Serax gives his companions a serious look.
"It would seem that we have two options. We could find the nobleman that we saved who should be around the inn at some point and see about our reward. Normally that would be my preferred choice but given that another goblin attack could occur at anytime it might be better if the three of us paid the sheriff a visit and find out why the gate was unguarded. That would also allow Natalie to get the medal that she was promised."
Serax gives his companions a serious look.
"It would seem that we have two options. We could find the nobleman that we saved who should be around the inn at some point and see about our reward. Normally that would be my preferred choice but given that another goblin attack could occur at anytime it might be better if the three of us paid the sheriff a visit and find out why the gate was unguarded. That would also allow Natalie to get the medal that she was promised."
"Right...lets talk to the sherriff first, then we can see this Foxglove or whatever his name is..."
Thorgrund stands, looking for agreement from the gnome.
She hastily finishes off the food and packs all the parchment pages, ink, and the partially build construct into her oversized bag.
"Let's go. I want my medal," she says as she skips happily towards the exits.
You find the Sheriff is still within the Sandpoint garrison. As he was present during Serax's interrogation of the prisoners, he is also troubled by the suggestion that the North Gate had been left unguarded before the goblin assault.
"I was just about to head out there and have a word with the man in charge of that gate," he tells you, tightening the clasps on his armour and sliding his sword into the scabbard at his hip, "Since you are here, perhaps you would like to accompany me. I already mislike the idea that my men may be incompetent, the notion that they might be untrustworthy is even more galling."
On his way out of the door, he turns and levels a finger at Serax.
"No more magic, understood? These are my men and we'll be doing things my way."
"Of course there could be no reason to use magic on your men. They are doing such a 'great job' keeping Sandpoint safe. I know I will sleep better with such 'vigiliant' guards watching the gates." Serax gives the Sheriff a sloppy salute.
Once the sherrif turns away, Thorgrund gives the elf a sharp elbow nudge (landing most likely on his upper thigh).
"Easy, lad..." he hisses. He tries to give Serax his best "plaintive" look.
Natalie follows the group distracted by taking notes and trying to work out kinks in her clockwork gnome schematics. The arrangement of town guards holds no real interest to her until she gets her medal and badge.
Arriving at the North Gate, Sheriff Hemlock calls for the men on duty to line up before him, where they shuffle nervously beneath his close scrutiny. He questions them regarding the fact the gate was left unmanned before the Swallowtail festival and is told they but stepped away for a moment to witness the consecration of the new cathedral.
...sure...of course
As an aside to Natalie and Thorgrund, "I cannot tell anything about these lowly humans."
In a rare moment of seriousness, the gnome regards the humans with great focus and turns to the others: "Something's wrong. They seem weird. Like they are lying..."
"This savior of Sandpoint" gesturing towards Natalie "knows you are lying. Remember the weather machine she built to put out the fires? Well now she has constructed a machine to detect liars. Serax points towards the clockwork gnome. "You may as well tell us the truth. Please do not make us angry. Keep in mind what happened to the goblins that made us mad!"
Thorgrund stifles a chuckle, marvelling at Serax's cleverness. Quickly donning a serious look on his face, he begins to loudly crack his knuckles, trying to look as intimidating as possible.
The guards look from Serax to the half-finished cyborg, then to Thorgrund, the cracking of whose knuckles sounds much like a handful of tiny rat skulls being crunched up between his teeth.
"Please, no! Whatever that... thing is, don't turn it on!" the guards plead, "It was Lonjiku! Lonjiku Kaijitsu! The old foreigner who runs the Glassworks! He gave us coin leave the gate unattended for a few minutes, we had no idea the old man was in league with the goblins, or we'd have never taken his money!"
The guards look from Serax to the half-finished cyborg, then to Thorgrund, the cracking of whose knuckles sounds much like a handful of tiny rat skulls being crunched up between his teeth.
"Please, no! Whatever that... thing is, don't turn it on!" the guards plead, "It was Lonjiku! Lonjiku Kaijitsu! The old foreigner who runs the Glassworks! He gave us coin leave the gate unattended for a few minutes, we had no idea the old man was in league with the goblins, or we'd have never taken his money!"
"Sheriff, what information can you provide about this Lonjiku? Why would he want to betray your town?"
After berating his men for their incompetence, Sherrif Hemlock takes a moment to consider your question.
"I don't know all that much about him, even though he must be one of the wealthiest men living in Sandpoint. His whole family settled here about thirty years ago, set up the glassworks on the southern side of town." He pauses here to point at a sprawling building on the waterfront, several pillars of smoke rising from the three tall chimneys towering over the neighbouring buildings. "Keeps to himself, most of the time. He was reclusive even before his wife died five years ago, now you rarely see him at all. You will have met his daughter already, she runs the inn that you're staying at. I recall he had another child, a son I think, but he left town a long time ago and I don't believe he's ever returned. I cannot think of any reason that Lonjiku would want to help the goblins destroy the town, both his home and his business are based here."
