"Finally! I was beginning to doubt anyone would ever find my carriage and come looking!" the Lady says pulling herself weakly to her feet.
She stands and pointlessly runs her hands down her skirts before squaring her shoulders. With her head held high, she limps to the ladder. She studies it a moment before frowning.
"You there, sir, turn away," she orders of Aðvinr.
The Lady gathers her skirts and hikes them up, scooping her arms beneath them so she can hold them clear of her feet while she makes her way up the ladder.
His anger at the woman's bruises turning to amusement at her request, Aðvinr averts his gaze, grinning as he makes eye contact with Annalisa
Theora clicks her tongue sadly at the woman's state. "I assume you're our noble quarry, then?" she asks with a wry smile. "Come on up, and we'll get you seen to, dear."
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Keeping watch from further off, Machaera can't see into the cellar herself as the others gather around the trapdoor, and she is momentarily startled by the aristocratic injunction that emerges from below. As Aðvinr complies and the tell-tale rustle of a ladder being negotiated in heavy skirts whispers up, Machaera stifles a grin.
Her face becomes steely immediately, however, as the noblewoman clambers out of the cellar, her bruises livid in the light of the lodge's main room. What kind of brute... She waits until Theora has had a chance to look over the other woman's injuries before nodding and explaining tersely and quietly, "Lady Malassene, I'm afraid this place is not yet secure. Are you trained in the use of armour? We'll get you some furs, as well, and keep you out of the way, but we've yet to search all this place. If the worst happens, you may have to run while we try to hold back the pursuit."
Annalísa holds Aðvinr's gaze with a smile and a wink. When the noblewoman makes it to the top of the ladder, Annalísa reaches around Aðvinr to offer the Lady a hand pulling herself out the rest of the way.
Hundur sniffs around the opening to the cellar and yips at the noblewoman in excitement.
"Quarry? You sound as if you're talking about a hunting trip for the love of the gods. I can only presume that it was I you were looking for, Lady Argentea Malassene," the woman says reaching out and taking Annalísa's hand without looking, simply expecting a hand to be there. "I certainly hope no others have gone missing in this area."
She pulls herself up straight and once again brushes down her skirts.
"Of course. I am of noble birth, we are trained in these things. I am also proficient with many weapons. I... I'm afraid I will not be running anywhere anytime soon. My ankle was badly twisted when they attacked my carriage, I am only just again able to put my weight on it at all."
Her voice softens and you think that you might see the hint of tears welling up in her eyes but the pool never grows deep enough to send them spilling down her cheeks. "I ... You have my thanks for setting me free. I have learned terrible things in this place, I must let others know at once."
"Milady, I believe the others are b-back in Heldren. When I g-got separated, I tried to find you in the snow. I r-ran into these people, who also s-seemed to be looking for you, and here I am." Delilah makes a quick curtsy with Theora's cloak before looking around seriously. "Did you check the upstairs while I w-was getting this door open? If not, that needs to be our next stop."
"Oh, my dear Delilah. Is it really you? I thought for certain you must be captured or dead. The others? Are they all gone?" Lady Malassene asks.
Machaera leans her sword against the hearth within easy reach as she unslings her bulging pack and rummages among her various recovered odds and ends, eventually emerging with a quiet cascade of metal as she extracts a chain shirt and a rapier from the bundle.
"You might use these until we get someplace safe," she tells Lady Malassene, adding, "Apart from Delilah, the only person from your party we've met who's even been in a condition to speak is a badly wounded guard named Yuln. Your attackers were exceptionally vicious."
As she speaks, she surreptitiously sizes up both Aðvinr and Annalísa. Depending on how many other raiders might be patrolling the woods, and how tough a nut to crack Rohkar turns out to be - she concludes that if it comes to that Annalísa is the likelier choice to carry the aristocrat bodily out of harm's way, though anticipating the difficulties Machaera is grimly determined to see to it that that not become necessary.
Taking up her sword again, she answers Delilah's last question briefly, "Not yet. Milady, if I might suggest that you make yourself as comfortable as you can out of sight from the landing?"
With that, she advances up the stairs and pauses outside the door, waiting for the others to gather before preparing herself with her magic.
”Yuln arrived in Heldren half dead having barely survived the bandit attack. He spoke of both bandits and winter fey, which we have experienced first hand, working in concert. He claimed to be the only survivor, but clearly he underestimated Delilah’s resourcefulness.” Aðvinr adds. "At this point it would likely be better to clear the area of the remaining guards and spend the night in the shelter of this place before heading out into the snow again."
