But First, Dinner

Log Info

• Title: But First, Dinner

• Emitter: Ravenstongue

• Characters: Dolan, Ravenstongue, Telamon

• Place: Andelena and Dolan's apartment

• Summary: Ravenstongue and Telamon head to Dolan's apartment to find the Redeemer and talk to him about organizing a hunting party to track down the creature that Ravenstongue encountered with Shilde. Dolan accepts and gets ready to head out to acquire some gear from the temples that he thinks he might need. The trio agree it's time to find and assemble the last people they'll need for a team... But first, dinner.

-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=- Dramatis Personae =--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=-                    
Dolan             5'10"    174 Lb     Human             Male      Brown-haired human with scars down his face.                               
Ravenstongue      5'0"     99 Lb      Half-Elf          Female    Short half-elf girl with violet eyes and black hair.                       
Telamon           5'6"     140 Lb     Half-Elf          Male      A platinum-blond half-sil man with dancing dark eyes                      
-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=-

It's the early evening as Cor'lana has her arm linked around Telamon's. The warm invitation of a summer evening usually sees the two half-elves elsewhere--usually out for a stroll or in the garden with the pixies--but there's a scowl that's set deep into Cor'lana's face as she walks, her violet eyes darting around as though she expects more shapeshifting creatures to attack her at any second.

"I really hope he's home," Cor'lana mutters to Telamon as they approach the apartment. "It'd be embarrassing to go all this way here and have to hang around his door. Especially when that thing is hanging around in the city. It could attack more innocent people at any moment."

She knocks deftly on the door to the apartment, looking around nervously again as they wait.

Telamon is arm in arm with Lana, and smiles at her reassuringly, though his own eyes never stop moving and he made a point of casting wards before they left the house. "Well, I think you said this is his off shift, right? Usually they don't pull evening duty unless they get the day in to sleep beforehand."

While one hand is tied up, the other is idly flexing, as he continues, "You were a little unspecific about this creature. You're sure it wasn't one of those thrice-bedamned werewolves? We've certainly had enough trouble with those over the last few weeks."

Fortunately for the expert pair in fey bullshit, there are sounds inside. Someone, at least, is up and moving inside, although it's a minute before the door opens. When it does, Dolan is standing there, in his usual trousers and a stained shirt clearly thrown on in haste, haste enough that it is untucked still, its strings hanging loose.

"Yeah? Oh, uh, brightest of days," he greets the pair, stepping back to let them both inside and looking from face to face, the mobile half if his face reading uncertainty. At least he's got the prosthetic eye in. "What's going on?

Once inside, the nature of the noises become much clearer. Part of the living area is cleared and reasonably neat, the other part is decidedly - not. The evening breeze drifts in through shutters thrown open, cooling the room, clearing the air of the smell of burnt chicken. He seems to have gotten a start in picking up dirty laundry and random items, tidying up, but it's only a start, and the pair of them appear to be quite the mess.

"Definitely was not a werewolf, starborn prince," Cor'lana says, using her usual Sylvan terms of affection for Telamon despite her grave expression and tone. "Not so much fur. Way more teeth. Saw it eat someone and then take their form."

"Good evening--is that chicken?" Cor'lana inquires as she steps inside, sniffing the air. "I hope we didn't interrupt anything important."

She seems to recall her senses, however, as she looks at Dolan, the grim frown returning to her face. "There's some form of shapeshifting undead in the city. Shilde and I caught one terrorizing the refugees in the Market and killed it, but the other one escaped. The corpse was analyzed by the guard and we were informed it was something called a totenmaske. I need your help to find and kill the one that got away."

Telamon raises an eyebrow, looking around. But he doesn't offer any criticism or complaint, instead looking carefully at Dolan before suddenly grinning. "Andelena just left, hm?" He doesn't chase that line of thought any further, instead shifting gears to contemplate Lana's words. "A... totenmaske? That's a new one. Though I admit I'm not as well educated on undead critters."

He turns his eyes back to Dolan. "So you can tell why we're here. Lana is definitely intent on disposing of this face-stealing monster and I'm completely in agreement with her. This is the last thing we need right now."

