Tora glances at Tath as she glances at her then laughs. "No, we're different. I'm a lycanthrope, a weretiger. I'm a shapechanger while catfolk keep only one form. I can even change into a tiger if I wish."
This message was last edited by the player at 20:58, Sat 24 Jan 2015.

"Hm, people these days don't scare themselves silly with tales of secret lycanthropes? Well, that's lucky... ah, for the humans at least." Zigor's bright red eyes glanced at Feliph, then Tora upon realizing the implication. Turning away, the knight continued down the way, clearing away some branches with a sweep of his blade.

"It's changed a lot, but I think I've been here before. Five days marching south with a small regiment, every couple of hours some pathetic wretch would whine about the wildlife looking at them: 'Oh! It's one o' them werewolves in disguise come t' eat us. That there's a witches familiar, I know it; squirrels don't fly. I think I just saw a ghost back there! You know that a vampire lives in a big old castle out here... '" The spirit prattled on mockingly, stopping short as the forest finally opened up.

Beyond the trees was a towering castle and a few old houses. The houses looked unlived in, most had broken windows and were already covered in moss and vines. The castle, for as much as the moonlight revealed was a dusty gray, blending into the small mountain behind it. The bat continued towards the structure's right side, turning back of forth in mid-hover, beckoning the group over.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 02:40, Sun 25 Jan 2015.

Eve followed the spirit with a small smile. She shifted her bag on her shoulder and looked at him. "Well vampires and witches may not be in these woods, but you still linger like a ghost." She teased as she walked.

Feliph colored a little at Tath's term of address. "Um, thank you," she mumbled, unsure whether that was the correct thing to say. She brightened a little after that at the information she'd received, though. "Oh, I see. What an interesting distinction. So Tora, if I understand correctly, some people are born lycanthropes and some acquire it, right? Would you mind telling me what kind you are?" She looked back to Tath as well. "And Tath, what is catfolk society like? Do you live more like humans or cats?" She pulled out her notebook, eager to record their answers and her observations.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:42, Tue 27 Jan 2015.

Tora chuckles at the question. "I'm a natural one of course. The afflicted are unable to control the beast inside themselves and tend to prowl for prey under the light of the moon. They tend to get themselves killed rather quickly."

Tath smirked. "We live like regular people, Cutie." She scoffed. Even though they were under the color of darkness, it was pretty easy to gauge what sort of reaction Tath had on the girl, and it seemed the catfolk had no intentions of letting up. "We do like scratched behind the ears and a warm bowl of milk, though." With that, she winked, emitting a mew as soft as she could.

"We get a bad reputation for bein' thieves and all, what with the 'not having our own homeland and being nomadic wanderers' business, but we're pretty relaxed as a species. Keep to ourselves, look out for our own." She shrugged. "Guess that makes me the odd one out, adventurin' without a group that doesn't have more catfolk that just me, but we ain't all model members of our society."

"...Still, Tora's catfolk-y enough when she's not an animal to count for somethin', I guess." She ribbed Tora good-naturedly.

The hollow knight responded to Eve's teasing with a strange and humorless laugh as they approached nearer to the castle.

The path behind them was already hard to differentiate form the rest of the forest, it really didn't have anything special about it to find their way back to the path, besides an excessive amount of thorns and poison ivy. The bat near the castle chirped happily at the group "Welcome to my home, please come on in any make yourselves comfortable!"

Unfortunately the creature was not inviting them into the castle. It flew into the mouth of a dark, dank cave behind the castle. It was impossible to see into the cave without a source of light, but it sounded like an uncountable number of bats were inside, and it smelled distinctly of guano.

Eve scrunched her nose at the smell. She had slept in worse places. She closed her eyes and swallowed the distaste for this cave. "Lovely little haven you have here." The darkness bothered her more than the smell. She stood at the mouth of the cave with the tin man.

Feliph found Tath's reaction so cute that she could manage little more than a small "Um... oh," in response. She blushed harder, and tried to cover for it by writing more in her notebook. She would have continued the attempted recovery by questioning the others as well, but then their new friend wound up introducing them to his home.

