Moths and Flames

Game Master Signore di Fortuna

Sorry for holding things up, forgot to check this over the weekend.

When the paw does not return Lup will open the door in search of his greeter.

Astoria finishes packing for the day and looks curiously at the paw under her door.

"Hello there." She says aloud and with a wave of her hand she opens the door.

It's okay, you're allowed a fun weekend once in a while. ;o)

Astoria opens the door to see a white weasel looking up at her.

Lup sees the furry creature in front of Astoria's door.

Awwwweeeee.....can we keep it? Can we can we? I will love him, and pet him, and call him George. Hehe

Lysithia smiles, reaching a hand over to squeeze Kelda's for a moment, before settling into at the table. "Good morning!"

"Hello there, little weasel, what have you come to us for?" Lup calls out to the white mustelid, he had been expecting a cat. What was a weasel with a winter coat doing in here?

Kelda returns the squeeze, thankful for the reminder of her love's presence. She didn't know what they could expect to deal with over the next few days, but she knew she would be able to handle whatever they faced, as long as she had Lysithia by her sixe.

Astoria walks over to pet the little visitor. "What a cutie you are."

Gavril chuckles. "Good morning to ye too, Lysithia."

He strokes his beard for a moment. "Glad you both rested well."

---

The weasel glances at Lup after being addressed, but turns its attention back to Astoria. It sniffs at her hand before craning its neck to accept the offered petting.

"Someone's pet, you think?" Lup asks Astoria, not wanting to approach further and risk spooking the weasel.

Seeing the thoughtful look on her Da's face, "What's wrong Da? Are ye thinkin about those goblins we encountered the other night?"

Astoria shrugs. "I don't recognize him so he could be a pet, a familiar or perhaps a messenger."

The weasel scampers around for a moment before darting down the hallway toward the main room.

Gavril opens his mouth to speak, but spots the weasel running in. "Hmm, don't recall seeing that before."

Kelda turns her head to see what her Da was talking about. Seeing the furry little creature, her brows furrow slightly. "Hmmm....that's strange. Lysithia, is that a normal creature for this area and time of year?" She asks, while holding out a little piece of bread to the cute looking creature.

Knowledge Nature: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (17) + 10 = 27

Lup quietly and intently follows after the wily weasel.

While weasels are common for the area, this particular one's coloration is not (for the season). Lysithia supposes it may have been affected by some magic.

"It isn't really the time of year for ermines, weasels, or stoats with their winter coats. It might be affected by magic somehow to reflect winter." Lysithia says after a moment of thought.

"Shall we see what the little fella wants then?" Astoria asks.

Kelda looks up from where she holds out the bread to the weasel, "What kind of magic could do that, and what if that weasel isn't the only thing affected by whatever magic this is? I just don't know very much about that kind of magic, so I'm wondering if this could be something more serious than just one creature being affected."

Looking over at Astoria, "Yeah, it would be great if we could find out what he was doing here, or where he came from. Is there a way we can do that?"

The weasel sniffs the bread Kelda offers for a moment, seemingly disinterested. It circles around and grabs the morsel before darting off to the opposite side of the room.

She watches him scamper off with bread before looking back up at Astoria, "Good morning Astoria, sorry I didn't greet you sooner. I guess I was distracted by the furry cuteness. Have you seen Lup this morning?" She takes a piece of dried meat out of her pack, and tries to entice the weasel to come back over to them.

I don't know what weasels eat, and I'm not sure we got our breakfast yet. That's why I'm trying dried meat. I'm betting whatever it is, is the same thing that affected the trees roots. Some kind of area affect spell or something? That's just a guess though. Kelda wouldn't really know that much about Arcane magic.

"Tracking," Lups says from behind Kelda, foregoing breakfast at the moment as he kept his sights leveled on the weasel.

Her focus on trying to befriend the weasel, and subsequently figure out what had happened to it, or where it came from, Kelda doesn't hear their stealthy friend approach.

Upon hearing his voice behind her, Kelda is startled and lets out a sound between a gasp and stifled scream, as she nearly falls out of her chair.

Kelda looks up from where she holds out the bread to the weasel, "What kind of magic could do that, and what if that weasel isn't the only thing affected by whatever magic this is? I just don't know very much about that kind of magic, so I'm wondering if this could be something more serious than just one creature being affected."

