Masamune readies himself to move forward if needed.
Alara has hit something of a jackpot. The door gives a slight groan from disuse, but the space on the other side of it is quite the sight.
It appears to be one of the main focal chambers of Brinewall Keep. Rotten, faded banners hang from the walls of a long and wide hall. Thick stone pillar support a tall ceiling. At the near end, an old wooden throne sits, it's back carved to resemble the towers of a castle wrapped in the coils of a serpentine dragon. On that throne rests an odd fellow. His hair stands up in a shock of white strongly contrasting with his red face. He has a long, pointed nose, too long to be natural - at least for humans.
He idly seems to be playing with a chained weapon (which Alara instantly recognizes as a kusarigama) while he laughs at and badgers a quartet of dire corbies.
"That is the worst delivery you've made yet! How do you expect me to understand your remorse for killing the king if you can't project your lines?!? Now start again! With more intensity!"
Alara notices that the corbies seem barely able to keep from glancing in her direction. But the red-faced fellow seems oblivious to her presence.
Alara promptly shuts the door and creeps away from it.
"Found some sort of impromptu theatre. Some weird, red-faced guy with white hair is yelling at a bunch of dire corbies. Four of 'em, to be exact. He's got a kusarigama--essentially, it's a sickle attached to a ball & chain. I'm pretty sure the corbies noticed me, but the red guy didn't." She reports to the others.
Piper nods at Alara. He writes: 'What should we do then? Try to take them out or go to a different part of the keep?'
Ash quietly looks over to his brother but stays quiet otherwise.
"We should probably wait for this area until the end. We might find something useful to help us out and those corbies might be tired after having to preform for so long."
The upper room's chamber appears to be a form of study. Most of the furniture - couches, drawing tables, empty bookshelves - lies in disarray. But one lone writing desk and chair, in the center of the room, stands apart. It is heaped with pages of parchment and paper.
There are three exits of note from this room other than the stairs to the ground floor - one leads deeper into the castle, one leads to the outer wall's walkway, and the third are stairs leading further up the tallest tower of the castle.
The elf ninja's keen ears hear faint sounds on the floor above. The rustling of grass in a breeze, maybe?
Piper follows carefully after Alara to upstairs.
Piper looks at all three options. He signs, 'We don't need to go to the outer walkway. Should we go to the third floor or deeper into the castle?'
Alara holds up her hand to call a halt, then points at her ear and then upstairs.
She signs to Piper: 'Heard something upstairs. Sounded like rustling grass in a breeze. Might want to check that out."
Piper nods and heads back downstairs. He writes to the others: 'Alara heard something from the third floor. Says that it sounds like rustling grass.' He then move back to Alara and gets ready to investigate the sound.
Looking to the others, "Do we stay or shall we follow?"
Alara creeps forward to investigate the rustling noise.
Unfortunately, she stubs her toe on the stairs, causing her to hiss in surprise and pain.
"Let us follow to make sure nothing bad happens."
Nods and prepares to follow.
As Alara reaches the top of the stairs, she feels a slight breeze and smells the fresh salt air of the harbor as well as something else... something more like rot.
The room at the top of the tower is lined with bookshelves, though most of their contents currently lie in heaps on the floor. A large nest of grasses, branches, and strips of cloth is tucked into a corner of the room and rustles with air currents that blow in through an open door. Through that door, Alara can see a balcony overlooking the bay.
On the balcony, a creature stands. Her features are at least partly feminine, but cruel and harsh. She has large bird-like wings on her back and talons for feet. She holds a bow in one hand, an arrow in the other, but both are lowered, the arrow not yet put to string. She appears wary, but also curious. Her eyes narrow as she scrutinizes Alara's appearance.
Piper continues to follow Alara up the stairs. He looks around, brow raising as he sees the large nest. When he looks through the door, he sees the winged woman. He stares at her, tilting his head in curiosity as he tries to figure out what she is.
Alara freezes in the doorway as the winged lady stares at her. "Um..." She coughs awkwardly from the smell in the room.
She giggles sheepishly. "...sorry, didn't mean to barge in on ya like this. Probably should have knocked first."
The winged woman transfers the arrow she is holding back to its quiver and then makes a beckoning gesture with her empty hand. She extends that hand toward Alara, palm up, as if she wants Alara to take her hand. As she does so, she cocks her head just a little as if she were asking a question.
She does this without uttering a word or other vocal sound.
Alara arches an eyebrow in curiosity and steps forward, tentatively reaching out for the winged lady's hand.
Uh... what's going on, here?
The winged woman doesn't seem particularly hostile. As the ninja reaches out, she holds her own hand steady with no sign of treachery that Alara can detect.
But as far as what's going on? That's a bit difficult to tell, other than the winged woman wanting Alara to take her hand.
Alara takes the winged lady's hand. "My name's Alara. May I ask who you are?" She asks in the most polite tone she can muster.
The winged woman's lips don't move, but Alara can suddenly hear a foreign voice in her own mind. "I am Zaiobe. Do not be afraid. This is the only way I have to speak." Zaiobe's grip tightens on Alara's hand as she communicates this, resisting any sudden reflex to pull away.
"What are you doing here? Nobody comes here."
Piper watches the interaction between the harpy and Alara. He watches as she takes the harpy's hand and introduces herself. Though, what makes him curious as the harpy doesn't respond. Turning to Alara, he signs: 'Alara? What's going on? The harpy... isn't saying anything.'
