As Kairon examines things upstairs he sees that it is not in disarray at all... Her living quarters are untouched. Is it possible that the mess downstairs is the result of a struggle? Further, he sees that Laurel was obviously stockpiling the ingredients she could gather for the cure. There are rows of jars with fire-newt tails, a giant heap of dried aster flowers, and, in one corner, a pile of mint so large that its smell permeates the room.
Chillel has Athena search for anything she can find, and understand, by way of a clue. Chillel herself looks at the ingredients for the cure present in the shop and the shop's facilities. She says:-
Is there anyone here capable of making the remedy? An alchemist perhaps? Of course we will have to find Laurel, but we need the cure immediately.
Baradim nodded, not particularly eager to learn the tongue of the dark fey but recognizing that there was an advantage in doing so. When Goruck told him of the strangeness that he was feeling, that there was a pressure in his mind, Baradim considered for a moment before nodding.
"I can create a concoction of things nearby at some point. Something that Isha showed me that will perhaps allow for a revelation of some sort..."
When Illiam shifted into the house and the the front door was opened, a sense of dread began to grow in his heart. Entering in, the scuffle that seems to have occurred makes his heart sing with a bestial rage and his grip tightens. Those amber eyes reflect in the dark for a moment now, looking over everything that is there, before he speaks in a low, controlled voice.
"We need someone to wake Lady Cirthana and the Sheriff. Kanga, sargs." The massive feline would seem to go attentive at the command, guarding the front door. It likely wouldn't attack anyone that came by unless they were obviously hostile but the low growl of the mountain lion was sure to keep the curious away.
Baradim would enter into the space and look over the destruction, taking a breath to calm his spirit. With a small whisper in Sylvan, his eyes would flash open and seem to shine just a bit.
Pretty sure we can make it ourselves, since we've got all the stuff for it -- I mean, the book called it "tea", so . . . . But I'm more worried about Laurel, at the moment. You've got a whole town sick, and somebody thinks it's a good idea ta bust up the local 'pothecary? . . . Y'all haven't seen me mad, yet. But it's comin'. Kairon says from the stairwell. Dolok -- wanna help me gather up all this stuff into bags so me 'n Goruck can carry it? Prob'ly best if all the ingredients stay with us till we find out what in Rovagug's nightmares is going on here.
Thorough searching reveals little more than what was seen at first blush. A rampant mess in the shop portion of the building, a mess that seems to point to a struggle, and well-kept living quarters rife with cure ingredients. A search for tracks on a hardwood floor, and a well-traveled street, is futile, there are no tracks left on the floor, and thousands of tracks up and down the street. One thing is for certain, whomever made the mess didn't care that Laurel had the ingredients for the cure, or they would have certainly stolen them, or worse, burned them. Since the building is still standing, it leads one to believe that if Laurel was abducted against her will, it was not to prevent a cure from being made. Which, of course, begs the question, if in fact she was abducted: what did they take her for?
I think somebody in this town wants this nightmare. And when we find out who... I agree with you and Baradim, we keep the cure ingredients together where we can make sure they stay assembled and in good condition. We should try to get the cure into people as soon as we can though. Lives depend on it.
Chillel sounds calm and speaks softly. But there is a cold anger behind the composed exterior.
Baradim will nod, looking towards Illiam.
"He can. Grab some dirty clothing, or her pillow and sheets. We can track her that way."
As the others continue to converse and plan, Kairon scours the upstairs (after invoking the Dawnflower -- Οδηγός μου) for any sign of Laurel's plans, or anything she or another may have left for the group to find.
Between Illiam's thorough search, and now Kairon's, the group has spent nigh on an hour just combing over Laurel's place, with nothing rewarding found. Now, at almost half past one in the morning, things still sit as they did before, signs of a struggle in the shop, nothing touched in the upstairs living quarters.
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Illiam pulls a ball of fur from his Bag of Tricks and tosses it to the ground at his feet.
When the ball becomes a riding dog, equipped with a saddle, Illiam climbs into the saddle as before, then holds out the article of clothing for both the riding dog and Kanga to smell, then he commands the dog to find the source of the scent.
Baradim tags along with Kanga in tow, following Illiam.
Having a massive grey mastiff appear, fully saddled right out of thin air, makes Kanga growl and rear back on her haunches, but Baradim is quick to calm her, and she responds to his soothing tone and commands. Once Illiam boards the mass of grey fur he looks, what in other circumstances might be a bit comical, but due to the seriousness of the situation, he looks every bit the noble champion. Sniffing the ground the dog first goes back into the shop, snuffing around behind the counter, then in the back room, then behind the counter again, then sniffs around the floor of the shop, then out into the street, and finally bays at the sky and takes off running down the street and just as quickly as it takes off, it stops short, right in front of the two guards standing in the lamplight at the bottom of the road that leads to The Perch, right at the front door of The Falcon's Hollow Tribunal, and there it stops.
