Envisioner
Explorer
Lyle departs the home of his fellow halfling, or "hin" to use the small folk's own word for themselves. (The few humans who know this term at all mostly only know it in the context of the famous children's nonsense rhyme, "How much kin can a man count hin, if the men c'n count hin kin?" Most of those who had this doggerel repeated to them while still in their swaddling clothes don't even realize that "hin" is a real word in the Common Tongue.) As he walks out onto the streets of Greenest, the puzzle of Galena Goodboroughs's tale nibbles at the edges of his mind.
Imsa, the green woman. Such coloration might suggest a being who lived very close to nature, but if so, she likely wouldn't have been sensitive when asked about it. Otherwise, such mishaps are typical of dabblers in witchcraft; if anyone would know more about her, it would be the local "wizer", a gnome by the name of Hodgkin Cobblehoof. On the other hand, she was supposed to be going to Waterdeep, so maybe she didn't bother to seek the wizard out; if her goal was to simply get back on the road asap, she might have headed to the stables at the far west end of town, where the human whom everyone in town simply calls Saddlesore rents out swift horses, to anyone who's in too much of a hurry to rely on the more unwieldy draft-horsed carriages used for long-range caravan travel.
Preznak was described as "rather sinister-looking", which Lyle's experiences in the Underworld have taught him is a fairly meaningless description. Most of the most dangerous predators in the urban jungle know how to blend in a good bit better than that; someone who goes out of their way to look evil or frightening is likely just trying to deflect unwanted attention, and while this may conceal a nefarious motive, it's at least as often simply going to prove that the person is fearful enough to try and bluff their way out of trouble.
Leonard Never-Sin; that ridiculous name could only belong to someone as sheltered as a Candlekeep monk. On some sort of religious pilgrimage, Galena suspected; a man of learning with a habit of asking questions, probably having no more reason to want those answers than the simple desire to know. Such a person likely poses no direct threat, though the naivete and ineptitude that commonly accompany such an idealistic mindset can make them perilous to be around, despite their own lack of malice.
A dragonborn; you seem to recall hearing that these most often come from the Old Empires of Unther and Chessenta, far to the Unnaproachable East and a little bit in the Shining south's direction. Certainly an exotic creature, and quite dangerous to seek out; you've heard horror stories of a hin who double-crossed one of these black-scaled monstrosities, who simply picked him up and vomited acid right onto his face, dissolving his eyes, nose and lips. The poor fool lived, but rather wished he hadn't. Then again, the dragonborn in question was the same kind of scum and villainy as his victim, in that scenario; perhaps the one who was here in town was of a different ilk. But is it worth the risk of trying to track him down? If you decide it is, you should have little trouble finding more witnesses who would remember seeing him (or her? who can even tell with reptiles).
And the exceptionally tall and dark-skinned (though humans in general are usually both of those things by your people's standards) individual who was referred to as "the pole". You have the least basis to think he might have any meaningful relationship to you, since just being of unusual stature proves nothing about what this person does with his time. But as with the dragon-man, his remarkable appearance should have been remarked upon by someone besides your neighbor.
None of these individuals (with the possible exception of Preznak, if he actually was what Gal took him for, but you'd bet this is less than half-likely) seem at all likely to be related to the trouble that you're here trying to avoid. All of them sound likely to be involved in other, hopefully more profitable sorts of trouble, and while you've kept your inquisitive instincts on the back burner while here on your home turf, you are beginning to grow just a bit restless. Like the storm that's begun to roll in, you feel an energy building inside yourself; it's only a matter of time before it will need release.
Imsa, the green woman. Such coloration might suggest a being who lived very close to nature, but if so, she likely wouldn't have been sensitive when asked about it. Otherwise, such mishaps are typical of dabblers in witchcraft; if anyone would know more about her, it would be the local "wizer", a gnome by the name of Hodgkin Cobblehoof. On the other hand, she was supposed to be going to Waterdeep, so maybe she didn't bother to seek the wizard out; if her goal was to simply get back on the road asap, she might have headed to the stables at the far west end of town, where the human whom everyone in town simply calls Saddlesore rents out swift horses, to anyone who's in too much of a hurry to rely on the more unwieldy draft-horsed carriages used for long-range caravan travel.
Preznak was described as "rather sinister-looking", which Lyle's experiences in the Underworld have taught him is a fairly meaningless description. Most of the most dangerous predators in the urban jungle know how to blend in a good bit better than that; someone who goes out of their way to look evil or frightening is likely just trying to deflect unwanted attention, and while this may conceal a nefarious motive, it's at least as often simply going to prove that the person is fearful enough to try and bluff their way out of trouble.
Leonard Never-Sin; that ridiculous name could only belong to someone as sheltered as a Candlekeep monk. On some sort of religious pilgrimage, Galena suspected; a man of learning with a habit of asking questions, probably having no more reason to want those answers than the simple desire to know. Such a person likely poses no direct threat, though the naivete and ineptitude that commonly accompany such an idealistic mindset can make them perilous to be around, despite their own lack of malice.
A dragonborn; you seem to recall hearing that these most often come from the Old Empires of Unther and Chessenta, far to the Unnaproachable East and a little bit in the Shining south's direction. Certainly an exotic creature, and quite dangerous to seek out; you've heard horror stories of a hin who double-crossed one of these black-scaled monstrosities, who simply picked him up and vomited acid right onto his face, dissolving his eyes, nose and lips. The poor fool lived, but rather wished he hadn't. Then again, the dragonborn in question was the same kind of scum and villainy as his victim, in that scenario; perhaps the one who was here in town was of a different ilk. But is it worth the risk of trying to track him down? If you decide it is, you should have little trouble finding more witnesses who would remember seeing him (or her? who can even tell with reptiles).
And the exceptionally tall and dark-skinned (though humans in general are usually both of those things by your people's standards) individual who was referred to as "the pole". You have the least basis to think he might have any meaningful relationship to you, since just being of unusual stature proves nothing about what this person does with his time. But as with the dragon-man, his remarkable appearance should have been remarked upon by someone besides your neighbor.
None of these individuals (with the possible exception of Preznak, if he actually was what Gal took him for, but you'd bet this is less than half-likely) seem at all likely to be related to the trouble that you're here trying to avoid. All of them sound likely to be involved in other, hopefully more profitable sorts of trouble, and while you've kept your inquisitive instincts on the back burner while here on your home turf, you are beginning to grow just a bit restless. Like the storm that's begun to roll in, you feel an energy building inside yourself; it's only a matter of time before it will need release.
