Arc 2 - Heart of a Monster (Completed)

[Lavander42]

"Petrification can be cured. There is a ritual, but it requires a caster stronger than I." (It's an 8th lvl ritual)  

[Mongooseh]

Valac watched the small girl finding himself incredulous and a bit astonished he would say gesturing at her with his sword, "That's it?! She caused all this ruckus?! Her?!"

Valac would then stomp over to get a closer look before walking away breathing a sigh of frustration and saying, "There's no glory or heroics to be had in killing a small girl."

He would pause for a second seeming to attempt to reconcile something in his head before his face would snap to his devilish grin, "But... fending off a bunch of guards who wish a girl harm seems pretty heroic to me."

Valac then takes up a position in front of the now closed door.  

[PupSage]

Kuori embraced Petra for a while, tightening her embrace before letting go. She stood and faced the group, "I am glad that you think that way Tiefling. If any of you object to me leaving with Petra, speak your piece. But know that what's happening here is bigger than any one of us."

Now they needed a cover story ... Summoned Creature was at the top of her list. Kuori was really wishing that the fox girl hadn't claimed the bag of holding and split.  

[Lavander42]

Lavander pulls her cloak off and drapes it around the girl. "Claim she was trapped in here. We'll stay for a bit and pretend to look more. Where should we meet you?"  

[PupSage]

Kuori looked at the door and said, "They Red Lion inn ... give me an hour or so." She needed to get out of here and find Revenge. She looked down at Petra and said, "I'll carry you out, say that you're injured. We'll get you to ..." She realized that she shouldn't mention Abby. "Your friend."  

[AlphabetFish]

It seemed as though things were beginning to fall into place, except for the cover story... Then Twyla had an idea.

"Wait, wait!" said Twyla to the group. "I may not look it, but I can spin a big fat lie with the best of 'em, and THIS is what we'll tell them!

"This poor girl was walking by when she saw a horrible monster--too terrible to describe!--and she ducked into the house to hide from it, but it followed her! Oh no! So she hid from it--she's a slippery one--and only came out when we adventurers chased the horrible thing away!" Twyla grinned. "But how did it escape, you might ask? Why, it disappeared in a flash of light! Oh, and it made a loud BANG, too! You know, a bang just like... this..."

Twyla turned towards the door that separated them from the guards. She motioned for Valac to cover his ears, then winked. Suddenly a loud, thunderous clamor arose from the door, seemingly apropos of nothing.

((Ghost Sound on the inside of the door to make it sound like a loud spell went off.))

Twyla whispered quickly, "Okay, everyone, play along now, but I'll do the talking..."

Then she shouted loudly, "By the Gods! Did you all see that? That monster just used some spell to disappear!!"

((Bluff: 31. I'm trying to convince the guards listening outside that the "monster" just magicked itself away, causing the loud noise.))  

[Kowsauni]

Abigail (Abby) Morgan

"Hmm... It's not my house at least." Abby looks concerned at this development, but the worry vanishes from her face as she approaches one of the many guards and politely asks. "Excuse me, sir, what is going on here? I came to see my friend who lives here."

The guard would motion for Abby to stop. "I'm afraid I'm going to have ask you to stay back. Some dangerous creature has taken up residence in that building, but some adventurers are dealing with it now. As far as we can tell, no one was in the building when the creature entered so your friend should be fine." Despite his own obvious nervousness, the guard casts Abby a reassuring smile.

Suddenly a loud noise comes from the building followed by a high pitched voice yelling about a monster disappearing. The guards all jump back and murmur to each other, but stay in their positions.

Abby returns to Revenge's side. She whispers into his ear. "That voice sounded like one of my employees... Anyways, let's go to my house. I want to check to make sure Petra is safe."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As Lavander's cloak settled around Petra, it seemed to snap her back into reality. She stopped crying, though still continued to sniffle, and pulled the cloak tightly around her head. With how quickly she hid her monstrous features, it was clear this was not the first time doing this. She even tucked her tail under her dress. "I... I am ready. Y-you think this will work?"

From her position next to the door, Twyla could hear the guards talking to each other. Her demonstration had clearly been noticed.

Petra

 

[Rain Yupa]

Quote:

The guard would motion for Abby to stop. "I'm afraid I'm going to have ask you to stay back. Some dangerous creature has taken up residence in that building, but some adventurers are dealing with it now. As far as we can tell, no one was in the building when the creature entered so your friend should be fine." Despite his own obvious nervousness, the guard casts Abby a reassuring smile.

Quote:

"I'm afraid I'm going to have ask you to stay back. Some dangerous creature has taken up residence in that building, but some adventurers are dealing with it now."

Quote:

"Some adventurers are dealing with it now."

