During his time sitting with the Oselmarch Army, Hjalgrimm saw and learned several things. First, the Oselmarch Army is based out of Kobing. There are two companies, each led by a knight commander (Deputy Warden), a Sergeant, and three Corporals. Every summer a new levy of recruits joins up and goes through brutal training. Each company has a crew of light archers who are absolutely dedicated to their job. They enthusiastically love to volunteer for recon duties patrolling for Pagaelin. Most of the archers mark their arrow shafts and fledging uniquely so they can claim their kills. Many of the archers take trophies like ears, noses, and fingers to decorate their bows or belts. Sometimes this leads to problems, as the Pagaelin have learned to lure overeager and overconfident scouts into traps. Hjalgrimm also learns that the men absolutely love Baron Orsin Firith, the Lord Marshall and Warden of the Oselmarch. The Baron is a true soldier. He is a widower, and his two children are grown and living in Tashal. Baron Orsin Firith enjoys travelling with his army, and the men truly love having the Baron's multi-colored pavilion in their midst. The Baron and his son are so alike, that is why they don't get along, but everyone knows the Baron is immensely proud of his son.
Weyliri requests some time with Larethian's Lament Lament while the group travels to Kobing. She spends some time cleaning and adjusting the lute. Eventually she starts plucking and strumming, then humming along. She plays and sings a couple of songs, and her performance is mesmerizing. Then, Weyliri tells the party what she knows about this amazing instrument. "Larethian's Lament was crafted by High Sindarin in the dense center of the Shava Forest on Hârn more than 1400 years ago. The lore that is told is that the crafter, a Sindarin Bard of exceptional skill and beauty, fell in love with the Elvin deity Corellon Larethian, but could never consummate that love, nor receive Corellon's affection in return. The bard spent more than six decades collecting the rarest ebony heartwood, gold, silver, platinum, and opals, and then building a mastercraft lute to rival any ever made. The bard poured his longing and forlorn grief into enchanting the lute. When the task was complete, he reached out once more to Corellon to say goodbye, and he passed from this realm. The lute passed from legendary bard to fabled entertainer over the centuries, travelling throughout Shava Forest and the Kingdom of Evael. Sometime in the last century, one of those Bards joined a team of Nithra Dante on a mission for the king of Evael. Neither she nor the fantastic lute were seen again. Until now."
The party arrives at Kobing about an hour before sunset and turns northwest to head into the town. They see the Mercantyle Guild sign for Minroc's Outfitters. After a brief discussion they agree to start with the outfitters and see what they can learn there.
The party ties up the wagon and horses outside the outfitters' store, which has a porch along its west and north sides. When they enter they are greeted by a tall human man, rather young, with a lot of red hair. "Welcome to Minroc's Outfitters. I am Eryk Minroc. How may I server you today?" The party can hear that he has an accent suggesting he is from the north. He is wearing a miller's apron over his clothes, and there are two other humans in the store tidying up. Hjalgrimm explains that they have quite a bit of goods in the wagon that they'd like to sell. Eryk is quite pleased to hear this, as his shelves are rather low on inventory. They ask him about his apron, and why he is so low on stock. Eryk blushes and chuckles. He explains that he had been the miller's apprentice until recently. When the miller retired, he foolishly chose his idiot son to take over, so Eryk left the mill. He had been saving up to purchase the guild license for Kobin's mill, so he instead used those funds to purchase the old mercantyle shop on the south edge of town. The old merchant was too feeble to continue and his daughter did not want to run the place. So, now it is Minroc's Outfitters. He still has some money, supplemented by outfitting a couple of caravans recently, and could use some new inventory.
Askelon cast Detect Magic on the gear, and pulls out one of the fancier daggers. The party opens the back panel of the wagon and spreads out the items they are looking to sell. Eryk looks it over, hedging over demand for the lances, does some scribbling in a ledger, and offers the party an amount. The party counters, a fairly high amount. Eryk brings his offer up slightly, to about 60% of what he could sell it for, not counting cleaning, repairing, etc. The party accepts 26 platinum for the lot.
