Kulloda almost cracks a smile at the way the mask transforms for Anachain.

"No mask best," he finally says.

Then, not knowing where the halfling's live, he sees the logic in following Anachain.

"Yes, Kulloda will follow to halfling town," Kulloda says.

Elmer hangs back with a confused look at Drip's response, trying to decipher it... then he realizes he's fallen behind and races to catch up with the party.

You all head South along one of the main roads of Eldershore.  You see and hear others getting ready for the day and smells of breakfast reach you out in the street.  It isn't a completely dilapidated town, but it is definitely in need of repair.  You see many things broken, left in yards, doors and windows boarded up on some homes.  A sad sight in general.

As you continue on though, you do run into a part of town that is definitely there to accommodate halflings.  The cluster of houses or almost hovels, are smaller, with small arched doors and round windows.  This area seems more well cared for.  Sparse, but not in disrepair.

There are several halfling children out playing in front of the houses.  Three girls and a boy.  Over on a stoop of one of the houses, there is a woman there, doing something with her hands, but obviously keeping an eye on the children.  As you get closer, the scent of perfumes and boiling fats waft in your direction from the house the woman is sitting at.

     "I'm going to go talk to the woman there," Anachain says with a nod of her head in the direction of the woman.  "She seems the type to know everything happening in the area."  Anachain says this with some warmth, not judgement.

     "You can come but... hang back a little?  And stay away from the kids.  We don't want to worry her..." she adds.

     As she approaches the house where the woman sits, Anachain's features adjust subtly.  She grows less gaunt and angular but instead her face fills out with some warm roundness, just short of plumpness.  She aims to seem friendly and cheerful.  "Why hello there!" she calls out as she approaches, wanting to reach out before she got too close.  "Perhaps you'd be able to help me a bit?"

     Mother Anachain waits for some acknowledgement, preferably a smile and a wave forward or some other invitation before she got too close.  Whether she gets it or not, though, she smiles a friendly smile and asks if the woman knows of the Wildwillows.  "Oh!" she says just after asking and turns back for a moment to look at the group with her.  "Don't let them throw you.  They're harmless, no matter how they look...  We've just been tasked with finding something and been told the Wildwillow's may be able to set us in the right direction is all..."

Kulloda's nose wrinkles at the smell of perfume, and he shakes his head to make it go away.

"Too much smell," Kulloda says and wanders over to see what the children are doing. He watches them with some curiosity as if they are an alien species.

Elmer turns to anyone who will listen and points to the halfling children in full twee mode.

"Look how tiny they are!" He says with a big goofy smile, offering a friendly wave to any child who looks in his direction, hoping he can win their favor.

Togar takes flight as they see the hovel and the children gathered around outside, one face in particular looks very familiar to him.  He takes to the sky, flapping upwards and descending down, landing on the edge of any fence present with a big smile, he makes fireworks with his hands as he does so.  “Why hello there!” He says in his most friendly manner.  “Might you be one… Calleigh?  Is it?  Hmmm?”  Togar pauses, and with a great show with his hands, he cleans his hands and feathers, saying “Good as with soap!  Hah!”  

“My name is Togar, and these are my friends.  Ummm.  Sort of.”  He looks back at Elmer and Drip, shrugging his shoulders.  “We would like to know, anything you know about … a pearl, a very, very special pearl….”  Togar uses minor conjuration to make a basketball sized facsimile of a pearl, then starts tossing it around, looking to pass it to anyone who wants to catch.  

Elmer sees the conjured pearl and jumps up and down raising his hand calling, "Ooh, ooh, me me me me...."

     Mother Anachain facepalms and apologizes for her companions.  She's starting to feel like she should just do that preemptively upon meeting anyone...

The woman looks up and smiles as Mother Anachain approaches.  She recognizes the woman that sits daily outside the chapel and watches children.  Even her own at times.  She looks over at the others and her smile doesn't falter, Anachain can tell she has seen some things in her life and this motley crew doesn't really phase her.  "Help you?  How can the Wildwillows help you?  Because yes, that is us, I am Gwen Wildwillow."

Togar taking to the sky definitely catches her eye and she watches him as do the kids.  Calleigh giggles as her name is said and as the pearl is created out of thin air, the kids all ooh and ah, waiting for the owl to throw the pearl to the firbolg.

