Strange Snowday

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Revision as of 06:53, 4 December 2022 by Aftershock (talk | contribs) (Created page with "The weather is... Well it's terrible. The snow is coming down in droves so hard that one can hardly see their hand in front of their face. Snow is piling up and right quick too. There's already several inches on the ground, and it's not looking like its going to stop any time soon. Still, this was an urgent mission, and so messengers - getting paid a pretty fee due to the inclement weather - were sent out to bring back anyone that would come. The mission sends you to t...")
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The weather is... Well it's terrible.

The snow is coming down in droves so hard that one can hardly see their hand in front of their face. Snow is piling up and right quick too. There's already several inches on the ground, and it's not looking like its going to stop any time soon. Still, this was an urgent mission, and so messengers - getting paid a pretty fee due to the inclement weather - were sent out to bring back anyone that would come.

The mission sends you to the orphanage in Alexandria. The worried caretaker of the children is your standing there with blurry eyes and wringing her hands as you come together. "Little Jameson snuck out while I wasn't looking! Out into that weather! I'm sure he can't have gotten far, but you have to find him before something terrible happens; please!"

Dirk is genetically predisposed to tolerate high altitude and low temperature climates. That doesn't means he -likes- being out in a driving snowstorm. But he can handle it. He trundles in from the outdoors, stomping the snow off his boots and pulling the scarf down from around his face. Lulu perks her head out from underneath his cloak, hooting softly before winging her way up onto his shoulder. He listens to the orphan mistress with a worried frown creasing his snowy-bearded features. "Not tae fret, missus," he says. "I'm an experienced tracker. I can find this wee lad an' bring 'im home, nae sweat." This may not be quite the level of heroic work most adventurers get sent out to do. But Dirk has always had a soft spot for the bairns. He'll bring little Jameson home, by the gods. "D'ye know -why- he might've wanted tae go out, marm? Would he have a friend he might want tae go visit?"

Cor'lana Lupecyll-Atlon had decided to brave the world that had become a winter wonderland when the messenger found her (and Pothy, who annoyingly blends in with the snow /very/ well) at the market. The sorceress only needed to hear the words "lost child" before she agreed to come help.

"I'm so sorry about Jameson. We'll find him," Cor'lana asserts strongly, her violet eyes filled with a sober concern. "What does he look like? How tall is he? How old? What was he wearing when he left? Does he have any nicknames in addition to his name?"

"Snacks?" Pothy asks. Of course he'd ask what Jameson's favorite snacks are. A lost little boy needs a treat when he's found, after all.

Kira is not one to turn down anyone in need, but a child in need is a whole separate level of 'I'll be right there.' She arrives with haste, wrappings and cloak against the weather donned with similar haste. She brushes off what snow she can as she steps in and listens. There are many, perhaps too many, questions, but most can be answered after the boy is back safe and sound.

"It doesn't look like it'll let up anytime soon." Patch observes of the weather as she adjusts her dark red coat, and makes sure the flap is fastened. She wears a cloak of maroon draped over a single shoulder as she looks to Dirk after he speaks, falling silent as she lets the hunter speak of his specialty.

"I agree with Cor'lana. I think all here want the child found." the details of which she lets the others ask of, keeping a bit back, and waiting for the answers of questions already asked.

Zyla isn't bothered that much by the cold, her robes are warm and what cold does seep in, she has grown to learn to ignore. She cocks her head to the side a little and then nods. She isn't much for tracking, but she can usually forge her way through the snow pretty good. She listens to the others speak at the moment.

Unlike for most, the weather serves Seldan's purposes nicely, and the cold does not bother the paladin in the slightest, although he is bundled up as much as any. The wind is a more formidable opponent, and low visibility and a howling northeast wind out of the mountains is no joke.

If anything does bring a chill to him, it's the idea of a small child out in this weather alone. "A fine question, mistress," he begins quietly from the back of the group. "Might you have a guess as to where he might have wanted to go, or did he but desire to play in the snow?"

"A friend he wanted to play with? No. All his friends are here." She nods to Seldan's words then and briskly rubs her hands together. "He just wanted to play in the snow, but if I know him; he'll have wandered off away from the yard. He... doesn't much like it here just yet. He's one of our new arrivals."

The caretaker hefts a sigh and turns her attention to Cor'lana. "He's a small boy for his age. Twelve winters but he looks closer to eight. He's got sandy blonde hair and blue eyes. About... this tall." She measures about to her hip, and considering her own lack of height that makes for someone about the height of a shorter eight-year-old. "I'm not sure what he was wearing since he snuck off, but he's got a blue coat I can't find that he probably took with him. We just got a donation of mittens and scarves so he probably took some of those? But I don't know which set he'd have picked."

