I spent the day carving a new flute and studying spells, awaiting the others' decision. They spent some time in private discussion, though I can not be certain it was about me. At night, the priest, who was returning from a celebration held by a baron, told us that one of the barons was going to send out a party to search for some magical weapon or other. The winged woman told us where the island could be found, and that, in her explorations, she noticed one of the longshoremen climbing on rooftops.
The next day was spent largely in the same way, studying spells and working on my flute. I have tried playing the one I made earlier, but two of the notes in the mid-range are slightly off-key. Since all of the holes are a bit too large already, the damage is not repairable. At night, we learned from the foreign guardsman of another mysterious occurrence. A longshoreman had confessed to murdering a girl during the baron's celebration and then throwing her in the river. The mystery was that the priest had seen him leave the party, and he had only been gone for fifteen minutes – not nearly long enough to commit such a crime, especially considering that he was not winded when he returned.
The priest told us that a hunting party would leave the next day, searching for the same tribe of orcs that had caused us so much trouble in the previous town. Although I thought this a waste of time and was eager to continue with our mission, I said nothing, believing it wise to remain silent until the Infiltrator and the Empty Hand had made their decision. The others, whether from a sense of duty or merely of vengeance, were enthusiastic about participating.
As I concluded my meditative dance that night, I noticed that the Infiltrator was still awake, pouring over some leather-bound tomb. I managed to glance at the contents without being too conspicuous. It appeared to be a book of town law.
Early in the morning, the Infiltrator and the Empty Hand approached me. Before the Infiltrator could speak, I apologized for accusing him of causing the Tracker's death. My apology was genuine – I had thought much about it over the past couple days, and realized that if any blame was to be had, we shared it in equal part. The Infiltrator found fault even with my apology, however, and said that no one had any blame – that the Tracker had died doing the right thing. I let the discussion end there; this was not the time to argue ethics.
After studying the town's law book, the Infiltrator had learned that official punishments for associating with thieves numbered three – exile, imprisonment and death. The latter two could not be carried out without hurting our mission, so the first would be my penance. However, since the upcoming storms prevented us from leaving, the punishment would be delayed. This seemed a bit silly to me, since we had not planned to remain in this town forever anyway, but it satisfied the Infiltrator's need for justice, and I accepted it without hesitation. In addition, the Infiltrator told me, I would manage my own share of treasure from that point on. I would no longer draw from a common treasury, and he would no longer buffer me from the complexities of finance. To emphasize his point, he handed me a bag of gold weighing more than twenty pounds, which I could only lift with difficulty. Still, I accepted his judgment. It seemed a reasonable course of action regardless, since I had already been more of a drain on resources than either of the others.
The Empty Hand offered to carry the bag to the money-changer, to exchange the gold for more valuable metals which would weigh considerably less. The Infiltrator accompanied us, and, as usual, the winged woman followed me like a shadow. Our numbers turned out to be useful though, since half a dozen thieves were in the process of robbing the money-changer when we arrived. We killed most of them (even keeping to the town laws against weapons and damaging magic), and the last one surrendered, to be taken by the town guard.
While we were away, the priest and the foreign guardsman spent their time investigating the most recent murder. Using magic to question the dead victim (admittedly, I had not known such a spell even existed), they discovered that the murder had taken place at the mansion of one of the barons, that she had been killed because she had seen too much, and that the murderer was tall and strong, with brown hair and red eyes. This was a bit disconcerting, since it meant there could be more than one vampire in town. The others, including the priest and the guardsman, did not seem overly concerned, however, for at mid-day, they still eagerly left for the orc hunt.
Two somewhat unexpected events occurred before we left. First, I noticed the Empty Hand donating gold to the temple. Although material goods should not overly concern us, to use anything valuable in a way not connected with our mission seemed a strange thing for him to do. I still have not spoken to him about his newfound habit of praying at the temple altar.
The second event was also connected to money, and was even more strange. The winged woman gave me a portion of her own wealth. I have spent some time thinking over the incident, but I still can not fathom why she did this, and why she insisted I take the money when I told her to keep it. Could she be such a fool that she thinks money will make me forget the evidence against her? Just in case, I put the coins in a separate pocket from the rest.
Soon after we left, we decided to split off from the rest of the guard. The Empty Hand explained that otherwise, the winged woman would not be able to remove her bindings and fly. Although I admit that an aerial view would be advantageous, it seems unwise to trust her to be our guide. I will spend my spare moments working on a spell that will allow me to fly, and, with perseverance, I will be able to cast the spell before it is too late.
The Empty Hand also invited the foreign guardsman to accompany us, with the explanation that he works well with us. I wonder as to the Empty Hand's true motivations, though he is not one to make use of even mild deception. Perhaps he knows more about this guardsman than I realize. I will trust his judgement.
The remainder of the day was spent waiting for the winged woman to return from her aerial search.