It might be her accent, but Jenviel's words come out a little more on the strange rather than playful side.  Nevertheless, the window opens and a girl of perhaps 12 peers out.  A much younger boy holds her hand and peeks over the sill.  "Can you tell us what's happening?  Father hasn't come home and there is so much smoke and shouting.  And what was that sound?  Did she say there's a dragon?"

The girl says her name is Periwinkle, and her little brother is Grouse.  "But everyone calls me 'Wink.'"  Their father works at the horse stables but usually stops at the taverns in town for drinks after work.  He should have been home by now and they don't know what to do.  They were hiding until they heard sounds of your combat outside and couldn't resist taking a look.

     "Well well, it looks like we have ourselves a leader of our merry little band," Finn says with a playful roll of her eyes after Tylaerys seemingly takes charge.  It's not that Finn doesn't approve, it's just that she feels the need to wisecrack about most everything...

     "So what's the plan, boss?  Head straight for the keep rescuing any we can along the way, or actively search for small groupings that we can pick off?"

     As Wink and Peri tell their sad tale Finn cannot help but be moved.  "Well I guess our next destination solved itself then, huh?"

Left with pieces in hand, Jirel lets go and allows them to fall where they may. She’d step over the body and allow Jararaka to complete her search in peace.

Naturally, the Goliath’s attention was drawn to the sky when the dragon would reappear during the villagers breakdown of his situation. She’d remain silent, distantly listening to everyone regroup for their next steps. 

It wasn’t until Jirel would hear the voice of a young child where she’d flinch, body rigid. She’d visibly inhale, exhale, and adjust herself before turning around. Honey eyes fall over the children. A hint of a smile tugged at the corner of her eyes while a wave of complex emotions pass by. As if held in suspension, the goliath would take a moment and wait until there was a pause. Almost a lull. 

While Finn addressed Tylaerys, Jirel creeps forward with gentle tentative steps. A destination was nice, but what about these innocents? They can’t leave them, but… the blonde gives her head a shake. She swallows. Jirel passes Finn and Tylaerys to approach the children and lowers herself to her knees. “Hi Wink.” She tries a playful wink. ”Hi Grouse.” The goliaths voice was tender, nothing like the rough and gruff tone she would usually have. “I’m Jirel.”  She’d introduce herself. “Are you hungry?” The blonde would reach into a pouch on her hip and pull out some rations to offer the kids.

“I can tell yer brave, so I won’t lie to you.” Keeping her voice calm and gentle, Jirel would be truthful. “What we do know, there’s a dragon descending on yer village with some bad friends. Yer daddy, an’ some friends of mine, might need some help to get home.” The blonde would reach her hand out, palm up to the children. “Would you like to help us?”

With Jenviel and Jirel's kind words, the kids are convinced to come out of the home and follow you.  They take in your group with wide, curious eyes.  Wink seems fascinated by the towering stature of Jirel, while Grouse giggles every time the little cat wizard moves.

"Yes, we will help.  But my brother is very young and we shouldn't let him try to fight the bad men."  Wink carries a cast iron skillet with her and seems to have taken your request for help quite seriously.  "Or the dragon."

Jararaka drops 3 silver into everyone else's hands, "little something for all this trouble." She hands the 2 bolts she finds to Tylaerys, the only one she saw fighting with a crossbow, and uses the clothes she peeled off the restrained cultist to put the other items in a makeshift bundle.

She approaches the kids as well, though keeping a fair amount of distance. She scratches her neck, not sure what to do with kids in this situation and says to her companions, "we better drop 'em off somewhere safe. Find their parent or... if their dad- nah, y'know, somewhere other than here."

Jenviel Tsumara

Jenvil will pull out two pieces of ornate kanzashi that's been decorated with colorful gemstones and white feathers. She rubs these hairpins with a piece of glowing moss so that she can imbue them with innate magical light. During the process, her eyes start to glow, her skin emits light blue hue and a temporary illusion of feathered wings appears at the base of of her shoulders.

"Grouse and Wink, will you hold these lights for me so that I don't step on sharp rocks?" Her high shou (draconic variant) accent compels her to pronounce the names peculiarly, she says 'Gross' amd 'Wongh' instead of 'Grouse' and 'Wink'. She's just trying to distract the children so that they do not get the direct view of the bloody corpses of the cultists.

