Akyan doesn't hesitate to jump in and help the workers with preparations and gathering animals. He's glad for his leather coat, he would be even more freezing without it. He makes sure to keep an eye on Anthony when he can. His friend might seem to get around just fine, but with a limp like that he wouldn't be surprised if the other man slipped on the mud slick ground...he wouldn't be surprised if anyone slipped in this weather. Luckily, everyone managed to keep their footing and get the job done.

Rather than mirroring the phrase for a third time, Akyan simply nods to Tom and then follows the burly man back to the house. Once inside, he takes off his coat and hangs it on the rack to dry, then he removes his boots as to not track mud everywhere. Wiping some of his rain matted hair from his face, he glances around his gathered siblings. He notices that Jared looks distracted but doesn't think much of it. He's likely just thinking about Aoelwyn.

Jared walks out to see Kora. His smile broadens.
"Playin' in tha mud an' picking daisies again, Pudge?" he teases the now druid.
To Jared's mind, Kora was notoriously covered in mud and twigs trying to sneak into the kitchen whenever Rhea would back pastries or a pie hence his nickname for her. 
When the door opens and Tom, Anthony, and Akyan enter, Jared smiles and nods. Lightning flashes as Tom closes the door. Jared sees the figure just as it closes. Jared rushes forward and opens the door, looking out into the stormy night. 
His features shift slightly as he taps into his "Beast side", to grant himself dark vision. He looks around to see if he can catch a glimpse again and sniffs the air.
Perception: 4

Anthony raises his eyebrows at what seemed like an odd reaction to a lightning strike, even a close one, from Jared, but it was such a small thing, it didn't merit questioning the man on. Instead, he leaned against a handy wall or doorframe, a habit developed to take pressure off his leg that had the added benefit of helping him keep his armored bulk out of the way. He glances toward the kitchens to make sure no one is poking their head out listening, then quietly, "People said you found her, I think all of us ... have questions with all the strangeness. If you don't mind talking about it?"

Zathon had stayed inside to make sure Kora was sorted and to answer any other questions she had, or at least the ones he could rightly answer. As Tom and the other boys return he looks over to them, nodding at Anthony's words. They all had a lot of questions.

Anthony doesn't like putting this kind of pressure on the man, but nothing happening here is normal. Having opened the topic, he lets the others lead the conversation, leaning back and absentmindedly rubbing the stiffness from his leg after a day spent mostly on his feet.

Aoufie moves back to the common room to let those that are wet, space to dry out. Humph Tom the same gruff man I remember. He carefully stores the parchment paper into his bag. Leaving that bit of mystery to the back of his mind. He will patiently wait for dinner and tune his lute in the meantime. 

"You had folks lurking about of late Tom?" Jared asks the man. 

Jared suspiciously analyzes the surrounding area, sniffing the air and eyeing the landscape. As he taps into his inner beast, details become crisper and the colors more vibrant. New odors appear for him: the smell of mud, dead leaves composting, acrid ozone from electricity dancing in the sky, and the smell of something decaying nearby. Other than that, he doesn't notice anything new. 

To Jared's inquiry, Tom sniffs and gruffly responds, "No more than usual.'' He's probably referring to the guests that Aoelwyn was prone to entertaining recently. "Better close that door. Don't want to let the heat out."

-----------

At Anthony's inquiry, he says, "Let's go the living room to discuss. My feet need a break.'' With stiff gate, he begins moving towards the living room near the kitchen. 

The living room is rather spacious. Chairs and couches made out of what appears to be woven vines line the walls of the rectangular room. Another fire pops and crackles in the fireplace, warming the room to a comfortable temperature. Several paintings and pictures cover the walls, most of which are of the children that have called this place home. You each find painting of yourself as a child up on the wooden walls surrounded by a number of similar portraits of other children. On the ceiling, and large spiraling sun design is etched into the fine wood. You recall that the sun in the center usually glows with a warm light reminiscent of sunlight, but it too isn't functioning within the dead zone created by the circle of stones outside. 

Tom sinks into one of the chairs in front of the fire, sighing in relief as he does. The woven chair groans under his frame, but it holds up just fine. He bends over and takes of his shoes. setting his shoes on the ground nearby, he extends his legs and rests his feet close the hearth in an attempt to dethaw his toes hidden within sodden and woolen socks. He gestures for all of you to take a sit in one of the chairs that from a ring of chairs all facing the fire. After a moment of bathing in the warmth, he says, "Ask away."

Anthony follows, still armored and on edge enough to feel uncomfortable taking off his boots, but he does gratefully sit on a wooden chair. "Well, we know almost nothing. What do you think happened?" He could ask more detail focused questions, but Tom had been here a long time. And, as a rule, the less someone talked, the more they noticed.

