Lucia looks to Isabeau solemnly. She was unused to such kindness from anyone except the priest that originally took her in and the lepers she lived with, though that seemed like a life time ago. She smiled sweetly at Isabeau and took on the same low toned whisper as if speaking out would alert the world of her strangeness.
My name is Lucia. Lucia Fell. She grins softly at the mention of her last name. I apologize for the deception back behind us. You have to understand that I am used to being ostracized for my differences from others. Not many suffer the tainted to be among them let alone beside them as you are doing now. My voice alone has caused me to be beaten to near death on more than one occasion. Something about you is different though. Something about ALL of you is different. I haven't been able to put my finger on it.
The word taint rolled off her lips strangely. The melodic voice spit out the word with disgust while the slithery whispering tone seemed to elongate the word in relish. Despite her silent whispering, her unearthly voice still carried much louder than she could control bouncing off the closest trees and echoing back at the group.
They then came across the old chapel. She looked confused at Stanrick's mention of the different bird calls, and giggles at Sergei's reply. It had been years since she felt genuine joy despite being around these three for the last hour or so. How ironic that the joy she felt was in the middle of tracking a runaway and a murderer. She grew silent as everyone started to move into positions as if they have practiced these movements. Lucia was more akin to running and hiding. It was a first for her to be the searcher rather than the searched for. She waited for a queue from the others to what she needed to do now since she didn't want her voice alerting anyone inside.
Bane follows Bliznap to the bridge overlooking the boathouse, watching the slowly moving dark water of the river drift slowly along as the last yellow of the sun fades into the orange and purple of twilight. He proceeds to check all of his gear making sure everything is snug and buttoned up, then he settles in, leaning on the railing. He stares unflinchingly at the boathouse keenly watching for any movement.
Wendel gets himself settled into position, choosing a place where he can keep an eye on the approach to their spot and the object of their observations.
Garold takes up a position and, for all intents and purposes, starts hunting rats...paying close attention to everything and everyone, while seeming thoroughly absorbed...
It's essentially a stakeout, and quite tedious, but after a couple of hours, you are rewarded with your first look at Baton, when the Sefeasa's barge is laboriously rowed upstream to the boathouse. A moment later, a trio of men in blue and gold emerge, two of them fairly clearly guards, clad in armor and bearing glaives, and the third, presumably, is Baton. Wile from this distance you can't really get a good look at him, there is a natural sureness in the way he moves that suggests a man accustomed to being admired. He is dressed exquisitely, with high boots and a rapier at his waist.
Unfortunately, the woman he is meeting on the boat is none other than Ivana Boritsi herself. It almost seems as though she glances your way as he is distracted by stepping aboard, and she greets him warmly as the barge drifts slowly back downstream, towards the heart of the city, where the Great Cathedral awaits them, a week hence.
As the other's venture inside, the party is immediately struck by the silk cloth covering the altar, which is untouched by age and decay, though the banners hanging along the gallery are faded and chewed to the point where they are unrecognizable.
Only Isabeau notices that one of the flagstones on the floor behind the altar is swept clear of the leaves and dirt and other debris that covers most of the rest of the floor. No mortar holds the stone in place, and Stanrick is able to confirm that several sets of tracks lead to and from that spot.
Isabeau kneels near a flagstone behind the altar and examines it carefully. "This looks recently disturbed." She eyes the gap around the stone looking for any sign of a trap, and once she is satisfied there is none(or possibly after attempting to disarm any trap she finds), she lifts the stone, looking for something hidden beneath.
Wendel grinds his teeth, thinking he's just been caught up in more twisted webs of noble lies. "You boys think it's an illusion? Maybe that's not really her?"
Well, that didn't seem to pan out. Any ideas gents?
"Pleased to meet you, miss. I am Sergei." the big man says with a small nod.
"Best to check out that building," Wendel gestures to the place where Baton and his guards had emerged. "Not sure if he's got more of his men in there, but seems like a good next step. Maybe he's into keeping trophies or something." His brother Walder was fond of that little behavior, oh you bet. Wendel reflexively sneered a bit. His whole intention of being in this cesspool of a city was to save his brother's life. A hidden quid pro quo being he would be free of his family.
But had he ever considered that his brother Walder wasn't even worth saving?
Wendel dismisses the thought and moves to a slightly better position to get a view of the building to see if anything is stirring outside or in the available windows.
An hour later, a figure emerges from the boathouse. Though he is cloaked in non-descript grey, the way he bears himself leaves little doubt that this is Alain. He climbs down into a small rowboat, unties the line, and begins to row across the river, towards the small suburb of Caina, on the river's opposite bank.
