15th of Harvester (continued...) The bodies of Preece and Peastix are dropped off at the church. Towards sunset, Jarel walks through the gate. His rip from Ogburg was uneventful, likely because of the increased number of patrols along the road. Jarel heads straight for the church.
Jarel sees two Aetherstone Hounds tied up outside the church, which is a sight he has never seen in St. Jostema before.

As Jarel enters the church, Snape comes out of the library in high spirits.
"Snape!" sys Jarel, enthusiastically.
"Hey, you're back," notes Snape in his usual dry manner. "You ready to go hunt some hobgoblins?"
Jarel answers, "I don't know. That would be up to Father Sobir."

Jarel is looking around for Father Sobir and he is nowhere to be seen.
"Do you know where Father Sobir is" Jarel asks Snape.
"Last I heard he was in the church. He's kind of left us to our own devices for the most part," answers Snape.
"Not him too..." says Jarel to himself.
"What he said, the last time I talked to him anyway," continues Snape, "Was to go find Cohen (and we haven't yet)..."
"He's still escaped?" asks Jarel.
"Oh, yes," replies Snape. "We can't find any trace of him anywhere. There's an interesting story about that too. That the other guys probably won't find all that interesting."
"However," interrupts Jarel, "I still have to report."
"Probably."
"You're staying here? Is everybody else in town?"
"I've been out of touch for about 7 or 8 hours, but they were all at the infirmary last night because we were hurt. They were running around doing odd ends and clearing up some debts and such today. I haven't seen anyone else, unless they're here."
"OK."

Meanwhile, at the Draco Verde, Sabrina and Pandora are sitting in the bar.
"Are we paid up for tonight? Do we owe money?" Sabrina suddenly speculates. "Its hard to recall what with Leon always looking after our expenses."
"Shhh!" says Pandora. She then whispers, "If the owner isn't asking us for any money, then we must not owe any!"
They have another drink, and Pandora begins to not feel so great again. She retires to her room, leave Sabrina and Elestar behind in the Common Room.
"It's odd to not have Leon around," says Sabrina to Elestar.
"That' all right with me," replies Elestar. "No Leon, no Jarel..." He leans back in his chair and stretches his arms with a satified exhalation of air and a big grin. "Life is good."

Jarel and Snape go looking for Father Sobir. They find Lance in the infirmary, standing beside the body of Preece. Nearby is the body of Peastix.
"How many people have been killed?" asks Jarel somewhat incredulously and looking directly at Snape.
"I forgot," shrugs Snape. "People die all the time. Uh, some hag bitch hacked us up big time. I told you we were hurt."
"Did you kill her?"
"Oh, yeah. Eventually. Surprisingly. Her and her Ogre boyfriend. Or husband. Or whatever he was."
"Wow," states Jarel, although his time leaves it unclear as to whether this is directed at the battle or the casual way Snape describes how two of their friends have died.
"I'm sorry I missed it," says Jarel after a moment.
"So am I," says Snape sincerely. "Those Ogre clubs hurt a lot!"
"Lance," Jarel says, turning to the ex-paladin. "I'm glad to see you're still up."
"Oh, I didn't go, dude," says Lance somewhat sadly.
"Oh?"
"Too bad," and his voice catches and his eyes get swimmy. "I should have been there when Preece died."
"Or you could have stopped him from dying," says Jarel.
"That too," Lance replies with the hitch still in his voice. "Instead..."
Jarel interrupts, "Do you know where Father Sobir is?" Jarel is getting back to business.
"Yeah, he's doin' his usual, you know, where he locks himself in his room at this time every day," answers Lance, his sadness at the death of Preece seemingly put completely aside. "You won't get to see him. I've tried. That Radium dude keeps you away."
"Oh, well," says Jarel. "I still need to report so..."
"He's usually done in a half an hour."
Jarel's interest perks up. "Oh he'll be ready in a half an hour?"
"Yeah, he usually comes out after," answers Lance.
"I'll go see Radium and let him know I'm here and I'll wait the half an hour."
As Snape and Jarel walk away, Snape says, "Thanks, Lance."

