((thank you!!! I've been experimenting with pixel art!!!))

"The honor is all mine, Ms. Keenflow. I- I am sorry," Jaren starts then stops after motioning towards you feebly,  "for your loss. It is good to meet the rest of you though." 

Jaren laughs and smiles. "There is nothing needed to be forgiven for, for I am actually very glad you asked! We all are Pilgrims of the Flame just like you, yourself. You see we are all called upon this great mission for the Flame. I'm guessing you have heard of the great meteor? And the crystals it left us? That's why you came here? Why, Flamekeeper Mathias prophesied its arrival. We are going to the holy site - just outside the Crater - to see it for ourselves." He stares at you all with wide eyes of pure curiosity.

"The old cathedrals there are no more, yes. But now we have something new, something better. Just as the fire blazes over and creates anew, the Flame is leading us towards a greater destiny. We-" he gestures towards all those at the farm, "are going to see it for ourselves. We are living in a time of a great awakening. Are you coming to join us?" He looks over to your hesitancy. "You will be safe from the haze."

It is now around this time that Chaplain Flint returns back, holding some vials of liquid that tether precariously nearly out his grip as he hugs them to his chest. 

"Hi! Yes, oh, I'm sorry," he tries to stick his hand out to Athalie to shake her hand but finds it rather difficult. "Whoa." A few vials fall onto the dried ground but do not spill. Crouching over to pick it up before standing straight he asks, "Twinkleblossum. Are you ready?" 

@Sarűmir

"Huh?" The man blinks, clearly having forgotten what he asked. "Oh! You and your friends. You saved my daughter, especially those paladins." Cora comes out and hands him his drink. He thanks her and circles the liquid around in its cup. His gaze leans softly back to you. He plops down 1 gold onto the counter by your hand. "She wouldn't be here without you. I- thank you." He slinks back over to his table. 

The rat again scuttles across your foot under the stool. You see it slip out into a hole out the back before it disappears.

A familiar grunt and shout of a metal-man comes from the side of the tavern. There's a hard thump against its wood frame. Ol' Rattlecan. "I bite my thumb at thee!"

"You want anything else, sir?" Cora tilts her head at you.

Sarűmir nods as he remembers the sick child. "You are quite welcome, sir. I'm sorry, but I don't think I ever caught your name during that encounter. And I'm also quite surprised you knew who I was, as I was in my, er... other  form when we first met." Sarűmir takes another sip of his drink, smirking a bit when he hears Rattlecan cursing the door outside. When Cora asks him for anything else, he simply shakes his head saying, "No thank you, ma'am."

"Yes Chaplain Flint, I'm as ready as I can be."

Twinkleblossum remains as still as she can and waits.

"Sorry again for imposing but due to time constraints the need is great or I would wait until tomorrow."

Athalie smiles gratefully at Jared's condolances, but the strangeness of what he follows with takes her a bit off guard. "It wasn't because of the meteor, directly, that I came. I've heard of the meteor of course... actually, Lara and I were... we were growing up in Drakkenheim when it hit. We were young, but we were fortunate to escape. I was so young, I barely remember, but I know she never forgot, and she wanted to come back here to fight for our old home by joining the Silver Order in their holy mission for the Divine Matriarch. I... I came to join her." She bows her head. "I didn't know I would be coming to replace her, but that's what I intend to do... to honor her courage and duty and fight for what she believed."

But when Jared mentions Flamekeeper Matthias, it all comes flooding back to Athalie. "Oh!" she says. "Lucretia Matthias. That's right. I've heard a little. She wrote the Testament of the Falling Fire and traveled to Drakkenheim to see the meteor, preaching that it heralded some kind of new age, like it was the return of Saint Tarna's comet... but..." Athalie stops, awkwardly, but then plows ahead, flushing red with embarrassment. "You know that she's been excommunicated and declared a heretic." Mystified, she continues, "You believe what she teaches, even so? Why?"

Religion: 22 (nat 20... I assumed with that roll she will have heard of Lucretia Matthias!)

Sanimar waits patiently to see if Twinkleblossum will be healed. 

