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Message: <blockquote data-quote="carpedavid" data-source="post: 1096913" data-attributes="member: 6971">Session 6, Part 2Laurel, Shoji, Erendil, and Wrayce all give Quara funny looks when she exits the tent. "Would it have made any difference if I had told you?" she asks.The other four Griffiners exchange glances for a moment, then, "No.""I guess not.""Not really.""I suppose it wouldn't have.""Ok, then," Quara says as she motions toward the town, "Let's go kick some ass."The five heroes make two stops on the way to the merchant quarter. First, they select the five most intimidating soldiers they can find to accompany them. Second, they stop to visit the Avengardan prisoners that they brought back to enlist their services in watching out for black marketeers. All of the prisoners are more than happy to assist their rescuers, and promise to send word if they ever have contact with them."Ok, so where do we go first?" Quara asks eagerly.Shoji looks at the sheaf of parchment he was given earlier, and notices that some pages have names written in across the top. "Huh. Looks like..." he struggles to read the faint and nearly illegible writing, "...Redfern Talltrees. Sounds elven."Laurel winces at the implication that all names related to plants must be elven, then thinks about her own name, and realizes that he's probably right. They wander through the crowded streets for a few minutes until they spot a sign above a door that reads "Talltrees' Sundries."Shoji reaches for the door handle, but Quara stops him. "Wait," she says eagerly, "let me go first." Shoji looks at Laurel and rolls his eyes, but steps back to let the young archer move past. She puffs her chest, lifts her head up, and then tosses open the door and barges into the store."Redfern Talltrees?" she bellows.A slight, middle-aged wood elf stands behind the counter. He looks around in bewilderment, then hesitantly answers, "Yes?""You have been accused of exploiting the war by raising your prices on essential items to unreasonable levels.""Well," he clears his throat and looks around nervously, "I realize that some of my prices may seem rather high, but items are in very short supply." He points to a wicker basket on the counter that is nearly empty, save three white, waxy lumps, "As you can see, I only have three lumps of soap left.""That may be, but the Emperor himself has set price limits on certain items," she pulls out the sheaf of parchment with his name on it, "Let me go over this price list with you."While Quara chastises the merchant, Shoji takes the opportunity to look around the store. He sifts through a basket of hardtack, jiggles a box full of nails, and pokes at a stuffed badger that sits on one shelf. When he lifts a woolen blanket to see what is stacked underneath, he smiles, and clears his throat.Quara pauses in her chastisement and both she and the merchant turn to look at Shoji. "Only three lumps of soap left, huh?" Shoji says, holding up a large basket filled to the brim with soap.Talltrees looks stricken, "I...uh..."Quara doesn't give him time to explain. She takes a deep breath, leans forward over the counter until her face is inches from his, and yells, as loudly as she possibly can, "You. Are. In. Deep. Trouble! What else do you have a surplus of that you're overcharging for? Show me your storeroom right this instant!"Too frightened to do anything but comply, the merchant points toward a heavy wooden door next to the counter. Quara thinks about kicking the door in for effect, but decides to open it in a more conventional manner. Shoji follows her inside and both spend a few minutes poking around. Again, it is Shoji that finds something interesting - a wooden crate with the phrase "Property of the Northern Army" stamped on the lid. Quara takes one look and storms back toward Talltrees.Shoji listens as Quara berates, threatens, and harangues the merchant into telling her where he got the crate (of razorblades, as Shoji discovers when he peers inside). He fingers a Randall Weaver, and points them in the right direction. On the way out of the shop, Quara grabs one of the hammers that happen to be for sale, some nails from a basket next to it, and nails the price list to Talltrees' front door."Traitor," she mutters as the party walks down the dusty dirt street, "he should be hung."After a few minutes, they stop in front of a row of buildings, each of which has a weaver's sign hanging above its door. Laurel sighs inwardly and decides that she's annoyed by being relegated to handing out fliers, and would like to be done as soon as possible. "Well," she says curtly, "let's try door number one."The jingling of a bell signals the opening of the door, and a young human man sitting next to a weaver's loom looks up at the party. "Welcome," he says brightly, "how can I help you?""Are you Randall?" Shoji inquires."That's my name," he says with a smile."Randal Weaver, we have a few questions to ask you," Quara says menacingly, as she cracks her knuckles.The man's smile drops fades slightly, but his tone is still light as he replies, "Ah, no. I'm Randall Thatcher. My wife is the weaver. There is a Randall Weaver, though. His shop is next door."Quara eyes the man suspiciously, but decides that he's telling the truth. "Sorry to bother you," she says as they turn to leave, but then gives the man a stern look just before she walks out the door, "If we can't find him, though, we'll be back."Laurel rolls her eyes, but opens the next door. An older human man is piling bolts of cloth upon a table "I'll be with you in just a minute," he says distractedly as he juggles multiple bolts. About thirty seconds later, the precariously constructed pile collapses, and the man swears in frustration. He turns to the party and grumbles, "What can I do for you?""Are you Randall Weaver?" Laurel asks."Nope, I'm Ben Weaver. Randall's