Xeria flies into the house and alights in the rafters so she can see the kitchen and the cloak. She waits for the distraction to occur not quite knowing what to expect. During the string of profanities at the one involving the improbable journey with the sheep and farm implements she chuckles, "Oh that was a good one, I'll have to remember that one for later." She waits for the people in the kitchen to be distracted.
"Ears?"
Snowball turns her head to look behind herself. Unsatisfied, she then rolls over a few times trying to look at her own head to see what ears she has.
The woman rushes into the room, shouting "Snowball!!! You get out of that room or else you'll never be allowed inside again!" Once there, she is frustrated to see no cat in sight. "Darned thing..." she mutters. Xeria, meanwhile, manages to snatch the cloak while the woman is quite distracted. The two atomies, one living, one undead, fly away from the far with the cloak. They soon reunite with the group and see their Snowball rolling around on the ground inexplicably.
"Boo!", Tina shouts as she decloaks in front of Sevren. "We got the cloak for Gorthug. We should probably get him suited up. There was a farm just up the way. We should probably try to steer clear of it. We don't want anybody recognizing their own cloak. Maybe we should try making it a bit dirtier, or change it a bit? Cindy, I saw you cleaning things earlier, can you do some of the opposite?"
She pulls out her little flask and shakes it a bit, looks disappointed, and then reaches into her robes and pulls out another, and sips from that. "The farm seemed pretty nice. The apprently have a cat, named Snowball of all things. And there was a girl about your age, Sevren. Her ma says she has the best loaves in town. I don't know if that's the kind of thing you're into or not, but that might be one way to get the townsfolk on to better terms with us..." she trails off, while gesturing vaguely. Then she furrows her brow as she notices the pot. "Bob, is your pot dented? what were you all doing while we were gone? That thing is cast iron. The only way it could have dented is if... Oh." She notices the small crater where Bob landed after his brief arial adventure, and does a few quick calculations in her head. "Have fun?"
"Snowball?
Can good Snowball eat cat Snowball?" Snowball asks, her head tilted.
"NO! Kitties are cute and soft and snuggly and have pointy ears! And they're nice! You can eat all kinds of people if you want, but not kitties."
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Sevren gestures toward Gorthug and the cloak. "Well I guess you'd better put this on. Let's try to head into town." He looks at Xeria "So... you're my little sister and Cindy is your... not moving little sister?" He holds out the pot for Bob, amused. "I suppose we'll hope no one looks too closely in the pot." He then hands the pot to Gorthug. "Let's go?"
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"Bob is not Bob anymore. He is named Not-Bob and please and thank you for calling him Not-Bob, as Not-Bob has learned that Master never meant to call Not-Bob Bob and that Not-Bob is not an Uncle of any sort."
Not-Bob gives a sound of depression that you didn't even know he could make as he oozes into his pot and tries to act like soup.
Gorthug wore his disguise. Now nobody would be able to tell that he was an animated corpse with a tortured soul tethered to it, stuck in constant anguish all because an evil wizard took offense to an insult and felt like doing an experiment. Not at all.
It covered enough of him that so long as the hood didn’t fall down, an average person might not notice any of the above.
"Not-Bob, I don't know if we're related, but you can be my uncle if it makes you feel better. I'll call you 'Uncle Not-Bob' from now on."
Cindy climbs up onto Gorthug and pretends to be Xeria's doll, while quickly cleaning up their new cloak and changing it from a [whatever color it used to be] to a nice sky blue with white trim.
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Tina sizes up Gorthug, "You're looking good. not at all like a terrifying corpse animated by evil intent. Not even like a normal corpse. Just keep quiet, and I think you'll pass fine enough. Shouldn't be too hard for you eh, Gorthug?" She pokes the tall draugr in the ribs with her minuscule elbow.
"You got it Not-Bob. You might still be an uncle, though. Do you have any brothers or sisters?"
Tina makes herself invisible, and sits on Sevren's right shoulder "Now you know where I am," she whispers in the young man's ear, "Seriously though, it seems like your ma doesn't let you get out of the cave that much. It must be hard to meet other folks your age who are, ah, interesting, to you. Not that I'm one to judge. I mean look at me. Well actually, don't since I'm invisible. But I mean, my family line is pretty crazy. I wasn't expecting for one of my who-knows-how-many-great grandkids to be this tiny little fey. I hated it at first, but it's actually starting to grow on me. But hopefully not actually grow. Being small has its uses." Tina is speaking rapidly now, and pauses to take a big breath. Sevren hears the little lid of her flask come off. "Look kid, what I'm trying to say is, ah, you should feel free to love who you want. It doesn't matter if it's a human male, or female, from the town, or you go on a noble quest to find another tiefling, or you find a dwarf along the way. Or maybe you come into contact with the great old ones, and they set you up with an octopus. It doesn't matter, just so long as you find what makes you happy. Tina makes a nostalgic little sigh, "And an octopus can make you happy. Oh, <Shpulfhruf>, how I miss you. Anyway, if you ever need tips, or advice, or a little Cyrano de Bergerac, well, I'm invisible, and already whispering in your ear."
