[Eikan Empire]John - IC

[Sen isSaqqara]

Night has fallen on the forest, and something feels wrong. The woods are uneasy. Unnatural. Something is missing. The animals are on edge, when you catch glimpses of them. The nearest homestead is old Javin's farm, but gazing out at it from a high tree you see nothing out of place there. Back under the canopy, the darkness feels more oppressive tonight than normal, which is strange, as the moon is clearly visible.

[arkol]

With that sense that something is wrong gnawing at the back of his mind John slowly climbs down the tree and looks around. He decides to head towards the farm, trying o stay out sigh for now.

[Sen isSaqqara]

The tall crops in the small field between forest and house make good cover, and you reach the house without incident. A window is open, a lighted object illuminating the room inside. You see no one inside.

[arkol]

(ooc: how well do I know these people? Under normal conditions would they welcomed me in the middle of the night or would they accuse me of being a burglar? :P )

[Sen isSaqqara]

Javin's always been a friend to you. He visits the forest often, and always seemed more in tune with it than others. He'd probably be glad to see you. (Also, OOC in the OOC thread, perhaps?)

[arkol]

Finding the situation a bit odd John hand immediately goes for his small axe on his belt. He doesn't draw it right away but his hand rests on the hilt. He takes a second look around the house, and if he finds nothing he goes to the entrance and knocks on the door.

[Sen isSaqqara]

The house looks like Javin is home, but you don't see him anywhere, and the night is silent aside from you. Your knock on the door goes unanswered.

[arkol]

Having no answer John knocks harder. And again. And then he calls Javin by his name. And if nothing works, he tires to open the door.

[Sen isSaqqara]

You get no response. The door opens to a light pull, left unlocked. The single room it reveals is a familiar sight: a hearth in one wall is unlit; a bed by the opposite wall is unmade. A table under the window to the far side of the room is showered in light from the glowing orb in its center. A rug covers the floor in the middle of the room. There is no sign of Javin.

[arkol]

Finding the situation evermore suspicious John carefully approaches the fire trying to gauge how long ago it was unlit or how long ago it hasn't been stoked or any other relevant clue.



Int check? Wis?

gonna roll a d20 and let you decide:

[roll0]

if int +0, if wis +2

[Sen isSaqqara]

For all you can tell, it's been out for a while. At least a few hours. It looks like it went out by itself.

[arkol]

John search the whole house for any signs of Javin. If he still finds none he goes outside and tires to locate any tracks around it.



survival
[roll0]

[Sen isSaqqara]

You find no signs of him. It looks as though he dissappeared suddenly in the middle of a peaceful night at home.
Outside, however, you find three sets of footprints. Two belong to men, one to a large animal. Probably a bear.

[arkol]

"hmmm, a bear this close to humans... this is rather strange."

John grabs his spear and starts tracking the footprint.

[Sen isSaqqara]

The bear-prints and one set of human footprints twist around each other, leaving a path out to the road, where you lose them on the hard-packed dirt. It appears that you have lost the path, but then you see a small pool of blood farther up the road, towards town.

[arkol]

"This is not good" John murmurs to himself while carefully moving towards town trying to follow the blood.

[Sen isSaqqara]

Drips of blood and the odd patch of fur litter the ground as you make your way townward. Some of the fenceposts to either side of the lane have been warped out of shape, curling around in tentacle-like protrusions towards the center of the path. When you make it to town, you see that while most of the lights in people's windows are out, the Inn (the Shining Pendant) is still brightly illuminated. It is run by Rassi and Kavin, a friendly pair. Rassi's son Xian was one of your friends when you were young.

[arkol]

Determined to understand what's happening, John heads towards the Inn.

[Sen isSaqqara]

The Inn has two entrances. The main door faces the street, in the front wall of the inn. To the side, a stableyard stretches between the side of the inn and a small stable. There is a door on the side wall of the inn, facing out into the stableyard.

