On the way, she intercepts a guardsman walking by and instructs him to gather those requested. Walking through the town, Usul isn't really able to pick up on any suspicious activity. To the contrary, the folks he sees walking by seem a bit happier than usual, or at least relieved to some degree. With no attacks happening last night, the city seems to be moving into a bit of cautious optimism.
As you all arrive at her home, she opens the door and quickly ushers you all inside. The living space is rather bare and spartan, but that's not quite a surprise to those of you that know her. Before beginning, she gathers mugs from a cabinet and pours everyone an ale from a medium sized wooden keg she has leaned up against a wall. After everyone is settled in, she listens to what you have to tell her before the others arrive.
While you recall your experiences over the last few days, you can see an intensity growing in her eyes as you go over more details. By the end of it, she looks ready to charge out into the streets herself to declare war. "Gods...There's no way this was an accident." She glances over at Silthras, "you could very well be right about the Baronness. I can pull whatever leverage I have to try and get you a meeting with her."
"For now, your plan is sensible. Whatever you decide to hold back from the lot coming in, I won't question it. You seem to have a far better handle on this than I ever could."
After roughly an hour or so of these talks, there is a knock on the door. A small group is ushered in. They consist of the guard commander you saw earlier, Lionel. The drow arcanist a few of you have met already, Elixyr. The central temple's priestess Mera. And a man introduced as Betrand, highest ranking officer of the local military garrison.
Kal flares his divine sense, and finds none of them have been compromised.
As you go over your tale once more, uncovering the corpse of the shape-stealing undead you killed, Betrand and Lionel noticeably begin to pale. Mera seems mostly unaffected by the news, and Elixyr looks almost amused. You gloss over some details, such as the rare findings in the ruin itself. Discussions continue, and you learn that ever since the attacks stopped last night, the regular undead in the area seem to be dispersing. Betrand has sent out scouts in all directions. While before they seemed to be attracted to Silverfair, now they're merely wandering off in every which direction. He theorizes that the thing you killed was likely their leadership.
The room goes quiet for a short time after Silthras' comment about the Baronness. There is a murmur of agreement from Betrand and Lionel. Velyra would notice that the particular line of discussion makes them uneasy, as if they've had their own thoughts of the same vein already. Without prompting from Sybil, Betrand offers to bring you all to the keep to inform the Baronness of this matter yourselves, as she would likely be unwilling to hear secondhand information. He tells you where to find him, and excuses himself. Lionel leaves with him, and you can hear the two begin to discuss next steps for the city's safety.
Mera inspects the undead corpse, now letting a look of disgust show. "I've never seen or heard of anything like this. Truly a most foul creature." The priestess rises, having knelt down to get a closer look. "Well. We are all glad that you've managed to do this much, and to bring us so many survivors. On that note, I do need to return. We have a great many people to take care of now." She exits, leaving only yourselves, Sybil, and Elixyr.
The dark elf nudges the dead thing with her boot, making a face. "Ugly mug. Wouldn't want to wake up to that ever." She glances over to Kal with a smile, "so the explosives made a sufficient boom boom then? I can provide you with more if you prefer to bring down the whole mountain. You all know where to find me for that," she says, giving a small curtsy before stepping out the door herself.
Sybil lets out a long sigh as the ordeal finishes, exhausted to have dealt with so many people at once. "Well there's that." She holds her face in her hands momentarily, wiping the tiredness from her face. "I'm not sure what your next plans on, but if you plan on resting up here for the night I can put you up at the Topaz Hammer again." She seems to remember something, and perks up a bit. "As a matter of fact there's someone there I'd like to introduce you to. A little more help for you to deal with this absolute mess."
Kal runs a hand through his hair, letting out a long sigh. "It's difficult to tell where all of this is leading, but I think we wanted to take some time to investigate the ruins some more."He takes a long drink from the mug he was offered earlier, and nods."I think that's what we should do. After that we can check the Baroness. Though with what we learned about the undead starting to spread out, it would appear there's only one of those things."
"Still, I would like to know why she was so keen on doing nothing."
"There is still daylight. We should at least try to find the 'in' portal from this town." Usul says, standing up and stretching after the long story and discussion.
"Do we have any idea how we should find such a thing?" Velyra questions. "We got lucky with the first one in the manor...Could we perhaps try following the tracks they've made?"
