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As the dog licks Biter, the goblin's powerful shoulders slump a bit. Disappointed maybe? As the dog's master calls it down, Biter assists with a one-armed shove… sending the dog a half-a foot in one direction, but Biter a good three steps in the opposite.
The Gnome doesn't even blink before answering, "How much? And the name is Straehan or Strae."
The goblin pulls out of his self-induced tumble with a surprised look at the gnome. "Stray?" His face scrunches up in mock confusion as his red eyes flit between Straehan and the just-shoved dog. "Stray shoulding to watch out. Long-legs is'ing to want to put collar on strays. BAAAAAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" When his manic laughter winds down, he wipes one red eye with a tiny finger, "Notting to worrying for the monies. Biter is notting to be having so much golds now." He fishes in about half a dozen spots around his body, pulling out only a handful of coins and a mostly intact blue-jay egg. "Notting to be worth a Stray's time, Biter is thinking." He holds up the egg with a shrug, "Lessing Stray is'ng hungry?"
He watches the group begin their investigation. Wanting to contribute but not wanting to be redundant, the goblin heads off to take a circuit of the smithy without another word. As he walks, he watches the ground and walls for anything strange… another mark or message from whomever put up the jackal-markings. He also keeps his eye out for a window into the smithy.
Be good to get a look at the interior, too… without being distracted, he thinks to himself as he begins his quiet search.
+ Detect Magic, turned to a wall to cast it unnoticed if that is possible
"You dumb dog"Das also shoves the dog away and into the forge.
"Dumb mutt was Simon's. She thinks all kids...or kid sized folk...are Simon. You keep away from her, goblin!"
+ Detect Magic, turned to a wall to cast it unnoticed if that is possible
"How common is it here to make offerings to gods before childbirth? Either to bless them, or to avoid them? Also, what would such a sign be put into this place? Was someone here pregnant or maybe a husband of such woman lived here?" Ryu leans closer to the symbol, checking how old it may be. Meanwhile, he considers another possibility, perhaps a follower of Lamashtu was here, the symbol doesn't automatically means it has to be someone related to pregnant females. It could mean a lot of other things too.
Once checked out enough, Ryu began to look around the building to seek further signs, then peek inside.
** spoiler omitted **
That is why I walk around the building and also peek into the house to find either more signs or something magical in a different spot
Once his quick search is complete, the goblin idly pats the mother dog on the head before climbing back out the window, using his tools to reset whatever locking or closing mechanism he had to release on his way in.
Biter -- content that he's seen all there is to see -- stalks back across the smithy towards window through which he entered, unthinkingly giving mama-dog a pat on the side of her head. He slips out the window, re-sets the latching mechanism, and completes his circuit of the smithy/house.
Biter re-appears a few minutes later on the opposite side of the smithy from where he disappeared. "Was'ing peoples to be having funs without Biter?"
"You have no idea, Biter. Unless someone else has any ideas, I say we head back to the Dragon for now, and head out to the island in the morning."
Meanwhile, anyone with Detect Magic up:
Anyone else give me a perception roll. Target 15
Biter smirks, "Biter is'ing always to having ideas."
Cilyanka's eyes grow wide as she sees the ghost child.
He just ran away. I think we spooked him.
"So anyone picking up any traces of magic?"
Ryu looks somewhat irritated as people continue to ignore him. He answers "Yes" to the half-orc's question without any actual belief in that people will notice him talking, again. He prepares to leave and go back to the Rusty Dragon, obviously his presence here is unneeded. Signs on the building, fake ghosts on the road, to hell with all of them. This is not one of Ryu's best days.
He already awaits an outburst of headache, but to his surprise instead of that his left hand starts to hurt madly. He grasps his left arm, and hides it behind his back, hoping the pain goes soon away.
"Biter, did you see anything inside?"
Consumed with curiousity, Brin tries to peek in a window of the smithy.
As Ryu starts to turn away, Brodert Quink follows him.
"Those things have become more common lately. Especially since the death of Nualia Tobyn. Poor girl. Such a beautiful child. So many of the locals believed that as an aasimar, she could help them just by being what she was. She used to be followed by folks asking for her 'healing touch' or a lock of hair, or her blessing on an unborn child. She was always so patient with them, too. Sigh...but that's not really relevant to the current situation. You saw the child, too?"
As the two of you head back to the Rusty Dragon along River Street, you spot Katrine Vinder heading toward the mill.
"Oh, dear, I do hope those rumors aren't true. Her father would be furious if he found her dating a millworker."
"Biter, did you see anything inside?"
The child.
Ryu can you give me a Knowledge Arcana check, please.