The woman looks a bit embarrassed at this point. "I wish I had more information. He doesn't have any nicknames here yet. And I don't know if his parents called him anything else. He's so new here that I might not have noticed him missing at all but the weather... It made me extra vigilant."

Dirk tugs his beard with a thoughtful frown, but he makes no judgment on the caretaker. She's doing her best, considering all that's gone on. "Well... small footprints should be easy enough tae pick out," he says. "But we have tae move quick. Patch is right. This snow isn't lettin' up. We'll have tae hurry afore his tracks get covered."

"He's new here?" Cor'lana frowned. "If that's the case... I imagine the poor boy is confused and wanted to go back home, wherever that might be. Do you happen to know where his parents lived?"

She exchanges glances with blue-eyed Pothy for a moment. "I happen to know what it's like to be young and to lose a parent. Younger children will try to resist change as much as they stubbornly can." The frown on her face deepens. "Older ones, too, but in their own way. The quicker we get moving, the better, as Dirk said."

"We will find him," Kira is quick to assure the caretaker, her own smile broadening, "he, and all of the children, are better for all your vigilance and care." She then turns her smile to the others, known to her or not, and nods with Dirk. "We should begin searching." The faster little Jameson is out of the weather the better.

Zyla nods as she listens, some of that makes sense. They go where they know, hopefully he is not from some other town. She looks at the others, "What is the best way to search. Me beating up the snow, isn't really going to help." she says with a small smile.

"We're all in luck you made the rounds. Do not fret over those kind of things." a chill striking Patch as she shivers and shuffles in place. "Any notice is bet-t-t-er than not." her chittering a product of the weather as she smirks to Cor'lana. "You both are right. It's best we start looking soon."

"Even so. We should begin, and swiftly. How long ago did he slip out?" One last question from Seldan is swiftly asked, even as he pulls up his hood and prepares to depart.

GAME: Ravenstongue rolls Survival: (17)+2: 19
GAME: Patch rolls survival: (19)+1: 20
GAME: Zyla rolls survival: (15)+8: 23
GAME: Dirk rolls Survival+4: (2)+13+4: 19
GAME: Seldan rolls survival: (2)+25: 27

"Yes, he lived up two blocks and then east two blocks more. The blue-shutter house. You can't miss it." The woman seems hopeful that you'll find the boy, and when Seldan asks her his question she falls a bit short. "I can't be totally certain. It's been longer than I'd like. No bell has tolled so not an hour, but it took so much time for messengers to find people willing to help!"

She doesn't have any other answers, that much is clear enough. So you head out into the snow.

GAME: Kira rolls survival: (10)+6: 16

This is not an area of town with which Seldan is familiar, and he had had enough trouble making a journey he makes frequently. Here, in unfamiliar surroundings, he is well and truly lost, and in trying to retrace his steps, stumbles on the cobblestones, finding himself down in a snowbank that has drifted up against a house just a couple of doors down. Looking rather like the Abominable Snowman for the second time today, he rolls himself out of the snowdrift and shakes his head, snow flying.

Now he really doesn't have any idea where he is, so he stops and listens for the sounds of anyone around him, others who may be less lost than he that he can use to orient himself.

Zyla cocks her head to the side and nods a little, "I think he is heading where she mentioned, but I am not sure." she says as she looks at the others and realizes that it is getting harder and harder to see.

Dirk is also having a hard time, it would seem. The snow is drifting in places, which means the burly old snowbeard is having to half-swim his way through powder that reaches his hips at times. But he forges on with all the stubborn determination that his people are known for. And with the snow being closer to his gaze, he can at least pick out tracks a bit more easily. "C'mon, Jameson, where've ye gotten of to?" he grumbles, puffing steam from behind his beard. Lulu hunkers down in a tiny pocket he's sewn into the inner lining of his cloak, perking her head out to click-clack her beak at the snow. "Hoo! Hoo hoo-oo!" Dirk grunts, twisting his shoulders back and forth as he flounders his way through a particularly deep drift. "Urgh! I know, lassie, I know, I'm cold too," he grumbles.

The wandering and tracking seems to wear on Patch, the heavier snow now falling making it harder for her to see the tracks she'd been following with the Party in the snow. She kneels to check their direction, glancing back to Cor'lana and Zyla with a shrug. "I don't know. He definitely seems intent to head this way. Is this where his home was?" arms crossing before her to help keep warmth near her core.

Cor'lana follows the directions that the woman gave. Her face of concentration sours into a frown as the snow comes down even harder. "I'm not bothered by the cold," she mutters to Pothy, "but the /seeing/ is what's ridiculous. How am I supposed to find--"

"Snacks!" Pothy cries, flying from Cor'lana's shoulder. He returns with what's left of a sweet bun, the sugary-sweet paste that had been inside all eaten and the rest of the bun discarded--something that a child might do.

