Party Time

Gurkirat and Talathel each meet up with Nym, Beranhond, and Darvin as they travel to Hring's mansion. The friends are greeted as they arrive, and the group continues, spirits buoyed by the reunion.

As they arrive at Hring's mansion, they can see musicians and revelers spilling out the front doors into the streets outside. Everyone is dressed in bright, colorful, flowing outfits, many with feathers and beads adorning both clothing and small tiaras and crowns. The group slowly presses their way through the throng to the front door, where they are immediately spotted by Hring, who yells, "THE HEROES HAVE ARRIVED!"

A vast sea of heads turns expectantly toward the door, and the happy merriment becomes an expectant, joyous whisper as a surge towards the heroes pushes them back into the streets. Faces the adventurers know push their way toward them, and suddenly,Darvin finds himself raised on the shoulders of Thjodolf and Arngrim. He beams with happiness at seeing his favorite half-orc friend, and Arngrim gets a big smile as well. As the others in the party watch Darvin lifted up, they find themselves raised above the crowd as well.Talathel is lifted next, on the shoulders of Lofa and Aldaho, followed by Gurkirat on Hench 1 and Hench 2's shoulders, and Beranhond on the shoulders of Scriptus and Codex, who playfully pretend they are about to drop him before steadying him and laughing heartily. Nym gets a bit nervous and uncomfortable about everyone else being raised up on other people's shoulders, but Starks whispers something in her ear that makes her blush, and she is on his shoulder and the shoulder of another guard from the mansion before she knows it. Soon she is giggling with glee as she watches Darvin try to show off with what he thinks are dashing poses for the benefit of her and the crowd.

The heroes are paraded around in a circle for a bit, cheered on by the merrymakers around them, and Hring is able to make his way to them through the crowd, grabbing Darvin's hand and pumping his arm in a vigorous handshake. As the cheering starts to subside a bit,Hring again shouts, "To the parade!" and the air fills with whoops and yells.

Talathel leans towards Hring and asks, "Parade? What parade?"

Hring laughs, "It's nothing to worry about, my elfin friend. The evening will have three main phases. We will begin with a parade, then the city council will make a presentation to you, followed by general revelry and merriment as we party by the shore of the river."

Overhearing the conversation, Gurkirat chimed in, "The city council wants to make a presentation? Is that common?"

Looking over at the gnome, Hring answered, "No. It's not. But when I brought them the heads of Rhora and Ramman, they were very grateful that you took the problem out of their hands. Also, they think of this as an opportunity to take everyone's minds off of the earthquake and tsunami and instead celebrate something good for once. They are latching onto you as a bright hope for the future."

Beranhond decided to put in his two bits. "Is there a reason we're leaving without the halfling?"

Hring seemed a bit surprised by the question. "You mean he didn't tell you?" Getting no response to the semi-rhetorical question, Hring continued, "A letter from Grumbleshanks arrived on my desk, 6 days ago now. He explained that he hates crowds and that it was time for him to be heading off on his own. I'm rather surprised he didn't at least let all of you know."

At this point, Arngrim spoke up. "Actually, I have a letter here for Gurkirat. Grumbleshanks left it with me for him." He gestured to Thjodolf, and the two walked closer to Gurkirat, and Arngrim reached into his jacket, pulled out a letter, and handed it up to the gnome.

Gurkirat ripped the letter open, and quickly read the letter. After reading it, he said, "It's as Hring says. Grumbleshanks has decided that his journey to become a man will be easier without all of us tagging along. He set off 4 days ago by ship. He wishes me the best."

Nym interrupted, "You mean the halfling's gone? That seems awfully sudden. Are you sure nothing happened to him? What if he was kidnapped by an evil prince from a faraway kingdom? Or maybe dragons are forcing him to slave away in their diamond mines! Oh no! He's a captive of dragons now! This is terrib-"

Arngrim cut Nym off. "He seemed perfectly fine when he handed me the letter. I think he just needed to travel alone."

Nym was not quite so easily dissuaded, "Are you sure? I mean, he could have been under a spell of some sort. Maybe he was just acting that way because a powerful wizard was threatening to take his family away from him and he really likes his family so he was trying to take care of them by saying goodbye to us, and---"

Again, Arngrim interrupted, "I'm pretty sure he was just being himself. He grumbled something about how I should make sure the prophet didn't steal too much."

Nym quietly responded with, "Oh."

At this point, the group made it to the Northeast gates into the city, and they were lowered from the shoulders of the men carrying them to the ground. The parade appeared to be a large, festive occasion, and there were many large decorated carriages lined up at the gates, the horses and drivers all dressed up in fancy livery for the occasion, glittering in the light of torches and the setting sun. The reddish orange glow bathed the city, making it look like a painting by an artist who only had one color in his palette, but intended to dazzle the world with that one color. The group found themselves escorted to acart at the end of the procession, decorated with dark blues and greens, imitating the ocean. There was the prow of a ship built onto the cart, as well, with stairsclevely hidden in the waves up onto the deck. The 8 horses drawing the cart were covered in heraldry that made them look something like mer-horses. The heroes were ushered up onto the small ship, and with a great deal of fanfare and cheers, the parade began.

                            

The parade wound its way across the city to a large platform that had been constructed in the northwestern corner of the city by where the river met the outer walls. As they arrived, there were 5 men and 2 women standing on the platform.

"Must be the city council," Darvin commented to nobody in particular.

The other carriages peeled off, one by one, gradually creating a kind of perimeter fence in a semi-circle around the platform. The ship and waves cart the adventurers were on pulled up to the platform, where they stepped off the cart, and it was pulled away.

As the cart pulled out of the semicircle and onto the street, one of the two women stepped to the front of the platform and raised a hand, gesturing for silence from the crowd. The sullenly quieted their cheers, as if upset that she would think to ask them to quiet down now, of all times. As the volume in the area decreased, she raised her voice and addressed the group, "People of Baldur's Gate, the times are in are dark indeed." She paused, as if thinking of all the things that had gone wrong recently. After a moment of silence, she continued, "These brave adventurers came here from across Faerun, to help us, to be a light for us here." The crowd erupted in cheering, needing to be quieted again before she could continue. "They have eradicated the infestation of vermin living under our fair city, and seen to it that we will not be troubled any longer by the fear that our children might disappear from their play, victims of the wererat queen Rhora or her minions." Another eruption of cheering punctuated this comment. "To recognize their bravery and service to Baldur's Gate, I give them this ring," with this she held up a large signet ring over her head, "Bearing the crest of the city, and entrust them with its safekeeping." She turned to the adventurers and addressed them directly at this point. "Take this token of our gratitude, and know that where you show this, if any children of the city are present, they should give you aid." She walked over to Darvin, who was standing closest, and placed it in his hand. "Use it well, and wisely." With that, she turned around and said to the crowd, "I invite you all to celebrate this night. A cheer for the brave adventurers who saved our city!" The crowd thundered their applause at this point, causing the adventurers a bit of humble discomfort (except for Darvin, who thought this might be the chance to prove himself a mighty pirate.).

Beranhond whispered to Darvin, who was standing next to him, "If we're going to be adventuring together for much longer, we really should come up with a name for the group."

Darvin nodded his agreement, not taking his eyes off the crowd. "Yeah. Anything is better than 'the brave adventurers who saved our city'."

The crowd decided at this point that it was time to begin partying, and from the carriages, bottles of wine, kegs of beer and food of many varieties began appearing. Some of the people in the crowd began coming up to thank the adventurers, but many of them headed straight for the food. The party had just begun.

And thus begins Chapter 1.3 of Stormspout.