Summary of Amulet Team #2: The Murder of Maury Miller
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ADVENTURE NOTES--Day #1--04/06/07

Let's Be Briefed:
    The call finally came one spring afternoon.  Grif Calhoun strutted into
the briefing room to find the four of them waiting.  He congratulated them on
completing training and welcomed them to their first mission briefing.
    As their first mission, they were being given something that should be
routine (as if any mission worth hiring adventurers for was really routine!).
The client, Baron Cobbish, was hiring them to stop an arson in the village
of Lowick.  The village is located north of Brandmore, the capital city of 
the barony.  They are to go to Brandmore and get the details from
Administrator Barney Hern.  The group would be paid 2,500gp minus expenses
(or 500gp each) for the mission.
    As they knew from their training, the briefing is a chance to get as
much outside perspective on the mission as they can.  Once they deploy to
the actual area, they'll be on their own.  Knowing this, the group learned
the following about Cobbish:
 - The baron is a halfling, as is about 1/3 the population of the barony.
   Most of the rest of the population is human, but there are also some
   centaurs.
 - The economy is based primarily on raising cattle and growing grains.

File It Under Hero:
    After the briefing, the team made their way past the quartermaster's
office where they requisitioned healing potions from Buck.  Then they went
to the tele-pad, where the travel mage was waiting.  From there it was a
short "poof" to Brandmore.
    Once past security, they were greeted by a young halfling named Snags
that was sent to bring them to Administrator Hern.  Snags was excited to
meet real heroes and asked endless questions of Moose (the obvious leader
for the group), such as "When was the last time you fought a dragon?"
("it's been a few weeks").
    An economy built on cattle and grain requires a lot of logistics to
operate.  And large scale logistics brings in large scale bureaucracy.
Snags led them to Hern's office in the midst of paper-pusher heaven.  They
found him at his desk reading then stamping papers and placing them into
baskets on his desk.
    After complaining about how long it took them to show up, Hern
described the problem.  The baron's representative to the village of 
Lowick, Rander Felwithe, sought help for a string of fires set by an
arson in the area.  They started about 3 months ago and have been getting
bigger and more frequent.  Apparently there's a fire nearly every night
this past week.  The team is to go out there and make the problem go away.
    Through additional questioning, the team learned that Hern is a grain
administrator and is not happy with having this kind of responsibility
placed on him, but he made the mistake of reporting to the Baron who then
pushed the job of solving the problem back on him.  Normally the Baron
would assign some of the military to the problem, but the military is
tied up fighting off a bugbear incursion to the south, which flared up
about 3 months ago.
    Hern nearly fainted when the team claimed they needed not only horses,
but feed for the horses, but he gave in when they pointed out that the
problem goes away faster if they can get to Lowick and back faster.  He
gave in, but he still insisted on the proper paperwork being filed, which
took even more time.  They also secured paperwork signed by the Baron
granting them the rights of deputies to carry out the job.
    They also learned that the grain output from Lowick has been going down
for the last 9 months.
    Snags escorted them from there to the stables to get their horses.
Along the way, Diggs used a minor spell to make Moose's armor sparkle,
which Snags applauded.  Moose was heard to exclaim as he walked down the
street, "Look at me.  I'm a hero!".

Camping Out:
    The team got directions from the stable hands, then made their way out
of town on the road north to Lowick.  The travel took them through farmland,
hills, and woods.  The land was mostly tame.
    As night came, the group had a choice to make.  They could push on into
the night and make it to Lowick in darkness, or camp and arrive in the 
morning instead.  They decided to set up camp at a site Grieves picked out 
for them, which was praised by all as a great location.
    Grieves called his other bloodhound dog, Old Blue, to be on watch along
with Doc.  Victor got the first watch as the others decided to get some
sleep.

