You all suddenly hear a voice from the door : "Well, hello! I stopped by the Rusty Tavern, and they said you'd gone to the graveyard, and I had a look around, but I've finally found you!" It's Aldern Foxglove, the noble whose life you saved yesterday.
"Did you forget about our boar hunt? I'm ready to go when you are!"
Velrek whispers "Were we going on a hunt?"
He smiles and greets Aldren and then says, "Actually, do you know anything about a man named, uh. What was his name?"
"Ezakien Tobyn," Jzero supplies.
"Will the boar meat be given to people in the city who need food?" he asks Aldren.
Evesk listens to the conversation and before replying he waits to see if this nobleman knows anything about Ezakien.
"Oh, sorry, I was getting ahead of myself. I was going to ask you to the boar hunt when we met for lunch, then when you weren't there, I went looking for you, and so here we are...
That name sounds vaguely familiar...did he live here in Sandpoint many years ago, maybe?
To Jzero's question he looks startled for an instant then says "Um, yes, sure, I could. But one boar will only feed about 15 people, maybe. And there's nothing so tasty as eating something you've hunted down yourself."
"Ah. Well, we got sidetracked. The Sheriff asked us to help with a little graveyard problem."
Evesk adds to Velrek's last comment with emphasis on the word grave, "And it appears it may have become a grave problem indeed."
Aldern smiles a little at Evesk's pun. "Indeed. Well, let's lunch at the Rusty Tavern, then we can ride to my estate in my carriage."
Velrek visibly perks up. "I could eat! Let us be off!"
Jzero heads from the cathedral to various business establishments inquiring about available jobs. He is at the Rusty Dragon for lunch. He inquires of the proprietor if there are chores he can do.
The Rusty Dragon owner says "Chores? Hah! You helped save the town yesterday, food and lodging are on me for a week."
When Aldern enters the Rusty Dragon with the rest of the group, he comes over to Jzero and says "Hello again! I didn't get your name yesterday, I'm Alden."
Why don't you come join the rest of us for lunch? I'm buying! Then I'd like to take you all out to my estate for a boar hunt."
The Rusty Dragon owner says "Chores? Hah! You helped save the town yesterday, food and lodging are on me for a week."
"That is most kind," Jzero replies politely. "But good graces, what my people call Karuma, will run out. After that, consider calling on me when you have chores I can do for my expenses."
Why don't you come join the rest of us for lunch? I'm buying! Then I'd like to take you all out to my estate for a boar hunt."
Jzero politely accepts Aldern's hospitality. As with breakfast, he eats mostly vegetables and any non-meat options that are available.
Velrek happily eats Jzero's portion of meat as well as his own and his veggies.
At some time between bites he looks to their host,
"So. Not to be unsophisticated but what kind of nobility are you, sir? No offense meant, just curious."
Aldern replies "Oh, I have no title, I'm just very wealthy" he says matter-of-factly (not boasting).
"But tell me about yourselves - how long have you been adventuring? I always wanted to be an adventurer, but my family would have disowned me if I had" he says kind of wistfully.
"I seek not adventure, but to understand my self and the Way of Things. If I have adventure, it is because the Way wishes me to have the gift it presents."
Aldern replies "Ummm...ok...good for you", obviously not understanding what Jzero said.
"I don't actually 'adventure', I just wander from place to place helping those who can't help themselves from whatever they're up against."
Aldern sighs and says wistfully "That sounds wonderful...I mean, that sounds like adventuring to me."
Oh, Well, better than being the son of some spoiled duke or something, right? I'm just wandering this world, looking for my place right now."
After lunch, Aldern takes you to his coach and you all ride to his house. It's bigger than a normal house, but not mansion-sized. First thing he does is give you each 50 GP for saving his life. Then he takes you to his stables and says "Pick out a horse for the hunt, and afterwards, it's yours to keep".
Everyone make a Shooting roll, the highest roll kills the boar.
= 5
Velrek picks out a stout horse that look like it can hold him for an extended ride. He looks over to Aldren.
