Music and Ambiance: Into the Wild (from Thorath to Nystadir)
A few days rest is welcomed, the party handling task and private duties, recovering as the town mourns the dead, celebrates the return of the others, and returns to a more normal rhythm. The days continue to grow shorter one after the next, sunrise to sunset being a brief period of activity before evening conversations return to the indoors in private homes, The home of Grey-Eyed Boe for town business, and the Valley Rest Inn for you and others who need social relaxation. The old dwarf, Rudolf, has taken your dead warg to Boe's home but he returns several times to ask you more questions, getting details on what you faced, the runes upon the beasts, and what the lad in the other group said about the potential Seidr. "You have brought back a nameless horror," the old dwarf tells you. "Know this: if this is what I suspect ot to be, some will blame you for bringing a curse upon us all. Still, if I would not give those people a second thought."
On the second day you are met by the gothi, Ygre, who spoke to you before you departed. She seems tired but takes effort to be cheerful, drawing attention of the tavern intentionally to you as she speaks. "On behalf of the Council of Trinity, I congratulate you on completing your task.
You have faced battle and are worthy of the warbands, protectors of our towns in the name of Odin, Thor, and by the mercy of Freya." She solemly produces an armband for each of you - beaten copper of simple but elegant style - the mark of the Warband of Jonnamott.
Your dinner that evening - the third day since your return - is cut short by the arrival of a young woman, Grima. She is a young Kun woman with a long blonde plait of hair down her back, her arms covered in blood most of the way up her forearms. "I was told you must come to Boe's home; Rudolf is waiting for you there," she says, tired and nervous. She waits for you to obey the summons and follow.
Following the woman, Doshea asks about the blood. "I work for a healer; I am used to it. Come - it is urgent." With all of you in tow, she offers, "I am attending Hungerd's birthing. It is unlike any even the old hearlers have seen. Difficult to bear, even for a strong woman like her."
She leads you all across the village square to the home of Grey-Eyed Boe. Two guards are waiting on either side of the large wooden door that opens up into the hall. Torches burn all the way around the building and the stables at its rear, illuminating the surrounding night. Inside, you enter the meeting hall for town's business - a large wooden chandelier hangs over a large table surrounded by sturdy chairs, a massive bearskin rug in front of a wide fireplace with the coals banked at the moment - and cross to the wooden staircase in the left corner of the room which leads to the upper floor and to the basement. The deep, loud voice of Grey-Eyed Boe can be heard from the basement, shouting, "How? How could we have not noticed!"
Grima winces and says to you, "They must be in the basement... I must go back and help them." She points you downward, then scurries ahead and up the stair.
As you decend, the awful smell of rot assails you, bile rising in your throat. It reminds you of the smell you came across in the forest. The basement is a simple, big, rectangular room, barrels, pelts, and crates pushed to the edges. A small table is pushed against the wall opposite the stairs at which Grey-Eyed Boe sits. The center of the room is covered with runes drawn in charcoal forming complex designs, lines and stars connecting them. The wolf you brought back to town lies in the center of it.
Rudolph gets out from the darkeness in the corner of the room and walks towards you. He looks and sounds both tired and depressed. "The creature you killed cannot even come close to the right sacrifice. For us, it is an abomination and it must be wiped from the face of this earth." As soon as he's done speaking, a loud croak is heard, coming from outside. Rudolph and Boe exchange looks, each more worried than the other. Rudolph turns back to you and continues, "We have some ideas about what this creature might be, but we do not want to make a hasty decision. We must..."
He is interrupted by loud noises coming from upstairs - a mixture of hurried footsteps and raised voices mixed with the quourking of a raven. Rudolph and Boe pause, listening, waiting for it to die down before they continue.
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