A number of people excited to see real life adventurers in the flesh talked to each of you last night, some were interested to hear about the Dungeon Busters organization, some of those were excited about the prospects of trade that such an organization would represent (the smiths, sages, and priests in particular), and some landowners sounded like they might have space they could rent out to the party to serve as the local office.
As you rise, you review what you know about Black and what you know about Orlane:
* Black is a criminal that has been active in the area. He hired a bunch of thugs to take over Hale Arneson's mill for use as a base of operations. He's also done a variety of other things, and to date no one has been able to track him down or come up with a reliable description. He could be a half-giant sorcerer, a prince-in-exile, both, or neither.
* Your patron, the elven hero Cecily Raptor who is the founder and CEO of Dungeon Busters, carved a path through the Dim Forest decades ago, thus creating a path for settlers and merchants to travel between Hochoch and Hookhill. Orlane is a village a few days' travel along this road (Cecily's Road) to the east, in a fertile valley nestled between the Dim Forest to the north and the Rushmoors swamp to the south. Orlane is famous for its bountiful harvests of fine produce, and everyone in Hochoch is saddened that the shipments of produce have almost ceased in recent months. You've heard many rumors as to what has happened, and it was on the strength of these rumors that Cecily sent each of you (except Durren, who wants to be hired) to Hochoch to open a branch of Dungeon Busters. So far, you've talked to three different people with stories about Orlane: from crocodiles attacking from the Rushmoors, to tainted well water, to a many-headed creature stealing children. There are probably others with more stories to tell. Blackguard Wilson mentioned that his cousin Svall left Orlane after the many-headed creature started stealing kids, and that Svall's house was on the east side of Orlane, with blue shutters. He didn't know if it'd still be empty after months; maybe some squatters have moved in.