"Hmm..." Temke turns away again. He did not sound convinced, but he doesn't add anything. He resumes walking south, in the direction of the shrines. It is still noon, perhaps early afternoon, and quite hot outside, but at least it will only cool down from now until evening.

"Olivia?" Temke answers, a little surprised. "I knew a woman with that name, many years ago. We weren't close, though. Merely two residents of the same small village. She was older than me, enough that we wouldn't be in the kiddies' group. There are others who know her better. Why do you ask? Why me?"

Lyla's disappointment at the lack of information is visible. 

"I ask because I'm trying to find her. I've asked others too, not just you. Since you have been here for a while, I thought you might have known more about where she ended up. I suppose I've probably already talked to those who knew her better, but still, do let me know who they are in case I've missed any of them."

Tess doesn’t react to the accusation much either..”you know why I came here, to find my mother’s grave.   All of usall strangers to one another.  But we will solve this mystery if we can.  We will try to find a easily secured house to stay in until we figure a few more things out.  And will watch for anything suspicious.  I don’t want anyone else hurt- or whatever this mystery illness is.  Oruthia would want me to seek the answers here” 

Randal hangs back slightly from the group and looks around the street, trying to pick out houses that look abandoned or deserted now that he knows the information Temke shared.  He listens to the conversation, still trying to figure out the connections between the women Lyla searched for, Tess’s mother and what they learned of Leacy’s parents. There must be something there, but he can’t quite put his finger on it. 

“That man was Naran?” Randal responds to Temke “Did anyone search his place for a potential cause of the illness? Perhaps there are clues, like something he ate or drank?  I too want to make sure no one else gets hurt.” he adds.

"Look for anyone who looks in their forties-fifties. There aren't too many, but they all knew her to some extent back then. Some of them might not appreciate it if you bring up that name, though. To them, it is synonymous with hard times from the past they would have liked to forget if they could." Temke doesn't answer your claims for innocence, though. Whether he believes them or not, he does not reveal. He simply keeps on walking.

"Yes, that was Naran." Temke then answers Randal. "He's been missing for some time, nobody saw him. Then, after that woman in the morning," he adds, thinking only Tess knows who he speaks of, "I had an urge to check on him. I was right, and so we brought him right here. I'm headed to his house again now, to search for anything such as those you mentioned."

Randal doesn't spot any house that looks abandoned in any way. Most of them are empty, but since townsfolk work at this time, that's mostly meaningless. The only people he spots in houses, through windows, are a few housewives, and a single man, cooking or doing other things that these kinds of people usually do. One he spots does all that while holding a crying baby, as she rocks them from side to side to calm them down.

Lyla looks surprised as she hears why Tess came to Rivulestice. "I didn't know that, actually." She frowns, thinking about what Temke has said and trying to determine how old Tess looks. "Would your mother have been here back in those hard times? Do you know her name?"

Lyla then turns to Randal. "Naran? You know the man?"

She continues to walk with the group, letting the others decide whether they should continue following Temke. 

Tess says “My mother’s name was Ruthay… Ruthay Vittrae.   I thought she died here after I was born,  but Sier said..”. (She pauses a bit, considering). “Sier said.. the grave is empty-  she went missing but they had a memorial for her.  I’d love to find what happened to her, but with preparations for the festival and all the weird things happening, I haven’t started yet.   The grave is there however.  There’s some abandoned houses near the graveyard We could possibly use.  If that doesn’t sound too scary!   I grew up in an orphanage in the capital- I can rough it pretty well”. 

Randal shrugs at Lyla’s question “We met when I first arrived in town and exchanged some pleasantries.  An acquaintance instead of a close friend, I guess you could say”  He looks back over at Temke. “Perhaps we can join in your search to uncover some clues about this mystery illness. Four sets of eyes are better than one after all”   He pauses and considers as they walk “Did you know Ruthay as well, Temke?”

By this time, it is already early afternoon, and the three of you, with Temke, had reached the shrines. The work, it seems, is nearly over. The entire area seems festive enough, with ornaments of sun, light and other Oruthia-relating topics hanging all over. There are two stages, one on each side of the area. A small one in the north, by which you pass. This stage is just a small rectangular elevation so that whoever stands on it will be seen above the crowd's heads, even if they're short.

