The piercing cry of the Bird-Woman seems to cut everyone to the quick, and most fall to the floor, unaware of how the story ends. However Zhiri manages to hold firm again and flings forth a single missile which streaks out to strike the creature. Suddenly everything goes deathly quiet.

Then an arrow wings in from the folk in the Curragh, who obviously feel they have reached a safe enough distance to stand and help. The arrow pins one of the Bird-Woman's wings to the quay, but she doesn't move.

Finally there is a call of "Are you all right over there?" from the curragh.

-----------------------------

OOC - Malc - I need a save to see if Callum is still standing, from last Thursday evenings post

It takes some time for Rolf to shake off the effects of that creature's song. Climbing to his feet, pale and trembling, he waves weakly to the ship. Shuffling forward, he goes to check first on Madelyn, and then Elsbeth.

Zhiri claps her hands with enthusiasm, taking the wadded cloth out of her ears and turning to the tiny figure beside her.

"I knew that was the right spell, well done, Ishar!"

She strikes what she considers is the suitable 'heroic adventurer' pose, folding her arms and regarding the scene stoicly for a moment, before she remembers her fallen companions, and quickly moves over to Yuri, seeing if he's alright.

Kneeling at his side, she carefully takes the cloth out of his ears.

"Are you okay now ? Its stopped screaming."

Elsbeth huddles in a small ball, her hands over her ears, oblivious to what is going on around her. The change from beauty to anger was more than the gentle maiden who so loved song could stand. She now shivers, her head down, her breathing ragged.

Callum winces at the scream as the beast crashes to the ground. When the bolt strikes it and the screaming stops, he sighs in relief, walks over and decapitates the foul creature.

Ravn is still on his knees, still in audial agony, still pressing his hands against his ears to keep out the sounds that now resonate inside his aching head, even though they have already subsided to a pounding – the echo of his heart beating rapidly.

Finally, he defeats the instinctive protective urge. He lowers his hands and raises his head to view the scene around him. To all sides his comrades, still blurry shapes, recover moaningly and just a few feet away lies a motionless, feathery creature. By Odin! What happened? And what trollish abomination is this?

But wait - someone is calling. His gets on his feet to see the curragh some distance from the pier, someone waving from the railing. The sun’s reflection from the wavetops hurts his eyes and causes a thin streak of pain somewhere behind his forehead, so he sits back down on the stonework to calm his senses. By the Depths of Ginnungagap! - what happened?

Since I wasn't able to post I must assume Kerim failed his save, despite the cheese.

Scratching at his ears to dislodge pieces of cheese Kerim comes closer to the arial siren "Oh, effendis this is such luck that for none of us it has meant our deaths"

And then shaking his head to dislodge any left over crumbs (not to mention mites) he draws out his cutlass and carefully advances on the thing "Ah, much as it is similar to the sea sirens it is again different by many a league, that being apart from flying. It is good that it has been silenced."

Kerim looks at the creature and then not sure if it is dead somewhat uncharacteristically slices it's neck open. As he does this he bows slightly "Suffer not, receive mercy in your death."

He then uses his Cutlass to prod and examine the creature.

OOC: Checking the creature for treasures, rumour has it that the sea sirens have a hoarded wealth.

As the screech is quickly cut short, Madelyn slumps forward. It takes her a little while to come round, and as she lifts herself back into a kneeling position Rolf approaches.

Still feeling very weak, as he crouches to see if she is OK, she throws her arms around him, “Oh Rolf”, she says with a sob, “What happened, what was that thing”, she pauses to catch her breath, “There was such beautiful music, then next there was nothing but pain, it was so intense”

Rolf, still shaky from his own ordeal, barely manages to keep from falling over when Madelyn throws her arms about him. His voice is weakened and strained as he replies, "I don't know, Madelyn. I spent my whole life, man and boy, in the wood and have never seen her like." He pauses and gathers his strength. It's reflected in his voice as he asks, "Can you stand?" He waits for her reaction, then [if she is] tries to lend her some support as they both stand, unsure which is really helping the other.

Edgar slowly comes to his senses, and, smoothing away his ruffled feathers, fusses at Mandrake, trying to rouse him, mindful of the effect that the last enforced nap had upon the gnome.

"Lonely yet terrible," he comments, mostly to himself. "It is to be hoped that there are no more of her kind on this Isle."

Soon after the screeching takes it toll on Yuri, it finishes, leaving him with ringing ears and a headache along with disorientation and confusion for good measure.

Looking up at Zhiri he blinks several times before her question registers and he weakly answers, "y.. yes, I'll be ok. It has stopped hasn't it... I think", while wincing with the memory of the noise.

