The sleepy host takes Bella's order and heads out back to make it happen. Before long her wildest dreams of a fresh breakfast are snapped back into reality. An overheated mug of boiled milk with a bowl of porridge with some peanuts on the side. A slightly wilted apple is rolled down the bar to complete the presentation.
"Could be some sorta sea glass jewelry, people are always poking around the beaches looking for that stuff. Dunno about the silk cloth, not something we make around here. Fish eggs though, now that's something of a local delicacy. Tamily Tanderveil is the harbor warden and she makes some really popular pickled fish eggs. Who knows. Could just be a letter." He shrugs, chugging down more coffee and snagging a piece of leftover toast off someone's plate.
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"I'll take some coffee please," Fran asks brightly - and perhaps surprisingly, she doesn't add anything to her cup once it's set down in front of her. "Ahh...good stuff," she sighs, after taking a sip. "U-um, I'd never tried coffee until I came to Absalom because back home it was always sort of a luxury thing, not something we could really afford. But now...well, it's nice to treat myself a little in the mornings."
Turning her attention away from her cup and to the newest matter at hand, she studies the flier with a thoughtful expression. "If it's urgent, then it's probably something perishable or maybe materials needed for a deadline project. Why not go and see? We were thinking of heading back to Absalom anyway, right?"
"Coffee's good eh?" Winks the barkeep. "Name's Stu by the by, and if you need more coffee just hoot. I keep that stuff brewing by the keg, only way I keep my eyes open, not to mention some of the sailors mainline it during big money fishing seasons. Can't let their quotas go unfilled.. an empty hold is an empty wallet." He grins before chugging down more coffee and finishing some old porridge himself.
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Once breakfast is over and the morning coffee kicks in Bella and Fran haul the two late risers down the street and around a corner to pay a visit to the only courier service in Otari: Gallentine Deliveries.
A small building stands on the narrow street with an attached stable. A middle aged woman sits behind a desk facing the front window and the street. She looks up from her desk and sees four capable souls. Her eyes light up and she quickly rushes towards the door. "You all must be here for the delivery? Come in come in!" Quickly waving you inside the slightly outdated but effective looking workspace.
"I'm in urgent need of some couriers to bring a package to Absalom as quickly as possible. Are you able to make the trip? You wouldn't happen to have horses would you, mine are all already out on assignment." She looks for any and all signs of agreement, pouncing on even the slightest smile of interest.
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Nicole wakes up late for the day. Whe she gets into the inn, she is informed by the barkeep that the party goes to Gallentine Deliveries while showing her the bounty post. She quickly reads it and hastily waves goodbye to the barkeep.
”I'm sorry, I am late again.” she says panting and trying to catch her breath from running. She raises her hand to show her interest on the assignment. ”Yes! I will take that. How much payment are we talking here, if you don't mind?”
"Mr Stu? Oh, ya Stu. He's not far off about raw fish..." Oloria pulls out a sealed wooden box from below her desk, a pair of leather handles on either end of it as well as a shoulder strap.
"An aristocrat from Absalom, Kulrin Hulfheen, was in Otari last week for some sport fishing. He netted a large, rare trevally and arranged to have it mounted and shipped back to his manor in Absalom. I just received an urgent missive from Master Hulfheen informing me that he wants the trophy shipment expedited and would pay couriers the exorbitant sum of 4 gp if they can get it to him in three days." She smacks the palm of her hand against her forehead in angst.
"My issue is I've already sent all my staff and the horses out on other deliveries, now I'm stuck. I'd really love to secure future business from him and his family, so in return I'm willing to pay the full 4 gold to each of you IF you can get it there in the next three days." She looks to the group for their hopeful acceptance.
"As far as I know there shouldn't be any ooze creatures involved.. there shouldn't hopefully be ANY creatures involved!" She frets a bit at the possibility, obviously not knowing just how likely a group of Pathfinders can find trouble.
As an aside, considering you all just made the trip from Absalom within the last week you know full well its doable on foot in three days, so long as there aren't any significant delays or injuries to slow you down.
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"Oh! This Hulfheen must want to show off his new trophy at an upcoming party or something," Fran remarks, the whole affair now making plenty of sense. "Um, it's definitely possible to make Absalom on foot from here in 3 days as long as there aren't any major problems or anything on the way. I think we can do it, right?" she asks, looking to the others for agreement.
