Tobias's news hit Vyria hard. Her pleased express from seeing her brother quickly turned to wails and sobs as he explained what had happened.

As she listened to the details and the theory about the belt having been magical, she exploded in rage at Jasper the Panner.

In a mixture of rage and anguish she screamed, "YOU DID THIS! YOU GAVE ME THAT BUCKLE! IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!!!"

Jasper had been sitting quietly in the corner near the fireplace and was clearly confused by her outburst.
"Huh? What? It was just a bauble I found panning."

At the suggestion of others he quickly left the Inn while Vyria was being restrained from throwing more cups and plates at him.

Her mother guided her to her room while the rest of the Inn sat in stunned silence.

Then the whispers started.

"Guess I better buy up Cenric Shoemaker's boots now while he still has leather to make them."
"Can't get that quality anywhere else outside a city."

"Wonder who she will marry now that Alvar's gone?"

"Alvar's father is going be plenty upset when he hears about this. He didn't want his son to move here anyway."

"Bound to be them damn Fae involved. Those Godless folk are nothing but trouble."

Trying his hardest to console Vyria, Rolan had tried to be there for her, and to hopefully keep her emotions under control. It seemed neither he nor her brother could calm the rage brought upon by the despair of her situation. After she had been taken away by her mother, and he heard the wailing quiet down, Rolan looked to Tobias and said to him "It appears we should look into Jasper and see where he found that bauble, that's our best clue thus far."

This was not the first time Vyria had been through something so difficult. It had not been that long ago, after all, that their younger brother had died, a matter made all the more difficult by the reaction of Tobias and the manifestation of what many considered unwholesome magic... Some of the things she had shouted at this time were, eerily, echoes of those directed at him before. She'd come around, eventually apologized and dismissed her accusations against him of somehow it being his doing, and made up, eventually becoming close again.

But now...

Tobias had done his best, he'd tried to break the news to her as gently as he could, he tried to answer her barrage of questions as clearly as he was able, and he tried to absorb the torrent of emotion she directed at him, for she had no other against whom she could vent. He hoped that she'd calm down and accept this terrible news, but deep down, Tobias knew that this was going to take time.

Nodding to Rolan, Tobias gave the nobleman a grim smile of appreciation for trying to help out. "Thank you, I'm sure she'll be alright... eventually." He took a deep breath and tried to ignore the whispers around him, whispers which mingled with and amplified those he heard constantly in his own mind. "Yes, let's go find Jasper. He might be able to direct us to where he found it..."

It wasn't long before Rolan was able to track down Jasper.
He and his mule Betsy were heading out of town towards the bridge.

His stooped stance and droopy hat were easy to recognize even from a distance.
Betsy plodding along slightly behind him with her weather-beaten packs swaying at each step.

Tobias felt a certain connection to the old prospector. Both lived a reclusive life, spending their time searching for treasure in places most folk never even knew existed. Though the discoveries of the young wizard were much less tangible than shiny, yellow, heavy gold, they were no less thrilling to uncover. People tended to avoid getting close to Jasper, no doubt in part due to his personal grooming habits - or lack thereof - as well as folks tending to steer clear of Tobias for reasons he both understood and those that escaped him.

"Greetings Jasper," Tobias said as they approached. "Headed out to find some color?" He approached within the invisible bubble of sweat-stench and patted ol'Betsy on the rump.

"Rolan and I were hoping to catch you before you got too far out. You should know... Alvar the Tanner is... he's dead Jasper."

He paused and turned towards Tobias while Betsy started cropping the grass at the edge of the path.
"Dead you say? Must be why Vyria was making such a fuss.
Alvar seemed a nice enough feller. I know Vyria was sweet on him."

He pulled his hat off and played with it while talking.
"Don't know why she was yelling at me but, I know when I'm not wanted."

He slapped his leg with his hat and got a guarded look.
"Betsy and Me, we got places to be."

Tobias nodded and then looked away until he could get control of the tears which threatened to begin streaming down his cheeks. After a fit of blinking and a few gruff sounds as he tried to clear and then swallow the lump in his throat, he affirmed, "Yes, they... they were to be married."

