Road to Phandalin

"Otrov lets protect Nobody then do that He just signaled that he's going into his familiars senses. It shouldn't take long. Then I'll follow you."

“Ok, no problem,” she says cheerfully.

Dain would move to stand guard over Nobody as they use their familiar's senses.  He would have his own familiar stay close, watching over the group of them as well.

(Between message spell, familiars and knowing where people went, you have no problem to regroup again near the Sleeping Giant Tavern.

Otrov, you find a slightly dryed out flower crown in the dead drop. The flowers are already limp and dry, most likely it was left there last evening,

"So what do we know so far?"

She says addressing everyone, but more for Sildar's benefit.

Knowing that mostly a dead end has been reached

"You tell us, I was just along for the fact we shouldn't be alone right now." Dain says with a shrug.  "As far as I could tell though, there is someone around here who can look like those they kill.  We have no way to know who they are right now, or who they might become in the future.  We do not know any of the locals well enough to know if anyone is acting out of the norm, and most of the town doesn't seem to have time or the concern enough to try to help. That about sum it up?"

Otrov picks up the dried out flower crown and looks at it thoughtfully - reminds me of that old crone living in the windmill, she thinks to herself.  [Do I recognize it from anywhere?]  She will pull Margret aside and show her, as she had previously told her about the dead drop.

"Well, we know that when Grista approached the town officials and complained of theft, her complaints fell on deaf ears.  And now she's dead.  We know there are new people wanting to open up the mines.  Silar: has there been anything weird happening around town?  Like, anyone not acting right?"  Otrov feels herself grasping at straws.  "I'm at a loss!  And I hate losing and being lost!"  She fishes some bacon out and goes to toss some to Zzurg but, finding him absent, stuffs the whole thing in her mouth and eats.  Angrily.  And poutily.

Sildar went back to the Townhall, when you try to contact him with the message spell, he will ask you to meet him there. I will assume you do that.

Sildar, Sister Garaele and Daren Edermath are in the assembley hall and when you come in, they will address you and greet you. Daren will ask you what you foundt and i will assume Dain replied to him.

“I was discussing with with Sister Garaele and Daren here and the best idea so far is to ask everyone to stay in groups and starting tomorow we will start to use magic to test people regularly if they are who they pretend to be. We are kind of limited to ten minutes per day for now but that should be enough to check the village within four or five days. We will try to ask Miss Kai for her help as well, that should speed everything up. Did you find anything else?“

Listening to Otrov Sildar will reply: „It‘s not like her report fell on deaft ears, it is just that we were bussy identifying and burrieing the dead bodies from the manor and searching the hideout for clues if there were any other prisoners. Then reports started to come in about attacks from the dragon and i still nead to sort out those orc raids on the road towards Triboar. It isn‘t that i don‘t...didn‘t want to help Grista, but unfortunatly peaty theft was kind of low on my priorities.“

Directly and quietly to Sildar

"No, need for blame. Um, while we were looking for it, one of the things we found out was a discrepancy in the hand writing in Grista's book keeping not to mention the fact that the books stopped halfway for no reason. And it started a new ledger on the same day in its handwriting Back on the 7th of this month."

She shakes her head

"I'm worried that it had time to attack someone and take their identity again. I know how precious paper is but I think that s one way the shop keepers could prove their Identity."

Just for the fun of it she sends a message to Hailia Thinking the spell might blindly get the real Hailia if thats the case

"Are you ok Hailia?" 

"Seems like that is the best we can do."  Dain says with a shrug, after the locals tell of their plan to test the rest of the people of the town.  "What should we be doing as you work on that?"

During Nobody's time spent observing Reel'yn and Don, he tries to look for any hidden context within the conversation.

Insight: 2.

But upon finding nothing immediately actionable from it, the tiefling is soon whisked away for another gathering of minds~

"I-It is an option, and... well..." Nobody fidgets in place and started wringing his tail a bit. "I-I suppose I could volunteer a sheet or two of parchment for the project. B-but let's keep it to just a person writing their name, yes? T-to conserve room on the sheet. A-also, are we including children in this search?" He asked curiously before simply nodding at any response. The ebony tiefling then bowed his head. "S-sorry 'bout that, by the way... the Orc raids thing. I-I... If... W-we're just...  You know... other business n'all... Th-though things have been that bad, and maybe if we wrap this whole look-alike business within a day or two.." He trails off awkwardly there, giving the others one last look before casting his gaze groundward.

