(Molly) Fuchs) Unfortunately,  finding that goatherd is our only hope for figuring out who our unknown man is.
(Molly) * @Morgan nods
(Molly) (Fuchs) And without finding him, we can't find the girl. And I don't want to let the families down like that.
(Molly) * @Morgan nods
(Molly) (@Morgan) agreed
(Molly) * Fuchs goes back, getting on his horse.
(Molly) (Fuchs) But every guard we throw at finding him, or searching off the road for tracks, the less guards we have here for protecting your family,  and keeping watch over Alarice.
(Molly) * @Morgan nods
(Molly) (@Morgan) She'll have to wait for a while I think
(Molly) (Fuchs) Alarice?
(@Morgan) No, this young lady
(Molly) **Low cloud cover spreads out the light from the moon. The road is visible, but much of the detail in the world around them is now fading as the night comes
* Fuchs settles in the saddle
(Fuchs) Not pursuing her means not getting justice for their deaths
(@Morgan) Not yet... yet being the important word
* Fuchs nods thoughtfully, waiting for Morgan to be ready to ride
(Fuchs) If not now, when?
* @Morgan climbs into the saddle, nudging the horse into a walk
(@Morgan) As soon as the threat of Alarice has been dealt with. As a friend of mine has been known to say, they're not getting any more dead
* Fuchs urges his mount north along the East Road and back to town. He doesn't respond to Morgan's answer
(@Morgan) I've had an... associate looking for her and her employers anyway, and he's quite good at it.
* Fuchs looks interested
(Fuchs) Good enough to sneak up on her and take her down like that?
(@Morgan) No. He's sneaky and good at finding people, but I don't think he could match her
* Fuchs nods
(Fuchs) So there is every chance he's dead in a ditch somewhere?
(@Morgan) I'd be _very_ surprised if that were the case
(Fuchs) If I set guards to finding him, so that we can discover if he has found anything, will we find him?
(@Morgan) Maybe. But if thats the case you may as well set them to finding her, it has the same effect on the security of the house
(Fuchs) This is something you won't compromise on?
* @Morgan sighs
(@Morgan) let me think on it. I understand your desire to catch her, I really do, and I'm sure you can understand my reluctance to reduce the household guard right now
* Fuchs nods
(Fuchs) I can understand.  I'd be much the same if it were Stef under threat.
* @Morgan nods
* Fuchs doesn't have a wedding ring
(Fuchs) **The horses trudge along the well-worn road that connects Fischler right down to the Great River. Fuchs sighs slightly, watching the way ahead.
(Fuchs) After we've been past the jail, I suppose  I ought to stop by home again. Then we'll get back  to his Grace's house.
* @Morgan nods
* Fuchs points to a tavern on the right hand side of the road
(Fuchs) That is where the goatherd asked someone to go and give the message to the jail...
(@Morgan) might be worth a quick ask in there then
* Fuchs nods, easing his horse over
(Fuchs) **there's No one at the stable, just a bar to tie horses to.  It looks fairly busy.
* @Morgan ties the horse
* Fuchs does likewise. He walks around to the main door, pushing in before holding it for Morgan. The crowd seems to quiet a little at seeing him
* @Morgan wanders in, glancing round before heading for the bar
(Fuchs) **It's quite busy, the patrons watching the newcomers.  The older man at the bar looks to Fuchs**
(Fuchs) OM: Good evening, Colonel. We were real sorry to hear about your guards, a bad business that.
* Fuchs nods, looking almost through the man rather than at him
(Fuchs) Yes. Who took the message this morning?        OM: I did. *Fuchs nods, then looks to Morgan* what would you like to know?
(@Morgan) What he looked like, sounded like, if there was anything... off about him
(Fuchs) OM: sounded like he'd been born and bred in Tannen. Blonde, young, nothing special. He had an unusual cloak, like patchwork I suppose, made from lots of different fabrics. My wife was saying she'd like a dress like that, so I gave her the guilder he gave me to get some scraps from the miliners
* @Morgan frowns
(@Morgan) he gave you a guilder to carry a message?
* Fuchs watches closely
(Fuchs) OM: Oh yes. He said the man gave him two guilders to bring the message to a tavern, and one to give to whoever was taking the message to the jail
(@Morgan) Is he local, this goatherd?
(Fuchs) OM: I've not seen him before, but like I said, he has a Tannen accent,  so he's probably a Fischler lad
(@Morgan) I see. And you didn't think that was an odd amount for a message?
(Fuchs) OM: *He shrugs* For going and having to tell a group of guards that some of their own were dead? It's not a very nice message, is it?
* @Morgan stares at the man for two seconds longer than is comfortable
(Fuchs) OM: *He looks both confused and afraid*
* Fuchs watches Morgan
(Fuchs) OM: He said he was going to the market in Seeufer on the ferry.  That confused me, because he'd have gone right by the jail. Why not tell them himself, and keep all the money?
(@Morgan) Why not indeed. 
* @Morgan looks at Fuchs
* Fuchs nods
(@Morgan) I think I've learned all I need to from this man
* Fuchs inclines his head to Morgan, before looking at the man.
(Fuchs) Anything else comes to mind, or you see him again, come to the jail, alright?
(Fuchs) **The man nods, and they head back out
(Fuchs) **Fuchs checks his pocket watch before mounting up
* @Morgan climbs back into the saddle
(Fuchs) **They head back towards the town and the jail
(Fuchs) What do you make of that?
(@Morgan) He's either hiding something, doesn't like you, or is a moron
* Fuchs laughs suddenly
(Fuchs) If I'm honest, it's most likely the last. I've dealt with him before,  and he wasn't very bright then. He had a cow go missing, thought his neighbour had stolen it.
* @Morgan looks towards the trees flanking the road
(@Morgan) That cloak... thats the important thing
(Fuchs) It certainly sounds distinctive
* @Morgan nods
(Fuchs) Though it's the money that interests me
* @Morgan shrugs
(@Morgan) Its inconsequential right now
* Fuchs turns in the saddle to watch him as the buildings become more dense and the trees more sparse
(Fuchs) Is it?
* @Morgan nods
(@Morgan) money gets exchanged... that cloak probably won't. Find the cloak, find the goatherd... _Then_ the money becomes interesting
* Fuchs nods slowly
(Fuchs) I suppose so
(@Morgan) Overall, yes, that money is interesting. That'll give an idea of who's pulling what strings, but until we find that goatherd, we've no way of following the money
(Fuchs) True. *he quitens a moment* I should have been out there with them this morning.
(@Morgan) why weren't you?
(Fuchs) I was up in the loft at the jail
(@Morgan) Your men wouldn't have wanted you to fall with them, which is what would have happened
* Fuchs stares into the middle distance. The jail appe
(Fuchs) **The gap between buildings that leads to the jail appears on the right, and Fuchs leads his horse to it*
(Fuchs) Perhaps.
(@Morgan) No perhaps about it
* Fuchs shrugs
(Fuchs) How do you want to handle the information about the girl, her captor and the goatherd
(@Morgan) Does disseminating it help in any way? 
(Fuchs) That depends on if you intend to spare someone to go to Seeufer on the seven am ferry to find the goatherd
(Fuchs) **With a guard given the duty of finding the goatherd with the cloak, they leave barely any other information,  other than that Fuchs will come by at 6am to check in. At half after nine, they ride out from the jail and on to the road leading West to the Eisenfurst's house.*