"The first two boys went missing 10 days ago. As for their parents... I'd rather you didn't speak to them just yet. Are you saying you are going to look into this? Do you have some experience with this kind of thing?"
"I don't know if we can help or not. I've never done this specifically, though we do have a short history of finding solutions to particularly sticky problems. Between the four of us, we have a surprisingly robust skill-set. Plus, in a way, Bitiborium sent us to help fix his supply problem. This is related…" he shakes his head, not really knowing what to think at this point. "So you say the first two boys went missing 10 days ago. Where were they when they were taken? Was anything left behind? Was there a sign of a struggle? And how many children have been taken in all? All boys?"
He stops for a moment, looking at the two faces regarding him, "I realize this must be hard for you, but if kids are being taken by something, we'd at least like to help out how we can… job from Master Bitiborium or not."
"Any help you can give would be appreciated. Mister, I'm prepared to walk you through every scene and every child's history if that will help. Let me just grab my notes here..."
Aidep pulls a thick folder out of his desk. He proceeds to talk you through the case.
Ushari flashes a smile at the two town leaders, "I understand if the parents are uncomfortable about dealing with strangers. Trust me, if I was in their position I would react exactly the same way. Well, let's start with what you know about this for starters..."
He flips through his notes while recounting the facts as dispassionately as he can, "OK, so 10 days ago two of our boys, human, ages 10 and 9 were playing in the forest. According to their parents and common knowledge, they often played around that particular spot. You know how kids are. They didn't come home at dusk. We searched but didn't find anything. We thought maybe it was wolves that carried them off. That's happened after hard winters.
6 days ago, a halfling girl of 9 years, she's fishing south of town. People see her out there; she wasn't in the forest. We figure she must have disappeared around dusk. We find her fishin' pole and some prints - not human ones. They look wolf-like. I'll show you those as soon as we're finished here. Again, no blood. Folks start whispering were-wolves and all sorts of unnatural things.
4 days ago, a 13 year old human girl is snatched in the early morning while hanging laundry on the communal lines - near the east side of town across from the church. Her family's laundry was still in the basket. You can imagine how an attack in town unnerved people. But we rally a rescue party since we got daylight and some prints to follow. We don't find the girl but we find a gnoll and their paws are wolf-like. We capture it, bring it back, and put some hard questions to it. It dies saying it didn't touch the girl.
2 days ago, a 10 year old girl is going to the tavern to bring her da' back for dinner. She gets snatched between her house and the tavern - must be a distance of less than 200 feet. We can't find tracks - there is just too much traffic on the road where she would have crossed. Again - no trace, no blood.
Our farm and lumber folks are watching their children like hawks. No one goes alone anywhere - particularly between dusk and dawn. Everyone locks themselves (and especially their children) up tight when the sun heads for the horizon. It doesn't solve the problem but at least it prevents it from getting worse, right?"
He gives you a hangsman smile, "Last night, a 6 year old halfling boy got snatched from his locked bedroom. We find it all locked up this morning, too."
"Might we take a look at these locations? Perhaps a fresh set of eyes might notice something that you missed."
Jayse nods his agreement, "Good idea. Maybe we should look at the most recent one first? It's more likely that we'll be able to catch clues at a more recent site. From there we can work our way backwards through the incidents."
He shakes his head in disbelief, "Last night, you say? And no one saw anything? Have there been any witnesses whatsoever? Or anyone reporting anything out of the usual lately? Animal behavior? Someone acting differently around town? I'm not saying it was one of your own that might have done this, but any little clue could help us."
Ushari nods to Jayse, "Seems like a plan to me, but maybe we should check the site of the first abduction before the other ones? Might help to figure out what triggered the first kidnapping."
"That's assuming the trigger was at the first site. But even if it is, that trail is 10 days old. Whereas this last incident happened hours ago. I'd still suggest working backwards through the incident list, but ultimately the decision is up to Jofram and Strae as they'll be doing the actual field investigation."
"Sounds like a good plan to me. I'll leave the 'best order' decision to Jofram. He's the ranger. I can see advantages either way."
"It would be best to see the most recent location - you said he was taken from the family home?"
He shakes his head in disbelief, "Last night, you say? And no one saw anything? Have there been any witnesses whatsoever? Or anyone reporting anything out of the usual lately?"
Aidep's head does a quick shake. "No one saw anything before the first two snatches. After that, well, folks are panicky and scared. We've got a dozen reports - from strange lights in other people's houses, to someone giving someone a bad look, to ghosts walking down the road... we've looked into it all but none of it seems real. We've got one full-time constable, a couple of part-timers, and a few us who did some soldiering. We've been keeping an eye out - and we've seen nothing."
