The Thickening Plot; New Town, New Enemies, New Subterfuge

After summoning pack horses for the job, we managed to get Andy and his goods on the road and heading back to town, Malo. As we approached, all did not seem well with the town. A storm had risen over the walled port town and as we approached, the force of the storm was matched with the shouts and cries of battle, with the gate we arrived at left ajar with no guards. In the harbor were three raiding ships with sails set, ready to run, each with an image of a stylized face in a stylized wave.
 
Andy decided to head away from the action and said he'd meet us at La Chemise Blanc, apparently the local inn of good repute, while we headed towards the fighting and chaos. It did not take us long to find the enemy, a band of orcs we will later discover to be from Odzedoz clan. They live on the island of Jersey to the northwest of town, and while I've never been there, I've heard that Jersey is a shithole.
 
We battled our way through some orc guards and some already-burned orcs and made our way into the building, where we found more orcs. But of greatest note was the interaction we just caught between a Great Orc and what appeared to be a local mage. There was a mention of a name, Hulay, that may have deeper connections and this sage may simply be his/her puppet. The mage was clutching a book, and pleading with the Great Orc to honor some nefarious deal they had made to wipe out the local cabal of sages. The Great Orc slew the local sage, and ran off with the book, our party quick on his heels. We *just* failed to nab him, after a wild chase and some damn unlucky moments, and he mounted a great vulture from atop the building and flew off, calling his troops to retreat as well.
 
We barely had time to search the premises (which we learned belonged to Vibius Ruhmeid Nammod) before the local guard showed up and, while respectfully thanking us for our help, also respectfully asked us to fuck off from the premises -- which isn't too unreasonable given that they don't know who the hell we are. We made our way to the inn, found Andy, and met the innkeep, Herius, who is a most excellent fellow. He claims lineage to Boyner -- and while everyone claims lineage to some mythical figure out of the dim recesses of the past, he certainly proved to be as helpful as his would-be progenitor, and for a very small fee will manage all our business and trade in town, freeing us up from an administrative nightmare, especially in a new town.
 
Obviously, that has greater impact to me than the others because A: I can't stand administrative detail work, and B: I am a stranger in a strange land, and my race is very much garnering some odd stares -- some out of curiousity, some out of fear, and some out of disgust. I plan to play up the magical nature of my race a wee bit -- I'm comfortable being a little mysterious. Chicks dig mysterious.
 
We also met up with the town master, Galerius Rhukhim Mastid, and shared with him our tale, and asked both about Hulay and Vibius. He claimed no knowledge of Hulay, and was very, very quick to protect the name of Vibius. It was immediately clear that he wasn't going to accept that Vibius was part of the plot -- whether that's because he was fooled by Vibius, or because he was part of the plot and wanted it covered up I don't know. But we wisely dropped it immediately -- I would like to talk more with some other folks to see what they know about him. I am also given to understand that our own mage had dealings with Vibius.
 
There was some talk about next steps, and the consensus seems to have been something about a mine and Void Water. Which I guess is a job and perhaps it will have some clues related to our current two mysteries. I'd like to figure out how they all tie together. Though I currently believe that they are two distinct and separate actions, there may well be a higher force at work -- that is, the Orcs and the Goblins may well be acting independently of the other, but perhaps the person above them is driving this chaos.
 
I also met up with two other prominent figures: Totavali, the leader of the local Celts, and Andecarus, a Druid local to the area. I will need to spend time with each and hopefully get some insight from them regarding both the local raids and politics as well as some potential answers to my larger quest to uncover the wellhead of the raids and unrest at home -- and, apparently, abroad.