Legacy of the Hearthwoods part two - RPLOG
Participants
Date
26/7/477
Log
Having been watching quietly, she finally decided it was best to make her presence known. Before the group can make their way into any of those rooms that'd make her surprise difficult, Cassidy drops from a rafter and steps in with them, adjusting her hat and acting as if she'd always been there. "Did you enjoy your meal?" She asks simply.
Jera's attempt to enter the nursery is met with a little resistance, which is quickly revealed to be the remnants of an old barricade as he pushes through. A wardrobe, a chest of drawers, even a crib - the shattered remnants of the furniture lie behind the broken-in door, having stood no chance against whatever had been trying to break in that fateful day all those years ago. The rotting remains of decades-old toys lie strewn haphazardly about the floor, most of them ripped or broken - stuffed dolls, wooden toys, and even an old music box.
Left to mould away in a corner in the aged, brittle skeleton of what might have been a female wolf, clearly cowering in her last moments, two tiny skeletons held close to her breast. Just beside the sombre scene of death, someone's left a note stuck to the wall, noticeably newer than everything else in the room...
Selena makes her way into the room quietly behind the others, swallowing noticeably as her gaze lingers over the furniture, the torn dolls and wooden toys, then to the skeletons. The wolfess shakes her head a little at first, slowly pacing over to the note on the wall.
It takes a few moments for the wolfess to react at all, shaking slightly and taking a quiet breath, before removing the note from the wall and offering it over a shoulder to the rest of the group. "I don't care what the monsters here are doing. These three deserve a burial, not to be left here and spat on." The wolfess pauses briefly, eyes narrowing slightly. "If they were going to attack, they'd have done so. It's clear that they're just skeletons and I somehow doubt that they aren't being used somehow after being to the crypts in Mossy Stone."
Natska considers the door of the study for a long moment, then nods her head as the group begins to move towards the other rooms instead. She takes a few steps after Jera, but quickly turns as a new person drops on scene - pivoting on one paw, the other planting itself behind her in a guard position. She relaxes though, ear flicking, as she sees who it is. "Cass," the jaguar greets, a hint of a smile creeping into her voice despite the setting. "I am glad you caught up to us." She catches up to Jera and Selena then, peeking into the room; she gestures. "A note. It looks newer. What does it say, Jera?"
"I'm afraid you'll have to ask Selena. Can't quite read it from where I'm standing." Jera gives Cassidy a glare in response, though just a light one. "Was missing the lady at the table. You'd have done a much better job."
Cassidy tips her hat to Natska and Jera as she steps into the nursery behind the others. "Sorry it took me so long. I had to finish my tea. It wouldn't be proper to go snooping around the manor without having had my proper tea. I thought you did well enough with the ghosts, though, had I been there I'd have been happy to play the part of lady Hearthwood." She chuckles softly, not seeming too mussed by the grim situation. "Such a sad sight, what happened here."
Selena shakes her head slightly. "What's sad is that the beings here are choosing to profit from their demise. Even for an old one that presides over death, that's sickening." She growls as she moves over to the room's boarded-up window.
Taking out the odd half-spear weapon Kenrac's supplicants recieve, she begins to pry the rotting wood away - as obvious as her intent is to remove them expediently, it's also clear she's still not intending to make too much noise if she can avoid it.
Natska watches Selena at work, nodding slightly, but remains at the door of the room; the armored jaguar turns to look back out over the second floor and the solarium below, keeping an eye out for anyone else that might drop in while the caller works inside.
Cassidy scoots up towards the skeletal remains, her curiosity getting the better of her. She doesn't make a sound, watching Selena quietly up until she decides to reach out with a gloved hand to try to poke the skeleton. She did enjoy tempting fate.
Jera crosses his arms, looking displeased at Selena. "Have you no respect for the- That might just have been one of my teachers or friends, or...or..." He huffs.
Selena looks back over her shoulder, the wolfess prying the last plank loose to punctuate Jera's statement. "Calm down, Jera. If we're going to give this woman and her children a proper burial, we're going to be handling the bones a bit more." She replies, tone half way between angered at the entire situation though somewhat sympathetic to the Kit's comments.
The wolfess takes a few moments to survey the area before she drops down to the garden, beginning to carefully excavate a section of the soil for the three with some measure of solemnity.
Natska glances back over her shoulder, then hisses sharply as she sees Selena drop out the window. Her ears go flat, and she stalks across the room to lean on the ledge, looking down at Selena. She starts to say something, reconsiders it, and begins to say something else. Then she pauses, reconsiders that, and shakes her head. "There is a perfectly servicable crypt behind you, is there not?" she asks - refraining from shouting but, hopefully, projecting enough for the wolf to hear her.
Jera realizes that he's letting the place...and his own history get to him, starting to take deep breaths and squeezing his hands and then thinking of happier places. And then he lowers his head, mumbling a soft prayer and hoping that helps at least.
Cassidy frowns softly at Jera and nods. "Yes, my apologies." She reaches up to unclasp her cloak, setting it out on the ground. "If we need something to carry them in, the small ones at least... Feel free to make use of my cape. We are lacking in a proper casket." She just hoped they wouldn't bury /it/ as well. "I am hestitant to put them in the manor crypt, but if you all feel that is best, then that is what we will do."
Selena responds with a flat tone; "Did you forget where we are, Natska? And for that matter, given the room you're standing in, don't try to tell me you think the crypt isn't being used either."
The wolfess turns back to her work for a little longer until she's satisfied with the job done. "For that matter, whoever the Hearthwoods were, they're dead now. And this forsaken place isn't the kind where dead rest easy in crypts at all." The wolfess notes, 'jumping' back to the window with obvious use of air magic.
Noting Cassidy's gesture, the wolfess nods back to the fox. "We don't need a proper casket to bury them in. Just something to move the bones with. Thank you." She replies softly, beginning to move bones to the grave until none are left, and the skeletons laid out similarly to how a cadaver would be left in their coffin - then, the soil she had moved is piled back over the skeletons. "... If anyone has anything to say, now would be the time." She notes simply. "If I knew the woman, I'd probably have some of my own beyond 'rest in peace'."
