Chapter 8: A Most Bloody Night!
-----It is early evening as the wagon comes within sight of the town walls. Even under the dull gray skies, the town of Hearthorn stands out along the banks of the river. The thieves’ wagon closes the distance to within a mile of the town.
-----The going had been steady and slow the rest of the afternoon. Jim carefully followed the escorted wagon in front of them, never getting any closer than a half-mile. Still during those hours, they never saw any sign of Lotley returning from his pursuit of "Slappy".
-----Now as the wagon moves across the last mile of flat plains, the thieves can see the old ruined tower to the east of the River Bridge. Jim begins to slow the wagon and turning to his passengers, he says, "Was this about where one of ya was gonna get off?"
-----"Yes Jim," Seth collects his backpack and wakes up Gimplefwick. "Come on, Dread Pirate, time to wake up." While he is waiting for the pirate to wake up, he starts edging the chest with the lead coins to the edge of the wagon. "Kazel should we take the gold now as well or do you want to look after it?"
-----Gimplefwick snorts to wakefulness and commences his morning ritual of scratching himself. Peering blurrily eyed about, he mutters, "What in Hades is going on? The last thing I remember, we were talking to Lotley the paladin..." Shrugging his shoulders, he crawls out the back of the wagon.
-----"No need to get the gold in and out the gate for nothing, if it's going to the guild anyway. I'll get this wagon to the warehouse – if Calron's still alive - and then you bring the gold if you have to." Kazel sits on the edge of the wagon, slowly swinging her legs as she thinks. "I don't know if the guild knows anything about these assassins. If nothing else, try entering the West Gate instead after some time."
-----Hopping off the back of the wagon, Kazel then leans closer to Seth and Gimplefwick out of Jim's hearing range. "You can find me at the Two Door Tavern. Or if I'm not there, go to the meat and deli shop in the Farm Quarter," she winks at Seth, "and ask for a barrel of lard. How's that sound?"
-----A few minutes later, Gimplefwick and Seth watch the wagon pull away, heading toward town.
-----A while later, Seth enters the Market Gate of Hearthorn. He takes note of the fact that the guards tell him he must pay two copper pieces to enter. The price has gone up!
-----As he passes through the gate, he keeps his eyes on the crowd. Suddenly Albert alights on his shoulder. Seth turns and walks toward the Two-Door Tavern. Up ahead he thinks he sees the Dread Pirate enter the Two-Door. As he enters, the tavern seems to be moderately busy with the evening crowd. Gimplefwick is no where to be seen.
-----Brad welcomes Seth back warmly and invites him to have a drink.
-----Seth turns to Brad, "Well, what do you think? A good night for harping or not?"
-----"Why, yes, of course!" Brad says encouragingly.
-----Seth removes his harp and asks Brad if he can stow his bag in the back again. As he comes out of the back room, he says, "Um, Brad you don’t happen to know of any wizards about in town do you?"
-----Brad replies with a surprised look on his face, "Wizards? The only one I know of is the Lord Wizard Zepharon who lives in the tower by the Keep. There are probably a few wandering wizards who come through the town. Mind if I ask why you’re looking for a wizard?"
-----Seth smiles at Brad, "Thanks Brad, I hope I can help your business. Oh, the wizard! My mother started teaching me magic and she made me promise to keep up my studies, and like the good boy I am, I want to find a teacher to study with." Seth heads towards the area where he is going to harp.
-----Halfway through the first song that Seth plays, the door on the north wall of the tavern suddenly opens and Gimplefwick launches himself into the room. The Dread Pirate, his eyes bugging out in terror, keeps himself low making his way across to the opposite door. He appears to look frantically around and suddenly sees Seth.
-----Gimplefwick eyes a woman in a low cut dress briefly and then casually flips a hand towards Brad in a 'hello'. He then saunters over to Seth with a large grin on his face and waits for the half-elf to finish his current set. The Dread Pirate then leans over and whispers to him, "The assassins have found us. Actually they fired a couple of arrows at me outside this tavern. I don't think they like us too much. I do, however, have a plan for getting us out of here. Let me know when you are ready to leave.
-----By the way, have you seen Kazel yet?" Gimplefwick then strolls over to the bar and orders a shot of rum. He tips a bit of it into his parrot’s mouth and then the rest of it down his.
-----As Gimplefwick downs his drink, someone suddenly runs into him. As he turns to see what’s going on, that someone falls on top of him. Suddenly there is a light thrashing as the young woman in the low cut blouse embarrassingly tries to get up off the surprised halfling. "Oops, I’m so sorry!" she says and her slurred speech reveals she may be a bit tipsy.
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