Winters Crown, the longest night in Charon was apon Sarne and Javal. Before they knew it only a few days had passed since they destroyed one of Red Rogue's hideouts. People all across Charon are going to be dressing up as the Red Rogue and attempting to deliver stolen goods to poor families. This would make it difficult to make out the real Red Rouge and the true stolen goods will be hard to pin down.

Sarne had sent Nordic, Naesala, and Vamir out to see if they could get any information but it was slow going they now had been known to work for Sarne and the underworld was drying up for information. Sarne was told some information from a farmer who still was on Sarne's family land being held by the crown. The information was a wagon was going to another part of the coastline with stolen goods and the time late at night it would be there on the road.

Hearing this he got his people together and let Javal know as well as his people together they set out for the crossroads mentioned and near the coastline. It is not always safe to travel at night but Sarne knew the land and the people on it Sarne grew up here on this land and had no fear of it. arriving on a little hill in some trees overlooking the road sarne stopped. "Javal they should come this way," said Sarne pointing to the road.

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SPOILER: Click to show

Quest Name: Catch that thief!
Chapter: Three
Description:
The night has come, the eve of the Winters Crown, the longest night in Charon. People all across Charon are going to be dressing up as the Red Rogue and attempting to deliver stolen goods to poor families. We need you to stop them! Your task is simple, find one of these thieves, either on the way to a home or maybe in the process of delivering the stolen goods, and stop them. How you stop them is up to you!
Requirements:
Requires exactly two people (you and one other, can be doing opposing quests)
You must make at least 5 posts to complete the mission with each post being at least 200 words
Once you complete this mission you have completed this quest chain and may now purchase items from below.

It had been a few days after their last mission together when the night when Javal and Sarne were supposed to be met with their greatest challenge arrived. Tonight was going to be difficult for the group as instead of like before seeing the evil fiends clearly and paying no attention to the fiend's morality they were to be met with fools dressing up and distracting them. This was the perfect night for any nefarious red rogue to make use of this scattered attention to strike. It frustrated the fellblood greatly to think all the innocent people were acting so foolish and standing in the way of justice. Nadia had done her best to find information during their downtime but had difficulty in recovering any considering how chaotic the holidays had made everything. The situation was looking grim until Sarne let him know of a lead that his people managed to find along the coast.



Javal cheered as they hit the road, “Excellent friend Sarne I’m glad that we can find the foul fiends before they get the chance to do any harm to the people of Charon".



The group then hid behind trees and bushes and simply waited, which was difficult for Javal to do since he was so battle-hungry and excited. However, the time came only thirty minutes later as the sounds of voices and a wagon could be heard coming through the main road.

The group spread out on the reverse side of a hill so their silhouette would not stand out. Watching the road for activity. The night was cool and some low-laying fog was starting to pool in some areas the smell of salt air from the ocean was on the breeze. It was a nice night to be out and Sarne was disappointed it had to be work on a night like this.

Sarne was about to give up and come back the next night maybe the information given was wrong or was meant to mislead Sarne and the others. Nordic Sarne's adjutant was seldom wrong or not too far off of the truth. Sarne had to trust in his subordinates. looking over even Javal's subordinates everyone was ready and wanted some action.

Sarne heard Javal's comment and smiled "It does feel good to do some good for the people." replied Sarne looking at Javal. Sarne's mind wandered some until he heard something coming looking he could tell everyone knew it. The sound of a wagon coming down the road.

He signaled to Nordic to be ready all Nordic did was give a nod then alerted Naesala and Vamir they vanished from sight. When the wagon got to a certain point Sarne rushed the wagon. Appearing out of the night. Sarne was quick to seize one of the two cloaked figures off the wagon. They hit the ground hard there was a squeal not of a man but a woman.

Sarne glanced over to Javal to see who he had on the other side with the second cloaked figure. A woman looking at her face he could tell her hair was braided with bronze rings in the braids. This woman was no commoner she had money.

Javal would have almost jumped from his hiding spot behind a tree if it wasn’t for Nadia grabbing onto his red coat keeping him in place and giving him a serious look. He quickly slipped back to his position and stayed by as Sarne’s men moved forward to intercept the wagon ahead. It was only when the fellow adventurer made his move that Javal sprinted behind him holding his blade in his hands ready to face whatever manner of mischievous miscreants had made their journey here. To his surprise, the figures were not of the rough and intimidating kind but of an assuming one as Javal grabbed the second figure by the shoulder and held them in place. In front of him stood an elderly fellow in a red jacket. The older man’s eyes and face were worn by his years as he noticed that the two had red robes on. He looked over to Sarne and the other figure, a panicked wealthy-looking woman.



