Siliwen looks up at Riddle as he helps her to her feet. "I did not kill him," she says simply, even though she was not sure of the truth of this statemnt. She did not consciously kill him that was for sure, but how ot prove it would be the hard part of this matter. Siliwen looks at the blood on her hands and for the blood that should be on her clothes if she had somehow did this heinous act under compusion. If she had struck the blow she should have sprays of blood across the front of her somewhere.

(Siliwen looks to see if she does have blood other than on her hands) She quickly starts organizing in her own mind what she knows and what she needs to find out about this situation. At this time the facts were sketchy. she turns her face to Riddle her eyes expressing a her thanks for his support. Indeed she was thankful to all of them for standing up. It made her feel less alone in the strange place and under these even stranger circumstances.

With even more feeling she calls out clearly into the common room. "I did not kill the innkeeper. How could I have wielded that piece of metal like a weapon against a man of his size and for what reason would I do such a thing."

"I know you didn't and i will do what ever it takes to see you free of this" Riddle says in as soothing of a voice as he can muster given the circumstances "now lets get you out of here and up stairs so we can sort this whole thing out and keep you safe in the process."

As things in the common room start to move faster than Thor would like and the crowd there keeps growing and getting more vocal, with at least one person trying ti incite the room full of people
One man, a warrior by the looks of him walks over to the doorway, he turns back to the room and remarks, “The door is still barred from the inside.” Everyone in the room can see that the windows shutters are still drawn and barred from the inside.

“She killed him,” someone whispers from near the stairway.

“We should hang her,” Someone else remarks.

Thor now standing in the middle of the room with Riddle and Siliwen listens to the crowd and then responds to them , all the while trying to get Riddle and Billy to get Siliwen away from the body and hopefully back upstairs at least for now.
You are quite correct sir the door is still barred as are the shutters so that means that the killer probally did not leave by either of those ways and may then still be here and could be anyone here in this room or still upstairs. From feeling the body it is apparent this man has been dead for awhile for he is cold, and was not just killed by this little woman. So I suggest that everyone goes back to their rooms and we let Karl here handle this in the proper manner. Turning to Billy Billy see if you can get Karl and the Innkeepers wife to go back into the kitchen and then see if you can find out from Karl what their proceedures are for something like this, who is in charge of cases like this. Riddle you and Alea try to get Siliwen back upstairs calmed down and cleaned up , and I will do what i can to resolve this mystrey. Then pulling both Riddle, and Billy close to him before they set about their jobs he whispers quitly to them try to get this area cleared out so I can see about possably setting up an escape if for some extream reason we need to.

Billy nods to Thors and turns to Karl, "If you wouldn't mind, could you help me ge the poor widow back into the kitchen? Seeing all this isn't going to do her any good. Is there a town constable or someone in charge who can help make sense of this whole thing?" Billy waits a moment for Karl's responses. In the mean time he simply moves slowly closer to the innkeeper's wife, trying to shield her view with his body.

Location: Northpoint Road – Leeside Way Inn
Date/Time: Day Three - Sunrise
“We should hang her!”

"Corellon curse the Dark One," Alea spit out angerily. "His minions have been trying to get at Siliwen since we killed the Na'sir and drove off the wolfman last night."

"There has been a concerted and foul attempt to get rid of her, the Dark One must fear her to go to this length."

"Until moments ago Siliwen was in her bed asleep, some fell magic brought her here to be blamed for this. for I was at guard in the doorway, as we kept guard all night, fearing another attack." Alea is speaking fast and furious, trying to defuse the situation. "One of you warriors must know the fell of a dead man. Come feel this one he has been dead for a while, look at the amount of blood pooled here. Also consider the power needed to drive such a crude weapon so deeply into the chest. No meer girl could do that."

Siliwen looks up at Riddle as he helps her to her feet. "I did not kill him," she says simply, even though she was not sure of the truth of this statement. She did not consciously kill him that was for sure, but how ot prove it would be the hard part of this matter. Siliwen looks at the blood on her hands and for the blood that should be on her clothes if she had somehow did this heinous act under compulsion. If she had struck the blow she should have sprays of blood across the front of her somewhere.

With even more feeling she calls out clearly into the common room. "I did not kill the innkeeper. How could I have wielded that piece of metal like a weapon against a man of his size and for what reason would I do such a thing."