GAME: Dolan rolls knowledge/religion+3: (1)+9+3: 13 (EPIC FAIL)

"Was," Dolan corrects Ravenstongue, although his wicked grin at Telamon makes the nature of the situation reasonably clear. Something got neglected.... The grin fades, though, his entire demeanor sharpening into razor focus at the explanation. "Undead in the city? And they steal faces? A totem maske? I thought totems were wooden icons." He turns and starts towards his gear, now ignoring the mess at hand. He's got bigger problems.

"Whatever it is, yeah, we've got to get rid of it. Let me get my armor. Anyone we can still help?"

Cor'lana seems blissfully ignorant of the implication going on regarding the burnt chicken and Andelena's departure--there's that hint of confusion that crosses her face until Dolan gets down to business. The conversation to lift the confusion is tabled for later, maybe never.

"Totenmaske," Cor'lana corrects, taking care to enunciate the word a little better. Maybe she'd said it too quickly in her haste to talk about it. Or maybe more accurately, to say it quickly in the hope that saying it quicker would result in the accompanying mental images going away quicker. "I don't know if we'll find it now. It's likely in hiding since Shilde and I killed its friend--but it'll probably rear its ugly head soon. It has..."

She shivers. "It's a humanoid thing. It has a head but it's almost all teeth. It seems to be able to shapeshift and... it tortures the people that it steals identities from. And it's definitely undead. It wasn't affected by my charming magic when it was trying to use the form of one of its victims to convince us to let it go."

Telamon shakes his head. "It's a new one on me, Dolan. But I guess the pits vomit up all sorts of new things to give us goodly folk grief." He looks at Lana. "Where was it headed, last time you saw it? Wait, let me guess..."

He heaves a heartfelt sigh. "The sewers, right? It's probably hiding in the sewers. It sure can't hide in the backroom of the Ox-Strength, that's for sure..." He rubs under his nose in remembered disgust. "Unless... you said it stole identities. It could be living as someone it's captured and... well, eaten."

"That's a new one on me, too." Dolan's listening, but he's already removed his shirt, his back to the pair, and set a bout donning the gambeson underlayer that protects his skin from chafing against the metal. He settles it into place and begins tying its various ties. "Shit. It steals identities? I'll want to get a couple of things from the temple, there are spells that can find the undead where they hide. Not a skill I've got, but I damned well ought to, don't you think?"

Cor'lana sighs a little as Telamon asks his question. "I don't know," she says. "It vanished into the mist. It... could be anywhere. I hate admitting that, but it's true. It was only Shilde and I there, and we were trying our hardest to corner and kill the one that wasn't so lucky."

She looks to Dolan as he's tying up the underlayer of his armor and nods. "Yes, it steals identities, and we'll need anything you can get from the temple," she says. "It can also... sculpt people's faces. We had to save one victim that had his nose and mouth covered with flesh. He was suffocating."

Just mentioning the last sentence makes tears well up in Cor'lana's violet eyes, and she brushes them away, the tearstained hand falling back to her side and balling up into a fist. "The people who came to this city to escape the wights don't deserve to be terrorized like this," she says, a little quieter.

Telamon reaches out to take Lana's hand, squeezing gently. Warm sympathy in his dark, starry eyes as he comforts here, before he responds, "You did all you could." His gaze shifts back to Dolan. "If you've got tools, or anything else useful, then yes, let's not go lightly equipped. When it comes to undead, I remember what my grandfather on my mother's side would say. 'If you ain't cheatin', you ain't tryin'.'"

"And actually, that gives us a good starting point, Lana. This creature may be hiding among the refugees, since they're less likely to pick up on an infiltrator."

Dolan still has his back to the pair, but his shoulders tighten. The pain in Lana's voice is not lost on him, not at all. "I hope I can swing it. I just placed a custom order with the Arcanist's Guild, and they aren't cheap." As he talks, he fits the chest plate on over his head and begins tightening buckles. "I want the ability to detect the presence of the undead. It's a relatively simple prayer that most of the Sunguards can do, but can't wait for Andie on this. It'll help us find 'em."

Telamon mentions the refugees' identities, and this causes Cor'lana to realize something, her eyes widening as she looks back up at him. "I saw the creature, the one that got away--it took the form of a Lucht woman and dragged a halfling man into the mists. Maybe we're looking for a halfling."

