Burkhard shrugds (german)"whatever the magus says, I can still come another day alone now that I know where's his house"
(OOC: I am assuming that you are having this conversation while the sheprherd is trying to round up his flock?)
Martin pipes in, "Why don't you see if you can get some information out of him before moving on? We'll need to spend the night in this village before moving on tomorrow, so why don't you see if you can salvage this somehow? After all, didn't the woman say that this man has lost some of his dogs to the creature? I hadn't heard about that before..."
"Yes, if please, go to ask Chuzo. I run away." With that Ludovicus strolls off in a direction that he thinks will take him away from the sheep pen the fastest. But he tries to remain within earshot of what is said, moving closer, cautiously, if he has to.
Burkhard leaves his weapons aside and moves towards the shepherd.
"Hello there, we've heard you've lost dogs recently to the purple sheep. My master is investigating testimony about it. Can you tell us the circumstances of your encounter ?"
"Oh, my poor dogs," the old man says in a plaintive tone, "they help me with the sheep, you know? They are my babies. Two of them that died last year. Found them in the northern knoll, all torn up." His tone is mournful as he relates this. "Wasn't no pack o' wild dogs who did this." He shakes his head, "No, no, I tell you, t'was the purple sheep. I buried them in the grass up there. Good grass there, there is."
The man rubs his face, his earlier anger apparently forgotten. "Are ye hungry, my boy? I'm hungry. Got some good cheese up in the house. Would be so good with a lick o' ale, but I'm fresh out. Do you have any ale, by chance?"
"Of Course I do, and some bread and sausage. Travelling is sad without a good ale hehe." following the old man into the House he asks "It's always sad to lose a good companion...Did you found any purple coat by any chance ? They probably fought the beast ! They might have injured it ?"
"yes, yes, bread and sausage will be good with the cheese. Come, come, my son." Chuzo grabs Burkhard's arm companionably, "Tell your old father what you've been up to these days. How is your flock?" The old man is clearly somewhat crazy. He smells strongly of sheep and sweat. He adds in an absent-minded way, "Bring your friends along, they can warm themselves by the fire while you catch up with me."
When you are all inside the somewhat cluttered and less-than clean house, Chuzo answers Burkhard. "A coat? No, no, the purple sheep doesn' leave a trace when it attacks, you know that! Don't you? You've heard the tales as I did, my boy. My poor dogs, they didn' stand a chance. Not even a drop of blood in their mouth! Just leaves and a few flowers that they must have chewed from the ground in their death throes. Poor boys." He takes a good swallow of ale, wiping away tears.
"Flowers ? that's the first time I hear such a thing, what kind of flower ? Ignoring the flock remark he continues "How do you protect yourself, aren't you afraid to be attacked yourself. I'd be afraid if I were you. How are you so brave ?"
"Flowers, you say? Well..." he gestures helplessly, "you know, just flowers." His face scrunches up as he tries to remember, and he takes another draught of the ale before adding, "smal ones, I think. I can't remember."
"Brave? I love my sheep and my dogs, is all. What else would I do for a living? Me dogs, they do help me, chase away the wild things." He seems to be getting drunk pretty fast. He probably isn't used to drinking much or with the quality of ale that Burkhard was travelling with.
Ludovicus leans over to Andreas and whispers in Latin, "Andreas, please ask the shepherd if he kept the flowers, or if he knows where they are now. And if not, then please ask him to show us the location where the dogs died."
(OOC: It is Burkhard that is talking to Chuzo, not Andreas.)
(ooc : isn't the whole troupe inside the House ?)
(OOC: Yes, but the old man only seems to be paying attention to Burkhard at the moment, acting as if he was his son come visiting. He seems to have totally forgotten that there is three more men inside his house.)
((I know. Ludovicus doesn't want Chuzo to think the question came from him, in case it would make him less likely to answer. He is also tired of speaking broken German.))
"Flowers? No, no, there are plenty of flowers outside," the shepherd mumbles sleepily. It is now dark outside, and there is only a very small fire in the house. It is apparently enough for the shepherd, as he makes no move to add more wood to it. It isn't cold anyway. (You've already had a small dinner while you were listening to his meandering talk.)
After noting the darkness outside, Ludovicus says quietly, to the grogs, "We sleep here. Do watching sheeps, for purple sheep to come. I do first." He gets up and finds a spot up against the shack where he has a good view of the sheep and hunkers down for his watch.
The night passes uneventfully, with the only thing of note being the arrival of clouds masking the stars and the moon. By morning, there is a drizzle falling down even though the temperature is on the warm side.
When Chuzo wakes up, looking slightly hung over, he looks at the four strange men in his house, saying, "What? Who are you? What are you doing in my house?" His tone is more confused than panicked. The magus and the grogs notice that several of the man's dogs slept inside the house, though they all stayed far from Ludovicus.
"You told us of the purple sheep last night," Andreas says to Chuzo. "We shared our beer and food with you and you let us sleep here."
"I did?" He scratches his head, before shrugging and grumbling, "Well, I have to go and take care of my sheep now. You have a good road, sirs."
Ludovicus approaches the shepherd, and holds out a few coins. "Thank you the hosting. One before question, you know other purple sheep seeing people?"