Having spent a good portion of her life in close contact with animals, Feliph wasn't especially bothered by the smell, although Hamilton was making some snuffling noises that suggested displeasure. "Well, isn't this nice, thank you!" she said happily, moving to join Eve. "Out of curiosity, whose castle is that we just passed?" It was quite the landmark - a good addition to the rough map Feliph was keeping as they traveled.

The creatures in the dark chattered among themselves before two left the blackness to greet the group. One was the bat that had brought them there, the other was of a different species, it was old looking, unusually old for a bat.  "That is the castle where the Countess sleeps." The new bat's voice was fluent, masculine, and surprisingly loud for its size, contrasting in almost every way with the fruit bat. "Thank you very much for saving our young one. It has been so dangerous since the Countess has stopped coming out. She was the one who taught my generation to speak your tongue, and I taught these children. I apologize, these children do not know your ways, and they have never gotten used to the light. If you would like, I can show you the castle so you can rest and be rewarded." The old bat sounded polite and proper, like an old butler, but a small undertone in his voice sounded pleading.

Tora nods after listening to the elderly bat. "That would be great, thanks. The castle would be a much more comfortable places for us to rest. By the way, you mentioned the Countess. What could you tell us about her?"

"Well, she's kind and generous ruler; welcomes pretty much any sort of creature, makes you feel safe no matter who you are." as the bat talked it retreated back into the darkness, a few moments later a slight dim light appeared on a cave wall.  Several bats including the old and young one led the group into the new passage, which in turn led into the castle.

The room that the cave led into appeared to be a kitchen. It appeared no one had used it in some time. Pots and pans made of copper and iron lined the dusty walls, enough for a fully staffed castle of several dozen people. Although there was no food, the place was otherwise well stocked, enough firewood and coal lined to walls to to keep the place lit and warm for several weeks. There was pretty much every type of cooking and eating utensil a gourmand could ask for was in good supply, formed from wood, copper, and even a few spoons of ornate gold, though none of silver. "This is the kitchen, there have been no deliveries in some time, but feel free to use anything as though this were your home." Just then a loud crack sounded from outside. A large storm seemed to be rolling in from the coast. "Oh my, that sounds like a big storm coming. You all must be quite lucky to have arrived here when you did."

The bat continued through the dining room to the main hall, briefly pointing things out as he fluttered around the ornately decorated abode. Vases and paintings of some worth lined the walls, along with unlit sconces. "The baths are over here, and there's a library over there." Flying to the top of the stairs, it pointed down a hallway. "The bedrooms are up here. You may sleep in any room but the large one at the end. That is Countess Branwen's personal chamber. I'm afraid she doesn't wake often; a curse from the one who brings the spiders..."

Eve looked around, carefully examining the table wear. She had learned a lot in her travels over the past many years. She looked at the bat carefully. The Countess was something new to her, but she had not traveled this far in some time and she usually avoided the coast. "Lovely table wares. I haven't seen such details since I left Elosa, the Elvin city to the far north." She had not been to Elosa in years and for many personal reasons she had avoided it. She shook off the thought of that city and worked her way behind the tin man.

"Who is the one who brings the spiders?" Feliph asked curiously. Behind her, Hamilton was expressing his own curiosity by sniffing everything. "Is there some way we could help break this curse?"

Tath merely grinned, walking through the cave with mild amusement. The catfolk cast an appraising eye at all the fine wares shown, though kept her paws to herself. . .for the moment. She didn't want to risk anything untoward just yet, and she still had a night's sleep ahead of her. Pulling her scarf up over her nose, she frowned at the smell.

She cast a glance at Tora and Eve, along with one towards Feliph. Pulling out a leather-bound journal, Tath scribbled something down in one of the pages as they walked. Whispering a word into it, she tapped Feliph on the shoulder.

There weren't many rules Tath followed religiously as an adventurer, but a big one was 'never trust anyone giving handouts.' She tapped Feliph on the shoulder, keeping pace beside her, and discreetly showed her the note she'd written.

"Bunk with me tonight." It read in surprisingly eloquent cursive. She gave Feliph a serious look and a final nod as she stowed the journal.