((sorry I actually forgot that Sarűmir was in his other form before so now I'm gonna pull this outta a hat))

@Sarűmir

The man stays silent with a squirrelly look on his face until you drop your order. Cora nods and leaves you be. The rest of the staff are still helping with Sanna trying to get his hand unstuck out of a jar. 

"Oh good, I was wondering when you'd ask," he says, winking. The man takes a sip from out his Ember Ale and leans his hand onto the counter. You see something black and snakelike flicker from behind him before its gone. He shrugs, "'Cause I can smell ya from a mile away." A smirk edges across his face.

The noises from Rattlecan continue outside.

Then with a literal snap, the guise is gone. In his place is the black tabaxi from earlier. "Well actually I saw you from the window a bit earlier." She nudges you, "It was honestly really nice with what you did. Talked to the family a few hours past you left. Your smell was all over them. Including a fairy! You make quite the friend group." Her eyes creases as she chuckles. "Mines are over there." Veo sticks her arm out towards the group over by the table. Some of them are in fact trying not to laugh as they wave back at you.

Again that spindly smirk spreads across her face. "So how's it been? ... I wanted to talk to you about something"

@Twinkleblossum, Sanimar, Aster, and Athalie

((yep with that roll you definitely know about her hehehe))

"Alright," Chaplain Flint starts. "I will begin by applying the holy water." Twisting open the caps of the vials, he spreads them out into his hands before apply it onto yours, especially at the cuticles where your fingernails are quite loose. He narrates the course of actions, hoping that knowing it will at least soothe you. "Never pop those blisters. Those make it contagious."

Aside, Jared talks with Athalie. "Oh? You were born here? I am from the Elven Ruins - though not an elf myself, just around." He stiffen up a little at the mention of the Silver Order. "But I see, oh. I am so sorry. This grief- pain - must be so recent. So raw." He sucks his teeth a little while looking down. "I am an only child myself. I can not imagine."

His faces lights up when you mention back Matthias. "Yes! Flamekeeper Matthias, apostle of the Sacred Flame," shouts then lefts you continue. You can see him struggle to hold back a grimace because he could tell you're just curious and he wants to be polite. "Ah, yes. She- she did. They did. They did that to her. Yes." He turns his head around to look over his shoulder to where Nathional Flint is now apply holy water to Twinkleblossum's forehead. 

"I do... believe. It is like this in Song of Fire Adieus: 13-75 like when not everyone believed Saint Tarna when she first discovered the comet. They first branded her a heretic. A heathen! To their Old Faithed was. And sought to chastise her. Yet she had to convince everyone the truth. I believe the same thing is playing out again. The re-coming. A Reckoning. Flamekeeper Matthias saw it all coming before it started." He scratches the side of his face. "The end is just like the beginning."

"I sought to learn from her myself. If she could see the end forecoming, then maybe she could see my future. Our future. With the delerium."

"FROM THE LIGHT OF THE FLAME!" Flint shouts, interrupting the conversation. He sends a surge of purge contamination through Twinkleblossum's body. You feel like a wave washed over- a tsunami. Though sitting still, you feel like you body crashes against rocks and tumble. It is both sickly warm but also frighteningly cold. You feel like your hot water and constantly resurfacing only to be thrown down again.

You open your eyes. All your sores are gone. Your mind feels lighter, freer. Yet all you body feels is malaise. All muscles tense. It's like there is an elephant crushing your chest. 

Twinkleblossum is purged from contamination.

Twinklebossum gains 1 level of exhaustion. 

"You alright?"

(MY GODS... NOT THAT TABAXI AGAIN!!!)

Sarűmir chuckles, then pauses as he realizes where he had heard that phrase before. He sees the tabaxi transform just as he remembers, and he snarls. He listens to what she has to say, then grabs her by the collar of her tunic just as she says she wants to talk. "It does not matter how I have been. Tell me what you want, cat, and fast, or I'll rip out your tongue and you'll never be able to taste milk again. Or anything, for that matter."

(Hahaha that's great... I love it!)

