03 The Curious Case of Actamaya's Disappearance

So, Becca, do you want to give a little recap? Sure.

All right. I'm not going to recap stuff about Soundberg because we recapped that last time from the original.

So we spent a little bit of time reacquainting ourselves with that. And we'd be picked up on the day after Actimea was killed and began by Fauna going to visit Flora in the morning. After the craziness of what had happened with Actimea, Fauna slept in the woods the previous night, so hadn't really been home much.

Meets Flora in her chicken coop, but while we were chatting, or sorry, we were outside, but in the chicken coop as we were chatting, a creature that was cat-like with horns crashed into the coop looked at popcorn or was looking at popcorn and then licked popcorn as it then leaves again flora goes over smells the saliva that has a nature-like and chaotic type smell and a feather had fallen to the ground from popcorn which was rainbow

colored and shimmery and there was suddenly a ball on the ground as well which when Flora picked it up, she immediately fell to the ground. Fauna ran over to wake her up. Could only wake her up by slapping her. Noticed as we played with the ball a little bit that the ball seemed to be the cause of her just kind of going unconscious suddenly. And we decided we needed to figure some things out. So Flora scraped some of the saliva off into a jar to examine.

We took a coin purse to flip inside out and grab the ball, but even that was not enough protection and went to go find Meriwether to get her and her horses and decided we needed to go talk to Aunt Bea. Interestingly enough, we tested the ball out on Meriwether, no effect, raced Meriwether on the way up to Aunt Bea and found a lost. And when we get to Aunt Bea's, we ask her about murder in general. And she mentions that she's murdered before, but if it's not intentional, it's not really murder.

I mentioned something about having freed animals at some point. And Meriwether says she had heard about this, where there were a bunch of hippie-type people a long time ago who were liberating animals that were being kept cruelly. And sometimes there had been some guards who had died in the process. We end up showing her the feather, the jar, and I touch her with the ball, which also knocks her out.

Aunt Bee figures out that first of the saliva, any magic that had been from it had been transferred into that feather. And he took Flora outside, called a bee, tapped the bee with the feather, and the bee blew up quite large, the size of a really big pig or a maston-type dog, and it couldn't fly like that. But it was real cute, so Flora spent some time petting it and figured out that the feather could make any creature bigger up to a medium size.

So you can't take a creature larger than medium and make it larger? I think that's what that was, right?

Yeah, nothing could be made more the medium basically okay and she also tells us that the ball is cursed and essentially it casts the spell sleep and both meriwether and i are immune to it because of our elvish descent we ended up trying to go find out more about what kind of creature this was and talked to the librarian in tinyville all in briar flora uh was directed towards kids books rather than other types of books and found

out that it was a kitty corn it has fiery wings it's named rain lives on top of clouds mitts rainbow energy heals good individuals and damages bad individuals. Fana ran outside to take a look at the clouds but they looked perfectly normal so we weren't sure what exactly happened and decided to, one of the other things we learned was that Rain loves cupcakes and likes them as gifts we decided to try to bake some cupcakes.

And see if we could get Rain to show back up there seemed to have been no non-kids books that talked about Rain so we weren't sure what to think about that Fauna and Meriwether race again on the way back to Plora's house, and it's another loss for Fauna but not quite as bad.

Funnery and extra merry weather what had happened that morning. Flora tests out the feather on popcorn. And then we go and bake some cupcakes, which we couldn't attract rain with the smell, but we left one on top of the coop with a note asking them to talk to us. And then we decided to head into town to the tavern for dinner. While we're in the tavern, we listened to the local gossip.

There were a few people around some of the typical Oral Clay the blacksmith Derek the guard Fargus Copperkettle Old Dave nothing's really excited or happy in the tavern and we got some gossip from. Helene right? Yeah Helene yes that apparently Derek had gone back to Big Town but they didn't want him back so that's why he's upset and drinking. There's rumors that Fargus is going to step down as mayor after everything that happened with Actimea.

But the weird thing is, nobody is talking about the fact that Actimea is dead, so we're a little bit concerned about that. When we get back to Flora's, the cupcake was gone, but the note was left.

And that was where we ended, other than for us, I think we might have had a conversation about this, but our thought was, if no one's talking about the murder then does nobody know about the murder and therefore someone covering it up and our thought being maybe we need to talk to fargus as our first stop to see what might be up okay i think you guys went home to sleep too yes i think that's where we ended ended that yeah,

so it's the next day and you awaken what are you doing taking care of my chickens checking for the cupcake okay did you left a cupcake out tonight another one when you got back i thought so okay uh it's off and the note is still there. I'm just going to put another cupcake up there and go take care of the chickens. Okay. Fauna? I think I'm going to make sure my parents don't have anything they need me for today before I just run off again. Okay.

I mean, you could assume it's a typical day for them, so whether they need you or not or whatever you would need to do is typical. Okay, so I might do a couple chores that they might expect of me. Mm-hmm. And then I'll probably head right over to Flora's, as that's been where I ended up yesterday morning. And I think, given the information we've been doing, a safer space to chat, perhaps. Uh-huh. Okay. And Merriweather?

Going to do my chores around the horse ranch. Then we'll also meet at Flora's. My house is just hopping. Yeah, it is hopping.

Popping with chickens Uh, okay So, the party, the trio arrives at Flora's farm, Probably around the same time Flora, did anything take the cupcake? Yeah, I assume rain came back overnight, but still didn't take the note I wonder why she doesn't want to talk to us.

I mean, I would want to talk to us I'm gonna guess she's just shy based on what we were reading yesterday I pull out the notes that I copied about rain and show them to, Flora again so in the book it should have I believe it has a monster card like stat card maybe you sent it to us didn't you? I think so I thought I did yeah I think through messenger you did Well, I don't remember my password, so I'm going to have to look on the phone. Oof. I agree.

Oh, this doesn't say anything about her being shy, but I thought I remembered reading that she was shy. I'm still going to go with it. I'm going to say maybe she's shy. I guess it could be. I mean, I wonder why she showed up in the first place. That was, I mean, startling to say the least. Am I smart enough to make a guess as to why she might have showed up? I don't make a, I guess, an intelligence check unless you have some sort of past experience with this thing you could tell me about.

Not unless animal handling works. No, probably not. 16. What are you looking for? If I could guess why she might have shown up the first time, like, can I piece it together? Give me a sad guess, and I'll do what needs to be added for a 16th. I mean, she brought this ball with her, didn't she? Maybe she dropped it or something and came back, but then why would she leave it? I mean, we took it with us. You think she's looking for it? But then you'd think she'd spend some time looking around.

So with a 16, like, you'd also probably realize, I mean, cats are cat-like and sometimes they play and get the zoomies and not everything they play with is theirs or they care about. Maybe she was just playing with it and she had the zoomies and didn't really care about ball and just left it, should we try putting the ball with the cupcake I mean, if she didn't care about it, if she cared about it, wouldn't she have come looking for it?

What if we write that in the note? If you would like the ball back, we have it. Uh, okay. I mean, what if she can't read? There we go. Hmm. There we go. Eureka! I'm gonna pull the paper down and instead draw pictures to try and indicate for her to come find us if she wants the ball. all.

