"Yes, thank you," Randall echoes Ankita's words.  "And how large was this delegation?  Five?  Ten?  Twenty?  Were they warriors?  Or diplomats?"

The fellow at the bar smiles at Shrek, glad to have an ear.

"Thanks! Yes, I saw them for sure. I was coming north towards Beliard and ran into them about 10 miles south of town. Later on I saw a group of five warriors in sky-blue armor and white cloaks, flying on giant vultures. They flew overhead, turned around went south, the same way the delegation folks were. I didn't think much of it at the time, but now that everyone's talking about them gone missing..."

Quote from Bartjeebus >>

"Yes, thank you," Randall echoes Ankita's words.  "And how large was this delegation?  Five?  Ten?  Twenty?  Were they warriors?  Or diplomats?"

"It was sizeable. 10 people or so id say, diplomats, plus a whole coterie of guards."

Melchor, figuratively holding his nose at the rustic nature of the establishment, perks up at the mention of the vulture-flying warriors.

’Ten to fifteen miles south of town…’ he says thoughtfully ‘I suspect we’ll find evidence of an attack, perhaps a kidnapping…? I stand by my first instincts with those vultures…’

As Neshor goes back to his business, a server shows up with some tasty looking rabbit stew and a round of ale. She hesitates for a moment after dropping the food off and speaks up "Sorry, I couldn't help but overhear. When that delegation was here there was a strange man, a monk I think, wearing a stone mask watching them a bit too closely. When they left to south he followed them, though I think he was trying to be sly about it. I've heard of those warriors on vultures. Don't see them out this way much; I've heard they mostly keep to Feathergale Spire"

Ankita smiles up at the server, thanking her for the food, drink and information.  "Thank you miss, we really appreciate it.  Any chance there are rooms available for us for the evening?  We'd probably want to start following this group first thing in the morning."

Shrek spends the next hour regaling stories of blundered postal deliveries from years ago to his new bar buddies, while pounding down enough ale to flatline a mere mortal.  Coin purse a little lighter, head in the clouds, and body barely able to walk a semi-straight line, he eventually heads to the room he rented earlier (OOC: per @kqstark's post above).

Randall clunks a chainmail gloved down on the table.  "Bollocks.  Figures.  We were right there with those buzzard-riders."

Nothing to be done about it now, though, but get some sleep and start fresh again in the morning.  Tired from the day's travel, and a little frustrated to learn the answers they seek may be right back the way from which they came, he also looks into getting a room and retiring early.

(OOC: my bad, in my head Beliard was right by that bridge on the river.)

Rivergard Keep, where you caught the boat, is on the river directly west of Summit Hall.

Feathergale Spire is in those hills near the Larch Path.

The graves are between Summit Hall and Red Larch, near the foot of those hills

Mirabar is north of Triboar,

The server nods and goes to fetch Neshor, who is happy to have customers. "Yes, we so happen to have some rooms available. 1 gp each room for the night, and I'll include a breakfast for you too!"

The night passes uneventfully. When you come down, Neshor is hard at work cooking, and the smell of egg and sausage fills the air. "Don't want to start a hike without a good breakfast! Will you all be back this evening?"

Between gulps of ale (what's with this gentle giant anyways?!  Ale for breakfast?!) and copious amounts of eggs and sausage, Shrek manages to respond "Bed...comfy...for...gooooooood!  Shrek...and....friends...go...find...delly-gashion!  Many...thanks..."

Olaerys says “We don’t know yet, I guess it depends on what we find.  That smells delicious!”

Ankita digs in, enjoying the spread that Neshor had laid out for them. "Thank you for your hospitality, and like Olaerys said, we aren't sure where our path will lead us."

Finishing up, she starts heading for the door, "Well, shall we get going?  They already have a head start on us, lets see what we can find heading South."

Randall likewise digs-in to a hearty breakfast.

Over mouth fulls of food he discusses their options.  "So... we think this delegation... was ambushed somewhere south of here between Beliard... and Summit Hall."

"We know some weirdo in a stone mask was stalking them... and we also know some of those buzzard knights were... flying in pursuit as well."

"And we know a Mirabar guard... a buzzard knight... and a guy with stone armor were all killed or buried in the hills near the buzzard knight's tower... back across the river."

"The buzzard knights claim they... are at odds with the stone guys."

He finishes eating and wipes his face with the back of a shirtsleeve.  "I think we may find more evidence south of here, where the fight, or ambush, or whatever it was occurred.  That said, I think it's clear the buzzard knights know more than they let on.  I worry they may have the delegation prisoners.  But... the stone figures... we don't truly know how they fit in yet.  It is possible they are the aggressors and attackers of the delegation, and the buzzard knights may have just gotten involved by chance.  I doubt it... but as much as I would be tempted to turn around and make haste back to that Feathergale place... I do think we need more information to confirm what really happened."

"I agree that we should head south first, and then make a decision once we find the site of the attack."

"Shrek agree" he adds, although he understood little of the conversation....he's dumb that way.  "Let's head south...find attack place.  Keep eyes open wide.  Me thinks ambush might happen to us as well!"

Picking at his food, a perpetual frown on his face as he sits inside himself, thinking, Melchor finally lets out a long sigh.

’There are no good options here - we’re at the edges of something we don’t understand and we need more information before we blunder into something we don’t walk away from. I agree with you, Randall. We head south to what is likely the scene of an attack, and see what more we can learn about what appears to be a war in the shadows.’ he pauses for a moment’s additional thought ‘The scale of what we’re facing is not inconsiderable - we must tread carefully here…’

Trying to cheer up Melchor, Shrek not-so-gently slaps him on the back and gleefully exclaims "Cheer up mate!  Shrek good at treading carefully.  Twinkle Toes Shrek they call me!"

Ankita quickly stifles a laugh at that, but loves the enthusiasm.  She doesn't know Melchor very well as he appears to kind of keep to himself, "We'll do our best and keep our sense about ourselves.  I don't know about you, but the rest helped me a lot."