Charles urged Buck onwards, the whip whipping past his face as he carried his precious cargo to the small farmhouse on the outskirts of Three Falls where this whole ordeal began. As he turned the final corner of the pathway the house came into view. A single window was lit by a dull orange glow. Hurriedly he dismounted and rushed to the door, just as he raised a hand to knock the door swung open, the woman who lived on the farm silently beckoning him inside. As soon as he crossed the threshold she shut the door and latched several bolts.
"Do you have it?" she anxiously asked.
"I believe so, where is Sarah? I wish to confer with her directly."
"Yes, of course, right this way." She led him out of the small sitting room at the front of the house to a modest kitchen, which to Charles' surprise was packed with half-a-dozen guild members alongside Sarah who sat alone at the dining table, clearing her cuticles with a small, yet polished dagger.
"Well? Let's have a look." Sarah said as she put down the dagger and turned to face Charles. "Don't want your poor friend to die now do we?"
"Here," said Charles as he pulled the wrapped mace out of his pack, setting it on the table slowly, and carefully unwrapping it to display the still ever so faintly glowing mace. "We don't know what it does, or why they want it, but it's certainly magical." Sarah's eyes lit up with greed as she reached for the mace, but just before she could grab it Charles pulled it back towards himself. "We got you what you wanted, give the word to your rider."
"Yes, of course." She motioned to one of the other guild members in the room with a quick flick of her wrist who then in turn produced a smooth stone from a pocket inside his knee length leather duster jacket. After rubbing it with his thumb for a moment the stone took on a nearly indiscernible blue glow and he barked a quick order into it then nodded to Sarah. She turned back to Charles, "There, it has been delivered, now, I will be taking this." As she reached for the mace this time Charles did nothing to stop her. Upon grasping the haft of the mace it once again blazed to life, the pale, cold fire lighting up the small kitchen. "How curious" Sarah said as she admired the wrought facets of the mace. "Was there anything else? And to that effect, where are your friends?" She questioned.
"They should be here shortly, we kind of got caught up running from the Thompson Company soldiers stationed outside the mine. I rode here to deliver the mace and they covered my escape."
"You were seen?" Sarah asked incredulously, "You were supposed to get in and out without the Thompsons being any the wiser!" Sarah pinched the bridge of her nose, "Well, there's nothing to be done about it now, but just know I am not happy about this."
Half an hour passed in relative silence, Charles sat nervously waiting for his friends to arrive. Meanwhile, Sarah poured over every inch of the mace, attempting to tease any secrets she could from it. However, she eventually gave up, and a few minutes later the rest of the party arrived at the farmhouse. They joined the gathering in the kitchen, the dining table now packed full of strangers rather than family.
"So, what else was down there other than this?" Sarah asked before the newcomers had time to settle in.
"Well that was definitely the thing that they were looking for down there, not much else." Said Gnoll, the small human-sized chair squeaking under his goliath weight.
"And yet I think that I will be the judge of that. What else did you find? And don't leave anything out!" She snapped back.
Holding back his frustration Gnoll swung his pack into his lap and began laying out the manuscripts that he had managed to recover. Several seemed to be partially destroyed from the traps that he triggered during the recovery. "I don't exactly know what these pertain to, but they seem to document some sort of religious history," he explained to Sarah who was now flipping through the documents as one might an uneventful newspaper. "I can't say I expect you to find much value in them, so if you would allow me, I would rather keep them for personal study."
Sarah held up a finger for silence. "I will keep these ones," pushing a small pile of the pages to the side, "you can keep the rest."
"Any reason for those particular ones?" Gnoll asked, his curiosity piqued.
"They're the ones that I can actually read." Sarah stated simply, "I don't care enough to learn a whole new language for some dusty old papers, but these could prove to be interesting. Regardless, I think we are done for the night."
"Is there a place that we could stay for the night? As to avoid the alerted guards in town." Asked Gnoll, turning his attention to their host, who had remained in the corner, seeming to try and meld herself into the shadows of the kitchen.
"There's the barn out back…as long as you don't mind sharing it with a few horses." she replied quietly before excusing herself upstairs.
The barn was fairly spacious, with every person being able to form up their own patch to pull together hay and roll out their belongings. Out of distrust for each other each group also set their own watch. The night passed uneventfully, the only commotion being the restlessness of the farm animals, whose space had been temporarily invaded. Just as the sun began peeking over the distant mountains Charles slipped down from the window that he had been perched in and whispered to the party.
"We may have something, there's a big caravan coming down the road, and it doesn't look like any merchants I've ever seen." The rest of the party quickly shook the sleep from their minds and began packing their meager belongings as quickly as possible, while trying to avoid alerting the Guild of their actions. As they neared completion Charles peeked into the window again, only to see the caravan pull into the roadway in front of the small farmhouse. Now that they were closer he noticed the carriages did not appear to be driven by horses, instead they seemed to roll down the road by some invisible force, the only horses in the convoy were used as mounts by a number of well dressed, and heavily armored individuals. One of the riders dismounted with an unnatural grace, alighting softly upon the ground they were tall and wiry, with middling length silver hair. Their stride carried them to the front door of the farmhouse in an instant. Creaking open the front door revealed the farmer and his wife, who cowered under the visage of this unfamiliar figure. While the barn was too far away to make out any words from the conversation, Charles noticed several gestures directed towards the barn.