Turning back to Mother Anachain, Gwen asks, "How can I help you and your friends?"

Drip glances around as they enter the halfling quarter, his attention shifting from the playing children to the scent of perfumes and boiling fats. He wrinkles his nose slightly, then scans the area, his eyes settling on a small patch of grass near one of the houses.

"Perfect," he mutters to himself with a grin. Without any hesitation, he saunters over and flops down, propping his head up on one arm. He stretches out, crossing his legs at the ankles, and closes his eyes. "Just a quick siesta," he mumbles, "then back to... whatever."

He wiggles around a bit, getting comfortable, and is already half-asleep by the time anyone notices what he's up to, looking completely at ease in the middle of the bustling halfling street.

     Mother Anachain smiles.  "Oh good, I was afraid we'd be spending all day knocking on doors," she says and relaxes a bit.  

     "You didn't happen to go to the show at the tent last night, did you?" She begins, kind of surprised that it was indeed only last night that the mysterious tent appeared.  If Gwen Wildwillow did attend than that makes things a bit simpler.  If not, Mother Anachain explains it's appearance and what happened inside.  She explains how most seem to have magically napped through the actual performance but some, her and her companions amongst them, stayed awake and saw the show.  She does a basic recap of what they all saw and why they are now looking for Calleigh.

     "So you see, we're just looking for Calleigh as she is our only lead on the pearl and all.  I was half thinking she knew something that would help us but as I retell the story know I realize I had forgotten - It is not Calleigh that witnessed the theft of the pearl but her grandfather," Anachain admits to Gewn.  "Frankly it's odd, the whole show and all just to tell us to find the girl when it is really her grandfather who was working there and who witnessed it all.  Can you think of any reason they'd have sent us to search for Calleigh instead of the grandfather directly?"

Togar nods as MA speaks, spinning his basketball sized pearl, faking a pass to Drip then sends it to Elmer with a chest pass.  “A pearl, like this, but smaller I imagine!  D’ya know about it Calleigh?”  He tilts his head and gives a knowing wink of his Owlin eye to her.  

Gwen's smile slowly falls away to confusion as she hears Mother Anachain's retelling of the theater under the mysterious tent.  "Huh, that's not how I remember it.. you say people were asleep around you?  You sure you weren't dreaming?"  Her brows furrow as she tries to understand what is going on.

Putting away the soap she was carving, she brushes off her hands and stands up.  'You're looking for Calleigh?  My Calleigh?  How strange.  Well, if the elf at the theater said to find Calleigh and not her Grandfather, it is because her Grandfather passed away a couple of years ago."

She looks out over at the children that are now engrossed in Togar and his enlarged pearl.  "A pearl you say?  Hmmm.. I think I remember a little bit about a pearl?  But it was some fairy tale that Dad told our daughter at night.  Nothing real."  She turns to look at Mother Anachain again, "Are you certain Calleigh?"

Without waiting for an answer, she calls her daughter, the smile back on her face and waves goodbye to the other kids.  Calleigh looks to Togar then her mom and back, "I do!" she giggles and then runs to her mom. 

Starting to head inside, Gwen turns back, "Well, if you want to talk to Calleigh, you better come in."  And she leaves the door open behind her as she ushers her daughter inside.

Elmer looks wide-eyed and slack jawed as Mother Anachain tells the story of the show in the tent. This is his first time ever hearing about it.

His face lifts into a stoopid smile as Togar passes him the pearl though. Elmer enjoys holding the conjured item for a moment but sees the children and realizes he'd better do the "knightly" thing and pass it off to them. So he squats and rolls the pearl "Granny Style" to the nearest child, then turns to enter the Wildwillow house the moment he's invited in, regardless of what the others do.

Kulloda heads to the halfling house and looks at the doorway, letting Elmer navigate his way through first. 

“Watch for buckets,” Kulloda calls helpfully.

If Elmer manages to make his way inside Kulloda looks to see if there’s room for the rest. If not, he’ll find a stool and pull up next to an open window to listen.

     "It's not that I am sure I should be looking for Calleigh," Anachain clarifies.  "It's that I am certain the elf said we should be.  As you say, if the grandfather is gone, and I am sorry for your loss, but then perhaps the stories you say he told Calleigh is what is supposed to help?"

