Shalelu sighs at Empheria's antics. "Just be careful. Now go, and try not to get in trouble before I leave." is the only things she says before entering the inn.
Galvanized by the encounter, you immediately go looking for more adventure, but disappointingly it looks like there is not much to be found. No more goblins hiding in wardrobes, and no more traps hidden in the graveyard. As you rest in the main square, racking your brains for ideas, you notice the red-headed shape of Shayliss Vinder approaching, a sly smile on her face.
"Could you come with me for a minute, Vorin?" she asks the young elf. "I need your help with something."
Vorin sits twirling the little whistle in his fingers, as he struggles to figure out something they can do or investigate.
He looks up as Shayliss approaches, curiously, but then nods quickly and hops to his feet. "Sure," he says, pocketing his whistle and starting to follow. It's something to do, at least.
"More people could get whatever it is done faster," Isaac observed. He had not been discouraged by running out of places to look and was methodically running down a list of possible places to investigate.
"We need Vorin to help us look for goblins, so let's get your concern taken care of."
James abandons his plan to suggest Whistleball and stands straighter as Shayliss approaches.
When she calls on the elf kid he finds himself torn between scorn and envy for the hapless Vorin. After a brief internal struggle scorn wins.
"Hey, c'mon now." he teases "I'm sure they're wanting to be together alone[i], right?" At the end he winks broadly, grinning like a boy who has just scored a winning goal.
In truth James is not exactly sure [i]why adults seem so obsessed with going off alone to kiss, but he is sure that it is something that - for some reason - makes a great target for teasing. 'As long as I don't get punched for saying it like Mark's older brother did.'
"It's- it's not like that! I just- It's-" Shayliss's face turns to a shade of red darker than her hair, while her face twists in embarrassment. "Oh, I'll handled it myself! You keep playing with your toys!"
With these words she hurries away towards her father's store.
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Andi just chuckles to herself at seeing Shayliss so embarrassed. Stay away from my Vorin, girl.
Andi practices on the whistle like Emmy just demonstrated, and tries to get the sound just right.
And then she gives a long sigh. "I don't know about all of you, but now I am bored! All the excitement with the goblins, and then all of the hunting and shopping with Mr.Foxglove, and now here we are, sitting around in a circle just talking on the street, like none of that exciting stuff even happened. It's boring! I want some excitement! Some adventure! What should we do? Let's do something!"
Perhaps because he is just as clueless as James, Vorin doesn't get embarrassed at the teasing. He only grins, turning back to — it appears — send a joke right back at his friend when Shayliss reacts the way she does.
Vorin blinks in confusion, looking between her and James, and then gives a confused shrug before he turns and runs after the girl. "Wait, I'll still help!"
By this point, Vorin wanted to know what Shayliss had needed as much as he desired to be helpful.
"Should we go help? Shayliss seemed only interested in Vorin," Isaac wondered aloud, then there was a look of dawning realization upon his face as he remembered certain things the Professor had taught him in her matter-of-fact manner. "Oh, wait... that could be complicated."
James victory smile as Shayliss blushes fades as the girl runs off. Cold shame fills his guts, and a moment later irrational anger at the girl rises to fight it. 'Why can't she take a joke?'
Good mood shattered James looks sullenly on as Vorin rushes off to help. At Andi's complain a sly smile creeps back. "How good are you guys at sneaking?" he asks quietly.
"I wouldn't get involved, the Professor says it has something to do with horror-moans!" Isaac called after the others. He looks concerned and indecisive for a moment before skulking after them with no intention of spying but every intention of stepping in if horrible moaning starts.
Quiin watches all this, basically knowing what was going to happen before it does but not wanting to intervene and make things worse. He sighs as everyone runs of walk off, and follows next to Isaac, saying to his friend "So what are horror-moans? Sounds nasty. Like when James opens his mouth. He sighs again. "Sorry, that was mean. It's just, how could he not realise?"
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"It's this stuff inside you that makes you want to do things sometimes. The Professor says its what makes people want to act weird and then be alone together. I figure it can't be all that good with a name like 'horror-moans' but the Professor says I don't have to worry about it."
Vorin gets a confused look at the predatory grin. But still, maybe he's imagining it.
Obediently, though, he starts to follow her down the stairs, one hand on the hilt of his rapier in case of rats.
Despite his overall trust, he'd been the victim of enough pranks to glance up as he goes down the stairs, in case there's a bucket of paint or something ready to dump on him. Even as he does, though, he asks, "Do you need me to make some lights so you can find something?"
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It takes her a moment to understand what just happened, but Empheria begins to shake with fear as soon as she realizes what was about to happen.
