No 1 Hobbits Detective Agency: The Great Grain Heist

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Summary

GM Terry
Session: Summer 822
Location Brastor
Level Yes

Party:

Employer:
Vigor, junior member of the No. 1 Hobbits' Detective Agency, looking for promotion

Mission:

Scribe Notes

Session 1

I was looking forward to a return to the Plane of Valmi, where I was on my last adventure but, at the last minute, word was received from House Sulis that they weren't ready yet. So, having nothing to do, I went on an adventure offered by Vigor, representing the Number 1 Hobbit Detective Agency. He told us of a curious case he was investigating, that of grain going missing from a silo. He was hoping that solving this would give him his promotion to full Detective. The curious thing about this heist that it was only one bag a month that was going missing. One bag out of a hundred or so, which to me, was really strange.

The Hobbit Detective Agency had hired Guild members before so they had a fair idea what they were getting (I hope) and we would be paid standard Guild Rates. Presumably there was a salvage bonus in there as well. Unfortunately, with me were only two companions, one being Phos, the orc binder with an accent that reminded me of Pasifika, and the really annoying and bossy dark-skinned elf earth mage, Ashe Willoberry. I suspect there's drow in her lineage. I know I was raised by elves but this one can be extremely insufferable. She 'suggested' I learn basic Healer. It's on the list Ashe.

Vigor told us that we were going to Brastor, specifically the town of Charity. Each grain bag was as big as a human and this had been going on for at least the last four months, at the New Moon. Why the New Moon specifically? Was it lycanthropes? Were-rats? Nah. That's Full Moon. Curiouser and curiouser as someone said when they went down a rabbit hole. Mine was certainly peaked. Anyway Bossy Ashe became the Military Scientist and I became the Scribe.

After doing some research etc, I followed Vigor to a bakery where we got some baked goods. I also got some fruit and ending up demonstrating how I make fruit ices and frozen cream treats. He must have been very interested as, the next morning, when we were set to go, he turned up with a HUGE fruit basket and wanted me to experiment with the contents. This could be interesting. I hadn't worked with grapes before.

Ashe had provided two week long Lessers for us and Vigor was going to provide for Greaters at the other end. So we headed into Seagate and went into a tailor's shop. In its basement was a dwarf with a rune circle. Seats had been placed in the circle and we were told to sit down, be quiet and stay still as the dwarf, Dorian, did his stuff. At the end of that everything went blurry and spinny and we found ourselves really exhausted in a similar room, underneath another tailor's shop. Vigor told us we were now in the town of Brastor and, across the street was a pub, the Ground Dove. So we went there and ordered lunch.

During lunch, Ashe overheard one of the locals talking about a bee sting, so she went to be nosy investigate. While she was doing that Vigor switched his empty plate with her half full one. This lunch we called a BLT - Big Lunch Together.

The others wanted an afternoon nap before travelling to Charity but I was contemplating spending the afternoon relaxing under the Brastor bridge and going for a swim in the river, which is a favourite thing for the local children to do, but Bossy Ashe wouldn't let me, instead she ordered me to bed. *sigh* I suppose she was concerned for my safety but ... I'm a grown hobbit, not a child and I can look after myself. But I sulked and pouted acquiesced and ended up having a restful sleep before dinner that night.

Session 2

Breakfast consisted of eggs, bacon and a pork chop. It was so yummy that I got extras to go. Vigor went to fetch mounts,two horses and two ponies. I was wondering if we should check in with the Agency HQ here but Vigor didn't think it was a good idea, especially since there is an orc in the party. There's been conflicts with orcs before and wards had been put down. I think Vigor had other reasons too, especially concerning his immediate superior, Sapphire.

Vigor told us that Charity was roughly two hours away but, at the leisurely pace we were going, it wasn't until three and a half hours later that we got there. Charity is a smallish town surrounded by a fairly solid wall made with stone on the bottom, wood on top with watch towers spaced along it. Vigor took us to the Bronze Bullfrog where we would be staying. The horses etc were stabled near a two story building flying a flag of a green capsicum. That was the local office of the Agency.

I had been reading up on the area so I was checking things over with Vigor. The area had been overrun by the Dark Circle a while back which explained the abandoned village we went through. Many people had either died or had fled during the undead that invaded during that time and Brastor was still recovering. There were rumoured to be undead deep in the Greenwood Forest still. Many other strange things were thought to be in there as well.

Vigor then took us to see his employer, Reel Boneblade, a dwarven ex soldier now master merchant. We found him in his backroom office and he told us he mainly kept grain in the warehouse which was stored in large piles of sacks near the centre of warehouse. The strange thing was that it was the bag on the top of the pile that was being taken which made me wonder if the bag was being levitated through the roof. The building had been built about ten years ago, and he's been there for the last eight. Also, as far as he was aware, no one else was suffering from mysterious thefts like this.

He called for his assistant, Findora, a dwarf woman to show us around. Inside the warehouse were piled boxes and bags, boxes around the edges and bags in the middle. Findora told us that there were over a hundred bags of grain in here and she was absolutely sure nothing else had gone missing. There were no windows and all the doors were locked at night.

I clambered up the mountain of grain sacks and spotted mismatched tiles in the ceiling. Phos wasn't sure that was significant as it was common for that to happen as tiles were repaired and replaced. When he inspected them later, there was no magic on them.

