"It would be imprudent at best to rush into this blindly," Seluumiel's cool voice hardened with each word "If you wish to walk as a blind fool then I shall make preparations to perform your funerary rites. All of us wish to save the child, but four corpses will do no good for anyone. I agree with Chiron, we need to gather information before we rush in. We do not yet know what we are dealing with."
"Twist not my words!" replies Lacey, giving the elf a withering scowl. "I said naught about rushing blindly or foolishly."

She turns to Chiron and the others. "The children that have seen this house have already been questioned, for naught. What more dost thou expect to learn from them than what His Lordship, the Governor, hast already gleaned? As thou sayeth, we know not with what we deal, but recall His Lordship's words...an ethereally glowing house that fades in and out, that flashed into existence around a group of children and vanished again along with one of the children. And the children report undead, and guards report ogres. Is that not enough? Do you suspect that the children will know some spell, perhaps that will banish this house back to whence it came? Question the children if thou must, but do it here and now."

She then turns to Seluumiel, and says again, very cooly,"Twist not, my words."

Xaviers was perfectly content with listening to the banter going on. While the other three debate heavily on what they should do, Xavier half listens, half looks around the armoury.

(OoC: This is all assuming possibility, and I really hope it works. It's nothing major, and totally possible, so I see no reason why not.)
Finding a somewhat rough part of the wall that leads up toward the rafters, Xavier casually strolls over while still listening to the discussion going on. Reaching out, he pulls himself up the wall, until he gets to the cross beams along the roof, where he decides to cling with his legs, and let his hair hang down, along with the rest of them.

Hanging from the rafters, Xavier slowly swings back and forth, enjoying the movement. When the other three have seemed to stop talking, Xavier takes the chance to speak.

"Okay. Here's my opinion. We're here. That house is there. We are supposed to go there. The point is Lacey, and take this in no offense whatsoever, we don't know what we're getting into. However, towards Chiron and Suumiel, we don't have time to do everything we want. Or at least, that's what it seems like. So. What can we do? Nothing. All we can do, is go out there, try our best, and run the **** away if stuff gets too hard. Then, we'll know what we're up against, be able to better equip ourselves, and go back there, kick some *** and get paid."

Xavier stops abruptly, but keeps swinging back and forth.

"You know, you guys look prettier when I'm upside down. I don't know why. Just call it a perception change."

Tilting his head to the side, Chiron regards Xavier. "That's more or less what I had in mind. We know there's something out there and are at least somewhat more prepared than those who have gone before. While we're there, we might discover something that the guards were too busy to notice, or the children too frightened, or simply too young, to realize its importance. That is why suggested we return."

Here the paladin turns to face Lacey, "And only after we've performed a thorough search for the boy should we consider returning to town.

Now it seems that all our plans, no matter how they differ later on, all begin with our traveling out to see this haunted house, or whatever you'd like to name it. I say we head out and finalize the plans once we've seen what there is to see out there."

Chiron checks the buckles on his new armor one last time and heads to the armory's bookshelf-door. "Governor Castor, is there a guardsmen from the initial expedition in good enough shape to lead us to, or very near to, the site of this ghostly mansion?"

Bailash gives a sorrowful gaze as he responds to Chiron saying, "Would that I could afford you an extra guard, but that is the reason I have hired you. Perhaps I can send one with you to show you where this place is, though it's not even a mile out of the city gates, but it would allow you to question him on the way, not losing any time, but he must return to the city once you've been escorted to the site. I'm sorry, I truly am, but as the summons for hire letter stated, the city of Leaphaven cannot afford to weaken itself in security any further. It's the best I can do for you."

Bailash turns to walk back to the library entrance, but looks back to the chosen four and says, " If you have chosen the equipment you feel will best help you in this mission, would you follow me back to the anteroom where I might summon Cheffron? He is one of the guards that was sent with the constable the first time the house was visited."

As he waits for a response of any kind and for the armory to clear of people, he fingers a knothole in the wall, and once all have exited the secret room he presses the "knot" inward and the bookcase slides back into place concealing, once again, the armory.

As the group follows Bailash to the anteroom as requested, Chiron addresses the Governor.

"That being the case good sir, I would hate to weaken the city's security any further. Besides, a lot can happen in a mile of travel, and if the ogres that attacked the first time have any sense at all, they will expect a return with greater numbers, and therefore set up an ambush. Running into trouble like that, under the present circumstances, might make having an escort only be a liability, to you and to us.
If it is all the same, maybe you could give us directions to this phenomenon, that is if the path isn't hard to follow."

The governor, turns with a warm expression on his face and says, "I'm glad someone understands the situation from my position. Now, as for directions, The path is very lightly wooded, more underbrush than anything else. After exiting the city gates, proceed north to northwest for three quarters of a mile and you will begin to see the glow of the house for yourself. How to proceed from there I will leave to your professional instincts."

Watches the exchange between the Paladin and the Governor, more or less baffled at it all.

"Whenever thou art ready, lead on" she says to no one in particular.

Seluumiel stepped out from the armory into the governor's office. She watched the others through a mask of calm serenity, they each wanted to rush in. Then so be it, she would play along for now.

"It would seem that you are all now in agreement," she began in cool musical tones "Very well. We move forward to this phantom house, but heed you all well my words. Phenomena such as these are not spontaneous happenings. They always have a source, an intelligent source. Ere on the side of caution and do not rush in the moment we behold the place before us."

