" So was the tale rightly told to us? It killed a sheep, threatened your wife, then left without harming her when she passed out? That is mighty queer, clearly it would like to avoid violence, it could have completed it's task right away, or half at least."

She glances about. Does she see the blood anywhere, showing where the sheep might have been slain? While no tracker, she does look for crushed grass, paw prints, or any spoor or other sign of the wolf-dog-thing.

" Whatever their claim, it seems you have a generation or two of history here. Unless you recently expanded your holdings in this direction?"

Wiping her hands, she stand back up to her full height of three foot five inches, and wipes her hands on her trouser legs.

"Delivering the message was clearly important to it. We need to learn more..."

'Exactly,' Vala agrees. 'Do you have any neighbours or rival brewers who might want to take your land? Or ruin your trade in other ways?'

Tanyl joins Delta in the effort to survey the area for clues.

Branch glances around, clearly a little uncomfortable being back in this spot, scratches his head.

"That's about the measure of it.  If you want to question the Missus, she'll be up for it but wait till morning, she already doesn't sleep well since it happened, hate to bring it up just before night." He sighs.  "Two sheep, actually, and damn strange for sure."


" Haven't expanded the farm, and don't know of any of my neighbors or even other brewers who have anything against us.  Guess you could canvass round and see but please don't tell them I suspect them, would hate them to think that."

Tanyl, walking a bit away from the place steps in low place in the grass, just a natural low spot but it's held moisture and his foot sinks a bit.  Leaning down, he sees a print.  He is no tracker but it could be a dog, or wolf, it is very big, and has long claw marks.  Showing it to the others, Delta compares that print to Tanyl's print, and concludes based on how deep it is, the animal must weigh about twice what the elf weighs.

"That's one big doggy," she mutters. She wonders if it were a Were, perhaps. She thinks about the tales she had heard about the changing-folk, did they speak?

If/when they are alone, she asks the others if they know anything more about them.

"Might also be a druid though, maybe, right? They are always thinking the land don't belong to no people..."

OOC: If I need to roll against my Int about that Were biz, feel free to roll for me.
This message was last edited by the player at 09:41, Sun 12 July 2020.

"Something was here . . . something big," Tanyl agrees.  He looks a bit further, to see if there are more tracks indicating a direction that the beast might have traveled.

Vala looks thoughtful. 'Could it be a gnoll? In bad light or to someone who has never seen one before they might seem wolf-like.'

A further search of the area reveals nothing else noteworthy.  While you are searching
around, Branch spends time looking at the trees, looking at their leaves, clearly just
checking for their well being.

"That is an excellent thought.  They are just civilized enough to be able to lay claim to lands.  But have there been any in this area before?"

Rather used to being overlooked and ignored, Delta simply walks in little circles looking for any other clues.

PM

A dwarf approaches the group, smiling. In a loud voice he says: "Greetings, friends! I am Janek. Seems Gorblin was a little late in hiring me, but here I am. Hope to be of service!"

Turning to face the newcomer, the little gnome turned and bowed with a flourish of her floppy hat, the feather dragging on the ground.

"Welcome Janek, my name is Delta. Well met!""

She has hair of silver, and eyes of blue, and a twinkle in her eyes over her slightly over sized nose. She has a sword on her hips and a lute on her back, but she wears no armor, only slightly worn, slightly more colorful than normal clothing.

" So far we have only learned that this is the spot where the talking wolf accosted Missus Branch, and found an over-large paw print in the soil, there..."  she said, pointing to the spot.

'Well met Janek,' Vala said strolling over. She is the tallest of the four, though she'd be tall in most companies - a human woman with dark slightly curly hair, brown eyes and a fair complexion. She is fair of face too even if her brusque stride, armour and blue cloak all mark out as more warrioress than maiden. The hilt of a bastard sword is visible behid her shoulder.

'I'm Vala and Delta speaks wisely. We've been busy thinking up what might have happened but gotten no further yet. Another pair of eyes can't hurt!'

Farmer Branch moves over and nods to the newcomer, "Welcome Janek, I'm afraid it is getting late and I still have the chickens to put up before I settle in.  Can the rest of you show Janek to the guest home.  It is humble but you'll find food and drink for you in the cupboards.  There are apples of course, but not fresh, and please don't take any out of the barrels, it may not look like it, but I have them sorted."

"If there is nothing else, good luck, feel free to do, well, whatever it is you do.  We'll be locking our doors and won't open them again till dawn, no matter what we hear".

Tanyl gives the newcomer a glance, but says nothing in acknowledgement.  He doesn't look happy . . . but then, he doesn't look unhappy, either.

Before Farmer Branch can go, he asks a parting question:

"Seems strange that whatever it was would kill just two sheep.  Have there been any disturbances in the night?"

“A baying some night’s “

"I think we should dine, then return at dusk,"

Tanyl nods.

Janek bows slightly to the farmer "Thank you!" He examines the footprint but he is far from being an specialist. Turning to his new companions, he says "Dinner sounds fine. Has anyone shown interest in the farm lately?"

"We've stopped off there, and we are headed back now. It looked very nice! Join us!" Delta offers, checking to see that Farmer Branch has nothing else here to do.

As they head back, she rambles on, " The missus saw the beastie, but she is resting, so we can't talk to her till tomorrow it seems."

OOC I don't see where the description is.

Returning to the cluster of buildings at the end of the path, you find the guest house is unlocked.  The main room has a large wooden table with chairs, a stocked cabinet with plates, cups, utensils, and a pantry with cheese, bread, apples, dried meats, and many small kegs of cider.  The only other room has two single beds and a larger double, their are also two cots leaning against a wall, and plenty of sheets, pillows and blankets to make yourselves comfortable.

You settle in and have a nice meal.

ooc:  please let me know what you plan to do over the course of the night.  I don't  plan to RP every minute of it, so come to a consensus, and also how you'll sleep, when, where, and who will keep watch if anyone.  thanks.

Piking out the cot furthest from the front door, Delta leaves the beds for the large folks to sort out. None of them would be as comfortable in the cot as she, she suspects.

The room doe not seem to offer a place to cook anything, so she heads out to find some firewood, and with any luck start a cooking for outside. She has a small collection of cooking utensils in her pack, and she will cook up a little sumpin-sumpin, soaking the water in a few spices, and slicing up a few apples to soak in boiling water with a pinch of cinnamon for dessert.

" how many should I cook for?" she asks of the others.

If they discuss the plans for the evening, she suggests the go out to the wooded area again, to see what there is to see.

"Master Janek, not sure how much you were told, but the big doggo talked to the farm-wife, or so we are told."

She sliced up a few red apples and dropped them into her pot, stirring in a bit of butter as well, if there was any in the larder.

"I don't recall hearing that the Were-folk speak much in other forms. Perhaps a Druid? In my experience, they have been known to think that people might not own the land they live on, now and again."

As the food simmers, she checks the darkening sky, watching the first few stars pop out, if it is clear enough.

The beastie didn't kill the missus, so I don't want to be blade-forward in this this, if'n you catch my drift."

Tanyl hesitates, then confesses: "If you're offering to cook, I'd be grateful for some food.  And once it gets darker, I'm content to scout.  I can see reasonably well in the dark, and can be unobtrusive."

Delta tosses on enough for two...