It took Marita a bit to piece together everything that was happening. Not the big picture, she felt most confident in her understanding of the broad strokes of what was going on in town. It was more what was going on right in front of her. She had missed most of what had happened in between the scream and now and her brain had to process a lot of information to catch her up to where everyone else was. From what she could tell, the conclusions she was able to draw up seemed to have been already understood by everyone else, so she didn't feel the need to say aloud what everyone else probably already knew. And if Kosara happened to chime in later she would deal with it then.

The other thing she noted was that there didn't really seem to be a major consensus on what to do. A lot of the body language read as unsure, indecisive. Not surprising given the circumstance, but that wasn't going to do them much good. She had already made a decision on how to spend the night, it was time to act on it. The cleric put away her mace and then stepped forward to Lizbeth. She reached around her neck and took off the amulet she had been proudly displaying for the entirety that anyone present had known her.

"Lizbeth, you'll need to find somewhere in here to hide out. We're going to try to sort out this situation, and if all goes well, we will try to get back to you as soon as possible. In the meantime, you need to keep yourself secure. It's probably a good idea to snuff out that candle to keep yourself hidden. Once you're hidden away, do not open the door for anyone but us or your aunt. At least not until sunrise." Marita presented the amulet to the girl and explained the secular reason for passing it on to her.

"The monsters have an averse reaction to silver. Although you do not follow Pholtus, I'll be praying that his light will pierce through this miasma and shield you through the night." There was a bit of an internal struggle in her mind for a few seconds. A rare moment where she wasn't sure if what she was about to do was the morally right choice. Wordlessly, she removed Mallard's silver dagger from her belt and presented the handle to Lizbeth.

"If you want, I can lend you this silver dagger. In an absolute emergency you can use this to defend yourself if it comes down to it. If you don't feel comfortable with it, that's fine." The cleric waited for the girl to either accept or reject her gifts before turning around to face the rest of the party. If Lizbeth took her advice and items, great, that's about the best protection as she was liable to get tonight. If not, she couldn't blame the girl, Marita had experienced firsthand what a dagger in this situation could cause. When she faced the other adults, all the doubt she had experienced in the past couple of hours had been cast aside. If her eyes were normally that of iron, now they had hardened to steel, fiercely reflecting even the dimmest lights available in the Bed and Breakfast.

"We need to track down the Constable and get some answers out of him. And I have a pretty good idea of where we'll find him. Or at the very least if we don't find him there, it'll point us in his direction. Get ready for war."

It seemed the plan had changed. Though Kathryn wasn't against said plan, she worried they were under prepared for it. They knew little and less of the scope of what was going on, and things were kicking off to a degree that by morning, the streets could be littered with corpses. Kosara also had a point on how they couldn't sit back and do nothing. If they waited the night, so many things could happen that by the time things were resolved, there wouldn't be much left to save. She worried for sure, but in the end they didn't have a ton of options. Cicely was missing. Lizbeth was alone and scared. And already attacks had began. Kathryn let go of her embrace of the small girl and looked down at her. Worry in her eyes. She hated the idea of leaving her alone, and if anything happened to her while they were gone she would never forgive herself. But if they sat and hid while the turn burn, she also couldn't forgive herself for that either. But Victoria was right. Baronford was right. And both him and Marita prepared the girl as best as they could. But they had a job to do, and they wouldn't be able to hold her hand for now. "You should take the Blade Lizbeth. You know, when I had turned seven, I got my first sword." She said in an optimistic tone. "My uncle gave it to me, said "A lass like her needs ta know how to fend for herself." And despite my parents protest, I got a cool looking sword. No one expects you to use it, but I know having it made me feel a lot safer when things got scary." Kathryn said in a soft tone with a smile on her face.

Kathryn gave the girl another good squeeze before letting go. "For now, we'll need you to take care of yourself okay? Find a good spot ta hide, and wait for our return. We'll be back as quick as we can, but we gotta go help the town now." When she spoke softly bits of her old accent poked through, something that was harder to hide as she spoke. But listening to Marita, she was right. it was time for war. Kathryn stood up, gave Lizbeth a rub on the top of her head, and smiled on her one last time before affixing her helmet to her head again. "We'll be back soon." She strapped on her battered, but still effective shield. Made sure all her belts and straps were all tightened, and checked her weapons on hand. All where they needed to be.

She wanted to do more for Lizbeth. Barricade the door maybe, or hide her in a secrete compartment. Stash her away under the floorboards. Take her with them and hold out the night, preventing anything that would want to hurt her from getting anywhere near her. She wanted so much to not let this poor girl's world get turned upside down like her own world was all of those years ago. But Lizbeth had to be brave, and the party needed to take action. Aggressive, and precise action. The Municipal building would be a start. Clear out any rodents along the way, and grab Cavendish. Get some answers, and finally some solutions. Something, anything really. She thought of all the old stories she used to have read to her growing up, where the plot device was found and everyone was saved once it was used or destroyed. She doubted this was the same kind of situation. But she hoped. She hoped that they would be the ones to come in and save the day.

