Unfortunately with most of the deer eaten, it's really hard to tell, but Rayland recognizes the wolf canine marks puncturing and ripping out the deer's windpipe. With that, Rayland does indeed come to the conclusion it is a normal wolf kill. He also notes that from its lack of horns and the size of the carcass it is an adult doe of about 3 years old.
"Hm" - Garrosh stares at the scene for a few more moments - "Nothing more to see here it seems. Agreed?"
Rayland kneels beside the corpse for a little longer than necessary, his eyes glassy and faraway.
As Garrosh speaks he coughs suddenly and jumps as if startled.
"Yes... yes... nothing untoward here. I am sorry to have wasted our time." he says in a small voice.
Kilarra and Garrosh no longer feel the eyes of the unseen watcher upon them as the party heads back out of the woods. "So did you discover what the vultures were up to?" Cain asks, as the party emerges from the woods.
"Screaming Deer, it seems." Piotr tells the man, happy he wasn't attacked while they were all about.
"So you found a screaming deer in the forest?" Cain answers, "I didn't know there were screaming deer. But I don't investigate screams."
"Its bad for life expectancy, you know." Cain puts in. "Ready to move?"
"Didn't know either" - Garrosh pipes in - "But who knows what manner of sounds a creature can make when it is being killed..." - he ponders.
"I guess we can depart yes Cain - let's go" - the half orc nods at the coach driver.
Seeing everyone ready to leave, once Cain helps Kilarra and Laelia up the coach, he urges Moonlight and Shadow on, and soon the coach is on its way.
”We’ll be reaching Dunlob late afternoon!” Cain announces. As the party approaches Dunlob, Piotr sees a small village with two rows of thatched roof buildings, their walls made of wood. Each building has a horseshoe nailed on its front door.
Everyone else in the cabin see a row of thatched roof wooden buildings on each side. Each building has a horseshoe nailed on its front door, which Rayland, Laelia and Kilarra recognize as symbols of warding. The party hears gasps from the houses and the peasants on the streets, who stand to the side, with shocked stares, to avoid the coach as they speed through its narrow street. Cain heads for the inn, a small wooden building with a thatched roof and a horseshoe nailed to the door, as well as a sign showing a black bird. He stops the coach in front of the inn then opens the door. ”Wait here, I’ll try to get us a place to stay. Help me keep an eye on the horses.” He bids the party.
While he has enters the inn, the party notices that a group of villagers is now swiftly gathering around them and pointing fingers at them accusingly. The party catches snatches of whispered conversation.
”…must be a devil… devils have horns…hellspawn...”
”How about the tattooed one – she looks like an evil witch…did you see her nails? They’re practically claws!”
”Beast….which noble’s menagerie did he escape from…”
”They look like big trouble…”
”Are they going to eat us?”
All the people crowding around the coach and their voices are beginning to make Shadow and Moonlight twitchy, as they prance around nervously.
Then the crowd parts, revealing a crotchety old woman, her left hand full of horseshoes. Brandishing an iron horseshoe in her right hand, she approaches the party, yelling, ”I cast you out, evil spirits!,” She throws an iron horseshoe at the party but it falls short.
Piotr is standing in front of the horses, doing as Cain asked, watching out for them. As well as getting a decent stretch in. Hours sitting in one place is murder on a body.
As the crowd gets bigger, and the comment uglier, he stiffens. Looking to Laelia, remembering her heartfelt desire to deal with racial hate peacefully, he waits to see if he needs to start yelling at idiots.
Unless it starts getting ugly enough a fight is about to break out...
Garrosh steps forward and picks up the thrown horseshoe - "You do not want to do this" - he growls, looking around him at the gathered throng - "We are here on official business to assist Dunlob as best as we can" - he adds - "We are not your enemies, but we will not let an angry mob cower and bully us - get out of here and back to your lives now, and we will get back to ours!"
