Only passively noticing the others get up, the big Dragonborn shrugs and follows suit. He moves between tables and follows Kalgren to the bar as the female Half-Elf speaks, pausing at her last remarks.

"Word travels fast, hmm...?" Grell asks Elandar directly, closing the distance and leaning on the bar.

Elandar smiles and motions to everyone in the tavern. "You did gather a bit of a crowd, what with the creatures screaming. And we are still a relatively small town, not like Valgrand City." She produces a glass from somewhere and starts wiping it down with a clean rag idly.

Returning her smile, Grell nods his thanks and turns to leave the inn, following his companions as they make their way to the guard office.

OOC: I take it we all make our way over to the guard office? So the narrative can get going.

(yeah, sorry. Been with my gf the past couple days. I'll be makin' a post later tonight or tomorrow, depending how the night goes!

The party makes their way towards the guard captain's office. It's a small building next to a much larger, citadel looking structure... Although the somewhat imposing structure is still only like, 4 floors. Once the party steps inside, it looks like a regular office, basically. Desk, bookshelves, a tired looking man sitting behind a stack of paperwork, and paintings of the town and the surrounding environs. He looks up as the door opens. Unlike the other humans of the town, this gentleman is well tanned with slick, black hair, and piercing green eyes.

"...Ah, you must be the adventurers I heard about. ...Did you enjoy lying to a couple of my guards?" He asks, his tone a bit deadpan in an accent very much unlike the rest of the village.

"Ah, yes, apologies for that, Captain," Zack nods to the seated official. He makes his way over to look closely at the paintings on the wall, looking for any details that might help identify any areas around the town or things that might help the investigation (Investigation: 11). "We were only trying to give ourselves a moment to gather the information and evidence we needed to aid your investigation, is all. You of all men would understand the need to keep as few people as possible at a scene of a crime. But we are here now, so I hope there are no hard feelings."

Grell, head ducking ever-so-slightly coming through the door, surveys the room (Perception: 13) before taking a stance against the wall nearest the door, nonchalantly leaning back and folding his arms. The Gold Dragonborn keeps his eyes squarely fixed upon the Captain, unnervingly unblinking as he speaks.

"...Right." The captain stares back at Grell, seemingly accepting the unspoken challenge the dragonborn is presenting. The room is just as previously described, nothing out of the ordinary for a guard captain besides his unflinching return of Grell's stare.

"...so, what can I do for you gentlemen? Are you here to gloat about how you cracked the case, and present some plan on how you intend to save the day even though everyone attacked is probably already dead?" It seems he's... a tad worked up on the matter. Perhaps feeling threatened by people who have just shown up, and yet already are proving 'more capable,' in the eyes of the villagers.

Surprisingly, Vigil finds it amusing how easily the captain seems riled up by the group. A cheeky smile forms at the edge of his mouth.

"There will be plenty of time to gloat later, once this investigation is complete. For now, we can try to ensure these creatures don't take anyone else." With that, he dumps the bag containing the creature's remains in front of him. "We met some of those wretches that have been giving your town some trouble. Managed to take one of 'em down. We haven't figured out what it is yet but we've learned a few things from our encounter."

Grell ruffles (is that right? :P) his nose at the fleshy-squelch sound the bag makes as it hits the desk, and steps forwards before the Captain speaks.

"These things burrowed away when faced with great opponents..." he says, letting the Captain know his meaning before continuing sharply, "... they must be held up somewhere underground. We followed some trails from one of the homes that were attacked before we arrived, which lead us near the river; do you perhaps know anywhere suitable for them to create a lair, that we could reach? A cave perhaps?"

The Dragonborn rubs the side of his temple slightly, "Grell had a heavy night and would like to begin the day with some positive information, so please point us in the right direction, Captain... or towards someone who can..."

Quote from DevanAvalon >>

The party makes their way towards the guard captain's office. It's a small building next to a much larger, citadel looking structure... Although the somewhat imposing structure is still only like, 4 floors. Once the party steps inside, it looks like a regular office, basically. Desk, bookshelves, a tired looking man sitting behind a stack of paperwork, and paintings of the town and the surrounding environs. He looks up as the door opens. Unlike the other humans of the town, this gentleman is well tanned with slick, black hair, and piercing green eyes.

"...Ah, you must be the adventurers I heard about. ...Did you enjoy lying to a couple of my guards?" He asks, his tone a bit deadpan in an accent very much unlike the rest of the village.

