Allansia Wildlands Campaign.

 "They promised to behave," translated Lindale her conversation with Graunies to Gilbert, "they are going to stay at home and going out only with you. You never know with Graunies but I think they will at least try."

She returned to the heroes to get Brocc's approval. "Thank you," Lindale's gratitude was very sincere (and obvious) "Can we go with you now? We are ready, right, Banzo?" Hard to say was it pure enthusiasm (at least some of it - for sure), curiosity (cyclops in the smithy!) or caution (heroes could disappear again) - or may be all of it, but she definitely wanted to go right away. She picked up her stuff (after she and Banzo returned from the necromancer's lair she just dropped it at the corner) and was ready to go.

"I am ready." Brocc confirms, glad to get out of the press of people to tell the truth.  Once the others are ready he would lead the way back out of the inn and to the road outside.  "We need to stop at the smith and then the Frog to see if our other friend made it back or not." He explains as he leads the way towards the smith.

Bidding goodbye to a beaming Gilber the five departed the Lion and crossed over to Lion Street proper to make their way to the Market Square.  Banzo and Lindale noted the same two Man-Orcs outside the professors house.

Continuing down Lion Street they turned into Beggars Alley and from there to the Market Square, the place was bustling still following Broccs lead they made their way along the northern alley of smiths until they come to the familiar huge warehouse like building.

As Brocc pushes on the immense double doors of the building part-way up Armoury Lane, which seems lined with a large number of smaller metal-working and smithy shops he again takes note of the sign over the huge doors and the sheer size of the building compared to the others here.

As the iron bound doors are pulled open and the companions enter they see a huge dirt floored room, with a great anvil and hundreds of hammers and a stone forge which takes up a quarter of the room, suddenly it seems part of the room itself moves and a massive form looms out of the shadows, a hulking one-eyed titan some 15 ft tall regards you balefully from its single orb.

" Oh, Well hello there! Welcome to Cy's. How can I help you today."

" Oh! Your the lovely folks I talked to the other day.....well...some of you are..."

"We got the truestone. We're not experts in stone so we kind of guessed wildly about what amount is a thousand gold's worth, but it's enough for you to work with a bit at any rate. Remember that I'm interested if your experimenting makes anything practical or interesting," Hatch said.

Quote from Vakanai >>

"We got the truestone. We're not experts in stone so we kind of guessed wildly about what amount is a thousand gold's worth, but it's enough for you to work with a bit at any rate. Remember that I'm interested if your experimenting makes anything practical or interesting," Hatch said.

 'Cy' leant down with his hand out, " I'm sure its ample."

" I'll keep you in mind."

Menacing look worked, at least to some degree - Lindale stood still as a mouse, quietly considering the literal transformation. Yet, the others were not only unimpressed - Hatch freely spoke with the - huh! surprisingly friendly - monstrosity. Feeling ashamed of her own sheepishness, Lindale smiled as friendly as she could and concentrated on the conversation. Not that she knew anything about truestones, but that was a good distraction.

Brocc waits for the titanic smith to answer the question regarding the silvering of a weapon.  Once that was done though he would ask his own question...

"I would appreciate hearing how your experiments with the true stone goes." He tells the one-eyed giant.  "If I get back this way can we talk it over and see about sharing notes?"

Cy smiled broadly, a smile that could engulf a sheep...or gnome...whole, " Silvering? Thats pretty simple to do, not a problem if you have the coin."

He turned to Brocc and craned his head further down, " Absolutely, always happy to chat about smithcraft."

" Anything else today?  I've got an order of manacles to get through....not to be unfriendly, but works work."

Rufus bids farewell to the gargantuan smith. As the party shuffles outside, he asks "Shall we seek Connar at the inn then?"

"Yep."  Brocc confirms, heading towards the inn.

(What time of day is it now?)

Lindale left the smithy with a relief - Cy was nice, sure, but required to get used to. (That, and she realize the smithy in general was not on her list of "places to see")  She followed the group looking around - houses, people on the streets - the town is always interesting.