Cor'lana blinks. "Oh," she says. "That... That might actually have been something Jameson could have discarded." She turns to the rest of the group. "I think he /is/ headed home! This way, everyone!"

Pothy stares in the direction of the Abominable Sel-man. "Snack?" he asks, offering the sweet bun trash to Seldan as a consolation prize for taking a dip into the snow and ice.

GAME: Ravenstongue rolls Perception: (17)+16: 33
GAME: Zyla rolls perception: (5)+18: 23

Kira moves with the others towards the only known likely location. "It sounds somewhat familiar, but I do not remember that house specifically..." She lets out a start (and a gasp lost in the wind) as Seldan stumbles and briefly becomes abominable. "Are you alright, Seldan?" She does not truly believe he is injured, but is concerned all the same.

Her concern does grow beyond that as she notices the falling snow. Well, more of it. "I think the weather is turning worse. We should hurry!" She then looks ahead into the white and raises her voice to call out. "Jameson! Please call out if you can hear me!"

GAME: Kira rolls perception: (8)+24: 32
GAME: Patch rolls Perception: (2)+10: 12
GAME: Seldan rolls perception: (20)+25: 45
GAME: Dirk rolls Perception: (14)+13: 27

You stumble through the snow and then stumble a second time. This time because there IS no snow. None. None on the ground. None falling from the sky. None here at least. Just this little patch of calm around one house. To the left of this house you can see what might be Jameson's home. It's hard to tell because all around this one area of calm the snow is coming down even harder as though to make up for the fact that it's not snowing... here.

"I wouldn't be surprised if we find some hidden friend with these antics." Patch says, stopping after she had almost stumbled into the untouched zone surrounding the house. Her knees are wet from where one touched the snow while she sloshed about, nearly tripping. "I've seen this with rain, but not snow." she says quickly to the others, stepping out of the cold ice, and daring to shake off her boots where the weather is now more clear. "Do we know how he lost his parents?" this tone more a whisper to the others. "We really should of asked."

Cor'lana's violet eyes go wide as she arrives into the space with no snow. Her cloak has done a fine job of warding the snowflakes from her dark waves of hair and her face, which makes it all the more jarring when it's gone--and when the world outside continues to snow. "I felt like it wasn't polite to ask," Cor'lana responds to Patch in the same quiet tone, "but given what we've just walked into... Perhaps we should have--"

She stops short. Her violet eyes narrow. "Is that... Someone calling? In the snow?" she asks.

Dirk staggers as he suddenly finds himself straining against the open air. "Gwaagh!" He stumbles to catch himself before he falls. He blinks owlishly as he looks up and around. "What... the -shit-..." Blink blink. Lulu seems equally flabbergasted by the sudden lack of snow. She perks her head out of Dirk's cloak. Blink blink. "Hoo?" Dirk looks around. "I have -nae- bloody idea, lass. But whoever came up wi' this, I want tae shake their hand." He looks over to Patch with a nod. "Aye, I'm thinkin' ye may be right, lassie. Is Jameson even this lad's actual name?" He reaches his hand back into the drifting snowflakes, just to make sure he's not hallucinating the calm space. But Cor'lana's mention of a voice snaps the old snowbeard's attention back. "Eh?" He tilts his head to the side, shaggy white brows furrowed in focus. "I hear nothin'."

Seldan's listening in silence seems to draw him in a different direction, and he clears snow from his face with a gauntleted hand. "Sh," he answers Cor'lana, then turns in the direction of a snowbank near the snow-free house. "I shall return in a moment," he murmurs, nearly inaudible over the howl of the wind. He does not wait for an answer, but takes slow steps in the direction of the snowbanks.

Zyla cocks her head to the side, confused as she looks around. She stays silent, trying to hear as the one mentions that she might have heard someone calling. She glances around tying to figure out why it might be clear here.

One step turns into a quick triplet as Kira moves from limited visibility and deep snow to a stumbling clear? She regains her balance in time to look to Cor'lana and her question. "I don't hear anything..." and then Seldan steps off abruptly. "Seldan?" She looks back to Cor'lana and the others, as she is more than a little confused.

Without the blistering wind, and the falling snow to dampen the noise, all of you can hear the faint sounds of someone calling out. "Help! Here! I'm here!" It seems to be coming from a snowbank beside the area where there's no snow at all. The snow is deeper there, the area treacherous with ice and even heavier falling snow. Unlike the calm zone which is just... Odd.