One of the guards watching Illiam, quickly followed by Baradim, Kanga, Chillel, Dolok, and then Kairon and Goruck hustle up the street, fully armed and looking just a tad worse for the wear, pulls his longsword from its sheath and belts out, Whoa there! What's all this about? The guard next to him pulls his signal whistle up and places it in his lips, then draws his sword as well. Both guards wear banded mail, have bucklers strapped to their left forearms, and have heavy crossbows strapped across their backs. By the dents and nicks in their swords, it is obvious these two have seen a few combats, and come out on the winning side.
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Hopping down from the dog after the unexpectedly short ride, Illiam commands it to go back behind him, where it will not be seen as a threat. Using his small size to put the men at ease, Illiam says Whoa, boys. No need to steel, I'm not looking for a fight. I'm just trying to find a friend of mine. Her name's Laurel.
Illiam's attempt to calm the guards does very little, as the whistle still stays in the lips of the one on the right, and they both still have brandished steel. Looking for her in the middle of the god's forsaken night?! The hells for, I wonder? He looks at his comrade and they share a knowing glance, and minor chuckle.
Then the other guard pipes up, his voice as dark and gruff as his black hair and beard. Well, you've found her, or close enough as makes no difference. She's locked in there. He points to the tribunal, which also happens to serve as the local jail. If you're lookin' for 'er, and this late, might be you're in league with her. Might be you should be sharin' a cell right nex' 'o 'er? During the whole conversation, somehow, the alarm whistle stays stuck to the bulky bearded guard's lower lip, like it was some kind of fixture there. He turns to his fellow, the one with close cropped honey-brown hair, and a neatly trimmed goatee. Wha' d'ya 'ink Geral'? Mebbe we should lock up this lot too?
Aye, Markum, maybe we should? He looks at Illiam first, but then looks every man, and woman, among you in the eye. You in league with Laurel, are ya?
Markum, the burly black bearded cuss with the signal whistle stuck to his lip says, As to tha', you can see what charges er laid agains' 'er same as e'erybo'y else. When her trial starts on Oathday. Now, you've loitered here in the street long enough. Off wi' ya, the lo' o' ya. Might suspicious a group like this traipsin' aroun' middle o' 'e gods forsaken night. Migh'y suspicious. You shove off now. Go fin' a quie' bed somewheres.
By the gods both holy and unholy, what happened? The swordsman does his best to help investigate the room, lifting things with contemptible ease. After rounding up the ingredients, Goruck careful accepts them and secures them in his bag, securing his mask to his face. Seems our quest is not yet finished
As the guard's response, the instinct within the massive half orc flares, and his focus narrows on the guardsmen. Dishonesty or worse? Quietly, he whispers while staring straight at the guards, hoping his mask will keep it from being noticed. "Kaut kas sapuvis stāvoklī no Vale. Neviens labi nodomi varētu ieslodzīt viņu dziednieks."
Goruck's intuition tells him these guards believe everything coming out of their mouths is the truth. They are hiding nothing.
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Illiam turns his back on the guards and steps close to the others. Then, speaking in a low voice, but not trying to prevent the guards from hearing. There must be some misunderstanding, but she's not going anywhere tonight. I say we go back and try to do some good. Perhaps in the morning, cooler heads will prevail, and we can find out what's going on here.
Sorry to have disturbed you gentlemen. Chillel says to the guards, then continues to her comrades as they move away Perhaps if we sleep at Laurel's. Prepare the cure there.
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Sorry to have disturbed you gentlemen. Chillel says to the guards, then continues to her comrades as they move away Perhaps if we sleep at Laurel's. Prepare the cure there.
My thoughts exactly. I have no experience with medicine, but I figure I can follow the recipe we found well enough if need be. How about you?
"Wouldn't we possibly get in trouble for being in a place that is not ours?"
Baradim stops at the Tribunal and looks at the men with equal parts bewilderment and anger. They took the town's healer and imprisoned her? She was to be tried for crimes? The men draw their weapons as they approached and Baradim grips the haft of his guisarme, his eyes narrowing dangerous at the men for just a moment. He hesitates as the others seem ready to leave, deciding whether these lives and the lives of those who would come to aid them would be worth the cure being properly made.
"Indeed, Goruck. A cruelness has wrapped itself in the heart of the Valers. We'll see what they say on Oathsday."
He turns from them and looks at the others as they walk away, nodding in agreement with Chillel.
"Indeed. Let us begin the cure within the shop and then we'll start collecting the most harmed and take care of the sick. We shall worry about Laurel later."
He looks over at Goruck and whispers softly in Orc, away from the others hearing.
"Ja tas ir triks no Kreed dara, es nogalināt ka cilvēks." He said rather coldly. nodding. Upon reaching Laurel's shop once more, he would not hesitate and would begin to get to work. Turning to Chillel and Illiam, his sour face would become lighter as he smiled.
"A prayer, to the spirits, for our good fortune." As he prayed, his hand would reach out and touch each of them. They would feel that slight draft of wind that carried the smell of purest air and was warm despite the coolness of the air. Once done, he'd nod and would begin to help them with their work on the cure.
