The Auction

The auction began, and no plan was coming to mind. We NEEDED to get that invisibility ring so that it would not fall into the wrong hands. But I had no idea how much it would go for, and we had less than 400 gold. I offered to go in with Travaste, but even he was concerned that he wouldn't have enough money. I messaged Berry to inquire again what her plan was, and once again, like an insolent young person, she would not tell me. Tina and Jade struck up a conversation with the simple man behind us named Jebediah, convincing him to spend money on a belt as an accessory for his mother.
 
During the auction intermission, Tina talked to the Triple Fang and found out that they were collectively prepared to bid 6,000 gold on the ring. When she came back to us, I gave her 100 gold to go in on a bid with them. Meanwhile Jade went looking for Jebediah. She thought it was suspicious that he had left the auction. When she returned (and caused some sort of commotion with the crowd in the process), she seemed quite upset. Apparently Jebediah did have a sick, elderly mother who was very upset that he had spent money on that belt. I could see now how guilty Jade felt.
 
We realized we needed to get more information on who in the crowd might be high bidders. I tried to find camaraderie with the other older/elderly folk, even making a joke to try to break the ice. One man seemed haughty and quite rude, so I didn't bother trying to have further conversation. Another man was just there to watch, and the final man was bidding on a toy soldier for his grandson. I met back up with Jade, who reported no luck either talking to the merchants, but did find out that the Caravan was allowed to come to town as they pleased thanks to a special relationship with the duke.
 
The second half of the auction began. Jebediah was trying to win a snuggly cloak but the bids quickly surpassed his coin. Jade and I stared at each other as the bidding increased, unsure if we should try to win it for him. And just like that, Travaste had won the cloak. I felt terrible that Jebediah would have to return emtpty-handed to his mother because of Jade and Tina.
 
Finally, the moment arrived: bidding on the ring. As expected, bidding rose quickly into the thousands as Travaste, the Triple Fang, the haughty man I had spoken to earlier, and surprise bidder Tobias duked it out. To my horror, the haughty man won. Fortunately Travaste came through with a plan. As the man went up to accept the ring, Travaste called out, asking if he worked for the duke. Tina, Jade, and I shouted about him working for the duke, which led to the crowd turning on them. The ring was then awarded to second-place bidder Tobias. I wanted to speak with him right away to understand his intentions with the ring, but festivities began and a crowd went to the tavern.
 
We bought the cloak from Travaste at a hefty markup and exchanged it for what Jebediah would have bid for it. Hopefully we can be friends with Jebediah. Kind-hearted people are hard to come by in Hygrim. I realized in that moment how lucky I was to have Tina and Jade as companions. They may cause chaos and make bad decisions when I'm not there, but I truly believe their heart is in the right place.
 
Tina and Jade stayed to dance while I went looking for Berry. I eventually found her. "So, your plan was to sell the ring to the duke." "No," she said, "my plan was to make money." I felt so deflated in that moment. I had believed that she had good intentions--that she surely must be a good person because dear Pepperwell would never be friends with someone so heartless. I warned her that the world was a small place and decisions have a way of coming back around to us. I think she may be too young and prideful to really understand what that means. Everyone makes mistakes, but at a certain point there is no forgiveness and no one left to help you.
 
I returned to the festivities--even joining in a dance for a moment! Jade reminded me that her elf friends had tried to escape jail earlier and we should probably talk to them to find out what's going on and calm them down. After mild persuasion to the Triple Fang guard, we were allowed to go down and speak to them. They reported that the corruption was spreading to the elf area and there was no one there to stop it. They wanted to escape to gather the dispersed wood elves and go fight it. Clearly it would be suspicious if we had been down to visit them and then they escaped, so we needed a plan. Tina went upstairs to talk to to guard and look for keys but didn't seem to be making any progress. Jade realized she had a psychedelic pie to drug him. I presented it to him, saying that Jade had won it at the pie-eating contest but had had too much pie, so maybe he would want it to not completely miss out on the festivities? He ate the pie, becoming less coherent by the minute. Eventually he wandered off looking for oranges. We found the keys, then heard a crash. The guard had fallen unconscious. I had the brilliant plan to drag him downstairs and put the keys in his hand, like he had set the prisoners free himself. Jade fortunately had an ale bottle on her to make it look like he had been drinking on the job. Jade chugged it and unfortunately the ale seemed to paralyze her, but we still freed the wood elves and made our own escape (with Tina carrying Jade).
 
We made it back to the crowded, noisy tavern and took a rest. With no signs of the party dying down, I am headed off to sleep and will speak with Tobias in the morning.
 
Things to follow up on: