Butcher's Butchery

Robert hears his cousin scream, as well as Eve. He jumps to his feet, disturbing Bennik, and runs inside along with the two previously spooked (now terrified) guards.

"Rosa! Eve! What's going on?"

He doesn't notce Xel'rath, only seeing the two women on the ground. He quickly picks up Rosa and carries her outside. The guards see the ghost, but decide to just grab Eve and get out.

"Rosa, are you alright? What's wrong?"

He places her next to Bennik (who pecks her), and leans over her.

"What happened in there, Rosa?"

The dark figure would wordlessly watch the pair be carried out, knowing the spell would not break due to them being taken outside, they were still well within his grasp. Nevertheless, Xel'rath had already seen enough to sate his curiosity and broke the spell, and the two would find themselves quite shaken but still alive and no longer in pain. The dark figure would seem to turn towards Megan at this point, seemingly not noticing the sorceress up until now. This one makes noise just like the rest of them, questioning sounds. It seems these creatures are ever curious. The ward spell about her would probably elicit humor in any being who saw a need to feel such emotions but instead he merely took note of it, This one seems to have some aptitude in magic, rare among these creatures but not unprecedented. The ward seems to only be adept at warding off magic of this realm. Xel'rath would begin to move towards the exit of the butcher's shop, seemingly ignoring Megan for now. Her probing would also turn up with nothing, almost as if the being did not exist at all within the butcher's shop. 

Xel'rath would reappear on the other side of the butcher shops front wall, apparently walking right through the wall. As he emerged, the very shadows seemed to cling to him even here in broad daylight, and a moment later, the very sky above them all would be darkened, as black as night. No sunlight would reach the surrounding area, almost as it were the middle of the night. As he looked over them, Xel'rath came up with an idea. In the same alien voice the dark figure would speak again, "I will give you the information needed to find the killer, but first I will be needing something." A moment later, a dark shadow would race out from the figure, even darker than the night around them and seize one of the guards. The man would not have the chance to even scream before his body was disintegrated, armor and all. With the man's disintegration Xel'rath learned all the man knew, he would know where to find them once they caught the killer now. A moment later, they would feel Xel'rath's mind brush against their own, vast and limitless in it's power, he would overtake all of their minds with relative ease, and they would be frozen in place as he imprinted the image of what the killer looked like into their minds. A great amount of magic was used, especially to break through Megan's ward, but it was necessary, Xel'rath wanted to make sure they all got the image. It was true, he could find the killer himself, perhaps easier than these simple creatures, but why do that when they could do it for him? Once the image was implanted his presence would retreat from their minds, but he also wiped any memories of the guard seeing him before he did so.

"Hey!" Megan turned and watched as the being left. "Hmph, rude. It's not even acknowledging me..."

Megan had no way to follow him as he went through the wall. She was frustrated at his refusal to speak to her but glad that the situation had de-escalated and the 2 women were freed. When the sky darkened, she casted an illumination spell during the duration until the image of the killer was but in her mind. Despite her protections she'd casted, she found herself helpless to prevent Xel'rath from implanting the image in her mind. Once he retreated, Megan rubbed her head and looked up at the sky.

"Why are you doing this? Is this entertainment for you?" She called out, questioning the being. She didn't expect it to respond though since it already ignored her before. Instead she would check on everyone else. "Are you okay? And did you see that too?"

"Huh? What was that?"

Robert shakes his head, trying to clear the sudden image from his mind. That was weird. He looks down at the two women, and helps them both to their feet.

"Come on, you two. You've been through...something, at least. Come on, let's take a rest at my place."

He looks over to Raulio, indicating for him to help Eve. Slinging Rosa's arm over his shoulders, he helps her walk back towards his manor.

"What happened in there, anyways? A dark figure? You're making no sense."

He sighs.

"You've gone crazy. It's probably from being alone all the time. You should get married. Or at least get a boyfriend. Or a cat."

Bennik runs alongside and chirps in agreement.

As he walks off, Robert turns over his shoulder towards Megan.

"You're welcome to come too! I have snacks!"

Robert chuckles.

"Heh. Maybe we should get married. Then Gran and my mother would stop bothering us about it. They'd bother us about kids, but we could pretend you're infertile or something. Heh."

He sighs.

"You should rest, Rosa. You've had quite enough excitement for the day. Or at least, rest until after lunch. I'll have some of the staff come in and make some food, ok?"

Bennik walks beside him, rubbing his head against Rosa's thigh again. Robert rubs the bird's head.

"He's like a little cat. With feathers. That breathes fire."

Her head snapped to look into his face, alarm in her eyes. "You're not serious, Robert," she said slowly. Of course, they COULD get married. They were distant cousins, and in this day and age, FIRST cousins married all the time, especially among the higher ranked and wealthy families who wanted to keep all the wealth and influence WITHIN the family.

Even so, she could already begin counting all the reasons that they shouldn't get married, first and foremost being that she would not be okay with being publicly cuckolded by barmaids and sailors.

Megan's thoughts on the conversation he was overhearing had her looking over at her. "You're right," Rosamond said, and then winced a little as her body experienced a moment of phantom pain from the spell that Xel`rath had put upon she and Eve.

She decided to ignore the conversation of marriage and focus on the murder, since that was far more important. "I don't recognize him, but then, I'm not from Ozmodias," Rosamond explained to Megan as they walked. When she was feeling fine enough, she drew her arm away from where it had rested over Robert's shoulder and insisted with a gesture that she was okay to walk on her own.

She pet Bennik on the head as they walked towards the Mayor's Mansion.

[ Exit to Mayor's Mansion. ]