Ori asks for one of the contaminated corn husks. “Tongue don’t fail me now,” she mutters. “Gourmet Spirits of the wood, aid my palate!” Gingerly, Ori places one small blackened piece on the tip of her tongue. 

(Medicine, or Nature or Herbalism, or something else, to look at it this way?) 

Jadzia places a hand on Ori’s shoulder. "If there's anyone here that can make the corn tell us what is going on" she says, "it's you." (OOC: Ori now has Bardic Inspiration. 1d6)

(You can try a Nature check, Ori)

Nature: 11(3+4+4)

(No idea really, Ori. There is definitely something wrong with the corn but it's too hard to tell much more. It is rampant though and doesn't appear to be targeted.)

(Shall we just go to the meeting? The mine’s a bust. The corn is mysterious. I don’t know that we’ll get much out of talking to the townsfolk if we didn’t from them in the inn the first time)

Duncan tries one more thing, casting detect magic to rule out Kerrigan influence on the grain. "If we sleep before the meeting, I can detect disease too. Might be able to learn more about the crops. I can also force people to tell the truth using magic, so that can be helpful for the meeting."

(You want to try and long rest with so much tension in the air? Bold plan.)

"I see something is going on here but I am not completly sure crop rotting is artificial. I think we should ask farmers about suspicious activity that isn't about monsters"

"Yeah, I'm not sure about sleeping. I wish we had time for that, but this place feels like a ticking time bomb," Jadzia replies to Duncan. "Perhaps it's best to do as Cramaris suggested. The farmers might have seen something unusual—and they’ll definitely know more about crops than we do."

“We need to ask them about the well-water, or how they irrigate their fields. If it’s not the soil, is it the groundwater like Kerrigan said?”

There are a few towns people out still, but most have dispersed by now. Make an investigation check to see if you can find people you haven't talked to yet and might be available to you.

Cramaris walk around looking for people to aks.

Investigation: 5 or 15 if 5 isn't enough.(Tactical mind)

(ooc: It's just an 8 for Jadzia!)

It's tough to find people out who are willing to talk, but you can manage 3 people: Arto, Brahn, and Callie. Make a Persuasion check and ask any question of them (we'll do them altogether to speed things up a little).

“Arto, old Arto. Oh sorry, Brahn. Err. Callie — We go way back. Tell me. What’s going on with the water round here? Why’s all the corn gone black?” asks Ori. 

Persuasion: 12

"When did you start getting black corn from your crops? Was it right after the mine reopened? Try to think carefully... Did anything else happen in town besides the mine? Did you notice anything else unusual? Something that didn't belong," Jadzia adds. (Persuasion: 21)

"And have any of the rest of you become ill drinking the water, or only the crops?" Duncan adds (persuasion 10)

Both Arto and Callie shake their heads at you. "We're fine, the town will still be here one way or another. If the mine keeps being productive we'll manage all right."

Brahn seems more hesitant. "There's something amiss with people and the crops. People here, those of us who've been here a while now, think things were better before, even if we were dirt poor. I don't know that Mutterall has something to do with it directly, but when the mine opens the crops go bad. I haven't seen anyone strange lately. Just the usuals, a new miner or two maybe but they ain't suspicious, just more folk looking for work." He looks over at Duncan, "No, just the crops. If everyone was gettin' sick there'd been a revolt by now."

"We're going to need something that ties this"—Jadzia holds up one of the ears of corn she collected—"to the mine, whether Muterall is directly involved or not. Is there anything else you can think of that might help us make that connection? Anyone else in town we should talk to? They've barred us from going into the mine, so we can't investigate there directly. Anything you can tell us—anything at all—might help."