If you can't remember where we left off, I suggest you go back and read Episode 1, I don't have time to start this story over again!

While it may appear that he is one of the wealthiest men on the planet to the two farm boys he has hired as "guards", Magnus the young cleric is discovering that his supply of coin is just not up to the task of hiring an army to help him recover the lost Relic. In fact, after three days of scouring taverns of steadily decreasing reputation, he had only succeeded in hiring one self-proclaimed thief by the name of Horatio. To be honest, that transaction may not exactly count as a "hiring". Horatio was so anxious to get started on his first real adventure as a thief that he signed on with Magnus completely forgetting to establish the financial terms of their arrangement.

After two more days of fruitless searching, Magnus decided, with that amazing clarity of thought that is often brought on by an overdose of reality, that it is more important to figure out what happened to the Relic than it was to charge back in with an overwhelming force of men. If he was going to have to report the failure of his first command, he needed to be able to explain exactly what happened and what would be needed to recover the stolen object.

The trip from Orlane to the site where the attack occurred would take 8-10 days. Building on the valuable experience gained on their first journey together the group made setting a watch at night part of their daily routine and that made things MUCH less eventful. On the second night, they made camp not too far away from where they were attacked by goblins on the first trip. Exploring their old campsite showed a scorched area where their campfire was and some signs of the fight in the disturbed grass and dirt but there were absolutely no signs of the six goblins that had been killed there. No bodies, no clothing, nothing. That same night, the party was awakened by a large group of Temple Guards uncharacteristically traveling by night. Malfoy, not wanting to take a chance on surprising such a large and, more importantly, well-armed, group stepped into the middle of the road ahead of the guards to announce his presence. The guards stopped long enough to ask about the road ahead and explain to Malfoy and Horatio that an important delivery to their Temple in Andevar was more than 10 days past due and they were checking to see what happened to it. So far, that had not noticed anything unusual on the road between Andevar and Orlane so they were traveling at night trying to get to Oralne as quickly as possible to continue their investigation. Both Horatio and Malfoy thought it a bit odd that Magnus stayed off the road to the rear of the campsite and made no attempt to talk to the Temple Guards at all much less inform them that he was in charge of the missing delivery mission but neither asked him about it directly.

The only other incident before the party reached the site of the attack was when Hendrix rods up next to Magnus and started whispering to him while pointing at a farmer working in his field a little ways off the road. Magnus called a halt, dismounted and, leaving the rest of the group behind, walked over to talk to the farmer. They were too far away to hear any of the conversation but it looked like the farmer was very angry and Magnus had a hard time calming hm down. Eventually. Magnus reached for his pouch and money changed hands. At this point the farmer's demeaner changed quite a bit. As they parted, the farmer was waving to Magnus and the party on the road as if they were long lost friends. While Magnus walked back to join the group, Hendrix explained that this was the place where he had "borrowed" the horse that he used to carry the injured Magnus to the boys' village. Hendrix had been instructed to identify the farm on the return trip so Magnus could pay the farmer for his horse. Judging by the Farmer's reaction, he was repaid at least as well as Malfoy had been for paying for the room at the inn when Magnus was injured.