Chicken Chasers - Demo Version

We come upon a town in the morning
Gathered 'round, is everyone out, and reporting
Apparently, there's a thief nabbing livestock and
I've talked to the villagers about sorting it out for them
I figure it's probably best
to try to do some team-building on a common request
I want to see if everybody will mesh
So taking on a minor mission might could be the quickest possible test
We spend the whole day relaxing in town
And prepping for the night, planning how we're catching this clown
We figure post up at a coop he ain't hit yet and hide
So when he arrives, we stop him kidnapping these fowls
As night begins to fall on our little group
we ain't barely waited an hour before this nincompoop
creeps on the chicken coop, sees us, and gives a hoot
Now we gotta chase him through the streets and the thicket too

Rushing through the underbrush that's in front of us,
pursuing the movement of the looter through the mud and dust,
I think he's human, but he's zooming like a fey
He's a Druid by the way he's moving, jumping like he's hunting bucks
I'm 'bout to lose him, he's elusive in the light of dusk
It's the kind of trouble that could prove we ain't the right to bust
dragons in their caverns if we can't even get sight of a
misguided thug that's living outside, and he can hide from us
Thay's elf eyes pay off immediately,
Straight off, she sees him and she takes off expediently
yelling "Better keep up, he may not come peaceful with me!"
We all chuckle and we chase on obediently
By the time he gets to the tree line
we've closed the gap, we're right on his behind
Got him freeclimbing the steep cliff ahead of us but
Venti's got a spell ready to make him resign

Three straight lines of fire fly through the air
at the guy trying to climb up
Two miss him barely, but the final finds its mark
Hits him square right in the thigh and lights up
He yells out, grip slipping, he flips head over shins
Hitting the hard ground, bottom of the cliff, sitting up and spitting
He jumps up, batting the flames, trying to fix it
Burning up, balling his fists, hitting his hips with them
When the fire subsides and dies, finally
he's surrounded on all sides by my entire team
Weapons drawn, might even be overkill slightly, but
I ain't feeling bad, though, put it in your diary
I tell him "One chance, give it up now!"
He raises up his arms and surrenders flat out
It takes half a day to get back to that town
so we break on the way and I question that scoundrel

I ask what got him into crime living
He says his mom died, leaving him and five siblings
His father isn't back from the war, and ain't coming
Cuz the King made some of the older GI's fill in at the castle
as soon as the dragon appeared
Smithing was the passion the past couple years
but the blacksmith only let his ass volunteer cuz he
knew his dad - as soon as his dad wasn't here he was canned
And when his mom passed, it was clear to him
Nobody would help, all the people who were dear to him would
disappear in a minute if he didn't get serious and
figure out how to get something going. It was here it went wrong
And that's where the crew becomes involved
The local townsfolk ain't know who he was at all
They only knew that someone was stealing eggs and chickens
and they wanted us to catch him and force him to pay the victims

I take a minute so I can take it in and
I ruminate upon it and all of the ways to win it
We could just take him in and bounce with the paper winnings
But it'd be a crazy way to play if what he's saying is the true-true
That would be some doo-doo to do to a dude who's
stuck up in a situation that's makin him cuckoo
I could play pretend and say I'd never stoop, too
But my glasses ain't rosy enough to snoop through
The crew's prepping to hike the other half now
I tell them "Wait a second"; I pull the map out
I say "We need directions - we're going past your house
I need some proof it was you before we go back to town"
The guy gives me the names of the roads
The group presses on toward his lane and abode
A couple hours later, approaching the gate of his
home, I see what I came here to know

Five little kids playin in the front
Twelve, at the most, was the biggest one
And when they see us coming, up, they begin to run -
for their bigger brother, so they can give him hugs
He won't look up, he's so shook up
This ain't a hardened criminal it's a hopeless pup
He don't wanna tell these kids where he's going, but
They're about to see his hands in ropes and cuffs
I cut him free and tell him "Go and tell them what you did
Tell them you made a mistake. Tell them everyone is pissed
Tell them you're in trouble and you made the bed you're stuck up in
Tell them someone's coming later to collect up all the hens."
The group's obviously pretty not into this
Thay's jaw tightens up, Venti's lost interest
Jayyra and Thordrum are kicking rocks into bits
Mera's staring daggers, Arty is in shock, whispering

"Why are you doing this? He's basically a kid
I'm not advocating he should get away with what he did
But there's no reason to make him go and say it to his siblings
and then drag him away, this is hateful of you, Diz..."
I tell him "Wait a couple minutes, it's important."
I let the dude explain the situation to these poor kids
And when I see him hit the point he's shaking and he's breaking up
I say "Enough, that's enough of your time we've taken up."
Twelve pairs of eyes lock onto me,
I say "It's a really quite odd quandary
We chased the guy, but despite our bargaining,
he put up a fight, and we might've gone too far with it
All that we found in his pockets and his coat
was a couple silver coins and a locket that was broke
But at least the coins will cover what he got from all the folks
And he won't be back again, that's a promise that we know..."

Dead silent, everybody's stunned
Thay smiles quietly, Venti's jotting something
Jayyra and Thordrum are steady dropping "Umms"
Arty looks relieved, Mera looks ready to clock me one
I say "We got it done, so I think we're done here
But I want to check with you, cuz part of it's unclear-"
I walk up to the dude, holding out something for him like
"I found this in front of your house, is it yours?"
He looks overwhelmed, but inspects the item
A single dark emerald, both of his eyes widen
He looks like he thinks it'll bite him
but I'm insistent upon him taking it quick enough to hide it
And when he does, I grip his wrist and I whisper
"Never again, you don't ever put them at risk
or you'll answer to me. You trade that uptown,
and don't accept less than a grand for the fee

We'll be back, though, in I'd say about a month
and I better see a forge with your name out front
and a whole line waiting while you swing that hammer
and if anybody asks, tell them we're your benefactor;
we just saw the opportunity to invest
and that's all this is, this is just a means to an end
I ain't interested in tearing families into shreds
and I want every copper back from that green little gem
Goodbye!", I spin on my heel and start walking
I wave for the group to follow me without talking
We make it to the town by the time the sun's setting
Everyone's betting we found the crook so they can lock him up
But I lay it out for them fake
I feed them the story I worked out on the way
They seem kind of put out, but they take the silver I give them
and they move along without a doubt to be raised