Shipwrecked in Saltmarsh

Fianna arrives barely a minute before Kelnan.  It's just past the Green Market: a rickety, dirty-looking tavern partially supported by stilts driven into the harbor waters. Smoke is still seeping out of the broken windows. A thin, wiry guy seems to be in charge, as a motley crew finishes putting out a small fire – he is in a very foul mood and curses a lot. The bodies in the street appear to be unconscious, not dead. Most everyone appears to be at least half drunk. Inside is a mess of broken glass and shattered furniture, and it smells heavily of alcohol, fish, and smoke.

     "What the...?  What is going on here?  What happened?" Fianna asks as she surveys the chaos.  "What caused the explosion?"  She is mainly asking the thin, wiry guy but will also ask anyone who seems competent and aware enough to be coherant.

     She'll help drag people out of the way or pass water buckets or whatever else needs to be done but beyond FinFin flying around investigating and searching for clues, she has no real skill set to assist here other than just being a willing and able body.

"Foul imp. Demonic thing!" says the wiry guy, follow by a strong a swears. "Came in here an' picked a fight with my patron. Then blew up!" Then another string of swears. He goes inside and starts throwing broken bottles out onto the street by the crate full. 

The fire is out. Kelnan has arrived. Finfin sees nothing of added interest. Besides kicking the glass out of the street so that filthy barefoot neighborhood children gathering around won't step on any, Fianna finds herself mainly useful in tending to the unconscious, who are beginning to come to, albeit weakly, and clearly concussed from whatever happened.

     Fianna continues questioning anyone who may have seen anything.  What did this "Foul imp" look like?  Really a demonic imp or...?  Which patron did it pick a fight with?  Who is that patron? Why them? Was it random or were they specifically targeted? Did that patron live?  Where are they?  Does this kind of thing happen around here regularly?  Or ever before this? 'Cause this is weird.

"Who are you?" snarls the skinny guy to Fianna, taken aback by her barrage of questions. "You gonna help me clean up? Foul demons blowin' up a respectable establishment like mine. What did I do to deserve this? This is gonna cost me a fortune." He continues to storm around angrily and sweep broken glass out the door. The tavern is empty now. As they awaken and begin to recover, the casualties begin to get up and stagger away, or are dragged away by friends. The crowd outside begins to disperse.

(Fianna and/or Kelnan may need to roll a charisma check of some sort to get much more additional info out of him.)

     "Who am I?  I'm the breaker of shackles, the killer of secrets and the newest member of the guard.  Your establishment was far from respectable, your deeds deserving of such as long as the people one is willing to ask... And yet I am still the one willing to help,"  Fianna answered in a low but calm tone....

Persuasion: 17

Quote from BaconExpert982 >>

"Oh here," Katernin pulls out some of her rations, offering them to Kastilar. She looks in the direction of the thunder, "It doesn't look like rain."

 Kastilar brightens up somewhat at the food offered by Katernin. "Oh! Thank you so very kindly!" He readily accepts, and digs in, tossing small pinches to his bullfrog. "Is there anything I can help you with? Is there information you seek?"

There is something about his brown clothing and the subtle trappings of Kastilar's grove shrine that rings a bell.
Religion check: 11

And then you realize. Kastilar is a follower - indeed a druid - of Obad-Hai, god of nature and the wilderness. This god, neutral in alignment, is a rival of Ehlonna. While the two religions have much in common, there is an old rivalry between them. Where followers of Ehlonna cherish the goodness of nature; those who follow Obad-Hai are more likely to recognize the ugly and dangerous aspects of the wilderness.

Quote from Kaemgen >>

     "Who am I?  I'm the breaker of shackles, the killer of secrets and the newest member of the guard.  Your establishment was far from respectable, your deeds deserving of such as long as the people one is willing to ask... And yet I am still the one willing to help,"  Fianna answered in a low but calm tone....

Persuasion: 17 

 
"Guards? We don't need th' guards here," says the tavern keeper to Fianna. "I'm assuming yer speakin' metaphorically or some such, but I don't really care right now. You wanna help? Great. Getta broom."

     "Sit down and tell me, slowly and in a calm manner, each and every detail of what happened in such a way that a blind person would see exactly what happened here.  Do it as if your life is dependent upon it.  It is."

     Fianna uses Fey Presence and awaits his slow, detailed, meticulous telling of the tale...

((Starting at 1st level, your patron bestows upon you the ability to project the beguiling and fearsome presence of the fey. As an action, you can cause each creature in a 10-foot cube originating from you to make a Wisdom saving throw against your warlock spell save DC (13). The creatures that fail their saving throws are all charmed or frightened by you (your choice) until the end of your next turn.))

Quote from Blakey >>

Sounds like just Dain's sort of place.  He is very happy to get the smell of fish out of his nostrils and in-fact will buy a new set of clothes and burn his old ones.  They smell of death and fish and are covered with blood, guts and other worse things.

Dain will keep his ear open to the complaints of the locals, listening to discover anything he thinks he (and maybe his newfound friends) can help with.  He will build up friendships with any regular dwarves here, perhaps reacquainting himself with some of the miners he knows.  He will tell all the dwarves about the newly refurbished shrine of Moradin and will tout his business as a smith, looking for a big commission.