"You sure? This is a fine horse!"
After he inevitably says yes, "Well, thank you very much, sir!"
After they arrive and upon sighting a boar.
Jzero bows his thanks for the gold and horse offers. He selects a brown and white Appalosa horse.
Result: 6 + 2 = 8
Velrek Lets an arrow fly and is happy with the trajectory when a faster arrow hits dead on.
"Ah, well, good shot sir!"
The day ends with a feast at Aldern's tastefully decorated home, and he has his coachman drive you back to Sandpoint. The dinner conversation consisted mostly of him asking each of your about the details of your "adventuring". You're probably quite tired of it by the time the meal ends.
The next morning, Jzero finds a couple of small part-time jobs at the local shops - cleaning, stocking shelves, moving deliveries of boxes and crates into storerooms, etc. Altho most of the store owners you approach are shocked that one of the "heroes of Sandpoint" is looking for a menial job.
The same day, while everyone is having lunch at the Rusty Tavern (still on the house), the tavern door slams open, and an older (50-ish) man comes in and bellows something in an uncommon language - however, Jzero understands him perfectly.
The other patrons of the bar, knowing this man's reputation for wrathful outbursts, suddenly grow very quiet and become interested in their meals.
He stalks farther into the tavern, his eyes scanning the room for his daughter, until he sees your table. He heads straight towards you, and when he reaches you he starts accusing you all (in Common, with an accent) of endangering the townsfolk with your ill-advised “antics,” and that you should have left the defense to the city guard and other “trained professionals."
What do you do?
Velrek's eyes narrow and his muscles tense up. Then he sighs, goes back to his meal and ignores the man.
He's seen the type. He's looking for trouble and while it might not make him go away, ignoring him will probably pis him off the most.
Evesk looks at the man and those at the table and then calmly says, "Your critcism of these individuals is unwelcome, for they did provide much needed assistance to us trained professionals tasked with protecting this town."
Jzero keeps calm, stands, faces the man, and asks in the same language he spoke first, "Anata no musume-san wa yukue fumeidesu ka? Watashitachi ga otetsudai shimashou ka?"
The man looks at Evesk and says "Ha! You, a professional? You're all just a filthy band of vagrants who are going to attract even more trouble to this town!".
When Jzero speaks, he looks startled for a moment , then his face turns red with anger as he turns to Jzero and shouts "Anata wa watashi no musume o watashi ni makasemasu!".
A young woman comes out of the kitchen holding a soup ladle, strides right up to the man, and starts arguing with him in their foreign tongue. The man seems to finally issue an ultimatum, to which the girl angrily replies. His face gets even redder, then he makes a motion to grab her by the hair, to which she hits him over the head with the ladle, getting bits of fish and potatoes all over him. This causes the man to freeze for a moment, then in a calm but ominous tone he says (in Common) "You're as dead to me as your mother", and storms out of the inn.
The young woman stands stock still after his final comment, but she's shaking with anger, and looks like she's about to burst into tears.
Evesk calmly looks at the man then shrugs and says, "Your opinion means nothing to me nor do I imagine to the towns people I protect." He then goes back to eating.
He basically ingnores the dramatics but does just about rise when the man begins to make a threatening gesture to the lady of the inn, however, the lady was more than capable of putting the man in his place so he remained seated.
Velrek has a chunk of tomato halfway to his mouth when the young lady comes up. He sits there, mouth open and dripping tomato in hand until she whacks him with the ladle. He smiles a little, eats the tomato and whispers to Jzero,"Go talk to her. I'm too big and scary, she'll more likely talk to you."
He then notices there is still a piece of bacon on his plate and grabs it...
Jzero strides calmly toward the woman as the angry relative storms out, standing by her side and facing the same direction. Once he leaves, Jzero says, "Ekikyōde wa, kazoku ni tsuite tsugi no yō ni nobe rarete imasu. `On'na no nintai wa, hito o masu. Sugureta on'na wa, kotoba ni naiyō ga ari, ikikata ni takete iru.'"
