** spoiler omitted **
Zeltor enters around the same time as Ingrit. The latter dwarven woman lights up upon seeing Ruul in her prefered eating establishment. She tries to invite him to eat at her table with a group of fellow miners, and is more than happy to clear seats and let the others in the group below eat nearby.
Lorranith presents her stew without aplomb, sending Uzi to gather payment in a basket. It fills with coppers, silvers, and in Ingrit's case, 2 gold (enough to cover everyone in the group's meal), calling it a down payment.
After dinner is complete and the customers begin to clear out, Lorra heads upstairs with the deadlock key. It comes undone even as she screws up her nose at the stench.
The hallway opens into what appears to be the evil, dilapidated, and spooky twin of the one beneath it. The stench is even more notable, but there is nothing immediately visible.
"Ok..." - Zeltor purposefully pauses to structure his thought - "Please explain to me exactly when and how he dissapeared. I am aware I am but a newly arrived in town, and you have no particular reason to trust me but, believe me... I am here to help" - he smiles kindly.
Manny hops down onto the floor. Whatchu talking about? Nobody knows you from chopped liver, but I'm a dutiful member of this little community.
Well now, we can just search your room for this evidance if ya want. I'm sure the good barkeep would allow it. Manny will follow Ruul.
While Ruul and Manny push the suspect around, Zeltor does not get inolved - he does believe his impromptu companions are acting correctly, however neither interrogation nor intimidation are his forte, so he simply nods to Sorval, and whispers - "Let's keep watch, shall we?" - his bow strung, and his senses alert.
Sorval nods. Yeah; let's do that. She watches the suspect closely...hand on the hilt of her rapier.
"It was three nights ago. It seemed like any other day, sir. We brought Ermes to school and my husband and my eldest son went to shepherd the flock. During his break, my boy went for his daily "adventure", as he called it, and then he came home for dinner and Zaius went into town to pick up Ermes."
She sighs. "The evening went by in much the same way... I told them goodnight and sent them off to bed early. Worren typically reads by candlelight for an additional hour or two as his brother goes to sleep. However... It grew close on to the middle of the night, there was a scream, and then... nothing. Ermes came barreling into our bedroom just as my husband was getting dressed and I reached for my shortsword to tell us Worren was gone. We searched high and low, and...,"
Her shoulders start to shake.
"There was a little bit of blood. Not much, but..."
Lorranith blinks at Horfil. By the time the drinks are done being doled out it will be too late.
"Spit it out now, please." she asks, demure as ever after recovering from the whole murder fiasco.
As for the suspect, he simply chuckles.
"You're welcome to rifle through my quarters. Come now, there's nothing strange there, but I've travelled long enough to know the instant something bad happens, the friendless out-of-towner gets blamed."
He allows Ruul to drag him out, acting as if he's on a pleasure cruise.
He's still incredibly anxious. He's simply good at putting up a front.
Well..he's just a traveler like me... Sorval drops her guard.
Well guilty or not, it is going to be in your best interests to vanish. Cuz we got three corpses and stolen animals and they all happened right in the time you checked in here.
"But.....? Was there any break in at all?"
Zeltor watches the exchange in silence, wary of any other secondary threats they may face.
"N... no. Fool boy had left the window open... I always told him not to, but-,"
The man ends up being dragged outside completely.
"Just how far are you going to take me, then?" he asks casually from the ruined, spotty cobbles. "Away from prying eyes?" he continues, almost jokingly.
"My name is Ukres, by the way. Ukres Mayvenim. What's yours?"
It's almost like he wants to be alone with us. Sorval tenses up again at his friendly demanor. She can't help but feel like he is trying to lull her into a false sense of security.
He...he seems too calm... She whispers to Zeltor
do you think he has friends?
Manny slips into the shadows so he can skulk behind Ukres.
Ruul's countenance is now clearly affecting him, but he smiles as best he can despite the shivering.
Eeesh. Both physically and in this generator.
"Come now, Miss Feline. I've already described myself as "friendless". I honestly chose this destination from a hat not a month ago for a change of pace. Though, a change of pace like this, I'm not so sure... I suppose I have some friends who will come to meet me, sooner or later, but... One cannot expect others to pull up roots simply because of promises or kinship, can you?"
"I mean, if it weren't for the mines, how many of you would have come out here by choice? It's positively full of Torag's insane labor expectations and the culture-eesh-,"
He's lying. About a lot of things. He's a slimy, slimy worm. Also, he's stalling.
You can tell he's wearing leather armor under his clothing. Not that it matters while he's on the ground so much, but still.
From the shadows, Manny gets his short sword ready, his beady goblins eyes looking for where the man's(?) liver is.
Zeltor approaches the woman, placing his hand on her shoulder and smiling - "I know you see me only as a newcomer in town, and indeed I am one. But please believe I will do my best to understand what has happened to your son"
"Now, would you allow me to visit their room? I want to take a look at it, and also at the area outside their window - time is probably of the essence..."
