Above & Below

The voice doesn't seem particularly willing to help, considering the large arrow pointed at you. He doesn't immediately fire it, though, which is some silver lining. The large weapon - somewhere between a crossbow and a ballista, trains itself right at the trapped monk. "Let's put our weapons down too, yeah? And quickly."

Your hear a deep growling coming from inside, accompanying the stranger's deep voice.

Brask shrugs, and takes the maul from his back.  If you hurt my friend, I'll rip your heart from your chest with my bare hands and eat it, he says casually, setting the weapon on the ground.  He nods to Pip to do the same and to stand behind him.

Effort holds up her weaponless hands and shrugs.  "Do you greet all visitors to your home this way?  You must keep rather strange company," she says.

Kurama raises his hands into the air.  "I'm not carrying any weapons.  And we're not looking for any sort of trouble; just information."  

"Visitors?" The voice calls out, almost in a laugh. "Where the hell are you from? Ain't no visitors 'round here."

The door opens slowly and a huge wolf's head peaks its way out. It sniffs around the entrance a bit, training its eyes on Kurama and the rest of you. A huge, burly man steps to the side of the massive gray wolf, wielding the crossbow. He wears some kind of fur - brown with white spots - and sports a huge brown beard. His bald head makes it easy to see the deep, red scars that run across it and down the back. Dark eyes peer down the sight of the weapon as he refuses to let his guard down. His finger hovers near the trigger. 

"If you seek information, you've come to the wrong place. Now get away from our cottage, 'fore I give Blue here the okay to tear you to shreds."

From within the cottage, you hear a softer yet raspy voice. "Gil? Gil, what's going on?"

The man doesn't look away or lose his focus. He keeps the crossbow trained on Kurama. "Nothin', I'm handling it. Stay inside."

(Are the man and wolf abnormally large (a bigger creature size than normal?))

The man seems to be a human - he's very large, yes, but there's nothing that seems unnatural about him. The wolf, however, is enormous. Certainly larger than any canines you've seen in Oshait, even wolves.

Passing her hand over her brow, Effort whispers to herself before stepping closer.  "Could you humor us and at least tell us why there are no visitors here?  Assuming we truly are from a completely different place than here, we wouldn't want to keep running into the same mistakes like this over and over again with the local populace," she says beseechingly.

Persuasion: 23 + Guidance 2

Nice dog, Brask says, as he attempts to catch the massive wolf's attention and get into a staring contest. 

Kurama pondered for a moment what to say before deciding to stay silent for the time being; coming to the conclusion that his utter inability to lie plus revealing the truths of their situation could bring more problems then they'd solve.

Brask, roll intimidation against the wolf.

As Effort speaks, the man keeps his crossbow pointed at Kurama but slowly shifts his eyes over. He lets out a harsh laugh when you mention the local populace. "Just how completely different of a place are you from? Must be a long, long way from here."

A frail hand reaches up from behind him and places it on his shoulder. An elderly woman shows herself, with wispy white hair reaching down to her back. Her milky white eyes look off into the distance, but she speaks to Effort directly. "If you and your friends mean no harm, you'll find no more hostility here."

The big man - Gil, she called him - rolls his eyes but slowly puts down his crossbow. 

Effort bows her head in return.  "Thank you for your understanding.  And yes, indeed.  We have been sent here from a place very far away."  She thinks back on the ritual, and the fact that Promise is missing.  "Perhaps by mistake, for we're not entirely sure where we are.  We are in desperate need of information, for we do not have even that much. My name is Effort," she adds.

Insight check: how are these people who look like humans reacting to the presence of a non-aggressive goblin, minotaur, dwarf, and tiefling? 5

As far as you can tell, your various forms don't seem to bother them at all.

"This is my son, Gil, and big Blue," she gestures to the huge wolf. "My name is Ava. We've lived here a very long time. It can be unkind to strangers. Come, let's warm up inside. I've just heated up some water for tea."

Gil heads over to Kurama, and after staring at him for a moment, leans down and undoes whatever snare trap had him by the ankles. He resets and then walks to the corner of the garden, kneeling down to presumably check on another trap they have set. 

Brask's Intimidation 22

Least initimidating minotaur ever. :)

"I am Kurama, thank you for not harming us.  And we speak the truth.  We only seek to orient ourselves with information on our current whereabouts.  It has been a very long and confusing day for us."  He began.  Turning towards the minotaur he continued, "The large man behind me is Brask and the goblin is Pip." 

Haha, you must be saving up your good rolls for the next fight, eh?

Ava gestures for you all to join her in the cottage. Blue notices Brask's attempt to intimidate him, and sits silently as the others shuffle into the front door. The wolf quickly sits up and circles in front of Brask, however, leaving him as the last person out in the cold before finally heading inside and allowing the minotaur to follow.