The young wizard whose last several years had been spent coping with ghosts both within and without of his own being, gently took a few steps toward the miner and his beast.

"She was just reacting Jasper, you've seen her at the Pott since she was a child, you know she tends to be vocal... Her outburst wasn't directed at you, it was simply a manifestation of an inner rage that needed an outlet. Please forgive her, she's not herself, how could she be right now?"

"Listen Jasper, I saw it happen. It wasn't a murder, it wasn't an accident either in the way one might think, Alvar had been altered, magically, into something completely different. Dumoss and I both feel that the buckle you gave him was, somehow, enchanted... or cursed. I'm not asking you to be involved, I know you wish to take Betsy and go. But it would mean a great deal to me, as well as my sister though she's not in a state of mind to express it just now, if you would simply tell me how you came across it... I feel like that buckle is the key to understanding, or at least coming to terms with what has happened."

Taking a moments consideration and a hat squeeze...
"Now I didn't rightly give no buckle to Alvar. I exchanged it with Vyria for room and board.
Must be she gave it to Alvar. Wasn't me."

After wadding his hat.
"Now, as to where I got it. Well, ummm, that was, this place I stumbled on up in the hills. Found it among the bones. Didn't figure he'd be needing it."

With a guilty look, he continued.
"Don't want to be accused of no grave robbing so I only took the one thing. Panning had been coming up dirt and I needed a little something. Got out of there right after."

Shaking his hat out.
"Found another place to pan. Didn't need to go back. Good thing too it sounds like. Stuff must be cursed."
He had a sly look, like he was hiding something, after he mentioned the new place.

Anyone with eyes could see that Alvar was hiding something, that he knew more than he let on, but Rolan didn't see much use in trying to force it out of him. Instead, he took a different approach.

"A man needs to eat, there's nothing to be ashamed of. I hope that new spot of yours brings you prosperity, Gods know the town could use it right about now." Looking away and into the forest for a moment, Rolan continues "Now, that corpse. Where would it be that you found it? Inspecting that could be valuable to us." he pauses for a moment, and moves a hand to noisily finger a coin out of his purse, and says "Valuable to all of us."

With a glance at the coin and a crushing of his hat, "I could lead you there if you wanted."
He had emphasized "there".

Rumpling of his hat some more, "No good will come of it in my mind but you're welcome to look. Has the feel of Fae about it and you know that's trouble."

Smoothing his hat back into a semblance of shape, "I avoid those kind of places normally. From what you say that I should have that time too."

"Please Jasper, it would mean a lot if you'd guide us there, and I know that when my sister calms down, she'll be grateful as well."

Tobias glanced at Rolan and added, "Since you mentioned it Jasper, Dumoss is quite convinced that Fae magic is involved. We'll be quite careful."

The Haggard gestured for the miner to lead on.

At a slow and steady pace with Betsy, Jasper followed a trail for a time that Roland could just make out.
While the trail was faint, Roland felt he could follow it back to town.

As they crossed the ridge, Jasper turned off of what trail there was and wandered down slope through the brush and stunted trees.
He muttered to Betsy while they clambered over rough spots about not wanting to take her back to that place but that he had to.

After some time following the gully at the bottom of the ridge he turned into one of the washes and started climbing back up.

Soon a section of earth that had washed away was visible through the brush and exposed was an opening in the stone.

Jasper pointed it out and said, "That's the place. Hope you don't mind if I don't go in with you."
He then turned to Roland expectantly.

"No Jasper, we wouldn't ask you to go in. Thank you for bringing us here, I know you'd rather have not done so. If you would, however, stay in the area in case something goes wrong. At least that way, folks will know where to look for us if we don't return..."

It was an ominous petition, filled with such tension and foreboding as the situation demanded. Tobias turned toward the entrance so as not to interfere with the interaction and exchange between Rolan and the miner, and began to examine the entrance.

A thought occurred to the young wizard, he might draw upon his magic, for he could feel it stirring within him like a deep burgundy cloud trying to find a gap through which it could escape the constraints he constantly placed around it. With an effort, he pushed the thought away and began to look for inscriptions or markings or other clues as to what this entrance was and what might await them beyond.