A Dark Eve

The woman known as Jun Miruno awaits the Adventurers as they approach the eastern exit of Dun Loireag, stepping down one of the last bridges leading to a beautiful archway. It isn't often that the Bun-Bun Cait Sith is seen outside of her shop, let alone to meet with Adventurers like this. But after hearing about what had happened, she ended up being the one who'd given them the tip about the 'move'.

"She's been moved to a town just a little ways over from here. One of our farming communities." She explains. "Shiroi Chiba was traveling, what seemed to be willingly, along with a group of Landers there. You will have to be careful. But since it's outside of the root town now, I imagine your people won't have any problems with your 'usual solution to problems'."

With which she expects the Adventurers mean to do violence, no doubt sparked by their attempts during Shiroi Chiba's party.

The woman then sends them off after answering any quick questions, leading the Adventurers traveling Eastwards by Peko or on Foot, towards the community in question. To track down Shiroi Chiba and her cotery.

Giganpor rubs his chin, looking thoughtful. He was in his human form as he looked at Jun, "I take it you do not know any more about this Yoru Chiba as well? In any case, thanks for the information. And yeah, we wouldn't, but eh... trying different methods? Can't exactly kill everything that moves and let the Goddesses sort them out, right?"

He's hired a Peko, probably not a good one, but at least he'll be able to return it as he climbs up on it's back and takes off towards the farming community. He does at least offer to pay for Pekos for those that don't have them. After all, he's the reason any others might be investigating this mess so far!

"Willingly travelling... just what does that thing do?" He says more to himself than anyone else, but does make sure he has his armor equipped just in case, and his pole axe on his back.

    Merek of course takes the time to relax and pulls on his dark attire with the hood, nodding a bit to the party. He doesn't comment while he watches, deciding to come on foot with them while they travel towards the community. He didn't have any questions, at the moment he's trying to keep his profile low.

Shiruba sighs slightly at the implications that aren't actually said in Jun's remark about 'usual solutions to problems'.... but can't really object that she doesn't have a point. Some Adventurers are just more likely to think with their fists than their actual heads. At least most of them have their hearts in the right place. "Let's hope it doesn't come to that method." But even she isn't going to ignore that it could, depending on how deep and sinister this really goes. She gives a quick bow. "Thank you for the assistance, Miss Miruno."

Then she hops up on Tradewind's back. No need for rentals she brought her own. "Well, there's only one way to find out." She gives her Peko a nudge to get moving.

    Rizadoman listens to the explination given by Jun as he nods his head slowly, " We appreciate any information you can give us. We will do our best to not resort to any of those tactics unless absolutely neccessary. " There is a hint of anxiety in his voice as he thinks about the other potential royal pains of problems that could be out there in the wild. " I don't suppose if we know if Yoru Chiba is associated with those of the Palace Land?" It is an open ended question to the group as he readies Bird for travel. Either way he goes on to say, " We ride fast and hard. Hopefully they won't know what happens until its already over."

Yeowang has no intent to do violence, ironically, since she hasn't been presented with anyone that seems to have done anything wrong? As she understands it, we're here to speak with the original party host, to ask her what was up with the switcheroo that happened. Of course if the guards try to stop us talking, things may happen. But guards that want to stop a conversation are clearly up to no good.

She nods about the person being moved, and bows her head to our informant. "Thank you very much. We just want a few words. Violence is not our intent." Just our go-to solution.

She climbs on the rented peko clumsily. She's not trained to ride, nor is she particularly good. But she's riding so she can keep up with the others. She's got her long hair tied up in a tight bun, which she does if she feels mayhem /may/ be in the offing, keeping the long locks clear of the fight, and she's wearing a dark jacket over her white blouse, but that's been the case generally lately as she trains at sneaking.

    Miyako is dressed for polite visiting, having changed out her armor for a pleasant-looking silk jacket, with no sign of weapons to be seen upon her. "I don't see how it's possible," she comments to Rizadoman. "The whole shenanigans happened before we opened contact with them." She shrugs casually and rides along with the others. "We want to go in soft, we're just there to talk, not accusing anyone of anything."

The Cait Sith touches her hand to her lips and giggles a bit at Giganpor's ask. "Not too much. It certainly seems like she isn't who she seems to be." The woman answers. "But unlike you Adventurers, we do not have that thorough of a census." She explains. To Rizadoman, she adds rather specifically; "It may be that the Law of Alba was broken."

