The steel clad man did a low whistle. "That's quite a lot when you put it like that. So not only is our quarry apparently slain, but we are now on a hit list too for what I can only assume is local bandit leader or some touched in the head loon with murdering tendencies who should be reported to the witch hunters."

Truth be told Jareik would normally be extremely skeptical of such outlandish claims from a man unable to remain awake after their ravings, but as it happened he had been dealing with serial killers an awful lot lately, so he couldn't quite dismiss what he was told.

His head tilted once again in the direction of the snores. "Not sure if I'm buying all of this to be honest, grief can do crazy things to people and sure the villagers have been a dour and lousy bunch but between giving the evil glare and killing someone in their sleep, there's a leap. Hell if they wanted to kill us so bad, poisoning our food and drink would be the easy way to do it with the less fuss..."

He stopped that thought when one of Etain's dog's heads popped up. "Ah, well maybe it is fortunate we have our four legged friends here then."

"Just to be clear, who did he say that killed his wife?" There was a difference between the locals serving justice to someone and someone being murdered by one or more people for whatever reason.

"If he didn't give any more details, perhaps we can ask him for some clarification when he wakes up?"

"He needs to be sobered up quite a bit, but he seemed to think he was to be killed, which made me hesitant to leave him here, the locals didn't seem to friendly." Etain said to Jareik.

"Right, so this.."juno", whatever it is, can murder people with impunity and just happened to be waiting until we arrived to finish this geezer off?" He sighed, it seemed silly to him but he didn't feel like arguing.
"Allright, fine, might as well stay here until he wakes up if you are buying this story of unseen daggers in the dark. Crazy or not, he at least talked to us so is our best lead for now."

"I'll look for some food or drink in here to help wake him up if someone wants to wake him" Etain says looking around the cupboards.

The man sleeps of a few hours, before mumbling in his sleep.
"The man...the the tower on the hill..."
He seems agitated and nervous.
Etain manages to locate food in the form of bread, aged meats and something mimicking thin ale.
He opens his eyes, dazed and on is startled to see many people around him.
"NO NO! Leave me be! I have done nothing! Don't kill me!!!"
His voice is loud and you worry, despite it being later in the day than someone could hear you if he keeps it up at that volume.

Leaving the food where she found it for now she quickly moves to bed with the drunken preacher "Be at ease Brother Franz, I helped you get to your house remember? My name is Etain, these are my companions, Jareik, Milly and Marie" she tells him trying to be as calming as possible to the man.

"We are guests in your home. You have nothing to fear from us Frère," Marie said, giving a slight and polite bow to the confused man.

She knew that with her armor and armament, she might appear a threat, so she was not offended. Not by a man just gaining his senses from sleep, least of all. Although, perhaps with a bit of bias, she had never heard of a Grail Damsel getting drunk. That was a bit embarrassing for the churches of these foreign gods, she supposed.

Jareik had positioned himself at a window figuring if they were going to guard the sleeping man, might as well do it right.
He didn't initially hear the priest finally waking up and so missed what he mumbled, but came running as he soon as he heard him cry out.

"Well look who's finally awake." He gave a nonplussed wave when Etain introduced him.

Milly was initially content to just wait and rest there, it definitely was an improvement over the barely veiled hostility of the rest of the town. When the ma woke up in a panic she began to question that assessment, even beginning to wonder if they were actual guests there or if the foreigners had mistakenly taken such a liberty. The mage didn't say a word however, if the two women weren't able t calm him down, a complete stranger like her wouldn't stand a chance to.

The man took a deep breath.
"My pardons...what..can I do for you?"
He took a drink and calmed himself, before eyeing around.
He sensed the group wondering.
"Did I utter something in my drunken stupor? Pay not heed to the inn..they are belittering fools, and I should know better than to cross them. You spoke of a man, whom I saw briefly. With a woman yes, and heading south towards the chapel once or twice. He was in town maybe a day or at least I did not see him from that point...does that aid you at all? This is a small place, ingrown and harsh to come into as an outside."
He was tired. A man who had been through alot. And it began to show.

When the man woke Jareik calmly repeated his usual query of who they were looking for, at this point a well revised speech.

"People do mutter the oddest things in such state." agreed Jareik.
Back in the hochland state troops, it was far from uncommon to have men have strange rambles in their sleep from nightmares of the horrors they have faced.
Satisfied with this explanation, he was inclined to think Etain and Marie might have been significantly over reacting with their worries and tall tales of how the town is dangerous. He shook his head at his own sillyness, why he had actually started to believe it himself.

"It helps us plenty, cheers. Not only we know where he went, but we know he didn't stay here for long so looks like earning our pay is going to be harder then anticipated." Jareik sighed, by now fully believing his cheating husband theory, of course if he ran away with a woman, he wouldn't bloody stay here now would he? The blasted pair could be out of reikland entirely by now with the headstart they had.

"We need to get to the Chapel quickly, hope to get lucky and find some clues. Otherwise this is going to be one long goose chase."

He stopped as he thought to ask the priest about Juno but then he remembered that this was linked to the death of his wife... Probably a sore topic. maybe even the reason the man was having nighmares to begin with. Ah well, nothing important probably.

