002: Eleri's House

PREVIOUS: 001: Chance Meeting in a Tavern, As You Do

Lostmoor Outskirts

📝 At this point, we’re pretty sure that Eleri is a magical scholar. But who is their rival? We roll on the oracle tables and get “suspicious” “charming” and “adventurer.” Regretfully, this is the perfect opportunity for Amelia to find a home for one of her OCs... It’s Tanvir time babey!

The intrepid adventurers arrive at Eleri's estate...

🎲 The roll to make the journey there was a strong hit, but Lucya's roll to gather information was a miss. Uh oh! Something else must be up with these dead birds...

LUCYA: “These animals... auh... sure are dead!”

JAGAL: “Shame.”

Lucya feels a burning sensation on her hands just after she drops the corpse of a small bird—she looks down at her skirt and sees small holes starting to form where the blood drops had been. She panics and runs for a puddle.

LUCYA: "Ehh?! What kinda magic is that?"

Jagal blinks. Well, better her than him.

JAGAL: "Not our new favorite kind, I'd say. You, uh, gonna make it?"

Lucya splashes her hands around in the stinky swamp water.

LUCYA: "I-I think I got it off... Didn't ye say we were after scrying magic?!"

JAGAL: "I did. Maybe we're at the wrong place?"

LUCYA: "But it sure looks like what Mr. Bartender was saying... I guess we can at least ask?"

JAGAL: "Might as well since we're here. Let's just watch our step on the way to the door."

Knock knock... Lucya does her best to rearrange the folds in her skirt to cover up the holes.

After a moment's silence, the door, dappled in faded stains of one kind or other, opens only a crack, barely enough to show the face of the person behind it.

ELERI: [x] "I-I swear, if you've brought your 'guests' here o-one more time, I'm gonna..."

Eleri actually looks up at the newcomers. Their face is immediately horror-struck.

ELERI: "Oh. Um. I. That wasn't for—H-hello? Good... morning? I think. Um... What is this?"

LUCYA: "Um, good... day! We, um, heard something about a missing book, and..."

Lucya stops, realizing just how tenuous her reason for being here is.

JAGAL: "And I'm actually pretty notorious for hunting things down. Ever heard of The Jackal?"

ELERI: "I've... seen a jackal before?"

Jagal deflates a bit at the lack of recognition, but, well. It would be troublesome if he was that well known.

ELERI: "U-um, but yes, a very important book has g-gone missing from here. If you would... Um... D-do you need inside? Or should I invite you inside. Or, I should invite you inside, I, um... I-I haven't really cleaned up for guests..."

JAGAL: "If it went missing from here, then yeah, be best for us to come in. I don't mind a little mess, either, though. Gives places character."

LUCYA: "Oh, ye dinnae have to tidy up for us! But, um..."

Lucya leans in like she's asking an extremely personal question.

LUCYA: "Do ye, uh, know about the dead animals out there?"

Eleri nervously leans back from Lucya in turn, then makes a poor attempt to look past her at the yard.

ELERI: "Oh, I knew it! I-I... That... I'm sorry, I don't—P-please just come inside."

LUCYA: "Alright..."

Lucya ducks under the doorframe and enters Eleri's abode. Jagal doesn't have to duck but enters likewise.

Eleri's House

Despite the hour, it's quite warm inside Eleri's home—and no wonder, with some flames kept alive in a massive central hearth. A few smaller fireplaces dot the walls, alternating with hubs of various messes usually including parchment. At least the floor is relatively clear.

Jagal looks over the place like he wasn't just here earlier.

JAGAL: "Did the book come off one of these... desks? I think they're desks."

ELERI: "No, it's—Oh no, d-do we need tea? I have some, um..."

LUCYA: "Tea sounds lovely!"

Lucya starts to take off her cape—it's a little stuffy in here for her.

LUCYA: "So, what exactly are we looking for? I mean I've got the gist, but can ye describe it?"

ELERI: "Okay, tea, yes, are you... a-allergic? To things?"

JAGAL: "No allergies, thanks."

LUCYA: "I don't think I've got any?"

Eleri sets about circling the hearth to figure out where their teapot is hanging.

ELERI: "Right, um... The official title is For the Advancement of Scrying, and it's really both a practical guide and a treatise—it's one of Zurssan's first works, but it's held up quite well, and while it's not something I would recommend as an introduction to the field, anyone with a real interest in scrying would find it worthwhile. It's the original completed volume that I've been guarding, of course, but, u-um, well. Here we are."

Jagal chooses not to comment on maybe a literal physical description being more useful to their supposed purposes right now. Lucya is not quite so delicate.

LUCYA: "Er, that's very interesting, but—! I meant more like, what color it is, or how big it is? And if ye have any idea who might've..."

Eleri finally succeeds in their quest and pours up some celery seed tea in front of the guests.

