After Aengus responded to another of Tyresha’s calls with a very convincing story about a bad inter-planar connection, the Rovers continued on their way to Gammenora. They traveled the road east, avoiding the band of orcs, and passing other travelers. When they were a day away from their destination, Aengus messaged Zex again and learned she had been captured by some unknown enemy — why can’t anyone remain un-kidnapped?!
During the night, they were attacked by a vicious, cackling, skeletal creature with knife-like claws. They destroyed it and returned to rest in the relative safety of Jani’s tiny hut, but just a few hours later they saw another creature just like it prowling in the forest. Urs ripped one of the defeated creature’s arms from the socket, and Aengus forged the claws into a pair of bladed bone gauntlets for him.
In the morning, Aengus tried Zex again, this time receiving the command “Protect the town” accompanied by groans of agony. When at last the Rovers arrived at Gammenora, they expected to find it besieged or occupied by Zex’s tormentors. Instead, they found a tranquil town. A helpful townsguard led the Rovers to Mayor Qinro, who directed them to Urjor, cousin of Zex and her twin brother Zax. Urjor did not know much about his cousins’ recent whereabouts, but he led the Rovers to their monocle-donned friend, Ranmir, for more information.
The twins, worried by subtle signs of growing external threats to Gammenora, had ventured out to investigate and had not returned. The bookish Ranmir believed his friends were prone to believing conspiracy theories, and they had recently spoken of something or someone called “Luferin”, which they believed tied all of their theories together. Ranmir did not put much stock into these ideas but did wish to see his friends safely returned.
Aengus sent another message, this time to Zax, who told him they were blindfolded and being held captive two days west of town. He was worried about an invasion of Gammenora, warned there were “bigger things at play”, and advised that the town have its defenses up. When the Rovers passed the orc band, it had been roughly two days west, but Zex had previously mentioned an “odd assortment of captors”, not orcs. Could orcs really be behind this?
The Rovers delivered this information to Mayor Qinro. The Mayor said that she had no knowledge of an imminent attack, and that orcs had traversed the countryside for many years without ever threatening the town. She respected the missing twins and trusted their judgment, but the small town did not have many defensive forces to begin with. The Rovers agreed to leave behind their merries to bolster the defense while Vara, Jani, Urs, and Aengus attempted a speedy rescue mission.
Just as they were walking through town, back toward their merries to tell them of the plan, a carriage accompanied by an armed escort arrived, and out of it stepped a familiar beak-faced villain…
