Dashki shrugs. "Dashki has not seen anything. One moment everything fine. Next moment wagon on fire and everyone screamig: Fire! Fire!"
As Ohrmzid comes close and whispers something about getting more private he takes a step away and looks at Ohrmizd in disgust, but he doesn't say anything. "Dashki not geh!" he reiterates in his mind.
Meanwhile Soraya speaks with the guards who were not injured in the fire. She concentrates her questions on two subjects.
"Is there anyone who seems to have had a dislike or other problem with Eloais? Was he a likable person?"
"Was anyone not where they would normally be right before the fire? Missing or doing something out of the ordinary?"
"No, everything was normal. Most were eating dinner. Some by the fire, some in or around a tent. Daski was peeking at Almah. Everything like always." the mercenaries tell, half joking. "Maybe our creepy gnoll expert didn't want to share 'his princess' with the fortune teller anymore?" It looks like some of them started to drown the rest of that lousy day in cheap wine.
Ohrmizd steps forward following the man inquisitorialy and talks softly to Dashki's ear "Others in the camp told me though that they think you were the one to set fire to the wagon out of jealousy"
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when Ohrmizd accuses him he explodes with words.
"Dashki had nothing to do with the fire! How do you know the fire was set? Elioas idiot burned a hundred candles in wagon. Perhaps he just had bad luck. We in gnoll country. It was pugwampis for sure."
Ohrmizd steps back a bit surprised by the explosive reaction of the gnoll expert I guess it is normal he gets angry if he is innocent after all.
"Ok, let's calm though ok" the Sarenrite gives an extra step away for Dashki to calm down before continuing the conversation "I agree it was not a great idea to have so many candles in a wooden wagon... It was certainly calling for disaster..."
"But what are those pugwampis you talk about? Have you seen any near the camp?"
"Pugwampis terrible critters what crawled up from the Darklands below the earth. ‘Jackal rats,’ some folks call ’em, for their pointed little heads. They worship gnolls as gods and infest their communities like rats. Wherever pugwampis go, bad luck sure follows."
"Gnolls hate pugwampis for it, and try to kill them all the time. But Pugwampis always come back. Pugwampi bad luck caused the fortune-man’s candles to start fire? Yes, pugwampis. I am certain it's pugwampis."
Ohrmizd looks to the side to Tahl who is there too talking with Dashki, and Manuun who just got out of the tent and approached "Pugwampi bad luck, what do you think guys?"
Then looking back to Dashki "Look, I want to trust you. I know how terrible is to fall in the hands of the gnolls... but we will need something more than superstitions to calm down Almah and Garavel"
"If somehow we could prove a pugwampi entered the wagon... or at least that a pugwampi is around... everybody would be more open to trust that and stop thinking you are the guilty one" Ohrmizd looks at Dashki's eyes trying to make sure he does understand what is happening "You seem to know about those pugwampis... would you help us to find out if they have been lurking around bringing bad luck to the camp?"
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"Daski can search for tracks."
"Mmm... good I guess" Ohrmizd looks at the others, then back at Dashki "Why don't you have a look by your own to find out if there are any tracks? If you find anything, please come back and tell us so we can go and help you find those pugwampis. Meanwhile I want to talk to the others and request permission to Garavel for this search"
Assuming Dashki does accept without the need to persuade him further, Ohrmizd tells Tahl and Manuun to join with Soraya and Lofna "What you others have found out? So far all I have is lazy guards who did not spot how the fire started, a lost goat, people suspicious of the gnoll expert and the gnoll expert pointing it is all due to bad luck because of pugwampis..."
"Do you think it was all because of bad luck? It seems weird to tell.. but given how little else we have got, this 'bad luck' stuff seems the more solid lead so far to me..." turning to Soraya with whom he has not had that much time to talk since the fire started he comments "What was that thing that flew to your breast when we just arrived?"
And answering to Manuun's question Ohrmizd smiles "You are not a common person, are you? So far I have heard only about orcs and dwarves who could see in the darkness. But yes, that would be incredibly helpful my friend. Once we complete this investigation we can look for that goat. I would not like for Rombard to pass the night alone in the desert, it would be cruel"
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When Ohrmizd asks about the harrow card, Soraya hands it over to him. She doesn't put much stock in fortunetelling and portents so she doesn't see any significance in it.
Soraya has no notion of how the crystal ball could be fixed. Although she doesn't say so, she figures the ball was no more than a 'stage prop', used by Eloais to make his schtick more believable.
Since any other route in the investigation seems to be a dead end, but Lady Almah wants her investigation, Soraya is willing to look for 'pugwampis'. She's still convinced Dashki has the right of it and the fire was an accident caused by candles.
As she puts it to Ohrmizd and Manuun, "if we're looking for the goat anyway we might as well look for the things as well. We've no better ideas, and it can't hurt anything."
Turning the card handed by Soraya, Ohrmizd exclaims "The Cyclone? What that might mean? Is that a last sign from the fortune teller pointing us to the responsible of his death?"
