Jacob gives you information about the beast's victims and shares some ideas.

The atmosphere inside this small peasant house is surprisingly cozy.

The room is clean and fairly well lit with burning oil lamps. The door slams behind you, Jacob quickly locks the door, and then he walks further into the room and sits down on the beautiful overstuffed chair that is located in front of the fireplace.

“Well... What did you want to ask?” Jacob tells you, gesturing for you to sit in the chair facing him. Jacob looks at you curiously, leaning back in his chair and scratching his hairy chest, which is visible through the fabric of his unbuttoned cloth shirt.

You ask a question: “I was told that you saw something on some of the corpses of the beast’s victims. Any strange symbols? What did these symbols look like? Tell me what happened then..."

He grunts with dissatisfaction and begins to say: “Probably, the information that I can tell you something useful was not given to you by the old bald shit-eater Durlen, but by someone else from the local residents... About a week ago, a monster attacked a family of peasants who were trying to escape from the village. It happened near the western road. This is the only road that leads from the village of Olinsford towards more populated areas. I'm not a sentimental guy, but even I was sickened to see the consequences of that. what the monster did with their bodies. Torn, bloody pieces of meat were simply lying on the road. The vile beast killed everyone: a peasant man, his wife, and three children. No wolf (not even a huge wolf!) could do this: severed heads, crushed skulls, half-eaten torsos of bodies and pieces of meat that were just recently arms and legs.”

Jacob interrupts the story briefly. You see his fingers nervously tapping the surface of the chair.

It's obvious that he's nervous. These are very clearly unpleasant memories.

Jacob then says, “I participated in carrying the bodies of the beast’s victims. Me and a couple of other guys took the corpses to the village cemetery to bury them. I noticed something strange on each of the bodies. It might seem like just bloody claw marks on mutilated human flesh. Marks from very large claws. But, if you look closely, you can discern the same pattern in these scars. Is it an image, a symbol, a letter? Who knows! Unclear! This sign looks like a triangle with a vertical line in the center. I was trying to figure out the meaning of this symbol. I had assumptions about who to ask for help. Alas, I couldn't find out anything.”

Jacob takes a small piece of old thick parchment from the pocket of his cloth pants, bends down and takes out a small knife (the knife was hidden behind the top of his boot). Then your interlocutor cuts out on the parchment the very symbol he spoke about. He hands a piece of parchment to you.

You take this thing and put it in your bag. This may be useful to you.

You also think that you should ask this rude guy about other features of the events taking place in the village.

You ask the question: "It seems that one of the local peasant hunters has already tried to kill this beast? The hunter was killed by a beast near an old abandoned mine in the south?"

Now Jacob’s face expresses poorly restrained anger: “We tried to kill this fucking monstrous scum! We tried to do this more than once! Rolf tracked down the monster and near the mine, Rolf ambushed the monster. And all this happened with the participation and approval of the fucking hypocrite Durlen! What was the result?! All that was left of my friend Rolf's body was bloody scraps! The shit-eating Durlen began to tell everyone that Rolf was an incompetent hunter and that we urgently need to collect money from the whole village in order to hire some elite hunter from a large city! And now this elite hunter is sitting in front of me, who can’t do a damn thing against a monster! The shitty elite hunter who can only talk! Yes, you were lucky and you were able to survive one encounter with a monster! But can you kill this monster? I very much doubt this!”

You say: “I recognize that the threat is extremely serious. But I need as much useful information about the monster as possible to increase the chances of success in my hunt. And one more thing: despondency is harmful crap. Even if the chances are small, you have to fight and try to win.”

Your words make Jacob chuckle and look up at your face in surprise. It seems like he didn't expect such composure from you. He probably assumed that you would get scared and simply leave the village, leaving the locals to fend for themselves.

Jacob continues to say, “Well... If you even try to harm the monster, the monster may be weakened after disemboweling your body. Then the village militia will have at least a small chance of killing the weakened monster.”

You decide to talk on an unrelated topic: “I was somewhat surprised by the external situation in your house. This is a little atypical for an ordinary peasant. Your house looks quite rich from the inside. From the outside the impression is completely different.”

