"No complaints from me either," agrees Hannelia. "Though I will be happier when Roger returns." While she has confidence that the pirate is more than capable of dispatching their foe, there's a note of concern in her voice as little about the fight here went to plan. She gestures to a row of market stalls on the far side of the square form where the trio of them are gathered. "He went down an alley behind those stalls," she says to Emma. "But it's a bit of a maze down there. We should probably go and check he is ok, just in case."
Round 12 | Battle Map
Emma channels divine energy to Nerissia. With a belated YIP!, Alocer arrives on the edge of the square.
Given the ranger’s chattering teeth, the shae risks icing him again before bolting for freedom. Unfortunately, she over-estimates how frozen Roger is and drops her guard, leaving herself open for a reprisal.
|
Bolds are UP!
ORDER: Shae, Majara, Emma, Roger, Nerissia, Hannelia
Looking up at Alocer's arrival, and satisfied that everything in her immediate presence is in hand, Hannelia follows her own recommendation. She sets off at a run to the other side of the square and the various passages leading off it. "Roger?" she calls out, hoping for a clue to the pirate's whereabouts.
Hearing Hannelia and Emma discuss Roger's whereabouts, Majara nods decisively. "Given what she did to the group of us, I don't like Roger's odds tangling with her alone. Nerissia-- you showed up in the nick of time-- unfortunate that you got hurt in the process, but we're all on our feet now. Let's go make sure Roger is."
"Stay safe, Nerissia, we'll be back in a moment," Emma says, adding hopefully as a silent addendum in her head.
Then she turns and books it in the direction that Hannelia and Majara had headed off in.
Once she gets closer, clanking and puffing, she follows Hannelia's cue.
"Roger? Roger!"
Roger’s blade fails to wound the shae but he does ruin her spell. She immediately spins on her heels and flees westward. However, the ranger isn’t ready to give up his quarry. He chases the shae through the twisting alley, leaping over objects she tosses in his way, desperate to slow his pursuit. She makes a hard turn into a smaller alley. Hot on her trail, Roger swings… and his blade shears through her immaculate dress and her armored corset to strike her umbral flesh. If she were human, her spine would be sheared. Despite a lack of organs, the blow to the shae is as devastating. She crashes into a wall, spins for the force of the blow, and slams into the ground – quite dead. Her body quickly begins to dissipate. Like a black fog she is dispersed into the morning air and her now empty dress collapses. All that is left is her exceptional falchion , her cleverly armored corset , and her rather stylish (formerly) white dress.
"Roger!" Majara calls, echoing both Hannelia and Emma. They play an odd game of Marco Polo until they find their piratical friend. Majara lets out a huff of relief.
"I've come across you unconscious too many times," she tuts. "Right, since you're on your feet-- and that... woman-- isn't-- I've got to go make some apologies to Glory."
Majara does glance sidelong at the gear that no longer has a body in it. "Did she... evaporate?"
Having tracked down Roger, the pirate having successfully ended the shadow woman and with it, the imminent threat, Hannelia feels herself relax a little. "Ok," she says. "If you're tending to Glory, Majara, we should see if there's anybody else who still needs help and then find out what happened." She looks at Emma as she says this. "I saw Bitborium in the square, I'll see if he can fill me in if you can do the same with the constables?" she suggests to the paladin.
After checking on the needs of any wounded townsfolk and guards, Hannelia approaches the gnome with a wave of greeting. "Master Bitborium," she says, "I am glad to see you well amidst all of this carnage. Do you need any aid?" She scans the area looking for the gnome's distinctive stall. "Were you present the whole time? Did you see what happened here, where the woman and the dog came from?"
Roger eventually bumbles his way back to the group, carrying her blade and all that's left of her.
"I think I got her, though she turned into fog after she hit the ground. Everyone alright? Think we can gleam any clues?" He tosses the weapon, armor, and clothing on the ground.
Now that it's all been settled and handled, Nerissia finally deems fit to stand up and brush all of the dirt and fur off of her before rejoining the group. The blood, both hers and the hounds', won't come off as easily but she knows how to get it out of most materials fairly easily.
