Haildas en Kr'wyn arrive at the guards barracks. They look for the captain's office and ask the man who guards the office, to notify the captain of their arrival and their wish to speak with him.

  The two are lead into the Captain's Office, He seems  busy with  some paper work, while a rather chubby fellow  who is dressed, overly nice, sits in a chair  , just of to the side.

 The guard that leads  the two in, clears his throat. The Captain Looks  up and Nods to the guard, who goes  back out the office.

 ..I am rather busy, as you can see... witht eh  Empire's bean counter. It is  , only your station as Arrows, that agreed to see you...but...it must be swift.

 The Chubby fellow, smiels  as he  drinks  from a glass of brandy,..indeed... i should not have to wait for your dealings with common folk  to...

 The CAptain glares  at the  accountant ,..I....am  common folks. I have fought in battles, you only know of, by eating  fish dip at parties....I give my time to those i wish...unless, you would rather go back to the Inn?  And I will call you...'when i get around to it...'

   the fellow  frowned, his  face  red, but  just refilled his  lalss and adjusted his robes.

 ..Now...be swift, as i said..and..no..we will not release the woman any sooner..she is lucky , not to be in the bowels of the arena, waiting for her chance to ..'prove herself'

"No Captain, that is not what we come to ask. As you know, the Arrows took on the contract to find out more about the missing persons in this town. As you are the one who gave out the contract, you could tell us more about our task. We will start with our task, while our companions serve their time."

  The Captain  stood up, the  account as about to say something , but  was silenced  by the CAptain's  hard stare.

  There are a few peopel who live outside the   walls, that are considered ' bowshot folk'. We patrol at random times, incase slavers, pirates, goblins,  he waves off any mo9re examples,


 ..attack, or start wandering about , near them. We have HAd  6 complaints of missing people from there..though one , was found half eaten, we assume a serpent got him.. the others  have not been found. Soemtimes..people  in smaller town, seek out  the larger  places...or? head to the Coast, where the weather is nicer and the sea beckons..

 he sat on the  edge of his desk,..they have pulled some money together, to get a contract....a few Companies have come through, but they turned them down, the coin was not high enough, to waste thier  time. I find it odd, Arrows  would be lookign into this?... But your best bet, would be to ask around, at the  homes near the river.

"We thank you for your time and counsel in regards to this matter.  Not all mercenaries seek fame and gold, my good sir."

Justin nodded in reply to the Sergeants comment then returned to the job assigned to him. When in the stable he had an opportunity to assess both the horses and buildings conditions; maintenance and treatment.

There wasn't much left to clear out of this Stable. Dropping the last of the pile into the cart, she wondered where they'll be taken next.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:00, Wed 09 Nov 2016.

After their talk with the captain, Kr'wyn and Haildas finds themselves on the street again. "To the river and asking questions, I think," voices Kr'wyn his plan, waiting for Haildas to join.

The day's tasks helped see that it passed quickly. If opportunity presented itself he chatted with those available. ooc about general topics of the others choice, his goal being to glean an idea of what they'd share.

In reply to Krwyn (msg # 839):

"Sounds like a logical starting place to me.  Lead the way."

  Justin and Myra  fill the   next cart, on their own...it takes a bit longer  as the  o9thers  do the Heavy lifting with Hay Bales. There are more then a few curses and such as  bales falling, or tired   people dropping them.

  The SGT  comes over   calling them all into the barn and motions to crates and bales  for them to sit down.

  some  women come over  , again, with clay  bowls  wooden spoons. They Ladle some thick stew/soup into the bowels while a  small girl  breaks of   chucks of  bread and gives  each person a chunk.

 Behind them is  an older  man who carries a cold water  skin, and fills clay Mugs with water that the boy hands to the prisoners.

 ..... Ye got 20 minutes  to rest and eat.... don't waste it....

....................................

  Krwyn and  Haildas  leave the   walls   and make their  way down towards the river, they watch the   ferry pulling itself  across the river,  the  Big Gates of  Ironmound   are slowly opening as a pair  of sloops make their  way  out of the city.

In reply to Bowshot (msg # 842):

Myranda thanks the Women, Man and girl as they provide these. Moving to a crate she perches on a crates and quickly consumes the food and drink. Subtly watching the other prisoners and guards as she does.

Kr'wyn and Haildas walks along the river till they meet someone who seems to live there or the first houses along the river, whatever comes first. Whomever they meet, Kr'wyn asks about recently missing people.

   It takes a bit of a walk, say, 20 minutes of so ( going straight over grasslands, rather then the  dirt road  tp the ferry)

 They can see, what passes for a road, near the  river Some  small stone Cottages , or  slightly bigger   wooden homes and be seen...trails of smoke  rise into the  air  from a Chimney here or there.

 one odd note... on the river side of the plots of land are stockade fences..or   waits high stone  wall. Large,sharpened poles, jut out. facing the river.