"Oh, Isaac!" Empheria cries out. "How could you have let Vorin and Andi and James get close to the horror-moans without warning them? We can't just abandon them like this! Come on, fast!"
She runs after the others, trying not to make a lot of noise, but willing to sacrifice stealth for speed if necessary.
James nods at Andi and follows her down, careful to stay near the edge of the stairs and feel his way down. A sudden uncomfortable worry strikes him - what if Shayliss was going to kiss Vorin, and he saw it?
Desperately he puts the thought our of his mind and concentrates on following.
Quiin waits outside the doorway. He has no plans on going in to face the horror-moans unless his friends are actually in trouble.
It looks like there are no traps, unless one consider Shayliss throwing her arms across their neck a trap. Without another word, she pulls in Vorin and presses her lips against his in an enthusiastic if inexperienced kiss. Taking advantage of his shock, she caresses his cheeks, putting some more passion in her lips, when a loud noise of broken glass comes from the basement entrance.
Andi and James creep silently after Vorin, finding cover behind crates marked as Winter Supplies just in time to see Shayliss pull Vorin in for a kiss. In that moment, something Empheria-sized and vaguely reddish tumbles down the stairs, hitting a rack. With a loud crash, two jars of pickled olives fall to the ground.
The fear of the horror-moans makes Empheria hurry, and turns the human-sized stairs into treacherous ground. One step slightly too long, and she trips over herself, rolling tail over teakettle. She just has time to wonder about how weird the phrase "tail over teakettle" is before she is sprawled to the ground at the end of the stairs, her body aching and her clothes drenched in water, salt and vinegar.
From your spot you see Empheria going in the basement, and the sound of shattered glass immediately afterwards. A handful of seconds later Ven Vinder, Shayliss' shopkeeper father, exits his shop with a short wooden club in his hand, hurrying towards the basement.
Unlike most of his friends, Vorin had most certainly not expected any kissing to be involved.
He just stands there in shock, not pulling away but also not reciprocating the kiss. (Not that he would know how, even if he wanted to.)
The shock is broken as he just about jumps out of his skin at the sound of crashing glass.
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Isaac rushes in after Ven Vinder as he made his way to the basement, clutching his shapeless cap to the top of his head as he ran. His little legs ate up the ground surprisingly fast. Standing at the top of the stairs and peering down into the chaos it is all he can do to shout, "The horror-moans! Where are they? Get outside and I'll hold them off!" While holding up his small fists and making ready to put himself between the others and the perceived threat.
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Empheria tries brushes herself off and stands up as quickly as she could from her fall. Her fall may have been painful, but there was no time to spare.
"Vorin, can you hear me?" she calls while running after the sound of broken glass ahead. "Be careful, there are horror moans! Holler so I can follow your voice!"
After the sound of breaking glass and the irate Ven Vinder, Quiin follows Isaac into the cellar, keeping his eyes peeled and his hand on his new blade, just in case.
Shock washes through James' as his tease is showed to be true. Embarassment, regret and - for some reason - a moment of envy flood through the boy in a wave that leaves him too stunned to react. A moment later shock once more crashes through him as Ephemeria smashes in, screaming about horrors.
This time, at least, he manages to start moving and reaches back to help Ephemeria to her feet just as Andi launches herself at Vorin.
Andi pulls Vorin away from Shayliss, who yelps and blushes, becoming red as her hair and more, a moment before a booming voice yells "What on Golarion's happening here?"
Ven Vinder, Shayliss' father, appears three steps down the stairs, wielding a small club, frowning angrily at the mob of children who is infesting his basement. "My olives! Shayliss! What's the meaning of this?"
"I- Dad, he- they- uhm..." stutters the girl, trying to find an explanation.
At that moment, Isaac and Quiin burst in after Mister Vinder, shouting about imaginary monsters.
Vorin could very well be blushing as well, as he kind of stumbles to his best friend's side as she tugs at him, but his skin hue doesn't really make it visible, especially in the dim light. He certainly does look confused, however, perhaps not quite sure how to feel. Or maybe it's the shouts about what sounds like some kind of monster? "Over here, Emmy," he manages, even his voice sounding a bit subdued in his confusion.
As soon as the adult arrives, however, he pushes that aside. Even though the girl just jumped him, he doesn't tattle. Instead, he lies, "Shayliss wanted help finding something, 'cause I see better in the dark, and my friends came to... Warn us about a ghost?"
Despite how often he does it, Vorin is not really any better of a liar than most boys his age.
Isaac pushed past Mr. Vinder and began casting about for the imagined horror-moans, vision unimpeded by the dark.
