Isa climbed down the rickety basement steps to find Mery standing in a room with 4 beds. All of them were empty.

“Where are the children?” Isa bent to look under one of the beds.

“There was no guarantee that there’d be children here,” Mery said quietly. After a moment she turned to look into the drawers of a desk. “I came for information anyway, not children.”

“There are other houses you said. Take me there.”

“It’s not that simple,” Mery said as she flipped through a book and plucked out a piece of paper. Her eyes scanned the page, and then she tucked the paper into her belt. She moved past Isa up the stairs.

Joth was standing over the dead elf in the kitchen hallway. He held up silver bracelet. “He had this on him. Says ‘Angels watch over Anna.’”

Mery held out her hand and walked over. “Too small for an adult. Bastard pulled it off a little girl.” Mery examined the bracelet. “No maker’s mark. Could be from anywhere.”

“But it’s a clue, right?” Isa tried to catch Mery’s eye. “We can find Anna?” Mery didn’t respond, so Isa repeated herself.

Finally Mery looked up. “It’s a bauble. A simple, cheap, little thing. Who knows how long he had it, yeah? Might have been a halfling’s bracelet, or a gnome’s. It could be anybodys.”

“Can I look at it?” Isa held out her hand.

The bracelet was a simple silver band. Isa was no expert, but it looked well made. Wherever the seam was that closed the two ends, it had been smoothed over and made invisible. The words were inscribed on the inside. Isa ran her finger over them. “Where are you, Anna?” she said softly. To Mery she said, “Can I keep this?”

Mery shrugged. “Fine. It’s no help to me.” With that she moved to the stairs and climbed to the second floor. Isa joined her but stayed out of the way. She didn’t know what was useful and what was not, so she watched and tried to understand how Mery searched.

Joth came up and stood beside her. He watched Mery for a few moments and then said, “Did you check the ceiling?” He pointed, and Isa’s eyes followed his finger. Wooden beams rose up into shadows above their heads.

“Dammit,” said Mery as she climbed on a dresser. She muttered something as she reached toward a rafter. Isa thought she might have called Joth an outlander, know-it-all wizard. A few moments later Mery called down. “Hey! Wizard! Think you can use your big brain to catch this?” She dropped a flat wooden box into Joth’s waiting hands.

When she’d joined them on the ground, Joth opened the box. Inside was a small notebook filled with names and dates. “They keep good accounts,” Joth said.

“But it’s just first names and dates.” Isa tried to keep the disappointment from her voice. “We’ll never find the kids this way.”

“There are clues in here; I know it,” Mery said as she trailed her finger along the lines. “It bears a closer read.” She set the book down and looked at the folded sheet that had been below it.

It was a crisp white sheet of paper with a short note written on it. “We’ll settle accounts on the 3rd. Bring any excess stock at that time. T.”

“The 3rd. What is today? What’s the date?” She looked at Joth. “Do they use a calendar like us?”

“Ah yeah, they do,” said Joth. “That’s next week.”

“Gods save me from the outlanders,” Mery muttered.

Isa touched the single letter signature on the note. “‘T’ - Thorn, right. Who else?”

“Well whoever the man is--”

“Or woman,” said Mery.

“Yes,” said Joth, “or woman. Whoever they are, settling accounts sounds kind of final.”

“You think they’re closing up shop, then?” Mery folded the letter and put it and the notebook back in the box.

“The men did say it was getting harder to find kids.” Isa crossed her arms. “But who’s to say they aren’t packing up for another city? What’s another big city here?”

Mery snorted. “Hanchen is not a big city. It’s a burg at best. You want a city? Vendahl is a city. You can see the smoke from it a day’s ride away.”

“Semantics aside, and focusing on the kidnapped children,” Isa said slowly, “where would they go next?”

Joth and Mery looked at each other and at the same time said, “Lestead.”

“Technically speaking,” said Joth, “Nulbrgz is closer, but I just don’t see a bunch of rough guys creeping around a dwarven city without causing a ruckus.”

“Nothing says that Thorn even lives here, right?” Isa looked at the other two. “Maybe we’re going about this the wrong way.”

“I have contacts. This information might give me new questions to ask.” Mery tucked the box into her pack. “What’d you find on the bodies? Anything good?”

Joth said, “Some gold - 8 coins. 30 silver total, a moonstone, and this crossbow is in good condition.”

Mery nodded. “I’ll take the crossbow - probably get 15 for it. You two split the rest. Moonstone, that’s worth 35-40 alone.”

“I’ll see if I can find a watchman. They need to know about this,” said Joth as he headed back downstairs.