     Upon being invited inside she smiles and ducks her head in a sign of thanks but then makes way as the young Calleigh herself is barging inside before Anachain even has a chance.  It bring a genuine smile to her face.  Almost a small laugh.  Almost. 

     As Anachain is about to follow Calleigh and her mother in she has to stop short, Elmer is already bulling his way into the doorframe oblivious to her...  And Kulloda is right behind steering the herd, apparently.  With a soft shake of her head she resigns herself to waiting and holding the door for the others until everyone is inside and, maybe, she can cram herself inside the little hobbit home as well...

Drip perks up at the invitation, immediately leaving his board propped up against the wall outside. He slips past everyone else with surprising fluidity, gliding into the home like a wave. Once inside, he starts casually scanning the room, eyes darting from corner to corner. He's on the lookout for any snacks up for grabs or a nice, comfy chair to sink into.

Priorities, dude!

As the group wedges their way into the Wildwillow home, they find it sparsely furnished and quite clean.  The fact there isn't a lot of furntiture in the place makes it easier for everyone to get in.  Elmer and Kulloda have to bend over, even Mother Anachain's tall frame makes her head hit the ceiling in parts.

Drip doesn't find any snacks laying around, but does weasel his way into a large comfy chair.  Gwen glowers at him a bit, but decides hospitality wins and takes a stool at the counter, giving her daughter the other one.  Calleigh sits on top and looks out at the group with wide-eyes.  "You all came here to see me??  Whoa..."  Gwen puts a reassuring hand on her daughters knee and addresses the group, "Now if this is about one of dad's tall tales, I'm afraid you're going to be sorely disappointed.  He loved telling tales and my daughter loved hearing them more than anyone, she drank them all up.  I'm afraid you're chasing a figment of his imagination."

"No momma, this one was true.  He told me."  Calleigh is a bright looking girl, about 8 or 9 years old, her long brown hair pulled back in a plait.  Her green eyes shine as she looks to all of you, not used to having such a captive audience.   She takes in everyone, a tall skinny woman in a wedding dress, a moist little guy in a loin cloth, an owl, a large half-orc that looks like he could eat her, and a firbolg that at least looks nice and she smiles when she looks at him.

Taking a deep breath, she starts. "Well, Grandpa used to like to tell me stories. True, some were real and some were made-up, but he told me this one was true and I believe him." At this, you can see her glare at her mum. Turning back to the group, she grins, "Grandpa was always a good story teller. Knew just when to be quiet when things were suspenseful and loud when it was exciting! I sure miss his stories." At this her voice quivers a bit and the corners of her mouth tug down.  She takes a deep breath and composes herself. You can tell she's trying to be as grownup as possible with the group in front of her.

"Grandpa used to work at the Lighthouse down by the docks. You know the place, right? Well.. not sure how safe it is now, but it was different when he worked there. At least that is what he said. Like the town used to be, it was a polished beauty of a thing." She smiles, "his words, not mine. But he worked there when he was alive and one night, during the celebration of the Festival of the Tides, something bad happened. As everyone else gathered in the town square dancing and having fun, Grandpa was a good man and kept up his duties working the lighthouse."

Gwen interrupts here, her arms folded as she looks at Calleigh, "Please, her grandpa's memories and fantasies... they got blended a bit as he aged.  He tried to tell us this story as well, it's a bunch of hogwash."  she softens her look a bit as she sees her daughter's disappointment.  "Well it is."

Turning away from her mom and really getting into the story, she gets a bit theatrical, her face looking very concerned as she looks over her audience, "And then something bad happened. While everyone was partying in town, a very bad guy and his minions came creeping in to the lighthouse and STOLE THE PEARL!! You all have heard of the Pearl of Aeloria right? Mum and Dad think its just a fairy tale, but I believe Grandpa. He said as soon as the bad guy took the pearl from its spot at the top of the lighthouse, a big bad storm came, devastating the harbor and sinking a bunch of ships. Thank goodness everyone was at the festival and no one got hurt."

"But Grandpa says that is why it is so bad here, that it is because the bad guy stole the pearl."

Elmer raises his hand.