Homontel, and beyond

[Sareth]

Lillith was entirely too busy attempting to catch and calm the horses to notice the conversation or mild consternation taking place behind her. The flying familiar curse their perversion of nature, curse them for existing. May their hair fall out to leave their skin exposed to the heat of an August sun. May their teeth rot and pain them with every bite. May a thousand worms occupy their intestines... had disturbed the horses a great deal, yet another shock for them to deal with, and they were reacting poorly. It took a good amount of effort for her to calm their spirits and sooth them, leaving her feeling vaguely tired.

Settled at last, though, she tied them off to a convenient hitching rail and rounded on the beast. "You... You..." Her eyes flashed with irritation. She was about to start voicing her still ongoing curse May your reproductive organs bear the itch of a thousand crabs. May your wings lose their feathers! May your tail be cut off an inch at a time by every rocking chair and door you meet... when she noticed the activity next to her. She turned...

"Another?" she gasped.

[Templar771]

(OOC: about my character's visual age: I would probably say he's early 20s if anything)

Cit groaned and his vision was blurred, "Owww that the last time I try to stop anything bigger than me...." As he tried to recollect his thoughts it became clear, he slowly got to his feet. "Sorry about the overgrown winged rat over there he's quite agressive...." He trailed off as he saw the other half-elf "Uhh hi...." He was still dizzy "I think I need a lie down-" He then collapsed.

[Graybeard]

Sister Rose rounded the corner just as Cit slumped to the ground again. "Uh, oh," she said. "What's going on here?"

"He got in the way of the horses," Brother Miguel said. "I gave him a heal, but it doesn't seem to be working. The guy is a half elf. Maybe you'll be able to do better with him ... considering."

"A half elf? With a flying dwarf hyena as a familiar?" Rose said, eyeing Felix. "I've never seen anything quite like that before. Let me look at him." She knelt to the prostrate form and started a spell.

[Sareth]

Lillith gasped a bit as the half-elf addressed her as a half-elf before passing out. She was trying to be careful not to be seen, but his reaction made plain that she'd failed. She reached a hand up and discovered the point of one ear sticking out of her brown hair.

An unlady-like word escaped her lips and she quickly set to re-adjusting her coiffure to better keep her identity concealed. It was a quick bit of work to set things aright in that aspect. Finished, she turned to watch Sister Rose' attempt at healing, only to see the flying dingo that had caused the mess in the first place. A sneer on her lips she bent down and picked up a rock, which she hurled (poorly) at it. "Get out of here, you reprehensible thing!"

[Graybeard]

"A flying jackal?" Brother Abram gasped as he rounded the corner. "I never ... get that thing out of here!"

"Wait a minute," Brother Miguel said as Sister Rose tended to the still-unconscious Cit. "It's apparently this guy's pet, or familiar, or whatever. Isn't he your stable hand? He was helping with the horses."

"No, I've never seen him before in my life," Abram sputtered, his astonishment rapidly turning to indignation. "You there! Identify yourself!"

Uh, oh ... this is about to get pear-shaped, Rose and Miguel thought simultaneously. As Rose had recalled, Abram had been on the "fire team" in the Albigenish Incident. It wouldn't be good if he decided that this fellow was a Tsuirakuan spy, or a Northern Confederacy terrorist, or worse, one of those warped half elves rumored to live up north -- even though there was a real chance that that was exactly what he was. The result might be a re-enactment of Albigenish in miniature, complete with collateral damage...

Rose had an idea. Let's see if I can defuse this situation before it gets worse. "Brother Abram, this is exactly the kind of thing that we're equipped to handle. We know some useful magic relating to interrogation from our time on active duty. Let us handle this man. Miguel, can you put up your Truth spell?"

Miguel nodded and cast the spell as the man finally started to come around ... and Rose quietly erected a magical Barrier in front of him, just to be on the safe side.

[Templar771]

Cit's vision was still blurred but he could tell that there was someone new. As his vision cleared he saw the magical barrier surrounding him. "Fuck, ok I can explain everything....almost....to a degree....to be perfectly honest I'm not even sure myself.

[Drannin]

Argus approached, with Harker slung under his arm, wrapped in a blanket. It looked like Argus was carrying some sort of wrapped parcel. He held back a bit, waiting until things were a bit quieter. No sense revealing Harker just yet. If he was needed, it could wait until later. Judging by the young(?) man's speech, there was certain to be a concussion, at least.

Argus glanced over at the familiar, still flapping around agitatedly. On second thought, it didn't really look like a fox...

Maybe a mink?

[Graybeard]

[OOC: We're at a bit of an impasse. Given what's known so far, it would be hard for the party not to conclude that "Cit" was too badly injured to help with, or a trespasser who should be dealt with by the local cops, or both. None of these outcomes are likely to be satisfying from a game point of view. I'll temporize a little more, but give us something to work with here! /OOC:]

"Explain what?" Sister Rose challenged, wishing that her Empathy spell hadn't worn off, but glad that Brother Miguel's Truth was still active. It sounded like this guy had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar -- but the nearly empty stables weren't exactly the kind of place to be looking for things to steal. What was he up to?

Brother Abram didn't wait for an answer. "Sir, now that you are able to get up, I must ask that you leave the temple grounds at once. Ours is a welcoming church, but we do not tolerate trespassers." (He believes what he said, but isn't that a bit of an oxymoron? Miguel thought, then reflected that the Orthodox church was just full of these little contradictions.) "Begone, with Luminosita's Blessings."

Taking her cue, Rose said, "I think we'll be moving on as well. Thank you for your warning about the Millenarians." Even if I don't understand a word of it. "May Luminosita's Peace be with you."

The group (minus Abram, who'd ducked back indoors) helped the wobbly half elf and his flying badger around to the front of the temple, then Miguel said, "We really have no further reason to stay at this temple. I'm curious about the Luminositan Scientists, though. I'd never have guessed that an Orthodox priest would find them more acceptable to have nearby than the Millenarians. Should we check them out?"

Rose was about to offer an opinion when she noticed something missing -- or more accurately, someone. "Hey, where did Sasha get off to?"

[Sareth]

"You mean the errant?" Lillith's voice was cool. Inside, however, she was far less collected. Sasha was clearly unhinged. Left unsupervised, who knew what the woman could get up to, what sort of damage she could cause. That's all she needed. If Sasha did something to call attention to herself it could cause an elf to come running, salivating at the thought of killing half-elves. And with three half-elves gathered in one place...

This kind of thing could get bad.

She began looking around, hoping to see Sasha, find her and get her under cover before anything untoward could happen.

[Graybeard]

"She'll catch up if she wants to," Brother Miguel said, getting the draft horses ready to go. He turned to Cit. "Now would you tell us who you are and what you were doing there, please?"

[OOC: OK, so I'm not always long winded...]