Fire Emblem: Curse of the Goddess [IC / Conditional Acceptance / PG-16]

[Sethera 290]

Market Square

After Citron left the pile of fruit near the stall, she would notice the hare from earlier pick up the fruit and put it in a box with the other fruit. While the creature still looked hopping mad, it was no longer stamping its feet on the ground every few seconds. It gazed up at her for a few seconds before it twitched its nose and turned away.

Immediately after, it was set upon by a ferocious, terrifying--well, a wolf cub anyway. The hare let out a brief scream of fear before hopping away from the wolf.

--

Acantha's House

The beaver nodded again at Gunther's words, and approached the red-haired man. The man strained at his bonds, and then once she was there, lipped at her head for a second before snorting in disappointment. It made for...quite an odd picture.

“This… Isn’t normal around here, is it?”

"Village of animals is a first, but I'd say it's about normal for us."

"I'm starting to wonder if I fell asleep at the castle and have been dreaming since."

Privately, Catriona agreed. This journey had been quite unbelievable so far. "Alois has recognized one of the villagers who was turned into a dog. His own dog was turned into a human. And now, Cora has recognized that this beaver is a villager as well. And her horse has been turned into a human." She felt a headache coming on. "And since we can assume nobody had a pet beaver, and Alois does not recognize any of these animals, we know that there hasn't been any body swapping. We can assume going off of the pattern so far, that human villagers were turned into animals and animal villagers were turned into humans." Why couldn't this have been a normal village?

At least the others seemed enthusiastic on solving this issue, though the way they expressed it was...interesting.

"This is no time for sleeping, no no! We've gotta make sure of all the animals get fluffy again!"

"I suppose it would be cruel to leave the animals as humans... We should at least try to help them."

Why does it seem like they care more about the animals turned human than the humans turned animals? Catriona shook her head in bemusement.

The lord inspected the door to Acantha's house. While it was closed, there was a large hole in the bottom, large enough to fit... She glanced down at the beaver, who was currently patting the man's nose. Opening the door revealed a messy-looking interior. Chairs had been knocked over, earthenware plates shattered on the floor, and the dirt floor was scoured with claw marks. After a brief circuit of the house, and, finding nothing, Catriona shook her head. "It does not seem that there are any clues to be found here. And now we need to figure out where we are going next." She looked at the others.

Edrick chose that moment to approach. "Catriona. I still think we need to investigate the chapel in town. With the way things have been going it's obvious that The Goddess has set herself against-" he paused, "you." He continued speaking, looking a little troubled. "So, even if whoever did this to the townspeople wasn't a follower of hers we might still find answers in there. Plus the possibility that this was done by one of the faithful is... too great to ignore."

Catriona stared at the boy before speaking. "You may be correct," she said slowly. "Though according to Alois, it is not a chapel, but rather a town hall. Still," she shook her head. "We tried the doors earlier and they were locked. I doubt we'd be able to enter the building lest one of us can pick locks." She glanced at the fighter. "Alois said earlier that if we were looking to get into the town hall, then the mayor's house would be the best place to look." She looked at the group. "Then, unless there are any arguments, I suggest investigating the mayor's house."

Without waiting for a reply, the white-haired woman began to leave the house. The beaver--or rather, Acantha, if what Cora said was true, quickly caught up and ran in front. Following the animal once more, Catriona glanced back at Alois and Cora to make sure they were headed the right way, but it seemed that they were. The group headed back to the square, where Link would have the opportunity to pick Rohns back up if he so wished. Immediately after, they followed the beaver across the square toward the town hall, and almost seemed as if that were their destination, but for the beaver veering to the side at the last minute, and stopping in front of another house.

This house, while similarly made to the other houses, was quite a bit bigger than them, though still not as big as the gaudy-looking house they had passed by before. While the base was stone, most of the actual house was made of wood, with a timber roof truss packed with straw. The design looked slightly swooping, with the top ridge beams ending in axehead overhangs, save two, on opposing ends, carved in the shape of what looked to be open-mouthed wyvern heads. Unlike most of the other houses, there was a porch of sorts at the front, with a walkway going up to a large oaken door. The porch wrapped around the sides of the house, falling down to another walkway at the right side. On the left side was another door. 

"Is this the place then?" Catriona asked, glancing at Alois. Her attention was redirected by Acantha, who was standing in front of the main door. Approaching the door herself, the woman attempted to open it, but found it locked. However, she noticed a large hole in the bottom of the door, which the beaver had already crawled through. Not too long after, a stream of angry chitters came from the other side before she heard a slight click, and shortly afterward, a thump.

The lord tried the door once more, and this time, it opened. Pushing it forward cautiously, the woman looked down to see the beaver standing in front of her, fist raised triumphantly, before it, or she, skittered out of the way. Blinking, the woman resumed opening the door, and looked inside.

The inside of the house, while simple, was still slightly more lavish than the other houses they had been to. It had actual floors for one, a mixture of wood tiling and cobblestone. The walls were wooden, though the ceiling was a mixture of wood frame and straw filling. The furniture lacked the rough edges of other furniture she had seen here. Overall, it seemed a pleasant enough place.

But they weren't here as guests. They were here to investigate. "We should start searching. We might be able to find something here."

OOC

Spoiler

House Layout:
Backside exterior   Artist: Unknown
Frontside exterior   Artist: Sethera
Interior 1F   Artist: Ross McConnell

We're going to try something a little different here with the interior map. Rather than post an image and give a description in the post, or answer questions on the area as they come, I thought I would try to make this a little more interactive. Hover over the brightly-colored buttons--or click on them if you're on mobile--to see some information on that area. You are free to use that information in your post if your character searches that area. If you need more information, feel free to message me.

I would suggest letting people in the chat know where you're searching, however. While more than one person may investigate the same area, it would probably be a little silly for say, all ten of us to be searching the same area at the same time.

Also yes, you can grab the provisions if you want, but it's first come first served. For example, if Gunther grabs the cheese on the counter, Shiro cannot go up and grab cheese as well.

Edited September 25, 2019 by Sethera

[Wind Rider 10]

"Don't cry. You don't know for sure they're dead, after all. And even if they are..." The fox sighed. "Killing, death, those are part and parcel of life. You just aren't used to it, is all. The fox village is so isolated..." she trailed off, then started muttering to herself. "Too isolated. Stagnant. We reject the teachings of old and the wisdom of the outside world at the same time. At this rate..."

Sienna wasn't quite sure why Licorice started her own little conversation on death, but she felt she had to take her friend's word for it. Even though the doubts of the beaver still being alive clouded her mind. Eventually the group exited the house, lead by a beaver. Sienna thought she heard someone inside call the beaver Acantha. "It does not seem that there are any clues to be found here. And now we need to figure out where we are going next." Catriona said, as the group left the house. Edrick quickly suggested that they check the chapel, however Catriona pointed out that the building was locked. "Alois said earlier that if we were looking to get into the town hall, then the mayor's house would be the best place to look." She looked at the group. "Then, unless there are any arguments, I suggest investigating the mayor's house."

Sienna shook her head to signify that she had nothing to say on the matter and followed a little bit behind the group. It didn't take long before the group stopped in front of what could only be the mayor's house, as it seemed much more extravagant compared to other homes in the village. The beaver that was leading the group slipped into a hole by the door and soon opened it up for them.

"We should start searching. We might be able to find something here."

Sienna nodded in agreement and started her search of the building. She looked around the large interior and scanned the room for anything at all that may be a clue. She opened a door that lead into a hallway of sorts and looked from side to side. Her ears twitched, listening in on any odd noises before entering the hallway proper. She walked down it a bit before stopping at a stone landing. "Hm? What the..." She knelt down to see a dark red liquid that had stained the stone. She wiped a bit up with her finger to get a quick sniff of it.

[LordCowCow 840]

"I still think we need to investigate the chapel in town. With the way things have been going it's obvious that The Goddess has set herself against-" he paused, struggled to speak for a moment, and then continued, "you. So, even if whoever did this to the townspeople wasn't a follower of hers we might still find answers in there. Plus the possibility that this was done by one of the faithful is... to great to ignore."

Cora's eyes narrowed at the boy's words. Was he implying what she thought he was? She approached the boy, clearly upset. She had to hold back from slapping the boy right then and there. Instead she just responded, "I can assure you that this town has NOTHING to do with the....Goddess." She spat out the last word as though it were a poison she had to rid herself of. "I do not like the implications you're....implying."

---

In a foul mood Cora followed the group to the mayor's house. She wasn't too keen on the idea of breaking in but thankfully the beaver...that is to say Acantha, managed to get in and unlock the door. The triumphant look brought a slight smile to Cora's face. "Suppose I should be concerned how easily you did that. But I guess I can let it pass this time."

Cora made sure to enter the house next after Catriona. She moved towards the table near the center of the room. Directly across from the entrance. Noticing the food on the table she wrinkled her nose. She didn't think the mayor one to leave food out so easily. It really must have happened suddenly. Checking the food it didn't seem like anything was off about it. Just regular food left out to go bad. Though that in itself was notable to her. Under the table she saw scratch marks. Deciding to move under the table she realized that the scratches didn't seem like a random assortment. After examining the table once more briefly she turned to watch the others. Though it was hard to focus on everyone and her attention ended up focusing more on the young man who had been injured and the boy who had brought up the Goddess. She wasn't sure how to feel about these people yet but it wasn't as though she had much of a choice.

