Once the team has sorted itself out, UU will dive into the "Who Stole the Lands' Bodies" enquiry since she knows negotiating with a wizard is not in her skill set.
First, she will grab Bear and take a romantic walk in the woods around the town.
In reality, they are combing the area (using Bear's Rangeriffic tracking skills) to find any sign of the wheelbarrow used to cart the bodies or evidence of the 4 people who came back to town.
If that angle leads nowhere...
Since the tattoo'd arm belonged to a miner who once worked for Garavin Vesst and then presumably Balabar Smenk or his thug Kullen, UU will wander over to the areas where Smenk/Kullen's folks are typically found. She is listening for any word of a missing or 'sick' co-worker. If she knows any of the tattooed miners by sight... she will clearly eliminate them from the 'armless dead guy' list.
If she gets a good lead on figuring out who 'Armless' is, she will try to quietly ask around with people she has a passing familiarity with in hopes of eliciting more information hopefully finding out who his friends are.
Since snatching corpses is not exactly a 'nice' activity, if any of her sleuthing leads her to suspect someone as possibly being involved with the body-snatching, she will Detect Evil on them. The presence or absence of evil will not immediately get anyone off the 'suspect list' but it may be useful to bear in mind.
The wheelbarrow trail is easily followed from the Land graveyard to the north outskirts of town. Unfortunately, at that point, it begins overlapping with numerous other tracks, and Udaya and Bear soon lose it.
Listening and gathering information around town, however, is a little more productive. They quickly learn that the Feral Dog is the typical hangout of Kullen and his four cronies. They are there almost every evening. During the day, they work at the mines for Balabar Smenk.
There aren't very many people at the Feral Dog in the daytime, and the staff refuse to answer question about Kullen and his gang, and suggest that for your own good, you should quit asking those questions. The do learn from some non-staff, though, that Kullen has only had three of his cronies with him the last couple of nights.
Freddie, along with Vene, (and Dara, if she is not busy) will head over to Allustan's shop.
"Greetings Allustan, how is your day treating you? Would it be ok if we ask you some questions?"
Lydia agrees not to press for further information, as long as Fredrik promises to give her the full story once your explorations are done.
Allustan's residence is a charming red and deep blue house on one of the rare stretches of healthy grass in Baslwief. A small meditation garden abuts the face of the house, incorporating vertical stones and small pools of concentric circles. The fresh paint and well-tended yard contrasts sharply with the rest of Baslwief, a testament to the locals' respect for (or fear of) a wizard of such prowess.
Allustan answers a few moments after you knock on the door. He's a tall, dark-haired man with a full beard adorned with braids. He has an almost regal appearance to him. In response to Fredrik's question, he nods and says, "I am happy to provide my services as a sage to all inquiring minds who seek answers. I charge twenty gold per question. If this is okay with you, then I suggest we take a stroll round the grounds and discuss what you would like to know." He closes the door behind him and gestures to the garden.
20 gold per question! By Torag's balls!
Impressed by the fancily-dressed and imposing figure (and his pricetag), Dara will remain silent so as not to go writing any checks with her mouth.
"Well, I am sure your answer to our questions are certainly going to be reliable and factual, correct? Since we can vouch as for the quality of our gold, I feel you owe us the same courtesy."
Allustan nods. "Most definitely," he says as he strides towards the garden. "I have a sizable library and make it a point to answer questions as thoroughly and factually as possible. More obscure information may take a day or two to uncover, but you do not need to pay until I have the answer for you. Naturally, if I am unable to provide you with an answer, there is no charge. If you wish proof of my credentials, you can ask around for references. I am well-known in these lands and there are many in town or in Korvosa, Kaer Maga, or even as far as Magnimar who will undoubtedly vouch for my authenticity."
UU buys drinks for the folks who provided that interesting information and takes her leave. When she (and Bear if he didn't leave earlier to speak with Allustan) catch up with the rest of the team (after Allustan), they will brief them on what they found out.
"...it looks like Kullen and his remaining boys grabbed the Land family and brought the bodies back into town. So, we could stalk them at the Feral Dog, follow them, and try to learn where the bodies are at and what they are up to... or we could grab a couple of them and press them for information."
Fredrik takes out one of the glass shards, and says to Allustan, "We found these in a...place...and would like to leaarn more about them, what they are and what they were used for."
He hands one of them to Allustan, and continues, "If it's all the same to you, I would rather not say where these were found, but I can tell you what else we found."
"Once you give us a satisfactory answer, I will gladly pay you the agreed sum, and maybe some extra." He finishes.
Allustan takes the shard and looks at it while listening to Fredrik's description of the pedestal. "Very interesting," he says when Fredrik is done. He turns the shard around in his hands, looking at it from each angle. "I will be very happy to investigate this for you. I'll need you to draw me the glyph on the pedestal, as exact as you can remember it. I have some parchment and ink inside. One moment, please."
He returns briefly into his house and comes back out a minute later, carrying a piece of parchment, a bottle of ink, and a quill. He heads over to a tree stump in the garden and places the items down there.
Fredrik walks over to the stump, and gives the others a thumbs up gesture. He proceeds to sketch the glyph he saw on the pedestal.
