Jevin, you head back to Grat's Packets after thanking the farmer for the roof.  Spots makes a yowling sound but trots behind you, glancing around as you go.

It's still early.  The fishermen have gone out.  You can see their boats far out in the distance on the ocean.  Other townsfolk are hurrying along, finishing up morning chores or heading to work.  A few people look at Spots with some surprise. But no one makes a fuss.  It seems as long as Spots minds his manners, no one will mind him.

The front room of the inn is clear.  A drunken dwarf is laying next to the hearth, barking out snores.  Next to him, a halfling with a tray filled with red roses is also asleep, muttering in his dreams.

Lori Grat looks up when you enter.  She frowns when she sees Spots.  "He's with you I take it?  As long as he knows to do his business outside...

"Anyway. I'll have a room for you after the second morning bell.  You want breakfast?"

Jevin walked along the street and kept his new friend close by.   He'd give a head nod to anyone who looked his way, but was walking with purpose as he headed to the inn.

Once inside, he nodded to Lori's question.

"Yes ma'am.  I am responsible for him and will make sure he behaves.  Can I get a big country breakfast and some raw meat for him?  His name is Spots, and he really is friendly when ya get ta know him.   Also, can I get a couple days dried rations.  Heavy on the dried meats please."

Reaching into his belt pouch, Jevin actually handed Lori two gold coins.

He took a seat at a table and tapped his lap.   He held onto his new pet as he waited for others to show up.

A large bobcat rested in Jevin's lap as he sat waiting for any friends to show up or his food to come.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:55, Sun 09 Oct 2022.

In reply to Jevin Holt (msg # 2):

Jevin, a platter is brought to you by a young lady.  Probably one of Lori's daughters.  She looks just like her mother.

The girl doesn't move away.  She stands there, studying you, twirling the end of her long, auburn hair.

She suddenly points at Spots.  "Is...is he really your pet?"

Jevin's eyes grew large looking at the platter of meats and breakfast food.   As the girl put it down, he immediately grabbed a hunk of meat and fed the cat.

Stuffing his face, he couldn't answer her question right away and scarfed down a big bite before answering.

"He's very wild, but yeah he's mine.   Not friendly and you should never get an animal unless you can control it and care for it."

Jevin nods to the girl with a serious look on his face.   He started to get the food together and wrap it up to be eaten over the next couple of days.  Dried meat doesn't require much tending, and he leaves the fresh meat and raw meat out to feed the cat.

He looks around to see if anyone else is waking up or stirring as he eats.

In reply to Jevin Holt (msg # 4):

The door opens and Moon saunters in.  She nods at you Jevin and calls out for Lori to bring her two eggs and some toast.  She takes the seat across from you, glancing at Spots.

"New recruit?"  She gives you a grin Jevin.  "All the people we rescued are doing okay.  One of them has a slight fever, but I'm not too worried. I'm thinkin' a' namin' the dwarf kid Fred.  Whaddya think about that for a name?"

She looks around.  "The others about? I thought we should talk about the whole Alfie thing."

Kozibi slowly descends the stairs after leaving his room. He had cleaned himself up a bit, and appeared to be in a good mood. He looked around for a moment and then saw Jevin and Moon. He walked that way, flashing a smile. "Good morn to you both. I hope you are both well."

He glanced down at one of the empty chairs at the table. "Would it be alright if I join you? No offense will be taken if you don't want my company. I'm an acquired taste."

Breya, by sheer contrast, came gloriously stomping onto the scene, whistling.  She'd put a couple of braids in her hair to keep loose strands out of her eyes, which had the benefit of giving her something to play with.

She did not ask, merely grabbing a chair with her toe and pulling a chair out, and spinning it around to sit in it backwards.  She yawned with a big stupid grin.

In reply to Breya (msg # 7):

Lori brings over more plates of food.  Moon waits until she's gone and then glances around.

"Others not up?  Or are they still in town?

"I was thinkin' about what what you guys told me with the whole 'Alfie' thing.  Wilma told you that whoever would put messages in a scarecrow, right?  I think I know which scarecrow it is."

Bellinha stormed into the inn, walking purposefully and with a scowl on her face.  She was wearing her morning practice gear, worn leather pants and a slightly off colour vest.  The strap of her sword hung from her shoulder and her hair was mussed from vigorous practice.  "....move like an ape.  I don't move like an ape..." she muttered sourly under her breath.  In her teeth she held a blue ribbon.


She seemed pre-occupied as she slowed her pace.  "...bad form..." she grumbled, taking the ribbon from her mouth to tie up her hair into a loose ponytail.  "...I was trained by one of the finest swords masters in...bad form indeed..."

As if acting on instinct, Bellinha joined her friends table and sat down heavily.  She looked over at them.  "Good morning everyone." she said after taking a somewhat calming breath.  "Sorry...sorry...practice was...anyways.  There are a couple of things that we need to go over from the mano..."

Bellinhas eyes went wide and she let out an 'EEP!' sound as she finally laid eyes on the large cat sitting beside Jevin.  So distracted was she upon entering the Inn that she had failed to notice the animal until now.  It's presence startled her.  "Je...Jevin.  There's a big...big cat sitting there."