Billy turns to Karl, "If you wouldn't mind, could you help me ge the poor widow back into the kitchen? Seeing all this isn't going to do her any good. Is there a town constable or someone in charge who can help make sense of this whole thing?"
Karl stands protectively in front of the widow shielding her from everyone and eyes Billy suspiciously. “Come no closer,” he says sounding as if he will fight the big man to protect the woman, “it seems quite obvious about what is going on around here.” He sounds much like the others in the room, having already seen enough to come to a verdict on the guilty party.

“We are supposed to believe them?” One man says after the outbursts from Alea and Siliwen make them pause, and the crowd begins to close in again, their hands moving to their weapons. It looks like they will have to fight if they wish to protect Siliwen.

Suddenly, a burst of light brightens the room and a clap sounding like thunder erupts through Inn. The front door suddenly swings open, the bar holding it closed parts easily as if it were made of kindling and a figure walks into the Inn and stands in the doorway. The people closing on Siliwen pause and shield their eyes from the bright light; a few even draw weapons as if expecting an attack.

“HOLD!” a voice bellows from the doorway, it is a powerful authoritative voice which seems to freeze those closing in on the group.

Drawing everyone’s attention is a middle aged human man standing there dressed in simple brown robes carrying a simple wooden staff topped by a round multifaceted cyrstal. He is a handsome looking man, with shoulder length brown hair and a close cropped beard and mustache. He looks about the room taking in the entire scene before him.

Seeing the dead body of the barkeep on the floor, he walks over to it and after looking at it for a few seconds he looks back up at the group. His deep brown eyes scan each of them in turn, he pauses looking at Siliwen noting the bloody hands and then back to the body.

“Alacran,” someone whispers from the mob and the weapons are slowly returned to their resting places. Everyone moves back from the party now, the urge to hang someone apparently forgotten for now.

The man looks up and spots Karl standing guard in front of the crying widow, he walks past the group and approaches him, lays a hand on the man’s shoulder, “You should take Sara to her room,” the man tells him softly, “I will tend to things here.”

Karl nods and turning helps the woman to her feet and slowly leads her back into the kitchen and soon her sobbing fades away.

The man turns back to the room and eyes the mob as he walks over to the body once again. Facing the room he goes to one knee and drawing a slip of cloth from his robe he wraps it around his hand and with a twisting motion pulls the iron spike from the dead man’s chest. The floor board creaks when it is withdrawn telling of how deeply it was imbedded in the wood beneath. Standing the man holds out the bloody weapon to everyone in the room.

“You all have seen these before no doubt,” he states addressing the mob and not the party, “it is a Shelnak stave.”

He looked at the party his eyes settling on Siliwen and her bloody hands and noting there is no other blood anywhere on her person.

“These people aren’t Shelnaks, “he says softly yet firmly, “anyone can see that!”

He wraps the iron stave in the cloth seeming to take great care not to touch the weapon with his bare skin. He looks up at the mob and frowns.

“Well?” he says, “Some of you grab some sheets and cover the body and put it in one of the storage rooms for now till the poor woman can make arrangements for burial.” One man races upstairs to the rooms while a couple more move over to the body; a few murmured apologies can be heard as they pass the group. The rest of the mob disperses as the man walks over to the party.

“Well now,” he says with a faint smile coming to his lips, “That makes for an interesting morning.” His smile fades as he turns his head slightly to watch the men cover the body with sheets and begin to wrap it up and carry it away.

“My name is Alacran!” the man states simply as he returns his gaze to the party, “It would be my guess that you are not from around here,” His eyes passing over the dwarf and the elves in the party.

Judging the character of the man from the moment he entered the room, the powers he displayed, the immediate effect he had on the angry crowd, that even his simple garb that only seemed to add to his presence. Alea stepped forward.

"No, Good Sir,, we were brought to these lands to deal with a problem. We were on our way to do that when things began to happen to my friend, she looked to Siliwen." Alea careful stresses words and knew this man niught well catch the hidden meaning of them. No more than that would she say until she was sure no outsider, but Alacan would hear them.

"I, for one, wish to thank you for your timely intervention. Now, I will let the others thank you. I believe, if we are to get breakfast the Gentle Wife of the Innkeeper is going to need help in the kitchen." As with most roadside inns the wife was the cook and she would be too distraught to do so. Though Alea knew, work was a balm for grief and she would try to get the woman involved in breakfast as soon as she could.

"Riddle, Billy, will one of you escort Siliwen up to our room so she can wash and change?" By which she also meant for whomever went with her to guard her.

Alea sets herself the task of seeing to the kitchen, "She turns to the room of travelers, "Is there one of you who would help me in the kitchen to see that all get a breakfast before they travel on this day."

