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"Gettin' real sick of all these folks what ought to be quietly dead!" Mila growls. "Think Raj has the right of it, you killed the kids!" She holds the symbol of Erastil around her neck tightly, her lips pressed together and her eyes flashing with anger.
"Yeah, lots of customers you say? The village seemed--" a fractional beat, but Mila really can't NOT say it - "--kinda dead... when we... passed through." She bites her lower lip after the words escape.
Mila quickens her pace when she hears the voice, moving to stand beside Raj. While she held her own with the last ghost through sheer luck, she feels, she doesn't have a silver tongue. "Park, do you, um, wanna buy any... honey?"
Peering out the window, Mila frowns to see the silhouette of the burnt buildings. "Hey, y'all... I think up there's the old apiary. Let's use daylight well, huh? I think we found all we gonna find in here." Unless others have objections, she exits the home and starts towards the old charred buildings.
"Sure would. A body without a mark on it don't lend much weight to the idea the Beast kilt her. But..." Mila sighs and rubs her head. "If I had a guess, she's back with the other souls buried just outside the church. But they're not too happy with anything, and I can't calm 'em a second time today." Mila pauses before adding, "Prolly I can... like... disrupt 'em. Sorta scare 'em off with... holy stuff. Won't set 'em to rest for good, but it might let us go digging for a body. 'course, that body might be pretty, um, ripe by this point." As they consider these options, Mila looks around the room just to be sure there's nothing they've missed. Maybe Karin kept a diary... saying how the Beast was her friend... sure. And maybe Desna will give Mila wings.
Mila rubs at the back of her head. "The sisters said the kids started vanishin' one by one from the village. Seems like maybe that's the undead kids we been findin', yeah? An' they also mentioned an apiary that burnt down. Now that we know the bees got somethin' to do with all this, I reckon that's worth checkin' out. We got a bit of day still to us, here, enough for that I think."
Mila is able to find her two arrows that missed, sunk into the mattress of the bed, at least. She retrieves them and returns them carefully to her quiver - the blanching might still be needed.
"Okay." Mila takes a breath. "So where ain't we looked in this village? If we can prove some other thing caused it, that's stronger evidence."
The next time we get significant downtime (likely not until after the trial), Mia should have Zhandar make her some durable arrows. They cost .3gp each to make and once you've got about twenty of them you never have to track arrows again. You can also make blunted, cold iron, mithral, or adamantine durable arrows, which cost more but help keep your damage up when we start facing things with damage reduction. I'm not worried at all about tracking mundane arrows; maybe for some of the special materials it might be worth it, I guess. I'm only tracking for these because they're ghost blanched and we may easily run into more incorporeals here.
Mila rubs at her jaw uncertainly. "The full wraith, then? If this was just a created one? Do we... think that was Karin's... ghost, brought back by what killed her?" Gosh, I hate this place..." She shudders a little, looking around the room for any other clues that might be of use. Mila awkwardly straightens the sheets on the bed, feeling there's not much more she can do for the dead girl. A wraith... she only has a few more of the ghost-salted arrows left.
More arrows streak from Mila's bow... she hopes they kill this thing before she runs out of these special arrows.
"Hang on, Raj!"
"Good eye, Zhandar," Mila says grimly, and sends arrows forth.
Mila sucks a little breath in through her teeth as they see the form in the bed. She nocks an arrow and aims it at the small form, though doesn't loose it; it's just a precaution for now.
Mila is aghast to realize the scarecrow is a man. "Surely this wasn't up in the village at the time folk were living here," she says, shaking her head. "And he couldn't have been one of the villagers, right? Cuz they all left? So he was someone who came since then, and got kilt by the creepy kid-things, and they strung him up- does that make sense to the rest of you? If so, maybe thass more evidence there's screwy stuff going on here thass got nothin' to do with the Beast. Here, let's take his possessions, and... and cut him down, gently. He oughtn't be left to hang up there." Mila will carefully set the withered corpse down on the earth, and then use a handful of that earth to 'scrub' her fingers of the death clinging to them. "Sorry, buddy," she mutters to the body. "Don't even know who you were, but I'll ask the Staglord to guide you safe to Pharasma." With that done, she stands. "Okay, guess we keep goin'. I like this place less and less."
