[RP] Crag's Secrets: Chapter 1 - Arrival

"Yes, my lady, this looks like a good place to rest. Potential shelter from the elements and a natural place for Mr. Sadur and Mr. Kimbek to stop."

Belladonna tries to bolster Shallan's confidence as she sees her frown deepen the farther they move away from the bridge.

"I will check for traps and if we can enter this building. I'll be right back!"

Belladonna bounds off to look for traps by first checking the immediate surrounding area, then the doors.

As Belladonna approaches the large stone portal—ascending what seem to be increasingly higher steps—she is suddenly surprised as sunlight breaks through the dense canopy, illuminating the bas-relief carved directly above the entryway:


The square face of the figure, under the influence of the sunlight, appears to smile... only to return to a completely impassive, rectangular expression after a brief moment. Belladonna wonders whether its outstretched arms signify an invitation or a readiness to wield the staffs, which could just as easily be interpreted as spears.

When the square face above the doorway is again cloaked in shadow—perhaps because a branch in the tree canopy was momentarily pushed aside by a sudden gust of wind and then returned—Belladonna’s eyes adjust once more to the twilight, allowing her to notice a small monkey sitting on a nearby branch, watching her with curiosity.

Momentarily diverting her gaze from the monkey back to the stone passageway within the stone portal, Belladonna notices that the passage is relatively short, and on the other side, she sees more small steps leading to a stone plaza where brown shapes resembling tents are visible.
What do you do?

Belladonna notes the tents and that they may need to greet the current inhabitants before camping around the stone edifice. As she reflects on the momentarily revealed bas-relief, her gaze wanders back to the monkey. Was it holding something? She tries to coax it down with some of the jerky she found for the bird that took Brother Bartholomew away. If only Mr. Sadur was here...

The monkey at first was still interested in what Belladonna was offering to it. It even walked over the branch closer to check it... but after brief sniffing of the meat its hair over whole body stood up as in electrical shock, it screamed at the top of his lungs - visibly scared to the the bone - and ran to the nearest bushes...

"Could it have thought it was monkey meat?" - someone from the Rest commented, to only be distracted by the new commotion arising in the side of the jungle the monkey ran... Apparently waking some of the strange birds that were hiding there:


They flew into the air... with angry squeaks and started to look for the source of all the commotion. Than - evidently looking at your group - they started to fly towards you with a squawk reminiscent of a hunting falcon...

"Oops..."

As the strange birds dart towards them, Belladonna waves for everyone to run into the stone passageway for cover from the hostile creatures.

Belladonna tries to recall what she has learned to do when pterodactyls or other flying creatures come too close and have the potential of interrupting her spycraft. One of the strange birds veers off on its flight towards them to clip a bright flower.

That's it!

Something bright may distract them away from the group long enough for them to escape! She removes the bright scarf holding her hair back and ties it onto a nearby long stick. She plans to wave it to catch the bird's attention and run in the opposite direction, throwing it, and hiding while the birds go after the distraction!

Goodness, I'll look positively savage if I keep losing my stuff to distracting all these animals!

Belladonna knows it's a long shot, but if she can get the strange birds away from the group and distracted enough from her, she may be able to circle back. She waves the bright scarf as wildly as she can and, once enough birds are heading her way, she runs back the way they came, looking for a good spot to hide.

Seeing that Belladona chooses to be a live bait for the birds, Shallan ordered The Rest with lowered but decisive voice to come quickly after her and leads the small group of survivors to the other side of mysterious stone portal, disappearing from Belladona's eyes very quickly.

Belladona runs down the stairs making as much noise and commotion as she can, waving the red scarf above her head with the intensity of someone really determined, who feels that the predators are literary closing in. After few steps down the stairs, fortunately she finds a proper bush and a branch to hang the scarf and immediately turns on her heel and heads back to the stone portal, where her friends have already disappeared.

