Fantasy Cursed Island

[Fangs9090]

Roy nodded as Nidia sat on the bed with her fur fluffed out. “So, we tracked the thief down and found remains, as well as the stone.”

 

[Darkling0096]

"So we only need to leave," Turac nodded.

"It is not so simple," Jalin shook his head, "We want the court's good graces, so we are commissioning a replica."

 

[Fangs9090]

Roy nodded. "It'll take a day, maybe two. So our current story is that we found the body but no stone, so we came back to prepare before following the lead."

 

[Darkling0096]

Turac hummed a bit as he processed that, "But we possess the stone, yes?"

"We have left it with a scrivener," Jalin replied, "She is forging a replica, on the promise that we will share information gleaned from our travels."

 

[Fangs9090]

"Because the alternative price was 500 gold. But if she is an information broker, that could work for us. She may be able to point us to the other stones."

 

[Darkling0096]

"That is assuming she will disclose that information," Turac reminded Roy, "She is a businesswoman, she would have a vested interest in scalping where she could get away with it."

 

[Fangs9090]

"True. We may have to pay, or offer some information of our own."

 

[Darkling0096]

"Well, either way," Turac shrugged, "We must make this happen, so we must now plan for whether we will be removed from the castle or not. Did you glean anything useful from the thief's body?"

"Yes, actually," Jalin nodded and produced the tool the thief used to get his hook to the Prince's chambers, "This seems to be the thief's climbing implement."

 

[Fangs9090]

"That may be useful later on."

Emilia spoke up. "Aside from the tools though, there wasn't much left intact."

 

[Darkling0096]

"That mystery creature that has been following us may be involved," Jalin nodded, "It is impossible to know until we can detect it."

 

[Fangs9090]

Roy crossed his arms. "Jalin confirmed it was there at the scene with us though. Which begs the question of why it attacked the thief but left us alone..."

 

[Darkling0096]

Turac frowned, "If it killed the thief, it is capable of harming us at any time. That can only mean it is interested in us, or at least not hostile to us."

"If I could point the thing to one of you so it could be caught, we would have answers," Jalin sighed, "But every time I find it, it moves and I cannot plot it's pattern."

 

[Fangs9090]

Roy shook his head. "As if we didn't have enough to deal with as it is, we've got this mystery being of unknown intentions following us around..."

 

[Darkling0096]

"We will find it, and we will learn from it, or I will eat it," Turac declared.

"You and what-" THUNK! Sinach didn't even get to finish the sentence.

 

[Fangs9090]

"In any case, we should report to the king. The guards will have seen us return and they may wonder why we're taking so long to report."

 

[Darkling0096]

Turac nodded, "I trust you will be able to handle that?", he asked, gesturing to Nidia, "These two have proven a handful I fear to leave to their own devices."

 

[Fangs9090]

Nidia smiled. "Aw, you wanna spend time with me.~"

Roy sighed. "Yes, we'll leave them under your watch. You've managed thus far."

 

[Darkling0096]

Turac nodded, "Siege will not thaw for several hours, but she should not be harmed, I ensured she could breathe." Her draconic blood should keep her from being frostbitten too badly, and Nidia's potions could handle the rest. He stood and fetched Nidia a towel so she could dry off better, "You can call on one of the amulets if you need us."

"Will do," Jalin nodded and tapped his cane, "We shall return."

 

[Fangs9090]

Roy nodded and headed on to the throne room, with Emilia and Katsuo following behind. Nidia accepted the towel and started drying off. It was a miracle she didn't strip first.

 

[Darkling0096]

Turac followed the others far enough to close the door so Nidia had some privacy to dry off and change out of her soaked clothes. "We will be waiting."

"Of course," Jalin nodded as he followed the others to the throne room, "We shall return."

 

[Fangs9090]

The king and prince greeted the group as they returned to the throne room. Once the formalities were out of the way, Roy spoke up. "We managed to locate the thief, but he was dead when we arrived. Killed by some beast that had left already. The stone was not on his person though, so we'll keep searching, once we've prepared."

The king listened quietly until he finished. "I see... Very well. I will have some scouts check areas nearby where the thief may have hidden his cache. If you learn anything more, inform the guard."

 

[Darkling0096]

"We have put out feelers for the thief's contacts," Jalin nodded, "We expect we shall have a stronger lead before the week is out." Ideally, before the day was out, but the scrivener probably couldn't work that quickly, fast travel or no.

 

[Fangs9090]

Fitzroy dipped his head to them. "I wish you all the best of luck. Hopefully the stone hasn't gone too far."

 

[Darkling0096]

"I doubt the thief or his contacts would have been able to get the stone past the mott," Jalin smiled, "We found the thief used a magical device to get his hook onto the Prince's sill, he was alone as far as we can tell."

 

[Fangs9090]

The king nodded. "Good. Then I'll expect good news from you soon."