The companions agreed to check out the tavern and inn that was immediately ahead of them to determine if there were rooms to be had and someone to talk to about the bandits they had with them. It was agreed that Zond would stay outside with them until a proper course of action was determined.
The Silver Crown was a spit-and-sawdust establishment. There were less than fifteen patrons on this dreary night, and all looked to be miners intent on drinking themselves senseless, weather be damned. A couple of them were arguing in the corner as the wet adventurers made their way through the door.
One man towered over the other as they pushed their chairs back from the table where they had been sitting, "You take that back, my sister wouldn't have the likes of you, Midsummer or not. She could go to Scornubel and have her pick of men. She won't tie herself down with Thurmaster trash like you."
The smaller man licked his lips in reply to his friend's accusations about his sister, "She's had the likes of me, and will again, if she's that lucky. I'd be doing you folks a favor taking the homely woman off your hands. No one else is gonna take her, 'sides, she kisses like a cold carp." This was all the other man could take as he punched the man insulting his sister square in the nose. The other patrons of the bar quickly gathered round as the two miners tumbled onto the dirty floor.
A white-haired dwarf in the opposite corner yelled over the din, "Shut the hells up, all of ya. Nobody's screwing nobody's sister. Larinda wouldn't look good with a four foot beard to cover her ugly face, and she ain't even desperate enough to give it up for Thom. And if the rain keeps up, there won't be a betrothal festival tomorrow night no how." He pounded on the floor with a gnarled stick, and some of the noise in the room quieted but not much. The man with the wronged sister and his friend continued to wrestle on the floor with an audience, and a few people began to moan about the ills of the gods-forsaken rain during their favorite summer festival.
Finally, the man behind the bar finished drying the mugs he was working on and waved his hand at a younger man. The two of them casually pushed their way through the folk gathered around the fighting men and pulled them apart. They seemed very unconcerned about the whole event and sat them back in their chairs with a warning, "Take that outside if you gotta do it. You know the rules here."
The barkeep noticed the newcomers with a furled brow, "Haven't seen you folk around before. What can I do for you?" When they told him of the bandits, he frowned even more, "Got wind of a bandit attack today. Some farmers from Delfast's farm got ambushed on the road, so says the one that made it back here. Garyld will be glad to hear you got some of them. He's the acting constable." The room had fallen quiet as all eyes, with the exception of the dwarf in the far corner, watched the strangers in their midst. They looked at them mistrustfully until one of them noted Gala's holy symbol. "The girl's a Lathanderite. How bad could they be." A few muffled replies indicated that a holy symbol on a young lady might or might not indicate good things about a group of strangers.
"Better than the priest we got...."
"Yeah, but you can buy a symbol if you really want one...."
"The Morning Lord wouldn't stand for that...."
"Elves and gnomes, though. Whatta you think about those?"
The conversations about the group in general and Gala in specific continued to get louder and louder until it seemed that the whole place would end up in a brawl. The barkeep rolled his eyes and finished, "Garyld's place is down the road from here. Go straight 'til right before the temple. You'll see his place on the right."
Upon seeing the commotion inside the tavern, Aloysius seemed to snap back out of his melancholy. Cautiously glancing around the bar, he slid his hand inside of his robe and kept it there. He placed his other hand protectively on his belt pouch (the one with his money). After the dwarf explained where to find the constable, Aloysius gladly moved outside with the others.
The group turned to leave just as the first punch was thrown over whether a young woman with a sweet face would have a fake symbol of a well respected god. Puddlejumper stood where he had been tied to a post outside, Arachne's things and the chest still on his back. The travois was still in place as well, but there was no sign of Zond or the bandits.
Gala shook her head wearily. "I hope Zond is OK. We best head to Garyld's place and see if he took them there already." Despite the rain a small smile crossed her face. "Well, some of us are more prone to seek new beginnings than others." she murmured. "Arachne, I think Puddlejumper likes you. Maybe you best take charge of him." She grinned at Arachne. "Shall we then?" And proceeded off straight down the road. "Temple of who?" Gala wondered aloud.