"Also pretty odd for undead to jump rope with me," Mila says, rubbing at her side where the whisperer had touched her. She is breathing raspily. "Dunno.... what it did to me... but I'm real tired. Feel like I ran a mile in the rain. Hang on a second." Mila drops to her knees on the earth, setting her bow to the side to push her fingers into the soil. "Stag Lord... renew me," she whispers. She draws her fingers back and then touches herself over her heart. A few deep breaths, slow breaths, and then she nods, looking better.
"Raj, did it get you at all?" When both Park and Zhandar are unable to recognize the wand's enchantments, Mila gives it a shot.
"Hey--! I know this spell. It does a big ball of fire! I think it's got about seven left. Is that somethin' either of you can use?"
"Oww! Dammit!" Mila quickly nocks and looses two arrows into the thing's face.
"Hey! I dunno what you just tried to shoot us with but that ain't gonna fly!" Mila takes off running towards the creature, focusing on the swiftness of the stag to help her corner it...
"I don't know if you could really call this livin'," Mila says sadly, watching the skeleton go back to its... 'rest'. "Maybe it was a little comfort to its soul, I dunno." She takes a breath, blinking rapidly a few times; another deep breath. "Okay. Let's keep goin'. Where to next?"
Hey team, I'm having some semi-serious medical issues right now. I will try to post as I can, especially as Mila is one of the two asking stuff in this scene, but if I am holding anything up don't hesitate to bot me.
"Garad is bad? Or the beekeper?" Mila probes gently. She takes her turn with the jumping, doing her best to 'lose' here and there with a stumble or trip in order to give victory to the 'child.' "Do you know what happened in this town when everything went bad? People died-- kids. A girl named Karin, and others. Seven months ago? Do you remember any of that time?"
"I'm sorry," Mila says, still awkward but trying to hide it. "You, uh, you must miss him. Where's this beekeeper at? Does he, uh, cause trouble?" A few more jumps and skips-- she wonders if it'd be best to 'lose' to the poor shade-- and then she asks gently, "I like to shoot bows too. I learned when I was just a little girl. Is Garad your name?"
Don't stare into its eyes, don't stare into its eyes.... or not-eyes, as the case may be. If her mama could see her right now she reckons that mama would slap her silly. You don't go talkin' to dead monsters, you fool girl! Mila keeps her fake smile in place as she slings off her pack and gets out a length of rope. "I sure do. Um, I'm Mila, what's your name?" Mila hands off her rope to two of her friends and clears her throat. "Who's jumpin' first, you or me? Also, um, what happened to your friend Ulek? Did he get sick or..."
"Looks like he, um, used to be a real nice fella," Mila says with a forced smile, trying to make her voice soothing and calm. "What kind of games did y'all play? You ever play, um..." She thinks rapidly of the contents of her pack. "Jumpin' rope? Or cat's cradle? I gots string with me."
"Umm....." Mila really isn't sure what to do with this. The... 'child' knelt before an adult skeleton, taking its head...? Was this-- their parent? What a horrible, sad thought. She glances briefly at the stuffed animal but the empty blank stare of the skull's vacant sockets holds her. She gazes back at it, not sure what to do. Destroy it with the light of the gods? But-- it's not attacking them. (Yet.) It just seems... so bereft. What does it need? Not its skull, it's got one of those already. Its stuffie, fixed? That'd be one heck of a solution...
