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-----Kazel then turns her horse north at the intersection and heads up the street. Up one block and she finds herself back in the neighborhood where she left the Dread Pirate and Seth. On a side street, she locates a stable and after making arrangements with the stable hand, she walks out on the street. Across the way, she can see the tavern where her companions entered.
-----Kazel suddenly enters into the tavern. The tap room inside seems warm and inviting with the interior featuring a nice bit of woodwork. Four dark wood tables dominate the place halfway filled with patrons.
-----The young male barkeep looks up as she enters. Kazel notices the Dread Pirate perched up on a barstool.
-----While the Dread Pirate is swilling his rum, he turns to the barkeep and asks, "Arrr, is there someone here who goes by the name of Dalyor?"
-----"Dalyor?" the barkeep repeats with a strange sneer on his face as if he has tasted something bitter, "Naw, don’t know ‘em."
-----The Dread Pirate shrugs at the barkeep’s response, then waves at Kazel, signaling her to join him. A villainous grin spreads across his swarthy face as he whispers to her, "I've come up with a bit of an idea. I don't know about you, but I'm less than thrilled with our current travelling companions. I think the three of us should consider upping the ante on this little sojourn of ours. Between you and I, we can probably persuade Seth to go along with my plan."
-----Gimplefwick proceeds to lay out his plan, "In essence, I think we should take this opportunity to take a leave of absence from our 'friends'. We'll meet with this Dalyor person we're supposed to see, then hire a tracker here in town and follow Sol and the others to the cave where the evil folk are supposed to be. We let them go into the cave and soak up all the abuse that the evil forces can dump on them. Then the three of us sneak in, Seth hits whatever is left with his sleep spell and we loot everybody and everything in there, killing the dark forces while we're there of course. We can then head back to Hearthorn and claim that we were waylaid by the evil forces, just like Sarah was. That way we can also claim our reward money from Lord Lambert when we get back."
-----The Dread Pirate continues excitedly, "We can just leave Sol and the others asleep in the cave, after we loot them and the cave. That way they'll probably think it was just some of the dark forces trying to escape. We'll also take their horses, so they can't chase after us and find out who it actually was. Hrmm, maybe Seth can cast that sleep spell a couple times, just to make sure it gets everybody, before we enter and save the day. We might want to consider hiring a couple mercenaries also, just in case. Between all the gold, platinum, and magical whatnots the others have, we should clean up quite nicely, still defeat the dark forces, and teach our hypocritical 'friends' a goodly lesson. What do ye think?"
-----Kazel strolls over and listens to the pirate's plans. Her eyes twinkle and dart around a little as the gears in her head turn. "Sounds like a good plan. But there's the obvious moral problem of ambushing our former comrades." She smiles. "Namely, how do we not get caught and what's the contingency plan? You know those folks will never take a joke. Everything depends on Seth's spells, too."
-----A few moments later, Seth enters the tavern looking refreshed and carrying a sword in a scabbard at his side. He sees Kazel and the Dread Pirate discussing something up at the bar and by the hushed tone and grinning look of the conversion, it looks to be a good one.
-----The Dread Pirate waves at Seth, and continues his conversation with Kazel, "Aye, that’s the problem, isn't it? There are a couple things we can do, if Seth's spells don't affect our humorless colleagues. Since you and I will be well hidden in the shadows, we can always hurl some of my paralyzing daggers at whoever is still standing. Of course the problem is if we both miss and get ourselves spotted. So that’s one option. The other is we walk in like nothing has happened and claim that the evil forces have been holding us captive and we just escaped from their vile clutches. Unfortunately, we get nothing out of that option, except Lambert's reward loot. The last option is we hire a bunch of mercenaries and send them in after Seth's spell, with instructions to subdue whoever is left and tie them up, face down of course. That’s all I can think of right now, each option has its own problems, but I'm willing to risk any of them."
-----The Dread Pirate grins at the sight of Seth toting a sword, "Arrr, now that’s somethin new. Would ye like that black longsword that I took from our friend back at the keep? It’s probably enchanted. Anyway, Kazel and I were discussin the pros and cons of liberating the belongings of our esteemed colleagues, by waitin fer 'em to enter that evil cave. We then let 'em soak up the first wave of attacks, then we sneak in and you hit whatevers left with yer sleepin spell. We then loot to our hearts content and take off. We can always claim that we were taken prisoner by the powers o' darkness an still rejoin the others back at Hearthorn. After we dump the loot at the Guild. That way we can still lay claim to Lambert's reward and our 'friends' goodies."
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