Grishkar cracks part of a smile at Kia, maintaining an appearance of a harmless blind man, "Peace is relative. Death is absolute. Some never find the former, while others find it in the latter. I only serve and execute my Master's will, I do not question his intent or goals."

Grishkar: "I only serve and execute my Master's will, I do not question his intent or goals."

That causes Kia's tail to pause. Something crosses her face, hard to tell what with her inhuman features. The snarl she takes on next though, is unmistakeable, as she rises from her haunches and her claws come out, to scrape on the table where she leans closer to Grishkar. "Your master tells you to do Evil, little man, and mine asks me to end it where I find it. Keep your soulless stench downwind of me lest he ask me to end you."

Then she sheathes her claws, gathers her bag, and goes out the front door. She will move away from the door (and Grishkar's friends), but stay close to the building, within sight. She will settle down to meditate, but stay alert. If someone comes out, she will interact with them. If the party decides to leave now, she will join them when they come out, but keep her distance from Grishkar and his minions. If the party spends the night, she will  wait  be done centering herself in an hour, then return inside to find a room or a corner to sleep in.

"It is nice to meet you, Mathadriel." Briella smiles at the other elven woman.

"Please let me introduce myself properly. My name is Briella, second born daughter of Shava and Galinndan. Cleric sworn to the service of my lady Elhonna, Goddess of the woodlands." She bows to the other, snapping back to the proper etiquette the temple had drilled into her at a young age.

"I must admit that I don't believe I've heard of a Eilistraee. Perhaps you could tell me about them some time."

The smile widens, “Sounds like a plan! Though... do you not find it weird that I’m, ya know, a Drow? Most elves seem to get a bit caught up on that.”

"in this place I find nothing odd, except that we are connected in some way. I intend to answer the summons at daybreak tomorrow. The name's Bors by the way. Tempus will see me through this place, or leave me dead here."

"I have not heard many tales of drow elves and those I have heard come from the mouths of humans, such stories never find their way to my village it seems. I don't believe my people had much to worry about either, considering where we lived." She stops for a moment to brush some hair out of her eyes.

"Besides, you have been in this tavern for a while now and have not caused any sort of trouble. If you were a normal drow I'd imagine you would never lower yourself to a place of such common and, please forgive me for saying this, inferior folk, with out the intention to cause some sort of destruction."

Martha nods, “Yeah, that’s fair. Wait, where are you from?”

(OOC > Worried I missed a good exchange there, but it seems like everyone has their own conversations going :) )

Grishkar stares blankly at Kia's reproach, blindly watching her storm out and sending a raspy laugh from his chest.

Outside, the four figures took no notice of the tabaxi as she passed. The raven on the roof let out a few short *CAW*s into the night. As the righteous adventurer found a solitary place, one of the figures emerged from around the corner. It stood for a long moment, long enough to breed tension in the air. A wheezing sound filled the air, huffing and convulsing. The figure's shoulders jumped at every convulsion and Kia soon noticed the truth: this...thing...was laughing at her!

As much as the intent was clear, there was no more joy in the laughter as in a windmill mechanically grinding away. The inflection never changed; the figure just kept spewing its unnatural mirth as the raven from the roof swooped down and landed in front of Kia. It turned quizzically and stared at the tabaxi before letting out a string of long-unrelenting *CAAAAW*s.

Back inside, color bled back into Grishkar's eyes revealing a sea-blue iris on the right mirrored by a red circle against a midnight backdrop.

Quote from JcAndD >>

Martha gives him a side eye, “Right...” and turns her attention back to Odmun and Kia. Oddly enough, the cat and the bugbear seemed to be her type of people. Perhaps the others might be as well, but who knows in this kind of place. Although, the small girl said something that caught her attention, “Miss, did you say something about Celestials?” Martha walks over, trying to look as unimposing as possible. She gives a warm smile, which is odd to see on any Drow. And adjusts her habit and robes to smooth them out. “I would love to hear more if you don’t mind?”

Quote from ShyVideoGamer >>

"Oh dear, I'm so sorry I didn't mean to upset you." Briella says, her previous fear now forgotten, as she moves to Lilitu. She pulls her hood back in the hopes of appearing non-threatening. The elf is now revealed in the dull tavern light, her skin is a mocha brown color, clean and unblemished, and her face framed by long, wavy silver hair. Her kind blue eyes filled with guilt and worry at causing the young one's distress.

