Chapter 5

     We decided to split into two teams. Quanta, Kim and Rohan will be disguising themselves and enter Jolton to look up for clues while Faeron, Ryotine and I will be waiting for their return. The three of us went to a nearby farmstead and met a farmer who had just traveled back from Jolton. He had an energetic horse in his farm. Faeron wanted to buy the horse but obviously the horse was not for sale. When we left the farmstead, we could see a figure bending over and checking something on the ground. We thought it was weird and quickly ran to that place where the figure was at. By that time, the figure was already gone. Faeron tried to track it but he failed.

     From there, we proceeded to another farmstead. Faeron knocked the door and a woman's voice could be heard. She was shouting to her husband to open the door. An old farmer opened the door and greeted us. His name is Steven, he seemed like a cheerful person. Faeron asked him about the figure and Steven said it might be the ranger from Jolton. After that, we bought some tomatoes from him went to the agreed place to wait for Quanta, Kim and Rohan. We roasted tomatoes while waiting for them. I'd prefer to eat it raw though....

     Later on ,we met Quanta and Kim and they updated us about what they knew. However, Rohan is not with them. What is he planning to do alone? Urghh... At least we now know who the ranger that Steven mentioned is. His name is Cleon and he was sent to track us down. The rest of the party then somehow agreed to meet him. What the drok? Shouldn't we be running away from him? After that. they chose me and Faeron to do the negotiation with Cleon. Not the best idea as I was so confused about the plan. We knew that Cleon was told by the mayor to head south so we waited for him at south. Ryotine, Quanta and Kim hid themselves somewhere behind us while me and Faeron waited for him.

     After a while, we can finally see Cleon approaching our sight. Before I could start throwing all the nonsenses that I thought of to persuade him to join us, Faeron shouted "Cleon", powerfully and clearly. Drok! Cleon immediately pulled out his bow and questioned us, "how do you know my name?" There goes our plan... I tried to bluff my way out but Cleon didn't buy it and ran away. Faeron looked frustrated and tried to shoot him. Luckily he missed it. Ryotine reacted immediately by casting her entangle spell but it failed to catch him. We quickly gave chase hoping that we could catch him before he reaches Jolton. Kim, with his superhuman speed caught up with him easily and stunned Cleon with his powerful blows. Cleon surrendered and Ryotine healed him. He agreed to cooperate with us to track down another set of tracks which Faeron failed to do so in the beginning. 

     So, the other set of tracks were headed southeast. We followed it and reached an old abandoned cottage. The cottage looked suspicious as hell! My gut is telling me that something will happen if we walk up to the house nonchalantly. But before I could check for any traps, Faeron walked towards it and triggered a sort of alarm. Immediately, kobolds jumped out of the bushes behind us. It's weird that they didn't try to prevent us from entering the shady cottage when they'd go as far as to set an alarm for this cottage... I quickly alerted others not to go near the cottage. While we were slaying kobolds, Kim went too close to the cottage and triggered a trap. A javelin was fired out of nowhere and hit Kim. Now that's why the kobolds didn't want to go near it...

     After we killed the kobolds, Ryotine went into the cottage only to find that the ceiling collapsed on her and arrows was shot from the left and right side of the hallway. It's surprising that she's alive! There were three rooms in this cottage. We opened it one by one starting from the left. The first one had nothing in it. The second had a locked chest. But it wasn't difficult to pick lock it. We screamed in joys when we saw the content of the chest. There're around 1000 golds in it! The third room, we found an unconscious lady with her hands tied on her back. We woke her up and she told us that her name is Reen and her husband, Seamus is a farmer. She told us that she got attacked in her house and was brought here. Anyways, the ropes were tied in a very unique way. The only way to undo the ropes was to cut it. But why all the traps and ropes when she's just an ordinary girl... I asked the team whether it is safe to cut it off but they did it before I finish asking. Well, nothing seemed to happen. Time to leave I guess. Me, Quanta and Faeron went out from the cottage while Ryotine and Reen were still inside.

     When we came out of the cottage, we could see Rohan approaching us, "Rohan!" we shouted. But he ignored us and went straight into the cottage with a barbarian. A barbarian? Did Elyl Shona and Sollek found out that we're innocent? We had no idea what was going on. We just stood there hoping that Rohan would clear up our confusion. But nope, he went into the cottage and told the barbarian, "get the girl, she might be the one". "What girl?", the barbarian replied. What? There were 2 girls inside the cottage and the barbarian couldn't see anyone? Then, Drake started barking at the door and we heard footsteps around us even though none of us were walking. Suddenly, Kim was stabbed by a dagger and a smoke mist was formed in front of him. It was Reen!  We tried to finish her before she could escape.

     The mist finally faded and we realize that Reen was a shapeshifter. In addition, my dagger would start humming whenever it is bought close to the shapeshifter's dagger. I told Ryotine to hold the shapeshifter's dagger and kept some distance with me so that my dagger wouldn't make any noise. The barbarian proceeded to grab the girl and we headed back to Jolton. On the other hand, Cleon and Faeron took a detour to follow another set of footsteps. On our way back to Jolton, Rohan explained to us about what he encountered in Jolton. After that, we waited for Faeron and Cleon's return. They didn't return with good news though. They saw a group of kobolds gathering in a cave and Cleon suspects that they might be preparing for a war. We were then dismissed. I took the shapeshifter's dagger and brought it closely to my dagger. What followed was a loud explosion and the shapeshifter's dagger disintegrated.

