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Message: <blockquote data-quote="megamania" data-source="post: 1661780" data-attributes="member: 9255">EBERRON: LOST TREASURESSEGMENT 008“Aaron Lessjust”Nic, Jay and Dru each stared hard into the eyes of Aaron Lessjust.  This common thief had tried to sell stolen heirlooms within Passage.  Unknown to him, he tried to sell the goods at a shop friendly to House Kundarak whom were responsible for the treasures when they were lost during the war.  Held and detained within the holding rooms of the bank run by the dwarves, Aaron knew he had made a mistake.  A BIG mistake.  The worst of it-  he appeared to be fearful of something other than the three interrogators.  This could be understood of Nic and Jay whom looked harmless by Dru was a large and burley dwarf.  From the looks of him, he had defended this bank during war times before.“Speak!” demanded Dru.  Jay noticed he too wore a ring that detected lies.  He could not help but to wonder if this was a standard item held by Kundarak dwarves?  If so-  where was Nic’s?The petty thief was pale and sweated.  His eyes kept going from one person to the other.  He was terribly fearful.  “I…I want a Silver Flame priest or paladin.” He stammered out in a broken and near tearful manner. “You may repent AFTER you tell us where you got that necklace.” Growled Dru as he leaned into Aaron.“I…I can’t tell you.  He’ll kill me!”  The thief cries.“…and we won’t?” asks Dru with his large nose a mere inch away from Aaron’s much smaller and pale nose.  “Few know you are here.  The few that do are here and contracted not to say anything.  I stress ANYTHING.”“I..I..needed the money.  My kids…they got sick.  It may be the Mourne Sickness.  I…I’m desperate.”Grot seems to soften further.  Jay doesn’t believe him but knows Dru is much better at this than himself.  This guy is pitiful.  He could never hurt him.  “The house will go easier on you if you tell us where you got the necklace.  If you will not tell us I have been authorized to get the means elsewhere.”Dru steps away from the table.  A business card left behind that may have been in hand.  Aaron sees the card and his eyes widen further.  He seems to have problems breathing now.“They’ll kill me!  They’ll kill my kids!  My entire family!  Don’t make me chose!”  the now horrified man screams at Dru.Jay moves closer to look at the card.  The card has writing on it and a picture of a mindflayer.  Ugh.  A nasty way to acquire information thinks Jay.  The name-  Reis Mindscape doesn’t sound like a flayer’s name.“TELL ME YOU LITTLE WORM!” Says Dru as he backhands the man.  The strike is so hard that the man is sent airborne and spinning.  He strikes the wall and crumbles there …sobbing and bleeding from the mouth and nose.  A clear bruise is forming from Dru’s detection ring.Dru kicks him hard and drags him to his knees.  Now eye to eye, Dru growls.  “They will kill me” whimpers Aaron.The detail seeking minds of Nic and Jay look at the entire scene.  Nic, blinking through his thick glasses, watches with his mouth open.  He has never seen violence before.  He is both horrified and awed by it.  Jay looks at his clothes.  His boots.  Everything.  He is no detective but he knows how to think like one.  Anyone whom beats a captive will overlook something simple and subtle.  Dru growls and throws the man into his chair.  Jay steps up and places his hands on each person’s shoulder.  He gives the dwarf a nod.  Dru snarls.  He hates good guy / bad guy tactics.  He always gets to be the bad guy.Jay sits on the table and looks at the meek man.  He keeps a reassuring smile on his face at all times.  Finally, he pulls his feet onto the table and curls them under him.  Aaron is taken back by this.“I wish I had the dedication to my family that you do.  Heck, I wish I still had a family.” Jay pauses to allow the man to picture his “family”.“How many kids do you have?”Looking up with fear and suspicion, Aaron answers two.“How old?  What are their names?”“Tieg is 5.  Verra is umm 9.  Why…why do you ask?”“Just curious.  Like I said, I have no family.  They …they disown me. Leaning towards him, “They think I’m a slacker.” Then leans back with a smile.  Aaron for the first time smiles.  It is a forced smile but genuine.Dru becomes angry and leaves the room.  Damned pathfinders…..