Silthras spirits rise at the thought of a real bed, a room to himself, and perhaps something stronger than ale to drink. As he contemplates a luxurious few hours, he glances around the room. He has only known these people for a few days, but they have been long days and they have been hard days, yet through it all they had managed to work well together. Even the thieving little gnome.
He smiles and his hand idly reaches to pat the dog -- Maud. Judge a man by how he treats those over whom he holds sway. Whatever his faults -- and he suspected the gnome had very many of those -- he had a good heart. The priest was about as self-righteous as you'd expect of an elven priest. Takes one to know one, I suppose. The knight...well, he was a surprise: much less dense than most, and with some remarkable talents. He'd never really worked much Kal's kind before -- not the real soldiers -- he'd fought against them, but rarely with them.
Would a stranger upset this delicate rapport, or enhance it? Only the next few days would tell.
When the tale-telling is done, Silthras nods at Sybil's offer, "We could all do with a warm bed and a meal. So...perhaps we should meet this person before we all fall asleep?"
"After all this time she might just be a pig-headed fool, but it wouldn't hurt to check." Sybil said in agreement, standing to stretch herself. "Whatever your plan, just let me know if you need anything from me. In the meantime, I will see about scrounging up a suitable reward for what you've accomplished so far."
"I would recommend meeting this young woman before you take your next steps...I don't pretend to know of such things, but if it's something magical you're searching for...Well she may be able to help with that." If everyone is in agreement, Sybil is more than happy to lead the party to the Topaz Hammer.
Kal runs a hand through his hair, letting out a long sigh. "It's difficult to tell where all of this is leading, but I think we wanted to take some time to investigate the ruins some more."He takes a long drink from the mug he was offered earlier, and nods."I think that's what we should do. After that we can check the Baroness. Though with what we learned about the undead starting to spread out, it would appear there's only one of those things."
"Still, I would like to know why she was so keen on doing nothing."
Silthras nods, "That's the nub of the problem. Something is awry there, and we should at least visit her before she learns too much of our activities. A brief visit sooner rather than later is on order..."
"There is still daylight. We should at least try to find the 'in' portal from this town." Usul says, standing up and stretching after the long story and discussion.
Silthras groans at the though of more work, "Perhaps in the morning we can look for magic. It's a big town though, we would nee to go house to house. Unless...maybe there has been a lot of building somewhere in recent times?" he looks to Sybil.
Edit: "Or a building on the outskirts that seemed to draw the undead? They almost seemed to be guarding the manor in Feycrest."
"Do we have any idea how we should find such a thing?" Velyra questions. "We got lucky with the first one in the manor...Could we perhaps try following the tracks they've made?"
"Tracking...we could try that...but we just brought a score or more townsfolk from the one place that would have been a good starting point. I guess in daylight, with a little help, we could search for older tracks leading away from it..."
"ooh! Yeah. Let's meet this new friend first."Usul says to Sybil. "We hope they're smart and can help us figure this out." But then looking to the others quickly catches himself saying, "Ah, though this group is already plenty clever! We couldn't have figured this much out without your guys help!"
He then turns to Sybil and asks, "Ah... Sybil. Is it possible to get a package sent off back to <town Usul was from>? Or have your couriers all held in town still?"
Sybil tilts her head as she considers the half-elf's question, before shaking her head slowly. "Not that I can recall. And you mentioned these things travel back by portal? It wouldn't be inside the town. Only a very few have made it in, and none lived for very long before we put them down."
"Something like that is certainly within my power Usul. Leave it here with me along with a note of where it needs to go and to who. Sonatide is fairly close, it shouldn't take too long for the package to reach there."
"I agree, let's meet this stranger first. More help would always be welcome."Kal says, standing to follow Sybil out the door. "Whenever we decide to move on, I think Velyra is right. Even if we just follow one set of tracks we're sure is from one of the undead, it would certainly lead us to their exit point. I think given enough time, we should be able to manage that fairly easily."
Sybil tilts her head as she considers the half-elf's question, before shaking her head slowly. "Not that I can recall. And you mentioned these things travel back by portal? It wouldn't be inside the town. Only a very few have made it in, and none lived for very long before we put them down."