Sticky Business:
    In the middle of the first watch, Old Blue began to bark and Victor
heard something to the south.  He used a Message spell to wake Moose,
then cast a Dancing Lights to light up the area so he could see what was
coming.  It was a group of four bugbears!
    Diggs was the first to act, using his wand to drop a Web spell over
the four attackers, blocking them from sight.  With no time to put on his
armor, Moose grabbed his sword, set the webs on fire, and made his way 
into combat in his underwear, while Grieves summoned a crocodile to assist
in their defense.
    The bugbears were strong enough to break free of the webs and as each
one emerged, they were engaged by the team.  The first one out fought the
crocodile and then was put down by a Magic Missile from Diggs.  The second
one out sparred with Moose before being slain in a single blow.  The
third and fourth ones out teamed up against Moose and Victor.  Victor was
knocked unconscious in the scuffle while Diggs fired Magic Missiles into
the fight.  Doc defended Victor's limp form while Moose mowed the two 
remaining bugbears down with his great sword.
    The fight over, Grieves healed Victor and the team worked together to
keep the fire from the flaming webs from spreading.


ADVENTURE NOTES--Day #2--04/20/07

Spoils of Victory:
    In the morning, the team searched around and discovered that the
bugbears had dropped a set of sacks a short distance from the camp.
They searched them and found an odd assortment of shiny household items
(like candlesticks and metal plates) and food (like a half-eaten loaf
of bread).  They decided to take these with them.
    They dickered a bit about searching the mutilated bodies, but did
that as well, finding only a few coins and some poor equipment.  They
decided to bury the bodies, but to put the four bugbear heads in a sack
to deliver to a magistrate as proof for their story.
    With the dirty work done, they packed up and got on their way.

First Contact:
    They made it into Lowick late in the morning.  The village was 
nestled in some rolling hills and meadows up against a small lake.  The
morning air held the scent of woodsmoke as they passed by a series of
small farms.  They occasionally caught glimpses of the lake with several
small fishing boats out on it.
    The first building they stopped at had the look of a store and a
sign "Stump's Trading Post".  Four elderly halflings were sitting on
the porch in a way that made you think they had probably been there for
years.
    Victor gave Diggs the deputization papers and sent Diggs over to 
find out where they might find Rander.  Diggs bounced up and asked for
directions.  He was told that Rander lived about four miles out of
town back the way they came.  And to turn left just past where the
Johnsons used to live and go a ways up that road.  Can't miss it.
Diggs explained that he didn't know the Johnsons, and Stump proclaimed
"But e'ryone knows the Johnsons!"  Figuring he wasn't going to get more
info, he retreated to the main group.
    Moose then tromped up and into the store, looking to see what was
there, then asked about furniture.  Stump watched him stomp around,
then showed him some halfling sized pieces.  Stump and his crew were
growing a bit more sarcastic in their tone toward the group as time
wore on, so they decided to move on.
    They passed several other shops on the way to the lake shore where
two fishermen had just arrived.  The two men greeted them warmly and
welcomed them to Lowick.  Grieves stepped forward and said they were
here on the Baron's mission and the two men got quieter.  He then asked
for directions to Rander's.  One man said it was about 4 miles out of
town, about 100 yards past the oak that was split by a lightning bolt.
Turn left and follow that up into the hills.  Grieves asked why Rander
lived out there and got a cold "It's not our place to question our
betters" in response.
    Victor spoke up saying that they defeated some bugbears and wanted
to report this.  The fishermen suggested talking to the mayor and
pointed to the big house on a nearby hill.

Music and Revelations:
    They arrived at a lovely home set on a hilltop overlooking the lake
and the town, with the sound of harpsichord music.  William pulled out
his clarinet and played along.  The tune was a popular one a few years
back so he was familiar with it.
    The serving woman, an older halfling, invited them into the parlor
and served tea and cakes, then inquired as to their business.  While she
was away, Victor reclaimed the deputization papers from Diggs and 
informed Moose that when the time came, Moose should ask Victor for the
papers.  
    A short time later, the music wrapped up and in came a well dressed 
halfling who introduced himself as Mayor Shepton.  The Mayor looked the
group over and addressed Victor as the leader of the team (which was a
little bit of a surprise since everyone else always singled out Moose).
He also praised William's skill.  Then they talked business.
    The team never mentioned Rander and merely said they were sent by
the Baron to solve the arson problem.  Mayor Shepton provided them with
information that the arsons started about 3 months and confirmed what
the group had learned so far.  He added to this that so far no people
had been hurt and that some of the farmers claimed to see a living
scarecrow at the scene of the fires.  The Mayor considered this unlikely.
Perhaps someone was dressing up as a scarecrow, however.
    They also told the Mayor that they had encountered bugbears.  This
surprised him since there had been no word of them this far north.  The
group showed him the four heads (yuck!) and also the bags of loot.
Shepton said that he recognized a couple of the items from households
to the south (where the group had come from).  He had not heard from
them in a while, and perhaps they were in trouble.
    Everyone agreed that it would be best to get out there in a hurry,
so the Mayor invited them to lunch.  The group was a bit surprised to
see the Mayor stall, but he explained that no one could be expected to
handle an emergency on an empty stomach!

