"About what time were you walking along Water Street Ma'am?"
On impulse Nico then adds "what were you selling yesterday?"
"It wasn't much after dawn," the woman answers, "and I sell a wide variety of beautiful scarves. Actually... I have a lovely sage green one that would be just perfect with your complexion. And it has pockets. I could give you a good price for it if you want me to go grab it and show it to you?"
Great minds think alike!
"Yesterday's emergency didn't only ruin your day at the swallowtail market. It really messed up my shopping plans too..."
Nico briefly considers how much patience the others with her will have for a bit of shopping on the side and thinks it won't be much at all.
"How long are you in town?" she asks the merchant. "Right now isn't so good, but I'd like to look at the scarf and maybe some of your other stuff if I could. Maybe early this afternoon?"
The woman smiles and answers, “well, I was going to leave after lunch, but I can wait a little while longer if you’re serious about buying?”
"Yes, I'm serious, and I won't take too long. No more than an hour or two's delay on your part. I'll be here around lunch time."
“Alright then,” the merchant agrees, “I’ll see you after lunch, and I’ll bring a variety of options for the discerning watchwoman.”
Orin scribbles notes quickly as the other watchmen talk to the woman, but stops halfway through the second sentence about scarves.
"Thank you for your assistance, ma'am. May we attribute this testimony to you by name in our report?" he asks.
“Mara Vascili, sir,” the merchant answers.
Beach by the Hagfish.
"Thank you for your help, ma'am. We'll reach out to you again if there's anything further, but that's unlikely." Orin says after scribbling the last few notes.
The town guards continue to receive thanks and praise as they walk down Main Street to the docks and follow Water Street past the Hagfish to the place where the beach rises up to street level.
"Nice to meet you Mara" Nico extends her hand to the other woman. "I'm Nico Solter. We should get going, but I'll see you a little later."
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"Hopefully this will turn out well" Nico says from the back. Nico tends to have to walk fast to keep up with her unanimously larger cohorts.
"I think it's promising. Mara Vascili's account compliments the rumor of goblins in an alley off festival Street if you think about it. If the goblins snuck into Sandpoint from the edge of the beach where Water Street begins, early according to Mara; then if they crept up through the side streets from there, they could easily have been in the alley a little later like the account from yesterday claimed."
Diego quietly keeps pace with the group as they make their way past the Hagfish and onto the beach.
Jaymin stays at the front of the group, checking the sand for any tell-tale depressions. The sand won’t hold footprints, but if nobody else has been down there since, it might show signs of large traffic.
Jaymin has little trouble making out at least a dozen sets of goblin-sized footprints in the sand. Although they quickly become indistinct, he's able to follow the general disturbance they left behind around the beach and up to the Old Light. There's a narrow ledge around the base of the ancient structure and, with some difficulty, the group of watchmen are able inch their way along it to the beach below Chopper's Isle.
The disturbed sand continues up the west side of the outcropping to a small cove that would be completely hidden from anywhere in the city. There they find two poorly made rafts dragged halfway onto the sand.
”The human must have helped them make and use these. I wonder if this is how they get to the beach at the bottom of Junker’s Way, too.”
"Perhaps they joined him near the beach. If he's a local, he could have guided them on what alleys to take to stay out of sight most of the time. Plus, if he were spotted, it would not necessarily stick out in anyone's mind. I say he but it could just as well be a woman." Alistair says, thinking out loud.
Jaymin thinks about easy sources of wood. The Whisperwood is about 4 miles south as the crow flies, but you'd have to follow the Lost Coast Road around the mountains to get to the city, and boat past the harbor to get to that little cove. Following the Lost Coast Road out the Northgate (from which it heads basically due east) its only a mile and a half to Tickwood or Shank's Wood which is actually on the coast. There's much less boat traffic up there too, which would be better for a covert voyage.
Jaymin stands still for a moment, eyes closed, arms outstretched in different directions, as he visualizes the local topography and terrain. Finally, he says, ”North. I’ll wager a week’s wages to your old boot that these goblins came from the forests to the north of town.”
"There are several goblin tribes in the area, about five from what I know. I've heard of goblins up in the forest to the northeast, but I'm from pretty far south of Sandpoint."
Nico shrugs.
”Goblins? They’re the short one with ears right?”
Jaymin has nothing else to add.
"Are we considering leaving the city and hunting down local goblin tribes?"
