"Congratulations Petti- oh no," Pettilaen saw Zina's smile quickly fade, which only made his quickly rise. Oh yes! "You can't have that. Not an owl." Her hand reached for her pocket, almost instinctively. What does she have, a ring of power in there or something?

"I'm really happy for you, and I know you've been sneaking peeks at my spell book since, well, since we met," Pettilaen could only chuckle at this comment, but his heart skipped a beat when she mentioned it. How did she find out?! I thought I was being careful to put it back right where I found it... "But an owl?" He laughs, visibly excited. "Of course an owl! Do you know what it's like to fly through the sky? In the blink of an eye, I see through Gaia's eyes as she soars through the sky! It a wonderful feeling, seeing everything beneath you. And with such clear focus too, I might add." He strokes her head gently. "I've also always had an affinity for owls, growing up. They're my favorite type of bird... So wise and focused aren't you, Gaia?" She makes a quick, repetitive ho-ho noise in response, arching her neck to try and get a better angle at whatever is crawling up Zina's sleeve.

"Now... Onto the prince-kid. We need to find out when his father, Elrutel? Elture? Whatever is is, when he is coming. I'd like to be there when he arrives: he'd probably reward us for keeping his kid safe and rescuing him. While the cart has some valuables, I don't think it's worth going back for. The elven rangers, however, are something I'd rather not investigate, but know we need to, and will. Whatever killed him is lurking out there, and with my newfound talents..." He reaches for his spellbook, "I think we can kill the monstrosity. Perhaps Zina can go check out the taverns and bars, trying to see what information can be had about recent sightings along the road or murders and such?" Confidence exudes from Pettilaen, as his recent success with becoming a wizard has obviously emboldened him.

"Wise and focused, bah!" Zina clearly was having trouble with the whole 'moving on' thing. "Owls are glorified scavengers who eat other animals and cause trouble." Mirage curled around her wrist, sensing her discomfort. It's ok, she thought to the snake. I will char that loathsome bird alive if she ever comes near you.

Scowling, Zina found herself agreeing with most everything else Pettilaen said, which was an annoying position to find herself in. "I'm not so sure if I'm the best person to be sending to talk to people," she poked the only flaw she could currently find in his plan. "I don't really like stupid people, and they don't really like me."

"Oh yeah, I forgot: you do poorly when it comes to people-things. Wait!" He looks around for the tiefling, Ishkar. "He's probably born to talk to people, that tailed bard. We should send him out for information, if he isn't already." Grinning, he continues, "I could use some flight time with this beauty. Gaia is born to scout about, and I have a pretty good range of sight with her, so she can be our eyes up above! It'll take some practice though to get used to it, if you don't mind me."

Regis Kennet is awake this morning. The priests cured him during the night. He's taking breakfast in a large, nicely appointed guest room with its own hearth, canopy bed, and vaulted window of stained glass in the image of a rising sun. The rumor is that High Lord Dhelt, Master of High Hall and Minister General of Elturgard as well as High Overseer of Torm for all Faerun, has dispatched an elite unit of Hellriders to Beregost to retrieve the boy. With a merchant's cart in tow to retrieve what goods they can, it's likely to take them at least 10-15 days to arrive.

With the morning a little less early and rushed than anticipated, there's an opportunity for the group (as a collective) to learn a few things that are floating around the temple and Beregost at large:

• Master Regis Kennet is son of Lord Captain Reynauld Kennet, a member of High Lord Dhelt of Elturgard's court, second in command of the Hellriders and paladins of Elturel, and Commander General of Elturel's militia. This is the first generation of House Kennet, with Reynauld Kennet being its first lord, raised to land and title by High Lord Dhelt for distinguished service to Elturgard on the field of battle.
•  Master Regis is, by his own choice, in training to be a Hellrider of Elturel, deferring his noble birthright to his younger brothers in service to Eltugard.
• The critters wandering up from the south, once annoying, have turned deadly in the last 24 - 36 hours. First spotted south of Beregost, then to the east and west last night, a tribe of half-ogres have been roving about, seemingly searching for something. The watch saw them attack a small group of riders along the road just north of town last night. The riders apparently led them on an extensive run-and-gun chase before running into a second group of half-ogres that setup to ambush them. One of the riders got off a blast with his hunting horn, but that was the last anyone in Beregost saw or heard of them. The town militia is on alert.
• In general, discontent is growing in the town of Beregost over the appearance that the Flaming Fist and Baldur's Gate have abandoned them to their own devices. There's growing talk about petitioning Candlekeep or Amn to take the town under its wing as a protectorate, abandoning its fealty to the Gate.

