>>6143825“Ahoy, haven’t seen you around, stranger!” An older man calls out to me from his small skiff. He’s just rowed to the docks. You briefly freeze at his strange choice of words before reason catches up with you. This guy from the middle of nowhere probably barely even realizes that Strangers are a thing that actually exists, and there’s no conceivable way he could know you’re one of them, “You the new Inquisitor everyone’s talking about.”
“I am the new Inquisitor. Can’t say I know how many people are talking about me. Surely, I’m not that handsome,” You chuckle slightly at your little jest. Not because it’s funny, it isn’t, but to lower his guard like any good Inquisitor. At the same time, your eyes scan both the man and the dock itself. There are only a few people around, and all of them look to be in the process of either tying their ships up for the day or leaving with crates worth of fish. It doesn’t look like anyone seems to have had a bad catching day, not even the jolly-looking man tying his skiff to the dock in front of you. He seems to be your actual age, not your mental one, so mid-thirties, though stress and hard labor might have weathered his body to make him appear older than he really is. His actual fishing vessel seems to be about average compared to the ten or so floating around the dock, and the skiff he used to row himself to shore has a single barrel filled to the brim with fish. “You go out alone today?”
“Nay, but me mates already took off to deliver their share to the mayor. I’m just gettin’ the last o’ today’s catch back home to the missus.”
“Then I’d hate to keep you too long-” You say before the grinning man cuts you off.
“Bah!” He says with a flick of his hand, “Lass can wait a minute or two if one o’ Goddess’ own needs me time.”
Suspiciously friendly compared to the others in town, something you duly note, “Thank you. First let start simple then, have you noticed anything otherworldly recently?”
He shakes his head, “Nah, everythings been going normal 'round these parts, far as I know.”
“Not even the fog? Some have said it hasn’t let up for weeks now.”
“Eh, that’s just how things go this time o’ year. Nothing to be done about it now, but whose been askin’ bout that?”
You don’t answer his last question, that could lead to someone getting hurt, “No one important, thanks for the clarification.”
“Oh, no problem,” He says as he lifts the barrel to the dock, you helping to stabilize it, and climbing up, “Oi, you’ve made it to any of the mayors parties recently?” The man says.
“Can’t say I have, why? Are they something important around here?”
The fisherman scratches the back of his head, “Eh, I wouldn’t say important, but they are fun. ‘E’s been hosting them ever since winter ended to liven spirits up ‘round here since there ain’t much to do. Good man, our mayor, I’s always thought them noble sort were all well an’ mad before I met him.”
“So he hosts these parties often? What’s the attendance like?”