"Can you stand?"

“I’m not sure”, Madelyn says weakly, but with Rolf’s assistance, she manages to get herself onto two shaky feet. She stands there clung to him for a moment, before noticing the shaking form of Elsbeth on the floor close by.

Taking a shaky step towards the young woman, she crouches next to her. Tapping her gently on the shoulder, “Elsbeth, Elsbeth it’s Madelyn. Are you OK?”

Through the fog of remembered pain and weakness, Elsbeth hears a voice... a welcome voice. Madelyn? They had been talking... she had been holding her hand... before... before...

Slowly, the young woman looks up, her face white as a sheet, her eyes wide. "Madelyn?" she whispers. "In the name of All, what happened?" She rises to her knees and looks around, putting a shaking hand to her head. "Did we die?" she asks, catching her breath.

Madelyn turns to Rolf, then back to Elsbeth, “No Elsbeth, no we didn’t die, but I would believe it if someone told me we had”

"My head's feelin' as if it were pounded on," she replies. "Ohhh..." The druid offers a hand so she can be helped up and looks around. "Were all of us effected then?"

Madelyn nods, but then puts her hand to her head with the pain of doing so, “Yes, my head feels much the same”.

She stands and takes Elsbeth’s hand, helping her up, but stumbling slightly in the process. “I don’t know if all of us were affected”, she turns to look at Rolf as if for confirmation.

Zhiri offers Yuri her hand.

"Perhaps it was all those years of listening to my mother singing that allowed me to cope a little better with it. No doubt your taste in music is more refined," she grins.

Accepting Zhiri's offered hand, Yuri stands up with the help of the woman.

Replying to her query about his music taste, Yuri emphatically replies, "well it is definately more refined than that thing. That was... disgusting", falting as he fails to find a word to sufficiently describe the abhorring singing.

"By the way", he adds as he rubs his temples, trying to hide his miscievous grin, "what little I saw of it, your heroic pose looked very silly."

Trailing in Madelyn's wake, Rolf feels a bit better. Apparently, the movement was helping to set aside the affects of the siren song. Standing next to Madelyn as she talks to Elsbeth, he helps support Elsbeth as she stands, with more than a little help from Madelyn. At Elsbeth's unspoken question, Rolf looks back towards the dock, "I don't know, most I think. If that bird thing had waited until the ship left...." he leaves the rest unsaid.

"Come, let us see to the rest." Rolf moves next to Ravn's side and kneels down. "Master Ashengray, do you yet live?"

Zhiri gives Yuri an exasperated look.

"Well I haven't exactly had much time to practice. Besides, most people around here seemed to be just throwing themselves onto the ground and I thought that looked even sillier."

Ravn looks up, his thoughts disturbed by Rolf's approach. He looks up, his frown revealing both beleaguerment and thoughtfulness, an uncertain smile on the lower part of his face.

"...Lord Constable...yes, I am still alive, the Valkyries did not yet claim me...thank you for asking...I think everybody's fine, actually, although a bit shook up."

He gets to his feet with a little help from Rolf.

"I search my recollection for tales of creatures such as this but I don't think..."

Ravn is still a little bit dizzy but rapidly getting better at the intriguing thought of actually having met a phantastic creature of legend. Almost falling prey to its vocal lure is less appealing, of course, but it's a beginning.

With a laugh Yuri helpfully suggests, "we can work on that pose once we set up camp. For now we better make sure nobody is hurt, tho I never saw the creature attack anyone with anyone but noise."

"But wait - yes, I once heard a story of a hero named Hekas or something who fought similar creatures and gained tremendous wealth..."

Ravn conjures up the ever grinning, toothless face of Grima Glibtongue, remembering all to clearly how every single one of his fantastic tales contained incredible amounts of gold and unbelieveably precious jewels.

"...but I am not sure at all that there is any truth to it - old legend and hearsay, you understand...", he hurries to add and scratches his one knee, the one that hit the stonework first at the birdwoman's sudden crash.

"Not a bad thought, though, eh..? A king's ransom hidden somewhere around here, just waiting for a band of brave balladiers like ourselves to vanquish the feathered abominations and claim it for our lord...?"

Ravn smiles a very cunning and suggesting smile at Rolf.

"Would require some way of avoiding their trollish song, of course."

Zhiri looks somewhat mollified, realising she's taken offense where none was intended.

"Yes, okay, that would be good."

She pulls her cloak around herself and squats on her heels while she watches the others, the tiny flame-haired creature ducking under her cloak.

