They see if Ilyria did

"Let's talk with the blonde girl. She seems more open - with some luck, she might be more likely to tell us if she saw something," Talanah proposed, nodding towards the tall girl joking with some customers with an easy smile.

With no real preference, Kazex shrugged, easily agreeing to the idea and Galiana just grunted as a way of showing her acquiescence.

Seeing as Ilyira looked to be pretty busy, the three hung back for a while, deciding to let her work and approach her the moment they saw the girl take a moment's rest. Eventually, the patrons' calls stopped coming and Ilyria approached the central area where Karlus worked at the counter, a tired sigh leaving her lips.

"God, today sure is packed," she complained to Karlus.

"What did you expect? It's market day, plenty of folk coming to eat and drink. You earn your coin in days like these, you know," the man replied with a roll of his eyes, ignoring Ilyria's dismissive wave. "Also, we're running low on wine. Go fetch three caskets from the cellar, girl."

"This might actually be our chance," Kazex muttered to his companions before moving up to Ilyria, not giving them an word in edgewise. "Excuse me, we would like to talk with you."

At being addressed, the girl turned to look at him and then took a step back, eyes wide as plates. "A goblin?!"

"Calm down, girl, don't make a scene," Karlus harshly cut in. "The goblin's not mindless. As long as he plays fair and doesn't start anything, he can stay... but don't distract my workers," he added while looking at Kazex, who nodded.

"We just wanted to ask you some questions. In fact, we could help you bring up the caskets in exchange for that. That way, we get our answers and we don't distract you from your work," the goblin proposed.

"I can bring the caskets up just fine," the girl replied with a frown, "but my ma and pa didn't raise me to scorn help when given freely. Come."

The three followed Ilyria to the back of the main room, going through a door in the back into a small side-room. A musty smell that hung on the air and there was a trap door on the ground already open. As they approached, a strong musk of wine assaulted their noses.

"The cellar," Ilyria remarked, a tad unnecessarily. "The caskets we need to bring up aren't the huge ones - those are for bigger crowds and festivals. The ones we want are of medium size. You'll see them the moment ye enter the cellar, off to the side on the right. Let's go."

With that, she slipped into the wooden ladder attached to the trap door and quickly slid down to the cellar proper, followed by Kazex and Galiana. The both of them retrieved a casket each. They were quite heavy, but Kazex could manage its weight and Galiana looked like she had no trouble at all hefting and carrying it on her wide shoulder. Before long, they had the three caskets brought to the upper floor.

"Alright, thanks for the help. Fair's fair, what do ye want to know?" Ilyria said once all three caskets were placed onto the ground.

"We're looking for a friend of ours that was supposed to meet with us today, Helga," Kazex began to explain, sticking to the cover story they'd worked out. "But she hasn't shown up and we're getting a bit worried, so we started asking people if they saw her yesterday. Apparently, she had dinner here."

"Helga, Helga... oh, ye mean Lady Helga? Wow, so ye'r friends with her?! That must be great, she's just so amazing and charming and beautiful too! We were so lucky when she decided to settle in these lands," Ilyria gushed, eyes shining with obvious admiration.

"Er... yes, that Helga. So, did you see something? If she left with someone or anything that you might have noticed," Kazex asked.

"Ah, right! Well, let me think... Hm, Lady Helga was on Marian's side, so she took care of her order. I was on the other side of the room, so I didn't see much, but Marian did tell me later that she left with someone at some point. I didn't see who it was and Marian didn't know him, but she did hear them talking. Something to do about his son, that he was sick, I think? I'm not sure, but well, Marian did hear that his son was named Christien."

"And that is relevant how?" Galiana questioned with an annoyed frown.

Unbothered by Galiana's reaction, Ilyria shrugged. "Well, I'm just telling ye with I heard. I do know a Christien and am friends with him, so I worried, but there are lots of Christiens in all the nearby towns and I can't visit him when I want since he doesn't live he here, in Alerwick," she said, a concerned look on her face before she smoothed it out.

"Damn. Okay, okay, there has to be something in there..." the goblin muttered. The girl didn't know much and from her words, Marian didn't either, but there had to be something useful among all the little nuggets of information.

'Think, Kazex. Use that fabulous brain of yours you have. Helga and her future position as a goblin breeder depend on it!'

"Okay, so... does Marian live here? In Alerwick, I mean," he asked at last. He had the beginning of an idea, but he needed to confirm it.

Blinking in confusion, Ilyria nodded. "Yes, her family has always lived here. We live in the same street, actually. Why?"

But the goblin didn't reply right away, clapping with a short, pleased laugh. "Excellent!"

If both Ilyria and Marian lived in Alerwick and neither recognized the man, that most likely meant he was from one of the other towns. Even if Alerwick was the largest town, it was still just a town: most people knew at least of each other in a town, if not personally, at least by face.

That sent Alerwick down on the list of suspect places where she could be... unless the man that had taken her (if it had been him who did it anyway) was clever enough to put her where people woul least suspect it, which would be the same town where Helga was last seen.

"I take it something of what I said was useful, then?" Ilyria questioned.

"Certainly! Just one last question, this time for curiosity's sake. Your friend Christien - you said you can't visit him as much as you'd like. Which town does he live in? It can't be that long a distance."

"Well, he lives with his family in Caelfall, west of here. It's half a day away at a brisk pace on foot, but since I'm working every day here at the Goose I just can't visit whenever I'd like."

"Ah I see, that's understandable. Well, thanks for your help. We won't bother you anymore," Kazex promised, signaling the others to leave.

"Actually..." Ilyria started, stopping them on their tracks. "I'd like to ask ye a personal favor," she said, looking solely at the goblin with a rosy flush on her cheeks.

"Hum, okay? What is it? I can't promise anything, but if I can do it I'll try to help."

Ilyria's flush quickly turned beet red, nostrils flaring, and she looked anywhere but Kazex. "I'd prefer if we could discuss it in private, please. I'm not comfortable with others knowing. I'd only be telling ye because I want your help."

Giving her a quizzical look, Kazex turned to glance at his companions. "Could you wait outside? This shouldn't take long."

"Are you sure we have time for this? We still have to find Helga," Talanah muttered. She didn't say anything else due to Ilyria's presence, but Kazex understood what she was trying to say nevertheless.

"Don't worry, this will just take a couple of minutes, I'm sure. Take a quick drink or something."

"If you say so." Though the elf wasn't entirely convinced, she was willing to accept Kazex's judgement. Taking one of the caskets, Talanah left the small room.

Galiana however stayed a moment to give Kazex a warning. "If you try anything..." she trailed off, glaring down at him.

"Your concern for my well-being is touching, Galiana," he blithely replied. "Now if you could leave..."

With a huffed growl, the hulking form of Galiana stomped out of the room, leaving the remaining caskets of wine on the ground. Shrugging, Kazex turned to Ilyria again. "Sorry for that. Well, we're alone now, what is this personal favor you needed?"

Ilyria's flushed cheeks remained beet red. "Well..."

Notes: I'm alive! I had a nasty accident involving my right hand around three weeks ago or so and though I somehow didn't break any bones, they were pretty hurt and typing away on a keyboard wasn't exactly advised. Luckily, I'm mostly okay now and it only hurts a bit, so it's just an annoying ache now.

As compensation, I bring this chapter. I also have a follow up in draft half-finished and this one is a lewd one for you horny people.