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Tales of the Legacy - Concluded
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<blockquote data-quote="Delemental" data-source="post: 1743263" data-attributes="member: 5203"><p>A couple of hours later the group retired for the night. Most of the group bunked together in a large room with several bunk beds, a large table, and several chairs, obviously meant to cater to adventuring groups. Autumn and Arrie went to a separate room, right next to the large room. After a bit of awkwardness in deciding on sleeping arrangements, the group settled down for a long sleep.</p><p></p><p> Their slumber was short-lived. Osborn had decided to go out to take a walk around the Happy Half-Ogre that evening, to see if there was anything unusual going on. As he came around the corner, he smelled the pungent odor of burning straw, and saw a flickering orange light coming from the stables. He quickly ran up and saw the building was aflame. Inside, terrified horses screamed, and Rupert was barking wildly. Osborn dimly made out a figure inside, trying to pull one of the horses out. The hin whistled, and Rupert came dashing out of the burning stables just as the figure managed to pull a horse out. Osborn saw that it was one of the orcs from the inn. The orc had been surprisingly adept at handling the spooked animal. The orc spotted Osborn, and quickly gestured – making a motion near his own throat, then pointing at the inn. Osborn understood the pantomimed message immediately; I’m mute, you go tell the others.</p><p></p><p> Osborn dashed into the inn, “Fire! Fire!”</p><p></p><p> A bleary-eyed Matilda emerged from the kitchen door. “What you going on about, little one!”</p><p></p><p> “Fire! In the stables!”</p><p></p><p> Matilda snapped awake, and immediately began bellowing. Grog and his other staff soon came barreling down the stairs. Osborn, meanwhile, had dashed up to his companions to rouse them. All of them went down to help, except for Lanara, who wouldn’t wake up, and Autumn, who chose to remain back and watch over their belongings.</p><p></p><p> The party arrived and began to help form a bucket brigade from the river. By this time other townspeople had begun to gather, and were standing around watching. The party noticed with disgust that most of them were not helping. Despite this, they managed to get the blaze under control with relatively little damage and minimal injury to the horses.</p><p></p><p> Osborn caught sight of the mute orc, whose name he’d caught as ‘Shod’ while fighting the fire, tending to one of the horses. The orc passed his hands over the horse’s flank, and the burn wounds seemed to shrink and disappear of their own accord. There’s more to Shod than he lets on, thought Osborn to himself.</p><p></p><p> Several of the party had started poking around the stable once the smoke cleared. “This fire was deliberately set,” said Tolly.</p><p></p><p> “Don’t suppose Ghurka followed us, do you?” asked Arrie.</p><p></p><p> “Look here,” said Kavan, pointing at a spot on the ground. They gathered around a clear footprint in the earth, a boot mark left by someone with small feet. The print was close to the stable, heading away toward the river.</p><p></p><p> “There was no one over here fighting the fire,” said Kavan. “I think this is our arsonist.”</p><p></p><p> “Should we follow the trail?” asked Xu.</p><p></p><p> “In the middle of the night, in unfamiliar country, with only one print to guide us?” asked Kyle. “Sounds like an invitation to get lost.”</p><p></p><p> “Or worse,” said Osborn. “Besides, we’re still tired from our march, and in no condition to chase this person.”</p><p></p><p> By this time the head of the town watch had arrived, a man named Captain Bearclaw. As he approached the scene, several of the party noted that he bore a strong resemblance to Mary, one of Grog’s serving girls. He examined the burnt stables, spoke with Grog and a few others briefly, then came over to the party.</p><p></p><p> “I understand you found something of interest,” said Captain Bearclaw. He knelt down to examine the boot print, then walked slowly in a crouch in an attempt to follow the trail. “There are a few more boot prints further on, but they start to get obscured after a few yards.” He sighed and straightened up.