It seemed that other than Laurent everyone more or less had a decent time. Even Laurent to an extent if Tarace could be believed! She had no reason to doubt the halfling though. "He is just, ever so slightly, kind of full of himself." Kathryn said doing a comically soft voice while pinching her two fingers as close as possible to each other as they could be without touching. "But it was fun overall. So I'd call it a win." She said far more confidently now. A little social justice as well as assisting the party AS WELL!! As having a great night. She hoped everyone else in the party was having as much fun as she was and enjoying their night even half as much as she was! It is a shame how BB had missed most of the night so far.

With the comment of an angle from Laurent Kathryn did a twirl so her skirt lifted and floated just above her ankles. "Good, I happen to like angles. I have so many angles!" Okay maaaaaybe she was a bit drunk. Maybe. But she had her in. Or at least a chance at one. If nothing else, it'll be a good teaching experience to learn how to bargain titles for money and resources. This was something she could do.

She was especially pleased to hear that Cecily wasn't pissed and overall seemed to have a good time. The woman would have a lot of right to be upset at Kathryn, a risk the tall woman took in an attempt to buy time for her team. But not only did she buy the time, she didn't lose for it. "Let's find something good to toast with then. Nothing too strong, I need to be coherent when I take my date home tonight." Kathryn said rather proudly. Okay, so she was very drunk. But she still had majority control of the thought process that made of Kathryn, the alcohol only held a minority position on the counsel chamber known as Kathryn's internal thought process. Like... 40% probably. Give or take 15%. "Saw Kosara here somewhere, Laurent pointed her out but I haven't seen her since." Kathryn mumbled when Cecily requested that they gather the rest of the guests. "Maybe Toombed got a head start to the tasting tonight, and got a little carried away because a lot of people can't hold their liquor as good as me." The tall warrior woman spoke with a semi regular but soft slur with as much confidence of a woman who somehow got everything she wanted from a night all at once! Finishing said sentence with a very poorly timed hiccup.

For whatever reason the party’s concern for the safety of his own butt caused a certain mister with the hard to spell name of Laurent to be extremely offended! This in a way confused Kosara who looked at him in said confusion. The tiefling had no actual idea why he was so angry and mean as he stormed off… She thought about it, she really did. After a few moments of deliberation she had an answer.” He reminds me of Cavenfish.” She stated finally, frowning at the retreating man’s back.” Can I kick him?” She asked in the end. He reminded her of said constable with his meanieness and the fact that apparently he just couldn’t act in civil manner without getting angry at them… just like the now late constable.

Kosara’s face displayed a frown followed by a pout when Berry ushered them to follow him to check up on Laurent’s condition and while she’d do it and help the guy if he needed it, cause it was the right thing to do, she was also going to pout about it as hard as she could.” Fineeeeeeeeeeeeee… ” She said in voice completely lacking of enthusiasm.” Maybe he will be nicer after a few scares… maybe…” She added in an unconvinced quip. She didn’t hate the guy, not really… she just didn’t like his behavior, too much anger at them for no reason! And he really had no reason as far as Kosara was concerned or aware. Maybe he was just a mean person by default, but that wasn’t an excuse! Berry had been concerned and worried for his health after all!

Whichever the case was, Kosara hurried after Berry to find Laurent who may or may not be throwing up his insides over whatever it was that the dragonborn dealt with out in the darkness. Kosara had to note that knowing that there were things lurking out here, made the darkness around them kind of oppressing. It wasn’t anything huge about it, but the knowledge that evil lurked in the shadows. Well with the trademark Kosara train of thought she also concluded that dangers lurking beyond the light around you was a very adventurer things to be going on. Yes adventurers faced dangers in the darkness all the time, especially in dungeons. As far as Kosara know most dungeons and caverns didn’t have lighting… Well thinking about it, maybe some of them had, but she doubted it was all of them.

When they finally found the angry guy, he looked well enough. Kosara’s glowing form was throwing light around them fighting back the darkness. She peered in the surroundings just to make sure nothing was going to jump up at them, but so far all appeared.. well enough aside the thing that had caused Laurent to throw up and apparently the reason for Berry’s messed up state when they found the monk. The white tiefling then joined V in looking at the remains.” So… What happened here, Berry?” Kosara asked in some curiosity as she was investigating the scene, trying to spot anything that might be a clue or a lead.

Weather: While the weather is not terrible, per se, it is moving from the seasonably tolerable, bordering on idyllic, to something a little bit rougher. It looks to be getting worse by the minute. Winds have picked up more than a tiny bit as a continuation of the previous, and quickening snowfall travels now in winding spirals, borne upon stiffening winds.

Time: It is in the gloomy throes of night.

Ambience: The area around the attack upon Baronfjord is a mass of kicked-up snow and spots of crimson, frozen among the white, frozen landscape. The corpse of the former Master of Harvest lay where it dropped a few minutes ago, apparently untouched by powers either mystical or mundane. There is a scattering of fresh snowfall across the scene, like the beginning of nature covering over the display of the unnatural.

Inside, things remained as quiet as previous moments. The Winery had a sort of quiet comfort for those accustomed to it, even if there was the rare, occasional sound of fermentation from the other room making its way with soft murmur. Cecily, Barbal, Tarace, Rens, and Kathryn remain here to discuss the aftermath of the gathering, even though it seems to be stopping a little early. No one who remains seems to show any regret, it being a full and eventful night.



Cecily responded to Kathryn's suggestion to find something good to toast the evening to, giving an even and matter-of-fact "The evening is about sampling the Honigblume harvests. It is only fitting that we end as we began. But we cannot end the evening without the other guests present. It just isn't proper." She had mentioned this before, but it looked like no one from the group present moved to locate the others. Barbal and Tarace looked to one another, as if telepathically drawing straws for who had to do it. They did not exactly come to a full and mutual consensus of opinion in the intervening time. Rens, the extroverted Master of Wine, did his level best to attempt to find something interesting on the far wall; the idea of him stepping out into the cold to find the others was positively unappealing to him.

Lucky for everyone involved, this decision didn't have to be made amongst themselves. Less than a minute later, Lizbeth ran into the Winery Storage, a shocked expression on her face and her newly acquired weapon sheathed but in hand. Directly behind her, a serious looking Raven trailed, fluttering its wings to bring it to a stop so that it may perch on the girl's shoulder. It looked a little awkward at first, but the creature settled in. "BB was attacked," she said abruptly. "He was hurt. Mademoiselles Kosara and Belmont took care of him, but now they're going back up the road. BB wanted me to get Lady Kathryn and you, Aunt Ceecee, to go to them. They're on the lit path to the meeting spot." The girl pointed back to the door from which she had entered, taking a half-step in that direction without realizing.

Jon remained in the Tasting Room, nibbling on a piece of bread. With a slow, guilty glance around, he poured himself another glass of wine.

Outside, near to the meeting spot along the road at the scene of the skirmish, Laurent was fast to snatch his reins back from Baronfjord. Both ill and ill-tempered, the obstinate Human still had a few things to say, which he felt were of great importance. "You shall unhand me, and my horse, you blue-scaled ruffian! I'm under no illusion of understanding what has happened here, but nothing like this has happened along the river before the lot of you showed your faces here! I am convinced that you brought this evil with you, and I shan't rest until you and your foreign accomplices are set ablaze or run out of town; either is satisfactory!" His face was one of both fear and repulsion as he reared his horse to the side and continued down the path, attempting to spur the beast to greater speed, despite the horse's unwillingness to move too quickly over snow.

The corpse, defiled and twisted into a creative but literally hollow mockery of the once living agricultural worker lay still, its semi-tailored skin clothing, ornamented with tattoos (including one very fresh one) lay freezing about the man's bones which were still slick with icy blood. One might locate its skull laying in the snow fairly nearby.

"Monsier Laraunt do wait please...oh blast it all." BlackBerry watched morosely as the man and horse retreated into the darkness of night. Seldom seen for a brief moment as they passed through pockets of torchlight along the road, until they vanished completely. For a moment he played with the idea of chasing after but thought better of it. "Well. I suppose I have been called worse. Regretfully, I imagine this does bode poorly for us all. As if there was not enough to worry about." He spat bitterly. Still staring out into the darkness, he started tap, tap, tapping his thumb to his fingers.