Zeltor nods to Sorval at her comment, his hands gripping the bow tightly - "No idea, but if he does I doubt they will stay hidden for long" - he comments, as he peers into dimly lit shadows of the outside area.
He cannot however fathom anything particularly deceptive about the man, though Ruul certainly seems to find something is out of place.
"How long have you had your batty problem?"
"It's been a week now." Lorranith responds quickly, fighting to fill an extended flagon or two or three or twenty.
The woman acquiesces, though her shoulders shake as she leads Zeltor to what is, essentially, a cozy room with two twin beds. Both have been made nicely, though only one still has a book laying helter skelter on the side of it.
The window is cracked open now, rather than wide open as it was supposed to have been earlier. A small blood splash coats a part of the floor... or perhaps the word is stains, as someone has tried to wash it out.
After being struck by Ruul, the veneer of civility fades. The face of the supposed batman contorts in hatred and hunger.
Manny stabs at the 'man'.
Zeltor scours bot the room, and the areas around the window as attentively as he can.
Without blinking, Zeltor lets fly two arrows in quick succession at their foe.
Sorval draws her rapier and takes a deep, steadying breath. She proceeds to point her finger at Ukres and mutters a dweomer... firing a cold ray as she finishes.
Move: Draws rapier
Swift: Spends an Arcane Pool point to turn her rapier into a +1 weapon for 6 rounds (2 points remain)
Standard: Fires Ray of Frost at Meyvemin.
An in-depth look at the room reveals other things, including a love note addressed to Worren under his mattress by a young woman who must be quite taken with him. She calls him a "ranger of the vast realm of her heart", amongst other things. She pines to go on adventures with the lad, too, it would seem.
He also discovers a place where a candle must have been knocked over but extinguished in the nick of time, judging by the scorch marks and wax bits on the side of the stand by the bed.
Surely enough, Worren's boots are still on the ground and covered with mud in places where it is hard to scrape off.
The windowframe, however, gets the tiefling's attention in every way plausible.
There is a slight, slight coating of dust that has been disturbed in the pattern of something like feet with toes curling over the edge. The prints are narrow; likely those of a woman... but unless she was a monkey or some kind of animal, that would be difficult to pull off.
There is nothing else of note in here except for Ermes' drawings of his family, his teachers, and something that might be a squirrel. Zeltor can't help but notice he has vampire teeth. However, so does everyone else, including the squirrel.
These signs are disturbing... What are these toe like marks on the window? Could the boy have been taken instead of departing of his own volition? And the drawings...
Turning to the mother, he adds two more questions - "Did your boy ever spoke about any reason for leaving, any sort of romantic infatuation? Were these blood stains left here when he disappeared?"
"Not that I'm aware of..." the mother responded, face drawn grimly. "He didn't much care for people, and seldom went into town. His walks, though... they would be a good covering for a relationship, in retrospect."
Her face falls even further. "Was it wrong that I let him go out so far?! Oh..."[/b[
Her shoulders heave a little.
[b]"The bloodstains were from that night, yes..."
"Well thank you, I should probably find where the others went."
Horfil walks outside and tries to find his allies.
Zeltor pulls out his bow and attacks like a shot. However, he failed to hit the man on the ground. Horfil begins to make his trek to where the others are. Marduzi pulls out his spear and brandishes it while praying under his breath-
Ruul lands a solid and devastating hit, driving his horn into the man's shoulders with a SPLORCH.
Sorval draws her sword, magicks it, and then misses with her magical ray... though it's close to being a hit, to be sure.
Manny has no problem taking advantage of his downed opponent, however, leaving another nasty gouge on him.
Bloodied but still very much alive, the man gets to his feet.
Manny sticks with what he knows best..
Zeltor approaches the woman and comforts her - "Stay calm - You have done what any caring mother would do. Rest assured I will do the best I can to try and find your son. Do you have any idea of where he used to take his walks?"
Horfil (on his next turn) will move towards the fighting.
"He... he would head towards the mountains. More than that, I'm not sure... I trusted him, you know... and he wasn't weak or unarmed on those walks. He always brought a bow he stores in the shed... It's still there, if you ask."
Manny's swipe misses the now-shifting suspect, but Ruul manages to make a forceful, bruising blow before the creature takes to the night skies in a haze. His flying is... well, a little woozy, and he gets no further than forty feet into the air.
Zeltor tries to nail him with arrows, but the creature's erratic flight patterns make that difficult. Horfil gets to his companion's position and begins his battle dance.
Marduzi switches to his crossbow and loads it.
"May I see it?"
Sorval drops her rapier releases a dart from her one of her sleeves and throws it.
--Breakdown--
Swift: Drops rapier
Move: Draws a dart
Standard: Throws the Dart