Nodding his thanks, he sits down next to the bed and frowns thoughtfully, trying once again to capture the longing he felt in the caverns.
You're carried to your cabin stealthily and you sit down. You notice that your room is alot bigger than you remember meaning that you must be in a very small form. After about an hour, you notice your fur drying off and slowly but surely you are return to your more human form.
”The lady might but we're here for information”, the bull answers.
”We heard you may know a few things about a spy somewhere in the area – one that has dirt on Chelish activity in the Shackles.”
Bjorkus turns on his bovine charm.
"I sure wouldn't mind a bit of scrimshaw done. Perhaps a scrimshaw of me as a mermaid?"
Opal finds a place the sit and attempts to pose.
Kal glances over at Opal quickly; the briefest of frowns crosses over his face before disappearing into expressionlessness.
After some experimenting, you find that either immersing yourself in water or having it poured on you causes the change. But once you dry off, you can easily change back.
"I would be glad to my dear, it would not be an exxagerated scrimshaw I have to say. But as far as your topic is concerned, bull. I have the suspicion about a man named Haddon Pike, he is a beachcomber, fisherman, and occasional smuggler. The thing is, many of his supposed smuggling trips down south in a hired boat don’t actually involve moving goods. I knows the black market in Drenchport pretty well, and I've noticed that he rarely buys or sells any contraband goods before or after these trips. I can give you directions to his cottage."
Bjorkus nods.
”Is he local? We can leave Opal here while you work if he’s not far”, the minotaur says with a glance in the pale sorceress’s direction.
"Haddon’s place is a small driftwood cottage perched on the rugged coast just outside of Drenchport, so not that far. I can work off memory if you need her, I wouldn't want her to distract the other guys here. We'd never get anything done." He laughs.
LOL, no.
”Who am I to argue with an artist?”
”Thanks for the information. Buy a round on us”, the bull says as he stands up to leave and drops a few coins on the table. ”We’ll be back later to pick up the lady’s piece.”
"Many thanks." The man gets to work on the piece after ordering another drink.
”Your condition hasn’t come back since the thing with the tusks?” Bjorkus asks during the walk to the smuggler’s cottage.
”It’s been weeks since I’ve heard you snortin’ or anything. Maybe Gabby was wrong.”
Kal's eyes dart toward the minotaur, his expression guarded. They have to know eventually...
After a moment, he chuckles. "I've discovered some things and enjoyed quite a few nice swims since then, though none too long. Some of the reefs on the way over here were stunning... the colors of the coral, and the ocean adding its own colors over the top of it all... you should really see it sometime. I'm looking forward to our next visit to Port Peril so I can go... laugh in that spring's face."
He pauses a moment as if the last bit wasn't quite what he'd originally been intending to say, then shrugs as if in conclusion. "Regardless, we're ten days away from her now even if I did need her. Perhaps by the time we go back I'll have decided to sprout wings and fly, just to trip her up."
Bjorkus laughs at Kal’s excited descriptions of his aquatic conquests.
”If you visit that spring again, maybe you should bring someone along next time. Those boars are fierce. I've heard they can tear a man to pieces when they're enraged.”
The minotaur raises an eyebrow at the young sailor’s thinly veiled lie.
”That’s good. I’d like to think we were good enough mates that you could tell me if something was wrong”, the bull rumbled.
"There wasn't anything wrong with that boar that a bit of food and a bath wouldn't fix. Besides, I grew up among the jungle creatures... believe me, I know how to handle them."
Kal steals a glance at Bjorkus as the other's last statement sinks in. "Er. 'course we are. I informed you when it began, did I not? Though I look forward to speaking with the woman upon our return, there's nothing... nothing wrong with me at this time... per se..."
You make your way to Haddon Pike's home and you either call out or knock, eliciting no answers. Ten minutes pass and nothing.
Borkus frowns.
"Spread out and look around", he says.
Kal nods and moves to the other side of the cottage, looking for tracks or any signs of recent passage.
