The elf ranger, the sheriff, Viorec and Lisabett... and by the looks of it she's in full ranting mode again... wonderful... just wonderful!
It's with these thoughts the gunslinger approaches the group. He already knows things aren't going as they should...
"Hello everyone, I guess it was too much to hope we could stick to the plan for once. What's the emergency now?"
Almar's words and tone are blunt, but they may just hide an hint of sarcasm
"As for the others the last time I saw them was less than five minutes ago at the church. They had some errands of their own, but we agreed to meet at the Inn... as everyone really should, I might add"
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Lisabett's fingers curl into fists and she bites her lip harshly against the impulse to strike the man for his impudence. You do not order me, swine.
Lisabett remains silent for several moments, simply trembling with a fine rage before she releases a sigh and speaks to Alazandaru. "Please appraise Alamar of the situation, sir," she says. "I will fetch the others and return to the Dragon."
Almar shakes his head at Lisabet erratic behaviour She comes and goes as she pleases it seems... a born troublemaker, that one! Whatever, let's hear what's this all about
"Well people? What's this all about? Our pretty scout seems to be rather excited about something... although that's not really surprising at this point. So what's it? Some old wife killed a rabbit and she's sworn bloody vengeance against her? Or is this something serious"
Lisabett arrives at Sandpoint Cathedral a few moments later.
"Were I you, I would take care to be more courteous to the tracker of your company." Shalelu's blue eyes sparkle as she looks at Almar. "Were she spiteful, she might lead you somewhere you do not wish to go."
"Well, good thing I can track for myself, then! But I get your meaning, Ms Andosana, although if you think she might do that you have a far lower opinion of her than me. As for being courteous and what not... from where I come one gets what one gives, I'll give plenty of respect to Lisabett when she'll stop being childish and prideful to a fault. Untill then I can't bring myself to take her seriously, sorry"
"A tracker yourself? Tell me, do you track with grace, or do you wear another thunderous device on your belt to do it for you?" The elf smiles ever so slightly. "She is young and primal, not unlike other northerners I have known. I cannot say what one such as her will do when pressed, but neither can you. As such, we press her at our own peril. Just as I press you at my own peril now. Just as you press me at yours."
"It was I who upset your plan. I requested that these two follow me from the inn when I learned that the goblins had escaped."
"Again... I can see your point, but mine is she needs to learn to work with us and not act like she's some Ice Queen from the fables. Working togheter is what makes the difference between being left barely alive and very dead, in my own experience. But enough of that. The goblins excaped you said? I'm rather displeased with that, but surely a runt and an half dead goblin chief shouldn't be that difficult track down. Only a request though: we find them, we kill them. They deserve it and we should get rid of them once and for all"
"I could not agree more, but there is perhaps an opportunity." Shalelu kneels and inspects the tracks.
"An opportunity?" Sheriff Hemlock growls. "Explain."
"I will, but I must investigate first." She looks up at Almar, and then to Alazandaru. "As I think on it, perhaps it would be best if I did not stand in the way of your conversation at the Rusty Dragon. Go. I will join you soon."
"We'll see each other at the inn then"
Something is amiss here... but what? And... someone's wathcing us?
Sense motive on Shaelu:
Survival check:
Perception check:
Almar nods at Shaelu and acting like he didn't notice anything strange he whispers "You know we are being watched, right?
Perception
Sense Motive Shalelu
Replying to Almar, Alazandaru nods, not having time to fill him in
Keep an eye on whoever it is and i'll cut around and flank him or her from the alley... Don't feel like taking anymore chances today. If they flee, give chase.
I'll go find Raziel, meet you back here! Alazandaru says loud enough to be heard from the alley and with a meaningful look at Almar, walking off nonchalantly.
^ Bluff check for Alazandaru's ploy. Once out of sight he will skulk into the shadows and quickly move to the other end of the alley.
"Yes, go get the others, please. And... Shaelu... do you know where those goblins might have gone after they broke out of the Sheriff's jail?" Almar asks in order to give Alazandru the time to circle the mysterious figure.
