3.2 - Waylaid Watchman

When our treatment had finished she ushered us out without delay, reminding us of our promise as she swiftly closed the door behind us. Dusk was starting to set in around the town, so we walked back toward the market area where we agreed to meet up with the Commander. As we did, I reflected on my vow to Sera. It had not been long, but it seemed our relationship was developing quickly. I hoped that meant she was beginning to trust in me more. She spoke then, almost as though she knew my own thoughts, that I was not what she had expected from my brash entrance in Harrowfen, and it was nice to see something more than just bravado.

We met up with the Commander, but he had scarcely any better luck than we did with the locals. He was able to procure a shield, but that was it. I told him about Ilyra and her request to find her son, Renn. We weren't going to make much progress on that tonight, and didn't think it likely that we would be able to find lodging in the town, so headed back outside the walls. The guards barely acknowledge us as we passed, and we moved outside of town a ways before finding some sparse trees that broke the wind just enough the we might freeze here tonight. A small fire and so hard rations are all we ate that night, and without a bedroll it was a cold, hard sleep, but it gave me time to think of our next move.

In the morning we went back to town, and spoke with the guard at the gate again. He didn't expect us to come back, and was even more surprised when I asked who was in charge of the civilian watch and where I could find them. I explained that Ilyra had asked us to find her missing son, and he directed us to the house of a man called Edric. We made our way there. A broad shouldered man with thinning hair and a deeply tired expression opened the door. He heard us out after we mentioned Renn, and was able to explain the circumstances better than Ilyra. Renn had gone out to the old quarry to do some scouting, it was all any of them were supposed to do. He told us how to get there and that there were two paths, one leading up the hill to the top of the quarry and the other down below into. The hill would be incredibly exposed, and suggested the he probably wouldn't have gone up there, preferring to stick to the low path where it was easier to hide.

We moved out then, following the old road was easy enough and it didn't take too long before the carved hill came into view, and the path split off. We followed the lower route, winding our way down into the quarry proper, some old buildings and equipment, and the scarred hillside, were all that remained. We spread out to search for signs of Renn passing through here, or where he might have gone. I found the first tracks, but not simple footprints, drag marks. Someone had carried a body through here. I called the others over, and unsure if we would find a dead body or a raider camp, we followed the marks. Ultimately they lead us to a deep crevice in the hillside just outside the quarry area. Lighting a torch and squeezing into the crevice, we found tucked all the way at the back, the body of a man. We looked over it briefly, and there around his neck was the bone pendant that Ilyra had described to us. It was not the ending we wanted for this quest, but it was the most likely one.

Our return to Timberhold is quiet. Each of us lost in our own thoughts. When Ilyra opens the door to us, she already knows. She takes the pendant in hand and her breath catches slightly. There is grief in her eyes, but not the grief of news, the grief of confirmation. We explained what Edric had told us, what we had found, and where. She thanked us properly, she more than half expected us to leave without following through. She asked us to accompany her to speak with Edric then, she would vouch for us to the town, and it was time for someone to take action.