Normont looks up at the pair, wondering whether he confused them.
"That is fine, it is for me to investigate, there is no requirement for you two to go above your pay grade", he explains. "Under the rose bush, then? And you didn't see the grocer enter or leave from this gate? Thank you", he adds.
He then wanders over to towards the rose bush, stopping a little short so as not to contaminate the crime scene.
"I wonder if there are any tracks, or anything unusual", he says to the others, as he guidance focusses on carefully checking the area. He is looking for the grocer's tracks and anything else around the area that is unusual or leads to or from the exact point where the body was found.
Normont investigates the area thoroughly but it looks like there has been some degree of gardening efforts undertaken here since the body was found and there doesn't seem much of anything physical left to find....he does note a number of likely routes taken to this spot.....and.....if the grocer never went outside the gate then whatever happened to him must have happened inside the city walls.....that's if he didn't go outside. Its quite possible he went out while someone else was on watch......or these two just forgot.....
“What… erm… the grocer…,” Dev fumbles to the guards, picking up from Normont when the gnome starts to investigate the bushes, “…what did he look like? Did you see him? I mean I guess someone else might have been on duty. Unless he was found around this time in the morning?”
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DM for Candlekeep Mysteries //Dev Horndin Curious Critters
“What… erm… the grocer…,” Dev fumbles to the guards, picking up from Normont when the gnome starts to investigate the bushes, “…what did he look like? Did you see him? I mean I guess someone else might have been on duty. Unless he was found around this time in the morning?”
The guardswoman turned toward Dev, " Dead......he looked very dead.....I found him. I sent Bert here off to fetch the boss and they came and got him.....later on they said his skull was empty......bit weird if you ask me......."
Lokilia had stepped away from the guards, keeping a few steps behind Normont as he went to look for clues. "Not finding anything?" she asks. "I wonder who the man was. Doesn't seem like a grocer would be a target." She then adds, "Unless he became unnecessary," thinking about what had been said about Glinnick.
“What… erm… the grocer…,” Dev fumbles to the guards, picking up from Normont when the gnome starts to investigate the bushes, “…what did he look like? Did you see him? I mean I guess someone else might have been on duty. Unless he was found around this time in the morning?”
The guardswoman turned toward Dev, " Dead......he looked very dead.....I found him. I sent Bert here off to fetch the boss and they came and got him.....later on they said his skull was empty......bit weird if you ask me......."
"I mean... we already knew about the empty skull part...," Dev shivers, his eerie voice cracking slightly, "but, like. Aren't you curious? Who he was and why he was here? Like, what store does -- did -- he work at?"
He whispers to the others, "Was he a target? Or just..." his face scrunches up in distaste... "...food?"
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DM for Candlekeep Mysteries //Dev Horndin Curious Critters
"...And also," Dev continues after a moment in a whisper to the others, harsher now as he touches upon a thought that causes him to narrow his eyes in indignation, "Since the Nameless Ones know we are investigating them... I mean, this is kind of obvious right? A dead body just appears? Maybe it's meant to throw us off the track. They're usually more, like... careful. And if we're looking at this, we're not trying to find the missing Huntsman which is their, like, Ace in the hole. It makes me so mad that they're gambling with his life..."
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DM for Candlekeep Mysteries //Dev Horndin Curious Critters
Food, that's good. Werhann eats a small portion of the dried apples. The tack would be too hard and dry to eat as it is, and the liquor, at his current state, can't do any good. Dwarven resilience to poisons or not, he hasn't eaten or drank anything in too long to gamble on this. Werhann closes both crates and leaves everything but the dried apples he ate inside.
After listening at the door, he decides to leave it alone. Whatever is inside must be the source of the stench, he reasons, and in any case he wishes to avoid whoever is there.
Finally, ready to move onwards, Werhann begins sneaking up the other corridor, the one that slopes upwards. If there were traps inside, there might be more traps closer to the entrance to the place, he reasons, so he tries keeping alert to any slits, holes or ropes that might give away the presence of traps in the way.
