Ruins of Azlant (Inactive)

Game Master Nathan Goodrich

"It is ... complicated. Aurelian Fache has lost people he cared about greatly, and there is nothing he can do about it, he fears. But he can make sure he will not lose anyone else. He has trained for his entire childhood, and he will not stop now!"

Aurelian considers the ... boy in front of him, trying to decide if he perhaps arrived on the ship, or where he might have come from.

"No one says Aurelian Fache talks to much," the swordsman assures the boy. "Where did you come from? What are you doing here if you do not wish to talk to anyone here or hurt anyone?"

Zay listens, gazing intently at Aurelian as if trying to understand hidden, unsaid meanings behind the spoken words. The blond head shakes a little, sadly.

"There's no training in the world that can guarantee you won't lose anyone ever... that is life. And death. You are very good with your sword, but you can't parry time. Or Pharasma's knife.

"But I understand that you wish you could have done more."

Zay unfolds from the rock, stepping barefoot into the sand, seeming to consider the question seriously. "I came from the sea. More than once. But if mean how did I get here... I came on the same ship that brought miss Primrose."

A pause.

"She talks a lot.

"I was here to find a place. To be. To stay. To listen to the ocean. But since I'm here, maybe I can help."

"Yes? How can you help?" Aurelian says. "Maybe we should take you to see Miss Primrose. See if she remembers seeing you."

Zay shrugs, poking bare toes into the sand. "I'm good with boats. I can help people who are hurt. I can go places and not be noticed."

The blond head nods indifferently to the suggestion of going to see Miss Primrose. "Alright, if you like. She will remember me, I think. She seems like she remembers lots of things."

Without waiting for Aurelian to take the lead or provide directions, Zay starts walking from the beach towards the house where Primrose is staying, humming tunelessly under their breath.

Primrose finishes her walk with Sarine and makes her way back to her shared housing building. Just as she's nearing the entrance she takes note of that strange boy? from the ship the other day approaching with Aurelian. "Well hello Zay, I didn't know you were departing the ship here too. I guess I should have assumed as much, but I sort of figured you were just part of the crew! How silly of me."

To Aurelian she asks "And you good sir, how are you feeling today? Are you spirits any brighter?"

She turns and knocks on the door behind her and mentions "Are you awake Tettia? We have guests!"

"Hello again, miss Primrose," Zay says with a small duck of the blond head. "Mister Aurelian wanted to be sure I wasn't lying. His heart hurts. I can't fix those sorts of wounds. Maybe you could. You're probably better with spirits.

While speaking, Zay approaches the house, looking over the construction of it, running thin, knobbly fingers over the outside beams the way a blind man touches a person's face.

"I was part of the crew. I decided I didn't want to be anymore," Zay adds, with a small shrug as if to imply it was indeed a spur-of-the-moment decision. "I like this house. It has good bones."

"I didn't know houses had bones," Tettia says, popping out of the doorway. "I guess if you're referring to a stick-frame built house, the framing would be considered 'bones' from a certain point of view. Stone-block construction would be different, though. And there are some gnomish communities that use fabric-over-frame and then the frame there would count as 'bones'. I've even read that if you go far enough to the north, they use carved snow blocks instead of stone blocks."

She looks around at the others.

"I know it sounds strange, but the high percentage of air to water creates a great insulating layer and it can trap the heat quite well. I've run the math."

Seeing no interest whatsoever in what she's talking about, Tettia holds out her hand. "Hi, I'm Tettia Tuditanus - happy to meet you."

Aurelian shrugs at Prim's question.

"Aurelian's spirits will be brighter when he finds out what is responsible for what happened here, and introduces it to his blade," he says. "Hopefully it will not take too long. Zay says he knows places we haven't been?"

He turns his attention to the former sailor.

Zay actually does seem somewhat interested in what you're saying, Tettia. A pair of eyes the color of the sea gaze intently at Tettia during her speech.

"Yes. Those are the bones: the part that supports the rest. Even in a stone house there are support pillars, load-bearing columns.... though the walls also take more of the strain." Zay pauses, thinking. "More like an crab than a cat, maybe."

Zay takes Tettia's offered hand slowly, their own hand thin but wiry-strong, with calluses that speak to years and years of work with ship's ropes and fishnets. "Yes. Hello. I'm Zay."

When Aurelian mentions their earlier dialogue, Zay turns around, sitting on the ground with their back to the wooden wall.

"I don't know them. Not yet. I was going to go there. But I stopped here first. Because of all the trouble. You have people who are missing, yes? Perhaps I can help find them. If you have things that belong to them, and if they have not been missing for too long."

"Oh. I guess that makes sense. I hadn't considered it. Well in that case, I'm not the only new one here. That makes me feel better for some strange reason." she says with a chuckle.

