Mervyn nods his approval, and seeks out a likely looking local before heading over to them.
"Greetings, friend, we're looking for someone who may have been involved in orchestrating a goblin attack on the local town of Sandpoint. It appears their tracks lead past this charming community and joins the road to the north. You haven't happened to see anyone suspicious pass through here in the last day or so, have you?" Mervyn asks, while trying to ascertain if they are hiding anything when they answer.
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Selia, standing with the rest of the group as they decide on what to do now, appears to be daydreaming. Her current demeanor is quite at odds with her attitude from earlier that morning.
When Mervyn leaves to speak with the locals, Selia shakes herself from her reverie. She follows him, prepared to assist with the information gathering.
Guys, I apologize for the delay. I am mentally dragging big time tonight. I'll get an update out early in the morning tomorrow and I should be able to post again tomorrow night.
[Afternoon, south-west of Devil’s Platter, First Day After Goblin Raid]
Maester Grump returns a friendly greeting. “Now, I hain’t seen anything me-self, but I been staying with my cousin’s folks these last few days, helping to repair his barn and fences, what with him bein’ laid out with a broken leg and all. Now, Grattie, my cousin’s wife, did notice that they was missing a couple of shirts this morning that had been dryin on the line, but she’s awful bad to forget about ‘em and leave stuff like that overnight. Sure enough, them two shirts was gone come this morning. Neighbors said they saw a lantern bobbing along the road out here last night, which was odd, seeing as few folks travel about this way so late.”
The tracks continue up the road, into the hills which Cougar Creek cuts through, and finally, the path rejoins the Lost Coast Road. The prints are definitely headed north again, until they are themselves lost amid the multitude of other tracks. Just ahead is a small train of merchants atop creaking wagons leaving Sandpoint, coming towards you, and it pains you to think how many foot prints are being obliterated by their wagon wheels and horses.
"So the footprints lead back to Sandpoint," Mervyn muses. "I suggest we head back to town and see if we can't find out who was missing during the attack. I doubt we'll be able to track anything through that mess." Mervyn says, indicating towards the coming wagon train.
If nothing else I want to head back against the chance of another raid... we've gotten not much out of this apart from suspicion of a planned wild goose chase... if proven it tells us something about the enemy we face.
He makes haste in his gait.
"We may as well follow the tracks as far as we can. Go ahead and look at the fellows leg, Selia. This will be slow going for a bit." Ned says, a bit distracted, "Someone go with her. It the tracks leave this path we'll wait there. And someone ask those merchants if they've see anyone."
Lleidr squirms uncomfortably in his saddle. "I'll be glad to go along with her. It'll give me an excuse to get off this felltithio beast and possibly get a decent cwpan of tea."
"Well, it's not a specialty of mine, but I think between the two of us, we should be able to follow a hanner dwsin horses about anywhere.
But, speaking of tracking, do you think it would be more productive to go back to Sandpoint and look for this anhysbys person who probably doesn't have the body, or head back up and pick up that pecyn of goblins that veered off into Shank's Wood?"
"There isn't anything distinctive enough about the tracks that we could single out a specific person in Sandpoint and we don't know for sure that they are going that way. I'd like to follow them as far as possible. For all we know this might be the re-animated body of our old priest and he's just aimlessly wandering the countryside. At least he's wearing a shirt."
[Late Afternoon, west of Devil’s Platter, First Day After Goblin Raid]
Unfortunately, the humanoid prints are simply too mangled by other traffic on the main road to follow any more. They initially head north, once you’re back on the Lost Coast Road, but are soon stamped out by other passing feet, horses, and carts. A full day’s worth of traffic has had time to stomp through this person’s prints. From here, the closest settlement to the north is Sandpoint.
“Seen anyone?” the trader atop his laden wagon leans over in your direction at the question. “We’ve seen lots of folks, having just left town. Who’re you trying to find?”
(let’s assume a cure spell would be needed to fully heal a broken leg)
After the warmth of the holy light bathes the farmer’s leg, he gingerly steps up and tries a small step. “Lookit that, Grattie. I could dance a jig on it, don’t you think?”