Piotr gets the impression he's going to keep getting pelted by horseshoes if the situation doesn't improve. After Garrosh starts yelling at them, the party begins to hear some muttered whispers.
"Official business? Whose?"
"I don't think it's any of our business.. "
"Oh just begone to the Lucky Lantern down the road, you louts!" The crotchety old woman curses, "That's where all the troublemakers go!" She spits in the party's direction.
"Its not worth it offending that beast. He could snap your neck with those huge paws of his, Mariscella." One of the villagers tugs at the crotchety old woman, quickly dragging her out of the way, as the other villagers take a nervous look at Garrosh, then start rushing pell mell back into their houses, slamming the doors and windows shut behind them.
Kilarra whistles her surprise. "Nicely done."
Piotr takes his hand off his sap. Sap instead of sword. Even pig headed bigited villagers didn't deserve to be slaughtered unless well it became them or us that is. "Going to be a steep climb to get any information out of them, but better that then pelted with horseshoes... why horseshoes?"
"Oh just begone to the Lucky Lantern down the road, you louts!" The crotchety old woman curses, "That's where all the troublemakers go!" She spits in the party's direction.
"Its not worth it offending that beast. He could snap your neck with those huge paws of his, Mariscella." One of the villagers tugs at the crotchety old woman, quickly dragging her out of the way, as the other villagers take a nervous look at Garrosh, then start rushing pell mell back into their houses, slamming the doors and windows shut behind them.
"Good..." - the half-orc grumbles.
Piotr takes his hand off his sap. Sap instead of sword. Even pig headed bigited villagers didn't deserve to be slaughtered unless well it became them or us that is. "Going to be a steep climb to get any information out of them, but better that then pelted with horseshoes... why horseshoes?"
"Had it been one or two, I would have listened to them... Maybe" - Garrosh nods at Piotr - "But not a mobs, I hate mobs" - he finishes through gritted teeth.
"And yep, two questions remain" - the warrior adds with a chuckle - "Why horseshoes indeed, and what is a Lucky Lantern?"
Cain emerges from the inn, announcing, "Innkeep is charging 5 silver pieces per night per person. I'm to keep my horses and coach in the barn. Rates fine with you?"
"I heard shouting just now, is everyone all right?" Cain asks concerned.
"Just the locals saying Hi." Piotr puts plainly. "Hey do you know why they carry around horseshoes? I think they were planning to throw them at us, before Garrosh pointed out that it would be a bad idea."
"Urm no offense meant, but in Ustalav...people aren't very tolerant of the non-humans. There are old wife's folk tales that iron horseshoes, especially cold iron ones, will ward off evil."Cain replies. "I don't believe that kind of thing myself, but superstitious folks do as they do."
"Anyway, about the rates again - are they acceptable? If they aren't - we'll have to camp out of town - this is the only inn in this place." Cain continues.
"What's the lucky lantern?"
"I have no idea... I don't come here that often."Cain shrugs his shoulders. "My guess...a place somewhere in town?"
"Anyway, about the rates again - are they acceptable? If they aren't - we'll have to camp out of town - this is the only inn in this place." Cain continues.
"The rates seem fine to me Cain - thank you for having taken care of that" - the half-orc replies - "Let's get settled in, and then we can go on about our 'business' here"
Cain collects the bed and board fees from Rayland then leads the party into the inn. The inn is dimly lit, with its floors and furniture made out of dark coloured willow, giving the inn a gloomy appearance. A stuffed stag head can be seen above the doorway as part of the inn’s decoration, and the few windows can be barred from within. A burly bald man with a thick moustache mans the counter, and next to the counter is a staircase leading up. A pale, thin serving girl greets the party, her voice a high pitched nasal whine, ”So what can I get you?”
The few other patrons of the inn nurse their drinks at their own table, the silence itself thick as a fog. As the party enters, some of them look up, and the party sees men who have been, or now are going through tough times, catching lean faces with hollow cheeks, and wary, hard eyes staring in their direction. Whatever they see in the party, they do not think it is worth the trouble and return their attention back to their drinks.
