Aliseya blinks twice at Kendra's understandable outburst. "Thing? It's been here before? Oh Kendra... do you have a creepy stalker too? Friggin' men, I'm telling you..."
She then describes to Kendra what she just told Zelda about the experience. "I guess, like, call the sheriff then. But," feeling her abdomen, "what I'd like do first is find out what this clown put inside of me, and how to get it out. Do you know anything about it?"
...
Compassionate eyes look into Naught's, "Oh, Naught. That was, like, so understandable. I was paralyzed with fear! I couldn't move at all after I realized that freak wasn't my stupid ex. At least you had enough sense to hide. You weren't cowardly. You were being smart."
Well, I really was very afraid... though, not exactly paralyzed with fear... but, aw, I hate to see her so down...
Why wasn't I more afraid though? That guy was a real creep of creeps. Huh...
"No, never," refutes Kendra. "I just heard from my room you mention 'a presence' and said 'a thing'. This town has been very safe; the dangerous ones are usually noisy drunkards..."
"The first thing we have to try is to see if it used any arcana..." Kendra says. "I am still a bit off, let me think."
You see that Kendra is going through motions that are very similar to some variants of , although she seems to have lost practice.
Finally looking up to face the other girls Naught will glumly mumble "Yeah, but I left you alone with it. It could have really hurt you."
Mirelinza stands quietly, twirling her sword every now and then. She's in two minds - go back to bed or wait to see if something happens. For now she decides to wait and see.
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Zelda waits to see if Kendra discovers anything. While she is waiting Zelda continues too look around
How did that thing get in here.
Will it come back and attack someone else.?
Maybe I should set up a few traps around the house just in case.
Zelda begins working on a few traps and where to place them.
"Oh." As Kendra works her casting arts, Aliseya smiles at Naught, "If it tried to hurt me, I'm sure you would have been compelled to give him a good whack in the head."
Trying to fight her own morose Naught will bob her head agreeingly.
After a few attempts, Kendra suddenly stops halfway through a motion, exclaiming "Ah, yes! It is actually simpler."
She covers her eyes, pronouncing, "Let us see what lingers of the power of one's fingers."
Suddenly, a white rune ע flashes on each of her hands, and they disappear as she uncovers her eyes. You notice Kendra's eyes move inexplicably fast, as if suddenly she is observing thousands of moving particles suspended in the air, with superhuman perception.
Her eyes gradually blink themselves into normality, but Kendra agin repeats the spellcasting, covering her eyes and observing the bedroom from outside.
"Something arcane has been used here, indeed. I see one aura that remained from the casting."
You see that she is forcing her eyes after the fourth time, and that she has a headache. She continues to cast the spell, twice more.
In the end, Kendra is dizzy, but she remarks "I am fine. I get this horrible feeling of sickness when I have to concentrate for too long on arcana, it is like spinning... You can spin once or twice, but ten, twenty times in a row..." You see that she is feeling sick, and distressed.
"It is non-trivial necromancy."
"Are you, like... okay?" the gypsy asks, her own eyes transfixed by the bizarre spectacle of Kendra's rapid eye movement.
After Kendra finishes, Aliseya's hand instinctively reaches to partially cover her own mouth, as if the word she is about to utter should not be spoken aloud. "Necromancy?!" she harshly whispers at Kendra.
"Necromancy?" Mirelinza echoes. The look on her face suggests the word has deeply troubled her.
Cellawyn nods, keeping her hand on her rapier, "Yes, we should go to the priest at once. Necromancy is not something to be trifled with."
"Yeah, I'm going to the temple right now. I'll just freshen up a bit first."
Aliseya grabs her satchel, freshens up a bit, and puts on her black shawl and sandals.
She pauses before heading for the front door, "Uh. Anyone want to come with? I, uh, kinda don't want to walk the streets in the middle of the night alone..."
With an erratic flush Naught dons her raggedy robe and picks up her axe. "It'd probably be best if everyone stays together. Do you feel okay to travel Miss Kendra?"
"Oh... thanks ladies. Thank you." Aliseya was about to protest, not wanting to trouble everyone further and unnecessarily. But, she quickly sees the sense in being very cautious.
And, she feels quite warm inside by the show of concern for her well being.
"If it was just the break in, I would leave it for tomorrow, since there is nothing we can do right now to catch the culprit..." says Kendra, going into her room.