Listening to the group talk, however, makes her even more confused than she was.
"Would someone mind catching me up on the whole...situation in general I guess? What in the Nine Hells is happening?" she asks, keeping her voice surprisingly calm while petting Alocer.
"Master Bitiborium," she says, "I am glad to see you well amidst all of this carnage. Do you need any aid?" She scans the area looking for the gnome's distinctive stall. "Were you present the whole time? Did you see what happened here, where the woman and the dog came from?"
Bitiborium looks himself over and pats himself down. ”No, no. I appear to be fine. Thanks for asking.” Hannelia spots the gnome’s stall in the SW corner of the square; it seems undisturbed. ”I can’t say I was here for all of it. That is to say… I was dusting and tidying my inventory when I heard a sort of distant hullabaloo, people shouting, that sort of thing. I popped my head out and saw the dark figures entering the square. They might have come from that alley across the way, I’m not really certain about that.” From the direction he points, they entered from the south, and near the middle of the southern ‘face’ of the square.
”It's like they were on a stroll - bold as brass. Folks started yelling, running, and such… Then that watchman,” he nods toward the corpse, ”drew a blade and blocked their path. She drew and they fought. The dog killed that other woman like she was a hare. She bolted and it chased her down. Then it was mayhem with screaming, arrows flying, howls, and all the rest.”
"Well I'm glad you're unharmed," Hannelia says, "and I'm very grateful that you entrusted Glory to our care. She has already shown her qualities." Her voice shakes slightly as she says, "We might have had one more corpse without her." She follows the gnome's gaze as he indicates the bloody bodies strewn across the market square. "And there are more than enough as it is. This is a dark day," she says solemnly.
Hannelia visualises what Bitborium is saying, having witnessed the shadow mastiff's savagery up close it's all too easy to imagine their entrance and how the carnage unfolded. "Thank you, that's very helpful. If there's anything I can help with, please let me know, otherwise I'll see if the guards can confirm things."
An unpleasant thought strikes her: in a different scenario, she can envision a tiefling huntress and her fennec companion striding into the square. Not the slaughter that followed their arrival, of course, but she knows all too well the suspicion and dark looks that many of the Saringallow locals would be throwing Nerissia's way in those circumstances. It's probably nothing, but now that it's come to her, the idea of a dark mirror sits uneasily as she goes to join Emma in talking to the watch.
"Would someone mind catching me up on the whole...situation in general I guess? What in the Nine Hells is happening?" she asks, keeping her voice surprisingly calm while petting Alocer.
As she tries to shake the thought, Nerissia joins her en route. "The short answer is we don't know any more than you do,"she says to her question. "We weren't here either when it all kicked off but we heard the screaming so ran to get here. But I'm hoping Emma might have started to get some answers."
Emma and the guards are already talking so Hannelia waits for an opportunity to ask, "Master Bitborium," she indicates the gnome, "thinks the woman and dog came from that direction. Can you confirm this?" she asks. "He also said that the commotion started as soon as they arrived - do you know what they were doing to cause people to flee and panic? I know their appearance was fearsome but that's a very strong reaction by itself. Oh," she says, "did the hound bay?" She thinks of the fear that gripped her at the dog's howl. Given how two of her stout-hearted friends had fled in the face of it, that would certainly explain the panic that seems to have taken hold of so many.
It takes an hour or so to tend the wounded, repair the damage (largely due to fleeing sheeple), conduct interviews, and compare notes. Bitiborium’s account is largely confirmed. Majara and Roger discover a missing piece of the puzzle. No one witnessed the arrival of the shae and mastiff, unfortunately, but they were first spotted by a pair of soiled doves in the street near Willita’s. The shadowy pair immediately proceeded into the alley beside the bawdy house and walked north to the market square. The shae’s prints are hard to spy in the alleys but three hundred pounds of mastiff leaves prints that Roger has no problem following.
