Hugh goes to Dublin, and then to Vigil, he doesn't stop at Qui Sonant Pro Quieto. He travels and lives as a bear for the entire journey.
Arnar is only interested in verifying that Hugh leaves for the North. So a couple of miles suffice. Does he see Hugh shapechange so that he can recognise the bear?
[Awareness + Per 6 including sight spec.]
If Arnar's only going to follow for a few miles, then Sionnach follows about the same distance without stopping by their camp or changing into human form. When they return, he suggests paying Bran a visit at the inn he's staying at, and if Arnar agrees he will leave the talking to him, acting as interpreter if it so happens that the innkeeper speaks Gaelic but not Norse, but otherwise minimizing interactions with others due to his Blatant Gift.
Arnar is fine with that, if we are satisfied that we have in fact watched Hugh the bear. Did he leave his clothes behind? If he did, we pick them up and keep them.
You do see him change and can probably recognize him... considering bears went extinct in Ireland during the ice age.
Assuming the innkeeper speaks no Norse and Sionnach has to be his Gaelic interpreter, does his Blatant Gift cause any complications?
Arnar enters first, for safe measures. If we do not see Bran first, he asks the innkeeper with the few words of Gaelic that he knows. «Good evening ... we seek ... Bran the Bard. Can you help?»
The effects of the Gift do not depend on sharing a language- how much of a problem it causes depends on level of interaction. If he is interacting heavily and someone else is translating his words it will be a problem- and since there is no parma likely doubly so. If he stand back quietly and out of the way there will be far less of a problem.
[If I understand correctly, it is actually the person offering to do the translation that is blatant gifted, though that would guarantee that the blatant gift is in full effect. Probably better to just wait until you've collected Bran which you should be able to do using Arnar's limited Gaelic as Bran is Gently Gifted.]
[Ok then, in that case yeah, he stands back and lets Arnar do the talking.]
Arnar does that as stated previously. Either he sees Bran (or Ronan) straight away, or he asks the landlord.
[OOC. The point of the discussion about Gifts is that Sionnach is blatantly Gifted and fluent in Gaelic. Arnar is blatantly foreign but only ordinarily Gifted, a combo which we now assume is less uncomfortable than Sionnach's.]
You are ale to locate Bran without trouble, he has located an inn which, despite being in English territory the innkeeper respects the tradition of the bards, and gave him a room to himself.
Arnar waves for Sionnach as he heads for Bran's room and knocks.
«Hullo again, Bran. You are doing well for yourself, I see.» Arnar says, and continues whispering, «we have seen Hugh the bear off to the North.»
Settled into the back of the room, having joined Bran earlier, Ronan looked up from his drink, "I wonder if he will take our advice and seek out Qui Sonat. Only time will tell."
Bran answers the door and looks happy to see you but a little surprised it was so soon.
"Good, that he's headed North. Whether he goes to Qui Sonant Pro Quieto or Vigil I'm not very concerned, either one is more than equipped to provide him an education in Hibernian Traditions."
"Let's hope he does do as he said," Sionnach says as he enters. "Anyway, don't think I've formally introduced myself and you certainly haven't seen me like this before. The name's Sionnach. So... how have you been doing since we last saw each other? Got any ideas on what our next steps may be?"
«Yeah, Hugh might actually be a good guy. We probably have not seen the last of him.» Arnar says. «But now, Bran, you wanted to raid. Can you tell us more? Do you know what we would be up against?»
"I am unsure what we are up against. I was hoping Hugh would have more useful information but when he expressed the idea that locals should not be allowed to fend off an invasion or take one, at the very least, to be rude behavior I reacted poorly. As I said, I had been trying to organize some dockworkers to help me steal crates as they were being removed from the boat. That seemed the easiest method of removing them of their items.But that didn't pan out, again for reasons I said. I definitely believe many of them are likely seasoned magi, ready to kill to defend themselves and not the best target for a more direct approach. They might be somewhat vulnerable as they pass through the hills to the west... if they pass through those hills and we can convince the locals to harry them. That said, I don't want to just set up the Ua Broin and the Ua Tuathal to be slaughtered by English magi."
«Did you manage to count the English magi?¹» asks Arnar. «I agree with you that we cannot go head on. If they have a catharc, we should aim for that. There are some pranks we can pull off once they are out of town, but it looks as if they might be staying for a while. Ronan, what have you been up to? Have you seen something we can use?»
¹ Or did Arnar? (OOC)
"I am but recently come those this city myself. While I spent much time traveling, little of it is helpful here, my size and Gift making social niceties, difficult. But I am will to do what i can to help. I suspect that our best bet would be to find them, or there things at least, on the way to wherever they decide to go and strike then. Much more likely to be successful than anything we try here"