Arc 2 - Heart of a Monster (Completed)

[Rain Yupa]

Revenge would look down at the bottle of liquid gifted to him, unsure what he was supposed to do with it. For the time being, he would simply hold onto it.

"Shayne, please..." Revenge would start to say to the wizard, stopping himself as the man went to go get coffee. Waiting for any exchange between Shayne and the maid to complete, he would then interject. "I'd like to get you to the manor as soon as possible. Since I couldn't get anyone to talk to Abby last night, I'm going to have to rely on you to make sure she doesn't agree to something that compromises her integrity if I can't talk to her first. It's a bit of a hike to the manor, too. The last thing I want is to get there and find out Abby laid all the groundwork prior to our arrival."

Though as he explains this to Shayne, he keeps looking around at his surroundings, as if searching for something.

Quote:

Perception 17 to find flowers - off the Arethos property - that he can quickly grab before venturing forth.

 

[PupSage]

With Revenge distracted and whining, Kuori got up, her boots keeping her quiet. She dropped her weapons off at the gate and began up towards the mansion at a good pace, using her long gate to get a good lead on the sorry sack of a husband in heavy armor.

Somebody had to act like they had a level head around here.

27 stealth to the gate and weapons check  

[Noname 51]

Shayne looked back to Revenge, "Why didn't you take Kuori's advice and go in with Valac? She is your wife, and if any one could/should get though... Unless... I would guess, issues? Ether way, if I must, I must." Calling his dew covered staff back to his hand, from where he set it on the grass before, he would then offer it to Revenge.

Turning back to Hiya, "Where are my manners? Revenge, Hiya... And the hooded girl is Petra aaaannnndddd ... Where is Kuori?"  

[Rain Yupa]

Revenge would make a bit of a face. "Go with? Did he go back inside? The archmage wanted him out. The reason I came with him is both to make sure he didn't feel purposely excluded, while giving my wife some requested space. Kuori tends to assume a lot of things without bothering to ask if she's unsure, so I wouldn't fall back on her perception of the situation." He would make an open-handed gesture. "Can we trust this wizard we just rescued? He's probably worth shooting. I calmly walk out of the place we're staying at alone? My wife must have been killed."

He would shake his head before looking towards the manor. "I... hope Valac didn't cause a ruckus. Though Vincent rode by not too long ago, without stopping to drop off a corpse for us or scold us, so I'm going to remain optimistic that he hadn't. But... it's not going to score us any points with the Archmage that he did it. Also, defeats much of the purpose why I didn't take the advice in question and try talking to my wife after all, despite her wanting some time away from me." He would look to Petra, and back to Shayne. "Point is, I don't think I would have been able to defend Abby from Kail if he wanted to do anything to her, and she obviously felt safe enough there to purposely put space between us. As far as other dangers go, Kail is an archmage; she's as safe as she's going to get with an archmage and paladin guarding her as she would be with an archmage and two paladins."

Revenge would reach up and rub the bridge of his nose in frustration. "Abby blamed 'us men' for the failed meeting, which is why I wanted Kuori to talk to her and tell her some very important information she needs to know. But the second I show up here, Kuori tries to pick a fight with me. I keep trying to..." He would stop, and not continue that train of thought.

He would turn and bow his head to Hiya. "Sorry. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance," he would tell her politely. Then, for Shayne's question, he would gesture towards... "She's right over..."

Huh.

"Well, maybe she went back in her tent," he would suggest. "She seemed completely unwilling to leave her weapons at the gate, so I don't think we should wait for her. I think it'll just be you and me, Shayne. Let's hurry."  

[Mongooseh]

Valac would be having his breakfast in an expectedly brutish way only stopping to throw a glance at Abby before he was spoken to by Twyla,

He would grunt positively in response a bit sluggishly.  

[Kowsauni]

Abby would nod at Twyla and begin to eat from the expertly prepared dish set before her. The younger Araethos daughters cheerily return Twyla's greeting while Odessa simply smiles, her expression placid--almost solemn.

Selma gets up from her place at the table and moves over to a chair next to Valac. "So... how do you feel this morning? Are you feeling any unusual side affects from the medicine? It might linger in your system for a few days, so I want to tell me if you experience anything out of the ordinary."