As the last bits of glass are being swept up in the market square, Constantine is found. The relieved priests find him wandering near the Temple of Erastil. The team is quickly summoned to see the psychic sensitive’s state. Unfortunately, Constantine is nearly catatonic. His eyes are open, he walks (when led), and his mouth moves but he doesn’t speak. He doesn’t respond to any attempts to draw his attention or communicate with him.
Added to this perplexing mystery, Nerissia and Majara note that Constantine’s right hand is closed. With a little coaxing, they are able to open his fist. The tip of Constantine’s fore-finger looks raw and a bit bloody. His hand also has a thin coating of rock dust. In his palm is a small, common, nail. It is also dusted with rock and the tip is quite dulled.
The benefit of her height is that Majara’s eyes are close to Constantine’s hands. She spots a few slivers of wood in the wounds on his finger as well.
It takes a bit of time to tidy but order is restored to the square soon enough and Hannelia assumes that trade will no doubt follow in pretty short order.
Having corroborated the stories and seen for themselves, she frowns as Roger points out the footprints. "We find ourselves here again," she says to the pirate. "Totally different reasons but that's twice in as many days. I can't see an obvious connection though. I don't know if we're missing something or if we just don't have enough pieces. But strange things seem to be happening in a way that's not normal." Hannelia looks to Nerissia. "Have you had any more of those dreams?" she asks.
* * * * *
She breathes a sigh of relief at the news that Constantine has been found and is at least safe. A new wave of concern roils up inside Hannelia as the acolytes explain that he's currently mute and apparently mentally elsewhere. Try as she might, her gentle words are unable to get through to her friend in his current state.
As Majara persuades him to relinquish the nail Constantine had been clutching, she looks in puzzlement at the nail. "Where did this come from?" she asks, speaking to Constantine, though with little hope that he will respond, but also hoping the party might have some ideas. "It looks like he prised this out with his hand," she says. To the priests she asks, "Where was he found? We probably can't search everywhere between there and the temple but perhaps we could look in the vicinity." Hannelia brushes her hair out of face. "Or am I just trying to give meaning to things which have none?"
"Where was he found? We probably can't search everywhere between there and the temple but perhaps we could look in the vicinity."
The priest leads the group (minus Constantine who is gently held by another parishioner) to the south-east corner of the building. ”Constantine was found around here… but he wasn’t here earlier. When he disappeared this morning, we scoured the immediate area for him.”
”Do you mind if we have a Quick Look around?” Hannelia asks. ”I don’t know if you saw but he was clutching a nail. From the looks of it he pulled it out himself, though I couldn’t guess why and he doesn’t seem able to tell us currently.” She shakes her head at the slightly odd nature of the request. ”Chances are it doesn’t mean anything, but if there’s a chance it leads to buried treasure, well, you can take the man out of the pirate crew…” She flashes Roger a grin that she doesn’t really feel.
Majara jogs to Glory and inspects the plant, and the pot, for damage with a grimace.
"I apologize for that," she says in a quiet voice to the plant. "Not my right mind when it happened. I'll take steps to secure you better, so that such a mishap can't happen again. We were lucky, your pot's intact, just chipped...."
She checks the leaves, the stamen, winces over the injury that their need had inflicted, then carefully lifts the plant so they can rejoin the others. "If it helps soothe the sting, you saved a good woman's life."
****
Constantine's state is a cause for further concern, and the nail especially so. She frowns at Constantine's unhappy little prize, and the damage he did to himself in the acquiring of it.
"I agree it looks like he pulled it out. Tsk, his poor hand. I wonder if we might be able to borrow a hound from the city guard? That might be able to help us retrace his steps, figure out where he wandered while witless. His scent, you know."
With a sigh, the gnome pulls her hair back from her face and ties it back. "We have dead guardsmen, townsfolk panicked, who knows how many injuries, and most likely the mayor and the guard will want to know why. We as yet have no real answers. It is... understandable and yet unfortunate the guards initiated hostilities - it doesn't seem like this woman was actively aggressive before then, though who's to know what she would have done...."
