Not needing sleep and while my friends are in town asleep for the night, I spent the early evening just outside of town scouting and last few hours resting atop Tobias's tower meditating.

When morning approached, I gathered my equipment and started heading in to town. When I saw a boy exiting the tanning shop and running quickly in the same direction I was heading. So I decided to follow.

As he entered the inn, I was not far behind. Inside the inn the air was thick with tension and unease.

Wondering what was going on; and seeing some of my friends already awake and having breakfast, I head over to find out.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:11, Sun 21 July 2019.

When Glenn came back with the message to meet at Alvar's shop Jeffrey couldn't help but believe that something was amiss as Alvar was always easy to find. Believing that something was really wrong, Jeffrey finished what he was doing at the forge and told his father that he was going to find out what was going on.  He grabbed his weapons and donned his armor and headed over to Alvar's  as quickly as possible. As soon as he got there he tried to find Alvar and when he couldn't he began looking around outside the shop to try to figure out what had happened to him.
This message was last edited by the player at 11:09, Sun 21 July 2019.

Being fleet of foot, Jeffery was the first to arrive at the tanning shop, moments ahead of any others.
With a quick once around the outside of the shop he made several observations.
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:34, Mon 22 July 2019.

Tobias arrives just after Jeffery makes his quick circuit of the tannery.
While the early morning sun casts a fine light on the shop, the picturesque look is ruined but the stench. It is a cross between an open sewer and rotting meat.
What few people that are about, don't linger in the area except those that live nearby.
They seem oblivious to the smell.
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:15, Mon 22 July 2019.

Yseult and Nevyn are leaving the Inn just as Dumoss arrives.

After being filled in on the details that are known so far, the three friends head towards the Tannery.

When they get across town, Jeffery and Tobias are already there. Just as the building comes in sight, the three see them open the front door and look inside.

Nevyn was quiet as he walked with Yselut towards the tannery; he did not know much about the noblewoman save that she lived in the keep yet also mingled with the villagers and common-folk on many occasions. He did not think it prudent to prod into her life though, at least not at the moment. They had more pressing matters to attend to.

The smell of the tannery permeated the air well before the building came into sight, and Nevyn was forced to cover his nose with the sleeve of his robe as they walked up to the building. He noted others had gathered there as well, including Tobias.

"Well met, I hope you did not eat before coming here. I did and already regret it," Nevyn remarked by way of greeting.

The presence of Jeffrey at the tannery added a bit of gravity to the situation, but Tobias shrugged it off. Walking up to the front door, he banged on it a few times and then tried the handle. Behind him, he heard other footsteps along the narrow road. Glancing over his shoulder, Tobias saw several more people from town, some of them covering their noses. The smell certainly didn't bother Tobias however, the smell of rot and death was a familiar one to him... everything smelled that way to the young wizard.

Pushing the door open, Tobias called out, "Alvar? Where are you? Get out here, you're causing a panic. Alvar?"

His suspicions raised, Tobias looked carefully around the shop to see if anything was out of place. Though he didn't frequent the tannery, few people did, he was here probably as much as anyone else simply due to the proximity of his sister's fancy to his own dilapidated tower.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:19, Tue 23 July 2019.

Looking inside, it can be seen that while there were hides spread over a couple of wooden beams the special knives used to scrape off the hair were still on their shelf.
On a sturdy table in the shop itself, a hide was staked out and an even strip had been cut, about three fingers wide, down one side.
The blade used to cut the leather is still laying on the table.
Hanging on a nearby peg is a soiled and stained apron.

The cover at the top of the ladder leading upstairs is open and the door to the backporch is closed.

The fireplace looks to have no fire in it and the shelves for storing food appear to have been rifled.
Some of the containers have been knocked over and there is a mostly eaten apple on the floor.
This message was last edited by the GM at 10:38, Tue 23 July 2019.

Alvar watched as his friends gathered in front of the tanner's shop. He had been somewhat sick with a rough throat last week, yet now he had recovered mostly, which was good. He headed over to the tanner to meet with his friends.
This message was last updated by the GM at 00:05, Tue 23 July 2019.

