[Cosette might have noticed a bit of a hitch in Raqisat's 'Hey... oh hey Leelan's Ok.  Yay.'  But she did not see him grab anything.]

Raqisat:

 It does look like you could reinforce this room with relative ease and camp here for the night.  The remaining corpses in the room offer an unsettling reminder of the banshee, but of her there is no sign... it looks like you destroyed/banished her for good.

If the party doesn't want to camp here, it is a long walk back to the river.  

A madcap sprint could get you there in a couple of minutes, but would probably attract attention.  A more careful strategy if creep, lookout, and creep some more might be stealthier but at this distance it could take you an hour....

     Frowning, Raqisat would pull out the pellet for a closer look before likely tossing it aside.  He's spent time enough in the outdoors to not be disgusted by such a thing but unless looking at it changes his mind there's no reason for him not to discard the pellet.  The pouch, however, maybe still be worth keeping.  It did seem of decent enough quality and having another place to secure small items is never a bad thing.  He can more fully examine the pouch itself later tonight during watch or such...

     "We could move to a different room if the bodies bother anyone but I do feel staying here is the best bet,' Raqisat notes.  "It will likely worry the crew some though..."

Once he's come back to his senses, Leelan attempts to help with the barricade, despite not being very strong and feeling very depleted from a day of battles. He's particularly looking forward to a good night's rest.

Aubrey just gives the others a resigned look. In spite of having the firm plan of returning to the Empress in daylight the team once again found themselves out of time. There was in his mind still an argument to be made for going back considering the warnings they have had about not staying in the ruins after dark but after Cosette's question and Raqisat agreeing they should set up barricades and Leelan starting to help with those barricades there was not really a point in awaiting Grugga's opinion on the matter, or argue any further about what would be safest for the team. He could only hope he would do better with being aware of the time in the future so this would not repeat. "As the decision seems to have been made I will rest so that I can use the talisman to inform Captain Neck we are staying here then." The young noble says with a strained smile, finding somewhere reasonably safe and comfortable to rest.

Cosette pops a brow at the hitch in Raqisat's speech, however nothing else appeared out of the ordinary so she shrugs to herself. On one hand he could be looking for a corner to relieve himself in in a circular room, on the other he could still be feeling the effects of the last battle and was still recovering. Either way, Cos trusted he'd know he could speak to her should there be anything on his mind.

"I understand this ain't what ya preferred... what any of us preferred." Cosette's eyes meet Aubrey's before he steps away. Of course she would have preferred to have been back at the ship with her loyal 'pup', ensuring that the ship and the crew are safe along with them. "But this be the hand the cards dealt us." She admits. "We packed a lot in one day." She reminds gently then dips her head in appreciation of his offer to inform the Captain. Three encounters, all with foes that were nothing to sneeze at. Not to mention the entity they conversed with at the fountain.

"Raq, take first watch." Cos suggests as Aubrey steps away to make his 'call'. With Raq, Grugga and Leelan in the worst conditions, she'd rather them get the uninterrupted rests. "I'll take second, Aubrey third, Grugga, then Leelan." Cosette offers her mindful and 'strategic' take on the order, figuring Raqisat will want to stay up a bit yet as the night owl he is; taking Grugga for more of an early riser; and Leelan as well, but also because he (and Grugga) could use the most rest.

Cosette would play her flute when the boys work on the barricading.

Hearing the anthropologist speak up, the young noble looks back into her eyes. "I disagree Ms. Cosette, this is not about what hand we were dealt, this is about me being inexcusably inattentive to the time of day. If we just had left for the Empress the time we planned we wouldn't be in this...pickle, instead being back safe at the ship, and in better shape." He says firmly. "That being said, I agree, we did have our fair share of challenges this day and deserve a good rest." He continues with softened features and a polite bow before continuing to find his resting place to regain strength to communicate with the captain. They would need to be more cautious in the future, there was no reason for hurry, they had been here for a mere two days and had made great progress so far.

Aubrey would then enjoy the flute music as he rests before being ready to inform Captain Neck of the change of plans.

     If nothing happens to reveal more about the pouch he found, Raqisat studies it a bit more closely on watch after the others have gone to sleep.  When time comes to wake Cosette he'll reveal his find to her then in hushed tones, so as not to wake the others.  ((If my guess on it is right, though, we may find out more shortly after Raq tossed aside the small furry pellet that was in the pouch.  If I'm wrong... then who knows. lol))

8

The party sees Raqisat toss a small object off into a corner of the room... perhaps a pebble from his boot?

There is an audible 'pop' sound and where the object landed, a large tiger appears, its coat a blend of pale orange, black, and snow white.  It stetches lazily and then sits down next to Raqisat.

Aubrey quickly gets up from his resting position, ready to deal with the apparent threat of a wild beast, but fortunately he holds off with using his eldritch magic long enough to see the striped giant cat take a seat next to the archaeologist. "Did you somehow summon this beast Raqisat?" He says, still wary of the danger the giant cat presented to the quite weary team.

     Raqisat does a bit of a double-take at the pop and then quickly goes for his whip.  As the large beast stretches and then begins to approach him Raqisat does a quick look around to make sure everyone else sees what he is seeing and then prepares to attack.  Luckily enough, perhaps, he's a bit slow on the cracking of the whip and the tiger, instead of lunging for his throat, merely sits down next to him.

