Catching Thugs & Beating Rugs

## **Synopsis**

In Chapter 63: Catching Thugs & Beating Rugs, a last-second attempt to offer our help to the Halflings of Hacketton fell on deaf ears.  Determined not to risk their jobs (or lives), they made no initial indication that they'd be asking strangers for assistance – but as we passed by the final row of houses, a stone with a note attached was tossed our way out of sight of the guards.

With a deft Mage Hand, Orba was able to retrieve the letter without drawing any undue attention – and we were told that if we wanted to make a real difference we should track down a woman named Joella at Leopold's Garrison, who had been spending money meant for supplies on frivolities.  Given Beezaura's history, we knew we'd be walking on eggshells through this particular Gentle Void stronghold, but we vowed to see how we might be able to push Joella in the right direction – and in turn give these Halflings some small peace of mind.

From there it was a quiet couple of hours before arriving at a small Broken Crown checkpoint – and while its existence along this road was hardly surprising, the person manning the post was.  Looking physically weak, but much improved given the state we saw him in last, was Amari Magomet – whose life we had saved during our foray into the Creeping Ravine weeks earlier.

We were glad to find that he'd survived long enough to receive medical attention, and he was delighted to meet the group that his brother spoke so highly of.  We spent some time catching up and he seemed in good spirits, but he did have some concerns about his two coworkers, Brian and Emerson – who had occupied this out-of-the-way post for far longer than him, and who he suspected were making some extra coin on the side in an underhanded way.

Amari, seizing the opportunity to solicit help from people he trusted, asked if we'd help him investigate in exchange for a Writ of Service – that in combination with our stash of Gentle Void favors would give us a leg up on any future negotiations up north.  We agreed – and after providing a distraction, Amari split us into two groups to maximize our odds of finding something useful.

Erland and Safira climbed through the checkpoint's second story window, where they discovered through some careful sleuthing that Emerson kept a locked compartment requiring a specific combination of tiles to open.  By sifting through his belongings, they pieced together enough information to narrow down the required pattern – and inside found notes that seemed to strongly suggest Emerson was notifying either Gentle Void (or just bandits about) what travelers might be worth robbing along the Acqly Grove Road.

In the basement, Orba, Graven and Beezaura found a rather unremarkable storage cellar – but when lifting the carpet revealed a hidden slot in the floor, the rug sprung forth and attempted to smother the closest target.  Our scuffle with this magical construct was challenging in more ways than one – as not only did attacking the rug also hurt the Goliath wrapped up inside, but we had to keep the noise to a minimum to avoid waking the sleeping Brian on the floor above.

After beating the carpet back to the floor, we looked at what had been stashed underneath it – some gifts and gold that were the likely spoils of this illegal operation.  After carefully putting everything back in its place, we returned to Amari – who was encouraged by our findings and happy to hand over the promised Writ of Service.

As we waved our goodbyes, we wished Amari well and kept riding until nightfall – a mostly unhindered day of travel that put us on a good pace to reach Leopold's Garrison by tomorrow.  With camp set up and our watches organized, we lay down to rest thinking of how best to approach Gentle Void territory.

## Trivia

* Natural one count: one natural one was rolled in this Chapter, by Anthony.