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The little figure begs for her life, "Please don't hurt me, I'll give you anything."
It was impressive exactly how effective everyone was; Cardren's fast movements and Elyana's magic made quick work of the would-be burglar. Hopping down to the ground, Alric would make his way over as the small figure as they begged for their life.
"What do you think you were doing with that blade, little burglar?" Alric murmurs, crouching down on his heels to look down at them. He looks them over for any other weapons and where that glinting blade he saw earlier was.
"That? Nothing, it's not even sharp. I'm not a burglar," She said in a near panic with tears streaking down her face, "Please let me go, by fiancé is expecting me up in the room."
"Let me guess. A little someone climbing the wall in the East Alley?"
Um, yes. How did you know that? Is this a frequent occurrence?
Ah. Yes, I am new in town, and I thank you for the information. I'll go tell my friends not to kill her. Sorry for the disturbance.
Zaranna walks outside and says
She has an arrangement with the owner. Let her go.
”Oh, fiancé?” Cardren looks very embarrassed. He bows deeply to the woman. ”I’m very sorry. I hope you’re not injured. Please, let me buy you dinner. I mean, not you, not only you. You and your fiancé.”
The instant Cardren let the Gnome up, she bolted out of the alley and disappeared around the corner to the tavern door. The poor woman was clearly too terrified to stick around.
"Your...your fiance? You mean, this...this is?" Cardren stumbles over his words as he lets the gnomish lady up and she bolts around the corner towards the tavern door. Alric looks at Cardren, his eyes wide in surprise for a moment before his cheeks puff up in a ridiculous manner. He tries his best to stifle his laughter but cannot as he stands up straight and begins to cry.
"Now that...that is a story for home." Alric murmurs, savoring the moment of brevity there.
When Elyana heard about what the gnome was really up to she blushed and giggled in amusement at the situation. To think this was just a misunderstanding of a lover's kink! She felt really bad about what they'd just done now that they knew the truth and sighed as she said, "We should really do something to make up for interrupting that you know."
Elyana looked over at Zaranna after she came back with the information and watched the gnome scurry off in terror and go back into the tavern. She spoke to her friends and said, "We should offer to pay for their room and board to make up for what we interrupted. I know we had no way to know but still, it is the polite thing to do."
That's a kind thought, Elyana. I'm in.
Zaranna hands Elyana a gold piece to help the effort.
”I guess she didn’t hear my offer,” Cardren adds. He opens his coin purse. Shaking the contents twice he pulls out four silver. He gives it to Elyana with a bemused smile.
”Though, next time I see something similar, I’ll probably react the same way.”
He looks around the area, checking for people giving them too much consideration. ”Do you think your brother liked this town, Alric?”
Alric will happily chip in a gold piece, wiping the tear away from his eye. He couldn't even remember how long it had been since he last laughed that hard. The comedy was worth the coin.
"I...Kristoff was always hard to read." Alric said with a shrug, his smile tinged with a bit of sadness as he remember the reclusive nature his brother gained after that terrible time in the Piper's domain. He was never quite the same, his laughter as rare as the white stag that roamed the swamplands. "He is a good man though, never meant anyone harm. If he is involved, it isn't by his own choice."
"We should get a place to stay the night. Maybe the gnomes will be willing to talk about Kristoff."
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Elyana took the money that each of her friends offered to her and added some of her own then said, "Excuse me a moment." Elyana went inside the tavern and approached the barkeep. Once she had their attention she said, "My friend's and I feel bad about ruining the gnomish woman and her fiance's evening. We took a collection amongst ourselves and want to take care of their room and board. What ever of," she handed over the money, "this isn't needed for that, please give it to them with our compliments and apologies."
Zaranna resumes looking for a place to stay, trying to find something as close to Larissa's place as possible.
Zaranna comes back and tells the group that she found a place for them to stay called The Pick and Pillow.
”We know so little about this situation, “ Cardren replies to Alric. ”I trust your feelings about your brother.” Cardren continues to scrutinize the citizens as they pass while they wait for Zaranna to return. He waves at her when he sees them coming.
”The Pick and the Pillow?” the monk chuckles. ”I like the sound of it. Lead on Zaranna.”
Zaranna takes them all to the inn, and arranges for rooms and a meal.
The proprietor, a stout dwarven woman with brown hair and a scar across her right cheek, asked the celestial Elf, "Would you prefer separate rooms or share rooms? I also have bed spaces available in the communal sleeping space. As for the meals, that will be one silver and five copper for the lot of you."
Zaranna says
We'll have the meal in the morning, since we ate earlier.
She hands over 2 silvers, telling the woman to keep the change.
As for the rooms, what is the cost for each option?
She acts like it is no big deal, but giving Elyana that gold piece had taken about a third of what she had to her name, so she hopes the place isn't too expensive.
"Well, the rooms are about seven silver per room and a bed in the communal room will run you one silver per bed."
