Day 6: Hurray for the Wandering Heroes. Moonday the 24th Rova, 4707

I had a somewhat decent dream for the first time in a long time. First time that I could actually remember a dream too. Maybe doing good is something that will help me out with my dreams. If that's the case, I'll have to figure out how to keep doing it after I get home.

I didn't have a hangover, because of my military time likely, but Dame Rebekah did. Faunra didn't but she might have just been being abnormally quiet. There was a large plate of runny eggs and sausage. Some buttered toast and some kind of fruit juice that I had never had before. Jonathan was the one in the kitchen, and apparently had almost been run out by Bethana, Ameiko's assistant, before she saw that he knew what he was doing. Then she let him continue, since he was doing her work for her, and not doing a poor job of it. It was shortly after I had sat down and dug into my breakfast that Sheriff Hemlock came into the Inn. I perked up and sad, "She told me she was legal." When he came up to the table. No one got the joke. He asked us to come with him, that he didn't feel comfortable disclosing the details with others around.

We all got up, some of us quicker than others, and went to our rooms to get dressed. It took a little longer for Dame Rebekah to get all of her armor on, but Jonathan went to help her, as he claimed that Armor messed with his Chi. I swear that boy has been listening to too much crap on my phone. It didn't take too long before we were all heading south, down Market Street to take a left turn at River Street and heading north. After we got on River Street, and the Sheriff was convinced we were not being followed, he told us that Naffer Vosk, the caretaker of the Boneyard had confided to Father Zantus that he found a grave had been disturbed, and wanted someone to check it out. The Sheriff had remembered what the Goblin had said and wanted us present for any investigations that might coincide with the search for the initiators of this plan.

That brought it back home. We did have a job to do, and it was something that we needed to do to get some of my allies (friends?) access to a person who might give them further information that they need. I needed to keep focused on what we had going on and get my friends what they needed. As we passed the Two Knight Brewery, Gaven Deverin came out and handed us each a bottle of Turandarok Reserve and slapping us on the back for the good that we did for the town. He tried to give one to the Sheriff, but the Sheriff declined, saying that he would be back around later to check up on everyone. Gaven smiled and went back to his brewery. I took a sip of the cider while it was still cool, and decided that it tastes like Angry Orchard, the Stone one.

We passed what I would call the industrial side of town, where the Grain mills, Sawmills, and wagon wrights were. No one came out to greet us, but that was to be expected. People didn't frequently take this path unless they were really looking to do something business related. A couple of people noticed us and waved, but didn't stop their business for too long to do so. I don't begrudge them one bit. We passed a couple more buildings before turning left onto Festival Street, passing Red Dog Smithy. The man in the Smithy looked to be in morning digging a pair of graves alongside his smithy with rage in his eyes. We didn't stop to talk to him, and Sheriff Deverin just shook his head and muttered under his breath, this is going to be trouble later.

We turned right onto High Street, and headed towards Savah's Armory. She was out front and waved at us. She ran over to us and brought the customer over with her. She asked us what we might recommend for defense against goblins. Dame Rebekah told them the two of them that you can never really go wrong with a longsword and a stout suit of armor. I concurred, adding that her sword had cleaved one goblin's head from its body in one slash, and cleft a ghoul's head from cap to jaw. As the armorer and the customer went back to talking, I overheard her telling the customer that she was going to be working on something special soon that would allow people to take out goblins from either further away, easier.

It was not too long after our encounter with Savah that we got to the Cathedral and thus the Boneyard. As we arrived we saw Father Zantus talking to a poor man with a twisted spine. They finished their discussion, and Father Zantus introduced us to the poor man. His name is Naffer Vosk, and he was the caretaker of the boneyard. He was here to lead us to the tomb that had been vandalized. Father Zantus had to go make preparations for the consecration ceremony which was going to be done tonight. While we were walking, Naffer Vosk told us that he has been the caretaker for the Boneyard for several years, working to ensure that all of the graves are well tended to and that no undead menace seeks to bring its way into this town. He went on to tell us that he saw that the tomb had been opened this morning and immediately told Father Zantus about it. Father Zantus had told him not to get bother with it, as the Sheriff's men would have to investigate it.

So, we are just "The Sheriff's Men" now, I guess that we need to come up with some kind of name if we are to not just be known by who we associate with. I think I'll have to bring it up to a discussion. I mean, I'm not looking to stay in this realm, but I don't want bad things to happen to these people any more than I would want bad things to happen back home. And if I could accidentally make my way here, what's to say that it couldn't happen in reverse? It would be one thing for a single peasant or even a goblin to make their way, but a ghoul or worse? I don't know what would happen. I don't even know if this world's magic would cross over. That is a really chilling thought. A Necromancer with the actual power to raise the undead, makes their way to my world and starts a program to bring up zombie, set them free of their control (apparently something they can do?) and just go to a different area somewhere else to do it again. Nope, I need to make sure this isn't some Necromancer plot, despite Dame Rebekah claiming that is likely isn't.

