(IC) Murder of Crows

[DragoonWraith]

The Drunken Light
Aicanique Nárcala
"Ma'am, as you can see," Aicanique pulls out her Silver Flame pendant, "I am a firm believer in the Silver Flame and I often do work on their behalf. This, however, is an investigation by the Guard, not the Church, and on a professional level I would be rather embarrassed to have them 'called in'. I assure you, I will be seeking counsel on the meanings and nature of these magics from friends of mine within the Church, but on an official level they cannot be involved."

[Sliver]

The Drunken Light
"I... I am not sure..." Mirria looks around, confused "Well... If you are from the Silver Flame and the guard... I guess it is alright. Yes Flint, you are excused" she weakly smiles at you and turns to hurry off, unless you stop her.

[DragoonWraith]

The Drunken Light
Aicanique Nárcala
Aicanique lets her go, and turns to Flint: "OK, we need to know where this cave is, Flint, but we have to be very, very careful. You stay with me, and Uago and I will guard you all the way there. Uh. Would you hold Uago's hand?" not wanting to scare the boy with her own dead skin.

If there's nothing stopping them, they head out.

[Admiral Squish]

The Drunken Light

Uago frowns. "I told you I'm no good at negotiations..." He mutters sheepishly, though he leaves his hand dangling low enough for Flint to take if he wants to.

[Sliver]

The Drunken Light - The Streets - The Dock's Edge
Flint shakes his head and heads out, with you following it. He races through the streets, easily making his way through the crowd. You, on the other hand, have much more trouble with that. Especially those of you who fear touching other living beings.

You race through the stalls and traders, the old ladies gossiping, and the trinketers that promise your true love. Between the man who claims to have the true alchemical elements, straight from their native plains, and the woman that will sell you a potato that regrows organs.

Finally, you reach the dock district, run past the Drowsy Elf bakery and an especially messed up alley, and you reach the edge.

You move east by the the water's edge and don't suspect anything is there, in the shadows, following and watching you. Nope, everything is great. You don't even feel the need to bother with an actual check. Not with your modifiers.

Flint stops about 5 minutes walking distance from the city's wall and points at the water. "If we dive here, we can swim down and a bit under the dock and we'll get to the entrance to the cave." He says as he starts removing his shirt.

[Admiral Squish]

The Dock's Edge

The long-limbed goliath has no trouble keeping up with the child, even when using his bulk to clear the crowd aside to leave a wake for Aicanique to follow through. As they arrive at the dock, he begins to stretch. "Not a fan of swimming, but if it's neccesary... Can you swim, Aicanique?" He asked, turning to his partner. He doesn't bother to remove his chain shirt, or anything else, for that matter.

[DragoonWraith]

The Dock's Edge
"Not very well, I'm afraid. I don't think I'll drown or anything, but I could be very slow going... Flint, how far is it?"

OOC:
Aicanique's got a -1 Str modifier and no ranks in Swim, so she can't just take 10. Rolling a 6 or less means she'll go under, and she can only get 15 ft. per check. The chances of her being under for more than a round or two is remote, so drowning isn't a great concern, but with a 50% chance of making no progress or worse every round, it's going to be very difficult...

Also, I've just noticed - the Summon Undead spells are ridiculously bad. "No undead creature you summon can have more Hit Dice than your caster level +1." Caster level for Summon Undead II? 3, if you're a Wizard. Lowest HD of monsters on the SU2 list? 5. Dumb, dumb, dumb. SU1 and SU2 literally have only 2 options each, too. SU3 and 4 get three choices, and SU5 gets four. Why on earth are these spells so bad?

[Chrono22]

The Lost Habitat
Daeric 'Derry' Skaed
Daeric is disappointed by the lack of valuables. He leaves BS and his underlings, and walks back to the entrance.
Hide [roll0]
Move Silently [roll1]
Daeric speaks quietly to Emily, "Sorry, but the situation has gotten tense. I'll have to go incognito for a while." With that said, Daeric transforms into a wrinkled human man of advanced years, stooped with age.
Disguise [roll2]
The old man puts a quavering palm in the crook of his granddaughter's arm, and his bleary eyes try to pierce the mists. "Elle, I think my vision is going."
Daeric keeps his eyes open for CM.
"I'm tired, let's go home."

[Admiral Squish]

The Dock's Edge

Uago crouched down, turning his back to her. "Here, climb onto my back and hold on. I should be able to carry you without too much trouble." He said.

[Lix Lorn]

The Lost Habitat
Emily and Nightwing
Emily nodded, looking around carefully and taking his hand.

[Sliver]

The Edge
Flint thinks for a moment "Well, it should be about a minute or less of underwater adventure..."

The Lost Habitat
It will take some time for the mist to disappear... What are you doing now?

[Chrono22]

Outside The Lost Habitat
Daeric 'Derry' Skaed
Daeric shuffles across the street with a vacant stare. When he gets to the other side, he starts and looks around him. "Elle! Where did you go, Elle?"
I think I'll just hang out on the other side of the street to see if the dirty man in the coat leaves the building via the entrance. I'm also interested to see what BS and his goons do, but I don't want to be shot.

[Lix Lorn]

The Lost Habitat
Emily and Nightwing
"We're here." said Nightwing, as Emily walked after him.

[DragoonWraith]

The Dock's Edge
Aicanique Nárcala
"Well, alright, if you insist," and Aicanique follows them in the water before grabbing on to Uago's back.

[Khosan]

Osidi Copperscale, The Docks
Osidi gently massages his forehead and sighs, "Sorry, sorry. Don't like dirt, filth, grime. Weak moments." Osidi looks up at Shageki, "Toss down a bag and will gather bits. Have Dog pull it."

[Owrtho]

The Docks
Shageki tosses down the cloak of his explorer's outfit.
"Not a bag, but it should do well enough."

Owrtho

[Khosan]

Osidi Copperscale, The Docks
Osidi hurries under the cloak to grab it before it hits the ground. He holds it up in front of Dog and bites a corner before holding out another corner to her. Dog barks, bites the corner she's offered and wags her tail. Osidi daintily makes his way back down the alley and grabs some of the more substantial remains, dropping them unceremoniously on the cloak. He rubs Dog behind the ears and points her in the direction of the construct.

[Sliver]

The Docks
The construct watches as you gather more parts of the body. It takes some time, and even then, you don't know if what you have is actually half the body. It's not a lot, Moe would have to be quite skinny...

As it seems you have finished, the construct begins to leave.

If you follow it:
The construct walks through the dark maze of alleys with confidence. You were forced into larger streets a couple of times, yet, following the creature's movement, you aren't noticed at all. Not surprising that you didn't hear of him.

He finally stops in front of an entrance to the sewers. "If you wish to contact your companions before coming, I will be there when you are ready" he says as he begins to open the sewer entrance.

The Edge
You dive in, and it seems that nothing will stop you, until after half a minute... You feel a presence.

Something passes next to you. It moves the water so quickly that you are pulled into the vortex it creates behind. Then you spot it, a small translucent humanoid looking creature in the water, runes cover it's torso. Suddenly, it launches itself at Uago.

[roll0] A hit.
[roll1]

Initiative: [roll2]

[roll3]
[roll4]

You are first, then the opponent. Which Aicanique recognizes as a water elemental.

Don't forget you have to roll swim checks from now on. Don't forget penalties of underwater combat. (DMG p92-93) You already have used 5 rounds of holding your breath, and most likely you are going to use other actions now, so please post how much you have left at every round (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/swim.htm).

The Lost Habitat
You hear a thud by the closer wall and one of the guards comes out, his nose is broken. He looks around with urgency, then notices you. "Hey!" he points at you "You saw where the thief went! Tell us!" he says aggressively.

[DragoonWraith]

The Water
Aicanique Nárcala
Aicanique struggles in the water, but focuses first on charging her necromantic energies into the elemental. She casts Ray of Enfeeblement.

[roll0], [roll1]

[roll2]

18 rounds of breath left.

[Lix Lorn]

The Lost Habitat
Emily and Nightwing
"Thief?" said Nightwing in honest confusion, having not been inside. "I didn't see a thief... Emily?"
The girl shook her head.

[Admiral Squish]

The Water

Uago reaches into the small of his back as soon as the thing rushes past them, but the action is interrupted by a blow to the chest. Recovering, uago produces his 'beatstick' as he like to call it, and, setting both hands on the base, swings the metal end like a baseball bat for the creature.

Attack: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1]
Swim: [roll2]

29/36 rounds of breath

[Sliver]

The Water
Uago lands a solid hit, halfway ripping it and causing it to swirl and crash down. Aicanique, unfortunately, had trouble aiming and keeping it together underwater. Naturally, she failed at both.

The water elemental recovers and charges. Uago prepares for the strike, but the creature faints towards the struggling Aicanique.

[roll0]
[roll1]

Landing a solid hit at Aicanique, she couldn't hold on to Uago and was blasted away from him, 10ft above.

[Admiral Squish]

The Water:

Uago makes a failing attempt to catch the now free-floating Aicanique. When his grip misses he turns his attention back to the water elemental and paddles forward with a frog-like kick, charging the elemental and taking another powerful swing.

Attack: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1]
Swim: [roll2]
27/36

[Sliver]

The Water
Uago slams his pole into the water elemental, causing it to tumble into Flint and vanish, as the runes break up.

Flint waits for a moment before pointed a bit deeper down and towards the rocks, and starts swimming again.

150xp for both of you.

The Lost Habitat
The man frowns "Where could he be..." he mumbles as you hear something crash in the upper floor and you see the second guard through the window of the second floor "Come here!" he shouts and the first guard rushes inside.

[Admiral Squish]

The Water:

Uago re-holsters the beatstick and swims his way up to Aicanique, moving into position for her to grab on before swimming after Flint again.

[DragoonWraith]

The Water
Aicanique Nárcala
Aicanique summons some of the dark energy and touches it to her rapidly-bruising flesh, the necrifying energy restoring it, before clinging to Uago once more.

OOC:
I'm AFB, but I don't have a /day limitation listed on my character sheet for Charnel Touch, so I assume it's at-will? Aicanique will use that on herself to heal up the damage. That thing knocked out more than half her HP!

[Sliver]

Dragoon
It's an at will ability, takes a standard action to use. You count as an undead for healing so it's 1hp per use. (personal interpretation)

[DragoonWraith]

OOC:
It only does 1 HP? Wow, for some reason I'd thought it did more than that. I guess it is a freebie... well, she'll use it while Uago swims.

[Sliver]

Dragoon:
It has two functions. Does d8+X damage (don't recall how much exactly) or it heals undead 1hp per use. Some say because you aren't actually undead, it channels the negative energy that heals you at d8 value, while others (me included) say that you count as undead for the healing, thus get the 1hp benefit.

Using it while Uago swims and you cling to him will still cause double air drainage. But it doesn't matter now...

It takes you a bit more than half a minute to reach an opening and get into the cave. (6 rounds of healing)

The entrance of the cave is narrow and plain, and besides the dripping water you don't hear anything.

Flint pulls himself up to the land and looks around, waiting for you to take the lead.

[Admiral Squish]

The Cave:

Uago hauls himself up out of the water, crouching down to let aicanique off as he peers around the cave.

[Lix Lorn]

The Lost Habitat
Emily and Nightwing
Nightwing flew over to the disguised Daeric.
"What should we do?" he murmured.

[DragoonWraith]

The Cave
Aicanique Nárcala
Aicanique silently climbs off of Uago, looking around as she continues to pump necrotic energy into herself.

OOC:
Yeah, arguing it any other way seems cheesy to me; I agree with your reading.

[Chrono22]

Outside The Lost Habitat
Daeric 'Derry' Skaed
Watching the commotion across the street, Daeric responds with a wry grin,
"Let's just watch the show, for now."

