Sparkles doesn't see anything about her change visually, and maybe only feels better from the placebo of the ceremony, but finds that comforting enough to let out a sigh of relief, the tense emotions surrounding the contamination melting away. She was just about to get up and look to the party to see about getting back to business, until she heard the voice from the door. Instinctively, she jolts upwards and raises her fists defensively, narrowing her eyes at the source of the noise and glancing to her party members as if to insinuate that they should take a look, and then to Haley and Eren to see if they're showing any signs of recognition. 

Syed blinks when Sparkles throws him that sharp glance, his tufted ears perking. He swivels on the table edge, tail curling as his eyes finally find the door. “Oh.” His tone is mild, though his paw hovers near his crossbow as he studies the unfamiliar figure. With a tilt of his head, voice calm but edged with curiosity, he calls out toward the doorway: “What works, exactly? Care to enlighten the rest of the room before we all start guessing?” His whiskers twitch, and he hops down lightly, padding a few cautious steps closer to get a better look.

Right after the shout out, the room goes silent. Even Haley as she stands up away from Sparkles, mouth agape. She looks over to you all to see if you all just seen what she'd seen. So too has Eren, getting up from making the beans to hands on their own crossbow. Haley mimics the same post as Sparkles once she recognizes your un-recognition. 

Syed studies the room only to find no one new is there. Just the five adventurers, the elk, the druid, and the caravaneer. 

“What works, exactly? Care to enlighten the rest of the room before we all start guessing?”

And nobody answers. The rattatosk takes a few steps forward to get a better look. 

Then the elk starts scrambling. It bashes its tiny antlers against the door frame, its hooves slipping on the molded wooden floorboards beneath it. It raises its front two hooves and frantically attempts to rotate the doorknob. 

"Mriga?" Haley steps forward, shakily. She wields nothing by her side.

Hooves slam against the doorknob, rattling it insistently that it begins to crack under pressure. The wood starts to give way. The elk turns around, humanoid-like fear plastered all over its face, one much more akin to Kolette's than any other elk.

"I-" 

The doorknob continues rattling.

"Are we expecting company?"

Kolette pulls out her staff and looks at the door warily.

Syed freezes mid-step, his tail flicking anxiously as he watches the Starry the elk thrash and claw at the door like a cornered man instead of a beast. His sharp eyes take in the fear in its — no, his — expression, and the thought gnaws at him: 'Was this creature… once a person? Twisted… trapped?'

And the voice? The voice that whispered it works — was it mocking? Or warning? Or something worse, pursuing this poor creature even now?

His claws tighten on his crossbow, but he doesn’t raise it. His black eyes just bore into Starry as his mind races. Slowly, carefully, he extends a tendril of thought outward, his telepathy reaching like a whisper of wind. “Starry…? Is something wrong?”

The question is soft but deliberate, placed directly into the elk’s mind — in Sylvan first, then Common, in case the creature remembers either but in fact none is needed as long it would be capable of understanding any really. Syed’s ears flick back, his body tense as he waits, wondering if this unnatural behavior is fear of them… or of something none of them yet see.

(I just realized a feature of Syed that I think I didn't know of: Ekorre (Clever Tusk) [Languages] You can understand, read, and write Celestial and Common, but you speak via Telepathy. Apparently, Syed is incapable of regular speech! But at least he can speak like this to everyone at once: You can speak telepathically to any creature you can see, provided the creature is within a number of feet of you equal to 10 times your level. You don’t need to share a language with the creature for it to understand your telepathic utterances, but the creature must be able to understand at least one language.)

"What now..." William asks as he draws his wand and trains it on the door.

Sparkles tenses. Not because of the voice, but because of Starry's reaction to it. There's clearly something deeper going on here, and there's definitely something more to her elk friend then meets the eye. She rubs her forearm up and down, palm against her soft downy feathers, feeling how they catch as she strokes up, and smooth again as she strokes down. For someone that knows little to nothing about themselves, seeing a creature you thought you understood start to show disturbing signs of actually being something else isn't exactly comforting, given the circumstances of this hellscape. Her thoughts and fears mirror Syed's closely. Was Starry really someone, or something else that got twisted into this form, somehow?

Quote from Wysperra >>

"Are we expecting company?"

Kolette pulls out her staff and looks at the door warily.

"No." Haley whispers, her voice with an edge to it. The water from her healing bowl ritual bubbles and rises. She commands them back, three spheres of the holy water circle around behind her. Eren sets the arrow on their crossbow, aiming at the door. 

Quote from cyreon >>

 

His claws tighten on his crossbow, but he doesn’t raise it. His black eyes just bore into Starry as his mind races. Slowly, carefully, he extends a tendril of thought outward, his telepathy reaching like a whisper of wind. “Starry…? Is something wrong?”