Somewhere in the distance, a cry is cut short. The sound itself seems to punctuate the knowledge that a subtle and monstrous force is still using the citizens of Avonshire for its own nefarious ends. But inside of the Bed & Breakfast, the scene was emotional, if subdued. Lizbeth looked wide-eyed at Baronfjord while he attempted to calm her. And to his credit, what he said might very well have been reassuring. All she did was nod her head at the question of whether or not she was scared. The issuance of raw information was more forthcoming, as she did elaborate more on questions asked directly of her. "They're not my guests," she said simply, in response to the idea that they were, and that they might need to be checked on. "And that isn't Aunt CeeCee's writing." A sort of numbness seemed to have taken hold of her. Shock, possibly, as trauma had been in the events of the past couple of days. Tears still stained her cheeks, even if her expression became less animated.

Her reaction to Marita was a little more interactive. Little feet shuffled closer to the Cleric as she reached out for the dagger. Little hands clasped around the hilt. In her grasp, the weapon looked more like a shortsword. Nevertheless, she accepted it with a quiet, "Okay. Thank you." A small amount of hesitance came over her as the moved to accept the amulet. She said nothing, instead nodding her head slowly.

Kathryn's words of encouragement did not seem to have the desired effect. While she understood that the very tall woman was trying to relate to her, it did not ping the appropriate pinging place for her. Particularly the last part about being back soon seemed to disturb her. It was very similar to what was penned upon the letter left in the place of her missing aunt. Lizbeth did move toward the stairs, which would take her up to the room rented for the length of Harvestide. She stopped in front of Victoria, staring from her to Morty, and back again. "You can magic things. I've seen you. Can you help us again, please?" The last sentence looked like it was addressed to the whole group as opposed to just the Half-Elf.

A tense stillness draped over the room for a long second as the pleading voice of the little girl holding a silver etched blade requested assistance of the brave adventurers. Unfortunately, before a proper answer might be given, a booming, hollow, striking sound reported sharply from the exterior wall next to the front door, seemingly louder within the open space of the first floor's main room.

Kosara gave a near feral grin when Marita proclaimed going to war. Yes! She was looking forward kicking evil in the butt, breaking their legs and hearing the lamentations of the rats! Wait, that’s wrong… Anyways, putting aside her current fixation of breaking Cavendish’s legs and probably then proceeding to blast him with enough celestial blasts that he’s naught but a charred shadow that remained on the crater she creates during the act, the tiefling really wanted help the people here deal with the rather obvious evil that was infesting this otherwise pleasant town. Still as Marita gave the girl a gift of silver weapon to protect herself, the dancer quickly went through her traveling bags in search of something to help also.

After some rustling and shuffling about things in her bag, Kosara pulled out a smaller bag, well it was close to a satchel size and gave out metal clangs as she moved it about. She offered it to the younger girl also.” With Marita giving you a gift for protection, I think this will help you also, especially if you want to hide yourself. This is a bag of caltrops. Sharp metal things that are dropped on the ground to hinder people from moving over. When you hide up, scatter them in front of the entrance. If something tries to come through, it will hurt itself or at least make noise and buy you time.” She told Liz with a smile. It wasn’t as grand a gift as the silvered dagger, but she didn’t have silvered weapons on her and giving her Grandpa’s sword wouldn’t do her a good thing. For one it was a big sword, especially for Lizbeth’s size, given how big the dagger looked in her hands. That and the sword that Kosara carried was magical and bound to her.

Now with everything done and over with, the revelation that the note wasn’t from Cecily, made Kosara’s anger boil even more. Ohh she wasn’t going to leave much from those buggers if she had the chance. This evil was going to be extinguished to last and least, if she had anything to say and do about it!” Ohh, we are going to he...” Kosara’s reassurance was cut short when a loud boom echoed from something seemingly hitting the front wall by the door with quite the force.

“...”

“Alright, that is it! I’m coming out and if you’re one of those bastards, I’m going to make you eat so many celestial blasts that nothing will be left of you!” Kosara growled and stormed towards the front door, her sword now in hand, anger and fury boiling. It was a fair assessment to state that the childishly behaving tiefling was majorly pissed off now, still she was wary and ready to spring into action should something tries to attack her when she opens the door, so without wasting much more time she grabbed the door handle, gave a look to the others to see if they were prepared, having remembered that she wasn’t alone and that Liz was with them, so she didn’t yank it open right away, but she was about to do it as soon as she confirmed people were ready for it and that Liz was protected.

“Ah, of course not. My mistake.” The ridges of his brow rose with the animated apology to Lizbeths response, and he mentally crossed out that idea. Turning to Lady Kathryn he added. “Made of some pretty stern stuff, is she not?”

BlackBerry was glad to see Lizbeth managing to hold firm against the situation, but understandably still distressed. Momentarily BlackBerry wondered if she had gone through something similar before, his smile tightening a little at the thought. He watched her red eyes, clearly still raw from crying earlier dart between the three of them who had come to reassure her. It was heartwarming to see the party come to the childs aid. With the other two now chiming in with their own reassurances he took a step back from Lizbeth hoping to not overwhelm her any further. It looked to him that Marita was currently having the best luck with the child, in any case.

“Silver?” He repeated the word. Then realisation smacked him harder than any blow before. “oh…yes.”

