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Rae waves her hand dismissively at Xepil's demonstrations of frustration. "Ignore 'im," she says to the bard, "Hobgoblin brains ain't too large, ya know." Then she thanks Bull for the hospitality and heads up to a bed for the night.
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She rises before sun-up and prepares for the day.

Downstairs, she orders a roast and potatoes and a mug of ale for breakfast. Initially, none of the party from the previous night are in the dining area. An interesting looking fellow sits a few tables away with his steak and wine. She hopes to see the bard soon with the hopes that he might be able to lead them - or at least give them directions - first to the tomb.

The wine's flavor is delicate and better than anything John had drunken since a long time. As he empties a few glasses, a dwarf in full armor set comes down the stairs and orders breakfast. The quality armor she is wearing leaves no doubt on her identity: she must part of the group that fought the Hound. John finishes his meal, and approaches her.
"Am I right to assume part of the group that vanquished the Hound last night?"

Josh yawned and stretched as he entered the common room. He didn't often get such a treat as sleeping in an actual bed. He had only a small pile of rags and one fairly warm, but flea infested blanket that he could call his own over at the Three Rats.

He glanced away out of habit when he saw the dwarf and the newcomer, but couldn't help casting sideways glances at John. The man looked like some kind of noble or something to the underfed and dirty youth. When John got up to talk to the dwarf, Josh saunters a little closer to see if the man's left anything... either on his plate, in his glass, or even, though he hardly dared hope, an unattended coin purse...

Probably luckily for him, Xepil comes in then, swinging his axe around and any ideas about thievery go by the wayside, at least for the moment. "Uh...." he says, as the hobgoblin gets his tongue stuck, then offers "I'll get some warm water..." and hurries off to where Bull is making more breakfast, perhaps hoping to get in Xepil's good graces.

Rae gives the man a wry grin as she answers, "I s'pose that depends on whether ya think that's a good claim or not! Name's Rae. Rae Stonebottom. And, yes, one o' several what put the hound t'flight yesternight." As Xepil makes an appearance, she adds, "Though maybe not if ya ask the hob-gob there - seems t'think he done the job all by 'imself. Might let 'im 'ave a go at it alone next time..." Her eyes travel down to the still-blood-stained shoulder of her blouse and armor. "Whot's yahr business with the hound,... eh...?" She falters a bit at the end of her question as she realizes he never gave her his name.

"Well, giving the town more time to prepare defenses for the next night seems quite good from any point of view, don't you think? The what thinks he did most of the job?" John looks around surprised, and indeed he hadn't even remarked the goblin in his hurry to eat. "Is it... I mean, is he pacifist towards humans or did you cast a spell on it? As for my business with the Hound, it's fairly simple. I swore an oath that obliges me to fight off demons and hostile magical creatures, thus I must make sure it is dead or banished from our world at least." Although he thinks Rae has, like most dwarves he had met until now, a sense of honor and an interest in glory, he has no proof of this and prefers to hide his real objective for now. "Forgive my manners, I nearly forgot to present myself. I'm John Silvershield, from the Eastern Marches, mage by oath and training."

Despite his current predicament of his tongue being stuck to a freezing axe blade, Xepil finds himself capable of laughing when the wayward wizard wonders aloud if he might be a pacifist.

"Hah! Ah aheceskk, geh, agh ell ee ah heakin ay, geeeh." (A pacifist, me, that'll be the freaking day, grrr)

He begins to speak in tongue stuckenese and goes to roll his eyes at Rae, her dislike for the Hobgoblin's braggart nature not enough to dour his crazed humor.

"Oee, omegogey eez gukeeh an ughual. Eeg ger arg oihren greagh ukh wihh u aghea? Geeeh." (Oi, someone's grumpier than usual. Did yer bard boyfriend break up with you already? Grrr.)

The Hob then continues trying to pull his tongue free of the axe whilst waiting for Josh to come back with the warm water. Why he's the perfect picture of a competent hunter right now. The people of Hirot have nothing to fear in the hands of this skilled warrior...

As if on cue, Lloré opens up the tavern's door and steps into the common area, the priest's constant shouts following him in until he shuts the door behind him. "Father Beacom's on a roll already this morning," he says with a shake of his head, but smiled toward the dwarf, seeming in a good mood. And if one looked close, they might notice a bit of lipstick on the young man's cheek.

His eyes shift to the ridiculous site of the hobgoblin stuck to his axe.