Findora told us that there are five cats in here that keep the pest population down. It was most likely they were sleeping at the moment so Ashe got Norto to track one down. He found a black and white cat between a couple of boxes so Ashe tried to talk with it. It was reluctant to say anything until she coaxed it with various meats, including fish jerky which the cat found extremely tasty. It said it saw some sort of shadow, not a rat, that was smaller than a hobbit. A ginger cat then turned up and meowed at Ashe followed by a second black and white cat, all of them wanting meaty treats. Once fed, and satisfied, the other cats confirmed there was a shadow and the creature that caused it smelt of the forest. Unfortunately the nearest forest is the Greenwood. A fourth one, black in colour, then slinked over, attracted by the cat-cophany, and it too demanded food. All of us, combined, were cleaned out of cat delicacies after that but that cat had nothing to add. I asked about the fifth cat whch Findora told me was her cat, which she had raised from a kitten. This was Sashan, the oldest, and presumably the boss cat who was twelve years old.

Since we had to essentially bribe the cats to get information, we weren't really sure they were reliable witnesses but that was the only lead we currently had. I was wondering if the creature was some sort of flying fae, a pixie perhaps, and were they lifting the grain sack up out of the stack, rendering it invisible then flying it back to the forest, but then, how were they getting it through the roof?

I was beginning to think I should rank climbing by now so I stayed on the ground while Ashe and Phos went up the outside of the warehouse, which was an 'A' frame building, and examined the roof. As noted earlier, no magic was detected. While he was doing that, Ashe talked to the local birds to ask about strange things coming from the forest but they hadn't seen anything. Still, given that these thefts were happening during the new moon period when the night was darkest, that wasn't really surprising. Unfortunately Ashe couldn't find an owl to interrogate.

We had roughly ten days before the next theft was due so it was decided to have a poke around the edge of the forest in the interim. Vigor mentioned there was another deserted village near the forest so Phos wanted to investigate that too. Might be a red herring but, at this stage, we had little else to go on.

Session 3

Each grain bag weighed 100 pounds, so, how pixies were able to lift them one, would have been rather difficult. I went up into the rafters again and discovered one spot on the beam was less dusty. So I marked it with chalk. The edge of the forest was 5 miles away, and of course, Ashe and Phos start bickering again about the next step. Still, because both Polly and Helen were nearby, that made them suspects. I even added the guardian spirits of the oak tree as suspects as that was located between Polly and Helen.

Once those two finally wound down, we concluded we had done enough here so we headed back to Charity. On the way, Vigor told us about Polly and Helen. Polly knows about the tree, Actually Polly knows a lot about the tree as she had helped some earlier adventurers heal it.

I also found out that there are lots of dwarves in Charity, one of which runs one of the two bakeries in town. The other is run by a human. While Vigor went to do the paperwork I headed off to go get food and ingredients. I then went for a swim in the river before dinner, under Ashe's supervision. I had to convince her first it was safe. Heck, I was swimming in the children's favorite swimming hole - and always keeping an eye out for trouble.

Next morning, Vigor had done the paperwork for our Greaters. Now we had to wait until that was sorted. So I Handed Vigor a cream bun with raspberries and a bit of frost as he probably deserved it after all that. But no, I'm NOT trying to get to his heart via his stomach. It's just the halfling way.

After breakfast, we crossed the river and headed north. The weather was a bit overcast but not raining The trip took us five miles and the first impression I got was the Greenwood is enormous. Vigor took us to a mound with a door and a surrounding garden outside. Polly turned out to be an elderly human woman who was wearing a lot of green. She offered us tea and, of course I accepted. To my surprise, Phos didn't Vigor brought out a Table and chairs, and tea was served. I found it delicious with a unique flavour.

She told us that there was lots of fae in the woods. Pixies are located about a mile or two in to the northwest, past the brook and blueberries. Also the Tree has an enormous spirit and protects the forest. We might be better off talking to the squirrels. I also asked about restoratives and amulets, which she does do, so I requested four restoratives which she offered to do at cost. I also asked for and received a little package of tea wrapped up in a leaf. Phos also preserved some stretched rabbits for her to keep them fresh.

Next stop was the Tree, as we moved westward. The Tree is a large prominent oak tree and while the others did their thing I settled down on the grass while in the shade. At least there was no chance of being beaned by a coconut. Acorns maybe. The area around the tree is an Earth Place of Power.

Ashe had some nuts on her, which she used to entice a couple of squirrels out of the tree. After casting a Speak with Animals(Squirrel) she discovered one of them was named Komarsh, first of the Oakhouse. He has a large empire, mostly consisting of the area around the tree. Meanwhile the other one, which was larger, crushed the nut. The resulting show of strength caused it and Phos to have a staring contest as they attempted to out intimidate each other. I was getting the impression that Termita, the other squirrel, who was two metres up the tree on an overhanging branch, as lose to Phos as possible was spoiling for a fight. Apparently pixies had tried to steal their nuts a while back.

Meanwhile Kormash was telling Ashe that he had seen something fly out of the forest during the night. It was small, maybe smaller than me. Co, Small maybe smaller then me. Could be a pixie. Ashe then tried speaking to the tree itself with Termita watching her suspiciously. All she learnt was winter was hard for some trees. They do not grow as much as they should. Too cold. Very cold, unusually cold. But, much to my relief, there were no undead marching in the forest.

Fifteen to twenty minutes later, after leaving the tree, we arrived at a house which was surrounded by cats.