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Tibitz is somewhat perplexed by his companions apparent desire to arrest someone, whether or not they are innocent, and turn them over to a bunch of humans.
"Okay, Okay, yes, yes. I think youz allz forgets what our job is... not what it isn'tz. We are to prove that the circus notz responsible for the murders... we know that now. We not paladins or stinky-holy-warriors... all law-loverz and stuff? Is we? Rogi is sorry for sticking a sharp-pointy into the human and that's goodz enough for me. They tell the story and then we letz them go laterz. Okay, yes, yes. "
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Aurora attempts to explain: "I am certainly not a 'stinky-holy-warrior' Tibitz. But practicality demands that we find evidence. That's what 'prove' means - find evidence. Rogi's a witness, he is evidence, and that means that we can't just let him go.
How do you think those humans are going to respond if we say "oh a bunch of naked drug addicts did it, but they confessed so we just let them go"? Do you think they'll agree to let the circus folk go? Do you think we'll get paid?
Surely any master-finder-sneaker has to have some rules, Tibitz?"
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Tibitz scratches his head after Aurora finishes, "Well Guildz have rules too! I am a master-sneaky-finder and when we find the humans who made this happen we put pointy-stabby into their back and bring them into the constup... construpp... constubby... policeman-lady."
"I just do what you sayz... you seem to know more of what dez 'umans want."
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"I have spent several years traveling amongst the peoples of the surface world, even before my Pathfinder training. The humans are a varied lot, but most do not trust what they do not understand; and many have very limited understanding. That is why Master chose to hide under the sea, after all.
But that is not to say that the answer is always pointy-stabby in the back, Tibitz."
You scour the vault in between the philosophical and practical debates, but you fail to find another skulk. Furthermore, nothing down here appears to have been disturbed. Notably, there is no set of engraved plates. They must have been stored above and stolen during the robbery. Now you have even more reason to find the people behind the break-in.
You emerge from below with Rogi in hand and explain your plan to take him to the sheriff. While the expression on the two guards' faces suggest that they'd like to take justice into their own hands, they say nothing and offer no impedance. The widow says, "You've found one of the killers, not Archie's, but still. You deserve a reward. I can give you everything the shop has on hand or you can select from any of the forgotten things in the vault."
She pulls together 520 gold in coin.
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"The answer isn't always pointy-stabby in the back, but most of the time, it usually works!"Helvetica whispers to Tibitz, snickering.
"Oh thanks!" she says, snatching the hefty sack of coins. If I weren't on the job, I'd have, like, the best week of my life with this... "And you're welcome. So! We've got money to spend and a some things to do! What first?" The Ganzi opens the back and sticks her head inside. Why does this money stink like old people? Yikes. Didn't know gold did that...
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"Dang, I guess the other one must've scarpered first chance they got," Zu sighs when a search fails to turn up any additional skulks. "Still, we've got at least part of the answer so I ain't gonna complain too much!"
When the widow offers them a hefty sack of coins - or their pick of what's left in stock - Zu shuffles his feet a bit. "Aw shucks ma'am, weren't nothing. Sorry we've not cracked the case about your husband yet - we'll keep looking, for sure."
"So I guess back to the sheriff's and then...what? We go looking for those thieves, next?"
Your escorting deputy leads you back to the jail. He opens the door to allow all of you to file through before entering, himself, and closing the door. Rogi is clearly nervous. Oddly--or perhaps not--you received no more or less strange looks from the townsfolk on the street than you did before ushering a captured skulk.
"Oh? What's this?" Feldane asks, setting down a paper. "You've brought one of our local skulks, it looks like."
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Helvetica sticks her thumbs in the waistband of her pants and starts swaggering around. "Well, you see, we was walking 'round town, we were, when we got word of, you know, where to go," she says, doing what seems to be her best, yet ultimately weak, 'old-timey Sheriff' voice.
"We reckoned that we oughta go check it out, so we did. We russled up some cowpokes and made our way into the grieving widow's place. After some snoopin' about, we tripped a trap," she pauses here for dramatic effect, waggling her eyebrows at her fellow Sheriff.