As Snape and Jarel walk toward Father Sobir's chambers, Snape suddenly asks, "Hey, you left with a magic bastard sword, didn't you?"
"Yes," answers Jarel quietly.
"OK," says Snape.
They arrive in front of Sobir's door and Radium is nowhere to be seen. Jarel knocks firmly upon the door. After a few moments, it is apparent nobody is about to answer, so Jarel starts looking around the church in other places he thinks Radium or Father Sobir may be. He finds Father Mulcahie in one of the hallways.
"Oh, Jarel!" says the old priest. "I am pleased to see you are back."
"I'm pleased to be back," responds Jarel. "How have you been doing?"
"I am fine. I need to find Leon and one of the twins. I have an assignment for them. Sorry, I do not have time to talk.
"Do you have an assignment for me too?"
"No, thank you Jarel. This task is for Pandora, who is still under Church Arrest. I do need Leon to assist her, but not yourself. It was nice to see you again, however."
"OK, we'll catch up later," says Jarel. "Do you happen to know where Father Sobir is?"
"Yes, he is sequestered in his room as he always is this time of night"
"Would he be unsequestered in a half an hour or so?"
Father Mulcahie looks around the hallway at the walls, his head bobbing like that of an old lizard. "By the light, I would say yes."
"Thank you," says Jarel politely.

Jarel wanders around some more. He soon finds Brother Drake having a quiet talk with Aber Morgensen, the caretaker.
Jarel raises his hand in a friendly greeting. Aber smiles broadly and says gruffly, "Hey! Jarel! Good to see you out of jail." Then he mutters, "Never did like that place."
"I found it somewhat distressingly easy," says Jarel.
Aber sighs, "Yes, well, there's them what breask the rocks and them what sorts 'em."
"It wasn't my doing," says Jarel, somewhat defensively. "I must say, I don't really like New Dawn Camps."
Aber responds, "Well, yer not supposed ta like 'em."
Jarel rephrases, "I'm not sure I approve of them, then."
"They probably set it up that way on purpose," says Aber with a shrug. "As yer punishment, I mean. Knowing that would bother you more than good, hard work."
Jarel stops for a moment, considering this. "There's an odd thought," thinks Jarel out loud.
Brother Drake speaks up, "Aber you are being slightly rude to our friend Jarel," he scolds. "Why don't you wander off and finish your work?"
"I'm not offended at all," offers Jarel amicably. "Not in the least."
He shares a friendly nod with Aber as the latter goes back to work.
Brother Drake turns to Jarel as Aber excuses himself. "So Jarel, what can I do for you?"
"Since I'm back and I've got several weeks under Father Sobir's orders, I was going to report to him."
"Ah!" says Brother Drake. "Well, he'd doing his nightly meeting with Radium."
"Well, I will wait I guess. Has anything interesting been happening?"
"Aside from Preece and that black-skinned fellow dying..." begins Brother Drake, shaking his head.
"Yes, I actually saw their bodies and
"The weather's been good..."
"No floods?" says Jarel with a bit of a nervous laugh.
"No."
"How's little what's her name?"
"Tyssa?"
"Yes."
"I don't know...I don't see Tyssa much."
"That's probably a good thing."
"Now it's your turn to be rude, " jokes Brother Drake.
"Well, it means that she isn't ill or hurt," amends Jarel. "Anything like that."
"Ah."
"Well, I 'll wait here, out of the way, for Father Sobir to be done," says Jarel. "It's good to be back."
"Its good to have you back," says Brother Drake sincerely.
Snape finds Jarel again and sits down with him. "So, we owe you a crapload of money," he begins.
"Oh really?" asks Jarel. "How big a crapload?"
"Somewhere around six thousand," replies Snape.
"For..." begins Jarel, a bit surprised at this large number. "Oh, you finally sold the armor and all that stuff?"
"Oh, yeah."