What could it all mean...

---

“...Ah-ah, I really shouldn’t ask about things like that…! Sorry!”

It took a moment for Penelope to realize what the girl was thinking. But when she did she had to fight to keep the smirk from appearing on her face. Feigning an innocent mask, Penelope couldn't help but responding to the girl. "Well, it's not as though it's that personal of a matter. I suppose it may seem strange for someone not of this group but I can assure you it's basically a natural thing to us by now." With one last bright smile Penelope went along checking out the building, humming all the way.

Besides the naked man outside the only thing she noticed here was the mess that was made. Likely from the beaver herself. She'd imagine it would be rather startling to find yourself in that sort of state.

It did bring a question to mind. "Say, miss...beaver? Did you just wake up like that or was it a sudden transformation?"

The beaver responded by angrily shaking her fist and shaking her head no. Well. That was....something? She really wasn't so good at negotiating with animals.

The Mayor's house itself seemed much more interesting. And a lot easier to get answers from than the beaver. Upon entering something to the left caught her eye. Books. Sitting on a table.

Making a beeline for them she picked up each to read the title and riffle through the pages. She found nothing of interest in them but did note that the book on badgers had a rope bookmark in it. Flopping down on the all too soft and comfy chair she opened the book up at the bookmarked page.

The page was on the diet of badgers. And she noticed there were tears in the pages. She wondered if perhaps the animal had checked this book themselves to learn how he should feed his new body? Clever, if true.

As she pondered this she noticed something poking her from between the cushion and the side of the chair. Upon checking it turned out it was a wadded up piece of parchment. One that seems to have been torn from something. Unwadding it she discovered large, wobbly, letters gouged onto the parchment. It was rather difficult to make out, even for Penelope, and all she could really read was "O. I. Y." She said aloud. The letters weren't next to each other. Merely part of a whole. Telling her findings to the others she followed it up with "I think this mayor may have been trying to leave some sort of message behind."

---

Gunther couldn't help but emphasize with Cora's indignation. Though he kept it to himself. He had learned already that he should keep his nose out of such things. Yet it did relieve him to hear how against the Goddess those in this village must have been.

Once they made it to the mayor's house and the beaver opened the door for them he smiled at her and said, "Thank you, you did well." He paused after saying this. Remembering that this beaver was in fact a person.

Hadn't he been petting beavers earlier? Did that mean....Gunther shook his head, trying not to get lost in the awkward line of thought.

He honestly wasn't sure where to start looking. Deciding to head for the far corner, where he assumed most wouldn't go to first, his eyes caught a wheel of cheese and a knife left out on the counter. Frowning, he said aloud. "If there's any place to store this I'd like to put it away. It may be a small thing but I imagine the mayor would prefer not to come back to rotten cheese..." He knew the silliness of his statement but he couldn't help but want to help out in whatever small way he could.

As he stood there he decided to check out the counter itself. He couldn't really find anything out of the ordinary. Not that he really expected to. For the moment he decided on wiping down the knife and storing it away. "Everything in its place." He muttered.

[Skaia 578]

Alois snickered as the beaver opened the door from the inside, saying, "and I thought I was suppose to be the troublemaker here. But it looks like you've got it in you yet." Walking through the door, Alois couldn't help but go from his usual grin to once again seeming more annoyed. It was easy enough to tell from looking outside at the building's size that it was a house that was different from the rest. However, between the shelves of books he had, expensive furniture and actual flooring, it was clear that the Mayor held himself to a higher standard of comfort than he did the rest of the town. And seeing someone live as lavishly as he did in a town as suffocating as this, only pissed him off further. 

As the group began to fan out and look around the building, Alois stopped by the table as well, looking at it as Cora did. Seeing the food still laying about on the table, Alois looked up as the younger princess began to give her findings. Shrugging, Alois said, "well, whatever he was trying to warn someone about must've come sooner than he was expecting." Walking past the table, Alois looked at the crate for a moment. Attempting to open it, the boy pulled on the lid a bit, though curiously the box was bolted shut and thus the lid gave no way to his efforts. Raising an eyebrow at the crate, Alois thought it suspicious that the man would seal the box in a way that not even he himself would be able to open it. Which meant that whatever was in there, he didn't want ever coming out. Sliding the axe out of his sheath and into his hand, the boy held it up and looked to the others. "This crate won't budge. But, well, I think I can open it another w-" 

"Awaoow!" Thud. The boy's attention was drawn to the Locrisian girl now sprawled across the ground, face planted into the floor. "Ow, ow." Getting onto her hands and knees, using one hand to rub her now stinging face, the girl seemed quite annoyed. For her part, since walking inside the house, Tsetseg had more marveled at the place than anything else. Her eyes had trailed every which way.

First to the food that was left lying around, thinking it was wasteful to just leave food lying around that you weren't going to use. Then, to the books - she couldn't help but wonder how smart someone had to have been to read that many books - and then to the chairs near the books. While she was lost in thought, thinking of how nice something like that must've felt to sit down in, she was not paying attention to where  she was walking. And as such, was taken by surprise as her foot seemed to get caught on something and she herself was sent forward.  

Finally, now back upright, the girl looked to see the culprit was none other than a loose floorboard on the ground. Frowning, upset, the girl simply said, "dumb floor." As she was about to get up, though, she couldn't help but feel like something caught her eye underneath the board. As being driven by nothing more than curiosity, Tsetseg crouched further down and reached her hand underneath. Moving it around a bit, the girl eventually touched something colder than the rest of the ground around it. Palming at it, the girl eventually grabbed what was underneath the floor board and presented it to everyone. "Guys, guys, look, look! I found something!" Showing the rest of the group a metal key, the girl then looked back to her new found treasure saying, "I wonder what it's for." 

[Cheshire Toon 141]

Link quietly caught up to the group as Catriona briefed everyone. He learned several things listening to it. A) the spell had seemingly swapped the roles of the animals and humans. B) it hadn’t swapped them into another body, like some fairy tale, but had given the animals and human each unique respective forms to call their own. C) The plan was to inspect the Mayor of this little village’s house for clues. When all things were considered, he agreed with the course of action, but all the talk of magic still left a bitter taste in his mouth. Great dragons and deities, living dead, humans becoming animals and animals becoming humans, it was all a little—okay, a lot—overwhelming. These weren’t the type of issues a footsoldier like him knew how to handle. Part of him wanted to bury his head in the dirt, let those better suited to the situation take the lead, and swing his sword at whatever they asked him to just like the old days, but that wasn’t even a possibility for him.

The group started to move toward the Mayor’s house, following a beaver he assumed to have been once been the Mayor. During the trip he had to remind himself several times that the villagers had been turned into animals. He hadn’t forgotten, but sometimes, the incredulity of it all overwhelmed him and his beliefs. At times like that his hand fumbled for the hilt of his sword. It was his lightning rod for negative emotions. If he gripped it tightly enough, eventually the emotions would go away, siphoned into his sword and eaten by the physical manifestation of his duty. His fears, his reservations, his loves and his hates, none of those mattered in the face of his oath to the crown. 

As they passed through the town square, Link saw Rohns chasing a large hare around at full speed. Rohns was grinning from ear-to-ear in a wicked way that only wolves could, pouncing here and there, enjoying a chance to torment another creature a bit too much. When the cub ran past the soldier, Link tried a tactic he had seen Licorice employing and snatched the cub up by the scruff of his neck. The effect was insane. Rohns growled for a second before immediately going limp. 

Neat. It would probably only work while he was still very young, but it was helpful for the time being. Link took note of the method and carried Rohns away to Town Square with them, only letting the cub down once they were a safe distance away from any small animals he could torment. 

"Is this the place then?" Catriona asked, glancing at Alois once they got to a house much larger than most of the others in the village. Link was surprised to find anything constructed with this level of ability inside a village like Phar. The beaver—the Mayor—slid into an opening in his door and somehow managed to turn the lock. Led by Catriona, everyone began to pour into the building.

Link was going to follow, but before he could, Rohns bolted around the side of the house. The wolf smelled something, probably, and wanted to chase it. Well… Licorice planned to stand guard in the front, from what he saw, but it wouldn’t hurt to patrol the entire area. Link thought about what to do for a second, unsure if he should just let the cub run, when an idea struck him.

He briefly entered the house to inform Catriona he was going to scout the outside area, then came back to the front, where Licorice was posted. “Hello,” Link said. His voice had returned to him at full strength, finally, but he still wasn’t used to talking anymore. “Rohns, er, well, that is to say, the wolf cub, he ran off to the back. I’m gonna scout the area so I can stay out here and keep an eye on him.” Right, she was staring at him. It must have been because she wanted to know why any of that mattered to her. “I’m left-handed. I’m good enough to fight with my offhand, but better safe than sorry, so I was hopin’ you would join me?”
 

Edited September 29, 2019 by Cheshire Toon

[The Last Occultist 16]

Adelheid Sigrdifa

"This sure is a bad time for jokes to turn into reality."

Adel shook her head. While she would not say that her joke earlier was not without basis, actually seeing it becoming the consensus on what actually happened to the village was... honestly quite unpleasant. Less about the potential power of whoever the adversary they would face here, but it was more a matter of principle. Regardless, Adelheid followed the conversation following the revelations in silence. In the first place, she wasn't the type to talk a lot. And Catriona definitely had found herself a lead without her help too. After the search in Acantha's house not leading to much meaningful revelation other than the fate of its owner, Catriona had decided to check on the town hall. Following the beaver along, they would soon find themselves on it.