The group heads eastwards across the road. There's a great deal of well established roads that run between the various villages. And in the summer, it isn't hard to find the various signs that point the way across the map. The name of the map given to them by miss Jun, it still takes a good hour of travel to get there.

When they do, they'll note that the town, or perhaps 'farming community' would be a better term, is fairly on the small side. A few towns along a main street, and various dirt roads that spiderweb out towards various farms further out. There's active work on the fields however, and there's a great deal of Cait Sith and Were Fang farmers working out there, carrying heavy things around.

The street is populated by various Landers, and there's even a quite a few Moon Tree Adventurers around who are helping with the whole Farming thing.

"If it comes to that method that's what I'm here for." Kaydon says, as he hovers not far from Shiruba. The rest of the group can try to negotiate, that's fine with Kaydon. He is totally content to let the people who can talk do their talk. He just likes to be ready in case the talks break down.

    "The Law..." Rizadoman echo's the words then trails off as he hears that answer and if someone listens closely they could hear the grinding of the lizardman's teeth for a moment. Seeing the town he frowns a little before he speaks up to his groupp members, "If violence does break out we must do our best to not cause damage to the village. It will be detrimental to them if we do. " Stopping Bird for a moment he notices one of the Moon Tree adventurers, "Hey mate, we heard a few landers came through with a Kitsune Cait Sith? Any chance you can point us in her direction?" It was an innocent enough question the lizardman felt.

Yeowang arrives at the farming community with the others, and looks around, searching for any sort of a building that might house extra guests that aren't normal residents. An inn, for preference, if there is one in a place this small. If not, maybe someone's house, if large enough, might have the extra space they need.

But primarily, she needs to get the lay of the town. Is there an inn? Tall buildings? A place or two more lavish than the surroundings? Any with guards? Or even people loitering around.

Giganpor slows down as they near the farming community, looking it over, then looking at the map. Afterwards, he starts to scan the area. Particularly he looks for those that seem out of place as well as tries to do a long range inspect trying to find those that might be some form of noble guard.

Sighing, he glances at Kaydon, "I hope it does not come to that. We need all the political clout we can get for the long term."

    Merek will nod a little bit to Giganpor, while he thinks about it, "I wonder if we will manage to get any attention by asking questions, we should probably keep to being personal about it all probably," he will admit.

Though there is no proper 'Inn' in town, being primarily a farming community, it does have a Bar. It's currently not occupied however, as most of the workers are out in the middle of the fields doing work.

Grabbing one of the Moon Tree Adventurers that is wandering through the streets, Rizadoman learns that; "Hmm? Oh yeah. She was kinda hot -" Typical Adventurers. No sense of decorum. "- I think she went to the Firemane Farm House down the road." He points to one of the last houses in the main street of the village.

Shiruba slows her Peko with the rest of the group as they reach the town. "Likewise." No surprise to see a lot of other Cait Sith and Were Fang around. It makes sense they'd take her someplace she wouldn't visibly stand out. Not that they're likely to just let her walk about? There's still more questions than answers.

Rizadoman and Yeowang are already investigating and talking to people. Mmmm. Too many of them asking around at once would get supicious, so she's just going to hold back for the time being. "Looks like the farming communities here haven't been too upset by other events yet."

Giganpor, giving a nod to the others, "Thank you." He says towards the Adventurer, before heading for that farm house. Once there, he dismounts to approach the door and motions the others to stay back a bit just in case before he knocks.

Giganpor does step back just in case, as he waits to see if anyone can or will answer, and he listens intently to see if he can hear anything from inside the house as well!

Yeowang will ride off with the others when we're directed to the farmhouse, and when Giganpor goes to the front door, she will ride around to the other side of the farmhouse, taking a look around. If they try to do a runner, she will be in position to intercept them. If they meet politely, she can always come back.

Kaydon gives Giganpor a shrug in response, "I told you, you guys can do your thing. I'm just here in case it breaks down. If it doesn't, cool. I'm happy since I'm still getting paid either way." For now he follows along behind the crew, though he leans in to Shiruba, "You think they'll actually be able to negotiate with her? Honest answer."

"I cannot make a reliable assessment on how little information we are working from," Shiruba replies to Kaydon. He did ask for an honest answer, after all. "So this is one of those times I fall back on my usual 'hope for the best and prepare for the worst."

