Chilling Adventures in the North

Bjorn also tries to fit himself inside this less-than-spacious home.

"Nice place you've got here," Bjorn states. "How do you know your neighbour?"

Ricky shifts in his chair to get more comfortable. "She's... I talk to her. When I can. Mostly I just look over at her. I help her with her yard now and then, and I've fixed a bent horseshoe for her a couple times. She's come by for dinner now and then, but mostly just to argue, I think." 

     "Sounds like a wife," Bán says in a teasing, but half serious way.  

     "Good mead!" he notes quickly after, trying to cover up any offense of shock he may have caused.  "But I suppose it would be hard to live here and not have the good stuff..."

"Oh, I'd marry her, if she could ever lay off me for five minutes about whatever it is that's stuck in her craw that day. She's a fine woman, just... Well, it's good there's mead. That is good." Ricky salutes to everyone around the room as they squeeze in and partake.

Qinfaren savours the mead then looks over at Ricky.

"Who should we talk to in the morning about the verbeeg?"

 "Olivessa Untapoor. Caskmaker. The verbeeg stole her goods, so it might come back. She's a vested interest in knowing."

Qinfaren nods and looks around to find enough room to stretch out on the floor to sleep.

”There. We have a plan.“ he says as he shuts his eyes.

Bjorn also finds space and settles down to try and sleep.

The night is fairly quiet. However, the sound of a wailing wind blows around Ricky's home throughout the night. Nevertheless, you all get a long rest and feel refreshed.

     Upon awakening Bán send Owl out the stretch their wings and scout the surroundings.  He expects no surprises or dangers to be found here in Good Meade but it is just a long habit and part of the morning ritual.

     "Should we break our fast first or seek out this Olivessa first?" Bán asks of the others, tending to his gear and making sure everything is in it's proper place.  

Qinfaren stretches out but catches himself and brings his arms and legs back in before he knocks something over.

"Let's eat quickly," Qinfaren says. "If we can find this verbeeg early today, with luck we could still be in Dougan's Hole by the evening."

He looks around.

"Is there honey?" Qinfaren asks.

Ricky has some honey around the house, I'd assume. For Pooh bear.

Ricky unscrews his thermos and sips at his coffee. He looks downright unfriendly first thing in the morning, but he leads the way towards Olivessa. 

After partaking in some of Ricky's honey, Bjorn joins him in finding Olivessa.

Ricky leads you over to her house, and he knocks on the door. It takes a moment but eventually, the door opens and inside, you see a middle-aged human woman. She looks at each of the faces standing in front of her before resting on Ricky's.

"Hmm, didn't expect to see you around here so soon. Shandar Froth, your rival for the speakership, has left town, by the way. He left not long after you did. I don't know where he gone to, but he might be up to something.

Now why is it that I find you at my doorstep at this hour?"

Ricky gestures to the group with a flourish. "I've acquired some assistance to track down the verbeeg and deal with it permanently. At only a small price of going to help them deal with a problem dwarf to the south. Supposed to be building a dragon? Sounds daft, but whatever. An easy trade and I won't hear it said that Good Mead takes help without providing help in return. Ya know... When I'm speaker." 

Qinfaren watches Ricky as he speaks. 

"I think you might be underestimating the threat the Sunblight family is," Qinfaren says to Ricky but then he turns to Olivessa. "But yes, we're here to help stop the verbeeg from causing problems. Anything you can tell us about where they were seen and where they may have gone will be a help. We've heard they stole something of yours."

"Definitely, underestimating the Singlights," Bjorn agrees, nodding.

Olivessa decides to ignore the remarks about the dwarves.

"The verbeeg? Right, well, yeah, he stole three casks of mead. Didn't exactly take them from me, mind you. I just make the casts. I don't fill them.

Then you did get the mead back, right? There are those who want to exact revenge on him, I suppose. One party did leave here to track him down. That was after you came back. I don't know what happened to them, though. If you do want to have a go at tracking him down, then I recommend you go do that. You found his lair already right?"

     "Lair?  Hmm, did we know about a lair?" Bán asks, looking to the others.  "I think not or we would have checked there first, yes?"

     "Honestly though, I never did know anyone who had a lair before.  This will be interesting indeed.  It sounds so...  Villainous."

Qinfaren looks at Olivessa as she speaks, curious at her response. He decides she might not be of the most help.

"Who's mead did they take?" Qinfaren asks. "And do you know where the last group started from?"

(my bad, I misunderstood backstory details. Didn't realize we found a lair or that it wasn't Olivessa they were taken from)

Ricky will describe where the lair is, since there's nothing more recent

Qinfaren nods now that Ricky recalls a bit more detail about the verbeeg problem.

”That’s probably the best place to start. If you can remember the way, lead on.”

If they head out into the woods and Ricky follows the old trail, Qinfaren will keep an eye out for trouble ahead.

Perception: 15  
 

(I did wonder where you were going with this.

"He took the mead from the town," Olivessa replies. "I make the casks in which to store the famous brew. Most of the people of Good Mead work in the Mead Hall to make the mead. Try saying that three times fast. However, given the current state of affairs, we are struggling to meet the demand of the other towns. That's why we desperately wanted those three casks back. That's why Speaker Kendrick Rielsbarrow risked his life. May the gods rest his soul.

Although, I think they may have halted deliveries due to the verbeeg. So, they will resume the deliveries if you return to his lair and finish him off."

With Ricky's description of the lair, you all head off toward the edge of the rest just northwest of Good Mead. As you approach, a figure in cold-weather clothing lurches out of the woods into plain view, running as fast as he can through the deep snow. Slung over his back are a pair of animal traps, one of which appears to contain a panicked fox.