I'm realizing I've been playing this perhaps too much as "what should happen". I'm going to start leaning more towards "what do I want to happen". Obviously, a balance needs to be struck (it would be a bit ridiculous for the party to suddenly turn a corner and find Olwynna and Kondrack, ready and waiting). But for this scene, I want them to arrive in Cumae late in the evening, hot on the heels of the thief, with clues pointing them to an inn where the thief is holed up.
Scene check, versus chaos factor 5 → 🎲 9 /D10 → no change. Great!
So, let's ask some more questions to flesh out the situation here. Do they pass by an inn with a wagon that they recognize out in front? I'll say it's 50/50, since Cumae isn't huge, and there are probably only a handful of inns they might find → 🎲 45 /D100. Just barely a "yes". :) That said, I'm going to say it's very unlikely that the thief is staying at the same inn. He knows there's a good chance he's being followed; he'd find a safer place to lay low. Oracle? → 🎲 64 /D100 → "no", so he's not there. But we'll find some clues, right? It's a sure thing -> 🎲 24 /D100 → "yes".
It was a very long day in the saddle. We stopped a few times to eat and to rest the horses, but mostly we rode, and rode, and rode. Every mile we put behind that skirmish lightened my heart a bit, but there was always the question of where this Anwir character was.
Tomi assured us that Anwir couldn't possibly make his way ahead of us; the pass was the only navigable path between Cumae and the Tower, and he'd run off it. Still, Tomi couldn't deny that Anwir could be behind us, which certainly didn't make me feel like enjoying the trip.
I caught Tomi staring at me a few times, though he'd glance away as soon as our eyes met. It was a bit unsettling, honestly, and I wondered what mischief he was considering now. I wished he'd just ignore me.
The sun had set and the sky was beginning to show some stars when we finally exited the pass and descended down to Cumae, which sat in a bend in a large river. The city gates were closed for the night, but the porter at the eastern sally port let us through quickly enough after seeing the letters that the masters had given Tomi.
Cumae was a bit larger than the Tower village, with somewhere in the neighborhood of a thousand inhabitants within the walls (and another several hundred farmers and herders that lived without). It was the last major stop before the mountains, and many merchants used it as a staging ground for journeys to the Tower and beyond. I'd never been here before, of course, but I'd spoken with caravan guards and merchants who had, and I was able to recognize all of the major landmarks.
The Market Road ran from the eastern gate, straight through the market square in the center of the city, and then to the western gate. There were six or seven inns in Cumae, and they were all situated on Market Road. Tomi insisted we ride by them all tonight, before finding a place to settle ourselves.
We'd passed four or five of the inns when Mair halted us in front of a lively looking establishing that proclaimed itself to be "The Merry Barrel." It was a large building of three stories, with ample room for caravan wagons and stables. There were a half-dozen wagons in the yard, right now.
"There," she said, pointing at one of the wagons. "That one, there, with the red trim."
Tomi squinted, and nodded. "I see it."
"That wagon was just behind the fellow the masters saw with the Syrcrystal," she said. "I'd swear it."
I think it is likely that Tomi would send Heilyn in to reconnoiter. d100 = 11, which is (1) an exceptional yes, and (2) doubles, which (with MythicGME) means a random event occurs! Focus = NPC positive. Picking an NPC at random, I get Anwir Camm. That's concerning! Event meaning = "struggle opposition". Something that makes Anwir's opposition (us!) struggle.
Ooh, is Heilyn recognized by someone in the inn? Someone that, perhaps, he once conned or stole from and who has been looking for him? I'll say it's unlikely, since if Heilyn has been living just across the pass at the Tower, word would have spread. d100 → 32. Which (at chaos rank 5) is a yes! Okay, so maybe Heilyn used a different name back then.
Which just means we need to interpret the exceptional yes for Heilyn going in to reconnoiter. Let's say Tomi doesn't send just Heilyn in, he has the entire group go in. He's ready to corner the thief, then and there!
So, they go in. Given there's at least the one caravan there, I'll say it's very likely to be pretty full of people. d100 → 61 = yes.
Tomi pursed his lips and looked at the inn. "Heilyn?" he said at last. "You do what you do best in there. The rest of us, we're going in as well, to provide backup, but...don't look threatening."
Heilyn chuckled. "I think we can mostly manage that last pretty well," he said. "I'd be more worried about you not looking threatening."
Tomi didn't reply, only heeled his horse toward the inn. When we reached the front, we dismounted and handed the horses off to some stable boys who'd come running.
We know someone recognizes Heilyn. Does Heilyn recognize them? It's a crowded inn, and he's not specifically looking for them, though he is looking for "people of interest". I'm going to say it's a DC 10 Perception check. He has +2. d20 → 5. Nope! He doesn't see them.
The inn was crowded, but not overcrowded. We found a table near the door and sat down with a few other travelers while Heilyn sat farther in, at a table with more people. I watched him, impressed, as he struck up a conversation first with one person, then with another. I wished I could do it as easily as he did.
We'd been there for about a quarter of an hour when someone spoke behind us, from the door. "That's him," said a gravelly man's voice. "The big fellow at that table over there."
Who is this? → Dyfri Gower. Character focus: THE PC'S HISTORY (wow, that fits almost eerily well...)
He was an older man, small, with white hair and bushy eyebrows. He was looking at two town guards while pointing across the room.
At Heilyn.
The guards began crossing the room, moving between tables and around patrons, and I leaned across the table toward Tomi. "What do we do?" I asked softly.
Tomi shook his head slightly. "Nothing," he said. "For now."
