When Arasmes set the dog down and uttered the strange words, Taltōsh listened carefully.
Taltōsh smiled as he recognized what Arasmes had done. He awaited the results of Arasmes' conversation with the vineyard owner.
Stealth roll
And a perception check to overhear their whisper at a distance if possible.
"Did the killings all take place at once?" Yolk chimes in, hoping to help with the investigation. "When did this all happen? Where were you when it happened and what did the bodies look like when you found them?"
Yolk stands, hands on his hips, looking expectantly at Bellgrave.
"Good questions, Reverend Yolk, but give the man a chance to think."
Arasmes extends a hand, indicating the farmer.
"This is a Citizen-Farmer. A Man like this is used to doing things by himself, and he doesn't know us yet. He needs to decide if he can trust us. If he decides he can, he'll help us to the end. No point pushing him until he makes up his mind. All we can do is be honest and tell him who we are."
Damn. I hope I don't have to introduce everyone Arasmes thought. Still, this should put me on his side against the outsiders.
Adrien seems taken aback by so many questions, he looks flustered for a moment, the looks back at Arasmes. "Thank ye, uh...sir. I will do meh best to answer yer questions, but I'm afraid I don't know much. I had traveled into Sandpoint to git supplies. I'd left my boy Aaron out here to tend to the farm. When I got back my horses were all dead, save for Mit who was with me in town."
He thinks for a moment, then shudders."I found them over there." He points to a small barn you didn't notice before. "They were ripped to shreds, but there was no blood anywhere."
His eyes get moist and he looks away as he pulls out a handkerchief and blows his nose.
Gryfford looks in the direction of the small barn indicated by the old farmer, but makes no move to go inspect it.
Instead he defers to Arasmes for dealing with the "citizen-farmer", seeing as the young dhampir has a good handle on the situation.
"Ah..uh." Yolk sputters.
"My apologies Bellgrave, we, that is I, joined this band of travellers, simply to help solve the murder of your horses."
Looking between Arasmes and Bellgrave, Yolk continues in the same breath, "My name is Yolk and I am a cleric of Torag. Ah jus' wanna help ya uncover the truth behind these murders!"
The sage sorcerer narrowed his eyes as he contemplated what Bellgrave told them.
Taltōsh stepped forward, slamming the butt of his spear against the ground. "You are not being sincere, Bellgrave. Tell us the truth about what really happened here."
Taken by surprise, Gryfford spins his head to look at Taltōsh.
Then he looks back at the vineyard's owner and arches a quizzical eyebrow.
Is Taltosh right? Thought Arasmes Is he lying? And if so, why?
Adriel and his raven both start at the outburst. Where's he going with this?
He stumbles over his words, "W-w-what do you mean?" He steps back a few paces.
"I've bin nothing but honest. Why would you think otherwise?"
Taltōsh was wary of Bellgrave, but was unsure how best to coax the truth out of the recalcitrant farmer. "Your behavior, Bellgrave, doesn't match the situation. Your animals slain. Their blood scattered widely about, soaking into the ground."
The cloaked sage looked for any sign of a response to his contradiction of Bellgrave's earlier statement regarding the blood--or lack thereof.
I think Taltosh is trying to be bad inquisitor to my good inquisitor. I really need to have words with him later said the clueless Arasmes.
"Come now, Taltosh. The man is trying to help us. What possible reason would he have for lying to us?"
I've always been told that peasants are a distrustful lot, but I never did have the occasion to see it myself muses Gryfford while watching the little drama unfolding before him.
I wonder if our farmer Bellgrave here is also a penny-pinching, land-stealing man as well as the overprotective father of a beautiful countryside lass continues to think Gryfford as he idly considers popular stereotypes.
"Hey, isn't it a nice day, Bellgrave ? We should have a little rain by the end of this beautiful morning - the crops do need it, I dare say so. But the cow seemed to amble yesterday, better see to it soon. And when is the harvest beginning ?" he says to the bewildered Bellgrave.
Adriel was also picking up on the farmer's inconsistencies, but too many cooks spoiled the broth. Let them scare the answers out of him
What the hell are they doing? wondered Arasmes to himself
Sensing Arasmes' displeasure at interjecting himself into the conversation, Taltōsh fell silent. He moved to stand next to Arasmes, showing his support.
Yet the farmer could still tell that the sage's attention was focused solely on him.
Yolk scrutinizes the situation, Are all races this distrusting of one another?, looking around, he notices Aluar is no longer among the ranks.
'Uh..Jean?'Yolk mumbles quietly, hoping the others realize he is gone as well.
Upon hearing Yolk mumbling, Gryfford looks around him and realizes, as the dwarf just did, that Jean is nowhere to be seen.