The sherrif rubs his chin thoughtfully.
"Perhaps you three would care to look into this further? I am prepared to authorise your investigation as freelance agents and will ensure you are compensated for your trouble."
Spotting Natalie's fervent expression, he rolls his eyes and adds:
"And yes, I will make sure that you all get a medal."
"A shiny one."
"Sheriff, we will take your word that 'this time' we will receive compensation which was not forthcoming for our previous heroic work."
Serax motions for his companions to join him out of earshot of the Sheriff and his men. "I find it very interesting that we end up at an Inn owned by the daughter of the man that arranged for goblins to enter the town. Those goblins damaged the competing inn so badly that it is no longer in business."
Serax paces as he thinks. ”We again would seem to have two options for proceeding. We could go and confront this Lonjiku directly or we could return to the Rusty Dragon and have a 'discussion' with the daughter."
He stops pacing and looks at his companions, ”Your instincts have been sound so far. What do you two think we should do next?"
Perking up with joy and renewed interest after the promise of a medal, Natalie then begins pacing looking at the ground thoughtfully:
"I would think the direct path is the the best here. It is likely his daughter had no idea of her father's plans or intentions. Plus if we talk to the daughter first and she is involved, she will likely tip off her father before we can talk to him."
As quickly as the shift to serious and thoughtful occurred, gnome shifted right back to bounding about with childlike joy eating a large piece of cake she had hidden away when leaving the inn this morning.
"She's right...I say we talk to his daughter first...politely, if possible." Thorgrund says.
"Clean your ears dwarf. The gnome said not to talk to the daughter first."
"Natalie, I agree. Let's go see this glassmaker. I'm quite interested to hear his excuse. I've a new spell in mind for him if he causes us trouble." You can hear the anticipation in Serax's voice as he contemplates using his magic on Lonjiku.
"By the way Natalie, could you build a detector of lies into your clockwork gnome? It seems as if that could be very useful."
Pouring through pages of notes she can't seem to figure out how to make a lie detector. But eventually the gnome has an idea. Natalie climbs up the dwarf's back and onto his head, so she can reach over the elf and deftly plucks on of the wizard's hairs. Hoping back down she pulls out a rusty nail and coils the hair around it. Frantically piecing together more parts of machinery she drops the nail into an input funnel along with a handful of old coffee beans from her pocket and some water from her waterskin. She cranks a gear frantically and finally a steamy liquid comes out the bottom into a cup.
Handing the murky water to the elf, she proudly explains, "Not a true lie detetor, but it will help you see through any deception if you drink it!"
"Ouch!! Natalie stop that!" Serax yells as hair is ripped from his head. "What in the world is wrong with you..,"Serax stops in mid sentence and watches in stunned silence as Natalie assembles her machine. He watches the process in fascination as Natalie makes her potion. When she offers him the cup he takes it with a bit of trepidation and listens to her explanation of its effects. Serax empties his own water skin into the street and carefully pours the potion into it.
"Thank you Natalie. That was amazing to see. But next time please ask before ripping pieces off of my body." He tries to give her a glare but cannot maintain it and eventually just shakes his head and smiles.
"Lets go see this glassmaker."
When you arrive at the Glassworks, you find the building to be curiously silent. A quick investigation of the building perimeter reveals that curtains have been drawn over the windows and all the doors are locked. The rumble of the Glassworks’ furnace is plainly audible from within and the chimney still plumes with the smokey residue of industry.
"Hmmm...this place seems curiously silent. Well we could give up and leave...or...Thorgrund, how would you feel about smashing a door open? Unless either of you can think of a quieter way in to the building."
Natalie looks about wondering if the lock could be picked and then scans the area cor a rock to break the window. Finally the gnome just shrugs and heads up to the entrance; Natalie knocks on the door.
"Hmmm...this place seems curiously silent. Well we could give up and leave...or...Thorgrund, how would you feel about smashing a door open? Unless either of you can think of a quieter way in to the building."
"Let's see if we can get in quietly first...Nat, how'd ya like to pick a lock?" Thorgrund says, smiling at the gnome.
