When Pelo comes downstairs, after cleaning up himself and the mess, he sees Shagrin standing there. “Hello friend. Are you waiting for me?”

"Yes. The others have already left. Are you ready?" replies Shagrin in is typical no nonsense way.

Not sure what is going on, Pelo nods at Shagrin and follows him to the keep. The young dwarf seems to have a purpose and Pelo is curious.

Shagrin and Pelo catch up with the others. The town is abuzz with festive energy this morning as locals set up stalls and hang decorations. Ahead, the road to Thornwall Keep climbs a low hill toward an ancient edifice, ghostly in the morning mist.

As you pass along the streets towards the keep, the door to a local bakery opens and Darrett, carrying a full cloth sack, walks out. "Oh, I'm glad I caught you all!", he says cheerily. "I hope you haven't had breakfast already, I just finished picking up some treats for us all. Shall we head back to the keep together?"

Wilberforce is touched by Darrett's kindness and says 'Thank you very much, how considerate'. He relieves Darrett of the bag and gives him a snail shell in return. He then rummages through the bag as they walk to the keep, alternatively stuffing treats into his mouth and passing them out to the others.

[OOC] If Darrett checks the shell he will discover a small snail inside. I assume that a nature check would reveal if it is poisonous :-)

Ori happily partakes of the baked goods as we walk towards the keep. Humming to herself and enjoying the warm sun and the chatter of common fold attending to their business.

Shagrin follows the band of Ispin acquaintances up the hill. His head held high and shield gleaming in the sun. He projects what one would expect the embodiment of a good soldier to look like.

(OCC: Why would you give him a poisonous snail? If you thought it was going to matter then why not just say it isn't?)

Darrett accepts the snail's shell from Wilberforce, taking a look at it. "It's very pretty," he says, "what can you tell me about it?" He then notices that there is a snail inside of it. "Oh, it seems this one is occupied," he says. "Maybe I should put it down on a plant or something? Let it go on its way?"

Wilberforce considers for a moment, strains his mind and then says with pride at having remembered something for once ‘I’m not sure what species it is. I found it on one of the dead bodies that Ori and I discovered in the woods’. 

Having wandered towards the keep earlier, Calitynia had spent a little bit of time to glance at a few of the shops and watch some putting up decorations. Having climbed much of the way up the hill heading towards the keep, she had now paused to glance out over the town and the morning mists.  Now as she sees the other friends of Ipsin approaching, she waves at them. As they get a bit closer she greets them. "Good morning. Looks like everyone must have got the message from Cudgel last night?" 

After possibly having some information from Yalme regarding young heckler in the fancy clothes, the white-haired half-elf finishes another ale and makes his way upstairs. He lies awake for some time in his bed, pondering the eventful day, curious to see what old Ispin would have left for him, a letter of advice on how to handle himself socially perhaps he thinks with a soft chuckle. He dreams about a dark forest and people in black cloaks, coming closer but always staying at the corners of his eyes.

As he wakes up to Wilberforce shouting in the corridor outside he gets up and peeks out his door, politely declining the offered gruel. "Thanks, that is considerate of you my friend but I'm not quite ready to eat just yet. I'll be down in a moment though." He says with a smile, then closing the door, quickly getting washed up and dressed before going downstairs to join the others as they make their way up towards Lady Becklin's keep, staying uncharacteristically silent during the walk, hoping to not furher aggravate any of the others also invited to the keep although he notes the white-haired solamnic knight is not among them, only the two dwarves and the two kenders from yesterday.

As they run into Darrett, the half-elf breaks out into a wide smile. "Top of the morning Darrett, hope you slept well." He says, walking up beside the squire, giving Wilberforce a curious smile as the kender helps himself to the sack from the bakery but gratefully accepting a sweet roll that the old kender shares around. "So, will we be meeting Lady Becklin now then?" He asks the squire as they near the keep, chewing on a second sweet roll.

As Calitynia comes into view he gives her an apprehensive wave and a small smile, trying to discern if she is still mad at him.

(Sorry about losing the question about the heckler!) Yalme informed Daryan about the young man in the fancy clothes who heckled the reception last night. Apparently his name is Bakaris "the Younger", a noble from Estwilde who has established himself as a local nuisance along with his father, Bakaris "the Elder". Rumor is he murdered the son of a local leader of Estwilde during a duel, and he and his father moved to Vogler to escape consequences.

Darrett is putting down the snail and is about to lead the party up the hill when he hears Wilberforce's explanation. "Wait. What's this about dead bodies in the woods?"

Daryan too reacts to what Wilberforce mentions about dead bodies he and Ori found in the woods and listens attentively for how he will answer Darrett.

(No worries Joan. Bakaris huh, name sounds familiar somehow? ;-)

‘Oh there were a bunch of dead bodies in the woods. We didn’t kill them, we just buried them. It was such a nice time, that was when I first saw Ori again. I will always treasure that memory.’ Wilberforce takes another bite of his pastry and then continues ‘These are very nice by the way. Oh and a vole said they were killed by cloaked creatures, with shiny scales and sharp claws. The people who were killed I mean, the vole hadn’t been killed. I cannot speak to dead voles. Well I guess I could, but they wouldn’t answer back would they.’. 

"So, where was this Wilberforce, was it close to Vogler?" Daryan asks, seemingly troubled by what he hears.

Being asked where something is triggers Wilberforce’s interest in a way that dead bodies just don't, he is a wild guide after all.  He stops, pulls out some maps and indicates to anyone who is interested where he and Ori found the bodies and the wagon. He then rolls up his maps and continues on the way to the keep, with a few of the pastries added to his pouches.

[OOC] Wilberforce has the Wanderer feature from his background. ‘You have an excellent memory for maps and geography, and you can always recall the general layout of terrain, settlements, and other features around you.’

The hairs on the back of Shagrins neck rise as he hears the kenders tale. His alert level rises when Wilberforce describes the cloaked scaly figures.

Pelo walks over to the Wilberforce and squats down, slightly, to look him in the eyes. "Tell me, little father, how many dead were there? Had the remains been tampered with? Were the dead armed? Was anything obviously stolen from the wagon? Were there any signs of who the dead were or who these scaly monsters might be?"

Calitynia steps towards the group as Wilberforce pulls out a map and the discussion ensues. Pelo clearly asked plenty of questions for all of them. So she waits to see if there are any answers. 

Wilberforce is surprised people are so interested in this story, he finds dead bodies all the time, although they are normally animals. He scratches his head and says 'Sorry lad, I'm not really good with details and I wasn't paying that much attention to be honest. You would be best asking Ori if it's details you be wanting, I got most of my information from a vole'.