The Forgotten Wish

Rick nods in agreement with Pallen then stares blankly at Breldo, then quietly whispers,

"Richard...Richard..."

He licks his lips, like he is tasting the name.

"Slick Richard..."

Pallen remains in doubt, although rather than weighing up against his own predicament, he seems only worried about bringing the group itself in trouble.

"... Surely, at least bringing this to attention should be harmless enough? And it might stop anything too bad happening if he is being scrutinised..." 

"Whatever Boss Pallen wants, Rick, Khond, Oren and the others will make happen!"

Rick responds, volunteering everyone.

Khond nods, "It's important for a traveling performer to know when to leave in a hurry, but it's also important for us to connect with influential people."

"Do you have a good hand with the pen, Khond? I think you've likely got a better way with words than I do. 'The Captain's a right shit and is locking folks up to steal stuff from them' is to the point, but perhaps not the best way to get some higher up eyes on him."

Pallen tilts his head to the notion, but doesn't seem to disagree.

"Ah... Leaving a letter? Maybe that's not a bad idea. We can give a warning with hopefully no one even the wiser it was us. It better be thorough of course, given how they won't exactly be able to ask questions..."

Rick asks Oren, not loudly but not quietly,

"Does friend Oren think the shop ledger and items would be useful with the letter? Rick thinks maybe it would show the shopkeeper is honest but Rick doubts it will help put the captain in a bad enough light."

"I'm not a bad hand with a pen - better than with a sword, but nowhere near any sort of artistry.  The basics are important if I'm to put down any script.  Though, I'm as torn as good Pallen here about that idea.  Certainly, not being known as the ones to start such strife is good, especially considering how several of us stand out so clearly, but a letter will carry little impact."

"Rick thinks a letter with some evidence would be good to improve the impact of a letter friend Khond and boss Pallen, but evidence has not been found."

Rick scratches a scar on his neck.

"Rick guesses we can ask the merchant if there was something in the Captain's office that could be used? Rick and Khond could stay until tonight and... procure the evidence, send it with the letter and meet up with Boss Pallen tomorrow?"

Pallen considers some of the listed options, doubtful to some, though shakes a simple no to Slick's idea.

"No, we shouldn't split up. If you're a day behind, we'd have to either wait a day for you to catch up, or... Well, there's no real roads left to the place we have to head to. I wouldn't want you to get lost. We could stay one more day to see what can be done, but we should all stay."

"There's really not an ideal solution I suppose, especially without proof. But... Well, the captain doesn't have any proof himself that isn't bogus. Either we go there ourselves and say whatever we can, or hope that they at least take a letter seriously enough to inquire, which might be enough."

"...We should make sure we put down everything we do know that doesn't line up. The claim of an ambush up North where they are not even supposed to patrol, or how the captain managed to capture the bandits the very same day, how the shopkeeper responsible just happened to buy things at an auction. It's just too many coincidences." Pallen states, waiting to see how the group hopes to resolve this in the end.

Oren gets out of the papers and ledgers, "This really needs to be looked over more carefully.  I did not have proper time earlier, as we...were in a rush." He says while blushing.   "But it might have the evidence you are talking about."

Nuria is a bit lost at this point, and simply lets the more experienced adventurers handle the matter. Besides, she's not exactly the best writer either....

Pallen takes note of the fact that Oren and Slick somehow seem to be holding private ledgers of the accused merchant... Then decides not to question it. Instead, he wonders, thinking out loud.

"Okay, so... There are many steps to this mess, but Vanstrom's claim is that the merchant made these other three murder several dwarves to get at some artifact he really wanted. So... If his goal is to claim goods from him, and then state that they were from these dwarves, couldn't proper ledger records prove that he got it from a far different source?"

Oren's eyes go wide for a moment and he nods enthusiasticly.  "Yes, that would work perfectly.  But who exactly do we give this information to, who has the authority to have the right thing done?"  He looks back and forth between Sylvera and Pallen, very much thinking one of them will have the right answer to this question.

"If there are innocents imprisoned, that must be fixed.  And if this captain has done this now, the winds only know what he has done to other in the past with his authority."

Now that it seems there is something that they can actually do about this, Oren's eyes light up a bit, focused on something very right getting done in the world.

"Rick can ask around who the big bosses around Passley are?"

To that, Pallen doesn't seem certain. 

"I... Think the only one with authority would probably be the town leader? But I'm not sure how much they'd be able to do with such information. That seems more like trade guild department, but I'm not sure whether or not they would call any shots."

"...In either case, if we stick around, I do feel like we'll be upsetting this Vanstrom character. Is that a risk we're willing to take?"

"I feel like if he sees me, he's like to want to toss me back in the jail.", Breldo says dourly. "It may hinge on the town leader's opinion and power in relation to Vanstrom. If he's a pain in their side and they need a justification, we may be able to hand them that.... but if they have no say on how he runs things, that's another matter."

Sylvera's temperament seems to grow colder as her companions begin talking about the possibility of further involving themselves in whatever is going on with Vanstrom. 

"I don't like that fool any more than the rest of you, but I gave my word that we would leave first thing today in exchange for his freedom," she gestures sharply at Breldo. "Even if he is honorees I'd prefer to keep my name clean." She crosses her arms, temper simmering as she mentally runs through everything that was said. It doesn't seem like anyone has any solid evidence of anything, and even with her standing as a noble it doesn't seem like she'd be able to use that as leverage--and what she can do can only go so far. 

History check: (to see if she knows of anyone who could help in this situation): 6

Thinking it over, but mostly inexperienced with the law of the current land, Sylvera comes to the same conclusion as Pallen in that the village leader probably remains the best person to contact, or would definitely at least be able to point them in the right direction. Assuming the group is willing to talk, rather than put their hopes in a letter.

After a bit of silent deliberation, Pallen breaks it again to speak up.

"It's a shit situation, but we should figure out how we'd best like to tackle it. I personally think we should at least do something- But given the circumstances... Unless anyone else has better suggestions, we should stick with talking to whoever is responsible for this village. Be it either with letter, or in person. Does that make sense..?"