Standing watch at Laurel's shop, Goruck talks as the others work at the cure. "Those guards truly believed Laurel had committed heinous crimes. You may be correct in your guess Baradim, and if so," the swordsman ran his fingers along the edge of his blade, taking in every battlemark, "he will not die peacefully."
Glancing at the work being done, Goruck once again realized why he never engaged in the more intellectual of pursuits. It was a beyond him as lifting an ox was Illiam. With that in mind, he made sure to allow their work to go on unmolested.
It is nearly miraculous that Kairon manages not to reignite his allies' defusing of the interview with the guards. Likely, having two fists full, one with a bag of aster flowers, and the other a burlap sack of firenewt tails, that he dared not relinquish, is all that kept him from "negotiating aggressively" with the two watchmen. And being toward the back of the group kept the guards from noticing his expression -- one that had been seen before, the morning after their rest at the witch's abandoned hut; but it was a quieter, more dangerous thing.
Once they return to Laurel's, and begin preparing the tea, Kairon secures a large barrel and quickly fills it with water: δημιουργούν νερό, repeating the spell as needed. Consulting his notes from his copy of Birth, he assists in making the concoction, drawing on what he learned from Baradim, and how it tied in with his medical training.
If we're gonna get Lady Cirthana, I think a group of somebodies should go get 'er -- not just one of us. Too much no good runnin' through this place, and looks t' be that folks "in charge" are makin' unneeded trouble. And I gotta admit: I don't see the need in tellin' 'er. Sumthin' 'bout her strikes me wrong.
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If you don't trust her, we might want to see what she's up to before letting her know we're back. We should hide the tea we've made and the rest of the ingredients first, too. Split it up and put some in at least two different places, in case somebody tries to destroy it when they find out about it. Sounds paranoid, but something fishy is going on here.
Or we can stay right here, finish makin' enough tea for th' town, and let her 'n all the rest find out after we done got it t' folks as need it.
And after a brief pause, Kairon smiles, a bit wickedly, and adds:
And if there ever was a moment ya proved you weren't from these parts, that was it. 'N you've dodged the question pretty well, near as I can tell -- How did you get here to Falcon's Hollow?
Chillel takes part in making the cure. Before doing so, she makes sure the doors and windows at Laurels are shut, trying to make it less obvious the group is in there.
Paranoid? Not at all. Somebody in power in this town, or a group, want people dying of this illness. And as Goruck suggests, if death is what they want...
Ha! Still don't wanna say, eh? Fair enough. Though I do find it strange that so easy a question gets you t' pointin' the other way with your words; what's to hide, indeed?
And too right, Chillel -- seems someone here wants this happenin'. But, he cuts his eyes back to Illiam, are we askin' the right questions?
And speakin' of questions: Dolok -- maybe you and Goruck could go check on Master Figueroa? Bring 'im back with ya, even? Or d'ya wanna wait till we've got this batch ready t'go?
Baradim worked the mortar and pestle, grinding the ironbloom mushrooms into their softer parts before adding them to the concoction. It was impressive how durable they were, how much they resisted the turning of the mortar as they worked within the space of Laurel's lab.
"I did not advise violence before but...with Laurel's arrest, I am less inhibited. My loyalty is to Falcon's Hollow, not to the Consortium." Baradim murmurs as Kanga lays by the door, quietly resting but not yet sleeping. His eyes flicker upwards now, watching the interaction between Illiam and Kairon. He makes a gesture, as if he is about to speak, but thinks better of it for a moment. "They are comrades, true, but they are both outsiders. Let us see how they react."
He listens carefully between them and smirks as Kairon pushes away from the question, clearing his own throat before adding in.
"Many come to Falon's Hollow looking for reprieve from sins, crimes, and other shames. It is a known tradition to not ask too deeply of visitors but to keep an eye on them nonetheless." He frowns for a moment as he gathers more of the mushrooms, shaking his head. "See...that is where I cannot see the connection. Kreed has always been a man of greed, wanting to maintain his power and push down on the rest. He asks for exorbitant prices from his logging store and the profit goes into his pocket and back to the Consortium. What would he gain from killing the population? It doesn't make sense..."
It's been puzzlin' me, too, Baradim; but ya shoulda seen the look on 'is face when 'e basic'ly threatened Dolok with 'is master's well-bein'!
What d'y'all know about Kreed's son? Juldrin, I think Cirthana said it was?
And speakin' of questions: Dolok -- maybe you and Goruck could go check on Master Figueroa? Bring 'im back with ya, even? Or d'ya wanna wait till we've got this batch ready t'go?
That seems a good idea. Maybe whoever goes could collect my two uncles. It can't hurt to get people receiving the cure, and others seeing it be distributed.
"If I am to leave you alone, I would prefer our task finished." Lifting the massive shield off of his back, Goruck braced it against the door. Turning to the rest, the swordsman glances at Dolok. "That sound agreeable?"