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

[Wind Rider 10]

"I-er that is. Um." The resident of the town stuttered. "I am willing...to give y'all the benefit of the doubt but..." She cast her glance towards Edrick. "I can't abide him roaming about this town as he likes. Not when he's got...that thing with him."

"Perhaps when we go to the town hall, or wherever it is we're supposed to go from here, Edrick should...stay behind." Gunther suggested.

Sienna couldn't believe what she was hearing, was everyone really going against Edrick? This didn't seem right, sure Edrick was a follower of the Goddess, but he was still their ally. Why would they cast so much suspicion towards him now of all times?

"Wait, hang on," Shiro spoke up. "So to make sure I understand correctly, the two of you are willing to let three inhumans with the power to change into giant animals and a man who enter houses through the rooftops to search this village, but not one normal and capable man because of a necklace?" This really didn't make sense into him. "I thought we were trying to save everyone here from a horrible fate in the least amount of time possible. We know nothing about this curse, for all we know, it could become permanent if left alone for too long," He paused, glancing at the princess duo. "And you're both willing to place more duties on the two princesses and expose them to potential danger because, and I empathize, of a necklace?"  He turned back to the group. "If this is some sort of human joke, then I don't get it,"

Shiro pretty much summed it up for her, the princesses aside, Edrick has done nothing to them, just show that he followed the teachings of the Goddess. Sienna looked down nervously. "Uh... I agree with Shiro... Now isn't the time to be casting suspicion amongst ourselves... Edrick has done nothing to cause all this suspicion..." She said. Her tail flicked around as she scratched her head. "Plus... He isn't our concern... It's figuring out this curse and this letter riddle..."

[The Last Occultist 16]

Ciela

Were she was not in a positive mood after healing Link, Ciela would've gone off at Cora already for how she was reacting here. It felt reminiscent to something that had happened too in the past, with Edrick if she remembered it right. What's with people being unreasonable about this topic anyway? Everyone else had been addressing this more properly anyway so Ciela was content in being silent but she still made an expression to showcase that she was feeling displeased about this turn of events.

"While we're stuck in this pointless chatter, whoever did all this is still free. Can we just get on with it and start making plans or something?" That was all that Ciela said, worded in quite an unpleasant tone.

 

---

 

Adel

"This is strange..."

Adel reread the journal pages a few times so far. It didn't seem like it revealed anything new other than the mention of a certain old way as well as a mention of a 5-words password, but she still needed more context about it. She decided to take the chief's journal with her as she continued her search around the room. If just stumbling around could get her something to this effect, perhaps now that she was looking specifically for anything paper information, this case could be resolved a lot faster. She gazed at the tables she had looked up around some more views. She saw the bottom of the mayor's bed. Details, details, she needed all of them. There was seemingly ruckus goin gon downstairs but Adel didn't really care about it. Probably it was just a debate over soemting bad anyway
 

[Cheshire Toon 141]

Penelope had revealed herself--and by association her sister as well--as a Galtean princess. Link carefully schooled his expression to stop himself from showing his disapproval. What was the purpose? Cora’s help and by association her approval were nice, that much was true, but they weren’t crucial. Did the princess not realize the repercussions being so open with such knowledge could have? 

Regardless the reveal seemed to be mostly swept under the radar; Edrick’s religious beliefs continued, for now, to overshadow all other topics. "Perhaps when we go to the town hall,” Gunther said hesitantly, “or wherever it is we're supposed to go from here, Edrick should...stay behind." Link couldn’t stop the frown that twisted at the corners of his mouth. An old adage came to mind about the Law of the Jungle. For the strength of the pack is the wolf, but the strength of the wolf is the pack.

Why was Gunther so quick to throw a comrade onto the chopping block, he wondered. Edrick had proved his loyalty to the group already. He had gone against the Goddess’ undead just as intently as any of them back at the cathedral. Was the national distaste for Pontus that strongly beat into his fellow Galteans? To so swiftly sentence a man who had fought and bled with, especially over something they hadn’t played a part in… Marianne had taught him a word for it once. Prejudice. A form of hatred not based off personal slight, but on a sweeping scale that weighed the sins of a man to be the sins of his land. 

Link shifted the sword on his belt uncomfortably while Shiro questioned their motives. Rusl always said to speak up when you stood for something. Even during the war, when the troops marched past the border by their home and he had watched the Pegasus Knights fly overhead, his grandfather had told him that it wasn’t right to judge a whole country on the hatefulness that zealots often displayed. He had vehemently opposed the war in the first place. 

“It’s not the necklace, it’s what it stands for,” he finally said. “It’s a symbol of worship of Inera. She’s… a very important thing in every human culture. Most of them consider her evil. Edrick’s thinks she’s a hero.” Link wasn’t speaking very loudly. “Think of it like the beads of Inari. Your tribe and Sienna’s almost went to war over them going missing.”
 

Edited December 18, 2019 by Cheshire Toon

[Sethera 290]

The air was charged with tension, a crackling sort of energy that had Catriona reaching toward the handle of her sword. Her eyes settled on Cora, who, despite being a lone girl, was still a threat. Her sword had nicks where it shouldn't--signs of accidents and lack of skill--but the easy way the girl walked with it strapped to her hip spoke of a strength that shouldn't be underestimated.

Though, as her eyes flitted, once again, to the blood-encrusted symbol of the goddess, the Dread Raven, she couldn't help the whisper of doubt that came to mind. Perhaps it is Edrick I should be watching right now.

In a blink, a hand reached for the pendant, and it was gone. In that moment, Catriona let out the breath she hadn't realized she had been holding. "Rise D Key, right?" Edrick's voice was calm, perhaps too much so for this situation. "You found a letter 'D' upstairs, maybe one of the keys fits something near it. Was there anything else under the bed?" It seemed he wanted to move on to better conversation topics, and Catriona couldn't agree more.

Before she could reply, Penelope spoke up in defense of the boy. While that was fine, it was what she said afterward that had Catriona wondering if her sister had taken leave of her senses. "My name is Penelope Nabudis. Princess of Galtea. I have come here in search of information that would aid us against the Goddess's agents. You have nothing to fear from us. I hope my honesty will show that much at least."

Does she not realize this place might in fact be a den of goddess followers? Even if Cora is unaware of it, these writings of ceremonies and rites do not bode well for us. Without thinking, the woman's eyes strayed toward the badger, who looked remarkably calm for such a reveal. As if aware of her attention, it turned toward her, gazing back at her knowingly.

This wasn't good.

Have we been led into a trap? Was this all a ruse to make us reveal our identities? She forced her expression to remain calm, slowly moving her eyes away from the badger, as if uninterested in its reaction. Much as she was tempted to hold her sword to its throat--even if it would take some effort, having never threatened an animal--she kept her hands to her side, revealing not so much as a tremble or twitch. She glanced at the beaver, who was pressed against Cora almost reassuringly, staring at the group with undisguised hostility. Is it reacting this way because it knows who we are now?

Catriona had been in situations like this before. Situations where she had been outmaneuvered by witty nobles and even a few members of the Garou. This was not unfamiliar to her.

Cora seemed strangely genuine in her reactions, however. Either she was a skilled actress or an unwitting one, playing a part she herself was unaware of. More likely the latter, in which case, she probably knew nothing of worth, and it would be useless to attack her here. But leaving her be could be dangerous as well. For the first time, Catriona wondered if they should just leave this village and its problems behind. It seemed as if they would be nourishing a viper in their bosom were they to follow this path.

The others continued to speak while she mused over her thoughts. Link explained the significance of the icon to Shiro, with Licorice joining in. "This is yet another failing of living in isolated villages like we do," the fox shook her head. "We become complacent, and unaware of matters to which we should take heed." She glanced at Shiro. "Link is right. That 'necklace' as you call it is much more than a necklace. It is a holy symbol, worn only by those devoted to the goddess Inera, revered on a level far beyond how you frogs feel about your Frog Sage. There are many names for Her, such as the Lady of Life and Death, the Two-Faced Goddess, the Raven Queen, and many more. Surely even you must have heard of her." There was something slightly pejorative about her tone of voice, and it was then that Catriona remembered that the frogs and foxes had been at each other's throats not too long ago. Perhaps lingering traces of that enmity yet remained.

