'Khar sniffs at the air and crouches down to meet the gnome eye to eye. "I c'n smell the fear on ya, little man. Can't hide things from me, y'know. Better start talkin', 'cause we ain't got all day, and I could be off killin' some ghasts instead of wastin' my time here," 'Khar half-growls at the gnome. "I get real cranky if I don't get t'fight somethin' regularly, and it's been days..."
Henry sighs slightly. "While my fri... compatriot might be a bit... eager, he does have something of a point. We're on a very tight schedule right now and we can't afford to have deceptions muddling the waters. If someone wants you to stay quiet, we can try to help."
"If we don't learn anything here, then we have only the opportunity to share what we do know: That the Sanctuary burst into flames only days after a shipment of alchemical goods were delivered, and allow the people to make their own assumptions." Ila says with a small frown. "I would much rather that we knew more about the situation, but certainly, explaining the fire as being the result of alchemy gone awry would create reasonable doubt as to the guilt of the Beast." she pauses to look away from the iron bars, back to the gnome in pinstripe, a fine juxtaposition for a prisoner if she'd ever seen one. "Though, if you could perhaps give us the truth on what happened, we would be able to steer the line of thought, better?"
"No impact on your life?" Urick repeats, glowering at the tiny gnome. He would not usually resort to these kind of tactics right away, but with 'Khar taking the lead and the gnome obviously hiding something, he had little choice but to seize the opportunity. "Obstructing a criminal investigation has very harsh consequences. Tell us what you know."
Tassa doesn't pick anything up unusual in the gnome's tone, and wonders at first if 'Khar is picking a fight needlessly.
Then when the more staid Urick joins in, she decides perhaps she's missed something and leans in between the two partners, glowering.
The gnome glowers back, though it's obviously intimidated by the group and their impressive muscles. "I don't know what you're talking about," it says in its little gnomey voice. "Good day."
The gnome turns and walks away, leaving the gate and re-entering the factory complex.
Henry sighs as the short man walks away. "And that's why it's usually best not to start with the threats," the professor says with a small sigh. "I'm actually slightly impressed. It looks like he might be hiding something, but he's dedicated to it at least."
"Ain't got all day," 'Khar says with a shrug. "Kinda like patchy, seems like somethin's going on that's scary enough t'keep people from talkin'. Either we keep diggin' here, or get movin', don't care which..." After a moment's thought he corrects himself, "Actually ain't allowed t'kill th'gnome, ghasts sound better."
Ila stares at the fence for a few brief moments. The image is reminiscent of a cat viewing the height of an object, deciding whether it is something to jump to. She looks to the others, and shakes her head, aware that most would be unable to follow to continue the conversation.
"Yes, either he is more afraid of someone else than us, or there is nothing he could say that would do him any good in the court. Regardless, I believe if we need alchemical supplies, we should get them from a reputable dealer who can spell." she says, pursing her lips. "I don't believe we have anything else to do in town. Are we going to travel to the Sanctuary, now? Or should we inform Judge Daramid of our plans, first? Doctor Lainor, I believe that you know as much as any of us about this golem, do you know how one comes about?"
"I suppose that is true," Henry says, absently adjusting his glasses. "I just hope that we're not going to end up with some unfortunate surprise. But I do believe that we should stop by to see Judge Daramid before we leave for Sanctuary. If she can delay things, that would be wonderful, but at the very least she should know what's going on." He shifts a little, slipping back into his lecturing tone at Ila's last question. "They're created, much like any other type of golem. A mage of some skill binds together the body parts they desire to be part of their creation and then they empower it. Flesh golems have been reputed to be made by alchemists before though, due to their biological nature. The Beast himself was supposedly crafted by such a man, a doctor formerly of the university."
Before leaving Lepidstadt, the group heads over to Judge Daramid's house to meet with her. Unfortunately, she's at work, so the group then heads to the courthouse.
After they explain their problem, she nods sagely. "I agree that it's not much time, but... unfortunately, there's not much I can do to buy more time. If it got out that I was adjusting trial realities on behalf of the defense, my credibility as a Judge would be compromised and I would be forced to step down. Perhaps there would even be charges against you, for trying to influence a court case unfairly."
She shakes her head. "No, I recommend that you simply rush. You may have to split up to cover all of these places, or work through the night."
Ila stands for a moment, head tilted at the vague threat - which was not technically a threat - coupled with her explanation being far removed from the defense attorney's. It was odd that their expectations were so far removed from one another, and it cast a shade of doubt upon her interactions with one of the two. She pauses in rumination as she listens.
