Abbicka gives Daviren a quick nod of thanks, and then wordlessly scuttles out the gate. Once the door is closed, she exhales slowly, looking around for Lashtail.
"There you are," she sighs, moving just off the road, where Lashtail is laying beneath a small tree growing not quite close enough to the wall to be a concern. Taking a seat next to him, Abbicka lays a hand on his back, more for her benefit than his. "I wish I could be so carefree that I could sleep in the aftermath of what happened..." she comments to nobody in particular. Lashtail opens one eye to consider her, then lets out a quick snort and returns to his nap. Abbicka runs her hand across his back, petting him slowly. "The things that that goblin...that the necromancer said...driving Sandpoint into the sea...I don't want something like that to happen, but is it even my place to defend civilization, the antithesis of nature?"
Leaning against Lashtail, she reaches over and begins scratching at the nape of his neck, behind where his brow ridges sweeps down towards the hinge of his jaw, just above his crest. Without opening his eyes, Lashtail lifts his head a little, making a soft guttural sound. "I wish things could be simpler. I wish things would stay the way they were before, except maybe that the town's people would warm up to you and stop treating you like some kind of wild beast." Reaching into her pack, she draws out some more jerked meat. Lashtail lifts his nose and sniffs a few times, then cranes his neck up over Abbicka's shoulder. "Now now, don't just swallow it down. I don't know when the next time I can bring you some is. You may to hunt for yourself in the future, but try and stay out of trouble, ok? Abbicka waits a moment, as if Lashtail can understand her words, and when she is satisfied, gives over the jerky. He gobbles it down like a greedy child, and Abbicka chuckles a bit, before standing. "Stay here. If you get hungry, you can hunt, but make sure to come back here afterwards. Ok?" Lashtail knew a few of those words, and gives a small yip in response, somewhere between a bark and a chirp.
Abbicka turned back for the gate, glancing back at Lashtail uncertainly and reiterating, "Stay here."Hopefully Daviren is still here, or they might not let me back in, she worries to herself. When she comes up to the gate, she gives it three solid knocks.
"The Northgate. During the goblin attack, Rodney was magically put to sleep, and Lashy bit his hand to try and wake him." Abbicka falls in step alongside Daviren Hosk.
"The other guards are convinced that Lashy attacked Rodney, and they've locked him outside and wouldn't let me see him. I couldn't convince them that their accusations made no sense; what good will I be convincing that council that this was a serious attack?"
Abbicka stops at the entrance, stumbling for an apology, "Oh, I...uh...I didn't mean to interrupt." She does a small bow to August and adds, "I'll wait outside," before turning back towards the entrance.
"You're kidding, right? Armed goblins are weaker than a sleeping guard? That's what you're going with? How far does this delusion of yours go!? Lashtail saves a guard's life and helps repel an attack on the city, but all anyone can think about is 'oh, he's a raptor' and 'oh, he bit someone on the hand' and 'oh, raptors are bad' and it's getting old. I'll just go get Hemlock and put an end to this lunacy." Abbicka turns and begins to storm off.
"Rodney was asleep. That suit you guys make him wear is nice and all, but he was alone with Lashtail for, what, ten minutes, completely defenseless? And the worst he got was a bite on his hand and some scratches on his jacket? Have you seen a raptor attack before? Because if you guys think that's what a raptor attack looks like, you clearly haven't seen what Lashtail did to the goblins. They were awake, armored, and armed, and he cut a pair of them down to save Rodney's life."
Check:
Intimidate:1d20 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 3 = 5
Abby sighs as she comes back to herself. At least I don't feel bad about what happened with the goblins anymore. She tries to square up with the dwarf guard, but her determined visage almost immediately cracks, overwhelmed by exhaustion. "Now please let me through," she manages in a tone that isn't quite begging. "I need to check on Lashy."
"Did to Rodney? If you already know that Lashy saved Rodney from the goblins, then why are you treating him like some kind of beast? Are you really still mad that he bit his hand to wake him up after saving him from the goblins?"
"If the gate is shut, then where is Lashy?" Abbicka asks, looking around and clearly somewhat distraught. "You didn't lock him out there with the goblins, did you?"
"All life is part of the natural cycle," Abbicka is quick to recite. "But I do suppose intelligence gets in the way of things... When we think we're clever, we tend to disrupt the cycle. Killing for greed, or worse, for sport." Abbicka pauses as she sets the second scroll down and looks up at the ceiling, as if there's something there to see. "I wonder, sometimes. Do the goblins attack Sandpoint for necessity, greed, or sport? I mean, sure, they make it seem like greed and sport, with their gleeful expressions, but what would happen to the goblins if they didn't attack. I wonder if they even remember how to cultivate the land..."
Lost in thought, Abbicka closes her eyes for a long moment. "I should go check on Lashy again," she finally decides. Talking to Lashy always clears my head, she thinks to herself. I wonder if its because he can't normally talk back... She casts a somewhat guilty glance back at Jensen. It's not his fault, she decides. I just need to work through my thoughts on my own.