ELERI: "O-oh, oh, right, I'm sorry, ah, let's see—Well, the, um, title is on the cover? Gold script on a sort-of worn-down off-black. And it's... it's n-normal-sized...?"

ELERI: "I could g-guess who took it, but, well. He's never really gone this far—or, it's u-usually farther? Or—I-it's just unusual any which way."

JAGAL: (taking the tea with a thanks) "Sounded like you were expecting someone else earlier, too. Does 'he' come to your door often? Easiest way for a thief to get in."

LUCYA: "Thank ye!~ And aye, I was wondering about that too. He certainly dinnae sound like a friendly neighbor..."

Lucya isn't quite sure if she likes the tea or not, but she drinks it anyway.

ELERI: "More often than he should." (mutter mutter) "It's just—I-I always think—No, anyway... The book's only been missing for a-about a day, and Tanvir hasn't come over in that time—W-well, I haven't seen him. I did leave for a while, so maybe..."

JAGAL: "He must've struck then, yeah."

ELERI: "Oh, this would be so much easier if I could finally g-get something going for thing-scrying, but—But oh, m-maybe it still wouldn't work if it's in his possession..."

Jagal slowly paces with his tea in his hands, though he's still just blowing on it. He's a little more interested in seeing if there's anything of value around that he didn't get a chance to look at earlier.

🎲 Jagal rolls Gather information to see if he finds anything else valuable. It's a miss, and Pay The Price says "You are forced to act against your best intentions." We decide it'd be funny if he accidentally found something Eleri was looking for.

LUCYA: "Is thing scrying different from people scrying...?"

Lucya is mostly mumbling to herself. She sees Jagal snooping around and raises an eyebrow. He raises an eyebrow back when he catches her catching him.

ELERI: "It's only theoretical right now, yes... I-I've been trying to research the possibility, but..." (mumbling it to self in turn)

LUCYA: (turning back to Eleri) "But if ye can people-scry, why can't ye scry this... Tanvir fella and see if he has yer book? I'm guessing if ye could've ye would've already..."

ELERI: "A lot of it is timing, and w-wearing myself out if I don't happen to catch him at the right moment, but then if he h-has the right talisman on, it wouldn't work anyway, and... Haaah... M-magic is just so much easier to use on the unsuspecting. Um, w-wait, that sounds suspicious, I'm not—it's not—o-oh, you know!"

Jagal shifts his tea to one hand and carefully picks up a loose paper to examine.

JAGAL: "Just seeing if we got any, y'know, hostage letters or anything. That'd be helpful. Like, here we have... ...not one of those."

ELERI: "Oh, I h-hadn't thought about—A-ah, wait! Be careful, some of these—Hey, actually... Is that—Oh, I've been looking for this r-register for a week! That—Th-thank you."

LUCYA: [x] "...Ye are good at finding things!"

Lucya smiles brightly. Jagal smiles back insincerely.

JAGAL: "The Jackal doesn't give free samples often, but I'd feel bad charging for something that easy. Speaking of which, Eleri..."

Jagal retrieves one of his daggers and spins it in his hand.

JAGAL: "...if you're willing to offer a good reward, I'll even vow to get the book back to you."

Lucya's eyes go wide.

LUCYA: "A vow?! But—"

JAGAL: "What? You said it yourself, I'm good at what I do. And it seems like a grievous enough issue to the bookkeeper here, surely?"

ELERI: "Ah, well—I-if you're that, um... Okay? I can accept that, I think... Would you p-prefer payment in items or favors?"

LUCYA: "Well, I happen to have someone I'm looking for, if ye'd be so kind as to lend yer magic, and as for him—WHAT are ye doing?!"

Jagal looks up from lightly slashing his forearm. Eleri seems a little wary of him drawing blood, but they don't comment.

JAGAL: "...Getting ready to swear? 's not that unusual, is it?"

LUCYA: "B-but ye don't have to—Auhh, yer a strange wee man..."

Lucya sees the damage is minimal, sighs and takes out her axe. She doesn't cut herself on it, but she traces a symbol on the flat of the blade with her thumb.

JAGAL: "All right, easy on the 'wee' stuff, you might make people shorter than me feel bad."

ELERI: "Oh, no, I—i-it's fine."

JAGAL: (ignoring that) "We can negotiate items upon my return—give you time to see what you're willing to part with, yeah? So, without further ado..."

🎲 Lucya rolls a strong hit to aid Jagal's swearing of the vow... but it still ends up a miss, haha. We decide that they'll encounter a complication when they leave the cabin.

JAGAL: "I vow to return For the Advancement of Scrying to Eleri."

LUCYA: "I vow the same."

ELERI: "Thank you... Ah, if you're g-going to his place, I can give some directions..."

LUCYA: "That would be great! We'll do our best!"

The three discuss the journey to Tanvir's estate over the last of their tea, and Lucya and Jagal step out of the building.

NEXT: 003: Trekking Through the Swamp