[Owrtho]

The Docks
Shageki followed the newcomer as he went, keeping as much to the roofs as he could before eventually gliding down. Upon hearing what the newcomer had to say, Shageki responded,
"I see. In that case we shall perhaps return tomorrow. Well then, come along Osidi, we still have more yet to do today."
So saying Shageki leads Osidi to his home mostly by back roads and alleys to drop off the corpse. Once there he will clean off his cloak and plan to go to the butcher (if nothing happens between here and then).
Also, time check?


Owrtho

[Khosan]

Osidi Copperscale, The Docks
Osidi looks at the construct and then back to Shageki, tapping his claws together, "Would like to stay. For now. Not long. Ask questions, maybe explore sewer a little." Osidi pats Dog's head, "Can take Dog with you. Send her back once home, just point back where you came. Will follow her back. Don't want to leave job half-done, not done. Not without idea of what's coming next." Dog trots over to Osidi. The Kobold detaches his bedroll from Dog's saddle pack and lays it out gently on the ground for him to sit on before point Dog towards Shageki.

[Sliver]

The Lost Habitat
You see the man popping out on the roof, and a guard seems to follow. Coat man looks back, noticing he is at the edge of the front of the building. "Nowhere to go now" The guard laughs and charges him, readying his shoulder to knock the man down. Unfortunately for the guard, Coat sidesteps nimbly and the guard finds himself falling down.

Barely managing to hold to the edge, he finds himself hanging in front of the open window of the third floor, trying to swing himself weakly inside.

At the same time, you hear something happening on the same floor and a young female is seen through the window. "Stop thief!" another guard shouts.

The woman leaps out of the window, catching the hanging guard by his pants and sliding down, causing the pants to rip apart. She, on the other hand, lands gracefully on the ground and looks up at the guard, amused.

She looks around, bows to Daeric's disguised form, and runs off into an alley next to the Lost Habitat. Coat disappeared already from the roof.

The Cave
Flint looks at the necromantic pumping with concern. He doesn't understand what it is, but it doesn't look sacred or nice. The cave is illuminated a bit (shadowy illumination) from a light source up ahead. The cave entrance is 6~7ft wide, 10ft high and goes on for around 30ft before it twists out of sight.

The Docks
The construct stops and looks at Osidi "You have no interest in the sewers, but in what lies beyond there, it is of great importance. It is something you should hear as a group, because that way, lies... <dramatic pause> exposition."

[Chrono22]

The Lost Habitat
Daeric 'Derry' Skaed
Daeric pursues the woman down the alley.
Yes, he still looks like an old man.:smallbiggrin: Daeric's base land speed is 50 feet.

[Sliver]

The Lost Habitat
The woman looks at you a bit surprised "What a speedy old man" she smiles slyly, and you get the feeling she can see through your disguise. She jumps up to one of the walls and kicks of it, gaining hight and easily grabbing to a second story ledge of a building nearby. "Do you want something?" she turns around to look at you from above.

[Lix Lorn]

The Lost Habitat
Emily and Nightwing
They run to catch up, but aren't as fast as Daeric.

[Chrono22]

The Lost Habitat
Daeric 'Derry' Skaed
"Just your name. I'm Daeric, by the way. Oh, and could you pass on a message to your master for me? Please tell him, 'Man is a substance clad in shadows. With what substance is a shadow clad?'"
He waits a moment for her response. Either way, whether one is forthcoming or not, Daeric returns to Emily.

[Sliver]

The Lost Habitat
She looks amused and slightly confused "No need in a name, you will see me no longer, no matter how charming you are." she winks at you as you notice an armband she wears turns dark red, and suddenly she dissipates into shadows.

Daeric and Emily meet each other by the entrance of the alley. What now?

[Lix Lorn]

The Lost Habitat
Emily looked both confused and irritated as she signed something to Nightwing.
"Uh. In her own words, what the hell is going on?"

[DragoonWraith]

The Cave
Aicanique Nárcala
Noticing the look on Flint's face, Aicanique says softly, "Don't worry, Flint. I know it looks ugly but magic often does. Just mending the bruises that the water elemental gave me.

"What's up ahead? Where's the cave go?"

[Sliver]

The Cave
Still unsure, but nodding, Flint speaks "A small room that we used as a secret base. We brought in toys and other things we found. It was our getaway. I really hope that-" Flint stops as you hear something ceramic break.

[Admiral Squish]

The Cave

Uago frowns as he hears the ceramic break. "Flint, stay behind us, but stay close." He said, striding forward and pulling out his beatstick.

[Sliver]

The Cave
You continue into the cave. After half a minute, Aicanique feels a pull at her sleeve "Ma'am..." Flint says, sounding really worried "Something isn't right. That part of the cave was never that long." As he says that, Uago sees a lot of ceramics broken into tiny random pieces lying on the ground by the next twist.

[DragoonWraith]

The Cave
Aicanique Nárcala
To Uago, "OK, there's someone here, and they've been expanding. Flint's not going to know his way around, and there's danger here. I'm not comfortable bringing him any farther, if we get jumped we're going to have a hard time protecting him. Uago, what do you think? I don't want to leave the boy alone, and I don't want to risk him getting in any more danger. He's helped us massively as it is."

[Admiral Squish]

The Cave

Uago looks thoughtful. "I don't think sending him home like this is wise. There may be more guardians in the water, and I don't think he would be able to handle them. Besides, I think it only just that he should see what has happened to his friend. However, now that we know where the cave is, we could escort him back to the surface and return." Uago said, then turned to the boy himself. "Flint, the decision lies with you. Do you want us to take you back to the surface and be safe, or will you be brave and come with us?"

[Chrono22]

The Lost Habitat
Daeric 'Derry' Skaed
"I apologize for keeping you in the dark about all this. I'll explain back at my residence. Let's not talk here.", Daeric whispers, as he looks at the dangling guard in the distance.
If Emily cooperates, they'll be heading back to Daeric's "home". He's been living in an abandoned building with Shageki for a while, in a run-down part of town. He'll take some back alleys to arrive there, if possible. When they are far enough away from The Lost Habitat, Daeric will drop his old man disguise.

[Lix Lorn]

The Lost Habitat
Emily and Nightwing
Emily nodded, and they followed him.

[Khosan]

Osidi Copperscale, The Docks
"Didn't mean to ask questions. Did, but didn't. Not all centered on sewer. Questions about you. How you know, why you care, what you are. Very important. Should know, should know." Osidi shifts uncomfortably from side to side on his bedroll. "Also, ask that you speak up." He traces out the scar on the side of his head, "Haven't been able to hear well. Not for a while. Hard to tell. Real or inside, hard to tell. They mimic and shout. Distressing. Not the time. Just ask that you speak up a bit."

[Sliver]

The Docks
"You are right" The construct tells you as he leans closer "Those are important questions. But you will have to be patient. I am not good at the art of exposition, as a companion told me once. Inside, all will be clear as day." The construct seems to smile at what he said.

Daeric's Home
You reach the place without further incidents. You know you haven't actually talked with your first possible witness about the case, and didn't speak with the second one at all.

The Cave
"She might not know it, but I'm still her friend." Flint responses with dedication, but then smiles. "Sir, if you aren't inclined towards any one solution, you shouldn't include virtues in any of the methods."

[Chrono22]

Abandoned Home
I'm calling it that, since it technically isn't Daeric's or Shageki's property
"We can speak more privately here. Well, I can." * awkward pause*
...
At this point, Daeric recounts his experiences and the conversations that transpired, according to his recollection, as best he can to Emily.
...
"That pair we encountered at the Lost Habitat are... strange. The man in the trenchcoat utilized shadows, similar to my own. I noticed them, since they contrasted with the darkness of normal shadows, which I can see through. It's also peculiar, how he and the girl were able to so easily see through my disguise and my stealth. At the very least, they must have some supernatural awarenesses... but I suspect there is more to their magical talents than just that."
Daeric takes a breath and continues, "I don't know who they were, not really, but they seemed dangerous and I'd rather not put us at risk by trying to deal with them on our own.
I think we should wait here for the others so that we can regroup, discuss what we've learned, and do some planning. In the meantime, would you like something to eat?" Daeric checks to see if Shageki kept any food lying around...

[Lix Lorn]

Abandoned Home
Emily and Nightwing
Emily signed something to Nightwing, and he translated.
"She says that she wouldn't mind something to eat, if you have spare. She also expresses irritation at not having got to do anything." he said.

[DragoonWraith]

The Cave
Aicanique Nárcala
"We know, Flint, but... and of course I meant to escort him back.... but...." Aicanique trails off, looking a bit exasperated. "But, it looks like you've invited him. Flint... just, be very careful, stay very nearby, and don't run to Caryl if you see her. No matter what! What you say is true, she may very well not remember that you are her friend; she's been cursed, and may hurt you. You can't trust her, not until we break the curse."

[Sliver]

The Cave
Flint lowers his head sadly and nods, waiting for you to lead the way.

[Khosan]

Osidi Copperscale, The Docks
"Am fine with less than satisfactory answer. Not very good with asking questions. Used to just taking orders."

[Sliver]

The Docks
The creature seems to make a silent sigh "What is so urgent?"

[Khosan]

Osidi Copperscale, The Docks
Osidi frowns, "Nothing, nothing, nothing. Just...need to know things like this.' He taps the side of his head anxiously, "Asked, no, told, to do something. Will see it through. Will not do to leave it with so much left." Osidi's legs shake, "Please? Just one question, will be fine, should be fine. What are you?"

[Sliver]

The Docks
"You do not know my kind by name, or at all. We are called Warforged from where I come. Constructs, sapient. Complicated, doesn't matter." The construct looks away.

warforged:They do not exist in this world, so you haven't heard of them. You know there are attempts to create what the construct in front of you claims he is, but it is something far from completion, if not a tale altogether.

[Khosan]

Osidi Copperscale, The Docks
The shaking in Osidi's legs dies down, "Have not heard of that before. Very strange. Thank you." Osidi stands up off his bedroll, bows and takes his leave when Dog returns.

[Sliver]

The Docks
The 'forged nods stiffly and disappears.

Anyone who isn't at the cave can post at the Abandoned Home, no need for spoilers for those.

[Chrono22]

Abandoned House
Daeric 'Derry' Skaed
After a minute or so, Daeric comes back out of Shageki's room with a hunk of meat on a plate. "Sorry, this is all we have here. My raven-like housemate has peculiar appetites, he doesn't eat anything but meat."
Daeric creates a shadow dagger and slices off a few pieces.
just waiting until Shageki returns...

[Lix Lorn]

Abandoned House
Emily and Nightwing

"Thank you." said Nightwing, taking a small piece. Emily nodded her thanks, taking one as well.

[Khosan]

Osidi Copperscale, Abandoned House
Osidi slides through the door, Dog in tow. "Hello, hello. Injuries? Know how to deal with them. Have supplies, can help. Know bird man still probably hurt. Hurt self, too, nice to be able to sit now." He removes the healing wand from his backpack and holds it in the air. "Did this for mercenaries. Easy work."

[Admiral Squish]

The Cave

Uago nods, taking his position in the front of the group again with a slight smirk. "It will be good for the boy to see some honest adventure. Now, we have to keep moving." He said as he crept forward once more, keeping an eye out for the shattered ceramics.

[Lix Lorn]

Abandoned House
Emily and Nightwing
"Thanks, Osidi." said Nightwing. "But we're uninjured, as is Daeric, I think."

[DragoonWraith]

The Cave
Aicanique Nárcala
Aicanique follows closely, keeping an eye on Flint at all times.

