Kidnapped: Pieces of the puzzle (Chapter 2)

[Game Master]

Moonhaven met up with Siff and Firebug on the way to his cabin and walked home in relative silence. Moonhaven couldn't think of any new information for the case so Firebug just thanked him for alowing them access to his home. When they were close to Moonhavens they could all see Kursaville waiting outside. Seeing no easy way to ask Kursaville he used 'other' means.

Firebug projected his thoughts and found the Knights mind like butter. His defenses were non existent, his mind open.

*Lord Kursaville. Do not be alarmed. It is I Firebug communicating to you. Did you find the print?*

Kursaville seemed unable or unwilling to use the telepathic link to communicate and gave a simple nod of his head in response.

*Do you think you can match it to the real boot if need be?*

Again the nod. Firebug broke the link to Kursavilles obvious relief. The man visibly slumped a couple inches.

"Are you alright My Lord?" Moonhaven asked concerned

"Yes, yes. It's been a long day. May we have a look inside good man?"

Moonhaven let the group in. The cabin was small but the furniture was of good quality, almost lavish. An oversized bed filled a good portion of the cabin. It had long, quilted bedding as well as a large animal fur laid upon it. The two pillows were made of goose down and the bed itself was a lustrous Birdseye maple. At the foot of the bed was a three foot long ceder chest, locked with an iron tumbler. A tall, yet narrow wardrobe closet stood against one wall faced with a full length mirror. The opposite wall's fixture was a small book case with perhaps a dozen leather bound tomes of various sizes. Finishing off the cabin was a tiny oak desk and three footed stool made of leather and oak. The desk was covered in paper, quill pens and ink jars.

[sfliegel]

Firebug and Siff bowed to Moonhaven, "Sir, with your permission," Firebug began, "we will just have a quick look around for that pitch fork." With that they walked away toward the bookcase.

Lord Kursaville said, "Master Moonhaven, may I ask that you open the chest and wardrobe please?"

Firebug glanced at the books quickly, scanning for magical tomes (as silently as he could possibly be, casts detect magic).

Lady Siff examined the papers on the desk for anything that might look suspicious.

[Game Master]

Not one but two of the tomes radiated blue from magical properties. Firebug reached for th thick leather tome to the left but Moonhaven quickly spoke up.

"Careful with those Master Firebug. That one is my spell book. You would suffer a great deal of pain if you so much as touched it. The rest are harmless enough. Though I doubt you will find a pitch fork among them." Moonhaven chuckled but not for long as things began to look bad for him a few moments later.

Siff held up several pieces of parchment. Everyone had detailed renditions of a young human girl. "Nilla I gather?"

"Well yes, I.." Moonhaven fumbled

A moment later Lord Kursavile pulled from the wardrobe a pair of fine leather boots. "A perfect match." the knight stated grimly while pointing to a tell-tale mark on the sole.

"A match for what?" Moonhaven looked around showing obvious signs of being perplexed.

"Well, well." Siff added as she reached under the bed and pulled out a wonderfully crafted pitchfork.

"Thats NOT mine!" Moonhaven barked defensively.

"No, it isn't. It's Cette D'encre's." Siff stated sadly.

[sfliegel]

Lord Kursaville looked hurt as he said, "Master Moonhaven you are under arrest for the theft of Cette D'encre's pitch fork. Not to mention, we have enough here to bring you in for more questions regarding Nilla D'encre's disappearance. Put your hands behind your back please."

Siff gathered up all the pictures of Nilla, rolled them up and placed them into a pouch.

Firebug walked over by Lord Kursaville and took the boots from him while he prepared to tie Moonhaven's wrists, "This looks bad for you Moonhaven. If you really didn't do any of this, like you say, then you will need to come peacefully with us to get this straightened out."

[Game Master]

Just then there was a knock at the door. Siff opened it to find Constable Ritage, Deputy Kollins, Cette D'encre, Master Halfhelm and another dwarf she didn't recognize standing there.

Ritage walked into the cabin forcing Siff to scramble out of his way. "Constable Kursaville. We need to talk."

