"I am Chiron Po, knight of Ilmater, and my business here concerns this very house and the disappearance of a young child. If you know anything about the reason this house has manifested here or the whereabouts of the child, speak quickly. And while you're at it, please explain why you are in the spectral house that's causing so much trouble for the nearby town."

Chiron stands in the door frame as he speaks, keeping his shield at the ready but holding his sword low and trying to take as nonthreatening a stance as possible.

The woman caught him a bit off guard. The paladin was expecting undead, or some other horrible monster to spring out once the house was breached. Instead he gets a pretty woman hiding under a table, one that isn't even inherently evil. Leave it to a pretty woman to complicate things.

Lacey remains where she is, well away from the house, watching what transpires. She will not, as of yet, enter the house under any conditions.

Xavier pokes his head around Chiron when he hears the sound of a woman's voice. Noticing the woman, Xavier paints a smile on his face.

"Well hello there miss. My name is Xavier, and I'm here with this guy. However, I think the more important questions are, who are you, and why are you here all alone? A pretty woman like you, with nobody else here..."

Xavier's tongue begins to water inside his mouth. His smile painted on his face remains, but his eyes drift until they come along the woman's neck. Xavier could almost hear the heartbeat underneath it, calling for him to drink the blood... if only just a sip.

"I am called Satya, and I am often alone."

Satya says with a slight Bedine accent. She wipes some moisture from her fingertips on the hem of her pants then straitens up. Keeping the table between herself and the new additions to the room.

"I too have heard word of a missing child. I came to investigate this house, but the door closed behind me and disappeared... Please, do not let that door close."

She pauses for a moment trying to decide how much to tell these strangers. The heavily armored one seemed to be very open with his intentions, but she did not know about those who lay beyond the doorway. Years of travel had taught her to use caution when dealing with people not of her clan.

"I have spent my short time of imprisonment investigating this room. It seems as though the child might have come through here, and from the looks of it, unwillingly. There is a trail of urine that starts here and leads to that door there."

She points to the spot on the floor where she had only moments ago been leaning over, and indicates a line to one of the four doors where the trail stops.

Seluumiel moves toward the house, but seeing Lacey hold back she stops. The elf turns to face the priestess and stares at her for a moment.

"I wholly understand your reticence, but we must not separate. I fear whatever charms this place has will be worsened should that occur. I see no other recourse but to move forward. Let us join the men."

Seluumiel waits a moment before turning and making her way to the phantom building. She moves slowly, carefully watching each step. The moisture from the fog clings to her as she moves through it causing her clothes to stick to her skin and her long hair to gather in shining silver ringlets. She sighs in irritation as she reaches the door. It would be a simple matter to fix but now was not a time too squander magic frivolously.

Taking a step in the doorway she stops dead at the sight of the exotic human standing inside. The woman was pretty for a human with an accent she could not place. Seluumiel held her calm and gazed at the woman with a cold impenetrable serenity. Whomever she was her mind had not revealed itself to her divinations. Perhaps it was a trick of the house that hid her from the spell, but the elf could not be sure and what she was not sure of here she would not trust. Was the woman herself an apparition of the house? There were ways to discover that. Let the men drool over a pretty face, she would trust in what the Lunar Lady revealed to her. Steeling herself she stepped into the house and faced the woman.

"I see you have met my companions," she began "I am called Seluumiel."

She introduced herself without the ceremony that was customary for her people, but there were things she must discover before revealing title and family name. Seluumiel stepped further into the house and turned away from the woman as if to study the walls and doors. In that moment she opened herself to the goddess and touched the magical weave. Hiding her gestures and whispering her words Seluumiel cast her spell. As the magical awareness washed over her the elf turned to face the stranger that called herself Satya.

"Perhaps we all can find this child together."

She spoke slowly while holding concentration and the spell. Her mind reached out to probe for thoughts, both from this woman and any others that may well have hidden in this house.

(OOC: 2 MP casts Detect Thoughts again. Centered on the house. She will concentrate for three rounds. Seluumiel is trying to hide her casting.)

As Satya stood waiting for them, to either make a move or speak so that she could better ascertain the intent of the whole group, a small pale woman slid between the two men in the doorway and stood in front of her. As she spoke Satya realized that she was not human but rather an elf. Her forwardness was a little unsettling and Satya took a small step back as she spoke.

"I see you have met my companions," she began "I am called Seluumiel."
After her introduction she stepped even closer then turned her back on Satya, who was puzzled at the elf's bold display of trust in turning her back on a stranger. As the elf made an obvious show of inspecting the interior of the room she turned back to Satya and said.

"Perhaps we all can find this child together."
Satya watched her closely then slowly nodded to the elf. She was bold and, well...an elf. From her few encounters with elven kind she knew they had very different world views attributed to their long lifespans. She would have to pay close attention to this one to better understand her.

"If you truly are here to help this child as well, then maybe you can discern these." Satya said indicating the map and book on the large table. "I am sure they have something to do with this house, but I cannot understand its markings."

Satya took a step towards the table and the things there that she had left untouched. They meant very little to her before but now, with an elf aiding, she might get another clue as to what had happened here.

Seluumiel moves toward the house, but seeing Lacey hold back she stops. The elf turns to face the priestess and stares at her for a moment.

