Josias nods. "Never a bad trick to have something new to throw at an enemy. Now Cleff, could one of these Vox things be rigged with explosives?"

"Oh, well... These vox seekers run on a timer, you see - have to be wound up using a crank that's usually... here," He points at a damaged spot of the crab's chassis. "The timer keeps them going for up to ten minutes. But I suppose someone could connect the timer to a blasting powder charge, so that once the timer stopped, the charge would explode... That's... genius. Also quite dangerous! I can't believe I didn't think of that..." Cleff mumbles, stroking his beard. 

"If the kobolds really did link up the seeker to an explosive, they had to get that blasting powder from somewhere. The only place in the city you can get it is from the Firemark Facility. I wonder if anyone has reported any strange activity around there?" Rissa asks, taking a sip from her drink.

Closing his eyes, Fritz focused his mind into Hans. If the owl was close by, he should be able to feel it. See though its eyes and hear through its ears even. But there was no sign of the familiar.

 “Nothing yet.” He answered the Tabaxi, a little bit of worry visible in his voice. “Either Zabriss still running, or they managed to put Hans down.” The last possibility was something he didn’t want to think about. Not only because he would need to spend ten gold to bring the creature back, but because it would mean the enemy had some competent ranged attackers. “We better keep following the leads.”

Tinkertop confirmed his deduction and soon examined the little device found in the cell. At the same time Finn seemed to reach an understanding with Bjorn, the red bearded Dwarf. The old gnome’s analysis brought Emberwind’s words back to mind. The plot thickens.

 “Master Maker, in your professional opinion do you think someone skilled enough to make a vox seeker could implant an explosive in a living being? Make it explode upon a creature’s death or shortly after?” Fritz asked remembered the fallen Kobolds that attacked the group with the fugitive Goliath. If it was possible for Huron Stahlmast to make such implant, then more likely than not he was the ally of Sken Zabriss commander.

"Oh, goodness, well... I mean, I suppose so! Tinkering requires steady hands, after all. As does handling explosives. As does surgery. As does... well, plenty of professions."

"Ya, I could have told you that," Ambre laughs, "I mean, if I'm not careful I can mess up the guns my uncle and I are working on. Or blow myself up with black powder... or burn myself... ya there's a lot of danger if I'm not careful."

Quills shakes himself to become more alert, damn sunbeams, and makes his way back to the group. "So what have we learned, do we have another clue to chase down?"

Hearing the update, "So shall we make our way to this Firemark Facility?"

Josias holds up a hand. "Cleff, anyone around that you know who would know anything about a strange type of red mud we found?"

"Hm... Can't say I'm much of a mud expert, but there's an herbalist in town named Zendasa who runs the Lay of the Land. She's foraged in these parts for years and knows the whole area like the back of her hand; if she doesn't know anything about mud, I can't think who else would!"

Josias nods. "Thank you kindly."

He looked at Ambre, suddenly realizing that the greatest danger to the  Bonaventura Company faced in the way from Zadash was not in the roads. It seemed like a stroke of luck that they arrived in Hupperdook on a single piece. Or a proof of her skill, he thought to himself. He was not a strange to strategy and one of the most common was to be underestimated. Maybe, behind her jovial and aloof behavior, Rotz could be a calculating tactician. Or just an eccentric tinkerer - almost everyone had heard of those at some point in their lives.

“Firemark Facility or Lay of the Land.” He answers Quill. “Wait.” Fritz say turning his attention to Tinkertop. “You mentioned that the things Huron Stahlmast left behind were destroyed, right?”

That sounded strange. He could understand if Stahlmast things were throwed away or passed on, but specifically destroyed? Either the man was working in something dangerous, confidential or he left in bad terms.

“Why did it happen?” Fritz asked to both the Master Maker and his daughter. “I mean, the destruction of his former belongings?”

Maybe something happened. Something that made Huron leave the city. A reason to betray the empire, maybe?

"Could always split up," Ambre suggests, "some of us go to Firemark, the rest of Lay of the Land. Cover more ground."

Bjorn stands up and grabs his hammer. "I'll go to Firemark. If there is something I can blow up, I'm down!"

"We're not going to blow things up," Ambre says, "we're going to see where the black powder is going. There's a reason we don't give it to regular people."

"I guess I can go look into the red mud and seek out Zendasa knowledge." Quill says as he prepares to leave.

"Can we blow it up after we find out where it's goin'? Assumin' it's not going to some innocent family?" Bjorn will ask Ambre.

"No," Ambre says, "we're not blowing anything up if we don't have to. Black powder is expensive! No reason to waste it if we don't have to."

Josias agrees to go to the Lay of the Land as well.

"I will join you at the botanist as well." Finn says, "Alchemy never suited me..."

As Ambre spoke with Bjorn, Fritz was remembered of how powerful and deceiving impressions could be. Listing the risks of her research so casually was enough to make the Wizard convinced that she was a mad tinkerer who would love any change to literally play with fire and causa explosions. Instead, the shooter was the voice of reason censoring the red bearded dwarf.

“Three on three. I’ll go to the Firemark Facility.” Hopefully they wouldn’t have to fight in the city anymore. “Before going, we need to agree on a meeting point and don’t we have some of the devices implanted on the Kobolds? Maybe it would be good to have the Master Maker examine them too.”

It certainly would be bad. Worst case scenario the old man would say he had no idea on how the things worked.

“Also, do you know if this herbalist sells supplies like Healing Potions?” He asked turning to the gnomes.  “I imagine that with the war effort she would be facing something of a shortage, but if she does sell this kind of product and still have some lingering around maybe it would be a good idea if we sent some gold with Quill, Finn and Josias. Share the cost of supplying the team.”

"I'll gladly take a gander at anything you find, if it helps you track down your quarry and help Hupperdook!" Cleff states with a smile. "We all have to do our duty, especially during these strange wartime days! I know that the Empire has requisitioned just about every herbalist and alchemist to produce healing potions for the troops on the front, but there's a chance Lay of the Land still has some left. Honestly, it may be a small enough operation that Zendasa may have avoided notice."