Romo sits listening attentively at the discussion. He lets Hale and the others take the lead with the questioning.
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Well, I guess I will be moving around to discuss with people and see if they remember anything odd from last night. I am interested also to hear opinion of father Zastoran about this matter Amar speaks with low voice and moves towards then outer rings. Amar walks as he tells or rather share his feelings to his familiar Azb Azh, fire, bad thing, track, suspicious
Conversation finishing, the scorpion climbs down and speed away to night, while sending feelings of things, which Azh believe to be useful to his master: Meantime, Amar is focusing to surroundings and try to see, if there is magic in working, while slowly walking towards the tent of Zastoran
, Spellcraft and KN:Arcana
Azh Perception
"I'm going to go have a look at wagon, anyone coming with?", Romo says before leaving the tent. He walks over to the wagon and pokes around and looks for anything out of the ordinary, if there are still some burning embers he scratches it aside with his crowbar.
Perception:
Hale goes along with Romo, deciding that the scene of the incident is a good initial starting point for engaging the investigation.
Khismia is saddened by the tragedy that befell Eloais and so far from his homeland. Khismia asks Almar how she could help with the service for him. If there is a corpse left Khismia will investigate the body to see how he died, was he dead before the fire or did he die in the fire.
Once she is done with that she will join the others to try and find out how this happened, mainly by talking to the people in the camp and asking about the events before the fire and anything odd that they might have seen. She keeps a gentle tone and helping people remember details.
Romo takes Hale to the side, out of earshot from Dashki and the others, "We are being watched. That Dashki fellow, the supposed gnoll expert, he's just around the corner of there", Romo subtly motions with his right hand in the direction of Dashki. "Maybe we should have a word with him. I'll cover the back, you approach him from the front."
Romo walks a long circle around the camp then sneaks up to Dashki from the back, he doesn't approach Dashki's wagon until Hale confronts him.
Stealth:
Gander nods agreement and moves away, aiming to approach Dashki from the side.
After a couple of minutes of examining the remains of the wagon, looking for the likely center of the explosion ; then determining that enough time has passed for Romo and Gander to be in position she makes her way towards Dashki in resolute steps. Her demeanor clearly portrays that of royalty that expects nothing but obedience from all beneath their station.
"You there! Gnoll expert! You will answer questions I have!"
When Khismia finds the skeleton she kneels next to it and prays to Sarenrae, asking her to light his path so he will not fall to darkness in spite of the circumstances of his death.
After she investigated the skeleton and could not tell much by just those remains she looks at the rest of the wagon. She wonders why he did not try to escape the wagon. It does not seem as if he was asleep and he was in the middle of the wagon, thus not trying to exit. So either he was helpless for some reason or it happened too fast.
She looks for anything inside that could have started the fire, an accident with alchemical supplies or such. She does not know much about alchemical supplies thus anything that looks like such supplies she will assume is flammable.
Perception:
Romo gives a signal to Gander to move in, he himself then moves in towards Dashki. He stands a few feet behind Dashki, making sure the man is aware of his presence, and eyes him suspiciously while Hale speaks to him.
Hale regards the pathetic creature with disdain - her body language signaling clearly that Dashiki is merely tolerated; for now. She gives Dashiki a few moments to fully comprehend the severity of the situation, her presence looming over him and all escape routes fully denied by Romo and Gander.
"Your actions mark you as a suspicious man, gnoll expert. The explosion in that wagon was no mere accident, so much is apparent, why are you spying on us? What are you doing here?"
Gander strides up to the man, looking as ferocious as his small size will allow. He fingers the haft of his greataxe and says nothing.
Aid Intimidate:
"Pugwampis? Do you know who you are talking to?! That wasn't a fire, that was an explosion. You have something I should know. If you're too scared to talk about it, I'll give you something to be terrified about." Hale's pupils dilate, the way her lips curl give a decidedly canine slant to her teeth, her body tautens as her muscles become apparent and her pulse visible shivers her skin. A powerful fighting spirit emanates from Hale that can sap the marrow out of even seasoned veterans.