She's extremely worried about the boy - but also a bit suspicious. She doesn't like to think it, but she can't shake the idea that he's a bit too comfortable with the goings on, with the combat with the water elemental and all. Not telling her about the book, not knowing the girl, it just... seemed off. She's worried the curse might have affected him, perhaps more subtly. And she's even more worried that in her suspicion she'll fail him somehow and put an innocent boy in danger.

[Owrtho]

Abandoned House
Shageki returns to his abode, Dog following with most of Moe. As he enters he hears the voices of Daeric and Nightwing. Pausing for a moment he proceeds to the room they are in.
"Ah hello, Emily. Welcome to my humble home. I see Derry has shown you in and made liberty with my food. Not that I mind letting you have an of course, feel free to help yourself, you could even stay the night if you lack a place to stay."
Shageki moves to sit down motioning Dog to leave his cloak and Moe by the entrance. Once settled he decides to more important matters
"Dog, feel free to return to your master, and try to lead him here once you do. So Derry, Emily, what did you find out? I'm afraid to say I've yet to learn much on my end, save that someone's behind it and not afraid to resort to violence to keep others away. I did bring someone here for questioning though. Well as much of them as I could find. Also have a lead with a newcomer who showed up soon after and lead me and the little guy down to the sewers."
Shageki gestures to his cloak as he mentions Moe, and waits for a response from the others.

Owrtho

[Sliver]

The Cave
As you continue inside, the feeling that something is wrong only intensifies. Yet, you are surprised when the broken ceramics on the floor fly up and smash into you.

As they surround you, you notice a rune. It's not on one of them, or on every one. It is almost set in place, with the ceramics that are positioned there gain the outlines of the rune for a moment.

[roll0] damage. DC12 Fort vs Nausea.

Aicanique
You notice two things. The first is that the swarm is thicker between you and Flint, almost creating a wall, but doesn't move to attack him.

The second thing is that some of the ceramics around you pulse and fall to the ground, stopping their flight. As that happens, you feel negative energy flowing into you. [roll1] healing. Could it be your ability? You doubt it, you didn't do anything!

Initiative:
[roll2]
[roll3]

[roll4]

[DragoonWraith]

6 damage each? And I'm kind of confused by the positioning of everything here... There's a swarm between Flint and Aicanique?

And was I short of full HP? I'd assumed that during my walk I would have pretty much healed up, 1 hp/6 s seems like a fair amount... Or do I just notice the healing property?

All in all, I also think Aicanique would understand that something is using negative energy attacks on her; she is a spellcaster, after all, and fairly familiar with her condition... Lemme know if I can assume that.

Anyway,
[roll0]
Woot, still m'best.

[Sliver]

6 damage each? And I'm kind of confused by the positioning of everything here... There's a swarm between Flint and Aicanique?

And was I short of full HP? I'd assumed that during my walk I would have pretty much healed up, 1 hp/6 s seems like a fair amount... Or do I just notice the healing property?

All in all, I also think Aicanique would understand that something is using negative energy attacks on her; she is a spellcaster, after all, and fairly familiar with her condition... Lemme know if I can assume that.

Anyway,
[roll0]
Woot, still m'best.

You were on full HP, then damaged 6 and got 2 points of healing. You know something is pumping you with negative energy, but it doesn't feel like an attack. The damage is to both of you.

The swarm is around Aicanique and Uago, just a bit thicker between Aicanique and Flint, forming a little wall but not reaching Flint.

Aicanique first, then the swarm and Uago last.

[Chrono22]

Abandoned House

Daeric 'Derry' Skaed
After Shageki motions to the blood-soaked, dripping sack, Daeric gets a sick expression. He then quietly spits the meat out of his mouth, puts the meat in his hand down, and uses a handkerchief to clean off his tongue.
After he regains his composure, Daeric responds, "I'm afraid I haven't learned anything directly connected to our investigation. I did meat-er, meet some interesting people, however..."
Daeric recounts his experiences to Shageki with as much detail and accuracy as he can.
Sliver, does this bother you^. I'd like to avoid unnecessary exposition when I can. Recounting things word by word IC which we all already know OOC kind of seems like a waste of time.
"And how has your day gone? You mentioned you are going into the sewers? Want any help?"

[DragoonWraith]

The Cave
Aicanique Nárcala
Aicanique casts Ray of Enfeeblement on it, focusing on the area between she and Flint.
[roll0] [roll1]

OOC:

You were on full HP, then damaged 6 and got 2 points of healing. You know something is pumping you with negative energy, but it doesn't feel like an attack. The damage is to both of you.
D'oh, right, of course. K!

[Sliver]

The Cave
The necromancer manages to hit the area, but to no visible result. Perhaps some of the ceramics got weaker, but as they are the only part that seems inert at the moment, there isn't any visible difference.

The swarm continues to bash at the couple. [roll0] damage (and DC12 fort vs nauseate)

The necromancer notices being pumped with more negative energy as some of the ceramics drop around her. [roll1] healing.

Uago, then <can't remember name necromancer>. You can post before him Dragoon, your actions will be taken in order.

[DragoonWraith]

The Cave
There's another necromancer besides Aicanique?

Anyway, [roll0]

And... Chill Touch on the same area:
[roll1] [roll2] DC 15 Fortitude save or 1 Str damage, as well. Unless it's somehow undead, then it takes no damage but must make a DC 15 Will save or flee as if panicked for 1d4+3 rounds. Lemme know if I should bother rolling that.

And I can use this touch 2 more times for this casting.

[Sliver]

DragoonI was referring to Aicanique, a name which I can't seem to remember, and didn't want to spare the time to copy/paste it. (due to being in a lecture)

Anyway, Chill Touch, targeted spell. Opponent, swarm. Are you sure you want to continue waste your spell slots?

Strength damage against something that is just there to block Flint and doesn't bother to attack? (the wall isn't blocking it all... You can see Flint standing there through the cracks)

You could try to figure out what is it about you that does actual damage to the swarm.

[DragoonWraith]

I'm clearly not even remotely familiar with how swarms work. You can't attack them? I... don't see that?

And somehow I'd assume that in the presence of all this negative energy this thing isn't harmed by it, which is why I've been avoiding it.

How about these:
[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]
[roll4]
[roll5]

Because I'm just kind of confused.

[Sliver]

Cave OOCA swarm is not a single creature, but many little ones. You can't use any single target spells, but weapon-like spells can work (like orbs of X) against it. This specific size of a swarm allows for bludgeoning damage or half piercing/slashing damage on weapon attacks. Smaller types of swarms are immune to weapons.

This looks to be a mindless construct swarm. The negative energy doesn't seem to be single targeted like your own ability, and has an effect on the swarm.

You aren't sure about the source of the negative energy. Perhaps it's something you carry? Something new?

[Admiral Squish]

The Cave:

Fort Save:[roll0]

Uago snarls as the tiles cut at his flesh. He swings his beatstick backhandedly at the largest nearby chunk of ceramic, trying to knock it out of the air, his arm going up to defend his face from the sharp tiles.
Attack:[roll1]
Damage:[roll2]

[Sliver]

The Cave
Admiral: While the staff does Bludgeoning damage, I hope you understand why it will not be treated as such for the purpose of swarm damaging, so it will be halved as usual.

Uago does considerable damage with his fierce swing, and the swarm seems to be on the verge of breaking.

Dragoon: Will you use a targeted spell anyway or do you want to try something else.

Abandoned Home:
I don't mind the shortened exposition, as long as all involved are reading the spoilers due to OOC curiosity. If someone doesn't do it, you will have to quote the relevant posts. Anyway, what are you doing now?

[Khosan]

Osidi Copperscale, Abandoned House
Osidi gives the wand a quick twirl and taps his chest twice with the tip.

Two charges of from the wand expended on Osidi
Heal #1 - [roll0]
Heal #2 - [roll1]

Osidi then ambles over to Shageki and gives him a quick pair of jabs in the gut with the business end of the healing wand.

Another two charges of from the wand expended on Shageki
Heal #1 - [roll2]
Heal #2 - [roll3]

[DragoonWraith]

The Cave
Aicanique Nárcala
Aicanique, feeling the book's power and lacking other options, casts Read Magic as she pulls out the book and peels off its paper wrapping, carefully avoiding physical contact with the book.

OOC:
Sorry! that this action took so long.

[Sliver]

The CaveThe swarm continues it's attacks, but it's obviously almost at it's limits, the rune is shaking and glowing far fainter than before.

[roll0] DC 10 fort save vs nausea.

Aicanique feels another pulse of negative energy, coming from inside the book, but not from the book itself. [roll1] healing (stronger this time)

Anyone in the house wants to do something?

[DragoonWraith]

OOC:
I am thoroughly amused that I got a 2 out of the 1d2 twice in a row, but only a 1 on the 1d4.

Does Read Magic show anything on the cover?

[Sliver]

There is no writing on the cover for your Read Magic to decipher.

[Chrono22]

Abandoned House

"Osidi, where did you come from? Welcome to our very humble abode.", Daeric says, as he looks at the peeling wallpaper and dingy surroundings.

[Khosan]

Osidi Copperscale
"Me? From jungle. Not sure where it is now. Lots of travel since then, lots of travel." Osidi carefully slides his wand back into his backpack and looks around at his surroundings, "Can clean up. Will clean up. Used to it. Comfortable work. Familiar."

[DragoonWraith]

The Cave
Aicanique Nárcala
(presuming Uago destroys the Swarm, Aicanique having done absolutely nothing useful in this battle)
"Ah, sorry for my hesitation. As soon as that thing sprang up, I felt the book... I don't know what the intent was, but it's radiating negative energy. Because of my... training," she says with a glance at Uago and Flint, realizing neither knew about her condition, "I can handle it safely enough, it seems, but I worry about what will happen if we go farther and it continues to radiate this negative energy. This has all been such a whirlwind; I was planning to look into this later, but now I think I must stop and at least see what it is we're dealing with. Uhm. I suggest you each step well back, since I don't know what happens when I open the cover. Actually, Flint... do you know what happens when the cover is opened? Did you ever see Caryl with it opened? I really wish I didn't have to do this right now, but there's nothing for it."

[Owrtho]

Abandoned House
Shageki turns to Osidi to state,
"I believe he meant in the immediate sense. That aside,"
Shageki turns back to Daeric,
"your help would be quite welcome going to the sewers. I'm not quite sure what will be awaiting us down there given the look of the Newcomer. Anyway, I plan to return tomorrow, as I have little idea how long it will take and we have plans to meet with the others tonight. It may also be best if they come along as well. Besides, I still need to check out that butcher today."

Owrtho

[Khosan]

Osidi Copperscale
"Immediate? Came through door. Not sure if there are other ways in. Could check, but don't think it's necessary, no no." Osidi rubs the back of his head and glances around the room again. Dog sits down and barks. "There food here? Dog's hungry and don't carry food. Spoils, also used to working around others with food."

[Admiral Squish]

The Cave

Uago flinches once more as the ceramic tiles strike at him again, retaliating with a horizontal sweep of his beatstick.

Attack: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1]
Fort: [roll2]

[Sliver]

The Cave
The swarm breaks up and the ceramics fall to the ground without the magic to hold them together. 300xp.

Flint shakes his head at Aicanique's question.

[Admiral Squish]

the Cave:

Uago spends a few seconds stomping on the largest of the ceramics, making sure it's all too small to be used again, rubbing a few of the deeper cuts left by the ceramics. "I don't suppose you have any healing magic in there, huh?" He asks, turning to Aicanique.

[DragoonWraith]

The Cave
Aicanique Nárcala
Aicanique purses her lips at Uago's question. "Uhm, I'm afraid not. Are you badly hurt? The more I think about this, the more I feel like we're rushing headlong into something we're going to regret."

She leaves the book firmly shut for now.

