[center][b]Will 'o the Piper[/b][/center]

Although the assurances of Charles and Eidren seemed to put the man at ease, Sigmund's crudeness made for a short-lived disruption. Even so, Asoki Morokovo followed through to the rook's words and faced Charles and Eidren. However, something rubbed the elder and the small mob behind him the wrong way; 

“Shall we proceed inside?”

Behind Morokovo, the villagers were mumbling in a language none but Kurotori would understand. They were less than flattering stereotypes about foreigners, and even the older man seemed to have been taken off-guard by this question.

“Everyone in this village has the right to hear this. Many of them have lost loved ones.” He protested, in a way to change the subject without directly declining Charles' request. His words came out stronger than before, as if to defend himself with them. Behind him whisperings continued. 

“For your questions, the disappearances occur overnight.” Morokovo spoke, “There is no regularity. Some nights they come and some nights they do not. As for their locations... It is also a mystery. We thought of them safe in our homes. The villagers who had gone looking returned with biting marks, the teeth of wolves in human mounds. They had claw-marks on their arms and waists, but teeth near their necks. They were all found by the waterside, washed upon the estuary, days from our village. Or never found again.” 

He rested his eyes on Charles' carefully, then suspiciously eyed both Eidren and Sigmund. “As for legends we have many. Yōkai are common in this country. They can be shapeshifters, they can be ghouls. Is it not up to you to provide us with that answer, librarians?”

The crowd behind him nodded and hummed in agreement with the older man. Although they'd been quiet and polite before, many of them seemed to go with the flow of their elder...