Out and About:
    Once they had fed, the serving woman gave them packed meals for the
afternoon and they headed off back along the way the group came in.
Along the way Shepton shared his tale of how he was an adventurer for
a short while himself, but retired and came back to his hometown to
become Mayor.  They asked him about Rander, but he uncharacteristically
said little.  Only that Rander had started about 10 months ago.
    At the first farmhouse, the group found the family cleaning up the
damage to their home.  They hid in the storm cellar while the bugbears
raided the place.  They got a warning from the dog.  The dog did not
survived.  The Mayor gave them back some stolen belongings.
    At the second farmhouse, the family lost a farmhand, but they had
killed one bugbear of the five that attacked.
    A little more riding and they found a third farm that had been
raided.  It looked like just the three farms before the party wiped them
out.  All the people were happy to know that the Baron's men were
protecting them.

Investigation:
    On the way back into town, they stopped at the site of the most
recent fire.  A barn burned down two night back.  Grieves summoned up
Old Blue, his bloodhound, cast a Speak with Animals and asked Blue to
sniff for unusual smells... and in particular oil.  Old Blue located
the remains of a broken lantern on the outside of where the barn wall
would have been and said it reeked of oil.  The team guessed that the
fire was started by the lantern being thrown at the barn.
    They then questioned the household.  They wanted to know if grain
was stored there?  Yes.  How much?  Just enough to feed the animals.
They didn't really find much evidence along the lines of fraud or that
people might be burning grain to lower the output.
    Diggs used his power to speak with a nearby spider but didn't
learn anything that they hadn't already learned.
    The lady of the house said that she knew who did it.  The Scarecrow!
She saw it herself standing on the edge of the firelight as the barn
went up in flames.  The group rode out and around the farm to check out
the various scarecrows.  There was no sign of anyone being near or
tampering with the ones on this farm.  They discussed the possibility of
a more thorough search of scarecrows in the area, but it was getting 
late so they made their way back to Mayor Shepton's place.

Stake Out:
    After a nice dinner with the Mayor, the team set up a watch for the
early evening.  So far all the fires had been between dusk and midnight.
They kept the horses saddled and had a boy handy who could run to the
town bell and ring it.  They they waited.
    And waited.
    And waited.
    They must have dozed off a bit because the barn across the village
was bursting into flame before they noticed it.
    The team leaped on their horses and charged to the scene.  They arrived
and didn't see any sign of the culprit at first, then Victor spotted a 
Scarecrow at the edge of the firelight.  He cast a Dancing Lights over it 
to light it up.  Diggs and Grieves came on one horse and Grieves dropped
off at the site of the fire.
    Diggs, Victor, Moose, and William began chasing after the Scarecrow
while Grieves stayed behind to summon a small Water Elemental.  He then
cast a Faerie Fire spell on the Scarecrow, making it glow.  Grieves then
had the Elemental quench the flames.  By the time the townsfolk arrived
the fire was already out.  The barn was damaged but was not lost.

