Caravan of Values

The trip from the Noresha Temple back to Hygrim was long and we did not talk much. Tina handled herself well in that fight, but Jade almost got herself killed again. What would she do if I wasn't around to heal her? Maybe we'll have some downtime in Hygrim to practice disengaging and staying ranged for attacks. Retreating or running away is always an option.
 
We parted ways with Thornstrike at the Outpost and went to Hygrim escorted by a Triple Fang member. When we arrived there was the sound of explosions, which turned out to be fireworks from a traveling caravan run by the Schlepen family. They offered games and small magical trinkets for sale. The father introduced his family to the crowd and proclaimed that they had traveled to many places in the area recently, including Stothum and Magaford. Hearing Magaford mentioned sent a jolt through my body. The daughter of the caravan family, Berry, may have spoken to Pepperwell in Magaford! I should talk to her as soon as possible. There are almost no gnomes in that city, so Pepperwell would have been hard to miss. I do hope she is doing well.
 
But first things first: playing a game of Acorns. Now, the wife of the caravan claims to have invented this and calls it "Acorn Stackums," but I played an extremely similar game in my youth and was even village champion for a few years. I could not resist the chance to play again. A boy joined us to make it a group of four. I told him to stick with me and we would win. Of course, I had forgotten in that moment that the boy had probably never played before and didn't know that psychological manipulation, bribes, and intimidation were all part of the game. When the game began I immediately turned on him and knocked all the acorns out of his hand. He left crying, which was unfortunate but an important lesson to learn in Acorns. My overconfidence got the better of me after that, and Tina's zen monk abilities led her to victory. If I wasn't 400 years out of practice, I would have certainly won! But it was nice to see Tina happy.
 
While there we purchased pins that allow each of us to glow a different color, and Jade bought a very suspicious magic squirrel in a box.
 
Jade and Tina continued playing games while I went in search of Berry. I eventually found footprints leading to an open window in one of the empty houses. I called out to see if she was in there, and she called back for me to go away. If I had a gold coin for every time someone told me to "go away" through an open window, I could buy Hygrim and crown *myself* the Duke. After a couple of frustrating back-and-forths and a failed attempt at climbing through the window, I messaged Tina for her and Jade to come help me. Tina boosted me through the window and I spoke to Berry through a closed door upstairs.
 
Eventually she revealed that she had made friends with Pepperwell, but then one day the whole family disappeared and Berry found the invisibility ring in their house. Berry claims that Pepperwell was being harrassed by a man about the ring. I nearly collapsed in shock. I have drilled into Pepperwell's head since she was a teenager to never, ever, EVER let ANYONE know she has that ring, and to keep it hidden like her life depended on it. Something is seriously wrong if Berry is in possession of that ring.
 
Berry also claimed that there were lots of gnomes in Magaford, which I found astounding for a city known for its Human-supremacist values. And Pepperwell made no mention of any other gnomes in the city when she visited six months ago. Either something strange happened in Magaford within the past 6 months, Berry was confusing Magaford for another city, or Berry is lying. None of this is making any sense, but I wasn't able to get more information out of her.
 
Feeling defeated and worried about Pepperwell