”Rooms for six, please,” Cain answers politely, ”We’ll pay at the counter.” The serving girl lets him pass, and he goes to the counter, then pays the innkeep 3 gold pieces. The innkeeper collects the money then hands Cain six brass keys, saying gruffly,”Your rooms are on the second floor. Shared bathing facilities for the entire level.”The innkeeper gestures towards the stairs. ”You can stay till noon tomorrow, then it’s another 5 silver pieces per person.”
Afterwards he returns to the tap room and awaits the others. He sees no reason to delay their investigation but while he does wait he orders a pale ale from the bar and sips it nervously.
To the barkeep he says;
"We're....um.... new in town. I wonder if I could trouble you for some directions. Could you point out any buildings or areas of note, anything we should visit while we are here? And um.... anything strange happened around here recently...?"
Rayland is somewhat shaken by the confrontation at the carriage. He isn't the sternest and avoids confrontation when he can. At times he has needed to defend himself, and use his magic for means other than investigation and observation. But it is always as a last resort and that many faces looming and sneering.... was overwhelming.
"Th-thank you for that." he mutters to Garrosh. "That could have turned nasty and... well I was not prepared for how hostile they were. Sometimes I forget just how emotional people can be and how that clouds their judgement."
Once at the inn, he carries his meagre backpack up the stairs to his room, fumbles with the keys in the lock and throws the bag down onto the bed.
Immediately he goes around the room straightening pictures, rearranging the desk and chair so that it is beside the window, uncovering and recovering the bed and then neatly unpacking his things into what furniture there is. Having done so he immediately feels some relief.
His mind is a stupendous palace of knowledge and learning, a palace in which he constantly finds hidden corners and rooms unknown even to him. But it is ordered and neat and precise. And not having that order around him is stressful in the extreme.
The rooms themselves are undecorated, and quite bare, each only having writing desk, a wardrobe, chest of drawers and a bed, made out of the same dark coloured willow. Strangely enough, the windows can be barred from within, and have heavy gray curtains. The bedsheets are grey, but appear clean enough and are made out of roughly woven cotton.
Rayland’s ale tastes very watered down. Whatever this place is good for, ale certainly isn’t it.
”New to the town. ” The barkeep mutters to himself as he gives Rayland a critical eye. ” Stringy as you are…I wouldn’t wander too much out of here. Doubt you’d last a day.”He tells Rayland with brutal honesty. ”People talk about red lightning in the hills…and the old ruins – Seb the blacksmith went in and never came back out.”
"There isn't much to see this in-the-middle-of-nowhere place, it's just a rest station."The Innkeep mentions. "General resupply you can get at Malkin's hut on the opposite side, two buildings up."
”Oh and stay away from the Lucky Lantern – the abandoned building at the end of the road. Used to be an inn, or so they say. Heard tales of people headed that direction, never to be seen again.”The innkeeper warns Rayland.
As the Innkeep talks about the ruins, something seems to set the cogs of Rayland's brain moving.
Rayland recalls there is an ancient Kellid ruins near Dunlob. The people of Dunhob avoid the ancient Kellid ruins, believing them cursed and dangerous. Dunhob folk wisdom insists that sprinkling iron shavings near the edge of Kellid ruins protects you, since the creatures within are forced to stop and count the shavings before chasing you.
There is a monolith marking the ruins and the monolith is rumored to have a Kellid burial complex beneath it, though those who returned claimed they never saw anything more dangerous than a few bugs.
The monolith is rumnored to have glyphs of great power are inscribed on it, designed to keep a great evil within that would sweep across the land and lay waste to everything.
The rooms themselves are undecorated, and quite bare, each only having writing desk, a wardrobe, chest of drawers and a bed, made out of the same dark coloured willow. Strangely enough, the windows can be barred from within, and have heavy gray curtains. The bedsheets are grey, but appear clean enough and are made out of roughly woven cotton.
