"Going back inside the castle, yessir."
Back to the castle it is, then.
Your collection seems to have been part of a broader effort as you pass other guards getting some sense beaten into them by their comrades, then being ushered into line behind you and your companion as you are collectively escorted over the drawbridge back into the castle. The formerly crazed guards seem quite perplexed, all ten of them that still need retrieving.
The captain of the guard steps over. He looks you and your companion over first of all with eyes like shattered mirrors - glassy, yet unnervingly penetrating. Mr. Wilde, he nods with mechanical respect, Ms. Deirdre, how goes the investigation? Have you turned up any sign of the stable master?
"I suppose it is just light scouting, rather than full on scout it all. Let's move on."
Scout elsewhere. What else can be found in the town?
[A Night Out: 1]
As it turns out, more stout fellows. Quite a few of them. Ten, in fact, three of them in actual armor, wielding a variety of armaments. One of the armored ones is being dragged along, seemingly in quite a terrible shape.
What's more, they seem to have the same appreciation for cutting through narrow alleyways as you do, judging from the way you find yourselves standing face-to-face with them in one. One of the armored stout men at the head of the contingent needs to take but one look at you lot before a flare of recognition. Worm-knight, he mouths. And a castle guard. And some man wearing a scandalous dress!
Infiltrators, he says in a dreamy lilt. Infiltrators, the others repeat with a mixture of fear and excitement! The Worm-knight starts to step back. The guard is about to take off at a sprint.
"Right, thanks. Good luck with the looting."
To the keep! Hopefully she's there.
Thanks, the two say as you leave them to their antics and head to the keep, entering the foyer. There's quite a commotion at present, one you only slightly noticed before. The majordomo, newly but still tastelessly clothed, stands in the hall, ordering servants around much like he was before, though with considerably more purpose to the instructions. A red-haired royal guard stands next to him, occasionally pitching in with advice. The minder girl from previously gently floats above the staircase, earning awed looks from the servants as well as a few smaller children trailing in her wake. She occasionally looks at one servant or another, which is accompanied by an immediate change in trajectory by the servant in question. Objects of interest and value as well as various supplies seem to be in the process of getting brought to the hall and scrupulously inventoried.
Much to your consternation, however, you don't really see either the woman who proposed that you come along a-looting or anybody fitting the description of a guard commander. Though there are quite a few people you could ask, you suppose.
"Winter might make expections, but getting out from grave is not one of them. Will you go back in graciously or do I have to show what I learned from you about manhandling? I'll tell mom if you keep being stubborn."
I have buried my dad once already, might as well do it again. Tell mom if he's being stubborn.
And this is my realm, when I say there's Ragnarök in the horizon, there's better be one!
[Do You Still Bury Your Dad: 5]
Fortunately your dad, being a skeleton, has some difficulty overpowering you. The reverse is quite untrue. You lift him above your head and place him into the coffin via the time-honored method of body slamming. That done, you spend some time nailing it shut for good measure. Better than last time. With some metal plates inlaid into the coffin so it's harder to punch one's way out. And then you slam the coffin into a ditch and let it be covered with thirty-nine layers of compacted dirt followed by seven snowdrifts. Ought to hold. Now then, that just leaves the other business.
[Fate of the Gods: 4]
You look to the horizon. Yep, Jörmungandr is definitely contracting and getting twitchy. And is that creak from the gates of Asgard? Ooh, bestial howling in the air. Shit's definitely about to go down, you'd say. All is as it should be!
I think I'm going to have to accept the possibility that I don't see that stoat again. But I might as well keep going downriver; I was planning on wandering directly away from here anyway. I walk in a wide half-circle around the town, reaching the river again once I'm a good distance past Anglefork.
[Sharp Eyes And Keen Ears: 1]
You head merrily out on a circuitous trek around Anglefork Town, which if you understand correctly has a southward road leading away from it. You decide to keep a safe distance as you head the long way round.
[Snaking Stoats: 4]
You're far away enough to not run any serious risk of being caught by any patrols (especially given that it is night and no decent stoat would be caught dead out in the woods at night), and after about an hour of progress you manage to find yourself over on the other side, where the southward road beckons travelers.
You stop at a convenient signpost by the roadside on the crest of the hill. Takes you a little bit to make out what's written on it, but you manage to piece it together with a combination of reading and feeling the letters with your fingers. There's Anglefork directly north, 1 mile. Elizabeth, north-northwest, 56 miles. Speaker's Bridge, directly south, 30 miles, the sign looking freshly replaced compared to the weathered look of the other ones. Grayfield, south-southeast, 59 miles, also new. And Ark City, southwest, 123 miles, another new sign.
Leif Erikson, Miner
- A Word: INEVITABLE
- Enders' Friend: The Grave of Red Clouds Parting
- Small brass box
- Sturdy Falchion
- Improvised Quarterstaff
- Body Count: 1
- All Broken Up: A Miracle of Alchemy
- Damp and moldy fuel
- Reappropriated, Clean Skirt
- Inscribed Wooden Stylus
- Iron Spearhead
- 1.03 gp
- The Box: ?
