Wonderful 20.

Belinswae. The City Of Falnic...

"Sorry to interrupt you all" says the justifier Parquet El "I rather doubt that" dryly says Riley Hait the mercenary ranger in the elven language. Which causes Helbe the elven thief to frown at the Ranger Hait, and sir Percavelle Lé Dic to guffaw, then say "I don't know what the ranger chap just said, but by the great god Narille I'm guessing he said something rather witty, wot".
The paladin in the order of Saint Mar-che with his elbow then nudges Shur Kee the monk who is sitting beside him at the table, as if to get the acolyte in the order of Bru Li in on the joke as well.
Shur Kee remains silent, while sir Percavelle shuts up when Helbenthril Raendril scowls at him, and Riley aka Zubutai the barbarian hordesman goes back to eating the last of his meal, and seemingly ignores the justifier who along with one of his guards has just entered the dining room in their suite.
The justifier, a man of medium height, who like the majority of townsmen, is dark haired, and tanned skin, clears his throat as if about to say something, but Helbe the elven thief beats him to it, and says "How may we help you justifier?" the shielded elven magic user senses Parquet El, a sorcerer, to make sure he doesn't cast anything that might find out something he shouldn't.
"The young man was seen earlier entering the city again" says Parquet El the sorcerer who nods to where Tamric Drubine has sat back down, the justifier, who is part guard commander, part local official, part political leader, rolled into one, who rules like a dictatorial nobleman, continues with "I'm afraid i will have to check his weapon again".
"Sure, no problem" says Helbenthril Raendril who knows that the justifiers have a strict rule of law when it comes to any magical item, not just weapons. In other words, they want to control them, there use and availability, and if anyone else has them, they're not to be used within their domain unless under extreme circumstances.
The elven princeling nods to Tam, and tells him "Go and get it" the nobleborn youngster from the kingdom of Sarcrin shrugs his  shoulders, gets up and heads to the room he's using, the former heir to the knight of castle Drubine returns to the dining room with his sword, which he hands to the justifier.
"Did you use this sword while you were gone from the city?" asks the sorcerer El who looks closely at the weapon while sensing it "I did" replies Tamric Drubine, which draws a few sideways looks from the others, and for the justifier and his guard to look sharply at the nobleborn youngster, who has sat back down at the table to finish eating an apple.
"You did?" asks Parquet El with a slight frown upon his face as he looks down at the weapon and continues to sense the sword for any recent use "I did" says Tam inbetween bites of his apple, the justifier looks at him once more, then asks "Against whom?".
Tamric Drubine tells him "Road bandits" the justifier stares at him for a few moments, then asks "Where?" the nobleborn youngster finishes his apple, then says "Along the southeast road that goes inland" he continues to tell the sorcerer El where along the road he ran into a couple of groups of bandits.
Probably wanting to know if they're his bandits Tam came across, Helbe the elven thief dryly thinks to himself, as he knows that corruption is rampant amongst the justifiers who rule Falnic and this area of Belinswae.
It seems the bandits in question aren't in the pay of the sorcerer El, because he says "Hopefully you got rid of those criminals for good" the son of the former knight of castle Drubine nods, then says "I did" he continues with "There's eight less bandits harassing the people along that road now".
"Eight?" says the justifier in a surprised tone of voice, who looks down at the sword he's holding, and frowns before he looks at the youngster who still isn't thirteen years old yet, and he says "With this sword?". "Yep" says Tamric Drubine, who after the sorcerer El says "That doesn't make sense" he says "I used the sword alright, i didn't say i used it's magic".
There's silence in the dining room as the justifier and his guard takes that in, while Tam reaches forward, and from a bowl in the center of the table, he takes a small, tart orange that's grown in this part of Belinswae, and peels it, before eating it a segment at a time.
Into the silence, sir Percavelle, who normally speaks in an overly loud voice, even inside in a private conversation, says in a reasonable volume of voice to the sorcerer El "And to think, the lad is the youngest and the less experienced amongst us. Makes you stop and think about certain things, wot?".