Through the morning she manages to pick up on information from around the temple and then when she manages to collaborate with some of the party after she proves she can handle the spell properly. After all, it could hurt plenty bad enough whatever she threw it at, maybe even more so to undead and similar things.

So half ogres were searching for something and coming up from the south. That was the more immediate issue other than seeing what they could find still lying around of the Kennett goods. Though maybe now that Regis had been up a little while and had a good breakfast, he might remember something of how he wound up in a crate.

She returns to Regis's room where she had at least managed to introduce herself to him when checking on at breakfast time. She had left him alone to finish his meal without bothering him with questions. Now she was ready to see what he remembered. She gets comfortable in the seat she is offered.

"I am glad that we got you here in time and you are doing well again. I didn't want to bother you during your breakfast. I'm not sure what we will find left of those goods since three Flaming Fist tried moving them in a not so great cart to get them here and we had to leave it behind to get you to safety after they were overdue for returning with another." She looks at the dogs. "I think Brut won't forgive me because in the process of trying to find you in the first place, I had to subdue the dogs. I'm glad they are doing fine. I love dogs." She smiles.

"But why I came back is I need to know everything you can remember that caused you to wind up in the predicament that my friends and I managed to save you from? Which direction you were going on what road and where to, as well. Maybe it will tie into other things going on around here, but maybe it won't."

Bullden is a little annoyed at breakfast and even after with everyone be-bopping around and not getting to task.  He takes that time to scarf down the food and get some liquid courage for the morning.  Even gives a beer to Ishkar to help with the headache.

As soon as the group is gathered Bullden lays out the plan for the day in hush tones to avoid prying ears.  "We need to get a wagon and high tail it back to our original ride to try and recover the boy's belongings.  When done wit that we investigate the Rangers untimely demise.  We need to move quickly because scavengers are going to make easy pickings of either site."

Bullden asks the servant if we can get a wagon and if he needs a reason he hands him a note stating the boy's wagon got over turned a few hours our of town.  Maybe Portia can help this along since she has some clout with this church.

Given the givens (connections with the Flaming Fist and with the temple its self), it's not difficult to get a decent cart, pair of ponies, and a driver to retrieve (what's left of) Lord Captain Kennet's belongings.

In regards to the questions addressed to Master Regis Kennet, he responds in a pleasant but plaintive manner, as if something is upsetting him:

"Yes, I'm in your debt and I will be sure to pass along your names to my father."

He pauses for a long moment, then sighs heavily.

"I went to Amn with father's envoy. I was responsible for validating all of the documents and writs of payment with father's signet ring." He gulps and his chest heaves. "When we finished acquiring all that father wanted from the Promenade in Athkatla, I was to hire a half-dozen caravan guards and escort the goods to Baldur's Gate where a contingent from Elturel would meet us. I hired a band led by a genasi pirate from the Cimarine Isles, a fellow with skin the shade of pure gold. He seemed like a good-hearted fellow at first, but he and his men turned on us just north of Beregost. I could hear Brut barking from his crate when they killed the envoy. They knocked me out and shoved me in one of the dog crates. I kind of remember being carried into a tavern and down some stairs, but it's all blurry from there..."

"The envoy was an old friend of father's and his favorite servant... And I've lost his signet ring and ancestral sword as well. I'm..."

He chokes on the next word, then falls silent. His facial expression is stoic and even, but a thick tear tumbles down his right cheek.

"We will do our best to acquire things and find this pirate. I know exactly what he looks like. The coward slipped out of the tavern shortly after we arrived, which was not long after he had put everything in the room where we found you. Gert gave me the key to the room when explaining in whispers she had heard the voice of someone not wanting to be hurt. Unfortunately, trying to listen at the door and her bad housekeeping, the whole door fell in. Due to the surprise I fell flat in with it." She smirks. "I wound up laughing despite the dogs they had let out to guard everything. The rest I pretty much told you, but we are not sure what we are going to find when we go back. I wouldn't be surprised if the genasi has the ring and sword."