When Tettia talks about house construction, she nods and makes a mental note to explain this situation to her later.

Aurealian's comment is sobering for Prim, her smile fading. "Yes. I too would like to find what has happened here." she shakes her head and tries to smile "When we find Josef, he would love to meet all of you. He was always such a charmer!"

To Zay she adds "How recent? I have something of Josef's, but it's been months since he's held it likely. Everyone here claims to know nothing of him, I'm not sure if there are things of his here that we can find." she says as she scratches he head.

Zay's lips purse in a pessimistic fashion. "I think that'd be too long. It has to still smell of them." A pause, and then: "...I'm sorry your brother wasn't here to meet you as you were hoping. I know you were... looking forward to that."

Zay's head cocks at Tettia and Aurelian. "How exactly do things stand? You do not know how long ago these.... shifters... took away the real people, yes? It could be days, or weeks? And the bodies of the real people have not been found. So they might be alive? Is this all true? It's hard to know if I'm understanding everything correct. I've mostly been listening to the other settlers talking since I arrived."

"Yes, we do not know," Aurelian agrees. "We were gone for many weeks, helping explore the island and looking for what happened to the first colonists here. We found the leaders of the first colony, but they attacked us, though they were no match for Aurelian Fache. They appeared to be their real bodies, though they were not replaced either..."

"That does make it more difficult," Zay says, and plucks a few strands of grass growing at the spot where the house's beams rest against the ground. Zay's spidery fingers start braiding the strands together in an absent way.

"Too long. Too long. Maybe the birds have seen something. I'll ask them."

Zay squints upward into the blue sky overhead, then refocuses on Aurelian. "Do you have anything that belonged to your lovers? That would be more recent than Josef's things. And has anything been done with the bodies of the -- shifters?"

Primose is confused by Aurelian's words, her face suddenly growing defensive but halfway through her speech she loses her nerve and her eyes are wide with fear. "Wait. Wait a minute, go back. I'm sorry to interrupt Zay."

Turning to face Aurelian, she asks "Did. Did you just say you found the first colony. As in the one my brother was in. And then you attacked them. Did you... Did you kill my brother?"

She fidgets with her fingers, holding one hand in the other and shifts her fingers from finger to finger as she tries to wait patiently for answer to determine if this man is her enemy or not.

"No, no, the leaders of the first colony," Aurelian repeats. "And we did not attack them, they attacked us. If your brother did not also go by the name of Rayland or Eliza, then Aurelian Fache and his friends did not kill him. Or ... your brother was not a choker, was he?"

Aurelian thinks this is unlikely, but it would be an answer, albeit an awkward one.

He nods at Zay's question.

"Yes, their house is still just as it was when Aurelian returned two days ago."

Zay's eyes widen slightly at Primrose's trembling question, and watch wordlessly between Prim and Aurelian, to see the outcome after Aurelian's answer.

"A, a what? Choker? As in, choking people? No. My brother does not choke people?"

She nods, satisfied that Aurelian did not kill her brother. She relaxes and lets the tension drain from her body "Alright. No. My brother is not named either Rayland nor Eliza. I'm sorry, I did not mean to accuse you."

She holds up her pointer finger in the air and marks a correction. "Aurelian. In the future please refer to my brother in the present tense. He is still alive and so I would appreciate it if we referred to him as such. Agreed?"

Aurelian nods. "Yes, Aurelian Fache shall hope he is still alive, even if he is not here."

Tettia seems about to interrupt - most likely to explain in an A++ level answer the type of choker to which Aurelian is referring - but refrains when Prim corrects his tense regarding her brother.

"Yes, we don't know for sure that he's dead. So we shouldn't assume," she says. A quick nod follows as if the matter's settled.

Zay relaxes somewhat as it is clear that no vengeance, misplaced or otherwise, seems about to erupt, and returns to braiding the strands of grass with quick twists of their fingers.

As silence begins to fester in the air among the group members—an appropriate side-effect of the colony's losses both recent and a while back—a squirrel begins to very deliberately approach Tettia. As it comes closer, you can all see that its long bushy tail is coiled around a rolled piece of parchment. It stops at Tettia's feet and stares up at her expectantly.

Zay studies the squirrel with extreme interest, before looking to Tettia.

"I think he wants you to take that. Do you want me to ask him who it's from?"

Primrose studies the squirrel as it approaches with the parchment. Looking between it and then Tettia, she asks "Is this normal? Squirrels bringing messages? Does it talk too?"

There's a cat and a frog, so surely this is someone else's familiar. Esepcially when Zay offers to ask who it is from. Primrose crouches down and asks "Ooooh, who's a cute squirrel. Did you bring us a message? Where's your other half? Hmmm?"

