Meeting with Sheriff Belor Hemlock

Upon arrival at the Sandpoint Garrison, at the crossing of Tower and Main streets, you are met with bustling activity as returning militia men, some clearly injured, one being carried by a colleague and hanging limp over his shoulder, file inside the large stone fortress.

The garrison doubles as a militia base and jail, and is under the watchful eye of Belor Hemlock, the sheriff of this town. Belor is a Shoanti native, but has changed his family name to a Chelish translation. He is much loved in town, despite his dour, serious nature (yes, he takes his job very seriously, and yes, he has had a few "minor" run-ins with young Lloyd, Gryffin and Jarek in the past, albeit that he has always admonished the young men and sent them home with head bowed rather than having to actually apply the letter of the law to any misdemeanors).

You are ushered inside by an exhausted looking watchman, his face dirtied and bloodied. Another, younger man takes you up into the garrison, towards the heart of the building. Little words are spoken. People can see the goblin that trots unhappily bound behind you, and the weapons by your sides. It is obvious that Belor will want to see you.

Twin wooden doors, towering some twelve feet high, are pushed aside to let you enter a vast chamber. Inside three men huddle over a small table next to a small slit window that filters a weak beam of light into the room. There may be other windows, but heavy brocade curtains surround the walls on either side of the room, muffling the sounds and blocking the light. As you enter, the three men turn to face you.

You can see Sheriff Belor Hemlock, recognizable to the locals amongst you. He smiles a greeting at Gryffin and totally ignores Jarek, his eyes rise a little in surprise at your welcome gift. With him is Father Zantus, recognizable to all of you from the earlier ceremony (only an hour ago, but it feels like an eternity), and a small, fine featured noble lady with short cropped hair that the locals will again recognize as Mayor Kendra Deverin.

Belor addresses you. "A welcome sight, you all! We have heard of your heroics this day. Young Gryffin, I always thought you had a bit of a spark in you! And I see you bring us a treasure!" The goblin squeals and struggles against his bonds, but he is weak and his spirit is broken.

Belor continues: "We must speak. There have been ... developments ... that perhaps explain the raid. If you will, join us, for I feel that your deeds today have earned you some honesty from us." The mayor nods in agreement, but Father Zantus looks a little uncomfortable.

----

You spend almost thirty minutes in the company of the three, listening to their theories, and helping to extract what information you could from the goblin. What you can get out of the goblin amounts to little. They were given orders to kill everyone in town and burn down the place. He does not know the leader's name, except that it was one of "you longshanks". Their leader was on a secret mission to the town's graveyard, but he doesn't have a clue what that mission was. It was a secret, after all.

It is at this point that Father Zantus nods his head wearily. He had wanted to keep it secret, partly from shame, but partly from not wanting to upset the townspeople, but his acolytes came across the desecrated graveyard, and found that the body of Ezakien Tobyn, the old priest (and close friend of Guillaume) had been exhumed and stolen.

Belor tells you that so far six people have been found dead, as well as almost a dozen dogs and horses combined. In turn so far they have counted forty dead goblins (not including the ones you just killed in your final encounter, so more now), and expect that the body count on both sides will rise. It appears that the goblins were over-confident, and perhaps focused too much on having fun rather than on causing damage. It could have been a LOT worse!

The goblins fled north in droves when the battle turned against them, and the militia are too few to have given chase. Now is not the time, says the Mayor. The key is to calm down the people, secure the town, flush out any remaining goblins, consecrate the Cathedral (a smaller, private ceremony tomorrow is muted), and take care of the injured. There will be time to investigate the goblins later.

You are all thanked profusely. Father Zantus actually gives Guillaume a hug, and thanks the eladrin. "You are a proper gift from the heavens!" he says. "They sent you to be here when we would need you. It was fate!". He pulls the cleric aside and presents him with a bundle. “This was given to me as a gift a long while back but I haven’t had the opportunity to use it. It seems that Avandra has used me as the means to pass it on to someone who would find some use to it.”