Romo tries to recall any information he has on Pugwampis
Knowledge (nature):
Also he steps forward and puts his hand on his greatsword, "None of this explains why you are spying on us. Out with it!".
Indimidate:
Gander leaned close, showing his teeth. "And what is it that makes you so certain it was these...pugwampis? Did you see them?"
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Could you help me with some questions I have? Maybe you can answer couple of them: Any idea what might have caused this or someone? Is there anything which might be related to this accident? How is the relationships between people and general attitude about this caravan travel and attempt to restore the old ruins? Amar asks Zastoran.
Azh is meantime moving through the camp and moving through shadows to find something
Gander stopped and studied the man for a moment.
"So you're saying it was these pugwampis that started the fire because they bring bad luck? That's the only reason you have for your suspicions? No tracks, no evidence?"
Angrily he spat in the dirt and turned to the others. "This superstitious fool doesn't seem to know anything!"
Romo faces Dashki and says,"Well we should probably start looking for these "pugwampi" then. They had better look at least as suspicious as you do. I don't suppose you know how to find these imaginary creatures?"
Khismia after looking through what is left of the wagon decides there is not much more to find here and goes to where the two patients, Trevvis and Kallien, are. She wants to ask how they are doing now and if they saw anything strange before they got injured.
Hale subsides her anger; she seems vastly more approachable now. Nodding to Romo and Gander she says: "Thanks, your help is appreciated - have a look about the camp, maybe something else turns up." A certain inflection in her voice hints that she's not merely suggesting it, but expects them to leave.
Hale waits for Romo and Gander to depart before acknowledging Dashiki again. She seems almost like a different person entirely, far kinder - if still regal - her voice is soft, to make sure nobody but Dashiki can hear. "Almar... ey? She is wonderful, isn't she? How did you get to know her?"
Gander's lips twisted in a grimace as he considered whether to do as Hale requested. He knew that if he started following her orders he'd only encourage her to continue using her imagined position against him. On the other hand, there was something in her eyes that made him a little queasy so he decide to go along nonetheless.
He looked back a moment later and what he saw made him grateful he'd left. Time enough to show her he wasn't hers to command later...when he was less likely to be ill.
He glanced over at Romo. "Any ideas? I suspect at this point it'd be impossible to find any tracks at the burned wagon. Perhaps on the outskirts of camp?"
Romo replies to Gander, "It pains me to say this, but I don't know anything about Pugwampis. I know this land very well, but I have never seen or heard of such a creature. "
He shrugs then starts walking away from the camp.
"Come on, help me look for tracks. I'm getting sick of standing around these jesters."
Romo leads Gander about twenty feet away, then crouches down and walks slowly while inspecting the ground. "Keep your eyes open"
He circles the camp while looking for tracks.
Hale listens patiently, nodding her head in sympathy at Dashiki's words. "I think I underestimated you. She is quite remarkable, yes. I wonder if she's taken a lover. Do you know?"
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I understand. Basically she was just here as a fortune-teller for Almar and tried to read signs. I find it odd for someone like her to be here... but that´s in past already. Can you tell anything about people you would suspect to be behind this or...? I am also quite interested what do you hope to achieve here, not just as a advisor for Almar.
Meanwhile Azh is moving and notices Romo and Gander outside of camp and sends mixture of feelings to Amar desert wind with a feeling of dryness, accompanied moment later by blazing fire with howling wind, surrounding with... an odd feeling of brown, yellow, red and black
Amar is somehow confused now by this colourful... emotions from Azh and ponders for a while what happened. However, he will stay for a while with Zastoran and listens his answer while responds to Azh blue... calmness... sharp... patience
Gander nodded. "I know quite a lot about Gnolls myself and I've never heard of them either." He shrugged and followed Romo out to search for tracks.
