Ghost of a Clue

Log Info

• Title: Ghost of a clue
• Emitter: Ashes
• Characters: Braelnoir, Lanier, Ashes, Aya, Konstance
• Place: A05: Warehouse District
• Time: Saturday, April 25, 2020, 11:52 PM
• Summary: Braelnoir takes refuge in a house whose owners were killed during the Giant Ooze attack. She is hiding, because her Marilith form attracts the wrong sort of attention. The leftover personal artifacts are making her introspective and she notices her ranger friend, Lanier, passing outside. He is invited in, and the two realize they are not alone. A third individual sits quietly in the shadows. They recognize her as Ashlee, or Ash, the messenger for the dead that brought the good tidings of Kamaria's mother to her out in the wilderness. They discuss the family who died, and during that are visited by the shadowy mul'niessa Aya and the brusk inquisitor, Konstance. Ashlee explains she is listening to the ghosts so she can take their names to the Temple of Vardama, but the manner of their deaths left them confused and in pain. She also reveals that they've been disturbed by all the living activity, and leaves intending to return later.

-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=-<* A05: Warehouse District *>--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=-

The freshness of the Tornmawr River cuts along this section of Alexandria. Its broad expanse creates the district's eastern border. Ships and barges dot its surface. Some make deliveries here and up the river, while others dock for repair. These vehicles move slowly over the water, their sails colorful and proud. No few bear a nod to Rada, or three, for luck's sake. Many also bear the colors of different nations and city-states, all of them coming here to bring trade to Alexandria.

Warehouses line the district's streets, dotted with the names of shipping companies and various industries. These, mixed with the occasional sailor's tavern, set the tone for the area. Overall, it's bustling, busy, about what one would expect for a city of this size.

To the south, the great Sea Wall and the Port of Alexandria. Both are considered wonders of the modern world.

-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=-

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=  Appearing, in Order  -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Braelnoir    5'11"    346 Lb     Chimerarilith     Female    Four armed, silver snake woman w/black hair.           
Lanier       6'0"     245 Lb     Human             Male      Young, lean and strong Acanian wearing hide clothing.
Ashes        5'11"    177 Lb     Hobgoblin         Female    A quiet woman in somber clothes with a skull face 
Aya          4'7"     105 Lb     Shadow Elf        Female    Mul'niessa. Braided hair. Simple clothing.
Konstance    6'2"     240 Lb     Human             Male      A human with blonde hair and blue eyes
-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=

It's a quiet night, at least here. While massive damage was avoided overall in the wake of the events surrounding the collossal ooze of days past, a particular home was left tragicly bereft of ownership and, in some ways, environmental integrity. Within, keeping out of the light as much as feasible, a silver figure is curled up in the debris considering an array of personal artifacts left by the previous tennants: namely, what looks like a peasant's wedding gown, the word passed down from mother to daughter, and a rag doll with black yarn for hair.

Having needed to see the damage himself, and offering his services as a healer to those injured in this area, Lanier is making steady progress on his walk through the warehouse district of Alexandria. He pauses outside the home, considering the lack of massive damage and hmming quietly. The ranger turns on his feet, looking back over his shoulder and around in order to get his bearings back.

The sound of movement outside makes the curled figure prop herself up some on her hands to peak over a piece of the roof that came in. As Lanier becomes identifiable in the lighting as he turns to survey the place, she gives a soft, hissy whistle before bringing a armored finger up to her lips in the classic 'shhhhhhh' position.

The house was without owners but not unoccupied when the chimerarilith discovered it. The visitor, for that's what she was, made no effort to hide herself but also none to call attention. She was easy to overlook, sitting there, still like a doll. The visible doll, made for a good cover, resembling her and being more visible. She was tucked in the shadows, further back. Unmoving, watching.

Lanier looks towards the house at the hissy whistle, narrowing his eyes until he makes out the person inside. He turns, walking towards the house and taking a look around as if sizing it up before stepping inside. He glances towards Braelnoir, then looks towards the visible doll, then towards the darkness that hides Ashes. He pauses there for a moment, his lips pursing, but then finding a seat inside. His voice drops to a whisper, "You dropped some of the transmorgification. That's good. How are you doing now?"