Even to her surprise the trick seams to work and while she managed to do the half way towards the stone door, the birds got to the scarf and started tearing it from each other like a piece of meat. As she feels that the birds are starting to realize that their catch is not exactly editable and useful to them and their screams start to fade away, instinctively Belladona ducks towards the nearest bushes on the edge of the stone stairs to hide. Making sure that the leaves are covering her, she tries to peak outside only realizing that she is like 10ft(3m) from the stone door and camouflaging shade of the passage. She hastily look at the other direction - of strange birds - sticking her head a little out of the bush and sees that only few last of them are still interested in the scarf. The rest is staring to determine where they actually are... and where this tasty, well fed halfling went...

Belladonna has to decide if she risk the dash towards the door, its passage and concealing shadow, waits in the bushes or does something else.

Belladonna peeks out of the bush and sees the stone door and potentially a safe haven from the birds is only 10 feet away, but 10 feet can feel like a mile when you are a halfling flagging from an adrenaline rush. She peeks back over to the strange birds that are now circling restlessly for a better meal than a scarf.

Shaking her head, Belladonna decides to risk it, taking advantage of the camouflaging shade along the way. If the birds had a sense of smell or better eyesight, they may very well find her in the bush after all. She hopes Kimbek, Sadur, Pepper, and Silver do not have to deal with the birds she's disturbed...

Silly as it looks, Belladonna attempts to almost hopscotch between the shady parts the leaves provide, using the foliage to dampen the sounds of her steps. As soon as she reaches the stone threshold, she cannot help but turn around and thumb her nose at them before disappearing into the passageway, hoping they haven't disturbed the residents too much.

Belladonna stands in the relative safety of the shadows under the stone door for a few tense moment. But after some time she becomes quite sure that the birds has lost her track and as long she won't show to them soon, they shouldn't follow her on the other side of stone portal.

With careful steps and rising curiosity she heads towards the dim light visible on the other side of short tunnel. Reaching its end she sees 3 more steps leading to stone platform on which there are visible some ruins of earlier construction and some tent's among them. She doesn't see or feel any activity in the area in front of her. Someone could certainly be thinking that the apparent camp is abandoned at the movement, but she knows well enough that she just arrived at the place and shouldn't be sure of anything.

Her inner considerations are broken by a low whisper she hears on her left side. She crouches instinctively and turns her head towards... Shallan - fortunately! - sticking out her head out of the nearby bushes and lower threes:
"Pssst! Come here... Belladonna... please. Don't be so... visible."

If she would join them Belladonna would notice that The Rest of their group is hiding there with the princess and tiring to decide what to do next:
"You saved us out there - once more" - Shallan admits with apparent gratefulness and... maybe a little hint of jealousy, but more of admiration and well intended - referring to Bella's last action with the birds.

"Now I have no choice - not that I wouldn't do that anyway - but to ask you how we should approach this camp? For a sake of our group ease of mind. They started to value your opinion even more." - said Shallan with charming and honest smile, this time fully admitting that she depends and counts on Belladona's help in the current situation.

"We haven't seen any movement in the camp, while you were gone."

What do you do?

Belladonna squats down and joins Shallan and the rest of the refugees in the bushes, just out of sight of the camp. Her eyes bug a little when she realizes Shallan is asking her for advice on what to do next. She has certainly never been trained on what to do, but as she looks over all of them, she realizes really none of them have been trained for this. Best to face challenges head on and, if anything, her time spying and wheedling her way out of danger made her the most qualified for negotiations without risking royalty. Hopefully it was fellow refugees or kind locals they would be meeting!

The halfling sighed a little, wishing Brother Bartholomew was still with them. He would be the perfect mix of benign old man hiding steel if needed depending on how the meeting went. She shakes her head and focuses on what they do have.

"I'll do my best my lady to make us some friends! Did we perchance capture a feather or talon from the flying creature we can use during our talks? Also anything valuable other than our food? I will go with two others and we will ply our case. Do not blast anything with your invention unless it looks like we cannot escape with our lives. Better to face those birds outside than make enemies."

"In fact... yes... I took a feather... that the bird have left for us... while taking Brother Bartholomew with it..." - Shallan she sighed very heavily - "a terrifying exchange... indeed. But if it will safe us now... his sacrifice will not be in vain. I have nothing other than my invention and tools of value. But I think we will make better use of them, as long as you won't find another engineer in those tents...".

She gives the big white feather to Belladonna, placing it on her hand with the solemnity appropriate for a keepsake.

