Having slept the past few hours, Kordar felt rested but knew as soon as he got out of the cart, he'd need to loosen up a lil to get the stiffness out. Scanning the area in front of the cart as he was climbing out, he was looking to get a full measure of the size of the town, and would set off to check the outskirts of town as he figured he'd easily scare off anyone he got close to before he could question them. Oh, he could chase them down and beat some answers out of them but that wouldn't get him back to the Guild house any quicker nor get him any reliable information on the thieves or the man he was still hunting.

--- OOC ---
What is the approximate size of the town? How long would it take if Kordar was to travel the perimeter of the town? Do we see any townsfolk that don't look afraid to see us? Any that look out of place given that it's just barely morning now? Any guards/patrols/deputies in the area or that we know should be here because of the info during the mission briefing? Do we come through any gates when entering town? What shops are closest to us now? Do we see any shops closed due to the thieves activities? How does the weather/sky look now?
--- OOC ---

Can anyone else think of anything that should be obvious upon our arrive that has not been asked yet?

While on the way to the town Zau starts muttering to himself in a mix of abyssal and common. He sits down, legs crossed in front of him with his back against the side of the wagon. Sometimes it looks like he is arguing and at other times it appears that he is praising someone or something, and at other times it looks and sounds like he is cursing something or someone. After about an hour of this strange behavior he looks like he drifts back to sleep.

Waking back up when the cart stops Zau automatically activates the warlock invocation devils sight and sits up real quick and uses detect magic(at will) ability. Realizing that it just stopped because they reached their destination and not because they were under attack, he slowly makes his way out the back of the cart before it starts off down the road.

After getting out of the cart Zau starts running back and forth while practicing somatic components of spells without actually casting anything. While wearing the Mithral Chain he casts mage armor on himself.

Zau, finally fully awake, makes a scan of the surrounding area just to be on the safe side. (OOC search,spot,detect magic)

He says to the hobgoblin and D'art after he stops his sword dancing,"Did either of you notice anything odd or weird since we got here? I've been kinda busy up till now."
He didn't address Nef because he looked busy concentrating on a spell.

D'art shakes his head at him while looking disgusted and walks away in the direction of town. D'art says something to Kordar but Zau wasn't paying attention after the wrinlked nose affair.

Even using his warlock granted magical sight Zau has trouble ever noticing where the two drow always disappear to. "By the way, did anyone see where the silent-er drow went?", he says to the two group members still nearby.

Rath could have noticed something but its hard to hear the drow when they have when they seem to somehow communicate with just their hands. It wouldn't be the first time one or both of them went off on their own to ambush someone who would never know what hit them.

"I have a feeling he is off hunting without us.", he says with a slight chuckle. He then cast expeditious retreat on himself before running around and casting mage armor on anyone who was still in the area the he could find and that was willing to have it cast on them.
((I didn't mention Khet because i didn't want to guess what he was doing or where he was at before Deucalion gets a chance to post and tell us.))

Khetarin climbed into the wagon behind the the two drow and took a seat in the back corner, curling his legs underneath himself, with his pack laying across his lap. He knew this was going to be a long ride and he didn't want to arrive tired (and miss some small detail for want of sleep) or restless (and charge head-long into danger for want of action), so he began to meditate. His mind could rest, focused only on the practice drills he had ingrained into his mind and body.

Khetarin didn't like to use weapons out on a mission, and felt that carrying one only increased the desire to choose a direct confrontation when other more subtle methods could work equally as well; however, he knew that very few of the people he would encounter as a part of his chosen occupation would share his views, so he trained with blades regularly. He did not have the space in the back of this wagon to run the actual routines, but he played through them in his mind and muscles tensed and relaxed the smallest amount at the thought of each attack and counter.

Once the physical routine was complete, he took himself through the mental exercises needed to focus the arcane talents inherent in his bloodline. He called forth the energies capable of forming the harmful blasts that all warlocks learn, stopping just short of actually releasing the destructive power. Instead, he altered the invocation and shaped the potential destruction into a beneficial effect, greatly enhancing the man's visual senses.