Were-rats and Were-wolves…the two were similar in nature and clearly that also meant their weaknesses and possibly even their strength as well. BlackBerry covered his mouth and let out a long, drawn out breath through his nose as the five stages of grief rolled through him. Did that mean werewolves were also resistant to being stabbed? He stashed the question away for later.

The boom at the door hooked and drew his gaze. His heart nearly stopped with fright, his nerves were well and truly being tested this evening. Kosara was the first to react and lead the charge to the door, meanwhile BlackBerry snapped his attention back to Lizbeth. If there really were more of those ruffians outside trying to break in then he didn’t want the child to be anywhere near the oncoming fight.

“Upstairs. Now.” He barked at Lizbeth, grabbing and spinning her around by the arm, urging the child towards the stair banister he could see looming in the darkness. “Under no circumstance do you come down till sunlight. Understand?”

The last part wasn’t much of a question, and BlackBerry didn’t wait for an answer or to see if Lizbeth had in fact gone upstairs. Instead he turned back to face the door and took the moment Kosara offered to re-wrap his scarf back tightly into place around his neck; he didn’t need the loose fabric either restricting his movements or becoming something to snatch. Finally, with a nod to Kosara, he was ready.

"Yes," spoke Victoria. Her voice was soft, even quiet, but clear and determined enough to provide verisimilitude for many a hardened skeptic. Her words were directed at Lizbeth, a clear answer to the simple question that she had posed just before. "We can help you, Lizbeth L'Rose. At least we can try." No promises, as was not her nature, except to make the attempt. It was a lot for Victoria. More than she had been willing to extend for anyone who wasn't a straight-laced elder Sheriff who had hinted strongly at continued incarceration were she to not accept an investigation contract. Admittedly, that thought was more than a little specific to her situation, but she had other factors keeping her in Avonshire, now. One of those factors was asking her for help, point of fact.

Victoria gave as reassuring a smile as she could to the little girl, her crystal blue, almond eyes shining with certainty. She fixed her features with grim but elegant resolution. With a visage of confidence, the Bard turned to the rest of the group. Her lips parted just slightly as she summoned words to inspire and motivate to decisive action, but before a syllable could be uttered, the hollow smash resounded from near to the front door. Her plans derailed, it seemed instinctual that her silvered, slender-bladed sword appeared in her hand, drawn before she consciously registered its movement. Her other hand stretched out before her, palm forward in the manner of one who might spring tendrils of arcane energy forth into the world of the mundane. Victoria cleared her throat quietly, readying her voice to be used as a weapon as sharp as any dagger. With her voice, she could disorient, damage, even close wounds and more. Whatever was behind the door would have to deal with the full brunt of a supported and protective group of near-desperate adventurers. Even if they had only known one another for a short time, Victoria was confident in possibility that they might actually operate in a synergistic fashion when it really, really counted. Equally as much, she hoped that it would really, really count soon.

The Dragonborn's words to Lizbeth echoed her own wishes for the girl and she spared a nod in her direction for exactly this reason before turning her attention back to the front of the room. She watched as Kosara made her proclamation to whomever or whatever lay beyond the heavy, wooden portal, and began to open it. All the while, Victoria subtly continued the song she had started earlier in the Public House:

"This is the day that we stand up
This is the day we fight
We'll take our place, we won't give in
Our victory's in sight..."

Conditions being met for a change of action from Morty, the burlap-swaddled minion trotted to flank its mistress and move slightly ahead. The animated beast stood quietly, its form braced to either begin, or receive, a charge.

Marita was a bit surprised that Lizbeth was more cautious about accepting the amulet than the dagger. She would have guessed that the lethal weapon would be more off-putting. Were the L'Roses actually far more devout than she had known? The idea that a strict, somewhat obscure for the region Law deity could be unpopular never even crossed her mind. Well, she took them both so she would have to take solace in that she had done about as much as she could reasonably given the situation.

With that taken care of, she was about to explain the next step she wanted to take, but the sudden noise made her shut her mouth. There was no telling what was out there, but before she could signal to the others to get ready for war, Kosara was already opening the door. Well, she drew her mace and prepared for what was to come. Unlike Victoria, she didn't prepare to do any casting. She wasn't sure how often they would get into scraps over the course of the night, and she had already used a significant amount of magic during the day. The last thing she wanted was to be out of usable combat spells prematurely. Unless something really bad happened, she would have to settle for hitting things with a heavy chunk of iron and silver.

The more Lizbeth explained of the situation, the more Kathryn suspected foul play. And the more she heard, the more she worried about Cecily's fate. The note, the screams in the dark. It all upset Kathryn. She was armed now, so that was something. The amulate Marita gave her may even help motivate her, or feel safer. Kathryn wasn't sure. She wasn't the biggest follower of religion. Though she did her best to respect those who did, she held little understanding herself. Her reaction to Kathryn wasn't the best, but she supposed that should have been expected. She was scared and anything spoken could only add to her fear and misery. Kathryn was determined to help this poor lass out though. Kathryn turned to acknowledge Blackberry and despite the helmet, she worked up a smile. "She's tough as a one of those rocks used to forge iron from." She said in her best gruff voice. And to her credit, she had a pretty solid one.

