DCC DotSK: Act 1-3

Not one to be seen craven, Anora puts a hand to the back of the door and pushes it closed enough to reveal herself standing there.

"Who is inquiring?" she says, with stiff defiance in her voice, as if some village strongman had right to ask for her whereabouts. She takes in the three men, and squares her gaze at them, not in the least bit worried.

Seeing the crowd lessen in intensity and back off of Aldric gives Dufgal much ease. Then the vigilance comes right back when the thegns announce their intention on knowing Anora and Ty’s whereabouts. He sees the Blue mage stand up for her dignity and he feels compelled to position himself to do the same. I must defend her dignity, I must.
He leaves Aldric’s side and finds a suitable blindspot to hide in and readies his garotte should things get rough.

Aldric climbs down from the table and the growing puddle that is accumulating from the rainwater pouring out of his skin. It's not stopping, and he's growing more and more alarmed about this. Already, his ragged clothes are thoroughly soaked through.

He hasn't the energy to address the men of action that have barged into the tavern. As he's getting his bearings back from the exertion of casting his spell (and failing), he steadies himself against the table and is grateful for Dufgal shielding him and Anora doing the talking.

His mind races with thoughts about how to placate Pelagia's perturbations.

Tyravasiel strolls down the back corridor and rounds the corner after Wee Tocs. He isn't trying to catch up with the lad; rather, he wants to confirm that Tocs has in fact led him to a side exit. From the muffled voices behind him, the elf judges that such an exit may soon come in handy.

IN THE BACK OF THE WOLF-SPEAR (TY)

Sure enough, shortly after the corridor turns, it ends abruptly in a door that leads outside. That door is heavy and stout but currently unbarred. Moving up to it, Ty strongly suspects that Tocs just slipped out this way. A gap in the wood allows him to see that he's viewing an area behind the inn, and there there are several shit-houses, coops and outbuildings that have been built out back. The elf's sensitive nose twitches at the smell.

Taking advantage of the multiple distractions, the fugitive felon tries to remove himself from direct sight.

Aldric tries to wipe away the water from his face, but it is futile. He responds, his voice miserable and angry: "Pelagia sends her disgust of your submission to the Moon Beast through my flesh." The puddle on the floor beneath him grows ever larger.

Let the villagers rat out their own. Anora the Blue wouldn’t engage in whatever mad ritual this Ru had dreamed up for these people.

"Forgive me, Haedrick. We’ve only just arrived. Surely you don’t expect me to know your villagers and geography quite so swiftly, do you? I couldn’t tell one man here from the other." she says, as nonchalantly as she can muster.

If the villagers decided to speak up and turn in one of their own, then so be it.

Having made sure of another exit, Ty returns to the main room of the Wolf-Spear. As he goes, he resumes the trappings of his beggar's guise: the bent posture, the shuffling gait, the tap-tapping of his cane. The elf feels his way around the side door frame, then fumbles in space for the surface of the bar.

"Found the shitter!" he declares, to no one in particular. "The lad was good enough to guide me. And not a moment too soon, I may say."

Ty betrays no awareness of the scene before him, or of the fact that some of the Jarl's thegns have arrived.

IN THE MAIN ROOM OF THE WOLF-SPEAR (ALL)

Dufgal finds his way into the crowd, then to the shadowy edges of the large room as tensions begin amping up again. There is Ty, "finding" his way back to the common area from the back rooms. Here is Anora standing up to some large armed and armored man named Haedrick, and there is Haedrick's even bigger, top-knotted companion, Kreig, pushing people aside so he can come face to face with Aldric.

"What do you know of the moon-beast? What do you know of the hound?!" Kreig shouts at the priest, approaching so he can use his meaty, hairy hands to seize the soaked man by his waterlogged garments.

Clohn is quiet as he takes note of Ty at the door in the rear of the room; he breaks off from the throng to meet the elf as he comes into the room, then passes by the beggar without a word to look for himself into the now empty hall.

"Fair," Haedrick says simply to Anora as he nods his head in a slight bow to her. Then he turns to the assembled crowd, presumably preparing to ask them where Broegan was, but all eyes were turning to Aldric and Kreig.

Anora nods back, considering the matter done, or at least giving the man that impression. It all depended on the village folk now.

She watched quietly as the men stalk about the room, bullying their way through the common people.

Her mind goes to her magicks, and she runs her spells through her head as she watches the scene unfold.

Aldric staggers, his feet slipping on the wet floor boards, but the man's ironclad grip on his cloak hold him upright. Normally he'd shy away from a physical altercation, but given the dire situation with Pelagia's disdain, he finds everything else irrelevant. When he meets the man's angry eyes without fear, it comes from a place of hollowness rather than courage.

"Only what my goddess has told me. The moon is her eternal enemy, and so she could have been a powerful ally. But her help is not freely given, on account of your town's willingness to line up for an orderly slaughter."

Assuming that the room may actually feel more fondly of him now that he’s out of sight, Dufgal takes the temperature of the room.

"The fucking Bitch Queen herself! Pelagia" he yells back at the fragrant warrior, matching his intensity. Droplets of water spray into his face as he answers.

Anora’s nose goes to the roof as she is pointed out by the crowd.

"We both sent a Haverson down to the stones tonight. Mine went axe in hand, and willingly. Yours went bound and mewling." she says, as if unbothered.

"The man will feed the beast another night, if he fails in his task. That will save your Jarl inflicting this misery on these people for a time." she shoots back, knowing that it was sure to raise the ire of the strongmen.

She threads the path her hand would have to fly to reach the hilt of her blade; beneath blue robes before the man could cross the space.