Norasha yells out a battle cry as she swings her axe at the nearest wolf!
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Aisha takes a half step back, shocked by the appearance of wolves in the middle of town. "What in the world?" She digs into her belt pouch and pulls out an ordinary pebble. Her eyes flare with reddish light and it lifts into the air for a moment, then hurtles at the nearest wolf, firing faster than an arrow.
She grimaces as the stone flies past the wolf and buries itself into the ground uselessly behind the animal. Her combat experience is rather limited and her aim is rather poor.
As the first target goes down, Zeviel quickly shifts her attention to Wolf 1. Admittedly, she disliked killing animals for anything but food, but wolves who clearly had no fear of settlements often became a danger to the folks who inhabited them. And removing the predatory animal from the area usually only resulted in a return trip a few weeks later.
well, the sling is hitting but its not doing much, Putting his sling away Boram moves out past Norasha hugging the building, " I will work my way behind 'em yeah." informing the team of his intentions as he draws his shortsword and walking stick.
Exhaling loudly as he darts out of the way of the wolf's snapping jaws, Rokar extends his claws, and retaliates - attacking the wolf that Milani has already injured.
That's it! Keep going! he yells encouragingly.
With a quick signal to Milani, he encourages her to continue as well.
Norasha swung her axe at the nearest wolf.
Take that ye poor excuses for wolves!
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Aisha's pebble zings past a wolf, missing it's ear by inches. Zeviel splashes acid across a wolf's muzzle, eliciting a growl of defiance. Norasha slashes at the wolf nearest her, the blow not penetrating the animal's hide. Rokar and Milani draw blood on wolf 1. Milani's target snaps back at her, taking a bite of her forepaw . Norasha's opponent grabs hold of her arm, but cannot get through the dwarf's armor.
Aisha marshals her mental prowess again and sends another rock hurtling through the air, trying to strike the wolf gnawing at Norasha's arm.
Accursed beast! Let go of me arm!
With the rage of the Mountainrunners, the dwarven paladin swings her waraxe hoping to drop her foe in order to aid Milani before the other wolf can do any more damage to the feline, not to mention to get the blasted wolf off her arm!
feisty little carnivores, lets see how they like having their tails yanked Boram moves around behind the nearest living wolf, on the opposite side of Rokar's pet, Milani. Boram, slashing at the tendons on it's leg admits "Too bad 'eir so violent, wolves make nice mounts when trained properly, yeah."
Smart move Boram, he knows what he's doing...
Violent, Boram? Whatever do you mean? Rokar quips with a sly smile.
Seeing Boram dart into position, Rokar quickly shuffles to his left, taking advantage of Boram's positioning to move into a flanking position on the wolf in front of him before attacking with another pair of claw swipes.
Finishing his attacks, Rokar signals to Milani to continue to fighting the wolf in front of her.
Zeviel continues her assault, again sending a blob of the viscous green fluid towards Wolf 1. Under her breath she utters a prayer to a few choice deities and apologizes to the wolves.
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Zeviel flings another handful of acid towards wolf 1, and another whimper of pain escapes the wolf's throat as it sinks to the ground, breathing heavily and bleeding from several wounds. Seeing that his target has fallen, Boram quickly shifts his attentions to the remaining wolf. The wolf snaps at him as he moves, but misses. With her free hand, Norasha slams her waraxe into the skull of the wolf attached to her arm, crushing it and sending blood and grey matter splattering everywhere.
Bloody abyss! What in the name of the First Forge are wolves doing here? Something isn't right here or I'll be a dragon's naughty nanny and I'm not!
She wiped her axe clean using the wolves' dead bodies. Sighing, she takes a piece of cloth and uses it to finish the job.
So wonder what got into them?
And why I'm at it, let me check you out Milani. Some of these beasties carry some nasty stuff. And then I'm going to take a look at those wolves too.
Aisha just shakes her head. "I... I don't know. I've never seen wolves in town before." She can't imagine what would drive the animals to creep into town. "Perhaps someone brought them here intentionally."
Rokar steps over to the wolf that Zeviel felled, lays a hand on it, and mutters a few words under his breath.
If you're serious about riding one Boram, this one here could survive with the right care. I'd even help you train him.
