Session 12: Stormy Weather

General Summary

Previous Session: Session 11: Friends Along the Way
  The Lads awake in their camp just outside the walls of Krong, damp and cold from the pouring rain. Grey clouds cover the sky, and booming thunder roars in the distance. The party packs up their things as they head towards the town entrance. Hettle is determined to argue the bounty placed on him, rightfully so, and plead his innocence to whoever is in charge. As they approach the entrance where two guards stand, Hettle beckons their attention and states that he wishes to turn himself in for a bounty. At first, the guards are confused; they don't recall any bounties in town for this individual. However, after Hettle tries explaining the bounty, one guard recognizes it, saying they saw Hettle's sketch last week but had not seen it recently. The guards then escort Hettle and the party to the Reeve's manor. Once there, Hettle asks if the party can come into the hearing, but the guards will only allow one person. Hettle asks Willow to join him, and he does, as they are escorted through the lavish halls of the Reeve's manor and into a courtroom.   One guard brings Hettle and Willow past several benches and a rail before sitting at a table facing a large podium. Shortly after, the other guard returns to the courtroom, asking everyone to rise as the honourable Cedric Godson presides. A grey-haired gentleman in a black judge's robe enters the room and sits behind the large podium as everyone is then seated. Cedric asks why Hettle called for a hearing, and Hettle explains the situation: Hettle had sold a piece of charmed jewelry, an 80 GP necklace, to a woman with the pretense that the charm was unknown to him. The woman claims that the necklace suddenly disappeared sometime after the transaction and placed a 10 GP bounty on Hettle, believing the item to be fraudulent. Cedric recognizes the woman as Greta Goldfinger and orders a guard to bring her to the manor. Greta enters the courtroom, noticeably angered at the mere sight of Hettle. She is seated, and Cedric asks her to recall the events that led to her placing the bounty. Her story matches Hettle's, and Greta argues that she is owed the necklace's value because of how suspicious the transaction is. Hettle fires back, saying that she was fully aware of the risk of purchasing the necklace and is therefore liable for what happened after the transaction was complete. The argument becomes a yelling match before Cedric calls for order and the room silences. He states that while, typically, because an item was transacted and was not strictly as Hettle sold it, the value is owed to Greta. However, he cites the extraordinary circumstances of the case, being that this was his first case involving the complete disappearance of a transacted item. In addition to the lack of a bounty poster, which a guard could only recall from a week ago, Cedric decided to throw out the case. Furiously, Greta storms out of the courtroom as Cedric dismisses everyone. Hettle and Willow are escorted out of the manor and to their friends, happy with the ruling.   The Lads now draw their attention to the task at hand, finding what information they can about the beastmen. They decide to head to the warehouse where the Lads had stopped Gelden Greybeard and the distributors. They see the bodies that were once lying on the ground were now gone and cleaned up, but any stuffed into crates were still there. Looking through what documents were still in the warehouse and searching through each of the rooms upstairs, they find nothing of use in their search. Erlenwald and Jaraleto decide to question the guards at the guardhouse, hoping they might provide some information. They knock, and the head guard answers the door, surprised to see two paladins in Halcyon. The paladins asked if the guard had any information on the warehouse. He says that the guards found nothing out of the ordinary as far as he had heard and that it was just a bunch of dead bandits and crates of weapons. Jaraleto specifies if the guard had heard anything about beastmen, and while he says no, he tells them that there's a good chance whatever they're looking for is near the Forest of Dreams or Belsnik. They thank the guard for the information, bidding Aetern's blessings, before heading back to the party. They agree to take the guard's lead and head home to Belsnik.   During their first day of travelling, they see Louis emerge from the forest in front of them. He greets the party as if nothing happened, and everyone questions him about what kidnapped him and why. He calmly assures them that it was just guild business and no reason to worry. The Lads trust him, but the paladins are wary of the potential otherworldly implications of this 'guild business.' They camp that night at the side of the road and continue travelling on the next rainy day. Around midday, a pack of beastmen ambush them and surround their cart. Willow stops Honeybirch, and the Lads retaliate, Erlenwald reciting a holy rite of abjuration and causing two beastmen to flee in terror into the forest. The Lads dispatch the beastmen at the cart, leaving one unconscious, before Erlenwald, Jaraleto, Hettle, and Willow give chase to the fleeing ones. They catch up and Hettle puts them to sleep with a lullaby. Erlenwald kills the furthest one as Jaraleto struggles to drown the other one before getting frustrated and relieving it of its head which then floats down the river. they then return to their cart and prepare for the beastman to wake and answer their questions.   Next Session: Session 13: Attack on Belsnik

Character(s) interacted with

Cedric Godson, Reeve of Krong