Croft returns early in the morning. The raven looks bedraggled and weary as he flutters down out of the sky and lands clumsily on his Witch's shoulder. He drains a cup of water that Asta holds out to him, gulps half of a second one, and only then says in a creaky, croaky, tired voice: "Message... delivered, boss."
The raven sags against Asta's white hair, his eyes closing. They only open when Asta presents him with his fair share of breakfast.
Elaina wakes early in the morning to hunt for some small game. Shortly after Croft arrives, she returns with a trio of pheasants and two coneys. Seeing the raven and how tired he was, she can't help but feel guilty about her question to Asta while he was gone. Too late for guilt now. Now is the time for actions.
"Save some room, Croft. I have fresh game and you're welcome to first pick."
Strawberry gets close to Elaine. She keeps licking her lips and looking at Croft.
"Eyeballs..?" the raven asks, one eye half-open, his voice sleepy.
"Yes-yes," Asta replies in a soothing voice.
The Witch draws her knife and, with some quick, practised cuts, liberates the pheasants' and rabbits' eyes from their sockets, handing the bloody morsels up to the raven without flinching. Once the black bird has finished eating, Asta casually wipes her fingers on a handkerchief, and then plucks Croft off her shoulder and holds him in her arms.
Croft gobbles his ocular snack down, allows himself to be held without complaint. The raven snuggles his head against the bosom of his Witch, closes his eyes and sighs. Soon enough, he is snoring softly.
"Good idea, Mikmek. But save the eyes for Croft. I think he would appreciate that." Marten grins.
Seraph spent part of the day like she normally did. Training. Swinging that massive blade of hers over and over again as she kept her muscles toned and strengthened by the awkwardness of the blade. She did this for the first couple of hours before turning to more helpful pursuits around camp.
She doesn't go near the temple of Erastil, marveling at it from a distance but not for more then a moment or two. Eventually she got got bored and strapped her saddle back onto Julias. She informs Asta before taking off from camp. "I'm taking a short ride, all this sitting is making me restless."
"He'll be asleep for a while yet," Asta says, quietly, as she gently rocks the raven to and fro and smooths his black feathers over and over again. "He worked very hard for me."
When Seraph mentions going out for a ride, Asta frowns a little. "Take someone with you, please," she says. "Marten or Elaina. We have a good, defensible position here, but there might be bandits lurking outside - or worse. Don't go without backup. Maybe even..."
Asta turns to the horses and the mule, and addresses them.
Torod brightens up at Jhod's arrival. "Welcome, to the Temple of the Stag God." He sweeps his hands to take in the whole place.
"Well, when you have a master fisher in your group, it's a shame not to use his talents." Elaina says with a laugh from atop one of the walls.
"Welcome and good to see you," Asta says with a heartfelt sigh of relief. "I trust you will be able to re-consecrate these grounds to Old Deadeye and turn them into a beacon of safety for all good-natured folk once again."
'And I trust we can get out of here and on the road again,' she thinks. 'There is so much still to be done!'
Sensing his Witch's emotions, Croft starts to caw -- except it sounds a lot like laughter. The raven flies up to one of the trees surrounding the temple and sits on a branch, cawing / laughing loudly.
Seraph was pleased to see them arrive and greeted the group appropriately. Seeing Resale again she made sure to greet her as well.
Hearing Jhod give them a dismissal she starts saddling up the horses. She was pleased to be heading out finally and knew she'd see them again once the temple was in order.
Elaina helps get things ready to move. Once she's finished with that, she steels her nerves to get back on the horse.
"Hey!" Asta shouts, and she directs a chill, blue ray at the hat. "That will do! We are looking for trouble here, children of the First World!"
"Marten... Why didn't you say your hat could attack people?!" Seraph looked shocked as the diminutive hat tried to assail the small Mikmek.
"Oh the possibilities..." She glances ever so slightly at Asta, Elaina and then Croft before snorting in laughter as she looked around for any other unseen hazards...
Seeing Asta taking down the hat she tries to shot it with her bow...
A shadow zips past the adventurers and lands on top of the hat, pecking at it vigorously. "Dead - things - stay - dead!" Croft swears while applying his beak. "Otherwise - I - can't - eat!"
Elaina hops off her horse and draws her bow. The arrow flies past Croft and into the hat.