"Nothing?" I asked, incredulous. "You're just going to let them take Heilyn?"
"Yes," Tomi said, his eyes flashing. "What would you do? Attack the guards? In the middle of a crowded common room? That would go extremely well for us, I should think."
I blushed, feeling stupid, but also feeling helpless and angry. "We have to do something!"
"And we will," said Tomi. "*Later*. Let's see how this plays out first. Maybe Heilyn will handle it all, and it will come to nothing."
Yeah, that could be. I'm not going to bet much money on it, though. The old man obviously has some beef with him, so he's feeling pretty hostile. Heilyn's going to try and calm him down so that they can have an actual conversation without the guards getting involved. I'll say it's a DC 15 Persuasion check. Heilyn's got +3 to that skill. d20+3 → 15!!! He does it!
The guards approached Heilyn and we all watched tensely as he looked up from the bench where he'd been chatting up some caravaners. We couldn't tell what was being said, but Heilyn was putting on all his charm, and after the guards asked a few questions, his answers had them chuckling.
The older man stormed over to the table angrily, obviously upset to see the guards failing in their duty to apprehend Heilyn. Again, more back-and-forths, and the man grudgingly calmed down. They spoke for several minutes, the man shaking his head many times before the two finally shook hands. The white-haired man then motioned to the guards, and the three of them left the common room.
Heilyn made his way to our table a few minutes later, grinning.
"What was that all about?" asked Cari.
"That, my good woman, was Dyfri Gower, a money-changer and lender of no small repute in Cumae. He knows—and, they say, is related to—most of the people in town. Probably they all owe him money, one way and another."
Tomi eyed Heilyn suspiciously. "And why would he be so upset with you?"
"Ah," said Heilyn. "He apparently thinks I look a great deal like someone he once did business with. A certain man named Bradwr Yale, who—he claims—cheated him out of some great sum of money and disappeared some ten years ago."
Tomi nodded. "I see. And are you that person? That Bradwr Yale?"
Heilyn shrugged. "Ten years is a long time ago," he said. "My memory...it's not what it used to be."
"Oh, please," Mair said, disgusted. "That's terrible! How could you, Heilyn?"
"As I said, my memory..."
Tomi waved his hand. "Whatever, Heilyn. That man, Dyfri, might have bought that story, but we won't."
"Suit yourself," said the big man.
"How did you convince him?" I asked, curious.
"I told him that Bradwr is my cousin, my mother's sister's son, and a bit of a black sheep. I further told him that the men in my family all bear a strong family resemblance to our great-grandfather. Of course, I haven't seen Bradwr in years, but I promised Dyfri that if I discovered where he was, I'd pass the information on."
"And he bought it?" I asked, impressed.
"It's all in how you tell the story," Heilyn said with a grin.
Tomi shook his head, possibly in disgust, but also possibly in grudging respect. "Anyway," he said. "Were you able to learn anything useful?"
"I'm just warming up!" said Heilyn. "I expect I'll need to spend at least another hour among these good people. But so far I've been able to confirm that, yes, the man with the long bundle was here this morning, but no one has seen him at the inn since then."
"Where could he have gone?" asked Tomi.
"That," Heilyn said. "Is what I shall endeavor to find out."
Okay, so let's make this a graduated skill check. On a DC 10 he learns the fellow's name and some things about his behavior during the trip, and that he didn't check in here. On a DC 14, he learns the general area of the town where the man went. And on a DC 18, he learns the name of the inn where the man is supposedly staying. Heilyn has a +4 to Investigate. Let's go → d20+4 → 10. Lovely.
So, at least we learn some things about the guy.
Heilyn returned to the crowd, sitting at various tables and talking with various people. Cari spoke with the innkeeper and secured a room for us (again, just one—the inn was quite full), and I sat at the table and tried not to fall asleep. It had been a long day. If my father himself had appeared at the table, sword in hand, I might still have struggled to keep my eyes open to greet him.
I must have nodded off, because Tomi's hand on my shoulder jolted me awake. "Let's head upstairs," he said. "Heilyn's gathered what info he can, though it isn't much."
I managed to stand up and make my way up the stairs. As we walked, I listened to Tomi relate what he'd learned from Heilyn. The "thief"—the man with the bundle, whom we'd been following—was apparently named Iago Penry. He'd kept mostly to himself during the two days between the Tower and Cumae, though he'd grumbled loudly about a nearly-constant headache. By the time the caravan reached Cumae, the rest of the travellers had been relieved when the man had decided to bed down elsewhere. No one, Heilyn said, knew which way he'd gone, nor cared much.
Tomi was sure he was still in town, though. He half wanted to go scout out the other inns in town, but even Heilyn had to admit it was getting late and those who might have answers would probably all be in bed.
Discouraged, we all settled ourselves for sleep. I had a feeling it was going to be a long day of walking and asking questions tomorrow.
Now, I'm imagining that Anwir Camm followed them back to Cumae after the failed ambush. It's not impossible to believe that he had a horse hidden somewhere, or stabled in Sora, and that he was not more than an hour behind them. That gives him all night to work mischief. I'm going to say it's a sure thing. At chaos factor 5, d100 → 91. That's actually a no! But not an extreme no, so he definitely hasn't given up the chase.
Okay, so probably he was delayed. He arrives the next morning, which means he won't have as much time to work his mischief. That's a good thing for our plucky adventurers!
I'll end the scene here. Everything is very much in control, I'd say, so chaos factor goes down to 4. I'll add Iago Penry, Dyfri Gower, and even Heilyn's alias, Bradwr Yale to the NPC list. And I'll add "Find Iago Penry" to the thread list.