“…Vin might need some help from his sisters.”
“Dad!”
Arius doesn’t know if the father of three is acting stupid or genuinely so desperate to not lose another child that he lost his sanity.
“Kamilla is on the run. If the militia finds her, then they would know she killed the ex-magister. Don’t bother trying to convince me she’s innocent; you wouldn’t be acting like this if she was.”
Arius looks up at the ceiling. “If she escapes… then what? It might take a while to find a person of cloth that knows truth spells, but she can’t hide forever. Not without leaving you all behind.”
[Moment of pause.]
Having lost some braincells himself, Arius touched the place where Sten attacked him, and to no-one’s surprise: Fresh wounds -even after being healed by magic- still hurt.
He takes in a sharp breath, before complaining to his assailant. “Ye Gods, Sten! Why did you have to attack me as well!? I was trying to help you!”
Arius isn’t genuinely angry at Sten, though he is definitely upset about the sudden attack.
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Sten winces sympathetically. “You have my apologies. You had me surrounded, and when it came to blows… I didn’t think you’d turn that sword on your companions, and I didn’t want to risk you turning it on me or my family.”
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(I definitely wouldn’t have gone against the militia, let alone drawn my sword in that situation …I should probably keep this thought for myself though.)
With a groan, Arius stands up and heads out to exit the forge. Before he does, he whispers to Sten: “I will see what I can do for you.”
He tells Vin to stay with his father, and chases after the tracks made by the four individuals who chased after Kamilla.
((I will take a 10 or 20 to follow the trails. It shouldn’t matter that much for what I’m about to do with Arius.))
However, once he arrives at Tamila’s place and sees the signs of hoofprints, he stops his chase.
((IDK what I have to roll to have Arius correctly guess what happened here, but that’s what I’m rolling for. If Arius fails to understand, then I’ll have him talk with Tamila and her husband for a recap.))
@discobot roll 1d20
16
((I’ll assume Arius gets the gist of the story: Daughter ran away with horse; pursuers chase after horse. If not, then he’d get the same story from Tamila anyway; I only rolled to avoid interacting with them.))
“…” Without approaching the family, Arius heads back to the tavern, and takes a rest (by sleeping) after eating brunch.
(Well… There is only so much I can do for Sten.)
The pursuers will either catch up to Kamilla and apprehend her, or Kamilla will flee successfully. Technically there is also the possibility the blacksmith’s daughter dies during her pursuit, but that is not an idea Arius is willing to entertain.
Regardless of whatever result will come from this event, it is highly unlikely that Arius would be able to catch up with the four pursuers and have any meaningful action that could improve Kamilla’s situation.
Instead of wasting the time and energy going after Kamilla, he has judged that it would be much more efficient to rest and recover from his injuries, as he would likely hear the outcome of today’s chase by either tomorrow or overmorrow.
…For some reason, when you get to Tamila’s house, all the shutters are closed, and someone has wedged the door shut from the inside with a piece of furniture? It’s not clear why that happened, but you can find the previously-noted small footprints leading up to the house, then away to the fields, another set of footprints also leading from the forge to Tamila’s to the fields, and then three more sets of footprints (Wanderer’s among them) that don’t quite make it all the way to Tamila’s house before joining the second set of footprints. There are points where the footprints show greater pressure on the toes and the balls of the feet, suggesting that they were running for at least part of the time.
(I think inferring the whole story just from that would be pretty challenging, but you can definitely figure out that Kamilla went to the fields to get the horse, and the others followed after her).
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“Wow!” says Yamyra chipperly, looking over your injuries. “Did you get into a fight with giant spiders too? I hear they’ve been menacing people.”
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((Yeah, this would be enough. Arius is ‘standing’ at 1 HP; He ain’t even capable of defending himself from a falling pebble at this state.))
“No…” Arius says defeated. “I got hit by Sten the Younger in the midst of a confusing time. You will probably hear more details from Leta soon.”
((…wasn’t Arius one-shot by a ‘cleaving’ hammer? Additionally, wasn’t Arius healed by Wanderer? What -visible- injuries does this walking 1 HP stickman have?))
(I think he still has some visible bruises – the healing helped, but he is at 1 HP,)
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((Welp… I guess that’s it for Arius ‘today’. He ain’t going to be doing anything useful with that bruise– Let’s just say he has a visible bruise on his left cheek. Anyhow, he won’t be doing anything else.))
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Canary shuts the window and goes around to the entrance of the house, slowly walking in then collapsing down in a huff against the wall adjacent to the rest of the individuals.
She brushes the now closed wound where the blacksmith’s daughter stabbed her, subtly wincing.
She softly sighs, then starts singing under her breath.
She focuses on the various dirt and grime she’s accumulated over her five hour journey, with a final note on the hole the chisel made in her shirt.
“and I think to myself… What A Wonderful World.”
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A small mound of dirt falls off of her woolen skirt, her shirt’s various injuries close up as if a brilliant clothesmaker had come by in an instant to fix it up, and she looks all around… better.
…Now you get how she keeps herself looking so clean despite wearing mostly pure white.
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“One thing is for sure, she will be at the very least questioned. I’ve seen enough truly irrational people to know that even this might not be proof of her guilt, but in the end it looks close to condemning.”
“But… I myself was once a magistrate. Can tell you that the Baron’s the reason I’ve fallen from that title. And I can tell you that many were not concerned with the exact truth, but what instead would look the best or line their pockets the most. If the motive was due to Willem’s conviction, then my heart is telling me she wouldn’t entirely be in the wrong.”
“…So, I suppose on what honor I do have left, I will do my utmost that she isn’t also dead by the end of this. Especially if she is truly innocent.”
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“It’s just cruel though. In the end, Kaver’s demise has left his wife a widow. He, too, had a family, and that’s permanently changed as well. I’m genuinely unsure how the peace will be kept upon our return.”
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Drakor was quiet for a while, then spoke. “Where is her weapon?” he asked.
(does the chisel look like it could have inflicted the wounds in Kaver’s stomach?)
(yes, it seems like the right size and shape)
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