After about a half an hour, Father Sobir finally makes an appearance. "Jarel!" he says warmly. "I'm so pleased to see you!"
"I'm pleased to be back. I have completed my oddly unstressful week at the New Dawn Camp."
"Was it unstressful, Jarel?" asks Father Sobir, with a tone that indicates Jarel should look deeper.
"Well, it seemed like paladins were treated...differently than everybody else," says Jarel.
"You are the chosen ones of Pholtus," says Father Sobir in a matter-of-fact tone.
"But, wouldn't the sentence be the same punishment for everyone, and it would be controlled by the length of time, as opposed to the actual..."
"Trust me, Jarel, if your paladinhood had been taken away during your crime, you would have been punished quite a bit more."
"It just felt...unfair."
"is it fair, Jarel, that you have the abilities of a paladin given to you by Pholtus while Preece and Lance do not?"
"I don't understand that at all," protests Jarel. "I'm worried for Preece."
"We cannot question Pholtus' judgment."
"I don't, I just think Preece might."
"Perhaps that is the plan Pholtus has for Preece. To question his faith. To come out stronger on the other end."
"Maybe."
"However, I am under your direct command for another seven weeks. What are your orders, sir? I'm at your disposal."
"Brother Drake has asked me for Leon and one of the twins. It does not matter to me which one, for a little assignment he's setting up. But, I need you to take charge of the rest of this group and get them to actually make some progress in the search for Lee Cohen instead of turning into barterers and salesmen and treasure-seekers. They haven't been incredibly focused while you were gone."
"I'm not surprised, actually. Especially with Preece dead."
"I'll tell you the same thing I told Leon, 'You're task is to bring back Cohen, dead or alive, either one is fine, but do this as soon as possible'. An entire week has gone by and as far as I know, they've done nothing."
"Not that I object to this task, but did you find the sentencing odd?"
"Odd?"
"The severity of his sentence compared to say, Lady Titania, who actually stole ten..."
"This is not the venue to be speaking of Cohen's sentence," says Father Sobir quite sternly. "That sentence was brought down by your peers - there is nothing to question."
"I would like to understand it. I'm not arguing against it, I would like to understand it."
"There is nothing to explain."
"All right," says Jarel, giving up. "And do you know where the rest of the people are?"
"If my sources are correct," says Father Sobir with distain, "they are getting drunk in the Draco Verde."
"Well," says Jarel, not entirely surprised.
"Perhaps they seek Cohen under a table," Father Sobir adds sarcastically. "That is another motivation I have in sending Leon on a bit different assignment. He's sort of been in command while you were gone, with unsatisfactory results." Warming to the subject, he adds, "Have you been through the infirmary?"
"Yes."
"And saw the result?"
"Yes, but they were fighting...some...old woman?" Jarel suddenly seems unsure of what Snape had told him.
"Did they think Cohen was somehow involved with this 'old woman'?"
"And an Ogre," adds Jarel after a moment.
"And the Ogre was...hiding Cohen?"
"I don't know," answers Jarel. "But I will find out." He makes to leave but stops. "Its good to be back."
"Its good to have you back."
Jarel leaves the church to head over to the Draco Verde. As he descends the church steps, he is joined by Snape. "How about some company?" asks Snape.