Revenge flashed back to Kuori's shoot-first-ask-questions-later mentality when they entered the sentient woods beyond Lupa, and he blanched.

"E-excuse me, sir," Revenge would say, trying to get that same guard's attention. "Was one of the adventurers who entered, a tall goliath woman with a longbow?" A drop of sweat would run down his temple.

The loud raucous would then sound, and Revenge tensed. What in Sehanine's shadow was going on?

"Y... yeah... okay," he would hesitantly say, keeping his eyes on the quarantined building.  

[PupSage]

Kuori shrugged, "Its better than waiting here forever." She leaned down and picked up Petra, cradling her in her arms and wrapping the cloak around her. She walked towards the door, "Twyla, get on the guards and tell the story as soon as we get out of here. The rest of you follow suit. Red Lion inn, one hour." She turned the door know and swung it open with here foot, rushing outside and towards Abby's shop. When she passed Revenge she motioned with her head to follow.  

[Kowsauni]

The guard that Revenge approached only seemed to half acknowledge the paladin, as his attention was clearly drawn to whatever was going on inside the house. He would answer in a distracted manner. "Uh, yeah, that definitely sounds like one of the adventurers that went inside. We don't know what's going on right now, so you better stay back."

Revenge would then see his tall companion burst out the front door holding a girl in her hands. The girl had a cloak wrapped around her, obscuring her mostly from view.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As Kuori opens the door and rushes outside, she sees all paths away from the house are blocked by guards, as they were as she entered the building. After all, they were trying to prevent whatever was inside from escaping. The only way through would involve trying to force herself through several of the armed guards. They do not look suspicious of Kuori, but they do look curiously at the girl in her arms. One of the guards asks, "Where did she come from? Is she okay? What happened in there? "

At the sound of the guard's voice, Petra shrinks a bit in Kuori's arms. She can feel the poor girl trembling.  

[Rain Yupa]

Revenge would sigh as he looked on from a distance. That was Kuori, all right. Who was that she was with? He had no idea what was going on.

"What do you make of that?" he would ask Abby. He grimaced a bit when Kuori made eye contact with him. What kind of mess did she just find herself in?

"That's... the person I traveled here with, from Lupa," he would explain flatly to Abby. "I hope she didn't shoot whomever that is with her. She's probably trying to find an apothecary..."

He internally debated sticking with Abby to check for her friend, or to see if he could go lend aid. He was needed either way, so he would let his wife decide upon the urgency of either situation. She would know better than he.  

[AlphabetFish]

"Okay," Twyla began, "give me a second to--" She broke off as the goliath scooped up Petra and pushed out through the door, revealing all the guards staring at the door in response to the loud noise. Show time! Twyla quickly adopted a scared, upset expression as she launched into her "explanation."

"It was horrible! Just horrible! When we went in, we heard someone crying and then the heavy, terrifying footsteps of whatever monster it was that petrified those poor guards!

"I don't know what it was--we couldn't look at it, you know, or we'd be turned to stone--but I do know that we all drew our weapons against in an act of sefless heroism! We'd fight blindfolded if we had to, like the brave heroes we are! And then, BAM! There was a loud bang and when we looked up, the monster had magicked itself away!

"This poor girl we found in the back of the house, hiding from the monster. She's a little hurt and my friend is taking her to get help."

Twyla watched the guards closely as she spun her yarn. Were they buying it?

((Bluff of 20 to convince the guards Twyla is telling the true story of what went on in the house.))  

[Kowsauni]

As Revenge turns to his wife to get her oppinion he sees a shocked expression on her face. Under her breath she whispers to him. "P-petra, that's Petra in her arms. By gods what has happened..."

After Twyla's explanation, the head guard looks sternly at the small gnome for a moment obviously not impressed by the gnome's bravado. He then lets out a sigh. "That's terrible news. The creature could be anywhere now!"

The head guard turns to his fellow men. "Spread out throughout town. It might not have teleported far. We must find this creature, whatever it is, before it can harm anyone else. If you find anything suspicious, send for help. This creature is not to be engaged alone. "

At their leader's orders, the guards around the house break and run off in different directions, leaving Kuori to head towards Abby's shop as she had planned. Abby turns to to her husband and tugs on his arm. "We must follow your companion and see where she is taking her."  

[Mongooseh]

Watching the guards disperse Valac looked around, shouldering his full blade obviously disappointed at the outcome. He begun picking at his teeth with his little finger before he realised that he hadn't eaten all day and should probably go get a meal. Maybe some hard alcohol and a big juicy steak could cheer him up after such an anti climatic ordeal. Valac headed to the Red Lion inn with that plan not even making a motion to anyone as he seem engrossed in his thoughts.  

[Lavander42]

Lavander follows the goliath.