Well, they certainly tried to murder us in our beds, Grahams says, starting to check the remains before remembering Teela's disapproval from before and pausing. Have you, ah, seen our esteemed hostess?
As Linzi replies, he quickly checks the bodies for valuables.
When Teela leans against the wall, she places her hand on her shoulder and gives her a nod of appreciation. "Timely. Thanks for saving him."
She pats the bard's shoulder twice before before moving closer to the fallen cleric to check on him.
With her hands on her knees, Teela just nods her head, eyes red with pressure, and opens her mouth to release a long slug of spit from her mouth. She pats Quintessa's hand. "Yeah. No problem."
Alvis nods toward Teela, "I gather I have you to thank for pulling me out of a grave. It felt nothing quite like any healing I've had before, as if a song was the whole world. It won't be forgotten."
Teela just puts her hand through the door with a thumbs up. You can hear her speaking through some shallow breaths. "Yeah, man. Ugh... don't worry about it. I bet you'd do the same... aaaah for me."
She stands up, swallows something with a loud gulp, and moves to the opposite wall. "I'm just gonna be here, guys. Need a little breather, if that's okay with you."
She sits down on the floor as far away from the library door as she can,takes a sip of water to wash her mouth, flushes her mouth a few times and spits it out. Then she takes a drink and starts drawing sigils in the air. Her clothes and hair get progressively cleaner as she does that.
The others in the room begin to pepper Linzi with questions and honestly, Tessa has no desire to go into the lice-infested, gore-covered room anyway. She takes a step back into the corridor and observes Teela struggling.
She pulls out her waterskin and walks towards Teela, intending to hand it to her when she sees the tailor is already drinking from her own. She takes a place next to her and sits down, putting her hand softly on Teela's back. She begins to gently rubs Teela's back in slow, soothing circles, just as her mother used to do for her in times of stress.
"You’re doing great." she says in a soft voice only meant only for Teela to hear. "It’s a lot to take in, but we’ll get through this together."
Linzi shrugs her shoulders. "I haven't seen anyone apart from you lot, some bad guys in black cloaks, and my team which split up. No one alive, at least." she amends.
The pile in the library is mostly books torn from the shelves with dismembered body parts, seems to be heads, arms, and legs mainly, strewn atop them. None of the dismembered parts are whole enough to have anything valuable among them. There were several bodies lying outside in the hall where Quintessa is helping Teela recover from the gruesome scene and wanton violence.
"It was working with the invaders, but I don't know where it came from. I stumbled into the library hearing noise, but it was already rending bodies including some of the black-cloaks. They pretty much left it alone after that. I got trapped in here with it until you came along."
She still seems pretty shaken up by the whole experience.
Selina smiles as the party downs the ogre. She movies into the room to pick up her daggers and to look to see that Alvis is still alive and well. She then motions to Linzi, with whom she spoke during the dinner, to come out since she is safe...for now. Selina corrects the halfling, "Black Tears, dear, not black coats."
Graham scans the room. The halfling has a point. How did this "Gromog" manage to get in the door here? They obviously must have had help.
Come along, Ms. Linzi, he says when the last body part has been examined. Stick with us as we investigate further. Safety in numbers, and all that.
Graham will give the room an additional quick once-over before stepping back out.
Hearing the words of encouragement, Teela does a little chuckle. "Ah, don't worry about me. It's just the smell in that room. It hit a spot, it seems. And not in the good way." She flushes her mouth again. "All the crazy people say it, but my head is doing fine. Just the stomach... How are you holding up?" Teela pats her belly and flashes Quintessa a smile. Then pats her own scarf, and suddenly Quintessa can smell hints of lavender in the air and colour comes back to the seamstress's face.
How are you holding up?"
Quintessa gives a knowing smile when Teela puts on a show of bravado for her. She gives a wink and answers "All things considered, fairly well, I suppose. I might have a proper breakdown in a few hours, though I would appreciate it if you didn't tell any of the men that."
"Do you hear anything through that door behind you?"
Quintessa quickly ascends back to her feet, nodding to the doorway. "Ah, my dear Fenric. How are they holding up in there?" she says, motioning to the room he just left.
When the question of noises from the other doors arise, she provides him any insights she's picked up on.
Alvis pulls himself together putting aside the trauma of mortality with the needs of duty. As he heads for the hall he says, to Teela, "Don't worry about it, many a lad or lass that fancy themselves a warrior have the same problem when confronted with the reality. My childhood prepared me for the odors, growing up in the tannery district in the outskirts. The rest, no easier the first time for anyone not a brute. Your spirit is strong it will prevail."
