Tessandriel follows and continues to to stay alert for anything that could help them achieve their goal.
"So yeah, you're here to get saved, after all. Just take what you need, kiddo." He turns to the old elf and lowers his voice, trying not to be overheard. "This is not the best place to raise children, and you know that, don't you?"
Chezarion and Tessandriel,
There are many trees, buildings and homes that could make for a stealthy approach. It seems that most if not all of these buildings are vacant at the moment.
You both keep a sharp lookout, and there is nothing more of note.
Roland,
The elf dips his head to you in deference. The young one claps and smiles widely. She grabs an empty sack from your wagon and places a few potatoes inside. She says, "Thank you so much, it means a lot to us both." The two of them begin to walk away, and child keeps turning back and waving. The pair are almost lost among the crowd when you hear the child's high pitched voice cut through the noise of the market, "Come now Walker, lets go find us a pot to boil these in. Golly, am I hungry!"
His discarded suspicious suddenly gets alive and confirmed, and Roland mutters under his breath to no one but himself to hear it. "Who in seven hells said Walker was a human!"
He looks at the wizard beside him, keeping his voice low and trying to control his urge to rush after him. "After them Catcher! I'll get the old Gromff!"
Still keeping an eye on their cargo, he opens the door to the Inn searching for the disguised dwarf, and calls him outside.
Chez and Tess, here is a quick Map
Thanks for the map. Scouting completed, Tessandriel and I return to the group.
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The wizard is already running when Roland urge her to go after the pair.
She runs at top of her sleep and reach then breathless.
”Hey! Wait!” she calls after them.
”Little one, you never told me your name!” she says to the little girl.
To the elf, she says ”We’ve been looking for you. My name is Catcher;” she will show the Dwarf ring ”I’m sorry we are late. Can you please come with me? I’ll explain everything later. We’re running against time.”
The elf child says "My name is Aersensi. This is Walker."
Walker looks at Tylz' ring in Catchers hands and his eyes flash with recognition for a brief moment, then he shows a look of confusion and deep thought.
The girl then says "Oh, so you're the ones I've been looking for? Okay then, let's go talk. Where shall we go?"
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”Hello Aersensi, hello Walker.” says Cather to both.
”I’ve got a pot, I may know how to boil, but since we are here, let’s go eat at the Honeymead Inn! Pretty girls like you should never go hungry!” says the mage extending her arms, offering to carry the girl.
”Why you said you’re looking for us, Aersensi?” the young woman asks the child while they head back in the Roland’s direction.
As Catcher, Roland, Gromff, Aersensi, and Walker head back to the Honeypot for a table and conversation, Tessandriel and Chezarion make their way back from the lonely quiet zone south of Mainstreet, now that they've completed their scouting.
You find a corner table that looks like you could have a fairly private discussion. Everyone is now aware of the blacksmith building being guarded, the carrion pit with the hellhound, the assumption that Tylz was killed, and that you are sharing a table with your quarry--- Walker. Your previous information from Meldara was that Walker was an old human man, yet this elf who sits before you doesn't appear to be old at all.
Aersensi says "Walker and I look after each other. We're the best of friends!...though I've only known him for a few days." She gets a shrewd appraising look about her, "You all don't seem like the bad guys, so you must be the ones who are meant to find us. It is a pretty town here, but I think we're ready to leave. Are you going to help Walker?
After bits of conversation, you now believe she was looking for you because she expected you... but she is never really clear about how she knew to expect you. She dodges the question or skirts around it skillfully. In one final bit of illuminating discussion she reveals that "Yes, Walker is human. I have this illusion on him to keep him safe for now, since he's on the run from Karaxa's and Grolmgor's thugs. -That's where he lost his foot!" She then whispers..."He seems a bit...befuddled... but he barely even noticed that his leg was bleeding so much. When I pointed the wound out to him, he simply waved his hand and it healed over--snap!--just like that! He is really special."
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Chezarion looks the young elf girl over carefully and then says:
"Where did you say you came from? What happened to your parents?"
To Gromff, Aersensi says "Tylz? I heard Walker say that name in his sleep!...but I don't know who that person is."
To Chezarion, she says, "I don't know elven, but it sure is pretty. Can you teach me?"
You sense no deception or malice from her. She appears to be forthcoming and honest. You perceive nothing particularly out of the ordinary except for her hair. It is unheard of for an elf to have hair of pure gold appearance --- much less to be mixed with the rare silvery hair that she has.
