"A baby neh-thalggu. I... recall... reading about it. I think it... Let me see... Could there be more of them? A brood?"
He sends another dagger of force flying at it.
HP 13 / 13
AC 14
1st level spells 3/5
Phrenic pool 2/3
Ajir is fully struck by the creatures emitted rainbow, and slumps onto Antrellus' legs.
HP: 20/20. Hero Points: 1. Investiture Pool: 5. Ki Pool: 3.
AC: 16. Touch: 13. Flat: 13. CMD: 12. CMB: 1.
Features: Evasion
Effects:
Unconscious: 4 rounds
Blind: 5 rounds
Stunned: 5 rounds
Sebastien winces as his eyes are assaulted by the barrage of light and color but he refuses to look away.
"I am not a monster. I will not hide from the light." he thinks as he levels the crossbow at the creature.
"That's definitely not a worm. Keep it away from Ajir!"
Milo's eyes take on a distant cast as the worm-like horror so vividly... appears. The scalpel clatters to the wooden planks. "Death. Death and blood. Against such an abomination draw arms. There is no...
"...what? No. That--"
Milo shakes his head as if to argue away something unheard, and then makes a gesture as if to block or ward away the unseen. A barely visible heat shimmer appears in mid-air, over his arm, in the ghostly outline of a shield.
⚔ Yes! Good! Now draw me! Draw US! ⚔
...no...
Milo half-stumbles through the door, and strikes with his hand, seeking to punch the blighted horror with his closed fist.
His heart is clearly not in the blow.
Millicent was not expecting to see a sudden burst of magic from the little creature, so her mind is slow to grasp what happened. She steps up to the door for a closer look at what the hells is going on. She quickly makes the assessment that bathing the place in fire is not the best idea, and draws her dagger. With a fumbling movement that almost ends with her cutting herself, she tries to attack the little bugger.
HP: 15/19. Hero Points: 1. 1st level spells 4/5.
AC: 12. Touch: 12. Flat: 10. CMD: 13. CMB: 0.
Features:
Effects: Heightened Awareness
Milovic enters the building, protecting himself first, then throwing a shaky fist at the bobbing insectoid creature. Marinus resists the aberration's spell, then discourages the little thing with a potent jab of magic, which proves fully potent!
This infant of its species is certainly a rare thing in these lands, and yet, here one is. If Antrellus is right about the cultists, they might be in possession of another means of infection/incubation. Did Marisol fall victim to the same thing? Difficult to say, from what Antrellus has voiced. The ability to care for the spawn prior to insemination into a human body must be difficult procedure...
Ajir stares into the array of overwhelming colors, and finds himself unable to stand, slumping to the treehouse floor, unconscious, and quite accessible...
Sebastien stands unwavering, then strikes true with his crossbow bolt!! Unfortunately, the creature's hide appears to resist the puncture wound that should have surely injured it.
Millicent spies the birthed beast through the doorway, and flicks her dagger's blade at it, hoping to pin it to the wall. Its size proves advantageous to avoiding the blow.
The Death of Antrellus sizes up Milovic with independently-moving eyes, and takes a moment to protect itself before moving.
This time it fails, and the critter loses its spell!! It buzzes its wings in something that sounds like universal frustration, before shifting around Milovic, and studying the room more closely.
...
Round 3
Marinus continues his assault, projecting his force of will into the creature's grotesquery.
"Die, for pity's sake. Die!"
HP 13 / 13
AC 14
1st level spells 2/5
Phrenic pool 2/3
Sebastien's eyes widen in surprise as the bolt glances off the tiny creature.
"That bolt should have torn something that size apart!"
Not missing a beat Sebastien reloads his crossbow for another shot and whispers a short prayer. "Lady of Graves let this shot strike true."
As the words leave Sebastien's lips his crossbow begins to shed pale blue light.
Milo wobbles a little after his off-balance strike. When is the last time he tried to strike anyone, can he even remember--? He's wanted to be a man of peace...
