"Hmm? Ah. It was a crude representation of the sigil of Lamashtu, mother of monsters. Some goblin tribes revere her."
The moment Spectrum spoke the word Lamashtu a spell discharged were Gene had been standing and a small fire started on the wood. "What the!!! Spectrum we may want to leave... I may have started a fire..."
Spectrum looked up with a bored expression, flicked a finger at the fire and went back to his book.
A tiny and brief but powerful rainstorm, complete with a spark of lightning and a tiny thundercrack, erupted over the fledgeling fire, handily putting it out.
Ceinwynn, hearing the man yell, runs up. Seeing Brun half naked on the cot puts her hands on her hips. Yes...What is going on here?
Brun stands up quickly and hastily adjusts his clothes. The dark man blushes even more darkly and his fiery tattoos stand out in stark contrast. The young man tries to speak but words fail and only a spluttering sound can be heard. He quickly looks back and forth between the young lady and her father and then assumes at attention stance and waits for the storm.
Oh Brun...you are showing her your tattoos. He is very proud of them. His deity gave them to him. You are always showing those things off. OK. Enough showing off Brun. Time to go save the town again.
Ceinwynn touches the angry fathers hand and puts on her sweetest most innocent smile. Brun is a paladin you know. He always upholds the honor of women.
Bluff:
"Distraction from what? What else did he say?"
Knowledge Local:
Alright big fellow,time to get going. We need to figure out what is going on with these goblin attacks.
Ceinwynn looks compassionately at the father. What is your eldest daughter's name sir? I would pledge to do what I can to help her.
Brun gathers up his sword and shield and walks out of the house in a daze. Once outside he heads he just stands there glassy eyed and stares off into nothing.
Back in the house, Spectrum continued reading his book but began to wonder how long they were expected to stay.
"Gene, I am uncertain why we have been left here. This place seems strategically unimportant. Can you think of any reason why we should remain?"
Gene stands there for a moment thinking. After a short bit he speaks up,"No, I am with you on the lack of strategically importance of this place. I can't really think or any reason to stay here and wait."
Without another word, Spectrum stands and walks down the stairs. 'Tisk'ing at the broken door, he steps carefully around the broken peices out into the night.
Having had enough excitement for one night, he begins to walk back to town, a pair of tiny dragons looping through the air above him.
Ceinwynn nods at Tekkis. How has our prisoner been acting? Has he said anything else?
Brun is still stunned by what happened in the house and quietly falls into step with the half-orc. His thoughts are on his tattoos, did the the halfling actually know where they came from? Did she know anything of his past. The young man desire to know is great but his fear and confusion is even greater.
Gene fallows the lead of Spectrum out the house and back to town. Contemplating what involvement Lamashtu has in all this but, knows he must get beeper involved to mess up any plans of hers he can. He doesn't know why he was created on in this world but, his knowledge of Calistria and of Nocticula means the two of them may be plotting and using him as a tool for revenge. He is not sure how it all works together yet but, the major pieces must be these three deities.
To Ceinwynn, "Not really. Typical vermin nonsense." Figuring that he won't get anything else, he simply leads the creature to the sheriff.
To the rest of the group, "Well, what's next? Anywhere else we should look? Maybe the town hall or the church - or another important building in town?"
My vote is the church. What does everyone else think?
Ceinwynn fights the halfling urge to tell the story of the paladin and the girl. Though it is a great story, her care for her new friend's feelings is enough to strengthen her resolve.
Gene nods and thinking for a moment replys, "We know the group that attacked was after something but, we have no real idea what. It would be wise of us to try to find out all that we can."
A bit surprised to have found the rest so easily after having split up after dark, Spectrum looks at their prisoner.
"Do we not have a number of captives we could interrogate?"
The Sheriff should have several in custody. Brun replies as he shakes off his stupor some what. Did this one reveal any more information? and where are we going? After a few more moments of walking Brun looks a bit sheepish Sorry about leaving you guys during a crisis, turns out it was not related to the goblin attack as far as I can tell.
"I'm shocked." Spectrum said dryly.
"I had planned to speak with the sheriff. He may have gained some information."
Sleepy
Glimmer's mind-voice intoned as she landed on Spectrum's shoulder and tucked her head down into the folds of his white cloak.
Spectrum nodded. "They are only children after all." he said to the others, scratching the tiny dragon behind the fledgling horns.
"I believe I have had enough excitement for one night. I am going to retire and speak with the sheriff in the morning. If any of you would like to join me, meet in the tavern for breakfast. Amiko sets the tables two hours after dawn."
And with that he turned and walked away.
Ceinwynn heads to the tavern to rest for the night.
"Thank you all for you help, see you for breakfast." Brun then turns to Tekkis and says "Thank you for caring for the prisoner, would you like me to deliver him to the sheriff?"
listing to the group talk about sleep Gene decides to head to the tavern for the night as he himself is quite tired.
Ceinwynn wakes up after a good night of sleep and heads down for breakfast.
Tekk spends the early part of the night drinking in the pub, lying about his exploits in the defense of Sandpoint with any other 'defenders' who happen to be about.
He heads off to bed later and barely manages to get his boots off before passing out.
-----
The next morning, a very hungover Tekkis stumbles into the tavern and seats himself at the table. Through bloodshot eyes, he stares at the plates of greasy eggs and sausage, finally snorting in derision. He gets up, makes his way to the bar, and comes back to the table with a large mug of frothy ale. Taking a long drink, he burps, wipes his mouth with the back of his sleeve, and sighs in contentment, "Excuse me. Just needed to get a bit of medicine in my system to take care of this headache."
He looks around the table, takes another drink, and asks, "So, what's the plan?"
Ceinwynn giggles at the hungover half orc. Good morning sir! Her high pitch voice and loud response probably resenting through the Half Orc's aching head.
I guess we will have to wait for the others to wake up. I think we need to start at the church. Did you have fun last night? We really took care of those goblins. Didn't we? She continues talking Tekkis' head off unaware of the pain she is inflicting.
Spectrum arrived precisely as Akiko was laying out breakfast, the tiny dragons preceding him and winging over to a plate of meats left on the end of the bar. After a brief and energetic tug-of-war each of them took their prize into the rafters to loudly devour their breakfast.
In contrast, Spectrum sat down at the table with a sparse and simple meal of bread and cheese and immediately opened a book after a simple nod to the others.
After a rather loud Bang Gene slowly walked down the stairs almost zombie like one hand moving in front of him as the other rubbed his eyes. "Don't Ask." Is all he said as he paid for his meal and sat down eating in a corner.
Brun rises from his bed early in the morning and goes through his morning rituals and training while still in state of shock. While Brun had taken part in many scuffles before he had never truly been in mortal danger before. Beyond that there was the business with the young lass and Ceinwynn's cryptic remarks about his tattoos. Did she really know of his origins? When it came time for breakfast Brun entered the tavern, even as his mind reeled his duty told him what he mush do.
Good Morning, defenders of Sandport. I am glad to see that you have chosen to continue in its service. After breakfast shall we seek out the sheriff?
Spectrum waits until everyone has finished a plate and then stands.
"I am going to speak with the sheriff. You may join me if you wish."
Then he walks out the door.
Brun follows
Ceinwynn as well. She continues to talk the groups heads off obviously excited about traveling with them.
|
Act 2, scene 2, The Sheriff's Office
The group walks down the main road, headed towards the Sheriff's office. They get the same admiring looks from the people of Sandpoint that they did yesterday. Gossiping women chatter on as they pass, children look up in admiration. They arrive at the Office, the Sheriff is talking to an elven woman standing in the doorway