[Admiral Squish]

The Cave:

He shakes his head. "No, no, I'll be fine. Let's keep moving." He said, shaking his head and taking a step down the passageway.

[DragoonWraith]

The Cave
Aicanique Nárcala
"I really don't want to bring this book any closer to those who might use it, personally. I also don't want to go through it right now; I don't have the appropriate spells prepared to protect myself. If we're continuing, I'm going to hide it here. I pray to the Flame that no one comes across it here..."

[Sliver]

The Cave
You suddenly hear combat up ahead. You recognize male voices but you can't tell the numbers or anything else.

Abandoned Home
You hear a knock on the door.

[Chrono22]

Abandoned House
Daeric 'Derry' Skaed
Daeric's eyebrows raise at this strange event. I never use the front... and neither do my guests. Something is wrong.He whispers to the others quietly and quickly, "I'll check it out."

Daeric hides and makes his way to an upper floor. He'll peek out of one of the cracked windows above to see who is at the door.
Hide [roll0]
Move Silently [roll1]

[Sliver]

Abandoned House
Daeric sees a weird small man looking there. The best way to describe that man would be a gnomeling, half gnome, half halfling. A half-gnome quarterling perhaps?

He wears bright red and green clothes and a gold feathered cap on his head. He holds a briefcase in front of him with both his arms, almost hugging it.

[Chrono22]

I meant, I was looking out of a broken window, from the second story, from hiding. If he spotted me regardless, I KNOW something is wrong.

[Sliver]

Oh, in that case, ignore him spotting you and speaking :smallredface:

[Chrono22]

Abandoned House
Daeric 'Derry' Skaed
Daeric comes back down the stares and addresses Osidi.
"Looks like there's someone at the door for you. I'm taking a nap, I'll be up later. You know where to find me."
Daeric goes back up to the room on the second story to listen to the conversation that may transpire.
Bluff results: 23

[Lix Lorn]

Emily and Nightwing
Emily looked suspiciously at the door.

[DragoonWraith]

The Cave
Aicanique Nárcala
Aicanique quickly hides the book beneath some rocks/behind a stalagmite/whatever, stands up and takes a quick look around to memorize where she's put it, and then nods towards the sound.

[Khosan]

Osidi Copperscale
Osidi looks up from the corner he'd been furiously dusting, "For me? Who? Old master, maybe. Not sure if last master would come looking. Seemed happy. But don't want to keep waiting. Impolite." He folds up the rag he'd been dusting with into a neat little square and lays it on a nearby piece of furniture before scurrying over to the front door.

Osidi fumbles with the door knob and throws the door open, "Maste-Oh, not master. Unless master gotten very short, maybe lost legs? No, probably not, still have feet. Would have yelled at me if picked those clothes for him. Might work for master, maybe." Osidi scratches the side of his head, "Want something from me? Busy. Cleaning."

[Sliver]

"Only a moment of your time!" The gnomeling strolls inside "We here from Bard Weekly have the pleasure to inform you that you are entitled to a life time subscription to our magazine!" He pulls up his briefcase and pulls out a magazine. Hideous design, looks as if random colors just splashed onto it "If you will make your purchase now, you will enjoy this awesome little thing" he pulls out a little rod with a few buttons on it "this here is a rod of bard calling! Press on one of the buttons and a designated bard will record all your adventures in the most controversial way possible, ensuring everybody will speak of you for ages! We have many other vivid but not less annoying offers, so how many friends do you want to refer to us and gain more super special awesome bonuses?" he pulls out a hunk of soap "A free gift with every subscription!"

[Lix Lorn]

Emily and Nightwing
Emily blinked in shock, then her face changed to irritation. She signed something.
"Um. She wants me to say that if you don't leave, she's going to shatter your mind in a very literal way." Nightwing said apologetically.

[Sliver]

The gnomeling looks confused for a moment, but then he laughs "No she doesn't! I know the signs! She wants to learn how to bake! Which is great, since in the Bard Weekly magazine, we have great recipes inside with every issue!"

[Khosan]

Osidi Copperscale
Osidi stares at the soap the gnomeling held up. "Could use soap. Would use. Make job easier." Osidi grabs the gnomeling's shoulder, "Can get soap? Don't care about 'magazine'. Just want soap."

[Sliver]

At first the gnomeling seems dazzled by the success of the gift of soap, but he recovers quickly "Soap is free with every subscription! For every friend that subscribes under your reference you will get more free gifts, and you can even read in the magazine abound all the brand new cleaning products! Bard Weekly, all the news!"

[Lix Lorn]

Emily and Nightwing
Emily blinked several times, and stood up. She then drew a small amount of arcane energy to her hand, forming a sword of glowing light, and glared at the Kobold.

Intimidation check.
[roll0]
Can making a weapon out of magic get me a circumstance bonus? XD

[Sliver]

The gnomeling's eyes go wide and Emily can see the glow of her arcane magic in his eyes as he stares at the sword, letting go of the soap. Slowly, he raises his arm and touches the blade, quickly pulling it back and sucking on to his finger. Suddenly, a wide smile appears "AWESOME!" he exclaims and hugs Emily for no apparent reason.

[Lix Lorn]

Emily and Nightwing
Emily blinked in utter confusion. That was not the plan...

[Khosan]

Osidi Copperscale
Osidi blinks and starts rapidly tapping his fingers on the side of his head. "Idea! Idea, yes, yes, yes." Osidi grabs the gnomeling's shoulder and spins him around, "Will make deal. Don't want magazine, but do want free things. Give you sole right to story of adventure. Our story, yes. No other bards get anything. All the money from telling story, you keep. All of it." Osidi nods, "Just bring free things. Don't tell others, or they take your money. Might want to keep quiet, whole get more than the part."

[Sliver]

The gnomeling snuggles Emily, you doubt he listens "Whatever!" he exclaims.

[Lix Lorn]

Emily and Nightwing
Emily looked slightly uncomfortable, but she tentatively started to hug back.
D'awwww. XD

[Admiral Squish]

The Cave:

Uago nods silently in return and creeps forth, holding the beatstick high to be ready to use as he peers around the corner.

Spot: [roll0]

[Sliver]

The Cave
The sounds of combat are more distant than that, even though the echoes might try and fool you, and the cave is too twisty to see what is happening that far.

[DragoonWraith]

The Cave
Aicanique Nárcala
Aicanique hustles onward, keeping an eye on Uago and Flint, and keeping an hear out for the battle.

[roll0] (damn ghosts)
[roll1]

[Admiral Squish]

The Cave

Seeing the coast as clear, he gestures them to follow as he continues forward, peeking around each corner as he progresses through the twisted corridor.

[Sliver]

The Cave
You continue onwards, kicking off little rocks and making sure your echoes are well heard as you move through the cave. After less than a minute of nice, quiet travel, you reach an opening where the cave gets wider.

"It's our room..." Flint remarks "The one we should have entered a minute ago..." You hear a grunt and a girl's voice shouting "DIE!"

[DragoonWraith]

The Cave
Aicanique Nárcala
Aicanique attempts to peer around a corner to see into the room without drawing too much attention.

[Sliver]

The Cave
The opening is straight ahead, no turns before that. You can't see what happens in the room, due to whatever that is, not happening straight in front of the opening, but looking inside will negate most any attempt at hiding. Do you still want to attempt to be stealthy and do it?

[DragoonWraith]

How well lit is this cave?

[Sliver]

The Cave
Shadowy illumination at your position. The opening and the room is brightly lit by what is most likely torches or lanterns.

[DragoonWraith]

The Cave
Are we at the edge of the shadows? If not, moving there, can we see anything?

[Sliver]

CaveNo. The opening itself isn't wide enough to see inside without coming into the light.

You hear something that is probably metal hitting rock.

[DragoonWraith]

The Cave
Aicanique Nárcala
Aicanique quickly casts Mage Armor on herself, and then whispers to Uago: "I can Charm one of them, but not both. And in the middle of a fight, the charm might not even take. I'd much rather restrain both of them and sort this out than have to pick sides no knowing what's going on. Can you do anything to help there?"

And to Flint, "Flint, you need to stay here. Don't go off into the cave anywhere, don't go into that room, stay in the shadows where we know where you are. This sounds very dangerous, and we need to handle it without worrying about you."

[Admiral Squish]

The Cave:

The goliath shrugs as he extends out a section of his beatstick to turn it into a 4-foot baseball bat of a club, capped with a solid metal fitting. "That depends, are you any good at first aid?" He asked. "I have no doubt I will be able to beat at least one of them unconscious. If you really want them both conscious, though, I could probably restrain one of them physically. Magicians can be tricky, though..."

[Sliver]

The Cave
Flint squeaks as silently as possible "It's Cyril! Don't harm her!"

[DragoonWraith]

The Cave
Aicanique
"Agreed, but I have no healing, so... do what you can. Ultimately, we must defend ourselves first. Alright then, on my mark, we go. I'll start with the Charm."

Aicanique counts it off, and then steps into the light and tries to discern what's going on.

[roll0] (sigh)

[Sliver]

The Cave{table=head]_|A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|K|L
1|X|X|X|||||||X|X
2|X|X||||||||X|X
3|X|X|||||||||X
4|X|||||||||X|X
5|X||M|E|||||C||
6|X|X|||||||||X
7||||U||||||X|X
8|X||||||||||S
9|X|X|X|||||X|X|X|X
10|X|X|X|X|X||X|X|X|X|X
[/table]

X - walls. S - Shadows (can't see from your position, no light either). M - Male, U - unconscious Male, E - Earth elemental, C - Girl (Cyril)

You are outside F10. F10 counts as tight space and takes squeezing, and Uago has to take a separate move action to squeeze through it due to his bigger build.

The room is quite bare at the moment, with a few torches hanging around. You see that on the floor by the far wall (F1) there is some kind of circle drawing on the floor around a teddy bear.

Cyril, a small girl in tattered brown cloth clothes seems to have a deep cut on her arm. She looks at the man fighting the earth elemental with rage. The elemental and the man swing at each other, the man looks quite battered by now and will soon fall, but you can't catch a good glance at him mid-fight. You do notice that the unconscious man on the floor sports the emblem of the Silver Flame on his back (he lies on his stomach). You notice something odd, the floor is full of cracks, and they all start from Cyril.

Initiative:

You
Silver Flame (delayed for convenience)
Cyril

[roll0] Includes Earth Elemental
[roll1]

[roll2]
[roll3]

[DragoonWraith]

The Cave
Aicanique Nárcala
Is Aicanique's Silver Flame pendant still in a pocket? I believe it was, but I want to make sure.

Aicanique squeezes through the opening first, and casts Charm Person on Caryl (when did she become Cyril?). "Hold your fight, call off your beast, Caryl. Brother, you as well, you know not the situation you are dealing with," she says, at the man not quite down.

[Admiral Squish]

The Cave:

Uago, seeing the situation, forces his bulk through the narrow crag. Even as he strides into the room, he suddenly seems bigger as he grits his teeth and grips his weapon, coming to a stop in the very center of the room, almost all opponents within reach of his long arms and weapon.

Crunchy:
This is me entering mountain rage as I enter the room. I'll be taking up position at F-5, extending my now large square down to G-6, and the elemental and Cyril should both be within my reach. I also got another 4 HP, which might be important...

Does skirmish count on AoOs?

[DragoonWraith]

The Cave
Some rolls:
[roll0] about the cracks around Caryl (I know it's Agares, but that's metagaming...)
[roll1] about the men(?) from the Silver Flame
[roll2] if it's relevant

[roll3] for the Silver Flame guy, and Caryl if Charm doesn't work.

[Sliver]

The Cave
The pendant thing is up to you.

A mistype... Why am I expected to remember my NPC names?