 'If you're referring to the incident with the two guards, I was barely involved. All I did, was give them a little nudge.' Kalgren said to the Captain. He rolled up his sleeve to show his left arm. The lines cut into the flesh were still there but with a night of sleep, they were more like red stripes drawn across the arm. He also pointed to the cut on his cheek. 'I was attacked by a vicious creature. Those two guards, without any fear for their own lives, took up arms and came to the aid of a complete stranger without hesitation. Quite commendable, I must say.'

'You have some fine folks working for you, captain.' He smiled, his mouth halfway between a grin and a smirk. 'We're just citizen concerned that they might be out of their depth with this one. Besides,' Kalgren let his gaze wander across the room from person to person and back to the captain, 'we're merely here to help. Amaunator cares for all under the light of the sun.' Kalgren finished his rhetoric with a slight yet polite bow, making sure that his sun amulet was visible the entire time.

"Capable or no, captain," Zack chimes in, "Fresh eyes never hurt. We only wish to stop whatever, or whoever, is attacking the people of your town. Our preliminary investigations proved fruitful, but they are only a piece of the puzzle. Pieced together with what you have, we may all allure to more of the image." He takes out his notebook and looks expectantly at the captain.

The captain rolls his eyes a little as Kalgren preaches. "If I wanted to deal with religion, I'd go see Marigold." He says... As Vigil dumps the corpse onto his desk. He looks down at it, and for the first time since the party has met him, he looks unnerved. "...What in the Hells and Abyss...??" He pokes at the creature's body for a moment and gags. "...There aren't too many caves down here... in the valley..." He'll finally say, before looking at the group. "...They came up from by the river? I guess there might be old burrows out there... Maybe they're holed up in the mountains proper. The... The goliaths probably might be able to help more... Oriander runs the Essentials store, and he regularly goes up river to hunt. Maybe... Maybe he's... seen something." 

It seems he's greatly unnerved by the creature's corpse. "...Please... Take this thing away. Take it to Wulfa, he'll probably be able to study it... He's... He's kind of an animal studier... Whatever the word is..." He steps back from his desk. "...and please don't lie to my guards again. I can't say magic is illegal in this town since that isn't up to me. I just enforce the law... Or my name isn't Captain John de Mowbray." He's trying so hard to put himself back together to keep some sense of the dignity he had presented prior to the corpse being lobbed on his desk though.

"Oriander at the Essentials, right," Zack murmurs as he jots the name down. "Is there anything else you might be able to tell us that might help, most excellent captain?"

Quote from SpieltJoos >>

"Oriander at the Essentials, right," Zack murmurs as he jots the name down. "Is there anything else you might be able to tell us that might help, most excellent captain?"

 "If you end up finding the bastard's base, you'll have my sword at the very least." He says... Managing to put on a brave face despite his clear discontent at still having the creature's corpse on his desk.

Grell stands up to his full height, locking the Captain in another stare, before giving a curt nod and heading for the door. On his way past the others, the Dragonborn gives a dismissive gesture as he murmurs, "Grell thinks the barmaid was right, but at least we have something to go on; this Oriander would be a good place to start, unless we want to take the remains to Wulfa first. Didn't someone already see this one...?"

He then leaves through the door, leaving the others to wrap up anything before joining.

Priceless. This is what Vigil thought of the captain’s reaction to the creature’s remains. He tied up the bag back up and removed it from captain De Mowbray’s desk. He slumped the bag over his shoulder and as he exited he gave the captain a somewhat courteous bow. "Captain. Always a pleasure."

Having rejoined the group outside, he began weighing their options. "Zack, you’ve met with Wulfa before right? Think he might be able to help? And how about that Oriander fella?"

Zack nods, "I've met Wulfa. He's a bookish fellow, for sure, but I'm not entirely certain he can shed light on this creature. It's worth a shot though. I've not been to the Essentials store though, so that might be worth a look. Perhaps we drop the corpse to Wulfa first, so as not to have to carry that thing around town all day?"

If everyone is happy to go to see Wulfa first, Zack leads the way to the tall, library looking building, and taps on the door.

'Captain.' Kalgren gave the captain a friendly nod before joining the others.

'This Wulfa, is he some kind of taxidermist?' He glanced at the sack containing the creature's corpse. 'I'd like to get rid of that sooner rather than later. Not really appealing carrying dead stuff around.'