Dragan's house

[ghill]

The girl and her father take you some distance along the stream which feeds into the moat/ditch which surrounds the village she points to a point and tells you they saw the body "there" pointing at a spot in the bull rushes.

[Mr. Handy]

Aethelwulf approaches the indicated point, keeping an eye out for anything unusual, such as tracks.

[Cotton]

Valbrand follows Aethelwulf, and uses his spear to knock aside plant life while searching.

[ghill]

OOC:   Guys you can both give me Track or Spot Hidden rolls. For future reference, if you want to use a skill just include the rolls in your posts to save time

[Mr. Handy]

Aethelwulf catches a glimpse of something out of the corner of his eye.

OOC,Spot Hidden roll (25% base skill) where the body was found: [dice]0[/dice]

[Starspawn338]

Searching,Spot Hidden 50 [dice]0[/dice] Track 50 [dice]1[/dice]

As they spread out to search the riverbank, Garpur notices something.

[ghill]

As Garpur and Aethelwulf clear the reeds they both see the same large handprint as though someone steadied themselves as they lowered themselves into the water.

[Mr. Handy]

"Look," says Aethelwulf, pointing at the handprint. "Whoever did it must have swum away."

[Starspawn338]

"That's strange. The kids found the body here and Dragan crawled through the reeds to the body while the girl ran away. When she came back, the body was in the water and Dragan was gone." Garpur ponders the situation. "I wonder what happened here to leave Dragan in such a condition."

"Do you think the Lord will let us examine Guyer's body?"

[Mr. Handy]

Aethelwulf shrugs. "We can ask," he says.

[ghill]

Returning to the village you meet Ufric the same serious guard who escorted you to the lord yesterday evening when you ask to see the lord to make a request he asks what your request is and then indicates for you to follow him. He then leads you to the Church where he asks the priest about the body. The priest says something in Latin and indicates towards the village cemetery through the open window.

The priest says they buried him at dawn this morning. Says Ufric

[Starspawn338]

"Can he tell us if there was anything unusual about the body? Garpur asks Ufric. "Was he able to tell how Guyer died? Were there any wounds or was it by drowning?"

Garpur is wondering how they will be able to clear themselves of the Lord's suspicions and his concern is writ upon his face.

[ghill]

The priest shrugs then speaks briefly to Ulfric but you get the sense the priest simply went through the motions.

He treated him as a good Christian even though he had no signs of his faith. He prayed for your friend, asked that God forgive his sins and graciously receive him into his kingdom. The priest did not administer the sacrament because your friend was already dead. Then they buried him this morning. But he says he didn't look as though he met a violent end. says Ulfric

[Starspawn338]

"Well, I guess it was drowning that caused his death then if there were no signs of violence. I wonder how he came to be all the way up here when the rest of his men met a violent death much further away."

Garpur looks at the others before he continues. "Why do you think we aren't allowed to leave?"

[ghill]

OOC:   Insight rolls from everyone please.

[Starspawn338]

Insight,Insight 5 [dice]0[/dice]

[Cotton]

Spoiler:

Insight: 05%
[dice]0[/dice]

[ghill]

OOC:   Guys, FYI Insight is the Dark Ages equivalent of "Psychology" or how players decide how honest the NPC is being. Rather than have you guys head off following a Red Herring I'll give this one to you for free - The priest isn't lying he's just not being entirely honest and did the bare minimum to prepare the body and get it ready for burial, which in his case means saying a short prayer over him as he got buried. So its unlikely he noticed anything

[Starspawn338]

Garpur shrugs as no one else seems to have anything else to say and turns to leave. "This just has my muscles twitching. We came to meet a trader and find him drowned. Odd but probably just an accident. But the Lord is suspicious and won't let us leave. Something else must be at work here. Garpur ponders as he walks away. "And I don't think it's just the raiders...

[ghill]

OOC:   No posts from anyone else and bags of time to do so, so moving on. Unless anyone has anything else to add or wishes to do, you return to the inn and await the pleasure of the lord* and hope events resolve themselves. I would add if he had serious concerns about you guys you'd probably be locked up rather than walking around his town legal niceties being a thing of the future.