</p><p></p><p> “Captain,” Tolly said, “we’ve been hearing rumors about recent criminal activity in your town, and that some suspect Grog and his employees. What are your thoughts on this?”</p><p></p><p> Captain Bearclaw regarded Tolly and the others. “Grog is a decent person, and I don’t believe for a minute he’s guilty. Unfortunately, I have no proof either way, and most folks” - he jerked his head back to indicate the crowd of townspeople, who were still watching impassively, “have already made up their minds.”</p><p></p><p> “They honestly believe that Grog would burn down his own stables?” asked Arrie.</p><p></p><p> “Sure would,” said the captain. “They’ll say he’s just trying to distract the town, or build up sympathy. Some will probably say he was destroying evidence before the meeting.”</p><p></p><p> Tolly’s eyebrows arched in curiosity. “Meeting? What meeting?”</p><p></p><p> “Town council’s meeting in six days to ‘resolve’ the issue with Grog.”</p><p></p><p> “So, like a trial, then?”</p><p></p><p> Captain Bearclaw shook his head. “Not so much. They’ll just decide whether or not Grog can stay in town or not. That way you don’t have to fuss with things like a trial, or evidence.” The captain shook his head sadly. “Look, folks, I’m going to go send these people off home. Why don’t you get some rest?”</p><p></p><p> The party went back upstairs to their room and went back to sleep. The next morning, there was a knock at Autumn and Arrie’s door; the kind of knock that was made by a very large person trying to be gentle. Autumn opened the door cautiously, he sword ready behind the door. Grog’s faced peeked through the crack.</p><p></p><p> “Begging your pardon, ladies,” he said. “But I wanted to invite you and your friends to breakfast – on the house, to thank you for your help last night. And I wanted to talk to you about a private matter.”</p><p></p><p> “We will join you shortly,” Autumn said. She closed the door, and then finished getting dressed. She sat down on the edge of Arrie’s bed, and began massaging the small of her back gently to wake her sister.</p><p></p><p> “Ooh, that feels good,” Arrie moaned, sore from their days of long marches. “Don’t stop.”</p><p></p><p> After a minute or so, Autumn stood up and left to let Arrie change while she went to wake up the others. She opened the door to find that Kavan was already awake, as were Xu and Lanara. Osborn and Tolly were sound asleep. Kyle was also awake, but still lying in bed with the blanket over his head.</p><p></p><p> “We’ve been invited to breakfast,” said Autumn. “Grog wishes to talk to us.”</p><p></p><p> “Great! I’m starved.” Lanara dove under her blanket, one hand reaching out and grabbing her clothes from the floor. After a moment of frantic movement under the covers, Lanara emerged fully dressed.</p><p></p><p> “Shall I wake the others?” asked Xu.</p><p></p><p> “They will wake up and join us soon enough,” said Autumn. She held the door open while Kavan, Xu, and Lanara walked out. Then she looked back and saw that Kyle hadn’t moved. “Kyle? Are you coming?”</p><p></p><p> Kyle’s head poked out from the blankets. His face seemed unusually flush, and he was having trouble making eye contact with Autumn. “Umm… I’ll be down in a couple of minutes.”</p><p></p><p> “Are you all right?”</p><p></p><p> “I’m fine. I just… need a minute, okay?”</p><p></p><p> Shrugging, Autumn closed the door. Kyle sighed heavily and fell back into bed. His bunk was on the wall closest to Arrie and Autumn’s room, and he’d been awakened when Grog had knocked. He’d continued to listen, and had overheard Autumn waking her sister. Unfortunately, the effects of a night of excessive drinking had caused his imagination to wander, and both Autumn and Arrie were attractive women. When Autumn had come into their shared room, he’d caught himself in the midst of some very unprofessional thoughts about his fellow classmates. Kyle wasn’t certain he’d be able to look either of them in the eye for the rest of the day.</p><p></p><p> “I swear, I’ve got to be careful around dwarven ale,” he muttered to himself.</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center">* * *</p><p></p><p> “So, anyway, there’s my situation,” Grog said.