Know how good i am at drawing make a performance check 13 okay you show your compatriots what you've drawn and they kind of get the idea okay okay you don't know that anyone who wasn't standing here listening to you describe that before drawing it would necessarily get the idea but, try to help her fix it up to make it a little clearer sure you give me a performance check All right. Let's pick the right die to start off tonight.

Nineteen. Okay. Yeah. You seem to make some adjustments that make it much more clear. Okay. So with Flora's help, Fauna's help, we'll put the note back on top of the coop with another cupcake and then go back to chores, I guess. Okay. Well, it's just your house. Are you putting the front door? Am I what? You're doing chores at your house? Yeah. Gotta feed those chickens. Yeah. Okay. And are you putting your friends to work? No, they can do what they want.

By this time, I've already been out. And I'm sure I'm almost done with my chores. Yeah. What did you say, Becca? I'm sure I'm half-heartedly helping. We all know how much I love helping on my parents' farm. I feel like we also need to keep an eye on the tube. Yeah, we probably should. But I'm not sure if Rain will come back if we're outside. Why don't we go into the kitchen? I'll make some tea, and we can pretend we're not paying attention.

Yes. And just watch out the door. Or does the kitchen have a window that looks at the coop? I would expect so, yeah. And it was somewhere else in the house. I think the kitchen would be in the direction of the coop. I'm going to have to make my cottage in the synths, aren't I? I don't know. That's your choice. Okay, so you guys go inside the house and pretend not to, I guess, pay attention to things.

So I'll keep glancing out the window, but in the meantime, so do you think we should head to town and try to find Vargas today? I'm still really confused about last night at the tavern.

I think we were planning on that weren't we knows anything and argus might be the most likely but i think we have to tread carefully to find out what he knows like we can't just come out and say, what did you remind the body you know what i mean yeah i agree especially since nobody else is saying anything about it which is odd right you'd think someone would have said something yeah especially with like a political figure. I also need to stop at the general store.

No reason. Okay, there's a reason. We kind of figured. What do you need again? Uh, remember how I made popcorn huge yesterday? Yeah. She's a little hard to ride, so I think I need a saddle. Do they make chicken saddles? I don't know that they do, but I figured I could at least commission one. Oh, that's a good idea. Yep. I mean, Townburg might not have the key, but there's connections to all the other towns. Everybody give me a perception check. I think that's an at one.

Thirteen. I'm sorry, yeah.

Sixteen. Okay. Only Meriwether notices there's a cat-like creature out on the coop eating a cupcake. I mean, that's probably enough of an indication for both of us to notice and look. Probably. I saw, like, bouncing in my seat, and you know I'm about to, like, run out of scare dogs. You might want to stop.

I grow up. Good work, my good brother. you see the cat like creature doing that thing where it like sits back on its haunches and one leg is up in the air and it seems to be groomy all right we can try to go out quietly calmly bonna calm i mean do you think there's too many of us to all three of us go up to another one. Do you think one of us should go first? We'll be friendly, and that includes the other two. That's probably a good idea. Which of us is best at dealing with animals?

What's your guys' animal handling look like? Let's do it. Let's do it. Alright, so it's between me and you, Merriweather. You can go ahead. Alright, I'm going to carefully, calmly go to the door and make my presence known as I walk out into the yard toward the chicken coop. Going to notice you, do that thing where cats freeze. I will freeze. And then it's going to slowly back down the other side of the chicken coop roof. Rain, don't go. I just want to say hello.

I can give you more cupcakes. You see eyes and above pop up. I reach my hand back through the crack in the door and say, quick, put a cupcake in my hand. I run for one. Okay. I bring the cupcake out and hold it in front of me. Here, Rain. I just want to say hello. I just want to talk. It shrinks back behind the roof. Here, I'll put the cupcake on the ground. I won't even come near you. How's that? And I'll put it on the ground and take a few steps back.

You see, like, almost hunting position coming over the top of the roof? Is she catibrating? Yeah. You know, the back legs kick a little bit onto the roof. The butt wiggles? Uh-huh. Uh-huh. And she jumps and grabs the cupcake and then jumps to the top of your roof, the roof of your house.

Happy to see you rain it was nice of you to visit us she's not really paying she might hear you but she's not paying much attention do you do you need help with anything are you just exploring and playing like a kitty yeah you're getting the the casual no no response she's just doing what she's doing. I can keep giving you cupcakes if you want to keep come visiting. She's doing that thing where it doesn't she doesn't care maybe or maybe she does care but she's not going to let on.

If you come back in the mornings I'll have a cupcake for you. Make a perception check. Eleven. You see a quick glance to the top of the chicken coop and then she goes back to what she's doing. Yes, I'll leave it on top of the chicken soup. And if you ever need anything, I'd be happy to help. She just keeps eating the coffee. I guess I'll just let you go then. I'm going to go back into the house, and I'm operating on the idea that if I feed her enough, she will warm up.

It's possible. Well, I think that's about all I can do for now. I don't want to scare her off or like you know approach too aggressively so i'll just keep feeding her for a while sounds like a plan i'm gonna look back outside is she still there oh you can't see her she's on if she's there she's on top of the roof of the house yes yeah.

Should just go to town now that sounded awful oh maybe we should go run our other errands now, and just let rain do her thing should i leave the ball on the van for him if you want to it's up to you i also have a roll ball ball of yarn in here we could try to leave that out too, Oh, yeah. Maybe. I'm gonna go into my cupboards, pull out a ball of yarn, and as we leave, I'll leave it in the yard. Okay. So you leave, and you head into town.

Are you on foot, or did anyone bring forces? I probably will bring horses everywhere. I thought I was basically in town. Gotcha. Give me just a second. What was that? I have an impression of my cottage being at the edge of town. Yeah, yeah. Completely in town. Yeah, we could say that. So if anyone would have a horse, it would be them. Gotcha. Because they would have come this way. I wouldn't have had a horse from home.

I guess it's up to you, Meriwether. Did you bring a horse? Yeah, I said that I would pretty much bring a horse everywhere. Or at least, like, depending on how far, like, he said you're in town, so probably not to walk around town, but he definitely rode the horse to Yulick House. Okay. So you guys want to see Fargus first or go to the general store first? Let's stop at the general store. That's fair. Okay. I've got to remember who runs the general store. Oh wait, I have it written

down. Give me a second. I'll tell you. Businesses. General Store is run by Old Dave and it's called The Bean and Gone. And there are a lot of beans outside. There is a picture of like a bean and it says Bean and Gone on it. I guess I'll just go inside. Okay. Morning Old Dave. Morning i have a bit of an odd request for you. Have or know anyone who can make a saddle for a giant creature say like a chicken? Uh, you got you got measurements? No. You got the giant chicken?

I could have the giant chicken. I'm gonna poke my head back outside. Hey, can one of you run back and grab popcorn? I'll do it. So I'll wait for her to come back. Mm-hmm. Popcorn. And then I'll step outside, eat popcorn giant, and then turn back to old Dave and say, one giant chicken ready for measurements? Can I see that feather? What feather? The one you just tapped the chicken with. Why?

