Chapter 3.2 - Return to the Golden Grain Inn

The party waits out the day in the Dim Forest. The day is hot and humid despite the shade. The wait is long and tedious.The hours creep by. In the distance, you hear the roar of a large predator, but there is no answering challenge and nothing dangerous appears.

Finally, the light begins to fade as the sun descends to the horizon. Chase leads the way to a place to ford the Realstream, and the party makes it across before true night has fallen. The night is warm and the forest thick with the sound of twilight creatures as the heroes proceed through the undergrowth to Cecily's Road. They then proceed east in the darkness.

Chase slows, and the group confers: how will they proceed? Do they produce light for the ranger and the others who cannot see, or does Aanbo, Morton, and Theran lead the rest of them by the hands down the dark road to the outskirts of Orlane? The moon will rise in a couple more hours, and once it does, the party will be able to navigate the village at night as long as they are out of the Dim Forest where the moonlight does not penetrate.

Despite their expectations of resistance, the party meets no gate or blockade as they descend Cecily's Road from the top of the rise overlooking the village of Orlane. It is still dark, though a faint glimmer on the distant forest horizon suggests that it won't be long before the moon rises.

Leading them confidently in front, sharpest-eared Theran hears a group of people talking just as the heroes draw even with the first buildings along the road. He taps Aanbo on the shoulder, and then the dwarf hears it, too. Seconds afterward, the party sees a glow in the distance, a light approaching from the lake's shore to the east. As the light advances, the party makes out a group of eight or ten people with lanterns ambling west toward the party along Cecily's Road. They don't seem particularly alert, and have not noticed the party yet. Each is armed with at least some kind of pole arm: a staff, a spear, a glaive...it's hard to tell with the swinging lanterns.

Each of you sees this, and can decide for yourselves (unless you have a silent way of communicating in the dark) whether you are going to Hide behind the closest structure, run ahead for the Golden Grain Inn, or do something else.
If you opt to Hide, roll a Stealth check.
If you opt to run, roll an Athletics check.

A picture is worth more words than I can effectively use to describe the two groups' locations.


The party's current location is marked with the STAR.
The other group's current location is marked with a spear-toting guard token.
Reminder: private establishments are PURPLE, public businesses are GREEN, and outbuildings are BROWN.
On this close-up:
1 is the Golden Grain Inn.
2 is the bridge across the Realstream River.
3 is the Weaver's shop.
4 is the Jeweler's shop.
5 is the Slumbering Serpent Inn.
8 is the Mill.

The several buildings that are not labeled are blank because the party has not investigated them and does not know who or what lives/works there.

As the party catches sight of the spear-toting patrol ahead, they scramble to get to safety. Unfortunately, they have different ideas about safety, as they dash in different directions. Aanbo turns to whisper directions, but some of the party have already let go of the rope and disappeared into hiding. Following Aanbo's whispered suggestion, the others run down the street. After a beat, Aanbo, Theran, and Morton look at each other, realizing at the same instant that the people who are running toward the Inn (and the patrol!) can't see well in the dark. They sprint after them. While they catch up quickly, Arya's long lithe legs nearly outdistance the others, and Aanbo has to lunge to grab her and turn her onto the north street. Unfortunately, the big group is not quite fast enough, and the Orlane patrol detects some sound or motion down the road: a glint of metal, a scuff of a boot, or something similar. "Hey! There's someone over there!" one of them shouts, and they break into a run toward the party, shadows dancing crazily as the lanterns swing to and fro. "You won't get away, murderer!"

Chase lurks in a shadow and averts his eyes from the light as the patrol runs past his hiding place...and keeps running. "Over here!" There is much commotion as the members of the patrol call to one another. "I think I saw something!"

Arriving in the sheltered space between the barn and the Golden Grain Inn, Aanbo and Theran leave the others with Morton. Morton can keep a watch over them with his darkvision, but they alone know the layout of the village and are able to see their way without producing more light. "Me, too!" comes the distant shout of a patrolman. Trusting that the others are waiting for their help, the monk and the druid begin hunting for the scattered Dungeon Busters in the darkness, hoping to find the remaining dark-blind ones and lead them to their meeting place.