[/QUOTE
"The Lucky Lantern used to be an inn? How long has it been abandoned, I'm guessing since before your time. Did seb have any family in town?"
"Not really sure when, its like it's always been that way. " The innkeeper shrugs his shoulders. "Not that I know off - he's a bachelor."
"But why are you asking so many questions about the Lucky Lantern, young man? Nothing good ever comes out of that d@mned place!"
"Th-thank you for that." he mutters to Garrosh. "That could have turned nasty and... well I was not prepared for how hostile they were. Sometimes I forget just how emotional people can be and how that clouds their judgement."
"It could have yes... But these are but simple folks I think - I'm guessing both superstitious and afraid" - Garrosh replies - "It is an explosive combination, and can lead to a lot of stupidity though"
---
The half-orc is in no hurry to get to the bedroom - he simply places his backpack on the floor next to a table, and calls the serving girl over - "What drink would you suggest I have? And by the way, what is the name of the establishment?" - he asks in a calm voice.
Then he sets himself to listening in on the conversation between Rayland and the barkeep.
"The name of this establishment is the Blackbird."The serving girl answers.
"As for drinks, we only have ale, beer, locally produced reds and apple cider. What would you like, sir?" She asks Garrosh in that high pitched nasal whine of hers.
"If it is produced locally, I will have an apple cider" - he orders, looking around at his companions.
"But why are you asking so many questions about the Lucky Lantern, young man? Nothing good ever comes out of that d@mned place!"
"Apologies for interrupting but... Do you mean to say you have such a place amidst your town? Why not just burn it to the ground if it is found to be dangerous for some reason?"
"Not really sure when, its like it's always been that way. " The innkeeper shrugs his shoulders. "Not that I know off - he's a bachelor."
"But why are you asking so many questions about the Lucky Lantern, young man? Nothing good ever comes out of that d@mned place!"
"I'm an historian." Rayland replies with partial honesty. "Such things interest me."
The serving girl comes back with a mug of frothy apple cider, "That'll be 4 coppers, sir."
The apple cider is surprisingly robust and flavourful, if a tad tart, and has the kick of a mule.
"No one dares risk their lives coming within 10 feet of the structure to torch it lest something happens to them?" The innkeeper answers, raising a single eyebrow. "Or maybe they fear torching it will just release the great evil within?"
"Some things are best left relics of the past and not disturbed."The innkeep chides Rayland.
Garrosh pays the girl, and takes a long drink from his mug - "Great cider. Thank you for the recommendation" - he adds, offering the girl a 2 copper tip - "This is for you"
"No one dares risk their lives coming within 10 feet of the structure to torch it lest something happens to them?" The innkeeper answers, raising a single eyebrow. "Or maybe they fear torching it will just release the great evil within?"
"Yep, that sounds about right" - half expecting that answer, he nods, raising his mug - "My compliments to your supplier on this"
"Thank you, sir."The serving girl says in her nasally voice. "Would you want some food? It's part of room and board."
"Thank you. There was a glut of apples recently, so I thought I'd try my hand at cider making."The innkeep admits.
Piotr goes to his room first, to dump his pack, test the lock a bit, and sit in general silence.
"Penny for your thoughts, Brother" Ann whispers.
He grunted "Like you can't see them anytime you want."
"Think, don't speak to me, or they will think you are crazy. And yes, I can, but it is more polite to do this like a conversation. Makes us both more... normal." her voice with a bit a forced mirth.
Piotr sighed heavily, not in the mood for any kind of mirth, "I have a really bad feeling about where this is going. Did you see how our 'leader' stared at that deer? And how the people here are ready to stone us to death out of fear? I don't know what we'll be forced to do, and it scares the hell out of me."
Ann is silent for a bit then "Do we have a choice?"
He puts his head in his hands before muttering "No."