GAME: Ravenstongue casts Detect Magic. Caster Level: 12 DC: 17
GAME: Patch rolls spellcraft: (7)+8: 15
GAME: Ravenstongue rolls Spellcraft: (7)+15: 22
GAME: Ravenstongue rolls Knowledge/Nature: (6)+17: 23
GAME: Patch rolls knowledge/arcana: (6)+11: 17
GAME: Ravenstongue rolls Knowledge/Arcana: (1)+23: 24 (EPIC FAIL)
GAME: Dirk rolls Knowledge/Nature: (6)+14: 20
GAME: Patch rolls 1d20+2+2: (18)+2+2: 22
GAME: Seldan rolls knowledge/arcana: (17)+18: 35
GAME: Seldan rolls spellcraft: (8)+18: 26

Patch lets Seldan move and deal with the voice and child near the piled snow bank. He seems intent to do so. At least to her. Patch's attention is on the void-zone that pushes the weather away from the home, and out into the city. This 'doubling' of the storm seeming to be what she fixates on. "I know it's not natural, but I don't know what's causing it." she says to Cor'lana. "My professional opinion? Weird. It's just weird." a half-giggle as she shakes her head. "Could it be a ward of some sort? Someone not liking the chill and wet?"

Cor'lana nods a little at Patch's professional assessment as she casts a small spell, analyzing the house. After a moment, she lets it drop and she sighs. "Honestly, I'm right there with you, sister," she replies. "There is powerful magic around that house. But I don't know what the spell is that would have done something like that. And... It is not natural. Not in the slightest."

She wrinkles her nose. "Telamon was talking about a house a few weeks ago that had some sort of strange interaction with the ward as a result of the owner trying to cast some sort of spell to subvert it. It... resulted in the whole thing being destroyed, and the occupant inside died. I /really/ hope nothing like that happened here."

Seldan says, "Weather control can, but a lot of power is required." Seldan half-answers, but his focus is on the snowbank, and raises his voice. "I hear you, lad," he calls, approaching the snowbank carefully and mindful of the deep snow. He's already went, what's a little more "Do not move, you may fall deeper," he warns, the voice raised to direct it at the boy.

Zyla lets the others who know more do the talking, "So what do we do?" she asks as she stretches and glances towards the house and then back to the others.

Now Kira can hear the call; she understands that much more than what might be causing the lack and excess of weather in the area. She moves towards Seldan and the snowbank briskly, but slows and stops adjacent at Seldan's warning. "We need to get him out. It is not ... unnaturally deep, is it?" Her lack of magical knowledge includes whether a bottomless snow pile might exist.

"Alright." The boy responds, sounding morose about having to stay where he is. There's a small indent in the snow, and then beyond that a hole which is not perfectly straight down. In fact it angles somewhat so that you can't get a good look at the boy. "Please hurry? I'm cold."

Dirk's eyes get wide as he hears that child crying out. "Ja... Jameson...?" He looks around warily, reaching his hand towards his holstered thunderbelcher. Just in case. "Oh please don't tell me we're dealin' wi' a wee little ghost lad... me poor heart couldn't take it..."

Cor'lana approaches Seldan, although she remains a small distance behind the man. She frowns a little as she considers the situation. "Do you think that's the boy in there and not something else mimicking him?" she asks quietly. "Or..."

She shakes her head. "Conjecture's not useful," she concludes. "Seldan, I could potentially cast quickening magic onto the group if you feel it could be helpful in getting him out."

"Nay, Master Dirk. He is here in the snowbank. He seems to have fallen in a hole" Seldan's pack drops to the ground. "I would have the smallest among you, without armor, go in after the lad." From it, he pulls a spidersilk rope, and maneuvers it over his snowy shoulder, then picks up the pack again. "Tie the end of the rope to yourself, and we shall pull the both of you free."

"Wait, Telamon came across that? Almost too eerie." Patch says to Cor'lana, a wrinkle of nose coming as she hears Dirk and Cor’lana talk of the boy. Even following Cor'lana towards Seldan.

"Conjecture just means the study is incomplete." Patch muses, shrugging. "But before we can deal with any of it, the boy is priority." she agrees, sighing. "I wonder what has caused this mess." Dirk's worry earning a raised brow from the woman after she's stopped speaking.

Dirk peers at that hole, then down at himself. He may be the shortest in the group, but he's far from the smallest. Blame that hefty dwarven waistline of his. "I'll probably just get my fat arse stuck in there," he grumbles. Lulu perks her head out of his cloak, headtilting left and right up at her master. "Hoo?" He snaps his fingers. "Aww, what a brave lass you are!" Lulu flutters up to his shoulder, preening happily at the praise. "Oy, friends. Lulu said she'd take the rope down to 'im."