It's weird and i want to see it i hold it up see okay with my hands well i don't know how i feel about that insight check okay is he going to try and steal the feather 11 this is a small town if he stole the feather everyone would know and he would have no more business all right i'll hand him the feather okay but i'm a little reluctant with it he takes the feather and you said popcorn is large like the medium size he taps popcorn on the head twice with it in quick succession what happens.

I should check. Fourteen. Something's behind popcorn. Something's behind popcorn? Yeah. I walk around behind popcorn. It's a large egg. I kind of just like put both my hands up my head like, what? How'd you do that? It's a magic item. They typically have multiple uses. Let me see that feather. Okay, here you go. I'm going to tap popcorn three times on the head in quick succession. No, nothing happens this time. Two times. A big egg pops out.

Popcorn's starting to look a little tired. I'm not going to do anything else. Okay. I will trade you a giant egg for a saddle for popcorn. I'll make you a deal. A giant egg. And I need you to run an errand for me. I have an order and I don't want to I don't want to do it That's fair, I hold out my hand To shake Oh, okay, he shakes your hand And he starts taking measurements of popcorn.

Okay, so it's going to take A little bit This is a lot of leather, I'm going to take this egg Over to the tavern For breakfast, breakfast for the next week yeah possibly i don't know how long egg lasts it's a non-refrigeration community unless he has a bag of colding in the store who knows, i mean eggs unopened can sit on the counter for at least a week or two okay then maybe he won't Maybe he won't cook it just yet. I mean, he wasn't going to cook it, but maybe he won't get it cooked just yet.

So about that thing I need you to do. Yeah. There's, what do you call it? There's a spot outside town. Cave system, maybe. It starts, it at least starts with a cave system. If you go to that cave system You go in there You might find a bunch of Bags A shipment of bags That was intercepted Taken Taken by who? I don't know, whatever lives in that cave Oh, was it a shipment for you that got stolen? Yeah Oh, okay It was bags Well, it was an order.

Do you have the order slip? Oh, then I'm not, I'm not, I'm not at will to tell you what was in the bag. Exactly. Wanted to make sure I got the right thing. Uh, you'll, you'll know it. It says old Dave's shipment. Old Dave's shipment. Okay. Yeah. Right on the bag. On the bag. Got it. Yep. So if you guys go out there and get me my shipment back, I will spend the next couple days working on this saddle for you. Okay. That's a deal. Okay. You need anything else?

I don't think I do. Guys, do you need anything? No, I don't think so. Not right now. Okay. Well. I guess I'll be back once we get your shipment. Much obliged. Thank you for working on this saddle. You got it. I'll walk back outside the store, and I'll say, Fauna, Merriweather, want to lead us on to talk to Fargus? Yeah, let's do that, and then I guess we get another adventure. Boy, this is a little bit too exciting for me these days.

I'm certain. I'm a historian. I have a feeling there's going to be a lot more adventures coming our way. Really? Don't even joke about that, Merriweather. Okay. So you guys are headed out of town, I guess. Oh, you're going to go. My bad. I wasn't listening. Apparently Fargus first, then out of town. OK, so you're going to talk to Fargus. Likely he would be at the town hall. That's when we'll start looking. I was going to say, like, where is he most likely to be?

If he's the mayor, yeah, town hall makes sense. The actual mayor, not the act of mayor. OK, so you guys head towards town hall. And do you want to handle this one i'll marry my daughter okay what do you and what do you do, you hear me becca uh did we get into the town hall already you're approaching the town hall and then you took over okay i thought it was taking over as you know i'm sorry well i think so we have to pose this carefully so, you can see some wheels spinning.

Just follow Riley. Oh. Party? I am going. Follow her on Friday. Go in. Yeah, I'm following behind. Okay. You guys head in. You see the secretary desk. I don't know if we ever named a secretary. I don't think so. That's a good question. So, give me just a second. I'll give you a secretary. Kezare is the K. You're that wrong. Keziray? Keziray. So it's K-E-S-I-R- A-Y. K-E-S-I-R- A-Y. Got it. Yes. Hey, Keziray, what's happening? You know, Fogas just backing up his office.

What? It sounds crazy. Why would he be doing that? He's the mayor. Was. He's stepping down. Well, what does that mean for Townford? Who's going to be the mayor? Whoever wins the election, I guess. Don't we need a mayor until the election's done? This seems very sudden. He's very emotional. Huh. That doesn't sound like him. No. Do you think we could talk to him for a minute? Just make sure he's okay? Uh, yeah. Go on in, but I didn't let you.

That's fine. No worries. I zipped my lips. throw away the key. Okay. All right. Let's go talk to Vargas. Okay. You step in and you see, you know, very mayor-like office with built-in, bookshelves, leather furniture, big wooden desk, and you see a tiny man standing on his chair with one of those You know the boxes they always fire you with? Yeah, he's just packing it up. What? I hear you're stepping down as mayor. That thing's really stunning. Are you okay? No, I'm not okay. Look at me.

What do you mean what i mean some you know big town comes on down here knocks me out of my position and it takes over with some big lady and i'm just supposed to listen to her and then she up and vanishes one night why does that mean you have to leave doesn't that mean we now have a vacuum and we've needed you all along and you should take things back into hand just like town bird needs? You know us better than anyone. I don't know what a vacuum has to do with any of this, but no.

No. One failure's enough for me. One and done, as they say. Failure? I mean, you didn't have a say in Big Town Selene. That woman down here. No, but I couldn't stop her. That's enough. I mean, they brought some left. Firepower's enough to burn. Manpower? Manpower, there you go. They brought so much manpower with them. What were you supposed to do? We're just town bird. I think you did the safest thing for all of us to let them come in and see how

things went. I think you handled it just like I would want a mayor to handle it. Well, then I would hope you'd also want that mayor to step down after he failed. Success. He failed. I don't know that everyone in town would think that. I mean, I think the least you could do is stick it out and you can always ask for like a recall vote and see if people go to Batman versus someone else. Then you'd know that they're still the right fit.

He kind of throws some papers off his desk and now you're getting like Willy Wonka at the end of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory when he's like, you've lost, right? He's like, I've lost, right? I've lost the security of the town. I've lost the right to be the mayor. I'm done. I'm just really surprised by this. I was always proud of the work you did and to be part of Townburg with you as mayor. I mean, I think you might be wrong on this.

I don't think you've actually listened to what people want.

The people choose the people who throw their names into the hat. I am taking mine out. I don't know. Have a farm, maybe. There's a lot out there. You all come from farms. Yeah, that's true. Not all is cracked up to be, Farias, let me tell you. Well, probably better than being a mayor whose town fell to another town. But we didn't. It's just us here. And wait a minute, hold on a minute. Did you say she just vanished? Do an insight check. Yeah, that's what I said.

You believe him. He's telling the truth. Yeah, I was just going to say, I would also like to insight this. Okay, roll insight. Oh, good. A seven. Yeah, he sounds pretty sincere. Meriwether?