"Animal behavior? Someone acting differently around town? I'm not saying it was one of your own that might have done this, but any little clue could help us."
Aidep gives you a tight smile. "You ain't insulting us to ask that question, mister. We're asking it ourselves... and several people have made accusations. We haven't found a way to prove or disprove any of them. If you can uncover the truth, it'd be appreciated. Just to let you know, I think most, maybe all, of them are in people's heads."
He quickly appends an explanation. "This town is a lumber town. Our company in Orfallen pays pretty good, the business is pretty regular, and they ship us in meats and fruits - sort of a 'thank you'. And what doesn't get brought in - we grow. We got farmers who support the lumbermen.... But we also got the fisherfolk on the south side. We share food but they don't get too much of the company goods. Working lumber is dangerous. But being a fisherman on this river is hard in its own way. It's not a great catch. So there is some friction between the groups - bad blood, 'who's job is harder' talk, stuff like that. With the kids disappearing - that distrust has grown. Accusations are flying both ways. What's fueling it is the children - they're all from lumber or farming families."
"It would be best to see the most recent location - you said he was taken from the family home?"
"Yes, past the church, other side of town. I'll take you up there. I can show you all the spots, if you want." He turns to Jayse and Ushari. "If you wanna question folks, that's fine. But the fisherfolk can be a bit... uh... surly. I'll have the constable walk you two around, introduce you, and make sure people answer your questions. Hallis, would you go find Hern?"
The halfling is about to hop off the chair when the door opens. A big man, built like a bull, sticks his head in.
Aidep looks surprised. "Are you a witch? I was just talking about you! Folks, this is Constable Hern. He's the law around here. Hern, these folks are gonna help look into our situation. Will you take these two around, introduce them to whoever they want to speak to, and make sure they get answers not attitude."
You split up into teams and head out on your missions...
Jofram, Straehan, and Aidep walk along the road past the church, eventually coming to a series of farmer's houses. The Hetmon leads the adventurers to a small house that sits on the southern edge of a plowed field. They walk around the building. On the North wall are two halfling sized windows. Aidep points at the second window, which is only shoulder height at its highest spot.
"That's the boy's room. The window was locked, so was the front door. We didn't see anything broken or out of the ordinary." He steps back so you can investigate.
Hern walks Ushari and Jayse out of the office and into the street, such as it is. It is hard-packed earth and mud that has seen a lot of logs dragged from the woods to the water.
The constable cocks his head and points at various buildings. "So, that is the Shoal. Got pretty good drinks. Over yonder, that's the Bargeman's Rest, only inn in the village. The food is pretty good too. So, who do ya want ta question first?"
Ushari looks around the town noting the other townsfolk, and wonders idly I wonder what secrets this town hold. She touches Jayse lightly on his shoulder and points to the Shoal. "Let's head over there first. We can see if any fisherman will talk to us. Be a good idea to rule them out early, if they had nothing to do with this."
Jofram examInes the boy's room, meticulously examining the door and windows, and checking the surrounding earth for signs of travel. "How many townsfolk came through this area, after the disappearance was discovered?"
"Very few... Just me, Hern, a couple of other constables, Hallis, and the parents, of course."
Jofram's hunched over search of the halfling house, under the shocked tear-filled gazes of the parents, reveals very little. Straehan takes the parents to one side and speaks quietly with them - small people to small people. Jofram grunts - there are no obvious signs of struggle in the room. The front door and window don't appear to have been forced. There are no strange prints in the house.
Jofram takes his search outside. Vaelos lands on the roof and screeches while watching his companion. The ranger kneels down near the window and examines the tracks. There are several sets of human and halfling prints. More interesting, there are two sets of wolf-like prints - one deep, widely set, and with a whiff of fetidness to it. The other set are less deep and shorter spaced. There is something odd about them... but Jofram can't place his finger on what it is.
"Odd... Straehan, do you have a moment?," the Ranger says, luring the gnome near the lupine tracks. Lowering his voice so as not to concern the parents, Jofram continues."There's something off about these tracks - they are similar to those of wolves, and yet... Is there perhaps some conjuration, or otherwise unnatural beast at work, here?" Sharing the remainder of his observations, Jofram points out the prints, and tries to ascertain their origin and departure paths.
Jofram easily identifies the lighter set of tracks - wolf prints. But the positioning and movement are unnatural for a wolf. This creature walked about on two feet... and there is something else strange about them which he can't quite pin down. The heavier, fetid tracks are a complete mystery aside from the fact that they also belong to a bipedal creature.