"I'm Briella and this is Scout." she says letting the small weasel crawl down her arm to sit on her palm. She turns slightly to address the rest of the table.

"You all wouldn't mind if I join you, would you? My name is among those written and I am curious about the evil this Burgomaster speaks of."

Martha actually seems very interested and replies in Celestial, ”Really? In my experience, Tadriel actually likes baked goods. She’s never had any, but I remember that when I was young, she would tell me to think on my mother’s cooking to help calm me at night. Though, I would say, yes maybe too much sugar.”

Lilitu looks out at Martha from under the table and giggles, "yeah I was worried you were going to say that, its a real shame about the sugar thing cause I really like sugar when I can get it. Mostly though I eat rats and crickets... Loo Loo says those are my staples." The urchin looking rather pleased pulls out her used and extremely well-worn pack and takes out her viol and begins to play Angelic for everyone. As she plays the viol create harmless, illusory visual effects inspired by Celestials...

"I suppose it can not hurt to tell you. I come from place where magic and nature rule supreme, filled with twilight skies and magnificent flora. It is a realm of unmatched beauty and fantastical creatures. I truly am blessed to be a member of a temple that worships Ehlonna in such a wonderful place." Her eyes light up in excitement as she describes her home, eager to have a chance to speak about it to someone else.

"It is a marvelous place, with roving forest and brilliant castles that reach up toward the sky, and-" Briella cuts herself off,throwing her up her hand to cover her mouth, blushing slightly.

"Sorry I shouldn't let myself get carried away or I could go on and on about it all day. I am from a place called the Plane of Faeries, or what you would call the Feywild."

Lilitu nods, "a realm of great natural beauty but also of great danger... the Fey are a beautiful but fickle race or so Loo Loo tells me. As for myself, I walk in the middle, betwixt and between two worlds as I embrace and as you can see been embraced by the powers of both life and death... I worship Wee Jas (Goddess of Magic and Death) while I attend and serve the Celestial Auditors."

"Excuse me real quick I have to do something." Briella moves away from the group and heads outsides. Shifting  past the four guards outside she heads a good distance away from the tavern. She reaches a down and pulls out her Bag of Tricks. She reaches into it and throws out two small furry balls a few feet from her and waits.

 She grins when she sees the familiar large form of Celty, a large brown elk and beside them is Honey, her dear sweet badger.

"Aww come here you two." She coos and pets the two creatures. Taking a few minutes to enjoy their company, she steps back to address them.

"Alright I don't think the owners going to feel comfortable with two giant wild animals in his tavern, so I need you two to stay out here guard the place for tonight alright." She give the two a final pat and walks back into the building, ignoring Celty's sad call for more attention. Celty is going to start eating some nearby grass while Honey begins sniffing around the place, avoiding Grishkar's guards.

OOC: Oh my goodness... Shy is Ash Ketchum...

Continuing talking to Lilitu, ”Right. Eilistraee likes blades and dancing a bit more than blasting magic, but Wee Jas sounds like a nice goddess. Never dealt with Fey though. Gods aren’t too keen on having their Aasimar go plane hopping.”

Guys, tonight after dinner i'm going to push the adventure forward. It will be time to get on the road soon. 

I'm letting this conversation continue for this length because it's been AMAZING so far, and i'm hoping Xero will squeeze a post in. So, please, keep talking until then.

But yes, tonight I will post again.

Barovia awaits.

Lilitu eyes roll at the mention of her goddess being nice. By her body language, you can tell she is not used to this much social contact with other. Her attire, her speech, and manner cries out one of extremely low birth and station. Such are usually ignored or barely tolerated by their betters or at worst scorned, taunted, attacked and driven away not wanting such vile creatures about so she is used to being more a part of the background.

After a long silence, she bursts out again with a squeal, "MARSHA, MARSHA, MARSHA, once I saw a purple flying cow and I named it Phillip, do you think flying cows are celestial creature, this one didn't even stop to say hello or a by your leave and the only thing it said was, shhh, the jalapenos are sleeping, I bet that is why the gods and the plane hoping thing is what it is but that is a warranty issue you need to discuss with the manufacturer so stop yanking and get cranking!"

“Right... right... could be a celestial. Maybe like a cow Pegasus or something. That could be a cryptic riddle. Maybe jalapeños are red dragons. I dunno. Anyway, why do you think that the burgomaster wants your help? How does your magic work?”

( OOC > Uh oh... Someone lost their tin foil hat...)