Chapter Two: The Hippocampus on the Cracked Lintel

The barkeeper sets down his mug. "Why's this your business, devilkin?"

The oldsters and the sallow man watch Mordred with some curiosity. The card players don't seem the least bit interested. The barkeeper pours ale into the mug he was drying, then pulls out another for Vad, before answering. "She was looking to hire Kligson, and Kligson went looking for her after she ran off. Haven't seen him back here yet."

The old man seated to Vad's left lets out a wheezy cackle. "I should say so! Kligson thought the girl was touched in the head, y'see. Talking madness about witches following her. He told her he'd take her through the Badgerways to Hazard but he knew that'd be the end of them both. While she packed her things he rounded up Harmon Koal and his son, and Vicar Jon, and I forget who else, and when she came back they pressed her to go on to the Koal house to sit tight and have some sense talked into her, but when they were just at the house she slipped under Harmon's arm and kicked him in the generatives and took off running! Ha! I seen it all from my porch, then Vicar Jon explained what it was all about, because sure as shit I couldn't tell what was going on. Madness! If she made it to the Badgerways she's most like to be warming a goblin's belly right now, fellow." He lifts his cup. "I'll drink to her memory for you." He flashes Vad a gap-toothed grin, then chugs at whatever's in his cup.

"Eh? She'd be headed west, other side of the river, if she was going on to the Badgerways. That's where Kligson reckoned to look for her, anyways."

"The Koals are like to be at the Coiled Rope with the rest of the upstanding folk," the old man to Vad's right interjects. "Maybe the vicar too." He raps the bottom of his cup on the bar. "I think we've told you fellows well more than obligations required. How about you buy us a round?"

Should I assume you're headed to the Coiled Rope?

Yeah, unless anyone else has other ideas.

Avanti!

Mordred crosses the square and steps inside the Coiled Rope. This tavern is larger, and brighter, with a crowd of about forty people eating and drinking and talking. Three barmaids circulate around the room, clearing messes, topping off drinks, stopping to chat. To the right, a flute and lyre combo stand by the wall, playing cheerful music.

Only a few people bother to look up as Mordred enters, but those who do hold their gaze.

Sure thing.

The barmaid blanches slightly as she takes in Mordred's appearance, and seems a bit conflicted about giving Koal away, but the glance she throws at a large table in the middle of the tavern more or less tells you what you need to know before she acquiesces to say, "That's Harmon Koal, in the middle there. Haven't seen the vicar tonight."

The man she indicates is a large fellow, blond and ruddy-faced, with receding hair and a neatly-trimmed beard. He holds court at a table of five other men and two women, gesturing with a turkey bone, a tall ceramic mug of ale at his left hand.

(I don't know if it's just a slow day or if people are waiting for Mordred, but since you're all up to date on the latest info, any player should feel free to jump in and negotiate with Harmon if they want to)

The big man puts his turkey bone down and rests his elbows on the table. "I'm Harmon Koal," he says.