Aicanique recognizes the effects of the vestige, and guesses the girl is resisting the coughing. You don't recognize the men, (yeah, one fighting one downed).

The girl seems to manage to resist the spell, barely, and neither she nor the man step down.

Admiral: No, "The extra damage applies only to attacks taken during the scout’s turn."

The man swings at the elemental widely but fails to connect, while the elemental swings it's arms and slams into the man's body for a solid hit and forcing the man to step back, with the elemental following. Caryl is surprised by the sudden intrusion and steps back towards her side of the wall.

"YOU!" she roars "I saw you! I know Flint betrayed me!"

{table=head]_|A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|K|L
1|X|X|X|||||||X|X
2|X|X||||||||X|X
3|X|X|||||||||X
4|X|||||||||X|X
5|X|M|E|||G|G|||C|
6|X|X||||G|G||||X
7||||U||||||X|X
8|X||||||||||S
9|X|X|X|||A||X|X|X|X
10|X|X|X|X|X||X|X|X|X|X
[/table]

A - Aicanique, G- Uago.

[DragoonWraith]

The Cave
Aicanique Nárcala
"If you're referring to these two, then no, he did not. I don't know who they are and I'm quite sure Flint has never seen them.

"If you mean the two of us, Flint was scared for you. So are we. The book you had, that Flint hid for you, it was cursed - it hurt Flint quite badly. You claim he betrayed you, yet you allowed him to suffer under its curse? Who betrayed who? Call off your pet, Agares surely would not appreciate you betraying those who are here to help you. Which we are, at Flint's request. Because he is worried about you. Don't worry about them, I will deal with them, but only if you call off the elemental."

[Sliver]

The Cave
"No! Uncle told me you'd try to lie like that, that you'll try to take my happiness!" The child almost screams.

"Why do you betray the Silver Flame?" Shouts the man to Aicanique.

[Admiral Squish]

The Cave:

Uago, realizing through his rage that Caryl can at least be reasoned with, takes a step toward the elemental and takes a mighty two-handed swing downward and diagonally. If the girl wouldn't call the monster off, he'd take it out of the picture.

5-foot step toward the elemental and lay into him.
Attack: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1]

[Sliver]

The Cave
Uago's attack glances off the hard rocks of the elemental.

Aicanique still has a standard action so I'll wait a bit...

[DragoonWraith]

The Cave
Aicanique Nárcala
At them both, "All I am trying to do here is diffuse a pointless battle and get some answers; I don't believe I've betrayed anyone, despite both of your claims to the contrary.

"Furthermore, what allegiance to the Silver Flame do you think I have? I don't believe I know you; do you know me? Clearly not nearly so well as you think you do.

"And Caryl, what does Agares think of that? This man, your 'uncle', claims I'll lie to you. The Truth Betrayed wouldn't like that, would he? But then how does he feel about your uncle, mm? Surely, he must have something to say to you, because I assure you, this man has lied to you. You have been cursed, you have handled an evil tome of dangerous magic, and you have been driven away from the orphanage, all because of this man. Does he really have your happiness in mind? I will freely admit - I do not know what is going on here. I do not understand this magic, more than having heard of Agares. I have never met your uncle. But that book is dangerous, and everything that has happened to you since you first encountered it is not in your best interest, at least from where I am standing.

"But explain to me. Tell me what has happened, tell me how you have been betrayed, tell me who is after your happiness. I swear, I will do whatever I can to prove myself to you and to ensure your happiness. I merely believe that you are in great danger, and you need to calm down so that you can see the true dangers."

[roll0] - Are you kidding me? Argh. Well, take that as you will.

Also, yes, I'm fine with this taking actions; she's not currently using any, just standing there with her hands up, trying to be as non-threatening as possible.

[Sliver]

The CaveThe man glares at Aicanique and loses concentration for a moment, suffering another blow for the elemental. Flinching from the surprise, he swings his blade, cutting of a good chunk of the elemental. Both are in bad shape, but the man looks to be in a disadvantage compared to the small grounded elemental.

Clearly influenced by the vestige, you see Caryl forced to answer.

"Uncle is a good man!" Caryl shouts with confidence "He promised me everything in the world! He promised dad to me! You are the one who lies! The tome is good! It healed and defended you and you say such things about it's gift! You know nothing!"

She steps towards Uago and stomps the ground, causing the cave to shake and a small shockwave spreads.

Uago, make a reflex save, DC16 or fall prone.

{table=head]_|A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|K|L
1|X|X|X|||||||X|X
2|X|X||||||||X|X
3|X|X|||||||||X
4|X|||||||||X|X
5|X|M|E||G|G||C|||
6|X|X|||G|G|||||X
7||||U||||||X|X
8|X||||||||||S
9|X|X|X|||A||X|X|X|X
10|X|X|X|X|X||X|X|X|X|X
[/table]

[DragoonWraith]

The Cave
Aicanique Nárcala
"It seems you, Caryl, know me better than my supposed brethren. Yes, the book healed me. That is not a good thing, Caryl. Did it you as well? Or did it hurt you, hurt you like it hurt Flint? Flint is your friend, he still is your friend, and it hurt him. It hurt him badly, it took many spells to make him better, didn't it? You have made a Pact with the Truth Betrayed, and yet you are the one betraying him. Betraying him for a man you don't know, who promises you impossible things and has done nothing but hurt you, drive you away from those you loved and forced you to live in this cave, hunted by those who do not understand you.

"I understand you, Caryl. You know how the book treated me; do you know why? Do you know at what cost that comes? Do you know what he did to me? That man was not good to me, and nor is this man who claims to be your uncle. I have been there, Caryl, and it is a place of danger. That man does not have your interests in mind."

If possible, Aicanique will step slowly, non-threateningly, towards Caryl, partially just to see how she'll react to that.

[roll0] (well that's a bit better)

[Admiral Squish]

The Cave:

Reflex:[roll0]

Attack:[roll1]
Damage: [roll2]

Uago mostly ignores the conversation behind him as he takes another step towards the elemental and takes a mighty swing at it, timing the step just right to avoid the worst of the shockwave, thankfully.

[Sliver]

The Cave
Uago resists the shockwave and smashes it's pole into the elemental, breaking it completely.

Aicanique sees the girl is terrified. She doesn't want to speak, she can't feel confident, but she must. The vestige is far beyond her powers. You feel she doesn't know her own powers, that she doesn't know what will happen if she will just decline the influence of the vestige. Caryl almost tears up.

She steps back, away from Aicanique "No..." her voice shakes, and she coughs, dust blowing out "My soul is mine, pure! It's the Tome of Friends! Uncle said so! It won't hurt good people, it did nothing to me! Flint was bad, Uncle told me! Flint didn't want me to be more happy then he was. You are supposed to be good, but you go against me and Uncle, why?" Her voice was getting stronger, more confident, but you know it's what she recited to herself, convinced herself. A lot of effort went into conserving that frail bubble. And you can almost hear the bubble pop. "It can't be..." she begins to whimper.

The man smiles slyly, seeing Uago blocking his path, he attempts to slide low and towards the girl. *checks for tumble* *dang, that's a 29* Easily sliding under the raging giant, the man swings it's blade at the girl "Die heretic!" he shouts as he lungs the blade forward, but stumbling on a rock and passing next to her instead, cursing his momentarily clumsiness spoiling such a chance.

{table=head]_|A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|K|L
1|X|X|X|||||||X|X
2|X|X||||||||X|X
3|X|X|||||||||X
4|X|||||||C|M|X|X
5|X|||G|G||||||
6|X|X||G|G||||||X
7||||U||||||X|X
8|X||||||A||||S
9|X|X|X|||||X|X|X|X
10|X|X|X|X|X||X|X|X|X|X
[/table]

[DragoonWraith]

The Cave
Aicanique
"The Silver Flame has a great deal to learn, with regards to the differences between heretics and scared little girls. But that's not new...

"Sir, I must tell you this: I am here as an appointed officer of the law," she shows the badge, "and as much as I wish you absolutely no harm, if you do not immediately step away from the girl, who is an important witness in our investigation, I will stop you. You have been warned. You do not know the full story here and what you are proposing to do is, itself, a crime against the Silver Flame," and at this she shows the emblem of the Silver Flame, "I assure you. Uago, if you please, I believe this man could use some assistance.

"Caryl, this man has lied to you. Flint has never wanted anything but your happiness. Even after you abandoned him, he protected you, even when the book hurt him, even when no one would talk to him because he had been your friend. And I assure you, that book, it hurt Flint, and it hurt Flint because he is good. What that book does is, it hurts good people. Only because of my own curse did it not hurt me - and I assure you that it is only because of the grave evil with which I had been attacked that this is so. This man has lied to you, and he cannot give you that which he has promised. The Vestiges do not have the power to return to life those who are gone, this is completely beyond their power."

[roll0]
[roll1]

[Admiral Squish]

The Cave:

Momentarily distracted as the elemental crumbles before him, Uago snarls and turns as the man slips past him, rushing forward with a pair of massive steps, infuriated at the insult, swinging his stick like a golf club as he moves in next to Caryl, unable to hear any logic through the all-consuming drumbeat of his pulse in his temples.

That'd be charge action to G-5-F-6.
Attack: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1]
Skirmish: [roll2]

[Sliver]

The Cave
The man snarls at Aicanique's words, which seem to distract him as he is caught by surprise when he sees the stick swinging. Uago manages to hit the man, striking him at his head and causing him to fly into the wall and fall down to the ground. A splash of blood is left on the wall where the head of the man hit it, and the skull is obviously cracked as the man lies motionless on the floor, blood starts pooling from his earlier wounds.

Caryl doesn't look up to see what happens, her head is buried in her hands and she starts sobbing, hard. With her delusion fading, her dreams crushed, she feels so hopeless. Happiness seems so far away for her.

[DragoonWraith]

The Cave
Aicanique
Aicanique rushes to Caryl, hugging her tightly, hoping to comfort her and mark her a not-enemy to Uago's rage.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, but I'll make sure we set this right,

"Uago, please, go get Flint. I believe he can help now, and I do not wish for him to be alone where we cannot see him."

[Sliver]

The Cave
As Aicanique speaks the words, you hear two sets of legs enter the room. Looking up, you see a man, also having the Silver Light symbol on his chain shirt, entering the room with Flint in front of him. The short sword rests tightly in front of Flint's neck, the man keeps a solid grip of it.

"Hand over the girl." The man says coldly.

[DragoonWraith]

The Cave
Aicanique
Separating herself from Caryl and standing in front of her, Aicanique pulls out her badge and says, "I can't do that; she's a witness to a crime, and I am duly appointed as an investigator. You have no authority here, and if you think to use that boy as a hostage, I will have you stripped of whatever rank you hold within the Church. The Silver Flame tolerates no evil, no matter how good you think you are doing."

[Sliver]

The Cave
The man laughs as Caryl looks up "Flint.." she whimpers.

"I don't care for your stupid church! That stupid disguise did it's work perfectly already. The foolish Mirria bitch just hurried to tell us all about what you are doing. Following you and setting the illusion that the cave was longer than it actually is was a cakewalk for us. Now, we can do it nicely. You hand over the girl, I free the boy and leave you all happy. Or I kill the boy and proceed to kick your ass and take here anyway."

Caryl begins to rise to her feet, looks like she is going to go to the man.

[Admiral Squish]

The Cave:

As the man sinks to the floor, Uago stands, his stance almost feral as he breathes heavily, his teeth bared, his eyes wide and bloodshot. As Aicanique walks over, he seems to begin to calm down, starting to seems smaller, calmer. But when the new man appears the fury grips him once more in full force, and he bellows a challenge to the new man in wordless fury.

Intimidate? [roll0]

[Sliver]

The Cave
The man completely ignores Uago's show, smiling at Aicanique and waiting.