</p><p></p><p> They’d finished off their breakfast some time ago. Kyle, Osborn, and Tolly had joined the others only a few minutes late, and had eaten heartily after last night’s excitement. Then Grog had invited them back to his personal room in the back, a spacious room with an enormous bed and a dire wolf pelt rug on the floor.</p><p></p><p> Grog had explained how he and his fellow adventuring companions had retired here at Dagger Rock after making their fortunes. The Happy Half-Ogre was Grog’s dream, and he’d come here on the recommendation of Captain Bearclaw, who was himself a former adventurer who’d worked with Grog briefly in the past. Things had been fine until recently, when the muggings and break-ins began. Now the people of town blamed Grog, since his inn was open to anyone and he charged less than cost for his wares.</p><p></p><p> “I don’t need the money,” he explained. “I’d rather use it to run a place where everyone can feel welcome.” Grog looked forlornly across the room. “I don’t know what I’d do without it.”</p><p></p><p> “You think that Yuri’s behind this?” asked Osborn.</p><p></p><p> Grog shrugged. “Maybe. He’s never liked me for opening up competition. Not that his place would be much competition, even if I did charge full price.”</p><p></p><p> “What about this meeting?” asked Arrie.</p><p></p><p> “Well, it’s in six days. Unless I can prove I’m not behind the crimes being committed, I think they’ll vote to shut me down and run us all out of town.”</p><p></p><p> “Who’s on the council?” asked Kyle.</p><p></p><p> “Well, there’s Captain Bearclaw…” Grog said.</p><p></p><p> “Hey!” exclaimed Lanara, “there’s one on your side!”</p><p></p><p> “…and Yuri…”</p><p></p><p> Her face fell. “Never mind.”</p><p></p><p> “… then there’s Barak, and the town smith Logan Ironhand, and of course the mayor, Winston Jacob.”</p><p></p><p> “Have you tried looking into this yourself?” asked Tolly.</p><p></p><p> Grog shook his head. “Been too busy to spare the time. Besides, me and my mates sort of stand out,” he ran a thick hand through his flame-yellow hair, “and I don’t think we’d get far. That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. I’d like to ask you to look into this, see if you can find out who’s behind this crime wave. If you can find something out before the meeting in six days, I can reward you for your time.”</p><p></p><p> “Starting with free room and board?” asked Osborn hopefully. He dodged an elbow from Autumn.</p><p></p><p> Grog grinned at the comment, however. “Smart little man. Always start with the free room and board; that was the first thing me and my mates learned in our day.”</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Delemental, post: 1743263, member: 5203"] A couple of hours later the group retired for the night. Most of the group bunked together in a large room with several bunk beds, a large table, and several chairs, obviously meant to cater to adventuring groups. Autumn and Arrie went to a separate room, right next to the large room. After a bit of awkwardness in deciding on sleeping arrangements, the group settled down for a long sleep. Their slumber was short-lived. Osborn had decided to go out to take a walk around the Happy Half-Ogre that evening, to see if there was anything unusual going on. As he came around the corner, he smelled the pungent odor of burning straw, and saw a flickering orange light coming from the stables. He quickly ran up and saw the building was aflame. Inside, terrified horses screamed, and Rupert was barking wildly. Osborn dimly made out a figure inside, trying to pull one of the horses out. The hin whistled, and Rupert came dashing out of the burning stables just as the figure managed to pull a horse out. Osborn saw that it was one of the orcs from the inn. The orc had been surprisingly adept at handling the spooked animal. The orc spotted Osborn, and quickly gestured – making a motion near his own throat, then pointing at the inn. Osborn understood the pantomimed message immediately; I’m mute, you go tell the others. Osborn dashed into the inn, “Fire! Fire!” A bleary-eyed Matilda emerged from the kitchen door. “What you going on about, little one!” “Fire! In the stables!” Matilda snapped awake, and immediately began bellowing. Grog and his other staff soon came barreling down the