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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Kid Charlemagne" data-source="post: 218291" data-attributes="member: 93">Duke Alfric’s Castle, Kingdom of Caer Sidi, June 26th, AE 420There is a frenzy of activity as everyone searches high and low for Kentfield and Quinn.  Aris, sitting in the stands not far from the Duke, turns to him.“What will be done to him now that he has run off like a coward?” he asks.“Well,” Duke Alfric responds.  “He has forfeited his right to my protection.  I feel no compulsion to deal with him, but you may do whatever you wish.”Aris nods, and then a thought occurs to him.“Where did that gnome go?  The one who works on all the clockwork birds?”The Lady Meriven speaks up.  “Wilfred?  I saw him leave this morning, just after the gates opened.”There is some concern that Kentfield and Quinn might have snuck off then, almost four hours ago, but Soldago reminds the others that they saw both Quinn and Kentfield just before the joust.  Aris sends Whistlethorne out to scout around.  The hawk swiftly spies two horsemen, about a mile away from the castle, riding hard.  “Aha!” Aris yells, and they make their way to their horses.Before they go much further though, Aris sees (through his telepathic link with his familiar) that the two horsemen have stopped and dismounted.  At this distance, Whistlethorne can’t absolutely identify them.  The smaller gestures, casting a spell, and a hawk appears from nowhere.  Then the larger man casts a spell, and the two vanish, in a manner consistent with the effects of a plane shift.“Great.” Jovah says.  “What now?”They decide to split up.  Jovah will teleport, sight unseen, to the Library of Thend.  He will take Aris and Corwin.  They will seek out what info they can to see if there are any clues there as to why their enemies came here.  Gavin, Reana, Brennen, Jalea, and Soldago will track down the gnome, and try to get some info out of him.The contingent heading to the Library depart.  They plan to fold back that evening with whatever information they glean.  They get a written recommendation from Theodisius before leaving.Duke Alfric graciously allows the others the use of what till recently were their own horses, and allows Gavin to use the warhorse he rode in the joust.  They ride off in pursuit of the Wilfred’s wagon.  He has a four hour head start, but Reana tracks him across the fields, and after about three hours, the spy him up ahead.  The gnomes wagon is a enclosed wooden wagon, with four solid walls and a roof, with doors in the back and side.The wagon begins speeding up, as much as a heavy wagon pulled by two clydesdales can, and the party catches up quickly.  They can see that Wilfred is riding next to a Gnoll.  The gnome tosses the reins to his partner, and throws open a hatch in the wagon top and climbs in.  A short while later, he climbs back out, this time carrying a metallic crossbow that is linked by tubing to a pack on his back that contains a number of greenish vials.  He points the contraption at Gavin and fires.He misses, and the ground sizzles and burns from the acidic substance in the crossbow bolt.  Soldago spurs his horse forward, and readies his longbow.  He slips off the horse, and fires the darkness arrow into the back of the wagon, thereby blinding the gnome.  He mounts up again, and tries to catch up with the others who have now pulled ahead by a good distance.  Reana and Gavin ride hard up to the front of the wagon. Reana moves in front of the horses, and casts speak with animals.  Gavin rides up alongside the gnoll, and takes a swipe with his sword.  He misses, and the gnoll responds by lashing the reins to a hitch, and then spinning and kicking at Gavin!  He misses as well, and gracefully lands back in his seat.  Wilfred has crawled forward out of the darkness back to the seat beside the gnoll.Jalea rides hard up ahead of the wagon, and dismounts.  He preps his bow, and notches an arrow to fire as the wagon goes past him.  He lets a rapid stream of arrows into the gnoll.Reana expertly jumps from her horse to one of the clydesdales.  She coaxes the animal into slowing down, aided by Gavin who spurs his horse to in front of the wagon.  He then reins in his horse, and the clydesdales are forced to slow down rather than run him over.  The gnolls doesn’t care for this at all, and grabs his horse whip.  He lashes out at Reana, and coils the whip around her arm.  He gives a yank with all his might, but the Ranger stays on the horse.Wilfred climbs back into the darkness, as Brennen rides up along the right side of the wagon.  The Sword of Kelanen reaches out with his left hand until he feels the wagon in the dark.  He then climbs up so he is crouching on his saddle, and leaps to the wagon’s roof!  He doesn’t get very good footing on his horse though, and only half makes it, holding on for dear life with his feet dangling over the edge.  He pulls himself up onto the roof, and gains his footing, drawing both swords.The wagon has nearly stopped now, and the gnoll, in a desperation move, leaps towards Reana, landing a heavy kick to her head, knocking her off the clydesdale.  He manages to land on the horse, but has to fend off Gavin, who is impressed with the gnolls moves.“They don’t make gnolls like that where I come from,” he thinks.Brennen swings hard in the darkness where Wilfred was, but comes up with nothing.“Where did he go?” he wonders.  “Oh!  The hatch!”He feels around with his swords until he finds the hatch.“Hey!” he yells.  “We just want to ask you a few questions!  We won’t hurt you!”“Yeah, sure!” the gnome yells back.  “That’s what they all say!  Then they leave out the parts about the forceps, and the water torture, and those thingies they use to hold your eyes open!”Brennen hears the doors at the back of the wagon open.  Soldago has just begun to catch up with the darkened wagon when out of the darkness comes Wilfred, sitting in a seat attached to a four legged walking mechanism.  The gnome is tugging at joysticks and pushing buttons, and he approaches the archer, and he fires off a burst of flame at the archer and his horse.  Gavin spins his horse around and rides over to the back, as does Jalea.  Pretty soon, the gnome is surrounded, and his spidery riding contraption has nowhere to go.“All right!” he calls out.  “I give!”“I’ll talk!”</blockquote>

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