World Converged: 2

Journal Entry 2: Brought to You by Peppercorn Industries

We (and by we, I mean Ty & myself) finished burying the remains of the horse. Seraph was too busy staring at Ty and smoking some disgustingly rake stuff, Encore was playing around with Ty’s copy, poking it in places, trying to see if Ty felt it himself. I guess Goodberry was being useful by trying to figure out what may have killed the horse. The only thing he could work out was that it wasn’t a natural creature, most likely some sort of monstrosity.

Seraph seemed to think we were invited to the wedding and that we should get back as soon as possible. I tried to tell her we had only been hired to do a job and probably wouldn’t be asked to attend.

The smell had dispersed by the time we got back to the common, the halflings running around seemed a lot more comfortable working without that god-awful stench.

We found Claire (turns out her name is Francine) and she paid us our gold. 10g for a few bug bites and to dig a hole seems like a decent day’s pay. Our talk with her was cut short by the father-of-the-bride. This guy was truly an experience. The swagger, pomp and confidence that radiated from this Halfling were amazing. Benoit Peppercorn thanked us for our work, all while plugging his company’s cider. The guy is always at work; it seems.

Once he’d finished his spiel, Seraph asked where we were supposed to sit. The smile dropped from Benoit’s face for a moment, followed by a boisterous laugh. “I like your cojones,” he yelled and told Francine to get another table for us to sit at during the ceremony. She did not look happy about the additional work.

We hit the local general store before heading to the inn for the night. I needed to get this new journal (there goes my 10g again, these things are expensive). I took my last two entries out of my old delivery book and pasted them into this book. Everyone else picked up some stuff, too. Goodberry got a trumpet… horn… thing. Ty picked up a few bags of ball bearings, and Seraph got a tea set. We really are an interesting group.

Seraph led us to an inn called the Fighting Farmer. Turns out that’s where she had been staying here in town. Nice place, a bit on the small side, but understandable given the usual clients. It’s definitely a step up from the Old Bloody Pigeon I used to work at back in Raziel. The fireplace was lit, with a decent-sized flame going. I didn’t bother to check if anyone was looking, but I threw my old book into the flames. No-one stopped me or questioned me, so I should be good for now.

We sat for drinks and a meal, and everyone else discussed what their plans were for after the wedding. Goodberry, Encore and Seraph seemed to plan a trip to the Fae Wilds! I mean, best of luck to them, I guess? I didn’t join in the discussion, but that is the question, really. What am I going to do after? There’s only going to be so much work here.

During dinner, Seraph suddenly shrieked and stared at Ty. She looked terrified of him. Then, like nothing even happened, she just returned to her drink. She really is weird.

Encore started asking about my mask and if it was getting in the way of my eating. It was, but I couldn’t really admit to it. They actually seemed concerned? I eventually relented. There weren’t many people in the tavern at the moment, so few people would see me, so… I removed my mask. None of them seemed to react negatively to me being a Shadowfell Descendant, so that was a bonus.

We continued to chat long into the night. I put my mask back on when more people started turning up at the tavern. The inn, thankfully, still had a few rooms available, so we rented a room each and called it a night.

The next morning, the town was a scene of activity, it really seemed that everyone from town was invited to this wedding (just how rich is this Peppercorn guy to afford a town-wide event?) I cleaned my leathers as best I could, gave the mask a quick polish and headed out to the common.

The crew must have worked through the night, as this place was transformed into a wedding plaza. There was a big sign just before the common opened up saying “Peppercorn Industries Welcome you to the wedding of Helga Peppercorn and Rob Ralph Collymore”

Booze and pink were the decorations of choice, not really my style.

As I arrived, the rest of the Bug Slayers turned up, also all in the same clothes as yesterday, glad I’m not the only one.

As we entered, Francine was there, handing out flower wreaths to everyone. The poor woman looked exhausted. I hope Benoit gives her some time off after this.

We all took our place at the back as the ceremony started. I was surprised to see that the minister was a Tiefling. Definitely wouldn’t have guessed that. As the band started playing, we finally got to see the bride. Raven Queen bless me I was wearing my mask, because if anyone could have seen my face, I would have been thrown straight out. Enormous, frilly, poufy, and most importantly… pink, by god, was this thing pink.

Once down the aisle, the ceremony truly began, and it continued and continued. The happy couple had their own script for this, and it DID… NOT… STOP!

I eventually got bored. I opened a telepathic channel to the others. Maybe I should have warned them first, but since it was only Goodberry that caused a scene, I’ll be good. We chatted in our heads for a bit, discussing the wedding and what we would have chosen instead. Then we noticed that there were a few too many voices than I allowed.

Turns out they all belonged to ‘Seraph.’ It seems the old woman is just a vessel for them, the actual owner of the body, Agnus seemed to not mind the additional occupants in her body, and had, in fact, agreed to it. This group gets weirder by the hour,

We had little more time to discuss this before we noticed the ceremony was finally ending. Like us, the rest of the congregation had long since stopped listening to what was going on up front and was more focused on the buffet tables behind us.

As soon as the word was given, a swarm of halflings descended on the food like wolves to a kill. It was damn good food, though everything had apples in it somehow. I guess they have a surplus in town and have to get rid of them somehow.

Once the dinner had finished, the real party started as the tables and chairs were pushed to the side and the band changed tune for some dancing.

Encore pulled out their lute and joined the band. They aren’t half bad, really. Seraph joined him later, after chatting with the minister about something.

After a few ciders, I saw Francine sitting across the way nursing a water, and it was probably the booze taking control, but I poured another drink and went over to her.

I offered her the drink, which she initially turned down, but after I told her she had clearly put in far too much work into the event and that she deserved it, she took the cider and started drinking. I was going to ask her for a dance (again, booze talking), but she beat me to it, asking if Ty was seeing anyone. Won’t lie, that hurt, but then again, Ty’s a good-looking elf, and I’m here looking like an assassin on duty. I don’t think Ty has anyone. At least they’ve not mentioned a partner, which I tell Francine as she thanks me for the drink and heads over to him.

All was not lost though as soon after, another halfling woman asked me for a dance.

The party was in full swing when Benoit stood up on stage to make a speech. He didn’t get far into it before a bolt flew in from the woods and struck him in the shoulder.

A pack of goblins suddenly surrounded the party, two walking up with a warg in chains.

A humanoid guy in a trench-coat then walks in and demands all of our belongings. Good thing I’m poor and have nothing, but I’ll need to see how this plays out.

Never a dull moment… Infinite out