"Yes, fine -- would everyone else please stay away from Puddlejumper?" After a pause to think, Arachne (who was still soaked, anyway) did not grab the horse's reins, but instead began examining the ground, especially around the travois.
His eyes squinted with concern upon seeing that Zond and the bandits were gone. "Damn!" he exclaimed. "This portends foul. Brave Zond likely met with workings dark." Stepping back at Arachne's request, Aloysius watched as the small gnome examined the ground around Puddle Jumper. "Is our cargo intact?" Aloysius then glanced around the area, trying to determine if anyone nearby could have been outside the tavern long enough to have seen what happened to Zond.
As Aloysius scanned the area to see if anyone might have seen where Zond went, his face bristled with a look of realization. "The Map! Zond had the map! Did he leave it on the horse by any chance?"
Arachne glanced up for a moment at the wizard. Having already soaked herself in the river before reachng Thurmaster, she'd now completed the picture of becoming one with Nature by getting down on hands and knees in the mud the better to examine whatever evidence remained from Zond's and the prisoners' disappearance.
"The cargo?" she asked, then glanced at Puddlejumper. The chest was still on the horse. "Our contract stated that we're not supposed to open the chest," she reminded the wizard. "And we haven't. I don't think any of us has ever seen the inside of that chest. I know I haven't. As far as I'm concerned, if we deliver an unopened chest to Mage Whoever, we've fulfilled our contract. Never mind whether there's anything still in there. Right now, therefore, yes, the cargo's intact."
Arachne returned to her mud. "Pug," she said absently. "You see this also, don't you? Doesn't look like there was any fight here. Some of these marks go up further into town. That's toward -- what's his name, the sheriff. Garyld? From there, actually, I think. You see? But I'm not sure which ones are Zond's. And there's these others..." Crouching down, way down, and peering down at a muddy trail that perhaps only she could see, Arachne started making her way back down toward the river. Clearly, she had completely forgotten her responsibility for Puddlejumper.
Aloysius was clearly surprised by the sight of the small gnome running off into the rain. "Wait, little one", he called after her. Without waiting for her response, he turned back to the group. "Someone watch the horse. I'll go after Arachne and see what she is onto. Kaileer, Maiser, perhaps you should come too. I've got a bad feeling about this . . . . . . ." With that, the purple man dashed off after Arachne, not bothering to see if anyone else came with him.
Azrun watched as the chaos ensued. "About this for a plan, we all run off into a million different directions and see how long it takes for one of the bandits' buddies to find us and turn us into pin cushions. Geez....." Azrun goes over and takes Puddlejumpers reigns, "Why don't we all go to the sheriff? One, we'll be out of the blasted rain. Two, we'll all be together and three, Zond may already be there. If he isn't, we can still tell the sheriff what transpired today."
Gala could hold back no longer, despite the weather, despite her worry about Zond, the laughter bubbled up as Azrun tried to make order from absolute Chaos. "Well, Azrun, I have to agree with you completely on this one, but we can't just let Arachne and Aloysius run off by themselves either. And, come to think of it, those two prisoners were likely out cold for at least a day. They couldn't have walked off, and, as muscular as Zond appeared, I doubt he could have carried him." She sobered suddenly. "Oh, I hope he did not meet with foul play. I think we should hurry after Arachne and the others."
Upon seeing that Zond and the bandits are missing Pug became very concerned and knelt down with Arachne to see what she was talking about. When Arachne moved off toward the river Pug was torn between caring for the horse or following her. As Azrun grabbed the reigns to Puddlejumper, Pug exclaimed "Wait for us Arachne, you don't know who might be out there!" and ran off after her pulling a dagger from his belt.
Kaileer frowns then starts searching for a trail to follow.
Aloysius watched with interest as Arachne crawled along the ground in the mud. "What is it, little one? If you see something, tell us. If not, let's get out of this blasted rain and find this fellow, Garyld." With that, the purple man wrapped his robe around him tightly and waited for Arachne's response.