Still, their words were like distant chatter in the face of Catriona's current thoughts. What should we do? It would look too suspicious to back out now--no, this might in fact be the best time. Still, on the off chance that this village wasn't associated with the goddess...could she really turn away from people in need? And, goddess worshipers or not, they could have some knowledge on the Great Dragon.

But now she had to decide what to do. It appeared Cora didn't want Edrick to explore freely. Now, that could be because she thought Edrick was a threat, but it could also be because they were going to lead the group into a trap and Edrick, as a fellow devout, would be spared by being left behind. She wasn't sure which one it was. If it was indeed as she said, because she didn't trust him, then Catriona could agree that she didn't entirely trust him either. In which case, it might be better to leave him behind. But if it was because the rest of them were walking into a trap, if Edrick were to stay behind then she would be assured that he, at least, would be safe, and might be able to help them from his end. Either way, it seemed that leaving him behind was the better choice.

But what if the villagers tried to use this as an opportunity to get the boy over on their side? Sure, she could say she didn't trust him enough to bring him along, but did she trust him enough to leave him behind?

The woman shook her head. Both option had their fair share of risks, and determining the right course was a matter for a cleverer mind than hers. She half-turned toward her sister, but stopped partway through. My sister might be intelligent, but she is not infallible. The girl had thought it a wise decision to reveal their true identities, after all. Not to mention, attempting any sort of privy discussion right now would be looked upon with suspicion. So instead, Catriona turned to Cora and began to speak.

"If it is the necklace that bothers you so much, perhaps we can just leave it here for now," the woman glanced at Edrick. "Though I believe Edrick should be the one to decide on that matter, and whether he wishes to stay behind or continue investigating with us."

In the end, this boy had risked his life not only for her sake, but for the sake of the party as a whole, multiple times. That was not something Catriona could forget so easily. She would trust him to make the choice himself this once, and if he betrayed her goodwill later...she would treat him the same as an enemy, the same as she would treat these villagers if she found out that they truly were nothing but treacherous vipers. Or in this case, treacherous crows.

"Either way," the woman continued. "Sienna and Ciela have a point. Rather than focus on Edrick, we would better spend our time on figuring out how to break this curse."

Turning once more to the boy, she chose this moment to answer his earlier question about the bedroom upstairs. "I do not know," the lord shook her head. "I was not the one to look there. That was Alois, Adelaide, and..." she turned to Gunther. "Gunther." She blinked in puzzlement. He had not been present when she went upstairs herself, but she remembered seeing him go up there earlier. "Did you see anything else under the bed?"

Speaking of, had Adelaide found anything upstairs?

--

Adelheid would find nothing similar to that journal entry in her continued search of the upstairs bedroom. Though she did notice the drops of splattered ink dotting the table, as well as the uncovered inkwell with scratches along its side. There were also the pages that had been conspicuously torn out that she had read earlier. Under the bed was a thick layer of dust save for one area where it had been obviously disturbed, stray pawprints here and there. There was also what looked like the carved D that she heard Alois mention earlier. However, there was nothing else.

--

Outside, the doe's attention had briefly turned to Abel, the horse that Cora had left outside, but quickly turned back to Peaches, especially after the wyvern stuck out her tongue. Flinching in fright, it quickly turned to enter the house, but then stopped, turning back to stare at Peaches again. Then, cautiously, it began to approach the wyvern, head craned forward, ears twitching.

---

OOC

Spoiler

Not much going on from my end. Catriona has some theories of her own, but ultimately said the decision should be left up to Edrick. Upstairs, Adel's not finding anything more like that entry she had before. Outside, Peaches is being approached by a doe.

Everybody is still generally where they were before on the map, save for Adel, who's moved a few feet.

Edited December 18, 2019 by Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd

[Skaia 578]

Alois continued to fiddle around with the lock, but wasn't really making much headway in figuring it out. The boy scratched his head, not really having much to go on in how he was supposed to figure out the arrangement of the letters. And so, he figured it would be pointless to simply keep trying until he figured it out and go do some more investigating himself. Looking at the rat he said, "feel free to solve it if you figure it out." With that, he left the hole and began to make his way back to the first floor where he heard some manner of discussion going on. Though, upon looking at everyone and the air being weirdly tense Alois couldn't help but feel that they had done nothing in regards to actually figuring out this problem. Deciding the best place to look was the mayor's room itself, the boy simply said, "hey everyone what's going on - oh wait. I don't care." And with that, he passed by everyone else and simply walked his way upstairs. 

As he got up, he saw Adel looking around underneath a bed, clearly the woman having the same idea as him. "Hey, Adel. Fancy seeing you here." He called out to the woman, "you doing some sleuthing up here yourself?"

"Oh, Alois. Not much, although I did stumble upon this journal by the mayor, as well as this torn piece of it."

"Oh?" The boy raises an intrigued eyebrow. The last two stacks of paper the mayor had kept around that Alois had found, while not particularly pertinent to the puzzle, had been revealing about both the town and the mayor. "Any dark secrets inside? Crimes? Embarrassing stories?"

"It's just, well, something strange. I wonder if you recognizes these names." 

Grabbing the paper as Adel handed it to him, Alois scanned over the first part of the page. As read the names of the two mentioned, the boy's face visibly soured as he said, "oh yeah. Contenders for second and third worst people in town. They're a couple of weirdos who - well, they're not really friends with anyone. Guess the mayor fits that too." The boy  continued to look at the paper until he noticed another name on it. Alois didn't quite know what it was, or what it was about, but there was something about it that struck him as odd. Looking around, Alois didn't see anything to help him out with, but did remember that the mayor had a bookcase downstairs and there  was almost definitely something useful there. "Hmm..." the boy mused aloud for a moment before saying, "alright. This'll come in handy. I'm going to take this with me." 

As the boy began to leave the room, papers in tow, Adel called out, "wait, what do you have in mind?"

"It's a surprise!" He called back to her. Making his way back downstairs, still not at all paying attention to the commotion that was going on, the boy made his way over to the bookcase. Finding a book on stargazing, the boy opened it up and began looking into it. 

Tsetseg had simply sat there, not at all sure what to do about the current commotion at hand. She didn't know Edrick that much, but from what she did know he seemed to be a nice enough person. She wasn't particularly fond of his worship or where he was from, and now that it was brought to her attention again it certainly bothered her once more. Not to mention that Citron  had vouched for him only made the girl knee jerk wish to disagree. Though still, the girl didn't think he was actually a problem or going to be a problem with all of the fluffy animal people and helping them out. Though he also tried to kill the beavers earlier. But so did she...did that make her also a bad person? 

The girl's expression was in great and serious thought as she tried to figure out what to feel about this whole thing. So deep in thought was she that she hardly noticed the Alois's rude pass by of them, before her brain somehow wrapped around to one conclusion. "Being on lookout is pretty cool." And that was all the girl had to say on the matter. 

[Saikazo 241]

“It’s not the necklace, it’s what it stands for,” Link finally spoke up, explaining things to the confused frog. “It’s a symbol of worship of Inera. She’s… a very important thing in every human culture. Most of them consider her evil. Edrick’s thinks she’s a hero.” Link wasn’t speaking very loudly. “Think of it like the beads of Inari. Your tribe and Sienna’s almost went to war over them going missing.”

"Worship?" Shiro asked. "You mean... like gods? They're getting like this because of...?" He shook his head, muttering to himself. This was all falling apart because they believed in some big scary magic woman in the sky? He couldn't understand it... frankly, he wasn't sure he wanted to understand it. He wanted a minute to himself, but really, he couldn't leave the room. He couldn't trust these wackjobs to not attack the princesses after finding out just how unstable they really were.

"This is yet another failing of living in isolated villages like we do," the fox shook her head. "We become complacent, and unaware of matters to which we should take heed." She glanced at Shiro. "Link is right. That 'necklace' as you call it is much more than a necklace. It is a holy symbol, worn only by those devoted to the goddess Inera, revered on a level far beyond how you frogs feel about your Frog Sage. There are many names for Her, such as the Lady of Life and Death, the Two-Faced Goddess, the Raven Queen, and many more. Surely even you must have heard of her."

"No. I like to learn about other kinds of things. Like reality," Shiro shot back sharply. Foxes really could get under his skin far too easily. He'd need to work on that some.

"Hey everyone what's going on - oh wait. I don't care." Alois stated as he went upstairs. Well, that was rude of him. He wasn't gone for long as he came downstairs and grabbed a book of some sort?  Shiro quietly walked over, looking over the boy's shoulder, trying to see if he could figure out what Alois was looking for. 

