Looking at the Venture Captains table, then at Eldren, then back at the table. "You expect me to go over there and pull one of those ladies from the wounded faun? Tell me you're joking."
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"Joking? I do not joke when it comes to women Davick. Besides I said talk, not take. You can talk to women without taking them my dear boy. Also you have an opening. Come on..."
Eldren got to his feet, straightening his clothing and waiting just long enough for Davick to join him, before walking to the table. He had timed it perfectly, in a break between conversation, which he slid in to gracefully.
"Ladies. Captain!" He smiled and bowed slightly. "I am Eldren Corwin and this is my Watch Partner and friend, Davick Drake. I must apologise for the situation that happened earlier. It is unseemly that something like that should happen whilst two Militia were in attendance. We should have diffused the situation before it came to blows. My sincere apologies for that." He nodded grimly.
"It was my fault. My partner here was about to stop the situation from going that far when, I confess, I dragged him from the bar. We do not get much time off and Davick, he just can not stop doing what he does best, keeping the city safe. I was off duty and was not willing to step in, unless involved. The situation got out of hand but it has nothing to do with him. It is all on me..." He nodded softly, smiling a little self-deprecatingly.
"Anyway... I just needed to say I am sorry and to thank you, Captain, for the drink you sent us. Most kind. We are forever in your debt!"
Thanks Eldren, thanks a lot. Giving a bow to the Venture Captain, "Venture Captain, a pleasure to meet you. Once again, thank you for the drink. I don't mean to impose, but may I sit with you?"
Kir listens to the story thoughtfully, twirling her fingers into her hair as she listens. She smiles, "Sounds nice," Is what she says though it may not be the nicest story, actually. Then she's quiet for a moment, clearly thinking about it some, when the boys show up. She smiles a bit, "Ah, more stories. We were just bartering those."
"Please join us, I'm sure the good Venture Captain here was just begining to feel outnumbered. You two will keep the sides nicely even. Though as Kir mentioned, it will cost you each a story."
Talon gestures for them to sit, "More the merrier. However if we get any more guests, we may need to get a bigger table..."
Before you can contemplate a larger table and hear more stories, a gong is sounded. All the patrons of the Lusty Leopard are distracted by Dimitri who holds the gong and waits patiently for the full attention of his audience.
"Greetings and Salutations to all of you on this fine First Brew Festival!" A slight cheer goes up from the announcement. Dimitri holds his arms up for quiet and they are silenced once again. "At this time I would like to invite Madame Wasp and her finest priests and priestesses to join us. The rumors were true and certain individuals were given a red invitation for our exclusive Brandy tasting. We would like to invite those individuals now to join myself and Madame Wasp and her clerics in our private dinning hall." Dimitri indicates a red door off to the side of the tavern.
There's some murmur from the crowd and a few patrons begin to make their way over to the door. As you turn your attention back to the table, Talon has his red invitation out. He seems to be contemplating between the invitation and the red door. He shakes his head slightly and slides the invitation back into his jacket.
Talon gets up from the table, "If you ladies and gentlemen would excuse me for a moment, I have to visit the restroom. Please don't tell any stories while I am away as I am also interested in our fine company" Talon gets up and heads the opposite direction of the red door towards the restrooms.
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Eldren takes a seat and is about to speak, when the gong is sounded. He sits and watches the interaction almost mournfully, before taking a sip of his ale and returning his attention to the table. He turns back just in time to see the Venture Captain slip his invitation away, and excuse himself.
"I wonder what that was about. Hmm..."
"Certainly odd to say the least." Davick remarked back, hiding his relief at the much needed distraction.
A good fifteen to twenty minutes passes by when Talon returns. Just before he sits back down, a loud scream is heard from the red door. A young priestess runs out and stumbles on the stairs, she continues to scream and cry. Many of the patrons look shocked and disturbed. Talon runs over to her side, but she appears to be in too much shock to say anything. Talon runs into the private dining hall.
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When the screaming begins, Eldren leaps to his feet, pushing back from the table and drawing the blade at his hip. He glances at Davick, before moving towards the room.
"Somebody keep the Priestess from leaving. We will need to talk to her. Dav you are with me. Lets see what is up..."
Upon entering the room, Eldren sighs, taking in the bodies with a glance. "What in the hells happened here?" He frowned, stepping over to Madame Wasp and crouching down, taking a moment to scan her for wounds. "I am no healer but... For twenty people to die with no blood, this has to be poison yes?"
He straightened, before moving back to the door and scanning the crowd for the young Priestess.
Upon hearing the scream, Davick immediately jumped to his feet and look for the source. Seeing the young priestess running out of the Private Dining Hall, the young militiaman rushed inside after Eldren and Captain Talon to sermise the situation.
Looking at Captain Talon, he asked, "Is he...?"
In response to Eldren's comment, "Not exactly true, there are mystical ways that leave no marks."
Davick takes position by the door to prevent others from entering until more of the militia arrive.
Talon gets up from Dimitri's side. He nods to Davick, "One of you should secure the entrance incase one of the other patrons is able to tell us anything."
