Greybrook S1|E4 : People Toys

Greybrook S1|E4

“People Toys”

Cade, Scribe, and Tal’yrra wake up in Flinard’s parlor room still in the comfy arm chairs that they all found.  The faint sounds of Wick training in the basement is heard as Flindard comes up the stairs. He looks at the three of them with a grim face, but pleased eyes that they are all awake. 

“Good to see you all alive and well,” Flinard states as he sits in his chair at the dining room table, “Now, tell me what happened while you were on the road.” He gestures for them all to take a seat at the table.

All three of them take turns recanting the last two days of travel. Scribe talks about the bandits and getting the new horse. Tal’yrra brings up killing Groz Crushoak in the City Market because of the deal Cade made with Whistlin’ Willy. Cade tells him about running into the Harbinger, the death of Whistlin’ Willy, and killing Lt. Hatcher.

Flinard’s eyebrows twitch as they all speak and tell him about their trip. Concern fills his forehead with wrinkles, but he claps Cade on the shoulder for a job well done. 

“Hatcher was a slippery devil and he’d been behind a lot of schemes that kept the guards from doing their job properly. Nevertheless, I think it would be best if we all stayed in tonight. There’s no telling what the  Harbinger plans on doing with Mr. Wick and it would be best to have a plan, but I’ll leave that part all to you.” 

“Oh! Flinard, can I get my hands on that Shadar-Kai dairy again?” Scribe begs the old halfling.

Flinard nods with a grin, “Ms. Scribe, you can find it in the greater library down below.”

The old halfling goes to the kitchen to start brewing tea and make toast. 

******

All three of them decide to go downstairs for various reasons. Cade greets Wick as the Shadar-Kai finishes off another sparring dummy. Tal’yrra crosses her arms at the entrance of the training room with a small snarl of displeasure on her face. 

“Who is the new one,” Wick bellows down at Cade. 

Scribe stops at the hallway to the barracks deciding to watch the drama unfold. Cade opens his mouth to introduce Wick to Tal’yrra, but the moonshadow elf interrupts, “No one to you, ya filth!”

“Th-That’s Tal’yrra,” Cade shrugs and walks off to go check on Jorgen. 

Wick sheathes his sword with a frown and walks passed Tal’yrra slowly as he goes upstairs to the hobbit hole. She feigns gagging as he walks by her. Scribe snorts at Tal’yrra’s gesture and shakes her head as she walks down the barracks hallway. Tal’yrra decides to practice a little in the training room and unsheathes her scimitar. 

Cade stops at Jorgen’s door and knocks, “You alright in there, Jorgen?” The sounds of hammering and whirring gizmos mixed with dwarven and human curses can be heard. 

The human artificer opens the door, “Still busy! Leave me be.” Jorgen slams his door and Cade notices small cracks in the wood with what looks like crossbow bolt tips jutting out. Cade shrugs and goes upstairs. 

Scribe walks down going deeper into the basement of Flinard’s base of operations. She enters the greater library and is awestruck at the size of it. It is the largest personal library that she has ever seen and the books are filling the shelves from the floor to the ceiling. 

The inquisitive tiefling finds the Shadar-Kai dairy along with a lot of Flinard’s notes and studies of the text. His chicken scratch is too hard for Scribe to make out and she leaves it be as she grabs the diary. Her curiousity and the sheer volume of books is something that Scribe can’t resist. She starts looking through the stacks for any books on the Harbinger or any beings like him. 

******

His second breakfast still isn’t enough to calm Cade’s guilt over the death of Whistlin’ Willy. The halfling ranger decides some time in the woods will help him come to terms with lamplighter’s death. He grabs his bows and swords to head out the door. 

Flinard protests for a moment about the dangers of going alone. Cade convinces the old man that he needs to get away for awhile, but it won’t be too long and he’ll be back before nightfall. Flinard slumps his shoulders and continues his reading of several books at once. 

Cade goes out the gate where the fight with Hatcher took place. The guards at the gate are human and allow him to pass without questioning him. Cade can still see the spot where Willy’s head landed in front of the cart. The halfling runs off into the Narrowsight Forest to find a secluded spot. 

He practices with his bow and then with his swords imagining that every swing will be the blow that fells the Harbinger. The memory of the Harbinger’s arrow narrowly missing his privates fills Cade with rage from the humiliation. Then, he hears a whine from behind a fallen tree and a black wolf comes limping from out behind it. 

Cade instinctively lowers his weapons to show the wolf that he means no harm. The wolf looks into Cade’s eyes and Cade looks back despite the dangers of provoking an attack. Something happens in that moment and Cade hears a rough voice, “Bad trap.” 

Cade speaks aloud, “Aye, is that what happened to your leg?”

The wolf slowly spins in a small circle and lays down with it’s injured leg extended. 

The halfling ranger tears a bit of cloth from his undershirt and attempts to bandage the wolf’s leg. The wolf wince and Cade hears a small laugh, “Bad trap. Worse bandage.” 

The wolf pulls the loose bandage from its leg and licks its wound, but stands. Cade senses the wolf’s resolve and that the beast will be fine enough. The two of them bond over a couple of hours while practicing to move in unison and learning to anticipate the other’s movement. 

“Can I call you, Black Fang?” Cade strokes the wolf’s head and scratches beneath its chin. 

