"Lumber." He spits to one side. "Go on, then, ask your questions."
Even as the spit hits the dirt, Jayse steps forward, the first time he's felt inclined to do it in the entire day of interviews, "Here's the deal, Master Coe. Yes we were hired by the merchant to look in on the lumber issues, but we're free-lancers. He doesn't own us and his motivations don't dictate our own. The town's hetmon assured us the lumber would get back on track. Us looking into the incidents with the children is as much our own doing as it is the job we were sent to do."
He looks over at the working fishermen, then back at the town, then back at Coe, "And lets be clear on this. I don't give a damn about the politics of this place right now. We're concerned about the children of this town. They've been disappearing, and while the disappearances seem to be only children from families supported by the lumber operation, my concern is that it won't stop there. I expect full cooperation from anyone who shares my concern for all of this town's children." During all of this, Jayse watches the man's eyes, expressions, and body language. If this man is hiding something…
"We'd sure appreciate any and all information you could help us out with."
Coe spits again and offers a hand to Jayse. His grip is strong. "That's fair and it smells truthful enough since it ain't flowery. I'll answer your questions and then maybe I'll tell ya what I think. You can judge how helpful it is..." He takes a seat on the overturned hull of a rowboat in the process of having a hole mended. He indicates the boat and some boxes for you to sit on if you wish.
Did you see anything last night? Where were you?
"Last night? I was drinkin' pretty good. Probably dead-drunk when that boy was grabbed. We've got our own hootch-hut when we don't want to drink with the clientele at the Shoal. Only thing I recall seeing last night was the inside of a bottle."
Have you seen anything unusual in the last couple of weeks?
He smells the wind as he ponders the question. His answer is slow and measured when it comes, "Aside from the kids being taken and the hubbub that caused... no, I don't think I've seen anything that stands out."
Are there any new faces in town?
"If there were, they'd a been the first grabbed when the children started to go missing. No, we've had no one new in town."
About halfway through the questioning, you see Straehan come out the Shoal's backdoor.
Straehan casts a quick spell as he steps from the shadow of the Shoal. Jayse and Ushari hear the gnome whispering inside their heads.
Jofram is onto a set of tracks - one wolf-like, the other gnollish. He's tracking them and will leave us clues to follow as needed.
Straehan makes his way down to where you are sitting. Coe pays the gnome very little mind aside from a brief look. Having heard of the friction between the lumbermen and fishermen from Aidep, the sorcerer sews a little goodwill. He begins to magically repair the torn nets and the hole in the boat on which Coe sits.
Jayse nods at Straehan's message as he listens to Coe, taking the offered seat, "So what do you think of all this, then?"
Good, at least someone has gotten something concrete to check out!
Ushari nods respectfully and sits next to Jayse. She elects to keep quiet for now, sensing the old fisherman respects Jayse more at this point, if only due to his gender.
The weathered fisherman gives you all a sidelong glance and fires off an equally oblique question. "Ever fished for Striped Eel?"
Your head shakes elicit a smile. "Stripers are predators - big, tough, clever. They lurk in deeps or shallows as may be; hide in mud, roots, weeds, or anything else they can find. Stripers can tell a wounded fish from bait. They'll shy away from bait when they can... but they are always a predator, right? Can't change their nature. So when the real fish run low, and the Striper is hungry, he'll try for bait. But he ain't stupid. He hunts bait differently. Knows there is a fisherman trying to catch him. So he'll change where he hides, strike the bait oddly.... Maybe he just tears off the back half of the fish - the part that is free of hooks. Maybe he waits til the line is loose and drags the bait through brambles to catch the line on branches and rocks. Maybe he watches it for a few hours before hitting it hard. Anything to prevent the fisherman from being able to sink that hook. Get me?"
He looks grim, "Seems to me, we've got a Striper here. He's hunting little fish but doing it sideways, knowing that we're huntin' him at the same time. He's a clever one - knows his game and his hunters. Knows this town like the back of his hand. Seems to me, he's dragging our lines through the brambles to confuse us. Sometimes we got tracks, sometimes we don't. Taking only farm kids makes all eyes turn on us fishermen. Spooky lights in the forest gets people's imaginations running wild. Let folks do his work for him - seeing things what aren't there. He's muddying the waters real good to blind us to the next strike."
"But he's still Striper, eh? Can't fight his nature. He's a predator and we're the only game in the pond. So he's got to risk our lines and nets."
Ushari's face turns grim as she hears the theory of the Striped Eel predator. "So, the Eel is out there hunting, and this is his pond. The next question here is who or what is his true prey. We discover that answer and we find the Eel."
"Seems to me, this Striper wants the kids. For what, I dunno. It might help to know what sort of beast we're dealing with."
Jofram kneels next to the terminated tracks, unable to believe their unlikely disappearance. Feeling out with all his senses, he tries to feel the wrongness - some trail must be there for him to find. Everything leaves a trail of some kind - if only he can find it.