The river is wide here, and it will take him ten minutes or so to cross, but the nearest bridge is a half mile down stream. There are boats tied up at the docks where you have been waiting the day which could probably be hired or stolen.
Lucia watching enthralled by Isabeau's expert detection skills catches a gasp of surprise when the stone slab is lifted. She creeps in behind Isabeau trying to stay as quiet as possible and peers into the darkness from over her shoulder like a child climbing over a huddled group looking at a bug. She then giggles with the thrill of the adventure and lightly skirts around Isabeau without waiting for an all clear and drops into the hole, disappearing a few steps into the tunnel. She then looks back to beckon the rest in, not actually realizing that some could not see in pitch blackness the way she can. For those without the dark sight a pair of iridescent blue orbs pierce the darkness as the faint reflections of light peeking in through the opening reflect in her eyes. She waves them in a few times before realizing her mistake. She then crouches down and picks up a pebble.
Ill'isi naktu lum!
A flare can be seen from the blue orbs as they brighten into silver white before a soft glow like torch light begins to radiate off the little pebble in her hand. The glow of her eyes are now gone and all that can be seen is an eerie cast of light over an innocent grinning face. She trots back to the entrance and extends the pebble up to Isabeau waving for everyone to come in with the other.
We need to follow the man across the river. If we don't keep up with him, we'll lose him and perhaps our chance at finding his mistress.
Bliznap looks for a way across the river. He points at the boats.
There's our ticket, we should go an hire a boat and carry ourselves as drunk friends returning home from a night spent drinking.
He stands.
Unless anyone has any better ideas...
Wendel nods to the gnome. "Good enough. Once we cross, Garold here will be able to track him, I should think." He gives the misshapen man a confident nod then continues. "If the boat keeper gets...um, resistant, do we persuade him?"
”We’ll need a torch,” Stanrick says, turning to step outside when Lucia drops into the hole seemingly without a care. He looks below but can’t see her very well. He hears the magic words and he leans closer to see if she’s performing any gestures.
Her spell happens too quick for him to ascertain what she cast, but the glowing pebble answers his question. Seeing the pebble emit a silver-white light causes Stanrick to reappraise the young woman. ”Ah, it’s like soothing moonlight.
[b]”Give me one moment,” Stanrick says and steps outside. Pointing to the sun, the direction they came from, and where Levkarest is, he tries to determine whether the tunnel they discovered heads towards the city or not. Entering the chapel once more, he runs a finger along the silk and looks for any religious icons or symbols.
”Do you think Marissa is strong enough to reset the stone as she climbed down? Should we do that as well?”
”Watch out below,” he says, dropping his spear down the hole and climbing down the coarse vertical passage.
We want to try and look innocent, if we raise the guard it would draw too much attention. If needed, we will have to use magic to "pursuade" him to let us "borrow" a boat.
She giggles as she jobs a few steps back for Stanrick's descent. Again that haunting reverberation of her voice carries leaving an eerie note in the air like they are surrounded by a dozen mischievous pixies ready to pounce on the unsuspecting. As Lucia moves deeper into the darkness she turns once more and peers deeper down the hall way trying to see whether it curves at all within her sight line. When she turns back to Stanrick she whispers in his direction.
Do you think it's safe down here? I am debating whether or not we should be armed in case we run into... I don't know... A giant flesh eating grub or something...
Her tone is playful and light as if she is having the time of her life. It is quite obvious she seems a bit on the sheltered side, but it is also quite rare to see such a cheerful spirit despite the setting and circumstance.
Isabeau calls out as Lucia descends into the passage "Be careful, Lucia. I'd be more worried about booby-traps set to keep the unwanted from discovering what this path leads to than flesh-eating grubs." It occurred to her how much she sounded like mother correcting a child for rash behavior and smiled and ducked her head to lessen the offense, feeling for a moment like her 19 years on earth left her only a chit of a girl next to this woman. She could not pin-point how old Lucia was, but she suspected she was definitely the younger of the two.
Guided by the light Lucia provided, she looks for signs of such booby-traps or further secret doors.
At the mention of booby traps, Lucia's eyes widen a bit. She had never SEEN a booby trap before. Her mind raced at the thoughts of what they looked like, if they all looked the same, or if she would even spot one of she were staring right at it. Her only knowledge of booby traps were in the books she read which were few (aside from the volumes of text written by aspiring priests that reached an innumerable amount). She stepped aside and let Isabeau lead not wanting to inadvertently set any off and put all of them in grave danger. She then looked back at Stanrick and Sergei waiting for them to follow in step as well. After Isabeau passes, Lucia leans over to Stanrick and whispers softly.
Are there really traps down here? Grubs I can handle, but traps... You can't fight traps with a sword.
