Devol - who, thanks to Disguise Self, currently looks like an androgynous dark-haired elf with bare arms covered in maritime-themed tattoos -  shrugged. "I dunno, never seen a 'nothing' with that much blood before."

Three men are on their knees with their hands behind their heads as City Watch officers frisk them. None of them are recognizable as members of one gang or another, but Cyrano notes that none of them are sporting bald heads or skull tattoos which, based on their previous encounter might suggest a Xanatharian alliance (although only the leader they encountered in The Yawning Portal was decorated in such a way.)

A couple of the bodies have small, 6-inch-long bolts and smaller 3-inch-long needles protruding skyward out of the backs of their skulls. These are projectiles typically associated with hand-crossbows and blowguns - delicate and expensive weapons not often used by common street thugs, who tend to favor simpler, cheaper blunt-force tools of violence.

One of the City Watchmen notices the party lingering and this time stops what they are doing an approaches. "I said BE OFF, and unless you'd like a tour of the 'Dungeon Ward', I'd suggest you heed my direction, scabs..." he says with a forceful tone.

Cyrano takes note of the projectiles before attempting to usher the others along.

Perception: 15

"Hey, I ain't no scab," Devol growls, but starts backing off at Cyrano's urging, opting in stead to mutter. "My pappy was a union man..." As they move off, she says, even quieter and in Gnomish to Cyrano, "Who the hell's using a damn firing squad?"

Lebron does his best to keep a low profile, while taking note of the City Watchmen squad. Wasn't there someone there he knew, someone he could likely know as a source of information later on ?

If not these men, he figured he'd ask his contacts to see if some palms could be greased, so as to get some insight into their investigation later... As his old ma used to say: "Every bit of know is better than knowing nothing at all".

He stepped aside, not wishing to attract undue attention to himself: after all, if he knew some of these men, a few of them could also know him, disguise or not.

Having pulled out her large cloak, she put it on over her armor and then put a wool hat to over her crystalin hair.  Without magic, this was the most inconspicuous she could get.  Keeping her head down, she followed the others.  She stole a quick look at the murdered men and then at the men being rounded up.  As the police simultaneously tried to move then along and insult them, Terrlynn clenched her fist.  Her fingers ground into the the palm of her hand and the faint sound of crushing rock occurred at the same time.  She took a calming breath and pressed on with the others. 

Cyrano would easily recognize the 6-inch bolts as being of drow construction, he is unsure of the make on the shorter blowgun darts.

While Lebron did have a few contacts within the City Watch, none of them seemed to be present at this investigation.

The party did as they were instructed and moved along, taking note of the apprehended men's faces. A few more blocks down the road, on the corner of Zastrow Street and Fillet Lane is a shop that stands out from the others with a peculiar window display: it has a deep purple facade, and in its window hangs a stuffed beholder. Above the door hangs a weather-beaten sign whose elaborate letters spell out the name “Old Xoblob Shop.”

"Look lively, we're not far from the skewered dragon." Says Cyrano.

"Liv-er-ly, what ? Damn, old boy, Lebron be the one who be putting the Y into Lively, y'all just watch for it !" Lebron answers somewhat flippantly, puffing out his scrawny chest theatrically and flashing the company a much-too-wide and flashy grin.

"Hey by the by, there used to be a Rock Gnome buddy of yers thinkin' HE  be the darn Beholder still operatin' this-here shop, did ye know that ? Maybe the fool still there, too !" he adds, pointing a thumb towards the stuffed Eye Tyrant. "May be worth a gander, or ? I mean, if Pretty Boy Floon be really gone - or worse ! - he won't be mindin' a-waitin' a few more minutes for his gallant rescuers, now will he ?"

"Yeah Xoblob and I go back. We should definitely check with him. Could be he's heard something or at least might know who to ask." agrees Cyrano, before leading the group inside.

When the characters enter, they quickly get a sense of the strangeness of the place:

A cloud of lavender-scented purple smoke trails out of the shop’s door as you peer inside. Every wall is painted purple, and every dusty knickknack on the shelves is dyed a deep violet. The hairless old gnome sitting cross-legged on the counter wears plum-colored robes. His cheeks are decorated with nine purple face-painted eyes.

The gnome lowers a pipe and exhales a cloud of lavender smoke before raising a hand. “Greetings! And, oh, friend Cyrano...lovely to see you once again. You've brought friends with you! Welcome to the Old Xoblob Shop. Hope you like purple...that's all we have here. So, what's brings you by?"