“But that’s - that’s not fair,” said Isa. “You need more share. You did most of the work. You killed that elf with like--”

“You’re just getting started. You need the cash, now don’t you? Better boots, maybe a necklace to match that ring of yours?” Mery smiled. “I can save you from needing to buy a new shirt at least.” She reach into her belt and brought out two smooth black stones.

As she came closer Mery noticed the blood. “You got hit? When did that happen? You didn’t say anything. I’ll heal you and then your pretty purple shirt, aye?” She began to hum and then ran her finger underneath the torn skin.

A warm flush came over Isa, and she watched as the cut on her arm from the crossbow bolt faded away.

“I forgot about it,” she muttered as she tried to keep her composure. She’d just been healed! Magically, miraculously, her cut had been healed. “I think I need to sit,” Isa said as she thumped down on the bed.

Mery sat down beside her and put a black stone on each side of Isa’s torn shirt sleeve. Once more Mery began to hum, and slowly she brought the stones together with a click. “There. Good as new.”

“You are a woman of many talents,” Isa said with a weak grin.

Mery lightly tossed the stones in her hand and laughed. “I have my moments.”

Isa touched her arm where the cut had been. “Thank you. I - that was a very nice thing. I don’t know if anyone has ever done such a nice thing for me.”

“We made a good team tonight, Isa.” Mery brushed her thumb across Isa’s cheek. “T’was the least I could do.”

“Why are you doing this? You could be on stage somewhere or traveling or, I don’t know, holding court at your own cafe. But you’re here, trying to bring down bad guys.”

“Ah,” Mery smiled. “She asks the hard questions, does Isa Chamberlin. ‘She sees beneath/ Sees the heart of men/ She soars above/ Never to land.’ Do you know it? ‘The Lay of the Elven Queen’? Prince Rand recites it in Act 3 of The War of the Sea, but it’s often done as a set piece.”

“There you go again,” Isa said softly, “not answering my question.”

“From when I was small,” Mery held her hand out to indicate a child’s height; “I recited the heroes’ lines - lines someone in a room somewhere thought that heros would say. And I fought their pretend fights and bathed in the pretend victories staged in front of painted cloth. And I wanted more than…. than borrowed valor. What good is that? If my acting was superb perhaps someone would think on the story a few days or weeks later and feel moved, but is that heroic, Isa?” Mery turned to face Isa and looked deep into her eyes. “I don't think that's what heroes do. They don't pretend.”

“I don’t know. Before a few days ago, heroes were people in movies - actors, as you say, pretending to do great and brave things. That by itself constitutes heroism in my world. But this,” Isa gestured to the dead woman - the woman that she’d killed. “This is something else.” She looked at her hands. She had blood under her nails. “This,” Isa said again, “is something else.”

Spoiler: Isa's Character Sheet

Name: Isa Chamberlin

Race: Human

Height & Weight: 5ft 6inches / 120 lbs

Class: Fighter Level: 3

Alignment: Good

Background: Stranger in a Strange Land

Hit Points: 20 AC: 13

Current Hit Points: 20

Combat: +4 to Hit

Weapons: Rapier (left hand) 1d8 +2 (piercing) / Quarterstaff (right hand) 1d6 +2 (bludgeoning)

Coin: 13gp, 10sp, 22cp

STR

11

0

DEX

14

+2

CON

11

0

INT

13

+1

WIS

13

+1

CHA

12

+1

Saving Throws: Str and Con +2

4

Acrobatics* (Dex)

1

Medicine (Wis)

1

Animal Handling (Wis)

1

Nature (Int)

1

Arcana (Int)

3

Perception* (Wis)

0

Athletics (Str)

1

Performance (Cha)

1

Deception (Cha)

1

Persuasion (Cha)

3

History* (Int)

1

Religion (Int)

3

Insight* (Wis)

2

Sleight of Hand (Dex)

1

Intimidation (Cha)

2

Stealth (Dex)

1

Investigation (Int)

1

Survival (Wis)

Special Attack: Two weapon fighting. When you engage in two-weapon fighting, you can add your ability modifier to the damage of the second attack.

Class Features:

Second Wind - On your turn, you can use a Bonus Action to regain hit points equal to 5 + your fighter level. Short or Long Rest before you can use it again.

(USED) Action Surge - On your turn, you can take one additional action on top of your regular action and a possible Bonus Action. You must finish a short or Long Rest before using it again.

Martial Archetype: Surgical Fighter

3rd level - Clinical Eye: Spend 1 combat turn studying your enemy and learn one of the following: if the enemy is equal to or stronger than you in strength, dexterity, or constitution. Can spend up to 3 turns to discern all 3. Can be used outside of combat as a free action - spend 1 minute to learn all three.