Without getting too close, Garold moves closer to the party, herding a large wharf rat...and catching it close enough to follow the conversation. He stares hard at the rat he holds by the scruff, muttering... not escape me, sir rat...no..not run now...
"Magic or no, all men can be "persuaded" with the right push." Bane said following his group towards the riverside where the boats were docked.
You are correct there Bane.
The nearest boat big enough to carry the four of you is tied loosely to the dock, while the boatman dickers with a stout, middle-aged woman in a grey dress and a white apron over a couple of bushel baskets full of fat, live crabs sitting in the bottom of the boat.
"An even gold apiece, and you know you won't get a better price for this quality," the boatman says.
"You think you're selling to the Dark Lady's own kitchen?" the woman sneers. "Nobody else in Levkarest has that kind of coin, not for a couple of bushels of half-grown crawlers like that."
The approach of two fairly heavily armed men, a gnome and a hunchback puts their conversation on hold for a moment, and they both stare at you, suspicion plain on their faces.
From the sun and the path they've traveled, Stanrick is fairly sure that the tunnel underneath the ruined chapel leads in roughly the direction of the city. The hole feeds into the end of a narrow passage that disappears into darkness, at its widest big enough for two people to squeeze past each other, and low enough so that you'll have to duck your heads fairly often.
Lucia's pebble throws shadowy blue light a short way ahead, revealing a damp tunnel, shored up with wooden beams, with a roof veined with pale white roots. As the passage slopes down, the earth gives way to a stone roof, and you find yourselves in a natural cave that seems to wind its way deeper underground.
Feigning being drunk, Bliznap speaks with the man on the dock.
Hey, hey ... hey. We, we need to get ac-across to the other; side. Can, you give; usalift? Th-er-e could be a nicetip, in it for you. Me and my; my friends had a good night DRINKIN! and we needto; get home be-fore we get, in trouble. Can, you... helpusout?
As the group moves, Stanrick whispers, ”I’m confident that if the tunnel keeps in the same general direction it will reach Levkarest. I assume this is how either Marissa or her friend left the city. Did anyone notice if the chapel was dedicated to a particular god?”
His white shirt appears extra bright in the pebble’s light. He still holds the spear like a walking stick, tip pointed up; the soft thud of the butt hitting the ground with each step. ”I’ve explored a few caves looking for medicinal fungi. Watch out for bats. We might scare them. So far as I know, there are no flesh eating grubs, let alone giant ones.”
Wendel puts himself in a position for the gnome to lean on him as he falsely stumbles. He isn't doing anything too out of character, just looking for trouble as though he were the gnomish bard's "muscle".
...looking scary in order to keep his "boss" safe...
"C'mon, boss. Let's get on board and get going." Wendel says in a gruff voice.
Particular god? You mean other than Ezra? I... I must admit, I am unfamiliar with any other faiths other than Ezra. I guess it does not help that for most of my life I have been quite sheltered.
Her face grew warm as she blushed, deeply embarrassed by the proclamation. To think that a priestess would be clueless on the subject of religion. She had to make a mental note that now she was out in the world, she needed to learn a thing or two about the faiths that inhabit the world and expand her horizons.
Bats you say. I have never seen one. Are they deadly when they are scared? How big are they? What do they eat?
Questions spanning from where has he traveled and what has he seen, to how was the cave created and what creatures live in such dwellings rolled on from her lips. She would speak in mainly questions for most of the trip if not told to fall silent. She seems quite curious about the world around them as if every new experience was a miracle onto itself. Also noted, was the fact that she was speaking so much. Maybe she felt comfortable in this secluded setting surrounded by what she felt to be those accepting of her.
Bane rests his hand on Bliznap's shoulder as if staggering from drunkeness . He then takes a pull off a flask at his belt.
As Stanrick asked about the chapel, Isabeau's hand strayed to her vest pocket, tracing the shape of a round disk through the leather with her finger. It was a rose tinted coin of gold, her father's simple holy symbol. The symbol of The Morninglord.
Isabeau did not call for silence as such, but her answers to Lucia's bubbling font of questions came fewer and softer as they went further along their subterranean path until she whispered only one word responses as softly as she could. She kept a wary eye on the path ahead, counting on Sergei to take care of the rear.
"You won't be getting them over the river with two full baskets, now will you?" she says, somewhat triumphantly, and reaches down to pull the first basket up.
The boatman scowls at you. After a moment, he spits into the river, and then holds his hand out. "Alright then. Across the river it is. One gold apiece."
A few steps in, you hear voices echoing that do not belong to you. The sound is too unsteady for you to make out what is being said, but there is a woman's voice that sounds frightened, and a man's voice, speaking in anger.
