Part 9: Paws

Paws is a dirty and sprawling town immediately south of Britain:

Britain and Paws are essentially the same urban area but the contrast is clear as you walk between them. Paws is known for its poverty, farming (mostly to support the citizens of Britain), and currently there is a Fellowship Shelter there which apparently takes in the poor, the crippled, and the needy.

I spoke to everyone in town. There was a very clear division between the Fellowship members, who were all cocky and annoying, and the rest who were down in the dumps. Here's the key points:

• There's been a theft recently. Someone has stolen some silver serpent venom from Morfin at the slaughterhouse. I agreed to investigate the theft. Merrick suggested it might be Tobias, a young boy who has spoken out against The Fellowship.
• The Fellowship Shelter only lets people who join the Fellowship stay there. This is causing quite a lot of distress with those who are starving but don't wish to join.
• I 'just missed' Elizabeth and Abraham again. They have just left Paws to head to Jhelom. They had been at the shelter delivering funds (apparently).

I was almost done speaking to everyone in Paws when Feridwyn (who runs the shelter) ran up to tell me that his son Garritt has seen Tobias in possession of some silver snake venom. Tobias' mother Camille strongly refutes that he could have taken the venom and asked me to check back if Morfin has seen anyone showing signs of venom usage. Morfin suggests that in fact Garritt has been showing signs of usage (extra tired all the time, and the suddenly over-active). Morfin gave me a key to Garritt's personal chest to see what I could find.

I unlocked Garritt's chest and found the venom. I confronted Garritt and he admitted to planting the venom on Tobias to throw the scent off him. His parents, when I told them, did not take any responsibility whatsoever. They still blame Tobias for 'corrupting' their son.

I also found a key hidden under a bucket of animal blood in the slaughterhouse. It opened Morfin's storeroom. Inside was gold and venom (which I took) and a ledger showing that Morfin is selling serpent venom not just to the apothecary in Britain, but to others. He admits it is for the Britannian Mining Company and they use it on their gargoyle workers. He also mentioned he gets his supply from Buccaneer's Den.

With that, our time in Paws had come to an end. The local crisis was resolved, and we had a new lead to follow regarding Elizabeth and Abraham - Jhelom.

We stopped briefly in Britain to sell our venom and exchange our gold. We spent the night, and while I waited for the mint to open I called in on Batlin about joining The Fellowship. I informed him that I had delivered the package to Elynor in Minoc and was given another task.

My task is to travel inside Dungeon Destard, which is apparently deserted to retrieve a chest of Fellowship funds hidden there. I am highly suspicious about how safe this mission is going to be but had no choice but to agree.

I went to Serpent's Hold to train from my favourite trainer (because he gives strength). We can all carry a lot more now.

On the way back to Britain we stopped off at some of the islands west of Trinsic. We found treasure! Inside a house is the Skeleton Key which is an infinite use lock pick. We also found a secret room inside an illusion mountain with around 1,000 gold worth of treasure.

We purchased all of the remaining spells from Nicodemus in the Empath Abbey.

Next up we have options:

• Go to Jhelom to follow Elizabeth and Abraham
• Go to New Magincia to find Alagner
• Visit the observatory in Moonglow
• Retrieve the Fellowship funds in the Dungeon Destard