Scath: You are able to make it up into the rafters and find a nice place to perch to observe the full room.
Alexis uses a fresh towel to get a little dry, knowing it would be useless to go home under this rain. She put some fresh clothes (she always has a spare at the bar since drinks are always flying in a place like this), made some tea for her and offers some to everyone else. Aside from that she doesn't speak much, drowned in sadness.
Scath blinks as he realizes he managed to sneak through the room without being noticed. He really wants to shake to get the water off, but doesn't want to draw attention to himself. So he crawls to the farthest part of the rafters from any human, and shakes quickly to get most of the water off. Then he sneaks back over closer to the fire where everyone is.
Once back at the tavern Trusk looks over his own wounds and discovers that they're very minor. However, not wanting to put himself in a position of disadvantage for the next day's battles, he says a small prayer to Gorum asking for everyone's strength to be bolstered for the next day's battles.
"Alexis, I know you're distraught, but you've got to think rationally about this. You can't go charging off on emotion alone. Staying out in that storm and wandering around blindly could have gotten us all killed, and that would put this town in a much worse situation than a couple missing children. How would your husband react if you didn't come home? How would the town react if four of us disappeared all at once? We don't know what we're dealing with yet. We need to be prepared for just about every contingency if we want to succeed."
Scath sneaks over above Trusk when he talks, and nods at the two-leg's speech. "YOOOOOOWWWWWLLLLL!!!!!"
He lets out a loud yowl in agreement, then settles in to watch the two-legs in the tavern.
The tavern is mostly empty but there a a few others here weathering out the worst of the storm here. A couple of the patrons start in surprise, one even drops his drink when Scath let's out his yowl. They are a little shaken and eye Scath up in the rafters with unease.
Trusk looks up at the rafters and glares at the cat.
"Who let that damned cat in here, and why the hell is he still following us around? Luther, is there a broom around here that I could borrow for a minute?"
Thankful for the healing but more than a little annoyed with the bickering, Luther folds his arms over his chest and fixes Trusk with a cool look.
"Whose bar is this, old man? And you," Luther said up into the rafters, "We could all have a merry game of chase the fuzzy beast from the bar but I'd rather not. If you want to have a say in proceedings, come down here with the rest of us and get toweled off. Soaked stray bobcat ain't a good smell for an inn."
"Well excuse me for trying to remove the filthy animal from your bar." Trusk says with a sarcastic tone. "Most people won't like to find cat hairs in their beer."
"But let's ignore the beast for now and get down to the matter at hand. We need to think what to take when we head out next. If there's truly a cave, I say we're going to need a healthy supply of rope, pitons, and possibly a few long poles. Two poles, some rope, and the correct knot can make for a fairly sturdy, somewhat collapsible ladder. Then there's the matter of light. Lantern oil and torches would be the order of the day in that regard. If need be, both can be used as makeshift weapons. I'd also recommend a few sticks of chalk to mark our path. I've been in one too many a crypt, tomb, or cave and gotten lost because I forgot to leave a marked trail. Let me tell you, living on rats and insects is not the way to go through life. It took me a few times to figure that one out..."
Scath hisses at Trusk, and begins to lick himself clean. When Luther talks to him, he eyes the barkeep, and then drops from the rafters onto an empty table. Away from people. He picks one that looks like it's seen better days, and isn't long for the world anyway. He then scratches on the top of it.
.
S A N D
S M I T H
Blacksmiths always keep buckets of sand around for putting out fires. Water evaporates too fast in the heat of the smithy.
Wylliam looks up as he hears Scath. Hearing the discussion between Trusk and Luther, he hides a smile. But he looks to see if Alexis will be impulsive on this.
She sees the Lynx scratching the table and takes a look at Luther to see if he's already moving to kill the feline. In a normal day she would deal with it, but not today. She was not working today. She does pass her eyes over the written words, but lack the attention to care about their meaning.
"Well, you're perfectly welcome to drink at any of the other fine establishments in town." Luther said dryly. Hearing the scratching sounds, he turns to face the feline defacing one of the tables. He takes a deep breath, and then another, his legendary patience have been tested to the limits today. Walking behind the bar, he fetches a piece of paper and an inkwell.
"I'm going to ask you once to use this before I consider gutting you to restring my fiddle," he says coolly.
Scath looks from the ink well, to the paper, then to Luther, then back to the inkwell, then back to Luther, then back to the paper. Then, while looking at Luther, pats the top of the inkwell, spilling ink all over the scratched table. Then he tries to wipe his paws on the paper to spell something, but it just ends up making a giant mess on the paper. Finally, the cat wipes the paw on the paper and begins shaking his paw miserably trying to get the ink off the furry paw pad. Then the cat gives Luther a very very long look, as if seeing if the bartender is now aware of how ridiculous his idea was, and he pats the scratched words again.
