Ulfgard will do so!
Roll a Wild Empathy please.
Departing the church of Freya with the others, Cyrus casts a longing glance towards the ramshackle buildings that comprise Lessef and wonders which one of them is the Inn.
~Foxes and graves be damned. I just want a night's peaceful slumber.~
Lol! You must have found one that likes dwarves:) The DC is 15 + the CHA add which with a fox is -2 so 13. You have a new friend. You fight some rabbit and mice bones and a few half eaten berries, but no chicken bones or feathers.
Departing the church of Freya with the others, Cyrus casts a longing glance towards the ramshackle buildings that comprise Lessef and wonders which one of them is the Inn.
~Foxes and graves be damned. I just want a night's peaceful slumber.~
It is the ramshacked one with a chain and a padlock on it!
Hmmm, this might be a good omen!
"Hello, pretty... you do not need to hunt for chicken. Your master now... takes care of that!"
Here is the stat block for your new friend:
FOX CR 1/3
XP 135
The Tome of Horrors by Necromancer Games, Page 287
N Small Animal
Init +3; Senses low-light vision, scent; Perception +5
AC 15, touch 14, fl at-footed 12 (+1 size, +3 Dex, +1 natural)
hp 4 (1d8)
Fort +2, Ref +4, Will +1
Spd 40 ft.
Melee bite +4 (1d4-1)
Str 8, Dex 17, Con 10, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 6
Base Atk +0; CMB -2; CMD 11
Feats Weapon Finesse
Skills Acrobatics +5, Perception +5, Stealth +8*, Survival +1 (+5*)
Racial Modifiers Foxes have a +4 racial bonus on Stealth and
Perception and a +2 racial bonus on Acrobatics checks.
*Foxes have a +4 racial bonus on Survival checks when tracking by
scent.
"What do you mean with taking a load off? You are a woman right.. but you do not have a beard. Nothing personal but where should I put my hands ... or did you mean something else?"
The burly dwarf seems quite confused!
The inn is building B. About a dozen villagers pile out of the one room shack of a tavern, building A. They bring a bushel of potatoes and a jar of vinegar eggs as a reward for 'catching' the fox. Most of them want to kill it outright though.
"Did the chicken coop have any animal tracks by it? I suppose we should go back an look, perhaps without the new found fox friend, speaking of hair I think you missed one..."
Pointing at Naomi's chin with a squint of the eyes.
"The fox stays, villagers! We will take it with us when we leave, so if it is the culprit, it will trouble you no longer. In the meanwhile, we will see if we can figure out the true chicken thief before we depart this town. To secure your trust, how about if I purchase the potatoes and we all have buttered potatoes for dinner tonight?". Hagrym tries his best to mollify the villagers, while protecting his friend's new companion.
As Naomi opened the door to the inn, or what was left for one, Cyrus continued inside while the others dealt with resolving the guilt or innocence of the fox the Guardsman had claimed as his own with the remaining members of the town. Cyrus knew that certain spellers could bond with animals and wondered if the dwarf possessed the same talent, or something similar.
~It seems every person I have traveled with these past few days has access to spells. Perhaps one of them can assist me with learning to properly call upon Zors before we part ways.~
Weighing the choices of starting a fire or immediately going to bed, Cyrus opted to stoke the hearth and began looking for it.
The villagers are not about to take on a group of hearty adventurers so they accept your promise to hunt down the real culprits.
Stroking his fox and thinking hard about how to name him....
he walks over to Jarvis to whisper in his ear
"Listen laddy, we had once a wizard with us on the trail. And he could flavor the food in tenthousend ways with a simple catnip or so. In any case we might need a little more morale here!"
Hagrym was disappointed his offer to buy the crowd potatoes wasn't greeted more enthusiastically. Human palates...I'll never figure them out. Potatoes are delicious, he thinks as he takes a seat next to the others near the hearth.
As Hagrym took a seat by the fire, Cyrus glanced up and nodded slightly in greetings. Unsure of how the dwarf could remain so comfortable in the heavy armor, he did not know if it was just years of conditioning, an aspect of his faith or both.
~I haven't oiled my leather jerkin in years. Doubtful it would even slow the dullest of swords. Yet it is in my pack all the same, gods know why.
"How long have you been a priest of Dwerfater Hagrym? If you don't mind me asking."
like Jarvis here, will volunteer to keep watch for you. Three cheers for his selfless sacrifice:[/b]
"I too shall keep watch with young Jarvis. This mystery smacks of nefarious deeds, or complete nonsense. Either way, it has excited my interest, though we should be stealthy and smart if we are to catch a culprit tonight."