Jeffrey sees his friends have arrived and tells them that Alvar does seem to be missing. "I have seen something that seems strange to me though, there is a small pile of coins on the bench just inside the door. Why would Alvar leave them like that?"
This message was last edited by the player at 22:07, Mon 22 July 2019.

Tobias drifted over to where Jeffry stood near a bench by the door. There were, upon the wall, several baskets.

"He didn't leave them there, someone else did. Look, there's one basket missing..." he pointed to where the closest spot near the door was vacant. "Someone else came in and found Alvar gone, took a basket and left some coins as payment either for the basket or what was in it, or perhaps, some other outstanding debt."

The Haggard, as the townsfolk called him behind his back, shrugged and then decided to poke his head up through cover of the ladder leading upstairs.

Upstairs was dimly lit by a window, at the end over the front door.

In reply to Oracle (msg # 17):

"Ah, how could we miss looking up there? Do you see anything amiss up there, Tobias?"
This message was last edited by the player at 21:34, Tue 23 July 2019.

"Amiss or a mess?" he asked, now passing more words than he'd spoken to another person in more than a week. "The latter for sure."

He climbed the rest of the way up and took a look in the chest as well as a closer look around the bedroom. This sort of thing would have been considered very rude by nearly everyone in the town, but Tobias had a certain interest in the welfare of his sister, and the fact that Alvar was missing seemed a plausible reason enough to snoop a little.

A quick dig into the chest revealed where Alvar stored his winter clothes and extra blankets.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:05, Tue 23 July 2019.

Tobias climbed back down and shut the hatch at the top.

"Nothing obvious. Maybe we should look out back?"

Well the others are inside looking, I remained outside and noticed that there are deer tracks on the ground near the door of the building. They are somewhat scuffled by other people's footprints but away from the building and towards the north they become clearer.

I called to the others to come outside and check what I found, and suggest we follow the deer trail.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:25, Wed 24 July 2019.

In reply to Dumoss Nindir (msg # 22):

"Well done Dumoss, deer tracks this close to Alvar's tannery is certainly unusual and almost certainly a real clue to what is going on here." Jeffrey agrees with Dumoss that they should follow the tracks.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:06, Fri 26 July 2019.

Tobias's quick look out the backdoor of the shop reveals the expected things while letting in more foul odors.

"What is that stench?" Alvar asks.

The neighbors have paused their morning chores and are craning their necks to see what the disturbance was that had attracted a small crowd of people at the tanning shop.

It is highly unusual for people to gather in this area with the smell of the rotting hair and meat from the skins as well as the human waste used to chemically treat the leather.

Even the pig pins next door was thought to smell better.

Whispering could be heard between the neighbors by any that listened.

In reply to Oracle (msg # 26):

"That horrible stench is a combination of all the different liquids necessary to tan leather. The pigs over there certainly don't help either. It always smells like this here, but we are wasting time, we need to follow the tracks, Alvar may be in real trouble and I think we should do everything we can to help." With that Jeffery motions to the tracks and begins to follow them. "Come on Dumoss, you are the best tracker we have, aren't you?" Of course after his time with the hunters, Jeffrey isn't a bad tracker himself.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:27, Sat 27 July 2019.

While the others stand around, Dumoss starts following the deer tracks with Jeffery close behind.

Nevyn wasn't sure if following the deer tracks would amount to anything pertinent to this investigation, but it appeared the only lead they had and the others seemed keen on following them.

"Very well then, lead on," he muttered, his voice muffled by the sleeve of his robe covering his mouth and nose. At the very least it would give them an excuse to get away from the tannery and its smell. And who knew, perhaps Alvar spotted some deer and decided to try his luck at hunting one.

"Keep a look out for any human footprints along with the deer," he called out to Dumoss.

I hear Nevyn off in the distance. I tell Jeffrey.  I hurry back towards the trainers shop to get the others. "Will be right back, Jeffery."
This message was last edited by the player at 18:18, Sat 27 July 2019.