Dain collects his earning from the shield and waits for Maffera and Jasker to finish their shift. He's a bit early.

He patiently listens to Maffera's patter and the conversations of customers as they wait to talk to Maffera or pick something up from Jasker. 

- A couple of sketchy-looking human men talk loudly about how the mine is on the verge of failure and how the crown plans to award the dwarves rulership of Saltmarsh as compensation. 

- A couple of sailors waiting for a chain talk about "the blood hawk isle" - a cluster of rocks of Saltmarsh somewhere guarded by nasty-tempered crimson birds - and also something about a magic clam.

At one point he notices a dwarven woman praying at the shrine outside, newly restore by Dain. You can tell the sight unnerves Maffera slightly, but she doesn't interfere. 

Quote from Kaemgen >>

     "Sit down and tell me, slowly and in a calm manner, each and every detail of what happened in such a way that a blind person would see exactly what happened here.  Do it as if your life is dependent upon it.  It is."

     Fianna uses Fey Presence and awaits his slow, detailed, meticulous telling of the tale...

((Starting at 1st level, your patron bestows upon you the ability to project the beguiling and fearsome presence of the fey. As an action, you can cause each creature in a 10-foot cube originating from you to make a Wisdom saving throw against your warlock spell save DC (13). The creatures that fail their saving throws are all charmed or frightened by you (your choice) until the end of your next turn.))

Tavern keeper - Wisdom saving throw: 19

 The wiry man sputters and struggles but succumbs to Fianna's will. He tells the tale of an obnoxious purple-leathered kobold coming inside and demanding information for a silver, then getting into a fight with "Honey" - one of his regulars - and Honey's buddy, Abner. The kobold sets off an explosion of some kind, smashing the glassware and knocking people out cold. The tavernkeeper dives behind the bar, his ears nearly blown out, and when he finally looks up, the kobold is gone, and his tavern in chaos and aflame.

That's when the Fey Presence fades, and the man gives you furious look. He storms away, exasperated, swearing a streak of horrid anatomical obscenities. He seems no longer open to your janitorial volunteerism.

((Honestly, I somehow missed that this tavern was the Molo tavern until just after posting my last post.  I was totally like "Hmm, what am I missing?"))

     "Molo," Fianna says softly, then snaps he mouth shut hoping the Tavern Keeper didn't hear her say the name.  She's curious about what kind of spell her small friend could have managed that would have had such disastrous results, and thinks she'll have to ask him o once she sees him.  Find Molo! She directs FinFIn mentally and then goes herself to try to do just that.  She goes about any customers or victims still around asking if they've seen the small kobold - as a corpse or as one leaving the scene. 

     Fianna tries her best to keep an eye on the sky, she has an appointment coming up at sunset...  But finding Molo and rescuing or saving or scolding him is her top priority...

Quote from Kaemgen >>. 

     Fianna tries her best to keep an eye on the sky, she has an appointment coming up at sunset...  But finding Molo and rescuing or saving or scolding him is her top priority...

 (All three seem appropriate)

Kelnan spies Fianna and panting, runs over to her. Wasn't built for running, but at least this amazing bag means I don't have to leave my books behind.

"What on earth happened here? Last time I heard a boom like that, an undergraduate was expelled from his Evocations class!"

     "Your guess is as good as any tale I could get from anyone!  All I can make out for sure is that Molo showed up at a bar, started a fight and somehow the place exploded..." Fianna says in exasperation.  She is glad to have a companion at her side again but frustrated by the lack of results she has gotten so far.

     "We need to find Molo...  To find out what really happened, but also just to make sure he is ok. And stays that way!"

"Honestly?" Katernin says, "I'm just trying to avoid someone in particular. I try to see the best in others, but right now I'm just having a hard time with how they've been acting."

Fianna and Kelnan interview a handful of witnesses - there aren't many left, as many were wandering off when Fianna first arrived. There's a mostly-conscious one-eyed guy still trying to get his bearings; a roaring, incoherent drunk woman; and an old toothless lady. The latter witness is the most helpful: she lives nearby and came to watch almost immediately after the explosion. She reports that nobody with Molo's description left the building, at least while she was watching.

The tavernkeeper continues to come and go, dumping debris into the street, muttering, and shooting death glares at Fianna.

Kelnan rolls his eyes and sighs. "Damned lizard. Just when they were starting to like us."

Just in case he's still inside, Kelnan approaches the tavern and points, trying to send Molo a Message. "Out here now, friend!"

((Did the inside of tavern look wrecked enough for debris to be hiding the kobold?  Like is there large sections of roof down or such?  Seeing as how the smoke was seen for miles...?))

     Fianna considers giving the barkeep an Eldritch Blast up his backside, just got good measure, but so far restrains herself and focuses on trying to find Molo.  “Is there a hospital or medical person?  Somewhere someone might have taken someone injured?” Fianna asks everyone until she gets an answer.

If Dain heard the explosion he'll head out and see what is what, but it seems it was lost in the noise of the forge.

If not, he'll go and introduce himself to the female dwarf who visits the shrine.  Who is she?