He turned back to face Victoria and Kosara, glad at least to have them present, as the latter was already investigating the corpse.

"The head you should find just over the wall there. Kosara." He gave an almost embarrassed grumbled when he explained, "It, ah, popped off during the confrontation."

He then stepped towards the pair as he continued his story standing over the corpse but making no move to aid in the investigation just yet. Instead he kept his gaze on the path to the winery, keeping an eye for Lady Kathryn and Madame L'Rose.

"Well, after I left I then made my way here. Unfortunately though instead of Toombes as I had hoped find, I encountered...this. I can only assume this had up until recently been Toombes. It attacked without hesitation or remorse. it seemed to suggest that our encounter was merely an experiment, or perhaps its very existence was the Experiment? I admit after the fight I was pre-occupied with the possibility of something similar happening back at the wine house to pay it much thought until now."

He gnawed on his lip as he dragged the memories of the battle to the front of his mind, he had to make sure to get the details right. Even though he hadn't gotten much out of the Guest anything, small a detail as it may be, could become important.

"It does get worse, unfortunately. Whatever this was. It appeared aware of our task in a round about way at least; strangely it did say 'Do they need all of you to complete the assignment'. The obvious threat aside, it does suggest that we have been roped into completing a task for whomever 'they' may be. Perhaps our pen pal? Or someone else?. I regret that I could not get our Guest to reveal anything of substance."

A stray thoughts latched onto that sentence; what if he hadn't come out here? Would they have even found Toombes? Or would Toombes simply have vanished into thin air? Or would the skeletal monster have found one of their guests on their way home?

"With any luck, Madame L'Rose should be here shortly to confirm the identity of the victim. We can then move it somewhere else without any further attention I do hope. Regardless, it may be prudent to encourage the Barbells to stay the night or otherwise offer to escort them home." BlackBerry added solemnly. "Personally, I suggest we keep the body under watch or otherwise dispose of it post-haste. Though I wonder if, Victoria, perhaps your expertise in matters may reveal the exact nature of the experiment? Other than the obvious of course."

This was all followed by a rattling sigh, either from sheer cold or tiredness it was hard to tell. Either way BlackBerry seemed to almost deflate while he tried to pull his robes close around himself and rubbed his arm in an effort to convince some warmth into it.

"I must apologise for the all this trouble, not just to yourselves but also to Madame L'Rose once she arrives. This was not how I had hoped to spend the evening. Though I do plan now to sit in the fireplace once we get back inside."

It was strange what one can get accustomed to in a short span of time. Not too long ago, Victoria didn't have the ability to bring her lesser undead thrall into being, and now she had so many day-to-day uses for her Morty, especially while traveling, that she wasn't sure how she got along without the ability before. And more recently, her Familiar - a companion and magical resource that was usually the province of Wizards, rare beyond rare for someone like herself - with it looking over Lizbeth elsewhere on the grounds, Victoria felt a little exposed without the use of its senses or availability to assist. And to a lesser degree, with her ritual books left under the watchful sockets of her thrall (where was that swine, anyway?), she was unable to manifest her Phantasmal Steed, the fastest, spookiest equine that she had ever beheld and, as one of her summons, was infinitely easier to ride than any mundane animal. Point of fact, without these at her disposal, it felt like her usefulness was noticeably reduced. The Bard had come to rely on their assistance. It was part of who she was, now.

Without them, Victoria would have to rely on naught but her formidable social skills, specialized spellcraft, basic skill with a long blade, notable wit, remarkable acrobatic proficiency, and literally superhuman charisma to fall back upon. Whatever is a lady to do?

The walk out to the site had been cold and uneventful, even if it felt like an event might occur at any moment. Morty still hadn't shown up yet, and so Victoria surmised that if he wasn't there by now, he wouldn't be. Something had happened to prevent the porcine companion's presence and she had to move forward with the situation. No sword, no books. Good knife, though. It would have to be enough. During the walk, Victoria listened to Kosara's musings about Laurent, and while she did not disagree with the concept of dealing with the man in such a way, this wasn't going to help anything. It reminded the Bard of Kosara's actions in the Public House back in the Avonshire Township, which was a situation that, while Victoria didn't start it, she handled it with more gusto than was necessary. The party Tiefling then went about making the situation worse. Again, principle of the thing, Victoria agreed with her. In practice, inflicting some manner of comeuppance upon the man, while certainly fun, would bring more trouble than she was willing to deal with. So she gave Kosara a smile and nod, but did not contribute to the conversation.

The suggestion that Victoria might have some added insight into the very strangely worked-upon corpse was valid, but first, she wished to handle a more mundane examination of the poor, dead fellow. It began with a quick and simple look at the qualities present in the skin, but the lighting just didn't want to work with her and the freezing temperatures had stiffened the material, not to mention discolor to a point that her ongoing studies in anatomy and medicine just weren't good enough to decipher. "Bad conditions to investigate. I should need to examine the remains elsewhere. Maybe while I'm not chattering my own rhythm section." It was a touch of sarcasm, but it was birthed of frustration. She could tell nothing from the remains as they lay there.

Dealing with her knowledge of all things arcane, she took a fresh look at the man she assumed was Toombes. "No... I cannot tell exactly, but this doesn't look like a basic Animation. I cannot say specifically what it is, but I would like to try and identify it in other ways." She did have spellcraft at her disposal, which would cut through a lot of difficulties. "I can ask him a few questions, but they will be limited. I shall wait for the others to arrive before I attempt this, but... Where did you say his skull was? I'm going to need something with a mouth. More or less. The skull will suffice nicely." It felt a little weird saying it out loud like this, but it was within her wheelhouse. This was one of the things she had the magical resources to accomplish, be it a more recent development. In fact, the slightly excited expression on her face spoke volumes toward the fact that she was looking forward to doing this.

“This is just ew...” Kosara mumbled as she studied the remains that were left in the aftermath of Berry’s fight. There were a good deal of things that could be concluded from investigating and studying the remains. First of all...” This looks sloppy.” Kosara stated after a bit of staring at the body… if it could be called that anyways.” Bones are not clean, looks like a novice stripped it from the meat...” Well it was something as she looked at the grotesque… remains in front of her. This was indeed a damn big EW. She made a face, somebody lacked fashion sense… Then another thing caught her attention.” Hmmm this is proper thread...” Probably an unimportant detail, but a detail still. It could mean they could in theory track the thread… a thread this thick was probably specialized? Leatherworkers? Shoemakers? Or maybe the necromancer with fashion leanings brought their own…

Her head snapped towards the departing Laurent looking at him like he has grown a second head! Then her sock turned to innocent outrage!” HOPE YOU STUB YOUR TOES ON FURNITURE ALL THE TIME YOU BIG MEANY!” She cursed after him as loud as she could so to make sure he did hear her words!” Hmph!” She scuffed in indignation afterwards. She wondered what other curses she could throw at him, but sadly he was probably getting a bit far… Next time!

Listening to Berry, Kosara made a hard thinking face. Alright that was getting problematic. If what he was saying was correct it was connected to whichever task that the old man had agreed to… which apparently was also a task they were agreed to now.” We need to figure out the task fast… I’m suspecting that we should head back to the study room with Cecily this time and figure this out. This is now about danger to everybody involved.”

Her attention refocused to V who was expressing her desire to speak with the dead. Kosara’s eyes twinkled in excitement under the lights given out by her own clothing at the mention of this. As it had become obvious in the early days of their grouping, for whatever reason the white tiefling started to view the bard’s necromantic tendencies as a rather interesting venture! Between glorious ideas for self moving vehicles, mobile emergency snacks and of course conversing with the dead.” I will get it!” Kosara exclaimed heading off to where Berry pointed the head had popped off.

“Unseen Servant.” She cast the spell as the magic flowed and shaped into the invisible force to serve her will.” Pick the head and let’s go back!” Kosara merrily stated, totally not thinking about the fact that it would appear as if the head was floating by itself because you know… UNSEEN servant. When she did realize it she started giggling. The head was still big ew of course, but she pondered now if she could use this to prank people as she headed back with a floating head shortly behind her. What? She wasn’t picking up still fleshy tendrily sinew-y head while wearing her newest fanciest clothes!

