(Arlynn investigation: 16 )

"Ah, Fane, good morning!" Côlneth says when she bumps into the elf. "Have you seen what's happening? Several buildings in the western part of Saltmarsh have been burned down!" she says excitedly. "Where are the others? The Saradie is ok?" 

When the runners find them to deliver the request for them to meet the council she is a little surprised. "Is it normal for you folks to be summoned to the council like this? Do you really think they meant for me to come too?"  She is certainly willing to follow Fane and any others to the Council Chambers though. 

Seri:

It is clear to you that this is the young man's mother.  She seems at first confused by your benediction, but slowly begins to nod.  "Just so.  Yes.  I understand.  Thank you, and thank mighty Procan for sending one such as you into our lives."

Arlynn:

Looking over the damage and some of the wounds on the dead, it is unmistakable that whatever this creature was, it wielded flame as hot as dragonfire.  Yet, consistent with some of the stories, not all the evidence suggests dragon.  There are clawmarks, but they seem too small for a dragon, even a juvenile.  And there is something else... great impacts, where stone and wood have been cracked and splintered, as if the beast were wielding a massive and heavy club.  

The party eventually find one another and gather outside the council chamber.  It is made clear that, if Seri and Côlneth are with Eron, Arlynn and Fane, that they are welcome at council.  Eventually, the emergency session ends, and the party is called inside.  Manistred Copperlocks, the dwarven councilwoman and leader of the King's mining interests in the region, does not linger to greet them.  She does, as she departs, look to Eron and Fane, briefly.  "Come see me, if you can.  I have an issue that may be more pressing than this monster nonsense."  She looks tired.

Inside, the party finds a smaller council than usual.  Inside are just Eda Oweland, Gellan Primewater, Eliander Fireborn... and Keledek the wizard, here in the flesh rather than merely remote viewing.

As the party enters, Gellan Primewater asks them if they witnessed anything, or have any insight into what occurred last night...

Côlneth is glad to see all the others, especially as they are all well.  She quietly follows them into the council chamber, not really knowing these folk nor what to expect from them.  When asked about whether they had insight, the elf shakes her head 'no'. "I can only say I saw the fires and destruction, and you are surely already aware of that."  She steps back to let the others talk. 

Arlynn gives Côlneth a small smile before speaking. "Unfortunately we slept through the actual attack but I inspected the destruction before coming here. Although testimonies to what transpired are hazy at best there seems to be some flying many-headed fire-breathing creature that also can crack and splinter wood and stone. I've heard tales of such a creature, I think it is called a Chimera. Whatever it was it was likely sent here to cause destruction by someone else. It disappeared towards the west so it is likely it came from the marshlands. We would hunt it down but it would likely be quite hard to locate it. I suggest you prepare yourself for more attacks, if we are around you can count on us all to fight it off, assuming we are brought in to fight it." She says with calm confidence and a polite bow at the end. "If I may ask, you didn't see anything?" She turns and asks Keledek, using her discreet mind prying to take a peek at his thoughts.

(Use the Detect Thoughts ability)

Seri arrives late to the Council Hall from the east where the Temple of Procan sits, looking tired yet somehow... exalted.  Her hair would look slightly disheveled were it not for the fact that it looks instead (as always) as if she has just gone for a swim.  Here and there, her sea-leathers show slight staining from her recent care for the injured, and there is a strip obviously torn in haste from her cloak.  Yet her turquoise eyes are shining almost rapturously.

A voice inside her repeats the seeming heresy that has been growing in her soul for over a year.

The Kingdom of Procan is not to be found in cloistered temple halls, but upon the waves, aye, and the horizon.  In the storms above and the depths below.

Once at the council, Seri listens intently, particularly at the Arlynn's identification of the Chimera (?) that attacked the town.  She wonders briefly if this may have been what her mother had written about the waves themselves having teeth, but it could not be...  This creature that attacked Saltmarsh breathed flame and rent with its claws, if reports (and the injuries she had just tended to) were to be believed, and it came from the marshes, not from the ocean...

She waits to hear the strange wizard's answer before asking her own questions.