[GAME] - Blenheim's palace in sight!

Lafayette paced back and forth as Garf proceeded to question the old man. The affinity between the old storyteller, now revealed as a sorcerer, and Garf (such as it was) had led the bounty hunter to suggest that he be best to ask the questions. Garf began to ask the old man who he was, and unsurprisingly Garath was less than forthcoming. The old man just repeated the same thing, "He knows you are coming". Garf repeatedly tried to get out of him who this "he" was, but Garath would just smile and reply, "You know who". There was no fear in the old mans eyes, rather they were the eyes of one that has been around the world and who viewed his current predicament as a minor inconvenience.

Lafyette gradually grew more impatient, and before long headed over to where Garath was tied. Garath smiled, and prepared himself for the old "good town guard/bad town guard" routine, evidently having seen it before. Lafayette grabbed the old man by the hair and lifted his head, looking into his face. "Look old man, tell us who knows we are coming, and we might let you go, ok?". Garath laughed derisively, but as he was about to speak a crossbow bolt suddenly pinged through the night and struck him squarely in the heart, killing him instantly. Quickly, Garf, Lafayette and Brad spun in the direction from which the bolt had come. "Stay here", whispered Lafayette, who then burst off into the night to track the assassin.

Garf laid the body of Garath down, sighed, then signalled to Brad that he would take the watch while Brad could get some sleep. Their night passed uneventfully, and as the morning began to dawn, Lafayette returned, shaking his head at Garf's questioning look. The trio settled down to some breakfast, although the talk was sombre. The events the previous night had left a sour taste in the mouth. They had obviously been too trusting to take Garath at his word, now the old man was dead, and they were no nearer to solving the mystery of the disappearance of Lord Blenheim and his family. Presently, they broke camp and continued north, occasionally hearing the sounds of a large group of men shouting in unison coming from the direction in which they were headed. They came to a bridge, at which point the land changed remarkably, from scrub and brush in the mountainous foothills in which they had been travelling to a well manicured lawn and trees. Garf and Lafayette exchanged glances then Garf headed over the bridge with Brad following. Lafayette, however, found it impossible to cross, finding an oppressive force preventing him from crossing the river every time he tried.

Several hours, and several hairbrained schemes later and the group were still no further on. Garf and Lafayette made their way forward under Lafayette's instruction to scope out the palace up ahead, while he set about trying to solve his predicament. Garf and Brad made their way through the little copses of trees on the lawn, eventually coming in site of the house. It was a large stately home, with a semi-circle of gravel in front, surrounded by a low wall. They suddenly heard the sound of footsteps coming vaguely in their direction, and tried to silently hit the wall for cover. Garf's mail armour jangled noisily as they dove for cover and the guards spotted them, rushing over with swords in hand. They were dressed the same as the monks that had assailed the party all the way north, but with the deadly addition of swords at their sides. "We'll jump them on three", whispered Garf to Brad .. "One .. two ..", "Wait wait", whispered Brad, "Is it go on three? Or three and then go?". Garf rolled his eyes, roared, "THREE!" and leapt out from his hiding place to assail the guards.

Brad focussed on ripping the weapon out of the hands of his guard, while Garf swung his broadsword liberally in the direction of the second guard. Brad swiped the sword from the monk then laid into him with his fists, while Garf scored a telling blow with his broadsword. Presently, the two monks were dropped and a weary Garf slumped down, bleeding, behind the wall. Brad looked at him grimly, then put Garf's arm around his shoulders and the two made their way back to the bridge, finding Lafayette stood there with a stupid look on his face.