Kallie's strange mood is lifted by Croquelle's jest and drumming. She finds herself giggling despite herself.
Galatea smiles when Aurealia admits to admiring Jeevika, "That is very nice to hear, Aurealia. I'll be sure to let her know."
Seeing Jaya's question go unanswered, Galatea offers an explanation, "While Mom was busy, some of my sisters and I spent much of our youth with Cai’nan and his family. The last time we saw each other was... I believe at the docks just before his expedition. For all these years, I thought he was lost. Thankfully, I was very wrong."
Croq's drum solo gets an applause from most of the restaurant; it appears the her performances are quite popular around town. Yulia and Galatea both clap as well.
Kallie's mood blackens again almost instantly. "Oh, I see. So while I was still roaming around the wilds of Varisia with the herd, you got to live it up in the big city? Must've been fun for you all."
It just struck him as to Jaya’s direct question as he focused through his hormone addled mind. ”We...” then Galatea answered, almost as if she had either forgotten what he had asked of her earlier or thought she wasn’t telling enough to matter. But to him, she had just told everything. And his blush had fallen pale as a result.
”Yeah...old family friends,” he says before turning his gaze down and seeming to focus intently on his food.
"Is something wrong, Cai'nan?" Galatea asks gently before pausing and blushing in embarrassment, "Oh..."
Before she can say anything else, Kallie's comments seem to hit the Treeslayer's daughter like a punch to the gut.
"Kallie, could we please discuss... that... later?" Gali finally asks carefully.
Hearing Kallie giggle, Croq was just about to give Kallie a thumb's up--and then sees her mood darken.
"What's eating you, girl?" Croq raises an eyebrow.
Kallie gives Galatea a long look, before glancing to Cai'nan who was focused on his food. Her mouth twists, then she sets down her fork and stands from where she'd been sitting on the floor. "Yeah, sure," she says dismissively. "I'm, uh, the reefclaw's kind of ruining my appetite. I'm going for a walk. You all can catch up without me."
She nimbly maneuvers through the restaurant and exits.
As you take your walk, likely with much on your mind, you suddenly hear a monstrous cry of pain and then the sound of a body hitting the ground.
You notice a tall, lanky elf slowly backing away from three monsters. With obsidian black hair and large, monochrome, dark blue eyes, she could pass for a Kailani, albeit more as a cousin of your grandmother's branch. She is dressed in similar colors: black and blue. Of note, she is wearing a large scarf... which has bladed tips covered in blood. The poor woman seems absolutely terrified.
Despite one of their kin being dead on the ground, three horrors are still approaching her. It's difficult to coherently describe them. Walking on two massive legs that end with hands, these fleshy monsters appear to be made from several malformed body parts. Their most prominent feature is a mouth of teeth that would put Krodha's to shame.
No one else appears to be around...
Despite what many may think, Galatea stays with the others. After taking a moment to center herself, the Treeslayer's daughter appears fine, though she leans against Yulia for support.
"My apologies. Kallie and I aren't... on the best of terms at the moment," she explains with a resigned sigh.
After some time, Kallie's weird aunt suddenly perks up in horror.
"Kallie's in danger!" Galatea exclaims as she hastily flies out the door. Cheshire follows her a second later. Meanwhile, Yulia appears to be quite surprised by Galatea's... precognition and takes a moment to scramble after her ward.
...Thankfully, the Kailani scion had already paid for the meal upfront!
Cai’nan looks up with a start at Galatea’s outburst and darting away. He quickly clambers to his feet and whistles for Krodha to come along. He looks back to see if Jaya and the sisters were joining them.
"Whaff?" Croquelle asks with a mouth full of shellfish. "Awright, hold on!" she shoves one more bite in her mouth and then hustles along with the rest, hulking out again as they run out the door.
"'Elle, wait!" Aurealia cries after her sister. "Want me to make you big?"
While waiting for her sister to respond (or not), Aurealia draws one of her wands and uses it to cast a spell on herself.
She feels her leg muscles bulge, and her bones elongate. Now I'm ready to run! She slips the wand back into her belt, and with a grin grabs her spear to run after her sister and the others.
"Okay, that's why I don't like feet," Kallie says as she steps close to the retreating elf. "Gross."
She channels her arcane reservoir as she casts a spell, doubling the missile that streaks from her fingertips and unerringly slams into the lead monster (or whichever one that may appear wounded).
"Friends of yours?" she asks the elf.
Why do Galatea's visits always do this to Kallie?
She thought about going after her friend, but that would only make a bigger scene, and Kallie had been at least making a pretense of not being disruptive...
But when Galatea perked up, she began to move - fast!
I might regret running ahead of the big scaly one... But if Kallie's really in trouble, I'm not gonna wait around.
"N-Nope!" the scared elf replies with a nervous smile, obviously thankful to have some backup.