"We should start searching. We might be able to find something here."

"On it."

As with everyone else, Adel began searching around the house. The opulent lifestyle that the mayor was living in was quite a contrast with the previous house they were in. It was a little revolting, in a way. One by one, everyone began finding things of their own. She overheard that Penelope found out that the mayor was seemingly wanting to leave a message, and she also saw by her own eyes how Tsetseg accidentally stumbled upon a metal key from the floor. She was sure that Sienna also found something too, if her glances were right. All these youth really were one-upping her, but it couldn't be helped with how unfocused she was. Before her now was two places. One was the latrine, which didn't smell as bad as it should, but it was still striking enough, and alternatively, she could go upstairs, hopefully to the mayor's private quarters.

Adel paused.

The thing about this situation was none of the group really had any idea on what to search for. Well, sure, they were all trying to find hints on whatever the hell happened to this village, but what that "hint" supposed to be, nobody had any idea about. It might as well be as random as Tsetseg stumbling upon the key to somewhere, earlier. Right now they might as well be raiding this guy's house in guise of investigation.

Ah, it sure reminded her of the old days.

However, this really was not the time for that. Adel's mind was still blanking, but she tried her best to think of something. Magic of this scale was completely absurd, of course, but... if something was this big, it wouldn't come out of nowhere, right? Tales, legends, childhood stories...

She doubted that she would recall anything from what she had heard before, but doing so helped her to focus on the situation regardless. And with that on her mind, she went upstairs, intent on raiding the mayor's belongings even if she didn't find anything worthwhile as a clue.

"I'll go check up here. Will that be fine?"

---

Ciela Celestinia

"Though according to Alois, it is not a chapel, but rather a town hall. Still, we tried the doors earlier and they were locked. I doubt we'd be able to enter the building lest one of us can pick locks."

"Can't we just break the door? Turning everyone back to normal is more valuable than some minor property damage, right?" Ciela replied to what Cat had to say about going to the church, but Cat already went on the move, following the beaver that used to be the human owner of the house they were in. Before she went away however, she overheard Cora's angry reply to Edrick's suggestion earlier. She didn't say anything, but she kept that on her mind.

She really should try going to the church after this, even alone.

But now, it was time for the mayor's house. Putting aside the gaudy-ass house they passed, this place clearly was a step above everywhere else on the village. The mayor really was one loaded person, and it was visible from everything in the house. And once the house was unlocked, that fact became clearer than ever. Well, compared to her old place, it's still nothing, but the effort to be fancy was visible.

"We should start searching. We might be able to find something here."

"Sure, yeah."

And so, the group began their search. Ciela chose to follow Sienna as her starting point. However, as Sienna seemingly found something interesting on the stone landing near what seemed to be a locked door, Ciela's attention was soon taken by something else.

A small shelf filled with several bottles of wine.

For a moment, Ciela forgot that she was supposed to investigate here. She wasn't exactly an expert, but wine was sort of a specialty of hers from her many raids into Lord Lucati's cellar. She did have developed a taste for vintage wine from quite an early age this way. She eyed upon the selection, and was pleasantly surprised to see that the mayor kept quite a varied collection. Wines from various parts of the continent, with varying age to them as well as the type of processing used. And some of them in particular were widely known to be a rare treat.

Shamelessly, Ciela took one of those rare bottles, and put it on her bag. If everyone's an animal right now, surely they wouldn't mind a little bit of charity, right? Only thing stopping her was that her bag wouldn't allow her to fit in another bottle or two.

"Nothing interesting over here!"

---

Edited September 29, 2019 by Bloom into Banana

[Tiamat's Circus 117]

Listening intently, Citron did her best to follow everyone’s train of thought as they stood outside the house; discussing how they might enter the establishment. From her perspective, the group seemed to be at a loss for ideas, a few suggesting breaking the door down or something of the like, until they were interrupted by once again… Being beckoned to follow a beaver. And before she was really sure what the beaver was up to, she watched with her very-own eyes as the beaver opened the door. “Huh… Beaver thieves…” Citron trailed off, bringing a hand to her chin. “Never thought I’d see that… I’ll have to write that down later.” She concluded, laughing a bit as she glanced around… Only to realize she was practically alone. Looking around a bit more frantically, she watched as everyone for the most part quickly filed inside; a few of them staying outside to guard, or… Examine the outside? Maybe? She wasn’t sure. 

Turning on her heels, Citron waved a finger at Peaches, before stomping at the ground. “Okay! I’m gonna follow the others inside, but you stay out here, okaaaay?” She asked, almost sarcastically. “We’ll be out soon enough, and we don’t need you shoving your head in through a window! I’ve already got enough to pay back after all, and I’m not gonna touch something potentially expensive like a window in there!” She explained, waiting just long enough to recieve a tiny screech in response from her wyvern.

With that taken care of, she turned back around and found herself walking in much faster than she would have liked too. As she arrived, she watched as the others were… Just sorta… Turning through, looking through the Mayor’s stuff, without a care in the world. “Shouldn’t we maybe be a little more… Courteous?” She asked allowed, before shrugging. “Guess I should do my part, then…” She trailed off, turning right and heading towards the first thing that caught her eye: A window, specifically one with a plant and a few herbs. “Oooh, herbs…! I wonder if they’d let me buy them off of them…? These would smell ever-so-nice in the bag with my fruits...” She wondered aloud, having practically ran over to the window. Trying to find some excuse not to leave the aromantic herbs, she took a few moments to examine the... Potted Plant. Yes. It was very much a plant, in a pot. With green leaves. You know, she hadn't seen leaves like this back home, and... "...Ah screw it," She sighed, smiling. "I should stooooooop procrastinating, so I... I’ll… Just, um... Take these, for now, I think. At the very least, I can ask about where to find them.” She justified to herself, picking the herbs up and tucking them away wherever she could.

[Saikazo 241]

In the end, it was decided that they would search the home of the village chief in hopes of finding some sort of clue of how to reverse the curse. Getting in wasn't a problem, as the beaver was able to easily open the door, and everyone split up in an attempt to find something of interest. Well, Shiro hadn't been doing his job well enough in all honesty, so he quietly followed Sienna.

It seemed she found some sort of red liquid coating the ground. The obvious answer was that it was blood, but, he wasn't exactly an expert. There was a door nearby... perhaps the liquid came from that room? He walked over and attempted to open the door, but it was locked tight. Now, he could easily break the door with his legs, seeing as some wood probably wouldn't stand against the focused assault of a pair of legs that could leap over houses, but he had a feeling it wouldn't go over well. He headed back to the central area, where Tsetseg had made a discovery.

"Guys, guys, look, look! I found something!" Showing the rest of the group a metal key, the girl then looked back to her new found treasure saying, "I wonder what it's for." 

"Well, I just found a locked door that had some suspicious looking liquid near it. Maybe we could try opening that locked door with the key you found?" Shiro suggested.

[Asriel Dreemurr 38]

For his part, Edrick was only too happy to leave the house with the naked man tied up in front of it. While he knew it had been a horse, and thus the tying made a little more sense, it was still just slightly unsettling to be around. Well, okay more than slightly and not just because of the magical implications this entire situation had. What if somebody decided to tie him up like that for some reason? He almost immediately shot Penelope an accusatory look, and then quickly looked away. He didn't want to have that conversation...

What bothered him somewhat more was calling the structure a Town Hall. That had several implications, and if he was right about this being the Goddess's work then that could be the reason. It certainly looked like the old chapel where they had fought the awakened, and while both were somewhat distinct from the houses of worship in Pontus he had to admit they were more alike than different. With Inera's power returning to the world in such a way, then a village that had been using one of her chapels as a meeting place could easily have incurred her wrath. Which meant that they would probably be meeting some or another servant of hers here.

Distracted as he was with his thoughts of what was to come, the Pontic had barely noticed when they'd arrived at the mayor's house and had walked into the place on auto pilot. He'd come to stand over the table in the main room, apparently lost in thought and without much attention paid to what was going on around him. He'd rested his lance on the floor, and had taken to occasionally muttering something or other under his breath while he thought through things.

[Sethera 290]

Catriona stood at the entrance of the house, staring about with some nervousness. Despite her earlier words, she still could not help but feel a slight unease at the prospect of rifling through somebody's house like this. Citron seemed to agree. “Shouldn’t we maybe be a little more… Courteous?”

"I understand, but it is not as if we can afford to be overly polite," she bit back her own misgivings. "Our priority is finding a clue that will aid us in breaking whatever sort of curse plagues this village." Though she wasn't sure what counted as a clue and what didn't. A low, slightly raspy voice alerted her to the presence of Link, who was still outside. He volunteered to scout the perimeter. Glancing behind him, the woman saw Licorice keeping watch as well, but an extra set of eyes out there would not hurt. "You have my permission," Catriona granted, focusing her attention back to the inside of the house. 

It seemed like the first floor had been almost entirely covered. The first to explore was Sienna, who found what looked like stains of a red-colored liquid on the landing. The area was almost scentless by now, but the Protean's keen nose would pick up faint whiffs of sugar and spice on the finger she had used to dab against the stains.