The question is soft but deliberate, placed directly into the elk’s mind — in Sylvan first, then Common, in case the creature remembers either but in fact none is needed as long it would be capable of understanding any really. Syed’s ears flick back, his body tense as he waits, wondering if this unnatural behavior is fear of them… or of something none of them yet see.

Syed's gazes focuses on the frightened elk. He sends a telepathic tendril, a whisper that wraps around into Starry's mind. The elk snorts, ears flickering at the disturbance into its thoughts. It trashes. Its head slightly grazes against the door (much to the chagrin of a yelp outside), almost as to shake the thought out.

Suddenly, it freezes, legs seeming to buckle before it sits on the ground. Its eyes wince, once again more humanoid than an elk should be, as it cries out, a low wail, like an elk's should be.

Its head buries into its front legs as it closes its eyes, whining slightly, while the rest of the body lays limps on the wooden ground.  

Quote from Wreckzors >>

"What now..." William asks as he draws his wand and trains it on the door.

With the wand training on the door, you notice a flutter of movement behind the cracks in the wood. A small eye blinks through. Then doorknob jiggles once more before taloned-hands claw through. The door rips open unceremoniously to black feathers and tattered clothes. Once more, you are face-to-face with a wereraven figure. It stands there, looking around the room.

Before anyone could move, it yells out, "You!," and lunges for the elk.

Syed’s black eyes glint as he steps slightly forward, still staring at the limp, terrified Starry on the floor. His tail lashes, his claws tighten, and his ears flick back as he speaks—not aloud, but in the heads of everyone present, his telepathic voice sharp and deliberate: “Starry… was human. Or something close. He remembers greed. Debt. The haze… Drakkenheim. His mind’s been torn apart, but he remembers enough to ache for it still. This form… is a prison—perhaps a terminal one.”

He exhales, the faintest puff of breath, and his mental tone lowers grimly: “…and now something has come to collect. Something he fears, deeply.”

The door shatters before he can finish. Talons rip through wood and feathers scatter into the light. The wereraven’s screech—“You!”—cuts through the room like a blade.

Syed doesn’t flinch. His crossbow was already in his hands, primed. In one smooth motion, he raises it, the sigils he’s etched into its stock glowing faintly with his tinkered magic. He lets the bolt fly at the intruder without hesitation. (hit roll 8)

Quote from cyreon >>

 

Syed doesn’t flinch. His crossbow was already in his hands, primed. In one smooth motion, he raises it, the sigils he’s etched into its stock glowing faintly with his tinkered magic. He lets the bolt fly at the intruder without hesitation. (hit roll 8)

Syed freezes, his tail twitching and ears back, the faintest glow still humming in the etched crossbow. He tilts his head slightly, eyes narrowing as he studies the wereraven — its posture, its wings curled protectively around Starry rather than simply striking. 'Nothing is ever simple', he thinks, the thought bitter on his tongue.

He lowers the crossbow just slightly, though the string still hums with potential energy. His black eyes fix on the wereraven, and in the minds of all who can hear — but clearly aimed at the intruder — his sharp, quiet voice cuts through the tense silence: “What’s going on? Explain yourself. Why is the elk so afraid of you? You protect him now… or are you here to take him back?” His claws flex at his side, but he doesn’t yet fire again. Instead, he waits — his mental presence pressing on the wereraven’s mind like a quiet, steady wind, insistent and demanding an answer.

Sparkles is all but frozen, mouth half agape as this scenario takes place. She was ready to spring from her seat and punch the lights out of the wereraven when they first burst in, but Syed was quicker to the draw, and now the atmosphere has shifted entirely. The wereraven (she takes note of the creature's form; she's had no good experiences with their kind so far, so doesn't expect much to change) is now blocking Starry from the party, but it seems it means no harm to him, and won't harm the party unless they try to take Starry back by force, so perhaps this can be discussed. She slides out of her seat, her feet soft on the ground, edging closer to have a presence in the conversation. She'll let Syed handle the interrogation, since he seems to be best positioned to pose the questions, though will intervene if Starry is ever at risk; despite the elk clearly being much more important than just her friend and companion, she's still fiercely protective of him, regardless of who they really are.

OOC: I'm here, just waiting to see what happens =)

The intruder takes in the motley collection of everyone in the room, his eyes widen in surprise.

Syed levels the crossbow slightly below the wereraven's chest. Testing fate, the wereraven takes one step back, clawed feet scraping the floor, before he hesitates slightly and brings his foot back when Sparkles confronts and takes her own step forward. Eyes search the room, each movement is met with the other's hesitation and a pointed dagger jabbing slightly in the air. 

