David raises his head to look at Borealis and frown when he realizes who it is. The stranger's northern speech, coupled with his weird demeanor, isn't much to his liking.
Slowly, still frowning at Borealis, he takes another swallow of ale. Ignoring Borealis' question and tone, he asks, "What do you want?"
"I just want to help my very hospitable host. Clearly this weather and your...family are getting you down. How have things been since your wife's...illness? Has anything unusual happened?"
David's face turns white at the mention of his wife, and he sits there frozen for a moment. Then it starts reddening as anger replaces the previous apathy. His left hand clenches around his mug. He is visibly trembling with emotion, staring at Borealis.
He slams the mug down with sudden strength as he rises quickly, sending his stool tumbling back. "Get OUT!" He growls, raising his mug as if about to throw it at Borealis' head.
Before he can make any further threathening move toward Borealis, though, a large hand grabs his arm. "Now, now, no need for that," says Otto calmly as he forcibly turning the owner away from Borealis. The magus peripherically remembers the creaking of the stairs a moment before, as the grog came down from his room upstairs.
The grog is simply too large for David to contemplate any violence to him, apparently. At least, Otto seems confident that he can handle anything. But his other hand is urgently waving Borealis away, towards the stairs.
Borealis sighs and moves back up the stairs. It seems there is no way to further his search into the innkeeper and his family tragedy. Borealis will wait a while, and when he thinks David is busy he will try and leave the inn and see if he can actually make it to any open businesses or a church, or turn back if the snow is just too deep.
(This isn't any form of snow storm or high snow banks preventing people from moving around. There's maybe 6 to 12 inches of snow on the ground and the temperature would be fairly mild if it was winter. The trouble is that it is out of season so people weren't ready for winter. So going outside is not a problem.)
(I also hope you understand that David's reactions are being caused by the Gift? You just met the man the day before and now you appear to be prying into private and painful aspects of his life. Even without the Gift it would be risky. With the Gift it is impossible to get a good reaction to such questions. The Gift will also be a problem with other mundanes you speak to, if perhaps less severe because the questions won't be so sensitive. Why don't you play Otto and Karl for a while instead? They're grogs, so it is perfectly fine for you to use them.)
Borealis heads out in search of the nearest church, hoping to find the priest.
Meanwhile Karl will speak with Maria and see how she is today. Karl will look around and see if there are any other people staying here right now.
(Thanks for giving me the opportunity to play the grogs, if this was a face-to-face game right now Borealis would be stepping back and letting the companions do the heavy lifting.)
David's anger quickly leaves him when Borealis departs, which brings him back to his former depressed state. He grumbles to Otto, "Your master is too nosy for his own good, I tell you. He should have learned not to pry in other people's personal life."
From what Karl has seen, there are no other guests at the moment in David's house. Marie eventually shows up in the guest part of the house, making the rounds to empty and wash the chamber pots.
Borealis wanders the mostly empty streets of Kunostadt, eventually getting to a church. It is mostly empty, with only an old woman who is either praying silently, meditating, or just sleeping. The young magus doesn't see the priest and -- not having spent much time in a church since he was a child -- doesn't really know where to find him.
Borealis sits in the church, realising that the shops are mostly closed and it is too difficult. Luckily, churches tend to have windows so he can look up at the weather while trying to pretend he is pious and raising his eyes to heaven.
Karl checks in with Marie. "How are you today? Has your father got you doing all the chores?" As he chats to her, he tries to find out if she is scared of Borealis or whether she has surprisingly little problems with him. Karl also wonders if she has any signs of The Gift.
Marie eyes Karl before answering, trying to decide something. Then she shrugs, "I'm used to it. With mama away, I have to help papa a bit more. Kitchen chores aren't so bad. But cleaning the chamber pots... well, it just needs to be done. I usually get time to play in the afternoon."
"Borealis? He talks funny. Strange too. Is he your friend?"
"He is very strange. I work with him. We brew beer - well, he does clever things with the money and the equipment and I move barrels around and stir things."
"Do you get to play with other children, or do you mostly play alone?"
"I am too old to play much, and there is so much to do here," she smiles innocently. "But I do get to have fun. Anna next door is nice. She has a beautiful doll her papa bought her from the market. Sofie has very good ideas for games, even if she is a bit serious. Miss Pills, who lives two streets over, is teaching us how to sew. It's nice! And when I can't go out and see them, I can play here with Suzanna. Sometimes, when papa isn't watching, I stop to look at Walther play dice with other customers."
Karl smiles. "Who is your friend Suzanna? What do you play with her?" He tries to win Marie over by asking about anything she shows an interest in.
Otto quite happily lazes around, this is much better than working in the covenant, even though he knows a journey home through the freezing cold will be coming soon.
Borealis, realising that he is terrible at talking to people, studies the sky and considers how long he can stay in town before they will have to head home. Is there any thing he can do to help this town from avoiding disaster.
"Suzanna is my doll, I found her in the alley," explains Marie.
Borealis looks at the circling cloud. Round and round it goes, almost as if guided... or animated?
(I don't know how many more hints I can throw at you. This story was created with Borealis' capacities in mind, only you are not using them. I'm baffled.)
Borealis decides to try and find somewhere he might be able to cast magic. He wanders around, looking for a lacuna in the town's aura. If he can't find one, he tries to leave town to get outside the aura.
If he can find somewhere where he thinks he can cast unimpeded, he will throw his arms wide in bold gestures and try to move the cloud.
(Rego Auram, Rego 4 doubled with a focus for 8, auram 13, +1 Sta, +1 bold gestures gives me 23 plus die roll minus any aura penalty, divided by 2. I am aiming for the Rego Auram effect base 3 "Control a normal weather effect" + 3 sight with any extra going into duration. I rolled a 7, so if no aura penalty then I can do level 15 - enough for concentration duration if it's a normal cloud)
It takes him a while to get far enough to be far enough from the dominion, but he thinks he does.
His spell comes off, but nothing happens. Two possibilities comes to mind. Either the cloud is not natural, or some other stronger magic is controlling it.
At this point, Borealis decides to try Wings of Soaring Wind and fly up to investigate the cloud. Hopefully the cloudy and snowy conditions mean people won't see him, but he will have to take that chance in order to investigate the cloud by day, as by night it will be too cold and he will perish.
(Cr 13, Re doubled to 8 - so highest requisite technique 8 + form 13 + sta 1 + roll 6 = 28 - he will lose a level of fatigue and cast the spell)
Flying up through the snow, it is on the cold side and it is a bit hard to see where the cloud actually begins. When it begins to get lighter, Borealis knows he is reaching high enough to be almost above it.
It is a strange sensation to be flying in a snow cloud. It gets stranger when, from around him, words sound reach. They echo, with pauses between the words, each one seemingly spoken by a different person. It is as if, when spoken, they had been picked by the wind and brought to his ears.
- - What - - - - DO - - - - you - - - - - - - - - Want? - -"I have come to see why you are here, staying over one place and exhausting yourself so early in the year. Don't you usually wait before coming down from the mountains?" Borealis asks.