Gala bandaged the wounded and Arachne fussed over Kuiper's fallen form. When she finished with him, he looked better but remained unconscious.
Azrun went after Lytern. By the time the others emerged from the house, they were not in sight.
The remaining people gathered up armor, weapons, and spell components to carry with them. By necessity, Blacky carried the hulking Johnt's prone form, leaving Jana hard-pressed to carry Kuiper's dead weight back to Tauster's.
The prisoner was being very cooperative until the fresh Thurmaster air hit his face. As soon as he stepped onto the front stoop, he made a break for it.
"Stupid bastard!" Blacky says as he drops Johnt as quickly and gently as possible and launches an ax at the run away's back before pursuing.
Jana tensed at the prisoner ran, but maintained her hold on Kuiper. She turned to flash a slight, reassuring smile at Gala, then hurried on to Tauster's with Kuiper. Her goal when arriving was to set the man down (he was darned heavy!) and check on Lytern.
Surprised by the man's rash action, Arachne simply stood by Kuiper (and Jana, who was carrying Kuiper) and watched.
Echo cursed loudly as the man took off, "Dammit, the one time in my life when I'd like to have a wizard around, there's not one here." She looked at the one dagger she had remaining and dropped the stuff she was carrying. She flung it at the retreating man, then left it up to Blacky to catch him.
Echo dropped the weapons and armor she had been carrying and threw her dagger as Blacky put Johnt down without injuring him further. The dagger flew true to its mark, but the man kept running. By the time Blacky was able to pull an axe, the man was well beyond the distance that even Blacky's strong arm could throw. He held onto the weapon instead and pursued the man on foot.
Echo stood by Johnt, watching as Blacky tried to valiantly chase the man down. The others continued on to Tauster's.
Gala followed closely behind Jana.
Jyothki looked at the man running into the woods for a moment, shrugged once, then followed Gala and Jana to Tauster's house. She made a quick search of her pouches and muttered to herself.
At Tauster's, they found Azrun standing in the front room with the five tied-up guards, three of whom were talking at once. A fourth remained silent, and the fifth was unconscious from the pummeling he took earlier.
"Who?" inquired one of them.
"Moving a caravan through," said another.
"You don't really think merc guards know anything, do you?" remarked a third.
They all fell silent when the women came into the room. Tauster and Lytern were nowhere to be seen.
Arachne trailed after the others when they returned to Tauster's. She was still absently holding the remains of a waitress's dress along with the rest of her gear. At the wizard's house, she inspected Aloysius while the argument broke out over how to interrogate the other prisoners.
Azrun turned to the ones coming through the door, "Hello, ladies. Master Tauster is in the back checking out Lytern. He's still holding onto that mage like a ragdoll. I was just asking our friends here what they were doing here in town."
Azrun looked around, "I take it Blacky decided to put the other one out of his misery." Azrun winked at Jana then turned to back to the men, "Blacky likes to play with axes. He's pretty precise with his cuts. You know I bet he could fillet chickens with it." Azrun shuddered, "Hard to tell what he could do to a person, if he tried."
Azrun smiled, "So, we got a "who?", a partial answer, and a hardcase. I'd rethink you're answers a bit, because if you're friend gives him a hard time......well, let's just Blacky won't be filleting chickens."
Jana set down Kuiper and pulled out her sword and inspected it for any blood she'd missed earlier. She smiled bleakly at the third guard. "In your position, I'd be trying my damnedest to be as useful as possible."
Gala rose from her position near Kuiper and Aloysius, faint blotches of red staining her cheeks. She walked over to Azrun and stood before him, and Jana, if she was there too. "No." she said. "You will not do this or talk of this in my presence. I am tired of your threats and bullying of those that are helpless before you. Either turn them over to the authorities for trial or let them free. But to harm them further, you will harm me first."
Jana sighed and rolled her eyes. "I wanna play poker with you some day," she said to Gala in a low voice, then stalked outside to look for Blacky.
Azrun watched as Jana rolled out the door, then turned to Gala, "Tauster's back in his study checking out Lytern. I'm going to go find me a new staff. I broke mine on that priest." He turned and headed on out the door. He stopped briefly and looked back to Kuiper and Aloysius, "Remember who did that to them." He headed on out the door then.
"I remember a lot of things, Azrun." replied Gala, not wavering from her stance and not hesitating to meet either his or Jana's gaze.
As Azrun was walking out the door, "Unfortunately, so do I."
Gala looked after him with a bemused expression on her face. "I don't think I understand him at all." she said to no one in particular.
"I don't understand him either," Arachne decided quietly. "And he's _tried_ to explain himself to me."
She turned to the prisoners. "Look, I don't know how long I can keep them off you. There are more of them than me. And I don't even have any armor to protect myself from them. Can you please give us any information that might be helpful? It would make it so much easier for me to keep them from you." She looked at them pleadingly out of wide violet eyes.
