Part 2: Local Heroes

Tom o' the Six Strings

"I'd think tracking at this point would be fruitless...Unless you were able to find them a suitable distance away from town and go from there... but without a point to start at you'd be going in blind straight into enemy territory" Brego said with a shrug

"The good Sheriff has said he'd prefer us close by, yes? Would it be preferable that we split up and try to gather information within Sandpoint on the 'three avenues' as the lovely Miss Jan called them. Then come back and compare our findings? Being the, ahem, 'Heroes of Sandpoint'" he put up fingers in a mock 'quoting' stance "... people would be eager to give us information to help uncover this little mystery..."

"I appreciate your willingness to help, brave Gozzik..." the sheriff noted with a nod of appreciation. "...and if it were up to me, I'd like to keep you all in town for the time being, at least until we can find out more about what's out there. As I said at the start of this meeting, I am expecting word from an outside agent in the next few days that will hopefully shed some light on the goblin's movements."

* * * * * * *

"If you all are intent on doing some investigating of your own, I would only remind you that I'd prefer to keep the majority of what's been discussed here quiet until we have some more answers," Belor carefully warned. "I would ask that you use a great deal of discretion regarding who you talk to and what questions you choose to ask. And of course you'll report back to me and me alone if you uncover anything that you feel could be useful."

"Well, I believe we could also share the information amongst ourselves when there's a report to be made - Veritas noted, circling his hand to mean all the current people in the room, - so as to not keep anyone out of the loop. But certainly keeping as much information as we can to our ears only would help the investigation."

The half-elf pondered. "So we're looking at someone inside Sandpoint who'd know the best entry point for the goblins, could get one of the guards to turn on the city itself, possibly with a military and/or spellcasting background... Oh shit." Veritas seemed to have struck sudden realization.

"I initially assumed whoever wanted the remains was someone outside Sandpoint, but there wouldn't be a need for a distraction so large to avoid eyewitnesses if that happened to be the case. They wanted no eyewitnesses so they could bring the remains to another place within Sandpoint proper." He concluded. "So Sheriff, does that narrow the number of suspects down enough?"

Saitylvaness Sylvari The Knight of Stars

"A curious thought Vertias..." Saitylvaness folded her hands together and brought them up to her chin as she sat back in her chair. "So now we're assuming whoever was behind this raid not only knows Sandpoint intimately, but is probably still in town? Let's assume these incidents are in fact connected. The grave robbery would obviously be the main goal, the Goblin attack acting as much as a distraction as causing more pain to the people of Sandpoint. But what is the purpose? With so few guards, if the remains of a dead priest were the goal, why not just sneak into town and do it?" Sai had her suspicions, but there was little point in sitting around discussing them until they had more evidence. She wasn't sure who this outside agent was, but hopefully Hemlock would share any information he got with them.

"We're just wasting time if we sit around here and speculate the matter. If we're going to investigate, then let's get to it. If tracking them is out of the question, then perhaps Jan is right. It might be best to start with the wagon and see if we can find any information about who might have helped them get into the town."

Sanding up from here seat, Sai inclined her head to Sheriff Hemlock. "If I uncover anything, I'll be sure to let you know. I hope you do the same." She flashed him a smile and made her way to the door.

"Just one more question, Sheriff." Jan piped up with a strange little smile on her face before all of them started trickling out of the room.

"The other guy, the partner of the guard whose throat got cleanly slit? Munch? Mulch? You mentioned his body was unrecovered... How are you sure that he is dead?"

"The fact is that we are not, and to follow up on Veritas' question, that may be one of the only leads we have."

"Culkin, the guard who was found dead, was a respected member of the community who's family lives in town. As far as they know right now, he was killed as part of the raid, and they assume this was at the hands of the goblins."

"Munch, on the other hand, has no family in town, and he is a slightly more questionable figure. He is known to spend his free time at the Hagfish, and may have dealings with some of the unsavory figures that frequent that establishment, though we have no reason to suspect any of them of having cause to commit these sort of crimes."

Aegon nodded resolutely. "Right, then I'll head to the Hagfish with whomever wants to come to follow up on this Munch character, while the rest of us should start digging into this wagon full of goblins."

Jan turned to look at the elf, then stared pointedly (pardon the pun) at the elf's pointy ears.

"No offense," she added with a smile, "but you aren't exactly low profile, Mister Elf Traveler." Her eyes glittered with mirth.

"But then again, all of us are rather famous in Sandpoint right now, so what the hell. Let's go anyway." The woman rose up from her seat, and made a performance out of dusting her cloak. She glanced at the Sheriff to say hedr goodbyes, but then a thought struck and her smile grew smaller for a moment.

"By the way, someone can also go and have a look at Sandpoint history, if they don't want to look at some ruddy wagon and try to guess how it got in. Dig up anything that might be the reason someone robbed the late Father Tobyn's body. Maybe the good Sheriff can help with that? Maybe something about that fire that took out the temple in the first place as well?" She questioned Sheriff Hemlock who was standing across the table from them all.

"So we have one group heading out to the Hagfish. That leaves the wagon and, perhaps, the church - those who survived the late Father could probably tell us more about him. So that leaves two groups to set up. Sai, you look to me like you'd be a good choice to interview the acolytes - between your knowledge of magic and your kind demeanor, I'm sure they would be happy to answer your questions, and you could definitely get a bigger meaning out of their words than I could. Master Gozzik and Tom would be the best option to search the wagons; I wager between the two of you we'll get the most information out of it. If Sai agrees to head to the church, I'll be happy to follow. The good priests may need someone to effect some repairs."

"I'm sure Father Zantus would be happy to help in any way he can, and I know he can be trusted with delicate information as well," Sheriff Hemlock stated, standing politely as you all prepared to leave. "You may also try Niska Mvashti, the town's resident fortune teller and rumormonger. She seems to enjoy keeping a chronicle of such things, though she may require a small trade in silver for her time."