"Snowball is sneaky! Is fake cat!" Snowball says as she sneaks along behind the others, using her speed advantage to keep up without difficulty.
Sevren looks confusedly at Tina's invisible position and shrugs. "Um... ok. Thanks I guess..."
Then the group heads into town with Xeria pretending to be a little girl, Bob in a pot, Cindy pretending to be a doll, Tina invisible, Snowball sneaking around, Gorthug in an altered cloak, while Goldslip and Ripper wait outside of town (since I don't think they proposed anything else).
The village of Trogsdale:
Market: This sleepy little village holds a weekly market that attracts surrounding farmers.
Constable's office: Law enforcement is provided by the constable and his dozen deputies.
Mayor's house: The mayor is in charge but makes few decisions of import. He lives on the central square near the market.
Hog's Hoof: The most popular tavern in Trogsdale, known for its bounty board and fine ales.
The Blue Ogre Inn: The other tavern in Trogsdale. Frequented by disreptuable folks.
Caramac's Fine Goods: One of two general stores in town. Bigger and newer than the other.
Granny Davies' Food and Stuff: The other general store in town. Cheaper but goods of questionable value.
"So I guess we should just go buy the stuff then leave, right?" Sevren mutters in a low voice.
Cindy mentally causes a whispering voice to appear right next to Sevren's ear. "If we see a cauldron, or tools for making dolls or carpentry, could we get those too? I have some money here to pay for them."
Gorthug stomped along behind Sevrn, slightly hunched over. The sheer mental exertion from before had taken its toll on him. Whether he was in a town, a dungeon or the bottom of a lake, it didn’t matter. All he could do was obey his orders.
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Tina thinks at Not-Bob, "Not-Bob, you can't just take someone else's name. Then what do we call them? It doesn't work like that. Unless you destroy their body, assume their identity, and live out the rest of their life for them. Then you can take their name."
She whispers to Sevren, "Ah, Trogsdale. I remember when I helped set up this little village a few hundred years ago, so that there would be a trading post in easy walking distance. Got an earth elemental to lay the foundation for the Mayor's house. Fun fact, the name Trogsdale comes from the fact that this valley used to be jam packed with trogldytes. I helped the settlers clear them out, and moved them back into our cave, but thegoblins endedup killing them all. Oh well. Anyway, took a few decades for the stink to clear out of the valley, but the name stuck. Also, spice merchants know this is a good place to sell expired goods, since nobody here is capable of smelling anything."
"So, ah, Ripper, is it?" Goldslip says as she sits down on a small rock. "Do you like pets and scratches, Ripper?"
Sevren looks around in some confusion while he begins walking into the village, Gorthug holding a cast iron pot and shuffling next to him. "Um... ok we'll go shopping first then I guess we can go to the tavern? I don't have any extra money to get a drink, though. Lucian will be angry if I spend any more than I have to." He looks down in frustration. "Not like she can't afford it..."
You forward on the dirt road between roughly-made wooden houses. People look at Sevren and his cloaked companion as if they are fairly odd with Gorthug's attire and Xeria holding Cindy. You can see that somewhat closer to the center of town some of the streets are cobbled and some of the buildings are stone. Still on the outskirts, Sevren leads you into a shop.
There you find an old woman sitting behind a wooden counter. "Hello dearies. Take a look about then let me know what you want and we'll haggle." The store contains many barrels and sacks of various foodstuffs, tools, and a few knick-knacks.
Skulking in an alley, unobserved by anyone, Snowball is approached by a large, grey and brown, curious tomcat. "Mrreeoow?" it inquires as it approaches to sniff Snowball.
Cindy does her best to eye the goods while remaining as still as possible, and then whispers to Xeria "I see a cauldron over there. If Sevren could buy that for me I'll get him a drink so he doesn't have to use Mommy's money. My money is in my pouch."
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Get the cauldron? Gorthug heard that. He shambled over and picked up the cauldron. Luckily, he held the heavy item with one hand, so his cloak still disguised the fact that his skin was green. His other hand was holding Bob/Not-Bob/Someone’s-Uncle/The-Ooze-Formerly-Known-As-Bob’s-Yer-Uncle. He shambled back over to Sevrn, completely ignoring anything but the words of his companions.
must be cat, Snowball best fake cat...
Snowball hesitates a moment before replying to the tomcat.
"Meat!" she says right before she unleashes her 15' cone of icy breath all over the cat and the ally.
Snowball then proceeds to take bites out of the tomcat as much as she is able...
Xeria enjoys her time wandering around town with the menagerie. When in the general store, when she spots candy, she'll take it to Sevren and squeal, "Can I have the candy daddy? Can I? Can I? Huh? Huh? Huh? You never buy me anything!" while jumping up and down looking excited while reveling in Sevren's discomfort.
While watching Xeria's antics, Cindy breaks into a huge grin then worries that she might have messed up her job pretending to be inanimate. Luckily for her, she has a porcelain doll face which can't actually flex so all of her facial expressions are purely in her mind.
Sevren whispers to Xeria (and Not-Bob) in a low tone "Umm... I really only have enough to spend on what I was supposed to buy... Did you have any money... er... saved up?"