"Go upstairs," he told the others, the picture of seriousness.
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Empheria fumbles over to where she hears the commotion. She appraises the room before her. Nothing out of the ordinary... or so it seemed.
"Vorin, Shayliss, we came to save you from the horror-moans," she announces in step with her heroic (and soaking wet) entrance. "You know, when you get together in a room all alone, then the horror-moans start following around. But I think they're gone, 'cause we all came here and scared them away. The horror-moans only show up when two people are alone, right, Isaac?"
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Confronted by an angry adult James' spins a story in his head. 'There could still be a goblin here - she comes to get us - yeah, it all works. We...' his thought trails off as the others speak. Desperately he casts around for a way to salvage the situation.
'How bad is this? Yelling bad? Caning? Losing pocket money? We can...' A new thought occurs 'Wait - they could take the sword off me. Have to look adult, even if it gets me in trouble. At least then I'll still be treated with respect, right?' An even worse thought occurs 'But if he does think that Vorin and Shayliss were kissing they could end up married!''
James waves the others to silence "Shut up!"
He turns to Mr Vinder. "Shayliss asked Vorin to help her." he confirms "She didn't say why. I'm afraid I teased her about the impromptuierty of it and she ran off. Vorin ran after her to help her anyway."
James draws a deep breath, obviously gathering himself "Andi and I followed to make sure there wasn't any suggestion of impromptuierty."
"I think the little kids" James is dismisive "then took my teasing, and fear of basements, and somehow decided Shay was scared of these Horror Moans."
Empheria's face sobers with seriousness. "Uh, James, I don't know about im-promp-tu-ier-ty," Empheria begins, fumbling on the strange new word she didn't understand, "but we are not just making this up. This is what the Professor says, and he knows how to read and write better than all of us... I think. Please, let's be careful about the horror-moans."
"Out! " shouts Ven Vinder, livid with rage, pointing his finger to the basement exit. "And you are banned from my shop! Shayliss, to your room! And you-" he threateningly approaches Vorin "you keep those dirty black hands out of my girl or I swear I'll get a lynch mob together faster than you can say "monster"! OUT!"
Isaac stepped in between Vorin and Mr. Vinder. The small, pale boy met the grown man's eyes without an ounce of fear. "Don't talk to my friends like that," he said with the crisp elocution the Professor had taught him.
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"Are you... picking on my best friend! Saying mean things about him because he looks different! That... that... is horrible! He didn't do anything!" Andi has been on her own so long, she is far past being intimidated by adults. She looks around furtively.
"Licorice, you know what to do!"
Licorice bursts into a swarm of 300 black kittens that hiss, howl, and scratch anything they can get their claws on. In the commotion, Andi gestures for everyone to get out of there!
Vorin's eyes widen about as wide as they can go at the threat, and he bolts as Andi causes the distraction. Well, mostly. He scrambles up the stairs as fast as he can, but he pauses at the top and calls back, "My hands are a really, really, really dark blue, not black!"
Of course, it's not that there's much difference. Even in direct sunlight, he might as well be made of coal. It's more of a quick taunt, an attempt to prove that he isn't too scared or upset.
His friends are sticking up for him! Any hurt he might have taken is soothed somewhat by that, combined with the advice Shalelu gave him.
Of course, it probably helps that he doesn't know what a lynch mob is.
A split second after he shouts that back, he's running again. "Let's go to the inn!"
Shalelu's there, and Ameiko. He won't come after us there!
"Leave Vorin alone you horrid old man."
Quiin uses Read Mind, Lesser on Vinder
James' grabs at his companions and starts to pull them away - though he does his best to keep quiet while he does so.
"I don't understand," Empheria complains to the others, while fleeing alongside them. "We were protecting them, just like we protected Mr. Foxglove, but instead of thanking us, he's treating us like we're monsters."
You scramble away while Vinder screams in rage against the horde of kittens that are swarming the basement. You catch him yelling something about a stew, and how you are forever banned from his shop. Shayliss also runs away, fleeing in the house and slamming the door behind her.
Vorin glances back over his shoulder, and slows his run as he sees that the man isn't chasing them, outright stopping to stare back at the shop.
"I don't either. I think he was mad about the kissing, but that wasn't my idea! She jumped me!"
Then he looks back to the others, and says, "Should we still go see Ameiko? Or somewhere else? But let's go somewhere with food, I'm hungry!"
"Someone got hurt, right? We should go see the Professor, she can take care of it," Isaac said sternly. "And explain the horror-moans."
"I'd love to meet your mum Isaac, lets go see the Professor."
Quiin is quite interested to meet the person who gave his friend to the world.