The Final Straw:
    While Grieves was doing that, the other four began a wild chase
through the night after the Scarecrow, which managed to move almost as
fast as their horses.  Diggs cast a Magic Missile at it, blasting its right
arm off.  Then he cast a second one, blasting its head off.  After this, 
the Scarecrow sped up dramatically and moved out of range. 
    William stopped his horse to pick up the Scarecrow's decapitated head,
which he found to be normal in all ways (other than the Faerie Fire glow).
He then waited for Grieves to arrive.  Grieves summoned up a horse for
himself, caught up with William and the pair of them trailed behind the
other three in the chase.
    The Scarecrow led them on a pretty straight line across the land, 
staying out of range of their spells and leading them on at full speed
for a while before it slowed down and came to a stop in front of a 
dilapidated mill.
    The team came to a stop about 100 feet from the Scarecrow until
everyone was there.  Diggs summoned a 3 foot long Centipede behind it
and had it attempt to grapple the Scarecrow, but the Scarecrow ignored
it.  So he had it climb up and into the mill's window, hoping to get
a reaction.  Nothing happened.  Then the summoning spell wore off.
    William was wary of the Scarecrow head, thinking it might re-animate
but it did not.
    Victor went left and Moose went right in a circling action around
the mill to see if anything looked amiss and found nothing.
    Moose climbed off his horse and advanced on the scarecrow with his
greatsword in hand.  It just stood there as he hacked it in half with
one swing, leaving a pile of straw and clothing at his feet.
    The night was very still.

Milling Around:
    The front door of the mill was boarded up with a notice on it saying
that the mill was closed 4 months ago in the Baron's name on account of 
the owner not paying their taxes.  It was signed by Rander.
    Diggs pulled a crowbar from his pack and got the boards loose so the
team could look inside.
    Grieves had Old Blue sniff the Scarecrow's remains and around the 
mill but got no useful information.
    The ground floor of the mill was the actual milling area.
    The second floor was a storage area.  It was nearly empty except for
a severed rope which Victor found shortly after getting a creepy feeling
while checking out a trap door down to the ground floor.
    The third floor was a living area that had been quite obviously
trashed by someone.  Furniture was broken and things were tossed about.
With careful searching, they found the owner's journal and ledger.
    The journal showed that on the night before the building was boarded up
that there was a big meeting where someone was supposed to arrive.
"When he did, we told him off.  Ha!  It was priceless!  He slunk off like
a dog with its tail between its legs.  Finally!  It looks like we won't
have to worry about him anymore."  Then it noted that he played games
with his friend Anord for a bit.  After Anord left, it ended with an 
ominous "Have to go.  Heard a noise downstairs.".
    The ledger showed that the owner made about 115gp in income the 
previous month on 35gp of expenses.  But that he also paid 15gp to
"Baron's Tax" and an additional 245gp on "PD Tax".  His savings were
totaled at 515gp.

Something Stinks Around Here:
    They noticed that there was a trap door in the ceiling going to the
top floor, but no ladder.  The ladder that fit here was actually down on
the second floor.  Moose climbed up and opened it to find a windowless
room with a terrible stench.  There they found the remains of a man,
months old, with a noose around his neck.  The frayed end of the rope
matched the rope found on the second floor.
    There was very clearly some foul play at work here.

ADVENTURE NOTES--Day #3--05/04/07

Rumors in the Night:
    While the team was discussing the murder scene, a crowd of villagers
was slowly growing outside.  By the time they noticed, there were more
than 10 people in a clump nearby carrying torches and pitchforks.  They
had seen the mad chase across their farms, and followed behind (after a
little wait) to see what happened to the glowing scarecrow and the 
horsemen that followed.  They found the trail ended at the mill with some
horses, fragments of a scarecrow, and the broken seal on the mill door.
    They were scared and not sure what to do when Victor emerged from
the door.  Victor's first sight was a halfling boy poking at the scarecrow
remains with a stick.  He joked that the boy didn't need to worry about
the scarecrow any more.  They destroyed it.  The boy stepped back both
surprised and with a hint of awe.  Victor asked who lived here and the
boy said it was Maury Miller, but he disappeared months ago.
    Victor addressed the crowd and told them that the scarecrow had lit
the fire, but his team had destroyed it.  That the scarecrow was animated
by some unknown force.  And that since it led them to the mill, they felt
the need to investigate it, which is why they broke the seal.  He then
went on to tell them that a body had been found inside.
    Additional people were arriving as he talked, but they all looked 
shocked at the mention of a body.
    At this point Victor informed the crowd that he was part of a team
sent to stop the arson.  That they were the Baron's representatives, and
that Maury Milled was dead.
    The boy said "Maury's Dead?!" and ran off into the night.  The rest
of the villagers were talking amongst themselves and were quite animated
by this news.
    Moose stepped out and added that while the scarecrow was stopped,
the fires may not have been stopped.
    Mayor Shepton finally arrived and began working to disperse the crowd
by telling them to get some sleep and come to the town green tomorrow
for general discussion.  He was not pleased to hear the rumors flying
as people interpreted Victor's and Moose's information.

