The group escapes the Lothianites and decides not to engage. As tempting as it is, it’ll probably raise more questions and bring more nosey do-gooders. They track the gnome to a barn, where the paralyzed guild leader and his main bodyguard are hiding out. The group enters, slays the bodyguard and makes off with the head honcho. They bring him to a small farm not terribly distant from the scene of the slaughter and get to asking questions.
Questions asked, questions answered – presumably truthfully, according to the spells. Just to make sure, Bayga eats part of his brain and sorts through the memories to see what else can be found. Information is obtained and digested. They wait a bit.
Avoiding the annoying Lothianites earlier, allows the group to escape the area unmolested. The wholesale slaughter of the thieves guild won’t annoy the church much, and the priest got to kill a bunch of undead – always good for PR – so no one is interested in looking too deeply into the events…bad people doing bad things come to bad end. Good riddance.
Meanwhile, the group is in possession of information about the rest of the map and how a part of it ended up in the guild’s hands. They journey overland as quickly as possible and ascend the low mountains near the riverless river town. Eventually they spot a fortified keep nestled in the low foothills with a commanding view of the valley. But, since they came over the mountains, they’re at the rear of the place on a plateau that can be used for observation.
Observations are made, the terrain is scouted, the defenses are studied and a plan is made. Observations include a medium sized occupying force, reinforced by trolls. The sentries that walk the walls seem supremely bored. There is some foot traffic into and out of the place as troops come and go, presumably on patrol, including a line of slaves, and there are remnants of dozens of trade wagons littering the courtyard. A few days later, under cover of night the group flies into the main courtyard and goes about entering through the only doors. The whole place is laxly guarded and it seems clear that there isn’t much in the way of threats to the place.
They reave through the place, moving swiftly to minimize the chances of an alarm. Silence and sleep spells go a long way towards helping make the mission possible, but the real stroke of luck comes when the lord of the manor shows up in full battle garb and loaded for bear. Once Digin slays him with the Axe, all the best loot is all in one place! They spend another couple of minutes poking around but decide that it would be better to leave now, while their luck is holding. So it is that within ten minutes of entering, the group is headed back to the plateau, bearing a second fragment of the map.
Some days pass, the brain is consumed and information is obtained. The third fragment is in the hands of some high priest of some sort, that acts as an advisor to the ex-lord. The manor is scouted and it seems clear that there was a mutiny/rebellion given the number of stripped bodies that litter the battlements and courtyard. Not much is left in the way of easily portable valuables, but the group scours the place nonetheless. They decide to return to Ptolus to use the resources of the library staff to help them gain some information about a possible location depicted by the map.