She grins; ”With a shot from this I once splattered a gnoll across the sands. ‘Twas a sight so revolting his fellows had no desire to eat what was left of him. It could quite easily do the same to a knight in full plate, in point of fact,” she says stiffly.
"With THAT?!" You obviously have his curiosity piqued. He pivots from his suggestive talk, not because he is intimidated, but because he is honestly curious. "Show me." He looks around for something to aim at, obviously not considering the target she has already suggested. "So is it like a mini crossbow or something? How good a shot are you. What can you hit from, say, 20 paces."
Vulpina looks about ready to consider Rahella's suggestion... until the mercenary's interest shifts quite suddenly.
"Ah, a demonstration is in order," she says. "It is no crossbow. It is much, much more than that."
She considers the possible targets. There is an awful lot of sand...
...but there's also a rather handy source of wreckage.
"What say we cool off some of the bigger pieces of wood and drape a tarp over it?" she offers. "Assuming we have a tarp we do not mind ruining, of course."
"See, someone I was talking to earlier, Dashki, mentioned them. He is not nice, but I don't think he did it. He got too close to the crime scene. He thinks these little trickers that work with gnolls did it. Can I get magic lessons from you sometime? Father, not you or my dad, another Father back home taught me magic, and I would like to learn more he told me mine comes from a god. He says this and this are important."
Lupe holds up a crimson wing symbol and a bastard sword.
"Oh, are you interested magic? I would love to tutor you, if, of course, you show aptitude. Now, keep in mind I am a cleric and not a wizard and though I know a lot about the arcane I would not be able to teach you how to be a wizard. I could provide some texts on the subject though. And there is always crafting potions. That I could teach you, but, again, only if you have the aptitude. I have a puzzle I can use to test your intelligence, if you are serious."
Katsumi continued to help organize the vials. "Did you hear any screaming coming from the man when the fire broke out? Surely he would have managed to at least get one out if he accidentally lit his own wagon on fire." He paused. "Actually, do you recall the last time you saw the man, prior to his death?"
The vials are all labelled in a precise script. The majority of them are cure potions including some cure moderate wounds. As you handle them he fusses with you a bit, obviously treasuring each one even though he can just make more.
"Take care with that. Careful now, careful."
Though he does lighten up a bit with each successful 'mission'.
"No, can't say I did, though a person is more likely to die of smoke inhalation than the fire itself in these situations. If he was sleeping when it want down he could have been poisoned by the smoke enough that he never woke up. As for when I saw him... I think he ate early and retired to his studies before most of us had even started eating."
Vulpina looks about ready to consider Rahella's suggestion... until the mercenary's interest shifts quite suddenly.
"Ah, a demonstration is in order," she says. "It is no crossbow. It is much, much more than that."
She considers the possible targets. There is an awful lot of sand...
...but there's also a rather handy source of wreckage.
"What say we cool off some of the bigger pieces of wood and drape a tarp over it?" she offers. "Assuming we have a tarp we do not mind ruining, of course."
"I got a better idea."
Since the wagon was doused pretty early on, there is some relatively unscorched wagon wall remaining and a lot of coals available. He picks one up and draws a series of concentric rings on the wagon's side with a bullseye in the middle about 2 inches wide.
"Let's see what that thing can do, then!"
The Lady smiles as a target is set up. She allows him to set up the rings... but knows it will not be necessary.
Standing back about four yards or so, she pulls back the lever, offers a quick smile to the mercenary, and raises her arm, letting it drop like a lever until it points straight at the center of the target—or near enough, anyway.
There’s a flash of fire and lead, and the target that was set up is absolutely covered in little holes, all over a 15-foot diameter.
”Much more than a small crossbow,” she grins.
The loud noise outside causes Sarona to immediately halt her organization of the priest's vials and rush outside. Her fox follows right behind her.
"What was that noise? Are we under attack?"
"Thanks I will be back. There is something exploding."
Lupe hops on Wolf and make b line for the 'explosion.'
"DEFEND THE INNOCENT."
