The Forgotten Wish

Breldo will continue looking around, letting one of the party more in love with the sound of their own voice be the one to speak up.

Through most of the journey, Nuria spent her time tailing Breldo, trying to hide from the world, while also trying to look at everything...which ends up causing her to take in almost none of the surroundings. This doesn't change much when they enter the disheveled town, rather it gets slightly worse.

When the stranger approaches, she stiffens and her eyes dart between her party members, not wanting to speak to the man.

"Yes boss Pallen, the sheep were okay last Rick saw. Rick is sure the colors faded after a few weeks!"

When the man asks why they are here, Rick looks to Pallen or Khond to answer.

Pallen would presumably be pinching his brow, if his hands hadn't lost the motion to be able to do that, when each of the group turns to look at each other to be the one speaking up... But seems willing to be the one giving a response to the concerned villager if no one else is.

Khond gives a slight bow with his upper torso, horse half tethered as it is.  "Greetings to you, good sir.  Our group is passing through the area, escorting this man here to visit an old family haunt.  Is there perhaps anywhere in the village that we could rest the night?"

The man tilts his head at first, curiously, though it seems obvious that he at least has his initial reservations about merely passing through, their village by all means a dead end. Although at the mentioning of a "family haunt", and finally taking a glance at the elf, the only in the cart, it appears as if the man has a sudden hint of recognition, his body language showing his body physically short-circuiting as he falls silent. When he finds his voice again, it's initially stumbling.

"Ah- Sorry, I think I understand. Did you... It was seven years or so ago that you passed by here, right?" he says, staring directly at Pallen who winces, offering a wry nod- Even as the man struggles over his own words and quickly continues.

"Anyway, I apologize. We don't really have a proper inn, and things have been rather... Tense, for the past few weeks, here..."

"We came by way of Mezzra, I had heard word of some troubles down here.", Breldo chimes in.

Hearing that, the man seems to instantly lighten up a bit.

"Ah, they finally passed the message through? I'm glad! We didn't manage to get help directly at Passley, so we've been waiting for someone to come out for a while," the man says, some measure of relief evident in his voice as he steps forward. He does glance at Pallen one more time, as if about to ask what than even the deal with the man half-dead is, then decides he's got other priorities. A hand reaches out to Breldo first to greet, but given it's taken he looks to extend each greeting with a strong grip.

"Name's Boris. We don't really have a village leader or anything, but you can consider me as the representative for... The whole thing that's been happening. My daughter and two sons have been affected, as have some of the other families youngsters. We don't have a lot, but we pooled resources together to reward you appropriately. Although..."

"Well, let's talk somewhere proper, right? We can find some place for you to stay the night too, I've an attic that's being unused for at least one or two of y'all. Let's head over to Gertrude's? Wouldn't call it a proper tavern, but it's where we usually share pints."

Rick looks over to Boss Pallen,

"Rick wonders if we can find a place on the ground floor a couple? Perhaps near a stable?"

He'll walk along to Gertrude's while Boris thinks on that.

"From what we saw of the guard in Passley, I doubt you Vanstrom was ever going to send any assistance.", Breldo says wryly as he shakes the man's hand.

"Good to meet you Boris, I'm Breldo."

Boris greets Breldo's initial greeting with some enthusiasm, chiming in his own thoughts.

"Yeah, you'd figure his royal majesty would show some concern over the people of its domain, but I guess we were never really looking for some guards that'd do nothing," he says, before turning slightly to Slick... And admittedly glancing not so subtly at Khond as well, though it was evident he had been doing that for a while now.

"Gerson has a stable. No kids, but everyone is in on this whole endeavor, so we can sway him to lend a spot to your friend and maybe a room or two, yes," the man says, pausing a long time as if considering being proper... Then can resist no longer.

