Breaking up is hard to do

Sandros smiles, and shaking his head, he hands the half-eaten apple to Myr. "Nope...it's all yours, milady."

Standing up, he quickly scoops his balls of twine into his pouch, and picking up his pack, heads for the door. "I guess I'll go after tall, dark and ugly on my own...if I don't come back, remember to say nice things at my funeral." He winks, and heads out into the street, peering about to find which direction the departing half-orc may have wandered off to.

Alexa gets up and gathers her things saying as she catches up to Sandros "I guess I'll go with him .Feel free to join us"

Taking Sandros' apple, Myridian gives him a grin of thanks, and watches him depart, smiling at the way he walked. She twists a tiny bit of the apple out with a long fingernail, and puts it into her pocket, then takes a bite of the fruit herself.  "So..." she says as the beginning of a conversation starter, still chewing the apple. "What now?"

Tavarak slips Avon his room key before the man departs. "Of the chest i can not tell you much, it looks like your average travel chest, sorry." Tav stands and looks at Sandros and Alexa. "Good luck to the two of you, and watch your backs. I'll head off and see about getting that charter, for whatever its worth." Looking at Ven and Myridian "I guess it would be worth staying and acting as lookout and back-up for Avon, or you could join me if you like" Tav turns to leave but stops and turns to his companions, "Say just as an after thought, if they want some fancy name put on this charter, hmmm does anyone have any suggestions? Something like a company name?" Tavarak waits for any suggestions before heading off to the embassy.

Avon gets the key and looks at the number, then he looks up the stairs towards where the rooms are. "A name you say", Avon says while studying the layout of the tavern. "What about, Heroes of Might and Magic?", he laughs, "I always wanted to be a hero. But seriously, I have no idea, as long as the charter itself holds something about multiple persons I guess."

Suddenly he turns towards Myridian, and with a serious face he says "Do you mind coming with me, I could need some backup, preferably some one that knows a little magic."

Avon walks towards the bar and pays for his drinks, including the ones of Myridian. He makes sure he hides the key Tavarak has given him and inquires about a room for the night.

Myridian grins slyly and rises from her chair. "Oooh... I'd just love to come along." She takes a last pinch off of the apple and feeds it to her pocket.

"I don't care what the group is called," she tells Ven, "As long as it's not the 'Dangling Cheese Tusks of Perpetual Discombobulation' or something." She cackles and pats his shoulder as she follows Avon.

When Avon heads for the bar to pay the bill for himself and Myr and then turns to the stairs, followed closely by Myridian, Aglora takes the opportunity to remind them that it'll be 1SP *each* for the night.. for a room for 2... no matter whether they use both beds or not. She winks conspiratorially to Myr. Aglora passes Myridian a room key.

Wriggling her eyebrows at Aglora as if she'd read her mind, Myr forks over a silver piece for herself, and takes Avon's arm, thinking it just as well it be thought they were up to a rendezvous, instead of up to no good. "Shall we, darling?" she says, batting her eyelids.

The Burglary

Avon walks up the stairs with Myridian. Half way up the stairs he purposefully misses a step and almost tumbles down. He's laughing acting as if he is a little drunk. Once they are at the top of the stairs and out of site he laughs one more time before looking for Tavarak's room. He carefully looks if there is some one around, when he sees there isn't he slowly walks towards the door of the room.

Myridian's room is toward the end of the hall over the kitchen area. Two doors before her room, is the one shared by Tav and the half-orc.

When he reaches the door he lays his ear against it to listen if there is anyone still in the room. Then he turns towards Myridian and holds a finger to his lips. "Shhhh, I think you'd better come in, instead of waiting in the hall. That would be too suspicious. Just leave the door on a crack so you can watch if anyone coming." Avon, opens the door with Tavarak's key. As Avon slowly opens the door he sticks his head in first to have a good look, and to make sure the room is empty. As he slips through the door he motions to Myridian to enter as well. Once inside Avon scans the room for the chest, meanwhile he asks Myridian absently "What kind of magic do you deal in anyway?"

The room is empty. On each side is a bed and an open closet. Some of Tav's clothes are hanging from pegs in the closet on the right. On the left is a similar bed and closet. At the foot of the bed is a sturdy wooden chest with metal bands. There is a large hole for a skeleton-type key in the middle. There are a pair of plain boots under the bed and some toiletries on a shelf in the closet.