Where they are going is obvious to the ranger's eyes. Both sets of tracks head almost directly North into the plowed field.
The gnome looks at the mysterious set of tracks and wrinkles his nose at the stink of them. "These are from a Gnoll. I didn't know they smell so bad."
Jayse shrugs, "It's as good a place to start asking as any."
As they walk, Jayse whispers to Ushari, "At this point I don't have a particular plan. I think we need to get everyone we talk to - and we'll want to talk to every person in isolation - to tell us what they've witnessed. At all cost we should avoid here-say or rumors. Let's ask them what they've seen lately. If they've noticed any odd behavior in anyone in town. Any new faces. And if any other new or out-of-the-ordinary things have happened recently, including the specifics around the days that children disappeared."
He chews his lip for a bit as he thinks, "It might be good to ask each person what they were doing when this last incident occurred. As much as I wish I could get every person's alibi around ever incident, I just don't think we can take in and use that much information. Let's start with the most recent…. well, and the first incident." He gives her a sideways look, "Oh, and I'd love it if you could do dthe majority of the questioning. Just be your usual nice self… you have a disarming nature. I'll just try to take it all in and see if I can pinpoint anyone who is lying or looks uncomfortable. If I think of any additional questions, I'll just pipe in."
"What do you think of that plan?"
"Good plan, Jayse. I will take the lead and you watch how they react."
"Strae - I'm going to follow these into the woods - no offense, but I need to do this alone. Please let the others know what we've found - I will leave a trail for you to follow, once you get back." Following the tracks into the woods, Jofram flexes his gauntleted hand, concentrating on not summoning his bow. No need to alarm the village unnecessarily.
Jayse, Ushari, and Hern enter the Shoal. It's a fairly small crowd. No more than 6 or 8 people. Hern looks to you and shrugs. "With the disappearances, most folks are staying close to home."
The small group makes questioning people in relative privacy fairly easy. In less than an hour, you manage to question all the patrons and uncover the following:
Did you see anything last night? Where were you?
No one recalls seeing or hearing anything - but most were at home asleep. A couple were at the Shoal. Only one of the patrons lives near the kidnapping site and he doesn't recall anything.
Have you seen anything unusual in the last couple of weeks?
The answers vary. About half the crowd haven't seen anything of note. A few have seen some of the fisherfolk acting a bit strange - skulking around town suspiciously. Two others have seen strange lights and mists at the edge of the forest at night. And yet another person is sure they've heard something snuffling around their house one night. It was kept at bay with wolfsbane. It was likely a werewolf.
Are there any new faces in town?
Despite the disagreements on other answers, here there is complete agreement. There are no new people in town.
Jayse listens to all of these accounts and believes all of the interviewees are sincere in their beliefs.
Straehan looks skeptical at the idea that he and Jofram should split up but he merely nods and accepts the ranger's suggestion. He sets off towards the town with the Hetmon. Jofram follows the tracks. They head north into the plowed field before turning Northeast heading towards the forest.
Jofram follows the two sets of prints another 100 paces or so, until they are outside of the town. Here the tracks separate. The heavy gnoll prints continue Northeast. The second set of prints, the wolfish ones, turn South.
Ushar motions to Hern indicating she wants some privacy. As soon as the Hetmon has stepped away, she says to Jayse quietly, "I am beginning to suspect there actually IS a werewolf lurking about. Of course, thaty only narrows it down to everyone in town..."
"While I will admit that it could be a werewolf, it's just one of a number of possible explanations. I'm gonna keep my options open until we have more to work with." He looks back into the common room, mulling things over.
"So all we know is that no one has really seen anything specific. Except some lights and mist at the edge of the forest, some sounds of something 'snuffling' around at least one house at night, and some alleged suspicious behavior by the fisherfolk around town." His eyes meet Ushari's as he shrugs, "We should talk to some fisherfolk now. Unless you have a better idea."
Ushari smile ruefully, "You are right, Jayse. Jumping to a conclusion would not be wise at this point. As for your idea of questioning the fisherfolk, that is what I was thinking as well." As they return to see Hern, she motions to the area of the fisherfolk housing. "We need to talk with the fishermen now."
Jofram follows the two sets of prints another 100 paces or so, until they are outside of the town. Here the tracks separate. The heavy gnoll prints continue Northeast. The second set of prints, the wolfish ones, turn South.
The ranger speaks to his eagle companion, instructing it to seek out the Gnoll along it’s trail, and circle high above, if found. Vaelos takes flight toward the northeast, looking for the Gnoll ahead.
