"A forced conversion is no conversion at all." Mylea confirms. "You have my word - I'll preach the right way." Sighing, and a little reluctantly, she pulls herself away from the comfort of the the bed, and the warmth of the married couple, grabbing the journal and handing it to Victoria. "There was a blue stone also, magically infused, which was linked to the beast. Sadly, to destroy the creature, the stone also needed to be destroyed."
Avella sigh when she failed to find plant for dryad, she hoped that dryad would vitness thief and share with them that information. Well, her help isn't yet necessery. After reaching lumber camp, Avella wave to Marda. "Hello Marda. With me is Lathrul, elven mercenary. Lathrul, meet Marda, talented young druid." Elven paladin introduce both sides and then turn to their pupuse. "I need your help with one quest, which could be very profit to us if we succed. We have to track down thief, which stolen heirdom of noble family. Well, capturing thief isn't most important, like getting back heirdom and bringing it back to owners. As we know, thief could be somewhere on the south or east from Marika, so we need help of nature expert. Are you in?"
“Let me see...” Victoria opens the diary and starts looking. Almost immediately she grimaces and looks away. “Ouch, that's one annoying spell... I should be able to overcome it, but it will take a few hours. Would you mind leaving it with me? I will let you know once I have been able to get rid of the spell, and then we can read it together, if you want.” “You think it might contain information about the wolf beast?” Edward asks his wife. “It's a long shot, but it's possible.” Victoria nods, then looks at Mylea again, waiting for her answer.
"Hmm, very well. As of right now, I am staying at the Singing Maiden." Anton replied, agreeing to her terms, "I'll take the discount." He grins, offering a handshake to seal the deal. And unless Amelia had anything to add, Anton leaves, heading to the barracks to see if it was his turn to teach the recruits.
“Nice top meet you, Lathrul.” Marda nods at the elf, then looks at Avella. “A thief, eh. Well, I don't know how much use I will be in tracking him down, but I will be happy to help.” “Nice to meet you too, miss Marda.” The elf returns the nod. “I have something that should help with tracking him down, once we are outside the village... at least in theory.” Lathrul informs them. “Alright, in that case give me five minutes to gather my stuff and let the others know I will be gone for a while.” Marda leaves them to wait while she collects everything she wants to bring along. Five minutes she stands before them, holding a backpack. “Okay, I am ready to go when you are.”
"Of course, my lady. I'll check in later when I've something to report about the other task you gave me." Slowly, Mylea gets up and puts her dress back on. "I look forward to seeing you soon, my lord and lady." Happily, she gives both an impromptu kiss on the lips. Sweaty and smelling of cum and labial juices, the priestess stops at the inn, taking a bath, before changing from her dress into something less likely to get dirty as she visits nature - mainly because there's not a lot of it to get dirty. Properly attired, Mylea heads to the section of riverbank that Victoria indicated, ready to begin her investigation.
Avella nod to Marda as druid go to collect her stuff, and waited. "Alright, let's go!" Their small team leave the lumber camp and after crossing the bridge, they head south near the river. "So Lathrul, what it is to help tracking thief down? His hair or something what belongs to him?" She asked.
“Very well, we have a deal. I will send a message as soon as possible.” Amelia is polite enough to at least personally show him out the door, closing it behind him. As he steps outside the inn Anton looks at the sun above and estimates that he likely has a little bit before it is time to train the recruits. He could choose to go a little early, and possibly make a good first impression, or spend some time around the village in the hope of finding something of interest.
Ida frowned. She gave the colour of the robes... And anything else she remembered. "That's all." She finished, not really knowing what more there was to say.
With some time left on his hand, Anton decides to have a wander around the village to catch any interesting rumors. After all, if he's to call this place home, he'll need to learn the ins and outs of it.
“You are welcome to visit us any time, my dear!” Victoria assures her. The priestess can feel both nobles' eyes on her as she leaves. Once clean and properly dressed – or perhaps undressed would be a better word – Mylea makes her way to the riverbank. Spoiler: Investigation 1d100 = 66 There is nothing of note at the location where the plants were found, but looking around she spots a few similar plants not too far from where she's standing... “No, nothing like that.” The elf shakes his head, then takes out a a small golden crystal and holds it between two fingers. He seems to focus for a bit, and then the crystal starts glowing with golden light. “This should reveal any footprints people left behind. Useless in the village, with all the people there, but out here it should be only us and the thief...” He explains. It takes a few seconds, but soon the three of them can see two sets of golden footprints on the ground, both heading south. “Hmm, guess it is not just him. Let me see...” Lathrul examines the tracks, then points at one of them. “This should be the thief's tracks. Let's follow them and see what we find... I guess I should lead, with the two of you following closely by. Keep an eye for animals or any other danger.” He starts walking slowly, following the tracks. “I see...” Victoria nods as Ida finishes talking. “I assume you heard about the wolf beast that was causing trouble for the woodcutters? Well, as it turned out it was summoned by a cultist in a brown robe – the same as the cultists you saw, as far as I can tell. It is very likely that he was sent to summon the beast as a distraction – quite a successful one, too, at least at first.” She explains. “We will need to deal with both the undead elves and the cultists before we can try exploring the ruins...” Their conversation is interrupted by a knock at the door.” Come in!” Victoria calls. Almost immediately the door opens and her husband enters the library. “Sorry to interrupt, dear, but I'd like to borrow the lady once you are done talking to her.” Edward tells his wife after he has closed the door behind him. “Sure, give me just a moment.” Victoria opens one of the desk's drawers and takes out two pouches full of Gil. “Here, 250 Gil for finding the ruins and another 250 for all the additional information you provided.” She hands her the pouches while the young lord walks closer to them. Spoiler: Rumors 1d100 = 90 Anton hears a number of rumors, most of them silly things of little interest. Still, there are a few that catch his attention: First there is a rumor that some of the farmers living outside the village have seen a naked elf, always at night. Depending on the version she can be seen either under the full moon or when there is no moon. Then he hears talk about seemingly-normal trees that walk around like people. He would have dismissed it, if not for the fact that the source are two guards patrolling around the village. Next he hears about the ghost of an armored knight walking around the village at night. The sightings seem to have started recently. And last on the “potentially true” list is talk about a woman receiving love letters, the last one somehow different from the previous.