I think that I was zoned out at the time, because apparently Naffer Vosk was telling the others his life story and how heh came to be a cleric of Sarenrae. I'm going to have to write an entry about all of the different deities here, once I get a handle on it myself. Maybe I can teach and bribe Jonathan to scan the books that I got into my tablet and just carry that around like one of the wizards do their spellbooks. We got to the crypt in question. Jonathan quickly noticed the tracks that were around it, and I pointed out that yes it looked like it was a combination of both goblin and a medium sized creature's prints. Dame Rebekah pointed out that it looked like 6 Goblins and a Half-elf (or very light weight human, or an elf carrying a lot of gear), and that the goblins were carrying more weight when they apparently left. I concurred with her and tracked them back to where they had scaled the wall to get over the first time and where they went back to when they returned.

Our little competition out of the way, we made ready to open the door, not expecting any real dangers (since there were the same number of goblins going in and heading out), we were slightly taken aback by the two skeletons that lunged out at us. I say slightly, because the skeletons never got the chance to cross the threshold before Jonathan struck them both with bone shattering kicks. Ha, I knew a necromancer was involved, I said to myself. Nope I was proven wrong again, it was apparently a pair of patches from an evil magic item, a Robe of Bones, as it was identified as by Faunra. Apparently she just happened to know this for some reason. Then again, she does cast spells, maybe it is part of the curriculum. There were no other undead in the tomb, and everyone was accounted for except for Ezakien Tobyn's crypt. Jonathan remembered that Ezakien Tobyn was the name of the caretaker of the Old Cathedral that had burned down.

We made sure that everything was safe, and got the tomb sealed back up. I thanked Naffer for his time and for keeping the scene of the crime untainted. He was a bit confused by that, but Sheriff Hemlock understood what I was getting at. We all went back to the Sandpoint Garrison to discuss this and to try to puzzle out any further insights. The Sheriff had wanted to get things together before going to the Mayor with this. I can wholeheartedly agree, no sense in getting a politician involved unless you want them to panic. Then you can get them to go whichever way you want them to.

We passed again by Savah's Armory, and it looked like she was getting the customer to agree to a sale. It looked like a well-crafted longsword and a good quality chain shirt. I hope that it helps the person. Armor is great if you have it on in the event of an emergency. This time we took a right onto tower street until we got to the Garrison. An office area was made available for us, and we went over everything that we had so far, as little as it was. The Goblins were being led by a human or human like person. It was several different groups of goblins going together in this raid. The goblins were split into three (or more) different groups and had gotten in three different ways. We know that the ones that were at the festival itself were brought in by hiding in a wagon. Unfortunately, we haven't tracked down who brought the wagon in. It was a busy time leading up to the festival. Another group look to have gotten in via the Northern Gate. The guards had retired from there earlier, and the door was left unlocked. We are currently looking into how that happened. This group was apparently the ones that made it to the boneyard and took off with Tobyn's bones.

I brought up the question of why Tobyn's bones. These are goblins, they could have gotten anyone's bones and it be just as good. The fact that the group that went into the boneyard was the only group led by a human sized creature leads me to believe that this was the real mission. The goblins themselves were more of a distraction. It seemed right to everyone else, but kind of horrifying at the same time. Unleashing death and chaos on a town as a distraction from grave robbing? That seems a bit far for a sane person, but we might not be dealing with a sane person here. Sheriff Hemlock asked that we keep this to ourselves for a bit, no sense in worrying people more, especially with the calls of everyone to be on the lookout for goblins that I had requested. We agreed, especially because I still wasn't sure that we had accounted for all of the goblins that had infiltrated the town.

I asked the others if they had anything that they needed to do, since it was early morning, we had some cider, and a town that we needed to investigate. I was being a bit tongue in cheek, but we did have some things that we needed to do. Dame Rebekah wanted to head to Goblin Squash Stables to put in an order for a better saddle, and Jonathan had wanted to check out Rings and Things to see if they had a certain type of crystal that would align with his Chi. Man I need to keep him away from the self-help section of my audio files. Faunra, when the question was posed to her, just looked at the rest of the group as if to say, do you think it wise to split the party? I suggested, that since we were already about halfway to the northern gate, that we should head there to question the guards and then go to whatever stores we needed to go to on our way back south. We took Junker's Way towards Church Street and passed Rings and Things along the way. Jonathan ran in, and we slowly followed. By the time our eyes got accustomed to the shop lighting, Maver Kesk, the jeweler was holding out two silver matching silver rings set with crystals. Jonathan dropped some of his part of the reward in front of Maver and grabbed the rings and tried them on. Instantly, I could see that the light levels around him were brighter. A lot brighter. It wasn't daylight levels of illumination, but at least a bright as torch light or the light from a Light spell cast by a novice. It was apparently a property of those crystals and him being a psychic.

