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"Come, be a good fellow, tell us what you know about these meteors. Who were you going to be taking it to?"
Looking a bit unsettled by Garnult's threat, the two conscious captives turn their attention hopefully toward the nice lady.
"Hey, look, we weren't planning anything that bad," the halfling says to Cassidy, "We were just gonna go find the rock; everyone knows that's where you get adamantine, and—"
"Oh!" the human interrupts, "So THAT'S why we were after a dumb space rock!"
The halfling rolls his eyes, then continues, "MOST people know that's where you get adamantine, and it's pricey, so we figured we'd get a decent cut of the profit."
He then adds pleadingly, "And rocks don't belong to anybody, so it's not even really stealing!"
Well, ya shot an arrow at me friend here. Garnult says gesturing at Warren. And I don't take so kindly to people trying to hurt me friends, and neither does Father Torag. Garnult finishes, brandishing his weapon a bit
Speaking of attacking, I could use some of that wand Garnult the little one did sneak up on me and connect.
The wha... Garnult says and then Oh yeah... a bit sheepishly.
He draws the wand and uses it on Warren
Thank you, Garnult.
Turning to the halfling
So who sent you out here for the "dumb space rock"?
"W-well..." stammers the halfling, "It's not like we wanted you dead or anything; we just saw the damaged roof on the mayor's house, saw you were carrying a parcel that didn't look like you had brought with you, and put two and two together."
He scans all your faces, looking for some kind of understanding, then continues.
"Look, I'm sorry okay? But it's not like we were gonna slit your throats or anything - heck, we wouldn't even have chased you if you retreated if you dropped the rock first. That's all we were after, I swear; just trying to make some coin, yeah?
Apparently you are still suffering the effects of the spell. I asked you WHO sent you.
"Exactly whose idea was this adamantine scheme? If you tell us everything, it'll go well for you in court."
The halfling squirms unfomfortably. "Well, you know... the boss..." He nods toward the small note Warren found on him and adds, "Got my orders by carrier pigeon, that's why it's rolled up so small. I was just doin' the job I was told, alright?"
He looks defeated and crestfallen at this point.
"Yes, I can see you were trying to do the job you were given. You were doing a pretty good job of it too. Who gave you this job; they must be someone important for you to be reporting to them. How did they know these meteors would fall here at Woodhaven?"
The halfling and human both give Cassidy a confused look, then the halfling speaks:
"What do you mean, 'how did they know these meteors would fall'? What are you talking about? Someone must've seen it go down and reported it to the boss. You guys were probably already at the manor by the time I got my orders."
"Alright. I believe you, but you still haven't said who your boss is."
Warren proceeds to the unconscious human and ties him up as well. Then piles up all of their gear. The pile contains: 2 leather armor, 2 longswords, 40 arrows, 9 Mwk Arrows, 4 thunder stones, 4 tangle foot bags, potion CLW, spyglass, SMALL: mwk studded leather, rapier, shortbow, 19 arrows.
Garnult, how long till this one can walk back to town? Don't want to waste magic on him but I don't want to carry him either.
Warren then walks over to Cassidy and whispers in her ear They seem not to be giving up who the boss is. Why don't you try asking where they were do deliver the stone?
How would I know, ask the Beetle. He's the magic man. Garnult says incredulously Tie a rope to his feet and lemme drag him. I bet he wakes up fast enough.
Bah, I'll carry him. Garnult says as he fastens his warhammer and shield to his body and scoops the unconscious and bloody human onto his shoulders.
But ye've got to clean my armor once we get back, this bugger is bleeding all over it.
Cassidy, do you want to split these masterwork arrows with me or want any of the others? Who needs the potion of cure light wounds?
Turning to the servents Would you mind carrying their gear to town so we can keep an eye on them. And if you can use any of their stuff feel free to while we walk back, don't know what else we may run into.
"Sure, I'll split the arrows with you. Thanks. Are we all ready to head back to town."
Once on the road, Cassidy will ask the halfling, "So who were you going to give the stone to, once you retrieved it?"
The conscious captives wince a little as Garnult hoists their injured comrade up over his shoulder.
Turning to listen to Cassidy's question, the halfling then replies, "We hadn't gotten any orders for that yet. There would've been someone who'd have made contact in a day or two to confirm I got it and either get it from me or tell me a drop-off location. I don't usually get that kind of information ahead of time, basically in case something like this happens..."
His face turns a bit sheepish with that last sentence.
Seems he's honestly describing how things work; he's kept in the dark precisely because he's out "in the field" and the most likely to get caught and pumped for information.
Meanwhile, the servants are happy to assist by carrying things, though they go slightly pale at the mention of needing to use any of it.
"So, um... w-what exactly are you going to do with us?" one of the brigands asks as the party begins gathering things up to leave.
Whaddya want us to do with ye? Let ye go. Garnult snarls and then bursts into laughter.