Edited March 3, 2020 by Saikazo

[Cheshire Toon 141]

Shiro remained dismissive of Inera. Link pursed his lips; he had been of the same mind naught but a day before. The Mistress of Undeath’s existence had seemed unlikely, probably owed to the feats of a notably powerful mage who had awed audiences with her healing abilities and gathered a cult of desperate folks, ready to die on her command. He rationalized that the rest of the mythos was a result of the passage of time and the fact that the Crusaders had won the war. History was written by the victors, after all—the Night Wolves were proof enough of that. 

The creatures from the cathedral had shaken his theory. Magic was cryptic, the manifestation of the idea that knowledge was power… but even it had to have limits. He had seen magicians pluck fireballs out of thin air at the border, launch blasts of wind sharp enough to slice the thickest plate, and call down a bolt of lightning onto heaps of opponents. It was terrifying. The air grew dense and hummed with power with every spell they cast. A properly protected squadron of them could rain down a storm fit to rival the wrath of the Spirits themselves. To reanimate the rotted corpses of those centuries-old soldiers though? To trap the ghosts of the abbey, not to mention the actions of the fallen Abbot, who…

Link blinked. What had he done? He was sure that the Abbot had done something astounding, but now he couldn’t recall what it had been in the slightest. Regardless, what he saw that night had rocked him to his very core. No matter how much he desperately wanted to believe the Goddess was a fairytale, he couldn’t convince himself of that anymore. Her abilities defied nature in a way that no human ever could. 

Either way it seemed the issue had passed. Princess Catriona had given her decision: they could ask Edrick to leave his pendant behind, but he was to accompany them unless he chose otherwise. Link approved the judgement. 

“Rryip!” Rohns barked. Link jumped, reaching for the handle of his sword, but he eased his hand off when he realized what had happened. “Easy,” he murmured, crouching down to rest his hand on the back of the wolf’s head. “Rrr...mmmgh,” the pup started to growl. It turned into a groan when Link started scratching behind his ear. “Nothin’ to be scared of. No one’s fighting, “ he whispered, reaching into his pocket. “Wan’ another strip a jerky?”

Rohns perked up when Link produced the dried meat. Link handed it over, scratching his ears for a second longer before pushing himself back up to his feet. Need to teach him to hunt. Not that I’ve got a clue how to go about that. The burden of responsibility was something he hadn’t felt on his shoulders since Epona’s passing, and a wolf cub was so different from a horse it wasn’t comparable. He needed to figure out some way of getting advice before he ran out of jerky. Princess Penelope tends to know random things like that. Experience beat books any day of the week for practical knowledge, but for a subject as strange as raising a wolf, maybe it had some use. 

Further thought was cut short by Alois all but shoving him out of the way to reach the books in the corner. “. . . .” Link followed the boy’s hands to the spine of a book. Astronomy. Ass-tro-no-my. That’s a big word. What does it mean? He wouldn’t raise his voice to ask. Usually if he waited long enough, someone learned would explain and he wouldn’t have to look dumb or waste time. 

Now was a time to wait. 
 

[LordCowCow 840]

Gunther's shoulders slumped. He felt dejected. He had known that his suggestion would be met with resistance but hearing so many who thought his suggestion too harsh, thought the concern to begin with was ridiculous, it certainly was disheartening.

Obviously with Edrick being allowed to accompany them most of them trusted him. But was it really so wrong to be concerned and doubtful? He didn't think so and yet it seemed he was the minority here. Even Catriona, though she offered a compromise, didn't seem to really get it. It wasn't just the symbol itself but the one who held it. He had seen how devoted he was to his Goddess. He knew that this wouldn't last forever. There would be a tipping point where they would have to decide once and for all what to do about him.

And from this he was starting to think that they would make the wrong choice when it came down to it.

But there wasn't anything for him to do. He straightened up, placed his hands behind his back, and gave Catriona a brief nod. "As you say." He said, his flat tone betraying his feelings somewhat. It wasn't for him to decide. All he could do was be there when things turned foul.

---

Penelope couldn't help but be somewhat amused at the reactions from revealing her name. Especially from those of her group. She knew it was the right choice. The reactions, especially the mayor's, told her plenty. And if her theory was correct they wouldn't have to worry about it in the end.

What wasn't amusing was the discussion that followed. She was mostly concerned about the Protean's reactions. It was interesting to see that Licorice was the only one who really understood what the Goddess was. She wondered what the other two thought they were fighting for. Perhaps she'd have to give a lecture about their enemy once this was all over.

Gunther's suggestion wasn't necessarily wrong. Yet it was clear that bringing it up was a mistake. She felt sorry for him. Much too honest for his own good. Watching Cora while the others spoke she saw that the conversation was having the opposite intended effect. She saw the girl's expression get more surprised, more nervous, as they talked. Penelope had a feeling that things might have reached a boiling point soon.

And she honestly wasn't sure what to do. The feeling in the room was growing rather negative. It may be a situation where it would be better for her to stay out of it.

She noticed Alois come in, bringing attention to himself in a rather Alois way, before going off on his own. Was he reading a book? Penelope had to wonder what one it may be. Did he find something out?

The princess cast a glance at everyone else before sliding her chair up, standing, and strolling over to where the young man was. She crept up behind him, leaned up, standing on her tiptoes to try and gain height and get closer to the boy's ear, and said "What do you have there? Solving mysteries all by yourself are you?"

Spoiler

Will write Cora's part after Keto posts. Gave a bit of her general reaction in this post. Which is "confused and nervous".

 

[Skaia 578]

Alois continued to flip through the pages of the stargazing book, looking back  to the mayor's note as he referenced each of the constellations he saw. Nodding to himself as he stopped at one page, the boy suddenly felt something looming over. Looking behind him, the boy realized that the frog of the group was there and raised an eyebrow at him. "Interested in stars - " The boy then suddenly jolted forward, accidentally slamming the book closed in the process, before taking a deep breath. Looking at the princess, stepping a bit back as she was quite close to him, cleared his throat. "Well, you know. Everyone's up here being angry or something, so someone's gotta."

Opening the book back up again, going to where he was, the boy showed the two a picture of the constellation he had been looking at earlier. Showing the note that Adel had  found earlier to Penelope, he said, "mayor seems to be quite the stargazer or something." The boy shrugged, pivoting and starting to walk towards the basement. However, after a few steps, he stopped and realized something. "Oh right. The five A's you guys found in that totally not suspicious and entirely fitting of a mayor's basement room wasn't five A's. It was like, some kind of letter ball sliding thing. Anyway, I'm pretty sure I got it so come along if you want to see some magic happen." The boy added some mock emphasis on the second to last word, before turning back and beginning to make his way downstairs. 

Once down there, he simply got a torch, walked back down the ladder and made his way over to the magic puzzle machine. Looking at the rat he said, "I see you haven't had much luck." Looking at the letters, the boy started to fiddle around with the puzzle again, sliding each and every letter into place. When he was done, the letters spelled out D - R - A - K - O. Clicking into place, the boy waited for a moment. And then heard another click. "Ta da." 

[Asriel Dreemurr 38]

Edrick was not surprised, but certainly disappointed that his insistence on helping had fallen upon deaf ears from Cora. Penelope's revelation of herself seemed to have helped, if only a bit. Seemed she was just opposed to letting him go about with the icon, which he took a moment to stare down at while he held it in an upturned palm. As much trouble as it was causing him, and as troubled as he was over the issue of Inera herself, he could not bring himself to discard it even for a moment. If his Father was to be believed, it was one of the only things from his birthplace that he had. One of a few thousand icons distributed to the various soldiers who participated in the Lyonesse War under the leadership of the last Archbishop of Pharaon. His feelings on the issue were complicated.

"Perhaps when we go to the town hall, or wherever it is we're supposed to go from here, Edrick should...stay behind." Gunther's suggestion...well, Edrick had mixed feelings on it. On the one hand he was honestly hurt that someone in the group would suggest that, after all he had gone through with them. Especially after dealing with the awakened as they had. Thankfully it seemed almost everyone else was on his side in that. Even Citron, who he had known for just a few hours at this point, came to his defense on the angle of his sticking around. That was vindicating, but he now realised exactly how much of a problem the knight had with him. Which, considering he was firmly attached to the princesses, made it...an issue for his continued sticking around. When he heard Shiro ask about the importance of the icon, he was about to offer an explanation and was quickly beaten to it. Though he did turn his gaze to Licorice curiously. He had not expected her to know so much about the Lady of Bones.