Training complete, Khetarin let himself drift to sleep. He spent the entire trip alternating between those small naps and the meditative training, never changing the Siddhasana pose he took on climbing into the wagon until everyone else had departed and it was his turn to step down onto the streets of Oakcrest.

~~~~~

His eyes adjusted slowly to the light of the rising sun, after spending such a long voyage closed in meditation. When the ninja could see again, Rath'shar was already gone from the group, and Kordar was walking away in what Khetarin thought was the wrong direction. But he had long ago stopped trying to make sense of the hobgoblin's methods and he usually came back with useful information or a well-timed flying kick, so he let the fighter leave. D'artanian was just finishing up his usual combat drills and Nefarion was praying to whatever dark god he prayed to for his daily portion of raw divine power. Priests and clerics were undeniably useful, but that kind of devotion and worship of a thing outside of one's self, Khetarin did not understand.

Then the ninja noticed Zauathin and the number of things he did not understand multiplied. The poor tiefling must be in withdrawal after that long ride with no spirits. He was frantically running about casting spells as if his deity was about to abandon him. Khatarin just shook his head.

"Are we all going to split up and do our own digging first, then talk to the sheriff later? Or hit up Green first? I believe it would be in the Group's best interest to let sheriff know his request has been answered and that we're here on the Orion Group's business before we go poking around and potentially stir up trouble. By the way, does anyone know where Rath is?" Khetarin spoke quickly, seeing D'artanian already headed into town and not wanting anyone else to leave before they could agree on at least the outline of a plan of action.

"Local aid is always either worthless or else biased. Even so, those of us still here should seek out this Sheriff Green and learn what we can." Nefarion replied to Khetarin offhandly as he scanned the town paying careful attention to each individual in sight. "Let us get the lay of the land before we make our next move.."

Seeming to ignore Khetarin's last question Nefarion let the conversation lag as he continued to scan the town carefully. The drawn out pause stretched on until Nefarion could feel Khetarin giving him a look, even without his having to look at him to see it. Allowing the small smile of inherent superiority, a look most of the lesser races found disdainful but that drow were famous for making none the less, to grace his handsome lips before Nefarion finally broke the silence and answered Khetarin's last question.

"Rath is where he needs to be. We, on the other hand, should be focusing on getting to where we need be rather then wasting time dawdling here." Nefarion said resolutely before switching to Draconic and continuing softly. "Wux ocuir shar tir ti kampiun."

After glancing at the layout of the small town that stretched out in front of him, Kordar decides to reply to D'art and everyone else within earshot of him. Yelling he syas, "I'll fore go doing the usual tiring survey of the town until after we have officially started this thing and have found and discussed with green boy about the people and the thieves."

After hearing Nef last snide comment, Kordar replies with "Si ocuir batobot wux tir ti bvare batobot si kampiun."

And continues to yell towards the others, "The sheriff's place should be near the center of town. Lets start heading that direction those of us that want to meet up with him first." And with he leans towards D'art and says, "Well hello snake 1, walk with snake 2 for a while." (OOC !) And off he starts...

"How about you handle all the official b.s. meet and greet town official stuff? You should know by now our group really doesn't do the whole long, drawn out planning stuff. I'm off to see if the poor we were told about that were robbed have any useful information. If I found out anything I'll just find everyone at the town's biggest bar.I'm sure thats were some will be later anyways.", Zau says to Khet before running off in the direction of town.

Zau keeps up the spell crazy stuff he has been at since the wagon left. He touches anyone in the group who doesn't object with guidance on the way past everyone.

"We need to hurry and get this job over and done so I can get some money to drink again.", he yells while running.

Nefarion couldn't help but laugh at Kordar's misunderstanding as he pointed it, "Zyak wux vucot svaklar Rath ui hak? Thric, si tir ti siofme wux tir.. zyak wux zklaen ti kampiun lae algbo lae wux siofme wux tir."

Walking with the natural grace only an elf possessed Nefarion made his way into town with the others so inclined. The small smile on his lips belied his naturally wary state as he scanned his surroundings nonchalantly. The skills instilled him as a young drow were ever apparent, even here on the surface. And as drow lived in a constant state of preparedness for assassination that was how Nefarion still viewed the world at large. An ambush around every corner and a knife in every hand. While it was certainly not a carefree way of life it was all he knew, and his visions recently gave him no reason to change that.

