Chapter Two: In An Elven Way

Ashwyn turned and smiled as Sigurd nudged her. Even so simple a thing made her feel safer. She smiled as he passed her, carefully following him. Her feet were sure in their steps even with the uneven ground, though she didn't relish the thought of trying to move quickly.

Ishal walked just as gracefully as she normally did, though like Ashwyn she worried that moving quickly could cause problems.

Zane, however, was not faring as well on the rough stones. He hadn't fallen yet but he far for surefooted on this floor.

Coming around the corner and seeing all of the bodies, Ashwyn felt an unpleasent feeling deep in her gut. "This does not bode well..." She said softly.

Ishal nodded in agreement. She looked closely at the nearest body in the hallway. "These are ancient...but they don't appear to be elves."

Zane shook his head. "No...no not elves." He moved past the others and up to the closest one opposite of the one Ishal was inspecting. He looked closely at it. "This bone structure...it's clearly a human." He turned to the next one. "And this one...wide feet bones...yes, yes, this is an Orc for sure. And down there." He pointed. "Two gnomes...my god they were mere children..." He looked at all of them. "None of these bodies were very old....teenagers at the most."

Ashwyn felt that feeling in her gut growing. "You...you don't think there's....more Grimstalkers....do you?"

Sigurd examined the bodies carefully with the rest, there were going to be more, and he could already smell the stench of death. He watched Zane's expression and heard the concern in Ashwyn's voice "If there are, we'll kill them. Just like the last one." he said softly, taking his voice down in case something was listening. "we can talk about this later, we have to keep moving.."

Sigurd takes the lead again and continues down the hallway.

Swallowing hard against the fear rising in her throat, Lopiena quietly follows...more than a moment of silence for all of these deceased. Although ancient, she feels that there must have been someone who could have helped them at some point in time...when Zane comments that the bodies are mere children, she shudders...and stops. The kids she had seen earlier were all young, no older than teenagers at the most. What would a Grimstalker to with children who were too old? Looking at the long row of corpses, it is all too clear...and whether the Grimstalker is gone or not, those kids are in very real danger. Especially the older ones...they must have known that their time was nearly up. Shuddering, she wonders what it must be like to know that your death is coming, and with such vivid reminders of those who went before...hurrying to catch up with the others, she walks alongside Ishal for a brief moment. Speaking low and soft, she whispers into the group in general. "We need to find those kids...the ones who are still alive. They are in very real danger."

Ashwyn frowned at seeing more bodies. She wondered just how many they would find by the end of all this.

Ishal turned to Lopeina and nodded. "If they're alive, we'll find them." She assured her.

Zane frowned. "If their alive..." He muttered, growing more and more unsure the more bodies they found.

Stepping carefully, Ashwyn took note of the two different paths. "Well....which way?"

Peering from one dark hall to the next, Lopiena kneels on the ground looking for tracks in the dust or disturbed rocks. "They were running, so they wouldn't have been careful about leaving tracks...Sigurd, can you smell anything alive down here?" Looking up at the others with growing concern, she shakes her head. "What I don't understand is how they were able to run so fast. This hallway isn't exactly smooth, and some of the children were very small. They would have had to be carried by the older children...and leave fewer traces of their passage."

"well the stupid thing to do would be to split up so that's out... Judging by the bodies. And the smell two sets of children took off in both directions so If we follow the the bodies we're going to find the reason they're hanging here... But we should check this hall on the left if only to cover our flank." He said as he walked towards the first hall and prepared to peek around the corner.

Ishal approached the end of he hallway and touched the wall. "I don't understand..." She frowned, turning back to Sigurd. "Are you sure you smell them in here?"

Zane was looking from one direction of the hallway to another. "Well....maybe they didn't know it was a dead end. Maybe they ran in here and then ran back out."

Ashwyn walked into the hall and crouched down. She touched the smooth surface of the floor. "No....there's something different here...."

[Perception Skills check: Rolled a 20! woo!!]

Ashwyn noticed that the smooth floor seemed to have lines in it. She followed the lines to the far right corner wall. She ran her fingers across it carefully. "I...I think this is a door..." Her fingers traced a line in the wall to the floor then she spotted something. A stone that seemed different compared to the rest of the smooth floor. She pushed it and it went in like a switch.

They could hear a loud click, and the sound of stone moving.....but then nothing.

Ashwyn looked up. "It's stuck...it's not going to open normally." Suddenly her body jerked as electricity jolted through her arm from the switch. She was able to jerk her hand away before it did any harm, but her arm felt twitchy for a while. She sighed in relief.

"What was that you said about traps...?" She mumbled, glancing up at Sigurd.

Sigurd's eyes narrowed in disappointment "I said watch out for them" he sighed. Looking down at the door, the trap seemed to have been used up so he knelt down and tried to pull on the door to see if he could make it budge.

Standing in the back, Lopiena can't really see what's going on in the short hallway, and anyway it looks like Sigurd and Ashwyn have it pretty well covered. Looking at the main hall and some of the bodies hanging there, she starts examining the remains a little closer. More bodies of elves; fewer of the other races...chronologically, this must be near the founding of Eventide. Solely for the purpose of historical knowledge...or so she tells herself...she tries piecing together what may have happened all those centuries ago.

Ishal and Zane entered the room looking around. Ishal's eyes darted left and right, her glaive held before her, looking for anything that might be a threat. Zane, meanwhile, was staring in awe at the room.

"This place is....amazing!" He said, his voice an excited whisper.

