"So Sam, what was it your brother was whispering to you back there? Nothing about having alone time with Gwen I hope," Barek says with a wink to Tamara.
Barek muses aloud, "Perhaps that old fool did do it." Turning back to the old woman, "Baba, how has he been acting strangely? Talking to himself, speaking in unknown languages, asking questions about certain people, places, or events?"
Sam grumbles to himself "*Grumble* Told them so. *Grumble*
"Vesorianna... Maybe that's what the V means. Desna guide us, this is creepy." Tamara makes wide eyes at the connection, and more so when the woman speaks off Gibbs. She mutters a prayer to channel the power of her goddess. "We should investigate that man more closely. But I also want to know more about the wife of Vesorianna. It might not be a coincidence that the vandal drew the first letter of her name on the monument. Dear mother, what could you tell us of Vesorianna?"
Mulțumesc Baba. Barek looks at Sam and Tamara. I'm not sure how much more information we'll be able to gather. How about we head back to Kendra's house to wait for Sim, Gwen, and Birch and get that breakfast waiting for us. I know I'm famished and we can fill the others in a we eat.
Sam nods at Barek. Its unusual for a halfling to go hungry for to long and he is ready for food.
Mmm. Yea... Breakfast... Sounds good let's go!
"Screams and moans? We should definately pay him a visit, though not without Sim and Gwendolyn. Desna guide me." Tamra furrows her brows in worry at what she hears as she once again recasts her cantrip.
"What do you mean by, 'not sure how they could have escaped'? That the prisoners shouldn't have been able to escape even with a fire? Maybe they started the fire while breaking free at the same time? Do you know someone who might know more about this? Who started these rumors about the warden having to seal the prison for example?"
She turns towards Barek and Sam with a sweet sad smile, a shallow curtsy and wide eyes. "We should at least learn what we can here before retuning. Please indulge me in this"
Barek scoops up Tamara's hand and places a gentle kiss on her knuckles. "Anything for you Красива жена."
Barek's stomach audibly grumbles in protest and his cheeks get darker. "Heh, but as my stomach points out sooner is better."
"Hello again Mr. Sheriff! Looks like you have a lot in your hands right now but I've come here for two reasons... first to apologize for my behavior this morning. The reasons I acted like that are private but it involved many suffering for more than one friend... the second is to ask you if we could take a look at your archives about the old prison and its prisoners. We have a couple leads that indicated that the murder of the good professor and even the show in the statue might be connected."
During the conversation, Sim remained calm and friendly, trying to make the sheriff trust him... after all he was not hiding anything.
Yes, dear sherrif, we only want to help!
Barek walks up behind Kendra, clicking his boot heels on the floor so as not to scare her, and gently lays a hand on her shoulder, "Is something troubling you Kendra? You look lost."
Barek wraps one arm around her back for a gentle squeeze. "Well know that you have all of us to help you, Sim and Sam, Gwen, Tamara and myself. We're ready and willing to help you however you need us to."
Tamara gets a fit of jealousy from seeing the other woman wrapping her arms around Barek, but she stops herself from acting on it. She's mourning. We should let her have what comfort we can provide. Besides, it's not like he is mine... Not yet anyway. No matter how nice last night was, he was still only offering comfort to a distraught woman. If I want to keep him, I have to make a stronger claim. I should see about that soon, but not right now.
"Losing someone is hard. Together we are strong and we'll help you overcome it." Oh, how I wish I had friends or companions when my father died, it might have made things easier.
"I could not agree more with you, Mr. Sheriff... I'm also weary about letting newcomers into my most private area... nevertheless, regarding what we are looking for are the records about a couple of prisoners. We want to know more about the Splatter Man, the Lopper, the Father Charlatan, the Mosswater Marauder, and the Piper of Illmarsh. We'd also like to know more about the fire... As I said before, there is a big chance all that is happening lately is tied to this information. We can definitely wait for one, two, three days or even a week, but the real question is: What could happen to Ravengro if we wait too long to uncover whatever is happening?"
Sim remained calm, even if all this newcomer was starting to annoy him. Why can't they understand we are trying to help? I wonder if it is stubbornness or stupidity...
I'm also weary about letting newcomers into my most private area...
"I'm ready and willing however you need me.."
Barek moves to help himself to a plate of food, stomach growling angrily the entire time. "Well," he begins around a mouthful of bacon, "the sheriff is convinced that we haven't done anything to earn his ire. Sam, Tamara, and myself went asking around town for information regarding the prison and the statues, while Sim, Birch, and Gwen went to ask the sheriff about it. We were all supposed to meet back here to discuss and eat before asking to venture into the Restlands."
Barek sips from a cup of coffee and sighs contentedly, "Heavenly."