"Strange indeed, and a mystery to be solved, but I would see to the lad's safety, ere we seek a mystery." Yes, Seldan is as curious as any, and he snaps a look at the snow-free house, but turns immediately back to the snowbank, unhanging the rope and kneeling down from his safe spot in the snow. "All right, lad," he calls. "Do we send you a rope, have you the strength to hold on tight while we pull you? Are you stuck, or trapped?"

"I can hold on! I'm not stuck!" The boy sounds as though he's trying to put a brave face on. Like it's not scary to be stuck in a cold hole all by himself. "I... Lost a shoe." This is a more quite admission. "Is it up there?"

"Where is Magpie when you need her?" Patch muses about the situation, casting a glance to Dirk as he talks about the Jameson in the hole. "I guess that would be it then, one of us does have to go down to help?" the roaming glance seeming to seek out the smallest here, that being Cor'lana and herself.

"Oh, good idea! He may know how to tie a rope!" Patch says to Seldan's idea, bobbing her head. "If not, one of us can help." Patch says, daring to try and peer down at the boy, edging closer to the deeper snow once more. "Lost a shoe? Oh, that's no good." an eye cast to look about for it.

"I can go," Cor'lana volunteers. "Patch and I do rival each other for the title of 'smallest' in the group, but I have ways of getting out of bad situations."

Pothy stares at Cor'lana for a moment, like he's questioning the safety of this judgment, but he just sighs and takes flight to land on Patch's shoulder--he likes her shoulder the next-best out of the group here. After all, he might get in the way of hole-spelunking.

Cor'lana looks at Lulu and frowns. "Well, sure, but he's a little boy who's freezing--and he's lost his little shoe! He's not going to be able to climb very well by himself," she says. "Hence tying it to someone who goes down."

She takes the rope from Seldan and ties it around her waist firmly. Then she casts a protective spell around herself with a murmur and a shimmer of magic. Once the other end of the line is secured in someone's hand, she descends into the hole.

GAME: Ravenstongue casts Mage Armor. Caster Level: 12 DC: 18
GAME: Ravenstongue rolls Dexterity: (16)+2: 18

While Cor'lana ties herself in, Seldan stands, steps back, and tosses his knapsack onto dry pavement, making use of the length of the rope to allow those holding the rope to brace themselves in something better than snow. "The rest of you, make ready to pull them free," he directs, suiting actions to words and taking up the anchor position at the back of the group.

Dirk looks over at Lulu. "She makes a fair point, lass." Lulu wilts a little bit with a sad little "Hoo." She wanted to be helpful. Dirk gives her breast feathers a fond brush with a fingertip. "Yer still the bravest little owl there ever was," he says kindly. He looks back at the others. "Well... I've never tracked a shoe afore, but it canne be -that- hard, can it? C'mon Lulu, let's see if we can find the poor lad's shoe." He goes to do that very thing, hunkering low to the ground as he scans around to see if he can find Jameson's shoe. Lulu tips forward on his shoulder, eyes wide and fixed like a lazor on the ground. She's helping!

"Be careful," Kira advises Cor'lana with "We're coming!" for Jameson. She stands ready to assist Seldan with lowering her. Not to imply that Seldan lacks the ability to do so himself, of course. Between the strange weather and the deep snowbank, it all feels a bit surreal. Nor does it help that she has not had the most pleasant experiences with ... winter.

"It's a good idea." Patch reasons, shifting to help with the pulling despite her thin frame. "I don't know how much I can help, but I'll give it what I have." looking to the others and helping along with Kira. "I just worry about the source of this, but... the child first." the situation just seeming to sit strangely to her.

GAME: Patch rolls perception: (12)+10: 22
GAME: Patch rolls strength: (12)+1: 13
GAME: Seldan rolls strength: (3)+6: 9

Zyla moves to stand by if they need help with the rope and getting the boy out.

GAME: Seldan rolls strength: (20)+6: 26

There are disadvantages to being Frosty the Seldan, among them the chunks of snow, water, and ice that fall at his feet. When Patch and Kira help to pick up the rope, he braces himself to lower Cor'lana in - and at first, there's a sharp drop on the rope as his foot slips in the snow! The booted foot, those, reorients itself as the girls take up the slack, giving him time to reposition, and this time, his feet are firmly planted, and the ride down is smooth and without incident after that.

Patch is helping with that lowering of Cor'lana, but she almost stumbles as something catches her eye. Seldan seems to do the bulk of the work anyways. "Someone's in the damned house!" One hand coming off the rope to point, but soon scrambling to grasp the line once more.

"Oh, sorry!" her help again focused where it needs to be, her calloused fingers not used to this kind of rope work. She's trying to be careful to not let the rope catch and tear into flesh as its used. "Someone jerked one of the curtains closed." she tries to pass along.

