"How many?" she whispers, and when Aleksander reponds, her eyes widen. "Nine!? Um... okay. We've got this. We just use chokepoints if we really have to. Right?"
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"Okay, get ready everyone. If she's still in there, we're gonna get her out. And we're gonna lay the smackdown on that a@!~%+# of a brother of hers if he dares show up, right!?" Fiora tries to get everyone pumped and focused, then follows the frontline in - whoever decided to go in first. It would certainly not be the healer!
"Alexsander, can you pick a lock?" Fiora asks the Fetchling rogue, when it appears none of the other party members can do this subtly. "If not, we have to go and get a key. I guess since the glassworks is owned by ameiko's family, that we might be able to get one at their Estate if we explain the situation?"
"Can anyone open the door? We got to get in fast in case Ameiko is still in there!" Fiora urges, knowing full well she herself lacked the skills to lockpick it...
Fiora approaches the people able to see them with a bright smile. "Hello there! Would you mind terribly leaving us to this investigation? We were asked by the Sheriff to inspect the Glassworks for possible safety hazards to the staff. Said they wanted the perspective of the heroes of Sandpoint at a surprise moment, so to get a better picture of it all."
"Might have been Ameiko?" Fiora suggests. "I'm still in favor of entering this entrance or the one all the way on the back end of the factory. That is, if we can open any of the doors..." Just in case, she tries opening this one with a gentle tug.
"Odd. All the curtains are closed? I thought people would be working at the glassworks at day... surely they'd appreciate a bit of sunlight? makes this even more suspicious if you ask me," Fiora wonders. When it appears the front door is also locked, she frowns. "Let's take a look around. Maybe one of the back doors wouldn't be locked? Or at least, not in full view of the public in case we have to force a door open..." She stands ready to follow whomever took charge in entering the building from whichever desired manner.
Fiora looks up from calming the halfling. "Well... if Ameiko went to see this bastard half-brother of hers, and went as requested in the dead of night when everyone was asleep, there's a good chance she disappeared at the glassworks. I'd want to search that place fast on the off-chance she was still there, or at least while there's still evidence around of what happened to her." She glances away uncomfortably. "That is, of course, assuming she was kidnapped there..." she mutters. "If everyone agrees, perhaps Benthana could run to the mayor and show her the letter. That way, the town guard can be notified too. We might need them there depending on what we find inside! At the very least, they should know we're not just breaking in to rob the place."
"Desna's fortune be with you, Shalelu! Be careful out in the field," Fiora calls to her when she rises, and toasts a glass of rice wine in her direction. After she leaves, the cleric gives Aleksander a big thumbs up. "Smooth! She was definitely into the 'refugee from an evil regime' thing! Not going to lie, I thought it was risky at first but it seems you're really good at reading people, Aleks. So when's the wedding?" Fiora continues, teasing him. "I'd like an invitation, and I just might buy you a nice gift! ...As long as mister Biggs here doesn't eat through *all* my money in a single night..."
"Good question! You're the only one not from around here, Aleksander. Why did you come to Sandpoint? Here to see the sights and woo the women?" She winks at him in between eating from her tentalizingly sweet and sour chicken dish.
At dinner, Fiora looks a little nervously at Shalelu. "Um... w-well, you know, miss Andosana, If I'm honest, I don't think we did that much, but everyone keeps calling us heroes. We killed... I think ten or so of them during the attack? That is between the five of us, and at least two of them were drunk. I don't think we really deserve to be called heroes the way you are, taking on so many goblins from different tribes all by yourself in the wild. I... think it's more that the people here want something, or someone, to believe in so badly that they overlook we're not that much better than the town guards, and definitely not as good as you. Well, except for Aleksander maybe, he was killing them left and right!" She winks at Aleksander for some reason, then smiles softly. "But I've said that numerous times to numerous people, and they all seem dead set on continuing this for all of us. So... if they need this image of us as heroes so badly, I'll try and behave that way. And eating like heroes is just the start! Hey, Ameiko? Can we get some of your house special sweet and sour chicken for the table, along with the herbal tea?" Then, she opens her backpack (pushing back Felix as he tries to escape it yet again) and pulls out a few wands. "I did some shopping today, sold those glasses and got a few wands. And much more gold than I have any right to have. So all of tonight's food and drinks are on me, everyone!" At some point during the feast, she decides to ask Shalelu a few more questions. "So where are you from, Shalelu? And why did you spend years of your life to quell the goblin tribes here, in particular? Do you have some connection to this town?"
