Corcoran: at the Stumbling Squirrel

The Stumbling Squirrel was crowded that sultry evening when fate first brought the travelers together under the same roof. The air was thick with pipe smoke and the fragrance of the Squirrel’s famed mutton stew, as well as the din of a dozen different discourses.

Though Hobart was never short on patrons or jokes, tonight he felt distinctly uneasy. The crowd was usually jovial, glad for the opportunity to rest their feet and backs after a full day of heavy timbering. They never failed to laugh at the antics of Tipsy the squirrel, who loved nothing more than to lap at a bowl of ale and caper drunkenly around the rafters, even if they had beheld his antics countless times before.

But on this night, there was a conspicuous lack of laughter. Another child had gone missing in Lakewood Forest, the second in as many weeks. Corcoran had come to expect the occasional loss of a mare or ox from predators, but the disappearance of two little ones in succession suggested something more sinister. The townspeople spoke in anxious, mirthless tones, speculating as to whom or what might be responsible, and whose babe might be next.

The lady bard had been the first traveler to arrive. Ordinarily she might have attempted to raise the spirits of the Stumbling Squirrel’s customers with a song, but she was able to intuit that her music would have seemed a frivolous and unwelcome distraction tonight. So instead she listened, and watched.

Less than an hour later, a self-professed scoundrel entered the tavern on the heels of the setting sun. He slapped some coins on the bar for dinner and a drink, and then another drink. His jocular, garrulous demeanor was quite at odds with the prevailing mood of the room. Perhaps he did not notice the sidelong glances of those who had suddenly become suspicious of strangers, or perhaps he did not care.

Last to arrive was a young man, whose pale skin and dark hair contrasted vividly with the scarlet sash he wore that marked him as a novice wizard, most likely from the college in Freybourne. Of the three travelers, he appeared the most out-of-place, and all eyes were upon him as he crossed the threshold.

[Players, please comment with your character’s actions.]