Jacob grins saucily and says, “Oh! How observant you are...! Ha! Ha! Perhaps you will soon begin to understand that there are many things that are not what they initially seem! Indeed: I have some... additional income! Income that I won't tell a stranger like you in detail about! But you can ask a similar question to your favorite ass licker Durlen Gruy! Ask him where he got the funds to build and maintain an inn in such a sparsely populated wilderness! Ask him who gave him money and who helped him become the headman of the village! You might learn a lot of interesting things! Ha! Ha!"

You feel that there is something alarming in this guy's words. This is a hint about the ulterior motives of the people who hired you. You need to be extremely careful and attentive.

You ask a question about ways to find out the meaning of the strange symbols that were on the corpses of the monster’s victims: “About these strange symbols: you said that you had assumptions about who to ask for help. What exactly did you mean? Who did you try to get help deciphering the symbols?”

Jacob waves his hand indifferently and says, "It didn’t work out. I tried to go to house of Meribela. This old woman is a local peasant healer and lives in an old dilapidated house in the north of the village. She understands medicinal herbs and decoctions, knows old tales and legends, and one more thing: she knows a little writing (unlike most villagers). I assumed that she would be able to understand the meaning of these strange symbols. But she said they were just scars. I don’t agree with this, but it’s obvious that I didn’t get any help from this old woman".

Then Jacob takes out a flask of liquid from somewhere in the inside pocket of his shirt. He drinks a little. You smell ****.

Then your interlocutor narrows his eyes and says: “Obviously, you have already seen from your own experience that the shit that is happening in our village is something much more dangerous than the attacks of some lousy wolf! What a fucking story! You were promised money for completing a specific order: kill a wolf! But in reality you will have to do something much more difficult and deadly! Ha! Ha! But wait... That's not all... The difference is in the testimony of witnesses: some saw a white wolf, other local residents saw a black-haired monster. I think another problem is that there are multiple monsters. Do you understand, slow-witted? Not just one monster, but many monsters! These nasty scums hide, stalk victims, attack from ambush... How do they do it? I probably shouldn't tell you, but there is a network of underground passages under the village. These are branched underground passages that extend very far. Most of them are probably underground caves. But the other part was created by someone... Remains of ancient mines? Is someone hiding there? Maybe... Sometimes I think that, in addition to the monsters from the forest, there is a secret threat brewing inside the village itself. Are you going to say that I'm drunk? Are you saying I'm paranoid? But I saw how some people began to behave unusually. The wife of one of the peasants - a stupid, big lumberjack named Rory. Her name is Vela. She suddenly began to visit the temple often. This capricious woman has never behaved like this before!”

You notice Jacob's voice becoming increasingly incoherent. He takes sips from the flask too often. He's clearly getting drunk.

Jacob says, laughing nervously: “You see how many interesting ideas I have! Ha! Ha! Talk to the fucking innkeeper about these ideas. Let him mobilize the militia. Let him provide you with militia assistants. This way you will have at least some chance of survival. Well... It's time for you to go and get busy..."

You say goodbye and leave Jacob's house.

On the street you sigh. The impressions from the conversation are sad: if at least part of Jacob’s assumptions are correct, then a lot of dangerous situations await you. Wouldn't it be better to just leave this village? Why risk your life? There are clearly problems here that are much more dangerous than some wolf!

You are also wondering whether you should pay a visit to the house of the old medicine woman Meribela to try to find out at least something (perhaps Jacob was unable to find out anything due to his rude nature and impudent manner of communication). Even if she cannot help you figure out the meaning of the strange symbols, you can try to get at least some other help from her (for example: useful potions).

Another idea: ask innkeeper in more detail. Perhaps you will learn something new. Information about a network of branched underground caves makes you nervous. Why didn't Durlen tell you about this right away? Another possibility: there is a chance that you can persuade the headman of the village to mobilize the militia and put the militia under your command (this is an unlikely option; it will be good if he gives you at least a couple of armed militia as assistants!).

Another option: a visit to the home of a married couple of local peasants (husband - Rory, wife - Vela). Jacob said some paranoid shit. But there is a small chance that this visit will be useful.

Thoughts swarm in your mind.

You have time to go to someone else in the village and learn something useful (or get other help).

After this, you need to pick up your weapon from the blacksmith (he will probably finish the job by then).