"Yes, I know. I was here when she sang her wonderful song. In fact, it was our intent to talk about her more and come here when we returned to Sandpoint. However, since then, I seem to have done little but make her angry though I am somewhat confused as to the cause. In any case, I fear that pressing her for her company now would just make things worse." Sorin shrugs, "She seems to find solitude preferable to my company so I thought I would come here alone and let her do the same."
Turning back to Father Zantus, "Please, how are they doing? May I see them?"
"I think it is not you that upsets her Sorin, but the circumstances," Raziel replies to Sorin. "And she handles herself differently in front of other people. I had hoped..., but of no matter. Father Zantus, I will go with him to them."
Sense Motive -
Perception -
"I have a theory." Shalelu responds. If she is aware that you are trying to create a diversion, she does not show it. "But I waste my breath until I look closely. Only trust that if I know anything in this world, it is goblins. I will not be more than an hour."
With that, the elf turns and heads north through town.
"She enjoys her own mystery too much, that one." Belor Hemlock grunts after she has gone.
"Very well." Father Zantus smiles weakly.
At that moment, Lisabett pushes open the doors of the Cathedral and steps inside.
Lisabett arrives at the cathedral as Sorin and Raziel are speaking to the priest of Desna.
"Brother, Sir Knight, you must come quickly," she says. She looks to the priest of Desna, and inclines her head in a bow. "Father, there are goblins loose. If you have one to spare, would you send a man to keep the mother and child?"
Alazandaru recognizes Thomi Weyes.
The boy is a lookout for the local Sczarni, though you have rarely spoken to him. He's quiet and does what he is told, as far as you know. Thomi is a cousin of Berev.
You are upon him, but he doesn't appear to realize it.
"There are goblins about?" Father Zantus' face drains of color. "Will they never relent?"
"It appears that monsters do not change their natures. There was a deputy injured. If you will set aside time for me later, we can speak more," Lisabett tells the priest. "Sirs, please. We should not be separated from the others."
Alazandaru places a hand firmly on Thomi's shoulder, saying softly-
See anything interesting Thomi?
In his other hand, his fist tightens, the cestus ready to strike if necessary.
Almar moves swiftly towards the alley: "So what did we catch? Someone's being way too curious for his own good I'd say..."
Sorin starts at Lisabett's sudden appearance whom he hasn't seen since they left the swamp. He casts an aggrieved look towards where the mother and child are.
Shelyn, I need more time...
Finally, he turns and says with uncharacteristic curtness, "Very well. If there is work to be done then let's be about it." He seems to be speaking more to himself than anyone around him.
To the boy's credit, he barely starts at your touch. He is quiet for a moment before he speaks, looking neither of you in the eye. "Berev wants to see you. Better go see him."
"Of course." Father Zantus bows politely. "The girl and her mother can wait. They are well, I assure you, and well protected here."
Lisabett hangs her head in shame at Sorin's response, and murmurs a reply in gratitude to the priest before exiting the cathedral, headed back to the Lady's dragon.
When my words reach them, my intent is confused, or worse, willfully mistaken. How am I to communicate? Lisabett wonders while she walks, and after a few moments frowns deeply. The Lady is the only method. All... love her. She knows the way to stir their hearts.
Almar frowns briefly at the boy words:"And who would this Berev be, exactly? But we don't have the time for more digressions I fear, we should stick to the plan, and you, boy, should find better and less dangerous ways to waste your time..."
Raziel sighs. 'It is always something that keeps us moving. Is this Desna's will, or something else? Still, meeting together to find our path would be best at this time.'
With a nod to Father Zantus, Raziel follows after Sorin and Lisabett.
"He knows Berev." The boy makes a slight nod in Alazandaru's direction. "Go way back."
He turns to face Alazandaru at last. "Can I go?"
"Desna go with you." Father Zantus calls out a blessing behind you.
The three of you head towards the Rusty Dragon.
Lisabett takes notice of Almar in the alley, and her fingers jerk reflexively, but she continues walking to the Rusty Dragon without creating an incident.