"Nuts and bolts, no there are no clues here", Normont confirms to Lokilia, a little disappointed. "Ok, we move on. The dwarf disappeared investigating the woods to the west of here. I am not as comfortable in the wilds, so it is probably best once we exit the gate, that you take the lead, Lokilia", he suggests, passing on what Lady de Rolo had said of the disappearance. That the dwarf was part of a group of hunters searching the woods to the west for a reason as yet unknown, but apparently returned home with the other hunters. It was only later it was discovered he was missing, which could mean someone else returned in disguise. Or he might have gone missing later, but the woods are the best lead right now.
"I can of course send Amber to scout from above, but with the tree cover that might not produce results".
And so, if the others are ready, with a quick nod to the two Pale Guards he will lead the companions out the gate and towards the woods.
As mentioned, he will send Amber to scout once they have plotted a path.
Lokilia had stepped away from the guards, keeping a few steps behind Normont as he went to look for clues. "Not finding anything?" she asks. "I wonder who the man was. Doesn't seem like a grocer would be a target." She then adds, "Unless he became unnecessary," thinking about what had been said about Glinnick.
“What… erm… the grocer…,” Dev fumbles to the guards, picking up from Normont when the gnome starts to investigate the bushes, “…what did he look like? Did you see him? I mean I guess someone else might have been on duty. Unless he was found around this time in the morning?”
The guardswoman turned toward Dev, " Dead......he looked very dead.....I found him. I sent Bert here off to fetch the boss and they came and got him.....later on they said his skull was empty......bit weird if you ask me......."
"I mean... we already knew about the empty skull part...," Dev shivers, his eerie voice cracking slightly, "but, like. Aren't you curious? Who he was and why he was here? Like, what store does -- did -- he work at?"
He whispers to the others, "Was he a target? Or just..." his face scrunches up in distaste... "...food?"
" Oh.....he had a stall at the market square. His name was.....Kerrin....I think? Apparently he used to walk here all the time....I do remember seeing him wandering around but he wasn't really.....memorable...you know?"
"...And also," Dev continues after a moment in a whisper to the others, harsher now as he touches upon a thought that causes him to narrow his eyes in indignation, "Since the Nameless Ones know we are investigating them... I mean, this is kind of obvious right? A dead body just appears? Maybe it's meant to throw us off the track. They're usually more, like... careful. And if we're looking at this, we're not trying to find the missing Huntsman which is their, like, Ace in the hole. It makes me so mad that they're gambling with his life..."
"Nuts and bolts, no there are no clues here", Normont confirms to Lokilia, a little disappointed. "Ok, we move on. The dwarf disappeared investigating the woods to the west of here. I am not as comfortable in the wilds, so it is probably best once we exit the gate, that you take the lead, Lokilia", he suggests, passing on what Lady de Rolo had said of the disappearance. That the dwarf was part of a group of hunters searching the woods to the west for a reason as yet unknown, but apparently returned home with the other hunters. It was only later it was discovered he was missing, which could mean someone else returned in disguise. Or he might have gone missing later, but the woods are the best lead right now.
"I can of course send Amber to scout from above, but with the tree cover that might not produce results".
And so, if the others are ready, with a quick nod to the two Pale Guards he will lead the companions out the gate and towards the woods.
As mentioned, he will send Amber to scout once they have plotted a path.
The group of five moved out the gate and into the woods following the trail a short way.....
Quinn kept looking back toward the city then spat and focused ahead.
Lokilia readily follows Normont out the gate, then pauses as she realizes he had wanted her to take the lead. "Do we have an exact place? Or we just know he was out here investigating and are going to have to find the path?" she asks. Already she takes a moment to try to get her bearings in this forest. (Survival: 13, trying to get any ideas of where to start looking)
"Not a lot to go on, I know", Normont replies to Lokilia.
