Tynan recovers his throwing dagger, and follows Raella and the hounds up the hill. Seeing Cudgel retreat from the hole with a wounded snout, he unsheathes his sword, and steps next to Raella. Tynan listens for any sounds emanating from the hole, but Cudgel's yelps of pain make that a fruitless venture.
Whatever is in there, certainly doesn't like being disturbed...
Seeing the dog dig and bleed, the halfling takes a careful, closer look at the hole, trying to determine if someone or a creature poked at the dog, or if there is some type of trap/defense on the entry.
She looks to Raella and the others.
"Can anyone tell if someone attacked the dog's nose?" I bet if there is someone down there, they might not be too fond of anything canine at the moment. "Or did he just get his snout into something more passively dangerous?" Like spiked on a trapped entrance.
"Ascaria, can you see anything in his snout? It's bleeding pretty bad and Lazare won't be too thrilled if his dogs come home hurt." or not at all. The woman says over her shoulder as she tries to see what hurt the animal.
Gathering around the hole, the moan recently carrying on the winds comes to an abrupt stop
"Careful, boys! Hold!... Can anyone tell... or did he just get his snout...?"
A weak, childlike voice rises from the hole. "Hello? Hello?! Is someone there?? Please!! Help me..."
As you move in for a better view, it takes their eyes a moment to adjust before you are greeted with the sight of a young girl, mud-caked, legs higher than her head, at an impossible and immodest angle. From where you are, it's easy enough to see her hands on a long root branch. Also easy enough to see is the partially exposed thigh bone, just above the knee. She is naked, save for the makeshift tourniquet tied above her open wound.
It takes a moment for Cudgel to settle down, but he gives you the chance to examine his snout.
He's been stuck proper. A couple of good-sized slivers of wood remain in the meat of his snout. Easy enough to remove, and nothing that will leave a lasting scar. A clotting smear or astringent should stop the bleeding.
The sound of almost human voices carries on the wind, coming from the side of the hill not too far from here, roughly 30 feet.
"Gentlemen, avert your eyes, and be wary. Voices are coming from that side of the hill, perhaps only 30 feet away. Pillette, Sol, find something to cover her in; her clothes have been shredded in the fall."
Without waiting for the others, Rae reaches into the pit, grasping the girl by the ankle and pull her out.
The girl locks eyes with you, biting her lower lip, and nodding. She stiffens at your touch, but appears to be preparing to endure unspeakable pain.
As Raella grabs and yanks, the girl lets out a banshee wail as she's pulled from her would-be grave. Coming to rest, her lungs give out, reverting to heaving sobs instead. She does not pass out, however. The smell of blood rising off of her is apparent to those adjacent to the girl.
Aside from a rather large wound in the side of her right leg, she appears to be intact.
Open wound like that, exposed to the mud and elements, will require long-term care and rehabilitation, but treatment supplemented with healing magics will go a long ways to speeding the process up. It's hard to tell until she's thoroughly clean, but likely disease already has a hand in the site of her injury.
Tynan turns and looks in the direction indicated by Raella, listening for the voices, and giving Meghan some privacy.
The girl's wail of pain drowns out anything Tynan might have heard, but he pulls his short sword and stands ready, as her wail has likely alerted anyone nearby of their presence. Who would have buried her like that...
The surrounds of the hole seem to tell a story. At least two sets of paw prints, as well as human footprints seem to scatter around the hole. At the hole itself, it appears that something was dragged or dragged itself to the hole.
The hole appears to be an entrance to a smaller animal type's warren, or rabbit run.
Tynan thinks back to the appearance of the hole when he examined it, and realizes something. He calls Pilette over to where he stands watch.
"It looks like Meghan pulled herself into that hole. Ask her what she was trying to hide herself from, if it was more than just the wolves. Any information she can provide will help us prepare ourselves for... whatever is out there."
Sol kneels beside the girl, taking her hand.