"Madame Henjeyokai (Jararaka), I think we should bring them under the care of people who are occupying the second carriage. It's dangerous to keep children with frontliners." 

As Jenviel speaks Tylaerys turns and notices the children in the window of the nearby straw-roofed house. How many other children were back in their homes while the army of the dragon rampaged north through town. No, she couldn't think like that, they must hurry now and save those that could be saved.

"No, I'm no leader Finn." The half-elf said with a quick weak smile. "But we can't stay and we must each decide where to go from here. And yes, I would have us go towards the keep, bringing those with us that we can and fight the battles necessary to get there."

Tylaerys turns and follows Jirel, slowly to not scare the children, smiling warmly at them, a warm feeling in her chest as the kneeling goliath speaks with such tenderness. "Oh, the dragon we will avoid. Come let's go and find father now." She says to the young girl with a soft voice. "Do you know where this tavern is Jirel? Is it on the way to the keep?" She quickly asks the goliath with a lowered voice, hoping that this was the case.

As Jararaka comes over Tylaerys accepts the bolts with a quick smile and puts them into her boltcase. "Thank you Jararaka, the coins, would you give any you think would be my share and turn them over to the town when possible." She says, laying a hand on the lizardfolks arm.

"No Jenviel, the second carriage will be too late to save them, the army of the dragon will be all over town before it gets here. We should try to reunite them with their father and get them to the keep as soon as possible." Tylaerys says with a firm voice for all to hear.

Cheddar continues to watch his "captive" while the rest transpires.
"So much death" he thinks to himself.
He looks to the party:
"What do you propose we do with..."His voice trails off as the female half elf approaches him. Cheddar stares, a bit awestruck as the half elf takes a knee to speak with him. 
"The name is Cheddar." he says shyly, not sure what to do. 
After a moment he says. "I think we should take him as well but, I am a bit too small and not as strong as big folks so me lugging him around isn't something I can do." 

Cheddar watches the exchange with the children in silence. He is torn between wanting one of them to pet him to scratching anyone of them that gets close.

Jirel nods to Wink, giving the young one her full attention and respect for her request on behalf of her brother.

The goliath sits back on her heels when Janviel comes in to offer beautifully intricate glowing hairpins to Wink and Grouse. A hint of a smile twitched on the corner of her lips when the woman would ask for their help, but quickly falter at her next line.

Jirel hears Tylaerys' question and acknowledges it with a gentle 'hmmm' in thought. She often relied on her height or instincts to locate things, and didn't spend much time in this village. "No." She eventually admits. "But I know who would."

The goliath leans back to accept the coin from Jararaka when it was her turn. Hearing Tylaerys suggesting her coin to go to the towns people, Jirel decides to pocket her coin separately with the intention of saving it for these children. As if taking her own words and feelings from Jirel's core, she was further moved when Tylaerys would firmly suggest they keep the children with them. This was a relief to the goliath, so much so she had not realized she had been clenching her jaw and fists until now. Together, they can keep them safe. Together they can't fail... right?

Honey eyes rest over the children while the others discuss their immediate future, and the bonded hostage. Meeting glances with Wink, Jirel was reminded of someone. She saw the reflection of her own childhood resolve in her eyes. The goliath reaches over to a fallen torch nearby and uses her fingers to swipe soot from it. Looking to Wink, Jirel nods once more and swipes dark lines across her own cheeks. "Okay Wink." The blonde then leans in and swipes the same warrior lines on Winks cheeks. "If we fight together, we stay together. Kapeesh?" She keeps firm eye contact with Wink, her mouth naturally pulling into a genuine encouraging smirk. Then she juts her chin to the frying pan in her hand. "Know how teh use that?" After a short pause, Jirel instructs. "Use yer advantage of being smaller than them. Keep low. Swing below the belt. Groin, knees, shins an' toes." She points out. "They buckle an' then ya can ring their noggin." She pats her own head. "Can take out a giant this way." Jirel winks.

Jirel undoes a couple leather straps, pulling free some smaller fur hides. Lifting it with a flourish, she brings it around to rest over Wink's shoulders and ties it loosely. Janviel's pins would be perfect adornments to help hold the straps together. "May these help you blend in yer surroundings an' keep you safe." She repeats the same thing for Grouse, instructing that he take cover behind her, or somewhere safe nearby if things get dicey. Noticing his interest in the tabaxi, she gently encourages him to go introduce himself to the feline.