Mirri smiled and said, "Fortunately I think the winter fey between here and the town are no longer a problem, especially with my friend here helping us." She gestured to Pym, the little fey that had joined her after the defeat of her clan. She looked at Pym then and asked, "Is there anything you need sister?"
"Thank you," she says taking the gear handed to her by Machaera and arming herself. "You must listen to me, the fey you have seen are only the beginning. There are others deeper in the woods, and terrible winter creatures making their way towards villages. There is a bigger threat her than these simple-minded raiders and their terrible leader. Certainly, he must be dealt with as well but do not mistake him as the cause of all."
The Lady eyes Pym warily but does not comment on the apparent bond you have formed with with fey.
"No, I am well, sister," Pym says.
"A larger threat?" Theora frowns, pursing her lips and rubbing at her chin. She sighs and shakes her head, adjusting her bun. "Perhaps we'd best see to that, then. Now, what can you tell us about this bandit leader?"
Mirri nodded at her little companion and said, "Good." The talk of a larger threat was disturbing and caused Mirri to ask, "What is this larger threat you mention?"
"I... I do not know. There is not much that I can tell you of him, I only saw him when they attacked the caravan. I know that he used foul magic to turn my guards into... well, if you found my caravan than you know for yourself!" Lady Malassene says.
"I think he's a necromancer," Ten-Penny says quietly.
"Clearly. Who else could do such a thing?" Lady Malassene says glaring at the half-orc. "She is one of them, why have you allowed her to live?"
"I'm not... not really. I didn't have nothing to do with what they done to you and your folks," Ten-Penny says. "The bigger threat she's talking about is all those winter fey and winter creatures showing up in the woods. No one wants to talk about where they're coming from or why they're here, but it can't be nothing good."
Lady Malassene ignores Ten-Penny and says, "They talked about a leader of the fey, something called a Teb Knotten."
"It appears anything she has done is under duress. She told us where to find you rather than posing any resistance. I believe her." Aðvinr says clearly unimpressed with the noblewoman's imperious attitude.
"Hmph," Lady Malassene says, "I suppose I will take your word and trust your judgement on the matter. What will you do now?"
Listening from her vantage point on the landing above, Machaera wishes, not for the first time, that a good dozen libraries she's had occasion to grow fond of were not quite so far removed from one another. Think as she might, she hasn't an inkling of what a "Teb Knotten" might be.
Still, she answers Lady Malassene's question boldly, "We'll try to secure the building, and then, if it's not too disagreeable an idea, we'll try to get comfortable here until the morning. Hopefully, another day will give your ankle some more time to recover, and let us replenish our spells before we return through this unnatural weather. Respectfully, if you would be so obliging as to find a spot less likely to accommodate an errant arrow? We shouldn't be more than a minute."
Despite herself, she finds her eyebrow arching in a quizzical invitation to the others to join her before she tries the door behind her.
"Now now, my lady, Ten-Penny has been nothing but helpful," Theora says quietly at Lady Massalene's accusations. "Macheara here has the right of it. We'll handle this, and you can find someplace to hide." Glancing between Lady Massalene and Ten-Penny, she adds, "Maybe two places to hide."
Nodding to both of them, she follows the elf, keeping her bow in hand and an arrow nocked.
Nodding, Aðvinr follows, spear held at the ready. "So any ideas on where to find this bandit lord ladies?"
Ten-Penny points up the stairs again when Aðvinr asks about the bandit lord before going back into the kitchen. Lady Massalene moves into one of the bedrooms.
Machaera opens the door and finds an L-shaped table with many chairs takes up most of the floor space in this loft. A second smaller table sits near the entrance, and several windows look over the snowy grounds of the lodge. In the southwest corner, a large map hangs on the wall, opposite another door in the northeast wall.
Machaera quickly advances into the room, her glance nervously sweeping over its contents. Her free hand twitches as if already anticipating a spell she might need, as she cautiously circles around the far side of the table, sparing the map a second glance as she passes closer to it.
Mirri nodded in acknowledgement of the location of the bandit boss and prepared to head up there. She looked at the rest of the group and said to them, "It seems he's rather oblivious, we've caused all this commotion and he hasn't come down to check. I'd suggest we be well prepared because either he is an fool, or very dangerous."
"I expect dangerous." the shaman says quietly readying a spell and holding his spear ready for a fight as he follows.