She knows someone must have stumbled on everything out there by now between the dang half-ogres reported and the fact the rangers and the cart of goods is no further from Beregost than a couple of miles, maybe a tad more for the pile of goods. She wasn't so worried about the cart anyway. She was very certain the pirate had the worthwhile items.

"What was the name of this genasi pirate?"

Once she has the name she will reassure Regis they would do what they could and head back to figure out what the others had gotten better organized. Maybe Bullden managed to get some things due to his Flaming Fist connection. Maybe he could help the reputation of the Flaming Fist with Beregost if the party could manage some resolving of this issue with Regis and maybe take out some of the raiding nasties from the south in the mix. She felt better prepared than she had even yesterday.

Regis doesn't remember his name, but I'm sure a member of your party does. The pirate's name is Baradwulf.

From the other room, a candleflame goes off in Pettilaen's head. "Ah! Bareasswolf. That's the nickname I had for that pirate. It was either that, or Mr. Goldface." He snickers and goes to lay on the nearest bench as Gaia takes off into the air. "I'm gonna go flying for a bit. Let me know when we want to go check out the rangers."

Portia was not surprised that he did not remember. She wanders from the more secure and lordly chamber they put Regis in back to the common area for visitors to hear Pettilaen say something about the pirate's name and then comment he was going to do some flying with his bird. She shrugged and said, "Going to go find Bullden and if no one else comes along, I won't be coming back to find you again." She keeps on going.

Of the crew Bullden probably got something organized using his Flaming Fist connections along with having the temple supporting their efforts now. She finds Bullden outside with the cart. ((Assuming this as he was more organized and DM said this would be easy to figure out. Also because Bullden said we needed these things ;) ))

"I know you wanted to get going sooner, but I did some more digging into things myself while waiting for whatever the rest were up to after being up like 24 hours to begin with." She shook her head. "We have two known issues. Baradwulf has a family sword and ring of Kennett taken from Regis. We have half-ogres or some type of ogre that is rampaging around here from the south now. It is believed the ogres, in two bands, took out the rangers, so they are organized and baiting people into ambushes."

Pettilaen saw Portia extremely clearly through Gaia's eyes. Her ears were good too, able to pick up what she said from over 100 feet away. Switching senses, Gaia flies back and lands on his shoulder as he gets up, a little disoriented. "Wow. That's an experience I don't think I'll ever get used to." Watching Portia walk away, he could tell she meant business. No more dillydallying for me! Rushing to gather his things, he meets up with Portia and Bullden by the cart he's put together. "Ah! You've been busy it seems, Bullden. I have too... with... other things." He smiles sheepishly. 

"We have two known issues. Baradwulf has a family sword and ring of Kennett taken from Regis. We have half-ogres or some type of ogre that is rampaging around here from the south now." A ring and a sword? Quick to cut into the monologue, Pettilaen spits out. "That sword could be a holy avenger. I read about them in a book I st... found in a library. It could slay demons! And definitely half-ogres... We could use the sword to kill the half-ogres, yeah?" He smiles, the experiences he's had in the past twelve hours putting him in a giddy mood.

Bullden finishes getting the cart ready and when the others join he thanks them for helping, NOT!  He just grumbles about the lackadaisical nature of of the other races.  When Bullden finally finishes his grumbling he says to those group members present, "So this sword and ring seem to be a big deal.  I doubt a youngling be carrying a holy blade cuz that would be the quickest way to get a target on your back.  So I guess this means we have 3 missions now.  You guys ready to do to the wagon?"

Totally ignores Pettilaen who seems to be rambling all crazy like about holy swords and stuff. Like a fourteen-year-old would have one of those. She didn't even know a paladin in the temple with such a thing and, well, if there was one, it was hush-hush.

"Well, I at least managed to talk to Regis more, did inspire the ease of getting this," waves her hand at the wagon, "and only went to do something on my own when everyone was in a mix of stuff. Though what I did for myself will help in the long run. Now let's head out. Everything is within two and a half miles. Now if we have a lot to load on this wagon from the broken cart, that will be the most time consuming thing. We already know the rangers were bashed in by ogres, but we can go by the spot even on the way out since it is closer than the cart. Though the city guard knowing of it, may have found it and cleaned it up already or some farmer told them. Plenty of farms between here and there."