She quickly lashes out with her scarf...
And slays the monster that Kallie weakened for her!
Unfortunately, two more come barreling around the corner...
Thanks to a spell from Yulia, you all managed to catch up with Kallie extremely quickly.
Just in time to see the two closest monsters attack Kallie and a rather lanky elf.
Kallie easily dodges at the last second, but her poor accomplice isn't so lucky; the poor woman screams in agony as the creature's flaming teeth bite deep into her thin leg!
Cai’nan says ”Krodha, Kill!” and the infant T-Rex roses and charges forward, snapping his jaws down hard on the nearest one! Cai’nan draws his curved blade and runs alongside his companion, slashing out at it but missing as it recoils from Krodha’s bite!
____________
"What the flaming buck toothed corpse buggerer?!" Aurealia exclaims in horror when she can clearly see the creatures. She slips in behind Kallie and reaches past her to stab at one of the creatures with her enlongated arms and spear. Unfortunately, there is too much going on for her long-distance thrust to be effective. She misses completely.
"Fleshdregs! Of the wrathful type!" Kallie shouts as she steps back from the creatures and pulls out a flask of acid. Using it as a focus, she summons an orb of acid and flings it at the one Krodha bit.
Her aim was way off, given that she was practically paying more attention to Cai'nan than the monster.
"What is a Fleshdreg?"
"They're monsters found in Thassilonian ruins. Probably failed or degraded experiments. Seven different variants. The fiery bite tells me that it's probably wrath."
Whaaaat? We're like Sihedron heroes!
"Oh."
”Whatever they are, they aren’t natural! Or friendly!”
As they ran, toward the fight, Croq gives her drum a mighty slam and starts to sing, "Ah-aaaah, ah!
Ah-aaaah, ah!" and the song starts to lift those on her side to a fighting frenzy.
She runs up and swings Drumstick with all her might, splattering the abomination onto the street.
Then (without shaking the gore from her club) she beats again on her drum and stops singing just long enough to say, "Audrahni! You OK? What the F+~$ is going on here?!?"
Fleshdregs? Then we must be near something worthwhile!
With precise movements Jaya sent a pair of force bolts towards the closest aberration, her strange birthmark itching beneath her dress.
Galatea and Cheshire blitz into combat! Between the two, only the tigress manages to hit the creature. However, they do setup Audrahni for the killing blow!
"Miss Audrahni!" calls out Yulia. "Over here! I'll heal your wound!"
With her path clear, Audrahni quickly limps toward Yulia, who she recognizes as a powerful Silver Sentinel. Galatea's bodyguard quickly gets to work healing the poor elf's injury...
The remaining two monsters charge Cheshire and Croquelle!
...They slip on the blood of their fallen allies and thus miss by a country mile!
Aurealia stabs the Fleshdreg next to her sister. "Die, sinspawn!"
Thanks to some quick work with her spear, Aurealia manages to drop another monster!
Croq steps forward, swinging at the last one standing. As she does her song drops to more of a hum, though it continues to inspire.
Cai’nan and Krodha continue to press the attack, Krodha taking as direct a path as he can, while Cai’nan circles around to attack it on its Flank...
Croq and Cai'nan swiftly dispatch the final creature!
As the dust settles, Audrahni utters an audible sigh of relief.
"T-Thank you so much!" she says with a gentle, appreciative smile. "I was walking home, and those creatures just... jumped me. There were actually more, but... Sir Roderic! He attacked some of them! Until now, I thought all those sights of him were just... stories."
Poor Audrahni appears to be quite rattled by her near brush with death...
Cai’nan squats down and cleans his blade in the grass beneath the nearby tree before turning back to the group. He catches the tail end of the elf’s comment. ”Ma’am,” he says with a polite bow of his head. ”What of the guards? Shouldn’t we be telling them if there are more of these around?”
"Audrahni, are you okay?" Aurealia sets her spear aside and rushes to the elf, placing her hands gently on the grave diggers shoulders as she peers concernedly into her face. "When I saw those foul creatures, mouths of Hell ringed about your faire forme, I feared the worst for you my dear fellow librettist. Would you have fallen, my heart had done so with you..."
"Since these creatures are found in Thassilonian ruins, we should check to see if those ruins we came to explore are the source. Did someone leave a door open?"
Croq flashes Audrahni a smile, hoping to reassure her, but lets her sister do the talking since they have their poetry-thing together.
"Y-Yeah," Audrahni answers Aurealia with a gentle smile. She really seems to appreciate the poetry as well. "Especially after Sentinel Rockne healed me. Wow... I can't believe your mother wants you and Croq to keep training! You two just tore right through those things..."
After processing Cai'nan's words, Audrahni pauses and then nods. "W-We should! Sir Roderic was really killing those creatures, so they likely joined him in death, but... you're right, sir; we should let the authorities know."
