"Pettilaen!" Zina glared at her fellow gnome. "This is why we plan ahead! You could have been dead, or dismembered! You can't just go running off."

The illusionist decided it would be best now to just ignore the rogue. "I agree Portia," she said loftily. "We're not ready to face whatever slaughtered those rangers, especially with the kid. Let's make sure he's safe before we do anything else."

The group picks their way to Beregost without incident. The Song of the Morning Temple is dark and quiet, save for the giant brazier hanging from the arched roof of the main hall, burning eternally in deference to Lathander. An attendant greets the group, hears of the situation, and calls for servants to see the boy to a prayer room where priests will attend to him shortly.

"We'd received word from Elrutel to keep an eye out for this boy," the attendant says. "Any costs incurred will be addressed directly with House Kennet of Elturgard. Is there any other way in which I may serve you?"

!!! LEVEL UP !!!

You have completed the first story arc and may each advance your characters to 2nd level.

"We'd received word from Elrutel to keep an eye out for this boy," the attendant says. "Any costs incurred will be addressed directly with House Kennet of Elturgard. Is there any other way in which I may serve you?"

Pettilaen's ears perk up, "Any costs, you say?" He massages his shoulder, feigning pain. "Now that you mention in, while we were saving this kid, I think I pulled one of my muscles. Perhaps you have a nice room set up for a pleasant massage with some incense to burn? I'd also love some fruit too. That would really let me destress." He smiles, trying to be as warm and friendly as possible.

The attendant returns the smile.

"We have some guest quarters where you may wash, rest, and take a meal, though I am afraid we have only barley loaf and oat porridge to offer tonight. There'll be fresh mutton in the morning." He gestures toward the temple's southeast wing. "Shall I show you the way?"

What kind of temple doesn't offer massages? Pettilaen returns the smile, though half-heartedly. "If it's on Eltrutel's tab, I suppose anything would be appreciated. If not, my friend is Portia. She's a priest at this temple. And a friend of Portia is a friend of the temple, and Lathander himself, right?" He chuckles. "Something tells me I'm going to be very broke, very fast..." There's a gleam in his eyes as he says this. Tonight is the night you'll finally figure it out, Pettilaen. "Lead on, master temple-man."

"Sleep," the illusionist smiled at just the thought of a nice bed. It had been a long day to say the least.

"Lead on, master temple-man,"  the other, more troublesome gnome said. After all the trouble he had put them through, he was now trying to take advantage of the situation?

"Be nice," she whispered to him in gnommish, elbowing the rogue as they began walking. "I don't want to get kicked out because you stole the silverware."

The attendant leads the way to three tidy, but austere, chambers. Fresh water, scented with jasmine, flows to a cistern in each room through some sort of ductwork in the walls. A warm loaf of bread and large, steaming bowl of porridge sit on a wooden shelf at the rear of each room. Each room also contains a single rope bed with thick feather mattress.

"I'm sorry we cannot provide individual accommodations for each of you," he says, "but there's room enough on the floor for a bedroll... Or I can recommend a good, honest inn."

Pettilaen smiles, the chamber well above his expectations. Responding to Zina in Gnomish, he says, "I am being polite! I called him master, and a man. Both admirable qualities." Sniffing the air, he seems almost giddy. "Do I smell jasmine in here?! This is splendid, master temple-man." Looking himself over, he adds, "With my size, we could easily fit two of us on one of these beds." Winking at Zina, he begins whistling a tune, suddenly stopping. "But not the dwarf. I've slept with dwarves, and they are not desireable bed companions." Smiling, he chuckles. "No offense, Bullden!"

He quickly goes to unpack his things, claiming the first room as his own, and then proceeds to the warm loaf of bread.

Zina wrinkled her nose at the rogue's proposition. "I'll be sharing a room with Portia," she frowned, grabbing the only other female in the group by the arm and half dragging her toward the next room.

"Unless you already have nicer quarters here?" the gnome whispered to the much taller woman. Perhaps she could get her own room out of this deal...

Portia smiles at the attendant. "Good evening. It's been a long day, but I am glad we were able to get Regis here safely. These dogs will want to stay nearby to guard him. They belong to Kennett. I can come with you as you get him settled since they know I have the boy's best interests in hand. They are very well trained, but have been through alot. Brut here is the alpha and will want to be in the room with Regis." She points at the dog as she says his name.

She looks down at Zina. "I don't think it will be a problem if you stay in my room I already have here."

She returns her gaze to the attendant. "Is Malark busy? I wouldn't mind seeing him quick before heading to bed for the night."

Quote from Briseadh >>

"Is Malark busy? I wouldn't mind seeing him quick before heading to bed for the night."

Bullden chuckles at the reference of dwarves being hardy sleepers and always happy to get his own room.