- Tower of the Mind: Convenient Relocation
- Induced Lucidity: Ragnarök
- Compatibility: Minding
- Tricks of the Mind: Cormick's Condescending Riddle
- Tricks of the Mind: Perceptual Rebuke
- Tricks of the Mind: Erikson's Inexplicable Grapefruit
- Tricks of the Mind: Speak With The Mob
- Tricks of the Mind: Headfirst Dive
- Tricks of the Mind: Lend Them Your Limbs
- Tricks of the Mind: Out of Sight, Out of Mind
- Tricks of the Mind: Erikson's Seeds of Discontent
- Party in the Courtyard: Celebration in Earnest
- Never In: Swallowed By The Pit
- Gods of the Underground: Did You Just What
- Labyrinths of Anglefork: Tunnel-Literate
- The Voracious Dark: Two Deals Made
- The Voracious Dark: The Promised Sixth
- Moth's Flight: Preparations For The Return
- Troubles In Anglefork Town: More Lethal Than Anticipated
- The Secret Life of Stoats: Harnessing Potential
Eileen Minett, Vinyl Collector
- Wounds: 1
- The Doom Guard: Consorting With The Enemy
- Exotic serrated zweihander
- Reclaimed Hooded Robe (worn, torn)
- Inauspicious Day: Off Into The Horizon
- Giant White Mushroom
- A Word: SEA
- A Word: HUNGER
- A Word: CHAOS
- A Weapon: Explosive Cysts
- Origins: Witness to Dissolution
- Tower of the Mind: There's Something To Remember
- The New Queen: And Something To Forget
- The Queen's Guard: Bringer of Doom
- Touch of Flame: the Secrets of Flammability
- The Voracious Dark: Three Connections Given
- Stone's Glory: An Uncivil Disagreement
- Body Count: 1
- Never In: Change of Priority
- Labyrinths of Anglefork: Tunnel-Literate
- The Flip Side: Crippling Indecision
- The Impromptu Prophecy: ?
- Sweet Little Children: Fond Farewell
- The One They Fear: Largely Irrelevant
Jack Daniels, Karate Man
- Naked
- 14033 gp (in sack)
- The Queen's Guard: An Alignment of Interests
- Wounds: 1
- Powers of the Beyond: Gardener of Thoughts
- Dusty Wooden Speaking-Trumpet
- Crossbow Bolt (in throat)
- A Word: REND
- A Word: SILENCE
- A Weapon: Murder-Thought
- Traces of Mischief: A Bisected Left Kidney
- Traces of Mischief: Ruined Left Hand
- Uncoupled: Strength
- Wooden Door (held)
- The Majordomo: ?
- The Winding Path of Inspiration: A Different Tack
- Tower of the Mind: Endless Well of Mystery
- Induced Lucidity: A Garden Well-Tended
- Elongated Affairs: Enemy of the New State
- A Place In History: Vastly Unreliable
- Anglefork Castle: the Great Serpent
- The Obsolete Class: Suggested Victims
- 2 rats, crushed
- 1 rat, strangled
- 1 rat, live
- Touch of Flame: the Second Degree
- Travels In The Fourth Dimension: Sunday ± 2 Days
- The Impromptu Prophecy: There's A Mountain Higher Than We Knew
- Doomstones: So High Up But Such A Bitter View
- The Voracious Dark: Decreasing Demand
- The Voracious Dark: More Specific Requests
- The Good Doctor: A Recommendation
- Labyrinths of Anglefork: Suspended Above
- Body Count: 3
Thomas Minstep, Insurance Agent
- Excellently shaped grappling hook (42 meters of rope attached)
- Troubles In Anglefork Town: Infiltrators!
- Wounds: 3
- A Word: ABSENCE
- A Weapon: The Sword They Fear
- Traces of Mischief: Nausea's Depths
- A Bowl, Black and Knobby
- Anglefork Castle: From Another Time, Another Land
- Gross Incandescence: Partly Illuminated
- Tight Leather Pants (worn)
- Incredibly Tight Blue Dress (worn, mutilated, mildly provocative)
- Travels In The Fourth Dimension: Saturday, July 24th, 409 S.D.
- The Majordomo: Busy Morning
- The Good Doctor: House Call
- The Queen's Guard: A Noble Mission
- Make A Man Out Of You: A Crowning Achievement
- The New Queen: Awkward Savior
- Tower of the Mind: Advice Given
- The Obsolete Class: Let Them Be
- Cruelty-Free Foods: Treats Survived
- The One They Fear: A Satisfactory Contract
- A Place In History: Finding Glory
- Body Count: 2
Oscar Wilde, Chemistry Teacher
- A Word: REVELATION
- 10 m of rope
- Half a candle
- This Is The End: A Grim Prophecy
- Inauspicious Day: So Far Away
- 1 rat, skinless and smoked
- 6 gp
- Poor Misshapen Dice
- Lock of Hair (unidentified)
- Iron nail, unused
- An Inauspicious Key
- Burlap Foot Wrappings (worn)
- Burlap Hand Wrappings (worn)
- Moth-Eaten Hat (worn)
- Respectable Brown Skirt (worn)
- Old Brown Waistcoat (worn)
- Bright Yellow Tunic (worn)
- A Wealth of Burlap Ribbons
- An Obsolete Class: Trustworthy Individual
- The Flip Side: Procurement and Provisions
- The Doom Guard: The Inquisition
- Tower of the Mind: An Interruption
- A Frightening Door: An Understanding
- The Voracious Dark: Backed Away
- The Winding Path of Inspiration: The Process
- The One They Fear: Largely Irrelevant