"Hi, I'm Solrisa. This is my wonderful sister, Rae. As you can see, she's very strong," Sol says sweetly and comfortingly. "I've seen you before, you're Meghan?"
Sol gently brushes back the girl's hair and tries to de-smudge the mud off.
"Don't you worry. I think we are going to get you back to town," Sol coos.
If no one else has any good idea, Sol takes a blanket out of her backpack and ask Rae to help wrap the girl up, both for warmth and for carrying.
Ascaria takes a quick look at the dog, triage really to make sure no more damage will be done by delaying a moment.
He pats the dog on the head, careful to avoid the damaged nose, and turns his full attention on the little girl. Seeing all the tall folk surrounding her, he quickly advises, "Give her some space, you're crowding her - and likely scaring her further. I know you do me sometimes." He looks at Mort, remembering nearly being stepped on.
He takes out his healing kit and approaches her lightly, slowly, and with care. He says gently, "Now Meghan, I need to look at your leg OK? I'm going to try and stop the pain. Just bear with me a moment."
He examines her wound and tends it carefully.
He casts Create Water to cleanse the wound thoroughly (lavage) with fresh clean water.
Satisfied it's set right at least, he then channels to heal the dog and the little girl. He avoids healing the wolves, just in case.
He backs away and straightens up, turning to the group, "She needs rest and some long term care. The wound is a little infected with all this mud no doubt." he grins at Meghan, "But she's tough and it's not so bad. She'll be fine." he winks at her.
It's hard to glean whether the girl nods or lifts her chin from the sobs, but she doesn't resist Ascaria's ministrations, and she does seem to gain some control over her rate of sobbing.
The gnome's fingers begin an intricate, subtle work. As the water comes forth, the girl flinches from the sensation rinsing over the wound, but it only yields a soft hissing.
As Ascaria channels a second time this grey morning, a soft, silent golden static radiates from the gnome. A blink, and the ephemeral coloring is lost, until he studies the girl's leg. The static has found purchase in the wound. He can see a barely-there outline of her leg as it once was, and strives to be once more. The bone sinks beneath reknitting muscle, and the outline is replaced by newly formed, fragile skin.
The wound is no more. The sound of sobbing is no more. The girl looks upon the gnome's face, and weakly smiles back.
At the sound of the moans emanating from the ground, Mort's mind is hurled back to Osgood's. Memories of Aesur's screams rising from the long stairwell that leads to his locked room flood his head. He stares at the hole in the ground in horror.
It's a prison cell...
As the girl is pulled from the ground, he regains some composure and slowly approaches the space in the ground wondering what could have wounded the dog.
Surely it could not have been this weakened girl...
"Gentlemen, avert your eyes [...] "
He pulls out his cowl and absently offers it to the women, never taking his eyes off of the hole in the ground.
"Maybe she can use it..."
If no one takes it, he drops it near them anyway as he passes, never looking at anything but the gaping ground. Approaching the hole, he hopes to spot some trapping or bar that could explain the dog's wound. He draws his sword and runs it along the edge of the small grave sadly hoping that it will hit metal.
Two swishes of his sword, and Mort snags it on a longish branch of wood, now resting along the side of the hole. Bringing it out of the hole, he can see it more plainly, a root branch of some three feet in length. Closer examination reveals blood. Blood on the length, blood on the tip. Whose exactly, well...
Mort looks around for the source of what he initially assumes is a tree root. Seeing it or not, he pokes at the thing with his sword and asks (with a hint of skepticism in his voice):
"Does anyone think this could actually have been what wounded the dog's nose?"
His doubt stems from the fact that he doesn't know much about blood or wound patterns -- or even dogs' noses for that matter.
"We're not scaring her, we' tending to her. It's probably hard to tell the difference from your angle, though." Rae tells the gnome roughly as she carefully carries the girl, now wrapped in Sol's blanket.