Quote from cyreon >>

“What’s going on? Explain yourself. Why is the elk so afraid of you? You protect him now… or are you here to take him back?”

"What? How? How did you say that?!" His eyes squint as his head searches across the room, daggers in hand following his pointed accusations. He huffs, flapping his wings in agitation. Suddenly, he breaks into a laugh, one solid poignant note. "What- what in the- are you some sort of... telepathic mouse?!" He spits those words out in disbelief, his dry laugh becomes sullen as he shakes his head. "This f*cking city, man." 

His clawed hand hides half his face before he brings his eyes up to level with yours once more. Upon seeing the magical crossbow wasn't backing down, his short smile fades as he takes a few inches back. It takes seconds for it to register. 

"...What?... Afraid?..." He blinks back. His eyes soften a bit, turning a hesitant look from Syed over to the shuddering elk. The animal just stands there facing him. Taloned claws turn softly palmward at the elk's face, an inch away cupping it. "End- Endra? ... It's me."

Beady black eyes stare back. His wings twitch, still sided between you and the elk. A low whining sounds begins at the back of the wereraven's throat. His hand, slow, reaches towards the elk's face. The elk stays still. "Endra... you don't-" 

Front legs rear up, head tossed back, and with a loud snort, the young elk knocks his antlers into the wereraven's side. The wereraven lands with a thud to the ground, head first. "Nrrhh! Fu-" The wereraven winces, inhaling sharply before wincing again while he gets up from the floor. "F*ck." He repeats again. The door is wide open, and the elk nowhere to be found.

The wereraven stands up again, winded. Yet he is quick with his daggers again, slashing it forward and pointing it in front of him as he shuffles towards the door with his wings blocking the entrance while he hurriedly glances between the party and the entrance. "Hgrh... stay away," he mumbles, shakily, gait uneven. "STAY AWAY!"

Quote from Wysperra >>

OOC: I'm here, just waiting to see what happens =)

This wereraven is certainly starting to get on Sparkles' nerves; with not much time to spare now that Starry, or maybe Endra, has fled, she says 'As if. Tell us who you are and what your business is with the elk, and then maybe we'll help you get him back, considering he's our companion too.' She narrows her eyes and continues 'We don't know much about him, we just found him injured on the side of the road and decided to take him along so we could nurse him properly back to health. If it wasn't for us, your 'Endra', or whatever you call him, would be a rotting, fly-ridden carcass by now. So, I'd hope you could show us some gratitude by at least giving us some more information rather than just barging in here and then making away all enigmatic like, along with letting us fan out to look for him too.' Her face slightly softens as she adds 'It'll be easier that way anyway, strength in numbers and all that.'

"Something doesn't smell right about that elk...." William mentions before shaking his head. He looks to the were-raven and then to his companions. "are we going to kill this guy or not? I think we need to get out of here... and I would prefer it if we didn't have to keep an eye out for some crazy birdman..." He said before looking around at his surroundings. "I'm tired of this place.."

"Agreed," Kolette says. "we should move along before something gets broken."

Syed’s tail coils tightly around the trigger-guard as he eases the stock a finger-width downward—still trained, merely less lethal. A dry shimmer of thought flickers across the room, felt rather than heard: “Breathe, all of you.”  The words arrive with clock-maker precision, clipped yet calm.

To Sparkles he sends a faint pulse of approval—good stance, hold that doorway.

To William, the tone grows sardonic: “Kill him and we lose both answers and elk. Patience.”

Kolette’s caution earns a gentle nod; Syed shares it.

Only then does he address the wereraven, voice inside the bird-man’s mind as cold and exact as a whetted chisel: “Name. Connection to the one you called Endra. What changed him from person to beast. Speak swiftly; the woods swallow track-marks even faster than rumor.” The little ratatosk tilts his head, black eyes glinting. One claw idly scrapes a nick from the crossbow’s riser—a familiar, soothing rasp. "Ignore the vocabulary, yes—I am no mouse and no devil out of your nightmares. Merely a squirrel craftsman who dislikes errant mysteries—and you're one for cawing about strange sights, didn't you catch a glimpse of your reflection yet?”

A brief telepathic aside to the party follows, the mental equivalent of a stage whisper: “If he bolts we hamstring him; if he talks we gain a guide.”

Mellow, sensing the tension, pads two steps forward and plants his bulk beside Syed. The ratatosk rests a tiny hand on the mastiff’s shoulder without looking away from their guest—gesture of trust, reminder of power held in reserve. Finally, Syed lets the silence stretch—crossbow lowered, questions hanging—inviting the wereraven to fill it before the next clock-tick demands harsher measures.