Thanks, lad.
Narnel gives his messenger 2 GP, locks up his humble abode at the edge of the village, and he makes his way to join the others.
Converging just outside the northern edges of town, you meet Elless, accompanied by a pair of armed guards. She greets you all with a formal smile and announces:
"My discussions with my superiors were successful, as have been our preparations for your endeavor. The spiders have retreated to their former territory, and we've begun marking trees for removal. We do require that all expeditions happen under our supervision; both to ensure all your laborers are adhering to the agreed terms, and also so that we may protect your people from any wandering predators. Are your people ready to begin?"
Corson smiles, "Do believe that our first expedition is ready."
Corson will be sure to reiterate that information to the logging team, so that we do not have any miscommunication.
Crossing his large arms, "Aye, we're ready and so is the logging team,"
"Those terms are quite acceptable. Yes, we're ready"
Cedany nods to Eless. "You have our thanks"
You run to fetch Gorn, and in a matter of minutes the eager loggers have been assembled and introduced to the elves of the northern forest. Marching everyone northward to the relevant area of the woods takes about an hour and a half, which thankfully passes without incident. It seems that the size of the group leaves any predators in the area disinclined to attack, which is reassuring. The laborers seem perhaps a bit tense and uncomfortable, but nothing comes of it for the whole morning.
You stop for lunch just a bit before reaching your destination, leaving a few hours for actual work before heading back to town.
Your read of the laborers' mood suggests a growing discontent or resentment at the fact that the day is roughly half over without any work having gotten done yet. Left unchecked, such a sentiment could lead to some... poor decisions down the road.
"Whew, boys, hang in there. This is a little slower going, but I would rather have the woodland folk be our allies than get the walls up a day earlier," Corson comes up to help the loggers with manual labor, a genuinely happy smile on his face, "Imagine how relieved you will be to have elvish arrow in our enemies rather than flying at our heads."
Given an Invisible Servant is too feeble to chop wood, and Cedany prefers to use her magic as little as possible in public view. She ties her hair back and helps, letting the loggers tell her her what to do for a while, as they are the professionals here.
At some point in the day, Pavel turns to the Elves and asks
"This is a very long commute. Would it be acceptable to perhaps stay over night for a couple of nights, collecting the trees, and bringing them all back at once. That would reduce the travel time considerably"
Looking around at his companions and to the workers, "Come on, its gonna be hard work, let's go," growling a bit under his breath he'll shoulder on ahead.
Narnel sets to work with the others, not one to shuck getting his hands dirty. He works quietly until Pavel's suggestion.
Indeed, it would seem like a good idea to cut down the travel time and get the work done faster so that we could be out of the forest and back to the village. We could return for supplies for the laborers.
Pavel and Narnel address Elless with their request, and she ponders a bit before saying, "That's a reasonable point. Unfortunately, we're not equipped for that today. However, I'll speak to my superiors tonight after you leave, and perhaps we can make some arrangement along those lines."
The workers seem rather alarmed at Corson's talk of getting shot, and for the rest of the day they seem rather on-edge, frequently glancing nervously over their shoulders at the armed elves.
Over the course of the next few hours, the group is able to fell several trees, and in the late afternoon you begin the long trek back toward Wood Creek, dragging large logs through the forest at a snail's pace. Finally, as sundown nears, you reach the village and the laborers take the harvested logs to a large pavilion that's been cleared out for this purpose.
Presently, you are summoned to Elder Yana's receiving room, along with the foreman, Gorn. Yana asks, "So, how did the first day go? Any issues?"
"The route to the trees we need takes a longer trek than I think the men would like, at Pavel's suggestion we're negotiating with the elves to set up a camp on-site."
Crax will help the loggers drag logs back to the village, grunting with the effort as he strains himself to prove himself to the villagers.
Once back at the village, speaking with the Elder, "Aye, its a trek, for sure. It'll go faster now that we know the route though, and faster each time after that I'm sure,"
I foresee us being able to establish a camp site at the logging locale. If that is so, then when confirmed, I can return tomorrow for supplies for the men.