stairs. Osborn, meanwhile, had dashed up to his companions to rouse them. All of them went down to help, except for Lanara, who wouldn’t wake up, and Autumn, who chose to remain back and watch over their belongings. The party arrived and began to help form a bucket brigade from the river. By this time other townspeople had begun to gather, and were standing around watching. The party noticed with disgust that most of them were not helping. Despite this, they managed to get the blaze under control with relatively little damage and minimal injury to the horses. Osborn caught sight of the mute orc, whose name he’d caught as ‘Shod’ while fighting the fire, tending to one of the horses. The orc passed his hands over the horse’s flank, and the burn wounds seemed to shrink and disappear of their own accord. There’s more to Shod than he lets on, thought Osborn to himself. Several of the party had started poking around the stable once the smoke cleared. “This fire was deliberately set,” said Tolly. “Don’t suppose Ghurka followed us, do you?” asked Arrie. “Look here,” said Kavan, pointing at a spot on the ground. They gathered around a clear footprint in the earth, a boot mark left by someone with small feet. The print was close to the stable, heading away toward the river. “There was no one over here fighting the fire,” said Kavan. “I think this is our arsonist.” “Should we follow the trail?” asked Xu. “In the middle of the night, in unfamiliar country, with only one print to guide us?” asked Kyle. “Sounds like an invitation to get lost.” “Or worse,” said Osborn. “Besides, we’re still tired from our march, and in no condition to chase this person.” By this time the head of the town watch had arrived, a man named Captain Bearclaw. As he approached the scene, several of the party noted that he bore a strong resemblance to Mary, one of Grog’s serving girls. He examined the burnt stables, spoke with Grog and a few others briefly, then came over to the party. “I understand you found something of interest,” said Captain Bearclaw. He knelt down to examine the boot print, then walked slowly in a crouch in an attempt to follow the trail. “There are a few more boot prints further on, but they start to get obscured after a few yards.” He sighed and straightened up. “Captain,” Tolly said, “we’ve been hearing rumors about recent criminal activity in your town, and that some suspect Grog and his employees. What are your thoughts on this?” Captain Bearclaw regarded Tolly and the others. “Grog is a decent person, and I don’t believe for a minute he’s guilty. Unfortunately, I have no proof either way, and most folks” - he jerked his head back to indicate the crowd of townspeople, who were still watching impassively, “have already made up their minds.” “They honestly believe that Grog would burn down his own stables?” asked Arrie. “Sure would,” said the captain. “They’ll say he’s just trying to distract the town, or build up sympathy. Some will probably say he was destroying evidence before the meeting.” Tolly’s eyebrows arched in curiosity. “Meeting? What meeting?” “Town council’s meeting in six days to ‘resolve’ the issue with Grog.” “So, like a trial, then?” Captain Bearclaw shook his head. “Not so much. They’ll just decide whether or not Grog can stay in town or not. That way you don’t have to fuss with things like a trial, or evidence.” The captain shook his head sadly. “Look, folks, I’m going to go send these people off home. Why don’t you get some rest?” The party went back upstairs to their room and went back to sleep. The next morning, there was a knock at Autumn and Arrie’s door; the kind of knock that was made by a very large person trying to be gentle. Autumn opened the door cautiously, he sword ready behind the door. Grog’s faced peeked through the crack. “Begging your pardon, ladies,” he said. “But I wanted to invite you and your friends to breakfast – on the house, to thank you for your help last night. And I wanted to talk to you about a private matter.” “We will join you shortly,” Autumn said. She closed the door, and then finished getting dressed. She sat down on the edge of Arrie’s bed, and began massaging the small of her back gently to wake her sister. “Ooh, that feels good,” Arrie moaned, sore from their days of long marches. “Don’t stop.” After