Ameei looks over the weapon curiously before giving a shrug "I'm not sure, but it's definately Draconic"
"Well, it's pretty and looks useful. Do you think anyone will mind if I keep it?"
Without waiting for an answer, Abby stows the weapon in her belt.
After finding a suitable place to leave the corpse Kia turns to the others. "Let's get on our way. Best not to stay in one place for long."
"I agree. Who knows what foul creatures could be lured here by the stench of that foul creature."
Samuel hefts his warhammer, and points in the direction of Clearbrook.
"We should be getting home."
"Ahem. Gracie?"
"So how long till we get to where we're going, Ameei" Kai asks. He's obviously getting tired.
"You don't think Gracie has been eaten up by now?"
"You don't think Gracie has been eaten up by now?"
"Anyway, Ameei said she was with some kind of elf. Listen Smith, even if she has been hurt, we ought to find out. Going back to Clearbrook without at least working out what happened to her isn't heroic exactly is it? Those Clover girls will never, ever let you forget it."
"Come on" Ameei coaxes the group with a small smile, seemingly little relieved over something as she starts along the path once more. The path widens to a small road as the sky darkens and the group spots something up ahead, a well-built inn painted in cheerful colours is tucked away beneath the eaves of the forest. A stable stands nearby. A hitching post at the front of the inn has several mounts, and more than one farm wagon sits in the yard. A large red sign above the door proclaims in gilt letters "Travelers Stop Inn." Above this sign and stretching across the front of the building is an artistic banner with lettering stating "The Traveling Exhibition of Doctor Phineus Krane, Professor of Antiquities and Master of Shroud Artistry". A number of colourful tents have been set up at the rear of the inn yard, apparently for this exhibition.
"Hmm, who's this Dr. Krane fellow? You don't think Grace would be around do you?"
"Shroud artistry? He paints pictures of dead people? Is that what it means? Can we look, please ..."
Abby is suddenly 5 years old again and pulling at Smith and Kai's arms.
"It'd be best to looks around, Gracie may be about. That or someone here may have noticed her."
"Doctor Krane? Or Doctor Vianiriddallamakrane when he's at home, but that rarely fits on a sign. Noted historian, scholar, collector of old things.. that sort of thing! It sould be interesting to look in on, besides it's starting to get dark and a proper rest would do you all some good I'm sure"
"Let's visit the good doctor, then. Maybe he'll be able to explain what's going on."
The stalls are packing up for the night but the people behind them make promises that they will return in the morning, giving the party warm, genuine smiles as they pass to enter the inn.
Business is brisk in The Traveler's Stop. A bald, short and broad, red-faced man wearing an apron works behind the bar and several young girls carry platters of food and drink to various tables. Most of the crowd seems to be farmers and merchants, seeming mostly human in appearance.
Although clustered around one table sits a rough-looking group of mercenaries. One is a tall wiry woman with ivory skin, white hair and pointed ears that reach above her head, another is an intimidating broadshouldered man, seemingly human but posessing a dark forboding attitude, the third is a rather rotund man with a balding head and slightly pointed ears and finally a far shorter form that seems far more intimidating than the others. Peering out from under a black hood are a pair of red, feral eyes and from time to time you catch glances of a fanged grin that is a sharp contrast to Redd's friendly one, this one is manic, dangerous and hungry.
At a table nearby a very short, bespectacled man with large amber eyes and an unruly head of bright blue hair stands on a chair obviously designed for someone much taller than himself and discusses a piece of decorated linen spread across the tabletop with a small group of onlookers.
Abby nudges Ameei and asks "What are they all?"
"If anything let's try to find ourselves a room. We ask around about Grace afterwards."
"The barman is a dwarf, the woman in white over there is an elf, I think the hooded one is a goblin, and the good doctor is a gnome" Ameei informs Abby quietly as she surveys the scene before her. "I'll go secure us some rooms for a night if you want to just relax and maybe talk to some of the locals" She tells the group as a whole before eagerly scampering off.
Abby nods absently as Ameei bounds away, drinking in the strange figures around her.
"Smith, I don't need you to tell me the goblin is bad news, but is there anyone else standing out as evil? Just tell us, don't splat them."
"Sis, this whole thing has my stomach in a knot.", Smith whispers. "How do I know I can trust it? This place is so different. I miss the forge; there, you just have to smash things hard enough to get them to fit right. Everything's out of order here."
"I trust you Smith. You have to trust yourself too, or we're not going to find Gracie or get home. Tell us what you sense."
Smith's focus is drawn to the group of mercaneries; the tall wiry woman with ivory skin, the rather rotund man with a balding head and the far shorter form all give him a bad feeling. The fourth person however, the broadshouldered man, he doesn't set Smith on edge.
Nonchalantly, Smith whispers into Abby's ear, letting Kai listen; "I don't know for sure, but I'd bet my horse on it. That group over there is no good. And if that thing is an elf, we should be worried. Isn't Gracie with an elf too?"
Abby nods. "Ameei said an elf. Stay there Smith, let me see if I can get a bit closer and hear what they're saying."
Nonchalently, she pulls off her hair ribbon and slides effortlessly under a nearby table, sneaking her way towards the group.
Stealth and Sense Motive on bad guys (1d20 7=26, 1d20 4=5)
Perception to overhear the bad guys from under the table. (1d20 4=14)
Her instincts for badness are nowhere near as finely honed as Smith's, but she can sneak and listen with the best of them.
Kai rests his hand on his blade. "Just in case", he thinks to himself as Abby makes her way.
Abby;
"We'll find it" The overweight man tells the pair certainly before drinking deeply from his tankard.
Casually holding her "lost" hair ribbon, Abby emerges from under the table and reports back to Smith and Kai.
"They've lost something, but I don't understand them - apart from tubso. He was clear enough. I vote we keep watching them. That's probably not enough evidence to do anything with - they could be talking about a lost glove," she concludes regretfully.
"I don't know Abby. Watching them could be waste of our time, just a wild goose chase. But if you feel it's worth the time I see no problem"
Pulling a chair at an empty table Kai waits for Ameei to return with the room keys. He occasional peers over to the other group.
A few moments sitting is enough for Abby. "We can listen and look at the same time. Want to see what the man with the shroud is talking about?"
"Might as well"
"I'll watch your back", Smith says casually scouring the room for any other ne'erdowells.
Kai makes his way through the crowd, trying to get Abby and himself as close as possible to the sights.
