"Wonder whey Jack thought he'd be back. Might be something happened to him if he's expected, though. But without knowing where he went, finding him will be impossible." Still, he moves to the door, holding his last mug of drink for the evening, and sips at it as he heads outside to take a listen and watch for the return of the ranger just outside the door of the tavern.
"Jotun, hold," Tilly urged in a lowered voice lest she wake any of the occupants (and Mister Jack) of the inn. "Breelanders have told stories that in these parts there are wolves kept who prey on travellers on the road who don't take shelter at the inn. Do you really wish to go outside at this time of night and watch for the Ranger's return?" Tilly's eyes looked anxious.
Belle says, “Y’know we’d go with you if it was really important to be out here. I mean, if from what Tilly’s saying, it’s worth the risk of a wolf attack.”
Considering what she noticed about the barkeep, “I kinda wonder if a robbery in the tavern is more likely than a wolf attack. Poor Jack has his blade out in his sleep. That can’t be healthy—or sage, if he’s married. A ’honey-you’re-snoring’ could lead to an accidental stabbing.”
Báin looks to Jotun, "do you need me to accompany you my friend?"
Jotun smiles at Tilly and Belle, then raises his hands in mock surrender. "I wasn't going to head out as far as the road, but I wouldn't want to cause either of you any undue concern. Let's head to our rooms and resume our search for old Deadeye tomorrow morning." He winds at Bain, then drinks down the last of his mead and heads to his room, planning to sleep until morning.
Tilly nodded her head, glad the Men had not gone outside to look for the mysterious and missing Ranger. "If Dead-eye hasn't returned to the inn by the morning, we can go look for him, if you'd like," she said watching Jotun and Báin down their drinks. Gazing at the communal sleeping-room in the back of the inn and the various travellers who entered to rest there, Tilly added quietly, "I think I'll lay my bedroll out here and sleep in this side room. There are a lot of people sleeping at the inn, tonight," gesturing to the back room. Pulling out her bedroll, she shook it out and laid it down on the floor.
Despite the rough nature of the Forbidden Inn, nothing untoward happens to you in the night. You all awaken in the pre-dawn as the caravan headed to Bree gets ready to depart. In the early half-light, they seem like ghosts preparing for some mission of ill omen.
When they are gone you rouse yourselves, finding no fare more appetizing than overpriced eggs and day-old bread. By the time you are ready, the sun is standing on the horizon and the Lone Lands stretch out in all directions but the North, where stand the forbidding Weather Hills.
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Belle contemplates drinking with the men, but ultimately decides Tilly’s bedroll is best slept in by two sober women. She helps Tilly sort it out and says, “Sweet dreams.”
She then curls up against Tilly,
Belle appears to sleep soundly, but she intends to protect Tilly. If any creepy men disturb her, they won’t realize she has a hobbit ready for trouble!
Waylon comes down and nods to the others. "Shall we go find the missing ranger?" he asks once they are all gathered together.
Báin could no help but enjoy the eggs and the bread, despite the circumstances. He was on somewhat of an adventure. Sure, they weren't out to free the dwarven homeland from a mighty drake, but the feeling of adventure was in his bones, nonetheless.
With his mouth half stuffed, he offered up some food to Waylon when he came down the steps, "come friend, and eat. Traveling on a full stomach is much better than when it is empty."
Belle agrees. “I shouldn’t go out on the road without breakfast. Second breakfast can be had on the road.”
Tilly woke, relieved to have survived the night inside the inn (the stories of the innkeeper had kept her imagination engaged). As the caravan left for Bree in the dawn hours, Tilly set about washing her face and other morning ablutions, rolled her bedding up and then sat down to eat the eggs and bread - not minding that the bread was not freshly baked. Upon Waylon's question regarding Dead-eye, she curiously asked, "Do we know if the Ranger returned to the inn? Best we check with Mister Jack before we set off to find Deadeye."
Looking around the room for the innkeeper, as soon as Tilly sees him, she politely addressed the Man, "Good morn, Mister Jack. Hope you slept well. Did the Ranger return to the inn in the early morning hours? Is his pack still behind the bar?"
Báin cocks his head, "second breakfast?"
Belle grins. “There’s a reason why a hobbit’s tea can satisfy all you bigfolk! We eat a lot for our weight—I’m not sure where we put it all! But a good breakfast, second breakfast and elevensies is how morning’s done in the Shire.
“But I get that we’re roughing it. I best take a spare roll or fruit for the road.” She ponders, settling on, “Both.”
Jack looks a bit sour this morning. The caravan has left his dilapidated inn a terrible mess. Worse than usual, that is.
