Blackburn's Crossing Chapter 4: Snake Eater

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Night Prior:

Waving farewell to Violette as she left, Kallisto closed the door behind her, a pleased smile on Marcus' face. After a short conversation, she moved back to her room to sit at her desk, tools laid out, a small candle prepared for when the sunlight was fully gone, with two carvings on her desk. One for Tara, and one that was much older, one of her earliest carvings. She smiled as she looked it over -- with time and practice she understood how to make the carving smoother, more detailed, but back then she didn't know what she was doing. Just that whenever she worked on something ... her concerns faded, including the mental growl she got during her moments.

Placing the older carving away, she picked up the half finished one -- the one intended for Tara as a gift -- and started back to work. Strangely, though she wasn't too keen on it, the things happening to her lately had made carving even easier. Her claws were sharp enough and nimble enough to reach areas her tools couldn't, and now her eyes allowed her to see fine details, the dimming light not bothering her as much as it used to.

Over the next few hours it began to take shape -- a wolfhead pendant, its eyes closed in sleep, a small sprig of belladonna held gently in its jaw -- the flower Kallisto had seen often whenever Ezra was brought up, and on the painted shields she'd seen at the Einhorn Smithy. Gently placing it on her desk for the night she stretched, pleased at how the details had come out, intending to do finishing touches in the morning.

After putting her tools away and blowing out the now much lower candle she pulled the greataxe out from under her bed, resting it on her lap as she tried to get it to speak again. Softly she asked, “Who were you ... before you were in the weapon...? How was this weapon even made?” She waited a few minutes for a response before sighing and returning the weapon to the floor, pushing it under the bed with a foot. Pulling the blankets around herself she finally fell asleep, her mind busy with thoughts of the coming days.

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Next Day:

As usual, both Kallisto and Marcus were up early for their breakfast, making small talk before Kallisto handed Marcus the finished pendant for Tara -- a small cord of leather was wrapped tightly around a hook on the wolf's head, a few beads tied into the cord, she pointed out her marker's mark for him to show Tara as well. "Please hand this to her if you see her -- I don't know if I'll still be in town before she leaves again. Though she said I didn't need to, hopefully this shows her how much I appreciated her help."

With a nod and a hug, which Kallisto lifted Marcus off the ground slightly, he left for the docks while she cleaned the table. Eventually she prepared herself for the day -- Sulrac on her hip as usual, the greataxe on her back, a mental shopping list for supplies and the faint idea of buying a longbow since it seemed lately things were often out of reach. Before she left the house she focused herself to understand animals in case Aluc arrived on her way to the constabulary. She had meant to check in, but with everything that had happened the day before ... time seemed to have moved faster than she expected.
 
Arissa was woken by a slight shifting in bed beside her. She briefly thought it was Bernard, but then fuzzily recalled asking him for some privacy, mostly out of embarrassment for her behavior. She groaned and slowly opened her eyes, her head pounding slightly although she knew it would have been far worse if not for Bernard’s divine powers.

Arissa smiles warmly seeing Peri in bed beside her, although she felt a twinge if guilt as she recalled that Peri likely still did not know about her involvement in Jonathan’s death. She briefly considered telling her but shook her head slightly. Now is not the time... she needs a friend, not a person to blame. I will tell her soon enough. She reached up a hand and lightly tossled Peri’s hair. “Goedemorgen, my little fox. I trust you slept well? I must admit, I do not recall you joining me last night, but it certainly is a pleasant surprise.” Arissa blushed and then grinned to Peri. “There may be much that I do not recall, but I certainly remember the news about Mr. Xistrith. He is a good man, and I am glad that you have found someone.”

Arissa rolled into her back and looked up at the ceiling for a moment, sighing contentedly before giving voice to some of her drunken thoughts from the night before. “I have been giving things some thought about the future... there has to be a time when we are done with all of the darkness and mystery of this town, ja? You are to be the guardians of this land, and Bernard is to lead the church... I suppose I should find a fitting role for myself, ja? I am afraid there is little I can do in terms of practical skills... besides my music, I am afraid my only other talents are for manipulating others... something I pray I can put to rest soon enough.”