"Who will you choose to accompany you on this task??" - Shallan asked with a renewed curiosity (completely independent of the current situation), that could only be found in inventors.

Belladonna extends both hands and bows her head a little as she takes the big white feather from Shallan. The feather would hopefully provide weight to their story and their goal of finding their companion. Hostile or friendly, whoever is at the camp may slip where Brother Bartholomew was taken.

"I believe Delia and Auren would be best for this."

She looks at the two Royalists she refers to. First, a tall human woman steps forward, still dressed in her civilian clothing, but a leather pauldron and bracers and her strong arms hint at her barbarian training. A hooded elven man, shorter than most of his race so barely taller than the other humans, quietly steps forward. Back in the kingdom, Belladonna worked often with Auren, not only for his height advantage, but his deadly accuracy as a rogue employed like her with Brother Bartholomew to protect the royal family. I wonder how they sussed Auren out, or maybe they just don't like non-humans...

"I will take point. Please look as, um, non-menacing as possible, but be ready for trouble."

"Be my guest little one! Hehe! Don't take that as offense, because I think every size has it uses!" - Delia said with almost too loud chuckle, while stretching her impressive muscles, visible even under her cloths. She stepped few more steps towards the camp, then stopped and turned back at Belladonna with a "So we're not going there right away?!?" written all over her face. Visibly eager for some action.

Auren grimaced slightly as he apparently concluded - in his opinion - that the barbarian woman seemed to be careless even at this stage of their infiltration. He smiled mysteriously at Belladona. He bowed. Then he looked expressively towards the camp. Apparently trying to notice some new details with his intriguing eyes. All of this without uttering a single word.

Belladona didn't really know what the bow meant. A greeting? Thanks for choosing? Letting them know that he remembered her from their previous cooperation. Well... that was Auren. You could never be sure what he was thinking or planing to do next.

What do you do?

Belladonna grimaces a little. Maybe Delia and Auren weren't the best choices after all as she sees Delia already being aggressive and Auren being enigmatic as always. She sighs a little and shrugs her shoulders, but then puts on a big smile to try and inspire confidence.

"Thank you for following my lead and Princess Shallan's confidence! I will go first and we go as a group. I am going to play my flute as we go up the stairs to the center area with the firepit. Hopefully friendlies come out to see what I am playing and who we are, but keep an eye out for attacks."

Belladonna is just hoping to find friendly intelligent people to talk to and determine if the whole group will be welcomed or not. She will also be on the lookout for more signs that these people may be on the smaller size and could be related to the hut Sadur found.

Before they head over, she notices Auren doing his usual surveillance and whispers, "Is there anything we need to watch out for Auren?"

"Everything. Like always. Unfortunetlly I don't see anything new." - Auren simply answered with his melodic, but sharp voice. Having another smile on his face, that could be in the same measures: indeed expressing the happines of not seeing a new threat or... about how good his dinner was, last week when they were all still at the kingdom... Leaving Belladona a little confused again.

Delia hearing Belladona's declaration waits and says: "Of course you are going first! You are the boss right now. Lit-... I mean... damn... sure, you do, Boss!" - she makes clumsy gesture of letting someone pass in front of her, winks her eye towards Belladona and... smiles surprisingly charming towards her. Leaving an impression that she indeed is trusting Princess's judgment on her choice of leader for this mission. When Belladona is passes her, she starts to walk behind her and adds: "Always few steps behind you. We can do it! Either by your music or my fist!" - he chicles again, happy that things are put in motion now.

Auren fallows them at some bigger distance behind both of them. Which amused Belladone a bit, because from a distance it must have looked like he was pretending they didn't know each other - accidentally walking the same way while taking a Sunday walk in the park. And the fact was: they were approaching a foreign camp... in the middle of a tropical jungle.

Balladona pulled out her flute and began to play one of the popular and beloved melodies of halflings kin. She began to climb the stairs leading to the camp... At the same time, trying not to think too much about her two specific companions. She quickly felt the melodies, let her legs be carried by the next cheerful notes. These sounds, heard so many times in the Kingdom's many inns, seemed to fill her with growing vigor and joy. At first Belladona seemed to almost float towards center of stone square. Jump from foot to foot. But... The closer she was to the center of the camp, the more sad her melody began to be, and the slower her footsteps became. Until at some point... The music completely stopped.