Avon walks across the room and kneels at the chest. He puts his backpack down and gets out his lock picks. He beams a big smile towards Myridian. Then his face turns serious again. He looks if he can discover any traps. "Hmmm. Looks clean," he says to himself.

Then he feels if the chest is locked. Gently he insert one of his picks and tries to open the chest. It takes Avon quite a few minutes to work the lock, but eventually it does open. "*AAAHHHH-CHOOOO!*" Avon's sneeze raises a small cloud of white powder. He notices now that there was a fine coating of powder on the metal near the lock and on the top of the chest.

Inside the chest, he finds:

several sets of clothes.
an empty backpack.
6 crossbow quarrels.
2 daggers
an empty money belt.
6 loose coppers on the bottom
a half dozen candles and a firebox. the label on the firebox says: "Ichabod's Incredibles, 47 Dragon Boulevard, O5"
[OOC: the firebox contains small sticks that, when struck against a rough surface, burst into flame... Everyone has heard of them, few have seen them.]

A calendar in a small book. The days are crossed off one at a time, up to today. In the margin next to each week is: 250
At the end of every 4th week is a line with 1000 beneath. This starts on April 1, ends on July 1. There is a double line with the grand total 4250. Then, beneath is circled July 15, and a new total 4750.

Avon goes trough the stuff in the chest. When his eyes fall on the money belt he immediately reaches for it, only to discover that the belt is empty, and he throws it back in the chest with a disappointed face. He then takes a closer look at the backpack, to see if it is empty and passes the daggers through his hands. They are probably just daggers, but you never know, strange runes might mean magic, and some people like to put jewels on there daggers, but then again, an Orc probably doesn't.

When he gets hold of the candles and especially the firebox he hesitates. He plays with the firebox for a couple of seconds. If he takes anything out of the box they run the chance of being discovered, and you don't want to be around when an orc discovers you have stolen his stuff. Not that he ever had that experience, but somehow Avon just knows it wouldn't be a good idea. But this firebox might be worth some money. And what was that powder. Avon doesn't like loosing control, and somehow he felt that the powder meant he had forgotten something. Without further thinking he puts the firebox in his pocket. He glances a quick look at the candles but decides to leave them. He then takes the book with the calendar and studies the figures carefully.

Myr peers over Avon's shoulder from a good distance back for a quick look into the chest, while still keeping a good eye on the door. Nothing really interests her, although she's surprised the thief isn't pocketing anything but the firebox.

"*AAAAAHHHHHCCHHHHHOOOOOO!*" Avon sneezes again, then wipes his nose on the sleeve of his tunic and continues to look.  Avon looks at his sleeve if he can see what it is that makes him sneeze, or to be more precise what the white powder is. He feels his nose with his fingers and looks at his fingers and rubs his nose with the back of his hand against the itching. The he calls out to Myridian in a soft voice. "Soth! Myr... Myr. What is this stuff, this powder. Is it magical? Soth!"

Slipping over for a closer look, Myr covers her nose with her cloak, and takes a good look at the powder.  "Looks like powder to me... It'd take me a while to find out if it's magical. Did you get some of it up your nose, or did you just start sneezing? Maybe it's just so our orcan benefactor will know if someone's been playing with his chest. Better find something to fix it back - although he's gonna notice his little pyrotechnics kit is missing eventually."

There is a second smaller book. "Athring Navigators Almanac" Each day of the year is listed. Next to it is the phase of the moon, and the times of the two high and low tides that day. On the inside cover is hand written : "SQ +60 min"

Avon looks at the book and decides he can remember the written text. He focuses on the text and repeats it a couple of times to himself then he puts the book back.  Then he turns to the page for January 2. Looks at it again. Still confident in his infallible memory, he continues.. riffling thru the pages faster.

The boots under the bed are of moderate quality. At a guess, they'd be size: Orc Medium... about an XL for a human, or XXXXXL for an elf.  Avon carefully closes the chest and gets up. He takes another look at the Orc's boots but decides to leave them be since they are too big for him. Before heading for the door he takes a look in the closet to see if he can find more interesting things

Among the toiletries [aside from the usual things] in the closet is a small pouch of powder, and a jar with a screw top. The jar is labeled "Bear Grease", and on opening it, Avon thinks that is exactly what is inside. On the floor of the closet, tucked inside one of a pair of soft cloth slippers [color=pink] is a small leather pouch. Inside the pouch is a small, partially used 1" candle.

