The Rovers sent their foremost master of subtlety, Urs, under the power of his invisibility ring, to approach the carriage and make a loud noise so that Zax and Zex, if they were nearby, might hear. Before he even got there though, he was spotted by the villainous Urna and at least one similarly invisible body guard. This did not stop Urs, who released his mighty roar and ran back to the Rovers (and attempted to de-pants Aengus).
When the whole of the party understood who had arrived in the carriage, Vara marched off toward it without a word. Undeterred by Urna’s retinue of beefy enforcers, she broke into his introductions with the mayor:
“Urna! Your minions stole what is rightfully mine. Return it or you will feel the razor’s edge of my blade!”
“How quaint.”
“What do you want with it anyway? You said you needed me for your scheme to ‘ascend to godhood’.”
Urna twisted his beak into what some might call a grin. “I say a lot of things… By all means, hack away!”
Vara got in some good hits, and Urs wasted no time joining the fray, but Urna took the blows coolly while his enforcers looked on.
“Ugh, we could be so much more productive with a conversation,” and with that Urna waved his hand, and Vara was compelled to stand down.
“What’s your game, Urna? What do you want?”
“I want what everyone wants–what everyone is entitled to reach for. Surely, if you could wield the magic your so-called ‘god’ grants you through the mere force of your own iron will, and if you could have unmatched power to do as you wanted in the world, you would take it, right? Why must we serve others when we could be our own masters? Just imagine it… What would you do, Vara, if you had that kind of power?”
“I’d start by putting you six feet under… Torm’s wisdom exceeds the sight of mortals, and his righteousness is unerring. You reach too far.”
“The Raven Queen’s reign is coming to an end, and she must be replaced. I’ve struck a tenuous alliance with a couple like-minded individuals. Should you change your mind…”
At this, the speechless mayor finally found her words: “Stand down! Who do you strangers think you are? You can’t come rushing into our town with weapons drawn delivering vigilante justice!”
“Arrest this villain!”, Aengus interjected. “He is pure evil, and if his words haven’t convinced you already, we can prove it! All across this country, his agents steal innocent civilians and travelers and drag them away to his dungeons where his minions drive the enslaved to do his bidding. He probably has Zax and Zex! We can take you there, just put him in chains!”
“Enough of this,” she replied. “I can tolerate this insolent behavior no longer. All of you, get out!”
As a parting gift, Urna said this to Vara: “You will find your precious mortar and pestle, and those elf twins your dwarf keeps yammering about, in an encampment two days west of here. Good luck…” Urs retorted by smashing a carriage wheel, and the Rovers walked away.
“That was very reckless, Vara, rushing in like that,” said Aengus. “We should have formed a plan, spied on him, figured out what his business is here.”
Jani looked upset. “And what was your plan exactly? Were you just going to slaughter everyone in this town who got in your way? Is that the kind of people I’m working for? I need a drink,” and she broke off to find one.
The Rovers waited on the edge of town, giving Jani some time to cool off, before Aengus went looking for her. He found her in a bar sharing drinks with a fierce looking tabaxi who introduced himself as Jade Eyes. He explained that he was killing time, waiting for his party to return from a scouting mission. They were hunting a certain band of orcs led by one named Shagol. It took Aengus a moment to realize that this was the same orcs his party crossed swords with in the Feywild, and they he had met some of Jade Eye’s party: the ranger, Kerath, and the hairless dwarf, Blumf. Aengus explained they had, in fact, seen orcs on their way here, and he offered to help Jade Eyes out by messaging Kerath to relay this intelligence.
In exchange for this favor, Jade Eyes offered great advice about remaining focused on one’s goals, as well as a lead on an interesting adventure: To the far west, in a place called Shambhalah, it was rumored one could encounter Malaki the Humble, a genie whose services could be obtained by rubbing his oil lamp.
Jani and Aengus bid Jade Eyes good luck and returned to the group. They decided they must rescue the elf twins now so that they could continue their pursuit of King Murgrim’s captors, into the Underdark. They ventured westward out from town, with all of their merries in tow. At night, they were visited again by a vicious, skeletal boneclaw, but Jani’s protective dome spared them from a fight. The next morning, they stretched and began preparations for another day of traveling…