Kurik looks up and shrugs.  "I'll issue no challenge... but what about accepting them?  There is always one tough guy who wants to challenge a Goliath."  Kurik cracks his knuckles.  "We just want some warmth, some food, maybe an ale but no trouble."

Badger's only retort to Kari's jibe about the outhouse is to mutter something about being an improvement in the smell, or something like that. He refrains from comment however when Kari casts the rune bones, and only watches quietly from atop his pony - two beady eyes peering out from between thick layers, observing the divination carefully.

In response to the guard's challenge, Badger calls out sarcastically, his impatient voice slightly muffled behind the thick wraps around his face: Trouble? Of course! We are here to raid and pillage like the Reghed barbarians we clearly are! Unless of course you can appease our bloodlust by directing us to the Northlook inn.

The soldiers looks to the Goliath, "No no, if someone wants to fight, go ahead and put him on his butt...we mean, your clans weird challenges, like....bush pulling. Some of the last remaining bushes in front of the town hall all got yanked out last time. Sure...they was dead as dead and pretty much ice, but....they were still decorative. Sorta." 

Badger makes his comments, the man looks up, "Ahhh, sarcastic bunch. Well then genius, the Northlook in is in the north end of town.  This is the Southwest gate. The North gate is north. Just inside the walls from it you'll find the Northlook."  Looking disgruntled and cold he turns and returns to the smoking coals of the brazier without another word. 

Kari nods at the guards as she enters the town wall, but otherwise leaves them to their duties. Once in, she turns to the rest of the group. Is it off to the Northlook then? That may be all for the best. They may be in more need of entertainment, if that Slappy fellow has those other performers at his place. It seems the others, Mal at least, are waiting for her to lead, so she makes her way to the North side of town as best she can.

Once at the tavern she will catch the attention of the barman. Me and my friends are looking for rooms for the night, but let me ask you something. How much do you pay for a traveling minstrel? I can keep the coin flowing a bit looser for you tonight.

Badger raises an eyebrow when he hears Kari offer to provide entertainment, and wonders what form that might take. Sword juggling? Breaking wooden boards with her head? Well whatever she had in mind should at least be mildly amusing, so after they get settled Badger plans to sit in a quiet corner, keep a low profile, and eavesdrop on the thoughts of the crowd, looking for any mention of Macreadus, Beldora, or anything else of note.

The Northlook appears to be a well frequented establishment right next to the north gates of Bryn Shander. For a 'rowdy' location you're all a bit stunned when you enter a large bar room with round tables, dark windows, a small elevated stage in one corner, and pretty nobody in the place. There appears to be a man passed out at a table near the back, and a man and a woman sit and eat some stew, though they cast foul looks the PC's ways.  There is a wooden cross-slat board embedded in the floor at the entrance where you kick off the snow from your boots, the warmth of the fire and the room bringing bright red to your cheeks.  Gloves are removed and numb hands rub together to try and get enough feeling so that you can feel the tingling burning sensation of flesh coming back to life.  

A woman sits behind the bar. Just behind her on the wall is a large stuffed trout on a board, with a plaque that is labeled 'ol' bitey'. One other man, a bulky looking sort sweeps the floor near the hallway that leads to the rooms.  Kari, pulling her scarf and hood back breaths in the warmth of the place.  She shakes the snow off her jacket and leggings. The man wanders over.  "Howdy there, welcome to the Northlook. And...welcome to Bryn Shander for that matter. Don't recognize the lot o' you. We have a late lunch on if you're hungry. Otherwise it'll be dinner in about three hours. Place'll start to fill up then. Till then, you got your choice of seats. The name is Scramsax, I own this place, lemme now if you have questions." 

Kari asks him her question, "Hunh. Uh, sure, minstrel eh? Well, I suppose I could give Tomson the night off. I don't pay ya, but I don't charge ya either. You get a free meal, two drinks max, and you keep 50 percent of whatever you bring in. The other half goes to the house. 8 silver a night per person. Rooms sleep 2. Meals are 2 silver each." 

Kari nods and looks thoughtful as she sits on a stool and leans her elbows on the bar, one arm tucked so her hand dangles off the edge and the other pointing and motioning as she talks. Nice to meet you Scramsax, call me Kathy. That's not a bad offer, but think what your getting. An outlander with new songs, and not just any old human or elf neither, and I dress up fancy and all too. How about this, the free dinner goes for the four of us, we'll pay for lunch, and I take 60%. Before you say no, you've got a bit of time to spread the word round a bit about the new musician, through your bus boys or bouncers or what have you. You might pull some customers in from Slap- in... son's... old show over there if you can build enough interest. And if your 40% isn't more than what Tomson usually brings you then I'll give you the 50%. How does that sound?

Feeling confident, she sticks out her hand, ready to shake on that deal

Scramsax shrugs, "Sure..I think I got all that. Sounds like you got a deal. Kathy. Um, Kathy the wonderful...Kathy the Krazy? Got a stage name?"  His calloused hand grabs Kari's and he shakes her hand with a firm grip. He glances at the other guests, the Goliath, Mal, and Badger. He seems most interested by Badger even though the gnome attempts to scoot off and find a corner to glower from.

