| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Purpose Creche's head whips around at the sound of Medrinnah sprinting away from her home. He cocks his head and tracks her movement; in his mind's eye, a triptych of wolf, raptor, and human.
He bolts after her with sudden speed.
He quickly reaches Karl's enclosure. Medrinnah is turned to address Joli. Too surprised, or maybe just unaware of the ankheg's movement, she is oblivious to Karl's skittering—and most assuredly friendly—charge directly towards her turned back.
"Excuse me."
Purpose Creche leaps towards her in a flying tackle, black leather streaming behind him, and enfolds Medrinnah's waist in his thin arms. He corkscrews mid-flight, perfectly twisting his body so that she lands atop him when he skids across the ground. Crushed grass and scabbard-plowed furrow lie orthogonal to Karl's greeting vector.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Joli fails to stop himself as Medrinnah abruptly stops, instead doing a mad leap over her and landing in Karl’s path. He rolls into a tumble and sticks an affable, frazzled landing.
"Uh, Purpose, let my friend go. Sorry, Medrinnah. He’s a very enthusiastic fellow. He wouldn’t harm (or execute) a fly."
"We wanted to ask you about some items that went missing, but don’t worry. It’s probably something much more nefarious than your borrowing habit."
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"Apologies for my overreaction. As Joli says, I'm very excitable."
Purpose Creche rights himself, helps Medrinnah up and brushes grass off her clothes, then goes to say hello to Karl.
A swinging pincer smacks against his chest, almost toppling him over. "You are also excitable, Karl. Thank you for the enthusiastic greeting," he says as he ducks another swing of Karl's head.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
The raptor transforms into Silt. He produces a click-claw and calls Karl back. He tosses the insect a hunk of stinky jerky. The ankheg looms over Silt, making weird noises.
He speaks to Medrinnah.
You ran here fast — I can tell you could not wait to play with Karl!
The ankheg raises a pincer and takes a step to Medrinnah. Silt tosses another piece of jerky into the air; the brown chunk of meat is instantly annihilated.
Karl is yet growing, and can use a friend while Silt is away. He pauses. Would you like to be the KarlSitter?
Karl will train you to be a strong soldier like your mother. He will keep you always wary of death — from above, below, north, south, east, west. A good soldier is wary of death at all times.
The takes off his broken farmer's hat and rubs his spiny head. I pay tubers. He licks his lips and looks at the potato patch.
No shame in saying "no," though Karl will be sad. But you must be polite. It is good to to be nice to everyone in our small town! Do you understand?
Karl leans forward; acid drops from his mouth and burns another letter off the old wooden sign.
Medrinnah's eyes narrow at being grabbed by Purpose, then go wide at the sight of Karl. "N..No, thank you," she stutters out to Silt.
She listens to Joli, and, with another glance at Karl, answers. "Look, I'll give the gold back, okay? It's not like there's anywhere to spend it. But could you tell my mom it wasn't me? She's not gonna let me out of the cottage again for a year. It's so small; I will die in there!"
Silt steps between her and the potato patch. You stole the gold?!
He fidgets with his hat. Will you promise to be nice and not steal, if we do this? Being nice is boring. What will do do to stay busy and keep your word?
Joli watches Medrinnah intently, looking for signs of some other presence. Outwardly he smiles goofily. "Why would we want your mother to lock you up like that? We all need each other here. Just tell me, what did you do with the manifest?"
"I dunno. Mom's making me apprentice at the dumb old tailor's. The papers? I left the bag in a tree out behind the government house. I can show you which one. I was only looking for money."
Joli gives his friends a nod of assent and puts a reassuring hand on Medrinnah's forearm.
"Sure, let's go get the bag and coins. We can make things good with your mother."
Assuming she agrees and the others let it go, he walks alongside her. "I know how you feel, leaving home for a new place without much choice of your own. We had to flee the place where I grew up. Tell me, though. What would you rather do? Maybe we can help you find another option. I bet you're good at keeping your eye out for trouble, eh?"
”I don’t know! I just miss my friends. There’s almost no one else here my age.”
You arrive at the tree. The bag is there, as promised, but the manifest and resupply schedule are gone. The bag is empty.
"Could someone help, please."
With assistance, Purpose Creche pulls himself up into the tree and lays a splay-fingered hand on the bag.
"How old are you, Medrinnah? I'm but sixteen! We grippli go out into the world early. I'd be glad to call you friend." He smiles and does a little dance as they come up to the tree. And frowns as they discover the manifest missing.
"I wonder what the manifest could tell our neighbors out there in the waters," he muses aloud.
Silt checks for tracks too.
"I'm fifteen. You're sixteen? You seem a lot older."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The group looks for tracks, but unfortunately, recent rains have wiped away any signs.
Joli's chest puffs up. "Why thank you! But I guess I am in grippli years! Hopefully we can still be friends." He offers his hand up to the taller human.
The mantis tail of Purpose Creche's cloak sways upwards when he drops from the tree, bag in hand. He approaches Cedar, leaving Joli to converse with the teenager. He speaks even more quietly than usual. "Impressions from the bag. Something to discuss when Medrinnah is not here. Possibly of interest to Carver."
He stands there, expressionless as always, unsure of how to deal with Medrinnah's partial culpability in relation to what he's learned.
Medrinnah shakes Joli's hand.