"Didn't see him all night. But that's just like a ranger. They’re like stray dogs; you don’t see ’em for days, and then they come snuffling at your door demanding food. He’ll show up. He always does.”
Waylon nods but as they sit to eat he does comment, "I have an odd feeling about Deadeye not appearing in the evening. Perhaps he just preferred the stars to a roof. Or perhaps those we hunt were hunting him while we rested."
Tilly acknowledged Jack's words regarding the Ranger with a nod of her head. "I'm sorry the caravan wasn't thoughtful in cleaning up after themselves, Mister Jack. It is quite rude of them."
Hearing Waylon speak of where the Ranger could have slept or have gone, Tilly added to her companions, "Perhaps we should wait a little longer for the Ranger here. If he doesn't return by midday, we can go look for him? Mister Jack did say he always shows up and his pack's still here."
“Well, if we’re going to wait…”
Belle starts to help clean the less repulsive part of the mess. She doesn’t work here, so she’s not touching half eaten mystery meat. But Jack seems at a loss, and Belle doesn’t mind being helpful.
It does occur to her she might get a complimentary order of potatoes with her next meal. She most certainly wouldn’t ask for a reward, but she even more certainly wouldn’t refuse one!
Jotun eats heartily, joining Dain in enjoying the repast as he speaks with Belle about this 'second breakfast' concept. "A very fine idea, Belle! We'll take some food with us!" The barding announces in a hearty tone.
"Maybe he got eaten up by wolves." He answers Waylon with a wink, grinning at Tilly.
The morning drags on and Deadeye doesn't return.
Jack remains surly as you clean, but doesn't stop you. Your breakfast isn't any larger than you might expect, but it is hot and not burned, so perhaps that's the expression of his gratitude.
During the clean-up, Waylon takes some trash out back to discard and sees a large dark stain on the grass behind the inn. He moves forward to look and sees that it is blood.
"We have waited too long. The blood might be a good point for us to try and track to see who was hurt." Waylon will try his hand at tracking.
Belle tries to help by looking at the scene of the crime and figuring out what she can…
"Do you think that's the Ranger's blood?", Tilly asked in lowered voice, looking from Waylon to Belle.
Noting Belle's attempt at trying to figure out what's happened, Tilly decided to do the same; hoping it wasn't Deadeye who was wounded or even killed in this place.
Yet, her mind was too preoccupied with the presence of the blood and imagining all sorts of misadventures to be of any use to her companions.
Leaving Belle's side and moving to Waylon's, Tilly tried her luck at finding any tracks in the area that may give them some clue/direction.
Tilly was all over the place this morning and her frustration grew in her thwarted attempts at being useful or helpful. "I'm sorry..." she uttered the words, her cheeks flushed with shame at failing them.
"If he is looking into what was happening in those woods as well, he may have been just as big a target as good Master Bungo was. Whoever it was lost a lot of blood, and should be seen to if possible. Let us find them and help as we can." Waylon says as he continues to try and hunt for wherever the body of the creature who lost so much blood may have gone or been taken to.
Jotun feels a twinge of shame at his earlier remark as he too inspects the blood alongside Tilly. Could the tales of the innkeeper be true? Or was it some other creature of the night that snatched someone so close to safety? He wonders at what his own fate might have been if he had stepped outside, or perhaps he might have been able to help? Shaking his head at such idle speculation, the barding focuses on what he's seeing.
The group looks carefully around. Belle notices footprints (Big Folk) and Jotun carefully follows them to an old well not far from the inn. Looking down into the well, Jotun spots a man's body floating in the water thirty feet down. The body would have been completely invisible by night; it’s only visible as a black shape against blacker water by
day.
To get the body out, one of you will have to climb down the slime-slick walls of the well and tie a rope around him...
Hearing the news that there was a body in the well, Tilly balked and her stomach roiled and she did all she could not to throw up then and there.
Someone had to get down the well and tie a rope around the person to pull them up. She wasn't a strong one, but could be nimble and small enough to get down the well. Perhaps.
"Give me the rope and I'll try to get down there and tie it on the body. Then you can pull it/us back up." Her face had gone white but she wouldn't fail them in this. What if it's the missing Ranger? They needed to find out.
Tilly took one end of the rope from her companion and tied it around her waist. "Hold onto the other end, in case I slip and need some help."
She climbed to the lip of the well, "Here I go," and then began to climb down as carefully as she could, not wishing to slip on the slime covered walls of the well and bang herself right up against the stone.
Belle offers her grappling hook, if a better rope (or second rope) is needed.
Báin puts on some stout leather gloves prior to grasping the rope, and makes ready to haul the body back up the well.