Athalie listens to Jared as he explains his faith in Lucretia. "Oh, I guess that makes sense," she says. Theology was never her strong point. That was Lara's. Tough questions about the Faith, Athalie took to her sister. Not that she had a whole lot of tough questions... she usually just took everything in stride. But it's becoming clear to her now that people have different opinions about it, and they can't all be right, and which of them you believe might matter a lot. "The end is like the beginning? That's part of Lucretia's teaching, isn't it? That the world is ending? But the world didn't end after Saint Tarna received her annointing... well, maybe the world of the tyrannical sorcerer-kings ended. But it needed to. When they were overthrown by the followers of the Flame, finally people could breathe again... and they built the world we have today." She sighs. "The meteor was... well... it was just a horrible disaster. I don't see what good is coming out of it that it's the second coming of Saint Tarna's comet."

She pauses to watch the--rather dramatic--healing of Twinkleblossum by Chaplain Flint. Mystified, she stares a little bit. How much are powers like these dependent on believing the right thing? Athalie realizes she doesn't know. She lowers her head, staring at her boots, as she thinks about it. "I guess I don't know what the truth is, myself," she says, finally, to Jared. "But I trust my sister... I trust Lara. She was so devoted, and so smart. If she believed in the mission of the Silver Order, then, that is what I believe in, too. People can say a lot of things, claim a lot of things. But the Divine Matriarch has the authority passed down from Saint Tarna herself. I don't see why she'd be wrong."

Athalie turns her attention back to Twinkleblossum... anxious to see if the results for the fairy went as well as Flamekeeper Hanna's ministrations.

Despite the feelings of weariness Twinkleblossum otherwise feels great. She takes flight but no higher than 10 or 15 feet, just enough to do a loop-de-loop and then return to eye level with medium sized people. "Yes, I feel like my old self, just a little road weary but nothing a good night's rest can't fix."

She thanks Chaplain Flint, "Thank you so much for your help! I wish we could stay longer but as I already mentioned there is a time constraint we're working under right now. But we'll return for another visit as soon as we can."

Twinkleblossum will fly at a height of 10 feet as the group leaves to continue on their quest. She's calls back to Chaplain Flint, "Say hi to Cosmos for me and let him know I'll be back to visit more later."

Athalie laughs merrily to see Twinkleblossum flitting around in good spirits. It's a little sparkle of joy during a very sorrowful time for her, and she wants to hang onto it, get out her viol and start playing a tune, continue the celebration from earlier that day, share it with these helpful followers of Lucretia Matthias (however out of place the sackcloth-clad pilgrims might look dancing a jig). But she knows Twinkleblossum is right. They have a job to do that won't wait.

Chuckling a little, she tries to hand Scarlett's reins up to Twinkleblossum. "I don't suppose you still want to ride?" If indeed the fairy does not, she'll offer the horse to Sanimar or Aster, but she takes a moment to remove her chest and saddlebags from Scarlett and load them up firmly lashed to Creed's saddle. While she does so, she says to the others, "Shall we go and find Sarumir?" And mounts up on Creed when she finishes, preparing to depart.

"Thank you so much!" she echoes the fairy's sentiment to Chaplain Flint, and also smiles warmly at Jared. "It was so nice to meet you... and maybe we'll run into you again soon! Flame be with you, brave souls!"

Sanimar with take the horse as it has been a long day. "Yes, let's get Sarumir as we are rather spent from our previous encounter. Having another warrior at our side would imrprove our chances" 

barring any objections she will ride back to the Bark and Buzzard to seek out Sarumir

((Haha thanks you guys I was like uhhhh *throws dart* okay this it is))

@Sarűmir

At the initial grab, Veo's eyes go wide. She stares right at you before her eyes narrow and her mouth curves into a smirk. Even her friends don't move.

"Okay, first off. Cat's don't even drink milk, dummy." She spits out that last word as if it had been more of an insult then rolls her eyes. "Only if we think it is tasty."

You feel a slight tingle at your side. Fur. Somehow she managed to curl her tail around the handle of your ale cup. Now she sips right from it through the corner of mouth while you grab her. 

"I want to talk, dog. I said that already." She eyes the side of the counter. "Just not here."