At least he was happy. Jonathan put gloves on and left the store, leaving everyone a bit befuddled. We all joined him and continued north on Church Street past "The White Deer", the Inn we had stayed at the first night that we were here. I still say that the conditions were better in the White Stag, and the meals more to my liking, but I will never argue with free or reduced room costs. I'm sure that if the White Stag had thought of a discounted rate, we would have continued to stay there. With his overhead, I'm sure that keeping the rates as low as they are is just him trying to stay competitive with the Rusty Dragon. Still, I might drop by to give him a hint on his peppercorn venison that might give it just him a boost for next year. If they have this spice in this world anyway.

The Northern Gate guards didn't have much information about how the event happened. They both swear that they checked the gates locked for the night before they left. Even when questioned independently they backed up the other's story, without any of the inconsistencies that one might expect if they were not telling the truth. We circled back to look at the cemetery and noticed that a ladder had been set up to get over the wall that goes to the cemetery. It had been removed after the fact, but the deep ruts were found by the keen eye of Jonathan. I can only be thankful that it rained for the two days prior to the festival. If the weather had been any dryer, they might not have left any sign.

So, we have is a human, half-elf, or elf who is leading a group of goblins in causing chaos. And stealing the bones of the dead. It is likely that the person had help, because they came in from the North with that group of goblins and would have had to have someone leave the gate unlocked for them to easily get through. Mystery grows deeper. We decided that we should head down towards the southern part of the town to see if there was any evidence that way, as we had hit a dead end up here. We decided to head south down Church Street and drop back by Savah's Armory. I had promised to check in with her, and it was on the way anyway.

As we approached Savah's Armory, we were personally greeted by Savah, having just made another sale. Savah greeted us warmly and thanked us for stepping up and helping out the townsfolk. In return, she offered all of us a permanent twenty percent discount on anything we needed that she had in her shop or could get My eyebrow perked up at that, as I thought about working with someone on some advanced armor. She must have caught it, because she winked and said that we still had our deal going on separately. The others kind of looked at me, and I motioned to my rifle. I took out a handful of pellets and gave them to Savah and told her that this was the first part of the project, to make a tube that was straight that these pellets could slide down without restriction. I'd get her more on the mechanics of the gun after that, and told her that if she wanted, she could try upsizing it after we made something functional to get even more power out of it. Savah liked that, and asked if we needed anything else. I looked at the others and said that I could use a set of armor like either Faunra or Dame Rebekah had. Savah tells me that she can whip something up, but it might take a few days with her current orders. I offer her a deposit and hand her one hundred of the gold that I had before we all head off.

There's some light picking from Dame Rebekah and Jonathan but I told them that I was married back home and that my interest in Savah was purely one of getting myself the tools that I needed to survive. That didn't stop the snickering. We made our way West on Tower Street towards the Garrison and hung a left to head south on Main street. We didn't know what kind of terror there would be on this road when we turned to head down it. We were attacked on all sides. People running up to us, giving us thanks and well wishes. Alma Avertin rushed forward from her shop, Sandpoint Savories, with a couple of loaves of bread. She shoved them in the hands of Faunra and Jonathan, saying something about them starving and needing to eat before rushing back into her bakery to continue baking and making other wonderful confectionaries. I will have to introduce her to the idea of Cinnamon Swirls, Honey Buns, and the most vaunted of all time, Funny Bones. I never liked Twinkies.

Chask Haladan, a person that I had met the previous day while shopping for books about the area came out of his book store, The Curious Goblin, and thanked us that the saviors of the town were also learned people. I smugly hinted to him that I had more books in one device than he had in his whole store and he almost fainted at that. I told him that if I ever had the chance, I'd show him all of the titles. If there was some magic way to copy them, I might even barter with him to trade off. Especially if there was a way to copy his books to my device quickly.