"We should get her back." She looks again in the direction of the voices, wary of whoever and whatever might be out here.
"I've seen you before, you're Meghan?"
The girl looks from the golden-haired healer to the golden-haired blanketress. "Yes, I'm Meghan, but how did you... know to...?" She looks confused, as her vision takes in the others.
As she pulls the blanket up snugly, a thin arm reaches out quickly, grabbing Sol. Bony fingers sink into the swordswoman's forearm, and the girl's eyes widen.
"He called to me again. I couldn't stop from hearing." She looks off, a stare that crosses the countryside. "This time was almost the end of me." She cocks an ear, and looks not far away. She buries her head in the blanket, and hums a droning noise to herself, as if trying to block out all other sounds.
Voices are coming from that side of the hill [...] "
Mort really wished he had better hearing. As far as he could tell, the voices he couldn't hear could be coming from anywhere -- the other side of the hill -- from underground -- from his own tiny little mind.
"Yes, we should be going," he said, looking over the landscape as if he was hoping to be able to see voices. Anything.
He keeps his blade drawn.
The confusion of the rescued girl, wounded dog, and glowing Gnome distract the halfling from hearing any outside noise.
"Yes, the sooner she's home, the happier her keepers will be."
She looks over the dispatched wolf carcasses, querying the others who might have more knowledge of these rustic, beastial happenings.
"Is this normal for Diamond Lake? Such beasts do not enter into Egorian uninvited."
"He called to me again. I couldn't stop from hearing."
"He called to you? Hmmmm.... Do you have any idea if the wolves were, ahh, friendly to whatever voice summoned you?" Did this voice summon you to be a sacrifice to the wolves? Or were the wolves sent here to prevent your role for whatever presence brought you here? Or is this just the sticks where beasts run wild?
She sighs. Out here, it's possible in this simple town not everything is an intrigue wrapped in a plot covering a ploy.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Sol holds and hugs Meghan's head, trying to soothe the worried girl. She soothes, she coos, she sings, trying to calm and drown out while Rae carries the lass.
Sol's voice is neither fine nor polished, but she sings proudly, the songs of her dreams.
"Dragonborn, Dragonborn, by his honor is sworn,
To keep evil forever at bay!
And the fiercest foes rout when they hear triumph's shout,
Dragonborn, for your blessing we pray!
Hearken now, sons of snow, to an age, long ago,
And the tale, boldly told, of the one!
Who was kin to both wyrm, and the races of man,
With a power to rival the sun!
And the voice, he did wield, on that glorious field,
When great Terendelev shuddered with war!
Mighty Iome, like a blade, cut through enemies all,
As the Dragonborn issued his roar!"
Sol walks with Rae and Meghan as they go back to the safety of town.
Tynan walks over to where Sol cradles Meghan, and speaks softly to her. It's not difficult to pick out a fatherly concern in his tone.
"Meghan, sweetie, I need to ask you something." His tone is calm and reassuring. "When you hid in that hole, was there someone else you were hiding from besides the wolves? Was the person whose voice you were hearing here as well?"
"He called to you? Hmmmm.... Do you have any idea if the wolves were, ahh, friendly to whatever voice summoned you?"
"Meghan, sweetie, I need to ask you something. When you hid in that hole, was there someone else you were hiding from besides the wolves? Was the person whose voice you were hearing here as well?"
Meghan stops her drone long enough to answer the questions asked of her. "He didn't say anything about wolves, and I didn't see anything until it was too late." Meghan looks at Tynan with a touch of despair. "That's just it. He's in there, somewhere, and I can't hide from him. He wants me to find him, and help him. He either doesn't know or doesn't care how hard it is on me."
She points to the side of the hill.
It's difficult, what with the overgrowth, but Meghan appears to be pointing at, what, is that a doorway, in the hill's side? Hard to tell from here. But it is in the direction as the almost human voices still drifting across the hillside.