As the rest leave for the other room Jared waits for a moment, looking out into the storm and darkness. Seeing nothing he will close the door and follow the rest of the group.
Walking in as Anthony finishes his question, Jared takes a seat along the far left side of the room and listens. 

Tom lays his head back on the couch and closes his eyes. He remains silent for a few seconds before saying somberly, “None have been able to figure it out yet. If I had to take a guess, I’d say it has something to do with her meetings. She never told us what she was working on except for that it was important.” He falls silent again, eyes still closed. For an uncomfortably long moment, he remains silent, listening to the crackling fire. 

He clears his throat before continuing. “I found her body out in the backyard near the garden just before the sun was a bout to rise several days ago. There was no sign of a scuffle, and we didn’t find any wounds on her body. Don’t how she died…” He trails off, and you can see a faint glimmer of a tear sparkling brimming at the corner of his eye that sparkles in the firelight. It seems the normally stoic man had emotions after all, and this is the first time you’ve seen him express himself outside of scowling.

Akyan looks around the living room upon entering. There are so many memories in this house...

He chooses a chair fairly close to the fire, and stays silent. Listening to Tom answer Anthony. "Can you describe any of the people she was meeting with? Have any of them come back since you found her?" He asks after a brief moment.

Aoufie listens to Tom's recounting of events. In his mind he can see clearly Aunty Grym gardening and the fresh scent of tilled soil. He blinks away a tear and continues to listen to see what else Tom's knows. 

Eyes still closed, Tom’s brow furrows as he tries to recall the visitors that had been stopping by the past few months. He says, “There were a lot of them, and I’m sorry to say I don’t remember what they all looked like. I remember there were a pair of kids, twins I think. There was also a man in some kind of chair with wheels. I also saw Aoelwyn talking with a raven a lot, but those are all of the specific ones I remember.” He opens his eyes and leans toward, staring into the fire. “Like I said, they were an odd lot.”

If it were up to Anthony, he would take her body to a priest to question her directly, but he assumed they'd have done so, if they'd been comfortable with that kind of magic. Perhaps she'd made it clear she was against it in life. "Anything strange leading up to it? Might have seen like nothing at the time, but now..."

"Well, there are the mists that started rolling in about a month ago. Townsfolk reported that cattle would disappear and wind up dead somewhere out in that blasted fog." You can all see him start to fidget uncomfortably when talking about the mists. He still stares into the fire however, and he reaches into his shirt and removes a pendant hanging from a silver chain. You catch a glimpse of it in his clenched fist; it looks a sun setting behind rolling hills emblazoned on a disk of gold. He begins habitually rubbing in and muttering something under his breath, something you've seen him do on occasion when something bad happened. Tom was always a superstitious man, seeing omens in way clouds formed and such, and he had a handful of rituals he rotated through when he came across something he deemed ill-fortuned.

After finishing his ritualistic prayer, he tucks the amulet away and says, "Other than that, I haven't noticed much else."

Jared immediately becomes suspicious when Tom pulls out his charm and mutters to himself.
"What do you know Tom?" he asks the man. "What are you not telling us?"

Fog, livestock disappearances. That was weird and didn't really seem like it would have anything to do with someone tampering with the stones or killing Aoelwyn. "No injuries still? Just dead?" The should probably examine her body, even if they couldn't question it directly.

"I always thought she put the stones up, do you know if that's true, or if they were here beforehand?"

"I know that those mists are no good. They're a sign of evil where I'm from, and that's about all you need to know about them," he vehemently responds snaps at Jared. He fixes Jared with a glare, glowering at the man. Even though he only mentioned the mist briefly, you see his hand reach for his pendant hidden underneath his shirt again.

Taking a few breaths to calm his nerves, he says to Anthony, "We couldn't find any injuries, but not all wounds are physical. You of all people should know that." His tone is still brusque, but not as harsh as it was with Jared. He clearly is not a fan of mist and fog if he becomes this agitated just by talking about them. Tom was usually fairly short with people, but you have rarely head him talk with this much emotion.

He stands up suddenly, causing the chair to scoot back a few feet, its wooden legs scraping and grinding across the waxed floors. Not looking at anyone in particular, he says in a tone devoid of emotion as his clenched fists tremble at his sides, "If you'll excuse me, I have things I need to do."

Without waiting for a response, he turns around and storms out of room.

((If you want to see what you know about his amulet, roll a religion check))

religion 11 The Caravan City was trade hub, and people brought their gods with them. He was certain he'd seen something like the symbol, but whether he could remember the name attached was another matter. Most of Anthony's life threatening injuries had left scars, so he wasn't sure what Tom was getting at saying 'he of all people' , but he put it to the man being upset.