The party asked Eryk about places to stay in town, and Eryk tells them about the Dragon and Damsel being mostly for merchants and a fun time, and the Road Warden's Inn being mostly for soldiers and a quiet but much more comfortable time. They also asked about armorsmiths or metalsmiths in the village. Eryk said that the only weaponsmith or armorsmith he knew of were in service to the Baron inside the Keep. He said there is a middling metalsmith in town named Briadoc. Hjalgrimm muttered that he thought there was an armorsmith in Kobing he was told to meet. Eryk said he did know of a very talented armorsmith in Qualdris up the road. Hjalgrimm responded that he would look for this smith in Qualdris then.
The party decides to head straight to the Road Warden, figuring that it is more likely that the wagon would be recognized at the Dragon and Damsel. They pass an Embalmer's establishment along the way. At the Road Warden's Inn they see two guards standing outside a large double gate between two buildings. The building on the right is clearly the Inn and Tavern, with a sign showing the Innkeepers Guild badge. The building on the left is likely a stables. One of the gate guards asks if they're seeking food or lodging and the party answers both. They open the gates and two stable boys rush up to take the reins of the draft horses leading the wagon. After all are maneuvered into the yard, the guards close the gates. The guard who spoke with them a moment ago tells them that they can stow the wagon here safely for 1sp, and that the stable boys expect 1sp per horse that they take care of. The horses will be groomed, fed, and exercised. The party can see that there is a large fenced area for the horses to roam. Hjalgrimm approaches the boys and hands them a gold coin each. "Take good care o'them, lads." They are ecstatic, and assure the Khuzdul they will. The guard then guides them into the tavern and introduces them to Brak Baphom, proprietor of the Road Warden Inn and retired Sergeant of the Oselmarch Army.
Brak Baphom is a large human man with the bearing of a soldier. He corrects the guard "Honorary Sergeant." He holds up his left forearm which ends in a metal cap that looks like it has given its share of abuse. "Lost this in a Pagaelin raid while vying for Seargeant. The Baron gave me the rank anyway when I retired." He smiles. "Rooms and food and drink, will it be? I have a common room, duals, and singles available tonight. Five silver for the common room, 1 silver each person for the doubles, and five silver for a single. Bekka, food and drinks for these folks, please." The party agrees to doubles and pulls out their coins, plus a silver each for dinner and breakfast. Hjalgrimm asks if he has any good stout, and Brak replies that he just ran out and is waiting on the next run from the brewer in Burzyn. Hjalgrimm asks for water. Brak shrugs, "Yeah, well, I suppose we can getcha some water."
Fresh roasted birds and rabbit stew are brought out, along with fresh bread and cheeses. Weyliri performs some on the lute and sings. Faelon breaks out his ocarina. His playing is not good, but Weyliri accommodates his … improvisations. The party retires for the night.
Askelon casts Identify on the Dagger and the Lute. He learns that the Dagger is a simple +1 enchantment. The arcane power of the lute is almost overwhelming - he suspects that this is a legendary or artifact item. He learned that the lute must be attuned by a Bard, that it provides that Bard an extra Bardic Inspiration per day, and that it gives the Bard the Prestidigitation cantrip without taking a slot. He then upcast his new Remembrance spell and saw the vision of Jenserel casting Major Image from Larethian's Lament, using the phrase "I Phain Nador", to cause an image of herself falling off her horse and tumbling on the road. She glances back to seek the pursuing mage (Askelon) still chasing her. He reaches back for another wisp and witnesses Jenserel, Ludfrond, and Kalmin performing a singing play for a well-dressed audience at a roadside campsite, and receiving a bag of coins. He can see an amphitheater in the background which looks like it was either made by or inspired by Sindarin culture. Askelon uses his Arcane Recovery to regain a 2nd level slot and upcasts Remembrance again. This time he fails to connect with a thread at first, but eventually witnesses Jenserel performing with the lute in front of another well-dressed audience. This time, she is on a stage and the audience is in semi-circular seating, almost certainly the same amphitheater he saw before. In the middle front row sits an elderly Human man who appears to be royal, as he wears a crown. His tunic and the pennons flying near him, as well as the tunics of several guards surrounding him, bear the colors and heraldry of Clan Elendsa, the ruling clan of Kaldor. This is almost certainly Miginath Elendsa. Sitting next to him is a very attractive Human woman in her late 40s or early 50s. Askelon assumes she is Lady Erila Kaphin, Lord Privy Seal of Kaldor and Miginath's lover.
