2. Ethan

Chult, day 1

More info from Zindar

We ask for other ways to earn gold. Zindar points us towards the Dinosaur races. They call these weird large reptile creatures that walk around dinosaurs, and they have races with them. It seems you can gamble on a dinosaur and can win a lot of gold that way. Finally a way to earn a lot of money quickly without much effort! He thinks Pine might be a good rider since she is light. There are 3 types of races, the 4-legged, the 2-legged and the unchained. Unchained has no rules and is with big dinosaurs. Lerea gets enthusiastic about that. We should go to Tiryki Anchorage to sign up!

Kaya's House of Repose

When we are halfway to Tiryki Anchorage we make a stop at Kaya's House of Repose for Urdic. Since it just starts to rain very hard I also quickly enter. It seems the Chultists are used to the rain, but I rather stay dry. This is for sure a better inn with more money. Maybe I should arrange having a performance here another time. In the meanwhile Urdic asks the innkeeper about the Half-Orc. She has a room here but isn't there now. Outside a market called the Red Bazaar is going on. Before we go into the jungle we should probably do some shopping here.

Tiryki Anchorage

We finally arrived at the dinosaur dens. First we talk to the owner of a 3-horned 4-legged dinosaur called Ubtao's favorite. The owner tells us it is on a winning streak. But they are not interested in a new rider. I try to get the name of the current rider but he won't give it. On the other hand, maybe this is not the best dinosaur for Pine. If it's on a winning streak, there is less gold to be earned.

River and Flask

While we are there talking to the dinosaur handler suddenly 2 Tabaxi come to us. They see we are adventurers and offer their skills as guides. They tell us no to trust the guides from trade prince Jobal and offer their services for only 4 gold per day and we don't have to pay upfront. Or we can get them for free if they get an equal share of the loot. I'm not sure if we can trust them, but at least they have 4 arms instead of 1. That is a lot cheaper per arm than the dwarf!

Bone Cruncher

Lerea wants to go to the dinosaurs for the Unchained race. There she finds Bone Cruncher. She is in luck, the last rider died recently and they are looking for a new rider. They allow her to feed Bone Cruncher. It's a large 2-legged dinosaur with big teeth. Lerea climbs the fence and jumps into the pen. It's impressive, she even manages to feed it without losing a limb! She arranges that she gets 80 gold if she wins the race with Bone Cruncher.

The Half-Orc, the Tabaxi and the Chultist

I noticed that Urdic walked away. He is talking to a Half Orc, a Tabaxi and a Chultist. When we get there the Half Orc introduces herself as Undril Silvertusk, and she is happy that we are going to help her get to Camp Vengeance. Wait, what? Why should we help her? Maybe if that camp is the same direction as Mezro she can travel with us. But we have to find that your first.

The Chultist, Belym, seems to want help because his husband, Draza, is sentenced to Executioner's Run. Belym really believes Draza is innocent, and apparently doesn't think he can run fast enough. Executioner's Run is a run through a pit with small dinosaurs called Raptor's. So you have to outrun some dinosaurs or die.

But when Urdic hears there was no trail he directly wants to help, even without any reward. He feels strongly about justice and is sure this isn't it. He wants to talk to a trade prince about this directly!

Then there is this grey Tabaxi, with a torn cloak and a staff. He is going to join Undril to Camp Vengeance. But it's not clear why. Also he seems really interested in any gold reward there might be for helping Belym.

Pine, the Dinosaur Tamer

Pine and I are doing a quick visit to the 2-legged dinosaur. There we see a child crying. We can hear that they have a small fast dinosaur, but that it's too small for adults. So they convinced a mother to let her child ride it for some gold. But the child is afraid. An ideal opportunity! We approach the handlers and convince them to let Pine ride the dinosaur. She has to show her skills and Pine easily handles the dinosaur and rides around on it. Or it's really easy, or Pine is a natural talent! After some negotiating Pine will get 85 gold if she wins on it, that's more than the prize money, so not a bad deal at all! And besides that I should also earn some gold from betting on that dino. The dinosaur is called "Jungle Princess", which keeps Lerea laughing all the way back. I guess she is more the "Bone Cruncher" type of girl.

The Arena

Pine, Lerea and I are going to a building on a hill from which we heard loud noises on the way here, while Urdic, Undril, Belym and the Tabaxi will visit a trade prince, to see if they can free Draza. The building turns out to be an arena. And in it there are big catlike creatures fighting with some humanoids with a grey skin dressed in rags. One of the catlike creatures and all the grey humanoids die. Apparently the audience thinks this is great fun. We don't really see the fun of it so it's time to go back to the inn. Let's prepare Ivy, Daisy and Holly for tonight's performance!