Meanwhile, Penelope had found a scrap of rolled-up parchment, though apparently she couldn't make out the words. "Let me see," Catriona said, approaching her sister. Glancing over it herself, she was unable to identify anything aside from the letters the other had mentioned. O, I, and Y. It was most curious. What was even more curious was that she didn't recognize the sort of writing implement used to make such letters. Rather than a nib or a brush, it was as if they had been scratched into the parchment with a large, blunted object. "I cannot identify anything either," with a shake of her head, she returned the parchment to her sister.

In the kitchen, Gunther had started...to put things away? Polite, but not really a priority at the moment.

In the corner, Alois was focusing on a crate that had been bolted shut, "This crate won't budge. But, well, I think I can open it another w-"

He was cut off by Tsetseg, who looked to have found a key. Which Shiro seemed to think would open a locked door. "A sound plan," Catriona agreed.

"I'll go check up here. Will that be fine?"

"Yes that should be fine," the lord replied. "Though perhaps you should not go alone, just in case." It wasn't a matter of her trusting Adelaide or not, but more a matter of safety. They did not know for sure that there was nobody hostile upstairs. Still, it looked like the pegasus knight had already started up the stairs. Shaking her head, Catriona glanced to the side where she could see Ciela bending down to look at something through the hallway window, though she could not see what exactly the troubadour was looking at. Still, by her words, there was nothing interesting over there, so it didn't matter.

To her right, Citron seemed interested in the herbs. "I do not know much about herbs, but they smell familiar," Catriona responded. "You will likely be able to find them at any markets selling those sorts of things." As to where to gather them, she wasn't sure.

Walking over to the center table, the lord inspected the resident lancer, who was standing not too far from Cora. He looked...distracted, muttering to himself, lance resting on the floor. "Are you well?" she asked him. Similarly, the beaver had waddled up to Cora, letting out an inquiring whistle.

The princess turned her attention to Alois then. "Do you need help with that crate?"

--

Upstairs, Adelheid and anybody who went with her would find the room to be about a quarter smaller than the downstairs area. While it seemed tidy for the most part, she would also be able to make out large scratch marks on the wooden floor panels, which she had also seen downstairs, as if an animal had been walking about the place.

--

Outside, Licorice said nothing for a long moment as she stared at Link. Her ears were drawn back against her head, and her scarlet eyes flitted from side to side. Yet, it didn't seem as if she was particularly scared of the mercenary. She seemed warier of their surroundings. Eventually, the Protean gave a slow nod, and when she raised her head again, her ears straightened as well. "Sure," she replied, and began to walk, following the path Rohns had taken. "I'm right-handed myself, so I can cover for you if anything happens."

--

Ahead of the two, Rohns would find a lone, silver-furred badger waddling toward the house. At seeing the wolf cub, it raised its head and started to growl in a low rumble, but it didn't appear particularly aggressive either.

OOC

Spoiler

House Layout:
Backside Exterior   Artist: Unknown
Frontside Exterior   Artist: Sethera
Interior 1F   Artist: Ross McConnell
Interior 2F   Artist: Ross McConnell

Same rules apply as before. You can grab whatever is listed as grabbable. You can also head upstairs freely if you want. If anybody wants more information on an area or wants to see what happens if they perform an action, then let me know and I will tell you.

For ease of reference, I will list places that have not yet been explored on the first floor: Bookshelf, Spice cabinet, Chimney, Flour sack, Cutlery shelf, Drinking barrel, Rug. This is not to say that there is anything there or not there, however, just that those places have not been searched.

If you need responses from Catriona, Licorice, or the beaver, let me know on that as well.

Edited October 3, 2019 by Sethera

[Cheshire Toon 141]

Licorice set a brisk pace. Link let her take the lead without protest, content to follow a few paces behind, observing the way she moved with rapt attention. She suddenly stopped and turned around once she got a few dozen yards away. She was probably checking to make sure he was keeping up with her, since she moved so quickly, but the end result was that their eyes suddenly met when she spun around. 

Link coughed. “Sorry, just… the way you move,” he said. “It’s just like an actual fox.” He wasn’t sure why he was surprised. She could transform into a gigantic fox-form at will. Even so it was unnatural to see her walk in such a straight line, one foot directly in front of the other, shoulders rolling to distribute her weight in a way that drastically reduced the noise from each footstep. He was hesitant to call it a gait; it would be more accurate to say she flowed through the village like some kind of liquid. “Do all fox-Proteans move like that, or did you train your movement?” he asked. Even as he did, he started to move again, never letting his eyes stay on one thing for more than a second before they flickered somewhere else.

Once Link caught up, Licorice resumed her walk, keeping pace beside the mercenary. Her eyes glanced around the surroundings as well, ears perked up and alert. After a couple heartbeats, she spoke, a slight smile tugging at her mouth. "Well, I am a fox," her voice was light. "I can't say the same for all Proteans, but we of the fox tribe consider ourselves more beast than human. So it is only natural that we move like a fox too, hmm?"

“...Hm,” Link hummed his acknowledgement. She hadn’t answered his question, really, but that wasn’t a huge surprise. That was what this whole thing was about. “Understandable. I was in the military for over ten years, so sometimes I wonder if I’m more of a beast than a man myself. Not a lot of people are able to cross blades with me. Aside from us, I’d guess that there’s no one around for miles and miles that I’d struggle against, even with my offhand.” Deciding they had gone far enough to not raise any suspicions, Link stopped and looked at Licorice. “You understand, right?” his voice had changed. It wasn’t hostile at all, but there was an underlying chord of steel that hadn’t been there before.

Licorice stopped and turned to face the mercenary as well. "Oh, I think I do," she replied. Her smile had dropped from her face. "But still, you're very careful, aren't you?" her head tilted to the side. "If I shouted, not even Sienna would be able to hear me."

“Why would you be shouting?” Link kept his face carefully blank. “Is there some kind of threat I missed? If so, I’m sure you’re more than capable of handling it.”

Licorice blinked, looked at him, then shook her head, "No, I suppose there isn't," her tone was amused. "And if there is no threat, then we don't need to be here, do we?" Her eyes glanced to the side, as if she wanted to get back to the patrol.

“Can’t do that. I’m not much more than a soldier, good for one or two things,” Link made no attempt to move. “The princesses, they’re the busy-type, big-picture people. Sometimes they miss the little things. I’ve gotta sort through all those little things for ‘em.” His eyes were pale, almost colorless, when he met Licorice’s gaze. “I’ll be blunt. Someone hired those bandits in the forest. Someone’s tried to frame Sienna, twice, as a white fox, and the bandits mentioned a white blur that’s probably responsible.” He studied her reaction carefully. As he spoke, the color drained from her face, and then her eyes narrowed. The hair on the back of his neck stood up, sensing danger, but Link bulled forward. “I’ve been listening too. You have an answer to every question we’ve asked about the Goddess’ magic. Why? A Protean that shouldn’t have even seen a church from her home in the forest, an expert on cursed magicks.” The tension was so thick he probably couldn’t have cut it with his blade. “Did I say something wrong? Remember, there’s no threats to be found here that you can’t handle, right?”

He resisted the urge to sigh and rub his throat, waiting for her to say something. Truth be told he was hoping that she had a good explanation; she was useful to the party, plus, he wasn’t sure he could kill her even if he was at his best. Fighting her with a broken arm was probably equivalent to suicide.

---

Whoa. That thing is big! Was the first thing Rohns thought upon spotting the old badger. His instinct (the thing he trusted above all else) said the creature wasn’t something be feared, but it was still way bigger, heavier, and stronger than he was. It looked grumpy too. Rohns wondered why that was. The weather, it was nice, plus the food was good and the area wasn’t already full full of holes, so he had tons of room to dig more. Better than all of that, he hadn’t seen any birds, rotten creatures they were. 

The why, really, didn’t matter though. The better question was what. What could Rohns do? He felt like he was supposed to steer clear of the beast without his pack, but his pack was busy in the human-dens, and the badger was being nosy. 

Maybe he could teach it a lesson! Yeah, it was big and old, but Rohns was super fast. It couldn’t hurt him if it couldn’t catch him! “Rrryip!” the  cub barked. A high-pitched warning that, soon, was followed by the most annoying barrage of sounds Rohn could muster. While the wolf cub barked, he ran in circles around the badger, staying just out of reach but racing around with seemingly endless energy. 
 

[LordCowCow 840]

Cora wasn't sure where to look. She could tell some of the people were being somewhat...shady. There was that girl that she could only see part of her through the window. What was she doing over there? Then there was that guy talking about a locked door. Someone was heading upstairs...Why did the mayor have to have such a large house? She had no way to keep an eye on everything with things as they were. With a sigh, overwhelmed, Cora just sat down at the table.

Acantha made her way towards the girl and Cora let a small smile grace her lips. "Do you think the mayor will be upset if his things go missing while we're watching?" She inquired.

Though it seemed that the beaver was asking something. Assuming it had to be about what she found, Cora gestured under the table at the scratch marks. "He wants us to know something but I haven't the slightest idea what. I just wish I could see the whole picture. It feels like I'm missing so much."

She placed an elbow on the table and rest her check on her hand. "I only have two eyes." She grumbled.

Noticing the boy who she had yelled at before nearby she turned her gaze to him. He was oddly calm about having gotten shouted at. Was he alright?

