During the seven days of downtime that these four characters spent to train for 2nd level, they each learned the following:

Grexes

On the 7th of Highsun, Grexes sets out to locate a trainer or find training to help focus the experience he has received over the past half-tenday since arriving in Burdock’s Valley. Being Archontean, Grexes immediately thinks of Heschius Ban, one of the most popular of Archontean gods, since his ethos of might and the inevitability of power appeals not only to the actual powerful but to the general Archontean sense of their empire’s manifest destiny. Grexes finds his proud temple lies at the rear of the Hill of the Gods to the north by northwest of Gosterwick. The main cult statue shows Heschius Ban in the armor of an Archontean legionary, standing with one foot on a trampled enemy and holding a whip and a set of shackles in his hands. Celebrants encourage congregants to offer gifts of wealth into the open mouth of the defeated enemy and also to shed a bit of their own blood on top of the trampled enemy’s head. Grexes offers 25 gp and slashes the posterior aspect of his forearm with his battle axe, dripping blood onto Heschius Ban’s enemy’s head.

Asking at the temple, he hears of a fighting pit at the Bailiff’s Truncheon. Located at the foot of the hill holding the residence of Lady Alexia Basileon, this tough, seedy bar occupies the ground floor of a wooden triplex. The bar is cheap, dirty, and usually crowded. It is an open secret that the Truncheon has two sizable basements, the second of which holds nightly bare-knuckle fights. Over the course of the next seven days, Grexes pays the 5 gp entry fee at the Bailiff’s Truncheon and wins four of the seven fights, learning how to recklessly attack enemies, and even how to sense danger without using all of his senses when in two of the fights, the participants fight first blindfolded and then with ears stopped with wax. When not fighting he wanders the streets of Gosterwick and is able to map out the town. On the morning of the 14th of Highsun, Grexes is a second level Barbarian.

Huzzah!

Hu wakes on the 7th of Highsun ready to seek out places to perform and practice his oratory skills and to distill all that he has learned about Burdock’s Valley and the ruined city of Arden Vul. In the morning he attends Crestion’s Market, looking for adventuring gear and magic items. He is a little lost in the size of the market and finds no magic items for sale but does find adventuring gear and buys a bull’s eye lantern. That night, back at the Dancing Horse, Huzzah! meets a family of dwarven musicians - Nithi and her two nieces, Dithi and Glatha. They are refugees from Khaz Durun, a small dwarven stronghold that has been overrun by Scorcher, a young red dragon and his goblin minions. Khaz Durun is about three days west past Deepton, itself about two-days march from Gosterwick down the New Forest Road to the southwest. Impressed by their talents and fascinated by their story, Burton offered to let them stay for free if they played music for the tavern. The dwarves agreed to play but stubbornly insisted on paying Burton out of the tips they earn each night. Their songs are proud but melancholy - lengthy ballads describing the splendor of their home and the deeds of dwarven heroes. Huzzah! watches, mesmerized by their skill, story, and song.

After a few days, he works up the courage, and having seen a high class inn on his walks with Grexes, called the Stunned Acolyte, he approaches the innkeeper, Ulf Vareon, and asks to tell tales of a night to the Stunned Acolyte’s patrons. The Stunned Acolyte, an elegant, four-story, stone-and-wood structure, faces the Golden Road and is a mere stone’s throw from the Hill of the Gods. The ground floor holds reception, a private dining room, the kitchen, and a wood-paneled common room. The upper floors are divided into rooms for rent; most are singles, but there are two suites on the second floor. The Stunned Acolyte prides itself on elegance and quality and has the prices to prove it. It attracts the wealthier clientele, naturally. The innkeepers have even been known to refuse service to those they feel “don’t seem like our kind of people.” Over the course of the next five days, Huzzah! hones his oratory skills, finding that his soothing voice seems to heal the very souls and bodies of those resting and listening to his voice and they find that rise in the morning invigorated to achieve their goals come morning. He also continues to work on skills that he has not mastered, but gains more facility with each. While not performing, he spends time and money (50 gp) at the Stunned Acolyte, wining, dining, and listening to patrons, their servants, the inn’s staff, and others and learns the following rumors:

​​Rumors gleaned at the Stunned Acolyte:

