Ocyari was not scared in the least of this undead man who had grabbed her. Wasn’t that strange? Any child would’ve screamed, but not this brave little thief. In a fluent motion she pulled herself from under the arm, flipping backwards, so her knees came very close to hitting the vampire in the face. He evaded her legs, released Ocyari completely, and she was free. Quickly she rolled forward on the cobbled street and landed in between the rest of the group, who were already setting their attacks in motion.

Miran was first to react when the little girl had been grabbed. He drew his rapier, but decided to fling a spell first. Two bolts of energy shot from his hand, flying like arrows of energy into the vampire’s torso.
The undead, who had just released Ocyari was hit full in the chest. It stumbled backwards two steps, but took the pain without a sound or grimace.

Next was Pao. The cleric was more focused on keeping the other vampire at bay, and released a soundburst. For himself, the spell was no more than a ripple in the air, but to the vampire, who got the wave of sound in the face and whose ears were more sensitive than human’s, the burst was deafening. But it also took the pain without any display of grief or remorse. It strode on, but halted right outside the range of attack of the first party member.

Percifeer was always ready to use her spells, and this one would definitely give the vampire a nice surprise from the rear. But before she could start casting, the creature spoke.

“No! Understand that I meant no harm! I have seen what I needed to see. My apologies for scaring you, Princess.”
With that he knelt in front of the party, and placed one hand on his chest as he bowed. Bowed, before Ocyari.
The other vampire followed his chivalric display of service.

Paomallen halted at the motion of the vampire in front of the party just after the voice behind them addressed Ocyari. Miran drew steel and then cast a pair of magical darts at the creature behind them . In front, Paomallen called upon his diety to smite the creature that had halted their passage. Dai caught a faint hint of a cacophonous sound blast assaulting that creature, who paused only briefly, then took a few more steps and stopped entirely.

Uncertain as to which direction contained the greater threat, Dai turned sidways between the two fanged ones, standing with staff at the ready near Ocyari, who had escaped her captor.

Then Dai heard Perdifeer taunt the one at the rear of the party, asking if it liked birds. The creature exclaimed -- almost apologetically -- that it meant no harm, and bowed! Bowed before Ocyari and called her Princess!

"Princess, young one?" Dai looked quizzically at Ocyari.

“No! Understand that I meant no harm! I have seen what I needed to see. My apologies for scaring you, Princess.”
Miran was already deep into preparing to impale the vampire, much to his own peril if they didn't escape soon enough. His first instinct was not to believe the vampire, but soon enough he realized the sincerity behind its words, as it knelt before the child. The point of his rapier fell in shock to the cobblestones as his poise drew slack. On the other side of the undead bloodsucker Miran could see Percifeer, her hands still frozen in the beginning gestures of the spell she was preparing.

Dai turned her attention to Ocyari, seeking any clarification, but Miran didn't even know what to do. He looked several times for something to say, but found nothing intelligable coming to his tongue. He might have even opened his mouth a few times but he wouldn't know. Eventually he accepted a different mode of communication, using non-verbal clues to demonstrate his perplexity, and gazed mutely at the vampire.

"Huh?"

Ocyari blinks, the words finally sinking in, despite how incredulous it seems. Was it true? Well, she didn't know... it very well could be, but how? It makes little sense...

"I have... no idea what's going on." Ocyari says carefully, her head tilted and her bow held loosely.

It was too much... thoughts wishing to be spoken conflict with each other in her mind, varying from 'Are you serious?' to 'That's impossible'. Ocyari's mouth opens and closes several times, considering what to say.

"Umm... did I fall asleep?" She finally asks.

The vampire stood up and smiled softly at Ocyari. Still, he eyed the others warily.

“No, you did not fall asleep.”

He seemed to search for words for a moment before continuing. “There is no way to say this besides a very blunt one. If you are the owner of that pendant on your neck, then you are the first born of our vampire Lord. Your mother left him years ago. She was a mortal human, afraid that his ways would affect you. She wanted a life for you without violence and midnight banquets. She ran away and came back a week later. She said she had tried to flee the city but that wolves had attacked her and killed you. The pendant that our Lord had given to you was lost.”

He eyes the child intensely, without emotions.
“Our Lord forgave your mother eventually, but she had become a lost soul. We still mourn the day that she flung herself into the Thunder River. We tried looking for you and the pendant, but we were looking outside the city. We should not have believed your mother. And then, years after we gave up hope, you come to us! One glimpse at the Sylph figurine was enough. It is meant to be!”