"No, this way!" comes the faint shout of another patrolman. Soon afterward, the other heroes arrive silently: the druid leading the rogue, the monk leading the ranger along the wall from the other direction. The voices of the patrol are moving further away still.
"Hey, help me here!"
"You're imagining it!"

Looking at the back door of the Inn, the heroes with darkvision see that the opening has been hastily boarded up. The nails could probably be pried out pretty easily, but the sound might carry a long way in the dark. "I got him! I got him!" Still, the Orlane patrol group seems to be making a lot of noise on its own, and probably wouldn't hear.
"That's ME, idiot!"
"We'd better report in..."

The party waits for a while longer and the sound of the Orlane patrol fades as it moves even further away. Quickly checking the cellar door, the darkvision-equipped PCs realize that it, too, has been boarded up.

It is then that the party realizes that Jonel is not with them.

They do a quick review: everyone split up when they saw the patrol; Morton helped Myrtha, Aanbo guided Arya. Morton stayed with the humans while Theran went back and found Ember, and Aanbo brought Chase.

The three who can see - Theran, Morton, Aanbo - take turns searching for the next few minutes, but they cannot find the sorcerer. Chase thinks that he'd be able to track Jonel down, except that it's too dark for him to see. It's a frustrating, frightening few minutes for Arya, Chase, Ember, and Myrtha, standing around in the thick darkness while their friends keep moving around, talking about their companion who has vanished. "What could have happened to him?"
"He could've been caught by the patrol."
They take some comfort in the fact that they did not find Jonel's body in their search. "So he wasn't killed."
"That probably means he was taken away," one of them suggests.
"This is just like Joseph all over again!"
One of them thoughtfully observes: "You know, when we first met him, he'd managed to get away from those undead and survived the whole night and the following day in the forest on his own. He could have just run off again and is laying low until he can see enough to find his way."
"He knows where we were going, so he should be coming here once he can see when the moon rises."

Aanbo finds that the front door of the Golden Grain Inn is not boarded up, as it was still intact when the party left. It does appear to be locked, however.

Ember feels her way to the door, finds the keyhole, and very quickly is able to trip the tumblers and open the latch. There is no bar on the door: a hopeful sign that no one is waiting on the inside.

With the help of the demihumans, everyone has soon slipped into the common room of the Golden Grain Inn. It is very dark, and quiet.

Myrtha and Chase have their exchange about light in soft voices. No one is certain that the Inn is completely empty, though there is no sound or sense of movement aside from themselves. Realizing that there's no convenient key on the inside, Aanbo nudges Ember, who understands immediately. As Theran and Morton take the hands of Arya, Chase, and Myrtha to lead them around the furniture (there are still some stubbed toes as chairs are bumped in passing) to the kitchen, the rogue finds the lock again and works her skill on the tumblers, re-locking the front door. Then Ember whispers "Done" so that Aanbo knows its time to take her hand and lead her after the others.

As they move through the common room, through another door, past the kitchen counters, through another door, and carefully down the stairs in the pitch darkness, Morton, Theran, and Aanbo observe that the Inn does not seem to have seen recent use, nor (the druid and monk notice) does it seem to have been cleaned since they left it ten days ago. The remains of the late-night meal that Derek, Hamiff, and Bertram were having when the party interrupted them still sits, moldering, on one of the tables. The kitchen air is stale and the counters are dusty. If anyone has been here since the dead bodies were collected, they haven't used any of these spaces.

Finally, the party arrives down in the basement, with a flight of stairs and three closed doors between them and the outside. All four doors leading out of this room - the door to the wine cellar, the door to the pantry, the secret door, and the door upstairs back into the kitchen - are closed. Aanbo checks the stashed weapons that he left here behind the barrels; they are gone.

Morton sees several unlit torches in iron sconces hammered into the stone north wall. Theran, Myrtha, Chase, and Aanbo already knew they were there (though the two humans can't see them at the moment) from their previous visit.

