February 17th: Marblebush

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, let's not get excited!" Snarg looks momentarily confused and cocks his head at the Tusker. "Not sure what's happening here, but maybe we can at least see where he ... her ... our friend has been coming from. Fighting is going to be bad for our health." He sits down and watches the Tusker expectantly. "Your move now," he says slowly.

At about this point in time there are several townsfolk, dressed in pajama robes and slippers, who come out and wave at the party. "Don't anger him, he'll just hurts ya," they yawn sleepily.

Zeiss looks at the townsfolk.

"...Do you know why a Tusker is wandering into your town? Is he a friend of yours?"

"You've got a Tusker in your town and you didn't tell anyone" Snarg hisses to the closest in the townsfolk group, "we could have died! What's he even doing here?!?"

"...Snarg, they just told us not to anger the Tusker who is standing just withing your voice reach. So please, calm down?"

He returns his attention to the townsfolk, waiting for their answer.

One of the people, an elderly looking Dwarven fellow, wanders over and pats Snarg's hand almost condescendingly. "It's alright, young fellow. We don't know how to fix him yet, best we can do out of gratitude for all he's done for us."

Snarg cocks his head to the side. "Maybe you'd mind explaining what's going on here? This isn't usual at all. What do you mean 'fix him'?"

Zeiss frowns. Araiguna was right. This town was indeed strange.

Javan's face went from slight terror to pure confusion, and decide to just put away his threatening spear before speaking frustratedly to no one specifically.

"Really? Reeeeeally?! You townsfolk sucks...", the fairy did a exaggerated shrug and decided to just go back to sleep, yawning a bit as he turned and walked slowly back to the Inn.
"I'll be in my bed if you guys need me... I'm soooo not up for this right now."

"Well, isn't that just peachy," Rory commented, lowering his axe.

"Get his name and a time and place to meet," he said to Snarg. "For now, I'm going to drink until I pass out."

As he passed Zeiss, he whispers, "You should follow that Dwarf and keep an eye on him, but you don't have to if you're tired. Maybe get someone to take shifts with you."

He heads up to his room at the inn and begins pouring himself pints of Gut Thinner. He spreads it over a safe length of time and laying in his bed, anticipating blissful, alcohol-induced sleep.

Snarg sighs. "Yeah, go back to bed, I'll find out what's going on..." He addresses the dwarf: "Now, sir, could you explain what's going on here? This isn't usual at all. What did you mean by 'fix him'?"

To Roy's suggestion, Zeiss decides to wait for the dwarfs response before he considers following him.

The Dwarf harumphs a bit. "Well the lil' fella came into town a ways ago, and we were havin' some troubles with money and the gov'rnment was tryin' to buy us out and we weren't havin' none of it and he braved the ruins and areas in the quarry, brought us up sum relics and th'like, sold 'em for a nice profit, helped the whole town keep goin'. So now we just tolerate 'im, help 'im keep his peace. Makes sleepin' a bother though."

"Hmm..."

Zeiss ponders this revelation for a few moments, then urns to the Tusker.

"...You seem like a good fellow. Can you tell us your name?"

Then he realizes something.

"...Is that you Araiguna?"

He looks at the rest of the group to see if he is there.

Snarg sighs. "Alright, uh, sounds good. You could've told a Gnoll there was a Tusker roaming around before letting people sleep in your town. Good way to get hurt."

"Uh, I'll ... check on that?" Snarg looks warily at Zeiss and goes back towards the inn.

Spoiler:

The Tusker gives no particular reaction to Zeiss audibly, other then to sniff at him for a minute.

Snarg:
You find Araiguna's room empty, and the door wide open and swaying in the wind.

Snarg stares at the empty room for a moment before hunching over, sniffing at the floor.

Spoiler:

Snarg:
There are several Mite and Tusker tracks leading out from the house.

As Snarg leaves, Zeiss turns to the townsfolk and ask them :

"Is it really Araiguna?"

Snarg appears from the front of the house, hunched over on the ground. He stands back up after walking around the front of the house several times. Finally, he stands back up and addresses the group: "Uh, there's, well ... there's Mite and Tusker tracks coming from this house."

"Interesting friend you've got here. I've never heard of a mite who could turn into a tusker..."

Snarg chuckles. "It would explain the small size."

"Well, he wasn't like that a few weeks ago... I don't know what we should do. Go back to bed I guess? And talk to Araiguna tomorrow."

Snarg shakes his head. "You can sleep. I want to see this. Mite or not, I want to look over this guy. I've always had an interest in magical beasts and this is the first of his kind I've ever heard of, let alone seen. Most people don't even see a Tusker in-person, let alone a magical one. If it is actually our Mite friend, I want to know exactly what's going on and what's triggering the changes."

The Tusker lumbers over to Snarg, 'slowly' in relative terms for a Tusker, still startling you a bit on approach, and starts sniffing your metal jaw attachment, curious.