She bounces on her toes a bit ready to go and check the two spots. "We might get back in time for a late lunch. The wagon has to come back by dinner anyway."

The group (if this excludes you, speak soon or forever hold your peace) heads out in the borrowed cart to follow up on last night's drama. When they come upon the area they expect the half-ogres first assailed Jhaan and his riders, all they really see is some damage to the road and mild blood spatter indicating that some portion of the fracas did occur here. From the rumors flitting around town and your observation of the sight, you would guess the final strokes of the combat probably occurred somewhere to the east of the road, though it's difficult to tell how far. Given there's no sight of it from the road, probably no less than several hundred feet and, given the watch could still catch glimpses of the goings on, probably no more than a mile.

Continue northward toward the abandoned goods?

FYI, Ishkar is conspicuously absent when the group assembles... The priests say they believe he left in the night.

(UsurperOfNessus chose to bow out of the game.)

Pettilaen tried to simply sit on the cart for the journey, but Portia wouldn't have it. "Come on! I could be scouting with Gaia up above, to help prevent any ambushes!" ... She must think I'm lazy or something. Arriving at the scene of the battle, Pettilaen gazes out. His eyes just felt so blurry, compared to seeing through Gaia's eyes. "I'm going up with Gaia. Her vantage point will give me a good view of what's around us." Plopping himself firmly on the ground, almost like a defiant toddler, Pettilaen closes his eyes as Gaia takes flight. Everything is so peaceful up here... It's like to problems of the ground disappear. Focusing his attention, he soars with Gaia high into the sky, until they have an advantageous viewpoint of the surrounding countryside. Peering out, he spots a crude campsite off the the east, about a quarter of a mile away. Like a magnifying glass, Gaia's vision intensifies on the spot, and he can pick out the glistening bones of a few horse corpses.

Gaia soars back down to his shoulder as Pettilaen opens his eyes. "There's a cruse encampment about a quarter mile east of here. I could see a lot of bones, probably from horse corpses. It looks like they've been gnawed clean. My guess is the half-ogres are over there..." He points eastward, his hand shaking a little.

Zina used her morning alone time for more personal tasks, such as heading to a library and doing some research. Libraries made her happy, when she had been stuck in Blackstaff their extensive library was one of the few things that made it all worthwhile. She skimmed dozens of books, first indulging herself with a tome on owls. Convinced that Mirage was in fact safe, she then got on to more important research. She almost lost track of time, and had to run to meet up with the rest of the party at the carriage.

"I've never seen a tribe of half-ogres before," the gnome attempted to make conversation as they walked. "I wonder why they attacked those elves. They were complete idiots, so I'm not surprised that a bunch of half-witted bastards got the jump on them..."

Eventually, they arrived at the scene, and the illusionist was forced to stop her offensive ramblings. Pettilaen decided to use his insufferable owl to see, but Zina was prepared for that. As soon as she saw the familiar glassy look on his eyes, she took out a piece of charcoal from her bag and began drawing a mustache on his face. She giggled a little, knowing that he also couldn't hear her.

Bullden walks the area and does a quick perception (perception 20) and when done states , "We shou' come back ta this after we git tha abandoned goods."  If everyone is in agreement, lets roll.

While Pettilaen soared with Gaia, he could feel something crawling on his lips. Switching his focus, he looked and saw Zina drawing a mustache on his face. What Gaia sees is more important than what you feel, Pettilaen. Revenge is a dish best served cold. Switching his focus back to Gaia, he relays the appropriate information.

Pettilaen acts as if nothing is amiss as he comes out of his merging with Gaia. Seemingly unfazed, he nods to Bullden. "Let's go after the goods, boss-man! Heigh-ho, heigh-ho, it's off to work we go!" Giggling, he begins marching forward, using the action to disguise casting prestidigitation on Zina's pants (SoH=20). Turning back, he laughs. "Zina... Did you pee your pants?!" He sprints down the road, laughing, as Gaia flies overhead.