The wolf snorts, “Strong name.” 

******

The Greybrook Gazette arrives on Flinard’s doorstep and Tal’yrra grabs it while the delivery boy runs off, “GOOOOD DAY, CITIZEN!!!!”

“I really wish you would stop doing that!” Flinard scowls as he looks up from one of his books. 

Tal’yrra lets out a laugh and then starts reading the paper front to back. There is an article about the lamplighters going on strike after finding the decapitated body of Whistlin’ Willy. The town guard is also looking for Lieutenant Hatcher that went missing the same night. Much of the article sensationalizes a theory that Hatcher killed Willy and is now hiding out in the Narrowsight Forest. Most of the town guard is searching for Willy’s head and the missing halfling lieutenant. 

Due to the lamplighter strike and the thinned-out town guard the paper warns for everyone to stay home tonight and best to be home before sundown. 

Tal’yrra soaks in the information and wonders downstairs to find Scribe. 

******

Meanwhile, Scribe is like a child in the candy store down in the greater library. She is looks through all the shelves and stacks while hugging the Shadar-Kai diary close to her chest. Her smile widens as she picks up on Flinard’s organization style of the books and starts looking for specific subjects and titles. This brings her to a shelf containing 10 large tomes. 

“Prophecies?!” Scribe excitedly whispers to herself and without hesitation grabs all the books. 

The pile is tall and she can barely walk with them, but manages to get up the stairs to the barracks hall. Scribe stubs her toe on a training dummy that was left laying around and drops all the books. 

“Oh! Shoot!” Scribe shouts in horror as she checks all of the books for damage as though they were small children. 

Tal’yrra grabs a book from the ground, “Need some help?”

Scribe smiles and starts stacking books, “YES! PLEASE! I’m taking these to my room!”

Tal’yrra makes a stack of books as well and they both saunter off to Scribe’s room.  Scribe places them all on her nightstand, but keeps the diary with her. 

From upstairs they hear some commotion and go to check it out. 

******

“WHAT. IS. THAT?” Flinard pushes his tea away and stands ups from his chair at the dining room table. 

Cade looks down with a big smile, “Oh! This is Black Fang. He’s with me now. May I keep him inside?” 

Shaking his head, Flinard starts, “Absolutely… Positively… NNNNN…. BAH!!! Just keep it out of the libraries!” Flinard gives in at the sight of the wolf’s injured leg and grabs a medicine kit to bandage it up. 

“Better bandage,” Black Fang communicates to Cade with a happy face.

The girls coming up the stairs and marvel for a bit at the sight of the wolf. They each give the big wolf a pat after getting permission from Cade. The sun is setting and Flinard has prepared supper. Wick comes up the stairs and starts strumming his guitar at the table. 

Cade and Flinard set the table with the food and drinks eagerly as all halflings do. Scribe is reading the Shadar-Kai diary again and mouthing words in Abyssal. Tal’yrra coldly stares across the table at Wick as he ignores everyone and fiddles with his instrument. 

Flinard brings two plates to Wick, “Would you mind quickly bringing this plate down to Mr. Jorgen, Mr. Wick?”

Wick stops strumming and nods while picking up both the plates. He vanishes down the stairs, “I’ll eat in my room too.” 

Tal’yrra lets out a snarl as she engulfs some food, “Thank the gods, I couldn;t stomach a bite with him at the table.” 

Flinard shakes his head as he sits down with his plate, “Tal’yrra, the history of his race is exactly that. History. Its in the past and Mr. Wick is very much different from any other Shadar-Kai that I’ve met.” 

She eats more food and whispers, “Unseelie scum.” 

Cade gives Black Fang a plate of ground-up beef and a bowl of water. The wolf makes a mess while ravishing the food. Flinard darts a look at the mayhem of the wolf’s feast under the table. He is very nonplus having the wolf in his hobbit hole. 

Scribe never looks up from the dairy while she eats, but manages to never drop a crumb or spill a drop. 

Flinard claps his hands and pats his belly, “Word has it that the lamplighters are on strike and the streets are going to be dark tonight. As I said early today, it would be best to stay in for the night. I hope you all have a plan for dealing with the Harbinger. Nothing in my studies provided a simple way of dealing with him. In my experience, everything has a weak spot or at least something can be exploited to help win the fight. I don’t like that he’s asking for Mr. Wick and I know Mr. Wick will happily oblige the meeting. Stay hhooooome…um here, tonight.”

******

Everyone finishes their food and makes their way to their rooms. Cade uses an extra blanket to make a spot for Black Fang to sleep next to the foot of his bed. Scribe shuts the Shadar-Kai diary and gleefully scampers into her room to start skimming through all the prophecy tomes. Tal’yrra walks past Wick’s door snarling and continues down the stairs to the greater library. 

In her room, Scribe sits cross-legged in her bed with a large tome ready to be opened. This tome is bound in black leather decorated with silver filigree, but no title. She opens it and the page has an illustration of a man that looks very much like Wick with a scimitar and a longsword out stretched. The figure is the standing up straight within the shadow of large raven with fully opened wings. Scribe feels the sleep wanting to close her eyes, but she manages to skim through most of the book. 