Kathryn absolutely loved the idea of ending the night on sampling more wine. Sure, wine wasn't her go too. But even she had to admit this was some damn good wine the winery had at their disposal. Buuuuuut the others were not present. So... That would slow things down sadly enough. Kathryn was ready to go and grab everyone when Lizbeth ran in to greet them all! Give them updates! And help wrap up such a wonderful night! Or so she hoped... BB was attacked. BB was hurt. Sure, he survived and was patched up. But he was hurt, and Kathryn had brushed off helping the man. Could she have made a difference? Could she have helped? Yes. Simply put, yes. She was armed, had a couple of her runes, and at the very least could throw some attacker a good distance should worst come to worst. Instead, she was here getting shitfaced, planning political moves, and relaxing.

With the words Lizbeth spoke Kathryn's posture and facial expression quickly changed into something far more serious and dark. Now it was time for Kathryn to become the profesional she was deep down. Not political, not social, the warrior side of herself was ready to take the reigns and kick some ass. "Let's go Cecily." Kathryn spoke matter of factly as she strode to the exit, one hand on the hilt of her sword. The poor blade needed much more work, but it was a good sword none the less. Should some dumb bastard get between her and those she intended to protect they would feel the old blade's sharp edge. Or be ripped in half should Kathryn have her way.

Kathryn made her way outside into the frigged snow and did regret not bringing something warmer than her simple coat. At this point she would have to keep moving to keep warm, something she was more than used too at this point. It would be nice to say Kathryn caught up quickly, but she was far from the fasted in the party, and she also had a delayed start compared to the others. But their tracks were easy enough to follow. The path being lit helped as well. Should Cecily decide to not come Kathryn wouldn't force her. Her main priority was making sure that BB and the others were safe. If Cecily did come Kathryn would do her best to keep pace with the woman so neither of them would be too far from one another.

She could have sworn she heard Kosara yelling, so picking up the pace she did the best she could to catch up and assess the situation. Everyone still seemed to have all of their limbs at least, or at least as many as she saw when she last saw everyone. "What the hell happened?!" Kathryn asked not really sure who she was directing the question to amongst her party. She did take a moment to rush over to BB to make sure he was alright. "I'm so sorry BB, are you okay? Who's head am I ripping off!" She wasn't totally sure if she was being literal herself, but she was furious. With herself, and whatever dumb shit attacked her friends.

Weather: Snow picks up now with a little more force than previous. The charming winter evening is slowly turning unpleasant as the minutes tick by. Once puffy and slow-falling flakes now descend at the diagonal during calmer winds, and nearly horizontal when it picks up.

Time: It is near officially in the middle of the night. The hour is not witching, but it's thinking about it.

Ambience: Increasingly inclement weather is making comfort and good footing difficult, but it is not so bad that one cannot get around. Absent the full snow coverage or personal labours of present, the scene of the fight is still a choppy mess of rustled snow and spots of now frozen red. The increasing snowfall is steadily muting these details, as much as it's burying everything else. Luckily, the lights set out at the beginning of the evening are still burning brightly with clean, slowly consumed oil.



Lizbeth trudged on in the direction of the meeting spot along the main road, keeping pace with Kathryn as best as her comparatively shorter legs could manage. She had tucked the scabbard of her very recently acquired short blade into her belt (alongside the leather whip that was merely masquerading as a belt), but pulled the weapon itself. Owing to her training with both Kathryn and Urmdrus, she proficiently, albeit mechanically, shifted the weapon into a safer position for running. Not that there was a lot of opportunity for safe running, thanks to the puffy layer of snow upon the ground which was covered by something a little crunchier. Booted feet kicked up sprays of the white, frozen stuff as she hustled along.

While she was not quite as quick to set one foot in front of the other, Cecily joined them. She did, after a moment, get more of her head about her. The Lady of the estate emerged from the back of her mind, through mild intoxication and the dread of what was happening outside, allowing her to speak in a calm, decisive manner. "Master Rens, I'm afraid that this year's Honigblume tasting is over. Please locate Jon and the two of you stay indoors for the evening. Pick a guest room for yourselves. Monsieurs Barbal, I can't order you but you are very welcome to do the same. I will be back shortly." Cecily pulled her shawl over her head and fastened it down to prepare for the night air, then followed her niece and Kathryn down to the site. Rens nodded with shocked acquiescence and immediately went to check the other areas of the Winery in search of his colleague. Tarace and Barbal, both at a loss for words, merely shrugged and looked to each other as if to gauge their thoughts on the idea.

Jons, for his part, remained in the Tasting Room. His cup was about halfway down again and his hands carefully constructed a simple cheese sandwich with the items laying about, blissfully ignorant of everything going on around him.

The next the party as a whole saw any of these people, it was the hulking, dress-wearing figure of their resident Knight, sword bared, appearing in the lamplight from the gloom of the evening. Behind her came the smaller, but no less armed and dress-wearing form of Lizbeth, her amber-honey hair reflecting the light in stark contrast to Kathryn's darker locks. Behind them both, at a little bit of distance, was Cecily. She was obviously not happy with the weather, but came at the request of her guests nevertheless. Someone was hurt.

Unfortunately, someone was more than hurt. Coming upon the scene, the first thing which could be heard, aside from footsteps impacting snow, was a shriek coming from Cecily. As it turns out, when one voluntarily runs upon a gooey, disembodied skull floating midair, it tends to greatly upset the common, everyday folk. This shriek was cut short when she got enough of herself together to avert her eyes to the ground in hopes of denying the traumatic sight, hoping against hope that whatever horror this was might be handled by the much better equipped Adventurers behind which she stood. Unfortunately, this merely gave her a better look at the abomination on the ground, now partly decorated with drifts of snow. This was an example of a Thing Which Should Not Be, and as such, reason left her alongside the contents of her stomach. Still behind Kathryn, Cecily retched once and fell to her knees, sinking into the frozen precipitation on the ground. From this vantage, she very unceremoniously vomited earthward.

On the other hand, Lizbeth was quiet, aside from a small, primal noise of instant, mounting dread. Fright dappled about her face and she gripped her sword tightly, holding it out in front of her as if ready to ward off something particularly nasty - it wasn't a perfect stance, but she was at least defaulting to her combat training. It was at this moment that the color left her face as well. She stopped shivering against cold and fear, suddenly motionless save for voluntary action, her face a paler shade than it was a moment ago and eyes seemed dark and deep set. She exhaled once, and was still. One, two, three steps forward, Lizbeth brought herself a little further away from the light and near to Kathryn's side, far enough out to be safe from one of the tall lady's sword strokes. Martial practice had apparently served her well.

Suddenly, Cecily gasped out a few words from her place on the ground: "That's ... gods above, that's Toombes! He loved showing off those ...tattoos... ah." This was immediately followed by another moment of tearful retching.

Finally, Lizbeth spoke in a distant voice, "Toombes was popular in the villages here. This cannot be kept quiet for long. People will ask questions." Her new sword remained in front of her, motionless.

Weather: Snow picks up now with a little more force than previous. The charming winter evening is slowly turning unpleasant as the minutes tick by. Once puffy and slow-falling flakes now descend at the diagonal during calmer winds, and nearly horizontal when it picks up.

Time: It is near officially in the middle of the night. The hour is not witching, but it's thinking about it.

Ambience: Increasingly inclement weather is making comfort and good footing difficult, but it is not so bad that one cannot get around. Absent the full snow coverage or personal labours of present, the scene of the fight is still a choppy mess of rustled snow and spots of now frozen red. The increasing snowfall is steadily muting these details, as much as it's burying everything else. Luckily, the lights set out at the beginning of the evening are still burning brightly with clean, slowly consumed oil.



Lizbeth trudged on in the direction of the meeting spot along the main road, keeping pace with Kathryn as best as her comparatively shorter legs could manage. She had tucked the scabbard of her very recently acquired short blade into her belt (alongside the leather whip that was merely masquerading as a belt), but pulled the weapon itself. Owing to her training with both Kathryn and Urmdrus, she proficiently, albeit mechanically, shifted the weapon into a safer position for running. Not that there was a lot of opportunity for safe running, thanks to the puffy layer of snow upon the ground which was covered by something a little crunchier. Booted feet kicked up sprays of the white, frozen stuff as she hustled along.