Mila cocks her head to listen. "....I'll bet gold money that's another haunt," she says, unhappily. Leaving the sobbing spirits stuck beneath the ground hadn't sat well with her, though she knows there's not much to be done without their bodies. "And I can't do that prayer again. But.... I can't just not see what's over there, cryin'. Even if it is undead." She looks to the others, gives a little shrug, and starts cautiously up the chapel steps, towards the sound of the sobbing. Given the sound of the door opening and the daylight spilling in, there seems no point in trying to be quiet, so.... "Hello there," she says carefully, one hand knotted around her staghead symbol. "We're here to put you folk to peace. Ease your rest, if we can. I don't want to hurt you any." But I will if I have to, she thinks, squeezing the silver stag until its tines dig into her hand. The radiant energy of Old Deadeye is at hand, if needed....
Mila winces as she reads Raj's words in the dirt. "Yeah, maybe," she nods. "Hope it don't come to that. I ain't got that prayer again for today, and even if I did it wouldn't last long enough to try and get bodies outta the earth... Maybe we can set 'em to rest first, then dig. We'll look." She scratches at her chin. "But it's been a while. I dunno how much evidence would be left on flesh after this much time... After a few weeks it'd be real hard to tell what made what kinda bruises or marks... At least I reckon so."
Mila gathers her hair which is starting to come loose of its tie and secures it back once more, then nods towards the bulk of the church. "Think we oughta check out the inside of the chapel, there." She starts walking that way, keeping an eye out for trouble on the ground or the doors as she goes.
Mila's gaze darts around a bit apprehensively, then she points to the graves. "I think-- I think that if we find the remains, and put 'em to proper rest-- we could get them some peace." She moves closer to the graves, trying to see if there are names or any clues as to who was meant to be buried here, but conscious she only has so much time to look.
"This prayer I did just buys a little bit'o' time, it won't really settle 'em easy," she says, her eyes still moving in quick scans over the graves. "Hopefully, if we do find the bodies, we can lay 'em to rest here without disturbin' the spirits twice... but I guess if I gotta I can calm 'em down the hard way."
"Unquiet dead!" Mila yells in warning. "Move offa here! Spirits -- in the name of Erastil, I pray that you be at peace!"
"Don't nobody hurt it further, yet! I might be able to sort it out!"
"Good thinkin', Raj," Mila agrees. She helps pack things up, then they move on. Park's question makes her nod slowly. "It sure looks like it. Wonder how long those shovel's've been lyin' there?"
"Thanks, Park," Mila beams. "Awright. Let's stick together and see what else here's gonna try to kill us. --oh, lemme see if the creepy murdered kid had anything important..."
"Rajuna- you should be alright in, um... an hour. Sorry," Mila says, trying to be helpful. At Zhandar's words, she nods and looks to Park. "Figger you can give it a shot?"
"I'm not hurt at all. Rajuna, are you--oh." Head cocked to the side, Mila tries to look more closely at Raj. "Hang on, lemme look you over..."
As the situation becomes clear, Mila finds herself-- amused. She turns away so their irritated friend won't see her lips twitching. "--okay I get it's a pain, but-- better Raj than Park, huh? "Hey, before we go further, lemme get that magic stick used on me, huh? Forgot to do it when we got to town."
Grimly, Mila adjust her footing to have a better line of sight and looses two more arrows at the 'child'.
Hearing Park yell what the creature is, Mila winces. Poor child. Poor never-got-a-chance-to-live child. If things coulda been different for the kid... But right now, it's hurting her friends. She can't allow that. The undead are the one foe she always feels capable of handling. Bees? She's unsure. But skeletons, zombies, ghosts....? Yeah. That she can manage. Her bow is raised, and three arrows streak towards the whisperer.
"You'd best leave him alone," Mila says with stern sadness to the 'child.'
"Good gods," Mila pants. "Rajuna-- Zhandar-- you two okay? I ain't never seen bugs like that. Bees'd swarm sometimse in the spring but.... I gotta get me some of these bottles like you got, Zhandar. And, uh, pay you back for the one I grabbed-- sorry about that." The tall young woman rubs at the back of her neck. "Mayhap we should avoid the bridge?" She fishes out the staghead necklace she wears and holds it tightly. "You two both got stung to hell, let me do somethin' about that."