“That you could, Hantam, but I’d rather you were harvesting the wheat outside than dancing about like some fool.”
Grattie holds out a string of small copper beads on a slender chain to Selia. “We got no money, but I won’t have you doctorin’ for free. Take this, it’ll bring you some luck. My dad swore by it.”
Back we go then.
"We're not sure. All we have to go by are his tracks. Then again..." Ned will describe Father Tobyn to the trader on the off chance his earlier guess was correct.
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Selia laughs at Lleidr's comment, "I suppose you are right. It is not like they are the most graceful bunch, either." She giggles at her comment and then heads inside to tend to the wounded man.
Cure Light Wounds (3/4 spells remaining)
Selia smiles at the man when he stands, "Thank you for the gift, and I am glad that helped, Hantam, I am Selia, from Sandpoint. If you injure yourself again, find a way to let me know and I will see what I can do." Selia stands and beckons to Lleidr. "It looks like I am done here, are you ready to go?"
Lleidr fights to keep his disappointment out of his voice but probably keeps fidgeting with empty hands that were expecting to be holding a cup of warm tea or maybe a spiced cider. Of course, a fresh biscuit or a gingersnap wouldn't be out of place...
Leidr snaps back to attention suddenly. "Actually, Grattie, Maester Grump mentioned you lost a couple of shirts last night, possibly to the troseddol we seek. Was there anything about the shirts that might help us pick them out? Their color or something else?" To Selia, "I know it might be a long shot, but it might be the detail we need to find him in Sandpoint."
On the ride back to the rest of the party..."Selia, I know I'm the dumb cyw Iâr in this senedd of owls, so maybe you can explain what you think is going on. Why would a human help goblins steal the Father's body, leave with them, then split off, seemingly without the body, loop around this far, steal two shirts, only to then head back to Sandpoint? It seems he could have stayed in town and used the confusion after the attack to hide his involvement a lot easier.
And if the goblins did take the body, what do you think they're trying to do with it?"
I hate to suggest it, but it's also possible we were simply duped. Some magic to alter footprints or something and we'd be going south when the body went north or something.
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"Lleidr, I think you are being too hard on yourself with that remark! I am just as much in the dark as you are. I can't fathom why anyone would take his body, much less why goblins would be involved." Selia lets out an exasperated sigh, "Something strange surely is going on." She shades her eyes with her hand and says, "I think I can see the others now, shall we hurry up?"
Uh oh .. I didn't realize it had been so many days since the last update. I"m not entirely clear on where you guys are headed. It sounds like you're going back to Sandpoint, but I don't want to assume. However, I think it's safe to say you've regrouped by now.
The tracks have essentially stopped by way of being obliterated from newer traffic on the Lost Coast Road. The last indication is that they head north, and the closest northern settlement is definitely Sandpoint.
The shirts were of a crude linen material, undyed and so were grey in color.
The description of Father Tobyn doesn't match anyone the merchants have seen, but then again, they weren't paying much attention to passers-by either.
Grattie's gift doesn't radiate a magical aura. It appears as nothing more than a crudely made talisman, exactly the type of craft you'd expect from illiterate peasants.
"I don't see much point in returning to Sandpoint" Ned grumbles "Still, if we're heading that way I can keep an eye out for the tracks leaving the main trail."
It seems to me that we've lost them, so not going back to Sandpoint leaves us wih nothing but roaming the countryside and hoping to find them purely out of luck.
Indeed. I agree. We should also check for any other risks to town
Hmm ... well, I'll let you guys weigh in a bit more on what you want to do. At this point, you've looped around the Devil's Platter and the daylight is fading fast.
Mervyn studies the position of the sun, then sighs.
"I very much doubt the goblins have anything to do with this, aside from causing a distraction," he intones, stroking his beard. "If we take the evidence and look at it logically..." Mervyn is silent for a moment.
"The footprints we have followed left with the goblins, separated from them and then headed back in the direct of Sandpoint. That would seem to infer that the person responsible for goading the goblins into attacking the town lives there," Mervyn furrows his eyebrows as he works through the evidence, "Although why anyone would do that is beyond me."
