Priscilla's hand cart sits in front of Ervan's rose garden as it did the night before. However, it looks like the alchemist took no care in protecting her equipment from the elements. Several flasks are filled with rainwater and some cloth bags soaked completely through.
Emma looks around the cart, "This doesn't seem right. She doesn't usually just leave her stuff lying around like this."
Emma looks in and around the cart for any clues to help them figure out what happened to Priscilla.
Aiden nods, silently looking over the contents of the neglected cart before checking the area. With the rain, there were likely footprints he could track to see where their friend might have gone off in such a hurry.
Aiden sees a trail of footprints from the cart to the tavern.
"Looks like she went to the tavern last, and didn't come back here after that." Aiden says with concern.
Emma's face is full of concern, "Okay, let's go check it out. Maybe she's still there....I hope. I knew she was upset last night, I should have stopped by to see her and talk to her before we went home." She says, shaking her head as they now head towards the tavern, worry lines etched in her face as they try to find Priscilla.
Emma notices the door to the Two Arrows Tavern is closed as she approaches.
Emma sighs and knocks on the door.
The door swings open as it isn't bolted. Emma sees the lifeless dwarf, Melor Wickett, propped in a chair facing the door. His hands are folded over his ample gut and covered slightly by his red and graying beard.
Emma lets out a little yelp as seeing him that way startles her. Running inside to check on him, she looks back at Aiden, "Is he the same as the others? Where is Priscilla?"
Her voice sounds almost panicked as she calls out, "Priscilla?! Are you here?!"
Aiden frowns, instinctively drawing an arrow as his eyes quickly scan the room before returning to Melor's still form. "Shadow, guard!" he says quietly.
The wolf moves alongside Emma, eyes focused on the body as she inspects it for signs of life.
Melor is like the others who've had their souls abducted. Emma and Aiden's attention is drawn to some snoring coming from behind the bar.
Emma looks at Aiden before dashing behind the bar.
Behind the bar, her clothing soaked and caked in mud, Priscilla lays with a bottle of wine clutched in her hand. It is empty.
Emma sighs in relief at finding her, but also feels sad for Priscilla blaming herself. Going around the edge of the bar she motions for Aiden to come back there, "She's here thank the Goddess, but she's a mess the poor thing. I'm pretty sure she blames herself for what happened last night. Can you help me get her to the house? I just gotta help her Aiden, I just gotta." She says in a whispered plea.
It's not like she was worried Aiden wouldn't do it. He loved helping take care of the people in this village every bit as much as she did. Emma just felt responsible for everyone's well being, and considered it her duty to take care of Priscilla when she needed it most.
Coming over to the bar, Aiden looks down at Priscilla's passed-out form, an eyebrow arching up in question before shaking his head with a sigh. Slipping his bow over his shoulder, he eases the bottle out of her hand, setting down before scooping her up. "Well at least it isn't anything worse. Let's get her back and settled"
Emma nods, "We better take her back to our place for now. I don't want Rosie waking up and thinking we left without her or something. I can help Priscilla get cleaned up, if you can grab a change of clothes for her from her place? I don't think any of my things will fit her." She says, while trying to come up with the best solution that will delay them from leaving as little as possible.
She knew it was vital that they find that carriage, but she refused to leave until she knew Priscilla was okay.
"Alright, let's get her back to the house, and I'll get her some clothes from her place while you get her cleaned up." Aiden Says as they head back to their house.
Emma nods, "As soon as I can make sure she isn't going to do anything foolish that will cause her harm, we can go. I just have to be sure that she understands this wasn't her fault."
As they approach the house, Emma opens their front door for Aiden and has him take Priscilla to their room. She lays a couple of extra blankets on the bed to lay her on so the bed wouldn't get wet.
Once her love lays Priscilla on the bed, Emma has him lean down so she can give him a quick sweet kiss, "I love you, we will find them, and we will make it through this." She says, softly placing her hand on his cheek for a moment, "Alright, I'll start cleaning her up if you could please check on Rosie for me on your way out? I couldn't tell if she was still sleeping on the couch or not. Thank you so much honey, I'll see you in a little bit."
Knowing that time was of the essence, Emma hurries to dampen a washcloth, and starts wiping Pricilla's face with it.
Returning the kiss, Aiden simply nods, holding his wife's gaze for a moment, that needs no words, before heading back to the living room to check on Rosie, before going to Pricilla's house.
