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After Walthus prepares you a welcome healthy meal for you all you, and you verify the house is empty and safe, you get to sleep. The girls go upstairs (Walthus insist in you using his room), while the men sleep in the Kitchen, next to the fire.
Avan moves around the boarded windows look outside, thinking he sees the evil bright red eyes everywhere, just for a second, but convincing himself he is letting his imagination play tricks with him.
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Apex sleeps uncomfortably... she feels sad and frighten to sleep in the same house Tharjuk died, just a couple days before.
In her dreams she hears a voice... a raspy and deep voice, filled with promise and abundance, calling her..
"Blue girl... beautiful girl... I love your eyes... I want them..."
She wakes up... the voice is still there... calling her, from outside the house.
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Avan feels somebody shaking him from his sleep, standing in a door frame.
"You fell sleep, my friend! Wake up, somebody outside of the house is calling Apex name."
He turns towards the friendly hand that is waking him, seeing Tharjuk next to him, with only the fire glow illuminating his smiling face.
He wakes up from his dream, startled!
Like a startled viper Avan sprang up, his face looking from left to right. The martial artist entered his preferred fighting posture and remained silent, doing his best to listen to anything out of the ordinary.
Avan shuffled silently towards the door but stayed at least ten feet away from it.
Light shone from the moon and the still raging fire place. The former only able to send its beams through the cracks of the bolted windows and small space between the door and its frame. Avan's feet caused the wood to whine with creeks, the dream had him completely unnerved, yes he had plenty of nightmares before but this one...this one seemed simply too real. The martial artist dropped his stance, stood straight and took a long breath, then he exhaled in a controlled a controlled manner, doing his best to return to his calm state of mind. When his breathing steadied he began looking around once more, he did his best to ignore the crackling of the wood and the howl of the wind.
Avan's face was once more an expressionless, but it was messing its usually signs of lethargy There is no reason to wake anyone up He took a step towards where he slept but stopped as he remembered the dream mentioning Apex, and the conflict between his instincts and logic began. He could find no real reason to wake her up, what would he say? That he had a nightmare warning him about her? But Avan felt...discontent at not making sure she was alright, his eyes traveled to the flame, his brown orbs capturing their reddish hue, along with stubble riddled face I will simply tell her that something woke me up and I wanted to make sure they were fine With a truce struck between his two opposing ways of thinking Avan moved up the stairs and knocked on the door.
Avan's eyes widened as the voice slithered into his ears. Plans, scenarios and possible methods of escape began running through his mind. In an instant he began banging on the door with great force, effectively turning the wooden object into a noisy drum "UP! EVERYONE UP" It was the first time Avan remembered shouting since he came to Sandpoint, it sounded strange...even to him.
"chchchch" Irnk transitions from snoring somnolence to bleary, if guarded, awakening with heartening haste. His flail first used to aid his stance before being swung to guard against attacks.
If Avan's call doesn't wake everyone up, Apex's scream surely does. When the voice calls her name and asks for her eyes, she bolts upright, grabs her pack and her staff, and shrieks while running downstairs, barely taking the time to look over and make Sybil is awake, and not at all stopping to put on something besides her smallclothes. She sprints straight for Avan.
Something.... Something out there is asking for my EYES!!!!!
Features distorted in an expression of irate befuddlement, Irnk quickly makes his way to the door, bounding over Apex & Avan as he does so.
... 13) Charge high for the sign. 14) Make sure goods of value are brought north 15) Make sure the Goblin keeps an eye on its tribe 16) Don't allow people to shriek like Avan and Apex just...
Sybil quickly passes from dreaming about trip preparation to standing up in her night gown, bomb in hand, her heart pounding. In a blink, her eyes go from one side to the other, surveying the room. One step and she reaches the door and opens it unto the overcrowded corridor.
"Information, now!"