Silthras sighs again, "Well that might narrow it considerably. Though, of course, it need not be a building. But the tracking job just became a whole lot easier..." He pauses with his eyes closed for a moment, "...if we do find it, we may want to put a...discreet...watch on it."
Again he turns to Sybil, "How long before sunrise did they usually leave?"
(( Trying to gauge if the portal might be in the Baroness' area, or nearby ... ie. roughly how far it might be ))
"Good, before you arrived I was about to turn her away. I wasn't even sure if you lot were still alive, and I wasn't about to send someone off on their own." Sybil leads you all out of her home, walking the city streets back to the familiar inn you had stayed at your first night here. "Now...I don't know her exactly. But her mother and I have gotten out of trouble together before. If she's even a quarter as skilled, she'll be an excellent addition."
Once again she is quiet for a moment as she considers Silthras' question before answering. "Between 30 minutes to an hour. We never tried following them. Should be easy enough to find their tracks though. They leave very distinct ones, clawed as they are."
At last you find yourself at the Hammer, Sybil leads you inside, briefly she stops to talk to the man behind the bar. He points towards the stairs as if giving directions, and she jogs off, holding up a finger to tell you all to hold on.
A short time later she returns with a young half-elf woman in tow. Grinning, Sybil steps aside, "these are the ones I was telling you about. Turns out they might need some help after all. Care to introduce yourself?"
Usul, a young gnome with an owl on his shoulder and a large dog by his side, equipped in well worn leathers, though his gear is currently on the dog, looks up to the half-elf and says "Hi!" holding up his hand to shake it. "We're Usul, Dib, and Muad," he says, first gesturing to himself, the owl, and then the dog. "There is some serious craziness here going on with zombies and portals! But don't worry, these guys," gesturing up to his taller friends, "are really good at keeping us safe. Hey! You ever been through a teleportation circle before? We'd seen em back in Sonatide, but never actually got to. There's one around this town somewhere that we gotta find!"
Being back in town, and in relative safety after having dealt with the creatures seems to have brought Usuls' curiosity and excitement for life back a bit.
Flinching slightly at the proffered hand, she cautiously takes it and gives an awkward handshake before letting go. She looks the animals with a smile on her face however, waggling her fingers at them. "Hello there little ones."Undead talk snaps her back however, as she considers his question in earnest. "I, uh. Well. No. Not exactly. I've heard of them, learned about them. But I was never allowed to go through one."Nervously, Sylnora looks around before swinging a drawstring bag from her shoulder. She pulls out a dark blue tome and begins flipping through it, searching. "I should be able to find it if we get close enough to the general area though. Something like that should light up like the moon."
Empathizing with the young woman's unease around large groups of people, and realizing that he was perhaps a bit more imposing than usual in the newly acquire plate, Kal gently takes a small step back and instead offers a stiff hand wave. "Kal Vorni. We'll be glad to have your help."
He glances at the others knowingly, then adds. "With what we've seen, it feels like we could definitely use the help of someone a bit more versed in the arcane. We've found some things you might be able to explain better than we can."
"I'm Velyra, also happy to have another magic user among us." The elvish woman says with a slight bow. "I think, we were actually going to go searching for it now." With a sly smile, she turns her head towards Silthras. "Unless you need your beauty sleep?"
Silthras smiles wearily, like this jibe is perhaps part of a pattern, "It was the thought of dwarven whiskey that called to me most keenly." He stares longingly at the bar, hoping they have some hidden away. "It's an acquired taste, but once you have it, it's hard to shake."
Turning to the newcomer, he smiles, "Silthras...Sil...pleased to meet you. And yes, Kal is right -- having a professional amongst our number will be a great boon. There are many mysteries here: arcane, mundane, and even religions -- take your pick. Our religious expert seems to be at a complete loss." He smiles and nods at Velyra, "Not the least of which is a form of undead that takes over a living body." His tired eyes peer at her more closely, "Have you ever heard of such a thing?"
Silthras appears to also have a mixed elven cast; his slightly pointed ears are hidden behind the long blonde hair that is braided on the sides. He looks tired, and was in the process of loosening the straps on his impeccably clean leather armour when Velyra spoke, but manages to rally himself, tightening the straps once more. "There's a body if you'd like to see one, but it can wait. Velyra may be right, trying to track the clawed ones now may be the best course."
