Likewise, you don't get the impression the fishmonger is being shady.
Soeji waves you towards the crates of fish piled outside.
"Be my guest Lung."
If you do as you proposed, you see that Soeji seems to be right. The fish and seafood in the crates do seem to be rotten.
Some of the pieces at the bottom of the crates are still quite fresh however, which is quite odd.
"Shiro, Piella, can you join me? *kaf* These do seem to be rotten. But I don't know why this would be here."
"Wait a minute..." she will voice suspiciously.
Piella will use her magic to begin to remove rotten fish and put them into a container that someone could carry down to the water's edge and use to dispose of them.
"There...now we don't need to touch them. Who else had access to these?" she looks to the shop owner. With all the rotten fish out, she will create a surge of water to wash the fresh fish clean and then will purify them to ensure no rotten flavor lingers.
"I-I-well... I suppose there's my other employees but they've all worked for me for years! Though I suppose we did just hire a new lad to help with deliveries. I suppose all of them had access seeing as they helped me load them."
Soeji seems pleased to find that not everything in the crates is worthless.
"Where might we find this new lad? He appears to be sabotaging you," says Lung. "And sir, how could it be that you loaded crates and didn't notice the spoiled fish? Something is rotten," says Lung, "in the state of Shuishang."
"I hope the new lad isn't responsible, but we should ask him to be clear. I would hate to have him besmirch the name of your business for the sake of his desired sabotage."
"Well the day's done, so I would assume he's headed home. I can give directions. And I assure you sir, the crates were fresh when I loaded them. And verified them. Twice."
The fishmonger gives you clear directions to where you can find the lad.
Soeji offers to wait at the tea house for you if you wish to investigate right away.
The masked man shakes his head. "I wouldn't be surprised if Tao Wei was trying to sabotage us. But it is still on you, mister fishmonger, to ensure the crates are properly sealed." He turns to Soeji with a sigh. "Sorry Grandfather, we'll meet you for tea after we solve this problem."
As they make their way to the employee's home, Shiro mentions his worries. "I'm good at gathering information, but interrogations aren't amongst my skills. One of you might be better."
"I am somewhat skilled at discerning truth from a lie and...I can be rather menacing," says Lung. He suddenly has his Iron Scroll in hand and glowers with all the ferocity of an enraged dragon. He then relaxes his face and looks embarrassed. "It's honestly a bit of an act. I would never strike anyone purely out of anger."
Piella hobbles along with the others, limping out the path to the home of the new recruit of the fishmongers. At Lung's intimidation, she smiles and pats his leg (as that's all she can reach).
"I like that it's just an act."
As they make their way there, she will hum a little tune to herself. She seems excited to be in the city again and as they go, she will check out some of the stalls to do some shopping along the way. She wouldn't linger long except at stalls that had some particularly pretty, unique pieces.
Arriving at the reported household, she will speak to her companions, "I will move around the back in case he tries to run. If you run into trouble, send Gou to me and I'll know to come rushing in. Sound good?"
Unfortunately, most merchants seem to be packing up. A few definitely offer to come back tomorrow.
Arriving at the employer's house, you find the young man tending the front garden. He waves at you as you arrive.
"Afternoon Soejis! How can I help?"
Piella, you easily move around to the back and take position. You spot a good position to wait, unseen from the main road.
"Why, hello. May we speak a moment? I am afraid I don't have the pleasure of knowing your name. I am Lung, in service to the Soejis, and this is Shiro."
"I'm Lo, pleasure to meet you. I heard you ordered quite a sizable shipment from my master's shop. It brings us great honor to help in your celestial challenge."
"Lo, we are grateful for your help. We come to you with a delicate matter. It seems someone tampered with the shipment and placed rotten fish as the majority of the cargo. Can you tell me how this could have happened?"
Lung remains pleasant, but watches Lo carefully for any tell-tale signs of distress or hidden knowledge.
"Who could do such a thing? I assure you, I would not tamper with my master's or the celestial's affairs. I would hate to think that anyone in our shop would stoop so low! I would doubt anyone from our shop would be capable of such a thing!"
As far as you know, Lo is speaking true.
"You are quite fierce Lung." Shiro says with some surprise as the monk glowers at him. "I'm certain no simple dock worker will be able to resist you."
-------------
Shiro simply stands by Lung, preferring to stay silent. Sometimes not speaking was just as effective as any words.
Piella takes up the position at the back and tries to listen for the exchange between Lung and Lo. She also looks for tale-tell signs of footprints other than a singular human male. Perhaps someone came to visit this man? Perhaps the mud around his household would tell the secret?
