Eli continues to wait on the landing of the stairs, unsure of what approaches from the ground floor.
The woman's sob slow, though the whimpers continue. At the sound of the voice from the stairwell, she starts to try to get out of the dollhouse, but can't seem to free herself of her too tight shell.
"Y-you folks should go! Lainey's not going to be happy about company."
"She'll like us. We're real friendly."
Cole, still expecting crazed cultists to leap out of the shadows, stands ready for battle and increasingly uneasy at the whole affair.
Maybe the daughter is a cultist and mom is innocent? Or maybe the daughter is a slave to the cultists, afraid to defend herself in the face of overwhelming opposition? Or maybe the mom is a crazy witch and we're slowly being surrounded by her minions.
twitch.
Serra spends another 12 seconds looking at the auras on the toys.
Serra, being knightly, goes to help the trapped 'maiden' free herself from the confines of the wicked dollhouse.
"She speaks true enough. There appears to be someone coming up the stairs. A woman's voice. I can't make out any more."
Eli backs up into the room, not liking the close quarters of the stairwell.
The woman on the stair stills at the sound of voices plural coming from the room above. "Who's up there? Leave her alone! You can have whatever you want, but leave her alone." Her voice, strong at first, waivers at the last.
Serra looks at the tin soldier, pondering while others speak to the woman and child.
The woman on the stair stills at the sound of voices plural coming from the room above. "Who's up there? Leave her alone! You can have whatever you want, but leave her alone." Her voice, strong at first, waivers at the last.
"We're not after your goods. We're after demon cultists. We have a reliable source that the congregate here, and all we've found so far is you and your mother. So that must make you a cultist... huh."
Cole gives her a stern look and waits for the inevitable denials.
Serra studies the toys one final time before helping the child get out of the dollouse.
Know (Arcana)
I bet Kastor would like one of those for his birthday.
Serra helps the woman in gray shake the doll house off of her leg. She looks up with a childlike smile lighting her face and for a moment, she looks just like the woman in one of the portraits downstairs.
"It's not as big as it used to be..."
"My mother is NO Demon lover!" The young woman surges up the stairs, at Cole's implied threat to her mother, but comes up against the Giant Ely blocking her way as she comes through the door.
"YOU!" Recognition floods her large gray eyes. Laina, the woman the group saved from the crazed crusaders, stands head to shoulder in front of Ely, bristling with fear and anger.
"YOU stay away from my MOTHER!"
Lainey glared at his older brother, head to shoulder to the older boy with his fists balled up at his side. Flickers of angry light sparked in the young boy's sterling irises as he tried to ignore the prickle of tears in the corner of his eyes.
"I am NOT too young! Don't you DARE say I am! Come on, Cole, take me with you! "
"She's your mother!?!?"
Beagan is thoroughly confused, as he turns to the newly arrived girl.
"Does that mean you're a wee folk, too, who was made too big? If that's the case, why couldn't you escaped from those crazed zealots? Did they do something to limit your powers?"
He looks from Ely to Grasker to Serra, trying to suss it out. The Holy Mount snuffles.
"I don't think we need to shoot anybody, Cole. They don't look unseelie to me."
"YOU! YOU stay away from my MOTHER!"
Eli looks back at the old woman, measuring the distance. Seeing that the distance hasn't changed, Eli turns back to Laina. He tries to understand her reaction, and fails.
"I'm sorry, but I haven't approached your mother. If you want to yell, yell at him." Eli points at Serra. "He's closer to her than I am." Eli frowns at Laina's outburst.
Serra give Ely an what-the-f### look, wondering why he is at blame when he is studying dolls and helping a 'maiden' escape a trap.
"Hi. We're not here to harm you or your mother. We had it on good authority that this was a cult house. I see, now, that we were mistaken. Despite your earlier negative...," Serra resists looking at Ely, "...encounter with us, we are just trying to help. Did you want escort to the safety of Defender's Heart?"
"The Nyserian Manor was suspected as a cult house, but it no longer seems to be functioning as a working building. We chose to investigate nearby buildings, in the offchance that cultists thought to take up residence in last ditch. Unless you can reveal anything further about the Manor, we've wasted time and injured ourselves in breaking into your house. I must apologize for the damage, and would pay for it if you choose to remain."