Bullden asks the servant, "Can ye fetch me a ale to go with dinner and breakfast since yer footn tha bill?"

When the servant leaves Bullden mentions to the group, "We need to report this to tha local constables or at least send a message to Elturel about out current situation.  We should even go back and check out tha carnage before it gets picked over by tha locals.  Also we need to find out more about this boy cuz I'm beatn our trouble aint over yet."

"Nah Portia, I'll just take one of the rooms they gave us and say you're sharing with me," the gnome said with a mischevious smile. "Then, I don't have to share!"

Zina grabbed a porridge of her own, the bowl clearly made for human sized hands, and stood outside the doorway where there seemed to be a strategy meeting of sorts taking place. Bullden was planning ahead, which was something she would appreciate on a normal day. "Bully, Bully, Bully" she groaned between bites of porridge. "Let me spell it out for you: we... are... not... doing... anything... before... sleep."

Portia smiles at the attendant who comes back to let her know. She could have gone and looked for him, but she was tired. His sleeping accommodations were not near hers now that she had become an adult and even when he was her full ward, she spent most of her time elsewhere in the temple being schooled and then trained to be a cleric.

"Oh, wait, I think he told me to not get into too much trouble chasing down goblins because he would be out of town." She chuckles a little. "I'm really tired, but I would like to know if the boy wakes up or if something else interesting comes about based on what is going on with him and the obvious kidnapping and stealing of Kennett marked goods." She makes sure the attendant knows where she resides in the temple.

She turns to the party. "Just let the on duty attendant know if you need me. I'm going to bed and not thinking for a bit because I've been up way too long."

She walks out and heads to her familiar quarters with several other young woman of the temple. Most of them are there and some are even sleeping. She does some simple greetings, gets herself cleaned up, and slips thankfully into her bed. She is out instantly.

After Bullden gets his ale, you all sleep well in the security relative comfort of the temple.

Come morning, it's breakfast and time to settle on what's next... Will you head out to try to assess what happened to Jhaan and his rangers?

Bullden agrees that we should investigate what happened to the rangers but we must first make sure the boy is in capable hands.  Bullden asks Portia if she can ask the higher ups to keep an eye on the boy.

For those listening, Pettilaen sounded like he was up pretty late into the night, as shouts of excitement rang out from his room at around midnight. With everyone sound asleep, any who would've been awoken by his frantic yelling would've been too groggy to process it all. By the time everyone is up and awake, Pettilaen is still sound asleep, due to whatever commotion occurred the night before. He eventually does awake, still quite tired, you can hear strange noises from his room. Eventually, he emerges, at around 9:00 a.m., with a beautiful owl, perched on his shoulder.

With a smile brimming from ear to ear, he practically sprints out of the double doors to the temple as quickly as he can, carrying a bow well over his height and a fancy quiver. He shouts to anyone he passes by, "I finally did it! My dream has come true!" Returning at approximately 10:00 a.m., the bow and quiver are gone, replaced with a large tomb, the leather a deep brown, etched with golden runes and insignias, tightly sealed with two iron clasps running down the side, strapped to his waist. In his left hand is a mahogany wand, etched with a spiraling silver pattern. The smile has not diminished in the slightest as he approaches the party. "Sorry I'm late. I.... had a breakthrough last night!" The owl flaps its wings, remaining perched on his shoulder.

"Congratulations Petti- oh no," Zina's smile at the other gnome's breakthrough quickly faded when she saw the owl on his shoulder. "You can't have that. Not an owl." Her hand instinctively went to her pocket, where the familiar of her own lay curled up. She stroked his little head with her index finger nervously. 

"I'm really happy for you, and I know you've been sneaking peeks at my spell book since, well, since we met," the gnome amended. Her familiar began to curl around her wrist, crawling up into her sleeve. "But an owl?"

Portia agrees they had to sort out what had happened but it seemed the impetuous gnome, Pettilaen, had slept in and when he got up scampered off before anyone could figure out what he was doing. She thought about putting him on a leash, which made her laugh. If anyone wondered why she laughed, she would just wave a hand.

After breakfast she checks on Regis and the dogs. She tries to be friendly with Brut hoping he might decide to forgive her for thumping him on the head so they could dig Regis out of a crate. He growls when she gently reaches out to pet him. "I totally understand." She laughed lightly and pulled her hand back. "You are doing a fine job and I'm sure Regis will be able to give you a hug soon." Brut gives her a look that makes her think he understands.

Once she knows how the boy is doing, she checks on the group again. It seems she can't find some of them, so she goes in search of one of her trainers. Maybe she could get another spell under her belt while the crew figured out which way was up and gnomes would not be running off willy nilly. It doesn't take long to acquire something new to add to her small set of abilities so far.