Billy saw the look on Karil's face andrealized that like the others he was ready to be judge, jury and executioner. Billy shook his head, 'Why is it mages always casue such troubles?' he thought to himself. He was just about to spek to Karil and attempt to convince him to at least move the widow out on his own when the door suddendly burst open.

Billy half turned so as to be able to see both Karil and the door while he drew his greatsword. Seconds later he saw the tone of the crowd change and along with them he relaxed just a bit. He looked at the plain clothes and fancy staff of the new arrival and muttered to himself, "Oh joy, another mage; just what we needed." He was a bit surprised that the man took the side of the party and seemed pretty good at convincing the mob that although he did not know who killed the innkeeper he knew it was not the young woman with bloody hands.

At Alea's request, Billy sheathed his sword and escorted Siliwen upstairs where she could clean herself. 'What the heck is a Shelnak?' Billy wondered silently.

Suddenly, a burst of light brightens the room and a clap sounding like thunder erupts through Inn. The front door suddenly swings open, the bar holding it closed parts easily as if it were made of kindling and a figure walks into the Inn and stands in the doorway. The people closing on Siliwen pause and shield their eyes from the bright light; a few even draw weapons as if expecting an attack.

“HOLD!” a voice bellows from the doorway, it is a powerful authoritative voice which seems to freeze those closing in on the group.

Apon entry of this unknown mage Riddle quickly drew his swords, in the same token placing himself inbetween siliwen and the mage. as soon as the rooms energy began to change Riddle decided to sheath his swords, keeping his hands on them still should something else happen.

Billy and riddle began to escort Siliwen up to the rooms when she stoped to give them hugs and said "I thnk you for my staunch defense in this matter. You hav ehelp me greatly just by believing in me and that I could not do such a thing under normal curcumstances. I am so sorry I have given you all such great difficulties but I don't think removing myself fromt he group is the answer either. We were told we must work together to achieve a victory against this Dark One."

" You are right seperating your self from the group would not be a good idea, now i am going to leave you in billys capable hands and go out side and see what i might find in the way of an escape rout or mayhaps some signs of our killer." as Riddle says this he begins moving to the door. While on his way to the door he sees thor, he pauses long enough to tell thor what he is going to do. he quickly steps out side and begins walking around the building searching for signs of the killer as well as a possible escape rout.. once he has spent enough time to satisfy his curiousity he walks a few feet into the forest and sits simply watching what is going on around the inn and listening for anything that might be a reason for him to rush into the inn again. while he sits he ponders the ever elusive question why siliwen.

"ah how i miss my grove" whispers riddle to himself
at that thought riddle gets up and begins pacing the outside perimiter of the inn still looking for signs and ponering why siliwen. In his pacing his eye becomes drawn to the mark on his hand "..... trust no one who does not bear this mark" the thought of that night still made him un easy. He quickly altered his course to inside to find this goodly mage if thats what he was

Siliwen was aware of the arrival of the man in brown robes. Regardless though he took control immediately and to her great relief saw that this was something she had not done. Siliwen dighed deeply when he directed other to cover the man's body and take it away.

Alea steppped forward to interact with Alacan, as he called himelf (wondering if he is cleric or mage). Reasonably she suggest that Siliwen go up and change. This mostly to seperate her form the incident and get cleaned up. She also had Riddle and Billy escort her. SIiliwen was thankful for that. Right now her confidence was a bit shaky. She who had always been in control of herself and matter around her and be catapulted into situation after situation that she apparently had little contol of. IT had left her questions herself.

Siliwen first steps forward to Alacan. Thank you for your presence and insight. I hope you will be here when I get back I will not take long. There are things we would like to ask you. Please," SIliwen added softly.

As she made her way upstairs Siliwen stopped at her door and truned to the Billy and Riddle, given them a quick but heaty hug in thanks. "I thnk you for my staunch defense in this matter. You hav ehelp me greatly just by believing in me and that I could not do such a thing under normal curcumstances. I am so sorry I have given you all such great difficulties but I don't think removing myself fromt he group is the answer either. We were told we must work together to achieve a victory against this Dark One."

Siliwen walks into the room she had shared with Alea but leaves the door open. She washes her hands first and then strips off her clothes and puts on a fresh set. Gather her things quickly she leaves the room and heads back downstairs.

Returning tothe common room Siliwen looks around for Alacan.