"But perhaps that was the purpose of the grocer, to supply food to some kind of hideout. I would assume there would be signs of how to get there, discreet ones of course, making markings on trees? Or perhaps tracks?", he says hopefully as he notices Lokilia start to look around. He past Lokilia on the back, giving her a very slight static shock that helps her focus.
"And if not, we can perhaps ask the gate guards if anyone leaves and arrives at a regular time, regardless of whether it is the same person, as they can use disguises. We could then hide and wait to follow them", he adds, obviously wracking his brain for ideas.
If he has time whilst she searches the area, he will look to calibrate his tools to detect magic, spending 10 minutes or so.
Food, that's good. Werhann eats a small portion of the dried apples. The tack would be too hard and dry to eat as it is, and the liquor, at his current state, can't do any good. Dwarven resilience to poisons or not, he hasn't eaten or drank anything in too long to gamble on this. Werhann closes both crates and leaves everything but the dried apples he ate inside.
After listening at the door, he decides to leave it alone. Whatever is inside must be the source of the stench, he reasons, and in any case he wishes to avoid whoever is there.
Finally, ready to move onwards, Werhann begins sneaking up the other corridor, the one that slopes upwards. If there were traps inside, there might be more traps closer to the entrance to the place, he reasons, so he tries keeping alert to any slits, holes or ropes that might give away the presence of traps in the way.
Werhann moves slowly along the sloping corridor drawing closer.....hopefully....to freedom. As he slowly ascends he notes some 20' ahead the corridor opens into a wide room and he can hear male voices conversing, " Think he's out yet? Squidys playing some sort of game....."
" Don't let it hear you calling it Squidy.....you'll end up on the menu."
" Or fed to the dogs.....or whatever it did to that gnome...."
" Eh, we're only on this duty because that fecking bristle-face hates us."
Lokilia readily follows Normont out the gate, then pauses as she realizes he had wanted her to take the lead. "Do we have an exact place? Or we just know he was out here investigating and are going to have to find the path?" she asks. Already she takes a moment to try to get her bearings in this forest. (Survival: 13, trying to get any ideas of where to start looking)
"Not a lot to go on, I know", Normont replies to Lokilia.
"But perhaps that was the purpose of the grocer, to supply food to some kind of hideout. I would assume there would be signs of how to get there, discreet ones of course, making markings on trees? Or perhaps tracks?", he says hopefully as he notices Lokilia start to look around. He past Lokilia on the back, giving her a very slight static shock that helps her focus.
"And if not, we can perhaps ask the gate guards if anyone leaves and arrives at a regular time, regardless of whether it is the same person, as they can use disguises. We could then hide and wait to follow them", he adds, obviously wracking his brain for ideas.
If he has time whilst she searches the area, he will look to calibrate his tools to detect magic, spending 10 minutes or so.
Lokilia leads the way into the woods not finding much of anything at first......eventually she finds a series of boot prints heading SW to NW through the forest, she also notes a strange semi-canine/feline print in a patch of mud seemingly headed in the same direction as the boots.....
Normont completes his ritual but can find nothing magical at this stage....
Quinn takes up position on the left flank as the group moves through the timberlands.
(OOC: Is this the Squid Game everyone is talking about? Idk, I didn't watch the show.)
So it is all intentional after all. Which, in turn, means his chances of escaping the place must be very slim. That is, unless that 'squid' intends for him to escape, he probably won't. And if it does... Werhann can't be sure that's the result he hopes for. Of course, it's always possible that things don't go according to the squid's plan, but Werhann didn't like feeling like a toy, a rat in a maze.
The guards don't sound especially enthusiastic about the "squidy" and its games, but they also sound fearful when talking about it, Werhann decides. Unless they were ordered to, he doubts they'll help him no matter what he offers them - which can't amount to much, truth be told. The question that remained was whether they would stand in his way, and Werhann didn't want to lose his advantage by trying to figure that out.