Looking around, Bjorkus and Kal notice that the door is locked and there is an open window in the back of the house. There is no sound to be heard.
Bjorkus points out the locked door.
"Captain, can you take a look at that?"
While he waits for the goblin to work, the minotaur moves around to the back of the house to peer in through the open window.
Chubswart doesn't even have to try as he easily unlocks the door.
Bjorkus smells something foul, similar to what a dead body smells like.
"I got a bad feeling about this", Bjorkus rumbles at he opens the goblin-unlocked door.
"Keep an eye out."
When Bjorkus opens the door, the smell hits him like a brick wall. As the party makes their way inside, the source is quickly found. Haddon’s dead body lies inside the cottage. Two crossbow bolts protrude from his back, and his head is submerged in a fish tank. The tank holds a piranhalike creature with frilled spines, huge eyes, and lots of teeth, which has
consumed most of its master’s exposed flesh. Clutched in Haddon’s hand is a piece of driftwood carved to resemble a birdlike humanoid with a narrow beak.
"Damn", Bjorkus says with a snort as he violently shakes his head in hopes of somehow shaking the stench from his nostrils.
Kal and Bjorkus know that the birdlike humanoid shaped driftwood is that of a Tengu. Kal can tell that Haddon has been dead for about a week and that there are faint traces of poison the the crossbow bolts. The angle of the bolts suggests that Haddon was shot through the window.
While the cottage has been thoroughly ransacked, Kal finds a concealed compartment in the fish tank’s heavily carved wooden base. Inside is a waterproofed bag containing 40 pp, 259 gold, and a scrimshaw walrus tusk scroll case (worth 50 gold). Inside the case are several rolled up scrolls of sheet music and lyrics, part of an old Chelish opera written in
Infernal.
Bjorkus looks through the pages but is perplexed.
"This make sense to any of you?"
Kal glances over at it and shrugs helplessly.
Well other than the obvious incongruity of finding a Chelish opera in the possession of a beachcomber, no one can make heads or tails of the document.
"We'll have to see if there's someone in town that knows anything about this. He had to have a reason to hide it."
After collecting the valuables Bjorkus motions to the party.
"Let's head back."
Kal nods at Bjorkus. "Do we head back to Quent right away?"
"Let's see if we can learn more about this guy before we head back."
After the party gets back into Dredgeport proper, Bjorkus hits the streets in search of someone in the know about Chelish Operas.
You're able to find a scholar with a decent knowledge of history. "Oy, when this opera was written, they wouldn't have used Infernal. There's something not right about this piece of work. Say where did you get this?"
"We found it on a man suspected of working with sodding Cheliax. What's it about?" the minotaur says as he flips through the pages with disinterest.
"What's not right about it?"
"I dunno. Maybe it's some kind of code, because it's not your typical opera. Though I can't decipher it. It would help if they knew anything about operas. You could try Port Peril or Quent, there's no one here who can do that kind of thing."
Kal nods slowly and glances over at Bjorkus.
Bjorkus grumbles and nods.
"Let's pick up Opal's scrimshaw and see if they know anything about this totem-thing he was holding."
***
Back at Carver's, Bjorkus waves down their contact and takes a seat.
"Haddon's dead. Someone shot him through his window."
"This mean anything to you", the bull asks while offering the tengu-shaped piece of wood.
"Well, Haddon had a regular shipmate and accomplice: a tengu named Corlan. The carving could represent him. He lives in Hell Harbor. You think he's involved?" Jaymiss holds up the carving he made while you were gone. It's one of Opal as a naked mermaid sitting on a rock, though a few features are exaggerated.
"I guess we go to Hell Harbor next", Bjorkus says. "At least it's not too far. Maybe the birdman will know something about this opera business."
"And I like your work", the bull says with a laugh at the disproportionate figurine of Opal.
The party is able to find Corlan's apartment house on the edge of Hell Harbor’s tengu rookery, it sits at a crossroads where two wide streets intersect in a “T.”