Arissa trails off as she smells Bernard’s meal, and a smile creeps into her face. She gets out of bed and turns to Peri. “Whatever it is that Bernard has prepared, it smells absolutely divine. My apologies, my boring thoughts on the future can wait until after we have eaten our fill. Care to join me?” Arissa quickly dressed herself in the flowing dress she had worn on the day of James’s return and smiled to Peri expectantly.
 
Constabulary:

Simon looked up to Kallisto and smiled in her direction as she came in. "Ah just the girl I was looking for," he said as he produced a bag of twenty gold coins. "I'm not sure if Thomas ever got around to paying you however here is for some of the job you've already done. I wanted to talk to you a bit more, about the job. Everyone that is a guard is a volunteer, and Thomas provides the funds to keep the guard paid for their time. We usually try to keep at least a few guards walking around town since it's a fairly large town and hard to cover all areas with how many people we have left to work with."

A voice behind Kallisto speaks up. "Simon you devil you! How did you ever get Thomas to make YOU sheriff," says a large man with a deep voice. He was dressed similarly in the garb that a good number of the guards around town wore but Kallisto didn't recognize him. "Victor? What are you doing down here from Mordentshire? They finally kick you out of the guards up there that you decided to come here and beg for a job?"

Victor put a hand through his black hair scratching a brief itch before coming a bit forward shaking his head. "Not at all, I was asked to check up down here with that pirate attack, and I've heard there was a Ball that was interrupted as well. What is going on around here is what half the people of Mordentshire have been talking about," said Victor looking over to Kallisto and flashing a rough smile. The man's face didn't quiet look right for a guard, but more of a rough and tumble sort of person. Possibly a few broken noses in his past, and some nicks and scars along his face. "I haven't had the pleasure, Victor Castellanos."

"Sorry to hear about your sister's passing," says Simon putting a hand up on Victor's shoulder for a moment. Victor seemed to grow distant for a moment before nodding. "Yeah it was rather sudden. You still haven't heard anything about Mr. Von Lichtenstien have you?"

Simon shook his head. "Not in the last five years you've been asking." Victor nodded again. "Keep an ear out for me down here, I've a feeling he'll be back one day," says Victor once again looking over to Kallisto. "It was nice to meet you, we don't get too many ladies offering up their time."
 
Peri chuckles at her hair being mussed as she reachedbup to fix it again she stretched and yawned. “Good morning,” tipping her he’s to the side she smiles at Arissa as she rolls away.

Listening to her concern Peri gave it some thought. “I am sure there are many more things you are good at, when you have time to apply them.” Pressing to sit up she rubs her eyes hugging her knees and pays attention to the floor as Arissa changes amazed by the rush of fabrics as her feet disappeared. “I remember this dress, you came into our lives then.”

Peri begrudgingly set her feet up in the cooler floor she hated having cold feet, seems it would be time for wool socks soon. When Arissa asked about breakfast Peri nodded. “It does smell so good.” Standing from the bed she combs her fingers through her hand again and slips out the door headed for the kitchen with Arissa.

“Good Morning Bear” Peri movedninto the kitchen and took the steaming kettle and poured three cups of tea to steep then went to refill the pot to heat again, before settingling into her seat with the three teacups.
 
Léone rolls over slightly, sinking deeper into the bed and groaning a bit. After a few minutes of trying to go back to sleep she eventually gives up and blinks her eyes open, her gaze sweeping across the ceiling before she finally found the will to move. Letting out a deep yawn she sits up and scratches the back of her head, glancing briefly at James and smiling before she took stock of her surroundings. "I'll... give him a few more minutes."

She looks over to the scattered collection of things on the nightstand: her necklace chain and wand; Enzo's bag to the side; the Grimm's Fairy Tales book; and another loose pile of books - the family journal, the ciphered notes on the Machine as well as her personal notes on her and Yelcan's experiments. Sitting on top was her findings from the family journal, weighed down by a quill and left out where it could be easily seen.