He needed a way to get past them or take them by surprise. In either case, he concludes, he'll need a distraction, but what can he use to distract them?"If only I had someone to help me," he mutters quietly, when suddenly, a Human materialises next to Werhann. As this comes as a surprise to Werhann, too, he instinctively draws his blade and immediately slashes the image, but the blade passes through it. 'An illusion?' He wonders, but before he can make sense of the situation, the illusion starts running into the room ahead. If Werhann can see a second exit to the room, the illusion sprints towards it. If not, it'll sprint straight towards the farthest point in the room that Werhann can see.
Werhann, meanwhile, presses against the wall and peeks into the room to see the guards and their reactions to whatever just happened.
Werhann casts Silent Image, forming a generic-looking Human dressed in the same manner that Werhann is (if he is at all?). The illusion produces no sound and can only move up to 60 ft. away, but its movement should look natural to any observer beyond these two limitations.
If possible, Werhann will try to Hide at the corner of the corridor leading to the room and peek into the room to see the guards' reactions. Stealth: 4+2=6.
Unless an hour or more has passed, Armor of Agathys should still be active.
"Not a lot to go on, I know", Normont replies to Lokilia.
"But perhaps that was the purpose of the grocer, to supply food to some kind of hideout. I would assume there would be signs of how to get there, discreet ones of course, making markings on trees? Or perhaps tracks?", he says hopefully as he notices Lokilia start to look around. He past Lokilia on the back, giving her a very slight static shock that helps her focus.
"And if not, we can perhaps ask the gate guards if anyone leaves and arrives at a regular time, regardless of whether it is the same person, as they can use disguises. We could then hide and wait to follow them", he adds, obviously wracking his brain for ideas.
If he has time whilst she searches the area, he will look to calibrate his tools to detect magic, spending 10 minutes or so.
Dev blinks in astonishment. Of course the bad guys would need food, and it would make sense for a grocer to be the one to bring it. How did Normont connect the dots so —seemingly—effortlessly? But not just connect the dots. The gnome suggests looking for tracks, such an abstract shot in the dark it seems at first. But then, Lokilia finds tracks!!! Dev knows that Normont controls subtle magic with exceptional nuance. But this… this is magic of a different order, almost as if he creates the clues he needs to solve a mystery.
Dev follows in silence, with a vague sense that speaking will break the spell, but also rapt in simple admiration for the brilliance of his friends.
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DM for Candlekeep Mysteries //Dev Horndin Curious Critters
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Normont investigates the area thoroughly but it looks like there has been some degree of gardening efforts undertaken here since the body was found and there doesn't seem much of anything physical left to find....he does note a number of likely routes taken to this spot.....and.....if the grocer never went outside the gate then whatever happened to him must have happened inside the city walls.....that's if he didn't go outside. Its quite possible he went out while someone else was on watch......or these two just forgot.....
Still....
“What… erm… the grocer…,” Dev fumbles to the guards, picking up from Normont when the gnome starts to investigate the bushes, “…what did he look like? Did you see him? I mean I guess someone else might have been on duty. Unless he was found around this time in the morning?”
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters
The guardswoman turned toward Dev, " Dead......he looked very dead.....I found him. I sent Bert here off to fetch the boss and they came and got him.....later on they said his skull was empty......bit weird if you ask me......."
Lokilia had stepped away from the guards, keeping a few steps behind Normont as he went to look for clues. "Not finding anything?" she asks. "I wonder who the man was. Doesn't seem like a grocer would be a target." She then adds, "Unless he became unnecessary," thinking about what had been said about Glinnick.
Rabbit Sebrica, Sorcerer || Skarai, Monk || Lokilia Vaelphin, Druid || Britari / Halila Talgeta / Jesa Gumovi || Neital Rhessil, Wizard || Iromae Quinaea, Cleric
Meira Dheran, Rogue || Qirynna Thadri, Wizard || Crisaryn Melkial, Sorcerer || Bronnryn Hethgar, Cleric
"I mean... we already knew about the empty skull part...," Dev shivers, his eerie voice cracking slightly, "but, like. Aren't you curious? Who he was and why he was here? Like, what store does -- did -- he work at?"