Standing up, he looks around.
Stay girl, he says, gesturing to Milani as Norasha approaches her.
We need to find the guard. This is only getting worse...
It is odd to find wolves in town, how did they get here Boram sheaths his shortsword and leans on his Shillelagh smiling at Rokar, "Thanks fer tha offer Rokar, but I believe I will stick ta ponies, yeah." looking around Boram shakes his head, "I wonder how these critters found their way inside tha walls." Boram then begins to carefully looks around the area for any sighs of someone who may have been a handler of the wolves.
"We can ponder that as we walk. We need to keep moving if we plan on figuring out what exactly is going on here," Zeviel said, sounding more sure of herself than she did while they were looking for clues back at the Ramblehouse. "It'll do us no good to stand around, even if we are puzzling out a mystery. Besides, walking with get the blood moving and thoughts popping."
Without waiting, Zeviel continues on, fully expecting the others to follow.
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Not finding anything out of the ordinary, Boram shrugs his shoulders and follows Zeviel calling out to her "slow down lass, we want ta stay all together, yeah." walking us beside her he ask "So where do ya think Omast is?"
This is a shame Rokar thinks, kneeling down to the wolf again.
Extending a claw to the side of the wolf's neck, he cleanly slices through, putting the creature quickly out of its misery.
Let's go then, to the gates. The guard needs to know about this, and they can point us to Omast, I would think.
Standing up, Rokar follows Zeviel and Boram. As they walk, he sniffs the air, wondering if the wolves had came from the direction of the gate, or somewhere else in town.
"Will all of ye hold yer horses! These wolves weren't rabid to begin with!"
She yelled at her companions as she explained, "These poor beasts were poisoned. That's what drove them mad. Poor things. Hope Milani didn't get any of it. The poison looks like it could be transferred via bites. "
Poisoned?!
What? Rokar stops in his tracks, turns quickly and calls to Milani, surprised to see she's not on his heels as she usually is.
Are you OK, girl? He mutters to her quietly, stepping back towards her and carefully running a hand over her head.
Is she OK? What is it? he asks Norasha, clearly concerned, with all thoughts of the guard pushed from his mind.
Trying her best not to laugh, the dwarf smiles.
"Tis nothing to fert about laddie. She's fine. I checked her wound. She's going to be okay. The wound be clean and does not seem to be festering at all. I'll keep an eye on her if ye like." The dwarf hoisted her axe over her shoulder, smiling.
"So they were intentionally brought here then. And driven mad so they'd attack innocent people. Poor things. It's just needlessly cruel to do something like that to animals. It wouldn't surprise me if the murderer is involved in this too."
"Aye it is lass. Indeed it is. And me be thinking the same thing too there. Whoever set these poor beasts on us isn't too happy that we're investigating Rodrik's murder. We'll have to hurry up and get to Brinya, Omast, and Sara Morninghawk. Who knows if the killer will be after them next!"
The dwarf quickly got moving and motioned the others to hurry up as well as she yelled at Zeviel, "Wait a moment you pointy eared lassie! And also no one say anything about us dwarves and our speeds! We are quite skilled sprinters over long distances!"
Zeviel had to work hard not to roll her eyes as she slowed her pace to something more suitable to a dwarf's stubby legs. She certainly wasn't going to let that comment about pointy ears slide either, but that could be hashed out later.
"Quickly now."
Putting himself back in order, Rokar agrees with Zeviel and begins following her lead again.
Yes, let's go.
Aisha just nods and follows after the group, clearly troubled by the last encounter.
Looking at the half-orc over her shoulder, Norasha was a bit worried. She thought Aisha was very attractive. Clearing her throat, the dwarf asked Aisha, "Oi Aisha. How are you holding up there? If you need to ask anything ye can ask me anything."
Norasha was always taught in Ninth Battalion training that you have to look out for your comrades for in battle your comrades were the only ones you could rely on.
Aisha startles a bit at Norasha's question. "I'm fine," she says quickly. "Just a little... why would someone do this? It's not even necessary, it's just needlessly cruel."