While she was not quite as quick to set one foot in front of the other, Cecily joined them. She did, after a moment, get more of her head about her. The Lady of the estate emerged from the back of her mind, through mild intoxication and the dread of what was happening outside, allowing her to speak in a calm, decisive manner. "Master Rens, I'm afraid that this year's Honigblume tasting is over. Please locate Jon and the two of you stay indoors for the evening. Pick a guest room for yourselves. Monsieurs Barbal, I can't order you but you are very welcome to do the same. I will be back shortly." Cecily pulled her shawl over her head and fastened it down to prepare for the night air, then followed her niece and Kathryn down to the site. Rens nodded with shocked acquiescence and immediately went to check the other areas of the Winery in search of his colleague. Tarace and Barbal, both at a loss for words, merely shrugged and looked to each other as if to gauge their thoughts on the idea.

Jons, for his part, remained in the Tasting Room. His cup was about halfway down again and his hands carefully constructed a simple cheese sandwich with the items laying about, blissfully ignorant of everything going on around him.

The next the party as a whole saw any of these people, it was the hulking, dress-wearing figure of their resident Knight, sword bared, appearing in the lamplight from the gloom of the evening. Behind her came the smaller, but no less armed and dress-wearing form of Lizbeth, her amber-honey hair reflecting the light in stark contrast to Kathryn's darker locks. Behind them both, at a little bit of distance, was Cecily. She was obviously not happy with the weather, but came at the request of her guests nevertheless. Someone was hurt.

Unfortunately, someone was more than hurt. Coming upon the scene, the first thing which could be heard, aside from footsteps impacting snow, was a shriek coming from Cecily. As it turns out, when one voluntarily runs upon a gooey, disembodied skull floating midair, it tends to greatly upset the common, everyday folk. This shriek was cut short when she got enough of herself together to avert her eyes to the ground in hopes of denying the traumatic sight, hoping against hope that whatever horror this was might be handled by the much better equipped Adventurers behind which she stood. Unfortunately, this merely gave her a better look at the abomination on the ground, now partly decorated with drifts of snow. This was an example of a Thing Which Should Not Be, and as such, reason left her alongside the contents of her stomach. Still behind Kathryn, Cecily retched once and fell to her knees, sinking into the frozen precipitation on the ground. From this vantage, she very unceremoniously vomited earthward.

On the other hand, Lizbeth was quiet, aside from a small, primal noise of instant, mounting dread. Fright dappled about her face and she gripped her sword tightly, holding it out in front of her as if ready to ward off something particularly nasty - it wasn't a perfect stance, but she was at least defaulting to her combat training. It was at this moment that the color left her face as well. She stopped shivering against cold and fear, suddenly motionless save for voluntary action, her face a paler shade than it was a moment ago and eyes seemed dark and deep set. She exhaled once, and was still. One, two, three steps forward, Lizbeth brought herself a little further away from the light and near to Kathryn's side, far enough out to be safe from one of the tall lady's sword strokes. Martial practice had apparently served her well.

Suddenly, Cecily gasped out a few words from her place on the ground: "That's ... gods above, that's Toombes! He loved showing off those ...tattoos... ah." This was immediately followed by another moment of tearful retching.

Finally, Lizbeth spoke in a distant voice, "Toombes was popular in the villages here. This cannot be kept quiet for long. People will ask questions." Her new sword remained in front of her, motionless.

Somehow, BlackBerry felt his mood sour even further when Victoria and Kosaras investigations turned up very little. He stood shivering in the swirling snowfall, in the middle of the night, and realized that he had probably been asking a bit much from them both. Even so, despite everything he couldn't help but let out a low chuckle at Kosara's insult to Monsieur Laurent.

"Yes, yes, I see your point, Victoria. We shall move the body shortly." A few stomps did little to bring any feeling back into his feet. "Did you really say you could ask him questions? Even in such a state as this? Well, with any luck we may keep the body to hand for the evening for. Gods, I have gone mad, have I not? What an awful thing to wish for."

Part of him, thought it was rather macabre of Kosara to return with Toombes' partially flayed skull hovering as it was out of the darkness, the sight even made him jump slightly, but another part of him right pointed out that he shouldn't have punched the skull clean off in the first place. He didn't like how it seemed to be grinning at him and he eyed it suspiciously as if at any moment it would start cackling again.

And then Lady Kathryn arrived, crashing and breaking through the snow like the tidal wave of strength and military might she was. It was another one of those moments, when Lady Kathryn had dashed up to him asking if he was okay, where BlackBerry realised just how tall Lady Kathryn was. He gave a little huff and tried to pull his robe in such a way as to hide the blood stains.

"Well if you had arrived earlier!" BlackBerry didn't quite snap up at Lady Kathryn, but there was some frustration from his voice as he took a small step back to not strain his neck. "Such as when I had called, you may well have had your chance to do some head ripping. Alas, you did not, and so here we are." He gestured towards the floating head.

There was a scream. BlackBerry turned and saw, regretfully, Lizbeth with her sword trying to valiantly defend herself against the oncoming terror, and then Madame L'rose hiding herself from the truth of it all. It was bad enough to have Cecily here but that he had planned for, what he had not planned for and had actively hoped against was Lizbeth being there as well! He wiped the stunned look of his face.

"Lizbeth, you sho-...do stay with Lady Kathryn." At this point it would be wasted breath saying where Lizbeth should or shouldn't be. Really, he should have been clearer and told her to stay in the Winery. He doubted it would have made a difference. Instead, he focussed on and moved next to Madame L'Rose. "I truly am sorry you had to see this Madame L'Rose but...you said this was Toombes, correct?" One mystery solved, he supposed.

He knelt down next to her and offered his hand, whether it be to help her back up, or to steady herself with, or even a rub on the back if it would help.

He explained with as soft and calm a voice he could while still being heard above the gusts of wind pulling at the falling snow, "This, is unfortunately what greeted me here instead of Toombes, and did seek to cause harm so in someway I am glad it was I that ran across it rather anyone else. If it is any consolation I do not believe that...whatever manner of vile thing this was that had taken his body, had done so quickly." For all BlackBerry knew that could have been the truth, just as it needed to be right now. "Unfortunately, it does get worse. As I had just explained to Victoria and Kosara, it appeared at least aware we had been given a task. I worry that if we leave the subject discussed the other week any longer it will not bode well. But first, let us at least move Toombes to somewhere...more comfortable, shall we?"

And Victoria thought that she had a flair for the dramatic. Commanding an Unseen Servant to retrieve the head, thus giving the poor bastard's corpse the even ghastlier appearance of a floating, detached skull, just in time for the Lady of the Estate and her teenage niece to arrive, was a touch of drama from Kosara that Victoria herself might have stopped prior to. The thought occurred that, all things being equal, it was likely as not that her more Infernal/Celestial associate didn't want to lay hands upon the not-quite-sanitary and particularly defiled remains of Master of the Harvest Toombes. This made as much sense as Kosara acting extra. Still, it was a good idea to reassure Cecily and Lizbeth that this display was not a continuation of whatever had concluded earlier, whatever that was precisely. "That was a good idea, Kosara, levitating the skull. Quite inventive! And it's not like we knew to bring aprons." The Bard made a show of gesturing at their new, more luxurious articles of clothing.

And naturally, it just wouldn't be an interaction with Lizbeth unless questions were raised. In this instance, Victoria's formal study of Arcana again did not bear the fruit she might have preferred as she looked upon the girl with curiosity and concern. Something was a little off about Lizbeth, even if she appeared to be doing her best in a bad situation. Victoria filed away whatever suspicion she might have had away for the time being, as much more pressing issues were at hand.

