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Laurel is inside her shop, behind the long bench, grinding something with a mortar and pestle. “What can I get you?” she asks without looking up.
"I brought you some birch bark, and some chaga. You don't see it down here much. Mostly up where it's cooler."
Eljoy pushes his roughly wrapped packet at the herbalist.
"My apologies Sir, I just want us to have the best chance of finding your boy." Adalwin speaks a little stiffly, not approving of the tone the wizard was using. He has lost his child, he must be stressed out, he reasoned, and added "We will do our best to find him. I'm sure he will be ok."
Laurel is inside her shop, behind the long bench, grinding something with a mortar and pestle. “What can I get you?” she asks without looking up.
"I brought you some birch bark, and some chaga. You don't see it down here much. Mostly up where it's cooler."
Eljoy pushes his roughly wrapped packet at the herbalist.
Laurel looks up, viewing Eljoy over the top of her spectacles and smiles. “Oh, good morning Eljoy, I didn’t see you there. Why thankyou, these will be most useful. What are you about today?”
"My apologies Sir, I just want us to have the best chance of finding your boy." Adalwin speaks a little stiffly, not approving of the tone the wizard was using. He has lost his child, he must be stressed out, he reasoned, and added "We will do our best to find him. I'm sure he will be ok."
“I hope so,” mutters the wizard.
"Thank you for the help." Anor pipes up from the back, not very convincingly. "we should probably see if we can find relatives of any children he may have been with to see if they have more clear information. Should we pick up Eljoy too?"
Adalwin nods and stands. "Let's go."
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Laurel looks up, viewing Eljoy over the top of her spectacles and smiles. “Oh, good morning Eljoy, I didn’t see you there. Why thankyou, these will be most useful. What are you about today?”
Eljoy kind of shrugs inside his armor. "Not much. I've been waiting outside, making sure the crowd stays quiet and behaves. I thought I'd go out walking this evening." His eyes dip.
"Company'd be nice, if you've a mind to come along."
Laurel looks up, viewing Eljoy over the top of her spectacles and smiles. “Oh, good morning Eljoy, I didn’t see you there. Why thankyou, these will be most useful. What are you about today?”
Eljoy kind of shrugs inside his armor. "Not much. I've been waiting outside, making sure the crowd stays quiet and behaves. I thought I'd go out walking this evening." His eyes dip.
"Company'd be nice, if you've a mind to come along."
“Oh? Oh!” Laurel blushes and looks back down at her work for a moment before looking back up at Eljoy. “I’m so sorry Eljoy, I’m busy tonight …”
[dice=Diplomacy Gather Info (probably best if i "Aid another" someone]1d20+1[/dice]
Unsurprisingly, Jasper's appearance is a little off-putting and after a particularly disastrous attempt to ask a child where others might hang out, he opts to sit in a shady spot and let ShadowWing do aerial recon. The little owl works his way out of the orcling's shirt, hoots softly once, and is airborne to find a high perch.
After a few failed attempts to strike up meaningful conversation with the townsfolk, Adalwin finds a spot next to Jasper. "This is where Eljoy would just grab someone by the throat and force them to talk. Maybe we should go get him?"
As he sits, he scans the crowd for any children that may be of a similar age to those who are missing. Who better to ask where the kids play?
Having spent some of his downtime sharing tales with the kids and parents, Oliver has a little more luck in getting them to open up to him. He directs his inquiries primarily around Savram and Jurin, where they may go inside or out of the town, other kids that may hang out with them, or even worse, other children that are missing.
Back down in the main part of town, Jasper and Adalwin make a few bumbling, near disastrous attempts to ask about children – obviously taking completely the wrong approach – before deciding to take a step back and just observe. Until they really start looking, the pair had probably not realised just how many children – mostly poor, grubby, and underfed – there are hanging about in the streets, playing games, begging for (or trying to steal) food or coins, accompanying their parents on errands or just generally getting under-foot.
Anor and Oliver work together, Anor using her memories of playing in town as a child combined with the trust and contacts that Oliver has built up during his time in Falcon’s Hollow the pair are able to garner quite a bit of information.
They quickly discover that Savram and Jurin are not the only local children who uncharacteristically did not return home for dinner last night, and remain missing this morning – several other parents and older siblings have been around the town’s markets and streets last night and this morning, looking for missing children. After a couple of hours asking about and observation, the group are able to put together the following profile of five recently missing children:
Savram Vade: Son of the wizard Sharvaros, Savram is a quiet, withdrawn but bright-eyed nine-year-old boy. When not being tutored by his father, he is sometimes known to play with Jurin Kreed.