"Uhhhh, guys, we might need to go. Like now." Charles said to the group as he ducked back down. "There's a lot of people at the farmhouse, and I'm pretty sure our hosts are giving us up right now."
"Where the hell do you expect us to go?" Asked Naivara, "We're not exactly in a good area to disappear. Do you think we can take them?"
"I doubt it, their gear is far above anything I've seen before. I'd be willing to bet we don't stand a chance in a fight." Charles replied.
As their brief conversation came to a close, the sound of horses approaching made every head in the barn swivel towards the large barn doors. A moment passed, as everyone held their breath. And then, a loud clear voice rang forth.
"Hello good friends! You may not know me, but I know you. I know that you bear the Mace of Gorna and we have come to retrieve it. You may try to deny it, even try to hide it, however my Lord Gilean has gifted me this knowledge, if you resist, you will not escape."
Akash turned to his companions only to see Gnoll striding confidently towards the door. Just as he lay a hand on the door Sarah yelled out from behind. "Stop!" She stood in the back of the barn, a gilded crossbow in hand trained at the back of Gnoll's head. "Another step and it will be your last." At this threat the other members of the Guild brandished their own weapons, turning them on the other members of the party.
"Hold up really quick," interjected Akash, quickly stepping between the two. "Gnoll, what are you doing? Do you know who that is outside?"
"Of course I do, That is the High Keeper of Gilean! He is the head of my order and we must obey his command."
"You've got to be mad if you think we're givin' up this score without a fight, you book lovin' coward." Sarah spat at Gnoll's response.
Gnoll's features darkened at her retort as he turned away from the door to face the members of the Guild. "The pursuit of knowledge is the greatest calling that one can answer. I pity you and your shallow mind. If you cannot understand this truth, then allow me to educate you."
With a motion of his hand, and an arcane word Gnoll conjured a glowing mace beside Sarah who barely managed to roll aside as the radiant conjuration struck down at her. Coming out of her roll Sarah loosed her crossbow bolt at the back of Charles who was working to turn Buck around to join the fray. He cried out, barely managing to stay aloft in his saddle as he completed his turn. However, even with his injury Charles still managed to catch a Guild member with his lance, taking charge of the leading edge of the brawl. Being wary of his lance the Guild members fanned out taking up more aggressive positioning, some electing to take swings at Buck with their clubs, while others who had managed to sneak around took a stab at the others in the party. Hal and Akash fended off their own assailants as Naivara managed to get off a couple shots. Her gunshots were accentuated by the boom of the main doors to the barn being swept open by two soldiers in bright steel armor.
At the appearance of the new combatants a spark of recognition ran through the face of Sarah. "Retreat! Retreat!" she yelled, panic thick in her voice. Turning tail she pushed past her wounded comrades, but right as she lept for the freedom of an open window at the back of the barn a final shot emanated from Naivara's gun, causing Sarah's corpse to drop. Her wrist still caught on the windowsill, reaching for a freedom that would never come.
Striding through the now open barn doors the High Keeper entered the blood stained barn. Ignoring the carnage he simply walked to a loose pile of hay and plucked the mace that Sarah was attempting to abscond with. "Now was that so difficult?" he asked over his shoulder. "You lot seem to be much more agreeable than those rapscallions. And if my ears didn't deceive me I believe you are also a devotee of the Knowing Lord." The High Keeper said as he turned to point at Gnoll.
"I am!" Gnoll explained as he pulled his pack off. "I could not save it all, but I did manage to recover some of the scripture that was kept with the mace if you would like it." presenting the faded scrolls to the High Keeper.
"Ahhh, well done young sage. These will indeed make a fine addition to my library." The High Keeper responded. "These do of course incriminate you in the eyes of my temporary companion however. May I introduce Theodore Thompson, proprietor of the Thompson Company, and by extension employer of the guards who you have slain during your skullduggery. He will want to have a word with you." Gesturing to another figure just outside the barn who rode in on a large warhorse. Thompson was no small man, his gem encrusted chestplate bulged like a cask of ale in an attempt to contain his girth.
"Do you have any idea how hard it is to find quality workers this far from the Capitol?" He asked, in a low haughty tone. "Those men that you slew will be hard to replace, and now my other workers will want to be paid more now there is an actual threat in the area."
"If I may sir…" interjected Akash.
"You may not!" roared Thompson as he cut off Akash. "I ought to have the lot of you tried for murder, trespassing, and burglary. However, I may yet have a use for you. Return to the Rumbling Ridge, my men will look after you." Flicking his hand, two of his guards snapped to attention at his side. "If I hear that you have left the tavern, or attempt to leave without me saying-so I will have you executed on the spot. Make no mistake, in this town I am the law, and you will do well not to cross me a second time." Leaving his threat to hang in the silence he turned and left.