Corson frowns, "The men are not happy with the restrictions, and I worry that someone may try to do something foolhardy. I tried to dissuade them, but may have made things worse..."
"Perhaps they would be more inclined if we introduced them to the elves, rather than them being a mysterious presence in the woods. Or would familiarity merely breed contempt?" Cedany muses.
Gorn, affirms your assessment of the laborers' apparent attitudes and suggests, "I agree with the arcane lady; I think having the two groups get to know each other might help create a sense of camaraderie. Most of them will likely be doing some drinking tonight with their evening meals, if you want to talk to them before tomorrow's work."
Elder Yana nods and says, "However you approach it, I agree that we don't want anything spoiling this very fortuitous arrangement you've established. I'll leave it to all of you to sort it out and keep things going smoothly. Thank you again, and good evening."
"I am afraid that I may have made matters worse, but I will head to the taverns to fraternize with the loggers," Corson admits, "Mayhap, I can build a better relationship with them."
"I'll come along with you, I could probably use a drink anyway."
Looking around at Corson and Cedany, "I'll-I'll tag along as well, a drink'd be nice,"
Corson smiles at his friends, "Company would be welcome. I sometimes trip over my words..." The knight shakes his head, "I didn't mean it like that... erm." He sighs looking sheepish, "Your company would be welcome.."
"Always to have an ale or two."
You all file in to a local tavern, and find it unusually busy. The laborers with whom you spent the day are all unwinding, and the harried waitstaff looks frazzled, but happy for the business. All the tables are full; there are two (non-adjacent) seats open at the bar, and there is a bit of space on benches along the walls (overflow seating, you might say).
Narnel will take one of the seats at the bar and order up some wine.
Crax glares sidelong at some of the men in the tavern, having been the exact people that bullied him as young 'un. Swallowing his pride he'll stand at one of the tables with the group of workers, "Was tough work today, I'm sure it'll only get easier as we make established trails through the forest,"
Corson heads up to the bar, placing a small stack of gold coins (9 gp) in front of the barkeep, "A round for everyone!"
Cedany hovers near Corson and orders herself an ale, she hasn't spent much time in bars of late and misses her violin, maybe she'll have to acquire one with some of her newfound wealth.
Pavel will grab himself a beer and then sit on the "overflow" benches.
"We managed to get a lot done today, but it was way too much travel. I was thinking that perhaps it would be better to make camp there overnight. Does that sound like a good idea to you?"
A wave of audible mirth sweeps the tavern, radiating outward from Corson's spot at the bar.
Crax sets to work trying to raise spirits without getting too specific:
...but the response feels a bit neutral.
The folks on either side of Pavel on the bench look at him with raised eyebrows. "Are you kidding?" one of them responds. "Stay the night out in the woods under the eyes of those twitchy archers? I'd rather not close my eyes around them, thanks." The other worker nods in agreement.
While the others talk, you listen. You both overhear someone at the nearest table grumbling something about screwing around in the woods while there's trouble enough at home. Something was mentioned about someone's livestock, but you didn't catch exactly what.
Cedany considers a moment, and then heads towards the grumbling table.
She'll take a seat if there is one, otherwise she'll try and stand somewhere non-threatening.
"I don't mean to intrude, but I overheard something about some trouble, I don't want to be responsible for pulling you away from your livelihoods if something is afoot?"
Narnel, too, approaches just behind Cedany to see if he heard right. It appears that Cedany picked up the same thread of a conversation.
An agitated-looking old man—obviously not a part of the work crew, but perhaps the type of man to have plenty of opinions on the topic—speaks up in reply to Cedany.
"Course you wouldn't know a thing," he accuses energetically, "While y'all were prancin' around in the forest, livestock have been taken from good folks' fields, and nothin's bein' done about it! If'n I was in charge, I'da had it taken care of, lickity-split!" The rest of the similarly-aged and grumpy-looking table nods along, well-practiced scowls of superiority on their faces.
