Nyx has fallen asleep somewhere deep in the bundles.

James directs the dogs in the direction Gilgan points, pulling up outside the building.

James looks around to see if there is anywhere to lodge his dogs and the sled.

Gilgin waddles over to the group without closing the door behind him.

As James looks for somewhere to put his dogs, Gilgin pats him on the shoulder. “I’ll get you a drink, careful with the folk around here.” He imparts his guidance on James and makes his way into the tavern turning to his friends. “Let’s get warm, see if anyone knows about this moose then go see the Speaker about a room.”

"GIlgin you should know better than to mess with old Ned, he is an angry little wart that is madder than spit on a good day.  He does like his coffee though.  Let's go in here, have a drink and find out what's what about the Moose and see if we can stay with Speaker Nimsey."  Hifu walks down the street into the Tavern and bellies up to the bar.  He pulls stools out for his friends.  If there is a fire going he takes his turn to put wood on it and stoke it up for the room.  He looks around the room to see what he can ascertain.  

Perception  :   21

(Hifu is too cold to notice anything, will take a while to warm up from the blizzard.)

Kravek will follow Gilgin and Hifu as they lead the way. 

He will help James park his ride near the building and look for Nyx inside the sled. Kravek will carry the sleeping Nyx inside towards the warm fire. Lets get you warmed up little one. 

Once inside he will be sure to do a headcount to see if everyone is safely inside. Then take off his snowshoes and coat to warm up by the fire himself. 

Gilgin smiles sheepishly at Hifu’s advice. “Aye, he did seem a bit of a crank.” 

Gilgin heads straight to the bar, “Good day to ye, how much for four tankards of mulled beer? Me and my pals here are here to deal with yer moose problem, ye know anything about it?”

James accepts Kravek's help.

"Thanks, lets put them on this side of the building, its more out of the wind."

James indicates a location.

Together the pair secure the sled and the dogs and while Kravek is carrying Nyx inside, James forms a small snow bank around the dogs to give them a little more protection from the wind.

James follows the others inside, taking off his gloves and pulling his mask and hood down.

James heads over to the fire to warm his hands.

"If we are going to be staying in town for the rest of the day, I'm going to want proper lodging for the dogs soon."

"I don't want to leave them out in this weather for too long."

"They should be fine for now, but once they settle down, they wont be generating the same heat they do when running, so they wont stay warm as easily."

Since the tavern isn’t providing lodging for guests, there is no need for a stable either. With Hifus help, you do find a little empty shelter behind the Tavern.

Hifu looks around for Nimsy Huddle, a female halfling who is the Speaker of Lonelywood.  If he spots her, he will approach her and invite her to join us.  "We came here from Termalaine and came this way through a blizzard.  How is Lonelywood doing?   It has been quite a while since I have been here.  What happened to the inn?  We need a place to stay for the night, could you help us?  Is there any way that we could help Lonelywood?  Have you heard anything about this Moose that is in the area?"  He asks her a number of questions and offers her a beer.

There are 5 more people and the barkeep in the tavern:

2 male humans, 2 halflings (a woman and a man) and a male half elf are sitting around a large table near the fireplace and talking. A gameboard with stones and dice is set up between the two halflings.

The female black haired Half Elf who is behind the bar calls out to Gilgin: “My pleasure master dwarf, show me some coin and i’ll get you the best mulled ale north of the spine.” She stops for a moment when Hifu walks in “Hifu is that you? Long time not seen, are you working as a guide for those adventures now or did you became one yourself ?”

When she calls out to the dragonborn, it catches the attention of the other patrons and you hear murmured recognition and friendly greetings. 

(a gallon/4 liters of nice spiced ale will cost you 8 silver)

Hifu breaks into a huge grin, “Danae Xotal, how the hell are you?  You are a sight for sore eyes, we are glad to be here!  I am with this rag tag group of mother scratchers , I am an adventurer you could say!  We just came through a blizzard between here and Termalaine, we definitely need that spiced ale!  I know I look a good bit different, I feel 20 years older it seems.  Quite a scary experience we had with a mine around there, will have to tell you about it sometime.  These are my friends, Kravek, James, Gilgin and Nyx.  Please treat ‘em right and don’t shove them out in the snow.  How the hell are you doing, what has been happening around here?  It’s been a couple of years since I’ve seen you last....”.  Hifu stops and sits down at the bar, motions everyone to join him.

