<div class="floatleft"><strong>Arduinne</strong></div><hr/><br/>Arduinne's story brought laughter at many points, particularly when she explained the injury her shapely rump had sustained at the fangs of the giant spiders.  Her story prompts another person to share something of a similar story...<br/><br/>"Speakin' o' tales with a<em>bad end</em>," he pauses to snicker, "reminds me o' another story I herd 'bout Lady Hannah.  She was tryin' to help prevent the fire I guess, ya know of the cathedral...  Anyway, we all know how that turned out, but when she got outta the fire she had some blood on 'er, white as a sheet too, probably saw the old Father gettin' killed I figure, he an' his little foundlin' daughter, whate'er her name was--rest their souls."<br/><br/>It was a bit of a mood killer, though the others picked up with some jovial stories of the various pranks that some of the other children had played on the 'little foundlin' daughter' of the former cathedral priest.<br/><br/><div class="floatleft"><em><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 12pt;">Around the Cathedral</span></em></div><hr/><br/>Some of the tables that were already mostly empty were moved aside as a large wagon covered with a large purple cloth, hiding something within, rolled out into the midst of those still eating and recovering from their full stomachs.  Father Zanthus led the procession, carrying a book in one hand and Koya Mvashti followed him, staying close to the wagon and a rope that held the large cloth in place.<br/><br/>People moved out of the way and created a large circle around the new arrival.  Many of the local children made sure to sneak through to get as close to the wagon as they could, excited for what was going to happen next.  Excited chatter spread through the crowd, hushed down to murmurs and whispers until the book Father Zanthus carried was opened, sending a ripple of silence through the gathered crowd.<br/><br/>"A long time ago," Father Zanthus began abruptly after the crowd had hushed itself.  Zanthus went on to tell the story, beginning with a fierce battle between Desna and Lamashtu, which resulted in one of Desna's wounded Avatars falling down to Golarion.  Discovered by a blind boy, the Avatar was cared for and slowly nursed back to health.  In recognition of his selflessness Desna repaid him by transforming him into an immortal butterfly so that he could explore the whole of the world, having lived so long in darkness.  To commemorate the gift, followers of Desna the world over perform the Swallowtail Release, a festival accompanied with the release of a cloud of Desna's sacred butterflies.<br/><br/>"...and now the young child--much older now--travels the world to this day in the guise of a butterfly."  With the closing of the book he looked over and nodded to the widely smiling Koya, who had never had the opportunity to perform this particular ritual--simple though it was.<br/><br/>"Praise Desna!" she hollered as she gave the cord on the cloth a good yank.  The cloth fell away from a large wooden frame, which expelled a thick cloud of swallowtail butterflies.  In the distance, from almost all directions a faint drumming and whistling could be heard, though most of the surroundings were concealed with the flurry of butterflies escaping their confinement.  The music grew steadily louder, disjointed though it was, and was accompanied by discordant voices, though one particular voice sounded much closer than the others.<br/><br/>When the butterflies had finally cleared enough for the wagon to be clearly seen a number of the closest people screamed and attempted to flee.  A lone goblin wielding a pair of roughly-made daggers was singing to the tune of the music.<br/><br/>"...Goblins race and goblins jump<br/>Goblins slash and goblins bump<br/>burn the skin and mash the head<br/>goblins here and you be dead!"<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide</div><div class="spoiler_body">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7zTUIYQVpY</div></div><br/>More screams could be heard in several directions and chaos quickly erupted as the crowds attempted to flee and find shelter.  Luckily, perhaps, the goblins seemed to have wasted any surprise they may have originally had.  Beside the one that appeared in the middle of the wagon where the butterflies were being carried, there were another three that had appeared from beneath a table, and now were standing on top of it, two appeared at the nearby "Goblin Toss" game wielding fiery torches which were obviously going to be used to help burn the city to the ground if they could.  Another goblin was near the two wielding the torches, singing the goblin song and carrying a whip in addition to the same style of dagger they all seemed to be carrying.  Finally, another three wielding torches hopped up onto another wagon near to the cathedral--it was the wagon being used to store the materials for the bonfire later in the evening, and they seemed intent on using it to make a rather large bonfire of their own...<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Notes</div><div class="spoiler_body">Initiatives!<br/><br/>You can take your time with replies, combat-proper will begin on Friday (with or without everyone's initiatives).  To give you a better idea of the scenario, there's basically three groups comprising two different threats.<br/><br/><ul class="bbc_list" style="list-style-type: decimal;"><li>The closest threat are the four goblins that are in the middle of the crowd (three on the tables, one in the wagon).  Unless given something to focus on they'll probably being indiscriminately stabbing the closest citizen...</li><li>The farther threats are split in two and aren't very close to one another, there are the three goblins at the "Goblin Toss" game (two wielding torches), and another set of three wielding torches by the supply of fuel.  Both groups seem primarily interested in setting things on fire--people being an afterthought for now.</li></ul><br/>let me know if you have any questions!</div></div>