Breakfast at The Inn of the Last Home

As the fighting ends, Duncan turns to Kirsten and flashes a big smile

That was fun!  Not so much the getting stabbed part though.  Boy you sure are good with that bow - thanks for helping me out!

Duncan starts to walk around the room and examine the mess that was made, looking to see if there's anything fun to add to his collection or if recognizes the men or their outfits from anywhere.  He grabs some trash from the floor and starts to clean the blood off his hoopak when he sees the girl come in and the scene that follows.  Noticing the girl is distressed, Duncan walks up to her with his arm outstretched.

Hi!  I'm Duncan Herrofoot!  What's your name!?

Investigation 21

Ava wipes some blood splatter from her face then winks at Kirsten in appreciation. Ava retrieves the dagger she threw earlier, then turns to Dwalin:

And you, thanks for giving me a hand. I thought I was dead for sure. I'm Ava, btw.

Kirsten says unenthusiasticly, "With help, it was I who delt the killing blow, but only to protect my friend," she nods towards Ava conversing with the dwarf and adds, "you really shouldn't start things you can't finish."

Kirsten smiles back at Duncan and follows him to where Elle is. Kirsten looks at the girl warmly and says in elvish, "Big things in small packages I see. Why were those men so intent on getting the key from you, why is the key so important?" (Will repeat in common if Kirsten sees Elle doesn't understand elvish)

Elle responds quietly to Kirsten in elvish.

Whatever. Don’t take it then. I’ll sell it in my own.

Ty’garn takes the armor and walks out to sell it in town.

Dwalin extends his hand to Ava. "Pleased to meet you, miss Ava. I'm Dwalin, from the clan Ironfoundersson." Looking around at the carnage, he sighs. "We let poor Tika down by creating such carnage instead of taking the fight outside, didn't we..."

He picks up some parts of a broken table, and starts casting Mending on it. The fibers from the parts grow to connect both pieces back together. Once the table's whole again, he picks up a broken chair and does the same.

It seems that Elle has calmed down and that Tika and other patrons are caring for each other.  Everyone is talking about various things, and Duncan starts to grow a little bored.  He knows that he probably should be helping Tika with the mess he caused, and he does feel bad about that. He starts moving around the inn to pick up some chairs and and notices that TyGarn is taking off the leader's armor.  Slightly annoyed that he didn't find anything fun to add to his collection earlier, he becomes interested in what is clearly very shiny and nice armor.  Duncan moves over to TyGarn, stepping between him and the door to outside with his hand outstretched.

Hello!  I'm Duncan Herrofoot, I don't think we met earlier.  During the fight I was going to introduce myself but I think you were taking a nap. Do you normally nap through bar fights?  It is a bit rude of you to nap while everyone else was trying to help out Elle.

Duncan then looks down towards the armor at Ty'Garn's feet

Hey you don't have a tail!  I thought all dragonborns had tails?

Duncan circles around Ty'Garn trying to see if he's maybe hiding his tail somewhere

Isn't it hard for you to balance without your tail?  Do you fall on your face a lot?  Is that why you were napping because you fell on your face? One time I was traveling through a forest and I saw a Unicorn! I went to pet it, and it kicked me right in the face.  It wasn't the most pleasant feeling, and I started to feel bad that my face hurt, so I understand why you might be grumpy about that.  Are you taking this armor to protect yourself from falling?

Kirsten expresses empathy for Elle about being in trouble with her parents. She continues to press Elle, but gently, and says in elvish while kneeling to be the same height at the girl, "I'm confident your parents wouldn't mind you sharing information with someone who is trying to look out for you and keep you out of harm's way." Kirsten continues, "Can you tell me who these people are that were so intently after you and what is so desirable about that ring?" Kirsten adds, "because (quote from station eleven) if you are the light, if your enemies are darkness, then there’s nothing that you cannot justify."

Ty'garn laughs.

You ask a lot of questions, little girl, but quite perceptive. I guess I do tend to nap during battles, but not always. At least I try not to.