"He knows Berev." The boy makes a slight nod in Alazandaru's direction. "Go way back."
He turns to face Alazandaru at last. "Can I go?"
Alazandaru gives one of his trademark heavy sighs, turning to Almar but keeping his hand on the boys shoulder.
I have to deal with something and it doesn't concern you. I'll try and join you for the Goblin hunt, but theres only two of them; doubt you'll need me. Don't wait for me, i'll meet you at the tavern later.
Assuming Almar leaves, Alazandaru will ask the boy to take him to Berev.
"There's Almar right there," Raziel notes. Raising his voice a bit, he says,"Almar, I thought you returned to the Rusty Dragon, what transpires?"
Still feeling distressed, Sorin is deeply lost in his own thoughts. He looks up momentarily when Raziel points out Almar. He barely spares the scene a glance before continuing on, quickly losing himself in his thoughts again.
Almar raises his eyebrow at the boy's tone and the implications the discussion might have. After a moment of meditation he speaks:
"Very well. If you ABSOLUTELY need to go, then you need to go. But try to solve this problem, whatever it is, quickly. We need to work togheter, and these continuous changes of plans don't help us build any teamwork at all. That said, I wish you good luck, Viorec"
Alazandaru nods.
I understand completely Almar- but a man died accompanying me out of the town. I suspect thats what this is about. See you soon.
Thomi walks quickly towards the house where Berev and Eugeni would always play cards.
He raps on the door, five times in rapid succession, then a sixth a moment after. It's a new code.
"Unlocked. Come in." A gruff voice from within calls out.
Thomi opens the door. Berev is slumped in a chair with a bottle of whiskey in hand. He does not look up to acknowledge your entrance; he plunges a dagger into the table in front of him instead.
Almar steps away from the alleyway and joins the others. The four of you walk together to the Rusty Dragon.
You open the door to find Ameiko kneeling on the floor in front of the larger chest, its contents spilled all about. She is closely inspecting a wand and does not meet your eyes.
"I tried to stop her, friends." Sandru shrugs apologetically from a nearby barstool. "But she is like a child."
"The seal." Ameiko mutters. "Kaijitsu..."
Lisabett places a hand over her eyes and swears in Skald, all the tension in her body releasing in a pregnant sigh. She goes to the bar, stands beside a stool and leans over the counter to speak to the 'keep.
"Your most potent and least pleasant brew," she requests, then looks to Sandru as she unties her purse. "Captain?"
Kaijitsu... Sorin thinks trying to remember if he's learned that word or not.
The sight of Ameiko reminds Sorin of a child with a toybox and some of the tension that he's feeling breaks. "But Sandru," Sorin says with a slight smile, "children are so adorable."
Sorin kneels beside Ameiko. "Ameiko, can I be of any help? Or would you prefer I just stand here and watch you? I'll cheerfully do either."
At Sorin's words, Lisabett groans loudly, then spreads her arms wide across the bar and rests her forehead against the coolness of its surface.
"If any woman need be treated as a child, Sir Knight, it is not that woman," she opines, her voice colored by desperation.
Sorin laughs cheerfully at Lisabett's words.
"And why should that be so? The true artist never loses the child within for without that there is no longer a sense of wonderment to the world. A joyous child knows this instinctively and so, to occasionally be treated as one, is a great benefit. One does not need to learn joy, it's already there, you simply have to accept it."
He turns back to Ameiko.
Ameiko looks up, suddenly aware. After a moment of embarrassment, she stands, composing herself. "Friends, forgive me. I recognize the seal on the chest. But nothing within bears the same. Where did you find it? Was there anything else with it? Is this all?"
"No need for an apology." Sorin says happily. "It's rare to see you so engrossed in something. The first chest was in the goblin camp and the second in a cave in the swamp guarded by the restless dead of what appeared to be the spirits of Tian warriors. Both locations seem odd for such things" Sorin then frowns. "While at the Warden's, we experienced a shared dream that led us to believe that Mother Koya was in the swamp. If that's true, we were not able to find her."