"However the situation is far more serious. I will change and make Jod and Thunderbolt ready."
"Bring your weapons though; you never know when a group of six women might have to fend off a drunkard or a pack of hostile midnight-dog. Even though we are not walking anywhere near the Laughing Demon, well, at least not near by Ravengro standards."
"Lamplighters onward!"
Cellawyn will lead the way.
Mirelinza wanders back downstairs and dons her armour and straps on a variety of weapons - checking and re-checking them all. Every now and then she'll wave a blade with a theatrical flourish before declaring herself ready to travel.
Kendra leads you out through the back door, and to the modest stables at the back of the property, besides a small agriculture patch. The stables have five stalls for horses and no space for other animals, an only Jod's and Thunderbolt's bays are currently in use.
You take the horses, and Kendra invites the two most skilled in riding to escort the group, since there were not enough horses to transport everyone. After some deliberation, Cellawyn and Mirelinza conclude they are the most capable, and mount.
The group then moves to the bridge southwest of the house, crosses it, and moves northward towards the Temple of Pharasma. Those of you who cannot see in the dark can hardly see anything beyond Kendra's "lantern" -- she mounted a large glass shard on a light pole, and used her arcana to light it.
The darkness peers at you from the bushes, the fields and the forest beyond. The silence of the village is only disrupted by the dogs barking. You still have the eerie feeling that some of them will unpredictably growl against you, or will suddenly emerge from the bushes to invest against the horses.
The stars above are starting to fade, as Sarenrae sends her first lights from underground to overcome the night.
As you post yourselves in front of the temple, Kendra remarks "The Laughing Demon is already closed, as we would expect. I am glad we avoided encounters with drunkards..."
One of you impatiently knocks on the main door, and realizes that no one might hear. Kendra guides you to the clerics' house, where you may be heard.
Again you knock on the door, and a voice yells "We are sleeping, move along!"
Of course, the situation is exceptional, and that must have been an unconscious response to drunk men's harassment. You insist, and knock again.
The door opens, and a man that you saw in the funeral -- the younger acolyte -- says "What?" You notice that he is surprised to see so many sober people at once in a late-night visit, indeed an unusual event.
Pointing at Aliseya naught will blurt out "Fix it! Fix it! Fix it!" before regaining her composure. "Also, there are Necromancers about."
The young man looks at you with incredulity, and shuts the door on your face. This time, Kendra knocks and insists with the man that someone entered the house and did resort to necromancy, at which point Aliseya exposes the occurred, and the man, still reluctantly, closes his eyes in prayer.
Quickly, the man's attention turns to Aliseya's right thigh, at which point he simply disregards social conventions and grabs it, nailing his thumb at a hard spot and causing strong pain in Aliseya.
"This doesn't bode well," he remarks, after letting go of the gipsy's leg.
"Not just this evil growth you have in your leg, but your presence altogether," he says accusingly to you. "I knew from the start that the death of Prof. Lorrimor'd bring some strange types t'town, and now look at what's happening! We've got necromancers in our backyard! I'll ask Fr. Grimburrow to see what he can do tomorrow, and make the preparations to help you, but after I help you that'll be it! Consider yourselves invited to leave."
"And you, Kendra, you shouldn't give much rope to them, you know. This stuff'll get you in serious trouble."
You see that Kendra finds herself without words.
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Zelda looks at the fear in the man's eyes
"I know how you feel. Stranger come into your town and it seems like evil is following them. Fear is an easy thing to surcome to, and blaming the stranger is even easier. Surly it is not someone I know, much easier to blame someone you dont know. The problem with such thoughts is the stranger may be the one person who could help you if you let them. The professor asked us to come. He knew something was wrong and wanted us to help. We did not bring the trouble here. It was already here. The professor sent for us to help rid this town of the evil hiding here. Why else have we been attacked instead of someone else. What ever killed the professor fears us. Please dont reject our help. Help us save this town."
Zelda looks at the other to see if they have anything to add.
Aliseya gets the urge to slap the man upside his head when he grabs her leg without her permission. But the intense pain, coupled by the need for his assistance however rude he might be, helps her to resist this urge.
"Uh... thanks," she reluctantly says as she gently soothes the surrounding skin on her thigh to ward away the lingering pain. Then she asks the acolyte, "An 'evil growth?' Can it wait? Will it, like, do something bad in the meantime?" She looks very worried.
