"I'm a bit of a night hawk, and this is an important task. I will help, though I'm afraid I won't be able to carry much.

I will certainly aid you all with what magic I can muster. At the least though, I can keep an eye out."

Under normal circumstances, Davmop would be quite happy to enjoy an evening with the stars above, clearly visible. He'd felt a greater connection recently as he'd travelled.

Of course, their duty was quite grim, and it was hard not to put one's mind on the horrific sights they had seen earlier... and the stench. The idea of fighting unknown flying enemies at night didn't exactly fill him with confidence.

But that was the job of an adventurer and hero: to face unknown dangers.

"Right, just keep in mind I am looking for a building to set up shop. And the place a mage once set up shop could help, so if it goes up for sale I want to try for it." And having a dry place for books would be nice. He was otherwise content to let the others lead the conversation of what was done and how.

The mayor just stares at Percy, seeming to be stunned. Free room and bored, anything in the mages house and he wants more? His eyes narrow for a moment "Free this place and it will be discused. You can enter the home but it belongs to the village. Stay there if you wish." He tries to make a point.

Riki looks up at the fighter "Burn them. I can put them at peace. Let me." Its hard to tell if its a order or if she is asking. But she has a odd look, almost pleading. A side of her very few see except perhaps the druid. Amazonian ways.

Kneeling down, the mayor watches the barbarian. He glances up at the others "Burn them? I...do not know. The others will want to see them. I just don't know. If you feel it is best..." Saddened, he stands back up "We'll gather up some villagers and will go to the lake. We need to put them to rest." He pauses "Thank you for freeing the island of the beast."

The blacksmith nods his head "Eh alright. You want tah check my shop case something peeks up yer mind?" He seems to want to help. Its starting to get dark.

Shaking his head, he responds to the Barbarian. "Riki, these are their people. We have to respect how they would want to put their dead to rest." He's stern, but not dismissive. Ralgar looks up at the darkening sky. "Your shop will definitely have to wait for tomorra', blacksmith. It's gettin' late and I know traveling at night ain't the safest, 'specially if we got townsfolk with us." He turns to address the mayor. "Maybe we just bring one or two of ya with us who may be able to identify the most people. We gotta be gettin' back there anyway, what with Trepa still keeping watch," he adds, turning to Tukhirk.

"You know nothing of my customs." The barbarian stares at the fighter "Never asked." She spits onto the ground at warriors feet "Do what you want. I will have no part in it." Stubborn as a mule but she has customs.

Seeing how the two of them slightly argue, the mayor furrows his brow "We will bury them if the others wish. Burn the ones that wish of it. But with the fire may bring the flying creatures back and that I cannot allow. Losing more people...." He leans against a building post "I do not want them to suffer but waiting till morning may be the best bet with the monster roaming the wilderness and the creatures from the sky..." Its a lot of pressue upon the mayor.

Riki moves away, sitting down cross legged with her sword on her lap. Her eyes are closed.

Tukhirk nods. "Burn them or bury them. Your rites are your business, whatever way you return your bodies to the earth is your decision."

The druid agrees with Ralgar. "Let's take a small group back to identify the victims and check if Trepa has seen anything."

Percy was still content to let the others work with the quest taker. He was always hungry for more but more humble heads would do better.

He nodded once and looked at the Barbarian. "Right, care for some beer in a bit? You can tell me more about yourself and traditions so I don't piss you off more... I have no doubt you hit hard and I won't survive much violence from you."

The barbarian moves away and stops as the wizard talks to her. She turns, eyes narrowed just as his familiar flies off his shoulder and lands on hers. Riki looks at the odd creature and pets it lightly before it takes off flying around the area and then stops on a treebranch. She doesn't answer him but she doesn't say no either. Simply, she waits to see who is going and who is staying if anyone. Its hard to tell if she feels insulted or whatnot.

Tukhirk nods. "I'll join you as well, Riki."

The half orc druid walks until he's next to the wizard. "You lead. I'll check on Trepa later."

The mayor as well as several others go to the boathouse. Those with stronger stomaches enter and pull out most of the remains. Lowering his head, the mayor seems to be crying but controls it. There's really no way to idenfity the ones that have no faces but he lets the villages here know some have not been found, that they can have faith that some may have survived. Others mourn their deaths as they are carted back to town. Riki just watches from a distance, no emotion. Trepa goes to stand by the druid as the others seem to provide healing words to them. It starts to get dark out and the moon begins to show its face as the group gets back to the village. The remains are taken to the graveyard and watched but not buried yet with all that has happened. Some of the villagers argue with the mayor, telling them to have tbe buriel despite what has happened to the village but the Mayor lets them know with some others here its too dangerous to be out at night and they know the reason. Everyone starts to head back to their homes, not alone.

Ralgar gives a moment of silence to the victims of the hag and is grateful that the journey to and from the boathouse was uneventful. He then turns to the group. "I 'pose there's nothing much else we can do tonight. I know the mayor spoke about some flying creature, but I think we should get a night's rest and figure out if we're going back to the lake tomorrow."