Tilly beats him out in making the offer, though Jotun realizes that she might be the better candidate anyway - being slimmer and lighter than the barding. With a nod, he also takes hold of the rope, ready to assist if Bain needs it.
“There’s room for two if I’m one of ‘em,” Belle calls down as she rappels down her own rope!
“Lemme help you secure the body!”
(Not sure if rope gives her any added bonus as she climbs down. Will leave that to the GM's discretion.)
Tilly nimbly rappels down into the well, followed by a very luck Belle who manages to slide down the rope without tipping Tilly into the water. Together they secure the body. Waylon, Jotun and Báin then haul them up and lay the body in the grass.
The body is weirdly, impossibly cold to the touch. His right hand is so frozen that it’s covered in a layer of ice. His throat has also been cut, but the wound is relatively clean and free from gore; it is as though his blood was so cold and thick that it oozed out instead of spurting from a mortal wound. His face bears an expression of pure horror, and his eyes are both frozen and covered in ice.
His coin-purse and some other belongings are still with him. His sword and traveling pack are missing.
Tilly, with her knowledge of Shadow-Lore, can guess that something supernatural was involved in the man’s death. Icy cold and death-by-terror are horrors associated with wraiths – but what undead monster would pause to slit a victim’s throat, and why would a wraith hide the body?
Getting the body out of the well left a mark on her mind and she wasn't thinking straight to see anything past the dead man's body.
"I think something supernatural happened to this man. His body's icy cold to touch and look at the horror in his face. Wraiths can do this. Yet, I've not heard of an undead monster stopping to slit their victim's throat and why would a wraith hide the body?"
vs 15
Jotun helps recover the body from the well, inspecting it carefully and taking note of the strange aspects the corpse exhibits before taking a look around.
(16 vs DC 15 = Success!)
In the tall grass he finds a dagger, and picks it up for the others to see. "It's ice cold, like the wound on the body. Strange that it's still this cold... Seems like something a man would use to kill, not a wraith - though I confess I'm not familiar with such creatures." He turns his head to look at the back of the inn and nods his head toward the door. "Do you suppose... Jack?"
"You've got a good eye for finding things, Mister Jotun."
Tilly moved closer to Jotun so she could get a better look at the dagger he'd discovered in the tall grass.
"The dagger looks to've been made in Bree. I can tell from the work on its handle." The thought sat heavy with Tilly. Please don't let the culprit be a Breelander. In any case, it would have been bought or brought over from Bree.
"We should take him back to the inn and see if it is Deadeye, but I fear that it is." Waylon says looking sadly at the dead man.
Looking to Waylon; her features showing signs of anxiety, Tilly addressed the Ranger, "Perhaps we can find a discreet place for him out back and call Mister Jack outside to identify him. The innkeeper's rather surly this morning and I don't think he'll appreciate us bringing a dead body into his tavern." She tried to give Waylon a comforting look.
“Not unless we buy him a beer.”
Belle covers her mouth. Oh, I did NOT just make a joke about a dead guy.
Her eyes widely apologetic, she says, “I’m so sorry. This is just so awful… I meant no disrespect to the victim.
“How about I get Jack?”
She does so…
* * *
“Oh, Mr. Ja-ack… ummmm, there’s no easy way to put this. You know how we voluntarily helped clean up your place? Well, we were thorough.
“Even found a murder victim.” Pause for reaction. “No, I’m not kidding. Would you kindly come out to identify him? He may have been a customer.
“Which means he at least had a delicious last meal!”
Ah, disrespectful to both the dead and actual good food. Gotta stop using humor to cope.
Jotun eases up to the door, within earshot of Belle's conversation but remaining out of sight. If Jack is as bad as the rumors say, he might try to hurt the the hobbit, and the barding will have none of that. Not on his watch...
Waylon will search over the body for any signs of where he might have been before he was attacked.
Waylon is fairly certain the dead man had been in the local area for some time. Nothing on his body suggests anything else.
Jack scowls at Belle. He sighs and tramps out back with her, looking down at the pale and sodden corpse. "Yep. That's him. That's Deadeye. Can't say as I'm surprised. He was an infuriating man."
Whatever hope she had still been holding onto was dashed when Jack said the dead man was the Ranger they had been searching for. She hadn't known Deadeye, yet she felt Jack's judgement of him was more than a little unnecessary.
Looking to the innkeeper, she asked politely, "Would you mind if we looked inside the Ranger's pack? We won't be stealing from a dead man, but there may be something inside that can help us find what we're looking for."
Báin looks the body and things over, and having listened to the conversation, he asks, "Who are these rangers? I cannot say to have ever heard of them. Do they have any enemies that might have wanted one of their number dead?"