Avon hesitates again when he looks at the toiletries. He softly curses. He looks at Myridian at the door, then he looks back at the closet. Suddenly in a burst of activity he, carefully, takes the pouch and the jar. He also grabs the candle. He remembers an old saying "Anything kept in slippers or under a mattress is worth something", and if that isn't a saying it should be one. In one fluent motion he turns back to the chest and opens it again, this time making sure not disturbing the powder too much. He looks inside and grabs the candles, the book with the calendar and the book with the moon phases. During all this Avon keeps mumbling to himself, even as he stuffs all the items in his backpack and heads for the door he seems to have a conversation with himself.

Myridian, peering thru a slightly cracked door, puts a hand on Avon to shush him. She sees the half-elf who had gone up for a bath earlier coming down the hallway with her hair in a towel, wearing a loose robe. The half-elf goes into the room directly opposite, leaving the door partly open. Myr can see her pound on the wall of her room. *THUMP THUMP THUMP* "Hey JAN," she shouts. "Let's get out of here tomorrow!"

"Later Crystal!" Jan's voice comes thru the wall.
"Yeah.. later. ---- (giggle)" Echos a muffled female voice.
"Sorry 'bout that," laughs Crystal. She stands at ease in the middle of her room, rubbing her hair with the towel, unaware -- or uncaring -- that her door is half open.

As soon as Avon reaches the door and sees the person in the other room he > curses under his breath. He turns to Myridian, "Any good ideas?"

"Erhm..." Myr peeks through the door. "Two ideas. Either I send my little friend here..." She plucks the lizard who'd been resting in her pocket out and into her palm, showing him to Avon, "...into the next room for a distraction, and we slip out, or, we wait, hoping she'll shut the door, and then, be ready to pretend we're totally sloshed and got our keys mixed up."

"I am loosing my touch, this is going wrong I tell you", he says while looking at Myridian. Then Avon notices Myridians hand and looks at the lizard that is presented to him. "By Shar, what's that? Is that 'we'? I thought it might be a mouse or something... but this. Well you might as well use him... or her... it?"

Avon flexes his hand... looking at it. "My fingers are starting to get tingly. This *is* going wrong. And I'm starting to feel lightheaded -- and it wasn't that rum. Whatever we're going to do.. it better be fast." He puts out a hand as if to steady himself against the wall.

Crystal is wandering around her room, drying her hair, goes to the closet and tosses a few garments on the bed. Her room seems to be a mirror of this one: 2 beds on opposite walls, no window, closet on each side. Her bed is on the side behind the door. When she's at the closet, Myr judges that they *might* be able to get into the hall unnoticed...but then again they might not, since Crystal is moving around.

"Okay... okay... okay..." Myr puts the newt down on the floor and puts her palms to her temples, thinking.

"All right... I'm going to send my little friend in there to hopefully distract her while she's behind the door, and then we'll slip out." She inspects Avon for any visible white powder before continuing.  "If we get caught, then just follow my lead... I guess."

Kneeling down, she establishes a mental link with the lizard, instructing it to run into the next room, and to crawl over Crystal's toe. Then, she stands, checks the hallway as best she can without opening the door further, and slips her arm around Avon to support him, planning to make a break for it and get the door shut as quickly as possible after her little green buddy disappears into Crystal's room.

Little green buddy slips to the floor and scurries across the hall. It [she?he?] slides under the door and soon enough there is a brief but gratifying "EEK" followed by a "THUD" followed by a long string of "*&&*^$#(*@%"

Myr hooks Avon around the waist and he puts his hand on her shoulder. She slips out into the hall, quietly closes the door and heads down to "their" room. She opens the door just as Avon drops the pack he'd been holding in his free hand. Myr pushes him inside, toward the bed, grabs the pack, steps inside and closes the door. Avon fells onto the bed and clumsily rolls over.