If the group agrees, Ralgar will lead the way back to the inn, grabbing a mug of ale on his way up to his room.

Tukhirk pets Trepa as the beast silently moves back to his side. The druid looks in silence how the remains are recovered and moved to a better area. As the boathouse is emptied, the druid moves around the house, grabbing some dirt. After some words the half orc throws it back. He repeats this scene a few times. Once he's done, he walks towards Ralgar.

"Let's go back to the inn. We can eat and rest tonight and check on the other threats tomorrow."

The panther starts by the side of the druid, disturbingly silent.

"I wouldn't mind a nap. I feel that I couldn't eat anything though, to be honest. That was a bit disturbing."

Davmop had said many brief prayers to every good god he could think of for the souls of the departed, hoping that their rewards would be good and just.

Of course, he said those prayers quietly, not in earshot of the townsfolk as they walked back.

As an oracle, while he was comforted in his faith in an afterlife, that comfort was cold after a loved one was lost to some tragedy... particularly when delivered by some stranger. In such a small community, no doubt the loss would be keenly felt by all.

"At least try some hardtack crackers. It will keep your stomach settled for the morning." He tapped on his book and gave the graves a once over with Detect magic just to make extra sure there wasn't some kind of normal lingering curse to animate the dead of a lost hag's meal.

He wasn't much of a drinker at the Inn. Even if high-proof liquors did make for good ink. He just needed a fire and a chair to fall asleep in a book.

There seems to be nothing of magical origin from the graves as the group heads back to the inn. For a moment Riki pauses and looks up, eyes narrowed. Perhaps she's a bit jumpy or wants to fight but hard to tell. Once inside, Ralgar gets his ale and goes to his room. The barbarian sits near the far wall, ale in her hand and stares at it. The druid enters and sits down by the fire with his panther as well as the wizard and oracle. Riki just remains distant. The keep and waitress bring them some soup, bread and water as well. Some vegatables are brought out as well. All the lights are dimmed, the fire casting out a eery light from the fireplace. The keep goes to each table and wipes it up after sending the waitress away. She seems hesitant and he nods "Pick a room and spend the night here." She nods and hurries up the steps, soon a door is closed.

Alone in his room, Ralgar sips on his ale, an unusual drinking pace for him. Pulling a chair up to the table, he pours his coin purse out and counts his gold. Slowly and deliberately, he counts the coins, setting aside every fourth gold piece, occasionally taking a drink. When all the coins have been sorted, he pushes the chair back and leans back, mug in hand, and sighs. "Ah, there's never enough." He looks to the ceiling and raises his mug. "Maybe in the next day or so I'll be able to send ya something." He finishes his ale. "Hang in there."

He puts his coins away and turns in for the night.

Percy nodded and headed up to his room. Doing his best to work on a set of new spells. That was the burden of a loremaster, ink stain on the fingers and words burned well into their minds. He was a far way off from being as good as he wanted to be, but all things in their due time.

He would fall asleep in his books.

Davmop tried to keep down a few crackers, munching them contentedly as he watched the stares with a degree of longing and understanding he hadn't felt in some time.

It was as if things were getting clearer.

He lay back on the bed and looked outward, unaware as he fell into sleep and his mind began replacing the sky with weird prophetic visions that he would not be able to remember in the morning....

The druid makes sure Riki is already but she remains silent and sipping her ale. She glances at him as the panther decides to sit by her. Tukhirk turns in for the night leaving the barbarian alone lost in her thoughts. The barkeep turns in as well and shuts the door into the back of the inn probably leading to his home but no one went in there yet.

Time passes by....

OOC
Make a Perception Check

Percy was a deep sleep, given that he was a member of the Mesmer family. This night he was so well in tune with his things that the twist of ink in his fingers moved like a spider web of information to his dreaming mind!


21:51, Today: Percy A. Mesmer rolled 20 using 1d20.  Perception.
 Finally, I roll a 20.

A few hours pass but then screaming can be heard from outside! Everyone wakes up but not Ralgar. Night covers the area and the only light comes from the moon above. No one knows where the scream came from and everyone is in their individual rooms. Even the inn is full of darkness. Its hard to tell if its natural or not.

Davmop quickly uttered the words of a light spell: between that and his Gnomish heritage, he should be able to see fairly well in the dark, unless the darkness was magical in nature: at least this would reveal that.

Ralgar stirs slightly at the scream, but the ale must be more potent than he's used to, and he continues sleeping soundly.

Dav's spell lights up the room. Ralger remains asleep. The keep moves out into the main area and looks around not spotting anyone, then opens the door, holding what looks like a meat cleaver. He glances outside within eyeshot from Dav's room if he looks down. He goes upstairs and knocks on several doors.

Once the light spell was up, Davmop cast detect magic in case this was something he could detect with it.

Two of the rooms registered as radiating magic, so Davmop began heading towards the party rooms to make sure his new friends were ok.
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:19, Thu 02 Sept 2021.