"So a centaur, really? I swore you guys were fairy tale stuff... I told my dear Holly as much, so I'm going to get an earful of her if she sees you, hah,"

On that note they soon arrive at "Gertrude's", the place indistinct from most other buildings on a first glance, though its inside differed in the form of several tables being set up, a card game seemingly abandoned on one of the tables, a few kegs of ale against the far wall together with tankards... And a middle-aged woman in the midst of doing laundry from the other room, messy brown curls seeming instantly distrustful upon seeing the group enter, though holds an almost immediate mood switch hearing Boris relay that these adventurers are here to help with the issues they've been having. Invited to come sit around one of the tables, a few glasses are being poured and served while the lumberjack speaks up once more.

"Okay, I suppose I should begin at the start what all's been happening? But first... I do have to be honest in that you might already be too late."

"Ah, in a good way I mean, sort of. All the kids are fine, as far as we know. But since about a week, the events have been getting... Less frequent and less strange, and nothing happened since three days ago. Frankly, if it had been another week of nothing happening we'd probably rescind the offer, but as things stand..."

"We still have a whole lot of questions, a whole lot of worries. Pay is still there, if you can get us answers, or guarantees it's all over. And if nothing happens or is found... Well, we'll at least pay you guys a portion for your time. Does that sound fair?"

"Glad I am to hear that the kids are all right, but perhaps if you could fill us in, from the beginning? How long ago did things start?"

Rick gushes along with Boris at Khond's being a centaur,

"Rick knows! Khond is a centaur! Khond is also so very much shorter than Rick expected a horseman would be!"

Rick straightens to his full height from his perpetual slouch and is a bit taller than Khond,

"Rick never expected to be taller than a horseman, Rick means ponyman!"

Rick pats Khond on the shoulder and returns to his slouching.

He listens with interest to what is going on and says to Khond,

"Rick will bring Khond a beer? Rick will also bring Khond all the... wait no. Rick sees a window there, Rick will open the window and Khond can lean in and listen. Rick will move a table over there too so Khond and Rick can have a table together!"

Rick does all of this, helping Pallen down and into a chair first and then moving him to Rick and Khond's table.

"Boss Pallen okay?

"We certainly are few and far between, and the few of us there are don't tend to stick around in one place too long.  And thank you, Rick, I appreciate the consideration."

Some arrangements need to be made for some of the party of course- After some initial hesitation Gertrude seems okay with letting a bonafida centaur enter her home, mostly because she's too stunned to really protest, although just opening a window would work... And Pallen manages to get out and seated with just a bit of assistance of initially getting up, and slugging himself over with heavy stone steps. There is a notable look from both Boris and Gertrude as he does, but no objections are raised at this time.

"Right, right, of course, I'll tell you everything I know. I just wanted to make sure from the start that you were aware the contract might be a bit different than initial, yeah? Say if it's really over, and you can't find anything but still help make sure everything is alright over the next few days. Well, maybe half the original payment?"

"Sorry, don't mean to scam any of you fair folk or such, it's just that circumstances changed. I know some old stubborn knots here will probably say we don't even need cha anymore. I'm sticking out my neck cuz... I want answers," he says, his tone for a moment filled with a need, before he continues.

"But I suppose you should get the info you can first. Just... Realize we aren't all in this for some kind of elaborate prank, yeah?" he starts, by now it seems obvious he is almost hesitant to start getting into details, for reasons that would soon become obvious. 

Namely that anyone spouting this kind of stuff in a tavern would get told he should have quit five beers ago.

"It started about three weeks ago. We expected nothing was wrong until it was my wife who woke up in the morning and shrieked to find all the kids' beds empty. While a whole bunch of us folk start looking and hoping it's some kind of stupid prank, we discover it's not ours, but other families too. Dozen kids and youngsters in total. Oldest was Clyde who I don't even really consider a kid anymore, but apparently he was for all this."

"As we are in the midst of this panicked search, no clue how this could have happened with no one noticing, it's nearing noon when all of them start slowly walking out of the forest. We were right pissed we were. Figured it was some kind of stupid prank they all got into, but none of them would confess, all said they didn't remember what happened, and we made damn sure they would have talked. Just relieved in the end, and after due punishments we figured it was over."

"And then it happened again the next night. John came over yelling his kid disappeared while it was still pitch black out, and the same happened to mine. Same thing in the morning. We started keeping watch the next night, but never caught anyone. One night I even just pulled the youngest into the bed together with my wife, and another time I stayed up in their room, but..."