Four yeah he definitely definitely believes she just disappeared, I mean she just disappeared you weren't doing so great a job she realized she didn't have a future here I don't know all the militiamen packed up same day she disappeared and went back to big town except for Derek Well, he went back, but then he came back. I don't think that's true. I, but let's be honest. I don't want Derek following me. He's not that great.

If you say so, you're determined. This is what you want to do. Yeah. No turning back. And you see like a cut up like ID card on the table. Is it his? Yeah. Yeah. Yes, there's no stopping you, but I'm really going to miss you. I'll be on the edges of town. I might come in, go to the tavern. I'm just going to take a little while. Maybe find a place, find someone to help me build a house. And then just hide out for a while. Let things blow over. You might see me in the tavern in the future.

Well, at least there's that. But it's not going to be the same without you running the town. Right, guys? And it certainly won't. I'm really sad to see the same here. Yeah, it happens. Can I give another insight? Because I just want to see if he really believes that this is the right move for him or whether it seems like he's being forced out. Okay. Not that I trust it to go any better, but, you know. Well.

Yeah he's pretty confident he's pretty confident that's the right move you almost get the sense he had been contemplating this the entire time Acta Mayo was here and, he does it he was powerless to stop her and he couldn't handle the idea of cleaning up the mess of what he couldn't stop.

Well then I guess we'll just have to catch up for drinking the tavern at some point then and i hope you find the peace you're looking for bombs can be peaceful i'll tell you that that's good that's what that's what i'm looking for i think i'm i think i'm done here and he hops down off his chair and you see his little arms reach over the top of the desk and grab the box and he just kind of walks out of the office i look at laura merriweather,

After he's out of the office, I'm just going to go, that was depressing. Yeah, I thought maybe we could convince him otherwise, but, huh, interesting that William's in it, too. I kind of look at them with the eyes like, yeah, right? That's weird. Do I pick up on what she's not saying this time? I'll roll insight, and I guess she can choose to fail. Oh, okay. This one's a 15. Okay. Yeah, I'm trying to get this across, so... Well, I didn't read you so well yesterday, so...

I think it was yesterday. Yeah, like last night's hour. Yeah. Well, I mean, I guess there's not too much else to do. We could try and, I guess, see if Derek knows anything. Otherwise, I mean... Was there anybody else in the building as us? Just Kazeray? It's not a... Suspicious you can do an insight check on her.

Because it's always the receptionist that knows what's going on what were you trying to figure out I was saying like this receptionist usually had eyes and ears everywhere if she was one trying to overhear our conversation or two what's suspicious, I mean, she's not like many years of trained listening, but like, she's not giving anything away, but she doesn't look like deceitful in the listening. Like the, it just seems like she, she hears a lot of things, but she's not like, I don't know.

I don't know how to explain it. She's not, you don't get, she's super observant, but you don't get vibes that like it's for bad reasons. So she's the street. Yeah. Was she secretary for ACMEA, too? Yeah. So, well, let's go find Jerry. But I think I have a question for Kesari before we leave here, too. Yeah, go ahead. So, I'll come out of the office, back to the front there. Hey, Kesari. Yeah? I have one other question for you. Marcus mentioned ACMEA just vanished.

Yeah that just seems crazy you didn't hear anything in here see anything or she didn't say something to you nope just vanished, and we inside check yeah 17. 4 20 okay with 17 and a 20 yeah she's lying just upped and vanished, yeah it's really weird that she would dress up and vanish like that she seems like her job here yeah she was a pretty miserable person she loved, making people unhappy i don't know why she left do you think something may have

happened to her it could be so many people disliked her could be a lot of people disliked her i don't what'd you say? Have you heard any rumors about it? I mean, the mayor's window was broken. Did we do that? It's been a while. There was a rock inside. I'm pretty sure someone hated her. Wow. Hopefully it didn't hurt her, did it? I don't know. Again, you're still pretty sure she's lying on that specific point. I'm not. I didn't pick anything. Yeah, you don't know anything.

That's why I'm not really, like, adding to this conversation.

You're just, like, chicken-brained. Oh, no, I left popcorn at the general store. Oh, wait, he was taking measurements. Yeah. Speaking of chicken brain. You got any more questions? No, I mean, I guess that's it. We're just, so much change all at once. I mean, after they have vanished, Vargas just leaves. Like, that's really, I don't think Vargas had something he could do. I say that in like a loud whisper to her.

I mean, it'd be pretty dumb to do something and then abandon whatever you would have gained from that, I guess. And plan to stay in the same town. Yeah. I mean, maybe it'll let you high. Maybe. I don't think it'd be smart. I think Fargus is smarter than that. Yeah, all right. Does she actually not think Fargus had anything to do with it? Yeah. Yeah, she's pretty sure Fargus had nothing to do with it. She's worked with him for a while.

What are you guys up to today? Well, we were hoping out with chickens this morning, and just over at the general store talking to old Dave. I think we're going to do our usual meal because we've seen a staffer, right, girls? I mean, I guess, as long as we get back in time. I promised to help old Dave with an errand. Oh, where are you heading? Uh, some cave outside of town. Mm. Mm. He said he lost his shipment, and he just needs some help retrieving it.

Well, be careful. Caves aren't always fun. Yeah, we'll do our best. Can you do me a favor? Uh. Drop these flyers off at, like, Old Dave's and the tavern on your way out? Yeah, we can do that. I'll take the flyers and look at them. It says election today. Today? Good boy. Well, like you said, the mayor's position is empty. That's really short notice. Is anyone even campaigning? Yeah, two people. Who's running? Give me a second. Okay. Roll some dice.

Mike, while you're doing that, when she hummed, when I told her we were going to the cave, does she know what's going on? Like, what happened about the shipment that went missing? No, no. I think she... Roll insight. Roll insight. She seemed to have an idea of the cave you were headed towards. Thank you. Is this cave something that the town would just know about in general because it is a small town? Probably. Okay. So it wouldn't necessarily be suspicious that she recognizes this cave?

No, no. No, not especially someone working close to the mayor who probably keeps maps. Okay. Just checking if I should be suspicious, but it sounds like I should not. Okay. So you guys are going to... Oh, Waterfur, Growl, and Raspira Barine. These are both locals? Do we know any of those locals? Waterfur is like a bugbear farmer who keeps to himself out on his own land. And Raspira seems unfamiliar at this point. A stranger campaigning in our tiny town.

Like Acta Maya oh it better not be Acta Maya under a different name. Do you know who this Raffira is? She showed up a while back I don't know she just comes into town and buys a few things and then leaves I don't know where she goes I don't know where she stays, probably one of the new built properties I wouldn't doubt that the mayor I mean, Fargus sets up somewhere near where she's at now. Okay, well, we'll drop these off on our way out.

You guys have any other questions before we go? I don't think so. I mean, hang in there, Casabre. Hopefully the new mayor will treat you just as well here. Yeah, you know, mayors come and go. Secretaries remain. Mayors stand and go, but secretaries are forever. Exactly what I was thinking about then. Yep. Okay. What were you guys doing? You want to talk to Derek? Yeah, and now I guess dropping off these flyers at the tavern and old Dave's.