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553 BC (Barovian Calendar)
Owner of journal, Jamis Blackburn.
Hathoways and Von Brekkers joined them on their initial trip in the fall, along with a man known as 'The Alchemist'. In total the group probably numbered at least 20 or more, considering the report of five deaths and two injuries within a single season. With luck, they found a place to settle down permanently and most likely found the Crossing. First recorded encounter with the natives in the winter.

554 BC
People from other smaller villages had begun to join the town, perhaps seeing some form of success despite attacks by the natives. First recorded mention of the natives practicing cannibalism, along other 'horrors' (though the pages elaborating on such are torn out).

556 BC
Construction of the manor began around this time. The Einhorns were involved, both in the architecture and in the construction of the golems. Are those things really that old? How do they maintain themselves?
'Precautions' were taken causing native attacks to cease almost completely.
'They have expressed an interest in a sort of interaction with the people. I can only hope it ends well.' Who?

Between 556-558 BC (date unclear)
'A deal was struck, and those who pass the totems forfeit the right of safety from them.' What safety? And passing them in which direction?
Natives had mentioned 'tales of an immortal serpent'. Was it still alive back then, or mere rumors and hearsay?

558 BC
Handwriting different... signed "A", perhaps the Alchemist from before.
Reports Jamis's death, 'killed by his own folley'; A says he was betrayed somehow.
Mentions an evil known as the 'Creature' being released upon the world... A claims it's his own fault, but how? What did they make and how?
Bifurcation... a split? Does that imply a split in opinions, in families...? Or like a split in matter, like with the Machine? If the manor was built already, perhaps they had a prototype already... or even the final product as it currently stands.
A wonders if Jamis had attempted something warned against, and if he did it would imply he was still out there somewhere. He being... a duplicate?
Note to self, review research notes on the Machine again. Maybe in the morning.

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Leaving the pile there she reaches over to her necklace and puts it on like usual, the two rings plinking gently against her chest. Slowly reaching into the bag her hand waves into the void until it eventually grasps onto her spellbook, pulling it out and flipping through the pages. "Wonder if we'll see anything out there today... best be prepared for the worst." She spends a few minutes studying her more combat-oriented spells, tossing a few scraps of rations to Attimer as the raven rustled himself awake as well.

Once she was done with her daily routine she set the book back in the bag and takes a deep stretch, before looking over to James and patting him awake gently. "Mornin', sunshine. How late were you out last night?"
 
Kallisto nodded as she took the coin pouch, intending to mention Thomas had explained some of it when someone spoke behind her. She turned, not recognizing the voice, though his outfit seemed similar to what other guards wore typically.

She listened as the conversation continued bowing her head slightly has the man gave his name. "It is nice to meet you as well, I'm Kallisto. I ... part of why I joined is because of some of what you mentioned. I did not realize word had spread so much, or so quickly. May I ask who 'Mr. Von Lichtenstien' is? I'm usually by the docks, maybe I've overheard something useful, but didn't know at the time?"
 
Bernard flipped the last pancake onto a plate as Peri entered the kitchen. "Good morning Peri, how'd you sleep? Comfortable I hope." He smiled, carrying a platter of bacon and a plate of pancakes over to the table. He glanced back toward the hall, looking for Arissa. He made a second trip to the kitchen, returning with place settings for three. "Did Arissa happen to stir when you woke?"
 
Blackburn Manor:

James slowly roused awake stretching for a moment before his eyes opened to Leone. "I could get used to that," says James smirking for a moment before considering the question. "I... think it was sometime after midnight. I went and spoke with Jonathan at length, and he was his usual self though I could tell he was fairly weak."

He seemed to frown for a second and leaned into Leone a bit peeking at her spell book. "You can understand half of this hmm?" he says looking at it for a moment. "Huh... I guess it does make a sort of sense. Some of the pattern's seem familiar to some of the formulas used in my families devices."

After a moment of looking further he kisses Leone on the cheek and gets up from the bed to find some cloths for the day disappearing into a large walk in closet. His voice comes from the closet. "Do you and the other's head out today?" comes his voice from the other room.
 