With Vulpina and the mercenary suddenly calling off hostilities Rahella felt a bit of relief. Unfortunately she was also highly annoyed because they were both now ignoring her! Still, she was quite curious as to what would happen with the demonstration so she followed to watch. With their targets set up Rahella stood back and to the side so she could see but not be too close when whatever would happen happened.
The sudden assault to her ears as the tube belched fire and sent projectiles through the air to riddle the tarp with holes brought a scream of fright from her. When the after effects of the loud noise finally left her ears Rahella stared in wide eyed shock as she said quietly, "Remind me never to make her mad. That thing could wake the dead as it riddled them with hole...s." She seemed to realize something then and a rather vicious gleam entered her eyes. She looked at Vulpina and asked, "What, exactly, can you shoot from that thing?"
Vulpina’s grin widens as she turns to face Rahella. She seems pleased at the sudden attention as others rapidly approach the scene, and holds the dragon pistol aloft to showcase it.
”Many things, in fact!” she says, ”Although the mixture can be tricky to perfect if it’s complicated. This one in particular has fired lead, salt, and fire. I have heard with a little finesse, one might fire a tanglefoot bag of sorts, although I have not experimented with this myself yet. It seems... messy.”
Rahella considered what she was told carefully as various ideas ran through her mind. She finally asked, "What about things like silver, or cold iron, or.." she really grinned viciously now, "adamantine?" She continued her train of thought and asked, "I wonder if their is a way to lace the projectiles with holy water? Wouldn't that be a rather unpleasant surprise for some undead or fiend to get shot with holy water."
Vulpina smiles.
”I like you.”
Approaching winded and alert.
"Why are you all just talking there was an explosion?"
Lupe sees the residual heat on the barrel.
"Oh...cool. Everything out here seems under control. I have to get back to my interview. Father can help me with my magic."
Trevvis walks up to the wagon side and takes out a dagger and pries out the tiny pellet in there.
"It's awful small. You sure this will hurt someone? Can you put something bigger in that like a sling bullet?"
He somehow manages to look impressed and dubious at the same time. In any case, he figures
1) it doesn't take all that much damage to put someones dangly bits out of commission (though you can bet the word he uses in his head is less PG)
2) It would be REAL hard to miss what you're aiming at
and
3) Ain't no way he can parry that
So I guess he will have to turn his attentions elsewhere :)
Before long, you have a large audience with folks asking a lot of questions. The two camel drivers are probably the least pleased with the stunt and they arrive much later than the rest as they have animals to calm down.
The guards are positively scowling yet curious too.
Garavel arrives with Almah, who has already been reassured by him, and immediately takes charge.
"Everyone get back to work. It's a noisy thing and effective. In the future, would you mind practicing a bit further from camp? And aren't you supposed to be doing something?"
Vulpina is quick with answers-- mostly-- but is sure to preserve the mystery where it matters.
She chuckles and waves Garavel off when she admonishes her. "Fret not, fret not. One does not gain answers by scowling and asking questions where the point is laid bare. We must hide our steel beneath our silk," she says, "although I admit my methods to be... unorthodox."
She moves back toward the mercenary women who had been nearby.
"So do you share the belief that this may have been a simple case of carnal jealousy?" she inquires.
Lupe heads back to the Priest.
"You said something about a puzzle? I'm not good at tests but I can try after I'm done working. It was nice to meet you. I have to be off."
Lupe will head over to any group that has not been addressed. Choosing base exclusively by proximity.
Katsumi poked his head out just long enough to see that they weren't under attack before continuing to help the priest with his things. He said nothing about the man's apparently lack of trust in his dexterity, instead making sure his careful approach spoke for itself. "Did he often eat before the rest of the group? Could it have been possible someone slipped something into his food?"
@Vulpina
"Yea, I think so. Oldest game in the book. Not for me though. I'm a love 'em and leave 'em kind of guy. Dashki, though, he's got it bad."
@Lupe
Everyone but the leaders have been questioned. They probably don't have any evidence, but they should know the parties involved if you want info on anyone.