"I'm sorry sweetie, but I don't see what your pointing at. I know you're tired and hurting, but if you can show me, I'll do whatever I can to make sure he doesn't call to you any more." He brushes her hair from her eyes, and smiles at her. "Can you do that for me?"
Meghan seems reluctant, whether it's Tynan's stranger status, or her nakedness underneath the blanket, but she relents, walking Tynan half the distance, until he does see what she indicated.
"Thank you Meghan" Tynan says, as he wraps the blankets back around her, and gently picks her up. "Let's get you back home."
Tynan looks at the rest of the group, concern in his eyes. "Then we can come back and see what's behind that doorway in the hillside."
With Meghan and Tynan's help, the halfling finally sees "the door" in the hillside.
"That's just it. He's in there, somewhere, and I can't hide from him. He wants me to find him, and help him. He either doesn't know or doesn't care how hard it is on me."
Now that is interesting. Just what has its hooks in this girl? Something of some power, no doubt.
"Let's get you back home. Then we can come back and see what's behind that doorway in the hillside."
"Yes. She should be home safe." That was our charge. Unless she is needed to confront whatever is in there.
"But whatever is calling her isn't likely to stop. More will need to be done to ensure her safety in the future." This isn't just a case of an irresponsible slipping away for mischief.
Tynan nods in agreement with Pillette's assessment, then carries Meghan back over to Solrisa, gently passing her back to the woman. "She needs a more motherly touch than I can give." A look of sadness crosses Tynan's face.
Mort claps Tynan on the shoulder in reassurance as they head back.
"Good eye, Tynan. Good man."
Worried about Meghan, Ascaria stays close to her, just a few steps behind, as they walk back into town.
He tries to just focus on her, but the thoughts of that door... A door in the side of a hill!
He looks forward to their return, and investigation of that door.
On your way back to Diamond Lake, everyone except Mort is directly aware of a lone wolf keeping a regular distance from you. After half of an hour, you are no longer aware you are being followed. A single howl in the distance can be heard, but no further wolf attacks occur.
Arriving at the edge of town, signs of routine activities can be seen. The Dourstone Mine appears to be bustling, as several miners bring forth wheelbarrows of ore. Further into town, you witness residents likely heading to the general store, residents heading to others' residences, flagellants walking the vein. Nothing out of the ordinary. Wreck and Cudgel require a little check to prevent pulling, as they recognize a return to home.
The twelfth bell sounds.
Mort is unable to shake the shock of seeing Meghan being pulled from the ground, or the memories it stirred.
Mort, he gently reminds himself again. If you don't say it out loud, they won't ever know what you are thinking.
"Tynan, did you loose someone -- someone who does not think you can draw? -- if you don't mind me asking. It seems many children of late have gone missing ... since I can remember. Too many people around who've lost something."
He sighs.
"I don't know if it is related."
"Esobel, a fellow apprentice at the smithy -- seems to be missing... something too. He goes on vaguely about Egorian, but stops when his head hurts too much. It's the same with me when I try to remember anything about my past."
"And then there is Aesur..." he stops abruptly. "It's probably better if I don't talk about him.".
"At any rate, whoever I was... is gone -- at least for now. There is only Mort now."
Which is a good thing, because it means I don't have much to loose anymore.
Sol stops in town, trying to decide where to go.
"Which way the Midnight Salute, Rae? This way, right?" Sol heads up the west trail. "I think that's the one near our house."
Sol turns to Meghan, continuing her mental soothing.
"Oh, we're almost there, Megsie. I can't wait to tell everyone how brave and strong you've been! It's like you're a heroine from a story!"
Tynan walks next to Mort on the way back to Diamond Lake, keeping watch as Solrisa carries the girl.
"My daughter and wife... were taken from me. That was several years ago though, and far from Diamond Lake. Liliana would have been about Meghan's age now..." His voice drifts off, but then he shakes his head, as if trying to clear a fog.
