South Jaga City, Guild Hall. Troug, 13th.

Sicily

Three hours before the incident:

Sicily had seen the many moods of Master Doogan over the years, some of them more than others. He was quite extreme in his shifts, now more so than usual.

Some time ago he had learned that a possible disciple had died, her guild stone going dark. He had gone into seclusion for a day after the news arrived, performing rites his culture deemed appropriate for expressing the grief of his loss.

He was now looming over his desk, looking down on an unconcerned young man with raven-dark hair. His beard now gone, and his hair shorn near to the scalp, a display of his emotional loss made manifest.

Sicily would admit to admiring the girl herself, if not for her complete lack of formality and tendency to get distracted by the merest hint of, well, anything new. The girl had even proclaimed Sicily to big her new Big Sister, though what that meant Sicily was still unclear about.

Olea had spent a night or two with Sicily before taking up temporary residence at the guild hall in the female dorms. Sicily did miss the entertainment and companionship in her tiny apartment, but she could certainly admit to not minding when the blanket thief had found other lodgings.

Now though, now she was here penning notes for this meeting between Doogan and a boy who refused to give his name; something about not having been told yet what that was.

This detail was very odd and had both the master and her quite confused until he mentioned having news of Olea. The news was brought on the back of news from Darius, the cities lead priest and a friend to Master Doogan.

His news had pertained to finding the girl and healing her of some arcane curse with possible divine powers at play, if that could be believed. Having lost the girl he could not fully ascertain her current state of being, nor could he confirm it was even truly her though he had sworn that it could be no one other than Olea as she had possessed more divine blessings than any person he had ever witnessed.

Master Doogan had then gone into a fit of shouts about the blasted girl and her problematic shenanigans; it was all quite a scene to behold.

He had then mobilized the official guild members available to march upon… somewhere. The guild members who had responded to his request simply shrugged off this small detail and pretended as if nothing had ever happened as they knew the man was quite excitable when he got in a mood, and honestly no one dared to bring a target upon themselves as they had a good level of respect for the man and his plight; Ratsbane was well loved, or at least liked in this hall.

And now, this kid shows up confirming the tale, and adding more besides.

“Where did you say she was again?” asked Doogan, with a little gravel in his voice.

“Up north, and underground.” The boy said.

“Where at up north, and what do you mean underground? I thought you said she was alive.” Replied Doogan.

“She is alive! I spoke to her just a little while ago.” He said from his chair, he looked rather small while seated across from the guild master, “She is under a cemetery near the river, on a big hill with a big house.”

“Okay, say I believe you. Which cemetery is she under, and how did she get there in the first place?”

“She was kidnapped by some priest guy; I think they are keeping her under there to sell her to someone later.” Was the answer to his question, “At least that is what Olea told me.”

“Where is the cemetery?” Repeated Doogan,

“There is a town across the river from there, Eldor was the name. Does that help?”

Master Doogan’s face went still and slightly redder at the mention of the specific location, and Sicily believed she could guess at the reason.

The only house on a hill near a cemetery in that region was the Manor of one Andrea Avery, a member of the city’s council and head of a large merchant company. Not someone who should be involved in the illicit trafficking of slaves or people of any variety really.

If she were involved in this mess and was keeping Olea, and any others in some underground prison, there would be hell to pay for and a mess to take care of after.

Sicily snapped back from her mind and focused on the conversation again.

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“Anyway, she told me to get help, so I flew down here straight away.” Said the boy with a straight face. “You were the first people I could think of to get help from, she likes you and that is enough for me.”

“When you say you flew down here, do you mean with a flight spell, or was that a turn of phrase?” Sicily asked, failing to stop herself from butting in. The look on Master Doogan’s face let her know it would slide this time. He was likely just as curious, and it would give him a moment to think instead of reacting.

“I flew, I have flown here before after all. Even Doogie has seen me flying before, a bunch of times.”

“Right there, that. You say I have seen you flying and seen it here, but we have never met!” shot Doogan to the young man.

“I mean-You might not remember, or maybe you failed to recognize me as I am.” said the boy as he took to his feet.

“What do you…” Doogan’s voice trailed off as he saw the man step upon his desk, his anger clearing rising.

It was but a moment before the anger was replaced with a small intake of breath, a rare sign of surprise from the guild master, as the boy became bird.

His body shrank and twisted in on itself only partially concealed by a dim cloud of magical essence which parted to reveal a large raven of the same color as his hair in the human form.

