andres ♔ you're gonna catch a cold | from the ice inside your soul

[unhappily]

♬ jar of hearts - christina perri

WHO || Emma, Snow, Regina, Wynn. [closed]
WHAT || Wynn asks some of his Knights to investigate a strange matter on Andres Isle.
WHERE || Andres
WHEN || At the same time as this log ; mid-October
HOW || Actionspam

[ A few weeks into October, Wynn sends a message back to the castle asking Snow and Regina to make their way to the Isle, saying he has a small matter that bears investigation.  When they arrive at the castle, they're ushered by Woodhouse to a small parlor where he's waiting...  And moments later, their other mission partner arrives. :D ]

Comments

[unhappily]

[ she gets the girl to stop crying at least, but there's no helping the limb. regina purses her lips a moment, displeased with being the gopher, but doesn't have a lot of better options, so she nods to go back for the cleric. ] Let's hope Swan knows what she's doing.

[unlost]

She'll be fine.

[She just hopes Regina hurries, though the fact that she isn't arguing with her on this point. Snow will gladly take it as progress, okay?

She turns her attention to the child again, continuing to try to soothe her while they wait.]

[unhappily]

[ WOW SHE DOES HURRY OK. she comes back with the elven cleric several minutes later as the girl whimpers quietly beneath snow's touch. regina looks around as they approach, and the cleric moves to kneel beside her. ] She's still gone?

[unlost]

[Yes, thank goodness.

Snow stays close to the girl to continue to offer her emotional support, though she looks up at Regina with a worried look, finally standing and taking a step back as the cleric begins to do his work.]

Yes. We should see if we can find her. I'm worried.

[uncurse]

[ And at that moment, Emma comes hiking out of the tree line, disgruntled and slightly frazzled. Holding her hands out to balance, she eases her way down the hillside, crossing back over to them with a few quick steps. ]

He got away. [ Said through heavy breaths, and she shakes her head. Tousled hair shifts out of her face, and she looks down at where the cleric works on the girl. ] How's she doing? Did she see anything?

[unlost]

[Biggest sigh of relief ever, over here. Don't scare her like that.]

Much better, now that there's a cleric here to help her. Once he's finished, we can ask her.

[She makes a point of smiling and glancing at Regina as she says this. See, Emma, things are gr8.

Then she gets her serious face on again.]

What happened?

[uncurse]

I, uh ...

[ She glances between them. A beat passes, and she hunches her shoulders. ]

Nothing. I guess I lost track of him in the trees.

[ Claiming incompetence when Regina's regularly out for blood in that vein feels like opening herself up for a barb, but she does it anyway. ]

Usually, when I'm tracking someone down, it's on solid pavement.

[unhappily]

[ ahahaha she's not missing a beat to jump on that either. ] Wonderful. I suppose we'll just wait for the next person to show up with their heart ripped out somewhere a little closer to concrete.

[unlost]

No, that makes sense.

[A crit failed sense motive has never been so IC.]

Maybe I should take a look. There's still a chance we may be able to track them.

[It is...kind of her thing.]

[uncurse]

Don't bother. A guy with magic that powerful, he probably teleported.

[ She shakes her head, shooting Regina a narrow, peeved look, then smiles at Snow. ]

We'll catch him. It's okay. Hopefully she saw something that we can use to start knocking on doors. He's gotta live in town somewhere.

[unlost]

[She hesitates briefly, then nods, trusting Emma's judgement.]

Hopefully healing her won't be a complicated thing. I don't want to bother her while she's suffering.

[unhappily]

[ the cleric shakes his head. "She will not suffer for long." he scoops her up with an easy strength check and she clings to his neck. "This is an affliction I believe I can heal." ]

Wonderful. And in the meantime, here we are, back at square one.

[uncurse]

At least square one's not on fire anymore. It's fine: it's just gonna take some more legwork. When the girl's better, we can start looking at connections between the victims. [ She looks to the cleric. ] If I wanna find out who owned the house that burned, who would keep those records?

[ Because lol the shadow village sure as fuck ain't in the city register, she bets. ]

[unlost]

Let's just hope we can get that legwork done before someone else gets hurt.

[She is not in any way saying that she's disappointed in Emma. She just wants to stop whoever's doing this. FOR THE RECORD.]

[unhappily]

[ the elf looks down, bowing his head. "I'm afraid there is little so official here, ma'am. But you can ask anyone who lived near to it. They're certain to know."

regina looks off put as always ] A legitimate shanty town. Charming.

[unlost]

Well, let's head back to the cleric's home, talk to the girl after she's been healed, and go on from there based on what we find out.

[It's a solid plan, okay. She's sticking to it.]

[uncurse]

[ A guilty look seizes control of Emma's features, shrinking her a bit to look like a scolded child. Even if Snow didn't mean it that way … she definitely looks concerned that her ineptitude is going to lead to some serious magical consequences here. ]

Sounds like a plan.

[ She collects herself quickly because Emma's always been the do what we can don't just wallow and be useless type of self-loathing. So she moves to start hiking back towards town, keeping close to the cleric in case he needs a hand with the girl. ]

[unhappily]

[ the cleric manages to heal the little girl with minimal difficulty. when he finishes, he gestures for them to go in, where she's sitting up, barely sniffling. ]

[unlost]

[Snow makes her way over, clearly the best person suited for this job, and talks gently to the girl, placing a hand softly against her back.]

Can you tell us what happened? What did you see?

[uncurse]

[ yeah snow's totally got this, emma's just gonna ... hang back ... and listen anxiously. ]

[unhappily]

[ the little girl looks terrified as she tries to recollect. "He-- he was so tall, and-- and dressed all in black! I think he was a momster!" ]

[unlost]

[Snow frowns. That isn't much to go on, though tall and male is at least a start.]

Did you happen to see his face? What did he look like?

[uncurse]

[ General anxious interest in the girl's answer yo. ]

[unhappily]

[ "I--I--" the little girl's eyes widen, and then she looks guilty that she can't supply more and lowers her head, shaking it no ] How informative.

[uncurse]

Hey! She's just a kid.

[ Said sharply, to Regina. Dropping her scowl, Emma turns to look at the little girl, approaching and raising a reassuring hand. ]

It's okay. We'll stop this, one way or another. [ She turns to Snow. ] I wanna talk to Hasmed. See if he recognizes the spells these people are describing. Maybe there's a way to track whoever's used them recently.