Rolf moves towards Callum as Ravn speaks of Grima Glibtongue and treasure. Looking back at the mage, he says, "Aye, I'm sure sir Richard would find such trearsure useful. But you are right, we need find some defense against such creatures. But let us see first to our companions." He looks about, marking which building the bird thing emerged from. "Keep a sharp eye, this one might have friends." He moves on towards Callum, wondering how the gruff warrior has faired.

Holding to Madelyn for support, Elsbeth looks at Ravn in amazement. "We be stricken down by such a beastie and ye be finding children's tales?" she asks incredulously, her voice still a bit hoarse from her ordeal.

Ravn regards Elsbeth with slight disapproval at her comment.

”I, too, reckoned the story a mere nursery tale – but that was before this nightmarish creature spawned out of nowhere!"

The rune caster is still obviously shaken by the ordeal, but not so shaken as to be unable to raise a preaching finger.

"He does well who heeds the lore of olde, for even the most fantastic legend was bred by happenstance.”

He folds his arms across his chest with an inquisitive look.

”There may be more of these fowl creatures about. Have you mayhaps more knowledgeable wisdom about this feathery fiend? Or are you just giving me lip?”

Peter slowly climbs to his feet, a dazed look still on his face. Slowly he gathers his dagger and shield back to him and then sits abruptly down on the pile of goods recently unloaded from the curragh.

"What the hell was that?" He asks weakly.

Every one gradually come around from the stupor caused by the creatures singing and shrieking. It takes a while and most of you are still a bit groogy - but you are all alive.

Gradually you realise that the song of that monster laid you all, except two, low - and you realise just how lucky you were ....

And then :- Kerim slices at the throat of the creature, and Callum hacks its head off. Between them, making absolutely sure then thing is dead.

Afterwards Kerim checks the body over with the tip of his weapon. Apart from the arrow sticking from its chest, it is unadorned, the naked human breasts and head rising up from a torso and lower body covered in green tinged brown feathers.

The sailors in the curragh are holding position off shore. They are waiting to see if you are OK, but are clearly not perepared to come any closer until they know that thing is well and truly dead. "Are you Ok?" comes again from the crew "Do we need to take you off?"

At the seamen's shouted question, Ravn regards Rolf with advice.

"Lord Constable, I think we'd do well off to keep the boat nearby until we have established a better foothold."

He motions in the direction of the buldings.

"Once those huts have been cleared we should be able to solidify our position here, but before that we might be forced to retreat into the ocean and I am not too keen on swimming in full armor."

"Have you mayhaps more knowledgeable wisdom about this feathery fiend? Or are you just giving me lip?” states Ravn. Elsbeth frowns, blinking against the headache that is now threatening her. She looks at this man, amazed that he is speaking to her so. Only Callum has been so flippant, and he, as an 'old' one, has a right in her mind- or at least can be excused. But this one...

"Call it what you may, Sir," she replies, her voice cold. "I am saying that something real has attacked all of us and that you be talking of treasure and fairy tales. And," she adds with emphasis, "I'd be wondering what constitutes lip for ye? Is it that a woman contradicts ye? Or perhaps you don't be respecting my clan and my great-uncle?"

Her voice rises as the pain she just felt is now becoming anger at this man who dares to speak to her so.

Seeing how everyone is up and about, if a bit unsteady, Rolf makes his way down the dock. On the way, he nods in response to Ravn's suggestion. "Your thoughts mirror my own." he says. Reaching the end of the dock, He calls out to the ship, "We're okay, stay within shouting distance as we look around a bit more, just in case."

Moving back to the rest, he sees an arguement brewing between the runemage and the druid. "There's time for that later. Let us see what we must fight before we turn on ourselves." He looks about for a moment, "We'll check out that building" he says as he points to the building where the bird thing came from. "Ravn, Callum first. Then myself, Mandrake and Edgar. Then Peter and Zhiri." He turns to the newcomer, "If you would care to join us of course. Then Kerim and Yuri. Madelyn, Elsbeth, I'd like you two to guard our flanks." Once the lines form up, Rolf adds, "I hate to say it, but if we see any more bird things, attack first. We may not get another chance."

With a smile and making a mental note to ask her about her red friend later, Yuri excuses himself from Zhiri and goes to check on everyone else, tho they all seem fine... but it would be the civil thing to do.

Remembering Ravn's recital from the night before, and in an attempt to take Ravn's attention away from Elsbeth (and make a jibe as well), Yuri suggests to her, "don't worry Elsbeth, I believe he likes his own tales."

Finally, giving a nod to Rolf, Yuri indicates he is ready.