The vampire that was behind them, who had been soundbursted by Pao, added: “You must have many questions. We will answer all of them. But first we’ll take you to your father. He’ll be thrilled!”

Ocyari's breathing quickens just slightly, and her head feels as though everything is underwater. Or is the latter the result of the weariness catching up to her? Ocyari's hands grasp the pendant, and with a clatter her bow falls to the ground. She had no idea.

"N-No way..." Ocyari stutters, shaking her head.

It couldn't be real. This sort of thing just didn't happen. A thing of stories, surely?

"It's... not possible..."

But, she isn't asleep. This really is happening. There is no explanation, it just is.

"It... is..."

Ocyari slumps to the ground, weariness and shock working together to overwhelm the little girl. In short, Ocyari faints.

((I really couldn't think of anything else, and it seems fitting I think, since she IS still just a little child after all ))

Dai was as surprised as the rest of the party. The vampires response to their attacks and their exclamation of non-agression was out of the ordinary, to say the least. But their gestures of servitude, respect, and honor to the young girl was astonishing!

She noticed that Miran was battling a confused loss for words and, after her surprised query to Ocyari, Dai herself was -- well, not speechless, but every bit as confused as Miran.

Ocyari stuttered, shaking her head. "N-No way... "It's... not possible... It... it's..."
"You are certainly a child full of surpr - ..."

Dai stops as Ocyari drops to the ground like a soft-sided sack. For a brief few seconds before her collapse, confusion, disbelief, and exhaustion all vied for control of her facial features. Dai dropped to her knees to first place her hand near the girls mouth to check for breath. Then she moved the hand again to place two fingers on Ocyari's temple to check for heartbeat.

[ making assumptions here, please advise if incorrect ]

Looking up at the others, she says,"She breathes and her heart also functions. Based upon the surprise I myself have at the statments I just heard from our two worshippers of the girl, I believe she fainted. Briefly, my thoughts are these: I intend to clear Ormander, first and foremost. Ocyari should go with us, and we can deal with the issue of the girl and these other two at a later time. Do what needs to be done to get us under way again. There is no time now to say more."

    “No! Understand that I meant no harm! I have seen what I needed to see. My apologies for scaring you, Princess.”
    This from behind them, from the one Pao had glimpsed holding Ocyari. Then the one before Pao, who had suffered the blast of sound Pao had thrust upon him bowed! Startled, Pao took a chance and glanced behind the party. The other was also in a bow, head and eyes down. They both had bowed to Ocyari!

    What in the name of Our lady's Bright Visage am I witnessing here?, thought Pao.

    The creature before them explained, briefly, what it considered to be the history of Ocyari's past.

    After this, Pao had no idea what to expect next, but Ocyari fainting was not on any short list he could think of. Not with the quick adaptability she had so far managed to show. Dai quickly knelt to tend to the young girl.

    Then the one behind the party chimed in. “You must have many questions. We will answer all of them. But first we’ll take you to your father. He’ll be thrilled!”
    "Oh, wonderfu!", Pao muttered.

    Dai's assessment was that the girl had simply fainted. She also let the others know where, and with whom, she placed her priorities.

    "Good, Dai. I agree with you on every point. Percifeer? I think that, for once, you and I will agree on what to do here. D'you want to tell them, or do you want me to?
[[ Leaving room here for more interaction, but Pao will make a statement to the vamps and a "very strong suggestion" to the others, if necessary ... ]]

As the exchange drew on, Ocyari found that her threshold for tolerating unnerving revelations had finally passed. Her mind declared openly that she refused to take in another word of this nonsense and took an impromptu nap on the cobblestones. Sheathing his rapier, Miran stepped over to Ocyari's lithe form.

Dai procclaimed her breathing but fainted, as Miran knelt down next to them and tried to scoop his arms under the girl. Like a cat that wants not to be picked up, Ocyari's body would not comply with his attempts to gather it in his arms. Miran glanced up and nodded to Dai, to request her assistance in the matter and together (assuming) they managed to bear the child.

There was one last difficulty that prevented their intentions to take Ocyari back home to Ormander; the vampires, of course, seemed to believe that theirs was the home she should be going back to. Miran glanced between Paomallen and Percifeer, waiting for the axe to fall, for one of them to tell the bloodsuckers "No."

Dai was looking directly at Miran when his face twisted into a silent plea for aid in picking up Ocyari's unconcious and limp form. She was so lax that, although he tried multiple times to pick the girl up to cradle-carry her, she flowed from his arms like water. Dai nodded and bent again to aid him in lifting the girl -- the princess? She still had trouble with that claim -- so she could be carried back to the orphanage.