A Strawman Report:
    Once the townsfolk had been sent home, the tired Mayor made his way
to the group.  His first act was to thank Grieves for putting out the
fire.  The town was very grateful for his quick and thoughtful action.
The Mayor was accompanied by the same two fishermen the group had met
that morning, Pogo and Dunn.
    He then asked about the fate of the scarecrow.  The team showed him
the broken, headless remains on the ground (they did not show him the
head they had set aside).  The also explained that they had broken the
seal because they suspected the scarecrow had brought them here for a
reason.  And that inside they had found a body.
    Diggs escorted Dunn upstairs to have him look at and identify the
body.  Dunn confirmed it was Maury Miller and Diggs heard him angrily
say under his break "Those damn thugs!" as he came back down.  Diggs
and William asked Dunn if Maury had any enemies.  Dunn said that 
everyone knew Maury.  He was the miller.  No townsfolk would hurt him.
    While they were upstairs, Shepton asked if the fires would stop now.
Grieves gave a definitive "No".  Victor explained that he felt that the
scarecrow was formed by the spirit of Maury seeking justice and that it
likely would continue until his murder was solved.  No, they did not
have evidence of this, but he felt the circumstances matched.
    Victor then showed the journal and ledger to the Mayor, who read
them with a deadpan expression and handed them back.  Victor explained 
that he also felt Maury was robbed, as the money mentioned on the paper
was not present.  Grieves and Moose wanted to know what the Mayor thought
of the papers and he said that it was late and not the right place to
talk.  His place in the morning would be better.

Putting Maury to Rest:
    Diggs, William, and Dunn came down and explained that Maury had been
hung.  The Mayor and Pogo were very unhappy.  They decided that Maury 
should be buried tonight.  Before that, Grieves used his medical skills
to study the remains.  All he learned is that Maury had suffered several
broken ribs prior to death, so he was probably beat up badly.
    Moose and Grieves brought the body down after wrapping it in a 
blanket.  Pogo and Dunn worked on digging a grave under an old willow,
next to the grave of Maury's wife.  Moose helped dig and learned that
Maury's wife had passed away 4 years ago.  Moose said "I wonder who did 
it".  Pogo replied "We won't have to look very far".  Then Moose asked
"Were you at the meeting?" and got a cold "So what if we were!" response.
Apparently they didn't want to be reminded or asked about that topic.
The rest of the digging was done in silence.
    William played a dirge and Mayor Shepton said a few words for Maury.
Grieves blessed the grave site.
    Before leaving, Diggs used Mending on the seal to re-close the mill.
    The group rode back to town and went to sleep.  It had been a long
evening.

Sharing Food and Information:
    As breakfast wrapped up with Shepton, he shared a lot more detail
with the team.  They had proven their worth and that they were not sided
with the arson or with Rander.
    He said that Rander came to the area 10 months ago, and then about
9 months ago he began raising taxes.  The taxes went up every month until
about 4 months ago.  Since then they have been stable.  He revealed that
the extra taxes were called the "Private Defense Tax", which the group
noted was basically extortion of protection money.  The Mayor nodded,
then said that Rander Felwithe has 6 men that work for him and that 
enforce the rules.  The townsfolk did not have the ability to stand up,
and in any case Lord Felwithe is the appointed Baron's Representative and
tax collector in the area.
    The Mayor noted that Rander was the third son of Baron Felwithe.  The 
Felwithe barony on the northern border of this barony (the Cobbish
barony).
    At this point the team was determined to confront Rander, so they
saddled up and headed out.  Before going, they collected all the facts
they had into an official letter to the Baron and asked the Mayor to
send it if they didn't return.