Warren hands 5 masterwork arrows to Cassidy keeping 4 for himself. He picks up the staff with the rock on the end and as he passes the halfling and human says, You're lucky to be alive and not undead. I suspect this rock isn't normal and turned the mayor into some sort of undead and the same would be your fate if you went in and picked it up. So I think your future is better than it could have been. As to what we are planning on doing with you, well at least you'll be alive, in other words I'm not planning on killing you. Now lets head off to town.
"We are in the employ of the city guard. Perhaps we should just hand them over to someone at a higher pay grade."
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Garnult says Yeah, give em to the guard. surprised that he agrees with Beetle on anything.
"I agree, we should turn them over to the guards, perhaps, the guards at the gate, and than report in to Arriaga. We haven't said it yet, but are we all in agreement that this rock is no ordinary rock?"
Captives and commoners in tow (and/or over shoulder), the party continues the walk along the footpath back to Woodhaven. As you approach the north gate, you see the same pointy-eared woman atop the guard tower call down to someone below her, and the human man from earlier steps up to the gate, viewing you from between the beams of the closed gate.
Raising an eyebrow, he says, "Oy, that's a lot more of you then went out earlier this afternoon!" His words are lighthearted, but he eyes your captives carefully. "What exactly have you folks been up to while you were out on Cap's errand, eh?"
"We've been doing your job! I apprehended these brigands, who attacked us on the trip back. Who should we hand them off to?"
Garnult grunts and nods at Beetle. Wha' he said
"What about the untied ones behind you, carryin' all that stuff?" he asks, nodding toward the survivors from the manor. "They don't look like brigands, 'specially since they're not tied up or anything. So who're they?"
"Oh right. They were servants at the mayor's house before he tried to eat them. You'd better try to get them in contact with their families.
Oh, and that reminds me. The mayor was undead when we got there, and we have a meteorite that we think is responsible. Where should we send the invoice for expenses incurred?"
We need to report to the Captain on what happened at the manor and the brigands need locked up. The Captain will probably want to speak to the servants as well.
Expen.. Garnult goggles at the wizard Your more of a dwarf than me! he exclaims.
The guardsman laughs, "Ha! Yeah, how about you send the bill to the guy who inventories the supply packs, and then he can give you a bill for what you've used? Sounds fair, yeah?"
He chuckles a little bit more, then continues, "Anyway, Cap was probably already planning on compensating the lot of you, so don't worry your mercenary little head. As for your new friends: the alleged brigands you can leave with me and I'll see to gettin' the process started there. I believe you, but we need to hear their side of the story as well. Oh, and don't leave town in the meantime. Might look a bit suspicious is all. The mayor's servants you can take with you to City Hall - that's where Cap's at - and someone there can take care of them."
With that he steps back a bit from the gate and calls upward, "Alright, Tella, open it up for them." The gate starts creaking open and the guardsman waves you through.
"Thanks, we'll be on our way to City Hall."
Thank you. They are all yours. The short one is the leader of this little group. Garnult has your pack, we used 5 cure light wounds charges.
Hey! Who you callin...wait leader? Garnult seems pleased that Warren recognizes dwarven superiority.
This way, yeah. he says as he drops the unconscious would be bandit and begins walking toward the City Hall.
Garnult my friend, I was talking about the halfling.
Leaving the brigands with the North Gate guards, you walk the few blocks to City Hall. Entering the building, you see a large open room from which many hallways, doors and stairwells branch off. The area is clean and well-maintained, but things are more functional than decorative. A few people mill about from passage to passage.
Just inside the door and to the right, an elven man looks up from his desk and offers a clearly well-rehearsed smile and greeting.
"Good afternoon, how may I help you?"
"We're looking for Guard Captain Arriaga, to report the death (again) of the mayor. Is there a form to fill out for that sort of thing?"
The wha.... Garnult growls at Warren.
Yes Garnult, I was not talking about us but about the bandits.[b]
To the elf in city hall, [b]We were sent to check on the mayor by the Captain and need to report back to her.
At Tolbert's blunt announcement, the elf clerk's spectacles fall off his face onto the desk.
He stammers for a moment, then manages to speak: "Oh, um, yes, C-Captain Arriaga told me a group matching your description would be arriving today. I'll go and tell her you've arrived. Excuse me."
Looking slightly flustered, he stands and walks out of the room.
A moment later, Captain Arriaga bursts into the room, approaching you with a determined march and a deathly-serious expression. The thin elven clerk follows behind, looking rather unsure of himself.
Coming to a stop in front of the group, Captain Arriaga addresses you in a low and stern voice.
"I've just been told that the mayor is dead. Dead right after you four were sent to check on him. I suggest someone start talking, before I take you all in on murder and treason charges."
Just then, the halfling servant woman behind you pipes up.
"They saved us, ma'am! Before they got there, something happened to the mayor, turned him into a monster. The thing he became killed Val and Tim—that is, two more servants in the mayor's house—and then they got back up too. The three of them came after us and had us cornered in the cellar, when this group showed up and rescued us."
