by Dean Henegar
“No time to mess around folks. Keep your ‘eye’ on the task at hand. We need to find the evidence,” Nitor joked and the rest of the party groaned at his comment.
“I think I found something guys,” Ty said holding up a bundle of scrolls.
“This looks like notes that Darkfallow kept of his activities in Hayden’s Knoll. He must be a lore junky and wanted to keep souvenirs of his exploits,” Ty said, scanning and then passing the scrolls to the others to look at.
“Ohhh, this one shows that some player named Narbos was working with Darkfallow to frame Raytak . . . they plan to invade and conquer Hayden’s Knoll eventually!” Yendys exclaimed as she read the scroll that Ty had passed her.
“This one says he bribed that inspector guy to bring false charges,” Kathala said, reading the deal between Narbos and Field Inspector Leighton.
“And this is the contract to assassinate Raytak and plant the evidence in the barracks to frame him,” Jacoby said, reading his note.
“Looks like this will help. Good thing that moron Darkfallow didn’t throw anything away,” Ty said.
“I can appreciate a player who loves lore and keeps all his messages . . . though it does remind me I need to make sure all the stuff I keep doesn’t incriminate any of us in a criminal conspiracy,” Nitor said with a smile. The skald also kept all his quest and lore items from the game, a somewhat common occurrence among role-players.
“Woah, that’s weird, look at the shelves,” Smashem said, pointing out that all the scrolls they had just taken were back on the shelf again, despite the fact they were all still holding their copies.
“Must be because it’s a quest item and his personal property. The AI knew we would need this to complete our quest but didn’t want to deprive Darkfallow of his items, so it created a separate copy for us,” Nitor guessed.
“That makes sense and helps us with getting out of here without tipping Darkfallow and this Narbos guy as to what we were really after. I bet they’ll think we were just here to gank Darkfallow because of our fight earlier. Anyway, we need to beat feet back to Hayden’s Knoll and get this into Delling’s hands as quick as possible,” Ty said, as they hustled out of the cave. The party made quick time back to the transition point they had used to enter Bharga’s Crossing, leaving before the guards at the transition point had been notified of the attack on Darkfallow.
The party chose to transport to the southern transition point to Hayden’s Knoll and soon found themselves back at the town. They hurried to Delling’s office to show him the notes they had found and to plan out how to help Raytak.
The town had grown again in the short time they had been gone. The palisade surrounding the town had been reinforced and two guard towers flanked the main entrance. The guard force had been upgraded; they were now wearing studded leather armor, and they carried spears and shortswords that looked to be of decent quality. The wooden shields they wore on their backs were round, and while not the Imperium style they would still provide good defense. The guards in the towers had crossbows and were vigilantly looking out for any threats.
Delling’s town hall was larger as well; the bottom half of the first-floor’s walls were now composed of river rock and there were a pair of guards watching the main entrance. The party was ushered into Delling’s office where the mayor awaited their tale.
“Welcome back, did you find any evidence?” Delling quickly asked as the party was seated around the town planning table.
“We found this in Darkfallow’s lair. It shows that Leighton was bribed and that the leader in the next zone was behind everything, even going so far as to frame the defunct Bloody Blades guild for all the trouble,” Jacoby said as he handed over the quest item to Delling. Delling spent some time reading it, his face turning red in anger as he realized the extent of the wrongs committed against his friend. After reading one of the many sheets he put them down and ordered the guard outside to come in.
“Guardsman, bring Phineas here immediately. Use any force necessary if he resists . . . bring at least a squad as he is known to be a mage of some power,” Delling ordered. The guard saluted and left the room, the party looking at Delling in confusion.
“While you were gone, I got a quest to locate where Raytak was. The quest line eventually led to Phineas T Moore, who had a source that could divine Raytak’s location. The swindler knew I was desperate and he made me agree to waive his taxes for the year if he found the location for me. This,” Delling indicated Darkfallow’s notes, “tells me that Darkfallow’s contact in town was none other than Phineas. The crook was paid very well to find out information for Brandon, I mean Narbos, on all of my activities here,” Delling advised, recognizing the name of Brandon’s in-game character from the updates they gave to the school of their activities.
“I’m totally going to feed him to Crunchy, if that’s okay,” Yendys said with a bloodthirsty gleam in her eye.
***
Soon after, the guards dragged a huffing and indignant Phineas T Moore into the mayor’s office.
“What is the meaning of this! You can’t drag a respectable citizen and business owner from his place of employment by armed guards in the middle of the day! How dare you bring upon me this indignation, Mayor Delling,” Phineas bemoaned as the guards shoved the merchant into a chair. The group remained quiet; this was Delling’s show and his character’s area of expertise.
“You are totally correct, Phineas. I cannot drag an upstanding member of the community here with armed guards. Unfortunately, you are no longer considered an upstanding member of the community. These documents show that you were bribed to deliver information to a certain character named Darkfallow. That information was used to help them frame Raytak and have us both assassinated. You have endangered the entire zone with your actions, and I wanted to give you a chance to speak on your own behalf before I feed you to Crunchy here.” Delling indicating the giant unicorn beetle who clacked his mandibles together in a threatening manner while Yendys clapped in approval.
