Act 6 - The Pallid Plague

[Vardaen]

"Yes it is cold out. Why are you standing out there? You should come in instead of all this riddling. Pleas please, don't linger." He opens the door, shoving it against the snow building up in front of it. When the door opens you are taken back by just how short the magistrate is. He can't be more than four feet tall! Many folks call him a half-man, a halfling, or a little folk behind his back, never to his face of course. Yet he's human none the less. Motioning for you to come in as he sniffles and blows his nose he moves over to the fireplace where he has a nice little fire going. The house is rather nice, in fact its very nice. All the furniture is excellently made, the house is decorated with finery, and silver, but the style isn't that good. Almost as if he just spent his money on random pieces of expensive things to show off with no design or taste in mind. He nearly vanishes into a large plush chair by the fire, "Close the door, due come in, and sit here with me."

Vamros

[Muskrat]

"Thank you for inviting us in," says Dreams. "This is about something very serious that could affect the well-being of the entire community. And it's not something we can just fight and stop, like we did with the monsters at the carnival. It's about a decision the community of Falcon's Hollow as a whole has to make--and since you're one of the leaders of the community, we thought we should speak with you."

[Vardaen]

"Yes that is true I am one of its leaders." He coughs again and rubs his temples afterwards. "I only wish I could shake this damable cold. I've been sick since that damn carnival and can't shake it." With a hankey he blows his nose and rubs his eyes. "Go on, tell me more."

Celevan looks to Torias and Dreams to continue speaking for the group.

[Trogdor]

As a person of few words, generally, Celevan nods to Dreams to continue the explanation.

[Eilandor]

Braedon taps the snow from his boots as he steps through the door and closes it as instructed. Aela weaves through the crowd and coils up near the fire, hopefully not startling the rather small man. Drawing back the hood from his cloak, he is curious to see what this leader of Falcon's Hollow has to say.

[AdamDaBomb11]

Drak towers over the four foot man by nearly three feet. When Vamros hints to his cold, Drak kneels down near him, "While I don't possess any abilities to heal, I may be able to give you a bit of resistance to the cold effects. It may give your body time to beat off the cold."

OOC

Cast Resist Cold Energy [20] on Vamros if he will accept, maybe a Diplomacy check if he is hesitant in trusting me.

[Vardaen]

Vamros looks shocked as the wolf wanders into his house, he lifts his feet up into his chair so Aela doesn't 'bite his toes off' so he's thinking.

Drak offers his spell and the small man shrugs, "Alright, I know you fellas are friends with Laurel so go ahead." He is at once warmed up from the protection from the cold, but the virus in his system is already there, and he's going to remain sick for a while.

With a sneeze he rubs his nose, "So, well? What's all the fuss about?"

[Muskrat]

Dreams begins pacing in front of the fire as she explains, "When we were traveling through the Cold Marrow to rescue the kidnapped loggers, we encountered a woman calling herself the Illian Seer. She commanded not only a great host of frostlings, but the winter storms themselves, giving much credence to her claim that she is a servant of the Winter God. She could have trapped us with her storms, but called them off--in return for which we agreed that she could come speak to the people of Falcon's Hollow. She seeks to have them bend their knee to the Winter God, accepting his rule in return for 'protection.' We can see how it would be tempting to people to submit to make things safer in the short run, but we fear in the long run, it will make things much, much worse. The Illian Seer and her ilk may be satisfied with little besides acknowledgement at first, but they will surely demand more and more in return for protection in the long run--and, of course, like an organized crime outfit, the protection will be as much from themselves as anything else. We fear the people of Falcon's Hollow will gradually be ground under a cruel tyranny if they agree to this. We have been speaking to the leaders of the town to persuade them to oppose the Illian Seer and will be speaking to an assembly of the townsfolk in the next few days. You may want to ponder what your own position might be under the rule of the Illian Seer. Would they continue to allow you to make judgements, with your long ties to this community that you care about? Or would they replace you with someone they know will serve them faithfully but cares little what happens to Falcon's Hollow in the long run? We are hoping you will side with us against the Illian Seer." Dreams is trying to appeal to Vamros' self-interest without couching it in such undiplomatic terms.

[Vardaen]

"Sinister! Terrible!"

Vamros stands up from the chair, slips his way carefully around the wolf, and goes into a low cabinet and pulls out a bottle. "Icitian brandy anyone?" He pours a glass and grinks it down fast. He sneezes, then pours a second glass offering a snifter to anyone else that wants some.

"So we are trading one tyrant for another? I don't see how life will be much different, except its going to be damn cold out all the time, and we better like the color white!" He sits back down carefully avoiding Aela again with a wrinkled nose. "Frostlings? You mean goblins and stuff? I don't think the folks of Falcon's Hollow can handle another tragedy so soon after...well after all the ones that keep striking us! What do we do? What's Kreed say about it all?"

[AdamDaBomb11]

"Thank you." Drak says, taking the glass of Icitian brandy as not to be rude. He drinks it down and then continues, "We have talked to a few others and for the most part everyone seems to want time to contemplate. Time that could be used to prepare, if you ask me."

OOC

Aid Diplomacy of course