Chapter Seven: The Stalemate At Loton's Cove

"Why does he want it? He won't tell us. We all think he means to do evil with it. He showed up here all fancy like a lord saying 'please sir and ma'am, I believe you hold my lost treasure,' and all this nonsense. We can keep it from him. We can keep it from him forever. We can keep it from you, too." Her voice is firm but you can hear her struggling to keep it together.

She recoils. "No! What? I'm Edrick's daughter! We put the sphere in the safe place, just like Kells asked. He didn't tell us much but we knew he wouldn't have asked without a stinking good reason. Gorham tried to sweet-talk us into giving it up and when that didn't work he took Jon Rockshins away and possessed him, put a devil in him or something, and that was supposed to scare us but Farfar got him to understand that he'd never get the sphere that way. So he's been here for days, coming over to 'negotiate' every evening." Her bravado, in constant flux during this encounter, begins to wane again. "Farfar doesn't know what to do other than keep stalling him. He's obviously not giving up and it sounded like he was losing patience with us yesterday. It's only a matter of time before something ugly happens again."

"He's there now," she adds. "That's why I went out. I can't stand to be around him. The way he looks at people..."

A little fire flickers to life behind Tarlen's eyes. "He comes at sundown, and Farfar lights a big candle, and when the candle goes out the negotiations are done for the day. That's the arrangement. He should be there for another hour or two. You'll have to catch him inside -- he flies away when he goes back to his camp. I can get you in without anyone seeing. Follow me!" She turns and beckons the party with her spear.

"The sphere isn't at the house. I really think you need to just kill him. Come on." Tarlen leads the party a short distance to a valley between the sea cliffs, a bowl of green grass encircling an ungainly three-story house built of stout unfinished timbers. A stone path leads from the house down to the cove.

"This way," Tarlen says, turning right toward the sea. "We'll come around and sneak you in on the north side."

She leads you down the path to the cove a ways, out of sight of the house, before climbing back up a short rocky cliff. Now the house is behind you, and Tarlen leads you in a wide circle to the left, staying close to the scrub and cypresses growing above the valley. Eventually she makes a sudden decision to lead you in a beeline toward the house, stopping under a second story deck supported by two thick tree-trunk columns.

"Climb up, go in and head straight down the hallway. They're in the big room at the end. Be -- be careful of Farfar, please. My grandfather. He might try to stop you from doing anything but he's harmless. Just ignore him and try not to let him get in the way. Please."

Yes, and you saw him in Hazard when you were fighting Adan in front of the temple.

Heading in, party?