The Forgotten Wish

During a brief break in performances, Khond checks in with Rick, frowning a little at the information gathered.  Quietly, he says "I've heard many tales from many walks of life.  The things that feel like a pleasant dream are usually either love or illicit substances disrupting the mind."

After some deliberation, the clearing group decides to head back to the village. By the time they get back, they find that "Gertrude's" is already getting overcrowded to the point some villagers have already moved on elsewhere, not so subtly getting glances at the actual centaur and the adventurers that are supposed to help them eventually a secondary thought. It's still where they find Gerald back, however, who has clearly been waiting for them. The man speaks with some hope present in his voice, yet with an expectancy of... Well, the unexplainable.

"So? Did you find anything?"

---

Pallen nods a bit gravely at Khond's statement, briefly glancing around the room.

"Perhaps, yes. I expect it's either him being misguided, or knowing more than he lets on. Maybe we'll talk later about that."

"Rick agrees, Breldo has perhaps found something of interest to help decide if Clyde has something to hide."

((Apologies for forum absence, been dancing a round with COVID for the first time.))

"That's weird... trail just stopped. Or rather, just started. Starting to feel like the kids may have been playing some sort of prank that got bigger than they expected, and now they're not wanting to own up to it."

The man nods gravely, about having expected as much. He does tilt his head at the idea of a prank that's gotten out of hand... But doesn't seem convinced.

"They've been awfully crafty to keep it up as a prank, and to not spill the beans... But it might be the most sensible explanation I've got," the man speaks, pausing for a moment, taking a healthy swig, then continuing.

"My best theory for how they got there in the first place is that they must be using the river somehow. It's not that far, and maybe they can cover the tracks somehow. But too many of them to do that really effectively..."

"I did have another idea however. Well... Two, if you can maybe handle a bit of crazy talk. I only really thought about it once I saw your friend there," he spoke, gesturing briefly in Khond's direction.

"Not accusing him of course, but is there something else of the kind that you perhaps noticed..?"

"Saw a boar, no centaurs though. What sort of crazy talk you mean?"

Gerald responds, "Yeah, I'm not expecting a centaur either. But I also thought they didn't even exist until just today, y'know? And... I never paid too much heed at it at the time, but now I recall seeing some tracks I couldn't quite place. Maybe whoever is doing this, leaves behind quite the unusual footprint?" he suggests, the idea clearly having gotten stuck in his head ever since seeing Khond. The man follows his gaze toward the future bard for a moment before slowly panning over toward Pallen... And he lowers his voice somewhat as if he wants no one else to hear.

"As for the crazy thing... Look. We all know why everyone always sings the don't be silly, magic ain't real kinda stuff. Elves used to be way way smarter back in ye golden days where they didn't suffer that disease, and when their empire collapsed they lost all that knowledge. Something like that," the man says, clearly only knowing the basics from a story likely retold so many times, his true grasp on the situation may not even be accurate. "But... I know your friend over there is planning to head to one of those old ruins. What for I don't know, nor do I care, but. It means some of that ancient stuff might be out there. And there might be a pit of truth to those fairytales. So what if someone out there got their hands on... Something..?"

Breldo opens his mouth to dismiss the man's superstitions, before reflecting back on the weirdness with the ship.

"I suppose there might be things that I don't have a good explanation for, that exist or happen just the same. Anyone in town mention going out to ruins or coming back with something out of the ordinary?"

Noticing the eyes on him - or moreso that one of the sets of eyes is accompanied by his companions, Khond trots over to the group, "Come now, friend, magic?  Not real?  That's just because you're looking to the wrong kind of magic.  Real magic is in belief; one cannot conjure sparks from nothing, nor speak with the birds and squirrels, but there are facets to the world beyond logic.  When a magician performs his tricks, the faithless look for the secret behind it, but for the innocent it is an unthinkable, joyous wonder.  When a skilled troupe performs a well practiced play, the audience does not simply see the story, they live it.  What can such be called, if not magic?" Lowering his voice for the group to hear, the centaur continues, "As for your concerns, we'll likely be heading to those ruins regardless, so we can look for any signs of activity while we're at it."

