Gervasiel

[Graybeard]

[OOC: OK, new topic, presumed to pick up bare seconds after Stone Man Pass leaves off...]

Last rites accomplished (briefly), Sister Rose made her way back to the inn, dodging formerly human messiness as well as the onlookers who were beginning to congregate at the site. She thought she recognized one of the novices from the main Orthodox temple, now in the police/militia uniform, trying to accomplish some crowd control. Maybe, after rendezvousing with the rest of her group, she'd come back outside and try to help. In any event, there wasn't much more to be done at the site, at least not by her. With some luck, Father Amalric or someone else at the temple would know some forensic magic that would help sort out what had happened, but she wasn't counting on it.

Lillith and Suriah had been moving slowly, reasonably enough considering the comforting that the newcomer needed (and Lillith was good at providing), so Rose had practically caught up with them by the time they reached the common area/lounge. "I guess I should make some introductions," Lillith was saying as she arrived. "This is my -- friend, Brad." That seemed neutral enough; Brad smiled and nodded politely, although it was pretty clear where his attention was focused. "Maduin Lochlear." The Tsuirakuan smiled more broadly and genially. [OOC: PF, if you want to elaborate on that, by all means do, and I'll retcon. Haven't heard from you in a while... /OOC:] "My --" She swallowed briefly, took a deep breath, went for it. "-- father, Dr. Argus Cleiviein." Her deep exhalation carried a lot of stress with it. "You've already met Drusia Valis, celebrated musician, and Sister Rose, of the Veracian Church. The last member of our group, Kim, must be upstairs asleep."

Speaking of whom, Rose wondered, just where was Kim? She shouldn't have been absent so long. She smiled at Suriah and said, "If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go upstairs and change back into my church robes. This will just take a minute, I'll be right back." The new girl didn't need to know, of course, that the "changing" would be magical, and accomplished in the blink of an eye ... but the excuse would give her time to check on Kim.

Most of the upstairs, where the guest rooms were, faced away from the site of the blast, and only one window had been blown in; Rose noted with approval that it had already been boarded up and the glass removed. Maybe Argus and she (and Drusia?) could help with that later. As soon as she was out of sight of the lounge, she reverted to her usual apparel, opened and closed her room's door for effect, and paused at Kim's door to listen.

Nothing. There was no sign of life within. After a moment of listening, she knocked gently on the door. Still nothing. A firmer knock; same result.

That's worrisome. She descended the stairway to the lounge. "As far as I can tell, Kim isn't in her room," she said. "Have any of you heard from her since the big bang?" Nobody answered, but the looks on their faces were answer enough...

[Caoimhe Faelan]

Suriah nodded to each member in turn, quiet. At the end of the introductions, she said, "I am Suriah Chase. It's.... nice to meet you all." Her voice held a hint of irony in it, as the circumstances had been anything but pleasant.

What in the world was going on? Her peaceful little town had never had such a disruption - well, other than herself.

[Graybeard]

Sister Rose caught the subtext, smiled as reassuringly as she could under the circumstances. "Really, our arrival in town isn't usually heralded by explosions and messy deaths. This was, one might say, a little bit of an anomaly." Although I wish it was even more of an anomaly than it was. "We're mainly here on a mission that's part a service to my church, part an errand of mercy." She did not say for whom, although she intended Lillith. "Now, though, it looks like we may have to investigate the terrible thing that just happened, because of the possibility that it bears on that mission."

She extracted the battered monocle from her robes. "You work at the stable, right? Tell me: did a very oddly dressed man, wearing a monocle like this, board his horse there last night, or maybe this morning?"

(Lillith stifled a guffaw at Rose's remark about explosions and messy deaths; maybe their arrival in places didn't usually start that way, but it was remarkable how often they happened later ...)

[Porcelain Fish]

In the back of Maduin's mind was a vague awareness that he should probably be at least pretending to be somewhat shocked and alarmed by the fact that someone had just been blown into (mostly) unrecognizable human shrapnel, but truthfully, it wasn't the first time he'd seen an exploded man.

He'd been friends with Fayna after all, and Fayna had had enemies, some of them enemies who wanted her either dead or under their thumbs. She still did as a matter of fact. He hoped that she was continuing to be subtle about disposing of them when necessary in his absence, and refraining from disposing of anyone unnecessarily in the bargain.

Speaking of being disposed of . . . Maduin's eyes flicked to the inn's windows as he followed Rose inside along with the others. Perhaps it was his imagination, but he almost thought he could see a tell-tale electric blue glow pulsing behind one of them. Concerns for appearances were pushed back behind much more immediate concerns.

