Cairn: Worm Debt

Today was Cairn! The rabbit hole of research for today was earthworms, which got me thinking about How to Eat Fried Worms, which is a book I read quite a few times as a kid. Anyway, here's last time.

It's autumn in Cairn, and Snootabur Shadowbough is working in her worm farm. A mole approaches her and introduces himself as Meester Snufflestar, and asks for her help. He says that he'd like to invite her and the other "Traveling Knights" to dinner-breakfast tonight, where he'll explain his terrible problem. Snootabur agrees, and goes to find the others. 

She finds Ratatosk Longberry scampering around gathering nuts and so on for winter, and explains the issue to him. He's happy to help, but does note that he didn't know they were knights ("Is that a thing you can be without knowing it?"). Snootabur asks him to tell Russelet Leatherwind, while she goes to find Rumdiggle Sunsong. 

That evening at dusk, the four of them meet up at Meester's house. He invites them in (and has to widen the doorway for Rumdiggle), and serves them dinner-breakfast. Snootabur notes that he's not serving them worms; all of the food he has he obtained at the market, which is odd, given that he's also a worm rancher. In fact, he has a below-ground worm ranch, enclosed in wooden planks that he painstakingly buried. 

When dinner is done, Meester tells them the awful truth - someone stole all his worms, and all the worm cocoons. Someone dug up into his ranch and rustled them all. The characters figure that he's worried about food supply for winter, but it's actually much worse than that. Meester is in worm-debt - he's promised worms to a variety of people, and if he can't deliver, he's in trouble. He brings them into the tunnels below and shows them the scene of the crime, and Snootabur jumps down and sniffs around. Right away, she realizes something is very wrong - she smells metal. 

Ratatosk notes that someone cut into the ranch from below using a metal saw, took all the worms and all the cocoons, and skedaddled. Meester says that whoever it was collapsed the tunnel behind them and he couldn't follow it. Snootabur notes that whoever made this hole was big - about as a big as Rumdiggle. Rummy thinks about who else is her size (that is, also has trouble with doorways). Groundhogs, beavers, some weasels, badgers...

They ask Meester who he owes worms, and he lists off three names: Ripark, the owner of the Root; Bogglesworth, a mole; and Moriarty Sprit, who just fills Meester with dread. Russelet knows of Moriarty and Ripark. Ripark accepts payment in silver only, which is a little sketchy. Moriarty is a weasel-like animal (he's not a weasel, but whatever he is, he's the only one in Cairn) who lost an eye in a fight. He has a badger henchman named Knuckles, and they hang out at the Root tavern. 

The characters figure that someone might have stolen Meester's worms in order to force him to put up his ranch to cover his debts, and Moriarty is looking pretty good for that. They decide to go to the Root and check things out. 

They enter (after Russelet listens at the door to make sure they don't get jumped), and everyone turns and stares at them. The clientele is mostly rats, moles, a groundhog who looks a bit worse for the wear, and in a corner, Moriarty and Knuckles. Ripark gives the a snarly looking, and Ratatosk whispers to Rummy to start singing. She does, but Ripark throws a dishtowel at her head and tells her to shush, come in and drink if they want to.

The characters take a table and Ratatosk goes up to the bar to get a drink. Ripark gives him a mushroom juice and asks for payment. Ratatosk doesn't have any silver, and Ripark tells him that he'll start a "tab", but that he can trade something to Moriarty for silver if he wants. Ratatosk sips the stuff - it's musty and fermented, and arouses the alchemist's curiosity. He starts talking to Ripark about the fermentation process and how it works, and finds that Ripark reluctantly gets into the conversation. Ripark even suggests that Ratatosk bring him some mushrooms from above-ground to cover his tab. 

Russelet goes over to the corner and challenges Moriarty to a game of darts, loser covers the winner's tab. Moriarty agrees, and Russelet manages to successful hustle him. Mostly, though, this is a ruse to get him away from the door at the back of the Root, and Snootabur uses that distraction to sneak through and head downstairs. 

The basement is big enough to house worms, but all it's got is the mushroom brewing apparatus. Snoot looks around and finds a tunnel at the back of the room. She sticks her head in and tries to sniff what's below, but one of the fermenting batches gives off a moist blast of stink, and she crawls into the tunnel just to get away from it. She explores the tunnels and hears a voice say "who goes there?", but rather than answer she fires a sleep arrow at it. She winds up knocking out a mole; he'll have a limp later, but he'll be OK. She doesn't recognize him, so she keeps looking.

Back in the Root, a possum walks in and stumbles up to the bar. He asks for a drink, and Ripark tells him to settle his tab. He says that he will soon, and Ripark gives him a bitteroot ale, but says that's all he's getting. The possum spots Rummy and sidles over to her, introducing himself as Jellin. He sits with Rummy and chats her up (Rummy is pretty much oblivious to his intentions), and eventually Russelet comes back over. He's trying to keep focus on this side of the room so that no one notices Snoot is missing, and talks with Moriarty about silver and why it's valuable, but all he manages to do is annoy him until he calls Knuckles over to tell Russelet to piss off. 

The characters leave, and stand outside talking a moment before Jellin exits and spots them. They ask about tunnels and the basement, and he reveals that there's an entrance to "the Underground" down there. The Underground is a series of tunnels beneath Cairn, mostly maintained and created by moles, but some of them are bigger tunnels that could accommodate folks like him or Rummy. Rummy asks to see them, and of course Jellin is down for that. 

He leads them to an entrance and shows them into the Underground, but they don't get very far before Snoot pops out. She tells the others that they should head back and go to the Cider Mill Inn, and Rummy invites Jellin to meet them there later. 

At the Inn, which is bright and warm and has good food that doesn't taste musty, the characters sit down and begin to share what they've learned, as Ratatosk asks Alyere Loregood about her fermentation process.

Next time, we'll see if they can catch the no-good rustlers.