[color=6CB0FF]"Vandalism..."[/color] Gale muttered to himself as he listened to Sage's explanation of events. The thieves were not only making off with the cargo, but actively damaging and destroying the infrastructure too. They're going under the cover of night, Sage posited, so would a stakeout be the right call? He's suspecting his son, but can that be right? Gale didn't have enough to go off of, but at least the account gave plenty of insight. After doing his pondering pose for a bit, the minun looked up with some determination. [color=6CB0FF]"...Okay. We'll look into it, Mr. Sage."[/color] he said to the aged farmhand. Gale was gonna try his best to live up the guild's expectations on the first job, so he got to work straight away with investigating the scene of the crime.

Exiting the shed, the first thing Gale did was investigate that broken fencing Sage had mentioned. There wasn't much to the fence itself; it sure did look damaged. The only strange and icky part was that Gale couldn't take two steps without his paw landing in some mud, several puddles of it being scattered all over the immediate surroundings of the fencing. If it had been raining it would be one thing, but it seemed to be concentrated in just the one spot. Not that Gale could really... figure much out from that.

Gale continued on to question some farmhands, but none of them really gave much more insight than what Sage had offered. Vexing to be sure, but not entirely unexpected. If anyone knew the source of the thefts then the guild wouldn't have needed to be called to begin with. The Sceptile said he was suspicious of his son, but Gale had a hard time believing that. Sage seemed like a nice father, from first impressions. Even at his worst, Gale never thought to steal something from his own dad. The minun nodded to himself and decided to waddle on over, finding Ting staring up at his target. [color=6CB0FF]"Oh, Ting,"[/color] Gale would address him, [color=6CB0FF]"did you already talk to Herb?"[/color]

Gale would regale what Sage told him about the suspecting theft, but seeing as Ting hadn't yet questioned him, the minun promised to do it himself. [color=6CB0FF]"It's probably better if I talk alone... two of us might scare him off,"[/color] he'd argue. Approaching Herb's tree, Gale would yell: [color=6CB0FF]"Excuse me!"[/color] up at it. Herb didn't respond, or even look in the Minun's direction. Gale would try again, but to little avail. Crossing his arms in frustration, Gale looked at the bark of the tree, then his paws, and then his [i]muddy[/i] paws. He wasn't much of a climber, but when needs must...

After an uncomfortable ten minutes of trying and failing to climb up the tree, shaking its branches all the while as he did, Gale heard a "Cut it out already!" from a now-annoyed Grovyle up above. Herb was glaring at Gale pretty fiercely, but the Minun at least caught his attention.

[color=6CB0FF]"Ha... ha... sorry, I just... ha... had a question!"[/color] he'd shout up, sliding back down the bark he'd made some progress up and landing his butt in the grass. [color=6CB0FF]"Do you... know anything... about the thefts?"[/color] Gale would ask. 

"What...? No, and just leave me alone." the Grovyle would snap back, leaning back into his spot and having his gaze wander off again. Gale looked and tracked his line of sight, finding a Liligant on the other end of the line of sight. It seemed that Sage was at least right on one thing; Herb didn't seem to care about anything other than eyeing up some girls. Since it was fruitless to try and talk to the grass type like this, Gale got up and dusted off some grass before making his way back to the other two.

When reconvening, Gale was the first to share his findings. [color=6CB0FF]"So... the owner thinks it might be his son,"[/color] he quickly reestablished for Fio's sake. [color=6CB0FF]"I couldn't get much out of him, though. He ignored me and kept looking at a lady out in the field..."[/color] he'd explain. The Minun also made sure to mention that the area around the fencing was really muddy, if only because he needed an excuse as to why the little legs he stood on were covered in ground-goop. [color=6CB0FF]"What about you two...? I don't have much to go on, so all I can really think is to maybe stake out during the night and see if anything happens."[/color]