While I was distracted, we lost track of Jonathan. Apparently someone came up and grabbed him and escorted him away. All any passersby knew was that the two apparently went to the south in a hurry. Rushing after them, we discovered that the two of them went into Ven Vinder's General Store. We got there just as Ven was getting back. He asked if there was anything we needed. Good to see that not everyone thinks that we are Deity sent heroes (even though one of us is). We looked around his store for a bit and he seemed a bit impatient. I jokingly asked if he had any Jameson. He asked what that was. It was obvious that a small General Store owner on another world would not have known what Jameson was. I should have asked for Jose. Everyone knows what Jose is. I told him it was Irish whiskey. He told me that he had some Old Law Whiskey, if I had the money for it. He told me how much it was and not wanting to be a dick about it I forked over most of what remained of my reward money. Hopefully we would find a way to make more reward money soon, or I could tell some more stories at the Rusty Dragon. He went downstairs to go get something, and I think that this just happened to be where Jonathan was.

We heard some kind of yelling downstairs and Jonathan came running up, half dressed. Which wasn't saying much when he normally only wore a dark reddish black obi looking thing. Ven came running behind him. Jonathan looked like he feared that the shopkeeper would kill him. I almost feared that Ven would kill him. I had Dame Rebekah hold Ven back from attacking Jonathan for a moment. I asked Jonathan if he had any feelings for the woman, Shayliss as it turns out. He said he wasn't sure. I asked him if he could. He admitted that he was pretty much smitten with Ameiko, but had found out that she loved someone else, and that he had not given it any thought. I told him that this might be salvageable if he was to declare his intent of marriage to her. I told him that I could make this work, but I needed his rings. He slipped them to me while Ven was distracted by Dame Rebekah and her relaying to him facts about certain laws here in Sandpoint. I asked her if she could get Ven to listen to me without killing me. He looked furious, but being faced with several armed adventurers, he didn't make a move.

I told Ven that this was basically my fault. I had let Jonathan listen to and read some of the materials that was from my native homeland, and they spoke of a love bond between two young individuals. They spoke about how these two young lovers had family that was opposed to their love and how in the end, they chose to kill themselves rather than live without each other. Yeah, I know, I basically told him the story of Romeo and Juliet. He seemed to understand but was still furious. It was then that I put in the twist that I had thought up. I told him that there were special rings from my homeland that made after this to show true love. They showed it when they were touching each other, and if the love was strong enough, all the time. I said that I had the rings here, and that since Jonathan had ended up attuning himself to them, it would only work for himself and his true love.

I put the ring on Jonathan, and his ring lit up. I asked for Shayliss to be brought forward. She had gotten dressed in this time and when called, came up. I asked her to put her hand forward. I put the ring on her, but it didn't glow. Ven started to object, but then I put her hand in Jonathan's. The both of the rings played off of each other as Jonathan slightly touched the Shayliss' ring. The light in the room was as bright as a torch. Even Ven couldn't deny that. I asked Jonathan if this ring was a true representation of the light that was inside him. He said yes. Ven told me to ask Shayliss the same, and I told him that she wouldn't understand the meanings behind the statement, but to my surprise, she blurted out yes.

Ven was taken aback by all of this. I told him that I thought that this was a very good match, in that they were both fit for each other and that Jonathan was studying to be a master chef, and thus have a proper job. I insinuated that he already had a prominent position in the Town Guard, and was trusted by both Sheriff Hemlock and Mayor Deverin for his abilities. Jonathan, for his part, tried to look as respectful as he could. Ultimately, we came to the decision that this was a bit of an early celebration of a future wedding, and that it would only be proper for them to wait. I did end up having to use half of the bottle of Oldlaw as a social lubricant to make everything go smoothly. In the end, when Ven's wife Solsta returned from what she was doing, she took a look at Jonathan, now much better put together, and at Shayliss, and at the glowing rings, she couldn't deny that her daughter was a bit of a wild sort that would probably do well to be married off to a hero such as Jonathan.

We secured a date a few months in the future and made sure that we would get everything patched over with the Mayor. I even promised to pass along a few secret ideas for Ven that might be able to make him a bit more money if he worked with another person that I needed to get in touch with. It wasn't that I needed a specific person, but that I was willing to work with both of them to get something new on the market that could make them both lots of money. Ven and Solsta like the idea of that.

We ended up getting out of that situation right in time to be accosted by Ilsoari Gandethus, headmaster of the Turandarok Academy, wanting to know if the group would be so kind as to give talks to his current classes as a kind of work day presentation. I told him that I might not be the best, but that if the rest of the group were willing, I'd be glad to do something tomorrow. The rest of the group were kind of shocked by the way that I accepted, asking them without volunteering them. Jonathan took a second to remember to translate to Faunra. We really going to have to get a good means of communication between all of us, to minimize the confusion and the time it takes to get ideas back and forth. Faunra kind of shrugged as if to say whatever. Dame Rebekah was all for it, and so was Jonathan. I told Ilsoari that we would try to drop by the day after tomorrow. He accepted that, and thanked us for saving the people during the incident.