The bits that she reads and retains is that this prophecy shows Wick is back in the Shadowfell and journeying to a kingdom that is unnamed in the tome. He has a companion named Derid Sylben and he is a half-elf thief. The two of them enter the kingdom looking for a crystal necklace that the Raven Queen lost during her ascension into godhood. Ever since becoming a god, the Raven Queen has not been able to manifest into a physical form. She believes that this crystal necklace will be the piece to allow her to do just that, among other properties that the necklace might possess. Wick and Derid fight through many undead to find the necklace, only to have Derid betray Wick when they find it. The half-elf thief throws a black substance into Wick’s eye rendering him completely blind and in agony from the burning substance. Wick wanders the streets of the undead kingdom barely surviving until he bumps into a living Shadar-Kai woman. She turns out to be Wick’s long-lost sister, R’wen Zahd. Wick and all his family believed that she had died in a battle centuries ago. R’wen nurses Wick back to heal and with her strange magical gift of cooking spells into food is able to restore Wick’s eyesight. 

Scribe passes out and falls into a deep slumber. 

Cade rests his eyes, but is unable to get fully asleep. Images of Willy’s head, Rotten Mollie, and the Harbinger fill his head. He gets some peace looking down at Black Fang sleeping, but doesn’t disturb the wolf by petting him. Then, Black Fang bolts up from his slumber and looks directly at the door, “ELF GIRL!”

Tal’yrra paces the halls, after her reverie. She’s anxious to get out of Flinard’s and see the sights of the town again. She slowly realizes that the others won’t be awake for awhile and vanishes down to her room. 

“ELF GIRL!” Black Fang reports one last time as she passes by the closed door. 

Cade pats the wolf on the head, “Settle down, it’s only Tal’yrra.” 

******

Morning comes and everyone meets at the dining room table. The scene is the mostly the same per usual. Wick is strumming a tune, Tal’yrra is scowling at him, Cade is amassing a larger than needed plate of food, but Scribe has the black leather book this time and she keeps looking up at Wick. 

“What is it, Scribe?” Wick keeps strumming, but feels her eyes on him. 

She holds up the book and shows him the illustration, “This is you! This book is all about you!”

Wick stands up to grab the book from Scribe, but he does this too quickly for Tal’yrra’s liking and she draws her scimitar. The Shadar-Kai doesn’t miss a beat tossing the book in the air and draws his scimitar as well. Scribe yelps as she grabs for the airborne book and cradles it like a baby. 

The Moonshadow Elf and the Shadar-Kai stare at each other with their weapons drawn. Neither wanting to backdown from the other. Neither wanting to make the first strike either. 

“What does the book say?” Wick growls as he tilts the point of his scimitar more level with Tal’yrra throat. 

“Well, you go blind!” Scribe reports with a strange glee. 

Flinard bursts out his room while tying his robe, “THAT IS ENOUGH, MS. SCRIBE!!! No man should know too much about his future! Give me that book, now! AND YOU TWO!!! Put your swords away! I can see Mr. Cade is the only one that knows how to have civilized breakfast.” 

Cade shovels eggs into his mouth as Black Fang licks up the bits falling to the ground. 

Tal’yrra laments, but puts away her scimitar and Wick does the same. Scribe lowers her head as she gives Flinard the black leather bound book. Flinard places the book under his arm and sits down with a stern gaze aimed at everyone. Wick slams his chair back under the table and stomps on his way downstairs. The sounds of him angrily training can be heard all the way upstairs.

Flinard stares down at the black leather bound book and speaks, “I can’t allow you to read any more of this book, Ms. Scribe. It’s too dangerous.” 

“Can I read any of them?” Scribe ask with a whine in her voice. 

“Did you take all of them, Ms. Scribe?” Flinard’s concerned face looks up at the inquisitive tiefling woman. 

Scribe slumps her shoulders, “Yeah, they’re in my room.” 

Flinard stands up and starts walking downstairs with the prophecy book still underarm, “Figure out a plan for today. I’ll be back up in a bit.” He closes the door to the basement as Wick lets out a war cry before breaking a training dummy in two. 

******

“GGOOOD DAY, CITIZENNN!!!” Tal’yrra once again greets the paperboy as he drops off the Greybrook Gazette. She sits down and reads the whole thing front to back. She learns that there has been 6 lamplighter murders with their heads missing. The article explains cryptic messages have been left at the murder scenes written in the victims’ blood. The nonsensical words were clear as day in thieves’ cant to Tal’yrra . The messages were angry and full of challenge: 

“I’m coming for you!” 

“You Disgraced Me!”

“I know what you are!”

“Soon” 

“You will pay for my death!”

“Moonshadow” 

The messages did little to shake Tal’yrra’s confidence and she merely accepted that someone was out to get her and her companions. The rest of the paper explains that last night all of the thugs and miscreants took to the town without the lamps being lit and the town guard out looking for Lt. Hatcher in the Narrowsight Forest. Among the massive reports of thefts/burglaries, many merchants in the Smithing District are concerned about several thefts of highly explosive materials. The final blurb in the paper is from Officer Ernest Roper:

“It would just be best if everyone stayed in for the night until we find the murderer and the lamplighters start lighting the streets again. As town guards, we just don’t get paid for this sort of thing. Of course, we want to protect the people. The best protection in this case is for people to stay home. No one wants to die and the guards are already spread too thin looking for the Lieutenant.” 