I'm going to find someone to buy this armor. If you wish to tag along, I'll tell you all about us dragonborns without tails. I'll even try not to fall on my face on the way. No promises.

Duncan smiles broadly at Ty'Garn

I would love to know more about Dragonsborns without tails!  I need to remember to draw you.

Duncan starts to follow the Dragonborn out of the inn, and then he has a little nagging feeling in the back of his head.  He looks over at the mess from the fight, and at Elle, Tika, and the rest, and backs away from the Dragonborn

Well actually selling armor does sound a little boring.  Hey maybe you can stay here with me and help figure out why we just got into that fight.  Elle does still seem awfully upset.  If you stay, I'll show you this amazing treasure I found!  I think you'll like it!

Duncan let's out a a big laugh, and starts beaming broadly. He takes out a shiny Crystal he just "found" when he was talking with TyGarn, and starts tossing it into the air

Isn't it amazing? It looks just like this other gem I found before.  The Elf I was with kept calling it an "Arcane Focus", which sounded amazing!  I tried poofing him way but nothing happened.  I'm not sure what happened to that...Maybe I'll have more luck with this one?

I assure you selling stuff is not boring.  In a way it is also a battle, though typically nobody gets shot in the eye or fall down on their face.  But, it's a battle of words.  I have this shiny armor and I will trade it for something that is also of value.  Hopefully gold.  It's the process that's fun.  I get it though, you would rather play with the other girl.  Makes sense.  How about another time I take you to a shop and you can see for yourself.  We can see what else you can find too.  

As for the Arcane Focus, it is amazing!  Have you met a wizard ever?  These bookish nerds carry around books so they can remember spells.  So boring.  Me, I can use that crystal and not have to deal with any boring books.  Go ahead, hold it, concentrate, and see if you can cast a spell. Let me have it back when you're done though.  

By the way, I like you little girl, you're fun.

Ty'garn winks at Duncan and drags the armor back into the room.

Oh is this crystal yours?  You must have dropped it.  You're lucky I was here to find it for you.

Duncan palms the crystal in his hand, and stretches out his arm pointing straight at Ty'Garn.  Duncan squishes his face in concentration, trying his best to poof the Dragonborn away.  After a little while of not breathing his face turns red, and he gets disappointed.  Duncan overhears Elle having some sort of conversation, and the last thing he hears is "follow me"

Oh well, I think this crystal might be broken too.  Oh, by the way, I'm a boy Kender, not a girl.  I know you hit your head a lot so it's ok if you're confused.  But since your head doesn't always work right I should probably hold on to this crystal for you so you don't lose it!

Duncan pockets the crystal in one of his pouches, and flashes a giant grin towards Ty'Garn

Adventure awaits!  This should be FUN - Come on!

And he dashes out of the inn to follow Elle and the rest of the party

Kirsten wonders what happened to Bruno and his crew and if being their replacement is a good idea, but maybe we don't talk about Bruno, no, no, no.

Kirsten says to Elle, "Lead the way, my little friend."

Elle leads the group out of the Inn of the Last Home, nestled in the giant vallenwood tree, and down the path to the ground below. She turns away from the center of town, leading the group toward the outskirts of Solace.

"So, you wanted to know about the key," she says, as you walk. "It's one of what we call an artifact. It comes from the room. The key can open any door with a knob and a lock. But it doesn't lead you to the other side of the door. It leads you to the room. The key can turn any door into a portal to the room. And then, when you're in the room, you can just think of any door that you want and when you open the door from the room, you step out of the door you were thinking of." The canopy of the giant vallenwood trees begins to thin as you leave the town of Solace until the treeline becomes sparse. "All of the artifacts from the room are special. But the key... She trails off and looks like she's about to start crying again. "It's important," she says. "I never should have taken it. And now Winthrop has it, again. My parents think that the artifacts are dangerous. And so we are trying to find them. And also study them. Winthrop used some of the artifacts to develop his first few products. And now he uses the Ipswich Ingenuities money to fund his search for the rest of the artifacts. We knew that the comb was in Solace. And Winthrop knew it, too. I was just trying to get to the comb before they could. I thought I could get there first with the key." The treeline gives out completely, and you all emerge into a large clearing. "Okay," Elle says, sitting down on the ground. "We're here. Dad will probably be about a half hour still. He's coming in from Genua."

