Easthaven

once father Tulfgyr Deems he has enough he begins construction on a small wayside shrine to the Morning lord

Zenithal shrugs. "Oh, I'm in. It's quite literally why I'm here, though I can't promise I'll be pleasant about it," he says as he rolls and rubs his shoulder. "Especially if more giants are involved. How much time do we have? Shall we gather guards and mercenaries from the other towns?"

Alalla frowns slightly, considering. She spins her glaive idly in her palm, the metal butt of its staff rattling like a top on Hrothgar's wood floor. "My job here is finished." She admits. "You can count me in on your expedition."

Hrothgar smiles widely. "Excellent! Glad to have you onboard. I plan to set out for Kuldahar as soon as possible - within the next few days, before the snows seal off the pass." He walks over to a dusty cabinet and pulls out several rolls of parchment. "With storms brewing in the mountains, I'd rather we depart sooner, but these things take time to organize."

His excitement growing, he clears off a table with a sweep of his arm and lays down a map.

"That doesn't leave us much time to find men, but I think the folk here in Easthaven may surprise you. Most of them lived rough lives before coming here to Ten Towns, and the Dale has only made them tougher." He jots some notes down on a spare sheet. "We also have a few travelers in town, besides your friends. Perhaps they might be willing to join us."

Hrothgar looks up from the map only briefly to glance at Zenithral and Alalla. "You two have had training in militia and mercenary work. I'd like you to take point on recruitment. Spread the word in town, let's see how many men we can get. In the meantime, I'll assemble the rest of the expedition and make the final plans for our journey."

His attention returns to his papers, and he almost seems to have forgotten that anyone else is in the room.

Everard stiffly stands, then claps Hrothgar on the back and turns to leave.

Halla, her message delivered and a plan in motion, seems again ready to drop with exhaustion. "I think I may need more rest after all... but I would rather not return to that Temple. There must be inn about town, yes? If someone wouldn't mind pointing me in that direction..."

"I will take you there," Zenithral says, perhaps too quickly. "I've some things in my room I need to fetch," he adds.

"Thank you... Zenni," Halla says as she follows Zenithral. "I could not stand the thought of being stuffed in there any longer with those priests." On their way they see a small crowd of villagers surrounding Father Tulfgyr. "I'll never understand what drives men to religion."

Zenithral grits his teeth when she calls him "Zenni." "Oohoo, perhaps we'll take you to the temple after all. it might—" Halla's icy glare cuts him off. "Only joking," he says, turning to look straight ahead.

After a moment, he speaks. "Religion gives people hope," he says simply. "That's what it did for my grandparents, at least. In a world where catastrophes are always just around the corner, having someone with such great power to trust in—trust that everything will be alright—is quite comforting for many. He holds a hand to his chest. "I myself can't say it's done much for my own safety, but I can't deny the good—or the bad—that comes from their power and direction."

Alalla nods and trails behind Zenithral and Halla. It was true she was trained in militia and mercenary work, but recruitment was not something she was trained in. Talking to people was not a particular skill of hers. Once outside she shrugs her shoulders to loosen them, and to shake the sudden weight that seemed to lay on them. She could start with Ug. He was jovial enough, and didn't seem to be harbouring any hard feelings after their disagreement.
"That you know of."
Alalla huffs and sets off to find the goliath.

Halla snorts lightly. "And why would people wish hope from gods? I would rather not put my trust in a being so fickle." She puts a hand up to the air, feeling the icy breeze. "There are other powers to have faith in, ones more constant and dedicated. Ones that are here with us, not far off on some remote plane of existence." She drops her hand. "I find it hard to believe a god would really care about what their 'followers' do here."

Ug sets maverick down in the emporium, growing frustrated at how hard a task it was trying to investigate the disappearance of a whole stash of wine in such a small village. I mean even old plastered Jed would be able to figure . . .

"Morther of me!" Ug shouts as he leaves both gnome and stupidfsce aline in the shop and makes a Goliath sprint to the docks.

"Your mother was a hamster and your father smelled of..." Pomab looks up and finds the goliath gone. He smiles. "Well. My insults must be top-notch today."

Being practically thrown off the the goliaths shoulder (not for the first time either) Maverick arrives at the emporium which smells of ammonium and smoke then sees pomab who is in a rather foul mood. "im here to clear Ug of fault for theft and a fire?" Maverick says as he casts detect magic "to start, how no ones even bothered checking the towns drunk as to the whereabouts of the missing wine is beyond me especially since the store seems so poorly gaurded, you look intelligent enough but i have been wrong before maverick says with an accusing eye aimed at pomab Ug is no thief and Ug clearly isnt a magic user i can tell this isnt his work... However, there is something else strange on top of the smell of magic... Have you had any peculiar dreams or visions as of late?"

"And do you need magic to know he urinated all over my shop? No matter how much I scrub, the stench just won't come off." Pomab glares down at the gnome. "I don't care if that oversized lump stole the wine or not. He is a public menace. And if you're so smart, why do you hang around with the oaf?"

He throws down his cleaning rag with a (very manly) muffled scream. "What do you care about my dreams? I have had no dreams. I've barely even slept."

"again not as smart as you look. I hang around with that ‘oaf’ because you can see what i lack in stature i make up in intellectual endeavours so the goliath is a good set of muscle and rather obedient to those he considers ‘friends’." Maverick says rather annoyed at pomabs accusations. "and I would gather you set your own shop on fire as you smell strongly of the same magic that set the store ablaze. If the presence i think im feeling is right it would have caused a good level of fright or unpleasantness which is probably why you set your own shop alight and Ug was just trying to help. you’re not even listening i said dreams or visions, as visions can be visual or auditory sometimes both but a simple yes or no would suffice." he says casting unseen servent to help magically remove some of the unfortunate stench that was left on the floor

Ug apologizes to Al as he rushes past, reaching the docks in a huff.

No need to discern now, with evidence piled around the passed out inebriated pile of snopple Gobbs "Jed you demon of drunks! Wake up!" Ug bellows.

Pomab squints at Maverick as though seeing him for the very first time. "I see..." he says, stroking his chin. "You are unlike these other barbarians. I thought I was visited by... something last night. But now knowing that dirty goliath was here makes me doubt everything."

He considers the invisible force cleaning up his shop. "Where did you learn this magic?"