In the morning the group receives a nice breakfast of fresh bread and pastries, cheeses, and some figs and pears that they learn are grown nearby. They find the horses have been very well attended and the outside of the wagon is nicely cleaned. The stable boys are abuzz about the huge Emelrene horse and the muscular pony. Hjalgrimm gives them both a generous tip.
The party decides to visit the nearby Kobing Ostler to see if they can get some coin for the odd pair of horses. As they entered the compound they saw about half a dozen people working, each seeming to know their job well. A middle-aged Human man was working a small horse in the circle. A young woman bearing a family resemblance to the horseman approached. "Good morning, gentles. Are you seeking to stable or purchase today?" The party tells her they're interested in selling, actually. She bids them wait and approaches the man working the horse. He hands the horse to her, and she resumes the training. The man approaches. "Hello, I am Bryn Hend, ostler for Kobing. I hear you're looking to sell some horses?" They show him the Emelrene horse and the muscular pony. "Well, a fine dappled Emelrene. And, unless I miss my guess, and I rarely do, that would be a Hodiri Warpony. I bet there are fine stories behind this beauty!" He checks them both over in detail. "May I?" as he reaches for the warpony's reins. He easily mounts the pony and kicks her into motion. He makes several circles and figure eights, then rides by a spear sticking out from a bale of hay. He spurs the warpony into a gallop with the spear tip out in front of the mount's head. The pony does not flinch as he strikes several targets on ride by. He brings the warpony back around to the group and dismounts. The pony casually starts eating fresh shoots, seemingly not winded. "I'll offer you 225 gold for the pair, a fair deal." The group takes the bag, thanks Bryn, and departs the Kobing Ostler's compound.
The road from Kobing to Qualdris is very well maintained and patrolled, and nearly twice as wide as the trail in Chybisa and northern Melderyn. It is clear that the party has returned to "civilized" lands. Travel from Kobing to Qualdris takes one short day. The party passes through Brium (manor) and Inderen (fortified manor) quickly, then over a ridge of hills before descending into Qualire (fortified manor). As they begin the decent the party sees two squads of mounted knights and a carriage ahead on the road riding toward them. The squads are about 1200' away when the party sees them.
The party moves off the road, and Hjalgrimm climbs inside the wagon. As the procession passes them, they can see that most of the riders are in full plate or chain mail, with longswords and crossbows, and shields and tunics of white with a red diamond containing a vertical spear. This is clearly a group of Laranians of the Order of the Spear of Shattered Sorrow. As the white carriage with red trim passes by, they spot an elderly man and a middle-aged woman, both in Laranian clerical robes, inside the carriage. There are a few woman in the mounted knights, and squires in leather scattered among them. The group seems to take little notice of the wagon and companions that made way for them.
After the Laranian Squad passes, the party continues on to Qualire. After Qualire they see the Laranian signpost for Fancet Abbey (abbey of the Laranian clerical order Spear of Shattered Sorrow). Fancet Abbey is well built, new, and impressive to look at. As they near the top of the next hill the party see the Nebulan Chapterhouse of the Order of the Lady of PaladinsFighting Order. This is even newer and more impressive. After moving down the hill away from Nebulan the party will travel through Riana (manor), Torret (fortified manor and Hundred Moot), Vinfel (fortified manor), Hilgere (fortified manor), Bertine (fortified manor), Lence (manor), Brinel (manor).
The party travels on through Hylesim (fortified manor and Hundred Moot) and continues on the road toward Qualdris. It is mid-afternoon when the party approaches the stone bridge of at least 50 meters that crosses the Siloryne River into Qualdris.