At Quintessa's inquiry of Fenric, Alvis looks nonplussed and says, "Oh not thinking, anyone else hurt?"
Alvis stops in the hall to look and listen for any sign of trouble, or even someone that may be hiding.
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"Grim," Fenric answers Quintessa seriously, referencing the ogre's savaging of the dead--hopefully dead at the time--and shakes his head at Alvis' question. "The ogre fell to our concerted attacks just after it struck you. I can barely feel that scratch from the Black Tear's shot."
His tone becomes serious again as he muses, "We may not be able to move as swiftly as we hoped. And probably best not to leave enemies behind us if we can help it."
Quintessa was the driving force about moving quickly once they left the bedrooms, but that sense of urgency has faltered now. She gives a single nod of affirmation to Fenric's statement. Without saying You were right, she concedes that speed may not be in their best interest.
"You offer wisdom, Fenric. I had wanted to ensure we could help those in need and quickly move to Lady Jamandi, but it would seem the assassins have brought more than just a few cutthroats this evening. Given what we have just seen, we should heed Lord Lodovka's advice and take our time advancing, preparing before moving on."
At Quintessa's inquiry of Fenric, Alvis looks nonplussed and says, "Oh not thinking, anyone else hurt?"
She moves past Fenric and approaches Alvis. "Yes, you. Roadwarden, please be seated. Let me tend to your remaining wounds. I fear we need every ounce of your strength as we move onward."
As the rest of the group searches the abattoir that used to be a library, Quintessa and Teela listen carefully for signs from the door behind them. Neither hears any noise coming from that room, and if inspected the door does not appear to be either locked or trapped.
Fenric does not find anything of note on the body of the fallen Gromog except lice in unusual numbers and size. He does not have the black teardrop tattoos that the others seem to.
When Selina corrects Linzi on the name of the raiders, she smiles and shrugs. "Same thing, dearie. But I'll get it right in the song I make about how we defeated them." She gives a small laugh but the determination is clear.
Over the next 10 minutes, Quintessa is able to use her medicinal skills to bind the rest of the wounds for Alvis, making him fully healed and ready for next challenges.
While Quintessa patches up Alvis, Teela regains her composure. Now that she's nowhere near the library, she is able to breathe in without being bothered by the smell.
"Nope, can't hear a thing." she responds to Fenric. She puts her hand on the door to open it, but thinks better of it as she looks at Alvis being stitched up.
She looks around and picks up a piece of wood from the floor. She cleans it up and offers it to Alvis. "Helps your teeth. Don't have booze on me, sorry." she winks at the holy man.
The seamstress looks at the rest of the group. "So uh... Change of plan? We clean up? That's what I'm getting here?"
"By all means." Teela does a subtle nod and steps aside to allow Fenric to breach the door but stands nearby to help if needed.
Alvis is relieved at Fenric words that matters came to as swift conclusion. Then Ouintessa gave a caring but stern command that Alvis submit to treatment himself. He sat down as Quintessa looks at slightly healed gash across the bottom of Alvis's chin, that scoured away a line of his beard. Teela offers Alvis a bit of wood to bite on which he accepts with a mod. Tessa sewed the wounds quickly and well, with less pain than expected, bringing him to as much health as possible; but a certain fragility remains till time and rest become available.
Alvis agrees with the need of carefulness over haste, saying, "Yes, as much as haste is needed, caution is first, we give aid no one if we fall." He frowns in irritated puzzlement, "An ogre as well, and who knows what else. I thought the resources committed to this large before, now they must be vast and well-connected; high-noble, royal, or similar group, not that many and fewer that would stoop so low. Disturbing."
He nods to the others and holds himself a bit back from the door this time, allowing the true warriors to lead.
Fenric pushes open the door in question, and finds a large room that contains two rows of simple beds along the slanted southeast wall. At the foot of each bed sits a small wooden chest, thought the lids all stand ajar and the contents -- mostly clothes and personal items -- are scattered about the floor. A sturdy oak table and six chairs line the north east wall. You cannot discern any active threats in this room.
"Well... Anticlimatic." Teela peeks into the open room and shrugs. Seeing nothing of note, she moves to the next one and opens it up.
Given Fenric's previous comment, she takes a moment to look in the chest and scans the room for anything of interest or useful.
Afterwards, she moves in behind Alvis, following at a safe distance. She has no intention of being the one opening these doors, terrified of what horror lay beyond. She motions for Linzi to stay behind her.