Abbicka stares at the scrolls on the table for a long moment, before finally sighing and sinking back into her chair. "I appreciate your support, Jensen." She picks up the first scroll and unrolls it. "I don't have a spell prepared to discern the meaning, but I always liked the way the Druidic runes and glyphs looked..." She fiddles with the scroll for a little bit, then rolls it up and sets it down. "Why'd it have to come to killing, though? I mean, I know that predation is a part of the natural cycle, but was that really what happened back there? I guess, at least for us, it was about survival..." Abbicka picks up the second scroll and unfurls it, more appreciating the look of the script than the meaning.
"It certainly didn't feel heroic..." Abby mutters to herself. She steps into the room and closes the door behind her, climbing into a chair and leaning back into it. "I see you've adjusted your drawing."
This conversation is interesting, but I have nothing to offer, and I don't really want to intrude... Abbicka thinks, letting out a soft sigh. She turns to Paul, waiting for a pause in the conversation so as not to interrupt. "Well, it looks like the crowds have mostly dispersed. I appreciate you letting me hide here; I'm not good with crowds." She gives a curt nod and goes off to find Jensen.
"Most townships pay bounties for wild raptors," Abbicka is quick to interject, "because wild raptors pose a threat to farmers and travelers. Lashtail is a tame raptor, and he's not a threat to anyone that doesn't threaten him first."
"Anyway, Sandpoint isn't big enough to bother with complex hunting laws, but you should probably be more concerned with how the druids will feel about it. You hunters are really only allowed to hunt at our discretion." Abby brings her index finger to her lower lip and looks briefly up at the sky as she pauses and thinks for a moment. "Besides, the aren't really many raptors around Sandpoint, so I hope you didn't come here to hunt raptors."
Abbicka follows Paul's gaze, and then looks around confused. Where was he looking, just now? Giving up, she turns back to the conversation and comments to the potential buyer, "He's right, though. Feathers don't do much against the cold."
Abbicka is not used to this sort of attention, and tries to take advantage of her lesser stature by standing behind Paul. When he moves over towards his pelt stand, she follows.
"Do we have any hope of tracking her down?" Abbicka asks, somewhat incredulous. "Lashy can't seem to follow the trail, and it looks like what trail we did find, she wanted us to find." She turns and puts Lashtail's head a few times, thinking. "Maybe Father Zantus can shed some light on who we're after?"
Abbicka does her best to avert her gaze away from the eviscerated goblin corpses, keeping her eyes firmly on the edge of the forest. As she nears it, she turns about. "Lashy!" she calls, trying to draw his attention away from Paul. "Lashy, come here!" Pointing at the ground, she tries to explain, "We need to find where the bad smell is coming from, Lashy!" She repeats the gesture a few times, pointing at Lashtail and then the ground, slowing moving her finger along a trail.
Abbicka eyes Paul suspiciously, then shakes her head. He couldn't be, she decides. Clenching her fists to steel her nerves, she declares firmly "Let's go, then!" She begins to march off resolutely towards Northgate, before her better judgment can steer her back towards relative safety.
Abbicka chews on her finger as she ponders thoughtfully for a moment. "I think so," she finally decides. "It'll be harder now that the spell is expired, but he should be able to do it."
"The spell expired... and I don't know the creature Lashtail meant when he said pink scaly thing..." Abbicka turns to the Sheriff once more. "Lashtail described something as being pink, scaly, and having a powerful smell about it, one that is bitter and sour and overpowering. Can you think of anything that matches that description? It doesn't sound like any animal I can think of."
Abbicka listens carefully to Lashtail's story, then turns to the sheriff to offer an explanation. "Lashy says that he left Northgate briefly to track goblins he'd seen in the woods, but he says that they disappeared and a bad scent covered their trail. He counted five goblins in total, one riding a dog, which sounds like the group I encountered on Church Road. When he came back, Northgate had been attacked. He..." Abbicka pauses, clearly uncomfortable with the subject, searching for the right word, "dispatched some goblins that were...uh...messing with a body, and then he saw that Rodney was asleep. Believing this to be abnormal, and finding him to be unresponsive, Lashy bit him to wake him up. Then he heard my call and came to assist me at the White Deer." Abbicka pauses again, thoughtful. "This spell only lasts but a minute, and I can only do it once a day, so if you have any questions for Lashy, you'll need to be quick about them."
"I wasn't at Northgate when the attack happened, but I can't believe that Lashtail would bite Rodney. Would you mind if I ask Lashtail what happened? It'll take but a moment." As the question was meant to be rhetorical, Abbicka immediately turns to face the raptor and calls upon her innate connection to nature. She begins making a series of chirps and clicks.
Speak with Animals:
"Lashtail, what happened at the gate? The Sheriff says you bit a human."
Giving a slight nod, Abbicka turns and pats Lashtail on the head. "You did a good job staying like you were told," she cooes. "Come on, now. Let's get you back to Northgate." Giving a slight whistle, she turns to walk back to Northgate.