"The defense believed that the trial would take days, and that we would likely have time to bring back evidence from each area in turn. I found it surprising that he expected it to take long at all. Why do you feel we would be so limited?"
"Well," says Daramid, "It's a six-hour walk to Hergstag. And you have to be back in time for the trial if you wish to testify or speak on behalf of the Beast. The reason that the Trial is likely to take so long is that there are several different crimes which all must separately be discussed."
Well what is the first crime being discussed?" Perdita asks. "If we discover evidence that throws it into doubt it will slow the trial and give us more time to investigate the others."
"If you r-really want to help, I can p-probably convince the judges to do whatever crime you investigated most recently."
The Judge shrugs. "It's up to the lawyers. As a judge, I don't know about their defense or prosecution strategies beforehand."
"That does not leave us with much of a choice, then," Urick remarks when it becomes clear that extending their deadline is not an option. With a grimace he looks to the others. "I suggest that we investigate Sanctuary posthaste. From there we can determine whether it would be in our best interest to split up."
"Very well. Will we be retrieving mounts for the sake of travel or no?" Ila asks, looking to the others in the group.
"Speed is of the utmost at this point," Henry says. "Anything to give us a few more minutes to keep searching for clues."
With the purchase of a small herd of horses, the group is ready to set out. Leaving Lepidstadt by the north road out of town, the group makes for Sanctuary.
Sanctuary is well within the city's direct sphere of influence, being just two miles away. As such, the road on the way to the destroyed hospital is well-maintained and the area to the sides of the road is either riverbank or farmland nearly the whole way there.
Sanctuary itself is on a small island, called Karb Isle. An old, unmaintained wooden bridge leads from the main road across the river and to the Isle. On the Isle itself are the sad, burned remains of what must have once been a grand manor house. In addition to the destruction wrought by the fire, nature has long since begun to reclaim the ruin. Moss and vines creep up and over most of it.
The only other thing on the Isle that can be seen from the opposite riverbank is a small cluster of gravestones near what was once the side of the house.
As people talk about buying horses, Tassa gets a dark look on her face. Anyone watching can tell that she's not saying something she needs to say.
Finally she shakes her head and mutters, "Horses don't like me. At all."
Looking down, she adds softly, "I can run almost as fast as a horse...but only if there's someone nearby whose speed I'm sapping."
"Well if we're riding the lose of stamina isn't a great concern." Perdita says thoughtfully. "I'm happy to be your 'victim' as long as some kind person can lead my horse for me. I can't ride you see. At all."
Ila purses her lips in thought, brow furrowed at Tassa. It meant something that animals did not like her, and exactly what that was, Ila was uncertain. She had never been the owner of any number of pets, really, but farmers she'd met on her travels had remarked about their pets liking her... perhaps the opposite were true. Or perhaps a curse were involved... or perhaps exaggeration.
"I can only do this twice per day." she says, finally, "And if I do, it leaves me somewhat more vulnerable than I enjoy being. Not weakened, but... less capable. The same power granted by my goddess can also be used to hide myself or another. I do not know if the horse will fear you or not - I doubt that it will. If it does not, we can see if it will bear you."
She stands still for a moment, adopting a wide and open stance, her hands clasped as she intones. "Apoi m-am uitat și am văzut un cal palid."
Nothing immediately happens in the direction that she's facing, but instead, a horse silently leaps from the side of the stables, landing without a sound. Its head, mane and tail are jet black, which slowly fades to soot like scattered ashes, eventually terminating in steely hooves the color of smoke. Its eyes, while sharing the gray tones, are deep pools of smoke that slowly ebbs and flows within the sockets like a distant storm. It bears a bit and bridle that come fitted with a chain so fine and delicate that one wonders if it would truly control the beast, as well as a saddle that is cool to the touch. Each fender, as well as the cloth that covers its flank bear the symbols of Pharasma.
Like Tassa, the other horses give it a wide berth, as it stands cooly staring at its rider.
"This is Frasin. He has been pivotal in my journey from Korvosa to Lepidstadt. If he does not fear you... I could ask to borrow a friend. Regardless the clock is now ticking." she says calmly as she steps swiftly up into the stirrup and drapes her leg to the other side, hand alighting on the silver chain.
Tassa eyes the supernatural steed with obvious curiosity. "That's marvelous..."