After eating a bit of her breakfast, Abby would stand up and speak. "I would like to thank you all for your hospitality after all the trouble we have caused. If it would be all right, Twyla and I would like to speak with Master Araethos before the rest of our party arrives."

Odessa would nod at Abby. "Very well. I will take you to father. He was going to listen to me practice this morning. You can speak with him then."

Odessa gets up from the table and motions to be followed. Abby follows but first turns to Valac and gives him a message. "Valac, please wait for the others and let them know that we've gone to speak to Master Araethos already. When everyone is here and ready, they may join us."

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Odessa leads Abby and Twyla up a flight of stairs and through a series of doors and hallways until they come out onto a large veranda overlooking one of the many gardens. Kail is already there, sitting in a chair with a cup of tea and a plate of cheese and bread. He looks surprised to see more than just his daughter arriving, but Odessa would quickly explain.

"Good morning, father. I met your guests this morning while at breakfast and they said they were fans of my music, so I decided to invite them to this rehearsal." Odessa moves to her chair and violin which had already been brought to the veranda and begins to warm up and tune her instrument.

Kail looks a tad annoyed at this development, but otherwise does not protest. He invites Abby and Twyla to take a seat in some of the chairs that are already set out facing Odessa. It appears this veranda has been set up for listening to her performances.

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After Kuori checked her weapons in at the gate, the guards would direct her towards the manor house. Kuori could see a large ornate mansion sitting upon a hill in front of acres of sprawling gardens. It would take her a good 15 minutes to reach the large marbled entrance way at the front of the manor house. Once there, a servant would come out to greet her. "Good morning; you must be on of the party that arrived last night. How may I help you?"

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Hiya would smile and respond to Shayne. "Oh, I'm doing fine for it being morning. It looks like you had a rough last night, though. Here, why don't you partake in some coffee and breakfast? We have quite a nice spread here; I even helped prepare a bit of it." Hiya would hand out coffee while other servants laid out breakfast on a blanket. The meal consists of fresh bread and fruits accompanied by jams and butter. There's even some dried meat. Petra declines coffee and seems to get nervous any time a servant comes too close, however she would sit down and begin to eat breakfast, favoring the dried meat.

Hiya would look back and forth between Revenge and Shayne. "Don't you want partake in some breakfast? We went through all the trouble to bring it out here..."

As Revenge looks around for flowers, he spots some small, pretty, yellow flowers hanging off some vines in a nearby tree.  

[Rain Yupa]

"Gkt-!" Revenge would wince, as Hiya brought up the effort they made to bring out breakfast. It was a topic he was hoping would not come up, and that the staff wouldn't say anything. After all, since Kuori was staying out here with Petra, they wouldn't feel as though it was a wasted effort. But now half that cover story had just hit snooze and gone back into her tent...

"Ah, well... the thing is... We need to..." He would frown, reaching up and holding the back of his head with one hand. "By Sehanine, that's a lot of food..."

In truth, while he was hungry, he was going to wait to eat, since meeting with the archmage was a bit more important. "I..." He would let out a long sigh. "Okay...... but just a little bit, until Kuori gets back from her tent or where ever she is."

Keeping a mental note on the flowers, he would take a modest amount of bread for himself and begin eating it slowly.  

[Mongooseh]

"I feel even better but drunk. Haven't had anything to drink either... I think." Valac replied to Selma as he continued with his breakfast.  

[AlphabetFish]

Twyla bowed low before Kail, and took a deep breath before beginning to make her case.

"Master Araethos, first of all, I would like to say thank you for your excellent hospitality, and for continuing it in the face of my friends' transgressions on the previous night." She would smile almost shyly. "The truth is, I'm rather a fan of yours after all I've read, and of your daughter's skilled playing as well. I'm absolutely so honored to be in the position of having you, sir, as an audience for me and my employer here, Miss Abby.

"I would like to formally apologize for, uh, all the tomfoolery done by Valac the Unsurprising, and I'm sorry Mr. Revenge was so, well... shouty. I think we got off on the wrong foot. We're still very much in need of your help, so I'd really like to encourage you to still consider helping us restore to full life the poor people who got petrified. If you could only spare some of your precious time..."