Constabulary:

Victor seems to smile a bit at Kallisto's suggestion. "He's a noble from up in Mordentshire, minor but fairly wealthy from what his father left behind. Eric Von Lichtenstein, looks to be probably about five eight, and usually has a gaggle of women following him. I don't know how he does it, but he seems to charm every woman he meets, even those that you'd never suspect... anyways sorry that's not important. He was last seen with a red haired woman named Bella Rose, she she's an outsider claiming to hail from a place called 'Boston', though I did overhear Eric and her talking about them coming out from a fairytale book."

At this Victor seems to gauge your reaction before continuing on. "Lux Amancia was the other woman he was traveling with. His... Ex if I recall correctly but that's really not that surprising since he has had far too many relationships to count. Lux had blonde hair, and blue eyes stood a little shorter than most at about five three," says Victor as he seems to be recalling most of the details from memory. "If you ever seen any of these people do let me know. You can send a message to the main guard house in Mordentshire and they'll get it to me."
 
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Listening to Victor speak, Kallisto's attention caught onto the mention of them 'coming out of a fairytale book' -- her mind going to the discussion she'd half followed between Perian and Lina. "If I see or hear about anyone like them, I'll try to let you know. May I also ask why you seek them? To know if I should be on guard if I see them, or try to keep away."

She paused, "The ... fairytale book -- do you know more?" She picked at her beads as she glanced between Victor and Simon, "I think maybe something similar has happened -- to Merris. We've been trying to figure out how to get her out, but we don't know much besides 'finishing a story', whatever that actually means."
 
Arissa heard Bernard asking for her and quickly finished her preparations. She cane out of Bernard’s room and entered the kitchen with a warm smile. She approached Bernard and gave Bernard a kiss before pulling away and meeting his gaze with an embrassed grin. “Goedemorgen, Bernard. I believe I should apologize for my behavior last night. The state I was in was far from lady like, ja?” She then let go of him and took a seat at the table, taking a bite of the pancakes before smiling again to Bernard. “The food is delicious as ever, Bernard. Although, I have heard that my cooking is rather good as well. Perhaps when all things are settled we could compare, ja?”
 
Constabulary:

"Eric's an old friend of mine, grew up in the same streets together. He may have been born with a silver spoon in his mouth but he's not too bad," says Victor thinking about whether Kallisto should be worried about seeing them. "Honestly after so long away I'm not sure I can accurately say whether you should be careful or not. Knowing him though you might want to remain guarded, he has an usual perchance for gathering affections of the opposite sex." He shrugs at this as he always wondered how the guy got so lucky but figured warning her about it priorly might help. "He's a good man, part of the guard and he went on an extended leave to visit his family's home country of Nova Vassa, but he's been MIA for the last five years. No word, but I know he has a habit of interacting with strange stuff."

When the book is brought up Victor looks curiously at Kallisto but shakes his head. "I'm sorry, I don't know anything beyond that they said they were inside a book. Not sure that can happen but I've seen some things that can't be explained, and I don't take Eric for a liar."
 
Bernard shook his head. "No need to apologize, m'lady," He teased, "everyone deserves to relax a bit. I hope you slept well, were you warm enough?" He cuts his own pancakes and takes a bite, a wide grin on his face. "I'm sure we'll have plenty of time to cook together in the future. I look forward to it. Maybe you can teach me a dish of your homeland and we can bring a little bit of your home to ours?" He continued to eat his pancakes and sip at his tea.
 
"I see ... I'll try to keep an eye out." With his response towards the book Kallisto gave a low growl of a sigh, "Lately I've seen things I'm not sure can be explained as well, but it's good to know maybe others have dealt with something similar too. If they got out, there's hope it will work in this case as well."

She looked towards Simon, "I had hoped to come yesterday -- I did not realize Thomas was intending to retire already. Congratulations on the new position, hopefully things haven't been too overwhelming just yet?" Kallisto gave him a faint smile before her expression shifted to being more serious. "I came to ask if ... there was anything new to do with ... Maria's murder, or the weapon. I also don't know if you heard about the serpent out in the swamp -- a group of us are intending to leave either today or tomorrow morning to go hunt it, and it will likely be a few days before we'd be back."
 