Sicily was shocked, at first by the transformation and then by the recognition she saw dawning in Doogan’s eyes, a recognition to which she could relate. This very same creature was the same that she had seen on the shoulder of Olea as she walked the streets of South Jaga on many an occasion. The very same bird that had stolen her food while she was occupied by some random sight I the city, as well as the same curious creature that had been present on her windowsill while Olea was staying over at her home.

This thought of course brought a few more questions to mind, along with several possible alternatives that she would be sure to address at a time that was a little less urgent that the one they were currently in; just what had the bird seen from her window.

“You!” Shouted Master Doogan.

The bird then began morphing slowly back into the human form he had arrived in this morning. It only took a few moments for him to resume the form of a fully clothed young man, standing upon Master Doogan’s desk.

“See, we have met!” said the boy with all the exuberance one would see in someone proclaiming their absolute certainty in an answer given.

Doogan looked at him for a moment before his eyes dropped to the desk that was serving as the boy’s current perch.

“Get off my desk!” shouted Doogan, coming to his wits long before Sicily could fully parse the meaning of the situation. He did have the benefit of being slightly angry to help focus his mind.

The nameless youth turned bird and back again, jumped down with surprising grace and poise before getting back on topic.

“So, can you help her?” he asked, eyes showing some uncertainty and a little bit of hope. Quite the difference from his earlier eagerness.

“Of course we will!” came the sharp reply, Doogan looking slightly annoyed to be asked a question with such an obvious answer. Now that he knew a little more about the situation his mind was quickly jumping into gear and formulating a plan of action; knowing where to send your people was after all the only missing factor.

“Great!” cried the boy, throwing his arms out a little as if mimicking his bird form and not realizing this form had no wings to rustle a breeze. It all seemed very odd to Sicily.

“You said you spoke with her earlier. Do you have some means of conversing directly with Olea? Did you sneak in and out somehow?” Doogan was no doubt wondering how such a weak person could sneak into a fortified location, be it as a bird or not, without being discovered or put down.

“I used our Soul Skill. She told you about those, right. We have a bunch!” said the boy, as if he were stating something as mundane as the weather; today will be rainy.

Doogan dropped a bell from his pocket onto the desk with such force that Sicily feared he may have broken the enchantment even as t a low thrumming Gong sounded in the room and then faded to a muted buzz.

“Watch you tongue when discussing those topics birdbrain!”

“Anyway, are you done interrupting me? I said I used a Soul Skill to talk to her, I can also give her things and meet with her if I need to, but I did not have the things she was asking for and I did not want to just take things without asking. Some of our memories point out that it is not right to just take things we do not pay for from people we like.” explained the young man.

“Aye, stealing is not proper conduct for guild members. Explain this part about giving her things.” Doogan said, before he nodded in Sicily’s direction and asked, “Do you feel comfortable knowing a little more about our little rat-slayer?”

Sicily nodded her assent to sitting in on the meeting, appreciating the fact that her boss had asked. One never knew when they would be placed in danger for information they possessed or were suspected of possessing.

“Are you saying she has some storage ability, and you can share items with her by using it?” Doogan asked, continuing the interview. As the bird-boy nodded Doogan let out a sigh. “I was a bit shocked when I saw she had three of the blessed boons, and now I find she has even more. I suppose Darius was not fully exaggerating when he said she had no less than six.”

“Seven.” Said the young man in answer to the question that was not even asked.

“Shut up!” shouted Doogan, “Do you not respect the safety of your mistress, that knowledge could have her strung up or thrown in to a cell to be abused for if the wrong people learned of it.”

“Well, she has already been kidnapped.” He said, “Also, she trusts you both of you.”

“Fine, let’s see if we can get her some things to help her out while she waits for us to get there and provide some assistance.”

“Great!”

The young man rattled off a somewhat long list of requests that had Sicily almost laughing as she heard them, there was certainly a flavor along the lines of what she would expect of Olea in making these requests as the top of the list was occupied by meat pies and clothes, no doubt she had butchered another set of clothing.

Doogan interrupted her scribblings by telling her to add a knife to the list even as he began to pen a letter to give to the bird for Olea to read.

Sicily was overjoyed to have a focused Doogan back in action and no longer slumped with grief at the loss of a child he had barely even known. She was also becoming slightly worried by the volume of items on the list for her to acquire to hand over.

These costs would certainly come out of Olea’s pocket when she returned; after she had pockets.

Not for the first time since the start of the meeting, Sicily caught herself casting a glance at a seemingly empty chair in the corner and she wondered at the significance of their guest, as her ring had notified her of the presence of a figure there.