-----After a while he turns back to Abbar and asks, "You mention that you and your friend Alum had a caravan, and he was a maker of potions. How many others were part of your caravan and what were you trading, or carting in your part of the caravan. Forgive me my questions, Abbar, but I too am a merchant of some standing as you can see." Seth now indicates his impressively frilly white shirt and mostly clean black pants and boots. He lingers over a silver ring on one of his fingers and considers using some Dread Pirate diplomacy on the merchant when he decides one more question may be more appropriate then trying to force the caravan merchant through the pores of the easy chair he now occupies.
-----"By the way, Abbar, what part of the world do you come from? I am seeking some fine art pieces. Maybe you have seen some in your home town?"
-----Seth waits for Abbar to answer, deliberately skirting the notion of searching anywhere dangerous and the question of which place to search first. As far as he is concerned, anywhere Dread or Kazel want to search he is more than happy to follow.
-----Abbar pauses momentarily as if shocked into a new train of thought. He then begins to answer Seth. "I am of Artanian descent although I was born in the city of Vigilance. A few months ago, my partner and I took a boat to the royal city of Goldren. There we purchased our wagon to load our goods and soon joined a caravan of traders. Besides Alum's work with potions, we sold items made of silver crafted by people in Vigilance as well as spices from those who speak Xiling. We visited the various estates until our travels brought us here." Abbar looks at Seth with a questioning glance.
-----Seth jumps up excitedly and almost shouts, "Silver crafted in Vigilance!! and Xiling spices! Well I sure would like to look over your cargo Abbar, where is your wagon now? I am sure it would only take a few minutes to look it over, then we can go about on doing this undead thing!"
-----Abbar gives Seth a suspicious glance. He then answers, "Our wagon is stored in the building I would like to look at first. We must take great care. You see, once we began storing our wagon there, the man who oversees it became sick and died. The soldiers immediately locked the building up and we were unable to get to it . . . legally. Of our wares, we had only two pieces of fine silver yet to sell."
-----As if to head off any more questions, Abbar adds, "Before we were unable to leave the town, we were planning to sell off the last two items, sell the wagon and head south. There we hoped to find a boat to take us back to Vigilance." Abbar looks around ready to return to the business at hand.
-----The Dread Pirate replies to Abbar, "Well, I hope that we can do something about this plague. Perhaps we can send Marast back to Oakwood to fetch the priests of Joren. Marast would probably have the best chance of sneaking past the dragon. If we give him three of the horses he should be able to make it back in record time. Maybe by the time the priests start their way here, we'll have the progenitors of the plague in hand and the dragon taken care of. Then all they'll have to do is take care of the current plague ridden populace."
-----Seth shrugs and looks at Marast. "I think Marast could make it through, and in the meantime we could inspect this fellow's cart and remaining merchandise and the Warehouse Of Evil!" He looks at Dread and indicating Abbar pulls a sour face.
-----The Dread Pirate nods and replies, "I think he should go and speak to Zharta anyway. If we get enough clerics in here, maybe we can stop the spread of this plague from growing past this town. Between that and the killing of the dragon and the destruction of this evil cult, we might be able to salvage what's left of this town. Assuming of course that the local soldiery doesn't stop us."
-----As they settle down in the room, Kazel idly spins the dandelion she got earlier for a bit and then puts it aside. She sits down at the table avoiding the other padded chairs and starts to polish her long sword, which still has some crusty goo on it. "So does anyone know how this plague is being spread, at least? That barkeep was pretty calm to have a carrier sitting at one of his tables. And how else can you tell if someone is infected. Like you for example Mister Abbar." She points her blade momentarily at the man as she indicates him.
-----"Coming back to the burning part, I'm sure if we're don't stick around for no reason we can reasonably start a few fires without getting caught. In the meantime, Marast is probably the best one to move in the country with a dragon flying about. Not to mention helping the priests not to get eaten on the way back." She looks to the elf just to see if he would have any sudden outbursts again, or if he is happy to leave the city anyway.
-----"Anyway, I guess our part is now to look at these possible hiding places."
-----Abbar sits quietly as the current conversation takes place, but then he looks at Seth and the Dread Pirate and nods.
-----At Kazel's questions, Abbar turns and says to her, "I do not think the plague is spread like other diseases. This is why the soldiers are so foolish. Even though the dragon flies outside the town, they allow no one of the citizens to leave. Perhaps it is only spread by the rats."