(PF) maggie's Rise of the Runelords: Skinsaw Murders IC

[maggie_mcknife]

GM post

Day 22: Lamashan 13, 4707

It's been a whole three weeks since the goblin attack during the Swallowtail Festival. After Cipriano's funeral and the departure of the Magnimarian guards five days ago, life in Sandpoint has regained something of its normal rhythm and pace. The watchmen on duty at the gates smile a little more readily at weary travelers seeking entry. Daviren Hosk has taken down the notice on his stable door for a bounty on goblin ears. Hannah Velerin is less twitchy and the dour Sabyl Sorn has taken to bestowing upon you a rare smile every time you pass her place. Parents are allowing their children back out to play now. With Mandraiv taking over his departed uncle's business with a surprising and relentless energy, even the familiar low rumble of the Glassworks furnaces at dawn and the wagon-loads of scintillating mosaics and gleaming windowpanes at dusk have resumed.

With the horrors at Thistletop behind you, some of you might be thinking of setting out on the road. Others might be wondering whether settling down in Sandpoint for now might be a good idea - the town, its troubling past aside, is a welcoming and friendly enough place. Either way, all five of you had decided to meet at the Rusty Dragon tonight for some drinks - to remember Cipriano on the fourteenth day of his passing, as per the old Varisian tradition, and perhaps to talk about the future and where your paths would take you now.

The night is peaceful enough as most of you pick Rico up from her duties at the Garrison and stroll down Main Street. The brisk autumn wind is refreshing after the lingering heat of the day, and the prospect of a cold drink and some fresh bread at Ameiko's tavern is a cheering one. There hasn't been any trouble at all since Thistletop. Sure, the goblins tried to riot once, and there was the unpleasant discovery of some local swindlers turning up dead in a barn after a deal likely went sour, but all things considered for a growing industrial town, things were going pretty damn fine.

Which is probably why you are probably puzzled - stunned even - at the sudden cry of "STOP, thief!", followed by several loud thumps before a frazzled-looking Setsuna tumbles unceremoniously through the basement door of the Vinder General Store, clutching frantically at the loosened straps of her hakama to preserve her modesty. Behind her, the imposing bulk of Ven Vinder squeezes through the door, growling as he shakes a large leg of ham in the tiefling's direction. "Take my daughter, wod'ya? See if I don't take yer head off first!" He thunders as he stomps forward, more for the benefit of the local crowd that is quickly gathering, drawn by the noise and prospect of some juicy gossip to trade later.

*****

Setsuna

You were just strolling down Main Street a couple of days ago and had just passed the General Store when you suddenly remembered Shayliss and the rat problem in the Vinder General Store basement. Seeing the aforementioned young lady trudge grouchily out of the store with a large sack of corn meal over her shoulder at that very instant, you thought nothing of inquiring after her health and gallantly offering to assist with the rat problem if it was still extant.

Shayliss had showered you with a few curses at first, sure that you were simply making fun of her in the same way Rico had several days earlier. But you'd persisted and eventually, the shopkeep's second daughter had assented for you to accompany her into the basement. ("But no sword swingin'! Dad'll chew me up if he hears aught of slashed merchandise!")

As it turned out, there were indeed rats in the Vinder basement. Quite a lot of them, fat with the excellent Vinder produce and grain. Armed with heavy oaken clubs, you and Shayliss did the best you could and for your pains and bruises (not to mention rat bites), managed to clear the varmints out of the basement and present the delighted Mrs Vinder with several bludgeoned rat corpses.

So of course, you'd suspected nothing when a flushed Shayliss had hurried up to you earlier this evening, claiming that the rats had rallied and made a come back. You'd gone with her quite willingly into the basement and were looking about in the darkness for rats and were about to mention that you couldn't find any, when you'd heard the rustling of cloth and turned around, only to behold Shayliss with her bodice off and the straps of her dress around her shoulders, a knowing look in her eye as she reaches for your hands and presses them to her bosom.

You'd never been propositioned before, so you weren't exactly sure what to do. It took a few good minutes before you finally came to your senses and realised that no, fumbling about on dusty grain sacks in someone's basement was not how you wished your first time to go. So you'd tried to turn the lusty Shayliss down while politely trying your best to prevent her from shucking your pants off, only to have the basement door suddenly thrown open and the looming shadow of her father, Ven Vinder, fill the door frame. Convinced upon sight that you were trying to have your way with his daughter (rather than the other way around), Ven had bellowed and snatched up several items of choice food and hurled them at your head. By the time he manages to grasp the leg of ham, you've managed to dodge past him and make it to the door - only to find that the altercation has attracted rather more attention than you'd have guessed...

[ProudGrognard]

Sirus

Sirus has been enjoying his strong tea and he just destroyed a large meal of bread, meat, fruit and cheese, as was his habit. The last few days have been relaxing, giving him time to think. He knew that his road was to continue. But where? And how?

But this day has not promised to be one of ...excitement. Of course, he had seemed to forget the effect of having Setsuna as one's companion could do.

Pushing his way up, he strides casually, his hands folded in front of him, towards the hulking Ven. It is obvious that he has no hostile intentions, but that he is going to interpose. It is perhaps a sign of his relaxation that he is willing to address the situation.


Master Ven. There must. Have been. A misunderstanding. Please. Join us. As. Our guest. Or have a pint. At our expense. Everything. Will be. Addressed.

He gives a sidewise glance at Setsuna, as if to say "It will, will it not?"

Sense motive to see the mood of the man, if he is prone to become violent. [roll0]

[Desril]

Setsuna

Flustered to the point where words are not properly going from her brain to her mouth, Setsuna can only continue correcting her hakama's himo and attempt to push her way through the crowd that was forming. Too distracted by the all too recent sight of Shayliss, how direct she was, and her current state of dress, the young Minkan maiden fails miserably in assessing the best route of fleeing the scene and instead opts to try and squeeze her way past the growing crowd.

Unfocused as she is, with her hands fumbling at straps with significantly less grace than she's had with any task since getting feeling back in her hand, her efforts are rewarded with little success. If that's what she was thinking then why did she take me down there? I have a perfectly fit room in the-NO, I mean, why couldn't she have at least talked to me about it, or asked, I don't even know she liked me! I barely even know her. Oh gods, I need to get out of here.

Unfortunately, at least from Setsuna's perspective, it seems that everyone in Sandpoint can smell gossip 5 minutes in advance and has already positioned themselves in such a way that the tiefling can't extricate herself from being the center of attention, a fact that only causes her blush to deepen as she continues to push her way past the assembled group to no avail as the enraged father continues to hurl insults to which she lacks the presence of mind to correct.


Strength check already rolled, assume a [6] is a miserable failure.

[Bhaakon]

Brin

Ye gods, it's too early for man or beast to be about! Back, back you mellifluous harpy! Is what Brin very much wanted to scream at the Rusty Dragon's young publican when she roused her from her room at sunset, but she managed to choke it back to a muttered "I'm awake" and a pathetic groan.

Those who spent the whole day passed out in room they hadn't yet paid for didn't really have the right to complain about a wake up call, after all.

Besides, it was good for a body to start the day with a solid breakfast. Even if it was almost night time. Fried squash, a healthy trencher of stew, and a frothy flagon of hair of the dog. Brin's booze-gummed tongue couldn't taste it properly, but at least the greasy meal eased the ache in her head.

And the entrainment was second to none. The Dragon had a reputation, but even so, Brin was surprised to hear about the strange commotion that had broken out on the street. She shoved her way outside in time to see the initial rumors proven true by a disheveled tiefling flouncing past with and an irate greengrocer her heels. Brin had seen plenty in her travels, but a beating delivered with cured meat would be a first. She licked her lips in anticipation of the delicious battle to come. She could almost taste the sweet, intoxicating ambrosia of...

Wait.

'Delicious?' 'Sweet' 'intoxicating ambrosia'? Knock me down the infinite stairway, that's a Varisian rum ham! That settled things. Brin couldn't let the very pinnacle of the charcuterie arts be employed as a common bludgeon. Something had to be done. Someone must prevent this atrocity.

Brin pushes her way through the crowd, desperate to deliver a spell of sanctuary to the tiefling before her hard head injures the ham.

Cast sanctuary on Setsuna, DC 15 Will save to attack the target

[roll0] acrobatics roll to slip through the crowd

[maggie_mcknife]

GM post

Sirus's Sense Motive check
Despite the slight theatricality of his actions and threats, Ven does seem to be genuinely incensed. He certainly displayed a foul enough temper the first time you met him, in the middle of a family argument over whom his elder daughter was dating. If he means to bash Setsuna over the head with a ham, he'd probably do it without regrets.

*****

Brin

It takes some jostling to get to where the crowd is thickest and you nearly get elbowed in the chest. But you manage to get close enough to the beleaguered tiefling to reach past someone's corseted waist and brush your fingertips against her arm - just enough contact for the spell to take hold.

*****

"Addressed? A dress's precisely what yer buddy yonder was taking off my girl! You can't buy honour with a pint!" Ven's eyes bulge in their sockets, giving him an uncanny resemblance to a cross-eyed bulldog as he snarls and advances towards Sirus, hefting the large ham in his massive hands. "Just going down to get supplies for Master Drokker and whadda I see? Some devil-blood trying to rut on my little princess, s'what! I'm telling yer, nobody treats my princess bad and gets away with it!"

The little princess in question, one might note, is nowhere to be seen. Clearly, she isn't interested in preventing her father from bashing in Setsuna's skull with a cured leg of pork.

Perception DC 15
Over the chatter of the crowd, you catch a couple of guffaws at Ven's rant and someone muttering gleefully: "Pay up now. Told you it's matter o' time 'fore Shay tried to bed one of the out-of-towners"

*****

Red

Tensing for a fight the instant she hears Ven's shout, Red is dumbfounded to find that the 'thief' is none other than Setsuna, frowning to herself as the crowd forms around them. That wasn't right. Setsuna wouldn't steal something. And why was Setsuna trying to run and do up her pants at the same time? Unless she'd been...

No, that wasn't right either. Setsuna hadn't been able to look at those naked lady pictures Tsuto had drawn without blushing to the tips of her ears. She wouldn't have. Would she?

Taking advantage of Sirus's attempt to pacify Ven, Red hurries over to where Setsuna is and gently takes hold of the tiefling's shoulders. "Shh. I... got you. It is... all right. Dress first." Using her body as a shield the best she can, Red tries to block Setsuna from Ven's view long enough to give her time to finishing tying her sash. "Setsuna. What happened? Did you really...?" Red tries not to let her voice betray her worry. Ven was a very important man in Sandpoint. He owned the general store. Also, people liked Ven, even though he had a bad temper. If he was angry with Setsuna, that wasn't good.

[Desril]

Setsuna

The combination of the newcomer's divine touch and Red and Sirus' words is enough to give Setsuna the presence of mind to stop struggling against the crowd and listen to Red's advice. Finishing setting the himo, the tiefling shakes her head at the rogue's question, replying in a whisper "I am not sure. I thought I was going to help with a rat problem, but maybe I need to work on my Taldane..."

Still embarrassed and confused, Setsuna tries and fails to meet Ven's enraged gaze after getting her hakama straightened out, missing the amused mutterings of the crowd as she does. That is not how a princess should act! Though I suppose this isn't either...

Starting to come to her senses, she agrees with Sirus in moving this conversation to a more private location, but rather than suggest that, she instead starts trying to mollify him, rather ineptly due to still not quite being able to respond to the furious father properly. "It was not what it seemed, I was trying to help her."


Passing on the Perception check.

[bcool999]

Taladron

Just finishing up the last bit of the scroll he was working on Taladron stowed his eternal candles into his bag with his spellbook and freshly penned scroll and stepped outside. He saw that he was running a little late to meet up with the others but not by much. He took in a deep breath of fresh air and let it out before starting down to the Rusty Dragon.

It wasn't long after reaching the main road that he noticed the commotion up ahead. Involving a nearly unclothed Setsuna (Why is that always the case?) and the grocer waving a ham about What does he plan to do with that? Upon getting closer and listening for a while, Taladron decides that he better do... something.

Perception: [roll0]

Hearing about the saucy details of the event Taladron can roughly put together why Setsuna ran away. He heads toward the basement to get this Shay person out here to explain herself.

If Taladron has trouble with getting to the basement he will cast grease on himself to aid him in slipping through the crowd.

[Bhaakon]

Brin

*Phew* Brin sighs as she finally pushes past the last body to deliver spell. That ought to put a damper on the situation, for a moment at least. Now to get that madman to back off before he does something we'll all regret.

She shoves her way through the last line of gawkers to emerge fully from the crowd, taking only a brief moment to whisper prayer of good luck she'd learned from her adopted mother--rest her soul--before straightening herself up and addressing the paunchy ham-wielder.

"Hold it there, greengrocer...um...whatever your name is. I don't know what this business is about rutting with your daughter, but shouting it in the middle of a crowded street certainly isn't doing anything for her good name. I doubt the respectable suitors will be lining up after her father gives her dirty laundry a good airing out in public."

"But never mind that. Do you really want to leave her alone while you spend the rest of the week in the stocks? I admit, it might feel good to bludgeon this suspicious character about the head with a haunch of meat, but who knows what kind of blackguards might sneak in to harass your princess while her foolish father is being pelted with rotten produce.

"Just put the cured meat down, man! Hand it over to me and go peacefully back into your shop, before your ham-fisted antics turn a seen into a proper scandal."

The elf steps between Ven and Setsuna, optimistically grasping arms extended to receive the liquor-cured haunch of pork. Yes, that's right. Hand it over, old man. I can almost taste it.

Diplomacy: [roll0]

and second roll, if allowed: [roll1]

[maggie_mcknife]

GM post

"Help her? With what? Making an honest girl into a strumpet? I dunno what kinda kinky stuff your kind get up to in Minkai, but you leave my daughter alone!" Setsuna's words fail to pacify Ven in any way whatsoever as the burly man growls and jabs threateningly in her direction with the ham. Ven was once a sailor and despite his recent paunch and having gone slightly to seed since setting up the General Store, he nevertheless cuts a tall and imposing figure over the petite tiefling.

*****

Taladron

With all the attention focused on Ven and Setsuna, there is no one to stop Taladron as he sneaks up to the open basement door from which Setsuna was recently ejected.

Despite the gloom and shadows within, Taladron's elven eyes have no trouble with scanning the premises for the aforementioned 'Shay'. There is a good deal strewn about on the floor in the otherwise neat storeroom - a sack of barley split at the seams and the little beans scattered all about, several ripened apples and cucumbers, not to mention broken jars that probably once contained pickled onions and sundried tomatoes in oil if the piquant bloom in the air is anything to go by. There is also a lone bodice with intricate lacework lying forlornly in the corner, soaking up the oil. Of the errant princess herself, however, there is no sign.

You notice another set of stairs and door at the other end of the basement, which probably lead up into the General Store from the inside. It's quite possible that 'Shay' has long since fled to safety in the other direction.

*****

Red

Red's Perception check: (1d20+6)[18]

Helping with a rat problem? Working on my Taldane? Was that was the young people these days were saying when they really meant that they were doing sex? Red frowns in confusion before shaking her head wearily. Goodness. She must be getting old.

Still, upon overhearing the voices in the crowd, Red's frown only deepens. A betting pool on who Shayliss was sleeping with? Just what had Setsuna gotten herself into? Tapping the tiefling's arm, Red tries to warn her before she gets herself into further trouble with Ven. "The crowd. They're saying... it's a trap. They're saying... Shayliss's been looking for a while... to bed someone new."

*****

Ven's Sense Motive vs Brin: (1d20)[17]

Brin's cleverly worded retort elicits quite a few nods of agreement from the crowd, as well as several appreciative chuckles at her mention of 'ham-fisted'. Sandpoint's locals, as it turns out, are quite used to witty turns of phrase, thanks to the presence of the local theatre and the thriving school.

"Rut what-? Ehhh. Of course yonder devil-blood didn't finish what she started now. I caught her in th'act! Saved my baby girl, that's what!" Ven is hardly pleased with the appearance of a stranger bold enough to question his logic, glowering at you from behind fiercely knit brows. "There ain't no dirty laundry if nothing's been stained! No scandal! I'll have yer know that Shay's a perfectly respectable maiden!"

"Just like her sister, eh?" calls out some cheeky wag hidden among the crowd, to much cat-calling and back-slapping. "Come off it, old man. Everyone knows Shay's eager to charm the underclothes off every pretty boy 'n girl for miles."

Ven flushes a deep shade of crimson at the jibe and abruptly turns on the crowd. "Who said that? Come out and say it to m'face, why don't yer!" he roars, spittle flying as he waves the ham wildly about. Despite Brin's best efforts, Ven's too canny a shopkeeper and he's obviously not surrendering his hambone into her custody.

[ProudGrognard]

Sirus


During the whole incident, Sirus has remained close to Setsuna, As was to be expected, his attempt at glibness failed. Obviously out of his league, he waits, his face a bit relaxed in what would be almost a smile.

Attack by ham because a girl was excited about Setsuna. Nope, definitely did not see this coming.

[Desril]

Setsuna

Face glowing more red, thanks to the anger caused by insulting her homeland, Setsuna had been about to reply with a cutting retort before Red's information about what the crowd had been saying and the joke of the unseen member of said crowd that riled Ven up even further. Remembering her friends' and her sword's advice about her rash actions causing issues, however, causes Setsuna to take a moment to think before speaking up, though it takes longer than it should as her thoughts tend to get derailed by other thoughts of a bodice hitting the floor in a flash.

Finally realizing that this situation could get even more out of hand for her, Shayliss, her friends who'd stepped in, and this newcomer is enough to calm the tiefling down and snap her back to reality well enough to try a diplomatic approach. Stepping forward toward the angry father, Setsuna speaks up to him loud enough for the crowd to hear, doing her best to pacify him with a public apology, and the crowd by taking the blame off Shayliss. "I am sure that your daughter is perfectly respectable, there was just a miscommunication, that is all. I was not intending to stain Shayliss-san's honor, and I apologize for the improper appearance of what happened," bowing in apology, Setsuna continues in a quiet enough voice that only Ven and those closest to them could hear, "But do you not think that it would be better to talk about this in private?"


Let's hope that the dice bot doesn't betray us.
Diplomacy [roll0]

[maggie_mcknife]

GM post

Although realising that he losing the crowd's sympathy, Ven nevertheless blusters on the best he can in a misguided attempt to save face. "Miscommu- my foot! There's nothing t' talk about. I know what I saw! You were-"

"Do you, Ven? We all know you keep no lights in the basement lest you set fire to the merchandise, and one's eyesight does tend to go as one ages." This lazy voice belongs to a handsome blue-eyed Varisian with a dandy's moustache who has managed to shoulder his way to the front. Smirking, he squeezes out of the pressing crowd to stand boldly before the fuming shopkeeper. "If you ask me, the young Tian miss was just minding her own business when your daughter accosted her and pulled her into the basement. And when do you ask me, I'll say it's because me and my boys have been sitting at the fishmarket across the way for the past hour inspecting the merchandise. Haven't we, boys?"

The 'boys' in question turn out to be a heavyset thuggish man with faded runic tattoos visible all the way down his collar and - surprisingly enough - a slender male tiefling, his ram-like horns nearly hidden by a shock of curly black hair and his too-pink skin covered with rigid snake scales. The thug grins toothily down at Ven, while the tiefling has no reaction at all, merely pulling his cloak a little closer about him and gazing sightlessly ahead.

Although Ven continues to glower and stand his ground, those watching a little closer realise that the fight has already gone out of the burly shopkeeper, his shoulders tensing up in defense. Those paying closer attention to the crowd, Sirus in particular, might also realise that people are starting to mutter uneasily among themselves and shift their feet. "Whadda yer want, Jubrayl?" Ven growls in a voice that could have cut ice.

"What do I want? Oh, nothing. Nothing at all," says Jubrayl airily, waving his hand dismissively in the air. "Just doing my part as a concerned citizen to keep the peace, no? Seeing as to how our good Watch has been oh so busy of late. But if you would be ever so kind, Ven, I believe this young miss would want to you to let her be on her way, to give you some time to speak with your daughter in private. Oh, and ignore what I said earlier. I do want something. Here." Digging in his pocket, Jubrayl winks rougishly at Brin before holding out a palmful of coins to Ven. "For that delicacy you seem to have mistaken for a basher."

"I'm not taking yer dirty money!" Ven jerks back as though scalded. Scowling furiously, he glances down at the rum ham before thrusting it at Jubrayl's chest with enough force to make the lanky man stagger. "Shove it up your pie hole for all I care. And you!" Ven whirls on Setsuna, almost shoving his paunch into her forehead, the strain palpable in his dangerously low voice. "Keep away from m' princess, y'hear?"

Without waiting for an answer, Ven stomps back up to his basement, nearly pushing Taladron off the steps before slamming the door with a vengeance. Meanwhile, the crowd, sensing that there is little more to see, disperses with astonishing speed, leaving only your group, the newcomer, and Jubrayl's crew.

*****

"I think that went rather well, don't you agree?" says Jubrayl cheerfully, polished black leathers gleaming under moonlight as he laughs and tosses the rum ham at Brin. "Beautiful prose, milady. Always a pleasure to see someone show Ven up for the pompous arse he is. And as for you, little miss Tian," he adds, playfully poking Setsuna on the forehead. "Don't you know any better than to play with Ven's daughters away from papa's premises? Be more careful next time. And you..."

Catching sight of Red, who has been waiting quietly behind Setsuna all the while, Jubrayl's lips curl in a wide smile that doesn't reach his eyes. "Why, Miss Allin," he says with bloodcurdling politeness. "I wasn't aware you were running with this noble outfit. These friends of yours, Miss Allin?"

Red's eyes flick worriedly at your direction before looking determinedly up at Jubrayl, nodding once even as she swallows from nervousness.

"Ah, excellent. I was beginning to wonder if you'd ever make any friends in this town besides Enforcer Rico. It's always good for a young woman to have strategic connections everywhere, you know. Do give my regards to your sister, won't you?" Jubrayl executes an exaggeratedly sweeping bow from the waist, before winking again at Brin and snapping his fingers in Setsuna's face. "I'm sure I'll see you all around. Ladies. And two gentlemen. You all be good now, hear?"

With that, Jubrayl struts off down the street, heading past the fishmarket towards the south end of town, his entourage of 'boys' in tow.

Knowledge (local) DC 12 (can make check untrained)
The man you have just met is Jubrayl Vhiski, one of the bartenders at the Fatman's Feedbag tavern over at the rougher side of Sandpoint. Jubrayl's known for being charming with the ladies, knife-wieldingly severe with customers who try to skive free drinks, and is reputedly able to drink visiting dwarf merchants under the table on a regular basis. Rumour also has it that Jubrayl is also something of a leader among the local Sczarni gang, though Sheriff Hemlock has never been able gather enough evidence to prove it. This doesn't stop people from giving Jubrayl the grudging respect and fear due a Sczarni lieutenant anyway, something that Jubrayl obviously enjoys.

Exception if you're Red or Rico
You know for a fact that Jubrayl is no lieutenant but the leader of Sandpoints Sczarni gang, and a very well connected one too. He's quite likely the mastermind behind the scam robbery that landed Red in jail over a year ago, no thanks to Red's sister pissing off the leader of the Kaer Maga Sczarni branch over a contested mark.

[Bhaakon]

Brin

Despite her surprise at how easily this newcomer had cowed the volatile shopkeep and relieved him of his makeshift weapon, Brin easily snatches the tossed ham out of the air. Pleased with the outcome, she uses it to give this Jubyal character a little salute of gratitude.

Wait, i've heard that name before...hmm. While Brin hasn't been in town long, its hard not to pick up whispered rumors about that man. If half of what she'd heard was accurate, then it's no surprise that he sent Ven fleeing with his tail between his legs.

But that wasn't her problem. Not anymore. She had the rum ham, and there was still time to have it warmed for supper. Just bring it back to that barkeep, whats-her-name...um...Ameiko. That's right. I'm sure she'll cook it for a small consideration...

"Uh-oh." Visions of unpaid room bills and an extremely recent dine-and-dash dance through Brin's head. She'd have to do something, or this could mean trouble. Most of her stuff was still in that room, and she'd heard that Amieko was some kind of local heiress, or aristocrat, or something else influential enough to turn a little grudge into a real problem.

A peace offering was in order. A token gesture to smooth the waters in addition to paying what she owed. A gesture like leading in a bunch of customers into the Rusty Dragon. But not too many. Brin waits for the crowd to thin some, each moment regretting what she was about to say.

Finally, when the crowd has dispersed enough to ensure a sizable portion for herself, she triumphantly raises the ham above her head and proclaims in a voice she hopes won't carry too far, "So...who wants to head over to the Dragon for some rum ham? Follow me."

[Desril]

Setsuna

Unable to respond to Ven as he storms off, Setsuna only manages to let out a sigh of relief before she turns to thank Jubrayl for his assistance in calming down the angry father only to be poked on the forehead. More relieved at his help than the minor insult however, the tiefling still offers him a polite thank you, not really believing the rumors she'd heard over the last couple of weeks about him now that she'd met him in person, before his attentions turn toward Red. Curious about his skittish companion, Setsuna watches her fellow tiefling more closely than her friend and fails to notice Red's anxiousness.

Not wanting to interrupt as the rogue talks to him, and not noticing how on edge Red seems, Setsuna waits until Jubrayl has finished speaking only to find he made his exit before she could ask what she could do to repay him. With nothing that can be done about it, she turns toward everyone who came to her aid. "He is a strange man. I think I understand the rumors about him now, but he seems nice enough to me." Wondering about Vhiski's questioning her and the various comments he made to Red specifically, she turns toward the rogue as she asks, "Do you know him very well?"


****

When Brin calls attention to herself and her newly acquired ham, Setsuna turns toward her and smiles, still a bit out of sorts from the earlier incident but calmed down enough now to remember her manners as she bows, "Oh, I forgot to introduce myself! My name is Setsuna, thank you for coming to help me," rising, she looks to Red, Taladron, and Sirus as well, "all of you, thank you."

Looking back toward to elven newcomer she continues, "I would love to share that ham with you, but I fear I owe you dinner instead, so at least let me buy you a drink."

[bcool999]

Taladron

Brushing himself off after Ven shoulders past him, Taladron gets a quick look at Jubrayl before he turns and walks away. For some reason, Taladron doesn't like him. Maybe because he was too smooth. Taladron's own awkwardness with people made him somewhat distrustful of anyone who was a natural people person. Red's reaction to the man was worrying too, but not entirely out of character when she is directly confronted.