"How is it that you know Sybil, by the way? For me, it was a family connection...my mother owed Sybil a favour or two, so here I am, in all my glory." he bows, clearly confident in crowds and groups, and perhaps, pleased to have a fellow half-elf along. "I'd suggest we follow those two" he says, nodding to Kal and Velyra, "...tracking is not my specialty, but know enough to give them a wide berth while they do what they do."
He looks speculatively at Usul and Dib, "Though I suspect those two will give them a run for their money. They are full of surprises."
"An undead that takes over a living body..." Syl echoes, rocking back on her heels thoughtfully. "Let me think on that. There's lots of shapeshifters but that...Hmm."Filing the question into the back of her mind to stew on, she continues on.
"I'm well rested. Kind of just been sitting here for a few days. Enjoying the..." She glances around warily at the rest of the inn, full of noisy less-than-sober people, "...Ambiance. So I'm ready to go if you all are."
With a last nervous glance at Sybil, she'll give a small wave goodbye to the soldier as she follows the others out as they leave. "Something in similar fashion for me. Though I don't think mother owed her a favor. It was more of a general request for help due to their past together."Walking carefully behind the trackers, she occasionally takes the tome out again, rereading the ritual to be performed when they think they're close.
@DM: Is that a kind of information she would be able to recall? Or is it no chance?
And when/if we get to an area we think the circle might be near, Syl is going to ritual cast Detect Magic.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Since they all seem to be in agreement about next steps, Kal will glance at Velyra and nod towards the door to lead the others out. "It would be nice to have a second set of eyes on the ground while we search, and perhaps a touch of divine guidance." When they exit again through the east gate of the city, his eyes will go to the ground, looking for the trackmarks of the clawed undead. He'll specifically search for a set that appears to be going away from the city, and will follow it wherever it leads.
"Couldn't imagine burning my insides out with a more repugnant substance, but everyone has their own preference of poison." Velyra replies with a shrug, though to show the jabs are in good faith, she adds, "I'll tell you what though. Once we make it back, I'll pay for whatever you want from behind that counter. Given we don't fall through a hole in the fabric of reality and meet an undead dragon or something in the meantime."
As they approach the gate, Velyra pats Kal on his armored shoulder, sending a jolt of electricity on impact. "But of course I'm here to Help." She'll keep a close eye on the ground as they walk from here on out, pointing out anything that sticks out to her.
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On the way, she intercepts a guardsman walking by and instructs him to gather those requested. Walking through the town, Usul isn't really able to pick up on any suspicious activity. To the contrary, the folks he sees walking by seem a bit happier than usual, or at least relieved to some degree. With no attacks happening last night, the city seems to be moving into a bit of cautious optimism.
As you all arrive at her home, she opens the door and quickly ushers you all inside. The living space is rather bare and spartan, but that's not quite a surprise to those of you that know her. Before beginning, she gathers mugs from a cabinet and pours everyone an ale from a medium sized wooden keg she has leaned up against a wall. After everyone is settled in, she listens to what you have to tell her before the others arrive.
While you recall your experiences over the last few days, you can see an intensity growing in her eyes as you go over more details. By the end of it, she looks ready to charge out into the streets herself to declare war. "Gods...There's no way this was an accident." She glances over at Silthras, "you could very well be right about the Baronness. I can pull whatever leverage I have to try and get you a meeting with her."
"For now, your plan is sensible. Whatever you decide to hold back from the lot coming in, I won't question it. You seem to have a far better handle on this than I ever could."
After roughly an hour or so of these talks, there is a knock on the door. A small group is ushered in. They consist of the guard commander you saw earlier, Lionel. The drow arcanist a few of you have met already, Elixyr. The central temple's priestess Mera. And a man introduced as Betrand, highest ranking officer of the local military garrison.
Kal flares his divine sense, and finds none of them have been compromised.
As you go over your tale once more, uncovering the corpse of the shape-stealing undead you killed, Betrand and Lionel noticeably begin to pale. Mera seems mostly unaffected by the news, and Elixyr looks almost amused. You gloss over some details, such as the rare findings in the ruin itself. Discussions continue, and you learn that ever since the attacks stopped last night, the regular undead in the area seem to be dispersing. Betrand has sent out scouts in all directions. While before they seemed to be attracted to Silverfair, now they're merely wandering off in every which direction. He theorizes that the thing you killed was likely their leadership.