"I..." he tried to say something more and was cut off by Catriona well and truly placing her trust in him, leaving him to be the one to decide what did and did not become of the devotional icon. It was relieving to know how many of them believed in him, and he would do all he could not to fail in that belief. It wasn't quite the same as knowing that the Divine was watching over him, but his compatriots? He could accept that. But it seemed that it was time for him to properly speak up.

"Look," he finally said, turning to face Cora, "I'm not sure what to say, I hardly understand anything that's happened over the past day myself, but... I want to help." He paused, looked between her and Gunther, and then continued as his attention rested back on the Guard. "I'm from a village not too different from this, really. Off on the banks of a river where we grow wheat, barley, cranberries, and a dozen other things. And I know that if my friends and family were...turned into animals," he had to stop for a moment just to comprehend the ridiculousness of his statement, "I'd hope someone would be good enough to help them, and my mother always said the fastest way to bring good into the world was to put it there yourself. So... all I can really do is ask for you to trust me. I promise you I can't use this for anything but protection against magic." He did his best to sound earnest as he said all of that, a pleading expression on his face. The last thing he wanted was to be left behind.

[Wind Rider 10]

"This is yet another failing of living in isolated villages like we do," the fox shook her head. "We become complacent, and unaware of matters to which we should take heed." She glanced at Shiro. "Link is right. That 'necklace' as you call it is much more than a necklace. It is a holy symbol, worn only by those devoted to the goddess Inera, revered on a level far beyond how you frogs feel about your Frog Sage. There are many names for Her, such as the Lady of Life and Death, the Two-Faced Goddess, the Raven Queen, and many more. Surely even you must have heard of her."

"No. I like to learn about other kinds of things. Like reality," Shiro shot back sharply.

"J-just stop, you two!" Sienna said in a rather loud tone. "We... We shouldn't be fighting amongst ourselves... Not now..." She stated. The memory of her tribe and the frogs nearly waging war against each other still lingered in her mind, and now wasn't the time to be poking at those wounds. It did peak her interest though when Licorice started naming off the multitude of names this Goddess had, how did she know those names? But her mind was taken when Edrick finally started voicing his opinion on everyone's suspicions of him, saying that the necklace was simply for magical protection.

Sienna sighed and held her tail as she sat down. There didn't seem to be anything else she could say on the matter. She occasionally glanced at Licorice, curious about her knowledge on the Goddess.

[Tiamat's Circus 117]

Everything seemed to finally be shifting back to normal, as more and more people spoke up; defending Edrick. Additionally, a few of the others hadn’t really… Heard of the goddess, so brief descriptions here and there were given by various members of the group. Or, well, like, really only one of them really explained it but, it was good enough either way. She’d rather… Not hear the goddess discussed too heavily. Scratching at her arm, a slight smile came to Citron’s face as Edrick seemed to do his best to defend himself again, this time taking a much more… Diplomatic, approach. She herself hadn’t really done much, but it did make her happy to see everyone coming to support one of their own.

“Um…” Citron swallowed nervously. “I’m gonna go off on a limb, and guess that we’ve not got much time to afford to continuing this… Uh... Event, so, sorry if it seems like I’m just trying to move us past this, especially since, y’know, that’s what I’m trying to do,” Citron gestured vaguely, somewhat unsure what to really… Call what just happened. Too much information was spewed at once, and she felt like her head was spinning when she tried to process what all had happened; and even worse, she didn’t want them to linger on it too long. “But uh, to be honest, I think I must have missed most of the actually problem solving that happened during it, so, um…” She did her best to smile, glancing around the room. “Do you guys think we should follow and see what that Alois guy has been up to…? I mean, I know he was just here again, but he’s been in and out of the room a bit and left a while ago, and we really don't know what he's been doing, so...” Citron asked aloud, glancing around the room. “We could at least go see if we could get some sort of update, and see if that gives us any ideas, right?”

---

Now was Peaches’ turn to stay stock-still, as the doe began to approach her. She had seen many deer before; namely when her rider would send her out to hunt for herself, but not only did this one smell weird… It wasn’t running away. That enough meant the doe was more powerful, or scarier than those she had seen before, right? After all, it’d have no reason to approach otherwise…! Lowering herself to the ground, Peaches stared at the doe carefully, especially as it craned it’s head forwards. Peaches gave a quick flick of her tongue to taste the air one again, and… Also as a sign. Once again, for what, she didn’t know, but she was pretty sure deer didn’t understand loud screeching, and this was her best bet. Mlem.

[LordCowCow 840]

It was maddening. Cora couldn't understand why they all were so quick to defend one who worships the Goddess so openly. Even stranger was that some didn't seem to understand the severity of the situation. Her thoughts on the matter were so loud in her mind that she almost missed what that Shiro guy had said.

But then it hit her, a few moments later. "Wait what?" She said, staring at him in confusion. Turn into animals? She glanced to the two fox-eared girls. She had thought perhaps they had encountered a similar type of curse but it sounded like something else. Able to turn into animals at will? That sounded ridiculous and yet after all this, and given the lack of reaction from the others, it seemed to be true.

Did that mean they had something to do with this after all? If they could turn themselves into animals maybe they could to others as well.

Cora was frightened. These people scared her.

"I'm not sure what to say, I hardly understand anything that's happened over the past day myself, but... I want to help."

The words that followed should have calmed her. One part of her did feel somewhat more relaxed. But that also alerted her as well. Was that it? "I...see, I understand." Cora said slowly. She was starting to figure this out. Either these people were all secretly worshipers. Or this young man was some kind of priest who had tricked them, perhaps with foul magic, to trust in him.

Either way it was unnerving. She had fought bandits, and wild animals, but this group frightened her more than they ever had. Worse still Alois was stuck with them. And she didn't even want to think of the implications of princesses being in thrall to the Goddess.

The fear on her face was obvious to any with some level of perception but she tried her best to keep calm. And keep her voice confident when she spoke next, "Fine, do as you will, but I'm watching."

She had to let them continue. There was no way she could fix this alone. But she would be on the watch for any betrayal. And when they had solved this...she would deal with this then.

Spoiler

Just an OOC note that Penelope followed after Alois when he left. So she'd be down there with him atm

 

[The Last Occultist 16]

Adel

"I wonder what did that boy find..."

Done with looking around under the bed, Adel moved into other places, checking the desk and around once more before going to where earlier she found the big locked box. Alois' discovery, whatever it was, seemed to be something substantial, but she felt like she was still missing something too as far as missing pieces go. She knew that she was closer to figuring out the situation than before, but it was not enough. Anything suspicious, pieces of papers, anything really, she was sure that there might still be something left up here. Whether that was the case or not remained to be seen, but especially with how downstairs sounded like a ruckus still, Adel had no intention to go down and give up on her search.

---

Ciela

Country bumpkins sure can be a pain sometimes...

As the argument continued, Ciela could only watch while sighing. Ultimately, Catriona resolved this one in a better way compared to similar past argument, so that was a good point, at least. The judgment had been cast, and even with the tension remaining within the rest of the group, at least the group was not being on a risk of collapsing at a moment's notice, so soon before they would be able to get to the bottom of this mess too.

"I agree with Ms. Fruit here. Alois looks like he found something real interesting earlier. Kinda scary seeing him actually excited over something." Right yeah. This was a good direction to go with. Whether everyone else agreed with the idea or not, Ciela already turned around and followed Alois down. As the path became dark, she used her staff's soft light to slightly illuminate the way.
 

 

Edited January 1, 2020 by Merry Nightmare

[Sethera 290]

Licorice watched Shiro for a response to her earlier words, the air in the room growing taut with tension.

"No. I like to learn about other kinds of things. Like reality," the frog shot back sharply.

The black fox's eyes narrowed. She opened her mouth, but the words she meant to say never formed beyond a growl in her throat, cut off by the sound of another.

"J-just stop, you two!" Sienna's voice rose. "We... We shouldn't be fighting amongst ourselves... Not now..."

A pause, then another, two clicks that stopped at a sigh as the Protean exhaled slowly. "You're right, Sienna. That was rude of me," her ears flattened. "I apologize for that, Shiro. I suppose I am just a bit on edge from this situation," she gestured toward Cora and the others.