Arissa turned and smiled at Peri. “Yes, I was quite warm. A little fox crept into my bed last night to keep my company, although I could not imagine where it has gone off to now.” She then turns back to Bernard. “I am afraid I have very little experience with preparing meals... in fact, yesterday was my first ever attempt. I doubt it would be simple to construct a meal from taste alone, but perhaps I could try at some point.” She then looks between the two. “So, what is the plan today? I had hoped to follow a potential lead on Maria’s death, as well as to speak with a few friends on... other matters. Anything exciting that you two have in mind before the expedition?”
 
Peri rolls a piece of bacon in her pancake absentmindedly eating it as she looks around for Lina. Sipping her tea she smiles to herself. “ will you be out picking up supplies too? Do you think anyone has a net? Could be useful..” Chewing in another rolled pancake she hums to herself. “Is there anything you two need help with today? If not I think I would like to go to the Manor maybe talk to James, Léone or Yelcan about our trek, I didn’t get to speak with them much yesterday.” Noting her face get warm at speaking of Yelcan she stuffs her mouth and studies her plate and execution of consuming her pancake.
 
"A disappearing fox? Just a legend, I assure you. The only ones in the house last night were the three of us and Lina, and I sure didn't crawl into bed with you." Bernard mused followed by a chuckle and a smirk at Peri. "I'm sure we could try, especially if you're naturally gifted when it comes to cooking. I'm sure I can help too." Bernard smiled finishing his bacon. "Simon stopped by this morning with a list of suspects. Bjorn was on the list, and he's come up a few times speaking with Derek. I figured I could stop by and speak with him, then I figured I'd stop by the church to let them know I'll be gone and to collect some of those records for you." Bernard sighed, the grim work slightly draining the joy from his morning. Turning to Peri, Bernard nodded and smiled, "I'm sure there's plenty going on at the manor with the researching and the provisioning for supplies. I'll see if I can't pick up a net for you while I'm out." Bernard stood, collecting his plate and rinsing it in the sink as he participated in the rest of the conversation.
 
Arissa raised an eyebrow at the mention of Bjorn and carefully set down her fork, folding her hands together. “That is rather strange... Thackery and Terra were telling me of Bjorn as well. They did not seem to suspect anything of him, but I am certain that the pair of them are accustomed to some... interesting characters. He seems to have a reason to dislike Maria, something to gain from her death, and the means and skill to orchestrate her death. If you would not mind, I would wish to accompany you as well.”
 
Léone flashes a smile at James. "We'll see if you do, I suppose." At his mention of Jonathan's condition, she softens her gaze and nods slowly. "I see... hope he's doing alright." Moving on from the subject quickly she chuckles as he peeks into her spellbook, flipping a page into her newer notes on how to harness lightning energy. "I understand all of it, shocking as it is," she says, smirking. "Those devices all seem to have some magical signature to them, so I'm not surprised."

She grins as he leans forward for a kiss, then mulls over the question while he goes to change. "Not entirely sure when we're leaving, depends on if the others finish up their immediate concerns in time or not. If it takes too long, the plan is to push it off for the next day so we can set off in the morning instead. I think I have most of my supplies, though a second trip is easy enough." She shrugs, looking down to her small pack which already held among other things her bedroll, traveling cloak and change of clothes, rations and water, and even the broom and opal gauntlet.

"Aside from that... I could offer my help around if people need me but I'm not sure. Yelcan probably exhausted the library on serpent research already, so I think I might just work on this stuff here," she says, looking to her pile of notes. "It did confirm what I found before, that the natives used to know about an immortal serpent, but that's not the only thing I'm worried about. All those golems and maybe even the Machine being over 200 years old... I'm still trying to wrap my head around that."
 
Bernard smiled as he returned to the table and took a seat, "Yeah, that sounds good. I had planned to head there first, we can decide where we're going afterwards, or split up if you'd rather take care of some things." He leaned into the table a bit, resting his chin in his hands and his elbows on the table. "So, what else did you learn from Thackery and Terra last night?"
 
Peri knocks her head twice as if remembering something, rushing off to her room she gathers the small pouch grimdosh gave her and brings it back to the table setting out a few gold to Bernard for her net “Net” and the pouch in front of Arissa. “Wages” she says mimicking Grimdosh before finishing her plate and cleaning up.