Majara tags along with Hannelia to look over the wall without much hope of seeing anything right there. "We should check that bit of wall where we found him earlier, too."
”Indeed. Too many questions and too few answers, you’ve got the right of it,” Hannelia agrees. ”I don’t know that being stopped by a guard is really starting hostilities, even if it may have been overly aggressive. I know folks here can be jumpy at times but even so, the response was hardly proportionate.” Her mind jumps back to the carnage in the square. ”Impossible to know exactly what happened though.”
After venturing over to speak to the guards briefly, Emma joins Majara and Hannelia, deep in thought.
"Impossible to know," Emma agrees. "Though that doesn't make the lack of answers any easier to swallow."
She chews on her lip for a moment, considering. "This was... bad. Not just because two of us were gravely hurt, but the damage done to bystanders and the guard alike. Majara has the right of it - people are going to want answers, and they're going to latch on to whatever explanation seems the likeliest. I think..."
She trailed off again, looking around, then lowering her voice a tad. "I think Constantine may have been a factor in why the creature was here at all, though I would venture a guess as to say it was unwilling or unknown on his part, based on his current state. Something or someone either coerced, controlled, or otherwise manipulated him into doing... whatever it was he might have done that resulted in this."
Emma shrugs. "I don't know how or why, or even what the intended result was. But I think if we find that anything else has gone amiss while this was going on..."
Emma lets the thought hang in the air.
Then she looks at Majara, and at Glory. "Thank you again," Emma says, inclining her head slightly. "To the both of you, but in particular, to you, Glory. I likely wouldn't be standing here otherwise. I'm in your debt."
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I wonder if we might be able to borrow a hound from the city guard? That might be able to help us retrace his steps, figure out where he wandered while witless. His scent, you know.
"Were you bonked in the head during that fight, before I got here?" Nerissia scolds, wagging her finger at the gnome in an over-exaggerated manner. "You keep forgetting Alocer, your lovely companion hunting fox. If we have anything of his with a strong scent, there's a chance Alocer can hunt down wherever he came from."
I think Constantine may have been a factor in why the creature was here at all,
Her face drops from her jovial playful mood into a much more serious attitude at the paladin's words, and her grip on her bow noticeably tightens almost as if by habit. "If that is the case then I am afraid we cannot just afford to leave him be in the world, free to unleash all manner of beast upon the innocents here. Us dashing heroes won't be here to save the day all the time, you know."
"Were you bonked in the head during that fight, before I got here?" Nerissia scolds, wagging her finger at the gnome in an over-exaggerated manner. "You keep forgetting Alocer..."
Majara looks blank, then gives an exaggerated grimace of her own, smacking her small palm into her forehead. "I did. How can I possibly keep forgetting........... hrmn. Hrmn, hang on..."
The gnome starts rummaging in the dozens of pouches that hang from her bandolier. As she hunts for whatever she's hunting, she says, "Well, I'm sure we could take his shirt and be given a fresh clean one. That should be a strong enough scent for anyone. And his blood-- that finger's bleeding, a bit, and there might be-- might, I stress-- might be some of that wherever he was before this."
The solemn addition Nerissia makes earns a nod from the alchemist. "Yes, I think that if Constantine is somehow connected to this, we have to figure out a better form of security. He wasn't just 'left to be' in the world as it was - but we've been burdening the priests with him, and they have many duties that aren't just minding him. A full time guardian may need to be arranged.... if, in fact, Constantine was connected. That seems.... circumstantially coincident, right now, Miss Blackford. Why, what is it you think Constantine did other than... dig a nail out of something? Yes, perhaps his disappearance and the shae's appearance are related. But that seems hardly certain to me, thus far. I'd want stronger evidence."
Finally, the gnome finds what she is looking for-- a bottle with a pale blue, faintly luminescent substance inside. "Ha!" cries Majara, one finger aimed accusingly at the lid of this little flask. "Yes, that'd do it. Lid was crooked."
Majara's tone indicates satisfaction as if she'd proved something, though she doesn't explain what. She pops the lid with a few quick hand movements, then screw it on again, carefully and intently.