Okay. So if they're on the way to talk to Derek, I'll drop them. Derek's likely in the tavern. He's been sad drinking ever since. Okay, so we'll go to the tavern. and I'll drop the flyers at the front. What was the tavern owner's name again? Helene. Helene. Hey, Helene. I just came from City Hall. We were asked to drop these off for our election tonight. Oh, that's happening already, huh? Yeah, we ran into Fargus, and he's stepping down. Yeah, he was in here drinking last night.

Pretty sad. Yeah. Sad to see him go. Yeah. Well, you know, people got to do what they got to do. Yeah, I just hope you find some peace in what's happened. You can live a good life. Yeah, I'm sure. This is a good town, despite, you know, recent circumstances. Yeah, I agree. Don't forget to vote later today. Of course. I know to take care of some other errands yet, but I guess I'll see you later for the election. Okay. Derek? You see Derek here? Yeah, he's in the corner.

I kind of, like, elbow Meriwether and Fauna and point in Derek's direction. I nod and start making my way over there. I take a deep breath and kind of prepare myself since I know Derek doesn't particularly care for us. And this is likely to be unpleasant. Hey, Derek. Oh, you, uh... Yeah. I'll quickly get Helene's attention and say, hey, can we get another for Derek of whatever he's drinking?

She, like, does one of these towards you, where she's, like, waving her hand under her neck like he's cut off right now. I kind of look at her and try to signal that that's okay, maybe bring a little water. I don't know if she'll get it or not, but... Make a performance check. Thank you.

I'll tell you that too okay she doesn't know what you're saying she just she tells you one more time he's cut off maybe she even shouts it across the bar, and then she goes back to work and then you see Derek's head rise out and go you're cut off.

Well alright maybe we'll have to buy you a drink tonight at dinner or something but we're going to be back for dinner time too we'll get you that drink, that's pretty rude get a guy's hopes up, then dash him just like big town you're just like big town who sorry big town kind of hard for a person to be like a whole town well you done it what do you mean by that anyway big town made big promises, they kicked me the curb why would they do that you're you're an excellent guard

my derrick guards the barracks. That's my name. That's my job. Or it was. Not anymore. Flora's trying very hard not to laugh at him. Well, do you know why they didn't want you back? That just seems crazy. You know, you fail one mission and you're out. What mission? I'm not supposed to talk about it. Come on, Derek. We've known you forever. We're not going to talk to anyone else about it. We don't like each other. We've still known each other forever. You know us to be a gossip?

I don't care what you are. Don't you want a friend? I had friends, and they threw me to the curb, and now I have no friends, and I don't need no friends. the only friend I need is a brown liquid that makes me feel good. It might be nice to have some actual, you know, warm-blooded friends. Cold-blooded is fine, too, but we're right here, and we're talking to you. He's doing, like, a grumble noise. I'm cold, Ross, though. Okay. What other options do you have, buddy? What do you mean?

You can live your life miserable in this tavern, run out of money, die young, Or you can... Sounds good to me. Start over. It sounds like a lot of work. Is it, though? A lot of work with a lot of risk of failure. Running out of my money and dying young. That's a pretty good guarantee. Pretty high success rate. Aim low. That's what they say. What would your parents say if they saw you now? I don't know. Maybe you should have been a better militiaman. I kind of...

Lean over toward my friends and go, maybe we should have brought his parents. He's not from Townburg. He's from Big Town. Oh, I thought he was from Townburg. No, no, no. Well, in that case, we haven't known each other. That's true, and that's why you didn't respond to those statements. Why do I think he was from Townburg? Townburg. Because he came back to it, and so you probably assumed he was from Townburg, but no, he's not. Okay. Or I'm going to switch gears. I'm going to say, you know,

Humber, not a bad place to settle down, make a name for yourself. What, like Fargus? Fargus is looking for a peaceful life, and that's the choice he's making. There's no alliteration in Fargus the peaceful, but there is in Fargus the failure. Did you put that in his head? What? Are you the reason he's stepping down? I'm not the reason anyone's stepping down. I was just drunk in a bar talking to somebody. He already made up his mind before he even talked to me. So you did put it in sad.

Did you just hear the words I said? Oh, I heard you. Okay. Is him a failure? Because you think you're a failure? I was projecting that on him? We're all failures. Look at you. You're not even wearing shoes.

Uh it's better without shoes says is fauna one of those people who wears like the five finger shoes no no she's uh yeah she just runs out around barefoot mm-hmm, everybody who doesn't have shoes talks about how great it is not to have shoes but everyone knows they just want to choose and they couldn't get them. I don't think that's true at all Well. Well what, Derek? Well what? I don't know. Flora's starting to lose her pants in. She's going to throw a hand up and go sit at the bar with Helene.

Derek, I do have a question for you. Maybe you've got to answer it. Mm-hmm. We've been told Afrimae just vanished. Do you happen to know anything about that? Uh, nope. Okay. my child. Okay. Four. Oh, God. Four. Let's go for the roll. Seventeen! Oh, my goodness, because I walked away. Yeah. With a seventeen, yeah, he's lying. He definitely knows something happened. He knows something. Why is everybody hiding this? And get some strong drinks for us at the table. Okay.

You're not. And Helene comes up to you and goes, He's cut off. I'll give you drinks, but you better not be slipping him these drinks. Of course. Of course, they're for us. You know, there's only one bar in this town, and I hope you don't get banned from it. Oh, wow. You're ordering how many drinks? Just a pitcher. Jerk. Huh? She pours a pitcher and hands you two glasses and looks at you. Your move. Can I have another one for Flora? Flora's sitting right here talking to me.

Yeah, but she's going to come back over to the table. I reluctantly get off of the bar stool. Helene will slide Flora the glass. Flora will take it. She looks grumpy, though. I guess I'll follow them back to the table. I line the three drinks up and kind of position my chair in front of me the view from the bartender and pour three drinks and kind of put them in a row so that way you can't tell who's drinking what, okay I take the one in front of me okay make a stealth check I guess yes.

Not funny, baby. Okay. Yeah, you seem to be able to pour some of the drink into his glass and you even get a little bit directly into his mouth. And Helene does not seem the wiser. Though she is checking very regularly. What's a drink a long ride? We're not friends. But thanks for the drink. And why are you bothering me? Is this bothering you? We can take our drinks and leave. Is that a threat? I don't know, is it? Uh, I think you're the one who made it. I'm confused.

Uh, I pour a little bit more in his glass. Mmm. Roll another stealth check. A tea. Okay, you seem to be able to pull it off again a little bit into his glass. He chugs it down. Mmm. So, Farna, what were you guys talking about while we went up to the car? Well, we were talking about the disappearance of Akamea. Oh, yeah, disappearance. Yeah, isn't that what you said? She disappeared. Yeah, definitely disappeared. What else do you know, Derek?

Uh my job was to protect her and make sure she could be mayor of this town and that didn't work out so good so i got let go so so if your job was to protect her then did something happen since you were let go yeah well since i was like oh no i was let go because something to happen. What happened? I guess she got stuck in an alley. And then, He, under his breath, says some nasty words about her. Specifically her weight, probably. And gender. He's not a nice man.