You all have at least a passing knowledge of the geography of the area, and know that Genua is about a 5 days' march from Solace.

During the walk Duncan starts chatting with the rest of the party.  He regales Ava with more of his story of when he met a Unircorn. He tries to get Dwalin to let him see if he can use his hammer. He talks with Kohak about how interesting he finds her bright red hair, and then he tries to pressure Moribus to show him his wings, because he feels it's completely unfair that he missed it in the inn when he was under the table.

When they get to the stopping point, he sits on the ground by Elle.  He grabs his stack of papers with his drawings, and some charcoal and he starts to draw Ty'Garn.  While drawing he turns to Elle

So this key sounds interesting.  Do you think if we find it you'll take me to the room with you?  I bet the room is amazing.  You said you came to Solace to find out about the comb?  What does the comb do??  I think I may have more of these artifacts you study!  I find fantastic things all the time, you'd be surprised how often people lose things.

Duncan starts rummaging through his pouches and takes out various items.  He pick out Ty'Garns Arcane Focus, a ring, a lighter, and what looks like a big ball of wax and places them on the ground.  After a second of thought he picks the ring back up and puts it back in his pouches.  He picks up the lighter

I once saw someone use this lighter to take all the light out of a building!  When they clicked it it became pitch black, and then when they clicked it again all the lights went back on, it doesn't work for me very well though.  Duncan then puts the lighter down and picks up the ball of wax.  And this ball has the ability to make you immortal!  You just have to eat a little of the wax every day, It doesn't taste very good and it gives your mouth a weird texture, but... It's why I look so young.  He then puts the ball of wax down and picks up the Arcane Focus And this I just found.  It's Ty'Garn's, and he says it does all sorts of magic. I think it might be broken though... Do you think any of these are your artifacts!?

Oh yes of course!  Duncan gives the lighter to Elle.   His eyes grow big and he asks Can you show me how to use it??  I only saw it work the one time and then it never did again

Ty'garn sits with the group.

Wow Duncan, that's a great picture of a mighty Dragonborn.

To Elle he says,

Little girl, let me get this straight.  This bloke, Winthrop, he's the man in charge?  Jerry, the one that knocked me out but got an arrow in the eye anyway, is he like, second in command?  So Jerry and his goons chase you, blasting into Tika's and they're trying to steal this key from you.  This Winthrop fella, he stayed behind and grabbed the key off you.  Now, all he has to do is find a door knob, put the key in, and, blam, he's in the artifact room.  Then, he just thinks about another place and walks through another door and is there.  If this is correct, Winthrop can be anywhere.  What does Winthrop look like?  How do you find a man that's anywhere in Faerun?  That's like looking for a needle in a haystack but don't know which haystack to look.

By the way, I saw a tattoo I recognized as a trademark for a tech company, it looks like this.  Is that Ipswitch Ingenuities?

Ty'garn draws the logo in the dirt.

Kirsten sits down on the ground as well and asks Elle, "What is Winthrop's end game? What does he intend to do with all these arifacts?" Kirsten continued, "In other words, why should they be kept out of Winthrop's hands?"

Kirsten's countenance freezes and her breath stops mid inhale when she hears the word Torongo emitted so casually out of Elle's mouth. Once Kirsten is able to control her voice she asks, "Winthrop is responsible for what happened at Torongo?" The name of the place almost getting stuck in her throat and barely making it past her lips. She continues in disbelief, "Why would he..." the question drifts uncompleted in the breeze that's coolly passing between them.