Once more Avan could hear his heartbeat in his head, but this time it was for a completely different reason. This sensation was not alien to him nor was it undesirable, but there was something else as well...he found himself inexplicably peering into Apex' azure eyes, it was almost difficult to look away, like he was gazing at and sinking into an ocean at the same time. Soon enough his survival instinct was able to break through the unexpected trance Avan found himself in; its screams echoing through his head causing him to focus on the task at hand once more. The martial artist reached out grabbed both of Apex' shoulders, lifted her off him, got up and then placed the terrified wizard on the floor.
"Information, now!"
"Something wants her eyes, we need to escape or it needs to die" He replied rather coolly, his eyes looking for signs of anything that could have sneaked in while he was...distracted.
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The bedroom seems secure, with no intruders inside. Irnk check the outside door, which is still boarded up and closed.
Waltus screams from the kitchen...
"What the hell is going on? Are we under attack? "
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Paex and Avan are in the bedroom door... not the outside door...
Apex hadn't made a conscious decision to run to Avan. She just.... did. That realization, was only made more strange to her by the fact that as she lay there, tangled in his limbs, his eyes made her feel something she never had before. She had no idea what it was, but it made her mind a tangled mess, trying to figure out why her heart was beating so hard, and why she was no longer panicking over something telling her it wanted to rip her eyeballs out of her head.
What... Why... He....
Her thought wouldn't... couldn't form, because all she could think about was his body under hers, his hands on her shoulders, and his eyes, staring into hers... And they looked... gentle. Suddenly, a flash of the memory of him carrying her over the river came to her, and she felt... safe again.
She stared into those depths for what felt like hours, until he gently sat her on the floor. It was only then that she realized she was in her underwear. With a diminutive Eeep! she dove for her pack, her cheeks a fiery red.
She digs for a second, grabbing a scroll case and holding it with her teeth while she unrolls her traveling cloak. She takes a scarf and makes a makeshift belt, clenching the cloak tightly around her. She then grabs her staff, and avoids eye contact with Avan while speaking.
I'm... sorry... Mister Avan. I was having a nightmare, and then that.... voice.... It felt like it was TOUCHING me....
"Less talking. More 'on guard'-ing." Irnk hisses back into the house as he pears into the night surrounding Walthus' house.
With a diminutive Eeep! she dove for her pack, her cheeks a fiery red.
Avan rummaged through his hair with his right hand She seems calmer...probably He then placed his ear to the wall separating them with the outside world and tried to listen for any movement.
She then grabs her staff, and avoids eye contact with Avan while speaking.
I'm... sorry... Mister Avan. I was having a nightmare, and then that.... voice.... It felt like it was TOUCHING me....
Removing his ear from the wall, Avan looked at Apex and felt curious about why she was trying hard to avoid looking directly at him "No need to apologize because you knocked me down, I should have been more careful" A memory of what that lead to came into his mind but he brushed away with his haste, as he considered what Apex told him about the creature "I see no signs that it has harmed you, but it seems like it wants to scare you, to steal away your concentration, to make the fight easier, do not allow him that, think about surviving, and if it is going to stand in the way of that, remove it from your way" A strange authoritative tone entered Avan's voice "Just hope that the way is not too uncomfortable to rest on when your done fighting, nothing is more annoying than not being able to rest after a battle" And then his bored tone returned with a vengeance.
"Do you have any idea, what things could use tactics like this? And its not coming in, so either it can't or its actin like a cat" He massaged his neck "Its playing with its prey"
Avan raises an eyebrow at their host's answer "What can it do?" Asked Avan as he focused his attention on Walthus, occasionally turning his face towards his back to make sure that they aren't taken by surprise.
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"For the past 3 years, fishermen and farmers have told stories of a pale monster with legs that bend like a dog’s, that dresses in rags, and that hunts along the shores of the Soggy River. Sightings of the so-called “Soggy River Monster” are most common near Brinestump Marsh, causing most to believe the creature dwells somewhere in the swamp. The creature has been blamed for at least five disappearances over the past year, mostly young women, although I suspect these disappearances are, in fact, simply bored daughters running away from home to seek an exciting life in Magnimar. But now I am not so sure..."