"Together," The warrior gestures to Wink and herself, and then the people surrounding them. "We keep yer brother safe, find yer dad, an' my friends too." She'd give another one of her signature affirmative nods. "But we need to find them first." The goliath would start to bring herself to her feet. Finally stretching to her full height, Jirel rolls her shoulders back. "Can you point us in the right direction? The tavern where yer dad could be, an' the temple of Yondalla?" She allows her arms to rest at her sides, but holds her hand in a way as if reaching/offering to take the children's free hands should they like. The goliath was fully prepared to take responsibility for them until they were in safety, should the others still have reserves.

"I can carry him." Jirel would offer to sling him over her shoulder should they decide to take the cultist with them. Then remembering something, she'd look to Jararaka. "They relaxed a moment at the sight of you." She'd add. "Tactically, we could use that to our advantage?"

"Nice to meet you Cheddar, although I would have preferred under better circumstances." Tylaerys says with a warm smile, suppressing an urge to pet the tabaxi.

As Jirel starts to warpaint Periwinkle Tylaerys gets a worried look. "Are you sure we should encourage her to fight instead of hide behind you." She leans in to whisper in the kneeling goliaths ear, her hand and on the goliaths shoulder, then giving the young girl an encouraging smile. "Just stay close to Jirel and no harm will come to you Periwinkle." She says warmly.

She then nods and turns to Jararaka. "Jirel has a point, if you were to take point Jararaka it might decieve the enemy, while possibly also discouraging villagers to join us but that we would simply have to deal with."

Jararaka's lips twitch when Tylaerys asks her to save the coins for the town, "it's 3 silver. But sure, whatever you prefer," and stashes it away for when they reach the keep.

Walking behind Jirel, Jararaka pokes the cultist lightly with her tail just to make sure. Following Tylaerys and Jirel's lead, she suggests, "he doesn't know his friends are dead, I can say I'm a double agent, could do with some help if any of y'all speak Draconic. But I don't know what these crazy freaks would do if they get desperate, wouldn't want to-" she gestures with a hand slicing across her neck and makes an exaggerated choking noise, "in front of the kids."

"I speak draconic, but you would definitely have the best chances to decieve him about your allegiance Jararaka." Tylaerys turned and said with a nod. "They seem quite fanatic though, and possibly he would be proud to boast of their plans and organization if we just ask him about it. It would have to wait til we reach the keep though." 

Feeling the gentle hand on her shoulder, honey eyes look to Tylaerys. Of course Jirel shared the same concern... Deep down in the pit of her stomach there was a fear so vile, it ate away at her from the inside out. The warrior masks it like any other, always putting on the hard front and maintaining a tough unshakable facade. Though just like one peering close enough, there's always a weak point in stone. "When an' how did you first learn to defend yerself?" She asks genuinely with her voice low to meet Tylaerys'. Jirel let the question hang to encourage thought and reflection. "Won't say it was the right thing to do..." She'd admit with a breath. "But... I rathered learned to have one's back as a team than literally left fer wolves..." Life wasn't always kind, and these children's village was literally being destroyed around them. Jirel's impression of the young girl made her believe she would have probably tried to look for her dad anyways, whether they were here or not. "Wink's here got spark." Jirel would note. Her thoughts were, why snuff out a fighting spirit with fear when you could nurture it to a flame that could grow to provide warmth of light and safety? At least they could keep an eye on Wink this way.

At Jararaka's prompt, Jirel would add. "I understand draconic better than I can speak it."

     Finn Ol'Gren doesn't argue when Tylaerys denies being a leader.  Actions and words and all that, right?  Those most fit for the role seldom want it anyway, part of what makes them fit for it.  But with any luck this night will be over soon and things will sort themselves out how they sort themselves out.  

     Finn takes and pockets the coin without a thought.  She's used to tips and such and securing coin that come her way is second nature.  She does hearTylaerys decline the coin and Finn's nose scrunches up at the very concept, but to each their own.

     Staying close by, Finn nonetheless does her best to not actually engage with the children.  You'd think she'd be good with them, be able to relate and interact with them with ease... It's almost part of her job descriptions.  But while she has nothing against children as a concept, the reality of it was entirely different.  She just never connected with them, never was comfortable with them even the rare times they were with her...  She of course wanted to protect them and do what is best for them but Finn was happy to allow others to actually deal with them.