What do you want? Oh, you poured more? Make another performance or stealth check. Okay. You seem to get more into his glass. He chugs it right down. Halim shouts... Helene shouts from behind the bar You better not be serving him, I hold up the glass and I Chunk the rest of the glass I'm a poor or more And she turns around And starts cleaning glasses, Yeah Act uh. She disappeared Probably got stuck in that alley I don't know What do you mean.

That doesn't make any sense Someone doesn't just get stuck in an alley And disappear Well, maybe she fell out of her office window, because she's clumsy. How did you fail? Well, do you see her anywhere? That's how. Derek, I'm going to leap forward and say this quietly. Did you find her as a body? He looks directly at you with a very sober look suddenly. Who said anything about a body?

You're the one who says you failed to protect her and then he looks at you Meriwether with the same sobered up look who said anything about a body hmm, I mean, the way that you're saying stuck in an alley and disappear, you're kind of insinuating something weird here. Did you know that, right? Yeah. Probably went back to hell. Not insinuating the box. What are you, this is really? She probably got sent back to hell. Visit her parents again. Or at least one of her parents.

He doesn't seem to like tieflings. I never remember since he liked a lot of anything. Yeah, that's also true. So you got what you need? You gonna leave me alone now? Just give the town a chance. Think you'll find you might like it more than you expected. Mm-hmm. Sure. See ya. And he just collapsed and kind of face first into the table. Starts to snore. Does the bartender look sufficient? She's in the back right now? Not yet.

I'll say really, really loud. Boy, it's a good thing that they didn't give him any more alcohol because he sure can't handle it all. I'm glad Helena's really safe about keeping this bar. It's a good place for everyone. Guys, you're laying it on a little picture. So why don't we go finish our drink up at the bar and then I grab the rest and put her. That's a good idea. Okay. Well, you guys think after this drink, we should head out to the Cades?

Yeah, I guess we can drop off the rest of the flyers when we come back with old Dave's death. Or are we going to pass actually on our way? Are we? Probably. I mean, town, the town square is, it's like a cross street. And most businesses are right off these cross streets. So like, you know, it's not more than a block anyway towards wherever. Okay. then instead of rolling them up and like sticking them in my bag it's probably tired then I won't lose them so I,

I head into old Dave's. He's still measuring popcorn. Yep. And I'll say, got these flyers for you. Brought them from town hall for the election tonight. I'll ask to bring them here. Okay. And he goes over to like what would be like a news stand and just pops them in there. Great. Thanks. We're off to run your errands now. Thanks. You can take your chicken. Oh, you got all the measurement? Yeah. Popcorn. I can't do the thing, but I tried. Okay. And popcorn comes running over you, all big.

I'll scratch her under the beak a little bit, and then lead her out of old days, and try and jump on her back. Okay. I guess I'm leaving that second egg there because it's a little bit too big for you. Probably. This is probably the only way I can keep up with my friends anyway, since they're taller than me and have longer legs. Yeah. They are, give me a animal handling check. Animal handling. Okay, 14. Okay, 14. You stay relatively on popcorn.

It is definitely noticeable that you need a saddle when your friends can tell. But I'm getting better at holding on, I think. Yeah. I'm not falling off like I did last night. Yep. Getting all dirty. Alright, alright. And I will raise a hand and go to the cave and start leading popcorn toward the caves. I'm not even going to look to see if they're following. I'm just going to assume they're following. I'm following for sure. How long does it take us to get to the caves?

Probably not more than 30 minutes. Okay, so they're pretty close. Yeah. it. It makes me wonder how whoever stole this shipment thought they could get away with it. Is this close? Unless it was like an animal or something. No. We should probably be careful. I mean, for someone to hid something in a cave, yeah, I feel like given everything that's gone on around here, we should be a little careful.

Mm-hmm. So I will stop outside the caves, and I want to listen at the entrance to see if I can hear anything inside. I assume that's perception. Yep. Wow. Flowing into the cave, and then you also see, um, or you hear, like, trickling water. From the creek, I assume. Mm-hmm. No, no, from the cave. It's a cave. But it's flowing into the, oh, you mean, like, driven that? Yeah. So it's not, like, a dry cave. This is, like, a cavern. Mm-hmm. Okay.

But I don't hear any, like, movement or animals or anything like that? Not at this point, no. Okay, I'm going to kind of, like, look over my shoulder at my friends and go, I don't really hear anything, do you? Take a listen. Perceptor put you on? Yep. 16. Yeah, same thing. Oh, we don't, like, smell anything either, do we? Like, not, like, a musky odor or anything that might be associated with a wild animal? No, like, there's not much air movement out of the cave.

Just yeah okay all right well i i don't know how big is the opening like is it big enough for popcorn to come along she's medium now right the opening is it may get tighter as you go in okay i'm wondering if i should just leave popcorn out here what do you guys think i i don't think that's a bad idea okay i'm gonna turn to popcorn and i'm gonna say don't wander far but feel free to graze a little bit get yourself some some snack yeah i i need to ask this while we're early in the

campaign i know i have a close bond with my chickens especially popcorn is it the kind of bond where she would like understand and listen to me or is she still like too chickeny and doesn't necessarily like isn't smart enough or doesn't have that kind of, response that she would listen to an instruction i guess we'll find out then okay okay. I was there for a second. And go. I guess I'll go first. That's okay. I'll take the far end. I don't know. Unless, Mary,

whether you want the back end. It doesn't matter to me. I guess rock, paper, scissors it or something. I'll take the back end. Mary, whether you get in the middle. Okay. All right. So I will very cautiously take a step into the cave. Okay. I'm going slow. I'm paying attention to my surroundings. I'm a little nervous. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Gotcha. So you see ahead of you the, like, creek, stream, whatever we want to call it, kind of goes off along the wall to the left.

And to the right, there seems to be a little bit of an opening. And the cave is like kind of green like, fertile growth like the walls the floor everything seems to be covered in like vines and leaves, how much light is in this part of the cave in this part a little bit, what I think given how much time I spend in the woods that this is natural because of, like, the water and stuff, all this greenery? It could, like, it could be natural.

It could also be, like, maybe the plants on the top, on, you know, on the ground above are growing through, and so the greenery. They get... Does it look like well it doesn't seem I'm sorry does it look like through the opening there's the same kind of greenery growth yep. You were saying Fauna it doesn't seem too unnatural yet I think it's just a cave oops have we heard stories about this cave no nothing of import, But we don't see anything in this room. Nope.

All right. In that case, I'm going to make my way toward the other opening. Okay. But I'm still approaching cautiously and moving slowly, just in case there's something I can't see. Yeah. It's darker in here, but you still get a sense that the leafy stuff is green.

I don't know if you have dark vision. as a gnome i think you do i don't know i think what's it under it's usually on the left, oh yeah i have dark vision 60 feet okay so although the colors fade away you know this pretty much green okay so it's more greenery in this room what what else do i see anything, there's a little path to the left and then there's an opening to the in front of you a little pathway to the left like a passage yeah.