The descent is harrowing for the sorceress. The snow threatens to collapse around Cor'lana a few times on the way down, but Seldan and the others give her line what it needs for her to stay on the path unharmed.

Then she sees him--the little boy with sandy-blond hair and blue eyes. "Hi Jameson," Cor'lana tells him, holding her arms out to him with a warm smile. With her cloak and robes, she looks like an adventurer-sorceress, at least. "Come here and hold on tightly to me? I can get you out of here if you're quick."

Kira braces and readies to assist as needed with lowering Cor'lana. At first it seems all is well, though she is able to grab hold when Seldan slips and Patch notices someone in the house. A brief braking intervention after which she leaves the remainder to the others. Once Seldan has it, she looks to Patch. "Should there not be anyone in the house?"

The boy nods eagerly to Cor'lana and quickly wraps his arms around her waist and holds on tightly to her. He is indeed missing one shoe, and looking up the way that they'd come its clear that it'll be harder going up than it was coming down. For one? The hole isn't made for two.

GAME: Ravenstongue rolls Strength: (6)+1: 7
GAME: Ravenstongue rolls Dexterity: (4)+2: 6
GAME: Ravenstongue rolls Dexterity: (18)+2: 20

Dirk draws his thunderbelcher at Patch's cry and swings it up to cover the house. His eyes narrow as he tries to get a better look of who--or what--might be inside. "Let's nae be havin' any trouble now!" he calls up to the house. "We're just here tae collect this poor wee lad an' get 'im back tae the orphanage!"

GAME: Seldan rolls strength: (17)+6: 23

There's a momentary pause of silence following Dirk's yell, and then - the front door of the house opens and a man stands there in what looks like a bathrobe. He wiggles his hands at Dirk furiously. "GET OFF MY LAWN! AND QUIT POINTING THAT AT MY HOUSE!" He yells furiously and then! Dirk is surrounded by a flurry of feathers!

"I know it might not be related, but the kid being trapped could be because the magiuc and displaced storm." Patch says, her grip on the rope tight as it Cor'lana and Jameson are getting ready to be lifted, but at the man bursting out to yell, she's suddenly hands off on the rope and wide eyed. "Hey! No need for that!" she hollers as Dirk is surrounded by feathers. "We have a situation here, and that's not helping anything!" this odd situation getting stranger by the minute.

Despite being so slight, Cor'lana's weight begins to collapse part of the hole that she'd managed to make it through. She dodges the collapsing snow, but the boy--

"No!" Cor'lana cries out as the boy slips from her grasp and starts to slide down the hole again. "Stop PULLING THE ROPE!" she screams up the hole as she tries to dive desperately to catch him before he slides back down. "Jameson, please take my hand!"

Immediately, Seldan stops pulling on the rope, and indeed lets out another few feet of slack, to give Cor'lana more room to work with should she need it. Focused as he is on controlling the rope, he barely pays attention to the drama unfolding around him.

Kira has only just started to aid in pulling when the call to stop comes and she halts cold. "What's wrong?" She is focused on the hole and not on the man rushing out. Even if it is rude for them to be on his lawn.

The child reaches out immediately for Cor'lana, all pretense of being brave gone. It's not easy, and he barely manages to grab ahold of her, but his little fingers wrap around hers and he looks up at her tearfully "Don't leave me down here!"

GAME: Ravenstongue rolls Dexterity: (10)+2: 12

Patch watches the situation a bit tense, her hands back on the rope for the second attempt that's coming. "Dirk, let them know we'll be gone soon enough!" she hollers, that situation coming with a wince. "We have other priorities at the moment! So, keep them busy Dirk!" her effort now back on the line to help, hoping Dirk isn't put out too much dealing with the angry homeowner.

Cor'lana's violet eyes flood with emotion. But she can't panic or do anything that might upset the boy even more. "I won't," she says, bringing the boy in for a hug to comfort him. "You will not be left behind. Not like I was. Now, we're going to try something different--you're going to ride on my shoulders, and you're going to cling to me as tightly as you can, ok? Don't be scared and don't be surprised. My friends up there are doing their best."

She carefully maneuvers him, managing to avoid more of a collapse that would jeopardize things, onto her shoulders. "Okay!" she calls up the hole. "Go ahead and pull again!"

GAME: Patch rolls strength: (3)+1: 4
GAME: Seldan rolls strength: (17)+6: 23

"I SAID GET OFF MY LAWN!" The man utters furiously, waving his hands again and! There are more feathers! This time they fall around Seldan like a blizzard of muti-hued snowflakes. Sticking to his armor and the snow that encompasses it. A few drift over Patch and Kira. He seems even more irate than before - the man at the door that is.