    Miyako humms a tune quietly as the group rides along, slowing as they reach the small town. "Looks like folks are busy," she murmurs, falling silent as the group walks through the town and Rizadoman questions a passing adventurer. "Don't suppose there's been any other odd doings around that time, or since?" she asks them, lingering to listen.

     Eventually she catches up with the rest. "There's always a good market for them," she answers Shiruba, nodding. "Not sure most of them care, really, so long as they're left alone. City folk can go hang, far as a lot of country folk see it." She keeps her voice low, so as not to be easily overheard by the locals.

    Rizadoman nods his head as he gets the answer to the question and the directions before heading in the general direction of the Firemane farm. "Giganpor do you and Shiruba wish to go in first and make introductions before we bring a whole squadron of adventurers into some poor guy's farmhouse?" All Rizadoman wanted was to get out of this without some PR nightmare to have to deal with. Just wants to be able to take his alliance out and about without any PR nightmare.

"Nah, nothing really that odd. Just doing our work." The Adventurer points out. "I've been keeping my eye out in case any Palace Landers show up and start asking weird questions." He motions to Rizadoman. "But luckily, I recognize the big guy. So you guys seem clean." The Adventurer notes, giving Miyako a playful wink. "Anyhow, heading back to the field. Good luck with your Quest, or whatever you folk are up to." And with that, he kneels down and grabs a hoe, and wanders off past a fisherman; "Great day for Fishing, ain't it?"

"Yep, great day for fishing." The Adventurer answers and carries on with his life.

Heading up to the Firemane Farm House down the street, they come across what is, yet another one of the many similar looking houses. They all have their own little bits of personalization to it. But it's clear that there was a standard of construction when this particular village was made by their people. In many a ways, that makes this village one of the more modern ones around Dun Loireag.

And right as they walk up, there's Shiroi Chiba... relaxing in a log bench at the front of the house. Through the window, they can spot a few armed men going through the house, taking a load off. They look like they belong in the place though. Probably the local town guard. And knowing the way things tend to be around here - probably quite strong Landers at that. They can't quite get an Inspect off through the window.

    Rizadoman stops Bird the moment he sees Shiroi Chiba outside and tries to stop all but a very few. No reason to scare the poor lady by everyone running up to her. Unless of course someone was planning the kidnapping approach of grabbing her off the bench and taking off with her before the guards could do anything. No one would do that though right?

Yeowang spotted our target of interest as she went to take a peek around back. "Nothing odd out back," she reports by party chim, then she will return to the front, but shares Rizadoman's hesitation about going up en masse, so she will hang back and attempt to look casual while the interested people approach. She will attempt to keep a lookout to see if anything unusual is going on that may indicate incoming trouble.

"They're right, all of us wandering up at once is going to raise alarm." She nods to Giganpor. "This is your investigation, lead the way." Right now she's just here for the support.

    Merek does seem to think about it a moment, then he nods to Giganpor, "Well, it's worth looking into," then he seems to consider the fisherman, waving to him. "It's always a great day for fishing." The man walks along and looks about the place, "Where do you think we should look first?"

Giganpor, seeing their target, doesn't knock and instead approaches. "My lady Shiroi Chiba?" He asks of her, "My name is Giganpor, and I have some questions for you if you do not mind?"

He is doing his best to be polite, but also eyeing the farm house door. His only real armament is on his back as far as most are concerned. The Peko is left nearby, and well... other than armor, he might just be pulling off some sort of regal bearing. His cloak does look to be giving off a gentle, blue glow that frames him.

"It is nothing... invasive unless you want it that way, but we were at the party some time ago where your... sister, I guess? Made her debut or such?"

The Dark haired Kitsune Cait Sith turns her head up as Giganpor approaches, shifting her beautiful dress a bit and moving her black hair. She looks a bit... dopey? Not quite that. She seems 'out of it' in a ways. Still, she looks to him, and smiles. "Mister Giganpor. Yes, I remember." She answers him. She's far kinder, and her presence is far less harsh than it had been at the recent Noble's festival.

The men inside seem to just be doing their thing inside. One of them is working on his sword, making sure it's good and sharp.