First Impressions:
    Rander's estate was set in a meadow up a ravine, so it was difficult
to approach any way other than via the road.  At the entrance to the 
ravine, the group met a scruffy looking man who told them to halt.
Grieves said they wanted to see Lord Felwithe, but the man said the Lord
didn't talk to common adventurers and they better move along, as he is
one of the Baron's men.  The scruffy man pointed out that he was wearing
a dirty tabbard of the baron.  He looked happy with himself as if "that
oughta scare 'em off!".
    Victor pulled out the deputization and waved it in the man's face
saying that they were sent by the Baron to talk with Lord Felwithe and
they were going in no matter what.  Davrick (the scruffy man's name)
looked unhappy and walked over to his things.  He pulled out a horn and
blew it, then told the group to follow him in.
    He led them up the ravine.  At the end of it, two men in scale mail
with axes were there to meet them.  Finkle and Crabbin questioned the
group some more, but with quite a bit more tact and intelligence.
Finkle sent Crabbin to the house to see if Lord Felwithe would speak to
the team.  It wasn't long before Crabbin waved that it was okay.  Finkle
led them to the stables, then over to the house.
    Inside they met two more men, Trout and Shaber.  They were dressed
in finer clothing, wore chain mail, and carried swords as if they knew
how to use them.  They apparently functioned as bodyguards for Rander.
The team was led into a sitting room where Rander joined them.
    William did the talking for this first meeting, informing Rander that
they were sent by the Baron in response to Administrator Hern's report
from Rander.  Having just arrived, they were looking for information on
the fires.  Rander provided a poor subset of what the team already knew.
It was clear that he was not connected with the populace and didn't know
that the team had already been in town for a day.
    They did learn that Rander sent for help after his men failed to 
identify which village was the culprit.  He provided them with a list of 
names of suspects... which incidentally matched a similar list they saw
earlier from the Mayor of people that had fled the town in recent months.
    William then asked if there was someplace for the team to stay.  This
caused Rander to pause, then he offered up the guest cottage on the
property to the team.  Trout left the room during some small talk that
followed, then came back and led the team over to the "cottage".
Apparently, the 4 men (Davrick, Gissip, Crabbin, and Finkle) normally
lived there and had to move into the stables as a result of Rander's
decision.  This gave the group happy smiles, watching the thugs get put
down another notch.

The Incompetent Thugs:
    The group settled in, then got back on their horses and headed for
town to "investigate".  They waited until they were well out of the
compound before discussing what they had learned.  They surmised that
Rander was a fool and was disconnected.  They also noted how rich Rander
lived.  He had a large estate with well managed grounds.  He had a new,
highly defensible home with stables and cottage.  And the interior was
furnished with the finest of items.  He was definitely taking a cut off
the top of the taxes at least.
    As they talked and rode on horseback, Diggs dropped one of the
muffins he borrowed from the Mayor's table.  When trying to catch it,
he noticed another horseman well behind the group.  They were being 
tailed!  A short conversation later, they came up with a plan.
    After going over a rise, Grieves dropped off his horse and hid.  The
rest of the team hurried forward, putting extra distance in so the 
follower would have to move faster as well and likely miss Grieves.
    The rider turned out to be Crabbin.
    After he passed, Grieves made his way on foot back to the compound.
He snuck through the rough terrain and surveyed the area from the 
surrounding hills.  Grieves found the compound on alert, but it was
very poorly defended.  None of the men knew how to do a good patrol.
They were clearly thugs and not military.  After collecting as much
information as he needed on how things worked inside the compound, 
Grieves moved out to where he could watch for his friends to return.