"Once we got to lookin' down the hole, we found our good friend King Zu, but lo and behold another critter was in there too! This thing!" she explains, breaking character for her final exclamation. "He killed people and stole stuff, but there were others," she abruptly concludes.
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Zu scratches his pumpkin head as Helvetica spins up a pretty good take on their activities so far but then suddenly seems to lose interest right at the end.
"Uh, yeah, that's more or less it. Rogi here says he and some of his friends got hired to break into the shop, kill the guards, and loot the place," he adds. "I think they were supposed to be paid with, uh, shiver? He was talking about shiver a lot and said that they need it. At any rate, he said they killed the one guard that stayed behind. Then they were nosing around in the vault, tripped a pit trap (those hurt by the way), and the others took off when the other guards and the window came back."
Then, he pauses and gives the sheriff a puzzled incline of his head. "So, skulk-beans are common around here?"
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Aurora nods along, sucking on an imaginary pipe and wondering whether she can find a real one somewhere in town.
"So you know about the skulks, huh? Do you also know about the 'thieves' guild', Sheriff? Rogi claims that his bosses in his tribe are working for the guild. If he's right, then the guild may be behind the murders."
"Skulkbeans? Skulks? No. They're not common," the sheriff says. "You can find one or two in the shiver den down by the docks with the rest of the addicts. But circuses are full of fre--exotic people, so the skulks could have been working with the circus. That's going to be a hard sell to the town since we don't have a thieves' guild. We've got thieves, don't get me wrong, but no guild."
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"Ah, I see. Thieves but no thieves' guild, eh?" Aurora sucks on her imaginary pipe. "Well a successful guild would no doubt want to remain hidden from the Law. I'd say you've got yourselves a successful guild. Only they overlooked one thing - a skulk with a shiver habit sings sweetly when he thinks it's the only way to get that habit fed."
"Now, hypothetically speaking Sheriff, if you wanted a base of operations for your thieves' guild in this town where would you put it? They're definitely into shiver."
"And one more question: do you know the names Kynaeth and Onamae? They are supposedly Rogi's skulk bosses but they work for the guild."
Feldane chuckles a little. "You've got me there," she says. "But I've lived here my whole life, and we've never had a guild, even unofficially. Town's too small. However, you make a point, and a new power could have moved in recently. Unfortunately, you'd better keep looking for evidence. Supposition and a skulk, who, as you say, would say anything to get what he wanted, isn't going to satisfy the townsfo--."
The sheriff is interrupted as a loud commotion moves down the street past the jail. "What in Angrad's forge?" she says, standing up and leaning forward to try to peer out her door.
"Bloody day. I better go see what that's about," she grumbles. "Perry! Lock up the skulk."
She ushers you out of her office as she makes her way to the street. The bulk of the mob has moved well down the street, but a few stragglers are chasing to catch up.
"The thieving Varisians are gonna bleed the town dry!" one man shouts as he hustles past.
Another man runs past, chanting, "Fight!" with each huff of breath.
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"Oh, what now?" I'm going to have to put my legs on, or I'll get left way behind.
"Better not be an example of 'mob justice' about to go down here Sheriff! Give me a moment."
Aurora concentrates briefly, working her secret magic, and her tail is swapped for land-legs. She sways slightly as she finds her feet (literally, under her long skirts) and she makes for the door.
"I hope I can go by horse - feet feel so clumsy!"
You chase the mob to the circus grounds where a crowd has gathered. Four townsmen seem to be the tip of the angry spear. They are confronted by a pair of circus bouncers. The rest of the circus hides in their wagons, tents, or, at least, a good distance away.
"We want our coin back, you thieves!" shouts one townsman.
Another shouts, "Forget that! We'll take our justice off of their hides!"
"Thieves!" shouts the mob.
One of the bouncers slaps his cudgel against his palm and shouts, "Get back. Go home!"
