Nobody's Home

The Residence.

Word was left for Seldan at the temple, as he instructed, requesting his presence at a specific time. In advance of this by somewhat less than the expected casting time, supplies and materials were gathered and arranged. Now that the time nears, she has already begun the spell, with the donated aid. An aid that has been wrapped in the covering it was received in until it was actually required and Verna sequestered herself in the other room.

She would make a poor hostess to receive expected guests while in the midst of casting. Admittedly, she is a poorer hostess than her betrothed even on her best day.

Auranar, hostess skills or no, is nervous. More than a few of Verna's attempts at scrying have gone... poorly over the years, and though Kol has yet to show any ability with magic, it would be a poor thing should he show such now. She waits impatiently in the living room, a few biscuits on a tray on the table alongside fresh tea. Neither of which she actually expects to be taken advantage of. All she can do though, is wait.

At nearly the appointed hour, there is a sharp rap on the door to the residence that Auranar and Verna share. Once again, Seldan is clad in full war kit, from armor to full panoply of weapons to pack to jewelry and cloaks, the blue and silver robe over his armor. He makes no effort to conceal any of it, as he usually does, and the sight is impressive indeed.

The wild elf startles a bit at the sound of a knock at the door. She _is_ expecting company, but her nerves are rough and the sound is unexpected. Quickly she soothes her skirts down and makes her way to the door opening it and blinking out at Seldan. "Seldan!" She utters, sounding surprised even to herself and embarrassed, she quickly moves aside to allow him entrance into the house. "Come in, come in. Verna's already casting the spell."

"Her light upon your path, Auranar." Seldan inclines his head politely to Auranar, and steps inside. "Then shall I be silent," he answers immediately, and draws a deep breath, composing himself into a steady, quiet reserve. His job right now is to wait, and well he knows it.

Auranar closes the door behind Seldan and steps back into the room. "No need for complete silence, we've another room she's using. I... I think she doesn't want me to see." She looks away and catches sight of the tea. "Would you like some tea? Something to snack on while you wait?"

"You are most kind, and tea would be welcome." Now composed and focused, Seldan tucks his swordsman's gloves into his belt and sets his pack down by the end of the sofa, but rather than take a seat, he adopts a parade-rest stance behind it, a relaxed thing that can be held for some time. "I would not damage your furniture with the armor, and yet do I deem it needful," he explains, a steady gaze trained on Auranar that tries to be reassuring. "I do not doubt that Mourner Verna shall find what is needed."

Not that long after the door closes behind Seldan and Auranar, another knock comes at the front door of Auranar and Verna's home. It's not an overly forceful knock, but also not a gentle one either.

Halfway to the table in the thought of getting Seldan his tea, Auranar frowns at the sound of the knock at her door. Curious, she makes her way back around the room to the door which she opens only half an inch at first. Peering through the tiny crack with some suspicion before recognizing Andelena on her doorstep. "Andelena!" This time she is wholly surprised, once again pulling back to allow someone to enter her home. "What are you doing here - not that you are unwelcome! Have you eaten?"

Seeing that Auranar is distracted by another knock at the door, Seldan tenses, the parade-rest stance becoming much less relaxed and more spring-loaded. He does not strictly move, but is quite ready to do so at a moment's notice, and his demeanor takes on the aspect of an alabaster pillar, cool, still, and impassive. He is immediately recognizable as the blonde man from the visions the totems offered.

Considering the sights that greeted Verna on her prior scryings, there is justification for limiting initial viewing. To say nothing of the sharp instrument she most cautiously holds whilst she incants. The audible repetition of verses comes more quickly now than a cycle or two past, as the spell nears completion.

Andelena stands at the door wearing a clean tunic and set of breeches, having finally gone home and changed from the temple. She looks at Auranar with a look that radiates sheer gratitude at the mention of food. "Stolen a bite here and there from the Temple, but honestly, not much," Andelena replies to Auranar. "Came to stop by and talk to Verna. And..."

Her stomach growls. The Sunguard makes an expression that is rather foreign: a sheepish sort of smile.

"Zeke was right," Andelena admits. "I need a break. Can I come in? I plan on going back to the Temple after this, but I just need a breather."

The steel-grey eyes catch on the blonde man she doesn't know, however, and she raises a brow. "Hey, wait a minute," she says. "I think I know you."

Closing the door behind Andelena, Auranar smiles softly at the other woman and waves her inside. "Seldan, this is Andelena. Andelena, this is Seldan. One of Eluna's chosen paladins." She makes the introductions as lightly as she can as she moves to the table. She pours a cup of tea for Seldan and offers it to him, and picks up the tray of biscuits. She actually offers this to Seldan as well, before she offers it to Andelena. "Tea Andelena?"