That was an interesting little thing - so the cultists harassed the locals? And as usual, they did not think things through. Typical. Ida frowned as she was given payment. "This... we had discussed about a different kind of payment." She said with a frown, glancing at the lord, as he came closer.
Avella look with intrested on small golden crystal. "That it is for sure usefull in the wild. Where did you buy it?" She asked as they follow mercenary, but then she realized that she should watch area around, so she keeps focus on protecting group.
Mylea approaches cautiously, wary of getting a whiff of the plants' secretions. She casts a diagnostic spell, hoping to gain some insight into who planted these foreign species.
As his old ears caught quite a few rumors, Anton pondered them one by one. "A naked elf? Interesting, hopefully it's a female elf." He chuckles, And what a wonderful thing if it was Lusserina. The old man adds a bit of his own fantasy to it, before moving on to the next. Walking trees? If I remember correctly, those are all treants. They're mostly peaceful monsters, but I don't recall them ever wandering close to human settlements. Anton pondered, deciding that it was worth investigating later. A ghost of an armored knight? And it seems recent. Hmm. I suppose I'll keep an eye out during the evening. He was curios, but dealing with incorporeal spirits wasn't his forte so all he could do was keep his guard up. Then came the last rumor, "Hoh? A woman receiving love letters?" Anton mumbled, "An odd rumor, must be the housewives tale." He shrugs, though he was interested to learn who the woman was. All in all, the old man learned some interesting things. So unless something else happened, he figured it was time for his turn to train the recruits.
“Indeed – and with my husband here now is the best time to talk about it.” Victoria replies as her husband stops nearby, waiting for the two women to finish. “I borrowed it from a friend of mine, an enchanter. This is a field test of sorts for how well it works, actually.” The elf explains. Spoiler: Random Encounter 1d100 = 91 For better or worse the group does not encounter any sort of danger. Other than a few animals in the distance they are alone. A few hours later the group is forced to stop, as the footprints they are following split in two – one set continues down south, then other set turns east, into the hills. “What the hell? There should be only one thief – hoe are there two sets of footprints?” Lathrul frowns, confused. To her disappointment all she manages to learn is that these plants are the same as the ones she examined earlier, but they have been planted later and are not even close to blooming. Looking around she spots a few people she could try talking to in the hope that someone has seen something.
Ida frowned, wondering what the two were plotting... but then slowly nodded, and took the pouches and nodded to Victoria, before turning to her husband.
Avella bend the knee, looking at footprints closer. "Well, you said the secend family want to revenge their dead sibling, so maybe one of the hunter lost trail here and mislead the direction." She looked at Marda. "Or we have here dealing with islusion or summon magic. To make fake footprints for hunter. Marda, do you sense something?" Avella asked druid and began her own pray to Everlight, to help her detect magic and find out which trial is right.
Nothing else happens on the way and soon Anton finds himself at the barracks, where the captain of the guards greets him. “Good day. A little early, I see. Eager to meet the recruits you will be teaching? They should be done with their current lesson in a couple of minutes.” “You are finished with your conversation? In that case...” Edward turns to look at Ida. “I know this is sudden, but I need someone to quickly and discreetly investigate something for me. Since you have been coming and going, seemingly at random, no one will think it odd if you were to leave right after coming back, lady Ida.” The young lord begins. “Now, you are probably aware that we have an outpost to the north, where another settlement will be found in the future, once Marika has grown enough. That outpost was sending regular reports... until a few days ago. They have gone silent for reasons unknown. I want you to go and find out why. If everything is alright, give them an earful for not reporting as they should; if something has happened, do what you can to help, then come back and let me know.” He explains his request. “I am sorry, but if at all possible I'd like you to go right away. Naturally, you will be compensated for having to do this for me, as long as you keep it to yourself – I don't want rumors spreading and people worrying. Will you do this for me?”
