Eddard: Chapter 3 (con't)

Rude Awakening

 

Whatever was going on, it was serious.  After explaining to us that she was forced to kill the garrison commander, she showed us the documents.

 

They showed clearly that Garrus' father, the Baron Redhand, was involved in the slavery ring.

 

Garrus was the first to voice his disbelief.  I was quick to follow.  These papers ran opposite to everything I knew about how Redhand ran his territory.  His followers and even is people loved the man too much  They were too loyal to him.  This had to be a fabrication.  The question was, why?

 

We decided there and then to make or next stop Castle Redhand.  We marched as quick as we could to his castle.  It was more of a fortified manor house.  His was a minor holding.  A full castle was too much to expect.

 

When we arrived, we discovered that we were just ahead of the Count's Sheriff.  He had come to seek evidence of the Baron's involvement.  We attended the meeting in the Baron's hall.  It was clear that they already suspected him, and were going to pin the slavery on him, true or not.

 

We met with his father immediately following that meeting.  We showed him the evidence we collected at the depot, and told him of everything else we had accomplished.  We even showed him the map with the dates on it that we had acquired at the bandit camp.

 

Someone was determined to divide the baronies and destabilise the area.  Again, we didn't know why.  I suspected that the people who organised the goblin war, that mysterious cabal of evil mages was behind it.  Wren believed the Amnites organised it all to conceal the slavery operation. Whatever the reason, Garrus believed that his father would not surrender his holding to anyone.  It meant war.

 

I wanted to prevent that, at all costs.  Whatever was going on, I became more determined that ever to put a stop to it.

 

His manner grew serious during the meeting.  He asked us to keep everything we had on us.  Garrus told him about our intention to go to Scornubel, to free more of the people taken from the area and he agreed.  We even managed to get horses from him.  Half trained and bit wild, but good quality.  Someone o the Baron's staff knows his horseflesh.

 

We left the manor without further adieu, knowing that the Sheriff would soon be marking everyone coming and going from the house.  We needed to be gone.  Our time was limited, we believed that the slaves would eventually be shipped downriver to Baldur's gate and then onwards to Amn.  We still had to discover how and when they'd be moved. 

 

Scornubel wasn't Waterdeep.  Even so, the traffic going through the town made it one of the richest in Faerun, and finding them in that movement would be akin to getting the needle out of the haystack.  A tall order.

 

We weren't going into the city completely blind.  Thoram knew a Dwarf who ran a weapons shop down near the waterfront, and since we also wanted to locate his weapons and armour, we thought we may as well start there.

 

It was a three day ride to Scornubel, and despite all the warnings, it was an uneventful trip.