Aemur nods. Aye. Not sure what it was, but it attacked with claws and teeth. I'm still feeling the effects, but nothing looks infected. Got very lucky there! My mother always said I was too lucky for my own good...
Aemur happily tucks into his food after speaking, appreciating the meal.
Cayden grinned towards the innkeeper as he delivered the item he had to... but seemed to keenly pick up on the talk from Aemur, making his way over quickly. "Pardon if I'm butting in, but... A creature?"
Eshkeval walks in, trying to speak with Kolmac, when he overhears the conversation.
"Monsters, you say? What did it look like?"
Slightly intrigued, Eshkeval gets out his pen and some paper, clearly preparing to draw what you describe.
Kolmac can't help but overhear as well.
"What's this about monsters? I thought that sort of thing was mostly dealt with in the aftermath of the Days of Darkness."
Aemur looks up in surprise at the sudden influx of interest. He isn't sure how to handle it, but decides that there's no harm in sharing the information. Well, yes. Monster, creature, something. It attacked with claws and teeth. The brave halfling here was the first in, and he held it's attention quite ably. Aemur continues to recount the tale, and when he finishes seems surprised to have said so much. He grabs his tankard and takes a long pull to hide his face.
Having gotten that description, Eshkeval can throw a Knowledge (the Planes) check for information (as can anyone else with ranks in it).
Eshkeval:
"Hmm, given your descriptions, I think what you guys may have faced might have been a ghoul. Like many special undead, they can arise spontaneously from some kind of unspeakable act, however they also the ability to create spawn, in this case via a disease known as 'ghoul fever.' You mentioned getting hurt in the battle, right? If so, you wouldn't mind a little examination, just to make sure that you're not infected, right?" Eshkeval asks.
Aeumr looks at the drawing, impressed. Lacking any skills with drawing himself, he isn't sure of the quality of the depiction; but it is recognizable, and that's more than he could manage. That's incredible! You drew that just from our description? As for the fever, I feel alright but I certainly wouldn't mind a second look; that sounds nasty.
Cayden's eyes probably grew wide listening to this.. And let out a rather obvious sigh, "Well that's something else to add to the list of oddities going on.. first two people go missing and now there's some kinda zombie in our town."
"If you want, I can attempt to make copies of this picture in order to spread word around town." Eshkeval asks. "As for the ghoul fever, if you feel fine a full day afterwards, then I'm sure you must have staved off the effects."
Eshkeval thinks for a second, then looks up in realization. "Oh! I almost forgot to introduce myself, my name is Eshkeval, what's yours? I'm currently working with the Baron on a grand project." Eshkeval holds out his hand for a hand shake.
"And I am Kolmac, of Kaeldbrek, also working on the Baron's project." He shakes hands as well.
Once introductions are out of the way, he notes, "So if these creatures spread primarily by transmission of this illness, that would suggest the individual you two encountered was exposed sometime recently. That would seem to be a cause for some concern?"
The innkeeper interjects, "Eh, seems more like the 'unspeakable act' for this one -- surely murderin' children fits under that category?"
"I was actually at this creature's house to serve a warrant in conjunction with one of the missing children. That's the whole reason I'm in town in the first place." Dair says as others join in the conversation.
Aemur looks around at all of the fine folk who have reasons to be in this town. Huh. I'm just spelunking around the area... I came back into town after seeing a destroyed camp. Aemur decides to share that bit of news with the group, since most of them seem to be from out of town and he had already discussed it with Cayden.
"A destroyed camp, you say? Where exactly was this?" Eshkeval wonders outloud.
"I hope it's not anywhere close to where the Baron is planning his new project, heh!" Eshkeval laughs a bit, to thinly hide his apprehension at the thought of facing a real life version of the simulacrum he just created.
Cayden finally got the courage to speak, although he seemed rather antsy (Normally he'd be more confident, but he worried about making the wrong impression), "I don't remember for sure if I mentioned my name yesterday, Cayden Moore. I'm a local, and a member of the local family of blacksmiths. I've also been.. Rather concerned about the mentioned disappearances, and it seems that the Baron might now have even more on his plate than a single criminal.. Someone ought to tell him, right?"