"biy biink by boooo boooff i baaaa buukigg baaaa i bbeeeeuuhhh beeeeby." Obviously Avon thinks he's talking. He moves his hands over his lips. Then he looks at his fingers. He looks at Myr, tilting his head to the side with a lost puppy dog look.

Myr looks at him, relieved to note her little green buddy has slithered under the door and up her leg.  "Good job, Flybreath," she tells the lizard as he pops back into her pocket, and then, she hurries over to Avon.

"Smoogy globules of giant guano!" she says, looking a bit panicked.

"Poison, or sleeping powder?" she wonders aloud, and then starts rummaging through her pack for her herb sack. "Well, if it's sleeping powder... it would wear off eventually, I'd think... hmm... best to try this." She begins tossing herbs on the bed, looking for something that might slow down poison, if poison it be.

"But... what KIND of poison might it be... If I give him the wrong antidote, THAT could poison him." She decides to wait.

As she works, she begins to feel a slight tingling sensation on her neck/shoulder, where Avon's hand had rested. *THAT* feeling, she knew. "Avon," she bent over him, shaking him lightly by the shoulder. "Avon! I think it's just numbweed. It should wear off in a few hours.. by morning at the latest. Nothing to do but rest."

At least, she *HOPED* it was numbweed. She was familiar with making a poultice of crushed numbweed leaves and applying it to an injury to kill the pain. Wonder what happens when you breathe the stuff in? She looked down on the elf, snoring quietly, now...a little drool leaking out of the corner of his mouth. "Yes," she thought, "I did see him wipe his nose or mouth after that first sneeze....That would explain the bleepy-bloopy talk. --- Would his lungs go numb and stop working? -- And this was a powder... did that make it stronger than just crushed leaves?"

She looked at her pack on the floor.. then at Avon's with the stolen items, and pondered what to do next.

Another Meeting

After leaving the Flying Fish, Tav strolls toward the center of town. He's wearing his usual: nice looking city-duds. The broad street is busy. As get gets closer to the downtown, he notes iron tracks set in the street. Then he sees a horsedrawn streetcar. But he's enjoying the late afternoon walk. It clears the remaining few cobwebs from last night's revels

Nearing the embassy, he turns the corner, only to see the side of the Embassy / Bank building. There is a hand lettered sign over the door. "Please come back during normal business hours, tomorrow." Mentally kicking himself for his late start on the day, he whirls around to see what else might be of interest.  And bumps head on into a pair of good looking elves... rather an elf and a half-elf ... who are accompanied by a large wolf-dog with impressively sharp teeth. The teeth are currently bared, but the dog is merely *staring* at the moment

At seeing the embassy is closed he silently curses his luck, still mumbling, "Heros of the New Beginning, Questers of Justice, Searchers of Truth, Companions of the Quest, hmmm that has a nice ring to it" ...

Tavarak smiles at the pair "Well please excuse my clumsiness ladies, alas if you have come in search of a charter, i fear that you, like myself are to late. It appears to be closed until the morrow." Tav looks at the animal and comments "Hmmmm a fine looking animal, but a bit on the hungry side it would appear."

Tav extends his hand, half wondering if the wolf will attempt to chew it off. "Well met, my name is Tavarak"

Starmyst smiles at Tav and nods her head. "I'm Starmyst, part of the order of the Druids." After a hesitant pause, she asks him, "Might you be searching for the lost Dwarven Prince as well? You look like the adventuring type.." She decides she won't mention anything about the map... yet...

"Well met Starmyst, part of the order of the Druids, my thats a very long name, may i just call you Starmyst for short?" Tavarak winks before leaning closer to the girl lowering his voice and continuing "Why yes as a matter of fact i am in search of a lost Dwarven Prince, you haven't happened to come across one in your travels have you. They are so hard to come across and any help would be most welcome." Tav chuckles "But seriously yes i am indeed one of many seeker of the Dwarven Prince. I was just on my way to secure a charter, alas the embassy is closed. I'm sure it will be open on the morrow though. How about the two of you, are you also in search of the wayward prince?"

Starmyst chuckled and replied, "Yes, that'll do fine." She glanced at Quill before leaning closer and whispering, "Yes, we're searching as well, and we could quite possibly have a strong lead already." She raised an eyebrow, challenging him to think she was lying.