@Katsumi
"Yea, he was one of those people that are so into what they are into that sometimes they forget about the necessities of life. It was not unusual for him to grab a bite and leave at all hours. Unless you got him to talking about history and prophesies, especially his, of course."
Vulpina nods. "I am certainly not the sentimental sort myself," says the Lady with a noncommittal bob of the head. "Thank you for the information."
She ponders the possibilities. Having not grown a strong respect for any of her traveling companions yet-- although Rahella is definitely growing on her-- she sees if she can figure out which one is Dashki and make a beeline for him.
Lupe will head to the caravan leader.
"So, the priest did not have any reason to do it and did not see anything, your animal care people were not involved, they had no revelationship that would warrant causing the fire, though they are a bit gossipy. Father can account for the mercenaries, and the animal handler we trying to get the animals under control. Does any of that information help?"
Lupe joins the crowd that has congregated to find out where the loud noise came from and approaches Almah and Garavel. Giving a terse summary, he waits for a response. I think everyone is there (assuming Katsumi follows Lupe)? Garavel immediately jumps on the one person not mentioned.
"And Dashki? What about him."
Dashki happens to be lurking (he always looks like he is lurking) near by (staring at you know who) and by his reaction has obviously overheard the response.
"Not me! I assure you it wasn't me!"
With their investigations finished and meeting with Almah to deliver their report Rahella let the others start and eventually, when only Dashki was not reported on only to have been nearby listening and but in Rahella said, "I know that you will take what I say as biased because of the earlier incident but the only person we've found any reason to kill the fortune teller is you Dashki. It's been observed that you are more than interested in Almah, almost to the point of obsession, and you were jealous of what she seemed to have going on with the Fortune Teller, of everyone here you are the only one to have a motive to kill him." She sighed then and said, "However I don't know how you did it and I'm not sure if you even had a means to. A witness saw you over near a specific tree just before the incident and there was nothing there to indicate you caused the fire, no magic or anything else." She sighed, "You may be innocent or you may have caused it in a way we haven't determined, so I can't say for certain you did it, only that you had a motive."
"I don't think it was Dashki. See if he had done it he would not have stolen out in the open. He would have been trying to hide or help find the 'real murderer.' I think he has misguided morals but I don't think he is a murderer."
Lupe turns to Dashki, "Why don't you tell us about your relationship with the cart owner and what you were doing at the time. We will see if it lines up with the information we gathered and if you are honest we will have less reason to think you did it."
Sarona bends over and picks up Aaliyah, listening to the proceedings.
Hopefully we can continue with our journey to Kelmarane once this affair is concluded.
Vulpina offers a noncommittal shrug. "If it was indeed Dashki-- as seems the general suspicion around the camp-- then we may rest easy knowing that the murder was most likely a singular event. If not, however... then we have no idea of the motive, and it could easily be that we have sequential strikes to guard against."
"Regardless, 'tis the sort of night to set a doubled watch, I am certain."
"I don't know what the others have been saying about me."
Daski sounds almost frantic.
"But it has to be the Pugwampi. It has to be!"
Almah looks at Dashki strangely, but shakes her head. "Since we have no proof that my gnoll expert here did this, I think you are going to have to check out his theory. If there are these pugwampis everywhere, certainly there should be some sign of them. See if you can bring one back to me."
Dashki almost shakes with relief. "Yes, if you go looking, I'm sure you will find one. Where there are gnolls, there are Pugwampi."
He directs a particularly nasty look at Rahella.
Finishing his work with the priest, Katsumi headed outside to join the group of people. He arrived just in time to hear the tail-end of Rahella's report, and Dashki's rebuttal. "Is the converse of that statement true? While I would be happy to look for signs of Pugwampis, if that is a sign that gnolls are close, it seems as though sending us away would be just the sort of opportunity a raid might be looking for. If we are to look for these creatures, perhaps I might be indulged by having someone hold onto this whistle, so that we might be signaled if we are needed back at camp?" He pulled a signal whistle out from his belt pouch and held it out.
