"The town's quite compact. Wouldn't have been a problem if he hadn't wanted to live away from the rest of us, would it? But anyway, the house has been abandoned since that fire, and the town got it's name."
Esha looks closely at Calvus. Calvus? Are you alright? She cocks her head and looks curiously at Calvus.
What about the plague people's house? Do you know where that is? Does anyone live there now? Can we see it?
Having been "good" the entire walk, Laurel decides to spice up the end of the trip by popping a wheelie with the old man in the chair.
Why not have a little fun before we part? is how he rationalizes to himself.
"Wheeeeeee!!!!"
"Whoooa, calm down there... not sure this old chair will take that business." the old man laughs.
To Esah, he says, "You've been walking past them a lot I think. Nearly 2/3rds of the houses in town are abandoned now. The plague did a real number on us, and we never did really recover. Ah Delma." This last is to Delma, who has just come out of the Inn.
At this point, two things happen. The first is one of the stable hands comes up to you carrying a small glass vial. She speaks to Calvus "Sir, we found this outside. We aren't sure if it has to do with the murder." she whispers.
The Second is that further up the street, and small, greenish humanoid darts across the street.
Calvus passes the vial onto Elo saying: "You should hold on to this,"
To Esha and Laurel he says "You can can catch up to that suspicious green person over there,"
Laurel dashes!
As dashing and confusion begin, Elo ignores them entirely and accepts the vial as his curiosity is piqued.
Huh... I wonder if this will have traces of the mystery substance you all mentioned to me earlier.
Shoving his cigar to the side of his mouth, he holds it up in front of his eyes, moving it back and forth until it focuses.
Esha, you can't tell for certain if it's Phinnik, but it's definitely a goblin.
The figure darts off towards the market, as you follow, you think you can get an edge by jumping over crates or shoving through piles of barrels and crates .
Laurel is up the street in a flash, right on the goblin's tail...
...backflipping over the crates like a spry bird, and turning a corner now, he gives chase right into...
Stowing the vial Elo runs after Laurel and the goblin. Trying to vault a crate, his foot catches the top of it and sends him tumbling clumsily over it into the dirt.
Calvus tries to keep up at least.
Lately he has been feeling light on his feet.
|
The Little Green One dashes ahead of Esha. Hey! You! Why are you running! Come back here! Phinnik?!
She attempts to gain some ground by heading straight for a section of barrels. Rather than jumping over, she crosses her arms in front of her and barrels straight through. She makes a bit of headway, but then Elo comes crashing down on top of her, halting any progress she may have made.
Elo! You're doing it wrong!
The gravelly voice emerges from behind the crate with a puff of smoke.
Yuuuuuup, you're probably right. Not sure why I'm doing it at all! The only way to win is to not play the game.... *cough*.
The kobold gets up and dusts himself off, sighing as he gingerly proceeds forward to follow the chase.
The spry goblin beats you through the market and heads on down the road. You need to sprint to keep up with him, let alone catch him.
Calvus is still depleted from his encounter with the parasites, still he does his best to keep up.
...and dashing through the marketplace, Laurel turns on his Varisian Afterburners, tearing through like a Bat out of Abaddon, just on the heels of the goblin, now turning into a...
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Elo looks annoyed at the encouraging advice. The more I crash I.... what?!?
Grunting, the kobold puts out his cigar, adjusts his cloak off of his upper arms, and squares up for a sprint after his new compansions.
Everyone but Elo manages to keep pace with the goblin, perhaps the Cigars aren't helping?
From the road, the Goblin turns into a muddy alleyway. The center of the alley is thick, stinking mud, but the Goblin bypasses it down one side.
...Laurel dashes across the mud bare-foot, and goes flying through the air, tackling the poor goblin to the ground!
he goes running in the opposite direction now - then doubles back, realizing suddenly exactly what game they were playing, which, is not a game so much, just a game of Chase, but with grownup consequences...
"Don' werry - they won' hurcha - I won' lettim - Uncle Calvus an' them jes' wanna talk is all!"
I, *cough* *pant*, can't keep up with all of you. But one thing I can do... avoid falling down and soiling myself.
Though Elo wore down early on, he has a sudden spry appearance as he dodges the falling mud.
The goblin Phinnik looks up from the ground where Laurel has him inadvertently pinned. His long ears dangle dejectedly. It's clear that your mere presence intimidates the poor goblin.
Esha careens through the mud puddle, splashing filth everywhere, including all over her face. She appears not to notice. You did it, Laurel! Good job! Phinnik, we found you! Why are you running away?
Calvus is showing surprising grace seeming to almost float over the mud puddle.
He coldly regards the errant goblin. "I sincerely suggest you tell us everything," he says. "Do not dare to leave anything out!,"
Yeah! This has been quite a hassle. I don't even know why we were chasing you. So make it worth it!
Elo stops, retrieves his cigar, and relights it.
The goblin takes one look at Calvus' stern features, and then just, sobs. Big, round, fat tears stream down its face and its ears droop almost to its shoulders. It takes almost a full minute before you can understand the words between the sobs.
"It was me, I put the spices in Mr. Bort's food. I didn't know it would hurt him." sob "Hallod said " sob "it would just make his tummy " sob "hurt a little bit." sob "Said I had to or he would hurt me, with his knives." he then wipes he nose down his sleeve, and arm, in one long motion. "I didn't know Mr Bort would die."
