Of bathtubs and bastards

Aodhan was surprised to find himself with an extensive bar tab already established at the Galloping Goat - a properly fancy-schmancy inn. Orla was delighted to hear that some of the rooms even had in door plumbing - imagine that!

The innkeeper seemed to be distracted, watching the eastern door for some reason. This didn't stop us from making good use of the facilities for the princely sum of 1 gold crown per room. The other patrons of the inn also seemed to be on edge and a bit of direct questioning revealed that they were scared of the devil dogs that had been taking people at random. 

Bastonn sensed a bit of resentment towards the local Lord Hendenburgh - the consensus was that he was past his prime and unable to properly protect the village, preferring to spend his time with his scandalously young bride. Ulvar the huntsman had tried to track the hounds with no success and even a group of foppish mercenaries called Belinda's Bastards had set off but failed to return.

Rumour had it that barking dogs had been heard by an old long barrow whereas others blamed the activities of Sly George and his dandy highwaymen. One patron remembered an old silver mine as well, three days north of the village. Finally we heard of crones who might help and complaints about the tardiness of the local coroner based at the south barn.

Krisanna introduced herself to Kathy-Anne, a prospector with gold teeth who was keen to know more about the mine and her companion Doug, a bounty hunter on the trail of Sly George.

After a good night's sleep and a hearty breakfast, the first port of call was the black smith Gregory who was chasing some urchins who had thrown eggs at his forge. The urchins turned out to have been paid by the widow at the inn who had taken exception to being wooed by the amorous smith who had had tried to slip her a love potion. Orla traded some wyrm scales to get her best bow repaired.

Next was a visit to the barn to see the coroner Linabeth and find out what was taking so long in examining the bodies. The bites on the victims seemed to have been from a canine creature as big as a wolf and definitely unnatural. 

We then called on Lord and Lady Hendenburgh, who seemed skeptical of the supernatural nature of the threat, but suggested that maybe we should talk to Pastor Noonan who used to be a renowned ghost hunter and exorcist before being defrocked for heresy. Orla immediately took a dislike to Lady Hendenburgh, even though she was promised the use of twelve bathrooms in the east wing.

Pastor Noonan proved to be an inveterate drunk. Krisanna nipped past him and made him a strong cup of something that may or may not have been coffee to sober him up. He told us the legend of the tyrant of the crypt woods who had trained a pack of hounds to hunt servants and peasants, before being buried in a long barrow. 

Going back to the inn revealed that the landlady now seemed to have an almost irrational hatred of the blacksmith. Perhaps a visit to the Crones might be in order for another love potion? We acquired a bottle of vodka to see if we could swap it for a book from the pastor. 

On the advice of the poacher we found out where the crones could be located, but it was getting late in the day so we went to look at the church instead, finding it boarded up and locked up. Krisanna managed to get through one of the windows without causing too much damage. A quick search turned up a gold candle which Krisanna reluctantly left behind, no matter that it was lovely and shiny.

Back to the Pastor again who had sobered up enough to find some books, with another reference to NOBBOC the Crypt Wood tyrant. What could this anagram mean?

More rumours, about a haunted villa in the woods amongst other things, until the door of the pub slammed open and a naked man stumbled in saying he'd been mugged by highway men on the North Road.

Krisanna got out her notebook and summarised the clues:

• A batty lord and his gold digging young bride, who said we should talk to …
• The drunken pastor Noonan who wanted a bottle of vodka from …
• The grumpy landlady of the Inn who was being wooed by the …
• Blacksmith who had bought a faulty love potion from the …
• Crones who had offered a reward for …
• Sly George and his highway men who were possibly based at …
• A haunted villa in the woods near to …
• A long barrow with ghostly howling, possibly the resting place of 
• The Crypt Wood tyrant (COBNOB? BONCOB?) 
• Let’s not forget a lucrative silver mine and also a wyvern’s liver.