Amid all the shouting, and the clarity that these are not the cultists we seek, Cole takes a little trip down memory lane and grows quiet a moment.
He lowers his bow at the tension, and enjoys the peace within, ignoring the hostility without. Just for a moment...
"Y-y-you just uhh... be on your way and we-we'll be fine." The young woman continues to crab step around Ely, keeping a cautious eye on him as she tries to reach her mother.
"Mama... Mama, just uhh, move to the wall,ok? So these uhh, gentlemen can get through to leave."
Her mother laughs and giggles at Serra as she steps around the now empty (and possibly broken) doll house, though she appears to pay no attention at all to her daughter.
Finally, Laina gives in, and tries again. Her voice changes, taking on a maternal quality far too old for her meager years,
"Klarah! Do as I say. Let the gentlemen through." Her voice softens then, though comes off even more maternal than the last. "Come on now, don't dawdle."
Piotr laughed as he beat Cole as they raced around the block, practicing for The Trials. "One more time? I bet you'll catch me this time." In the yard, Lainey chased chickens with Piotr's sister, practicing for their own Trials on Armasse Day.
A voice from inside the house snapped out, edged with maternal frustration, "Piotr, Klarah! Time for supper!" The voice softened then, and Piotr's mother stuck her head through the door, " Cole, Lainey, will you be staying? If so, you'll need to wash up with those two and get inside. Come on now, don't dawdle."
At the call of her name, the woman in gray shuffles to the side, biting her lip. "Can't they stay to play?"
Instead of leaving, Cole queries the daughter Laina. "What happened to your mother? She and I played together in our youth, many many years ago. We were friends then, but she's not what she once was..."
Wasn't she engaged to Lainey? I wonder what happened after his death?
Grasker addresses the young woman.
"Things seem a bit scrambled between you two. But if are not interested in the safety and healers of Defenders Heart we will not force you to go. Maybe you can tell us about the toys our knight is interested in. We saw one like them on a shrine to a maze demon. Do you know who made them?"
"There are many dangerous or greedy bands roaming the ruins, as you know, so I hope you will reconsider. We entered and found you, so could less charitable groups."
Grasker is not that persuasive.
The girl blinks, the set of her shoulders softens for a moment, then her eyes flick to Ely, and they stiffen a bit.
"I... I don't really know, honestly. I heard them fighting....Daddy said terrible things to her... when the fighting stopped I came out, but he was gone...and she was... well, like she is.
Who are you? She mentions people I don't know a lot."
Serra will back up Grasker's request for information.
"Yes, these toys are curious. They are...animate."
Diplomacy
Grasker is not that persuasive.
The young woman nods, glares at Ely one more time, then answers. " My father used to make them for me. Be-before, you know. Do you think they could help her at Defender's Heart?"
Eli watches Cole as he engages the women, a trace of familiarity coloring the archer as a reliable denizen of Kenabres. Friends with mad women. Huh.
When the group is ready to leave, Eli takes the lead to gain the street.
"My name is Cole Zeff. Laine was my younger brother and betrothed to your mom here. You may very well be my niece."
Cole has nothing else to say and his bow hangs limply in his hand, but he looks at the young woman more appreciatively than before - and with greater concern. Strong though she is, she's still just a girl, and with a sick mother, in the middle of all... all this.
Serra stares at Cole, slack-jawed.
We'll I'll be...
Cole has family? I mean, people that used to speak to him?
Serra waits, wondering how this family reunion is going to end.
The young girl shakes her head as Cole reiterates more kindly her father's words so long ago. "N-no... my father was Dryn Esheram, toymaker to the noble families of Greater Mendev. M-my mother wouldn't do that."
She steps back, looking to her mother for comfort and confirmation, but the woman in gray has one of her semi-lucid moments. She smiles at her daughter and pats her cheek.
"Oh yes, dear. You look just like your father. Sometimes I...forget.. He had the prettiest eyes. Like you."
Serra waits to see what shocking relevation comes next.
"Cole, what are you saying? Can we discuss it on the way back to the Heart?"
Cole looks from mother to daughter, and looks for his brother in the girl standing before him. He's quiet a long moment before he speaks.
"I'll not tell you what to do, but you're family so I will give you advice. You should head to the Defenders Heart. My father is there - your grandfather. He can look after you, and your mother, better than you can here alone."
