[IC] Halfling Quest - Rooting Around

[Evilhalfling]

Eddie slouches making himself smaller and watches Mero out of the corner of his eye. He listens but is mostly watching body language. He tenses ready to act the moment Mero is distracted.
He casualy takes an apple from the tray, and waits for the others to ask questions.

 

[hafrogman]

Jerran gives Alton a fake smile and a rude gesture before turning to Kiylea and her giggles.

"You're not helping."

He turns back to Mero.

"Seriously, whatever it is needs doing would probably get done quicker without me. . .
. . . I've got a bad back, you know. . .
. . . I've just come down with the orcish flu?
. . . I've got a previous engagement?
. . . I have to attend my Grandmother's funeral?"

This last one is obviously pushing it, as one of his grandmothers has been dead for decades and the other is a rather nice old (but still very healthy) lady who is fond of liberally dispensing ginger snap cookies to the village youngsters.

Jerran sighs as all of his excuses fall flat on deaf ears.

". . . bugger. All right, what is this mysterious 'problem'?"

 

[Slippshade]

Jerran smirks slightly at Mero's comments about everyone having arrived. He sheathes his knife with a flourish and take a large bite of his now peeled apple. However, his grin fades at the mention of work that needs to be done. He swallows his mouthful of apple and looks slightly ill. He raises his hand, but speaks without waiting to be aknowledged.

"Please sir, may I be excused. I have a medical condition you see. I'm allergic to Bubbles. . . if I spend too long around her I tend to break out in a black and blue rash."

Bubbles stifles a laugh a Jerran. "Oh, just sit there and be quiet or I have a feeling that rash of yours is about to breakout." Her voice is less venomous and more playful.

“I would imagine that you are all wondering, why you’ve been called here as a group. And I also imagine some of you were reluctant in coming,” he says smiling at Kiylea and Ringly, “but we have a slight problem, and Alton suggested I round up some of the youngsters to take care of it considering Clara and Coyo are unavailable at the moment.”

"Alton?" Bubbles voice is questioning as well as a annoyed. "You knew about this all along?"

 

[Ferrix]

"My father Alton asked me, this one," he pats Alton on the shoulder, "is as truthfully bewildered as he seems." He seems to be mostly ignoring Jerran's little escapade, although the one about his grandmother gets a good laugh out of him. As and if things calm down for a moment, "some of the farmers out past the Greenbottle Brewery have been complaining about some creature rooting up their crop. And with harvest and Festival on the way, losing a good amount of their crop would definately put a sour note to all of it."

He pauses, perhaps mentally visualizing Jerran and his 'rash', picking up an apple, he continues "now I figured that most of you, despite some differences can get along well enough. Kiylea, I'm suriprised you hadn't heard of the problem, perhaps you spend a little too much time up Old Brambleroot and not listening to your neighbors, although I'm glad you did make it. With Clara and Coyo out of town, the skills you've garnered from your father and them will surely be of great value here."

He takes a bite out of the apple, letting it stir around in their heads for a moment as he chews.

"So, whatever this thing is, that is causing a small ruckus over in the fields apparently only visits at night. So, you've the rest of the day to be free and gather what you need, but I advise you camp out by the western edge of the forest before night falls. That way you can keep an eye on things once it gets late."

 

[hafrogman]

Jerran shrugs mentally. This could have been a lot worse. Okay, so spending his evening sitting in a damp field somewhere wasn't exactly his idea of a good time, but at least there wasn't any heavy lifting or continuous labor going on. He takes a sip from his cup and swishes it in his mouth thoughtfully. Perhaps he could charm Meegan into giving up a jug of the cider . . . for the group, of course. Then he'd just lie around the field, drinking and laughing and having a good time. Perhaps even poke around in the bushes a little in a show of effort. Whatever had been bugging the farmers probably wouldn't even bother the fields with a bunch of people around. Hmmm. . . participating would make it look like he was actually helping out, without having to actually do anything remotely strenuous. All in all, not too shabby. This could have been a lot worse.

Jerran's face goes from a resigned dissapointed appearance through a thoughtful look and finally finishes with a smile and a small gleam in his eye as the cog wheels turn in his head. He returns his glass to the table and claps his hands together.

"No problem, Marshall. You can count on me, always glad to help out the community."

 

[Tarlonniel]

An animal tearing up crops? That sounded vaguely familiar.... oh, of course! It was a topic of conversation at Mrs. Mellar's. Kiylea had chalked it up to a prank or a neighborly dispute that was getting out of hand; no animal she knows of would do such a thing. But it was easy enough to clear up. There should be tracks... marks of digging tools... plenty of evidence. A good look around in daylight was certainly called for. They could talk to the farm owners too... but she'd leave that to Jerran or Bubbles or Alton. The fields for her! A fleeting curiosity as to how Mero knew about climbing old Brambleroot passes through her mind, but she decides to come back to it later. Outside. My head works better where there's room to think.
I can go out there and take a look around right now, she says eagerly, half-rising from her seat as if anticipating a race for the door.

 

[Evilhalfling]

Eddie looks conflicted for a while, a variety of expressions sliding across his shadowed face.
Finally light dawns.
That was a serious lot of overthinking I did. Lots of worrying about a little. of course if I dont worry about it it will actually happen. I dont really want to spend the night out in the fields, and the farmers we will be helping would prolly not be able to provide much of a reward, after a six way split.
Um which farms? This is something that militia might be called to do right? and they get paid 2 silver a day, right ?
suddenly embaressed he takes a pear and starts polishing it.

OoC: Local Knowledge +5 for details on farms, Sleight of hand +7 pocketing fruit.

 

[Boddynock]

I can go out there and take a look around right now, she says eagerly, half-rising from her seat as if anticipating a race for the door.

"Wait, Kiylea. It would probably be better if we all went together," - this said while looking steadily at Jerran ("Always ready to help out the community, my foot.") - "and I, for one, would really like to go home and get my gear. If we do run into something dangerous, we'd better be prepared. If it's a wayward goat - well, we can all have a good laugh about it - but if it's something more serious, we'll be glad we took the time to get ready."

"Why don't we meet back here in an hour. That'll give us all time to collect what we need and get back here. Then we can go and talk to the farmers, and have a good look around while it's still light."

 

[hafrogman]

Jerran reaches across the table and selects a stew bowl and a spoon.

"Why don't we make it an hour and a half. I'm going to have lunch."

 

[ender_wiggin]

Ringly said nothing, as usual; he had the customary urges of 'I'll have this done no time, Marshall' and 'Shall we get going?', but had learned a long time ago that such outbursts were inappropriate.

He had heard nothing of the disturbance in the farms. Studying was simply far too time-consuming. He doubted it was anything truly dangerous, or the Marshall would not banded together a group of unpredictable young adults to do the job. That being said, the real challenge was being in the company of these other people for such a long time...