Oh, yeah, that sounds fine. We'll just sleep in the communal room.
She takes up a collection from the group, letting them know it is one silver each, and then gives the total amount to the innkeeper.
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”A bed in the communal room is fine,” Cardren says handing over a silver. ”Should we keep ‘watch’ despite being at the inn? Once we see the room, we should think of a plan to keep any bystanders safe in case we are attacked.”
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Alric pays his piece of coin, making his way into the common room before settling onto an open part of the floor. Cardren brought up a good point as he settled into his place, nodding.
"Certainly. We'll take the same watches we normally do and we'll try to sleep closest to the door. In the morning, we'll investigate where my brother lived and see if we can get any information there. Then we'll look into this closed down mine."
Elyana was noticeably uncomfortable with staying in the common room but she decided it was best to stay there with the others for safety if nothing else. Besides, she was sure they wouldn't let anything happen to her. She pulled out her part of the payment and gave it to Zarana before looking for a place where she could be against a wall or solid furniture to avoid anyone sneaking up on her to claim for her place.
"That sounds like it will work to me Alric." Elyana said. She didn't bother to change but rather set up her bedroll and crawled inside before using her pack as a rather lumpy pillow. "Wake me when it is my shift." With that Elyana quickly dropped off to sleep.
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The dwarf takes the coin and directs you to the communal sleeping chamber. There only appears to be eight beds in this space and no one else but you sleeping there. With the watches set, you all sleep comfortably for the first time in days. Fortunately, none of you are plagued by strange dreams.
The next morning came with a knock on the door.
Zaranna pulls her cloak on and answers the door.
Yes?
The dwarven proprietor stands there with a cart holding plates of breakfast food. "Your breakfast that you ordered."
Ah, thank you. I didn't realize that ... I thought there would be tables. But, yes, no need... um... so does the cart stay, or do we just take the individual plates?
Zaranna takes a plate of food and steps back, wondering whether she should hand it off to someone, or just start eating... then she decides that the proprietor will know what to do, so she goes to sit down gingerly on her bed, places the plate on the bed beside her, and begins to eat.
Pushing the cart inside to the others could get their own plate, "In my experience, you adventuring types best have your meals in private. Allows you to make your plans without being disturbed." Leaving the cart in the room she started exiting the room, "Be sure to bring the cart back to the front desk when you leave."
She left and closed the door behind her.
Alric couldn't lose the feeling that they were being watched throughout the night, that there was something on the edge of vision and just outside of reality. The feeling did not settle well with the ranger and while he had no dreams, he did not sleep well. He awoke in the morning to the sound of the door being open, rising up from his bed and stretching for a moment.
"Thank you." Alric said before the dwarf left the room, grabbing his own plate and eagerly shoveling the food down. He was hungrier than he expected and quickly emptied the plate of every morsel there. Once finished, he would wash his face off in whatever constituted as a water basin and would finish getting dressed.
"I'm going to ask around and see if I can find my brother's home. I want to look around it, see if there is any clues inside. After that, we investigate the mine. Anyone else have any other idea?"
I can understand wanting to check out your brother's place, but it seems to me that clues to his disappearance would be where he disappeared... unless you think he ran away instead?
She helps pack up their stuff, returns the cart, and goes with the group as they follow Alric.
"I was hoping that there may be things written; a journal or something. If my brother has fallen underneath this dark influence, maybe something there will give us insight as to how." Alric says, rubbing his chin for a moment. "It is a longshot though so...if we rather just move to the mine and be more direct, I can understand it. If he has been corrupted, we cannot allow whatever he is trying to accomplish here be successful."
I'm fine with going to his house first as long as it is quick... I'm worried that he was taken, not corrupted, and want to get on the trail.
”Did your brother like to worship one deity more than others?” Cardren asks. ”I was thinking maybe a cleric might know something about his recent life. While you and Zaranna investigate the house, the rest of us can inquire at temples.”
"The family mostly worshipped Aruuc the First Hunter. We give proper worship to the other gods for their gifts, blessings, and mercies but Aruuc was prominent in our home." Alric offered, finishing preparing himself for the day. Throwing on his cloak, he'd give a nod to Zaranna. "I am ready when you are. We'll all gather back here before noon and make our way to the mines?"
If everyone was in agreement, Alric would head out with the gifted oracle to find his brother's place of residence. He would ask some of the miners and locals if they had any idea where his brother had been staying, looking for a good location to investigate into.
Zaranna accompanies Alric to find Kristoff's home.
Elyana was already awake when the others stirred that morning. She had felt those eyes on her again but she had no idea where they were coming from. Breakfast arrived and she sat down to enjoy the meal while they discussed their plans. She was a little leery of splitting up but figured they would be safe enough as long as they stayed in town.
"That plan sounds good Carden. We just all need to be careful and not leave town without the others," Elyana said, "I think we can all agree that we may not be safe anywhere given what happened at the wedding."
