Gilgin shakes his head, “It’s a shame, nobody should have to suffer alone.” 

Gilgin turns to the human, “Just for fun eh? This might sound funny but... the moose, would you say it was beautiful?”

Hifu grows stern.  "That makes me mad.  The loggers here are just trying to get by and that is hard work, I know.  How should we go about finding this Moose?  I want to put a stop to it..."  He stands to his full height and begins to crack his knuckles, stretching his muscles.  As an aside, despite his change in age, you notice that Hifu is moving a lot faster than he used to.  

James comes over from the fire and accepts a drink, listening to the conversations, but remaining quiet.

When it's mentioned that the moose seems to be attacking the loggers for sport, James remarks.

"That cant be good. When normally non-aggressive animals start behaving like that, it's sometimes a sigh of something unnatural having happening."

"Something in their environment, or something directly, like with the ghost."

"We should approach this one with a little extra caution I think."

Hifu says “What else has been happening around here?  Has anyone tried to kill or capture this White Moose?  Any suggestions of where it was seen last?  Perhaps we can hunt it, but we want to know more if possible.  After another drink...”  

Danae looks at the two still half full jugs and shrugs before she pours them together into one. She takes the empty jug and leaves behind the bar for a few moments. (4 more silver from Hifu for an extra 2 liter of spiced ale)

Hearda, the human keeps on talking: “ It started around three weeks ago, a group of loggers came back and one of them missing. They said that they got attacked by a rabid white moose. The moose attacked them and killed Jemerir. They were so shocked that they fled. The next day we sent a group of hunters, but while they found and recovered Jemerirs body, the moose was gone. When they followed the tracks, they just stoped, they got covered by snowdrifts. Since then we tried to send out more loggers, but when we send them on their own or only with a hunter or two, then they get attacked, but if we send enough hunters to take down the moose, it doesn’t attack. Now the problem is, that if we do send all the hunters with the loggers, then they are not hunting or fishing and we would run low on food.”

"Perhaps we can go with some of the loggers, try and flush the moose out and finish it off?"

James continues to drink, letting the warmth of the spiced ale warm him to his core.

“Like i said it looks like the moose avoids confrontations with groups it can not beat, so if the group is to big, it won’t show up. Your best bet is to talk with the speaker, she should be with her kids at her house at the moment.”

”This moose sounds like a pain.” Gilgin grumbles, “Me, I’ve steered clear of the woods fer a while now. Always trouble coming out of there. We can head in, and I can try to detect if there’s anything more to this moose. If not, we can hunt it and have a great feast. Otherwise, well.... it’ll be up to your speaker I guess, but some things ain’t worth messing with, might be time to learn a new trade.”

Gilgin chuckles, nudging Hearda and winking. Before locking eyes with Hifu and somewhat remembering himself “We’ll try our best though.”  He says bashfully before he raises his whole jug of ale and finishes it off. “Alright then, James, we gonna get yer dogs into the cabin? Yous lot gonna come, stsy or speak to Nimsey?” He looks to Denae, ”Is the cabin open?“ 

“The Ramshackle? the old inn? Sure, we don’t lock it, it is quite hard to steal a whole tree undetected. Hifu should remember the way.“

After we are sufficiently refreshed and lubricated, Hifu leads James and his dogs & sled to The Ramshackle, seeking shelter for them.  Then we would make for Speaker Nimsey Huddle's house, to seek shelter and her counsel.  

Before we leave the The Lucky Liar however, I would like to speak with Boga in the bar, as well as Giles.  

To Boga "Greetings Boga, long time no see!  Have you been about the area to scout and find any footprints or do you have any idea of where this White Moose is coming from?  Where should we start?  Would you be willing to come with us and aid us in our quest?  I will be dressing  and outfitting myself as a logger, perhaps our friend Nyx can stay hidden and we can look like a small party of loggers coming out to work.  If you would be willing, I think it will help in our odds on this hunt.  We plan to start tomorrow morning if everyone is ready.  What do you think?"  Boga is a scout and somewhat of a wizard, I think he could help us in this situation.

To Giles "How is business Giles?  Cold enough for you?  I know, you're tired of that one.  It's said a lot nowadays.  Look, we were going to hunt this White Moose tomorrow and see if we can help the loggers who work this area, I feel like they are my brothers.  I was wondering, do you have any potions that could help us, by healing us or keeping us warm during this dreadful cold?  I know this situation has hurt the town, if you could help us in this way we would be most grateful.  I know you brew the best potions in the area and your fame has spread in this area and in Ten Towns, everyone who is anyone knows of your skill.  Any suggestions you have for us?"  Hifu stops and gives him a short bow.    Giles is halfling alchemist, and he may have something to help us as well.  