Speaking to those issues, there was this floating skull that demanded her attention. Keeping to Baronfjord's suggestion to bend her abilities toward the remains, the Bard was reminded of the first words she said after emerging from the Hayloft back in the Township, "I can speak to the dead." And while this was true, it was the most taxing spell she could personally manifest, and there were a number of caveats present. Now aloud, she addressed the Monk: "I shall attempt to ask Mr. Toombes. But this isn't a quaint conversation over tea. I have five questions I can ask, only over the next few minutes. I cannot bring the soul of the deceased back; this is a barely animating force that divines knowledge held by the former occupant of the remains. He cannot learn new things. He cannot come to conclusions about things that he did not come to before death. And he will not know anything that happened since the point of his death - including the time spent in undeath. It is beyond the scope of this magic. And finally, once I do this, I cannot attempt with this corpse again for ten days."

Victoria took in a lungful of chill air and blew it out, then spoke, "Let us begin." The skull now had the young Half-Elf's attention as she drew two halves of a flute made of bone - possibly humanoid from the look of it - from a pouch on her belt near where she ordinarily hung her sword. She inserted one piece where it narrowed into the other, and twisted it until it made a soft clicking sound. Now armed with a simple but effective musical instrument through which to channel her magic instead of the usually required material components of the spell, Victoria put it to her lips and blew four clear notes. One could hear them repeated on the wind, seeming to echo into the ether around them. Victoria's eyes darkened, her face taking on coloration resembling black tears running down her cheeks in delta-like rivulets. She was certainly channeling Necromancy, and while she might have been able to suppress this outward expression, there was no logical point in doing so. Everyone here knew what she was.

To begin with, nothing happened. Not for the first second or two. Then suddenly, the corpse stirred slightly and the skull came to some semblance of life. Tiny pits of energy glowed with only the intensity of a bioluminescent insect or single phosphorescent fungus, and its mandible moved slightly - just enough to give the base appearance of speech. Victoria wasted no time, immediately asking questions they had given some consideration to earlier. "Do you know anything about the supernatural powers over the land, Mr. Toombes?"

"...stories from childhood told to make us behave, make us stick together on the moors..." His voice, if indeed this was the voice of the departed, was echo-y and far away. It sounded like he was half shouting, half whispering from a distance, though the words were clear enough for everyone present as if the wind had no hold on the utterances of the dead. "...everyone sees things in the fog... ...people go missing sometimes... I don't know why, not really."

Undaunted and amazingly happy that this worked, Victoria pressed her next question with a smile forming upon her face, gleaming through the necrotic coloration of tears, "Do you know who the dark magic figure who helps 'necromance' the land is?" The fact that she was having a conversation, even if it wasn't particularly useful so far, with an actual dead person, made her positively giddy. To her credit, she kept her professionalism intact.

"...no..." It was simple enough, and simply put.

It was a vexing answer, and felt like a waste of a question. Spiritoombes was a lot more open about stories from his youth, passed down to make him go to bed or eat his vegetables, than the specific and rather pointed question. She felt that maybe, if the question were presented differently, she might have gotten a better answer. Or at least a more entertaining one. "No matter. Toombes, this is an important one: What killed you?"

"...a shorter sword... ...foreign... ...I could not see a face... ...cold hands around my neck... ...a voice... ...a voice in the dark and my skin opening... ...nothingness... "

This was moving swiftly back into the macabre, as if the situation wasn't already plunged into a sea of the macabre. Victoria apoke again, but not to Spiritoombes. Lifting her head to the others, her own voice lost the powerful quality of magic in progress as she stated, "I cannot ask a question, I do not believe, that shall not count as one for Master Toombes. I have two such questions left. Let me know what you want me to say. This spell is only active for a few minutes." Victoria glanced about at all present, out in the cold wind and now driving snow, then turned her eyes back to the speaking skull. This was marvelous. It is a shame that someone their hosts knew had to die for it, but it was still marvelous in Victoria's eyes. The possibilities for this spell flashed across her mind in creative bursts. Oh, she could do many useful things with this.

Such a great night turned disaster. She had gotten a date, gotten tipsy without getting shitfaced, assisted her party in what she was pretty sure was a heist, had gotten a date with a man at least 2-3 times her age scheduled, a man with large plots of land. Land that Kathryn wanted all for herself. Seeing the floating head should have been yet another bad omen when the whole thing played out. To add to that, BB was pissed. And rightfully so. Kathryn had yet again fucked up. Her carelessness, her desires to rule the situation socially and to have fun over work, have struck again. This would be a big hit for Kathryn, and she would Have to do better. When he had mentioned trying to call Kathryn, she froze a moment a bit unsure what the dragonborn could mean. But... Then it hit her, the sending stone. She normally kept it on a pouch on her belt! Which she had on her?! Reaching down to check it she froze the second her hand touched the pouch. It was simply some of her notes from studying earlier in the week. The sending stone was in a very similar spot, on either the belt her hammer was attached too, or one of the belts used to hold up her chain mail. "I'm so sorry BB, I didn't think to bring it with me. It won't happen again." Kathryn spoke swiftly and matter of factly. She had fucked up again, and again someone else paid for it.

Cecily was... a different matter. The woman came, she saw, and she threw up all of that expensive wine all over the pathway. Looking back to the skull, it was an appropriate reaction. Especially for someone you knew well. "I'm so sorry Cecily. We're going to figure out what is going on, and we're going to deal with it." There was however the ever real chance that Cecily knew more. Her reaction here implied at least she either didn't have the full story or something had gone horribly wrong. Or was a good liar. And that was assuming that Cecily was involved at all. Lizbeth was holding up... in her own way. The poor girl looked like she was stone cold, coasting in thought and letting her defensive instincts kick in that Kathryn had been training her. In all of their trainings Kathryn had keep enforcing the idea that most of the people Lizbeth may ever face will be bigger than her, and meaner. In front of her now, was something fair, fair meaner. The poor girl looked like she would get sick if she wasn't so focused on keeping herself ready for a fight. She had no idea how she was going to help the girl. Apart of her wanted to bring an end to the training. But another part of her knew that if push came to shove, the poor girl needed to be able to defend herself. Especially if if she would still be the one to protect her student. She couldn't even protect the people trained to protect themselves.

To add to the chaos of the night, sometimes Kathryn forgot just how scary Victoria could be. There was the mind breaking she did to the giant bugs, there was the way she Killed Kathryn. And now... there was Toombes. "Mother Fucker!" Kathryn exclaimed when the once very dead skull came back to life. Ideas of questions were tossed about, but hearing the skull speak, Kathryn froze solid. It reminded her too much of that basement back in town. The corpses and what the constable had been doing to them. All of those missing people stacked up and broken down for parts. It was... Something Kathryn hoped she wouldn't be reminded of ever again. With Morty things were different. Morty was a pig, Morty was an emergency snack that Kathryn had also probably eaten more than her fair share. Morty wasn't a person tortured to death for his friends and loved ones to see a shell of himself come back and answer off questions like a hollow shell of ones former self.

But it yielded results. Not huge ones, but ones that could get them started. He knew little of the local problems, but they appear to have been going on a while. Just... more subtly sometimes. Kathryn would have to teach herself some local lore when she could. It may also be a good time to see how her titles would work regionally. The description of the killer though... She wondered if it was like the band of goons they saw in the fields a few weeks back? She wondered if it had anything to do with her dreams. She wondered a lot of things. But foreign blade got her attention for sure. Kathryn made sure to stay close to Cecily and Lizbeth. Apart of her worried that whoever did this could still be close, and if anyone tried to approach, she wanted to be ready to cut them down.

“Indeed!” Kosara energetically replied to V’s statement about her good thinking about levitating the skull.” It’s not a clean skull to be handled simply.” She added, there was a certain degree of unfortunate possibilities that could lurk in the… fleshless flesh covered body. You never knew what weird magics might be involved, but on the plus side… hey at least it wasn’t a mummy. Kosara had it on good account that those guys were an absolute menace and pain to deal with! So you win some, you lose some!” In any case, this was sloppy work, either it was rushed or the one who did it wasn’t an expert… as for the skin… I guess it was done to make sure we recognize him. Maybe that’s the purpose to raise commotion and either force our hand or make us undesirables.”

Then V began her work as necromancing bard to commune with the dead! Marvelous ability, one that Kosara wasn’t quite sure why it wasn’t in far greater reaching use! Imagine the possibilities, discuss crimes with the victim as of now, or question executed criminals on stuff they were tight lipped during investigations! Possibly even closure for families who parted on bad terms! Let’s not even get into the possibilities for investigating the past! You could cast it on bodies long since dead and get answers of their times, cultures and struggles! Endless Necromancing possibilities! She was going to have to talk with V about that. Bards were a bit more cultural supposedly, even had schools! She had to ask if there were schools and archives of such activities!

