Adventures in Vendaris [IC]

[Ajadea]

The tiny town of Lithbrook is inhabited by perhaps a few hundred people, mostly human, mostly farmers. It consists largely of houses in a scattered circle around a village green. The only buildings in the town that don't seem to be houses are the two-story meeting house, wood darkened by age, and the general store, dusty window lined with boxes of dried goods and rolls of linen cloth. In the center of the green stands a statue made of bricks, over eight feet tall and in the vague shape of a man. A little bit of moss is growing on one of its legs. Its hands are positioned as if they were holding something, but whatever was there has long since fallen from its grasp or rotted away.

Other than that, there are few things of interest.

On the wall of the meeting house, a large parchment poster is tacked to the wall, words carefully blocked out in black ink.


MYSTERY
HELP WANTED

CROPS DESTROYED

COIN REWARD - 100 GP
FOR ANY WHO HELP

IF INTERESTED, PLEASE ASK MAYOR THURHILL
WEEKENDS, NOON-DUSK, MEETING HALL

[Gyrtop]

"Sounds interesting. I think I'll wait and see who else takes it up. Can't risk getting noticed too much, not even here." I go into a corner, keep my eyes on the paper and people who look at it.

[MazinTheStatue]

A watchful eye from the sky watches the gnome

[MarauderOctopus]

Colin looked up at the parchment. Huh, that seems like a healthy amount of gold and it sounds like I could bluff my way through that.He thought about doing it or not for a second. What the heck ! He decided It'd probably be a cinch for me anyways, so why not do it. And so he headed into the meeting hall to meet up with Mayor Thurhill.

[Ajadea]

As Zarkatos watches, a dark-haired halfling, scarcely more than a boy, comes up to the poster. He reads it, and apparently deciding to take the job, goes inside.

Colin is aware of eyes watching him from the shadows as he enters the hall, and can see the gnome out of the corner of his eye. His first impression of the meeting hall is one of size and dust. The entire place is a single large room. Windows covered in oiled paper let in just enough light to see by, and motes of dust can be seen floating in the beams. Balconies run along the walls, creating a second floor overhead. Benches in rows, and a few stools at the edge of the room, allow places for people to sit. At the far end of the room, a large human sits at a table. He is writing in a small leather-bound book and smoking a pipe. At Colin's entrance, he looks up. "Good day. Are you here about the crops?"

[MarauderOctopus]

"Yes! He said with a smile "That's why I'm here. I'm very good at noticing details and so I thought I could help you, possibly." He thought to show a little bit of nervousness to humble his appearance.

[MazinTheStatue]

A watchful eye watches the halfling

[Gyrtop]

Who's that over there? Damn, I'm stupid. I've been wearing the coat from the heist all day. Let's leave that in the corner."Hey halfling! You here for the job?" I'll walk over to Colin, leaving my gun and coat stashed under my table.

[MarauderOctopus]

Well, it's quite clear that you have not sense of stealth all He thought sarcastically. He looked over his shoulder in a slightly surprised manner."Oh, hi. Yep, I'm here for the job thing. Are you here for the job too?"

[Gyrtop]

"Yes sir. I imagine it'll be an easy job. Who did you say you were again? I'm new in town, and I could use a friend."

Looks like a naive enough young lad, hopefully I can keep things quick, be out of here in a few days.

[Ajadea]

Colin and Zarkatos

"Two of you? Well then!" The man closes his book and sets it aside. "Perhaps together you'll be able to do what our own big men cannot. Come over here and sit down, and I'll explain what's going on."

When both of you are settled and done talking, the big man clears his throat. "I suppose I should introduce myself. I'm Liam Thurhill. The mayor of Lithbrook. As you can probably tell, this is a rather small and out-of-the-way place, so we've got to rely on ourselves. Most here are farmers, and if their crops don't grow, their families and livestock don't have food to eat when winter comes. The trouble is that lately, something's been tearing down the crops. Not eating them, for some reason. It just comes to a different field every night, breaks or cuts the stalks - but only in some places, not in others - and leaves the grain there to spoil on the ground. No one's been able to figure out what it is or why it's doing that. So the job I have for you - for both of you - is to find and catch whatever's been doing that. If you can do that for me, I'll pay you a hundred gold pieces - so fifty each. What do you say, boys?"

Outside

The two tiny men head into the building, and the door closes behind them. Oiled paper blocks the windows, so you cannot see inside. However, your keen ears do hear a change. There is now more sound inside the building where the two tiny men have entered - some higher-pitched and some lower, starting and stopping.