((veo has a British accent I think? because the book uses british english because the dungeon dudes are british I think but i don't speak metric))

@Athalie, Twinkleblossum, Aster, and Sanimar

"It-" Jaren raises his index finger to speak but is cut off by the dramatic incantation of Nathaniel Flint. His eyes sparkle at the sight of Twinkleblossum's transformation. He puts a hand to his heart at nods at her. "I am glad you are feeling better. The delerium can be quite dangerous if not used for right."

Nathaniel laughs, watching her flutter up and around in awe. "Good to see you in such good spirits!" He straightens his sleeves and sets his holy water vials down. "Hope to see you again soon - just hopefully not in this same manner!" He winks with a bit of a finger gun. "Oh!" He bends down over and picks up a vial and hands one each to all of you. "Don't forget this. You will need a lot more if you are going to use it again - we can't give all... our people, you know - but this might be enough to tide you over."

((This is about only 10 GP worth of the holy water out of the needed 100))

Jaren Walsh turns back over to you, Athalie. "Ah yes. Right, um, the end is like the beginning. All things come back around, like a circle. The sorcerer-kings ends. So too did the von Drakkens. The von Kessels- I think now is our time, you know?" His words seem to have less of a bite to them, more so you think that that talking about it too much seems to make his heart hurt. "Nothing lasts forever. Not even this world. I don't think it was just an... accident."

He seems to shuffle in his position when you mention the Divine Matriarch. "I prefer not to talk politics. The Divine Matriarch takes money from who knows where." Though this is a poignant jab at you, he keeps his head down.

"I hope what you say you do is right. Trust your instincts..." he concedes, taking to your hand with a shake before walking over to Flint. "For Lara, for your sister."  The chaplain's head slightly jerks back. He doesn't know what to think of this slight confrontation. "Uh." He shakes your hand too and so too for Twinkleblossum.

"Anytime."

You all start walking away when you hear them say:

"Flame be with you." They both nearly say this at the same time.

You could have sworn you heard a faint "Cosmos?" from Chaplin Flint, but you are far away to really discern it.

---

You arrive by the outside of the Bark Buzzard where you guessed Sarűmir had went off to. Before you go inside (where you would find Sarűmir grabbing a tabaxi by the tunic) you find a young gnome attempting to fight with the one and only Rattlecan.

"Abracadabra!" she shouts, raising her hand up. "Ala-ka-zam!" 

Some small sparks sprinkle from her hand and fall to the ground. Rattlecan shouts back and swings. It goes over her head because she is too small. "Haha!"

((I think they are Canadian. So they get the British spellings without the fun accents. But cats should have British accents. Why not? :D))

Athalie allows herself only a couple of seconds of icy stare at Jared's jab about the Divine Matriarch. But she resists taking the bait, anxious to preserve some camaraderie--after all, these devotees just healed Twinkleblossum, and they're doing good works...maybe they're wrong about some things, but maybe they'll come around. Athalie isn't certain yet what to think of Lucretia Matthias. Certainly destiny and an inner pull brought the Keenflow sisters back to Drakkenheim. But she's sure the reason for it will make sense, once it becomes clear. It won't have to be fudged or forced.

So she smiles with real warmth as she shakes Jared's hand goodbye, giving her other thanks and goodbyes before she rides away with the others, letting Sanimar take Scarlett. She strokes Creed's neck thoughtfully as they ride back to the town center. All she has left of Lara, now, since Lara was cremated and entombed... the sharp loss still stings, but Athalie lets it fuel her motivation.

As they approach the Bark and Buzzard, Athalie at first pulls the warhorse up short, thinking it's an actual battle, but the good humored shouts reminiscent of a tavern brawl soon reassure her. She peers curiously at Rattlecan. Of course, magical constructs and oddities were occasionally seen in Geldstaldt, at least in richer establishments. But with the amout of gold moving through this town and the odd characters here, she's not too surprised to see something like this. It seems to be some kind of fighting dummy.

Athalie dismounts and ties Creed to the hitching post in front of the tavern, watching the gnome battle Rattlecan. She smiles at her companions, and calls out to the gnome. "That tin can's not calibrated for short people, now is he?"

