Varial, being the only unwanted free man left in the party, made his way to the North Moore Inn after a survey of the manor grounds dissuaded him from attempting a jailbreak for the heavy guard presence there. At the Inn he met an Elf with a glowing symbol on his forehead named Iran (ee-RAHN), who is seeking his dead Wizard brother to recover the family heirloom he was carrying, and is now causing Iran’s forehead to be so illumined. Varial also met the Inn’s resident entertainer, a Dwarf named Borar who was passed out drunk and whose only entertainment consisted of falling off the stool that Varial kicked out from under him.
As for the incarcerated members of the party, each got a talking to before being released. Ozu and Jadek were addressed by the village guard’s captain, who cleared the air about their intentions before letting them go for having nothing official for which to hold them. As it turns out, they were merely acting in what they saw as the the best interests of a young baker’s daughter and the village at large when it was in danger. Nonetheless, one of their party did manage to break into Lord Daris’ house and steal a valuable document, for which he demands retribution. The good captain therefore banished them from the village, rescinding Lord Daris’ offer of free lodging, and saw them separately to the Inn. Both the Sorcerer and Cleric responded with a great deal of contrition and respect, though the former didn’t exactly go quietly...
Jace’s conversation with Lord Daris was similarly themed. While the noble understood the Paladin’s intentions, the violations of his trust were too many and too severe to be ignored: causing insubordination among his guards, completely disrespecting his herald and breaking into his home, all while mourning the loss of his beloved wife, were not things taken lightly by the man. Adding to all of that, of course, the actions of Jace’s associates had somewhat lessened the Lord’s hospitable spirit. So, for consideration of Jace’s intentions and their greater mission at hand, he also was set free and sent to the Inn, having made strong oaths to return Lord Daris’ property as soon as possible, and by whatever means.
With everyone now at the Inn, Jace ordered an uncustomarily strong drink which sent him quickly into a drunken rant at the group, scolding everyone for their actions last night and asserting that things would go differently from now on. Insisting on also having words with the “glow stick”, as Iran had become sarcastically dubbed by Varial, Jace not so gently roused him to accost and interview him regarding his brother, his brother’s profession and whereabouts for the last several months. Seems that Jace has it out for the Wizard who killed his brother, whom he has tracked thus far to the Moorelands, and suspects this may be him. After some gentle ribbing from his more sober companions, and a few outbursts from the likewise inebriated Dwarf, Jace eventually became satisfied that Iran was on the level about his own brother, Aran. He explained that his wizardly brother has been estranged from the family for decades, though they have a long thaumaturgical lineage. When the family crest appeared on Iran months ago, he set out on his own search for his prodigal elder, which has led him to the Moore as well. Iran can’t account for his brother’s whereabouts for at least several years, but knows he must be dead for the symbol to have been activated, and that his remains lie in the North Moore Forest. He would readily accept the party’s assistance in finding Aran and the heirloom, which Jace had the presence of mind to promise consideration of in the morning.
When said morning came, the group did indeed consider the Elf’s proposition at length, weighing it’s relevance to the mission at hand of investigating the Moore calamity and hotly debating multiple options for dividing the group to accomplish both missions at once. In the end, when Iran was asked for input to the debate, he urged the group to stay on task for now; he has waited months to find his brother, he can wait a few more days for the completion of such an important matter. Thus it was that the party did decide to stay the course to Reid for now, and attend to Iran once they had fulfilled their present commission.
Between Corrin and Reid lies the North Moore Forest, in which the group found some trouble in the form of bandits demanding a toll be paid for the use of the “Red Raven’s” road. After a short and ineffective parlay, steel met steel as arrows fell from unseen archers in the trees. Most fell harmlessly amidst the combatants but our Sorcerer fell to a grievous strike, followed by an odd bird call from the forest canopy. Fortunately, Jadek the nearly impervious Gnome was quick to respond, only drawing a scratch from his assailant as he fled to his companion’s side to tend his wound. Varial also was quick in his dispatching of both Jadek and Ozu’s attackers, while Jace finished off the robber’s captain, quickly followed by the only other left in the melee. Once the men on the road had been dispatched, two human-sized birds took flight from the trees above as two more arrows struck the ground. Varial loosed a killer missile at one of the avian creatures, and as it tumbled down the branches to the ground two more hidden bandits made their break for the eastern woods. Jace gave chase to the men, catching up with one as he tumbled over a fallen branch. His interrogation was short, since he refused to answer any questions about the Red Raven. Jace mercifully gave him two chances to answer his questions before cutting off his head.
On his way back to the road, Jace met Varial as he concluded his search of the bird-man. He wore some light leather armor beneath patchwork robes, and carried nothing but a dagger and shortbow. However, his beak had been pierced with a ring from which hung a red feather. The other bandits were similarly lightly equipped, but their trove not far off yielded a fair amount of gold for the party’s trouble.
Fortunately, the rest of the forest passage was untroubled, and the party emerged at dusk with the small Fork Wayside in view. There, the party headed straight for the Fork-Inn where they settled for a contrastingly uneventful evening to the one they had spent in Corrin. They did manage to learn a few more things about the goings on in Reid as well as the surrounding area. It turns out that a Reid guard passing through to find out her father’s fate in Moore had seen the questionable ale depart Reid’s very gates, appearing as normal as could be for the journey south. She also informed them that Reid has cloistered itself since the Moore tragedy, and that the owner of the brewery which supplied the majority of the ale, a man named Aritus, has taken the position of Councilman since the former Councilman Reid died there. Otherwise, as far as she knew, all was as usual in the rural community, including the regular but not too frequent goblin raids on Reid.
The Inn’s proprietor was also a Reid native, though she didn’t get up that way much. She could confirm, however, that ale still came in daily from her brewery in Reid, and it was just fine for drinking, thank you very much.
The innkeeper herself mentioned hearing that a witch had settled into the eastern North Moore Forest, and that bandit activity seemed to be down as of late.
In all, between the conversations at the North Moore Inn and the Fork-Inn, the group had plenty of material to sift through and consider. Besides all the above, there were reports of slaving Ogres who were harassing travelers on the road north to Dhungen Post, and mention of something digging tunnels beneath Reid’s breweries (which the aforementioned guard and proprietor could not confirm). However, no one had seen or heard of bird-men, or knew anything about the Red-Raven.
The group retired for the night in the comfort of the wayside Inn with much to ponder, and the prospect of arriving in Reid in the morning pressing on their minds.
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