Stark, the one eyed cleric of Yaweh, left on a ship, and I shared a drink with him to send him on his way. The next day was the service for Grunlow. Figured I needed to stay around for the big payoff from the Earl. I hung around 3 days for that payoff. Finally, I heard from Crackum that the Earl decided to just keep it all himself! Well, so much for the expected riches! And, any reason to go out of my way for this Earl again.
So, I signed on to a convoy going to Madra via Kalay, a stone and mining center being built East of Daila. It's one of those "new towns" that's being developed. I figured I might find a job there, and could tell Grunlow's widow the sad news. When I got there, a day and a half later, I found out from the head man Rexul that there were no jobs to be had.
So, then I asked Rexul if he knew where Grunlow's betrothed was; I had the sad duty to tell her of his death. He was shocked. I had to tell him what happened. Then he took me to visit the girl, a beautiful woman named Lian, and I had to tell her too. I offered her 10gp as a gift, maybe to go to Daila and ask for Grunlow's property from the Earl. But, she refused.
Just then, some man from the Earl galloped up, came in, and dumped Grunlow's sword and armor in front of Lian. He said, "Miss Lian, I am here to inform you that Sir Grunlow has been killed in the service of the Earl, and I'm here to bring his personal effects to you." He continued, "The Earl sends his deepest sympathy, and has ordered me to also give this, the 50 gp that were to be paid to Grunlow for his services on this mission." Then the guy left, just like that.
I was embarrassed to be there, and withdrew as soon as I politely could. I guess the Earl was doing what was required after all, but he took his sweet time doing it. You'd think he could have given her a bonus, but, earls will be earls. They didn't get rich by giving away money. He didn't give her anything that wasn't already Grunlow's.
I left with the convoy the next morning. On the way to Madra we had to fight some kobolds, but they weren't any trouble. In Madra, the Horseshoe Inn seemed the right place to stay; at least it's cheap. No chance of running into Uncle Tyson or the rest of the plague there.
I did run across Dendrum, bought him a drink, and told him about my visit to Lian. He was madder than I was over it all, since the Earl didn't compensate him, or even Grunlow's widow, for the lost horses or other property. After reminiscing a bit, he told me that Crackum had taken a ship to Alhafra, the capitol of Ocienia, where his wife and child live.
After that, I made a quick visit back to the farm where Ma and Pa still farm rabbits. They hadn't forgotten me, and were glad I wasn't going to stay long and eat too much. The next day I took another convoy out, vai Kalay again, going toward Daila and Kimbombo. I heard Logan was in Daila; maybe he has some sort of adventuring lined up. Darlik, the merchant, was carrying a bunch of wood in three wagons for Kibombo. He said that since Kibombo is surrounded on all but one side by mountains, wood is hard to come by there. Madra can supply Kibombo with the wood it needs for buildings and basic needs. Seemed to me a long and hard way to transport wood. By ship would be better. Nobody asked me, though, and hey, he was paying! I actually only went with him as far as Daila, and collected 7gp.
For the convoy encounter with the kobolds Thumper got a grand total of 29 xps. = 573xp total.