13th of Harvester
Group leaves St. Jostema in search of Hiram and Salish, after buying two Aetherstone Hounds to track them.
"It'd be nice if we had Jarel with us," states Leon.
"Why?" asks Pandora pragmatically. "He's not here. He's in a New Dawn Camp."
"But if we wait four days, Salish is going to be dead," reasoned Elestar. "I can't believe they went off with..."
"Leon, we have to save Salish," pleads Pandora to the cleric.
"Salish off with a few dogs and Hiram," says Elestar somewhat derisively. "Come on!"
"Leon, it's Salish," Pandora comtinues to plead, looking sidelong at the cleric.
"Oh, all right, " agrees Leon finally. He looks to the heavens and says, "I'm lacking my leadership skills."
"See, Salish was the guy who supposedly spotted the place where the Palace is and he came back and told Leon about it and then there was those two girls they were trying to impress, and they took off with the Cohen Brothers back to the mining area so they got the idea that the way to be more attractive to women was to gain some wealth," Elestrar sums up for the benefit of Alora, who has put her books down long enough to stretch her legs and come blinking out into the sunlight.
"Gee," comments Brent dryly. "What a stretch."
"So tell me more about this ruby," Alora says, cutting to the chase.
"It's a legendary head-sized ruby," says Elestar with a sly grin.
"Not the mystical, head-sized ruby of St. Jostema?" asks Alora.
"Yes," says Pandora.
"No," says Elestar, looking over at Pandora. "This is the legendary head-sized ruby of Princess Argenta."
Alora thinks for a moment. "Yes, I do believe I have heard of that."
"Well," says Leon. "We're off to rescue Hiram and Salish. From themselves."
"Do we need a dog for tracking, or are we good?" asks Pandora.
"I can track," volunteers Brent.
"Well, now I'm wonderin' where Salish got his dogs," ponders Leon. "There ain't nobody selling dogs in St, Jostema."
The party returns to the bar and asks the waitress where Salish managed to buy dogs.
"Well, from that fella," replies the waitresss, "The dog-sellin' fella that came in with the last caravan."
"Has that caravan left yet?" asks Leon.
"I don't think so," she replies.
The party heads down to the marketplace.
They quickly find the cart of Peter "the dog-man" Donaghey. Leon recalls hearing of this man, who comes through on caravans from time to time. The man stands 6 foot 3 inches and is surrounded by some excellent looking dogs. None of them are barking, but all are very watchful. There are some Nyrondese Mastiffs, some Naganese Gatorjaws and even some Aetherstone Hounds . Pandora walks back and forth looking at the dogs, trying to estimate the value of these dogs. She comes to the realization that these dogs are not dogs she would want to see guarding some place she may want to enter in a somewhat unlawful way. The party is looking for tracking dogs, and Aetherstoen Hounds are known for their tracking skills.
"Hello," Pandora says to Peter. "You sold a couple of dogs to Hiram and Salish, some very dear friends of ours."
"Ah, yes," says Peter. "Wee Hiram and Sa-lish. I remember the lads. They bought a couple of me Mastiffs and a Gatorjaws."
"We're looking to join up with them," says Pandora.
"Ach," replies Peter. "So ye need to...?"
"We need to..." says Pandora. Then, on a second thought she says, "You wouldn't remember the direction they were going, do you?"
"Those two are a day ahead of us," says Leon, "And they don't have the weapons to..."
"Ah, but they do now!" exclaims Peter. "They bought me Mastiff and me Gatorjaws. They won't be needin' anything else."
"They're going into territory with 40 to 100 Hobgoblins," says Leon doubtfully.
"Well, if they be goin' where there be 40 to a hunnert Hobgoblins, they're probably dead anyway," states Peter. "That'd hold true whether they had a pig-sticker or a dog. Me dogs'll take a lot more with 'em than any old pig-sticker would."
"What do you charge for your dogs?" asks Pandora.
"Well, what are you interested in?" asks Peter back.
"We're looking for a tracker," answers Leon.
"Oh, now," says Peter. "Aetherstone Hounds are the way to go, and I train the best. I got several males here and a female. The males are 80gp and the female is only 75gp. Her nose is not quite as sharp. Females are distracted by the whole having puppies thing all of the time."
"I think the males," begins Pandora, "Are the ones who are distracted all the time by the whole aving puppies thing."
Leon turns to the others, "What are going to do with this puppy once we are done with it?"
"Is it a bad thing for us to own a hound?" asks Elestar.
"No," says Pandora firmly.
"We could keep him at your farm," says Elestar with a grin. "Grab him when we need him. So... yeah, I'd say Leon's paying."
"Yes, I guess they are yours," says Pandora.
"This beats the hell out of you conjuring up that six second dog," says Elestar, recalling when Leon conjured a dog to sniff out Cohen's trail and the dog disappeared again after only a few seconds.
"We'll buy two males," drawls Leon.
"Two!" says Peter. "Well, Pholtus be praised. That comes to 160 gold pieces.
"These dogs were brought up together?" asks Pandora.
Peter answers, "All me dogs are brothers and sisters and cousins..."
"Incestuous," says Pandora with an odd twinkle in her eye.
"...fathers and daughters and sons mothers..."
"Do they have names," asks Pandora.
"Of course they do," says Peter. "And ye impress me lass, people don't usually ask the names, they usually just make up their own."
"Oh no," says Panodra in a voice that indicates she can't stand to hear what she is hearing. "They are beautiful dogs and should keep their own names."
"The big one is Kalvinne and the smaller one is Hobbes," says Peter.
"If I understand this correctly, " says Leon, "We are going to need an article of clothing from Salish or Hiram for the scent."
Pandora says, "Well, I wonder if these dogs will track the other dogs."