Dinner thru Midnight Snackies
“You were right,” Trinia tells Airhead Ed.
They missed supper.
At least, reflect our halfling heroes, it’s dinner time, and as they approach Othic’s house at the edge of Bellhold, they can smell delicious aromas wafting towards them. It smells like cooking lamb, carrots and cabbage all together. Dogfish’s stomach rumbles as they knock on the door and the old man cheerily lets them in.
Dinner is, indeed, as good as it smells. Our heroes eat like only halflings can, rubbing happy tummies and drinking cider and small beer to wash it all down. MMMM! Good stuff!
The conversation around the table, unfortunately, dwells on less pleasant things than Othic’s cooking. Bellhold is in the grip of many troubles, and the old man tells them a little bit about it. First came the nightmares, terrible dreams that leave everyone restless. “I think even the chickens are having them,” the farmer continues. “The animals are all testy- heck, you saw my garen! Most of the town’s clerics and the local wizard have left, saying they couldn’t concentrate to get their spells back. Been bad. Likely you’ll see yourself tonight, so you watch yourselves.”
Worse, three local children have gone missing. The local band of adventurers went after them, but they haven’t been heard from since. The entire town’s in an uproar, and nobody’s been able to find any sign of them as of yet. “I only hope they find the kids and nobody’s been hurt,” Othic shakes his head.
The group retires to the porch to smoke a pipe load. “I have to go into the town on business in the morning,” Othic says peacefully. “What say we meet at the Bell and Clapper for breakfast?” The halfling band gladly agrees; this fellow’s been very nice, and plus he’s talking about breakfast, you know?
Then, from the bell tower near the center of town, a deep bong sounds. Even here, at least a good mile away, it’s loud enough that it’s impossible to miss. “Sounds like they’re calling a town meeting,” Othic says with surprise.
“Maybe we should go see what’s up,” Trinia suggests.
So our heroes head to the plaza in the center of town. As they walk down the road more and more local peasants and farmers come into view, en route to the meeting themselves as well. By the time their short legs reach Wyrmcall Plaza, there are at least six hundred people present. It’s an impressive turnout. Near the base of the bell tower a lunatic raves at the crowd, his eyes wild and his mouth stretched open, spittle flying as he screams about some horrible creature ‘returning.’ Clearly, it’s the ranting of a madman. Soon enough two of the local watchmen appear and gently escort him off to the side, trying to calm and quiet him. Meanwhile, a makeshift stage and podium have been set up at one edge of the plaza, and a human male of middle years, obviously a local official of some kind (actually the mayor) ascends to the podium and calls for silence.
After a few moments of gradual quieting, the crowd finally settles down enough that the mayor can be heard, and he speaks in a strong, loud voice. “Good evening, folks! I’ve called you here tonight to talk about all our recent troubles here. Now I know there’s a lot of talk about us being cursed or something, about how it’s time to move somewhere else, about how a lot of people have left already, and I think it’s time we put a stop to that. So my intent is to address all the problems we’re currently facing, and explain why they aren’t really problems, or at least not as bad as some people are making out.”
As he speaks, the crowd’s rumbling rises slightly in volume, but this time it’s the rumbling of a crowd talking over what the speaker they’re watching is saying. Continuing, the mayor says, “Problem! Three children are missing. Well, all of them were old enough to run away, and maybe that’s what happened. We’ve sent messages to all the nearby towns, and not only that, the Heroes of the Bell have gone looking for them. We’re gonna find them soon, folks. No problem.
“Problem! The Heroes of the Bell are also missing. Well, of course they are- they’re looking for the children! If the Heroes were still here, they wouldn’t be doing their job, would they? No problem- probably a solution to the missing children, in fact.
“Problem! We’re all suffering from headaches. Well, that includes me, folks, so I know. It’s annoying, but no known spell or curse could cause it. We’ve asked the druids to send someone to come check the water and food supplies for any kind of poison or taint, and they should be here in a day or so. Once we figure out what’s causing them, the headaches are as good as gone. So they’re annoying, but certainly not the kind of thing to leave your homes over! No problem.
“Problem! People are having nightmares. Well, again, me too. We know that we aren’t cursed by a god for sins, no matter what some people say, and we don’t know what else could cause it. But Utrish the wise woman-“
“Witch!” someone in the crowd shouts.
“-has prophesized that the dreams and headaches won’t last more than another week, and she’s always right. We just need to wait these bad dreams out. No problem.
“Problem! Animals are acting funny. The chickens aren’t laying, the cows aren’t milking, and the garen are skittish.”
At mention of garen, Coco frowns, thinking about the foul-tempered beasts that he spoke to while trying to help Othic out.
“We know,” Bellhold’s mayor continues. “We think they’re getting headaches and having bad dreams too. We’ll ask the druids to look into it when they get here in a few days. No problem.
“Problem! People are scared to go down in the mines. Now, there’s no reason at all for this. Master Krekket here-” he gestures to a well-dressed man nearby- “has guaranteed that the tunnels are safe, and what more assurance do you need than that? This isn’t the old days, and it’s up to all of us to ensure that just as much copper gets mined this month as last month, headaches or no. There’s nothing down in the mines, no reason to be afraid of them; no problem.”
The mayor continues speaking for a few more moments before opening things to questions, but our heroes are already heading back to the Bell & Clapper to secure rooms for the night and get eight o’clock munchies. After an hour or so Coco goes outside and wanders around the town, looking for whores. He finds one and tries to persuade her to work for him, using his spiked gauntlet, but after a brief scuffle that doesn’t really end with Coco having a working ho he heads back to the Bell & Clapper.
The rest of the evening is uneventful and right after midnight snack time they all go to sleep. The morning starts off nice, with a warm sunrise and clear skies, but it’s kind of shot to hell by Othic’s tardiness. Our heroes don’t really want to start eating until he arrives, but when he’s an hour late they start ordering anyway. And that’s when one of Othic’s helper’s bursts in, crying, “Murder! Othic has been murdered!”
Next Time: Wow, this little town has a lot going on! What will our heroes check into first? Will they discover anything? First level pcs are fragile- how long til the first one dies??? Learn at least some of the answers soon!