[DragoonWraith]

The Cave
Aicanique Nárcala
Aicanique turns around, and talks quietly but urgently to Caryl. "Caryl, this man has used you, he has lied to you, he has hurt you. He has hurt you in so many ways, and now he's going to kill Flint. You have the Truth itself bound to your soul, you must know this. Agares can save Flint, but you have to do it. Call up Agares's strength, knock him down, and we can save Flint. Go to him, and save Flint!" she whispers.
[roll0] oh, god, this is a scary roll.

Turning around again, she says, "It seems your curse runs deep; the girl still believes you. I cannot hold her against her will; the boy is as much a witness in this investigation as she, however, and you will regret any harm coming to him. She's coming to you now, put that sword down. I will take action if you do not remove the sword from his throat."
[roll1] this one almost more so...

Aicanique also readies an action to cast Cause Fear on the man if he does not lower the sword by the time Caryl gets there.

OOC:
Oh god, oh god, oh god, so risky.

[Sliver]

The Cave
Caryl steps closer to the man and he extends his non sword holding arm to her.

"Let... him... GO" the last word she practically screams as she leaps off her feet. The man goes wide eyed as time seems to move so slowly for a moment. The blade draws a drop of blood as the girl lands on her feet. Dust rises, the entire structure shakes with the force.

You feel the shock going through you, but there is no resistance as you stay on your feet with surprising ease. The man, on the other hand, is blown away, back into the opening. He hits the edge of the wall with his back and tumbles to the floor, the sound of broken bones can't be ignored, arcing and groaning with the splintering pain. Flint drops to his knees as Caryl rushes to him.

"Are you OK?" she asks as Flint nods, holding his throat.

OOCYes, that is why you freaked me. I planned that if you aren't going to find a solution, that is how it will end.

200xp and +50xp to Aicanique on top of that

[DragoonWraith]

The Cave
Aicanique Nárcala
Aicanique realizes that she'd stopped breathing, waiting to see if Caryl would do it, whether it would work, whether it would be enough and in time, and suddenly draws her first breath in what seems like a lifetime. Her heart pounding in her chest, she rushes to Flint and Caryl.

"Is he alright?"

[Sliver]

The Cave
Caryl nods "A shallow cut" she says as she covers her mouth, coughing dust and stones into her hand. They both slowly rise to their feet, holding each other for support. Seems like Flint was more shocked than hurt.

[DragoonWraith]

The Cave
Aicanique Nárcala
"So that man, he was the one you called uncle?" Aicanique asks, as she approaches the man to see if he is alive or not.

[Sliver]

The Cave
"No, I don't know him..." Caryl says.

The man holds his back and groans with pain, coughing blood. The other man, the one who was unconscious when you got there, groans. Seems like he will wake up soon.

[DragoonWraith]

The Cave
Aicanique Nárcala
"Alright, we need to handle this situation. As far as I'm concerned, this man, whoever he is, is dangerous and cannot be allowed free. That one's easy. The two members of the Silver Flame are harder; I have little doubt that they intended Good, however deluded they may have been about it, and we must do something for them. Our location, the fact that we must swim to leave, is a very serious problem...

"Uago, have you anything with which to bind this man? For now, that seems most appropriate. Caryl and Flint, please stay away from both men; we don't know when they'll wake up or what they'll do when they do. I'm afraid both may be dangerous."

Aicanique sees the two of them step away from the man I thought was Caryl's uncle, and then goes to see the knocked out man who groaned. As for the man who attacked Caryl and Uago bashed, is he still alive?

[Admiral Squish]

The Cave:

As Uago sees the situation as more or less handled, he seems to grow smaller, tired as his senses return to him, but he doesn't say anything, looking solemn as he hangs back, seeming to become very occupied with re-collapsing his pole. He shakes his head at the question, though he does drag the unconscious man off to a corner of the room so he's not so able to move about around Uago.

[DragoonWraith]

OOC:
I believe I swordsage'd you?

[Sliver]

The Cave

As for the man who attacked Caryl and Uago bashed, is he still alive?

He doesn't breath and you can almost see his brain so... Maybe?:smalltongue:

[DragoonWraith]

OOC:
Defense Attorney: So you performed the autopsy?
Medical Examiner: Yes.
Att: And you are sure he was dead before you began?
ME: Yes.
Att: But how can you be sure? Isn't it possible that he wasn't actually dead until the autopsy?
ME: His brain was in a jar about fifteen feet from his head. He was dead.
Att: But couldn't he have still been alive?
ME: Did you really pass the bar exam?

[Admiral Squish]

OOC:
Indeed, I was ninjad, but I edited it into something that could pass.

[DragoonWraith]

The Cave
Aicanique Nárcala
"Uago, I don't know what to do here, do you? We have two children, two unconscious men who likely mean harm to one or both children, and we have a long swim ahead of us that might get us attacked again. Plus we're going to have to explain the other one to this one," she says, indicating the man splattered on the wall. "Bastard got what he deserved and you were completely in the right, but I doubt this one'll take our word for it..."

[Sliver]

The Cave
Flint looks at Caryl and she turns to a small chest at the far wall "I can help... When we just started getting here, we weren't good swimmers... We found something that helped..." She pulls out what looks like a couple of waterskins with a valve at the bottom. She unscrews one of them and it inflates almost instantly "It holds air pretty well inside, you could tie it around them. I could..." she hesitates "call for a water friend to help carry them... Like the one attacked you..." She hands you the airskins and goes to the farwall again, this time picking up the teddy bear.

[DragoonWraith]

OOC:
Huh? Is she an Anima Mage then? Anyway, this seems like a good plan to me, just RPing Aicanique's acceptance of the plan.

The Cave
Aicanique Nárcala
"Uh," Aicanique momentarily hesitates as she processes this, "why don't you tell me more about your friends? I don't know..."

[Sliver]

The Cave
Caryl shrugs "I don't know... I just ask and they come..."

[DragoonWraith]

The Cave
Aicanique Nárcala
"Alright. I... know very little about your 'friends', and warn you that you are talking about practices that might be potentially quite dangerous...

"On the other hand, I hardly see that once more is going to be a major problem, and elementals are not evil by any means anyway."

OOC:
How'd she do that, anyway?

[Sliver]

The Cave
She looks away for a moment "I'm not doing anything, it just happens."

OOCThat would be spoiling :smalltongue:

[Owrtho]

Abandoned House
Upon hearing who was at the door, Shageki slipped out of the room and moved upstairs to where Daeric is.
"Well this seems like it could be a nuisance. How about we leave a note and slip out to the butcher. I think your skills might be handy for getting information, as we unfortunately have had little luck doing so far."

OCC
If Daeric agrees, Shageki scrawls a note on something nearby and leaves out the back with Daeric, avoiding the room where the others are, or jumping out a back window in necessary (wings are handy).

Owrtho

[Admiral Squish]

The Cave:

Uago shakes his head and sighs. "Whatever we do, we're going to need rope. I don't intend to let that one go easily." He said, nodding in the direction of the one who had held the sword to Flint's throat. "He spoke of illusions, disguises. I heard that much through... the fury." He added, hesitating at the word, then shook his head. "If he was to get away, I doubt we'd ever be able to find him again."

[DragoonWraith]

The Cave
Aicanique Nárcala
"Agreed, Uago. I have none, however.

"Caryl, I do not know how dangerous your 'friends' are. I do not know if the Silver Flame is right or not. I cannot tell you to do that; I cannot stop you from doing it. It is up to you."

Meanwhile, Aicanique attempts to tend to the unconscious man from the Silver Flame, hoping that her aid will make him less likely to act rashly.

[roll0] - yay for untrained skill checks! Then again, I have no idea what his status is - presumably I don't need to stabilize him, but then Heal can't actually heal people so if he's knocked out by hit-point damage... well, we'll see.

Eh, figure I keep trying - it's basically taking-20 (only need a 15 for pretty much anything, but whatever), or until he wakes up normally.

Oh, and while I'm at it, assuming he seems good-and-out, taking-10 on a Search check (at +1) to see if he's got any rope. Not stealing from him, though she'll look at papers that might indicate why they were after Caryl.

[Chrono22]

Abandoned House
Daeric 'Derry' Skaed
He flips over on the musty mattress he was lying on, yawns, and then responds, "Very well. What was the place called again, and who are we going to speak to?"
Daeric gets up, brushes himself off and follows Shageki out.

[Owrtho]

Abandoned House
As they proceed to slip out of the house, Shageki turns to Daeric and says,
"We need to find someone called Ray Lathe. Seems he's an apprentice at a place called The Slice. I seem to recall having seen the place a before, so I should be able to find it."
So saying, Shageki departs to The Slice with Daeric.

OCC
As per my last post, Shageki left a note upstairs on a scrap of material left there by whoever lived there before (such as some wood or cloth). It is out in the open, so should be easy enough for someone to spot. Just mentions that him and Daeric are going to investigate the butchery.

Owrtho

[Khosan]

Osidi Copperscale, Abandoned House
Osidi blinks, confused by the display of affection between the gnomeling and Lix. "Confused. Very confused. Don't like feeling, no no no. Think short thing should leave. Leave, leave, yes yes yes." The Kobold tries to separate the two, making a special effort to push the gnomeling towards the door.

[Lix Lorn]

Emily and Nightwing, Abandoned House
Emily was still confused, so she didn't really help or fight against Osidi's efforts.

[Sliver]

Abandoned House
Osidi manages to separate the gnomeling from Emily but he refuses to leave "No! I want to stay! I'll give you something... Rare! Yes, something very good. Here, sample! The whole thing if you let me join!" he pulls out a black raven feather from his pocket.

The Cave
"We could scavenge some rope from here, we have a bundle of short ones around..." Flint says.

"They are good!" Caryl says "They do what teddy tells them, and teddy always listens to me!"

Flint coughs "Before you jump into conclusions... The girl that you met before told me something that... Teddy has nothing to do with the false uncle..."

"What girl?" Caryl seems confused.

Flint shrugs "Nobody, she just... I dunno..."

The Slice
You approach the small butchery as the door opens and a young teenager comes out with a small bag, throwing some meat to a dog on the street. The dog merrily mauls the meat as a male calls out of the house "What did I tell you about feeding that thing?"

"But master..."

"I didn't care until that thing shat all over the place! I don't mind giving it the leftovers as long as I don't see them again out of that thing."

"We took care of it, it wo-"

"Get rid of that thing!"

The kid sighs.

[Lix Lorn]

Emily and Nightwing, Abandoned House
"...is that?" asked Nightwing, cocking his head to the side and looking at the feather. "Where did you get that,.. uh, what's your name?"

[Sliver]

Abandoned Home
"Random NPC" the gnomeling says but then shakes his head "Nah, not really. The bards told me to say that to anyone who asks, they laughed... I don't get the joke tho... It's Nitbiddle. I found it in an alley, with the rest of it. People talked about how the bodies vanished before the guards get to them, but no one wanted to touch them... I thought I'd do a favor but when I was finally hired for the Bard's Weekly... I kinda forgot." he scratches his head, smiling sheepishly.

[Lix Lorn]

Emily and Nightwing, Abandoned House
Emily blinked, and signed something to Nightwing.
"That's a strange name they told you to use..." he said. "Where did you find it? How long ago?"

[Sliver]

Abandoned House
"Ummm..." Nitbiddle attempts to recall "2 days ago, when I was hired finally... It was at the Bard Weekly headquarters!" you get the idea he thinks you asked where he found the strange name...

[DragoonWraith]

The Cave
Aicanique Nárcala
"I would not assume that that girl was trustworthy, Flint. I'd actually assumed that she was you, Caryl, using magic to disguise yourself...

