CB's The Sunless Citadel v3.5

[Strahd_Von_Zarovich]

Quiiittee Taasthhhyyy
Says Grotzkoshter with a mouth full of ham, he never learned table manners during his living on the Rhennee's barges or in any place else. He cleans his mouth with his sleeve, burp loudly and continue to devourer the rolls.
Grotz leaves the talking to Kiphas and Elyan and concentrate in eating.

 

[Finley DaDum]

Kiaphas

Kiaphas partakes of the honey and bread. After Karl and Korgrave arrive he speaks up Mistress Hucrele you have posted notice offering a reward for anyone who can return your neice and nephew to you. We five have agreed to work together towards that task but we would like to know more about how your relatives disappeared.

 

[zilonox]

Korgrave is a bit startled when the ancient man hobbles over and bids them welcome. He looks at Karl, sees him shrug then says, He must not be able to see us very well. Never the less, he follows Karl and Oswald into the house, expecting the old man to look back at them and run off screaming bloody murder at any moment. He's pleasantly surprised when that does not happen, yet still apprehensive as he steps into the kitchen.

Seeing the three other companions sitting around a table set with food and drink washes away his fear, however. He grabs an empty seat and, following Grotz and Elyan's lead, coyly grabs a biscuit and some ham, opting to spread a gob of honey on both.

He stays mostly silent, letting the bard work his charm, but does chip in with a, Yessssss, we want to help find the children, when Elyan and Kiaphas express the company's business.

 

[hafrogman]

Karl sits uncomfortably in the human sized chairs and watches the breakfast in silence. He quietly nods his thanks to Gretchen and sips at his tea, one pinky elevated in a vain attempt to look sophisticated.

 

[CanadienneBacon]

With naught but an appraising eyebrow raised in greeting to Korgrave and Karl, Mistress Hucrele thanks the old man who brought the pair from the back gate. "Thank you, Octavius. Please, return to your normal duties. I assure you, we're all quite safe here in the kitchen." A slight shaking to Mistress Hucrele's right hand belies this statement. Oswald, with a final harumph and a shake of his head, quits the kitchen via the back door.

Electing to address the priest, Mistress Hucrele replies. "You have come in summons to my posted notice seeking help finding my sister's children?" The woman casts a look about the table in wonderment. Silent a moment while sipping at her tea, and her hand shaking all the while, Mistress Hucrele continues. "Very well. I've had no other offers. Your service shall be acceptable. Two weeks past, Talgen and Sharwyn went for their usual weekly forage into the wood to our north. Talgen favored the hunt and Sharwyn...well, I don't pretend to rightfully know why that child favors wandering the wood...nuts and berries for her pouch, I presume. She's of marrying age, just past ripe to be wed, and ought to have been at home preparing her dowry trunk." Mistress Hucrele sighs in obvious irritation. "Octavius has been kind enough to inform me after the fact that Talgen mentioned to him in the stable the morning of their departure that the pair intended to foray toward the Ashen Plain if time permitted. It seems," and here Mistress Hucrele's voice raises in incredulity, "Talgen fancied the recent tales of goblins, rats, wereboars, and dragons comming from the tongues of Oakhurst's less..." Mistress Hucrele pauses, considering her word choice, "...well-educated citizens. I think the boy may have had an overblown opinion of himself; he made a fine hunter of boars but had yet to prove himself of any worth at all. I consider him a drifter."

Mistress Hucrele pours more tea for herself, offering the tea pot 'round the table in Elyan's direction. "The youngsters' exploits are quite enough this time. Just when I've need of capable hands to manage the shop, the two of them have proven quite a disappointment. My sister, bless her, is likely turning over in her grave with the thought of what that pair of ill-wrought childen have been up to of late. If word of their disappearance reaches the Free City or Furyondy, our business associates will likely take an interest in the accompanying tales of overblown goblin besiegement. Quite bad for business, and a nuisance besides." Mistress Hucrele's voice demonstrates little love for the missing pair. "If found, I intend to find a husband in short order for Sharwyn, and have already arranged a commission in Urnst for Talgen." Mistress Hucrele casts an eye at Kiaphas and Elyan, then reluctantly around the table at Karl, Korgrave, and finally at Grotz. Looking away in apparent disgust as Grotz belches bread crumbs on his plate of ham, Mistress Hucrele pauses before continuing. "As it's been two weeks, I'm assuming they've either run off or have been guttered in the forest by a wild boar. Still, they must be found. My offer is precisely as stated in the notice Octavius posted at the Oakhurst Inn. You may of course avail yourselves of the right to salvage whatever you recover on your journey, save for the signet ring of either Talgen or Sharwyn. I shall need one or both rings and offer 125 gold crowns per ring returned to each of you as a token of my thanks. If at all possible, I do prefer that the pair be returned to the manor alive and of sound mind and body. If you're able to rescue Talgen and Sharwyn, and I pray that you are, I shall double the reward to 250 crowns per child rescued, to be paid to each of you. And the thanks of the Hucrele family along with it, of course. Taking Octavius's advice into consideration, I suppose you might go out on a limb and search along the ravine west of town. Though, in my opinion, you're far more likely to find them in the forest north of Oakhurst, nearer the Yatils."

