While the Altbreit brothers stay with their uncle, you've been given barely enough copper for a few nights at the village inn. Not the warm welcome you were expecting, and being separated from your friends is certainly less than ideal- as is trudging through the rain again.

The inn is the town's largest building, ominous and with but the faintest of lights shining through the shuttered windows. The door is unlocked as you would expect from an inn, and inside you find an almost deserted room. There's a bar opposite the door, with a small common room to your right and a wider room with multiple small tables to your left. There's a narrow staircase leading up to a second floor directly right of the bar, and a door behind it leading to what you assume is the kitchen.

Almost everything in the inn is made of wood- the chairs and tables, the floor, even the ceiling is covered in wooden planks. Only the loadbearing walls are made of drystone, and even those have planks hammered on vertically along the lower half.

A scrawny man with beady eyes, wide grin and ash brown hair combed back with some sticky substance stares at you from behind the counter. Nobody else is in the room, and it takes a moment for him to address you.

'Welcome, welcome! My name is Franz Holzen, and I am the owner of this establishment. How may I be of service? A room perhaps? Or maybe a hot meal?'

"Hmnuh."

The sour grunt is the loudest sound Hamfast has uttered since falling asleep on the cart. Bad enough that he woke - in the middle of the night, no less - with a splitting headache, bad enough that the Altbreit's fool uncle turned him and the rest out to stay in some flea-infested inn, and bad enough that he didn't even give them enough to get a real drunk on...but all the furniture was going to make the rotund little halfling look like a child.

And it'd probably give him splinters in the bargain.

The sound of the innkeep's voice draws his attention, and he elbows his way out of the little knot of the brothers' hangers-on, not particularly choosy about who or where he shoves.

"Yeah, and make it fast, would ya?"

Hamfast pauses a moment, replaying the brief exchange in his head.

"That's to both, just so's ya know."

"Both indeed." Jill say's primly. "The meal especially. That wagon ride was frankly atrocious. I could have jogged faster then it rode."

Franz's smile widens. 'Of course, of course,' he says with a voice smooth as silk. Then, in sharp contrast, he turns his head to yell harshly over his shoulder. 'Anne!'

A few moments pass, in which the warden flashes you an apologetic smile. Then the door creaks open, and a young girl of maybe fifteen years appears, her freckled face practically hidden by her unkempt auburn hair, shy eyes darting between Franz and you.

Franz's stern, almost angry voice echoes through the hall. 'Well don't just stand there child, fix these fine guests a meal, and tell Rose to ready their rooms!'

Anne makes a furtive and clumsy curtsy, then disappears again without a word. Franz's smile returns as if donning a mask, and he shows you to a table by a window. Not that there's much point in doing so- all the tables are empty, and you cannot see anything but blackness beyond the glass.

Franz excuses himself and retreats up the stairs. After a few minutes Anne returns with a young, blonde-haired boy in tow, both of them carrying cutlery, glasses, a bottle of water, bread and bowls with stew, which they hastily place on the table. A bit too hastily- the boy accidentally hits the side of the table with the bottle and drops it. It shatters on the ground, sending shards flying.

The two children stand transfixed to the ground, then expressions twin masks of horror. Soon Franz hurries down the stairs, staring angrily at his children.

'What- who- can't I trust you children to do anything right?' He turns to you, and after a moment his anger fades slightly. 'Apologies, dear guests. Clearly my children need more discipline.' To the children, he says, 'I don't know which of you did this, but we'll be having a talk about it later. Now clean this up, and fetch these nice people a new bottle.'

"It was just a mistake." Jill say's bluntly, not interested in seeing the kids get in trouble. "I bumped the table as they went to put it down."

Didn't I?" She asks her companions glancing at them.

"Hnhuh." Hamfast grunts again, and waddles toward the indicated table, giving Anne a cursory glance as she steps gingerly through. The innkeep certainly isn't the most pleasant of his type, as far as he can tell...but right now, Hamfast doesn't care about much beyond when he's getting his meal, and whatever he'll be drinking with it. He hauls himself up in a chair, letting his legs dangle.

The distance between his feet and the floor does absolutely nothing to assuage his mood, and he scowls at Anne and the boy as they come back, immediately grabbing a chunk of bread and tearing into it with gusto. By the time the bottle shatters, it's halfway down his throat, and he coughs up a spray of crumbs.

"Gyaaaahhkhh - bleh - "

The halfling stares at Jill for a moment, eying her suspiciously...and then gives a decisive shake of his head.

"Nah. The boy cracked it." He shrugs, glancing around the table. "What? How else is he gonna learn?"

The kids look up hopefully at Jill- then terrified when Hamfast spills the beans. Franz simply looks at the halfling with a joyless smile. 'Thank you for clarifying, good sir. Please let me make it up to you and your friends with a round of ale. On the house, of course.'

He then retreats back through the door behind the bar, shooing the kids in that general direction while they try to hold back their tears.

Almost as if on cue, when the door closes a blinding flash of lightning lights up the village square outside. And for a split second you see someone outside, standing motionless next to the well while staring right at you! Then the light is gone, and you see only blackness outside...

"Well that's ominous." Jill say's sarcastically. "Figures some backwater like this would have the locals just lurking around the inn. Probobly get their jollies scaring travellers."

Jill also gives Hamfast a dirty look, but ignores him to settle back.

"I don't like this place myself. I don't mind getting out in nature, but this place reminds me of those Sylvania penny dreadfuls."

"Yeah, sure!" Hamfast cracks a grimy smile at Franz, then tears back into the bread, mumbling through a full mouth at Jill.

"Pfeee? Youh do rhiyht an' help pfteach some mannerpf - GAH!"

Once again, the halfling goes into a startled fit of choking, staring at the momentarily lit-up square with bulging eyes. As the figure fades back into the darkness, he squints at Jill, breathing a little too sharply.

"...y...yeah...just a prank..."

You spend some more time at the table, downing the rather watery stew. Once finished Franz will lead you to your room- or, as it turns out, rooms. Rather than sharing one big room, each of you gets their own. The rooms- where ceiling, floor and walls are all covered by dark, thin and cracked wooden panels- have hardly enough space for a single bed, which is pushed up against the left wall of each room.

On the right side of the bed, there's just enough space for you to stand, and opposite the door is a small window. There are shutters, but they seem to be broken in all rooms.

Franz apologizes for the inconvenience, claiming that he has one larger room but that it is currently occupied by the merchant you came into town with. The man apparently locked himself in his room, asking not to be disturbed, and Franz assures you he's been quiet all evening. He then goes back down the stairs, leaving you to your rooms. From the floor below you, you can hear him scolding his crying children.

Your are weary after travelling for days, to the point where even the coarse beds in your rooms are beginning to look inviting. But you are free to as you wish- Franz mentioned he'll be downstairs for about an hour, after which he'll retreat to his own house, which is right next to the tavern.