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"Ye can leave yer things here. Just try an' come back in one piece."

As you're talking strategy Talus comes down the stairs, followed by a properly dressed, and very embarrassed, Shalyna.

"The only place that Shank's description is Ol' Man Willows' place. It burned about three years ago, but it's easy enough to find. Head down the street towards the guardhouse and take the third right. It's about five or six streets down. Ye can't miss it."

Talus looks from Shalyna to Valyana, tears well up in his eyes, but the big man refuses to let them fall.

"I thank ye. I thank ye all fer doin' this. Me girls will be safe, if only fer a little while."

"Now ye shee? Now ye shee why I callsh 'em me daughtersh?"

Though he still slurs his words, Talus seems much more sober and subdued after the girls recount their tale.

"Ish not fair for 'em to hash to live in dish hell-hole. An'-- an' wut ye ish doin' ish gonna make tingsh better fer 'em."

Moving things forward a bit

Shael shifts uncomfortably, Talus's words struck a bitter cord with her. Shal'Kaldun raised her and for reasons she still didn't understand. Her skin hissed as a single tear escaped her grasp and was quickly destroyed by her skin. She snapped her time shut and looked at Talus, tilting her head as she spoke, her voice quiet and reserved. "Don't worry Talus, I won't allow anyone to harm you or the girls. Not so long as I still draw breath. The Bloody Pikes will learn to fear the Apprentice of Shal and Redwall will finally have a place where the decent, good hearted folk can gather in peace."

He looks up into Shael's face, and gives a sad smile. "An' I thank ye lass. It'll take more than just bustin' the Pikes to set things aright, but I sleep easier knowin' that I have someone as capable as you watchin' out for me."

Talus looks Lucky in the eye, his face is full of worry.

"Not much lad. Ye hear rumors, an' if a quarter o' 'em are true then ye'll be in fer a fight. They say he's as vicious as they come.Heard he used to hunt fer a livin', but he started huntin' humans, an' other folk. All I know is Timmins an' Shanks were scared stiff about pissin' him off, an' Timmins, well, you saw how he kept fighting. He's a mean ol' cuss an' I've never seen anyone as spiteful as he is."

"Thank ye lad."

"After what ye did, I got more than ale fer ye." Talus gives a smile, then a great belly laugh. "I'm sure most o' ye have some mighty int'restin' tales. I look forward to hearin' 'em!"

"Mainly because some o' the worst criminals are in the guard. That damn fool Lord Redwall hires 'em to go looking for some damn fool sword."

Talus turns around to grab a mug to find that a couple have already been drained. He shrugs and takes one of the full mugs and takes a deep draw from it before speaking again.

"Most o' the time if ye leave the guard alone, they'll leave you alone. If they see a crime happen right in their faces, or if ye take someone that ye caught to 'em, they'll make a big show o' it and 'take care o' it' or whatever piece o' piss they're feedin' everybody now-a-days. If I had to guess, they'd probably kill 'em or lock 'em up an' let 'em starve."

He breathes another heavy sigh and drains the mug.

"Truth be told, I wanna leave this gods-forsaken town and head to High Pass, or even go all the way down to Iron Wall, but I can't afford passage for one, let alone three an' a cat."

"That, I didn't know." Talus remarks.

"He's probably fibbin' about Yale killin' an ogre, but from what I heard he's still a right nasty piece o' work. If ye wanna know more, I can tell ye. I say take these..." Talus struggles for a moment to find a fitting word for them, "...bastards to the guardhouse down the road, first though. Yale's thugs shouldn't be out yet, but they will when the sun sets."

It's about mid afternoon right now. Winter's coming so the days are pretty short. You guys have about an hour and half of daylight left.

All three are in the negatives and stable they ain't going anywhere.

"Ye could say that. Yale's about as viscous as they come, though."

Talus turns to the two girls. "Ye two get everythin' locked up. We ain't havin' any customers tonight. Can the rest o' ye tie those three up an' make sure they ain't gonna die in me inn." He walks around the bar and pulls several mugs and bottles from the cabinets underneath. He fills the mugs with ale and brings them to the big long table in the middle of the room. He sets them down and goes back to get the bottles. The girls finish closing shutters and bolting the door. and start to clean the floor off as best they can.

"Don't worry 'bout scrubbin' it. Just get most o' it up. Sure ain't the first time we've had a bloody fight in here."

