No I wasn’t kidding. Its a perfectly legal way to get more children. Granted most people want the solution done faster so I guess its out of the question, for now. I will not apologize for an opinion. He looks to Mayamei Seriously, if you are going to be upset over words, then you are going to urinate when you hear the screams of a child. It takes a stronger will then yours to listen and understand, I just don’t care about the world. Accept it, or go deaf. I am not hear to make the world feel warm and fuzzy. You want that, pray.
He looks back to his plate and pokes at the uneaten food. but then again, this is starting to sound interesting, and that is what drives me. I might be rude, annoying, selfish and uncaring, but what I do lack, I make up in determination and my word. He looks up to his gracious host. Judging by your glare at my words I have already deduced an idea. You are angry, it was a test to see what logical ideas were in the bounds of the contract. You shift your weight side to side, showing that you nor the lackies under you have anything else that can be offered as for help. That saves me time asking them questions other then details. Lastly you hire an array of people because you have not dealt with our type much. He stabs a side of fine cut beef.You give us rewards before the hunt, that shows your are willing to go to much greater means and ideas then you would normally prefer. So lets begin.
Sass stands up rubbing the bandanna on his head feeling the horns underneath. He closes his eyes briefly to see his thought vividly displayed to him in a jumble of colors. The colors spin like chaos , but slowly they start to make patterns.
He points to Belthan You have been most verbose so I assume you will be the leader. I will address the ideas to you since I doubt our host could lace a shirt in his condition. Sassaroth begins to pace.
First, the halflings are a good idea, but then again everyone knows the dangers by now. Jaxus will probably have to pay them. This assuming the monster or monsters don’t have a special link to the children that they can sense the children. He gives a glare to the room. Lets assume they do, and they can scry as well.
Second, the problem with a large city is the randomness of the attacks and our force cannot cover every place at the same time. Since this house is set away from the rest with only one road leading to it. I suggest Jaxus try to host a grand ball for all the children of the city. This way we gather all the kids in one place. The parents can be told the truth that we are gathering the children in a secure, protected environment and anyone that refuses will be under suspicion of murder if their child dies outside the protection. Lie if we have to but we need to protect our pay, err I mean children. Sass gives a small chuckle.
Third, I assume we can’t just start a big fire and burn the forest. So we need to make a protective barrier around the city and the area where we secure the children. This is where Rituals come into play. I have one called an Eye of Alarm. We place them around your house. Each eye can emit a different tone or even say where it is. The problem is that the person casting it needs to stay near the eyes. Sass spins on his hells as he paces. This can be circumvented by making a focus, it cost about 100 gold per casting. This way , we can move around and the eyes will stay as long as the focus is near the eyes. By the hells you could even do that around the city walls or the wood edge. I don’t have the money to pay for focus nor the patient to stay put in one place. So Jaxus and his merry band of town dwellers will have to pay the bill. I only require I keep two of the focus for myself if Jaxus chooses this route. This allows the guards to go to an alarm and lets us poke around the woods or other places of ill omens.
Forth, we need to protect the children from mundane as well as magical. Lets assume the children can be located. We need to try to prevent scrying. I don’t have any rituals for that, so Jaxy will have to find someone. The colors in his mind had almost finished the pattern. The brilliant shades made a magnificent tapestry that spun and danced in a ball of thought.So on this track of thought, the more rituals people can preform the better. I would say, arcane lock to secure doors, silence so monsters can’t hear the kids playing, magic circle once we know what is stealing the children, discern lies to question the guards, and speak with dead to talk to the corpses. That is if you have these abilities in the city somewhere and if you do, then the city should feel ashamed for being idiots. There are even better rituals but I doubt anyone could perform them.
And lastly, we all ready know much about the monster or monsters. For one, they desire a specific food or sacrifice. It also might be revenge. Better keep an eye on the druids. They are afraid of numbers else they would have gutted this city like a fish. Something in the city they are vulnerable to. That means a magic or weapon, thus whatever it is, it can be killed. Also it seems they prefer to attack small numbers, so they use stealth instead of brute force. I could assume they are not incredibly strong but swift and fast. The mode of travel cannot be determined yet. I doubt the children are dead when attacked. They would have eaten them and not taken them away or they would have taken the others as well to store up for food. There is an intelligence to the attacks so we can rule out most normal wildlife. Most wildlife would claw, bite, burp if you catch my drift. Sass drops the piece of meat he had back to his plate. We will have to determine mode of travel, if they use natural or crafted weapons, looks for signs of magic, and see if there is a leader of a horde or one creature. I have a feeling someone in the city might be behind this. Someone that knows the patterns of the city, or someone outside that has observed the city for a good time, but thats just a guess.
Sass sat down glaring fully at Jaxus as he stabbed another apple with his black sickle. Do you feel better now? Perhaps later we can play cards for money.
Sass took a vicious bite of the apple letting the juice dribble down his chin as he chewed. The pattern was complete in his mind. Small circles of black were what clues were missing, and in the middle one large circle for the answer. The puzzle was ready for the missing pieces. Sass turned to the food and took small portions of the meal eating it all in a delicate but graceful manor.