 There are pens  for pigs  and chickens, though a lot of the fowl run about the ground..  The first cottage has  smoke, but   no one seems to be about.

 down the road they see a larger, wooden home, there are some kids  cutting the grass in the yard with a  scythe... a woman is   handing clothing on a line as  the gentle  wind blows.

When Kr'wyn notices the stockades, walls and sharpened poles, he mentions to Haildas: "Almost certainly to keep away the river monsters. People who live here are for sure very alert on these monsters. It seems not realistic to expect that all missing people can be contributed to the monsters."

Haildas and Kr'wyn walk in the direction of the woman who is handing clothing to a line.

Justin's attempt at conversing with the locals netted little, perhaps time may change that, after all he and Myranda were prisoners and probably unknown to any of the locals.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:11, Sat 12 Nov 2016.

   Krwyn and Haildas  passed the  first cottage and was nearing the  2nd , witht he  two kids  cutting  down Grass. Now and then the   kids  would stop. gathering  an armful of the Grass, using one of  the blades to wrap around the bundled  and tie it  tight. Then leave it on the short stone  wall to dry...then take a drink of water from a bucket, and start again...

 Further down the road , was a heavy duty wagon, well built  with strong horses.  A  well dressed wagoneer  sat on the seat while a well dressed guard looked around  from the top of the wagon.

 Another man, well dressed, but in working leathers, was helping  an farmer and a younger son load up stone, onto his wagon.

............................


 The prisoners  well called back to work, after the people gathered the lunch items from them all.

 Coming over to  Justin and Myra, he pointed to Myra and said,you got with the women to wash the  dishes and such, one of them  will bring you over when  yer  done.  YOu are coming with me, to help  the Stablemaster... he said , pointing to Justin as he said the last bit.

  One of the older woman  waved to  Myra to follow her, the boys  were pumping  water into  buckets that they dumped into a larger Bucket that would be used to wash the bowels pots  ect.

 Justin and the SGT met with the stable master who sorta  frowned at Justin, then shrugged, Right then?...  don't know how much practice you had of using a hammer... but you and me are Goin' up in the loft... Me boys   will be   pulling in boards  from the  door,and we're gonna replace the   floor on the west side of the loft.. then we can begin to load up that side with  hay bales as well...

Myranda trails along after the dishwoman, adjusting her sleaves as she goes. Reaching the tub she plunges her hands into the water grabs a scrubbing brush and applies it vigorously to the dirty items.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:58, Sun 13 Nov 2016.

In reply to bowshot (msg # 848):

Justin greets the Stable Master nodding his acknowledgement of the task to be carried out. Taking the provided hammer he assesses it for balance and workability commenting on his findings and the tools similarity to the weapon.

Kr'wyn walks up to the well dressed man, the farmer and the younger son loading up stone. When they reach the men, he starts with some small talk, but as the men seemed pressed to load he wagon, he comes quickly to his topic: "... From the guard Captain we heard some people were missing along the river for the last couple of weeks. He thought that perhaps not al was due to the river monsters and asked us to look into the matter. Can you tell us something? Have you missing persons in your family or among your neighbours?"

  Myra doesn't get much talk from the women and kids. The sorta frown at the thought of a woman going to battle  for money,( even though they seem not to mind women guardsmen and such)

 one of the younger women who is drying the  bowls and such speaks upwell...there are at  4 missing in the last month..some say the parts of a body found last week was one of them...but they can't be sure....

....................

  The  Stable master  has  Justin and Himself hamming  down the boards, eh says,..ahh?.. fools, most like? going after a serpent to bring in  some decent coin?..Running off  with a Neighbor's   spouse...who knows...

...............................

 Krwyn and Hald watch the   workman, Been coming down here  for years..get River stones  for them nobles  for sidewalks and out buildings..These folk?... get together and  haul some  out, i come down every two weeks, see what they got...now?.. missing folks?, someone got too greedy... fell in..drwon..eaten..who knows... But i do know, ain't no one see folks   again, once they are gone...whether it be death..or a new life..they'er  gone.

In reply to Bowshot (msg # 852):

Myranda thanked the young woman this was helpful.  Picking up on the women's and children's attitude towards her she asked what they had against her.

  The  young  woman shakes her head,..the  people that are missing, are  are bank dwellers i have been in the town since i was born.

 The oldest woman who seemed to be the task master, though, she, herself  was working too.... look at yerself? ye walk about  with folks who kill other folks, just so's you can pick  up a handful of gold, well those  that's like us...well... we gotta  work all day long ta get some coopers.

In reply to Bowshot (msg # 854):

Auntie Dear for many that may be true; for me it is not. The Sisters of Fate guide my path; it is they who have tasked me to seek a balance where I am able, so that others, such as the young, have an opportunity to grow and experience what they may. The Sisters direct me to aid those, who are not yet called to the next, to live a full life. If you think this is done for mere coin you are in error. For no amount of coin can be a substitute for the tasks allotted to me.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:54, Tue 15 Nov 2016.

"A new life?  Are you suggesting, good sir, that these people simply walked off?"