S A N D
S M I T H
Luther closes his eyes and pinches the bridge of his nose. Without a word to the others he leaves out the back of the inn. Stripping to his waist in the rain he quietly squares off with the old darkwood tree behind the tavern. A few moments later, a sound not unlike an axe hitting wood as Luther calmly and methodically punches the gnarled tree trunk over and over again.
Scath sits and looks satisfied as he waits for the inn keeper to return with sand.
Trusk just shakes his head quietly.
What did he think was going to happen other than a mess?
The other patrons try not to stare at scath and keep their distance. Since Luther nor Alexis had kicked the lynx out, he must not be a big threat. That didnt mean they were comfortable near him. They move to the far side of the Tavern.
After a few minutes, Luther returns with a bloodied knuckles and a feeling of calm and control around him. It is a thankfully rare sight for Luther and most of the locals know this is how he reigns in his temper, especially when dealing with things her currently cannot change. He wraps cloth around his hands and fetches a small purse from a lockbox.
"I'll be back with the climbing gear. Creature, I'd like you to be outside when I get back. I'm sure Trusk will be happy to open the door for you. My pay is a bit on the meager side, would anyone else mind putting up some coin for the gear?"
Reaching into his pocket, Trusk sets a few coins down on the table.
"Here's 4 gold pieces. Use it for a couple lengths of rope, a bag of pitons, and a couple poles. I've got a night's worth of torches, a day and a half's oil, a lantern, and 100 feet of rope back at my place. I've also got a single stick of chalk, but I'd like it if at least one other person had some as well. I also hope someone else can bring some more oil. I can see in the dark, but you guys can't and we don't know how long we're going to be out there."
Then he looks at the cat, gives a wicked grin, and asks, "Where's that broom at, Luther? I'll repay you if it comes back in more than one piece."
Wylliam pitches in 3gp.
Scath growls at Luther, and at Trusk. Then he goes over to the door and waits. Idiots, not have Scath to abuse any more. Done with two leg morons. The cat hisses, let the two legs race to their doom. He can protect his two-legs, and he's tired of being insulted and treated like garbage, when all he's done is help, including attacking the zombies to help the two-legs. He should have known they were not worth helping.
Trusk walks over to the door, opens it, and shoos the cat out with a whiffing kick following in its trail.
"Scat, cat! Get! Mangy beast..."
Scath moves to walk out the door, and see's the foot coming in his direction. Rather than walking, the cat whirls in place, and growls, showing fangs to Trusk, and raises an foreleg up, showing very large claws that glint in the torchlight. Bright yellow eyes look Trusk directly in the eye with no trace of fear. The message should be clear, that foot connects and the cat will rip Trusk open.
Trusk stops his foot in mid-swing after the display.
"Oh ho! Kitty's got claws!"
He then bends down just a bit, glares at the cat, and says, "They say you're smarter than you look. If that's the case, take the hint and get the hell out. You already covered a table in ink, and I don't want to cover the floor in your blood."
Scath growls at Trusk, maintaining his stare. Then the cat, once he's made sure Trusk sees there's no fear in him, turns and slowly walks out the door.
Once the door is closed, and Scath is back out in the storm, the cat takes time to very deeply scratch a message in the inn's front side, one that won't come out without replacing some wood.
L U T H E R
I D I O T
T R U S K
M O R O N
Then the lynx goes and finds a warm dry place to bed down for the night, likely the church, given he knows he can get in via the bell tower.
Alexis takes a coin pouch from her waist and shakes it. "I also have some money, if you need it."
"Gosh will the storm never pass?"
About three hours past noon, the sounds of the storm are dying down outside, meaning the worst is over the town. It is still raining steadily, but the lightning flashes are only in the distance and the winds have slowed down. The rain finally moves past at early evening leaving mud, downed tree limbs and scatterings of leaves in its wake.
Scath will, once the storm settles down a bit, and it's just regular rain, get up and shake himself awake. Having written off the two-legs as being Too Stupid to Live (tm), he will simply proceed through the forest to the cave, sneaking the whole way. (DC 27 taking 10 average for simplicity, 31 with the rain). Once he's at the cave, he'll scout the area, again moving slow and stealthy, trying to find another entrance to the cave, especially one that's his size, rather than two-leg sized.
"Night will fall soon. It would be stupid to go out there in the dark. We better rest properly and move first thing in the morning."
Being a part of the night watch, Trusk heads home and tries to nap during the storm. As evening hits and the storm comes to a close, he equips himself again and prepares for his normal patrol around the outskirts of the town. In addition, he'll be checking every window in the town for further markings. If he finds one, he'll make special, and frequent, trips to whichever house has it. Also, with the knowledge that these symbols are religious in nature and magical, he'll make frequent use of Detect Magic during his patrol, just in case something is trying to obfuscate itself.