"You say you're having troubles remembering your past... what can you remember? And what of Esobel and Aesur? Perhaps all of this is somehow related."
"I'm really sorry to hear about your family.
Esobel mentioned that Aesur was also from the Capital. As for me -- I just remember showing up around 5-6 years ago, applying for the apprenticeship. I remembered smithing."
He stops.
"I really can not think about it anymore now, my head is starting to hurt."
He adds turning to Tynan:
"I'm here, still. Maybe it could be the same for others."
He turns hastily to keep an eye on Sol and their charge.
Lilliana. Pretty name.
"Lead on Solrisa, you're heading the right direction. Afterward, we should drop the hounds back at Lazare's... I think they've had more than enough excitement for one day."
Tynan looks at Cudgel's injured muzzle, and cringes. I hope Lazare understands the injury wasn't our fault...
Gods, what a morose bunch. Makes me glad I only have Sol to take care of.
"Yeah, I think that's the one, Sol. I'm sure her folks will be glad to have her back."
Rae checks the dogs as their excitement builds.
"Lead on Solrisa, you're heading the right direction..."
Huh. Does he really know what kind of place this is?
Mort catches up with the Twins just as they approach the door to the Midnight Salute. He inserts himself between them and the door, trying to impede their forward progress.
"Wait wait -- wait. This just doesn't feel right," he cried. "I-I-I uh, I don't think this is any place to be taking a young woman."
Any woman.
"Really. I'm pretty sure you don't want to go in there... shouldn't we take her home instead?"
Damn you Lazare. What the hell were you thinking?!
Cudgel slowly nudges his head under Mort's hand, while the conversation takes place well above his head. Wreck sniffs at the door, then works his way to the end of the leash, behind Raella.
The sounds of faint footsteps and dish clattering can be heard from within, and laughter.
Thunder sounds, and an occasional drop of rain catches you every now and again.
"Really. I'm pretty sure you don't want to go in there... shouldn't we take her home instead?"
Meghan gives Sol a light hug, motioning for her to set her down. She readjusts her blanket, and comes to stand alongside Raella.
"This is my home, sir."
What?!
Mort double checks the door behind him to make certain it's the door he thinks it is.
There it stood. Except for the boisterous noises of joy trickling out from behind it, the door itself was perfectly quiet and true to form.
The door to the Midnight Salute.
He turns back to the party spreading his arms out to block it further, shaking his head in disbelief.
"Nnnnnnoonononononno, it can't be."
"I thought we were taking her to her mother, who happens to work here. Is that not the case, Meghan?" Rae stops abruptly.
"It's true that the Midnight Salute isn't genteel, but if her mother works here, then we should take her to her mother."
Rae cocks her head to one side, looking Mort up and down, "Unless you know something I don't."
"There, see?! She is home."
Tynan nods in agreement with Raella. "Home is about people, not the building."
He pats Mort on the back, and continues quietly. "She'll be in good hands here with her mother. Now it's up to us to make sure whatever was calling to her from behind that door stops. Permanently."
"I thought we were taking her to her mother, who happens to work here. "
That thought would never -- in a million years -- have occurred to Mort.
He dropped his arms as his shoulders slumped in abject defeat. A lump formed in his throat and he began to sweat a little feeling sick to his stomach.
"Of course... she's home." he said, his voice cracking a little, glancing once again at the door.
He dragged himself from the door bowing slightly, then gestured at it in apology.
Thoroughly embarrassed, he whispers to Tynan, "It just never struck me as a family kind of establishment."
Meghan walks up the steps, knocking loudly. Moments later, the eyepiece of the door slides back, and a set of bloodshot eyes looks out on all of you. The eyes look down, barely seeing the girl, then flick back warily at you all.
"Stand back!!" The sound of bolts begins as the party clears off a bit. Meghan turns back, and looks at Sol, then Ascaria, a look of resigned sadness touching at the corners.
