Ella, too, tries to calm down, stay somewhat more still, and thrust the grotesque thing toward Cassiel's blade.
Ella catches her breath, panting, as the creature falls off her body. "Pitiless Pharasma...ugh, I feel woozy..." She sits quickly, taking a moment to compose herself and catch her breath. "Thank you, M...Judah. Cassiel." Opening her eyes, she looks around the tavern quickly. "Was anyone else hurt? Is everyone here alright?!"
Cassiel rubs the spot where the creature stung him. "I got stuck. I'll walk it off."
"They seem pretty gone to me." He pokes the dead creatures with his boot before seeing to Eleanora.
Judah grabbed someone else's drink from off the closest table and downed it with shaking hands.
"What the heck were those?"
"More importantly, where on earth did they come from?!" Ella exclaims. "Did you see how they got in, Zokar?"
Ella pushes herself up from the table. "Then we had beset make sure everyone else is alright. Stay here, Zokar--we'll look into it. Maybe we'll even see where they came from."
Still moving a little unsteadily, she hurries over to the door and steps out onto the front porch of the tavern and looks around alertly for any signs of distress.
Cassiel supports Eleanora as she gets up from the table. "Easy there--don't want you falling over."
Ella smiles, but gently removes his hand. "Thank you, but I'm fine. Just still a little woozy from the blood loss. I'll adjust in a few minutes and then all will be well."
Cassiel shrugs. "Suit yourself."
Some sort of party or festival planned today Cassiel? I can hear something of a commotion.
Judah kicked the corpse of the bug and swiped another drink on his way out.
At least the monsters weren't my fault this time.
"Not really. Just learned this town has a bit of a bug problem, that's all." Cassiel looks back at the bisected corpses of the oversized mosquitoes. "Ella and I got stuck by them, but we were able to kill them before they could attack anyone else."
Lorant follows after Mathus and his face scrunches in disgust at seeing the dead creatures.
"Stirges. These aren't bugs, Cas, they're...birds...of a sort. Bats. Magical beasts. Most do call them "bloodbugs," however. What are they doing here, though? They prefer to feed off lone targets they can easily take, they don't fly into a town in the middle of broad daylight..."
Then he stops and his eyes widen as he remembers the children's rhyme from the other day...
"Watch the blood come out the pipe, feeds the stirge so nice and ripe...The Piper of Illmarsh...Pharasma, Iomedae, Andoletta and Desna above! They KNOW!"
That does seem both ominous and a little co-incidental, says Mathus with a frown. We've had no more bloody letters.
If it is as you say? We need to know about the other criminals to find out what can be done and what are their preferred methods of killing.
Ella looks alarmed. "Do you think someone is copying each of these killers in turn? If so, who would be next in the rhyme?"
"It's not happening in order, Eleanora. If it were we'd have started with a decapitated body instead of a "V" written in blood, following The Lopper's penchant for contorting himself into tight hiding places to ambush his victims. No, I don't think this is a man we're dealing with, friends. I think the spirits of the five murderers are sending us a warning. They know of our plans to investigate the prison and are trying to tell us "stay away, or else!" For some restless spirits, there is no greater threat than exorcism, sending them to the Lady's final judgment when in the mortal world they are lord and master of the places they haunt."
Lorant gets a grave look on his face.
"Maybe Meenak was right..."
"Oh. Is that all? That's soooo much better..." Judah said in sarcastic horror.
Ella's face darkens when Lorant suggests that the cause of these happenings might be malevolent spirits. By the time he's finished airing his theory, she's scowling.
"If these are indeed spirits that are attacking this town--attacking us--then they are going to be sorely disappointed, indeed. I may not be much to look at, but if there's one thing I cannot abide, it is the unquiet dead making difficulties for the living!" She glares around the town square, as though hoping to catch one of the ghosts slinking around a corner or something. "Tomorrow, I say we go to Harrowstone. If this is indeed a haunting, then best to bring the fight to them!"
Cassiel wobbles slightly on his feet. "Might want to call it a day here then--if we're going to be heading into that place, I'd rather we make the attempt at full strength."
Mathis looks a little crestfallen.
We need information to fight the unquiet dead. Maybe they have a weakness in life or in death that we can exploit - but we need to do the research. Only a few days more my friends, thats all I ask.
Lorant sighs.
"Mathus, how many more attacks like this are you going to want the town to endure? The people here, they're scared enough by our mere presence. They likely believe, with good reason, that this is our fault. Knowledge is power, but if it's sitting in a book it does next to nothing. Knowledge has power, but only when applied. I agree with Eleanora. We should go to Harrowstone at dawn. You're welcome to stay behind if you wish. But we could use your skill as a grenadier."
"Indeed. I will not let this continue," Ella growls, scowling fiercely. She falters slightly when Cassiel raises his concern. "It...would be best for us all to be fully recovered before attempting anything, of course."
Mathus slumps in defeat and agrees.
But I can't help but feel scared about what we won't know - spirits are tricky things. They aren't something you just stick a sword into and they go away. Sometimes you need to know how they died, hells, how they lived, before you can exorcise them.
That said? Maybe a look around wouldn't hurt - we can always return to the books and so on later.
Lorant claps Mathus on the arm a bit.
"Good man. You're right, the books will be there when we return from the prison."
"We don't have to do it all in one day, Mathus. Going in and at least casing the place is a good idea. If we run into too much weirdness or anything we can't handle, we can always run away to do more research once we have abetter idea of what we are up against."
"Good. If we're all agreed, then, perhaps Cassiel and I will head back to the Lorrimer household to rest...we both lost some blood to those stirges. The rest of you can wrap up any remaining research you have today. Is there anything else we must take care of en route?"
"Trying not to give the townsfolk more reason to panic, mayhaps?" Lorant says dryly.
"If there's more research I can do today, I'll do it. At least that'll settle Mathus' nerves a bit."
Hey, I'm not some pedantic old woman, says Mathus with a wiry smile. I just am following the example of Petros Lorrimor - he always did his research before heading into a dangerous situation.
"Fancy lot o' good that did him..." Judah said quietly.
"That's because he walked alone. Us, together? They don't stand a chance!"
Cassiel winces. "Especially when we've had a chance to recover from getting bitten by stirges..."
"You're so right, Lorant!" Judah said with mock intensity. "The horrible serial killer ghosts of the haunted prison and the whispering cult that unleashed them, who have already killed a renowned expert on the occult, will be impotent before the power of friendship!"
"C'mon, gang! Lets go!"
then Judah finished his stolen drink and tossed the empty mug back in the direction of the bar.
"This is a terrible idea. If I die, I'm haunting the hell out of all of you."
"Don't joke about that, Judah," Ella says, though the admonition feels more automatic than heartfelt. "I'm sure that we'll all be...fine..."
Judah shrugged. "At least then I could slap that jerk brother of yours around. Someone should."
"It didn't help," Ella says softly as the group heads back toward Kendra's. Almost quietly enough for no one to hear.
Lorant paces himself to walk next to Eleanora, though he doesn't pay particular attention to what she says to herself. It's not his business.
"Eleanora, if you need...anything...to talk or just someone to listen, please, don't hesitate to seek me out. Grandmother Crow'd frown on me if I didn't offer counsel to a friend who's hurting."
Well... I'm not rolling in coin so buying extra supplies is out for me so the best preparation I can do is a full nights sleep.
Ella smiles wanly at Lorant. "Thank you, Lorant, but I'm fine...what happened with Edmund was years ago now. It's dust."
Hearing Mathus's comment, she adds, "Yes, I think a good night's sleep for all of us is in order!"