"Ah yes. You mean Yoru!" She blinks for a moment, a bit of confusion. "My... sister?" She asks, that sense of 'being out of it continues'. "I guess she would have to be, right?" She then asks, blinking a bit. "Yes. I remember. I was feeling unwell, and I had to leave. It was better for me."

Yeowang, hanging back with Rizadoman and the others, sighs heavily. "I don't need to run a medical inspect on her to see she's doped to the gills on -something-," she tells those hanging back. "I think she /may/ need to be rescued, at that, if they're keeping her like this. She's far to out-of-it to give us any useful answers as she is. They left her outside because she's too gorked-up to run off. If we grab her, it's kidnapping, though...."

She considers. Grabbing her long enough to shake off whatever they've drugged her with may be the best service we can do for her, but how to do that, given the current situation? She covers her mouth, as if rubbing her chin, and party-chims quietly, "I think we may need to extract this person for her own good. But we can't be seen to. If we depart, and one of us spirits her away by stealth, that may be our best option. If we're seen departing without her, and she vanishes, they can't blame us."

Shiruba is letting Giganpor do the talking, but her ears perked at attention listening to the woman's responses, tilting her head in that way many canines do when curious. It's not hard to tell she's slightly... out of it does seem to be the best way to describe it. Like even she doesn't entirely understand what happened and is just coping with it.

Eventually she puts a hand thoughtfully to her chin. Had she felt ill, or was somehow convinced she was? What manner of manipulation were they truly dealing with here? Yet something still wasn't adding up....

She looks back to the others and just kind of shrugs. As usual she's left with more questions than any real answers. This kind of mystery may be fun to read but it's really annoying when you're actually a part of it, the one without the answers you need.

Giganpor looks at Shiroi carefully. Obviously using Inspect to the other Adventurer's eyes. And he seems to consider, "You were feeling unwell? That is a bit odd. You seemed perfectly fine when I arrived at the party."

He seems to consider, moving a hand behind his back and behind his cloak to signal the others. He makes sure to point at the farm house itself, then roughly at where Kaydon is, and makes an 'ok' gesture.

Then he focuses on Shiroi, "My lady, do you mind if I sit with you a while? I am interested in hearing more about yourself and your sister. Did you two grow up together?"

    Miyako decides to hang back with the others, letting Shiruba and Giganpor approach. "You might have a point," she answers Yeowang. "And a lady of her station with no attendants? Just guards? If she were out here to recover from an illness, she'd have at least a maid and a doctor." She keeps a close eye on the house, looking for any odd movements or expressions on the part of the guards.

    Rizadoman watches the face of the woman for a moment before he slips off his peko and begins to approach slowly his eyes glancing at the guards in the inside, particularly the one with the sword. For the moment it is just so he can get in earshot of the situation and be able to run interference if the guards get trigger happy. He has one other idea to get a bit more information, however he will let Giganpor do his thing for now. Best to let the river flow the way it will before trying to force it one way or another.

"Sure... sit on down." Shiroi motions for Giganpor, then looks over to the others. "Your friends are welcome to join." She shifts just a bit to make room, and then leans back a bit to sit up prim and proper. "I... don't remember having a sister. But when she said she was my sister... I just felt like I could trust her. I remember feeling unwell... she said I looked pale." The woman answers Giganpor.

With Shiruba and Rizadoman also approaching, one of the men in the house notices and comes up to the front, opening the door. He gives the group a bit of a look... followed by the /massive/ looking Lion Were Fang's heckles raising. "Hey! Get away from her!" And immediately pulling out a massive looking blade, pointing it at the Adventurers.

"What're you lot doing here, bothering miss Chiba?" Growling, and looking just about ready to strike at any one of them.

Kaydon makes his way towards the house, following Giganpor's hand signal. He is, for the moment, doing his best to pretend that he isn't there to be the brute squad. His attention is mostly focused on the town guards in the house.

The guy drawing the blade immediately gets responded to, as Kaydon's own blade is pulled and a defensive stance is dropped into, as Kaydon shifts into were fang form, "You sure you wanna play this game, chief?"

    Rizadoman listens to the explanation given by the noble lady and when her entourage starts to get testy he immediately steps between the Lion Werefang and the Gnoll Werefang his scales going red as he looks between the guard and Kaydon. "Our friend here was concerned for the lady, they have met previously and just want to make sure everything is ok. We were just passing through when he saw her is all." The lizardman does his best to calm the situation, "None of us want anything to happen in this village that will cause any trouble."

