PlanetADnD.com

Val joins the girls as they head back to the inn.

"The 'unnatural" rarely act without orders. Any creature of that nature should radiate strong magic. But, the clues can be seen differently."

OOC:sorry, had to drop out of character a bit to get the point across.

Val, Ouragana and Areilon catch up with Jocelyn and all four return to the Paragon. There they find Oren and Grey having dinner, Noah having an even bigger meal to himself, and Pearl trying (and failing) to get the attention of a couple of old dwarf patrons with a song.

==============

It is now 6:00 PM. The sun will be going down in about an hour or so.

"Did you find anything?" Arei asks Jocelyn as they enter the inn. "He spoke to one of them, she said she knew her attacker, but when asked who she said something about' iron skin, eyes of diamond, and many blades.' I think that was it."

"I don't know what that means," Jocelyn says. "I'm going to talk to that bard over there. She was friends with Maronna," she adds before she walks over to Pearl. "Hey, could I have a few minutes of your time?"

"By all means," Pearl says with a bow. She then nudges her empty hat on the ground toward Jocelyn with her bare foot, in a fairly conspicuous manner.

Jocelyn looks down at the hat, then shakes her head. "I don't want you to perform for me. I want to ask you a few questions about Maronna," she says. "It seems that while you've been here, you two have been pretty close."

"Yes, we spoke quite often before her unfortunate passing. She was very nice, and probably the only friend I had on this island," Pearl says.

Val finds a table and orders food, preferably fish.

"Food and ale."

"I'm sorry for your loss then," Jocelyn says. "Did she tell you anything about the hot date that she had?" she asks curiously.

Ouragana drops a silver into Pearl's hat. "If we're taking up her time, we should compensate her for that" she smiles. "And I might like to hear a song when we've finished talking."

"Could I have food, and perhaps some water?" Arei asks walking to the bar, watching the Cleric and the Halfling on her return she shakes her head, "Ever get the feeling she doesn't like us?" Arei asks Val sitting down at her table. "Like we are.... unimportant somehow?"

The waiter nods to Val's and Areilon's requests and heads to the back.

"Hmmmm," Pearl says with exaggeration, rubbing her chin. "She did say something about a date. But with who? Oh, my memory just isn't what it used to be."

When Ouragana deposits a silver piece into the halfling's hat, Pearl quickly scoops it back out and bites into it. "A silver?" she asks. "Ahh, I'll take it." She pockets the coin at once.

"The date was with the local jeweler. Cubert..? No, wait. Hubert. Hubert Diamondeyes, that was it," Pearl says.

==========

Ouragana spends 1 silver piece.

"Eyes of Diamonds..." Arei says quietly, "Perhaps I was wrong."

Ouragana meets Areilon's eyes, but doesn't say anything for the moment. It seems unlikely to her that the gnome jeweler would have the strength to carry the victims to the mill, at least not without help or a carriage, and they hadn't seen marks of a carriage when they had investigated the mill earlier. Only those strange marks of someone walking like he or she was using a spear for a walking stick.

Then it occurs to her that maybe "iron skin, diamond eyes and many blades" may refer to more than one person, either as names or as nicknames. "What was the name of the other gnome again, the one who was with Hubert the jeweller the other day? The clockmaker? Wasn't it something like metalskin?" she asks her companions.

"Tinskin." Arei comments... "And many blades? Part of me thinks Tia.."