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"Hey whoa, what's going on here?" Zu calls out, waving his arms in an attempt to get the attention of the human beans. "Why're you saying the circus beans are thieves?? Everyone seemed to be having a good time out here the other night! Why don't we all just calm down?"
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Grateful for her horse, Aurora quickly catches up. Her steed makes pushing through the mob easy, and when she gets to the front she steers the animal in between the carnival bouncers and the crowd.
"That's enough of that now!" she admonishes the crowd like a mother scolding her naughty children, yet her tone is light and musical. "If there's been any robbery committed we talk to the Sheriff, right? We don't go around our hometown waving pitchforks and threatening to skin our guests. What kind of town will folk think this is? Do you want that sort of reputation? Now go back to your homes. Bring your grievances to the Sheriff and she'll investigate."
Aurora loses her patience. "OBEY THE LAW! NOW!"
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Diplomacy with angry humans isn't something that Tibitz would ever consider doing- it's like covering yourself in raw meat and trying be friends with a big dog.
Tibitz will saunter up next to the two large carnival bouncers and draw himself to his full height (be that as it is) and places his hand on the pommel of his dagger before pronouncing, "Silly, silly... you must be crazy 'umans to think that you will be able to defeat SUPER-DUPER PATH-VENTURE TEAM OF SUPER-FRIENDS! GO HOME NOW BEFORE YOU GET HURTZ, YES, YES!"
One of the townsfolk in the crowd points at Tibitz and shouts, "There's a ratfolk! The circus can't be trusted! Thieves! All of them!"
The mob begins to rhythmically chant, "Thieves! Thieves!"
Finally, a high pitched voice screams out from the back of the mob, "Kill the thieves!"
Two of the townsfolk confronting the circus turn to look at the motley assortment of Pathfinders and furrow their brows. A bead of sweat trickles slowly down one of the bouncer's noses. Your instincts tell you that this situation is decompensating swiftly.
Combat! Round 1. Bold may act.
Tibitz
Fuzzy
Zu (4/9)
Circus
Aurora
Helvetica
Townsfolk
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"Aw no, seriously? Man..." Zu groans as the situation quickly goes from bad to worse. Knowing that Fuzzy could probably do these guys an injury in a hurry, the leshy makes a sharp movement with his hand.
"Fuzzy, down."
He then readies a small bit of magical energy into his palm and stares at the townsfolk. "I don't wanna hurt anyone but I won't let anyone hurt me, my friends, or those guys," he nods towards the bouncers, "either. Just go home...please?"
Zu readies to cast Flare at the first townie to make a hostile move towards anyone; DC 12 Fort.
Zu begins to parse the magical sounds through his mind, ready to blind the first aggressor to attack. Tibitz draws his dagger and warns the mob.
The experienced circus bouncers get the jump on the townies. One of the bouncers strikes a townsman on the back of the head as he turns to face the Pathfinders. The townsman drops to the dirt like a sack of potatoes. The other slaps another townie across the jaw with his baton, but it is not as dramatic of a result.
Combat! Round 1. Bold may act.
Tibitz (ready)
Fuzzy (down)
Zu (4/9) (ready)
Circus
Aurora
Helvetica
Townsfolk Red (unconscious)
Townsfolk Blue
Townsfolk Yellow
Townsfolk Pink (2 NL)
With truly impressive will, the townsman does the exact opposite of Aurora's command and rushes at Zu. The leshy quickly conjures a flash of light between himself and the bully. The dazzled townsman thrusts the point of his sword toward the leshy, but the strike is far too telegraphed.
Helvetica keeps pinching her fingers in the air, but it seems to do little except draw the townsman's attention to her. He charges and thrusts, scratching her rubbery arm.
The last conscious townsman engages with the circus bouncer, but the circus hireling makes him look like a fool, dodging this way and that.
Combat! Round 2. Bold may act.