At Setsuna's praise Taladron shrugs. It isn't as though I did anything... He also nods to the suggestion of getting food. It is what we had planned to do today anyhow what will one more person hurt? Though Taladron did have a worry on his mind. "I wonder what is holding Rico up. I am surprised she wasn't around to break up that fracas. Though it is probably better this way so Ven didn't end up with a broken nose or jail time... or both."

[Bhaakon]

Brin



"It was not trouble, really. Coming to...um...your aid, that is. But I'm not about to turn down a free drink." She grins and offers her right hand.

Suddenly realizing that it would be less than ideal to offer Setsuna a handshake sticky with rum glaze, Brin smoothly withdraws the limb and does her awkward best to return the bow. At least she tries. The social etiquette of Tian Xia isn't one of her strong suits.

"Let's be off to the Dragon, then. Before that oafish grocer decides to try beating you with a wheel of cheese." She hefts the ham aloft once more and begins marching towards the aforementioned tavern, eager to pay off her debt before another incensed business person decided to take the law into their own hands.

[ProudGrognard]

Sirus

The situation diffused by an unexpected turn of events, Sirus resumes his walking next to the rest of the gang. He takes a good look at the woman she came to Setsuna's help. At first, he thought she was a friend of Setsuna, but then they introduced. Strange. And the woman herself had used magic.

Sirius then notices how protective the woman was of the ham.

"I am. Sirus. Join us. For eating. And drinking. Ameiko. Has even. Better. Supplies. I would. Buy you. A drink.

Are you. An arcanist?"

[maggie_mcknife]

Red

Do I? Red watches Jubrayl's back as he swaggers away. Her Tien eyes narrow to dark slits as she thinks of that time, nearly a year ago - when she'd nearly been sent back to the Hells, to languish for a brutal highway robbery she hadn't committed. Only Rico's belief in her innocence and willingness to dig beyond the facts had saved her. And as for who on this side of Varisia had the resources and means to make up a scheme like that...

All she had to go on was a single visit in the holding cells from Jubrayl himself, where he'd smiled and told her that he was sure that her sister would be heartbroken to hear that she'd done such a terrible thing. Only two kinds of people knew who Red's sister was - Guards and Sczarni. And since Jubrayl was most definitely not a watchman...

Reflexively, Red glances down at her the palm of her left hand. The ritual prison brand at the base of her thumb had faded over the years, but the pale raised edges of the Chelish letters - C - O - R - are still faintly visible, even by moonlight.

"...He is Sczarni. He is powerful. He... knows people... who do not like... my sister," she says quietly to Setsuna, before continuing in a lower voice, almost ashamed. "I nearly... went to the Hells. ...Again. Because of him."

The newcomer's offer of a rum ham is a welcome distraction from her past and Red does not bother to pursue the subject. Smiling shyly at the others, she follows them to the Rusty Dragon without objection. All the same, she can't help checking worriedly over her shoulder as they go - just in case Jubrayl has sent his men to follow them.

*****

GM post

With Brin in the lead and no sign of Rico just yet, you all continue on to the Rusty Dragon, where the late night drinking regulars are in full swing by now. The sight of Setsuna walking in through the doors does elicit a few whistles and table-slaps from the clientele but otherwise, Ameiko's customers are far too genial to bother with teasing the tiefling about her recent encounter with Ven Vinder.

As luck would have it for Brin, it turns out that the people you've decided to share your ham with happen to be the survivors of the band who saved both Sandpoint and Ameiko from a nasty goblin attack two weeks ago. There is no question of Ameiko kicking you out of the Rusty Dragon while you're hanging out with them. (Though if you still don't pay your bills on time, there's no telling what Ameiko might do once you're out of their company...)

For despite the packed dining room, a quick wave to catch the attention of one of the serving maids quickly secures your group a decent-sized table (still slightly sticky with spilled malt beer) in the corner. Without having to ask, the group is soon plied with cold drinks, spicy sausage, and a basket of crisp rolls and cheese. A request to have the rum ham warmed up is cheerfully complied with and soon enough, Ven's late weapon returns, artfully sliced up on a plate and dripping with glaze.

The chatter of the booze-warmed crowd is convivial and those of you who elect to start first on your victuals enjoy the hearty supper. As the second empty seat at your table and the lone sheet of parchment tacked to the wall with a pearl-handled dagger might attest, however, there is one missing from your number.

[ProudGrognard]

Sirus

Sirus always feels a little awkward with the lavish attention to provided by Ameiko to their group. He has tried paying his bill more than once, but he has been rebuffed quite thorough each time. He has reported to buying gifts for Ameiko each week.

As he is about to know more about the strange woman, he notices the note. Excusing himself with a node, he reads it quickly.

As they enter, Sirus gives up and sits on the table, making himself comfortable.

[Desril]

Setsuna

Frowning at Red's explaination, Setsuna doesn't say anything but instead looks off after where Jubrayl disappeared to. I trust Red, but is he really a bad man? Maybe there was a mistake... Realizing Red doesn't want to talk about it any further right now, nearly three weeks with the rogue was long enough for the tiefling to usually figure out when she didn't want to talk about a particular topic, she lets the conversation die as they make their way back to the Rusty Dragon.

***

Perhaps because her judgement was already impaired by the incident she'd just escaped from, or perhaps because of the third trait listed on the Placard; Drink to remember, not to forget, Setsuna has wine for herself, preferring it to the taste of cheaper ales. Not knowing anything at all about Brin besides what the elf had mentioned about herself on their walk over, the half-elven tiefling asks about what brings her to Sandpoint, and how long she intended to stay.

[Bhaakon]

Brin

"That's an odd question to ask someone you just met." Brin replies to Sirus as she leads the group on the short walk back to the Dragon. "Especially after I helped calm that little situation back there. Or at least tried to help, until that Jubyal character showed up and chased the grocer off. Now he's an anarchist, from the rumors I've heard. Jubyal, that is. I think the grocer is just a foolish blowhard."

But the man seemed to have asked the question in seriousness, and there was little else to do as they strolled, so she offers up a more considered response. "No, I'm not an anarchist, really. I'm a Pharasmin. See?" She flashes the indigo spiral tattooed on the left palm, the common symbol for Pharasma, and affects an air of detached superiority not uncommon among more formal clergy. "Let's just say that I've got weightier matters on my mind than, say, paying my bar tab on time. You know, death, and fate, and all that. I figure that as long as you hit the important things, the minor details don't amount to much in Goddess's final judgement."

Why, are you an authoritarian? She throws the man a mock suspicious glare as she walks in the door of the tavern.

*******

Once inside, Brin is content to let the 'minor detail' of her bill slide for as long as the proprietor fails to mention it, particularly with all these free drinks to work through. Who knows, maybe she'll get lucky and someone will offer to cover it for her. Particularly since these people she's met seem to have the run of the place.

"So you've asked one probing question, now it's my turn. Who are you people to get this kind of spread out of Ameiko? Even without the ham, this is a table fit for a Margrave, or possibly even a lesser Duke, and I'm pretty certain that I didn't see any of you order." She asks as the serving staff makes room for the ham.

Now it's your turn to talk. I'll eat she thinks, reaching for the platter of rum ham. Fate dropped this fine supper into my hands. It would be downright blasphemous not to enjoy it thoroughly. She digs in with gusto, blissfully ignorant that she's dining with the heroes she's been hearing about since blowing into town the morning before.

[bcool999]

Taladron

Taking a seat at the table, Taladron was eager to begin his meal. Before that though, he felt like he should clear up some confusion first. "I believe Sirus asked if you were and 'arcanist' not an 'anarchist'. For instance, can you do this?" With a word and a pointed finger one of the rolls rises up from the basket and drifts lazily to Taladron's hand. While he fills up his plate with food Taladron continues to speak, "Also in response to your question, we are sitting with a few local celebrities since the goblin attack a few weeks ago and a more recent assault on a goblin lair which I was imprisoned in. I don't know all the details since, as I said, I have known them only recently, but they seem to be quite popular with the locals... Save perhaps the occasional angry grocer." At his last comment he flashes Setsuna a friendly smirk before beginning to dig into his meal. "By the way I am Taladron. Do you have a name or should we just call you Pharasmin?"

[ProudGrognard]

Sirus

Sirus only watches impassively at the strange answer, but then Taladron puts things right. The revelation that Brin in a cleric of Pharasma almost make him lift an eyebrow in surprise. She, a follower of the lady? She seemed quite different than most of Pharasma 's clerics Sirus had met.

Can this be a coincidence? I have been looking to share my burden with someone. Could she be the one?

However, her description of Pharasma 's will, leaves Sirus almost open-mouthed.

In the Lady's. Spiral. All debts. Are paid. Even the. Smallest ones.

Sirus makes the lady's sign with his hands.

"As Taladron said. We helped. Goblins. And worse. Pay their. Debt. To Sandpoint. The town. Still remembers. This."

he points to the dagger

"Is from. A friend. Who gave. Everything. To achieve. That goal."

[maggie_mcknife]

Red

At Sirus's mention of Cipriano, Red bows her head, staring down into her brimming tankard of mead.

She'd thought about Mister Fox a lot in the past two weeks. She hadn't known him all that well, and he hadn't known her much either. But he'd always been kind to her. More than that, he'd saved her, choosing to die instead of her. That wasn't the sort of thing you could pay back.

Red runs her finger along the edge of her tankard, drawing a dark line through the beads of condensation on the side. Setsuna had said that the best way to pay Mister Fox back was to live well. She had to try. Because not everyone got a second chance.

Glancing up across the table at the newcomer, who is currently tucking into the ham with gusto, Red breathes out quietly, a sad smile touching the corners of her lips. "We helped Miss Ameiko... But we couldn't save our... friend. Tonight. We drink to him."

Gently clinking the base of her tankard against the mug of anyone else willing, Red drains the lot, her eyes fixed on the parchment fluttering forlornly on the wall.

Mister Cayden, gather him as one of your best.

[Bhaakon]

Brin

"My name is Brin," she responds to Taladron, "and you mean there's a difference? Surely your floating roll flies in the face of many natural laws and regulations. That's sort of the point of the arcane, isn't it? Acquiring power and knowledge otherwise forbidden to mortals?" She responds to Taldaran between bite of ham, irked at her previous error. "That is to say, I don't do anything. I ask Pharasma for certain little favors, and she usually sees fit to grant them."

"Like this. You see?" Brin draws some tobacco and a ten inch churchwarden pipe from a pouch on the side of her pack--one that can't be more than half that depth. She loads the pipe with a deft motion and mutters, "Lady of Souls, please forgive this vulgar display of your favor, but I beseech you to set this tobacco smoldering." As she completes the request with a formulaic prayer, a thin trail of smoke wafts up from the bowl of the pipe.

But any satisfaction is immediately squelched when Sirus and Red reveal that they're here to honor a dead friend. She hide her discomfort well--conducting oneself properly around mourners is something a cleric of Pharasma learns early. Brin raises a glass with the others at Red's toast and holds her tongue for a respectful interval afterwards.

But Sirus's earlier statement sticks with her. Before long, she turns back to him, "You're one of the faithful, as well?" It's hard to tell whether this pleases her or not. "You're right that all debts are added up in the final accounting, but some carry more weight than others. She cares most about debts of death, undeath, and fate denied. The debts which she collects herself. Fall behind on those and find your judgement truly unpleasant."

"The rest, well, the judgement isn't just about punishment, but about finding a place where your soul fits best. One soul's bliss is another's bane. If you continually deny your true self in life, you may wind up doing it in the afterlife as well." She finishes by dumping the ashes from her pipe into an empty tankard.

"But this is a celebration of your friend's life. I know as well as anyone that now isn't the best time for such a discussion. Perhaps I should take my leave..."

[ProudGrognard]

Sirus

Sirus for a moment remains silent. His impassive face does not make clear whether he is thinking what he heard, or if he is formulating his answer. But it all ends with a quick head gesture.

"You are. Right. In both. Counts. I am. Of the. Faithful. And more. And. This. Is not. The time.

I would. Speak. More. Of this. But now. Stay. Our friend. Cypriano. Always believed. That the more. The merrier. Drink. And eat. With us. He would. have wanted it. That way.

The first day. Here. He made. A party. Of his. Stay. Yes?"

That was aimed at the others.

[maggie_mcknife]

Red

"...Yes. He did. Party." Red nods slowly in confirmation. Which reminded her...

Excusing herself, Red wends her way to the bar and waits patiently for Ameiko to catch a free moment between serving drinks. She wasn't Mister Fox. She wouldn't shout this aloud to the entire tavern. But it was something he'd have done. Fishing two gold pieces out of her belt, Red pushes them across the bar table to Ameiko, who picks them up questioningly, quirking an eyebrow.

Red picks up an empty glass, turning it over in her hands. What would Cipriano have said? Ah, yes.

"... A pint... of beer. For everyone here. For Cayden Cailean..." She places the glass gently back down on the bar top, smiling wistfully by way of explanation. "...and Sandpoint. It is... the fourteenth day."

Thanking Ameiko and leaving her to do the serving, Red rejoins the others at the table, sipping on honeywine and gnawing on a bread roll. She would usually have slipped outside for a breather by now, but it was a special occasion and it wouldn't do to leave the table.

[Miraqariftsky]

At the door, a shadow appears
Hobnailed boots thudding
On the Rusty's floor

Orcblooded bulk does bore
Through crowd's press a-swirling, a-swilling
The scarred scowl twitches, wincing at drunkards' cheers

Clad in a heavy greatcoat
And a hat broad-brimmed silver-trimmed
Grunts, the missing member of the rumours' heroes

Then rumbles and clears her throat
Glares at empty distance, her eyes' light dimmed
Down the hatch, her beer goes

Wolvish ears twitch, amber eyes squint
Over a sigh, over a yawn,
Over a second foaming mug
Thick-thewed shoulders sink,
As the heavily scarred woman slumps...
...then simply says,

"Aye. To Father Fox.
Squad. Good evenin'.
...Hrrhghrhmmm. Brin, Pharasmin pilgrim... did I get that right? How're yeh findin' Sandpoint thus far? Hrrhmm. "

[Desril]

Setsuna

Joining Red's toast, the tiefling continues to drink while listening to Brin's conversation with the others. At her offer to leave however, Setsuna sides with Sirus, "That is right, he would have preferred we not chase company away, you should stay even if you did not know him. We know his final judgement was a fair one at least..."Before remembering how sad she was when he passed on however, Red returns with 'free' alcohol right behind her, reminding Setsuna more of the first night Cipriano was with them and bringing a small smile to her face.

Accepting her share of the pint that Red had just bought everyone, while wary of the simple beer at first, eventually finishes her wine and starts drinking from it. It was just as her face started to get flushed, from the alcohol, rather than embarrassment for a change, that she finally noticed the remnants of the brand on Red's finger. Not wanting to broach a sensitive topic tactlessly, but having few inhibitions to begin with and a few drinks already down, the tiefling's present level of tact is a bit lacking as she whispers an aside to Red with a tone of mixed curiosity and concern. Motioning to her branded hand she asks, "Is that from...before you met Rico-san?"

Before Red has a chance to answer however, the half-orcess makes her appearance at their table, having snuck in while Setsuna wasn't looking. At the constable's good evening, the tipsy tiefling returns the greeting with an additional "Is every thing alright?"

[maggie_mcknife]

Red

Somewhat taken aback by Setsuna's abrupt question, Red almost neglects to notice Rico's arrival, recovering just in time to pat Rico's arm and smile up at her best friend in welcome. Nevertheless, she gives the question due consideration, taking her time as she nibbles the crust off her bread roll. She'd learned by now that Setsuna had a tendency to ask difficult questions without realising that they were difficult to answer.

Still, it was a fair question. And it was probably better for her companions to hear it from her own mouth rather than from someone else.

Red inclines her head, swallowing before she replies in a quiet but clear voice. "...Yes. From when I... stole things. In Magnimar... I was caught. If you do not have... protection... from a gang, you go to the Hells. To jail. This... is how they keep track of you. It will tell... any watchman... what you have done." Breathing out heavily, Red catches Sirus's eye from across the table, then glances at Setsuna, a faint self-deprecating smile playing at her lips. "I am not a very good thief. Sellswording... is easier. There is more blood... but less guilt."

[Desril]

Setsuna

"I am sure you are a very good thief, you were just unlucky!" Beaming, not quite aware that calling her a good thief may not be the best of compliments, but not personally being bothered by Red's criminal past. She had a rough childhood, she did what she had to do.

***

After a few more drinks, drunk enough to act on bad ideas, more than usual at least, but not so drunk as to be stumbling around, the Tian-Min tiefling approaches Ameiko requesting the bard's musical talents be put to use when she is free for a minute. If the proprietress agrees, then Setsuna moves to dance with the bardic performance, offering to teach the steps to anyone who wants join her.


Perform: Dance (have to use this at least once a chapter lol)
[roll0]

[bcool999]

Taladron

Taladron joins in the toast but nurses just the one drink for the night. As my Aunt would say, 'Wizards and drink don't mix, as it usually results in fires or lightning or blizzards or some such silliness.'

He nods his head in greeting to Rico, curious as to what kept her.

Upon hearing of Red's checkered past, Taladron is glad she never visited his shop in Magnimar... It would make things terribly awkward now.

As Setsuna starts to dance, Taladron watches and keeps time with a tap of the foot. However, he is much to shy to just stand up and dance in front of strangers.

[Bhaakon]

Brin

"Aye, you've got the name right." Brin responds to the new arrival with a smirk. "Yours is Rico, I take it? Your friends here have been asking about you all evening."

"As for the town, it's proven well provisioned, generous, and surprisingly well informed." She's not exactly peeved that Rico knew her name, but it had certainly come as a surprise. They'd made her sign those papers at the gate, but surely no one actually read those boilerplate forms without reason. Brin didn't consider herself a notable personage, and Sandpoint wasn't a small enough town that each stranger should be marked for special attention...or so she'd thought.

Brin has nothing to offer in response to Red's revelations. She hardly knows the woman, but her role in the averting recent goblin crisis was clearly a count in her favor, and Brin isn't much concerned with thievery (which isn't to say she wouldn't stop one if she were on the scene). How Red's recent heroism might weigh against past missteps was for the Goddess to decide.

As for the dancing, well...maybe after a few more rounds.

[maggie_mcknife]

GM post

Setsuna's unusual request is met with an impish grin from the barkeep, who despite her thriving business and newly inherited title, can never pass up a chance to display her skill on the samisen. Once the supper crowd has settled down somewhat, Ameiko hands management of the kitchen over to Bethana and takes up court on her own bar counter, waving to Setsuna over everyone's heads to signal that she's ready to start.

Rather than the familiar Minkaian tunes that Setsuna was expecting, however, Ameiko, in a fit of fey mischief, selects instead a jaunty and rousing Ulfen drinking song that quickly has the clientele cheering and clapping along to the beat. Fortunately, Setsuna has drunk more than enough beer to gamely improvise, much to the audience's delight. As it turns out, there are even a few Varisian traders in town who are more than happy to join in the dance, quickly turning the atmosphere festive with their nimble feet and whirling scarves.

The drinking and dancing continue on late into the night, no thanks to a late appearance by Mandraiv, who decides to join in the music with his lute. By the time the tipsy revelers who don't have lodging in the Rusty Dragon begin to make their way home, still drunkenly whistling or singing as they go, it is long past the first hour.

*****

Day 23: Lamashan 14, 4707

It is now about 1000hrs. (Rico's work shift starts at noon.)

Given the amount of drinking that went on the previous night, by the time most of you wake up, the sun has long since risen. (Except for Setsuna. You wake up not in your room, but with your arm pillowed on one of the tables in the dining area. Your other hand is still clasped around a mostly empty mug of beer and someone's kapenia is around your neck. Someone else, probably Ameiko, has thoughtfully draped a blanket over your shoulders. You may or may not have a pounding headache.)

Venturing back down into the dining area of the Rusty Dragon, you find the place strangely subdued and empty, with only the odd traveller working on breakfast porridge and some of Ameiko's servants puttering around with brooms and trays. The smell of alcohol is heavy in the air and the sunlight filtering in through the windowpanes is wan and occasional cut off by a legion of passing clouds. From the looks of it, an autumn storm is likely to hit the town in the afternoon.

It is a Moonday, so the sombre mood isn't anything out of the ordinary. Still, as you order your breakfast (or is that brunch?) you can't help feeling in your gut that things are far too quiet.

This feeling is soon confirmed. No sooner have you been served your food and drink, the tavern doors creak open to reveal the looming figure of Sheriff Hemlock - grim-faced, sullen, and with dark circles under his eyes. Judging from his creased uniform and the scuffling drag of his boots, the man has been up the entire night and is looking rather worse for the wear.

Upon seeing you, the Sheriff approaches, frowning slightly at those of you who are obviously hungover and giving Brin a cursory glance. "Good. I was hoping I would find your group here. Where is Rico? And is there a more private place where we can speak?" Stifling a yawn, the Sheriff winces and shakes his head. "I am sorry to have to disturb all of you at this hour. The night patrol reported that things were rather lively down at the Rusty last night. However, there's been... well, a... situation."

[ProudGrognard]

Sirus

Sirus is up for breakfast early on, despite the fact that he stayed until very late into the night. He drunk very sparingly, and his face never cracked a smile, but near the end of the night, he was almost moving in rhythm with the singing and dancing.

Now, having devoured his usual breakfast of fruits, cheese and bread, he is enjoying his morning tea right next to sleeping Setsuna. The whole picture is rather silly, with Siris serious over his tea and Setsuna sleeping into her arms.

However, when the Sheriff enters, Sirus unwittingly tenses. He can almost feel the bad news.

After Hemlock is finished speaking, Sirus nods and goes to fetch those that are not there. After waking Setsuna and having a pot of coffee in front of her.

[Desril]

Setsuna

Waking up to Sirus' gentle nudging and the smell of coffee, Setsuna is blessedly free of a alcohol induced headache, thank Cayden, but still quite tired from a night of drinking and dancing. Taking the coffee out of politeness, she sips away at it while wishing she'd had the foresight to ask for tea to wake up to last night.

Stifling a yawn herself at the sight of the sheriff, the tiefling. "I am not sure where the constable left to, I have only just woken up myself." While waiting for Sirus to return with the others she mentions that several of them have rooms in the inn in response to his question of privacy, "Would one of those suffice or should we go to the barracks?"

[maggie_mcknife]

GM post

The Sheriff helps himself to a serving of the coffee from the pot in front of Setsuna, appropriating a nearby empty tankard that the staff of the Rusty Dragon haven't gotten around to clearing yet. "A room... That would be ideal. If you would be as kind, Miss Setsuna, as to lead the way?"

A few minutes later finds all six of you piled into the room assigned to Setsuna, those of you who have just awakened still wiping the sleep from your eyes. Grunting softly, the Sheriff exchanges formal salutes with Rico before clapping his adopted on the shoulder and taking up position in the far corner of the room - an angle that allows him an unimpeded view of both the shuttered window and the door.

Removing his helm and running his fingers through long hair going grey at the temples, Sheriff Hemlock frowns once more at Brin's presence before clearing his throat.

"First of all, let me thank you all - again - for all that you've done for Sandpoint. And my apologies for rousing you first thing in the morning. The Inheritor knows, there's precious little we can do to repay you save with our hospitality for as long as you should chose to stay in Sandpoint. In fact, I was almost afraid that one of you would have upped and left by now..."

At this, the Sheriff sucks in his cheeks and shaking his head, his voice edged with bitterness. "... because there's a new problem - one that I earnestly wish I didn't have to involve anyone in. It needs dealing with now. Before the situation gets worse, and I know for a fact that none of my men and women are equipped to handle this situation. And it would have to happen after the Magnimar detachment went home... almost as though someone was waiting for their chance..."

Holding up a gauntleted hand to forestall those of you with questions or those who might protest that the Sandpoint Watch had handled themselves admirably enough during the goblin crisis, Sheriff Hemlock sighs heavily. "I'll get to the point. We have a murderer in our midst - one whom, I fear, has only begun his or her foul work. You remember the Chopper days under Sheriff Avertin, don't you, Rico? Or perhaps those of you who have been around here long enough would know - before the old chapel burned down, how Sandpoint nearly tore itself apart from fear under the predations of a madman. Slayings in the streets with no author in sight. I'm afraid we might have something similar brewing now."

Knowledge (local) DC 10 - can make untrained if your PC resides in Sandpoint or has visited Sandpoint more than once
Sheriff Hemlock is referencing what the locals call the Late Unpleasantness - an unfortunate trio of events that took place within the same span of two months.

The first was the apparent suicide of Atsuii Kaijitsu, who leapt to her death off the cliff the Kaijitsu manor was located on. (If your PC played through the earlier part of Burnt Offerings, you'll recall that Tsuto Kaijitsu was of the opinion that Lonjiku had pushed her off.) The second was the burning down of the old chapel. The third, which the Sheriff has just mentioned, is the murder spree of the 'Chopper' - a local woodcarver, apparently driven mad by the behests of a demonic patron, who slaughtered and mutilated the bodies of over two dozen citizens (including the previous Sheriff) before he was finally tracked down and found dead, having slain himself in a final act of devotion.

"Last night, the murderer - or murderers - struck at the Scarnetti sawmill. There are two victims and they're... they're in pretty gruesome shape." The Sheriff wearily rubs the stubble on his chin, shaking his head once more and closing his eyes. That's not a good sign - if even a hardened veteran like the Sheriff is spooked, then the bodies must have been very severely mutilated indeed. "The bodies were discovered by one of the mill workers - Ibor Thorn. By the time the Watch got there, well. You know how it was when Alergest died. Crowd and circus out in force, trying to sneak a peek."

"I left Sergeant Akhbar in charge there to lock things down. But what gets me right here is the fact that this is actually the second set of murders we've had in the last few days. Given the similarities between the victims, I have good reason to believe that they were the handiwork of the same person. And whoever that person is... he or she is trying to frame one of you."

Reaching for his belt pouch, Sheriff Hemlock draws forth a thin scroll case of the sort that scholars use. Unscrewing the top, he shakes out a blood-spotted scrap of parchment that he holds out to none other than Sirus Skerlati.

If Sirus takes the parchment and reads it...
The handwriting on the parchment is jittery but distinct enough, as though written by someone with a spasming arm.


Master Skerlati:

I do as you command!


The Servant of Skinsaw

[ProudGrognard]

Sirus

Sirus has been listening to the Sheriff in his usual, deadpan, serious way. His face if any grew more expressionless as time went by.