”I agree, Elyana. We shouldn’t be paranoid, but we need to be careful and aware.”
Cardren asks the inn’s owner for directions to Aruuc’s temple and the other main temples in the town. He’ll leave with the others and follow the provided directions.
At the temple, he’ll search for a cleric. If he finds one, he smile and bow. ”Greetings. We are looking for the brother of our companion. Kristoff. He works in the mines. He loves nature, so I thought he might worship here. Have you seen him recently? Know where he might live? Does he have any friends in the congregants? ” Cardren describes him based upon Alric’s comments.
Before they leave Cardren also says, “We ran into a variety of adversaries on our journey here. Tell me, are Shadow beings vulnerable to positive energy? Or do you know any good countermeasures to such beings.”
Once you were let in, you saw that the room looked like it hadn't been lived in for days.
Looking around Alric found his brother's journal, in the usual place, and within its pages, he wrote his first experiences in the mines, the day he met a local blacksmith's daughter named Larissa, the day she told him she was pregnant with their child, the ring he managed to get for her, and how he searched for the perfect stone to have set in it.
Zaranna found a small box that contained a silvery ring and a place setting with no gem placed in it.
To Elyana it was more reminiscent of a druidic grove than a proper temple.
A man in green and brown clothing, a bow strapped across his back, quiver on his hip, and holy symbol of Aruuc about his neck. He reminded you more of Alric than a priest you might have expected.
Listening to the monk's description he thought for a moment, "Kristoff. Kristoff, can't say the name rings any bells. Sorry."
He was taken aback by the questioning of shadow beings, "I doubt it unless they hail from a place of death energy. But beings of shadow tend to be difficult to hurt with mundane weaponry. Spells can be more effective, though not by much. Where did you encounter these beings?"
Zaranna pockets the box with the ring, intending to give it to Kristoff when they find him.
Perhaps he was looking for a gem out there at the mine. We should go there to look for him now.
The settled dust in the room makes Alric's heart heavy as he walks through it, making the ranger almost unwilling to disturb the room before the need to learn more became too pressing. Just like when he was a boy, he had hid his journal underneath the bed upon the wooden struts that supported one's weight. Reading it over, Alric's face tightened with emotion. He was to become an uncle. His brother was working hard and being honorable. The thought that his brother could be suffering the same way the others had, the thought that it could end the same way it had before, made Alric's knuckles tighten and his eyes moisten. Zaranna spoke though, shaking him from his thoughts, and he would nod.
"Let us go and meet up with the others. Then we'll go to the mine." Alric murmured, unable to keep the inflection of emotion from his voice. He turned and made his way out of his brothers room and back to the inn where they had rested and the party had agreed to meetup at before noon.
”On the road into town,” Cardren says. ”Twenty miles from here? We also encountered some gnolls. I guess adventure finds us one way or another.” He bows to the man in brown and green clothing. ”Thank you for your help.”
When they leave, Cardren says to Elyana, ”He didn’t recognize the name. Maybe Kristoff was using a different name.”
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Everyone arrives at the Pick and Pillow at around noon as planned.
When they arrived at the temple of the First Hunter Elyana felt a wash of comfort come over her at being surrounded by what seemed more of a druid's grove than a temple in the traditional sense. The Cult of the Green drew many of its traditions and beliefs from druidic circles, some of them even were druids, and she had always felt more comfortable in such settings given her fey heritage.
The man who came to speak with them didn't look much like a priest but Elyana knew better, He was a priest of Aruuc and they always had a more hunter look to them than most priests she came across. When the man said he didn't know who Kristoff was Elyana was a bit suspicious but she said nothing at the time. Cadren's question about dealing with shadow beings was a bit unexpected to Elyana, she hadn't expected him to say anything about it but knowing that positive energy would hurt them was a great benefit since she could use such energy against them.
When they left Elyana considered Cadren's question about why the priest didn't know Kristoff. It was a valid point, though she could come up with at least a few reasons why and said, "Maybe he is not all that devout and does not attend services, maybe he has taken to worshiping another deity, maybe he attends in a different location at a druid's grove or something?" Elyana sighed and said, "It could also be that he lied and something else is going on here, though I don't get the sense that he did so."
Once they met back up with the others and were ready to discuss what they found out Elyana said, "We didn't learn much, the priest claims he does not know who Kristoff is but that may be as simple as Kristoff not attending services or attending elsewhere. We did learn that shadow creatures are often vulnerable to positive energy so we may be able to fight them off better in the future."
The party reassembles and Alric shares what information he had learned, which really didn't amount to too much unfortunately. All the signs were pointing them in one direction for now.
"I think we should go to the mine now. Thank you all for looking into leads with me. I was hoping we'd have more but...the mines should surely provide us information." When the rest of the party was ready to go, Alric would finish his glass of water and lead the way from the town to the mine where these dirt gargoyles lingered.