Davin watches the Zhents flee from the battle. When he is sure they will not simply turn back again. He makes a point to spot Xune, who seems to be unscathed. The others seem fine as well.
He nods to himself and then turns his attention to the little dragon. He hopes it isn't hungry.
The dragon rears back and sits up, somewhat like a cat on its back haunches, sunlight sparkling off its white scales, and it delicately licks one of its bloody claws.
Then, finally, it speaks in a measured tone:
The dragon side-eyes the unlikely team, as if deciding whether it should just fly away now.
Alyna shows a short, minor annoyance at Xune's mention of the dragon as a 'stolen prize', but doesn't respond otherwise.
I understand you're hungry, fair one. I will share my food with you, but it hardly would be enough to sate a dragon (she uses an archaic term, meaning 'ancient one' for dragon). What say you, shall we make dinner of that animal that drew your cart?"
Xune finds very little of interest for the most part. The dead mercenaries were well armed. Each having short bows and arrows, longswords, studded leather and small shields. The leader was similarly equipped, but with far sturdier armor. He also wears a ring made of silver crafted to resemble a snake. A large piece of perfectly clear quartz is set around the snake's head and tail. When she hears the sound of a jingling coin purse, Xune tosses aside a sealed letter.
"In recognition of the great favor you bestowed upon me before, I am dispatching this prize. I hope this discharges my debt to you effectively. As much as I would like to retain it for my own uses, I simply lack the skills of a true artist such as yourself.
"May your coffers be ever full,
"Captain Rooke"
The moon elf listens in to the conversation between the dragon and the rural elf but seems more interested in first, carefully cleaning off his sword before sheathing the weapon, and second, investigating the dead humans along with Xune. He nods at the letter as Xune reads it. "Do you know what a Mage Captain is? I'm not familiar with this faction of humans."
"You'd probably be better off flying down a deer in the woods, great one," Sid says over his shoulder in Common in response to Alyna's mention of food.
"I don't suppose someone would be willing to translate for the big, stupid human," Davin says with a sigh, after listening to all the exchanges in Elvish.
Somewhere in the distance the echoes of hoof-beats return. They are distant, probably a few miles away, but over time become easier to hear.
Sid nods in the dragon's direction. "The dragon is hungry because these people only beat him, never fed him." He then points at the letter, clearly more interested in it than the conversation the elf and the dragon were having. "Do you know anything about these people? What the significance of a Mage Captain is?"
Alyna hears the hoofbeats and says to the group
"Before us learns the mage captain's meaning, we shall choose to hide or meet what's running horses our way"
To the dragon she says:
The dragon leans forward, back onto all four legs, and spreads its wings tentatively to make sure that they have not been injured by captivity.
"We can't out run enemies on horseback. We should hide in the overgrowth. Let them pass us by. If they spot us, fine. But there's no point in getting into a fight if we don't need to."
Davin runs over to Xune who is stripping the dead Zhents of their valuables. Wordlessly, he takes a large empty sack from his backpack and helps her pack everything up.
Beau watches all this while he cleans his sword off on a dead human, before pulling out a long stemmed pipe. He takes a pinch of a dark brown leafy substance, stuffing a few pinches into the pipe, before lighting it. After it was clearly going strong, he then takes out a waterskin, and sips it gently.
" Well now! That be fun! No one never told me them humans can fight! You, metal human! How many of the humans can fight like this?! Much different from goblins. Less noisy too!" He seems to be much more full of energy now, and one would strongly suspect the pipe hanging from his mouth with a small stream of smoke, and the skin had to do with his happiness.
"Well now! That be fun! No one never told me them humans can fight! You, metal human! How many of the humans can fight like this?! Much different from goblins. Less noisy too!"
Davin stared at the dwarf for a moment, before saying, "I have no idea if you're being serious or not. But to answer your question. Some can fight. Some can not."
Davin then stopped to listen to the hooves getting closer.
"We should hurry and hide."
Sid gestures at the dragon and the draft horse. "All respect, great one, but you do not look very stealthy. Nor the horse," he looks around at the group, "which, frankly, I had thought to sell in Shadowdale along with select of these peoples' gear. Walking from town to town is not a lucrative occupation." The moon elf smirks and shakes his head ruefully at his life choices.
"I'd also point out that if these people are not with the dead humans they will be very suspicious of the people hiding in the woods near the bodies."
Alyna responds to the dwarf:
Then she says to the rest:
While stalking off to the edge of the woods, she off-handedly adds in common to Davin and Beauregarde "come stand by a forest"
"They get in the occasional lucky hit, maybe, but they can't really fight in any proper way. Just like dwarves can drink feywine, but wouldn't know how to appreciate a good vintage."
"You underestimate a lot of different people. That's probably a bad idea."
"I can wait out here with Master Beauregarde, while the rest of you hide then. If they are proper authorities, we can explain the bodies easily enough as self-defense. After all, these humans have Zhent markings. But if they want a fight, I would appreciate a rescue. Now go. Hide."