The cottage is modest - a small kitchen area with a wooden table and a few chairs, a slightly larger living quarters with a bed and a blanket on the floor, and two doors which seem to lead to another bedroom and a closet. Ava searches the cupboards for more cups and eventually finds enough mismatched vessels to serve tea in. She sets them onto the table and looks around, frowning. "I'm afraid there aren't enough chairs for all of us...we're not used to hosting visitors!" At this point it's clear that she's blind in seemingly both eyes, yet she moves around her own home as if she could see perfectly. She pulls out a chair and sits, pulling one of the cups toward her and taking a sip.

Blue sniffs around at your feet, taking up quite a bit of space in the kitchen. Gil cautiously looks out a few windows in each direction. Satisfied with whatever he did or didn't see, he grabs a cup off the table and stands behind his mother. "So...no bullshit. Where are you from and what do you want here? What kind of information do you seek?"

Kurama politely nods his head in thanks as the tea is offered, pouring himself a cup and taking a tentative sip.  A bit bitter though otherwise perfectly satisfactory, Kurama takes another few sips before responding the the massive man's question.  "It is a bit complicated and hard to believe but I swear what we are about to tell you is the truth.  We are from a land called Oshait and we have traveled from another world to find a piece of something hidden here; something that might help save not only our own world but All worlds.  During our voyage here, we seem to have lost a few of our companions, including the one who knew the most about our current mission.  This place looks similar to our own but different as well.  Where we appeared, on our side, it housed a massive fortress unlike any we've ever seen.  But when we arrived here, in it's place was nothing more then the remnants of some sort of ancient ampitheather."  Realizing that he was beginning to ramble, Kurama paused for a moment before continuing.  "As I mentioned before, for now we're just trying to figure out where we are and what our next course of action should be." 

Gil takes a few sips of his tea before gulping down the rest. He nods as Kurama speaks, though at which part is anyone's guess. The older woman listens intently, perking up when you mention your travel between worlds. 

"If what you say is true," Ava begins, "then you have come to a dark reflection of your own world. The land mass here is known as Gredica...but to those from the other worlds we are in a place known as Shadowfell."

"That amphitheater looking thing in the mountain has been there for as long as anyone can remember - with no use for it," Gil chimes in. "Place of pure, concentrated magic, ma says. But Blue and I hunt the valley there and I've never seen anything or felt anything strange."

"Gilbert, just because we do not know something does not mean it doesn't exist." Gil tenses up when his mother uses his full name. "If you are looking for something here, your best bet is probably to seek out one of the Sisters. Although that is a tricky task, as they roam the land without any true home. Sometimes they are rumored to visit towns in search of...well."  She pauses awkwardly, sipping her tea. Blue loudly scratches at the back of his head and whines a bit before curling up into an enormous ball next to Ava. "The Sisters are three beings of immense power and knowledge. They are tasked with...a strange type of justice, seeking out and punishing those who offend their own moral sensibilities. Which turns out to be just about anyone, depending on their mood. Each takes ownership of different kinds of sins, which means you may only come across one or the other depending on what you've done wrong...in their eyes."

"Barons around here know the most in general," Gil adds. "Leaders of the towns that you'll find if you travel far enough and long enough through the rest of this gray waste. Warning, though...people with power in Gredica typically don't come by it through honest means." Gil walks over to the back door, heading out for a moment. A chill immediately pushes its way through the house. It's gotten noticeably darker outside. Grayer, really, but you can guess that night is approaching. Gil returns with a gruesome looking pair of hind legs hanging off of a butchered torso. He throws it up on the counter, carving off a piece and throwing it to Blue, who sinks his teeth into it quickly and throws his head back to swallow it whole. Gil then goes to work cutting off finer strips. "I suppose you'll be staying for dinner, eh? Hope you like boar, it's the only thing on the menu."

"Truly, your hospitality is enough to flavor any meal with the finest spice," Effort says easily, pulling on her social etiquette.  The Shadowfell... a dark place, so perhaps this was the 'below' that Promise had mentioned.  If she was honest with herself, Effort was much more comfortable here than with whatever might have waited 'above.'

The thought of meeting one of the Sisters both intrigues and disturbs her.  Excitement fills her at the thought of making contact and having access to that much knowledge; in equal parts, however, comes the dread of whatever judgement said being would mete out before sharing any of that knowledge, if it were to at all.  Shaking the thought away, she concentrates on a much more practical issue, that of the road she had seen.  

"When we came out of the fortress, we saw a worn old road far to the south of here.  Would you happen to know where that might lead to?" she asks.  "In fact, where is the nearest settlement ruled by one of these 'Barons,' as you mentioned?"

As she sips at her tea, she tasks Cadmael, who is still outside, but on the roof now, to keep watch for anything strange that might approach the hut.

History or Arcana check to see what Kurama knows anything about Gredica and the Shadowfell: 3 (+2 if an Arcana Check)