Taselak (SEI)/The quest of Taselak/Chapter 3
Elladar
Elladar wakes up and climbs out of his bed. He walks over to the door to check that it is still locked. It isn't. Elladar quickly runs over to the bed and pulls his axe out from under the matress. He is about to run out of the inn and find the man who had dared to break into his room. He places his hand on the doorknob and turns it, the door opens, as Elladar walks out he hears chuckling from inside his room. He walks back inside, and sees a man standing in the corner. Elladar hadn't noticed him there before. "How did you get into my room, and why are you here?" Elladar demands.
The man smiles and replies, "Put your axe down, I'm not here to fight. I have a message from Lord Valens."
Elladar lowers the axe and says, "What's the message?"
"Lord Valens says you are welcome to join him in his manor for breakfast, after which you will be setting out on your quest."
The man gets up and walks out of the room. Elladar looks around quickly and is releived to see his pack under the bed where he had left it. Elladar quickly rumages through it to make sure everything is still there. Satisfied, Elladar leaves his room and walks out of the inn. Elladar starts heading towards Valens' manor. As he's walking, Elladar looks over his shoulder to see that a man had been following him for a while. Thinking quickly, Elladar walks down a side street. Elladar notices that the man's body was still there from the night before. "Good," thinks Elladar. He walks past the body and stops when the body is right in front of the man who was following Elladar. Elladar turns around and says to the man, "Do you want to know what happened to the last man who tried to rob me?"
"No, what happened to him?" the man replied.
"Look down." Elladar says.
The man looks down and sees the broken body lying there. He looks back at Elladar with a frightened look on his face, and runs off. Elladar sneaks off as peasants start to come out of their houses and form a crowd around the body.
Elladar runs back through the city to Valens' manor, and knocks on the door. A moment later, one of Valens' maids opens the door. "Welcome. I assume you are here to dine with Lord Valens before you set out. Breakfast has just been laid out, follow me."
The maid leads Elladar to the dining hall. Elladar sits down to the most spectacular breakfast he'd ever seen. He looks around and notices that he's the first one there.
"Enjoy," the maid said.
Valens
Valens wakes up, still tired. He rolls out of bed and calls for one of his maids.
Maid: "My lord? How may I be of service to you?"
Valens: "Please draw me a bath, get my clothes ready and my armor while I am in the bath."
Maid: "Yes my lord, no problem."
The maid leaves and gets the bath ready. After a little while, she comes back.
Maid: "Ok my lord, the bath is ready. When I am done with your clothes and armor me and some of the other maids are going to get a big breakfast ready for you and all the people you are expecting here this morning. Is that ok with you my lord?"
Valens: "Yes that sounds good to me. I should not be long in the bath. Once breakfast is ready, please wake my two guests. Also send out some messangers now, to everyone who was here but left. Let them know they are more then welcome to join me in breakfast and we shall be leaving once breakfast is over."
Valens turns and walks over to the tub to take his bath. His maid gets right to work on his clothes and armor, while the other maids are downstairs making breakfast. Also the messangers go right out, over to find everyone.
Arthur
Arthur wakes up, having had a very restless night. He gets up and stretches, making a mental note to bring his own pad to this inn if he ever comes again. The bed was a hard as a rock and the blankets did very little to make in softer. He dresses in his regular clothes and leaves the robes and the staff in the bag they came in. Wearing them in the city would attract attention he did not want right now.
Arthur heads downstairs and sees Berilac sitting at the same table he was at last night. He heads over and sits down.
Arthur: Have you been here all night, Berilac?
Berilac: No milord. I did get a room but I woke early and couldn't get back to sleep.
Arthur: All right then. I'm going to have breakfast here and then head to Valens' manor.
Berilac: Oh, hold on a moment. Valens sent a message while you were asleep. He invites you to come have breakfast with him before you depart.
Arthur: Then I guess I'll eat there. Farewell, Berilac.
Berilac: Farewell, milord.
Arthur departs from the inn and turns towards Valens' manor. On the way, he sees a crowd gathered in a circle. He heads over and makes his way through the crowd. When he gets to the front, he sees a dead man on the ground. He quickly looks around and sees Lord Elladar moving as fast as he can to get away. Unfortunately, he is too far away to catch up with. Arthur works his way back through the crowd and heads to Valens'. He sees Elladar arrive before him. He knocks on the door and a maid opens it and lets him in. She then shuts the door. Arthur hurries and knocks on the door. Another maid opens it.
Maid: Welcome. I see you got Lord Valens message. I will show you to the dining hall.
The maid shows Arthur in and leads him to the dining hall. Arthur looks at the food arrayed on the table. Instantly his mouth begins to water and his stomach growls. He looks around to see who's here and sees that only Elladar is here. He goes to sit next to him.
Arthur: Lord Elladar, I have a question. On my way here a saw a crowd gathering. When I had made my way through the crowd I saw a dead man lying on the ground. I looked up and saw you running as fast as you could away from there. I wonder, did you have anything to do with that?
Elladar
Elladar hears a knock echoing from the front door. He hears a maid opening up the door. A moment later the maid enters the dining hall with Arthur following behind. Arthur looks at the table, and Elladar hears his stomach growl. Seeing Elladar, Arthur walks up and sits down. "Lord Elladar, I have a question. On my way here a saw a crowd gathering. When I had made my way through the crowd I saw a dead man lying on the ground. I looked up and saw you running as fast as you could away from there. I wonder, did you have anything to do with that?"
Elladar replies, "Why yes. Last night, I was leaving Valens' manor, and a man tried to mug me. He knocked me down and grabbed my pack. My pack was full of an increadibly heavy set of armor that Valens' had given me. The theif hadn't expected it to be so heavy, and it took him a moment longer to heave it onto his back to run off. During that moment, I scrambled over and pulled his leg out from under him, trying to just slow him down so I could take my pack away from him. The pack, being as heavy as it was, crushed him as he hit the ground. Then this morning, a man had been following me for quite some time. I took a side route and saw the body from the night before, I walked past it and let the man step up to the body, I stopped and asked him if he knew about the last guy who tried to mug me. He said no and asked what happened to him. I told him to look down. He saw the body and ran off. Peasants then started waking up and leaving their houses to go about their business, they saw the body and started to crowd around it. More and more peasant came to see what the gathering was about. I didn't want to get accused of murder or be late to Valens' breakfast, so I fled."
Retnuh
"So you found anything peculiar about the man lying dead..." Retnuh said, as he emirged from the steps and holded his sight on noble who seemed he could swallow the whole plate "...who he was!, or who hired him!."
Lifting his hand to his head, he gestured his fellow mentor "How are Arthur!" and sat on the chair opposite to Elladar.
Elladar
As Elladar feasts on the marvelous breakfast, he hears a voice from behind him. He turns to see Retnuh. "So you found anything peculiar about the man lying dead..." Retnuh asks, "...who he was!, or who hired him!."
Elladar assumes Retnuh is talking to him, because he is the only one who has mentioned a dead man. "I think I saw the Sandalak crest tatooed on his arm. I would have taken a skilled artist to draw their griphon on a man's arm. If I saw right then that means one less Sandalakian to worry about." Elladar smiles and returns to eating.