Then he adds in common, "Family. Sometimes can't live without them, yet can't live with. Am I not correct?"
Jzero's words seem to have a calming effect on the girl, who takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly before turning to the entire tavern and saying “I’ll need a clean ladle now, since jackass stew isn't on the menu.”
The resulting cheers and laughter from the tavern’s patrons help her attitude immensely.
She turns to the group and says "Thanks. You can stay here another week on the house."
Velrek almost chokes on his bite after teh Jackass stew comment and joins in the cheers.
A few days later, Sheriff Hemlock appears at the Rusty Dragon as you're finishing lunch, and says "Hail, saviors of Sandpoint!" in a joking manner. Then he becomes more serious, and says quietly "I was wondering if you could come with me to talk with the Mayor and a friend of ours, we've got some news that might interest you."
Velrek smiles and raises his mug to the sheriff. After his request he shrugs his shoulders, finishes sopping up his stew with the last of his bread, chugs down his ale and stands.
"Well, sound important. Let's go!"
Evesk looks up as the Sheriff enters then to his request he nods saying, "Sure, I just need to drop off this lunch, he indicates the basket on the table next him, "at the house of Iomedae but it is along the way."
The Sheriff says "No problem about the lunch, but let's not dawdle either."
Ceri says "Should we gear up? If so, I'll need a few minutes..."
The Sheriff says "No, no - no need to gear up. We're just going to talk. Unless you think we might be attacked by goblins in the streets" with a wink.
Upon finishing his lunch Evesk gets up and thanks the owner for another fine meal and then awaits the others. He is fully geared as he also works as a town guard and was prepared to do rounds before the sheriff arrived temporarily redirecting his assignment.
Rewind : a couple of days after the attack, at the suggestion of the Sheriff, the Captain of the guard appointed all of you as "honorary town guards", and your duties are to walk around the town (individually) once a day for about an hour in full gear, just to make people feel safe. The job pays 5 GP per day. During these walks, many townsfolk wave at you, or come up to greet you or thank you for your part in repelling the goblins. Some of them offer you small gifts, like an apple or a piece of mincemeat pie.
Today : the Sheriff takes you to a meeting room in the town hall, where two people are waiting. One is a modestly-well-dressed human woman, the other is an elven woman who's obviously an adventurer, but she looks a little ragged. The Sheriff introduces them as Mayor Deverin and Shalelu Andosana, respectively.
The Mayor welcomes you all warmly, and thanks each of you gratefully and graciously for the help you provided during the Sandpoint raid.
Sheriff Hemlock then introduces Shalelu to the party as an “unofficial member of Sandpoint’s town guard” (which makes her smirk) and the heroes to Shalelu as “Sandpoint’s newest crop of goblinslayers.” He explains that she's been a thorn in the side of the local goblin tribes for several years, and few in the region know more about them than she does. She simply nods to you all.
Hemlock gives the floor to Shalelu, asking her to tell the heroes what she's already told him.
“Hemlock’s told me of your work against the goblins—well done. I’ve dedicated the last several years to keeping them from causing too much trouble around these parts. But they’re tenacious little runts. Like weeds that bite.
There are five major goblin tribes in the region, and traditionally they’re pretty good at keeping each other from becoming too powerful with intertribal squabbles and the like. Yet from what I’ve been able to piece together, members of all five tribes were involved in the raid on Sandpoint.
A fair number of the Mosswood goblins I dealt with yesterday were already pretty beat up, and there was a lot of chatter about the ‘longshanks’ who killed so many of them. Now that I’ve met you, it seems obvious who they were talking about. Seems like you’ve made an impression.
In any event, the fact that the five tribes are working together is disturbing. Goblin tribes don’t get along unless they’ve got something big planned, and big plans require big bosses.
I’m afraid someone’s moved in on the goblins and organized them. And judging by these recent raids, what they’re organizing seems like bad news for all of us."