"I suppose at least partially, I'm worried that the town officials might jump to such a conclusion. It's less about worrying about what he did and more so worrying about what others might be using him for. He's been incapacitated, true, but he's still a potentially powerful individual. He was doing better for a time, it seemed, but then..." Emma fell silent, letting the moment hang.
"I'm not trying to accuse him of anything. Perhaps he's just particularly vulnerable to whatever is causing these disturbances. He has been more on edge lately, it seems. That could be all it is."
Perhaps I'm just paranoid, she thinks silently, a phantom pain flaring in her chest.
But it wouldn't be the first time an ally had been used against them.
"I'm less worried about the officials," Hannelia chimes in, "more the townsfolk. Mayor Trinelli strikes me as decent, at least. But she does have to look out for the whole community and it would be a brave move to speak out publicly. And whether she did or not, the Sarini name is going to remain dark in some quarters for a long time - and rightly so, given the things we learned - no matter what Constantine may do."
"I think that's more likely," she says to Emma, eager to defend her friend. "It's not in his nature to be dealing with shadowy beings like the shae regardless of his mental state. But more importantly," Hannelia looks to Nerissia, "I don't believe he would be capable of summoning such creatures here. That's powerful magic. I would be more concerned about someone - or something - using him though. I don't like it but it could be possible." She frowns, finding neither the implications nor the possible measures to prevent it particularly palatable.
To Majara she says, "I think it's a bit much to say that he is burdening the temple. Looking after those in need is their duty. But I agree that it's not possible for them to provide constant watch over him, nor that he has needed it to this point. I'm sure we could afford to pay for it, but..." She tails off, shaking her head and regathering herself. "But I want to ensure that he is getting proper care, that will help him. And ideally we would want somebody who... might be able to subdue him, if if it came to it. He is a capable warrior," Hannelia adds in a small voice. The concern in her hazel eyes is as obvious as it is genuine.
"Maybe we could speak to Father Ruvarra about us arranging additional support for him here. Familiar surroundings might be good for him and aid his recovery. And it means we're close by." She puffs out her cheeks, considering the alternative. "Or maybe the manor might be better. I don't know whether his ancestral home would be soothing or the reverse given the history, but he's less likely to come to harm away from town. It does mean he's further away from us though. What do you think?" she asks.
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Majara jogs to Glory and inspects the plant, and the pot, for damage with a grimace.
"I apologize for that," she says in a quiet voice to the plant. "Not my right mind when it happened. I'll take steps to secure you better, so that such a mishap can't happen again. We were lucky, your pot's intact, just chipped...."
The plant’s enthusiasm doesn’t seem to have flagged any. With leaves and stamen, it gives the gnome a: ദ്ദി
Then she looks at Majara, and at Glory. "Thank you again," Emma says, inclining her head slightly. "To the both of you, but in particular, to you, Glory. I likely wouldn't be standing here otherwise. I'm in your debt."
The leaves and stamen curl and reconfigure. <3
Our heroes examine the area near the wall of the church. There is little to note on the ground… no boards lacking nails, etc. What is present is on the wall itself. There is a freshly-etched (judging by the stone dust below it) floral-ish motif. And, yes, it does look like a nail may have been used to carve it.
Following Alocer’s nose, our heroes sleuth out Constantine’s rough trail. It generally heads south-ish and meanders down alleys (and some legitimate roads). The trail is most easily detectable around the market square. It seems Constantine paused in spots around the market square. And here, our heroes note more of the floral-ish designs… in various states of ‘doneness’ carved into stone and wooden walls. Here, they also note the floral design is actually circles upon circles to form the ‘daisy’ pattern. Some are carved with a metal nail… and the earliest ones (in wooden walls) are carved with, you imagine, was a finger nail.
Majara suggests returning to Gunty’s Bakery. Here, too, our heroes now find the curious ‘daisy’ carved on the wall. It doesn’t appear to have been as freshly carved as the other symbols are, and Alocer’s nose doesn’t lead the group over here. So clearly this carving happened on another day.