"Breakfast?" the bard asked with a smirk, but stayed well out of reach, just in case.

Josh hurried back with a mug of warm water and handed it to the hobgoblin. "Here," he mumbled.

"Don't rilly know what 'is deal is. Ain't no spell o' mine! An' I can't say as I completely trust 'im neither." She scowls in the hobgoblin's direction as she quietly (at least for a dwarf) answers John Silvershield (a good sounding name, she thinks).

"Right. We'll all be 'appy takin' orders from 'at," she grumbles sarcastically at Xepil. "Yahr an idiot o' the highest degree, I swear. An' quit treatin' that kid like 'e's yer slave - we need 'im on our side..."

Her face crinkles into a laugh as the bard greets the goblin. "Aye! B'hol' the mighty hob-gob warrior in all 'is glory! Come, sit. Have ya had yahr breakfast yet?" Without even waiting for an answer, she waves down a waiter. "Get whateveh, 's on me. This one," she jabs her thumb toward Xepil just as Josh brought the warm water.

"Ahh, ya shoulda left 'im like 'e was. I liked 'im better that way!"

"Any way, I was sayin'," she turns back to the bard, "He wants t' gae hunt this beast this mornin', but I think we ought ta poke about a bit in that ol' tomb first. Ken ya take us there? Or give us clear directions ta find it ourselves? If ya'd ruther stay 'ere."

"You're playing to take the Hound down, and wish to explore ruins in an attempt to, I suppose, acquire a relic to aid us in the fight? May I ask who is from your party? And should we not at first study what the Hound possibly is, and get the Jarl to send knights with us, at least footmen?" John's education taught him more than asking an infinite amount of questions, but the lack of organization both in this adventurer party and in the town is clearly annoying him.
(((If Josh wishes to try and steal from John's unattended meal, the bottle is still half full - or empty - and he left a coin as a tip next to his plate)))

Xepil glares daggers Lloré as he once against makes fun of him when he's in a vulnerable position. The Hob passes up on retaliation for now as he's eager to get his tongue unstuck, he takes to the warm water quickly and pours it down the blade of his axe. After a few more tugging, he is finally released of his own sticky trap and can talk freely once again. "Thanks kid, grrr." Why he even has the good sense to thank Josh before setting the plate down and glare daggers at Rae. "I ain't treating nobody as a slave! Grrr!" Apparently the insinuation striking a nerve in Xepil as Hobs are well known for being slavers, and it's quite certain Xepil is trying to distance himself from the stereotype as much as he can. "It's called doing someone a favor, grrrr, dunno if they teach ya that one at the dwarf mines, grrrr!"

As he speaks, he catches wind that Rae is intending to go visit the tomb and Xepil nearly launches himself at her and John and Lloré, crashing over some chairs and tables. "NOOO!! Are you freaking kiddin' me!!? Grrr! You wanna go to a stinkin' tomb instead of the Hound's lair!!? We're gonna miss our chance to slay it! Grrrr! If we let another day pass it's gonna be round two against that thing, and now it's gonna go straight for us instead of the guards, grrrr!!"

The Hobgoblin pauses momentarily when the alleged wizard then mentions that the Jarl should be sending warriors to aid them in their quest. He blinks, then blinks twice, and then he bursts out in hyena like laughter. "GRAAHAHAHA!! Look at this nerd!! Grahaha!! He thinks the Jarl is gonna send 'knights' to help us out! GRAHAHAHA!!"

"Yeah, uh, can we get some siege onagers and some trebuchets while we're on that? GRAHAHAH!!"

The goblin's behavior, although not unexpected by John, still feels insulting.
"Your headless companion thinks he can slay the Hound in its own territory without information on it and its potential owner or pack, nor allies of his. Pure madness." He asks the Hob in a mocking tone: "When we find your remains in the Hound's lair, should we bury you in the local custom or with your people's faithless rituals?"
He turns back to Rae.
"Anyways, I'm not here to talk to this insult of a goblin spy but the party's leader. What should we do first?"

As Lloré joined Rae and John, Galiena stepped down off the last step into the Wolf Spear's common area. She'd only caught the last little bit of the conversation, but enough to hear what the hobgoblin was laughing about. "Unfortunately, he's probably right about the Jarl," the cleric says. "What's so terrible about checking out the tomb first, Xepil? If that king... Ulfa something..."

"Ulfheonar," Lloré chimes in.

"If Ulfheonar defeated the hound, there might be something to be learned there."