She looks back to Dolan and nods. "At the very least, you're the first person I thought of that'd be able to help, Dolan. Wonder if we could talk to the Guild to expedite the order," Cor'lana says, thoughtfully. She at least looks a little happier to not be thinking about the gruesome acts this undead monster did.

Telamon scowls. "What is it with fiends and monsters borrowing the shape of lucht? Oh, yeah, nobody notices a wandering lucht." He rubs his chin. "But yeah, Lana, now you're thinking."

He looks to Dolan. "A ... hmmm. Do either of you know the cantrip that disrupts undead? Fun fact -- it doesn't actually affect the living. The acolytes and students at the university sometimes shoot each other with it."

Buckle buckle buckle. "Fraid not," Dolan answers, fastening a shoulder piece atop the base plate. "I can ask the Knight to show me the presence of evil, though. Undead usually twig me when I do, but it's not as precise as detecting undead. As for killing one, Master Zein's been teaching me something that might help."

He continues to work, back still to the pair, still talking. ""A Lucht, eh? How likely is it to have picked something else in that time?"

"It seemed like they were capable of picking all manner of things quickly," Cor'lana replies to Dolan's question. "So the halfling lead is... it's a lead, but it's not a guarantee. It could have abandoned the halfling guise just as quickly."

She sighs again, raising a hand to her head and just rubbing her temple. "I think we'll need more people, too," she says. "Three of us if we happen to come across it? Sure, we could probably handle it, but I think we'll need more trackers. Shilde and her dog could come along--the dog tracked the totenmaske through the fog. So... Maybe one or two more people. Who else do we know that could help?"

Telamon steps over to Dolan. "You need help putting any of that on? I admit I'm not well versed in armor..." He nods to Lana's point. "Definitely Shilde. Um. We do know a few people... maybe get Skiel, he'd definitely enjoy a proper hunt. Everyone's just so damned busy with the werewolves and wights and whatnot. The adventurer's guild is heavily overbooked -- there's not enough of us and we're all working our asses off."

He sighs, running his hand through his hair. "Maybe put the word out, quietly? See if we can grab some additional help?"

"I'm fine, thanks. I'm almost done." Indeed, Dolan appears to be correct, adding the second pauldron and adjusting all of the buckles until it sits where he wants it. He turns around at last and offers Telamon that cheeky grin, pulling the sunburst around his neck out so that it rests atop the armor plate. "I, uh, dunno. I know who I usually work with, but I'm not sure some of them are up to something like that, plus they're as busy as you said. Skiel - the sith-makar? Maybe see who's free?"

"We'll ask around," Cor'lana says with a nod. "Yes, Skielstregar. He's a Daeusite too--ah, right, and his mate. I recall she's good at tracking, too. Maybe they'd be available."

She looks to Telamon, stepping to him and curling her arm around his. "We should probably get going now. We don't have any time to waste. Find our friends and allies, get the group together--and then we track this thing down and be rid of it once and for all." Her voice is full of conviction.

Telamon nods. He looks to Dolan. "In the meantime, pass the word at the temples. Forewarned, forearmed, and so forth. Let us know when you've got everything you need -- Lana and I will be ready, and we'll see who else can backstop us."

His arm goes around Lana reflexively. "Let's start with Skiel and Vaera, first. Then see who else feels like a little safari." He gives Lana a tight grin. "We'll make this thing regret ever setting foot in Alexandria."

"You got it. I've got to let Andie know what I'm up to, anyway, and I'll see if I can get something to help us detect undeead." He turns around again, reaching for a light, white cape with gold threads, his greatsword in its harness, a crossbow, and a small pack. That done, he turns, and grins cheekily at the pair, a clear attempt to bolster. "By all the gods, we sure will. Let's get out of here. It'll give this place time to stop smelling like burnt dinner. Although, mind if I get some dinner on the way?"

At the mention of dinner, Cor'lana's stomach growls. She flushes a little.

"...Dinner sounds like a good idea, actually," she says, with a little laugh. "Let's go find someplace together."

At least it's one silver lining to the totenmaske threat that lingers in the city: a meal with friends on the way to end it.