"You should be careful," Aurelian warns, hand drifting to his sword hilt. "Squirrels do not normally act like that in Andoren, though perhaps they are different here. But if not, it may have been taken by whatever took Josef and Tobias and Marguerite."

He eyes the alleged squirrel with suspicion.

Tetta looks around at the others in confusion. "Um, no, I don't speak squirrel. And my name isn't Kronk. Neither does Wallace," she says turning her attention back to the rodent in a gray suit.

She kneels down next to Primrose and reaches out to take the scroll.

"Thank you?" she says as she unrolls it to read it. "Should one tip a squirrel?" she whispers to the dancer.

"I didn't think you spoke squirrel," Zay responds with a slow blink at Tettia. "I was asking if you wanted me to ask him."

Aurelian's words cause Prim to hesitate, her back stiffening at the mention of her brother. She doesn't rise from her crouched position, but she does take a half-step back away from the squirrel.

Turning back to Zay, Prim asks "You speak squirrel? I did not know such a language existed."

"All I know is squeak squeaker squeak squeakity," Tettia offers with a shrug. "So, yes, it would probably be better if you asked him."

Zay looks somewhat uncomfortable, shifting their weight from bare foot to bare foot, and after a second standing on one leg, with one grimy foot resting on the other calf in a position that looks slightly off-balance but still seems to be comfortable for them.

"...it's not precisely a-- a language."

Zay rakes a hand through their messy blond hair, pulling it off their face though it falls back again into their eyes. "I just. I can ask the squirrel. If you want me to. And I'm sure he'd appreciate it if you gave him something to eat-- berries are good. Nuts. Honeycomb if you have it." The last seems mostly directed at Tettia.

At Tettia's descent into 'squirrel' Zay simply looks blank.

"...anyway..."

Zay takes a breath, and rolls their head side to side with a little crackle of vertebrae. "--I don't-- I don't usually do this with-- people watching. Could you.... could all of you.... turn around?"

If the others accede to the awkwardly delivered request, they will in turn not see Zay close their eyes and take one more long breath before folding in on themselves, yellow hair and sun-browned skin turning to brown fur with lighter streaks through it and body sinking and sinking and twisting until there is in fact a seemingly-ordinary brown squirrel on the ground where Zay had previously stood. (Ordinary despite a pair of un-squirrellish blue eyes, anyway.)

The new squirrel chatters away at the messenger squirrel.

Aurelian turns around.

"Aurelian has heard of things like this. In Andoren, there are rumors of a squirrel girl near the Verduran Forest. They say she and her squirrel friends fight for justice in Galt..."

Obligingly, Tettia turns away from the undine.

"Wow," she says after a moment of listening. "They sound just like a squirrel."

Sarine returns from scouting the area around Talmandor's Bounty to find her companions gathered around a pair of squirrels, staring at them intently.

"What is going on?" she asks, a bit dubiously.

"Zay is talking to a squirrel that brought us this scroll," Tettia explains, holding up the scroll that she's currently reading. "They don't like being watched while doing it so if you could turn away, please."

"Zay?" Sarine begins asking about a companion she hasn't met yet, but brushes the question off and walks around the squirrels to Tettia. "So what does the scroll say?"

"It says ..." Tettia begins as she reads aloud the contents of the scroll.

Tettia takes a look at the scroll and is uncertain about its contents for a moment. At first it appears to be gibberish, though after a few moments she pieces together that it is in a simple cipher of Taldane, dwarven and elven.

Before the squirrel skitters off, its job completed, it responds to Zay's inquiry.

"Ramona wants us to come to her house and she's worried that there are more of the faceless stalkers about," Tettia whispers after deciphering the scroll.

Primrose turns around when requested, but she peeks and watches the transformation, gasping in delight. "That's amazing" she says, her voice full of wonder.

When Tettia translates the scroll, Prim is confused. "... and Ramona is?" she asks, curious.

"I think she's the mayor or something," Tettia answers, scrunching her face up in confusion. "I was supposed to meet her, but I never got the chance when I arrived."

While the squirrels chatter, Prim responds to Tettia.

"Why does she want to meet with you specifically? Does the mayor greet all newcomers when they arrive?" she asks, turning to face the arcanist. "And why is the message delivered via squirrel?"

Looking back over their settlement, she adds "And honestly, I'm surprised there is a mayor here. That caught me off guard."

"I don't know if they actually call her the Mayor. When I arrived on the boat, the people on the boat told me to check in with Ramona because she was in charge. I assumed that meant that she was the Mayor based on the size of the settlement. Titles of settlement chief officers vary quite a bit based on settlement size, but Mayor is the commonly accepted verbiage. She might also be called a Council Chief, the Chief Magistrate, or even the Chief Operating Officer in the case of a company town."

