He notices the trivia contest but only becomes more and more confused as it continues, regardless or whether a contestant gets an answer right or wrong. He merely shakes his head and begins searching for food before the contest is even over.
Half following Neverhome Silence smiled at his first attempts at riding the horse.. by the end of it he was indeed applauding. "Well done Neverhome." He said licking his lips as his whiskers twitched. I suppose i should try it as well yes yes?
He slid off the horse after his second attempt turning and offering the horse a little half bow. "A spirited one that one is yes yes." he said rejoinging his copatriots.
"Not the first time you've rode, I take it?"
He nodded simply smiling and his whiskers twitching after the hug of Erika. His tail swayed slowly and he took a moment to collect his thoughts. "Mounted combat is an important aspect of being Samurai, yes yes." He began trying to find a way to explain it. He remembered seeing in his travels a man in heavy steel atop a mount with others fawning over him. He had been called a night or something. He had just been learning the tongue of these lands and hadnt bothered for clarification.
"In the Tien lands, Samurai are like your nights yes yes?" He explained to Neverhome. He thought it was a close approximation at the least. "and you friend Erika, is there anything you would like to do yes yes?" He asked warmly.
"I think I've heard of them before."
"Can't recall anything about them at the moment though."
Erika's stomach growls again, " Let's find us some food, and we can look for those...uh...flutterbyes, eh?" She nods in the direction of the food vendors and takes off at a light skip.
He smiled, eyes shining tail slowly waving as if it were caught in a slight breeze. "Yes yes, the flutterbyes." He followed along her path, eyes roaming at the sights. he took care to move slowly and smile politely whenever a stray eye caught him, being civil went a long way in his travels here in the lands far from his home.
"Are you just here for the festival friend Erika?" He asked politely, helping himself to some fresh cool water.
Lyosha catch both the raven and Raven attention with the silver coin.
"Oooooh, shiny!" they say in unison.
Awww, just a silver coin. Hoped it was something fancier.
Zsestrian will follow after the half-orc and the cat-man/woman.
"Wow, you're really good at riding!" he says while staring in amazement as the catfolk stays on horsetop with barely any problem.
"I'll try too" he adds while walking toward the horse.
Being flung left and right by the horse, he only catch bits of the conversation between Lyosha and Silence.
"Steady, steaAAAaAaAaArghhhh!"
Zses took flight this time and landed near the two.
Is "like our nights"? Wow that's so poetical, but it doesn't explain much
Like his/her/its name!
Okay let's try last time
"Crow, be a good raven and bring good luck, okay?"
"That... didn't go too well."
As soon as he hears talk about food, he says to the group "Mind if I join you? I'm quite hungry myself."
"And I may need to sit down to put back in place some of the bones that crazy horse broke."
Seeing both Raven and Crow lose interest in the coin he puts it back into his pocket. "Of course. Food sounds good right about now."
Silence chuckled at the one with the raven's jest about his poor riding. "i am glad that you are ... unharmed except for perhaps bruising? We do not have compititions like that at home, riding angry horses and the like." The strange feline took care to be careful as he moved through the small crowd of people about the food stalls, nodding politely to all. he glanced about for tables or something of the like to sit at.
Lyosha gave a soft chuckle. "It's hard to get hurt when your dead. Apparently still get hungry though."
As noon approaches, those of you who haven’t already eaten (or are hungry again) can enjoy free food courtesy of The Silvered Stoat. At 11:50, the local Priest of Sarenrae stands up, and a large covered wagon is wheeled to the center of the town square. ”Sadly, it seems that our town was overlooked by the Desnan clergy this year. But does this mean we can’t honor Her anyway? By no means! Let me tell you a story….” With that, she begins to recount the tale of Desna’s First Swallowtail.
