"Who has bound you?" Borealis demands.
- - who? - -
- - who? - -
- - - - -
- - who? - -
Echoes back to Borealis.
(Make a Sta + Concentration roll to maintain your flight spell. I'm not going to require then often, but still, you are holding a conversation, not just flying around. As per ArM5 p.82, the Ease Factor would be... hmmm... 15! Ouch! Still, you are high enough that you have time to recast the spell before reaching the ground, if you fail.)
Borealis staggers under the wind, but just manages to keep in the air.
"Who freed you? Who makes you make sno - o - oooooo!" as he falls
(I have sta +1, concentration +2, so 3 plus a die - I got 7, and was going to spend confidence when I realised I don't have self-confident. He starts falling and will try casting the spell again.
I roll a 5 - I cast the spell again and fly up, but now have another fatigue so am at -1 to everything).
Borealis flies up and resumes questioning of the cloud.
- - He - -
- - she? - it? -
- - - - -
- - that - -
- - holds - -
- - - - -
- - my - -
- - - -
- - - bond - - leash - -
- - prison - -
(Can't expect a cloud to differentiate between individual humans.)
Borealis can feel his exhaustion mounting and wonders how long before his concentration slips again. And whether he will be able to cast his spell again before falling to his death.
"What is your bond? WHAT HOLDS YOU!"
In under a minute, Borealis will have to fly down and avoid freezing or falling. Still, at least he has some information.
As Borealis flay down, he catches a last word, repeated over and over again.
- - - - - - shell - - - - Shell? - - - - - - - - - shell - - - - - - - - - shell - - - - -Borealis will make his way back into town, and warm himself by the inn's fire to recover from the exhaustion of spell-casting. As he looks around the inn, are there any shells?
Nothing in sight that looks like shells to Borealis, though both Otto and Karl are there. No sign of Marie or David.
"Otto, Karl, have you seen our host? I think the cloud is being forced to stay overhead by a shell...but I don't know if it's an actual seashell, or if they mean a hollowed-out crabshell, or something else that hollow and shell-like."
Borealis tries to think about what he knows about shells and the weather.
"He's somewhere around," rumbles Otto. "That man's hurting, master, so I wouldn't push him. If he were a grog, I'd say he's close to eating his sword, if you know what I mean."
Karl shrugs, "The girls' gone a playing with one of her friends. Brought her doll, if youy can call it that. She showed it to me. Looks like a flask, or maybe a jar, made of strips of woods and painted to look like a doll. It splits in the middle and there's another smaller version inside. It's old, with a bit of the paint gone on the outside doll."
"I won't push David. He's very easy to upset, and I am....too different to manage a conversation with him. Now Marie - she doesn't get upset with me that easily, so maybe I can talk to her? Point out which way she went, and I will go try and talk to her. Let me fetch some apples - it's the right time of year for them, and they make an appropriate gift that won't make me look like an outsider who's overly interested in small children."
Another shrug from Karl, "Don't know where she is right now. She went back to the kitchen, but from what she told me her chores were mostly done for the day, so she may be out playing with other youngsters."
The brewer hesitates, then asks, "Do you know what's going on, sir? That much snow, so early... well it don't look natural. People at the market were worried. Lots of the harvests will be lost because of it, and that means people will go hungry this winter."
"I know, the harvests will be ruined. I think Marie may have found something that controls snow clouds, but the hard part is proving it and doing something about it without hurting a little girl and angering her father."
Borealis sighed. Is it right that so many could starve because one small girl found something magical?
"What kind of somethings, sir?" asks Otto. "If you know what it is, maybe we can just take it and break the curse."
(Just trying to get Borealis to recapitulate what he knows, what his guesses are, etc. That would help me move the story to a conclusion. It's been six months since we started it. That's way too long for a minor story!)
"We know that the snow is deeply unseasonal. The cloud above us has not moved in days. When I tried to ask the cloud, it said that it was bound here by an object, and mentioned a 'shell'. I am also suspicious that Marie's desire to see her mother again has something to do with the snow, as she believes snow brings Christmas. We also know Marie has a strange doll that she found. Also, Marie seems less disturbed by my presence that most other people in this town."
"I believe that Marie's doll may be a clue to what is holding the cloud here. If we can find a way to get the cloud to leave, we may save the town and nearby villages."
"So," rumbles Otto, "whadda ye want us to do, master? Grab the girl? Steal the doll?"
Karl grimaces slightly at the coarse attitude of the shield grog.
"Steal the doll. I can't bring myself to grab the girl unless it comes down to her or the town."
Borealis sighs. How did it comes to this?
"If I can get the doll, I can try freeing the cloud. If that fails, we have to face getting Marie to send the cloud away, and that will involve telling her that her ma is dead, and dealing with a very angry father."
"Sure," says Otto. "How direct do ye want us to be?" He laughs, looking down at his bulk. "I not exactly the stealthy type, ye knows." The fat grog looks at Karl.
Who grows pale, "I'm just a brewer, sir, not a thief! Can't we just ask her for help? Or have her dad explain things to her? You say she's not bothered by you, didn't you? Well, ask her for the doll..."
"Taking a doll from a small child will not get you dragged before the magistrates for theft, merely run out of town as a cruel and merciless man. Come on then, let's find Marie. If I can find her, I will ask to see the doll. If she refuses, then one of you will have to take it from her."
The brewer and the grog both nod, before leaving the common room to go outside after picking up their damp cloaks.
Time passes, with the only sound being the small fire crackling in the hearth.
Maybe half an hour later, Borealis hears a door opening and closing somewhere in the private part of the house. Perhaps in the kitchen.