After a couple of moments, Boudicca clears her throat. [color=red]"Shall we continue the tour, then?
A few minutes after they begin, Boudicca will flag down a covenfolk and speak with him briefly, telling him (in what Corvus can tell is atrocious Gaelic) to fetch Eilid.
"We'll find Corvus a cottage to stay in until he's given a permanent one. Will you be staying with him, or should we put you in the barracks with the turb?"
Both. I never bothered to place the stables. I know it's Outside, and probably a ways (due to the filth). Not sure if it would be toward Cill Chuimein (westward) or Inbhir Mhoireastain (eastward).
Corvus follows along occasionally making comments to Crone. He seems to understand what the public buildings are but in a way that seems to relate to food or rodents. Boudicca can assume this is what he has learned from the terrier.
Patricius grimaces slightly.I would not say with a magus if I can help it. And he is a strange one in any case. I'll bunk with the turb if you do not mind. Will it be fine to leave the baggage here while I take care of the horse and mule?
Boudicca shows Corvus around the grounds. It takes a little while for Eilid to catch up with them.
[color=brown]"What is the problem, Boudicca?"
[color=red]"Corvus, here, informs us that there are creatures inhabiting Drystan's cottage, and there is some kind of protection on it that keeps one of the covenant's terriers out. Perhaps we should take some grogs to investigate in a bit."
Eilid turns to Corvus. [color=brown]"Is this correct?"
Cearban chuckles. "I'll have someone take it to the barracks while you handle those." She points to the barracks building as she speaks, then calls to a couple of the covenfolk and speaks to them softly for a minute. They look at Patricius quickly, then grab his baggage and lug it to the barracks.
Corvus shifts his weight from foot to foot and does not look at either Magi. He begins speaking to Crone. They ask Corvus questions that they should ask Good King John. He said there is something there. He made Corvus promise to help. Corvus was only being friendly. Crone makes a low chuckling sound and Corvus look over to the Magi without looking them in the face and nods several times.
Eilid looks to each of the other magi in turn before she finally kneels in front of Good King John and reaches out to pet him.
As she does, she casts an Intellego Animal spell (she has both double-Quiet and Subtle Magic) to allow her to speak with the terrier for two minutes (Base 10 to speak with an animal, +1 for Touch, +1 for Diameter).
[color=brown]"What's in that cabin?" she asks.
The terrier who thinks of himself as Good King John barks and paces at Eilid question. We do not know because we can't get in!! It smells not of rat or mouse nor of weasel. There are more than one and sound small. Small like a rat but not like a mouse. We hear them mostly at night.
[hr][/hr]
(There is nothing on Eilid's sheet to let me know if animals are effected by her Gift so I am going to assume, for the moment, that they are not effected. )
[color=brown]"Do you think they are dangerous to us?"
I don't normally post full character sheets for major npcs (sometimes for plot reasons, sometimes because they're not fully statted out, sometimes both).
But Eilid has a normal Gift.
Good King John pauses his pacing and barking to look at Eilid. He then lets out two explosive sneezes and then takes a step back. They are on MY territory without MY permission!!
Corvus nods and speaks to Crone. See. Just like any other king
Eilid looks to King John and Corvus, then back to King John. [color=brown]"By your leave, I would take a couple of grogs to explore the cabin, to see what lies within."
(jebrick, do you want to beta that part, or just hand-wave it?)
I would not mind running it as a small story. Gives me a chance to flesh out my ideas for the little darlings.
Okay, the baton is yours, maestro.
Later that afternoon, Eilid takes two members of the turb (Aodh and Maris) to Drystan's former cottage. The grogs motion Eilid to stay behind them as they slowly open the front door, weapons drawn and half-expecting trouble.
The group is escorted by two terriers. On that Eilid recognizes as Good King John but the grogs call Blackie and the other the grogs call Digger. They keep a respectful distance from Eilid but rush to the door as Aodh puts his hand on the latch.
The door opens about 2" and hits something and stops. Eilid, the only person without a helmet on, hears a faint sound of many many small feet moving the room beyond. ((A per+Awareness vs 12 will get more information)).
Aodh glances back to Eilid and then puts his shoulder into the door which scrapes open. Both terriers rush in with a snarl. The room is dark as all the shutters are closed. All the light is coming from the door.
[hr][/hr]
(Is Eilid in Heartbeast form? If Aodh and Maris want to make their awareness or you can at a -2 to their rolls Again assuming they have helmets on. )
If you want to do something to impede the terriers then we can adjust the setting.
Her Per is 0, her Awareness is 2 (specializing in Heartbeast), so her Awareness roll is 0 + 2 + die roll of 3 = 5.
Eilid holds up her hand to stop the grogs, then casts Sun In My Hand (CrIg 10, base 4 to create light as bright as a cloudy day, R: Touch, D: Concentration, T: Individual. Her Casting Total is 26 before die roll, and she has both Subtle Magic and double Quiet Magic. That should be sufficient to illuminate everything beyond the door.
No, she's not. She's afraid physicality might ensue, and her doe-legs aren't all that durable.
Aodh is Per 1 + Awareness 3 + die roll of 3 -2 = 5.
Maris is Per 0 + Awareness 3 + die roll of 9 -2 = 10.
The light illuminates the cottage. Eilid sees mostly what she expects with shelves and chairs and the typical layout of the cottages. The terriers are stunned for a moment by the light then run off barking in the direction ( and temporarily out of sight) of what Eilid knows to be the lab.
Aodh and Maris enter with weapons ready and look around. Eilid follows holding the light up. She can see that the table had been placed by the door. It was what she heard scrapping as Aodh forced it open. She notices that while the dust is heavy on the shelves is is much less so on the floor. There are large patches that appear quite clean.
(Per+Awareness rolls from everyone target is 6 )
The terriers are at the entry to the lab but have stop at the doorway and are barking. Eilid can see that there is a circle ward in the lab. Something small can be seen moving in the shadows of the lab.
Eilid: rolls a 0; isn't that nice. Botch check: Of course, she rolls another.
Aodh: 4 + rolls a 0; are you smegging kidding me? sigh Okay, Botch check comes up 3, for a total of 4. Good thing, too. If it had come up another zero, I would have pulled out my real dice.
Maris: 3 + die roll of 9= 12.
Maris ( the paragon of awareness), grunts and points his sword to the wall separating the lab from the cottage room. Eilid and Aodh look at him with blank expressions ( a wall. Yes we see it.) Maris moves closer to the wall and gestures to a shelf. Aodh's eyes widen a and he nods. Eilid looks at them both. Both gesture to the wall and shelf. She looks again at the wall and finally turns to them and stamps a foot. WHAT! she shouts.
The shelf and the chair magus Maris replies. Eilid looks closer and sees what looks like some knotted twine coming off the shelf to a chair below it and then what is obviously a small ladder from the chair to the floor.
All this time the terriers are barking at the entrance to the lab. Suddenly they stop barking. The one called Digger whines a bit and everyone gets a strange feeling on their back molars like something vibrating. Eilid has a feeling she can almost hear something. Both dogs yelp and run from the cottage as fast as they can. After they are gone the sensation stops.