Dreams Into Journey

"I'll be there."  Lia says with a nod of respect to the woman. She pockets her sack of gold, then turns to the others.  "Back to the tavern then, or do you all have somewhere else to be going?"

Accepting and pocketing his own share with a nod to Caena, Oswin will turn to Lia, “Think I’d like to pick up a thing or two, but that can wait until tomorrow. Where’s this tavern of yours, I’ve never been here before.”

"I'll show you." Lia says with a smile. She leads the way then to the tavern.

"Of course, I think we can all go there," Valentia replies to Caena, taking the gold before looking at Gark. "You're going to leave to deliver the bandit there yourself, right? I think I can go with you, explain the fight we had, and how our quest went. Then, if the group wants we can meet at the tavern."

“Ok” Gark says to Valentia then grabs the rope to lead the bandit to the sergeant. 

“I‘ll stay for a drink. I’ll see you all in the tavern in a bit” he says to the others

Lia and Oswin arrive at a location familiar to Lia, Gark and Valentia, the Pick and Tap.

Since it is late evening, there are quite a few patrons present. Raicho, the owner and his wife, Evonnia are hard at work tending to their customers. Lia recognizes most of them as miners, especially one unmistakable dwarf, Ragkohm, who is in higher spirits than when you first met him.

Gark and Valentia lead the captive bandit to the southern barracks and straight to Forscal's office.

Fortunately, he is in and doing some paperwork when he notices you. "Ah, you're back! You find out what happened? And who's th-" he notices the tattoo on the prisoner. "Found a little excitement, eh?"

"Hey Ragkohm, you seem in good spirits tonight." Lia says in greeting as she enters, giving the dwarf a smile.  "Things going better in the mines now?"

Oswin will move up to the bar leaning over towards the bartender, "Just in case you haven't heard, I thought I'd share the good news, the supply caravan has finally arrived."

"Well, they found us, to be exact. A big group of 8 tried to stop the caravan." Valentia takes over to explain to the Sargeant, leaving the bandit to be carried by Gark, or the guards if any appear to take the bandit away. "As for what happened and what kept the caravan from arriving in the town... It's honestly, hard to explain."

"Yeah.  A magic portal kept teleporting the caravan away from town.  We had to fight some kind of horse demon too.  Someone really doesn't want the wagons to reach town" Gark says with a shrug.  "This one kept fighting until he was the last one left.  Maybe you'll get some info out of him"

 "Don'cha know it, Miss Lia!" Ragkohm replies to Lia with a laugh. "You know that new branch we were havin' trouble with afore ya cleared oot those kobolds? Hit one of the largest veins of iron I've ever saw in there! Damn good quality, too!"

"Glad ta see yer still stickin' around, lass! Where have ya been these last couple'a days?"

Raicho responds to Oswin, "Many thanks, I was getting low on food and drink! Saw you walk in with Lia, there. I guess she and her friends help figure out your problem?"

'What was going on anyway? Bandits giving you grief?"

"That many...?!" Forscal exclaims. "That's overkill for them, even for a caravan. What is going on?"

"I'm guessing that's what he's here for... Thank you for taking him in! The two of us are going to be well acquainted." He stands up and grabs the bandit by the shoulder.

"Wait! what 'bout this 'horse demon' and 'portal' business?" The bandit interjects, "Ain't they bigger threats?"

"Nice try. If they fought it off and stopped the portal, then they aren't as threatening than you lot. But, for now, you have other issues." Forscal admonishes the bandit.

He turns to Gark and Valentia. "But, I would suggest you keep an eye out for the demon."

Oswin will start to shake his head, then turn it into a nod, "N... well, yes, but it was a little more complicated. Some strange ritual locked us into a region, every time we'd reach the edge, we'd end up on the other side. When we ran into Lia and her group, managed to find a magical trace and followed it back to some weird demon thing, chased it off, disrupted the ritual and we were on our way. We did have a run in with those bandits you've apparently been having trouble with, beat them off easily enough, even took a prisoner. With a little luck, we'll get enough information from him to find their base and finish this trouble for good."

“That sounds as good of a plan I’ve heard yet.” Andivus agrees with Oswin

Gark nods at Forscal then exits with Val and walks with her and the pup toward the tavern to join the others.

Gark finds a seat along the outer edge of the group and orders an ale for himself and some raw stew meat for the pup. 

"Well, we were hired to figure out why the caravan had not made it to town yet." She says with a shrug, brushing some white hair behind her ear.  "Found out there was this ritual that was teleporting the caravan back down the road several miles every time they got close to town.  we had to go and dispel the ritual before we could get the caravan past that area of the road.  After that we fought off some bandits, captured one, then made it back to town with the caravan." 

"Feh! Have no clue about magic and rituals and the like, but those bandits are easier ta read! Remove 'em from their pals and they be as timid as a fawn." Ragkohm takes a big gulp of his ale. "If the guards get nothin' outta him, I'll eat my hat!"

"Glad to hear that something is actually gonna be done about some of those bandits. They've been a thorn in the town's side ever since old Ragkohm broke ground on the Lesser Crest." Raicho says as gestures to the dwarf talking with Lia, "Which group in particular? Wild Boys? Alpha Jackals? Fester's Mob?"

Before leaving, Valentia gives a nod to Forscal and responds. "Yes, we shall do that. Thankfully, I have some skills acquired from my faith that might be useful in tracking a fiend like that one down, but priorities first, we'll see what else we can do to help this town while we're here." Then, together with Gark, she leaves to make her way back to the tavern.

"Alpha Jackals," Oswin will confirm then pause, "Wait, you have three different groups of bandits harassing this little mining town? What are you mining here, mithral and platinum?"

Sounds like there are more bandits than townsfolk, eh? I don’t think it makes a difference to us which bandits are which... unless things become political Andivo says with a shrug.

After the pup finishes his meat, Gark settles him into his pack to let him nap.  Gark listens to the conversations for a while and after a couple of ales, he turns to the others and tells them "I'm heading into the forest to train the pup.  Maybe I'll see if I can find a trail from where the bandits ambushed us and track it some.  I'll meet you guys here the morning after next for the visit with the mayor."

Gark and the pup head into the forest to spend the night.  In the morning, he'll start training the pup to follow commands and hand signals using Beast Bond to explain exactly what each signal means.