Once ensuring that Jjaxx is well secured, Rishi decides that he needs to start some investigation on his own. Clearly the rest in the party don't know what to do when it comes to looking up possible conspiracies, let alone do the investigating right. He decides to leave a super vague, scribbled note on the nightstand inside Jjaxx's room. Easiest place for the rest to find it! Talila has her own plan set in motion, however. She notifies Mathayus that she needs to step away for a weapon, so he shall be left in charge of watching Jjaxx if he so chooses. Upon disembarking the building, Talila leaves in search for Salem for some answers. He can't be too far, being that he has some strange fascination with a particular tree located in the middle of the town. Sure enough, she spots him up in the branches. Being that he was with the party who visited the blacksmith, there had to have been SOMETHING amiss in the whole visitation. Sadly, Salem says nothing about the blacksmith, for he did not join the others inside. Instead, he decided to wander the town, looking for any clues as to where they are. Acknowledging this, Talila parts ways and heads towards the blacksmith building. Salem decides to start doing some investigation on the two areas he noticed earlier that seemed "odd".
Estraban, doing his best to pretend that he is passed out on the foyer floor of Sam's residence, waits to hear the sound of sleep. Upon hearing the door to Sam's room lock, he starts to slowly and silently stand up. See, Estraban had a plan. A crazy plan. He wanted to get inside Sam's house to look for clues as to what is going on and why he didn't recognize him as one of the customers from earlier that day. As he weaves his way around various corners, looking for ANYTHING out of place, he comes up empty handed. One last ditch effort, he decides to approach Sam's door and listen. Snoring. Cute snoring but snoring, nonetheless. Disappointed in his findings, he lets himself out the front door, leaving it unlocked behind him.
Umbra, still determined to locate some spare funds amidst the tavern floor, comes up empty handed and distraught. See, Umbra hasn't been as destitute as this before, so looking for anything of value could help bring his anxiety down a few notches. The whole situation has made him feel super uncomfortable and almost unpleasant to be around. Suddenly, he gets an idea. Jjaxx went to a store earlier that Bob had sent him to for an instrument. He was successful in finding a violin, so surely the same store should have something for him too, right? With destination in mind, Umbra sets off towards Sarena's store, telling no one of his plans.
Mathayus, alone in the room with a clearly passed out Jjaxx, decides to do a little meditation to pass the time. After a decent amount passes and still no conscious Jjaxx, Mathayus decides enough is enough. Weird things are happening, and he needs answers. Now. Starting with a gentle shake, Mathayus tries to summon some liveliness from Jjaxx. Jjaxx mutters some in descript jibberish and falls back asleep. Being that a sluggish and half-asleep conversation isn't the ideal way to get answers, Mathayus starts to shake Jjaxx harder. Jjaxx, now fully awake, starts to panic. He realizes he's been tied down to the bed, apparently by a very distraught gnome who seemingly disappeared during his slumber. In a semi-frantic state, Jjaxx demands answers from Mathayus, mostly as to why he is tied down. Mathayus explains to him that he seemed possessed last night and if he recalled anything at all. Jjaxx tries to recall anything, but shakes his head in a no manner. Jjaxx recalls getting super high on the leaves Estraban had given him, which helped him get over his performance anxiety last night, but shortly after that he went to his room and fell asleep. Next thing he knew was waking up, tied to the bed. Picking up Jjaxx's violin, Mathayus explains to Jjaxx that he will be needing to "borrow" his violin. With a huge protest, Jjaxx starts to strain against his restraints. Mathayus informs Jjaxx that he believes something malicious might be wrong with his violin and until he can find someone to detect magic, he doesn't trust Jjaxx to touch it. Jjaxx, calming down with this new information, nods in agreement. Mathayus makes a deal with Jjaxx that he needs to stay near him just in case weird things happen again. Once the agreement has been made, they exit the room and join Estraban in the tavern floor.