If only she could keep the pleasantries up forever.

"You're famous, boy," the ornate and out-of-date-looking sword at Seldan's hip pipes up, in the voice of a crotchety old man. "Don't let it go to your head."

Seldan, who had turned more fully towards the door as the woman entered, appears to relax significantly as he gets a good look at the woman, but pauses to answer the sword first, looking down at his hip. "Kanian, I fear that it is likely to go to yours first."

He turns them, politely to Andelena, and bows formally. "Her light upon your path, my lady. Forgive me for the startlement." There's no question where _that_ lilting accent in the light voice comes from. Definitely a Bryn Myridorn accent, and of the gentler classes to boot. "Please, eat. If you have been working with my kin, then your burden is heavy."

Verna's words from the other room now increase in volume in addition to speed, before ending with sharp accentuation of the final syllable. Near-silence from the other room follows. After a few moments, she rejoins the others in the lounge.

GAME: Verna casts Greater Scrying. Caster Level: 19 DC: 24

As she steps inside, Andelena looks over at Seldan--and then she's visibly a little startled when /the sword/ starts talking. The startled look turns to confusion as she watches Seldan respond to it. "For a second, I think I was suddenly so exhausted I was hearing things," she admits with another small, sheepish smile that turns mildly into an inquisitive expression. "Haven't met anyone from Bryn Myridorn for a while. I'm Andelena of Selentia."

She turns to Auranar and nods heavily with an emphatic, "Yes, /please/," as she takes a biscuit from the tray. She takes a significant bite of it and almost sighs in content after she eats it. "I take it you know Sunguard Zeke, too, Seldan?"

There is an image hovering above Verna's hands as she enters the room. An image very clear in spite of how dark the room that the image comes from is. The room is moderately sized to comfortably large without being overly sized. It is carved or naturally formed from stone, and identifiable to those who have seen it before as the room that once held Dolan. Chains hang empty of any occupant now however, and the room looks quite empty save the furniture.

As interested as Auranar is in the conversation between Andelena and Seldan, her thoughts on their words die as she notices Verna entering the room. She squints at the small image of the room hovering above her fiancée's hands. "What are the chains for?" She asks innocently. It's clear that she's never seen such a setup before, nor has she imagined one.

Seldan is about to answer Andelena, his warm and boyish smile very much an affirmative answer to the question, when Verna emerges. He immediately straightens, allowing the current conversation to drop on the floor, allowing his demeanor to immediately settle into that sober reserve. "There appears to be none present," he murmurs, some disappointment evident, but then immediately turns his head to Auranar. "I pray that never do you learn the answer to that question, Mistress Auranar," he says seriously.

Verna's attention is divided between the image and the path of her steps until she comes to a stop. This occurs in time with Auranar's question, who briefly draws most of her attention. After several moments considering both her fiancee' and the best response, she comments. "They are to detain individuals." Clear. Concise. Fact.

Her next words are for Seldan. "It appears so, though if Kol were present, I expect the spell would be thwarted. There is more to the room than what is currently on display. I can attempt to alter the viewpoint, as desired."

Without realizing it, Andelena simply forgets to breathe as she looks at the vision floating above Verna's hands, fixing onto it. Whatever she had to say to Seldan before Verna entered the room is quickly forgotten, as well as the tea and the biscuits.

She looks like she's about to say something until Verna offers the brief explanation, and then her mouth closes into a fine line. The Sunguard gives a nod of agreement as she breathes slowly out her nostrils, closing her eyes momentarily before opening them again. "Looking for totems?" she asks, making a guess based on Seldan's first comment. "There was only the one there in the cave when I was there. Nothing in the dresser. Nothing in the..."

Another hitch in the throat and she shuts her eyes tight for a moment. "The trunk."

Auranar watches Seldan for a moment, and seems about to say something when Verna replies and the thought catches in her mind. It's hard to tell if she grasps the enormity of the statement; she couldn't possibly, but she accepts it and shuts her mouth with tension in her jaw.

Seldan regards Andelena steadily at her words, but then his eyes lower, and he silently offers her a sword-callused hand. He seems to have some idea of what is going on, at least, from the soberness in his gaze, but he shakes his head, turning back to the image. "Nay, my lady. I desire to know whether Kol Demontry still uses this as his lair. It seems quite empty. Perhaps you would alter the viewpoint, and determine if this trunk is still present?" he asks of Verna. To Auranar, he says nothing, as she seems to have gotten the message.

