Cairn: Theft!

Back to our fuzzy animals! Here's last time. 

The Knights meet up at the Cider Mill Inn and sit around a table to discuss things. Rumdiggle Sunsong explains to her friends that the circus asked her to come along and perform. She wants to go, but she isn't sure if she can - doesn't she need to protect Cairn? Snootabur Shadowbough points out that they're called the Traveling Knights. They've been out of the town for long stretches before; Rummy figures that that was for work and this is for fun. Snoot mentions, though, that Traveling Knights are not all they are. 

Russelet Leatherwind notes that they'd need to know what the circus' route is, so that they can tell the Lord Mayor in case there's an emergency that requires their presence. Ratatosk Longberry is just excited about creating more fireworks and blowing things up in a socially acceptable context. As they Knights are talking, a pika comes into the pub looking for them. 

She introduces herself as Alu Dayborn, the talent scout/production designer for the circus. She sits with the Knights and answers their questions - they're happy to have the rest of the Knights, though of course they need to find a way to contribute. The planned route is to head west along the coast, swing through the Hamlet and Crystal Rock, then break north along the mountains and either head way north towards Brandybuck Junction or head east through the mountain passes. If the Knights want to head home at that point, they'd probably get back to Cairn by Marma's Day (late autumn). 

The Knights decide that they would like to go, and Alu tells them that the circus is going to pull up stakes in two nights. Ratatosk scampers off to start packing, and the other Knights finish their drinks and head home.

The next morning, Ratatosk is awakened by Juffin Longbottom, the constable of Cairn. He tells Ratatosk that the food store has been robbed - someone stole all of the non-perishable food, the dried fruits and seeds and so forth. People are already getting pretty worked up about it, and the Knights are needed. Ratatosk goes to wake up the others; he starts with Rummy (who snorts, agrees to get up, and then goes back to sleep), and then finds Snootabur. Russelet lands, having already heard, and the Knights start investigating. 

Rummy and Snoot note that Lord Mayor Keeble Brownberry is at the Town Hall, trying to calm down the citizenry of Cairn, many of whom are grumbling loudly and using words like "pika" and "circus." Rummy steps up behind him and glowers, and Snoot talks to the crowd and tells them that they're working on it, but they need to disperse and let them investigate. Rummy speaks to Juffin, who puts forth the thought that this could have been the pika roustabouts, but Rummy quashes that pretty quickly. This wasn't just a matter of some pika not understanding boundaries, this was a coordinated effort.

And indeed, Russ and Ratatosk get out to the storehouse and look around. Russelet doesn't see tracks or a lot of evidence; there have been too many people tramping all over the place. He moves further out and finds some tracks, but not much - whoever it was stayed off the paths and there's too much ground cover. The tracks he does find are too big to be pika. Maybe badger or beaver? They're deep, too, like someone was carrying something heavy. 

The Knights learn that the first one to find the theft was a hare who was going to get some dried grass. He panicked and thumped his foot, alerting the village. Rummy talks to him and asks if he saw anyone, and he said he heard some pika at the circus as he was walking to the storehouse. Rummy gets a little short with him - why mention the pika if they weren't doing anything but existing? - and the hare gets embarrassed and runs off. Snootabur follows him, figuring a lighter touch is needed.

She finds the hare at the Brookflower, sitting with a couple of other hares and nibbling leaves, talking about the theft. Snootabur sits and speaks to the hare politely, taking him through the morning, and learns that he waved to a sentry, a rat, while he was walking into town. That rat was also the first one that responded when the hare sounded the alarm. The hare also recalls that there was a foul smell at the storehouse when he got there - something like the breath of a predator, or the body odor of a badger. Snoot tells all this to Russelet, who confirms that the rat on duty at that tree was one Corb Brownstripe.

Rummy goes to the circus to talk to Sumna, and as she gets there, she finds that some of the good burghers of Cairn are near the circus grounds being grumbly. Juffin isn't letting things get out of hand, but he's not entirely convinced it wasn't the pika, either. Rummy talks to Barlet, the business manager, who takes her to talk to Sumna Silverwind. When they get to Sumna's trailer, she's having a loud conversation with Quolon Dayborn, the head of the roustabouts. Quolon vehemently denies his people had anything to do with this, and Sumna says she knows, but this is getting unpleasant.

She invites Rummy in and they talk. Sumna knows nothing about the storehouse robbery, but tells Rummy that the captain of the guard, Severin Prideheart ("that duck-beaver thing," as Sumna calls the platypus) asked Sumna to let the guards search all of the circus living spaces. Sumna refused, and says that she'd sooner pull up stakes and leave than allow that kind of treatment. Rummy agrees and says she'll have a frank exchange of views with Severin, but to give the Knights the morning to make some progress. Sumna nods, but says there will be no more performances until this is resolved - she doesn't want people throwing things at her people. 

Meanwhile, Ratatosk has a thought - the tunnels beneath Cairn would be roomy enough to hold the stolen goods! He runs off to the Root and talks to Ripark, the mole (who gives him a draught of nightwort to slow him down). Ripark takes Ratatosk down into the tunnels, but he doesn't find anything and decides he should get the others.

Russelet scouts out further from Cairn, but loses the trail around the river. Maybe someone put the food on a boat? He also notes that Professor Puddleleaf's observatory is right out here, and since that's abandoned it would be another place to check. 

The Knights meet back up and share what they've learned. They decide that they need to talk to Corb Brownstripe, and they need to check the tunnels more thoroughly. They split up; Russ and Snoot go to talk to the rat sentry, while Rummy and Ratatosk go back to the Undergound. 

Rummy calls on her powers as a shifter and enhances her sense of smell. She sniffs around in the tunnels, but doesn't smell anything untoward. Actually, she doesn't smell much of anything, which is odd - usually these tunnels are more active.

Snoot and Russ find Corb and question him. He claims not to have seen anyone during his shift until the hare came by, but Snoot leans on him a little and he says he saw a pika out in the woods. Snoot doesn't buy it, and while Corb doesn't exactly spill his guts, it's clear he's hiding something. 

The Knights reconvene and head out to the observatory. Russelet flies around the outside, but doesn't spot much (daylight is hard on him). Rummy and Ratatosk go inside and find the clutter that Puddleleaf left behind, including a huge, hairless finger in a jar of liquid. As Rummy is sniffing around, her tail knocks that jar over, and both of them kind of gag at the smell.

Snoot, meanwhile, finds a cellar door on the other side of the observatory. She pries it open and finds that it leads down to the cellar (duh). She and Russ investigate, and lo and behold, they find the missing food! Russ tries to check it for evidence, but winds up getting a snootful of the gross liquid that Rummy knocked over, dripping down through the floor, and the Knights just hurry up and get the stuff out. 

Ratatosk sends his pet hummingbird, Glimmer, back to Cairn to get help, and folks arrive to transport the food back, including Quolon and the rest of the rousties. The Knights meet up with Juffin, Severin, and the Lord Mayor later on, and Rummy reads them all the riot act for their behavior. The Lord Mayor agrees to have Severin apologize to the circus officially, and the Knights explain their upcoming sabbatical. They arrange for guards to keep an eye on the storehouse, and Juffin, upon being told about the badger-like footprints and odor, notes that no one has seen the weasel Moriarty Sprit or his badger buddy Knuckles lately...

In any case, the Knights join the circus, and head out with the troupe a couple of days hence. We shall see next time what adventures await!