At the talk of the tomb, Josh shifts uncomfortably and glances away from the others. He'd gotten through most of his life so far by keeping his head down and staying out of the way. And simply volunteering information never seemed to lead to anything good. But... what if they went there and then found out later he'd not told them? Would they still let him come with them when they left Hirot?

"I know the way," he says quietly, almost hoping nobody hears him.

Rae might've launched herself out of her seat and at the goblin had John not spoken up first. She simmers down a little as the newcomer retorts to the goblin and a Galiena answers as well.

Finally she replies. "If yeh dinnae have yahr head so puffered out," she grumbles at Xepil before continuing to the rest of the group, "Yeh mighta known that the tomb may still hold the secret t'defeatin' the beast - Ulfheonar's spear. An' 'at's where I've a mind t'gae first."

"This is Galiena; she's another o' the party. An' there was a bitty Fae flittin' 'bout last night... Anybody seen 'er this mornin'? Anyways, that Jarl ain't like t'help us out, and can't say as I'd want it. He and 'is little priest 'parently been forcing the folks round 'ere t'sacrifice 'emselves off like cattle. I might punch 'is ugly little face next time I see it... Yahr welcome t'join us if yah'd like."

"Come, boy," she turns to Josh, "Tell us what ya know. When was ya there, then? 'As it been badly ransacked 't all? 'Ave ya 'ad any breakfast? Cannae go a traipsin' 'bout with a gurgly stomach." She waves down a waiter. "Git yahrself whatchya want - on me." She adds to the waiter, "An' make it snappy, yeah?" while brandishing a silver coin.

Xepil stops laughing real quick as he's insulted- though perhaps not for the reason one might think. "Goblin!? Grrr! Do I look like I'm 3 feet tall and green or are you just blind? Grrr?" He straightens up to his full height which puts him as the tallest person in the room unless someone else exceeds 6 feet. "I'm a Hobgoblin! H-O-...err.." He pauses as he momentarily forgets how to spell. "Hobgoblin! Grrr! If you wanna shorten the name of my species you call me a Hob, or a Hobbo like everybody else! Grrr! Unless you want me to call you a halfling magician, 'cause that's what yer doing! Grrr!"

He rolls his eyes then and looks away from John, putting his hand forward to block the mage's face. "Oh here we go with the cultural insults, grrrr, how original. Joke's on you partner! I renounced my kind entirely, which makes yer sass completely pointless! Grrr!"

Xepil rubs his forehead as John then suggests he's trying to charge the Hound's lair without a plan. "Oh man, if you only knew how stupid yer sounding right now, grrr! We already took down the Hound last night! Grrr! It's weakened! All we have to is find it in it's lair and skewer it good! Grrr!" At least that's what Xepil thinks anyway, he doesn't openly admit that he's not 100% sure that plan was going to work, it was only the only thing he could think of in the absence of a real plan.

Which bring him to the next topic, John asking to speak to the leader of the party. "Graahah! I'm the closest thing you'll find to a party leader here, grrr. Despite what Rae over there might tell ya, grrr. She's a good fighter but I can tell I'm the only one with military experience here."

The Hobgoblin brightens up when Galiena enters the scene and he gives a genuine grin. "Ah! Galiena, grrr, finally someone with a good head on their shoulders, grrrr." Though, of course, Galiena then goes to say that she agrees with the plan of visiting Ulfheonar's tomb which makes him scowl. Xepil's lips tighten in annoyance when Rae finally explains the reasoning behind going to the tomb, but even before he can protest more, she's already bribing Josh with breakfast to lead them there.

"Urgggh, fine! But if we don't find anything someone better come up with a plan B, because that wolf will be making a bee line for me tonight. I saw the look on his face when I shot his arse, grrrr, he remembers my face now."

The goblin's answer comforts John in the thought he had no plan, and his attempt at showing his height off makes it feel unnecessary to further debate with him. John decides to keep an eye on him just in case, as he lacks trust in the creature, and turns around to talk to Rae and the cleric that just entered the tavern.
"Well, we have few to lose in asking the Jarl, since exploring the Tomb will take a lot of time and the Hound will have healed. Even if he doesn't send us soldiers, we can hope a few brave ones will volunteer, and we'd be able to discuss Hirots defenses with him, in case the tomb takes more time to explore than planned and the Hound comes back. We might even split the group - few of us could stay and defend. But then again - your decision."

