---

"Hmph..."

Crossed his arms as Goroth saw the hesitating Tova looked at him for one last gaze of trust before proceeding with the door. A little smirk formed on his face just as she turned away from him. She is one hell of a cowardly faun, but seemed like she wasn't hopeless. A bit of repetition and she might be able to snap that attitude out of existence. Of course, whether or not she would like it or not is an issue, but hey, he didn't want to follow humans to become their slaves and ended up with a human lifestyle.

As Tova entered the building, Goroth followed her up until the doorway, where he would instead be right there, bending himself to allow his head through, admiring the architecture. The orc had seen this sort of layout before. The comfy looking couches, surrounding a wooden table with a strange letter on it, while the bookshelves solemnly observed the coziness it portrayed itself. Humans like to do this. He had seen this in his former owner's house. He didn't know for what reasons they'd put bookshelves at the back and chairs would have to surround the tables like they are doing a ritual, but that's just how they work. Frankly, it doesn't look bad.

"Hmph, I would be surprised if they are my cousins. They are long gone." Goroth curtly replied, considering the orc culture. But if they turn out to be so, he wouldn't be sure if they'd reaccept him as an orc anymore. So many things about him had changed. And one of them is instead of hunting down and eating this faun in front of him, he is now having to deal with her joke attempts.

Suddenly, almost as his instinct alarmed him, he noticed the shadow on the ground before him. As the shadow grew bigger, Goroth immediately stood up straight preparing to face whatever is coming towards him. However, despite his strong warrior instinct, it was still a bit late, as the creature swirled around him, missing his arm swing, before flinging itself into the room Tova was in.

'What in the living fuck was that?'

Not knowing whether or not this creature was dangerous, Goroth took out a short sword half the length of a normal human he had from the baggage on his back, not wanting to get his two big weapons stuck in whatever furniture that might get in the way if he had to fight. He barged right into the opened room where the furniture rustling made him point his weapons to wherever the sound went. Eventually, it finally made it to a cloak.

"The hell is it saying?" Goroth responded to both Tova and that...'thing', whether or not it could understand him enough. At the same time, it seemed to be inviting both of them behind that couch. The orc was down for figuring out what was going on, but he still kept his weapons ready as he approached.

@ArmorPlated@Roundabout

Tova winced in response to Goroth’s answer. She should have known family would be a sensitive topic to bring up - it’s not like any of them would be here if they had family to turn to. She sure as hell didn’t want to talk about hers, ”Ah, sorry, I-”

She was cut off when something - or someone? - flew into the room, bumping straight into the wall, before scurrying to hide behind one of the soft chairs. The sudden movement caused Tova to throw herself back against the bookcase with a loud yell, books toppling to the floor around her. Then Goroth stormed fully into the room, sword and presumably murder at the ready, which made her yell again.

"Jwih oce qeagh ijh hub'boch acs heeyh jhe bahjeg ot jwe wouhe'wozs." The thing behind the soft chair rasped in a strange voice, which made her hair stand on end. It also waved a familiar letter.

"The hell is it saying?" Goroth asked.

”How am I supposed to know!?” Tova said, still plastered against the bookcase and doing her best to push down her panic. Managing a full deep breath, she then added, ”It - it seems to have a letter, though. Like us. Um...Hello?” She said to the creature, ”Are you...Friendly? Do you understand us?”

Goroth, apparently lacking any sort of self-preservation, started to approach the creature.

”Stop it! It’ll bite your head off!” She urged in a low voice. She would go and try to physically stop him, but if he wanted to act stupid he was free to do so on his own. She felt more safe trying to become one with the bookcase.

Confusion, fear and tension hung in its mind like an oppressive cloud. The giant had seen it and immediately drawn a weapon in surprise, which was understandable. Surprise often meant danger, and warranted preparing one's defenses. Keeping the sword out and approaching was much less understandable. To approach something hiding with weapon drawn could only be intent to kill. Things were about to spiral out of control as the titanic green juggernaut approached. The creature did not want to die, but defending itself without causing harm or potentially offending the Manor's master would be all but impossible.