But he almost blinked back in suprise, when he was handed the parchment. He reads it and then looks around as if waiting someone to say something. And then reads it again. He opens his mouth to speak, then shuts it and collects himself. He speaks again.

"Well.

First of all. Last night. I was here. All night. Several people. Saw me.

Secondly. I came here. For the first time. Just before. The festival. If these things. Have happened. Before. Then. I could not. Have been. Involved.

Finally. I am willing. To pay. Out of my own. Pocket. For divine. And magical. Interrogation. To clear. My name.

However. Until then. What is. My status? Am I. Free. To look into. The matter? Am I. Under arrest?"

[maggie_mcknife]

GM post

"If I wished to arrest you, I would have done so by now, with several guards as back-up no less. Besides, your friends here would testify and stand as witnesses on your behalf, I'm sure. No, I believe that the real murderer is trying to throw us off the scent by seeding a false trail and that you are innocent." Sheriff Hemlock gives a mirthless smile. "Nevertheless, the murderer would not name one of you without cause. If you could please think hard - have any of you offended anyone in town recently? Did Nualia have any other associates that we failed to capture? Or perhaps some of you have made enemies who have followed you here and wish you ill?"

At this point, Sheriff Hemlock gives Red a long hard stare down the length of his bony nose.

[ProudGrognard]

Sirus

Situs takes a minute to think his answer, again.

"I do not. Think. I have made. An enemy. Of anyone. Here. As for Nualia. All her known. Accomplishes. Are accounted for.

As for enemies. Yes. I had. Some powerful. Ones. Back in Taldor. But they believe me. Dead. And would not. Act. That way. Rather. I would have. Been found. In a bad. State.

But I believe. We must. Survey. The scene. And what does. The servant. Of the Skinsaw. Means?"

[Bhaakon]

Brin

A yawn a muffles curse are Brin's initial response when Sirus shakes her shoulder. Is that the life of a hero? Partying all night and being roused at dawn? She wonders, not really caring that's obviously nearer to noon than sunup. Maybe I'll pass.

But it's too late to go back to sleep, not with the Sheriff jawing about the latest 'situation'. It may be a hassle, but at least it's an interesting hassle.

She feigns sleep until the others retreat to Setsuna's room, then, after waiting a few moments for them to settle in, she heads upstairs herself. The Rusty Dragon was well built, but probably not sound proof. Hopefully she'd be able to catch most of the conversation from the hall. And if she was noticed, she could just say that she was going to retrieve her bow and morningstar from her room. If she still had a room.

I should really see about paying at some point. She scolds herself, as she kneels down outside Setsuna's door to 're-tie her boot laces.'

[bcool999]

Taladron

Well rested and clear headed due to his abstinence of drinking and staying up too late, Taladron has already prepared his spells, but nevertheless is flipping through his spellbook idly as the sheriff explained the situation.

He glances up when a connection to one of them is mentioned and gets a thoughtful look on his face when Sirus is named in the note. "Well if we are dealing with a psychopath then it doesn't even need to be an enemy. In fact, the respect used in the note when referring to Sirus could mean that it is someone you helped who had a mental break." Taladron scratches his chin for a moment before adding, "The note also could have been meant for another Skerlati... Though of course I am not trying to accuse one of your relatives Sirus." Taladron says in apology.

[Desril]

Setsuna

After leading the group to her room, Setsuna listens without interrupting for a while, finally speaking up after the sheriff confirms that Sirus isn't under arrest and the half-orc asks about the Servant of the Skinsaw. "Father Skinsaw is one of the titles of Norgorber, god of secrets and murder. I have heard that his cultists have learned how to hide their worship well, since they are not recognized as a church outside of Absalom."

Frowning she looks at Sheriff Hemlock, "But wait, you said this is the second set of murders. I have not heard about any problems since Thistletop, when was anyone murdered? And who has been killed?"

[maggie_mcknife]

GM post

"Of course, you may survey the scene... Might turn up stuff my guards missed. But cultists...? Sheriff Hemlock scowls when Setsuna mentions the church of Norgorber, looking as though he'd just swallowed something sour. "Hmph. Would make sense though. Because what gave me the idea that the murders were linked were these weird markings on the chests of the victims... like they'd been carved on purpose. I've no idea what they mean, and I'd rather one of you have a look than I drag Ilsoari or Quink in. They'd have no stomach for this sort of business."

"And yes. The second set. You might recall those three swindlers what turned up dead in Celvin's barn a few days back, with the one mad survivor?" The Sheriff nods in Rico's direction - her duty for the previous day had been to escort the poor madman to a sanitarium some miles out of Sandpoint. "Those were the first and frankly seeing those three dead wasn't much of a surprise. They were making plenty of enemies in Sandpoint with their con-games and scams, and I'd warned them to stay out of trouble. S'only a matter of time before a disgruntled customer or some Sczarni came looking for them - I'd thought the markings on their chests to be simply the work of a sick mind. But seeing the same markings again? Banny and Katrine were regular hardworking folk."

For those of you with better memories, the names that the Sheriff mentions suddenly click - Banny was one of Mandraiv's drinking buddies, and Katrine - unless there are two women in town with the same name - is Ven Vinder's eldest daughter.

*****

Red

Much to her own surprise, Red glares back at the Sheriff, more irritated than anything that he would even think of something crazy like someone trying to get to her through Sirus. The only person she knew of in Sandpoint (other than the Sheriff) who might have a beef with her was Jubrayl Vhiski. Whom the Sheriff wouldn't and couldn't arrest for a lack of evidence, as he himself had grudgingly admitted the year before. And surely even Jubrayl wouldn't be so silly as to try the exact same trick as before - framing someone for murder.

Still. Murders and cultists? This didn't sound good... Red bites her lip and glances around worriedly at the others. Who on earth among them had pissed off a crazy stabber?

[Miraqariftsky]

PFFFSSSTTUUUUUAAAHHK!
"Asmodeus' arse, what?!

Comes a burst of brown as Rico's coffee
Spat and spilled in surprise
Even while her hands
Scramble to shield
Her notes, there
A-scratching on
The new
Matter

"...hrhmm. Hellsteeth.
Hrhmm. Sir?"

She curses, then rumbles in thought
As she prepares to ask
A questioning slew,

"First off, just to get it off the board,
Has the Watch in general been put on alert?
Just to be sure, have we checked the files of all the victims?
Associates, both recent and distant,
Anybody suspicious?
Or noteworthy?

Has the crime scene...
Have the crime sceneS been secured?

For the record,
CAN we... visit the bodies,
To further investigate the injuries
An' ta draw copies of them, fer perusal
By our probably skittish resident professors?
And HAVE the bodies been blessed already?
JUST ta make sure there be no...
...recurrences...
Of the, ahem,
Recent unholiness?

Hmm. Triangle of crime...
Motive, Opportunity, Means...

Aye, the usual suspects line up fer the previous
Set o' victims, but that level of brutality... ahem.
Daddy dearest also presents hisself
HAS he been brought in arready?
Fer the second set o' victims
But we run inta th' same problem
Regarding the suspected cult-marks
That we're suspectin' are settin' this crap apart
From yer usual revenge killings

Spread th' standard net
Get th' word of all associates
O' the misfortunately deceased.
Hold yer horses. HAVE all next-o-kin been informed?

Further... hmm...
Sirus, that note---
---Of the time ye'd been here in Sandpoint,
You'd been in close, or at least noteworthy contact
With your fellows in the Auxiliary Squad,
The Watch, the professors,
Certain religious ministers,
And our dear Keep Kaijitsu.
Did I miss anybody? Ahhhhhh, hmm...

Agreed with that thought, master Taladron.

Chief? What files do we have on
The Foxglove family? And Aldern Foxglove?

Further, sir...
Who else do we have
Besides the local, AHEM, Scarzni
Who might be well-versed in THAT sorta bladework?

Hellgirl, thanks for your... insight...
Clearly, any such adherents o' this Norgorber ninker
Woulda be underground, perforce. Do we have any might-bes thattaway, sir?"

[maggie_mcknife]

GM post

It is perhaps a sign of just how tired he is that Sheriff Hemlock merely steps out of the way of Rico's coffee jet with a maddening calm, looking down at the stains on Setsuna's floor before shrugging and doing his best to answer her slew of questions.

"The Watch is indeed on high alert, though I'm chary of dedicating too much presence at the sawmill. It might freak out the citizens even more, and Mayor Deverin has given explicit instructions that we are to avoid that as best we can at all costs."

"As for the victims, not everyone has a file. Sergeant Hannah has this idea that maybe our friend Jubrayl Vhiski got tired of having local competition and sent an assassin to take 'em out and show he means business. But he's got no connection that we know of to Banny or Katrine, and the survivor was far too incoherent for us to interrogate - surely you saw as much when transporting him. We've taken Ibor Thorn and Ven Vinder in for questioning, as proximity suspects. But frankly? Ibor's a wreck right now, and while Ven's got a massive temper and hated Banny with a vengeance, I'm not sure he had it in him to kill his own daughter. But perhaps Miss Setsuna would care to tell me more on that subject?" The Sheriff raises an eyebrow in the tiefling's direction.

"The barn was cordoned off by Constable Dagmar, so I'd say that both places are under lock-down. The first three bodies are still in the Garrison basement and nobody's moved the most recent two. Nobody's stealing anything, and Brother Vosk is coming by shortly to tend to them. But all the same... I'd really rather as few people as possible saw the bodies... or what's left of them. It really wouldn't help with the panic."

"Harker's from Magnimar, so it'll take us a while to track down his old man. As for the Vinders... yes. They're aware," mutters the Sheriff grimly, his eyes hardening. Clearly, arresting Ven hadn't been the most pleasant or easiest of duties.

"The Foxgloves? They've no file at all. Not exactly in our jurisdiction either. Sure, there's the family mansion nearly 6 miles out west, but nobody's lived in it for ages. Not after the double suicides of Sir Aldern's parents. Sir Aldern's camped out in the Magnimar family manor with his wife these days." The Sheriff draws the spiral of Pharasma in the air as a warding against bad spirits. "Something of a businessman, or so Voss tells me."

"Who has that kind of skill with a knife in Sandpoint...? Excepting Chod Bevuk at the meat market, Jubrayl himself, and possibly Miss Allin here? Nobody that I know of. Though I imagine that's hardly a talent on common display," says the Sheriff dryly, giving Red another hard stare.

"And no, not that we are aware of. If there was as much as a hint of someone worshipping Norgorber in Sandpoint, Father Zantus would be there post-haste to root out the taint. That said, none of us knew that the Chopper was worshipping demons either. Who knows what goes on behind closed doors at night?"

[Desril]

Setsuna

At the sheriff's question the tiefling quickly shakes her head, "If it were me who died, maybe, but he would take his own life before he let anyone hurt Shayliss. I assume his other daughter would be the same." Even only speaking to him occasionally was enough figure that much out, especially after last night.

Noticing Hemlock's glare at Red for a change causes Setsuna to clear her throat and speak up, "I am sure there are several people in town who could wield a knife sufficiently for this without it being common knowledge, even I can use a knife fairly well." Loathe to suggest what is on her mind, the tiefling wraps her tail snugly around her waist before continuing, "But standing around here will get us nowhere. We should go see their bodies...we may be able to find something with magic that the Watch missed."

[maggie_mcknife]

GM post

Sheriff Hemlock grunts loudly and sighs. "Aye. I'll take you all to the sawmill now, if you're willing. While the evidence is still... fresh. I suggest you all refrain from breakfast if you've not had the chance yet, and grab any gear you feel you might need. Hand that note to me for safekeeping if you will, Mister Skerlati. I'll wait downstairs." Giving the coffee stains on the floor a severe glance, he raises an eyebrow and grimaces. "Eh, I'll go fetch someone to wipe that off the floor for you, Miss Setsuna. Rico, you need to be more careful where you spit."

Striding to the door and yanking it open, the Sheriff almost trips over Brin, who is likely still bent over outside.

Quick! Someone explain Brin's presence! Or Brin can explain herself. :smallbiggrin:

*****

Red

Setsuna coming to her defense surprises Red, causing her to colour up slightly. That was... unexpected. People didn't usually contradict the Sheriff in public. Not even Rico.

When it becomes clear that this meeting is done, Red goes to Setsuna's side and rests her fingers on the back of the tiefling's wrist, bowing her head to indicate her thanks. Next, she moves to where Sirus is and gives his arm a gentle squeeze - for she can hardly reach his shoulder - smiling at him.

"...I know you didn't do it. I'll back you up."

[ProudGrognard]

Sirus

Sirus accepts Red 's assurance with a bow. His eyes look a bit haunted. It is a strange assurance, but assurance nevertheless.

"Thank you. This is. Valuable. To me."

When Brin appears magically outside the door, Sirus, ever the faithful Pharasmite, quickly makes a decision.

"Sister Brin. Welcome. I was. Expecting you. Earlier. Please. Join us. We will. Need. Your spiritual. Guidance. And. Expertise."

[Bhaakon]

Brin

"Yes. Sorry for the...uh...delay, Sirus. Had to get some things from my room, then I noticed my boot was untied, and I wound up having to re-lace the whole thing." She explains, doing her best not to look too suspicious.

"But wait, spiritual guidance and expertise? Don't tell me there's been a death. No one bothers to seek a priestess of Pharasma's guidance and expertise on much else." She quickly adds, hoping to take control of the discussion before she can be accused of eavesdropping. "Well, midwifing, I suppose, but usually the Sheriff doesn't rush in and call a private meeting to announce a birth. But that's not really my specialty.

Anyway, it must be fairly serious if you think I should go. Let's not tarry here, then. "

[bcool999]

Taladron

Wishing he had more useful divination spells given the current situation, Taladron closes his spellbook and stores it in his haversack before following the others making sure to take a wide step around the coffee.

When it appears that Brin will be coming along, Taladron wonders how she would be of help. Then again, her being a cleric of Pharasma might mean she has a good deal of experience with the dead and the circumstances surrounding it.

[maggie_mcknife]

GM post

For a moment, Sheriff Hemlock scowls, glancing from Brin to Sirus and back as though seriously contemplating the possibility of Brin being an accomplice and Sirus really having something to do with the whole. The mention that Brin is a priestess of Pharasma seems to settle it though. A bona fide cleric of the Lady of Graves would probably do much more to put the townsfolk at ease.

His tone is grudging. It's probably a good thing he doesn't know about Brin's failure thus far to pay her bills at the Rusty. "Come then, ma'am. Yes, we have dead people. They are not likely to get deader. Perhaps a touch of the divine in our investigations would not be amiss."

*****

It is now about 1100hrs.

The sawmills lie on the north-east side of town where the Turandarok River runs. As you all walk there, Sheriff Hemlock takes the time to fill you all in with a few more details.

"Complaints about the sawmill running late into the night had been going on for a while now. Folks living in the area, as you can fancy, don't like falling asleep to the soothing screech and thumps of a functioning logsplitter. Banny'd been ignoring our warnings though, going on about 'loss of profits' and 'maximising resources'. You'd know, Rico - you issued him the fine for disturbing the peace and he'd promised to end things 'fore the first bell next time."

"According to the neighbours though, the logsplitter noises last night never stopped - went on all the way until we showed up this morning. 'Bout the 8th hour this morning when a couple of irate folks hustled down to Ibor Thorn's house and demand he switch the damn thing off. So off they go to the mill and next thing the waiting neighbours knew, out stumbles Ibor, white as a sheet, clutching folks and mumbling and pleading with someone to fetch the Watch because 'Banny'd been kilt'."

The Sheriff's imitation of Ibor's thick farmer's accent is cruelly accurate, though he probably intends no malice by it."Well, thanks to that logsplitter, nobody heard aught of cries for help or any signs that something was wrong." Nodding at a couple of passer-bys, the Sheriff sighs bitterly and shielding his eyes, gazes up at a cloudless autumn sky with the sun blazing down. It is going to be a very hot day indeed.

*****

Skill check rolls made in the OOC

Perception
Red (24), Rico (22), Sirus (20), Brin (17), Setsuna (15), Taladron (13)

Heal
Taladron (19), Rico (18), Brin (16), Sirus (16), Setsuna (13), Red (5)

Survival
Red (26), Sirus (22), Taladron (20), Setsuna (17), Brin (16), Rico (8)

Knowledge (Arcana) - 23 + 2 = 25
Highest score: Taladron (23)
Aid Another: Setsuna (14)

Knowledge (Religion) - 13 + 2 = 15
Highest score: Brin (13)
Aid Another: Taladron (11)

The crowd outside the mill has grown larger since the Sheriff left, though the looming presence of the dour Sergeant Akhbar and half-dozen more armed watchmen keep them in check and several metres clear off the winding path leading up to the mill. The instant Sheriff Hemlock appears on the scene though, a good portion of the crowd surges towards him, pelting him with frantic questions and demanding to know what exactly is going on.

The Sheriff has the good sense to wave you all on before turning to handle the worried citizens. Sergeant Akhbar, upon spotting Rico's helmeted form, shouts something to the other watchmen, who move to let you all aside. Apparently, the decision to deputise your group is no secret among the town guards, though some do look questioningly at Brin, as though wondering what this newcomer could possibly be doing here with the goblin heroes.

Even from the path, the sweet scent of pine and the sharper tang of eucalyptus is palpable in the air. The sawmill, one of Sandpoint's three, is an aging creaking edifice with thick walls and a mossy shingle roof, the crimson and gold banner of House Scarnetti prominently displayed on the wall facing the town. Ahead of you, the path splits, one side running past a wooden pier with loading pulleys to a large waterwheel, and the other leading to your current destination - the entrance to the mill.

At the mill doors, you find Constable Voss standing guard with a halberd in his hand and a large spotted handkerchief tied around the lower half of his face like a bandit mask. He idly tosses off a salute as you approach. "No one's been by since we got 'ere," he comments in a muffled voice as he moves to let you all enter.

Those of you who are close enough catch the strong whiff of something herbal coming from Voss's mask as you pass and once you enter the mill, you understand why. Despite the natural scent of fresh-cut lumber, there is an awful overpowering stench of decay in the air - almost enough to make your eyes water, as though an animal had died somewhere and its remains have had several days time to ripen and spill.

Knowledge (Religion) - Brin and Taladron only
Considering that the deaths supposedly only took place less than half a day ago, there shouldn't be this much stink in the air. This means one of two things - either the murders took place at least more than a week ago (which isn't possible, since Taladron would definitely have seen Katrine running errands for her father at some point), or some form of corporeal undead was in the building only very recently.

The stench makes it surprisingly hard to catch the metallic smell of dried blood, considering just how much of it has obviously been spilled. The mill interior just next to the door is coated with sawdust strewn with footprints and several dark splashes of blood - it doesn't take a genius to figure out that there some sort of struggle took place here several hours ago.

Survival checks - Red, Sirus, and Taladron only
There is more than one set of footprints here. Most of them seem to have been made by boots and shoes, but you are able to pick out one set of prints that is not only barefoot, but reeks especially strongly of rotten meat...

If you carefully step past the mess by the door and around some heavy cast iron machinery, you find yourself face to face with the body of what was presumably the late Banny Harker.

Most of you are familiar enough with bloodshed and death, but the sight before you might sicken even a Zon-Kuthite. Harker's murderer was apparently pleased to pin the man's spread-eagled naked body to the wall like a drugged frog in a laboratory, driving several of the thick hooks used meant for dragging lumber through the joints of his limbs and neck. The body has been horribly mutilated, with the face carved away and the lower jaw and eyeballs missing entirely. The rest of the body is covered with several deep slashes that go down to the bone - as though some crazed butcher went to work with a cleaver.

(Indeed, the only clear indication that this body is indeed Banny Harker's is a faded tattoo of a raven in flight on the hip - the bird's head now separated from the body by a particularly deep gash. Those of you who've met him before might recall the man bragging and showing it off while drinking, claiming that it'd been done by a Harrow reader and that it'd bring him good fortune at work.)

Everyone passed the Perception check
You can see why Sheriff Hemlock might have thought this was the work of cultists. Among the flaps of loose skin and gobbets of hanging flesh on the chest of the body is a vague familiar sunburst-like pattern.

You also find Banny's eyeballs. They're lying some distance away on a patch of straw, staring into nothing, and look horribly like a child's stray marbles.

Knowledge (Arcana) - Taladron and Setsuna only
Setsuna takes a while longer to figure it out but glancing at Taladron, who has already identified the pattern, confirms her thoughts. Banny's chest bears a crudely hacked version of the Sihedron Rune - the very same rune found beneath the Glassworks and at Thistletop. It is also currently found on the amulet that Taladron took from Nualia.

Heal checks - Taladron, Brin, Rico, and Sirus only
You notice on Harker's body that there are several smaller and more ragged gashes running along his neck and arms that don't appear to have been made by a chopping weapon. Given their size and length, it would seem that these gashes were made by a human-sized hand or claw with five fingers.

For a moment, some of you might wonder where Katrine's body is in all this mess. Those of you who decide to examine a nearby chute in the wall where the logs are fed into the logsplitter need wonder no more. Much of the chute is slick with blood and a quick glance down into the basement pit where the riven logs fall once they have been sawn up into firewood reveals what is left of poor Katrine - that is to say, not much. There's a recognisable hand, several mangled chunks of flesh, and most of a ruined dinner dress embroidered with Mrs Vinder's distinctive lace pattern left. The lot would probably fill a small box.

Judging from the strands of dark hair glued to the now still rotating saw blades of the logsplitter, Katrine probably died instantly. Whether she fell into the chute or was pushed is impossible to say.

[ProudGrognard]

Sirus

Sius eye water and for a moment it seems he is crying. But he perseveres and goes very thoroughly around the mess. He becomes paler and paler as the time passes, but he finishes his examination. Upon regrouping he says

"This is. The work. Of a sick person. The bodies. Have been clawed. Before death. And there are. Tracks. Of more than. Boots and sandals.Barefoot tracks. reeking of rotten death."

Unfortunately, Sirus points as he speaks.

[Desril]

Setsuna

The tiefling merely smiles at Red as if to say no thanks were necessary before following the group out of the room and to the sawmill.

***

Once there however, she does everything she can to hold back the bile rising in her throat. Noticing the stench of undeath, Setsuna speaks up at Sirus' mention of the barefoot tracks and nods her head, "What ever did this must be some kind of undead...but I do not understand why it mutilated their bodies..."

Not having the stomach to look at what's left of Katrine, the magus looks over the less disturbing Banny and with a glance to Taladron to confirm, recognizes the Sihedron carved onto him. "This is...not good. This is the Sihedron rune we found in the catacombs and Thistletop, the Runelords' symbol." Pausing and thinking about what all they had found in those locations she frowns and starts to look worried, "I think that...whatever did this, I think we might have let it out. There were stairways in the catacombs that were caved in, and there may have been secret pathways in Thistletop that we did not find. We could have cleared the way for something to get out..."

With the thought that she might be partially responsible for this, the foul odor of death in the air, and catching sight of both Harker's body and Katrine's remains at the same time, Setsuna is pushed well beyond her threshold for maintaining a detached, professional appearance and force her to use a nearby pillar to support herself to keep from falling to the floor, spared from reexamining her breakfast only by the virtue of not having eaten it yet.

[bcool999]

Taladron

Taladron at first is affected by the smell just as his companions are, but anger quickly washes away the stench. If there are undead involved than that means magic, but not just any magic... Seeing Setsuna struggling Taladron walks over and lays a hand on her shoulder. "I don't think we let anything out Setsuna... The guards or goblins would have seen, and even so I doubt any intelligent undead would announce itself so blatantly or leave the note linked to Sirus, and mindless undead would have no reason to leave their tomb or make this symbol. Not unless they were led, and that unfortunately leads to the news we may have to tell the sheriff." Taladron turns to the others. "There could very well be a Necromancer in Sandpoint."

Taladron lets that sink in for a moment before continuing. The only bright side I see from this is that it may help narrow down suspects. Anyone with magical training either divine or arcane is possible, but also anyone who may have access to certain magic items that grant the user control of undead. I think the former is more likely but best not rule anything out. The Sihedron may also help, the amount of Thassilonian relics lying about could make knowledge of it coincidental, but somehow I doubt someone with no knowledge of it and it's history would carve it into someone's flesh. Especially with the apparent increase of interest in Thassilonian remnants from such people like Nualia." Temporarily forgetting that Nualia may still be a touchy subject around Setsuna, Taladron realizes his potential faux pas only after speaking.

[Bhaakon]

Brin

The stench hits Brin like a hay-maker, sending her head twisting to the side in a vain attempt to escape. But there was no escape. She was going in, and that was that. The smell could only mean one thing, and it was one thing that demanded her attention above all others. About the only thing that could force her to enter that noisome chamber without taking time to acquire a perfumed handkerchief. Undead. It is a good thing I came along.

She nods as Setsuna and Taladron come to the same conclusion. "There may be a necromancer, but perhaps not in Sandpoint itself." She adds to the wizard's comments. "It would be difficult to disguise the stench in close quarters. They'd have to keep their...abominations somewhere far from prying noses. An outlying farm, a large estate, or a particularly noisome business--like a tannery."

She looks over the bodies--or scraps, in Katrine's case--trying hard to maintain her the composure expected of a Pharasmin in such circumstances. The gore didn't bother her terribly, but the smell was something else entirely. Breathing through the mouth only made her feel like gagging. "I cannot speak to what might or might not have been in Thistletop. I've only heard a few rumors and the brief explanation you gave last night. What do you know of this 'Sihedron'? Is it connected to necromancy?"

[ProudGrognard]

Sirus

Sirus takes a moment to ponder, his face much better now that he is away from the dead.


"We are. Being hasty. Let us. Gather the facts.

This was. An undead attack. It was also. Cruel in a. Calculating way. And. Whoever planned this. Knows me.

The sihedron. And the. Connection to Skinsaw. Are alarming. Last time. There were. These kinds. Of events. Here. They were. From someone. Nobody expected.

So it happened. With Nualia.

But. Why now? Why do. The sihedrons. Keep appearing? Did someone. New arrive. At the town? Was someone. Affected in some way?

Do the sihedrons. And the evil god. Have a connection? Did they? With Nualia?"

[maggie_mcknife]

Red

The smell is awful and so is the sight of Banny and Katrine's bodies, but Red pushes the instinct to gag and choke away with a sellsword's practiced discipline. She'd seen worse. Smelt stuff that was almost as bad. Retching and tears could wait for later. Besides, having grown up in a hovel, she'd learnt that if you didn't think about how nasty something smelt, you stopped noticing it in a minute or so.