Jofram scans the area with eldritch sight but detects no hint of magic. However, he does notice a set of boot prints... ones that appear out of nowhere and are quite close to the same spot where the wolf prints vanish. They are far lighter than the wolf prints and appear to come from a medium sized man's boots. The only other thing of note is that the outside edge on the heel of the right boot leaves a lighter pattern. It looks like the heel is prematurely worn. The ranger suspects the additional wear on the boot is caused by the wearer having a limp, or some foot oddity, which caused the boot's heel to be scuffed during daily use.
Jayse shakes his head, "I don't know that much about fishing or hunting, but you said it yourself, you still end up needing to bait the striper out into the open. I don't know how comfortable I am with that… using a child as bait. One thing goes wrong and we put another kid in danger."
Out of the corner of his eye he notices Straehan mending nets and boat holes, and the beginnings of a possible plan begin to form. Someone who could be mistaken for a child, though…
He decides not to voice the thought out loud, though. There's just too much we don't know about any of these people. Should probably play our cards close to the vest for the time being.
"Master Coe, we appreciate you taking the time to answer our questions, and I appreciate your added thoughts. It may be the difference between saving these children and not. Please, if you think of anything else, we would love to know about it. And I hope we can count on you when the time comes to act… it may take a group effort to fix whatever the problem is here."
He looks around at Straehan and Ushari, "You two have anything else for Master Coe or any of his people? Confident as I am in Jofram, I'm a little uncomfortable with any of us doing any solo acts for the time being… until we know what we're dealing with here. I'd like to go see how he's doing."
Coe rubs his stubbly chin. "Maybe I shouldn't talk of fish so much. I don't mean ta say that you should use our kids to 'bait' this Striper. I'm sayin' he's after them and they are right here. He's got to come here for them. No matter how clever he is - this is the hunting ground. I'd ruther not wait for another child to go missing. And my folks will help out... though I think your lumber folks there will be watching us just as close as the woods."
Coe looks at the gnome's repairs and nods thanks. "That's a handy bit of work, there. 'Preciate it."
Ushari shakes her head, "No, I have no questions for Master Coe." She smiles gratefully at him. "Thanks for your insight, I think it will be most helpful to us."
She rises to her feet, "We should check up on our friend now. While he is certainly capable of taking care of himself, until we know what we are dealing with, caution is the best course of action."
However, he does notice a set of boot prints... ones that appear out of nowhere and are quite close to the same spot where the wolf prints vanish.
Making a mental note of the scuffed boot's size and details, Jofram marks the new trail, and follows the boot prints. Could this be some transformation magic? One of the townspeople, or someone else. I'll have to be on the lookout for someone with a limp.
Jofram tracks the prints along the main path into town until they are obscured and lost amid the general traffic of footprints and wood drag-marks near the wash-lines.
Jayse, Ushari, and the Straehan catch the ranger at that point.
Nodding his thanks to Coe, Jayse heads over to where Jofram had come into view.
Once the group is all together, he quickly goes through all they've learned... which is frustratingly little.
After finishing up, he turns to the half-elf, "So, did you learn anything?"
Ushari shakes her pretty head in frustration. "I am not sure where to start at this point. Perhaps we should talk with the Hetmon Aidep and his advisor Hallis. I would like to know if this appearances have happened before in the past."
"If we are digging into the town's history, we should probably talk with the Archivist as well. Chances are he keeps the records."
Nodding his thanks to Coe, Jayse heads over to where Jofram had come into view. "So, did you learn anything?"
"Not as much as I'd like, but perhaps enough to lead us in the right direction."
Peering around to make sure they are alone, Jofram shares his discovery about the dividing trails, and the new path of the man with the limp. "As odd as it sounds, the wolf may have been some sort of shapeshifter. And they may be someone from this very town - I think we are looking for a man with a limp, his right shoe marked by his limping gait."
Cursing under his breath as he looks around the small town, Jayse makes sure he's not overheard as he continues, "Maybe we should find a more out of the way to chat from here on out." When they're satisfied that no one can overhear, he continues, "So I see that we have two options. One is to go after the paw prints that Jofram saw heading north... the ones that walked up-right. Problem with that is it potentially leaves this shape-shifting wolf free in town here. It does, however, hopefully get us closer to rescuing the kids, and maybe what we find at the end of that trail will help identify whoever it is that may be working from within the community. Secondarily, we could stick around here and try to smoke out the limping wolf-man. Maybe we could tell everyone that we need a town-hall meeting to discuss what we've found and what we're doing. Give them a general update and warn them not to go out at night... nothing that they probably don't already know, but use the time to look for someone who has the limp JOfram mentioned. Or the strangely-worn boots. What do you guys think?"