He whispers to the others, "Was he a target? Or just..." his face scrunches up in distaste... "...food?"
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters
"...And also," Dev continues after a moment in a whisper to the others, harsher now as he touches upon a thought that causes him to narrow his eyes in indignation, "Since the Nameless Ones know we are investigating them... I mean, this is kind of obvious right? A dead body just appears? Maybe it's meant to throw us off the track. They're usually more, like... careful. And if we're looking at this, we're not trying to find the missing Huntsman which is their, like, Ace in the hole. It makes me so mad that they're gambling with his life..."
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters
Lokilia finds herself nodding along with Dev's comments. "Yea, if we're not finding anything here, let's get moving to find our missing person!"
Rabbit Sebrica, Sorcerer || Skarai, Monk || Lokilia Vaelphin, Druid || Britari / Halila Talgeta / Jesa Gumovi || Neital Rhessil, Wizard || Iromae Quinaea, Cleric
Meira Dheran, Rogue || Qirynna Thadri, Wizard || Crisaryn Melkial, Sorcerer || Bronnryn Hethgar, Cleric
Food, that's good. Werhann eats a small portion of the dried apples. The tack would be too hard and dry to eat as it is, and the liquor, at his current state, can't do any good. Dwarven resilience to poisons or not, he hasn't eaten or drank anything in too long to gamble on this. Werhann closes both crates and leaves everything but the dried apples he ate inside.
After listening at the door, he decides to leave it alone. Whatever is inside must be the source of the stench, he reasons, and in any case he wishes to avoid whoever is there.
Finally, ready to move onwards, Werhann begins sneaking up the other corridor, the one that slopes upwards. If there were traps inside, there might be more traps closer to the entrance to the place, he reasons, so he tries keeping alert to any slits, holes or ropes that might give away the presence of traps in the way.
Varielky | Werhann
"Nuts and bolts, no there are no clues here", Normont confirms to Lokilia, a little disappointed. "Ok, we move on. The dwarf disappeared investigating the woods to the west of here. I am not as comfortable in the wilds, so it is probably best once we exit the gate, that you take the lead, Lokilia", he suggests, passing on what Lady de Rolo had said of the disappearance. That the dwarf was part of a group of hunters searching the woods to the west for a reason as yet unknown, but apparently returned home with the other hunters. It was only later it was discovered he was missing, which could mean someone else returned in disguise. Or he might have gone missing later, but the woods are the best lead right now.
"I can of course send Amber to scout from above, but with the tree cover that might not produce results".
And so, if the others are ready, with a quick nod to the two Pale Guards he will lead the companions out the gate and towards the woods.
As mentioned, he will send Amber to scout once they have plotted a path.
" Oh.....he had a stall at the market square. His name was.....Kerrin....I think? Apparently he used to walk here all the time....I do remember seeing him wandering around but he wasn't really.....memorable...you know?"
The group of five moved out the gate and into the woods following the trail a short way.....
Quinn kept looking back toward the city then spat and focused ahead.
Lokilia readily follows Normont out the gate, then pauses as she realizes he had wanted her to take the lead. "Do we have an exact place? Or we just know he was out here investigating and are going to have to find the path?" she asks. Already she takes a moment to try to get her bearings in this forest. (Survival: 13, trying to get any ideas of where to start looking)
Rabbit Sebrica, Sorcerer || Skarai, Monk || Lokilia Vaelphin, Druid || Britari / Halila Talgeta / Jesa Gumovi || Neital Rhessil, Wizard || Iromae Quinaea, Cleric
Meira Dheran, Rogue || Qirynna Thadri, Wizard || Crisaryn Melkial, Sorcerer || Bronnryn Hethgar, Cleric
"Not a lot to go on, I know", Normont replies to Lokilia.