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A man wearing a big green trenchcoat walks in, a permanent smile on his face. "Heard there was a bounty to be had in these parts, and where there's a bounty, there's Detective Gumshoe." He offers a handshake. "Had a real nasty nightmare of some magical machine being my untimely end. Glad that's over."
Oloria's face goes from one of angst and fret to a more measured calmness as the group accepts the terms of the delivery. Even more so once Detective Gumshoe adds his name to the hat. "Glad to have you Finn!" She passes around a contract for the group to sign, stating the terms of the agreement:
Those undersigned below agree to the following delivery terms for one packaged taxidermy product to be delivered to the attached address of one Master Kulrin Hulfheen of Absalom by way of any means available. IF the package is delivered safe and sound within 72 hours then each courier will be paid the generous sum of 4 gold pieces. Late or damaged delivery will void this contract.
Once everyone has signed the contract Oloria hands the case to whoever wishes to carry it.
"Well, best you get on the road as quick as you can. Safe and speedy travels." She quickly ushers you outside to begin the journey.
Besides what you already experienced in your trip to Otari a few days ago, you know that bandits are sometimes a problem on the road between Otari and Absalom, but there are also rumors of strange creatures who crawl up from the lightless places underground.
The cart path towards Absalom is just as you remember it, traveling it in the opposite direction less than a week ago. The path winds along the coastline, going up and down over small hills and stream valleys cutting their way down to the Inner Sea. The mix of sand and gravel are still damp from the regular fog, or perhaps an overnight shower. Evergreen trees stand and sway gently in the sea breeze, light green mosses and lichens dangling from the branches. After march along throughout the day you come up on the following scene: SCENE
Just left of the road, a heavily laden wagon lies sideways in deep mud. The muck is churned and crisscrossed with layers of muddy sticks. Two dejected-looking halflings sit at the edge of the mud pit, stoking a campfire. They haven't yet noticed your approach.
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Bella raises a curious eyebrow as the gentleman with the... worn-in... coat approaches and extends a hand. "Are you also here to accept the job? Perhaps we can combine forces." She looks at her fellow teammates. Why does this name sound familiar? She offers a curtsy. "Lady Sidare, first name Bella."
Bella misses the bath already. Odd to do it without servants, but it was a fun logistics problem. Now they move along the road, carrying a hollowed out fish. And it's cold again. And dirty.
"Ah, wagons are much more useful when they are on the road." Bella approaches the halflings. "May we help you, somehow?"
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"Sure am, pal," Finn nods to Bella, eyeing the contract. "I'd be glad to join you. Can't be that hard to deliver a simple package, right?" He shrugs.
At the wagon, he takes out his magnifying glass and looks around, testing the depth of the mud with a finger. "That's too bad. Deep mud like this can ruin any traveler's day if they aren't careful."
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”Hello, Mister Gumshoe. I am Nicole Flames. It is nice to meet you.” Nicole introduces herself to Finn. She also shares what she knows as they walk to bring the parcel to some Hulfheen. ”We should stay vigilant as we travel on this road from Otari to Absalom because they say there are bandits here, and also strange creatures who crawl up from the lightless places underground.” she explains, until they find a wagon deep in the mud.
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"U-um...do you...have a twin, Mister Gumshoe?" Fran asks, looking as though she's seen a ghost. "Or maybe a mother or an aunt with a strange sense of humor?"
Or maybe I'm just losing my mind...
It's the unvoiced thought that begins to slowly win out during the day's trek and by the time the group encounters the stuck cart, Fran is fairly certain that any inconsistencies regarding Finn Gumshoe are all in her head.
"Ooh...how did you get the wagon to tip over like that?" she can't help but ask, genuinely a little puzzled by the halflings' predicament. "It looks like just staying on the road would've worked better..."
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Roark's eyes widen as he takes in the man standing in front of him.
"Finn?! Is it really you? Or do you have a twin?" He shows Finn his wayfinder lid, with the rogue's name engraved beside his. "Did I just spend gold having my personalized wayfinder lid engraved when I didn't need to?!" he asks, in mock exasperation.
Seeing the cart and the halflings tumbled across the road, Roark heads over to them.
"Well met travelers. What happened here?"
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"Huh, you must be talking about one of my cousins. Hard to keep track of what they're up to. It's the Gumshoe tradition to name all first-born children Finn, and have us dress and keep ourselves the same, too. Been a family tradition for decades! I'll have you know I'm one of six other Finn Gumshoes," he smiles knowingly.
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The pair of Halflings sit up from the smoky fire as the group hails them "Looks like our luck has finally turned brother, the winding road has answered our calls." The muddy pair climb to their feet and head closer to introduce themselves.