The half giant was a little more than surprised to see Kosara's gift. Had she not been wearing a helmet the whole group would have seen her jaw drop to the bag of Caltrops. She had heard stories from her uncle and Ser Lucas about how dastardly they were to horses and footman alike. Though they rarely killed, the injuries they caused were the stuff of nightmares. "Kosara... I..." She paused, retracting her thoughts. Remembering how desperate the situation at hand was. "N-Nevermind..." She said, not quite in a defeated tone, but pretty damn close. Victoria turned to help reassure Lizbeth. Soon the small girl would be hiding upstairs, safe for the night. And the party would end things by dawn. Kathryn got ready to face on the night, but it appeared the night would face them.

The thud hit the wall with enough for to make Kathryn question all sorts of things. She figured, something big, and something mean. Without speaking a word she finished strapping down her armor, locked her shield in place on her arm, and drew the hammer in her free hand. Stepping towards the door with a calm collective as Kosara prepared to open it, letting the terror of the night through to face on their own terms. Kathryn braced her steel clad boots on the ground, and held the hammer back preparing to swing it with enough force to invert any asshole who was stupid enough to try her tonight. "When the door opens, get clear fast." Kathryn said in a hushed tone as others prepared weapons and spells. She on the other hand, wanted a clean shot to get first blood on whatever came through that door. Kathryn's breath slowed as Victoria's music was sung in the background. She took note of Marita preparing on her flank, and hoped the woman would take a more reserved role. She saw what the Cleric's magic could do, and wanted her free to use it should the chance arrive.

Weather: It is cold and foggy, hovering above freezing. At least the rain has stopped.

Time: Night. Early night, but the sun has fully removed itself from sight.

Ambience: The sound of water about Avonshire Township is restricted to the quiet but constant murmuring of the river which ran through it. The rain is gone, and enough time had passed that the excesses of the weather had filtered away into the settlement's quite effective drainage system. Sounds of distress can be heard every so often, punctuating the otherwise dead silence from the overall populace; it seemed that everyone was laying as low as possible. The full, pale moon is more readily visible now despite the thickness of the fog.



That single moment in the Bed & Breakfast stood thick and eventful. Small movements, small decisions, and stimuli which would seem quite mundane under other circumstances impacted with urgent importance. Most notable in this was the thunk on the outside of the building, which startled Lizbeth horribly. She did not cry out in alarm but did whimper once with expectant trauma as her feet stamped reflexively and the hunched forward slightly. She shuffled the holy symbol over to her other hand which held the dagger and darted her now free digits out to take the sackful of caltrops from Kosara.

Lizbeth's feet soon found themselves taking a shuffling step back in the direction of the stairs. To utilize the stairs meant that she would have to initially move closer to the front door, which put her into temporary indecisiveness as rational thought strove to override her raw survival instinct to move as quickly and directly away from potential danger as quickly as possible. Baronfjord's words caught up with both halves of her senses. When he bade her to go upstairs, she obliged quickly. The tiniest of hesitation occurred as she paused just long enough to capture the mental image of the group assembling to open the main door and confront what lay beyond, but this gave way to the pragmatism of not being in harm's line of sight.

When the party was ready to charge and/or defend themselves from the horrors of the outdoors, the reinforced, wooden portal swung slowly, even cautiously, open. There as no monster waiting them. No quantifiable enemy awaiting a hasty lapse of judgement to strike; nothing obvious to lure them into something unfortunate. Just still, chilly air and the limited visibility of nighttime fog. Cautious eyes could readily find the source of the loud thump from earlier, however. It was obvious once revealed:

The handaxe left by Kathryn to better defend Cecily and Lizbeth against what was then an unknown danger lay embedded in the wooden doorframe, right at eye level. It stood silently as an unarticulated explanation, inferring things most foul. From the mist and darkness outside, a voice could be heard rising among the stillness. It spoke with great volume, and from a distance. "We have taken everyone we intended to this evening. Accept these losses and we will be gone by the morning light. Stray outside and you will be made food for beasts, and bound to serve us in death hereafter." Cruel mockery followed as the same voice intoned, "Have a happy and bountiful Harvestide."

Curiously, there is a single rat sitting up on its haunches in the middle of the street, facing the front door of the building. One paw holds up a carefully folded piece of paper and the other, against modern conceptions of common sense, looks to be waving at whomever it can see in the open doorway.

Opening the door with a zeal, Kosara eyed the seeming emptiness outside. Then her eyes glided over to the axe that was stuck into the doorframe. Well that explained the heavy thud. She recalled the thing vaguely as the one that Kathryn had earlier. Well that didn’t bode well about Cecily’s situation as the tiefling hissed in righteous fury when the voice filled the misty night’s air, origin unknown and unseen. It sounded arrogant and condescending in it’s attempts to threaten them and weasel their way out of confrontation. Now there were many a ways one could take this, as a polite gesture, a request to not escalate things further and cause more deaths, but what Kosara heard and understood was a desire to escape confrontation cause whomever and whatever this was, was likely afraid they would mess their plans! These things...people… group? Whatever it was, were clearly targeting helpless people no problem, but as soon as somebody to fight back appeared they desire to solve it peacefully? Sure it was about as genuine as Kosara was a pretty dark skinned elf with purple hair or something.