”Many years ago, Desna was ambushed by some who wished her ill. While their names have been long lost from the records, they succeeded in wounding her dearly and forced her to flee to our humble world. Badly injured, lost, and alone, she was fading fast. But – before her light went entirely out – she was found by a young boy. Blind since birth, he had no way of knowing that he was meeting Desna Herself; he knew only that a lady was injured and needed his help. Over the course of several weeks, he diligently nursed her back to health – sharing what little food he could gather and letting her sleep in his own poor bed. After she was fully recovered, Desna revealed herself to him and asked him what he most desired, as he had indeed saved Her life. He replied, ‘I wish to be able to travel freely over the world and see its beauty.’ ‘Granted,’ replied the Goddess. The next morning when the boy awoke, she was gone. He never saw her again. Instead, he spread his new wings and flew away – a beautiful Swallowtail Butterfly! The story says he exists today: still travelling the vast reaches of Golarion in search of new beauty.”
As the Priest’s tale concludes, the sun reaches its highest point in the sky, and the wagon cover is thrown open – revealing one thousand Swallowtail Butterflies. At the stroke of noon, they burst forth in an enormous cloud, filling the sky with colors in a breathtaking display of beauty.
Suddenly, the sky darkens, the temperature drops at least 30 degrees, and a blizzard erupts, blinding everyone for what seems an eternity but is really only a few seconds. The strange storm fades as swiftly as it begun leaving a few inches of snow on the ground and a noticeable chill in the air. The frozen bodies of the butterflies cover the ground. As the townsfolk wander around in shock, their shoes can’t avoid them, and the air is filled with soft *crunch* noises.
Erika laughs at the sight of all the butterflies floating about. She smiles and looks around at her newfound friends. Suddenly the shock of cold snaps her out of her reverie. Whirling around she looks for the source of the snowy madness, her eyes sweeping the crowd.
Her eyes lock onto the direction of the source of the snow. She starts to step and hears the soft crunch of frozen butterflies. She steps back a moment, then turns to Silence and the others. " Oh no... this can't be right. Silence, we must do something."
"And even in death it seems Hell follows me." Lyosha muses aloud at the now all too familiar scene of white blankets the land.
Looking around at the familiar faces he resigns himself. "So shall we flee? Or shall we dive head first into the madness?"
"Oh joy, we're all gonna die." Hobbes mutters to no one in particular as he makes his way towards the border wood.
After enjoying himself at the fair and stuffing his face with all the strange food at the inn, Blik stands and waits for the priest to begin her story in the front row. He'll watch happily when the butterflies were released but cry out in dismay at their unusual deaths.
"Oh no! My colony were going to eat those!"
Seeing the group of people heading towards the woods and recognizing a few faces from the inn Blik will hurry after them.
"Wait for me! I can help, something is terribly wrong!"
Zsestrian listens carefully to the legend of the Swallowtail
Oh, yes I know this one! Mother always used to tell...
He then pauses for a moment.
Mother?
He starts to focus, trying to remember more clearly. At the same time, Crow's shadow begins to blur, and he tells the witch with a low, but warm voice "Come on, Zsestrian, it's your chance! Concentrate and remember!
He remembered.
It was a day much alike this one.
The sun was high in the sky, and birds were singing
"Mom, why butterflies?" a child asked to his mother, while staring curiously at the wagon at the center of the plaza.
"They are sacred to Desna. I told you, remember?"
A smile began forming on his face. "Yes, I remember" he says out loud.
"I remember! Where they are?" answered the child, filled with excitement.
"Look, Zsestrian" the woman pointed as the wagon cover is thrown open.
A stream of beautiful butterflies rose up on the sky
"They're... beautiful" he whispered, mouth agape in wonder and tears filling his eyes.
"They're beautiful, mom!"
The child then turned to smile at her mother and then...
Everything shattered.
Zsestrian froze in place.
Everything froze.
No. No,no,no. No no no no no no no
He fell on his knees, tears running down his cheeks.
A burst of sudden images filled his head.
A woman on her deathbed
Shadows
A crying child
Shadows
aloneshadowsdesperationshadowsshadowsdreamsshadowsahugeblackportalshadowssh adowsevryonegoneshadowsshadowsshadows
Snow out of the window
*Crunch**Crunch*Crunch*
He started to shook violently, and shrieked.
