Chapter 02 - Into the Keep

[pringerbeam]

     With a grunt the halfling is roused. Calmont opens a bleary eye and starts only to find his movement hampered by Alak's manacles. He makes some attempt at speaking but only a muffled whine can be heard through the cloth gag in his mouth.

[Throndir]

"We're taking you back to town to face redemption!" Melody interjected the moment she realized Calmont was conscious again. Her voice had a tone of both pride and determination in them as she smiled widely at the bound halfling.

[pringerbeam]

     Calmont's response is an irritated glare paired with something that might have been intelligible but once again comes out as little more than a string of muffled sounds through the gag.  "Sounds like enthusiastic agreement to me." Says Alak with a grin, clearly amused.

[Throndir]

"I agree!" Melody echoed, grinning just as much as Alak.

[pringerbeam]

     With a jerk up from the floor, Calmont was brought back on his feet and the party was on its way back to the town. The halfling put up little resistance, only giving an angry glare and unable to voice any complaints. The goblins, excited to finally be able to get down from the battlements, quickly swarmed the corpse of the giant lizard, setting upon it with their teeth alone and slurping up the muddy water that had pooled in the corner of the courtyard.

[info] Unidentified Dagger will go to Belsarus as the only claimant

SP will be split among active players (4 sp each)

Remaining items will go to Alak's inventory (Alak's party inventory)[/info]
     After an hour of travel back, you have arrived back at the guard house and Greta's makeshift office, now moved inside after clearing out one of the rooms for her use.

     "Ah, you've returned! And with Calmont no less. Calmont... what do you have to say for yourself? People died because of that fire." Calmont makes some angry muffled sounds before Greta motioned to Vondur to ungag the halfling. "As I was saying, I'd do it again if I had the chance! I was this close to getting the secret of the elf gates out of those stupid goblins and if I'd only got you meddling heroes in the fire too, I could be swimming in gold by now." Greta seems confused by this and looks to you all. "I'm sorry, what is he talking about?"

[Throndir]

"Calmont!" Melody began as she moved to face the halfling. "This is your chance to take the first step towards redemption! Please, please, please take it." She cupped her hands in a begging gesture. "Showing everyone goodwill, and making strides to fix your mistakes would be seen kindly by the Dawnflower, and might even help make your transition back to society easier. If you're helpful to miss Greta and everyone else here, I'm sure they would be more willing to give you chances of redemption such as I. Even if they don't, I know there's some kindness in you, you never wanted to be evil and mean, right? Things just happened and all of a sudden this is in the situation you're in."

Melody gently tugged on Calmont's shirt as she looked at him, then towards mister Fleetfoot.

"You know as well as I do how mean and evil the majority of people are... I want to believe in my people: Halflings such as you, mister Fleetfot, and I. Are you willing to do that? For me?"

[info]Make an Impression
[blockquote]Diplomacy 1d20+6 : 16 + 6, total 22[/blockquote][/info]

With that preamble done, Melody looked straight into Calmont's eye.

"So... can you tell us... What are these elf gates? And why did you need the goblins?" The halfling girl pleaded, her eyes searching for any shred of warmth in Calmont's own.

[info]Request
[blockquote]Diplomacy 1d20+6 : 14 + 6, total 20[/blockquote][/info]

[pringerbeam]

     Calmont's spiteful attitude appears to have been swayed by Melody's persuasions and his mood turns remorseful. "You don't know how it is! Voz has me like a slave practically! That old bitch has me in debt to her and I just need the money to get out from under her. You'd do the same! I may not be chained to a Chelaxian galleon like some of us but I'm not free like you."  He sniffs at this a little bit. "That's why I went to the old citadel. I found a book that talked about Alseta's Ring. It's a bunch of elf gates that supposedly can take you just about anywhere around the Inner Sea you want. They could be worth a mountain of gold if I found it. The gates are supposed to be in the citadel but none of the other adventurers that had gone there before had found it. The goblins live there so I figured they knew where the elf gates were but were too dumb to know what they were or what they were worth."

[Asta]

"A 'ring' huh." Spira said, then turned to Alak. "I suppose I should have asked if you were being figurative or literal. Though I could be reading into it too much..."

[pringerbeam]

     Alak chuckles a little before responding. "Oh, no nothing like that. I'm looking for my family signet ring. Unless my grandfather had a very strange idea about what constitutes a family sigil, these elf gates are not what I'm looking for... That said, I feel like there would have been some mention of a powerful magical artifact being stored in the citadel. I may not have had access to my order's archives but I think that would be quite the secret to have kept." He put a hand on his chin. "This Alseta's Ring... I would think that it would be stored in the citadel's vaults if anywhere. Maybe the halfling was on to something. The goblins lived down where the vaults should be right? And the cultists they mentioned... you don't think these could be related do you?"

[Asta]

"Without question. It would be worth investigating, plus I believe our work for the goblin's is unfinished. I would hardly believe the our diminutive friend here is the source of their distress."

[pringerbeam]

     "Cultists? Is that the cause of the Bumblebrashers distress signal?" Inquired Greta. "This is quite the distressing development... Well I assume that the goblins are at least out of immediate peril for you to have returned. For that I can pay you for answering the Call's request and apprehending Calmont. If you're heading back to Hellknight Hill you will probably need additional supplies so I'm sure you'll put it to good use." Says Greta as she pushes a small pouch of coins across the small desk.

[info]The party gains 20 gp.

Everyone gains 120 xp[/info]
     "Calmont, you seem to have had your reasons but you've still crossed a line with your actions. The council will deliberate and decide upon your punishment at the next town meeting. Guard, take him to a cell."  At this, Vondur takes Calmont and escorts him from the cramped office.  "With that business concluded, I would like to ask if you could investigate this cult. With the town hall ruined we unfortunately don't have much money money to spare right now but I could probably convince the local merchants to give you a discount on any purchases you make now and for the future. So what do you say heroes? Can you continue to help us?"

[Throndir]

"I will!" Melody declared before anyone else spoke up. Her inner excitement was beginning to grow. With the mention of these magical elf gates, and her success at bringing Calmont on his first steps to redemption (or so she hoped), she felt that this could perhaps be the start of her own story written in her copy of The Birth of Light and Truth.

"But I hope the council will let Calmont continue his path for redemption." Melody said looking towards Greta and making sure she had her attention. "And if the council instead chooses to take his life, that is okay too! That's redemption too in its own way. Just make sure to use a really really really sharp blade, since I don't want him to suffer!" Melody stated, her voice still sounding happy-go-lucky.

With that, she turned towards her newly found party mates. Despite it all, she couldn't help but smile at the fact this would be her first time in a group such as this off on what could definitely be called an adventure.

"Let's offer redemption to a bunch of cultists!"

[Asta]

Spira cocked and eyebrow at the very chipper way in which Melody expressed approval of Calmont's potential beheading.


"Yes... Redemption" Spira replied, "But first some sleep, and a bath."

[pringerbeam]

     "Thank you. I'll let the town know to give you the discount. Good luck, I'm sure you're going to need it." Replied Greta. "Is there anything else you need from me right now?"

[Asta]

"I don't believe I need anything further. Though I can't speak for the others." Spira replied.