Allustan picks up the drawing and studies it intensely for a few moments. Then he nods. "Excellent. It may take a day or two to track down, but I'm confident I can work out what this apparatus thing was. Check back with me tomorrow and I'll let you know if I've found out anything or if I need another day."
"Thank you for your time, Allustan, I hope we do not end up wasting it." he turns to leave, taking the others with them.
Once they are out of earshot of Allustan, he mutters, "What a pompous windbag. Still, hopefully he will have some results."
He looks up, "Ok, lets go find the happy couple, and see if they had any luck." There is a sardonic undertone to his voice.
UU buys drinks for the folks who provided that interesting information and takes her leave. When she (and Bear if he didn't leave earlier to speak with Allustan) catch up with the rest of the team (after Allustan), they will brief them on what they found out.
Later, the two groups meet back up and exchange their respective stories.
"So I guess we need to go and make acquaintance with Kullen and his gang. Not the most pleasant of prospects. There are five of us and four of them. Ordinarily, I wouldn't suggest something on the aggressive side, but diplomacy usually involves give and take, and if we're going to have Kullen do something for us by telling us where the bodies are, then we would have to do something for him. It may be that this is a time to bully the bully." He frowns, running a hand through his thinning hair. "I know you may have trouble believing it, but while I have a certain ability with negotiating, I have little ability to look intimidating."
Fredrik gives Vene a little smirk. "I think that holds true for us weaklings as well. Personally, I see no reason to venture into the Feral Dog at all. Just wait until one of them stumbles out half drunk, and one knock on his skull, or a spell from yours truly, and we take him back and...interrogate him. Remember, if these blokes don't respect the dead, I don't think they will give a crap about the living here. We need to play dirty here."
UU listens to their opinions carefully. "Maybe. But why not follow them on the sly first to see if that leads us anywhere? We start grabbing these guys and we are going to draw heat and attention... and while we know who Kullen works for during the day, we have no idea if this body snatching gig is a sideline business."
"That was gonna be my suggestion as well. If we can hit them in a less public location, it's less likely we'll get quick retaliation. I mean, I'm guessing this guys boss might have the resources to track us down somehow (assuming he has a boss), but I'd like to make it as difficult a task as possible to do. I'll gladly help setup the kidnapping." you get the impression that this sounds kind of fun to the burly man.
You take up your positions at the Feral Dog nice and early, before the crowds of mine workers arrive. Dara and Bear find themselves a table in the middle of the room. Despite its popularity, the Feral Dog has surprisingly little table space, since a large portion of western side of the taproom is taken up by a dog-fight pit. Generally, when the place fills up, most people end up just standing, or often fighting others to steal their seats, or sitting on the tables themselves. Tonight is no exception. Not long past 7 p.m., the miners, fresh from the mines, start pouring in. In the space of only 20 minutes or so, the Feral Dog goes from virtually empty to jam packed. Several other unruly miners pile into the other seats at the same table as Dara and Bear.
Around 8 p.m., Kullen and his cronies arrive. The three people with him are all human men. One is a wiry individual with long, clumpy black hair that hangs down over his eyes. Another has an angry red scar on the left side of his sneering face from the forehead to the tip of the chin. He has short brown hair cut into a flat-top. The third one has greasy hair and a permanent scowl on his face. The four of them make their way to the bar. Most of the other people in the tavern move out of the way to let the four pass. The few who do not find themselves shoved aside by Kullen. Once they reach the bar, they start drinking. And the drink flows quite readily.
Shortly after 9, the first of the dog fights begin. The already noisy tavern becomes even louder. Even in the outside location where Venedictus, Fredrik, and Udaya have secluded themselves it sounds deafening. They can only imagine what it must be like inside.
Not long after the dog fights begin, Tirra, one of the members of the group from Kaer Maga arrives at the tavern and starts to draw most of the attention. She flirts confidently with any handsome patrons, including Bear.
The dog fights finish around 10 p.m., at which time the Feral Dog's famous (and contentious) dagger contest begins. Tirra dominates the game, handedly beating every competitor as she has apparently done for the last week.
All this time, Kullen and his boys remain noisy and lewd, as they slowly get drunker and drunker.
Bear flirts back with Tirra, in a social kind of way, but will avoid the knife-fighting thing at all costs. He'll make sure to always have a drink in front of him, but will avoid getting anywhere near drunk.
Bear flirts back with Tirra, in a social kind of way, but will avoid the knife-fighting thing at all costs. He'll make sure to always have a drink in front of him, but will avoid getting anywhere near drunk.
"So Tirra is it? I hear yer pretty good with daggers, huh? I'm more used ta axes but I don't mind givin' yer game a try. What's the deal?"
Tirra smiles. "Ah, another female! And a dwarf too! I didn't think there were female dwarves!" Several people nearby laugh at her remark. "Come, join in!" She proceeds to explain the rules.
There are four other men interested in competing in this competition as well. They all agree to the standard 3 sp wager.
Miners 1, 3, and 4 are eliminated in the first round, but the miner 2 and Tirra proceed to the next.
