After Analia left, Verbes was disconsolate, and her family very worried. After a few days, Verbes announced to the family that she had told him, before she left, that she was going to New Perth. She asked him not to follow but he had decided to go after her, and Roland insisted on coming along. The two examined their resources, took what money they could afford, and set off. Neither were experienced at adventuring, so they had to hire transport to get there.
They arrived in the city somewhat exhausted from the trip, but they set to and began searching for leads. For quite a while they were able to learn nothing; no one seemed to have heard of anyone named Cor or Analia. They began to wonder whether Analia had been honest about her destination. Verbes and Roland were both very trusting and had assumed that she had told the truth.
Eventually they found someone who recognized their description of Cor but knew him by the name Amravel. He had lived in New Perth for several years but kept largely to himself. They began asking for information about Amravel and finally learned something significant: he was married. As a matter of fact, his wife Calpha was still living in New Perth. They hastened to find her and find out what she knew.
The news of Cor/Amravel's departure with Analia stunned her. She had been worried about him, as he had been in Doerstadt longer than he had said he would; but Calpha was very devoted to her husband and had suspected no duplicity in him, nor had she even heard of Analia before. It was several days before she was willing to talk to them again. When she did, though, she revealed that Amravel had been learning about the history of Ashkelath lately and had even, on a few instances, indicated a desire to go there. She did not know for sure if that was where they had gone, but it was the best she could come up with.
Verbes and Roland put their heads together. Could they manage a trip to Ashkelath? Roland had been away from Gertie longer than he wanted to be, and both of them could only afford to leave their businesses unmanned for so long. Verbes had his apprentice in place but he was very inexperienced and would probably be swamped by now. Moreover, their funds were waning with the costs of the trip; Roland had a certain amount left but Verbes was nearing bankruptcy. Still, they did not want to give up, so they began to inquire about the best way to get from New Perth to Ashkelath. Due to the monetary pressure they split up and each followed up with different leads. Nothing presented itself, though.
Before long they conceded defeat, at least for the time. After all, they had at best a rough guess of where Analia might be, by no means any certain information. Roland wanted to be back with his family; Verbes was also quite ready to go, though he was clearly agitated by their failure. They returned to their respective businesses and their normal lives.
The two men told Gantt and Lome about what happened, but not the children (who were still fairly young at that point) or the family pet. Tessa, you may decide how much, if anything, you have told your fictional offspring about these events.
