Chilling Adventures in the North

As Murharg approaches, the woman turns her attention to him, "I think there's a few things that people call a homeless woman like me. As for my name, it's Beldora. But don't you worry, I will be alright."

“Fair enough.” Replies Muharg with a smile, then reaches out with his hand. “A pleasure to meet you, Beldora.”

He then leans back on his chair “You mentioned an army of undead? There seems to be a lot going on in the Dale these days. All sorts of creatures coming down from the Spine, now this army of undead... I mean no offence, but leaving in the streets probably gives you a lot of insight of what transpires here and there. Do you have any clue of what might be behind of these two threats?”

(OOC: can’t help imagining the red bear being actually a red panda, and Arogna raging into battle with her arms open for intimidation :P )

Beldora replies, "No, I'm afraid I haven't heard anything."

"Yeah! Names," Arogna says to the dogs. "Like we calls you Basan an' Pom. But maybe your mama called you somethin' else. Or you call yourself somethin' else, in dog. Like, I dunno, Great Hunter or Finds Lost Things."

"I am speakin' to them," she explains to Muharg. "Course, animals don't think of things the same ways what we do, so you gotta keep it simple. They're doin' the same for me an' all. Like, they gotta bunch a ways of talkin' about how stuff smells, that we dunno about at all. If they talks about that to people, it all just goes to pictures like. But if we both got a word for a thing, it works like talkin'."

“I see.” He says to the woman. “Too bad we’ll have to try and help out without much knowledge...” shruggs “but at least we know they’re there, right?” Ends with a smile.

He then listens to Arogna’s explanation “Oh, that makes sense. Even among the more civilised beings we have words and expressions that make sense for some of us but don’t really so much (or at all) for others. Whatever it is you are discussing, I hope they’re happy with us!”

"No need names."

"We use smells."

The dogs explain to Arogna.

Beldora replies, "Sorry, but the whereabouts of Artus is the best I can offer you."

“And that’s more than enough, thank you very much.” Says with an appreciative nod.

Qinfaren sits watching Arogna the dogs communicating, delighted in the spectacle.

"So, Muharg, you've found us tomorrow's adventure? Kelvin's Cairn." Qinfaren says. "A cairn, that's a pile of rocks, isn't it? Might be hard to see that in all this snow. Maybe it's a really big pile. Should we head out at first light?"

"I think we should," Shad says. "First light toward Kelvin's Cairn. Have you heard of it, Bjorn? What do the dogs think, Arogna?" Shad is thinking back through the supplies they purchased. Didn't they have an extra tent or bag for sleeping? He will ask Muharg and the others.

"Oh!!" Arogna's face lights up as the dog explains. "That makes a lotta sense! Smellin' tells you all what you want to know, right?"

As she feels the enchantment fading, she bids the dogs farewell for now, then begins to excitedly answer her companions' questions and explain what she conversed with the dogs about. "They don't mind snow, like you, Bjorn," she tells the goliath as he pets the dogs. "An' they think we're doin' alright lookin' after 'em. They don't mind pullin' the sled, Shad, they likes it." 

(OOC: I think at this point we really need an official party inventory manager 😂 will try to go through the older posts and see what we purchased in the last town we where in)

(I'm pretty sure we bought two tents)

“First light towards Kelvin’s Cairn sounds like the thing to do, indeed, Shad.” He then turns to Beldora “Have an idea how far it is?”

Shad asks, "Will all of us fit in one tent, my friends?" He turns back toward her. "Beldora, while you might miss the silver crescent of the moon, you would be warmer in a tent. Warm enough to take up music. Even a harp! If, of course, you can find one."

"A harp? Er... I don't know too much about playing an instrument, though I wouldn't mind some help if you were able to spare a tend and few minutes," Beldora replies.

Muharg looks at Shad and tilts his head slightly, “I’m not sure we can all fit in one tent,” then turns to Beldora “but I guess we can give you some coins so you can buy one, I’m sure there’s someone in town that sells them, right? And for tonight, I guess you con stay in one of our rooms.” Says giving Arogna an eloquent look.

As they talk to the woman, Muharg tries to read her expression and body language to try and figure out if she can be trusted. He also expands his senses to detect any strong presence of good or evil.

Insight 8

Use Divine Sense (Until the end of your next turn, you know the location of any celestial, fiend, or undead within 60 feet of you that is not behind total cover. You know the type (celestial, fiend, or undead) of any being whose presence you sense, but not its identity (the vampire Count Strahd von Zarovich, for instance). Within the same radius, you also detect the presence of any place or object that has been consecrated or desecrated, as with the hallow spell)

Qinfaren watches the others and their interaction with Beldora. He's much better at reading animals and the weather than he is people, but he has spent enough time with Muharg now to notice when the dwarf is being cautious.

She seems quite nice and friendly, but that wererat probably seemed nice and friendly too when she wasn't trying to kill us.

Qinfaren also does his best to read Beladora and whether or not she's hiding any ill intentions.

Insight Check: 24  

"What? Oh, yeah, sure. Come in with me an' the dogs," Arogna tells Beldora with a grin, then goes back to her tug-of-war with a dog for one of the larger pieces of kindling from the fireplace basket. She makes no attempt to assess the woman.

Shad shakes his bag of coins. "Sure," he says, "let's go together and find a place to buy you a tent." He moves along with Beldora and Arogna toward the door, willing to trust both of them.