"You seem to have made your decision, anyway, so your plan with the elemental should work. Why don't you two try to figure out the ropes; Uago, care to tie him up for us?"

Aicanique will continue monitoring the unconscious guy from the Silver Flame. She's expecting him to immediately go after Caryl, possibly through her, so she's ready to defend herself, but trying to care for him as best she can, though untrained in the arts of healing.

[Khosan]

Abandoned House
Osidi Copperscale
Osidi groans as the gnomeling wedges in, "Don't care, don't care, no no no." He looks like he's about to tackle Nitbiddle out the door when the feather is pulled out, "Feather. Bird feather. Raven feather? Maybe, don't study birds much." The Kobold bobs his head and stares at the floor while Nitbiddle explains, "See now, now, yes. Where feather come from. Need to know, yes yes yes, need to, yes."

[Sliver]

The Cave
"I was definitely not doing that." Caryl says as she goes over random stuff with Flint. The manage to pull out a total of 20ft of rope, but it's all separated and they don't seem to be able to splice it together effectively.

Abandoned House"It comes from a dead crow I found" the gnomeling says proudly "I'll tell you everything if you promise I can hang with you anytime I want, as long as I want." he smiles slyly. "Of course, I guess the bards would like to see it too, so if you don't want to..."

[DragoonWraith]

The Cave
Well, I guess I'm just waiting to see if Uago can do something with the ropes, and if not, I'm waiting for something to happen, I guess. If nothing's going to happen, we'll have to figure something else out.

[Admiral Squish]

The Cave:

Uago frown at the short lengths of rope, but still takes them and quietly begins to bind the arms and legs of the apparently disguised warrior.

[Sliver]

Admiral:You will have to splice some of the ropes first. Shush, don't say it's a disguised warrior, Aicanique still wants to believe it's actually a Silver Flame one.

Anyway, roll some Use Rope checks. Also, roll the Use Rope for binding it now, because I think the rolling when he struggles is stupid, as it applies penalties and bonuses retroactively.

It will take more than 10 minutes, at least.

[Admiral Squish]

Alright, untrained with a +2.
To splice: [roll0]
To bind him: [roll1]

[DragoonWraith]

You get a +10 bonus on the binding, by the way, so that's a 31. Niiiice rolls, by the way.

[Sliver]

The Cave
Well, I asked a few for the splicing, but it doesn't matter, since...

It takes a while to do it, but you finally manage to make something you are somewhat happy with. The short ropes forced you to work delicately and you didn't realize something was wrong until it was too late. You get a bad feeling about the strength of your bondage powers as the hogtied warrior shifts slightly and the ropes just break off without any visible effort on his part.

(Uago gets an action point for the wasted awesome rolls)

The unconscious man wakes up with a groan and halfway sits, but he is still in pain and didn't look yet, not seeing his dead comrade "Wha- What happened?" he mumbles, rubbing his head, hands over his closed eyes.

[DragoonWraith]

This is the one that had Flint?

[Sliver]

No, the one that was out when you got there

[DragoonWraith]

Err... we weren't trying to tie him up. We were trying to tie up the one who had had Flint. See OOC post.

[Sliver]

You misread it.

The one Caryl took out in front of you shifted while unconscious, showing you that the ropes are of very poor quality as they break without effort.

The other man who was unconscious before you got there just woke up.

[DragoonWraith]

Ooooh!

The Cave
Aicanique
"A number of things. The girl you and your partner were chasing is a witness in an investigation by the city; my partner and I are appointed investigators, and she is therefore under our protection," Aicanique says, showing the badge, and then taking out the Silver Flame pendant, "I am also a follower of the Church, and you have my assurances that the girl's curse will be handled carefully. Your partner unwisely chose to ignore that assurance, and made an attempt on the girl's life. As we are acting officially on the part of the city guard, it was our duty to protect the witness, and that protection cost your partner his life, despite our attempts to deal with him. His death, though regrettable, was necessary to protect the girl.

"Shortly thereafter another man, who admitted to being in disguise as a member of the Silver Flame, brought the boy, a friend to the girl, in here and attempted to bargain the boy's life for the girl. He has been knocked out, and we are currently attempting to deal with him. As he is involved somehow with the girl, he'll be wanted for questioning by the guard, but I think it's safe to assume that the Church will not take his impostry lightly either, so I will personally ensure that the Church remains aware of his situation and will have an opportunity to deal with him as it will once he is of no further use to the city."

Aicanique stands above him, a fairly large scythe strapped to her back and one hand resting on it, making it clear that as much as she has no interest in doing so, she is willing to use force to protect the children.

[Admiral Squish]

The Cave:

Uago gives the now-awakening man a brief, fearsome look, but remains silent as he ponders how to bind the man.

OOC:
What's the 'disguised' fellow wearing? Any sturdy leather or fabrics exposed?

[Sliver]

The CaveThe man wears the default of non rookie casual armor. Chain shirt over normal clothes, with a linked chain hood currently not covering his head.

"O... Kay..." The clearly still injured man mumbles, shrinking back.

[DragoonWraith]

The Cave
Aicanique
"Well, what say you? You can either accept this situation, leave our witnesses alone, and we can get you to some real care; I'm no healer, I can't really do anything for these injuries. Or you can continue to attack the girl, and risk further injury or death. We really just want to be out of here."

Plan is to get this guy to agree, set no uncertain terms that drawing a weapon, being within 10 ft. of either child, or attempting spellcasting will be seen as a potential threat against the witnesses, and treated as such. Then tell Caryl to summon an earth elemental while Aicanique pantomimes the gestures for the appropriate Summon Monster spell, and have it carry the impostor to the water, at which point Aicanique will make a show of casting Summon Monster again while Caryl calls a water elemental to bring the man to the shore, and finally a last earth elemental to carry him to the nearest guard.

Since she doesn't actually know Summon Monster, she'll be using Spellcraft and Perform (Spell Weaving) to pull that off:

[roll0]
[roll1]

[roll2]
[roll3]

[roll4]
[roll5]

I say all this because I'm going to sleep, and don't want to hold things up if things have a chance to progress.

EDIT: Well, I hope the guy's Spellcraft isn't too good...

[Sliver]

I believe you have to wait around 40 more minutes before Caryl's summon earth elemental ability recharges.

The man looks around, straining to turn his head "I..." he says and notices his dead companion lying in his pool of blood "Rather live."

Considering he is disabled, there is a solid chance of being reduced to negatives with any action (although if you remember the houserule, it's possible to still act then... I'll copy all the gameplay houserules to the first post of the OOC)

[Lix Lorn]

Emily and Nightwing, Abandoned House
"You can hang around with us IF and only if your information is helpful." said Nightwing. "If the others agree, that is."

[Khosan]

Abandoned House
Osidi Copperscale

Osidi narrows his eyes and points a finger in the most menacing manner he can towards Nitbiddle. "Serious question. Need to know where found. Think demands are pointless, useless. Assuming too much and too little. Too little, yes."

Osidi rubs his forehead again and takes a deep breath, closing his eyes. "When asked, answer. When told, do." He recites the phrases in a rhythmic, monotone fashion, as if recalling something he's heard many times before. "Do, do, yes. Tell where found, please. Don't want to, but will if have to." The Kobold seems to inject a little more spit and vile into the last sentence.

Intimidate: [roll0]

[DragoonWraith]

The Cave
Aicanique
"Glad to hear it. How badly off are you, can you tell? I'm really not a medic..."

[Sliver]

Abandoned House
The gnomeling turns away from you, puts the feather in his pocket, "demands are pointless" he quotes Osidi and goes to the door.

The CaveThe man hesitates "I can move on my own, if that's what you mean..."

[DragoonWraith]

The Cave
Aicanique
"Well, unfortunately, the only way out of here that we know of is a pretty considerable swim, and we've already got one we don't want moving under his own power. Actually, you wouldn't by any chance have any manacles or strong rope we could bind him with, would you?"

[Sliver]

The Cave
The man shakes his head as he pulls a little vial from his boot and uncorks it, getting ready to drink it.

[DragoonWraith]

OOC:
The fact that you paused in that description just before he drank makes me want to shout "No, stop!" since now I assume it's poison or something. But then that's me reading between the lines too much, I think.

Also, I'm falling asleep; it's 2:20 am here. The timezones don't work out nicely between us, methinks.

EDIT: Went to bed. But, btw, I edited my last post in the OOC thread with thoughts on cantrips. In case you hadn't seen that.

The Cave
Aicanique
"Don't drink too much; you know they say you should wait before swimming. Are you in pain? Flame help us, we need a way out of here.

"Flint, Caryl, how thoroughly have you explored this cave? Is there no other way out?"

[Sliver]

The Cave
The man gulps down the content of the vial and drops dead looks a bit better.

"There's nothing beyond here..." Flint says, but Caryl continues "I could ask the rocky friend to make us a hole when he returns... It's possible, right? He can move through rock, he can move rock too, right?" She doesn't seem sure about her suggestion.

[Lix Lorn]

Emily and Nightwing
Emily glared at Osidi. The implication was that she was annoyed at him threatening the gnome. Nightwing flapped into the air.
"Listen, let's not get too hasty." he said. "Nitbiddle, me and Emily don't mind if you hang about, but it's not fair if we don't ask our companions. Osidi, please don't threaten the gnome."

[Sliver]

Abandoned House
Nitbiddle stops for a moment "Then ask. If you decide that you want to look at a dead bird and let me hang around, just come to the bring green Bard's Weekly building. It's by the Joking Spoon, one of the finest inns in Whiteshore." And he walks out.

[DragoonWraith]

No metagaming here, I don't know this one:
[roll0]

And neither, it seems, does Aicanique...

[Admiral Squish]

The Cave

Uago grumbles at the lack of rope, but quickly improvises a solution, tearing long, thick strips of fabric out of the man's clothes and twisting them into rope-like cords, using those to bind his hands and feet together, making sure to put his hands behind his back when tying them to prevent his escape.

[Sliver]

CaveThe injured unconscious one, right? Well, Uago does it and it seems to stay this time.

[Admiral Squish]

Yup, that'd be the one. Oh, and if it looks like we have time, take his armor and any other accessories off him. Oh, and making sure to either bind his leg ABOVE the boot or take off the boots and bind them at the ankles.

[Sliver]

Cave
Having time depends on you. Do you wait for something? What's the plan?

[Admiral Squish]

The Cave

No plan, just checking if he looks like he's going to be getting up with any kind of rapidity.

[Sliver]

There is a chance of broken back and permanent damage. He is not waking up any time soon.

[DragoonWraith]

Can he be moved without further damage?

[Sliver]

Can he be moved without further damage?
___________
Yes.

[DragoonWraith]

The Cave
Aicanique
"OK, the children have these swimming bladders, they can help you reach the surface; do you think you can make it? Uago, can you carry him? I don't think he's going to wake up. We'll use an elemental to carry him to the surface."

And again, going with Aicanique pretending to summon the elemental rather than Caryl. When we get top-side, go to the nearest guard, flash our badges, and try to get some proper assistance.

[Sliver]

The Cave - The Docks
The man, after drinking the potion doesn't require aid, and doesn't react when the water elemental is called.

You manage to swim out of the cave and the injured man seems to still be alive as you spot some guards slacking off and drinking ale deeper into one of the streets

What about the rest of you? I know Chrono is busy and should post soon, and owthro waiting for him... What about Emily and Osidi?

[Lix Lorn]

I'm waiting for Osidi. I can say something about Emily glaring at him if it would help, but...

[Khosan]

Abandoned House
Osidi Copperscale

Osidi paces back and forth angrily after Nitbiddle leaves, mumbling some vaguely draconic-sounding curses to himself, "Rude, rude, very rude. Not sure if follow. Last time person explode. Not sure if happen again, but don't like gaudy small person." He sighs and hits his head on the wall a few times before settling down a little, "Sorry, sorries. Very sorry. Not a good day. Not used to working on own. Given orders, follow orders. Small man irrational, loud, obnoxious, ignored question for personal gain. Would have been lashed if acted like that."