After a few moments, the justifier nods his head, then holds out the sword for Tamric Drubine to take back, the nobleborn youngster gets up, takes his sword back, and sits back down after leaning the magical sword, which was obtained three years ago in the elven principality of Alínlae, against the wall behind him.
The sorcerer El then looks over at sir Percavelle and says to him "And you sir knight, have you used your sword and shield lately?" the nobleman from the kingdom of Druvic, who five years ago was trying to kill some of those sitting at the table with him, snorts in a dismissing manner, before he says in his too loud voice "My good man, you would definitely know if i had".
You got that right, Helbe the elven thief dryly thinks to himself, it's pretty much the same thought the others have. For the simple reason the paladin in the order of the Knights of Saint Mar-che tends to be a walking disaster zone, attacking anyone and everyone who may slight him in anyway.
The earl of Lé Dic in the kingdom of Druvic is second to one other in the group who acts in the same way. Unsurprisingly they do not get along with another, though the fact that they've been trying to kill one another since they first encountered each other eight years ago might have something to do with it.
Helbenthril Raendril who is glad for one thing, and one thing only with the trio of lord Farque, Dorc da Orc and Mira Reinholt being missing is that the ork warleader and the paladin in the order of Saint Mar-che aren't in the same place, or city for that matter.
Looks at the justifier who is a sorcerer, and says to him "Is there anything else we can help you with?" after a moment, Parquet El shakes his head, then says "No, that is all" the justifier, one of a small number of them based here in the city of Falnic, which they govern together, then says to Tamric Drubine and sir Percavelle " Remember to adhere to the laws of the use of magical items" then he and his guard make their way out, accompanied by Tam who escorts them to the front door, while an unseen Narladene the ground pixie follows them.
Those in the dining room, especially Helbe the elven thief and Dalinvardél Tanith with their naturally enhanced hearing, listen to Parquet El tell his guard to send a wyvern rider down the southeast road, to check on the sites where Tamric Drubine encountered the road bandits recently.
Once the sorcerer and his guard are out of the suite, Riley Hait the mercenary ranger speaks up and says "Busybody" the others all agree, and the human ranger who is originally from the elven principality of Envadarlen in the Southlands, adds "And to think he's one of the more moderate, and less corrupt out of the bunch".
Tamric Drubine returns to the dining room, and those who have yet to finish their meals, do so. Once they do, the elven masterthief who is the leader of the group, for the simple fact he's been with the group of adventurers the longest, apart from the original trio of lord Farque, Dorc da Orc and Mira Reinholt the mage. Gives the others the tasks they're to do for the rest of the day, which as usual since arriving in Falnic, is to find out any information about the missing trio.
The young elven noble assigns tasks, starting with "Shur Kee and Riley go down to the river mouth and find out anything you can down in those docks, see if anything has been seen or heard about them from downriver that's new". "Yes friend Helbe" says Shur Kee, and the ranger Hait nods to this, as they'll head down to the docks that are about half a mile south of the city walls, where the mouth of the river, which gets a lot of shipping along it from the south of Belinswae, opens out into the ocean.
"Dalin you and Percavelle continue here in the main docks" says the elven princeling, which causes Dalinvardél Tanith to wryly smile, and in a dry tone say "Sure thing" as he's stuck with the paladin in the order of Saint Mar-che for the afternoon, a task that's always less than enviable, which no one really wants to do if they can help it, and given half a chance to get out of it, they will.
"And you two are with me" says Helbe the elven thief to Tam and Lis, the elven master assassin who wants to keep a close eye on the two youngsters since their little sojourn out of the city a few days ago, tells them "We'll go up into the hillside neighbourhoods and see what we can find out" Tamric Drubine and Lisell Maera nod. They both figured the elven prince from the island of Laerel will keep a close eye on them since their escapade outside of the city walls.
They group get up from the table, and after sir Percavelle dons his armour, and gets his magical shield and sword, a weapon that looks like a cut down longsword, which he only got back a year ago when he joined the group, after it being in the hands of someone who took it from him eight years ago.
They leave the suite they're using in the White Gull inn, and once outside in the early afternoon sunshine, they disperse and go out into the city of Falnic, and continue on in their search for the missing trio of lord Farque, Dorc da Orc and Mira Reinholt the mage . . . . . .