Quill meets the glance of Starmyst with a slight smirk. "Why is it that every male in this city feels that every woman is helpless and needs to be rescued with their charm?" she thinks.

Quill scratches Edge behind his ears and says, "Hungry? No, he's just eaten, but he does seem to growl at pretentious adventurers. He's harmless." She switches her attention to Edge, "Aren't you boy?"  Edge quickly changes his visage, his eyes widen and he lets his tongue loll from his mouth, the ominous growl is replaced by the steady rythymn of panting.

"My name is Quill O'Dann," she extends her hand to shake Tavarek's. "I'm part of no order, but I am familiar with the woods. As for a charter, I happen to have one of my own." The breeze picks up and Quill is distracted enough to look towards the northeast. "Those dark clouds seem to be moving in..." her words catch in her throat as she notices the three forms flying above the city.

As the day moves toward evening and twilight, ominous looking clouds are rolling in from the northeast. The breeze is picking up. [OOC: This is the usual and normal direction for ominous clouds.]

Taking a look up at the sky, the sharp-eyed can see a trio of shapes, high in the sky, flying northwest. The sun glints dazzlingly off golden scales, giving each a glimpse of gold dragons on the wing. The old myths say that dragons were created by the Gods as companions long before they thought of mankind. Gold dragons, thought to be Illuvitar's creations, are a sign of good luck. They are rarely seen, almost never encountered. Their antagonists, the Black Dragons, are said to have become extinct during the Gods' Wars. Hysterical tales told by war refugees from the north claim that the Mark of Maendir has recreated and enslaved a Black --- but no one has ever seen it.

Old babas scare young children with stories of shape-shifting dragons, who appear in the guise of men, with unnatural eyes having pupils not round, but in the shape of a + .

Mage guilds teach that these are not myths, but truths. Not stories of ancient times, but of modern times. That the beings we call dragons are creatures of nearly pure magic, who can take whatever shape is convenient.

As the trio are walking along the street, talking about the missing Prince --- their attention is caught briefly by a sign in a shoppe: "Madame Farquhar -- Mystic and Seer -- Come in and get clues for your search for the Prince". Thru dusty windows, they see a woman with a feather in her hair, peering into a crystal ball.

Quill supresses her laughter and gives Starmyst an incredulous look. "You can't be serious. The only thing these places are good for are releiving people from their silver."

Tavarak grins, "Well hey why not take that leap of faith, you never know Quill those dragons might be our sign of good luck" Tav smiles only half believing his own statement.

Starmyst laughed impishly, having more and more fun by the second. She opened the door and walked in, looking around the darkened room, but not before she looked up at the sky and sent a prayer of thanks to the gold dragons.

Quill tries to be the last through the door, but Tavarek holds the door and says with a slight bow and gesture, "Ladies first." Quill flashes him a glance and winks at him.

Tavarak grins in reply, feeling that these two ladies would make valuable allies and a most welcome addition to the group.

A little bell attached to the door tinkles as it swings open. On close examination, it's clear that this is not an "old" woman at >all. She's a human, in her middle years, a little chubby. There are bright spots of red on her cheeks. "AHhhhh!" she smiles at them, showing a broken tooth. "**DOOOO** come in! I've been expecting you." she gestures at the crystal ball.

Quill leads Edge through the door behind Starmyst.

"To tell the fortune for a group of powerful and skilled adventurers like yourselves will be an interesting challenge. And it will cost only 5 silvers. Please take a seat. The only thing you need do, is to touch the ball. All of you at the same time."

Tavarak is somewhat relieved that there is only one crystal ball on the table, cringing slightly at the thought of returning to the inn with a tale of laying hands on a set of crystal balls.

Starmyst smiled at the Seer and at the same time wondered if she was crazy or just plain hyper. Nevertheless, she fished out two silvers and set them down on the table and took a seat next to her. She tentatively reached a hand out and placed the ends of her fingers on the crystal ball, wondering if it would zap her or something scary like that.

"Come, come." says the fortune teller... "We need ALL of you to touch the crystal..." She scoops the 2 silvers away with a practiced sweep of her hand. "You *DO* want to hear the TRUTH of what happened to the Prince, don't you? How can you hope to find him otherwise?"

