Curthew

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20 posts. Alias of stormraven.


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Rynn shakes her head in response to both Lyrica's and Jak's questions.


She shakes her head, "Nuh uh."


Rynn nods, "I guess I didn't hide good. He came under the bed and started talking. He told me he killed everybody and I was next. He said it was Momma's fault, an' if she had done what she was 'sposed, Tamor and Poppa would still be alive. He said she was shellfish and that was why he was gonna kill me. Then he heard something and stopped and waited. Then you came in."


The wide-eyed girl looks at Marcus and swallows hard, the subject making her nervous. "It came in after... doing bad things to Tamor. I hid under the bed and it came after me, and told me what it did."


Rynn gives Lyrica a hard-eyed look that belies her youth. Her voice is a hollow whisper with an innocence violently lost to reality, "I'm not safe. We'll, none of us, never be safe again." The girl shakes her head vigorously at the Paladin's questions. "I never seen that doll before today."


"I'm Rynn." says Rynn.


Marcus crouches low and looks beneath the bed. Squeezed into the corner beneath the head of the bed is young Rynn Pegason. She huddles in on herself and has her blankie pulled up to her wide, haunted, saucer-like eyes. Her golden locks tumble down askew and she rocks herself gently, praying softly. Scattered beneath the bed, some of them set like sentinels to guard her, are a host of wooden soldiers, dolls, and stuffed animals.

Er'stil protects me... Er'stil protects...

Even Marcus' poor social skills bring the girl some solace. Tears of relief fill Rynn's eyes and her prayers cease... but she shakes her head emphatically at his solicitation to come out. Her eyes shoot sideways, fear renewed. Marcus sees a motion among the toys. The head of a gaudily dressed bone-china clown slowly rotates in his direction. The black stone eyes regard him blankly and the painted on smile never changes. The only thing that grounds the surreal vision is the large blood-streaked kitchen knife in the clown's tiny hand. The procelain fingers wrap the handle carefully... and it strikes in a blur, leading with its suddenly animate mouth filled with rows of needle teeth.

Marcus barely has time to marvel as dozens of needles pierce the flesh below his eye. It moves so fast...

Jak, Aerik, and Zeke see the almost prone lumberman start in surprise... then something nearly yanks Marcus beneath the child's bed... by his face.

Marcus a Will Save, if you please.
And Initiatives for all of you.

A's HPs: 24|24
E's HPs: 18|18
J's HPs: 19|19
M's HPs: 18|25

VILLAIN: What's Hiding Beneath the Bed
MAP: Wind-Up Toy - Round 1

BOOM:
Bite (20/2x) vs FF (no shield)
HIT: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (8) + 10 = 18
DAM: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 3 = 7 + Magic
INIT: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (14) + 2 = 16


Lyrica Strom wrote:
"Sadly Mel, her appearance is not very pretty, and I think she has had a difficult life as a result. People have been very unkind to her and she needs our compassion. Once you get to know her, you realize that she is not evil like you would think. Have any of your friends said anything about her?"

Melodica deflates, losing interest. "Awww, it would have been a better story if she was all wart-covered. The girls are always talking about this lady or that. Sure they talk about her. Why wouldn't they? She is the strangest person around."


Aerik & Marcus wrote:
Survival Rolls

The only positive thing about the strange events in the forest last night is that they thoroughly upset the patterns of the surviving game animals - driving them closer to the village. Aerik and Marcus struggle back into town a mere hour later carrying a buck and a brace of coneys. Nice total there Aerik.

Elsewhere in the village...

Quote:

"How is he doing Melodica? Has he shown any sign of waking up yet?"

When she has a chance, she casually mentions her visit to Zarzanna and tries to gauge her sister's reactions to the comment and try to sense if either of them have had any contact with her before.

Sense Motive: 8

Allegra watches her father gravely, "His breathing is better but he's shown no signs of waking yet." She pays scant attention to the mention of the hag.

Dropping the crone's name gets Melodica's attention. She whispers, "Is she as warty and pock-ridden as they say? Is she a Gnoll? I heard she was and that she has two uteruses? Is that true!?"

Bluff vs DC:8:
Omitted to prevent metagaming from scamps! :p


Flickering torches arc like meteors and strike the Finiose house, setting it ablaze. Olivia, drops the mask of burgeoning womanhood and clings to her mother, sobbing uncontrollably for a home and a family lost. "Daddy..." Rowan rubs her daughter's shoulder even as she hugs her, her teary eyes fall helplessly on Ezekiel.


Lyrica Strom wrote:
"What did you see, Mel? Who did what?"

Melodica's face goes vacant, remembering things she'd rather not. She unconsciously pulls the comforter tight, "We were out by the barn, Hanna and me. Then the moon changed and this dark fog came. At first it was just a streamer. It came over the bluff and poured down the Finiose's chimney like a snake. There was screaming from the house for a second, like the screaming of rabbits caught in a snare, and then we ran. We ran because there was a whole bank of this fog coming over the bluff. Most everyone it touched just... stopped. It was better that way. The others, well, they didn't just stop. They thrashed and clawed... It was really bad. So me and Hanna yelled and ran but folks were too slow and the fog was quick." She sniffles and runs a sleeve under her nose.

Lyrica Strom wrote:
"This is really important, Sis. How did all of these people die?"

Her words, when they come, are hollow. "They didn't die - not all of them. The fog took some." Her eyes slide to the locked and shuttered window. "It got Hanna right out there."

Lyrica Strom wrote:
"Please come down and be with us. We need each other at times like this. Please don't hide away."