Tal’yrra relays all the information to Cade and Scribe. She decides to go talk to Flinard about the news and walks downstairs trying to ignoring Wick doing his loud training exercises. Tal’yrra finds Flinard in Scribe’s room picking up all the prophecy books that she had found in the Greater Library. 

“The information in these books is too great of a responsibility for that loudmouthed girl. I truly appreciate her fervor for knowledge and even welcome it, but she needs to learn discretion,” Flinard scolds the open air talking to himself as Tal’yrra walks. 

Flinard’s eyes dart back and forth as Tal’yrra recants the the information from the Greybrook Gazette. Tal’yrra watches the old halfling ponder the information as those they are pieces of a puzzle and coming to a conclusion. Flinard’s nostrils flare as he nods to himself. 

With a deep breath, Flinard plops the last book on top of the stack, “It stands to reason that Groz Crushoak was turned into a zombie. After killing Hatcher, Bryce Thorn would need a new righthand. It makes sense that she would be targeting the lamplighters for easy kills and taunting the group. No doubt, she is also embarrassed about being dispatched so easily since she was the leader of the thieves’ guild.”

“And what of the explosives?” Tal’yrra shows concern in her voice. 

Flinard shrugs as he walks past her, “That is still unknown, but definitely something to be worried about. The Harbinger didn’t give you all a time to bring Wick to the Dawn Oak. Perhaps, you all could investigate that before the showdown with the Harbinger.” 

Tal’yrra nods, “Do you need help with those?” Flinard hobbling a bit while balancing the stack of tomes. 

“I’ll be fine, my dear,” Flinard looks up and down the hall of the barracks, “You know you can could join them up here now. No reason to hide anymore.” 

Tal’yrra smiles at Flinard’s kindness, “I prefer my privacy, but thank you.” 

Wick lets out another battlecry as he destroys another practice dummy. 

“It’s much quieter too,” Tal’yrra adds with tiny snarl on her lips. 

******

Scribe, Cade, and Tal’yrra take the main streets making their way to the Smithing District. Scribe is grumbling about Flinard taking back the prophecy books and going into her room without her permission. Tal’yrra is being her normal self by greeting every townsperson in sight. Cade is the first to notice all the damage done last night while the lamp lights were out and the guards refused to patrol. 

Everywhere the trio looks people and even some zombies are picking up their belongings, fixing their windows, and nursing their wounds.  Cade shakes his head at all the damage and the hurt people. He wants to help, but knows that the damage is already done and the people of Greybrook are tough. 

The damage in the Fish Market is even worse with overturned merchant carts, stolen goods, smashed cashier’s boxes, and damaged fishing boats. Cade sees an old merchant struggling to turnover his cart and goes to help. After uprighting the  cart, the old merchant sits on a crate and thanks Cade in a defeated voice. 

The old merchant goes on to explain the massive amount of damage and thefts throughout Greybrook last night. His voice cracks and wavers in his description of the events. The old merchant slumps his shoulders as he makes his final statement, “It’s hard to believe there’s that many badmen in this town.” 

To the group’s horror and surprise a zombie walks up to the old merchant. It’s obvious that they are friends and the zombie offers the old merchant a drink for a water-skin. Cade’s blood boils at the sight of the zombie, but knows attacking a disguised zombie in broad daylight will get the wrong type of attention. The friendly exchange between the old merchant and the zombie also leaves Cade feeling a mildly torn. 

******

The group makes their way to the City Market and sees a similar scene like the Fish Market. Scribe and Tal’yrra see the baker boarding up his windows. Cade sees a large group of men with more coming surrounding some sort of wagon in the middle of the street. 

Tal’yrra greets the baker, “Good day, citizen. Could you tell us what’s going on over there?” Points over to the large group of men. 

The baker shakes his head, “Aye! Good day. All the shops are closed today because of the riots last night. All except that woman, I don’t know what she’s sellin’ and I’ve never seen her before. She must have come into town this mornin’.” 

Scribe’s stomach growls, “All the shops are closed? So, I guess you don’t have any of your bread to sell.”

The baker smiles at Scribe and the sound of her stomach, “Come, girl. I should have a few loaves from yesterday that you can have,” he looks down the road with disgust, “In times like these, I don’t see to point in making a profit.” 

The baker gives Scribe two loaves of day-old bread. She forces him to take 2 gold for the bread. The baker smiles at her generosity, “Thank you! This’ll help get me new windows.”

Cade is concerned by the mob of men in the middle of the street. The crowd seems to get bigger by the minute and there are no guards keeping people in check. 

“I think we should check this out,” Cade states to Tal’yrra and Scribe. 

“Oh! I agree!” Tal’yrra pulls her hood down a little tighter and puts her hands in her pockets. 

Scribe shoves the loaves of bread into her pack and nods in agreement, “This should be good.”

******

The halfling ranger and his wolf companion make their way through the crowd of men easily, but Tal’yrra and Scribe have to shove their way through the mob. The men all protest as Scribe and Tal’yrra make their way. One man even swings an elbow at Tal’yrra face, but misses. 

“Pretty lady,” Black Fang tells Cade with a low bark. 