Tavarak looks at both Starmyst and Quill before shrugging and depositing 2 silver coins on the table. Sighing he leans forward and lays his finger tips on the smooth crystal. "Just remember ladies, if this works out for the best, it was my idea, if not" Tav motions to the wolf with his head "It was his idea"

The gypsy scoops up the coins almost before theyhit the table. She turns her toothy smile on Quill. "Miss?? Don't you want to know what's going to happen in your future?"

Then she turns her attention to the crystal ball..."Speak to me, O Spirits! Heed my call!" She repeats over and over in a sing-song chant.

"You dear," she says to Starmyst, "are at a crossroads. You face great danger. You are a lover of all things natural and detest pain inflicted on innocents. If things haven't yet gone crazy, they soon will. If everything still seems calm and ordered, enjoy the peace while it lasts. A cat is about to be set amongst the pigeons. Is this bad? Not really. Those pigeons were getting lazy. They will get some essential exercise as they fly out of reach of the cat. What's happening now is cathartic. It will be intense - but it is part of a very healthy, very natural process."

"And you, handsome sir," she shifts her attention to Tav, "are destined to be led to taking life threatening risk all for love of a woman who does not even care for you. Don't look back. What's gone is gone. No matter how good it was, how much it meant to you, how sorely you miss it, you have to move forward. You can build the kind of future you once felt that you could only ever dream of. Yet to do this, you have to summon all your energy, even the part which is now being directed towards yesterday."

"And, as for your reluctant associate," she smiles at Quill. "Do not be distracted by your love of the open sky, for you are headed to a place where no light will enter. You are waiting, now, to discover the full implications of a recent development. You won't know quite how things have turned out for a couple of weeks or so. Meanwhile, you can toy with best and worst case scenarios or you can assume the best and deal with what else is important. If you want to avoid wasting time, this latter course of action is strongly recommended. Have a bit of faith."

She breaks contact with the crystal ball, and falls back to her chair, apparently exhausted. "I can tell you no more at this time."

The trio of new friends heads out once more into the street, glancing up at the looming darkness of the sky and turns toward the Flying Fish Inn.

The Dynamic Duo follow a Half-Orc

Sandros and Alexa step cautiously into the street, just in time to see the half-orc turn the corner heading south, toward the heart of the city. They hurry after, *in a casual way* [ :) ] The streets are busy, but not congested. And it's not difficult to keep him in sight. He is walking purposefully, not seeming to check his back.

After a while, he turns into a shop: "Oxcart Traveling Supplies". S&A pause a couple of dozen paces away to evaluate their next action.

Alexa asks Sandros "So.what now?should we get closer and see what he's doing or wait until he comes out? -- Hey,I have an idea.I'll wait for him to come back out and I will cast a charm spell on him.then hopefully he will be in our control.then we can get more information from him."then looks up in the sky and says "I hope he don't take too long.Looks like a storms a brewin"

Sandros glances up at the sky a moment, his lips pursed in thought. Finally, he shakes his head. "No...he's our best link right now to finding out what's happening, but if we take that link away from the chain...we may end up losing any shot we have at finding the dwarf. I think it's best we just follow for now. Don't want to stir up suspicions."

Glancing back the way they came, he continues, "Seems to me he's preparing for a long trip somewhere. Bet he'll be going wherever they're keeping the dwarf, wouldn't you say?" He shrugs. "Let's watch him a bit longer, then if he sets up passage on a ship, we'll have another good clue to take back to the others."

Alexa cheering herself up "Yeah,then we'll all get them"

The half-orc is in the store for quite a while... nearly 30 minutes. Then he comes out, crosses the street and goes into another shop: "Books, toys & amusements".

There are several other stores in this area:

clothes
a travel agent with a picture of a couple lolling about on the beach -- "The perfect honeymoon on the Isle of View"
a coffee shop -- their sign is a comet flying over the back of an antlered deer
next to the coffee shop is the "Happy Hour" tavern

The street is becoming less crowded. Most people are walking to somewhere. But over the time the Dynamic Duo are standing around on the street corner, they notice one fellow has not left the area. He's been in and out of a couple of shops for brief periods, and he's now looking at the travel poster.

After about 20 minutes inside, the half-orc comes out with a small stack of papers under his arm. Both stores are closing up now, the sun is nearly gone. He turns back in the direction he had come. He takes a look up at the sky, and hurries back, his pace even quicker than when he had set out on his little shopping expedition.