The fellblood lets go of the fellow and looks at the two figures asking, “Hello there good folks and my friends here are passing by checking for any nefarious activity. If you don’t mind, can you tell us what you’re doing so late at night and around these dangerous parts? I warn you if you lie to us then it will go bad for you and I’ll be a little disappointed so please just be honest”.

His eyes widened some Sarne knew her "Taryl Leonala, what are you doing out here?" Sarne asked his tone strong and aggressive. The women's eyes grew large at the sight of sarne. Taryl did not expect to see him out here at this time of night what she was being paid for was not enough now. "Lord Sarne, I... I needed the money," she said and started to cry.

The old man put up no resistance to Javal. The old man keeps his hands out where they can be seen. He looked over at Sarne. The old man's eyes are saddened, "Lords!" The man starts then corrects himself "My Lord, Do with me what you want. Leave My Lady, let her go." He cries out bagging.

Sarne let the woman Taryl go. "Stand young Taryl. What do you mean by Pay you?" Said Sarne sounding aggravated at her. She bowed her head. "A man paid for us to take this wagon and wear these cloaks tonight and take the wagon to a house down this road. The house by Briers Road, My Lord" Taryl explained with some fear in her eyes.

Sarne looked over to Javal and then back at Taryl. "You are done here Taryl, You and your servant go home! I will take the wagon and deliver it for you," said Srne not asking but demanding It. "Naesala! Vamir! escort them back home." said Sarne with a wave of his hand.

After some more apologizing, Taryl and her servant finally left. Sarne looked over to Javal "I Think we can just use the cloaks and deliver the goods our selfies," suggested Sarne with a sinister grin. He put the red cloak on and climbed onto the wagon.

Javal looked confused as Sarne seemed to know these two troublemakers but stayed quiet listening to their exchange intently. His heart sank a little as he heard the woman cry. The gears in his head started to turn as he figured out what was going on. A small frown appeared on his face though as Taryl spoke about her predicament, how dare those red rogue fellows to use this poor lady for their mischievous crimes? It was truly wicked that they had brought in innocent people with the reward of solars.



He felt sympathetic for the young lady but kept quiet watching her and her servant leave. He turned to his fellow adventurer and chuckled, “You read my mind friend let’s do as such. Hopefully we don’t run into any more innocent civilians doing wickedness”.



He jumped into the wagon taking his already red coat off and giving it to Nadia trading it for the elder fellow’s. Nadia herself grabbed the reins of the wagon and the group began moving, determined to stop the night’s madness. The party continued into the night Nadia made the horses go as fast as they could, they were working with not a lot of time and needed to be efficient and effective.

Turning to Javal Sarne just looked for a moment thinking about what to say to him. "Javal Thank you for letting Lady Taryl Leonala and her servant go. Her father died some time back My family has been helping them to live. now with my family dead, it left a lot of people out in the cold. This is something that angers me. I will fix this and bring those who let this happen." said Sarne his tone frustrated. "I know you did not have to let her go," commented Sarne with a crack of a smile.

He said all of that as he got into the wagon the red cloak not fitting well over his armor. "Let us hope with the Darkness and maybe not knowing who is coming exactly we can fool them. Let us put this to rest now and forever," stated Sarne with a look of determination.

With Nordic ahead of the wagon by a few moments he arrived at the house there were two men by the barn and one by the house on the porch as lookouts. They were all armed with crossbows and had city guard equipment on. This angered Nordic he growled "Traders" Wanting to kill them right there. Nordic had his orders from Sarne. That he would have to wait to spill their blood.

The wagon and the road were a slow journey. It was not used as much now with the Citadel not being as active. They came over a small him and rounding a bend Sarne and Javal could see the house in the distance. The house was of good size with two outer buildings. One barn and one tack and coach or wagon house. The house belongs to a wealthy merchant Master Bowie. Sane thought for a moment "Something is wrong Javal," commented Sarne. "Master Bowie is a good man known his family for a long time. Master Bowie got too cute daughters I say," said Sarne with a wink. "Watch out for who we thrash," warned Sarne as they pulled up to the house and the man from the parch started to walk up.

Javal sat back in the wagon trying to get comfortable in the long red robe he put on. It was not as cool or as nice as his usual red coat but they needed to be disguised in case they ran into more red rogues.



He placed his blade in front of him as he listened to Sarne give him thanks with a smile as he spoke, “No worries at all my friend thinks nothing of it, after all, I would not be able to call myself a hero if I wasn’t understanding. I sensed no ill will from them during our encounter so I couldn’t bring myself to act tough and serious like you my friend. I’m sorry to hear about their tragic circumstances. They truly are horrible. I hope that they can get back on their feet, I’d be happy to help them in whatever way I can just let me know if they ever ask”.



