The Forgotten Wish

Sylvera does her best not to grimace as the cat-man grins at her. Good grief he needs a bath. Letting out a long breath, she turns her attention to the downed farmhand. She wasn't particularly well versed in medicine, but she wasn't helpless either. ...might as well give it a shot. 

She looks him over, trying to assess the damage and if there is anything she can do to help. 

Medicine: 12

After passing the ranch hand off to the noble, Nuria quickly slips back out of the corral leaving the wounded man in the elf's care. Surely the Sylvera is more capable of first aid then she is. Once out, she turns to watch the bull again clasping her hands in front of her in anticipation. The bull isn't usually this aggressive? She thinks when the rancher speaks up. Then what is going on? The grimaces as the bull fights the rope, praying that Breldo and the Centaur man stay safe.

As she watches she looks for anything that seems off to her.

Investigation: 9

The man Rick has heroically saved groans as he brushes through the farmhands hair, leaving it shiny where it was not before. Breldo meanwhile, tries to examine the bull from it's safe distance. From the way it occasionally staggers, he's pretty confident it is injured in some capacity, but fails to spot in what way.

"It get injured recently? Seems to be moving awkwardly. Probably in a foul mood because of it. Everyone out?", Breldo calls out, not breaking contact with the bull. If it seems everyone is clear, he'll slowly climb down from the fence and back away.

"We're clear!"

Breldo yells back his observation, the farm owner by this point finally having joined the remainder of the group, and hunched over the injured farmhand. Hearing about the injury, he appears genuinely surprised.

"Injured? When the hell... Must have been recent- Either of you boys know anything?"

There's a few quick hurried no's from the two, the one on the ground giving the no mostly in the form of a painful grunt, as the farm owner's way of helping is the "It ain't that bad, get up" way of helping- Even if he does seem to mean well. The one still standing looking back to the bull, then the rope in his hand.

"What are we gonna do about the calves?"

"Leave it for tomorrow! Or another day- We'd ought to get Ron fixed first," 

Even as he says this, Breldo was already working on backing off. The bull snorts again, shaking it's head against the lasso that still had attached poorly to one of its horns.

(Animal handling check for Breldo, please. Or Athletics if you'd prefer to just run.)

(Everyone else - Give me an insight check, please.)

Breldo fixes the bull with what he hopes comes across as a 'don't try anything' sort of look as he gets down from the fence.

Animal Handling: 23

Khond Insight: 11

Insight: 19

Rick's ears perk-up at hearing a lie.

The bull gives a few more snorts, but this time around, after exchanging a glance with Breldo, makes no more movements to charge. Hard to say what thoughts the two briefly exchanged in that moment... But it worked enough, as eventually the beast even turns around and returns to the herd, a slight limp on its left back leg becoming a bit more obvious- Whether there is an obvious wound there however, is harder to see with some of the dirt and mud caked around it. A bit later, another hefty shake of its head, and it's pulled loose from the rope as well.

As he gets back, the farm owner meanwhile hoists up Adam. Miraculously, while it does not come without a lot of painful grunting, the young man comes to stand on both legs, the older man giving a reassuring slap on his shoulder. Seems he'll be fine, if a bit banged up.

"There you go, right as rain- Go have Betty check you out just in case alright? We'll worry about the bull and calves tomorrow, maybe Ron will be in a less foul mood," he says, then turns to Breldo as he jumps over. "Got any idea what might be wrong with him?" he asks, before turning back to Slick.

"As to what you were saying earlier... Usually I'd have to give you the spiel about how you're going to starve me and my lovely wife and my 7 sons and daughters, but I appreciate the help with this here lil scrap. I'll do it for 8 silver, aye. Jacob, you go help load up?"

Jacob nods, and seems ready to rush off. Slick couldn't help but notice that Jacob in question, when the owner asked if anyone had any idea, seemed rather evasive when he mentioned he too had no clue what could have happened.