The Lion Werefang stares down Kaydon, showing his teeth. A few more guards inside grabbing weapons before they'll come out. "Sure you are." He answers Rizadoman incredulously. "And I'm sure none of you were thinking of grabbing her and taking her away, huh?" He asks, glaring at him.

Shiruba moves to sit down as well. What Shiroi says confirms part of what she was already suspecting, that she was somehow compelled into believing she was sick.

And the moment is quickly ruined when some of the Guards finally come out to investigate. Okay, first thing to do is not panic, that would just make it obvious they were up to something. Don't panic, and she can come up with something to say.

"Yes, merely concerned for her well-being." She eyes Kaydon for a moment, but considering the guard technically drew a weapon first... She sighs, gesturing where she's sitting. "Does it look like we're trying to carry her off? We were just having a nice little chat to make sure everything was okay."

Yeowang eyerolls as the brute squad puts in an appearance, and of course we don't back down from shows of force. "This is not going to go well," she predicts. She watches it all unfold, though, like watching the kids wander into the woods in a horror movie. It's not going to end well, but there's no stopping them.

Rizadoman gets a point for trying to stop things, but when more guards come out of the house, she calls, in her most imperious tone, "We are not welcome here, let us depart."

None of the NWA folks will take it for anything but pretentous posturing, but hopefully the guards will see it as someone in charge issuing an instruction. It's them she's trying to convince.

Kaydon shows no intention of backing down, though his stance does shift a little bit. Lions and hyenas are natural enemies, after all. At least that's what he learned from movies.

"If we wanted to take her we already would have done so. These guys just want to talk." Kaydon, on the other hand, is doing exactly what he expected he might need to do here.

    Merek does approach and look to Shiroi, while he seems to consider a moment. He then nods a bit, while he speaks to his chimlink and walks away a moment. "They are under the influence of opiates," the man notes, while he takes the time to then walk back to where people are.

Kotono has been mostly keeping to herself in the background. She has been here, just not saying much right now. Although she does seem to be agreeable about things, that's for sure. Nevertheless, she's here, just quiet...

Another Lion Werefang, huh? Well, Giganpor can play that. He looks at Shiroi. "Excuse me, my lady." He turns to the guards, and shifts to his own snow tusked lion form. And actually glares at the guards. His cloak turns a bright, confident gold color as he looks at the apparent speaking one.

"Hold. We mean no harm to the Lady Chiba. Nor do we wish any quarrel here. What you seek will not end well for either side, nor do I wish for it to happen. However, you are surely here for the protection of this fair lady, am I right?" He motions at Shiroi.

His eyes lock on the Lion Werefang in their midst. "You. Your instincts tell you to protect the Pride, am I right? To protect others. Then tell me what you are doing here. Tell me how this is protecting someone. I am not here to quarrel, I am here to stop what I have seen and what I know is not right. I am here because if I do not, then you will find yourself at the mercy of this.. enchantment. This mockery of something that I care for deeply."

Giganpor's gaze turns to the other guards, "Free will. The right to make your own choices and to remember your own past. If you want to stand against me, then fine. But in the mean time, I want to hear either one of two things from you. The reason for what you are doing or a yes sir as you turn around and leave us to trying to figure out just what has happened before our very eyes not that long ago."

Giganpor's armor actually seems to give one hell of a growl. Not him. The /armor/ does. "Now, if you will excuse me, I was having a nice talk with this lady before we were interupted." He shifts back to his human form, a clear sign that he is not aggressive before turning to move and sit down by Shiroi. He looks to her, "I apologize for that display, my lady. But if you did not grow up together, what is the relation that was stated? Surely you would remember an adoption or such?"

    Miyako flexes her fingers, as if wishing she were holding a weapon. She looks up, her eyes narrowing as she focuses in on the lion-man. "Sounds like that one's the leader," she muses, not bothering to look and see what the others awaiting with her are doing.

    A moment goes by, and the Spriggan almost, almost, gives in to the urge to simply charge in and demolish the enemy.

    "Looks like we were right..." she mutters. Her eyes flick briefly to Kotono, and she mutters, "Get ready."

As the rest of the guards spill out of the door, watching the chaos that is the Adventurers, the Lion halts his blade's position for a moment as Giganpor rises along with it all. He glances at Shiroi at first, then back to Giganpor as the armor roars at him. And he steps back for a moment, bumping him into the other guards.

