"Everyone calm down! Doge isn't going anywhere. Oleg, get back to work. I have things to do." Thaegrin answers dismissively.
He dismounts and enters the office. Immediately, he begins his scrollwork for the next two hours.
After they left Oleg, well beyond ear shot, Wraith murmured, "So the bitter old man is alright with committing murder."
He went to go find Kesten. "What happened while we were gone? All we can get from Oleg was red hot rage. Did Doge do something during his post here or did Oleg seek revenge for what Nor's bandits did in the past?"
Kesten's head hangs to his breast as a long sigh seeps out from tight pressed lips.
"I don't right know. Oleg says the man was robbing him, and we did find his body in the old man's house: pummeled to death by the Rostlander's bare hands!"
"Now, if nothing fishy were happening there, why was Doge in their house at all? But, at the same time the old badger hated the man just for being alive; that was no secret."
"In the end though, what could I do? The deed was done and the master of the house is my only witness. I must believe him or live in doubt as long as I am here."
"I did try to convince him to take the body down after a day or so, but he'll have none of it. At the mere suggestion he turned hot enough to stove in my chest, armor and all. I just don't see the point fighting him."
Kesten punctuates the last with a resigned shrug.
"Did you happen to check the ground for tracks? I doubt Doge would have lost in a straight fight, especially if Oleg was unarmed. I wonder if his body wasn't dragged into the old man's house after the deed was done." Wraith checked the ground in front of the old man's house, careful as to not arouse suspicion from the raging man inside.
Wraith turns to look at the hanging Doge's body.
At the end of two hours, Thaegrin exits the office, in a better mood. With a look of satisfaction, he surveys the trading post, until his eyes fall on Doge's body. He frowns, and sets a muttering pace to the battlements where he hangs. He hoists Doge's body up onto the wall, and cuts free whatever hung him there, and drags his body inside.
"This carrion will only attract disease and other filth. I will not have it."
He opens the gate, and drags the body further.
Anga watches the wizard from his seat on the battlements. Languishly lounging, he sees the Elf attempt to move the body and his struggles to drag it out the gate. With a grin he leans back in his chair again and continues to lazily loaf.
Eddric helps Thaegrin (or would if they he has a problem).
"Oleg's off his rocker, its time to put down the old man. I do not by the old farts story. Dorge was a man of value." Eddric says quietly to Thaegrin.
"Oleg is at his wit's end, that is for certain, but I do not relish traveling all the way back to Restov for supplies. Let the little man have his little fort. If Captain Garess can keep the walls safe, I think the old man can be quite resourceful. In time, we will find a better place to base our operations in the Greenbelt."
Thaegrin sets down the body, satisfied with the distance. "As for Doge, sellswords come a dime a dozen," Thaegrin meets Eddric's eye, "Do they not?"
To punctuate his rhetoric, a cone of fire blasts the corpse to ash and bone.
"Thank you for your help, Sir Eddric." Thaegrin walks back to the gate.
"By the gods, what manner of weapon was used to demolish that armor? We were told Oleg did this with his fists alone. Is such a thing even possible? To tear leather and smash metal?" Wraith murmured as he watched Doge burn. "Something doesn't add up. Why would a man wear his armor if he were trying to sneak into a home? Too much noise, yet Doge was apparently smart enough to take his shoes off? There are too many inconsistencies with this story. And Oleg looks untouched."
Eddric plans to continue the rest of his day drilling in the yard with the guards.
"So be it."Wraith says shaking his head. "Kesten, has there been any signs of a Kobold emissary?"
"Kobold's don't use emissaries, sir. They kill, and they eat."
Kesten is clearly disgusted by Kobold's.
"Ah my dear Kesten. You're in for a new experience! We've come across some kobolds, and we've managed to come to terms with them. We might just have some new neighbors soon."
"HA! You are a fool. Did you, in fact, come to terms with them, or did they 'take news back to your chief?'"
"No. What you have done is pain a gigantic target on this fort. We will be dealing with hordes of them soon enough. Now leave me adn my men to train. We'll have to clean up your mess it seems."
"Kesten may have a point. Should we preemptively slay the boar and present it as a gift to the Kobalds?" Wraith asked the rest of the group.