Alara jumps in surprise as Zaiobe's voice speaks in her head. <Oh my!>
She looks down at Zaiobe's hand. <Well, can't say I've ever talked to somebody like this before.> She looks up at the harpy lady's face. <We're here because one of our friends is, well...> She takes a breath and looks around for a second. <...how do I put this? She's really sick, and apparently whatever can cure her is somewhere around here.>
She glances back at Piper to see what he makes of this, and notices him signing. 'Her name's Zaiobe. She can't talk with her lips, but somehow she can talk with her mind.'
Masamune begins to follow Alara's trail to make sure that nothing is going wrong. Approaching slowly since he cannot hear the sounds of combat or surprise right now.
Follows close behind his brother.
Piper looks at the harpy in shock at Alara's revelation. He tilts his head and looks at her in curiosity, stepping a bit closer. He smiles and waves at her. He takes out his chalkboard and writes: 'Hello, Zaiobe. My name is Piper. It's a pleasure to meet you. How are you able to communicate with others with your mind? Some kind of spell or magical item?' He tries to remember if he had learned anything about this.
Zaiobe watches Piper with an astonished look. She then drops her bow and grabs at Piper with her now free hand. When she makes contact, Piper "hears" in his head, a feminine voice, "Can you not speak either? Did the wind take your voice too?"
The voice seems to be quite excited.
Piper looks confused when Zaiobe stares at him in amazement and drops her bow. He is surprised when Zaiobe immediately grabs him. When he "hears" her questions, Piper thinks for a moment. He decides to answer. <No. I can't speak either. I haven't since I was a kid. Though, the "wind" you speak of didn't take my voice. It was... carved out of me, more or less.> He uses his free hand to point out his scar. <What is this "wind" that took your voice? Some kind of divine source since telepathic powers like yours are often associated with that of the divine or extra-planar.>
The male voice that Piper has is a deep baritone. It has an odd melodious quality to it, as if when he "speaks", it seems to be faintly musical. It's a type of voice that suggests if he could speak, he would have been a singer of unrivaled talent.
Zaoibe's voice rings in Piper's head, "The wind was Pazuzu of the 4 Wings. He took my voice as a sign to me. There are places I must go and I have... wasted too much time here."
She spies Masamune and Ash coming up the stairs. "How many of you are there?'
Masamune looks in seeing the creature holding Piper he almost charges forward with his blade, but looking and seeing Alara just standing there he feels confused for a few moments.
"What's going on here?"
Rawnie follows up the stairs after the brothers.
Piper tilts his head at Zaiobe's explanation. <Pazuzu? I may have heard about him. Give me a moment...> He mulls over the name for a bit.
When he sees Masamune and Ash come up, he hears Zaiobe ask her question. He replies with: <There's five. There's me, Alara, Masamune, Ash, and Rawnie.>
The bard looks at Masamune and waves him over. With his free hand, he signs: 'Masamune, this is Zaiobe. She's a harpy whose mute like me. She can only communicate with someone when she's touching them.'
Ash watches quietly, very concerned about this situation.
Alara feels slightly put out when Zaiobe takes more of an interest in Piper than her.
She looks back at the others and shrugs.
Zaiobe turns her attention to Alara. "I do not know what it is that you need to cure your friend's illness, but maybe we can work together because we face the same problem - the current master of the castle - Kikonu. He has hurt me for the final time and I want retribution. Together, your friends and I, we can defeat him. And with him gone, the corbies should be less of a problem. What do you say?"
Piper is shocked when he remembers Pazuzu and the influence he had during the the "Late Unpleasantness". Zaiobe was a worshiper of Pazuzu? He would need to be wary of her. However... she doesn't seem cruel. Nor does she seem particularly evil. Maybe, there was some sliver of good in her. He smiles good-naturedly at Zaiobe.
Alara blinks. <Kikonu? Was that the weirdo putting on a play in the main hall with a bunch of corbies? What did he do to hurt you?> Her eyes widen a little. <He didn't take your voice, did he?>
She turns to the others. "Zaiobe-san here is offering to help us take out the master of the castle. Apparently his name is Kikonu, and he's in charge of the corbies here."
She then signs to Piper. 'What do you think?'
"That sounds like the best option. Is this a sanctuary of some sort that we could hole up in? Do they leave her alone?" he questions, hoping they can rest for their own sake.
Piper signs back to Alara: 'She is involved with the demon lord, Pazuzu. She says that he took her voice. While I am a bit wary, she hasn't attacked us and is willing to aid us. Perhaps there is some good in her. I'm willing to try an alliance with Zaiobe. Maybe she can be our friend. But, perhaps we can get her to hold some kind of promise.'
Zaiobe responds to Alara's question, "Putting on a play? That is him. He believes himself a great artist, but his "masterpiece" is all garbage. He did not take my voice, but he has used it against me. I do not understand how he did it but it was needlessly cruel."
She looks in Ash's direction, but continues to direct her telepathic communication at Alara and Piper. "Kikonu does not come here often. But if he knows you are in the castle, he may come looking or send corbies. My presence will not stop that... unless we work together."
Looking at Ash, Piper remembers that he can't understand Sign Language. So, he takes out his chalk and board and (in a somewhat funny bit, where Alara holds the board with her free hand, Piper writes with his free hand, all while the two are holding both of Zaiobe's hands) writes: 'She says that Kikonu does not come here often. However, if he knows that we're in the castle, he may come looking for us. Or he might send his corbies. Her presence won't stop that unless we work together.'