Jofram then snaps a few twigs on a nearby branch. Drawing a mark around the dividing trails, he tries to make it obvious for the others in the group. Marking the south-bound trail as the one he will follow, Jofram sets to, continuing quietly, but stopping occasionally to mark the trail for his friends.
When you ask to question the fisherfolk, Hern shrugs. "I'll take you there. Don't expect them to be too chatty." He leads you out the backdoor of the Shoal and down towards the squat huts and battered dock of the fishermen's enclave. You catch a dozen fisherman and their families repairing nets. Most of them greet you with a scowl or a gauging eye. Their leader, Riev Coe, intercepts your group. He's a hair past middle age with a weathered, deeply-creased, face and flinty eyes.
His tone is carefully neutral but the distrust is obvious. He acknowledges the Constable with a brief nod, "Hern, good of you to visit. Found the killer have you? Come to give us the good news?"
Hern responds, "These folks are investigators from Orfallen. They are here to get to the bottom of things. They're talkin' to everyone. We started at the Shoal and now we're talking to your folks - looking for clues and such."
Coe's reply is a ambiguous grunt of vague dissatisfaction. "So then, ask your questions." Coe goes back to his business while you question the fishermen but he watches.
Did you see anything last night? Where were you?
Most of the fishermen look at you as if you were crazy and provide answers similar to "We work for a living. I'm up at dawn to catch fish. Middle of the night? I am sleeping as soundly as I can."
One fishwife says, "I couldn't sleep so I was just looking out the window, ya know? I saw a man, at least I think it was a man not a woman, walking from the church along the road into town. Didn't seem to be in a hurry. Maybe it was one of the constables, I don't know. He wasn't a big man, not like Hern."
Have you seen anything unusual in the last couple of weeks?
"Aside from the disappearances and suspicious glances from the lumber-men, no. But their suspicion seems suspicious... and you can write that down!"
Are there any new faces in town?
Here, the concensus holds - no one has seen anyone new. Two of the fisherman posit unusual ideas:
"Someone in town has been replaced by a child-thieving doppleganger. It's the only explanation.""I think its a wood-spirit that's mad about the way the lumber folks are gouging into the forest."
Vaelos screes twice and launches himself into the air - seeking the creator of the gnollish prints - hurling Northeast like an arrow.
It is a very blustery day with the wind blowing from the South and shaking the trees.
Ushari pulls Jayse aside and asks him quietly, "It seems to me the theories are getting...interesting." She gives a meaningful glance at the leader of the fisherfolk. "He seems a friendly sort right? How do you want to handle him?"
Jofram continues tracking the beast, stopping only at brief intervals to mark the trail for the others.
Jayse shrugs at Ushari's question, "Roughly the same way we've treated everyone else. Though, given that he seems to be the leader of the fisher folk - and they don't seem to get much respect around here - let's handle him like you would the Hetmon. If he doesn't want to talk, let's make sure he knows that we're here to protect everyone, fisherfolk and lumber folk alike. We're not interested in local issues. We just want to protect all the the children of this community."
Ushari nods in agreement "Seems like a wise decision." She then approaches the putative leader Coe, and asks in a respectful tone, "Excuse me Master Coe. MAy we ask you some additional questions?"
Jofram follows the wolf-prints south through the sparse forest land at the furthest edge of the village. After a short, distance, some hundreds of feet, the wolf-prints begin to move from tree to tree as they approach the East-West lumber path that moves from the woods, through the village, to the shoreline. It's clear the 'wolf' was approaching the road cautiously. The paw prints are heaviest near the road and step in place a bit. It seems like the wolf watched the road from here for some time before stepping out onto the well-used and hard-packed path.
The ranger follows the prints onto the path, where they quickly stop. He can see where they enter the road and then they simply vanish.
The laconic fisherman looks her up and down and seems to like what he sees...
"Go on then, ask your questions, and we'll see if your wind blows true. You're here for the children you say? Fine, then, who sent you on this errand o' mercy?"
Usahri notes his look but keeps her rwaction hidden. "A gnomish merchant acquaintance of ours requested us to look into why the lumber shipments have slowed down. When we heard about the missing children, we know once we find out what happened to the children and resolve this situation, the lumber shipments will resume."
"Lumber." He spits to one side. "Go on, then, ask your questions."
The paw prints are heaviest near the road and step in place a bit. It seems like the wolf watched the road from here for some time before stepping out onto the well-used and hard-packed path.
The ranger follows the prints onto the path, where they quickly stop. He can see where they enter the road and then they simply vanish.