"But perhaps that was the purpose of the grocer, to supply food to some kind of hideout. I would assume there would be signs of how to get there, discreet ones of course, making markings on trees? Or perhaps tracks?", he says hopefully as he notices Lokilia start to look around. He past Lokilia on the back, giving her a very slight static shock that helps her focus.
"And if not, we can perhaps ask the gate guards if anyone leaves and arrives at a regular time, regardless of whether it is the same person, as they can use disguises. We could then hide and wait to follow them", he adds, obviously wracking his brain for ideas.
If he has time whilst she searches the area, he will look to calibrate his tools to detect magic, spending 10 minutes or so.
Guidance (for Lokilia): 2
Werhann moves slowly along the sloping corridor drawing closer.....hopefully....to freedom. As he slowly ascends he notes some 20' ahead the corridor opens into a wide room and he can hear male voices conversing, " Think he's out yet? Squidys playing some sort of game....."
" Don't let it hear you calling it Squidy.....you'll end up on the menu."
" Or fed to the dogs.....or whatever it did to that gnome...."
" Eh, we're only on this duty because that fecking bristle-face hates us."
" Maybe he's still sitting in the cell? "
-4
-17
-10
Lokilia leads the way into the woods not finding much of anything at first......eventually she finds a series of boot prints heading SW to NW through the forest, she also notes a strange semi-canine/feline print in a patch of mud seemingly headed in the same direction as the boots.....
Normont completes his ritual but can find nothing magical at this stage....
Quinn takes up position on the left flank as the group moves through the timberlands.
(OOC: Is this the Squid Game everyone is talking about? Idk, I didn't watch the show.)
So it is all intentional after all. Which, in turn, means his chances of escaping the place must be very slim. That is, unless that 'squid' intends for him to escape, he probably won't. And if it does... Werhann can't be sure that's the result he hopes for. Of course, it's always possible that things don't go according to the squid's plan, but Werhann didn't like feeling like a toy, a rat in a maze.
The guards don't sound especially enthusiastic about the "squidy" and its games, but they also sound fearful when talking about it, Werhann decides. Unless they were ordered to, he doubts they'll help him no matter what he offers them - which can't amount to much, truth be told. The question that remained was whether they would stand in his way, and Werhann didn't want to lose his advantage by trying to figure that out.
He needed a way to get past them or take them by surprise. In either case, he concludes, he'll need a distraction, but what can he use to distract them? "If only I had someone to help me," he mutters quietly, when suddenly, a Human materialises next to Werhann. As this comes as a surprise to Werhann, too, he instinctively draws his blade and immediately slashes the image, but the blade passes through it. 'An illusion?' He wonders, but before he can make sense of the situation, the illusion starts running into the room ahead. If Werhann can see a second exit to the room, the illusion sprints towards it. If not, it'll sprint straight towards the farthest point in the room that Werhann can see.
Werhann, meanwhile, presses against the wall and peeks into the room to see the guards and their reactions to whatever just happened.
Werhann casts Silent Image, forming a generic-looking Human dressed in the same manner that Werhann is (if he is at all?). The illusion produces no sound and can only move up to 60 ft. away, but its movement should look natural to any observer beyond these two limitations.
If possible, Werhann will try to Hide at the corner of the corridor leading to the room and peek into the room to see the guards' reactions. Stealth: 4+2=6.
Unless an hour or more has passed, Armor of Agathys should still be active.
Varielky | Werhann
Dev blinks in astonishment. Of course the bad guys would need food, and it would make sense for a grocer to be the one to bring it. How did Normont connect the dots so —seemingly—effortlessly? But not just connect the dots. The gnome suggests looking for tracks, such an abstract shot in the dark it seems at first. But then, Lokilia finds tracks!!! Dev knows that Normont controls subtle magic with exceptional nuance. But this… this is magic of a different order, almost as if he creates the clues he needs to solve a mystery.
Dev follows in silence, with a vague sense that speaking will break the spell, but also rapt in simple admiration for the brilliance of his friends.
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters