The investigation begins

"Alright, here we are. We should start asking the folks here and see if they know something," Talanah said as she inspected the rather large town sprawling in front of them.

Kazex nodded, a serious look on his face. They had woken up at the break of dawn and had quickly made their way to Alerwick, the biggest town in several miles around them. Most of the smaller villages, like Hewlett, Caelfall or Eastcliff to name a few, had Alerwick as the connecting point in terms of trade and communications and it was for that same reason that most came to Alerwick during the important market days, especially when goods from the capital came in.

"Today is market day as well, though. Do you think we'll find someone who saw her yesterday?" he questioned.

"Don't worry, even if the regular folk that came yesterday didn't come back, I'm sure the vendors will be the same; one of them should remember her. And if not, I can try to track her down," Talanah assured him.

"Really? You can do that?" the goblin asked, turning to give her a surprised glance.

Talanah shrugged. "I can certainly try, but that doesn't mean we will find something for sure. Lots of people here and many, many tracks. In fact, tracking her down that way is probably our absolute last bet."

"Yes, that makes sense."

"Exactly. Come on, let's go inside, see if we can find anything."

Kazex was sure that Alerwick had a lot to offer for someone who hadn't ever been to the place. Unfortunately, they had come to the town during a market day and there was little to see that wasn't people buying, vendors peddling their wares in the various stalls or the guards stationed around to keep an eye on the populace.

Of course, Talanah and Kazex drew more than a few shocked looks. A goblin wasn't exactly an uncommon sight for those that lived nearest to the forest, but the fact that one of the near-mythical elves from far away lands walked next to him like there was nothing wrong was almost impossible to wrap their minds around. Carrying both her bow and sword made for an imposing sight to the townsfolk, who had rarely seen someone like Talanah in their lives. Kazex, baring his muscular torso for the world to see, only complemented the fierceness Talanah showed.

In short, the way the pair held themselves made it obvious they weren't to be messed with, which is perhaps why most people gave them a wide berth - even the guards, though some of which seemed to be a moment away from stepping up and questioning them.

'Perhaps not everyone has heard Helga has new help in the tower,' Kazex thought when he saw them. It would make sense; he could see plenty of frowns thrown their way, or more specifically, his way. That meant they were the ones that probably hadn't heard of him yet. Regardless, their opinion weren't important, finding Helga was their priority now.

"Seems like we've made quite an impression, eh?" Talanah lightly mentioned as they kept navigating through the crowded streets.

"Goblins they know, but you're probably the most interesting individual they'll see in all their lives, truth be told," Kazex replied with a snort, earning a short huff of amusement from the elf.

"Flatterer. Is that one of your hidden talents?"

"Only one of many, I assure you," he said with a smirk, but it soon morphed into a frown when he remembered the situation they were in. Helga was missing and it was very likely something had happened to her. Joking around just felt... wrong, given that she could be injured for all they knew.

Seeing Kazex's change of mood, Talanah quickly decided to focus on their task. "Alright, let's think. If you were Helga on a market day like this one, where would you go?"

Kazex frowned, mulling over her question. From what he'd seen so far, Helga's main traits were her status as a witch and potion-brewer, so her interests most likely would lie there. However, Helga was the only magical user in the region. Putting that into consideration, it was quite easy to guess where she'd have gone to.

"At a guess? The goods imported from the capital are our best bet. Helga could easily get anything from the neighboring villages in a day, two at most, by traveling there. Besides, the people gift her a variety of things in exchange of her services, so the capital goods are the only ones she doesn't have an easy access to," he told her.

Talanah nodded. His reasoning was sound. "Good thinking. We will go pay a visit to the merchants from the capital, then. With some luck, they'll be able to give us a clue."

Their next destination decided, they started weaving through the throngs of people. Shopping, laughing and gossiping as most were, Alerwick was bustling with activity and from young to old, many browsed the stalls with interest, hoping to see food and other goods worth buying. In fact, Kazex even spotted Mariska of Howlett in one of the streets, laughing loudly as she walked next to buxom, black-haired woman that was grinning from ear to ear. However, they quickly ducked into a side-alley before he could even think of saying anything.

'They must be friends, I suppose.'

"Come on, Kazex, you're falling behind!" Talanah's voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

"My apologies, let's go."

