“You are welcome to visit us any time, my dear!” Victoria assures her. The priestess can feel both nobles' eyes on her as she leaves.
Once clean and properly dressed – or perhaps undressed would be a better word – Mylea makes her way to the riverbank.
There is nothing of note at the location where the plants were found, but looking around she spots a few similar plants not too far from where she's standing...
“No, nothing like that.” The elf shakes his head, then takes out a a small golden crystal and holds it between two fingers. He seems to focus for a bit, and then the crystal starts glowing with golden light. “This should reveal any footprints people left behind. Useless in the village, with all the people there, but out here it should be only us and the thief...” He explains.
It takes a few seconds, but soon the three of them can see two sets of golden footprints on the ground, both heading south. “Hmm, guess it is not just him. Let me see...” Lathrul examines the tracks, then points at one of them. “This should be the thief's tracks. Let's follow them and see what we find... I guess I should lead, with the two of you following closely by. Keep an eye for animals or any other danger.” He starts walking slowly, following the tracks.
“I see...” Victoria nods as Ida finishes talking. “I assume you heard about the wolf beast that was causing trouble for the woodcutters? Well, as it turned out it was summoned by a cultist in a brown robe – the same as the cultists you saw, as far as I can tell. It is very likely that he was sent to summon the beast as a distraction – quite a successful one, too, at least at first.” She explains. “We will need to deal with both the undead elves and the cultists before we can try exploring the ruins...”
Their conversation is interrupted by a knock at the door.” Come in!” Victoria calls. Almost immediately the door opens and her husband enters the library. “Sorry to interrupt, dear, but I'd like to borrow the lady once you are done talking to her.” Edward tells his wife after he has closed the door behind him.
“Sure, give me just a moment.” Victoria opens one of the desk's drawers and takes out two pouches full of Gil. “Here, 250 Gil for finding the ruins and another 250 for all the additional information you provided.” She hands her the pouches while the young lord walks closer to them.
Anton hears a number of rumors, most of them silly things of little interest. Still, there are a few that catch his attention:
First there is a rumor that some of the farmers living outside the village have seen a naked elf, always at night. Depending on the version she can be seen either under the full moon or when there is no moon.
Then he hears talk about seemingly-normal trees that walk around like people. He would have dismissed it, if not for the fact that the source are two guards patrolling around the village.
Next he hears about the ghost of an armored knight walking around the village at night. The sightings seem to have started recently.
And last on the “potentially true” list is talk about a woman receiving love letters, the last one somehow different from the previous.