Cade tries to get a look, but the men are all too tall and standing too closely together. He manages to get a good look through the legs of a taller, lanky man and cold, slithering terror runs up Cade’s spine. The sight of the woman shunts Cade’s thought back to the last image of his nightmare from the other night:

“The hag stretches her misshapen arms into the sky. Slowly, her purplish skin and lumps of old fat change to supple and soft skin with a rosy tan as all of her filthy clothing drops to her feet. Her knotted and dreadlocked hair unfurls into voluminous, curly locks of maple brown.”

Cade shakes his head in disbelief and immediately backs away from the merchant stand without being seen. He makes his way back to Scribe and Tal’yrra as quickly as he made his way to the front of the mob. 

“We have to get out of this crowd. I’ll explain in a bit,” Cade orders Tal’yrra and Scribe. He and Black Fang exit the mob with ease. 

Tal’yrra and Scribe have a tougher time. Tal’yrra shoves a few men roughly and they realize that she’s trying to leave and part a path for her, but Scribe is knocked down by a brutish man and is stepped on by men trying to get closer to the wagon. Cade and Black Fang come to her aid. Scribe crawls out of the mob using the path that Cade and Black Fang provide her. The trio regroup just outside of the huge mob of men. 

“Alright, what do you know?” Tal’yrra looks at Cade. 

Scribe rubbing her still tender ribs, “Yeah, Cade. What are all those men after?”

“I don’t know exactly what is happening, but the merchant woman is Rotten Mollie Nightworm,” Cade shivers a bit as he utters the night hag’s name. Scribe covers her mouth at the name, but she only thought that name was a myth to keep children from going too far into the Narrowsight Forest. 

Tal’yrra looks at Cade in confusion, “Who is she, then?”

“She’s a night hag that attacked Wick and I before we met Flinard,” Cade replies.

“People toys,” Black Fang barks at Cade and points his nose at some men leaving the crowd with items in their hands. 

Tal’yrra and Cade stop a man that is carrying a small jewelry box. Tal’yrra asks the man, “Good day, citizen. What do you have there?”

The blonde man looks passed them with a wry smile, “It’s a necklace for my wife! I can’t wait to show her! She’ll be the most beautiful woman in Greybrook with it on!”

Cade barks at another man waking away with an ornate walking-cane, “What about you, friend? What do you have there?!”

The old man stops with the same glazed over expression of contentment, “Oh! This is a cane! I’ll finally be able to keep up with my boys again! I can’t wait to see them!”

Scribe eyes a taller, well-dressed man holding a scroll that he begins reading immediately after exiting the crowd, “Hey, Mister! What’s that?!” 

“It’s…. IT’S THE MOST AMAZING ADVENTURE THAT I HAVE EVER READ!!!” the man yells on the top of his lungs as he begins sprinting away from the City Market. 

“THAT ONE!!! WE SHOULD STOP THAT ONE!” Cade starts running after the crazed man. 

“CITIZEN! PLEASE, STAHP!” Tal’yrra pleads as she runs after Cade while keeping her hood down with both hands. 

Scribes takes up the chase as well following closely behind, “DON’T DAMAGE THAT SCROLL, YOU GUYS!!!”

******

The trio and Black Fang chase after the tall man reading the scroll. The man is laughing maniacally while he runs as fast as he can. Tal’yrra and Scribe take turns asking the man questions trying to get him to slow his pace and perhaps provide some sort of clue as to what is happening to him. Nevertheless, the man continues his sprint to nowhere as he rants about how amazing the story that he’s reading is. 

Having enough of the chase, Cade lunges at the back of the man’s knees and Scribe tries grabbing the scroll. Cade misses one of the man’s legs and he stays upright, but stumbles. The scroll stretches like a rubber-band as Scribe tries wrenching it from the man’s grasp. 

Cade tumbles off to the side after the running man shrugs him off and Scribe lets go of the scroll out fear of tearing it. Tal’yrra takes a turn at taking the man down and punches him square in the face. This makes the man stumble enough for Cade to try tackling him again. This time, Cade lunges for the small of the man’s back and Black Fang run in front of the man’s knees. 

The tactic works and the man takes a tumble as Tal’yrra knocks him out with a swift uppercut. The man is completely knocked out, but his legs are still moving and he is still muttering about the story. His legs are moving so forcefully that he tears his pants on the cobblestone of the street and starts to tear away the skin on his knees. 

The scroll rolls away from his grip and Scribe quickly snatches up. Her curiosity gets the better of her and reads the first sentence of the scroll aloud, “And so begins, the race of legends.” She immediately starts running and laughing just like the tall man had done. 

“Oh, shite!” Tal’yrra says as her stares in disbelief at her friend running away. 

“Black Fang! Again!” Cade yells while running after Scribe. Black Fang repeats the last maneuver that he and Cade had done on the tall man. Cade lunges at Scribe’s back as Black Fang runs in front of her knees. Tal’yrra also follows suit with another swift uppercut to Scribe’s jaw as she topples over. 

“Wow! We are good at that!” Tal’yrra stares down at Scribe’s unconscious body and rubs her knuckles. 

Cade kicks the scroll away from Scribe, “Why would she read it!?” 

Tal’yrra shrugs and then they both hear a scream from inside a store behind them. Cade and Tal’yrra turn quickly to see the screams coming from a jewelry store. 