The door flies open, and a woman, clad in a deep red robe, steps forward.
The next several moments pass by very quickly.
"Mum, I can explain..."
"Shut your mouth..."
"But Mum..."
"Out with that boy again, weren't you...?!"
The woman grabs Meghan by the hair in the blink of an eye, and 'encourages' Meghan through the doorway. She spins around, staring at you all, defiantly.
"What?"
Barring further response, she stalks back into the Midnight Salute, and slams the door.
By the time they've reached town, Ascaria has a mental list of what needs to be done to ensure Meghan's future health. As the door opens, he smiles brightly at the woman and starts to say, "My dear lady. Meghan has..."
He's quickly cut off by the hostility of the situation.
Once he recovers himself, he angrily steps up to the door and raps has hard as his little fist can muster - banging on the door.
Rae pushes forward,attempting to grab that *woman* by the wrist where she grabs Meghan's hair.
"She was *NOT* out with that "boy" again! Something BAD is happening, and your daughter was almost a victim to it. She could have died! IF you don't care about that, then perhaps you should just assume she did, and WE'LL take care of her." Rae fumes, her temper boiling dangerous close to the surface once more. GAH! THIS is her mother?!?! IF I'd known it was her....
"Nnnnnnoonononononno, it can't be."
She almost bites her tongue, but in a rare moment of indiscretion, her wit gets the better of her.
"You know, those who work in these establishments are people, too. Providing for their families as best they can, raising their children with as much care as those with more privileged positions."She mini-lecture is interrupted by the woman berating the girl, seizing the lass and slamming the door. She turns back to Mort.
"Or not."
The halfling stands back as some of the others try to intervene, trying to suss through the reactions.
"Out with that boy again, weren't you...?!"
Why wouldn't she want her daughter out with a boy from a family of some wealth? Yes, he was a rather weak-kneed, but that can be trained out of him. Actually, probably just makes him even a better catch for a girl from such humble circumstances. Is this woman blind to the possibilities? That might be likely, given her deportment, or lack thereof. Or is there another reason she doesn't want her daughter with him? Hmmm... might be worth investigating.
Tynan bristles at Meghan's mother's actions, and starts to reply, but watches as Raella steps up and grabs the woman. Well, it looks like she has the situation well in hand...
The woman barely has a chance to grab and yank, when Raella's hand seizes her at the wrist. The pain causes her to release Meghan's hair, allowing Meghan to run through the doorway, closing it behind her. The mother begins to yowl at the offense.
As Ascaria beats on the door, the door opens again. Towering above the gnome stands a ravishing elven woman, clad in silks.
You're not quite sure, but the silks adjust, almost by themselves, revealing skin that seems meant only for you. You see a tattoo, that begins forming as the silks part. It takes the form of a butterfly...
She looks past Ascaria, towards the two women. She doesn't seem at all surprised.
"Raella, let go of Lisbeth's wrist. You? Lecture others on responsibility? I think not." The elven woman, known by all as Purple Prose, holds the door, expecting Lisbeth to return. She looks on you all, expecting to listen to further complaints, for it it obvious to her that each of you wears some form of displeasure on your faces.
Tynan looks flustered at the situation, but manages to respond.
"Lazare asked us to find Meghan. We were fortunate enough to find her when we did, for she was nearly dead." He gives Lisbeth a stare. "A dark force lured her there, ma'am... not 'that boy'. In fact, were it not for his information, we likely never would have found her in time to save her. You should be grateful to have her back at all."
Tynan doesn't do well in hiding his disdain for Lisbeth's behavior, but is polite to Purple Prose.
| 4 people marked this as a favorite. |
Ascaria strains to be seen past the tall folk,
B-b-b-butterfly
He gets flustered for a moment, but recovers quickly, "Er, Uh, further, Meghan's injuries were quite possibly infected before I cleaned and healed her leg. She will need to be tended to. I have a list..."