Well, I have Gather Information +5 after a bit of fiddling earlier today. I had to drop a handful of maxed out skills down, but I was going to take it higher and Knowledge Local to 5 as soon as possible anyway, and it fits with my character idea. So.
Ari Ekrund would be most interested in Ajax, as a god, incidentally, although he wouldn't want to have to depend on gods but rather himself. He'd respect them, rather.
I would happily take Gather Information take 10 checks (with maximum spend in brackets) on quests 1 (up to five rounds of drinks!), 2 (start with a round of drinks at the aforementioned inn, asking the barman if they know who the person is, and then if I can find a relevant contact a fine dinner is a good idea) and 4 (I would have up to three rounds of drinks in local pubs to see if anyone has anything against this so-called merchant - and then I would offer my services as a doctor and alchemical cureall, mentioning out of the side of my mouth that I may know someone who can travel to the Totem as a guard) - and 5 (I think I'd just go for one round of drinks in the bard-menaced area and see what all the fuss is about to start with) if anyone else in the group is interested.
2 pays well, but sounds potentially dirty. 1 sounds alright, but searching for a dead body with a necromancer in the team might not be... the best idea. 4 sounds like there's something fishy we don't know. 5 - well, I have nothing against bards and am not superwilling to do the establishment's dirty work. But if they suspect there is something worse behind it...
Hmm. So my priority for checking if I can't check all would be 1-2-4. Any other team member have any opinion? I would happily spend around 21.9 gold on all this, or possibly the exchange of favours such as healing, or some alchemical substance that might otherwise be hard to get but useful for... nefarious purposes.
So, Gather Information!
Mini-turn away (although I am off to bed now)