"I don't think I can really believe that," Arachne said, consideringly. "That they'd risk hurting you just to satisfy a little bloodlust on tied-up prisoners. It was a bluff." She glanced at the mercs, letting them in on the open secret. "We knew it was a bluff. And I'm sure that you were ready to bet that it was a bluff. We're just not that ruthless -- and with Gala looking after our souls, we're not likely to become that ruthless. But the _problem_ is, well, Gala suggested that we ought to turn you over to the authorities. And the _authorities_ are a group of men many of whom likely have daughters -- or have good friends with daughters... Well, it seems that not all of you have been well-behaved visitors to Thurmaster, both last night and, of course, today. So it could be that the _authorities_ here _might_ be more ruthless than Gala would be willing to let us be." She sighed. "I'm sorry, Gala, but there it is. The world is rife with cruelty and people causing and nursing grievances and waiting for the time that they can exact their little retributions. All legally --
"There was this waitress in the town." Arachne shifted to the new topic suddenly, holding up the remnant of dress she still held. "I think I was told her name, but I don't remember it now. She disappeared last evening. She was accused of stabbing the tax assesser (Lord Parlfray's man). That's a lie, or likely only as near to truth as any mischief with that sorceress half-elf's charming magic can be. Well, it's now clear that the missing girl spent some time (and acquired some injury) in the cellar of that house that your employers were using this morning. I think that gives some indication what sort of people you were working for, and how much it would be in your interest to dissociate yourselves from them. I expect that, if you were able to suggest where the girl might have been moved to by now, that would definitely help keep anything _ruthless_ from happening to you, whatever we decide to do with you.
"It would also please Gala -- which you do, believe me, want to do. Likely, if you can please her, she will pray for you. And her prayers are very effective." Arachne fell to contemplating the rag she held. "Whatever did Aloysius do to himself?" she wondered. "It doesn't look like anything these men could have caused."
The prisoners listened to Gala's pleading then Arachne's response before saying anything. The one who hadn't spoke before looked at the torn dress the gnome was holding up and shrugged as well as he could being tied up, "That looks like a good reason for her to kill him to me. That _was_ his house, after all." The other men glanced at him oddly. "They are merc guards, just like they say. When Heregon decided we'd stay after the caravan left, they did what they were paid to do. They've found that association with our organization has its benefits.
Gala kept silent but her expression was skeptical.
"Maybe you'll decide to kill us all, and maybe you won't. You'll probably find that these authorities you threaten us with don't exist. Marlen was the lord's man in this town, and as we all know, he's dead. The closest thing that you have to an authority is that little lordling," he chuckled just slightly. "In any case, our organization will certainly be keeping an eye on you. They will not be pleased when they learn that one of their priests and two of their wizards have been slain while on internal business for the organization."
Gala frowned at this.
Tauster came out of his study and frowned at the man talking. He chose not to comment as he turned to Gala, Arachne, and Jyothki and spoke quietly, translating into elven for Jyothki as well. "Lytern is not charmed or ensorceled in any other fashion that I can detect. I also do not believe he is poisoned. He is merely a very young man still struggling with his own morality, his family loyalty, and his civic duty to both his father and the people of this 'Shire. He has made some decisions, be they good or bad, and now he has to deal with the consequences. I have given him my counsel. He would likely appreciate your counsel as well," Tauster told Gala, "since he and his family follow the faith of Lathander.
"I will try to help him all I can." said Gala quietly. "I apologize also for the grief we have brought to your house. And to his. Maybe I can find someone to counsel me." she added sadly.
Tauster gave her an odd look. "Perhaps," he muttered. "If you wish to talk to him, you should do so before he goes to sleep from the herbs I gave him. Once he goes to sleep, he will probably sleep until morning."
Tauster dropped his voice and added, "I will give you my counsel as well, although I will deny ever saying this if it should come back to me. I have given the boy something to help him rest today since he is so upset. It might be better for everyone if the group of you were not here when he woke up."
"May we keep those most wounded here until they are safer to be moved? Or would it be best if we just took everyone to another place?" Gala questioned, looking at the three most wounded--Aloysius and Kuiper--with some concern.
"You may all stay here," Tauster remarked. "I am not turning you out. It was only a suggestion," he looked around for a moment, "and it's none of my business anyway."
Gala bowed slightly to Tauster, then made her way to Lytern, leaving the captives in the hands of Arachne.
Jyothki smiled at Tauster. She waited while he and Gala exchanged comments softly, then walked slowly over to him. "I would be most intriqued to see how you brew your elixir for sleeping. Perhaps we could exchange recipes," she said, taking his arm. "Might I see your herb garden?"
Echo stood outside near the spot where Blacky had placed Johnt. She waited for Blacky to return and take him to Tauster's or for someone else to come back and getting him. In the meantime, she watched over him.
While she waited, she took the time to walk over to the body of the man who had the two-handed sword and go through his things.
If anyone came to get Johnt, Echo followed them back to Tauster's to deposit what she had been carrying or what she had found. Once that was done, she went back to the house and started searching the various rooms.
Jana saw Echo and went over to get Johnt. "I'll take him," she said. With a definite wince, she picked him up and carried him back, trying very, very hard not to drop the man. "Umph," she grunted, "either I'm hurt worse than I thought, or he's made of gold."
Echo giggled just slightly as she picked up the stuff she had been carrying and followed her to Tauster's. She dropped everything into a pile when she got there. "I'm going back to look through the house. I want to see what else they had in there."
Jana nodded, looking thoughtful. "Maybe I ought to come with you. Just in case someone else decides to have a look around." She picked up the mace one of the men had been carrying and placed it in her belt. Assuming no objections from Echo, Jana followed her back to the house.