The scarred big man approaches the building. He didn't walk out here to return without checking it out. Moving his huge mass around, you learn not to have to make lots of return trips.
"My investigative techniques are not subtle."
Seeing the child appear with a hint of magic, Sparrow heads in the direction she saw him, keeping an eye out for any unusual signs, maintaining the divination spell. Hearing the tall man's words as he enters the building, she can only smirk to herself. "Subtle as a blind dwarf in a pottery shop."
The child.
Ryu can you give me a Knowledge Arcana check, please.
Ryu walked down the street still holding his left hand when he noticed Quink.
"Yes, I saw it, I saw 'something', but I don't think it was a ghost." As he answers Ryu thinks how much it would annoy him getting all day long pestered about touching pregnant women and keeping his hair safe from random scissor attacks. "An Aasimar you say? Why can't people with such issues just go and visit a cleric or a fortune-teller? Peasant superstitions like those can easily drive someone insane." -Or in my case, lead to using my dagger more often- Ryu thought to himself.
As the man mentions the Katrine, Ryu tries to put her somewhere and get a name attached to her in his memory. "Remind me again, who is that girl?"
Quink responds. "That's Katrine Vinder. Rumors say she's trysting with Banny Harker, the manager at the mill. He's a bit of a ne'er do well and has managed to annoy the town by running that noisy log-splitter all night. She's Ven and Solsta Vinder's eldest. You've probably dealt with him, he and his wife run the General Store. They just have the two daughters, Katrine and Shayliss. Ven's a bit overprotective as well. He tends to prefer Katrine to the point of ignoring Shayliss at times. I don't think he'd find anyone worthy of either of them."
And yes, you've been hearing the mill equipment running during your investigation.
Das Korvut says "Hey, I'm closed!" and follows Brin in.
"Watch yourself in here. why do you need to see this place anyhow? Simon hasn't been in here since...'
The stone-walled forge is entered through a half-door main entrance leading into an office. A further half-door leads into the forge proper and a corridor leads down the inner wall to a stairwell going up. You can see two other doors in the hallway, one on either side of the corridor. A full door appears to lead into the forge and another half-door leads into a front room that, from the smell, serves as the dog's den.
Brindolfin moves to the main door to the forge as he speaks, "I am curious about this place, and don't want to come back later to see if you are hiding anything. It is to your advantage for us to make sure nothing is here so you can be cleared of any wrongdoing. Where did Simon go when he was here?"
The big man is used to smaller people yielding under his intimidating, scarred gaze.
There's a smaller door to the right of the forge room, obviously where the side door in the hallway connects and an outer, rear door to the yard. It looks like a typical forge, though you don't see signs of any weapons or armor being made, just farm implements. The only weapon in view is a shortsword on display in the office.
"Simon used to play all through here. I was going to train him and he loved to watch me make stuff. He'd also play with the dogs, and of course, his room upstairs."
"Show us his room, it may be helpful."
Brin waves the others in.
I am the muscle, the smart and magical should be in here looking at the clues.
Continuing with Ryu & Quink: "Yes, Nualia Tobyn was an aasimar. They found her washed up on the beach after the great storm of 4687. She'd taken a good smack to the head and never remembered anything about herself or her past. I always thought she was older than she seemed. You can't really tell with aasimar, they age somewhat like elves. Father Tobyn adopted her and was training her for the church. I think if they'd been sure which was her body, they'd have set up a shrine to her."
When the huge man heads into the smithy, Das following in exasperation, Biter drags his eyes away from the retreating ghost to follow. He calls out in an exaggeratedly loud voice, "OH, Biter is'ing also to be going into long-leg's shop… where he is'ing never to having being before."
He follows the two long-legs around, poking at seemingly-random things. When Das [does something that distracts him for a bit], Biter hops up and whispers to the big long-legs, "That'ing door is'ing to go into a keeping room of'ing some kind."
Das looks annoyed, especially when Ruby comes out to sniff at Biter again before giving a long doggy sigh and returning to her room.
The upstairs is laid out as living quarters. There are two bedrooms separated by a small washroom, a kitchen, a dining area and a parlor.
The boy's room seems to ahve been left as it was. There are still some handmade toys scattered around, including a minature set of forge tools and a few stuffed or carved animals resembing the dogs the place is named for.
"Simon loved those stuffed toys Madellin made him. He had one that looked like Ruby. Carried it everywhere. It vanished with him."
"Was that stuffed toy a bird or a dog?"
Das looks at the strange woman, blinks and seems to stand straighter, sucking his stomach in and brushing his muttonchop whiskers. "Simon carried a stuffed version of Ruby all the time. We never were -lucky-" the last word is bitter indeed "enough to get a Stoot bird. Maybe that's why he targeted us?"