--------------
Downstairs, without his shield, but still with his sword, Piotr orders a cider, wanting to drown a bit of his anxiety and dread. "Sounds like the Lantern will be a first stop" he thinks to Ann, which she agrees with, a healthy dose of anticipation in her voice this time, which does nothing to alleviate his worry.
He stays out of the conversation, instead watches the crowd. None of them came out when the townsfolk confronted them. Drink usually makes men want to fight. Here it just drug them down. Odd.
Kilarra takes her stuff to her room. She puts everything in its rightful place, and keeps the room clean. Kilarra doesn't complain about the bed, in fact, it's an upgrade.
She heads back down and orders a cider like the rest. She isn't wearing her armour yet, but just casually sips while Garrosh and Rayland ask the questions.
As the party is mulling over their drinks, there is a knock on the door, then the door is opened to reveal a brawny man with a crew cut wielding a pitchfork, clad in a farmers apron with several more sturdy farmers behind him, and one of them is holding a torch.
"Oh, so that's where the miscreants hid in." The brawny peasant pronounces.
Immediately the other patrons in the inn look up, their hands reaching into their coats, possibly for concealed weapons.
"Barlow," The brawny peasant addresses the innkeep, "I want those trouble makers out of the inn NOW. Consider yourself boycotted by the entire town if they're not out of here by tonight."
He holds out crudely drawn pictures of the party.
Kilarra nonchalantly leaves and heads up the stairs.
"How are we making trouble?" Rayland asks, not to anyone in particular. He blurts it out in confusion more than in an accusatory tone.
Laelia took one of the brass keys and let herself into the room allotted her. She did not mind its simplicity - it was clean and secure enough it seemed. She had not spoken much since the horseshoe incident with the local townsfolk. She wished Garrosh had not used intimidation, yet he had not given her opportunity to speak and calm their concerns. She sighed softly. She pondered what she had seen or knew of her companions and Laelia felt she was different from them - that they were more alike than they even realised and she? Laelia shook her head at the thoughts and finding a safe enough place to stow her belongings, straightened her attire, washed some of the grime of travel from her face and then left the room, locking the door behind her and making her way down to the others. Sitting down at their table, she asked for an apple cider since it seemed the least objectionable of the drinks on offer and she only took small sips of it, listening as the others conversed around the table and with the tavern workers. When the serving girl asked about food, she smiled and responded, "I would like some food, thank you. What is on offer this day?"
Looking up at the brawny peasant man, who seemed to want to turn the entire tavern against them, and those behind him in support, Laelia carefully stood up from her chair and placed a polite smile on her face. Her voice was gently melodic, steady and attempting to soothe the ire of the man/people. She addressed the leader with the pitchfork first,
"Sir, I ask for peace. My companions and I are neither miscreants nor troublemakers. Upon entering your town, we were immediately accosted with horseshoes. It is reasonable that one of our own might grow angry and speak a little harshly in the heat of the moment. You have our apologies. Please understand that we are not here to upset the town and merely have come to undertake a task. Once it is completed, we will return from whence we have come. I simply ask that you grant us the opportunity to demonstrate to you and the other good folk of this town that we are not what you believe we are. I am a Priestess of the Great Dreamer, Desna, and a trained healer. She steadily lifted the wooden butterfly holy symbol around her neck so it could be more readily seen by those in the tavern hall. "We have paid for bed and board this day and we only wish to eat, rest and get on with our business without disturbing you all. Will you sit down to drink with us? I am certain we can allay any of your immediate fears in this matter."
" You're travelling with non-humans, they don't have morals! If you stay in Dunlob, you'll bring doom on us all!" The brawny peasant rants.
"Beans and pork stew, Ma'am" The serving girl answers promptly in a nasal whine."And apple pie"
"Not the rest of you," The brawny peasant shouts at the other tavern patrons, "Just these. " He holds up those crudely drawn pictures of the party. On hearing that they're not the ones being kicked out of the tavern, they get back to their drinks.