GAME: Andelena rolls Sense Motive: (13)+11: 24
GAME: Verna rolls 1d20+20+wisdom: (9)+20+7: 36

Verna's lips purse at the short words from Andelena. "The trunk. We were unable to search the room with any thoroughness. One moment." Her hands lift slightly in their 'cradling' of the image and her brow furrows with effort and focus upon the image. The image then begins to slowly pan from focus upon the wall and chains and towards the remainder of the room.

When Seldan offers his hand out to her, Andelena turns her gaze over both to him and to the hand. There's a look in her eye of questioning--but then it shifts almost immediately to gratitude, and she takes the hand, closing her eyes and breathing in again.

When she opens them again, she says, "He didn't have anything in the way of personal belongings to begin with. The chest in there has some things, and the dresser has clothes, but that's all I remember from... being there." Seldan's hand gets squeezed a little.

The image pans around the room, showing the dresser - closed - and indeed the trunk which is also closed after Andelena's handling of both it proves that the vampire had at least stuck around long enough to tidy up. An odd thing to be sure, but true nonetheless. There's no sign of blood anywhere.

Auranar points to the trunk. "It looks like the trunk is still there." She offers helpfully. "The dresser too. If we go in quickly... Maybe we can determine if his belongings are still there. Surely he intends to come back to the cave eventually if they remain full?"

"Even so," Seldan agrees, gently squeezing back on the hand in his. "We should search it, and the outside, and move swiftly. I would learn if any threats exist outside that may deter the hunt. I have invisibility potions enough, and we should seek to avoid conflict at all costs. We are not yet prepared for such a battle."

He turns then to Andelena. "Courage, my lady. Kol is a mighty foe, but he can be beaten, does one prepare. Does he find us, I shall shield you. I mean only to search the place swiftly, and look outside to determine where it lies, and if other threats exist. I shall go myself, do you prefer."

Verna's lips and brow both crease at the suggestion to move (once more) to the cave. It is not unexpected, and is prudent, perhaps even required, and yet... "It is believed that it is at or near the lycanthropes' camp," she informs, primarily for Seldan. "Stealth would be paramount..." She looks to Auranar, then, even as she further adds, "Seldan, I would not have you venture there alone."

The squeeze back on her hand brings the small ghost of a smile to Andelena's lips, the brief flicker of a nostalgic look playing across her eyes before it's replaced with a more sober expression, fixed onto the sight of the cave bereft of blood.

"Alone? Gods no," Andelena says, echoing Verna's sentiment. Her voice is a little soft at first, but it takes on a firming crescendo as she says, "Silverguard, if you're going there, I'm going, too. You need someone who's been there before. Between Verna and I, you'd have the advantage of familiarity."

Here, her tone is a bit more aggressive. "As well as someone motivated beyond belief to see him /gone/."

Auranar's dark eyes flash at Verna's glance. "No. Not this time. I'm coming with." She looks at the rest of the people gathered challengingly. Though she doesn't look it, she is in fact wearing her adventuring gear. Pants on under her dress, and sturdy boots rather than fashionable ones. "I won't be left at home to cower like a scared kitten. I can help."

"Very well. Mourner, it is best, do you attempt the teleport. I can remove us swiftly at need. We will need to travel outside the walls, but it is not far." Seldan inclines his head to Andelena. "The man Kol caught is known to you?" he asks gently. "Come, let us go, ere he returns." Now that action has been decided, he does not delay, instead moving swiftly towards his pack. "Swift and silence, lest we be seen."

From his pack, he removes several small vials, handing one each to Andelena, Auranar, and Verna. "Potions of invisibility," he explains. "They will not hold against touch or sound, but you will not be seen."

Verna's gaze remains upon Auranar for a time even as she nods. "Together, then. I can maintain this long enough to clear the walls and take us there." After Seldan distributes the potions, she notes to him, "I can also return us, but it is comfort that you can do so." Redundancy is a good thing, because bad things also exist. "We should make haste."

"The man that Kol caught is my fiance," Andelena replies as she takes the offered vial, with a weight to her words that underscore her sentiment: /this is personal/. "I'm not about to let my man's sacrifice and pain go in vain."

She looks to Auranar dressed in her adventuring gear, and feels a little underdressed. "Thankfully, I brought my bag with me," she says. "Give me a few minutes and I can be ready to go."

Andelena gets up and ducks out of the room to go change.

