On the morning of January 15th a stone again smashes through Occa's window, to land atop his stack of pancakes. He reads the attached note and finishes his breakfast.
At noontime, he heads out.
Early in the afternoon, Occa returns.
"Looks like I will be able to get a staff of striking for one of the newbies. It will cost 50,000 gold, but should help in hell."
Darian raises an eyebrow. "How'd you manage that? Both Ming and the Mage's Guild said they didn't have anything. Guido?"
"Yes."
"Anything else of interest?"
"He had a robe of useful items but would only sell one or the other. That is it."
"Geez. Maybe we should bring the community chest down here and auction off some of the stuff. You could buy half of Sandas with the magical item shortage here!"
"True, but what would we do with money? We have more than we need."
Darian grins and shrugs. "Buy half of Sandas? Of course, with Mestom fighting Nlad, that might not be the wisest investment."
Occa says, "WE still need to divy up the magic we have and go thorugh the community chest. Then we can head back to hell."
Darian nods. "Do you need the list again?"
He produces the list of goodies found during your most recent adventures.
ring -- makes certain creatures feel well disposed towards the wearer,and that these creatures are not of the magically enchanted or
monstrous type.
wand (Not!) -- wand of negation (lots of charges)
"What exactly does this wand do?" Niko wonders aloud.
leather armour (H) -- as effective as leather and shieldlongsword -- improves striking
fancy dagger (no glow) -- Upon close inspection a small hole is noted in the
tip of the blade. Otherwise no magical abilities.
potion -- Makes you feel full of life
scroll -- (erase, friends, affect normal fires(3), protection from good
unseen servant)
suit of leather armour (D) -- appears to have no magical powers
Gonzo will take this and plans to "test" it once we get to hell again.
"Emm has the rope of climbing."
Occa says, "I wouldn't mind the ring or the wand."
After the brief discussion about selling magical items, Darian clears his throat.
"I have an announcement. Jesse and I are going to get married."
Occa almost gags. "What? What if you get bored with each other?"
He pauses and says, "Errr...I mean congratulations. When is the big day?"
Jesse laughs, "Are you sure you are not a bard as well Occa?" Jesse asks,
"As I figure it, with you around, life is never boring."
"Before we leave. We need to make all the arrangements."
"Orlon, we'd be honored if you would marry us."
"I would be glad to do the honours," Orlon smiles. "When do you want to have the ceremony?"
"Very cool, and a priest of Thor to marry the two of you. This is a beautiful thing. As a friend of mine once told me, "Mazel Tov!" Al says as he claps Darian on the back and approaches Jesse and gives her a quick kiss on the cheek.
"Thank you, Al."
"My staff are at your disposal. Hilga will oversee the arrangements with your input, of course. Igor is a great help to."
He starts running around and finds a piece of paper. "We must invite the entire elite of this town. I wonder if I can teleport in the other group. We must get the invitations made immediately! Such short notice!"
He runs off yelling, "Hilga! Hilga!"
"Yes, Master Occa?" says Frau Hilda, appearing.
"Oops. Anyway, can you plan a wedding? If not, we need to find the best weddding planner in Sandas. We also need to get invitations out. We need the grounds gone over. We need cooks, guards, a band or two, entertainers, more servants for the event. We need to also reserve some rooms at the local inn. I am going to try and get the other groups here. Maybe Kadlian's group will want to come. Hmm, we have to come up with an invitation list. Drats, if only I had a ballroom...we could have some dancing. Hmm, check to see if there are some larger estates for sale in Sandas as well. Can you think of anything else? No detail can be overlooked, that is why we need someone in charge of it besides me. I will add the chaos and hysteria."
"You giff me ze money, unt ze vedding shall be planned," she replies in her calm, steely voice.
He turns to Jesse and Darian and says, "I know how to get the upper crust here....we will have the invitations done on gold plates! Of course, everyone at the mages guild will need to be invited!"
"Conzitter it done," says Frau Hilda.
Darian looks at Jesse and laughs.
"Where is the cook!?! We must work on the menu."
He says, "I must be thinking about my spells...illusions and the like will make for some good entertainment!"
"What about a tournament?" Gilstrock asks, sounding excited at the prospect. "But the banquet is the most important thing."
"Grand idea! I will have to conjure up some monsters as well for mock battles. Oh, this will be excellent!"
Jesse takes Darian's arm. "Come, let us let these well orginized party planners deal with things. Gil I am sure cna organize an appropiate tournament and Occa has his staff helping. We should just sit back and relax," the bard syas, "Let the events move as they will, since they have taken a life of their own on."
Darian nods. "Besides, you have to find a dress."
Jesse kisses Gil and then Occa,
"Thank you both for your help and ideas, it soulds like this will be some party," she says again
"A tournament? You mean like people jousting and knocking each other senseless?"
"Yeah," Gilstrock says, nodding eagerly and either completely missing or compeltely ignoring (depending on whether or not you think Gilstrock is really that thick) Darian's sarcasm.
"No, mages casting spells, mage duels, and so forth. I guess we could have some jousts and such."
Occa shrugs.
Darian chuckles. "You're going to need get a much larger place if you intend to do all this."
Gilstrock's face falls. "Mage duels??? Where do you COME from? Don't you know what a traditional tournament is? Knights in shining armor, fighting for strength and honor...."
Occa laughs and says, "I am just yanking your chain!" He chuckles.