"Well I just love some potatoes!"
just trying to help out...
"Potatoes are fine with me, my prestidigitation should make it more palatable for those of you who you wish me to do so."
"Oh, Lucky, I'm no Priest. I just try to help out the priests at the temple. Apparently, I'm stronger than I am wise, so to speak! I've been helping out around the temple for a good long while now...a good 20 years. I do most of the grunt work for them. I've picked up a bit of stuff from them over the years, though," Hagrym tells Lucky.
Grabbing a few eggs and adding some herbs Ulfgard just munches them.
"Oh, Lucky, I'm no Priest. I just try to help out the priests at the temple. Apparently, I'm stronger than I am wise, so to speak! I've been helping out around the temple for a good long while now...a good 20 years. I do most of the grunt work for them. I've picked up a bit of stuff from them over the years, though," Hagrym tells Lucky.
"My apologies Hagrym, as I said before, I do not have much experience with clergymen of most faiths. They are not known to frequent my area very much.
As the others began sitting around the hearth, Cyrus nodded to them as well.
"My apologies for dragging you all into this as I doubt these were the cards you meant to play. To be honest, I know it was not what I thought I would be doing. Most dockmen don't receive visions from gods on a regular basis.
You have a somewhat long line for the buttered potatoes and eggs as most of the villagers in town look as if they have not had a decent meal in months save the portly tavern owner.
"Folks we still have someone stealing chickens."
"Let's eat a good dinner, get some rest and go looking around this area in the morning. We can help the clergyman as well as looking for the beast stealing the chickens.
When Naomi prevents the tavern owner from getting supper, he glowers at her and stammers "But I am the one that put up the reward?!?"
Jarvis puts his hand on the inn keepers shoulder,
"Its not worth arguing over friend, you know how women are once they set their mind to something."
Tapping the distended abdomen of the tavern owner, saying with a hearty laugh,
"Besides you might could stand to miss a meal or two!"
Turvijagal finds a suitable corner or bed to stow most of his travelling gear and tucks into some eggs and potatoes. He's not a heavy eater.
He's getting a bit bored already "Good meal, but all this talk is a bit dull. Blah, blah, and more blah!"
While everyone else is partying and talking, he'll just excuse himself after eating. Even though he's not really expecting to find much, he will will pass the time by checking the old inn in for something that might be remotely interesting, like secret passages, rooms, or anything out of the ordinary like that.
Imelda’s Palace (Inn)
The five-room inn’s windows are boarded up. The run-down building has been vacant for a year and was donated to the Temple of Freya after Imelda died of natural causes. A crude sign nailed to the door states that travelers are welcome to stay for a contribution to the temple.
Residents eke out a living by maintaining small gardens and livestock. So with someone or something stealing their chickens it is hurting their meager resources.
At the next morning Ulfgard will unpack his rations to make a decent meal for all, trusting in his abilities to hunt. Then he will go and inspect the chicken huts trying to find an idea who the real culprit is.
You find a lot of human tracks. Make me a Survival Check please.
Looking around Ulfgard will try to identify the tracks.
You find several sets of booted foot prints that head off into the woods south of the village, definitely humanoid. They appear to be about medium height and weight from their stride, a little too big to be any of the villagers.
Waking up and feeling momentarily disorientated, Cyrus looked around collecting his bearings as he realized that for the first time in almost a week there had been no visions of death in his sleep.
~Perhaps my debt to the dealer has been paid.~
Knowing that the others still wanted to search for the meaning to the slab's riddle, Cyrus debated on sticking around or heading back to Bard's Gate and crawling back inside the bottle. He knew it would be an easy thing to do and doubted these people would miss him, but something told him that if he left, the dreams would return.
"Many thanks for the breakfast Ulfgard. Where do you plan on starting this morning?"
As the dwarf searched the area and located many tracks, Cyrus offered his take on the matter.
"For what it is worth, if I was trying to run a scam I would make sure that the marks would find it too difficult to come after me if they discovered the con. These people are farmers, but the good Father did say that there are some hunter trails. Maybe those trails will be the key? If not, then perhaps we need to do a door to door search."
"Either name will do and I promise I have answered to far less polite names. I would start with the houses that were empty first, preferably the ones with a root cellar or some other room to avoid the casual inspection. If that yields nothing, then I would be random but thorough. It is harder to escape a net you don't know is coming."
OK, you spend about two hours searching the less than 20 houses in town turning up nothing unusual.