1.1 The Singing Sword

Seneia smiles and pats Szent on the shoulder. Then she starts walking through the group, gently touching each and every one.

"Friends? At least I hope they consider me as one. We are all living in Roland's orphanage."

Seneia reaches the other side of the group, effectively standing between Slink and the deeper reaches of the alleyway. There she turns and fingers fiddling with the tip of her horn as she regards Slink thoughtfully.

"As is this girl. 14 years, blonde, about this tall, beautiful singing voice and not unpleasant to look at either. Her name is Milly. We heard you might know something about her."

As the reality of the situation hits Elden, he slumps to the ground, and can be heard whispering, "I killed a man, I killed him..." he has tears in his eyes and he is having trouble breathing. He has undergone combat training and has done very well with it, but the reality of it is far different than he thought it would be, far more terrible. It goes against everything he believes in. He is only half-listening to the conversation going on around him.

Weylan puts his hand on Elden's shoulder and squeezes it gently. He well remembers when he was 8 and alone and starving, and had to fight a wolf over a rabbit he'd snared. It was the first time he'd killed something not for food. He'd sat in the snow and wept over the dead creatures until the snow started to cover him and he'd been forced to the practical consideration of building a fire. Such a terrible power...

Watching from a distance Szent notices Elden's reaction and realizes what has just happened. Remembering the first, and only, time he had to take a life in defense of others he has some idea what Elden is going through. Empathizing with him he walks over and squats next to his friend. "You did what needed to be done, of this I am sure. Your reaction to taking a life just proves that those at the orphanage have trained you well."

With that he pats Elden on the shoulder and leaves him alone in his thoughts.

Elden leaps to his feet, grabbing Slink's hand and says to him, "I just took a life to save yours, you owe us at least this much! You are going to tell us what happened to Milly," his face is wet with tears, but there is fire behind his eyes. He is not going to let this go so easily.

OOC: Ouch, that is some terrible rolling!

Rufio grabs Slink by ht lapels as he walks past and slams him against a wall. "Look, that bastard cut me bad when I helped saved yer life. I know you saw what happened to Milly. So talk!"

Szent will move to block the alley as Elden grabs at Slink. If the rogue breaks away from Elden, Szent will do his best to look intimidating while the others try to convince Slink to part with any information he may have on Milly. Should Slink try to get past Szent he will attempt to tackle the rogue as he goes by.

DM note - Nice rolls!!

Seneia narrows her eyes, but does not leap to get hold of Slink. Instead, she takes a few steps back, walking with Slink, trying to make sure he does not get past her.

I approach the halfling with a friendly smile. "Slink, we just want to know what happened to our friend. As soon as you tell us everything you know, we'll be on our way. If you don't say anything, we can only assume you were involved, and while I'm not one for violence, I can't say the same for my friends. So what do you say? How about we have ourselves a conversation?"

Weylan paces Slink on the opposite side from Seneia, honestly curious as to what Slink thinks he's doing, rejecting his hand and acting like they are trying to kill Slink, rather than that they just saved him from being killed.
*Is he really that rude, or is he very scared of something?*
He's probably not going to be heard the first time he repeats his question, but Weylan'll keep trying:
"Seriously: who were those guys?"

Before the group leaves the alley, Seneia stops and takes her first good look at the attackers. She winces slightly at the sight of the fruits of violence, but takes a step closer nevertheless.

"What do you think, everyone? Is there something to learn about who these guys were and where did they come from by taking a closer look at them?"

Seneia looks reluctant to do it herself, trying to peer at the bodies from couple paces away.

OOC: What would I roll to try to the deduce something from the bodies? Insight?

Rufio is no stranger to blood and violence. He takes a closer look at the thugs to see if he recognizes anyone, then he goes through their pockets for clues.

"You should answer to good Weylan, Slink" Feylinde said getting closer to the halfling.
"Remember he just saved your life after all, and he seems really concerned about you" she added with a smile caressing Slink's cheek.

Realizing that the halfling is still bleeding Elden will chant a quick prayer and quickly Slink's wounds. Despite his anger and shame over what has happened, he can't stand to see people suffer.

"Alright, but no funny business."

Turning up nothing on the corpses Rufio nods to the others. "He's right, we'll all be safer in the inn. And we'd better get out of here before the city watch comes!" With his reputation as a troublemaker Rufio has had many encounters with the Watch before, none of them pleasant. Though Sir Roland vouching for him has afforded him has protected him he's not eager for any run-ins with the law.