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Santolino says, "Ah! It's part of my tricks. I do have a spell to change your appearance. It's not THAT extensive but I could show you some of the particulars. Not very difficult, which is good! Plus I know a spell that will help you make a quick getaway if the lady's father does spot you in flagrante delicto."
You also realize that Santolino's spell for quick escapes is probably the same one mentioned when you overheard his conversation with Gef earlier: vanish, a simple spell that causes very brief invisibility.
"It wasn't him. The footprints, the size of the person who took Eloran. He's too big and far too heavy." Lyreasel says to the others outside.
So we just leave him tied in here?
"Better than him running around causing trouble."
"We should stash him under the stage or something." Kenji mutters. "Koan's gotta be getting the guy to spit out the truth any moment now. Don't want him to screw it up.."
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Direct me to the stage, while we drag him clear then. Magnauk grab his other shoulder
Morgrym mutters as he grasps the orcs shoulder to start dragging him towards the stage.
Koan holds up a finger to Santolino for a moment to halt their discussion, "While delicious, I find that tea runs right through me. Excuse me a moment while I visit the outhouse. I'll see if Gef is doing alright while I'm there. Do you have anything to nibble upon with the tea? I find a good biscuit or cracker does wonders to settle the stomach."
As he excuses himself and walks outside toward the outhouse, he whispers to the others, whoever is still in the area, "I'm fairly sure the magician is our culprit. But I think he's too clever to come out and confess, so let us try to snare him in a trap. Go gather the villagers and let them know we found the girl's body and her killer nearby. I'll give you a few moments then I'll let him know one of the townsfolk passed and told me they had found the girl's body and they are collecting more folk to extract her body and that they now know for sure who the real killer is, all without saying where they found the body. I'm hoping he will panic and check the scene of the crime to make sure he didn't leave any evidence."
In what seems to be turning into some kind of comedy, you manage to manhandle the half-orc under the stage, tied up, and leave him there unconscious for the time being.
Santolino purses his lips and then says, "Yes, of course. I hope you didn't get some of the bad ale that was going around at the tavern yesterday. A few folks were stuck in the privy for hours."
Koan slips outside and has his brief conversation with the party... but when he turns back toward Santolino's kitchen, the magician is nowhere to be found. He seems to have performed one of his signature vanishing acts.
Lyraesel makes a point of gagging the half-orc as well before turning to the others. "We should go, first back to camp and then I will go to tell the father that we found his daughter's body."
Koan calls out to Santolino, "Hello, Santolino? Are you somewhere nearby?"
"I... Think he's onto us." Kenji observes. "S!#&, now what?"
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Rushing into the house, Lyraesel scans the area looking for any sign of where the mage may have gone.
Kenji seems to be right -- Santolino appears to have become very suspicious of the goings-on and vanished into the night. Even charmed by Koan, he apparently has decided that he either needs to go somewhere else really badly, or that even with his friend he believes something has gone Very Wrong.
It occurs to you that stage magicians are often quite good at cold reads.
Lyraesel hunkers down and is able to track Santolino fairly easily. His robes tend to brush the ground from time to time and he wears distinctive shoes with curled-up toes.
Unfortunately, Lyraesel also knows that she can't move as fast following his tracks as he can run away.
She is able to follow his tracks out of the theater area and it looks like he's heading to the Silver Moon tavern -- the same place where Kenji previously spiked the ale.
Well then, shall we follow?
Morgrym, re-scabbards his axe after all this, and then starts to follow Lyraesel at a short ways back.
Kenji nods, though his face is a bit grim. "Yeah. We know where he's going. The mob's going to be there too, you know." he says.
"We should head there. If we can corner him there we can tell the girl's father where to find the body and have them witness his reaction."Lyraesel says "You all go on ahead. I'll follow his tracks to make sure he doesn't change course,
I will stick with you to ensure your safety
Kenji takes a deep breath and sets off towards the tavern along Koan.
"So I think we should still play you as not part of our group." Kenji offers. "Maybe we can trick him that way."
With a nod, Lyraesel continues following the tracks.
Aye, Kaijitsu, I can be seeing the point, but I can amble along, across the street or wherever, so that I am near him, but not beside him.
At least until we know where he has gone.
Your group splits up and you find, sure enough, that Santolino bolted to the Silver Moon tavern.
His spell has worn off by the time that half of you arrive there (with Lyraesel still tracking in case he had changed course), and he seems to be in conversation with Varek (Eloran's father) - he's gesticulating wildly and saying, "Seriously! I think they want to kill me! Maybe they think I can use my magic to find out what happened to Eloran - I don't know! Those strangers are dangerous!" Varek looks angry and about three other townsfolk, seated with him, are mumbling about this new "revelation."
Koan is checking out Santolino's home for his spellbook (if he left it) and any other clues such as dirty clothes that might link him to the girl's death. After he has gathered all it up, he will go get Chomper and attempt to get the dog to follow him (either by leash or its own volition) while he go looking for the others.