Twyla would twist her hands, and cast her eyes down. Being so earnest wasn't really her style, but she could ill afford any more bad communication. "That is to say, we'll do whatever you need so that you can please make us a wand to cure them. Miss Abby and I are willing to do whatever it takes, and I offer you any skill I have... but please, I also ask you this: don't judge my companions too harshly if you can. They're honestly good people; they just... like to do things their own way."

((Diplomacy of 28 to convince Kail of a few things: 1) to help us by making a wand to un-petrify people; 2) to accept the help offered by Abby and me as restitution; and 3) to go as easy as possible on the other party members.))  

[Kowsauni]

As Kail listens to Twyla' words the annoyed expression falls from his face. "Very well, I make no apologies for my actions in my own home but perhaps I was a bit rash. I will continue to entertain my proposal from last night, but first let us enjoy my daughters music. I will discuss what I need to make the rod once the rest of your party arrives."

Abby says nothing but give Twyla a cheerful smile, obviously pleased with this turn of events. Odessa then brings the bow to her violin and fills the veranda with her hauntingly beautifully music.

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Selma would tilt her head to one side and put her finger to her chin. "Drunk, you say? I don't know what that is like, can you be more specific, perhaps I could whip something up to treat it if you don't mind." A devilish look flashes back into Selma's silver colored eyes. She becomes lost in thought, no doubt thinking of what remedies she might use.

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Revenge finds the bread quite tasty. It had obviously been baked fresh that morning. Hiya smiles at Revenge's reaction. "There you go. I swear adventurers can be so hasty sometimes. One should always take time to enjoy breakfast when it has been generously offered to them." Hiya gives the party a little wink.  

[Mongooseh]

"Groggy. It's like being really tired it's hard to say. Like its using up other stuff in my body to make me feel hardy at the cost of the other stuff. Tough but sluggish." Valac would try to explain continuing to pick away at his breakfast.  

[PupSage]

Kuori looks down at the man and says, "I need to speak with the other girls in my group." She paused and said, "And maybe a bath after that." It had been a few days since her last, and the sweat from her battle, the dirt from the earth that she slept on, and her stride through the forest hadn't done here any favors. Not to mention the blood from the fish that stained her kilt like leather wrap at her waist.  

[Noname 51]

Shayne would just smile and chuckle as Revenge Hiya's interaction. "Does Master Kail's estate get many adventuring visitors?" He asked starting in on his second cup of coffee, almost ignoring the foods.  

[Kowsauni]

As Kuori stands at the front gate, the sound of violin music drifts to her ears. It was a mournful tune yet beautiful at the same time. The servant would nod to Goliath. "Hmm, yes, I see. I will take you to your companions."

Kuori would be led inside through many doors and passageways, past a banquet hall where she would see Valac eating breakfast and being chatted to by two young girls, before finally arriving outside the room where the music seemed to be coming from. The servant would open the door to reveal a large balcony where Abby and Petra sit with an older man dressed in black with a white hair and an eye patch. A wispy-looking young blond woman was playing the violin. She did not stop once the door was opened. The servant would bow, then speak. "Please forgive the interruption; the lady here would like to speak with her comrades."

~

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Selma would ponder Valac's words. "Hmm. Well, I might have something I can do to remove the lethargic feeling without removing the positive benefits, if you would like? This is good to note though. The formula obviously still needs some adjustments."

As Valac talks with Selma, he would see Kuori momentarily being led through the room by a servant before she disappears in the direction that Abby and Tawny had left in earlier.

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"Oh, Master Kail enlists the aid of adventurers all the time." Hiya would respond. "Usually he hires them to collect rare and dangerous species for his studies, but sometimes he hires them to help out with incidents in town and other such things. You should eat too, Mr. Shayne I recommend the orange marmalade on bread. It's made here from fruit picked from one of the gardens."  

[Noname 51]

"I noticed, and I will ask later for some for the road." Shayne stated, before changing the subject, "What would the other be served? I mean, I am sure Revenge would like to know his wife is well fed."