We decided to turn east on Water Street, heading back towards the Rusty Dragon and into the Market where we see bunch of kids playing with sticks and balls. I decided that since they were going to play anyway, that I should give them the basics of the rules of American Baseball. Once I had them having a good understanding of the rules, I had them vote on two captains, and they picked two teams. I had picked a couple of people the kids to act as umpires. We saw to it that the game was going along well, and then we got summoned by an elderly woman to what looks like a decrepit manor house. She motioned for them to come into her parlor and proceeded to sit us down. She looked at She went on to tell us perform a Tarot (Harrow?) for us and told us a few things. She told us that the troubles that had started with the festival were not done. She said that this had started long ago, long before three of us were born, but not as long ago as you (pointing at Faunra). You will have to go far and seek unassailable heights to stop this menace from afflicting this town and this world and even your world beyond this one. This journey will take you (pointing to Dame Rebekah) to find your to where you will find your calling, for you both (pointing to Jonathan and Faunra) to have your revenge, and for you (pointing to me) to find your way home. And remember when I say this (pointing to me), "It's just as the old gypsy woman said."

We were a bit stunned by that, especially since she knew some things that she could not have possibly known. Just as quickly, she escorted us out saying that we had things we were fated to do. She cautioned us that if we were to put down roots in this town, that it might lead to some degree of heartache for us in the future. She looked at me at the end and I could swear that there was an unspoken conversation warning me not to screw up the world too much while I was here. We stumbled backward into the lot where the kids are playing their version of baseball. We bumped into Cyrdak Drokkus, the owner of the Sandpoint Theater. He recognized us from the crowd and that we had saved the people from the Goblin Menace, and offered us free seats in the Balcony this Fireday, on the opening night of "The Harpy's Curse.", without taking no for an answer. He turned around to leave and took a step or two before shooting back around and asking if any of us had any talents or abilities. Jonathan volunteered that I was a fair to decent storyteller and orator. Cyrdak told me that I just had to take a part in the next play that he was going to do, the weekend after next, and that we could talk about it more when we got there Fireday. He sped off without allowing so much as an answer.

We decided that we should hurry on to where we needed to go, we continued heading South East on Market Street, until Jasper Korvaski stepped out of the Sandpoint Mercantile League. He asked us if Cyrdak was being a little pushy, and we said that it was fine. Jasper thanked us for what we did for the town, and offered us all reduced rates on any of the services that we thought we might need from his company. We gladly thanked him for that and told him that we didn't need anything at the moment. I wryly added that we would definitely not hold anything that Cyrdak did against him either. He seemed a tiny bit flustered by that, but I followed up with telling him that it's all good as we continued on towards our goal, past our temporary residence, The Rusty Dragon. Hayliss, Jasper's sister was watching our interactions with Jasper from her Boutique and gave us a little smile and shook her head slightly as we passed.

We had finally made it to The Goblin Squash Stables. Daviren Hosk had a bandaged eye and was hammering up eight new goblin ears on the rafters. He greeted us as welcome heroes and thanked us for all we did during the Goblin Raid. We asked him what he knew about the goblins in the area, and he showed us the brine preserved body of a goblin chief. He told us that we had a good deal of reduced rates coming to us for all of the goblins we killed. We thanked him for giving us such a discount and asked him about Dame Rebekah's new saddle. He told us that it might be a week or so to get it in. Dame Rebekah gave him a deposit and we left, to head back to the Rusty Dragon next door. It had been a long day, and it was barely noon.

I had not realized it but by the time we had gotten back from our trip, my bottle of cider was empty for some reason, much the same as those of the rest of this little group. Ameiko was there, waiting for us with fresh bottles of Turandarok Reserve. Such a considerate host. She asked if there was anything else that we needed. I told that something had happened that would require us to schedule her in the future for a party. She was kind of confused, and Dame Rebekah, with a smile, told her that Jonathan was engaged to marry Shayliss Vinder. She was amused by this to say the least. Jonathan wasn't. She told us that we could talk about it later. Apparently there was a man who wanted to talk to us. With that, the noble that we had saved during the raid came up and asked if we had a moment to talk. Aldern Foxglove, as he reintroduced himself, wanted to thank us for his rescue. His offer was to take us all on a boar hunt in the nearby forest. We tried to politely decline the offer, by saying that we didn't have the horses needed for such a hunt, he shushed us and told us to visit Daviren Hosk tomorrow morning. As he shook our hands before leaving, he pressed a bag into Dame Rebekah's hand. He thanked us all again before heading out.