Once the half-orc heads back toward the Inn, Sandros glances up at the sky once more, and says, "You go ahead and follow him back. I'll head back to the Inn in a little while, so it doesn't look so obvious we were following him."

Before she heads off, he adds, "I think perhaps we should look into getting ourselves on the boat he's just booked passage on. Once we round up the others, of course."

The half-orc strides rapidly up the road. Alexa, after a brief talk with Sandros, turns to follow. About half-way back, the half-orc turns left at a corner. Alexa can just see him start to run. She hurries to the corner and looks carefully

He's gone. Between the darkening twilight and the shadows she cannot see the half-orc anymore. "He might have gone into one of those buildings, or even around another corner," she muses.

Sandros, lurking some blocks behind can barely see Alexa as she rushes to a corner then stops, turning her head back and forth. Sandros shakes his head, not liking the looks of this at all. He keeps moving, finally meeting up with Alexa again, and says, "Lose him? Damn..." He sighs. "Let's hope he goes back to the Inn. Otherwise, we may never find him, now."

Shrugging, he gestures toward the road. "I'm not going to go in there looking for him. Don't feel like adding some iron to my diet today. So, guess we may as well just get going..."

Alexa says "I'm not to crazy about iron myself.Let's just head back to the Inn and see what the others have learned." and starts walking back towards the Inn.

Back to the Flying Fish Inn

After being left alone, Ven decides that he can help best by keeping his ears open to pick up any other clues that may fall out of the sky. Of course, he is also the first line of defense should the Orc under investigation decide to return too soon. So, he sits, he watches, he listens, and he waits.

About half an hour has passed. The Flying Fish Inn is filling up for the evening, and Aglora and Deglora are busy. Deglora comes by and asks if he's staying for the night. "Better get yer room soon," she suggests, "'cause by the look of it, it'll be full up tonite too."

Having come in recently:

-- There is a group of humans and half-orcs sitting around a table near the fire. -- 8 in all. They are not showing any weapons, and in fact, seem to be town-folk. Their gossip is about whether Talis will get married "before it's too late."
-- Kormar has fallen asleep.
-- A party of 10 dwarves comes in from the door near the stables. They are *HEAVILY* armed: warhammers and chain. They are all dressed so similarly, one might think they're in the army, but there's no indication of insignia. Their packs are of the highest quality. The one who is their leader is wearing plate/chain combination. He strides to the desk while the others sit at a table near the bottom of the stairs.

Head Dwarf: "Jaspar Sedenton," he points to his chest with his thumb. "Party of 8 with mules in the stable. We'll need rooms, food and care for our animals. One night." He scatters a handful of silver coins on the desk. "Nothing stronger than cider else I'll not be responsible for their behavior."

Aglora, has seen it before, it seems. She tosses 4 keys back and slides the silver into her pouch. She turns and *thumps* the serving boy on the head. "Lump! Stew and bread for the gentlemen. And mind: bring them only cider."

Well, the clouds are really clumping up, and on the walk back to the Inn, it starts to rain. Then it REALLY starts to rain. Pretty soon, it reaches CPFR Rain [OOC: as it's called in Texas -- that's Cow Pissin' on a Flat Rock Rain] Doesn't look like it's gonna stop either. Thunderboomers and jagged strokes of lightening make for a nice show.

Sandros and Alexa are thoroughly drenched by they time they get back to the Inn. Stylishly late for supper tho they may be, it's a discouraging thought to realize that all their "dry" clothes are in their packs.

They clump into the Inn, dripping wet, seeing Ven and others pushing away that stew. Deglora comes over, all solicitious ... "You'll be wantin' something dry, I'd expect... We have some emergency robes and some towels we'll be glad to let you use... Only 50cp for the pair o' ye." She's poking and touching and "OOh My" -ing at their state. "And if ya want a room... well, we have a single for a gentleman with that feller there [indicating Ven] and some open rooms ... or if you're *together*... ?"

Surprisingly, Sandros doesn't seem too bothered by his soaking, but he gladly takes up the lady's offer for dry clothes. He hands over a silver piece, and answers, "I'll take a room of my own, if there's one left." He smiles, and takes the towel and robe gingerly, not wanting to get them as wet as the rest of him.

