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

Belladonna stepped cautiously into the tent, her sharp eyes immediately catching on a suspicious orb resting atop the upper surface of a small wooden dresser. As she approached, the orb seemed to react dramatically to the sunlight streaming in through the tent’s open flap.

The sphere absorbed each stray beam of light with an almost predatory hunger, drawing it inward, churning it into something else, and then radiating an otherworldly glow outward. This glow wasn’t just any light—it reached out toward Belladonna herself, casting long tendrils that seemed to brush against her skin like ghostly fingers, as though probing her presence, her very essence.

That was when the halfling’s instincts screamed at her—this wasn’t natural. Something was wrong. Acting purely on intuition, Belladonna snatched one of the blankets draped over a nearby bed and threw it over the orb. Instantly, the light dimmed, and the orb let out a piercing, eerie sound—a mix of an alarm siren and a high-pitched whistle—before falling silent as abruptly as a trumpet cut off mid-blare by an assassin’s arrow.

"Some kind of alarm?" Dalia, her companion, mused from the tent’s entrance, nodding approvingly at Belladonna’s quick thinking. "Nothing in the robes' pockets. But their owner? Definitely tall... and fond of hoods."

Belladonna turned her attention to the dresser’s drawers. Most were empty, but one yielded a collection of items:
- small, empty, bell-shaped glass bottle, with wooden stopper,
- small wooden figurine of a bird,
- slightly tarnished silver coin with intricate carvings along its rim. One - visible - side depicts a radiant sun,

What do you do?

Listening to Delia's thoughts on the robe's owner, she thinks back about what they have seen so far. Was that hunting blind designed for someone small like herself or someone very tall, necessitating the standing on the chair?

She shakes her head and focuses on the task at hand. Belladonna decides to pocket everything she has found for now.

"Hey, are you stealing somebody's stuff?"

Delia has wandered over to Belladonna and her investigations through the drawers.

"N-no! This just might be better to check out on that table outside. Maybe they're clues about what happened."

She gives a side eye to the covered glass sphere and decides to leave it securely where it is for now. She has no experience with the strange presence she was feeling with it and will consult with the others about it, once they are together and decided on where to rest for the night. She leads Delia out of the tent and plans to put the items they have collected on the table to investigate in better light.

Belladonna takes described items without any further problems, being careful not to touch the fabric lying on the top of the dresser and making it fall by accident. When she reaches for the coin and gets it into her hand, it feels slightly warm to the touch, as if infused with dormant energy.

Getting out of the tent and putting the peculiar items on the table in the center of the camp, she notices that Auren already managed to collect some wood, put it into the fireplace and is trying to start some fire. Seeing that Belladonna looks at him, Auren just comments:
"They have a nice supply of wood there, and more interestingly: quite a pile of metal ore in some barrels. Everything is evenly arranged." - he said that pointing to a small supply, sheltered with a square material suspended on four wooden poles [object at 8 o'clock].

When Belladonna puts the collected items on the table and have some time to look closer to them, she notice fallowing things:
- The Coin: is a slightly tarnished silver coin with intricate carvings along its rim. One side depicts a radiant sun, while the other shows a crescent moon surrounded by stars. When held, it feels slightly warm to the touch, as if infused with dormant energy.
- The Bottle: This small, bell-shaped glass bottle has an iridescent sheen that catches the light, reflecting faint rainbow hues. The stopper is carved from a smooth, dark wood and etched with a faint spiral design, suggesting it once held something potent. Inside, faint traces of a shimmering liquid cling to the sides like dew.
- Small wooden figurine of a bird: is a shape of a bird reassembling the one you have encountered on the bridge, but its legs and claws are curved around something resembling a pole that is embedded in square cube or pedestal. This pedestal have some signs of wear like it would scratched by a different surface from every side... or inserted somewhere.While Belladonna was engulfed with checking the items with Dalia at her side (not in slightest less curious and interested... if not even more) she didn't notice or heard that something is approaching them.

But Auren did. Instead of sounding a loud and immediate alarm to attract his female companions attention fully, he just said - slightly louder:
"Something bigger then halfling... or... even human... is coming our way." - not taking his eyes from the campfire, that was already starting it's first sparks to ignite, with voice as not emotional as he would be talking about turning the meat on the other side for the 13th time.

What do you do?

Belladonna's eyes flick up with concern to Auren, but her movements also do not suggest any urgency over his statement. She would like to spend more time on if the items are to be used together in some way and if the source of wood for the bottle stopper, bird, and what was collected at the camp were the same, but she decides to instead gather up the items once again, as though she had lost interest in the items and was putting them away for later, and whispers to Auren.

"Which o'clock are they coming from?"

She shakes her head very slightly at Delia, indicating that she should not become too agitated just yet.

Before Auren turn their attention to fact that something is approaching them, Balladana managed to notice that the bottle stopper is definitely made from some other kind of wood, definitely more "noble" then the jungle wood gathered in the camp. But the small wooden figurine of a bird - indeed, could be made from the same kind of wood that was gathered in the camp. It even looked as relatively newly made, in contrast to bottle stopper that could have many years.

Auren answering to Belladona's question just said:
"More or less... from that one." - and pointed his finger directly at Belladona, still not taking his sight from the fire that already started to grow at fireplace and spread on bigger logs.

For her only to realize that indeed something is approaching them... unfortunately she is turned with her back to it... and she already sees its shadow in front of her growing with each step...

And right about moment when Belladona is ready to act fast and decisively... she hears so familiar to her croak and feels a gentle poke at her bottom by Pepper's snout!

Belladonna makes an exasperated face at Auren as he blatantly points at a potential threat, giving away their element of surprise. She soon sees a shadow over the fire that is growing bigger and bigger by the second. She tenses her body, curling her hands into fists, and prepares to whirl around and face whatever danger is approaching head on when she hears a familiar croak and something pokes her bottom.

Her mood instantly changes and she whirls around instead with a smile and arms open wide.

"Oh, my darling Pepper! Whenever did you arrive?"

With a loud laugh, she jumps and holds onto Pepper's neck, her legs dangling in the air a little as she affectionately pats her mount's head. Auren secretly smiles as he continues to tend the fire. Delia also laughs heartily and wraps both of them in a big bear hug.

After affectionate cooing and checking Pepper's condition, Belladonna hops back on the ground and pats Pepper's side as she looks around the camp.

"Pepper, I am so glad you are safe! It looks like Mr. Sadur and Mr. Kimbek did a good job looking after you. Or maybe you looked after them! We should see what they think of the camp so far. I think that cart in the back would be good to check next."

Maybe Mr. Sadur knows what kind of bird this is and Mr. Kimbek and Princess Shallan know more what this old bottle must have held...