"Pointy-ears is right," the restrained thug admits, "The other way in is in the cave under the keep. Go through the grove there next to it, and there's a stone stairway leading down to the river. The gate's locked, but I imagine one of Lord Ekton's folks has the key," A hint of a grin escapes his lips, "We just pick the lock. It's easy enough," he continues, "When you get passed a set of stairs, you'll see a sewer pipe. 8 paces past the sewer pipe, there's a false door in the cave wall," he smiles again, "All you have to do is know where to push."
"Well then," Jahred eyes Blagarm more suspiciously now than he had before, "I'm sure you'll be happy to take us there," the words are directed to the thief, though his gaze remains on the nefarious barkeeper. Now he speaks to the one under his gaze, "Blagarm, I'm going to have to ask you not to leave the inn until we've heard the whole story. Firebyrne!" Jahred calls over his shoulder, "I'm appointing you to guard over Blagarm."
"Don't worry. He not going anywhere." Talon interjects to offer his assistance in this matter as well.
"Then it's settled." Jahred continues, "The rest of us will go to the 'back door' and see what truth there is," He turns to Blagarm again, "It would be an understatement to say that I would be quite disappointed to find out that you've been running a den of thieves here under our noses all this time, Blagarm. What would your father have thought?"
The bound thief rises to his feet under Riardon's coercion and laughs, "Hah! Shows how much you know. Havar's the one who built that warren. Did it for Bradon Handmill. Bradon was the brains of the whole operation before he broke into old Bard's house. That did Bradon in alright. Hankel pounded him in half with a hammer, but not before he put six throwblades in old Bard's chest." He laughs reminiscingly, hesitates thoughtfully for a moment and says, "Funny you should mention that Hankel took off with Lord Hallmaster on a trip to Efil. Lars took over when Bradon died," the thug shakes his head, "Not a good sign for your dwarf friend, fellas. I'm not exactly sure where they were headed, but you can bet it's not Efil."
Jahred questions the thug even more, but his knowledge seems exhausted. The captive leads the group, minus Talon, out onto the lamp-lit streets of the outer market, where they approach a guarded door in the upper gatehouse. A guard peers into the lamplight from behind and arrowslit and opens the door after recognizing the captain of the Night Watch.
After passing into the city proper beyond, the group moves to the north where a grove of trees scrubs the fetid air of the Ulmar river. As they soon discover, the grove was planted to protect the city from the foul odors of trash and refuse carried by the estuary. Passing through the groves, the stench strikes their nostrils with sudden ferocity, but quickly ebs as their noses adjust to the smell.
They find everything exactly as the thug said. Rujah, Riardon, Jin, and Fenwick even begin to recognize and orient themselves with the familiar location where, not three weeks ago they stood on a now absent boat, fighting to apprehend the man that must have been Lars Hallmaster.
As the thug opens the secret, back door, the foul smell of the sewer-like river is quickly overpowered by the odor of rotting flesh. Evidently the den was sealed without taking care to remove the bodies of the dead. This presumption is proved true as Jahred nearly stumbles over the decaying body of Smoc Lem, lying where Rujah's axe cut him down.
"Alright," Jahred finds and lights a torch, "I've seen enough." He turns to the theif guide, "You've earned the right to have your sentence mitigated from death by hanging to twenty years in the dungeon. I'm not sure which is worse, but hopefully you'll live to tell us when you get out," He turns to the others, "I'm going to need witnesses besides Firebyrne and the thief to testify," seeing their questioning faces, he explains, "Even in the event of overwhelming evidence, there must be a trial. Firebyrne can tell the story from his point of view, but he'll be shaky on the details of the battle that took place here. The thief will be of help to incriminate Blagarm, but again, his word will be suspect without support."
Rujah steps forward, "I'll testify. I can relate the battle and the sequence of events quite well, and I imagine that Talon would be the other logical choice since he's the one who found and translated some information concerning Hankel, should this Hallmaster person show up again."
Jahred looks relieved, "Well it's settled then. The two of you, of course, will have to remain in town until the end of the trial, but the rest of you are free to go. It appears that Hankel may be in danger, though. If he truly is the purpose of your arrival here in Rioc Alair, I suppose you'll be wanting to launch pursuit after you've rested. I can offer you an escort and ground transportation, but I cannot spare anything in the way of cavalry. I will rely upon you to find Hankel and bring Lord Hallmaster to justice. Until morning, however, you may stay at this inn. Since I'll be taking Blagarm to the stocks right away, the inn should be safe enough. I'll post a guard outside your rooms for the night."
With that, he wheels around, taking the thief in tow, leaving the group in the dark tomb, a mausoleum of a battle won and opportunities lost.
Firebyrne speeks up, "I'm going home," he turns to Rujah, "I'll come by your room tomorrow at sixbells to get up to speed on your story. I'd also like to hear what Talon discovered as well."
"Of course. I can begin tonight." He turns to the others of the group, "I'll return to the inn later. Please allow me the chance to tell our tale to Mr. Firebyrne on his way home," he turns back to Firebyrne, "If you don't mind, I'll tell you what I can, walking with you until you reach your house, and continue in the morning after I've had my sleep at the inn."
"Well met. Let's go," The two dragonborn laps into draconic speach as they walk out the passageway into the sewer together like old friends who are catching up on lost time.
Only Riardon, Jin, Mervin, and Fenwick are left with many choices ahead.
[sblock=Rewards Submitted for Approval]Congratulations.
Extended Rest! You, of course, will need to RP your decisions concerning what to do while you're in the den. It would be a good time to search for information on where to begin and fill Mervin in.
Right now, I'll only award XP and time gold. The last encounter was a fun battle, but I prefer to dole out magic items/weapons as pertinent to the story. Don't worry. It will be worth the wait.
Knife Fighter = 600
Ambushers = 300X2 = 600
Archers = 300X2 = 600
Bonus for subduing and questioning one Ambusher = 200
Skill Challenge 1: 100
Skill Challenge 2 100
Total: = 2000 X 2 = 4000xp
Major Quest: Cracking the thieves' guild
Talon: Level 3 = 750 X 2 = 1500
Riardon: Level 4 = 875 X 2 = 1750
Fenwick: Level 2 = 625 X 2 = 1250
Jin: Level 2 = 625 X 2 = 1250
Time xp:
March 20th to June 20th. Judge: With 7 days to go, can I round up here?
Talon: 375
Riardon: 435
Fenwick: 312
Jin: 312
Mervin: 104
Total's by character:
Talon: 2675xp
Riardon: 2985xp
Fenwick: 2362xp
Jin: 2362xp
Mervin: 304xp (200 for staying alive and joining the crusade).
Rujah: 2362xp (The numbers won't add up for Rujah, but I'm awarding this total here so as to maintain per level equality. Otherwise I would have to bring everyone else down).
Time Gold scrounged from the theives' den (gp):
Talon: 381
Riardon: 525
Fenwick: 267
Jin: 267
Rujah: 267
Mervin: 127[/sblock]
.[/sblock]
