11/16/2022 The party spent a week in Quivera training. When they met up with Helegan (the Prince), he excitedly told them of the deal he had made with the merchants in exchange for bringing goods to the party’s new county in Chagna Fel. The terms were such: no exclusive bartering, and the taxes levied would be 3% for three years, 4% for one year after that, and 5% thereafter. Mobec had the white powder substance identified as hamarsin, an illicit drug. He turned over the three tubes of it to the guards to be destroyed in exchange for a reward of 15 wheels. Meanwhile, Xaris had become more and more entranced with his Talisman of Slimes, staring at it for hours on end, and refusing to let other party members hold it. Also, everywhere around town were postings about the upcoming honor duel at the beginning of the Gods’ Time. These posters libelously accused Igny, Chance, and Xaris of wrongdoing and offered 5 wheels to any audience member who showed up and supported Vitchna. Towards the end of the week, Walren approached the party and asked for 5 silvers to purchase libations and other goods for the party to celebrate the Gods’ Time. The party agreed, and Walren went off on his way. However, that evening at the inn, the party realized that Walren never returned. Then they noticed there was a commotion outside. Townspeople were gathered around a blood-soaked sack with a note on it, which read, “You probably think what you did to the halflings was funny, but Vine is not amused.” Inside the bag were the remains of poor Walren. Chance and Maedess decided to investigate the murder, while Igny and Mobec went to give Walren a proper burial. At the cemetery, Igny and Mobec buried Walren’s remains under a tree. While there, they met a cleric / mage who introduced themselves as Thomas. Thomas was there to bury a friend he lost to a giant chaos creature north of Quivera. Incidentally, there were posters around town offering a reward to someone for defeating this creature, with further information available from Kris at the Humakt Temple. Igny told Thomas he would try to convince the party to take up the quest after the Gods’ Time was over. Meanwhile, Chance and Maedess were able to ascertain that Walren had been jumped by a group of halflings who then split up and scattered in all directions. Then, as they were investigating, they heard screaming coming from the next street over. Chance and Maedess hurried towards the commotion to find a giant creature looking a bit like an overinflated version of Xaris. After a while of scaring the townspeople, the creature shrank back down and became Xaris. The Talisman of Slimes was beginning to transform Xaris! Unfortunately, Chance was unable to take the talisman from Xaris, who ran away. The next day was the day of the honor duel and Xaris was nowhere to be found. Chance and Igny arrived at the arena and agreed to duel Vitchna without Xaris. Vitchna was a powerful opponent and Chance and Igny thought they would surely lose, until Chance, incensed by Vitchna’s lack of honor in buying an audience, used the final wish of the Ring of Wishes to win the battle. The party took a +3 great axe, a +3 half plate set of armor, and a superior healing potion (4d8 + 4 HP). That evening, Xaris returned to the inn looking in rough shape. He described how he had been attacked by the chaos creature north of town. He had managed to rid himself of the cursed Talisman of Slimes, but at a heavy price: he had lost the healing Rose! And with that the session ended. TLDR: the party leveled up, got Walren killed, dueled Vitchna, lost the Rose, and gained a cleric-mage