[MarauderOctopus]

"Alright" He said as Colin followed after Zarkatos.

[MazinTheStatue]

?????:Hmm, I think those two took the job, since they looked at the poster they must have. Thats good, now I can get some help. Screeches as loud as possible, loud enough for the gnome and halfling to hear, then flies off. And at the gnome's feet is now a dead corn crop.

[MarauderOctopus]

"Hey, uh person. I'm pretty sure we haven't accepted the request yet. Also if we don't say we accept we might not get the pay." Colin said annoyed "By the way, did you just see a corn cob drop from the sky?"

[Gyrtop]

"I'll go tell the mayor we're signing up for the job, now if you'll excuse me, I'll go get my gear now."

Zark walks over and throws his coat & gun back on, then speaks to Thurhill.

"Hello sir, me and the halfling lad have decided to take you up on your offer. 50 gold apiece will be fine, but I'd like 10 upfront. Certain supplies may be needed for the job."
And pay for a fast horse out of here in case anybody notices me...

[MarauderOctopus]

"Okay, I'll wait out here" he replied. He picked up the corn cob that fell from the sky. "Huh." The halfling wondered aloud "Where did you come from? Well besides the sky, obviously." He plucked at the kernels on the corn, deep in thought, and waited for the gnome.

[MazinTheStatue]

?????: Screeches again to get the halflings attention. Then flies on top the meeting hall with a dead corn in his mouth.

[Ajadea]

Zark is able to see something in the sky - small and dark and flying away in a northwestern-ish direction, before he goes back inside.

Thurhill gives Zark a sharp look when he returns, then throws a small bag over his desk towards the gnome. "That's six gold, for you and the boy to split, or to get supplies, or whatever you need. You'll get the gold when I see the job done and whatever's doing this - be it man or beast - before me. The head alone is fine, if it's some sort of creature, but don't hurt the people."

[MazinTheStatue]

?????:Good they're beginning to notice me a bit, this just might work but just to be sure... Screeches again but this time dropping a map of town in front of the halfling, with the area of the statue circled. ?????: Hopefully that's enough, but if not I should be able to find it tonight. He thinks while carefully watching one of the farmers using an unusually large sickle.

[MarauderOctopus]

Colin picked up the map and looked at it. Hmm. Would it be bad to follow the screeching thing...Most likely. Is it worth at least 50 gold? Probably. Am I going to do it anyways. Sure, why not. Anyways that gnome probably already got us the job. And after he reached that conclusion, he looked at the map again and ran off toward the circled statue.

[Gyrtop]

"That's a little less than I hoped for, but it should see us through."
Zark walks outside to Colin.

"Hey halfling- where'd he run off to? Time to go grab supplies I guess, should probably set traps for tonight. Set some sort of flare up, scare the troublemakers and mark em for a while. I'll need to go find Colin though... where could the boy have run off too?"

[MazinTheStatue]

?????: Ah, here comes the boy now. Lets hope that will help me the most.Perches self on top of the statues left shoulder waiting for the halfling. Hmm, what's that, it seems the gnome is working with the halfling. Oh He might not like that. Hmm the gnome is going somewhere else, that won't do I need him as well. Flies toward the gnome and drops a similar map to the one Colin has.

[MarauderOctopus]

Colin looked up at the statue in awe. "Well it's certainly very,very tall." He looked around the general area.
[roll0]

[MazinTheStatue]

?????: Perches self back on statues left shoulder.

[Gyrtop]

Zark follows the map over to the statue. "There you are halfling. Tell me next time when you run off. What's this statue anyways?"

[MarauderOctopus]

"Hey, gnome. Did you get the job stuff settled?" Colin asked "Oh and, by the way name's Colin. What's yours?

[Gyrtop]

"Zarkatos Myriel Tharion at your service"*bows*"Well, this statue should serve as a decent landmark. I'm going to buy supplies, I'm setting up traps at various points in the fields. Meet me back here at dusk. I'll tell you the rest of the plan then."

Now, where's the blacksmith, and can I find a halfway decent alchemist in this town?"

[Ajadea]

You both stand by the statue. Up close you can see the bricks are a dull reddish-orange color, held together by dark mortar. It is a really rather crude depiction of a human, with broad flat feet, an almost cylindrical head, and stiff arms coming out of what seems to be nowhere in particular. There is some sort of creature perching on its shoulder, perhaps a small bird. Your height relative to the statue makes it difficult to tell the details.