Daran replies to you from the side: „Don‘t worry about the paper, i am sure Sildar got some in his fancy office. And if it helps to identify this Shapeshifter, i would suggest, we get samples from the whole council , you guys and Miss Kai as well.“ He looks to Sildar and Sister Garaele and both nod in agreement. Sildar gets up and leaves the room for a moment, after wich he returns with a writing board, ink and a few sheets of paper. 

While he is writing a few sentences on the paper Sildar adresses you: „So you are going to check on Gundrens mine and look for his brother? Be careful, i have the felling this is all connected. It looks like a this Black Spider is goint through a lot of trouble just to find an old mine.“ He puts away the paper to dry and passes the pult on to Garaele who writes down a few lines as well. „I will get samples of Kai, Halia and Harbin as well, but i think our three Samples are best left with you. If you four leave your samples with Daran, he will keep them save.“

He watches as Garaele passes the board on to Daran who writes something as well.

„Gundren is with Toblen at the inn. I think he is ready to go and wants to find out where his brothers are.“

Once all three have written short letters, Daran passes the writing table, the ink and the paper to you and gives his letter to Sildar, who checks the ink before rolling it up with Garaeles and his own to put it in a scroll case, Wich he hands to Margaret. 

Dain accepts the board and writes a few sentences himself.  He passes the board on to the next person.

Otrov takes the board, thinks for a second, and says, "Aha!"

She scribbles intensely for a couple minutes - even stifling back some laughter at one point - but then presents it to Margret.  It reads:

"A smelly frog don't you want to kiss her?  a barrel of wine just to trick her

Be the best of the worst in a litter/all Grista'd up and in the shi**er"

She looks at Margret before bursting into laughter.  "Too soon?"

Otrov gets a raised eyebrow,

"I would be careful not to evoke the ire of the dead, my friend."

Said thinking that she will be looking before she turns tail at an out house for now on.

 Margret writes down not thinking that she was going to contribute to the document

She writes making sure Otrov and the rest see her do it

"To love is Life for many and Life is love for so few. M.T."

She writes in an older style an elf taught her, a friend of the family and signs her Initials with a flourish she always adds 

"That does seem unnecessarily mean spirited, b-but it is a good rhyme all the same." Nobody adds, stifling a chuckle.  Whenever it should come around to his turn to write, Nobody first pens a thin strip in a mix of Draconic and Goblin. Then beneath that in a delicate yet simplistic script adds:

"Nobody I am, and Nobody I must be. Forevermore, MB."

He nods to himself once the writing is done, and passes it back alongside a few more words. "That should do it. Let's head over to the Inn and get Gundren. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like we'll be able to make that forward base with all this going on, so w-we'll have to pace o-ourselves upon reaching w-where we need to go."

“I care nothing for the dead, thank you, and besides, I didn’t say anything that wasn’t true,” Otrov says, smirking at her companions’ superstitious feelings. Looking at Nobody, Otrov asks, “What’s MB?”

Sildar accepts the papers back and puts them in a folder, that he hands over to Daran.

“So if there are no further questions, i wish you good luck and stay safe.“

Any mirth lingering in Nobody's expression dies at Otrov's comment about the dead. He looked away uncertain of what to even add to that if anything, but snapped back to attention at the question following a second's delay. "I-It is... I suppose an, uhm... what's word... not ode, but poetic reminder, I guess you could say, hearkening back to my early days as an apprentice wizard and... the choice I had to make."

He started rubbed at his arm and looked away again until Sildar pipes up. "Uhm.. hm... None that I can think of. B-but do stay safe as well. Compared to w-where we should be going, it'll p-probably be a lot easier than this other business." He cracks a wiry grin, then look to the others. "To the Inn then? Hopefully our goblin friend has concluded his search and awaits us there." He chuckled, but with little mirth behind the tone.

Just for the fun of it she sends a message to Hailia Thinking the spell might blindly get the real Hailia if thats the case

"Are you ok Hailia?" 

Then she says to Mr Edermath

"What have you seen?"