Lisabett's head remains fixed on the bar for some moments more, simply stunned into silence by Sorin's excess of cheer. He is a child, she recognizes. Not an artist, but a child.
"Mother Koya is not in the swamps," Lisabett begins, lifts her head and turns to regard the hostess and her companions. "Between my eyes and Mistress Androsa's, not a single track was found. That cannot be mistaken.
"We, however, can," she continues, and spares a glance for Sandru. "We were each of us strained by the assault on Almar, and the goblin compound, the fire, our disagreements with the handling of our prisoners," Lisabett's tone is harsh at the last, "and finally when the Lady met us with more sad tales, and we discovered the Captain in the tree-" Lisabett frowns at the memory of his touch, and exhales, her breath misting when that within her lungs is so much cooler than the ambient air, "drugged.
Lisabett pauses and centers herself before continuing. "It is not often that Desna influences our dreams. She has given me the same dream several times in my life," and also withheld it her mind seethes, "a destination. Ours was different. She lent us a vision of the journey that we overlooked. I thought that there would be two persons to save because the one had found her and was also taken, but it was not real. That one represented each of us," she says and meets the eyes of everyone present, saving Sandru for last, and reluctantly. "As individuals, we became lost. As individuals, we failed to find her.
"Something, or someone is attempting to keep us from gathering," Lisabett concludes. "Since I arrived, I have been questioning my purpose here. I am not of the south, I have known none of the peace your lives have afforded you, my... self seems repellent," Lisabett frowns again, "but I understood today why. It is not the child, it is my sight. Each of you save Almar are known here, heroes of Sandpoint," she enumerates, "with the wise priestess Mother Koya at your heart. If she had met us on the road last night, and not the Lady, she would have had horses in hand, food, and would have ensured that each of us were calm and ready to set forth again to retrieve her son. Instead it was the Lady, whose temper is as quick as mine, whose passion stirred our own and off we set without a single moment of thought to collect ourselves for the journey."
Lisabett pauses to allow her words to set in. "Given the attack on the deputy earlier, we must ask ourselves now: who benefits from Sandpoint being without its heroes?"
Thomi walks quickly towards the house where Berev and Eugeni would always play cards.
He raps on the door, five times in rapid succession, then a sixth a moment after. It's a new code.
"Unlocked. Come in." A gruff voice from within calls out.
Thomi opens the door. Berev is slumped in a chair with a bottle of whiskey in hand. He does not look up to acknowledge your entrance; he plunges a dagger into the table in front of him instead.
Hello Berev... Alazandaru says softly, taking a seat opposite him and plunging his own knife into the table before him like Berev did, not wanting to be without a weapon if things got ugly.
I couldn't have known what would happen, Berev. I tried to find him- but I was too late. I gutted the thing that got him though, and it was no snake.
Sorin looks oddly at Lisabett for a moment.
"I do not understand your talk of individuals. Perhaps your dream had a special meaning that mine lacked. I also do not understand your mention of "The Heroes of Sandpoint". Such an appelation certainly does not apply to me; nor to anyone who would be so presumptive as to claim it for themselves. If it applies to anyone it is Ameiko, Shalelu, Mother Koya and Sandru who have long guarded Sandpoint's interests. You seem to be drawing many connections form these events that I simply do not see; perhaps that is because Desna is not the one who guides my actions."
"Are you so certain that our faceless enemy wants to keep us out of Sandpoint and not bottled up within it? We do not know who our enemy is. The goblins could not have obtained all those fireworks and explosives on their own; some other hand guides them. The question you ask is the same one that has confounded us from the start. We thought the goblins to be main enemy at first. It is clear now that they can be little more than underlings and certainly no ally to whomever controls the undead."
"But perhaps you're right. I will spend the evening in prayer at the cathedral and hopefully Shelyn will offer me some guidance. But anger and spiteful words accomplish nothing. Not even the gods can stare into that darkness for long without being affected. Those of us who serve Shelyn know that far too well."
Again sorin turns back to Ameiko to see if she requires assisstance.
