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Toral raises an eyebrow and smiles.
”It is very kind of you to ask! Many people like to speak but few like to listen! I am a Dwarf from a Kelish merchant family. I always felt the pull of the heavens and stars.
I embrace the lessons of the past as the heavens have watched over this world since the beginning of time. People dislike me for my directness but I am respected as a stoic negotiator that has an empathic approach. My family has deep roots in the Exchange faction of the Pathfinder Society. Thus, my brothers Almaas, Jangafzaar, and Sadaf are all members of the Pathfinder Society as well!“
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Colin addresseses Toral, ignoring their target for the moment, as the rest of the Pathfinders seem to have negotiations well in hand. Bah! You say the heavens have watched over things from the beginning of time! Wrong! The only thing that is eternal is the nothingness of the void - the dark tapestry! To cling to anything else is either foolish or willfully ignorant!
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"Well the people here were nice and all, but some of them got a bit well... carried away. So when the Pathfinders pulled back from the area they... rescued me. It was probably right before you..."
It's about this time where S realizes the ending of his story is, the Pathfinders rescued me, someone who wasn't even a part of the team when they left you behind.
"um, so yeah I met some nice Pathfinders who took me with them so I decided to stick around. How about another drink?"
While the party is sharing their stories (some more timely than others), a pair of villagers approach Bertinard and speak to him in hushed tones. Whatever he is told, the older man is visibly stricken.
***
All of the mirth drains from Armaline's features when S tells his own story. Fortunately, the awkward silence that follows is broken when Bertinard approaches the gathering. "I apologize for interrupting, might I have a word with all of you in private?"
Armaline takes the opportunity to excuse herself, though if that's in anger or in respect for Bertinard's request remains to be seen.
After she's stepped away, Bertinard continues. "Are you the sorts accustomed to dealing with... grisly situations?"
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Toral steps forward.
”The history of this world is full of horrible situations that we need to understand to be able to learn from them! So yes... as Pathfinders we know grisly situations. I have seen flailed humans that were sacrificed for an evil god and fought undead that wanted to eat my very life force... what do you need?“ Toral asks.
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At the question, Colin begins to rant, his voice starting out soft and low, and gradually increasing in tempo and volume as he raves.
Grisly situations you say!? There is hardly anything on this plane that could even qualify for such a description! I have seen things on other planes of reality that would make you soil your pants if I were to describe them! Denizens of the dark tapestry that seek nothing more than to devour all existence! Horrors and abominations that would drive you insane should one with insufficient strength of will were to EVEN GLIMPSE THEM!
By the end, he is mostly shouting. He suddenly stops, inhales deeply, and continues in a normal voice.
So I'm sure we can handle whatever quaint 'grisly situation' you may have here in your little village.
Bertigard pauses for a moment to collect his thoughts. ”I had sent some of the boys to collect more pumpkins from Elm, he’s our local druid. They arrived at his grove to find him… you see…”
”Elm is dead”, says a young athletic woman grimly as she joins the small gathering. ”Elm was dead when the Joseph and Rodrick arrived.”
The older man signs and nods in resignation. ”This is Constable Elise Tivareau. I’d like you assist her investigation.”
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Toral looks at Colin and it almost seems as if he is a little bit afraid of his fellow Pathfinder.
He steps forward to the constable and clumsily shakes her hand.
"Well, I have this problem that I start sweating when I see women in power so please excuse me! But I swear to you that I will do all in my power to help you! Chaldira, my goddess, is my best supporter ... and he pauses a moment to scratch his beard, ... and I very much hope that we find out what happened! I am here for you and will see this as an investment into our joint exchange in the future!"
Bertigard pauses for a moment to collect his thoughts. ”I had sent some of the boys to collect more pumpkins from Elm, he’s our local druid. They arrived at his grove to find him… you see…”
”Elm is dead”, says a young athletic woman grimly as she joins the small gathering. ”Elm was dead when
theJoseph and Rodrick arrived.”The older man
signssighs and nods in resignation. ”This is Constable Elise Tivareau. I’d like you to assist her investigation.”
The Constable appears suspicious of the party but softens slightly after Toral's introduction. She shakes the offered hand firmly.
"With me. Elm's farm is three miles north. My men are waiting for us at the edge of town."
***
Roughly an hour later, Tivareau, two town guards, and the party arrive at a small farmhouse surrounded by healthy pumpkin patches.
"The boys said the body is this way", the Constable explains while closing on the farmhouse. "There he is."
A middle-aged man’s body lies on the ground about 50 feet away from the front door. His battered corpse is facedown and wrapped in pumpkin vines. The vines wrapping the body do not cover it entirely; they encircle its arms and legs, and one vine even wraps around his head, holding the jaw open.