Once the group parts ways with Medrinnah, Purpose Creche explains what he sensed from the sack. "Carver will want to hear of this. Ramona as well. But there's a dilemma. Carver asked us to keep his Pathfinder Society membership a secret."
You get some emotions: first surprise and then triumph. A thought: Won't the boss be excited that I found THIS! And lastly, a glimpse: someone running from the tree, in colonial soldier's armor.
"Well in that case, let's talk to Carver first, then Ramona."
Joli nods, his brow a bit furrowed. "So many threats for such a small little settlement."
|
”I’ve been meaning to talk to Carver anyway, but I don’t see what the dilemma is. Ramona will likely know who all of the soldiers are in the village. I’m sure there’s a way we can talk about it without revealing Carver’s secret identity. The question I have is, who’s the soldiers’ boss? Don’t we know every prominent person here? Like Joli said, it’s a small settlement.”
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"Unless the boss is out in the waters pulling strings..." Joli shakes off his gloomy thoughts with a series of back flips.
"True, Cedar. But Carver first."
Purpose Creche's somber coat traces an arc through the seasalt air; he recovers from his backflip and begins walking towards Carver's home.
You reach Carver's cottage, and he eagerly greets you. "Ah! Wonderful! The Troubleshooters! How have your assignments been going? I've been so eager to check in."
Joli waves at Carver, smiling. He leaps up to hug the Pathfinder around the shoulders—being a bit overly familiar and gauging the man's response.
Carver is distinctly startled by the hug.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
"Good afternoon, Carver. We have a problem."
Purpose Creche describes what he sensed from the bag, and the significance of what was stolen.
"They mentioned a 'boss,' and were interested in the manifest. This fits what little I know of the Aspis Consortium's interests. Do you think that is a possibility."
"Yes, yes, perhaps. That is a concern. I will keep an eye on the situation here. What have you found out there? Which sites did you explore?"
Joli jumps in. "We've learned that the hag has been gathering strength, but luckily we may have an opportunity to form alliance with her. It seems she's not a fan of the local aboleth population."
He blushes a bit, realizing he's embroidered a bit too heavily.
"Yes, an alliance. You remember what she said, don't you?"
Look, there's something suspicious about Carver here and he doesn't need to know anything. And he can probably speak Polyglot, you ninny! He's a Pathfinder!
Joli smiles broadly and leaps up onto Cedar's broad shoulders, patting his arm.
"I'm sure he wouldn't have any interest in such details. He wants to know about artifacts, not minor details about local alliances. That's Ramona's domain."
Carver joined the colony as a soldier, so he does wear soldier's armor. However, I think at some point, someone cast detect magic in his presence, and realized that there is a faint illusion aura on his armor.
Carver give Joli an odd look. "An alliance with a sea hag? They are horrendous creatures, and I assure you that the colony wants no part in that."
|
|
”Right?” says Cedar breaking away from Joli. ”I completely agree. There’s no possible way we can trust a hag.”
”Carver, I’ve been thinking a lot about what you said and after exploring these various sites around the island, I’d like to take you up on your offer.”
"Offer? Ah, yes! The offer to join the Pathfinder Society! Of course, wonderful! There is a bit of paperwork I'll have to do. Letters of recommendation, you know. Perhaps you could help me out a bit! What does each of you offer to the Society?"
|
|
”Paperwork? I forgot about that.” Cedar looks hesitant for a moment. ”This isn’t going to interfere with my job is it? I’d Iike to still work for the venture compay if that’s possible. I can’t let Ramona and the others down. And Pathfinders have to have a day job too, right?”
”As to what I can bring, well, you’ve seen the poodles. There’s eagles too, and the occasional elemental.” Please don’t anyone mention the goblin dog.
”I think you’ve seen for yourself how capable we are, am I right?”
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Carver. Cedar's friend Ratso the Goblin Dog is very helpful too. Happy little bugs crawl around in his fur, and when Ratso shakes his shiny coat dust flies around, and Skum sneeze. They don't like nice puppies like Ratso.
He pauses.
Can Karl join the Pathfinders, too? He is good at keeping people out of places, and making new ruins to explore.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Joli continues. "I think the hag wanted to deal with us partly because of the great lightning storm that Silt conjured above them. It wouldn't be modest to share the magics I summoned to frighten her. But then, you've been the tsunamis I suppressed during our voyage."
"Listen y'all, I'm just tryna figure out why these dude ain't worked up about these Aspis supsicions, knowhaddamean?"
Purpose Creche waits patiently while the others converse, analyzing Carver's overall demeanor and response.
| 4 people marked this as a favorite. |
Carver furrows his brow at Joli, then laughs, maybe a little too loudly. "Joli, you were always the funny one! All right, I guess I'll write those letters myself. Silt, I'm afraid you're going to be limited to one active animal, one mount, and one mundane pet. Don't worry, Cedar, many members of the Pathfinder Society have day jobs. You can keep working for the BVC."
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"You have not addressed the main concern. Someone is stealing from the colony. Possibly the Aspis Consortium. You do not seem to care. You are acting suspicious." Purpose Creche steps brusquely towards the man. "Why."
Toby, distracted by something in the office, is about to speak up when Purpose makes his accusation. Instead, he simply stares, agape, first at Purpose, then at Carver.