He looks to Dimitri and a few others, looking at their blank stares. "We will need a high priestess of Pharasma to confirm this, but I think your right Davick. These people died from having their souls ripped from their bodies.."
Kit startled at the scream, standing up with a confused expression, "Wait, what?" she runs into the room to look, going pale and stumbling backwards at the sight.
"What? Why would anyone be stealing the souls of people here? Is whoever or whatever did it still here somewhere? Is it going to take our souls too?"
Kayla looks around, as if expecting to see some monstrous creature waiting to take the soul of everyone else present.
"They'll have to go through me first." Davick said in a tone that was deadly serious.
Talon removes his necklace and holds it in from of him. You can see the design of the necklace to be the three stingers of Calistria. He begins to cast various detection spells before sighing. "Not finding any disease or poisons. We're going to need a cleric for this..."
Nervously, Kayla moves to stand near the well-armed men.
"Shouldn't there be plenty of clerics around here? Either of Cayden or Calistria?"
Talon looks grim for a second, "Dimitri was the only cleric of Cayden here, and all the priestess of Calistra appear to be here, minus the young lady outside."
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Eldren looks around for a minute before frowning. "Okay. We need to keep everyone here and someone needs to fetch the Priestess of Pharasma. So we need someone we can trust not to just run off. Someone who is as dedicated to this place as Dimitri was!" He ponders for a moment before turning and striding from the room.
On his way through the throng of gathered people, to the front door, he grabbed Swarly by the shoulder and dragged him along. "Swarly my dear friend you are going to run and get the Priestess of Pharasma. Then you need to run to the Militia Headquarters and tell the Officer on duty that I am requesting another two Guardsmen. Do it quick. If you get back here, within the hour. I will see that you drink free for a year. Deal?"
He turned to the crowd and let out a sharp whistle, before beginning to speak. "Here is the deal, no one goes nowhere. This is a military matter now and I am here by charging you all with staying here till we can speak to you, one by one. Anyone who has a problem with that can talk to my friend here!" He slammed the point of his blade down in to the floorboards and casually gripped the pommel. "If everyone cooperates, this will go a lot smoother!"
Kayla takes a deep breath to try to calm herself.
"I have some healing skills, shall I go and look at the bodies just to make sure that they are all gone? That priestess wasn't killed, perhaps another one or two may simply be passed out from fright? Speaking of which, where is the priestess? She should be questioned about what she saw."
"[b]I can talk to her,[/]" Kir offers with a nod, stirring to go find the woman.
Swarley nods in haste to Eldren and goes bounding off for the door. Once he gets there, he attempts to push the door open but is repelled backwards. Confused, he stands up and again tries to repeat getting the door before being thrown backwards. He runs back over to Eldren panting "I... can't... get....out"
You see the young priestess exactly where you left her, she keeps repeating one word over and over. "Father...Father..." You now notice that she has a striking resemblance to Dimitri
"Eldren, come stand here, I'm going to look at the door."
Once Eldren replaced him, Davick went to investigate the door.
Kir goes to the shellshocked priestess with a gentle expression already on her face. "I'm sorry you had to see that," Its easier for Kir to put out of her mind if she thinks about helping the girl, so its actually a welcome change, to talk to her traumatized though she may be.
From your experience, it seems that a trap or spell has been cast on the door to possibly hold the person and repel them backwards. Its a tandem spell, and is difficult to cast. A high level arcane caster is needed for both the casting and the breaking of this spell.
The young priestess looks up at you with fear and confusion. "What happened to my daddy... why isn't he moving!? Why did everyone just fall down?!?"
After examining the door, Davick went back to Eldren, "Whatever magic was cast on the door, it is beyond my skill."
"Well, that's what we're trying to find out. Did you see what happened?" Kir asks gently, eyes just on the girl's face.
The young priestess, shakes her head slightly, almost confused. "Everyone was standing around... enjoying father's new brandy. Then everything turned black, like all the lights had been dimmed and I could hardly see anything. Then when the light returned, everyone was on the ground. I rushed over to Papa, and that's when they all started screaming. The sounds was terrifying, so I rushed out..."
Talon appears to be listening to the tale with rapt attention. He appears to be thinking and contemplating over the story.
Walking along side Eldren, Davick's eye saw something at the north wall. Moving in to investigate it, he called out. "Over here! There appears to be a door to another room next to the Dining Hall."
Kir also listens to the story, frowning a bit but patting the girl's hand if she'll let her. "Thank you for telling us. We'll do our best to find out what's happened."
Davick, you investigate the door. You notice that it was made to blend into the wall and only those who knew it was there would be able to spot it. As you turn the handle you notice that it is locked.
Talon goes to Kayla, "You said you had healing skills? Would you be able to accompany me into the private dinning hall. I need you to check something."
"It's locked," Davick informed Eldren, "If there's a lock, there's a key."
Kayla nods at Talon's question. "Of course, I'd be glad to help however I can. Though I think everyone is beyond my abilities now."