Sandpoint is not quite what Quiddling expected. His boat had arrived late and the trip from Magnimar had taken longer than planned so he had just missed the Swallow tail festival, but from the looks of it so had everyone else. The cautious and sullen demenor of the populace he’d met so far was not that of someone who’s just celebrated Desna’s holiday. Unless everyone had “celebrated” abit to much that is. It was indeed a curious demenor and he would have to investigate that further, but it would have to wait for now. The first order of business, Lonjiku Kaijitsu. Kaijitsu glassware is widely known and it was one of reasons Quiddling had come to Sandpoint. His father, Billwit Cane, had agreed to finance the first leg of his journey in return that Quiddling dropped by the Kaijitsu glass works with a business proposal. The family was good acquaintances with the Kaijitsu’s of Absalom, a niece of Lonjiku or something like that. Billwit, ever the opportunist, had hoped to build on that relationship by striking a deal of importing Kaijistu glassware and selling them in Absalom. It was Quiddling’s job to deliver the proposal and handle the initial process.
He hadn’t gotten much out of the first villager he met, but he did get directions to the glass works. Hoping that it was open despite the holiday Quiddling happliy skipped along the streets towards the building. Once he get’s there Quiddling is delighted to see smoke rising from the chimney, they must be open! The second thing his eyes are drawn to is the odd group consisting of an elf, dwarf, gnome and... some kind of machine. Those look like adventurers! Honest to god adventurers! Perhaps in the employ of Mr Kaijitsu. Giddy with excitement Quiddling walks forth with a wide smile. ”Good day, fellow travellers! My name is Quiddling Cane”, he says and bows deeply. ”I’m looking for Lonjiku Kaijitsu. Do you know where I might find him?” he asks. The young halfling tries to keep eye contact but his gaze keeps slipping back to the odd contraption next to the gnome.
With his 3 feet and 5 inches Quiddling towers over most other halflings, yet he is no match for other races. With his boyish looks and thick brown hair he could be mistaken for a human child where it not for his pointy ears and rich mutton chops. His clothes also draws his appearence from that of a human child, or a average halfling for that matter.
Quiddling dresses in a fine long coat which he wears over his leather jack and light brown cloth trousers. A white silk shirt is visible beneath his leather harnesk. The halflings attire is crowned by a dark brown wide brimmed hat. Slung over his shoulder is a cloth sack in which he keeps his writing equipment, pipe, flute and other miscellaneous items. He does not wear any shoes since his leathery soles has removed the need for foot wear.
At his side hangs a rapier in a finely crafted scabbard with the Cane family insignia carved at the top.
"Cane is it? What is your business with Lonjiku? What role did you play in the incident at the gate? Are you one of Lonjiku cronies?" Serax draws himself up to his full height and looks down his nose at the halfling. "You may as well tell as the truth Cane. My associates clockwork gnome can see through your feeble lies."
Serax listens impatiently as Quiddling relates his purpose for coming to the glassworks. "Very we'll Cane, we will check on your story later but for now I would suggest standing back as the 'Saviours of Sandpoint," Serax pauses dramatically to let Quiddling respond. Seeing the blank look on the young halflings face Serax continues " that is to say me and my assistants, I mean, companions, have important work to do here. I would hate for you to get splattered with Lonjiku's blood when we go into action." Another dramatic pause again fails to illicit the desired reaction. "Look, just stand over there out of the way."
After 30 seconds of pounding on the door, Natalie stops and hears Thorgrund's advice.
"Yeah... But I don't have any tools..." and she quickly returns to pounding at the door until she notices Serax talking to someone new.
The Gnome races over the newcomer, and after Serax's interrogation, she begins to circle the halfling. After a series of turns about him involving bizarre "tests" such as examining his eyes, sniffing his hair, and poking him in the elbow with a quill, Natalie stops in front of him.
"I don't think he's evil... But his hat might be..." she informs the others with upmost sincerity and gravity.
Then as if suddenly sidetracked, the gnome happily beams at the newcomer who stands a good six inches taller than her.
"Hi! I'm Natalie Neverfaulter Nimblefoot, and that's Serax my elf, and that's Thorgrund's my dwarf," She points up to the sky indicating a falcon circling high above, "That's Albinus my bird, and this is... This is..."
Natalie spins to Serax with a look of desperation and points to the partially finished clockwork gnome in her backpack, "He doesn't have a name! What do I do? How I introduce him!"
Sandpoint was indeed not what Quiddling expected. He tries to be coherent during the interrigation, a task made difficult by Natalie's tests. Fortunetly the little halfing manages, up to the end. "I can assure you tha.... what?! Lonjiku's blood? What... what?... Why?" he starts to blabber, but then stands aside. "I may be able to assist you with the lock", he offers. "Although not with mister Kaijitsu's health on the line. I can assure you that neither me or my hat is evil", he saysthen wonders if that was the wrong thing to say. Perhaps they where evil and he should really go and try and find the village guard.
"Alright then Quiddling, if Natalie says your are not evil that is good enough for our group...'THE SAVIOURS OF SANDPOINT'..." Serax stares again at the halfling waiting for his adoration. Cane just stares at Serax. ”Really, you haven't heard of us? What, are you brand new to town or something? I mean, we are a really big deal. The Sheriff himself has promised us medals and rewards for investigating Lonjiku."