Ashwyn pushed herself up, her arm still trembling a bit. She shook it off and made a fist, testing her motor skills. She frowned at her arm before looking up at the others. She approached Sigurd. "Good job." She smiled.

Heaving the door open and stepping into the room, Sigurd was amazed at the state of the room, children lived here his eyes darted around quickly as his mind caught up. The children.

Taking a quick sniff of the air, Sigurd Looked at the wooden door. "There" he pointed "check for traps this time. I'll look for anything else"

Sigurd took a walk around the room looking for any other hidden things of value or otherwise. He looked to Ashwyn and winked giving his muscles of his exposed arm a quick flex.

Slowly walking into the room, Lopiena is in awe of the grandeur of the place, but a growing sense of urgency keeps her focused on the present. Heading over to the door, she keeps an eye out for traps or other signs of disturbance...but seeing Ashwyn checking for motor skills gives her pause. Coming over to Ashwyn, she indicates the arm. "May I see?"
(Perception check for traps: 14)

Ishal and Zane approached the door and began to look carefully at it.

Ashwyn chuckled at Sigurd's muscle flex, shaking her head as he walked around the room to search. When Lopeina approached her, she smiled a bit embarrassedly.

"I'm alright. It just tingles. I'll be fine." She insisted.

"It looks like a regular door..." Ishal said, looking carefully at it.

Zane nodded. "Very sturdy construction...but doesn't appear to have any sort of triggers on it or...traps...not that I can see."

[Walking around the room, Sigurd will catch a stronger scent of the children heading him to the cabinets on the far wall. He'd also notice that the dust seems recently disturbed right in front of it.]

Sigurd walked the perimeter of the room carefully and deliberately carefully checking for the slightest sign of a clue. His nose caught a strange uptake of scent coming from the cabinets and noticed a scuff marks on the floor.

Kneeling down he tapped gently on the door before opening it.

At the sound of the children, Ashwyn's head jerked up. She turned towards them and moved over near Sigurd. They were obviously terrified. She carefully touched Sigurd's arm, silently indicating that she would handle them.

She lowered herself to her knees and smiled kindly to them. "Hi," She spoke to them in Elven. "We won't hurt you. We're here to help. Please...will you come out?" She asked, holding her hand out to them.

While Lopiena doesn't believe Ashwyn's 'I'll be fine' line for a second, there’s little she can do about it...without her staff or at least some herbs it'll just have to wait. Besides, Ashwyn has proven how tough she is several times over. At the sound of Sigurd's knock on the cabinet, she looks up just in time to see him open the door...and the children crying breaks her heart. Not knowing their language won't do any good, though...letting Ashwyn handle the kids, Lo turns to Ishal. "Do you think we should try to move them, and get them out of here now? I don't think they're up to joining us while we look for the rest."

Sigurd stood quietly "I could have done that you know.." he muttered to himself. Lucky he wasn't in hybrid form if they were going to be so easily terrified. He put his hand on Ashwyn's shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze silently telling her he was there if she needed help.

Ishal looked over at Lopeina. She spoke low so as to not scare the children. "And where, exactly, should we take them? The exit from the place is sealed. There's no safe place to take them."  

[Ashwyn persuasion check: 20]

The children were still terrified but seeing Ashwyn's face made them stop shaking. They carefully crawled out of the cabinet, still clutching onto one another.

Ashwyn placed her hand over Sigurd's affectionately, impressed that he spoke Elven, and she smiled at the children. "That's better." She noticed them still trembling and she sighed. "I know you're afraid. We're here to help you. The Grimstalker is dead. You don't ever have to worry about that creature again."

The children glanced at each other, then at the rest of the group before looking back at Ashwyn. "The Bannan is gone?" They asked.

Ashwyn nodded. "That's right. How long have you been here? Are you from the city?"

The oldest child nodded.

Ishal approached them and knelt next to Ashwyn. "We will make sure you're safe. We will get you back to the city."

The children glanced at each other again and then charged forward. The two six year olds hugged tight to Ashwyn and the older two hugged Ishal.

Ashwyn held the kids tight and could feel them shaking. She carefully stroked their hair. "We can't leave them here and we can't go back. They're going to have to come with us."

Zane turned to look at them. "Should I stay here with them? The rest of you can explore the rest of this place and hopefully find a way out while I keep the kids safe. I can enchant the room to keep out evil and we can wait here for you."

Glacing between Ishal and Zane, Lopiena considers. Keeping her voice low, she continues talking to Ishal, knowing that Sigurd and possibly Ashwyn can overhear. "Do we really want to split the party?  I'm not sure taking the kids further is a good idea, but splitting the party is definitely not. How well would wards work? Maybe I should stay here too...or if we continue on with them, I can carry one of the younger ones."

"Bring the children, we'll keep them at the back, we all stay together" Sigurd said softly, It was going to be dangerous either way, they were heading into the belly of the beast, in an unknown area, without their weapons. "Zane, Lopiena, While we continue, stay with the kids and we'll keep them safe. Now, if the door is clear of traps that we're aware of lets continue and find the rest of the children here."

He made his way to the door but stopped. If someone less threatening would like to take the lead I'm sure the children would appreciate it..." Sigurd said with a slightly embarrassed tone

Nodding...Sigurd talks sense...Lopiena walks over to the two kids standing with Ashwyn. Sitting next to them, she smiles warmly. "Hi, my name is Lopiena. Want to come with us?" Knowing that they probably don't speak her language and not wanting to scare them more than they already are, she makes no moves toward them, waiting for them to accept her first.
(Persuasion roll 19)