“Big words coming from a voice without actual presence to show.” Kosara huffed as the voice seemingly left. Ohh she was mad now. She was storming down the municipal building before they could evacuate and escape with the people and whatever else was going on tonight. Thoughts of deaths and undead servitude glided over her pretty little head with no apparent recognition.” Hmm?” She made a sound of surprise and confusion as she saw a lil rat carrying apparently a message to them. Well that was new and unusual and straight out of a fairy tale." What do we have here?" Of all things that she might have excepted this was not one of them, but she didn’t mind. Interesting things were important on adventures!

With the attitude of an angry cat, Kosara stomped out of the doorway and headed for the rat where she proceeded to crouch and reach to get the letter.” Well, Hello there! It would be rude to not at least pick the message... You know, You are cuter than those pesky ones I saw earlier, but you better go before I figure out how you make the best foodstuff cause I’m quite angry right now because of all this and don’t want to take it out on you.” She lightly pulled onto the letter to get it from the rat.

BlackBerry waited. He waited some more, hearing his heart pounding furiously in his chest. And yet, nothing happened. It became apparent to him that nothing was going to happen, at least not yet anyway. He let his arm fall from his cheek, and pulled up from his slight slouch he had curled up into in preparation for the absent fight. He looked to the others with a frown and expecting similar looks of confusion.

Once again, it was Kosara who was the first one to act. BlackBerry sucked on his teeth as she damn near bounced out the door, with the loud warning outside still ringing in the air. But at the very least, he felt a little safer not being out in the middle of the street just that moment. His limbs were tense and he felt like a spring coiled far too tight, he needed something to punch, something to do to get all this frantic energy out of him.

“Kosara, please wait a moment for the rest of us.”

He hurried over and out of the door, but something embedded in the door frame caught his wandering eyes . Not getting past the porch he spun to a stop to investigate the what had caught his gaze. It was an axe embedded in the wood of the door frame.

“Well…Someone was definitely here.” Tentatively he reached out a hand to the axe handle, but then quickly pulled it back. Instead choosing to look back into the room around the door frame. “An axe has been buried in the door frame. What are the odds, do we suppose, it is a warning from our Audience?”

The dramatic buildup of the past hour seemed to have come to a staggering and confusing intermission. Sure, Victoria was posed in the most adventurous and potentially dashing of poses (which, considering her penchant for professional performance and sense of charismatic self-awareness, was admirably enough dashing), her silvered rapier at the fore and Bardic spellcraft but a whisper away, clothing potentially rippling about her form at the lightest but most enabling of breezes. Were an appropriate gust of air not conveniently available, Victoria had no issue with expending a mote of magic to make it happen. The right impression was an important thing to establish, be it for an audience, friends, or enemies alike. Or the wrong impression, as the occasion called for it. The more performative aspects of her stance were ultimately wasted as the rising action of the evening came to a swift and confusing hiccup. Luckily, her quite-dead-yet-animated porcine companion didn't seem to notice the current challenge whatsoever.

Victoria remained cautious as she stepped forward, Morty keeping to her heel. Her eyes passed by the axe in the side of the building, flashing recognition, followed quickly by realization. Then anger. She looked to Baronfjord as he spoke about the axe being a warning and shook her head solemnly. "I do not believe that is a warning," she responded. Her voice held onto its usual mellifluousness but was colored with dire understanding. "Unless I am mistaken, this is the axe which Lady Kathryn lent to Cecily to protect herself. I believe," Victoria's words became more deliberate as she finished, "that this is a taunt. Madame L'Rose is in danger."

Her next intention was to look to Marita, a lady with whom she had little in common and likely would have never associated in other circumstances, and agree with her earlier call to action. She might have even engaged in a rousing (if short) speech to rally and inspire in support of this decision before marching boldly, but not stupidly, toward the probable location of those responsible. This was her intention, mind you, which was summarily waylaid by circumstance. In this case, said circumstance was Kosara talking to a rat in the middle of the street.

Pretense dropped, Victoria motioned with her sword to the tiny animal which was supposed to be in league with their enemies and shook her head, wordlessly at first, with her mouth agape. The most interesting, quizzical, off-guard expression covered her face. She motioned back in the general direction of the rest of the group, asking, "Everyone saw that, yes?" A shake of her head more and she voiced her support of Marita's plan with a more utilitarian statement of, "Let us figure this out quickly and go. I don't like that the whole town got one message and we, apparently, are given another." Victoria glanced up the road as far as the fog would allow her. There was a touch of impatience about her posture.

Kathryn held for a tense moment waiting for the door to open. She was ready to invert the face of whatever poor bastard was going to try and harm those in the building, and then correct their face into its original position by force. But when the door opened, there was nothing. Nothing, but the Axe she gave Cecily to defend herself. Kathryn's heart dropped, and he posture weakened. "No..." She mumbled inside of her helmet. She let the hammer drop and she followed the others outside. She was slump, shocked, and barely coherent trying to process what was going on. That was, until the voice boomed over the town. By the time the second word had finished, Kathryn was back into a fighting stance, shield up, Hammer posed to strike. But there were no targets to hit, no hostiles' faces to invert, and no Cecily. Kathryn gritted her teeth to the mockery, and dared the poor bastard to say his words to her face. See how that went. For now, she slid the hammer back onto her belt, and walked with heavy determined steps to her hand axe still embedded into the door. "Glad we're on the same page Kosara. Let's find a presence to that voice and give it a piece of our mind." She said trying to hide her vengeful tone. She wished she did more to act when she had time. Now, she was determined to make up for it. After pausing for a moment, she wondered if she had heard the voice projecting before? After thinking it over, she drew blanks. She wasn't sure this could be called a setback, but it wasn't super helpful either.