Barek stops chewing and swallows as his face turns serious. "In the trunk that your father left was a journal that had several disturbing entries in it. We'd like to find out more about what he was looking into, and he was supposed to have left something in Restlands that was helping his research. We were hoping to retrieve it and piece everything together."
Tamara's jealousy grows as Kendra flushes. She's also aware of how nice he is. Still, she speaks in a soft voice. "We are just looking to do what we can to help while we are here. It might be some danger we could ward off. Speaking of looking into things, did you know of a woman named Vesorianna? If we know more about her it might give us some clues as to what happened to the statue. That's what the sheriff came to investigate."
Barek chuckles into his coffee, "Figured they'd make it back before us. We'll let you know if we find anything worth mentioning. Speaking of which, Tamara asks a good question, what do you know of a woman named Vesorianna?"
Bacon held in his mouth like a craftsmen's nails Sam stands on a stool digging in the cabnits. His coffee sits on the counter next to him.
"Ish there ani shuga?"
Barek nods along with Kendra's story chewing contentedly. Reaching for another sausage he says to Sam, "While you're over there you mind handing me some eggs? "
Sim went down to meet the others, his face clearly showing signs of sadness.
"I'm sorry to say this to you but Gwen left... when we were heading back here we were approached by a courier with a letter for her. She was quite vague about the matter but it seems her family needs her... I thought about talking her against it but we should not neglect our family no matter what, no even when they insist to bring an ugly dog everywhere..." He looks at Birch. "...yes, I'm talking to you, Birch, no hard feeling though. Aside from that, we have little luck with the Sheriff... he agreed to collect information for us, even if he denied our request for searching the archives. But, let me eat and we talk about this latter..."
He then seated at the table and start to enjoy the marvelous food. Discreetly, he gestures to them when Kendra was moving back to the kitchen. "Later..."
Sim quickly glances to make sure Kendra left them alone before starting to talk.
"Right... the only other good piece of information we discovered is regarding the good professor's death..." He grab a grape from the table and starts to smash it. "...the Sheriff said that when he found the professor body, his head was completely smashed, 'like a smashed grape' he said, caused by the falling of a gargoyle statue. He doubts it was an accident and I'm inclined to agree with him." He then eats the grape. It was delicious and did not taste like a smashed head.
Sam visibly deflates at the mention of Gwen's leaving. He nods along with sim as he recounts the information on the scene of the professor's death.
Tamara puts her hands to her mouth in shock when the professor's death is revealed. "That's a horrible way to die! A falling statue though? Someone would have to be quite strong to push over a statue and he might have been immobilized as well. It doesn't sound like a normal murder. About the records, that's really a shame. Maybe we should have come with you... I think it's worth stopping by on our way out to ask one more time, maybe just me and Barek, you and Sam do look like brothers. Though we did find out something ourselves. Apparently Gibbs was out walking last night. It might be him who vandalized the statue. I think it's worth to investigating him further. I have a feeling all these bad things happening are connected. I have no idea what we should pursue first though."
"We're already up and about, so I suggest we start where we planned to and ask permission to head into the Restlands. If we want to investigate Gibbs we should probably stake out his house at night to see if he leaves or is acting suspicious ."
Sim nods in agreement. "Oh, and when we decide to investigate Gibbs, I strongly suggest for you to stay a little behind and let me take a look first. The man is already on edge with us so perhaps a stealthier approach would be the wise one... in any event that he discovers that we are after him, he will confront us with violence, being guilty of something or not. If I manage to prove his innocence and he never discovers about my action, he will have nothing against us."
"Alright Sim, it sounds like a plan. We'll stay 100 to 150 feet behind you, but if things start getting dicey I'd rather you head back to the group and we all face the challenge together. We've already been to one funeral, no need for more."
Barek stands and stretches out. "Now that that's settled how about we go obtain permission to head into the Restlands and see what the professor left out there?"
Tamara goes over to Barek and softly grabs his hand. She's getting quite used to holding him, it feels nice. "I still think we should go see the sheriff first, try one more time about access to the records. Maybe he'll be able to give us permission as well? As for investigating Gibs, if we are doing it stealthily, isn't it better to do it when it's not broad daylight?"
"I don't think the sheriff's permission would be much in the eyes of a religious sect... I vote we get permission from the priest's."
Sim shrugs at Tamara's comment. "Be my guest, Tamara, but I really doubt the Sheriff will change his mind just because it is you asking instead of me and Gwen... Now, about Gibs I fully agree."
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"So visit the priest, swing by the sheriff, head to the Restlands, then stake out Gibbs tonight? Tomorrow, why don't we search the prison, assuming we find what the professor left in the Restlands and see if we can't find out why he was looking into it."
"Sounds good."
Sam stuffs more bacon in his mouth then hops of the stool heading out the door.