The bag held 50 gold. I was impressed that he gave us a reward. We asked Ameiko for a private booth, if it was possible. She took us to one of them, and we called her in for a moment. We had each separately decided that we could keep her in the loop on everything that had occurred. We told her about how the attack on the festival wasn't an isolated event, and that there was someone in town that had planned this. She warned us that we wouldn't be able to back down on the hunting trip with Aldern, and that we wouldn't likely find out much on such a hunt. It might however, help us in the long run.

With that, she went off and we discussed any theories that we might have. I had to admit that it wasn't likely that a Necromancer was to blame for everything, because they would have taken more bodies than just the previous priest. The fact that the body that was taken was that of the man who had died in the last Cathedral's fire isn't a coincidence. We just don't know where it leads yet. I asked everyone else what they knew about religious enemies of the faiths of the new cathedral? Apparently the gods that are represented in the cathedral are Abadar – the god of civilization, Desna – the goddess of travel, Erastil – the god of basically agrarian life, Gozreh – the god of nature, Sarenrae – the goddess of healing, redemption, and the sun, and Shelyn, the goddess of love beauty and art. At least that was all we knew about them. None of our group were worshipers of those faiths. Apparently, the faiths that the members of this group followed were Calistria – a goddess of the broken hearted and revenge (no wonder Jonathan liked the more vengeful stories), Iomedae – a goddess of honor and justice, obviously followed by our great Holy Warrior Dame Rebekah, and Ketephys – an Elven deity of the hunt and challenging oneself.

I told them a bit about the All Father, my deity, as there wasn't any of the hostility normally associated with people worshiping other deities here. Dame Rebekah asked me why people would worship a deity if there was no one who could provide miracles for that deity. I told her that there where an awful lot of atheists on my home-world. More than even those who worship my deity. I told her that faith is a bit of a touchy subject on my home-world for a lot of people. Some people attribute any positive (or negative) event as being predicated by their chosen deity (or the oppositional forces of that deity), but that in my case, I see my deity as being on a completely separate existence than my own. I trust him to treat me well there, as I treat him well in mine. I have had religious visions with my deity, but I don't view my deity as being at my beck and call.

We ended that part of the conversation there, but went back to asking if there were any groups that were especially against all or even just one of the Deities that the Cathedral is devoted to? Well, apparently Rovagug seems to be the world hating entity on this planet. He hates everyone and everything, and wants to destroy it all. And I do mean all. We didn't know too much, but what we could piece together meant that a cult of his could be behind it, but it seemed a bit more specific than that. Jonathan brought up that it might just be someone with a hatred towards the town or the previous Priest themselves. I acknowledged that, and we all agreed that we didn't know enough to throw out any suspects just yet.

I decided to shine a light on the elephant in the room. Specifically, what the fortune teller told us. I asked her if they thought that she was likely correct in her statements that we are destined to be together for a fairly long time. The kind of mulled it over and said that yes, they did think it was likely. Here, prophecy wasn't just a shot in the dark. On this world, prophecy can be as simple as a mid-level spell, apparently spells are ranked in levels of difficulty from somethings known as cantrip to epic level rituals. Apparently both Dame Rebekah and Faunra can both cast both cantrips and the first sphere of magic spells. Both of them have access to different schools of spells and regain the ability to bring forth these miracles in different methods.

But the general assessment is that we should probably consider what the fortune teller told us as a general assessment of the future. I told them that if that was the case, I would work to use my knowledge and abilities to make the best equipment that I could for them. They didn't really catch what I was talking about, but I knew that I would be able to at least get them some things that are better than their current equipment. If I can get them to be perfected by magic, they might even be able to be enchanted. I planned to work on some plans later tonight. I won't be advancing technology to the level of my home-world, but I can definitely get some things going. Especially those things that can be made with older technology but had not been discovered yet.

Ameiko brought us a light meal of cheese blossoms, I guess she sensed that we were probably hungry. Jonathan and Faunra shared their loaves of bread with me and Dame Rebekah. When she came in, I asked her if we should trust the Fortune Teller woman in town. She thought for a minute and asked us if we meant Madame Mvashti. We didn't know who that was, so she described her. It was the old woman who accosted us in the Market square. Ameiko told us that if Madame Mvashti said something, it was probably true. Especially if it was a prediction. She left us after dropping the food off and leaving us with that. I guess that settles it. Now I need to find out if I can get ahold of the things that I need to make what I need to make better equipment for the people. I'll try to catch up with Savah, as she seems the most amenable to experimenting. Maybe a lot of what I need is already present here. Who knows, maybe they have copper wire and magnets. I could set up motors fairly easily and get them electricity fairly rapidly. That would be a beautiful thing. If there is a spell that creates a repeated force, I could use it to make a generator. I could use that to recharge batteries. I can try to make capacitors with copper coins. I'm going to break out all of the tricks.