Jurin Kreed: Son of the wealthiest, most powerful, (and some would say vilest man in Falcon’s Hollow), Jurin Kreed is a blonde haired boy of eleven. Most of the children that Oliver talks to say that Jurin behaves insufferably, snarling at the other children and threatening to have his dad’s bodyguards beat them if they don’t do everything he says. However, the town butcher, Colbrin Jabbs who is out looking for his own missing son, says that the boy has a good heart deep down, and has spent many hours at the Jabbs’s house reading to his son Mikra in the afternoons.
Mikra Jabbs: The thirteen-year-old son of the town butcher, Colbrin Jabbs, Mikra’s difficult birth resulted in several mental deficiencies. He is tall and skinny, with dark hair. He cannot read, is easily confused, and believes almost everything he is told. Despite (or because of) this, Mikra seems to be well-liked by everyone. While not incredibly bright, the boy possesses limitless kindness and his bright smile wins the hearts of almost anyone who meets him (according to his father, and several other people that Oliver speaks to). Colbrin claims that Mikra has several good friends who always look out for him, including Jurin Kreed, Kimi Eavewalker and Hollin Hebbradan.
Kimi Eavewalker: Daughter of the famed elven ranger Idris and a beautiful Tien seamstress named Kitani, Kimi is a already a willowy brunette beauty (“or she would be if she didn’t always try to dress and act like a boy,” claims one kid who Oliver talks to. “Don’t tell her I said that though! She’ll hit me.”) Kimi idolizes her oft- (and currently) absent dad and has grown into a fearless tomboy chomping at the bit to follow in her father’s adventurous footsteps as soon as she is old enough to wield a sword. Kimi is the protector of her band of friends, often scrapping with boys twice her age who try to bully the others. She usually wins these bouts, and many of the town’s children are afraid of her.
Hollin Hebbradan: Hollin is a freckly faced red haired ten-year-old boy missing his two front teeth (from a bad spill off the waterwheel at the old mill). Hollin’s mother died in childbirth and his father was savaged and killed by an owlbear two years ago. Now Hollin’s older sister, a beautiful young red-haired woman named Ralla, looks after him. Ralla has been frantically looking for Hollin all morning, but Oliver only briefly speaks to her as she says she needs to return to week. Oliver later learns that the two siblings have struggled to make ends meet and rumour has it Ralla works in one of the pleasure dens on Mud Street to keep food on the table. Hollin is a skilled woodcarver and he manages to earn a few copper pieces hawking his statuettes. The boy’s only aspiration is to grow up faster and work the cutyards so his sister won’t have to set foot in a brothel ever again.
No one seems to have seen any of the five kids since about midday yesterday, although there are several confirmations from other children that they were all playing together in the lower town. Directions to their usual haunts and hidey holes turn up nothing. Eventually, Oliver talks to a young girl who ponders that “maybe they did the secret dare?” before suddenly falling silent as if realising she has said something that she shouldn’t have.
"Sounds like Kimi would be just the one to take on a dare, and the rest of the gang went with her." Anor sugegsts to Oliver quietly...
Turning back to the young girl, Anor crouches to one knee and says "A secret dare? If they have, they may need our help. No one is going to get into trouble, but they have been missing since yesterday. We really do need to find them, and make sure they are safe."
Oliver returns a different thought to Anor, "Maybe you misinterpret their intentions. Perhaps it was Mikra that wanted to do something 'daring', and the other kids decided to help him the best they could, given his.... hindrances." He looks down at his crooked leg, lost in thought for a moment.
Turning back to the young girl, he adopts his sweetest tone, "A 'Secret Dare'? That sounds adventuresome. I could only imagine what type of exciting things that could lead the other children into." He fakes pondering for a moment, "It could be dangerous, as my friend said, and they could be in danger, but just think how great it could be if I could witness it myself and tell the tale. Surely you've heard the tales of adventure I have told since I've been in town. If you tell me where I could find this 'Secret Dare' I could actually see it with my own two eyes, and tell the most wonderful story about how they did it. Doesn't it sound like it could be so exciting?"
"You could be right. I hope we get chance to find out." Anor replies to Oliver.
"Yeah, tell us, kid," says Reekis.
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“Oh? Oh!” Laurel blushes and looks back down at her work for a moment before looking back up at Eljoy. “I’m so sorry Eljoy, I’m busy tonight …”
Red starts to creep into Eljoy's neck and spread up his face. "All right then. Maybe some other time."
The big man wheels and lurches back through the door, which he doesn't quite slam behind him. Outside he farts hugely and looks down on the man he'd cut in front of.