It appears the mystery deepened, because there were some seriously weird things going on in this land and it was starting to get out of hand. Necromancy used like this in a place that was victim to the Necromantic wars? Yeah if this wasn’t a bad sign, she didn’t know what was. Maybe they should contact any temples in the area and ask if they knew of something happening? Clerics and paladins were usually ones to deal with this type of undeath situations. Maybe they should head to the closest temple tomorrow and at least try.” Well… I can only think of two possible right now, first would be what he heard. Anything he had heard during the time could be of immense value to track down the one who did it or at least narrow it down. The other would be where he was when he was attacked. Maybe we could find more clues in the area.” Was Kosara’s suggestions to the situation.

“That said, I also agree that we cannot leave it alone any longer, we need to figure out what sort of deal had been done and what the task was. If the bodies during the frost situation were a reminder, this could be a warning that it’s a lot more dangerous. What if next time it’s a coordinated attack en masse or they target a civilians?” Kosara said, tone dipping down to a slight suggestion of seriousness as she looked at V and then glanced Cecily and Lizbeth and back at V hoping the woman gets the clue in an attempt to be tactful and let the Bard do the Cecily interactions! Hey Kosara could learn too( maybe). They really needed to investigate what Mr. L’Rose had gotten involved with and his personal activities that were likely hidden in the study.

Weather: The temperature continues its downward drift, now incrementally colder than it was a few minutes ago. The absence of the sun it taking its toll in what is already winter, as evident to the now moderate snowfall. The weather is getting noticeably worse.

Time: It is a devilish hour of the evening, whereupon most mischief might have been mischief-ed, and one anolg with their fellow conspirators will have found their place to sharpen their knives and plot the next round of mischievousness. Or to put it differently, it's fairly well into nighttime.

Ambience: The lanterns swing as pendulums, to and fro, fro and to again, as the wind pushes them about. It looks like they might fall at times, but the hook and ties connecting them to their posts do their job admirably enough despite the increasingly inclement surroundings. Snowfall is swiftly covering over the party's footprints from their journey out to the scene of the attack, and footing might begin to get hazardous very soon. Past the seeming safety of the lamplight, the whole of the Vineyard seems dark, but not quiet - wind makes its presence impossible to ignore.



The base level animation given to the not quite fully stripped skull of Toombes, along with his lightly glowing eyesockets, remains a rather unsettling sight as it sat in the invisible hands of Kosara's Unseen Servant. Whatever words it spoke with its otherworldly but still recognizable voice seemed to ignore the sounds of wind and crunch of footfalls in snow. Its words tunneled into the minds of those nearby, unmistakably speaking in the desperate night.

Lizbeth held fast to her position, not moving her sword from its ready position but allowing her head to turn from one direction to the other, as if looking for something. The expression that she wore upon her pale face was not that of a child, but a soldier who had seen too much in their last tour of duty and was unable to express it fully until recently. The fact that the skull of someone she knew was speaking did a lot to draw her attention, even if she refused to engage with it directly.

Cecily had managed to pull herself to her feet, absently scrubbing the side of her face with her hand. The cold bit at her exposed skin which she attempted to cover as best she might with her cloak and shawl, be it more of a comforting ritual than an overwhelming need to warm herself. Shock at the scene before her, the mature lady's voice was quiet and without much in the way of inflection. "I'm sorry this happened to you, Master Toombes." The title was not official as the position was temporary and harvest was done, but she referred to him, or what was left of him, as this anyway. "Please help us, if you can."

The animating spirit of the former Master of Harvest did not respond to Cecily, having been tasked with only answering questions, and from the person who cast the spell in the first place. To wit, a carefully worded question was posed concerning the nature of the weapon which ended his mortal existence, and he responded with, "...Lizbeth's sword... slimmer. ...your knife... longer. ...material... ...style... same."

The remaining question took more time than was comfortable to pose properly, lest the specifics of the spell yield a loss. But eventually, as the spell itself began to wane ever so slightly, the spellcaster was able to effect a phonetic pronunciation of the last things he heard before death. It was not clear, crisp syllables, but some of it was recognizable - by Lizbeth. Regardless, with the last question answered, the terms of the metaphorical Necromantic Contract were fulfilled, and with the sound of a great, ethereal exhalation, the last of the magic left and he became inert matter once again.

To her credit, despite the trauma of the event and another reminder that she spoke a language she shouldn't know, Lizbeth translated as best she could. "Sacrifice. Test their abilities. Fun for me. Fear for them. Reminder of something." Lizbeth shook it off, speaking now for herself and not as a translator. "It's all I can make out. I don't think Monsieur Toombes heard everything clearly while they were, um, while they were killing him."

Kathryn Pyke Human, Fighter (Rune Knight), Level 05 HP: 49 / 49 Armor Class: 19 Conditions: N/A Location: Meeting point Action: N/A Bonus Action: N/A Reaction: N/A

The floating head was still unnerving to Kathryn. She could dish out an insane amount of physical punishment, and could take more than her fair share. She had taken hits that could kill some, and she had dished out hits that could kill most. Sometimes a lot more brutal than she intended too. Especially with heads now that she thought about it. This however seemed far worse. The way it floated there. Though Kosara had a point, the skull probably was not something that should be held with bare hands. Kosara did surprise Kathryn with her own insight to the situation, providing more questions they could ask... Toombes. "So we figure out the deal, we figure out the magic, and we stop this senseless horror before anyone else gets hurt." Kosara had another point, what if the next attack was worse? Far worse? More people hurt? What if the next victim had been someone who couldn't defend themselves as well as BB did? Even he struggled to keep up.

Then she looked back at the skull. It was still... there. Still undead. Still... a man who had been alive a couple hours ago, but was now a shell of their former selves. It was haunting. Kathryn watched on as Cecily pleaded with the remains of master Toombes. Kathryn opened her mouth to say she wasn't sure that Master Toombes could reply to that, or that they were just talking to an echo. But she closed her lips figuring this was also acting as a bit of closure for the poor woman. Kathryn didn't want to be the one to take that away from her.

Toombes answering the question on the weird weapon, all but confirmed that everything that was happening here was related. In some way shape or form it was related. They needed the details of that deal. They needed to know how to end it. Kathryn felt out of her depth again. She could win a lot of fights against most people. But she wasn't an expert investigator, and she wasn't proficient with the arcane and it's abilities. Though she didn't feel like an active hindered, she still felt least qualified. It didn't help that yet again as the party protector, she let BB get attacked and fend for himself. To get wasted and have fun. To focus on building herself rather than assisting her team.

The noises that came from Toombes before his skull darkened were... something that sounded unsettling. It sounded wrong, it sounded... dark. Kathryn did her best to hide her concern, but overall, she struggled. Lizbeth translating the words was somehow... worse. Kathryn couldn't be sure how Lizbeth knew the words, but she seemed just as unsettled as Kathryn was. The warrior woman had to be strong. If not for herself than for her student, this poor girl who needed help now more than ever. "Are you going to be okay Lizbeth? Maybe we can go back and go warm up." Kathryn didn't realize just how cold she was getting. In a dress and a coat she was far more exposed than usual. The cold hit hard, even for someone used to colder climates.

Baronfjørd "Blackberry" Chedgusah Dragon Born, Monk (Astral self), Level 05 HP: 27 / 40 Armor Class: 16 Conditions: N/A Location: Meeting Spot Action: investigation (6) Bonus Action: N/A Reaction: N/A Ki: 3/5

Even after knowing Victoria for a while and the nature of her magics, and Morty, BlackBerry still jumped when the nearly flayed skull floating in the air begin to talk. When the pinpricks of light appeared within the hollow sockets he failed to repress a shudder and averted his eyes from its own glowing eerie lights. The voice was very different than the one that had been taunting him not even an hour ago which had been filled with gleeful malice, what now came from Toombes mouth sounded more confused or even surprised than anything. It somehow managed to sound bother right next to his ear and so far away at the same time, it made him shudder again.