"Have you seen any other person around that was strange or otherwise different from the townsfolk?"
"And I just love your hair! I wish mine had silver in it." she says in admiration of the girl's hair.
"Either of us can teach you Elven at some point, although we have not time just now."
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”We’ll leave shortly Aersensi, but we need to find Tylz backpack first.” she looks to Chez and says ”That forge, they may have taken it there.”
Slowly and quietly, Catcher will cast detect magic and inspect the surrounds then she looks around and say ”I need to confirm something, give me some seconds.”
”We can teach you many things. You know, I’ll be a magical sword-woman someday. You said you used magic to turn Walker into an elf. Can you do it again? But this time making some of us look like guards? That would allow us to investigate the forge, and then we would be able to leave faster.”
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Chezarion says, "Our time is running out. One way or another we need to get out of here. We might want to pack the wagon and head for the south gate, finalizing our plans en route."
"But we really need those notes... and it doesn't sound much like a hard task, getting in and out. Decide what you want to do, and let's move to catch up later. We need the notes, and to get out of here without being noticed. Gromff doesn't need to go inside the barrel, but we can buy some kind of fertilizer to put in the place of the potatoes, and hide the girl inside." Roland scratches his head and once again comes back to the subject. "If you need a diversion to get to that house, I might provide you some." It's not hard to guess what he's thinking about...
Chezarion comments "There's not too much to it. Two guards outside, an imp inside. One option is to just roll up in the wagon, and everybody except Catcher and our guests dog piles them. Pick the lock or break the door down, take out the imp and whoever else needs to get pounded on, search and then leave. Once we hit the forge our time is limited and we will have to leave as fast as we can without being too obvious."
"What if this Imp is smarter than the previous one, get invisible and flee to warn the guards?"
Chezarion says, "That is a potential problem. We could hold one melee person in reserve physically blocking the doorway with Catcher to back them up telling them where the imp is. It's not a perfect solution, but we have limited planning time. If someone has a better idea let's hear it."
"I have an idea. I go there to return the favor to that freaking devil, and I bet half the city will come after the responsible. Meanwhile, you will have a more easier task, and probably Meldara also will."
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”No way Roland. You don’t have to prove anything, to nobody. Doing that will only get you captured, worse, killed. That considering the devil is still sleeping and that you can get to it while it sleeps. If he is awaken, then only with everybody else help you have hope of defeating it. And if they are organized, that may not even make the guards leave their posts.” she shakes her head ”Too much to risk, too little to gain.”
Roland smiles with so much concern with his safety, while he doesn't think a big deal of it, in times. "The point is not to prove anything. I'll be lowering their numbers and putting some fear on their hearths, while at the same time serving as a distraction for a greater goal, saving Walker and the girl, plus getting the notes. If it's not sleeping I'll come back. If it awakes mid-approach I'll run. And I can run pretty fast, trust me. I've killed enemies this way several times, so you shouldn't worry that much about it." He scratches his chin, again. "After that the only problem is that I probably will have to abandon my weapon. But sneaking out shouldn't be a problem, specially if no one saw who did it, or keep their mouths shut, which is usually the case."
"And I don't think the guards will abandon their posts, no, but only the flying units and maybe that devilish woman will go check what happened. Then it's time for you to move. I may even be able to circle around town and meet you there."
Chezarion says, "I have to agree with Catcher. Besides, we found out last time that those imps can be a handful. If the little pest casts the wrong spell before we can close it can potentially take two of us out of action. With you someplace else that leaves only one person to engage the imp and then it could get away. I see too much risk and too little benefit to letting you have your side excursion. There are more than enough devils running around as it is. You'll get your shot at one eventually when it makes sense to do so."
Roland eyes Chezarion with a harsh look, but after a few seconds his expression softens, and he agrees with the chosen path. "Then let's go and get these notes, so we can get out of here."
He pulls the mule and their cart in that direction.
”We can teach you many things. You know, I’ll be a magical sword-woman someday. You said you used magic to turn Walker into an elf. Can you do it again? But this time making some of us look like guards? That would allow us to investigate the forge, and then we would be able to leave faster.”
"Ooh that sounds like fun! I can try, but I don't know what will happen."