     "The tavern?" Finn says mostly to herself when she hears Jirel mention it.  "Well that's just a but further down this road.  Northern part of the center of things, a little past the next crossroads..."  If Finn has passed through a town she knows where the tavern is.  Reaching into the pouch on her hip, Finn pulls out Misses Binklesworth of the Twilight Binklesworths by the scruff.  "Run off to the Speckled Trout now, will ya?  Keep to the shadows, see but don't be seen.  Reconnoissance, there and back and let me know what you see..."  So said, Finn puts Binkles on the ground and watches for a moment as the feline scampers off in the direction of the tavern.

     "Can't leave them behind, can't send them off alone.  So kids'll stay in back with Cheddar and Tylaerys," Finn suggests.  She pauses then looks to Jirel, "Guarding them for us, yes?"

     "As for the hostage, I say they can stay behind.  Tie them up and gag them so they cannot escape on their own but if any locals or such find and off them, I'm not shedding any tears.  Or if they keep as a hostage, or to interrogate... Good on them," Finn continues.  "I think we have enough to contend with without the excess baggage..."

     "I should have some information on the route to the tavern in a moment..." Finn closes her eyes and goes silent for a moment as she send her senses into Misses Binklesworth, seeing what the familiar sees, gauging for herself how much resistance they may see between here and the tavern.  "But the tavern is just a short distance out of the way from the keep.  When we move I think Jararaka should take the lead...  If these morons pause for even a second due to his appearance that is only good for us..."

Tylaerys' silvery eyes meets the honey eyes of Jirel, seeing something there, more than a hardened warrior. Did Tylaerys really ever learn how to fight? She had of course found the powers of her draconic blood saving her life more than a few times but she wouldn't claim to have anything near the battle experience of the blonde woman in front of her. Her finger trails over one of the scars on Jirel's arm before retracting it with a blush. Those honey eyes had clearly seen battle, and not in a good way, if there ever was such a thing. "Just be careful Jirel." She whispers back, not clear what she really means.

Seeing Finn's cat scamper off she smiles and looks at Finn. "I thought I noticed more than one cat enter the carriage. Is it a familiar? Are you a wizard in disguise Finn? I suppose nothing would surprise me with someone like you." She says with a warm smile. "If we can bring the prisoner I think we can get important information from him when we reach the keep. If you can carry him Jirel that would be excellent. Don't hesitate to simply drop him if need be." She turns and says to the blonde goliath. "Let's move out, and watch out for enemies." She says, motioning for Jararaka to take point, following Finn's cat.

(Rolled perception in post #119, Not sure if we need a marching order but if we do I suggest Jararaka, Finn, Jirel carrying prisoner, Tylaerys with the children, Cheddar and Jenviel as rear guard?)

Jenviel Tsumara

"I'll stay with the hostage cultist, since pulling him around might be burdensome. I intend to interrogage him to extract more information about their intention and activities. There might be more cultists scattered throughout the area, please be careful everyone and keep the children secured."

Jenviel decides to share her intention while sending an implicit message that the children should be removed from the immediate vicinity of the hostage. As a 'Chung Hsiang Tao', she knows that interrogation process that exploits psychological vulnerability can be a cruel action, especially if the interrogator is also a 'Wu Jen' the person being interrogated might remain permanently traumatized.

She will kneel beside the unconscious cultist and try to prod him in the ribs using her quarterstaff so that he might regain consciousness.

Tylaerys gives Jenviel a curious look. "I'm not sure I would call him a hostage Jenviel, there is nothing to suggest these fanatics would hesitate to attack us even though we have one of theirs as a prisoner, and I think he's the least of our concerns now. Please just follow us now, this place will be crawling with more fanatic servants of the dragon in a moment." She says, trying to convince the silver-haired woman to come along before it's too late.

Between the knowledge of Jirel, Finn, and the two kids, you put together that the Temple of Yondalla is roughly two blocks due north, and the Speckled Trout Tavern is roughly two blocks due east, on the main plaza.

It will take Misses Binklesworth of the Twilight Binklesworths several minutes to cover the distance there and back on her scouting mission.  

While you debate whether or not to interrogate the prisoner here...

... a pack of six kobolds scamper north up the street.  They are armed with spears and slings, and two have sacks slung over their shoulders.  They completely ignore your group and seem to be hurrying somewhere.

"That is curious." Cheddar remarks. 
((How big are these sacks they are carrying?))