As we left it, the party had finally reached Aldibar and was travelling towards what they hoped would be a warm bed and good, wholesome food. Frankly though, after a month or more on the go they would have settled for a plank of wood and some gruel if it meant being inside for a night, and getting a decent bath.
As the party headed towards the inn, they ran into a group of Order of the Protectorate clerics who were clearly preparing for some kind of journey. Proving Mishkal was indeed a typical example of the Order, they greeted the party warmly with the words "Ho the group! Mishkal! Good to see you again! Are you here for the secret mission?" Across a crowded town square. When they learned he was, in fact, NOT here for the secret mission they became remarkably reticent to talk about it and so Mishkal went off to the church to see if he could find out what they were talking about. Meanwhile, the rest of the party excused themselves and continued in the direction of the inn.
On the way, Emily suddenly noticed that they were being followed by a sinister looking man. Quietly she slipped off the cart and moved through the busy streets, trying to get closer to the man. Sadly luck wasn't on her side and a gap opened in the crowd, allowing the man to see the slight, bald girl sneaking up on him and he took off down another street. Emily followed, dropping back slightly in an attempt to vanish into the crowd. After taking many turns, following a twisty path through the town, the man ducked into an inn. Peaking through the window, Emily saw him taking a table in the tap room facing the front door. Deciding that the frontal assault was a poor choice, she nipped into a side alley and climbed the inn wall, slipping into an open upstairs window. Once upstairs she moved into the corridor and, acting like someone staying in the inn, wandered casually downstairs to the tap room and took a seat in a dim corner where she could observe the man.
Meanwhile, back on the cart, Gregore had finally bored himself to sleep and was snooring away merrily as the cart trundled ever closer to the inn.
Emily watched the man finally decide he was no longer being followed and head back out into the street. She followed for a while until she saw in the distance a cart with a snooring old man on it...
As the cart rounded a corner, the conscious occupants saw a group of men blocking their path in a way that just screamed "hold up". The lead man looked slightly surprised to see them, as he'd expected his collegue to give some warning, but he recovered quickly and strode forward to address the party. "Give us Margaret!" he shouted in a voice loud enough to wake Gregore. Whilst Beard collected his thoughts, Ug pointed out the flaw in the man's plan. "No - we won't get paid." "Aha!" said the man "We won't get paid if WE don't take her in!" "It's a tough job market" muttered Beard, finally coming round. But Ug was curious; "Are you sure it's THIS Margaret you're after?" he asked. "How about you have her when we're done?" The man looked unsure at this, and Gregore saw his chance to leap in for the kill. "You young people are so hasty!" he started, settling into potentially-lethal-lecture mode. "When you're old, you need to slow down and talk things through more..." And he proceeded to lecture the stunned men on the virtues of thinking through their actions, having escape plans, and not rushing into things.
Fifteen minutes, violence ensued.
After a brief, yet violent, conflict the party were standing round the bodies of a dozen or so men. Emily had appeared, trailing the guy who tried to lead an attack on the rear of the cart and ended up being stabbed horribly. Mishkal had also appeared, his church being but a block away and the noise of people in need of Pelor's Protection drawing him life a moth to a flame. He was moving amongst the injured, trying to stop ALL the bandits dying immediately, Emily was wondering why, in a frontier, military town her blowing an Orc horn hadn't brought the guard running instantly. Deciding she didn't really want to meet any guards quite that incompentant, she rifled through the pockets of the bandit leader looking for clues as to his identity. She found a purse which indicated he had been well paid, a masterwork shortsword which showed the chap wasn't just a random mugger. She was excited by this vital evidence, and made sure she pocketed it. After that, the discovery of a small piece of paper with written instructions ordering the capture of Margaret was merely a nice bonus. The guards could now be heard approaching, marching Jaffa-like to the crime scene. The party seemed mysteriously reticent to scarper in the face of the law, so Emily took off on foot into the crowd - heading for the inn.
