Having knocked out four of the Kythons, the party had a decision to make -- what exactly does one do with an unconscious Kython, anyway? Oleg firmly endorses slaying the beasts, insisting that delivery is impossible. The gate guard will never let them through, he says, and we must tell them what we have. West wants to keep them alive, noting that the guards can kill the Kythons more easily than they can be raised. Gronk also argued for keeping the Kythons alive for possible delivery. In the end, the party decided to deliver them live to the Irongate guards, who could then decide on the best course of action. Doigan Longbeard, the caravan master, wasn't entirely pleased to have the beasts along, but agreed under certain conditions. They would be kept in a sturdy iron box atop the last wagon, which would hold only the party. If the kythons got out, they were the party's problem.
The group agreed, and arrangements were made. The caravan finished the day's travel. Over dinner, most of the dwarves shunned the party, and they moved the box away from the caravan for safety. Doigan speculated that perhaps the unseasonably cold weather had something to do with the eggs hatching early, instead of inside Irongate. West decided there might be some merit to this, and nestled the box in wood coals overnight, in the hopes of quieting the Kythons, who had been scratching at the box all afternoon. Gronk also tried singing and rocking the Kythons to sleep. They quieted briefly, but then redoubled their efforts to escape -- to no avail.
The caravan reached the gate at then end of the next day. Doigan and the guard greeted each other as old friends, but the conversation quickly took an angrier turn. After much yelling, pointing, and arm waving, the guards carefully searched each of the four wagons, which were then allowed to enter the city. The party was kept outside with their metal box, the Kythons still scratching from within. They attempted to explain their situation, but the guard put them off. "Fortunately," he said, "this isn't my problem. I've dispatched a guard to fetch the man who will deal with you. Just wait there." He indicated a point about fifty feet off the gate.
Fifteen minutes later, Tebur Silvereyes arrived to handle the situation. To get to the bottom of the situation, he got the party to agree to a Zone of Truth spell, and then spent fourty-five minutes going over the past few days in excruciating detail three times. When he was finally satisfied that he knew the whole story, he suggested to the party that they might have some interest in tracking down their employer .. since they had recieved none of their three thousand gp commission in advance. There was some concern about being able to handle a powerful wizard, so Tebur promised them that a discreet, competent group would be available as backup if needed. All they need do was crush a small glass bead that he handed them.
By this point, night had fallen. The party decided to wait until the next morning to confront their employer. They went their separate ways, and regrouped at 6:45 in the morning. Boldly, they marched to 2459 Loamglut, a door built into the side of a hill. Arriving at 7 am, they took turns knocking for the better part of ten minutes. No answer. West examined the door closely, and found indications that it was used no more recently than two days ago.
Somewhat stymied, they returned to the adventuring hall where they got their commission. West encouraged Oleg to act as pointman, so he dutifully trod around asking people if they'd seen the wiry dwarf who'd hired them just a few days ago. Oddly, not one person in the hall could ever remember seeing him, even those who spent every day there.
The party returned to the gate, and asked the guard to get Tebur. Twenty minutes later, he arrived. When the party related their news, he asked "You did try the door handle, right? The man does owe you three thousand gold. I'm sure you tried the handle." The group discussed the idea briefly, realized that they hadn't, and resolved to go back and do so.
Gronk said "Let me try knocking this time." Surprisingly, the door stayed on its hinges. Still no answer. Again, Oleg, being a dwarf, was pushed to the front. Nobody wanted a misunderstanding where the half-orc went barging into a dwarf's home unannounced. The party strode through an entry vestibule, then through a living space, and finally knocked on the door to the bedroom. With no reply, Oleg immediately opened the door. Inside, a much larger Kython, about the size of a dwarf, was just looking up from a body it was eating.
This larger variant has grown two arms, and has two more developing. The mouth was more proportionate to the body. It immediately attacked Oleg, who backed off to cast and allow others to engage as well. As it did so, two hatchlings came forward and began eating the now-abandoned corpse. The Kython flailed out with tooth, fang, and tail, disrupting West's summoning spell, and puncturing Mutt, his wolf companion. Oleg tried a cold attack on it, and when the creature shrugged it off also, engaged with his axe. Meanwhile, Gronk had moved forward and started grappling with the thing. He eventually wound up under it, holding it in a full nelson to prevent it from attacking. West's second summoning brought in a bear, which aided significantly in doing lethal damage to the creature. The rest of the party advanced to mop up the hatchlings while Gronk held the Kython's still-flailing form, afraid it would deal damage in its death-throes. Disturbingly, the hatchlings looked slightly larger for having eaten -- or was it just in their heads?
With the Kythons slain, the group investigated, each taking a room. They discovered a shattered wooden chest, much like the one that had held their Kython eggs, along with three broken eggshells. The body was a dead human, in leather armor, wielding a sword. Gronk tasted the body, and declared it three days dead. The larger Kython had a gold ring on one finger, which West hypothesized it had taken from the man. They concluded that they were not the only couriers sent on this mission, and that this man had completed his delivery, only to be eaten while waiting for his employer to arrive and pay him. The only other clue they discovered was that none of the clothing in the house matched -- it was all sized for dwarf, but dwarves of different heights, weights, and builds.