"Yeah. See, I can make a very angry face to ward off the evil spirits. Or children. Whichever's worse."
"Children are little g%@$~+n kindyr* that deserve to be thrown into rahatmâncător** furnaces. Almost as bad as the damn slops.***" Mistress Crump spits to the side. "C'mon in, but mind the f%#!ing door. I've no chalgak'ste patience for brainless t~!~s who get tetanus from the nails."
She makes way, allowing the large group of adventurers to crowd into her tiny hovel. There is little in the way of amenities—a box, a bed, a table, and one three-legged chair currently propped up by the aforementioned box.
*Elven slur referring to gnomes.
**Ancient Suel slur referring to dwarves.
***Common slur referring to overweight dwarves, and sometimes gnomes.
Tanith decides to stand rather than test the dilapidated furniture’s ability to bear his enormous bulk.
”If you don’t mind, can you tell us about the night of the fire? Did you see anything or anyone out of the ordinary? I trust a lady like you doesn’t miss much.”
Mistress Crump glares at Tanith. "I was sleeping. Dumbass. A woman my age can't stay up all night."
"Didn't the sound of it all wake you up at least?"
"Well, sure, when I heard all the s*!~heads outside screaming and yelling." Crump rolls her eyes. "Ariokl low-borns. I hear none of them had the balls to go in to try to save the poor son of a b!$*+."
”A couple of boys tried to but they say the door was magicked shut. Do you think Laslo could have had a hand in it? Don’t they say his ghost haunts the Muddle still?”
"Laslo? If he had anything to do with the fire, he was a bigger f%!+ing moron than I thought." Crump snorts. "That fire burned his whole g+%~#@ shop down. Next day he goes and jumps into the Millstream."
When Tanith mentions the ghost, though, her eyes light up. "Oh, yes. There's something strange in that ugly little wreck. Laslo had a nice stone floor—not cut up and nice-looking, but you could set a fat whore in a sharp-legged chair and it wouldn't sink an inch. Only, the floor's gone now. I was visiting a couple nights after—paying some respects, of course—and I saw it. Just...gone. And I heard the queerest sound. Like...chittering, and laughing, and it all both together." She seems to be getting less and less controlled. "I'm alone, but I hear it. So I turned and ran off."
She glares fiercely. "They say it was the wind, say I'm mad, well, I'm not. I would've gone to the Watch, but I just stay quiet, don't make a fuss. If I'd spoken, they'd have tried to send me to the madhouse, or to foist me off on the damn shrine. I won't go. So you can make what you will of what I say, because I don't give a s$+&. But I saw and I heard what I saw and heard."
"We've heard of stranger things."
”Have there been any other mysterious fires in the Muddle since Lalso’s death?”
"Farrukh, do you know of any other fires that have occurred around here since Laslo died?" Astraden bares her canines at Mistress Crump good-naturedly while the group discusses.
"Sounds like we should investigate the scene of the fire ourselves for more information."
"Yes. Thank you, Mistress Crump," Astraden says, heading back for the door and nearly impaling herself on a nail. "See you around."
"Thanks for the information."
Tanith nods in agreement. "Let's check it out."
Once the door's shut, Astraden stoops and slots a piece of platinum just under the door - enough that Crump will see it when she opens it, but not so that anyone can easily see it before then, whether they're outside or inside.
She hefts her bag again and starts off towards the old burned buildings.
Eben trudges along after the rest. "Wow, gotta hand it to her... that lady knows how to swear."
Carina nods, blushing a little. "I didn't even know half of those words were swears. Remind me not to share them with Mom."
"Those were swears? It's so hard to tell with old people."
"How long ago did this fire happen?" Rodrigo asks the others as they walk to the shrine.
"Dunno. Don't think we were around when it happened, though," Astraden says, grunting as her boot sinks into a muddy patch of the street.
Carina nervously fiddles with her crossbow, loading a bolt into it. "Now, if there is a ghost where we're headed, anybody have any plans for dealing with it?"
The fire occurred roughly two months ago—a few weeks before the party's first visit to the Free City.
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The group leaves Mistress Crump's hovel and heads southeast, passing by the burnt shop next door. They round the corner and come to the ruins of the Kordian shrine. This house, the shop, and one other ugly hut were all build of wood, and they paid the price two months ago when the dry timbers ignited.
It is four in the afternoon, though the clouds hide the sun. The adventurers pick their way through the ashen wreckage.
The three buildings have all been emptied of what little wasn't destroyed, of course, but something seems...off. It's hard to place exactly what.
There's no sign of any ghost that the party can see.
Tanith helps out with the search where he can.
Poorly.
The floors of all three buildings is no more than bare dirt, though it's hard to tell thanks to all the ash and charred wood.
Carina starts investigating the scene in closer detail.
Her nervousness is showing, however--her eyes dart all about and likely miss several important details.
Farrukh begins walking around the place, scanning it for anything out of the ordinary.
In addition, Farrukh finds nine indentations in the soil. They're fairly deep, and angular, as if whatever made them was somewhat pointy.
"Look at this. Everything's all sunk down into the floor. That's not normal. Ground isn't really soft enough for that. Not any more, anyway. Maybe whatever was here softened the dirt? Or mashed them down really hard."
"Anybody seen marks like this before?"
“Does anyone speak Terran?” Rodrigo asks. “I can summon an earth elemental to glide through the ground and have a look. If it sunk down then maybe there are cellars or catacombs underneath. I just need someone who can communicate with it.”
"Not me. I barely speak Undercommon."
Carina shrugs. "Sorry... but I only know Infernal as a planar language. Or Draconic, if you're so inclined."
Carina ponders the dirt...
There might be creatures that could create similar effects, but Carina can't think of any that would be in Greyhawk.
Carina looks up at the rest of the team. "Judging from the condition the ground is in, I'd guess that a transmute rock to mud spell was used here. The fire would have hardened the ground into this if it were hot enough."
"It could also have been the doing of some kind of monster. Can't say I know for certain what did it, though."
"Why would anyone do that?" Tanith asks as he studies the mentioned section of earth. "Unless there's something down here like Rodrigo mentioned."
"Huh. Would... people have sunk down into the mud? Could there be bodies buried down there?"
"Your guess would be about as good as mine..." She blinks. "...actually..."
"Okay, bear with me here--" Carina starts pacing. "--I'm thinking that the perps opted to make a big sinkhole for their escape route. Taking off through the streets would be viable, but not if they had some kind of monster with them--after the whole chimera incident, I doubt people would think twice about panicking and calling the watch at the sight of another monster wandering around Greyhawk."
"Setting the fire once they did their job would harden the mud back into dirt, but not before the perps had enough time to escape through the sinkhole." She nods. "Unless I'm totally wrong (and I don't doubt that possibility), there should be some sort of tunnel under here."