Upstairs at the Inn's common room.
George strides back into the common room of The Mountain's Last Light, leaving the chaos of the cellar behind him. He approaches Brenna, who is still near the bar, looking anxiously towards the cellar door after Ostgar hurried back down with the candles.
With a grunt, George hefts the rough sack and drops it unceremoniously onto the wooden floor near her feet. The dull thud is accompanied by the distinct smell of dead rodent, adding to the lingering tension in the air. "Here you are, old woman!" he declares, perhaps a bit too loudly, gesturing at the sack. "Three dead ratties! That's a quarter of them killed by one man...".
Brenna recoils, first at the sack hitting her clean floor, wrinkling her nose in disgust at the sight and smell. "Gods' mercy, man! Not... not right there!" she stammers, gesturing vaguely for him to move it. But then her eyes fix on the sack, and a flicker of relief crosses her weary features. Dead rats. Proof that progress is being made below. "Three... dead?" she confirms, peering cautiously at the lumpy sack. "Good. Good riddance."
However, in George's next words, he dismisses his companions. "My men can clean up the rest. They're decent ratters." and immediately demands "In the mean time, I'll take a bowl of onion soup and you can show me to a room." Her brow furrows. She hired a large group, not just one man and his supposed underlings. And Ostgar just ran up asking for more candles – suggesting the job wasn't finished.
She draws herself up slightly, her practical, overworked nature taking over. "Soup, yes, there's soup on the hearth, help yourself to a bowl if you must," she says, her tone light and with warmth. "A room? You – all of you – will have get a big room and the rest of your payment when my cellar is cleared. Properly cleared. Are the others... is it finished down there? That lad Ostgar just took down more candles..."
Her expression is a mixture of lingering disgust at the rats on her floor and weariness from the whole ordeal. She wants the job done, fully, before handing out rewards beyond basic sustenance.