⚔ Plant your feet! Come on now! You can do better than this, soldier! ⚔
He takes a breath. Tries again.
Thrice damned is the poor little newborn! Marinus marinates it with another unerring missile of magic, Milovic mauls the mewling menace with a thump that overcomes the creature's defense, and Sebastien severs its ties with this reality, pinning its pocket body to the wall of the treehouse!
Marinus gives a little cheer and claps both Milo and Sebastien on their shoulders. Then he sobers when his gaze lands on Antrellus' imploded head.
"It wouldn't be easy for a neh-thalggu to gestate here. They're quite rare. I suggest we search for evidence about how it got here. If he was lucid in his last moments, and there actually is a cult, it could be they mean to infect others with this blight. Though it would be difficult."
He begins to search for clues.
Milo stares down dazedly at the little horror, and then at his hand, and then at the horror again, stuck to the wall by Sebastien's arrow.
"...what... what IS a... neh-thalggu, for the love of all the gods-? --oh, hells, Ajir-- ah-- Madame Jones-- Antrellus"
Briefly flustered, Milo takes a moment for one deep breath. Come now, triage... Antrellus is clearly dead, and Jones's injuries aren't life threatening, and Ajir is an unknown quantity... He drops to a knee to check Ajir's pulse before anything else, cracks one of the man's eyes to see it glassy and unfocused.
"Just unc-unconscious from those lights. Madame, I'll, I'll see to that bolt, nuh-now..."
He looks ashen and queasy as he approaches Millicent, though it's hardly for the blood of her injury. "Give me a muh-moment, you don't want the, the flesh to heal around the bolt..."
It's not an ideal operating theatre, but Milo snaps the bolt in half to aid its removal, grimacing an apology for the likely discomfort to Millicent, and then carefully extracts it before hurriedly healing the bleeding hole.
So bright... Ajir's eyes have rolled back in on themselves as he falls to the ground.
He's taken back to that moment. He can feel the sweat on his skin. The thin shirt stuck to his back. The cracked dried mud of his dirty clothing chafing against him. The soft mountain breeze keeping the heat of exertion from making the day miserable.
The brightness! He can feel it. It makes his body tremble. It makes the earth tremble. And then it can be seen. A cacophony of light and heat spewing forth from the monastery door and engulfing everything in its vicinity.
He can feel the breeze turn to a gust and then into a hot blast of wind that takes him to his feet...
As soon as he's tended to Millicent, Milo turns back to Ajir, rummaging for the waterskin he keeps with him. He crouches by the other man, splashing some water onto his face.
"Ajir? Mr. Jiro?"
Emm stands perfectly still and calm as Milo removes the bolt and heals the wound. She remains unexpectedly stoic throughout the whole affair, despite the pain. Getting her whole torso tattooed did a great deal for her pain tolerance. "Do not mind the ink. That is supposed to be there."
Once Milo is done and Ajir becomes the new patient to focus on, Emm turns her attentions to investigating the corpse of the late Antrellus.
Time begins to tick away the effects leveled succesfully against Ajir the Unconscious. His state shifts from truly unaware and unable to react, to unable to see and unable to react, to able to see and unable to react, to finally able on all counts.
Meanwhile, Marinus and the curious take to the treehouse, seeking the dark corners for anything that might shed light on the affairs of the late Antrellus.
Antrellus has few possessions of value, but you do turn up a magnifying glass, steel mirror, hourglass, and merchant’s scale. There is also a small box with 15 sheets of parchment and 7 bottles of ink.
On the person of Antrellus, well, more likely under his cooling body, you find his light crossbow, a morningstar, and a quarrel of 10 bolts, as well as the rag doll he was so proud to show you earlier.
Items aside, you examine the poor deceased man. The skull implosion suggests that he no longer has a brain. The embryonic thing did abandon the skull cavity in search of lower bodily sections. Sadly, his frame is withered of malnutrition, making it easier for Ajir and embryo to burst the rib cage open...