Indecisiveness attempted to claw at Avan. This monster could be fearesome or exaggerated by the myths and rumors that spread into the area like a plague. More than once on his travels he's heard of fearsome bandits, champions and monsters and half the time they were less than even the shadows of their legends...but on the other half was frighteningly more awe and terror inspiring.
"Our options have not changed" The martial artist's right hand fingers began traversing his blond mane as he considered their situation "We can fight it, or we can run" He paused and looked to the door "It could be toying with us or it could be lacking in strength to break through the door and is hoping its words could draw us out...annoying foe" Avan sighed, a small frown appearing on his face.
Upon hearin about the Soggy River Monster, Sybil turns from the window she was looking through and joins Apex, Avan and Walthus in their discussion.
"For now, we are safe here. So we should stay. Also, it might be a much less dangerous ennemy then we though. It might be Skitterfoot who uses is power to frigthen us... speaking of which, does anyone have candies and magical scrolls?" the dwarf says while continually looking around, and lastly, stopping her gaze upon Apex.
"So we are going to let it threaten us and then give it what it wants?" Avan's frown deepend "Assuming it is the rat and not the monster Walthus speaks of" The martial artist's hands transformed into fists.
"I am against this"
"Humm.... why not challenge it mister Avan? It might at least come out of hiding if you goad it."
Contemplating Sybil's words, Irnk interjects. "If it's really as bad as Walthus' says, there might be something I can do." Setting deed to word, Irnk sets himself in a defensive stance before opening the outside door & glaring out into the darkness.
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Irnk pears out into the night, defiantly... only darkness respond his challenge. He turns one side and the other, without seeing anything, and then turns to get back into the house.
And there is when he sees it!
Up, towards the second floor, in the direction of the room where the girls were sleeping!
"Oh, I don't think so!" Irnk snarls as he barrels towards the stairs, his flail set to swing forward in attack.
Avan follows after the goblin, dropping into this stance and preparing to attack whatever Irnk went after.
Smacking himself on the forehead in approbation, Irnk turns to Avan & points silently at the roof before pointing back down the stairs.
Nodding to the armor wearing goblin, Avan heads to the stairs, moving as silently as he could, looking about and trying to listen for sounds of their foe.
"It jumped off the roof" He whispered to the group, as he took his place at the front, his stance held and his eyes staring at the possible entrance of this intruder with great intensity.
Irnk's frustration is plain in every stamp of his feet as he descends the stairs, his face screwed into a twisted lump of annoyance. "Now what?"
"It is not confident in a direct approach" Replied Avan as he looked to Irnk "It wants us to follow" The martial artist turned his gaze to the night sky, wishing that he could be looking at the stars, instead of giving chase to a cowardly monster "I do not think we should fight it on the terms it finds advantageous" The blond sat down, hand on his chin as he considered what their next course of action could be, then he remembered how they were first able to notice it because Irnk lead them to it.
"How did you know where to look for it?" Brown, curious eyes stared at the goblin.
"What?" Irnk smirks, maliciously. "Didn't anyone ever tell you 'Evil knows evil'?"
Avan rummages through his hair with his free hand "I've heard such a saying, but its accuracy has yet to be proven" He said as he seemed to lose himself in his thoughts, but then he shook his head, causing his messy blond hair to rustle like a patch of grass dancing in the wind.
"Can you find it again? And maybe prove that the saying has some truth to it?"
"We all know you heart is not so black." sharply replies Sybil, still in her night gown, to Irnk. "Would you be able to use your instincts or sense of smell when we go looking for it?"
"Now, the night is too dangerous for you mister Avan, as well as for miss Stormshard and Dao. We should all sleep in the main room downstairs to avoid such a thing from happening again from happening again. " finishes the dward, heading back into the house.
"Following it into the night would be giving it what it wants" Avan looked towards Sybil and then nodded before getting up and dusting off his pantaloons. Avan walked to Apex, stood next to her and began scanning the surrounding area, his stare was stern and his usual expressionless face looked far more serious than before.
Apex looks at the dwarf, a scared look in her eyes.
I didn't have time to make one Miss Sybil, I'm so sorry! All I have is the Burning Hands one that I had earlier... I'll make a non harmful one first thing in the morning, I promise!