Catriona turned away from the scene, letting out a breath as she noted Licorice following Alois and Penelope downstairs. It has been settled, however temporarily. An argument on top of everything else could very well be the spark to set off a fight. Which was exactly what they didn't need. They needed to focus on breaking this curse and procuring information. A feat that would be made all the more difficult if they were forced to cut down one of the villagers.

Thankfully, the situation had started to unwind after Edrick's reassurance and Cora's reluctant acceptance. Even the animals had calmed down, Rohns being cajoled by a scratch behind the ears and some jerky. The beaver had stopped glaring at everybody, and the badger had stopped growling. This was good. Aggressive people Catriona could handle. Aggressive animals on the other hand... We all saw how well that went. Still, did their lessening aggression mean that they were satisfied with the direction this was going? Was this all part of some greater scheme? Catriona couldn't say for sure yet, but she would be sure to be careful.

A noble had once advised her with the words, "The pot doth simmer, for it knows not to boil. There'th time for all things." Back then, she had no idea what he meant, but now, she felt it an apt description for their situation.

In the midst of this uncertain atmosphere, Citron spoke up. “Um…” she swallowed nervously. “I’m gonna go off on a limb, and guess that we’ve not got much time to afford to continuing this… Uh... Event, so, sorry if it seems like I’m just trying to move us past this, especially since, y’know, that’s what I’m trying to do,” Citron gestured vaguely. “But uh, to be honest, I think I must have missed most of the actually problem solving that happened during it, so, um…” She smiled shakily, glancing around the room. “Do you guys think we should follow and see what that Alois guy has been up to…? I mean, I know he was just here again, but he’s been in and out of the room a bit and left a while ago, and we really don't know what he's been doing, so...” The girl kept turning her head to look between everybody. “We could at least go see if we could get some sort of update, and see if that gives us any ideas, right?”

"I agree with Ms. Fruit here. Alois looks like he found something real interesting earlier. Kinda scary seeing him actually excited over something."

"A sound plan," Catriona affirmed as she stepped forward--ignoring the last part of Ciela's sentence. She had seen Alois arrive and look through some books before departing, but had not paid him much mind. He had said something strange, however. Something about a letter ball slider and magic. Which, now that she thought more on it, sounded suspicious in and of itself. "Let us head for the basement, and see if Alois has discovered aught of import." While Penelope was with him, it would still not do for them to be separated for long. On that note...

"I will bring Adelaide here first," she said, noting Ciela already making her way downstairs, and strode toward the staircase leading up. Walking up, she stopped once she reached the top. Normally, she would've left the other alone, but with her new suspicions about this village and its possible connection to the goddess, she couldn't take the chance of any of their number coming to harm. It would be safer if they all moved together.

--

Upstairs, Adelaide had well and truly turned the room upside-down in her search for clues. She would have spent enough time to have figured out the connection between the name "Erimax" and this place after reading through the letters, as well as the significance of the toys in the closet. She would have also been able to figure out the connection between the village's export of Dragon's Breath wine and the recipe in the chest. However, there was little to be found beyond that.

The one oddity would have been the rug. At first glance, it seemed like a normal rug, but on closer inspection, she noted that one of the embroidered wyverns flying around the border had four legs instead of the two they were known for, and their wings were larger, their form more elegant overall.

However, there was nothing to be seen from inspecting the rug further, nor anything underneath it either.

That was when Catriona's call reached her. "Adelaide, Alois has discovered something of note about the basement, so we have all decided to investigate. Let us depart."

--

Once Catriona had gathered those who had not already followed Alois, she began the walk downstairs. Descending to the basement, she glanced around in curiosity. She had briefly been down here before, when gathering the others to convene upstairs, but this was the first time she could actually take her time examining it. Still, for all intents and purposes, it was an ordinary cellar, save for the separate room with the large open trapdoor in the center.

Climbing down the ladder with the others, the first thing she noticed was just how dark it was. However, as she blinked, the woman could see two sources of light from up ahead. One a warm, flickering light, the other a pale blue glow. As she moved closer she began to distinguish forms, and could pick out Alois holding a candle as well as Ciela holding her staff aloft, though it seemed less a source of its own and more a reflection of the candlelight.

"So this is the place," Catriona said, stepping forward to the fore. Glancing over the wooden keypad to the right, she noted the word on it with some confusion. "Drako? How did you come to guess that?" she asked Alois. After all, that word was not a particularly conventional one. Had Catriona attempted a guess, she would not have thought of this word. But it sounds...familiar. Perhaps I came across it in my studies before.

Well, it would not do to mull too long over such things. What mattered was that, hopefully, this was the answer they needed, thus they could move forward. "If that is correct, then let us try..." she turned the door handle, frowning when it moved easily under her grip. So it seems that was correct, after all. With a low creak, the door opened. Pushing it further, Catriona stepped forward into darkness.

What awaited them was a continuation of the tunnel, but it ended shortly in front of them, so it seemed more as if they stood in a square room of sorts. To the side was an identical keypad to the one they had seen earlier, with the word "DRAKO" across it as well. The wall in front had a wooden ladder set sturdily into the ground, just like the one they had climbed down from the basement. However, oddly enough, it ended at the ceiling. Even if they climbed up the ladder, they wouldn't be able to go any further. Still, there was something strange about the ceiling. While most of it was the brown of packed earth, the large square-shaped portion directly above the ladder was a uniform pale gray, almost white.

--

Outside, the doe continued its careful approach, finally stopping right in front of Peaches. It then began to sniff at her, giving special attention to the collar around her neck. Nodding to itself, it stepped back and opened its mouth, letting out a soft bleat right at the wyvern.

---

OOC

Spoiler

We've moved on...kinda. Looks like we might have a dead end in front of us. Post with your characters' reactions and actions. I have cleared everybody from the indoor maps on the assumption we're all in the deep basement area.

If you want to know where the animals are, the badger and beaver are both with Cora, the rat is still near Alois, and the deer is outside with Peaches. The wolf is probably with Link.

Edited March 4, 2022 by Sethera

[LordCowCow 840]

Penelope smiled as Alois showed him the note. "My my, I knew there had to be something I was missing. This does certainly fill in the missing pieces, doesn't it?" She felt a strange sense of pride that Alois had figured this out. She wasn't sure why. He wasn't even one of her subjects, after all, but even so.

She followed him down to the tunnel and raised an eye as he spoke to the rat.  "I see you haven't had much luck."

"Trying to pawn off your work on a poor rat, shameful." Penelope said with a teasing smile.

Truthfully she was fascinated by the layout of this area as she looked around. "It's almost as complicated as some of the vaults in the castle. Yet it's in the basement of the mayor of such a small town. Incredible...there is much about this place that is starting to fit together. If I'm right...well, I suppose we just have to continue."

"Ta da." 

Penelope gave the boy a short mock applause and curtseyed. "I am most impressed, truly you're a master at your craft, oh magician." She leaned in towards the door and prepared to open it but paused. Figuring perhaps she should wait for the others to come in.

So she stood off to the side, tapping her foot impatiently, as the rest filed in. "So good of you to join us." She said with a smile, presenting the door.

It was Catriona, of course, who ultimately opened the way into the next section.

Which turned out to be a fairly bare-bones room, of a sort, with a ladder to nothing. "Interesting." Penelope said, moving to the center of the room.

"Interesting." She repeated as she looked to the keypad. "Very interesting." She said, looking up at the ceiling. "What wonders await us, you really didn't want someone coming this way, did you?" She looked over her shoulder at the Badger. But at least this one seemed much simpler than previous.

---

It was difficult not to say anything as Edrick defended himself. Gunther was growing sicker and sicker of how casually everyone seemed to accept this. It didn't matter what kind of place Edrick was from. If he truly was innocent he wouldn't worship the Goddess in the first place. How was that so hard to see? It truly was black and white. The Goddess was wrong, evil, corrupt, and if you couldn't see that...

He sighed and closed his eyes. He had to relax. There was something more important to focus on right now. Though, as it turned out, he hadn't any need to do anything about it. As he expected those smarter than he had already figured out the puzzle that lay before him. Which was a relief, if he were to be honest, he wasn't in the right mindset to be figuring out riddles and the like.