Patch pulls with all her might, but Seldan's strong strokes and handling of rope by far overshadows the work she can put in. As she pulls, Seldan's strength makes it easy, her efforts doing nothing to aide the two being pulled up. "Hey!" the feathers, and odd distraction making her take a hand away from the rope to brush the feathers away from her face. "We're trying to help someone here you asshole!" she hollers to the man, suddenly pausing and looking towards the hole. Maybe the kid didn't hear. Anyways. Feathers, pulling, and this job have her flustered. "Some people."

Seldan grits his teeth and strains, anchoring both feet and _holding_ the rope, right where it is, through all the wiggling and fighting. It's not easy, especially on wet pavement - but at the call, he pulls again, this time slowly, hand over hand, careful not to disrupt any more of the snow than absolutely necessary, fully braced and in a low stance for stability.

Hand over hand, slowly the pair come up out of the hole, and soon a sandy head of hair is visible. "Do not move yet," he warns the boy. "I shall make getting out of the snow much easier, and safer, so that neither of you fall again. Sentinel, take the rope," he directs, waiting until both are up and she does so to step aside and free his hands for casting in wide, swift gestures.

He utterly ignores the angry homeowner. Time enough for that, when the lad is safe.

Kira reaches to assist with the pulling, though this time the sudden arrival of feathers are enough to at least cause her to notice the man. She agrees with Patch's sentiment, if not her choice of words. She doesn't look to the man nor offer other words. At Seldan's direction, she grabs the rope to anchor it once the two are up. The boy is given a warm smile as a start; she knows that a warm hearth will follow soon.

Dirk scowls furiously as the homeowner flings more feathers at his friends, fiendishly! "OY!" He racks the slide on his thunderbelcher meaningfully. CHK-CHAK! "Leave off wi' that feathery shite! There's a wee laddie here who needs help, ye dodderin' ol' sod!" Lulu flutters her wings and hoo-hoots at Dirk, which makes the burly old ranger scowl. "I -know- I'm an ol' sod too, there's nae need tae rub it in," he grumbles aside.

"Sentinel?" Patch asks amused, looking as Seldan goes to tend the two brought up from the hole. A brief moment taken to glance at Dirk and the homeowner. She doesn't yet approach that situation, waiting for Seldan to give the okay. It seems he's going to ignore the situation for now, and so Patch tries to do the same, but a hesitant laugh rings from her. "I suspect that's some holy talk, huh?" she finally asks, at a loss for the situation, though the boy being freed from the hole seems to be a bonus, a smile earned despite the feathers and distraction.

Once Cor'lana and the boy are out, she looks very, very happy to be out of the harrowing ordeal--although the matter of the feathers earns her bewilderment.

She looks over in the direction of the homeowner and squints at him. "What in the... Hmm. Maybe I can smooth this over?"

Cor'lana steps forward a tad and smiles sweetly, waving at him. "Hello, sir! We were just rescuing this little boy from the snowbank he fell into. Please, there's no cause for any sort of disturbance! He's safe now, so we'll be on our way."

The man takes one look at Cor'lana and goes positively red. Dirk's threat had rendered him speechless, but he has something to say now! "HOW DARE YOU THREATEN ME! HOW DARE YOU BESMIRCH MY LAWN!" He wiggles his hands again and this time... Thunder rumbles ominously above you.

GAME: Seldan rolls spellcraft: (10)+18: 28
GAME: Ravenstongue rolls Spellcraft: (5)+15: 20
GAME: Patch rolls spellcraft: (18)+8: 26
GAME: Kira rolls spellcraft: (2)+5: 7
GAME: Dirk rolls Spellcraft: (11)+5: 16
GAME: Patch casts Hideous Laughter. Caster Level: 5 DC: 15
GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+1: (8)+1: 9

Patch sneers as the homeowner begins to cast, her eyes locking on him as she reaches into her coat and withdraws a feather. "Hey! What did the snowman call its kids?!" calls her voice, imbuing the joke with her magic as she lets her spell loose on the man, the feather bursting into a flame within her fingers and gone as her final words call out. "Chill-dren!" the man sent into a fit of laughter at her casting, a big smile taking up her lips. "Chilling isn't a bad idea." she murmurs the last bit, hoping that was enough to disrupt the spell. "We got half a minute to boogey. So let's git!" she suddenly snaps at the party.

Kira removes her cloak to offer it to the boy. He's out of the snow but not out of the cold yet. That it might also put her between the boy and any irate homeowners is purely non-coincidental, but her focus is on Jameson. "Let's get you warm and back where you should be, alright? There are people worried about you."

Dirk's eyes get wide as teacups, then narrow. His beard bristles furiously and he steps forward. He trains his thunderbelcher directly on the old man. "I swear tae fuckin' -Dana-, you sheepfuckin' bastard... you hurt that boy, I'll put you in the -fuckin'- earth!"