"Maybe... Mister Quink is the neck-romancer? He knows a lot... about the rune." She suggests tentatively, stroking the small of Setsuna's back in the hope that the tiefling would feel less queasy. Otherwise, she listens to the others discuss the possibilities in silence, their voices fading into a drone as she stares fixedly at the blood-caked sawdust by the door.

Bare footprints. Whatever had killed Banny and Katrine hadn't worn shoes. Why? Was that so it would have made less noise? But Setsuna and Taladron thought that it'd been done by something undead. Did the undead not wear shoes? Maybe it'd been a skeleton. But skeletons wouldn't have left that sort of footprint...

The murderer had been smelly. But there'd been no smell outside the sawmill, on their way up the path. Why? Did the murderer have the ability to stop being smelly? Surely someone or something that stank so bad would have been found by now. Sandpoint wasn't that big. Maybe the neck-romancer was hiding in the Junkyard, since that was the smelliest place in town.

It was all very, very confusing.

Blinking hard, Red shakes herself out her stupor and looks around the floor of the sawmill that they are on. If only they could figure out how the smelly undead murderer had gotten into the sawmill. Then maybe they'd have a better clue. After all, the first thing any thief did when trying to break into a place was to find a safe way in and a safe way out. But there weren't any other footprints to be seen...

*****

GM post

It is a distinctly unnerving situation to be talking like this at a crime scene with the dead man's eyeballs watching you from across the room. Some of you might perhaps make the attempt to look anywhere but at the wall where Banny's body hangs, and some of you, swallowing the bile rising in your throat, might try searching the sawmill in an attempt to see if there is anything else of note.

Perception checks - Everyone except Taladron
Looking down into the pit where the firewood and Katrine's body is, you notice a handaxe lying amidst the wood splints, with blood on the handle and its gleaming blade spattered with something stringy. Perhaps that is the weapon that was used to mutilate Harker?

Should any of you wish to retrieve the axe for a closer look, there are two ways of doing so - either take the 10 foot drop through the hole in the floor to land on the firewood (a successful Acrobatics check means no damage taken), or leave the mill and take the back entrance by the pier in.

[Miraqariftsky]

Though Rico's nose wrankles
The scent is but naught,
She'd seen worse.
Then turns at what Brin's words wrought---

"Close yet far. A converted manor.
An'... noisy enough. Unholy enough, mayhap?
Habe's Sanitorium might be wot we're lookin' fer.

Capitan, request permission to mosey on down there
An' conduct, let's say... a safety an' sanitation investigation?

Ma'am Brin, you ask of the Sihedrons?
As our resident scholars'd attest,
They're symbols of power of the long dead
Empire of Thassilon. Turns out, our civilization
Right here, right now, grew outta their ashes.
Supposed ta symbolize the seven virtues o' kingship
Or somesuch... Then they's got corrupted."

Rico, then turns to Sirus and says,
"Brother Sirus, care ta do the honour
At retrievin' that axe, that there evidence?"

[ProudGrognard]

Sirus

Sirus nods and jumps lithely down the hole. Before taking hold of the axe with a piece of cloth, careful not to touch the bloodied parts, he takes a very good look around.

Acrobatics [roll0]
Perception [roll1]

EDIT: Really! Sirus is very perceptive today. Maggie, doesn't he deserve something for this two 20s? A hinty hint?

[maggie_mcknife]

GM post

The axe that Sirus has retrieved absolutely reeks of rotting flesh. Given the grayish state of the shreds clinging to its blade, you might guess that the axe was likely to have been used on whatever undead creature it was that attacked Banny and Katrine. Unless undead bleed though, the blood on the handle probably belongs to either of the victims.

*****

The pit is too high to climb out of unless someone throws a rope down to Sirus, so it makes much more sense for Sirus to clamber over to the door leading to the outside so that he can find his way back upstairs.

The sawmill was built on the edge of a sloping bank. So when Sirus opens the door of the pit, he finds himself on the loading pier at the back, facing the swift waters of the Turandarok River. From here, he only has to walk down the other path that goes around the waterwheel and back to the front door where you all came in.

Sirus is about to return to the rest of you when he spots something interesting - a set of barefoot prints leading from one end of the pier to the mill itself, the mud already starting to crack and dry under the noon sun.

Perhaps it is the light of the sun sparkling on the waters. Perhaps it is the sudden twitter of startled birds. As Sirus bends to have a closer look at the prints, he catches out of the corner of his eye a hunched figure in a black cloak moving back into the tall reed grass growing on the marshy bank, 50 feet away.

There is someone watching the mill from the other side of the river.

[ProudGrognard]

Sirus

Sirus gets ready to collect the axe in all its gruesomeness, when his subconscious suddenly outs together and makes him look over the river.

There. There it is.

Stopping to ponder the footprint, he internally debates what to do. If it wasn't for the river, he could overtake it. But now?

Sirus decides. He goes back the way he came, the axe in hand. The moment he gets in sight of the others, he almost runs to them.

Tracks. In the pier. Whatever it is. It came. Through the river.

And. It. Is. Still. There. Watching.

We must. Move. At once. At least. Track it. Move!

[Desril]

Setsuna

Hearing Sirus' alert that whatever did this was nearby is enough to focus the nauseous tiefling long enough to ignore both the sight and smell down in the pit with the half-orc as she leaps down to join him. I have to stop it, I can't let it do this to anyone else!

Whispering urgently, loud enough to be heard by the party but not anyone much further away, she rushes to the exit looking for the thing Sirus mentioned at the river. "I will go after it, I should be able to catch whatever it is and slow it down!"


Acrobatics to jump down the pit (1d20+11)[29] (rolled in dice thread)

Perception to spot the whatever [roll0]

If she finds it, run/charge!

[ProudGrognard]

Sirus

"Desril. No. Think. You will. Not. Be able. To cross. The river. And catch. It. Before. It. Disappears.

Better. To leave. And. Go around. And track it. Back. To where. It came from."

[maggie_mcknife]

Red

Slightly alarmed at the news that there is a watcher on the other side of the bank, Red bites the corner of her lip. If whatever was watching was really a neck-romancer... (Was it anything like that horrible flying monster that kissed people on the neck?)

"Mister Sirus. We don't know... what it is. Marsh... is not good for fighting. We should... circle around. Leave town and run up the road. We could... cut it off."

[bcool999]

Taladron

Upon hearing Sirus's revelation that a suspect may be watching in the wings, Taladron stops to think how they might go about apprehending whoever it is without letting them slip away into the marsh. When Setsuna makes her declaration to charge after it before leaping down the chute, Taladron realizes they may have to be content with chasing after. Why does she charge ahead without giving a single thought to the consequences? I helped her learn those new spells so I know she is smarter than that! At least she actually has her sword with her this time.

Suppressing his ire at the Tiefling's actions, Taladron heads out the front door and confronts the guard stationed there. "You! Run and get Shalelu if you can. We may need her skill at tracking. If the sheriff asks, tell him that someone has placed a watcher on the mill. Go!" Taladron says as he continues on his way down to the pier.

Upon reaching the pier, Taladron attempts to spot whoever it was that Sirus had seen. His sharp elven eyes manage to catch a glimpse of movement in the reeds and he quickly opens his spell component pouch and removes from it a carefully stored spider web. Holding the spider web in one hand, he uses his index finger of the other to trace the fine strands of spider silk as he mumbles an incantation. When his finger reaches the center of the web a quick flash of silver light sparks from it to the web and the web disappears. Raising his still glowing finger, Taladron points it at the reeds where the stranger is and releases the pent up arcane energy. Instantly, the area where Taladron saw the watcher is filled with thickly layered webbing.

Casting complete, Taladron turns to the others and says, "That should hold whoever it is for a little bit, or longer if we are lucky."

Casting Web. DC 18 Reflex or the whoever it is is grappled (they can break free with a DC 18 Combat maneuver check or escape artist check). The web is in a 20ft radius centered around the person. The web counts as difficult terrain and anyone trying to move through it must make a combat maneuver check or escape artist check as a part of that movement (DC 18 still) or become grappled in the next web filled square.

[maggie_mcknife]

GM post

Reflex save: (1d20)[7]
CMB: (1d20+4)[17]

Voss, gormless as ever, clutches his halberd and calls plaintively after Taladron, remaining right where he is - "But Miss Andosana took off more'n four days ago! She's prob'ly halfway to Fogscar by now!"

As soon as Taladron casts his spell, the reeds on the opposite bank begin to shake violently - as though something within them is thrashing about, trying to get out.

[Miraqariftsky]

Beaten to the punch by her swifter comrades,
Rico wastes no breath with questions
Or with mindless cursing
Scrambles with shield
And with sword

"Sir! In pursuit!
Tal! Good work!"

Her straps secured,
The darkwood tableshield braced,
The broad-bladed, wave-edged sword held ready
Rico takes off down the bank, going around, safe but sure

"HALT! IN THE NAME OF THE LAW!"


Prepping tableshield and That Sword.
Going around, flanking the bogey with Setsuna.
Intimidate, if still applicable [roll0]

[Desril]

Setsuna

In response to Sirus the tiefling says back, "It will be faster to cross than go around, and if we scare it it will not be able to hide its tracks as well even if it escapes." With Taladron's spell serving as a signal for her own actions, Setsuna rushes to the river's edge and casts a newly learned magic of her own, leaving a trail of rainbow colored after-images behind her as she cuts the distance between herself and the other side of the river in half.

Unfortunately, the sudden shift from flying over the water to swimming through it is enough to disorient the novice swimmer and prevent her from moving further right away.


Swim [13]

Next round will be a full-round Swim and a QRS to get another move.

[Bhaakon]

Brin

The elven cleric's surprise at Setsuna's uncanny burst of speed turns into a chuckle as the tiefling flounders in the river. Brin does her best to stifle it before it turns into full fledged laughter--this was serious business, after all--but it isn't easy.

Still smiling, she unshoulders her bow and sets an arrow to the string, angling for a clear shot as the others sprint to the opposite bank of the river. Can't go around shooting arrows into every suspicious character you run across.

Move action to draw her bow, possibly another move action to find a clear shot

[ProudGrognard]

Sirus

Sirus watches in despair as Setsuna again does an unexpected maneuver. She did not even tie a rope in her waist. He could not follow, he knew, since he knew next to nothing about swimming.

Sirus thus starts after Rico, taking his strange half steps that somehow make him almost fly over the ground.

So, Run action, which means 5x40=200 ft per round to go around.

[maggie_mcknife]

Red

Red blinks in surprise as Setsuna suddenly appears over the middle of the river before keeling in with a loud splash. There was a reason people didn't swim in the Turandarok... if only she'd just asked, Red would have told her so.

Still, Setsuna seems quite safe from drowning for the moment. Flashing the tiefling a grin and a quick wave, Red jogs after Rico and Sirus, going a little slower so as to be able to better spot anything else suspicious on the road.

*****

GM post

The sudden splash and Rico's bellow startle the small crowd gathered at the foot of the path to the mill, many of whom murmur and stare in confusion as those of you running to the bridge speed by. Even Sheriff Hemlock cannot help but give Rico an odd look as she pounds past, though he is careful to keep his voice even and calm.

"What is going on? Do you need back up?"

*****

Brin and Taladron

On the opposite bank, the grass continues to be tussled and rustled by some unseen person. You cannot see the one causing the ruckus, but perhaps with some guesswork and careful observation, one might be able to approximate roughly where the culprit is.

On the pier, Voss the watchman has tiptoed up to peer surreptitiously over Taladron's shoulder. "Issere something o'er there? Whaddya catch?" he asks, too curious to be alarmed at the prospect of a suspect.

Take penalties for a target with cover if either of you choose to attack.

*****

Setsuna

The waters of the Turandarok River are icy cold, despite it still being autumn. This close to the mouth of the ocean, the fast-flowing water is bitter and salty. You cannot feel the bottom of the river from where you are, but about 20 or so feet away, the reeds look sturdy enough for you to use to pull yourself up to the bank... if you can swim to them against the current.

Swim DC 15 - unchanged

*****

Rico and Sirus and Red

You sprint down the street leading to Sandpoint's South-east gate, the thud of your boots on the thick lumber bridge causing several citizens to turn and glance after you with much concern.

The path outside of Sandpoint consists of a well-worn dirt track and an occasional wagon-rut or two. But as you approach the area opposite the sawmill, you note with some concern that the marshy ground is soft and yielding underfoot. Between pushing your way through the clumps of wild reeds and not getting your boots stuck in the mud, you won't be able to move as quickly here.

You can't quite see the person caught in the web - he or she must have fallen down while trying to get loose. Still, you're pretty sure you know where this watcher is, based on the vigorous movement of the reeds. If only you could get a little closer...

Difficult Terrain - 1/2 speed movement penalty

[ProudGrognard]

Sirus

Sirus arrives at the scene just seconds after a very wet Setsuna. He tries as best as he can to jump over rough patches of ground. When he finally finds himself near the culprit, he cries out.

" Do. Not. Move. Show. Yourself."

Acrobatics, if applicable, to cross the terrain [roll0]
Intimidate [roll1]

Ready action to attack if someone makes a threatening move.

[Miraqariftsky]

Catching her own rising voice,
Rico replies to her chief,
Timing her words
Between
Pounding
Boots

"Sir. Pursuit. Possible witness. Or suspect. Or person of interest. Was seen actively. Monitoring. The crime scene."

Squelching through the morass,
She grimaces as she spots
Setsuna floundering
Prays relief
That she's
Making it

"Hellgirl. Take it easy. Don't. Drown."

Shield and sword still ready
She nods at Red
And Sirus
To flank

Tensed, waiting to see
What the bogey might be
Beyond the shadow, beyond the mire
Getting to it, bootsquelch by bootsquelch...

[Desril]

Setsuna

Floundering and sputtering in the water, Setsuna spends far longer than she should trying to keep herself above the river's surface, only managing to shout out a response to Rico without drowning after the half-orc had already taken off, "I am fine, go!"

Taking a moment to right herself, the tiefling spots the reeds and makes her way toward them as best she can, the water around her heating up with a momentary flash of flame that gives her a boost of speed necessary to not only reach the reeds, but to pull herself on shore as well. Despite the back of her mind bemoaning the situation, Setsuna keeps her focus on circumventing the magical strands of sticky webs and flanking whoever or whatever it was that had been watching them. I really need to stop relying on this thing!

"It is over, you can not get away, just surrender!"


Burning QRS for triple-movement
Double move Swim check to get to the shore [22]
Move around the web to flank the target with the party.

...Intimidate? [roll0] (Not sure if I actually can use this, but I just like rolling if given half a chance :smallbiggrin:)

[bcool999]

Taladron

"Looks like we caught something or someone who had been told to watch the mill... That or we caught some bumpkin who was too curious for his own good." Taladron says ignoring the fact that many would believe this guard to be a bumpkin as well. "I suppose I should head over there and drop the spell so we can find out who it is. Coming Brin?" With that Taladron heads over to join the others grimacing as he gets mud on his robes. Going to have to cantrip that out later.

[Bhaakon]

Brin

Yes, it seems they have the watcher surrounded, even if it could escape your spell. We might as well be there for the interrogation, if there's to be one. She replies, jogging for the bridge. Despite her apparent confidence in the abilities of her new friends to subdue their target, she keeps her bow strung and in-hand.

Brin slows as she reached the marsh, picking here way through as best she could to avoid the worst of it. "Care for a wager? I'll give two-to-one that we've netted ourselves a local out fishing for crayfish."

[maggie_mcknife]

GM post

While Sirus hops neatly from tussock to tussock, the rest take slightly longer to squelch their way through the reeds. The reeds, having never been trimmed, reach halway up Rico's chest and almost prevent Red from seeing anything at all. For Setsuna, the grass and their empty seed pods are uncomfortably prickly on her bare skin, her sopping wet hakama and waraji dragging at her legs with each step.

For all the shouting and posturing going on, the figure in the black cloak does not respond, merely continuing to flail about. You have already approached as close as you can without stepping into the patch of reeds bound together in thick silken webbing and are wondering what to do next when a corner of the figure's cloak catches on a reed, pulling the hood aside and affording those of you present a horrifying glimpse of the visage within.

The reason why the figure could not respond to your summons is because most of its flesh has long since rotted off its neck. Upon spotting you, a thin hoarse rattle rises from the zombie's throat. Arms outstretched, it tries to tear itself free of the webs to shamble towards you.

*****

Sirus: (1d20+4)[23]
Setsuna: (1d20+4)[14]
Rico: (1d20+1)[5]
Red: (1d20+5)[15]
Taladron: (1d20+5)[12]
Brin: (1d20+4)[23]

Zombie Lord: (1d20+3)[19]

Initiative Order:
> 23 - Sirus
23 - Brin
19 - Zombie Lord
15 - Red
12 - Taladron
14 - Setsuna
4 - Rico

It is now Sirus's turn.

Note: Knowledge (religion) DC 11 to know that Zombies have DR/ slashing. Also, Brin and Taladron are currently NOT on the scene. (Assume they are 1 round's worth of running away.) Perception DC 14 to realise that something is wrong and run faster if you want to attack on the end of your turn from the edge of the map!

*****

Battle Map
http://img713.imageshack.us/img713/3253/3std.jpg

[ProudGrognard]

Sirus
HP 26 AC 21

Sirus' nose, curiously, is the first to identify the enemy, even before his eyes register the image.

Death. Corpse. An undead!

Sirus gets ready to spring himself into the web, but at the last minute he stops himself. No point in doing that. The thing is trapped already. He instead prefers to wait.

Caution! We have. A trapped. Undead. Here. Use. Ranged weapons.

Ah, Sirus eternal foil, ranged combat. He will hold action for his more capable ranged friends to appear. No sense in jumping on the web, to make an entagled zombie prone.

[bcool999]

Taladron
AC 13 HP 25/25

Looking ahead into the marsh, Taladron notices that something is wrong with their captive... something he can't quite put his finger on at this distance. Nevertheless, he picks up his pace. "Brin. I think something is wrong, we shouldn't be dragging our feet."

Upon arriving at the scene Taladron can see what was bothering him at a distance and he nose only confirms his sight. A zombie... perhaps the same that slew those in the mill sent to watch by it's master? "Blades will work best against this undead, but perhaps we can question it?" Taladron moves so that he has a semi clear view of the undead. "Are you intelligent? Or just a mindless husk? If you do have the power of speech, reveal your master to us!"

Moving to F4 as I said OOC and I will try to communicate this round and then burning hands the next so get ready.

[Desril]

Setsuna
AC 18
HP 28

Realizing that the cloaked figure is an undead, the tiefling wastes no more energy trying to talk to it, instead only readying Maethilur and waiting, not wanting to risk getting entangled in the web surrounding the corpse.


Delaying until the web clears up, if it catches fire, she'll brave the flames. It'll help dry her off at least :smallbiggrin:

[Bhaakon]

Brin
AC 18
HP 21/21

"You're right about that." Brin huffs, quickening her pace to join the others around what is obviously a zombie. She readies her bow again, out of habit, though she knows it won't be of much use against this unfeeling, unbleeding abomination.

Yes. Talk, if you can. She thinks, not trusting herself to parlay convincingly with the undead. Not that it will change your fate, thing.

[maggie_mcknife]

GM post

Sirus is holding action.

*****

Brin arrives on the scene.

*****

Zombie Lord / Taladron arrives on the scene and tries talking to the zombie.

CMB to break loose: (1d20+7)[14]

Given the ragged hole in the zombie's throat, it is difficult to tell whether the zombie is trying to give an answer or not. Certainly, it seems to increase its exertions when Taladron speaks, rolling clouded grey eyes in his direction and rattling even more furiously than ever as it tries to lift its feet from the ground to no avail.

*****

Red
HP: 36/36
AC 20

Readied action - attack once the webbing goes off.

Blades? Ranged weapons? Then which should she... Red wavers for a moment, confused by the conflicting instructions by Sirus and Taladron.

Perhaps she could try throwing her kukri. But if she missed, her precious knives would go flying into the river beyond - and who knew if she'd find them again after that?

Baring her teeth, Red finally reaches for her kukris, drawing comfort from the familiar smoothness of the horn handles. She glances at Rico out of the corner of her eye. She'd worked with her friend long enough to have an inkling of how these things went. "... Do we... kill it? Or is it... evidence? That we should bring back?"

*****

Setsuna is delaying an action.

*****

Initiative Order:
23 - Sirus
23 - Brin
19 - Zombie Lord
15 - Red
12 - Taladron
14 - Setsuna
> 4 - Rico

It is now Rico's turn.

*****

Battle Map
http://img542.imageshack.us/img542/1484/hu6e.jpg

[Bhaakon]

Brin
AC 18
HP 21/21

"Kill it? It's already dead." Brin replies to Red. "We put it back down in a way that preserves as much evidence as possible. Maybe someone will recognize its face, or clothing, or something in its pockets." She shakes her head at Taladron, guessing what his next move might be.

Unless someone stops her, she advances to the edge of the web spell with left hand extended, presenting the indigo spiral tattooed on her palm. "Lady of Grave, purge this unfortunate of necromancy." She cries, summoning forth a lavender pulse of light that strikes the zombie like a physical blow.

Move to G5, channel to harm undead:

[roll0] damage, DC 14 Will save for half

[maggie_mcknife]

GM post

Turn turn turn turn turn...

The situation is vaguely ridiculous as all of you stare at the zombie wriggling about in the webs, none of you willing to venture close lest you entangle yourselves in the sticky goo. The zombie, for its part, struggles all the harder to extricate itself, tearing wildly at the pliant reeds round it for leverage.

*****

Zombie Lord

Will save: (1d20+12)[13] (includes +4 Channel Resistance) - failed

CMB to break loose: (1d20+7)[27] - successful
And again: (1d20+7)[20] - successful

When Brin steps forth to smite the rotting corpse with Pharasmin light, the creature's body shudders as though struck squarely on the chest with some invisible sledgehammer, the light pulse scorching away and disintegrating the grey putrid flesh.

Her attack seems to enrage the zombie further, however, if it is indeed possible for the undead to feel anger at all. Moaning louder than ever, it lashes its body from side to side with such force that it actually manages to tear itself loose of the magical webbing, stumbling free with a burbling squelch into the mud.

For a zombie, this one doesn't seem very impeded by stiffened limbs or the fact that it was trussed up just scant seconds ago. Without hesitation, the zombie lumbers towards Brin and Taladron with frightening speed, a relentless green light glowing in its watery eyes.

*****

New Initiative Order due to held/ readied actions:
23 - Brin
19 - Zombie Lord
> 23 - Sirus
15 - Red
14 - Setsuna
4 - Rico
12 - Taladron

It is now Sirus's turn.

*****

Battle Map
http://img594.imageshack.us/img594/6673/xzoh.jpg

[ProudGrognard]

Sirus
AC 21 HP 26

Sirus was ready when the thing lurched forward. He springs into action, calling in the inner energies he has struggled all these weeks to master. With one step, he is close and starts delivering sweeping kicks, punches and claw-like hits.

5ft step to get near the zombie. Using one ki point to add one FoB attack
FoB trip attack [roll0]
If successful, VS [roll1] dmg [roll2]

If unsuccessful, second FoB trip attack [roll3]
If successful or already tripped, VS [roll4] dmg [roll5]

If unsuccessful, third FoB trip attack [roll6]
If successful or already tripped, VS [roll7] dmg [roll8]

It seems to me that the second trip must have worked. I don't know if the third attack connected.

[bcool999]

Taladron
AC 13 25/25 Hp

Giving off a surprised yelp as the zombie who he thought was secured was suddenly right in front of him, Taladron makes a hasty retreat before dismissing the now hindering web. He also takes a moment to grab a scroll from his haversack while his allies close in on the zombie.

Well the web was nice while it lasted...
5ft. Step back and to the right (i7)
Standard: Dismiss the web.
Move: Pull out ye old scroll of grease.

[Desril]

Setsuna
HP 28
AC 18

Seeing the walking corpse break free of the webbing and charge toward her more magically inclined companions, Setsuna charges toward it only to find herself stumbling and sliding through the wet marshlands at a significantly slower pace than she'd intended.


Double move to get to G4 and flank with Brin/whoever moves to where Taladron was.

[Bhaakon]

Brin
AC 18
HP 21/21

Brin lets out a nervous breath as Sirius streaks in, upending the surprisingly spry zombie just as it got into striking range. Too close. Best not to let it get back up. She reaches down with her tattoed hand, nearly touching the thing as she asks Pharasma for a second burst of cleansing light.

Channel again. [roll0] damage, DC 14 Will for half

[Miraqariftsky]

Rico
HP 36/36
AC 18/20
Rage I, 1/7

Spitting curses at the bog sucking at her boots,
Rico makes a mighty ruckus crossing
That little patch of marsh

"Tal! Brin!
FALL BACK.
DUN LEDDIT GET Y"ALL."

Squelching with every stride,
Darkwood shield forward, curved sword high
The armoured juggernaut of the Law
Reaches the abomination with a grunt and a slash


Str +6 BAB +4 Weapon +1 PA -1 Flank +2
Str +6 Weapon +1 PA +2

[roll0]
*(Banked roll from earlier: 9/10 on 1d10) damage= 18

[maggie_mcknife]

GM post

Sirus

A well-aimed drive of Sirus's shin into the soft space behind its knee succeeds in bowling the zombie over, showering all of you in boggy brown water. Between the yielding ground and the natural resiliency of the zombie, however, Sirus is able to do little more than crack the smaller bones within its pulpy body, pounding the zombie further into the mud with his feet.

*****

Red and Setsuna

The soft marsh ground hampers the swiftest of your group's fighters, leaving them to clump their way awkwardly towards the zombie in a bid to defend the magic-users.

*****

Rico

Fortunately, Rico, ever-ready, ploughs through the reeds, snorting and tossing hair out of her eyes. A swift overhead slice easily separates the zombie's head from its putrid shoulders, the yellowed teeth in its mouth champing and its stiff puckered lips curling back like an ape's before it shudders once and moves no more.

Zombie Lord is now dead.

Brin can save her Channel if she wants.

Combat is over. Initiative ends.

*****

Perception DC 14 - ONLY on Zombie. If you want to search the area, roll another check.
Those of you who recover sufficiently from dealing with a gruesome enemy this early in the morning to think to search the zombie's body for clues as to who its master might be are quickly disappointed. Other than its clothing - a bedraggled white smock and breeches of the sort a hospice patient might wear - there are no identifying marks on the corpse.

Some of you might observe, however, that the sickly odour of this zombie is nowhere as bad as what you smelled back in the sawmill.

