The moment she hears that Kara is a fellow mom, Quspira is instantly on her side.  "Oh, that's terrible!  No wonder you're so worried!"  She turns to Aidwyn and the others. "Well, this changes things, obviously. The priest MIGHT get impatient and stir unprepared people up to go into the swamp if we take too long; but if this woman's child is in trouble he needs our help now."  She pauses, and the normally inconspicuous light blue swirls under her mostly red skin flush to a deep indigo as she realizes that she doesn't need to convince anyone to help Kara and is talking mostly to herself.  After taking a few breaths to steady herself, she listens to the dark-haired woman's account of what happened the night her son disappeared.

At the mention of the two witnesses, she pulls out a piece of folded parchment from one of the pouches that always dangle at her waist to jot down their names and likely coordinates.  "We'll certainly ask them about the night they saw Mival.   Meanwhile, do you remember anything unusual happening in the two or three days before he wandered off?  Anything at all might help ... my Darvin is very clever at following clues, and brother Gaer here isn't a half bad tracker either when he puts his mind to it."  She winks teasingly at the aforementioned brother before turning back to the other woman.  "And please don't think you have to give us all your savings to get our help.  My son is adopted, but I love him just as much as if I'd given him birth myself so I do understand what you must be going through."

"An adopted son?" Kara's mouth drops open in surprise. "You must be a really kind-hearted woman!"

"Of course!" Aedion can't help but flutter in front of her face, exclaiming, jovially, in common "Mom and Dad adopted me and they're both really kind-hearted!"

At the sight of the colorful flying (and talking to boot) snake, the woman is even more amazed, but eventually manages to concentrate on what she's been asked: "No, in the days before the disappearance, nothing out of the ordinary happened... I couldn't actually come up with any explanation - now that the heroic half-orc has spoken of a charm, that's the only explanation that seems sensible to me. A charm cast by some magical monster. I really don't know how else to explain what happened."

"Rash? Aidwyn? Are we agreed to see if we can find this boy?" Roxana asks. "Spira seems on board," she gives the tiefling a small smile as her attention turns to Gaer. "I presume you are with us on this too?"  

As hopefully the others agree, she continues speaking. "Let's head out to these farms and try to find these witnesses.  With any luck they can point is in the right direction and perhaps we'll be able to follow his tracks." 

"With you?" Gaer winks "Do you really need to ask?"

"Come on, my family's 'investigators' are probably itching to put their skills to good use by interviewing witnesses!" the tiefling ranger is among the first to come out - for he sends Rubybreeze soaring into the sky to guide him to the sheepherder.

And so the party (unless one member decides on a different course of action) soon finds themselves in the middle of a pasture next to the hamlet - and of a flock of sheep that continue to graze undisturbed - heading toward a young shepherd sitting on a boulder, absentmindedly nibbling on a small willow stick.

A bit portly, ruddy, with blond bowl-shaped hair... He matches a rough description Kara gave you so you could identify Onthar Poole. The young man seems surprised that the band of strangers is heading toward him and asks defensively: "What do you want?"

Aidwyn, who had come from the stables in mid conversation with the woman but didn't want to interrupt it nods to Roxana.

"But of course!" 

She turns to the concerned mother and puts a hand on her forearm. 

"We will do our best to find your boy." failing to find more words for her and trying not to give her false hope, the fighter hopes her gesture reassures Kara and follow the rest in search of clues that could help them find him earlier. 

"Are you Mr. Onthar Poole?," Spira begins with a reassuring smile, hoping to put the lad at his ease with an acknowledgement of the newly adult status those of his age are so often acutely sensitive about.  "We don't mean you any harm.  It's just that Mival Sashar's mother asked us to search for him and see if he needs help; and she mentioned that you had seen him from a distance on the night he disappeared.  We'd be very grateful if you could tell us anything else you might be able to remember noticing."

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Persuasion 8

Quote from OisinmacCameron >>

This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.

"Are you Mr. Onthar Poole?," Spira begins with a reassuring smile, hoping to put the lad at his ease with an acknowledgement of the newly adult status those of his age are so often acutely sensitive about.  "We don't mean you any harm.  It's just that Mival Sashar's mother asked us to search for him and see if he needs help; and she mentioned that you had seen him from a distance on the night he disappeared.  We'd be very grateful if you could tell us anything else you might be able to remember noticing."