"Maybe..." Lleidr furrows his brow, obviously trying hard to work something out. "Umm, maybe tracking the person we've been following was a second diversion? I mean, the goal of the attack was to get the Father's body, right? We don't think the goblins are smart enough to do this themselves, and they're not, so we follow the human. But, he was smart enough to have the goblins take the body to...ummm...well, wherever, back up in the woods. Then we lose him going back to Sandpoint. And while we try to figure out who he is and where he went, he goes back out and meets up with the goblins to do whatever it was he was planning to do??" Lleidr gasps, out of breath and maybe a little dizzy. "Am y cariad duw , please tell me I got all that out in Common?"
"Yes, yes, I understood everything you said. I'm still of the opinion that the tracks we've been following could be those of the good father. It makes sense to my mind. They broke into his tomb with some magic shroud that had a necromancy smell to it. It doesn't seem to much of a leap that they re-animated him in some fashion. Though why anyone would want to do such a thing is beyond me."
"I dunno, I think those skeletons at the tomb were what the robe was for. If the Father's body has been turned into a skeleton or a zombie, could it have climbed the city wall or stayed so far ahead of us? How fast can those things shuffle anyways?
I think our best chance of finding the body and maybe the person behind all this is finding where those goblins went."
"The skeletons were created from soldiers that wouldn't have been buried in the Sandpoint cemetery."
"I believe the skeletons were made from the Robe of Bones Selia identified back in the tomb. There weren't any patches left, so I figure it was all used up making the skeletons and that's why it was thrown aside."
"I don't think so. The skeletons were attired in funerary uniforms of soldiers that died decades ago. Their ironmongery was definitely out of place in Sandpoint's sacred boneyard. If they were created at the cemetery the raiders must have been brought the bones with them. That doesn't mean I'm right of course. It was just my best guess."
Hmmm... good points Ned, Nicholae muses.
I don't think that if he was animated as a zombie he would have been able to outpace us though, and why would he return to Sandpoint? Everyone there would know he died, so unless he planned to burn the city down or something similarly unsubtle he wouldn't be able to do anything and if that was his plan why wouldn't he have sprung it when the goblins were still on the attack?
"I see your point about what the skeletons were wearing, but I think that's just a function of how the Robe works. It isn't used to animate existing remains. The wearer removes a patch and essentially conjures an undead. So, if the robe is really old or from somewhere else, then probably the skeletons bound to it are also really old or from somewhere else."
Look, we have a lot of unanswered questions but without a solid lead or tracks to direct us to a definite outcome. I think for the moment, we should head back, check on the town and pursue those Goblin tracks... we achieve both the continued surveillance of the village, and given the goblins moved as a troop, we should have less issues tracking them to their camp or lair.
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"I must ask, why do you think we have been following Father Tobyn? The goblins aren't smart enough for such things, thus the reason we didn't follow them. If they aren't smart, or focused, enough, what says that they could have raised him as a zombie? I feel we have been distracted from the perpetrator's true purpose. I propose again that we track down those goblins, at least it is more than walking in a circle."
"Whoever we're following didn't outpace us, we gave them quite a lead. As for the shroud, well I don't know much about such things. I seem to remember that once I... well never mind. I'll just go with what you say." Ned shakes his head momentarily confused.
"It's coming on nightfall. May as well head back to town and start fresh in the morning."
You are correct.
i'll post an update in the morning, re: your return into Sandpoint.
[Dusk, Sandpoint, First Day After Goblin Raid]
Lamplight pierces the fog filled street outside the Rusty Dragon once more, and stepping out from the deserted alleyway into the warmth of a crowded common room is a welcome change. Everyone there begins to crowd your group for news about the goblins, to the point where it’s difficult to cross the room and grab a chair.
“Are they coming back? Are we safe?”
“Why’d they do it? Why pillage a tomb?”
“Where’d you go?”
“Are the goblins raiding the farmlands as well?”
Ameiko helps disperse the crowd a bit, and supplies your group with stout ale and pewter bowls filled with a spicy steaming chowder.