[ProudGrognard]

Sirus

The arrival of Rico put a decisive end to things, as always. Sirus barely has the time to move away as Rico falls on the zombie like the wrath of Pharasma itself. Sirus can only snoop around the remains afterwards/

"Strange. This. Thing. Does not. Smell. As bad. As the. Other. Corpses.

What is that. It is. Wearing?"

[Miraqariftsky]

Rico gives her wave-edged blade a flick,
Sending brackish blood back into the muck
The sword reforged, made new by her own hand
Now tested in battle, stood true her comrades and her duty.

"Arright, y'all, good work.
Red? Wouldya mind zippin' over
To El Capitan an' tellin' 'im wot happ'd 'ere? Thankee kindly."

Still, she sheathes it not,
And casts about, with ears, nose and eyes
Wondering if there's a second wave or flankers afoot
Or if, like saltbeards' legend holds,
Bogs are places of ill-luck
Places where death walks

Frowns at the beast they bagged
Then she casts her gaze down
Poking at it with swordpoint
And rumbles in her throat,

"Yer right, Sirus. This thing's like... wot, been pickled? Preserved... somehow. This? Hospice smock... but that'd mean... Sister Brin? It's pointing at your theory. Wot you pointed us at. That... looks like the inmates' uniform at the Habes' Sanitorium."


Hrmmm. Taking 10 on two Perceptions, +11 on both. And on Know: Local as well. (With a circumstantial bonus?) IS there any other hospice in the local area?

[Bhaakon]

Brin

Did I say that? She wonders at Rico's suggestion. I think not, but I'll take credit if no one else will.

"It's just an idea, Rico. I've never been there before, nor spent much time in Sandpoint. The Sheriff said that you were there this morning. Did you see the inmates in similar smocks?" She says as she picks through the muck for additional clues. She gathers her cloak up in her arms to prevent any more of the fetid muck from soaking in. She feared her boots were already a lost cause.

Once she's finished her sweep, she gathers with the others near the body. "I hate to ask this, but it is my duty to see that whatever this husk is properly seen to, lest it rise again. Will someone help me haul it to drier ground, where it can be loaded on a cart and taken to the nearest cemetery?

[maggie_mcknife]

GM post

Perception DC 20 on surroundings
As you help Brin try to gather up what's left of the zombie, you notice that not far from where you first spotted it, there is a relatively dry spot of land that bears several clear imprints of barefoot human tracks. If you approach this spot, you will realise that the footprints - like the sawmill - stink to high heaven.

Survival check to see if you can make anything more out of this. No take 10s.

[Desril]

Setsuna

Taking a moment to make sure the zombie isn't going to get back up, Setsuna sheathes Maethilur and pulls her cloak tighter around herself to at least give her the semblance of decency at a distance. "I do not think I have heard about this sanatorium, is it far from here?"

Moving around to look for any clues about why the zombie was there, or to find any errant parts that may still be animated, the tiefling eventually notices the footprints that reek of the same overpowering odor as those in the sawmill. "I think that the murderer was here, these are the same footprints, right? It was probably the one who made the zombie."


Rolled in dice thread, can't believe I actually made the perception check

Perception! (1d20+1)[20]

...and optimism has me go ahead and roll the survival (1d20-1)[7]

[maggie_mcknife]

GM post

Survival DC 15
Judging from the depth of the impressions on the ground and the way they are scattered, it would seem that the murderer crouched on the ground opposite the sawmill for an extended period of time.

The prints, if you follow them, start and end from the edge of the river. It would seem that the murderer had come out of the river, squatted on the bank for a long time, then went back into the water.

*****

Red

Survival: (1d20+7)[18]

Breathing a sigh of relief as Rico chops off the zombie's head, Red is about to volunteer to help Brin carry the zombie bits back when Setsuna points out that there are more smelly footprints on this side of the river. Walking over to where the tiefling is, Red crouches, fanning her fingers out just over the footprints to see how large they are, wrinkling her nose at the smell and frowning.

Someone had come out of the river, hunkered down here for a set, and then left... Big feet too. Must have been really smelly if a dip in the river couldn't make it smell less bad.

Red frowns, then looks up at the others. "The smelly thing... it... was here. Waiting... I'm not sure. It came up from the river... and went back. Maybe it was... swimming? Or a boat..."

[Desril]

Setsuna

Thinking about it for only a half-second before saying the words, Setsuna voices a thought continuing from Red's speculation. "If it is an undead, it might not need a boat. They do not breathe, it might just have walked along the bottom of the river if it was strong or heavy enough to not get swept off."

[Miraqariftsky]

"I said it looked like it. Not exactly so."
Rico mutters, with shield shouldered,
While cleaning her curved blade

Grunting and then heaving a sigh,
Rico holds her tableshield
By its legs, then heaves
The body up
Carefully carries it
To where the good Pharasmin directs.

Catching up, she sees Red on the trail,
Follows her friend, follows the tracks
Ears twitching, nose crinkling
Brow furrowed
Rico nods.

"Aye, 'tis so. Strange.
Either swam here, or had a boat
Stowed 'mong the reeds,
Or crewed by an accomplice.
Or the damned frigger was undead as well.
An' bein' such, didn't need breathin',
Mightha just walked beneath
Onna dang riverbed."

Arms crossed, Rico crouches beside Red,
Scratching at her chin, she says,
"Holdonasec. Y'all ever think
What the heck this zombie
Was put 'ere for?
If 'twas ta kill something,
The killing's already done thattaway.
If 'twas ta guard something, then what was it?
Was it set here ta dissuade pursuit?
But if it wasn't even here
Then we wouldn'tha
Seen these other tracks.
Summin's right dang fishy, here..."

[Bhaakon]

Brin

Once the body is near enough the road for it to be seen by anyone they send for it, Brin is satisfied. She wasn't the one in charge of Sandpoint's cemetery, after all, and it would be best not to step on toes. As long as saw that the remains were buried in consecrated ground, her obligations would be discharged.

Rico's speculation spark her interest. "So someone wanted us to find it, you think? A bit of misdirection? Or maybe they wanted to make sure we saw the tracks. They left that note for Sirus, so they must want attention."

"Which reminds me. Sirus, do you still have that axe from the sawmill?" She holds her hand out, expectantly. "I'd like to take a closer look at it, if you don't mind." Once she has the weapon in hand, she examines it closely for any clues, and compares it to any weapon marks on the zombie--it was certainly helpful that they had mostly hit the thing with fists and positive energy.

Rolled a 16 perception check in dice thread,

[maggie_mcknife]

GM post

Brin

Perception check
The blade of the axe is coated with fragments of bone and rotting flesh, while the handle is smeared with dried blood. If you force yourself to examine the putrefying remains, make a Fort DC 13 save to avoid being sickened for 1d6+4 minutes by the stench of the rot.

You do note, however, that the smell coming from the axe is rather stronger than that coming from the zombie. It is unlikely that the zombie was the one that wielded the axe.

[Bhaakon]

Brin

She should have known better than to hold the axe blade up to her face for a closer look. The stench coming off the weapon was enough to stagger a horse at arm's length. Up close, well, Brin spends the next several minutes divesting herself of the pastry she'd grabbed on the way out of the Rusty Dragon.

"That smell is...remarkable. There's no way this came from that zombie." She forces out once there's nothing left to void. "Let's move on. The barn mentioned by the Sheriff, then the asylum? After we've seen to this poor soul that is." If no one stops here, she returns to the sawmill to inform the authorities of the third body across the river.

[maggie_mcknife]

Red

Red had never been very good at figuring things out or making plans. Even back when she'd earned her bread by swiping it off the baker's table, her method hadn't consisted of anything more complicated than running faster than whoever was running after her. It'd been only after she'd found her sister again that she'd learnt how to do something else besides run away. (Like how to break into houses. And how not to get caught. And where to kick someone if you did.)

She stares down at the smelly impressions in the mud, all the talk about zombies going right over her head. Little pools of scummy water had gathered in the shallow dish of the footprints made when the someone - or was that something? - had moved about. Neck romancy. What a weird name. How did undead things move without needing to breathe? And if they didn't need to breathe, then why did they have to eat things that weren't dead? And what did any of that have to do with romance?

She thinks of Katrine and Banny's bodies back at the sawmill - they'd been going steady, hadn't they? - and shivers, rubbing her arms as she hugs herself. No. Murder wasn't romantic at all. Not in the least.

She looks up worriedly as Brin starts puking out her breakfast. Something was missing. Something didn't make sense. But what?

"... I don't... understand." Red gets back to her feet, feebly grasping for thoughts that wouldn't come. "Why... why would the smelly thing... go underwater?"

[Desril]

Setsuna

"I am not sure, but if it is undead and it reeks this badly from just its footprints, then it probably had to go underwater to avoid being seen. If it had walked through the town someone would have smelled it and it would be easy to track down."

Agreeing with Brin, Setsuna stays away from the odious hatchet and pulls the spare shirt she'd been keeping with her at all times for situations like this, slipping it on after turning away. "I agree, we should check out the barn and see if there is the same scent. We might even be able to find a trail, though it it is as foul smelling as these I doubt the Watch would have missed it."


Shirt roll in the dice thread. Thankfully no 2, given that the bulk of them are in her backpack back in the Rusty.

[maggie_mcknife]

Red

Tracks. Red squints her eyes shut with the effort of thinking, pinching the bridge of her nose. The smelly thing had gone underwater to avoid being tracked. You couldn't smell things or find footprints in the water, that was true. That was why Chanda had always said to cut across water if she was being chased. But if that was why it had gone underwater...

Red opens her eyes and gazes worriedly at the others. "The river... it goes for... miles. And it flows... into the sea. This thing... it could be anywhere."

[Bhaakon]

Brin

"Or right here. Setsuna could have swam right over it." Brin observes with a shiver. All the more reason to track it down as quickly as possible. "If were lucky, it's only using the river to hide its trail and not living there."

"I hope one one drinks that water." She adds, gagging a little as she remembers the concentrated chunks of foulness clinging to the axe.

[ProudGrognard]

Sirus


Sirus has been silent, watching the tracks, the axe and the distant mill.

"Too many. Things. And not one. Is good. It seems. We have. An intelligent. Undead. Or someone. Controlling it. With a. Connection. To me.

And a. Different. Undead. Active.

We must. Appraise. The sheriff. And then. Visit. The other site. The survivor. And the. Suspects.

As soon. As. Possible."

Pharasma. I will do your will in this too. Should I trust your wayward cleric here? Is his presence here a sign? I will not fail you, Mistress of the Spire.

[bcool999]

Taladron

After the recent scare with the zombie charging at him, Taladron takes a few moments to catch his breath and return the scroll to his bag.

Quietly he thinks about the situation. the murders, the Sihedron, the letter to Sirus, the undead and possibly the necromancer that controls them... what does it all add up to? This is obviously more than mere pleasure killing. There is a message here... A warning? Or a threat?

Hearing the others talk about the barn where the other murders took place, Taladron pulls himself out of his musing. "I agree we should check out the barn and possibly try to get some answers from the crazed witness. I also think I should study up a bit on Necromancy since I never bothered with the filthy subject in my magical studies I feel slightly out of my depth... and possibly look for any connection Necromancy has to the Sihedron... I will go visit Brodert later."

[Miraqariftsky]

With her fellow ladies of the Auxiliaries,
Rico passes agreements and backpats,
Grumbling curses about necro-rats.

She gives Sirus a nod, deep and grim
And offers Taladron her wineskin
And asks, "Hey. Ye arright, bub?"

When her skin has made the rounds
Rico leads the way
Back to make
A report.

[maggie_mcknife]

GM post

Heading back towards town to report your findings to the Sheriff, you are spared from making the entire journey by the sight of the man himself and a few other constables in tow crossing the bridge - clearly intent on following your group to the spot in the marshes.

Sheriff Hemlock is stony-faced as you elaborate your findings to him and the others, folding his arms across his broad chest and snorting under his breath. The possibility of a necromancer with cult connections crawling around Sandpoint is not a pleasant one to entertain. Nor is the prospect of paranoid citizens hurrying to the Boneyard in a knot to uproot and pile all the extant bodies there on a pyre. He remembers well enough, as do those of you who were here, what happened with the goblin prisoners and when Nualia's body was brought back.

"You can leave that zombie here, Rico. I'll get some of the boys and girls to cover it up and cart it back to the Garrison." The Sheriff sucks in his cheeks and shakes his head. "My apologies, ma'am priest. But I cannot let you conduct the proper burial rites for this body until we can be sure that it contains no clues as to our murderer. We will, however, in consideration of your faith, do our best to treat it with respect. Should you wish to bless it to prevent it from rising or the like, however, I'm sure our Brother Vosk and Father Zantus would much appreciate the aid."

*****

It is about 1230hrs now. You have not eaten lunch.

The Sheriff has left it to Sergeant Hannah to conduct your group as far as Celvin's barn, where the first bodies were found, before she is to return to Sandpoint to assist with the investigations. Hannah is none the worse for her adventure with you in the Thistletop goblin lair, and she chats amiably with any who are willing as you walk south down the Lost Coast Road.

"Celvin's just a crummy ole barn down by next to Cougar's Creek. This would have been before your time, Rico. Farmer Celvin - he was kinda crazy, know what I mean? Had this idea that he could grow all these 'pensive foreign veggies and fruits from Mwangi and Tien Xia what no-one else would have, and he'd turn a profit on paying for the seeds and seedlings within a year or so. Hah!" Hannah nods regally at a farmer's donkey cart laden high with sweet-smelling apples as your group goes past. "'S the wrong soil and rain, see. Everything died and Celvin didn't have two pennies to use for pinching out his beard within two years or three. Had to abandon the place and move to Magnimar to live with his brother."

"Now, that barn we're heading to - 'twas Gareth and Dagmar who had to check the place out when the report first came in. They got there and found a sight, I tell you - three chopped up dead fellas and one alive, in the corner but all trussed up like a chicken made for roasting!"

Nobody has bothered to tell Hannah that the Sheriff has told you most of this already, and her voice takes on a conspiratorial air as she gleefully shares all she knows about the barn with the gaily irreverent air of one whose profession brings her into contact with death all too often. "The dead ones were all messed up too - no jaws and like whoever offed them was tryin' to make artwork or something. Once saw something like that down in Korvosa, y'know, when I was visiting me auntie. Some fair full of stuffed dead Shoanti people, all with plenty of chest markings and tatts and such."

"Anyways, Gareth recognised 'em right off - Tarch Mortwell, Lener Hask, and runty Gedwin Tabe. Troublemakers, all. Once worked for the Deverins, until they got kicked out for skimming the coffers. Been working con-games in the Feedbag and cheating merchants at cards, causing plenty'a grief until the boss said he'd toss 'em in the clink on sight if he caught hide or hair of them in Sandpoint. If you ask me, their criminal ways finally caught up with 'em. Someone they took money from musta decided he wanted repayment in blood," says Hannah with lazy satisfaction, hefting her halberd to her shoulder.

"Oh, and we managed to identify the crazy one, Rico. The survivor what was rambling and screaming all the way to Habe's? His name's Grayst Sevilla. One of those 'boys' what keep hanging around Jubrayl Vhiski down at the Feedbag, did a little work as a bouncer there. Apparently tubby Gressel went to the boss this morning and said that Grayst hadn't been around for several days now, and based on the description - that's him all right."

*****

It's just over a two mile walk to Celvin's barn - more a rickety wooden affair no more than two dozen paces from the banks of the indolent Cougar's Creek. There are copious holes gaping in the thatch, a door falling off rusting hinges, and even a bird or two twittering under the mossy eaves. Save for the presence of the Sandpoint Watch cordon - a simple length of rope painted red at three foot intervals and short posts hammered into the soil - the barn looks quite derelict. It is clear that nobody has bothered to care for the place in years.

"You'll find it quite a pong in here. We'd thought it was just the bodies at the time though - they were two days old by the time the boys found 'em," says Hannah somewhat apologetically, as she kicks the barn doors wide enough for you to enter.

The air within the barn is musty, but Hannah is correct - despite it having been almost a week since this set of murders, the barn still reeks of something dead and runny. There are a few bales of rotting hay at the far end of the barn, burst open and apparently pushed aside to reveal patches of ploughed-up blood-blackened soil. A fatal struggle took place here as well - that much is clear.

[ProudGrognard]

Sirus

Sirus is silent all the way to the barn. It was soon lunch time but that was far from his mind. The various events did not tie together in any comprehensible way.

Finally, when they arrive at the barn, he starts to very precisely comb the place for clues.

Perception [roll0]

[Bhaakon]

Brin

At the Sheriff's arrives, Brin withdraws a decanter of holy water from her pack and sprinkles a few drops on the body, offering a prayer. It's less a ritual than an effort to make sure the taint of undeath has fled.

She frowns when the Sheriff mentioned delaying the burial. "There's no replacement for a proper burial in consecrated ground." She explains, "Anything less than that is more about comforting the living than taking care of the dead, Sheriff. If you make a habit of storing bodies in your garrison, perhaps this Father...Zantus, you said? Perhaps he will cast a ward there to head off any unfortunate incidents. If not, I can do so when we return, but it requires expensive materials, and would only last a few hours."

=============================================

Brin takes in the Sergeant's story without interruption. She seemed like the kind who liked to talk, and Brin wanted to get her thoughts in order, so why stop her? She eventually got around to saying everything important, so she held her question until they arrived at the barn.

"You said the bodies look like artwork? Like they were posed or something? Like, what do you call it, um...tacks...taxaperm...those stuffed animals that hunters like?" She inquires as she picks about the barn.

perception: [roll0]

[maggie_mcknife]

GM post

Brin and Sirus's Perception checks
You don't find anything of note in the barn, though given the amount of blood that seems to have soaked into the ground, those three men must have been very thoroughly sliced up.

*****

"Posed? Yeh, I guess you could say that. You know how poor Banny got pinned to the wall like one of them butterflies that Ilsoari has up on display in the school room? These three were hung from the rafters with rope. Right about there." Hannah raises her eyebrows and jerks her head in the direction of the barn rafters. "We took the ropes back - evidence, y'see."

[Bhaakon]

Brin

"That's...odd." She replies, not really sure what else to call it. Adjectives failed in the face of such wanton cruelty. So not arranged in a sihedron, then.

Finally she finishes examining the room, funding a great deal of blood, but little probative evidence. She shakes her head disappointed, but not surprised. The crime scene was old, after all, and already cleared by the guard.

"I can't find anything useful." She says to the others. "I'm not even sure this is connected to the sawmill, since there was a survivor here, but it would be worth asking him regardless. Even if they're not connected, one less murderer on the loose is always a good thing. To the sanitarium?"

[Desril]

Setsuna

The tiefling nods her head in response to Brin, "I agree. I can not find anything telling either, but maybe the survivor can help us."

[maggie_mcknife]

Red

Perception: (1d20+7)[20]
Survival: (1d20+7)[27]
DEX check: (1d20+3)[22] - passed
Another DEX check: (1d20+3)[19] - failed

Finding the barn too cramped with people and bad odours for comfort, Red quietly excuses herself and steps outside. She crouches in the shaded area just outside the door, eyes half-closed, taking deep breaths to fill her lungs with the warmer and richer scents of drying grass and leaf mould. Gods above. If smells could kill...

Red pushes her hair out of her eyes and turns to gaze warily at the nearby creek. Setsuna and Rico had said the smelly thing might be walking underwater. Maybe it had come from this creek too, and gone back in. Maybe it was hiding in there right now. But if it was... then there would be more footprints, wouldn't there?

Stepping lightly, Red leaves the stoop of the barn and approaches the creek, on the look-out for more bare footprints. She is quickly disappointed though, for the ground here is hard, baked to a crust with cracks webbing through the banks. The creek itself is relatively shallow and filled with rocks - nothing could have swum here, unless it wanted to dog-paddle along on its tummy, bashing its head into crags all the while.

There are no footprints to be found. Mildly disappointed and yet relieved, Red is about to rejoin the others when something odd catches her eye - a sodden wad of what looks like crushed parchment, shoved into the crevice between a couple of boulders in the middle of the stream.

Balancing on the rocks to get to the boulders is easy enough. Trying to pick the parchment off the boulder is not, with the wet paper clinging to the rock and ripping down the centre. Biting her lip, Red manages to peel most of the parchment off, cupping it in her palms and carefully carrying it back to the barn.

"I'm sorry... It... broke," she says awkwardly, wincing as she presents the parchment to the rest of you. "It was... outside. In the... stream."

*****

GM post

You have found one very wet envelope. Or rather, most of one very wet envelope that is now in two very wet pieces, no thanks to Red not thinking about wet paper tearing easily before she picked it up. Either roll DEX DC 20 check to pick it apart with further breakage to see what's inside, or find some way to dry it in order to read it without any other checks.

[ProudGrognard]

Sirus

Just as he was about to suggest heading back for lunch, Red comes back with her incredible find. Sirus looks at it almost reverently and nods approval to Red. Someone at last found something.

'I am. Not.Versed. In paper preservation. Perhaps. Leaving it. Somewhere. Dry. and warm?'

[Desril]

Setsuna

"That could work, but it would be faster to use magic. I know a spell that should work, if I can see that for a moment."

Should no one object and Red hand over the wet paper, Setsuna incants a short series of arcane words to dry and clean the paper. Doing her best to restore it to its undamaged form, followed by a different usage of the same spell to magically open the envelope to avoid damaging it further.


Prestidigitation x2, first to "clean" the envelope and its contents, and then to open it up.

Best. Cantrip. Ever.

[Miraqariftsky]

With nods and note-taking, had Rico studious paid
Heed, her fellow constable and her tale
Of criminal shade and butcher's blade
Soon follows Red out,
Roots 'round, tracks about
She quickly crows her approv'l
Then doffs her helm, holds out its bowl
...Then stops, worried of keeping't whole

"Good work, Red. HOY, Y"ALL!
Tal, Hellgirl, mage-cleanin', if'in ye please?"

[maggie_mcknife]

GM post

Setsuna's spell suffices to do the trick - the parchment envelope grows crisp and stiff to the touch as the arcane energy repels water from the sodden wad, showering the ground below Red's palms with droplets of creek water. The envelope is technically already opened, no thanks to Red, but by using the same magic to carefully slide its contents out, you are able to put the pieces within back together.

The envelope appears to contain a letter of some sort and for those who have seen the missive addressed to Sirus, the spidery handwriting is quite identical.


Messrs Mortwell, Hask, and Tabe -

A deal has come about that I need capital for. It involves property and gold, and though I am not at liberty to tell you the exact details, it will make us all rich. Come to Celvin's Barn on Cougar Creek tonight. We can meet there to discuss our futures and our fortunes.


Your Lordship

[ProudGrognard]

Sirus

Sirus waits his turn to examine the note. He does so, taking his time.

"This is. The same. Person. Who wrote. My note.

Are there. Lords. Around here? Have. New projects. Started?"

[maggie_mcknife]

GM post

Hannah scratches her head, just as puzzled as the rest of you. "Lords? Plenty. You can't toss a stone without hitting some noble house on the Lost Coast. Miss Ameiko oughta be Lady Kaijitsu, now I come to it, if she'd suffer the name. As for new projects... do you mean businesses and such? Not recently, though word has it that the Scarnettis are trying to muscle out or buy over every other lumber mill not under their flag. Why, you think Titus Scarnetti hired someone to kill his own manager? Or that some unhappy owner's trying to send Titus a message?"

Knowledge (local) DC 12
Hannah is correct. There are at least a dozen noble houses based in Magnimar, four of which also reside in Sandpoint itself - the Deverins (led by Mayor Kendra Deverin), the Vlademars (led by Ethram Valdemar), the Scarnettis (led by Titus Scarnetti - who owns the sawmill), and the Kaijitsus (of which Ameiko is the last one in this part of the Lost Coast).

Knowledge (nobility) DC 15 to recall all the names of the noble houses based in the Lost Coast region.

[Bhaakon]

Brin

Having been outside the door when the previous note was presented, Brin takes Sirus's word that the same hand penned both.

"Or it's just some puffed up nobody who likes the sound of a fancy title." Brin mutters. "At least as many fake 'lords' around as real ones, in my experience." She shakes her head, unsure what to make of the clues, "At least we know the two scenes are connected, and this means that the survivor knows the identity of the murder--assuming the murderer is the one who wrote the notes."

"We head for to Habe's sanitarium immediately, before 'his lordship' decides to tie up the loose end."

[maggie_mcknife]

GM post

Bidding goodbye to Hannah, who must return to Sandpoint, Rico leads the remaining mile along the dusty farm road that runs by Cougar's Creek to the sanatorium. The journey does not take long. Proceeding towards the towering limestone escarpment that the locals call Ashen Rise, a squat three-storied stone building nestled in the lee side of the cliff quickly comes into view - a stark edifice of sharp angles and walls of dazzling white against the mossy grey crags all around it.

This building before you, as a crisply painted sign by the road with a Pharasmin spiral burnt into the wood proclaims, is 'THE SAINTLY HAVEN OF RESPITE'. While there is nothing about the building itself that strikes you as particularly saintly, whoever maintains the grounds has done so with an almost religious fervour. The outer walls have been recently painted, with not a trace of creeping ivy or mold damp to be found, while the air is rich with the moist smell of freshly cut grass. The planks on the front verandah have been polished to a smooth finish from frequent scrubbing, with tiny potted flowers lined up against the walls adjacent to the front door. Just a stone's throw from the front door is a modest vegetable garden with rows of plump cabbages and various herbs ready for harvest. Someone has even taken the trouble to seed the path leading up to the building with a layer of gravel that crunches loudly underfoot as you tramp on it. If not for the notable fact that not a single of the various grilled windows facing you is wider than half a hand-span, it would indeed be quite difficult to guess at the true nature of the haven as a madhouse.

The wooden verandah creaks loudly in protest as you mount the steps and try the front door, which unsurprisingly enough, you find to be locked. Rapping loudly on the thick oak elicits a series of muffled clopping sounds from within, similar to calabash halves being knocked together. Before you can count to ten, the door is yanked open just wide enough to reveal the grouchy face of a bald tiefling with scaled snake-like skin and thick rope-like ceremonial scars running along the length of his pate. From the look of his starched grey clothing, he would appear to be an orderly of some sort.

The orderly peers imperiously out at the group of you gathered outside, eyeing Rico's watch garb up and down before reluctantly speaking in a low and sulky voice, revealing tiny sharp teeth that cause him to lisp slightly. "Apologies, ma'am guard. Honoured visitors. Doctor is very busy today. He does not desire to be disturbed. Please come back another time."