Rose had just come back down the stairs, and a deep rumble echoed down them on the heels of her question, interrupting the moment of confused silence. Maduin's entire facial expression tightened. Finding Kim would have to wait.

"Dr. Cleiviein," he said, swallowing. "I think we had best attend to the . . . object in my room."

[OOC: Sorry, last few days have been full of extended family stuff - graduations, baby showers, confirmations - it's just been a mess. I'll be posting more regularly for a while now though. /:OOC]

[Drannin]

Argus glanced upstairs. Huh. She's perfected that to a science. He felt oddly proud.

"Yes," Argus said calmly. "I think we had better. Rose, if you'll excuse us, Maduin and I need to attend to something."

[Graybeard]

[OOC: I'm out of pocket for a couple of days, back Wednesday. /OOC:]

Now what was that all about? Sister Rose wondered as Argus and Maduin headed upstairs. She'd have taken the rumble as thunder -- the mountains were brewing their usual afternoon storms, after all -- if not for the Tsuirakuans' reactions to it. Well, if they wanted her help, they'd ask. She settled back to await Suriah's answer to her question.

At least that was the plan. However, Suriah was still considering her answer when the novice/cop she'd seen outside, trying to disperse spectators, walked tentatively into the room. "Sister Rose, ma'am, could I speak to you for just a moment?" he beckoned. The two stepped outside, mild consternation on Rose's face, nothing notable on the young man's.

[Drusia]

I watch the law officer escort Rose out. Huh. Well, if anyone can deal with such things smoothly, it would be Rose. I turn back to the half-elf, Suriah.

"Go ahead, whenever you're ready," I tell her. "I'll let Rose know what you said. Plus, I have a couple of questions of my own." Like what exactly you're doing here. Although I plan to be a hair more subtle about it than that.

-- Drusia

OOC: Go ahead and bounce stuff off me until Rose gets back on Wednesday.

[Graybeard]

[OOC: Thanks, Dru ... nice to be able to keep things rolling while I go get on an airplane I don't really want to be on ... /OOC:]

The conversation was routine enough. The cop (Sister Rose was right that she'd seen him at the temple; as in many small Veracian towns, police, military and Orthodox Church merged into one here) had noticed her near the blast site and wanted to know what she knew. Rose found it expedient to conceal both the monocle and the fact that she'd seen it on a certain face on the other side of the mountains -- there might be a better time to share that tidbit of information -- but otherwise described the blast scene in as much detail as she could. The young man was pleasant enough under the circumstances and walked the grounds with Rose as they talked. She was guessing that the two of them being seen together might serve to legitimize her (or, possibly, him...) in the eyes of the spectators who hadn't been shooed away. She was honestly a bit surprised at how cordial he was; possibly Bernie had piled it on thick when he sent Father Amalric the message to expect her and the other travelers. [OOC, much later: minor retcon needed here, and done. /OOC:]

As they walked, Rose noticed something interesting -- and disquieting.

Two or three of the guest rooms' windows had been blown in by the blast. That wasn't particularly surprising; windows were notoriously flimsy in the face of explosions, and flying glass was a major cause of injuries when blasts happened around buildings. One window, however, looked different from all the others. The glass had mainly fallen on the outside of the window, rather than the inside, as though whatever had broken it had been in the room, rather than out at the gazebo where the known bomb had been.

And if Rose understood the layout of the building correctly, that window opened into Kim's room.

[Caoimhe Faelan]

[OOC: Sorry, I was looking to see if I could find any information on whether or not it mentions master Porpington's horse. xD Couldn't find anything. If I missed something, let me know.]

IC: Suriah's sharp ears didn't miss Lillith's stifled mirth, but she ignored it. She peered at the monocle closely, trying to remember. The image of a man started to come back to her, slowly, but it was fuzzy. Instead, the image of his horse popped into her head. "Don't remember the man, no... but there is a horse in the stable that usually, well, isn't."

Frowning a little bit she tried to recall the man closer, but couldn't. Shaking her head, she shrugged. "There's a wily old nag of a horse in there, third stall on the left. She likes to bite."

[Drusia]

"Don't remember the man, no... but there is a horse in the stable that usually, well, isn't."

Frowning a little bit she tried to recall the man closer, but couldn't. Shaking her head, she shrugged. "There's a wily old nag of a horse in there, third stall on the left. She likes to bite."

Interesting response. Huh. All right. "When things settle down a little more," I say, "I think Rose and I might like to take a look at that old nag." Just in case there's some sort of marking or record left with his riding tack.

"In the meantime," I add, "I admit to some curiosity. How did you come to be employed at the stables here?" I leave the half-elf in human lands part unmentioned but implied.

-- Drusia