     "Err..." Raqisat intones wisely.

     "Did you somehow summon this beast Raqisat?" Aubrey asks. 

     "Err... Well..." Raqisat answers, whip more or less forgotten even as Raq slowly reaches out to touch the best to assure himself it is real.  "I mean...  Not intentionally that I know of."

     Mind racing, Raqisat tries to put two and two together.  Tigers don't just pop out of the air into a closed room...  And not right where you just threw a bit of fuzzy pocket lint.  Obviously the two were connected.  But was it the pocket lint or the bag?  

     "Easy boy... Girl?  Easy, tiger...  Maybe just lie down and wait there for a bit, eh?" Raqisat suggests and then backs away carefully to consult with the others.

     "Well, you see, the thing is," Raqisat starts by way of explaining.  "Queen Winnie of the Pooh tribe gifted me a ceremonial pouch for a deed I performed for the tribe.  This was oh... four years ago now?  Legend had it, so I was told, that after one faced death and defeated it that the pouch would be imbued with great powers... Of course I though the legend was hogwash.  Even tribal queens don't go around giving away magical pouches and all.  Figured the legend was their way of making it seem like a great gift when it was really just a so so kind of bag.  Who knew, am I right?"

     "Come here," Raqisat then calls over to the tiger, getting down on his haunches, to see just how much this beast may or may not listen to him...

The tiger rises and pads over at Raqisat's call, pausing only to sniff at one of the dried corpses leaning against the wall.

Aubrey looks just a tad bit skeptical as Raqisat explains things to him. Something certainly sounded a bit off with this Pooh tribe, but as long as the archaeologist didn't put the team in danger with his magical pouch he didn't really need to know. "Perhaps you could try to put your magical pouch to good use then." The young noble suggests with an amused smile, getting back into his resting position. "So, just out of curiosity, how did you use the pouch to summon that seemingly quite docile and obedient beast then?" He asks with a curious smile as he has taken his seat again.

     Raqisat side-eyes Aubrey a bit at his evident disbelief but continues laying it on.  "Well the pouch didn't exactly come with an instruction manual or anything but... yeah.  Can't see what harm a friendly tiger could be to us, anyway," Raq says.  "I have mostly kept the pouch empty, eh?  It's a nice enough pouch but just a pouch.  I probably almost threw it away a dozen times...  But just then it... Well, it was as if you suddenly had an acorn in your shorts, I suppose?  I just noticed a something that hadn't been there before.  In the pouch.  So I reached in and found what seemed like nothing... Like accumulated pocket waste.  It was odd but I didn't think much on it... Tossed it aside.  And boom, tiger! Suddenly I am an arcane summoner, huh?"  Raqisat finishes with a grin and an amused gleam in his eye. 

(Persuasion for the hell of it:  16)

     "How much do you understand me anyway, Tigger of Pooh?" Raqisat asks of the tiger.  "Can you go sleep in front of the door there and attack anything that comes through while we all sleep?"

The tiger looks at Raqisat, then over to the door, then back to Raqisat... then softly pads over to the freshly barricaded door.  It stops and gives Leelan's face a lick with a big, rough tongue.

It paces for a bit inside the door, then lays down with its head over a sideways paw.  

Raqisat:

     "Heyyy, check it out.  He does understand!" Raqisat says with amusement.

     Nudging Cosette with his elbow Raqisat pulls the tan pouch out of his clothing and holds it open towards her.  "Want to try your luck?  There's another something something inside..."

As he’s working on the barricade, Leelan is startled and disrupted by the sudden wet feeling of the tiger's tongue on his face. The appearance out of the blue of a predator much bigger than he is makes him somewhat confused. 

"Eh-what? Why is there a tiger in our company? What happened while I was unconscious?!", he asks in rapid succession.

A varying range of facial expressions play on Cosette’s face. There was a lot to consolidate in a short period of time. Seriously, a tiger!? Since when… Did it really matter though? Sure it gave a bit of a start from its sudden appearance, but it’s a tiger. A big cat! A guard cat by the looks of it. And it actually listened to Raqisat to boot. Admittedly all she wanted to do was try to cuddle with it and pet it, but she did have a facade to keep, so she’d do her best to keep her composure. Though, her eyes were wide in awe of the beast.

Then when Raq nudges to her, enticing her to dive into the sack, Cos pops a brow. She can’t help but wonder what he’s up too though, and now she was much too curious. How could she say no? Giving in, Cosette reaches into the pouch and feels around inside. Plucking what she finds, she’d pull it out and give it a look.

(Insight: 18 )

If the magical pouch would allow Raqisat to summon this large obedient feline when needed it could certainly prove a great asset to the expedition. Aubrey knew the archaeologist wasn't interested in serving his emperor but there was no doubt he and Cosette had been a very good if not necessary addition to the team. Soon he would report back to the emperor and he was convinced his report would be well recieved considering their progress. Seeming pleased with the situation the young noble leans back to rest again and starts humming softly a sweet tune from his home as he ponders their next steps.

(After a short rest, Aubrey would use Sending to contact Captain Neck and then to report back to Bardstown.) 

To paraphrase DM on what Cosette finds in the pouch:

 DM can add more on the Insight Roll if needed...

     "I think you just toss it to the ground and it grows into..." Raqisat pauses and considers for a moment before shrugging.  "Well, I got a tiger.  Can't say for sure if that's all it does til we try."