Nadia drove the wagon as quickly as she could before slowing down as they approached a house in the distance.



Javal cautiously peered his head out of the caravan and listened to Sarne as he expressed his concern.



“What do you mean my friend? It seems like a pretty normal house to me, OH. You’re right there could be some fiendish rogues in hiding, we mustn’t let any innocents get hurr".

He then jumped out of the wagon and headed towards the front door stopping as he saw a man approach the group.

The man walked up to Javal "Hello friend you have a delivery for us?" asked the man. He was a tall human with a sword, red cloak, and vest as well. The man was scruffy looking and unkept not a rich merchant type not a servant either of one. He looked up and said "The stars look beautiful tonight," he commented then looked at Javal. The experience Javal had he knew something was off about this.

Sarne watched intently as the man and Javal talked listening and thinking about The man's statement about the stars "By all the gods" said Sarne in frustration. "Sorry he does not know it," said Sarne just enough to let the man hear Sarne.

The man rolled his eyes and then stepped past Javal. "Step aside," said the man with some frustration as he walked towards the wagon. Sarne gave a smile. "Sorry friend I forgot to tell you the password" said Sarne with a nod looking into Javal's eyes. Hoping he would get what Sarne was hinting at. The man was wide open with Javal behind him.

Sarne pitted the man. The man probably won't know what happened to him After Javal attacks him from behind. He would leave the Man to Javal. Sarne stood to his feet knowing that this was going to go south quickly.

Sarne whistled. Two red blades appeared in the dark behind one of the guards at the barn. The blades moved with speed and precision as Nordic slashed the man from behind coming out of the shadows. With the sound of cutting and burning flesh the man wanted to scream but could not as his head rolled off his body and hit the ground just before his body did.

The other guard by the barn ran over just to see the headless body lying there. Another guard Half Orc walked out of the house "What in Lunala's name is going on out here?" The Half Orc said loudly. He was dressed in a red cloak and vest with a battle axe in his hand.

“I think so? I think we have a delivery for you if I remember correctly”, the fellblood replies honestly, unable to lie even if he wanted to.



“The stars do look pretty nice though I’ll admit I mean have you seen them up there”, he looks up and points, “Makes you wonder if you fly high enough you think you can reach them someday? I mean I can imagine some really powerful space-domain sorcerer would be able to do that. The sky is pretty cool in general I’d say”, and proceeds to ramble on about the night sky not realizing the gravity of the situation.



It was only then when Sarne diverted the attention and excused the young fellblood’s behavior did he stopped talking. He stepped aside and let the man take a look at their wagon looking at his fellow with confusion, “What password? I don’t remember any password friend?”, He turned his head trying to remember but it was when his retainer motioned for him to hit the man in front of him that he realized they were doing a sneaky trick.



He immediately grabs his katana from his side and slams it while it’s sheathed into the man’s head with such strength (1) it knocks him out clean. He quickly apologizes for sneaking up on the man but it’s too late and he’s already unconscious. Before he can say anything else another red rogue fellow appears heavily armed and on edge already. He spots his compatriot on the floor with Javal standing over him and asks no questions, deciding to immediately attack the two adventurers swinging his war ax towards the two trying to get them.

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1. Bulls Strength

Sarne moved forward He had concealed his sword and Kukri Blade under his cloak. Sarne adopted a stance where his arms hovered slightly angular to his hips with a weapon in each hand, preparing to do just about anything from feints, slashes, stabs, and parries at a moment's notice.

[1] Sarne waited for the orc to swing his large axe at Sarne. Blocking the Axe with the Kukri Blade Sarne slashed with the [2] Paladin's Blade cutting right through the orc's padding armor and into the orc's chest. blood spilled from the orc's chest and out of the orc's mouth. The Orc fell to its knees and then over twitching choking on its blood.

When the other guard by the barn turned to see Sarne and Javal attack his leaders. The guard felt something hit his throat he tuned in to see Nordic standing there. The guard did not even see Nordic move. Feeling light-headed then feeling something wet run down the guard's chest as he fell to the ground choking.

Sarne moved towards the house quickly not giving any time for who was inside anytime to react. Sarne knew Javal would not be far behind Sarne. Walking into the house Sarne saw the family was tied up and on the floor. two men had crossbows and pointed at Sarne. They fired to Sarne's surprise. Taking a step back from the two crossbow bolts hitting his armor. Sarne grunted a few drops of blood ran down his armor. One of the bolts must have got a lucky pierced the armor.