Aemur looks to Eshkeval. The camp was south of town. Looked like arson, done by a group who knew the area. It may have been a goblin camp, but they did not deserve what happened.
Aemur keeps his voice down to answer the question; he's not trying to make a scene around the locals.
Eshkeval turns to Kolmac and asks, "You wouldn't happen to know where the build site is located again, would you? I was so preoccupied in creating the perfect portrait that I might have, ah, lost track of things."
Between Aemur's sense of direction, Cayden's local knowledge, and Eshkeval's art skills, you manage to put together a rough map.
The build site for the new town house is SE of town; the new sawmill was planned NW of town; the goblin camp is SW of town . Both of the latter are in the forest that dominates the landscape to the west. The goblin camp is along something that almost looks like an overgrown trail, now mostly obliterated:
...............Future Sawmill
......................................................Town
?--------------Goblin Camp........................Future Town House
"Hmm..." Eshkeval thinks for a moment, holding his chin in his hand. "Whatever destroyed the Goblin Camp might still be in the area, which would could make building the Baron's Town House quite difficult to accomplish. If you're still trying to investigate the area, would you be willing to come with us as we scope out the Build Site?" Eshkeval asks Aemur.
"And Dairkal, feel free to come along. You can clearly handle yourself in a fight, and it probably wouldn't hurt to have more hands on deck. I'm sure if we asked the Baron, he could probably get you on the payroll."
"At any rate, judging by how ghouls are created, I'd say that your case of missing children is probably solved..." Eshkeval trails off, clearly implying that the ghoul was born when the man you were arresting ate the missing children you were trying to arrest him for.
Dair, Aemur's recent comment regarding your prowess reminded you of this remark:
"That puncture on the things back looks pretty nasty - looks like you handled things well before the Officer and I came on the scene!"
Thinking about it in hindsight, it now occurs to you why it bothered you:
As they discuss the attack, Dair is reminded of something very strange, which he mentions to the group. "There was puncture wound on ghoul's back. Yet, I never landed a blow on the thing. Meaning that puncture wound was from before we even showed up."
"Also... If that about the Ghoul is true... Then who did the Baron apprehend? I asked him about a search party already and he said that he found the perpetrator... We should tell the Baron right away! Worst case scenario an innocent man might be on the edge of an executioner's axe... Although whatever you're doing, I'm in".
The color had disappeared and returned to his face a few times over within the span of the meeting, but he now had a fire in his eyes.
"Oh, you spoke to the Baron? Well then, we shall make haste to his abode."
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Aemur looks to Dairkal. If that ghoul had already been attacked, there's a chance someone else might be out there and be infected, maybe without even knowing it! We should go back to that house and see if we can determine where the stab wound came from, I think.
Aemur is concerned about pushing into a local investigation, but at the same time the risk of unknowingly infected villagers turning into ghoul spawn drives him to speak.
"That sounds about right... Aemur, Dairkal, You know more about the ghoul than I do, so you check out the body. Eshkevel, you'd shown concern to seeing the Baron, so we'll go alert him.. and find out who he said would be 'in irons'".
His confidence had surged back with a plan, Although it seemed to fade slightly when he realized how much him taking up the role of de facto leader might offend this group of basically strangers.
Less offended than bemused by the strong-willed local, Kolmac volunteers to accompany Aemur and Dairkal, curious to see this remnant of the Days of Darkness which his mother rarely spoke of and feeling a need for some air before diving into the Baron's research.
A quick trip to Oleg's house shows that the place has been padlocked; peering in a window indicates that the body is gone, and that some of the mess has been cleared.
"I did see some sort of crossbow type contraption, in the same room Oleg attacked us in. Maybe that caused the puncture wound?" Dair reveals. "Though I am unsure if that has anything to do with him becoming a ghoul."
Aemur looks at the padlock, surprised. The local constabulary moved quickly... I'm impressed. He looks around the house, hoping to find tracks he can identify.
"Hmm..." Eshkeval thinks for a moment, surveying the situation of the locked house, before looking up timidly.