"Hm... well, If you say so, Aldern! Just remember that if you do run into problems, we owe you for this trip." Just as she's about to go, Fiora scratches her chin in thought as she regards the noble. "Actually..." She leans in and gives him a chaste kiss on the cheek. "Now we're even," she grins and walks off to do her magical shopping, unless stopped.
After getting back and delivering the boar to Ameiko, Fiora quickly excuses herself, throwing an odd look at Aldern over his apparent silence. "What's wrong?" she asks, waiting for an answer and intending to pay a visit to the magic shop afterwards.
*Munch* *Munch* "Oh, this boar is just SO delicious! And this sauce! Never tasted anything like it. I wonder where Ameiko got this from? Think it's a Tian-Min cooking secret or such?" Fiora chirps happily, perhaps slightly over-enthousiastic in digging into it and the accompanying roasted vegetables. She hestitates when Gareth asks the obvious question. "Honestly... I don't know. We didn't find any more tracks at the graveyard, the robe was spent and the goblins aren't smart enough to tell us more about who organised them. Maybe we can try talking to the civilians tomorrow? They DID ask us to be more public to raise morale. And maybe one of them has information about the attack or other strange things that might help us find this mastermind. The only other option seems to be heading into the wild and go looking for goblins at random..." At some point when Ameiko passes and the group orders drinks, Fiora shares this information and problem with her. "So... I think we're stuck at the moment. Do you know something? Or someone who is an expert on goblins, maybe?} she inquired to the innkeeper.
"Good going everyone! Way to show that boar who's boss!" Fiora cheers, slightly before Aldern rides back in. Suddenly, Aldern Foxglove rides back into the scene and says "Wow, you took care of that fast! I was almost ready to jump in and save the day. I guess I'm not as brave as you, madam." turning to Fiora. Fiora chuckles and blushes at the compliment. Perhaps Aldern seemed a bit childish at first, but he didn't look half-bad, and he did seem to have a good idea of fun! And it wasn't like the entire rest of the town didn't also have a bit of an unhealthily inflated opinion of the group... "Haha, I'm, ah, sure you were! But you know? Thanks, Aldern. This really was a fun trip." She holds his gaze for a moment with the sincere compliment, perhaps slightly longer than necessary, then gets the nagging feeling she was forgetting something... ...In this case, Aleksander bleeding out on the floor just to the side. "Oh. Excuse me! I need to help him..."
"This won't do... I need to have more healing magic on me if we're attacked again. Maybe I can trade for it, somehow?"
Ah, sorry. I must have missed that post. Take care!
Grael, are you here? Seems like it's your turn. Also wanted to ask, how does everyone feel about botting people in a fight if they don't post in a certain timeframe? We've been on round 1 of this combat for around 1.5 weeks. I know Anthorg was gone for a few days, but it feels a bit slow on the party's side to not complete round 1 in that time at least and risks stagnation.
The same is true for me. Until we reach level 2, I actually can't really attack. At least I can heal and buff a bit? :)
"W-Woa! Please, kind horse, Um, pony. Horsepony? Shhhh. Calm down?"
THe next second, Fiora falls off and she sighs. "Well, probably better this way," she figures, and starts to sign a song of bravery as she stands up.
Still fine. Taking care of the family. Kinda busy but I get by. You?
"Eep! A boar!? Is this its terrotory...?" she wonders, before going over her options. Seeing Alex badly hurt and looking like he's about to faint from the goring wound, she directs her pony towards him and quickly attempts a heal!
Slight headsup, I won't be able to post tomorrow. If my turn comes up, please bot me. I'll just start performing inspire courage.