Khetarin should have known better than to expect anything other than this group's almost signature impulsiveness after being stuck in that wagon for nearly a full day. He took a moment to stretch his legs, and allow Zau cast his mage armor spell, before heading into town.

Most of the locals were content to stare when they thought none of the newcomers were looking, but Khetarin found one little boy who didn't immediately look away. He couldn't have been more than ten years old and was helping his mother carry her grocery purchases as she went for shop to shop picking out food for her family; he was currently bear-hugging a sack of potatoes nearly as large as himself.

"Excuse me, young master, but would you know where I might find Sheriff Green?" Khetarin asked, smiling.

The mother glanced out the corner of her eye to see who was talking to her little boy and started when she saw who it was and the group he appeared to be with. She pulled the boy behind her, saying, "You leave my boy alone. And Jimmy, don't you answer him. You know better than to talk to strangers." She glared at the gray-clad man as if to say "this conversation is over."

Khetarin's smile disappeared at the woman's reaction and his face became cold. The woman lost all her nerve trying to stare him down and took a step back, almost tripping over young Jimmy. The ninja smiled at that and looked back down at the boy. "Now Jimmy," he said, "I need to know where the Sheriff is. Can you just point where I might be able to find him?"

Jimmy nodded pointed down the street for a moment before his mother pushed his arm down. "Thank you Jimmy. Good man, helping your mother with the shopping like that." He pointedly looked back at the mother for his departing words, "And you should listen to her about strangers. You never know when one of them might be an evil, dangerous person."

Grinning, Khetarin walked on to locate the sheriff without another thought about the paranoid mother. Shaking, the mother hurried to a smithy to purchase a dozen more locks for her home.

The various split groups find themselves eventually converging in the center of town, the only member not accounted for being Rath, who remains in the shadows, watching and waiting. (Too much stress to be overly creative, sorry)

As the group converges they are greeted by 2 figures, a well dressed portly man who introduces himself as the mayor, and a tall muscled man who is introduced as Sheriff Green. The two men swap clearly surprised looks, you're not entirely what they expected, but they make no comments regarding it. Rather they just get straight to business, "As you've heard, we've been plagued by thieves lately, they seem to be based out of the forest outside the town, and as of yet we have no witnesses, no leads, and no idea how many there even are at this point. We'll answer what questions we can, but you're more or less on your own for this one."

"No witnesses of any kind?" Khetarin asked. "If.... What makes you think they're based out of the forest, then?" The man had more insulting words in mind, but knew he could get much more out of these men if he could avoid putting them on the defensive. Someone must have heard or seen something to make them believe the bandits were hiding in the forest. If they really had no leads at all, it was just as likely the thieves were hiding in the mayor's daughter's bedroom as any place outside of town.

For now at least, Khetarin thought, I'll keep those ideas to myself. "Have you heard humanoid voices coming from any particular part of the woods? Has game become more scarce, suggesting some group is poaching the wildlife? Do you have any abandoned buildings, either inside the town or old hunting cottages out in the woods? You understand you all live here all the time and might have become, through regular exposure, used to something that would be an obvious red flag to those of use who have just arrived." That was probably the best way Khatarin could phrase his questions without showing how inept he thought the locals to be. There was a nagging thought in the back of his mind, however, that perhaps the sheriff was not a fool and these thieves were indeed very good at what they did. He hoped that was not the case.

Sheriff Green glared at the Mercenary that had addressed them so crossly and retorted, "We have reason to believe the thieves are based in the forest because some items have been recovered with in the forest! I know you city-dwelling adventurer types probably think we're just running some backwater half brained operation out here, but I assure you I would not present you with leads we did not have evidence to back up! We have done several sweeps of the forest as well, we find the occasional stolen item, but never any other sign of the thieves. No sign of a camp, no tracks, no voices, our hounds haven't even gotten a scent to go off of from any of the items." The sheriff cracked his knuckles and continued, "Now does anyone have anything else they would like to ask, something useful perhaps?"

