Friends in a Foreign Land

The rest of the day was difficult for the group due to the sheer amount of emotions coming from all the former captives. Most of them were, of course, overjoyed and happy. But some were angry and others appeared to have had psychotic breaks due to the stress of their ordeals. One former captive refused to believe they were going to let him go and in his delusional mindset he grabbed a dagger from Eric's belt and stabbed himself. They managed to heal him in time, and while moving him to a room to secure him, the man continued to yell, “See, I knew I wasn’t free. A free man can choose the time and manner of his death!”

After everyone was freed and calm, Mira and Alexis started interviewing the former captives to find out which ones had a home to return to and which ones didn’t.

Regina and Ramiro returned to the inn, intending on speaking to the staff. As they entered the common area, they saw that everyone had gone save the waitress from earlier, who was sitting at a table and crying. Sitting down at the table with her, Regina gently asked, “Were you a captive as well?”

The waitress looked up at Regina and nodded her head.

“You are free now. Do you have a home to return to? Family, perhaps?”

With a shake of her head, the waitress responded through her tears, “I have nothing. My father died when I was young. My mother and I came to this town to start over. Our first night in town, we stayed here in this inn. They killed my mother and enslaved me. I’ve not left these grounds in over 20 years. We were forced to take an oath that we'd never leave. When we felt the oath break, the others ran for the doors. I made it one step outside before I realized… I have nowhere to go. I literally grew up in this inn.” Drying her eyes, she continued, “When they ordered me to escort your group earlier, I thought for sure that you all would end up like me.”

“I believe that was his plan,” Regina said.

“We didn’t like that plan,” Ramiro added. “He’s gone. He can’t hurt you anymore.”

“Did… did he suffer?” the waitress asked.

“Yes. And I have reason to believe his afterlife won’t be a nice one.” Regina replied. “What is your name?”

“Mia” She answered.

“Mia, I’m Ramiro, and this is Regina. We now own this inn and could use some help running it.”

“We totally understand if you want to leave and never come back.” Regina was quick to add.

Mia just looked at them for a moment before whispering, “Are you criminals, too? You just murdered Nam.”

Regina grinned, “No. We're not part of anything. And we didn’t kill him, actually. He broke an oath that had the death penalty. We are here to make a difference, though. And that starts with putting an end to the organization Nam was a part of.”

Mia just stared at them for several moments while processing everything. Finally, she spoke, “I’ll stay for now since I don’t know where else I’d go. You are going to pay me, right?”

“Of course,” Ramiro said. “We’re not gonna ask you to work for free.”

Taking a deep breath, Mia stood, “Come then. Let me show you around. Oh, and you’re going to need a new cook, the slave that was doing that left with the bouncers.”

Mia then took them all over the inn, starting with the kitchen and private dining areas first. Then she took them upstairs and led them into a closet in the hallway and showed them a secret passage that allowed entrance into each room via hidden doors. Mia told them how Huy, the same mage that hurt Regina, would use the peepholes to look into the rooms and cast [Sleep] on the people inside, and then others would enter through the hidden doors and kidnap the occupants.

Once the tour was over, they led Mia down into the basement so that she could see that they were indeed freeing the rest of the captives.

As they showed Mia this, Mira walked up to them. “It appears that we have around 73 captives here. Most are recent captures and about 48 of them want to try and return home. And we have 19 that don’t have anywhere to go.”

“Mia here just showed us around our new inn. It seems we have 24 rooms in total. 4 of which are in use, so 20 we can use to house those with nowhere to go.” Regina said.

“Hold up. If you have 73 people and 48 are leaving, 19 are staying, what are the other 6 doing?” Ramiro asked.

“One, we locked up because he tried to kill himself. We’re not sure what to do with him. The other five… well, they say they want to help us get rid of people behind this,” Mira said. "Figured you'd want to talk to them."

“You can take the one who tried to kill himself to a local temple,” Mia interjected. "The priests will look after him.