Cyrano smiles wide and greets his friend with a firm handshake. "This here is Devol, Lebron, and Terrlynn." Cyrano leans in a bit and says, "Just saw some watch cleaning up a mess. Looked like blow gun darts and hand crossbow bolts." Cyrano raises an eyebrow with a forward tilt of his head in a "you know what I mean" gesture. He knew the best way to get something from old Xoblob was to offer up a little info of your own. "Just thought you should know." Suddenly standing up straight he claps his hands together softly and says "Now the real reason we're here. We need to find someone. I'll let my associates explain."

"Ah, yes...the mass melee turned into a mass murder, it seems..." says Xoblob in a low, conspiratorial voice. Cyrano did not know Xoblob too intimately, but well enough to know that the real commodity the gnome collected - and traded in - was intrigue. "It happened this morning as I was on my way here. Several cargo ships arrived late last night and as soon as they were done with the offload, all the hands headed off to the taverns. The drunks were pouring out of the taverns to go and find their beds and it would seem that a group of Zhents happened upon some of Xanather's boys. Words were all that was exchanged at first, but then I saw the first Zhent fall after a hail of bolts hit him in the back. Interestingly enough, at the same time, a man from the other side took a pair of blowgun needles to the neck. Both sides retaliated, thinking they had been aggressed upon first and well, when the dust settled all but three were dead."

The gnome leaned back and crossed his arms as he raised a knowing eyebrow. He pulled his pipe to his lips and took a long, slow inhale letting out a heavy cloud of thick, purple vapor. "So, you were saying you are in search of someone...svirfneblin? Perhaps an old girlfriend? I've shuttled a few here since you arrived...I could perhaps point you in their direction, if that is what you are after..." said Xoblob before dragging his pipe once again.

Devol crossed her arms, glancing around the shop before focusing on Xoblob. She grunts a bit, listening to the account of the fight, then spoke up. "Human actually. Name of Floon. Male. Early thirties. Red-blond hair. Fancy dresser. Allegedly 'handsome.'" She did air quotes for the word handsome. "Gambler and a blabber mouth, was at the Skewered Dragon. Ring any bells?"

"Ah, Floon Blagmar..." singsongs Xoblob, "he is exactly as you have described him. The man has the facial features of a god rendered in flesh and bone, that one. And a mouth that never stops moving...I'd wager he even talks himself to sleep every night. He was with, uh..." the old gnome stops himself and redirects the topic. "You know I have just the thing for you," he says to Devol as he pulls a silver chain dangling a large purple pendant from a drawer. "Amethyst, my dear," he says holding it out as if signaling her to try it on. "It would look absolutely ravishing against your crimson skin..."

Cyrano picks up on the verbal redirect and refuses to let  Xoblob wiggle out of the answer. "Yeah I'm sure it would and now you can tell us who Floon was with. Look...if its fear that's holding you back, don't worry about it. Nobody will know it was you who told us."

(OCC: Help given to the next persuasion roll.)

"What Cy here said," Lebron intervenes with his trademark ingratiating smile, "Lebron Rhoose, a pleasure to finally meet the Man Himself... or I should say, the Gnome. Yer reputation precedes ya, you sure is one of the Real Deals in town, uh ?" he says, shaking Xoblob's hand flatteringly before switching to a more businesslike tone:

"As he says, we is here kinda... on the down-low, if you get my meanin' ?" Lebron explains, pointing at his and some of his companions' disguises to illustrate his point, "so you bet we ain't gonna be yappin' about none of what gonna be talked about in 'ere, Word ! Why would we, rite ? Also..." he adds conspiratorially, "... from what you tellin' us about that buncha happenings in the hood, seems like someone be lookin' to be settin' up Zs and Xs for a major scrap, so there be things to hear and see on that front too, what ?" 

His smile is a lot colder this time, more calculating. "I say we make a deal: you be tellin' us what you  know, and we gets to bring ya what we finds out from 'ere on out. Fair trade. Whaddaya say, mmh ?"

SUCCESS: "Alright, fine," says Xoblob, "Floon and a well-dressed fellow of similar appearance and bearing were jumped outside the shop by rough-looking men in black leather armor. I think there were five attackers, but none of them looked familiar, although one of them had a black tattoo of a winged snake on his neck. It was after hours and so I had to stay hidden, lest they barge in and kidnap me too...been there, done that, thank you very much."

"Mmmh, see ? That's what I'm talking about..." Lebron nodded, turning to Cyrano and the others, "Now, if we can check the exact spot and whereabouts, let's be chasin' after signs of that fight and all: folks be known to tear scraps off each-other in situations like that, might be we finds us bits and bobs that can tell us more ?"

"They were likely drinking at The Skewered Dragon if they were here at that time of night. The only other reason to be around the docks that hour is if they were trying to smuggle something - or someone - on or off one of the boats," says Xoblob.