"Aye, it's mine. Cecily should have had it on her when she was here. Warning or taunt though, it does not matter. What matters in the message they are sending." Kathryn yanked the axe from the door with enough force to take a few chips out with it. "I vote we answer in kind." She said in a little more of a confident and calm tone. She took a few more deep breaths, and reminded herself not to let hate and anger get in the way of reason and smart decisions. Though she would still invert an asshole's face if given the chance. As she attempted to put the axe back into it's loop, and realizing she gave that to Cecily too, she took note of Kosara interacting with... A rat? "What in the four hells?" Kathryn said cramming the belt under her belt. She was starting to feel like a walking armory, not something she was against, but it was getting to be a bit cluttered.

Kathryn paused for a moment, wondering about wererats. "Kosara, careful. What if you get turned into one?" Not that she had a ton of experience with Wererats. But she thought about it briefly, and had actually recalled a story or two once long ago. And though Were creatures had many forms, she never recalled them doing anything like... That rat. "Or makes you sick. Rats are... Rats." But shy of physically removing Kosara from the situation, she figured there wasn't anything she could do to stop her. And she also wondered what the note said. Unsure if it was a lapse in her better judgement from her curiosity, or if she worried that the note could be much needed, she would let Kosara take the note.

There was a rush of relief when it turned out that whatever was behind the door was not someone or somethings with the desire to see the innards of present company. It was short lived however, partially in that Marita refused to let her guard down, but also in that there were several oddities that came about in rapid succession. She didn't understand the meaning of the axe immediately, but Kathryn and Victoria cleared that up pretty quickly. The rat... well she would deal with the rat when its time came.

What really threw her off was the voice. In her mind she had been preparing for the absolute worst case scenario where the entire town would be wiped out before the morning came. Or at the very least that they would have to be on guard for the entire night for attacks, and what they had seen with the rats earlier on seemed to back that up. But it was what, a couple of hours past sundown at most? And they were announcing that they were supposedly done for the night. And "bound to serve us in death?" Up until now she hadn't caught even a whiff of necromancy that wasn't coming from Victoria. Were the wererats actually those who had already been killed? Things didn't add up. Why would they make an announcement like this? Clearly they wanted to use fear to keep people inside to prevent any resistance from what they were doing. Perhaps the total manpower of the forces of evil was much less than anticipated. Perhaps they were performing some sort of ritual that required all three days of the Harvest Moon to complete. Whatever the case was, she didn't like it.

Back to the rat.

"I doubt that it would try to attack us. If they wanted to do so, they would have done so already. After all, they hold all the cards in this situation. However, all this reeks of a trap. I'd bet money that the note that rodent is holding is going to direct us right where they want us. Everything done so far is practically tailor made to rile us up and have us charge forward blindly." Now what exactly they should do with this in mind, she had no idea. What she did know was that she wasn't going to stand back inside as Kosara barged right outside to take the note from the rat. Whatever it wanted to tell them, perhaps it would be the one piece she needed to assemble a proper course of action for the rest of the night.

Weather: It is cold and there is thick, still fog dominating the area.

Time: Nighttime. Still enough hours left for trouble and yet get a more-or-less less decent rest this evening.

Ambience: It is quiet this evening. Not silent, mind you, but quiet enough that other sounds become more noticeable. Somewhere down the road, curious sounds of shuffling that one may attribute to rats continues, as does the steadily decreasing drip of water from the previous precipitation. There is the distinct impression that people, for the most part, are heeding the warning of the disembodied voice and keeping hidden.



The relative stillness of the evening deepens. One could imagine that they were in a ghost town, though practical sense would remind that this settlement is packed fairly solid with persons local, regional, and far traveller. Banners hung limply in the soft moonlight, made ghostly by the occasional soft breeze and obscurement of the ground-crawling cloud of atmospheric condensation. Yet still, the scent of slow roasted swine and curing fires could be detected, mingling about the air like an everpresent friend.

Tiny paws outstretched and released the carefully folded bit of paper into Kosara's hands. The creature then rubbed its face over and over rapidly for a second or two and twitched its little whiskers, sniffing the air. It let out a tiny squeak and began to dart back in the presumable direction of its origin, westward toward the center of town. It stopped just before disappearing into the fog to give a final glance in the direction of the silly bipedal, and then zoomed along at the Speed of Rodent.

The paper itself was unremarkable, a bit of coarse parchment common to the area for day-to-day record keeping; it held ink readily without bleedthrough or spreading. It was decorated with simple and legible letters drawn with a precise hand in even, level rows, stating:



No more screams had echoed in the night air since the tiny messenger dropped off its parcel. The Township's environment seemed to be waiting on something, like a held breath poised for release, or a headsman's axe ready to descend upon command.

“Then I will be the most pretty white rat there ever was… and my tail might regrow I guess.” Kosara had a bit distractedly replied to Kathryn given the nature of her current interraction companion being a very curious rat.” Well and then I guess I will use my newfound teeth to bite some evil doers.”