The night is cool. Jarel and Snape can feel the beginning of fall in the air.
He enters the Draco Verde, finding it somewhat crowded. He spots Brent, Elestar and one of the twins quickly, recalling their favorite "drinking" table at the back.
"Heloo!" he calls out.
"Jarel!" exclaims Sabrina. After a moment she says, "Right? Jarel?"
"Its about time," says Elestar. "Nobody's told us what to do in at least 10 minutes!"
"Pandora!" exclaims Jarel right back, looking directly at Sabrina and using a less enthusiastic tone than Sabrina or Elestra mustered.
"No, I'm Sabrina," Sabrina says. "Pandora is not feelign well."
"Sorry. Silly me."
Pandora comes downt he stairs at this moment, saysing, "Sabrina, I gotta go! Hey! Jarel, you're back!"
"Hello," says Jarel.
Pandora asks, "Did you get out early for..." and here she makes an extremely rude gesture at the paladin.
Jarel is speechless for just a moment and then starts with a very strong, "No..."
But Pandora interrupts, "Can't stay to listen, gotta go! Tell Sabrina all the details!" And she waves to the group and heads out the front door.
"Sabrina stares after her sister. "Well, I guess she'f feeling better." She turns to Jarel, "When did you get back to this..." she gestures around but does not complete her sentence.
"About an hour ago or less," responds Jarel. "My sentence is up and now I have another seven weeks under Father Sobir's command. And he is most anxious to find Cohen."
"We've been looking for Cohen," says Sabrina enthusiastically.
"Ummm..." begins Jarel.
"For the whole entire week you were gone we've been all over this land looking for Cohen."
"So, I've kind of heard," says Jarel.
"We've got other people looking for Cohen," Sabrina says, in a tone like she is about to make a list of thing that have been done. She dussenly stops nad whispers to Brent who is nearby, "Oh, was I supposed to say that?"
"Father Sobir is apparently not impressed witht he results so far," sayd Jarel.
Sabrina looks shocked and Elestar says in an offended tone, "Well! That's not what HE said!"
"Well he didn't sound very impressed; put it that way."
"Cohen just fell off the face of the Oerth," says Sabrina. "We've been all over looking for him."
"Did you try...tracking him?" asks Jarel is a somewhat condescending tone.
"We tried," says Sabrina. "Brent tried." And she points at the young man.
Snape nods and Brenty says proudly, "And I even found some tracks."
"Were they Cohen's tracks?" asks Jarel.
"Yeah!" nods Brent.
"Well? Where did they go?"
"Oh - into a mud puddle, where they disappeared."
"Oh," says Jarel. He ponders for a moment and then says, "Perhaps he was eaten by a frog."
Sabrina continues her earlier list, "We've been to his family's house in Abbotsford..."
Here Snape chimes in, "And we went to Ogburg to check out his military record trying to find anyone who might know where he would go."
"That's a good idea," says Jarel.
Snape looks around the room to satisfy himself that nobody is listening. He spots Salish at the bar some distance away but staring intently at Snape.
Snape leans forward and whispers, "Cohen has an interesting story."
When he makes no sign that he is going to continue, Jarel asks, "Which is?"
"Well he's been, as far as I can tell, framed by his superior in Ogburg. He had been questioning a couple of people and was accused of beating them to death."
"Cohen?" questions Jarel, a bit incredulously.
"Which he did not do," continues Snape.
"You know that for sure?"
"Not for sure," admits Snape. "Then his superior had Cohen transferred here."
"Why don't I remember this?" asks Sabrina.
"You remember," says Snape. "We met that guy at the bar - the really crappy bar? In Ogburg?"
"ANYWAY, The jist of the story," says Sabrina, raising her voice enough to cut everyone else off. "Is the we have been looking for Cohen."
"But you haven't found him," points out Jarel.
"No," sighs Sabrina.
"But, this is an interesting story," says Jarel, turning back to Snape.
"And the superior who had him framed," says Snape, pausing for effect. "Is that the superior who had him framed and sent him here is also the third member in his tribunal."
"See, I don't understand how Sobir could be not impressed with the amount of work we've put into this," says Elestar somewhat grumpily.
Jarel says, "I did get the impression that Cohen was really not happy..."
"Yes, well, you couLd tell at the trial that the guy wanted him dead," says Snape.
"Have you talked to Mother Lewvanos?" asks Jarel.
"The other thing is that since we've tried all the..." begins Brent.
"Is Mohter Lewvanos still in town?" interrupts Jarel.
"No, she's not," says Elestar in a bored-sounding voice.
"They're back in Ogburg?" asks Jarel. Elestar nods.
Brent continues, "...since we tried everything we could think of for normal stuff, and when I suggested to Leon that maybe there was soem sort of magic way of finding out if Cohen is even still alive, that didn't seem to be accepted as a good idea."
"And we have other people lookign for him," says Sabrina.
"Yes," says Snape. "There was a Bounty Hunter in Ogburg, and we hired his services."
Jarel frowns, and Elestar shrugs, "Hey, whatever it takes. If I can sit here and drink beer and still catch Cohen, I'm all for it."
When Jarel stares meaningfully at Elestar, he adds, "Well, we were trying really hard."