More concerning than all of that was the fact that it heard the giant's voice rumble a terse retort, and the smaller one respond in a stressed tone, but the words meant nothing. They did not speak the only tongue it knew. It began to panic, as it realized just how much of a predicament it was in. Peeking over the couch again, the small one chattered at him and waved a hand back and forth. In response it extended a three-fingered hand of that same yellow color and mimicked her, before quickly pulling the hand back in in response to the giant taking a large, heavy step towards the couch it was hiding behind. With another step, it fully retreated again.

With an eye watching from under the couch, the creature watched the giant's boots slowly step closer, planting it's feet as if to strike at a moment's notice. It visualized the massive sword in his hand with growing trepidation. It had seen enough of nature to know a creeping ambush when it saw one. Another few steps and it would be in a position to strike. The creature's eyes flicked to the cloven hooves of the smaller creature as it she? Called out to the giant in a cautioning tone of voice.

Caution is a luxury...

The giant took another step and the creature ducked behind the couch again. Another step, and it bolted under the couch, fitting through the minuscule amount of space seemingly without trouble. It catapulted out the other side with a loud rustling sound following every movement. Out of its protective cover, but farther from the olive colored giant, it snatched the letter off the table, and as it closed in on the bookshelf, scooped the books off the floor in a single fluid motion. its thin arms possessively wrapped around its newly pilfered items as it tried to put anything between it and the one pursuing it. Its eyes turned to Tova and it froze, the rustling sounds stopping as the rest of its body caught up.

For a moment, it was perfectly, unnaturally still. This close, the creature's features were well defined enough to spot at a glance. it's 'skin' was covered in orderly lines of symbols, cut off or interrupted by new sets of lines of the same set of symbols in a different direction over and over and over. There wasn't much shape visible underneath the surface of the cloak-like sheet the creature was surrounded by, currently spread out across the floor. At the front of it's "head" a gap in the sheet exposed a pair of wax seals stamped with designs spaced and positioned like eyes. One was a coat of arms on a strange looking shield, and the other a perched owl. Both were focused on Tova's belt.

The moment of stillness passed, another pair of arms were revealed as they shot forward, grasping Tova's invitation bound by her belt before pulling it loose. It unfolds the slightly worse-for-wear paper and the facsimile eyes flick back and forth, reading over its contents. One hand retreats behind the old paper-sheet cloak and reemerges with the creature's own invitation. Satisfied with whatever it found, it's own invitation disappears back into the paper-cloak and turns Tova's so that the lettering faces her. "Voos san seag geaseg! Y wode jwih zej'jeg ticsh nou lezz!" It gasps in a hoarse voice. It desperately taps the lettering with a strangely angular finger before pointing at Tova. It repeats the tapping and pointing once more before shaking the paper in front of her, arm outstretched as it glances nervously between Tova and Goroth.

@jasbraq

Pike smiled in amusement at her positive response to his offer, managing to hold back a chuckle before nodding in agreement as she mentioned finding their rooms to rest. "A real bed," Pike mused aloud with a small glint of excitement in his eyes as he imagined the feeling of finally sleeping comfortably for once. "I can hardly wait myself," he said with a longing sigh as they climbed the stairs together. As they reached the second floor Pike quickly buried his hands into his pockets, the hairs on the back of his neck rising up as he adjusted to sudden decrease in mana around them. He glanced over to Adara as she took the lead and let a final shiver run up his spine before following her, his expression curious as he examined their surroundings. He gave a nod in agreement as she pointed out the low amount of mana surrounding them and let his hands fidget around his his pockets. "It is interesting how they can decrease the flow mana in their vicinity, but I do feel a bit... odd about it," he admitted as he looked to one of the lamps, uncertain how he feels about being around them for to long. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't just a bit curious though.

