Lop picked her way carefully through the room and found a spot to spread her own blankets down.

Maybe I'll wake up and find this has all been a werid dream she thought to herself as the exhaustion from the day began to overcome her.

You were awakened by quite the commotion outside.

"No more wine.." Lop muttered as she awoke and quickly gathered herself and glanced about the memories of the day before coming back to her "Not a dream then" she said finally and hauled herself to her feet.

The noise from outside drew her attention and she headed towards the front door to see what was happening.

There was a group of at least twenty people gathered around a small alley way between two homes. Several people were talking, but it just became a buzz.

Lop heads over towards the group trying to hear what they were saying without being too obvious about it.

"Why was she outside..." "Poor girl...." "The kindly ones again..."

Lop made her way towards the group, wanting to see for herself, although dreading to do so.

How can they be so calm she thought to herself as she moved.

There was the body of a teenage girl laying on the ground. She was clearly dead, having been hacked by some sort of bladed weapon, perhaps even several of them. Her oddly purplish blood is splashed all over the walls and ground.

The sight of the girls body caused Lops gorge to rise and for a moment it was all too much for her and she staggered away from the group towards another of the small allays before retching.

She recovered and then rejoined the group her voice raspy as she spoke "What happened? Who is that girl?" she asked trying for the moment to not look too closely.

"That's Sarah, she was staying with the Hankarsons after her family was taken by the kindly ones," an elderly woman said.

There is that name again "What exactly are the Kindly ones? Why do they do this?" Lop asked and steeled herself as she moved back into the alley and looked at the body more closely taking shallow breaths as she did so.

"The fey that live in the mines. The best way to avert their eyes is to talk about them respectfully," the old woman said.

Lop nodded distractedly as she racked her brains for any idea why the body and blood looked the way it did, something seemed unnatural about the blood especially.

She pulled a small leather bound book from a pocket and began to make some notes, and a sketch of the scene.

"I meant no disrespect" Lop replied "I am new here and I am just wishing to know how to avoid such a fate myself" she said keeping her tone level and polite.

[[OOC: Lop Vetinari rolled 17 using 1d20+4.  Arcarna.]]

"Make sure you're inside before dark and hang some iron above your door," the old woman said. "That'll keep them right out."

You weren't sure what was causing this effect. The spirit of the sword indicated it would show you as long as you were alone.

Lop continued to work making notes and sketches it was easier if she treated this like a reasearch project looking into something that happened 100s of years ago.

She then closed the notebook and returned it to its pocket. Then turned and nodded to the women "I thank you for your advice and will pay it heed"

She headed away from the group, moving towards the edge of the settlement in a meandering fashion, till she was away from people and out of sight.

The spirit of the sword told you to prick your finger.

Lop hesitated for a moment and then followed the swords instructions summoning the blade and drawing blood from her finger.

Your own blood was the same purplish colour.

"What the.." Lop yelped in shock dropping the blade as she looked closer at the blood "This doesn't make any sense" she muttered "Is everyone's blood purple here or just outsiders? But they said she had family, so outsiders don't make sense"

The words tumbled out as Lop considered the revelation.

"The Land does it," the spirit said, speaking aloud.

Lop managed to stop herself yelping again "The land does it? That doesn't make any sense" She replied "How can land do anything" she groaned "By the hells I still don't know where this land is. I don't think it's anywhere near the ruins"

She eyed the mountain looming in the distance "The locals don't seem to want to do anything about these creatures" her hand tightened on the hilt of the sword as she recovered it.

"Is going to those mines ourselves sound as crazy to you, as it does to me?

"No, you will understand," the spirit said.

Lop swung the blade at an unoffending sapling moodily "Staying here isn't going to answer our questions" she said eventually "The villagers must be able to work in the mines during the day, it can't hurt to find out where it is and have a look" she decided.

It was easy enough to find a path to the mine, it was clearly well traveled. It also wasn't that far from the village compared to most of the mountains. With some careful searching you were able to find the active mine from the many inactive ones.

Lop headed towards the mine entrance keeping a careful eye on her surroundings as she did so.
This message was last edited by the player at 11:21, Sun 31 Oct 2021.