Turn 37 -- On to the Keep

Sheathing his sword and dusting himself off, Gnore walks to where Kersath and the rest of the group is standing. With an embarrassed grin Gnore scratches his head and looks to the ground. "It was lucky that Kersath here was awake. I wasn't much help because I was asleep in the wagon. I guess I should stop the overnight watch duties, eh?" Gnore nods his head as he speaks to the group.

Kersath sees the other companions walking up the road and hails them to come on over. "Hi there!" he says as they arrive. "We seem to have attracted some attention in the area! Although not the kind we'd expected."

"There were hundreds of them!" Kersath says jokingly to Talimar, "Actually, there was about six of them and we all got our share of fighting." He then turns a worried frown toward Kre, "Kre my friend, you should better know who to pick a fight with next time, get us some orcs, they seem to get cut easier!"

Strolling up to survey the carnage, Ortho nudges Beleg, "Well Beleg, it looks like Gnore has once again suffered from the absence of your influence."

The young Paladin says nothing in reply to Ortho's comment, he simply moves around the battle scene and offers his healing touch to any in need. Kre being the most dire of the wounded accepts the Paladin's help gratefully.

Talimar looks at the bodies and the pile of flour on the ground and shakes his head, "I leave you lot alone for five minutes and look what happens."

Looking around at the mess of blood and flour, Druckner says, "Well, who are these people? Are they part of the kidnapper gangs or something else?" He raises an eyebrow at Kre, "One of them's alive. Maybe we can finally get some answers."

Talimar looks at the bodies before offering up a guess, "It looks like common thieves." He then walks over to Kre, the 'former' thief, and asks quietly, "Does this look like our spellcaster kidnapping friends? Or just common thieves making a dishonest copper?" Not waiting on a response from Kre, nor expecting one actually, Talimar then motions for Ras to check over the bodies for valuables.

"Gelderon," speaks Talimar to the merchant, "You had better get whatever passes for the watch in this town and get them to get rid of these bodies. Then we had better get moving."

Gelderon motions to one of his men who quickly moves off toward the west and the town gate.

As Dain walks around the battleground and tries to stay near Beleg, Garth grabs the unconscious but very much alive scoundrel by the neck and begins to wake him up by waggling his head back and forth, "Talimar, this'uns still alive. Maybe we should get some answers from him about where we can find th'other ones. I wouldn't want to have 'em plottin' for us when we least expect 'em."

"Kersath, see to the interrogation," says Talimar to the ranger.

As the drow elf moves over to the thief, Kersath lets his hood fall off his head as he leans in to speak. The thieves eyes widen in shock as he sees the features of the drow elf looking at him. "Please, please, don't kill me!" begs the man. "I'll tell ye whatever ye wish ta know."

"Who is your leader?" asks Kersath. "And why were you attacking us?"

"Vandan was our leader," says the frightened man as he points at one of the men that was dispatched by Kersath. "We was jus' trying to scares you away so that we could start killin' a few orcs around here and get the jobs. Vandan wanted to start a protection racket, I think. Please don't kill me!"

The man begins to shake uncontrollably as he is now no longer able to control his fright. All he can do is mumble and plead for mercy. The guard from the gate shows up as Kersath is placing his hood back over his head.

"I'll take that man now," says the guard captain. He then motions to a few of his men to pick up the bodies of the other men as well.

"I appreciate your help in taking care of these ruffians but we'll take over from here," says the captain to Talimar. "Count Parlfray will see to this mans punishment."

"No problem, our pleasure," says Gnore as the captain and his men take the bodies away.

"Tal, let's get going before more trouble erupts here in town." says Ortho as he looks around himself. "I'm starting to get that itchy feelin'."

"Yes, yes, please, can we get going now?" asks Gelderon.

With agreement from the rest of the party, everyone takes up positions along the wagontrain to offer protection in case of attack. The mood of the group as they leave the gates of Thurmaster is actually quite jovial as no one was seriously injured in the attack by the thieves and the group dealt with them quite efficiently. Beleg brings out his lute and plays a rowdy tune that he thought was native to his homeland but Ortho, Druckner and Garth put words to it that talk of an ancient dwarven hero. The exploits of this long-dead hero and the lively playing of Beleg fill the hearts of the companions with courage as the train progresses toward Parlfray Keep. After a few hours of slow travel, the group comes around a bend in the road and is able to see the Keep coming in view in front of them.

The Keep of the Count of Haranshire appears to be one of modest size. Surrounded by a high sturdy wall, the inner buildings consist of a stable, quarters for the guards, a smithy, some other merchant buildings and the central keep of the count and his family. The guards let the train enter after checking the credentials of Gelderon and the group moves on to the center of the square where Gelderon and the men begin to unload the cargo. After finishing, Gelderon moves over to Talimar and hands him a parchment.

"This letter of credit you can cash in when you get back to Milborne. You understand that I don't carry the kind of gold required to pay you on me, don't you?"

"Of course," says Talimar wryly as he hands the letter to Ras. "Nice doing business with you."

As the party mounts up and prepares to head on back to Thurmaster, a guard in the livery of the count comes forward to address Talimar, "Excuse me, sirs, the Count requests the honour of your presence in the keep. Will you follow me?" The guard has his hand on the reins of Talimar's horse.