“THE NECKLACES!” They both shout and run towards the shop leaving Scribe laying the street. 

******

Inside the shop, the blonde man from before is strangling a woman with the necklace that he had shown Cade and Tal’yrra. Cade crashes through the door and swings his short sword like a paddle being sure to not cut the blonde man. The flat of the blade smashes into the blonde man’s face and knocks him out. The blonde man falls backwards letting go of the necklaces. The strangled woman starts gasping for air and crying. 

Cade smashes the necklace with all his might sundering it in two. 

Tal’yrra steps through the doorway and kneels down to the woman, “What happened here?” 

“Mmm..my husband told me that he bought me something pretty. As soon as he closed the jewelry box, he attacked me!” the woman struggles to explain in a raspy voice. 

Cade lifts his blades as he turns, “As. Soon. As. He. Closed. The. Box.” 

The jewelry box springs from the countertop like a rabid bat and attacks Cade. The halfling ranger dodges the flying box and takes two swings using the lethal edges of his short swords. The box flies apart and lands in splinters. 

Tal’yrra looks stunned at the quick action of her halfling companion, “You could save some of the excitement for me, you know.” 

“Let’s get our tiefling and go kill that hag!” Cade stomps out of the jewelry store. 

******

Scribe comes to and rubs her jaw, “What happened? Why does my face hurt?”

“You read that damned scroll! That’s what happened, you twit!” Tal’yrra barks at Scribe and then immediately turns sheepish, “Bbbuut, I don’t know what happened to your face. Must have hit it when you fell.” 

Cade finds the cursed scroll and hacks it in two. Scribe lets out a tiny groan at the destroyed parchment, but emotionally recovers from it rather quickly. The trio can hear screams and terror popping up all over town in every direction. 

“We need to face Rotten Mollie now and hopefully end this madness,” Cade whistles for Black Fang and swings his short sword in circles as he stomps back to the City Market. 

“Well, wait for us!” Tal’yrra easily catches up to Cade and starts marching with her weapons drawn as well. 

Scribe looks at the destroyed scroll one last time and straightens her vest letting out a small cough. She takes a few giant strides and matches pace with her companions. 

The sun is starting to set and the sounds of terror grow louder as they go to meet Rotten Mollie Nightworm in the middle of the City Market. 

******

The mob of men are gone and the ominous merchant-wagon is still in the middle of the street. The trio and Black Fang see the baker at the wagon. He’s talking to the woman with beautiful maple brown hair. The baker is searching his pockets and produces two shiny gold coins. Scribe’s heart sinks as she sees the exchange. The baker is handed a long, flat wooden box. He walks away like all the other men with a wry smile and glazed eyes. 

Cade and Black Fang sneak off to the right of the street using all the crates and alleys as cover to get closer to Rotten Mollie. Tal’yrra sneaks off to the left doing much of the same. Scribe stands in the middle of the street and watches the baker walk into his shop to do something horrible. She stands with rigid shoulders and raises her hand toward Rotten Mollie. Scribe unleashes a ray of frost that strikes the hag square in the chest from all the way down the street. 

Rotten Mollie lets her form change back to her natural shape and hisses at Scribe, “You tiefling whore! Who are you strike Rotten Mollie so?”

“Me? I’m nobody, but my friends and I come to kill you,” Scribe says defiantly as she starts to cast another ray. 

Rotten Mollie quickly snaps her fingers and all the screaming in the town stops, “You might want to think about that. I might just snap my fingers again before you all kill me and my little trinkets will continue to tear Greybrook apart.” Rotten Mollie keeps her hand up and in position to snap her fingers again, “So, let’s make a deal.”

Through a window into a shop, Cade witnesses a man break out of the enchantment of a cursed fork after Rotten Mollie snapped her fingers. The man throws up after realizes that he’s been eating his own thigh. Cade steps out of the alley and Black Fang stands with him growling. 

“What do you want?” Cade grumbles at the hag. 

“Oh, my! If it isn’t my plump, little pig! You know what I want. Bring me the pretty one!” Rotten Mollie hisses in delight. 

Tal’yrra and Scribe are both confused wondering if Rotten Mollie is talking about one of them. 

Cade looks over at Tal’yrra as she makes a “does she mean me” gesture, “She means Wick. How do I know you’ll keep your word and don’t snap your fingers again?” 

“Well, you won’t hear horrified screams as you go get the pretty one and Mollie is always good to her word,” Rotten Mollie smiles widely showing all her crooked yellow teeth. 

“I’ll stay here. If she snaps her fingers again, I’ll cut her down,” Tal’yrra says as she finds a crate to sit on. 

Cade walks over to Scribe with Black Fang in tow, “Sounds good to me. Let’s go, Scribe.” 

******

Scribe and Cade walk back to Flinard’s to get Wick. Cade can’t help, but take notice of the destruction that Rotten Mollie’s cursed items have wrought in Greybrook. From every direction, they can hear men apologizing for their actions and crying in disbelief. Rotten Mollie may have turned off the enchantment, but her work was already done. 

Cade and Scribe reach Flinard’s hobbit hole. Wick is strumming a horrible tune on his guitar and Flinard is nowhere in sight. The shadar-kai swordsman stands immediately with his hand on the hilt of his blade. 