The shadows stay still, the one in the shadows remains still as well. She's sitting, watching, knees drawn up to her chest, looking like a part of the furniture. Her face is lighter in colour, white, but without light getting back there it's barely visible and somewhat haunting out of the corner of the eye. A faint impression of a skull that vanishes when directly looked at.

Lanier settles into a little bit of darkness of his own, perhaps moving out of the way of onlookers from the street as a sort of habit. He frowns as he realizes the chimerarilith has gone from mermish to snakish, "Oh, well, as least you're back on dry land." He's still quiet, speaking in a barely audible whisper, "Have you been able to talk again?" Something seems to catch his eye once again, and he peers towards the darkness that holds Ashe. He once again looks skeptical, his eyes narrowing as a hand moves to rest on his belt as his attention returns to Braelnoir.

Braelnoir shakes her head and shrugs. Least her mouth hasn't gotten her thrown in jail, yet. It's frustrating as hell in most other categories, though. She glances to the side as Lanier seems to be checking something out. The glimpse of something surprises her and the tail straightens with that alarm, driving the chimeralith's back into the wall with a thud. She freezes a moment, then, she too tries to squint through the shadows.

"We both shouldn't be here, Not a Monster." The vague form in the shadows says. Her voice is neutral without much expression. There seems to be no accompanying movement. With all the attention, she's visible, a familiar looking Arvec Nar in dark clothes, lurking.

Lanier has a hand-axe out and held up defensively between himself and the direction of Ashe's voice before Ashes can finish the sentence. His eyes are narrowed, and something is retrieved from the pouch of his belt. Holding his hand like the hood of a lantern, Lanier shines the light form an ioun stone in the direction of Ashes, while hiding it from the street. Identifying the face, Lanier secrets the stone away as he looks towards Braelnoir, "It's okay. It's the Arvek Nar we encountered out in Wilderness Point, where we first ran into that witchcrow..." He then looks towards Ashes, "What are you doing here in the city?"

Oh. A vaguely consternated look appears on the silvery features, a hand half to a hilt, but it refrains from closing the distance, not completely sure what to make of Spooky. A pause, then a shrug and the hand moves away from the weapon and she occupies two others with, "pointpoint down thumb waggle left wave" Lanier's remarks draw a thumbs up, and a nod. <unknown>

The arvec doesn't react to the weapons brandished at her, she doesn't move at all. She either doesn't expect to be attacked or doesn't care. She's obvious now, but still quite hard to see. When she speaks her voice has the same flat intonation. Every word a little slow, a little dead. "I live in Alexandria. I told you last time."

Returning the hand-axe to his belt with a grunt, "You'll excuse me if I neglected to make note of the fact given the pressing attack that happened only a little while later..." As the axe is settled, he asks, "And how long have you been in here? You weren't outside when I was outside. I would have seen you." He looks towards Braelnoir, his eyebrows knit together at the handspeech, but there doesn't seem to be comprehension there.

Braelnoir shakes her head and gives another silent sigh, then settles back into her coils, looking toward the Arvec's corner, then to Lanier in time to meet his gaze. She shrugs ruefully. She didn't notice her at first, either. She roots around for some of her salvage, using a borrowed knife to saw free a couple hunks of smoked beef that should still be good for a little bit longer, holds one in a hand toward Lanier, the other toward the spooky girl, while a third is apparantly intended for her. That should be universal, right?

"A while." She answers. At first it seems that's all she's going to say, but then she adds, "Before she arrived." She's been sitting there, the whole time, watching. Did she see Braelnoir's introspection, her nervous re-coiling, the way she watched passers by out the window. With the offered beef she shifts, standing and moving closer. Her clothes are dark, she has the tattered messenger bag, no apparent weapons. She takes the food, sits, "Thanks."

Lanier looks back towards Braelnoir, then down to the hand holding the smoked beef. His eyebrows raise and he seizes upon the slice of beef quickly, "Thank you!" He looks towards Ashes as he reaches up and takes a bite, making a short hmm in the back of his throat. He then looks towards Braelnoir, curiousity expressed across his face, "How long have you been here?"

