"Oh good, you're back." Kendra greets you as the two of them rise. "Lereia had something she hoped to ask you."
Hearing the children play, Professor Rokannon gives a double take and just stares at the children as they sing. He shakes his head and catches up with the others.
"That's the most appalling thing I've ever heard." He muttered aloud.
"I couldn't make out a word of it," Davor admits to Professor Rokannon.
"It was, it was like..."
He thought carefully, and began translating.
"'Put the body on the bed.'
'Take a knife and lop her head.'
'Watch the blood come out the pipe.'
'Feeds the stirge, so nice and ripe...'"
He stops, shaking his head in appalled disgust.
"I mean, who sings a song like that? Who would teach such... to little children?"
Initially concerned by the professor's words, Kendra's countenance takes on an expression of bemusement. "Don't you remember your own childhood rhymes, Professor? They do tend to the...
gruesome."
Kneels by Leira and says gently
So, what was this thing you wanted to ask us, Leira?
"Oh!" Lereia squeaks as her attention turns from the professor to Vivan. "Did, did the crazy man say anything about Eronel, my pet raven?"
Davor shifts uneasily at the girl's inquiry about her pet raven and looks around, not wanting to be the one to deliver the bad news.
Doubt she'll take solace in knowing her raven's ghost is still around. he thinks to himself.
"Miss Lorrimor's right: Childrens' rhymes are a bit morbid in Ustalav, I'm afraid, Professor," Davor says quietly to Professor Rokannon.
"Although that part about lopping heads seems a bit of a coincidence after you mentioned about your old classmate talking about 'The Lopper' being a prisoner at Harrowstone," Davor mentions even more quietly, nearly a whisper.
Professor Rokannon looks around at Kendra and Davor as if they were crazy.
Tamarie copies the professor's expression.
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"Children's fairy tales are usually morbid. I met a bard named Grimm who told dozens of tales designed to teach lessons in the most gruesome of manner. Think about it, if you are a small child, the most "interesting" stories are the ones that break up the monotony of your daily life, hence, violence and weirdness." adds Zander.
"Beszélek nekik Eronel később. Miért nem mész haza, azt hiszem, hallottam anyád telefonál, ebédet..." Kendra whispers to Lereia just before the young girl nods & idlely runs off toward her home.
"Actually," Her expression turns considering as she observes the rest of you. "That is likely not a bad idea either. From the looks of things, you might do well with food in your bellies as well." With that, she turns toward the door, striding inside with a "Remember to wipe your feet! Lunch will be when I've it ready."
The redhead wipes her feet cautiously
Can i help you in the kitchen, Kendra?
"That would be quite helpful, thank you." She replies.
With Kendra & Vivian working together, lunch does not take long at all & you are all soon indulging in a reasonably pleasant repast. While you are all eating, Kendra's visage takes on an expression of morbid contemplation. "Didn't he say something about 'stuffing the bird in the drain' after he killed it?"
"Antraeus, I mean."
Tamarie enjoys the meal, and keeps silent as the others try to figure out the strange events of the night.
"He said something about the fountain also, I think. If I'm remembering right, he caught the raven at the fountain where it liked to rest and hid its body in the drain."
And with no sense of appropriate segues in shifting conversation topics, Davor jumps from the subject of the raven's corpse straight to...
"And this lunch is delicious. Thank you again for all your hospitality."
After thanking Kendra and Vivian for the meal, Professor Rokannon leaned back in his chair and lit his pipe.
"I would really prefer to study these arrows and the items in the case. The 'planchette' is puzzling to me. Perhaps Professor Lorrimor's Library could be of assistance in this case.
"In any event, I think I would prefer to start tomorrow morning. I want as much daylight as is humanly possible to investigate the Harrowstone site."
Tomorrow morning would be fine for me. I'l just check i've got everything i may need to explore this prison. Do you think we should check the fountain, Davor, or is it irrelevant to Harrowstone and its haunting?
Acknowledging the reasonable desire to prepare as much as possible for what seems likely a harrowing exercise, Kendra adds. "Perhaps you might check the fountain this afternoon then? See if poor Eronel's corpse might be there? I know it seems foolish, but it would mean a lot to Lereia to be able to put her pet to rest."
We'll do our best, Kendra. I'm sure that ....
Vivian looks at Zander, and giggles for herself
Nevermind. Another silly joke. We'll try to recover this pet. It shouldn't take too long, I guess.
Suddenly, the redhead adds
Could we borrow an old long sleeved shirt and a pair of old gloves, kendra? And if you have a few spare pins-two or three, no more- it might be helpful.
Tamarie looks at the redhead, pondering what she's up to.
I don't even want to know...
Davor, finished eating at this point, slides away from the table and appears anxious to either head to the fountain in search of the dead bird or spend some more time in the library researching.
"We going out, or not? Would be nice to get out of this armor for the night, but you never know with you guys. Davor, you're in charge!"
Tamarie finishes the meal, and takes the dishes to the kitchen.
I say we should go to fetch this dead bird-if it's really here- outta the fountain. Meanwhile, the Prof can stay here and try to understand how these objects can be helpful to our quest. What do you think, Davor? And some fresh hair could do you good, Tam"...
She smiles and winks at the favored target of her pranks
Glancing back & forth between her guests, Kandra nods aggreement. "Certainly." She replies to Vivian's request as she rises & heads towards her room.