"Mmmm... I have not thought about it, but Soraya has a good point. Perhaps whatever caused the fire, if it was not just the candles themselves..., made it to have a distraction to steal the goat..." Ohrmizd considers this thoughtful, casually soothing his chin "I do not remember having seen any tracks along the ones of the goat. But if Dashki does not find the pugwampis, we can try to follow the trail goat hooves I found out, if someone made the fire to steal Rombard, we will discover along with the goat..."
Ohrmizd looks to Manuun, Tahl and Lofna for their discoveries and what do they think about the way to go forward.
Afraid to get anyone into trouble, Lofnaiali thanked the cleric, but decided to part from him and join the others. Upon seeing her husband’s face she couldn’t help but feel more at ease. She hoped maybe they already might have an idea as to what happened. B]”Tahlumilali, any new leads?”[/b]
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"I haven't found out anything to useful from my talk with the princess. Eloais hat omens of something nad happening, speaking of an evil legacy of Fire, but that sounded much grander than an gnoll scout acting out of jealousy."
If the elves return without an new information, he agress with Soraya: " Chasing a goat doesn't sound like much, but these tracks are our only lead left so lets follow them before we leave this place tomorrow."
"Foretelling of a Legacy of Fire? I too wonder what Eloais meant by that. Perhaps she uncovered something important through his divination skills and someone decided to silence his throat... exactly by that fire..." Ohrmizd smiles at Lofna as she joins the group but feels a bit unease when she only talks with her husband.
"Well, Tahl, what do you think about the goat tracks at the pugwankis then?" the man also looks around to see if Dashki has returned or if he has made a search at all.
Soraya has been too well trained in the church to put stock in soothsaying. She remains skeptical about the card's significance.
"There were a lot of cards blowing around, this one just happened to fly into me. I really don't think it means anything.
With nothing better to do for now, the group decides to go after the missing goat. Dashki comes along to support with tracking. After following the tracks for some 20 yards it becomes clear that it was more than only the goat walked there. And the goat didn't come willingly as the signs of the paired hooves sliding show.
The search takes place in the rugged hills at night. In order to negotiate the rocky terrain and its many painful cacti, you must rely upon a light source. As you proceed into the wilderness, with the uneven shadows cast by the magic light you see things moving in the corner of your eye all the time. But it's either phantom creatures that in reality are only a shadow of a rock, or a plant, or at some nocturnal birds or rodents that haunt the underbrush.
An inexplicable rise in the natural tension of the environment crawls up your spine, as if you expect something terrible to happen even though nothing about the terrain has changed. Soon thereafter, a sound not unlike the brief cry of a human child comes out of the darkness ahead.
As you progress toward the sound, the local cacti grow more and more intense, until the you find yourselves at the edge of a dense thicket of the prickly plants. The sound becomes more intense and it seems to be coming from somewhere deep within the cactus field.
Before leaving the camp, Ohrmizd makes sure to let the princess and Garavel to know about their lead and ask permission to follow the tracks.
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When signs of paired hooves appear Ohrmizd looks at Soraya "Aha! So it seems you were right my faithful fellow. Whomever took the goat might well be related with the fire"
Ohrmizd casts light on his scimitar and uses it like a magical torch so the group can follow the tracks in the night.
As the cacti close up, Ohrmizd tries to find a way through that might be less full of cacti "It seems the way gets difficult from here on"
If nothing is found, he tries to think how this cacti can be better avoided or destroyed.
Here with the cactus there is no path. However the goat got through it - either it flew, or it was very painful. With a very careful approach, one could manage to get there without looking like a pincushion afterwards.
"Rombard! Are you there!? Ohmg!! How are we going to cross this?" seeing Manuun to go, Ohrmizd makes a quick prayer to Sarenrae and touches him "Let The Healing Hand guide you Manuun!"
He does same for Tahl, whom he expects can navigate the cactus with ease.
Manoon moves carefully into the cactus field. But half way in he steps on goat s+$&, slips and falls into the spikes .
But he gets up again and with two of the thick cactus leaved sticking to his back, he moves on towards the goat. Once he navigated there Manuun stands on a thin strip of open land at the edge of a 15-foot-wide ravine. A casual glance down the edge reveals a huge multi-armed, wickedly barbed cactus dominating the ground 10 feet below the ledge, almost directly below where the sad little goat Rombard has been lazily tied to a scrub bush. Rombard is covered with cactus quills and doesn't look well.
Looking back, you spot an ugly creature hiding behind a rock about halfway through the cactus. It looks like a shaved chihuahua with scabies and bad teeth. It holds a dagger and has a bow on its back.
Lofnaiali looks up at Manuun with a very serious expression that shifts into a grin,
”well , I guess you and Tahlumilali are off to find the goat with all the answers, I must say this is a first.” she hoped to break up the tension in the party. She knew it was going to be no easy task.
She flashed a smile at her husband. ”Can’t wait to make this our legacy my love!”