 

[Boddynock]

"Thank you, mistress. We will certainly search for your kin. You say that they were intending to hunt towards the Yatils and then swing around to the Ashen Plain? If Talgen is, as you say, a fair hunter, then it is, perhaps, less likely that they came to grief in the forest than that they ran afoul of goblins in the Plain. We have, ourselves, had recent experience of the presence of goblins in the area - and I would have to say that they were less than friendly."

"But I am curious - what makes you think that your niece and nephew may have run off? Surely your household would not be so odious to them - or do you think it likely that they may be seeking their fortunes as adventurers? You have mentioned Talgen's skill in the hunt. What of Sharwyn? What skills would she bring to so hazardous an enterprise? Perhaps her love of nature has led her to adopt the way of the druid? But if that is so, then it would make it even less likely that they are in peril in the woods. Well, we will make discrete enquiries - those of us who are able. Rest assured, we will do our best to return your kith and kin to you."

 

[CanadienneBacon]

Kerowyn Hucrele snorts at Elyan's suggestion that her kin have run afoul of goblins. "Goblins lurking about town? Poppycock and balderdash, in my opinion. Though they're certainly nasty enough, sniveling beasts in want of a slap and a bath, there's absolutely no reason to suspect Oakhurst's longstanding truce with the neighboring wildmen tribes has run aground. A midwife's waggling tongue turned to rampant gossip, if you ask me."

Mistress Hucrele raises an eyebrow at Elyan's suggestion that her household is at all 'odious.' "Certainly not! After the death of their mum, Talgen and Sharwyn have always been afforded a most comfortable and accomodating home in my manor. I shouldn't have thought Talgen brave enough to have run off on his own. The boy's a fanciful enough imagination but lacks the fortitude necessary to adventure away from home. 'Tis my hope that a proper military education will toughen him a bit. Sharwyn," Mistress Hucrele sighs with regret again, "is lost entirely to her books and herb-gathering. I couldn't begin to tell you what that child is up to, though Gretchen claims to have discovered a very smelly pouch yester year from the pockets of one of Sharwyn's best gowns. Completely ruined the Atmoor lace of that dress, it did. Quite an expense to replace. Not the first time the child had incurred a similar disaster, either. Just before the Hoarfest some ten years ago, I had to pay for entire new gown for the child. Turned out she'd gotten ink all over her lace just after that queer man came 'round knocking, asking about them."

Emptying her tea cup of its contents, Mistress Hucrele looks around the table expectantly. "Have you any other questions, or shall you be starting without delay?"

 

[hafrogman]

Karl, who has been sitting in silent discomfort, trying to appear unobstrusive, suddenly starts.

"Queer man? Who?"

 

[CanadienneBacon]

Mistress Hucrele afixes Karl with a disapproving stare before replying. "A grim-faced sort of man. Belin--no, Beltar--no...a Master Belak, he introduced himself as. He came round right before our annual Hoarfest, knocked on our front door as bold as daylight early one morning. I simply couldn't put him out of mind for nearly a fortnight afterward. It was his pet toad, you see. I've never seen the like of such a creature before--enormous, it was. Nearly the size of a dog. Naturally, young Gretchen threw the door closed ere he could get more than a sentence or two out, and I sent Octavius to the sheriff to bring her 'round. I gather he seemed to take an undue interest in Talgen and Sharwyn." Mistress Hucrele shivers. "No doubt some unsavory chap from my poor bereaved sister's past, you see. As it was quite a number of years ago and he'd only come around the once, I hadn't thought of him much these last years, thank the maker. Though I suppose I shall be thinking of him again quite often in the coming days." Mistress Hucrele frowns at Karl.

 

[Boddynock]

"Thank you, Mistress. We will make a start now on our investigations."

Elyan rises, calling Rogue to guide, then pauses and says, "One last thing. How long has Sharwyn evinced this interest in herblore? And where did she learn it?"

While waiting for the woman's reply he pats Rogue's head, fondling the dog and pulling its ears.