She takes a step toward it with some caution, and notices two things: the spectral horse doesn't show any concern...and for her own part, the hunger inside her ignores it completely. "How odd."
Tassa does her best to meet Perdita's gaze, though it's clear that the whole conversation is stressful for her. "I've never laid a curse on anyone who wasn't deserving, but I know that I can lift what I've laid with the lightest thought. If I do this...I don't know how you'll feel exactly--I've never asked--but I know that you'll find getting about on your own power quite cumbersome.
"I don't want to do this unless you're certain. If you don't like it, I can stop at any time. Alternately, if Ila's goddess can grant her another steed like this...I believe I could ride that too."
Tassa takes a sharp breath in and waits for Perdita's reply.
"That is..." Henry taps his chin, clearly deep in thought. "Interesting. Animals are said to be sensitive to unusual happening sometimes. But I always thought it was folk lore. How unusual." The professor seems to grapple with pressing for more information or not, but they hard have the time to stand around discussing themselves.
As Ila calls her mount, Henry seems nearly as curious as Tassa, if only because of the mounts unusual characteristics. "What a lovely beast. The result of a fairly useful summoning spell, yes?" Unlike Ila, Henry lacks the ability to call upon a mount in some supernatural manner. He simply pulls a pile of coins from his purse and pays the stable master for a decent steed. He usually preferred to rent over buying, but he had a feeling that he was going to be doing a lot of traveling in the future. Having a reliable mount would be a boon for their travels.
Once the matter of their travel methods are settled and the group has arrived, Henry drops from his horse and finds a tree or the like to tie it to while they're occupied. "Hardly anything left," he says as he examines the island from a distance. "I suggest we sweep the island once to clear out anything that might get in our way, then search more closely for clues. Even if the fire destroyed most of the evidence, there might be something left."
"In a way, yes. But... my magic isn't really studied, for the most part. I come by it... unnaturally." she says, rubbing the forward flank of the not-horse absent-mindedly. "Most of my magic relies on leveraging my emotions properly. This particular spell relies upon urgency."
"We should perhaps find farmers to look after the horses for us for a short while. Leaving them out in the open is dangerous, especially if they have been farm-raised for their entire lives. It would be money well spent to help protect your investments." Ila says with a small smile.
"Likely, some form of paper would have survived, especially if it was hidden away." she adds, eyes sweeping over the building. "You'd be surprised how often fire passes over such things. I think we should begin near the graveyard, then sweep around, to secure the area before traversing the building. Be cautious, though, even if the ghasts do not appear, we should be cautious regarding the damage to the building itself. Also, given the place's history, it would be wise to expect restless spirits."
Perdita meets Tassa's eyes calmly. "If you can be provided with another of these arcane steeds that's fine. But I'm aware of how unpleasant curses can be, I am still ready to accept it if it is needed."
Urick still did not know what to make of Tassa, much less the entity residing within her. Nonetheless, he tolerates the line of discussion, at least until Perdita volunteers to be cursed. Something about that willingness just rubbed him the wrong way.
"If you can conjure another one of these horses, then you should do so," Urick insists with a level tone, having opted to purchase a steed himself. He did not want to sound like he was demanding it of Ila, but her solution seemed more pragmatic. And, well, safe.
"We'd best cross the bridge on foot," Urick suggests, his eyes scanning the area with a hawkish gaze. "Lest any ghouls fall upon our horses."
'Khar refuses to rent a horse, deeming them untrustworthy. A horse could be spooked or taken down while someone was atop it, leaving them less able to react. Instead he moves quickly while they're leaving town, and once out into the wilderness, disappears off the trail. Reverting to his natural form, he focuses on taking advantage of his form's innate speed. Stalking the others just off the trail, he easily keeps up with the group, only reappearing in human form after they'd reached their destination.
"If y'gonna do somethin' 'bout the horses, make it quick. Got little time, and hopefully lotsa ghouls t'fight!" he says, looking across the bridge.
Tassa looks back and forth between Ila and Perdita.
________________
When Ila mentions the risk of running out of time with the phantom horses, Tassa raises a questioning eyebrow to Perdita.
When Perdita nods, Tassa shrugs with resignation. Staring evenly at the pale student, Tassa singsongs, "Piggies squeel and wild geese squawk / But you my dear can barely walk." As she speaks, she does her best to avoid eye contact with Urick.
"Is that...OK? How does it feel?
"I can end it whenever you ask."