 

---

 

"Good work Tsetseg. And everyone else. Keep it up. Surely there's something here. There are too many things partially hidden to be a coincidence." When Adelaide mentioned going upstairs, and Catriona suggested someone go with, Penelope offered...for Gunther to go with. She knew that he must be feeling out of sorts and if she was going to send anyone off into the unknown there was no one she thought could do it better than the young Knight.

She hadn't been surprised that Catriona wasn't able to discern anything else from the parchment. She was the strongest person Penelope knew but the younger princess was confident if she couldn't figure it out then no one else could.

"It must be part of a whole...there has to be more hidden around here." Penelope said as she made her way towards the middle of the room. Spying the bookshelf her eyes lit up and she made a beeline for it.

Of course, if one of these books had held a secret, surely...

She completely ignored Citron as she started taking books out. Reading the titles, skimming through them, and dropping them to the side. Again, and again, if she didn't find anything right away she'd keep going. Perfectly fine with looking through each and every book and setting it to the side until the bookshelf was completely bare. "I know some of these books." Penelope said as she examined them. "Didn't expect to find them here. He was very intent on learning how to govern well for someone in such a small village. I wonder what kind of man he is...I hope I get to talk with him once this is all settled."

---

Gunther leapt at the suggestion to go upstairs. He wasn't really doing much down here and it was, frankly, embarrassing to be standing around doing nothing. So he made his way to the stairs and, giving Adelaide a smile, went ahead of her. If there was someone hiding up there it would be best for them to meet his armored body before hers.

As it turned out the upstairs was smaller. Though there was still many things to search. "I remember one time Penelope had hidden something of Catriona's in her room. She ended up forgetting where she put it and we had to spend the day searching every nook and cranny. I'm just glad this room is smaller."

That's when he noticed the scratched up desk. Clearly something suspicious compared to the rather well kept room Gunther made his way towards it.

Documents. Some torn pages. Suspicious indeed. "Penelope would be livid if I didn't read through these. Books and writings hold all the information in the world, according to her."

And so he read through some that stood out. He blushed a bit as he realized part of it was about Alois. It seemed he wasn't very liked by the mayor. Though it seems Cora was a friend to him. That was likely why the girl, who seemed so wound tight, even thought to help them. They really owed Alois for that...

Mother? Hm. It seemed obvious but of course Alois would have at least one parent here. Was he worried about her? It would be rude to ask but...shouldn't he make sure Alois was doing fine? He felt like he was doing him a disservice being so focused on this mystery without even talking to him about things.

And what was this about a trial? This whole village was starting to feel...off. They kept to themselves almost like a cult and then there was this business?

Caller, Awakening, what was this madness? Gunther was starting to feel nervous. It wasn't quite like how Goddess followers talked, and there was how Cora reacted earlier to the suggestion, but then why...

He shook his head and moved on to the torn out pages.

It was as they had guessed. An old crone had appeared and been turned away. Then this...curse had happened.  "Jumbled letters town hall." Gunther said out loud. He then explained to Adelaide what he had found in the last two pages. "It mentions the town hall, could this...old crone be there? Do you suppose those letters that Penelope found have something to do with this?"

[Skaia 578]

Looking back to Shiro the girl nodded saying, "okay, I can do that!" As Penelope had then congratulated the group, Tsetseg's face brightened with a prideful smile as she got up off of her knees on the ground to standing back up. Walking through the house, and tip toeing past the red liquid that was across the ground the girl then looked to Shiro again as he was standing at the door. With a thumbs up as if to indicate that she definitely had this under control, the girl placed the key into the lock. As the girl had felt like in a past life, or maybe even her current life but different, that she was great with locks, there was no way she could possibly lose against this door lock. And her confidence was answered, as she turned the key, and unsurprisingly it unlocked the door. 

With a look of pride on her face, and then smiling brightly she nodded excitedly at the frog protean. Shouting to the others, the girl exclaimed, "it opened!" Walking down the stairs, the girl found herself in a dark cellar, lit only by a few lamps shining in the room. As she slowly walked down the stairs, the girl looked around the room, marveling at all of the different kinds of food and smells that seemed to be down here. Walking around the the room, the girl eventually saw behind the staircase a strange furry creature in the corner of the room. As she walked towards it, and crouched down, it became apparent that the furry creature was none other than a rat that was just sitting there. Unfazed, the girl smiled and said, "hello hello there little guy. What're you doing down here?" 

Alois meanwhile had merely watched the young archer go about her business before turning back to Cat. With a smile on his face, he said, "oh no, I've got this all under control." Raising his axe, the boy brought the axe down with half strength as he struck the lid of the crate. The crate's lid didn't seem to be particularly sturdy, and as a result Alois managed to break through it easily. Thankfully, as well, he hadn't put his all into the swing, and so he had managed to stop his axe blade just short of cleaving through a collection of papers that were stored inside. Raising an eyebrow at this, Alois merely said, "now what's this here?" Picking up the papers, the boy began to look through them. 

His attention was briefly distracted by Penelope's comment, feeling something off with it. However, before he could think any more on it, he noticed something greatly off about the papers in his hand. The papers themselves just seemed to be a manual of sort of trial, which then ended with a ritual to achieve a title. While the boy was confused by the unfamiliar terms, his eyes went wide as he looked at the list of names that seemed to be at the end of this document. Turning around, papers in hand, the boy walked over to Cora and her friendly beaver. "Well, you only need one to see this." Placing the manual on the trials and ritual known as the Awakening the boy said, "so, Cora, Acantha," his eyes seemed more focused on the beaver then the girl. "You two wouldn't happen to know what a Caller is, would you?" 

Edited October 3, 2019 by Skaia

[Wind Rider 10]

Sugar and spice. Not the scent Sienna was expecting. She tilted her head and looked towards the door that Shiro had investigated, a storage cellar perhaps? She stood up and walked over, trying to catch a whiff of anything else past the door. She backed up however as she noticed Tsetseg and Shiro come back with a key. Thankfully, the key was a match, and Tsetseg entered into the cellar with quite a pep to her step so to say.

Sienna followed her down, curious as to what may be down in the cellar. And it seemed her guess was correct, it was a storage cellar. Her nose was catching many different smells, a few that matched the red substance from before and many more from all the food and supplies in the dimly lit area. "hello hello there little guy. What're you doing down here?"

Sienna turned to Tsetseg to see what she was even talking about, only to see her kneeling close to a rat of all things. "Uh... Tsetseg? I'd be careful if I were you... There's no way to know if that's an animal or one of the cursed villagers..." She warned.

[Tiamat's Circus 117]

As time moved on, Citron’s mind… Didn’t, stuck on the herbs she had just rashly stuffed into her bag. What if any of the others had seen? Would they suspect her of being a petty thief, having lied earlier about her background as a merchant--? Surely they would understand that she was just taking them so she could ask about them later, y'know, to keep herself from forgetting about it and all that. They would understand that she wasn’t trying to steal them, and was going to purchase them or give them back if she couldn’t, right? I mean, they had to believe her, right? She had only… Been responsible for a little bit of property damage after all. “Mmm… Maybe I should ask someone about what I should do…” She trailed off, muttering to herself as she tried to decide who she could go to about her self-inflicted problem. Her first idea was that she could have gone to Cora, but the guardswoman seemed a bit uptight at times, even if she was the only true local in the group. Her next thought was Edrick, but… He was a bit younger than her, and she didn’t want to wrap him up in something this stupid. She then had the idea that she could possibly go to the Armoured Guy since he seemed pretty nice, but he... also gave off the air of someone who might turn her in for the greater good or something.

But all of those thoughts, would soon disappear as she realized she was no longer alone. Quiet murmurs of someone else talking to themselves caught her attention, as she wheeled around to see the woman known as… Penelope. The wyvern rider’s heart sank as she stared the woman up and down, as even if the proverbial predator was preoccupied with books for now… She didn’t exactly trust it would last for long. However, with seemingly pressing matters being weighed against one another, a frankly awful idea soon approached her mind. “Hello, uh, excuse me, Miss Penelope,” Citron cleared her throat a little bit, wincing as she herself shuffled around a bit. “I, uh… I was wondering if I could, um, y’know since you seem pretty smart and all, ask you a few questions? About, a hypothetical situation, I mean,” she continued, rambling a bit as she rubbed the side of her neck. “Specifically about, uh, if someone had, really stupidly and rashly, grabbed something they probably shouldn’t have, thinking that they wanted to ask the owner some questions about it, I was wondering what you would think they should actually do, after realizing that they look kinda a lot like, a petty thief.” She continued, stringing words and run on sentences together like someone trying to build the least stable bridge to ever exist.

[Saikazo 241]

"Okay, I can do that!" Tsetseg said with a smile, headed to the door. Shiro followed her, watching her movements. She seemed... rather simple, and honestly, he wasn't sure if she could actually do it, as mean as it sounded. In the end, it seemed he would have to mentally eat crow, as she slipped the key in the hole and turned it rather easily. The door creaked opened, two proteans and an archer peering into the room. 

It was some sort of food storage place, and inside, they found a rat.

"Uh... Tsetseg? I'd be careful if I were you... There's no way to know if that's an animal or one of the cursed villagers..." The fox princess warned. Shiro didn't acknowledge that, lost in his own thoughts.