We finished up the noon meal and left some money and a tip for Ameiko for the food and drink. I asked if any of the others had any business left in town. Jonathan pointed out that we still had our meal waiting for us at the Hagfish. Before we left, I remembered that I had forgotten to give them the gifts I got them yesterday. I pulled a matching poncho and down blanket made from a super lightweight material for each of them. They were accepted, but I don't think that they knew what to think about it.

We left the Rusty Dragon and started towards the Hagfish almost directly, heading west up Market Street towards water street. As we were passing the Market Square, the kids were still playing ball, apparently they had restarted the game after the nine innings because it seemed too short. We saw a kid sitting off to the side with his dog, watching the game but not participating. He looked tired and a little bit scared. Dame Rebekah went up to him to see and asked him what was wrong. He was one of the people at the festival yesterday and saw a goblin light a cat on fire and cackle. He had nightmares last night and couldn't sleep. He kept thinking that there was a goblin in his closet. His father had looked and told him that there wasn't anything there. The kid's dog, Petal, was upset by him being upset and was barking almost all night last night. The Kids father told him that if the dog didn't shut up tonight, they would get rid of the dog. He didn't want to lose the dog because he was afraid.

I asked the kid if he could introduce us to his parents. He told us that his mother was at home, and that we could meet her. He led us back to his home and we waited outside until his mother came out to see us. She felt that the boy was just afraid and it wasn't anything to worry about. Dame Rebekah told her that we had offered to check any houses just to make sure that we got every goblin. I added that we were not put out by this, and that it was better that the young boy was reassured that his father was right. She relented and took us to the boy's room. We got led to the boy's room and we started a quick search. Neither I, nor Rebekah, nor Faunra managed to notice anything and we were just about to leave when Jonathan told us that he had heard snoring. It wasn't from the mother, the baby, the young child, or the dog. It was coming from the closet. Below the closet. We silently got the mother and had her listen. She was scared for her kid. I don't blame her. We shut the curtains tight and slowly opened the closet. There was a fur rug on the floor that was kind of crumpled up. Jonathan snuck over to the rug, lifted it up and told us that it was too dark to see anything normally. He warned us that he was going to change.

Change he did! I didn't expect Jonathan to become Creighton Chaney. He changed shape and began looking much hairier and his eyes changed to be much more wolf like. Huh, I guess there's something new about him that I didn't know before. He's a werewolf. At least he wasn't trying to eat me in my sleep. He looked in the crevice underneath the house and saw the sleeping form of the goblin. He reached his arm under and focused his power into striking this monster. He killed it in one hit, and drug it out. Jonathan returned back to his regular form. We called the mother alone in, and showed her the body of the goblin that we slew. She was horrified. We told her that the boy didn't need to see this, and that we would get rid of it. We told her that the boy should be told that we took care of the issue. We also told her that if the dog is barking, it probably is a bigger problem than the boy just being scared.

Jonathan got the goblin's body out secretly, and Dame Rebekah talked to the boy. When everything was good, we rushed to the garrison to meet with Sheriff Hemlock. We tried to take back ways as much as we could, to avoid the clamoring crowds. We eventually got up there and Ven was there. He was aggressively questioning Hemlock to see that Jonathan was indeed a deputized member of the guard. Hemlock spared us a look and acknowledged that, yes, Jonathan was a deputy of the guard and that we were performing an investigation for the town. Ven seemed satisfied after a while and went to leave. I broke off from the group to leave them to get Sheriff Hemlock up to date on everything going on. I stopped Ven to ask him some quick questions. I told him that the thing that I had alluded to earlier might be even easier to get done, but that I was looking to see if there were certain things available in this town. He looked a bit suspicious when I asked him about super strong magnets and copper wire, but acknowledged that yes, he could probably get ahold of it. I told him to hold off, because I needed to make sure that we got the least amount possible, because it wouldn't do to buy more than was needed. He understood that and went off to his store.