Dead things should not talk.

BlackBerry continued to offer what small comfort he could to Madame L'Rose consisting almost entirely of "There, there," and gently moving her away from her own vomit. He wished pitifully there was something he could do or say to make things better for the L'Roses but anything he thought to say seemed lacking in the face of everyrhing, and there were only so many times one could stand to hear or even say the words 'I'm sorry' before it became infuriating. So he did the next best thing and focussed on the Now to see if he could figure out the Then.

He let Victoria and Kosara take the lead given they were both more Arcanically adapt than himself and seemed less disturbed by the whole thing than he was, or even Lady Kathryn who looked to have turned a bit green. Momentarily his thoughts settled on her and her apology, and decided he had probably been unfairly waspish given that it was only by sheer happenstance that he had the stone on him. He made a mental note to apologise later. He listened to Victorias questions and tucked away the answers given for later examination when they weren't all about to freeze to death.

The last answer especially held his interest as the words rattled through his mind and recognised them as Abyssal, or at least someone's best imitation of them. Even despite the magical nature of Toombes voice, BlackBerry struggled to make out what was spoken over the sound of the biting wind and his own chattering teeth. He was barely able to make out even what Lizbeth had heard. It was then, when he looked to her repeating what she had heard, he noticed how pale she looked. The poor thing looked scared to death, and that dress she wore was definitely not made for winter nights such as this.

"I was worrying just the same, Kosara." He drew a shivering breath in through his teeth. "It is unfortunate that Monsieur Arnaurd has already taken his leave, I do hope he made it home safely. And Madame Floquet for that matter for I have seen nether hide nor hair of her. I am certain they are both fine however as there is no sogn of any further danger this evening other than frostbite at most."

"Well. There is nothing doing standing out here at least. It is much too dark and the weather too frightful for any real investigation to take place." He shivered and stomped his feet again for emphasis. "Let us give Toombes at least some small comfort, least of all ourselves, and get him inside. Victoria, would you be able to summon Morty at all? I fear otherwise we may have to carry him ourselves." Despite the comment, BlackBerry at least had the good graces to not grimace openly at the idea. "I do suggest the Coach House so as not to disturb the others."

"For the morning, if not sooner, we shall need to investigate proper. And as for this something...well" He paused and in the silence let his eyes flick between each of the party. He had an idea of what, or more appropriately who, it might be and wondered if the others were thinking along the same lines. Even if it wasn't as he thought there was still a discussion to be had. "We shall endeavour to uncover that also after more immediate matters are settled."

Victoria Belmont Half-Elf, Bard, Level 5 HP: 33 / 33 Armor Class: 16 Conditions: N/A Location: Rose River Vineyard (Main Thoroughfare) Action: N/A Bonus Action: Familiar Stuff Reaction: N/A

The corpse's disembodied skull spoke its final words and sunk into inert neutrality. The voice which issued from it, nuanced with the rural accent common to this area but undoubtedly influenced by the magic which brought it into the world, fell silent in a way that left a hollow in the air; a quiet that was almost as disconcerting to Victoria as the voice itself. But despite the offputting nature of forcing a dead person to talk in the middle of a developing winter storm, Victoria felt an overwhelming sense of accomplishment which bordered on joy. She had officially spoken to her first dead person by means of magic under her control, due to the lessons of her expertise. The Bard couldn't help but smile. She separated the halves of her bone flute and put it away into the pouch on her belt.

Following this, she mentally willed her Familiar over to her. The Raven, spiritform made flesh by ritual magic, was as susceptible to the elements as anything else and was likely very uncomfortable. Also, compromised as an aerial scout in the increasing conditions of the evening. "It's okay," she crooned. "Excellent work tonight. Rest. I shall summon you later, someplace warm." It was very possible that the intent could have been transmitted mentally, or that her intentions were already known to the Familiar spirit as it was like an extension of herself, but the words were spoken anyway. The sound of flapping wings and a muted expression of

She did take the opportunity provided by the calm of magical activity (if most certainly not the weather) to respond to the point brought up by Kosara from earlier, while she was still enraptured in her spellcraft. "I think that you are right, Kosara. This is becoming an active threat and the villages around might be on the menu, depending upon where Toombes was taken." She intentionally decided to use the word "taken" instead of something more provocative but blatantly obvious. "But even the undead will be hindered by this weather, which I suggest we shelter from." Now that the novelty of her accomplishment was waning, Victoria was quite aware that she was more than moderately uncomfortable.

The mention of Morty by their party Monk gave Victoria a flash of annoyance. Yes, Morty might have been very helpful, especially if the Bard's empty errand cart was attached and pulled to the location. But she didn't have the loyal undead thrall at her disposal right then, and it was an ongoing mystery, be it of lesser importance than the one directly in front of them. "I had established a conditional order for Morty to come to me, or someplace pre-decided anyway, where I could easily find him. The condition has been met, but Morty isn't here. It could mean any number of things. Perhaps I should try to retrieve him; I cannot see that I am of much more use here."

The last wasn't entirely true. She looked to Cecily, and then with approval to Baronfjord as he had attempted to comfort the woman. There was a hint of suspicion floating about in her mind concerning her, but nothing that a finger could be placed upon. Perhaps it was her nature recently to have less trust in people. And honestly, all things considered, who might blame her? Odd things were afoot. And a head, apparently. "Madame L'Rose," she began with practiced and professional formality, "I assure you that we will do everything we can to resolve this." Her voice was direct but soft, even understanding, and pitched only loud enough to be heard over the wind; assertive without being aggressive, confident without being vainglorious. "And I think we can all agree that it isn't safe out here right now, not from the possible threat nor the present weather. Perhaps it's best if we escort you home behind lock and key, and get ourselves back to the Coach House like Baronfjord suggested. Maybe crate up Mr. Toombes's remains and leave them in the storage outbuilding, also behind lock and key, until we can figure something more permanent out. At least until the weather lessens. What do you think, Cecily? Is this acceptable?"

Victoria was putting on a decent enough face at being the cool, calm, professional Adventurer, but the truth of it was that she was completely through with this evening. With her high point, that of the proper application of Speak With Dead and a lack of ability to do much else useful, she was just done. Finding out what happened to Morty was next on her priorities, and some of the more physically able people present could handle the lifting and toting. They might attempt to answer the raised questions with the coming of a new day.

One last thing, though: "Madame L'Rose? If you please, despite everything, that was a lovely wine tasting with an excellent selection. Thank you for your hospitality."

Kosara Tiefling, Warlock (Celestial), Level 04, Barbarian, Level 01 HP: 34/ 34 Armor Class: 12(15 Mage Armor) Conditions: N/a Location: Rose River Vineyard Action: N/a Bonus Action: Unseen Servant moving about. Reaction: N/a

Well with the questions answered, it more or less confirmed the theory that this event was put in motion because of them at least to a degree. If it wasn’t them, it would have been others… Had the party not been present, Kosara was pretty sure this would have transpired too even if for different reasons and maybe a different person, but it boiled currently down to something was getting impatient that they weren’t dancing at their tunes. Now the white tielfing wasn’t quite in agreement with the ‘FUN’ for the bad guy and fear for the rest, it wasn’t quite fear she felt here, but she supposed the locals would be fearing it especially if the region had the issues with the Necromantic wars in the past. That said, this looked more and more like it had something to do with said wars… maybe remnants? Maybe it was a necromancer who got back to unlife for some reason or did they just lay low waiting for something? Too many questions and sadly not nearly enough sources to give answers. Kosara was really considering the need to go talk with any veterans or temples in the area. Veterans cause they might know what transpired towards the end of said wars in the area and temples because well… temple clerics were the usual people to deal with undead for the most part. They probably should be notified at least or maybe they’ve already noticed weirdness in the area…

She had a vague recollection that the major religion in the area was a harvest goddess. Not unusual for agricultural centers, but Kosara actually had NO idea if the clergy had anyone who focused on dealing with dangers in that case. Not like every cleric of every god was a martial powerhouse who wandered the world to destroy evils after all. In any case that was a task for tomorrow she supposed. They also needed to investigate the study more, this time properly without interruptions or sneaking.