She pauses upon hearing Kallie mention Thassilon.
"...Thassilon?! Oh my... We should let the Black Arrows know instead; if these things are Thassilonian, this seems to be above the town guard's pay grade!"
Aurealia nods at her friend, backing off a bit. Then she turns and raises an eyebrow at the druid. "Uh, we like, are the town authorities? Bascially? And anyway, it's not like you'd make a very good first impression on Mom covered in Fleshdreg bits. Want me to prestidigitate all that off you?" She flaps her hand vaguely at everything above Cai'nan's waist.
Kallie scoffs. "He's covered in the blood of his enemies! That's sooo cool. I think he should keep it." She then gives Cai'nan a wide smile and a wink.
Aurealia narrows her eyes at the busty centauress. Since when was she so hot anyway? Her t+#* are like huge now, and those raven tresses. So not fair, go find some stallion!
Range10 ft.touch
"It'll only take a second to clean off," Aurealia says, stalking closer to the black clad druid.
Cai’nan’s mouth moves in a silent stammer as the two women bicker over him, totally unsure how to react. He looks back and forth between them, uncertain exactly what to say or do. Instead, he looks to Audrahni ”Ummm, so...what now?”
Suddenly realizing that if she ever wants to earn the respect she craves that now is not the time for flirting, Aurealia leaves Cai'nan be for the moment. She steps back and puts her hands on her hips, taking in the group milling about the monster corpses. "Alright, look, we can tell Mom and the other Black Arrows in a minute. Audrahni, where did you see the ghost of Sir Roderick fighting them? We need to get back there quickly, to examine the scene, and make sure there aren't any more of these things around town. After we investigate, we can report to Mom and the Treeslayer, and then maybe check out the Thassilonian ruins if they approve. Sound like a plan?"
Galatea just blushes slightly; she appears to want to say something, but words clearly fail her... Meanwhile, Yulia cracks a grin and allows her liege to gently lean on her for support.
"...I don't really remember," admits Audrahni, who is also blushing. "I just didn't have much time to think, 'Lia. Twelve of those things just suddenly burst from the woods! If Sir Roderic hadn't appeared and scared some sense into me, then they would've ripped me to pieces..."
She gulps at the thought.
"I think if we head north... then I'll be able to retrace my steps."
Cai’nan looks to Audrahni and back to Aurealia before nodding and turning north. He and Krodha begin looking in earnest for the trail...
Given how recently it is, Krodha is easily able to pick up Audrahni's trail. Cai'nan is also very able at helping the scarfed elf retrace her steps. Eventually, at the edge of where town meets the woods, you all stumble upon a rather grizzly sight.
True to Audrahni's words, there are six more creature corpses lying on the ground. They appear to have been killed through supernatural means. Yulia manages to deduce what likely happened.
"It would appear that these six rather mindlessly kept attacking Sir Roderic, but given his ghostly nature, they couldn't hurt him. He eventually just whittled them down until they died," remarks the Silver Sentinel.
Cai’nan squats down and studies the scene as well as the bodies. He listens quietly to Yulia’s explanation and nods along with it. ”Then it would seem we should return and report. It would be stupid to run off into the wilds or the ruins without letting others know our intentions.”
Kallie blinks in surprise. "So, you really do have a ghost here in town? I thought it would've been just a local legend. You know, like the Sandpoint Devil or something." She surveys the carnage, going to one of the bodies to inspect its supernatural wounds. "Nice job, Roderic."
"Okay, but once we've let someone know, I suppose, we really need to find their nest. Can Krodha track them farther, Cai'nan?"
"Wouldn't their fiery bites have hurt Sir Roderic?" asks Galatea curiously.
"Hmm... That is an interesting point. Difficult to say," answers Yulia thoughtfully. "Their regular bites almost certainly would've done nothing, so their secondary effect... might not have kicked in as a consequence. Regardless, even if they could hurt him slightly, Sir Roderic clearly won this battle."
With your next course of action generally agreed, you all follow the Andosana sisters back to the Black Arrows' HQ. The two easily get you inside and past any of the rangers. Meanwhile, Yulia and Galatea get you past any Silver Sentinels. Together, you actually get straight to Commander Andosana and the Treeslayer, who appear to be wrapping up their talks for the day.
"Hey, Lulu, the girls are back from their walk!" remarks Elandra as everyone shuffles into the room. She pauses before adding, "...Looks like it was a rather enthusiastic walk too."
"...Croq, Aurealia, is everything alright?" asks Shalelu.
It would appear that you have the undivided attention of both Black Arrow leaders and the Treeslayer.
Cai’nan remains quiet in the back of the procession, a hand on the back of Krodha’s armor with a firm grip to help keep the dinosaur in check, just in case. Part of him wanted to immediately go and give Jeevika a warm hug, but he knew that would be foolish. So he simply stood quietly with his head down.