Arachne crawled slowly on her hands and knees through the mud of the road and then of the market and then of the mill house before coming to a halt beside a half built bridge down by the river. There was still no sign of Zond, the bandits, or anyone else for that matter as she peered into the waters. It was impossible for several of her companions to see anything on this rainy night. A dog began to bark from one of the buildings behind them.
Aloysius crept slowly along as Arachne sludged along the ground. "By the Seven Sisters, what has come over you?" he finally asked upon reaching the river by the half bridge. "Methinks Loki has transformed her into a bloodhound . . . . . ." The purple man then glanced around to see if man, or beast, was paying any attention to this strange group.
Gala followed, watching warily around them as Arachne tracked.
Through all of this confusion, Torro remained near the tavern, trying to use the tavern as a rain block.
The soaked and mud-covered gnome seemed finally to notice that she had company. "You should get out of this rain," she told Aloysius. "You're getting soaked." Then she realized her own situation. "So'm I. Well, actually, I'm already soaked -- but I'm beginning to feel awfully cold... I'm sorry for keeping you out in this. I mean, thank you for the company. Look: Someone came this way from Puddlejumper. I'm pretty sure they were dragging something -- and since the chest was still with Puddlejumper, I guess that means it was one of the prisoners. Or both. But the trail ends here. I've lost it entirely. They might've gotten on a boat around here. Or disappeared into one of those warehouses." She gestured toward where the dog was barking. "Is he yelling at us?" she wondered.
She managed to remember that she was cold, though. "Oh well. I guess there's nothing more I can learn down here." She turned and, wobbly, started back toward the tavern. "Did I mention that there doesn't seem to've been a fight before Zond vanished? I hope that means he just got talked into going to see the sheriff, but that doesn't seem very likely." She turned and gazed around the riverbank again, but the scene was of stillness. "_He_ might also have been dragged down here, but I don't have any more sign of him than I do the rest of what I was following..." She took a step back and called out, "Zond?" The word was shouted as loudly as the others had ever heard Arachne yell. It still wasn't terribly loud.
"Good Zond stood tall against the bandits," Aloysius began. "I think we owe it to him to try and determine what happened. Perhaps there is someone tending that warehouse that we could inquire of? If not, best that we head for the sheriff. Bandits we can battle, but this rain may slay us all."
Having another look at the drenched wizard, Arachne suggested, "Mmmm, yes. I think you're right. Let's get back to the others."
Azrun watched as the group followed the crawling gnome down the muddy road. Once they were done following the trail Azrun spoke up, "This trail is going to be washed away by all the rain. we should check in with the constable. Right now all we have are assumptions and speculations. Let's try to get all of this sorted out where it dry and warm before one of us gets sick." He looked down at the little mud covered gnome, "Like you, miss."
The little mud covered gnome had the good grace to look guilty.
"Agreed," said the magic-user. "I say we either check that warehouse for some sign of Zond, or go directly to the sheriff. We need to find some shelter for the night so we can continue our journey on the 'morrow." With that, the purple man pulled the sides of his hat down around his ears, crossed his arms, and falshed his PAINFUL SMILE FACE.
Gala looked at them. "I have to check it now. If he's hurt or captured in there, it can't wait." She paused for comments, then started toward the warehouse with a determined look on her young face.
Aloysius's chuckle was borderline maniacal, even by his standards. "'Twould seem our group is full of rather strong-willed women. Agree with Gala, do I. Zond is a proven ally and . . . . friend." The last word seemed to stick in the mage's throat before coming out. "Galaret," he called, heading off after the cleric, "wait for me!"
Gala stopped and waited for Aloysius, giving him a worried smile. "I hope Zond's OK." she whispered to him. "I don't think he'd just wander off on his own."
"Indeed," replied the purple man upon catching up with Gala. "Methinks there be foul play afoot. Crafty Kaileer did think that some creature trailed us in the woods. Perhaps Zond encountered whatever, or WHOever, that was. In any event, if Zond has fallen to some dark act, the rest of us are hardly any safer. Let us inquire of this warehouse quickly and be out of this rain." With that, Aloysius turned briefly to see if anyone else in the group was coming.