• The hoppers are formally known as Heqeti. They come in various shapes, some of which are more bestial and some of which are more humanoid. The latter, although physically weaker, are magically adept. All are inimical to humankind.
• Ancient sorcerers claim that Arden Vul, with its source of arcanum, was a nexus for divine and planar activity. One of those drawn to the place was a terrible elder deity named Rimmaq-Isfet. Almost nothing is known of this entity except for its slug-like shape and its gaping, insatiable maw.
• Numerous giant, horned skeletons can be found among the ruins. They speak a strange language and can stun you with the force of their shouts. They are the creation of that mad wizard Kerbog Khan.
• On the eighth level underground you can find a grotto filled with giant carved heads. The heads sing in recognizable tunes! If you can get them to sing the right tune, they reveal a treasure vault. If they sing the wrong song, however, everyone dies.
• To reach the lift to the Forum of Set, hire a boat to cross Totey Lake to the base of the Short Stair. (written on a note stolen from a merchant’s pocket)

On the 13th of Highsun, Hu attends the Thirdsday Market and meets Azân the Wanderer and Jaziel, his canine companion. In his brief encounter, Hu finds that while Azân won’t share the details of his past, saying, “I sell goods, not stories, friend, and what I have to tell ain’t worth much to you anyway.” He is a polite listener with a seeming soft spot for outcasts and underdogs. Jaziel, on the other hand, almost seemed to be scrutinizing Huzzah! in an uncomfortable way, although this cannot be possible as Jaziel is just a dog and dogs do not scrutinize anything but bones and dropped sausages. Huzzah! finds that Azân has the following magic items for sale:

• Lux’s Teacup Holster for 50 gp
• Dust of Sneezing and Choking for 100 gp
• a Potion of Luck for 200 gp
• Bands of the Found and Lost for 100 gp
• Bird of a Feather 50 gp.

On the morning of the 14th of Highsun, Huzzah! is a second level Bard.

Axle

On the morning of the 7th of Highsun, Axle reboots and wanders the town of Gosterwick looking for craftspeople and someone that might be able to help him compress all that he has seen into greater understanding of craftsmanship and what it is to be a real boy. He soon notices a pillar of smoke and soon arrives at the workshop of Torunn the Smith. Torunn’s shop is the largest of the three smithies in Gosterwick, mostly because Torunn, a formidable Wiskin woman, is the most talented smith in town. She runs her smithy with an iron fist, directing her teams of apprentices in projects mundane and extraordinary. Most of the work is of the mundane variety, producing objects for home use; her apprentices typically produce this work. Torunn reserves her time and talent for higher profile projects. In speaking with Torunn, who is amazed at Axle’s workmanship and need for training, she tells him about the temple stall to Laraveen, Thorcin greater god of wisdom, war, planning, and construction. She tells Axle to head to the House of the Gods on God’s Hill and seek the symbol of the framing square.

Arriving at the House of the Gods, Axle sees that this large structure appears quite impressive, as it resembles a large Corinthian-style temple. The roof is 20’ above the floor and is supported by a set of stone columns on all four sides. Within are freestanding shrines to most of the Archontean, Wiskin and Thorcin deities who do not have their own temples. These shrines vary in size and sophistication, but most typically contain nothing more than a covered altar, a locked stone chest for offerings, and a variety of highly personalized “decorations” meant to illustrate the god’s main principles or avatars. Since none of the shrines have their own dedicated cultic precincts, they typically are staffed by volunteer (if highly dedicated!) lay priests.

After speaking with the lay priest and making a 50 gp donation, Axle was led to a small workshop off of Keep Row in the Under Keep slums in the very shadow of the Azure Keep. There he was enrolled in a seven day introductory class run by a middle-aged Gnome named Logim Huggens on metallurgy, transmutation magic, enchantment magic, and general welding with lightning. The textbooks are old but informative. The brochures for correspondence classes, slick and vacuous. In listening to the other students and teachers he learn the following rumors:

• Attracted by the magical properties of Arden Vul, the legendary dwarven smith Zhorak set up his forge under the cliff of Arden Vul.
• We know exactly where the fabled forge of Zhorak can be found. It is located at the bottom of the lesser chasm in Set territory, that is, beneath the Red Bridge.
• Zhorak, the great dwarven smith, crafted wonderous enchanted items at a special forge heated by lava. He specialized in automatons, including the infamous Myrmex.
• During storms in Burdock’s Valley, the colossus of Vul seems to be the only thing struck by lightning and always around the head.

