During the weeks after the battle, The Strangers continued their preparations for spring time adventuring. Aramil, Coravel, Kaylord and Quis'Ari all had opportunities to practice their new skills, spells and discover new feats that would aid them as they continued to explore Castle Whiterock. Nora worked with the Hofer families to store the harvest and ensure plenty of supplies for the winter. Kaylord worked with the local dwarves as they rebuilt the door and built an additional wall around the front of the Keep. The entire party also spent time reviewing the defenses of the Keep, and looking over funds in order to plan for additions for their defense.
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As part of the defense, Aramil spent time improving the golem so that it could now use a magical great club in defense of the Keep. Hugin and the guards were a little nervous at first. As they saw the golem would obey simple commands and did not go off on its own, they became more comfortable with having it as an additional guardian. Quis'Ari spent time with Kina, helping her to become comfortable with her abilities as an oracle. Kaylord also had Micah Hofer helping him with the upkeep of his armor and watching as he practice his fighting skills in the training room. Coravel was busy off in the warrens, presumably doing rogue like things.
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After a visit to Cillamar and a stop by the Slumbing Dragon Inn, the group was just preparing to leave town when they heard a scream off in the Warrens. With troll hounds at their sides, the group went towards the sound of the screams, moving quietly in order to maintain an element of surprise. When they rounded a corner they saw what appeared to be 4 thugs or refugees attacking a young man and young woman. One of the thugs had just hit the young man and knocked him unconscious to the ground while another had attempted to hit the girl and missed. Two others were holding the girl and they had heard one of them say, “Leave the man, just take the girl with us.”
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Kaylord stepped out and asked the thugs to surrender while the others moved into place to surround the thugs. Two of the thugs attacked while another two pulled and drank potions. With the offensive action, the group then moved in and attacked the thugs. Coravel had snuck around the back of the house, while Aramil had flown into place a short distance away. The thugs attempt to fight, but did very little damage and were overcome by the group. As The Strangers were looking over the thugs, checking with the couple and healing up the young man, a Lantern Watch patrol of six guards came by to see what was going on. As they came up to the group, the lead of the patrol got a surprised look on his face and then said “Lord Dawson!”
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The strangers had done a quick search and found other items that indicated the thugs were members of the Truemen group which had been attacking the refugees in the Warrens. They told this to the guards, who looked at each other, then turned away as the leader said “We cannot take these men in, we will have to let them go. We have too much too lose if a Lord is arrested by us.” Kaylord then offered to take the Lords into custody themselves if the guards would help the young couple to safety. The Strangers would not mention that the guards had been involved. At that point, the young man relaxed and said “We were never here. Men, help those two, we'll get them home safely.” The guards then marched off towards the houses in the Commons part of town.
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There was some discussion of what to do with their prisoners however, it was decided the group would wait until the next session to take action. The session ended here.
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