Her fingers play nervously at the edges of the cloak while she speaks.
Apex follows behind Avan and Irnk, stays near group as close as she can. The creature has obviously terrified her. As they look out into the marsh, and Avan stands next to her, she is more aware of his presence than she ever has been. When she feels the way the breeze rolls off of his skin, she shivers.
What.... Why am I noticing this now? Is it because of how close we were in the house? Or is it because... He has been kind to me, and takes... care of me?
As the party agrees to spend the night not hunting the thing down, she speaks, her tone grim, and uncharacteristically harsh.
Tomorrow, I want... to hunt that monster. It preys on women... It needs to be stopped before more innocent lives are lost. It wouldn't be... the first time I've had to fight a monster that preys on innocent girls... I know it's not my place... But will you... Help me? I can't do it alone...
She looks around to everyone, and when she finally makes eye contact with Avan, her eyes are full of sorrow.
After bedding down despite his survival instinct still pacing like a wild animal, Avan woke up to it salivating like a hungry beast. He sat up in a cross legged position, stretching his arms backwards, a few moments passed before he let his back follow suit, at the end he succeeded in bending his body at an impressive but not impossible degree without any injuries.
As he was about to return to his sitting position his eyes caught sight of Apex and Sybil...causing memories of the prior night to smack him across the head, which lead to him unconditionally abandoning his sitting position for an awkward laying one with both of his knees pointing upward. A perplexed look came over the former gladiator's face as he recalled and contemplated the torrent of emotions and feeling that ran through him last night...annoyance, anger, confusion, calmness...and something he couldn't properly explain or even know how to approach.
Avan saw Apex' eyes in his mind once more, and found it not difficult to recall the feeling of being drawn in by those clear, azure pools, but he just couldn't give a name to it...he knew it was not simple physical attraction, that he understood and have felt towards women he found beautiful or alluring. The martial artist sat up, one of his arms balanced over a raised knee, while his other leg rested on the ground, and his left arm cradled his chin and half of his scarred left cheek Yes, Apex is attractive but that is not the point of the matter, the point.... The train of his thoughts halted as he just realized something I had not thought of her this way before...have I? Avan began his search through the archive of his memories, remembering her sadness at Tharjuk's funeral, her giggles at the river crossing, how she spoke of her past and the occasional anger that sneaked its way into her voice, how she helped him against the skeleton without hesitation...simply because she worried about him, and then there was last night, how she was so scared when she ran into him, her eyes and her small body which he easily carried in his hands...and then there was the sorrow, the unmistakable sadness the particularly shone from her stare as she spoke of hunting the monster down.
"I'll help you kill it"
The answer he gave so calmly, echoed through his mind but what indeed shook him to his core was how the tragic mask she wore that night was so utterly familiar to him; it was an expression he had worn often during his life...
Silence had Avan in its grasps for many a moment, he sat there his thoughts somewhere between the past and now, swimming in the currents of old and recent memories, finally the phantom of a boy in ragged clothes looked him in the eye I am not you, not anymore and I won't let her suffer like you did He glared at the boy before he got up with a sudden uncharacteristically energized hop, walked to an empty space in the room they've all slept in and entered the stance that was hammered into his body time and time again; his left hand raised in a guarding position, his left leg forward, his right foot pointing to the right, his right arm chambered at his waist and the left side of his body facing a nonexistent enemy.
In an instant, Avan took a fierce step forward and released his readied fist at the same time, causing the wood beneath his feet to sing and the air to howl.
Sybil spent her morning talking with Walthus, thanking him for the nice breakfast and for the hospitality and exchanging boring pleasantries. As she was speaking to Apex about the possibility of creating harmless scrolls for Skitterfoot when she was interrupted by Avan's offer.
The dwarf turned her head and watched, in silence, as the blond man was lost in thoughts and later spun into his stance.
"Yes, I believe we will all help you to find this creature and stop its murderous desires. First, we will need to follow its tracks. Is anyone here good at such a task?" the dwarf asks, looking toward Walthus expectedly.