Giles tells you he may have a few things that could help you and to meet him tomorrow morning at his house, he passes the bow back to you saying he will look at it in the morning when sober.

Boga will also talk with you and the Speaker in the morning. He is not much of a fighter, but his familiar is quite a good tracker.

So you finish your drinks, gather your belongings and head to what used to be the inn. Hifu leads you around to the stable and as expected, the doors are open. It isn’t the most comfortable stable but sheltered. You find a dry corner and make sure the dogs are taken care of. Next Hifu leads you to Speaker Nimsy Huddles house.

Nimsey is surprised to see a much older Hifu. She invites you inside her kitchen and tempts you with freshly baked, halfling-shaped cookies. Her house was clearly built for humans, but most of the furniture is sized for halflings, with a few big chairs for visitors of taller stock. Four halfling children scamper from room to room and climb a ladder up to the loft, chasing one another with wooden swords, while a fire crackles in the hearth in Speaker Huddle’s cluttered kitchen.

“Our loggers are being terrorized by the  white moose,” says Speaker Huddle, “and the beast has eluded the hunters we’ve sent to kill it. We depend on the forest for our survival. I wouldn’t be a very good town speaker if I let a dumb moose get the better of us. Will you help?”

Once Hifu takes the party to the stable, Gilgin starts looking around for any hint of why DeGroonz may have taken his own life. Pondering to Hifu, “You knew the old boy yeah? Did he seem particularly down? Truth be told, I get it. Who knows where I’d be if I never met Nyx and Kravek on that boat, and then you and James in Terlamaine. You can’t go through life alone I guess, sometimes you need help. I know I’m not the easiest, and I haven’t always been this way but.... it means a lot to me that you stick with me.”

Peception or Investigation  10  plus 2 for perception, -1 for investigation.

Afterwards, Gilgin will cast detect evil and good to check if anything more sinister might be involved.

“Absolutely Nimsey, you can count on us.  We have heard that sometimes too many hunters will scare it off.  How big of a party was it when that occurred?  We also wanted to see if Boga could help us track the thing, do you have any good idea where we should start?”

Hifu also adds “We are also needing a place to stay for the night.  Can we stay with you here?  I can play The Mighty Blue Dragon and allow your children to “slay” me.  My acting services will hopefully pay the price of our room.”  Hifu dramatically takes a fake wooden sword plunge to the heart and drops to the floor, hamming it up.

Gilgin chuckles at Hifus melodrama, “Yes Speaker, we’ll catch yer moose for ye. It sounds like yer people have had quite the hardship this year. If we can help keep them from any more, we’ll do what we can.”

Kravek moves carefully in the halflings home. Trying not to step on any belongings or children that are running around. 

We will gladly help take care of the moose. My brothers and father are loggers. It would be good to be out amongst the trees to help other loggers. It would be a reminder of home for me. 

Nyx actually shrugged off most of the winter gear and went to play with the kids, chasing them around and making monster noises.

Just before running off she said, "I'll let the boys do the talking and see if I can distract these brave fighters while you talk business."

Gilgin, you take your time to search the former inn while the others take care of the dogs. It is a bit damp inside, because no one lived here for the last year or more, but over all the building is ok. A normal inn, nothing exceptional. Your magic also reveals no special  ghosts or anything.

Nimsey tells you, that they did try to trick the moose with disguised hunters before, but it always seam to know where a lonely hunter or a small group of logger may be and it never attacked any group that may be dangerous to it. The best bet would be most likely to search for new tracks and follow them.

"The area's where the loggers have been attacked, how far out is it from the town, how long a journey is it?"

"Is the area large or localised? Would we possibly need to cover a large area to search for the beast?"

'Do you think a small group as ours with a dog sled would be likely to scare off the beast? Do you think we should leave the dogs and sled behind?"

"Any help and insight you can give us would be much appreciated."

“Because of the light, we normally don’t go to deep into the forrest. But after the first few incidents we tried other places north and east, but somehow the moose almost always knew where a vulnerable group was. There were a few days without attack, but that only happened once , just after the month started. As for your sled, the forest can get thick if you move deeper inside, so it may be more hindrance then help. The dogs themself could help you, at least they can warn you if something is comeing. Boga can try, but so far he didn’t had much luck.

Also of course you can stay here, Hifus friends are our friends. It may be a bit cramped in the attic, but it will be warm. Just don’t mind the boxes up there, i never was able to get rid of memories, so all the old toys of my kids and my late husbands belongings are up there.”