BEDAugust 11

Tomorrow I move apartments, hopefully it won't take forever and I'll blog at a decent hour, but don't expect too much.
*******************************
I emerge from the sewer having already decided to take the Bandit King to the temple. The way I figure I'm going to have a better chance of speaking to him there than if I let him be taken to jail. Milk stops me and hands me a blank piece of paper and an empty inkwell. He tells me the items belong to the Bandit King, who dropped them, and I don't doubt it. I add the items to my bag of holding which contains all the Bandit King's other items. Then Milk tries to tell me the blank piece of paper is important, that I seriously doubt. I keep it anyway though. I take the Bandit King to a windowless room in the temple, tell the priests and clerics he's claimed sanctuary, and leave him to regain consciousness.

As I walk into the church proper I see Zog lying on a bed. It turns out that the guard's bells were signaling that he'd been shot. Zog lives, but only just, and only because he's a powerful wizard. I briefly reconsider my idea to let the Bandit King live and wonder if I should just go back and slit his throat, but I stop myself, I don't slaughter people like that, and I want to give the half-elf a chance to speak for himself. I wander outside the temple to find out what happened to Archer and the others.

I ask a guard and he directs me to the jail. When I arrive I find one wall of the jail busted down and Dread Pirate Roberts, Kough, and Rouge facing off against Archer, who is locked in a cell. I ask what happened and Dread Pirate Roberts informs me they chased Archer out of the sewer and across town. Dread Pirate Roberts was able to dominate him and remove his weapons, armor, and items, then he took Archer to jail. Apparently that's when Rouge showed up and, not knowing Zog lived, went all crazy on the guards trying to get at and kill Archer. She was relentless and it took Kough bursting through a wall to make her calm down and see reason. She had just thrown one last brick when I arrive.

Shortly after I arrive Kough returns to the temple and Rouge goes off in search of Foxface. Dread Pirate Roberts remains in the jail, and for a second I think I glimpse Stealthlina in a servant outfit in the corner, but she's gone before I can confirm it. As it seems things are settled I head back to the temple to see if Bandit King is awake. I wish there is something I could do about Archer though, because I don't like the idea of him in jail.

The clerics at the temple inform me the Bandit King has awoken and is throwing a bit of a fit over being locked away and close to naked. They tell me that, per my instructions, no one has gone in to speak with him. I enter the room weaponless and lock the door behind me. We face off for a long moment before Bandit King says "we're from the same kingdom half-elf". I struggle to keep my bitter laughter from escaping at the idea that we are similar. I may have been born in that kingdom, but I wasn't raised in it and I certainly wasn't part of it. I save the melodramatic truths for later though and instead ask the Bandit King to explain himself.

The Bandit King says his name is Zin. He explains that a few years ago his entire family and villiage was descimated by a group of drow. He says after that there was nothing left for him, no noble pursuits and so he turned to stealing to make his livelihood. I ask him to rethink his ways, for I know elven warriors to be noble. Zin agrees to adventure with me on the condition that I return all of his stuff to him and free Archer (his brother Zan) with all his gear as well. In addition Zin wasn't to make enough money flows in to pay all his expenses, but then he'll stay the straight and narrow.

I feel like we've reached a decent bargain, and I agree to the terms. Before I leave to see about freeing Zan I ask Zin to look at the blank parchment. He says there are words written on it and it's signed by the mayor but none of it makes sense. It seems to indicate the mayor was in league with someone in our group who was a tracker, and he was plotting to steal the bowl. Zan claims to know nothing about the letter and I believe him. I begin to wonder about Milk's true loyalties. Then I head out to find Zan.
************************