Abbicka runs back over to where Ameiko and Lashtail are. "Thanks for watching Lashy for me," she greets Ameiko, ignoring (and interrupting) Jensen. "Sorry to have put you on the spot like that. Got caught up in the moment, I guess. Do you think it's safe to take Lashy back up to Northgate now? I know some people are pretty uneasy with him being in town, but I don't want to leave him there unattended, especially if there are still goblins about."
Pointing at Lashtail with a somewhat commanding voice, Abbicka demands, "Lashtail, stay!"
Handle Animal:1d20 + 7 + 4 ⇒ (7) + 7 + 4 = 18
She ignores his puppy dog eyes as he stares deep into her soul. She turns to Ameiko and says, "You wouldn't mind keeping an eye on him for just a little, would you? I'm going to go help with the fires."
Not waiting for a response, Abbicka dashes over to the burning building. She closes her eyes in focus and says a quick chant, summoning a small torrent of water above the house. Pleased, she repeats this action again and again, trying to focus the water wherever the fire seems strongest.
"Lashtail, no. Come here. We have to stop the goblins coming down the road." Abbicka makes a general gesture for Lashtail to follow her.
Handle Animal:1d20 + 7 + 4 ⇒ (9) + 7 + 4 = 20
As he approaches, she takes stock of his injuries.
Perception:1d20 + 5 ⇒ (5) + 5 = 10
Not seeing anything pressing, Abbicka walks back towards Church Street, her grip around her spear tightening. I've never struck out in anger with this before, prior to today... she thinks, before looking down the street at the approaching goblins.
Perception:1d20 + 5 ⇒ (11) + 5 = 16
"Oh...where did the goblins go?" Abbicka tenses, trying to be prepared for anything.
Ignoring the other deputy, Abbicka faces Ameiko, "There were five, I think. Two had masks and bows, two had little swords, and the leader was riding a dog. How can Lashtail and I help?"
Abbicka continues running towards the square, hoping for help to arrive before the dog rider can run her down. "There's more coming from up the road!" she shouts to no one in particular as she finally arrived at the square, out of breath.
As Abbicka is trying to clear her thoughts (and not look at the dead goblin), the area brightens, drawing her attention towards the square. As she turns to regard the sudden increase in ambient light, small gusts of wind begin to pick up. "Right! We need to go help the other townspeople, Lashy!" Without another word, she takes off towards the source of the explosion, which is clearly marked by a growing pillar of black smoke rising into the sky.
Perception:
Notice explosion
Perception:1d20 + 5 ⇒ (9) + 5 = 14 I'm pretty sure I can't possibly fail this check. At this range, noticing an explosion would probably be something like a -20 DC.
Abbicka turns to regard Lashtail just in time to witness the brutal execution of its prey. "Lashtail no!" Abbicka shouts, rushing over. "Bad! Goblins are not food! They're thinking creatures just like me!" Trying to effect a stern look, Abbicka points at Lashtail and reiterates. "Bad!" Turning to face away from Lashtail (and the quite dead goblin he's still standing atop), Abbicka pauses to regain her composure.
Abbicka rushes up to the White Deer. "Do you have a first aid kit? I've some training in herbs and medicine, so I might be able to help any wounded here."
Abbicka looks on in horror as Lashtail talon cuts a deep gash in the goblin. Swallowing the bile in her throat, she takes a determined step forward and begins chanting.
Abbicka closes her eyes and channels the remnant magic of her fey origin. I hope this works, she thinks to herself, rushing forward to further assist the farmers.
Action:
Standard Action:
Dancing Lights (E12, Humanoid)
A glowing, vaguely humanoid shape made of faint light seems to step out from the dying farmhand and walk towards the goblins (into E13).
Bluff:1d20 + 3 ⇒ (13) + 3 = 16
Abbicka approaches the fire over which the fish is being cooked as her curiosity gets the better of her. Finally, she asks, "I've never seen an animal quite like that. What is it known as?"
Abbicka happily obliges, petting the soft feathered head a few times. "I have to go back to the festival now. You stay here, and don't give the poor guard any trouble." Turning back to the guard, she offers a shrug. "I'm sorry to leave you in such a position, but the city officials were very insistent that I not bring Lashtail into Sandpoint proper." Taking a long breath of the fresh air just outside the city, Abbicka does a little twirl and skips back towards the gate. "I wish the festival could be held out here. The city air is so stifling. I'll be back to check on Lashtail again when the sun passes its zenith. I hope you'll be alright until then." She throws the guard a mischievous wink and then heads back into the city.
I wonder if Jensen has finished his drawing, she quietly wonders to herself. I think I'll enjoy the festival for a little longer before returning. And with that, Abbicka heads down the street, looking hither and yon at the various stands set up, hoping to sample some interesting food.
Abbicka lets loose a high chortle at the guard's expense. "He's actually very nice," she comments, approaching Lashtail nonchalantly while still looking at the guard with a coy smirk. Turning to Lashtail, she pulls the jerked meat from her pack and offers a little piece to the deinonychus. "Were you good while I was gone?" she whispers to it in something of a baby voice.
