The party aids Marklin and moves beyond their makeshift camp to see what they can see. Closing in on the secret tunnel that leads down to the Gnome and Beast's lair, the group notices the tunnel seems to have been filled in with living stone. It is as though the tunnel never even existed!

Valthur, gifted with the ability of stonecunning, detects the alteration to be magical in nature, though the stone is definitely real. But the working of stone is definitely magic. In any event, there is no passage to be gained that way, or at least not the way the party came through the first time.

Progressing further up the tunnel, the adventurers probe the entrance chamber to determine whether goblins await their arrival. The group make their way topside and find evidence of the goblin's setting camp in the entrance chamber, but all that remains are ashen coals in a fire pit and a few charred animal bones thrown in for good measure. It appears as though the goblins have either up and left!

Glancing outside, it is now mid-afternoon...one loses track of time underground, and there are no goblins to be found. Just the blazing sun scorching overhead.

 Seeing no signs of Goblins, and in spite of Marklin being near exhaustion.” I say we  regroup, and go back into that placeand We explore every bloody inch o’ it. Secret doors and magic traps seems beyond a Gnome. There has to be more to that place. We must have missed something."
This message was last edited by the player at 22:27, Mon 10 July 2017.

"We've done what we set out to do," Eoni said confidently.  "We have the translation and found Ebermund's friends.

She'd hope to return the gnome's club and set things right but it seemed he was in no mood to talk.  Eoni would find another way to lead the young girl along a brighter path.  That was for another day.

"Now it's time to go home."

Sarah's gaze moves to focus on each speaker, but she offers no thoughts of her own.

The Sister of Avandra turned to the three with them and said, "We'll escort you back to Terrelton.  It's on our way and you may be able to ask if anyone has seen your troupe.

"And Ebermund," she said addressing the man they'd first met at the Savant's, "would you mind if we kept those papers we found with you?"

"And just who put ye in charge, Eoni? I nay recall, ye being elected Captain of our group. While I be in yer debt for healing me, this be business. We av naught ta show for our efforts. There might be treasure in that underground. Secret doors and magic traps be there for a reason. They be guarding something o' value. I says we put it to a vote. leave empty handed, or dare the perils o' that place again, for the chance o' profit"

 Marklin looked to, Sarah, then Aldara, finally to Valthur,” What say ye?”

"Marklin's got a point," Valthur agrees. "There may be treasure below that we missed. A fair payment for our efforts."

OOC: I'm secretly in favor of sticking with Eoni's plan to head back to town, but Valthur would be intoxicated by Marklin's promise of treasure, so I'm trying to see it through his slightly treasure-biased eyes.

Aldara's jaw drops.  It's as much that Marklin actually asked her opinion as it was his tone towards Eoni.  He must have suffered head trauma, in the case of the former!  The latter was business as usual for the warrior.  "First, we should take them back..." She gestures at the performers who, unlike Bards, generally have no place among adventurers at work.  "...and then we can return!"

She gives Eoni a quick look, a mix between "sorry!" and "it's too good an opportunity to pass up!".

Marklin was scared.

Having been so close to death, the fighter wanted to take back control of his life and kill what had nearly killed him.  It was instinct.  She couldn't blame him for his fear but she wouldn't let him drag the others down if she could help it.

She'd make no headway addressing his fear directly so she'd tackle the pretense of his argument.

"What treasure?" she asked calmly.  "The treasure of a druid that rescues circus bears?  Unless you saw something other than I, that's all that I saw down there.

"The same druid that created those traps and concealed its home.  The one that molded living stone to protect them from us.

"The others can tell you there was no treasure there.  No other way out.  Believe what you will but we've seen everything there was to be seen down there.

"And if you think you'll be able to pass a bear pelt off as the Beast of Barren Hills, I'm certain you'll be disappointed.  You've heard what they've described.  They're looking for a raging Beast, not some common bear.

"If it's gold you're really after, we have a better chance of rubbing two gold together facing the Jackals on the way back."

The trio of performers make it a point to let the party know the bear was not part of their act, The Good Baron Hobnobble’s Beguiling Court of Merryfellows and Gentlewomen. "We don't do animals," Ebermund asserts.

The performers are familiar with the outfit listed on the large bear's collar, a traveling circus out of some far-off land beyond the Shining Plains.
This message was lightly edited by the GM at 22:46, Wed 12 July 2017.

Marklin just shook his head. “ So, what ye want ta do is tuck tail and run. But run where, I ask ye? We have nothing to show for our trouble. If we do it yer way, all we have is these buggers good will. But good will won’t put bread in yer belly or coins in yer purse. I say we go back in and have another look see. What say ye?”