Cade looks at Wick, “Rotten Mollie is here and she wants you.” 

Wick winces at the thought of the hag. In their last encounter, she fondled the shadar-kai with her grotesque hands quite a bit. He rolls his shoulders to relieve the tension at the sound of her name. 

“Let’s go kill her, then,” Wick slides across the dining room table and leaps out the door.

******

Back at the City Market, Tal’yrra keeps an eye on Rotten Mollie and an idea sparks in her mind. The moonshadow elf hops off her crate and walks just out of reach of Rotten Mollie. The hag eyes the xadain elf suspiciously and with amusement. 

“You know, you’re not the only one looking for that unseelie filth,” Tal’yrra points out to Rotten Mollie. 

The hag holds her ready-to-snap hand up between herself and Tal’yrra, “Are you trying to make me an offer?”

Tal’yrra realizes that she maybe a bit out of her depth to make a deal with a trickster hag, but still holds her ground, “No, no. I’m just telling you something that you might want to know. You see. This big bad Harbinger fella called dibs on Wick first. He might be coming after you, if we give you Wick.”

“When you give me Wick, elfling. WHEN.” Rotten Mollie smirks at the thought of getting her trophy, “I fear nothing of this Harbinger you speak of. He or it can have the pretty one once I’m done with him.” 

“Wha... What do you want with that scum-eater anyway?” Tal’yrra is truly intrigue. 

Rotten Mollie levels her eyes on Tal’yrra’s, “I do love to twist a good man and his soul is destined for great things.” 

“HIM. THE SHITTER-KAI? GREAT THINGS?” Tal’yrra is incredulous. 

Rotten Mollie laughs at Tal’yrra’s reaction, “Indeed.” 

“GAG! Well, let’s not talk about him anymore. That’s a pretty cloak you have there!” Tal’yrra points to Rotten Mollie’s cloak made of multi-colored feathers. 

Rotten Mollie smirks and reaches into your wagon pulling out an exact replica of her feathered cloak, “Your conversation has pleased me, dear. You can have this one.” 

Tal’yrra almost snatches the cloak impulsively, but remembers who she is dealing with, “Oh! You’re trying to curse me with your trinkets. Aren’t you?”

“Not at all. My baubles only affect men, my dear,” Rotten Mollie smiles and pushes the cloak across the counter toward Tal’yrra. 

“That’s not true! One of your things whammied my tiefling friend and SHE is not a male,” Tal’yrra crosses her arms and waits for an answer. 

“Oh, that. Well. My magic can be sort of spotty when it comes to tiefling blood. It’s always been that way,” Rotten Mollie shrugs and gestures to the cloak for Tal’yrra to take it. 

“All the same. I think I’ll stick with my own cloak. Thanks, though.” Tal’yrra goes back to her crate and sits. 

******

Wick is running with Cade and Scribe having a tough time keeping up. He is hungry for a fight that isn’t with practice dummies. Wick realizes that they are falling behind and slows a bit. 

“Did you ever find out what happened with all those explosives?” Wick asks Cade as the halfling manages to get flush with him. 

“No. We found out about Rotten Mollie selling things in town and have been dealing with that all day,” Cade manages to say in between labored breathes. 

“Yeah, we never even got to the Smithing District,” Scribe adds with her hands up in the air. 

The three of them reach the entrance of the City Market. “We need a plan,” Cade pleads to Wick. 

“THE PLAN IS KILL THE HAG!!!” Wick bellows rushing headlong down the street towards Rotten Mollie’s wagon. 

Black Fang rushes ahead as well. Wick teleports ahead and sprints with all the strength in his legs. Rotten Mollie is caught completely by surprise as Wick’s blade narrowly misses her head. Black Fang, however, bites down on her arm and drags her down to the ground. 

“Good boy!” Cade cheers as he rushes in to finish the job, but his blade finds no purchase as Rotten Mollie phases into an ethereal form, “Curse you, HAG!!!!”

“NO!” Rotten Mollie appears several feet away, “Curse you and this town.” She snaps her fingers and the sound of terror starts to fill the air as she slips back into etherealness. 

Cade looks around in horror and yells out, “You can’t! Our deal was only to bring Wick to you!”

Rotten Mollie appears again at the entrance of the City Market, “Well played, piglet.” She snaps her fingers and the sounds of terror die down again. Then, she vanishes. 

Tal’yrra looks into the wagon and the whole thing is empty. Cade lights a torch and tosses it inside after Tal’yrra exits. The wagon bursts into flames as the all of them walk out of the City Market towards the Dawn Oak to deliver Wick to yet another evil being.

******

“No head,” Black Fang stops dead in his tracks as the heroes make their way to the meeting with the Harbinger. The wolf points his snout down an alley. 

Cade gestures and tells everyone that Black Fang sees something. They find a decapitated body like the ones described in the gazette. The garb of the corpse and the oil jug identifies the deceased as a lamplighter. 

Tal’yrra finds a bloody message in theives’ cant, but even with her insight, the message is cryptic. All is says is ‘FIVE’. The moonshadow elf shrugs her shoulders and walks out of the alley. 

Scribe follows her out, “There’s nothing we can do about it, now. Let’s get this stuff with Wick and the Harbinger over with.” 