Try as you might, the mappings, the yarn, the various tchotchkes embedded and set aside in the crate make little sense, as a whole. His notes are little more than the ramblings of a very disturbed human, but there is a section on 'haunts of vengeance', as he cries foul of the black bird, as spy of the cultists, and the need for its murder. The notes allude to proper burial ritual as means of ridding himself completely of the ghostly raven.
Emm thoroughly cleans off the crossbow and bolts with her prestidigitation, then takes it to hold onto. She also scans the room with detect magic, curious to see if there are any other potentially troublesome creatures and/or magicks about.
"Well, if he's talking about the ghost bird, it seemed pretty friendly last night. I'm thinking he was either delusional or deliberately led astray by that awful thing. They collect brains."
"I agree. Either way, I imagine we will need to find the bird. Having it on-hand to answer questions would be ideal. What is that Andoren idiom? 'A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush?'" There is a lewd joke--involving equivocating slang usages of terms with their common proper usages--that she yearns to make but decides to hold back. She starts thinking of Agnes again, as she could always get a bright laugh out of her at times like these. Agnes always loved how Emm could say anything absolutely stonefaced and make it sound dignified.
Marinus bursts out laughing. "You know what that looks like in sign, right?" He proceeds to make some gestures that no doubt make Milo blush.
There's a faint Abjuration Aura associated with the rag doll. It must be a Guardian Moppet!
These simple dolls, crudely sewn from burlap, rags, and dark thread with bone button eyes and stuffed with old wool in the semblance of a child or kindly animal, are usually crafted by orphaned witch-prodigies to guard children against those who would harm them.
A Guardian Moppet grants a +2 Resistance Bonus to Saves against Witch Hexes and hides the bearer from the Child-Scent Hex as long as it is held in hand or worn around the neck; it can be held while wielding a buckler or light shield.
In addition, when worn or carried by a child , each Guardian Moppet can detect the presence of one menace that children fear: Aliens (aberrations, outsiders), Bad People (monstrous humanoids, or humanoids with a subtype different from the bearer’s, including shapechangers), Bad Spirits (fey, undead), Creepy-Crawlies (oozes, vermin, Tiny or smaller animals), or Monsters (dragons, magical beasts).
If a creature of its type comes within 20 feet, the Guardian Moppet awakens its bearer if asleep (with a Silent Mental Alarm), or begins to weep and cry aloud if its bearer is awake; in either case, the bearer is protected by a Sanctuary (Will DC 11) for 1 minute that affects only creatures of the chosen types. The Guardian Moppet must have line of effect to detect creatures of its type; thus, solid barriers prevent its detection. It cannot be fooled by stealth (including magical Invisibility or Silence), but it cannot detect creatures that are astral, ethereal, or polymorphed.
This Guardian Moppet is keyed to Aliens.
Emm signs back to Marinus in-kind, happy to have someone who appreciates a good joke.
She stops as she gets a ping on her detection spell. She holds up the doll and looks it over with a curious eye. ”This is a guardian moppet. Most of its powers are unfortunately rather useless to us and the previous owner, but it does provide some minor resistance versus witch hexes. As long as you wear it about the neck or hold it in-hand, of course. Were a child to possess it. They would have a measure of protection against, ahem, ‘aliens.’ So aberrations and outsiders.”
As Millicent cleans the newly acquired crossbow Sebastien hefts the morningstar. "If nobody wants this I could probably use an option for fighting in close quarters."
After waiting a moment to see if someone else has a desire for the weapon he moves about the room stooping to recover and examine his fired ammunition.
Once he has stowed his weaponry Sebastien examines the tapestry once again.
"Can anyone make sense of what he was doing here? I get that it was supposed to show the movements of the cult but I just don't understand what these things are supposed to mean."
"Hm. Maybe we could find a kid who this'll work with, and drag them around town. That might tell us if there are any more baby neh-thalggu..." Marinus begins to gather Antrellus' notes and such to examine later.