Alvis a bit unnerved by recent events, seems to loiter in back but as Teela impetuously opens doors and with Quintessa backing off; he moves forward to Teela's side letting Tessa stand behind his armored form. As Fenric shouts, Alvis agrees weakly, "Perhaps a warrior would be better...?", his voice trailing off.
Forget it, she's rolling, Graham says, moving behind her as Teela as she moves to the next door.
"Not to worry, gentlemen. I've been opening doors since the age of two." Teela chuckles. "Single doors, double doors, curtains, sliding doors, one or two cell doors..." she waves her hand dismissively. "Unless it smells like that room, I'm sure it will be fine. But time's wasting."
Not deterred, she goes for the handle.
Quintessa enters the room that appears to be a sleeping room for a number of people, and looks briefly in the open footlockers, but they are the same jumbled mess as the rest of the room. It appears many of the scattered personal effects came out of these chests at the foot of each bed. Taking no more time with it, the sorceress moves behind where Teela is impetuously opening the next door.
Teela tears open the next door quickly, and finds a storage room. It holds items necessary for running the estate, including barrels of oil, lamps, linens, candles, common tools, and crates of supplies.
"Hm. Arson cabinet." Teela chuckles and looks around the room. "Anyone in here?" she calls out, waits two seconds and immediately moves to the next door to open it up.
Teela freezes in place. She ponders something for a short while with her eyes squinted ever so slightly. Then takes a few steps back. "As you wish." she gives a courteous nod.
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The tension in Fenric's neck and jaw muscles belie his efforts to speak patiently, "As Quintessa and I just agreed. It is tactically unsound for a seamstress--however helpful your magic has been, you're no swordsman--to be panicking and throwing open ever door in a rush." He glances for a moment at the spot where Teela had just recently been retching. "And you don't even know if we're--Behind the beds--" He looks at Quintessa with pleading eyes. "You're not even listening--not letting us gather our strength--Ugh." He comes to the end of his diplomatic skills in a tangle of thoughts that undercuts any attempt at gravitas.
Graham attempts to intervene. I think what Lord Lodovka is trying to say, he begins cautiously, is that, while we are all anxious to see who has survived, including our esteemed hostess, we should do so in such a way that we do not leave ourselves exposed on the flank, or from behind, by missing something we should not.
As he continues, he absently searches inside a lacerated pillow before tossing it aside, apparently disappointed by its contents. Therein lies catastrophe. And we have already managed to avoid two of those this night. Let us continue the trend, no?
When he thinks Fenric is out of earshot, Graham will whisper to Teela, And there's nothing wrong with being a seamstress, no matter what our nobility may think,
Catching Fenric’s pleading look, Quintessa steps forward with and places a gentle hand on the seamstress’s arm. She gives Graham a nod as if to signal Go on ahead, I've got this. She waits for him to move away and lowers her voice voice soft but firm, meant only for Teela to hear.
"Teela. I know this night has been chaos, and it’s natural to want to keep moving, to stay ahead of whatever else might be out there and trying to help the others and the Lady of the house. But Fenric’s right-we need to keep our wits about us. We’ve just seen that the dangers ahead are unpredictable and extremely dangerous, and we don’t know what’s behind the next door. We should be careful, together, so we are ready to take whatever may come next and none of us face whatever’s coming alone."
She squeezes Teela’s arm gently. "You’re doing great, and we need your magic and your quick thinking. Let’s just be sure we’re ready before we move forward." She gives a glance back at Fenric, with a brief nod before returning her gaze to Teela. "It’s not about slowing down. It’s about making sure we’re all in one piece when we reach the next challenge."
Alvis listens sadly at the display of disunity, sympathetic to both sides, though worried about the haste. "We should proceed with due caution and haste, little time should be spent on anything but clearing each area, and making our way to the main hall. That should be a reasonable balance." Alvis is ready to move aside for any that wishes to take the lead, he will yield to anyone that wants to be ahead of him.
Tilting her head to the side, Teela seems confused. "What does my profession even..." She stops herself from continuing. Instead, she takes a few breaths as she pinches the bridge of her nose. "Look, everyone. I see what you're getting at, okay? But I have conditions."
She takes a hot second before she continues. "We move as fast as we can," Teela looks at the others, but gives Fenric some extra attention "situation permitting..."
"We don't pocket stuff that's not ours, we find people. Guests, staff, guards, blackwhatevertheycallthemselves, ogres, trolls, whatever." She starts to go overdrive on the determination at this point. "We get rid of the aggressive ones, help others, we cover our corners, but move fast to find Jamandi, she sees our potential, we get the damn charter and..."
And Teela stops herself, stunned for a short moment. She almost becomes sheepish. Almost. "No stealing. Let's simply push through. Can we agree on that?"