"Now Matthew," The innkeep reasons, "You can't be coming here, making a scene and chasing away my custom like that. Be reasonable. " He raises his arms in protest, "How would I be making a living that way?"
As Laelia addresses the brawny peasant calmly, he begins to hesitate as if surprised that a non human could be nice and civilized. "Let us confer among ourselves on this."He answers brusquely, then turns and speaks to his cohorts in urgent whispers, before him and the crotchety old woman the party saw earlier separate themselves from the crowd and come into the inn. "Your business is possibly our business as well, depending on what it is."He tells Laelia in a more neutral tone. "We should talk over the business over drinks," He agrees as he comes to the table with the crotchety old woman and buys apple cider for them both."I believe you've met my mother, the half orc yelled at her earlier, and I don't care for people yelling at my mother."
The crotchety old woman looks at Laelia dubiously, "I don't care very much for the idea, but my son insists that I hear you out. So what business have you in Dunlob?"
"I'll take a serving of the your beans and pork stew and a small slice of the apple pie. Thank you," giving the serving girl a warm smile.
Sitting down at the table; mother and son joining them, Laelia continued, although she was uncertain how much she should disclose to them regarding their reasons for being in Dunlob. She decided on being judicious with the information,
"Ah, yes, I do remember your mam. She threw the iron horseshoe at us. And I do understand that you would not want a stranger shouting at your mother, Matthew. My name is Laelia."
Looking at the crotchety old woman who had attempted to cast them out with iron, Laelia gave her a small, steady smile, and proceeded to speak in lowered voice for discretion's sake, "Madam, apologies, but I do not know your name. As I have mentioned, my name is Laelia. I am grateful that you have given us an opportunity to speak with you. Our first charge in Dunlob is to discover the reason for the Lady Illirigarde's disappearance. And, secondly, we have have heard stories of strange, supernatural occurrences affecting this part of the country and we seek to know more about these phenomena, if the townsfolk are willing to share their personal experiences with us. Perhaps we may be able to help each other? We only wish to know more and then determine what needs to be done."
Kilarra overlooks the balcony, greatsword in hand. She's quite surprised by the rabble choosing to sit and talk with Laelia, so she settles the sword against the railing and just overlooks the development.
The serving girl brings over the bean stew. It is mostly beans, with only small miserable bits of ham hocks, and comes with dark rye bread. It is warm and filling, but not very flavorful.
”She was trying to protect the town. It may be better that you left.” Matthew answers flatly. ”Things have not been going very well, for a long time, and the last thing we need is people making things worse.”
”I’m Mariscella.” The crochety old woman answers.
Mariscella shakes her head, looking weary, ”Nothing good comes out of Lady Illgarde’s doings.” She gives a heavy sigh. ”Believe me, I know. It all started 46 years back, when Lady Illgarde started visiting Dunlob.” She looks at Laelia with her head slightly cocked.”She was very much like you. A witch, you know. She had runic tattoos on her arms, and wore a whole bunch of weird looking talismans. She’d host occult gatherings for the village, tell fortunes at the Lucky Lantern... mostly harmless, I thought, until the night that Veny died.”
”Lady Illgarde was doing a harrow reading for him, or so she claims, but god knows what exactly happened in the Lucky Lantern that night. There was a terrible storm, with howling winds, then she came out of the Lucky Lantern to be immediately drenched, saying that she had touched some dark spirits, and ran away so fast that she left her magic instruments behind. She said we needed to keep the place sealed until she returned to sort it out. ” Mariscella explains. ”Ever since that night, on and off people have been getting headaches, and waking up with nightmares, all the same – of a tall, skeletal man in a black robe with hollow dead eyes, watching them.”
”Lady Illgarde never returned to Dunlob, and a few years ago, an adventurer named Wulfer went in to investigate and never came back out. That was when we started seeing red lightning in the hills.Mariscella adds.”We think that each person who goes into the cursed place has been consumed by what lies within.”
At the mention of the tall, skeletal man, Ann seems twitchy. As if the description is something familiar...