Paomallen had made what seemed to be a statement of fact to Percifeer, alluding to an agreement of some sort but, as yet, making no decision. Looking between the two, she stated simply, "We must go! The longer we hesitate, the more danger she will be in, I think."

    Pao looks to Percifeer for confirmation of his thoughts, but receives a shrug and grim silence in return. It might be frustration at being robbed of a certain amount of "personal retribution" on her part, but Pao couldn't be sure. He had learned, though, that when Percifeer was silent, she had a reason.

    Turning to the vampire in the path of the party's return to the orphanage, Pao sighs. "Gentlebeings, please, I apologize for our attacks on you. We had no idea that you were on a mission of such import. I understand that you feel the need, or are are following directives, to return the princess to your lord."

    "But since she is currently in our company, I will speak for her, since she cannot currently speak for herself. She has sworn an oath to aid us in our cause, which we have precious little time to complete. While I intend to hold her to that oath, I will not hold her against her will. Will you please return to your lord with this message?"

    "We need rest, and our resting place is also a clue to our quest. Therefore we must stay there until our quest is complete. As I said, we have precious little time. With all due reapect to your lord, if the princess desires to return to her father instead of aiding us as sworn, we will allow her to do so, and will even escort her to him if necessary, but we will hear those words from her own lips. Surely, now that you know where she is, and who she is, the short amount of additional time she will spend away from her father, and with us, should not worry him unduly. I can, for a certainty, swear to you that she is in the company of others who have each sworn to protect her as one of their own."

    "The natural enmity of my calling and your kind aside, I will violate the tenets of my faith insofar as to show how seriously we take that oath. I offer this to be held until her return to him ..." Pao reaches up and gently pulls the chain bearing the silver holy symbol of his faith over his head. He then pulls a glove from his belt pouch and drops the silver symbol into the glove. He then holds the glove contining the holy symbol out to the creature for it to take.

    "I offer this as a symbol -- a symbol, not a gift -- to your lord to illustrate the veracity and seriousness behind my words. Please bear this to your lord with my message and our apologies and allow us to complete our quest."

The vampires stared at Pao coldly. Their gaze was wicked, yet somehow enchanting, hinting at a high intelligence and nobility. After what seemed an awkwardly long time, they nodded.

“Very well.” Spoke the one that Pao had addressed, “I will return to our Lord and tell him that his daughter is fine, and that she will meet with him, when she has the strength to do so. He is a patient man. After all, time is on his hand.”

He stepped closer to the cleric, and took the belt pouch with the holy symbol in it. He did not hesitate, but Pao thought to see the tiniest of twitch in one of the creature’s eyes when he drew his silver chain.

“There is one condition though. Yothrick here will escort you to wherever it is that you’re taking the princess. He’ll guard her there, so we know she is safe.”

That was the end of the discussion. He evaporated in front of them, and the mist that carried his essence had soon mingled with the fog in the streets. The other vampire, Yothrick, was standing there, waiting for the group to start walking.

Dai and Miran supported Ocyari as best as they could. A few minutes later they arrived in the Westgutterfallstreet, and found the door to the orphanage with the silver seal above it. The door was locked. After some pounding they were welcomed by Ormander himself, whose grogginess was flung aside when he recognized the group, and Ocyari’s limp form.

“What happened to her? And where are Pio and Llammoth?”

He let them in and urged them to take Ocyari to the temple-room up the stairs, but halted when he saw Yothrick. “Who’s this?”

(OOC: When the situation is explained, he will let the vampire in the house, and then takes all of you into the temple of Falloes, which has been mostly cleared to host your stay at the orphanage. Yothrick enters the temple as well, which may seem odd to some of you.)

A few minutes later they arrived in the Westgutterfallstreet, and found the door to the orphanage with the silver seal above it. The door was locked. After some pounding they were welcomed by Ormander himself, whose grogginess was flung aside when he recognized the group, and Ocyari’s limp form.

“What happened to her? And where are Pio and Llammoth?”
"She's fine," Miran grunted a little in a quick attempt to secure a firmer hold on her arms, "we just ran in to a bit of excitement on the way back over here."

He let them in and urged them to take Ocyari to the temple-room up the stairs, but halted when he saw Yothrick. “Who’s this?”
Miran stopped in his shuffle to the temple room, forcing Dai to stop else fold the girl's body. Miran hesistated for a second. Though the duty of Ocyari's protection was shared among them, Miran considered himself fairly well responsible for her well-being.