"I would not speak so lightly of darkness and tempers, Sir Knight," Lisabett warns coolly. "You cannot imagine the depths to which lesser men will sink when they've only five hours of sunlight. I have watched men who shared a woman over mead kill each other when she chooses another. And worse," Lisabett traces the scar beneath her left eye, then raises her chin defiantly. "You could consider me conciliatory."
Almar considers the situation and Lisabett words carefully:"I can't claim I understand what you are saying exactly, but if it means we should work togheter to stay alive and accomplish our goals, then I agree with you, this time at least" then directing his attention to Ameiko he adds: "Maybe you can find something useful inside this other chest, Ameiko, we found it in a cavern filled with strange-looking skeletrons, somehow we think it may be significant in our search for Koya... any help will would be appreciated", so saying he offers Ameiko the chest he carried from the cathedral
"Was you that got him. Wouldn't have been there if you hadn't of asked us along." Berev takes a swig of whiskey. "Sent word to Eugeni's uncle, I did. He'll be coming along in the next few days, I expect. He'll be real eager to talk it over with you."
Ameiko listens quietly to the dialogue. She raises an eyebrow at the mention of Sandru being drugged, just as the Varisian looks away in shame.
Her face is still as Lisabett describes her temper and passion. She raises no protest.
Finally, when Almar hands her the chest, she speaks. "Skeletons? Undead?"
"Guardians, Shalelu thought." Sandru murmurs.
Ameiko runs her fingers across the smaller chest. "The same seal. The Kaijitsu seal. My father showed it to me when I was a young girl, but insisted it was not to be displayed. He said it was a secret."
Without hesitation, Ameiko opens the chest and begins digging through its contents. She pulls out an ornate fan and looks it over "Is this a map on the back? It it crudely drawn..." She trails off as she pulls a beautiful hairpin from the chest. "Tian make, but no seal. But there are weapons..." She inspects a throwing star found within the stash. "Not on these either, or the dagger in the other chest. My father had the seal on his sword. I thought maybe..."
She looks up suddenly. "Is this everything? Were there swords?"
"There were some rusty blades in those skeletrons hands, their leader had a whole different sword though... a pretty scary weapon judging from how it sliced us up. And he also had this coat of mail. That's all I can think of at the moment", Almar aswers the question handing over the strange blade and the armor he took from the skeletron leader.
Lisabett, having received her drink, hooks a long leg over the nearest bar stool and pulls herself into a seated position before bringing the drink to her lips, tipping it back and consuming it in a single swallow. She passes the 'keep five silver and considers the contents of her purse, then the condition of her clothes and sighs as the cheap liquor burns a trail to her stomach, causing an embarrassing physical reaction. Lisabett's cheeks fairly burn and she turns her face away, relieved that none in the room seem to care at all that she still occupies it now that the Lady has spoken.
"Was you that got him. Wouldn't have been there if you hadn't of asked us along." Berev takes a swig of whiskey. "Sent word to Eugeni's uncle, I did. He'll be coming along in the next few days, I expect. He'll be real eager to talk it over with you."
"I asked you along; I did not force you- I do bear some guilt but I could not have known what would happen. His uncle is welcome to talk it over with me when he arrives."
"I would not speak so lightly of darkness and tempers, Sir Knight,"
Sorin is nonplussed and does not turn to face Lisabett. "I do not; for I have seen the consequences and depths to which even a god will go when he embraces darkness for too long."
"Ameiko, I do not mean to pry into family matters, but why would your father need or want keep such things secret?"
Berev lets out an acidic laugh. "Well, you see, Perit Brolli is not much of a talker. Were I you, I would find somewhere else to be." Berev stands, pulling his dagger from the table.
"Consider this a friendly warning." he growls. "Go."
Thomi opens the door and stands by it.
"He would never tell me." Ameiko inspects the elegant blade Almar just handed to her. Her eyes widen suddenly. "Here, on the blade of the wakizashi!"
She holds it up to you and points. Etched into the steel right near the hilt is the same emblem that is on both chests. Ameiko flips the small sword over and stares with curiosity at the pommel. "It's hollow. There's an empty chamber in the handle."