He motions to the mugs and bottles on the table, and says, "I dunno about ye, but I need a drink."

"Ye may not realize it, but this inn's walls ain't that thick."

The man finds a seat and lowers himself into it with a chuckle.

"I'm sorry about not being the host I outta be. I haven't had many customers in a long while." His expression falls into one of weariness and worry as he breathes a deep sigh.

"I know that trust is a rare thing in this horrible town, and I know that I have given you little reason to trust me. I am asking you to do what I cannot do. What I fails to do. All I have is my life, this inn, and those two girls. They came here with almost nothing, so I took them in and raised them."

He looks at the others with watery eyes.

"They're me daughters. They're me daughters and I can't even protect them from a group of thugs."

Talus braces an arm against his leg as he buries his head in his hand. Silence covers the room and the only sound that can be heard is the sounds of cooking coming from the kitchen.

The Barkeep overhears Krolmnite protesting against Durnak's observation.

"And the hunter still has the right o' it, but you best not be sayin' that too loudly."

Eyes flick to the three in the corner as if to emphasize his unspoken point.

"Yeah, I'll show all of ye if ye like."

Talus walks behind the bar and grabs several sets of keys and leads anyone wanting to go to bed right then and leads you up a flight of stairs.

A set of racks holding various tools for maintaining the Inn line the wall to the right. To the left is a hallway with several rooms on either side. The first one on the left is the one that has the baths. A couple of doors down, the deep droning snore of a dwarf can be heard.

"Alright, take yer pick. The only one's off limits are the last one on the right and the one at the end. Those are me and the girls' rooms."

A whoops, Thank you for pointing that out. Fixed now.

Talus turns with a start as Malcom speaks. He shakes the surprise out of his expression before he answers.

"It shouldn't be a problem. Don't mention the rooms. Yer all doing me a huge favor."

The large man looks around nervously and then gives a sigh.

"Give me a moment and I'll see if I can answer that."

He walks over to where Valyana and Shalyna are and it discussion between the three looks very heated for a few moments before the two girls begin to slowly nod in resigned agreement.

The two girls walk over to the table where Shael is sitting and Talus comes after stopping by the bar to grab four ales.

"I think we're all going to need a drink fer this."

He sets the tankards down on front of the three women. and settles down in a chair next to Shael.

"I'm askin' ye ta put yer life in danger fer us, so it's only right that we trust ye with this. Ye can't tell anyone, except the fellas that are helpin' ye out with this. It would cost them their lives."

He nods his head towards the two girls on the other side of the table indicating exactly who would die.

"Show the lass yer arms."

Both the girls push their sleeves up well past the elbow. On their wrists and around their upper arms are tattoos of intricate knotwork coiling around. Just peeking out from under the rolled cuffs is a symbol that Shael can't make heads or tails of, but it's obvious that both are different.

"Tell me, have you ever heard of the Druids of the Iron Pines?"

Talus gives a chuckle as he walks over to where Shael is sitting studying her book.

"We haven't had many people stay during the night for a few years. Yer the first in about three months. Yer room will be the third on the right. Valyana and Shalyna will be in the room next door if you need anything."

He lays a key on the table and walks back to the bar.

"Ye'll be the first ta know." Talus chuckles as the dwarf walks by the cat. His gaze falls upon Kyle and Lucky as the push the two out the door.

"Hurry back now. The guards ain't too friendly either." He warns them.

It's starting to get dark out there, are you sure that you want to go out at night?

Talus looks a little nervous as Goodwin and Kyle are discussing going out to gather information.

"It's not that I don't appreciate the help, but ye might wanna just take those two to the guard house just down the street and leave the Pikes for tomorrow. Ye don't have much daylight left, and it's worse at night. Besides, I think at least one of you asked for a bath, and I think many of you could use one."

He turns to Valyana and Shalyna. and motions for them to come over.

"If ye two could start gettin' baths ready I'll be along in a minute to help." He returns his gaze to the party and gives an apologetic smile. "I'm afraid that there's only two tubs, and only a curtain between 'em. Decide when ye're gonna go," his friendly voice takes on a distinct edge, "but the lady who took the hit goes first. And I don't want any of ye peepin'. Got me?"

Talus' laugh once again fills the common room.

"I couldn't begin to tell ye where those rats are holed up. As for those two, I'd take 'em to the guard house down the street. No sense in letting 'em smell up the place."