With a DC 5 Perform (wind instruments) check, you can use a whistle to signal the same sorts of situations as signal horns. A whistle’s piercing report can be clearly heard (Perception DC 0) up to a quarter-mile away. For each quarter-mile beyond, Perception checks to hear a whistle take a –2 penalty.
The nasty look Dashki gave Rahella after their latest instructions only made her even more suspicious. It also made her giggle that he thought he was that threatening. Turning her gaze on him before leaving to look for pugwampis Rahella said, "Dashki, you can't intimidate me, I grew up in cursed Geb, I saw things more frightening than you anytime I looked out a window as little girl." With that she nodded to Almah and Rahella left the tent to go help her companions with the search for pugwampis.
"Me? Intimidate. I'm just a gnoll expert. I just don't like 'you', going around and making false accusations against me."
May you get torn apart by ghouls. Gnoll ghouls, Dashki curses her silently.
H glances towards Almah as if hoping for some kind of reinforcements from that end. Sure enough, she pipes up and adds.
"I'm sure it is some kind of misunderstanding and that he will be shown innocent."
There does seem to be a blind spot there somewhere. Neither you nor any of the others in the camp seem to feel the same way. And it's not like she returns any of Daski's feeling towards her. She barely registers his presence unless she needs to, so it's not the stupidity that comes from love.
Vulpina sighs. "All the same, I believe it to be most prudent that someone watch him to make sure he does not flee. ...Nor turn out to have a more elaborate scheme than a single murder."
She offers a kind smile to Dashki; "Not that I believe it the only possibility, but so long as you are our most common suspect, I believe it best that you be watched closely. After all, if you are innocent, you will also need someone making sure no one arranges to take justice into their own hands prematurely, no?"
Sarona feels an odd tensing of muscles in her head and chest. Every time she looked at Dashki, it seemed to intensify.
Is this what 'annoyance' feels like? Perhaps it is for the best that I feel it here, in a somewhat controlled environment.
Aaliyah squirms about in her arms and nips and tries to burrow her head underneath her hand for pets. Petting the squirmy fennec seems to alleviate Sarona's tension somewhat.
She turns to follow Rahella in searching for pugwampis. At least I have magic to deal with those.
"We we can try and confirm or rule out the pugwampis. That will be of some help."
Rahella had begun to notice how Dashki seemed to have Almah wrapped around his imploring looks. She didn't seem to be returning his affection but she seemed to always come to his immediate defense going more than out of her way to defend him. She began to suspect something else happening but said nothing for the time being.
Well, a charm person could explain it. You might want to try a sense motive if you want to understand her underlying reasons. DC 20. Though it will get easier as time goes by.
Lupe eyes the leader and Dashki for any tell of what is going on. Maybe he gets on of his feelings.
Lupe recognizes a kindred spririt in her, in a way. Almah just likes to assume the best in people. It's not Daskti, in particular. There have been other subtle signs throughout the evening in the way she speaks to people that she will give anyone the benefit of a doubt. Some might call that over trusting but not Lupe! (who, form what I can tell, also feels the same way)
That does mean that if you are going to pin anything on Dashti, you are going to need hard proof.
Lupe does not know how much his feeling are going to help this situation.
"Almah seems to know her stuff and know what she is doing. I think we should investigate the gnolls. I bet the guards here will be on high alert if we leave. I think everyone will be watching everyone after an event like this."
Vulpina crosses her arms and leans a little. "If Garavel agrees that he will be watched over sufficiently, that is enough for me," she states. "If not, I will appoint myself to guard him."
Katsumi continued to stand patiently as people talked around him, waiting for a member of the caravan to take the signal whistle.
Observing that his attempts to intuit more about the mysterious rationale underlying this expedition are failing, Casper turns to the matter at hand --
"Well, if these little gremlins, or whatever they are, deserve the blame, then how will we find them?"
Once they were away from the tent and Lupe made his observation Rahella said, "You're probably right Lupe, if nothing else they are worth investigation. As for Dashki," Rahella paused and took a deep breath before continuing, "I don;t like him, I don't trust him, and I think he's manipulating Almah somehow, maybe by a charm spell, maybe by just being manipulative," she shook her head, "I don't know. If he turns out to be innocent of this I'll apologize for my suspicions of him."
