Rise of The Runelords 1 - Burnt Offerings

Shathys gnashes his teeth and brings his boot down over and over on the dead goblins chest in frustration. Stopping long after the cracks had ceased.

"So we have the knowledge that he was a villager, probably one of high rank. With pointy ears. An elf perhaps? What do you two think?" Turning towards the other two Shathys folds his arms, brooding silently.

"A villager? That's horrible! We have to talk to someone about this!" Shara exclaims in frustration. She is shocked that a villager could do something like this.

"How on earth did you come to the conclusion that it's a villager?" Jack looks confused at shathys.
"Also you forgot the second goblin, I'm thinking he's shaken up enough for now."
Jack walks towards the last goblin and squats down in front of it.
"You will lead us to your camp, yes?" More a statement than a question, Jack says with a smile. It reaches all the way up to his eyes.

Spoiler:

The goblin looks from Jack to Shathys, to the dead goblin, back to Shathys and finally back to Jack.

"Ban, chib." It mutters in its guttural tongue and nods.

Shathys looks quizically at Jack.

'I...I suppose I didn't think the interrogation through...Actually it was more of a vent for anger.

Though it's not all so bad, see, we have a spare," Shathys says with a glint in his eye.

Jack raises an eyebrow at Shathys.
"Still, we must be careful accusing anyone, especially in a village this size. Rumour spreads quickly and we'll have chaos to deal with." Jack turns to Belor. "It seems we have a guide." Jack glances at the guards and then back to Belor again. "I suggest we take a small team out to investigate, a large number could either alert them of our presence or scare them off."

Belor nods. "Agreed. The city guard will be busy rooting out the remaining goblin stragglers, but you three... you should go hunting."

Osmus chirps with disapprovement from the corner of the room. "So Shara, i guess you got that adventure you've been dreaming of".

Shara smiles at him, walks over and pats him on the head. "Yeah I know.. Isn't it great though? We get to help people!" She looks at the two others, "Ready when you are guys, although i would like a good nights sleep. I guess the goblin camp wont magically move before tomorrow morning, right?"

Shathys spoke up, "I suppose it's only fitting that we finished what we started.
Pity though, im getting rather hungry, and if cheery over here cracked a smile I would
sport him a flagon of ale." Shathys smiles cheerily and slaps Jack on the back.

"Right then, fun times await, let's get going."

"The camp won't move, but whoever stole the sacred corpse, which is heresy I might add, will." Jack looks down on himself.
"But you're right, we need to freshen up a tad if we are to stand a chance against the mastermind behind this. I think we can safely assume he's a good deal harder to deal with than puny goblins." He glares at the one remaining goblin and then returns to face Shathys and breaks into a grin. "I've been cheery from the start, my friend."

Shara heads for the Rusty Dragon to get a good rest, a hot bath and something to eat. While there she packs her stuff and fixes any rips her clothes might have gotten in the rather intense afternoon of fighting and competition. She keeps to herself in the inn, accompanied only by Osmus; she needs to think things through. For Shara it's a big deal getting thrown into adventuring in this manner, not like she expected, but not all bad.

"Alright little goblin, we'll have a little talk." Jack says with a smile.
"Now, before we go anywhere, how far away is your camp?" Thinking that if it's more than a day away, it may be worth to simply start now before the trail is gone entirely.

The goblin squints in concentration. After a solid minute of muttering and counting of fingers, it raises its hand, extending four bony fingers. "Two," it says.

Jack's smile wanes slightly.
"Two what? Days? Kilometres? ...nevermind." he sighs.
"how much of the day did it take you to get here?" Jack asks again.

The goblin extends its hand to about chest height, palm down.

Jack frowns, then nods and stands up.
"Belor, until daybreak tomorrow I will need someone you trust immensely to guard the goblin. Someone might try to exact revenge which would be detrimental to our cause seeing as it's our only lead." With that, Jack shakes the sheriff's hand and tries to find father Zantus.

Shathys rises and walks next to Jack.

"If it's alright with you, might I tag along? I don't have anywhere better to be at this point in time and you seem to know where you're going."

Shathys stretches slowly while Mishka nips playfully at his heels.

After a few minutes of searching, you find Father Zantus in the cathedral, where he's busy tending those who were wounded in the attack. His sleeves are rolled up, and blood stains his hands. He tightens a bandage and stands up, wiping his hands on his robes.

"Father Zantus, my condolences for those lost this night. But I have urgent matters that I must attend to. I need to know everything you can tell me about the sacred corpse that was stolen. If you have any records of it, I wish to see them. Anything you have." Jack pleads to the priest.

"And Shathys, you might want to retire for the night, I don't need as much rest so I'll stay up for a while." he smiles.

Shathys smiles politely.

"Alright, friend, it's been a bit of a long day indeed, so I'll see you in the morning, have a good evening." With that, Shathys turns around and walks out.

Shathys however felt more awake than ever, as walks out into the dark street he feels a cold breeze and begins to feel more alive.

Reaching down and petting Mishka fondly, Shathys smiles in the dark.

"We've got a long journey ahead of us girl, i'm not sure if you or I will make it unscathed, but let us hope for the best..."

Shathys walks leisurely down the street, whistling from memory a song he heard a bard play when he was in the tavern, so recent but seeming to have happened eons ago.

Instinctively sticking to the darker areas Shathys broods over the days events and tries, however futiley to predict what may happen soon, Mishkas' paws making an ever present tak-tak-tak on the cobbles.

"Thank you," Father Zantus says. "And I'm afraid we don't keep many records of our dead. But I can tell you who it was, though. Ezakien Tobyn, Sandpoint's late priest. He died during the fire that burned the old cathedral to the ground. Five years gone, now."

Jack thought for a moment.
"Was the one who burned the cathedral down ever discovered?"

Father Zantus blinks. "The one who burned the cathedral down? You think someone did it on purpose?"

"Maybe. If there is a correlation between whoever stole the corpse and the fire, we need to find out. Did he have any enemies?"