Serax then stares suspiciously at the halfling's hat. "You can come with us to talk to Lonjiku but you have to leave the hat of evil out here until Natalie has more time to test it."
Turning to his gnome companion, Serax reaches out and pats her shoulder. "Don't worry Natalie. We will help you think of a name for your friend.”
Quiddling draws a deep breath. Good, they’re not evil. ”Actually I am new here. Just arrived. From Magnimar. And Absalom before that. With some stops along the way.” Quiddling takes his hat off and looks at it. ”Would it be OK if I just kept it in my backpack until...” he says and pauses wondering what kind of group he’s run into, ”until Natalie can confirm that it is safe?”
With introductions and safety precautions out of they way, Quiddling produces a set of lockpicks from his backpack. ”Now, if you just let me...”, he says and walks around Serax and up to the door. ”So, you’re here on official business. Directly from the local law, no less. What kind of investigation are you conducting against mr Kaijistu? He’s quite famous you know. For his glass wares. That’s why I’m here. Or why I’m here at the glass works. Once that business is concluded I’m thinking about travelling along the coast. See Varsia, you know ”, Quiddling continues to try and make small talk as he works the lock. ”Saviours of Sandpoint. That sounds impressive. I’m sure you got plenty of stories to share.”
A bead of sweat trickles down his nose as he almost breaks his lockpick and jams the lock, but Quiddling manages to correct his mistake with careful precision. Seconds later the lock produces a satisfying *click* and he is able to open the door. ”Tada!” Quiddling says happily and presents the entrance into the glass works. ”Oh, it’s awfully dark in there. I wonder what’s inside”.
The halfing takes a few careful steps into the room. ”Hello?”
Serax will let Thorgrund and Natalie follow the halfling into the glassworks before going in himself.
Thorgrund hefts his shield, and tightens the grip on his axe.
"Just to be safe, let me go first, Cane" Thorgrund says quietly.
Nudging the door open slowly, using his shield, he peers into the room...
...but a gnat gets in his eye right then...
"Oh", Quiddling says in surprise and looks around. "I feel quite safe. Is there a reason I shouldn't?" he asks cheerily and follows Thorgrund. The halflings eyes widen in awe at the quality of the glass wares. "Such craftmanship. They're really quite superb."
After the rest of his group safely enters the building, Serax strolls in from the street. "I made sure no one followed us. We can now move forward and find Lunjiko without worrying about an attack from behind. You are all very welcome.
Serax eyes the door labelled Staff only, "Only one way to proceed it appears. It does seem eerily quiet though. Thorgrund would you mind taking the lead position. Do not worry. If there is a problem I will be behind you the entire time."
A passageway leads into a communal dining room for the workers that live on site. To one side of the corridor, several doors open into sleeping areas, though there is no sign of the men and women who would ordinarily occupy them. The beds are all in various states of disarray and blood is spattered over the walls and sheets. No bodies are apparent - although the trail of blood across the floor leads further into the building. The dining room at the end of the hall is a wreck - tables have been overturned and half-finished meals splattered across the floors, walls and ceiling.
Serax stops in the doorway of the dining room. "Oh my, this is not good."
Serax tries to find any clues to what or who could have done this to the workers.
"...not at all, lad...keep a sharp eye, all of you..." Thorgrund says quietly, peering intently once his eye is clear.
In a splash of blood near the doorway through which the gruesome trail leads, you find a partial footprint not unlike that of a goblin. Carelessly discarded beside one of the overturned beds is a broken dogslicer, one of the nasty little knives that the goblins you have fought before seemed to favour. The level of petty, mindless destruction evident here reminds you of what you witnessed during the attack on the town several days ago, yet there was no sign of a forced entry....
From beyond the door, you hear the sound of breaking glass, followed by a chorus of deranged laughter.
Quiddling tries to peer over Thorgund's shoulder but eventually have to settle with waiting until the dwarf moves into another room. "Is... is that blood?", he blurts out and runs up to one of the beds, trying to look for some clues to what happened. "It is blood!"
"What happened here? Who did this?"
Goblins! I hate goblins."
Run away...run away...but we are the saviours of Sandpoint. How can we run away? Everyone would laugh at us. If we destroy the goblins then maybe this time I could get my rewards. But if I'm dead then there's no reward. I can heal myself if I need to though. I can stay behind the others and run if I have to.
Serax looks at his companions. "If we be heros then we have no choice. We have to push forward."
Hearing the sounds from further ahead, Thorgrund says with a slight edge of menace "This way...my axe is thirsty" before heading in the direction of the sounds.