Hearing Davin, Alyna stops in her tracks and turns around. Walking back to the group.
Then she sits on the edge of the wagon with one of her swords in her lap.
Sid rolls his eyes and shrugs as the woodsy elf returns to the group. He looks over at Davin and shakes his head with a small smile playing on his lips. "I'll just go back to what we were doing, then." The moon elf slowly approaches the draft horse, shushing to it and trying to keep it calm in an attempt to get it ready to lead down the road to Shadowdale.
Coming from the east, towards Shadowdale, a pair of riders round the corner at a full gallop bearing a wagon wheel between them. They look to be equipped much like the Zhentilar guards, but they handle their horses with expertise. They slow when they see the scene before them, then stop a significant distance away.
The riders survey the area taking everything in. With a glance, but no words spoken between them, the pair drop the wheel simultaneously then gallop hard into the forest.
Davin inspects the wagon and tries to identify it the wheel is something that could be replaced quickly.
Blinks at al the dwarvish coming at him, frankly surprised by all of it. Surely they could forgive his shock, not expecting to hear his native tongue from tree huggers. After a few mintues, he replies ot them in dwarvish
" Well now, seeing as we all can speak in a proper language, are we going to just let those riders go or continue to the next town? I got tobacco to buy you know. " He puffs on his pipe, taking his time now that the enemy is gone and seemly not reappearing.
It is clearly not a perfect match, but whether it will suffice or not Davin is unsure.
Sid nods at Xune. "I'm all for that. We can split the proceeds of this stuff and maybe I'll have a bed to sleep in tonight." He pats the big horse's flank, smiling up at it. "This good girl is going to have a nice stable to sleep in tonight, herself."
He looks at the dragon, switching to Elvish since that was the only language they knew the creature could speak. "I am honored to have helped punish your captors and have some minor role in freeing, great one. While I am of no means as wise or intelligent as your kind, I would offer you this advice: avoid large groups of humans for a few years, until you are larger. People like this... sometimes they are no better than orcs, especially in large groups."
Alyna softly mutters in reply to Beauregarde
Then she helps with packing up the horse.
Surprisingly, the dragon makes its way back to the wreckage and settles down back near the wagon, then says in the Common tongue, "The riders have fled into the forest, but they will doubtless tell their masters what transpired. I daresay a trip to your... settlement or whatever is in order."
Coughing and sputtering at the rude elf, Beau mutters about longears and their flightly ways. The dwarf helps out packing up the loot, then moving the bodies to the edge of the road, as it seems this is something he has clearly done once or a few times. After making sure each human was dead, he walks back to see the dragon land.
"Well now, seems we stumbled upon a good case of you pay us to help protect you. See, it works like this. You give us gold, and we kill more of the shortyears. I think that sounds pleasant enough? Or I suppose we could loot them..."
Whatever might be off about Beau, it seems he was amble towards helping out Xenotime.
"Master Beauregarde, I suspect the Zhents will try to kill us regardless of whether or not we make a contract with the wyrmling. So perhaps it's best if we all simply cooperate with one another. The enemy of my enemy, and all that."
The dragon sniffs and inspects one of its wing pinions, as if making a big deal of trying to find out why it nearly stalled on takeoff.
Sid rolls his eyes at everyone speaking so many languages when it has been made clear that they all speak and understand Common perfectly well. He nods at the dragon and continues to speak in a tongue everyone understands. "That is a good policy, great one. Humans tend to get very excited at the sight of a dragon."
The pale skinned elf nods at Davin. "Cooperation in the face of a threat is also a sound policy." He glances in Beau's direction. "So is not trying to extract money from a dragon, even a young one."
Alyna replies to Xune: [spoiler=elvish]"Why indeed. They are a destructive and untrustworthy bunch. I guess living away from nature blinded your people's senses to that. But no matter, we're in their lands, now. Might as well get used to their yapping"
Beau grumbles at Sid " Ye long ears are such flightly folk. Focusin on things temporary." He taps some ash from his pipe before harrumphing again and calling out in Common to the group " I fully expect ya'll to keep up. This be dragon country it seems, an our new ward might have a mother nearby. Let us move forward."
With that said Beau starts walking towards the original pathway, which seems to be back towards the area the dragon came from. He wasn't moving particularly fast, but he did seem to not enjoy standing around so much. However if a better direction was pointed out, he would grumble again before changing towards the party's direction
Sid gives a surprised laugh at Beauregard's comment. "They may not be mountains, but the memories of dragons live almost as long." He goes back to helping Xune and Davin gather up the downed Zhents' gear.
The moon elf nods at Davin when they were done securing the now full bags to their new pack horse. "Even split when we get to town? Should be a decent take when we throw in the horse."
Once they were ready, the moon elf takes the draft horse's lead and starts following Beauregard down the road.
Davin nods to Sid. "Seems efficient and fair."
