flickering candles. The main room was covered with books and scrolls. Curiously, all the books were religious, with nothing about cartography. Aeric headed to the back of the two-room home with suspicions raised.  “Cewona, are you coming out soon?”  

Aeric heard the door behind her lock, then a lantern was lit, and she was face to face with a powerful Cleric flanked by two Followers blocking her escape. “Okay, Sorceress, who are you really, and what do you want with my sisters, Hoood and Cewona?  I am Jeowyn the Cleric, and I protect my Church,  but family comes first. So speak quickly before we have to beat the truth out of you.  And don’t think about dropping a Fireball on us; there is enough paper and parchment here to guarantee you won’t make it out alive, either.  

Aeric realized with trepidation that she wasn’t going to win a three-on-one fight. Sheepishly, she spoke, “Well, I guess I mixed up the sisters of Hoood, you see I just need the help of an expert mapmaker…: