"I'm interested in cataloguing all of Sandpoint's charming and rustic areas. But unfortunately the townspeople will only tell me of the beautiful places out of pride. Surely there's a couple of dreary or spooky places in the nearby environs that people shy away from. Maybe near that swamp across from the Mill?"

Govri looked at Li Kao suspiciously. “What you want to know about the swamp for? Ain’t nothing out there.” He leaned across the table, menace in his hunched shoulders. “You ain’t with the Sczarni are you?”

The tension builds for a long moment, and then the half-orc’s face splits into a wide toothy grin. “I’m just messing with you old man!” He slaps Li Kao on the shoulder, almost knocking him from his chair. “You’re too funny looking to be mixed up with them anyway.”

Li Kao lets out a puff of air as he rights himself in his seat. “Ha, yes, the Sczarni, no, no…” Li Kao decides to press his luck, "I heard a couple people mutter something about...what was it...the Pack?...His Misgivings?"

Govri leans back, the perplexed look on his porcine features forcing Li Kao to stifle a giggle. “The Pack, that a new gang in town? Misgivings…hmm… oh yeah, that’s what people call that old house up the coast. Folks say its haunted. . “ Bunch of rich folk died there a while back” Govri scratches his chin, thoughtful again. “Betcha there’s some pretty good salvage up there.” He suddenly gets up from his chair. “Uh, forget what I jut said. The Salvage business around these parts is all mine - you got it. I better not hear you’ve been snooping around on my turf. Got it?” With that he spins around and limps out of the inn.

“Hmm,” Li Kao muses, “ he didn’t even pay for the salve.”

* * *

Li Kao leans back in his chair and sighs. So far he had done a brisk business in palm readings, treated several minor cases of gout and even prescribed a “love tonic” to the jeweller’s wife Pennae Kesk.

After smiling and chatting with almost a dozen farmer’s wives Li Kao has learned the following fascinating facts and rumours about Sandpoint and its locals:

Govri is responsible for carting away the town’s trash. He is a jerk.

The town’s Sheriff is having a not so secret affair with the owner of the town’s one and only brothel.

Sandpoint’s four most influential families each have a manor house across the river. Kendra Deverin, the town’s mayor heads the wealthiest family. Her father and brother were both elected to the office of mayor before her, and the town has great confidence in the Deverin family’s leadership.

The Scarnetti family controls the town’s mills and lumber industry. They are ultra conservative and ruthless business owners.

The Kaijitu family has seen much tragedy recently. The only surviving heir is the Rusty Dragon’s owner, Amieko. Rumour has it that she is thinking of selling the tavern to take over the family’s Glassworks.

The recent goblin troubles were stopped by four heroes. Sasha and Yola have stayed in town, but two moved on. Gerund, a paladin of Erastil returned to his abbey and has since been stationed in the remote outpost of Fort Rannick. Some whisper that his hasty exit from Sandpoint was due to a most unpaladin-like affair with Ven Vinder’s youngest daughter, Shaylis. The fourth member of the group, a varisian sorceress named Seoni is rumoured to have left to pursue a romantic relationship with the handsome Magnimarian noble Aldern Foxglove, whom the quartet rescued from the goblins.

Over the past six months many lumber mills in the area have mysteriously burnt down. Many quietly point the blame at the Scarnetti’s whose own mills have been unaffected.

He also continued to press for more information about the Pack and the Misgivings. While no one knew anything about the former, most everyone recognized the Misgivings with a little prodding. It was the local name for the old Foxglove Manor, home to a family of nobles from Magnimar. The locals had given it its nickname a generation ago after a series of tragic deaths at the home and the general decline of the Foxglove family, who eventually abandoned the place altogether. More recently, the current Foxglove heir, Aldern, had undertaken the task of rebuilding it, and, he hoped, his family fortune.