Braelnoir gives a little thumbs-up and shrugs a shoulder, then uses her newly freed hand to join the empty in wiping off the knife, before starting to bundle things up again. She looks up at his question, hands stilling before she sticks the beef between her fangs. One palm is held level across her chest, the other makes an O as it rests just a little above the first. The limb then pivots at the elbow until the O passes behind the line of her flattened hand.

"A little before sunset." The arvec translates, taking a bite of her beef, chewing. She breaks off a small piece of it, sets it on her shoulder, leaves it there. She looks from Lanier to Braelnoir. She makes an intricate gesture, finally saying, "I've cast a spell. I can understand your signs now."

Lanier turns to Ashes, nodding, "Thank you." He then tilts his head, "Do you need to get up and walk around? That's a long time to be sitting still with knees." He then unshoulders his back, placing it on the floor in the middle of the room, before popping the clasp. Digging around for a little longer, he starts pulling out some other things. Bread and a liquid container of some sort. He then begins with offering the bread, "Here, have some to go with the meat."

Braelnoir starts to work on the beef, then, her lower hands start to sign with only a little bit of awkward crosstalk with her primary hands. A glance to Lanier, then to the Arvek, "What is your proper name, ghost?" her eyebrow arching, and a little twitch of an antenna accompanying the gestures, "You told me my enemy is still active. She wronged me. I do not believe you did. I intended this meeting sooner, but..." she pauses, taking the time to swallow her bite, then continues, "Obviously something made that difficult." Laniers offerings bring a grin, "Thank you." <handspeech>

The arvec takes the bread, divides it and puts the meat inside. Following this, she takes a bite. As she chews and swallows, her necklace catches a bit of light. It's a choker made of wide, squarish links that have rounded corners and seem slightly bulged. At least, it looked like a necklace right up until it unwound and crawled through her hair to eat the piece of meat sitting on her shoulder. It's some sort of pale house centipede and very large. "It's Ashlee Ciaradh. I prefer Ash. Gisha was with the crow. She doesn't like you. There have been a lot of delays."

Rather than placing the meat inside his bread, Lanier keeps them seperate, and eats a small bite of each at a time. He looks between Ashes and Braelnoir, obviously only catching half the conversation, but seems to follow well enough. The centipede gets a narrowing of the eyes, but he asks none-the-less, "Gisha is the master of that witchcrow I've been doing with?"

Braelnoir nods, pausing in her chewing for a moment with Lanier's question, though she looks to Ash first, /Ash, then. You know mine, already./ The chimeralith takes a moment, eyes half lidding, to decide if she wants to go into this story, but... She busies herself chewing and her hands go to work /Ogre witch from Bludgun. She killed someone important to me. We killed her in turn trying to save him and his men./ There's a furtive glance at the dress near her coils.

Ashlee takes another bite of her rough sandwhich. She might be counting the number of times she chews. It does seem to take a while and she appears in no hurry. The centipede finishes eating it's meal, and somewhat disturbingly vanishes down the front of the arvec's shirt. It appears moments later crawling out the bottom of it at her waist, and then loops its way into her messenger bag. Ash doesn't move at all during this. Her head turns and she follows Braelnoir's glance. "It belongs to the woman who lived here. She's happy you have it out, it's helping her come to terms."

She relays a translation of the handsign to Lanier.

Lanier glances towards the dress, his eyebrows knitting together for a moment before he looks towards Ashes, "Belongs? I thought for a moment that the people who lived here died in the ooze attack." He shakes his head, looking towards Braelnoir and the purposefully looking up and away, "You have great trust in that bug..."

Braelnoir settles in again as she finishes her meat, propping herself up off of her coils with her lower elbows before signing with the other two hands, "I'm surprised she isn't mad." There's too much noise from beyond the grave for her liking, lately. Is Verdama trying to tell her something? Is Kor letting Verdama try and tell her something? Lanier's response gives her a cause to headtilt, then signs, "What bug?"