As she questions Perdita, Tassa notices a disturbing side effect: the ravenous hunger within her becomes lightning-focused on Perdita. The word prey...prey... keeps echoing in her mind. Tassa quickly breaks out her rations and begins to gnaw on a piece of venison jerky...but to no avail. Her stomach continues to grumble greedily.
When that doesn't work she says, "OK, we don't want to lose Ila's horse; let's get running."
While Tassa can't quite keep up with 'Khar, she tries to occupy herself chasing him as they run toward Sanctuary.
Urick frowns with fairly obvious disapproval, but he says nothing more on the matter. What was there to do about it? Build a pyre? Rally a lynch mob? Turning away from Tassa and Perdita, he mounts up and takes his new steed's reins in hand.
The group arrives at Sanctuary, a trio of horses in tow. There is a farm if you go a little back on the road, if you wish to leave the horses there.
"Stay safe, Frasin." Ila says to the horse, who cooly ignores her, moving to the side of the bridge to curl up on its haunches, its legs bending the wrong way to do so.
With that, Ila makes her way forward, heading first for the bridge, then for the exposed graves.
Henry draws his rapier and carefully moves forward with Ila, keeping one eye open for evidence and the other open for trouble.
Ila and Henry lead the way onto the small island. Nobody disturbs or attacks them, and there is no sound from the inside of the burned house.
The gravestones on the side of the house are covered with a thin sheet of moss. Each has a name and two dates, but no epitaph. The ages at death range from zero years old to seventy-three years old. There are about thirty graves.
'Khar looks about, studying the ground closely and sniffing at it to see if there are any signs of recent travel through the graveyard by anyone (or thing).
Perdita will scan the area with Detect magic to see if anything is lurking about.
Upon closer inspection, the area around the graves does appear to have been overturned at some point.
Using detect magic on the island environs doesn't turn up anything. Though the spell can't penetrate solid material, Perdita gets the shortest ping as her scan passes over the house. Though she can't reproduce the specific angle that must have passed through the decrepit house, she can feel something magical inside.
Khar stalks around the island, checking for tracks. It is clear to his advanced senses that many creatures live in or around this area, though ascertaining more specific movements isn't a very fruitful task. As far as he can tell, more than a dozen but fewer than twenty creatures live here.
Urick already has his crossbow drawn when they first cross the bridge, his eye warily scanning the area in search of the ghasts reportedly haunting the place. As they search the area, he takes great care not to step on anyone's grave... despite them having already been defiled in an even worse way.
Nodding to the others, the inquisitor slowly approaches the old, burnt-down house.
"Somethin' livin' here, that's for sure. Maybe a dozen, donno what they are or what they're doin' though," he says to the others after he's done investigating the area. The lack of any discernible heading in the movement of the creatures that lived here made 'Khar wary. "Don't seem t'be goin' anywhere," he adds after a moment.[/b]
"There is something that may be magic in that house?" Perdita tells the others, "Just a flicker as my spell passes over it. We should investigate, but carefully."
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"Something I'd forgotten." Ila comments out of nowhere. "It has been some time since I journeyed with capable allies who could provide things that I could not... it makes me miss them. All of them." she says, suddenly frowning, her hand moving to her necklace to tug it out and play with it for just a moment. "Nothing moving around out here that we can see... so, onwards and inwards?" She asks, offering a small smile to the others, as she starts to slip forward towards the ruined building, trying to keep out of clear view when the opportunity presents itself.
"With the graves disturbed, it's likely that the ghouls either came from these graves, or have already dug them up for sustenance. We should be cautious. They may be quite hungry." Henry turns back to the group and nods. "But yes, I agree that is best. The house is likely to hold the most information of relevance."
'Khar crouches down low and begins to approach the house as well, keeping an eye out for any signs of the ghouls the Doc mentioned.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
As the party grows close to the porch of the destroyed manor house, a head pops out of one of the the destroyed, glass-less windows of the second floor. "Hey!" it calls, its voice the toneless gasp of a whisper but with more volume. "This'n our stoop! You'd better get outta here or we gonna eat you!"
It's clearly a ghast.
"A ghoul still in its right mind? I'd heard that some ghouls are more... civilized, at least compared to the rest of their species. I wasn't expecting this." The professor's eyes light up slightly, but his guard doesn't drop. "We'll be on our way shortly!" Henry calls out to the odd ghast. "Perhaps you can speak with us for a few minutes and help us find what we're looking for so we don't need to bother you any more."
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
The ghoul picks up a loose bit of wood and throws it at Henry. "I said go away!" it shouts.