Lord Cragxan

Rothox and Alissa waited until Erigos and Harim crossed the threshold into the castle. Due to the nature of the castle's position on the small hill with no distinctive cover besides the plants in the surrounding fields, they had to learn the route of the perimeter guards from a distance, finding a gap to exploit in the cover of darkness. Until then they waited.

"My Lord," Harim reached into his pouch once again, and brought out the illusory dead wheat. He kept his head down, hoping he didn't hear the Lord get up to inspect the fake grains.

"When did this start?" He asked.

"Umm...Three days ago, My Lord. We came as soon as we could."

"How much of your crop has been affected?"

"We managed to catch it early but at least one field was lost. On our way here we noticed our neighbor's fields starting to be affected." Harim held his composure, he looked over at Erigos who was starting to sweat slightly.

"Hmm, this is serious." Lord Cragxan fell silent for a second before he realized he had not gotten the name of these strange farmers that had entered his home. "I don't believe I got your names?"

"I am Henry and this is Erthur," Harim said

"I know everyone that farms my land, I do not know you two." He stood from his chair.

"My apologies…" Harim had to think quickly.

Erigos took over. "My lord, we come from beyond your lands.

Lord Cragxan turned to him now, "Oh, and why would you come to me and not your lord?"

Erigos cleared his throat, "We do not have a lord…"

"How is that possible?" Cragxan was getting more serious, their lie was unfolding.

"We managed to buy a small property for ourselves," Harim said.

"Hmm," His deep voice rumbled in the back of his throat. Whether or not he believed them, the fear of the disease affecting the plants was more important. "I shall send a team to investigate your farm and the neighboring farms. In the meantime you shall remain in my keep."

"Do we not need to accompany your men to our farm?" Harim asked, trying to continue the ruse.

"I don't know if I trust or believe you. You will tell my men where to find your farm and stay here in case you are lying. If you are... Well, let's hope you aren't. Captain, please send a group of men to investigate their farm." Lord Cragxan sat back in his chair.

The captain waited to hear the directions.

"It's two days south, almost a direct shot from here." Harim hoped that was far enough out of the lord's lands. He glanced up at him. Cragxan had a stern expression, glaring directly at the two of them.

"You heard him captain, I expect you back in 4 days. Burn the affected crops and post a man to make sure there is no more spreading," Lord Cragxan commanded. His captain nodded, barked a few orders and left with a few more men.

"In the meantime, you two will be given a room in the East wing. You will remain in your room until my men return. Food will be brought to you and there is a privy in your chamber." He clapped his hands and two other guards and the steward walked up to escort them to their four day prison.

Harim could feel the gaze of the Lord burning into his back as the estate guards escorted them out. They walked through the large estate, passing many fine art, weapons and elaborate decorations. The steward led them up the stairs down a hallway stopping at a door at the end of the wing. He ushered them in, closed the door and they heard a jostling of a key in the lock before it clicked shut. They waited until they could no longer hear the footsteps in the hall.

Turning to investigate the room they saw a well kept bedroom with one four poster bed, two lounge chairs in front of a fireplace, a few wall sconces lighting the room and a simple but nice desk. Being the corner room there were two windows. Another door opened into the privy which also contained an empty tub.

"Well... we are inside." Erigos used a couple fingers to move the curtains on the window to peer out trying to spot the other two. "How do we get them in?" The view was of the back portion of the estate, facing a corner wall with a turret of the old fortress; he did not see the other two, however he did spot a few guards walking the grounds and along the wall.

"They'll have to figure that out themselves unfortunately," Harim went to the desk and began to open the drawers. He found nothing of importance.

"What now?" Erigos kept looking out the window, the sun was setting.

"We wait," Harim flopped onto the bed.

When the moon reached its zenith it was time to go, Rothox nudged Alissa awake. She awoke quickly, having only fallen asleep briefly.

"Hey, it's time," Rothox moved from what little cover they had found in the field towards the hill and ultimately the outer wall of the castle. They had a couple minutes until the guard came back around. Rothox readed a grapple, his rope and a borrowed rope from Alissa. Tying the two ropes together he looped the end through the metal ring. He twirled it to get some momentum before tossing it to the top of the wall. It sailed over and he heard a clink as the metal impacted the stone. He hoped it wasn't too loud. He pulled the rope, the grappling hook came back over the edge narrowly avoiding him as it fell to the ground.

"Shit," he swore under his breath. He had timed this for only one more attempt. Again he threw it, this time it stuck. "Got it." He handed the rope to Alissa. She took it and began to ascend. Once she was at the top she gave the call clear and he followed. He pulled the rope up just as the guard rounded the corner. They both lay flat on the ten foot thick wall as he sauntered past. It was a thirty foot drop to the ground below. Crawling along the top of the wall they looked for way down, they always had the towers. Both corners of the curtain wall had a tower that housed guards during the day. At night they hadn't seen one yet.

The sound of snoring reached their ears, coming from the south-eastern tower. Quietly the two figures snuck around the sleeping guard, down the ladder and into the courtyard. Step one was complete.

Harim watched as two figures snuck into the tower across the courtyard in the same corner as their room. Once they reached the ground floor, he dropped a small metal ball from the room. Catching their attention. Erigos was fast asleep and he wasn't going to wake him, he would need his rest. Taking a rope from his pack he tied one end to the bed with the sleeping elf and tossed the other down the side. A few moments later they were in the room.

Rothox glanced around the room, "What have you learned?"

"Nothing, the Lord locked us up right away. He sent men to investigate our farm. I don't think he bought our lie, however I don't think he wanted to take the chance we were telling the truth. I reckon we have two days before he finds out we lied to him," Harim said.

"Then lets do this now." Rothox went to the door, placing his ear against the wood. He heard nothing but the snoring of Erigos. He removed his lockpick, beginning to work on the door. It took him a matter of seconds to pick the lock. "Wake him." He slowed turned the knob showing he had succeed in opening the door.

Alissa nudged Erigos awake, he was still fully dressed having fallen asleep on the still made bed.

"Maybe, Rothox should go alone and find where we need to go?" Harim suggested.

"I don't mind going alone, probably smarter than us wandering aimlessly, more chances to get caught." Rothox still had his hand on the doorknob, fully turned ready to leave.

"Go, if you aren't back in reasonable time we are coming after you," Harim warned him.

Rothox finished opening the door and slipped into the dark hallway. Two guard's sat at the end of the hall, backs to him. Unbeknownst to them he drew closer, grabbing a ball from his pocket, the one Harim had dropped. He lobbed it past the guards down the hallway it rolled past the other side of the staircase. As expected the guards went to investigate the noise allowing Rothox to slip down the stairs.

Downstairs, more guard's moved in pairs through the hallways. Rothox weaved around them using the armor stands and the dark interior as cover. He began making his way through the castle searching for anything that stood out to him. As he neared returning he found a small staircase heading below the castle behind a bookshelf. His trained eye noticed the scratch marks on the ground. He made a mental note of how he got there and headed back to the group.

The guard's atop the stairs were back at their post, he would have to find another way, from his lower position he couldn't navigate around them, their vantage point designed to watch the double staircase.

"He should be back by now." Harim paced back and forth, it had been too long. "Something must have happened to him, I'm going after him."