Emm nods at Basti’s suggestion to take io the morningstar. ”A classic—if brutal—weapon. Good to have on you. You can take this crossbow and the bolts if you want. I have spells, should the need arise.”
As for Marinus’s suggestion, she does seriously consider the idea for a moment, but she finally shakes her head. ”I would prefer to avoid the involvement of any children. It only detects such creatures within 20 ft, so scouring the whole town would be difficult, and even were we to do so, the little blighter would have an easy time staying out of range.”
She begins trying to collect the notes on the hauntings and the burial ritual, along with anything else that looks useful. ”Collecting what materials look relevant and taking them back to the professor’s might be the best way to proceed. Unless anyone has an objection?”
"No thanks." Sebastien says, shaking his head in response to Millicent's offer. "A second crossbow wouldn't do me much good and too many bolts would probably just weigh me down."
"Sounds like a good idea." he responds, as Millicent and Marinus start collecting the notes. "I'd like to dig Antrellus a simple grave and say a few words first though. I doubt the townsfolk would be agreeable to burying him in the restlands but he deserves better than us leaving him like this. I'd welcome any help but I can meet you back at the Professor's house if you'd rather get started on studying his notes."
[b]"Are you sure cremation isn't a better idea? I don't believe there could be... further infection in the body... but it might not hurt to be cautious."[b] Marinus helps in any way he can with Antrellus' body.
"Ashes..." the monk mumbles, as water washes over him.
Ajir stands, using the doctor's shoulder to help steady himself as the spinning of his surroundings comes to a stop.
"Ugh. Thanks for waking me Doctor."
He shakes his head as the sound of conversation comes to him, and takes in the scene of the room.
Eventually, he takes the time to take a piece of parchment and some ink and jots down what he can from Antrellus' mad parchment, and the details (if any) of the ritual he alludes to regarding the bird.
"Likely, he would have needed to bury the bird whose corpse we found in the fountain to gain some peace. The question is, who was seeking it. Antrellus or... that thing?"
"We should inform the sheriff of the death of Antrellus. He might appreciate the news, sadly, but we would be better served by informing the law rather than being suspects of it later."
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Fire crackles off Emm's hands. "Cremation might be for the best. I can provide such a service, should we decide upon it."
Sebastien's gaze darts to the creature's corpse. "Oh! Sure. I didn't realize there could be more of them. Cremation is a fine idea."
Squatting down by Antrellus' body Sebastien lifts it's arms. "We should probably do so outside the tree house though. Would someone mind getting his legs?"
For the Descension of Antrellus, Sebastien finds a rope off the balcony which served the madman in life to quickly drop to the forest floor. The body is lowered, and brought a safe distance from the treehouse and rope bridge, to be set afire by the hand of Millicent, in as much respectful ritual can be afforded here in the seclusion of the southern forest.
Gathering up the paperwork, personal effects, and miscellany in the crate, the Bereaved depart for Ravengro proper. The return walk through the woods feels somehow less oppressive than it did on your approach. Your faces are even treated to a little warmth from sunlight that finds your cheeks by happenstance.
...
Entering the Lorrimor Place, you are greeted by the smell of mulled wine lightly simmering on the fire. Kendra is absent in the kitchen, but is easily enough found in quiet scribing in the study adjacent. She looks up, her hair a little disheveled, her face flush of excitement as she continues her written work. "Welcome back. Help yourselves to the wine, if you're thirsty. I haven't had time to prepare anything. I imagine I'll have several more hours before I'm done. I'm sure you'll be able to entertain yourselves." She nods to herself, and sets back to work on her partially-finished scroll...
Welcome back to the Lorrimor Place.
What will you do with your afternoon?
Millicent waits until everyone is at a distance before fanning her fingers out and blasting a powerful cone of flame over Antrellus’s body. She watches him burn. Ever since she was a child and watched her parents’ fireplace, she loved to see how the fire moved. She’d try to figure out which little changes in pressure in the air caused it to twist this way instead of that.