"Why certainly..we.." Kursaville began, but was interrupted by Ritage holding up his hand for silence. Firebug had a hard time reading the older man. He didn't seem angry but he wasn't happy either.

"Putting aside the fact that your assistants are all connected in another case I am investigating I have been informed of a few things concerning Nilla's disappearance."

"Oh?" Kursaville remarked showing no emotion about the accusation concerning Firebug and the others.

"Yes. First you should know that Master D'encre here just reported that his house has been broken into while he and Emmi went into town. I just came from there. The place has been ransacked. Someone was looking for something. The girls room in particular was worked over pretty thoroughly. Any ideas what they were looking for?" Ritage crossed his arms waiting.

"Perhaps. We found a magical piece of paper with Nillas things. An odd item for a young farmers daughter." Kursavilles tone was neutral.

"Hmmm. Alright, good. You seem to have a handle on that. The second piece of information comes from this dwarven miner Rex. Care to tell them what you told me Rex." Ritage asked.

"Yes Constable. I'm a miner as you said under Master Halfhelm's employ. Earlier, just after quiting time a group of people came up the road and asked to enter the mine in search of a young girl. The supervisor made a joke about if they could open the door they could check all they wanted. We started leaving but then one of the humans, a foreigner by the looks of him starts dancing around. Next thing we know the stone door starts melting."

"Melting?" Kursaville verifies.

"Aye. Melting into a big puddle of mud. The supervisor stops him and agreed to help them look around, but not before sending me to tell Master Halfhelm." Rex concludes.

"Master halfhelm is not happy about damage being done to his mine unless it can be repaired of course. Constable, do you know these people? Do you believe Nilla is in Halfhelm's mine? If so we'll round up a search party and do this together. It is still your investigation even if I don't approve of your choice in assistance. Tell me how you wish to proceed." Ritage stood patiently waiting.

[sfliegel]

Kursaville finished binding the hands of Moonhaven and walked him over to Ritage, "First things first Constable. Moonhaven is in possession of a distinctive pair of boots that match a recent print leading not only to the D'encre home but to little Nilla's window. Siff please show the Constable the images you found. These images, done by Moonhaven's own hand were covering his desk. He obviously has an attraction to Nilla."

Siff handed the pictures to Constable Ritage, then shows the pitchfork to Cette, "Sir, can you identify this for me?"

Kursaville continued, "I was just preparing to bring Moonhaven in for further questioning. Now we have spoken with another group concerned citizens and they said that they would try to find a mine in the area. They travel with Jhessil's nephew Tull. That would be my fault, I trusted them because of Tull's connection with the town. I'll take responsiblity for the door and will make sure that it is either repaired or that our dancer carve you a new one Master Halfhelm. As far as my associates here, I trust them. Based on what we have seen, we believe that Nilla is being held underground, most likely where she found her orange limestones. I further believe that a search party for the mines would be the best approach."

[Game Master]

"Thats MY pitchfork. I knew that bastard elf took it! Where's my daughter you fiend! Where is my poor Nilla?" Cette had come unglued. He physically tried to get at Moonhaven while Halfhelm held him back in a firm grip. Deputy Kollins was given custody of Moonhaven but the elf cringed from the enraged farmer. "Please Cette. I don't have Nilla. I would never harm her. Ever. I'm innocent."

"Kollins, take him to the Keep and put him in a cell." Constable Ritage ordered while Kursaville continued his tale as if he was having a quiet evening by the fireside. When he had finished Ritage stroked his mustache in thought.

"Agreed. We should search the mines as soon as possible." He turned to Halfhelm who had managed to calm Cette to a reasonable level. "Master dwarf. I must request you gather all your miners as well as anyone else who is familiar with the lay out. We will head immediately to the mines and search them." Ritage spoke with a commanding voice that spoke of no bargaining.

"Yes Constable. We will meet you on the road." With that Halfhelm and rex left and convinced Cette to go with them.

