Naatalu nods at Drake.
"What shopping do you have in mind? What do we know of the situation that can help us prepare?"
"Who's taking point? Sounds like we should be prepared for it to be rough from the get-go."
Rhoxl nods. “Rhoxl does not need weapons to fight. Rhoxl is strong and fearsome. Rhoxl learns where the sheriff is.”
The Mad Mug is a one-story structure with a broad front porch. A sign outside depicts a cartoonish beer mug bearing a furiously angry expression, its frothy contents steaming.
Four members of the Muggers linger on the porch and when you approach, the ruffians warn you off, “Ain’t nothin’ hereabouts that merits a visit from the likes’a you,” one snarls, while the others stand and look menacing."
“Rhoxl is looking for the sheriff,” the iruxi answers the speaker, neck frills twitching irritably. “Scaleless are saying where the sheriff is, or scaleless wishes sheriff is here and stopping Rhoxl from showing scaleless iruxi wrestling moves.”
Zec looks at Rhoxl, pats Ash on the head, a sign for the drake to look fierce, growl a little and huff like they may shoot fire at any moment, and with a sideways glance at the ruffians, declares "Ah, my other scaley friend, these are just low-life thugs, they won't know anything. Now if they do, they should clearly tell you promptly, but if they don't, as I suspect, then they should introduce us to their boss. After a brief pause and a more fierce look directly at the creatures on the porch, the hobgoblin adds, "Right smartly, too!"
The muggers look ready to pounce on your group but hesitate after seeing Zec, Ash's, and Rhoxl's display. "Pruana! We've got trouble!" one yells as they all retreat into the tavern.
The Mad Mug’s common room has six tables and a long wooden bar. Narrow lattice windows provide natural light and a view of the porch out front. The bar has three staff members: the humans Lenky and Beina who own the place and tend bar, and a male half-orc server named Rulf Oddfingers. There are four to a dozen patrons present during the day, and twice as many at night. No one in the tavern other than the Muggers has any interest in a fight.
The four men that made up the Muggers gang are gathered around a most peculiar sight.
One of the muggers looks at you, then back to her, "That's them Pruana! They're here to cause trouble!"
She snarls back, "Can't you see I'm drinking with Violet here! Ain't got no time for any of that!"
Naatalu has been quietly leaning forward on Clovis' head this whole time, calmly taking in the amusement of Rhoxl and Zec's display.
After the demons we just fought, this is laughable.
When the Muggers get nervous and head inside, the sprite remarks Pruana. Yes I believe that's the name we got before. Let's go see if she can answer for the missing sheriff.
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Naatalu approaches cautiously up onto the porche but pauses to let Rhoxl and Zec, and also to turn his arcane eye through the door to see if he picks up any auras in the tavern.
He then enters. Naatalu let's a look of disgust creep onto his face as the goat-drinking-game becomes apparent.
Yes, very good... To be more accurate, we don't strictly mean to cause trouble, but we DO mean to get questions answered. We seek the missing sheriff and you can make this easy and tell us what you know. There are foul things afoot in town that transcend petty local quarrels.
Rhoxl raises an eyebrow. “…Is the goat winning or losing?” he asks at last, trying not to show his teeth in a smile.
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Drake survey's the scene slowly.
I'm pretty sure that anything that ends up with beer inside the goat is considered a victory by the goat. he says in an aside to Rhoxyl.
"As my friends have said, we do not seek trouble. We have been asked to look into certain matters that have been troubling this pleasant town and disrupting such..." he looks pointedly at the goat "...important matters."
"I'm sure that if you answer my friend's polite questions, you'll be able to return to those in peace."
I wish I had one of those magic flasks I've heard about, the ones that always have the right drink in them, I'm sure it would help here.
Zec addresses the goat first, "Looking good. It is grand to see the famed constitution of a goat in action. Mind, if when this is all over, you find that cast-iron stomach is suffering a little corrosion, do stop by, I think I have just the thing to help."
They then turn to the dwarf, "We know there has been some outside trouble in town, and we know the missing sheriff has spent some time here, we are hoping you can shed some light on what may have happened to them."
Pruana shakes her head at Rhoxl's comment, "Nobodys ever beaten Violet and they ain't gonna." she says before addressing Drake.
"Look, I know the sheriff went missing, but it wasn't us that did that. I do have some information that may help you find the bastard, but it won't be free; we don't really want that guy back, right?" she says rhetorically.
"So here's the deal, 10g and I tell you what I know about the sheriff going missing. For a bit now, I can tell that we saw a little halfling witch sneaking around town after dark, but any more than that is going to cost you."
If your information turns out to be good, we pay. Not before.
The sprite nods towards Rhoxl.
I don't think he'll give you a better deal.
“Short scaleless druid is in prison now.” Rhoxl’s neck frills have gone completely still, and his voice is quiet like a snake on the hunt. “Scaleless sees the sheriff is not needed for scaleless to be in prison too. Scaleless sees also that scaleless does not have tavern to lose drinking contest with goat in if angry scaleless burn tavern down.” The iruxi taps his head meaningfully with one claw. “Scaleless sees sheriff scaleless knows is easier to work around than sheriff scaleless does not know.”
"I think what my good friend here is trying to say, is that it does no one any good if you hold back. You may not like the sheriff but you probably like outside interference even less. We've removed one piece of that already, and while it is not for you directly, we are working on helping the town as a whole. We could go back to our day jobs and clear out, leaving you to deal with the incursion into your territory, or you could help us help everyone."
Pruana nods, "Fine, you make good points. Five gold as a service fee." she says before addressing Naatalu, "Half now, half after if the information helps you. If it doesn't help, why not buy us a round instead and I'll give the first half back as well."
