Iskender stands a bit off to the side, trying to gauge the fall trajectory, "perhaps a little to your left Kit," he suggests.
Kit nods and takes a few steps to the left.
The woman looks at the now useless tindertwig and starts to climb over the guardrail around the catwalk in preparation to jump.
Not convinced that having two of them trying to catch her will really help, Zal moves to follow after Hilde as fast he can hoping he might help the warrior grab the woman...
There isn't much more he can do to stop her from jumping without already being up where Hilde is, so Dilwyn goes back to retrieve his sling from the ground. If the woman gets past Hilde's attempts to restrain her and also misses Kit's attempts to catch her, the only thing he'll be able to do is try to heal what damage she might have taken in the event the fall doesn't finish her off.
"Lady, I implore you," he shouts up at her. "Whatever tragedy you're running from, adding more tragedy to the scale will not balance it!"
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Iskender whispers to Kit, "strictly speaking, Dilwyn is wrong right? If you add tragedy to the other end of the scale, that is exactly how balancing and scales work, right?"
Kit takes another step to the left. Hmmm...I guess it depends on which end of the scale she is adding the tragedy to. I think this lady's tragedy side is tipping and she doesn't care about righting it. She seems determined, I'll give her that!
Hilde tries to grab the woman to prevent her from jumping.
Zaladrel runs into the granary and up the stairs so he can help Hilde, however even as the barbarian grabs for the woman, her grip fails because of the slippery substance on the dress, and the woman tumbles over the edge, smiling and yelling "Tabin, I am coming.". Kit tries to catch here, but the woman pushed off the edge and spoiled his aim, so he is barely able to break her fall and she lands hard on the ground, still alive but dazed.
Hilde starts kicking around, frustrated of not having prevented the woman from falling.
It doesn't seem... safe... to interrupt her outburst.
In his mind, Kit believed that the woman would land gently into his outstretched arms. In reality, however, he saw that he wasn't in the correct position and as he moved to correct himself the woman landed on his shoulder causing both Kit and the woman to fall to the ground - hard. Is she alive? Kit moans as he tries to blink out the stars in his eyes.
Dilwyn rushes up as she falls, wincing against the wet thudding sound she made upon impact. He checks to see if she's survived the fall, unsure of which outcome to hope for. On the one hand, suicide is a horrible thing, on the other hand the pain of surviving that fall would likely be enormous.
Seeing that she's alive, he casts cure light wounds on her to fix the body and, hopefully, dull the pain. If only it could magically dispel grief.
Based on the context of the wedding song, and her intended last words, Dilwyn guesses that the Tabin she mentioned is probably the woman's husband, and continues trying to talk to her based on that assumption. All their effort would be for naught if she were to just try again after they left, and there's clearly too much going on in the town to stay here forevermore. "If Tabin's loss makes you this distraught, surely he would feel the same way about you, don't you think? Do you think he would want your blood on his hands, like this? If he loved you he surely wouldn't."
"My apologies Kit, I did not expect her to be quite so enthusiastic with her jump."
Kit sits up. Yes, she was definitely motivated. Normally I respect someone who is motivated, but in this case, I'll make an exception!
Zal exits onto the level with Hilde only to see her seemingly lose control. The elf promptly backs away slowly, he would talk to her about that later...
Re-emerging down below the hedgewitch notes that Kit seems okay and that Dilwyn is offering aid. Zal moves to join them but is otherwise quiet as they ask the woman questions...
"Perhaps if you slapped her a few times to bring her to her senses?" Iskender shrugs, "that's how they always do it in the stories."
I'm thinking we should restrain her before she hauls off and tries again! Anyone got any rope? Kit says as he rises and rubs his bruised shoulder.
"Rope? Hmmm, no. I didn't purchase that kit I'm afraid, umm, err, Kit. Sorry, didn't mean to pun your name."
Kit laughs. Don't you worry about it, when you carry a moniker like Kit 'Skylark' Bridger, puns on your name are the least of your worries! He then calls out to Hilde and Dilwyn, Do any of you see any rope in there?
After letting some steam off Hilde checks the place for clues about the woman or other people.
Zal wordlessly pulls the loops of rope off his backpack and present it to Kit.
"I don't think that will help," says Dilwyn putting up his hand against the rope. "If she can't be reached with words and convinced that ending her own life is the wrong choice, then she will just attempt it again when we leave. Nor can we bring her with us forever to monitor her. I believe that life is worth saving, but you cannot save a life by force when the one to whom that life belongs wishes otherwise."
He waits with hope to see if he's reaching the woman at all.
"On the one hand, saving one life, rather than saving the world is foolish. On the other hand, many tales would imply it is the height of honor." Iskender smiles, "how ironic would it be if we either set her free to go and finish her suicide, or if we tied her up and left her here and continued on our way, only to have us arrive at some crucial moment a week hence, where presenting 'a woman newly married and yet unknown to man' is critical to the actual saving of the world? The mind boggles at the paradoxes involved."