Nyx stirs at the mention of her name, but takes a good few minutes to fully come to her senses and feel like a person.

"Hi, I'm Nyx. Pleasure to mmm..." Her eyes bulge as she sees the large quantity of spiced ale. "Yes please."

It'll take her a good long while to warm up both physically and socially.

“Blessings Denae” Gilgin nods to the half elf as he hands her a gold piece “Better make that five, since the li’lun’s awake.” 

He takes the container and holds it close to his chest, the warmth soothing his chills. Opening the lid, steam wafts up into Gilgins face and he inhales, taking in the odour of hops, cloves and cinnamon. He take’s a big glug straight from the Flagon, a look of content spreading across his face. 

Danae gives you two large steaming jugs of spiced ale and a couple of mugs to help yourself, before she sits down with you. “You do look quite a bit more mature then last time, but on the other hand i was never good at judging your age. Not much experience with your kind up here, you know....Nearly two years isn’t it? DeGroonz hung himself in his inn last year, only a couple months into the darkness. We use it as a warehouse now, to keep the timber dry. If there is a merchant who needs to stay for a night, Nimsey usually takes them in.”

“Hey Boga, Hearda, Hifu and his friends here want to help you with that pesky moose. You got any leads for them?” A stout black-haired human and a expensive clothed red-haired half elf look at each other, shrug and then come over to you.

“Good to see you again Hifu, how have you been. Thought you went south when the winter didn’t stop.”

 “Our loggers are being terrorized by a white moose,” says the human “and the beast has eluded the hunters we’ve sent to kill it.” The half elf adds. “Hifu, you know that most of the villages depend on our wood, if we let this moose run wild, it will impact the whole Dale...”

"Danae do you know where she is?  We may take her up on that offer tonight if she is agreeable.  James also needs somewhere to store his dogsled and dogs, is there a place out back?"

Hifu takes a deep draught of the spiced ale.  "Ah, that tickles the ribs.  And warms me up.  Thank you."   He turns to Gilgin  "Thank you for buyin this round.  Next one is mine."  He stops and muses for a bit.  "When I left here a couple of years ago to find my fortune I was a young strapping lad of 17, full of pee and vinegar.  Now I feel like I'm 37, after the adventures I've had with these yahoos.  We cleared out a mine for the Speaker of Termalaine, found a floating brain creature with tentacles, but that's not the half of it.  Also found a pack of kobolds, and one of them was possessed with a ghost!  Scared the bejeezus out of me.  I've felt much older ever since then.  We have been through a lot together, these are my brothers really.  I'd fight or die for any one of them."  He stops and takes a deep drink again.  He's getting a little maudlin the longer he drinks.

After a while he says : "Do you know anything about the White Moose that has been bothering people around here?  We heard about it in Termalaine.  Bothering loggers and whatnot?"  Hifu turns and sees a male human in the room, calls him over.  "Hearda, how are you doing, come over here.  You weak arm bastard!  How has it been here?  Do you need any of my help splitting those trees?  I can breathe on them with my trick and split the trunk, cause 'em to fall to help you, if you need me.  Have you heard or seen anything about this White Moose around here?" 

“Nimsey should be at her house i think, as for the dogs, the old inns stable is still standing if they don’t mind sharing with a few logs of timber.” Danae replies.

The two men reach for empty mugs, but look at Gilgin and wait for permissions.

“Go for it Laddies!” Gilgin smiles to the two men, but keeps hugging his own flagon to his body for warmth. “The more the merrier as they say! Besides, any friend of Hifu is welcome to drink with me.” He looks warmly at Hifu.

Gilgin rubs his beard, “I’m sorry for yer man who topped himself. Was he a lonely man? In any debt? The saddest thing isn’t that they’re gone, it’s that they suffered enough by living that they wanted to end it.”

Nyx listens to the conversation and says, "I have never seen a moose, but aren't they like big grass eating things? How does one terrorize the loggers? '

“Not really, he lived alone , but he did so since he arrived here like 30 years ago. As far as we know nothing really changed.” Danae replies to Gilgin.

“A male moose is naturally big and strong, but this one is something else. It can outsmart our hunters and it got a nasty character. It seams to target and injure our loggers just for fun.” Haerda the human replies to Nyx.