THE PARTY SO FAR
My dudes: Gwen (Witch 1) & Ongus, her retainerDave's dude: Quintus, the Roman (Fighter 1)
Dakota's dude: Sergius, the Thracian (Fighter 1)
Gwen and Ongus arrive in Aquilea just in time to hear bells ringing. It sounds melodious, perhaps it's a celebration? But wait, no - those bells are the klaxon sounding that the Gauls are about to attack. Damn! We go and hide near a parapet with some Romans who look like soldiers but who we quickly learn aren't.
Gallic warriors approach the city from the south. We count about forty. Their leader starts shouting in Gallic. He also glows. For real, there are cool glowing runes beneath his skin. That's kinda neat. He says he wants us Romans to surrender our treasure, that he knows it's there, beneath our feet, and he wants it. There's also some posturing about burning Aquilea to the ground and killing us all for sport, but that's just common practice for barbarian raiders, really.
Within ten minutes the city guard arrives -- 120 armed men and a guard captain. The captain shouts at Sergius, the soldier who wasn't actually a soldier that rallied everyone to the parapet, to get down from there. Sergius is a little bit aghast at this command, and starts to bicker with the captain; somehow, it gets revealed that Sergius speaks Gallic, and the captain switches tack and asks Sergius to translate, as he can't speak Gallic at all.
Apparently, this particular band of Gauls has been threatening the city twice a week for nearly three months, demanding the exact same thing - the secret treasure beneath Aquilea.
Overhearing this, I get an idea. I cast charm person on the shiny Gaul and tell him, "Hey, there's no treasure here. You must've made a mistake!" Hilariously, it works. Of course, all these Romans are staring at me now, and they're all superstitious about witches and magic and shit, as they really ought to be, because the Gauls leave a minute later, grumbling to themselves about the lack of treasure. Ha! Hexin' and flexin' is all I do, and I do it well.
The captain immediately tells me and Sergius that he wants to speak with us privately, and we oblige him. He introduces himself as Octavius Calvus and we realize that he's not only the guard captain, he's the mayor of Aquilea. Nice!
He brings us to the forum where we're wined and dined, and we can relax in formal company. There's another Roman, Quintus, who Calvus has called here to the forum, and he reveals his plan for doing so: He wants to become our patron. Why? Because he believes the Gauls are right. There is a treasure beneath Aquilea, and he wants us to find it. Why us? Because he's a government official, and he can't spend government money to hire actual citizens to go digging around where they don't belong. He needs disposable foreigners who are bonded by a combination of patronage, poverty, and pride. We've got all three.
Sergius is a Thracian mercenary who fought in the 3rd Legion against Illyria. With the war at a stalemate, he's got no real prospects unless he wants to return home to Thracia, and for the time being, he really doesn't. He hasn't made nearly the wage he was hoping to earn, and is secretly hoping that war will break out again any day now, so he can recoup the money he invested in his heavy armor and rhomphaia.
Quintus is a deserter and a thief. He stole his father's armor and weapons and left when the war broke out. He's been a wanted man for quite some time, living like a coward in the shadows, and today, his luck finally ran out. He has little choice but to accept patronage, else he'll be branded as an outlaw.
Gwen accepts Octavius' offer without hesitation. This is all such an excellent boon. Octavius even hints at a marriage proposal if everything goes according to plan. Probably not, but it's always good to have a wealthy Roman backing you up.
Octavius offers us free room and board at his insulae if we accept his offer. Oh, and one other catch: The Gauls are massing in the mountains. Right now, there are only about four hundred in the nearby foothills - not enough to pose a serious threat to Aquilae, which boasts nearly a thousand soldiers. But by summer's end, surely, there will be. Our task is to find the treasure before "August." Currently, it's "April."
Octavius gives us three leads--
(1) Calipho Nosrum. A reputed criminal with a treasure vault who runs a glassworks in town. He's also rumored to be an occultist.
(2) Masala Mine. A mine / prison founded by slaves that supposedly met a sad end a century ago. Considered by most to be nothing but folklore, recent events suggest that that the mine might actually exist.
(3) A tower appeared overnight in Trieste. That sounds a lot like weird magical shenanigans. Of course, Trieste is in Illyria, so they're unlikely to be friendly to Romans on official business.
Did I mention we accepted? We all totally accepted. He paid us 80 dinarii as an advance and we enjoyed a night on the town. Then, we spend a solid week investigating the Masala Mine lead, and staking out Calipho Nosrum's glassworks. No actionable info on the glassworks, but the mine turned up a few rumors, all of which pointed to the village of Capito.
So, off to Capito we go! After informing Octavius, of course. He couldn't hook us up with horses, but he gave us the next best thing: Bedrolls, a tent, some cold weather gear, a donkey, some feed, and enough rations to last us a week.
We lucked out on the random encounter rolls and made it to Capito in one piece. The locals weren't exactly welcoming. We saw no evidence of mining, and when we asked about mines, we all got cold shoulder'd. Only a traveling merchant from Norica named Vislaf would speak with us about the mines, and then only as a theoretical. He suggested that we look for old roads. Mines require roads, after all. And roads are the easiest clue to find, even if they've been hidden for a century.
Vislaf also shared a folktale from his homeland about a mine: Supposedly, a great beast commanded men to dig in the mountains, and they buried themselves to become immortal. Weird.
The next morning, we went out looking for roads. By noon, Quintus spotted a few odd stones that, sure enough, marked a place where a road once ended. The earth had been turned over on purpose. Clearly, someone was trying to hide this place. Promising. We followed the road into the mountains.
A few hours later, Sergius heard the sound of rocks falling and realized we were being followed. We waited in the forest, planning an ambush, and found two velites were tracking us (Roman scout troopers). After Gwen charmed one of them, he told us their names were Petrus and Harpax, and that they were looking for Gauls.
"The townsfolk said a Gallic patrol headed this way this morning. We've got eighty men awaiting our report. But, you say you're not Gauls?"
"Nope. We're totally Romans." And we are, but I gotta say, thanks again to charm person for making that statement seem a lot more plausible.
Petrus and Harpax help us scout for a few more hours before they absolutely need to turn back. We bid them farewell, but continue until dusk. Shortly before sunset, we a slag heap. The road continues to flat clearing, and we find a stream and an old silver coin and a granary just as the sun is setting. And further on -- the entrance to a mine.
We've found it. The Lost Mines of Masala.
We set up camp for the night, dreaming dreams of fabulous riches to come.
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