As Morton retrieves a torch, Aanbo is addressing the group: "Let's find the tunnels." The dwarven monk tests to see if his memory serves as to how to open the secret door. "Sorry, everyone. We'll be in the dark for a little while longer, bear with us." Moments after, the sparks catch the pitch, and soon all the human adventurers breathe a sigh of relief because they can see again. Aanbo pulls the wall sconce furthest from the stairs, and it shifts. With a shudder and a creak, the secret panel in the eastern wall swings open again, revealing the secret meeting room. The light shining through the opening reveals a narrow patch of the far wall with a ladder set into it. Theran steps in immediately to get a quick look; he sees no sign of an ambush in the shadows, and he's secretly relieved that their former captives Lhari and Hamiff aren't here, dead from starvation (or otherwise). The trap door in the ceiling is closed, and the heavy door in the southern wall that leads to the tunnels is closed and barred.



The newcomers to the basement take stock of their surroundings: two large support pillars hold up the floor of the kitchen and common room above. To the west, the stairs lead up to the kitchen from the center of the room. On either side of the stairs a sturdy wooden door is set in the western wall. Tables and chairs have been stacked against the southern wall with old barrels: castoffs or overflow from the Inn. Part of the wooden wall to the east has slid back to reveal a secret meeting room where Theran is standing, scanning for threats (he sees none, as described above).

Arya, Myrtha, and Chase follow Theran into the secret meeting room, the light of the torch illuminating the space. Aside from the vertical ladder leading up to the ceiling's trap door, there is a table with chairs, a bench that has been used as a counter, and a large set of shelves. Chase notices there is a bit of severed rope under the table: the ropes that had bound Hamiff and Lhari.

A heavy wooden door is set in the southern wall; the hinges reveal that the door swings inward. Rings anchored to the wall bracket the door, and a stout beam has been slid through the rings to prevent the door from opening. It looks substantially the same to Theran, Myrtha, and Chase as when they saw it last. Ember examines the door more closely; there are no signs that the door has been tampered with on this side: no wires, twine, or traces of any sticky material.

Theran cast Shillelagh as together Chase and Aanbo pulled the beam out of the rings and set it aside. Opening the door, a stale, cold funk of must and decay washed over the party. The light from the torch that Arya bore revealed a tunnel dug out of the earth, packed down hard for a floor and propped up with wooden timbers every few paces for walls and ceiling. The overhead clearance is low, maybe just a boot over two paces, so that while exploring the tunnel, the taller adventurers' hair might brush the dirt. Ember and Morton steeled themselves to venture into the unknown.Myrtha offers a torch to someone who would hold it, and steps to the front of the group.

Marching order:
1. Myrtha (17/18)
2. Chase Brandstone (14/14) with lit torch
3. Ember Heatherton (9/9)
4. Morton (9/9)
5. Aanbo Earthshaker (27/27)
6. Arya Arkon (10/10) with lit torch
7. Theran Nailo (18/18)

Assuming Aanbo doesn't rove ahead after all, this is what I've put together as a marching order, based on your responses.

Marching order:
1. Myrtha (17/18)
2. Chase Brandstone (14/14) with lit torch
3. Ember Heatherton (9/9)
4. Morton (9/9)
5. Aanbo Earthshaker (27/27)
6. Arya Arkon (10/10) with lit torch
7. Theran Nailo (18/18)

Myrtha leads the way, Chase lighting the way behind her left shoulder.

Soon enough, the passage splits into three directions: west, south, and southeast.

What do you want to do?

Chase examines the ground in the flickering torchlight. There are no discernible tracks, but there are signs that something irregularly-shaped has been dragged down each passage. It's always hard to say how long ago something like that happened, as there is no wind to disturb tracks here, so something like this might lie undisturbed for weeks, if the traffic is that infrequent.

With no further information to go on, Myrtha leads the way down the left-most branch of the tunnel (southeast). The tunnel curves as they go, so that the people in front cannot see the people in the back and vice versa. All the way at the end of the line, Theran hears a faint "snap!" in the distance down one of the other tunnels, barely audible over the noise of all the people in front of him carrying their gear in close quarters. He's pretty sure that it was not a noise that the party made; it's tough to be sure. Luckily, the uneven dirt walls alternating with wood timbers do not reflect sound very much, so everyone is fairly confident that the noise of their passage does not carry far.