Even if the first rock didn't hit the ant, Filk isn't going to give up. Again, using the power of his mind, the boy sends some gravel flying towards the yellow ant.
Filk throws another hunk of rock at the ant, and this time it hits it clean in the face, dropping it dead!
The group sees a small amount of Demon's Bile growing on three gravestones. Encased in the vile stuff is a morningstar that appears to be made of cold iron, a magical stick (verified by anyone casting detect magic), and a pouch containing something magical (a pair of elixirs).
The bird hops down to a clean gravestone, and starts squawking, “Yellow-Foot! Get Yellow-Foot!” again!
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Valerka steps forward collecting her rope again into a nice coil, "Would have worked better if you all hadn't stepped on my rope trap. Next time..."
She looks at her gaping wounds, and to those of her colleagues, "I know we want to keep pressing on, but perhaps since we're looking for their flock, Father Idris Ruvarra could help heal us up some before we dig too far into the crypts?"
You see the signs of fighting here. The morningstar has specks of blood, and the ground cover has been disturbed. There were probably several fights here, other than your own.
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"There's blood on the morningstar. Looking at the tracks on the ground, I think there were several fights here. Maybe this is were the apprentices had meetings, and maybe they were attacked here, which would explain their disappearance."
"Should we present the evidence to the mayor? Or use it to get more answers from the alchemist, priest, or the shopkeepers?"
"I hope we don't lose that raven, but visit to the priest might be a good idea. Or what about that stick and elixir? Can anyone identify magical items?"
"And Valerka, you shouldn't sulk," Filk comforts the half-orc and pats him on the shoulder. "Perhaps we could've done better, but we survived."
The morningstar is just a decent quality cold iron morningstar... not even masterwork.
This is a wand of bless weapon with 10 charges. Command Word: "Sow Fortune"
It is an elixir of hiding
It is an elixir of vision
The team makes their way to the temple of Erastil, to see Father Idris. "Good evening, adventurers. Have you heard anything about my daughter yet?" he asks expectantly. The man looks truly concerned, and then his eyes go wide when he sees the morningstar on Khoun's belt. "That isn't Nolaria's, is it? She recently purchased it, but wouldn't tell me why."
He then notices the wounds that several of the adventurers have. "Oh, you got in a fight? Please tell me what happened, while I summon up the grace of Deadeye to heal you." He uses his last channel of the day to heal the party.
"We haven't found your daughter yet," Filk says, apologetically. "But we are on the trail, I assure you. We found the morningstar abandoned in the graveyard, along with..." he starts, and is about to tell about the bugs. But then remembers the mayor's request to not give the townfolk any reason to worry.
"Umm.. ehm.. do you know if she wanted a weapon made specifically of cold iron?"
"I am sorry, Filk, but I don't really know. She didn't really talk about it. I know her and her friends were out 'adventuring', so perhaps they ran into some fey? Hopefully not worse?" the middle-aged priest looks even more concerned as possibilities seem to be running through his head.
"Please, please, find my daughter, and make sure she is safe! We don't always see eye-to-eye, but I love her just the same!" The man is starting to get frantic, as he is obviously imagining that the worst has happened.
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FiJeet decides it is time to lead the group to a local bar... after a round of drinks, he taps his drumsticks lightly on the table...
"So what do we know... the bird said 'get yellow-foot"... All the missing kids have been up to something together. Gellion is the leader of the group...
the bussing noises the baker heard are the beetles i reckon... but the lights? did we figure that out?
Found the Demon's bile.. nasty grossness.. cold iron good.
followed the raven to the graveyard... did Valerka say pet of the Cleric's apprentice? maybe a familiar? Anyways.. found her cold iron morning star..
and yellow foot is Pavolus?" His drum sticks come to a crescendo.
"Soo.... we can either stake out the orchard tonight.. or check with the cobbler tomorrow? Might do us good to rest tonight..."