Sarűmir scowls angrily as she sips from his mug, but doesn't say anything. "You want to talk somewhere else? Very well." He attempts to pick Veo up by the struff of her neck (like Frida did him) and carry her outside.

(Nice little detail about her havin' a British accent.)

Sanimar waves her hand at seeing Sarumir "Is this the start or the end of a fight?" She then sees the mock battle between the gnome and the construct. It brings back memories of when she first started learning magic as well. "Focus on shaping the magic in your mind before releasing it young gnome" 

((oH CANADA YOU SAY?))

((yes all cats these day are so peckish so folly not like those cats of the good old days smh))

((HAHAH I REALLY LOVE THAT MEME THO ))

Sarűmir takes up Veo by the scruff of her neck. You're about the same height. Immediately, she flails (and drops your cup) with her claws out on all fours like a cat trying not to be lowered into a wash bucket. Her tail sticks up high in the air, and she lets out a loud "MEEROWWW!!!" before it gets stifled from the automatic 'calming' mechanism of grabbing one by the scruff. Once she's done she looks to you with a sour lemon face. Two friends at her table stands up, a scrawny red-haired man and another very barrel-chested fella with such a nobleness oblige, but she brushes it off with an exasperated expression that conveys 'it's a cat and dog thing'. 

"Oof," she exclaims, dusting herself (even as you grab her). You take her out through the front where you happen upon your friends who are outside waiting for you. "The end," she hisses over to Sanimar. There is no malice to her voice, just a statement. She hangs there limp like a ragdoll with just a silly smirk spread on her face. She seems to actually be enjoying this. 

"Thanks for the ride," Veo shrugs. "Thought I could use one. Always on my feet!" She stretches in midair. Her neck cracks. "That's better. Ah."

"What is that you want? Oh yeah, right. You're looking for someone. Something, perhaps?" The tabaxi in your paws wiggles a little, putting her hands in her pocket before pulling out a... playing card. 

Her next words are drowned out by another round of insults and shouts from both Rattlecan and the young gnome.

"Huh?" The gnome looks over to Athalie as she ducks, the 'tin can's' arms going swinging again over her head. "Nope!" She sticks out her tongue and bites it. "I'm testing something. Ala-ka-zam!" she shouts again, firing a few small sparks again at it. These fizzle out before they anywhere near land a hit on it.

"I'm making an illusion of myself that makes me look bigger-" she raises up her fist towards the metal construct "-but only to him!" She stop, waving up at it. "Or at least I think."

"Shaping? My mind? I went to the Academy! Oh." She squints again. Her head tilts right just the same as Rattlecan does, its eyes now at level to her. Hesitantly, she takes a step back. "Hm, maybe?" She turns her head around. "ABRA-"

BAM!

Immediately she gets slammed in the back, pushed by the very same creature she was taunting. She falls face first into the dirt, and even Veo winces. "Ouch."

The gnome coughs, pushing herself up with her elbow taking a knee. Her face is now battered with dust and scratches.

"I'm Luna, by the way." She sticks her hand out. "Oh. Agh." She stumbles before jumping back up quickly again. "I'm okay! The ol' tin can sure packs a punch, haha!"

Athalie turns to see Sarumir carrying a very oversized cat out the front door by the scruff of the neck. "Oh dear," she says. Not having been present for Sarumir's previous tangles with the tabaxi, her first thought is that he's been drinking a bit too much, and she starts to say, awkwardly, "It's all right, now, you can put her down..." but she freezes when the tabaxi pulls out a playing card. Immediately she remembers the playing card that Ser Wyatt had shown her, with the rose and the words 'by sundown' clipped from its middle...

"Yes, something!" she cries out, completely distracted now. "We're looking for a sceptre... have you come from the Queen's Men?"

The rather violent thud of the gnome hitting the dirt at high speed makes her quickly turn around. "Oh! Goodness, are you all right?" Relieved as the gnome scrambles up, Athalie offers her a hand. "Pleased to meet you, Luna. My name is Athalie Keenflow."