There is a young woman in white robes standing just inside the main doorway, talking to Kavin. The kith Innkeeper is likely trying to talk her into taking a room. Xian is standing by the side door in the stableyard, watching the sky. There is a suspicious-looking heap in the middle of the yard, obscured by the darkness.

[arkol]

Using the cover of night, John tries to get closer to the suspicious-looking heap in the middle of the yard trying to figure out what it is.

[Sen isSaqqara]

You make it close enough to see that the heap is a suspiciously familiar corpse. It is Javin, but something has happened to him. One shoulder, and arm, have been morphed into something resembling the forearm of a large bear. Suddenly, Xian spots you. "Hey, who is that?" He takes a few steps closer, watching you curiously. "John? Is that you? I haven't seen you in ages! How are you doing?" he looks much younger than you remember, seemingly still only about fifteen years old.

[arkol]

Rather harshly John doesn't even greet the young man.

"What is this?" he asks pointing to the corpse in front on him.

[Sen isSaqqara]

He is taken aback by your harsh manner. His eyes search your face as he replies: "It is, or rather was, Javin. Something killed him earlier tonight on the roof of the Inn. Worse, whatever it was brought him just far enough back to have his body try to kill us all."

[arkol]

"You don't seem very worried that you have a human corpse... a villager... a friend in your courtyard..."

[Sen isSaqqara]

Xian shrugs. "He's been here for a while now. Besides," he gives a nervous grin, "I don't really want to focus on the fact that not only is he dead, but he got back up. I mean, he was the town watch, too, for Goddess' sake. Can't be good for your mind to dwell on things like that." He sighs. "For the moment, I'd rather worry about you. You seem... changed... since last I saw you."

[Sen isSaqqara]

As you and Xian talk, a woman in white robes with light hair and blue eyes walks up behind you. She introduces herself: "Hello, I am Sheila, follower of the Protector. I am here to more closely exam the body to determine what might have happened." Xian nods approval, and she leans down and begins examining the body.

[arkol]

John raises a suspicious eyebrow at the very timely arrival of this so called "protector".

He takes a few steps backs and carefully obverses the scene.



gonna try a sense motive for a "hunch". Maybe I'll roll an 18...

clearly something is amiss here...

[roll0]

Almost. :smallamused:

[Sen isSaqqara]

All seems in order. After a few seconds of searching your memory, you remember that the Protector is the title of a popular god. You've forgotten after so many years away.

[arkol]

John will wait for this Sheila verdict on the matter.

[Sen isSaqqara]

She sits up, done examining it. "This is... troubling . What can you tell me about this man's last few hours? Did anyone strange or unknown approach him?"
Xian replies first. "A few of the others inside saw him first. He got pushed off the roof, and landed outside the front door."
"And what happened then? Is that what supposedly killed him the first time? How long did it take him to get back up? Does anyone know why he was on the roof?"
"The gash in his neck is what we assume killed him. He got up again about fifteen minutes later."

[arkol]

Still a bit suspicious John decides to share a bit of what he knows, which isn't much.

"He left his home in the middle of the night. I followed his tracks here and saw pinches of bear fur and drops of blood."

[Sen isSaqqara]

Pointing to the bear leg she says "If you followed bear tracks here,we can conclude that whatever strange magic affected him, it likely was done to him at his home".

Pointing to his left eye, she indicates his Iris. "Do you see the strange sign in his eye? it is the sign of the Lord of the Citadel, the god of evil, who opposes all that is righteous and decent. Whatever is going on here, dark times lay ahead....
Do either of you know if anything strange was found on him? A unusual weapon or trinket perhaps..."

Standing up, she scans the area almost suspiciously before turning to you. "Would you accompany me to his home? Perhaps we can find some trace of the magic that was used on him. With any luck, we may find some clue to lead us to the fiend who did this. "

Before you can respond, someone grabs her arm. It is a kith man, who seems to have come from the Inn. "Healer, you need to come with me. A situation has occurred that requires your immediate attention!"

Gently freeing her arm from his grasp, she nods and follows him.