Kit reaches down to tie the woman's arms when he hears the philosophical discussion between Dilwyn and Iskender. With a grin he says, Well I know that my mind is boggled on whether we should tie her up or not?
"Just wait, right now the problem is only theoretical. How will you handle it when faced with some actual moral dilemma?"
After Hilde vents her frustration at not being able to grab onto and hold the woman, she looks around the catwalk and finds a completely soaked tindertwig that the woman dropped but nothing else of interest. She can however feel the slipperiness of the oil and water mix that is still on the railing where the woman went over the side.
Zaladrel having witnessed Hilde frustration, perhaps wisely decides that now is not the time to talk to her about it and heads back downstairs just in time to hear Kit ask for rope so he pulls a coil out of his pack and hands it to the ranger.
Dilwyn checks the woman as Kit is tieing her, and seeing that she is hurt casts a cure spell on her which clears up all the bumps and bruises.
Iskender and Kit have a philosophic discussion, while Kit is tieing her up. The woman, safely tied is coming around, and she moans, "Tabin, my love, come back to me." as she tries, unsuccessfully, to break the bonds holding her.
Hilde, after letting the steam off, takes time to examine the town from the advantage place she is in now, not willing to face her comapanions just yet.
Hold on there, missy! If you will stop fussing and tell us who this Tabin is, we might be able to help you! Kit says to the still distraught woman.
"She may not be coherent enough to answer," Dilwyn says, sadly. "Based on her behavior so far, and my examination of her as I've been healing her, I believe this is not mere grief at work. There are signs of disease as well, which I believe to be the root cause of her intense urge to destroy herself. Zaladriel, do you have any magics which can help treat disease rapidly? If not I believe the only humane thing is to to bring her with us as best we can while we try to treat her the long way."
"And what if the forces that would end our world have everything they need to do it, except the 'woman newly married and unknown to man?'" Iskender chuckles, "and so it begins."
Zal kneels to look at the woman more closely, trying to determine if perhaps she is afflicted somehow beyond grief...
As Kit finishes tieing up the woman, she continues to sob one moment, and scream hysterically the next about Tabin and coming to him.
Hilde comes down to meet the others, avoiding to see the woman.
"Nobody, except 3 hang bodies in the middle of town."
Kit stands up after securing the woman and admires his handiwork. They had saved her life for now - but for what. Shrugging the thoughts away, he says, I wonder if Tabin is one of the hanged?
"I suppose it's possible," Dilwyn says. "Or he could have been one of the infected. I very much think we ought to try for one of the temples next. Hopefully we can find some more coherent answers there, or if nothing else some help for our prisoner. I hate to say it, because she's in such an unfortunate position already, but I think we should also gag this poor woman. Her cries will inevitably draw attention that we probably don't want."
Hilde punch the woman, knocking her out.
Kit laughs when Dilwyn mentions gagging the woman to keep her quiet. Brother, you just said aloud what many a husband has thought about!
As Hilde comes up and punches the woman, Kit just shrugs and says, Or we can do that!
She is sich but I cannot know more at this time. She has all the markings of disease and we should be wary of...touching...her... Zal's voice trails off as Hilde hits the woman.
Zal shakes his head and places a hand on Hilde, then Kit.
Hilde moves his now unhurt arm, and looks at Zaladriel, while bowing her head a little.
"I won't deny that method was effective," says Iskender as he casts detect magic both to discern if the woman is under any magical compulsion, as well as to consider the meager pile of "treasure."
"This disease appears to have equal chances of making one homicidal and suicidal. I find that to be interesting, one would expect perhaps one or the other, but both? Not that I am an expert on world ending diseases, to be sure."
Dilwyn winces as Hilde slugs their captive to keep her quiet. It works, but seems needlessly brutal.
"I suppose the two could be one and the same," he posits in response to Iskender. "Consider that, for the first group we met, their homicidal tendencies got them quite effectively killed."
"I think you have something there," exclaimed Iskender. "Witness that this woman's suicidal intent nearly killed Kit as well. So we have both tendencies working in reverse. Most peculiar, and interesting."
Assuming a sort of unspoken "you break it, you carry it" policy, Dilwyn tries a shot at taking the lead and makes for House Formidable (A10) by taking the direct route along the tree line. He's not sure if it's pointless yet, at this point, but he continues trying to be stealthy and keep an eye out for danger ahead.
Hilde follows him.
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Iskender whispers to Hilde, "he knows we can see him, right?"
He then moves out to follow Dilwyn.
What do we about her? Kit asks nodding towards the bound and gagged woman. If we aren't supposed to touch her, I don't think she will go willingly.
Kit then has a pensive look, Of course some of us already have!
Dilwyn pauses, looking back at Kit.
"I guess I assumed the strongest among us would carry her with us, since she's currently unable to move on her own, but perhaps it would be better for us and for her if left her concealed in the granary and come back for her before we rest."
I don't mind carrying her, but if I try to make myself a living candle-stop me! Kit says as he hoists the woman up with a grunt.
Hilde looks at Iskender with a serious look.