Quote from NathanPizazz >>

He seems most interested by Badger even though the gnome attempts to scoot off and find a corner to glower from.

 (To clarify, I did say 'after we get settled in'... so perhaps before Badger scoots off into his corner...)

Badger notices Scramsax's curious stare and simply says: What's the matter? Never seen a black gnome before? Then after a swift kick in the shin from one of the others (any volunteers?) he softens his tone and says: Urgh! Nice place you got here. How about I purchase the first round... And with that he digs into a pouch for some coins and tosses a few silvers up onto the counter (which is at about the level of his big slowly-thawing nose). A mulled cider for me if you have it, he asks before looking for a corner to scoot to...

The mans grins at Badgers comment, “Sorry master gnome, we don’t get a lot of gnomes here in the North. Goliaths, half orcs, we get those. Think it’s related to smaller folk not liking the snow so much, given it’s so much higher for them. Relatively speaking of course. We have an accord. I’ll get you a warm cider.”

He heads off the fetch some food and drink leaving the group to their own devices. 

"Some warm mead and any hit meal will do for me," Kurik calls to the man before he leaves.  He'd then go find them a table large enough for the group.  Seeing the sour looks from the other table.  Kurik looks away, and then subtle casts a spell.  From where the female sits, the sound of a short wet fart occurs.

Casting minor illusion to cause the sound of a fart at her location.

Mal will not say much and keep the hood of her cloak up as much as possible to hide her appearance. Wincing at the words form Badger and swiftly kicking his shins, leans down and whispers, "Remember we are not trying to draw attention to ourselves." As she looks at Kari and just rolls her eyes.

Then she will accompany Badger to the table and quietly sit in the corner.

Kathy is my stage name. Sometimes people have called me Clever Kathy, Kathy the Traveller, or Kathy the Tall. Anything will do. Here's for the rooms, and lunch. She sets 4 gold on the bar and then goes and sits with the others while she waits for the late lunch to be served. Rubbing her hands together she speaks softly to her companions. Well, more people means more loose lips. We ought to find out something tonight, about either the, uh, (she lowers her voice even more) one watching for us or the man we are looking for ourselves. I don't know how you knew about that other gnome, Badger, but maybe you'll find out something the same way this evening. Also, the other two hearts may not last much longer, if anybody feels like they might need some extra healing for a day just let me know.

The group enjoys a quiet lunch and some warm drinks. The light in the sky outside fades away soon enough leaving only darkness once again. The evening begins to settle in. You're each shown rooms to stay in, and soon enough the place begins to fill up. At seemingly random, the stuffed fish behind the bar starts flopping, as it sings a little shanty, "There’s a place I like to go, Farther up the river’s flow; Where it is, I do not know; Must be under all that snow."  It then goes still again.  Nobody else in the bar seems to pay any attention.  Soon enough the bar is full of all sorts of various local folk getting dinner, drinking, and making merry. What's everyone's plan?  

Kari goes to one of their rooms to change when she notices business picking up. When she comes down her normally braided hair has been let down and hangs in waves, she has on a fancy outfit and is holding a flute case in one hand. She gets one tankard of beer from the bar and takes it with her to the area set up for a musician, opens the flute case and pulls out her shiny instrument, and then lays her large floppy hat on it's crown near her for tips. She plays a few popular tunes, waiting for the dinner crowd to gather. She mixes it up with folk songs and she sings along in a kind of call and response way between her and the flute, she sings part of the verse then plays part of a refrain, a bit unorthodox but she does it in a practiced way. Between songs she sips the beer, and it gets warm as time goes on but Kari has drunk worse and it keeps her throat wet. When dinner seems to be winding down she takes a break for her own dinner, eating quickly before heading to her place with a fresh beer. She changes up the songs a bit now, mixing in some military songs and drinking songs. One or two she sings acapella, stamping a foot and slapping a thigh as she sings, if the crowd joins in with familiar tunes she may switch to playing the accompaniment on the flute. She even sings in call and response style a saucy song about a drunken dwarf and a goliath maid. She keeps entertaining until around midnight then checks with Scramsax, or whoever is on duty to see when the entertainment normally wraps up. Whenever that is, she goes back to her spot and sings one last song. It's a slower song, a short ballad. It talks of a brave gnome hero who saved a maiden fair and then left. It mentions a child born later who goes in search of that hero, and then ends just before the child catches up to that hero on the road. The chorus is full of hope, and speculation about the noble character of the missing hero. Her head lowers for a few seconds at the end of the song, then she bows with a flourish, picks up her hat and any stray coins around it, and takes it to a table to count it all out. She splits up the coins according to their agreement and then trudges up the stairs to their rooms. Whichever bed is empty, she changes out of her fancy clothes and back into her common ones, then falls asleep almost as soon as her head hits the pillow.

Entertainer background: Your performance makes you something of a local figure. When strangers recognize you in a town where you have performed, they typically take a liking to you.

Badger had to admit it... Kari was pretty good. He even caught himself tapping his foot to the tune on several occasions, and chuckling at the story of the errant gnome. Perhaps the half-orc wasn't such a mindless brute after all. Maybe here in this frozen land, Badger could warm up to Kari just as he had to Sickle, and learn to appreciate the merits of others and their unique talents. Maybe.

