Welcome to Gaia! ::

Rhaun would let out a sigh, as he failed to maintain his grip. And again as Henderson asked if he was trusted.

Henderson knew the town and was willing to touch the chest. Besides if he tried to run again, it was unlikely he would get away from a flying mad dragon, a metal guardian and Rhaun.

"Please, lead on" the human would answer, again seeing no use for threats against someone who is cooperating.

"I would also add the Guards the Door is a singular nickname in and of itself." He looks at the others, "Am I participating in this conversation correctly?" He adds before following along.

"My first name is Warrick," he would say, "but Henderson is better. I prefer to stay on a last name basis."

It doesn't take long for everyone to get to the inn, which is really more of large house. A sign out front, inexpertly painted, reads The Noble Wing, and a has two small dragon wings fashioned out of metal, one affixed to each side.

The inn seems rather sedate at the moment, with mid-morning being a pretty quiet time of day for such an establishment. A half-elf woman is sweeping the porch, but frowns and moves out of the way when she sees the group coming. She's barely out of the way when Henderson pushes through the door, leaving it open behind him. He awkwardly hoists the handcart up the few stairs, wrapped up chest in it still. Evidently he doesn't want to let it out of his sight.

Inside the inn's main room--clearly the converted front room of the house--an older looking dragonborn woman is behind the counter, writing in a ledger in front of her. She looks up when the group comes in, but says nothing.

Henderson leads the group to a room off the main one, busting through the door again with no warning. Inside is a small room set up for dining, containing just a few tables, all empty. He parks the handcart at one, throws himself into a chair, and hastily gestures at the other chairs. "Get in here and shut the door. Who knows who's listening." He keeps a hand on the cart--and his eyes on Rhaun's ring.

"First of all," he would say, dropping his voice, "this is a dangerous artifact that needs to get sent to the Dryden wizard and maybe even from him to the capital city. You'll forgive me if I'm reluctant to let go of it--after all, the last one we found here was stolen."

Cymbre follows everyone into the room and comments. "Man Warrick, that was real classy of you wheeling that wheelbarrow into the inn like that. I mean I grew up in a forest but I still understand some manners."

Cymbre would grab one of the chairs but spin it around and sit on it backwards. With her wings and tail the way they were it was kind of uncomfortable to try and sit in a chair with a back to it. "Yeah, we kind of figured out the whole dangerous thing already-wait, you said one was stolen!? Well, we'll get to that but first tell us what you know about this chest and what it has to do with the next sunrise."

Cymbre noticed Henderson was staring Rhauns ring and would ask. "Why are you so interested in Ron's signet ring? We all got one. That's how we show we are members of the Sapphire stand. Since I fight with my claws and stuff though I don't tend to wear mine to keep it from getting messed up."

With a frustrated growl, Henderson would get up, cross the room, and shut the door with a loud thump. "I said close the door! For Garl's sake!"

As he stalked back to his chair, uncomfortably closely shadowed by the warforged, Henderson would roll his eyes at Cymbre. "I spend enough money at this inn that I don't have to hear their opinions on how I move my property in or out of it."

"But that's not relevant--" He would look down for a moment, as if composing his thoughts. "It may be foolish of me, but I'm choosing to believe you all are who you say you are--that is, Sapphire operatives. Such a motley crew of disparate folk could only be one of their teams. I've never seen one of the rings in person before, which is why I'm studying it, but... as I said... I'm putting my trust in its validity.

"Firstly--no, Rustbeard didn't know this chest was under that stump. No one knew that. But he's been instructed that if strange magical items are found, I'm the one who handles them. That's why he had me accompany him back to the farm. I didn't know what the item would be--but I wasn't surprised to see the gems. I've seen them once before."

He would lay a hand on the wrapped chest near him and speak slowly. "The gems are a kind of green soapstone, enchanted to grant the item special protections. I gather you discovered that. They're a certain thing I've been researching and... well, I have good reason to think there may be more of these objects in the vicinity of Evenkeel. That's why I've been working here--just in case more of them pop up.

"This chest here is the biggest artifact we've found yet, and it needs to be shipped out as soon as possible so more skilled wizards can study it. And also... to make sure it doesn't fall into the wrong hands, as the last one did."

"Too true, Skalyn. Trust is earned on both sides," Henderson would say, and take his hand off the chest. "And... I trust the king's guard. I've got nothing to gain if I lie to you." He takes a deep breath.

"Look, everyone knows the old man liked eating mushrooms right off the forest floor. He did it all the time, so saying he ate a bad one made for a convincing story. But unquestionably what sent him to the healers was a gem--one just like the ones on this chest. A single one, in an amulet on a chain. I should know, I pulled it off him. Packaged it up and sent it off to the Dryden wizard the night after I found it. As I've been told to."

He took on a dark look. "The only other person who knew it was anything special was my colleague, Amedeo Goldstar. You've seen him, that smug tiefling who sits in Rustbeard's office pretending to work. We've never seen eye to eye. But I never told him how I was sending it, never said when. I have no proof he had anything to do with it. But by Garl I know he had something to do with it and I'd love to see him locked up for it."

Henderson would take a steadying breath, and say, "You really wanna know about these things, huh? Okay. The one that was retrieved from Homespun is the only other one I've seen in person. But I've been studying them for years, trying to pin down where to find them."

He hunches forward, looking uncomfortable. "This isn't something you should repeat. Certainly not to any of the villagers. Not even Rustbeard knows. But Evenkeel was founded here on purpose. The official line is that the soil is good for growing, but it's no better than anywhere else in the region. But lots of farmers would tear up the ground, and... I knew we'd find these things, if they were here. And they are."

He would lower his voice, practically to a whisper. "These gems--they were left here long ago by a wielder of powerful magic. They're witchmake."

Cymbre eyes would light up at the mention of the name of the rare gems. A torrent of questions would fly out of her mouth. "Wow...that sounds so cool! Are they from an ancient failed civilization? That would make them even cooler! What was the witchmake item that got stolen? Was it another chest like this? We should totally try to get it back! Goldstar you say? I saw him earlier when Ron was, uh, standing on your back." Cymbre pauses for a moment to think back to what she had overheard the tiefling say. "Uh...yeah it seems like you guys don't get along but we totally go talk to him!"

In her excitement Cymbre got up and seemed ready to go immediately but then she remembered she still had an important unanswered question from earlier. "Oh, you mentioned something is going to happen by was going to happen by next sunrise, what exactly will that be?"