Perhaps more chillingly, in the second drawer of the desk you find spare reams of parchment and a small box that contains two locks of hair and a hair ribbon.
This may not be the first trip on this particular merry-go-round.
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Kenji slips in as discretely as possible, trying to figure out how to turn the situation around, but he's not that experienced and a young man.
Seeing the man trying to agitate the mob further, and his temperament already strained, Kenji steps up to try to stand up to the flim-flam artist.
"That's not true!" Kenji cries out, standing forward. "I want you to talk! Do tell them how you killed her!" Kenji's impassioned argument is punctuated by the firelights in the room growing marginally brighter as his frustration flares. "We know what you did to that girl! He has some of your ledger, Mister Varek! He even has her jewelry!"
Not knowing how to pick locks as of now, Koan tries to pry the locked drawer on the desk open to no avail. Panting from the strain, Koan sighs and shakes his head, "I suppose I'll need to get one of the others to open you." He removes the locks of hair and ribbon from the drawer as he frowns. This is not good. Not good at all.
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"What?!? You!" shouts Santolino. "You're just trying to protect your friend in the caravan!"
Varek looks suspicious, then says, "How did you get one of my ledgers, Santolino?"
Santolino says, "Honestly, I have no idea what the lad is talking about."
Varek says, "Did you find one of the ledger pages?"
Santolino smoothly replies, "Yes, it was fluttering on the breeze not far from my house. I picked it up because I didn't know what it was. The poor girl must've dropped it when that caravan driver..." He trails off and bows his head.
Varek scowls and says, "If you did find it, why didn't you bring it to me? That's my property, not to mention evidence."
Santolino replies, "I didn't realize it was important! I didn't know that it had anything to do with this - I thought it had just been dropped."
Varek, with rising anger, says, "Eloran was carrying that ledger page to collect payments when she was stopped! How could you not know? Everyone in town knew! I put up one of the 'contact if you have information' posters on the wall by your stage!" He stands up, clutching hard at the porcelain jug in his hand.
Santolino fidgets and says, "Well, I told you to search the caravan, didn't I? But nobody did, and obviously they didn't keep Eloran's things." He looks briefly alarmed, then says, "Why, I bet this young man was even involved! She was never found - they could've taken her off into the woods or... or worse!"
Some of the locals look back and forth between Santolino and Varek like they are watching a tennis match.
Varek says, "So what about her jewelry?"
Santolino replies, "I don't have it! If you find it on my house, it's a set-up! These folks are so eager to pin this on someone else that they've picked me and they're trying to convince you that I'm guilty! We're neighbors, Varek! Well, maybe not next-door, but I live just three streets down from your place! We have to stick together against these outsiders!"
Varek pauses, and Kenji and Magnauk see a flicker of concentration on his face - the expression of a calculating man used to doing math and thinking through problems. Then he says, "Wait... so if her jewelry is at your place somewhere, it's a setup? But if you saw her jewelry, why wouldn't you bring it to me immediately? ... the same reason you didn't bring the ledger page? Is that it, Santolino? You're good at making things disappear, after all."
Then Lyraesel and Morgrym arrive.
The crowd looks like it's about ready to get ugly, but at whom, it is still hard to tell. Varek has been making angry accusations for a couple of days now and people seem a little hesitant to fall into the mob mentality, especially after they had that run-in with the bad booze (thanks to Kenji).
That's when Chopper shows up, happily following Lyraesel - and still wearing Eloran's necklace.
Varek practically explodes. "That's her necklace! How the hell did her necklace get on your showman's dog?!?" he shouts, red-faced.
Santolino raises his hands defensively. "Don't shout at me! Gef must have found it!"
Varek looks down, then when he looks back up he's doing the hardcore I-am-going-to-burn-you-down mad-dog stare at Santolino. "So... why... didn't... Gef... bring... it... to... me?"
Santolino pauses, then says with a look of surprise, "Because... he was the killer?"
Varek replies, "Killer? So you found her body, too?"
Everything gets ugly.
The crowd starts shouting and someone throws a bottle of booze at Santolino. It hits the magician in the side of the head and a thin line of blood runs down from his scalp. He flinches and tries to cast a spell, but one of the mob tackles him.
Soon, the angry men of the town have bound Santolino up. "You can't trust these wizards! They're all tricksters! Burn him up! Burn him!" shouts someone with a red face, purple veins standing out on his neck.
Varek hauls a battered and bloody Santolino to his feet and says, "Where... is... she?"
Morgrym looks at Lyrasel, and then at the crowd.
I for one don't like the looks of this, and if we let a possible innocent get beaten to death it will be as if we did it.
Morgrym starts to push his way forward into the crowd towards Varek and Santolino
Morgrym pushes through the crowd and pushes Varek and Santolino apart.
"Hey! Out of my way!" shouts Varek. Obviously his temper has gotten the better of him.
Santolino falls backward and scrambles on the ground, trying to get away from Varek. The crowd closes in angrily as well, leaving him with no escape route.