Perception DC 12 (no taking ten allowed)
If you crane your neck, you notice another orderly calmly waiting just behind this one - another tiefling, who boldly stares back at you, his muscled arms folded across his chest. Those of you who were outside the General Store last night would recognise this orderly as the same tiefling 'boy' who had been accompanying Jubrayl Vhiski.

[ProudGrognard]

Sirus


Sirus debates with himself whether he should be the one to try and argue their way in. He holds his tongue but he looks squarely at the eyes of the orderly behind him, silently pointing him to the others. His eyes never leave the eyes of the other tiefling. Unspoken words flow through the eye contact.

I see you. I know you. Choose wisely.

[Bhaakon]

Brin

"Perfectly understandable, and no obstacle. We're not here to see you're boss, you see, but to question one of your charges concerning murder most foul. Several of them, actually." Brin speaks quickly, attempting to buffalo the guard with a combination of fast talk and legitimate authority.

"I believe the Sandpoint Guard, this very guard right here," She tips her head towards Rico, "left Mr. Grayst Sevilla in your charge. That implies right of access, I think. Don't worry, we won't bother your boss, or the other residents. On my faith, I'd never think of disturbing one of the Lady's institutions." She finishes by flashing her spiral tattoo.

"And you, um, I never caught your name." She addresses the second tiefling. "I neglected to thank your friend properly for that delicious rum ham he guided into my possession. Please pass along my appreciation."

Assuming that the tieflings are suitably baffled by her impeccable reasoning, Brin will try to shoulder her way in.

Diplomacy: [roll0]

[maggie_mcknife]

GM post

The orderly at the door first startles, then tries to wave Brin back as she essays to put her foot through the door, his cloven hooves clapping loudly on the threshold as he takes a clumsy step forward to bar her way.

"No, no, no. You do not understand. Doctor, he is very busy - with the new patient-"

The other tiefling behind the door frowns at his companion, then takes a determined step forward, holding out a hand to prevent the door from swinging open any further. When he speaks, a powerful odour of brimstone crackles on his breath, faint wisps of pearl-grey smoke curling up from the corners of his mouth, his voice thin and unpleasant on the ears.

"Perhaps milady priest, she would tell us what errand she has with the new patient? So we can pass on a message? To see what Doctor says? Doctor has given us strict instructions to let nobody through the door. Doctor is a devoted man. The new patient requires much of his care. Milady priest would not get us into trouble with our employer, would she?"

[Desril]

Setsuna

Wrinkling her nose at the scent of brimstone, unpleasant but not unfamiliar for the Tian tiefling, Setsuna speaks up when the orderlies ask about their job safety. "I am sure that the Doctor will forgive you for taking us to him then. As you were told, we are here on official business from the Sandpoint Watch. You would get in more trouble for denying us entry and making it seem as if the Doctor was refusing to help the Watch than for interrupting him. Or does the Doctor not care if his reputation is damaged?"


Let's try my hand at diplomacy

[roll0]

[maggie_mcknife]

GM post

Perhaps the second orderly's association with the notorious Jubrayl has taught him some boldness. Or perhaps he's feeling particularly stubborn this morning. Either way, he refuses to budge and continues to glower at your group from behind the safety of the door.

"I am hired by Doctor, not Sheriff of Sandpoint. Tell me precisely what it is you are wishing to speak to Doctor about, and I will convey it to him. This is place of healing for those your town does not wish to care for and does not wish to see." As he speaks, a strained look comes into the tiefling's pale eyes, as if suddenly reminded of the extent to which his own demonic heritage marks him as visibly other - unlike Setsuna, there is no way either of the orderlies could have passed as normal humans. "If Doctor cared for reputation, he would not sacrifice his time and money so. Now, tell me your errand. Or begone, lest you rouse the patients."

[bcool999]

Taladron

Taladron had been silent as they searched the barn together. They were finding pieces of the puzzle, but they were not fitting together as of yet and forming a complete picture.

The appearance of the two orderlies makes Taladron raise an eyebrow. I understand that the townspeople wouldn't like their appearance, but how would deranged, broken minds be able to take food and be manhandled by these two without losing it? Taladron remains silent though, he wasn't a people person so unless they planned on blasting their way in he had to rely on the others to sweet talk the door open.

[ProudGrognard]

Sirus

Sirus does not like at all the way things are going here. His instinct is to push until the barrier breaks open.

Maybe just a nudge, then.

"We do. Not. Care. Who pays you. Nor. Will it. Make. A difference. On what. We are. Here. To do.

A double. Murder. Was committed. Not long. Ago. The sole witness. A man named. Grayst Sevilla. Has been. Admitted. Here.

We are. To see him. At the doctor 's. Earliest. Convenience. Which will. Be. Today. And now.

Now. Go. Notify him."

[maggie_mcknife]

GM post

The less articulate of the two tieflings does not take kindly to being ordered around by Sirus, something disdainful smouldering in his eyes as he holds his ground and refuses to budge. It's clear that he thinks Sirus is trying to pull a fast one on him.

"I think the honoured sir has his facts wrong. Yes, ma'am guard yonder brought a patient here yesterday, but she did not know his name then. She said he had been witness to three dead men, not two. Doctor has been with the patient since his arrival. It is impossible for this patient, if he is called Sevilla, to have seen any other murders-"

Just then, a frustrated male voice with the barest traces of an Ustalavian accent snaps out from somewhere deeper within the building. "I say, what is that infernal racket going on? Did I not instruct you, Gortus, to send away all visitors and clients?"

The second tiefling, the one hanging out with Jubrayl last night, gives you a gloating look of satisfaction as he calls out in reply. "Aye, Doctor, that you did. But they will not go away. It is a guard-lady from yesterday with others. They wish- no, they demand that you attend to them in person."

There is a marked pause that is quickly followed by the careless loud footsteps of someone who is on the verge of losing his temper and doesn't care who knows it. Soon enough, a lean middle-aged man of handsome proportions and sporting a neatly coiffed goatee storms into view, the robes of dark maroon which mark him as a medical alumnus of the University of Lepidstadt sweeping about his ankles as he strides swiftly to the door. He wears a Katapeshi style durag on his head and the expression beneath it would have been kindly enough if not currently twisted in anger.

"Well?" He demands brusquely, his hands on his hips. "Make it quick, if you can. The patient you brought me yesterday, ma'am, is very ill. His madness took a turn for the worse over the night and he requires my utmost attention."

[Desril]

Setsuna

Setsuna had been about to join Sirus in his efforts to force their way in before the Doctor, whose orders had been delaying them so far, finally made his appearance. Glad to be able to talk directly to the one in charge the tiefling speaks up, "Your patient, doctor, is the only surviving witness to a murder that we are investigating. He may be able to help us, and it is vital that we speak with him. I can assure you that we will not let his madness get any worse in our presence."


Eh, had more I could've said, but I couldn't word it well.

Maybe I can get the doctor to work with us, since I can't do anything for his lackeys. Diplomacy [roll0]

[Bhaakon]

Brin

"I would add, good Doctor, that we have reason to believe that the person who left your patient in this state has killed again. As a fellow servant of our Lady of Graves, I will do my utmost to see that we do not tax our patient more than necessary, but I really must insist that we talk to him." Brin adds in her most reasonable-sounding tone of voice. "The blackguard could be planning his next crime as we speak, and Mr. Sevilla may very well know his or her name."

Diplomacy aid another: [role]1d2+6[/roll] edit: rolled 11 in dice thread

[maggie_mcknife]

GM post

The Doctor rakes his gaze impatiently over your group. For some reason, he seems distinctly unimpressed with the lot of you, including Brin, despite her identification as a cleric of Pharasma.

"Fine," he barks. "I'll let three of you in to see him, and only three. No more than that. I don't want the lot of you tiring him out or making him stressed. The poor man's been through enough in the past few days and I wouldn't give much hope for his survival if he takes any more strain. The rest of you will have to wait out here."

Sense Motive DC 20
The Doctor is telling the truth about Grayst Sevilla, as far as you can tell. He's also definitely irked and wants all of you out of the building as fast as possible, which isn't a surprise if Grayst is really ill. You can't help picking up though, that despite all appearances, the Doctor is also rather worried about something...

[ProudGrognard]

Sirus

Sirus bows a little.

"Thank you. I think. Me. Brin. And Setsuna. Would be. Best.To follow you. In.

Lead. The way. Please. Doctor."

[Bhaakon]

Brin

"I'm not going to argue." Bring says at Sirus's suggestion, and follows the doctor in, flashing the tieflings a cheshire grin and a wink on the way past.

[Desril]

Setsuna

Not disagreeing with who was chosen to go visit the witness, the magus gives her fellow tieflings a last look before focusing on the doctor. I wonder if they're so rude because of how they were treated growing up, like...shaking her head, Setsuna interrupts her own train of thought and follows the others inside.

[maggie_mcknife]

GM post

Brin and Sirus and Setsuna

"Come along then. And take heed! There are other patients in the premises and you would do well not to attract their attention. The rest of you - stay where you are. I won't have you wandering about to disturb my patients. Gortus, Gurnak. Kindly attend to our visitors." Not bothering to disguise the scowl on his face, the Doctor irritably waves the three of you into the building.

Once inside, you are struck by two things. One is a pervasive sour odour that you might recognise as cheap incense. The other is the incongruous cleanliness of the place. As with its exterior, the rooms of sanatorium have been scrupulously swept and scrubbed, the walls painted a sterile white. Everything seems to have been carefully tidied and put in its place. Passing through a modest reception area and into what seems to be a craft-room of sorts, you see that every table has been perfectly aligned against the wall, with neatly labelled sewing boxes and several bales of cloth stacked in the corners according to colour. There is little time for you to take in your surroundings, however, as the doctor ushers you hurriedly up two flights of stairs, passing rooms with prominently large locks on the closed doors.

"Our current patients like to remain inside," mutters the Doctor by way of explanation, grunting slightly as he ascends the stairs, his hands cupping his knees for support. "They harm no one if they are not roused. I would prefer for them to try their hand at useful employment, but we currently have none capable of such work."

The Doctor halts for a moment at the top of the stairs at the third floor to catch his breath. As you join him on the staircase landing, you find yourselves facing a narrow corridor and can't help noticing that of the four doors leading out, the three at the far end are made of reinforced iron. "This is where we keep our more energetic patients. As I mentioned, the patient had turned violent over the night and we found it necessary to restrain him for his own safety and the peace of the other patients." The Doctor motions you down the corridor and pulling a key ring out of his pocket, slides one into the last door and is about to twist it open when he holds up a slender finger in warning. "I pray you, do not unsettle him in any way! He is in a most fragile state."

Pushing the door open, he then waits for all of you to enter before shutting it behind him, hovering wrathfully in the background as you approach the figure hunched on the bed.

The room, despite its imposing entrance, is quite comfortably furnished, with narrow windows to let in the sunlight and a thick feather mattress on the bed. The patient himself - Grayst Sevilla - does not respond to your presence, simply staring fixedly at an invisible spot on the floor, breathing heavily and every now and then, running his tongue over thin, dry lips. Clad in a light green smock, his arms and upper body have been stuffed and swathed in a canvas strait-jacket with thick leather buckles, long dank hair hanging limply over his face.

Those of you who dare to approach him closer, however, realise that something is gravely wrong with Grayst. The sclera of his half-lidded eyes has turned milky white and his hair is matted with sweat. What can seen of his skin is pallid and swollen, his face flushed and his limbs shivering despite the relative warmth of the room.

"He came down with a fever shortly after he tried to attack my orderlies last night. I have done what I can to alleviate his symptoms," offers the Doctor's voice, somewhere behind you.

[Desril]

Setsuna

Doing her best to ignore the smell, Setsuna follows along silently until reaching Grayst's room. Approaching him cautiously at first, the tiefling's caution vanishes instantly as she realizes the terrible condition he's in.

Realizing it probably would be a bad idea to spook him, the tiefling stops her hand from reaching out to touch him in an effort to comfort the potentially deranged survivor, and instead speaks softly, with a gentle and compassionate tone. "Sevilla-san? We came here to ask you about what you saw that night in the barn. Do you feel like you can tell us about what happened?"


Heal is at -1 and untrained, so...Perception! (1d20+1)[18]


And rolling the diplomacy here, I'll get an IC up soon as I can find the right words. (1d20+9)[19]

[maggie_mcknife]

GM post

OOC RollsPerception: (1d20+11)[29]
Perception: (1d20+9)[13]
Perception: (1d20+1)[18]

Untrained heal: (1d20+3)[11]
Untrained heal: (1d20+3)[16]

Perception checks
As Grayst shivers, you observe that the skin just below the collar of the strait-jacket is blackened and shrivelled - the man's shoulder flesh is gangrenous.

Perhaps the Doctor hasn't noticed or taken care of some wound on Grayst's body? Nevertheless, for a doctor to let a wound deteriorate to such a condition is downright neglectful.

Heal checks
You realise that Grayst isn't merely traumatised - he is physically ill. In fact, he is quite likely to be dying from some illness. But from the Sheriff's report, you know he wasn't ill when he was discovered, just mad.

[Bhaakon]

Brin

A tight frown and pinched nose are Brin's initial response to the man. "What is going on here, Doctor? This man is clearly ill, and that smell, no one could miss the stench of gangrene." Brin huffs at the man. "Is he even mentally disturbed, or just delirious with fever?" She makes a mental note to check in on the other inmates, perhaps even send someone to town for the Sheriff. Something here wasn't right.

She mutters a healing prayer and delivers the spell to Grayst. "I'm not sure what's going on here, Mr. Sevilla, but this will help you feel a bit better. At least until we can send to Sandpoint for a more powerful healer. In the meantime, please answer a few questions. The person who did this to you is still loose, and anything you remember could help us catch the villain."

burn my unused 1st level slot to cast cure light wounds

Diplomacy: [roll0]

CLW: 11 (rolled in dice thread)

[maggie_mcknife]

GM post

"Razzorss... Waiting. Immus' deliverrr..." Grayst barely twitches at Brin's healing spell, simply slurring inchorently and groaning to himself. Though the pallor of his skin lightens a little, returning some colour to his cheeks, the signs of necrosis on his shoulders remain.

"This man was already injured from the encounter that caused him to lose his mind," retorts the Doctor forcefully, puffing out his chest. "In any case, I believe the Sandpoint Watch themselves were the ones responsible for binding his wounds before sending him here. I do not know what they did, but when my orderlies came to cleanse him, the wound had already deteriorated to this state. I have done what I could and nothing has availed. All I can do now is to keep him comfortable and wait for him to sleep before I send for help to a more potent minister."

Sense Motive DC 20
Again, you sense that the Doctor is telling the truth. But he's definitely not telling you everything...

[Bhaakon]

Brin

While the doctor blubbers his excuses, Brin focuses on the sick man. The one witness. The key.

"Immus?" She whispers to herself, then louder. "Who is Immus? What is he delivering?" She glances at Setsuna and Sirus, hoping one of them would recognize the name.

[Desril]

Setsuna

Shaking her head at Brin's questioning look, the tiefling can't do more than shrug. Maybe he's trying to say 'I must'?

At the doctor's words however, Setsuna loses her train of thought in deciphering Grayst's words and catches the hesitation in them. With her usual directness, and now a hint of distrust, the magus turns back to face the Doctor. "There is more to it than that. You might not be lying but you know something about his condition that you have not told us. What is it?"


Sense Motive roll out of the way (1d20+1)[20] (rolled in OOC)

Diplomacy to get him to fess up to whatever it is he's hiding! [roll0]

[Miraqariftsky]

Scratch: The livelong while, Rico'd tried to hang back,
Outwardly trying to loom, to be imposing,
But inwardly wounded---

---by slights of incompetence and incompassion
Beneath her scowl, beneath her shield,
She'd been rummaging, rummaging
'Mong her notes, and her pocket-
-Sized copy of the Book of Law

But the papers still when they enter
Enter that room of madness and decay
Rico narrows her gaze and perks her ears,
Her ever-scratching pen stops as she says,

"I tell ye, we did the best we could have,
Under the circumstances. And no,
I assure you, we did not
Brutalize him.

Razors... waiting. I must deliver.
You must deliver what, to whom?
Who or what are... razors?

And, Doctor... I trust you and your staff
Have seen to the patient's
Other ailments?

Sir, might I ask as well,
Have you seen anything strange or disturbing
Beyond the norm of your esteemed institution's... standard levels?
Recently, at night, strange noises, sights or smells?
Maybe coming from outside, the outbuidlings,
Or mayhap the unused rooms?"

Ma'am? Was it Rico herself who saw to Mr Grayst's first aid, or was she JUST the warden to whom his custody was temporarily passed during that brief trip? In which case, aye, she'd be upset and concerned, I reckon.

Also... (+2 if any of those are fiend-related)
Heal: [roll0] Perception [roll1] Sense Motive [roll2]

[maggie_mcknife]

Sirus (GM-botted)

Sense Motive: (1d20+11)[27]

Sirus had dallied for a while, wondering if he ought to speak or not. There was something about the man of healing that bothered him in a way he couldn't quite put his finger on. Setsuna's direct confrontation settles the question for him. He stares at the Doctor, his gaze rigid.

"It is. Best. That. You. Tell us. Everything. For. His. Sake. And yours."

*****

GM post

Setsuna and Sirus and Brin

The Doctor actually jumps when put to the question, his cheeks blanching as white as that of his patient - whether from fear or anger, it is difficult to tell. Swallowing hard and shooting a glance at the tattoo on Brin's palm, he takes the time to compose himself before speaking again, his hands balled into fists.

"And what, precisely, is it that you are wishing to know? The man is gravely ill, that much is obvious. He needs my care-"

He gets no further, however, as Grayst suddenly moans, his cry eerily loud and unsettling in the sun-drenched room. The sick man has raised his head to look directly at Sirus, his pale eyes bulging and his weathered lips trembling with what can only be agitation.

"Yoo... He ssaid... he said yo'would findd mee... Ssskerlati... H-hiss Lordship. Said ssso."

*****

Rico and Taladron and Red

Outside on the verandah, the two tiefling orderlies give you sour looks, tapping their feet and crossing their arms - they're not pleased with the idea of having to babysit the three of you and make the sentiment plain.

"S'pposed to be helping the other patients wash up, we are," mutters the one named Gurnak sulkily, scraping his hoofed foot back and forth on the ground like an agitated horse.

Gortus, previously of Jubrayl's company, shrugs and stares back at the three of you, chewing on something in his mouth. If you care to look, you can practically see him think, the thoughts swirling rapidly about in his head.

"So tell me, honoured visitors. If you please. Exactly what murder would you be investigating? Surely it cannot be the murder of the three who were found with the patient. Ma'am guard-lady said yesterday that the Watch could get no further information out of the patient. Why does ma'am guard-lady return now to ask? What is so special about our poor patient, he who tried to bite me last night?" His words and voice are polite enough, but his eyes gleam with a calculating interest.

[Desril]

Setsuna

Setsuna is caught off guard by Grayst's sudden moan, but when he mentions that 'His Lordship' had spoken to him and told him about Sirus she immediately moves to the madman's side. Relying upon her innate ability to be able to peer into the minds of those around her, Setsuna opens her mental hearing as she tries to concentrate on Grayst's mind specifically. "You met 'His Lordship'? Can you tell us about him? Take your time, please."


Diplomacy on Grayst to get him to concentrate on 'His Lordship' and take his time (preferably 3+ rounds) describing him. [roll0]

Detect Thoughts, preferably aimed so that Grayst is the only one in the room it hits. Can't really do anything about any rooms beyond if there isn't enough obstacles to block the spell though. DC as mentioned is 14 or 15.

[Bhaakon]

Brin

With Sirus handling the doctor, Brin concentrates on Grayst. The man's confused, delirious. Better not confuse hi with multiple speakers. She keeps her mouth shut, hoping the man would answer Setsuna with something approaching clarity.

[maggie_mcknife]

GM post

Setsuna detects with Detect Thoughts
Round 1 - Thoughts, yes.
Round 2 - Only one mind in Grayst's head, thank goodness. INT 8
Round 3 - Madman does not get a save due to being mad. See below for further details.

Focusing entirely on Grayst, you take a deep breath and empty your mind, firmly pushing away the faint tingle that signals the mental presences of Sirus and Brin. Grayst's thoughts, predicatably enough, flash past like lightning and it is all you can do to chase one down and latch onto it before it vanishes back into the seething dark mass of his mind...

For a moment, the world swims and you have the sensation of falling, stepping into pot-holes, everything off-kilter - It is night and there is rope cutting into your wrists, your fear spreading in a warm steaming patch at your groin. There is a wad of foul-tasting straw shoved into your mouth and your throat is raw from crying, begging to be set free.

You cannot turn away. You cannot close your eyes. The bodies dangling from the ceiling sway in some unseen breeze, rotating slowly to the left, then to the right, their jaws torn away and gaping in a black scream that no-one can hear. There is viscera unspooled on the floor. There are shreds of flayed skin pierced on a rusty hook. And all the time, there is the steady plop-plop-plop of blood dripping down, soaking into the dirt floor.

Attend to me, dog, croons a man's voice, smooth as honey. Something clammy tenderly caresses your cheek, even as you reflexively jerk and throw up in your mouth from the sheer stink of him, your own vomit burning the back of your throat, causing your eyes to water and mercifully blurring the sight of the bodies that were once your friends.

Now. You were unworthy for sacrifice. But you will have your use yet. You will send a message for me. To the one whose drawing I showed to you. To the half-orc, the one they called Sirus Skerlati. Do not worry about finding him, for he is brave and tenacious, unlike you, and he will surely come to you. And you see him, you will tell him-

*****

Setsuna and Brin and Sirus

"Hiss Lordsship. He hass a place... f-f'yoo. A p-precioussss place. Imm ssso jealoous." Something akin to a smile has crept over Grayst's face and he grins up at Sirus with a undisguised mixture of hope and envy that is frankly frightening to behold, his loose tobacco-stained teeth bared and sinister blackened gums showing. It would seem that the gangrene has somehow spread to Grayst's insides.

"He hass... a messsage. F'yoo. Made meee rememember it! Lordssshipp. He di'. Woo'nt approve... if I f'got. No no no no no no no no no...."

For a moment, it seems that Grayst has lost himself in endless repetitions of the last word he spoke, humming and swaying back and forth on the bed, his brow scrunched in a parody of intense concentration. Finally, he wriggles with a perverse glee, cackling as he bounces up and down in joy, almost toppling himself off the bed and into Setsuna's face.

"Hessed! That the bodies yoo fi'ding are ssssigns. An-and portentss! An' when hes done, yoo be r-remember'd. F'ever! Hessed that iff yoo came to him, he would end... the harvesst. In y'honour..." Having exhausted himself with the effort, Grayst moans and lashes his head from side to side, suddenly weeping without tears, his shoulders heaving. "Whyit have t'be yoo. He killed them... all f'yoo. If not f'yoo, they'd be alive."

[ProudGrognard]

Sirus

Sirus was ready to press the doctor when the madman suddenly comes to life. Sirus' face becomes almost animated, but then it closes, like a stone door. When the madman finished, he says in a slow voice, even slower than usual.

"You have. Done well. Your friends. Will be. Avenged.

Tell me. Where. Can I find. His Lordship? Where is this. Special place?"

Sirus' face has an intensity very rare for the half orc. He seems ready to jump inside the madman 's skull, to find the answer he seeks.

Pharasma help me. I will find the man responsible and send him to your Spiral!

[Bhaakon]

Brin

Brin hops back from the madman. That smile was...wrong, and his sudden burst of energy was disconcerting. They should go and fetch a more powerful cleric form Sandpoint immediately, before there was another body to add to "his Lordship's" tally. She doubted the Doctor could do anything for him, and she was appalled that he'd let the man's sickness advance to far. Appalled and suspicious.

Still, they needed answers, and Grayst was talking, at least. She retreats a couple steps, outside the man's cell, and listens to his response to Sirus's questions.

[bcool999]

Taladron

Taladron stands there for a few moments considering ignoring the teifling's question. It was an active investigation after all, but then he decided that many details would soon be public knowledge and if he was careful he wouldn't reveal anything that would be considered sensitive information. "As you may or may not have heard by now, knowing how fast rumor can spread, there has been another murder at the... what was it called... Scarnatti mill? Anyway, there was evidence to suggest that the murders your madman witnessed and this new incident were connected so we felt it was worth the trip to see if he could be persuaded to recount his trauma."

After speaking, Taladron realizes that he has yet to clean the road dust and marsh mud off himself so sets himself to the task while his companions are inside.
Presdigitation Shower!!! Rico too if she shows an interest in cleanliness.

[Desril]

Setsuna

Doing her best to not start dry-heaving at the sudden mental image and the clarity with which Grayst remembered the details of the scene, Setsuna can't help but turn her head and look away from the madman to get his thoughts out of her head, only to end up hearing more from other people in the process.

Gods, it's terrible...no wonder he went mad...


So, think I can get a will save on the doctor? I might be able to get more from Grayst's mind, but...she really doesn't want to try.

[maggie_mcknife]

GM post

Setsuna

Will Save: (1d20+5)[20] - passed

Setsuna does not manage to use Detect Thoughts on the Doctor.

For a moment, you can sense the shape of the minds around you - Sirus, blazing bright, honed and sharp as steel - Brin, teasing, cloud-like, slipping through your fingers. As your gaze hits the Doctor, standing uneasily by the door, however, there is the feel of a door abruptly slammed shut, nearly causing you to physically jerk away. Should you chance to look at the Doctor's face, you find him staring hawk-like back at you in mingled horror and suspicion. While he likely has no idea of your spell, he can certainly sense the inadvertent attempt to pry apart his mental defences, and he does not like it one bit.

*****

Sirus and Brin and Setsuna

"P-place?" Grayst continues to breathe in and out heavily, gulping for air. "Preciouss, he said. P-prrrecious. Preciouss. Prrecioussss..." The man's voice trails off as if lost in wandering thought, rocking to and fro once more. Over at the door, the Doctor stops glaring at Setsuna long enough to frown worriedly at his patient.

"I gorrit!" Grayst suddenly beams up at Sirus and surges upright, exposing his loose yellowed teeth once more, giving him an unfortunate resemblance to a whipped horse. "I juss' have to kill yoo fust," explains the madman hungrily, tugging furiously at the leather restraints of the strait-jacket with a strength and energy he shouldn't possess. "Then hiss Lordsship. He woo'nt love yoo noo more. He'd love mee 'stead. And he'd bite on them tooo, bringgem back. Make them hisss. Like mee..."