The room goes quiet for a short time after Silthras' comment about the Baronness. There is a murmur of agreement from Betrand and Lionel. Velyra would notice that the particular line of discussion makes them uneasy, as if they've had their own thoughts of the same vein already. Without prompting from Sybil, Betrand offers to bring you all to the keep to inform the Baronness of this matter yourselves, as she would likely be unwilling to hear secondhand information. He tells you where to find him, and excuses himself. Lionel leaves with him, and you can hear the two begin to discuss next steps for the city's safety.
Mera inspects the undead corpse, now letting a look of disgust show. "I've never seen or heard of anything like this. Truly a most foul creature." The priestess rises, having knelt down to get a closer look. "Well. We are all glad that you've managed to do this much, and to bring us so many survivors. On that note, I do need to return. We have a great many people to take care of now." She exits, leaving only yourselves, Sybil, and Elixyr.
The dark elf nudges the dead thing with her boot, making a face. "Ugly mug. Wouldn't want to wake up to that ever." She glances over to Kal with a smile, "so the explosives made a sufficient boom boom then? I can provide you with more if you prefer to bring down the whole mountain. You all know where to find me for that," she says, giving a small curtsy before stepping out the door herself.
Sybil lets out a long sigh as the ordeal finishes, exhausted to have dealt with so many people at once. "Well there's that." She holds her face in her hands momentarily, wiping the tiredness from her face. "I'm not sure what your next plans on, but if you plan on resting up here for the night I can put you up at the Topaz Hammer again." She seems to remember something, and perks up a bit. "As a matter of fact there's someone there I'd like to introduce you to. A little more help for you to deal with this absolute mess."
Kal runs a hand through his hair, letting out a long sigh. "It's difficult to tell where all of this is leading, but I think we wanted to take some time to investigate the ruins some more." He takes a long drink from the mug he was offered earlier, and nods. "I think that's what we should do. After that we can check the Baroness. Though with what we learned about the undead starting to spread out, it would appear there's only one of those things."
"Still, I would like to know why she was so keen on doing nothing."
"There is still daylight. We should at least try to find the 'in' portal from this town." Usul says, standing up and stretching after the long story and discussion.
PbP 🎲: Tyekanik; Moneo Noree; Korba Muris; & occasional DM:
"Do we have any idea how we should find such a thing?" Velyra questions. "We got lucky with the first one in the manor...Could we perhaps try following the tracks they've made?"
Silthras spirits rise at the thought of a real bed, a room to himself, and perhaps something stronger than ale to drink. As he contemplates a luxurious few hours, he glances around the room. He has only known these people for a few days, but they have been long days and they have been hard days, yet through it all they had managed to work well together. Even the thieving little gnome.
He smiles and his hand idly reaches to pat the dog -- Maud. Judge a man by how he treats those over whom he holds sway. Whatever his faults -- and he suspected the gnome had very many of those -- he had a good heart. The priest was about as self-righteous as you'd expect of an elven priest. Takes one to know one, I suppose. The knight...well, he was a surprise: much less dense than most, and with some remarkable talents. He'd never really worked much Kal's kind before -- not the real soldiers -- he'd fought against them, but rarely with them.
Would a stranger upset this delicate rapport, or enhance it? Only the next few days would tell.
When the tale-telling is done, Silthras nods at Sybil's offer, "We could all do with a warm bed and a meal. So...perhaps we should meet this person before we all fall asleep?"
"After all this time she might just be a pig-headed fool, but it wouldn't hurt to check." Sybil said in agreement, standing to stretch herself. "Whatever your plan, just let me know if you need anything from me. In the meantime, I will see about scrounging up a suitable reward for what you've accomplished so far."
"I would recommend meeting this young woman before you take your next steps...I don't pretend to know of such things, but if it's something magical you're searching for...Well she may be able to help with that." If everyone is in agreement, Sybil is more than happy to lead the party to the Topaz Hammer.
Silthras nods, "That's the nub of the problem. Something is awry there, and we should at least visit her before she learns too much of our activities. A brief visit sooner rather than later is on order..."