"Stop it!" shouts a voice that you recognize from the doorway. With a backward glance you see Scarletta.
"He did it to me too. He didn't kill me... but only because I got out of his spell and ran. Then Mistress Maressa slandered me and nobody would believe me."
Santolino blanches and says, "That's not true! This... this harlot is making that up because she knows that now she can get to me! She's always hated me! She just thinks that people will believe her now!"
"He took a lock of my hair," Scarletta says flatly. "He manhandled me and used his magic to make me like it." Tears hover at the edge of her eyes. "When it was just me I could live with it. But now he did it to someone else and that poor girl is gone. Stop him. Stop him please."
Santolino lurches to his feet but one of the lumbermen in the crowd jumps forward and grabs his arm, twisting it behind him.
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"I found her body." Lyraesel says loudly enough to be heard over the chaos. ”Hidden in the river near the east bridge. She had only her tattered undergarments left and was weighted down with stones, but her hair gave away his hiding place. She was drowned and her fingernails were ragged, probably broken in a struggle against her attacker, whoever held her underwater probably has scratches on her body from her struggling. I would suggest checking him.”
Not accustomed or comfortable speaking to a large group, she keeps her focus on Eloran's father.”We wanted to find the guilty person before taking you to her body. Her tracks show that she was going about her business and then for some reason changed direction and went under the bridge to meet with her attacker. You know your daughter. Does that sound like her or more like the influence of dark magic. The same type of magic he used on Scarletta.”
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Kenji looks between the different groups and nods. "If this guy is the one doing it, there would be more murders even after you drove us off. More girls... daughters, would die. Would you live with that?"
The lumberjack grabs the collar of Santolino's robe and tears it open, revealing angry red welts on his chest.
Varek says, "It was you! Well this is the end of your tricks, Santolino. You're going to get what you deserve."
Scarletta steps up and places a hand on Varek's arm. She says, "That means the town needs justice. You weren't the only one wronged. You can't lynch him, Varek. You remember what lynchings have done in Wolf's Ear in the past."
That last sentence seems to give Varek pause, and then he dips his head as if ashamed. "You're right," he says. "You're right."
Varek lifts his head and says to the party, "Thank you, outsiders. You could have just packed all your things and left... but you didn't. You stayed when it would cost ya, and you got to the bottom of this. I owe you, not just for fixing this, but an apology too. I'm... I'm sorry."
Scarletta says, "You've kept Eloran's faith. Now that you've found her we can put her to rest peacefully."
The lumberjack and a few of the other townsfolk haul Santolino outside, a wretched shell of a man, his crimes now exposed.
Over the next few hours, word quickly spreads. Then, one by one, people trickle in to your caravan encampment, to offer mumbled apologies, or to drop off tokens of thanks or esteem. The atmosphere seesaws between gloomy and celebratory as people remember Eloran - some of the townsfolk retrieve her body and the local acolyte of Pharasma is summoned to perform rites. She is given a sunset funeral. Varek weeps openly at the loss of his daughter. Scarletta comforts him and the de facto leader of the town, a massive hairy man who is rarely seen, comes out to preside and to announce that Santolino will be incarcerated and the severity of his crimes decided by a special council of the town's prominent figures.
Once you've had a chance to settle down after the commotion, you catch up some of the other members of the caravan. Vankor is overwhelmed with gratitude that you've managed to clear his good name. Sandru notes that this will make it easier if his caravan ever visits this way again. Hiro, who spent much of his time standing guard over Ameiko's wagon in case any more angry villagers came back, is stern and reserved as ever, but manages to spare a smile and a pat on the back for Kenji.
"We've done a good bit of work here," says Koya. "No, you - you all did a good bit of work. You've helped this town start healing after a terrible trauma. And that will end the nightmares for some of them."
Shalelu says, "Very tricky tracking down that magician after he disguised himself with magic. Good thing it wasn't a shapeshifter or the tracks would've been even stranger. I'm quite impressed."
Sandru, Vankor, and Bevelek see to the packing of food and donations. Sandru purses his lips and says, "Looks like we'll be a little tight -- if Morgrym and Koan are coming with us, they'll need to ride on one of the tailgates, but we can manage it."
And with that, you are ready to leave Wolf's Ear and return to the road to Brinewall Village.
"Thank you!" Lyraesel says trying not to blush. "That means a lot coming from somebody as skilled as you are. I'm....glad you were with me when we found Eloran's body. It's not something I would have wanted to encounter alone." she trails off quietly.
"This was a victory for sure!" Kenji exults. "I'm going to bake a cake for tonight!"
He uses one of the cookpots to make a thick pound cake. Though there isn't any traditional frosting, it's packed with some of the fruit they'd acquired. He's laced it on multiple layers.
He'll bring Koan and Mogrim slices, sitting down on the bench of one of the wagons to have his slice while he does so.
"So... neither of you know what we're doing heading north yet?" Kenji asks.