Alone now, Ritage turned to Kursaville. "Lets go meet these civilians of yours. It was a good idea to use them to look for caves and the mines. A good use of manpower. I just hope they haven't caused any permanent damage to Halfhelm's mine. We can use their help in the search as well. With any luck maybe they have found her already. Lets get moving. You can fill me in on all the details on the road. Oh, and what do you think? Is Moonhaven our man?"

[sfliegel]

Kursaville walked out with Ritage, "In all honesty sir, I'm really not sure. All of this is circumstancial at best. It would never hold up in any court. I do believe that he held an extraordinary fondness for Nilla but I can't believe he would harm her. As far as this pitchfork situation, how hard would it really be for someone else to enter his house and plan this. It was under the bed for God sakes. Should Moonhaven really had tried to hide, I'm sure he could have found a better spot. What about you? You have known Moonhaven longer then I. What is your sense about him?"

Firebug and Siff followed a short distacne behind. Ritage didn't seem like he was all to interested in their presents. Firebug looks around quickly (detect magic ranged), and scans the cabin for the door (detect concealment).

[Game Master]

Firebug notices nothing out of the ordinary. No magic emanations other then the books, still on the shelf within Moonhaven's home as well as the piece of parchment within the pouch. The door looks to hide nothing though, it does have an elaborate locking mechanism. He decides to listen to Ritage and Kursaville' discussion.

"I find Moonhaven to be self centered, pompous, arrogant and just plain selfish. I know he has some sort of wizardry background but have never heard of him using his abilities. He is intelligent, perhaps too intelligent to hide a pitchfork under his bed. What about the other evidence? He may indeed be innocent of stealing a farming instrument but what about the kidnapping? Motive? Opportunity? Means? What of those?" Ritage ponders these while asking Kursaville at the same time.

[sfliegel]

"Well I agree. Even if he would have stolen the pitchfork only a fool would leave it somewhere so obvious. Someone is trying to make trouble for him. Now whether that is the same someone that has taken Nilla..., I can't say just yet. However, I really believe that Moonhaven cared for Nilla and wouldn't harm her, not pn purpose anyway. There is also the possiblity that Nilla wandered into a situation that is completely unrelated anything we yet know about. Now Moonstone does possess a pair of boots that match a boot print we found heading towards Nilla's window and it is about two days old. He does know magic so it is possible that he was able to slip in unnoticed and spirit her away. However, we do have some other leads," Kursaville turned to look at Firebug who was still lingering in the doorway.

Firebug stepped forward and extended his hand to Ritage, "it's good to see you again Constable. I hope you understand that Siff and myself had nothing to do with what happened to Sminner, and that we can help catch whoever did. But on to matter at hand. Did either of you notice the lock on Moonhaven's door? It seems to be very complicated and would be difficult for your average person to get past. Moonhaven has a spellbook in the bookcase in his cabin. If we examine it, we might get a feel for the kind of magic he is capable of. However, it might be protected by magic so we will need to be careful. We have also found a few things amoung Nilla's possession, a magic parchment and some orange limestone." Firebug hands these items to Ritage, then continued, "Moonhaven has admitted that he has been teaching magic to Nilla, so some of her wanderings might have been hunting for magical ingredients."

[Game Master]

"Thats a lot of 'mights' FB. Can I call you FB?" Not really waiting for a response, Ritage turns back to Kursaville. It looks like Moonhaven is our only real suspect. I'd like to know if you have any others. For now though, we focus on getting Nilla back. Maybe she can shed some light on the situation."

Shortly there after the group was joined by five miners, Halfhelm, four dwarven smiths, Cette D'encre and deputy Kollins. The trip to the mines was a little ways out of town. Half way there the halfling Tull was seen headed to town. Relaying the story of the search he lead the group back. The dirt trail leading off the main road was hard to find for anyone not knowing its location. It curved sharply through some light brush and behind a small hill before continuing up to the entrance. Making good time the group arrived at the massive stone door. It was impressive even while open and with a small alcove like hole smack dab in its center.

Halfhelm swore greatly in dwarven while following just behind Tull. A small group of people could be seen just inside.

(go to chapter 3)