The party stood around, waiting for the guards. When they appered, the party explained everything. Unfortunately for them, being attacked in the streets is a crime in Aldibar so they were arrested and taken to the local jail. Except Mishkal who was sent back to his church to be delt with there. In the jail they were questioned as to the nature of the disturbance and locked away to await trial.
Emily, after many wrong turnings, made it to the inn. As she arrived, she heard guards walking round and hid behind a tree. She saw the guards leading Margaret to the inn and then leave. Smelling a rat, Emily followed Margaret through the corridors of the inn until she went into a study and closed the door. Quickly working out where she was, Emily went back outside and climbed the inn wall, hiding under the window to the study and listening as Hadar explained to Margaret he didn't want her to make her work public just yet. Margaret threw an academic strop before finally agreeing when Hadar said he wanted her to lead an expedition back to the Forest of Doom. As he dismissed Margaret, Hadar (who was in possession of a very good set of ears) invited comments from Emily, who he had heard messing about in the vines.
Emily climbed in the window and was debriefed by Hadar. Much to her relief, the party wasn't being sent to escort Margaret to the Place of Doom. Instead she was being taken by an army of Order of the Protectorate "special clerics". This was a source of relief and it meant the zombie horde was likely to not be a huge problem. Next on the agenda, Hadar sadly informed Emily that he wouldn't be able to employ her any more. Apparently she had lied when signing up when she hadn't mentioned that she was serving as a slave to atone for crimes against the realm. Since this was news to Emily as well, Hadar was willing to listen to her counter-proposals once the shock had worn off and Emily managed to negotiate a more informal arrangement where Hadar occassionally gave her suggestions as to what she might like to do next and the odd gift as befitted a friend. Emily was quite pleased with the negotiations as she managed to renegotiate her contract to be essentially the same as before, minus the clause which stated she had to give anything found to Hadar. The diamond statue in her pocket felt good...
According to Hadar, the party was under arrest and was unlikely to be released any time soon since the town would wait for some of the bandits to recover before making any decisions. Hadar was unwilling to spring the party as he had done Margaret as he didn't want to cause too much of a disturbance. He was, however, willing to fund a little jaunt by Emily and help her draw up some official-looking release papers in the name of House Sunset.
Armed with her letters and a courtiers robe with rapier, and under the name of Lord Emile, Emily headed to the prison. Once there "he" spent a long period of time browbeating the guards with "official" explanations as to why "his" guards had defended themselves when attacked. It was important, "he" said, that he had his people returned to him immeditately so they could be about their business. Fortunately Emily had read "how to disguise the fact you're a woman" (catchy title) and was wearing a hat, so the captain of the guards failed to notice "Lord Emile" was, in fact, a very pretty blonde girl. Eventually, after much argument and waving of requests for release from "House Sunset" (as well as a note saying they would cover the cost of bail) the guards allowed the party to leave. Unfortunately, the local representative of the mage's guild chose that moment to turn up...
The mage guild rep was a distinguished chap by the name of Charles (old Charlie - never returned a library book on time, apparently). He had been brought in to talk about the suggestions of illegal magics occuring in the area of the fight. Sadly he was coming in through the door the party wished to leave by and was also being shown the party's collection of illegal magic items. Seeing him starting to cast a spell, and leaping to the (correct) conclusion it was going to be Detect Magic, Emily decided to be proactive. Marching up to him and tugging on his robe destroyed the mage's concentration and hence his spell and kept the items hidden for a few minutes longer. Before Emily could talk their way out of the door, Beard decided to berate "Charlie" for his tardiness in the library. Emily took the opportunity to collect the party's belongings (and items) from the guards before asking questions about the Dryad's Entangle Gregore had managed to cast back in the square. The bemused mage immediately recognised the symptomns as that of druidic magic and agreed that Gregore could not have possibly cast the spell, even if he HAD learned to be a wizard. By the time that evidence was forthcoming, Emily was already thanking him and ushering the party out of the door.
And there we leave it, with the party heading back to the inn with their belongings but minus their cart. Emily is trying to persuade them they really don't need to stay for their trial in a couple of days time and scarpering elsewhere in the kingdom is a far more sensible plan. The rest, caring a little more for authority, are considering her words...