After so much time spent happily indulging her curiosity, first about all the bats and their cave and then this castle, Feliph had pretty much managed to get over her earlier, embarrassed awkwardness. But it came roaring back in a big way when she read Tath's note. Her face flushed a bright red, and she stammered helplessly "Um, ah...," sounding so quiet and strangled that even Hamilton looked up in alarm, before she realized that Tath probably meant for her not to vocalize an answer at all. So she finally managed a shaky nod, still blushing furiously.

Tora gave the air a few experimental sniffs to see if anything unusual found it's way to her nose. She also took a few moments to check the floor to see what tracks they where. As she does she can't help noticing the interaction between Tath and Feliph. She's unsure what transpired but can clearly sense Feliph embarrassment. She gives Feliph a knowing look while sporting a big grin.

Eve scanned the area as she walked making a mental map of their walks. She counted any doors or pathways that crossed their path.

The scents of guano thankfully dissipated further from the cave, into the castle; giving way to an earthy dustiness that suggested the place hadn’t been swept in some time, it seemed that the bats didn’t use the passage to much, or at least were taught to do their business outside their mistress’ domain. “He was one of yours, a um… human? Yes, he claimed to be a human healer serving a ‘religious order’.” The elder bat seemed genuinely foreign as to the ways of the international world, in fact, he seemed not to be fully confident in discerning the respective species of the group. “He met with the Countess, and I do not know what transpired after, but she wakes sometime only once or twice a week, only to eat a bit, then returns to her chambers and slumbers. It’s impossible to get through to her...”

He sounded genuinely worried, then the fruit bat that led them there piped in. “You saved me! Maybe you can cure her too! Please, please, I’ve always wanted to meet ‘Countess’ and thank her too.” The young bat seemed to know even less of the world outside, using the noble’s title as a name. “No! Er… No, I mean, yes… P-please, um, yes, it would be very generous if you to try assisting Countess Branwen, but… please rest first. The countess is sleeping, and you should all sleep too, it is far too late in the day for your kind. You should wait for the sun to rise.”

The building seemed more like a stone manor than a castle proper, there was no signs it was ever used for defense against any military forces, and there were no traces of any barracks or armory. Instead, it seemed to be designed for a moderate luxury, with several open styles rooms for lounging, eating, and entertaining guests, each furnished carefully and comfortably.

Tath suppressed a chuckle as she walked, endlessly amused by the girl's embarrassment. Even as her expression faded from serious to blase, a smile lingered on her lips as they walked. Glancing down at Hamilton, she winked conspiratorially at the beast, before feigning a yawn, arching her back and stretching her arms out.

"Speakin' of rest, we had somethin' of a busy day. Wouldja mind showin' us where the rooms  are? I think we'll need three, between Eve'n'Tora, Feliph'n'me, and Clanks over there." The Catfolk spoke up, putting an arm around Feliph's waist and gently tugging her closer. At this point, Tath was just trying to make the human girl blush.

"If it's all the same, my soul does not rest. I shall stay down here and await those of you that survive the night. Perhaps I can finally get some reading done, if no screams for help manage to pierce this stone..." The knight briefly let his red eyes scan the room, wondering at Tath's comment why the rest of their little group hadn't entered yet. He gave a bow to the women then started trudging off towards the library.

OOC: new location threads open

Eve watched the tin man go. "Thanks." She shouted sarcastically before entering her room. She had never had much trouble with sharing a room. Things seemed safer that way, for the most part.


TO interior room-->>

Tora takes her time checking out the exterior before she heads in to see what it's like.

TO interior room-->>

Hamilton still had a trace of suspicion about cat-themed people as a concept, but his happy, expressive face still seemed to return Tath's smile. Feliph, on the other hand, didn't even have time to recover before Tath's arm was around her waist, sending a little thrill of excitement and embarrassment through her. Well aware that she was blushing furiously, Feliph tried to give a casual sort of laugh to make it seem like less of a big deal, but in her breathless state it came out kind of hysterical instead. "Hahaha! Um, thanks! We'll just head there then!"

To the corner bedroom

Tath had to bite down on her lower lip, hard, to suppress the chuckle bubbling up to the surface. Casually following the bat as he led them to their room, she watched Feliph out of the corner of her eye.

To the Corner Bedroom.