Part 10: -To Be Titled Later-

Mal greets the stableboy with a nod but keeps her horse and cart ready as she intends to head straight to the church.

"Does anyone mind if we pay the church for healing from the spoils? I need to get Thurig back on his feet as soon as possible."

The half-orc groans as he slowly slips off his horse. The journey back had been brutal, a constant reminder of the wound he had taken. "Perhaps I will go with you, as I could stand to use some of their healing as well. This puncture will be the death of me..."

Hrmph! "I will see to the treasures, and ensure we get a fair price for them. It would be wise to invest in the Church, as we seem to be coming back with grievous injuries. Would anyone join me to the moneylender? I would avoid the traders for now, if possible." Eltrezar allows for his horse to be stabled, and talks while checking on his mule. He had not spent time with her in nearly a week now, though her temperament had not changed much.

Ahem! "And before I forget, Ora, I believe it is time to uphold our end of the bargain. Those scrolls now belong to Spuignor here. And Spuignor, I would have words with you later. I have errands to attend to, but perhaps we could discuss a partnership over ale this evening?"

"Yes frankly I feel the more we stick together it the next few hours the greater our collective chances of survival. Perhaps we all head to the moneylender first and then visit the church as a group?"

Luban looks down to his wound, which he had hastily stuffed with cloth to stop the bleeding. Between his exhaustion and the liberal amount of blood, he shakes his head. "You don't want me anywhere near the moneylender until I've been patched up and bathed. Nor Thurig over here. We're better off with two groups."

"Besides, if anyone hassles us, Spuggy here can turn them into a newt."

"Perhaps you're right, I just feel the tides turning against us in this town. Eltrezar I think we should stick together but if you want to go to the bank while we heal then perhaps Gilly will accompany you?"

Mal looks beseachingly at the halfling, knowing well that she would likely rather be elsewhere.

Gilly nods at the suggestion. She had taken a kind of ownership over the treasure. Not an ownership… that was the wrong word. But it was in her care, and she’d go with Eltrezar to see them make good on their loot!

"Who’s gets to do the talking?" she says with a kind of wry smile!

"How is your leg?" Ora blurts out to the magick user. She could have helped the dwarf had the rats not gotten lucky.

"Do you need the temple?"

She fumbles around in her pack for a moment and then produces the scrolls.

"You have some means to store them, I suppose?"

Luban nods along with the plan, and starts hobbling in the direction of the temple. His teeth are clenched, so he says not a word.

Eltrezar looks down at he wound he had sustained earlier, which he had completely forgotten about! Damn that Ora and her questions, now it began to throb again. Hrmph! "No, this is nothing a little sleep won't cure."

Turning to Gilly, he gives a wry grin. Ahem! "I do believe that you have been a little curt of late, perhaps I should do the bartering..."

Mal makes the sign of Cuthbert as she enters the church, already counting out the coins of her donation as she goes.

Ora takes the scroll case almost reverently. Then she looks the man in the eyes and nods:

"Agreed. And I hope it won’t get you into too much bother, having parted with this. I’ll use it… well, I can’t say wisely. But I’ll use it well! Thank you, Spugnoir."

With that, she follows along after Gilly and Eltrezar, paying special attention to give the man on the door a wide berth. She looks around the room curiously as Eltrezar goes about their business.

Eltrezar tidies his robes before the man, and runs his fingers through his beard. Hrmph? "Ah, yes! We are adventure-seekers in this town, and have come across some valuables that might interest you. Several gems of varying quality, as well as a particularly fine pin of ruby! Naturally we would be interested in exchanging these for coin, as they will do you more good than us." Eltrezar sets the gems on the table, but keeps the pin itself in his hand. No saying what the men in this room might do once they get their hands on it.

"Yes! We have some…" and then the Halfling stops up short, remembering what they had agreed.

She sidesteps out of the way and ushers Eltrezar in.

Only once he has reached the temple does Luban realize his companions had been following on horseback. Though he is in too much pain to be embarrassed. He stumbles in through the door, does a poor job of imitating Maloria's gesture, then looks to her for direction. He wasn't in the know in this particular establishment, and he usually went out of his way to avoid harm.

Mal ushers the injured half-orc to one of the chairs in the foyer.