Anga, just back from placing an order with Oleg , turns to the Tiefling. "It matters not to me archer, but I can tell you all this waiting around is making me restless."
"I say we find the kobolds and force terms. we should give them a few days, if not then we strike against them, solve the matter before we have to many enemies to count."
"How do you suppose to force terms? They outnumber us immensely. I need part of the boar anyways to turn in as proof for the bow." Wraith said.
"We have more important things to worry about then a boar. But my sword does long for blood."
"Whether we hunt the boar, or search out the kobolds, it will require some searching of the area. It will benefit us to find the boar before meeting the kobolds again. I fear our last talk with the Firebacks only bought us a little time, as they seem to be a more determined race than I had hoped."
Thaegrin glances at the trading post's defenses.
"As I said, either of these options start with us exploring the wilderness."
Anga, in a rare show, makes known his ire. "Enough talk, lets be off then! We can decide what we're doing just as easily on the road." Not waiting for a response the Half-Elf begins making his way out of the gates.
"We explored the east last time, let us look to the south then."
Thaegrin nods at the thief's initiative and quietly shoulders his pack. Before walking out the gate, he calls to Kesten Garess. "Captain, if you can find the time, please train these horses to be less skittish in combat."
He turns and walks out of the trading post.
"I think that could be possible, but only if we may use them when you are not."
"That seems fair, just do not feed them to trolls."
"Well thought at Thaegrin!"Wraith said as he left his horses reigns with a guard. "Thank you Captain Garess." Wraith shouldered his bow and pack and followed the wizard out.
|
As the sun begins its descent, you come upon a clearing in the shape of an arrowhead. Immediately your nostrils sting with the spicy tang of radish. Looking down, it is plain to see that this is a patch of wild radish.
Near its center, 3 heaping baskets of freshly picked radishes give negligible shade to a quartet of red scaled kobolds who snooze lazily.
Thaegrin whispers to the party.
"Quiet, everyone. I say we take them alive, if we can. Give ourselves bargaining clout with this Fireback chief." Thaegrin whispers. "I have an idea: Sir Eddric, you approach them. Quietly, if you can. The rest of us follow him at a distance. If they wake, Eddric, just say or do something that will make them attack you. Wraith and Anga, hang back so we do not frighten them with numbers, but I will need you ready as contingency. I will try to subdue the kobolds before they do any serious harm -I just need them to stay close together. If the fates favor us, they will not wake at all."
Thaegrin looks about for consent to this plan.
Anga gives a curt nod and fades into the tree-line, drawing his bow in the process.
"A man agrees. Alive is much more preferable as a bargaining chip."
"I am quiet loud, I doubt I'll be able to gain appropriate ground. But I like the idea of a good fight. I also don't think we should openly engage them without trying to talk this out. Who knows there is a small chance they don't want a war between our parties."
With his peace said, Eddric sets a slow pace. Unsure of how to be of the shadow, he bends his back a little to far almost as if bowing. After a few steps he stands upright yet again, and pays little attention to the sneakiness of his approach.
"Easy now little one, I do not speak reptile." Eddric removes his sword and the places it on the ground. "I don't think you want to fight me, nor do I want to fight you!" Now full standing Eddric continues,"How bout you try one of these rations." Eddric slowly takes a ration and then tosses it at the kobold.
"They're telling you to get on your knees Sir Eddric. I'm putting my bow down too in hopes that Thaegrin gets the opening he needs." Wraith said as he slipped his bow off his shoulder and dropped it to his feet.
"Janikup petissei! petranas jihai batobot achthend lae vin offering! vorq! si mi wharacir vhira sia vaex. tepoha vi taste di hesi offering vur ocuir yth majak wux jennu tiichi."
Thaegrin does not look away from the kobolds, and mutters in Elven before striding calmly forward.
"Anga, din dae, estee."
He digs out the rations of gnome meat. He stops adjacent to Eddric, five feet to his left. Getting to one knee, he holds the food in one hand, and raises the other in supplication, palm outward. He bows his head slightly, but still watches them.
Thaegrin whispers tersely to Eddric. "Take a knee."
The Half-Elf stays hidden in the background watching and listening to the event unfold. Feeling the sparks of an idea form in his mind he glances around himself looking for any large piles of dry or dead wood, something that could easily take to flame.