[center]━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━[/center][table][row][/row][row][cell] [h2][color=598527][i][b]Kathryn Pyke[/b][/i][/color][/h2][i][b][color=598527]Human, Fighter (Rune Knight), Level 05[/color][/b][/i] [color=598527][i][b]HP:[/b][/i][/color] 49 / 49 [color=598527][i][b]Armor Class:[/b][/i][/color] 19 [color=598527][i][b]Conditions:[/b][/i][/color] N/A [color=598527][i][b]Location:[/b][/i][/color] Meeting point --> The Big House [color=598527][i][b]Action:[/b][/i][/color] N/A [color=598527][i][b]Bonus Action:[/b][/i][/color] N/A [color=598527][i][b]Reaction:[/b][/i][/color] N/A [/cell][cell] [right][img]https://img.roleplayerguild.com/prod/users/7884b36a-e3f0-48fb-9689-1a8fd4af7f5a.png[/img][/right] [/cell][/row][/table][center]━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━[/center] 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. "[color=598527]I'll take you back Cecily. If we have to split up I am in the best shape to fight solo.[/color]" 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. "[color=598527]Lizbeth if you would like you could come with me and your Aunt, otherwise the others will keep you safe.[/color]" 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. "[color=598527]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.[/color]" 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. "[color=598527]I should have gone with you. I am glad you're okay. And I am glad you're on our side.[/color]" 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. "[color=598527]Victoria, good work with the magic, next chance we get lets see what else we can do with it yeah?[/color]" She offered trying to hide how much it spooked her. Then with some hesitation, she spoke up to the bard again. "[color=598527]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?[/color]" 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. "[color=598527]Keep them safe for me yeah?[/color]" 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. "[color=598527]I had a wonderful date, thanks for asking me out.[/color]" Then she leaned in and whispered. "[color=598527]I don't think we're going to get to too much girlfriend stuff tonight huh?[/color]" She chuckled before returning to Cecily. "[color=598527]Let's get going. It's cold, and we're going to have a busy time ahead of us starting tomorrow.[/color]" 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. "[color=598527]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.[/color]" Kathryn said solemnly. "[color=598527]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.[/color]" 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. "[color=598527]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.[/color]" She did try to soften the serious request with a little joke. "[color=598527]If it means anything, I promise I am not stealing company secretes to sell to your competitors.[/color]" 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.