Aunt Dellie thanks you again, and then leaves to confer with others in the crowd.

As you begin to hike through town, before you get twenty feet through the crowd, a tall, broad-shouldered woman wearing a multicolored dress that complements her dark skin approaches boldly, sizing you up from beneath a stylish hat. “I overheard your conversation with Aunt Dellie. You see, nothing important gets past Lady Dre. I hear you’re bound for the Rattle? Excellent—I’ll accompany you. We should depart at once.”

Tuuli stops and considers the woman. “That’s a stylish hat,” she says. “Fine by me if you join. I’m Tuuli.”

As the party gets on their way, Walt walks with Baldar and Bendrak and awkwardly tries to make small talk. 

“Nice day isn’t it?…I mean…the weather. It’s quite pleasant.” Walt pauses for a bit in a somewhat awkward fashion before continuing.

“I…I wasn’t referring to the situation earlier. Um…anyway; I don’t believe I mentioned this, but I have some unique…abilities at my disposal. I can wild shape into various beasts! I just wanted to give you a warning. I’ve been known to transform into a large mastiff or a weasel. I quite fancy the axe beak, mule, wolf and giant lizard as well!”

"Thank you!" responds Lady Dre to Tuuli, doffing her hat to admire it for a moment.

"That attack was horrifying," she adds, putting it back on. "I want to make sure no other folk in the Rattle are in danger. I have horses, and I have a comfortable wagon. If we're going to head into a mystery, we should be prepared to transport anyone who might have been harmed or afflicted."

"We have enough weasels and wolves," she replies to Walt. "I recommend humans. In any event, let's go fetch my wagon. Just down the road here." She points down a side street.

Tuuli is definitely ready to follow this complete stranger wherever she wants, apparently solely based on said stranger’s fashion sense.

Lucky, on the other hand, makes an Insight check to see how his instincts lay: 18 

Walt whispers to Baldar and Bendrak “excuse me, I’m going to chat up our new…companion.”

He picks up pace to catch up to Lady Dre. “Thank you so much for lending aid to my friends and I. It’s so helpful to have a local guide us on this journey. And you’re right, the attack was quite horrible!Have you ever heard of or experienced such a thing? And how familiar are you with Rattle?”

As he talks to Lady Dre, Walt would like to make a perception check to see if he spots anything out of the ordinary on her and see what, if any, weapons she’s carrying.

Perception check: 11

Baldar walks alongside Walt, nodding and smiling at his attempts at small talk, while chewing enthusiastically on her kebab with her mouth open. She remembers her mother telling her once that doing so was a dwarven trait and most other folk found it extremely rude. And so with a little cough and an "excuse me", she makes the effort to close her mouth while chewing.

She listens also to Lady Dre, pausing mid-chew when the woman says I recommend humans. What an odd thing to say, Baldar thinks. Putting the rest of her kebab away for later, she places both hands on her axe, planning to keep a close eye on this woman during their journey.

Lucky reports that Lady Dre smells nice but is not really a cat person. The woman shrinks a little when Lucky gets too close, and Walt spots a short sword hidden in the folds of her bright blue dress.

"I get up to the Rattle occasionally," she responds to Walt, "Lady Dre has her hands in a lot of great trades! Trades are like people—uniquely beautiful if appreciated properly. So I certainly know how to get there. And while there have been attacks and even killings by feral beasts and awful monsters up there, I've never seen anything like this before. The farmland here in the Ribbon becomes less fertile each year, you see, so groups of young farmers have begun to plant crops in the Rattle. New volunteers keep working in the Rattle to help provide for our people. If the bounty of the Ribbon continues to fade, learning to survive in the Rattle will prove vital to supporting all of Godsbreath’s people. So we don't have a lot of choices. Here we are."

She stops outside a tidy one-story shop in a congested part of the town. She signals to an assistant who soon drives a horsedrawn wagon out of an attached stable and garage into the street. It's a fine, well-maintained, comfortable, and attractive wagon.