She also loved the smell. Everything had a unique fragrance that only appeared as it was consumed down to nothing, as though it were throwing its very essence into the air. Even the horrible smells—such as that of Antrellus’s burning—were worth experiencing, especially when it was a person burning. The intimacy of witnessing such an event brought a shudder to her skin. The years upon years of decay into dust—decay that might have far exceeded the person’s life—rendered into a few moments. The life that would seep and disintegrate from a body burst into a single shining flame. As Agnes would put it, Emm loves that s%%~.
Emm calmly takes a ladle of mulled wine for herself. ”I was thinking perhaps of seeing the town. There are still a number of places I have not visited yet and would love to acquaint myself with more. Oh, and would happen to have a suggestion on a place to purchase cigarettes? Cigarillos would be acceptable under duress, though I do prefer to inhale.”
Marinus takes possession of the doll as the party prepares Antrellus for cremation. He attunes his psychic senses to it, attempting to learn more about it's previous owner. His head swirls as he does so, leaving him somewhat dazed.
Once per day, you can concentrate for 1 minute while in physical contact with an item or location, during which you receive flashes of insight regarding the subject’s nature and ownership. After 1 minute, you attempt a DC 15 Appraise check to decipher the visions.
You gain one piece of information about the historical significance or the last previous owner—such as a glimpse of the last owner’s appearance or its emotional state when it last used the item—determined by the GM.
You learn one more piece of information for every 10 by which your check result exceeds the DC, as long as you concentrate for 1 additional minute for each piece of information.
If you fail the check by less than 5 or the item has no significant psychic imprint, you don’t learn any information. If you fail this check by 5 or more, the item appears to be psychically significant even if it’s not, and the information you gain is wildly inaccurate.
If you attempt to use psychometry on an item affected by charge object or implant false reading, you automatically learn all information imprinted by the spell. You must also attempt a Will save.
If the item is affected by an implant false reading spell, on a success, you realize the information was false, and can determine the true information as well. On a failure, or if the item is affected by a charge object spell, you believe the information is true.
Milo frowns at Ajir's suggestion. "I am not so sure. Again, under nuh-normal circumstances I would prefer to c-cooperate with the law. He's already demonstrated, however, that he doesn't care about Antrellus's fate-- the man seems to be..." Milo pauses, wincing, glancing at the wretched corpse, "seemed to be liked by, by, nuh-nobody in the town at all. Whereas we are... accumulating enemies, such as Gibs Hephenus-- or at least, people who, who, ah, dislike our puh-presence here. How would you t-tell the sheriff the truth of what happened here, Ajir? 'We went to a talk to a ss-social outcast, and then, a worm erupted from his brain and killed him?' With us con... conveniently the only witnesses? Do you th..think that would be believed? I would have had trouble buh-believing it if I hadn't seen the thing myself.
"I don't... I don't like the idea of keeping this s-secret. But I don't think telling the sheriff of it does anything but place us in the middle of bi-bizarre trouble, and from that it's a short walk indeed to being labeled as troublemakers, such as Gibs would... would paint us."
Milo exhales after saying all this, a troubled look on his face, and dribbles some waater from his canteen onto his hands to try and rinse them clean. He looks up rather appalled at the so-quick suggestions for a cremation.
"Juh-just like that? This poor muh-man died before us and-- that's it? We'll just-- burn him? Take his goods for our own use? What lives do you all lead, to, to be so...." he trails off helplessly, and shakes his hands dry.
" I... suh-suppose it is a mercy he has no family here, in its way.... Sebastien, you are sworn to Pharasma, yes? Perhaps at least a few... a few words for his soul?"
Milovic jams his hands under his armpits as the service, such as it is, is held. The image of Antrellus's pulped skull will not leave him anytime soon. He is not cut out for this life, he thinks. No matter how the voice in his mind seems.... excited by it.
"We should take this hideous little worm carcass with us," he says after Antrellus is more ash than not. "I... I don't know what we could do with it. But it... is, is, evidence, of a sort, that we are finding some, some true problem here, and not merely asking people uncomfortable quh-questions for no reason."