He takes up the key to his room once given, and heads upstairs to change. When he returns, he has the robe wrapped tightly about himself, and he moves to sit with the others.

Starmyst left the gypsy's shop, thinking that perhaps she hadn't been so badly ripped off as she first thought. She followed Tav through the muddy streets, and entered the Inn gratefully behind him. She smiles at the woman and nods acceptance of the offer, handing her a silver since she has no copper change.

And about 20 minutes later, Tav drags Starmyst, Quill and Edge into the Inn. The women had been pointing all the OTHER Inns they could have stayed in ... but Tav kept saying he knew these others and there was some information and...

Deglora comes over and does her thing again... 25cp each for some emergency dry clothes and towels... "BORROW, mind, not to keep. And ye'll be wantin' some nice warm food and a room."

Starmyst agrees readily and goes up to her room to change. A few moments later she emerged, still ringing out her hair, and requests that her Druid gown be washed and dried with extra special care. She'll pay the extra few coppers, if any are needed.

Quill also pays for a robe and towels, and asks Starmyst if she wouldn't mind rooming with her for the night. Starmyst smiles at Quill and says, "That'd be wonderful! Who knows what sort of evil night time crawlers will creep out from under the beds. Pleasent dreams everyone!" She laughs and drinks down the last of her stew, her spirit fully healed.

"So, when will we be able to meet your friends?" she asked with a smile. "I look forward to pooling some of our information, who knows, perhaps we'll come out on top of the other groups and win the gold."

Sandros finds the table where Ven is. Giving the two newcomers a once over, he smiles, and introduces himself before sitting. "My name is Sandros. Good to meet you both." He sits, giving Tav an eye as if asking whether or not they were in on their planning.

Once he's aware of what's going on, he whispers, "We lost our half-orc friend on the way back here. But before that...he seemed to be making preparation for a long journey, along with getting passage on a boat out of the city. Seems to me we might find out what boat, and try to follow; perhaps he's going to meet the others involved in the kidnapping." He shrugs. "Or...could all be a wonderful conscidence, as well. Paranoia does wonderful things to prove guilt." He grins.

As Ven mentions Avon's attempt, he nods, and figures he'll wait to see what was discovered before making any further comments.

Starmyst smiled at Sandros and replies, "I go by Starmyst. I hail from up north by the mountains, and I'm part of a Druid Order. She decided that if they were friends of Tav, they were friends of hers too.

Alexa pulls out a pair of silvers and hands them to Delgora and says "This should cover for the robe and towel and for a big meal.I'm starving.I believe I already payed for a room earlier.Will I be sharing it with some one or will I have my own room?" As she takes the robe and towel and says "I'll go up and change.Then I'll be back down for my meal.Thank you." She runs up to her room and changes.

After changing out of her wet leathers, Alexa rejoins the group. When she comes back down she goes over to the table where everyone is sitting and introduces herself to the other women. "Hi,my name is Alexa.good to see more women in the group."when her meal is served she eats it viciously "Please excuse my eating behavior."Gulp "I haven't eaten since I ported to this place"Gulp.slurp.

She chuckled and said with a grin, "Darn right there's more of us here, we're the only smart ones out of em'all!" She notices the stew that had been placed in front of her and immediatly digs in, feeling the warmth soaking through her, and saying through a mouthful, "Mine aren't much better!"

Upstairs, meanwhile, all this time, Myr has been watching Avon sleep. "At least he's breathing regularly," she notes, and going over the items he filched from the half-orc's belongings.

Browsing thru the small book with all the tide and moon data, she finds a crudely drawn map, folded into the next to last page with some hand drawn navigational indications. She Compares it to the map the Squarento Chamber of Commerce passed out, and makes some notes.

Giving Avon a careful once over, Myr sticks the book deep into her unoccupied pocket, and heads back down to the main room to see if the others have returned, carefully locking the door behind her. Spotting Sandros, Alexa, Tav, and the two strangers with the canine, she greets them, and then whispers to the former three.

"Avon had some success. I shouldn't stay down here long, he isn't feeling well, and I don't want to leave him alone."

By the time everyone gets settled and fed, it's approaching 8 pm.