We hadn't met a dragon before. A Wyvern, yes, but not something as legendary and foreboding as a dragon. I couldn't sleep well at all.
We gathered for breakfast in the morning. Tahkenesius suggested that I try and sell the gem Kerchunk stole the previous evening. I had forgotten all about it! With the money we could perhaps hire another character.
Shortly after opening I entered Wrabavil's Jewels and presented the gem. The proprietor examined it with a small magnifying glass. "Where'd you get it?" he queried.
"From a shop in Loade, to the west. Bought it off... um... the jeweller there, forgotten his name," I lied.
"One was stolen just like it last night, you know," he stared into my eyes waiting for a response.
I had done this sort of thing before, selling items that Kerchunk had recently stolen and gotten away with it. In the past the success was mainly because he had never stolen something so valuable before. "Do I look like a thief!" I exclaimed in artificial disgust.
He wasn't that stupid. He looked at the gem for a moment, "I'll give you 760 gold for it and we'll say nothing about it."
"Come on," I countered, "you could sell it for a thousand today! Give me 900 at least."
In the end I had to settle for 800 gold - he knew I was lying about where I got the gem but he didn't care too much. There was a lot of thieving going on and as long as he makes a profit it didn't worry him. Kerchunk moaned when I got back but he knew he would have only got about 500 or 600 for it.
With some money we had saved up we were still able to offer 1000 gold for new recruits.
Tahkenesius wanted another mage but he was expensive enough, constantly needing to be supplied with powders. One thief was enough, so we had to choose between another fighter or priest. We settled for a priest in the end as we can heal the injured, use some potent miracles if the gods are on our side, and hold our own in a melee. We were also particularly interested in a dwarf for toughness and natural ability with axes. Although Dopledour was using a great axe, he was still lugging around his old battle axe as a spare, which we could give straight to our new recruit, saving some money. We drew up some rough flyers and stuck them up around town, trying to avoid the guards who disapprove of such defacing of public areas. Potential recruits were to avail themselves at the Black Hole that evening.By late morning we felt we had done all we could to advertise and I suggested we pray a little to the gods. Kerchunk was restless and wanted to steal from shops again. Not surprising that our prayers weren't answered this time. The gods did not seem displeased, though more prayer must be needed. In the end I gave in and suggested stealing from a weaponry store or armourer. Kerchunk wanted to try Wrabavil's Jewels for ripping me off that morning and, reluctantly, I agreed. It didn't surprise me when he came back empty handed. "There was a guard dog out the back and it started barking," was his excuse.
"He's on alert," I consoled him, "he knows there is a thief good enough to steal a Mortant Gem in town. Why don't you try one of the armourers? Rethul's seemed pretty busy when I passed it this morning. Should have lots of gold there if they didn't go to the bank today." Kerchunk did not look enthused. "Here, I'll pray to Novala, the Goddess of Fortune. Maybe she will grant you luck."
After a little more encouragement Kerchunk got up slowly with Braediere by his side, motivating him. I had a good feeling about this, Novala seemed to have answered my call.
The sun was out now, warming the ground that was still wet from the winter rains. Some of the trees were already sprouting again and there was enough grass growing for the shepherds to feed their herds closer to the safety of the city. Rodebuck and Zappadiesta were practicing with their weapons; we laughed when Rodebuck badly bruised a toe trying to understand the intricacies of a long bow. Dopledour tried to teach Tahkenesius how to use a crossbow but was finding it frustrating.
Soon Kerchunk and Braediere returned, the thief carrying a spare helmet under his arm. "Nicked it from Rethul's, like you said.""All the people around distracted the storekeeper," Braediere interrupted. "Chunky should have given me the helmet though because it got in the way when we tried Otexihug's Armour. Still, the 147 gold he also got at Rethul's was good."
I smiled and patted Kerchunk on the back, "Well done." He looked like he needed reassuring even though he had been quite successful over the past couple of days. "Let's go to the Black Hole early and celebrate." The thief was easy to please and he licked his lips in anticipation of the cheap ale he was going to consume.
The offer had attracted quite some interest; the bar was quite full for that time of day. A couple of halfbloods were fighting each other over who would present themselves, but they were easy to ignore. An elf fighter showed considerable flair with a long bow, until he was embarrassed by it being wrestled from him by an aggressive dwarf mage who claimed to once have one just like it. We sat back, had a drink and enjoyed the fracas from afar.
After a little while a dwarf looked at us relaxing and then came over. "You must be the Messy Messiahs - the group that is offering the 1000 gold?" I nodded, noting the eagerness with which I would expect all dwarves to be after the money. "I'm Kahrniverous." he waited for a reply.
Looking him over I could see he was well built, intelligent and knew what he was on about. Scanning the rest of the inn I could see no other suitable character was around or likely to show. "Meet us back here in the morning," I whispered, careful not to draw the attention of the crowd, "we'll have the gold for you then."
We snuck towards the door, attempting to avoid interrupting the patrons' activities. "What do you think you're doin'," came a yell from behind me. I turned to see Kerchunk holding a younger thief by the scruff of the neck, with the support of Rodebuck. Kerchunk grabbed a familiar pouch from the assailant's hands and handed it back to me.
"Thanks guys," I muttered with surprise as Rodebuck jabbed the thief's ribs with a flat hand. I could see he was spoiling for a fight but I wasn't going to feed their battle lust. "Come on Rodebuck, we've got bigger fish to fight. Save your energy." I turned to the young thief and comforted him somewhat sarcastically, "Thanks, but we don't require another thief at this stage. Try your luck on some of the others when they are a little more drunk." I pulled on Rodebuck's arm and he conceded. I didn't want the whole place knowing that I was carrying several hundred gold around.
We went out the door, leaving the bustling inn. Some of those inside probably never even noticed us - too busy squabbling between themselves. How they hoped to ever get anywhere makes one wonder.
We walked down the alleys towards the edge of the city, looking for a quiet place to rest for the night. Rats scampered amongst the paper and rags littering the gutter - this was not a clean place. A cat appeared out of nowhere, nimbly climbing the wooden planks of a fence, screeched at us then disappeared on the other side.
I noticed Kerchunk looking around behind us regularly. "What's up", I also turned, "are we being followed?""Probably just the little thief from the Black Hole. Maybe he wants to wait 'till were asleep then try his luck again. He is keeping well back though."
"Let's trap him!" Knollbert said, his deviousness showing.
The street curved slightly southward and a narrow alley went into the shadows behind some shops. This was a good opportunity. "Okay, you guys keep going," I signalled to the others as Kerchunk, Knollbert and myself darted into the darkness.
The rest of the group wandered on casually and disappeared into the night. Suddenly it was all quiet. In the distance some shouting and celebrating could be heard, probably emanating from another inn. Some newspaper twitched in the breeze. We waited.
It was still, and getting cold. We had been waiting for a few minutes now but nothing came. I was sure we managed to conceal ourselves successfully. Knollbert was becoming restless.
Suddenly a dog started barking inside the shop that we were hiding beside. A light flickered on upstairs - it was time to go.
Kerchunk peered around the corner and then signalled that it was all clear. We came out of the alley and headed after the others. I turned just to make sure, but the street was empty. It felt strange but maybe the thief changed his mind and gave up.