[Lix Lorn]

Emily and Nightwing, Abandoned House
Emily signed something rapidly, and Nightwing hurriedly provided a translation.
"Um. She says that you have to understand that everyone has personal freedom, even you, now, and that they have the right to be annoying. Also, she's annoyed that you got rid of him."

There was a slight pause.
"Her words may have been ruder than mine."

[Khosan]

Abandoned House
Osidi Copperscale

"Have been given 'freedom' before. Didn't last. Never lasted. Twenty years, two decades, fifth of a century. Long time, very long time."

Osidi peels his forehead off the wall and turns to face Nightwing. "Wasn't just threatening small man. Had another plan. Don't like it, but works when needed. Former master would call it double entendre." Osidi grins and starts rapidly tapping the side of his head again. "Voices more than voices. Spirits, ancestors, demons, celestials, everything. Spell went wrong, didn't end. Locked up inside, wanting to talk, to escape, anything, everything, nothing. Hard to hear, but can find something. Can ask for advice."

[Lix Lorn]

Emily and Nightwing, Abandoned House
"You think these... voices can help?" said the raven dubiously.Ooh, Spelltouched Feat?

[Khosan]

Abandoned House, Osidi Copperscale
"Not just voices," Osidi nods, "Spirits, mostly, mostly. Could be voices maybe, maybe not, but don't think sanity that far gone." Osidi presses down on the bandage on the side of his head, "But, yes, maybe. Not always, but worth asking or listening. Very tiring though, might need sleep, or dragging. Asking for opinion though. Would rather ask voices than trust small, gaudy man on word alone."

Yep. Flavor feat, ho!

[DragoonWraith]

The Docks
Aicanique
Ideally, Aicanique would like to find guardsmen who are a bit more responsible than these, if any are apparent, but with things the way they are, lacking that, she'll call them over.

[Sliver]

The Docks
Looking around, Aicanique notices the lack of caring guards that the docks are known for. With crime they are unable to deal with, and half the guards are bribed to not deal with they crime they can stop, only token guards are present at the docks.

The guards look over at Aicanique as she calls out. "What is it?" one of them asks as they approach. They glance at the tied up captive, you notice that perhaps there is slight interest building up. Perhaps.

[DragoonWraith]

The Docks
Aicanique
I'm going to get in trouble for flashing this everywhere..., Aicanique thinks as she shows the guards the badge and shouts, "Stop drinking on duty and get the hell over here before I track down whoever's responsible for you loafs, and go yell at his boss. We have a wounded man and even-more-wounded prisoner, and I need manacles and strong, able-bodied men to carry him. Yes, that means you."

[Sliver]

The Docks
They glare at you as they put away their drink and approach closer. Some seem to notice Uago is fully capable of carrying the unconscious man and the other one is capable of walking himself, even if bruised. One of the guards scrambles through his belt pouch and throws the manacles to you, but the others don't move to carry the unconscious man for Uago.

"Why are you taking in the Silver Flame?" one of the guards asks coldly.

[DragoonWraith]

OOC:
Huh, I didn't realize we'd had things quite so well in hand. Probably wouldn't have even gotten involved with these guys. Erm. Mind if I roll back a bit here, and just ask for some manacles without berating them? Don't want to piss them off/don't want to get too tangled with the guard, as Rodrik warned us...

Awkwardly, though, I'm going to sleep; I just happened to refresh the page and see your response. Uhm, assuming that's all OK, we'll take the manacles, put them on the prisoner, and suggest that the guy from the Silver Flame see a healer while we take Flint, Caryl, and the prisoner back to the house for the crew to see, I suppose.

[Sliver]

Sure

Aicanique and Uago reach the Abandoned House where Emily and Osidi are located.

[Lix Lorn]

Emily and Nightwing, Abandoned House
"...and they'll be able to help?" asked Nightwing, curiously.

[Admiral Squish]

Abandoned House:

"Knock Knock." Uago voiced as he actually did knock, rapping twice with a gauntleted fist on the wall above the doorway as he ducked inside, looking into the abandoned house, the wounded man slung over his shoulder like a sack of flour. "We're back, with guests." he added as he pulled the man off his shoulder, shifting him into a two-armed carry. "On a related note, does anyone have healing magic?"

[Lix Lorn]

Emily and Nightwing, Abandoned House
Emily looked up in surprise, and then shook her head.

[DragoonWraith]

OOC:
Odd, I totally thought I'd posted...

Abandoned House
Aicanique
"Yes, these are Caryl, as from the list, and Flint, her friend. Both are in some danger, so we felt it best to not leave them at the orphanage. And this... is at least some of that danger. We were attacked by this man, posing as a member of the Silver Flame. We borrowed some manacles from one of the guards on the way here. There were two other men, who were actually from the Silver Flame; one died and the other was injured."

in Sign Language
"None of them, Uago included, know of my curse, excepting perhaps Caryl, who knows more than she should, but I don't know the extent of her knowledge."

[Lix Lorn]

Emily and Nightwing, Abandoned House
Emily nodded slowly, taking it all in.

[Owrtho]

The Slice
Looking at the scene, Daeric turns to Shageki.
"So, I'll take the roll of an aggressor, you another patron?"
Shageki nods, they've dealt with similar situations in the past.
The plan decided, Daeric alters his form to look like a tall slender man and approaches the shop. As he reaches it he starts to shout at the worker.
"You there! I'd have a complaint about some meat I ordered the other day!"
Shageki meanwhile moves off to the side, ready go up shortly.

Owrtho

[Khosan]

Abandoned House
Osidi Copperscale

"Maybe, possibly, perhaps. Helped before. No help in the first asking, but maybe result of trauma, disorientation, distres. Was preoccupied by head in flames. But have helped before, yes. Usually don't ask for important questions though, haven't asked, haven't. Usually asked personal questions about near future. Seemed accurate. Got me this breastplate once."

Osidi turns, tilts his head and waves as Uago and Aicanique step in, "Hello, hello, hello, hello. Yes, yes, good." He straightens out his armor and applies pressure to his head bandage again, "Healing? Yes, have stick of healing. Both need? All need? Unconscious-man probably need. Probably both need. Need but not getting maybe? Wouldn't put manacles on friends, no no no. Probably shouldn't heal man-in-manacles, yes yes yes?"

[Sliver]

The Slice
The kid looks up, startled. "A complaint?" he looks concerned "Uhh... Come inside..." he leaves the bag of leftovers with the dog and enters quickly.

Abandoned House
"I'm fine" Flint quickly responds. When you notice the dried blood on his neck, he wipes it off with his hand "Just a scratch." he says as more blood starts flowing slowly through the reopened wound. Flint doesn't seem to notice, as he turns to look at Caryl. She looked really bruised through her rags, rags which were even worse than Flint's or any you would see on even the poorest of souls, with cuts all over her, some worse than others. "I'm fine, too" she replied, avoiding eye contact with Osidi. Something about him, perhaps his look, perhaps his look or way of speech, really unnerved her.

"Umm, ma'am..." Caryl pulled on Aicanique's sleeve "Flint could return to the Drunken Light, if the man you released was really Silver Flame, but what about me?"

[Lix Lorn]

Emily and Nightwing, Abandoned House
Emily signed something to Nightwing, who translated.
"Emily says that you can stay with us, if you'd like."

[DragoonWraith]

Abandoned House
Aicanique
"That will work for the time being; I'll deal with the Silver Flame on this, Caryl; I hope to be able to stop them from going after you. Perhaps... we'll see."

OOC:
I just realized I forgot to say I'd pick up the book on the way out. Hrm. Do we have the book? If not, did we look for it?

[Sliver]

OOC:If Aicanique would pick the book she would pick the book. I won't punish you for something like that... Besides, I didn't even know you dropped it. You had enough time while Uago was tying the captive. If you would be in a rush it might have been different, and I might have (if I remember) reminded you about it.

Abandoned House (no need to spoiler if most party members are at the same place)
Caryl looks around the house "Thanks.." she said hesitently, but quickly stepped back and shook her head "I don't mean I'm not grateful! I am! Really! It's just... Not home. I'm not sure back there was home, not kind home, not anymore, but still..."

[DragoonWraith]

Aicanique
"Well, we'll try to make it home as much as possible, but you're right - this is not home, and we're not likely to be especially good parents. Sorry... we'll do our best, though.

"Anyway, to catch everyone up: A man approached Caryl recently, claiming to be her uncle. I doubt this very much, personally, but who knows, he may be. He showed her this book," Aicanique says, holding up the book with the wrapping still on it, "which seems to have instructions in the ways of Pact Magic, of which I know only a little. The gist of it is that there are spirits that practitioners, called Binders, make Pacts with; they call these spirits Vestiges. It's... condemned heavily by basically every church I am familiar with, including the Silver Flame, for essentially being voluntary fiendish possession, but Binders claim that the Vestiges are not fiendish in origin.

"Through the book and the man, Caryl began to practice Pact Magic. These practices drew the attention of the Silver Flame, who branded her a heretic, at which point she and her 'uncle' ran away, leaving the book. Regardless of the true nature of the Vestiges, the book is very certainly cursed; I was able to resist it, but Flint was not so lucky.

"Flint kept the book secret for Caryl's sake, but got cursed when handling it. At this point, a girl whom Flint does not know showed up, and through magical means cured Flint of the curse, though I know not what other spells she may have cast on him. She fled when I attempted to scan his room for magic; there was certainly a magical aura on her, though I did not get a chance to discern what it was. I suspect it was a glamer, naturally.

"Flint then showed us to the cave where he and Caryl had used as a hideout. We were attacked by a water elemental while swimming there, and when we entered, Caryl was fighting two men from the Silver Flame, using the Vestige Agares's ability to summon an earth elemental. One of the men was already unconscious, having sustained considerable damage, and the other was not doing well. Uago subdued the elemental, while I talked Caryl down; the man from the Silver Flame took this as an opportunity to kill her, and Uago killed him while defending her.

"At this point, a third man wearing the Silver Flame entered the room, holding Flint and with a sword against the boy's throat. He admitted to being in disguise, and demanded Caryl in exchange for Flint, but Caryl, being bound to Agares, was able to slam him back against a cave wall, putting him in his present condition, and saving Flint with but a scratch from the sword.

"This man was not, apparently, the man who had claimed to be Caryl's uncle; I have no idea who he is then, and neither does Caryl, it seems. He's admitted to being an impostor, and I explained this to the man who actually was from the Silver Flame - they'll want him, but will not hold his injuries against us, assuming he believes us and they believe him.

"At this point, I feel we need to investigate Vestiges and Pact Magic, interrogate this man, and analyze this book. But first, Uago took several blows in the fight, and Flint's neck should be looked at.

"And finally, we need to get to the original point of this trip: Caryl, what do you know of dead crows?"

[Sliver]

Abandoned House
"Crows?" Caryl was surprised by the sudden change of subject, especially to such unrelated one "Umm... Yeah, I remember something... I saw some crow falling from the sky when I was hiding from Flint in one of our games... A couple of weird people came to look at it and spoke some weird words before leaving it there... They looked human, but not so... Weird tattoos, their hair seemed to grow oddly on their head... Their skin looked really odd... When they left, I started to approach the crow, but then the man appeared and started talking to me... I started calling him uncle, but he really wasn't, he just made me feel safe, as if he was family. He took my arm to leave, I didn't resist, but when I looked back, the crow was gone."

[DragoonWraith]

Aicanique
"Thanks, dear. Can you describe what was weird about their hair and skin?"