Crow immediately flew to the others, and said with a low, firm voice completely different from his usual one
"First: we have to know what caused this. Second" the raven turned with a worried look to the witch "help him. Please, I beg you."
He then resumed his normal voice and returned near the boy. "Zses? Zses? he croaked.
All the boy could say was a seemingly incoherent series of whispers and strange sounds
[b]"We have to go...there..." and points to the Border Wood.
Rushing over to help Zsestrian up he notices a language he has heard before, but does not understand. "Mr. Raven are you okay? Get up please. And stop talking like that, it's not a good tongue to be able to speak." More and more it seems that I am still woefully alive, and that Irrisen is not through with me.
Looking out towards the woods a look of grimness begins to take hold of his face. "But this. Is. Not. Irrisen. Who's ready for a hunt!"
Rushing back after seeing Zsestrian collapse, Blik will help Lyosha get him to his feet.
"You okay mister?"
When Zsestrian points towards the woods, Blik will agree,
"You're right, lets go!"
"Oh, thanks Lyosha... and you too, friend he says to the half-orc and the halfling. He will hold tight to the scarf for a moment, and then try to regain his composure.
He nods in agreement to Lyosha proposal "Yes I think that "hunt" is the correct word. Whoever did this -because i highly doubt this was a natural occurrence- is either an animal or a monster."
Zsestrian also tries to recollect the moment when the blizzard blew, to see if it was the doing of a magical energy he knew.
While they're moving to the woods, Zses will tell to Lyosha "Thanks again for before. And sorry if the language I used before startled you. It's something I use unconsciously when I'm stressed."
"Ah don't worry about it, you sure you're okay to walk?"
His excitement had been growing his tail showing it, He suffered through the story as best he could almost shaking like a little kit as the wagon was uncovered. For those brief brief moments pure joy ran through the large feline only to be replaced by pure horror as the sudden storm hit.
"NO No No!" The feline bristled his tail lashing back and forth as his ears lowered. "The storm.. came from that direction." He began pointing torwards the border wood. "yes yes friend erika, something is exactly what we will do." He said coldly, slamming his helm onto his head. He spun and began to head for the stables at the inn, shuffling his feet in the snow as to not crunch upon his poor flutterbyes. "if any of you have horses i suggest you get them." He called over his shoulder though he nodded and half waved for Erika to follow.
Neverhome will follow Silence to the Stables and return to Zsestrain and Blik with a horse beside him. "This should make it a little easier for you two." He lets Zsestrain mount himself but doesn't wait for Blik, merely pulling him up and plopping him onto the horse.
Silence was quiet offering his arm to the woman he had befriended to pull her up on the back of his horse. Riding double would be a bit uncomfortable, but it could get them to the problematic area quicker. He readied his Naginata and made sure everyone whom wanted to come along was ready.
Blik would normally object to being picked up, but not only did the half-orc acquire a horse for him, but he knows that time is of the essence. Shouting out the Lyosha,
"Gah! Uh, thanks!"
Turning to the horse he'll whisper.
"Thanks for carrying me big guy. Lets hurry, I don't want any cold hurting my friends!"
"Anytime." He shouts back to the halfling.
Erika squeaks as she is swept up onto Silence's mule. "Alright, Let's go." She looks at the other horse near them, as well as its riders. "I remember seeing you in the tavern last night, but I don't remember your names. Who are you again?" She asks then realizing the situation, looks a little embarrassed.
Without turning to face her, "Neverhome, milady."
Hobbes will keep trekking through the snow, alone.
[dice=Sneakily "Borrow" a horse]1d20 + 2[/dice]
Calling out to him, "Hey you! It's dangerous to go alone."
Oh, and nobody seems to notice the horse thieves leave the town.
Hanging on for dear life, Blik will shout out to Erika,
" Muh..my n-name is B-B-Blik! Horses are v-very fast!"
Catching up to Hobbes Blik will shout out,
" Are y-you... do you n-need a ride?"
"Well kid, land speed ain't my specialty so sure."