Another familiar face turns up. "Surprise surprise." Kassadei greets Menan. "You're here to offer your investigative services? I have to admit, you're fast."
Menan nods his head in respect to the officer. "Officer Kasadel. A pleasure to see you again. In fact I was here when the collapse took place. The girls and I managed to kill all but one or two of the goblins. If you seek an investigation you are doing the right thing in my opinion. I will gladly look into this for you. I trust your payment will be as fair as last time, so no agreement is necessary."
"What exactly are you suggesting to investigate, and how much time do you think it will take?"
"For how many people is this a job?" Faerveren inquires.
Persephone walks around the building, away from the crowds and cleans herself off with lots of water. Once there are no sewer contents left on her clothes, she returns and enters the tavern.
She is in dire need of some food and drink. To fill her stomach, but also to get rid of that smell stuck in her nose. She'd order something, but as Isabella is still outside, she goes to the kitchen instead and starts cooking. Some oil, onions and garlic in a hot pan work wonders.
Adding all kind of vegetables that are around into the pan and splitting it into multiple pans she creates quite a number of helpings.
At the end she returns to the taproom and puts it on the menu. On the blackboard she writes with chalk:
Fried vegetable with a side of toasted bread.
She draws herself an ale, fills a bowl with the food and takes a seat. "Finally."
"I suggest attempting to locate the origin of the goblins and if there are more out there to threaten our safety. How soon you stop that is certainly your call and will depend on my findings."
"Then the deal is five gold again for checking if there is a goblin tribe or any other threat hiding beneath the town, or using it to come in."
Turning to Faerveren she adds. "How many subcontractors Mr. Variel employs for that endeavor is up to him."
Menan looks at Faerveren. "Are you serious? It could a dangerous and even deadly pursuit for a share of the 5 gold."
"It's for an investigation. Best case you get the money for an hour long walk finding nothing. Different case, you are a good investigator that finds a goblin infestation without being noticed."
"It only becomes dangerous if you notice the goblins once you're surrounded. People of that qualification I have dozens on my pay list."
"But feel free to make a counter offer."
"Your offer is fine. I do this more for the people than the gold."
"Your negotiation skills are lacking." Faerveren teases Menan.
"Shall we go inside? It smells like supper is ready."
Menan smiles at Faerveren. "good idea."
Faerveren leads the way in. "I'll take a helping of whatever it is, that smells so good."
She takes a seat at a table for four. "So, Menan, what do you plan to do to investigate this issue?"
"To begin with, enter the hole and follow the tracks to find their origin. Arawyn and the dogs are quite good trackers."
"Right after supper? While the tracks are fresh?" Faerveren inquires further.
Persephone takes her bowl and mug and joins at the table.
"You are correct, Faerveren. The sooner the better."
Menan glances at the caster as she sits. "Nice goblin work."
"What do you mean. I just gave one of them a headache."
"You drew their attention and cured the wounded. Saved that boy's life."
"Ok, if that counts."
Isabella tries to get as much of the rubbernecks as possible into The Pig's Whistle. "Why not talk about what happened over an ale, or a meal? Come on in."
Inside she draws mugs of ale and hands out the food, before it gets cold.
"I suggest Arawyn lead through the sewer followed by Faerveren. The dogs and I will be next and then Persephone. Persephone, I hope you can cast light and then cover that so that our approach can be made in the most stealthiest manner. We are not there to fight but to gain knowledge."
"There is always a pebble or something I can put light on. And then slide it into my pocket. But I can't see anything in the dark."
"Are you ready?" says Arawyn as she looks to Persephone and Faerveren.
"Well, I can see better than her. But darkness isn't in our favor."
"But what should happen? More goblins? We'll take care of them, right?"
"Just let me finish my supper." Persephone hurries to empty the bowl and downs the rest of her ale.
"Now I'm ready."
Replying to Faerveren Menan says "In that case, you and Persephone should remain to the rear. I believe we will attempt tracking without the dogs." Menan takes a knotted rope out of one of the saddle bags and commands the dogs to stay. When they arrive at the breach he ties the rope off and drops it into hole. The two look and listen for any movement or sound. If clear, Arawyn heads down first and Menan follows.
