Kerric:

Having sheathed his sword and stood by now, Kerric is feeling a little bit better thanks to Ebele's ministrations, but he is still wincing from his wounds.  He waits for the more loquacious of his companions to tell the story, but he will jump in if it seems to be going off track.

As Reghys stood up front, Ebele would lean to Kerric to whisper, "Did we ever get any names?" Besides the boys.

Jumping at the opportunity, Reghys greets the "deputy". "I hope for a pleasant evening, sir, despite what you may find here. My name is Reghys, myself a representative of the Ardent Alliance. I'm afraid whoever you're looking for may not be... here... anymore. You see, we are a society of travellers that collect ghost stories, and other evidence of the paranormal. When we heard about the moving stones for which this quarry is famed all across the Dessarin Valley, we simply had to check it out for ourselves, and what better time to do so then at night! Unfortunately, as with most things of the paranormal variety, the explanation behind it was unfortunately far less so... a local group of charlatans has been using the myth and the goodnatured beliefs of the townsfolk for their own ends, manipulating the stones and having a priest loayl to their cause interpret the results for the benefit of their own following. Naturally, they were afraid of not only the ruined tourism, but also their own standing in their community, and decided to solve their problem as best they could, by trying to make us disappear. 

Now, as famed experts of the occult, they should have known better, since we are accustomed to fighting spirits and other such forces. We tried to talk to them, convince them that there might be an amicable solution to this whole thing... my friend and companion here was even ready to draw up a contract in which we would have agreed not to disclose the truth about this place, in return for safely escorting us back out of this quarry... but instead, they started to attack. My friends and I did the best we could to defend ourselves, our warrior here can attest to the ferociousness of their attacks. It pains me dearly to say that all our efforts to end this all amicably and non-lethally have failed, unfortunately. We were just in this very moment looking to inform the proper authorities of what had transpired here."

Moving stones?  the constable looks at you with disbelief  Never heard of any moving stones,  this boy was prattling on with something bout a cult, and beleivers

Kerric:

Speaking up, Kerric says, “They call themselves the ‘Cult of the Black Earth’, an evil cult my ancestors dealt with in Cormanthyr.  Their militant arm now apparently goes by the title ‘Bringers of Woe’, and it was this lot who attacked us.”

Moving over and drawing their symbol on the ground, he says, “As with most such organizations, they wear a symbol to mark their loyalty to the evil forces.  We think these cultists are the ‘Stone Masks’ who have been seen lurking around lately, hiring bandits like the ones we found on the road, and awaiting the arrival of this Miramar delegation.”

T'chal'fronack'zcinicker looks down at the bloody mess of the priest when Reghys tries to get him to hide the body.  He holds his hands out to his sides with a "how am I supposed to hide this mess in the next 30 seconds"..by Reghys isn't looking anymore.  He looks around hopelessly until the Constable comes in.  Then, T'chal'fronack'zcinicker listens as Reghys takes to the lead and seems to wilt as Reghys begins spinning his tale. With each crooked turn in the story the Tiefling seemed to get more and more panicked, until finally the story drew to an end.  Stunned to silence, he waited to see the response. When Kerric then begins talking, a flush look of relief floods across his face.  When he's done, T'chal'fronack'zcinicker speaks up, pointing directly to the elf, "Yes, that's the truth right there. Good job getting the authorities my boy. I wonder constable how such nefarious folk could be operating directly under your town without having applied for a permit or received any sort of approvals from the town council. Indeed, I would expect that if you do not know about this, someone in an authority position must have helped forge or avoid the whole approval process! Bureaucratic corruption at its worst." 

the constable just stares at T'?chal"fronack^zcinicker in disbelief

"That is why i was asking about Baragustas, he is one of the town elders,  you mean there are more bodies in here?   William, Theodore go look"

and the 2 deputies depart the room

like i needed this today with that delegation supposed to pass through

OOC:  It should still be just about half an hour after dinner, right?  We came here right after eating and haven’t taken any rests yet...

Kerric:

”Is the delegation coming in tonight, Constable?  If it helps, I can show you the people who attacked us and their cult symbols.  Perhaps having this dealt with before the delegation arrives is a good thing, eh?” suggests Kerric.

Persuasion: 7

OOC its after midnight  lot of time wasted in levitating room

"All i know is today,  the messanger said they were stopping here on their way south, so im figuring afternoonish

T'chal'fronack'zcinicker says, "Well yes, unfortunately despite our attempts to discuss things rationally, these cult members were more interested in attempting to kill us, rather than introduce themselves.  I even offered to assist with their permitting and tried to calmly explain our presence here, but they insisted on trying to kill us.  They seemed to insist on going to their deaths rather than try to talk at all." (Technically true, dancing around us killing them after we'd defeated them. Deception: 9)  He quickly continues, referring to his notebook, "However the boy did confirm that Rotharr Hatherhand and Ilmeth Waelvur are involved with these people somehow, along with his own father." 

Kerric:

”I believe Rotharr is Braelin’s father, good T'chal'fronack'zcinicker, though his punishment for not delivering the message seemed overly severe to me,” adds Kerric, trying to clarify the situation for the constable.  “Also, constable, we have not explored the whole complex.  I would urge your deputies to caution, should there be more cultists around.”

"Unless theyre hiding in the north section there aint anyone else in here

With his companions having the ... storytelling well in hand Xalkas experiments with the room further. Reasoning that the stones levitated after the cultist hit the floor. Xalkas begins dropping objects on the floor starting with small objects and gradually increasing in size until he notices any change from the stones. 

once Xalkas object is above a pound - dropped from a 1 foot height the stones start levitating again for a minute

Pleased to have discovered how the stones move Xalkas makes mental note of his discovery and then sits observing the conversation with interest. Curious what the Constable will do. 

T'chal'fronack'zcinicker watches Xalkas, temporarily drawn into his experiment and eager to see how it works out.  Once done though, he turns to the Constable.  "So, say, it's rather late and I'm quite knackered. What's happening next here? Do you need us for something or can we go hit the sack?"

Reghys shoots T a theatrically angry look, before turning to the constable again: "See, my companions are weary from the road, and my tiefling friend here can get quite cranky if he doesn't get his eight hours... if you'd be so kind and let them return to the inn, where they'll stay for any further questioning, I might be able to stay here and help you clear this whole mess here up, what say you?" 

Persuasion: 11

"Yes yes  go back to the inn, ill meet up with you in the morning"

at that point one of the deputies comes back saying they found rat corpses and some bodies that have definitely been there for a while.   and that Theodore was floating in another room

Thank you William  go back, I'll be right there

"Ah, the floating room, yes, not to worry, it's something our occultist here" pointing at Xalkas, and imploring him with a look to pardon their labelling him an occultist for the sake of their invented cover story "is already investigating. It seems to be harmless, Theodore will just have to take care to not drift too far out of the zone of the effect, as otherwise he could be in for a rough landing."

T'chal'fronack'zcinicker smiles, "Excellent. Well friends, shall we leave the constable and head up to the Inn?"  He begins taking his first few steps towards the exit, but waits for everyone but Reghys to follow along. He begins turning his mind to his considerable paperwork and reporting he's yet to do.