"Well, if Jaymin is right about where the wood came from, then I think we are looking at one of two possibilities. The Seven Tooth Goblins are in Shank's Wood and the Thistletop goblins are near the coast next to the Nettlewood. We could see about checking them both out, not sure how the sheriff would like that though."
"I don't think we should be going out into the woods without talking to the Sheriff first. We have quite a bit to tell him now, so let's go get him caught up. He may have different plans for us at that point. We can then take a quick lunch and go from there in the afternoon."
"I Agree." Diego states as he starts heading back towards the sheriff's office.
"Oh, I meant to brief him, just don't think he will like the idea of a third of the watch heading up north away from town, that's all." Alistair shares as he falls in with Diego headed back to the sheriff's office.
Once again, edging their way around the Old Light requires some teamwork and focus, but otherwise the walk back to the Garrison is a pleasant one, accompanied but more accolades. When the patrol reports what they’ve discovered to Sheriff Hemlock, the Shoanti nods thoughtfully and answers, “rafts and northern tribes… that could be a solid lead, though I’m not crazy about you all disappearing down to the shore after I told you to make your presence felt in town. This job isn’t just about getting to bottom of things, it’s also about making sure the townsfolk feel safe. You’ve got about an hour left on this shift, go back out and patrol the busy street, and make sure people see you doing it. I’ll add a lookout on the bluff at the end of Northgate to watch for more rafts and see if Daviren’s heard about any unusual activities from the northern tribes.”
Heading out, Alistair does what the sheriff directed. He walks about visible to all stopping to say hi when he recognizes someone and generally tries to put everyone at ease.
”Is Shalelu in town? She might know if the goblins have been getting antsy lately.”
Nico splits off to go do her lunchtime shopping.
"I won't be but a few minutes. I'll catch up with you when I'm done."
”No, but she should be back through town soon and we’ll talk to her then.”
Heeding the sheriffs point, Diego keeps pace with Alistair as he makes his way around the city.
Nico hurries to Mara Vascili's room and knocks on the door. When the merchant answers, Nico says "I here! Show me what you've got!"
Nico decides to spread out their presence by splitting off to see if she can learn any more from the woman with the lovely scarves while everyone else 'patrols' the festival route shaking hands and enjoying the praises they receive.
The beautiful Shayliss Vinder is among one of the groups that celebrates the watchmen's passing and she approaches Alistair with a smile. "I was hoping I might run into you this afternoon," she says specifically to the swashbuckler, "I saw something down in my basement--I think it was huge rat--but my father thinks I was being a silly girl over a little mouse. I know it was no mouse. Will you please come and check on it for me?"
Diego looks over at Alistair and raises an eyebrow as he waits for the swashbuckler's response.
"Not a problem, Shayliss. Diego, shall we go take care of a rat problem?" Alistair asks of his partner.
Jaymin seems to have been excluded from the rat adventure but he invites himself along anyway. Alistair and Diego will need a chaperone.
Diego smiles, suspecting the lady is flirting with Alistair. "Sure," he states as he makes a slight adjustment to the large blade hanging across his back.
With his watch fellows in tow, Alistair gestures for Shayliss to lead the way, "Please, show us where this beast lies, my lady."
Before she makes any final choices though, she asks Mara if she has any blouses or shirts in colors, maybe yellow, that could compliment one or the other of the scarves.
"I have a date tonight, and I'd like something new to wear for it" she drops to Mara. While she is sort of bragging, she tries to make it seem like her reason just slips out.
Shayliss' smile fades as group of helpers suddenly multiplies. "Oh, I couldn't possibly take up the attention of so many members of the watch," she protests, "what if it really was only a mouse, or if something bad happened while you were all busy? No, I couldn't live with myself. Please, I'm sure that Alistair will be more than man enough to handle this on his own?"
Nico is intrigue by the scarf wrapping trick to be sure, but she's not certain she'd have the moxie to actually do it. Still, if she chickens out she will still have a couple of scarves, no harm done.
She buys two scarves in complementary colors so they can be used together, green and the more lively shade of yellow, spending a painful 12 god coins on her purchases. After having Mara show her the technique again so she's sure to remember, Nico carefully folds the scarves to prevent wrinkles while they're tucked away in her bag, and thanks the merchant for waiting to see her. Afterward she hurries off to find the rest of the patrol.
"Shayliss, the Sheriff wants us out and about. I'm not sure looking for rats is going to win me any good feelings from the the sheriff." At this point he looks to the others to corroborate his story.
Diego shrugs. "Your call."