Tibitz
Fuzzy (down-ing)
Zu (4/9)
Circus
Aurora
Helvetica (8/10)
Townsfolk Red (unconscious)
Townsfolk Blue (dazzled)
Townsfolk Yellow
Townsfolk Pink (2 NL)
With a mighty uppercut, the leshy punches the townie squarely in the eggs. He turns read in the face but keeps his feet. Tibitiz whacks the townie harassing Helvetica so hard in the back of the neck that the man drops to the ground. The townie has no opportunity to replay to the ysoki's warning.
The circus bounces band together to engage the other townie left standing. The one who dealt with his aggressor moves over and knocks the daylights out of the one attacking his coworker. That leaves him free to head toward the last of the bullies and whacks him on the back of the head, nearly but not quite seriously injuring him.
The sheriff manages prevent any further riff-raff from getting aggressive with you or the circus and begins talking them all into leaving.
Meanwhile, a circus performer--an acrobat of some sort you gather from his outfit and physique--runs over to you and whispers up at Aurora, "We need you to see something. There's another body."
Zu (4/9)
Helvetica (8/10)
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"Geeze...see, this is why I wanted everyone to calm down," Zu sighs as the dust settles and the sheriff finally arrives to wrangle the trouble-making townies.
The leshy winces, the ruckus having twinged the injuries he received from falling into the pit trap earlier, and pulls out a small wand.
"Should've had you do this earlier," Zu remarks as he gives himself a couple of taps with it. "Good thing those guys don't aim very well!"
Noticing that one of the circus folk has hurried up to the Aurora he shoots the pair a quizzical look - or at least you're fairly sure it's meant to be quizzical.
"Something wrong?"
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"Another body? Geeze, this whole thing just keeps getting worse and worse," Zu sighs, his little shoulders slumping a bit. "Like when you go to eat an apple and there's a small little brown spot and you think you'll just eat around it or cut it out but when you do-BAM! Turns out half the dang apple is rotten..."
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Helvetica frowns at Zu. "King Zu, who are you buying apples from? We should find you a royal fruit-finder!" she declares, raising an arm into the air. Eventually, she lowers it, pointing to her own face.
"It's me Zu! I'll be your fruit-finder! I get to taste it first though. And you have to pay for it. But that only sounds fair to me!"
"You mean cotton candy?" she asks Aurora with a smirk.
You are led back toward the menagerie. Before you make it there, however, your guide diverts you into the large tent signaled as the "Lair of the Sphinx." At the far end of the tent, you can easily see the body of a woman in cleric's garments. Her clothes and body are torn as if by a large beast in a similar fashion to Archivin Walder's body.
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"Aw geez, aw man, people always get extra feisty when a priest dies. Anyone see what happened here?" Helvetica asks, spinning around unsteadily on her heel. She boldly strides up to some circus workers.
"Hey there muscles, what'd your eyeballs catch on this one?" she asks, directing her question at a scrawny carny. "And you, fried butter guy, anything you'd like to share? Beyond more fried butter, you know, because."
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Tibitz and Aurora can tell that the wounds on the priestess were inflicted by the claws of a large animal. While Aurora has trouble finding any tracks--even her own--Tibitz can confirm that there are no tracks of a large beast of any kind within the tent.
While Tibitz searches the ground in a much more professional manner, Aurora has time to join Helvetica in interviewing the people near the tent.
"Sister Esrelda, she's our town's only cleric, cleric of Erastil," one townswoman says, "Was going to come to the circus to speak with the sphinx this afternoon. She had wanted to test the sphinx's honesty since she heard word of the murder."
"Sister Esrelda was a half-Varisian," says a townsman. "Nobody held that against her, though. She's a good one. She's planning to come interrogate the sphinx today."
One townsman ponders, "You know, you expect a few purses to go missing here and there when a carnival rolls into town. Today, though! Today, it was like every pickpocket in the whole of Varisia came to rob the town dry! Practically everyone had their purses cut this morning."
One carnival worker notes, "I saw three clowns near the back of Jherizhana's tent. I noted it odd because the clowns have no reason to be back there. Plus, the guards usually shoo off any loiterers around the tent when the sphinx ain't performing."