Hens in the Foxhouse

Wyngrad takes the sack eagerly and peeks at it as he is leaving. He heads directly home as fast as he can, holding the sack close to his body.

This will pay a lot of the medical bills that we owe, he thought.

Layna rests her elbows on the table and rubs her forehead, a tired look on her face and she looks across the table at Methuselah, trying to read his expression.

She hefts the bag and then sets it beside her on the table, then pulls out a gold piece and pushes it across the table to Sikhandyn, "Here, for your friend Annette."

She looks down the table at the rest of the group, "once we get the maps we can come up with a plan," she says tiredly. "But before then, we should figure out what types of things we should request from the quartermaster. For starters, it would be very helpful if everyone had some way to attack the dragon from a distance, unless you like dancing between a dragon's maw and claws."

Layna leans back in hear chair and closes her eyes and puts her feet up on the table, "Any other ideas," she asks.

As Sikhandyn heads out, Karn gets up and walks over to him.

"Good luck, Sik", he says with his hand on the others shoulder,"See you soon, I hope."

He sits back down and takes a long drink from the jug.

When the bag with the money shows up and he sees how much it is, his face lights up.

"Whooo!", he calls out, "Look at all this"

He runs out of the room, saying, "Be right back, I'm gonna get some food!"

He goes to the innkeeper and orders some chicken, beef, whatever is available - enough for two or three normal meals and an equal amount of ale.

When it arrives in the room, he begins to eat and drink with gusto, remembering to offer some to the rest after he's begun eating.

"Here, Sikhandyn - take this coin from me too, in case Annette needs it." Sofia says, producing a gold piece and giving it to the wizard.

Sofia watches as the young man collects the coins and takes his leave from the party. She then turns her attention to the purse. 'Hmm. I do not need so much gold and silver... Time to put some of those coins to good use.' she thinks.

After discussing her equipment needs with the quartermaster and ensuring that she gets to keep Night as her horse, the priestess leaves the inn and heads to the nearest shrine devoted to Elawyr, where she quickly donates six of her recently gained gold pieces.

As Methuselah prepares to leave, Layna walks over to him and stops him as he approaches the door.

"For your family," she quietly says to him as she reaches into her coin pouch and presses something into his hand. "I have little need of such money, but I know your family depends on you." She claps his upper arm with her hand. "Take care of them, and take care of yourself," she says a bit more loudly as she gives him a firm knock on the shoulder.

When Methuselah leaves the room Layna then returns to her seat at the table and looks briefly at Karn who is still working on his meal and the newcomer Blake, and the quiet Astaban, before leaning back in her chair once again.

Astaban peers into the sack, as if he cannot believe that this much coinage exists in the world, then quietly finds a safe spot to deposit the money into a hidden fold of his clothing.

The sound of his stomach growling prompts him to stand up for a moment. "Excuse me," he says, as he descends the stairs towards the innkeeper. A few minutes later, he returns with a meal, sits down, and joins Karn in eating.

Seeing the others give Sikhandyn money for Annette, Karn slaps himself on his forehead.
"Of course", he says, "Annette! My uncle was right, I only think of my belly at times."

With that he jumps up and gives Sikhandyn a gold piece, "For her. She deserves it."

"From what I've been able to gather," Layna says as she turns to Blake, "Few of us ever ever seen a dragon before, and none of us have been... fortunate," that last word bears the heavy weight of sarcasm, "enough to actually fight one. What about you," she asks. "We could use any insight we can get."

Astaban remembers their fallen comrade, and proceeds to donate a gold piece to Sikhandyn as well.