"It does." The ashen arvec says, taking another slow bite of her sandwich, chewing it. Her head turns and she gazes at the dress for a while before looking back. "They don't understand they're dead yet. They all died quickly and confused. The child is handling it the best. I'm coaxing them through it."

Lanier blinks once at the mention of how the people who live here are taking news of their most recent demise, "Oh." He shakes his head and then looks towards Braelnoir, "Centipede or millipede. It was crawling around --" He brings up a hand and circularly indicates his chest. "-- so I didn't look long enough to count."

Braelnoir shrugs, /Kids can adapt to a lot./ and she rests her chin on her arms, well, the folded ones, the other two keep her conversation going, /Caster thing. See it now and then./ The chimerilith gives a silent sigh and glances to Ashe when her hands start up again, /I am not sure what to do with them, now./ she illustrates her subject with a languid gesture toward the dress and doll.

Ashes nods, "It's fun for the kid. The mother and father, can't grasp the time has passed." She nods when Braelnoir identifies 'the bug' as a caster thing, "A good friend. They need their things to anchor them, once they understand they won't matter. You could take them then, I suppose. They won't need them."

Lanier looks towards the subject of the conversation, the dress and the doll, his eyes dropping away a moment later as he realizes what they're talking about. He looks back towards to the bread and meat in his hand, taking a bite from the bread and following it with a bite from the meat. He then frowns after a moment, "That's not fair..."

/Someone else could use them./ Brae replies, idly running her fingers along the material, thinking back to when she could have stood to be fitted for one of her own, had the idea occured to her. To either of them. Her eyes turn to Lanier on his remark /What's not fair?/ she signs.

"Not a Monster wants to know why you think it's unfair." The somber Arvec says, taking the final bite of her sandwich. She brushes at her legs, "Thanks for thinking of my knees. They are fine."

It's dark tonight in the Wearhouse District, with things having slowed down considerably since the day's commercial activities have finsihed. Whispers can be heard from one of the vacant houses, abandoned for various reasons after the city was attacked by large oozes. Ashes, Braelnoir, and Lanier all sit inside the house, each eating some combination of dried meat and bread. Lanier frowns for a moment, looking up from his piece of bread and meat, "Braelnoir. Not Not a Monster." He then looks back down to his food, "It's not fair that, which the Gods permission, people can be raised from the dead. The thing that opens the door to that is money. When you consider that these people had nothing to do with that ooze or who brought it down on us..." He trails off and then shakes his head again, the expression on his face as if he just tasted something sour.

/The chimerilith gets a little frown at the appelation /Guards lack imagination./ and wonders, still signing /Does every ghost come talking to you or what?/ Lanier's musings prompt a little shake of her head /She does for everyone, eventually, that's as far as fair gets into it. Rich, poor, kid or killer, everyone pays the bill./

"Sometimes an end to suffering is enough, and wanted. Things continue after. It's not fair for everyone." Ashlee says, as a sort of explanation. It's not very convincing, but she also doesn't seem inclined or capable of going into deep theological detail. The arvec doesn't smile, but the way she moves her head to look at Braelnoir normally comes with a smile on friendlier species, "Not every one of them."

"Fairness is an illusion," a voice comments from above. Could it be another ghost speaking? Not exactly, as Aya can be seen in the dim, by those able. "Suffering, though, is far more real ... even if most would prefer them the other way around."

Lanier grunts, nodding to Braelnoir before he looks back towards Ashes, "One wonders..." He then looks towards the new voice, his lips thinning, "That's not true at all." With a shake of his head, he takes another bite from the piece of dried meat.

Braelnoir shrugs /No one is forever. If you're lucky, you don't die and get enslaved for what's meant to be forever./ something behind her eyes as she signs that sentiment. The new voice makes her tail shift, grinding some rubble into the floorboards, though the silver figure only conscious reaction is to sign, /One day you'll do that and end up pulling steel out of your gut./ with a frown up into the darkness, as she recognizes it, tailtip flicking irritably.

The arvec doesn't react to the Aya's voice behind her. It seems for a little while she might be ignoring her, but a greeting eventually comes. "Hello."