     Finally, we were proven innocent! We still don't know why the shapeshifter poisoned the well though. Not to mention a war is coming soon.... Urgh, why can't things end happily?

Chapter 4

     We met Jolton's mayor, Elyl Shona, who was apparently a female halfing just like Ryotine. She was with Ekam, the guard who told us to meet the mayor and Sister Serka from the Monastery of Singing Wind. They were discussing about the attack of kobolds. Ekam said that a third party might be involved since the guards who were guarding the gates were stabbed in the back by a dagger and kobolds don't use daggers. The mayor said that they should form an alliance with the barbarians from the north to strengthen their defense and she asked for our help to gather information regarding this "dagger user".

     After that, we went out the hall to explore Jolton. Rohan said he wasn't feeling well and went to Pahpeebee's temple while Ryotine wandered around the village alone. Faeron, Quanta and I went to an armory to sell off our loots. We continued to gather information regarding the "dagger user". However, since daggers are a common tool for living. We had no clue how to proceed with the investigation.

     While everyone was scattered in Jolton, I walked around in the town square alone. Then, I noticed something wasn't right. My dagger's sheath feels empty... As I move my hand towards the dagger's sheath on my belt, it's gone! I panicked and immediately climb up a house and scan through the villagers in the town square. "No one is holding my dagger! Drok, how did this happen?" Faeron approached me and helped me to locate this dagger thief. I have a bad feeling on what's going to happen. The guards were stabbed by dagger and now my dagger is missing! Someone is definitely trying to put the blame on me!

     Meanwhile, Jolton's harvest festival is starting soon. The mayor is giving a speech and everyone was gathered in the town square. I stayed on the roof of a house to see if there is anyone suspicious in the crowd. I have a feeling someone is going to kill the mayor with my dagger. After a while, I saw a hooded person leaving the crowd. That's suspicious! All the villagers are heading towards the town square while he's the only one leaving. I quickly told Faeron and we followed him. He went to the town's well and dropped some chemical into it. "This must be the dagger thief!". Faeron immediately gave chase to the hooded person while I told Quanta who was nearby to identify the water in the well. After awhile, he told me it's poisoned. We quickly dashed to the mayor and told him about this. The mayor looks shocked and told Ekam to follow us to pursue the hooded person.

     The last thing I saw before telling the mayor the well was poisoned was Faeron, Ryotine, Kim and Rohan running towards the Sheriff office's direction. So, I told Quanta and Ekam to go there as well. However, no one could be seen in that direction. Then, Ekam walked towards the abandoned house opposite of the Sheriff office and opened the door. To our surprise, we saw a hooded dead body with MY dagger stabbed on her back. Ekam identified the body and said she was the negotiator of the barbarians from the north. The rest of the guards as well as the barbarians came in and was aghast by what they saw. The leader of the barbarians, Sollek started yelling and demanded an explanation but that damned fool - Kim went up to him and said "Calm your tits man". What the drok? As a result, Sollek swings his huge great axe angrily on Kim and almost killed Kim... I whispered to the others, "Are we going to give our selves in or do we run now?". Although I wanted to escape and prove my innocence, the rest of the party wanted to surrender. Darn! Since I can't accomplish much on my own... I followed their actions and stood there for Ekan to arrests us. We were then locked in a prison cell.

     The others seemed quite cool about it though. Especially Quanta, he starts to trance and ignore the rest of us. Then Rohan, he casted a mist spell for no reason. Not long after, a lady with blue glowing eyes peeked into the cell. "They don't seem evil" said the lady. Ekam then opened the prison cell and interrogated us. He knew that we're innocent but Sollek demands justice and wants me executed... He said he couldn't help us with just that little information... He then proceeded to lock us back in our cells.

     When night arrived, some of us were awakened by a whisper outside the prison cell. The lady who we met just now was outside. She goes by the name of Lady Jinna. She said if we don't leave now, I'll be executed tomorrow. She believed that we're innocent and unlocked the prison cell with a key that she attained from the sleeping guard. I quickly woke the others up. Before we leave, she told us to make this incident looks as if we broke out of it. So, Quanta corroded the lock with his acid spell. We took back our belongings and thanked Lady Jinna and left the prison silently.

     At first, I wanted to climb over the wall of Jolton to escape but the walls are too high. Ryotine said we should escape from the front door and Faeron said we need a distraction to confuse the guards. Rohan then went to set a fire on the nearby houses. Drok! He could have killed someone with that fire! But what done is done, we quickly run towards the gate of Jolton. As expected, the door was locked. I told them to open the door but someone said opening the door might awaken the villagers. So, me and Ryotine jumped off the walls beside the gate to escape. Ouch! That hurts... After that, we realize Quanta is too old to jump and Ryotine's dog refused to jump as well. Faeron then opened the door and the rest just walked out of it. Opening the door didn't make much noise... We should have just opened the door in the first place. Before we start running towards south, Rohan shouted "fire! fire!", hoping that the villagers would wake up before anyone got hurt by the fire.

     Not long after, Jolton sent some guards on horse to chase after us. We went into a forest and successful lost them. Now, how should I clear my name?...