I got in just in time to see that the group had decided to explain things in reverse order, and the Sheriff was just asking about why Ven knew that we were deputized. The group looked at me to explain. I went on to tell Sheriff Hemlock, in detail, how Jonathan was caught with Ven's daughter, Shayliss. How Ven wanted to attack Jonathan, and was willing to denigrate the group and by extension the town guard for associating with us. So I used some chicanery to make it look like Jonathan was more in love with Shayliss. Nothing magical, just abusing the natural properties of a pair of rings that Jonathan had bought just that morning. When Ven needed further reassurances that Jonathan wasn't just a dirty adventurer, I brought up his skill in cooking. To tip the balance, I let slip that Jonathan was a specially deputized member of the town guard being ordered to investigate certain issues that just are outside the purvey of the regular town guard duties.

I told the Sheriff that I did not let slip anything about the Goblin Raid, or our further investigations, hinting at the goblin that we just discovered and killed. Sheriff agreed that continuing to hunt for goblins in the town would likely be a good thing, not knowing how many that there were with this raiding party. He also told us that a local expert on goblins is likely to be coming into town the day after tomorrow, and that we should be available first thing in the morning. We all agreed to meet this person, as we had an appointment that we could not avoid tomorrow. With the sun getting lower, we all agreed to end our day with Dinner at the Hagfish.

We made it to the Hagfish without much issue, Alma gave Jonathan and Faunra more bread, I asked her if she had any pies. I bought a few for the kids at the market, and us obviously. There was a great blueberry pie that I dug into, while Jonathan had an apple. Dame Rebekah found a tarter apple and Faunra had apparently grown quite fond of pear. We dropped the pies off with the kids, well into their third game, and headed back to the west down Water Street to the Hagfish.

As soon as we entered, the crowd all gave us applause like it was the Cheers T.V. show. Some of the group were telling tall tales, others were playing games of chance, and there was a hagfish named Norah in a tank in the center of the bar. Jargie Quinn was there at the bar and motioned us over to a table. A server came and brought us a Mug of Old Murdermaw each, and a bowl of Crab and Clam Chowder. Jargie came over to sit with us after we finished the drinks and started into the chowder, and brought with him a round of drinks. The server took over at the bar for him while he gave us some information about the bar itself. He thanked us for the help that we gave and told us about some of the more lurid details about the area. As we finished our drinks, more kept on coming from the grateful members of the tavern. He told us that one of us would likely be challenged to drink from Norah's tank, it might be good for someone to take the challenge first, if any felt likely to pass it. We got another round of drinks sent to us. He also told us that there were a lot of games of chance here, if any of us felt like participating. We got sent another round of drinks. He also told us that if any of us had a gift in song or telling tales, we would be more than welcome in plying that trade and that everyone here loved a good yarn. Another round of drinks manifested.

Dame Rebekah pushed me towards the stage and insisted I tell everyone my story. I start off a bit weak, but Dame Rebekah backs me up and admits that it is all true as far as she knows. I continue on to the second portion of my tale, about my meeting with the Masked Abbess. The crowd takes it all in. I almost trip up my story when we get to the first day, but I remember that it was the gnomes who told me about goblins in the first place. I continue on to the forth portion of my tale, when we were sprung upon by a ghoul before we got to the next Inn on our journey. The fifth portion of my tale covered the second ghoul attack, and how it had bit Jonathan on the thigh. The tale tellers balked a bit at that, but then Jonathan showed them all the scar. I finish off my story with the popping a goblin in the eye from 40 feet with my rifle, and fire my rifle off at the other side of the bar and pinged a bullseye on a dart board's center. The crowd loved it and I put the money I earned right back in the group's pool. Jargie liked the story a little and asked me if it was all true. I told him that it was, but that it might have been a bit exaggerate at some bits. He laughed and told me that I was welcome back anytime to replay the tale of the wayward goblin shooter. Jonathan ended up taking the "Norah challenge" and slammed it home. I had noticed that he was a bit wolfier than normal, but by that time most of the people were three sheets to the wind. I smoothed the crowd over, with a bit about we all have to let our animal out sometimes. They got the joke and all laughed, it also helped that I put a gold coin in there as seed money for the next person's victory.

It was about dark when we all decided to stumble back to the Rusty Dragon. Ameiko was there at the bar and welcomed us back. She asked if we had any other encounters, and we, being drunk, told her that we had discovered that there was at least one less goblin in the town, now that we killed it and took it to Sheriff Hemlock. I quickly added that it looks like the Sheriff was right about being careful about goblins hiding in town after the raid. She gave us a look and shook her head. We all clammed up and sheepishly decided to just head upstairs and sleep it off.

I wasn't even surprised when Jonathan dropped by after two and a half hours of rest, asking if I had any books about my home-world that he could read. Just Like clockwork. I pulled up a folder on my tablet that had a whole bunch of books on history and showed Jonathan how to open them up and read them. He thanked me and went off to read in his room while I went back to sleep.