The second, in the southern area of the shrines, is much more impressive, though also just a humble thing when compared to anything Tess or Randal have seen anywhere else. This stage's base is also rectangular, but it has steps leading up to it on all sides. On it, in the centre, is a waist-high (from the stage's floor) "column", which Tess and Randal know will be used as part of the ceremony, and a fire will be lit on the top of it. At the back of the stage stands a human-sized statue made of the yellow-white stone that some of the houses are made of, depicting a woman with long hair holding her arms out, palms facing up. It is Oruthia, you know.

"Seems like they're done," Temke speaks to nobody in particular. At this point, you also realise the area is mostly empty. Some people are still around, but only a handful. "Everyone must have gone home to prepare themselves now, or to the bathhouse to wash before tomorrow." Temke sighs. "Come, why not." He finally addresses Randal's question. "Perhaps you'll see something I'll miss."

Temke leads you farther south, but only a bit, before entering a side street westwards. "Ruthay? I don't remember a woman bearing that name, no. There was a woman staying in Sier's house that nearly none of the village ever saw, so maybe that's her? At the time, I wasn't concerned with a strange shut-in."

A few houses into the alley, Temke turns to a red-stone house with a wooden door whose metal mechanisms were broken, now half-open. "When he didn't answer us, we decided to break in to check on him. It was the right call, you can be sure."

It is a small house. The room to which you enter is a small living room, which seems to serve as the dining room as well. A small knee-high table, with two pillows next to it, has no dishes on it. By the door, there's a small alcove in the wall, where it seems Naran keeps his shoes. One set of heavy leather shoes is all. Out of this room, other than the door through which you entered, there is one door and one opening. The opening leads to a messy kitchen, the kind you'd expect from a man in his twenties who lives alone. Dirty dishes piling in one place, smelling horrible. Perhaps he meant to clean them before he fell to slumber, but there's no guarantee. An open stone cabinet containing various ingredients with which one can make food. Several other stone drawers made in the kitchen counter contain clean plates, cutlery and pans and pots. A single window views the street from here.

The door that doesn't lead outside leads to a small bedroom, containing only a stone bed for one tall person and a small stone cabinet for clothes. A single window faces the east, but you gather not much light comes in as the next house would block most of it.

Tess starts searching the house, trying to find anything that was missed (rolled a 5 in the game log).  She’s so distracted and disgusted by the filthy dishes she decides instead to see about washing them up.  “I hate to see him come home to this mess, I’ll wash up while you all search for clues”. She says. 

“Clues?  Where do we start in a place like this?  Perhaps it was something he ate.  Did you find him in the bedroom, Temke?”  Randal realizes with shame that they were too focused on the theft of the horse to do a proper search when Ri was found with the sickness.  He looks around for anything out of the ordinary, anything that could lead to the mysterious illness, focusing in on the kitchen and the remains of whatever Naran ate, and the bedroom.  As he searches he asks Tess more about her mother “Do you think that was your mother, Tess? The woman staying with Sier, did she stay with Sier while she was here?”

Perception: 18.

Investigation: 21.

He hums a small song while he looks, providing inspiration to Lyla to aid her in her search as well.

 (1d6 added to attack roll, saving throw, or ability check in the next 10 minutes.)

Tess looks at the dishes, she’s found some water and soap and is starting to scrub in the bucket that passes for a sink.  “Yes, she stayed at the Inn- at least that’s what Sier said.  I was born there, apparently.  I’ve not met anyone else who could say much about her yet.”  

Lyla joins the others in searching while chatting. 

She tries to cover the areas where Randal isn't, which looks like it would include the entrance and the living/dining area. Lyla is looking for anything out of the ordinary, including anything that doesn't seem like it would be owned by Naran, or anything magical.

15

"I wouldn't mind visiting the graveyard before we settle down this evening," Lyla mentions, responding to Tess's earlier suggestion.