Estraban, feeling hopeless at this point, sits at the bar waiting for others from the party to show up. Salem, coming in the front door after his investigation, decides to join Estraban. Both wear the defeated look upon their face. Mathayus inquires Salem to inspect the violin in hand. Salem detects nothing, that it is just a plain violin. Now, all four party members sit down at the bar and wait for the rest of the party to show up. Might as well start coming up with next options in the meantime, huh. Steve arrives to the front and lays out a small continental breakfast. Food is served.
Upon arriving at the blacksmith, Talila enters the store and is greeted by Sam. Sam asks her if she is looking for anything in particular, taking note that she looks like she's seen better days. Smiling, she says she is just going to take a look around and see if anything strikes her fancy. Continuing her investigation, she mills about the store, looking for clues. Absolutely nothing stands out to her. She did manage to find a decent longspear on a rack. As she approaches the counter, longspear in hand, Talila starts to look at Sam with the true seeing ability. Upon looking at Sam, she sees something similar as to what was going on with Jjaxx the night before, but not exactly the same. She decides to take it one step further and offers a handshake in conclusion of the purchase. Upon doing so, she feels somewhat of an unease and malicious energy coming from Sam. Looking at his eyes, he seems almost dead inside, like a puppet. As Talila leaves the blacksmith, she notices Salem exiting the tavern. She runs over to him and asks if he would like to join her in her visit to the tailor. Salem obliges and the two of them set off to visit their next destination.
Umbra reaches the same merchant store that Jjaxx was sent to earlier, hoping to find an instrument and weapon that meet his requirements. Upon entry, he is struck with how beautiful Sarena is. He asks her if she has musical instruments to which she points him to the corner that houses the various instruments. After a few minutes, Umbra finds a suitable guitar to which he places it upon the counter. Being of the charismatic type, Umbra tries to charm Sarena to which she is unaffected by him. In fact, the expression on her face changes to a more serious look. Realizing his mistake, Umbra grabs the guitar off the counter and makes a run for the door. Unfortunately, the door is locked and he cannot leave. In full on panic mode, he asks if he can make a purchase for a weapon to which Sarena replies that the store is now closed. She approaches Umbra, giving him a warm embrace to which he becomes unconscious, collapsing onto the floor.
Talila and Salem arrive at the tailor shop. Upon entering the store, they notice that Gary (a gnome), the shopkeeper is busy packing an order on the side of the counter. He greets them with a very abrupt question as to what they are in need of. Talila senses bad vibes from speaking to Gary. He seems to have the same presence as Sam did. She asks Gary if he has any kind of stave inventory, to which he sighs and retreats to the back to look. Once he turns the corner, Talila shapeshifts into a bear and charges at Gary, rendering him unconscious. Salem, following suit, transforms into a bear as well and between the both of them, they wreck the store. Talila transforms back and ties Gary up, tossing him onto the back of Salem. As Talila rummages through the wrecked store in search of armor and weapons, picking up items to show to Salem for a yes or no decision, she starts to think about the entire situation of the village. Leaving the store, the 2 set off back towards the inn to rejoin the rest of the party.
Once Talila and Salem arrive at the inn, Mathayus inquires as to where they have been. Talila discusses their outing with Sam then Gary, pointing to the tied up, unconscious gnome on Salem's back. She explains that she sensed something very off with the both of them and decided to make an example out of Gary. Mathayus hands Talilia the violin, asking for her to sense anything wrong with it. She senses nothing and hands it back to him. After tossing Gary upstairs in Jjaxx's room, Talila discusses with the group that they all need to stick together because the entire village seems to be affected by some sort of mind control. Noticing that Umbra is missing from the group, Talila inquires to where he has run off to. Jjaxx remembers telling Umbra where he bought the violin at earlier in the evening, so maybe Umbra went to see Sarena. The party decide to visit the wrecked tailor store to gather weapons and gear when they come across Rishi.
What will happen next?
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