Chapter Six: The Muster of Caltlikrath

The mustache merchant throws a pointed glance over his shoulder, and three of the armed guards amble over to stand in front of Domarc.

"Listen, friend," one of them says, "there's no coin to be had here, alright? Move on along."

"I seek no coins, good fellows," Domarc says, spreading his hands. "Or rather I sought a more valuable commodity - information. But if you've no willingness to talk, then I'll find what I need elsewhere."

Domarc moves away from the guards and meanders over to the farmer, pulling out his own flute and joining in with the song.

Edit: oh, yeah.

Domarc upstages the farmer in a rather grand fashion, earning himself a sour look as the farmer stops playing. The children seem to enjoy the tune, though.

The traders start to climb aboard their wagons as the barmaid finally slips away from the attentions of the feathered hat merchant.

After the kids are done romping around doing The Safety Dance in the turnip patch, Domarc invites the farmer over to the inn for a drink. The farmer eyeballs the children, shrugs, and gets up from the stump he'd been sitting on.

The merchant wagons get to moving down the road as Domarc and the farmer cross over to the inn. He introduces himself as Joonper the Big, requests a dark ale from the still residually annoyed barmaid, and waves a greeting to the only other occupants of the inn's common room. a middle-aged couple having a quiet argument over the picked-over remnants of a large breakfast. Only when the barmaid thumps his ale down on the table does he begin to speak of the black beast.

"You saw the sign by the road. Wainus Forth made it up after his son went deer hunting and never came back. He was the ninth. The first were taken late in the spring, Agman Hatter's twins and their friend, the Lazels' girl. Went berry picking and never came back. There were more over the summer. A hunter, a woodcutter. The words black beast were never spoken until Damat Aimon and Neb Leckaff were attacked. They said they were foraging for herbs..." Here Joonper makes a face and shrugs in such a manner as to suggest that this clearly some sort of cover story for other activities, but does not elaborate. "Damat made it back, Neb didn't. He said they had wandered into long, thick strands of cobwebbing between the trees...he cut a strand with his knife, and that's when the black beast appeared. Tall as a man, he said, but built twice as thick, with arms twice as long, with claws and fangs. He said it smelled pungent and bitter. When it fell upon Neb, Damat ran as fast as he could out of the forest and never looked back. Now, not everyone believed the story Damat had to tell...but Dock Lazel and Chort Leckaff went searching for it, and they didn't come back either. This was late in the summer and around this time, the Viscount caught and hanged six highwaymen found camped at the edge of the wood a little ways south of here. They'd...done some unspeakable things to a few girls and boys up by Paverhut, so we all thought, well, maybe they were the black beast. Maybe Damat Aimon had his head in a twist, saw things that weren't real. Then Kayou Forth went out for a hunt and disappeared. His father went looking for him. Found his bow and, well, some pieces of his son's clothes with pieces of his son still stuck to them. And there were those strands of web nearby. Him and Agman went to see the Viscount, got told it was probably wolves and it wasn't the business of His Lordship to send trained soldiers to hunt wolves for a village where able-bodied men still lived and breathed, and sent them on their way. Wainus put his sign up the next day." He sets his empty mug down. "Damat and Neb were deep in the woods when they were attacked. Probably the others were too. Kayou died still practically at the treeline. There are some fears that if nobody's going into the woods anymore, the thing is going to come looking for prey here. Can I have another? This is more'n I've talked in near to a week."

Domarc nods, and signals for another beer, making sure to pass some extra silver along to the barmaid as well.

"Talking is thirsty work. This doesn't sound much like wolves to me; webs and such makes it sound downright un-natural. Might be my friends and I should go take a look and see what we can do about this beast."

"I'll caution you--don't expect lucre to come your way if you should kill it. The men who lost their kin to the black beast aren't rich by any means. You and your friends have the look of sellswords about you, and...well, you wouldn't get much but gratitude in return."

The barmaid puts down another tankard of ale. "Wainus Forth's a liar, and so are you," she says. "It's well more than nine people taken by the black beast. Tell these louts the actual truth if you're going to sweet-talk them into going into the wood to hunt the damned thing. Let them know what they'd really be up against." She flounces off, leaving Joonper staring after her with a scowl on his reddening face. He lifts the tankard up to his mouth and takes a long drink.

"Don't mind the whore," he finally says when he sets it back down. "Her head's full of gossip and nonsense."

The barmaid palms the coins in a practiced motion. She keeps her voice low as she speaks. "Three men and a woman followed Agman and Wainus back from Mosstower. They had it in their heads that the black beast was sent by the gods and they wanted to bring it gifts. Went into the woods with a lamb, a goat, and a pig. Never came back." She leans in over the counter. "And then do you know what happened, just a week later? A family from Brittlespike came through the village, and I myself heard them tell about the strange woman who met them on the road and begged them for help finding her nephew who'd run off into the woods and gotten lost. The man of the family was very near to getting off his wagon and going to help her, but his wife persuaded him to keep moving...she said the woman's eyes were wrong, somehow, and her breath foul. A mile later they saw the sign Wainus put up. After that night he moved it further down the road." She smiles tightly. "The black beast has helpers, but nobody likes to speak of that."

~meanwhile, at Domarc's table~

"The road to Hazard skirts the wood. You should have no troubles if you continue onward," Joonper says gruffly. Domarc can definitely tell that he seems uncomfortable with whatever additional information the barmaid was alluding to.

Felor thinks. The description of the black beast doesn't seem spiderlike, but calls to mind the descriptions and illustrations he has seen of the great apes of Hafer.

She shrugs. "Some folk want the problem solved, and a lone beast is an easier problem to ask for help with than a beast with three lunatics in its thrall. And other folk...maybe they don't see a problem at all. Those three from Mosstower didn't bring their 'gifts' here with them. Somebody in the village provided them."

An elderly man walks into the tavern, and the barmaid leaves the counter to attend to him.

Domarc listens in on the couple's argument. The nature of their dispute seems to center around loans of money and gifts of food and physical labor being tendered to the husband's cousin's family while the needs of his own household remain neglected.

Leth sees no sign of the Six-Pronged Crown.