"I wholly understand your reticence, but we must not separate. I fear whatever charms this place has will be worsened should that occur. I see no other recourse but to move forward. Let us join the men."
Lacey almost laughs. "You don't." Nonetheless she advances into the house, saying little, merely impatient to get on with the matter at hand. She surveys the room, noting the three doors, and using her Detect Snares and Traps on each one.

"Please, do not let that door close."
Chiron stepped back out of the doorway and onto the porch to let the others pass through.

"I see no other recourse but to move forward. Let us join the men."

Lacey stifles a laugh with, "You don't," but proceeds into the house.
Once everyone else was inside, Chiron took up position in the doorway, standing perpendicular to the frame. He remembered how forcefully the door had flown open and he braced himself to try to stop the thing in case it decided to swing shut with the same sort of force.

"You say the door disappeared after it closed? Do you mean it became part of the wall, or something else?"

Gboy, I assumed Xavier would also step into the house. If he'd stay outside, lemme know and I can easily alter my post to accommodate.

Satya took a step toward the table to see what Seluumiel would make of the strange markings on the book and map, when yet another person walked into the room. This time there was no introduction. A female half elf nearly the same height as Satya looked right past her and stood inspecting the four glowing doors.

"I assume that she is also with your group, investigating the missing child?" Satya says indicating the ivory skinned woman that had just entered the room. "Just how many of you are there? Are you all from the town of Leaphaven? Does the child belong to one of you?"

Then the Knight Of Ilmater, still standing in the doorway inquired

"You say the door disappeared after it closed? Do you mean it became part of the wall, or something else?"
"I heard the door close behind me and when I turned around, it was only a wall. The doors you see behind me now were the only apparent means of leaving this building, so I was trying to decided what would be the best course of action, when you opened it back up."

Lacey turns her attention away from the doors and to the dark skinned woman with the odd accent. "We are all together, employed by the Governor of Leaphaven. We are none of us kin to this losted child though the child's fate is indeed our quest, yet only part of it. His Lordship the Right Honorable Governor bids us discover the nature of this phantasmic house, and should it pose a threat to Leaphaven, do all that we may to neutralize it."

She nods curtly, "I am Lacey, Chiron Po you have met, these are Seluumiel and Xavier" she says, indicating them each respectively.

Lacey will spare a few moments to look at the items on the table, and unless she notices something remarkable, will leave the matter to Seluumiel.

She returns her concentration to the doors again.


(OOC: Is the lost child a girl or a boy? Has it ever been mentioned?)

Mental presences and their thoughts flooded into her awareness as Seluumiel concentrated on her divination. First the minds of the four others in the room came to her, then the awareness grew showing her many more minds hidden in the phantom house. The hidden minds were mainly stupid, but they were hostile and they seemed to be aware of their presence. She could not say where they came from and hidden among them was a mind of great power whose thoughts remained hidden from her spell. That worried her.

Seluumiel maintained her repose of serenity as she returned to the doorway and the two men that stood there. She looked from Chiron to Xavier for a moment before taking a step closer.

"My divinations have revealed the presence of those hostile to us. I cannot say exactly where they are, only that they are near and are aware of our presence. That is all I can say for now, I do not want to reveal our awareness of them to them." Seluumiel speaks in a low whisper just loud enough for the men to here.

The moon elf watches the men for a moment before moving to the table and the women. She looks to Lacey and Satya for a moment before telling them in a whisper what she relayed to the men. As if she had said nothing Seluumiel begins to study the map and book, taking care not to touch them. The tome and map might well provide an insight into this phantom house and that knowledge was urgent, hostile minds or no. Seluumiel broke her study of map and book to look up at Satya.

"Tell me Satya, have you touched either map or book? Perhaps opened the tome and leafed through it's pages?"

Seluumiel returned her gaze to the objects on the table as she made her inquiry. She continued her focus on the map and book, her sapphire eyes tracing their markings. The elf made a quick gesture and spoke a word of power as she pulled the magical weave over the objects.

(OOC: .5 MP casts Detect Magic focusing on the map and book)

Xavier slides in to the house in a smooth fashion, moving calmly past Chiron, and towards Satya, his smile still on his face, his eyes on the neck. However, he gives a sudden shake of his head, and looks at her face.

"Well, the doors disappearing could be a problem... we might not get out. But, of course, there's that br... child... which we need to find for the oh so generous governor..." Sarcasm drips from Xavier's words as he speaks about the governor, but he keeps a cheery attitude.

"So, Satya, how long have you been here? Or have you lost track of time? Why are you here in the first place?"

"Oh, and if we're going to go through a door, I say that one." Xavier says, pointing to the door furthest into the house on the left hand side. "It's prettier."

Satya: "I have spent my short time of imprisonment investigating this room. It seems as though the child might have come through here, and from the looks of it, unwillingly. There is a trail of urine that starts here and leads to that door there."

Satisfied that she has detected no traps on the doors, Lacey heads toward the door that the newcomer pointed to, opens it and heads in. She makes no attempt to hold the door open for anyone that may follow, nor waits for them if they do not.

Okay, If you didn't mention it then I just imagined that was what it looked like. You sure know how to make a creeper...lol.

This will be very interesting to see what happens as we progress. Should be fun

Quote:
Great! I'm looking forward to the game.

But I can't remember if I mentioned that he's wearing a mask that obscures his face... all except the eyes, with two slits for nostrils. His face is completely hidden.

And thank you for the name mentioning. I will research Loviatar.