Tirra smiles. "Ah, another female! And a dwarf too! I didn't think there were female dwarves!"
Dara laughs, "That's 'cause we're such good lays our men never let us off our backs!"
"Come, join in!"
"Arright, sure I'll give it a go!"
Tirra smiles. "Ah, another female! And a dwarf too! I didn't think there were female dwarves!"Dara laughs, "That's 'cause we're such good lays our men never let us off our backs!"
There's more laughter and Tirra joins in with it. "A sense of humour too! Wonders never cease!"
There are cheers around the tavern as Tirra makes it into the second round, and even a few cheers for the miner who makes it through, though several comments put that down to dumb luck. Cheers also accompany Dara's success, along with comments that Dara's blade is closer to the center than Tirra's.
"Getting in the ring is all that counts, boys! Tirra says.
Cheers abound at Tirra's excellent throw. Good-natured laughter follows the miner's, which doesn't even hit the target. His friends pat him on the back and tease him with comments about his amazing throw.
"Holy crap, how the hell am I supposed to beat that?"
Rolling her eyes, Dara takes a swig from her tankard and briefly glances back towards Bear as she throws again. Whether the condensation from the tankard, or her moment of distraction, the dagger flies wide by several feet, smashing an abandoned bottle left sitting on a handrail.
Shaking her head with a laugh, Dara jokes, "How's that for accuracy? That beer bottle didn't stand a chance! C'mon, let's get back to drinkin' that's what I'm good at!"
Tirra happily collects her winnings and goes on to defeat several other challengers as well before eventually leaving around midnight.
Kullen does a lot of pushing people around during this time and making passes at barmaids. It's clear that this annoys most people, but no one is willing to speak up against it, and they go so far as to laugh with him, even when it's at their own expense. He and his cronies end up passing by Bear and Dara's table on several occasions during the night. From them and from others at the tavern, you're able to learn the names of all his companions.
The wiry one with the clumpy hair hanging over his face is named Rastophan. He rarely speaks and just follows Kullen around, doing whatever Kullen tells him to do.
The one with the flat-top haircut and the red scar is called Todrik. He is foul-mouthed and loud. Almost everything he says to anyone except Kullen is a thinly disguised insult.
The greasy-haired individual with the constant scowl is named Merovinn. He makes Todrik look like an angel. He is rude, foul-mouthed, and ill-tempered.
Finally, around 2:30 in the morning, as the Feral Dog is starting to clear out, the four of them, drunkenly stumble out into the street.
Venedictus fell asleep around 11:30. Hopefully, the others woke him up.
Even then, he probably nodded off again when they weren't looking.
Kullen carries an axe and is clearly quite physically strong. He wears no armour.
Rastophan has a pair of swords (one long, one short) and wears a chain shirt. While not a weakling, he doesn't look as strong as Kullen.
Todrik arrives with a guisarme that he leaves with one of the staff. He picks it up again when he leaves. He wears banded mail armour, and appears strong, but again, not as muscle-bound as Kullen.
Merovinn has a crossbow and a dagger. He also has what would appear to be a wand strapped to his belt. He wears no armour.
Dara will have also been making observations of the four since 2-pairs of eyes are better than one. Is there anything else that she picks up on that Bear missed?
All of them have small sacks at their belts, but Merovinn's bulges from what appears to be a book-shaped object stuffed into it. When the four leave, they all don cloaks to protect against the cool night air. For most of them, they are just plain cloaks, but Todrik's looks of a finer make than the others'. Merovinn's cloak doesn't look anything special, but he fastens it with a very nice silver brooch.
Dara motions to Bear to lean closer outside and she whispers in his ear:
If going Conan the Barbarian on Merovinn is requested...
When the Kullen & friends emerge, followed (eventually) by Dara and Bear, UU will scan the four figures to see if any of them are overtly evil.
Fredrik notices the objects of their stakeout finally appear. Damn! It's about time! Between trying to control his amorous impulses and not openly stare at Udaya, and also trying to keep Vene awake, I was wondering if they would ever leave!
When he sees Udaya studying the four men, he murmers quietly, "I have a sleep spell that should incapacitate at least one or more of them, but it takes a few seconds to prepare." He will wait for her signal before casting.
Bear mouths 'Not yet' when he sees Dara silently preparing her attack, depending on her dwarves eyes to receive the message. Need to give the others time to see us and get ready. he thinks as he attempts to skulk out of the Feral Dog into the waiting night, Kallath sliding eagerly into his palm.
He looks in the direction he knows the group waits, points, and shrugs, hoping Udaya will take tue message and do any setup she needs to justify their next actions.
When the Kullen & friends emerge, followed (eventually) by Dara and Bear, UU will scan the four figures to see if any of them are overtly evil.
None of them detect as evil.
UU gives Bear and Dara a hand's up shrug to say I can't detect anything waddaya wanna do?
Bear shrugs back, then sticks to the plan, following the drunken group through town. If they split up, he will continue following the leader.
The backup team will ghost along after the scouts trying to keep out of sight but remain close enough to charge in as needed.
Bear shrugs back, then sticks to the plan, following the drunken group through town. If they split up, he will continue following the leader.