"Bird things ?!!" squawks Edgar indignantly, "and perhaps woman-things too ?!"

Then adds a "caaark" of apology to Rolf - the encounter has left everyone unsettled, it seems.

From his perch on Mandrake's shoulder, he squints in the direction of the house, warily, as the group advances.

"Lonely yet terrible," he comments, mostly to himself. "It is to be hoped that there are no more of her kind on this Isle."

Comming to his senses just in time to hear Edgar's comment, Mandrake responds "I hope for their sake too. Terrible perhaps, but fantastic none the less, and it is inevitable that I think, that such rare things shall dissappear as men spread."

Kerim looks down at the slain beast beneath him, at the blood on the sword and then stands back, sudden pain evident.

He looks down and then spins around to those who are bickering.

"STOP IT!" he shouts.

"STOP IT!" again.

"You are driving me to a madness I fear this creature could not inflict upon my sanity"

He looks around panting "Your bickering is worse than a marketplace, and with less consequence the lot of you."

He looks at Rold and bows slightly "Apologies effendi, however I cannot forsee our expidition a success unless you put an end to this quarrel upon both sides, and quickly. If it is such that only an enemies charm could cause us to think alike then I say we return to the ship now and go to our homes."

He looks at Ravn "New you are and righteous you seem, yet deserve this hostility you do not. A warden commands hospitality and such should this favour be reciprocal, fairness in all."

Then comes the others turn "Elsbeth and Madelyn, use what excuse you will to defend your hostilities to Ravn, though do it silently and pass not judgement without Rolf's warrant."

Kerim lets the sword drop from his grip and casts his face downward, such that he cannot enter into argument, and calmly asks "Now tell me, am I to sail or am I to stay?"

Gives Kerim an incredulous look.

Zhiri looks over at Rolf as he casually addresses her and shrugs as if to indicate that good manners are obviously lacking in this part of the world. Not that she's particularly surprised by that, given the awful climate, the distinct lack of decent bathing houses, the bland and uninteresting food, and the incomprehensible behaviour of these pale and washed out looking foreigners.

From her crouching position, she watches the bickering, then turns to Kerim with an expression of surprise, her eyes narrowing as she reassesses her summation of the man.

"A compatriot, Ishar, I do believe."

”Your words are wise, good merchant, for indeed we should not strife amongst us.”

Ravn bows his head apologetically at Elsbeth.

”Good lady, I have erred and humbly beg your forgiveness. I do not understand your dismissal of the wisdom I would share nor do I understand the reason for your harsh words. Nevertheless, my reply was harsher still, spoken in anger, and not suitable for answering a lady of your noble stature.”

He raises his head again and gives Elbeth a warm smile.

”The discomfort wrought on my soul by the wingéd abomination must have clouded my clarity of vision and made me forget myself. My speech was improper and shall not be repeated. Now, I must attend to the task ahead at the Constable's request and beg you excuse me."

With that, Ravn bows again and withdraws a few paces to join Callum at the innermost of the pier, facing the buildings.

”Brave warrior, I salute you for your courage and endurance against the bird-thing’s vicous charge. May Thor’s strength and Tyr’s courage ever fill your heart as it did this morning!”

Ravn is just about to give the warrior the traditional sign of approval in Ravn's home lands, a slap on the shoulder, but something about the barely harnessed rage within him and its reflection in his eyes makes Ravn reconsider. It is, after all, a sign made between equals, and Ravn has yet to prove his worth. Beter just get on with it.

”The Constable has granted us the honor of advancing on the buildings. Before we do so, however, I suggest we prepare against more of these fowl creatures and their trollish chants."

Inspired by Yuri's and Kerim's attempts, however unsuccesful, at blocking the siren's screech, Ravn pulls a ball of twine from his pack roll and produces four furry balls. He stoppers his ears with two of them and hands the other two to Callum.

"Shall we...?”

Elsbeth looks first at Rolf, then at Kerim, her face slowly turning red. She smiles at Yuri's comment with a very slight nod of agreement.

Her attention is completely diverted though as Ravn speaks to her. Her eyes widen at this transformation, one she has seen before. She puts a hand to her still aching head, feeling momentarily overwhelmed by all this day has brought. Still blushing, she lowers her eyes and addresses him before he leaves.

"M'lord, you have my apology as well," she states simply. "I be fearing that I was in error in my judgement of your wisdom and met your tone with like tone. I ask your forgiveness as well."

It is noticable that she says nothing to Kerim. Instead, she looks at Madelyn for along moment, then moves to follow Rolf's orders.