Sapphire:Sessions:20140621

Harvest Time 19, near sunset.

Rory picks up the sword of the guard who surrendered. Inside the room the guard came from, Rory finds a young woman, dazed or drugged, bound with leather straps to a bed. From the family resemblance, he guesses this is Ed Taylor's daughter. He calls to Gavin and instructs him to free the girl and take her downstairs to her father.

Chalker sizes up the guard, who says his name is Todd. "When are the other soldiers due back?" "Tomorrow, sunset." "If you're lying," Chalker growls, "I'll cut your thumb off and stick it up your ass."

Chalker searches the dead mage, finding a small symbol of Cor, a couple of rings (including a poisoner's ring), and a purse containing 10 silvers. He notes that the mage looks older that he did while alive. Going through the desk, Chalker loads up a sack with scrolls, maps, and a strongbox containing several bags of gold and silver coins as well as an assortment of gemstones of quality ranging from poor to excellent. He opens the strongbox's false bottom and finds a document, decorated with heraldic symbols, evidently linking the mage to the lineage of the local dukedom. "He was going to use this to legitimize his takeover," Chalker reasons.