“Well, you see, it’s not what you think,” Phineas sputtered before deciding on a defense. Looking at the notes that Darkfallow had so foolishly kept, the shady merchant realized he was caught. The only option was to come clean and hope their goody-two-shoes personalities granted him reprieve from punishment. He made a show of reading thoroughly the documents in front of him while he gathered his thoughts.
“It appears I too am a victim of this devious Darkfallow. He never told me what he intended to use the information for. I cannot be faulted for that, can I? After all, the information I provided was all public knowledge. I just gathered it together into a single report. I had no idea it was going to be used for such a nefarious purpose,” Phineas offered as his defense. He was calculating that among the party arrayed against him, one or more had the ability to attempt to discern if he was telling the truth.
Everything he had just said was technically the truth. While he knew that Darkfallow was likely up to no good, he didn’t know the purpose the information was intended to be used for. I navigated the deadly intrigue of the court of the Grand Caliph of the Imix, these small-town rubes are no match for my skills, Phineas thought to himself as he plastered a recalcitrant expression on his face.
“Bahh, much as I hate to admit it, my Discern Story skill is registering that he’s telling the truth,” Nitor stated.
“Me too. Though there are threads of deception, he is being truthful,” Kathala added after using her own class abilities that allowed her to discern honesty
“It looks like I owe you an apology of sorts, Phineas. You were telling the truth. However, since you unwillingly brought danger to the town with the information you gave Darkfallow, I’m sure you’ll make it up to us by giving us Raytak’s location for free. Consider it a charitable donation given by an upstanding merchant to help his town prosper,” Delling said.
“Ohhh no, he’s not getting off that easily . . . we all get a discount at your store now, too!” Yendys added, Ph
ineas realizing that she wanted her pound of flesh from his wallet if not from his hide.
“That seems a reasonable request, granted that we all forget the matter after this. Do you agree, Phineas? Or shall these good citizens implement a boycott of your establishment, which I heard them mentioning they wanted to do?” Delling told the now fuming merchant. Phineas calmed himself, realizing he was getting off easily.
“With great reluctance, I agree, though it may beggar me after all I have spent to find this information for you. Your friend and mine, Raytak, is being held prisoner by an unscrupulous lout named Septimus who owns a gladiatorial school. He purchased Raytak’s prison contract and has used our friend’s skills to excel in the games. He has apparently won his way into the Grand Melee at the capitol which is happening soon. If you intend to help, I wouldn’t delay. It starts in a day or so. Once there, ask for the participant area and you will find where he is quickly enough. Here are a stack of discount coupons as well. You will all now receive ten percent off every purchase. Just show this to Eyeball and he’ll give you the special price,” Phineas said with a sigh, while grinning inwardly.
The coupon scam was one he had run many times in the past. When someone came into the store with a coupon it was a signal to raise prices by twenty percent before discounting by ten. His magical abilities enabled him to change prices on his products at any time. Now that Eyeball had achieved the shady merchant prestige class—Phineas was still proud of the little goblin—Eyeball could also change the prices at a thought. He had also used the carefully worded “special price” associated with the coupon just in case they were still trying to discern his honesty.
“Fair enough Phineas, you’re off the hook for now. I suggest you stay on the straight and narrow if you want to continue to do business here,” Delling said while handing out the coupons to everyone. Phineas was allowed to leave, and the rest decided on their next actions.
***
“From what the sphinx said, I get the feeling that Raytak has to win his contest to get the chance to prove his innocence. The information we have can only help his chances. I say we head immediately to the capitol and get this into Raytak’s hands before the contest. To be honest, I think it would be cool to watch a gladiator contest. Is everyone ready to go?” Delling asked. The party agreed and they left once Delling had set his town functions on automatic and sent a messenger to Lieutenant Burnside to inform him that mayor would be gone for a few days.
The replacement for Raytak was an arrogant fop but didn’t seem to have had any hand in the conspiracy against his friend. The incompetent officer spent most of his time indulging in food and drink at the inn or spending the garrison’s portion of taxes on décor for his office and new uniforms for himself.
Were on our way, Raytak. Hang in there, Delling thought to himself as the made their way to the transition point.
Chapter 25
Dobbins exited the Filthy Casual Tavern with a slight stumble. He was feeling good but not quite drunk. He figured that he had consumed enough of the tavern’s signature strong ale to have a good time, but not too much that his wife would give him grief when he arrived home.
“Steady as she goes, Dobbins,” his friend Talbott joked at the stumble. Talbot’s family owned the farm next to the Dobbins’ place and the two quickly became friends as well as good neighbors. Talbott was always willing to lend tools or add an extra hand to a task if needed, and Dobbins would always do the same for him. They had decided to head into Holdfast to sell some of their crop that afternoon.
“Woah, that ale might have been a bit stronger than the last batch, Talbott. Hope my head clears enough on our way back or my wife will kill me,” Dobbins replied.
“Just blame me. Tell her I forced you to have an extra round since you were kind enough to join me traveling into town today,” Talbott added. His farm had a nice crop of fall vegetables including some truly impressive pumpkins that needed to head to market. Dobbins’ crop wasn’t quite ready, but he had agreed to join his friend, despite only having less than half a wagon’s worth of produce to sell.