Trusk notes a new marking on the outside of the tavern.
T R U S K
M O R O N
It resides immediately next to another marking.
L U T H E R
I D I O T
It appears to have been deeply clawed into the wood by animal claws.
Trusk makes a note of the markings, detects that they aren't magical in nature, and continues his patrols with a slight scowl marring his formerly expressionless face.
If that cat did this...
After a good half hour to an hour of searching, hidden behind some thick foliage. Any walking corpses you see, seem to pay you no mind. You have found this entrance by moving northwest of the cave. You had to circle around some to find it.
As you make your rounds, it seems only the two windows are marked with the symbol. Otherwise, the night is quiet. But taking your normal patrol as well as having a busy day before that has taken its toll. You can feel the lack of a good sleep getting to you.
The next morning is a sunny as the day a day in Perdition's Point can be with the cloud cover. While the ground is still wet and muddy, it should dry out as the day goes on.
Scath will sneak into the opening of the new little cave, and sniff it out. If it doesn't smell like any predators are in here, then he'll stop and take a cat nap, surely tired after all the sneaking and tension.
Scath will then explore the cave, going deeper as long as he doesn't have to squeeze too hard to get through . He's especially smelling, listening and watching for light (he'll have to get by on hearing and smell for the most part). He'll stop every 40 ft and mark his way (cats can be very efficient leaving scent markers), so he doesn't get lost. If he comes across some water in the cave, he'll stock up if there's no bad smells with the water.
As you wander the cave, you come across several interesting smells, more walking corpses, and a few rotting bodies laying around. So far, there is no light in the cave. You do come across a small puddle of water that seems to have dripped down from the ceiling. You haven't heard anything unusual in the cave yet.
You suddenly pick up a scent you recognize. You remember smelling it outside both houses with the symbol. It's faint, but it's been through here with in the last few days.
Scath will continue deeper into the cave, but he'll stop at the rotting bodies and try to ID them by the smell (human, elf, kobold, whatever).
As long as the undead are ignoring him, he'll keep sneaking around. He'll also rub himself in some dirt if he finds some, in case anything has darkvision, so he'll look more like the dirt when he's sneaking.
All the bodies you come across are just like the ones from outside, kobolds. And all you smell is death and rot here. That is, until the current body you come across,. This one is not one of those walking corpses. This one, lies on the ground, and is small in size, and appears to be a two-legger. The undead have not even noticed you at all so far, and you have only seen the walking corpses.
Scath droops.
Scath sighs, and get's a grip on the body's clothing (if possible) in his teeth, and begins to drag it back along the way, keeping away from the undead until he can get it to the opening of the cave, and see it in the light.
If it's alive, and a two-leg, he'll try to keep it warm. If it's not alive, he'll try to identify it when he can see it.
As you drag the body outside, you can see the sun rising. It took you a long time to drag the body here. The body is cold and unmoving, making it obviously dead. It has been dead long enough to be stiff, but being down here in the cave has protected it and slowed the rate of decay. When you take a closer look in the light, you see the body is a boy.
Scath droops again in the morning light.
Scath will trudge on, dragging the body as carefully as he can. He'll go some out of his way toward the town, so he doesn't cross in front of the main cave entrance. The dragged body should leave a good enough trail that Wylliam can find it. Scath knows the two-legs are on their way in the morning, he'll try to get the body to the road so they can find it, and the trail leading back to the alternate entrance (although they may be too big for it, he's not sure given it was all in the dark). If he makes it to the road before hearing or sighting them, he'll scratch in the damp earth next to the body.
F O U N D
I N C A V E
N O S A V E
M A N Y
R O T
I N C A V E
N O F I N D
O T H E R
Y E T
If he get's the body that far without seeing them, he'll climb a big tree, and sleep and wait to see what the two-legs do. If they don't do anything, he'll try to make it into the cave again tonight and find the other child, or the killers.
Trusk stifles a yawn as the sun rises. He greets his replacement and tells them about the carved wall at the tavern. He then goes home to pack his gear up for the day's journey and to fix a small meal.
Alexis arise at first light. Her eyes are still swollen and dark, although she slept a few hours and is refreshed. It seems she is out of balance. She packs up, eat a boiled egg with some milk at her own house, update her husband on the findings of the group and moves back to the road, to wait for the other.
Luther wakes slightly before dawn and fixes himself a simple breakfast to eat as the sun rises over the trees, watching from the balcony of the inn. After a quick wash and a shave, he joins the others with the load of gear.
Wylliam wakes, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.
He gets himself presentable and has a small breakfast of bread and sliced meat. He gears up and heads out to meet up with the others.
"One, two, three, four with me. Where's the red woman? Has anyone seen her? And no signal of the cat. We should get moving before those things finish their breakfast."