While the others were discussing among the group and the hosts, Kosara kept making a hard thinking face as the skull kept floating besides her, until she ordered the unseen servant to place the skull onto the body and then float back to her. There was something they were missing, she was certain of it! A thread that made this all make sense! Alright maybe it was some twisted sense born from the mind of an evil nercomancer, but a sense nevertheless. Still she looked back at the others when the suggestion to go back to shelter was brought up.” Getting back in a warmer space would be great.” She nodded, but looked back at the skeletoombles.” I could burn the remains with sacred flames? It worked for the bodies in the burrow, it should work on him too.” The tiefling offered in the end as in theory some radient flames should be a good things to put in use.

Weather: The weather has ticked away from the merely inclement to the genuinely uncomfortable. Heavier wind is not constant, but the gusts seem to infiltrate cloak, coat, and frilly party-going attire alike while lesser, more constant movement of cold atmosphere serves to move the snowflakes with compelled purpose.

Time: I don't know if it is the right time, but it is most certainly the nighttime.

Ambience: Much of what can be heard over the erratic sounds of wind come in the form of voices amongst the party, which have to be repeated with greater volume every so often in order to be understood fully. The night has become quite dark; no starlight nor moon through the overcast sky of a strengthening snowstorm and firmly in the places outside of the lanterns' reach. Snow is building up around the feet of those still outside like a crunchy, white crust which covered the visible landscape.



Cecily looked to her niece incredulously as apparently, another shock hit her. It was one thing to hear that Lizbeth was capable of understanding a language that she had no normal cause to, and it was another to hear her translate. She was perfectly aware of the extent to her ward's education, and the speech of demons was not among the subjects broached. Now standing, her eyes went to the two nearest her (that being Baronfjord and Victoria). Her voice lost a hint of vigor and her face retained the element of shock from earlier as she spoke. "Please, might you.." It was an unimpressive start. She cleared her throat and raised her volume to be heard over the wind - a sound that was more like a cough than anything else, which paired appropriately with the wrack of shivers that took hold of her limbs, "I have guests in my home without a hostess. Would someone escort me back? And..." she hastily added, "...if she is willing, would you all please keep my Lizbeth safe? I don't know what I could possibly do if things get worse."

When the creature that used to be Toombes finally let its undeath rattle sound and grew quiet, Lizbeth finally let her swordpoint angle toward the snowy ground. For the first time in at least a few minutes, her breath condensed into the air as it left her lips and she began to look truly uncomfortable. The weapon stayed in her hand, but her non-dominant one clutched her split styled cloak more tightly about herself. "I'm okay with that, Aunt Ceecee." She seemed tired, for the first time this evening. "They've been nice to me. Fair, even. And I like the Coach House fine." True, it didn't have the more personalized luxuries of her more familiar Estate House, but who knows what might motivate a young lady in circumstances such as these?

Cecily awkwardly turned around as she spoke, rather absently addressing issues that may have borne priority. "I would rather you not set Master Toombes on fire unless it's necessary. He has a family - parents at least - in the villages." Not that it would be any better to see what state he was in now, but it was possible that Cecily wasn't thinking so far ahead. "But please do not leave him out here for the wolves. Toombes deserves better." The shivering was getting quite uncontrollable now, and Cecily set back on her way to the Estate House, escort or not.

Lizbeth finally sheathed her sword and looked around at the assembled party. She had wrapped one half of her split cloak around the lower part of her face to spare her lips and nose the worst of the increasingly bad weather and almost had to shout, "So is it okay? If I stick with you, I mean? And could we head that way, please? It's cold and scary out here."

Kathryn Pyke Human, Fighter (Rune Knight), Level 05 HP: 49 / 49 Armor Class: 19 Conditions: N/A Location: Meeting point --> The Big House Action: N/A Bonus Action: N/A Reaction: N/A

The group seemed to be in agreement. Time to solve the case, time to go home. It was cold and getting colder. But the longer they took to solve things, the more bodies that would turn up. The more bodies that would attack people. Kathryn sighed in relief when Toombes was finally not animated. It was an impressive skill, but it was something that still unnerved Kathryn. Cecily did prefer to return to her own main house, but she should not be forced to travel alone. "I'll take you back Cecily. If we have to split up I am in the best shape to fight solo." BB was in rough shape, and the only one who could out physical Kathryn in raw combat prowess. Seeing how roughed up he was Kathryn didn't want him on his own again. "Lizbeth if you would like you could come with me and your Aunt, otherwise the others will keep you safe." Kathryn said confidently like she wasn't terrified and upset at not knowing what to do on the inside. But Lizbeth didn't need to know that. Lizbeth needed strength. Kathryn would offer hers. "The rest of you, Grab Toombes and bring him back to the Coach house. We'll take better care of him in the morning. Please don't take any risks you don't have too, get back as quick as you can. If you're not at the Coach house by the time I return I'll come back out and bring you all back." She spoke confidently as if they were already on the path of victory! Standing tall and confident, in a coat not meant for extended exposure and dress, and a well worn sword at her belt, she refused to flinch or bend to the elements.

Turning to BB she walked up to him and let out a sigh. Not a defeated one, not of shame, just... tired. "I should have gone with you. I am glad you're okay. And I am glad you're on our side." She gave him a pat on the back trying her best to not hit anywhere that could be sore, and with as little force as possible. "Victoria, good work with the magic, next chance we get lets see what else we can do with it yeah?" She offered trying to hide how much it spooked her. Then with some hesitation, she spoke up to the bard again. "If... Cecily and I are going to be on our own for a bit, if you have any of that magical music stuff to give me a boost, I would much appreciate the inspiration?" Kathryn asked Victoria meekly.

Turning to Lizbeth she looked at the young woman she had been training to fight, training discipline, endurance, and here she was ready to face the day. "Keep them safe for me yeah?" She requested to the girl. She was mature for her age, losing so much of her childhood to trauma and a bad situation. She had no idea how to help the poor girl in this regard. But she would do whatever she could. Then, turning to Kosara, walking up and taking the tiefling woman's hands with a warm smile. "I had a wonderful date, thanks for asking me out." Then she leaned in and whispered. "I don't think we're going to get to too much girlfriend stuff tonight huh?" She chuckled before returning to Cecily. "Let's get going. It's cold, and we're going to have a busy time ahead of us starting tomorrow." She tried to say warmly without overpowering the mournful feelings that Cecily must be going through.

The walk was cold. The walk was dark. Kathryn not only didn't have any torches on her, she didn't have her hammer or any other means of light. In short, Fuck. To make it worse, she was pretty sure she was the only one in the party who couldn't see in the dark. Double Fuck. But thankfully, she still wore boots. Not because she planned on tracking through the snow tonight, but because it was this or her glorified casual wear shoes. If she was going to wear footwear that didn't match, she wanted something comfortable AND practical. So far the only good choice she's made tonight. Kathryn has always held up well to the cold, her height also made it easier to wade through the snow than many. Cecily she would offer help and assist wherever she could. She didn't want to overstep any boundaries, but they were both going to get cold and sick at this rate. But, maybe boundaries needed to be stepped on. Once they had passed the Coach house and the path became easier, Kathryn sighed. She was going to insist, something she really didn't like doing. "Something awful is happening here Cecily. And it is only getting worse. We need to figure out what is going on before it hits a breaking point, and something horrible happens." Kathryn said solemnly. "And your father in law was involved. I do not know how, but I know he was involved. With other evidence we have seen, I suspect the winery is involved too. So know that I do not ask this lightly, but I need the keys to the winery. All of them." She wasn't aggressive with her tone, but it was firm. This was a need. But it was the furthest thing from a threat to the woman. She would never shake down Cecily to get what she wanted.

"With the keys, I need unrestricted access to everything. And I do mean everything. I know it's a big ask, but I hope you can understand we are at the point of big asks." She did try to soften the serious request with a little joke. "If it means anything, I promise I am not stealing company secretes to sell to your competitors." She smiled with a soft chuckle. But it died fast. She was asking to examine every surface of her home, to unearth every aspect of her private life. And they didn't have the time to be gentle, and being considerate about it would have to become a secondary concern. She would have to treat the people who welcomed her in as a guest as suspects until she knew for sure who or what was involved.