Esperon nods to the boy, ignoring Arry for now. "We will stay here and guard the others--Arry, Hurley and me. We will keep them safe while you both go for help."

"Espy - thinking one of us 3 should head to town, since we're the one's as cut the deal for that poor sob's life. Maybe I go and Troph can stay. Unless you're keen on the hike."

Esperon shrugs. "I still think I'm the right guy, then. I came to an understanding with Her Majesty, after all."

"You do your thing," he encourages Esperon. "Far be it from me to get in the way of your out-of-towner romance," he teases. "Not a bad idea, really.... A rogue like yourself finding a steady woman with roots... not to mention a good job and her own lawn enforcement. You could do worse." He offers a wink and waves Esperon off.

Hurley pulls his large axe from his back and thunks it, head down, dramatically on the ground. "I got things here."

'She's married, unfortunately for Esperons sake. We may have just recovered her husband here. We still have no proof what's his face isn't behind all this, I'm guessing its more likely he unwittingly turned the machine on. We need to work on what we tell her. There is still the raster cave at the coast to investigate, but all these townsfolk should be enough to stay her Executioner's  hand. '

Esperon nods. <goldenrod>"Exactly--as a favor to us, at least. Still, let me do this..."<goldenrod>

He looks among the prisoners for a person that matches the description of the mayor's husband.

As Esperon scans the myriad of rescued villagers, he sees two men that might resemble the mayor's husband. Both are still in a state of unconsciousness, though the people in their 30s are starting to come to, so it may not be long before they begin to awaken.

Esperon turns back to the others. "I say we wait until these two guys wake up. I need to find out if the mayor's husband survived. If not, we have a problem. If we do, I can bring that news back with me."

'Never underestimate the knowledge of a child. The boy may know his face.'

Esperon nods in acknowledgement of Trophonius' point and walks over back to the young man. "Say, there, fellow--do you happen to know the mayor's husband?"
This message was last edited by the player at 17:00, Tue 03 July 2018.

The young man nods. "Of course. He's the red-haired man with the grey in his beard." He points to a man who looks to be in his early 50s, eyes struggling to open, dressed in a higher quality outfit comprised of a blend of leather and cloth.

Esperon nods. "All right. Let's wait a minute."

He moves back over to Arry and the girl whom he had frightened earlier. "Sorry about that," he says gruffly to the girl, but with sincerity.

The girl shivers slightly at Esperon's words, but she does seem to relax a bit.

The teenage boy that pointed out the mayor's husband is now appearing to be a bit more sure on his feet. "I guess Mayor Shthila was worried about her husband and sent you to find him? I'll certainly go back to town with you to let him know he's been rescued and is safe..."

Esperon grins broadly. "You're a bright lad. That sounds fabulous. Shall we start walking? It's not too far."

Arry hugs her a little tighter and leans in to whisper to her. "See, the big, grumpy man does know how to apologise though even his apologies sound grumpy."

The young man nods. "I'll have to take your word for it as I have no idea where I am. Maybe you can explain a little more what happened to us on the way. You lead, I'll follow."

Esperon agrees, and after checking once more with his companions, Esperon and the lad head back to town...

"Good luck you guys. Come back soon."

Hurley begins pacing around the camp of rescued townspeople. He isn't nervous, exactly, but he is definitely not comfortable playing nursemaid. It makes him anxious.

Instead he circles the group looking to the sky for incoming danger.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:57, Wed 11 July 2018.

Esperon and the young man make their way back to Groshdou. It is before noon as they depart so it is expected they'll reach the village by the afternoon the following day.

Most of the rescued villagers have regained consciousness, the oldest of the lot are just beginning to open their eyes. The adventurers gradually begin having questions hurled at them, where they are, what happened to them, who are the adventurers, etc.

Trophonius head cocks sideways, as his face goes blank and a far away look overtakes his eyes. He pointedly crosses toward the dome, and slowly reaches out. His hand fades away as it nears the dome, leaving a ghostly blue glow where it was.

Trophonius finds his hand slowly but easily begins to go through the exterior of the dome as his molecular structure conforms to that of the structure. Within the span of a minute, he easily passes through the wall of the structure and is able to slip inside.

"Why did he do that?" Arry asked as she stood up. "We fought to get out of there and he just went back in?"

Mad cackling can faintly be heard from within the dome.

After several minutes Trophonius emerges from the dome in the same manner that he entered it. However, he has fashioned the drying crusting membrane from one of the ovoids and is passing it through the exterior of the dome with him.

"Mad cackling is never a good thing," Arry muttered to herself but loud enough for Hurley to hear.

She looked up as the odd man walked back out of the dome with his unpleasant package and cocked her head quizzically. "What are you doing with that?"