Fen

Gentle Fenpenny wakes on the 7th of Highsun excited about starting his delve into Thorcin language and the present members of the 3rd Cohort see him reading his primer morning, noon, and night. When taking breaks from Thorcin language, Fen can be seen pouring over The History of the Thorcin Peoples, a thick tome written a only a decade prior by Archontean historian Anthusa Xenarcheon, by last name, a member of one of the five leading families of Archontos. In the latter, Fen learns the following:

• The origin of these inhabitants of the western continent of Irthuin is opaque. Some Archontean sages, in fact, believe that the Thorcinga are the descendants of the ancient Archonteans abandoned on Irthuin when the empire pulled back to Archontos about 1,200 years ago. Whatever their origin, however, the Thorcinga have established their own distinctive culture.
• Although the Thorcinga did occupy the old Archontean cities and maintained them as trading depots, the Thorcinga prefer a rural life. A hereditary aristocracy (the thegns) holds title to most of the cultivated land and other rights of wealth; lesser folk living in villages or manors owe taxes (in kind) and service to their local thegn.
• Since the return of the Archonteans to Irthuin 350 years ago, and the re-establishment of imperial exarchates at Narsileon and Arcturos, many Thorcinga have chafed at the reappearance of imperial law and bureaucracy. A Thorcin Recovery League (TRL) has sprung up, led by a possibly mythical figure known as Eadric Strigona, with the purpose of permanently driving the Archonteans from Irthuin.
• Thorcinga is the collective noun; Thorcin (THOR-kin) is the substantive noun and adjective. [Common names are loosely derived from the stock of English names of the Anglo-Saxon period.] Male Thorcin names: Aelfric, Aethelred, Colmund, Edric, Godric, Horsa, Swithun. Female Thorcin names: Aethelflad, Cyneburga, Eadgithu, Ebbe, Thalia.
• In 1818 AEP, 1175 years before the present, Emperor Drusus VII Fusus withdrew the weakened legions from Irthuin, abandoning imperial citizens in Narsileon, Arcturos, and elsewhere; jubilant Thorcinga occupied these worried cities.
• For a variety of reasons, the Thorcinga never chose to settle Burdock’s Valley in great numbers after 1818 AEP, probably because they prefer small, rural hamlets to large towns or cities. So, when the empire returned to Irthuin in 2639 AEP, albeit in reduced numbers, they found a mostly depopulated, dangerous frontier region. The exarch in Narsileon assigned lordship of the valley to the Basileon family, and a new town (Newmarket) was chartered.
• Thorcin Recovery League (aka TRL): The name given to organized Thorcin resistance to the Archontean Empire on the continent of Irthuin. Members of the TRL use distinctive blue arrows and are said to be led by a certain Eadric Strigona. Stated goals of the TRL include the expulsion of the Archontean empire from Narsileon and Arcturos.
• The Thorcinga once had a distinct calendar, but it has been completely overshadowed by the Ennian calendar and is almost entirely forgotten.
• Battle of Trenner’s Rock was a famous Archontean victory of antiquity, at which the legions defeated a larger force of assembled Thorcin thegns on Irthuin. The architect of the victory was the polemarch Eadgifia, a native Thorcin but acculturated Archontean, who commanded the 3rd Legion of heavy infantry. The victory shattered effective opposition to Archontean expansion, and thus led to the creation of the exarchates of Narsileon and Arcturos.
• The Thorcinga adopted the Mithric alphabet to their own distinct spoken language; in so doing, they retained two of the now-lost original Mithric letters and have added three others (for a total of 31 letters).

With respect to the twelve labors of Arden, Fen finds nothing related in The History of the Thorcin Peoples, though he does know that these are the twelve famous feats accomplished by the great adventurer-heroine Arden the Defender. While modern scholars are probably right in suspecting that many of the labors conflate numerous lesser accomplishments, the historicity of the labors is largely accepted by the Archontean people, who love to relate the tales to children, cite them didactically, and use them to highlight normative virtues. The Twelfth Labor is generally undescribed, since, according to tradition, Arden will return from death to aid the Empire in its time of greatest need.

Fenpenny also meets Astableon the Scribe and Bookseller. Fenpenny is able to further discuss the history of the Thorcin peoples and to sell his book now that he is done with it. They discuss many topics and become well disposed to each other. Astableon agrees that for the book and a fee totalling 50 gp, Fenpenny can peruse his book store as needed to help learn new skills and gain additional knowledge during downtime. Specifically he finds two obscure references to the 6th and 9th Labors of Arden:

• 6th Labor of Arden - When Arden completed the Labor, there is a reference to Arden, Vul, and Lucius Minux presenting two items to the emperor, a triangular phlamoulon (likely of the 5th Kataphracti) and a grapefruit-sized acorn.
• 9th Labor of Arden - The spirit calling forth the dead legionnaires was an aulos-playing dead man. During the battle, Arden blows a ram’s horn trumpet and Vul strums a lute, the aulos player drops his instrument, and the other dead legionaries return to their graves.