He patiently waited for Catriona to get Adelaide before heading with her down to the tunnel that the others had found before. He noticed Cora, too, was waiting. An obviously nervous look on her face and her arms crossed so tightly across her chest you'd think they were frozen there. He had an urge to say something to her but, as he opened his mouth to say something, her sharp gaze stopped him. He gave her an understanding nod, hoping she got his intent, before following close behind Catriona. He hesitated but, as they made their way down, leaned in towards her. "If it comes down to it, I'd like if we could avoid harming the villagers, they've done nothing wrong here as far as I can tell."

That was all he said as soon they were all together down in a square room with, he realized with a sigh, yet another thing to figure out.

True to form Penelope seemed to grasp the situation quite quickly. He figured that meant there was something obvious just from looking around. But he had no idea what that could be.

---

Cora stiffly stood in position. Trying to look confident, casual, and alert, and failing at all three. When the leader of the group called for them to follow Alois, she wasn't surprised that he had been the one to figure it out, down into the basement she stepped forward to follow along. But she stopped herself and abruptly went back into position. "I shall go in last." She stated. And she'd follow through with it. No matter if one of them wanted to go last instead she would not go until they had. She wasn't about to let any of these people behind her if she could help it.

She was startled when the Knight had approached her. She bristled somewhat though remembered that he had been the one to suggest the devil boy stay behind. Perhaps at least one of them weren't in cahoots with him...

Even so she couldn't let down her guard. Though she felt a bit guilty at the nod he gave her. Was she being harsh?

No, she had to stick to her guns, even if there was a tugging feeling that told her otherwise.

Entering the room last she simple slipped to the side of the entrance and kept her gaze on all of them.

She probably should be trying to figure out what to do next but she was far too focused on making sure one of them didn't try to sacrifice her to a blood ritual for victory or something of the sort.

[Skaia 578]

Alois couldn't help but smirk a bit at Penelope's praise towards him as he managed to unlock the door. Even if it did have a bit of a sarcastic edge to it, the boy still felt some pride in it all the same and said, "of course. You'll find there's no door or box I can't  figure out how to open." As the two then proceeded to wait downstairs for the others, the group seemed poised and ready to go through the door and see what was beyond. Alois, smirking more now from the other princess's praise of his ability said, "well, it was pretty simple. Once I found out the mayor was a bit of a stargazer and just paid attention to the letters he scratched around the place, it all came together. You can read the note and book I gave Penelope if you're more curious." 

With that brief explanation out of the way, Alois continued to walk down the tunnel. Though it was certainly strange, the further they walked through it, the more annoyed Alois got at the mayor, again, apparently going out of his way to build and dig this thing out. All the same, once they got to the end, Alois looked up to see yet another thing that they had to do. Looking at the panel, then up at the ladder, Alois looked to the badger after Penelope had. "Well, glad to see you got some good exercise in at least when you built this whole escape route of yours."

Tsetseg meanwhile had been trailing behind the rest of the group the whole time. The girl didn't really make her way downstairs quickly, and add to that she didn't want to be near the Isaurian in the tunnel. Naturally, at Cora's behest, Tsetseg went in before her and didn't seem to mind it either as she marveled at the underground tunnel. She briefly wondered if when she went back home she could try building a secret tunnel underneath her own home, though realized it probably wouldn't work as her family moved around constantly. And that would be rude to the animals to just keep leaving them huge ditches. Unless she made the hole also portable! 

The girl's train of thought came to an end as the group had reached the next segment of the tunnel. The girl didn't really get what was going on with the wooden panel, but she did recognize the letters "A" and "K," and so didn't pay attention to it. Instead, she looked at the ladder. Then at the panel at the top. The girl thought about it for a few more moments before thinking of something else. Going to the ladder, the girl simply began climbing up it, before getting to the top and pushing at the panel that blocked progress forward. 

[Tiamat's Circus 117]

Everything seemed to defuse, albeit not without a hair of tension in the process. Before Citron knew it, and as soon as she herself had calmed down, they were being led downstairs by the Boss Lady, Catriona. “I wonder what’s been found…” She asked aloud, to no one in particular as she moved a hand to her chin. It had been a good while, at least relatively, since most of the group had been down there, so if Alois had uncovered something, it was bound to be something big, right?

She continued to follow Catriona as they went down a ladder, she was initially blind-sided by the darkness, making sure to stay close to the others as they walked. It wasn’t until they got within sight of the light; the candle and faint glow, that she eased up, moving a hand to scratch at her arm. Before she could think to say anything however, Catriona started off in a conversation with Alois, confirming her suspicions. Apparently, the whole letter-guessing game that she was… Hardly helpful with, had been for this device that had letters on it, displaying the word ‘DRAKO’. How weird.

Weirder still, however, was further into the cave as Catriona moved them through the hallway, opening the door with little problem. A new problem arose, however, as a new set of letters - still spelling DRAKO - appeared, with another ladder and… A closed off-patch of rock, at the top. Alois immediately started by making a snide remark towards the badger, something she couldn’t really fault him for, while the Rude Girl climbed the ladder and tried to move the patch of rock. Crouching down a little, however, Citron turned to face the badger, tilting her head to the side. “Um… Excuse me, Sir, but, you wouldn’t happen to mind telling us a little bit about how to open the way, would you?” She asked, scratching at her arm. “Like, by gesturing at the wall or…” She trailed off.

Her grandfather had taught her something about how to talk or communicate with those unable to speak, for one reason or another, hadn’t he? Even if they had just lost their voice, it was… “Oh! I know,” she smiled, clasping her hands. “If it’s a puzzle in this room, you could growl, or, bark, or… Make one noise, and if it has to be opened from the other side, you could make two!” She smiled, clapping a bit. “Or, if you can’t say or don’t know, make three…?” She added, sounding a bit less sure of herself. These animals could understand them, right?

---

Peaches went still as the doe sniffed at her collar, prompting the wyvern to move away just a hair. The two bags affixed to both it, and tied around her back were two Citron never fully removed; so to have the collar and harness examined was… Anxiety producing, for reasons she couldn’t explain to anyone, not even herself. The wyvern did, however, relax as the doe stepped away bleating. Tilting her head to the side, the wyvern gave a quick flick of her tongue, assuming the bleats meant the doe was… Friendly? It hadn’t attacked, so it must have been friendly enough. “Screeeee.” Was all the wyvern had to say on the matter, doing her best not to truly screech.

[Saikazo 241]

"You're right, Sienna. That was rude of me," her ears flattened. "I apologize for that, Shiro. I suppose I am just a bit on edge from this situation," she gestured toward Cora and the others. Now, was Shiro sorry? Not one bit. If being the voice of reason was wrong, well, then he never wanted to be right. However... he did need to be careful, and frankly, not even the foxes deserved the sharp tone he gave... not yet anyways.

"I apologize to. I admit it is tense right now, and I lost my cool... not something I should be doing," Especially since he needed to keep an eye on... well, everything, frankly. However, now was not the time to ponder upon that. Instead, it seemed Alois had indeed came across something important, namely a way to open the burn resistant door. Indeed, that was quite the discovery. Shiro waited for everyone to climb down in the basement, ready to follow behind... except for one small hitch.

The town person that refused to go in. It was obvious. She wanted him to go in first. Frankly, he didn't believe it to be a good idea. Seeing how she reacted to Edrick and being the cause of the whole argument the group just had, he wasn't sure if she wouldn't do something like try to lock them in, or set the house on fire in an attempt to have the tunnel be filled with smoke and cause them all to die.

So it was a tense minute as the other silently urged the other to go first, neither one willing to go first. The longer they waited, the more suspicious Shiro felt. However, in the end, Shiro had to lose their little game of chicken, seeing as if he dwelt here any longer, he'd lose sight of the foxes, who were just as important of a watch target. So he compromised. He never took his eyes off of Cora as he walked into the tunnel, even walking backwards down the tunnel to make sure she didn't do anything funny. The only thing of note was Gunther speaking to her, although what he said, the frog didn't know.

Soon, they came to a room with the only thing of note was another 'keypad' and a ladder that lead into the ceiling. The archer made her way up and tried to push against the ceiling, so Shiro walked over, standing under the ladder, ready to catch her should she fall. And seeing her track record so far... well, he needed to be there.

[Wind Rider 10]

Sienna gave a small smile, seeing Licorice and Shiro apologize to eachother gave her a little hope for the two. This bad blood between the frogs and foxes could last a while, but however small it was, this was progress. "Let us head for the basement, and see if Alois has discovered aught of import." Catriona said. Sienna's ears twitched curiously, did Alois figure out that puzzle down in the tunnel? Only one way to find out. She followed everyone back down into the tunnel, which was admittedly a little cramped now with everyone there, thank goodness that wyvern wasn't with them.

