Reaping 21, 594 CY
Exag

Elizair and I wandered over to the Staggering Lich, by which point Janet and Fash were getting ready to go “bar hopping.” We only have one other drinking establishment in Rattedaumen, so it was looking to be a short night. As we gathered our strength to make the 200’ trek to the Rat’s Thumb Tavern, we heard sounds coming from the now-closed apothecary where Elizair and I had just sold our loot to Mr. Vendor.

Janet and I snuck around to the back door of Arkon’s Apothecary while Elizair and Fash went to the front. The thief was bold as brass, leaving the door open and not bothering to be quiet. I took that opportunity to attempt to dispatch him, but he somehow dodged my blade when it should have skewered him. My companions burst in to take up the fight with me, but we could barely hit the thief. Elizair must have managed to hit him once though, the thief only parried my blows and attempted to disarm me—he struck at Elizair to kill. Thank Pelor that Janet was there or I’d be mourning my dearest friend now.

The thief must have felt we were wasting his time, as he began to demand that we turn over the runestone (we’re pretty sure he means the one we’d just sold to Mr. Vendor). Elizair managed to stall him for some time by declaring that the runestone was worthless without the “redstone” companion. I worried he’d attack Elizair again, or me, so when the thief demanded we open the apothecary vault, I used a little bit of my innate magic to make it sound like a crowd of people was surrounding the building. The thief, in desperation, blew the vault door off its hinges—we took that opportunity to run. As it was, I was apparently hit by a sleep spell protecting the vault. When I came to, the thief was long gone and there was smoke billowing from the building. Mr. Vendor, the town guards, and many curious townsfolk surrounded us. Lucky for us Mr. Vendor knows us so well, else it might have looked as though we’d been trying to rob his store. He assured us that he keeps his real valuables in a vault “in the ether” whatever that means, though the runestone, which he’d not yet had a chance to study, had been in that physical vault.

We offered to chase after the thief. Mr. Vendor was happy enough to let us do that, though somehow the thief had covered 100 miles in a short time—he was at least as far north as Exag. After a brief rest, we headed north on foot.

The journey was uneventful, though we did stay at Lord Zadrian’s “camp” (his mansion not yet rebuilt). Unsurprisingly, the kobold sorcerer that had been staying with him had already moved on. We got warnings of ogres, bad weather, an old outpost called Hightower that had fallen to barbarians, and ruins once in habited by the “Lord of the North.” We did see a rather largish footprint going east at one point, but all was peaceful enough during the remainder of our journey to Exag, at least.

It was raining by the time we arrived at the walled town. We were let in by the watch, and talked to a very tall human called Commander Bragus. Of course, no one had seen our thief, but at least one group of “adventurers” had passed through recently, heading towards Hightower. They had not been seen since.