Chapter 3.2 - Return to the Golden Grain Inn

The party crosses the stone bridge fairly quickly, with only a few grunts of stubbed toes and clinks and clanks of metal gear. But as they enter the trees between the river and the Inn of the Slumbering Serpent, a person carrying a lantern comes around the corner of the wine house and stops at the bottom of the steps leading up to the back door of the Inn. "Who's that?" he says, holding the lantern down to not dazzle his eyes. It's not clear whether he's seen the group, or just heard you.

"Is that you, old man?" the old man calls, still peering into the darkness. After a few moments' silence, he sighs. "If it's you kids again, stay away from my wine and go home! But if it's you murderers, you'd best begone, too - I'm going inside for some help!" With that, the old innkeeper ascends the steps leading up the back door of the Inn and disappears inside. The party can hear him calling to someone else, but only Theran can make out any words. None of you can recall whether any guards met on previous visits worked at the Inn of the Slumbering Serpent, or whether he's raising a posse of guests to come out and search the area. But it does seem like he intends to return with help in moments. The Orlane water mill remains to your east, through the thicket of trees, while the Inn of the Slumbering Serpent and its wine house are to your north.

Morton does his best to not move. He just stands still till the old innkeeper has left.

Aanbo, Morton, and Lyrel help Arya, Chase, and Ember navigate the thick darkness under the trees. Theran hangs back with Myrtha as she considers confronting the people. Then Myrtha then turns and accepts the elf's hand to lead her through the trees. Behind them, they hear the back door open and lamp light silhouettes the wine house. There are several voices, speaking in low voices that are still audible in the stillness:
"There was someone over by the trees!"
"I don't think I want to go out there..."
"You heard what they said at the funeral: there are killers that must be brought to justice!"
"Why don't we just report it to the Constable in the morning?"
"What if it's your family that gets murdered in the night?"

The voices are tired, angry, and a little tipsy. The party moves closer to the Mill, and the sounds of the falls and the churning of the wheel drown out the voices. The party is poised at the edge of the trees: the Realstream River is to the south, the Orlane Mill is to the east, and a broad open area (where during the day wagons drop off grain and pick up flour) opens to the north. It would be a short sprint to get across that to the trees on the lakeshore to the northeast.



It's clear that the people with the lanterns are torn: some want to investigate with strength of numbers, others don't want to risk the danger of cornering desperate fugitives in the dark. What remains for the party is to determine whether they are going to:
- confront these people
- hide from them
- try to sneak away before they arrive
- make a run for it
or something else that's not occurring to me.

The party hustles toward the loudest thing in the area - the mill. Cutting around the corner of the building, they hunker down and wait in the moonlight. At first they can hear nothing but the creaking of the wheel and the splashing of water falling from its paddles as it turns.

But then there is a glow that silhouettes the corner of the building, as people approach with lanterns. They are tired and tipsy, so the people from the Inn do not speak softly, and the characters can faintly make out their voices (which they've actually raised to be heard over the sound of the mill):
"You see, Ollwin? There's nobody here, either!"
"I tell you, I did hear someone!"
"Well, it's probably those kids trying to taste some wine again."
"Y'ask me, that's a pretty good idea."
"I think you've had enough, Jerty."
"I dunno; I think we should keep looking. I don't like all this talk about the killers wandering around stealing people at night."
"Ah...leave it to the Constable and the watch. That's what they're for."
A door clearly bangs open.


"What are you doing on my land? Give me one good reason why we shouldn't turn you in to the Constable!"
"Kenton, Kenton - calm down. It's me, Ollwin."
"Ollwin? What are you doing here, waking me up in the middle of the night??"
"I saw somebody lurking in the dark, Kenton. I thought it might be those damn murderers come back to abduct someone else."
There are shouts of dismay and fury from several men. Others who came out of the mill, presumably.
"You saw them? Where?!"
"Well, I heard them. Over there in the trees between your property and mine." He pauses. "Sounded like people in armor, Kenton. NOT like kids trying to steal wine, Jerty." Some of the drunks laugh at this.
"Then we'd better join the search, boys. Spelt, Gold, you're with me. Go get lanterns, we'll need more light to split up and spread out. Grand, you go over to the Clayborns and see if you can get them to help. Umber, you stay here: lock and bar the doors and don't open them for anybody except for me or your brothers. Got it? Good. Maybe now we'll finally get justice for my son!"

As the party sits in the darkness by the splashing mill wheel, knowing they have to get out of there but not daring to move, the voices continue.

"If only we still had Moss, we'd find them right away."
"Yeah, but why don't we have Moss?"
"Because he died..."
"Because they killed him! They killed ALL the dogs, exactly so they could move around in secret! Bastards!"

Meanwhile, Ember has squeezed along the muddy edge of the bank in the gap between the millwheel and the building, crab-walking carefully so that she can duck under the heavy axle going into the wall without losing her footing and falling into the river. Then she is past that hazard, and scurrying back toward the trees. At one point, just shy of the copse, one of the people in front of the Mill looks in her direction with a newly-lit lantern. She has just enough time to collapse to the ground. Under her cloak, she apparently doesn't look enough like a person in the dark for the man to suspect her, as after a few long moments he turns away. In the blink of an eye, she's up and lunging for the trees. In among the trunks, she knows that the shadows give her even more protection from the idiots all bunched up with their lanterns. There's no way they can see her now. ::Thank Rudd that there aren't more elves or dwarves living in this backwater!:: she thinks to herself, reaching the stone bridge that crosses the Realstream River.

Back at the Mill, the men have finished lighting their lanterns.
"Spelt, you take those three and see if you can find the Watch. Start by checking across the River."
"OK, Pa. Come on, you're with me." Some of the light moves away west.
Briefly Ember considers crossing the bridge before raising the alarm...but then she remembers how it felt to be alone and hunted in this village on the other side of that bridge - just ONE DAY ago - and she decides against it. This side of the river has Ramne's Grove, and while she doesn't want to put that old man in danger, she's more confident that she can lose any pursuit in the forest if she has to. She's done it before, after all. Squatting down behind the western side of the stone bridge, Ember takes a deep breath and is about to let it out when a quartet of men ("Villagers") appear with a lantern out of the trees, and hustle their way across the bridge. Ember ducks down and they do not see her in their hurry.

Back at the Mill:
"Gold, you go with these two and Ollwin, head to the crossroads and check to make sure they haven't circled back to murder more people in the barn. You should meet up with Grand and the Clayborns."
"It's a plan." More of them move off ("Citizens").
"Well, it's up to the rest of us to check the shore."

As the light recedes across the bridge, Ember counts to herself. How fast will they come running? How soon will they find the adventurers squatting just a few yards away from them? Taking that deep breath again, Ember howls, a long, mournful cry of rage and loneliness. It doesn't sound much like a wolf, but then it's not meant to: it's meant to grab the hunters' attention.
"What's that?"
"They're signaling each other!"
"That came from down by the River!"
"Come on! If we hurry, we can trap them there!"

The search party ("Millers") that was about to discover the party turns around and runs toward the trees to the west.
Ember can see lantern lights bobbing as people run from the south of her (across the bridge), the east of her (in the trees), and the north of her (coming down the road).