Up In Arms:
    The group arrived in town, hoping the shake the tail, but instead
they found the townsfolk gathered in the green just like Mayor Shepton
had promised them the night before.
    The people were angry and worked up and the Mayor was trying to keep
the mob from violence.  It was clear that many people wanted to go out 
and take down Rander and his men.  Others, however, wanted to know what
was going to be done about the army of flaming scarecrows that were 
going to attack.  The Mayor couldn't be heard over the crowd.
    Diggs used a Ghost Sound spell to make a roar of a lion near the
Mayor.  This got the crowd's attention and the Mayor argued that it 
would be suicide to attack Rander.  Moose stepped up on stage and 
backed up the Mayor's story.  He promised that his team would take down
Rander in a proper way.  The two of them wove a convincing story,
especially considering that this same group had put out a fire, caught
the scarecrow, and discovered the murder the previous night.  They were
clearly from the Baron himself and not agents of Rander.
    This was important, because up until this point the group was 
generally viewed as being an extension of Rander's group of thugs.  They
had repeatedly said they were "representatives of the Baron", which the
people didn't understand was different from being people following
Representative Rander Felwithe.
    The crowd had been calmed.
    Victor looked around and noticed that Crabbin had moved close in
all the commotion and had heard all that happened here.  Crabbin jumped
on his horse and began to gallop off.  Victor tried a Sleep spell and
William tried a Lullaby spell, but Crabbin shook them off.  Diggs had
to resort to a Magic Missile at the horse to stop him.  The horse
stumbled, tossing Crabbin off (the horse got healed later for those ASPCA
members that might be reading :).  Victor closed on the Crabbin, jumped
off his horse and while holding his blade told Crabbin his was under
arrest.
    The already worked up crowd got to see one of their enemies here and
a small pocket of the violent ones split off to go take care of Crabbin
themselves.  William used a Lullaby spell to cause them to lose their
focus and become very drowsy.  Moose and the Mayor held the rest of the
crowd in check.
    Crabbin considered fighting for it, but he realized that with
Victor over him and Diggs standing there with another Magic Missile
ready, that he had no chance.  He surrendered.

Crabbin in the Box:
    They put Crabbin in the salt shed, a very solidly built building with
no windows and only one heavy door, which made it easy to guard.
    Crabbin demanded to know on what charge they were holding one of the
Baron's men on.  William told him, "murder!".  Crabbin seemed surprised
by this and shut up for a while.
    The team discussed how to get information out of Crabbin.  Victor
wanted a turn at him, but wanted to wait until the people in the area
thinned out so people wouldn't hear Crabbin scream if it came to that.
William and Diggs were strongly opposed to any torture.
    William went in and spoke first.  He told Crabbin that he knows about
the murder and extortion.  He offered that if Crabbin turns on Rander and
provides information, that they would ask for clemency for him.  And maybe
he wouldn't hang.  He added that he's sure Rander didn't do the dirty
work himself, and that Rander would likely blame it on Crabbin anyway.
After making his case, William left to let Crabbin think it over.
    Moose added that there was an angry crowd out there as well.  That if
he cooperates, he'll stand a better chance of even making it out of the
town alive.
    All the while Diggs sat by looking dangerous.
    It didn't take long for Crabbin to give in.  He told them that they
did indeed shake down the populace for tax money, but that Rander never
trusted anyone but himself to collect the actual coin.  That Finkle,
Gissip, Davrick and himself were only sent out when people were
reluctant to part with their money, then Rander went for a second visit.
It never required a third visit.
    He also admitted a role in the murder.  Rander ordered Finkle, Gissip,
and himself to kill Maury Miller following an attempted uprising the
miller had led.  They were supposed to get rid of the body, but got lazy
and just hid it without telling Rander.

Eyewitness News:
    They then asked Dunn (one of the fishermen) what happened at Maury's
mill on that night and got the story of Maury bringing the angry folks
together to refuse to pay Rander and how they sent Rander off.
    They asked about Anord and Dunn volunteered to take them out to
Anord's farm.  Anord had been staying out of town for months now and
was very touchy.  It would be best to have someone he knows introduce
them.
    After Dunn's introduction, Anord was happy to see them.  He stayed to
play games with Maury after the meeting and had just left before
Crabbin, Finkle, and Gissip arrived.  He heard the screaming but was
paralyzed with fear.  He saw the men leave.  He thought one of them saw
him and he had been hiding out ever since in case they decided to come
kill him as well.
    Anord knew of the scarecrow and felt very strongly that it was Maury's
restless spirit looking for justice.
    The group didn't know if they should believe this.  Some of them
suspected Anord or even the other villagers, but they had no proof.  No
matter what story you subscribed to, however, it was likely the fires 
were not going to stop until Rander was brought to justice.
    They sent a man on a fast horse with a pile of information and
signed by the team and the Mayor to Brandmore to get the Baron's
cavalry out to Lowick.