Mia also showed the group a secret staircase that opened into the alley behind the inn. Those who wanted to leave were allowed to leave from there. Those who had nowhere to stay were given rooms. As the rooms were assigned, Mia learned that two of the former slaves had previous experience as cooks. They agreed to prepare the evening meal for everyone. The mentally unstable man was taken to a nearby temple. The staff said he would be taken care of.

After dinner, the five who had volunteered to help sat at a table in the common room with the party and were interviewed. They were former street urchins who had tried to form a gang but stepped on the wrong toes in the process. The already had useful skills such as [Pickpocketing], [Stealth], and more. They looked to be adults but acted as if they expected to be treated as kids. The group learned this was because they were ‘only’ in their thirties and in elven culture, they weren’t adults until closer to one hundred. After speaking with them for a while, the Ramiro said he felt they would be a good help and dismissed them to their rooms for the night.

“Well, they should be able to help us find our next targets,” Alexis said

“We don’t want to do anything illegal, though. We can’t have them breaking into places and stealing things.” Mira said.

“Fuck the police,” Ramiro said. “If they were doing their job, we wouldn’t have to.”

“Actually, I’m not sure this place will even have police as we’re used to. Possibly a sheriff but likely just gate guards and hired security,” added Alexis.

“So, no one patrolling the city looking for law breakers?” asked Mira.

“Exactly. Businesses and the wealthy may employ the equivalent of a security guard but that would be about it. At least if Traum is like medieval Europe, anyway.”

“I agree with Ramiro,” Regina said. “We’re going to have to break some laws to bring these folks down, so we best figure out how law enforcement works around here so we don’t get caught as well.”

The group sat around talking until Regina pulled a stone from her inventory and laid it on the table. “Arden’s calling. Let’s see how their day went.”

A couple hours later, after speaking with both other parties, the group headed to their rooms for the night. Regina entered her room and was walking toward her bed when her true sight showed her someone standing in the corner of the room. Without hesitation, she hit her combat preset, instantly equipping her armor, and spun to face the person with her sword drawn and pointed at the corner.

“What the?” Eric said, startled by Regina’s sudden movement. But his words were cut off when an elven man appeared in the corner. Instantly he too was armed and armored with an arrow nocked.

“I mean you no harm,” the unknown man said, arms held out wide “I am here to speak.”

“Prove it,” Regina said coldly.

“If you just want to talk, why are you hiding in our room?” Eric asked.

“Because what I have to say is very dangerous. I swear an oath that as long as you do not attack me, I will not attack you.”

Instantly a prompt appeared in Regina and Eric's vision.

[Sarot has sworn an oath not to attack you as long as you do not attack him. Breaking this oath will cause serious harm to Sarot, physically and even more so karmically.]

Regina and Eric looked at one another and then lowered their weapons. “What’s so important that you have to hide in our room?” Regina asked.

Sarot held up one finger and cast a spell that made all the walls glow. “Now, no one can eavesdrop on our conversation.” Looking back to Regina and Eric, he continued, “The captives you have released today will bring great joy to a number of people. However, a few of those captives will bring great fear and sorrow to others. Several have gone directly to the constabulary to report on things that had led to their being captured in the first place. Over the next few days, a number of prominent people are going to be arrested for crimes they’ve kept hidden.

“I am part of an order of assassins. I was ordered to tell you that we are aware of who sent you here and why they did so. Out of respect for those you serve and appreciation for those you’ve freed, we are turning down all contracts to assassinate your group for the time being. However, you have made some enemies today. If you wish to live long enough to finish your work here, you should be very careful in the coming days. While my group are the best assassins, we are not the only ones. There will be many suicides in the coming days, and some might be actual suicides. Stay vigilant.”

Finishing his speech, the man, Sarot, walked toward the door, where he stopped and looked back over his shoulder, “On a personal note, one of the people you freed was my little brother whom I thought dead. I tried to recruit him to our organization, but he refused. He told me that he and his friends are going to help you all clean up the city. I wish you great success.” Sarot then exited the room and within a few steps, vanished from sight.

“Wonder if I can learn to disappear like that,” Eric pondered.

Regina just shook her head at her husband as she closed and secured both the normal door and the hidden door in their room.