"Really?!" Josh let a smile show for just a second as he slid eagerly into an empty seat at the table. But he quickly wiped it away and asked the waiter for bread and eggs before Rae could change her mind about the offer.

Lloré gives a skeptical look at the youth, then a warning to the rest of the group. "Careful with this one. He's one of Jenks lot. Crusty old loiter-sack. Probably here to figure out if he can con you out of your coin."

Josh scowled. "I ain't here for Jenks," he said, which was only partially true. If Jenks was standing here right now, there was little chance Josh would have had the guts to say that. He fiddled with a loose splinter on the table, reluctant to say what he was about to. Maybe he should've told somebody months ago... but who? Jenks wouldn't have cared. And the Jarl might've used the excuse to hang the whole crew.

"Kej, Stein, & Ilham thought there was treasure there," he said, looking down at the table and mumbling a bit. "Everyone says it's haunted. Sure sounded haunted when we finally found it. But they was gonna go in anyways. Worth it for a king's ransom, Kej kept sayin'. So they were gonna break in, get the treasure, then go south, away from Hirot. I kept askin' to go with 'em, but Stein says I'd just be in the way. Kej though, me and him always got on. He promised they'd come get me 'fore they went south. So one night they got all ready and took their shovels and their packs. And that was it... I ain't ever seen 'em again."

He fiddled some more with the loose splinter, still looking down. "Next night was the first time the hound showed up."

At the boy's revelation, Rae remains silent for a few moments whilst glancing at the others and giving Galiena a meaningful look. "And yah're sure," she asks Josh slowly, "That ya didnae follow 'em at all that night? Do nae a'worry - we shan't give ya 'way t'the Jarl nor anybody. I'll give ya a minute t'think on it."

She turns again to John, "Yeh might nae have anythin' t'lose, but I donnae think the Jarl'll be too 'appy with us. We released the chosen sacrifice last night, and the beast attacked the city. Doubt we'll be hailed as heroes by 'im then. But, yeh've no such tainted reputation; if yeh've a mind to talk 'im some sense, we ain't stoppin' ya."

Then she turns back to the kid just as his meal arrives. She flips the waiter the coin as promised and queries a simple "Well?" to Josh.

The Hobgoblin goes to take a seat with the others and puts his boots up on the table, arms crossed. Though he's aware that John is making an effort of addressing only Rae and asking for her opinion, no one tried to contest his claims for leadership. It's fine for Xepil if no one acknowledges it, he cares less about the glory and more about actually succeeding.

With that being said, Xepil can't help but roll his eyes as John continues to display naivety by insisting on trusting the local government. "Guy, grrrr, did you miss the part where Rae said the Jarl is -sacrificing- townsfolk to the Hound? Grrr! You go talk to that douchebag, he's gonna send you literally to the wolves, grrrr. Heh! See what I did there?" He says to no one in particular. Or maybe the bard, just to show he's not the only one that can make bad puns.

"Splitting the party!? Grrr!" The Hob says suddenly when John suggests some of them stay to defend the town while others explore the tomb. "No way! Grrr! N-O! No!! We're already undermanned as it is! If we spread even more thin the Hound is gonna pick us apart one by one, guaranteed! Grrr!"

"Real talk here for a sec, guy, grrrr... what's exactly yer background again? Grrr." Xepil asks of John.

But the real thing of interest happens when Josh tells his tale and suddenly all starts to make a little more sense. "Well, shit! Grrr!" Xepil throws his hands up in the air. "Now we -have- to go, grrr, for all we know the tomb is the Hound's lair too! Grrr!"

John answers the Hobgoblin: "You're right. I used to know his family but it seems they've changed quite a lot. All you must know about my background is I'm casting spells" hoping to not sound too suspicious, but also not feeling like the Hobgoblin should know more.
"You say the Hound began attacking after Kej, Stein and Ilhelm went in the tomb? Nobody had been there before? And how long did they expect to stay in there?"

Galiena caught Rae's glance and felt the dwarf was subtly asking her something, though uncertain what.

"I think we should go soon then. Perhaps not wait for the Jarl to come find us?" the cleric suggested, worried about the lockbox that had been tampered with and how the Jarl might react when he found out. To her, the destruction of public property, even in the name of a good cause, was the worst of their "crimes".

She also felt a little uncertain of this new member of their party, but was much less vocal about it than Xepil. He seemed to be purposefully vague, she thought. And his timing of showing up was ... suspicious, circling back to their early theory that the beast might be a shapeshifter.