Second Impressions:
    The team met up with Grieves on the road to Rander's compound and
shared the news.  They brought along Crabbin's tabbard in case they
needed it.
    They rode up to Davrick at the entrance as if nothing unusual was
going on.  Davrick blew the horn, then they went on through to the
stables.  Then they asked to talk with Lord Felwithe and a short time
later were in the sitting room again, with Trout and Shaber present as
Rander came in.
    With Moose making a distraction using his loud armor, William used
a Mage Hand spell to lower the bar on the front door so help could not
come in.
    Grieves led the discussion with Rander.  After exchanging 
pleasantries, he informed Rander that they knew who is starting the
fires.  It is Maury Miller's ghost.  Then he cast Heat Metal on Trout
and Shaber, and Victor cast Sleep on Rander.  
    Rander fell unconscious and Shaber stepped in front of Rander and 
defended him even as his armor heated up and began to smolder.  Victor
sparred with Shaber asking him to surrender.  Diggs summoned a Giant
Centipede behind Shaber to flank him.  And Grieves offered Shaber a
pitcher of water to cool his red hot armor.  It didn't take long for 
Shaber to realize he was fighting a lost cause and surrender.
    In the meantime, Trout made it out one door and was running down the
hall.  Moose chased him, tried to tackle him, then grappled him.
William came out the other door to cut off Trout's route and hit him
with a Daze spell.  Moose used this time to throw Trout to the floor.
William disarmed him.
    A few minutes later Rander, Shaber, and Trout were tied up and 
gagged.  Then Victor disguised himself as Trout, opened the front door
and waved Finkle in.  The unsuspecting Finkle was quickly overwhelmed
and joined his fellows.  Gissip and Davrick were even easier to catch.
    While the others discussed what to do, Victor searched the house
looking for information that might tie Rander to his father or to other
activities.  He didn't find anything incriminating, but collected a
few papers in case they might come in handy.

Dotting the I's:
    They walked the six men from the compound to town, where they were
locked up and guarded through the night and the following day.  The
next day Rander kept complaining that a scarecrow attacked him during
the night.  No one is sure if it really happened, but there was some
straw and dirty clothes in the shed that morning.
    The cavalry arrived before nightfall led by Captain Colten.  The
Captain questioned them closely and was pleased with what he heard about
the team's performance, behavior, and efficiency.  The cavalry took 
responsibility for getting the prisoners back to Brandmore.  The Captain
was also informed of the promise to Crabbin.
    The team said goodbye to the Mayor the next morning over breakfast
then rode back to Brandmore.  They returned the borrowed horses exactly
as well fed as when they borrowed them.
    The boy Snags found them.  Grieves gave Snags a miniature scarecrow
and Moose told the story of their brave battle against the fearsome
scarecrow creature.
    Administrator Hern was greatly relieved to have the situation under
control.  He was also depressed by how much work would be ahead of him
in getting a new miller out there and straightening out the paperwork.
    With all the job done, the team teleported back to Alpha-Z 
headquarters and got a good night's sleep.

Epilogue:
    A week later a gift arrived from the Baron for each of the five
adventurers.  They each got a magic candle created by the court mage in
Cobbish.  You can clap your hands to light it or put it out.  The Baron's
note claimed they would soon be sought after items.
    Trout, Shaber, Finkle, Gissip, and Davrick were all hung for their
crimes.  Since they were officially deputies of the Baron as granted by
Rander Felwithe, they were subject to military justice and not civil law.
Shaking down the populace is not tolerated by the military.
    Crabbin was sentenced to time shoveling the immense amounts of manure
that the cattle can generate.
    Rander Felwithe, being the third son of a neighboring Baron, was
exiled from Cobbish and sent home to his father with a huge black mark
on his public record.  (The public record is maintained by the Emperor
as a body outside the domain of any Baron.)  In reaction to the smear
on his name, Baron Felwithe stripped Rander of his inheritance and his
family name.  He was given his mother's name, Asper, instead.  This may 
not be the last we see of Rander Asper.