Milo takes it on himself to collect the neg-thalggu if no one else does, though with obvious revulsion for the freakish little monster. He is silent for the walk back to town, sending up his own prayer to Pharasma that the poor madman can find some peace in the next world, at least.
***
Back at Kendra's, he glances to the others first, to see if they have any objections to Kendra being told some, at least, of their eventful day.
Emm folds her arms and stares long and steady at Milo. ”This sort of caper is indeed right in-line with my life. Those stories are for another day, though.” She taps at her chin. ”Your point about keeping matters quiet makes sense to me. Perhaps we should loop Ms. Lorrimor in and see how she assesses the situation?”
Emm folds her arms and stares long and steady at Milo. ”This sort of caper is indeed right in-line with my life. Those stories are for another day, though.”
Milo just looks aghast.
"Then I am sorry you've had a life that has inured you to... to the pitiable death of a pitiable soul," he says after a few seconds, with a shake of his head. "I hope I never become so, so... jaded."
Milovic takes possession of the corpse of the baby aberration, while Marinus attunes himself to the rag doll.
You feel your forearm muscles tighten, a reptilian reflex of prey readying itself to imminent flight. Abject fear of discovery, your leg feels warm and wet.
Antrellus, before his corruption, was a reasonably handsome man. Full set of teeth, hair fully dark and well groomed, and nary a liver spot. Gentle eyes, as well, lids calm, not pulled back in ocular rictus.
"Oh, and would happen to have a suggestion on a place to purchase cigarettes? Cigarillos would be acceptable under duress, though I do prefer to inhale.”
Kendra bites the wood of her fountain pen, observing her writing a moment, before answering without looking up. "The General Store should at least have rolling papers and grinds."
"Oh. Dear." Marinus shakes himself from his revery to find his trousers wet. "I'll need to clean these. One moment."
The pants wrinkle, wringing themselves and propelling a mist away from the boy and his companions. "That was embarrassing. Ah, poor Antrellus. His last moments before the infection... Such terror..."
Marinus sips on the mulled wine he poured for himself before seeking out Kendra. "We found Antrellus just before... Have you heard of a neg-thalggu?"
"I can hardly fight the horrors of the world if their mere sight is enough to cow me. You build up an armor for it."
Millicent tries to remember the last time she let such things bother her in the moment instead of bottling them up for later. She honestly cannot remember. Her cold-blooded murder of her boss was more of a coda to that journey than a beginning.
Millicent takes a sip of her own mulled wine. "Thank you, dear. I shall make sure not to smoke within the house or within ten feet of the door. There is no reason to punish you all for my self-destructive habits."
She takes another sip, using the mug to cover her expression as she watches to see how Kendra reacts, less out of suspicion and more out of habit.
Ajir stands silent as the energy of Antrellus' physical form is released into the open air. His eyes spend most of their time watching the flames though he does spend a few moments to watch and listen to the reactions of the rest of the group.
"I don't... I don't like the idea of keeping this s-secret. But I don't think telling the sheriff of it does anything but place us in the middle of bi-bizarre trouble, and from that it's a short walk indeed to being labeled as troublemakers, such as Gibs would... would paint us."
"I have little doubt that being-labeled troublemakers will find us eventually. Sooner now, once someone's relief from Antrellus' presence turns to suspicion."
"I can hardly fight the horrors of the world if their mere sight is enough to cow me. You build up an armor for it."
"You've faced these dangers before?"
"Neg'thalggu. What is that? And since it had succeeded in... hiding itself, why did it alert us of... others?" Air asks while trying to hide the experience behind the question from Kendra.
Marinus nods at Emm's reply. He signs to her,
Yes, living will do that. These young ones will learn.
Turning to Ajir, he explicates more bluntly than the monk might prefer. "Perhaps its gestation had ended. Adult neg'thalggus look somewhat like crabs, but they gain power from consuming the brains of sentient creatures. At some point in my lives, I ran across a brief article in a bestiary that spoke of their different stages of life. I believe we prevented a much more terrifying horror."