The goat lifts two specially designed tankards with its hooves and downs both in a quick few seconds. "DAMN! VIOLET'S GETTING AHEAD OF ME!" Pruana says as she grabs two tankards herself.
Naatalu rolls his eyes and offers
If it's last drunkard standing, can't you just let the goat drink itself silly first? We'd prefer if you remained able to tell us useful things.
Ash edges forward to sniff at the drink the goat is consuming.
Ash reels back a little at the scent of weak alcohol. It's human-style tavern ale, it's typically not that strong.
"Come on. I have information, you want it, so you've got to pay me for it." he says before gesturing to the goat, "Now, I didn't suggest this earlier because no one has ever won, but you could challenge Violet to a drinking contest. If you somehow win, I'll tell you everything...damn, I might even help you find the sheriff myself."
He pushes a full tankard of ale over towards you, "If you want to challenge her, tap your mug to her's. She'll get the message."
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"I have done foolish things before - many times - but falling from my act because I lost a drinking contest to a goat is not going to be one of them."
Drake looks at Pruana. "Your information is worth almost nothing, because no one other than us is going to come pay you for it if we leave. How about free admission to the circus for you and your friends, and if the information seems useful, a round of drinks for you and the goat."
After all, the alternative is... nothing at all."
Pruana things for a moment, "The circus, eh? I heard the show was pretty good..." she downs another tankard, "What the hell? Fine."
She finally devolves the information they have, "We saw the sheriff and the halfling witch at Lindell barn last. We couldn't get too close though; damn plants tried to grab us and one of the boys swears he saw little fire devils dancing around inside."
She smacks her tankard on the table, "Hope that helps, and don't forget to tell your show that Pruana and her crew get free seats."
Halfling witch... they must mean the druid we subdued. What did she look like?
Naatalu listens for a match in any description offered.
"Send us a note letting us know which show, and I'll see if I can arrange a block of seats with the best view."
Zec and Ash give a nod to the local pair and depart, without haste, to await the team outside so they can plan the next steps.
What do we know about Lindel barn?
The hobgoblin scratches the drake on the top of its head and fondly addresses it, "This is more adventure than we ever thought to see, isn't it. I hope we can solve this and leave the town in better shape than it is now."
Rhoxl grunts. “Short scaleless is being busy. Rhoxl wonders why scaleless farmers are not using their barn enough to check barn. Rhoxl hopes scaleless farmers are not working with short scaleless.”
The description Pruana gives you matches the halfling you captured previously.
The Lindell brothers, Jano and Bindo, own a barn just outside of Abberton. It’s near Abberton, but at the end of a quiet road.
Naatalu nods at Pruana and starts to turn Clovis around to ride off.
Thank you muggers. Believe us when we say it's better that the strangeness afoot in this town is far more important to solve than some disgruntled interactions with the sheriff. I bet she'll be happy when you are again her biggest problem.
When you arrive at the barn, Zec, Drake, and Rhoxl all spot the plant creature that Pruana warned you about. It is a large flytrap-like creature that you see slowly moving around the barn within the bushes and undergrowth.
Only Rhoxl seems to know much about the creature, though Zec and Naatalu know that most plant creatures are immune to mental effects.
The snapping flytrap is a ravenous, carnivorous plant that is quick to bite at any creature that passes by. Snapping flytraps typically have two sets of tooth-edged leaves, each measuring 3 feet wide, at the end of 10-foot-long stalks.
Similar to a regular-sized flytrap, hitting or touching the creature will cause it to quickly bite its harasser, potentially gobbling them up entirely.
That thing looks nasty. Perhaps we could just stand back and pelt it from afar.
Rhoxl grunts in agreement and grabs a shorter piece of sharpened bone from his back. “Shaman tells stories where hunters surround prey and prey chases one hunter and one hunter retreats and other hunters follow and attack with arrows and stones and prey chases only one hunter. Do scaleless like plan?”
"I can try to either freeze it or burn it, if we don't think we can convince it to leave. I don't have the ability to talk with plants, does anyone else?"
The flytrap moves slowly around the barn, but doesn't move outside the brush just next to the barn.
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Drake watches the plant moving.
I'm not sure how far from the barn it can go. But if I understand your plan, you could all hide at the south end of the barn and I could try to draw it to the southwest, letting you all take it from behind?
Drake shrugs. Loud distraction I can probably do. At least at first.
Sounds as good a plan as any. I can certainly launch rocks at it from behind.
I hope the druid didn't enlist too many of these things...
“Rhoxl thinks plant burn better than freeze,” Rhoxl offers as he too heads into the underbrush.
Zec does their best to follow the directions of the others, watching carefully and preparing to cast Produce Flame
Initiative Order, Bold May Go!
Map Slide
Zec
Ash
Flytrap
Rhoxl
Drake
Naatalu
Zec and Ash hold back, out of sight, waiting for the stealthy to sneak into position.
Initiative Order, Bold May Go!
Map Slide
Zec
Ash
Flytrap, delay
Rhoxl
Drake
Naatalu
Rhoxl nods and starts working his way around the other side of the barn.
The sprite follows quietly behind on his corgi.
Zec, Ash, and Drake continue to hang out ready to distract the creature from the other's presence.
Zec wonders if they shouldn't have arranged a signal for when the others were in place.
woah, why are you looking in here?
Rhoxl and Naatalu begin to sneak over to the flytrap. They seem to be doing ok, but the flytrap seems to sense something and begin to move towards them.
It is getting extremely close to Naatalu!
Initiative Order, Bold May Go!
Map Slide
Zec
Ash
Flytrap
Rhoxl
Drake
Naatalu
Nataalu looks at Rhoxl silently with slight panic on his face and then back at the flytrap. He hastily continues sneaking North one last time.
Naatalu continues flying stealthily, though the creature still seems intent on heading in the same direction as Naatalu.