After he finishes talking and Zelda chimes in, she adds, "Yeah man. Like, don't judge us just because you haven't had a chance to get to know us. How do you know we're so bad?"
A twitch begins to form in Naught's eye as the acolyte grabs Aliseya but she restrains herself to mumble through her lips to Kendra "Are all the guys here so handsy?" before speaking to the man in earnest "I don't care if you don't like us but we are here to help you... Kendra mainly, but you by proxy!"
With so many speaking directly to the acolyte, Mirelinza keeps her counsel for now. Instead she closes her eyes in prayer. She grips her holy symbol and lowers her voice - but ensures it is audible enough for the acolyte to hear.
"Oh Dawnflower, you teach me to be a fierce warrior but you also grant me the wisdom and the compassion to be as a caring parent or sibling to all in need. Help me heal the sick and lift the fallen. I will do your bidding to be a guiding light into the darkest hearts and lands."
"Time is of the essence. You must believe that we are allies of the professor and we continue his struggle against the forces of evil that would enslave this town."
The young acolyte frowns, not at his obligation to help you since he is bound by oath to do so, but at the trust he unconsciously develops, inspired by the ladies' arguments and the presence of a paladin of Sarenrae. The knights of the Dawnflower still had a reputation among the zealous servants of the just Gods.
"Come in."
You come enter a small waiting room where presumably people usually wait for the clerics' assistance. The man explains in low voice so as not to disturb the others' sleep that Aliseya's condition is too complex for him. Although he is used to treating the sick and the wounded, he explains that sewing gaping cuts is far easier than extracting masses.
"Fr. Grimburrow is the only one amongst us who can heal the sick through prayer. I will talk to him this morning, but you should come back tomorrow to see him. Right now there is nothing we can do, except pray."
"I know it is hard for you to come here in the middle of the night expecting help given the situation, but I apologize that there is not much we can do... Even if I were to wake Fr. Grimburrow up, before his morning prayers there is nothing he can do either. Still, the mass looks stable, and I see no inflammation. If it has not grown on your way here, chances are it will not grow until tomorrow either."
You see that overall he is much more helpful in attitude, even though he is saying the same things as before.
"Now," his face turns from compassionate to serious, "How in the bloody Gehenna have you become involved with a necromancer? I will report that to Fr. Grimburrow as well. I am sorry, because this will cause you serious trouble in the future -- walls seem to have ears around here, you know --, but this cannot pass unattended to."
"Thank you... Robert, right?" says Kendra. "I wish we could have solved this right here, right now, but I do not know whether there is much more to do than rest until tomorrow and come back in a few hours..."
Without much to do, you come back to Lorrimor's place, and it is close to the morning. Kendra moves to set the breakfast up, and you can hardly sleep anymore. It is time for an early trip to Harrowstone according to Cellawyn's plan, or an exploration of the city before the shops and other offices open.
You eat breakfast, still affected by the somber events of a few hours ago, at the same time compelled to refreshment by Sarenrae's warm light covering Ravengro. It is hard to see the evil of necromancers through such a fine morning.
"I am eager to return to Harrowstone, but we should probably meet with Fr. Grimburrow before we depart."
While rubbing her thigh, "Yeah, Cell. I'd love to get this thing out of me as soon as possible."
"I think as much information as possible is helpful before we try to tackle anyone. Let's see what the Father has to say - plus we need to get Aliseya's leg seen to." Mirelinza's tone is business-like but friendly.
Although Naught doesn't say anything it easy to tell from her anxious pacing and lack of appetite that she can't wait to take Aliseya back to the priests for them to help her.
You head out to the Temple, this time in the first lights of the day, seeing that the city is awakening to its normal movement, with people working on the fields.
As you are ready to cross the bridge over the creek, to the west side of Ravengro, you notice a small crowd further down the road, by the creek's bank.
You realize that the people are gathered roughly where you saw the Harrowstone memorial.
Cellawyn turns to the others, "I'll meet you at the temple. I want to see what the disturbance is all about."
Aliseya looks on with curiosity as she continues walking towards the bridge, "Okay Cell. We'll see you later."
"What monument?" Aliseya asks.
"I didn't know you guys had a monument..." The bustle of the crowd monetarily alleviates Naught's anxiety as curiousity takes hold.