The Old Lady's Lair

(Players score 54, success)

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“Who told you that? Who said I had a book?” Agatha demands, scowling fiercely. She looks over the group, eyes narrowing. “I don’t know you, why- is that, you’re not Josiah Carson’s grand-daughter, are you? Brian’s little girl?” She focuses on Lilybeth for a moment, before her attention shifts to Riesy. “And you, you’re a McGlynn, aren’t you.” That is less a question, and she purses her lips, before she adds, a little less harshly, “I don’t need nobody checking in on me, I’m doing just fine.” She looks Doc over, taking in his silent presence, and her expression seems to soften for an instant, before she returns her attention to Izzy.

“You know what you’re asking for? Any idea what the wrong sorts could do with it? And there’s plenty of the wrong sorts out there, don’t you forget it, even some of those claims to be the right sort. Why should I trust you? Book’s safe where it is.”

Lilybeth looks up--yup, that was definitely a question, and to her...ulp. Sternly telling her stomach butterflies to settle down, she faced the old woman. "Yes, Miz Soleil, I'm Brian's daughter. You....knew my grand-dad?"

"Book's safe. People aren't," Doc grunted, impatient with the family histories. Bloodline snobbery, waste of their time. "Secrecy's no use if all th' Troubled die anyway."

"And you'll be doin' just fine on your own here in a minute, auntie," Riesy added quietly. "I dunno if it's been brought home to you yet, but there is no more 'out there,' there's only us in here, and with the Troubles acting funky and the Rev dead, there's no good sorts or bad sorts left. We're all the same sort, now, lost and just trying to figure it out how to stay alive. Although, if you're that worried about what sort we are, you can check Izzy's arm. There are still some of that 'sort' left, and you sound just like 'em." S/he finally did cross shiz arms over shiz stomach. "Same folks as got us in this mess, keepin' all their secrets and leaving everyone unprepared."

Izzy's heart thumps in her chest at the accusation in the old lady's eyes. She hates barging into the woman's house and being rude, hates that she's made her afraid, but they need the information. Doc's right, if they stay in here they'll all die. They can't stay trapped forever. Riesy's right too, they're all the same now, trapped and yes they're all working together now. But that hasn't stopped folks from being bigoted, it hasn't stopped folks from blaming the Troubled for the fog wall. Regardless, the wall is a Trouble. The darkness is a Trouble.

"Mrs. Soleil. The Troubled, the Guard," she rubs at her arm self consciously, "regular folk and even the Shepherds," she resists glancing back at Tanner. "We're all stuck inside this bubble. We'll be stuck in here with the wrong sort forever if we don't get the book. Brian Carson and his kids, the McGlynn's, all the Troubled. We'll be stuck in here with folks who are blaming us for this. And no one ever asked to be Troubled but Mrs. Soleil the wall is a Trouble, we can do things that regular folk can't. They can't fix this problem but we can. We need to bring the fog wall down. We need to fix this because we can. Isn't that worth the risk? Tabitha thinks so," she says, hoping to make the woman feel better by bringing up her sister. "Tabitha told us the book was here. What if we take it to her and she holds onto it while we use the information in it. Isn't she the right sort?"

Lilybeth rolls: 10 + 6 + 3=19

The member 'havensqueenbookwench' has done the following action : Dice rolls

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'd10' : 10

rolling

The member 'yumearashi' has done the following action : Dice rolls

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'd10' : 9

rillong
2 + 10 + 3 = 15

The member 'BirdyMarie' has done the following action : Dice rolls

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'd10' : 2

Rolling

The member 'Jodie' has done the following action : Dice rolls

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'd10' : 10

(Players score absurdly high, success)

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“Josiah was a friend of my Gerald’s,” Agatha says absently, her eyes going back to Doc for an instant. She listens with pursed lips to Doc’s terse words, and Riesy’s careful chiding, wondering over the young’un’s defensive curl- last she knew, the McGlynns weren’t particularly on the outs with the Guard, but... Maybe things have shifted. Maybe a lot has shifted. Isn’t like she has much love for the Guard’s brand of nonsense, neither, but Tabitha has sent these people.

She’s not exactly inclined to be pleased with Tabitha’s nonsense right now, either, but that is’t the fault of these folks.

And maybe the girl is right. Isn’t good for anyone, to be stuck like this, particularly to be stuck with them as means to do the rest harm. Secrecy’s no use if they all die anyway, and this is a sorry looking group come to her door- well, her attic- looking for help. If this is all that could be spared...

Maybe things are dire enough. Maybe it’s time.

“...Oh, fine,” she huffs, yielding. “If I give you the book, you’ll all get out of my house?”

Isabelle laughs thinking of the rooms full of traps. "Absolutely, if you'll let us," she agrees.

"A' course!" Riesy chirped brightly. "And without a tchotchke askew behind us. Anything we can do for you on the way out? Water your plants, tell the moose to mow your lawn?" S/he smiled, with as little guile as s/he could push down.

Eve flicks her tail up and trots back over to Doc, feeling much safer now that the situation seems to be resolving peacefully. She weaves around his feet, making a polite Prrrt? noise because even though she wants up onto his shoulder, it might be rude to just climb him like a tree in front of company.

<Does this mean we get to get out of here soon?>

"Hell yes," Doc told her patting his shoulder in invitation. "The rest of you, watch your damn sass. She already agreed, don't make her change her mind."

Lilybeth pondered a moment--their tiny ceramic attackers were pretty fresh in her mind, but she knew what her dad would say about how to treat her elders.

"I know you can defend yourself, ma'am, but if you're set on staying out here alone, you...might want to keep your lamps lit at night. There's a Trouble on, a new one, that's killing people in darkness. You sure you don't want to come back to town?"

“Suits me just fine, I- moose?” Agatha asked, pausing in the act of turning toward the far side of the attic. “What-” She spotted Eve, and bright patches of color rose in her cheeks, a choked noise of disapproval slipping out. “You brought a cat into my house?” she demanded, visibly indignant. “Just- just take the book and go,” she ordered, stomping off to a hidden nook behind a set of shelves.

She came back, a leather-bound book nearly two inches thick clasped to her chest. Glaring at the group as a whole, she shoved the book at Lilybeth, with a little less force than her visible irritation might have suggested.

“Here,” she said. “I’ll do well enough right here, thank you, not any sort of Trouble is going to bother me here. Tabitha ought to know better. Take it, and try not to kill anyone with it.”

"Thank you, ma'am," Isabelle breathed gratefully. She put a hand on Lilybeth's shoulder and started to herd her team out of the house.

"Oh she's not a cat, Eve runs the nursery in town. She'll thank you properly for your contribution, ma'am, once she's human again." Riesy gave a jaunty salute and a wink before allowing Izzy to urge shim down the stairs.

Tanner flinched, and slipped back down the stairs as soon as the book was in Lilybeth’s hands. He was glad he’d managed to stay out of sight; Ms. Soliel definitely sounded like she would have taken it poorly if she’d recognized him. He was just glad to be getting out in one piece, without having to fight their way back to the ground.

"Shoulda just rung the doorbell," Doc grunted, with just a hint of a smirk hiding in his bushy beard.