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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Raven Crowking" data-source="post: 2028756" data-attributes="member: 18280">“In a moment,” Brother Hengist said to Horsom.  “When I have helped Dain secure the equipment in the cart I will be more than happy to accompany you.  Indeed, the air in here seems oppressive.”Not long after, Brother Hengist joined those who were going to speak to the villagers:  Horsom, Maldordo, and Fellan.  The other two laymen sent by the Archdeacon in Selby stay with the cart and horses.  Dain wanted to do some poking about the Church here.  Kregor seemed involved in some form of prayer or deep introspection.  Glom, taking Amalric’s hint, simply chose not to complicate things with his appearance.It took longer than the four had hoped to get information from the villagers.  For one thing, many of the villagers wished to hear news of events in Selby or Long Archer, and many stories had to be repeated over and over again before they were satisfied.  While many in Kell’s Reach were concerned about the creature attacking their neighbors and flocks, it was impossible to find a single person who was directly affected.  Clearly, though the creature laired nearby, it went far afield to hunt.Those who said they had seen it, including Goodwife Horner, said that they had seen it either near dawn or dusk.  Goodwife Horner confirmed that she had seen it pulling something into the Dwarfie Run, an old barrow mound near the outskirts of the village.  Most witnesses agreed that its hide was a deep red, like the color of brick or dried blood, though some said it was darker.  Most agreed that it flew on bat-like wings, though some thought it “leaped” a great distance.  One farmer was able to produce three six-inch-long, sharp spikes made of something akin to bone or fingernails.  “I’ve never seen a beastie with teeth like that, son,” the farmer said.  “Look more like some sort of claws, but they’re too straight, see?  And you can see where they’re loose at the end, like teeth in a socket.”There were a few villagers who simply did not want to answer questions, although this was not always obvious at first.  Some feared the creature’s wrath if it was attacked but not vanquished – those ones were vocal enough.  Others had motives which were harder to read.  The Miller, for instance, with his sturdy stone house, seemed to think that the misfortunes of others around Kell’s Reach were to the village’s general benefit.  Of course, he was too clever a man to say something like that outright, but it was the impression he gave.There were a few graves of small children, and a few people who showed signs that the tallowbone outbreak had not been confined to Selby-by-the-Water alone.They were just headed back to the Church, perhaps an hour before the sun would dip below the horizon, when they saw someone approaching them on the path.  Someones rather…an elf bearing a spear and a small girl dressed in tattered clothing.While this was going on, Dain tried to discreetly poke about the Church.  For an hour at least, Amalric made this difficult by engaging the dwarf in painful conversations that, regardless of what they started to be about, always turned to painful death, the manticore’s being a demon, or the Archdeacon playing them all for fools.  At last, though, Amalric went into his private rooms for a nap, and Dain was left to examine the unkempt church more freely.  A sorrier excuse for a church he had never been in.  Although the manticore might have driven attendance up, little had been done to make the place more welcoming.  It was unswept, undusted, and generally filthy.  While the pews were mostly clean, for they were perhaps sat upon often enough, they were the only things that were.When Dain examined the stone alter, he half expected to discover a secret way beneath, or signs of human blood spilt upon it – but neither was the case.   Eventually, of course, he realized that Amalric was no longer napping, and no longer in his room.  Where the priest had gone, however, he couldn't say.  Both Glom and Kregor could confirm, at least, that Amalric had not come out the front way.  It seemed that he had crawled out of his window...a glassless affair secured from within by wooden shutters...and left the area of the Church completely.</blockquote>

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