Before he could think any further on the topic Pike looked to Adara with an arched brow as she once again grew closer to speak. Pike cleared his throat and felt his gaze flick else where for a moment, slightly embarrassed he was caught in the foyer. He had hoped he had been more subtle to avoid being rude, but it seemed he failed in that attempt. Relief quickly washed away is nerves as she seemed to be understanding and even willing to share what she was. A small smile came to his face from her offer, though a bit of hesitation lingered in his expression. He gave a firm nod upon her request to keep secrecy. "Of course, I've never been one to go spouting out others secrets and I don't see any point to do so now. Though..." he paused for a moment, his hands emerging from his pockets and crossing over his chest as he pondered his thoughts. "It seems a bit unfair to not reveal something to you as well. These types of secrets are no small thing for people like us after all," he stated with a slightly serious tone before closing his eyes and frowning in thought before letting out a sigh and looking back to her with a small smile. "Okay, how about this," he said before holding up a single finger. "In return for revealing what you are, I'll answer whatever question you have," he offered with a smile. He knew she would likely ask the same question from before, but Pike was curious enough to take the chance of revealing his true self.

---

"You feel odd about them? They're just lamps young man! Don't be silly now." She said jokingly, not being able to see his point of caution about these lamps. Adara couldn't help but giggle a bit from seeing him embarrassed from being caught staring at her in the foyer. The moment Pike told her he could keep her secrets to himself she lit up with a bright smile. "Good, otherwise I might have to kill you if you did" A sinister smirk covered her face to wait for the young man's reaction. She would let go from the smirk as she was surprised from the offer of a secret exchange. "Young man, are you sure about that? I offered you a way to learn more about someone without any drawbacks and you wish to exchange secrets with each other?" She looked a bit concerned as she first wanted to tell him a half-truth but now that he has proposed a exchange of secrets can she really not tell the full truth. She couldn't really do that, she always hated lying to people she liked but it was a necessity in noble life.

She looks a bit reluctant before smiling weakly as she removes her hood, revealing her full face to Pike. "Well, I'm something you can call a vampire... or rather a artificial one..." She looks a bit troubled as she started to look anxiously around her before closing in on the young man's ear. "Meaning I wasn't born an inhuman... Rather.. I was born as a human.." Her face was bright red as she finally revealed what she was to the first person ever since she was reborn. "There I said it! Now it's my turn. What are you? You don't seem all that similar to the others, more like me than like the werewolf.."

Within the envelope Gino opens sits a note. It seems to be hand-written, yet there is... something odd about the words on the paper. They seem... foreign. Unreadable. As though written in a language he is not familiar with. Yet at the same time... he can read the text perfectly, as though it was the simpelest of texts ever written.

Hello, dear guest.

I must, first and foremost, apologize for not being able to meet with all of you at this time. Something has occured at this time that requires my attention, and so I am unavailable for the time being. But worry not, I will be back soon, and the Manor contains all that is required to take care of yourself.

Some notes and information to begin with. This building has a basement, attic, ground floor and a first floor. The majority of the common rooms are on the ground floor, and the majority of the bedrooms on the first floor. Within each bedroom you can find a key. The first person to lock the door to a bedroom - assuming they have not yet claimed any bedrooms - claims the room. This allows them access to the room's bathroom, as well as the personal safe each room has.

The kitchen stores a large amount of food, with enchantments placed upon the storage container to prevent rot. It is not recommended to put a living being within this storage container without supervision, as it can lead to... unintended side-effects.

To ensure the safety of this manor, there are several security systems in place. Do not worry, these will not activate unless hostile intent or human life is detected, and for the most part these blend into the building or are unseen entirely.

Finally, and most importantly, do not harm the birds.

---

On the backside of the paper there is indeed more text. It appears to be a note of somekind, hand-written with beautiful characters and symbols. The letters and words are a bit strange, yet it feels... right to be reading them. There was something about it that felt... familiar and comfortable.

Hello, dear guest.

I must, first and foremost, apologize for not being able to meet with all of you at this time. Something has occured at this time that requires my attention, and so I am unavailable for the time being. But worry not, I will be back soon, and the Manor contains all that is required to take care of yourself.