When there was a lull in the entertainment he took the opportunity to slip the helm on and scan the thoughts of the crowd on the off chance he could pick up some useful information, or perhaps a stray thought about the names Macreadus or Beldora.

Mal decides to stay in her room asking Badger if he remembers, to have some food and ale sent up, as she does not want to show herself around the town.

Hearing the music float up from below she is impressed by the skill of Kari and is thankful of the distraction from the constant whispering in her ears. Again swearing at her stupidity at the constant number of times she should have gotten rid of the ring but for some stupid reason or another she always decided to keep it. Thinking back she wonders if it was actually her decision or not, or if this stupid ring is slowly taking over her will. she has several times caught herself looking sideways at her friends. She thinks back at her actions toward Sickle and her thoughts soften at the memory of him as she now understands what he went through.

Shaking her head of the thoughts, she lays down and rests waiting for the food that will probably not arrive and drifts off to sleep, her mind full of nothing whitness filling the world.

The evening proceeds well, Kari causing quite the good times in the Inn. Meanwhile Badger with his helm begins scanning the folk in the Inn.  As he scans the minds, he's reminded that each person is as unique as they are predictable and all cut from the same mortal cloth. Thoughts about food, drink, and lustful thoughts of men and women from both men and women fill much of the minds in the Inn. He does catch a few unusual stray thoughts amidst the room, though with such a packed space and the constant churn of bodies, sometimes he finds that thoughts come to him, but it's no entirely clear whom in the crowd he has read.  It's at such a moment when a thought stumbles into his mind from somewhere in the room..."What if the killer is here now? It could be anyone."  Soon enough he's picked up enough stray thoughts to know that there has recently been a string of murders in town. Three murders, all with the same way about them.... a halfling trapper in Easthaven, a human shipbuilder in Targos, and, three days ago, a dwarf glassblower in Bryn Shander. Each victim was found with a dagger of ice through the heart.  Besides that, he also senses someone in mid conversation thinking something interesting, "How do I convince him, this must be the key to unlocking this infernal winter!"  He spots a half-elf acolyte speaking to a dark skinned, bald human male who looks rather self important and with a rather dubious look on his face. Finally, he catches the thoughts of three dwarves sitting together in a corner neither singing nor dancing. They have dark looks about them and look well travelled.  The three's thoughts are all occupied with assessing everyone in the room. The only stray thought about why he can sense is, "Naw...he'd get ripped to shreds in an instant...need someone tougher...". 

Kari collects a nice pot, 24 gold worth, which she takes 14 gold and 4 silver worth.  Scramsax the tavern keeper looks tired, but very pleased as the last few patrons are ushered out into the gusts of frigid air on their way home.  He turns to Kari and says,  "You're welcome to perform any time Kathy the Tall. You were fabulous. Have a lovely sleep."  

As the night draws close, all realize you've somehow skipped a day of sleep and are exhausted.(1 level).   All except Mal who is dozing solidly, with cold stew and warm brew sitting outside her door on a small box where they were left.  (presuming you sleep, the exhaustion will be gone in the morning)

(Assuming Kurik is sitting with Badger, as his last post indicates. Also Kari when she takes a break)

The topic of the serial killer is of minor interest to Badger, although the detail of the murder weapon is slightly more curious, but then he decides this probably has no connection to Macreadus and their mission. The dwarves sound like they are trying to recruit someone for some menial task, so again Badger turns his attention away. The half-elf however seems to be pursuing a topic very close to what they are here for, and Badger wants to listen in. Removing the helm and leaving it with Kurik (with a perfunctory explanation), the gnome arises and makes his way casually toward the table where the two are talking to listen in...

Here's a roll to listen (Perception: 4)
And another to disguise the eavesdropping (Deception: 20)
... but of course can go ahead and change to whatever is more appropriate.

As Badger gets close enough to the pair talking he listens through the rowdy crowd. The larger dark skinned man is talking, "... precious few resources to look into your theories Dannika. I know you think this is some valid lead, but the spirits can't appease the frost maiden, it's a fools quest." 

The half-elf named Dannika, who Badger now sees is a woman frowns with consternation, "But, I've got everything we need. I just need you to pay for one of the survivalists...or a scout, someone who won't die if they leave the town." 

The man shakes his head, "Sorry Dannika. Not today. Maybe next week, ask me again, maybe someone will be free. In the meantime, enjoy the music, the warmth, and old Bess is about ready to give birth. Bergen said he'll need you at his place tomorrow. Keeping our animals healthy will keep us alive. Please focus on your job and not wild theories." 

The man stands up, claps Dannika on the shoulder in a rather condescending way, then walks away.  Someone else waves at him, "Markham! Come 'ere a sec, I wanna tell you about what happened to Mel today! It's hilarious!!" 

Dannika is left alone, a dark look on her face as she stews angrily. She glances over at Badger whom she seems to have noticed and just about growls at him, "Havin a good time watchin me get dressed down over there.  Ha ha, very funny!"  She stands up and looks to make her way from the crowd.