Xavier lets go of the rafters with his legs, and does a backflip to land on his feet. "Great! Now that we've got it settled, that we're going, then I say that it's wonderful. Now, everyone seems to be ready, so let's get out of here, get to this house, save the brats, and get back. I think that's a good enough plan, don't you?"

Xavier bends over and begins patting his legs up to his torso, and out each arm. With each pat comes a faint metallic clicking sound. Patting his shoulders, Xavier gives a nod, "I'm ready. Let's move out." And with that, he begins walking towards the exit, towards the city gates, and towards the forest, where this ghost house is said to lie.

Before leaving however, Xavier calls back. "Oh! And governor? Times ticking now. Remember our deal."

"I fully agree with you, Seluumiel, that there's some thing or some one behind the disturbance. Let's go find out what it is." Chiron says with a mischievous grin and follows Xavier out of the building. Once outside the paladin kneels, reciting something under his breath.

A horse's faint whinny can be heard, carried on the wind, but the thud of approaching hoof beats quickly drowns it out. The source of the sounds cannot be immediately identified, as there are no horses or ponies nearby, and then suddenly the charger was there at Chiron's side. It appeared so quickly that if you had looked away for a moment, or even blinked at just the right time, you'd swear that it had been the running stead you heard and that it must have skidded to a halt in just the second you laid eyes on it. And it was a beauty to behold. The horse stood at about seventeen hands high, definitely commanding attention with both it's size and grace of movement. Large, intelligent eyes stared out from a broad and straight face and her neck, arms and legs are obviously powerful and well muscled. Most of the horse is covered with chain mail, missing only the croupiere and flanchard, but anyone can plainly see its palomino coloring (golden coat and snow white tail and mane).

"Ahh... Prajna, I missed you too." Chiron laughed as the mare nuzzled her face against his shoulder and almost knocked the paladin from his feet. "We've got some work to do. This town is in danger and a child is missing and they've called us to find out what's going on." Before Chiron even finished his explanation, Prajna stopped her playing and stood at attention. Mention of the child in danger seemed to make the mare all business. "Good girl, I knew you'd want to help."

Chiron pulled himself up into the saddle and turned to the others. "Do you want to requisition horses from the city, or follow Xavier on foot? It may be somewhat less stealthy, but it will get us there faster and allow us to cover more ground if it turns out the child ran into the woods instead of being taken by the house. She won't like it, but I can leave Prajna a distance away if you all feel we should make the final approach on foot."

"The way is short, the woods and underbrush afford great opportunity for ambush, as the remaining guards well know, so we would be best off moving on foot, and as quietly as possible, lest we too find ourselves ambushed", replies Lacey.

"If thou desirest to remain atop yon great beast, thou wilt surely make a splendid target for any enemies that lurk hidden upon the way", she says to Chiron.

Whether the group elects to ride or walk, Lacey will keep bow in hand, arrow nocked, ready to loose at the first enemy sighted.

Seluumiel makes her way from the city toward the woods following the other three. She would have to ensure that the youthful impulsivity of the others did not cost them their lives.

"Lacey is correct," Seluumiel agrees and nods to the half elf, "On horseback we will draw the eyes of too many. Going on foot is best." The moon elf continues on to the forest before them. Her sapphire eyes alert and magic ready at her fingertips.

"Hmm... horses eh? Well... they do move fast. But, they stink most of the time. And, you know... Not always the quietest. Very tasty however. But no, I'll walk. Or climb. Or jump. Whatever seems most convenient."

Xavier sways back and forth as he walks, seeming to dance to some unheard tune. He also looks around, watching all the citizens of the town. They were quite quirky actually. Some of them anyway.

"Hey, you guys, do you ever get the feeling that you really want to eat something? Like, I don't know, an apple or something? Or, you want to do something?"

Xavier shakes his head vigorously.

"Yeah, so what exactly is the plan for the house? Go, get the goods, get back?"

Lacey watches Xavier's odd behavior, but says nothing about it. She tugs her hat a bit farther down over her eyes, and sets off after Seluumiel, bow in hand, arrow nocked.


"'Twould be premature, methinks, to plan too much yet. Let us first reach this house, and see what challenges it presents" says Lacey to Xavier.

As Chiron, Seluumiel, Xavier, and Lacey exit the city, they find a path to the north and per the directions given, they follow it until it breaks to the north west about half a mile ahead. It is at this point that Chiron dismounts his horse, Prajna, and lets her follow behind, until at a certain point, he asks the mare to stay put and stay out of trouble, promising to return. He may need his horse's speed if the child is found but badly hurt.

The woodlands they traveled through are somewhat more dense than they were led to believe, however, in less than half an hour they began to take notice of a glowing beacon that represents their destination. One thing they took notice of right off is that, despite the description of the phantom house's rapid and unpredictable comings and goings, the waxing and waning of the house seems to be more rhythmic and steady now. The house stays in normal corporeal existence longer and fades away at a much slower rate than described. The house appears to be abandoned though one thing stands out about the place, there are no windows in which to peer into to get a lay of the house before entering. No sounds emanate from it either. No clue one way or the other gives itself over to the cautious band of adventurers. An eerie feeling surrounds the place as a dense fog rolls in and dims the sunlight already dimmed by the canopy of trees. Though none are in sight, the sweet sound of wind chimes hang on the air.

Lacey remains as hidden in the woods as the terrain allows while viewing the house, wondering how large it is, what it's made out of, whether there are any visible door.

Turning to the others she says, “Come, let us see what the far side holds.” She will then walk a complete circuit of the house, staying well away from it, but keeping it in view. She'll use the cover of the woodlands as much as possible to keep out of sight.