He falls silent for a long moment.

"...The most logical explanation is someone that can see in the dark, and probably with the help of some kind of drugs," he says, but it seems pretty evident that isn't what he is really thinking is happening.

"Did it happen after those two nights? When you kept watch, did any of the kids vanish on your watch?"

Sylvera follows along begrudgingly, clearly put off by the lack of a proper inn. She tries to seem unconcerned about these... apparent disappearances, especially since the kids apparently came back... Regardless, she feels like she's missing something, having not been notified of this problem earlier. This wasn't something she signed up for after all, so why would she have come prepared? All she was here for was to see Pallen to his final resting place and... well, that will come whenever they reach their destination. If the others here are so intent on seeing to whatever this towns woes are, then perhaps it would be best to help things hurry along. ...If she can get caught up now that she stopped paying attention that is. 

She takes in Gertrude's with a skeptical eye, looking very much unimpressed. Ugh, she really isn't looking forward to seeing what sort of sleeping quarters they are going to have. But that is a problem for tonight. "So let me get this straight," she says abruptly. "Your kids all went missing all at once, then showed up all at once but apparently have no memory of leaving. Now some old fools thought everything would just go back to normal, so they didn't want outside help after all, but now the events have happened repeatedly." She crosses her arms, "Are you sure they aren't all hooked on drugs? Maybe doing some shady deal? That could explain the convenient memory loss." She sniffs, but after a moment her composure falters and she says in a less certain voice, "Or perhaps you are right and it is someone using drugs, but what would they want with a bunch of peas.... ehem... children? What would they be doing with them at night?" Some... less than agreeable thoughts run through her head, causing her to shutter slightly, "Why would they go through the trouble to kidnap them only to let them go again?" She regains her previous demeanor, "Something is not right. Are you sure the kids themselves don't have something to do with it?" 

Oren doesn't move and is listening intently as the man speaks.  "Does seem like a made up story, it is so odd.  Not that I don't believe you, but...yes, it is so elaborate, I doubt the kids came up with it themselves." 

(If we leave in the morning early, how soon will we get to Pallen's final resting place?  And do we know exactly what else we have to do there for him?   Time wise, is why I'm asking.)

Rick listens but doesn't have any questions beyond the ones asked.

"It happened every night since then," Boris nods grimly. "At least for a solid week, including nights I kept watch. At some point John had his kids stay up through the night and sleep during the day, which seemed to work, but they get so rowdy when it's so dark they can't do anything, it's hard to keep up. It also just got... Less intense, as time passed, until where we are now. Clyde- Boy helped stay up after a while both to not get caught and help us out, claims he think he saw someone in the treeline at some point, but we never managed to confirm that," he says, pondering for a moment if there is anything else he's missing, when Sylvera gives her own initial... Dismissive, statement. Hearing some of the options of phrasing causes initial anger- And, frankly, the only reason he doesn't blow an outright gasket is because even the haughty noblewoman has her composure falter a bit as some hint of worry seems to come through her continued questioning.

"Oh, sure thing! I bet all of the kids just all together decided to go lick mushrooms in the middle of the night, for some reason, and not a single one of them squealed! Or maybe one of them found the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow and has been getting good shit hauled over from the far south! How could we not have considered that?!"

He grunts, displeased, and finishes with an "You're welcome to ask them yourselves if you want. Maybe you can get something out of them we couldn't," he finishes, with a final turn to Oren.

"Exactly. Especially because if they were really up to something, it'd have to be something tremendous to keep silent over it... And that they wouldn't try to trick us with some obviously false story rather than claim they have no idea of what happened. Last thing all of them claim to remember is walking back out of the woods in the morning."

(If we leave in the morning early, how soon will we get to Pallen's final resting place?  And do we know exactly what else we have to do there for him?   Time wise, is why I'm asking.)

(From what Pallen has said, it is probably around a half day of travel from here. Nobody has asked Pallen what exactly needs be done there however.)