Zhandar's hurried nod means Mila snatches one of the flasks. "I'll pay ya back!" she blurts at the other woman as she takes a small step and then tries to immolate bees.
"S+&+! Uh, Zhandar, can you spare a flask a' that fire stuff!" Mila blurts as the swarm closes in on them.
The horse is magical. That isn't stopping Milovica from calling hers Stormy, however. She's not really sure how magical horses work... "I guess we ain't gotta stable 'em?" she says hesitantly to Zhandar, whose spell it is. "Still. It'd be good to have a place to build a little fire. Thanks Park!"
After she finishes her cheese and water, Mila adds on: "We gotta find a place to stable the horses too - I'd suggest inside one'a them old empty buildings just so's they don't draw any eyes. Once we clear it, a'course. And there'll be lotsa little bits of debris in there we could use for a fire for our blanches, too!" She reaches back to pat at the long nose of the gray mare she rode here. The court hadn't said a name, so she's privately calling her Stormy. Good girl, Stormy!
It's not exactly the deep woods, but Mila's sense of the outdoors proves useful in route to Hergstag, which she is quietly pleased about - and pleased to be out of the press of the enormous city* that is Lepidstadt. It's nice to have room to breathe! And Hergstag has... stag in the name. She's choosing to see that as auspicious. Erastil wants her to be here. Clearly.
The village is a sad mess though. She looks chagrined at the state of things. It hasn't taken nature long to reclaim this at all, and while nature is nature, she.... doesn't care for swamps. Or mosquitos. And the marshy ground threatens to have plenty of those. It's been a long walk*, and Mila slings off her pack now they're in view of the destination. She gets out a piece of hard cheese and gnaws on it as she gazes over the motley knot of buildings ahead.
"Right. Should we head right for Karin's house, or poke through as we go, you figger? Anybody want any cheese?" A swig from her waterskin, then wiping her mouth with the back of her sleeve... "We could start with those buildins right here close, but I don't reckon we have the daylight to search every single house, yeah? Say Park, I could build a little tiny kinda fire quick if ya want to melt that blanchy stuff you got. I got some of that too! Ain't never used it before but I gather it's better to have it sorted afore you need it."
Mila listens for the answers to the questions, thinking that gosh, Rajuna sure is good at this investigatin' stuff... She tries to think of additional questions to ask. 'What, um, happened to poor Ellsa's body? Did it drop her when folk attacked with the pitchforks-- did she get a proper burial?" Not likely that a corpse would retain any signs of what killed it after so long, but she's still curious.
Mila's not sure what Zhandar picks up, but is willing to trust the other woman. She tries to add her voice to Park's queries, gently, teasing out whatever is being unsaid. "Is there anything else you can think of? Can you describe the kidnapper as you saw him, t'us?"
"Maybe if we talk to them we can see if there's holes in their story before we go, yeah," Mila echoes uncertainly. She hopes the Beast is innocent, but she's learning how hard it is to prove negatives.
"....well all the same, don't go nowhere alone," Mila repeats. "Zhandar has the right of it though, we'd better hoof it."
Mila claps Rajuna heartily on the back when they adjourn. "That was awful impressive! I don't know if I could do half of what you just did, keepin' it all clear.... " She shakes her head. "I jus' hope you din't put a big target on yourself. That crowd there is hateful. Don't go nowhere alone, okay, Raj?" She nods her assent to the logic of both Park and Rajuna. "Guess we get set to hit the road again, huh? Didn't know trials involved so much walkin'."
Mila listens in admiration. Rajuna lays it all out so well! She'd thought Park was the one with the golden tongue - and to be sure, he is-- but while Rajuna doesn't say things with flourishes or drama, he lays things out flat and factual in a way that resonates with Mila's own 'non-fancy' upbringing. It's all very convincing to HER, anyway. She hopes the judges find it so as well.
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