"It could be a number of things, some sort of spell affecting the area, or they might be tied to a spell caster with winter magic." Lysithia says considering the question.

"Good morning Astoria, good morning Lup!" she says as the others join them, and reflexively reaching out to catch Kelda's arm as she almost falls out of her chair.

"Good morning, Lysithia," Lup happily responds without taking his eyes off the weasel still.

Kelda catches herself before letting out a full scream of surprise, she didn't want to scare away the cute fuzzy creature before they could find out where it came from.

As she feels Lysithia's hand on her arm, keeping her from falling, Kelda rights herself in her seat.

Placing one of her hands on top of Lysithia's, she gives her a grateful smile, "Thanks luv."

Looking from her family to her companions she says, "I know we need to get to Cooperton as soon as we can, but I somehow get the feeling that figuring this out is important as well. What do you all think we should do? Figure out what's going on with our furry friend here, or ignore it for now and continue on to Cooperton after we eat as planned? I don't want to keep those poor people waiting for help for too long.....thoughts?" She asks, unsure herself of what the best course of action be.

As Kelda is startled, the weasel quickly approaches and snatches the piece of dried beef. It then runs down the hallway to enjoy its prize.

Kelda puts another piece of meat on the floor close to her chair and waits, "We should probably go ahead and get something to eat, while we figure out what to do next."

"I mean it is a bit odd to have a weasel running around in a inn unattached to anyone. Perhaps it's a companion it per to someone else staying here, and was just looking for food." Lysithia suggests with a chuckle, as the little mustelid runs off with its prize.

"We should probably just get going after we're done breakfast. If there's more significance I'm sure we'll see our little friend again."

Kelda nods, knowing how desperate Cooperton is for help.

"Alright, but let's keep an eye out for other things that seem strange or out of place with the season. There could be more to what's going on here, than meets the eye. I know that the people that are in Cooperton really need our help though, and I don't want them to have to wait any longer than necessary." Kelda looks around at the others as they wait for breakfast, to see if they feel the same way.

I'll just go along with what the majority of the group wants to do.

Kelda waits to see if anyone else has any thoughts on what to do, as they wait for their breakfast.

The weasel does not return despite Kelda's bait. The old man, his clothes covered in dirt, walks in from outside. "I'll bring some waters after I get cleaned up."

Despite what it seems like, I assure you that the old man is not the weasel. Just don't want to go down that tangent.

"Thank you." Lysithia says, noting the dirt covering the old man's clothes.

Seeming disappointed that the furry critter didn't come back, Kelda picks up the piece of meat from the floor, and tosses it outside.

Getting back to the table she looks at Lup and Astoria, "So, do you both think we should continue on to Cooperton as well? I mean, I think Lysithia has the right of it, but I value your input just as much."

Hello?

Astoria nods. "If there was more to it I'm sure we'd know by now. No need to dwell on it."

Kelda nods and looks at Lup, curious whether he had even been listening, or if he was still preoccupied by thoughts of owlbears.

”Hmm? Sorry, yes, we should head to Cooperton,” Lup remarks when his focus is broken and he remembers where he’s at.

Nodding again she says, "Alright, we'll head out right after breakfast then."

The old man returns in clean clothes with a pitcher of water. "I've got some fresh eggs from the chicken coop, bread and potatoes."

"That all sounds good to me." Kelda says, her stomach rumbling slightly.

"That sounds wonderful!" Lysithia agrees.

Lup nods in agreement as well.

Gavril and the others seem satisfied with the offered breakfast. The old man heads to the kitchen to prepare your meal.

Kelda looks around as they wait for their meal, wondering what they might run into along the way, and if they would be able to figure out what was causing these strange things that they had seen so far. The strangeness with the tree roots, and then finding animals with coats out of season. Something was just not quite sitting right with the Warpriestess....but she just couldn't put her finger on what it was....yet.

The old man returns with plates of food and sets them down on the table. The weasel also returns, climbing up Kelda's chair to look at the food. "Shoo, you pest!"

He attempts to swat it off the dwarf's chair, but the clever creature avoids the attack in time.