The pair quickly reached the market area set up for the goods coming in from the capital. The difference was starkly obvious: there were more guards posted near the stalls, a sign of the merchants' wealth that could afford them. However, none of them had good things to say about a goblin and they immediately sped up towards Kazex the moment they saw him, raising a commotion when they drew their swords.

"You'll regret coming here today, foul beast," one of them exclaimed as he rushed forward, sword in hand, only to stop dead on his tracks when Talanah unslinged her bow quick as lightning and notched an arrow, pointing it at his face.

"Stand down, guard. The goblin is with me and is a friend," she said, looking as if she was daring him to do something foolish.

"An elf, friends with a goblin?" he questioned with a dubious look, trying to shift his face away from the arrow pointing at it.

"Stranger things have happened, like say, a guard with some intelligence. Will you be that guard or not?" she countered with a hard look.

"Why you..." the guard growled, his whole body tense with anger. A crowd was starting to form around them, muttering to each other in hushed whispers.

The man seemed to be actually considering attacking them, but another guard quickly stepped up between them. "Let's not create a fight here now, alright? Master elf, you vouch for this... goblin?" he asked. By the slight hesitation in his question, it was obvious he didn't have a flattering opinion on goblins either.

"I can speak for myself, thank you very much," Kazex snapped with irritation. They didn't have time for this stupidity. "We're looking for a friend of ours and the capital's merchants might have seen her. I'm not here to steal, kill or on any other nefarious activities. Now that is cleared, will you let us be?"

The more level-headed guard considered his words for a moment before nodding with some ****. "As long as you don't cause problems, you won't have them with us," he told him before turning to the crowd that had gathered. "Carry on, citizens! Nothing to see here!"

The townsfolk did as ordered, dispersing slowly and the guards returned to their posts, though not before giving the pair wary looks.

"I really hope you do something, you wretch. That would make my day," the hot-headed told Kazex with a dark look before he stormed away.

"Well... that happened," Kazex said at last. "I believe I owe you my thanks for defending me, Talanah."

"It's not necessary. I'd do it for any friend of mine," the elf replied with a smile. "Now let's go talk to the merchants."

With a nod, Kazex turned to observe the stalls. They had several options available to them, many in fact, and Kazex wasn't sure if Helga would have visited them all. Seeing all the people going from one place to another, he very much doubted the merchants would remember people that didn't visit their stalls.

The first one he saw was a portly man with a jolly face, the kind of face that smiled and laughed a lot. He seemed to be a cheesemonger; he was currently giving away small cheese portions to a gaggle of excited little kids who crowded one side of his stall while attending the orders of the adults coming to his stall from time to time.

The second option he saw was a young woman with auburn hair; though she wasn't a girl, neither had she completely matured. She was talking animatedly with an older woman while preparing her order and Kazex considered that her smile was a pretty one when he saw it. She was a butcher, if the plenty of meat in her stall was any indication, but curiously, she was manning it by herself - and expertly so, by the looks of it.

The next merchant that caught Kazex's eye was a couple of old merchants, a man and a woman with wizened features that looked to be married if the small smiles they sent each other were anything to go by. Plenty of people stopped by to speak to them even if they didn't buy anything, which probably meant they were already a known fixture in Alerwick during market days from previous years. Their wares seemed to be mostly general goods for the household, if of high quality.

A sudden argument drew his attention to another stall, where a tall, rugged man with an impressive full beard and dressed in fine clothes was engaged in a shouting match with a customer, purple-faced from anger and waving wildly. However, Kazex didn't really care for the reason. On his stand, plenty of small glass bottles and colored flasks lined the small space, each carefully labeled with, Kazex guessed, the name and general effects of each brew. So either a potion stall or just a perfume shop.

The last stall that caught his interest was a slightly bigger stall with racks of weapons and armor on the back and a variety of small weapons placed on support stands on the front. The stall was manned by a heavily built woman, with a long braided blonde ponytail and a few scars on her face and muscular arms. With no one currently browsing her wares, she was placidly sharpening a small dagger at her leisure with a whetstone.

"So, which merchant should we talk to first?" Talanah asked, looking at Kazex.

Notes: I made several options in case anyone wants to contribute and prefers a different one from the one I'll go with (it's doubtful, but you never know...). That said, I haven't decided which one I'll write. I'll probably roll for it or something.

God, I need more hours in my days! So many things to do, so little time!****