There is indeed a fine hat on the shelf (1 gp) and several types of candy (1 cp per 5 pieces of candy) in the store.
After the purchases from Granny's, Sevren has all of the basic goods that he came for. "Ok I guess we can go to the tavern for a little bit, just to see what's going on. They'll probably throw me out, though, if I don't get a drink." He walks toward the Hog's Hoof where you can hear a little music coming out at this afternoon hour.
Inside, a few customers drink while a burly human man stands behind the bar, cleaning glasses. Nailed to the bounty board on the wall are various posters.
Fresh bear belts, 20 gp bounty. Turn pelts in to Simon the Tanner
Black Lew, bandit, last seen in the hills to the east of town. 50 gp bounty. Armed and dangerous. Accomplices likely. 50 gp. Turn head in to Constable.
An a hand-scrawled note that looks quite rough "My outhouse is haunted. I'll give my grandpa's old ring to anyone who can deal with it. Old Man Swain."
Ripper rubs against you, desiring to be scratched behind the forelegs.
The terrified cat jumps straight up in the air, dodging the worst of the breath but still very much the worse for wear. It lands and starts trying to hobble away.
You hear her expounding upon Trogsdale's history while sipping from her holy water and alcohol mixture. There may be some truth to what she is saying but she can't be relied upon as the most strictly factual of sources...
Cindy continues to sit quietly. Pretending to be a doll seems to come naturally to her.
Snowball tries to eat the unfortunate cat before it can escape.
Snowball's bite on the fleeing cat is enough to finish it off. Then she commences eating the overly-curious tomcat.
Snowball hears someone approaching the alley!
Tina whispers in Sevren's ear, "We should go check out Swain's house after you get your drink. I don't want any undead around here that we don't know about."
Snowball lies down, puts the cat that's bleeding to death on her back, and tries to lie still.
Xeria fishes a copper out of Cindy's stash and looks up at the shopkeeper with big, doe eyes and hands him the copper for a handful of candy. She holds one up to Sevren, "Here you go daddy, I bought you a piece. Not that you ever buy *me* a piece of candy," she says as she rolls her eyes.
When Xeria came up to take the copper, Cindy whispered "Go ahead and take as much as you need. I would like that cauldron we saw, and Not-Bob keeps asking about that hat. Sevren will need some to buy a drink too."
"I already asked Xeria to get it for you. You were too excited when you first saw it so I figured you wanted it"
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Xeria shrugs her shoulders at Cindy's instructions and whispers, "Sure! Should I complain about dad never buying me witch's cauldrons and pimp hats too?" She giggles and proceeds to buy the aforementioned supplies.
When the shopkeeper looks at her strange for buying a cauldron she'll explain, "Other girls like to play tea party - I prefer to play witch's coven."
A farmer leans over Snowball and the dead cat. "What the Abyss happened here?" He eyes Snowball warily. "What is that thing? Some sort of white lizard?" He prods her with a booted toe.
Old Granny the shopkeeper raises an eyebrow at Xeria then cackles gleefully. For a moment, Xeria feels luckier than normal. "Good for you, sweetie. Have fun!"
In the Hog's Hoof, Sevren looks around awkwardly. "So... I guess we could go to Swain's house now?"
Cindy concentrates and her eyes flash a bit as she tries to place a whisper right next to Sevren's ear. "Before we go, I thought you wanted a drink. There's enough money in my pouch to buy you one, you're welcome to it."
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Sevren smiles at Cindy while blushing slightly. "Well thank you. That's very kind." He reaches into Cindy's pouch for a silver piece and purchases a modest mug of ale with a tiny smile. Then he motions for Gorthug and Xeria to walk over to a corner booth, bringing Bob in the pot, Cindy carried by Xeria, and invisible Tina. There he sits quietly and happily sipping his first drink.
You overhear some men by the bar talking. "Really now? The constable is covering half the bounty for every bear pelt. That's why Simon is paying 20 for them. Been quite the scourge."
The bartender growls to a man at the bar "Don't get any ideas now, Jacob. Old Man Swain's ring might hold some magic in it but I don't think he'd part with it no how."
A woman serving drinks nods to an inquiring patron. "That's right. I heard Black Lew uses a big orc bow and has his tag-alongs stand up front with spears."
The man in the alley exclaims in surprise. "What!?! A talking lizard? Don't lie to me lizard! I know you're not a dead cat. Come work with me. People would pay me to see my talking lizard!"
"Now that we're alone boss I can finally mention this. I really think we should look into the bandit Black Lew. I saw his bounty on the board earlier but couldn't mention anything. Now, I just heard someone talking about him and his bandits and rumors of the weapons they use. They sound organized and dangerous." she remarks.
Xeria continues, "I dislike the idea of a band of sneaky ambushers hanging around in the area. It's too easy to fall into an ambush of theirs. It would be prudent to surprise them rather than be surprised. Wipe them out before they now what hit them."
In her more 'little girl' voice, "Daddy can I have a sip of your drink? Can I? Can I? Huh? Huh?"
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Snowball and the surprised farmer.
"Meat!" she replies.
She then abruptly grabs the feline remains in her mouth and takes flight without giving a proper answer.