"Lo...I didn't ask you who did it...I asked how someone could do it. Please answer the question." Lung begins to lose patience.
"I don't know sir,"[b] the lad says, clearly taken aback at the force of your voice, Lung. [b]"The crates were sealed and packed while still fresh. Someone would have had to be able to unseal the crates, switch almost all the fish, and then reseal it. The crates wouldn't have been left in the cellar for more than a few hours at most, given we packed them just this morning..."
The boy seems a bit worried about your tone.
"We need a list of names of people who could do that," says Lung, not stopping the interrogatory tone for Lo's behalf. "And we need to know where the fresh fish would have gone."
"I wonder how it's going at the front?" she quietly mutters to herself. She is positioned in such a way that she can see the backside of the house as well as down the side in case Lung or Shiro pop around the corner to wave her to them.
"I'm, I'm sorry sir, only our employer and the other employees have access to the cellar. As to that amount of fresh fish, I don't see a single way that it could have been moved. Perhaps some trickery or magic?"
Again, the lad's telling the truth as far as you can tell. He gives you a list of the other half dozen employees.
The lad doesn't seem like he's about to bolt, he looks just slightly cast down, considering how happy he'd been to see you in the first place.
Shiro thought over what they knew and chimed in with his own questions. "How well did you know the other employees? Have any of them gone through difficulties recently?"
"Not very well considering I haven't been here long. I haven't had the chance to know them all too well. My employer may know if any of them have had any difficulties, though."
"Lo. Don't leave, all right? We'll know. Stick around and we may have more questions." Lung gives the boy a fixed stare. "I'm trusting you to your honor."
Lo bows low to you, Lung.
"I promise! I do hope you find the answer to what happened."
Shiro turned to leave, whistling for Gou to return to him. "We should ask the other employees. If Tao Wei is the man I think he is, he may have bribed one of them to act. It's important that we get a solid understanding of each worker, what their weaknesses are. Even the most loyal men will think twice given the right leverage."
He gives his faithful dog a pat and directs him to fetch Piella. The young man rolls his wrists, loosening them. "He may just have hired an exceptionally talented thief, though such people are typically very expensive."
Seeing Gou come get her with drive and purpose, then only to see the gnome and start wagging his tail makes her chuckle and she pats her thighs.
"Are you coming for me? Yes you are! What a good boy you are. Let's go!"
She will pet him and will hobble the length of the home until she sees the new employee Lo.
"Hello there," she smiles at the stranger kindly. The fact that the boys had not caused this man injury or to flee, shows he's perhaps not the enemy they came to think he was when they first came. Since that is the case, she seeks to undo any tension within him with her smile.
As they move away from the man, perhaps to go investigate other workers, she will see if the man feels any sort of duping delight from having fooled the group.
"This leads us further from our quest for a large blue crab," says Lung. "We should resolve it quickly."
He leads the way back to Tao Wei. "Tao...we need to gather your workers. Call them in. We can't run around the city hunting them down."
Piella, you give Lo your best attempt but the lad remains slightly saddened by the harsh investigation.
As you head off, you glance back and the boy's simply gone back to tending his crops, though decidedly more sullenly.
---
You head back to the fishmonger's. He nods at your request but lets you know that since it's the end of the day, many of his workers have headed off. He says he can have them all assembled at opening tomorrow morning.
Heading back to the fishmonger, she wonders what disturbed the lad in what they said.
"Well? Is he in trouble? Did he do it? He seemed sad..."
============
Once they are back at the fishmonger, she will nod to the owner.
"We will see them in the morning then."
When they are alone again, she will mention to her companions, "We should show up a little early in case one of them decides to quit or run at hearing that they are to be assembled."
Lung is disgruntled. "This will help Old Soeji, and uncover some sort of local treachery, but it's not getting us any closer to a giant crab."
He crosses his arms. "We should be going to their homes to find them...ah, never mind. I could use a cup of tea, a cup of rice, and a decent rest."
He starts to walk towards the Soeji apartments, then twirls around.
He smacks his face. "We need to check the crate for magic auras. Sir, we need to look at the crate once more. And your cellar."
Lung casts Detect Magic when at the crate again.
Lung, you detect faint magical auras over most of the crates.
It radiates as faint necromancy magic, one per crate.
Shiro snaps his fingers. "Ah, Magical interference certainly isn't out of the question. Can't say I know the first thing about spell casting though." The masked man was certainly interested in reporting their successes to Soeji, but this was their due diligence.
While Lung investigates the crates, Shiro questions the fishmonger. "While we're here, what more can you tell me of your employees? Have any of them been acting differently or had difficulties in recent years?"