The group makes their way down the final stretch to the Dawn Oak walking between the Temple of Gond and the Town Hall. They are greeted by 6 zombies that are ready for a fight. Our heroes make short work of the zombies, but during the fight Cade realizes that Black Fang isn’t awakened and the poor wolf panicked when a seemingly normal person turned to dust. 

“Dust man poof!” Black Fang looks to Cade with concerned eyes. 

Cade pats the wolf on the head, “Aye! He was a bad dust man.”

The sound of slow clapping is heard up above in the Dawn Oak. The Harbinger is up in the ancient tree grinning down at the party of heroes. He stops clapping and draws his bow. 

“Only Wick steps forward. The rest of you go away,” the Harbinger bellows from the atop the Dawn Oak. 

Wick draws his blades and walks with his chest puffed out towards the Dawn Oak. The others also ready their weapons as they aren’t going anywhere. Then, the sound of Rotten Mollie’s cackle fills the air and she appears for a brief moment. She snatches Wick and whispers, “Pretty one.” They both vanish and the whole area is left in silence. 

“NOOOOOO!!! THE GATES! IT CAN’T HAPPEN YET!” the Harbinger looks around furiously not knowing what just happened or what to do. 

The sound of explosions fill the air. Black Fang darts in every direction the explosions were coming from. Scribe was the first to realize that all the gates were the targets of the bombs. Everyone is trapped inside of Greybrook now. 

The Harbinger falls from the Dawn Oak and large chunks of decayed flesh fall from his face leaving only a pure white skull. Blackish purple swirls of energy flow into him from every direction. Hiss frame seems to get larger and his eyes glow with the same blackish purple energy. 

“NOOO!!! THIS IS TOO SOON!” the Harbinger rises to his feet and snatches both Cade and Tal’yrra by the throats, “Bring me to the Shadar-Kai!” 

“We don’t know where he went,” Tal’yrra kicks at the Harbinger’s ribs. 

“Then what good are you?!” the Harbinger tosses Tal’yrra to the ground 20 feet away. 

Cade slashes his short swords into the decayed flesh of the Harbinger’s arm. The Harbinger tightens his grip on the halfling’s throat as the wounds from Cade’s strike heal as though nothing occurred. 

“YOU CAN’T HURT ME! I AM NOTHING! I AM ONE WITH THE VOID! BRING ME TO THE SHADAR-KAI!” the Harbinger raises Cade higher and Black Fang tries biting the Harbinger’s leg, but like the short wounds, the bite marks heal back rigth away. 

“The hag took him! Cade knows the way to her hut!” Scribe cries out. Cade hisses as he tries to break free from the Harbinger’s grasp. 

“If the gates are all destroyed, how do we get out of town?!” Tal’yrra stumbles to Scribe’s side. 

Scribe wracks her brain, “I don’t know! Maybe take a ferry down up the Crackle River?”

“BOATS DESTROYED!” the Harbinger yells back at the suggestion and his jaws widen as though he’s going to bite Cade’s head off. 

Tal’yrra can see that Cade is about to blackout and yells, “THE SEWERS!!! WE CAN TAKE THE SEWERS!” 

The Harbinger looks for sewer covering and tosses Cade towards it, “TAKE ME TO THE SHADAR-KAI!” 

Cade reluctantly lifts the sewer covering and they all climb down into the dark as more blackish purple energy flows into the Harbinger’s body.

******

{10 years ago: A small board of crudely drawn circles with white and black stones sits on a table. Most of the black stones are off the table with a white stone placed in one of the biggest circles.}

“YOO...YOU CAN’T HAVE THAT!” Rotten Mollie screams in shock and dismay. 

“I won your silly little game fair and square. You said I could choose any prize,” the diminutive man states clearly and curtly with both hands flat on the hag’s table.

“I didn’t know you’d ask for such a thing, you fiendish imp! Taking my death wish isn’t as easy as you think,” Mollie spits as she stands from her chair with her hands balled into fists. 

The man raises his hand with crackling eldritch energy, “Rotten Mollie Nightworm backing out of a deal and welching on a bet? That doesn’t speak well on your reputation. I’ll gladly take your wretched life now and suffer whatever you conjure with your death wish.” 

Mollie stoops to look at the still seated man in the eyes, “You can’t give a death wish away. You can only share it and have our lives bound together. If I die, the death wish is ruined and fizzles out. If you die, I die with you and the magic only works if I agree to the wish. PICK. ANOTHER. PRIZE!”

“So, the worse that happens is that I don’t get my death wish, but at least you don’t get to cast your final blight on the people of Greybrook. Give me your death wish or die tonight, per the rules of your friendly wager,” the man allows more eldritch energy to pulse from his hand letting it arch from his finger tips. 

Mollie’s eyes squint at the brilliance of the eldritch energy and her lips quiver in fear, “Curse you, Candlewick.” She produces a knife out of her knotted hair and cuts her palm. She growls as she digs into the wound and pulls out a small jagged stone. Flinard reaches out and Rotten Mollie drops the stone into his open hand. The stone spins and drills its way into Flinard’s flesh. He never winces. 

“As always. Nice doing business with you, Mollie,” Flinard closes his hand and leaves Rotten Mollie’s hut with the satisfaction of alleviating Greybrook of another threat.