"If the humans are animals and the animals are humans... was the rat a human in here, locked up in this room? Why would they be locked in here?" He looked around. "Or maybe it came in later as a rat...,"

[Asriel Dreemurr 38]

"Are you well?" The question snapped Edrick back to the present, and he bit back his initial answer. Telling everyone else what was bothering him wasn't going to change anything, not really. Plus he figured most of them already knew. It was pretty obvious, to him, that suddenly having the center of your faith apparently turned against you would make you a little bit less okay than you had been. Add to that the fact that the woman who had looked like she wanted to slap him earlier was staring at him, and he felt a little bit less inclined to really say much on the subject.

"I'll be fine." He said, and not much later there was the sound of snapping wood, and a quick glance over at the side revealed the source. Alois had gone ahead and taken the direct approach. That is to say, literally cut open what appeared to be some sort of chest or other. That seemed...excessive. Though before he had much chance to say anything on the subject the other boy had come over and laid down what looked to be a book of scripture. Curiosity quickly got the better of Edrick, and he decided to open it and have a look. Well it clearly wasn't scripture, but the religious bent to the writing was more than a little unsettling. Though not in the usual sense of a good Pontic's reaction to heresy. Well, not just that anyways. This was clearly heretical, which if the town was engaged in rituals that were offensive to Inera that only strengthened the possibility of one of her followers working whatever it was that had happened here. The other part were the mentions of "Awakening" and a "Caller." It gave him chills, mainly because he couldn't quite shake the feeling that this was familiar. Not just because of its apparent references to the Day of Awakening, one of the numerous names for the Goddess's promised return of the departed faithful to the living world. Was this...

"This almost looks like an Ordination..." he muttered a bit louder than he had meant to, raising his head from the book to look, obviously unsettled, between Catriona and Cora.

[Sethera 290]

"I'll be fine," Edrick replied. While he didn't really look fine, Catriona decided to take him at his word. Perhaps he was hungry? That could be it. They did skip lunch, after all.

Alois seemed fine as well. "Oh no, I've got this all under control," he said with a smile.

Since neither of them needed her help, that left her with...little to actually do. Watching the boy open the box, it appeared that there was something suspicious about the papers, though she wasn't able to read them from this distance.

"This almost looks like an Ordination..." Edrick muttered, having walked over to take a closer look.

Catriona wasn't quite clear on what that was, however, so she merely shook her head in confusion. "I have no idea," she admitted.

Regardless, it was becoming a little crowded in that area, so the lord decided to check up on the others and ask Alois and Edrick about it later. Taking a circuit around the room, the white-haired woman didn't notice anything particularly off about this place, at least nothing that hadn't already been discovered, though she didn't take the time to thoroughly inspect it either. Penelope and Citron were in a corner rifling through books and herbs, and they looked as if they would be there for a bit. Seeing that multiple people had moved into the hallway, Catriona walked through the doorway separating the two rooms. Surprisingly enough, there was only one person there. Ciela, who was standing in front of a shelf filled with wines of various ages. The others had disappeared, likely through the door that Shiro had mentioned earlier.

"Did you find anything?" Catriona asked, glancing at the shelf herself. And then she paused to take a closer look. "Miriam 543. That's a good vintage." It's one of the last good ones from that region before the fall of House...Mirrahel. She turned to look at Ciela, feeling as if she had made some kind of faux pas. "No matter." Much as she was tempted to grab a bottle, she knew that she should refrain. The lord glanced around the hallway again. "Did the others go downstairs?"

--

"Do you think the mayor will be upset if his things go missing while we're watching?" Cora inquired.

The beaver named Acantha nodded, pulling a face, before moving on to its question. In response, the girl gestured under the table at the scratch marks. "He wants us to know something but I haven't the slightest idea what. I just wish I could see the whole picture. It feels like I'm missing so much."

The creature walked under the table and stared up at the marks, tilting its head to the side. If it was right, then that was--

A small thud from above prompted the beaver to waddle back out. "I only have two eyes," Cora grumbled, one of her elbows resting on the table.

The beaver let out a commiserating sound, before turning as Alois walked over to the two of them.

"Well, you only need one to see this." He shuffled some papers around, placing them on the table while still holding them, "so, Cora, Acantha," his eyes seemed more focused on the beaver than the girl. "You two wouldn't happen to know what a Caller is, would you?"

The beaver froze at that, then clambered onto a nearby chair so it could look at the papers as well. Rifling through the pages, the beaver looked more and more frustrated by the second, letting out angry chitters, before finally turning to Alois and emitting a scolding hiss, attempting to snatch the papers from his hand.

--

Downstairs, the rat would look a little nervous at being stared at by three different people, back arching, ears pulling back. It did squeak a reply to Shiro, though what exactly it was trying to say was unknown. Soon after, it approached Tsetseg hesitantly, nose twitching wildly, whiskers quivering.

--

Outside, Licorice stared Link down, the pupils of her scarlet eyes narrowing into pinpricks. When the tension seemed so thick that one could cut it with a knife, the color returned to her face as she tilted her head to the side. "Well, I can't fault you for being careful, though it is a little annoying to have your suspicion directed at me." She sighed, leaning against a tree. "Since you're so nosy, I suppose I'll throw you a bone. To start off with," she shook her head, "No, I don't have anything to do with anybody who would have framed you. I didn't even know somebody had hired those bandits that attacked you earlier. Honestly, the forest has been having a bandit problem recently, so I assumed it was a normal ambush." Her ears flattened. "That Sienna was framed...I did hear about that when you told the chief earlier, but I have no idea who would have done so, or why."

"And as for my knowledge of magic..." the fox scoffed. "I was raised in a village protected by the spirits. Of course I would know about magic. Though none aside from Sienna can actually call on the aid of the spirits, I have studied their workings extensively. Naturally, that extended to other magics as well."

The Protean's tail twitched as she stared at Link. "Satisfied?"

--

After Rohns began to bark and run around the badger, the creature growled again in response, lips curling back to show its teeth, though it appeared more annoyed than threatened. Afterward, it shook its head and resumed its slow trundle toward the house, ignoring the wolf cub. Were Rohns to try to stop it or get its attention, it would attempt to swipe at him with a blunt-clawed paw.

--

OOC

Spoiler

House Layout:
Backside Exterior   Artist: Unknown
Frontside Exterior   Artist: Sethera
Interior B1F   Artist: Ross McConnell
Interior 1F   Artist: Ross McConnell
Interior 2F   Artist: Ross McConnell

I did not put in any information for the second floor in this post, but I figured you guys would not need that, as you have the map and are able to talk amongst yourselves.

If you guys need any more information, or need reactions or anything, let me know.

Edited October 9, 2019 by Sethera

[The Last Occultist 16]

Adelaide Sigrdifa

On 10/3/2019 at 7:25 AM, LordCowCow said:

"It mentions the town hall, could this...old crone be there? Do you suppose those letters that Penelope found have something to do with this?"

"I wouldn't be surprised, everything here seemed to all end up being sounding more like one of those fairytales. We should probably wait for the others though."

As Adelaide was searching, Gunther approached her with the most peculiar sort of documents as well as some torn papers. Adel took some time to see what was on there, and said her reply to Gunther as she began to think too. No, she felt that she was actually worried regarding the contents of that diary, somehow. Adel chose to just not think about it further for longer. She was getting old, it was best for someone like Penelope or the big boss herself to deal with that.

"Actually, perhaps you should immediately tell Penelope and Catriona about this. As for me, I'll still be up here, looking for more information."

Whether Gunther chose to leave or not however, Adel would continue her search regardless. Her attention went towards the trunk not far from the desk where Gunther had found the diary. She managed to open it with ease, surprising herself, and what was within it was... well, financial records of the village. It didn't seem like it had anything to do with their current investigation, but nevertheless, Adel took them out and began skimming through them.

"Hm... this is one peculiar village."

For such a small village, Adel noticed that it was almost entirely self-sufficient, and what was more interesting was that the village's primary export was the legendary Dragon's Breath wine. Ah, it reminded her of the olden days for sure. Adel decided the keep the document with her. At least, thinking about it felt better than thinking about the diary that Gunther showed her earlier.

---

Ciela Celestinia
"Don't worry Cat, I-I'm not doing anything strange. Nothing at all!"
The crowd of people suddenly going to the basement almost made her jump, so for the most part Ciela stood there and tried to look like she was just continuing to look for hints while hiding that she stole one of the mayor's most expensive wine. However, she did feel that Edrick earlier was saying something. However, before she could do that, Cat began asking her questions.

"Did you find anything?"

"W-well, aside from that the mayor having a good taste for wine, nothing, really." Ciela tried to get Cat off her track as much as she could, but instead Cat went closer to the cabinet and began checking out the wines herself.

"Miriam 543. That's a good vintage."

"The lasting bitterness of the taste doesn't sit right with me, even if the initial sweetness was unmatched." Without thinking, Ciela replied to Cat's remark. She was unsure if she was even talking about the wine itself or not. Although, she did remember that it was what the wine tasted to her when she once tried it out - but that was years ago and she never really had any desire to taste it again, anyway. "For vintages, there are definitely way better choices, although I suppose at some point it becomes purely a matter of personal preferences."

Ciela took a sigh of relief when that answer seemed to be satisfying Cat, and that she had distanced herself from the cabinet to look at the hallway once more.

"Did the others go downstairs?"