Down at the now opened door, Sienna looked over at the panels from before. "Drako." So that was the passcode. Looking inside, it seemed like just another dead end. Another panel for a passcode was on the wall and a latter leading into the ceiling we're all that was there. Tsetseg was the first to climb the ladder to see if the top was a trap door. "By Inari... How much security can one simple building need?" Sienna said, scratching her head out of confusion.

 

[The Last Occultist 16]

Ciela Celestinia

"...Another dead end, seriously?"

Ciela groaned. They had progressed so much... but ultimately all it led to was to another dead end. There did exist another panel for the next passcode, but right now it seemed like nobody had really anything in mind of what it might be. She couldn't help but to agree with what Sienna said - for such a simple house, the security measures here had been ridiculous so far. All the more making everything suspicious, but even so an overkill was still an overkill.

In the end, Ciela wasn't really one to do anything right now, and decided to wait for Tsetseg and the others who decided to check on the ladder while hoping that whatever the passcode for the next section was, the group would be able to find it sooner or later. She felt that it might be dangerous if by nightfall they hadn't made any significant progress.

 

Adelaide Sigrdifa

Meanwhile, Adel's mind was busy thinking about the clues she found upstairs. The Dragon Breath wine was naturally the focus of her attention, especially after finding such a strange recipe for it there. More than it was an actual recipe, it was like a rite of worship instead. With everything shady that had been pointed out about the town, Adel felt wary about it. ANd so, she decided to showcase that recipe to Catriona.

"My liege. were there any Dragon's Breath wine during your search downstairs? I have found the recipe for it, and its contents were... well, it was quite concerning. It is best that you read it by yourself."

That was all that she was able to do right now. As the group were in another dead end, Adel decided to not do much and wait until new things pop out instead.

[Cheshire Toon 141]

Lincoln followed the group back to the basement. He usually brought up the rear, but Cora was incredibly unsubtle about her desire to be at the back, going so far as to outright stop walking once when he slowed his gait to let her pass him. He chose to surrender the spot quietly rather than irritate the already inflamed tensions between the guardswoman and their company. 

The trip was an awkward one. The basement was still shrouded in darkness and no one had much to say. Link fidgeted with the buckles of his scabbard, uncomfortable with just how comfortable he felt when the room was devoid of light. When would the shadows stop being like a second skin to him, he wondered as the heavy fall of Cora’s feet echoed behind him. Most people had a deep-seated and primal fear of them; that instinct was what kept them alive before the dawn of kings and kingdoms, when demons and beasts ruled the world and humans were just guests in it. He felt better in them. 

What did that say about him?

He banished such thoughts once they caught up to Alois. The boy had cracked the code, revealing a long corridor that eventually lead to a dead end. A ladder connected the floor to ceiling -- the only thing of real note about it was the white panel at the top of the ladder. Potentially something that could be shoved out of the way? Tsetseg beat him to the punch, already working on it. 

There once again wasn’t much he could contribute at the moment. He took up a position at the entrance of the room, watching, waiting for a moment he could offer some kind of useful information.

[Asriel Dreemurr 38]

Edrick was, for the time being, more relaxed now that things had apparently been settled with Cora. Or at the very least that a confrontation had been set aside to be resolved another time. He should have expected something like that, but when even the Princesses had accepted him after he revealed who he was he had been given reason to hope. To have that dashed hit him harder than he wanted to admit. After all what good was faith if it did not inspire faith? But...could he even claim to have faith himself now? His thoughts fell into another downward spiral as the group gathered and began making their way down to investigate what it was that Alois had found. One thing he noticed that hurt him all the more even in spite of how little it surprised him was how Gunther seemed to be plotting something with her. He knew the knight didn't like him much, but now he found himself stuck looking over his shoulder in anticipation of being struck in the back. That is, until he turned his head by chance and caught sight of the word that had unlocked their way.

Drako. It was not exact, but it was close enough to the Old Pontic word "Draco," which he had only ever seen used in a single context. Had they actually found what the Princesses were looking for? But if they had then why was the room beyond so empty and bare? Even so, things were starting to turn in his head. For this place to have been cursed in such a fashion, especially if they were associated with the Great Dragon so close to the Pontic border, there were only two possibilities that occurred to him. The first was, well, that these heathens had gotten their just rewards. That whatever deal they had cut with the Dragon had finally gone sour, which in spite of himself gave the young Pontic some small amount of satisfaction. The other, and more frightening, prospect was... the opposite. That one of the greats among Inera's faithful had levied The Goddess's power against them. He did not believe they could withstand such a foe, but all the same... he resolved himself to do that exactly. He wondered if his Father and Uncle had ever felt like this, like Fate was coming to demand an answer from them. All the same, he approached Catriona while his grip tightened on his lance. He waited for Adelaide to speak before he did the same.

"Princess," he said more curtly than he intended, "I think you may be closer to your goal than any of us guessed. 'Drako,' while not...quite the same is very similar to a word in Old Pontic. It might not have the same importance here, but... well I've only ever seen 'Draco' refer to one thing." Unwilling to say more, he found his gaze darting around like he expected them to come under attack at any moment... wait, why was there a- "that stone's not natural."

[Sethera 290]

As Alois explained how he had come to his conclusions, Catriona could not help but be reminded of one of the times she had listened in on a strategy meeting. One of the leaders had decided for the squad Catriona was in to be positioned near the meadow downstream of the river ford instead of the more strategically obvious thicket upstream. A reserve squad would dig shallow trenches in the meadow and hide there. She had protested this decision, seeing as it would be far easier to just hide in the forest to the north, but had been ignored. A fortuitous choice in hindsight, as that had been exactly what the Pontics had expected them to do. The enemy had sent most of their men upstream in pursuit of the Garou, sending only a small contingent downstream, which had been easily defeated. It had been simple enough to confront the ones upstream from there.

This was the kind of move Catriona could never have come up with herself. It seemed that for every solution she thought up, there were ten more she missed. Even with all the facts placed in front of her, she couldn't cobble them together into a shape that meant anything. Yet people like her sister and Alois could paint a complete picture with only bits and pieces of information. Were Catriona to find out that the mayor was a stargazer, she would dismiss it as a mere trifle. Yet this village boy discerned its significance. It was almost like magic, the way he then combined that with a random scattering of letters to come up with the exact right answer they needed. He offered her a chance to look at the note and book he had left with Penelope, but the lord shook her head. She would probably just end up even more confused.

As they walked, Gunther leaned in, whispering: "If it comes down to it, I'd like if we could avoid harming the villagers, they've done nothing wrong here as far as I can tell."

Catriona said nothing. If things went south, she could not guarantee the lives of any who went against her. If these people tried to capture her and bring her to Pontus, she would not hesitate to cut them down, civilians or not.

After entering the room, multiple people turned to the badger and addressed it. Why, exactly, Catriona wasn't sure. It was a badger; it couldn't talk back. Still, it seemed to react in some way to their words. Purposefully turning away from Alois, it let out a single, gruff bark toward Citron.

Near the back of the group, Licorice was fiddling with the door handle on this side for some reason, letting out a hum when it turned under her grip. The fox also seemed to be focused on a corner of the room behind them, though when Catriona turned toward it she saw nothing interesting. There was a rat, but it quickly scurried toward the doorway as soon as she laid eyes on it. Probably just an ordinary rodent.

Adel chose that moment to walk up, a scrap of parchment in hand. "My liege, were there any Dragon's Breath wine during your search downstairs? I have found the recipe for it, and its contents were... well, it was quite concerning. It is best that you read it by yourself."

The badger twitched, turning toward the two as the lord took the recipe from the pegasus knight. "I did not find any bottles, though it does appear that the mayor is in the process of making wine." She paused as she finished reading. "I am unable to identify most of the ingredients here," the white-haired woman said flatly. This is actually quite strange. While Catriona was not versed in the making of wines, she was familiar with the basics. Calling herself a sommelier would be going too far, but she could certainly classify herself as an enthusiast.

So, these unknown ingredients...what did they mean then? Was there something more to this Dragon's Breath wine than she had originally believed?