Sarűmir rolls his eyes at Veo's expression of content. He nods in an apparent 'greetings' to his friends, and when Athalie tries to get him to put the tabaxi down, he says, "The cat wanted to talk, so we are talking. You have nothing to worry about, Athalie." When Veo shows him the playing card, he squints at it, trying to remember if he's seen it before or not. At Luna being hit by Rattlecan, he attemps to stifle a chuckle as the small gnome is knocked flat on her face. Still holding Veo, he turns to the gnome, placing a hand on his hip and saying, "You all right there?"

Veo gives a quick smile over at Athalie once Sarűmir explains things. She even gives her a little wave before continuing with that slight condescending look she had one earlier. It a dull stare and dumb smile but you could swear there a small twinkle in her eyes. 

"Queen's Men?" Veo looks over her shoulder, and she scrunches her face. Luna falls flat on the floor but picks herself up, dusting herself off and dismissing the hand that Athalie offers her. "No, no I'm fine. Phew. Just a bit winded though. Nothing Luna von Kessel, House Drakken can't handle!" She snorts then laughs, "Just messing. Luna Mumph of the House of Ravens! Class of '22." She sticks her hand right out there, clasping yours (Athalie's) fast and firm. "Pleased to meet ya!"

The gnome lets go and stretches, her backing making an awful popping sound. "Oh that's better! ACK!" She suddenly ducks. Rattlecan's gauntlet glove goes swinging out over her head as he towers over her from behind. When she puts her head inside her green and purple lined cloak, she almost looks like a upright turtle. 

Her head pops up as soon after. "Whoa what's that?" She blinks, totally unaffected by what just happened last. She suddenly starts marching over to where you (Sarűmir) are holding up Veo. Said tabaxi doesn't seem to like Luna coming after her personal space and tenses up in your grasp. Or maybe it is because Rattlecan is coming right after her. 

"You got something there." Veo's eyes widen when she follows Luna's to the playing card. "Wait no-!" Suddenly the gnome shoots the card and it bursts in flames. It was too fast all even for the tabaxi to have even reacted but then when she looks into her hands she sees the card still intact. It now glows a bright fire-y green. "What?" Wherever Veo twists it, the strangly just singular head of the Queen of Clovers reacts, the card's eyes glowing red when pointing towards Drakkenheim like a compass.

"Wow, what a weird way to send a message! I would have just sent an owl," Luna muses and ducks Rattlecan's throws again.

"It's a good thing the von Kessels are all dead," Athalie teases, "impersonating royalty is a hangable offense, or it would be, if there was any law to this land!" She shakes Luna's hand.

Athalie doesn't quite have time to react as the gnome sends a magic blast at the card in Veo's hand. Of course, Athalie's been told tales of magic, seen magical items trotted around amongst the wealthy in Geldstadt, and even seen a few educational shows from Academy mages passing through. She's heard the long lists of battles and martyrs of the Faith of the Sacred Flame warring against the tyranny of the Arcane Empire in her history classes. She's heard about how mages and various noble houses with magical lineage hung onto arcane practice and knowledge, and how the Sacred Flame and the Silver Order knights fought bloodily to stamp out the arcane threat. Arcane magic is dangerous, and mages on the brink of temptation to unholy power. That's what she was always taught. And yet, three hundred years ago, the Edicts of Lumen were forged to both protect, and limit, mages, to be able to live out their lives peacefully, and never be able to rise to the kind of power that so oppressed the world back in 900 BT (Before Tarna). Athalie always supposed this was a very civilized move, better than all that killing. No one really knows where arcane magic comes from, but people can't help it if they're mageborn, so they shouldn't just be killed.

So, Athalie knows all about arcane magic. Except, she really knows next to nothing. And, staring at the now glowing card in Veo's hand with the queen's moving eyes, she doesn't know what to make of it. "What IS that?" she asks Luna, mystified. And to Veo, she says, "You're not with the Queen's Men? Where did you get that card? What are you going to do with it? What's it pointing towards?" Her barrage of questions isn't particularly threatening or accusatory, just insatiably curious about an object that could mean something very important to her goal to finishing her sister's quest...