Rufus looks at Banzo with concern evident on his face. He shakes his head sadly and says, "Connar remained outside of a dungeon we were exploring to secure our exit. When we emerged there was no sign of him. We hope he returned to the city as we had to fight our way past a wyvern to access the area. It is possible that it returned with a mate and drove him away." Rufus finishes quietly as if voicing the unlikelihood of that being case may seal Connar's fate. The normally optimistic halfling falls quiet.

The group walked back to the marketsquare in the mid-afternoon sun, some of the stalls were closing early while others were still going strong.

They headed across the square towards the Fat Frog Inn and pushed open the door.

The barman acknowledged them with a nod, the afternoon crowd was sparse and mostly merchants and labourers.

Brocc walks up to the bar and asks about their lost companion.  He would give a description to see if they had returned here or not.

Inspired by the example (and trying to prove her worth, of course) Lindale looked around in search of some animal. Preferably more intelligent and observant (and with a better vantage) than a cockroach.

Quote from DragonDenn >>

Brocc walks up to the bar and asks about their lost companion.  He would give a description to see if they had returned here or not.

 " Oh...human lad. Stayed with you on the towers coin."

" No, I haven't seen him. Sorry."

Quote from Brian_Avery >>

Banzo follows and orders an ale, "Has anyone else checked out recently? Anybody acting suspicious? Or anything happen out of the ordinary?"

When his ale arrives he takes a gulp or two before turning toward the group, "If your friend did return early it may of warranted some unusual behavior. Asking a few questions might lead to his trail."

Banzo looks around the tavern quickly for signs of a bard playing, singing, or telling tales.

 The man was obviously deeply distracted by Banzos appearance but attempted to answer the questions.

' No one really....just the usual merchants.  There was a light fingered halfling around but I believe your companions drove him away. '

' Out of the ordinary?  Well....not here...but one of the river barges said they lost a man overboard the night before they got here.  Snatched right off the deck by something..."

Quote from BlueBayou >>

Inspired by the example (and trying to prove her worth, of course) Lindale looked around in search of some animal. Preferably more intelligent and observant (and with a better vantage) than a cockroach.

 Lindale found a cat curled up in the corner on an old coat, it was an old cat, it was asleep.

Waking up a poor old animal would be too cruel of a thing to do, and it seemed more talkative people around already provided all possible information. Lindale just waited for Rufus's or Brocc's next move.

With a sigh Brocc moved to a table and took a seat, waiting for the others to join him.  He has a grave expression on his face as they do so.  "I think we have to assume something bad befell Conner." He says at last.  "Never should have left the lad alone to watch our exit."  He shows a moment of anger, slamming a fist onto the tabletop. Then he rubs that hand over his face.  "Nothing to be done for it now..."  He glances to the others around the table.  "We could head back to the mines to look for him, but I don't know what good that would do.  Maybe checking out this monster's lair, and seeing if it had anything to do with Conner's disappearance, might be worthwhile though.  We are headed there anyway, so I say we move forward with that, as it might have been responsible for our friend's disappearance as well."

Rufus' mood is somber as they are left unknowing of Connar's fate. He takes a seat at the table and flags down a serving girl. As she arrives, he presses a gold coin in her hand and asks for a round of ale for the comrades. As the drinks arrive, Rufus looking a bit watery eyed raises his mug of ale and awaits the others to do so as well. "To Connar. If he be no longer of this world, may he rest in peace upon a heap of gold in the afterlife."

Rufus drains his mug with a florish. As he does, he looks about the gathered members of their party. His two remaining comrades from the horror of the Flying Dungeon and his two new companions. He says, "Brocc is right. We have a task in the hills with a beast that has been harrassing the locals and making off with their youngsters. Perhaps it played a part in Connar's disappearance as well. Let's head back to the hills to deal with the beast and look once more for any sign of our missing companion."

Lindale politely accepted the mug, raised it up in a memory of Connar, and even drunk a bit (ale was not something she normally drunk but the occasion called for it). "I would be happy to help dealing with the beast. But do not loose hope - even if Connor have not returned here, it does not mean he ... is lost. There is always a hope." She put her mug aside and nodded to Banzo's suggestion to move out at the morning (obviously, not insisting either).

 "What kind of beast is it?" Asked she instead.