"It's just frustrating, because the last time we went..." begins Sabrina, but Elestar feels the need to interrupt.
"Sobir's not impressed?! We went to Ogburg, we did all that detective work, we went to...um...," here he looks to Sabrina, "What was that other town?"
"Have you done a full report to Father Sobir?" asks Jarel.
Everyone says, "Yes." There are nods all around the table.
"Well, Leon says that he did," amends Elestar. "We weren't in on it."
"I'm pretty sure that because all of the information we got on his superior, who is a high-ranking church official, is all unofficial information," says Snape. "There's no way you could take that to Sobir."
"That wouldn't stop me from reporting what I found out before going on," says Jarel.
"So we took a day off," adds Sabrina.
"What the guy said?" asks Snape.
"Well, yes," answers Jarel.
"We do have it written down somewhere," responds Snape.
"That's very good," commends Jarel. "It sounds much better than my first impression. Good job, people."
"And then we thought...,." begins Elestar.
Snape interrupts, "Then they went on a little bit of a stretch of logic here. They figured that since we can't find any evidence of Cohen going anywhere at all period, he could have gone anywhere. So why not where the ruby is? And off we went"
No, no," protests Brent. "You are forgetting the hobgoblins."
"Well, yes, there are hobgoblins there," answers Snape. "And Quenton Sobir said something about clearing out all the hobgoblins..."
"Wasn't here some connection between...not the hobgoblins and Cohen but between Cohen and somethin' and the hobgoblins and somethin'?" asks Brent, apoparently confused.
"I don't know," Elestar speaks up. "I think Leon had us bamboozled."
Snape bursts out into uncontrollable laughter, "Leon! Had us bamboozled! Oh yes, right."
"Then we went and rescued Salish and Hiram," says Brent.
"Hiram and Salish went off on their own," adds Snape.
"Yep," agrees Elestar. "Two guys who would have been dead."
"They were the two who were after that gem?" asks Jarel.
"Right," says Snape. "So we went after them..."
"They bought some dogs," adds Elestar.
"We found them in the marsh..." says Snape.
"They didn't happen to be the dogs tied up outside the church?" asks Jarel.
"No, those are the dogs we bought," answers Elestar.
"Those are Calvin and Hobbes," adds Sabrina.
"Their dogs ended up in the soup," says Elestar.
"Yes, their dogs ended up in the soup," confirms Sabrina. "That's how Preece and Peastix died. Did you see their bodies when you were at the church?"
"We bought our dogs to track..." begins Snape lookign over again at Salish, who is still watching the party but trying (and failing) to look as though he is not listening. "Salish! Get over here," beckons Snape.
"What, who me?" aks Salish, looking a bit like a child who has been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
"Yes, you," says Snape. "You're listening in, anyway. Sit downa dn you can defend yourself."
"Hello Jarel," says Salish as he joins the party at their table.
"Hello," answers Jarel in a very friendly way.
"We went after these guys," says Snape, pointing at Salish. "They bought a bunch of guard dogs and they went after the gem by themselves."
"No, just four," protests Salish. "Four dogs."
Snape shrugs.
Sabrina says loudly, "And how many do you have left?"
"I'm trying to talk to Salish, Sabrina, shhh..." begins Snape.
"No dogs," interrupts Salish sulkily. "No dogs and no money." Sabrina gives him a look. "Oh, yes, you gave us some money. We're pretty well even right now."
"So we went and bought some tracking dogs, to track them, found them in a cage in..."
"This is where the old lady comes in?" asks Jarel.
"Yes," says Sabrina.
"Yes, she's a hag," answers Snape. "She had herself disguised as an Ogre Magi, which had me scared shitless"
"So, she was like a spellcaster?" says Jarel.
"Yeah, she was like 9 or 10 feet tall. She had big, sharp claws..." continues Snape.
"Yeah, we fought her and her husband and an alligator, and ... in the fog and ..." says Sabrina.
"Not like a human hag," continues Snape. "But like a Sea Hag.
"Peastix and Preece died," finishes Sabrina.
"Trollish like," finishes Snape.
Elestar jumps in at this point, "Oh, oh the fight between the badger and the crocodile's tongue? It was a classic!"

Discussion of Alora's whereabouts.

Mention of the Will O'Wisp and killing it by stickign it in water.

Jarel tells the story of his own week away from St. Jostema. People don't seem very interested in his telling of the inequality he saw in the prison.

Salish gets upset because the group doesn't look like they are going to take him back to the Palace.

Brent and Jarel argue about breaking commitments.

They discuss the magic items they have discovered and what they do. Snape has identified five of them for the group.

Jarel decides to discuss the ruins by the bear cave. They consider the possibility that Cohen would be hiding there. The ghost would not harm Cohen unless he tries to open the big doors.

Loads of discussion about who should use the magic weapons until such time and the party can dice for total ownership.

The party prepares to ask their question of the divination sphere.

"Is Cohen alive?"
"It cannot be said."

16th of Harvester
Heading to the ruins

The party finds the myserious doors have been opened. Troglodyte bodies are everywhere. Jarel steps over the threshhold. We do not know what happens next.