"Yeah. There seems to be something there, so you better look yourself too. As for me... I'll just return to the main part of the house and see if I can find something there."

And with that, Ciela left the scene.

If Ciela heard it right, Edrick said something about Ordination. Ciela herself had little knowledge on Pontic religious rites or terms, but she was sure that she once read about it, although not really understanding anything about it at all. So of course, her immediate destination was Edrick himself.

"Wait uh, can you tell me more about what you said earlier, Edrick?"

[Skaia 578]

"Whoops." Alois casually lifted the sheets of paper off the table as Acantha made her move for them, a small smirk on his face as he did. Bringing the papers down on the beaver's head lightly then, he said, "sharing is caring, so learn to share a bit better with the others. Not like this tells me anything anyway." With a playful smile on his face, he said, "so I guess your secret's safe for now beaver girl." Looking over to Edrick as the Pontic made his comment, the boy said, "well, I don't know about that." Mostly because he didn't know what it was Edrick was talking about. "But, it certainly seems like the adults of this place are up to something." 

Walking over to Penelope and the new girl, the boy said, "hey princess." Handing the documents over to her, he said, "take a read. I think it'll pique your interest." After giving her the papers, Alois made his way away from them and said, "well, I'm going to see how things are topside. Later." The boy also thought that, perhaps, there would be more crates for him to smash open. With a wave, Alois made his way up the stairs, only to see the others already snooping around. 

"Well, well, super sleuths, find anything interesting? I've already found out that my town might be some kind of cult. Crazy day." Without waiting for their response, the boy decided to go follow suit and snoop through the mayor's things even more. Opening the wardrobe, the boy said, "well, what do we  have here?" At first glance, there wasn't anything out of the ordinary. It was just a regular wardrobe with nothing but regular clothing and the few fancy attires for when a holiday called for it. However, as the boy continued to rifle through the man's clothing he eventually saw something that caught his eye in the back of the wardrobe. Moving the close out of the way, the boy simply muttered, "how curious." What was there was what appeared to be a large letter "O", or a circle, carved into the wood. Tracing the circle with his finger and then tapping it, the boy shrugged as nothing happened.

Tsetseg continued to look at the rat with bright eyes, as it seemed to look back to her. Though it hadn't answered her the first time, or at least in any way she could understand she simply asked again. "What are you doing down here little ratty?" The rat, meanwhile, simply ran about in circles as one would expect of a rat, before standing on its hind legs and gesturing to the room. Furrowing her brow, the girl seemed to deep in thought about the creature's gestures before saying, "oh, oh, oh! Do you live down here?" 

The rat shook its head. 

Continuing to furrow her brow again, the girl tried to understand what the rodent could possibly be trying to tell her. However, she wasn't particularly great at reading animals when it didn't come to hunting them. As such, the meaning the rat was trying to convey was lost to her. Even as she tried to think more on it, she simply decided that it was best left to others before saying, "hmmmmmm," the girl shakes her head. "I don't get it, nope. But," with a bright face she then proceeded to ask, "do you want to come along?"

With a nod, the rat scampered to Tsetseg, the girl holding out her hand for it to climb on. With the rat scurrying up her arm and now perched on her shoulder, the girl then looked to the others with a bright smile. Happy to have a new adventuring companion at her side, the girl then looked around to inspect something in this great and mysterious house. Looking at the wall, noticed something strange about it. It was covered in strange squiggles. The girl had felt she had seen these squiggles before, something similar to what she had seen in the fox's village. And the covers of books. And sometimes papers in general. Yet, as always, the meaning evaded the girl's comprehension. And so, she looked to her protean companions saying, "do you guys know what these squiggles mean?"

[Cheshire Toon 141]

Link took a knee and bowed his head, his right fist pressed overtop his heart. “My apologies, Licorice. I’m not trying to offend you,” he said. The steel in his voice had vanished as suddenly as it had come, leaving him sounding tired and genuine. “Most of the group are still kids, and almost none of them have any kind of worldly experience. I’m afraid they trust too easily because of it.” He rose from his kneeling position to his full height, adjusting the sword on his hip habitually. “What I told you is all true. Whoever we’re facing, they know our movements almost as quickly as we do. Past experience points to a mole.” He scanned the surrounding area. Nothing, no sound, just the wind and the two of them. “So… while I’m still sorry if I’ve made you uncomfortable, I hope you understand why I’m doing what I’m doing.” 

Licorice stared at him a moment longer before nodding. "I understand. People like Penelope or Tsetseg...even Sienna, they have not fully experienced the dangers of this continent." Her expression seemed to thaw slightly. "I am glad they have somebody like you to look out for them." The Protean stepped away from the tree, beginning to walk back toward the mayor's house, though she paused when she drew alongside Link. "I wasn't sure what to think of you at first. We of the fox tribe are not particularly fond of wolves, you see." She turned to him with a thoughtful gaze. "Still, there is much to be said for a wolf's loyalty." Her mouth curled up into a smile. "That, at least, is something we share."

The fox continued to walk then, not even glancing back at the mercenary as she resumed her patrol. Link waited until the Protean was out of earshot to sigh, allowing his shoulders to slump forward, the rigidness of his normal posture completely gone. 

He was tired. Bone-tired. The kind of tired that creeps under your skin when you aren’t expecting it and it makes your entire body feel heavy, so that even breathing is a bother, and everything is irritating because the only thing you really want to do is sleep. What did she even mean by that last part? We share loyalty? Who exactly is she loyal to, Sienna’s father? Link looked up at the sky. Clouds drifted lazily on the breeze, fluffy white masses of all shapes and sizes. If he squinted he could pretend they were all kinds of hilarious shapes, which was something he had done frequently as a child in Nalbina, wasting the days away on top of the hill behind his home. I remember all that, but I don’t feel like I know the kid who did all that either. Like Ilia and Rusl and cloud-gazing were part of a different lifetime. A simpler one. Now everything’s just a mess of questions I can’t answer. Who’s trying to kill the princesses? Pontus. Galtea. Histia? Probably a lot easier to figure out who isn’t trying to kill them.  And Licorice… her story checks out, I guess, and she’s a huge help to the party. Why can’t I shake this feeling? Am I just paranoid? The others probably think I am. 

Second-guessing your own judgement was incredibly frustrating. His intuition was what had kept him alive as a Night Wolf, but now, every other day he saw things that were only real in the past. He rationed out his sleeping pattern to get just enough to be functional in an effort to avoid his dreams. Was that what actually sane people did? The answer to that question was the same as all the others: he had no idea. 

Link wanted to scream.

Instead, he grabbed the hilt of his sword and squeezed his eyes shut tight. He thought of all the people lost because of his mistakes. Rusl, to weakness. Rohns, to cowardice. Amelia, to recklessness. He shuddered at the memory of Amelia’s screaming. The elixir on her belt had kept him alive for hours at the bottom of that spike pit, stuck in a loop of ripping and healing until he had almost run out of blood. Those were the things that happened when he lost his cool. Compartmentalize. Compartmentalize. Breathe and calm down. Link’s grip on his sword tightened and his breathing quickened.

He pushed away the memories and imagined a box, a chest with a lock on the front of it, and imagined himself pushing all of his worries and memories into the box and locking it tight. A few moments passed. He repeated the mental task several more times. 

His grip loosened and he let go of his sword. The tide of exhaustion washing over him pulled back, and his breathing slowed down to a steady rise-and-fall. He opened his eyes. Right. Goal. Wolf-Rohns, where is he at? Need to find him. Link shook his head like he could physically rattle the remnants of his panic attack out of his system, then set off towards the back of the house at a brisk pace. 

“Rrryip!”
“Rrryip!”
“Rrryip!”
. . . .
“Rarrgh!”
“Rrryip!”

It wasn’t hard to find the wolf cub. Link just followed the noise, which lead him directly to not only Rohns, but also a grizzled-looking badger that Rohns was enthusiastically harassing. Link initially hesitated, before reminding himself that most of the animals in the village were actually people (supposedly). “. . .” Bringing his pointer finger and thumb to his mouth, he whistled in a very high-pitched manner.

“Rrryi-HRR?!” Rohns spun around to face Link and then froze. “No,” the soldier scolded, lightly bopping him on the nose with a finger once he closed the distance. Rohns hunkered down and gave him a dirty look, but he seemingly calmed down for the time being.

Link crouched down to be eye level with the badger. The rough old animal seemed very intent on making its way to the Mayor’s house. “Sorry about that. Hopefully he didn’t scare you,” he said. “They tell me you’re all actually human. Are you going somewhere?”

Rohns continued to glare at Link and the badger, tucked low to the ground in a stalking stance, unhappy his prey was stolen from him. Delusional little wolf. 
 

[LordCowCow 840]

"Actually, perhaps you should immediately tell Penelope and Catriona about this. As for me, I'll still be up here, looking for more information."

Gunther almost agreed immediately, instinctively, as though it were a superior officer giving him an order. What a strange reaction. Sure, Adelaide was older, and likely more experienced, but she wasn't even part of the military. So why did she give off such a feeling?

"Ah, perhaps. It doesn't seem there's any sort of danger up here after all. And I'm sure that they'll want to know about...this." He still held the diary and paper in his hand, looking at it with a sour expression.

As he started to head to the stairs, however, Alois came up.