Sure, let's go with that :)
"Sounds like a fun place to visit! Maybe I will, one day. Though... if I'm honest, I get the feeling everyone is overestimating us a bit, based on fighting just a few goblins. I still don't feel it's entirely deserved to constantly be called a hero or praised for our supposed skills," Fiora says, then looks around for game when Aldern calls a halt.
"Oh, shhh! I think I spot something over there!" she exclaims, pointing to a suspiciously moving bush...
All right, thanks for the responses, everyone. It seems most of you are pretty busy IRL, thanks for the headsup. I'll stick around!
"I-I'm sure she will accept you, mister Biggs! Just be nice to longshanks and don't do bad things. Sarenrae is all about second chances, after all. H-haha, ha..." Fiora manages to say, riding along on a pony. Though it was perhaps more accurate to day the pony was in full control, since it seemed to not listed to any of her directions and the priestress often lost her footing in the stirrups. By all accounts, if the disposition of the animal was any less kind she'd have been tumbling rather than riding along. When the group pauses for a while to admire a nearby stream, she catches her breath and answers Aldern. "Oh, you're a fan of ancient history too? Sweet! Have any more interesting stories to share?" She asks the nobleman. "As for me... I think Grael has the right of it. I'd like to see more of the world soon, starting with the Thassilonian ruins in the area. There's something mysterious about them that makes them just so interesting! Not to mention that time-frozen city up north... Gareth and I went there last year to see it and it was amazing! Though... like everyone else, we couldn't actually enter it. Damned barrier got in the way of all the fun!" She seems to catch herself and furtively glances over the group. "Oh, uh, don't tell dad I said that. He doesn't like it when I curse. He's a bit strict. On a lot of things..."
Hey everyone, I wanted to ask about everyone's investment in this game. It feels overall as if the posting rate is really low, and while I want to see what happens in the story, I don't want to feel like I'm (almost) the only one pushing it forward. What are other people's thoughts? Personally, as it stands, I'm leaning towards withdrawing from the campaign in favor of spending more time on more active ones.
"Get to... know us?" she repeats a little hesitantly, but then her polite smile flourishes to a full one. "Well, hunting is fun! We used to do that last year on the road, Gareth and I, when we were travelling to see Ancient Thassilonean ruins! He's a really good hunter, he is. Me... not so much." As if summoned by the topic, Felix worms his way upward from Fiora's bag and seems to stare at his human. "Yeah, yeah, I know. We won't be hunting bunnies, little buck. Go back to sleep and eat the potato in the bag, all right?" The hare hesitates for a moment, then dives back in after... huffing? Fiora, however, ignores it and looks over the rest of the group. "Actually... what do you all think. Should we go out hunting with him? I'd like to, but it might take us away from the village for a while, and who knows if it'll be attacked again?"
"Oh, hello Aldern!" Fiora says, sitting down at his table and politely smiling at the... not exactly manliest guy she'd ever met. "Have you been keeping yourself out of trouble while I was gone? No new scratches on your finger, I hope? I really wouldn't want to explain to the rest of your family that something bad happened to you on our watch." She watches the goblin making his case to the man with some amusement. "Yes, Mister Biggs, but maybe we shouldn't encourage anyone from blowing up anything before they have the proper training?" she looks Aldern up and down and attempts to guess his martial prowess - did he look capable of defending himself in any meaningful way? "Speaking of bad things happening, what sort of hunt are you talking about and are you sure you can handle something like that? What if we run into goblins again?" She asks the foppish man during her guesstimation.
Chuckling at her father's reaction, she gives him a playful punch. "You're too easy, dad. I know we're Desnites and all, but it's not like I feel comfortable going on a dating spree with this threat of a looming second attack!" Then, a thought strikes her. "I don't like waiting around doing nothing, but I think it's all we can do now? I don't think we have any leads to follow, do we...?"
Fiora shrugs at Aleksander. "It looked undisturbed for me, judging by the dust. But if the Sheriff and my dad approve, you might have permission to open it just to see if they didn't her bones as well?" She throws a questioning glance at the town authority figures with them. "And of course we're going to be around, right!? There's no one else I'd trust to run the church's sunday school. And I guess I could get used to being famous... I mean, it was a bit overwhelming to get stuffed with free treats, asked for ten dates on the same night and requested to try out new clothes and such for the craftsmen. But, I suppose it's fun in a way." She then grins. "And some of them were cute."