Calvus takes a deep breath and decides 0n a gentler approach:
"The only way to make this right is to tell us who coerced you into doing this,"
As Esha arrives, Laurel raises his foot into the air and points at it "Ain't nonem kin keep up wit me, fass as I am!" boasting a little here. He want to do a "high five" but doesn't know how to do it!
...
An empathic little creature, Laurel feels the pangs in his tummy when Phinnik starts to sob, and after after attempting resisting it, just cries too, confused with conflicting emotion, starting with a sniffle, and collapsing into a soft snot-nosed blubber...
Esha shakes Laurel's foot, as if she were shaking a hand. Great job, Laurel! You did good!
As she listens to Phinnik's story, her face grows stormy. I'm gonna kill 'im! Where does he live?! He hurt Calvus and now Bort too! She draws her battleaxe and start turning in place, as if she expects Hallod to suddenly appear from a nearby building.
Calvus is frustrated to say the least. Hallod was in their grasp and rather easily swatted them aside. The sensation of being punched was such a vivid fresh memory; almost a strong as the shame at being so easily bested. Some Champion! he thought.
"Alright Phinnik. Can you remember anything tat might help us find Hallod?"
It's hard to tell by now there the tears end, and the snot starts in the stream that is running from the goblin's round nose. He sniffs, and then looks at Calvus "Hallod lives in one of the plague houses, by an Old Williow, North of town. He doesn't think I know that, but I do."
"It looks abandoned, but he lives underbeith it."
Elo, still standing at the side as if not really quite part of the group yet (or still in the process of joining it), remarks Well, this is a pretty good sign that your intuition about Hallod was right.
He then turns to the goblin, and adjusts his cigar to the far right and talks to him at an angle so as to not blow smoke in his face (but probably inadvertently on someone else).
Say, how would you feel about pointing it out to us? Just once. Is there more than one entrance to the section underneath where he resides?
"I d-don't think s-so. I's seen him go in, not seen him moving about inside or fires or stuff. Think he must go underground." The goblin is sounding less and less sure about this.
"Will show you where house is though."
Laurel quickly moves from empathic sadness to sheer excitement - when Phinnick stops crying, so does he, and at the mention of "where house is" he leaps up!
"Thas rite we gon' GIT this mean'ol Hallod - secon' time ya know what they sey:..." Laurel's face seems confused in this moment - as if he forgot his own adage! - he recovers by demonstrating:
Drawing his starknives he twirls them in the air and "attacks" someone who is not there, narrating "Like a THIS an' a THAT!" showcasing his Twin Takedown ability "Ain' thet rite Esha we fit'n'da show'em whus whut!" he finishes with a cartwheel into a somersault.
[ooc]So you want to go direct to Hallod's? Nothing else on the way/first?
Calvus clears his throat and motions to the elderly man they're supposedly minding.
"Oh!" Laurel takes the hint.
Back across the mud, through the marketplace, and down the street, he returns to see if old man Delma is right where he left him!?
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
What? Maybe the old man can be a lookout for us as we scope the place out. People like being involved in things.
Elo offers, shrugging somewhat irreverently.
Laurel returns to the Inn to find no sign of the old man outside. Inside though, he can be seen complaining to his daughter as she fusses over his lunch.
|
Esha nods enthusiastically in response to Laurel's excitement. He's got it coming, the big bully! I'm ready for him this time!/[b]
Esha looks at Elo's cigar again, then at Calvus with big eyes, then back to Elo. She finally blurts out, [b]"Elo, I'll take one if you're still offering! She looks at the kobold hopefully, bouncing on her toes a bit.
Laurel watches Esha, then looks over at Elo, finally at Calvus.
He wonders where Oosa and Tezadwax went - worried they're missing all the fun.
He looks over at Delma and Old Papa Delma.
"Les go GIT this goblin-punchin' Bort-Murdren sonuva---" stopping short when he looks back at Calvus "---bumble-stuck!" is the word that clumsily falls out of his mouth...
...drawing his two star-knives, he is off like a rocketpack!
Okay okay, don't get too excited. We still have to think about what we're doing and be discrete about it.
As he's saying this he flips open his belt pouch and withdraws a cigar to offer to Esha.
You know, we have to see who can sneak around and scope out the place, and pick the best path for the rest of us. You can beat on him eventually Laurel, but it'll be better if he doesn't see it coming a mile away.
...slightly dejected, Laurel punches both legs out to slow his full sprint, sliding in the dirt a few feet before coming finally to rest. He walks slowly back over with his head down, stowing his blades, and stuffing both hands into the pockets of his muddy trousers. He kicks a rock.
Phinnik stays sat in the dirt when you leave to go to the house. His ears still drooping in dejection.
The house he described is easy though to find, being next to a huge, dead willow.
"Four windows, one door, an a chimnee!" Laurel scouts and reports!
Laurel consults his party.
"Ain' nobody kin see me comin's - fass as I kin be, this'n be like when we used ta sneak apples off the tree o' the angry farmers passin' through!" offering up his reconnoiter skills.
He looks at Calvus and now Elo for the go ahead.
"Be careful! Just look around and come back. Don't take anyone on by yourself," says Calvus softly.
"Okay"
Laurel Sneaks
Laurel Scouts