"Well, well, super sleuths, find anything interesting? I've already found out that my town might be some kind of cult. Crazy day."

Cult? It matched up with some of what he had read...did that mean that they already had this information? Gunther decided to wait before reporting to the princesses and joined Alois by the wardrobe. "Er, Alois, I found this...Does it line up with what you found out? It also, uh, contains something about, well, you." Gunther awkwardly presented the pages to the Fighter.

Reading through it, Alois’s face went from solemn to then annoyed and he said, “well more or less. I found a manual about the Callers. And well,” the boy shrugged. “It’s nothing I didn’t know about him. More,” his annoyed expression then had a smirk cross it. “If anything I get to know he’s just as shitty as I thought he was.”

Gunther hesitated, then, uneasily, says "It mentions your mother, um...did you want to...check on her?"

Scratching his head the boy sighed, saying, “I’m uh...not eager to. Yet, at least. I didn’t exactly uh tell anyone I was leaving when I did and so...” Looking away and then back to him with a less annoyed smile he finished, “well, she’s my mom. So I’m sure even if she’s an animal she’ll be fine.”

It didn't quite sit well with the Knight. Then again, he didn't exactly tell his own mother that he was going on this journey. The realization made a pit form in his stomach. Was she okay? Was she upset? After all his father had left just like that and...

"Well. If you say so. But...you should probably talk to her before we leave again." He looked over at Adelaide. "It seems some of this information isn't new to the princesses, it may be better to see everything we can find from up here before reporting."

Upon saying that Gunther, with one more glance at Alois, moved over towards the bed. On his way he paused. Something was bugging him about that rug. Not the pattern, though it was unusual seeing wyverns as opposed to more traditional creatures, but something....aha. The young man noticed a bump in the rug. Grabbing one corner of the rug he pulled it up and moved forward until the center was revealed and he could see what was causing the lump.

As it turned out what was, not well, hidden under the rub was a simple key. He grunted as he stood back up, the weight of the armor getting to him after all this back and forth, and presented it to the others. "Think its for that chest over there?"

 

---

 

It would be clear by Cora's dumbfounded expression she had no idea what Alois was talking about. What was going on? She hadn't the slightest idea what Alois meant by Caller but....from Acantha's reaction she seemed to know something. Why? What did she know that Cora didn't?

It was good that Cora was sitting down because the wave of uncertainty that hit her might've made her fall nonetheless. Sure, there was some odd things that the adults did in this village that Cora didn't get but it was all to protect them right? But...Cora's job was to protect them too so why wouldn't she have heard about whatever it was?

And that boy's remarks about Ordination only made her more uneasy. She wanted to check the papers but...part of her also didn't.

Suddenly she stood up, setting the papers aside, and headed for the side door. She opened it up and walked out into the fresh air. For some reason, despite being larger than most she was used to, the mayor's house right then felt far too cramped. She gazed up at the sky. "What in the world aren't they telling me?" She muttered.

 

---

 

“Hello, uh, excuse me, Miss Penelope,”

Penelope paused for a moment. Her ever growing tower of books, which now was nearly taller than her seated form, would have to wait. The girl smiled with pride that this stranger already could tell how intelligent she was just from a few interactions. She knew she was smart, of course, but hearing it from those who didn't know her just made it all the more worthwhile.

The question that she was posed was incredibly transparent. Apparently Citron had taken something of the mayors and now was regretting her decision. Penelope glanced over at Cora, who was now walking off in the other direction, then back to Citron. She stared silently for a few moments. Curious as to how Citron would react under the scrutiny. Cupping her chin in one hand she let out a long "hmmmm".

Honestly she could easily just give advice towards Citron's specific predicament but she saw no reason to make her even less comfortable. So she tackled it from a broader perspective. "It depends. Did the owner see them take it? If not they could just keep it and none would be the wiser. Of course this brings the possibility that someone would discover the...item on their possession so it's not a recommended tactic. They could also simply put it back. It runs slight risk of suspicion but at that point they've already set it into motion. It also depends on how said item was discovered. If it was a lawful and moral entry then there's no problems. However if the item was somewhere somebody normally shouldn't go then the only way to learn what you need is to take it and find someone else, not related to the owner, that might know. Or just forget about it. Unless you have memorized the qualities of the item that you're curious about and in which case you can find it through simple research. That being said if someone DID spot you then the best you can do is return it and, if the accusations are brought up, plead a moment of forgetfulness and a brief lapse in judgement. As long as no damage is done to the item then it all comes down to the owner's attitude. Which you can improve by being polite and complimentary towards them.....Of course if the item was damaged then you would have to replace it and ask for forgiveness and hope for the mercy of the judge...Does that satisfy the hypothetical?"

She wanted to finish searching the bookshelf. But she also was curious as to what Citron would do with her answer. Either way she would make sure to finish checking every book just in case before returning them to their place. Unfortunately even with her careful searching it seemed the bookshelf held no secrets. So once she was finished she'd stand up, dust off, and, unless stopped, go to search elsewhere. Once Citron was done she'd have time to look over those papers Alois had found. Things were starting to come together. A theory forming in her head. But she needed more...

[Tiamat's Circus 117]

It was occurring to Citron, rather rapidly, that she had chosen the exact wrong person to ask. Or, perhaps, the exact right person. Despite the fact that they initially seemed to be staring at her in much the same way someone looking for answers would whilst giving off a low ‘hmmm’ noise, Penelope gave her… Actually really detailed and helpful advice. Sure, it was worded in a way that gave off the impression that she had seen right through the young merchant, but it was also posed in such a way as to at least humor the panicking woman. Penelope might not have been so scary after all, she surmised. Well, at least, she was only a little scary. “Yeah, that… That answers it quite well, actually. Thanks.” Citron smiled, giving a slight nod as she reached back into her pack, and did her best to carefully put the herbs back where she had found them. It took a bit of work, but she had worked with vegetables and plants enough to know vaguely how to place them; and she had only just removed them, so she knew how the mayor had placed them originally.

As she turned around, a few unrelated questions floating in her mind, Citron noticed that Penelope had… Started to walk away. “Ah, um… Miss Penelope,” Citron did her best to start walking with the woman, talking and walking as she followed. “I, uh, don’t want to interrupt whatever it is you're doing, but do you mind if I ask you some questions relating to your group after this is all over…?” Citron smiled, scratching at the back of her neck.  “It's nothing pressing,” she quickly tried to explain, laughing nervously. “It’s just, it occurred to me that you've all helped me so much already, but I still don’t know much about any of you or how you all started traveling together. I mean, you’re all so… Different from one another, so…” She trailed off, rubbing at her neck. “I figure it’s probably a really, really good story, and I’d love to hear it.”

[Wind Rider 10]

Sienna's ears twitched as she tilted her head, human mind or not, she wouldn't let a rat get anywhere near her, let alone crawl up on to her. Though, it was Tsetseg, she did seem the groups residential animal lover. With the rat taken care of now, Sienna looked around the area and walked over to a table, it had a sword and shield laying perfectly on it. "Hm..." Her tail swayed as she thought to herself, a little bit of protection might help in the long run. She picked up the shield but quickly found out that the thing was a lot heavier than it looked, it wasn't heavy enough to keep her from trying it on, but if she were to get into a fight it would prove cumbersome, especially if she transformed.

She shrugged and kept a hold of it. Beats getting whacked over the head with an axe again, anything to avoid an incident like that again. "Do you guys know what these squiggles mean?"

Sienna's attention was taken when Tsetseg had discovered something more interesting than a rat, strange writing of some sort. Sienna scratched her head as she looked at the wall, it did seem familiar, but she couldn't put her tail on it.

[Asriel Dreemurr 38]

And before he could contribute much else to the conversation one way or another, Edrick was left alone there at the table with the agitated beaver and not much to do. Well, there definitely seemed to be something going on that might be connected to Inera in some way. Especially with an ordination happening. To his mind it seemed that whatever association there was with that would have to be secret, and where did people tend to keep secrets? The basement. So with Alois making his way upstairs and the rest of the group spread out across the first floor he decided to head downstairs and see what, if anything, had been discovered there. So he gathered up his lance, having grown accustomed to carrying it and finding some security in having a weapon, and headed into the basement.

"Wait uh, can you tell me more about what you said earlier, Edrick?" At least he had been until Ciela came along to get him. Well, he supposed he had to explain what he meant to someone anyways. Plus it wasn't like they were making progress so quickly that he needed to make sure he was downstairs in case they found something.

"I just said that the rite described in that sheaf of papers Alois had looked like an Ordination." At first he thought that was enough an explanation and was about to continue downstairs, and then he remembered Ciela wasn't Pontic. She probably didn't know the specifics of it. "You know, how someone is formally recognized as a Priest of Inera. They're taken to a chapel, made to answer questions about their faith, demonstrate their understanding by conducting a sacrifice, and then given a staff to use to make sure their faith is strong enough to enact The Goddess's magic. There's some...variations depending on the region, but that's mostly the gist of it. So, if I were to guess, I'd say this town used to worship Inera and whatever this 'Caller' is used to be their priest." He shrugged. It made about as much sense to him as anything else. And more sense than a lot of things. "What that has to do with them being turned into animals? Maybe the rite and what the 'Caller' are changed over time, and with...things being how they are the villagers angered Inera with their heresy. So...I think there's probably a shrine to her hidden here somewhere. Probably downstairs."