Sarne looked down at the crossbow bolts and grind "That is all you can do? Nothing else to save your miserable lives? That is a shame." Sarne said his tone sinister, low, and mocking. Sarne knew they were about to be taken down by Javal there was no doubt about what was about to happen to the two men.



[1] Harrying Guard
[2] Paladin's Blade / Holy Avenger/ Bulls Strength

The eager fellblood was about to lunge towards their attacker but before he could Sarne was already on it. He smiled with excitement as he saw the man skillfully block their foe’s attack. The orc fellow was a fearsome-looking guy so to see his friend so easily hold him off and then retaliate with his great power made Javal want to see more of Sarne’s abilities. Quickly enough the orc fell in battle and the two were now left having to deal with his superiors. Javal quickly rushed forward and ran behind Sarne as the two entered the house ready to free but needed help.



“Hey Sarne see anything yet?”, he questions as he opens the door and enters the house only to be surprised to see a hostage situation in front of him.



He then saw his friend get attacked but still held on strong not giving the fiendish villains the satisfaction of seeing him down. Javal then opened his mouth not wanting to do a large-scale attack that could hurt the innocent people inside. He gathered water into his stomach which rose to his throat and then shot a condensed water straight (1) at one of their heads quickly making him fly across the room. He then fires another one of the aqua bullets at the other grunt doing the same. He fired three more shots at them leaving them knocked out.



He quickly rushes towards the people tied up and gets to work cutting their bindings and freeing them asking, “Is everyone okay here? How’re you feeling Sarne?”.

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1. Aqua Bullets

With the hostages, safe [1] Sarne walked by as a pulse of light came from Sarne. A full power the celestial can influence others, spreading its aura of kindness and righteousness throughout the environment. Sarne waved of invigorating energy to surround him and the hostages. It started to relax them and also heal their bodies, allowing them to continue against evil. A mass healing aura of light filled the room this instantly healed Sarne and all of the hostages and Javal of all minor and major wounds.

Sarne walked over tied up the bandits and gagged them. Sarne did not recognize them from anywhere so they just joined the crew of the Red Rogue. sarne smiled and turned back to Javal with a smile."This looks like it is it, my friend I hope we have stopped them here and the people can live in peace," remarked Sarne standing back up after tying up the bandits. Sarne looked over the hostages. Satisfied with their recovery. Sarne walked over to the door and whistled the all-clear.

Sarne looked at Javal "Let us clean this place up load those two in the wagon and get the proof to the city guard," suggested Sung with a grin. Then turned to Nordic who was walking up. "Help clean up and get back to the city guard house." instructed Sarne looking outside. Nordic replied with a nod, "As you with Captain." replied Nordic.

[1]Prevailing Justice

A feeling of calm and rest would come over Javal as Sarne walked over to the hostages filling him with a sense of renewed conviction. They were close to finishing the night and keeping everyone safe they could do this, he knew they could. While Sarne tended to the bandits tying them up, the fellblood would check on the hostages, calming them down and talking to them before signaling for them to hurry and escape back to where they’d belonged. Without much argument, the hostages quickly ran not before thanking the pair of adventurers greatly for saving them.



Seeing that Javal would smile, turning to speak to his friend, “Indeed Sarne it appears that the night of the Red Rogue has come to an end. We have put a stop to injustice and villainy from a group of crimson-colored cruel criminals. We did it and now Charon’s better for it, no one's gonna have to be worried about getting randomly kidnapped again or at least I hope so. You’re right we should clean up and wrap up this crazy night", he’d then start going around picking stuff and cleaning it making sure everything was as it was before.

Sarne gave a grin to Javal "Yes it is over for now. but there is always someone who tries to make more trouble you cut off the head of a snake and another one replaces it." replied Sarne looking over to Javal. "I am glad it was you my friend who helped me with this." said Sarne with a bow. Sarne also started to help pick up things and clean up.

Nordic was outside doing the cleanup out there getting everything together. Looking at all the stolen stuff in the barn the stacks of boxes knowing it was going to take a while to get all of this stuff back to the owners.

Sarne looked outside as he heard horses ride up. Naesala, Vamir, and The Grey Citadel Guard were with them. They all got off their horses and started to help get everything back in order. Taking the dead men and placing them in the wagon. Sarne gave orders to the Citadel Guard on what to do. It would take them a few hours to get everything in order. It would be a long night. As the sun raised. Sarne said his good bye to the family and insured they would be taken care of and Sarne would stop by later to check on them. Looking at Javal. "I do not know about you But I am hungry stop by the keep with me? breastfed should be good." suggested Sarne with a smile.