Some notes and information to begin with. This building has a basement, attic, ground floor and a first floor. The majority of the common rooms are on the ground floor, and the majority of the bedrooms on the first floor. Within each bedroom you can find a key. The first person to lock the door to a bedroom - assuming they have not yet claimed any bedrooms - claims the room. This allows them access to the room's bathroom, as well as the personal safe each room has.

The kitchen stores a large amount of food, with enchantments placed upon the storage container to prevent rot. It is not recommended to put a living being within this storage container without supervision, as it can lead to... unintended side-effects.

To ensure the safety of this manor, there are several security systems in place. Do not worry, these will not activate unless hostile intent or human life is detected, and for the most part these blend into the building or are unseen entirely.

Finally, and most importantly, do not harm the birds.

---

The giant orc did not heed Tova's advice as he continued to seek this evasive creature. If the depravity of human beings towards him was not scary enough, then nothing would. After a while of back and forth, the creature resulted with stealing the invitation from his companion faun, reading through it before giving some rough gesture. Goroth still could not understand what the creature was shouting, but physical language was more better suited for a traveler. The shaking letters, the heavy touches, the quick glances around both him and Tova. It's desperate, yet it hadn't even tried to do anything aside from cowering from potentially being sliced in half.

Fine. He'd consider that a sign of goodwill.

The orc finally eased the grip on his sword, but not after firmly sliding the weapon back into his sheathe, one of his hand continued to hold onto the sheathe, seemingly just for carrying the weapon, but in case this thing has actual bones to pick from the orc, it'd be in for an unpleasant surprise.

"You act like you don't understand us, but you seem to understand the letter." He said to it. "How about write something out?"

Reading the letter was strange for Gino. Merely skimming the writing clearly conveyed its message to the skeleton with perfect clarity, while focusing on the characters inscribed upon the page revealed only gibberish. It was strange magic indeed that enchanted this note.
Their mysterious host was away, and would be gone for a short time longer. Everyone was entitled to their own room on a first-come first-served basis, and there was supposedly enough "food" to sustain them all for a while. Gino briefly speculated if everyone present would be accommodated for in regards to unique diets; Gino himself wouldn't require any food at all...
And then one line in the letter hit Gino like an avalanche.

To ensure the safety of this manor, there are several security systems in place. Do not worry, these will not activate unless hostile intent or human life is detected, and for the most part these blend into the building or are unseen entirely.

If Gino would still be considered a human being, the magic here would have interfered with his arrival. It was official: he was an undead monster. The skeleton stared holes in the passage, immediately becoming frustrated when the individual words stopped making sense to him. The skeleton allowed the paper to float gently back onto the bed as he turned and left the room. He took a reaffirming glance at the key he'd retrieved and turned to face the door again. He hesitated for a moment, silently questioning the finality of it all before locking the door and stowing the key in a belt pouch.

Gino projected his voice as much as the magic that animated his bones would allow.
"THE HOST IS AWAY. WE'RE ENCOURAGED TO CLAIM BEDROOMS...APPARENTLY." the skeleton began to wander back down into the foyer, eventually sitting down on the bottom-most stairs.
"SUPPOSEDLY THE KITCHEN IS STOCKED, IF ANY OF YOU ARE HUNGRY." Some of them must have been. There was no doubt that some of the other visitors had been travelling for quite some time, and at least somebody here probably still needed to eat to survive.

The former human still didn't feel comfortable approaching any of them until they had settled in, but chose to make himself readily available in the foyer in case his assistance was needed. He was personally much more relaxed knowing that the host had anticipated hostility, and claimed to have precautions in place in case things got ugly.

Gino glanced around the foyer and took it all in. Could such a thing really work? Could they really be safe here?

