The Abduction Of Thrull
We shouldn't have let old Thrull go that day. But his wounds were aching,
so none had the heart to say him nay when he heard of the healing that
Einar's clerics offered. Prexion, Aden and Arnath all the healers of the
hitherto known lands had tried, and failed to heal his scars- tried and
failed. As a cleric of some small renown, his case puzzled me; I think
the problem was that the flames that caused them were of divine origin.
Most puzzling case indeed, among the most peculiar in my practice... But
I digress.
Anyway, Thrull heard of Einar's healers and just had to go to see them. An escort was offered, but he refused it with indignation and continued to remind us that we were in diapers when he was training full fledged warriors- warriors much better than the current degenerate generation that lacks proper respect for its elders and betters, until we gave up trying to convince him. "You will protect me? Pshaw! You are but a mere babe of hundred! Besides you can't really help me. Now I remember when I was your age, things were different…" Now who can argue with a person who says something like that? Thrull is so difficult at times. ..Ok, I digress again.
So off he went and took some of our clan gold "to transport it faster" (some people have never heard of couriers with an armed escort it seems), leaving his young, jumpy and inexperienced nephew Thieryn in his stead… Anyway, sure enough, he got waylaid right at the Clan's doorstep and robbed. And to add insult to injury, the High Council got a rambling and rather obnoxious anonymous missive demanding a truly outrageous ransom for his return. This is what happens when people refuse help from certain well meaning troll warrior clerics... I digress again.
Takori and Berit our Pendragons refused to negotiate and gave up before such obvious terror tactics. Even a dense troll can see that they may not release the hostage after the money is given, or worse still kill the poor bligher. So, we didn't pay up. Not that we couldn't afford it… the clan is quite rich... Yes, yes... I am beginning to digress again.
Then the news reached us that he was held in the basement of Dearn Mansion. So off we went to look for him en force. We found lots of thieves, exchanged blows with a few, but found no Thrull. We did find a drunk thief though and Augnum and Orsan together scared him clear out of his wits with threats of torture and other similar stuff. I gave him a flagon of ale, and sure enough- he sang like a canary. Men and their drink! Give them some and they will do anything. Just like babies who need to be given a bottle to pacify them…. But I digress.
So we talked to him, and he said that Thrull was in Lower Arnath, held by the King of Thieves. Go figure! He was under our noses all this time. Of course, Thalius, the son of the self-styled "King" had to pull rank to get that confession. A King of Thieves - what is the world coming to!... You guessed it, I am digressing again.
So off we go to Arnath, getting lost in its winding lanes a few score times. I sure remember Brachir yelling to us to keep together and not get separated. Thieves sprung from behind every corner- novices, apprentices, adepts and even a few princes of thieves (whatever that meant). We mowed through them- still no Thrull. Then a master thief approached Ciryath offering to take him to Thrull for some "consideration". The negotiations too somewhat longer than expected- the thief drove a rather hard bargain. While they were talking, Orsan suspected that the thief wasn't exactly being honest and killed him. Ogres! No patience! No diplomatic tact! Ok, OK, I am digressing. I know.
Fortunately, the master thief had an apprentice who was ready to follow his master's example. He agreed to take us to the King for a thousand gold and twelve silver pieces. We were taken to the King alright, but there was a skirmish on the way and the informer got killed. I don't think it was Augnum who killed him, although many said it was him who did the deed. Anyway, we finally get to the King. His majesty put up quite a fight and unfortunately died before he told us where Thrull was hidden. You can imagine that left us in a bit of a tight spot. No one left to ask about our missing clan member... See I can speak without digressing!
Seems the Gods favored us that day since a Prince of the Thieves came along and offered us Thrull safe and sound, but even more grumpy than usual. With the old King dead, he crowned himself in his stead (I don't know what Thalius has to say about that). I suppose since his accession to the throne wasn't exactly orthodox, he preferred to consolidate his position without having our Warband breathing down his neck. So there we were- Thrull returned to us, our gold safe, King Adrian thanking us for ridding him of his old rival. A very interesting adventure indeed.
By - Rukhsanaa Alexandrinus