"Okay. I think we've learned all we can here. A humanoid figure, a longshan- um, tall kinfolk, came in here with a few goblins and opened only Father Tobyn's coffin. They probably used the last few charges of the robe to summon skeletons to attack whomever might have investigated. And by expending the robe, perhaps intentionally, anyone coincidentally detecting magic wouldn't know something was wrong," Fiora concludes. She then walks back out and reports the group's findings to her father and the sheriff. "What could they want with father Tobyn's body? Does there exist some magic to extract information from the dead, or something? And if so, what could he have known that was worth doing this...? Maybe the whole goblin attack was just a distraction so this person could break into the vault...?"
Standing at the daughter's tomb, Fiora calls back. "Working on it!" 'Am I just wasting time, though? Maybe we should go back instead and report what we found...'
On the off chance her stalwart friends had overlooked something, Fiora detects magic again while inside the crypt, facing all directions, and takes a glance of her own at both the empty tomb and the seemingly unopened one. Were there signs the second tomb had been attempted to open as well?
"No other magic you say? Hm..." Leaving the necromantic robe where is it for a moment, she walks over Father Tobyn's robbed tomb and studies it for oddities. How did they open this thing? Did the robber inadvertedly leave something else behind...?
The young acolyte's hand twitches back just moments after touching it. "T-This is a very powerful necromantic robe! Or at least, what's left of it. See these creature-shaped outlinings? I heard stories about these techniques, of casters being able to rip out the figures and turning them into summoned monsters. I think this one was made to summon undead..." She meets the eyes of the others. "This seems like a very valuable item to waste coming here. The question is... why? Why were the priest's bones so important...?"
Fiora stops singing and moves into the tomb. "Yuck... smells like moth-eaten robes from the cathedral's spare linen chamber." Noticing the robe she moves over there and examines it. "Speaking of robes..."
Fiora, not figuring herself a good shot and not equipped to harm skeletons, instead starts stinging a song in Desna's name, which helps everyone focus! Though she also thinks on skeletons and their weaknesses...
"Use blunt weapons if you can!" she calls out in between!
Not sensing anything, Fiora lets go of her father and somewhat nervously takes place somewhere in the back, behind Gareth. She peeks at the contents of the crypt mostly from behind his back, allthewhile tightly holding her crossbow...
"Right... Hold on." She closes her eyes and concentrates, hoping to detect the presence of magic near and beyong the entrance to the crypt. if she finds nothing and no one feels the need for more preparations: "Ok... I don't sense anything magical. And... we can't let them just go and do whatever they wat, can we?" Swallowing her nerves away, she gives her dad a hug. "Um, dad, if we're not back in an hour, please consider sending help?"
"Could be..." Fiora replies, pondering. "Was the late Father buried with anything of especial note, father?"
Fiora chuckles. "Come on, Gareth. I know you're a nature geek and all but we really don't have time to study the birds! We have to prepare..." She nods in determination... ...which slowly fades into uncertainty, as she realizes her actual experience in dungeoneering is rather limited. "Um... do we need anything else to prepare?" she asks the others. "And how big is this vault, exactly? Do we need ropes and stuff to climb?"
"Um... before we go, do we know *anything* about this vault? It's a grave, right? Who would be buried down there?"
Barely having finished her delicious oriental tomato soup and fresh bread, and still somewhat unused to suddenly being a person of particular note, she still quickly goes with the sheriff. "The... cemetary? Why would they go there, dad? Is there something below the cemetary or the cathedral that we should know about...?" she asks her Father, following him to the scene.
"Whew! That took a lot out of me. It's like running a full day of sunday while one half of the class is drunk from yesterday's party and the other half is still sleeping it off..." Fiora groans, then smells the enticing foodstuffs in the air. "Say, why don't we grab a bite before going on?" She follows the scent to its source, intent on making a purchase.
"Ah, there we go! Seems like your friend really likes the cake!" She says to the other goblins, smiling sweetly. "You should really get some before it runs out! So was the boss helping you during your... raid? As in, was he with you?"
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