A brief discussion reveals that while there does appear to be a small forge in the town, probably one that gets most of its work done fixing farm tools, neither of you has seen an alchemist anywhere.

Colin

You look around. The statue is odd - it stands directly on the grass, not on a slab of brick or rock or even cleared earth. On its shoulder... there is very clearly a bat. Peering at you. In broad daylight. Something glints ruby-red in its eye.

[MazinTheStatue]

?????: Screeches and flies directly past both the gnome and halfling. Then flies toward a farm. At their feet is now a dead corn cob.

[MarauderOctopus]

Colin attempted to climb the brick statue and grab the red-eyed bat.

[MazinTheStatue]

?????Screeches and accidentally reveals its needle.

[Ajadea]

Suddenly, quite a lot of things happen all at once. Colin tries to scramble up the statue, fails to get a grip, and falls. The thing on the statue's shoulder flies off the statue, screeching. All can see it is now a bat, or at least a bat-like creature. It has a fuzzy torso and head and massive ears. Its wings are made of what looks like copper wire and thin vellum. One eye is beady and black, and the other is the color of rubies and glowing with some inner light. A small, sharp, needle is clearly sticking out of its mouth.

And the statue moves, one arm falling limp to its side with a sound like rocks grinding against each other.

[MazinTheStatue]

?????:Wait, He moved. Ok these two might just be more helpful then I thought! We'll just have to see tonight.

[MarauderOctopus]

Colin rubbed his head and looked up. The statue's arms had changed position. He blinked "What just happened?"

[Gyrtop]

"Colin, what are you doing? Stop playing with the statue.Or not, I guess I'll go get supplies myself."

"Wait... what's that? Here, let me get that Colin.

Zarkatos attempts to scramble up the column, and grab the needle out of the bat's mouth.

roll=Acrobatics 1d20+8[/roll]

[Ajadea]

Zarkatos attempts to scramble up the statue. Try though he might, he cannot even begin to get off the ground. As his hands futilely claw for some sort of grasp on the brickwork, there is an instant where you hear something, grinding like metal on metal. Nothing else happens.

[MarauderOctopus]

Colin checked the brick figure for joints. "You know it looks like one of those synthetics. Like those big rock/ceramicy things in the cities." Colin knocked at the abdomen of the hunk of brick "It fits the general look of one, if a little mossier. Not to mention it MOVED just a second ago." He paused for a moment "By the way, you suck at climbing statues."

[Ajadea]

Colin is able to locate the joints easily on the statue - at least where he can reach. They are hidden under flaps that closely resemble the brickwork, but when you lift the flap you can clearly see that at every joint is a small terracotta orb fitted into a socket. Though not all of the orb is visible, that which you can see is covered in long, thin, straight, lines. Some of them make rectangles, slanted, or chunky tooth-like patterns, but the lines never touch each other. Every line seems to be made of a dark glassy substance.

There are similar lines carved on the inside of the statue's hand - at least, the one that fell to its side. You cannot reach the other. They all converge at a perfect circle in the center of its palm.

[Gyrtop]

"Well, the workmanship on it is decent, I've seen worse where I came from... I don't like synthetics though. Best leave it alone."

[MarauderOctopus]

"How do you think it got into a small town like this? I mean I've only seen it in fairly big cities and I'm pretty sure it still functions slightly.

[MarauderOctopus]

The circle in it's hand looks like a button. I wonder what would happen if I pressed it. Colin reached up and poked the circle on the brick lump of a statue.

[Ajadea]

Colin pushes quite hard on the circle on the statue's large, blocky, hand, and it pops open. Inside, you can see black metal tubing, pulleys, gears, and three switches - one red, one blue, one green - labeled in a language neither of you can read.

[MarauderOctopus]

Colin looked at the hand for a moment.Well, what's the worst that could happen? In one movement, he flicked on all of the switches: red, green, and blue.

[Ajadea]

Colin flips the switches. Suddenly, quite a few things happen at once. A flat ceramic panel drops down over the statue's face, rendering it utterly blank. A panel pops open on its chest, revealing more black tubing, copper wires, bubbly liquids in glass vials, a cobweb, and a pair of silver cylinders inscribed with runes. You don't have a whole lot of time to look at it, however, because the third thing that happens is that all of the statue's joints give way at once. It teeters precariously for a moment on barely-balanced knees before crumpling to the ground.

Colin and Zarkatos: Make a DC 12 Reflex save or take [roll0] damage.