I think ye're all missin something. Im itchin for a fight as much as the next person but i ain't too keen to take on a whole town. Specially not an ogre, a hellhound, and a bearded devil. Sometimes the best plan is to fall back to a new one. Get walker out first. He IS the noted we're lookin for. Somebody in ashvale has to have some mind magic to help us get the knowledge from his head. Only problem is the imp that showed up on the way in. If'n its there we might have a problem. "
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"Tylz was a durned librarian. He probably coded his notes. We got time. At least enough to get Walker out of here."
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Chezarion says, "I concede that going for the notes is risky, but I think we have a reasonable chance of doing it. Unless there is a very powerful and highly skilled cleric available in Archdale it could be very hard to find out what Walker knows. Getting the notes could save us a lot of time."
"Besides, leaving with Walker, the girl and the kids that Meldara is rescuing will certainly make them more careful for the next time, and we are already pretty much marked. When Chezarion does not show up to the woman in the evening, we will all be hunted. If we gotta do something, it should be done now."
”We can’t do only that. Sometimes I think I’m the only one thinking in a bigger picture here. We can save the walker now, it avails us nothing if the dwarf notes fall in their hands. We don’t know what’s in there. Too much of a risk to allow it go unchecked. ”
"Do tell, why is it that you see a picture that somehow eludes everyone else? We have different perspectives, and you would do well to remember that seeing something differently does not make it good or bad, just an alternate way of seeing things."
Looking over at Roland:
"Roland, I agree. We need to quickly come to a course of action and do it. We are short on time and should act with swift precision."
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Catcher gives Tessa a flat look and tries to decide if is worth explain the situation, after a few seconds she says pretending to be Meldara
”Tylz kept logs of his journeys, bits of lore, and he certainly will have kept record of anything important Walker had to say. It is imperative that we find those men, or at the very least, Tylz' logs.”
With a petulant look she continues ”Trapped inside of his head are secrets and knowledge that could shift the balance of power back to mortal folk once again.”
Then she drops her eyes and says in a sad voice ”Knowledge is power. The same power we could use to end this in our favor, could be used by them end it on their favor.” She says nothing more, waiting for the little girl answer.
Catcher gives Tessa a flat look and tries to decide if is worth explain the situation, after a few seconds she says pretending to be Meldara
”Tylz kept logs of his journeys, bits of lore, and he certainly will have kept record of anything important Walker had to say. It is imperative that we find those men, or at the very least, Tylz' logs.”
With a petulant look she continues ”Trapped inside of his head are secrets and knowledge that could shift the balance of power back to mortal folk once again.”
Then she drops her eyes and says in a sad voice ”Knowledge is power. The same power we could use to end this in our favor, could be used by them end it on their favor.” She says nothing more, waiting for the little girl answer.
"Thank you. That's all I wanted." Tessandriel gives Catcher a warm look.
"Remind me to catch whatever you want for dinner one of these days. Deer, moose, or any animal that suits your fancy." she says with a genuine smile.
”Who are you? What are you?” the mage says surprised.
She raises an eyebrow. "I'm Aersensi silly, aren't you paying attention? I'm Walker's friend, and he's mine! Oh, and I'm an elf. See the pointy ears?" She points to her ears, in a child-like fashion. You sense no deception on her part. She goes back to her food with gusto, while you all discuss strategies.
”What could happen when you try to use your magic?”
"Golly, I'm not very good with it yet, but I'm getting better, right Walker?" He looks at the child and nods appreciatively.
A gray housecat saunters into the Inn. It walks directly to the table where you all are seated, and hops up deftly onto your tabletop. It meows, then decides to lay down next to your food and drink, tucking its legs comfortably underneath its body. You hear it purring contentedly.
There is a small scroll tied around its neck.
Luck to all.
-M
"Well if we are hitting that forge we best be armored and armed, preferably while this enchantment lasts. Old man might throw them off just long enough for me to wholop one or two. And we need a good means of escape. Least if we do this the elf will have an easier time of it."
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Chezarion takes the scroll from around the cat's neck and reads it. He then passes it to the other party members. He also gently pets the cat. He says, "It looks like things will be happening towards the north that may provide a diversion. We should probably head south as soon as we can. Tessandriel and I will go a little ahead to scout out the situation with the imp."
"I'm ready. Let's get do some recon, shall we?" she says with a grin. Tessandriel obviously loves skulking about.
Heading out the door, she begins to look about for locations of any and all devils she can see. Also locations of guards.