"You lot coming?" He pulled on his hat.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:34, Sat 23 Jan 2021.

"Will you be alright here Frater?" Etain asks "You mentioned that the townsfolk we going to kill you" She adds looking at the man then to the others "I'm not entirely certain I can live with myself if you were murdered when we leave."

The man turned.
"They see me with pity and as hardly a threat I reckon. If I stay clear of you and you avoid trouble, I will be fine. Worst case, I will flee in the night. This town is not right..."
He found an axe under the bed and nodded as to suggest he would at least try if something happened.

You were free to leave. The newly built chapel stood atop the hill, bathed in sunlight behind it. Even from town, you could see it, as it is but four or five minutes walk down a well made road.

"Oui! We are coming Herr Schneider," Marie responded to Jareik's question.

She hesitated before setting off however. Turning to the, well, pathetic man, she decided to extend him a bit more kindness.

"You may come with us for safety if you wish, when our business is concluded..." she suggested, casting a quick glance at the others for their approval to her suggestion.

The man partially shrugged.
"It should be to return to my homefarm, so but a few steps of the way. But for now it doesn't matter. Thank you thought..."

Outside the sun stood high on the sky, but yet, it felt only moderately warm. The wind flowed calmly through town.

Setting foot, you begin the treck towards the top of the small hill, just south of town, and realize just how many eyes, silently, observes you doing so. No one acts on it, but their eyes are aware.

You arrive not long after, far enough way from town to have it at distance, but upon the small hill, still able to see all of it.
The chapel is white, newly painted and the wood still crackling from settling in.
The door appears slightly open.

Etain carries her axe loosely in her hands, the town for some reason, probably what the priest said in his drunken state putting her on edge. She calls out "Hello, is anyone in there?" when they are close to the chapel.

No words are heard back as Etain yells out.
As she comes closer, she notices the interior is sparsely furnished with the only real decorations being an altar at the south end of the building.
Hanging on the wall directly behind the altar is a stylised symbol of a sheaf of wheat.
^{(Anyone with the skill can roll Theology to verify what it is depicting).}
The altar is a slab of black granite, which rests on two large boulders. A brief look from outside the door shows that the altar has a small, but dark stain on it, but what it is require closer look.

While looking, outside in, Etain hears a faint cough. In the distance, a young man is standing partly covered by shadows near a bookshelf.
The man wears off-white robes, and looks to be about 21. He looks surprised.

Jareik patiently waited for the others to assuage their worries about the old priest then led the way to the shrine.

Not hearing anyone answer back Etain's call, he went up and pushed the door open. The rustic Altar was what first drew the eye, then the white robes of the man. "Ah, sorry to bother you mate. You work here I take it?"

Feeling the tension of this place during their walk to the building, Marie's gloved hand rested unconsciously upon the hilt of her sword. As soon as her red-haired better half called out after sensing someone's presence, the Knight of the Realm half-drew the fine castle-forged steel. But seeing no bandits or slavering monsters, she stayed her hand. She stayed back and let Jareik do the talking again. Seeing how this place responded to foreigners, perhaps it would be best for a native-born son to do the talking for now.

Letting the axe fall in her hand until the head rests against the top of her hand and backs away from the doorway to allow Jareik to move forward and be the face of the conversation.

The man stuttered seeing the group and appeared surprised as if his mind was elsewhere.
"Aye..I am Gunnar Dirkelstein, apprentice to Druidess Juno. I am sorry, I am busy and with lots of my hands, so please if not urgent, make it quick and I shall do what I can to aid you."

The young man came closer to the door as to approach them in the doorway in.

Priestess Juno eh? Well least that solves one mystery...No wait, he didn't say priestess but druidess. His brow furrowed and he glanced at the altar and the symbol behind it.

"Druidess? Never met many of those. But we ain't here for matters of faith lad. We have been sent to...check on the missing husband of a heart broken wife. A man named Karl Magnussen whose last letters placed him in this town. We have subsequently confirmed he has been here and met with an unknown woman at one of the inns a way back, a woman from this village presumably since they travelled here together."

Jareik watched closely for any reaction on that part since in truth he was making a bunch of assumptions here, but it seemed to make sense based on the information they had gathered recently and he wanted to project an air of knowing exactly what was going on so as to leave little wiggle room for ignorance to be feighed. He had already tried asking nicely before without little success and wasn't about to let someone else send him away empty handed.

"Their last sighting was at this shrine, where they..met with someone." Another assumption. "Maybe it was you perhaps? Otherwise we would like to have a talk with Druidess Juno, makes sense she would have been there if not you, can't imagine you have that many staff at this shrine."
This message was last edited by the player at 03:36, Wed 03 Feb 2021.

The man eyed Jareik with no apparent change of emotion or facial expression.
"Magnussen? Nay. Never heard of him. Sorry."
He didn't flinch a muscle.
"As for the Druidess, she is unavilable and just as myself very busy these days with sermons and services. I apoligize, but I must ask you to leave, so I can proceed. Perhaps another day she will have time, but not now."

Both Etain and Marie whom are behind Jareik, notice a man with a cart park downhill, eye up curiously not with anger, but more to determine who they are, and slowly moves his wagon out of sight, of the chapel, not them.