"Ah that. I'm afraid Aisha that there are many cruel out there in the world. But luckily just as there are cruel people out there doing such things, there are people like us who are given the duty to bring them to justice and stop their cruelty. It may seem hopeless at times as there is so much evil in the world, but as long as we give people hope, evil will never win. So take heart and know that we are giving these folks here hope that justice will be done and the murderer punished."
Norasha smiled at the half-orc, hoping her poetic explanation had lifted her spirits.
good to hear the wolves weren't rabid... and that Milani will be ok too, that would be hard on Rokar... speaking of Rokar look at him go with that nose of his, now that's a talent, bet he could find all sorts of fresh baked goods...did the dwarf just call the elf a 'pointy eared lass, well at least she calls em how she see's em...and the half orc is a sensitive soul, better that than the opposite... got the makin's of a good team here... Boram watched Rokar as he attempted to search the winds for where the wolves came from, following along behind the girls as they slowly headed toward the gate to speak to Omast. As they go Boram calls out to Rokar, "After we are done speakin' ta Omast, I may borrow 'at nose of yer's ta find a fresh baked pie, yeah!"
Aisha smiles slightly, but it seems a little forced. "I think I've seen my share of cruelty in the world by now. I... I just wish that there could be someplace with a little less of it. The people here don't deserve more hardships."
"Good morning, Omast, or i suppose it is actually not a good morning at all. Perhaps a good mourning is a better fitted phrase in the sense that today we both miss and celebrate the one who has left for a higher plane," she called out to the man as he cleaned the vandalism from the walls. "I don't suppose you have a moment to spare?" Being a fan of wordplay, she managed to resist the urge to add 'while you're hanging about'. Today was not a day for such jests.
Boram follows the lovely elf to the south tower where they find Omast, of all things, cleaning graffiti. A guard cleaning walls, I think I would have found someone else to the job, hanging from his own belt no less, and this is the person who has information...good morning...good mourning, funny, wonder if Omast eve got the pun. Watching as the guard slowly responds to the sorceress' call, Boram, leans against the graffitied wall, tucking his Shillelagh under his arm, he fishes his pipe our from its pocket and pulling out his bag of pipe-leaf he begins to pack his pipe, leaving the talking to the more gregarious members of the party, keeping a keen eye out for anything unusual.
Norasha could have slapped the elf as the dwarf face palmed herself. Moronic pointy ear numbskull! Of all the things to say you pick that!?
"Good day Omast!"
The dwarf knew that what with Rodrik being dead everyone in town would be upset and reminding them wasn't a good thing to do!
Rokar looks on, waiting for Omast to reply.
By the scared beards of my ancestors! The man be drunk!
The dwarf was shocked that the man was drunk while hanging from such a height.
"Oi! Come down here and let's talk friend!"
Norasha was doing her best not to call Omast a complete and utter moron!
Omast doesn't seem to be handling Rodrik's death very well, this probably isn't a good time for jokes Zeviel- they were pretty close. And I haven't seen Omast drunk in a long time... Rokar explains, with a tinge of sadness in his voice.
Maybe he'll come down and talk to us if we can get this crowd to move on?
Signalling to Milani, Rokar encourages the tiger to give a loud roar, looking to capture the attention of the crowd for a moment.
"Perhaps he shouldn't be up there if he's drunk then. He might hurt himself. And we do need to talk to him..." Aisha isn't as familiar with Omast, and she feels a knot of sorrow in her gut to see the captain's death effecting others so much.
"Aye, that be true. Let's try and see if we can get these yahoos out of here."
Turning to the crowd, the dwarven Stonelord says, "Okay folks time for y'all to leave now. Let Omast do his job!"
Aisha hesitates, not really liking having to speak up. Her life was always so much simpler when she didn't have to make herself known. "Please, we need to speak with him privately. Today's been trying with... everything that's happened. Please, don't bother him when he's like this." Her voice wavers and she barely speaks loud enough for the crowd to hear her, much less to be slightly convincing.
"Who was joking?" asks Zeviel, clearly confused at the notion.
When the time comes to clear everyone out, Zeviel clears her throat politely then bellows out:
Boram, finishes lighting his pipe, their right, we need to get that yahoo down here and the best way will be to disperse this crowd. he begins to wave his Shillelagh over his head yelling out