"She's all yours."
Eljoy marches off, destination unknown.
“Well,” says the girl slowly, with a dubious look at Reekis. “No one’s really supposed to know … but it would be more exciting if they did!” she adds, turning back to Oliver. “And … they really should be back. So, I heard they were going to do the secret dare, go to the old orphanage at the edge of the forest where all those orphan kids burnt to death! And stay there after dark! So many ghosts!”
Red starts to creep into Eljoy's neck and spread up his face. "All right then. Maybe some other time."The big man wheels and lurches back through the door, which he doesn't quite slam behind him. Outside he farts hugely and looks down on the man he'd cut in front of.
"She's all yours."
Eljoy marches off, destination unknown.
If asked Adalwin will ponder his geographical knowledge of the area.
Jasper ponders how Adalwin knows so much as he chews on a twig he's picked up.
The longer Oliver has been in town, the more he has spent listening to all the tales of the region. Disturbed by the notion of a burnt orphanage, where kids had died, he thanks the girl nonetheless. "Yes, that sounds mighty daring. I can only hope that we get there in time to see them safely through the dare."
Anor and Oliver are aware of the burnt orphanage; Elara’s Halfway House, built on the eaves of Darkmoon Wood. A middle-aged, silver haired woman named Elara opened the doors of the orphanage about ten years or so back, hard on the heels of the Goblinblood Wars. The atrocities of war left dozens of children without parents, and Elara took in droves of them. Many locals think that the orphanage was associated with the church of Iomedae, but this is a misconception as far as Oliver has heard – Elara was a sometimes member of the Church of Light’s congregation, but the orphanage was run and funded by her alone, not with the aid of the church. It is the opinion of most that Elara was a selfless woman who spent the greater part of her life caring for those no one else wanted, having apparently previously worked in orphanages elsewhere before coming to Falcon’s Hollow.
A couple of years ago, a fire apparently broke out in the middle of the night, spreading fast. By the time anyone from town arrived to help – volunteers and militia running the seven or eight miles from town – all that was left was a smoking ruin. It appeared that all the children had perished within, and Elara too, although her body was never found – burnt to cinders by the fierce heat of the flames apparently.
It is a common opinion that the fire was no accident, although theories on who started it vary. Most blame the fey, some say it was goblin bandits, others theorise that Elara or one of the children may have started the fire. Few can understand why Elara built her halfway house so far from the town, so close to the woods.
Oliver has heard a rumour that in the last few months or so before the fire, woodsmen passing the area claimed to hear all manner of clatter from the orphanage – muffled screams in the main. There is an unfounded rumour, whispered by a few, that Elara had lost her mind and took to torturing the children in her care – that’s why she built so far from town.
Since then there have been rumours of haunting, but few of the accounts that Oliver have heard are very specific. Reports of feral or ghostly children seen in the area may be true – survivors or revenants – but are just as likely to be sightings of fey, or completely fabricated.
Oliver and Adalwin are both aware that the orphanage lies seven to eight miles north west of Falcon’s Hollow, near the Darkmoon Wood; in fact, not far from where the group emerged from the forest the other day.
"Thank you. You've done the right thing." Anor says to the girl, before digging around in her rucksack and finding a sweat pastry to give her as a gift. "It's a little battered, but it's fairly fresh. Take it."
Once the girls leaves she turns to the others. "I know of the orphanage she speaks of. I know vaguely where it is, but not exactly. It's probably not all that dangerous, but it's a good way from town, so many things could have happened. We should collect the others and get out there as soon as we can."
Oliver adds to Anor's knowledge by sharing all that he knows of the orphanage in question. "It doesn't sound all that dangerous in its current state, but there's no reason to brush off any rumors until we've investigated. It could very well be either haunted, infested with fey, or even worse both."
Anor cowers a little at the abrupt shout, but then tries not to show it.
"Eljoy, just the man. We are about to go hunting a haunted house to find some lost kids, one of whom comes with a nice sac of gold when we get him home. You in?"
"Eh, I dunno, a beer might be good first?" says Reekis hopefully.
"Surely there is no time for a drink!? Adalwin exclaims. [b]"The kids lives could be in danger!"
"No, no beer, you are more use to us without it. Eljoy, the wizard up the hill, you know, nice gated community, like to think they are above everyone, because they live literally above everyone? Yeah."
"I thought you would. Lets go...."
Reekis sighs as the prospect of a beer disappears. "Yeah, let's go."
Folk return to their lodgings to pick up their packs and supplies before assembling near the road that leads north-west out of town.