 -

(Roll above is for perception I guess, although I'd be happy to roll again using something else e.g. investigation or arcana, if that would be more appropriate)

Extra 1d6: 3

"Yes, in the bedroom. As if he were sleeping normally, except he looked like one who hadn't eaten or drank anything for days, and we couldn't wake him up, of course." That is all the information Temke can provide. Beyond that, your other questions are met with a shrug. "We come here desperate for clues. It doesn't promise we'll find any. I can pray to Oruthia to guide us in the right direction. We all should."

While each of you focuses on searching a different area - or cleaning the dishes - you find no clues at all. If it were something that he ate, you don't smell or see anything out of the ordinary, and even if one of you decides to take the risk and taste it, you feel nothing but what three days old remains taste like. If it were in the food, whatever caused Naran's condition is now either gone or undetectable by your means. Similar results yields the search for any items out of the ordinary. If anything that was there did not belong to Naran, you couldn't tell, and nothing seems suspicious in any way. 

The bedroom, which is where Temke invests most of his searches - though not only - holds no clues either, it seems. No strange smell (beyond the normal smell for a male's uncleaned bedroom), objects or anything else. 

After searching as thoroughly as he can, which takes nearly half an hour despite how small Naran's place is, Temke finally gives up. "I found nothing. Did any of you? If I am to be honest, I find this far more concerning than if we had found any strange poisons or... well, anything." He sighs worriedly.

"Nothing. All of these strange events are concerning indeed."

Lyla thinks for a moment, but that only leads to more questions.

"Temke, how many weird things, anything at all like this, have happened in Rivulestice's history, as far as you have heard? I know that a generation ago people went missing, and something is stirring in the inn. Perhaps the horse theft is an unrelated incident, but it would be odd if these illnesses were not connected to other events at all. Do you truly believe the arrival of a few of us travellers means something? Or have you experienced other unexplained mysteries in this town? Heard any strange noises?"

She pauses to let him answer, then muses out loud in case anyone knows anything, "I wonder what the circumstances were when people first began living here. The location itself couldn't be relevant to these incidents, could it?"

"None that I know of," Temke answers. "I have not always been here, and the village existed before I was born, but I never heard anyone mentioning anything. The closest is the disappearances you mentioned, around twenty years ago. The case was said to be solved, but the bodies were never found. Who knows what they did with them?

"And now too, I've seen nothing strange nor heard anything weird. The thefts are an exception, but I hope there's nothing extraordinary about them. I don't think your arrival triggered anything, I suspect you, arriving here, is the first extraordinary thing to happen. Not that visitors are that uncommon, but you can't ignore the fact that you raise some suspicion, even if by misfortunate coincidence alone." Temke stops. He doesn't want to make baseless accusations. "But anyway, there are very few remaining of the first settlers here. There were three last year, but they weren't in the greatest health back then. They might have already left us."

“Well, I’m out of ideas.  There’s nothing here.  It’s a bit cleaner now.  Should we keep looking or move on?” Tess seems a bit dejected- she really thought something would be found.  She finishes up the tidying in the kitchen area and hangs up the damp rag she’d been using to clean.    “It’s frustrating not having any idea what we’re dealing with- or who- if it is a who at all and not just some strange disease.   What next? “ 

“Is there any way we can speak with these old-timers, can you point us in their direction?  It may be worthwhile to learn more of the history of the town and Sier.” Randal asks Temke, then turns to the others “There appears to be nothing here.  I am fine with finding a house by the cemetery, we can use that for the night and plan our next steps.  Unless you all would like to return to the inn?”

"No, I am quite happy with that plan," Lyla replies. "Even if there was something to find here that we missed, another search would probably only yield the same results. I'm sure talking with the first settlers will be a better use of our time, if we can find them."

"I could take you to them, but... perhaps another day. There are a few more things I wish to do before tomorrow, and even now at the height of summer, there are only a few more hours of daylight. Ask me again the day after the festival?" Temke already begins to walk towards the door, without waiting for your response to his words. "Oh, and if you do go searching for an empty house," he pokes his head back through the open door, "do make sure it's actually abandoned. It shouldn't be too hard to tell if someone's been living there or not. May Oruthia keep you all safe."

(If anyone wishes to chase him, you can still do it. However, he does not wait for you.)