Despite his illness, Grayst is powerfully built and in his perplexing eagerness to free himself and kill Sirus, the canvas stitching of the strait-jacket actually begins to pop loose. On his part, the Doctor actually gives a little squeak of alarm as Grayst rises to his feet. Retreating back out the door, he rapidly tugs twice on a thick tasseled rope hanging by a lamp before hollering down the stairs.

"Patient's loose! Get up here right now!"

Sirus, Brin, and Setsuna have one round's time to do something about Grayst. If Grayst manages to free himself, combat will begin in the next round.

*****

Taladron, Rico, and Red

"Ah. A Scarnetti man was murdered, eh? Interesting. Interesting indeed." Gortus strokes his chin with exaggerated carefulness. "Connected in what way, I wonder? Perhaps by certain signs? A hanging, perhaps? Calculated to send a message? Lord Titus, he-"

Just at that moment, the Doctor's frantic cry for help reaches those waiting by the door. Without as much as a mutual glance of understanding, the two tieflings immediately draw truncheons from their belts before turning and charging through the door, following the path the doctor took.

Those on the verandah are free to do what they like - follow the tieflings, explore the house, etc.

[ProudGrognard]

Sirus

Sirus was watching the poor man intently, hanging from his every word. This is why he was too slow to recognize the signs. But as poor Grayst started to struggle, Sirus hesitated for only a minute. He had seen the clubs on the guards. They would not be subtle.

He leaps in the bound man. He strikes with his palms open, in places calculated to only leave bruises. His first strike is clumsy, almost breaking the man's nose before holding back, but the second hits him in the solar plexus.

FoB for non-lethal
Atk1 [roll0] dmg [roll1]
Atk2 [roll2] dmg [roll3]

[Bhaakon]

Brin

Could have solved this problem with the right spell, Brin silently castigates herself for not asking Pharasma for any of a half-dozen powers that could have helped restrain the poor man. She cringes a bit as the punishing blows rain down, reminding herself that Grayst--the mad bastard--had just threatened to kill them all. All she can do is fish the loops of rope from her back and prepare to bind the man once he was subdued.

[maggie_mcknife]

Red

Having spent most of the past few minutes examining a caterpillar on one of the potted plants outside and not paying any attention at all to the conversation, Red is startled when the tiefling orderlies yank out their truncheons and race off. Freezing for a second, she spares a glance at Taladron and Rico before deciding to give chase, staying on the heels of the orderlies. Whatever that shout meant, it probably wasn't good. If the others were in trouble...

*****

GM post

Even holding back his full prowess, Sirus has no trouble at all subduing the dying Grayst. The man crashes heavily to the floor upon being struck - where he moans softly in a dazed heap, curled up and quite unable to continue his attack. By the time the orderlies and Red make their appearance on the scene, everything has calmed down - or not quite.

If Brin wishes to try tying him up, she is able to do so without incurring AoOs.

"Goodness. I..." Yanking the durag from his head and revealing a balding head streaked with sparse grey, the Doctor mops his brow, staring first at Sirus, then at the prone Grayst, quite deflated, all the bluster gone out of him. "Um, listen. I- er- I'm terribly sorry. So sorry. I had no idea he had it him to strike a visitor. I've never had someone get close to breaking the restraints before, um." He fiddles nervously with the durag, teasing the dyed cloth between his long fingers even as he apologises. "If I could, er- count on your discretion on this matter? We only have one sponsor, and if we got into trouble, well- I don't know where I'd house the other patients..."

[Bhaakon]

Brin

Winding the rope around the comatose man and tying it is simple enough once Sirus has finished his work. Brin isn't exactly adept with knots, but Grayst can't try to untie the bindings with his hands trapped in the sleeves of the straightjacket.

She gives the Doctor a hard look when she's done, unsure what to make of him. She didn't really trust him, not after seeing the state the witness was in, but he was slick enough to have answers for everything so far. Or maybe he was telling the truth. Brin's gut didn't exactly have a perfect record on such matters, especially when empty. Hmmph, this is hard. Should have grabbed a snack before marching out to the barn.

"It takes a powerful man to break out of such restraints." She says, slowly, "especially when so terribly ill. I can't blame you for not realizing he might break free. I don't see any reason to mention this incident to the cleric we summon from Sandpoint to heal his sickness. In the meantime, we should remain here to make sure he doesn't get loose again, and to listen to his rantings should he wake up. He clearly knows something, despite the reticence."

[Desril]

Setsuna

Still recovering from the images, Setsuna is slow to react and by the time she realizes that she should do something to stop Grayst Sirus had already knocked the madman unconscious. As Brin begins to tie him up the tiefling tries to put together what she saw and relate it to Sirus after taking a moment to compose herself and keeping her eyes on the floor to avoid prying into everyone's mind at once. Realizing that the doctor is still in the room however gets Setsuna to hold her tongue for the moment to avoid complicating things further.

"I agree, we should stay here. Please send one of your orderlies for a cleric at once, so we can keep his illness from deteriorating."

That said, she reluctantly looks again at the madman and tries to take in his unconscious thoughts in the hopes that they may prove to have any more useful details.


If Detect Thoughts is still up, reluctantly return to focusing on Grayst. If it's been interrupted or if he's completely thoughtless from that clobbering, dismiss it.

Diplomacy to convince the doctor to do as asked [roll0]

[maggie_mcknife]

GM post

Setsuna is unable to detect thoughts with Detect Thought due to Grayst being mostly unconscious.

"A cleric... from Sandpoint? Yes. Indeed. I..." mutters the Doctor in a curiously strangled voice, wringing his hands. Eventually, he draws himself up to his full height before saying in a much calmer voice, "Yes. Yes, you are both right. We must send for help. I do not know why I delayed this long. Gortus, Gurnak, please send word to Master Caizarlu immediately. Tell him that our honoured visitors have pressed upon me the urgency of seeing that our patient be cured, instead of giving him up for dead."

"Doctor? You are sure?" Gortus seems uncertain of the instructions, pursing his lips and glancing at all of you squeezed into the room and the corridor.

Something has given the Doctor confidence and with it, his lofty attitude has returned. "Aye. I am sure. Go now. It would not do to keep our guests waiting. Hurry!" he calls out with all the imperiousness of a lord over his keep.

The two tieflings scurry (or in the case of Gortus, clatter) back down the stairs to carry out their errand. Meanwhile, the Doctor moves into the room and kneels down next to Grayst. "Come. Help me move him back onto the bed. The floor is a poor place for a sick man to rest."

Sense Motive DC 15
OK, come on. Something is obviously up with the Doctor. He's not acting right. And if the behaviour of the orderlies isn't giving it away already...

[Bhaakon]

Brin

Oh, come on. I've never heard such an obvious coded message in my life. It's all that Brin can do to keep herself from giving the Doctor an incredulous "how stupid do you think we are" stare.

Instead, she picks herself up from binding Grayst and strides fro the stairs, idly asking her compatriots. "Master Caizarlu? Never heard of him. I thought Father...um, what did the Sheriff say? Zantus. I thought he was in charge of that big temple in Sandpoint."

She'd only heard the Sheriff mention the Father's name in passing, and it certainly wasn't Caizarlo. Now she was dead certain the Doctor was hiding something, he didn't want Brin and the other here, and now he was sending his flunkies for some ally. Well, probably.

She walks over to the stairs and shouts down, no longer concerned about disturbing the asylum's other patients. "Rico, Taladron, Red, the orderlies are going out to fetch a cleric named Master Caizarlu. You should make sure they find him. Maybe fetch Father Zantus, as well. Looks like a tough case." As she speaks, here eyes never leave the Doctor and Grayst.

[ProudGrognard]

Sirus

Sirus also catches the strange message behind the message.

"Yes. Go with. Them. Father Zantus. Does not. Like. People. Being left. For. Dead. And he is. The. Only. Established. Cleric, In these. Parts.

Perhaps. More people. Are in. Mortal. Danger. And they. Do. Not. Know it. Even. Some. Healthy ones."

Sirus stares with his bottomless eyes at the orderlies.

[bcool999]

Taladron

Seeing first the orderlies and then Red head inside, Taladron decides to follow. Right inside the entrance however, he decides that he has had enough of this shifty place and decides to get to the bottom of it. A quick incantation later, Taladron's form seems, at first, to become slightly translucent, but then the change deepens until he is completely invisible.

After that, Taladon begins looking for the doctor's private office where he may keep documents that explains his unwelcoming demeanor.

Casting invisibility. It lasts for 4 minutes. Also a perception check to find the office if that helps.
Perception: [roll0]

[maggie_mcknife]

GM post

Map is currently unavailable due to the GM being at work. It will be added to the bottom of this post when the GM gets home from work in about 10hrs time.

Taladron

His disappearance having gone unnoticed by the orderlies and even his own companions, Taladron has the luxury of a few good minutes to scout around the ground floor of the sanatorium.

Aside from being scrupulously clean and organised with manic efficiency, there is little to find in the reception and workroom areas. In fact, the place seems quite devoid of patients, though that could simply mean that their wards are on another floor of the sanatorium. A quick peek into the surrounding rooms reveals them to be bedrooms and a cluttered storeroom crammed with food and water supplies. The tell-tale odour of smoke in two adjacent rooms suggests those to belong to the orderlies, while a neater room with fine cotton bedsheets and a glass decanter of wine in a cupboard is likely to belong to the Doctor.

In the way of documents, there are none to find, though there is a locked coffer on the headboard of the bed in the Doctor's room. If you pick it up and rattle it about, the muted jingle from within suggests that it contains a small amount of heavy coins rather than papers and parchment.

Although the stairwell magnifies sound, you can't make out the exact words of the conversation taking place on the floors above you. Still, the gist and tone of the conversation indicates that there will be others coming your way soon, causing you to quicken your pace as you check the last room at the south end of the sanatorium.

Perhaps to your dismay, you ease open the door of the last room, only to find that the tiny room contains nothing more threatening than a couple of soiled oilskins and some gardening trowels. As you stand about in the large workroom that takes up most of the ground level space, wondering what to do next, your eye might chance to fall upon a space you haven't checked yet - the door leading to the basement of the sanatorium. Any attempts to open the door reveal it to be quite securely locked from the inside. Perhaps Red might be able to jimmy it open for you? Though how she would do so without being observed by the orderlies or the Doctor is another issue entirely.

Taladron may make an untrained Disable Device check. Or he can think of any other creative way to get the door open, and I'll see how that goes. Or he could just move on to another floor...

*****

Everyone Else

While the Doctor struggles by himself to heave the limp Grayst back onto the bed, the orderlies pause and turn to stare at Sirus. Gurnak, the one with the hooves, even retraces his footsteps and deliberately halts in front of the half-orc, the menace in his tensed muscles obvious to read as he lightly taps his truncheon against his thigh.

"Is honoured visitor threatening me?" The tiefling's voice is frigid with anger, an ugly sneer slashed across his face. All propriety forgotten, he laughs openly in Sirus's face, a grating high note incongruous with his bulked body as he makes to shove Sirus in the chest, dropping all efforts to maintain a Varisian accent. "Ye dun frighten me, orc-whelp. I dinnot escape chains in Cheliax to be pushed around by the likes of ye. Ye think yer some big man, threaten folk and make them scared, eh? Eh? Ye think I dunno a bully when I sees one?"

Down the corridor, the other orderly opens his mouth to reprimand his companion, then changes his mind. Rolling his eyes and muttering indistinctly to himself, he continues to trudge down the stairs, on his way to find whoever Mister Caizarlu was. Poised for flight, Red glances helplessly at his retreating form, then back at the rest of you and the tiefling squaring up to Sirus, unable to decide where she ought to be.

In the meanwhile, Brin's shouting and the rest of the din outside seems to have roused at least one other patient. In the cell next to Grayst's, the tiny sliding panel in the door cracks open, revealing a pinched and distinctly furry face with drooping whiskers on its jowls. It struggles to see what is going on outside to no avail, its husky voice quavering forlornly in the corridor. "Doctor Habe? You there? What happen? Why much noise?"

Having managed to mandhandle Grayst back into the bed, the Doctor hurries out of the cell and over to his other patient, his voice low and soothing. "It's nothing, Pidgit. Just some visitors for your new neighbour. They're upset to see him so ill."

*****

Map
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800x600q90/11/1wdi.jpg

[ProudGrognard]

Sirus


Sirus moves closer to the orderly.

"The Chelaxians. Are not. Very good. At fear. And pain.

I. Am. Perhaps. Your lessons. Were not. Thorough. Enough.

Now. Either go. About. Your business. Or stand. Aside.

But. Either way. Be. Very. Careful. Of what. You will. Say. Next."

Sirus is really close to the orderly now, his whole body relaxes, the sure sign that he is expecting violence.

Intimidation [roll0]

[maggie_mcknife]

GM post

At first, Gurnak's face contorts in anger as Sirus makes little of his heritage, but by degrees, his pale eyes widen and he inches backwards ever so slightly, cowed by the half-orc's promise of violence.

"Oi!" Over at the other patient's door, the Doctor turns and snaps at Sirus, his chin thrust out protectively. "Don't you dare intimidate my orderly. You have no idea what he's been through in Cheliax. I won't have you bully him or suffer your verbal abuse."

"Is all right, Doctor," mutters the tiefling, even as he tries to avoid Sirus's gimlet gaze, having backed himself up against the corridor wall and run out of space to go. "I had worse. I ken take care myself."

[ProudGrognard]

Sirus

Sirus does not leave the tiefling 's eyes as he responds

"Accept my. Apologies. Doctor. I am sure. That you. Will. Find. That your. Orderly. Will be. Much better. Behaved. Towards. Next time.

Now. We were. About. To call. Someone. Yes?"

[Desril]

Setsuna

Finally recovering from the invasion into Grayst's mind, Setsuna lets Sirus' attempt at intimidation pass without a word, but gets curious as the other patient pipes up. Her curiosity is only intensified as she notices the furry, whiskered face of the speaker and walks closer to get a better look. "Who is this, doctor?"

[Bhaakon]

Brin

"About to call Father Zantus, and Master Caizarlu, or whoever." Bring adds pointedly to Sirus's comments.

"I'm sure Rico and Red would love to accompany your men back to town. No way to tell if those healers will be home in the middle of the day. Best to send as many as possible, just in case they have to go searching." She adds, watching the Doctor closely.

[bcool999]

Taladron

His scholarly curiosity getting the better of him, Taladron forgets the possible repercussions of breaking through the locked portal. He fiddles with the door for a bit trying to unlock it, but if that fails he resorts to a cantrip to summon orbs of acid to melt the lock.

Disable Devise: [roll0] Minus whatever penalty for not having tools (-4?)
If/When that fails repeated castings of Acid Splash (cantrip) to melt the lock.

[maggie_mcknife]

GM post - long post

Sirus and Brin and Setsuna

The Doctor takes a deep breath, puffing out his cheeks as he exhales, tugging at his robes. "Yes. Yes, we were. Run along now, Gurnak. And do not worry yourselves, Master Caizarlu doesn't live all that far away from here. You will not have to walk for long," he adds, his hard grey eyes following Red and Rico as they trail Gurnak back down the stairs.

When Setsuna inquires about the patient in the other room, the Doctor's eyes almost light up, some of the tension melting out of his shoulders as he briskly steps aside so as to let more of the corridor light fall upon the bewhiskered face in the panel. "Ah. This is Pidgit," he announces with all the stern air of a proud papa. "Pidgit is one of our long-term residents. He's got a bit of a hirsute problem. The Magnimar Watch found him wandering the streets and babbling nonsense. Say hello to our guests, Pidgit."

"Ullo." Pidgit's whiskers quiver as he obediently presses a red-rimmed blue eye to the panel before poking what can only be a short snout through the opening, snuffling eagerly. "They see hippo, Doctor Habe?"

Knowledge (local) DC 12 - can make untrained
Those of you who have spent time in large cities would be no stranger to Pidgit's kind, but even if you haven't, you've definitely heard enough of the lore surrounding lycanthropes to make the connections. Pidgit is a were-rat who is currently in his hybrid form. Judging from the grey of his whiskers, he's likely to be well past his prime in years.

The Doctor sighs lightly and pats the door. "I'm afraid not, Pidgit. We cannot find your hippo unless you tell us what it looks like first, remember?"

"Ooh. Yes. Must tell. But I forget what hippo like," replies Pidgit brightly, his voice muffled due to his snout still sticking out of the narrow panel. Those of you closer to the door note a thin stripe of dark bristles that must be a moustache of some sort running over Pidgit's upper lip. It is almost difficult to believe, given Grayst's condition, that both this happy madman and he are patients of the same Doctor. "How tell?"

"What about that drawing you did last year, Pidgit? The one with the pink spots? Why don't you show our guests your drawing so that they will know what your hippo is like?"

Pidgit's giggles are high-pitched and almost child-like. "Ooh. Ooh! Drawing. I drawer. I show?"

"Of course. Go fetch your drawing, will you? Good boy." The Doctor nods amiably at those of you still present while the furry face vanishes from the window, removing a heavy ring of jangling steel keys from his belt. Selecting a double-sided key with blunt tines, he inserts it into the lock of Pidgit's cell, an apologetic smile painted on his lean face. "You won't mind, will you? Pidgit has his little obsessions. He's harmless for as long as you indulge him within reason. He's been searching for a hippo of his own ever since we let him see a picture book of exotic animals."

Before any of you can object, the Doctor has twisted the key in the lock, causing an interior mechanism to whirr and fall away, which in turn allows the door to swing open of its own accord. Almost immediately, a stooped wiry figure dressed in a worn white smock shuffles out, blinking bleary blue eyes. As with his face, the rest of this patient's visible skin is covered in patchy brown fur, a naked tail emerging from the seat of his pants and quivering like a question mark as he tentatively holds up a crushed sheet of paper in his gnarled hands. "Drawing," he says with obvious pride, beaming around at all of you, though the chaotic squiggles of crayon on the tattered sheet bear absolutely zero resemblance to any animal you've ever seen. "Got see hippo? Hippo fat, like Gurnak. Eat lots. It- SWORD!"

Pidgit has spotted the black blade that Setsuna wears at her hip and gazes at it with undisguised awe, his jaw slack and his eyes wide with wonder. For a moment, he remains on the spot, swaying to and fro slightly like a slender willow wand in the breeze. The next moment, Pidgit has exploded into action, his bony arms darting out and trying to snatch the sword from Setsuna. "Mine! Mine! Gimme!"

*****

Initiative Rolls:
Sirus: (1d20+4)[5]
Brin: (1d20+5)[11]
Setsuna: (1d20+4)[15]

Pidgit: (1d20+2)[13]
Doctor: (1d20+1)[5]

Initiative Order:
> 15 - Setsuna
13 - Pidgit
11 - Brin
5 - Sirus
5 - Doctor Habe

It is now Setsuna's turn.

*****

Taladron and Red and Rico

A closer examination of the lock reveals it to be exceptionally well-made and Taladron's attempt to pick it with one of the larger needles pilfered from a nearby workbasket go poorly. Before he can start using a basic spell to attempt melting the delicate gears and catches within the door, however, Gortus the orderly stomps down the stairs, forcing the elf to cease his attentions on the door.

Gortus, still muttering to himself, sweeps past the invisible Taladron and into one of the nearby bedrooms, leaving a faint wafting odour of brimstone in his wake. From the sounds of it, the tiefling is busy rummaging through the contents of the room.

Less than a minute later, a stormy-faced Gurnak slinks down the stairs, with Red and Rico just a few steps behind. Perhaps to your surprise, the hooved tiefling promptly strides over to the locked door that Taladron was just trying to open and pounds his clenched fist against the door. For a moment, it seems as though Gurnak is trying to break down the door with pure brute force, as he hammers away. The tiefling soon relents, however, and proceeds to rudely bawl down the keyhole. "Sir! Doctor says to come assist him! We have visitors - who want the new patient to get well!"

"Gurnak!" Gortus hisses as he pops his head out of the bedroom door, his curly pate now covered with a traveling hat. Frowning at Red and Rico, he proceeds to confer and gesticulate urgently with his companion in a harsh and guttural language, quite unaware that the invisible Taladron is literate in the Abyssal tongue.

For Taladron only
"We must go. Now. Before the old man opens that door."

"What? And leave Doctor Habe here? But he needs us. He's been kind to us."

"He's fed us and clothed us. We kept to our employment. And now it is time to go. Do you not know who these lot are? They are the goblin-slayers, adored and feted by the people of Sandpoint. The Doctor and the old man are finished. Do you want to end up clapped in iron again? And sent to the Hells?"

"Ehh. You don't say? No wonder that orcling frighted me so."

"I do say, you thick-head. Now come. Quickly! If we are swift, Jubrayl can help us disappear."

The tieflings seem to be having a brief argument, but Gurnak is swiftly persuaded and he too disappears into his room, presumably to fetch something from within. Meanwhile, Gortus emerges, a bulging satchel slung across his shoulders as he raises his eyebrows at Red and Rico.

"Confused? I am sure you are. Do not worry. Master Caizarlu is in basement. He will probably show up soon. But if he does not..." Gortus tosses something gleaming at Red, which she manages to snatch out of the air just in time. It is a tarnished steel key with a scintillating green jewel set in the bow.

"Spare key to the basement. Return it to Doctor for me. My brother and I, we are... how you say... resigning from the job forthwith. Farewell. Ma'am guard. Miss Allin. Remember that we chose to not resist, if you must." Grinning wolfishly at the two of them, Gortus tosses off a mocking dancer's bow before lithely springing for the front door. He is soon followed by Gurnak, who comes puffing out of his room with a sack clutched in his fist, not even bothering to turn around as he goes past.

If nobody stops the tieflings from leaving, they are soon gone and out of sight.

Perception DC 15 to hear the sounds of combat from upstairs.

You have gained a key to open the basement.

*****

Map
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800x600q90/560/svb4.jpg

[bcool999]

Taladron

Hearing the sounds of a fight breaking out upstairs, Taladron realizes that their welcome at the sanatorium may be coming to an end very soon. He decides to try and ask the tieflings for some idea as to what the doctor and this "old man" have been up to here.

Abyssal
"Pardon me a moment, but before you leave could you enlighten me as to what has been going on here that makes you feel the need to high tail it so suddenly? I don't mind that you leave, but even a quick answer would be quite persuasive in convincing me not to bother coming after you." (Should Taladron get some useful information out of them he thanks them and wishes them luck in their future endeavors)

Diplomacy: [roll0] (Worth a shot)
EDIT: Or maybe not? :smalleek:

[Desril]

Setsuna
HP 28
AC 21 (Fighting Defensively)

Drawing Maethilur on instinct as Pdiget lunges toward her, Setsuna retaliates by sweeping at the excited wererat's legs, intending to knock him over without hurting him too badly. "Stay back! I do not want to hurt you."


K: Local that I forgot to roll (1d20+3)[22] (from dice thread)

Fighting Defensively, Trip (Provoking an AoO) [roll0]

[maggie_mcknife]

GM post

Setsuna and Pidigit

AoO:
Attack: (1d20+4)[11]
Damage: (1d4+3)[4]
Fort Save: (1d20+7)[19]

Attack: (1d20+4)[6]
Damage: (1d4+3)[4]
Fort Save: (1d20+7)[27]

Unfortunately, Pidigit seems too preoccupied with wresting the blade from Setsuna to do much else than snap at her arms as she tries to knock him off his feet. For a wererat of his age, he is surprisingly nimble and displays no physical weakness despite his stooped posture.

Somewhere inside Setsuna's head, a voice stirs, almost amused. Well. This is interesting. I was beginning to wonder myself if there were really any other patients in this house.

*****

Initiative Order:
15 - Setsuna
13 - Pidgit
> 11 - Brin
5 - Sirus
5 - Doctor Habe

It is now Brin's turn.

*****

Meanwhile, downstairs... Taladron and Red and Rico

For his pains at eloquence, all Taladron receives is a rude gesture and a snigger as Gurnak tauntingly pats his own buttock cheek on his way out.

*****

Red

Perception: (1d20+7)[20]

Pricking up her ears at the obvious sounds of a struggle going on above, Red looks anxiously at Taladron and Rico. "Should we... go back? I think... something is wrong."

[Bhaakon]

Brin
21 HP
18 AC

Brin eyes the hirsute patient warily, though she has to admit that she's a bit curious what a hippo looks like. She's heard that they're some kind of river horse, of course, but who'd ever heard of an amphibious horse? And pink spots...

Then Pidgit turned violent. Why am I surprised? She wonders, pushing aside any thoughts of aquatic equines while she stares daggers at the doctor.

"You knew he'd react like that." She accuses, unshouldering her bow as she backs away from him. "I don't know what you're hiding, but you've been shifty as a drunken doppelganger since we've come here, and now two of your patients have attacked us. Something tells me that the rest are just as violent. Hands where I can see them, and step away from that door." She draws back an arrow to lend weight to the command.

5 ft step north, move action to draw longbow, ready a standard action to shoot the doctor if he reaches for the door, begins casting, or makes an aggressive move.

[roll0] includes +1 for PBS
[roll1] includes +1 for PBS

Crit confirmation rolls (from dice thread):
Attack: 16
bonus dmg: 20

[ProudGrognard]

Sirus

Sirus, in a rare show of absent-mindness, was lost in thought, scarcely paying attention to what was happening around him. He woke just as the patient went for Setsuna 's sword.

Brin was right. The doctor was playing them. No time now.

Sirus launches into the poor ratling, trying not to hurt it. Kicks meet knees, open palm strikes go for the solar nexus and joint locks hit at weak spots, as Sirus tries to crash the ratling down and subdue it.

It is time for the flood of contingencies again. FoB to trip, vicious stomp later on.

Fob Trip [roll0]
If successful Vicious stomp [roll1] Nonlethal [roll2]
and then second FoB attack [roll3] Nonlethal [roll4]

If first trip unsuccessful, Fob Trip2 [roll5]
If successful Vicious stomp [roll6] Nonlethal [roll7]

[bcool999]

Taladron

Grimacing at the rude demonic duo as they make their way out, Taladron considers Red's question. "Without the orderlies to back him up, I don't believe the doctor would put up that much of a fight. You can go help the others Red and Rico. I am worried that if we are all up there whoever is supposed to be behind this door will have a chance to sneak out in the ruckus. Besides, I wouldn't be all that useful in a close quarters fight where we don't want to seriously hurt who we are fighting."

That being said, Taladron takes up a position directly in front of the locked door and listens to the fighting upstairs as he watches the door.

Move 10 ft farther from the door so I have a comfortable casting range. Then I will wait for the excitement to die down (shouldn't take too long).