Oren listens carefully to the conversation and nods slightly.  "I've always been fond of some of the stories my parents told that you call fairy tales.  It would be great if some of them were true.  And not so great if others were true.  They weren't always the best endings on those tales.   Naughty children getting taken by big-winged nightmare cats because they refused to listen to their parents.   But some of the other stories were truly grand."  After a pause he adds, "You are right.  I'm friends with a centaur.  Who knows if some of the stories could not come from some part of truth, or something of the past."

Rick just sits and watches the crowd, pretty sure at this point the kids were messing with the parents somehow.

Gerald seems to wince slightly when he notes that he may not have been subtle enough with his pointing out, Khond approaching together with a lot of feedback. In the end, however, he takes it all in stride, shaking his head at Breldo's question first.

"Far as I know, no one has left, no. And we're not exactly big enough I think I'd miss that... I don't think anyone would have the guts in the first place," he answers, before turning to Khond and Oren, and... After a seeming moment of thought, quickly shoves it off.

"I'd rather not think about what might be real and what not, because it all sounds like crazy talk. All I'm saying is, if centaurs exist, some other smart creature with animal legs out there might exist, yeah? I don't really know enough about any of that stuff to even make guesses, but it's better than nothing," he states, but does give a grateful nod toward Khond that they'd be checking out those ruins regardless. 

(Is there any action anyone would still like to undertake, or are we okay rounding up the day?)

"Centaurs have excellent hearing, performers most of all.", Breldo says wryly.

Oren has nothing else except he says, “I’m looking forward to checking out the ruins.  Old buildings are fun to check out.”

"It's part of a performer's job to read the crowd, after all.  By the by, we have had some minor success here, too.  It seems one of the children - I don't know which - confided in Rick that they felt like it was some pleasant dream."

"Clyde told Rick. Clyde thought maybe something not bad was behind it."

((Rick's good to call it a night.))

Sylvera, feeling lost in everything that's going on... and still not sure if she really wants to get involved in this maybe-not-bad thing that's happening with the kids, decides to call it a night. All this talk of magic and 'elves not being as smart as they use to be' seems to be throwing her into a bit of an irritated daze. So, she stalks up to her room and prepares to meditate through the night. Hopefully tomorrow she'll be able to make sense of this mess, or convince the others that they should just keep moving on. 

Nuria is visibly becoming more and more uncomfortable as Breldo's conversation with Gerald continues down the road of fairy tales and magic. She's getting flashbacks to that nightmare after being on that ship...that music... Shaking her head she stutters, "I-I think I'm going to go to bed n-now." Then she scurries off to her room.

Sylvera has long mentally checked out, not wanting to keep up with the inane business. Perhaps it's good that Boris has returned around this time, with apparent good news for their accommodations, because barring the noble (and Nuria, too) wanted to go set up a tent that had still been up in the air. But not before some more comments toward Gerald, who first looks suspect when there comes a mention that one of the kids suspect it's nothing bad, then becomes positively upset at hearing just who said that.

"He said what? My boy? You're joking," he starts, but with one quick glance can tell no jokes were meant. "Why would he say something like that even? He got kidnapped too! He's been helping us! Are you telling me he might have let whatever we're dealing with off the hook?!"

The room goes quiet for a moment as Gerald quickly downs his drink, before getting up, heading outside.

"I'll go see just what that boy has gotten in his head."

There's a very brief moment of awkward silence that follows all of it, before Boris speaks up again, interrupted the first time.

"...Well, good news folks, I got you all some accommodations arranged. We have a stable you can use for your centaur friend with more than enough space for all of you to stick together if you'd like. But we've a few other families that'd have a room, maybe two, to take someone in, including at our place. Of course, we were hoping that some of you would be willing to help keep watch tonight. Different shifts, maybe?"

"Is there anything that needs be done still, or shall I escort you to your lodging for tonight?"

"Slick thinks perhaps Slick just ratted out Clyde. Rick is ashamed."

His ear droops.

"Rick didn't mean to be a rat."