Silthras groans at the though of more work, "Perhaps in the morning we can look for magic. It's a big town though, we would nee to go house to house. Unless...maybe there has been a lot of building somewhere in recent times?" he looks to Sybil.
Edit: "Or a building on the outskirts that seemed to draw the undead? They almost seemed to be guarding the manor in Feycrest."
"Tracking...we could try that...but we just brought a score or more townsfolk from the one place that would have been a good starting point. I guess in daylight, with a little help, we could search for older tracks leading away from it..."
"ooh! Yeah. Let's meet this new friend first." Usul says to Sybil. "We hope they're smart and can help us figure this out." But then looking to the others quickly catches himself saying, "Ah, though this group is already plenty clever! We couldn't have figured this much out without your guys help!"
He then turns to Sybil and asks, "Ah... Sybil. Is it possible to get a package sent off back to <town Usul was from>? Or have your couriers all held in town still?"
PbP 🎲: Tyekanik; Moneo Noree; Korba Muris; & occasional DM:
Sybil tilts her head as she considers the half-elf's question, before shaking her head slowly. "Not that I can recall. And you mentioned these things travel back by portal? It wouldn't be inside the town. Only a very few have made it in, and none lived for very long before we put them down."
"Something like that is certainly within my power Usul. Leave it here with me along with a note of where it needs to go and to who. Sonatide is fairly close, it shouldn't take too long for the package to reach there."
"I agree, let's meet this stranger first. More help would always be welcome." Kal says, standing to follow Sybil out the door. "Whenever we decide to move on, I think Velyra is right. Even if we just follow one set of tracks we're sure is from one of the undead, it would certainly lead us to their exit point. I think given enough time, we should be able to manage that fairly easily."
Silthras sighs again, "Well that might narrow it considerably. Though, of course, it need not be a building. But the tracking job just became a whole lot easier..." He pauses with his eyes closed for a moment, "...if we do find it, we may want to put a...discreet...watch on it."
Again he turns to Sybil, "How long before sunrise did they usually leave?"
(( Trying to gauge if the portal might be in the Baroness' area, or nearby ... ie. roughly how far it might be ))
"Good, before you arrived I was about to turn her away. I wasn't even sure if you lot were still alive, and I wasn't about to send someone off on their own." Sybil leads you all out of her home, walking the city streets back to the familiar inn you had stayed at your first night here. "Now...I don't know her exactly. But her mother and I have gotten out of trouble together before. If she's even a quarter as skilled, she'll be an excellent addition."
Once again she is quiet for a moment as she considers Silthras' question before answering. "Between 30 minutes to an hour. We never tried following them. Should be easy enough to find their tracks though. They leave very distinct ones, clawed as they are."
At last you find yourself at the Hammer, Sybil leads you inside, briefly she stops to talk to the man behind the bar. He points towards the stairs as if giving directions, and she jogs off, holding up a finger to tell you all to hold on.
A short time later she returns with a young half-elf woman in tow. Grinning, Sybil steps aside, "these are the ones I was telling you about. Turns out they might need some help after all. Care to introduce yourself?"
Usul, a young gnome with an owl on his shoulder and a large dog by his side, equipped in well worn leathers, though his gear is currently on the dog, looks up to the half-elf and says "Hi!" holding up his hand to shake it. "We're Usul, Dib, and Muad," he says, first gesturing to himself, the owl, and then the dog. "There is some serious craziness here going on with zombies and portals! But don't worry, these guys," gesturing up to his taller friends, "are really good at keeping us safe. Hey! You ever been through a teleportation circle before? We'd seen em back in Sonatide, but never actually got to. There's one around this town somewhere that we gotta find!"
Being back in town, and in relative safety after having dealt with the creatures seems to have brought Usuls' curiosity and excitement for life back a bit.
PbP 🎲: Tyekanik; Moneo Noree; Korba Muris; & occasional DM:
Flinching slightly at the proffered hand, she cautiously takes it and gives an awkward handshake before letting go. She looks the animals with a smile on her face however, waggling her fingers at them. "Hello there little ones." Undead talk snaps her back however, as she considers his question in earnest. "I, uh. Well. No. Not exactly. I've heard of them, learned about them. But I was never allowed to go through one." Nervously, Sylnora looks around before swinging a drawstring bag from her shoulder. She pulls out a dark blue tome and begins flipping through it, searching. "I should be able to find it if we get close enough to the general area though. Something like that should light up like the moon."