Rosie dozes under a couple of warm blankets, her countenance much calmer than when she arrived.
Priscilla groans as her face is washed. She opens her eyes and looks at Emma. "Watch out!"
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Priscilla bolts upright in the bed. The changeling's eyes bulge and she purses her lips tightly, but it isn't enough to stop her from heaving the contents of her stomach onto Emma. She lets out a sickened groan. "Bucket...Ah nee' a bucket..."
Completely caught off guard, there's no way that Emma can avoid it. In her attempt not to get completely doused in vomit, and surprised by the sudden movement, Emma jerks herself back, losing her balance on the bed and tumbles off the side, landing on the floor with a loud thud.
Hearing Priscilla, she scrambles up off the floor and grabs the waste bucket. Running back to Priscilla she hands her the bucket, "Here, use this, then get yourself into the washroom. I'll go heat up some water, and you can explain what possessed you to do such a thing to yourself. I guess I'm gonna need a bath now too." She says with a sigh. She wasn't angry at Priscilla because she knew it wasn't her fault, but this kind of behavior wasn't normal for the young witch, and that worried Emma.
After handing her the bucket, Emma tries getting the worse of the vomit off of her with a wash cloth, before going back out to the kitchen to fill a large pot with water and setting it on the stove to heat up.
Hearing the commotion, Emma's start of surprise, and an alarming thud, Aiden dashes back into the bedroom, coming to a halt at the chaotic scene of Emma handing Priscilla the wastebasket, after clearly not being quick enough to avoid the first wave of her vomiting.
"I...I guess I'll be back with Pricilla's clothes sooner rather than later" he says with a sigh, giving Emma a look of sympathy. "Rosie is still asleep at least."
Emma nods, "Thank you love, I'm glad my falling off the bed didn't wake her. Priscilla isn't feeling well, and we both need baths now. I'm not sure we'll be able to leave today to go after that carriage. I need to help Priscilla right now, get both of us cleaned up, changed into clean clothes, and wash these....for obvious reasons." She says, a bit of a grimace on her face as she gestures to herself.
With a nod, Aiden heads out, instructing Shadow to stay to protect them, as her heads over to Priscilla's house.
After he leaves she goes to Priscilla, "I know everything seems messed up right now, and it's hard to see the good in anything, but....I promise you, even though it doesn't seem so right now...everything will be alright. Nothing that happened last night is your fault, so you need to get that thought out of your head. I feel responsible as well, but the truth is....sometimes things happen that are out of our control and we just have to keep moving forward." Emma rubs her back in a comforting manner for a couple of minutes, "Okay, I need to go heat up some water for your bath. Is there anything I can get for you to help you feel better?"
Priscilla heaves a couple more times into the bucket, barely having enough time to catch her breath. She draws some ragged breaths as drool runs down her chin. She looks at Emma, her eyes teary and her mouth drawn into a grimace that speaks volumes about her current condition. She glances at the bucket furtively before determining that she's done throwing up. "Water...please."
***
Aiden pushes open the door to Priscilla's home. One would expect a quaint cottage with various herbs for a young witch, but her home looks more like a ransacked laboratory. The hunter picks his way across scattered notes and vials which appear to have haphazardly chosen to lie on the floor in a sort of ambush upon an unwary visitor. As he makes his way to the bedroom, Aiden hears a vicious hiss above him. Mr. Dimmesdale, Priscilla's pet cat or familiar (no one has ever bothered to ask), stands on a teetering bookshelf, glaring down at the young hunter.
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Looking around at the utter chaos that is Priscilla's cottage, Aiden picks his way through the mess, coming to the bedroom, and the hostile form of the witch's companion.
"Alright, calm down Mr. Dimmesdale, Priscilla is fine, I'm just getting her some clothes." he says in a calm, soothing tone, approaching slowly to let the ornery cat pick up Priscilla's scent from him having recently carried her.
The wary calico cranes its neck to sniff at Aiden. Finding the hunter's story plausible, he bounds off with a terse meow. Mr. Dimmesdale settles on Priscilla's work table and watches Aiden, his tail flicking back and forth.
Emma nods, "Okay, I'll be right back." She hurries to the kitchen, grabs a dish rag and dampens it with cool water, before grabbing a glass of water for Priscilla and checks on the water on the stove before heading back to the bedroom.