Underneath the vines, the man's clothing is torn and singed in places. Patches of brown fungus are scattered on the ground near his body.
Toral finds strange markings marring the earth all around Elm's remains. After a moment of study, he believes they belong to several small creatures. The look to have originated from and returned to the nearby pumpkin patches.
The vines are a dying portion of a greater whole. They don't possess enough intelligence to convey any kind of complete thought but S understands one message loud and clear.
Kill... He knows too much...
Toral wanders around the pumpkin patch but following the trail past this point is beyond his skills at this point.
The constable and her men continue searching the grounds while the party moves on to the house.
The small one-room farmhouse is dirty but uncluttered. The loose dirt, leaves, and other pieces of nature that have crept into the living space remove any doubt that this was a druid's home. The house contains a bed, a desk, a table, two chairs, a chest of clothes, a shelf of food and cooking supplies, and a fireplace.
Two pieces of paper lie on the desk. One is a small handwritten note. The other appears to be a map of the area around Rosehaven with X’s marking 10 different locations.
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Toral thinks for a moment.
”Well, Whisperwort is a colloquial term for a species of red peat moss! Hmmm ... The X's on the map surround the town but don’t form any discernible pattern! No! Wait! The X's actually form an elaborate spiral pattern radiating outward from a site east of Rosehaven! Let us immediately investigate!“
A minute later Constable Tivareau enters the small home. Her guards follow shortly after.
"Nothing outside I'm afraid. Did you find anything on Elm's attackers in here?"
After the thorough explanation from Toral, the constable looks over the map and note. While she works, the dwarf carefully digs through the chest and the contents of the shelves. He finds nothing else that ties into the notes on the desk but he does find some useful trinkets.
"Hmm. I believe the center of this spiral shape you've drawn is Bertinard's home. What do you think it means?"
Not sure what to make of the information but confident Bertinard plays an important role, the constable and her escorts leave Elm's home behind.
The sun is just about set when the group reaches the town limits again. After a word from one of her guards, Constable Tivareau breaks away with her men. "I'm going to rally the rest of the town guard and form a perimeter around Bertinard's property. I'll meet you there."
***
Conveniently, Bertinard is arriving at his home just as the party does. The crusted pumpkin pulp splattered on his robes suggests the festivities carried on long after the pathfinders left to investigate Elm's death. The older man clutches his Shelynite book of prayers tightly but appears relieved to see the party again.
"Thank the Eternal Maiden. I haven't heard anything since all of you left with Elise and I was starting to assume the worst. Did you-"
Bertinard is interrupted by the sound of a heavy hollow object being knocked against the earth followed by rustling in the nearby grass. Something is coming.
The crash of breaking glass can be heard from the rear of the house.
Meanwhile, from around the corner, Dylph and Colin spot an eerie sight - the pumpkin carved by the half-orc earlier. It bounces along the ground by some unseen force. The eyes of the ifrit woman's impression smolder with unholy flames.
Trusting S’s warning, the older man unlocks and opens his front door.
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Trechery afoot! Something foul is animating the pumpkins!
Colin will cast Summon Monster II as standard action, summoning fiendish dogs.
Colin waves his hands, eldritch symbols appearing in the air, eventaully materializing into a pair of dogs with dark red fur and a sinister red glow in their eyes.
You! Go check the house! You, go take care of that pumpkin!
The first dog will move into the house and assist S in clearing it out.
The other will move to the pumpkin and bite it.
Stat block for the dogs can be found here.
S steps inside Bertinard's home to find another animated jack'o lantern cavorting in among a pile of broken glass. The leshy recognizes his own work carved into its flesh. It glows with similar eerie light to the one outside.
The dancing pumpkin evades the conjured blade but Colin's hound tears it to pieces spraying bits of glowing gourd across the grass.
Dylph's arrow penetrates the animated gourd causing it to explode in messy sticky bits all over Bertinard's living room.
A third jack'o lantern appears around the front of the house. This one, which is too familiar to Colin and suspended by a tangle of writhing vines, emits an aura of palpable dread. It 'looks' at Colin and Toral for a moment before belching a cloud of dark flames at them.
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S begins singing a rousing drinking song as he moves towards the new threat.
The jack'o lantern's luck is stolen away!
The rogue clips his target with an arrow but this one proves sturdier than the one inside Bertinard's home.
The jack-o-lantern bites one of the dogs...
...before swatting at the other with a bundle of writhing vines.
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S moves over to the side, popping one of the goodberries he'd made into his mouth as he continues singing with a bit more slurring of his words. He weaves a spell into his song, enchanting 3 gold coins, one of which he tosses at the creature being flanked by the dogs.