"Well...if it's really important for you to check the inside of the house, I might be able to help get you inside."
Taking out his thieves' tools, the halfling attempts to pick the lock.
"If you want to get through a locked door, why not just make another one?"
With that, Eshkeval will reach down to his side, where a deck resides in a holster. His deck will glow blue briefly, before he draws out a card. On the card's face, it shows a picture of a door standing in a white background.
Using his other hand, Eshkeval takes hold of his holy symbol pen and begins to fill in the background, drawing what seems to be the house in front of him. When he's done, he concentrates for a second, and the colored image begins to lift off from the card.
With a wave of his hand, the image magnifies, and before the group stands a door. "With this, we should be able to get inside, without tampering with the locked door."
Cayden noticed that basically everyone else went to the same place, so he'd follow along with them for now (Although he still hoped to talk to the baron about what was going on and see if he got the information on the ghoul).
He also was rather fascinated with Eshkeval, mostly because he only saw magic fairly rarely if ever. "Wow.. Well that's certainly something. Though we ought to be careful, tampering with a crime scene might make them think it was us".
Kolmac, stuck with the sense that something feels off about this whole situation, steps through Eshkeval's door and looks around the hut. Wanting a thorough look around the place, he reaches into his coin pouch for a copper penny and imbues it with a light spell to illuminate the dark corners of the room.
Perception
Once Aemur and Dairkal come through, he'll make a point of asking if anything notable has changed since the other day that might point towards any kind of setup or coverup.
Aemur follows Kolmac through the magical door. He's impressed with the magic as well; Aemur is no stranger to magic, but his magic is a subtler, slower sort of magic. As he passes Eshkeval, he nods his head at him. Talented work. Very nice.
Once inside he takes advantage of the light and looks around.
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Dair puts away his tools, and flashes Eshkeval a grin. "That, my friend, is a very useful ability."
Stepping inside, Dair looks for the work in progress crossbow. "I spotted this last night. It seems rather out of place. However, such a weapon is beyond my expertise."
Aemur has no problem finding more boot tracks, similar to officer Coward's. One of the boot prints shows a nicked heel, which nags at the back of his mind.
Of course, now he remembers. Some of the tracks near the goblin encampment showed the same nicked heel.
Luckily, Eshkeval has line of sight (though the window), and also insufficient thickness of material to block the effect , so the trick works here.
Kolmac takes a look around, but is uncertain what he's looking for. After Eshkeval sends Aemur through, the latter is able to look around with a more practiced eye.
Someone made it a point to remove obvious signs of struggle. There is no body there, and the piece of furniture ruined by Officer Coward's mace is gone. It looks like someone mopped the floor with lye to get rid of any obvious bloodstains. You recall that the place was a mess when you got there, and someone took full advantage of that by spreading the mess around some more, to hide obvious signs of the struggle.
The back door, where Aemur had come bursting in during the fight, has been screwed shut so that the damage isn't obvious, and so that ingress from that route is more difficult.
Aemur stiffens in realization that the nicked heel is showing up here as well. As soon as he enters the house through the portal, he sets about searching for a pair of boots or anything else that might be related to the devastation at the camp. He motions to Kolmac. Some of the tracks leading from here were also at the camp that was destroyed. I think there may be some connection... It was a mess in here yesterday, but someone has made it even messier to hide the details. We will need to be careful not to leave it too clean... I want to know what happened, but running afoul of an official cover-up will not help anyone.
Inside, Cayden sees the partially-assembled crossbow.
He immediately recognizes the steel bow as his own handiwork, picked up by the customer a few weeks ago, who seemed very happy with it. Unfortunately, Eshekval's second-hand picture of the ghoul doesn't provide enough facial detail to see if the ghoul and the customer were one and the same. There are two things you're sure of, though:
1. The customer who picked up the steel bow was human, not a ghoul.
2. The partially-assembled crossbow you see, when complete, would make a much nastier hole in someone than a rapier, and at reasonably close range, there would probably be a substantial exit wound as well. There would really be no way way to mistake the two.