"Valyana and Shalyna re probably safer right now than they've been in a long time."

Talus gives a laugh that comes from his belly and shakes his head as if he could hardly believe how these strangers were rallying around him to help.

"You have my thanks and ye are more than welcome to stay here. I will tell ye this, don't go stirring too much trouble. That'll bring the guardsmen down on us, and they won't have second thoughts about selling those of us they can to slavery and killing those they can't."

He scratches his head, ruffling his thinning salt and pepper hair.

"Easiest way to end the Pikes would be to kill the leader. More than one gang here has fallen apart because the leader's lieutenants couldn't let the others order them around. Only problem is we don't know where ye could find him."

The Thug does wet himself. Valyana sighs and shakes her head.

"I know he deserves it, but couldn't ye have had him wet himself outside?"

She gives a little chuckle and doesn't seem too unhappy about the whole thing.

"Yer tale would make fer a better story than the one I have to tell, lass." Talus seems oddly at ease with the odd looking woman. Valyana and Shalyna clear the tables and bring Gurni, Malcom, and Goodwin their drinks. He smiles and offers everyone gathered a drink before settling into his chair and beginning.
"It all started about ten years ago. Lord Gurat Redwall has never been the kindest or even the most lawful of lords, and Redwall has never been the kind of town ye'd want to raise a family. Well, things started going down hill when he started looking for something. He won't tell anyone, but his own soldiers, and that is one of the few things they keep their lips tight about. Both the town guard and the house guard were put to work looking for this thing. At first only a few thieves and thugs were bold enough to start messing with things, but as Gurat's obsession grew, things got worse. He started hiring the thugs that came in. The monsters started coming in to raid the surrounding villages and bandits hounded traders on the Old King's Road."

Talus sighs and shakes his head.

"Adventurin' types started coming up here to fight the monsters and bandits. The king down in Sal Kavun even put up a bounty to encourage them. For every one that did some good, there were five or ten that found banditry and thuggery to their liking. Gurat was even hiring some of these people, you probably noticed this when you came in to town. No one messes with the guardsmen, but they let gangs form and have wars over what they control. One of these gangs is the Bloody Pikes." He shudders and downs another shot of whiskey. "They came in here about two years ago claiming the place as theirs. When I said something, the leader, the fat one that got away, started-st-started..." He puts his head into his hands and begins to weep. He manages to get himself under control and resume his tale after a minute, but it's obvious that it's painful to him. "He started to threaten me girls." He gives a sidelong glance to the two serving girls. "Mentioned every little detail of how he was going to make them scream. I couldn't stand to listen to him go on like that, so I gave in. They took most of the liquor and gold and left me with barely enough to support the three of us and the inn."

He pours himself a fourth shot and downs it slowly. He sets the glass back down and looks the seven of you in the eyes.

"You lot seem like the decent sort, even if you are a little slow to help." His gaze shifts to Kyle, Goodwin, and Malcom in turn. "I thank ye, and I'm sure me girls thank ye. Sadly, those three are only a part of the problem. Once the leader of them damned Bloody Pikes hears about this he'll probably kill us all, but not before he learns more about you. He's cautious, and sharp as a razor, and that's why he's so dangerous. Take him and the rest of the Pikes out and we'll all rest easier. Do that and I'll give ye a place to stay as well as food and some drinks. What say ye?"

The thug looks as if he's about ready to wet himself when the barkeep pipes up.

"Just tie 'im up or knock 'im out. Anythin' he tells ye is like to be truth as not."

He downs a shot of whiskey and gives a heartfelt sigh.

"Name's Talus. Thank ye fer beatin' the strach outta those three, but lettin' that one get away might've made things worse. Take o' those two an' pull up a chair an' I'll spin ye a yarn."

He walks around the bar to the long table worn smooth by years of use. He's carrying three bottles and a few shot glasses. He sets them down and goes back to the bar and grabs the bottle and shot glass he was using. He sits down and points to the two serving girls.

"Valyana, Shalyna, pull the shutters tight, we won't be havin' any business tonight."

Then he waits for everyone to finish their tasks before beginning his tale.

Just as the fat thug lunges for Shael, the barkeep shouts out,
"No fighting! NO FIGHTING!" He starts to call to the two serving girls, but stops as he hears the man's blood-curdling screams.