my brother," he says curtly.Quara sighs in frustration, "Can we talk to him?""Nope, he's not here." Upon hearing this, an audible groan emerges from the group."Well, where did he go?" she says, the urge to pound her fist into his face growing exponentially with each word out of his mouth.Ben looks at her quizzically, but then replies, "I think he went down to Ben-Ben the Tobacconist's shop."Quara decides to look at her feet, since looking at the man makes her want to draw her bow and start firing. "And where is Ben-Ben's?""Well, you go down the street until you get to Old Ma Baker's. Then you turn right and go past Myrtle the Apothecary. His shop's on the left, and if you pass Kargan the Stonecutter, you've gone too far.""Right. Good. Thank you." Quara snaps as she pushes her way past the other heroes and out of the store. Shoji and Laurel share another eye roll, and Erendil simply shakes his head. Humans are always in such a hurry, he thinks.The weaver's directions prove to be accurate, and within a few minutes, Laurel, Erendil, Wrayce, and the troops have taken up positions outside the tobacconist's shop, while Quara and Shoji begin questioning Ben-Ben inside."Do you know the whereabouts of Randall Weaver?" Quara asks the stocky, dwarven tobacconist."No, ah 'aven't seen 'im in more than a week," he answers in a thick Avengardan brogue.Quara stares at Ben-Ben intently, trying to sense whether he's being deceptive. Shoji, meanwhile, takes a look around the store. An oddly placed pedestal table catches his eye, and he takes a closer look at the small rug that it's sitting on.He's lying, she decides. She places her hands on the tobacconist's counter and leans in menacingly close. "Tell me where he is," she growls.Ben-Ben fixes Quara with a steely dwarven gaze and growls back, "Ah told ya. Ah 'aven't seen 'im."Shoji surreptitiously brushes aside the rug with his foot and recognizes the outline of a trap door. "Really? He wouldn't happen to be down here, would he?" he asks as he moves the table and rug to reveal the door."Open the trap door," Quara commands Ben-Ben."No. Ah don' think ah will," he says firmly."I said, open the door!" she yells as she draws her bow and nocks an arrow."Ah said no!" the dwarf yells back.While Quara and Ben-Ben yell at each other inside the store, Erendil notices a group of four Terrelian soldiers pulling a cart toward the store. As he looks up, he notices that they give him a sidelong glance and immediately change direction."Laurel, Wrayce," he whispers, motioning toward the soldiers, "these soldiers look fishy."Wrayce nods, then steps out in front of the cart. Adjusting his cloak so that his Order of the Griffin crest is obviously visible, he orders them to stop. Stop they do, but then immediately draw their swords and attack Wrayce and Laurel.Wrayce manages to dodge two of the men, and Laurel almost manages to dodge both of her attackers. As she backs away, though, one of the men manages to catch her arm with the edge of his blade, sending blood splattering into the dirt."I don't think so," Wrayce says in annoyance as he steps back and casts web. All four of the attacking soldiers become entangled in the giant mass of sticky webbing that now blocks off the road. The soldier that caught Laurel is near enough to the edge of the webbing that he is able to hang out and slash at her. He catches her once with a desperate lunge, but Laurel uses her flaming sword, Oakenblade, to cut him down.After a barrage of magic missiles from Wrayce, the rest of the attackers surrender and are put into shackles after the web is dispelled. The three heroes turn their attention to what's going on inside the store, and enter to find Quara standing over Ben-Ben the tobacconist, bow drawn, holding the tip of the arrow inches from the dwarf's eye."You are under arrest," she spits, and orders the troops to shackle the dwarf."Take his haggis-eating ass to jail," Shoji says in annoyance as he throws open the trap door. "I'm going to see what's down here." He climbs down the ladder and finds himself in a large basement, where he is immediately assaulted with missile fire.Seeing their friend under attack, the other four Griffiners descend the ladder and begin a counterattack. Quara quickly spots one of the culprits hiding behind a stack of grain sacks and launches three arrows into the man's head and neck, causing him to slump forward over the sacks, his lifeblood pooling on the floor around him.Erendil targets a second archer with missile fire of his own, and Laurel follows up by jumping over the crate that the man was using as cover and plunging her sword into his chest. Magic missiles from Wrayce find a third archer, and Shoji follows with blows from his kama. The combination of attacks is quick and lethal - both archers join their companion in the afterlife.Quara, who is always in a hurry, tosses open a door on the west wall, and dashes down the hallway, narrowly avoiding a fall as a section of the hallway collapses under her feet. "Trap!" she yells behind her, as she tosses open the door at the end of the hallway and steps through."I wish she'd wait for us," Erendil comments to the others.Upon seeing what awaits her in the passageway on the other side of the door, Quara, too, wishes that she had waited. Two men in leather armor are attempting to hold back massive beasts at the ends of iron chains. The creatures look like the enlarged result of some mad wizard's attempt to cross a rottweiler with a shark: a large, powerful, canine body supports a thick head that is dominated by a gigantic maw of razor sharp teeth.The creatures growl and gnash their fangs, drooling greedily as they eye Quara. The two men holding back the beasts grin at her, and then release the chains.Up next: Session 6, Part 3 - in which Quara finds out just how sharp those teeth are.</blockquote>

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