"Too much time has passed I believe, the weather has hidden the culprits", Romo says to Gander,"Either that or the guilty party is still in the camp."
"Let's head back" and he strolls back to camp, towards Almar. "We had a long look around the camp. Nothing."
Gander nodded thoughtfully. "Or it was an accident and the so-called expert doesn't know what he's talking about."
He followed Romo back to the camp and stands quietly before Almar, allowing Hale to do the talking.
Khismia blushes at the suggestion and commend Trevvis and Kallien on their bravery. She explains that Lady Almar wants her and the others to figure out how the fire started and if they had any ideas how this could have happened. She is taking care not to bias them to thinking it was or was not an accident. She also asks who else they would recommend she should talk to, someone that was outside and not in a wagon during dinner, that perhaps could have seen more. Lastly she asks is there is anything else she could do for them.
Hale nods at Almar's approach - and motions that she'll wait a moment for Romo and Gander to return too before beginning to speak. "Lady Almar, we have not determined much yet. These two are experienced trackers in the wilds and neither has found any traces of outside influence; this suggests that if the explosion was not an accident that the perpetrator is still in the camp."
"Of course, this presupposes that it was not an accident. This is not clear cut yet. Any ordinary fire would not be likely to catch Elaois unawares. It would require outside interference, or some supernatural accident, to cause it. Though I'm not knowledgeable in the magics, so I cannot comment reliably on it, you would know better if Elaois dabbled dangerously in the unknown."
"On the other hand, if it was an engineered explosion; then the perpetrator did his job well indeed. We haven't spoken with most people yet - but for now it seems nobody is unaccounted for just before the incident. The gnoll expert" - Hale's mouth curls slightly in dislike - "Dashiki, he appeared suspicious as he was spying on our investigation. We've not managed to get anything out of him - he blames pugwampis, some mean-spirited jackal-rats associated with gnolls apparently. I guess that means that Dashiki, at least, does not consider the fire to be an accident. He seems to revere you, my Lady. If he is involved, I'd suspect jealousy as a motive."
Gander nods in agreement with Hale. "There have been no signs of any tracks to support Dashiki's words. Far as I can tell, yer ladyship, he attributes anything that may be of misfortune to the actions of these pugwampis. Whether they're real or not, I can't say."
Speaking to Almar,"Ok, so the obvious short term goal is to find these Pugwampis. We will let Dashki lead us, but keep a close eye on him. I think we should set out as soon as possible."
Romo looks to the group,"So is everyone on board?"
"Certainly Lady Almar."
Hale asks Romo to find Khismia and Amar; they should probably join the effort.
Hale, accompanied by Gander, searches for Dashiki - finding him slinking in the shadows not too far off. She beckons him closer and outlines Lady Almar's request: "Dashiki. Lady Almar puts some weight on your testimony that pugwampis could be responsible. She's asked us to accompany you to find and capture one of these creatures. Do you think we could do that?"
Gander shrugged. "If what Dashiki says about the pugwampis worshipping the gnoll are true, perhaps we'll even run into some of them. I'm willing to go in search of these things."
An early start tomorrow will do nicely; this will let the companions coordinate their knowledge a bit over night.
"Walking in this sun will be tiring. It will be a long day tomorrow. I think I am going to to retire for the night, while the air is still cool."
Romo casually walks over to his packed bags next to Slab. He takes out some water and feed for the donkey and leaves it in a bowl for him. He then finds some even ground and starts to assemble his tent.
"An early start in the morning will be ideal," Gander agreed. "I don't care to fight at night unless I have to. Far better to see well than to struggle against shadows."
Hale still has a conversation with Khismia, exchanging the details of their findings to date. Afterward Hale still spends a bit of time with Amar - curious to hear what he found - before tugging in for a relatively early night's rest.
Gander stayed up with the others as well to hear what they might have learned and to get to know them better. As time passes he seems to grow a little more relaxed with them, even to smile from time to time. He eats heartily and enjoys several cups of wine or ale before bed.