"I should point out that we still don't have a solid timeline. This wolf may have been with the gnoll, or merely tracking it for a time. And the connection between the wolf and the limping man could be coincidence. The wolf prints showed no injured gait, that I recall. I personally suspect that they are connected, but I have no proof."
"Hmmm. Good point. Anyone have a way of discerning if a person is a shapeshifter? If the man with a limp is the wolf, then he's either that or some kind of spell-caster."
"I should point out that we still don't have a solid timeline. This wolf may have been with the gnoll, or merely tracking it for a time. And the connection between the wolf and the limping man could be coincidence. The wolf prints showed no injured gait, that I recall. I personally suspect that they are connected, but I have no proof."
Ushari bites her lip and stares at the tracks pointed out by Jofram. "We don't have a lot to go on, I suggest we check this out further."
"If we are digging into the town's history, we should probably talk with the Archivist as well. Chances are he keeps the records."
She glances at Straehan, "Checking with the Archivist is a good plan, although I don't feel comfortable telling anyone else of our plans."
"Then let's go talk to the archivist. Maybe he'll be able to tell us if anything like this has happened in the past. Guess it would be good to get him to answer our other questions as well. Who knows... maybe he'll have a limp..."
Jofram checks the sky but sees no sign of Vaelos. His companion is either far afield tracking the elusive gnoll or shielded from sight by trees.
Our heroes walk back towards the lumber office in search of the Archivist. They enter the road, just past the Shoal where they are greeted by a half dozen locals - men, women, and halflings. News and hope, it seems, travel faster than the Mako in a typhoon. They trail you and barrage your group with questions and pleas as you try to make your way to the lumber office.
"...our son was one of the first taken. Can you find him? His name is Javey..."
"...little Eunia never hurt a fly! Why would some wood-sprite kidnap her?..."
"...famous monster hunters from Long Lake Isles. Heard you've rescued a dozen children from creatures like this! We don't have much money but we could..."
"...just please help..."
Their desperation is palpable. Constable Hern tries to rescue you, inserting himself into the mix of pleading locals.
"Folks, they are looking into it. We'll do our best to find all the children. But they need time to check these matters out. They know about all of your kids and may come to ask you all to fill in any blanks we've left. You'll be the first to know, honest. Now, please head home; they're handling this and the quicker you let them get back to investigating, the quicker they will find answers."
Ushari mutters under her breath, I hope we can find these kids before it is too late... Her eyes scan the crowds and also Constable Hern for any traces of dishonesty.
Ushari hears only sincerity in the cacophony of voices around her. However, given her most recent conversation with her comrades, she watches the crowd as well as listens to them. She notices that Constable Hern doesn't move dextrously through the locals. He's got a noticeable limp on his right side. He also carries his right arm a little oddly.
Ushari keeps her facial expression carefully neutral as she allows the Constable to lead them through the crowd. While the evidence would lead her to believe Constable Hern is either behind or at the very least involved with the child disappearances, she had no concrete proof, yet. Also, she realized she had no way of knowing if he had any accomplices.
"Thanks, Constable, if you would take us to the town Archivist now, please? Time is wasting and we need some answers."
Hern nods and escorts you to the lumber office. The Hetmon is out but Dinwat is available. The thin Archivist sits at the work-table in his office surrounded by books and maps. A quick scan of the shelves shows a combination of accounting ledgers, village chronicles, and forestry maps. Din rests his quill next to ledger filled with his slender flowing script.
He points to a couple of chairs. You stand or sit as you each choose. He speaks without preamble, "What can I do for you?"
Straehan runs a hand along the books on the shelves, scanning the titles while listening to the interview.
Din's answers to your initial questions are as economical as his account entries.
Did you see anything last night? Where were you?
"I was working on the ledgers and company correspondence last night. The late deliveries of lumber have our employers worried. They've been hounding me for reports, adjusted projected delivery dates, and any news of easy to cull patches of forest that might improve their fortunes immediately... that sort of thing. After that, I went to bed." He gives a slight shrug, "I didn't see anything strange, but I live on this end of town, which is pretty far from last night's attack."
Have you seen anything unusual in the last couple of weeks?
The pinched faced accountant dares an attempt at desert-dry wit, "Raging paranoia, mostly. Beside that... there have been some queer lights in the woods after dark on some nights and maybe a few odd ghostly sounds. Or maybe that was the wind. It's a bit unnerving."
Are there any new faces in town?
As with everyone else you've questioned, Dinwat is quite sure there are no new faces in town.
Jayse tries his best to put on a reassuring face for all the concerned locals, though he shared their concerns - if for a different reason. Half a day spent interviewing people, and we barely know anything… at least Jofram's time was well-spent.
Jayse listens to the archivist's answers, inwardly sighing when nothing new is revealed. When he's finished, Jayse decides to try a new tact, "So you have access to all this town's and company's records, right? Has anything like this happened in the past? Any strange occurrences that have happened before? Abductions? Attacks? Anything about gnolls specifically?"