"A messenger," he said, finally, "from Ocyari's father."

We saved her for the night, but once morning comes, how safe will she be? The one vampire said himself, that his lord was a patient man. Unman? Bloodsucking corpse? Cadaver?
They would soon have to satisfy this creature, one way or another. Though as much as Miran lamented his lack of parents while growing up, he didn't envy Ocyari's predicament. He had occaisionally fantasized that his parents were actually monsters, and that he was one too, in disguise, but he never thought about the possibility of it being true. For Ocyari, it was a reality - there was no question why she fainted - and she would have to decide whether she would accept it or reject it for herself.

Dai and Miran settled the girl down in the temple room. Miran noted the vampire come in, uneasy about even letting it into the orphanage. At least if they left him outside, he would have to flee by dawn, or else sulk around in the building's shadow. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer they say. With a second problem on their hands, this quest was growing troublesome.

    After being relieved of the company of the vampires, the remainder of the trip back to the orphanage was made in relative silence. Dai and Miran were busy cradle-carrying Ocyari, and so had their own respective focus. Biensel was as quiet as he had ever been, but Percifeer was uncharacteristically silent. Pao was tossing the night's events around in his mind, juggling thoughts of Pio's death, and Llammorh's willingness to accompany his body to the temple of Lysora without mentioning the chapel at the orphanage. Then there was the market transaction yet to be done, the words spoken by Stuart and those spoken by the vampires, the revelation of Ocyari's possible heritage, and Dai's opportune meeting. A night of signs, protents, and coincidences. Or was he reading more into it than was there?

    As Pao entered the orphanage with the others, he had an almot-immediate feeling. Not of nostalgia, no, more of a feeling of mild discomfort, as if reliving an old, unpleasant memory. But now was not the time for regrets or unworthy thoughts. There were things to be said, things to be done, not the first of which was rest! It had been a long -- very long -- and eventful day.

    After Ormander's initial concern about Ocyari, and Miran's typically brief and cryptic answer, the headmasterr started to let them in, telling them to head for the chapel within the orphanage. But he then paused as he noticed someone he didn't recognize -- Yothrik.

    “Who’s this?”
    Pao had to smile again at Miran's calm and non-chalant reply to that query, as iuf he were relating an everyday occurrence:

    "A messenger from Ocyari's father."
    Tapping Percifeer on the shoulder as he spoke, Pao said quietly, "Ormander, it has been a long day, and much has happened in a short time. At least as far as I am concerned. May Percifeer and I accompany you to your office? I can relate quickly what I know, and Percifeer can fill in the details I do not know. I can assume the others will come as they are finished with their own tasks."

[[ ooc -- Whether Ormander agrees to meet in his office or be briefed where they are, Pao will quickly anb briefly tell him of the events that have transpired since he joined the group, including the death of Pio, the leaving of Llammoth, the clandestine meetings with Stuart and the vampires, the market transaction they have yet to do, and meeting with Dai. He also mentions that rumors have been heard in Councilor Velch's office concerning the theft, but what they were is yet to be determined. ]]

    "I apologize for not bringing Pio to the chapel here, Ormander, but I thought it best at the time to put the resources of an entire temple to work on his behalf. At the time, my own temple was closest and time was of the essence, as it is even now. Llammoth volunteered to accompany Pio and watch over him."

    "In the short time I have been on this quest, I have seen and heard much. Some things tying to this dire problem of yours, and some, like Ocyari's unforseen heritage, shockingly coincidental. If her parentage is related to this, I would be even more shocked but, regardless, it must be dealt with. We just need to sort out the when and how of that particular issue. For now I need rest. I would like to speak more in the early morning."

[[ ooc -- gonna find a room and rest. Converse can be in the morning, as far as I am concerned -- after prayers and meditations for spells ... . . . . . . . did I forget anything? ]]

Miran glanced up briefly from his spellbook, taking a surreptitious peek at the 'guest'. Having volunteered for morning watch, he had this time before everyone else started waking up to himself. The shrine managed to maintain the semblance of a calm atmosphere while the orphanage steadily awoke.

Miran returned his attention to the mental manipulation of force required to call forth magic missiles. He would be preparing two today, wary of the possibility of such hostility as yesterday. He glanced next to Ocyari. She would not be out for much longer. Her unconsciousness probably translated into subconsciousness sometime during the night.

Preparing...
Cantrips - no changes
1st - two Magic Missiles, a Shield, and Disguise Self
2nd - no changes

(If Al feels like throwing in something between crashing last night and this morning, I could easily move my post)