"Kambit and Miro Leagallow" They bow in unison "Our favorite jackass was murdered right from under our wagon when we got stuck in this mud hole.." Kambit, the slightly older looking brother explains before his younger cuts in "I told you I never saw it! The road looked good to me, just some old grass and leaves blown over it... Sheelah trudged right in and just like that we were mired!"
The story then smoothly shifts back to Kambit's perspective "Just as I took the reigns from Blindy McBlinderson over here someone blinded us with a bright lantern while an oversized frog tore up poor Sheelah like it was all you can eat wing night down off C Street." He hands Miro a used hanky as he starts to tear up. "I really loved that animal.." He sobs.
"After it bit Sheela it took off into the woods and left us here stranded. We could really use a few extra hands getting unstuck before that thing comes back!"
Without even trying you can see there is indeed a dead donkey lying nearby, an old horse blanket covering most of it. Also, the wagon is firmly lodged in the mud along the side of the road, a bunch of sticks and rocks placed as a ramp to lever the wagon out of the mud, unsuccessfully.
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Bella lights up. "Sir Gumshoe, please tell me more of your siblings. My sister and I are quite different in appearance despite 7 seconds separating us. Madame Sidare decided two children was enough. How do you tell each other apart?"
Finn pulls down one sleeve of his trenchcoat to reveal a very worn black tattoo with what looks like the number 2 on his wrist. "At first it was impossible to tell us apart, so we all got one of these! No mistaking us now!" He proudly states.
"Hang on, did you say an oversized FROG?!" Finn shudders. "You know anything about frogs, Roark? I can't even imagine a frog eating a donkey. Crazy."
He cracks his knuckles. "I think we might be able to pull this thing out if we all try."
The brothers' eyes light up as Bella and Finn offer some rope and muscle towards the mired wagon. "Careful, its pretty soft in some spots. We got it stuck worse than it first was so be careful." Pipes in Kambit, giving his younger brother another I told you so stare.
You also notice the wagon is still loaded with barrels and crates, while it may take a bit more time to unload it, it'll certainly make it easier to move.
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Nicole begins to assess the situation after hearing the stories of the two halflings. When she hears Bella speak about a rope, an idea comes into her mind like a lightbulb turned on.
"That's it, Miss Bella! We can use that rope and tie it around the wagon and make that rope go around some strong branch or trunk from a large tree to aid us from pulling the wagon out. We could also do something more about it so it would be easier for us to pull. Let me show you." Nicole explains and she continues to discuss some science with them using a wooden stick she got somewhere and draws some schematics on the dry ground.
"So what do you think?" she asks, waiting for others' approval.
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"U-um, I think Nicole's idea could work," Fran remarks, nodding with approval as she looks at her companion's schematics. "And I think you two had a good idea with trying to lever it out of the mud - just not enough hands to really pull it off."
She picks up a small twig and carefully makes a few additions of her own to Nicole's drawing. "If, um, if we combine Nicole's idea with the lever idea - like this - it should hopefully make it easier to get the cart out of the mud!"
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Finn takes his magnifying glass across the schematics. "Huh. These are pretty good. Lemme see if we can put these plans into action. Hey, pal-- I mean, milady," he calls over to Bella, "give me a hand with this." He looks back at the schematic Nicole and Fran had worked on, trying to tie the rope at the right spot on the wagon for maximum leverage.
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Miss Flames draws lines and circles with sticks, and grabs the rope, and ties it around and... that is some advanced mathematics. This felt like taxes: a lot of complication in the way of pulling the damn rope.
Still, it's worth a shot. She'll show this strange drawing to her sister and let her scribe it all down. For now, it's time to pull the bucket up from the well, like the servants would.
It's tiring, very tiring. But it's also quite fun.
The pair of tired and muddy halflings watch as Nicole and Fran waste no time diagramming the tried and true Lever and pully crane system (patent pending) Bella gives it a go and yanks the rope through the series of improvised pulleys and the wagon quickly lurches up and out of the mud, still full of its cargo. Finn makes few tugs on the rope but its pretty clear its not needed. Roark pecks at a few worms trying to crawl out of the mud.
"Holy smokes, you all should work down at the loading docks in Absalom, they could use the brain and brawn there. Must be 45 wagons backed up waiting when we left." Miro crawls up in the seat of the wagon and digs out a smokestick "Here, take this, it isn't much but besides spices its all we have to repay you guys." His brother nods in agreement.