Her head turns towards Lanier, "I'd enjoy listening to you two argue." She follows up with a nod to Braelnoir, seemingly curious about something, but doesn't elaborate.

"One reason to do so outside of arm's reach," Aya notes as she appears almost within said reach of one or more. A brow arches at Lanier. "What isn't true?"

Lanier looks between Braelnoir and then Ashes, then turns his head to look at Aya. He seems about to say something, but then stops. He seems to reconsider and then says, "You know? It's okay. We won't have this conversation. It wouldn't be fair." He tears off a peice of the dried beef, placing it on the bread for the first time and then eating both of the food items together.

Braelnoir considers the dress again a moment, then looks over to the arvek /We stopped a magic machine that enslaved the living and the dead, together./ she signs, then wags a finger between herself and Lanier.

Ashlee nods, "That's good. Those are a blight." She stares at Lanier, as if that might make him give her some more food. It's quiet in the house, noises out on the street suggest life, inside there are creaks in the wood frame, little else. The arvec speaks again, her voice still flat, disinterested, slow. "They died screaming in the ooze. The acid melting away skin, flesh, bones. The brain in the skull lasting the longest, feeling the nerve endings fire, fade. The pain makes it all confusing. No relative lives to anchor them, just this place."

Braelnoir looks up as the Mul' pops in closer, glances over at Ash as she goes into the details of the previous tennant's end, then, once again her hands frame what she deigns to share of her thoughts /They aren't bound, are they?/ While the description of their horrific end doesn't bother her all that much, she's been too long intimate with death to be squeamish about most of the finer details, but nonetheless, the question, the concept, sparks something like concern in her eyes.

Lanier watches the handspeech again, shaking his head before he mentions, "I'm going to need to get around to learning that." He then listens to the translation and ahhs, "Yeah, I did help with that. I'm not a supporter of Necromancy. Even if it's dressed up in the trappings o f artiface." He looks towards Ashlee again, blinking once. He looks left, then right, then reaches into his backpack to pull out another piece of bread and offer it to her.

The ashen arvec nar takes the bread with a small nod of her head. She breaks off a piece, slipping it into her satchel. She takes a bite of the remainder, then shakes her head at Braelnoir, "Confused. Like dreaming. The keep skipping. When I get their names I can get the Mourners to help them."

Braelnoir shifts her coils a little and takes up the rag doll to lightly dust it off, then looks to Lanier, signing once more /I'll teach you once I get squared away./ She bends down again to pick up the wedding dress and it begins to get cleaned off as lay within her current means as well. Another glance to the Mul'iessa, then back to Ash and she drapes the garment over her arm to free up at least two hands to continue the conversation /They have a friend that would accept these?/

Lanier considers it for a moment and then says, "Wait for the morning..." He looks towards Ashes, "I'll get their names from the neighbors." He seems confident that he can do this. Once translated, Lanier nods his head to Braelnoir, "Thanks. I would appreciate it."

"They do. The friend isn't close." Ashlee says, she takes another bite of the bread. No reaction, no flinch when the mul'neissa vanishes. She makes a small nod towards Lanier, "That will help. The names they use for themselves are best."

That would be convienient. Hmm. Brae shrugs a little and carefully folds the doll up within the wedding gown, though, clearly there's a limit to how much expertise one can accumulate with a sudden shift in limb count, and she struggles at several points. Once she has it more or less in 'parcel' shape, the tucks it under one of her lower arms, then starts to sign again /You were there when I needed you./ as she looks to Lanier.

Lanier considers it for a moment, then nods, "It's putting together a profile. The more information you have, the better you'll be able to help them." He looks towards Braelnoir for a moment, and as the handspeech is translated, the ranger nods, "Glad to help."

Ashlee nods slowly, taking another bite. She seems happy enough to sit and wait. Other more efficient methods can be used also. She watches as Braelnoir folds up the dress, the doll, gazes at Lanier and nods as well. "It will. Thanks."

/One of you will have to handle this part./ Brae signs, shaking her head, /No one is going to take something from me like this. Even if I still had that stupid sign around my neck./ She extends the bundle out between the two then edges it toward either of them, seeing which one reaches for it, first. The trio are in one of the abandoned houses, ruined in the Ooze calamity a few days ago, they are talking in low tones, but, there is perhaps the occassional glint of something reflective moving within as Brae's body silently tries to convey her thoughts to her companions.