Walt listens to what Lady Dre has to say, but his mind begins to drift off as he remembers something Harrow mentioned the other night at the Cat. His memory is a bit fuzzy due to the strong drinks,  but he remembers Harrow saying something about listening to a song at the “Awakening Festival”. Walt didn’t think anything of it at the time, but after seeing those farmers attacking innocent bystanders while the people sang a song off in the distance, now his concern is beginning to grow. 

Walt approaches Lady Dre with some more questions just as the wagon arrives. “Lady Dre, our friend Harrow invited us to visit a festival in Promise. He mentioned the festival was called the Awakening Festival. At first, I thought nothing of it. But now after seeing what just happened;  I’m a bit curious, what exactly is the Awakening Festival? What exactly is being awakened? And what do you know of this song that the people were singing?”

"The Awakening Festival is a critically important part of our culture," responds Lady Dre. "It awakens us. It unites us as we tell our history in song and sets our course for the upcoming year. The song is a communal retelling of our land’s history and a memorial to those who’ve passed on. It recounts our local histories," here she lowers her voice slightly. "For example, Culley’s drowning - that story Aunt Dellie was telling you about - is part of the Awakening Song now."

She clambers confidently into the driver's seat of the carriage, taking the reins from her assistant and beckoning you aboard her handsome wagon. She continues, "It's like a living history of the land. Some verses of the Awakening Song tell stories of the gods’ past exploits and share signs of their current influence - evidence of the gods’ influence and motives in all things. So we relive our shared history through the Awakening Song each year. This situation we are in right now may become part of the Song. Let's get going."

But somebody is blocking the road ahead, at the intersection of this lane with the main road. A small-statured woman in blue and yellow, holding a carved wooden staff and wearing a flowing multicolored scarf stands directly in the middle of the road, watching you intently.

Benrak has been mostly staying out of the conversation and watching the surroundings - as far as  he's concerned he's on guard duty. 

He watches the woman in the road as they approach, waiting for a cue from Dre or Harrow, or for her to charge at them like one of the bewitched villagers.

Ooc: DM, does Lady Dre stand out from the other residents of Promise as if she has status or is of wealth? Does her handsome, well crafted and maintained wagon seem out of place or does it stand out from other wagons or carts we may have seen?

Tuuli, who of course on the board next to Lady Dre, nudges her in the side, "Do you know her?"

(Walt - Insight check: 18)

"Yes," replies Lady Dre to Tuuli, with perhaps a little caution or reservation in her voice. "That, my friends, is a Proclaimer. Let's see what she wants."

The culture of Godsbreath feels strangely foreign to Walt. He can't seem to get any sense of how Lady Dre might stand out or be different – if indeed she does at all – from her fellow citizens of Promise.

Lady Dre flicks the reins and closes the forty feet or so between the wagon and the woman in the road before halting. 

"Proclaimer!" Lady Dre calls out to her, removing her hat in deference to the small, intense woman standing in the road. "Good morning! What can I do for you?"

Tuuli waits to see what the small woman says or does, holding Lucky protectively in her lap.

Baldar leaps onto the wagon, admiring its solid build and craftsmanship. As she studies the joinery, her stomach grumbles loudly and she clutches at it with a chagrined expression; "Musta been that kebab. 'twas pretty spicy." At this, she notices the woman standing in the road blocking their way, Dre's cautionary tone alerting her to a potential issue here.

"Hello there, Proclaimer. We are just visitors to your fine village and are headed up to the Rattle to investigate the scuffle that happened earlier. Lady Dre here offered us a ride. Is there something the matter?" Following Dre's lead, she offers a small bow of respect.

"I am Proclaimer Tungsten Ward," she says softly. "I want to join your expedition." She climbs aboard the wagon without waiting for your reply.

"I research magical manifestations across Godsbreath that are signs of the gods’ power—or challenges to it," she explains, looking at the road ahead. "I witnessed the attack and spoke with the witnesses in the aftermath. I need to investigate what led to the farmers’ violent behavior and determine whether it’s linked to other misfortunes in the region, like the waning crop yields in the Ribbon. There is a story here that needs to be told."

Tuuli shrugs happily. “It’s not a party without people! Welcome aboard!”