I'm going to listen at both yeah you don't really hear much of anything Then I'm going to look through the path or just look through the doorway first. Well, let me. Notice anything like on the ground if there's like disturbances in the dirt or in like the plants. What's your favorite enemy? My favorite enemy? You won't have her? I think you picked one. I think it's a beast. Okay. Just give me a survival roll. Four. Yep. So I can't tell. I'm gonna kind of glance over my shoulder at them and

say, I can't tell the difference between these two. Which one do you think we should go with? Should I take a look at the floor too, as we select things tramping around the bridge stuff in nature? If you want to. Investigation? Survival. It too. Okay.

You see traps heading forward. They seem to be small, childlike feet forward like down the path yeah straight okay well some sort of like small look at this it also looks like a kid's feet heading down this path oh fauna at this point or flora at this point you notice popcorn has followed you in to the cave okay i'm gonna pull out the feather tap popcorn on the head, and pick her up and just carry her under one arm. Okay.

What were you saying, Becca? I was just telling them, it seems like there's like some kin's footsteps heading down this path here. Seems weird. You think they took the shipment, however this is, or do you think the person would have erased their tracks? It might be in that doorway, through that doorway there.

I don't know. If that's all you see, I mean, maybe they saw something the kid or whoever it is how would we know someone he raced tracks like you know what i mean question you want it follow the footprints then yeah i'd say follow the footprints popcorn i'm gonna need you to uh just just be as quiet as you. And I like scritch her on the head. She'll tuck her head into her body like a sleepy chicken. Okay. I am holding popcorn like a football and start down the passage. Okay.

And you enter into another room like area. It's not, it's the size of a room, but it's not really a room. And there seems to be an opening to your left. And that's the only opening. And there's, do I see anything in this room? Are you looking? Yeah. Giving an investigation? Sixteen. You see a swatch of cloth, torn cloth. I'm going to walk over to it, examine it. It seems to, as you pull it, it seems that it was stuck on a jagged part of a rock.

So it was part of someone's clothing maybe and got stuck here and ripped off. It's there's not like blood or anything on it right no and what kind of fabric is it is it like sock fabric is it like burlap bag kind of fabric that might be holding supplies. In between so like poor quality fabric okay not quite burlap probably i'm gonna tuck it into my pocket i'm assuming my skirt or my apron has pockets at this point okay Well, you said for the eggs.

That's right. And then I'm going to turn toward the next opening and keep heading that direction. Yeah. Okay. You see unlit fire pit? Unlit as in freshly built or unlit as in a fire has gone out but was previously lit? Probably the second. Okay. Is there anything. Or just the fire pit? It doesn't look like there's anything directly by the fire pit. Is there anything in this room or area of the passageway other than the fire pit? This is a pretty big area.

Straight across from you, you see the stream comes through the room. And there's a very tiny bridge. And then over to your right, there seems to be a small area. Like a small offshoot. I'm going to lean back and go over the bridge or into the other area. What do you think? Can I look for footprints again? Yeah. Yeah, you see footprints heading over towards the smaller area. Looks like towards the small area, we want to keep following those footprints.

And you see more drag marks across the bridge area. But something was dragged across that bridge. Do you think it was the shipment? Does it look like a bag being dragged like a body or is there no way to tell it's pretty wide for a body seems more like would it have been something like a shipment, gee i'm thinking we should find whoever's here first and not be surprised then let's follow the footprints then i will head toward the small area okay you enter the small area and you hear a scream.

A scream? Yeah, I'm not going to scream because we have neighbors. Yeah, you hear a scream. And you don't have to look down. You're also small. You see a goblin cowering in the corner. A goblin cowering in the corner? Mm-hmm. Does it look like the size that I would associate with a franchise on? Probably. I think that's what we've been tracking. So this goblin that's powering in the corner. Why are you tracking me? He's screaming at us. It's.

It's okay. We aren't really tracking you. Have you seen someone bring a bag in here? Nope. Insight. Roll. I want two. Yeah, that's not going to give me anything. I'm just going to, like, narrow my eyes at him and be like, what are you talking about? What are you talking about? You're in my home. This is your home? Yeah, I live here. Oh, sorry to intrude. We're just on an errand. Can we just Look around? Would you allow me to look around your house if you walked into my house uninvited? Maybe.

Is he in sight shopping me? He throws some rope at your feet and he says, tie yourself up. Why? I don't know about that. I mean, it's not like we purposely walked into your house. You don't have a doorbell or anything. Or a door? I can't remember. I don't have a door because it's a cave. Yeah. Why don't you have a door? Why don't you tie yourself up? Why would I do that? Because I asked nicely, please. You're the one scared of us. Why do we have to tie ourselves up? Because I'm scared of you.

If I tie myself up, you have to let one of my friends go look for the thing we're looking for. Okay, deal. I will try to tie myself up with popcorn still in my arm.

But i'm doing it one-handed so it's kind of miserable looking but technically i did what he asked okay sit over there sit over there okay do what you need to do and then get out of my house all right i'm gonna go back the way for the drag marks and follow that while they're doing that i'm gonna try and like talk friendly to the goblin and be like so what's your name Furt I'm Flora It's nice to meet you I'm Furt

Hi Furt Furt the Goblin Hi Furt the Goblin You're in my home I know But I'm tied up now So, That's right You got any snacks? Do I have snacks? Is that That chicken have any eggs? Eggs loves eggs Wait what? Eggs loves eggs. Who's eggs? Eggs. My partner. Eggs. Where's your partner? Foraging. Okay. Well, turn around. Oh, I'll go like this, and he'll peek a little bit. I'm going to shuffle so that I'm kind of facing the wall and pull the feather out, trying to hide the feather.

And just tap popcorn twice on the head real quick. And then you'll see, like. No, no, I'm hiding the feather. Right, but... Oh, twice. You tapped her twice? Okay. Like five eggs pop out. And then I'll hide the feather again. We'll make it six. Half dozen. I'll hide the feather again. Pop more on the head and say, you're going to get so much porn tonight, I promise. And then scooch back around and kind of like use my boot to roll the eggs toward Bert.

He's picking them up like a kindergartner at a egg hunt. Okay, Becca, you said you're following the drag marks? Yes, heading down where I saw those drag marks. Okay, they come up to like a little bridge area on the creek and then seem like they want to cross this bridge. I'm going to cross the bridge. Okay, you find a little alcove area and there seems to be a giant sack. Does it say old days shipment on them? Yes, it does. and there's a patch missing from the side of the bag. All right.

Rabbit and head back to uh where i left flora with the goblin that's mine is your name old dave nope right this is old dave's can you read yep real question insight okay insight 21, He's lying. Wait, 19. He's definitely lying. I don't think you can read. This says Old Dave. Your name is Furt. Yep. Old Dave Furt. No, no, no. You are Furt. This belongs to Old Dave. Mm. Mm.

I gave you six eggs out of the goodness of my heart, but we need to take this shipment to Old Dave because this belongs to Old Dave. Tomorrow, six more eggs. and he points to, like, tapping. To get, for us to take this? Yep. That's all you need? Takes more eggs. Just six eggs tomorrow? Every week. Every week? Yep. That's a little steep. I was going to say every day, but I'm like, you know what? Ferd, they're not going to haggle with you if you start so steep.