[MarauderOctopus]

[roll0]
Oh god!

[Gyrtop]

"Colin! What did you do now-GAH WHAT WAS THAT?!"

[roll0]

[Ajadea]

Zarkatos nimbly dodges out of the path of the falling statue. Colin is not nearly so lucky, and the statue's arm hits his back as he tries to get out of the way. The statue is now lying at an odd half-sideways angle. You can probably still access the chest cavity and the hand with the switches, but it will be a tight squeeze. One of the silvery cylinders has fallen out of the statue's chest and is sitting in the grass.

[MarauderOctopus]

[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]
Colin walked over to the silvery tube.

[Ajadea]

The silvery tube does not react to Colin's cautious approach.

Colin

It looks a bit like some sort of magical power source. You don't know much about magical power sources. What you do know is that they can be charged through all sorts of strange inputs. You have heard of power crystals charged through everything from mundane methods such as exposure to sunlight or moonlight to such obscure and mythical treatments as being bathed in a solution of elf blood and aconite during a new moon while a specific chant is recited. Synthetics tend to use more mundane methods.

Also, magical power sources tend to glow when excess energy is present and not being used, in much the same way as a cooking fire intended to heat a pot of soup ends up heating everything around it. Only with light instead of heat and magical items instead of soup. So not like soup at all.

This one is not glowing. You may have figured out the problem.

[MarauderOctopus]

Colin picked up the tube. "Hey, Zark do you know any magic? I think it's out of power. Maybe we need to praise the sun or moon or something to get it charged up again. I probably could get my cousin John to help.

[Gyrtop]

"You seen me sling any spells? Here, I think I've seen one of these kinds of things before. Help me move it, we should get its stomach cavity facing up again. Mind giving me the cylinder?"



[roll0]

[roll1]

[Ajadea]

Make a Strength check to move the statue.
----

Zarkatos examines the cylinder in more detail.

Zarkatos

You think it's some sort of magical power source, probably with little to no power actually inside it. Charging these things can be difficult, and often uses esoteric methods. In a pinch, you can probably charge it with a few spells and some percussive maintenance, but it won't work well, nor for very long.

[MarauderOctopus]

Colin pushed against statue with Zarkatos.
[roll0]

[Gyrtop]

"Alright, thanks for the help lad."

[roll0]

On a side note, we're making strength checks with two small characters. What fun!

[Ajadea]

Somewhat unsurprisingly, the ceramic synthetic, which must weigh hundreds of pounds, doesn't move an inch despite all the heroic efforts of two tiny men with no great capacity for weight-lifting.

[MazinTheStatue]

?????: Hmm they're trying to lift him up? That's odd, I wonder what that tube like thing is? Well I might as well see if this somehow works in waking Him up

[Ajadea]

You twiddle your thumbs. It briefly comes to mind that investigating a statue that might be a powerless synthetic was not really what you were hired to do.

[MarauderOctopus]

Colin was struck by realization and looked around at what he and Zarkatos were doing."You know, we probably should start looking for the bat thing again cause I'm pretty sure we won't get paid for disassembling a statue."

[Gyrtop]

"Yeah, I'm not quite sure why we of all people tried to lift that up. You're probably better at searching than I am, I'll go haggle for some supplies."

[Ajadea]

Not being able to figure out the function of the now toppled automaton in the center of the village green, the two short men head in temporarily separate ways. Colin heads through town trying to track down the mysterious bat creature. Zarkatos heads to the forge in hopes of finding some trap-making material.

You make little headway initially, but after a good half-hour of searching you come across scattered kernels of corn in the road, and remember that the bat had a strange habit of shedding small bits of corn cobs.

The forge shop is built like a building that's never had to worry about a customer under four feet tall, ever. The door handle is approximately level with your nose. Getting said door open takes both hands and a rather undignified amount of yanking. The inside of the forge is dark with soot. A giant of a man wearing a leather apron and enough ginger facial hair to smother someone with leans over the counter. "'Ello there! Not often we get halfmen in these parts. Lookin' to buy, or sell?"

[MarauderOctopus]

Colin squats down to examine the kernels. In his squatted position, he sort of waddles with his eyes on the ground and follows the kernel path.

[Gyrtop]

"I'm here to buy sir. I need some pitons, a hammer, and some bullets if you make any 'round these parts. I'm running a bit low you see, had a run-in earlier. If you can help me out, I might come back despite that awfully built door of yours."

Diplomacy (Haggling)
1d20