“Now… let’s see, thank you very much. Have a nice evening, Mr Rat. But remember, be kind and good.” She stated to the tiny critter as it bolted away from her. How curious, it indeed looked rather more adorable than the pesky ones that she had noted before. Well it certainly looked more adorable than the evil were-rats. And than the scuttering ones in the fog. Well she hadn’t had perfect view of those, just a glimpse, but they looked rather… NOT adorable. In any case, she opened the note without wasting time or paying note to Kathryn’s paranoia, that Kosara was more than willing to call good adventuring common sense. Problem with that was that Kosara wasn’t quite a regular person when it came to common sense.

She read through the note. Blinked and then read it again. “Them fighting words...” She hissed out and then let out a giggle… that descended into a laugh, it was just a tad twisted though. Ohh Kosara was mad.” We got the invitation!” She practically sang as she hopped over, handing the note over to Marita.” Ol Cloverwish send us a proper invite with a location for the ambush. Right in the middle of the town. Think we are meant to be a bit of a scene or maybe example.” She stated her giggling and laughing fit returning to normal breathing as her eyes were burning with some very angry flames. It wasn’t her usual ‘I’m so angry at you like a cat’ anger. No, she was really darn angry this time around.

“Alright, what’s the plan, right down to bust the ambush or… we go with my first idea with their hideout?” She asked, looking at the others. They didn’t have much choices really, it was either bust the ambush and start the slaughtering spree from there on or they skip the ambush and instead hit the Municipal building cause she was pretty sure it was their base of operations.” I don’t think he will bring Cecily to the obvious ambush though… so we gotta decide fast.” The dancer added. These were their options as far as she could figure it out.

“Oh.”

Madame Cicily L’Rose; Aunt Ceecee. His fears had been confirmed. He looked back into the gloom of the B&B, and then shooting a glance upwards through the awning, hoping that Lizbeth wasn’t listening in from some unseen corner.

There wasn’t anything else BlackBerry could say when Victoria explained the meaning behind the axe. But still he tried to hunt for the right words to say, something he could do to at least ease their fears a bit if not rid them entirely, he opened his mouth a few times but without any luck of finding the magic words.. He took a quick step back to allow Lady Kathryn to rip the axe from the wood. It was an awful thing to watch, even from behind the closed helmet BlackBerry had no doubt of the expression of anguish and fury written on her face.

His own looming sense of dread was not helped in the slightly by Kosara seemingly losing the plot as she descended into giggles, which then morphed into a concerning hysterical laughing fit. BlackBerry had turned, at Victorias direction, just in time to see a rat scamper into the shadows. He managed to restrain a flinch when Kosara came skipping over to them all, still wearing a giddy grin as if she had won a prize, and handing a note to Marita.

“Is she quite all there?” He whispered, leaning to the side closer to Lady Kathryn. “I know some diseases could cause hysteria, if she had been bitten, but to happen this fast…”

BlackBerry tried to lock eyes with the rest of the party for their reactions to see if this was just a ‘normal’ Kosara occurrence or something else entirely. He had already gathered that the woman wasn’t entirely…there, or at least she was just very excitable at every opportunity to cause violence and chaos. He wasn’t sure which he preferred. Admittedly though, he was also excited by the prospect of a fight, of the opportunity to get his revenge on those ruffians who had managed to beat them all earlier and get away with it.

He quickly gave Kosara a visual once over and couldn’t see any fresh bites, plus he hadn’t heard her cry out in pain at all. So decided that she likely hadn’t been bitten.

“The middle of town. That would be by the fountain would it not?” Jabbing a thumb in his best guess-timate of the firection. “If we head now we can get these quickly, and in good time too.”

He let the words hold for a moment, and then in a much quieter voice, trying hard to make sure only the party around him could hear he said. “If we are to try anything else I suggest we keep our voices down.” He cocked his head to the side at the sound of scuffling from outside their meager circle of light beneath the awning. “Im certain our Audience is still about. Call me paranoid but I suggest we follow Mr Mallards advice and be wary of any prying eyes or ears in the shadows.”

The situation had not changed enough for Victoria to alter her present intentions. If anything, it cemented them. She did not stupidly rush off, as anyone bearing even half of their mental facility would know that she could not challenge the Constable and his guards alone. The instinct for survival was just as strong as ever. But they needed to do something and time was a more pronounced factor now.

Following the example of Kosara's more emotive nature and the subsequent verbal and nonverbal inquiry from their newest party member, all Victoria could do was shrug. While she had greater understanding of these people than she had upon first meeting, one was compelled to remember that she had met most of them only a couple of days prior. Victoria added a mildly bewildered head shake to her shrug and attempted to return to the business at hand.

"So we are presented with... what, two minutes to form a plan and ten minutes to implement it? Maybe we might simplify." Her voice dropped in volume but became sterner, "Do we wish to attempt stealth? Or knowing it is probably a trap, do we waltz in and give them a show?" There was something to be said for shock and awe. Almost as much as being sneaky. "I am feeling quite versatile this evening."