He tenses a little, and surveys slowly his surroundings as a fighter, noticing calmly where an attack could be coming from, what are the possible escape routes, and where it would be best for an enemy to hide.
He doesn't have any preconceptions about a possiblity of the threat, but years of training in the arena guide him well in the present situation.
The farmer raises his voice and says, "Now jus who do you think ya are? Ya come ta my farm when I'm trying ta deal with the loss of my animals, and ya accuse me of lying! Git outta here!"
You see him draw a dagger from behind his back and he swings forward at Arasmes.
Taltōsh stepped away from Bellgrave. He's lying, and willing to attack us! Is he possessed?
Strange syllables trickled off his tongue and he wove one hand in arcane gestures while holding his spear in his other.
However, no one noticed any obvious effects from what the sage had done.
"Ho come on, you're just gonna hurt yourself with that toothpick !" shouts Gryfford to the farmer.
Yolk shuffles back a few steps, impulsively reaching for his warhammer, but he pauses a moment, maybe I'm missing something here, best do nothing yet,then puts his hand back down.
The farmer's actions were unacceptable. He'd now attacked the group AND Adriel was growing bored. He didn't need to, but felthe should let the others know what he was doing, so he summoned up the power inside him and released it at the farmer. SLEEP!
"Who do I think I am? I'm the guy who came here and treated you as a person! I'm the guy who's been defending you! I'm the guy who's trying to help you here! And I'm the guy you seem to be trying to assault illegally!"
At Yolk's mumble, however, he suddenly goes stiff and looks around wildly
"Defensive formation!" he yells
He turns to the old man quickly, a note of fear and desperation in his voice.
"Listen to me. Something came here with us. Are any of your family weakend? Injured? Sick? Poisoned? Changed?" seeing the man hesitate a note of despair crept into his voice. "Doesn't matter. Probably too late for them now."
Speaking so all can hear and waving his hands frantically, Yolk says, "Ho there a moment! What about the barn Bellgrave was talking about? Maybe he is trying to help us. The poor man's probably been through enough, let's at least take a look in the barn and make it worth our troubles, aye?"
As the farmer passes out, soudly, magically asleep, Adriel turns to the others.
Well he was behaving oddly. Now let's find our Jean before he gets us in trouble, shall we?
As you move around toward the barn, you see that the doors are locked, and above(about 10 ft) is an open window into the loft. Around the side of the barn you see a set of stalls with half doors leading into the barn. The other 2 sides of the barn have no doors and windows that are closed.
When Arasmes yelled, the gladiator's falchion came out of its sheath in a flash, glinting briefly as it caught the morning sun, and Gryfford glided away from the farmer in an oft-practiced step to guard the right flank of their little group.
Then Adriel acted decisively.
"Nicely done." says Gryfford to the witch.
Seeing nothing ready to attack them just now, Gryfford crouches near Bellgrave and, still holding his falchion, takes the farmer's dagger, which disappears in his backpack. Then he frisks the farmer so as to be sure he doesn't have any other weapon left on him.
Then he stands up, the falchion still in his right hand.
"Yeah, go find Jean." he says to Adriel and the others. "In the meantime, Yolk and I will have a look at this here barn."
Without waiting for an answer, Gryfford goes to the barn and enters it
Gryfford enters cautiously into the barn through the half doors in the stalls.
Arasmes hurries to catch up with Gryfford.
"Hang on - let me feel around a bit before we go in."
At the barn he pauses and concentrates on something.
Arasmes hurries to catch up with Gryfford.
"Hang on - let me feel around a bit before we go in."
"Do feel, by all means !" says Gryfford, obviously pleased to work alongside professionals.
As a precaution, Yolk grabs out his warhammer as they approach the barn together through the entrance through the stalls.
He looks around hurriedly once they enter.
"This has gone quite differently than I envisioned," said Taltōsh.
As they approached the barn, Taltōsh added, "I must inform everyone that I could tell that Bellgrave was lying. He wasn't genuinely upset at the loss of his animals."
"There is also the fact that we heard that there was copious amounts of blood at the sites of the death, and Bellgrave said their was no blood."
As they approached the barn, Taltōsh added, "I must inform everyone that I could tell that Bellgrave was lying. He wasn't genuinely upset at the loss of his animals."
"So, the man is a dagger-happy liar. Well, we'll have a little chat with him when he wakes up." says Gryfford.
And then he adds with a crooked grin:
"I just hope he won't be all sour grapes with us."
"Seems like a plain old barn to me, guys." Yolk says.
As the door opens, Arasmes' head snaps around to the corner.
"There." he states, firmly. Carefully, like one walking across trapped ground, or towards a frightened child, he starts to walk towards it.
As he walks into the dark barn, whatever he sees brings a muttered oath to Arasmes' lips, and a strange gesture to his hands