Freeday, Coldeven 7, 575 cy

Meti and Frate continued questioning their prisoner, who maintained her stance that the characters are bandits who have been attacking travelers outside of the village. All were in agreement that they should go before the Lord Mayor to resolve the matter. When exiting the establishment, however, they found that the village Bailiff and a contingent of spear-wielding militia had gathered outside the entrance. After some questioning about the commotion at the inn, the Seventh Lance presented their priestess prisoner, who was taken into custody, while the Lancers were ordered to remain in the Inn until morning, at which point the Lord Mayor would hear their arguments.

The Seventh Lance, badly in need of rest, bedded down in the inn for the night, with Meti on watch. A short time later, the ranger heard the sound of creeping footsteps on the ground floor, below, and then on the stairway. As he maneuvered to the stairs to confront the source, a voice called out indicating that they were not a threat. Upon meeting, the two male elves gave their names as Dorian and Llywillan. After revealing their objective as a reconnaissance mission out of the Gran March to investigate the issues facing Orlane, Meti allowed them to approach and review the scene of the recent battle at the inn, including the reptilian creatures that lay dead in their room. The elves offered the cottage they had rented as a means of respite for the group, but the Lance ultimately chose to remain at the inn as ordered and justly present themselves to the Lord Mayor in the morning.

Grover and the militia arrived at the Golden Grain Inn an hour after dawn to escort the group to the Lord Mayor’s manor. As they approached, a gathering of additional militiamen could be seen there, as well as a man pointing in the Lancer’s direction shouting, “that’s them”! Meti soon recognized the man by his helmet, which he had seen in the shadows of a copse of trees after being attacked by bandits on their way to Orlane.

The group was brought to the Lord’s court, where they were heard; the Lancers arguing that they had been assaulted by the priestess and her accomplices, including “lizard men” while the priestess, named as Misha Devi, accused them of being bandits, liars and that there were no such “lizard men” involved in the altercation. In addition, the new accuser was revealed to be a nobleman of House Heth, and claimed that the Seventh Lance had assaulted his Heth Riders on the roads outside of Orlane. Despite an attempt to charm the Lord by Enid, with Frate and Jacobiz providing distractions, the Mayor remained unconvinced of their innocence and ordered everyone to immediately go to the Golden Grain to see the remains of the “lizard men” in person.

Upon arrival, the bodies of the reptilian creatures were no longer present and the Lord Mayor ordered that the Seventh Lance be imprisoned until sentencing. Grover announced that the local gaol didn’t have enough room for the entire group and so ordered that the inn’s basement be used as a makeshift cell. When asked how long it will be until sentencing, the Bailiff indicated that it would occur the following day.

The five members of the Seventh Lance were stripped of their weapons and ushered into the basement of the Golden Grain Inn, along with Meti’s canine, Kana. The group explored the rooms of that lower level, finding only a dry storage and wet storage until Kana began sniffing around at one of the walls, pacing back and forth, which prompted further search. Eventually a seam in the wall was found and a secret door revealed via a torch-sconce-lever. Beyond the hidden portal was a room with a ladder rising from floor to ceiling, as well as a stout wooden door.

Beyond the door, the Lancers found a network of unlit, roughly-excavated passages. While searching the passages the group encountered a snake at least a foot in diameter and ten feet in length, which they avoided, as well as a large statue, likely carved from ivory and set atop a large stone base, of a serpent with a human’s head.

Further exploration brought them to a den of malevolent, humanoids that crawled out of the darkness of their cave and into the torchlight, clawing and biting at the group like mad cannibals. Enid’s Sleep magic proved ineffective against these foes and, in the fracas, Kana was wounded, quickly becoming motionless. Meti was able to save her at the last moment, however, carrying the dog away before the creatures could descend upon her.

Fleeing for their lives, the group retraced their steps and put enough distance between themselves and their pursuers to allow Meti enough time to douse the passage in lamp oil and set it ablaze. This worked as planned and the creatures progress was halted, as they grunted and hissed from the far side of the flames. The Lancers took the opportunity to hustle back to the room leading into the cave complex, secure the door and ascend the ladder therein.

At the top of the ladder, a trap door in the ceiling opened to reveal an unoccupied bedroom, in which a desk with paperwork, a locked trunk and two doors was found: one leading out of the inn and the other leading into its interior. After some deliberation, the group decided to send Enid, cloaked by her newly-learned invisibility magic, to retrieve the key ring from the innkeepers body, which they presumed was still on the second floor of the inn. While making her way there, however, the elf found that the groups’ weapons had been stored in the common room of the inn, where three militiamen were seated, having drinks and conversing. The elf was able to recover all of the groups' weapons except for the spears and nearly Mehmet's scimitar, which she dropped twice, alerting the guards, but was able to conceal it invisibly at the last moment. As two of the guards rushed to check the basement, the Lancers were able to escape from the inn, bringing with them the trunk they’d found. Making their way around the back of the nearby livery, the group went undetected on their route to the cottage of their new elven friends, who soon gave them entry.

After the Lancers conveyed their most recent experiences at the inn, the elves relayed that a local farmer's son named Samel returned to the village after going missing a tenday ago and entered the temple before dawn. Turning their attention to the locked trunk that was stolen from the Golden Grain Inn, Dorian offered up an axe as a means of opening it. As Frate hacked it open, however, a gas poured from the trunk, causing the movements of everyone in the place to become slowed. Not long after, Llywillan sighted militiamen combing the village and getting closer to their cottage. By the time the militia knocked at the elves' door, however, the effects wore off enough that Dorian was able to respond to the men’s inquiries normally, sending them along their way in search of the prisoners missing from the Golden Grain Inn.