Part 5: Return to the Moathouse Ruins

Mal laughs heartily, bending at the waist with the effort.

"Aye lass, that's it on the nose! Not to mention it'd take all the elves that ever were to make a cloak quiet enough to hide this armor."

Mal clangs her gauntlet twice on her breastplate for emphasis.

Eltrezar, in the midst of poking around the room, gives Bors a keen side-eye. Ahem! "You would be best served calling it Wizardhelper, as I seem to recall it being my sharpened blade that felled the creature." It is hard to see his smirk through the beard, but it is definitely there. He continues collecting his blades and looking at the pile of treasure they were slowly putting together in the center of the room.

As Gilly and Maloria discuss the cloak, Eltrezar approaches and examines it. While he did not know any more than the other two, he made some "hmm" and "hrm..." noises before handing it back. Unless he were to utilize an elven loincloth, it would be too small for him.

Gilly concedes the point and fixes the elven cloak around her! She sidles off to the side for a moment and climbs atop the dead ogre when no one is watching!

Once she has mounted the fallen foe she bellows in a faux-booming voice:

"Lean Meat, sorcerer supreme, can you see me now?!"

Eltrezar closes his eyes and pinches his nose. Hrmph! "It's not a toy, Gilly. You are in possession of an ancient artifact of the elven race, a token of their mastery of craft. Now then, let us see what it is that the ogre was trying to keep to himself, if the cloak and gold were not worth hiding." He walks to the barred door, gesturing for those fit in body to come lift the plank.

Gilly gets down among the others while the wizard crosses to the door.

"I bet he just upset that he couldn’t see me. Ancient artifact… pfft…"

Mal moves to the newly discovered door and helps to heft the bar aside.

Silently in the back ranks, Norris returns the sling to its belt loop of a home and fastens shut the pouch containing his sling stones. He dusts off his hands, gives the lifeless ogre one last glance then moves to depart. He'll stride up alongside the others and waits idly to see what's behind the door- and silently thankful that it isn't locked.

Otherwise, they'd need to find a skilled rogue and there doesn't seem to be one about.

He sighs.

While initially motivated to chime in on how he can serve as a fine doorstop or as a means to prevent papers from being tossed in the wind, in the end, Norris decides not to "help" the gnome with future career choices and instead remains quiet. Negotiation and... helping others... have never been his strong suit. Best to leave that sort of talk to the nicer members of the group.

Mal gasps in horror at the sight of the captives.

"Fear not, we're getting all of you out of here."

Mal stoops down to lift the little gnome and turns to the others.

"I cannot leave these people down here, please let your intentions be known but know that I must help them get back to town."

"Some men? You mean the ones up there in the castle?" Gilly ponders for a second. Those were men, indeed. But they didn’t venture down here.

"Back to town? It’s the middle of the night. Is it safe?"

"I suppose you're right about that Gilly. They'll have to camp with us tonight."

She looks to the gnomes legs,

"Hopefully we can bind your legs well enough for the night."

Hrmph! "I am not an expert in the natural magicks that the Druid's potions invoke, so I do not know if they will mend your legs, Gnome. But we should at least try. We will depart at daybreak, and not a minute sooner. I fear there are things worse than the ogre that lurk in the darkness of night, and at least here we have walls and doors to keep us safe."

"Could be good to give this fella a potion, and then make our way back to town in a few hours, once it’s bright!" she paces the room as she speaks.

"Make sure they get back safe and drop off our coin. Might even ask about these men we’ve been hearing about… unless thems the ones we killed."

Mal agrees with the plan and fishes out the potion from her pack. She offers it to the gnome and holds her breath with anticipation while he drinks it.