Damiar's arrow strikes one of the slavering hounds squarely, clearly causing it to rethink its planned attack. It staggers back and forth a bit, as if it might just fall over where it stands... but it remains standing for the moment.
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Verrix moves forward, drawing his hammer as he goes. The dogs, not being pack animals like wolves, split up and attack separate foes; two of them go for that ancient and tempting foe, The Cat, while the other two attack the man approaching them in such a threatening manner. One of the dogs, who happens to have an elven arrow protruding from his right flank, only manages to limp over to Verrix, but his intent to attack is clear!
Kleines and Phinellippa finish off two of the foamy-mouthed dogs.
Nico shows that he is no housecat, biting and scratching at the dogs that have attacked him!
Iovo's arrow sails a bit high, but between Damiar and Nico, the ravenous curs are slain. The old man shuffles over to the group, smiling and bobbing his head gratefully. "Thankin' ye kindly," he offers in a thin voice with a bit of a whistle due to multiple missing teeth. "Ain't been the same 'round here ever since that mayor was 'lected, I tell ya. Guards don't guard no more; too busy paradin' around an' doin' favors for that new mayor's 'friends' t'do their jobs."
As he falls silent, a young man emerges from the building on the south-east corner. His eyes widen at the sight that greets him, but he recovers quickly and waves a friendly greeting. "Hallo there!" he calls, walking over to the group with the long, confident stride of youth. Glancing around, he grins and quips, "Looks like you've brought us some business! We sell healing potions, you know."
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Clueless to whatever is going on, Damiar smiles, cheerfully at the young man. “Just one moment. I need to check this gentleman farmer and his cow to see if they are okay, and then look to my friend’s wounds, and then I’ll happily come shop..”
She turns to the old man. “I’m Damiar, and you’re welcome. We’re either you or your cow wounded?”
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Garif’s brow knits in concern over Nico’s wound. Even as he draws his wand to heal the injured panther, however, Garif notices the young man’s reaction. Why is he so surprised to see Thalia with us? Further cause to wonder whether he had something to do with her disappearance.
He glances briefly at Thalia to see how she’s reacting, then turns his attention to healing Nico.
"Nice and quiet out here," replies the young man to Iovo's query. He laughs merrily at Kleines, shaking his head. "Who, me? Naw, not yet anyhow. I'm just a 'prentice. Barnabas's the name."
The old man sticks out his lips and turns to his cow, examining her for a long minute. Finally, he shakes his head at Damiar. "I don' reckon we were," he replies, patting the cow on its head. "Sposin' we better get back home, me an' the Guardian here. Thankin' ye kindly fer yer halp."
Barnabas watches the man and his bovine companion trudge away, then smiles at the group. "Woncha come in?"
The inside of the shop is spacious and lined with rack upon wooden rack of exotic herbs, spices, tonics, smoking paraphernalia, and a smattering of glass vials of brightly colored liquids. More such vials stand in display inside a glass-fronted countertop. Strange and smoky odors waft from a back room past a mostly closed door.
Barnabas moves quietly to a door on the back wall, knocks, and peeks his head inside. A few moments later, he steps into the back room, and a few seconds after that, a middle-aged half-elf with platinum blond hair comes out. Taking a few seconds to size up the party, she wipes her hands on her apron and nods in a businesslike fashion. "Barnabas said you were needin' healing potions?" she asks, glancing over the party as if to determine who is injured.
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“Oh, yes.” Damiar looks over the shop, seemingly fascinated by all these potions. “What a lovely shop you have here, Madam—” Damiar breaks off. “I’m so sorry! If Barnabas mentioned your name, I missed it entirely. I’m Damiar, so lovely to meet you!”
Damiar smiles brightly, and offers her hand to shake, but what she is really doing is sizing the woman up.
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Garif gestures to Nico to wait by the door, rather than having the cat's long tail sweep fragile potion bottles off the counter and onto the floor. The dwarf then moves further into the shop, eyes alight as he scans the shelves for any interesting healing crystals or specimens of gizzard stones, which folk often seem to turn to for remedies. His raised eyebrows gradually fall as he finds little but dried herbs and bottled concoctions, and he turns to see how the half-elven woman responds.
"Koriana," replies the middle-aged woman with a nod, ignoring the proffered hand. "Now then, what sort of healing are you needing?"
Koriana shakes her head as she turns to pore over her potion collection for the right vial. "I've never run into any trouble with dogs around here," she replies.
Selecting a small pyramidal vial containing puce liquid, she displays it to the group. "The finest in bottled healing, right here for only sixty gold."
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Hmm, she's up to something, Garif thinks to himself as he considers Koriana. When she spotted Thalia, her eyes narrowed and she got awful thoughtful, but she managed to hide it. Wouldn't want to play a hand of seven stones against her.
He's distracted enough by his line of thinking that he almost points out that they have magical healing wands and don't need to purchase a puce pyramidal potion phial, but he stops himself in time, letting the tricksy elf sisters try to fool the woman.
Her eyes turn to Verrix as she considers his words. "Well, I wouldn't say they're rare, exactly, but this one's higher quality than most." She nods knowingly. "You should see what some of the locals would try to pass off as 'healing'!"
Koriana lets the barest hint of a long-suffering sigh escape her lips. It's not likely I'd be able to explain it to you, her expression seems to say. Marshaling her inner resources, however, she cracks a slight smile and points it toward the rough vicinity of Garif and Iovo.
"Better components," she replies in a low voice. Seemingly forgetting to maintain the smile, she turns to the rest of the group with a sober—though not hostile—expression. "Now then, are you here to shop or just lollygaggin' around?"
Pleased at the thought of finally doing some business with the foreigners, Koriana offers Kleines a discount on her regular price for the items he requests.
Her good fortune does not last, however, and she turns back to the gnome with an ill-concealed sigh. "Fine. Busy," she replies. "Don't you all have somewhere else to be? Poking about a tavern or vineyard or some other local attraction?"
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Okay, she’s giving us nothing. I tried subtle, and that did not work. Let’s unsettle her with directness.
Damiar sits on a counter, letting her long legs swing, before she says, oh so very casually, “Now that you ask... we were kind of wondering why you arranged Thalia’s kidnapping. Was she a quality alchemical component, or is there something else going on here?”
Damiar raises an eyebrow. “You seem the bright scheming type, so I know that you wouldn’t have a local heiress with great political connections abducted without a very good reason. Maybe you could enlighten us?”
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Looks like sis is going to poke hard. I hope the reaction isn’t too volatile!
Seeing Damiar getting up in Koriana’s space, Iovo slowly moves to position herself between Thalia and the alchemist.
I wonder if I should hurry her out of the door?
Wow! Directly accusing her of kidnapping is likely going to make this explode!
Thunderclouds pass across Koriana's face... and leave it relatively untouched a few moments later, though her expression is without doubt even more wary than before. "I see," she replies, pausing for a few seconds of quiet contemplation. "Perhaps we should discuss this matter in my sitting room; would you care for tea?"