"Came to investigate? Official business? Well, guess I might as well show you around. Come along, I'll lead you 'round the place."
As he walks you around his property, Otto relates that he had come out before dawn to feed his chickens when he spotted the victim - a young man named Geoffrey - hanged and swinging from a tree.
"It was quite a gruesome sight, yes; the poor thing was completely naked. Not just of clothes, mind you - he was skinned! Skinned alive, I bet. These Pathfinders always look for the most thrilling way to get stuff done. Bunch of psychos."
"There you go," he says as you stop next to a large tree. "This is where I found him. You can do your investigating alone now, I've got livestock to attend to."
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"Thanks," Ansha says, flashing the man a warm smile. The elf turns to the area and slowly paces it, her emerald eyes searching for clues as she idly finger-combs her nearly thigh-length wheat-blond hair. As she searches, she becomes increasingly distracted by her hair until she finally abandons the search entirely.
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"Look, here... medium humanoid tracks leading from this tree to and from Dawnton. Also, there is some patches of bloodied soil beneath the tree. I suppose that could be from skinning a man, but I would have expected more from such a gruesome task. Why such the disdain for Pathfinders here? I would not expect any of our number to be so cruel.
I have heard of some killing rather indiscriminately, before, but not cruelly."
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"Thank you Conlaoch, I see it now." Rotting Jack raises a hand to shield his eyes from the sun. "Considerable time you say? Didn't Orug the shopkeep tell us the body at the farm was discovered the morning the other team arrived. That's efficient work."
"Otto didn't seem terribly shaken up, considering. Curious people. It's becoming ever more clear to me that our comrades have indeed been framed."
After a few minutes of searching the area around the footprints, you notice something gleaming in the bushes - an obsidian button.
If you succeed at this Perception check, you may make the following check.
An obsidian button is quite atypical for the region, suggesting whoever lost it is not from Dawnton.
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Finally tiring of grooming her hair, Ansha takes a closer look at where Conlaoch indicated.
The elf purses her lips, eyes narrowing at the find. "No, it didn't," she says. "It may be too early to jump to conclusions, but we only know of one outsider in town beyond ourselves and the other team....our friend, the Iomedean." Murmuring a cantrip, her emerald eyes take on a faint blue glow, and the elf inspects the found button again.
The button does not, in fact, detect as magic. It seems to be a perfectly mundane button, if fancy and extraordinary for this town.
Unless you have any more business in this farm, it seems that this will be the end of this investigation phase.
Seeing that you have nothing more to accomplish in Otto's farm, and still wondering about the nature of the obsidian button, you start making your way towards Dawnton. Otto watches you as you leave, an expression of confusion and mistrust on his face, but doesn't say a word and is quickly out of sight. It is just past noon when you arrive in Dawnton, which leaves you with plenty more time for investigation. The question is, where to go.
You decide it is finally time to visit the sheriff and interview the prisoners. The sheriff's office is a simple square building, slightly larger than most other houses in Dawnton. Entering the building, you find a large wooden desk filled with papers and maps, nearly concealing the person sitting next to the table - a thick-chested halfling with a long, white braid of hair. He looks up from his documents, sending you an inquisitive glare.
"You are the strangers who've been asking around town, aren't you? Some people have been complaining about a curious group disturbing the peace. I hope you're not here to cause trouble."
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"Simply to find out the truth, Sheriff," Ansha reassures. "We were hoping to interview your prisoners. And we have a few questions for you, too. We're eager to see justice done, but that means that we want to be sure the correct people are punished for the heinous crime committed here recently."
Flashing him a warm smile, she continues, "Given that similar crimes have been happening nearby, we were hoping you could help us figure out what exactly it is that links the Pathfinders to this one, but not the others. We understand you have a letter that indicts your prisoners--may we see it? It would be a first step on finding out the truth behind this whole affair."
The halfling sets his quill down on the desk and looks all of you over.
"For a person I've just met, milady, you're asking for quite a lot. How can I know you're not a bunch of thugs looking to help my prisoners break out?"
Sheriff Luin thinks for a few moments, searching for something in his large pile of papers. He pulls out a piece of parchment with neat straight lines across it and dips his quill in the inkwell.
"Alright, I'll let you see the Pathfinders, but I'll need your names. Can't let complete strangers interview my prisoners. And if you want to speak with me, we can find some time for that later."
Luin twirls the quill around in the air, awaiting your response.
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"They call me Rotting Jack. A most unwelcome epithet, though not entirely inaccurate."
Jack leans heavily against the wall.
"Your assistance is most generous, Sheriff, but I wonder if there was one more favour you can assist with. We understand you have written evidence against the pathfinders. Could we trouble you at all to see it?".
The halfling nods as he writes down your names, smiling to himself tiredly at your remarks. Finally, when Rotting Jack mentions the letter, he looks up.
"Hmmm... well, I guess there's no hurt in showing it to you. After all, if you want justice to be achieved, there's no reason to hide evidence from you."
Sheriff Luin scrambles through his papers, growing ever more frantic until he finally sighs, closes his eyes and opens a drawer, from which he pulls a folded piece of parchment.