"Alright." Khetarin sighed, "Let's see these items you've recovered from the forest and we'll want a detailed description of where each item was found and of the immediate area around the recovered item at the time of recovery."

The ninja was all business now, having been told off by the sheriff he was determined to show that he was worth the fee charged by the Guild. "Who were the ones to make the recoveries? Was it always the same person?"

D'artanian listened intently to the mayor and the now irritated Guard. While listening he was trying to familiarize himself with there scent, and watching them carefully to see if anything about their behavior seemed off. After taking everything in they said D'artanian responded, "We are going to need as much information as possible to get this solved, now how is it you suspect they are getting in and out? What has been stolen and from whom? Have there been any guards relieved of there duties in the past that might have reason for revenge? Have any traders been robbed on the way to your town or passing by? have the thefts been more frequent in one part of the town or another? is there a sewer system they might be coming through and for how long has these thefts been going on? We mean not insult your work as im sure you do a fine job, but even the smallest detail may be the key to helping restore order for your town." While asking for information D'artanian constintely watchs the pair to see any changes in how they act whether it be more relaxed,nervous,timid, or even angry.

Zau listens to Khetarin and D'artanian ask their questions.

That's a good start but there is still more that could be asked. I guess I'll have to talk to the officials then. How troublesome. I'd rather avoid talking to them.
Zau moves from the back of the group to the front to ask the mayor or sherrif, whoever seems to be taking the questions, some questions of his own.

"Are there any caves nearby too. Even if the town doesn't have city walls, a cave could be connected to a basement such as in a church or other bigger building in town. I guess it could be a smaller cave entrance/exit and be in a regular basement or even connected to someone's well too. Is the town completely surrounded by woods or are their any cliffs or hills nearby? Or old ruins? I understand you may have looked already but it wouldn't hurt for us to take another look at these places. We may have abilities not at your disposal."

"Your town wouldn't have happened to made a Druid or Ranger mad at you lately?"
(( OOC Zau only asks this if we find out its a druid or ranger spell being used. Either a knowledge Arcana or Spellcraft check can be used for this, right? If not I'll edit this out of the post. ))

The sheriff had not expected so many questions at once, but did the very best he could to answer each and every one of them.

Taking a deep breath he paused for just a brief moment to sort through all the information they were requesting, "I'm afraid you'll be unable to see the items that have been recovered, as there have been far too many items stolen and recovered, and they have all been returned to their rightful owners as they were found. As for where they were found, the items have been scattered through many different parts of the forest, some on the outskirts, some in pretty deep, some have even been found in trees, we've been unable to determine any pattern based on where the objects are found."

He stopped again for just a moment to ponder on the question of who had found the items, "It may be easier to ask who has not found a missing item, every time someone, anyone, goes into the forest they find at least one missing item. We have no idea how they are getting into the town, shops, or homes they have taken things from, as I said, they leave no tracks." He shook his head and took another deep breath, "The items that have been taken have been fairly normal items, minor everyday items of no particular value at all. Anything from pots and kettles to games and toys have come up missing and been recovered within a week of vanishing. Perhaps the most notable item taken though was the shield of Sir Victus, who retired here with his wife after a long career of adventuring, the shield vanished from his widows home during the night about 4 days ago and was recovered just yesterday. The shield seems unharmed and the widow was glad to have it back. None of the regular guards have been relieved of duty, they're all fine men and have never given me reason to dismiss them. No traders have reported missing items or robberies on the roadways, but that doesn't mean they just didn't notice anything missing, I do know we haven't recovered anything that hasn't been reported missing by a citizen."

When addressed by the dirty one he grimaced slightly but answered his questions as well, "The town has no sewer system or caves anywhere for miles and miles, the forest borders the Norther and Western edges of town, the Southern and Eastern borders are grasslands for miles. There are no mountains, ruins, old castles, or anything of that manner around here. The robberies have been going on now for roughly two and a half to three months now, and I cannot recall the last time a druid came through these parts, so I can't imagine that we would've offended one."