“I may run to Reginaulds quick too, If he has any potions I would like to purchase one or two just to have in case. Maybe he has something that prevents you from being charmed. It would be helpful if Kallisto didn’t fall to the snakes effects.” Nodding as she buzzed about she called out.

“Lina I’m going on a small adventure would you like to come?”
 
Arissa ran a hand through her hair as she thought back to the night before. “Well, apparently Maria used to make frequent visits to the Rapids. Believe it or not, she was quite prolific in the sport of... arm wrestling I believe he called it? At further questioning, Thackery revealed she had been using a belt to augment her abilities. In other news, apparently the spat between you and James is the talk of the town. I assured Terra of your continued friendship, but that is something to be concerned of. Then... apparently Annabelle was seen at the docks at the night of the ball. I had planned to speak with her on the subject later in fact.”

Arissa watched Peri disappear off to her room and then paused and blushed as she recalled what Terra had said about her and Bernard. “... There was one other thing. Apparently people have noticed my presence in the Marsh House and have begun to make... assumptions.” Arissa looked away from Bernard’s gaze, quickly concealing her embrassment as Peri returned. “Ah, thank you, Perian. I am afraid I do not have the funds that I had at my disposal back at home. Have a wonderful day, and please do give my regards to Yelcan.” She smiles to Peri teasingly and then looked down at her plate.
 
Bernard grinned, "Arissa, do they not have arm wrestling in Carmanth? I'll have to teach you sometime." He stifled a small laugh at the thought of arm wrestling Arissa. Maybe Kallisto will arm wrestle me... that's probably better than arm wrestling Arissa herself. Bernard nodded through the rest of the gossip until Peri ran off. "Assumptions? What assump-" He cut short as Peri re-entered. "...Yeah, I spoke with Annabelle last night. She mentioned possibly needing my help with something, and that she'd been working on something Alanik Ray taught her."

Bernard took the coin for the net, "Thanks Peri, one net coming up." He smiled. "Be safe out there, ok?" He looks back to Arissa, taking her hand on the table and waiting for Peri to leave before their conversation continues.
 
Blackburn Manor:

James comes out of the closet finishing up buttoning his shirt as he looks curiously over at Leone. "Two hundred years? That's a... if there was a mind two hundred years ago that could think of the Machine what could that person have done by today's standards?" he marveled at the thought. "Did it say what happened to the man?"

He finally came back over and sat on the bed looking out the windows on the far end of the room. The sun seemed to be shining brightly off the water this morning luckily the sun was on the backside of the house for now. "Alright well if you plan on leaving any time soon, I just wanted to see you off is all," James allowed himself to flop backwards onto the bed looking at Leone upside down. "I think I should give up trying to find a bad angle for you, because there doesn't seem to be any."

James smirked at his own compliment before looking up at the ceiling. "Well the day is wasting away, and I can't say I've been productive for the first thirty minutes or so of it. I'll have to see what is up today, and keep an eye on Violette when you go hunting. I guess we can use that as our final test as to whether she should be hired on to help protect the manner. She seems resourceful but I sense many of you have misgivings. I do have some for most strangers I meet but I won't let myself be paranoid and locked up like my family was before. I need to be more sociable." James stood up walking to the door and then stopped. "What do you think of the Church of Ezra...? I'm not really religious myself but maybe if we started going, it might sure up some of the rumors and make me at least seem not like a demon. I mean as long as I don't burst into flames treading upon Bernard's holy house."
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Grimdosh answered the door seeing Perian for a moment. He bends down and pats her on the head with an attempt at an exaggerated smile. "What brings you...?" he asks simply.
 
Arissa continued to stare down at her plate until she heard the door close behind Peri. She then looked up towards Bernard, not quite meeting his eyes and fidgeting with her hands. “Assumptions about what goes on between the two of us... People seem to think that we are... betrokken together... I suppose that we are, but not in the manner that people seem to believe us to be.” Arissa’s trailed off, blushing furiously and unsure of how to explain her feelings on the matter. “It is not like I am embarrassed to be seen with you or anything, Bernard, I can assure you of that. It is just so... improper. You are so much more to me than a mere pass time or plaything.“
 
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