" Is it just me or is the town tense?" She says to the others unsure as to what seems off.
"Well, Sandpoint did just have a goblin raid", Darius explains.
" No its worse. I think something else happened while we were out?" Dagny says as she walks along at double pace due to her short statue.
"La la la"
A guard, whose face is pale as death, notices the group and comes running.
“There you are! Something happened at the cemetary! The mayor and the sheriff are talking with Father Zantus at the cathedral! They want to talk to you immediately!”
Larry nods to the guard, serious since the guard looked pale. "Sure. Right away."
He starts a jog to the cathedral.
Having noticed the unusual tension as well he says, "I concur with Dagny something seems quite amiss, still I am sure Belor and/or Kendra will be able to clue us in on what we may have missed."
Then a guard approaches them and gives them some insight as to at least where something occurred. "Thank you, we will head there right away." Tomo turns up River Street heading to Crab Street in order to cut over to High Street which will take them to where they can quickly follow the cliff edge to get to the graveyard.
"Lawrence go get Wyssal, tell her we are summoned." Dagny says as she curtsys awkwardly at the Man and tries to get her little legs to catch up.
Larry pauses thinking about where Wyssal is staying. Then he shrugs, "Sure" and runs there to get her.
Entering Larry is loud,
Surprisingly since not all that much time has passed, Wyssal is cleaned up and changed into a nice new dress by the time Larry arrives. He finds her looking perfectly healthy and vibrant again as she stares into the mirror brushing out her long hair.
Wyssal turns to look at Larry, puzzlement and a bit of annoyance in her expression.
"Summoned by who? What happened?"
Larry is surprised at Wyssal's confusion for a moment. "Right. Well something happened at the cemetery. We need to get to the cathedral to meet with the Father and Sheriff."
"Are you OK now or should I carry you again?" He hesitates just a moment. "That's a pretty dress. But do you wear your armor over it?"
"Armor?" Wyssal sighs. "Right. It's so uncomfortable" she complains to Larry.
"I'll need a few minutes then. You can go ahead. I'm feeling fine now. I'll get changed and meet you there."
Wyssal sheds the dress and switches to a long skirt and her leathers, along with a white peasant blouse over the armor. She adds a belt, from which she hangs a starknife, and throws her bladed scarf over her shoulders. Then, Wyssal walks to the cathedral.
Larry turns to head to the cathedral but pauses. Did Wyssal say that armor was uncomfortable? He shakes his head. He'd worn his armor so much over the years that it felt like his skin. "Gotta be ready when the giants attack...." He quickens his stride.
Once everyone gets to the Cathedral, they see Mayor Deverin and Father Zantus there, along with Sheriff Hemlock and a couple of guards. A couple priests are tending to the wounds of a man.
The mayor shoots out of her chair when she sees the party. "There you all are! What horrid timing that as soon as you all head out to take care of some business, some chaos happens."
The paladin looks appalled by his aunt's behavior. "Mayor, we were on a mission to gather reagents for healing draughts for the community.
Our group was attacked by more goblin raiders."
"You acts as if we are the Offical Heroes of Sandpoint. We are private citizens with our own lives." Darius ended crossing his arms.
”Hey Darius. Maybe it’s OK for us to be heroes, official or not. Something happened. Looks like Naffer Vosk got hurt. More goblin attacks? We should track them down and kill them. Unless they have different plans?”
[b]"Let me look at that" Dagny says ignoring the threat. She heads over not waiting for the answer and begins to pull out necessary items for providing healing.
She manages to go through the steps she was taught. It was serviceable, though she could have done better. the tiny blonde though was splitting her concentration on not only the task before her but the conversation at hand.
The Mayor looked shocked about what her nephew said, then said sheepishly, “Oh, no, I didn’t mean it like that. Just a horrible coincidence that once you all walked out of town, something happened.”
The Sheriff interjected. “The problem has been taken care of. Vosk was doing his duties when he heard shuffling in the mausoleum where Father Tobyn and Nualia were buried. When he opened the door he was jumped by…skeletons.”
“Had I not heard the screams,” Father Zantus said with slight horror, “Dear Naffer might not have made it…”
“That’s not the surprising thing,” Hemlock continued, a little miffed that he was cut off, “We investigated the mausoleum after the skeletons were destroyed. During the night of the raid, someone snuck in and stole Father Tobyn’s remains.”
Darius bows his head. "Then I apologize for my outburst."
"I am unsure if the events are related, but we discovered the goblin who attacked us were devotees of Urgathoa. Do you think Urgathoans have as history of desecrating graves?"
"Jumped by skeletons? Was somebody was throwing bones at him? More stupid goblins? But who's Urgathoa?"
"Urgathoa. The Pallid Princess is the evil goddess of disease, undeath, and cannibalism", Darius answers his caydenite friend.
"He is not wrong the Pallid Princess would be a likely canidate but the Goblins were worshipping Lamashtu" Dagny says returning to the group.
"Ah. Thanks Darian. Evil Gods..."
"Goblins worship Lamashtu? Is that a goblin God? Hmm.... Probably not. Goblins are too stupid to have a God for themselves."