Filk nods to FiJeet's ideas. "True, we could check the orchard at midnight. And before that we could go asking about the morningstar and the boots"
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Sitting at the table, sipping on an ale Valerka looks pensive, "I don't know FiJeet, we have a whole bunch of pieces but no picture of the puzzle we're trying to put together. You're right, the kids are clearly adventuring together, and by the looks of the two groups of bugs we've fought and the disgusting ichor, they're fighting against some kind of Demon. Sounds like the kind of thing these idiot children would be up to."
She slouches a bit and frowns, "But the rest of the pieces mean nearly nothing. Clearly the bird wants us to 'get yellow-foot' as he kept repeating over and over again. So we know he's telling us that finding him is key. I suppose we could check out the cobbler to see if he knows anything, but I really don't see how he could. He just sold a pair of boots."
So with a shrug she offers up the only suggestion she can think of, "So I guess we watch the orchard at night since that's where the bugs keeps showing up."
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Valerka continues thinking, writing a bunch of information down on a scrap of paper.
She looks up from her notes. "Well it's clear to me that Gellion is clearly at the center of all of this somehow. Everybody thought he was the leader, and that bird keeps yelling yellow boots and yellow feet and Yellow Whatever. He's the one with the yellow boots so..." She trails off hoping everybody makes the obvious conclusion. "The last thing in the graveyard he said was 'Get yellow boots', so I suspect that's what we have to do."
She ponders long and hard about the paper, "You know, out of all of the masters, Petrello Pindeilo disapproved of Gellion the most, maybe he has something to do with it all? That still doesn't tell us where to look for everybody, but it's clear we have to hurry if they haven't been seen in two days and somebody is wounded."
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"I think we should meet with the cobbler, mayor, and alchemist again, and we should do that quickly if possible. So let's go to the cobbler. If they know nothing, we go to the gnome alchemist. If she can't help us, we'll talk to the mayor and ask if she has any ideas."
Khoun presents all the evidence about what's happened to the NPCs and says:
"It's evident that these young people are in grave danger. Please help us find them or they'll very surely die and it's on you because you did nothing to help!"
"I agree, maybe we should report our findings to the mayor first."
The mayor sees you, and reviews the information that you have... (demon's bile, the name "yellow foot" and the knowledge of the boots, and the note). The thinks about it, and asks, "Have you talked to his master, Pricknittle?"
Hearing that they haven't talked to her since they gained the evidence, she sends a city watchman to go summon the gnome, unless the group wants to send a runner from among themselves.
FiJeet immediately volunteers to go get his potential lady-love, and sprints out the door before anyone has the chance to respond.
"Good evening, Master Nackl... to what do I owe this pleasure?" she asks...
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Fijeet blushes a bit at the greeting.
"Oh you know... keeping busy. I think I need to postpone that dinner... Very regrettable..." he forwns clearly disappointed...
"We have some new developments in finding Gellion and his friends. Could you spare some time to come meet with the mayor please?"
Fijeet will escort her gallantly... holding her arm and making small talk while walking through the streets.
Majara is saddened when FiJeet postpones their dinner date, but comes along with him without complaining. They chitchat about nothing in particular, eventually arriving back at the mayor's.
"I am sorry that my apprentice seems to be the cause of what is going on. I assume you'll want to check out his house for clues?"
The team heads towards Gellion's house.
The Vazarro home is a simple, well-kept, two-story structure of bricks, wood, and plain shingles. Smoke billows from a brick chimney, and minimal light escapes from the windows, from which partially closed, thick- slatted shutters hang. The front door bears a tarnished brass knocker.
You notice a dark, greasy-looking stain oozing from between the slats of the shutters on the ground floor windows.
You notice a dark, greasy-looking stain oozing from between the slats of the shutters on the ground floor windows. You also notice that the door’s knocker is lightly smeared with a dark, dried substance.
The substance is dried blood that is a few days old
"Oh, what!? Danger? Let's go, let's go!" Filk jolts in surprise. He was merely expecting going through Gellions belongings, and not a fight. But with little use for weapons, he is always ready.
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Valerka watches the two get read with a look of utter perplexion on her face, "Wait...there's been blood on the door for a few days? They've been having us run around this town getting attacked by BUGS and nobody bothered to check if they were still at home!?"
Valerka pulls out her coil of rope, preparing for the worst.
FiJeet notices no magic.