Secrets of Roderic's Cove: Act I - Bubbling Tensions

[Graven]

Sarius watches the spider-woman move with interest. She's hardly the most unnerving form he's seen, given his education that would be a feat, but she's also not restrained by a teacher's circle.
"I do not believe I'm aware of your Lady, religion hasn't been one of my areas of study..." he looks at the others unease, then returns the bow.

[ManWithDoor]

The group is temporarily grappling with the appearance of this strange spider-woman, and seem to have almost forgotten the Leader, Corstela Rostrata, that asked about their arrival. She turns to the Philosopher in a whispered conversation for a minute, nods, and turns back to you all.

"Ah, the altercation between us and the Horned Fangs. Filthy ruffians, one and all. They should be run out of town, or exterminated for the peace and safety of Roderic's Cove." She shrugs. "Unfortunately while we can defend ourselves to some extent, we are scholars, not warriors. If you are trying to clean up this town, then I would be pleased to provide you with as much information as I can."

[RorytheRomulan]

Rusilka takes one step further away from the follower of Milani and answers Corstela.

"Ah wouldnae mind dealin' with th' Fangs," says the axewoman. "But we cannae help right now. We came here after we learned a warrior of yers tried it herself. Walked right at a group of them, then ghosts rose up and killed the lot - she included. Seems no side can come t' blows without Roderic howlin' bloody murder. What do ye know about it?"

[ManWithDoor]

Corstela raises an eyebrow. "I was not present, but I heard news that Sir Roderic's uneasy shade made a scene in the Circle Market. Luckily it seems that he was just interested in scaring everyone away from violence, rather than leaving a number of people on the ground dead. I can make uneducated guesses as to why, such as perhaps there was more evil intent that night and he responded more forcefully, or he had more control in the Circle Market, or daylight was the difference, or he loves the townsfolk that he gave his life for." She does not commit to any of the ideas, she is just intellectually giving out options as she thinks of them.

"I do not know if I can place it at the feet of the criminals or the undead, but there are other issues afoot that keep me and mine less than enthusiastic about going into town. Monsters nipping at the edges of town at night, a handful of dwarven merchants disappearing, and some sort of harassing sprite or something causing mischief. Perhaps it is the sum of the issues that is disquieting old Sir Roderic. If you're bold enough, you could even go and explore the wreck that was his once his home, although if you do so I recommend coming well prepared. The living are much more reasonable than the dead, and he may not see you as helpers but disturbers." The Leader of the Order looks like she is about ready to call this audience concluded, and go back to lecturing.

[RorytheRomulan]

Rusilka taps the blunt end of her axe thoughtfully, as the human holy-woman lists problems less daunting than the exorcism initially laid at their feet.

"If we find those merchants an' bring 'em t' safety, they'd surely open their purses t' show their thanks," she mutters to Sarius.

[Graven]

"We could maybe use that to gather materials to protect ourselves from the ghost, and any other magical threats we might face," the wizard is already running through a wish list of items that he may be able to find.

[ManWithDoor]

Corstela waves you off and goes back inside her scholarly abode, and the guard closes the door and levels an impatient look at you to get the hell of the property. Not the friendliest bunch.

Heading back into town, Sarius goes about figuring out who might have various alchemical and magical items that might be of use. This is a frontier town, so the pickings are slim. Outside of the Gravekeeper that started this whole thing, there aren't many magic-users in town of any worth.

Rusilka finds greater success on gathering information on the missing dwarven merchants, by encountering a colorful local by the name of Kolton Harrismore Lovekin (he introduces himself with his entire name). He doesn't have any obvious tools of a trade on him, he kind of looks like a vagabond. But he is rather charming, so he isn't without merits.

Kolton

Kolton talks swiftly, as though the words are straining to spill out of him. You quickly find out he moved to Roderic's Cove about 5 years ago, and has no permanent residence. "How can I be homeless when I have Varisia?" is his rejoinder to any judgmental looks. He sleeps in the boughs of trees and moss-covered rocks, but in winter isn't too proud to sleep in someone's horse corral or barn. He refuses to sleep beneath the roof of anyone's house, and looks twitchy when he admits it.

Getting him back on track about the missing merchants, he starts talking about what he knows. Recently two dwarves arrived in town, wounded and exhausted. The told a tale that four of them had originally set out from Iron Peaks to deliver a small shipment of weapons and armor to the town. Skirting west of the mountains, they crossed the Lampblack River and followed the edge of the Churlwood forest to town. They've had minor troubles in the past with the "Roadkeepers" in the forest, the local bandits that are more of a parasite than a true threat. The merchants have paid the "road tax" previously, with no violence given. Almost civilized.

The two dwarves - a lady named Galdsbredtha Morgmon and her personal valet Fordren Kulsoth - said they were ambushed by goblins out of the Churlwood, and they had to abandon their wagon when they fled. They didn't see what happened to the other two merchants, but assume they were captured by the goblins for some nefarious purpose. It took the hurt dwarves about a half day to walk to Roderic's cove and seek aid. They didn't know anything identifiable about the goblins, beyond all of them wearing large lip piercings.

OOC

The Adventure Path assumes you do enough stuff around town to get to Level 2, and then head to Sir Roderic's Manor. I'm not requiring you to go through every possible item, so I'll push onwards. After you do some information gathering on the missing dwarves, I'm going to Level you up. Then you can either head onwards with this dwarf side-quest, or onwards to Sir Roderic's Manor.

[Othniel]

"If all the goblins were marked the same way, it could be the sign of following a strong leader," Myri suggests. "At any rate, it may be too late for the missing merchants, but if we are to explore that lead, we should do it first in the event that time is of the essence."

[RorytheRomulan]

Rusilka snorts and spits at the mention of goblins. "Half a day's journey, eh? Which road did ye come by? Which way'd they attack from?"

[Graven]

The son of merchants looks around, "Yes, goblins need to be dealt with, can't have them harming trade can we? Also people, mostly people in fact."