Belladona realized at that moment that the camp seemed to be completely abandoned and no one would come out to meet and greet them.

Instead of a friendly smile and a lively greeting, they were met by a rather unsettling silence.

Only broken by the occasional flapping of one of the walls, one of the tents. Probably moved by a slight breeze, which meant that the camp must be located on the top of a hill they were constantly climbing and that one of the walls of the forest surrounding them was less dense than usual.

"The fire in the central hearth had not been burning for several days, perhaps even longer", Dalia observed with a gloomy expression.

"Although some of the tents are not even laced up. As if someone had gone out for a moment, but intended to return soon," Auden added in opposition to the above observation. And smiled again, for no particular reason. Or at least: not known to Belladona.

Then they both looked at Belladona - waiting for her decision of what to do next.

Auren, cryptic as always, and yet...

With the flute playing stopped, the oppressive silence is only broken by the slight breeze causing the tents to flap. Belladonna furtively moves to the table near the fire pit and grabs a sharp implement (hopefully a knife?).

"It looks like something came and disturbed the residents. Hopefully it just scared them off instead of, *gulp*, eating them. Let's keep on the lookout."

Belladonna leads the way to the smaller tent at the 1 o'clock position.

Belladonna finds a small knife on the table, but it's unfortunately is an ordinary kitchen knife... not much a weapon, but made of metal, so...
"Better that, then nothing" - she probably thinks.

Belladonna approaching smaller tent at the other side of the camp notices few things:
- this tent is well tied
- the bigger tent to its right have double cloth-doors. The right part is half open providing an easy access inside and the other have a strange hole in the tent fabric, in the shape of circle about 2ft in diameter with darkened edges, looking almost as burned, but as the rest of the door don't have any signs of flames Belladonna don't think it could be regular fire that made the hole. The interior of the bigger tent is shrouded in darkness, at least it looks that way from outside that is still well lit by the sun,
- behind the tent Belladona is approaching is wooden cart. From this position it is not visible if anything is in it or if it is empty,
- being so close tho the other side of a camp, Belladona is now quite sure that it's a wall of threes behind the cart that is much less dense or at least much less dense the other 3 parts of surrounding the camp,

Remaining consistent with her earlier decision, Belladonna unfastens the tent door with strange need of urgency in her and looks inside, trying to let in as much light possible by rising the tent's cloth as heigh as she can. Suddenly! The interior gets much more brighter to her surprise... only for Belladonna to realize that it was Delia who have helped her with the cloth and throw most of it on the tent roof - with a big and warm smile. She sighed as quietly as she could, trying not to reveal to her companions the tension that grew inside her. She looked back, seeing that Auren has already joined them, sitting on the bench, checking the fireplace, then appearing to be looking for some wood stash... trying to behave like it would be his own camp... and he just returned from a little trip in the woods...

Then she entered the tent.

The interior could be called very ordinary: a camp bed on the left, some blankets on it, a blue robe hanged above the bed...

Could... if on the other side of the tent, near the back wall there wasn't a fancy, very out-of-the-place for a judge environment, but small dresser with 3 drawers... and a object that looks like a glass ball positioned on top of it, approximately in the center of the top countertop.

What do you do?

Belladonna gripped the little kitchen knife in her hand tightly, tense from the silence and uncertainty of their situation. Grateful to have companions, but wishing they would take the situation more seriously, she creeps into the tent that Delia has helped to open up and looks around. It almost looked like any other tent she has been in with disarrayed blankets on a camp bed as if the inhabitant had only stepped out for a moment. Her attention is soon arrested by the strange spherical glass object at the back on top of the small dresser.

Thinking back to the burned hole in the tent fabric, she grabs one of the blankets and approaches the glass ball. With easy grace, she drops the blanket on top of the glass ball, making sure it's secure before rummaging through the drawers. Belladonna starts with the bottom drawer that is easiest for her to reach.

"Delia, anything interesting in the pockets of that robe by you?"