PREVIOUS: 017: Tall Tales About Short Men
Mossgrove Estate
JAGAL: (stretching carefully, looking in the direction of the entrance) "Did I hear somebody come in earlier?"
Lucya just huffs as she hops to her feet and pats down her dress. Aleksy hops up into her arms again, but not before leaving one more drawing in Jagal's hands-- a spider, albeit of a harmless variety, sitting pretty on its web in between two fenceposts.
LUCYA: "Hup-- aye, that's Pa, I s'pose he's back sooner than he expected..."
JAGAL: (skimming the paper) "See, this one woulda been much easier to take out."
Jagal rubs his greedy little hands together.
JAGAL: "Good! Let's get that man his basket." (glancing at Aleksy) "It is still here, right?"
Jagal is happy enough to follow the others out, though he hangs back for a second as they start down the stairs.
Aleksy nods and points downstairs to the room beyond the foyer.
Once he judges the timing to be right, Jagal hops onto the banister to slide down after them, with hardly a sound or any visible movement as he goes. He's still sure to dismount before he can hit any finials.
Aleksy yelps and starts trying to climb over Lucya's shoulder and onto the stair rail from below.
LUCYA: "Oh no ye don't, ye'll bop yer head!"
JAGAL: (snorts) “You really think people’re made of glass, huh?”
Once he’s back on solid ground, he looks toward where Aleksy had indicated the basket was, first and foremost.
The basket sits undisturbed on a table in the living room.
Since Lucya's hands are occupied anyway, Jagal heads for the basket and keeps an eye out for the recipient on the way.
It sounds like Duncan's in the kitchen already, talking to Ada.
DUNCAN: "...and Rhoddri's keeping watch o'er the poor boy tonight. Naught much else t'be done but wait fer tomorrow..."
ADA: "Aye, wait and rest! Ye'll come tae bed early tonight, aye, love?"
The "you need to save your energy for tomorrow" argument seems to work a lot better when it's coming from his wife.
ADA: "I'll go fetch the kids-- auh, Lucya is here, and so is her-- er-- friend? Hired hand?"
DUNCAN: "Auh, aye, I... met him."
Jagal snorts to himself—at least he left an impression. All he can ask for, really.
He picks up the basket and crosses back into the foyer, nodding at Lucya.
JAGAL: "Ready to fulfill another vow?"
Lucya inspects the basket one more time as Aleksy hops down from his perch and the brothers head inside the kitchen.
LUCYA: "I s'pose so...!"
The kitchen-slash-dining room looks noticeably older than the rest of the house, but it's well kept and well decorated. There's a few paintings that look like Aleksy's handiwork-- albeit with a distinct absence of snails-- and a fine tablecloth with little oak leaves embroidered along the edges. If Jagal's looking for valuable materials, though, he won't find much in the way of iron except for the cooking pots.
One of those pots is currently filled with butternut squash soup, and Ada's just about finished setting the table. The boys run up to hug their Pa and Ma and take their traditional places at the table; after a moment's hesitation, Lucya leaves Jagal's side and does the same.
LUCYA: "Pa, we've got yer basket here..."
DUNCAN: "Eh?"
☑ Deliver the Shrasket (Shrek Basket) completed! The progress roll was a weak hit, so we decide that Shrek has slightly miscalculated his payment.
Jagal manages not to get sidetracked by the sights and smells before stepping up to offer Duncan the Shrasket.
JAGAL: "Lostmoor Brewery's finest.~"
DUNCAN: "Auh, right, the..."
Duncan's eyes widen a bit as he counts the bottles.
DUNCAN: "Goodness, he's outdone himself this time... I s'pose I'll see if Freida wants any?"
Jagal shoots Lucya a brief look of “see, I could’ve fixed this problem already if you hadn’t meddled with my perfectly good vow,” but at least he doesn’t say it.
LUCYA: "Aye, that Mr. Bartender, he's a generous man!"
Lucya's not sure what he's on about, so she just smiles back at him.
DUNCAN: "Auh, we can sort it out after supper and... all of this."
He gestures vaguely. Ada nudges him to the table.
ADA: "L-let's eat! And Lucya, ye can tell me all about yer trip, and Mr. Jagal, we'd like tae get t'know ye..."
BRAJAN: "Ma, um..."
Brajan grimaces, hoping Jagal won't get too graphic at the dinner table.
JAGAL: "Sounds like a plan."
Jagal glances between Brajan and Ada but can't begin to guess what that's about. He's just here to eat. And make sure any information about himself is relayed as ambiguously and/or inaccurately as possible.
The family settles in around the table, Duncan leads them in saying grace, and Soup Time commences. Lucya seems quieter than usual, though when her mother asks she says she's just too busy eating.
🎲 Lucya and Jagal both roll Secure an Advantage-- Lucya with heart and Jagal with shadow-- to decide how the dinner goes. Jagal gets a weak hit, so he at least manages not to upset Lucya's family, lol. Lucya gets a strong hit with matching challenge dice! The oracle gives us the words "fear" and "time," so we decide she happens to finish dinner just in time to witness something relevant to the case...
NEXT: 019: Full Moon