Right after you start digging in and Ameiko has returned to the kitchen, the tavern door opens and then slams shut with a bang. A surly visitor bellows out some kind of sharp-tongued command in a strange language. You recognize the fellow in an instant: Ameiko’s father, Lonjiku Kaijitsu, one of the wealthiest men in Sandpoint.
A pall comes over everyone else in the tavern, as song and chatter falters into awkward silence. Lonjiku stalks farther into the tavern, scanning the room, spies your party and heads straight towards you, pointing an accusing finger.
“How dare you all stay here after endangering this town with your ill-advised goblin antics! Getting in the way of trained professional guards is your only accomplishment. Are you trying to impress us with your sad impression of heroics?”
"Eh? What was that? You have goblins in your attic?"
Jubrayl gets a look on his face like he just swallowed a piece of rancid meat. He's never cared for the eldest Kaijitsu, and has never been shy about it.
GEDVEHPATAHL.
Are you implying that we were responsible for the goblin attack? If so, I'd like to see proof, or are you saying that we shouldn't have fought back? Ignoring that our own lives were in danger, there were children about and as much as I dislike you, I don't think you're honestly the sort of man that would insist on us standing still and allowing the goblins to run about unhindered because we aren't personally trained and ordered about by the Sheriff. That being said, if Sheriff Hemlock has a grievance with us over our actions, we would all be happy to hear from the man himself. Can someone fetch him please? If he's asleep or busy, we'll be happy to wait until tomorrow.
"No, no we were there when the goblins attacked and Father Zantus asked us to help out. Do you remember him? Wonderful man, Father Zantus. Keeps his head in an emergency. Putting out fires, healing the wounded and he gives wonderful sermons too. If you have goblins in your attic you should talk to him. He'll know what to do." Ned says, nodding vaguely. Those closest to him will see a twinkle in his eye.
[Dusk, Rusty Dragon, First Day After Goblin Raid]
Longiku’s face turns a shade darker as his mouth twists into a snarl. At this point, he’s practically shouting.
“I’m not ‘implying’ anything, Master Elhan. I am stating the simple fact that you all turned a small nuisance into a colossal mess for this town and the good people living in it. It was a happy day when Nualia died, and it’ll be even happier when your entire ilk is gone for good. We don’t need filthy vagrants attracting trouble to our homes.
“And, as for you,” Lonjiku points at Ned, “you senile half-wit –“
The kitchen door slams and Ameiko takes a step into the crowded dining area. Everyone’s attention goes from you to her. She’s holding a ladle, dripping with chowder.
“What’s all this noise?”
Mervyn places his spoon down as he finishes his bowl of chowder and looks Lonjiku directly in the eye.
"Your argument is full of inconsistencies," Mervyn says simply, "Discounting the fact that we found Aldern Foxglove with nary a guard in sight surrounded by goblins, we scarcely saw a guard in the defence of the town. Not only that, it was our group the uncovered the theft from the tomb. It would appear that you are overly antagonistic for little reason, which begs the question: are you hiding something?"
Mervyn leans forward on his hands and keeps his gaze on the elder Kaijitsu.
At the mention of Nualia Jubrayl's eyes narrow and the wooden utensil in his hand snaps.
You're basing this claim on what you sociopathic old fiend? Assuming that's it's even possible to reason with goblins, how could three vagrants such as ourselves have done it? How do you know we did it? If you have proof that we were somehow conspiring against the town why aren't you here with Hemlock and dozens of armed guards? If you're saying that we caused the attack through some sort of negligence you have yet to say anything that we've been neglectful of, and if you had anything of the sort to say then I doubt we'd be having this conversation in a bar rather than in front of the sheriff or a magistrate. But of course you're not doing this because you actually think it's our fault, you're doing this because you're a pitiful and sad little man who for reasons unknown, wants it to be our fault.
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Selia's eyes turn stormy at Lonjiku's comments about the group making things worse. She is about to tear into him when he mentions the death of Nualia and how it was a "good" thing. At this, she rises, stalks over to the man and slaps him in the face.
"How dare you, you pompous ass!? Nualia was a wonderful woman and one of my closest friends! If I hear you utter one more vile word about her, I will beat you senseless!" The fury doesn't leave Selia's eyes as she steps back, her look daring Lonjiku to say more.