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"Conditions? You're going to get someone killed not waiting for us to assemble. I'd rather you not let in a room full of Black Tears while I'm looking the other way. Can you agree to that? And do you even know if someone is bleeding to death on the other side of any one of those beds that we could have saved?" Fenric asks, flushing with frustration and pointing back at the ransacked bedroom. "No. You don't. Your actions are counter to your stated conditions."
Graham seems confused, leaning close to Alvis. Have you seen a pickpocket or cutpurse this night? Surely that would cost someone a hand!
Alvis is aghast at the continuation of this endless debate. As he dithers as to what to do, Graham askes an odd question? Looking quizzically at Graham he says "Not that I noted though a successful pickpocket keeps their hands.", then he shakes his head. I do not believe this to be the essence of their conflict."
Speaking louder Alvis attempts to calm the situation, "Please stop this endless debate, a treent moot would be swifter. Teela, I gather you wish that searches be confined to finding bodies living or to make sure they are dead, and take no item that is not immediately needed to save lives. Since I am not yet a qualified lawspeaker, I'll defer the issue of legal seizure to an appropriate authority after all is quiet. Fenric, she obviously has issues with time taken to search for other than people. Property rights can wait."
With quiet dignity Alvis sums up, "So Teela defers door opening to the warriors, everyone agrees to only do searches for people or unpleasant gifts from our uninvited guests. Otherwise we make careful haste. Everyone agree to the contract for the duration?"
Teela walks towards Fenric. Very much in his face, with irritated determination. "We're not doing this right now."
She points to Alvis. "He understands what I'm saying. I'm not opening doors, and you lot don't pilfer what doesn't belong to you."
She takes a few steps towards the middle of the room and crosses her hands.
"Go search your beds. Then -you- can open doors. I'm waiting. We'll talk later. Now, chop-chop!" she claps twice, urging Fenric to do what he needs.
Quintessa watches as the tension rise between Teela and Fenric, and as Teela steps forward with such determination, Tessa decides to remain silent for the moment, observing. However, when Teela gestures to Alvis and firmly states her conditions, Quintessa steps between them gently, hoping to de-escalate.
She raises her hands slightly in a calming motion. "Alright, alright, everyone. Let's just take a breath here."
"We all want the same thing—safety, to find safety, find Lady Jamandi, help those in need and to put an end to this madness. But Alvis is right, let's focus on the task at hand. No one needs to rush recklessly, and no one needs to be looting, especially when lives may still be at risk."
"Now, let's all work together and finish this night out strong. We'll deal with everything else later." She gives a small but firm clap to signal that they need to move on, hoping to dissolve the tension and redirect their focus back to the situation at hand.
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With a pensive expression, Fenric looks to the dwarf. He opens his mouth to speak but closes it again as Teela tries to bully him. He watches her step away with a cool expression, but the corner of his eyes twitch each time she claps her hand.
His flush begins to fade as Quintessa starts to speak. However, he visibly flinches and grimaces when she ends her statement with a clap. He inhales and then says in a flat voice, "Quintessa, would you go check that room for people? Selina, join me at the door. Graham? If Tessa doesn't find anyone, we'll head this way."
”Absolutely. Teela, why don’t you join me.” she says, already moving.
Teela shrugs with a little sass and follows. "Better than standing around, I guess."
She clearly didn't cool down just yet, but we're getting there.
Alvis sees progress so just says, "I'll just wait here by the door then, milord." Still he thinks, I wonder, Teela seems forward for a servant, I could see that irritating a noble. But she seems very honest as well. Mostly a good thing but could cause trouble in the future.
Tessa and Teela go back to the barracks room, and while its been ransacked, there are no signs of evident live occupants. However, there are 14 beds in this room and 5 have corpses lying in pools of blood askew on them. All the dead look like they were killed while sleeping.
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"Were the other beds slept in?" Fenric asks Quintessa. "If so, then the enemy must have infiltrated the companies seeking a charter, which would explain how such as that ogre was let into the manor." His head reflexively turns toward Teela and then back. A clue someone tried to push us past? His eyes only flicker toward Graham and Alvis. He shakes his head.
Alvis purses his lips in thought, then says, "Interesting thought mi'lord. The obvious assassin or even an ogre would be unlikely to be admitted. But some less obvious intelligencers finding a way to open an entrance for other murderous forces is quite likely. Troubling but we do need to be on guard but also have some trust as well, a difficult dilemma."
Graham nods. That ogre had to come from somewhere. We'd surely have noticed the aroma last evening. So the conclusion seems a sound one.