But it's Merek's revalation that perhaps does the most here, enhancing Giganpor's words. "I don't know what you are talking about a Pride for, strange Adventurer..." The blade starts to come down towards the sheath. "But if you are truly here to find out what happened to our Lady..."

The guards look amongst eachother.

Shiroi in the meantime just glances up at Giganpor and the others, almost too blissful for everything that is going on. Reaching out a hand to touch Giganpor's elbow and then patting on the seat next to her again - looking over to Shiruba for a moment and giving her the sweetest of smiles. "She said she was my sister..."

The Lion sighs. "You won't get much useful out of her. After she was put under whatever spell that strange noblewoman used, they started drugging her. It took a lot to get her out of there." He points out to Giganpor and the rest, before he motions for the rest of the guards to head back in. "I thought maybe that woman had requested you all to take her back."

"She's been using this strange device on her neck." He points at his own neck. "To control various people around her to do her bidding. Some of us were able to keep our wits about ourselves though." The Lion declares.

Once it's sorted out that they mean no harm, and Merek has confirmed that the woman is indeed drugged, Shiruba puts a hand reassuringly on the woman's shoulder. "It's best you don't think too hard about it right now. You need to just relax so you can recover... from being ill, yes." Best to just leave it like that until the woman is of clearer mind.

Then she turns her attention to the guards, nodding a bit. "Can't really judge, since we were worried you were hired by that woman to keep her here." But now they're getting some form of answers at least. "So it is some kind of magic device..."

    Rizadoman lets out a low growl as he hears the shim in his ear about her being drugged and the guard confirms it. " No we did not come to take her but we may have some connections to help get her clear headed enough to be able to talk. it sounds like you kept your wits, any idea who she really is?" Taking another moment and seeing things are calming a little he steps back and lets his scales shift back to normal before he motions the group in. " We want to know about the lady who just walked in at the party and the strangeness behind it is all. Whatever you can tell us helps, maybe starting with a name. I am Rizadoman Guild Representative of the Moon Tree guild."

Kaydon's stance shifts a bit when the lion were fang does, though he doesn't put his blade away yet. His job is to keep the other Adventurers safe, and he gets that the guard's job is to do the same for his side.

"So you got her out of there after she got affected in order to keep it from going on?" Once the other guards have gone back inside, he does put his blade down, though not away. A glance to Shiruba for a moment, "Do we have anything we can do to cure her?"

Yeowang's eyebrows arch in pleased surprise. The guards are loyal to the Lady here, not the one in charge. That's a bit of surprise, and a mistake on the part of the replacement. The replacement must not have suspected anyone to root out the location and come for her. But with the Guards sorted out, it simply remains to get to the bottom of this.

Kaydon's asking the right question, but it's nothing she knows anything about. She looks to see how Merek responds. He seems to be the expert.

Giganpor nods, looking considerate. "I guess the rumors were right about that." He looks to the other Lion. "Sorry, it is a term used where we come from. Lions have prides, families they protect. It is part of why I look the way I do. At least a small part."

He seems to consider, then looks at the Lion. "Do you know where Yoru Chiba stays when not at one of these parties? I apologize for the speech, but at times... I do get a bit wordy."

A nod is given towards Merek. Then he sighs, "I am not a doctor, but... I guess I can try... I do have healing spells. We might need to call one of our healers here to take a look." He moves to cast the spell carefully, looking at the lion, "I am going to try to figure out what is wrong with her. But if she has been drugged, as you say, this may need someone a lot more skilled at healing than I am. The problem is the drugs are making a layer we can not see past at a guess?" He looks to Merek to make sure.

"No idea. She came out of nowhere. We tried to do a background search. But nobody's heard of her. At least, not by description, or name." The Werefang Lion expresses to Rizadoman. "She said her name was Yoru Chiba. But we've found no records in the family tree that suggests she exists." Unlike the world the Adventurers are familiar with, there is no accurate census, or computer records, or social media here. It's all about written records and just... who you know.

"I... we... did not want her our lady to get addicted to these Opiates and turn into something we could no longer recognize." The guard remarks, touching his hand to his chest. "She'll heal on her own here, as long as nobody finds us." The Werefang explains.