a minute or so, Autumn stood up and left to let Arrie change while she went to wake up the others. She opened the door to find that Kavan was already awake, as were Xu and Lanara. Osborn and Tolly were sound asleep. Kyle was also awake, but still lying in bed with the blanket over his head. “We’ve been invited to breakfast,” said Autumn. “Grog wishes to talk to us.” “Great! I’m starved.” Lanara dove under her blanket, one hand reaching out and grabbing her clothes from the floor. After a moment of frantic movement under the covers, Lanara emerged fully dressed. “Shall I wake the others?” asked Xu. “They will wake up and join us soon enough,” said Autumn. She held the door open while Kavan, Xu, and Lanara walked out. Then she looked back and saw that Kyle hadn’t moved. “Kyle? Are you coming?” Kyle’s head poked out from the blankets. His face seemed unusually flush, and he was having trouble making eye contact with Autumn. “Umm… I’ll be down in a couple of minutes.” “Are you all right?” “I’m fine. I just… need a minute, okay?” Shrugging, Autumn closed the door. Kyle sighed heavily and fell back into bed. His bunk was on the wall closest to Arrie and Autumn’s room, and he’d been awakened when Grog had knocked. He’d continued to listen, and had overheard Autumn waking her sister. Unfortunately, the effects of a night of excessive drinking had caused his imagination to wander, and both Autumn and Arrie were attractive women. When Autumn had come into their shared room, he’d caught himself in the midst of some very unprofessional thoughts about his fellow classmates. Kyle wasn’t certain he’d be able to look either of them in the eye for the rest of the day. “I swear, I’ve got to be careful around dwarven ale,” he muttered to himself. [CENTER]* * *[/CENTER] “So, anyway, there’s my situation,” Grog said. They’d finished off their breakfast some time ago. Kyle, Osborn, and Tolly had joined the others only a few minutes late, and had eaten heartily after last night’s excitement. Then Grog had invited them back to his personal room in the back, a spacious room with an enormous bed and a dire wolf pelt rug on the floor. Grog had explained how he and his fellow adventuring companions had retired here at Dagger Rock after making their fortunes. The Happy Half-Ogre was Grog’s dream, and he’d come here on the recommendation of Captain Bearclaw, who was himself a former adventurer who’d worked with Grog briefly in the past. Things had been fine until recently, when the muggings and break-ins began. Now the people of town blamed Grog, since his inn was open to anyone and he charged less than cost for his wares. “I don’t need the money,” he explained. “I’d rather use it to run a place where everyone can feel welcome.” Grog looked forlornly across the room. “I don’t know what I’d do without it.” “You think that Yuri’s behind this?” asked Osborn. Grog shrugged. “Maybe. He’s never liked me for opening up competition. Not that his place would be much competition, even if I did charge full price.” “What about this meeting?” asked Arrie. “Well, it’s in six days. Unless I can prove I’m not behind the crimes being committed, I think they’ll vote to shut me down and run us all out of town.” “Who’s on the council?” asked Kyle. “Well, there’s Captain Bearclaw…” Grog said. “Hey!” exclaimed Lanara, “there’s one on your side!” “…and Yuri…” Her face fell. “Never mind.” “… then there’s Barak, and the town smith Logan Ironhand, and of course the mayor, Winston Jacob.” “Have you tried looking into this yourself?” asked Tolly. Grog shook his head. “Been too busy to spare the time. Besides, me and my mates sort of stand out,” he ran a thick hand through his flame-yellow hair, “and I don’t think we’d get far. That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. I’d like to ask you to look into this, see if you can find out who’s behind this crime wave. If you can find something out before the meeting in six days, I can reward you for your time.” “Starting with free room and board?” asked Osborn hopefully. He dodged an elbow from Autumn. Grog grinned at the comment, however. “Smart little man. Always start with the free room and board; that was the first thing me and my mates learned in our day.” [/QUOTE]
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