Marita's assurance that the rat wouldn't attack had some sound logic to it. Her concern was more that the creature either didn't have the ability to reason like that, or that it had a totally wild train of logic to base it's actions off of. But if it was in league with Cavendish, then she supposed that Marita had a point. They had the ideal chance to do something not too long ago. Maybe it was missed while the party was inside, or maybe they had decided it wasn't worth the risks. It didn't matter too much either way. Kosara was able to get the note while not being attacked. Though Kosara's lack of concern for the situation only concerned Kathryn more. At the tiefling's comment about regrowing her tail, Kathryn held a puzzled look under her helm. Looking at Kosara's tail, it did infact seem... off. It was entirely non existent! Not that she was any expert in tiefling tails, but she would have to ask about that at some point. Was she attacked? Some form of cruel punishment? Torture? She wondered if the childlike shell Kosara put on was a reaction to some sort of trauma. But with that in mind, she couldn't be so sure on that either. She was no wizard who studied brains, nor doctor who studied tieflings. She was a simple woman who was very good at using her size, speed, and strength, to knock the cruel and evil down a few pegs when the occasion called for it. And a shoulder to rest on when those who did the same needed one. She did take a moment to acknowledge Blackberry's comment about Kosara. "Everyone has their own ways for dealing with the world. I guess this is Kosara's."

So that was some good news in this nightmare. Kosara wouldn't turn into a were-rat yet. Though thinking about it, she wasn't convinced rats under the control of were-rats could do that to anyone. Kathryn did take note of how quiet it was now. Not so quiet the world became deafening, but as if the whole town had just let out a huge sigh of relief, that they had been spared despite others not being so fortunate. And now waited for the inhale of the weight of the situation to kick in. Kathryn had no reason to trust the tone of whoever had spoken. For all she trusted it, there would be more attacks the moment they finished doing whatever they wanted to those already attacked. Be in before dawn, or the following nights. The whole thing reeked of deception. Though Kathryn was the last to wish for a fight, she wanted to sock whoever was speaking right in the face with her fist, and sit him down on his ass to give him a lesson in morality.

Kosara's explanation of the situation wasn't good, but she figured that is what Cavendish would want. A chance to deal with those who had beaten the shite out of him and his goons on broad daylight. Something that for legal stakes, Kathryn would request a pardon for later. Just to cover their own asses. "Even if Cecily isn't with him right now, she was taken by him. Even if we avoid a trap, we gotta locate her. And that may mean meeting him. Maybe we can do so on reserved terms. I worry about more crossbowmen like before though. Only now he'll have a proper chance to prepare for us." Sure, they had a moment to prepare, but they had no idea if he had more goons than what he had before, or if he would find some other sneaky trick. "A combined approach maybe?" Kathryn said in a hushed tone. "One or two of us meet him, the rest work on trying to find and free Cecily, or to remove as many of his goons from the picture as possible before they can react. A sort of... counter ambush. Though he may be expecting that... we could be making claims that the rest of the party left to get help from the fort. Or are inside the town municipal building." She wished she had more to offer in those regards. With a hostage, her skill set was just as much a liability as an asset. She wasn't a quiet fighter, and she was also only really effective up close. Sure, she was very effective, and if Cecily could be removed as a hostage, she is pretty sure she could take on Cavendish in a one on one without too much problem. She hoped. "It's apparent I am not good at a lot of these sorts of things, so if we go with an approach like that, I'll go meet him while the rest coordinate a way to save Cecily." Or if enough attention was pulled away, maybe she could do so herself? But in reality, if that plan were to work, she would need to keep all eyes on her.

Marita thought over the contents of the letter. It made her quite furious, but not for the reasons one would expect. Yes, the taking of hostages and threatening to defile them were unforgivable offenses, but what really got to her was how conceited he was. He truly imagined himself untouchable and that he could get away with whatever he felt like. He didn't even take into consideration if his little threats would actually hold weight. Truth be told, as far as Marita went it didn't. Of course she didn't want any harm done to the innocent townsfolk and the few people she had befriended here, but that wouldn't stop her from doing what needed to be done to make sure that he would no longer pose a threat to others. If she had her way, in the very near future, the Constable would experience firsthand just what kind of person he pissed off.

However, the cleric's face maintained its more neutral expression of displeasure, only by looking into her eyes for an extended period of time would one see the cruel flames of anger burning within her. She crushed the note in hand before speaking.

"Trying to split up is far more likely to backfire than anything. Anything less than the totality of our party showing up would probably have him conclude that something is up and back out of his little bargain, assuming he'd ever honor it in the first place. If we still had Hugh around stealth would be a viable option, but given the present circumstances, we're far too conspicuous to realistically have success through that avenue. We need to play to our strengths." Marita paused for a second to think through the next thing she was about to say.

"In my training, a maxim we were given when hunting lowlifes was to imagine yourself in the place of enemy and picture what they fear most, then do that. From what I've seen of the Constable, he's shown himself of be a very small man. Always hungry for power and reveling in using it over others to make them kneel to his whims. What is likely the worst thing imaginable to him are those that cannot be controlled by displays of authority, force or cruelty. Our best course of action may simply be to strike so fast and hard that we crush him before he can do anything more. Unfortunately I lack the time to think of anything better at the moment. We've got to get going soon, but if any of you have anything else to add on, my vote is to give these bastards a show they'll never forget."