Gilstrock looks down at his field plate armor. "My chain?" he says. "Where?"
He then looks up at Occa and guffaws.
Finally he looks around at everybody else and says, "Sorry."
Rubbing his chin, Gilstrock says, "Of course, I might have to shave."
"Gil, the beard becomes you, unless it is inappropiate to have one in a tournament."
Gilstrock says, "Well, if the thing would come in full, then maybe it'd be OK, but this sorta pathetic stubble stuff is all I get, and it just kinda looks like I haven't shaved in a week. Which of course I haven't."
"Oh my, I wonder where Lord Valdar is? I must find him and get him to come."
"Oh and the rings...they must be special. Maybe we can dig something up. I will get in touch with Guido."
He runs out of the room.
Darian laughs. "Unbelievable!!!"
Jesse turns to Darian, "So much for low key. It seems things are in good hands now," the bard grins. "Of course, I hope you all will come," the bard says, "It sounds like it was be the event of the season."
"Thank you for the invite," Op Code gleems. "I will be glad to attend."
Orlon, rubbing his chin, mentions to no one in particular, "Being this will be my first ceremony that I will conduct, I hope everything goes off okay."
Darian grins. "So? Practice! I'm sure you can go to one of your god's temples and learn from one of the priests who have married people before."
"It should'nt be too hard," Jesse says, "Unless there is some other stuff involved that I do not know about."
"Naw. It's pretty straight forward stuff. All I will have to do is study up on it. It shouldn't take me too long," the cleric answers.
Darian looks at Jesse and grins. "Guess this is going to be larger than we thought."
Smiling, the bard says, "Occa is a mage, and mages love to party. And this is a great excuse to party."
Darian takes Jesse in his arms. "I'm only concerned with one thing..."
Frau Hilda snags Occa as he goes running out of the room, stopping him cold.
In her free hand she has produced a notebook.
"Zo, master, vhere do you vant to start?" she asks. "I need to know their patron deity, zo I can arrange ze ceremony. Do you vish to hold ze dinner unt reception here, at an inn, or perhaps at ze guild? Unt how about ze guests? Wit ze var, many off ze local nobility haff headed south to fight, but ve can always dig up a few..."
"Orlon will perform the ceremony. The dinner and reception will be here.We will need some tents for outside. As for guests, whoever is a mover and shaker in Sandas and still around. No villians, though, they need an excuse to crash it."
Occa giggles.
Frau Hilda takes notes.
"It iss ze vinter. I vould not reccomend holding ze reception out-off-doors. I vill draw up ze guest list for your approval."
"Occa, surely if you want the wedding outside, something could be done about the temperature with magic."
"We could, but it's not good to mess with the weather."
"Well, I wasn't necessarily thinking about tampering with the weather, but more along the lines of something like that Leodman's Hut spell that keeps a specific area warm and dry."
"No, we will have to have it inside. We need to rent a large place or build one quickly. Frau Hilda, what are your suggestions?"
"You are ze guilt member, correct? Haff it at ze guilt."
"I guess at this point, it depends on how much time is left for us here. If not, much, then we will be having a small wedding and should have it here. If we have a month or so, then the guild is the way to go."
"What date were you two thinking about?" He asks Jesse and Darian.
Darian shrugs and looks at Jesse. "She just needs to get a dress made and I need some new clothes tailored. Next week sometime?"
Occa's eyes pop out of his head. He runs around till he finds them and puts them back in place. Then he says, "NEXT WEEK? We don't have time for that! We how about next month? Of course, whatever you wish, but more time would be better."
"At what point are we going back to Hell then?" Niko asks.
"Oh. I thought we should get married before the group had to go back to Hell. So, I was trying to work within the constraints of the training schedules."
Occa says, "Okay, we have nine days. We can't have a blow-out then, but we can have a really nice wedding. We will have it here and invite only the upper upper crust. Hopefully Valdar can make it," he says, "Frau Hilda, I will get back to you on the details, but let's plan for a smallish event. Maybe 50-100 people. Let's rent an Inn with a large serving hall and spare no expense for the food."
"Conzitter it done," Frau Hilda replies. "Now, ve must discuss ze menu. Unt vhere vill ze Orlon conduct ze ceremony?"
"If the halls at the guild are nice enough, we can have it there. If not, then we need to rent some nice place for it. As for the menu, I am open to suggestions. Who is the best chef in town?"
"Conzitter it done," she says again. "Ze best chef is ze Arhlbert, who serves ze Baron."
"See if we can hire him away for a day or two."
"Unt how much shoult ve offer him?"
"Do you know anyone who has used him? If so, find out what they paid. If not, then ask him what his rate is. However, find out the rate of the 2nd and 3rd best. That will give us an idea if he is trying to screw us."
"Actually it vill be ze Baron zat you vill be payink...unt zen ze small gratuity for ze chef."
"Ah, I see. Okay, see if you can find out if others have hired him and for how much. If you can't find out, then use your best judgement. We can always see what the Baron wants to charge."
Occa looks over at Darian and Jesse and says, "I guess there won't be much of a honeymoon, but we could try to wait a couple of days for you. I could teleport you two to wherever you might want to go."
Darian looks at Jesse and grins. "Bed?"
Occa adds, "And Frau Hilda, hire however much help you need for the preparations."
"Conzitter it done."
Occa wanders off to consider the time.