Location: Northpoint Road – Leeside Way Inn
Date/Time: Day Three - Shortly after Sunrise

"I, for one, wish to thank you for your timely intervention. Now, I will let the others thank you. I believe, if we are to get breakfast the Gentle Wife of the Innkeeper is going to need help in the kitchen." As with most roadside inns the wife was the cook and she would be too distraught to do so. Though Alea knew, work was a balm for grief and she would try to get the woman involved in breakfast as soon as she could.
Alacran nods his head to Alea acknowledging her words, “Yes you are right, but I doubt the woman will be much up to cooking but I think you will find she has a couple of helpers in there besides Karl who you can get to work.”

"Riddle, Billy, will one of you escort Siliwen up to our room so she can wash and change?" By which she also meant for whomever went with her to guard her.

Siliwen first steps forward to Alacan. “Thank you for your presence and insight. I hope you will be here when I get back I will not take long. There are things we would like to ask you. Please," Siliwen added softly.
“Do not fear I will be here when you return,” Alacran says softly with a warm smile, “and we will hear your tale and perhaps I can help you.”

At Alea's request, Billy sheathed his sword and escorted Siliwen upstairs where she could clean herself. 'What the heck is a Shelnak?' Billy wondered silently.

" You are right seperating your self from the group would not be a good idea, now i am going to leave you in billys capable hands and go out side and see what i might find in the way of an escape rout or mayhaps some signs of our killer." as Riddle says this he begins moving to the door.

When Riddle says that he will go outside to check the surround area for signs of the real killer, Thor decides he will go upstairs with Billy and Siliwen to keep a watch over her. While Siliwen is in the room washing up and changing, he stands in the hallway with Billy, staying alert and ready for more trouble.

He quickly steps out side and begins walking around the building searching for signs of the killer as well as a possible escape rout.. once he has spent enough time to satisfy his curiousity he walks a few feet into the forest and sits simply watching what is going on around the inn and listening for anything that might be a reason for him to rush into the inn again. while he sits he ponders the ever elusive question why siliwen.

"ah how i miss my grove" whispers riddle to himself at that thought riddle gets up and begins pacing the outside perimiter of the inn still looking for signs and ponering why siliwen. In his pacing his eye becomes drawn to the mark on his hand "..... trust no one who does not bear this mark" the thought of that night still made him un easy. He quickly altered his course to inside to find this goodly mage if thats what he was.

Returning to the common room Siliwen looks around for Alacan.
While Billy, Thor and Siliwen went upstairs, Riddle went outside to search the area, and Alea got a few of the other patrons to help get the kitchen going, Alacran began supervising the cleanup of the common area with a couple of other patrons.

Alea found two helpers in the kitchen and was told that Karl was taking care of the wife. She found one man among the patrons who claimed to have been a kitchen helper when he was a lad, and he helped the two cooks/assistants get a decent breakfast started for all. Karl made an appearance and nodded at what he saw. He spoke briefly to Alea and told her that the ‘Misses’ was not up to doing anything right now and that he would be taking care of things for now. The poor woman was resting and he would check on her from time to time. Karl relieved Alea from kitchen duties, thanking her for her efforts, as he took over and saw that the guests would have a hot meal shortly.

Riddle searched the grounds around the stabling yard, the buildings themselves, Inn and Stable, and only found normal footprints and nothing suspicious looking or odd. The only fresh prints were those leading up to the front door from out of the field and he surmised that those belonged to the mage Alacran who recently entered. He found no unusual signs in the forest near the Inn, though he did notice something strange; he didn’t hear any of the usual noise of the forest, no birds signing or other animal movements his keen hearing were use to hearing. It was oddly quiet around the complete area.

Siliwen, Thor and Billy (if he returned to the downstairs with Siliwen, I will assume he did) arrive first in the common area and hear the noise of work going on in the kitchen, obviously Alea found someone to start breakfast.

They find the common room back in order, they see no sign that there ever was any trouble here. The door stands open, the windows are unshuttered and open, and a cool morning breeze has swept the room clean of the foul scent of death.
They find Alacran sitting now at a lone table, in the far corner near the window, a decanter of some white wine in front of him, and some glasses on the table, the glass in front of him half full. He sips at the wine looking out the window at the beautiful new day. He hears them come down the stairs and he smiles and gestures them to join him at his table.

“I hear the sounds of cooking coming from the kitchen,” he says with a slight smile, “I expect we will have something to eat very soon.”

