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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 4397013" data-attributes="member: 143">Almost done with the RA story, so I'll soon be able to shift my full attention to this one. I am going to be away from my computer for most of next week, so it may be a while until my usual daily updates start. I did finally start a Rogues Gal--ah, "Plots and Places" thread, <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?p=4396984" target="_blank">located here.</a> Comments on my builds are welcome.* * * * * Chapter 5The sun had vanished below the western horizon, and night had nearly fallen by the time they reached Winterhaven.  Both groups of travelers were grateful for the shelter of the town’s sturdy walls.  They had not encountered any more dangers on the road, but the kobold ambush had made them keenly aware that this region was wild and dangerous.  The two groups parted ways once inside the walls, with Mara and Elevaren heading toward Wrafton’s Inn, not far from the gate.  The human fighter and the eladrin warlock—not an elf at all, Jaron had been surprised to learn—had been friendly enough once the last of the kobolds had fallen, but they had their own urgent business in Winterhaven that could not brook delay.  Apparently a friend of theirs, a man named Douven Staul, had gone missing somewhere in the vicinity.  From what Elevaren had said, this Staul sounded like something of a scholar, and he’d been in the area looking for a dragon’s lost horde that was reputed to be somewhere in the vicinity.  Jaron had heard enough rumors and legends about lost treasure to think the search somewhat foolish at best, but he kept his own feelings to himself to avoid offending the eladrin.Jaron and Beetle parted with Callen shortly thereafter.  The trader led his tired horse to the stables adjoining the inn.  He was despondent at the loss of his livelihood, but it could have been a good deal worse for him, as Beetle had thoughtlessly interjected.  The wagon had been a total loss, and Jaron and Beetle had been confronted with the loss of their packs, with all of the supplies, clean clothes, and other gear that they’d carried.  At least the attack had come near the end of their journey, where they could hopefully acquire new possessions in the human town.  Jaron kept a close eye on his cousin as the two halflings made their way into the town, to the temple of Avandra.  Beetle seemed to be entranced with the place, and he drew a few askance looks from the few human townsfolk who were out and about in the street.  Jaron noted a pair of guards, outfitted similarly to those who’d kept watch at the gate.  The men had been alert, and their weapons were kept in good condition, both signs of solid leadership.  Winterhaven was even deeper in the wilds than Fairhollow, and Jaron recognized the signs of a town where the inhabitants had to deal with the constant threats of the frontier. Jaron was quiet, and did not respond even when his cousin called him by his brother’s name.  He was concerned, and not just about how they would get Jayse’s body back to Fairhollow, with Callen’s wagon no longer available.  Even since he’d seen the dead kobold slinger, slain without apparent difficulty by his cousin, he wondered just how much he really knew about Beetle.  The other halfling had always seemed to have a gift for getting into trouble.  Jaron knew that his cousin’s mind was not like that of other halflings; Beetle seemed to lack the sense of self-restraint that guided most folks.  He’d long thought that his cousin was simply feeble-minded, but as they’d grown older, he’d realized that the truth was more complicated than that.  But they were blood, he thought, as he glanced back to see Beetle talking with an elven woman selling flowers along the edge of the town’s central square.  And he’d made a promise to his aunt, a promise that he could not break.  He’d broken too many promises already, in his life. Jaron had only been to Winterhaven once before, many years ago, but the temple of Avandra was just as he’d remembered it.  The place had the look of an old keep, squat and solid, permanent in a way that none of the buildings in Fairhollow could ever have managed. Beetle came up beside him.  It seemed that some of the gravity of the situation had gotten into the younger halfling; at least he was quiet and still as he accompanied Jaron toward the human-sized front door of the building.  Thus united, they went to pay their respects to the dead.</blockquote>

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