GAME: Seldan rolls intelligence: (1)+4: 5 (EPIC FAIL)
GAME: Andelena rolls Perception: (10)+10: 20
GAME: Verna rolls perception: (7)+29: 36
GAME: Seldan rolls perception: (13)+25: 38
GAME: Auranar rolls perception: (20)+5: 25
GAME: Auranar rolls Fortitude: (16)+3: 19

Once Andelena is kitted, the group heads outside the city, ready to make their way to Kol's abode. The hour is indistinguishable due to the thick clouds in the sky, and the area just outside the city is... empty. Oddly empty in fact. No sign of the city guards, no sign of anyone trying to enter or exit the city. The whispers of the wind are your only companions.

Auranar pauses as everyone enters the area just outside the city gates, her black eyes roaming over the area with confusion. Her eyes land beside the city gate, slide toward the Wayfarers Inn and suddenly she puts her hand to her mouth, gagging and turning her head away from the inn in particular. "Gods..." She manages to say, taking shallow breaths. "What... What _happened_ here?"

Seldan is much more certain, and raises a hand. "Battle happened here," he answers tersely, suddenly balanced between the balls and heels of his feet like a trained warrior. His hand goes to his blade, but he watches Auranar, and looks towards the inn. "The inn?" he asks her, suddenly bearing all the intent and focus of the world.

Ice-blue eyes turn to Verna. "Mourner, I cannot ignore this. I fear that Kol must wait, for a little."

Verna is already on high alert, edge, even, for a number of reasons. Even with some attention diverted to the viewport of the ongoing spell, the lack outside the gates is noted. The lack of guards. Travellers. Most any sign of life or activity. The scent on the air is all-too familiar to her. "Indeed. There are signs in the snow and earth..." She has no further details to offer, and looks concernedly to Auranar's near-retching. Her glance is inquiring, though Seldan's query draws her from words.

Verna looks to him, and then the inn. A place she does not oft visit, save for wild herbs. The last time she did so-

"Steel yourselves. It may be that Kol is already waiting. He accosted the man he hunts, at the inn, at least once before. If he now searches for him..."

"Battle?" Andelena murmurs in an echo as she looks around. She catches Seldan's going for his sword and similarly goes for the longsword on her back. Her gaze turns from mild confusion to hard as steel as Verna speaks.

"Would be pretty damn convenient," she mutters, "for him to show up here and now."

Even as Andelena speaks a man exits the inn. He's tall, long limbed and spider-looking in his black clothes. His gaze slides over those gathered his green eyes distant as if he can't see them at all. Blood covers his face, a macabre grin plastered on his features. His eyes don't even stop on them, as if he's blind or something, and then he steps into a shadow - and is gone.

Auranar touches Seldan's arm, her eyes tight. "You don't want to go in there. Can't you smell it?" She asks, not understanding that this is probably something that Seldan _does_ want to deal with. She watches the man exit the inn and stares at him in shock. "A survivor... Where did he go?"

"Kol." There lies not a shred of doubt in Seldan's words, and stone cold fury twists the even features. "He desires revenge. Come, we must see if any at all survive!" Without any question or hesitation, the paladin takes off at a run towards the inn. "Mourner, see if he has returned to his lair!" he calls, the words lost in the wind and the smell of death.

Verna stiffens at the sight of the man. In this instance, she would have very much preferred to have been utterly mistaken with her hypothesis. Her posture relaxes only marginally when he vanishes. "They will need our help promptly. Come!" She explicitly gestures to Auranar with this to ensure she knows that she is included. It is not that she wishes her to witness what they might find, but that she wishes even less to possibly leave her alone, outside, with Kol possibly still about.

She begins to move towards the inn, diverting some attention to the still-active scrying. Seldan's thought is echoed: if he returns there, once more, the possibility that it is a more permanent lair would grow ever higher.

Andelena's hands around her blade stiffen as her face curdles into a quiet rage when she sees Kol. The teeth gnash together and a growl curls from her mouth, the lioness part of her personality making itself known. A soft curse leaves her: "Fucking--"

And then the blade buzzes in her hand. This time, however, unlike her usual fit of exasperation, Andelena draws in a sharp breath through her nose. Her gaze goes with Verna and Seldan. "Right," she says. "We need to go. We need to help." So she moves with the group, murmuring a spell of protection that emanates from herself to her allies along the way.

GAME: Andelena casts Magic Circle Against Evil. Caster Level: 5 DC: 16

Seldan reaches the door first, and so is first to see what's inside. It's not pretty, and it's immediately clear that there are no survivors _here_ of the massacre that took place. There are at least twenty bodies piled up in the center of the Wayfarer's Inn. If anyone survived, they fled while Kol was feeding from those that were left behind. All those bodies have been left in one big pile in the center of the room. Completely drained of blood.

Verna's scry comes to an end as she's looking for survivors, Kol returning to his nest, and ending the vision.

-End