The first sensory impression that coins the experience is the smell. The second thing is the echoing sound of trickling water. The water isn't loud, but with the echoes it sums up to a constant background noise.
A squeal of a rat here or there is heard two. And it is a real challenge to move silently through the sewers. The sewers are slightly sloped towards the sea. The otyugh lies still in the same place. Climbing over it would lead towards uptown. But the water is damned up by the body three foot deep.
The main tunnel goes in direction of the old town.
Arawyn uses her darkvision to locate goblin tracks. She will move either direction until she she sees some.
The surface is hard cobble stones. Of course there is mud on the sides. And the goblin tracks are all over the place where the fight went down. But beyond that, they seem to have walked solely in the water.
From the main sewer there a few passages like the one the otyugh came from. But mostly it's large pipes that spill their payload into the big on. They all have bars before them, to keep large pests out. They would be too small for goblins, but rats could pass.
The main sewer aligns with the main road and in regular distances such a pipe leads up to collect rain water.
Arawyn moves very slow trying to pick up an inkling of a track. Menan helps her.
Towards the sea the sewer goes on for a mile or even more. There are branches, which are newer than the original construction. These additions join with an offset of only a few yards. One leading south and one north. Walking further the sea can be heard and finally you start to get wet feet and waves are running up the sewer.
The side arm to the south runs into a dead end. The one to the north splits up into some large pipes, but only small creatures could squeeze in.
"I have not seen a trace indicating they came from this direction. Disturbing if they came from the other directions." Arawyn leads the team back to where they started. She will head in the direction of the old town.
To the east, deeper into the direction the goblins wanted to flee with the boy, the sewer narrows down. There are some pipe from the left and the right, but no more branches. First is loses width. Then also height. Until it meets a dead end for adult people. Already standing with ducking the head, there is a two by two feet tunnel going on.
"I am beginning to believe they were summoned."
"This is the most likely direction they came from. That small tunnel there. I will return to hunt them tomorrow. Let's get out of this place."
Menan inspects the tunnel to see if it is natural or creature made.
Persephone holds the pebble with the light on it into the small tunnel going on. "Shoot. They might have come through this, but I definitely will not."
"Agreed. My thought exactly. I plan to return tomorrow with a shovel. You are welcome to join me."
"Ehhh, what?" Faerveren inquires.
"Investigations are typically not fast and they tend to be time consuming. You still in?"
"I mean, what do you want with a shovel?"
The tunnel going on is still made of stone and part of the sewer system. There is some sludge that collected due to the slow flowing muck.
With the light in you can see that it leads straight ahead for another 40 feet .
"We've been walking around down here for hours. I'm not opposed to calling it a day. But walking the distance again just to get here doesn't sound encouraging."
Menan helps everyone out of the hole.
"See you tomorrow then."
The hole is surrounded by four guards. They are tense with weapons pointed at the hole but as it becomes clear who is emerging they relax again.
What little is left of the night passes uneventful. With dawn the bell tolls again.
During breakfast Persephone starts a chat with Faerveren. "That big stinky monster in the sewer. Why didn't you want to kill it?"
"It's a scavenger. It has a very broad definition of what is trash, as it tried to eat us too. But as long as it stays down in the sewers and no one needs to go there it is a useful beast. It'll eat everything that washes up in the sewer."
"And they are actually really smart. Compared to other vermin and animals that is. It even speaks our language."
"Could it be argued with? Could we befriend it? An ally to eat our 'garbage' would be a great help. This house has some connection to the sewer. Not big enough for the garbage disposal I have in mind. But this could be improved." Persephone air quotes the garbage disposal.
"And as the sewer is spread out over the whole town, we could even make use of those maintenance openings Arawyn found."
"That would be hard. It is dead. But besides that, it might be possible. I don't know if you are their type, but if they can't be charmed, you could still try to beat them into submission."