Tova did her best not to lose sight of the creature when it suddenly started moving, first disappearing under the large soft chair, then over to the table where it grabbed something - a piece of paper she hadn’t noticed when she and Goroth had first entered the room - before closing in on the bookcase. Tova made a small ‘eep’ sound as the creature came to a stop in front of her, now carrying an armful of books from the floor. The creature was definitely among the weirdest things Tova had ever seen, with its flowy shape and weird skin, and...eyes? Maybe? No matter what they were, she got the distinct feeling the creature was looking at her. She held her breath, remaining just as still. Then the creature suddenly surged forward, and Tova instinctively put her arms up to cover her neck and face. No fatal injury was delivered, however, and Tova only felt a slight tug on her belt as the creature stole her letter. Tova released the breathe she’d been holding in a slightly hysterical gasp, followed by several more. The creature was gesticulating to Tova’s letter, once again speaking in its strange language.

"You act like you don't understand us, but you seem to understand the letter." Goroth said, "How about write something out?"

Tova quickly glanced at Goroth, who seemed to have relaxed some, apparently deciding the creature wasn’t a threat. Tova wasn’t so sure, but then again she was also close to hyperventilating, so maybe she wasn’t the best judge of character at the moment. Taking one breath and holding it, she counted to ten in her head before releasing it again. Okay. Okay, nice and easy. The creature hadn’t killed her - though it had stolen from her. Rude! - so it was probably fine. It might even be just as scared as she was.

“Y-yeah, that’s-” She nodded and cleared her throat, trying to regain her composure, “That’s probably a good idea. Do you have something to write with?” She asked Goroth, then turned back to the creature, “Um, write?” She gestured with her hand as if she was holding a pen and writing in the air. Now that she’d calmed down a bit she thought the creature actually looked nervous rather than threatening, “Safe, okay? Letter buddies.” She tried to assure, despite still being a bit shaky herself, pointing at her letter in its hand and then made a thumbs up.

“...-to claim bedrooms...apparently!” A muffled, distant voice suddenly sounded from behind one of the closed doors. Tova was barely able to make out the words, her ears twitching, “Supposedly the kitchen is stocked, if any of you are hungry!”

At the mention of food, Tova’s stomach made a loud noise, and she put a hand over it as if that would make it settle down. She hadn’t eaten much of anything while she’d traveled to the manor, other than roots and the occasional mushroom she’d found along the way. Even before that, food had been a constant struggle, never knowing what or when her next meal would be.

The Giant had put his weapon away and stood passive but alert, one resting on his hip and the sheathed weapon. This was a good sign that he wasn't aggressive, just cautious. It almost seemed like he was guarding the little one, but they were clearly different species. Strange. The giant's gruff tone broke it's distracted thoughts with some sort of terse commentary capped off with a question., which the smaller one followed with a stuttering affirmation and her own question. She quickly turned back to their conversation and addressed it directly. Progress! I am a person to them!.

The joy quickly devolved into confusion as the small one disregarded the upheld letter, choosing instead to ask a question, repeating a word again while clenching two fingers and a thumb together, shaking her hand. Was she pantomiming something? His thoughts were becoming jumbled over this puzzle. Maybe she wanted an imitation? It shifted pieces around inside, and within a few moments the effort bore fruit just as The small one reassured him of something in a soft tone. A dry, rasping shout came from the interior of the mansion, muffled by the door and distance, but it was more unintelligible jibberish it could not understand.

It had a mouth to imitate sounds now, a dull red facsimile of a tongue floating in the emptiness of it's mouth but... Frustration. It could try to mimic the sounds, but they would still mean nothing. Determined to get through the language barrier, it extended another pair of arms and set down the books it had scavenged from the floor. Reaching them up to the still-held letter, it covered all but the first word at the top of the pilfered invitation with three additional hands, but stopped short of speaking as her stomach gurgled and she placed a hand on her rumbling midsection.

"Voos"
"Good"
Rather than sit idle, it moved the letter closer to her face-

"Voos"
"Good"
With that, it wound its way to the Giant and showed him the same letter, covering everything but the first word. It held there for a good moment to give him an opportunity to read. Do you understand?

"Voos"
"Good"
It glided across the floor, back to the smaller of the two and held the letter out to her again, speaking in a soft, desperate tone.
"Jwih hanh voos. Hde'ay ij ic noug olc jocvue. Han voos. Dzeahe"
"This says good. speak it in your own tongue. Say good. Please."