GAME: Seldan casts Floating Disk. Caster Level: 16 DC: 19

Seldan glances up at the rumble of thunder. "Move!" he snaps out. "He calls the lightning down upon us. Lay one finger on the lad, and I shall see you thrown in the mages' prison." A black scowl accompanies the words, but - first things first. The quickest way out of this is to complete the spell. Drawing a deep breath, he draws a sigil before him, then speaks an arcane phrase. The sigil splits into many of its kind, glowing brightly blue-golden-silver before him. A boyish smile creeps over his lips as he gestures outwards, down and outward into the shape of a dinner plate, and the disk so described bursts into being before him. With a gesture, he directs it to lower and stop next to the boy and Cor'lana. "Swiftly now," he calls. "It will hold you."

"Dirk, chill out, he's just been reduced to a laughing fit unlike any I've ever seen," Cor'lana says. Then... a smirk finds her lips. "Oops. Accidental pun."

Cor'lana's the adult between the two, so she steps onto it first and then has the boy step on, taking his hand as they sit down comfortably on the disk. "Let's go," she says. "Quickly, before my sister's spell wears off of him. -- Nice work, by the way, Patch!" she calls in admiration.

Pothy gives Patch a little nuzzle on the cheek and a murmured "Good job!" in Cor'lana's voice before he returns to Cor'lana. "Snack?" he asks Jameson, the ever-friendly leucistic raven asking the most pertinent question (in his eyes, at least): would the boy like a snack?

The boy does as Cor'lana directs - at least until he sees Dirk. Then, forgetting everything he leaves Kira's cloak behind as he runs off the disk and away from the urging for snack descriptions to stand before the dwarf - missing shoe and all. "Don't hurt him! He's just the pie baker! He's really nice! He just WISHES he was a mage. He can't actually call lightning or anything! He's a good guy. Don't hurt him mister!"

It's hard to tell if the 'mage' at the front door is a danger or not given how he's laughing. And laughing. And laughing. But it seems for the moment at least that lightning is not going to rain down from the sky. For now.

"I don't want to hurt anyone we doesn't deserve it, so I thought it best." Patch says apologetically, her words trailing off as she looks away from Cor'lana as she rains her praise. A flush hits her cheeks and birthmark as she turns to make pace away from the home and weather-wizard of laughter. Yeah, she doesn't handle praise well. "I dunno. He looked good enough and skilled at magic to me, but...." her words again trailing off. None of this made any sense, and if the man wasn't a mage, then what's going on with his house? Patch pauses, turning to look at the boy with a puzzled expression, daring then to glance to the others. "Well, it won't last /too/ much longer. I just don't know if I want to test our luck and hope it'll pan out."

Dirk's eyes bug out as the boy Jameson comes running up to him. He looks from the lad, to the laughing old man. Back to the lad. Back to the man. "But... if -he- isn't doin' all this weirdness..." Back to Jameson. "Is... are -you- doin' this?" he asks. But he -does- lower his thunderbelcher, at least. Blink blink.

"The spell is quite real, lad," Seldan calls, looping his rope and looking after the boy as he runs to Dirk. "Whether he believes it or no, and whoever or whatever created the effect, it nonetheless places us all in danger. Come, we leave, ere he recovers." He keeps his tone even, steady, and brooking no argument. "The enchantment will not hold for long. We shall speak of it when we are safe and warm." With a gesture, he floats the disk over towards the boy and Dirk. "It will carry you, and the storm yet rages, outside of the spell on the house."

Cor'lana is still on the disk when Seldan moves it, resulting in wide violet eyes. She manages to not make a noise when he moves it, but Pothy /does/ go, "WooooaaaaAAAAAHHH!" in the voice of a very excited child. Seldan's Disk is a wild ride--at least to a Pothy!

"Yes, Jameson, come here," Cor'lana says, patting the disk. "Nobody's harming anyone. Let's get out of here quickly, shall we?"

With the gun lowered, Jameson seems satisfied and quickly runs back to Ravenstongue. He doesn't argue whether the old man is a mage or not, and settles down next to her comfortably. "You're very pretty." He says wisely, looking up at her with fond eyes.

The old 'mage' is still laughing. Which makes it easy enough to get off his lawn and back into the blizzard to return the boy to his new home.

Cor'lana giggles a little. "Aww, well, my husband would agree with you there," she says. She pats Jameson on the head before she takes off her cloak and puts it around him for the ride back. It's going to be snowing an awful lot, after all.

"Heartbreaker," Pothy murmurs in Cor'lana's voice. This earns him a glare from Cor'lana, and the white raven just laughs--a happy little sound to hopefully banish the bad memory of getting lost in a scary situation for the little boy.

-End