He says all of this very evenly, observing Kendra's response. He offers, "Can I get you a refill? I imagine we could all use strong drink just now."
Ajir gets a look of concern, but waits until he's out of earshot of Kendra to continue his discussion with the child, and any other party members present to hear it.
"How long does it take for a Neg'thalggus to hatch?" Ajir asks, unsure of the appropriate wording, but with the tone of interest and concern on his voice.
"Would it take a similar amount of time as a round-trip from Ravengro to Jamalray? Perhaps the description of the Professor's body is incorrect."
Ajir shudders to think of some unnatural beast snacking on the Professor's great and compassionate mind. He shakes his head again as he recognizes the strangeness of his feelings; hoping that his friend died to crumbling architecture.
Sebastien stands slightly behind Millicent as she cremates Antrellus and says a few words to commemorate his passing. "Lady, this man has suffered greatly and experienced great loss, and yet in his way he fought to eliminate corruption until his dying breath. May he find comfort in your embrace."
Turning back to the others he places a hand gently on Milo's shoulder. "He deserved far better but if there was even a chance another of those creatures might hatch from his remains it had to be done. Know that the Lady looks favorably on souls with the resiliency to weather life's hardships as Antrellus did. He is at peace despite his violent end."
Sebastien pours himself some of the mulled wine and sips it quietly as he watches the exchange. "The thing incapacitated one of us in moments. I shudder to think what it could have done if we'd allowed it to mature."
He perks up when Marinus and Millicent start signing to each other. "Would one of you mind showing me the basics of that? If it's something personal I'll understand. I don't want to intrude but it seems like it might come in handy if we need to communicate and we don't want someone listening in."
"We found Antrellus just before... Have you heard of a neh-thalggu?"
Kendra wrinkles her forehead in thought, briefly. "No, I can't say that I have. Is it a kind of food, or religious ritual? I can't place the etymology of the expression."
"Thank you, dear. I shall make sure not to smoke within the house or within ten feet of the door. There is no reason to punish you all for my self-destructive habits."
"Very kind of you, Millicent. In the colder months, guests smoke by the fireplace, when their urges grow impatient."
She speaks plainly enough. Perhaps her current work has her distracted enough to deny her the focus to speak politely.
"Can I get you a refill? I imagine we could all use strong drink just now."
"I'm good, thank you, Marinus." Kendra calls out her response to the boy, in case he's addressing all of those gathered.
The conversation continues among the Bereaved, out of Kendra's earshot, and the afternoon begins to bleed away slowly. There is still plenty of time to visit the local stores before end of business day, and there is still the rumination of looping various Ravengro residents into the Death of Antrellus...
Emm signs back to Marinus while she answer’s Ajir’s question about her past experiences. ”Stories for another day. We will just leave it there for now.”
”I am glad you understand.”
She smiles at Basti as he inquires about learning. ”I certainly would not mind sharing. It is useful knowledge for our work.”
And to Kendra, she chuckles. ”I shall keep that in mind. I do much prefer being in heat when the situation allows.” She liked smoking more for having something on fire near her in a socially acceptable manner than any addiction.
Millicent finishes her mug and then goes to clean it out. ”Very well then. I think I’m ready for a little excursion to the shops. Who is with me?”
Ajir waits for a response from Marinus, concern causing a wrinkle in his brow.
"I'll join you Emm." the monk offers.
"Yes, I could use some fresh knickers. Mother only packed enough for a week, after all." Marinus tucks the doll into his satchel after putting his coat back on.
Shrugging off Marinus' silence, Ajir turns to the scholarly Emm during the walk into town. "Would you know how long it takes for a Neg'thalggus to hatch?"
When Ajir arrives at the general store, he will realize he is sorely underfunded for any adventuring gear. Might need to take a job while I'm here. He keeps an eye open for any opportunities for a farmer or singer to earn coin.