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Persuasion 8

 (oooowwwch!  didn't quite expect the watch sergeant to have let quite THAT much rust build up on her people-soothing skillz ... at least the ones that don't pertain to Darvin or Aedion ;-).  And yes, 8 was the result when I first hit 'post', so watch oot for forum dice gremlins all ... )

[[ Lol! Luckily, Onthar is already persuaded to help you now that you've explained things to him. ]]

"Oh, Tarsakh Flower's son?" Onthar immediately looks more concerned - but it's clear that he's no longer being concerned about himself. "Sashar is his mother's last name anyway... Mival has his father's last name, Loznhosk. A real s0n 0f a 31tch, his father, if you ask me... abandoning Kara like that, in that situation... but she still wanted her son to have his father's last name, as is customary."

"Anyway," the young shepherd sighs, "I would do anything to help Mival, but it's clear that he went to the Keep ruins. I was tipsy that night, walking home, but I wasn't mistaken in recognizing him. I saw him from afar, in the moonlight, following the path that leads northwest, toward my farm. I wasn't very lucid, so it didn't occur to me to shout, to call him, to ask him what he was doing. But when I reached my house, I saw that he was going into the Keep Woods. And in that direction, there's nowhere to go... except the Keep ruins!"

"At that point I started to wonder what Mival wanted to do there..." the narrator lowers his eyes in shame "But when I had put my thoughts in order enough, he had already disappeared. And I... I was drunk, I told you... And that place is dangerous... I just told myself that Mival usually knows what he's doing - and that I would ask him all about it tomorrow, when I saw him again. I thought he would come back almost immediately. Instead, as you know, he never came back. And when we searched for his tracks, we had confirmation of where he had gone. The ruins. He headed straight there. Don't ask me why, I can't explain it. Mival, my poor friend..."

Aidwyn puts a hand on Onthar's shoulder 

"It's ok. Thank you for your help. We will go there and search for him. "

She turns to the rest of the party

"I think that we can go in that direction now. The sooner we reach the Ruins the better I think. Seems that he, at least, got there. We can look for his tracks once we've reached the woods" she says to the others.  

"Definitely.," Spira agrees.  "It's very helpful to have one particular spot to start looking in.  Thank you so much, Mr. Poole!"

Turning to the others, she adds in a quieter voice, "The other one who saw Mival was this Bran Whitkin that his mother told us about.  I don't know whether we'd learn anything more talking to him than we have from Onthar; though he might have ... um ... been able to notice a few more details --- "  She kindly lets the sentence trail off there, in case the shepherd lad overhears even her lowered voice.  Turning to include Darvin in the conversation, she goes on, "I don't know that we have to choose though.  Darling, did you know the Whitkins when you were posted here before?  Is their farm on the way to the Woods from here?"   She doesn't mention it yet, but she is also beginning to consider what the weather has been for the last three days; how its' likely to continue or develop; and how urgent it therefore is to find Mival's tracks immediately before the elements have their way with them any further.

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Nature 5

"Oh, it's me who thanks you!" Onthar opens his eyes wide, opening up to hope "If you can do something for my friend Mival I... I..." he seems undecided on how to express his gratitude, before finally having an enlightenment "I will give you a sheep's cheese! And my cheeses - that is, those from my sheep obviously - are the best in all of Rassalantar, I promise you!"

Darvin then answers Spira's question: "The Whitkins are good people, my dear... Maybe a little closed and suspicious, but no one has ever had anything to say to them. I remember old Bran. He doesn't have the strength to actively help on the farm anymore, but he loves being outdoors; he does it whenever he can. 'I'll have time, to stay locked...' he usually says to those who make fun of him for this habit of his. Their farm is near the Keep Woods, we will pass by it, on our way. Combining all these factors, it is not at all unlikely that Bran could have accidentally seen Mival, while he was going into the woods. So if you want to question old Bran too, it won't cost us any detours... and it won't take us probably much time.".

The Sergeant of Arvandor has the opportunity to reflect on the weather in the meantime: in the past few days there has been generally good weather, even if in the middle of two days before there was a live rain. The tracks will certainly be less fresh now, but it should not be prohibitive, for expert trackers like those the group can count on, to find them and follow them. Even more so considering that the path to the Ruins is not traveled frequently.

As Onthar seems worried about his friend, Roxana adds on to the other's comments. "Yes, we thank you very much. Your information will really help." 

Once they go, she comments when Darvin confirms the Whitkins farm would be along their path. "I think it's worth talking to Bran. He may not add to pointing us in the right direction. But maybe he'll have seen something to help us understand what was going on." She is ready to continue on. "If from what Onthar said, the boy went towards the keep, I'm not sure that tracking will be all that important even.  At least until we get to the ruins." 

The Whitkin farm is well-kept and prosperous, with the main house standing out above all, large, roughly 'C' shaped, two stories, a sturdy wooden structure that must have been built with some of the timber from nearby Keep Woods.

