Pfft...blank post, won't go away, how annoying.

Why I agree to some things I'll never know, guess I'm a pushover. Somehow I've become far more involved in this situation than I ever wanted. The only thing I can think of is divine intervention, and why Denita wants me involved is beyond me; maybe she owes a favor to the god of luck. In any case, on with my chronicle.

The day started with a fine breakfast, and we offered Sylgen and Nitly a half a share each in our adventuring band. Adventuring band, that sounds so silly, we really need to find a name for ourselves. They rather greedily accepted, which only proves to me their desperation. I have high hopes for Nitly (though I do wonder if his mother didn't drop him one too many times), but that Silgen fellah still has me worried. To quote my old guardian on his comments about some of the more "rowdy" people we met, "he just ain't right." We also made contact again with Mahntar and Fatoxhxj and offered them their usual price. They agreed rather readily, and seemed to like the idea that after this fiasco was finished, we'd head back to the keep to clean it out and set up shop.

After my morning efforts, I went back to the gambling house and was able to make contact with Willart, the Detective from the local constabulary, I must say that he must have been happy with the information I gave him prior about the potter, seeing how he was quite willing to set up a meeting with me (though I must say he is quite skilled at burring meanings, I wonder if any of the others could understand us if given the opportunity to listen in. But I digress, back to the situation at hand.

I spent the rest of my day (of which there was very little) wandering the town trying to get a handle on the temple offerings in town. Curiously the place is like a maze, and the temple districts seem to be scattered all over town (with a smattering of about a half dozen in close proximity here and there). I was able to find a few temples which I believe will be appropriate if we need to raise Tamil, though I hope somebody has the coin, I certainly don't have any to spend on his behalf.

That evening we planned on meeting Willart for dinner, and I had the first (and albeit, the most appropriate by far) opportunity to use my fantastic silverware. Sylgen in all his belching glory was virtually unable to, and actually kept his cool during a rather carefully planned meeting. It was fantastic! I should also mention for my own reminder that Judas came to me with "an opportunity he thought I might be very interested in," but he also indicated that he'd pass on more details later. I'll have to think about this one.

Willart didn't pass on tons of quality information, but he did give us what we needed, a foundation of what was happening, rather than stumbling blindly as we have. Seems as if Hubin left town about four days ago with his hired sorcerer and his band of cronies. His travel direction was in the direction of Strea'Tarl, and he's expected to head to another property in Shen-tine. My guess at this point is that he is more or less out of the picture for the time being, and we should treat him as such. Willart is certain that Hubin wouldn't hand off Tamil to his underdark contacts, but instead would chose to trade or sell him to a friend or acquaintance that didn't have a vested interest in his life (seeing how Tamil knew too much). That of course is how the Orcs and Hobgoblins wearing black armor with red trim fit in. Seems as if they're named the Bama's Peak Mercenaries (named for an individual named Bama Peak, not a mountain from my understanding) and they are under the employ of somebody else (of whom Hubin may have connections). This band rarely enters town, but even more curiously, is a highly trained mercenary band that focuses on training rather than brute strength (which I gather works rather well for them). Intensely loyal and disciplined, from my understanding they would eat us alive if we're not careful. Signs point that these people are the ones holding, and torturing until dead, Tamil.

Unfortunately there was a price for this information (though I must say it's the most interesting price to date). There's a game in town called Fox and Hounds, which in essence pits a Fox (usually a convicted criminal) against three trained Hounds (usually bounty hunters and the like that do it for the prestige). The fox is given three days to merely survive, and the rest of the town takes bets on every situation imaginable. Sounds like our job (within the next two weeks or so) will be to keep the Hounds out of the game (through whatever means necessary).

The next morning I had a brainstorm, and approached the group with a series of Auguries available to ask questions about Tamil. Though my first augury was poorly worded (hey, what do you expect, I don't perform them every day), we found out the most critical piece of information so far, Tamil is being held at an old Dwarven Redoubt somewhere Northwest of here. The next thing we discovered was that if a rescue attempt was tried in the next ten minutes, there was a chance of success (and a chance of failure). Findella, Yanni, and Sylgen all decided to teleport in and do a split-second invisible rescue of Tamil. I wasn't there, but I hear it was a miserable failure, the room now acting as a trap. Though I think I should point out that the wording of my question is that Tamil has not been moved far from the original room, as I only gave them ten minutes to save him in my Augury.

With that idea a failure, we spend the rest of the day waiting for Judas, who agreed to go on an information gathering mission to find out the layout of the Redoubt. Yanni discovered that Tamil was moved, and continued to scribe teleport scrolls for those emergency situations (and considering one was already wasted today). I have no idea what the rest of the group decided to do, but I did a little research into construction companies to help rebuild the keep, and I asked Mahntar to find out a little about local mercenary bands that were trustworthy, and might make a good militia force.

That evening Judas brought us the unfortunate news, the Dwarven stronghold was exactly that, a stronghold, and by the looks of his drawings, quite the place. Build into a valley wall, the stronghold is closed by two mighty doors. There is an open courtyard that is flanked on three sides by the cliff faces, and one on a large stone wall (of Dwarven manufacture of course) containing a huge gate. This area was manned by a half dozen of the mercenaries, and Judas had no knowledge of the inner workings of the keep. It was at that point that I could feel the hearts of Yanni and Findella sink. Fortunately they realized exactly what they needed to see, that a full frontal assault on a defended position such as this would be suicide. Our options suddenly became much less viable.

A full frontal assault is now ruled out. A stealth entrance is still an option, but very difficult and extremely risky. Even then we'd need to find a way to teleport in the others, and I'm not sure Nitly has the vested interest to try that plan. Tracking an orc through the keep and surprising him is another option, but also dangerous considering Yanni is the one doing the scrying and he'd need to go. There was one other option, and I'm glad that Mahntar finally brought it up in conversation (I'm surprised it went over as well as it did).

Negotiation.

Ahhh what a beautiful word, and one that I myself am always willing to try (and would have, but I didn't know enough at the time to consider it a real option). Of course when you look at our motley band, our negotiation options are a tad limited, and yours truly becomes the obvious choice for the job. So I swallowed my pride and agreed to do it. I figure that I've done things like it before, and with Yanni there in case of emergencies, we should be able to escape unharmed if needed (which satisfies my desire NOT to die for Tamil). I just need to find the right angle, and brush up on my hostage negotiation with mercenary bands, though I think I have an idea that I hope works.

Well back to figuring out HOW to initiate a meaningful dialogue with a mercenary band made of humanoids, and save Tamil unharmed, or maybe a little harmed, but who am I to complain?