Rufon quietly replies "It's either that or go to thieves for help, he did mention a person named Jonah and his girls might be able to open it. Else I'd take you up on your offer Shora."
Retcon:
""It's either that or go to thieves for help, he did mention that one of the barmaids, Caylin or Ana might be able to open it. Else I'd take you up on your offer Shora."
"Hey, I'll be more than happy to help pay you back later, Sjora. But honestly, we know he's probably not going anywhere. Let's check and see about these two barmaids, and if they can't help, we can easily come back and pay. Caylin and Ana are probably a lot cheaper than this guy," Duraelo adds, making sure his voice is quiet enough to be contained in the group.
Duraelo proves to be correct. After finding Caylin taking refuge at the small temple in the village itself, she agrees to open the case for 5 silver pieces.
When you produce the case, however, Instarit (the gnome merchant who was a guest at the inn) interjects.
"Why would you waste your money opening something that's probably nothing?" he asks. "I'll give you twenty gold for the box and its contents, and you save yourself a bit of silver."
"Isn't that a bit of a gamble for us? We don't know what's inside, it might be very valuable." Rufon says as the merchant made his offer.
Rufon stares at him hoping to have him give away some of his intentions.
"You are quite right," Instarit says with a grin of anticipation. "It is a gamble for both of us. If you take my offer and there's nothing inside, you've won twenty gold."
"And if he takes your offer and there's riches inside, he's lost much more than what you would have. Seems like that makes it come out more in your favor than ours." Duraelo leans back against a wall, a small smile on his face. "Rufon, I'm not going to tell you what to do. You found that thing, you can decide. But if it were me, I'd just open this damned thing and be done with it."
"Agreed on that Duraelo. After all 5 silver isn't all that much either and the box could sell for at least that much I suppose. I hate the idea of giving away any treasure we found."
"I'll take you up on your offer to open it Caylin."
He hands the box to her and waits patiently for her to open it.
Never thought those barmaids to be such good lockpicks, they must have had other skills besides waiting tables. Previous lives and experiences I suppose.
"I agree Rufon, having Caylin open it seems the wisest course."
Sjora watches curiously, waiting to see what might be inside.
It seems that she may not be the world's greatest lockpick, but after a long while, the lock clicks open. The girl takes her coin and opens the case. Inside is a longbow made of horn and wood and sinew, with the shaft covered with intricately braided leather. There are also five long shafts (presumably arrows) wrapped individually in oiled leather.
As the staff and guests of the inn have taken refuge in the chapel, and as there is little to distract them, most of them have gathered round to look. The gnome sighs, disappointed and shuffles off, but Vadzik, the hobgoblin, sees the bow and mutters a curse under his breath.
"It's lovely!" Sjora bursts out.
"No kidding!" Etienne chimes in. He reaches out toward one of the wrapped packages. "May I?"
Perception to examine the contents
Rufon just smiles at the opening and revelation of the box's contents, clearly happy with his decision.
"Be my guest Etienne, you know more of it then I do."
Rufon looks round to see the crowd having gathered and looking in awe at the finely crafted longbow.
Rufon shuffles closer towards Vadzik until he is next to him and whispers: "You seem unhappy with this bow? What do you know of it?"
"It's a hobgoblin's bow," Vadzik says. It's hard to tell if he's snarling aggressively or if that's just his voice. "A gift from a chief to a hero. Someone who killed many elves, I expect." He grins, displaying his fangs.
"Silver arrows. Interesting...." Etienne muses thoughtfully. "Hopefully the cultists aren't recruiting werewolves...."
Before we go to sleep in the temple, I relay Vadzik's words about the bow to the others.
"Why that bow ended up there we don't know. Perhaps the hobgoblin it belonged to died there or he is in the service of Susanna. Just another mystery I guess."
The next morning Rufon awakes, reasonably fresh, many of his wounds and scratches closed, but sore nonetheless. He stretches his legs and arms for a bit, knacking a few muscles along the way.
"A good night's rest does wonders after a day of adventuring." he bellows as the other people awaken.
As Tomas the priest calls upon the light of awakening to heal us, Rufon looks at his chest as his wounds fade and his newly scars are visible.
"Now I've got some more stories to tell around a campfire."
He grins visibly amused.
Before knowing the priest is going to channel in the morning, Sjora makes one last offer the night before...
"I have two cure spells left for the day... Does anyone want or need one before we rest for the night?"
Etienne smiles gratefully as Sjora's healing touch permeates Isabeau. "My thanks, Sjora. I am in your debt."
The priest's healing surge leaves Etienne feeling as good as new in the morning. Seeing Isabeau none the worse for wear, he smiles happily.
Come morning, Sjora will attend the priest's morning service before her quietly private prayers during which she will regain her spells for the day.
After breakfast, she will smile at the others brightly. "Are we ready to try this again?"
At the mentioning of healing, as Etienne has stepped forward first and received it, Thrace crouches up to Sjora and nuzzles against her legs. Clearly he wants her attention in some way.
SJora casts the second healing spell on Thrace then, and smiles at the tiger, hesitant at first at touching the great beast, but finally laying her hands on him as she casts her spell.
"He's so beautiful... and deadly." She smiles at Rufon as she gently caresses Thrace a little bit.
Duraelo joins the group, sitting back down after having a fantastic night's sleep, with any zombies or other monsters being completely absent. "Try again...how though?" he asks Sjora. [b]"The only thing we have to show for our investigations so far is plenty of bruises and cuts, a bunch of unusual things we don't know anything about in that cave system, and Etienne's fancy new bow and arrows. And my potions, but that's about it. I'd love to meet the pyromaniac idiot who thought torching everyone in the inn was a good idea just as much as all of you, but where would we start looking?"
"Well I guess what Sjora means is that we haven't explored the whole cave yet. Perhaps we can find some clues or more hidden treasures we can use against them in the last rooms."
Rufon says this before he munches down a part of his breakfast; one of his trail rations plus perhaps a mug of milk/beer whatever is available at this time.
Sjora nods at Rufon's assessment. "Yes, rufon, that's what I meant. We have no idea how much more we might have to investigate of that cave complex."
Duraelo finishes off his breakfast of rations and can't help but smile at his newfound friends' determination. "Sounds like a plan. Should we let Kyra know what we're doing? She did help us out the first time we went there. Otherwise, I think I'm up for heading out whenever everyone's ready."
"Asking Kyra again to join us seems a very good idea. Shall we be off then? I'm done eating for a long time!"