"I don't give a rat's ass about Centauri! That man rules Triel with an iron grip!" Dwight said, obviously upset "But, I will not be labeled as someone who takes advantage of young girls, as she suggests." Dwight points to Myarra "Bella reminded me of my younger sister who died long ago, so before you all make assumptions, you should wonder if it's going to make an ass out of you first before opening your F*****g mouth."

And with that, Dwight rides off with his horses....

OoC: Sorry for being slow the last few days - had to get a new computer...

"I care about you only so much as I care for any intelligent humanoid. I don't know you well enough to care about you other than that. But I do believe that every intelligent humanoid deserves both a chance and, when necessary, a second chance. Anything more, well, I'd have to know you better to make any judgement." Amara explained as she brought Dwight back to the party.

***

Amara sighed as Dwight rode off, shaking her head. "Myarra, you know you catch more locusts with honey than vinegar - why do you always prefer vinegar?"

She tried to determine if it was better to go after Dwight or to let him go.

Byron calls out to Dwight in a calm but stern and friendly warning.

Maybe so, but if the guys kicking your butt talk Centauri into sending anyone after you, just know his reach if further than you think it is.  Good luck to you.

Wow, he's a bit rough around the edges. Reminds me of my sailor days.

Twiggy takes out his flask and takes a swig as he still lays back on Fitz. Dwight just sounds bitter because he isn't in Centari's circle. If he was, Dwight would be just like those thugs.

"Look at things from his point of view. He just found a home - and we made it too dangerous for him to stay. We repeated the accusations of him molesting someone and indicated he is a horse thief. Not exactly the way to make friends." Amara said to the party.

"I would have to agree. I asked him if he would like to tell us what happened, but he, well, you saw. He was highly upset."

Dwight rides off up the road with the rest of the horses and leaves you to the rest of your lunch. By the time you all head out again, he has at least 45 minutes head start with faster, unencumbered horses. The weather is beautiful and the rest of the day is uneventful. You camp off the side of the road and set your guard shifts, but the night is also uneventful.

Miles traveled: 32. Miles to go to get to Soubar: 40

Today, you don't see much until late afternoon, when you start coming into the farming communities about 10 miles from Soubar. Farmers in carts travel from here to there and when asked if they'd seen a man guiding several horses to town, nobody has seen him or paid any attention to it because they see people taking horses from farm to farm all the time. When you make camp, you pay a farmer a couple silver pieces to set up your stuff under a tree on his property near the road. Except for a couple riders returning home from town late at night, your shifts are uneventful.

Miles traveled: 32. Miles to go to get to Soubar: 8

8 more miles to Soubar. What is the party's plans? Go into town? Go to Byron's family farm? Continue up the trail to Daak?

Twiggy sets up for the night by brushing Fitz and feeding him before settling in "I need to stop by Aki's Mercantile to sell my mithril shield and buy that hammer sphere. Once I do that I am good. I wonder if Nolan is finished with his work?"

"I sure hope so. We really need to go to the mines to help out all those poor souls."

You should probably tell Aki that his workers are dead and we killed the Trolls. We should also be on the look out for those bounty hunters and Byron should stay away from his parent's farm for awhile.

I'll make sure Amos lets my parents know what's going on with Centauri.  There's nothing else I can think of that I need Soubar.  So the sooner we get back to the tower in Daak, the better I will feel.

I just don't like being followed or spied on and the last thing we need is the Centauri's or any of these bounty hunters knowing who Byron's parents are. So, when we get to town, I think we should make our visit brief, get what we need, say what we need to say, and then go back to the tower.

Amara nodded, repeating what Vernon said when necessary, and adding, "I agree. Let's try to keep this brief. Twiggy, I'll go with you to Aki's."

The party doesn't have any trouble getting to Soubar. They encounter other farmers going here and there, and Merchants heading out of town. You reach the gates to the town and they are closed with 8 guards outside keeping guard while letting people in and out. You don't have any problems getting inside, but you find out that there was a Green Dragon attack that wiped out a group of Bounty Hunters heading towards the small village of Daak. Only one made it back here to tell the tale and he is recovering in town somewhere. That's why the town is on high alert.

This is actually Vernon's first trip to Soubar in many years. The last time he was here was when he was actually alive.

"Oi. I haven't been 'ere in a long time. You all been here one person or another, but not me. Nothing changed here. Still a quiet little place." Vernon noted as the party walked through town

Twiggy nods "Boring is good sometimes. We will know quickly if Centari's men come through. Do we want to split up to go to Aki's and Amos's or stick together. Either way people will notice."

"I think we'll be fine inside town with the gates locked. People are worried because of the Dragon attack, so we should be able to do things quickly and then get out again. I suggest meeting at the fountain."

Kalliyan stays out of town and under a tree with Raieylan, as the rest of the party went inside and split up to hurry to get things done. Twiggy, Amara and Roenthelm went to Aki's shop, taking note the local Stable has 6 more horses in there, while Byron, Myarra and Aliana went to Amos' shop so Byron could have Amos deliver a message to his family so nobody could follow Byron home. While Byron was there, he delivered the Book that Farooj gave Byron in Elturel.

Amos was tidying up his shop when Byron, Myarra and Aliana walked inside and was overjoyed that Byron delivered the book.

"So good to see you again Lad, and thanks for getting the book for me." Amos said as he gave Byron a mighty handshake and waved to the girls "You guys were gone quite awhile. You run into trouble? You probably heard we had Green Dragon problems again. Some of those Bounty Hunter got hit hard in their camp."

Twiggy, Amara and Roenthelm had to wait a few minutes for the customers to finish their business before Aki could close and lock the door so he could talk with you.

"I was wondering where you went. My informants tell me my camp has been wiped out. Are you all OK? What happened?"

You are welcome for the book.  We don't have a lot of time and I need a favor from you please?

Byron pauses a moment before continuing.

Seems a certain annoying ruler is trying to extend his reach and isn't so happy with my reply to that.  So if you could make sure my family knows that I'm safe and they should be careful.  I'd stop to tell them myself, but that might draw more attention to them than they need.

Byron looks around the shop.

I see you have been doing pretty well.  If we acquire anything I know you will be interested in that we do not need I'll be sure to stop by and talk to you about it.

Vernon noticed the extra horses in the stable.

Looks like Dwight made it here OK.

Twiggy takes his large mithral shield off of Fitz and carries it in. He casually looks around until Aki locks the door and begins telling the tale. "It has been an interesting time since we saw you last. We went hunting the undead and to check on your digging crew but only found their camp. Getting closer to Troll's Hill we found out why it was named that and fought multiple trolls before encountering a armored troll and their master a vampire. We was very lucky and killed the vampire quickly with a disruption weapon but the aromred troll took more to take down.

We did finally bring all of them down and found the vampire was feeding on people the trolls brought in, most probably your crew too. We found a restless soul that was a merchant in life that couldn't rest until his bones was buried with his family so we took a detour to do that. If anyone from Soubar comes looking for us tell them we was just passing through.

So now you are caught up, do you want to buy this large mithril shield and I need to buy the hammersphere.

This message was last edited by the player at 14:39, Wed 11 Oct 2023.

Aki seems to be truly upset that his friends and workers were killed and thanks the 3 of you for the party's assistance.

"I'll trade you even for the Hammer Sphere. You all have done me a great service and I hope you can keep this incident between the two of us."

Aki takes the Shield and places it on the wall and then gives Twiggy the Hammer Sphere

"The activation word is Malleus."