“Why do you think they have the Mourne sickness?  Were they near the Mournelands?  Is that where they live?”“Yeah…ah..no.  No we live in The Eldeen Reaches.  At ..at least we used to.”“Neat.”  Comments Jay.  “Where about?  I have never been in that forest before.”“It..it is no mere forest.  Heh.  You really have not been there before?”“Tell me about home.”Suddenly Nic sees the light.  Maybe Jaykodie Blueheart is not such an idiot after all.  The kid is getting the thief to tell where he has been.  The dwarf smiles and settles down to better listen to the beautiful descriptions of the forest he is being told.Outside, Dru grumbles and goes to complain to his best friend and co-worker.  Darj is still at the front door greeting people and opening doors for them.  He sees Dru and knows what is happening.  Once, in the old days, Dru and he were combatants that watched over money transfers from country to country.  Bandits were common then during wartime.  They had a good time.  Peace is so …boring.Thorn knew the Whisper would be nearby.  She has been hunting this evil man and fiend for too long to even suggest he would give up.  The fact they were within the bank was never a deterrent.  She waited in the lobby.  She kept track of the activity where Jay and the perfumed dwarf went.  An angry and obviously upset dwarf had come from the stairs where they were.  He was now talking to the doorkeeper. Such a strange place …Passage.  She much more preferred her own Eldeen Reaches forest area.  She also missed Sky, her eagle.Unknown to all of them, the man known as Whisper was around.  He watched Dru and tried to determine what was being said.  He thought about what to do for a long time before giving a short and hard nod.  He seemed to grow a bit pale and weak as he leaned against the wall of the building across the street from the House Kundarak site.  He looked directly at Dru the entire time.“So, you were helping this man guard stuff that was being taken to the Demon Wastes.  That is a scary place.  How did you do it?”  I know I couldn’t.”Aaron, now sitting upright and in a more relaxed position, continues to talk.  He talks about growing up in the outer forests of Eldeen and his family.  There was a fire that destroyed some of the forest and wiped out His crops.  The man was actually a farmer.  By chance, a man asked for help.  He needed a guide to pass through the forest to reach the lands beyond (Demon Wastes).  Desperate, Aaron agreed and began to help the man.  As they traveled, he learned the man was not very nice.  He began to have second thoughts.  Learning of this, the man threatened to kill him.  This is when Aaron decided it was time to go.   That night, he fled.  He figured the man could never follow him through the dark woods at night.  He took the necklace as pay.  He never knew what it was.  When he got home, his wife was dead and his two kids were very sick.  The local shaman thought it to be either a demonic disease or the Mourne sickness (basically the same thing).  Uncertain what to do, he had his brother watch his kids as he went to Thrane for help.  They wanted too much.  House Jorasco wanted too much.  He was in Aundair when he decided to sell the necklace to buy a healer.It looked like a trip into the Eldeen Reaches was next.  Good thing Jay had just met a ranger guide of their own…assuming she was still outside and willing.Dru stormed in.  A wild look on his eyes.  He didn’t even bother trying to close the door.  “He would kill you for his other master-  I would kill you for the sheer pleasure!” yells Dru as he rushes the table and leaps onto it.  Jay is easily pushed off the table and Aaron screams.  Grot just stares …his mouth opened in shock.Dru chokes Aaron and slams his head against the hard floor.  Jay pulls and yanks at the solid dwarf.  He swears this dwarf has gotten even stronger.  Even as the last gasp of breath escapes Aaron’s lips, a snarl can be heard.  Dru turns to face the new threat.  A shifter.“You can not defeat me this way.  So comon-  fight me.  Claw me.  Make him bleed.  COMON!!!!”The Shifter remains in a crouched position.  Two short blades held, one per hand.  Dru then drops to his knees and vomits.  She watches each person within the room.  She is prepared for the worse.  It never happens.At least …not yet.</blockquote>

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