"Princess," Edrick said, voice curt, "I think you may be closer to your goal than any of us guessed. 'Drako,' while not...quite the same is very similar to a word in Old Pontic. It might not have the same importance here, but... well I've only ever seen 'Draco' refer to one thing."

So she wasn't the only one bothered by that word. Though it seemed that Edrick had an idea of what it meant, while Catriona was still in the dark. Quite literally, she thought, glancing around the room. Their only source of light was the candle, which seemed to be on the verge of going out, and the faint reflection of Ciela's staff.

The lancer was more concerned with another part of their surroundings, however. "That stone's not natural."

It appeared that Tsetseg had already come to that very same conclusion, as she had quickly scaled the ladder and began to push up at the white stone. However, it didn't seem to do anything. At least not right away. After a few seconds, the girl seemed to have discovered something strange about the ceiling, and stopped pushing up, only to start pushing sideways somehow. As she did so, a heavy scraping noise came from above, and the white, square-shaped panel seemed to get narrower and narrower, becoming more of a rectangle than a square. However, what was revealed after it being moved was not the dirt ceiling of the tunnel, but bright sunlight.

Immediately afterward, the air started to clear up, and the group, who had started to breathe more heavily due to the lack of air underground, would find their breathing going back to normal. The flame that had started to flicker on the candlewick burned bright and strong now. With the new light, Catriona could also see what appeared to be a large square-shaped alcove within the white stone panel, deep enough for somebody to place their hands against the side and push.

Eventually, Tsetseg succeeded in moving the panel aside entirely, taking her hands out of the alcove and just shoving against the outside when there was no more space to push. Climbing out of what was now revealed to be another trapdoor of sorts, the archer waited for the rest to climb up.

Catriona was one of the first to ascend. From her new angle she could see that she had just exited a large square-shaped hole, and what had been blocking their way out was not in fact, a trapdoor, but a large marble statue with a wide, square-shaped base. That observation was little more than an afterthought, however. Most of her attention was transfixed on the part above the base.

BGM

A graceful, serpentine tail. Sharp-clawed feet resting atop a bed of clouds. Angular wings cupped ever so slightly as if they were about to take off. The neck, as elegantly curved as a swan. And the head. With its mouth slightly open to reveal pointed teeth and a forked tongue, it would look fearsome and terrible were it not for the eyes. Unlike the rest of the statue, these were not made of marble, but carved from almost flawless emeralds, with a solemnness to their gaze that lent the statue an air of majesty rather than terror.

"This...it can't be," Catriona muttered. "Is this...?"

"My, what an interesting place we've found ourselves in," Licorice's voice caused the lord to jump slightly and glance around, noting that the rest of the group had arrived while she stood there in a daze. Unsurprisingly, the badger and beaver were unfazed by their surroundings. What was actually surprising was how they had managed to climb up the ladder in the first place. Licorice is right. It's not just the statue. This whole area is...strange.

They were standing in an empty, spacious room. While it was already quite large, the vaulted ceiling made it appear even more so. Two stories' worth of arched glass windows interspersed with unlit candelabra let in sunlight that gave certain patches of stone flooring a golden hue. Just in front of the group stood a stone table, atop which rested an empty pewter chalice and a bouquet of multicolored bell-shaped flowers that those familiar with would recognize as snapdragons. Just beyond were several rows of wooden benches, all of which were unusually long, facing their direction. Above their head was what looked to be a balcony of sorts, and just behind was a large stained glass window depicting the same creature from the statue in all the colors of the rainbow. Also behind and to each side were two plain wooden doors, a large contrast to the one at the end of the pathway between the benches. The door was round, tall enough for two people stacked on top of each other, and wide enough for four side-by-side, framed by a carved stone archway showcasing what looked at first glance to be a four-legged wyvern in flight.

Watching the dust motes dance in the sunlit air, Catriona let out a breath. "This place is..." she trailed off, unsure how to finish. While there was no denying the beauty of this room, and the peace she felt at gazing upon the statue, there was something unsettling about this place all the same. Was it the alien nature of the carvings? She was used to seeing lions and horses in art, not serpentine creatures. No, it's not that. It's almost as if...there's something that doesn't belong.

"It's here," Licorice said suddenly, ears flattening. "The magical anchor. I can feel its presence nearby." The Protean frowned. "I still think we should leave. This is dangerous, and it's none of our business."

Catriona felt a spike of irritation pierce through her earlier calm. "And I believe we should stay. We need to break the curse on this village and get some answers from the locals." About this place...and about what they have been doing. The woman turned to the others. "Let us begin searching for this anchor."

--

Outside, the doe would wriggle its nose in what looked to be frustration, before starting to scratch at the dirt with one of its hooves. First a long, vertical line. An I. It then moved on to a different letter, and then the next, and so forth, before finally stepping away with a proud bleat, revealing a single sentence. IS ALOIS HERE? It stared expectantly at Peaches, as if waiting for a response.

---

OOC

Spoiler

Okay, you all are in a new place now. Look around, react and stuff. I figured I didn't need a map since the picture does a pretty good job of showing the surroundings. At the moment, everybody is next to the statue, which is at one end of the room, with an altar in front and several pews facing them beyond the altar. There are two doors behind the statue and to the side, and a single door at the other end of the room.

If you need information, let me know.

Edited January 21, 2020 by Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd

[LordCowCow 840]

Penelope was rather excited to see what might come next. Of course, she had some idea of what to expect, but even so this was playing out incredibly well. It seemed most of the others were more frustrated than anything about having to figure something else out. Even if the "solution" of sorts was something rather mundane.

"I think you may be closer to your goal than any of us guessed. 'Drako,' while not...quite the same is very similar to a word in Old Pontic. It might not have the same importance here, but... well I've only ever seen 'Draco' refer to one thing."

There was a smirk that formed on Penelope's lips at that. Catching on, were they? She was almost certain of her theory at this point. Yet she didn't want to speak of it. It was always best to save such reveals for when you had proof after all.

It didn't take long for Tsetseg to figure out how to get through to the next area in their journey and Penelope happily followed her up into what she thought could be the town hall.

If it was it was rather interesting how....religious it was. The decor stood out greatly and even Catriona seemed to have some idea of the implication. She was bouncing on her heels as her eyes darted from side to side. "There's probably something through those doors. Likely what we're searching for. But as for me..." She looked over at the statue. It was rather grand, and had gems that, for such a town, were rather out of place. Curious she approached it and called Gunther over. "I want a closer look." She told him, and smiled at his sigh.

 

---

 

Gunther watched nervously as Tsetseg climbed the ladder and, holding on with only one hand, started to mess with whatever it was above her head. Penelope seemed not worried about it, and Shiro was underneath, so he thought there was likely no danger but he still let out a sigh of relief as she finished what she was doing without trouble.

He made sure no one was near as he climbed the ladder, as, with his armor, him falling could seriously hurt someone. But when he got to the top he stared at the sights before him. "Something this grand is in a place like this?" He winced, and looked over at the three villagers. "No offense meant, I assure you, just....you know, it's uh...I'll stop now." He finished awkwardly.

Still, what was a place like this doing here? These people clearly put a lot of care into it and it seemed to be somewhere important for them. But why? It didn't seem to serve much purpose being that way. Unless this, too, had its share of secrets. He shuddered at the thought of even more puzzles to solve.

And then he heard Penelope. More importantly he heard her tone. And knew she was about to ask him to do something silly.

True to his thoughts she wanted him to lift her up to give her a better look at the statue. "Princess, that's not....very appropriate is it?"

Her smile, without words, made him realize that she wasn't going to let it go. So, with a sigh and an awkward glance at the others, he moved over towards the princess and lifted her up onto his shoulders to allow her to inspect the statue easier.

 

---

 

Cora wasn't as taken in by their surroundings as the others, though she was surprised at where the path under the mayor's house had taken them, as she was more focused on her worry about what the others were doing.

Evidently this is where the magic...thing, was. But she didn't see anything that seemed out of place. Which meant it was somewhere else, if nearby, and it meant that whoever had done this could still be in here somewhere.

How, she wasn't sure, given how sealed the building seemed to be, but she couldn't shake the feeling that they were going to encounter someone, or something, soon while they looked around.

She didn't even realize she had a hand on the pommel of her sword as she moved down the pews, keeping her eyes on the group. "If you find anything let me know." She said, her voice nervous. "Don't take anything. Okay?" She looked over towards Penelope and frowned. Who answered with a dismissive wave of her hand.