Konstance walks into the abandoned house, crossbow pulled off his shoulder as he looks to the people. "No it isnt creepy at all. Lets talk to a snake woman inside an abandoned building." He says as he looks to the others and adjusts his blue robe. "So someone mind telling us what is going on? Or is this like charades?"

"It's charades, and it's your turn." The skull-faced Arvec Nar says, holding her hands out for the package from Braelnoir.

With Konstance not exactly sneaking up on them, he is met with Lanier, bow drawn and an arrow cheeked. As he realizes who it is, he narrows his eyes and then lowers his bow, "So you came in alone with a crossbow?" As Ashes takes the package, Lanier nods his head, glancing towards them only momentarily before he looks back towards Konstance.

Braelnoir passes the parcel over to the Arvek just in time for the new entrant, Konstance, to come in with and armed crossbow, met in turn by Lanier behind his own bent bow. She momentarily forgets the somewhat pronounced changes in her body, and so, with a breathy, if otherwise silent sigh, palms come to engulf her face two by two. Next time try hiding under a bench, Brae. As she can't remmeber at the moment if he knows the lingo, she doesn't try the handspeech, expecting him to think she was casting. Instead, she folds her arms, all of them while the tip of her tail tap-tap-taps impatiently.

"I am pretty good with this thing." Konstance says patting his crossbow. He then reaches into his robe and pulls out a cigarette and uses magic to light it before flickering the flame away. "So My turn yes? Gods I suck at this game." He says sounding annoyed as he takes a drag from his cigarette and exhales a plume of smoke. "Alright here I go. It has five letters. Go." He says as he watches them. When Braelnoir begins tapping he gestures to her. "Someone want to translate the monster speak for me?" He asks curiously.

Lanier glances down at the crossbow then back up to Konstance, "Yeah? My hearts a'flutterin'..." He tilts his head towards the door that Konstance came in, "Go back outside or put the cigarette out." He then gestures over his shoulder, "And she's not a monster."

The arvec nar shakes her head, "My spell has worn off. I don't know what's she's saying. She is Not a Monster and it is charades. Her name is Braelnoir."

Braelnoir she unfolds her arms and snaps her fingers, on most of her hands, yet, and, with a slightly exasperated look on her face, looks between Ash and Lanier and does a little gabby motion with one hand, then indicates Konstance wtih a languid gesture. Then, Ash explains and she brings her palms together almost in prayer and bows her head in the Arvek's direction. Ah well, at least now she knows the speech won't work, so she settles down into her coils again and just kind of waves with an almost sheepish grin.

GAME: Konstance casts Comprehend Languages. Caster Level: 2 DC: 14

"Right mate. WE are all four armed snake people." Konstance says as he pulls the cigarette out of his mouth and puts it out on his boot. He then pockets the cigarette and looks to everyone. He sighs as he begins to pray and and then nods as he looks to the snake woman. "I can comprehend you now. So use whatever speech you can, beasty." He says as he moves over to her. "If memory serves you were the woman I met in Merkebah."

Lanier raises an eyebrow, "I wish. Every four armed snake person I've ever met has been a hundred times more pleseant to deal with than you." He narrows his eyes and then looks towards Ashes, "What's in the package? The dress and the toy?"

"Yes, that's what Braelnoir put in. We should find his hat." Ashlee suggests. She turns, examining the room. "It may be under furniture."

Braelnoir nods, signing /Yeah, glad you're doing better after that mess./ There's a pause and she looks down at herself a moment, the starts signing again /Something there messed with my.../ she things about how she wants to classify things, but settles on /affliction. Instead of just reacting to dispells, it seems to be jumping every few days./ She blinks at Ash's sudden change of topic, and she shrugs before turning to feel around for some kind of furniture. Scooch this over. Uhh... lift this...