"Back left leg seems injured, but it's muddy and hard to tell if it's a wound or if he just twisted it. We may have come to a bit of understanding, if you'd want me to look further, but I also don't want to delay our travel long. If you're sure you can see to it yourself, just be careful, he's likely to be in a mood and extra protective as long as he's hurt.", Breldo says, looking to Pallen when he mentions travel plans.

Rick nods graciously to the farmer,

"Rick also appreciates getting to the sell quickly and wishes farmer and his wife and litter well!"

Rick pays and gives Ponyman a big wink.

"Rick hopes farmer will manage with bull Ron tomorrow."

He'll then slide away to help Jacob, trying catch the boy unawares and alone.

Stealth: 9 (9)

Failing that he'll settle on alone and whisper,

"Rick wonders what Jacob did to poor, poor Ron?"

He'll let that settle before continuing,

"Rick wonders what Farmer would say if Rick mentions Rick's suspicions? Poor worker Adam almost died! Perhaps Jacob would need to find new work?"

He let's that settle a bit before asking,

"Rick can come with Jacob to Farmer to explain? Or perhaps Jacob can help Rick forget by distracting silly Rick with shiny coins?"

Persuasion: 22

Nuria insight: 11

The young girl sighs with relief when everyone makes it out of the pen safely. She feels terrible for the poor bull, and finds it hard to believe that his owner didn't notice that there was something more than the animal's mood that was off.

Insight: 23

Finding that the farmhand was fine, Sylvera huffs and promptly stands to walk back to where Pallen is waiting with the cart. "What a huge waste of time." She turns her head, eyeing the bull for a moment. Injured? Something else had to be going on to make the animal that angry. But, that isn't her problem so she turns and strides gracefully back over to the cart. 

"Not a waste of time.  If the bull was free to rampage, the lad may not have made it to the fenceline in one piece."  Moving back to the cart, Khond sets to strapping up again, "And if it's a leg that's bothering the bull, maybe check the hoof for anything stuck in it?  I can talk from experience, getting something hard or sharp stuck in there can be mighty painful."

Oren is about to head back to the caravan when Rick wanders off and begins chatting with the one farmhand.  He gets a feeling he should probably watch out for the farm lads so he heads towards them instead and tries to over hear whatever might be going on. 

Just a roll to see how kind circumstances are to Slick:

6

Sylvera without a doubt notices that Jacob seemed a bit unsure with himself when he mentioned he had no idea, although whether the noblewoman cares enough to act remains to be seen. She instead returns to Pallen, still very much stuck in his cart away from the distance, commenting on how it was a waste of time. The other elf flashes a smile in her direction.

"I wouldn't say so. Things could have gone bad if no one had intervened, couldn't they? You wouldn't have run over if you don't think so yourself."

"Much rather say what a waste of time rather than anything else, right?"

The farm owner nods to Khond (after the customary moment of realizing he was talking to a centaur). "Yeah, I'm gonna see later if he's calmed down a bit, tomorrow at the earliest. Hope it's nothing too bad. Ron's been a good bull, hate to retire him early."

Slick meanwhile, was quickly moving away with Jacob to go get those bags of oats. Ideally, he was hoping that the journey would end up in a nice secluded area where he could get some one on one time with Jacob, but it turns out that most of the goods they were hoping to sell today have already been bagged up, placed in a shaded area still outside, so he takes his chances just leaning in while he thinks no one is watching, and he's confident that no one would be able to hear at least. Hence it is so that Oren does notice all the happenings, and some of the movements that are associated with it- Although he would not be able to overhear what exactly was being said.

Perhaps when Slick's initial statement of what he must have done to poor Ron is met with a convincing look of utter confusion, that would have shaken a lesser cat out of his will to continue, but he pushes on, not so subtly trying to blackmail the farmhand. Confusion turns to utter indignation in the very next moment... And Slick is pretty sure that the only reason he gets shoved, rather than outright punched in the face, is only because he said it in a really, really persuasive way.

Athletics: 21

Whether or not Slick actually falls, he's steaming. Some of the shouting probably carries over.

"What the hell are you even talking about? I'd never do anything like that!"