D&D 5E [D&D 5E] Tattered Memories: An Adventure in Tethyr (COMPLETE)

[Forged Fury]

Brue made short work of the lid of the keg. The top of the barrel tore away with a wooden wrenching sound. Inside, the barrel sat empty, the insides stained darkly.

OOC: Investigation Check, if you want to take a deeper look inside the barrel.

 

[CanadienneBacon]

[section]Brue kept hold of the prybar. She tucked her head down inside the barrel and sniffed, then touched the inside of the keg to see if there was a residue. The light wasn't the best inside the tavern storeroom, so Brue angled the keg, hoping to catch what meager light there was. "Janelle, could you shine the lantern over here a bit? What do you make of the keg's insides? See or smell anything out of sorts?" If Janelle seemed inclined to aid the investigation, Brue leaned back to give her room, and offered to hold the lantern (if there was one).[/section]

OOC: Perhaps, if Janelle (who I hope knows her stock pretty well) helps by looking and smelling the inside of the keg or holding up a light source so that Brue can look inside the keg, Brue could have Advantage on this Investigation check? I'll provide a roll, just in case.

[roll0] ... with [roll1]?

 

[Forged Fury]

To Brue's inexperienced nose, she didn't detect much out of the ordinary with the barrel. The sides were dark, although it looked like it was simply discolored from the walls absorbing some small amount of ale when it was filled. At the genasi's prompting, Janelle examined the barrel. After a few seconds, she clicked her tongue.

"Something's not right with the bottom. Different wood maybe?"

 

[CanadienneBacon]

[section]Brue grunted. When Janelle finished inspecting the keg, Brue used the prybar to scrape at the bottom of the barrel. She tasted any residue gathered on the prong of the metal prybar. Then Brue flipped over the empty keg and examined the other end.[/section]

 

[Forged Fury]

Brue scraped at the bottom of the barrel. In doing so, a line of lighter wood revealed itself. Realizing that it wasn't exactly conclusive, she scraped the side of the barrel and noticed the same effect. Metal on wood was apparently fairly destructive and she suspected she would get the same result if she scratched inside any barrel. Tasting the prong of the prybar, the genasi noted a distinctly acidic taste. Flipping the barrel over, the bottom appeared to be a mirror of the top.

 

[CanadienneBacon]

"Tastes acidic. Should it?" Brue made a careful examination of the bottom of the keg. Then she put down the prybar, flipped the keg back upright and used her finger to touch the residue on the inside of the barrel. She tasted her fingertip, trying to see if the tast was off.

Brue smiled ruefully at Janelle. "Or maybe all dregs taste foul like this?"

 

[Forged Fury]

"Maybe?" Janelle responded, not sounding overly certain. "Most dregs just taste sour and flat."

OOC: Roll a Wisdom (Perception) Check and go ahead and describe Brue's internal thoughts in your next post about the search.

 

[CanadienneBacon]

[section]"What do you mean, something's not right with the bottom?" Brue quizzed Janelle.

The genasi licked the residue off her finger. She frowned, trying to discern whether the taste was "acidic" and "off," or merely "stale." The prybar was of no use; its metal tang no doubt occluded her sensory perception. She put the prybar away in the corner, and frowned some more. The wood where she scraped was lighter than the color of the wood stained by the residue, and a different color than the color of the wood on the outside of the keg. She wasn't sure if the ale had been aged in the keg, or if perhaps it had been aged elsewhere and then the barrel filled prior to shipment. For that matter, she wasn't sure how long the barrel might have sat on a wagon during delivery. Long enough to stain the inside of the keg? She wasn't sure.

The ends of the keg were another mystery. The wood there was different than the wood elsewhere on the keg. Had someone removed or replaced either end? Brue had a closer look at the lip and sides of the keg. She checked for crowbar marks other than the ones she just made. She stood up straight and scratched her ear.

"Janelle? D'you think the beer is aged in the keg, or aged somewhere else? Do you have any other empties from a different vendor I could look at, compare this one to?"[/section]

OOC: Janelle seems helpful, so that's good. Best guess is that someone pried off the bottom of the keg and either added something (that harmed the residents of Mosstone) or replaced the keg's contents entirely (with a harmful substance). If that's the case, I would expect to see scratches around the lip of the keg where someone took a crowbar to the lid. Maybe the lid splintered when it was pried off, and the poisoner had to replace it? Second best guess is that the beer molded, spoiled, or was improperly sealed or stored, and that's what is causing the deaths...though this seems unlikely...I should think folks would get sick but wouldn't die if the latter was the case. Brue also still needs to check out the town's well water.

[roll0]

 

[Forged Fury]

Janelle frowned and said, "It's too... close?" Looking around the room, she rushed over to a broom and brought it back to the keg. "Here, look."

The woman held the broom against the ground with the business end straight in the air. Taking a hand, she measured in a straight horizontal line from the end of the broom to her chin. Picking the broom up, she placed it in the same orientation, but this time inside the keg. The head of the broom ended at her forehead. "The bottom must be much thicker than a normal keg. Probably why it seemed like a short fill!"

Nearly forgetting the rest of Brue's questions, Janelle replied, "Probably aged in the keg itself, but it doesn't really take long for the insides to absorb. Unfortunately, Preston was my only source of ale."

 

[CanadienneBacon]

[section]"It's a false bottom?" Brue blinked at Janelle. She stalked back over to pick up the prybar, flipped the keg on its end so that the bottom was facing up, and got to work removing the bottom. When she had the bottom lid off, she examined the keg (which should now be open on both ends), and then examined the bottom lid.[/section]

OOC: If either the keg itself or the bottom lid appeared to have a false bottom, Brue will get to work cracking that open, too. She'll work carefully to keep the bottom relatively intact, if possible. If it comes to it, however, she'll pry apart the bottom in an effort to see if it's a false bottom.