Jayse almost asks about shape-shifters, but caution gets the better of him. We don't know enough about this man or any of the leaders yet. Maybe that's a question best asked to those we think we can trust a little more.
Jayse is a little distracted during the interview of the archivist, still thinking about the odd look he caught from Ushari when she was talking to the constable.
The archivist cleans a smudge from his glasses, "Aidep asked me that very same question after the second disappearance." He pulls out a couple of massive leather-bound books and drops them on the table.
"Looking back through the last 40 years only, there are two instances of events similar to this. In the springs of 1051 and 1030 there were a series of wolf attacks near the settlement. The records of the 1030 incident are sketchy at best - some of my predecessors weren't particularly literate or wordy. I've found no account of who was hurt. Of the 1051 attack, we know a bit more. Four people were mauled and survived, one was mauled and later died, and three were killed outright. Two of the dead and two of the mauled were children. The wolf pack stalked the town for about 3 weeks before the townsfolk were able to kill most of them and drive off the rest. Records show nine wolves were killed, including the pack leader."
Dinwat lets that subject stand and moves on to the second half of your question, "Gnolls? Again, some of our records are vague unfortunately. I'm fairly certain I recall records of five run-ins with humanoid tribes moving through the area. And there may be a couple more further back in time. During my tenure here, we've fought with Hobgoblins and Goblins. Many of the descriptions from before my time are vague but appear to describe Orcs and Goblins. Gnolls would certainly be a possibility. The records seem to suggest that these humanoid bands migrate through this area."
Jayse shakes his head, "Again it comes back to wolves." His next line is carefully delivered in a neutral tone, and he watches the strange archivist for any unusual reactions, "What is it with this town and wolf connections?"
Ushari catches the oblique reference to the wolf connection and risks a peek at Constable Hern guaging his reaction to Jayse's comment. She then turns back to the Archivist. "Do you have records of the names of those attacked by these wolves? I am curious if there was any personal reason for these attacks, or whether it was just happenstance."
Jayse shakes his head, "Again it comes back to wolves." His next line is carefully delivered in a neutral tone, and he watches the strange archivist for any unusual reactions, "What is it with this town and wolf connections?"
The Archivist raises an interested and sparse eyebrow. "I believe that's the question you are here to answer. But I should tell you that the previous wolf attacks have occured after long, hard winters. A starving wolf might risk attacking a settlement for an easy meal. That doesn't seem too strange... but it isn't the case here. We didn't have a terrible winter."
Jayse's hope of catching an odd reaction from the Archivist comes to naught.
Ushari catches the oblique reference to the wolf connection and risks a peek at Constable Hern guaging his reaction to Jayse's comment. She then turns back to the Archivist. "Do you have records of the names of those attacked by these wolves? I am curious if there was any personal reason for these attacks, or whether it was just happenstance."
Ushari sees Hern makes a small warding gesture at the mention of wolves and a connection to the town.
Din answers the question clinically, "There are still townsfolk who remember the spring of 1051. A few of the survivors are in town as well, I believe. I'll get you their names, if you like. From the 1030 battle, there are no records - except for the obvious one. Cyrus Bartleby, the Hetmon at the time, died in the fight with the pack."
He gives Ushari a curious look, as if her words just registered. "Personal reasons? From a wolf?" He nearly smiles at the odd idea as he pulls open one of the books, perusing for some bit of lore. "Ah, here we are... Riev Coe and Hallis were both injured in 1051 while battling the wolves. Neither is listed as 'mauled', so they weren't the most seriously injured. Floris VanLeewen was mauled. Unfortunately, you can't speak with him. He passed three years ago - old age and influenza. Therman Tout was one of the mauled youths but he drowned almost eight years ago. His sister Hermione is still here, you could speak with her."
He flips through a few more pages, humming to himself. "Natalie Silverie was only 12 at the time. She's still here - married to Coe's second son if I'm not mistaken. She barely survived the attack. Hern, do you know someone named 'Botworth'?"
The constable nods, more comfortable with the mundane subject. "Aye. He used to own a farm. Got the itch to travel and moved on years ago. He was fond of apple trees... not that he had much success with..."
Dinwat cuts him off with a arid look. "That's fine, thanks."
Jayse and Ushari's observations do bear some fruit. It is clear from the men's reactions that Hern is perhaps a little superstitious and Dinwat is more grounded.
Ushari files away her observation of the Constable and Dinwat for future discussion. It sounds like there is a history between the two...
"If it would be ok with you, I think having a chat with Hermione, and also this ... Natalie as soon as possible would be a good idea." She turns to the Constable, "Could you arrange to have them meet us here?"
Hern nods, "Sure. Here? In the office? And do you want them together or alone?"