Lori brings more food and you are all soon grazing like the cattle-being-fattened-for-the-slaughter-you-are...er...heroes.  The heroes you are.

Moon wipes her mouth with a cloth napkin and pushes her empty plate away.

"So I was thinking it over.  I know all the farms around here.  Been out to 'em to tend the sick and what not.

"There's two fields I can think of that fit the description that Wilma gave you guys.

"There's the Pasterston place.  It might be that one.  They're just east two farms of the Neshie place.

"But...I think the one you're looking for is the Brangham place.  They are the farthest farm out of town.  Northeast of Orus' place Bell.  Nice family but a bit...odd.  They keep to themselves quite a bit.

"Anyway.  Their place is farthest away and kinda isolated.  So if this "Alfie" character is around and using a scarecrow to pass notes, I would bet they're using the Brangham's place.  Their scarecrow is...unique."

Breya looked over at the big cat.  She'd been forced to fight enough animals, she knew the score, or thought she did.  Show no fear.  They prey on your fear!

"The scarecrow better not be a damn magical crab statue.  I swear if it is, I'm kicking someone's ass."

Kozibi smiled and gave a small bow of his head to Bellinha when she arrived. He took note of how she seemed when she walked in but wasn't sure if he should press it, so instead he said, "Good morning. I hope you are well!"

He listened to Moon and gave a small nod. "Hm. Okay. That's good in-" He glanced over at Breya with a confused look on his face and then let out a small chuckle. "That's...not really a scarecrow then, my lady."

He only now seemed to have noticed the..."cat"...in Jevin's lap. He swallowed but didn't comment.

 Cassandre eventually deigned join the others for breakfast. It wasn't clear where she had been in the hours between dawn and whatever this was, but she appeared quite awake and sprity. She sat at the table, grabbed a plate and helped herself to some toast.

 For a minute or so she remained quiet, sipping on very stewed smoked tea of some sort, then as if a whole thesaurus had been contained between her horns for too long she delivered in one smooth chant:
 "Fred is a terrible name, next thing you know he'll insult your intelligence and you'll have to send him on a boat. Jevin, love the new cat, Apollo will be thrilled, what do you name him? It is a he, right? We don't want to end up with little Cat-Bob-Cats Kittens around cause we all know how that ends, which reminds me we never found out what happened to Jax and the Crazy Cat Lady, anyhow - good thinking on the scarecrow we should stalk it and see what is what. Koz, of course you're welcome, why ever would you not be really? Bell don't worry about training, whoever said you move like a baboon clearly don't know what they're talking about, but more importantly whatever happened with you two -we don't need to get into it now but I will need some details."

 She took a long sip of buttermilk after that. It wasn't always clear who she was adressing, and definitely spooky how she would pick up strands of conversations that happened while she wasn't around the table, but there you go.
  "I made a friend last night," she added as if that explained anything.

In reply to Cassandre Lagrene (msg # 13):

Moon looks at you Cassandre.  "Not that guy who sells roses is it?  Cos  honey...he's a player."

She then looks at you Breya.  "Why would they use a crab statue as a scarecrow?  But no.  No one in town has some kinda magic scarecrow.  Least not that I know of.

"But the Branghams' take their scarecrow seriously. It's dressed up in bits of old armor and crap that's washed up on the shore.  It's actually kind of impressive in a way.

"I can give you directions if you want.  Can't run out there.  A couple of the slaves are sick.  And I don't wanna get too far away from 'em.  But I can give you directions if you want 'em."

Bellinha picks at her food a little, eating sparingly, though she does drink a lot more than she eats.  There is a lot of talk at the table, and a big cat, and she does her best to keep up.  She makes an 'aw' sound upon hearing that Cassandre made a friend.  "Regardless, I think that it's great that you made a friend, Cassandre." she said, her mood cheering up considerably.  "But yeah, just watch where he puts his hands."

"I suppose that it couldn't hurt to check out the scarecrow." Bellinha said.  "We can check for any messages that Alfie might be trying to send, or maybe we can watch them for a while and see if he or she shows up at regular intervals to retrieve anything."

In reply to Bellinha Grunnel (msg # 15):

Who all is heading out to check out the scarecrow?

And if not, anything you mean to do instead?

Thanks

Breya suggested.  "Actually, you better draw a map.  Never underestimate my ability to get lost."

Kozibi narrowed his eyes slightly at Cassandre. She seemed to be...friendly...this morning. He shouldn't be, but he couldn't help it, and he was a little suspicious, but tried to push it away for the moment.

He gave a shrug. "I'm game to check it out if you all are. Who knows what will happen to the poor defenseless scarecrow if only Breya checks it out." He flashed her a friendly smile, trying to indicate he was only teasing.

"Again that depends on whether it's, in any way, a crab."  Breya paused.  "I have made that very clear."

Cassandre replied to Moon and Bel: “Oh no, my friend is not the florist. And he doesn’t have hands really, so I’m safe there. Maybe you’ll get to meet him today, who knows?”

 “I wonder how Lief and Zale are faring…” she added with an thoughtful gaze to the ceiling and beyond.

“Our friend may very well be watching the scarecrow himself… it would be wise to no all go there like a troupe of minstrels looking for a new recruit… how about we observe from a safe distance, to start with? Look for clues, tracks, prints, what have you…”