Empathizing with the young woman's unease around large groups of people, and realizing that he was perhaps a bit more imposing than usual in the newly acquire plate, Kal gently takes a small step back and instead offers a stiff hand wave. "Kal Vorni. We'll be glad to have your help."
He glances at the others knowingly, then adds. "With what we've seen, it feels like we could definitely use the help of someone a bit more versed in the arcane. We've found some things you might be able to explain better than we can."
"I'm Velyra, also happy to have another magic user among us." The elvish woman says with a slight bow. "I think, we were actually going to go searching for it now." With a sly smile, she turns her head towards Silthras. "Unless you need your beauty sleep?"
Silthras smiles wearily, like this jibe is perhaps part of a pattern, "It was the thought of dwarven whiskey that called to me most keenly." He stares longingly at the bar, hoping they have some hidden away. "It's an acquired taste, but once you have it, it's hard to shake."
Turning to the newcomer, he smiles, "Silthras...Sil...pleased to meet you. And yes, Kal is right -- having a professional amongst our number will be a great boon. There are many mysteries here: arcane, mundane, and even religions -- take your pick. Our religious expert seems to be at a complete loss." He smiles and nods at Velyra, "Not the least of which is a form of undead that takes over a living body." His tired eyes peer at her more closely, "Have you ever heard of such a thing?"
Silthras appears to also have a mixed elven cast; his slightly pointed ears are hidden behind the long blonde hair that is braided on the sides. He looks tired, and was in the process of loosening the straps on his impeccably clean leather armour when Velyra spoke, but manages to rally himself, tightening the straps once more. "There's a body if you'd like to see one, but it can wait. Velyra may be right, trying to track the clawed ones now may be the best course."
"How is it that you know Sybil, by the way? For me, it was a family connection...my mother owed Sybil a favour or two, so here I am, in all my glory." he bows, clearly confident in crowds and groups, and perhaps, pleased to have a fellow half-elf along. "I'd suggest we follow those two" he says, nodding to Kal and Velyra, "...tracking is not my specialty, but know enough to give them a wide berth while they do what they do."
He looks speculatively at Usul and Dib, "Though I suspect those two will give them a run for their money. They are full of surprises."
"An undead that takes over a living body..." Syl echoes, rocking back on her heels thoughtfully. "Let me think on that. There's lots of shapeshifters but that...Hmm." Filing the question into the back of her mind to stew on, she continues on.
"I'm well rested. Kind of just been sitting here for a few days. Enjoying the..." She glances around warily at the rest of the inn, full of noisy less-than-sober people, "...Ambiance. So I'm ready to go if you all are."
With a last nervous glance at Sybil, she'll give a small wave goodbye to the soldier as she follows the others out as they leave. "Something in similar fashion for me. Though I don't think mother owed her a favor. It was more of a general request for help due to their past together." Walking carefully behind the trackers, she occasionally takes the tome out again, rereading the ritual to be performed when they think they're close.
@DM: Is that a kind of information she would be able to recall? Or is it no chance?
And when/if we get to an area we think the circle might be near, Syl is going to ritual cast Detect Magic.
Since they all seem to be in agreement about next steps, Kal will glance at Velyra and nod towards the door to lead the others out. "It would be nice to have a second set of eyes on the ground while we search, and perhaps a touch of divine guidance." When they exit again through the east gate of the city, his eyes will go to the ground, looking for the trackmarks of the clawed undead. He'll specifically search for a set that appears to be going away from the city, and will follow it wherever it leads.
Survival(help and guidance assumed): 12 + 1
"Couldn't imagine burning my insides out with a more repugnant substance, but everyone has their own preference of poison." Velyra replies with a shrug, though to show the jabs are in good faith, she adds, "I'll tell you what though. Once we make it back, I'll pay for whatever you want from behind that counter. Given we don't fall through a hole in the fabric of reality and meet an undead dragon or something in the meantime."
As they approach the gate, Velyra pats Kal on his armored shoulder, sending a jolt of electricity on impact. "But of course I'm here to Help." She'll keep a close eye on the ground as they walk from here on out, pointing out anything that sticks out to her.