It's still a little steep. You know, how about you said you have a partner? Yeah, eggs. How about four eggs? a week. Okay. But I think there should be some further trade for it, Flora. Don't you? Because Okay, yeah, yeah. For a certain amount of time. The bag that was stolen.

How many bags were, Dave's this big one just the one how about four eggs a week for a month for this bag if you want further eggs we can work out some kind of other deal but I think that's all that's going to happen here because this is old Dave's and I don't have to give you anything I'm being nice I'll take it okay and remember after the month if you want more eggs we can work at another deal okay, shake on it and he's shaking

his head i i pull my hand out like you know those people who pretend they're really tied up but they're not yeah so she's gonna pull her hand out and extend it and shake my hand okay he spits in his hand and shakes your hand she spits it worse, and then she's going to tuck it back in the rope. Can someone untie me? I'll go over. I'm really not tied up. It was really just Drake around me. I just nipped the rope away. Thank you. Thank you. So one week, I'll be back with four more eggs.

And same for the next three weeks after that. All right. All right. Thank you. Maybe think about a door. Don't have any doors. I know. Maybe think about getting one to install. Too much work. All right. Well, you might have other visitors then. Have a nice day. You too. Say hi to old Dave and that we're friends and not to kill Furt. I will tell him not to kill Furt or Eggs. Good. Bye. Eggs likes eggs. I know. That's why we made a deal for eggs. Yeah. Okay.

I guess let's go, guys. We have bag to return. Great. We'll be back in time for the election. That's good. We were told to vote. What is our civic duty? All right. I'm going to head back out of the cave and then make popcorn big again and jump on our back. Okay. Shall we? Let's do it. back to the general store. Okay. So you guys bring the delivery back to the general store. And old Dave thanks you. It's probably going to be about two days before I can get that saddle.

All right. It's a lot of work. Yeah. I imagine. It's a weird, weird shape. Yeah. Yeah. Well, thank you for, for doing this. Yeah. Don't forget to vote. It's your civic duty. Will do. Oh, and our, we ran into a goblin who encountered your shipment. He was very reasonable. I think we should just let him go. He and I worked out a deal. You have your shipment, and he's happy. So if you encounter Furt, the goblin, he's okay. And so is his partner, Eggs. Mm-hmm. Okay. Okay. Okay. So did he steal them?

Unclear, but I'm not sure that he understood that he couldn't have them until we explained. I don't think he can read. Gotcha. Also, eggs is spelled EGS. Okay. Okay. Okay, so you, I guess you leave Old Dave's and you see people, like, kind of a lot of noise towards the center of town. You assume everybody's there. like casting their vote or i'm i'm hoping there's like i'm hoping there's like a debate or.

Speeches or something because we don't know who one of this one of these candidates is, so i'm gonna walk that way yeah let's let's head that that way and see if either of the candidates have anything to say before we vote. You don't really want to vote blindly, you know? It doesn't seem like a smart way to elect a mayor. You guys enter the center of town. You see, there's the bugbear is on his stump and he's talking to people around him and the. Lady is on her stump and she's talking to people.

And they're kind of far apart so they're not necessarily debating but they are answering questions talking to the people okay since I am not familiar with the lady I'm going to head that way first, and try and get a feel for who she is I'm following for I have the same feeling that you know I just want to know what's happening there so what do we hear her saying as we approach what kind of stuff is she talking.

She's talking about how towns need to band together and protect each other. And that just because the mayor stepped down doesn't mean that he'll be forgotten, but that the town, a new direction because he has chosen to step down. And if that direction must be chosen, then she would like to take the opportunity to share some of the wealth of the town with the townsfolk. These taxes that caused the whole big problem for Townburg in the first place from Big Town.

She says, why would we want to keep all this gold to ourselves when the town, you people, the townspeople all of us deserve more of what we we have access to there's no need to hoard it up and hide it away vibe check okay i assume that's an insight yep, 12 she seems genuine okay is anyone asking questions.

Just just your normal questions some some some wildly weird questions that you would get at any type of town hall like what are you going to do about the noise from that rooster next door yeah and what do you doesn't everyone deserve a cow i don't think old dave should have the only cow and then other person is like and and what about that chicken girl she got too many chickens What about us?

I just kind of like throw my hands up at that one. And the woman, Respira, is saying basically, you know, we can work out a system where we share to a degree, but we also don't want to take anything from anybody. There will be enough for everybody in the future as we gain more wealth for the town and we spread that wealth around. And people seem to take kindly to that answer. Did she say where she came from? No. Where'd you come from? Around. What town? About here, between here.

I don't have a map. Are you not from a town? From a town, yeah, but like, I don't know if it's big enough to be a town. More of a village. What's his name? I don't have a name for it. I was trying to figure out if you weren't saying a name because you didn't have a name or because she was hiding something. I don't know. You don't know? You're the DM? Wow. You're getting very pushy, lady. This is the game, so... Mm-hmm. If you want to know more about me, you can always come and sit with me later.

But tonight, we have to get to voting, so... Laura just throws up a thumbs up. And then she's going to wander over to the other side. And listen to your Flora. She seems to have some strong ideas for not being from around here. Yeah, I mean, they sound pretty good, but I also want to hear what, you know, someone from Townburg has to say. I'm going to go that direction. I want to hear what the bugbear is saying. His name is... Yeah. Waterfur. Waterfur Growl.

And he's he's up there all gruff and he's like these people keep coming into our town and i think we should build a wall around the town and lock it up and we shouldn't let nobody else in, and old dave gets to keep the only cow that chicken girl gets to keep the only chickens, and the farms do the farm things and honestly i think it'll solve all the problems i kind of mumble into my breath. I don't need to have the only chickens.

Yeah, it seems pretty strongly worded. I mean, how will we trade or do anything if we don't grow a little bit? Yeah, right? One cow for the entire town? I know. I mean, that's not really enough milk for everyone. Right? I don't know about you, but what is it, Rastira? Mm-hmm. She's sounding pretty good right now. Yeah to say compared it seems much better you chicken girl you agree with me don't you I reserve my judgment,

box. Thank you. Okay, you better vote. It's your civic duty. It is my civic duty. If I don't vote, I can't complain. That's true. Well, you can complain, but people will just tell you shut up. People will tell me to shut up anyway. Yeah, well. Well, get to voting then. I know who you're voting for.

He, like, throws a thumb towards himself. I'm gonna do the same thing I did to Raspira and just throw up a thumbs up. Okay. And then I'm going to walk over to the voting box and vote for Ristira. Okay. Yeah, I think she's doing the same thing here. She just thinks we need to be a little more open-minded. But that's for Ristira. We'll also vote for Ristira. Okay. And the votes will be tallied tonight. And an answer should be tomorrow. So only really one day without a mayor.

Okay that sounds good okay and that's where we can leave off for tonight okay just on a like for our own information respira you you described the other candidate as a bugbear what's respira uh human human okay okay.