Biter, now that you think about it, the ghost child was holding some kind of toy, but it certainly wasn't a stuffed dog. It did look more like a carved bird.
New to town, the local names being shuttled back and forth pass as an incomprehensible blur to Straehan. He follows along quietly as the group enters the house, using his eyes more than his ears. Nothing in all that the smith says or does registers as more than the act of a grieving man - down to leaving the boy's bedroom as a shrine to his memory. He considers the ghost-boy's appearance, toys, and the direction in which he left... Chopper's Island seems a good starting point for an investigation.
Here, we're just wading through nostalgia and grief.
Biter's face scrunches up at looking (again) at the toys. "Long-Legs, was'ing the boy-ghost to be carrying any toys when he is'ing to visit you?" Biter shrugs, "Cause when Biter was'ing to see boy-ghost, it was'ing to have a toy... notting a mutt toy, though."
Quink responds. "That's Katrine Vinder. Rumors say she's trysting with Banny Harker, the manager at the mill. He's a bit of a ne'er do well and has managed to annoy the town by running that noisy log-splitter all night. She's Ven and Solsta Vinder's eldest. You've probably dealt with him, he and his wife run the General Store. They just have the two daughters, Katrine and Shayliss. Ven's a bit overprotective as well. He tends to prefer Katrine to the point of ignoring Shayliss at times. I don't think he'd find anyone worthy of either of them."
And yes, you've been hearing the mill equipment running during your investigation.
"I can see how letting the mill work in the night could be annoying."
Ryu replied as he watched the girl get out of sight.
Continuing with Ryu & Quink: "Yes, Nualia Tobyn was an aasimar. They found her washed up on the beach after the great storm of 4687. She'd taken a good smack to the head and never remembered anything about herself or her past. I always thought she was older than she seemed. You can't really tell with aasimar, they age somewhat like elves. Father Tobyn adopted her and was training her for the church. I think if they'd been sure which was her body, they'd have set up a shrine to her."
As Quink changes topic back to the aasimar Ryu began to think the old many had some special interest in the girl to talk about her again and again. "Well, an aasimar could be born to an elf or any other race, but I doubt they get a longer life just because their celestial blood. It is true they look usually better or are friendlier than most people, but when I was in Absalom I met some that were very unlike the rumors and popular knowledge. One of them owned a whorehouse, a very profitable one indeed by the way, and there was also a fat old butcher who only differed from your typical fat old butcher by his silvery skin tone." Ryu avoided mentioning that this butcher helped getting rid of "evidence" for local gangs.
Ryu sighed. The pain in his arm finally went away. "Well, did that girl ever show any evidence of healing powers? Because if not, she deserves no shrine, or if yes only when the butcher also gets his own. Aasimar and tieflings are nothing special, if you want creatures with divine power born to the humans then you better seek out atleast a half-angel, those are supposed to actually still have proper healing powers, and sometimes even wings."
The man began to irritate Ryu, but Quink at the very least did listen when Ryu spoke, so Ryu remained patient about the old man's story of the aasimar and the town. He decided he could perhaps also learn something useful from him and directed the conversation towards the temple. "So, I think I know about the church, it was destroyed in a fire right? That is what caused so many deaths. Are there other churches in the city since the fire? And what about the home of that cleric with the adopted aasimar, did they live in the church or is there now an abandoned home somewhere?" Ryu began to poke a bit at Quink as they got closer to the inn to inquire about opportunities to get the Phoenix Cult a home here.
Ryu waited for a reply, once Quink answered him he offered a drink in the Dragon to him, on the house. It is important to make friends, and a man like Quink who likes to talk, to talk a lot, can be useful as a friend.
After the others are satisfied the smithy is properly investigated, Brin follows the others back to town.
At the Dragon, Quink continues his tale."Not only the church, but a large part of the town's north side as well. No one ever found out waht started it, though. No, no other churches. The Chapel and now our new Cathedral handle all services. Father Tobyn and now Father Zantus both serve, or served, Desna. However the building was and is always open to other faiths. A lot of deaths? well, yes and no. While many folks died, most of them were in the chapel at the time. Just, coming on top of the Chopper murders ending in the death of Sheriff Avertin, people got a bit nervous. Most will not even discuss the incidents, and the time is always refered to as 'the Late Unpleasantness'."
He takes a drink and continues, "I can't help but wonder what part those old Thassalonian ruins played in it. From what was said, the shrine old Stoot had was in a portion of them. Of course, the town authorities sealed them off before I could make an examination."
Anyone still in the area where the child appeard, give me one more perception check. Does anyone there still have Detect Magic up or had cast it earlier?