Piella will follow Lung downward, curious about what his unique sight sees. She nods in agreement with Shiro and reaches out to pat him.
"I bet if you tried you could do it or learn it."
To the fishmonger, she also will thank him after Shiro's questions, "Thank you for being so hospitable to us, by the way. We apologize for the outburst of Old Soeji. He just wants this to be perfect. Please don't hate us..."
In her cutest smile, she tries to improve the attitude of this man who they've been berating to where he eases on his opinion of them.
Lung furrows his brow. "Magic...has been cast here. Necromantic magic, although that does include healing. One casting per crate. I have no idea what spell that might be. One doesn't heal dead fish...one doesn't turn them into...fish jiangshi-zombies...I'm mystified."
He notes Piella's smooth moves and attempts to follow up. "Er, yes, please excuse our attention to detail. If we might see the cellar, perhaps we can get to the bottom of this."
No pun intended, thinks Lung. Hope you didn't spoil Piella's moment.
The fishmonger answers that none of his employers have been any different or have had any financial difficulties as far as he knows. They've all been hard workers and worked for him for many years.
"No need to worry friends. I know you meant no offense. I would be happy to aid in any way I can! And of course, do let me know if you're in need of some choice seafood. I will ensure my finest wares are available, and 100% fresh this time."
He seems to have been easily swayed by Piella's words.
"Of course, of course, feel free to check anywhere."
Lung nods, then remembers his politesse, and bows deeper. "We'll let you know what we find. If you could show us your cellar, then."
"Scary...necromatic magic...while not all of it is evil, some of it can be, particularly a rotting spell could be what was cast. Sort of the opposite of a purify spell or a gentle repose..."
Piella snorts out a laugh at the pun, but it only adds to the cheery rosy hues of her cute dark, tanned cheeks.
"Thank you so much, you're too kind." She will bow as well to the fishmonger and will follow after him down into the basement. There, she is more on guard. What if it was not their competition and rather something still there? Perhaps it is the reported thing at the border station?
Piella thinks of any living thing that could cause such an effect within the realm of the arcane.
The fishmonger nods, and leads you down some stairs at the back of his shop. He opens the door, and leads you into the cellar.
Nothing seems out of the ordinary. Crates for packing, fish and seafood of all kind on ice and salt, etc.
Piella, unfortunately nothing comes to mind in terms of a creature who could have done this. Perhaps your hypotheses about it being the opposite of a gentle repose spell could be correct.
"Surely a spell that could do this wouldn't be so commonly cast. Maybe someone would know this person? A local necromancer perhaps? Maybe when we get back from hunting the crab, if we aren't its dinner, then we can ask around, or have your uncle have someone ask around for us?" she tilts her head toward Shiro.
Shiro nodded. "I believe we've kept grandfather waiting long enough. Let's speak to him then maybe we can look into local magicians." He laughed softly behind his mask. "I'm sure Soeji wouldn't shy away from staring up trouble in retaliation."
Lung scans the area with Detect Magic
"There has to be something here," murmurs Lung. "And confound it, I didn't even think to look in the fishmonger's soul, nor Lo's. This may be more than mischief; it could be actual evil."
"Ease yourself, Lung," she replies in a soft voice, knowing how riled up he can get. "Truth has a way of making itself known." She too will take a look around, but she is sure the evil deed has already been done.
"I'd rather be ahead of the truth than in its jaws and learn the truth too late," says Lung.
Unfortunately the fishmonger's cellar radiates no magical properties, and Piella's look around unfortunately discovers nothing new.
"I do hope you find the culprit, whoever it is," confides the fishmonger as you finish inspecting the shop.
"I can understand that," she nods to Lung and then looks to the shopkeeper with a little bow.
"In any case, we should see about going out and dealing with this insurmountable task on the ocean hmm?"
She will move back up out of the basement with a limp and then out the door after reaching hard for the handle. Although she is a taller gnome, she is still quite short for the human world.
Shiro nodded. "Let's be on our way then." He followed the little gnome out onto the street and made for the Teahouse.
You find Soeji sitting outside the teahouse, already working his way through a sizable plate of food. A hot pot of tea stands half full. Upon sighting you he excitedly waves you over.
"About time! So, did you get to the bottom of the mysterious rotting fish crates? I'd be more than happy to apologize to the man if it turned out he was innocent. Not sure I can do anything about the carp juice, though."
"We did not figure out what was going on, Old Soeji," says Lung apologetically. "Some sort of magic was used on the fish, but to what purpose, I cannot tell. I will read through books to think about the spell, if it was a spell."