"It's two votes for going and two votes for staying. That leaves it up to the girl." He looks over to Sarah. "What say you, Missy?" As he wonders what she is thinking, he realizes he doesn't know her very well and has no idea which way she will vote.

For what it's worth, not that any offer their vocal support either way though their intentions are quite evident through their non-verbals, the trio of entertainers wish to leave this unpleasant business behind them and move on post haste.

Sarah's head had been rotating rapidly as each person spoke, almost as if she was tracking a flying insect.  Nonetheless, she looks startled when Valthur addresses her directly.

Here head's movements now stop, but her eyes flit about.  This effort only confirms that the others are waiting for her to say something.  She looks to the ground and is quiet for a moment.  Then:

"There weren't no secret passages where we found the gnome.  I checked."

"Let's go," Eoni said to the bedraggled entertainers.  "I'll get you back to town."

With or without the others, she was headed back to Terrelton and began marching in that direction.  She would have no part in this banditry.

 The look on Marklin's face, was surprise, when Eoni offered to take the others back. " Fine!. I will get these buggers back to town, but then we come back. if I thought ye where going to turn yer back on yer mates, Eoni, I would nay explore with ye again."


 Marklin attempted to walk on his own, being a proud man, he wanted no ones help, if it could be avoided. "C'mon Valthur, seems Captain Eoni be calling the tune, we dance, on this one."
This message was last edited by the player at 17:07, Thu 13 July 2017.

With Eoni leading the way, the party marches sourly out of the caves beneath Barren Hill. Their expedition to seek audience with the Insatiable Savant had been mostly successful, save for the complication of meeting and agreeing to help Ebermund. The foray into Barren Hill to slay the Beast had been fraught with its own complications: a rival goblin tribe also seeking to slay the Beast and reclaim their cave, a series of magic secret doors and traps, a crazed gnome druid-sorcerer, and a mama circus bear and her cub comprising the "Beast".

There had been little treasure for their effort and some were feeling quite stormy over the whole affair. The trio of entertainers all too readily follow Eoni's footsteps and are quickly on her heels, the rest of the party perhaps filing along shortly thereafter.

The march back to Terrelton proves to a hot and dusty affair, but otherwise offers little fanfare save for each party member becoming drenched in their own sweat. Upon reaching the dusty fly-speck of a town, Ebermund produces a small sack of gems and hands them over to Eoni.

"A small token of our appreciation. Be sure to look us up if you ever make it out east to Brindol." He then hands her a handbill for their trouple before the trio offers the adventurers their thanks. Once farewells are said, the trio departs into the town, eager to put the whole affair behind them and to begin plotting their return to the city.

The party has returned to Terrelton and is at a bit of crossroads with some members wishing to return to the cave and others, not so much.

OOC: Inside the small leather sack are 5 small cut malachite stones, worth 25 gp each

Sarah buys a piece of warm bread.  She holds it in both hands, munching on it and chewing each bite thoroughly before swallowing.  Her mannerisms are rather mouse-like as she nibbles on her food.

Having perhaps seen the last of Ebermund and his friends, Eoni handed each of the others one of the gems.

"Let's get cleaned up and a meal into us before we make our plan to lure out the Jackals on our way home," she proposed.  "Perhaps there may be a caravan headed our way that would pay for an escort."  She added this last with an eye for the more mercenary of their troupe.

"Aye Captain Eoni. Whatever ye say. Mayhap ye want us to fall in for head count. We could march some for ye." Said Marklin,with obvious scorn in his voice.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:20, Sun 16 July 2017.

Valthur places an arm around the angry fighter and pats him on the back. "Come now, Marklin. Don't take it too hard. We lost the vote fair and square and we made it back to town with our heads still attached to our shoulders. Let's go see if the local pub accepts malachite stones."

OOC: Safe to assume we each take a single stone?
This message was last edited by the player at 07:31, Sun 16 July 2017.

 Marklin tossed the gemstone that was his share, a few times in the palm of his hand. When he heard Vulthur's words, the frown upon his face lessened. “Aye, a few ales will help to wash the foul taste from me mouth. Let's go, Vulthur."

 Marklin would shock many,when he spent some of his coin on a new spear,and garments. THEN, he would blow the rest on drinking and what not.

Only slightly disappointed that the others were more survival-minded than herself and Marklin, Aldara resolves to buy more supplies with her share of the kingly treasure, so that there is less need for return trips.

She also, true to herself and regardless of whether or not a stable is in pain sight, asks around add to where she might be able to find a pack mule.

Marklin would make his way to the market place, where he would seek to purchase a new spear. He would then visit places to replace or repair his armor, and get spare garments.

 Once these errands where done, the warrior would return to the Inn, but not before stopping at a few watering holes along the way. With any luck, Marklin would encounter his buddy, Valthur.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:16, Wed 19 July 2017.