As the topic turned to luring out these gremlins Rahella considered a moment and then said, "I guess we could leave someone 'vulnerable', separated from the rest of us, and move away from the tents a ways. That might lure them out into the open."
Katsumi waits for quite a while with the whistle extended. Finally a guard takes it from him.
"I suppose it might come in handy. Normally if there is trouble we just shout for support, and we all stick close by, but this would probably carry further. If, and I'm not thinking we will, we were hired to guard Almah and we are good at it. But if we need to summon all of you I suppose this will do. So... This is like a 'we'll come running' kind of thing"?
The guards don't seem particularly worried about anyone but Almah though. You can tell by where they look and stand and their posture.
Dashki earnestly pipes up. "Do any of you know how to track? Look for footprints about this big." He stretches out his fingers to just about an inch. "They are small, even smaller than Lupe here, with a little fur, claws, and a head like a jackels."
Almah shakes her head and sets you on your path, "Indeed, should be easy enough to find one and bring it back. Should be interesting. While they are gone, Dashki, I'd like you to fill me in on more about these creatures and the relationship they have with the gnolls that have reputably taken over this area."
... "I don;t like him, I don't trust him, and I think he's manipulating Almah somehow, maybe by a charm spell, maybe by just being manipulative," ...
"I don't like him either. If want to keep an eye on him and get a better read on him bring him along. My brother will protect us."
"I am an ok tracker. But I'm nothing special."
Dashki earnestly pipes up. "Do any of you know how to track? Look for footprints about this big." He stretches out his fingers to just about an inch. "They are small, even smaller than Lupe here, with a little fur, claws, and a head like a jackels."
Almah shakes her head and sets you on your path, "Indeed, should be easy enough to find one and bring it back. Should be interesting. While they are gone, Dashki, I'd like you to fill me in on more about these creatures and the relationship they have with the gnolls that have reputably taken over this area."
Casper feigns a look of surprise as he replies to this exchange
"You'll excuse my credulity, Lady Almah, but I think I just heard you suggest that your intention is to have the resident pugwampis and gnoll expert of our bold expedition stay at camp while the remainder of the company, who are not, mind you, professional students of either pugwampis or gnolls, attempt to locate and exterminate these vermin?"
"What exactly, pray tell, was this fellow contracted for if not to assist actively in such ventures."
"Leaving him here and guarded was kind of our idea, but I'm happy to bring him then he can prove he is not a bad guy."
Katsumi nodded. "Indeed. I do not know how far our search will take us, but if we end up out of earshot, we should still be close enough to hear this whistle and come rushing back as soon as possible."
He continued in response to Dashki's question. "I know a little about tracking. Knowing the size of the pugwampis will certainly be of aid when I look for tracks, so thank you for that information." He still wasn't really sure why so many people seemed to hate the guy. "While it may be useful to bring him along, it is understandable if he's needed here." They were already taking a large group of their combatants who knew how far. He didn't particularly like the idea of reducing that number further. "If that is the case, perhaps he and I might talk tonight before we leave in the morning? If he has any further insight into how we might find this quarry, I would be grateful to hear it."
"Leaving him here and guarded was kind of our idea, but I'm happy to bring him then he can prove he is not a bad guy."
"So, you don't feel like that means we're being used as cannon-fodder meat shields to explore the dangerous wastes and their inhabitants while Mr. Dakshi here resides in comfort at our camp?"
"I'm honestly surprised you're so sanguine about this and think we're safer if he stays here. If he is to blame for the fire, then leaving him here is the very last thing we want to do. He might tamper with our lodgings while we're away."
"Also, I'm simply opposed to him not pulling his fair weight -- why don't we just leave him to make his own way if he's not going to serve the function for which he was attached to this expedition, which is to be a tracker and gnoll and sundry expert, apparently."
"I don't see why any of us should be expected to contribute if he's not going to do essentially his one job here."