“No worries, friend. I know you’d do the same for me. Can’t be too careful with all the troubles around these days,” Dobbins said. There had been many disappearances among the outlying farms in the recent days. Everyone was spooked, including the town guard. He had never seen them so attentive to their duties; the guard knew there was trouble out there but couldn’t tell what face it wore.
“At least folks are willing to part with more coin for our crops since so many farmers have fled the area,” Talbott added.
“Yeah, I always wanted to be out in the more secluded areas away from town. Nowadays I’m glad my wife forced me to start our farm so close to Holdfast,” Dobbins told his friend.
“Aye, that wife of yours is too good for you . . . if a little uptight about her man having a few beverages when he goes into town to sell the fruits of his hard labors,” Talbott said as the two laughed. The pair headed to the stables where their horses and small wagons were waiting. They used the stables near the eastern entrance despite having entered from the south; the hostler at the eastern stable had lost a bet with the two and had to stable their horses and keep space for their wagons for an attractive price . . . for the rest of their lives, the bet said. The two enjoyed the cheap services but were kind enough to always bring the hostler a good-sized basket of fresh produce for his family when they came; food was always easier for a farmer to come by than coin.
“Thought you two would have been a bit earlier,” the hostler said looking at the late afternoon sun. The hostler had the wagons already hitched to their horses and ready to go. For the first time in years, the hostler looked happy with the arrangement he had made with the two after that disastrous bet years ago. With the farmers being so scarce lately, the bags of produce they gave him today were worth more than the coin he would have normally charged.
Dobbins hopped up in the rough wood bench that served as a seat for the driver and flicked the reigns, moving off at a slow walk from the hostlers and being careful to avoid any pedestrians. Talbott fell in just behind his wagon, the two stopping to wave at the eastern gate guards as the guards stopped a farmer who was arriving late into town from the eastern gate.
“Why would that fool get started so late? No way he’ll want to head back in the dark of night by himself and he’ll have to shell out coin for a room at the inn,” Dobbins said back to his friend. They both turned to laugh at the lazy farmer who obviously didn’t get to working early enough this day. Dobbins looked with a bit of jealousy at the other farmer’s wagon; it was a sturdy affair and double the size of the wagons that Dobbins and Talbott owned.
“Look at that rig! Looks like an old caravan wagon. Bet that beauty holds more than both our little carts combined,” Talbott said, clearly jealous of the other farmer’s rig. “Wonder where he was able to find that . . .” Talbott started to say but stopped with his mouth open as he watched events at the wagon unfold. As one of the three guards at the gate walked up to do the cursory inspection that every wagon entering town gets, the farmer threw off the heavy cloak he wore, revealing a horrifying form beneath.
The cloak of his hood had covered a bulbous, yet still human-like head and face. The face was marred by small tendrils that poked from the flesh and the eyes were covered in a hard shell that resembled something from an insect. His arms were longer than a normal man’s and ended in sharpened claws instead of normal fingers. Protruding from his back was a third long limb bearing a shellfish like claw instead of a hand. The farmer-thing’s legs were thick and rippled as something slithered just under the skin.
Gul Dorg Drone, Level 8. The Gul Dorg drones are humanoid creatures that have been infected with the most common type of Gul Dorg parasite. Unlike the much rarer Master or Daughter Gul Dorg, the drones are unthinking and follow their instincts or the orders of any higher forms of Gul Dorg that are within mind range of the drone. Drones lose the ability to infect other human
oids quickly and are known for their viciousness.
The drone that had once been a farmer grabbed the stunned guard in its claws and promptly decapitated its victim with its crab-like appendage. With a pop, the head flew free and the drone dropped the guard’s body to the ground, turning to look at the other two guards. The two guards snapped out of their shock and leveled their shields at the creature. Covering the gate was a small tower with a fourth guard manning it; the guard up in tower also overcame his shock and began to ring out the warning bell as loud as he could, summoning help from the other guards in town.
The two guards at the gate held the creature at bay, jabbing it with their spears and getting in some damage where they could. They were holding their own and were about to defeat the powerful yet untrained creature in front of them when their advantage dissolved. The tarp of the wagon flew back and six more of the drones emerged. Each was different than the next. Some of the drones had four or more limbs, others only one arm but several legs. Their diversity in form didn’t hamper their function and they scuttled and clambered down from the wagon to join the attack on the hapless guards. The swarm quickly dispatched the two remaining guards on the ground and began climbing up the rickety ladder to reach the guard in the tower.
Dobbins watched as a dozen more of the town guard streamed passed their wagons, hurrying toward the gate. The sight of the reinforcements shook Dobbins from his shock, and he got his wagon moving once more, a stunned Talbott following just behind. They kept their speed down as they reached the town square where two of the town guard were assembling the local militia, only just beginning to respond to the warning bell. Dobbins figured that this was the last of the town defenders save for the few guards stationed at the other gates. There were probably thirty or forty town militia, but they were poorly armed and barely trained. Still he was confident they could best the creatures he had seen . . . until he looked back toward the gate.