You arrive at the Creekside Tavern and Inn or enter the tavern part if staying there. Audrahni is at a table big enough for all seven of you. You each order what you want for dinner. As dinner is ending and the group is relaxing with post-meal drinks, Audrahni clears her throat. “Thank you again for taking the time to chat with me. You seem like capable sorts—certainly not the type who’d be content to live out lives of comfort in a small town like Roderic’s Cove. I don’t mean that as an insult—far from it. I’ve been in town for several years and I think the Cove needs people like you: heroes. The stink of violence is in the air. The near-confrontation you were just involved in isn’t the first we’ve had recently... surely you’ve heard of the slaughter that took place last week? Something strange is going on here in Roderic’s Cove, and someone needs to do some investigating to figure out what that is. I’m hoping you’ll be up to that challenge. I know you are wondering about the ghost that appeared earlier. That was Sir Roderick himself. The last time Sir Roderic’s ghost made appearances in the Cove was during events 10 years ago that culminated in a minor uprising. Roderic’s Cove’s previous port-Governor, Jess Gildersleeves, was run out of town after she was found to be undermining Roderic’s Cove by diverting funds meant for the small town to shady interests in Riddleport. I believe that Sir Roderic grows restless when his beloved cove is in danger, not that he is the cause of those dangers himself. I now suspect that, in order to give the town’s founder the rest he finally deserves, Roderic’s Cove must be made safe for its citizens, but that requires first determining what sort of peril is building in the town’s shadows. I've done a little bit of work looking around town for clues, but I'm the first to admit that I'm not the best at getting people to talk or noticing subtleties. Perhaps your group will have better luck than I did in finding out more. As for Roderic’s ghost, an investigation of his old home, an abandoned building outside of town called Roderic’s Wreck, would be a logical step, but the old building is dangerous and you should be careful and deliberate in your investigation of the building. I hope that your group will become heroes for Roderic’s Cove. I’m certain that something dire, in need of a group of heroes’ attention, is building within the town, and also that the ghost can be put to rest if the town is saved.”
Randolf asks a question of the elf. “What can you tell us about the recent and unexpected outburst of violence that took place in the Circle a few weeks ago?”
Audrahni nods and replies. “The six victims have all been buried, but as the one who gathered the bodies and dug the graves, I know some information about them. All six were human, locals who left behind no immediate family. Of the six, two worked as trappers, one as a fisher, and three were unemployed. One thing tied them together apart from their shared deaths: all six wore the same rune on their clothing, a rune I recognized as the old Thassilonian rune of wrath. This marking identified the dead as belonging to one of the new gangs in Roderic’s Cove: a group called the Horned Fangs. One of the bodies bore an obvious sign of death—a deep puncture wound to the throat from a stabbing weapon, I suspect a rapier or short sword, but the other five bore no physical wounds at all. The expressions frozen on their dead faces suggested a singular cause of death to me. I believe they all died of fright. I also know that the first person on the scene of the massacre was Ladia Kelstrop. Any other questions?”