"Yes look out for the cut throat mercenaries the Goat Wranglers. Never thought all my training and skills would be used to climb through cacti to find a stolen goat" Tahlumilali jokes back as he accepts Ohrmzid's spell.
He begins to traverse the seemingly impassable field of cacti almost as if it was an open field, paths just seeming to open up for the agile elf. Upon hearing Manuun's warning he looks over in the direction he said.
"Wonderful I'd hate to think we came all the way out her just cause little bo sheep had wondered off. On the bright side despite Dashki's appearance at least he's not crazy when he was talking about the little creatures."
Tahlumilali rolls his shoulders checking the fall of his curveblade and causing his longbow to fall to his hand just in case.
Soraya follows along after those who can track things until she reaches the edge of the cactus thicket. Seeing what it takes for Tahlumilali and Manuun to get into it, she decides two people should be enough to fetch a goat.
"If you need anything just give a yell" she offers.
"Oh! S!##! What kind of sickness does that goat have?" Ohrmizd observes the advances of the two Goat Wranglers going ahead "Aren't they like mountain goats jumping over the cacti girls?"
When Ohrmizd sees Manuun putting his hand over his crossbow and Tahl letting his bow slip on his own, the Sarenraeite expression grows somber "I do not like it"
"The goat could not manage to go there alone" looking concerned to Soraya and Lofna he adds "I am going. Perhaps I can try to open a way for you too"
Rising a prayer to Sanrenrae, Ohrmizd braces his shield and places it forward, trying to use it as a ram against the cacti in an attempt to open a path slashing around with his scimitar when necessary, and trying to avoid being scratched by the plant thorns.
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"Looks like everything is well in hand.".
Manuun turns to Tahlumilali and Lofnaiali and suggests " Do you think this guy speak Gnoll? Maybe we could try to convince him, that its better to let us leave with the goat."
When Ohrmizd arrives at the location, Manuun turns toward the goat. "So lets see how we can help you." Manuuns points two fingers at a Cactus pin and murmurs in Auran "モトリクス".
The gopat pulls on the rope, trying to get awayfromthe pain. Which is dangerous as away also means down the cliff.
Ohrmizd tries the brute force approach, which is slwo and painful .
The pugwampi starts shooting at Manuun.
And with one shot, the pugwampi is out cold.
Ohrmizd continues opening a path for Soraya and Lofna through the cacti "Wait there! We are in our way! Ouch! For the sacred flame, these spikes hurt!"
Pushing with his shield and cutting with the scimitar, Ohrmizd, hopefully, helps everyone to reach the goat.
As he sees the cactus thrashing monster come in a straight line for him Rombard faints. At least that makes the noise stop.
Once he reaches the scouts and the goat Ohrmizd looks around for danger "What was it? Are you hurt?"
When he notices the pugwampi is out, Ohrmizd turns to the goat and sheathing his scimitar he kneels before it "Little hard goat. You are still alive. Hadrod is going to be ecstatic when he sees you coming back"
The Keleshite unties the goat from the cactus "So what is that goat-thief you hunted down Manuun? If anything else we are going to have good goat milk and cheese for some days my friends"
Ohrmizd starts the work of removing the cactus quills from the goat.
"Scared of cactus s++%?" Ohrmizd chuckles when he notices Manuun hesitates "A good hunter likes to claim his own pray"
That said, Ohrmizd stands up to call for a blessing from Sarenrae and touches Manuun with guidance "Let the Sacred Flame guide you through the maze of spikes" he makes exactly the same for Tahl if he wants to go check.
Then, Ohrmizd resumes his cares on the goat.
Soraya declines to take the 'path' through the cacti and continues to wait for the goat delivery. After a few minutes she yells over again.
"How are things going?"
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Manuun thinks: "Beautiful AND smart!", while picking the umpteenth cactus pin from his left leg.
Then he yells back: "We have found the goat. Ohrmizd is trying out his newest intimidation techniques on it and so far the goat is cooperating. He should be able to bring it out soon."
"We also found the Pugwampi, but I doubt it can tell anymore what happened.", he tells her when he reaches his target.
"Uh, ok" Soraya calls back to Manuun.
She isn't quite sure what to make of his response, why would scaring the goat help? But she doesn't know much of anything about animals so she assumes there's a reason.
"Do you mean you've caught a pugwupi, or are you negotiating right now?"
Manuun makes it through the cactus without another incident. When he picks up the pugwmapi, he notices, that it is still alive.
Ohrmizd keeps plucking spikes out of the unconscious goat, but that doesn't really help with the goats health. As the goat lies on the side, Ohrmizd might reconsider the goat-milk/cheese plans. As the name wasn't a strong enough hint, the view on the belly of the goat is.
"I think the negotiation is completed. At least for now" Ohrmizd chuckles, and once the spikes are removed, he picks up the goat softly in his hands and pulls it up so he can carry it all the way back "Ok. Let's return to the camp with our two sleeping beauties. We can ask Father Zastoran to help them there, and we can present the pugwampi to Garavel"