”Voos.” The strange being suddenly said, then pushed the letter it was holding close to Tova’s face, ”Voos!”

Tova squinted at the letter trying to read what it was showing her. Good? The creature then went over to Goroth and did the same thing, repeating the word, before returning to her. It spoke a long sentence, sounding almost desperate. It was clearly trying to communicate something. Voos and good were keys to solving it, of that she was sure.

”Voos…?” She repeated, uncertain, ”Is that your name? And you are...good? What?”

Tova felt a bit sorry for the ceature, not being able to communicate, but she was honestly lost.

---

The strange creature stuffed the letter onto the faun's face while still uttering a word multiple times. Voos? Is that even a word? It might be in whatever language this thing speaks. Then as he was getting enough of it, it showed him the letter too. Or rather a very small part of the letter, everything but the word that it left out open. The word 'good'.

Goroth was a bit confused too over what it was trying to say, but he took a different approach to it than Tova. He dealt with some language barriers before, and when they really struggled with the language, they would point physically to indicate what they mean. Hence he didn't think it was its name. It probably meant that the word translated to good.

"Voos..." The orc pinched one of his eyes as he tried to figure out how to describe this in the physical. Then as he put away the sword, he said the word again.

Then he bent his fingers in and pushed it together.

"Good."

Voos means Good.

Holy fangs...this was taxing. What sort of creature is this mansion owner's bringing? This is gonna take forever...

The small one mimicked the word, giving it a glimmer of hope as it looked like progress was being made. After a short pause, she muttered something unintelligible in a decidedly confused tone. The rising sensation of hope dulled as her words or lack thereof filled its thoughts. A deep-felt numbness began to set in as the shock of having its hopes dashed caused it to drop Tova's invitation. It's arms slowly fell back under the paper cloak as the giant imitated the word exactly like the small one did, followed by another lone-standing word.

"Good"

Realization came quickly. It locked eyes with the giant, and, re-energized by the success, burst into laughter. Without warning it leapt into the towering figure, the diminutive figure wrapping a scrawny pair of arms around his torso in a hug that could barely be felt. "Good! Good!" The connection was made, and it understood! Releasing Goroth, it spun as it hopped around the room, cheering. It's dry, rasping voice gibbered excitedly, excitedly including a new word.

"HURREHH AVAICHJ AZZ OSSH! VOOS! GOOD! Y ticazzn ucsegh'jacs!"
"SUCCESS AGAINST ALL ODDS! GOOD! GOOD! I finally understand!"
With a burst of laughter, it wrenched open the door to the hallway and rushed through the hallway and into the foyer.

Putting on a burst of speed, it catapulted across the foyer floor, circling A giant red lizard-man and an armored corpse in a continual series of hops, its figure still vaguely humanoid.
"Lijw jwih hurrehh Y lizz coj qe rocsebces jo hozijuse! Lijw jwih hurrehh tgeesob ih bice!"
"With this success I will not be condemned to solitude! with this success freedom is mine!"

Continuing its frantic celebration, it dove past Gino and bolted up the stairs, quite literally bouncing off the walls as it sped through the mansion at a breakneck pace. clinging to the door as it swung open, it preserved its momentum into the hallway, losing more of its shape as it spun and bounced wildly. Swinging around the corner with little care for safety, it unintentionally put itself onto a collision course with Adara in the occupied hallway. Without slowing down, it slipped between the two mid-conversation, grasped the smaller one's hands and spun as momentum carried them both down the hallway as it babbled.

"Y lah acmiouh ot abquhweh, og acojweg bihegaqze emihjacre, quj lijwouj qouqj o locsegtuz wobe jwih swazz qe! Tog jwe tighj jibe rockeghajioc qerobeh dohhiqze!"
"I was ancious of ambushes, or another miserable existance, but without doubt a wonderful home this shall be! For the first time conversation becomes possible!"
With a mirthful laugh that sounded out of place in its own throat, it spun carelessly down the hallway, taking Adara along for the dizzying ride.