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The group packs up the loot and slings it over the horse after unhitching it from the disabled cart. The dragon heads to hunt some fresh meat as the humanoids walk into Shadowdale.
Along the path they march past a curious sight. Several local town watch surround a wagon with a missing wheel. A body lies on the ground oozing blood and a pair of watch are searching the ditch running along the roadside. The watch give you stern looks as you pass, transmitting a simple message, "we've got this, move along and mind your own business."
After handling some business the heroes find themselves in the Old Skull Inn just before the dinner rush. The large wooden tavern and inn is already filling up fast with visitors and locals both. In one corner of the taproom a tall, well-built human man stands up upon laying eyes on the group. His bushy hair and goatee are thick with white hair and a pair of expensive looking spectacles sits on his face. He waves the group over and takes the pouch from Alyna. He opens it and reads it with a passive face.
"I'm Lhaeo, yes, I recognize you all. I apologize I don't have time for small talk, please, sit. Dinner is on me," he says at first in common, then repeats in flawless Elvish with a bow to Alyna.
"I recognize you because you've already been vetted without being aware of it. There are...things...happening. Lord Elminster has a lot on his plate, as always, but if he took the time to make sure you were all acceptable for this project, it means he has confidence in you.
"The Zhentarim have always been a thorn in our side. The occupation of Daggerdale puts them dangerously close to our doorstep. In addition, we are receiving intelligence that indicates several major plans requiring that occupation to continue indefinitely. After everything that occured a few years back, the Harpers have been spread thin. Which is why Lady Nym was invited here. Elminster was very specific of Harper involvement, which should be no surprise."
Food and drink are brought, including an excellent cask of dwarven ale and some fine wine from Elminster's private stock. "We need people we can trust. Resourceful people. People like yourselves.
"We need to disrupt the Zhentarim. To provide space for the rightful ruler to reclaim his throne and to figure out just what the Zhents are up to. In order to achieve that objective you will need to establish a base of operations somewhere near Dagger Falls. From there you can keep a closer eye on what they're doing and hopefully take covert actions to prevent them from holding onto Daggerdale and expanding their influence further west or along the coast of the Moonsea. Once you have a headquarters we can provide better support for your operation.
"You may find it helpful to make contact with the local resistance movement. Likewise, should you make contact with Lord Morn or his Freedom Riders, you will have additional assistance."
This human, Lhaeo, speaks for Elminster. If you're well enough informed, you might have heard of him.
I fear, though, Lhaeo, that Xune is quite right in her assessment: securing a region is quite a task. Did lord Elminster specify any contacts, resources or even standing armies that aren't Zhenth friendly?
I mean, we've just allied with a dragon, but it's only a baby, so far. Two bladesingers is already almost an army, but we can't be anywhere at once.
Also, what places or trade routes are already under Zhenth influence?"
It's clear that Alyna knows her way around strategy on multiple levels, and her claim of being a princess suddenly doesn't sound so strange
Halgrin begins to sort through all the information presented by Lhaeo. Overthrowing a corrupt criminal force, restoring the rightful heir to power--perhaps this was the reason Helm wanted Xune protected.
He turns to Xune, allowing her to take the initiative, and ultimately decide whether or not they follow up on this quest.
"I am apprentice to Elminster, and am often called upon to serve as his agent in a variety of situations. But to answer the important question, you don't need to kick the Zhents out all by yourself. It is important for Lord Morn to regain power himself. We need you to do what you can to supp-" he stops mid-sentence and looks at Alyna. "Dragon? How ever did you accomplish such a thing? Actually, don't tell me, I would have to tell Elminster and the next thing you know he is making me reschedule a week's worth of business just to try and talk to it. Uh, as I was saying. Help the locals, especially those sympathetic towards the Morns, observe and gather intelligence on the Black Network. Harass them when possible, but keep yourselves safe. If something big happens, report it to me or the Harpers. I understand they will be sending an agent through the area next month."
Sid nods and smiles at Alyna in a friendly, encouraging, somewhat indulgent sort of way- the way an adult smiles at a precocious child.
Returning to Common, Sid's expression turned serious as he looked back to Lhaeo. "Who is the rightful ruler of Daggerdale? Is it this Lord Morn you mentioned? Where could we find him or his Freedom Riders? Does he know Elminster has engaged us to help?"
He nods at Alyna. "She asked about anyone who already opposes the Zhentarim and you mentioned supporting the locals who are sympathetic to Morn's claim. Can you direct us to any groups we should reach out to for support, other than Lord Morn and his Riders themselves?"
Alyna let's out a clear laughter, obviously amused at Sid's suggestion.
If you won't call me bladesinger, brother, I can only pity you. It is often hard to experience the forest when all you know are roots.
Now,let's not demean ourselves any further by bringing such talks before the children races"
She then refocuses her attention back at Elinster's apprentice, patiently waiting for him to answer the questions asked.