"So was anything else found? Did they tear up any other tombs? Uh, mausoleums? And was anything else taken from it? Father Tobyn has been buried for 5 years. His remains would've been pretty badly decayed."
"Nothing else was touched," the Sheriff insisted. He then held out a shred of purple cloth. "All we could find was this."
"Um, is this Father Tobyn famous or something?"
Father Zantus says to Wyssal, "He was the head priest of this town, and he died with his daughter Nualia in the fire that burned down the original cathedral. It was rebuilt in his honor."
"Shall we investigate the tombs for any further corruption?" The paladin asked.
"Right. He was the head priest. Nualia.... I think the Father adopted her. She was pretty. But they all died in the fire."
"Yes. Nualia was the only other aasimar in town. Her death was so tragic."
" That was before I came here" Dagny says as she looks confused.
"Thoigh we need to pit rhe dead ro rest.Goblins are bad enough but undead...worse" She says as she stands ans looks at rhe orher. Once more a short metallic scrap heap, than a propper cleric.
Wyssal isn't quite understanding what the priest wants them to do.
"So... the skeletons were taken care of, and Father Tobyn's remains were stolen. If we know those things already, what are we supposed to be doing? I'm not a detective, I don't know what to do. Look for clues? What would clues look like?"
"Was Nualia's body stolen? If Father Tobyn is known for being killed in the fire, is she known for it also?"
"We didn't see any tracks, but maybe one of you could identify who wondered into the graveyard?" Sheriff Hemlock said, "We haven't done a thorough investigation of the place. We were unsure about anymore dangers."
The Sheriff will escort you to the graveyard, where a couple guards confirm that there is no current threat.
"Hey! There was a human.... Well, an average size guy, I mean person with them." He puts his foot by the print. "Not as big as my foot maybe. But not goblin."
"I see them too. Though aside from human tracks, I'm not very skilled in that. I was more a camp aide" Dagny says agreeing with Lawrence.
He puts his foot by the print. "Not as big as my foot maybe. But not goblin."
"So possible someone with a thinner build. Maybe even a woman?" Darius postulates.
Wyssal opines in agreement with the others, but with less guesswork used to get there.
"It's very odd the think a human might be working alongside goblins, but there aren't many alternatives for a track of that size. Goblins don't get that big. Hobgoblins do, but they're found way east of here, like in Isger. I've never heard any mention of a hobgoblin in this region anywhere."
Larry studies the tracks while the others discuss.
"Some people are just stupid you know. Or they might just be using the goblins as tools. We need a better tracker than me to figure out where this person came from, and where they went. I see a direction, but more information is needed."
"Probably a Priest of Lamashtu using the goblin and the dead? Or an Arcanist of somesort seeking to use both goblin and undead to get to something here in town?" Dagny says tapping her chin as she thinks it over.
"Any idea where the tracks lead", Darius asks, trying to figure it out himself.
Wyssal is absently kicking at a clod of grass that's sticking up. She shrugs.
The sheriff pulled the group to the side and said, "I know this seems all confusing, but I want to make it clear-all I ask right now is to keep an eye on anything strange going on. For all we know, Father Tobyn's remains being stolen was purely a coincidence, though the timing of it does have me worried. Is that okay with everyone?"
"Sure Sheriff. And if we see any goblins we'll do our best to kill them and clean up quick so we don't disturb more people."
Larry crosses his arms across his chest and grins.
Upon arrival at the cathedral, Tomo greets those present having met each previously at some point in time in the past. He then quietly listens to what transpires. Upon seeing the cloth he checks it for magic and when it registers as magical he asks, "May I look at that a bit closer?"
Tomo takes the cloth and begins to examine it more closely. Failing to identify what the magic of the cloth was he asks, "May I keep this, it appears to posses magic and it might take me a while to figure out what kind of magic it contains?"
When the group is lead to the graveyard to investigate things he looks around and then works with Lawrence on analyzing the tracks that were found. He ponders the larger tracks for a bit and then says, "Well the likelihood that it is a Hobgoblin would be much less likely than some other humanoid. Considering there were skeletons perhaps an evil cleric or a necromancer of some type. If the individual is powerful enough they could sway Goblins into their employ. As for the removal of the priests body, means they obviously plan to do something with it which can only mean something bad. As for the timing of the two incidents, I find it hard to believe it was mere coincidence especially since they both involved Goblins."
After the sheriff makes his request, Tomo relays the information that they had found when they were just a short distance southeast of town. As all the Goblin activity within the area was not boding well, it appears someone or something is rallying those easily swayed by the powerful and things may get worse before they get better and at least the guard should be on high alert if not all the citizens. He also asks, "Has it been determined how those Goblins got so far into town before they were noticed?
”Good thinking Tomo. That many goblins couldn’t just stroll down the road and not be noticed. And they’re usually too stupid to stay quiet. Remember how they were during the battle. Loud and chaotic. Not organized. They must have had a hidden way and a leader!”
"Unless something is commanding them." Dagny says as she taps her chin.
"The goblins are organized", Darius frowned. "We're going into a 'wasp nest'."
"Well Darius, more like a hornets nest, as Goblins tend to be very nasty and quite territorial." The minor nature correction is obviously not meant to be offensive but a sort of side thought as Tomo still seems to be focussed on the cloth that was found.