[arkol]

To himself John cannot help but think that this night is getting stranger and stranger, but someone is in need and so he follows the newly arrived man and the mysterious woman.

[Sen isSaqqara]

Heading back to the inn the kith keeps his pace up and tries his best to explain the situation: "The hole in Javin's body was made by a small crystal which was extracted in the fight. We think that it's what caused his body to animate and attack. When it was brought before the council, I attempted to examine the hand-print that appeared on it. This caused it to spring to life and merge with the person how pulled it out."

When he gets inside, he points out the girl the crystal merged with and moves to her side.

[Sen isSaqqara]

The healer rushes over to the girl. "Other than the obvious, are you alright? Feel light headed or strange?"

The girl turns her head toward the new arrivals and says, "You're the healer, I presume? And by 'obvious' do you mean the bone that began growing out of my shoulder blade and the crystal dangling off it, or do you not see it too?" She points to a spot on the back of her shoulder. You see nothing there.

"Yes, I am a healer. My name is Sheila, priestess of the Protector. I was told a strange crystal merged with your body, so yes I was referring to that as the obvious. But I confess, I do not see it..."
She feels the area very carefully trying to examine it, not really being shy about where she touches. She starts mumbling a few vaguely divine-sounding words under her breath.

"What is it?? Do you sense anything?"

"Well the good news is that my magic is indicating that what you are seeing is a illusion. However I do not possess the ability to end it, so it is up to you. You must simply force yourself to accept that what you see is not real."

"Alright, I'll try..."
She turns to speak to everyone. "Sorry about all the fuss. So... this crystal was real, right? But where did it go? Did it really go into me, or do you think it used some illusion to... escape?"

"My suspicion and hopes are that whatever it's original purpose, it expended the remainder of it's energy as it placed the illusion on you. The purpose of the illusion; to cause fear and chaos while removing evidence of the original crime. It seems sound in theory, but having not been here when it happened I can only speculate."

"Regardless, this gentleman and I were going to go investigate... Javin's? house. I believe that it is where he was located when the dark magic was originally placed on him. Is anyone hurt and needs healing while I am still here?"

The kith who led you inside shakes his head, mumbling to himself "No. No, she needs to know as well," Taking a breath he looks to the two of you. "Could it be possible that this effect is meant more to mark and monitor the victim? I don't think that illusions would simply vanish when you learn about it's true nature. And if you can sense it as an illusion, couldn't the crystal's creator do so as well? I mean if illusions are meant to make one question reality, why should you make it easy for someone to guess it's true intent?"

Turning his gaze to the girl he addresses her specifically, "I wanted to tell only the healer, but I felt that we should focus on more than one theory. I'm sorry if I alarmed you, and I trust Sheila's judgement. If she says it's an illusion, than it's an illusion and can't harm you unless you let it. I just feel that it's best if you kept an eye on it for a bit. To see if there's only an illusion on you, and maybe to see if it could be hidden should it persist."

[Sen isSaqqara]

She looks thoughtful for a moment and then shrugs. "When it comes to magic, anything is possible. Although the only trace of magic I'm detecting right now is illusion, so I don't think so. Resisting detection should register as an abjuration. Monitoring her would likely be divination. In the morning I will ask the protector for the power to aid in removing it, but until then all we can do is wait. But there certainly would be no harm in making sure by having someone stay with her. Let me know if there is anything else I can do."

She begins to walk out the door to go to Javin's.

[arkol]

John confused with everything going on around him turns to Sheila.

"Would you like to inspect Javin's house now?"

[Sen isSaqqara]

"Yes, unless you feel you're not up to it. With some villain about, time is of the essence." With that, she sets off, quickly picking up the trail of blood and fur.

[arkol]

John follows her guiding her to Javin's house.

[Sen isSaqqara]

When you arrive, she makes her way into the house. Pulling out a small rock and murmuring a few words, she causes it to glow brightly, illuminating the room. "Where do the tracks of the bearclaw start?"