"As for Yoru - she remains in our lady's mansion. She refuses to travel outside of Root Towns, which makes things rather difficult to deal with." He explains. "And no, I don't think the mental influence is still there. The drugs are making it hard for her to question things she felt at the time. It's making her remain confused."

Kotono can sense something's not right like Miyako can. She narrows her eyes as well before glancing at Miyako. "I'm ready," She says, albeit with her hands still by her side.

She looks like she's just keeping a normal stance, but that girl can switch stances in the blink of an eye.

Not that she wants to...

Shiruba mmhmms. "This 'Yoru'" as they have no other name to call her by at the moment, "had her drugged, presumably because her influence would wear off when not in the presence of her mcguffin, then." She looks to the guards. "It's possible your concern for Your Lady's well-being more than anything else, that gave you the willpower to resist it's effect, and the clarity to reason it was better to get her away from that influence." She starts rubbing her chin thoughtfully again. "We don't have any solid motive, other than wanting a position of power... I would hazard a guess she picked Miss Chiba because she could strike enough of a resemblence to be mistaking as family. Being presented with something that is not visibly disbelievable would make others less likely to question the artifact's influence..." It's a lot of theorizing, but at least she's got some information to theorize from. "If only I could get a closer look at this device..."

Yeowang listens in, nods slowly. "Well, that's most of the mystery cleared up," she observes to those that have hung back. As to how we will /deal with/ what we've found, that's something else entirely. But we've been about as lucky as it's possible to be, so hopefully we can ride that to some good conclusion.

She nodsto Shiruba's theorycrafting, agreeing, "That seems plausible. My major concern is if the replacement was some Palace Lander spy." But what, indeed, can be done if the replacement will not leave the safety of the Root Town.

    The longer Giganpor can keep the other lion-man talking, the less likely this is to turn into a fight. This disappoints a small but growing part of the Spriggan. She's never been one to start a fight before, but lately she's seemed ... agitated.

    Still, she promises herself, isn't that what she told Haechi that they explicitly weren't doing? Riding roughshod over the wishes of the People of the Land?

    "Whoever this Yoru turns out to be," she muses, "She'd better have a damn good story."

    Rizadmon looks at the others as the situation continues to unwind but from the way the guard put it there is nothing else to be done at the moment. " So time will heal her, however we now have the problem of Yoru and whoever she is. " Taking a moment he looks back to the farming town and then to the guards. " IF something comes up you can reach out to any adventurer here that is with the NWA and get a message to us. We will be happy to help if we can." Looking at the others he moves towards Bird. " I think the majority of us do not need to continue to stand here. "

Giganpor looks considerate, then looks to Merek, "Can you help her?" His own spell seems to not really do much, being just combat magic. "Opiates are beyond me. And we need answers."

He seems to consider as well, the other Lion's words before he gives a nod towards the guard. "Then, we need to face this and find out what is going on. Where is your Lady's mansion at? Perhaps there we can figure out a bit more in regards to this. And whether or not there are enough loyal to bring it before someone who might be able to help."

Yeowang nods at what amouts to a dismissal from Rizardoman. "There is nothing more for me to contribute. I will wish you luck and be off." So saying, she will turn her peko and ride off. Her work here, such as it was, is done.

"Once we locate the imposter we can find out exactly how we can fix this." Kaydon says, as he finally puts his blade away, "And maybe figure out what the device she's using is, so we can reverse engineer it..Or at least stop it from being used on others."

    Merek does seem to consider it a little bit, "We will need to deal with it discretely probably. I don't think that it will be all that good if we don't," he will admit. The man nods to Kaydon, and looks along to everyone else, while he considers. "I can see about what I am able to do," he notes to Giganpor. "Healing magic should be able to assist. Even if the principle of what opiates are is alchemical."

Shiruba gives the lady another reassuring pat on the shoulder. "Yeah, we'll have to be descrete, but if we can get to the bottom of all this, the better for everyone involved."

"Agreed," Kotono says to Miyako, still looking a bit uncertain about things. "Although whether the story turns out to be good or not is only part of it. There's other things we need to consider." Her eyes dart from side to side.

    Miyako nods to Kotono. "Yeah," she agrees, flexing her fingers again. "At least now we have some more information what's going on."

The Lion reminds Giganpor, "You were at the party, I believe? That would be her mansion." He pauses, before adding; "And I do not understand what you are asking of me, in regards to loyal ones. But I imagine many are under her influence there."