Getting back to Priscilla, she hands her the glass of water, and places the cool cloth around her neck after dabbing at her forehead with it.
"There you go. The water for your bath should be ready soon." She says, giving Priscilla a chance to sip slowly on the water.
Chuckling to himself at the cat's acceptance, Aiden goes to the bedroom, looking for a dresser or hamper where Priscilla would most likely keep her clean clothes.
Priscilla wipes her face with the oversized sleeve of her shirt and slowly takes in some water. The changeling stares at a corner of the Northwoods' bathroom, her mind seemingly elsewhere.
***
Aiden finds the bedroom to be as much of a mess as the "living" area. Dirty clothes are scattered all over the place, along with The Hospitable Herbalist volumes 1 through 8. Volume 9 sits wedged in the top dresser drawer, which contains a trove of scribbled notes. Checking the closet, the hunter finds an affront to color theory or perhaps an act of sadism against conventional fashion. A variety of shirts, skirts and dresses stitched together with little regard for what the end result would be occupy the inside of the small closet.
Noting the distant expression on her face, Emma can't bring herself to leave her by herself, even for a short time.
Climbing up on the bed, Emma takes a position kind of in front of Priscilla where she can be seen, but not so close as to be overwhelming to the young woman. Laying a hand gently on her ankle she tries to get her attention, while at the same time offering comfort as well as providing an anchor. Something tangible that could let her know shes still with Emma at her house. "Hey, Priscilla...I know this is a stupid question to ask, but are you okay?"
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With a small sigh, Aiden grins. It was pretty much what he expected, and still, the chaos was almost impressive. Shaking his head, he takes in the wild array of clothes that definitely reflect Pricilla's style, before grabbing a shirt, skirt, and dress, along with accompanying undergarments if he can find any, giving her a couple of options.
Putting them into the bag slung over his shoulder, he heads back into the living room. "So, do you want to come along to see your mistress or stay here until she comes home?" he asks the cat, relatively sure that it can understand him. "I think she could use all the good energy she can get right now."
"Ah think it's fair to say no," Priscilla says softly.
***
Mr. Dimmesdale regards Aiden's offer with a blank stare before curling up on the table, yawning and closing his eyes.
"Fair enough." Aiden says with a chuckle, before giving the place a quick look around for sign of anything Pricilla might need before she could come back on her own, and heading back out, bidding the cat farewell and closing the door behind him.
Those few soft words spoken by her friend, tells Emma everything she needs to know, "I'm sorry I didn't stop by last night and talk to you. I could tell that you were upset, but I was just so tired from dealing with everything. I still should have stopped though and I'm sorry I didn't." Emma regards her for a moment. Sighing softly, she scoots up the bed to where Priscilla sits with no regard for the mess, seeing as how they were both already a mess, and puts an arm around her in a friend comforting another friend way, "Look, I don't know what all is going through your mind right now, but Aiden and I are here for you okay? If you need to talk about anything, I'm here for you. As for that blasted carriage....we will find where it went, figure out how to destroy it or whatever evil undead thing is making it happen...and we will get every single one of our people that it took from us back." She pauses for a moment as she thinks about her Pa and other friends and neighbors.
Collecting her own feelings and stuffing them down, she gives Priscilla a gentle hug, "Okay, we need to start getting cleaned up. Go on into the bathroom and start getting ready for your bath. I'll go fetch the hot water and be right back to help you. Everything will be okay Priscilla, you'll see." She says, giving her friend another little hug, before jumping down from the bed to get the heated up water for her bath.
"Tha's jus' it though...Ghosts and carriages like tha' are faerie tales," Priscilla says, shaking her head. "Those things should no' exist! Ah'm no' a witch. Ah'm an alchemist...Ah brew potions an' Ah do little things t' make people feel better. The mirrah's an' light...t'would've been a pretty little show when the moon hit it jus' right...But tha's not magic that'll fight off whatever foul evil came through our village! And tha' evil shouldn't even ha' come...what god would allow something like tha' to happen?"
The changeling trembles, pulling her knees to her chest as tears stream down her cheeks. Emma recognizes this as a crisis of faith and an unabashed admission of how Priscilla saw herself and her place in the village. Though her heritage suggested otherwise, she saw herself as mundane as anyone else.