Narnel approaches the old man.
With all due respect, sir. We were not prancing in the woods. We were dealing with direct threats to the safety of this Village. Our purpose is to secure the wood necessary to wall in the Village from the very harms of which you are so vehemently complaining. I suggest you allow us to investigate to see what or who may have taken the livestock and see if we can stop the threat while the wall is being constructed. Care to show us?
Corson leans against the bar and addresses the workers closest to him raising his mug, "Ready for another day of work on the morrow? We made some good progress, methinks. Mayhap, we could do even better this time!"
"I have some time, give me the details and I will take a look, I presume you've already mentioned this to the mayor?"
The old man (echoed by his table of compatriots) scoffs at Narnel and Cedany. "That wall yer buildin' ain't no use if the thief is someone in the city! That Yana lass thinks it's a predator, but she's blind! Somebody's stealin' and then leavin' blood on the grass to make it look like an animal did it, and she's gullible enough to believe it! So now she's assigned a couple of guards to watch overnight and kill a predator that never existed, and most of the town—including the thief, I'd wager—knows that the guards will be there! Mark my words, nothing'll happen tonight. The thief will lay low for a while and let Yana think the 'predator' has moved on. But feel free to look for yourselves; it's old lady Yammock's farm, on the south edge of town. You'll see what I'm talkin' about, if'n ya's got half a brain."
Grumbling and striding over to join his companions, glaring at the old man, "If it is a thief, we'll find who is responsible, and if they are unrepentant than we'll see them swing for their crimes but if it really is a predator, lets not be too hasty and start lynching people without proof,"
Cedany glances over at Corson. "He seems to be doing fine here, he's probably a better fit than us as a champion of the common folk. Should we leave him to it and go for a look around this farm. If what this man says is true, there will be no danger tonight."
Mr. Grumpypants gives you directions to Yammock's farm as though you were a tourist, despite you all knowing exactly where it's always been for basically forever.
Farm it is
Corson will be at the tavern for a while longer, until he realizes that everyone is gone... then he will excuse himself.
"Godbodkins! I gotta get some stuff done before tomorrow's logging trip!" the former squire raises his mug to the tavern, "To the best neighbors a man could ask for!"
After draining the mug, and wiping his mouth, Corson tosses another gold to the barkeep with a wink, "For the staff, my good man!"
Narnel follows Pavel out after the instructions have been provided.
Interesting that this is the first we have heard about the troubles potentially coming from within Wood Creek, Pavel.
Straight to the farm I think, "Well, if this is all a setup, they could have used a more honeyed lure. But maybe we should be at least a little wary?" Cedany sounds jovial, she doesn't really expect anything untoward to happen.
Grumpy about the whole situation, "If its just a couple o' hoodlums robbing a blind old lady, gonna crack some skulls to teach 'em a lesson,"
Stomping along with the group.
Several minutes of walking come to an end at dusk as you reach the Yammock farm. A modest home, somewhere between a cottage and a shack, sits on the east side of the homestead, bordering a fenced-in and subdivided area some 200ft across, containing sheep, goats, and a couple of dairy cows.
Two town guards (a human and a dwarf, both male) are putting the finishing touches on some kind of camouflage (sort of like a duck blind), facing the pen. They're armed with bows, as well as shortswords.
When they hear you approach, they look up and wave to you, smiling. Just as the dwarf opens his mouth to speak, the house door opens and out shuffles little Yammock, her aged frame hunching slightly over the tray of freshly-baked cookies that she slowly carries toward the guards, steam visibly rising into the cool, moist night air.
The guards look at the cookies, then back at the group of you, then back at the cookies; the guards look mildly disappointed.
Yammock then spots you and calls out, "Hello there! Are you here to help too?"
"While I have utmost faith in the abilities of the guard, I made a promise that I would come and investigate." Cedany politely declines a cookie.
"Tavern patrons may not have given us the best impression of the situation, can you tell us what happened out here?."