Swamped

"Mind explaining what you're doing?"

There's no response at all. Not even a grunt of defiance. It's unsettling.

What's also unsettling is the state of the smithy. You were too focused on finding the intruder to really notice before, but now you see there's stuff strewn about everywhere. And the forge is wrecked.

Mortimer soon comes in, looking worried.

"Couldn't find the smith. Her door wasn't locked, though, so I just left her mother inside." He glances at the grebling. "Huh, don't recognize you. Which is weird, I know most of the greblings in town. And I haven't heard of any losing their tails."

Still no response.

"Not a particularly talkative one," you say. "So I don't know what they wanted in here. Maybe the same thing you were coming here for?"

He glances around quickly.

"Don't think so. That's pretty easy to spot and it's in the same place I saw it earlier."

"Does anything else seem particularly out of place, then?" you ask.

He thinks for a bit.

"Well, there's one thing I just noticed."