Isabeau turns back to the others and places one finger over her lips and cups the other hand to her ear to signal that she hears something. She then moves forward silently, heading toward the voices as inconspicuously as possible.
Wendel hands over four gold pieces. "Then let this be the end of our discussion." He walks in front of the woman and aids Bliznap onto the boat.
Lucia falls silent, as she cranes her neck toward the voices. She recognizes the tonality and holds her breath trying to keep her wits. She decides to let the others react first feeling like her first instincts to rush in may be the opposite of the company she keeps now. She does seem to tense up quite a bit though as the muscles in her body go taut with the desire to act.
While on the boat, Bliznap will break into song in order to keep up appearances. He knows how to sing a little, but he is intentionally sounding bad to somewhat irritate the boat man and keep up appearances.
Stepping in, Bane hums along with the song, waiting for the boat to hit the other side.
Garold simply acts as if he's been hired to serve, scurrying about and doing little things...yes, your lordship...the...house... is not far past the river...yes...get you there safe, we will...
”It depends on the bat. Most eat insects or fruits,” he answers Lucia’s questions.
As Isabeau’s answers become less frequent and quieter to Lucia, Stanrick also realizes he could be treading with greater caution. He carries the spear angled across his body so that it no longer bangs the floor.
Once they hear the angry man and the frightened woman speaking Stanrick halts. Acknowledging Isabeau’s signals, he nods to her and then indicates he will stay where he is, pointing to himself and then to the ground. Waving a hand at Lucia, he steps closer and whispers, ”Cover the pebble a bit more so that our light isn’t seen.”
He listens intently, straining to hear the conversation.
On the far bank, you see Alain Baton stowing his oars and dragging the boat onto a sandy beach. You are nearing him when he turns and hurries, disappearing into a narrow strip of trees that grows along the steep banks. Your pilot drops you on the beach a few seconds later, and you glimpse Baton for a moment, making for a neatly built, freshly painted cottage that looks over the river, with a view of the boathouse from the roof walk.
The path along the cavern's floor continues ahead, and just as you see where it reaches the bottom of the path she must have taken, Isabeau stops. Things are crawling out of the darkness the cavern, things with too many legs that wriggle towards you.
The things are nearly four feet long, and rear up nearly waist high as they snap at you with fierce mandibles.
Though vicious, they are not able to strike you successfully.
Underground
Isabeau's hands fly to her weapons and she faces off against the attacking vermin with her shortsword in one hand and her dagger in the other. She swivels around the beasts, looking for an advantageous flanking position. Her blades flash, finding their marks with deadly accuracy. She says low to her companions, "Not grubs, but you got the flesh-eating part right, I'll wager. Watch yourselves!"
Wendel grips his crossbow a bit tighter as they cross the river. Not for shooting at the back of the nobleman in the distance, but just in case he needs to shoot the boatman in the face. By the gods the man has unnatural strength...and that grin, I think my uncle looked less creepy in his casket than this guy!
They reach the other bank and Wendel can't get out of the boat fast enough. Up ahead, Baton beats feet. "Better find a place to keep watch on the house. Maybe front and back in case he tries to rabbit."
Lucia's expressions go from quizzical to down right murderous as the creatures try to harm her and her new friends. He glares down at the huge critter. her eyes take on a bright metallic hue.
The metallic sheen then spreads through her wrapped cloak dress which bursts outward and upward, Twisting and wrapping into an enormous pair of outstretched silvery wings.
In a flurry of movement, Lucia draws a bastard sword from the sheath on her back as the pair of metal wings dive down at the centipede.
As the dust settles from the attack, the metal wings vanish in a shower of what looks to be a cloud of metal dust, disipating before they even touch the ground, leaving the cloaks original form to flutter down around her. Protruding from her back are a pair of golden birds wings ending at the main joint as if broken off long ago. All of the flight feathers are tipped with red as if each were weeping a bit of blood. A scaly black from with a rounded tip looked to be writhing behind her. It takes a moment to realize that rather than a snake, it is a long length of tail swiped behind her darting back and forth as she crouched down readying for the next attack.
As the centipedes attack, Stanrick twists his torso to the side as the creature’s mandibles snap at him. He nearly loses his focus as the beautiful woman’s display of magic and graceful movement distracts him for a heartbeat.
Twisting back, he stabs at the giant centipede, hoping they can end this fight quickly so that they don’t lose the trail of the woman.
"Good call Wendel, I'll head around back." Bane says darting off into the tree line.
Bliznap will stumble towards the house, and keep up appearances to the boats pilot. When he feels it is fine, he will return to his usual composed self. He nods in agreement at Bane, then motions for Garold to follow. He puts a finger to his lips and motions for Wendel to follow. He then quietly says.
We need to get a better look. Let see if we can take a peek inside the windows.