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"Oh! I'm quite strong." Bella smiles. "You wouldn't believe how many barrels I had to carry. Well, I wanted to carry." She stops rambling and pulls out her mirror.
"Do you see this, sister? Madame Flames drew this... study. She said it would make the wagon easy to carry. And it was. What a strange invention." She pauses to listen to the pocket mirror. "It's very confusing, I agree. But it is interesting."
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"Never have I seen someone have a discussion with their personal mirror..." Finn looks sideways at Bella, running his hand through his 'stache. ”Who’s in that thing?”
"We've gotta deliver this package, pals, but tracking down a suspect is something a Gumshoe would never pass up! To the frog, I say." He looks at the others for their own opinions.
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Nicole claps happily and excitedly as the wagon is pulled out from being stuck on the mud. ”Nicely done, Miss Bella! You're not just beautiful, but also strong!” she exclaims after the lady is able to make the wagon into the solid ground with the help of her and Fran's combination of plans they improvised.
She then turns to the halflings, ”I am sorry for what happened to Blindy. We'll find the culprit for you too so that it won't hurt more travellers. It would be possible you are not just its victims.” she says warmly. ”We have a task for now so maybe we'll think about working with those many wagons too, we'll just sideline this frog-looking murderer you described earlier. I hope you get to your destination safe.”
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"Never have I seen someone have a discussion with their personal mirror..." Finn looks sideways at Bella, running his hand through his 'stache. ”Who’s in that thing?”
"Ah yes, Sir Gumshoe. My sister Khari. She was quite intrigued by your siblings and wishes them all the best of luck. She had many, many more questions but her... style is unique. I am ill suited."
Bella raises the mirror to Finn, and he sees his own impressive face. "Say hello to Khari."
"She is pleased to meet you."
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"Beautiful and strong. I thank my parents. My father's beauty, and my mother's strength to tolerate him." Bella lets the incorrect title pass- it's one of Madame Flame's quirks. "Now, let us locate Sheela's murderer."
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Roark sidles up to the halflings and looks them over. He takes one aside and asks in a conspiratorial whisper "Any one of you know what they're talking about? All that 'science' bit went over my head."
Turning back to Finn, "I agree. I've seen large frogs before but I've never seen one eat a donkey."
The Halflings pretend not to notice the back and forth between Bella and Finn, best not to get involved in the oddities of longshanks, especially ones that just did them a solid. "Do you think you can find it?" Asks the elder brother. "I hope its run off for good, I don't want to get chomped in my sleep.. maybe we should just start dragging the cart another couple hours before we get some sleep?" Adds in the younger.
The group starts their investigation with Sheela, the expired donkey under the blanket. Lifting up the shroud everyone can clearly see a large bite mark on the equine's left flank. While Bella and Finn focus on the corpse, Nicole, Fran, and Roark start poking around for tracks. It doesn't take long for Nicole and Fran to distinguish some odd paired tracks with webbed feet heading towards the forest. Roark mostly just follows along.
Whatever bit the donkey definitely had a large mouth with many sharp teeth. While the beast certainly died from its wounds its odd that it wasn't eaten, just bitten. Perhaps the frog doesn't have a taste for ass meat.
You track the creature into the woods but before long the trail stops cold at a series of rock ledges and large trees. You suspect the creature climbed over the harder ground, who knows where it could have gone.
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"The long trail of webbed feet track seems to stop on rock ledges and large trees. It could have climbed over the harder ground." Nicole explains. "That creature could be anywhere near." she says and begins to draw her shortbow and loads it with a bolt. Her lesser alchemist's fire is also ready in one of her pockets.
After a few tense minutes, weapons drawn and Halflings hiding in their wagon, the sounds of the forest remain intact. No crazed murderous frog leaps from the treetops to swallow anyone whole.
The brothers eventually emerge from hiding and look around, coming to the same conclusion "Well, I think its best if we get as far away from here as we can. We've got cousins a couple miles ahead we can pull this to for now. Thanks so much for your help. Stay safe."
With that Kambit jumps on the drivers platform and pulls out the reins and bit, pointing to Milo "Chew on this brother so I can steer you away from any mud pits that aren't really there.." He gives the Pathfinders a hearty, mischievous grin, that quickly disappears with a mud ball to the face.
"How 'bout you climb down and help pull unless you want me to climb up there and toss you down first!" Retorts Milo. A series of unfriendly and unflattering remarks in Halfling soon follow and the pair drag the cart off towards Otari, continuing their 'discussion'.