26 March 2010
We go to see Bob and Chad and find their gate locked. We try to unlock the gate and succeed. We look around and it appears that Bob and Chad have gone. I look in a window in the house with magesight and see one section of a wall that is glowing. It is a rectangular shape. We leave and lock the gate behind us.
We go to the temple. As we approach we see a large number of mothers and children loitering around the temple. It occurs to me that it is because of the disappearing families. We approach the gates to see Aldus Mannus. We eventually are taken to him by Matthias. We discuss the disappearances and find that one of the up-and-coming merchants’ family has disappeared. We suggest that we can search it and we get a parchment from Aldus to put in a good word with the local town guard. We go see the guards. We present the note from Aldus and the leader grudgingly has a junior guard escort us there.
I use magesight at the front door and the only magic item I notice is the ring on the guard. I search the inside and see on a night table that something like a small box that sat on 4 legs was hastily removed and left very small hard to see drag marks along with even harder to see tiny claw marks. They look like orc or goblin marks, at least to me. I also find a small bag wedged between the mattress and the headboard. It has a drawstring but the bag is open and contains a powder, darkish colored, grayish black. I try to smell it but get nothing. Magesight shows a slight glow. Jarlyn notices that the powder seems to have the makeup of a sleeping potion.
I continue to search and see a small stone that seems to be out of place in that the mortar is slightly different than the surrounding. I push on it and it’s solid. I pull on it and it comes free, I pull it out completely. Inside there is a bag and a ledger. In the bag is 10 gold and 30 silver and two small gems. The ledger is in trade-tongue and records the typical buying and selling. Among the most recent entries is a note in the margin saying that he should look into buying locks since a lot of people are asking about them. I call the guard and give him the bag and ledger. I tell him I have counted the money so he should make sure none of it goes missing. He sheepishly asks us to accompany him back to the guard building which we do.
We head back to the merchant’s and on the way I explain what I found. Kross starts to track and does well. We follow the tracks for a long way and they tried to cover their tracks but Kross continues to follow. The tracks seem to come to an end at a locksmiths shop. The tracks took us into the oldest most established business area. This is a stone building. With my area knowledge, I know that this is the shop of Gnorm the Gnome. A well respected lock smith. We enter the shop and find ourselves in a front room. We hear, just a moment, then out from behind a large sturdy door comes a gnome, on stilts! We ask about locks and he shows us in the back room. Jarlyn communicates to me that he detected evil upstairs. I do a presence attack on Gnorm and freeze him. A dwarf jumps down from above and swings at Jarlyn. Glaive kills him single-handedly.
Combat ends and Gnorm has peed his pants.
+1XP
For next time: Demand an explanation from Gnorm.