"I know you're strong but even I work with a team in this mess." he gestures to the group, "...and so should you."
He turns to Serra, "We have cultists to root out do we not? We cannot stop our mission to guide everyone we meet back to the Heart. Laina knows the way and she's strong enough to make it."
He turns back to the girl, my niece he reminds himself, "So what's it going to be, do you want our help or shall we leave you here alone?"
Serra snarks:
"I... " Laina hesitates, but her mother chooses that time to start a doll fight with some invisible friend.
"Here, you be the soldier, and she can be the general, like Iomedae before the wrzzts confluffled..."
Laina straightens and looks Cole straight in the eye (though she is still very aware of where Ely is), "I can find our way there. If you really are ...uhh, who you say you are, then we should not be here, in this house. It is Esheram property, I think, though I have no idea where my fa-where Dryn may have gone."
Cole relaxes a bit, Good, I won't have to force her to go to the Defenders Heart after all. Smart girl.
He softens and speaks more quietly to the girl. "OK then. Gather your things and make your way to the Defenders Heart. The password is 'silverstrong'. We'll see you there tonight and you can ask me anything you like."
Cole straightens up and re-grips his bow. Wanting the attention anywhere but on him he suggests, "We should check out the other houses around here for cultists and then move on to the last location." He starts to leave the house, careful of the hole by the stairs.
Serra smiles at the lady sharing her toys with Kastor, a smile that fades into a frown: the frown of duty.
"Oh, I wish that you did have time to play with her, Kastor. Let's get them packed so maybe you'll have time to play with her tonight," Serra answers the squire.
Serra, despite Cole's insistence on speed, takes a few moment to help Cole's family pack. He will approach Cole.
"You know, Cole. It doesn't matter to me that these are family, but they are people. *Our* people now. And we need to make sure they are safe. It's our knightly duty. Why don't we scout out the remaining buildings while they pack and when we're done, we'll escort them back to the Heart. It's only noon now...and I estimate we could be there and back in just over an hour," Serra advises.
He's not wrong...
Cole looks to Serra, "OK, you're right, we'll escort them back and return to the next spot later - today if there's time, tomorrow if there's not. Let's look at these other buildings quickly then and be off."
Cole is distinctly uncomfortable at the whole state of affairs at present, but he goes along with Serra's advice and prepares to search the other nearby buildings.
Serra nods to Cole, happy to follow him to the other possible cultist dens.
"We'll be back. Maybe 30 minutes, not much longer than that, I think. Pack...pack and we'll escort you to safety and your family," Serra says the girl-in-charge.
He gathers Ely, Grasker, and the Beagans and follows Cole with a last glance at the girl-in-charge.
"We'll get you safely to the Heart. We'll be back."
The Gnome doesn't quite follow the All My Progeny discussion of who exactly is a brother, father who is not the brother or the real father, daughter, or niece. It seems to matter more to humans and make them uncomfortable. He pats Xanthos, thanking the Big R' he was taught by Calistrians and fey, who are so much more sensible.
"If Dryn Esheram made these toys, do you think he made the figure we found in that foggy basement?" That would be nastily insidious. Spreading evil through toys.
"If so, we might want to talk to him, or at least find out more about him. Or the Esherams. Or the toys. Xanthos, we'd better keep an eye out for enchanted, clockwork toy-like thingies."
Leaving Klarah and Laina to pack, the others head to check out the surrounding buildings. The other homes surrounding what is left of the cultist safehouse prove inconsequential, with no signs of demon worship or stranded victims of the attack.
Within the wreckage of the safehouse itself, however, they find a portrait of Kandro Nyserian.
Inside the wreckage, the group finds three golden statues and a well wrought portrait of Kandro Nyserian attached to a wall safe, still locked but now broken free of the wall due to the damage.
Cole takes a closer look in the wreckage.
"Hey, take a look at this." he holds up the portrait and points to an Ivory Tower in the background. "Isn't that a Baphomet sign? Seems Kandro Nyserian might be posing innocently in front of a hidden Ivory Tower... or he's a worshipper of demon-kind."
Cole frowns. "Considering we have evidence it's his manor house that was used by the cultists, and now this, I'd say he's definitely practice for our weapons should we ever find him."
Serra surveys the wreckage one last time, gaining confidence that the area is safe for more looting recovery and salvage.
