Shaimon Hu'u, barbaric human druid
When the group is no longer within earshot of the Innkeeper, Shai speaks up, beckoning the party into his room.
"I ... have something to confess," he says, and his face looks like nothing so much as a child's when caught stealing cookies.
"It's my fault Loddie's gone," he says, sinking to sit on the floor. Dyspeer sits next to him, and the large druid scratches the wolf's ears absently.
"Well, I mean, I didn't take him. It's just ... well, when I met Tanith and Courage and Jonas and the lot, they were on the road for Loddie, looking for something called Dryad Walnuts. Seems Loddie owed 'em to Duran, but they got shanghai'd on the way.
"So I latched onto the group of them, and we found the nuts, along with a lot of trouble and some critters which ... " Shaimon shivers, clearly remembering something he isn't telling. He shakes his head.
"In any case, we found the nuts, and Tanith put 'em in that magic backpack of hers, and we came back here, only Loddie was already gone, and Duran, too, which was supposed to be why we went down under, on account of the noises and the disappearance went on at the same time, but then the devil minotaur, and the kobolds, and the chaos beasts and the pixie and ..."
He looks up, clearly ashamed as he admits. "I lost track, I did. And Tanith, too, sure 'nough, unless she left the nuts for us somewhere when she had to run away. So all that fighting and searching, and Loddie's still gone and I know I never did meet him or his daughter but I was supposed to be helping and ... "
His voice trails off, and Shai looks sheepishly to the floor, muttering, "Well, I don't think I helped much, I guess that's what I mean to say."