"If I wanted to be pleasant I would be a priest of Daeus." Konstance says as he looks to Lanier. "A little more respect for your elders lad, some of us old biddies may have something useful to add." Konstance says sarcastically as he turns his back on Lanier and he looks to the Arvek. He puts the crossbow over his shoulder and goes to help Braelnoir move some furniture. "When you get back to normal, how about a drink or dinner. I wouldnt mind it now but the Temple of Eluna draws the line of their clergy sleeping with snake women." He says jokingly.

Lanier simply shakes his head, "Maybe you can tell us the story someday about the series of events that lead the clergy of Daeus to dodge the bullet when you stumbled past their temple." He back to Braelnoir, shrugging his shoulders, "At least we know the useful thing he'll be adding to the conversation isn't pleasant pick-up lines."

"Leave it near the window if you find it." The arvec says, her voice still flat, uninterested. She stands in an unsettling fashion, rising straight up. She adjusts the strap of her satchel, and tugs on her shirt. The remaining piece of bread is tucked away in the bag, out of sight. She gives a nod to Braelnoir, then turns, her eyes leading as she faces Lanier. He's given a short nod as well. She faces forward once more. "It's gotten too busy and they've left. I'm going to go to the catacombs."

She walks forward, very quietly around the rubble and out in the street. Under the lamps, she still seems creepy and ghostly, but tomb-like chill has left with her. Quietly she heads away.

Brae has her hands full with furniture at present, so she's effectively gagged, though Kon's quip makes her look over her shoulder at him, archin an eyebrow. With Lanier's remark, however, she starts shuddering and breathing in quick, short breaths. She manages to reign it in as Ash starts to leave but she's already out and around the corner so it isn't like she can call after her. Hmmm. /Do they, now?/

"If you must know, I lost my daughter to a demon I summoned and was in Ilyranost when the elves decided I would be of use, being a former wizard. There was no Temple of Daeus and even if there was, I am not a sun worshipper." He says as he grunts, moving a couch. He then looks to Braelnoir. "I wish I can help you. Whats affecting you is either powerful Artifice or powerful Transmutation magic. Not the type of things left lying about willy nilly." He says calmly.

Lanier glances towards Konstance for a moment and replies with a non-commital, "Hmmm." He looks back towards Braelnoir and says, "I'm going outside the city walls to hunt, but I'll be back inside the city tomorrow morning. Do you need anything?" Realizing he won't be able to understand the answer, he begins listing off things, "Food? Water? Board games?"

/It's definately mage tech./ comes the reply with two of Brae's hands, and she turns to Lanier at his question then very carefully slithers over to him and reaches out to clasp his shoulder, giving a little thumbs up with another hand. She draws back a little and claps her Kor branded fist to her breastplate twice. She looks back to Kon /There's people working on it. Thank you./

"No witty retort or judgement for being a former demon summoner? You're one of the few. The elves were convinced I would summon a demon in their church in Ilyranost so they sent me here." Konstance says with a smirk. He then looks to Braelnoir. "With luck they will find a way to turn you back. Unless you like being like this."

Lanier reaches to clasp Braelnoir's shoulders in return, his voice lowering, "Be safe. Not everybody pays mind to that sign." He takes a step back, turning towards Konstance and shaking his head sadly, "No, no retort or judgement from me. Your family paid the price of your hubris, and yet you still conduct yourself as if you're someone who is somehow due respect. On top of that, even the elves kicked you out, so I'm certain nothing I could say would do anything at all to somehow improve you so I'll save it. Thanks." He then turns back to Braelnoir, "On second thought, I have an extra bow, and I promised some extra food at the Stag's temple. If you have time, do you mind assisting me on my hunt?"

The chimerilith meets Lanier's gaze as he speaks to her and nods. Brae considers the man a moment, then holds up one finger and slithers back over to gather her salvaged foodstuffs. Her hands sign, /It has perks, but, time will tell. I owe him big time and I should try to pay some of that back. Take it easy, I'll see you around./ and with that, she turns to rejoin the hunter.

Lanier nods his head once to Braelnoir, "I appreciate it. More hands make less work, and..." He then points clockwise to each of Braelnoir's hands. He then nods once to Konstance and then turns towards the door, heading out into the darkness.