"I've nothing that would be likely to fit you," looking to Davor & Zander, "but these should serve adequately." As she sets the desired clothing in Vivian's hands.
Once properly prepared, you head back out toward the Memorial & the attendant fountain. Arriving, you notice a number of features which, for obvious reasons, were less immediately important the last time you were here.
Between the memorial & the stream is a smallish 'courtyard' of pale stone & gravel with a rather ornate fountain about midway between the Memorial itself & the stream, about 25' from the water.
The fountain itself is in two parts, a lower cruciform basin with four pools surrounding a central pillar. The 4-foot high pillar supports an upper basin 8 feet across and ringed by four stone gargoyles, which sit at each of the ordinal directions and support the basin’s fluted lip, where water spills between the gargoyles into the lower basins toward a central drain and thence into the nearby river. Water burbles a few feet in the air from the upper bowl, from which clean water can be drawn for drinking while the lower basins can be used for bathing or washing. The fountain is in disrepair, with several of the gargoyles having suffered large chips and broken stonework, though the basins are intact.
You notice a number of torn raven feathers falling into the fountain, you don't notice where they might have fallen from...
Professor Rokannon waves at the rest of the party absently as they leave, preoccupied with his research on the items they had discovered.
Tamarie stops and stares for a moment when the reach the fountain. She peers into the water, and gestures everyone to come closer and see what she is pointing at.
"Something is blocking the drain beneath the grate of the lower basin and the grate itself has been recently disturbed. Should we..."
She will wait for others to see it, meanwhile pondering out loud :
"You think we should have asked the professor along? He's the smart one after all."
Professor Rokannon begins with investigating the enchanted arrows that were never identified in the first place. After that, the 'Planchette' and the rest of the things not identified on site.
Thanks to Professor Lorriomor's library, you manage to determine the properties of all the items found, even the more esoteric ones. Of course, it is well after your companions return this afternoon before you finish your determinations.
"I assume you wanted sleeves and gloves because you expected to be doing some raven retrieving, Vivian?"
"Looks like this is your big chance. Reach on in there and see what's under that grate."
Tamarie takes a regular arrow, and gets ready to poke into the hole, if Vivian wants to.
Beneath the grate, you find a mold-slicked brown sack, tied with a cord.
You're right, Davor. When you're a girl, you soon learn that if you can stick it in, you can pull it out.
Vivian grins wickedly,green eyes sparkling, then takes a more serious face, and put on the long sleeved shirt and the old gloves
More seriously, as a follower of Pharasma trained in helping to the delivrance of babies, it won't be the first time I put my hands in a dark and dirty hole. Unfortunatly, it won't be the first time either I pull out some dead corpse. Sometimes, if you can't save the baby, you do your best to save the mother at least. Lets just hope this rotten bird didn't polllute the water with diseases... We shall tell the priesthood. I don't know if you can detect diseases, Davor? It would be best anyway if the priests bless this water, or something like that.
She retrieves the sack without much difficulty, opens it cautiously- and not too wide- and shows out the gold ring
I guess this raven wasn't part of the nobility, but i'm pretty sure the local priest will give us the answer in a flash. Unless someone recognize it? By the way,have any of you managed to find out why I asked for some pins?
"I have no idea. Local noble perhaps? Or something bigger? I have a feeling I've seen it before, but can't put my finger on it."
Tamarie seems lost in thought for a second...
Zander, Davor, any idea?
She looks thoughful for some moments, then adds
While we're here, I'd like to check on the Mémorial again, if you don't mind. This time, without the constable shouting in our ears and trying to break arms, maybe we'll find a few more clues...And on our way back to Kendra's house, I' d like to find a gift to offer her, each of us pooling a few silver pieces. Not something too ostentatious, as she is still mourning her father, but perhaps a scarf or something pretty like that... Just to show her we appreciate the fact that she's giving us shelter and food, you know. What do you think of it?
Vivian's smile is gentle and kind
"I agree with Vivian. We'll split up maybe, make things go faster? Davor and I will go back to the Memorial, and you and Zander go show yourselves in town, make friends and get something to show our gratitude."
why not? Here's what I'd like you to watch carefully, Tam": look for any prints around the memorial, if you can still find some. Look for a place to hide, or where someone could have hide the night they wrote this thing with blood. Try to find who lives close from the memorial, ask them if they saw something strange in the neibourghood. Look for everything tied to the prison on the memorial, get a close look on the statue, takes some notes if necessary... and everything you could think of. I'm sure your keen senses will be invaluable.But beware.... next time you won't escape a girl's shopping spree so easily.
Turning to examine the memorial statue, the first thing you notice is that, for all his other faults, Sheriff Caellar didn't lie when he said he would see to it's proper care. From here, you would hardly know that it was spattered in blood & gore yesterday.
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Zander just stands around nodding to any townsfolk that pass by as the others discuss things from before his arrival. When he gets roped into a shopping trip with Vivian, images of his already thin coin purse being drained dry pops into his head, images he quickly dismisses with a shake. "A Thank You for your hospitality gift would be an excellent idea. Do you think she'd like a rose bush?"
That's the spirit, Zander.I'd give you a shoulder punch if you weren't wearing some armor. I think you should know more about roses than me.I'm not event sure we could find roses in this part of the country and in this season.
Wisdom check
Tamarie starts looking for the things Vivian said. She will ofc note the absence of blood, but still see if she can find any other clues.