The dwarven captain listens intently to the tiny woman's story, then eyes each of you carefully.
"Into my office. Now."
She marches briskly to a door on the right, opens it, and motions you all in, including the survivors. Shutting the door behind you, she then walks behind her desk and addresses all of you.
"Okay, let's start from where you four arrived. What happened?"
"I thought that servant woman did a splendid job summarizing. The only part she left out was our discovery of a strange meteorite object in the mayor's house, which we believe may be reponsible. Here, um, who has it?"
It'was like the lady and the Beetle said. We got there, there was a foul beastie that.. Garnult turns a little red in remembrance of his shame Took some proper convincing to fall down dead, again. And then we took that there stone and came back here. On the way back here, some damnable bandits tried to steal the stone from us. Of course, they were stupid, else they would have known any group with a dwarf is a group what got its act together...
To put a little more detail into the tale: As we approached the house we saw a huge hole in the roof and heard some banging from around back of the house. When we turned the corner I saw undead trying to break into the cellar. Cassidy here identified them as two zombies (the servants) and a ghoul (the Mayor). After dispatching the undead we freed the servants from the cellar where we got them to identify the bodies and got the story of what happened. They heard a loud crash and when the other two servants went to check on the mayor they say him attack the servants and kill them and then they got up as zombies. Upon our examination of the room we saw a hole in the ceiling above the sofa and Cassidy found a piece of the Mayors robe on the upholstery and the sofa and floor were all bloody and this dark metal item under the floor boards. She checked it for magic and it gave a very strong sign of it. I'm guessing it fell through the roof, killed the mayor and turned him into the ghoul. We were careful not to touch it and put it in this sack to bring back here. On the way back three bandits, the leader being a halfling attacked us. They were sent by someone to get the rock from the sky. I found this note on the leader, but he doesn't know who sent him. We turned them in at the gate.
With this said Warren hands the note to the Captain and sets the bag down on the floor next to her desk being careful not to touch anybody with it. He then waits for any questions of the group from the Captain.
"It happened just as my companions described. I'm sure this has come as a grievous blow and sock to you. I am sorry for the death of the mayor and what that must mean for Woodhaven." Glancing at the servants, Cassidy adds,"I'm also sorry for the loss of Val and Tim." Turning back to the Captain, "I do believe the rock is responsible, but I don't think it's a meteorite like the bandits suspected it being. It gave off a very strong magical aura, and is not adamantine ore."
The dwarven woman listens quietly, her face inscrutable. When everyone has finished, she reaches over to a cord hanging along the wall and pulls it, sounding a light bell somewhere outside the room.
Arriaga then pulls a lead gauntlet from her belt and takes the stone from the sack. Regarding it for a few seconds, she then retrieves a small metal box from her desk, puts the stone inside, and snaps the lid shut.
Just as she's taking the gauntlet off again, the elven receptionist pokes his head in the door. The captain returns the gauntlet to her belt, then leans forward to hand the box to the elf.
"Take this to Illealos for examination, top priority," she says. Then she looks at the servants and adds, "I'm so sorry for your losses. Vorael, these three need accommodations. Give them each a blue-four package." She smiles at them as they leave the room with the clerk, who closes the door as he leaves.
Now alone with the four of you, she sinks quietly into her chair, folding her hands in front of her. After a long, pensive silence, she speaks:
"We had an impact in town, as well. The puzzling thing was that I couldn't find what caused it; there was just an empty crater. But if the folks who were trying to score some free adamantine ore were getting remote orders, then they were probably members of a thieves' guild of some sort. That means they're probably based here in Woodhaven, which means there's probably another stone like the one you found, except it got taken before I got to it."
Arriaga heaves a deep sigh before continuing. "I'm not sure which scenario is worse: a thieves' guild that doesn't realize it's holding a dangerous magical object of unknown nature, or a thieves' guild that does. I've suspected that a guild was forming for a while, but that conclusion now seems inescapable. Unfortunately, all my guards' faces are well-known in town."
The captain pauses, then pulls some small papers from her desk and begins to sign them.
"These are merchant vouchers," she explains. "This is your compensation for services rendered. It's as good as cash at pretty much any establishment in Woodhaven. While you're out shopping today, I have another task for you. You see, thieves' guilds are good at staying hidden. I'd like to find them out, but as I said, all my soldiers are known. Luckily, none of you are as well-known as my guards are. Therefore, I'd like the four of you to see if you can find any leads. Ask around, keep your eyes and ears open, and try not to seem like you're working for me. Oh, and maybe not march around as a group; that tends to look suspicious."
She stands and hands you each your vouchers. "Report your findings to me tomorrow morning. Good luck."
Cassidy spends the late afternoon and evening walking around town, shopping and talking to local gardeners.
Garnult is looking for the dwarven section of town, if there is one.