He turns to gaze upon Siliwen, his smile fades as he looks at her as if almost seeing right through her, seeing her anguish

“I see you are troubled,” he finally says, “and I would like to hear your tale, especially anything to do with these attacks Alea mentioned.”

As if at the mention of her name, Alea appears from the kitchen her job in there apparently done. Seconds later, Riddle enters and spots the group at the large table.

“Please join us,” Alacran says to them, “I was about to hear your story.” He sips his wine waiting on someone to begin.

(OOC: I posted a short action for Thor since Dragonmist hasn’t posted and I haven’t heard anything from him for days. I hate to post anything for anyone but I don’t want to hold things up if only one person cant get online to post.

As for the tale, you don’t have to tell the tale entirely in this thread, just state what is being told and what, if anything, is being withheld. If there is something you do not wish to tell Alacran, then be specific that you did not mention it, otherwise I will assume everything was told to him. I mention this only because I can see some posters appear to be a –bit- paranoid… I don’t know why! )

"Sir," Alea, give Alacran a long look comfirming her previous assessment of him, then she speaks so that only those at their table can hear. "it seems our respective Deities have brought us here, to this world, to deal with the problem of the Dark One."

Alea quickly, yet succintly begins at the very beginning of them being whisped here by their deities and then quickly and carefully related everything that had happened to them from waking in the ridge overlooking the ocean to this moment.

"Unfortunately Silwen has been targeted from the beginning with twisted nightmares and the like. Last night the Wolves that attacked us were after her and when the failed, this elaborate scheme was contrived to get rid of her."

Billy returned to the common room and smelled breakfast cooking. He hoped there would be eggs and bacon but he was hungry enough that even gruel would be welcome. As he waited he listened as Alea related the entire tale of their trip to the stranger; including that they had come from other worlds. Billy wondered if perhaps she had relayed too much to one they barely knew. True he had calmed the crowd but it was possible he had killed the man himself and staged the whole incident to gather information. Trustworthy was not a word Billy tended to use with mages. For now he would keep an eye on this stranger and an eye on his companions.

Back Post Leaving the common room and Upstairs

Siliwen felt relieved when the strange old man said he might be about to help her, she hoped so for not only for herself but for her friends who have had to endure these visitations that were both physical and mental. Also she hugs Billy and Thor since Riddle did not come up with her.

Current.

Siliwen listens to Alea's retelling of events so far. She had only a couple things to add to the tale. She mentions not all her visions were nightmares one seemed like an illusion of her recently dead mentor and when it faded so too did the footprints on the ground.. "I know not what spell could create the illusion and the physical evidence of it having been there. Also the wolves that attacked were possessed. Billy saw someone or something but he could tell you best what he saw. I have tried to be strong to deny the visions but they have affected me because.... because I feel guilty about my mentor's death."

There it was out and the others can make of what they will, but she fells better for getting off her chest.

Riddle walks back in side and quickly sits at the table. Upon sitting he thinks to himself of how much he distrusts this man and ponders the lack of noise in the surounding area. He nodds to Billy that they retreat from the table to a more quite one in the room. Riddle quickly gets up as Billy follows, Riddle walks to a table in the room just out of ear shot of the group but still with in reaction distence

"I dont think the trouble has passed and I think this man is the cause of it though im not to be sure, but i do have my reasons. For starters the only set of fresh prints out side lead to the door, which i can only assume would belong to this man. Second you mentioned a man out in the woods during our fight, we have all come to accept that the man was controling the wolves, perhaps its him. Lastly and the reason I think that this is not yet over is there is no sign of animal life out side. The only two reasons I can think of for this is one something has scared them off or number two someone has silenced the area. The only two people in the area that I know of who could do this are Siliwen and this man. so it stands to reason not to trust this guy and be on high alert."

With this said Riddle gets up and leaves the table to go sit back down with the others, right next to Alacran to be specific hands casualy resting on the hilts of his scimitars. Stating with out missing a beat,

"Forgive me for my rude interuption I had some personal busness to attend to with my rather large friend here a, little wager that I have lost."

Ater this has been said Riddle just sits in silence watching, listening and waiting.

Billy nodded as Riddle spoke about not trusting the man. "I do not really trust him either. So far it seems that our group has proved trustable but nothing else has been what it seems. But, I let the smart ones do the thinking for now." Billy returned to the origional table with Riddle and laughed when a lost wager was mentioned. "Yes he lost and we were simply discussing the payment. I believe it was 1 gold piece was it not? I guess you will be paying me that now." Billy smiled, winked at Riddle and thought himself very smart for his little trick.