As our heroes approach, they find a short old man near the fence that borders the farm, with a thick white curly beard and the top of his head left uncovered by the beginnings of baldness, who, sitting on a stump, is already watching them with interest... and perhaps also with distrust?

"Hey Bran!" Darvin steps forward to make himself known "Do you no longer say hello to old acquaintances?"

"Sergeant Nolaras!" replies Bran "May my ram gore me, if I didn't think I heard you were gone from here."

"True, Bran!" the ex-sergeant smiles "I'm just passing through now... But me and my friends here have heard about Mival, Tarsakh Flower's son... Is it true that you saw him a few nights ago while he was heading towards the ruins of Rassalantar's Keep?"

"May my ram gore me if it's not so, sergeant!" the old man answers promptly "I woke up because I had to take a piss, I went out for that purpose and... there he was, the wretch, heading confidently towards the Keep Woods! I wonder what his brain was telling him... No one willingly goes to the ruins during the day... let alone at night, sergeant! Is it Tarsakh Flower's fate, poor girl, to be abandoned by all the Loznhosk? First her man... Then her son..."

"You could have called him, asked him something..." Darvin mutters, but he seems to already know what the other will answer.

And in fact the answer comes immediately: "Are you kidding? And who knows what he had in mind?! I don't allow myself to get involved in other people's affairs".

"Yeah..." Darvin sighs, letting his gaze wander over his fellow adventurers "If you have anything else to ask..."

"I'm sure then you didn't see or hear anything else?" Roxana asks. "Just Mival heading to the ruins by himself?" 

"May my ram gore me if it's not so, madam!" Bran assures "There was only that wretch! I didn't see or hear anything else of note... That boy must have gone mad... Tarsakh Flower always did everything for him! Everything! She practically raised him all by herself, without the help of a husband - and despite the humble job of cartwright, she always did her best to make sure he didn't lack anything! The boy must have gone mad. He stopped just for a moment, before disappearing completely from my sight, into the woods. Just for a moment, in which he looked back. As if he wanted to imprint himself in my memory... something he would never see again, you understand? Then off, into the woods without any further hesitation. In the direction of the Keep. And of course from that moment no one has seen him again".

"You really sound desperate to get gored by your ram," Rash says dryly after probably the fifth time that Bran uses the phrase to demonstrate his honesty. "Alright, everyone, I think we're all agreed that we need to save the boy. As much as I hate to say it, we might want talk to that preacher guy again first, though... he seems to know a disturbing amount regarding the swamp monsters. And I want to make sure we have every edge we can reasonably get, especially if we might be facing an enchanter..."

Rash shudders, clearly remembering the incident during their last adventure in which he got hit with a fear spell...

Roxana nods politely to Bran. "Thank you. I too hope you do not get gored by your ram." As he had been talking, she watches him, trying to gauge his truthfulness. (Insight: 7) If anything, she found that those that continually had to profess their truthfulness were often lying. 

At Rash's comment, she again nods. "Yes, shall we leave this good man to the peace of his farm? Do we really need to go back to town again to talk to that priest?" She doesn't disagree with doing it but is not really in favor of taking the time either.  She looks to the other group members for their opinions. "And why are you so fixated on this being an enchanter? It could be so many things - and yes, we should be prepared to face whatever it is." 

"Frankly, because it sounds like what we're dealing with," Rash tells Roxanna honestly. "A young man who's never shown wanderlust or rebellion before suddenly wanders off into a bog full of monsters by himself? It sounds exactly like the many tales of hags luring young orcs to their doom with black magic..."

Rash again thinks about running terrified from a rune during his last adventure with this party. It's not an experience he wants to repeat... or worse, being forced to hurt someone with mind-altering magic.

"Oh, thank you for your concern, madam," Bran dismisses with a wave of his hand. "But that's unlikely to happen... I'm not the one who takes care of that grumpy beast anymore! My children will take care of that! I've already had my share of butts in my ass."

To Roxana, the man seems sincere, despite the high number of 'professions of truthfulness'.

Anita is obviously ready to follow the Wrestling Wizard: "Maybe when it comes to magic, we should trust our specialist!"

But what about the other party members? What will they think? Will it seem like a good idea to them, going back to the preacher?

Spira turns to her new husband, sucking her cheek thoughtfully as she considers the possibility Rash has brought up.  "Again, you have the most recent knowledge of this area, Darvin.  Are the swamp and the Keep close enough that the monsters inhabiting the former might be related to Mival's disappearance into the latter?  Or are there any rumours of underground passages from the ruins to the countryside around?"  Even as she speaks she is already starting to review her own more limited knowledge of local lore.

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History 8