Melodica looks about the room for any traces of fog. "I'll take care of Papa but I am NOT going outside till the sun shines again... if it ever does." She descends the ladder and helps put her father on the bed. She watches him carefully, all somber eyes.


Sorry gotta step back a moment in time...

Allegra wrote:
"Lyr... you're wearing armor. Mama won't like that."
Lyrica Strom wrote:
Lyrica embraces Allegra and replies "She's dead now, Allegra!"

The youngest Strom daughter snaps, "She knows that! Don't you think she knows that?!"

Melodica wrote:
"I'm alive... I made it through the window in time. Hanna didn't."
Lyrica Strom wrote:
"Come on down, Mel. There has been a disaster. People all over the village have died."

Melodica shakes her head and bundles herself up tighter in the comforter, "I'm staying here. I know people have died; I saw them do it. I was there."

Her anger is displaced when her father coughs up the black mist and seems to come back from the dead. She retreats further into the loft, eyes wide. "Gods!"


Jak Howell wrote:
Jak can't help but smile at Little Red's taunts. A smile he's sure to hide behind a facade of overly-dramatic suspicion as he turns around to regard the bundle of knees and elbows held together by little but two barrels-full of spunk and brass. "And just what do you know of notes from girls, Red?" He insinuates every ounce of good-natured derision into her nickname, folding his arms across his chest. "I didn't think prankster-little red-top squirrels even knew how to read or write? And I don't believe for one second that your ma was able to pin you in one spot long enough to teach you."

Ritti looks mostly amused and slightly affronted. "I know my letters! Had to learn'em just so I could find the wiggle room in the Rules. Don't wanna take more switchin's than I earned."

Jak laughs realising the red-headed hellion is probably speaking the truth. Posted in the Assembly Hall (which also serves as the school) are two weathered placards that list the Rules of Fellowship. The first list outlines the values and behaviors that Drear-folk have abided by for the sake of the community since the thorp's foundation... with some amendments made after the blood feuds of 1018. They are mostly commonsense guiding principles.

The second list describes the Rules of Fellowship for the thorp's children - outlining proper behavior and what would earn a child a switching or worse. At least one or two amendments had been made to the list since Jak was a boy. And it was speculated that another one or two would be added before Ritti reached her maturity.

Jak Howell wrote:
He gives her a wink and his best mischief-sharing grins as he steps closer to her, "So, got any big plans for tonight, Kid? I think all this snow's made this town ripe for some fun, don't you?"

A co-conspirator at heart, Ritti lowers her voice, "I got nothin' planned, right now... Mama has been watchin' me like a hawk all week, Jak. It's like she doesn't trust me." She shares a grin with Jak that says her mother is right not to, "Can you believe that?"

Jak Howell wrote:
He musses her hair, a perfectly-shined silver crown seeming to come out of her nest of bright red hair. "Hey, you're paying out already. I might have to take you with me as my lucky charm when I head down-valley." He flips it to her, "Share some of your ma's mulled cider later? My treat?"

Ritti's eyes go wide - less at the crown and more at the offer of adventure. "Jak! Jak! PLEASE take me down-valley when you go! I'll be your lucky charm, I really will! I'll be really, really good! And not the 'good' I promise Mama, but the real thing! I've never seen Muuscarta or anywhere! Can I come? Please talk your Pop into it! I'll do anything to go!"

She manages to simultaneously leap up and down while hanging onto Jak, trying to extract promises from him. After a long minute of heartfelt and sincere begging, she reluctantly lets him go for the promise of a shared cider later along with an additional chance to wheedle him into bringing her along on the Howell's next trading trip.


Lyrica wrote:
Turning to her younger sister, Melodica, Lyrica says, "That's Lohegrin Zirk! He's been eyeing me for weeks, if not longer. Doesn't he know that running the ice is not a way to endear my heart! I wish he could use a little more insight and a lot less of his foolishness."

Melodica rolls her eyes, as if this is the appropriate answer to all things male, "That's what boys do. Besides, Loh can't even talk to you, so how could he know how to impress you?" Mel giggles.

Lyrica wrote:
"Well, come along, Mel, let's see if we can persuade these boys to go home and find something more productive to do with their time. If nothing else, I will at least try to get Lohengrin to return to his house."

Melodica digs in her heels, "Aw, what? Why do I have to go?" She glances towards their father and opts to follow her sister now reluctantly instead of risking a lecture later.


"I only saw him for like a second. He was in this really big chair an' it was dark. He seemed pretty thin and then his eyes glowed and I was here... I think maybe he had a friend though? There was a big shape behind his chair." She shrugs, "That's all I saw... can we go home now?"


The little girl rolls her big brown eyes. "That's what I said - the beehive room. Tho' the water wasn't running so good with Nonesy blocking lots of it." She explains, sensing these adults won't understand, "Nonesy was our horse. I think he died in the fall down the river-thing. I landed right on top of him KERSPLAT before the water pushed me off. That's when I saw the chair man."


Her brow furrows, "Yeah. The man in the chair in the big beehive... where the water came down."


Ushari Velnokal wrote:
She responds to the girl who mentioned that, ”Really, so the same thing happened to you, right? That is interesting, and one of the things I want to check into."

She nods vigorously, "Yep, I got poofed in as well. I think the chair man did it."


She nods. "Yeah, I was first up... but the bad man with the teeth woke up pretty quick after that."


A few of the women look startled at Ushari's pronouncement. One little girl, shakes her head. "No one put you here, silly. You just appeared. POOF!"