"Those might be useful, them statues. And what we got?"
When he espies the safe (or is pointed out to him), he will attempt to open is using his mother's trick.
not 1!
Arcana vs. DC of Lock
"Baffomet? Who the heck is Baffomet?"
Eli looks over Cole's shoulders, and nods firmly. "I think you have the right of it, Cole. We should take the portrait with us, to show Irabeth. And, of course, those statues would better serve the coffers of the Heart, rather than cultists sniffing about their razed manor."
Eli does his best to tuck away the statues, depending on their size.
"Baphomet is a Demon Lord, in charge of beasts, labyrinths, and minotaurs. Big fan of glaives too. I suspect he's the Demon Lord to whom these cultists are worshipping. We also have evidence of Diskari, but I know less about that Lord."
Serra's trick pops open the safe, revealing a cache of gems,gold and platinum, a small altar to Baphomet, and the remains of something that was probably the last sacrifice made upon the altar.
Serra will grunt as the altar to Baphomet rolls out. Using his ranseur, he will move it to a place wherein it may be smashed by someone wielding a large hammer.
He will collect and distribute the gold and, with one final look about for the cultists, suggest to Cole that they collect his family and return to the Heart.
"Let's get back. We should have enough time to get that last hideout after the Heart."
Both Klarah and Laina are packed when the group returns to the Esheram home. Laina hands them each a package wrapped in aged paper.
Klarah hesitates at the door, her eyes squinting against the light. "No. I don't wanna!"she digs in her feet and refuses to go.
Cole takes the feathers gently and thanks Laina quietly.
When Klarah resists, he thinks a moment, and picks up her doll house and carries it out the door.
Klarah watches Cole, chewing on her lip. When he takes her doll house, she whines, but stops as she catches up with him. Sticking one arm through a window, she ducks her head and walks beside him. Mostly she babbles child things, but occasionally her eyes grow old and wise. " She deseres better, Cole. She should have left me long ago."
Serra accepts the package gratefully, but does not fully open or reveal it yet. He peeks and pokes at the wrapping, intending on deducing the contents without revealing it to prying eyes. When he finally figures it out, he smiles quite gratefully and immediately knows what to do with it.
"This is a fine gift. Thank you. We should get you back to the Heart. We have much still to do this day."
Serra will look to Cole to return them to the Heart.
Eli takes the package, paying more attention to the contents than the standoffishness of Laina. Without looking up, Eli speaks a courtesy. "Thaaank you?" He pats the dirt more firmly, before tucking into his pouch.
He follows the dollhouse out the door, keeping an eye out for wandering chaos.
Beagan excitedly unwraps his present, a wide smile curling across his lips when he sees the contents.
"Oh, these are great!"
He slips the bright red boots on his feet. The crimson shade doesn't quite match his beret or his leathers, but the slight mismatch makes it all the more interesting to his eyes.
"Thank you so much! Cole you've got a great..." Almost-sister-in-law? Mother of your niece? Lover of your brother? What would a human say? "... friend. Laina, your mother is a peach, and I'm sure the two of you will find Defender's Heart to be a wonderful journey." And it will be safer than these demon-tainted, cultist-infiltrated, crusader-forsaken streets.
On the return to the Defender's Heart, he sits a little taller on Xanthos' back, proudly display his updated ensemble.
The group heads back out towards Defender's Heart with dollhouse in tow. Klarah babbles to Cole about pies and chickens as if she is 7 or 8 again, with the occasional hint of sanity peeking through.
"When did you grow so old, Cole? You look like your father, though not quite as kind. He was always a kind man, your father."
Suddenly, Ely, Serra, Beagan, and Grasker all hear a deep throated growl from up ahead as three giant (large sized) dogs with sickly yellow eyes and prickly fur appear around the corner. One holds what is left of a young man in his huge jaws while the others are trying to tear it from his mouth, so they do not appear to see the party just yet.
Serra Iondri Phaer: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (19) + 2 = 21
Laina: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (17) + 4 = 21
Elyanius Myoch: 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (20) + 0 = 20
Cole Zeff: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (15) + 3 = 18
Beagan Berelcar: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (13) + 3 = 16
Grasker: 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (11) + 0 = 11
D1: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3
D2: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4
D3: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3
Klarah: 1d20 ⇒ 2