Azure fire briefly flashes in her eyes as she looks around.
"I think these things are looking for trouble, and I say they found it."
"Don't get too angry," Asta cautions. "Fey love playing pranks - and they mess you up if you react too harshly."
Asta screams. It is a gut-wrenching, soul-chilling sound. The way the Witch rises in her stirrups, eyes blazing like rubies, is not very comforting, either.
"" Asta roars. ""
"Gods DAMMIT!" Elaina swears as she drops her bow and grabs her knife while running to the hat. She tries to grab it and cut Croft out of there, all the while hoping that the fey, or what ever they were didn't have another joke ready for her.
"Okay, we know that getting mad will get them to keep piling it on. How do we get them to stop?!"
"CALM DOWN and put the knife away. s@&* with it rolling and moving your more likely to stab Croft."
Seraph dismounts as the shouting had completely ruined the humour in the moment and she takes advantage of the hat's pinned state to grab it.
She didnt care about getting the weirdness to stop so long as they would all just remain calm...
Elaina comes to a stop, almost tripping and falling as she does so.
"I was going to be careful." she says a little more sharply than was probably wise. Her dagger goes back into its sheathe, though and the young tiefling squeezes her eyes shut, trying to physically calm down.
"I.... don't doubt you." Her tone was apologetic as she realized yesterdays anger wasn't completely dispersed.
However she was more focused on getting Croft out and gripping the edges of the hat if possible...
"Sorry, temper's a little shorter than it should be right now." Elaina apologizes sheepishly as she calms down some. She adds her strength to Seraph's trying to free their feathered friend.
Back at the temple:
Torod presents Jhod with the knife he found. "I found this while cleaning. I don't know if its important, but I figured you would be the one to know."
=======================================================================
Torod chuckles at the antics of the hat and the bird. "Elaina stop fighting. Asta, stop threatening. Enjoy the trick and laugh at the fun." He pulls out some honey and a bit of colorful ribbon. [b]"If that fails, a bribe might be help."
"Oh sure, a hat attacks one of us and then swallows another and it's a trick." Elaina grumbles, and looks as if she'd just keep on trying to rip the hat apart to get Croft out, but she lets go and shakes her head.
"You know more about this than I do. If you think it'll get Croft out of there and keep Asta from burning the whole forest, then I'll do whatever you need me to."
"Not your fault, mines frayed since yesterday." Seraph's reply is light followed by a smirk as they struggles with the hat. After Torod's little speech she starts chuckling. "Never thought I'd be fighting a hat." Her smirk broadens. "Hopefully no one decides to tie you up with that bit of ribbon or maybe your robes. Now that would be funny~"
"I am enjoying the trick," Asta says, while she makes a pass with one hand. She mutters a Word. "Shall I laugh at the fun?"
"If you won't, I will," Croft grumbles. Since being freed from the hat, he has not budged from Asta's shoulder and tends to jump at unexpected noises...
"Bravo, huzzah," Asta says in a dull tonewhile she golf-claps. "What a smashing illusionary wasp, hooray. Oh my, how I am laughing." The Witch looks around, checking for other auras, and briefly touches Croft's shoulder.
The raven flaps his wings and shoots into the sky, rising high above the canopy -- but not so high that he cannot use the power Asta just instilled in him; the power to see magical auras.
back during the hat incident...
Marten looks completely surprised by the raging hat. His mouth agape, he is unable to anything untill th ematter is resolved.
"Err, sorry, that hat has been with me for a long time but it has never attacked anybody before. And I am quite fond of it. I do hope it will not happen again, I do not want to put it away for to some inquisitor specialised in fighting possession." He spends a long time examining the hat, then ties it firmly and puts it in his saddleback. "Just a precaution" he smiles weakly.
...
later
"If the wasp persists, we can always bundle it with my hat."
Seraph chuckles at the wasp on Torods nose, her earlier attempt had failed but she was honestly amused. Hearing Asta's terrible acting she starts laughing. She doesn't stop for a good half a minute and wipes away a tear before saying weakly. "Now I know what Asta looks like when she is putting no effort into a lie. Are you still angry over the hat and crow incident?"
Torod on the wasp causing his eyes to cross and his balance to be off. He swats at it.