Umber

The adventurers return from pirate hunting, more confused than ever about which side they should be on.

Fortuitously for suspense, a large band of travelers entered the inn just as Hanen was preparing to unravel the mystery of the pirate Ramis. He excused himself to attend to their desire for rooms and refreshment, leaving the children to speculate among themselves what turn the story might next take. Starton rose and went upstairs, returning a few minutes later with a thick, leather-bound book, which he opened near its end and began reading. As the other children argued the merits of what the adventurers should do and what they probably did do, Kirin tried to unobtrusively shift position until she could finally see the book’s spine and title: The Rise and Decline of the Great Kingdom and Its Aftermath. As her eyes left the raised gold lettering, she realized that the scholar was staring at her. He smiled and nodded, but even his pleasantries gave her a chill, and though she returned his smile she looked away as hastily as she thought decorum would allow.
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A retired bard-turned-innkeeper hears the adventurers’ story from a passing Greyhawk traveler, and recounts it to a group of children and an old friend.

What some had taken to calling the Time of Isolation had ended, and the ruined city of Greyhawk was beginning the long process of rebuilding. Perched on the boundary between one of the larger and now mostly repaired residential and commercial districts stood the Grey Kingfisher Tavern and Inn. Its proprietor had arrived shortly after the restoration of the multiverse, constructed a handsome three-story building out of a pile of rubble more quickly than many would have thought possible, and equally quickly established an island of calm in the midst of what was still a chaotic and dangerous region.
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Pan and Carignane reflect on what it means to be an adventurer. (mo, sab)

Pan Zerschrek sits with his back to the fire, staring over the still forms of his compatriots. He impatiently roughs a crude whistle out of a piece of bone using his knife. A brow normally unfettered by deep thought is suddenly drawn down. He glances over at his watch-mate, Carignane.
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A summary in something resembling or akin to, but not exactly like, verse.

Chaos, chaos everywhere
and not a drop of law.
Even for such as we are
Entropy has its limits.
There is freedom.
There is pandemonium.
The wise man knows the difference.
So separately we came to Irongate
and together seek our fortune.   
Brought together by chance
the promise of profitable employment
and perhaps a little adventure.
Given a ship,
pointed at the ocean,
in search of the pirate Ramis.
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The adventurers set out on their employer Varrus’ mission, and appear to accomplish it? (af, mo)

As the party surveys the carnage, some of them find that their sense of satisfaction is marred somewhat by the parting words of one of the pirates – “You fools, you have no idea what you have done”. Pan, on the other hand, sums up the situation succintly:
“To the contrary, I think that we know exactly what we have done.
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