Marked in Red (Haiba's Adventure)

“How much do you know about Snowfall or the mountain by it?” Haiba asked, “Should I see if I can find some stuff out about them while we are here?”

"It's a big city. People here might know something." Xantha replied. The two soon reached the one inn in town.

“How would I go about that? Just ask people if they know about it?” Haiba said, “Actually, you know what, if you aren’t too tired, could you come with me? Being a researcher, you must be good at finding information.”

"I can come with." Xantha promised. "Anything specific you want to know?"

“Um… I really didn’t think about that,” Haiba admitted, “But I guess stuff like do we need specific gear for the mountain or do we need to hire a guide for it.”

"The mountain is well traveled from what I heard. There should be clearly marked paths. We'll want plenty of warm clothes though." Xantha answered. "It's famously cold in snowfall."

“I guess that is all I wanted to learn about the place,” Haiba said, “Are we doing the same thing as the previous town and sharing a room to cut the cost?”

"If it doesn't bother you." Xantha said.

“It doesn’t,” Haiba tells her, “But if you ever need your privacy, you can tell me to leave.”

"Don't worry. I have nothing to hide." She assured him as they checked into their room. It was dark but Haiba had an hour or two he could spend about town before everything closed.

Haiba decided to go look for two thing, first a blacksmith to tone up his sword a little, and secondly a clothing shop to see if they had heavy coats they could get for the mountain.

(Encounter -roll 71- Fail)

He was able to quickly find a blacksmith.

He entered and looked around, hoping that he could spot the blacksmith immediately.

He was able to quickly spot the blacksmith. A stout man sorting through his inventory. "Can I help you?" He asked when he spotted Haiba.

“Hi, I was hoping you could check out my sword,” Haiba tells him, “I’m not looking to get it sharpened, just to check it for damage and to repair it.”

The blacksmith looked it over. Giving it a good sharpening and dealing with a couple of dings. "It's good that you don't need it replaced. I don't have the iron to do much of anything right now." The blacksmith told him as he returned the sword.

“Is something wrong with your iron supplier?” Haiba asked.

"Some midara bandits have set up outside of town. The don't bother stealing food but things like iron, wood and furs all keep getting intercepted." The blacksmith explained, clearly worried about the situation.

“Which direction outside of town? I’ll be leaving tomorrow, so I can stop by them and try to drive them off,” Haiba offers.

"They usually haunt the east road. But we think their camp is to the north of here in the woods." The blacksmith told him.

“Do you have an idea of their timing, like would they be waiting to intercept goods right now or be a their camp right now?” Haiba asked.

"I don't think anything's coming into town right now. They're probably at their camp." The blacksmith said uncertainly. "But I don't know much about how bandits do."

“Okay, thank you for checking out my sword, I’ll try to deal with those bandits,” Haiba tells the blacksmith as he leaves, planning on searching for a clothing store now.

The tailor wasn't hard to find. She was an older woman idly sitting behind the counter with a nervous air about her.

“Excuse me miss, is something wrong?” Haiba asked, more concerned of her nervousness than getting the clothing.