The Sheriff announces he’s taking a few of his guards south to Magnimar to see about securing additional soldiers to station in Sandpoint for a few weeks, at least until the extent of the goblin threat can be determined. While he’s out of town, he’s asked Shalelu to sniff around Shank’s Wood, Brinestump, Mosswood, Devil’s Platter, and other places where goblins live to see if she can discover anything else about what’s going on.
He asks you all to continue maintaining a public presence in Sandpoint as you've been doing, over the next few days. “Most of the town guards are stationed around the perimeter of the town, in case any more goblins show up. But the locals seem to have taken a liking to you, and seeing you around town will do a lot towards keeping worries down over the next few days."
Once the meeting is over, Shalelu asks to join the party later on for dinner at the Rusty Dragon. She’d like to hear more from you about the Sandpoint raid and in return she’s got a fair amount of goblin lore she can impart, and then she leaves.
Any questions for the Sheriff or Mayor?
Rewind: Velrek, actually being a tiny bit shy, was a little nervous on the first trip around town. Three apples, a mincemeat pie and an apple turnover later he was chatty and outgoing.
At the meeting:
Velrek follows everyone in and politely greets the mayor. He smiles and nods at the elf.
He then sits back and waits to see if someone else mentions the clues and things the group found out about a possible suspect who might be controlling the Goblins.
Jzero attends the meet and greet with Shalelu. He asks no questions and continues his routine.
Jzero's routine is to get up at first light, spend a hour in an isolated place meditating and doing martial art katas to keep limber. While making his rounds, a couple of young teenage boys ask him if he can teach them to fight without weapons, as Jzero does. Once he has talked to the prospective students' parents or guardians, he starts giving lessons in the afternoon, .
After teaching this for a day or two, others teenagers, including a girl or two, ask to join the class. Jzero spends some time each class on physical conditioning and exercises to strengthen arms and hands.
He teaches them all the fine art of falling without getting hurt, by rolling as the ground rises to meet them. At the end, he teaches a few parrying moves and how to break a grapple. They all want to learn karate chops, which they have apparently seen other warriors from the East use, but he is slow to teach attacks until they have learned to defend properly.
A few locals have noted the group and dubbed them the Brat Pack, as they are kids who have in the past been rather annoying with immature boasting and pranks.
Already working as an axillary town guard attached to the house of Iomedae Evesk continues his daily patrols as well as checking in with the other guards to make sure they are doing okay as well. He also spends time talking to the locals about things they have perhaps seen and/or heard and the status of the various townfolk, specifically if anyone was injured somehow or needed assistance with chores or like due to infirmity or injury.
At the meeting he listens taking a keen note about the information on the Goblins and interjecting, "Yes the Goblins are a plague that need to be eradicated." He looked forward to speaking with this Shalelu later this evening, perhaps he could accompany her on her mission and perhaps dispatch a few more Goblins in the process.
To the Mayor and Sheriff he states, "Well it does seem like we may either have two issues or perhaps another aspect to the Goblin issue. For it appears someone may have used the Goblin raid to steal the remains of a holy man to use in some diabolic ritual of some sort. I have been looking for a tracker to see if I could persue the individuals that stole the those remains and return them for holy internment once more but have found no one thus far. Perhaps one of you might be aware of someone that could do this?"
The Mayor and Sheriff exchange glances when Evesk brings up the stolen bones, and the Sheriff says "We're aware of the significance of the stolen bones, and have hired some expert trackers to see what they can find. Again, we would appreciate it if your team stayed in the town for a while, since you all seem to lift the morale of the townsfolk so much."
"This is good. However I would point out that we are not a team but several individuals that simply lent aid to the town when it was in need. I myself hold allegiance first to the house of Iomedae and by extension to the town which by extension includes these other inviduals." He gestures to the other folks that had helped during the Goblin raid.
"Next while I am sure they", he again gestures to to the others, "will be sufficient to bolster the towns morale, I feel my services for Iomedae will be best served either helping Shalelu to deal with the Goblin menace or helping the scouts with dealing with those that stole the holy priests remains, as those are the two most pressing matters that I believe would most concern Iomedae."