German: "Did man see purple sheep, or bush taking? Or do he tell what else people see? If first, pay. If second, no, and ask for people who see."
Latin: "I don't wish to follow hearsay. Eyewitnesses are preferable."
EDIT: German:"If he know people who saw purple sheep or bush taking, and says to you, can pay also."
Andreas returns to the farmer. "He says he'll pay if you saw something yourself or if you can tell us someone who saw something. He doesn't want stories that people have heard. Those can get made up. But he wants people who saw something - or think they saw something. It could even be about those dug up shrubs. Doesn't have to be about the 'purple sheep.'"
"Dont' know much about the pruple sheep, aside from stories," the farmer says. He scratches his head, then shrugs, "Can't say I know what's up with those shrubs, but I think they were just gone one morning." He points to the hilltop, "As you can see, not much difference from here. They are simply thinner now then 'hey used t'be."
"You ever see people up there at the dog's grave?" Andreas asks. "If there was folks there, maybe they took the shrubs - though I can't imagine why."
"Crazy Chuzo sometimes go up there with his sheep, but that's about it, as far as I know."
(What next?)
(I'm guessing that none of the spells found anything?)
(Sorry, I thought I had answered that. There is no raw vis to be found. There is, however, a very faint faerie aura near the grave.)
Ludovicus says to himself, "Hmm... Interesting. But I'm not sure what to make of this," after detecting the faerie aura."
To Martin, "There is a weak faerie aura here, Martin. Do you know any local legends about bush-stealing fae? I expect not. Well, let's catch up with the other two and see if they have found anything out. Beyond digging up the bog dodies, which I'm not willing to do, I can't think of anything else to try here. Did I say bog dodies? I meant dog bodies."
Andreas has little more to offer. "Man says he doesn't know about people digging at the grave. I say we give him coin to watch for people. Maybe he sees something for next time we come by here."
"Good thought Andreas. Please do make the offer, and then let's move on to the other village."
Andreas returns with Ludovicus' message (and perhaps a coin) to give the man incentive to keep his eyes open.
The man is surprised but pleased, and says he will keep his eyes open.
Martin says he heard of no stories about bushes being stolen.
It seems that nothing more can be learned here. The small party thus depart from Crooked Fork and make their way farther inside the Heath towards Flat Rock. This takes a bit more than half a day, so that you arrive a bit after mid-day. True to its name, the village's distinguishing feature is a large rock with a flat top in one of the fields, which is easily spotted when you approach the village. The morning's drizzle has transformed into occasional showers of rain, and the land around the village is misty as a result. Still, you are able to spot a few distant flock of sheep being watched over as they graze.
"How do you want us to approach the villagers?" Andreas asks the magus.
"We talk to sheep herders first. Then people in ... near houses. You and Burkshart, to please go to them, saying same things as other times. Martin we stand away and awaiting." Ludovicus tries to find an unobtrusive place to wait - under a nearby tree, or at the foot of a hill. Some place where it seems to him that he won't encounter anyone.
"Right," Andreas says with a nod. Then he goes to find someone to talk to, ready with his story about a wool merchant looking to run down stories of a purple sheep.
The nearest person looks to be a villager in a field, piling up stones on a small wooden hand cart. The herders are much farther away, with the village itself being closer.
"Good day to you," Andreas says to the villager. "I'm sorry to bother you while you're working, but my master has me out here on a fool's errand. He wants me to follow the tales of a purple sheep in this area. He's a wool merchant who has dreams of selling purple wool without having to spend coins on expensive purple dye. I don't suppose you could direct me to someone who might know the local stories of a purple sheep, could you? Honestly, I don't expect anything to come of this. But the longer I can drag it out, the longer I'm not spending guarding wool deliveries on the road."
The man finishes loading a large rock on his cart before turning towards Andreas, wiping his sweaty face with a rag as he does do. "Purple sheep? Can't say I remember that one. The villagers tell a number of tales, but summer days are much too busy fer such tellings. Unless ye spend a lot of time around a campfire watching sheep, I guess. I'm not from around here, I was hired to work on the new church here. We're laying out its foundation, so it don't show up much yet." He points towards an area of the village that seems to have a larger cleared space being worked on, that Andreas had not noticed before. "My name's Gerrault, by the way. My brothers and I are stonesmiths."
"Nice to meet you, I'm Burkhard, I'm working for the same master. You said you're building a new church, that's not very common ? Whose diocese does this church belong to, I guess such a small village could not finance such a building alone..."