The Wizard's Challenge

"Sorry Mam, name's Klandar." He looks over the jewels.  "Based on the descriptions given, these look much like the stolen objects." He hands the bag to Normand.  "Thank you, your nighttime exploration has been very beneficial to the town.  But why were you all out that late?  Had to be in the wee hours of the night.  The Mayor said their ring was stolen after they went to bed almost at midnight."

Upon hearing the rumbling, Croak withdraws his weapon, surprised to find it glowing. He looks around and receives a nod from Shalech. Stepping a few paces ahead of the group, Croak listens to the noise.

Nature:7

The echoes of the cave make it too difficult for Shalech and Croak to narrow down the creature of origin.

"MIDNIGHT" Urselles says sounding suprised "we where up past midnight, that's crazy, we didn't even notice the lack of dust on the floor then, ugh" Urselles looks back at the dwarf "we where more just curious about what a haunted house would be, well most of us where" 

Urselles, make a Intelligence Save.

Uh oh 

Intelligence save 21

Urselles suddenly remembers that you entered the house at sunset and found the jewelry shortly after.  There was no way that the jewelry you have was from the robberies.

"wait a minute, we didn't find this after midnight, we found this after sunset there's no way it could have been for this ring robbery" Urselles says suspicious eying the dwarf

Insight check 15

Klandar looks honestly confused.  "That doesn't make sense.  Not even counting the ring; others have mentioned seeing their objects after dark.  I don't understand how you could have them before they were stolen."

Normand plops down onto a pew, hand to his head, confusion on his face.

Nathan stands behind the others, getting ready to cast a spell if anything attacks them.

Nature: 20

Nathan, you've heard this sound before in your travels with your master; that is the sound of a Black Bear.

"Guys, it is a black bear." Nathan whispers behind the others "Do any of you know how to handle animals? We might not need to kill it. I hope it didn't hurt the hermit."

“This is strange, I’m curious, from the meeting to do we have any suspects”

"I've got a knack for handling animals. Mostly horses and hounds though. Any idea what to do with a bear?"

Croak takes another stride into the den.

As Croak approaches closer, the bear peeks out of the tunnel and stares at you all.

"No, sadly we have no suspects; that's why we were hoping to find some clue from talking to you, but all we found was more questions." Klandar replies to Urselles.

“*sigh* we might have a suspect, there was someone suspicious around the scene, he called himself nine finger John, I’m not sure if him acting suspicious around the sight is enough but he might be worth checking out”

"John? The fisherman?  Why would he suddenly start robbing?  He's been in town for some 20 years." Klandar replies.  He looks surprised to hear Nine Finger John's name.

Croak crouches down and clicks his tongue a few times, like how people call a cat. He carefully digs into his pack for a piece of dried meat which is thrown a few feet in front of him.

"Heeeeyy buddy, not here to hurt ya, just looking for a friend..."

(Not sure if a roll is necessary or what to roll, never used animal handling but anyway..)

D20:4

animal handling: +3

Persuasion: -1

 Nature: +0

“We’re not sure, he was there and acting a bit strange, we have been a bit over reactive but, it might be worth checking out” 

The bear slowly steps out into the room, easily the size of Croak, and quickly devours the dried meat.  It then sniffs hungrily in the group's direction.

"We'll check him out, don't have any other leads, though we should take that jewelry to Kendrick, he made most of the missing pieces." Normand says.