"So the evidence against the Pathfinders goes like this. First of all, the murders started as soon as they arrived in town, and stopped as soon as they were arrested. Sure, it could be a coincidence, but this smells fishy. In addition, at the scene of the second murder, they found one of Pathfinders' daggers. Stuck in his chest, no less. Pretty incriminating. What else..? Oh right. All three Pathfinders were seen at Otto's just hours before they found the victim's mutilated body there. And finally, we've got this letter that Inquisitor Corum received."
Luin spreads the letter out on his desk and turns it around towards you. The letter is written in murky black ink on a torn piece of parchment.
They killed Josiah just under my window. I saw them. The Pathfinders. Please do something about them; I don't want my little daughter to die.
You recognize the handwriting on this letter as the same handwriting from the letter Venture-Captain Jorsal received warning the Society of the imminent executions.
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"Hmmm, that is interesting..." Conloach thinks out loud, and then says to the sheriff. "Very well, this is pretty convincing evidence, to be sure. Under who's window did Josiah get killed? It would be good to ask more questions of that witness."
Later, once they have left the office, Conloach tells the others about the handwriting similarities. "Now why would the same person write both notes, unless this is not only a setup, but they wanted more Pathfinders here as well?"
Luin smiles grimly at your question.
"Sadly, we don't know. The inquisitor found this letter on her room's doorstep. If you ask me, I say the person who wrote this letter tried to remain anonymous, lest the Pathfinders come for him next."
The halfling narrows his eyes when you speak to the party in secret, clearing his throat.
"As much as your investigation in the name of justice must be important to you, remember I'm the sheriff of Dawnton, and I'd rather you not withhold any information from me."
After saying this, Luin grabs a key from his desk and walks over to a door that blends in with the wooden walls of the building. He turns the key inside a small hatch in the door and it clicks open, revealing a descending staircase ending in a small hall. The sheriff starts going down the stairs, motioning you to do the same. When you reach the bottom, you see a single prison cell, in which a male halfling and two dwarves - one male, one female - sit, having seemingly stopped chatting to look up at you as you arrive.
"Hello, Pathfinders. These curious bunch came here asking to interview you. I will allow this, as long as you agree."
The three nod, looking at you curiously.
The halfling clears his throat and scratches his back.
"Well... we're Pathfinders, as the townsfolk probably informed you multiple times. The Pathfinder Society received an anonymous letter saying that some Sarkorian ruins were discovered around here and that we should investigate them. We came to look for these ruins, but found nothing. It was then someone decided to frame us for his murders. We visited the farm of some person named Otto, and a few hours later they found a body there. I understand why they blame us for that one. But we were asleep in our rooms when they killed the second one, and they somehow had Dakota's dagger."
The female dwarf nods.
"I think they we first became suspects when Sheriff Luin received a letter identifying us as the killers. I don't know who'd do something like that; someone with a vendetta against the Pathfinder Society, maybe."
"I'm afraid we don't have that letter, no. Venture-Captain Lauterbury kept it when we left to investigate. We went to Otto's farm to ask whether he knows anything about those Sarkorian runes."
Listening to Rotting Jack, Dakota's lips curl in surprise and she ever-so-slightly adjusts the Glyph pinned to her chest.
"We haven't met anyone particularly antagonistic towards us, no, but we didn't have much interaction with the locals at all. We looked for the ruins outside town for a while, and by our first night we were already accused of murder."
Sheriff Luin narrows his eyes at Jack's carefully worded phrase but doesn't mention it. Instead, he replies to Ansha and Jack's exchange.
"There aren't too many people who could fit that description in town, and clearly these Pathfinders don't, but I wouldn't go hastily looking for someone just like that. I like the half-orc, but I know you can't always trust what Orug says. Tell him the Pathfinders are all short and he'll tell you this tall person was those Pathfinders stacked on top of each other."
"Um... north of town, mostly. We also looked a bit to the south, but didn't cross the river to the east. I wouldn't suggest you go searching for the ruins, though; I doubt they actually exist."
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The elven enchantress glances to the sheriff. "I don't suppose the good Inquisitor has filed a written statement about this, has she? There's talk she's taken an interest in being the next sheriff, so I imagine she has taken an interest in how things are done at the jail."
Assuming the answer is affirmative, Ansha asks to see what the Inquisitor has written.
"No, I'm afraid she hasn't given me a written statement. She only gave me the note she found revealing the Pathfinders as the murderers. And even she's interested in being sheriff, I'm not resigning anytime soon, so don't get your hopes up."
After a few moments of silence, Sheriff Luin clears his throat.
"It seems this is all the time you have for this interview. I'll show you up."
You follow the halfling upstairs, and he bids your farewell, warning you not to get involved in any shady or dangerous business. The evening air is refreshing if warm, and the leaves on the fir trees decorating the town rustle in a light breeze. About halfway back to your inn, you hear a loud shout coming from an alley just north of the Heath and Harvest:
"Daniel! Edward! No!"