The girl smiles at Primrose.

"I wrote a paper," she adds with a satisfied nod.

"I imagine that she wants to meet with us because she's had previous interactions with Sarine and Aurelian. And she sent the message via squirrel because she's worried that there might be more imposters in the town and she doesn't know who else she can trust."

The blue-eyed squirrel grooms its whiskers thoughtfully, then glances up to see another tall furless one person approaching, this one with an impressive sword slung over her back. And.... a scent of...

Is Narue following with Sarine? if so:

There's a slightly alarmed squirrel-chittering as the squirrel identifies the creature whose hairs and scent no doubt cling to Sarine, and the squirrel hurriedly seeks higher ground, which happens to be 1d4 ⇒ 4 ...Tettia, scampering nimbly the young scholar's robes and belt pouches and so forth to perch on the top of her shoulder.

"Sorry! Instinctual clash imminent! --oh and the squirrel said that a likely human gave him the message to carry and also some nuts. Very polite. Hello, I'm Zay."

(It is perfectly intelligible Common that chatters forth from the squirrel, even if a register higher than Zay's normal speaking tones and also a lot faster.)

(If Narue is not present, the same information will be conveyed, just without running up Tettia's shoulder first. ;) Arcana? What's that?)

Primrose let's Tettia give her dissertation on mayors before smiling and nodding. "Oh, I have no doubt in my mind that you did, sweetie. No doubt at all."

As the squirrelZay scampers up Tettia, she hopes that it was indeed Zay and not the other squirrel. Because, that would be weird. Weirder than a talking squirrel? No. Probably not.

She adds "Uhm. I hope you aren't going to change back while on her shoulder, I'm not sure poor Tettia can support your weight."

Turning to Sarine says "Hello Sarine. I think we're going to see the mayor now?"

"Of course not," the squirrel says, mildly reproachfully. It gives Primrose another reproachful look after that. "I asked you not to look..."

More loudly, the squirrel says, "But why would 'Ramona' send a message to Tettia, someone she hadn't met yet, rather than someone she'd already had dealings with? That seems a little strange. Maybe we should be careful."

Primose nods "Especially given your facechangers or whatever you called them. I'd hate to meet this Ramona and find out that it's a moose called Bullwinkle in disguise or something!"

If it helps to cause chaos, Narue can't actually be very far from Sarine and still exist. See the Figment familiar archetype. Also, Tettia ought to know Ramona. She met with us at the beginning and end of book 2, before the Faceless Stalker nonsense started.

Sarine frowns as Tettia reads the message. "That...shouldn't be possible. Ramona said she would meet us last night before the attack and then she disappeared. Was she hiding all last night? Let's go see her. We won't solve anything here."

As Zay begins speaking while on top of Tettia's shoulder, Sarine seems initially surprised but quickly recovers. She doesn't have cause to be shocked by talking animals. "Nice to meet you, Zay. I don't think you need to worry about..." she pauses as she sees Narue looking at Zay with great interest.

"Actually, it might be best if you stay up there."

"I'm-- sure your cat is very-- nice. It's just right NOW I'm reading them as a natural predator," the squirrel says dolefully. "...it's nice to meet you too."

"I'm sure Narue will be a complete gentlecat; Right, Narue?" Tettia declares with a raised eyebrow in the feline's direction, who, like all felines in existence, does a remarkable performance of complete obliviousness.

In consideration of the messenger's efforts, the girl reaches into her bag and pulls out some nuts and dried fruit that was stored as part of her trail rations and tosses them on the ground in front of the other squirrel. "Thank you very much for your service," she says to it with nod.

"Did I tip him enough?" she asks Zay as they begin walking towards Ramona's home.

Sarine leans over to confer with Tettia (and Zay) as they walk. "Do you know of any way to determine whether Ramona is...well...her? I hate to suspect her, but this behavior is not in character. She's never delivered anything by squirrel before and her actions last night are unaccounted for."

Tettia looks thoughtful as she contemplates Sarine's question. "There are a number of more powerful spells that would detect something like that. Unfortunately, I don't possess that kind of knowledge." She considers the problem a bit more. "I suppose that we could request an act of faith on her part. What I mean by that is, I have a spell that will befriend someone. We would ask that she accept the casting of it on her. If she accepts and I can successfully cast it on her then we know that she's not one of them. My spell isn't powerful enough to work on a faceless stalker - they're an aberration and require much more powerful magic."

She turns to look at Sarine.

"But if she declines being the target of it ... she's either one of them or highly suspicious of us - which I certainly would be."

charm person