[Desril]

Setsuna
HP 28
AC 18

Nimbly ducking out of the way of the wererat's flailing, Setsuna hops back a step as Sirus swoops in and succeeds where she failed in knocking Pidget to the ground. We probably don't need to fight him anymore, surely he isn't suicidal?

Taking a step toward the downed madman, the tiefling points the tip of her blade at him menacingly with the threat and warning to stay down as clear as her voice is cold when she issues a command to him, "You can not win. Stay down and do not try to attack us again."


Intimidate! Preferably to convince him to give up, but since that technically takes a full minute, to demoralize him. [roll0]

[maggie_mcknife]

Red

"But... but you would be here. By yourself." Red shakes her head before nudging Rico with her arm and looking at the stairs. Someone had to stay with Taladron. If anything nasty came out of that door that was faster than him, he'd get flattened in no time at all. And if it was Grayst upstairs making a fuss, then Rico would be the best person to flatten him instead because she was bigger.

"Go help them. I will... stay here."

*****

GM post

Brin readies an action.

*****

Sirus

Will Save: (1d20+3)[16] - passed

Desperation has made Pidgit's movements ungainly and Sirus has no trouble in sweeping the wererat's feet out from under him, before pummeling the air out of his skinny chest.

Despite gasping for breath on the floor, Pidgit is quick to twist his head up so that he can continue to stare at the gleaming blade hovering just a few inches away from his nose, a deadly determination in his eyes as he continues to ogle the sword.

*****

Doctor Habe

Doctor withdraws from combat
Brin's rolled redirected to serve as an AoO

Brin has scarcely finished speaking when the Doctor bolts for the door of the stairs, likely intending to follow his orderlies to safety. At this close a distance, Brin can't miss. Her arrow flies true and strikes the Doctor in the back just as he reaches the top of the stairs, causing him to gasp and stagger forward. His arms flailing as he tries to steady himself to no avail, the Doctor gives a loud cry just before he crashes down the stairs in a flurry of maroon robes.

The Doctor is now dead. But you probably won't find that out until you actually go to look at him.

*****

Setsuna uses Intimidate. She still has a move action that she is holding.

*****

Pidgit

Shaken and holding action

Pidgit never once takes his eyes off Maethilur, panting greedily as he continues to stare at the blade from his position on the floor, calculating his chances and his angles. Mad though he be, he is no fool.

"Lady give Pidgit sword?" He asks hopefully, tensing his lean muscles for action.

*****

Initiative Order:
15 - Setsuna
13 - Pidgit
> 11 - Brin
5 - Sirus
5 - Doctor Habe

It is now Brin's turn.

[Desril]

Setsuna
HP 28
AC 18

Hearing Pidget's words, Setsuna shakes her head. "This is not some sword that can be replaced. I can not give her to you. I can find you another sword though, if you get back in your room."


Diplomacy? [roll0]

[Bhaakon]

Brin
21 HP
18 AC

"Don't run either, or I'll...Oh hells" Brin has some choicer words for herself as the arrow dives into the Doctor's chest and he falls limply down the stair.

Trusting the other two to handle the furry patient, Brin rushes down the stairs after the fallen man, hoping that he wasn't entirely dead yet. Didn't mean to kill him, and shot in the back. Not smart. Not smart at all.

I know he's dead of course, but Brin didn't really want to kill him. Oops.

[maggie_mcknife]

GM post

Setsuna and Pidgit

Will Save: (1d20+3)[15] - failed

Pidgit continues to gaze longingly at Maethilur, a muscle in his skinny neck jumping. For a moment, it seems as though he might leap for the sword again. But something in Setsuna's voice seems to worm its way through to his addled brain, causing him to bob his head up and down repeatedly like a broken toy on a spring.

"Sword. Sword sword swordswordswordsword wooooo... " There is definitely something satisfied about Pidgit's whiskered expression as he hugs his knees and proceeds to obediently roll himself back into his room head-over-heels like a ball.

Are you really going to give him another sword? Maethilur's voice remains piqued. I admit that there is risk in leaving a lunatic alone with a blade, but you did make him a promise and he seems quite capable of the occasional logical exchange.

*****

Combat upstairs is over. Initiative ends.

*****

Brin and Rico

Brin and Rico meet on the stairs, the surly constable grinding her teeth at the sight of the body and huffing in disappointment when she presses stubby fingers to his neck for a pulse and finds none. So much for a lead.

"Eh-HRM. Unprovoked attack, wassit? Sicc'd patients on ye, obstructing the course o' justice?"

*****

New Event

Taladron and Red

Perception:
Red: (1d20+7)[19] - just passed, phew
Taladron: (1d20+2)[14] - failed

Stealth:
z1: (1d20+11)[20]
Z2: (1d20+11)[18]
Z3: (1d20+11)[31]
Z4: (1d20+11)[22]

STR checks:
Red: (1d20+3)[21]
Z1: (1d20+4)[15]


The meaty thump of what can only be a body hitting the floor above is unsettling enough, never mind the defeaning silence that follows the end of the fighting, leaving Red and Taladron with nothing to do but exchange uneasy looks. The eeriely clean and tidy workroom certainly doesn't help to make you feel any better, nor does the lingering odour of brimstone in the still air.

Red is about to call out to Rico and ask what is going on when she catches the subtle creak of floorboards and the tell-tale whirr and muffled clicking of lock counterweights. Before she can quite figure out what is going on, suddenly, much to her horror, the previously locked door suddenly begins to swing open outwards, pushed by some unseen force.

Without thinking, Red immediately leaps and slams her shoulder hard against the door, shoving it shut once more. Feeling the scrabble and protest of powerful hands on the other side, she lowers her head and braces with her legs, pushing back while frantically glancing at Taladron.

"Get the others. Hurry." Red practially whispers the words, her gaze stricken and her voice choked with surging fear.

*****

Perception DC 13 to hear the door slam downstairs and to realise something is still wrong.

We are not yet in combat. But we will be in two rounds time.

[Bhaakon]

Brin

Looks down at Rico as the guards-woman checks the body. She gives a tight frown when Rico confirms what Brin was feared. Another dead lead. Shouldn't have happened that way. Killing a man with a shot in the back, without figuring out why he was act so strange.

But self recriminations could wait. "Ayup." Brin replies, struggling to master her nerves. "Loosed one of the loonies on Setsuna and ran. Drew a bead on him and told him to freeze, but he wouldn't listen..."

Then the dull sharp thud of a slamming door echoes up the stairwell. "What was that? More madmen escaping?" Brin leaps over Habes's limp form and heads down the stairs towards the noise.

[Desril]

Setsuna

Slowly shutting the door after Pidgit goes inside she tells him through it in a voice that's attempting to sound soothing, "Now wait right here Pidgit, I will go find you a sword that you can keep with you. But if you try to leave, you will not get it, understand? You have to wait for me to come back in your room."

If the door can be locked, Setsuna does so before walking over toward the stairs, muttering to Maethilur once out of earshot. "I promised him a sword, not a sharpened one. Lycanthropes are dangerous even without weapons, a dull sword will do no harm that his claws could not."

"I think Pidgit will stay in his room now, but it might be better if we can keep his door locked until I can find a sword to give him."

Noticing the doctor's corpse the tiefling looks sad but was too distracted by Pidgit's attempted theft to see exactly what happened or else she'd feel even worse for being a part of it. Cautiously she looks at Brin, "Is there any thing that we can do for him, or...is he already gone?"


Perception check, rolled in dice thread, failed horribly [2]

[ProudGrognard]

Sirus

"That was. Nicely. Done. Setsuna. I will. Help. You. Honor your. Prom.... What was. That?

Trouble."

Sirus ears almost perk up as his face takes a look of a hound. He moves in great speed to the stairs, skipping the stairs entirely, while sliding down the rail.

[maggie_mcknife]

GM post

Sirus's OOC rolls:
Acrobatics (1d20+11)[16]
Perception (1d20+11)[29]

Rico's Perception check: (1d20+11)[13]

STR checks:
Red: (1d20+3)[23]
Z1: (1d20+4)[20]

Setsuna

"Yes'mum. " Pidgit practically chirps as he helpfully pushes the door to his cell shut once more, before calling out the sliding panel at Setsuna while she goes downstairs. "Be careful hippo, yes? Tell Doctor 'ullo."

*****

Rico (GM-botted)

Rico's wolfish ears flick in the direction of the stairwell and she heaves herself to her feet just as Brin does. More trouble, eh? Well, trouble had better beware of her if it was going to mess with Red.

"Hellgirl! On yer feet- movit! More frakkers down yonder, " she barks at Setsuna before hefting her table-shield and clumping after the priestess as fast as she can go.

*****

Friction has the wooden banister burning hot under Sirus's shoes as he slides down the banister with cat-like grace, zipping past Brin before landing softly on his feet at the bottom.

Those who arrive at the bottom of the stairs in the workroom find that the tieflings are gone, leaving only a wary Taladron standing back, uncertain of what to do next. Meanwhile, Red, her teeth gritted, continues to shove against someone pushing back on the other side of the door. In her fist, a small key glitters.

[bcool999]

Taladron

Surprised by the suddenness of Red's movements to keep the door from opening, Taladron stands gaping for a moment. Then, in an effort to aid Red in keeping whatever is on the other side on the other side, He calls on a spell to change Red from her petite stature into a giant form of herself. "We could use some help here!" shouts Taladron after the casting is completed.

Casting Enlarge Person on Red, she is now a Large creature with a +2 to strength -2 to dexterity -1 size penalty to AC and a -1 penalty to attack rolls, but her Kukris now deal 1d6 each. And she has 10ft. space and Reach, this lasts for 4 minutes or until Taladron dispels it.

[ProudGrognard]

Sirus

Sirus arrives down the stairs, skidding to a stop before the bulging door. Looking around, he sees precious few options.

"Rico. We need you."

He takes position behind the door, so as to be ready to pounce from behind whatever will come out of it, activating his vest at the same time.

[Bhaakon]

Brin

Somehow, lending her own relatively meager strength to the door-jamming just didn't seem prudent to Brin. Maybe it was the 8'-foot-tall Red filling up most of the space. Mostly it was the fact that her bow just didn't work that well up close, where anyone with reflexes better than napping tortoise could easily stab her in the gut as she nocked an arrow.

Instead she looks for a good spot about twenty feet away and readied her weapon. Close enough to hit whatever came out without having to worry about it closing the distance first.

[Desril]

Setsuna

Before she can call back an 'I will' to Pidgit, Rico's order gets Setsuna moving and the tiefling takes off after Sirus, jumping onto the railing and sliding down the stairs, drawing Maethilur again as she lands. A non-standard method of travel that, in the back of her mind, Setsuna notes would fun if it weren't for only using it to get to the front of the party in case something more dangerous than a deranged wererat got loose.

Seeing the situation downstairs, she starts toward the door until Taladron enlarges Red and leaves little space to position herself. "We can not stop whatever is there forever. Step back and let it come, we can deal with it together."


Acrobatics rolled in the OOC.

If standard action remains, ready an action to move into melee.

[maggie_mcknife]

GM post

Initiative Rolls
Sirus: (1d20+4)[8]
Setsuna: (1d20+4)[13]
Rico: (1d20+1)[17]
Red: (1d20+5)[14]
Taladron: (1d20+5)[10]
Brin: (1d20+4)[5]

Zombies:
Z1: (1d20+3)[16]
Z2: (1d20+3)[22]
Z3: (1d20+3)[21]
Z4: (1d20+3)[17]

Red flinches as she feels strange power surge through her body. Before she knows it, she is several feet taller than normal, cramped against the now much smaller door, and it is all she can do to stifle a yelp of alarm. If people would just warn her a little before casting magic on her...

As the others crowd into the room and take up their positions, Red dimly notes that for once, she can see the top of Rico's head. Just before she leaps back from the door, it occurs to her that Rico's hair is greasy and could use a wash. Still, no point in dwelling on that now.

*****

Z2, 5 foot step to Sirus
Attack: (1d20+5)[23]
Damage: (1d6+3)[8]
Attack: (1d20+5)[20]
Damage: (1d6+3)[8]

Z3
Attack: (1d20+6)[10]
Damage: (1d6+3)[9]

Z4
Attack: (1d20+6)[21]
Damage: (1d6+3)[4]

Sirus's AoOs:
Attack: (1d20+9)[10] - missed
Damage: (1d8+5)[8]

Attack: (1d20+9)[22] - hit
Damage: (1d8+5)[8]

*****

The instant that Red moves away, the door is flung open on its hinges, banging so hard against the wall behind that chips of paint and plaster flake off. Tumbling out of the stairwell, perhaps to no one's surprise, are four zombies in varying stages of decay, every one of them clothed in the same white smocks as the one that you'd slain only a few hours ago...

*****

Zombies 2, 3, and 4

The zombie in the lead is the largest of the group and it totters towards Sirus, rheumy eyes glowering at him as it lays clammy hands on his shoulders and makes a spirited attempted to throttle the half-orc. Sirus is far too nimble to be trapped by a stiff-jointed undead, however, and easily ducks, even managing to dart a quick foot out under its armpit to crush the toes of the other zombies shambling past behind it.

Those of you who are more alert might observe that these zombies, like the one that you met this morning, don't seem to be unduly hampered by the fact that they are dead. In fact, two of the remaining three stalk swiftly out of the stairwell, their rattling voices echoing in the enclosed room as they swipe at Red with bony clenched fists.

*****

Initiative Order
22 - Z2
21 - Z3
17 - Z4
> 17 - Rico
16 - Z1
14 - Red
13 - Setsuna
10 - Taladron
8 - Sirus
5 - Brin

It is now Rico's turn.

*****

Battle Map
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800x600q90/829/06m5.jpg

[Miraqariftsky]

Rico
Rage I, 2/7
HP 36/36
AC 18/20

Rico scowls, hackles rising
At the abominations assaulting.
A dim part of her notes
Being tall hadn't been in Red's boats.
Catches herself and but says,
As her friend yelps in brief distress,
"Ho, hold steady! Steady, Red. Balance. An' take 'em like gobbos. Hellgirl, t'other side! Cover Brin'd Tal o'er there!"
Deeper grows her scowl.
But satisfied comes her growl,
That their earlier lead from Brin'd tacked well,
Alas she'd sent the Doctor to hell.
Rico sets her shoulder,
Preparing to unleash her thunder
Both gauntlets fisted on the tableshield's haft
Braced legs charge, to crush with her personal war-craft...


Str 6 BAB 4 Masterwork 1 Flank 2
[roll0]
Damage: Knockback damage, plus whatever Da Chief would rule as the appropriate damage for that sort of orctapult.

[Desril]

Setsuna
HP 28
AC 18

Dashing alongside Rico, Setsuna moves through the small opening that the half-orcess' charge opened up in order to reach Sirus' side and keep the zombies from completely surrounding him, slashing at the nearest one to him. Having no reason to show any mercy to an undead, the tiefling aims her slash at the corpse's neck, intending to sever its head from its body.


Moving to F10, next to Sirus. Acrobatics to avoid provoking from the Zed that Rico charged [roll0]

Attacking Z3, flanking with Red I believe [roll1]
If she hits, I'll make use of Perfect Strike for maximum damage of [13] (Arcane Pool IIIII

[bcool999]

Taladron
HP 25/25
AC 13

Seeing the undead come pouring through the door, Taladron feels justified in guarding it and of his suspicions of the doctor. This does not speak well to the doctor's innocence. He, and his currently unknown associate, will have to pay the price once we are done with these. With that in mind and in the safety provided by having a sturdy wooden table between himself and the undead, Taladron calls forth a blob of sizzling acid and launches it at an undead.

Using the Acid Dart SLA for being a conjuration Wizard. Ranged Touch Attack against zombie 4: [roll0] (-4 for firing into melee?)
Which should do about [roll1] points of Acid Damage.
I have 7 of those remaining for the day and an infinite number of weaker cantrip versions.

[Bhaakon]

Brin
21/21 HP
18 AC

"Oh-ho, I think we've found our murderer." Brin cries out, looking at the gaggle of zombies in their distinctive smocks. Is gaggle the collective noun for a group of zombies? Well, it is now. Anyway, you should really concentrate on the business at hand, Brin.

"Oh, right! Feel the wrath of the Lady, you disgusting abominations!" She holds out her left hand, exposing her holy symbol and bathing the zombies in pleasant lavender glow that does some not-very-pleasant things to animated flesh.

Standard action to channel to harm undead

[roll0] damage, DC 14 Will save for half

[maggie_mcknife]

GM post

Rico

The nearest zombie whirls with unhallowed speed as Rico dashes in, ramming its shoulder into the table that she holds aloft and forcing her charge to a stomping halt. Despite Rico's efforts, she finds that this zombie - once a young fair Varisian woman if the pinched skin and straggly hair are anything to go by - possesses frightening strength and will not be pushed back.

*****

Zombie 1

Attack 1: (1d20+5)[21]
Damage: (1d6+3)[4]

Attack 2: (1d20+5)[18]
Damage: (1d6+3)[7]

Taking advantage of the distraction afforded by the several pairs of hands clawing at Sirus's person, the fourth zombie tries to grab hold of his jacket, only to be jabbed aside at the last instant by the flailing arms of its fellows.

*****

Red
HP: 32/36
AC 20 - 1 (Enlarge Person) = 19

Including effects of Enlarge Person and flanking with Sirus, Full Attack on Z3

Attack 1: (1d20+8)[26]
Damage: (1d6+3)[4]
Confirm Critical - Attack: (1d20+8)[25], Damage: (1d6+3)[8] - confirmed

Attack 2: (1d20+8)[19]
Damage: (1d6+3)[4]

Upon seeing Sirus besieged by moving corpses and Rico stopped short in her tracks, Red bites her lower lip. Ignoring the deep bruising from the zombie's powerful blow, she slides her weapons from her hip. Her kukris were so big looked like scimitars now. Hopefully, they'd be just as deadly.

"Mister Sirus! Hold on!" Red hacks down at the zombie closest to her, nearly carving its arms off as the deadly blades bite deep into the greying flesh.

*****

Setsuna

Acrobatics check - failed, provokes AoO

AoO
Attack: (1d20+6)[7] - failed
Damage: (1d6+3)[6]

Red's attack has so unbalanced the zombie that it doesn't even have time to recover before Setsuna's katana comes slashing through the air to part its miserable head from its neck.

For a moment, it seems as though the tiefling has managed to down the zombie - but no. Instead, the lopped head dangles precariously from the zombie's neck by a thick shred of shriveled flesh, swinging upside-down on the zombie's breast, from where it glares at Setsuna and champs its teeth in what is meant to be a threatening gesture.

*****

Taladron casts Acid Dart

Unfortunately for Taladron, the acid missile misses the zombie he is aiming for entirely when it decides to lurch forward at the last second. Instead, the steaming gob sails over the zombie's head, whizzing between Setsuna and Sirus to land on the whitewashed walls of the sanatorium with a loud hiss as it begins to eat into the stone walls and dissolve paint.

*****

Sirus (GM-botted)

Sirus be Tripping

Trip 1 on Z3: (1d20+16)[25] - passed
Trip 2 on Z1: (1d20+16)[28] - passed
Trip 3 on Z2: (1d20+16)[20] - failed

Sirus surveys the zombies pressing in around him with a calm born of several years of deadly training. Undead or not, a mob was a mob. They could be brought down. They would be brought down.

He takes a deep breath. It was time to create some space.

One moment, Sirus is standing at the ready with his fists raised in a combat posture. The next, his legs are a blur as he stomps and sweeps with his feet, felling two of the three zombies around him as though they were timber. Of the zombies that fall, the dangling head of the one recently attacked by Red and Setsuna swings a full round in the air from momentum before thumping against the ground some distance away from its neck. The head is still miraculously attached by the single shred of flesh, though that is of little consequence to the zombie, its eyes bulging and its jaws angrily snapping at Sirus's toes like a petulant and ugly dog.

Zombies 1, 2, and 3 are now prone.

*****

Brin uses Channel Positive Energy.

Channel Resistance +4

Z1: (1d20+12)[26] - passed
Z2: (1d20+12)[27] - passed
Z3: (1d20+12)[31] - passed and dies again anyway
Z4: (1d20+12)[28] - passed

Surprisingly enough, the light emanating from Brin's palm doesn't seem to be as effective as she'd perhaps hoped it would be. Though the nearly headless zombie does cease its ludicrous lolling-about as its flesh blackens and sizzles, the smoke and a nasty charred smell is all that rises off the rest of the zombies, who proceed to continue their assault.

Zombie 3 is now dead.

*****

Zombies 2 and 4

Z2, Full Attack on Sirus
AoO to get up - Attack: (1d20+8)[24], Damage: (1d6+4)[6]

Attack 1: (1d20+5)[15]
Damage: (1d6+3)[5]
Attack 2: (1d20+5)[23]
Damage: (1d6+3)[5]

Z4, Full Attack on Brin
Attack 1: (1d20+5)[23]
Damage: (1d6+3)[7]
Attack 2: (1d20+5)[18]
Damage: (1d6+3)[9]

The zombie next to Sirus ignores the half-orc's vicious return blow with his kama to stagger back to its feet. Moaning loudly, it tries once more to lay hands on Sirus's neck, only to be blocked at every turn.

Meanwhile, the zombie that was previously shoving back Rico's shield decides, unsurprisingly enough, to focus its attentions on the elven priestess who bears the symbol of the one goddess utterly opposed to its very existence. Drawing back its fists, it proceeds to pummel Brin quite thoroughly, a malicious glint in its watery eyes.

*****

Initiative Order
22 - Z2
21 - Z3
17 - Z4
> 17 - Rico
16 - Z1 - prone
14 - Red
13 - Setsuna
10 - Taladron
8 - Sirus
5 - Brin

It is now Rico's turn.

*****

Battle Map
http://imageshack.com/a/img823/4125/6m8n.jpg

[Miraqariftsky]

Rico
Rage I, 2/7
HP 36/36
AC 16/20

Contending might with might,
Rico heaves, shoulder to shoulder,
Trying to knock one foe against its fellows
When suddenly Sirus lays the lot low...
...ere the halforc constable
Could spit commendations---
---Her opponent breaks,
And mauls their bow-swift, ham-hocking priestess

Still stumbling from her momentum,
Rico drops the tableshield
Rips out her wave-sword
Chops into the undead
Varisian maiden's neck

"Brin. Tal. AH"LL HOLDDER. Gidd bahk!"

Trying to ignore, the brief feeling
The distant chance of this having been
Of beloved Cipriano, some far-flung cousin


Str 6 BAB 4 Flank 2 Weapon 1 Power Attack -2
[roll0]
Str 9 Weapon 1 Power Attack 6
[roll1]

[Desril]

Setsuna
AC 18
HP 28

Seeing Brin's divine energy burn out what was left of the nearly-headless zombie, Setsuna turns her attention to the nearest undead just as Rico cleaves into it. Calling upon a simple spell, that she'd long since learned how to work into her swordplay, only to stumble in her pronunciation as something about the zombies bring a flash of memory, the sights and smell she'd gained from Grayst' mind distracting her.

Even as the arcane power she'd gathered fades however, she dashes forward to stand between the not-so-little Red and Sirus, striking at the nearest zombie.


Concentration to Cast Defensively (1d20+7)[11] (DC 16) - Failed, lost Arcane Mark, but yay cantrip.

Default combat tactic; Spell Combat -> Spellstrike. Concentration failed though, so just one attack at a -2.

5ft step to G9, if Z4 is still up after Rico's blow aiming there, if not, aiming at Z1.

Attack [roll0]
Damage [roll1]

[bcool999]

Taladron
HP 25/25
AC 13

Annoyed with his inability to hit one of the many zombies in the room, and impelled by Rico's bark, Taladron shuffles over a bit behind the table to open a path for Brin's retreat. He then reattempts flinging acid on the undead.

Second verse same as the first but this time with a 5 foot step to F7 to be behind the table and give Brin some room to move.

Now another Ranged Touch Attack with Acid Dart at zombie 4 if it is still up or zombie 2 [roll0] (+4 -4 but a +2 for flanking...? (I don't think it applies to ranged attacks...))

[roll1] damage

[Bhaakon]

Brin
5/21 HP
18 AC

"Good..OOF...idea!" Brin responds, wincing as another fist as hard as an anvil smashes into her rib cage with a dull thud and a wet snap. She wasn't sure if was her own bones breaking, or the ham-fisted zombie was clubbing her with enough power to shatter its own half-rotten fingers, but she wasn't about to take a few more blows to find out.

She staggers sideways, shifting Rico between herself and the nearest of the undead, and runs through a desperate prayer for healing, doing her best to ignore the taste of blood flooding into her mouth as she rasps out the words.

5 foot step to D9

Spontaneously case Cure Moderate Wounds on self, burning unused level 2 spell slot.

Healed for [roll0]

[ProudGrognard]

Sirus

The undead abominations seem to be losing their momentum. Sirus briefly considers changing to his kama, but then decides to try and throw the zombies down. Again, his feet, hands and elbows start hitting undead joints, in a flurry of activity.


FoB Trip1 [roll0]
if successful, AoO [roll1]dmg [roll2]

second trip to the other zombie
[roll3]
if successful, AoO [roll4]dmg [roll5]

[maggie_mcknife]

GM post

Rico

Rico's reforged sword nearly cleaves the zombie that had just attacked Brin in twain down the chest, severing most of its arm and shoulder and causing it to lurch awkwardly sideways as the change in weight unbalances it.

*****

Z1 and Red (HP: 27/36, AC 19 - 1 = 20)

Stand up, Attack on Red

AoO
Red - Attack: (1d20+10)[14], Damage: (1d6+3)[8] - hit
Sirus - Attack: (1d20+11)[17], Damage: (1d8+5)[13] - hit, minus DR

Attack: (1d20+6)[23]
Damage: (1d6+3)[5]


Attack 1: (1d20+8)[10]
Damage: (1d6+3)[6]

Attack 2: (1d20+8)[28]
Damage: (1d6+3)[7]
Confirm Critical - Attack: (1d20+8)[12], Damage: (1d6+3)[9] - missed

Being knocked off its feet hasn't dampened the enthusiasm of this zombie for the fight. Ignoring the blows that come its way as it rises, it turns and clenches its bony fist before ramming a punch into Red's torso with sufficient force to wind the rogue, even as she slashes a quick blow across its chest.

*****

Setsuna

Even as she swings at the zombie, another sudden flash of the wet whispering horror that Grayst had seen causes Setsuna's usually sure hands to falter and the tiefling to flinch away.

Be calm. Breathe. Having been roused in the earlier tussle with Pidgit, Maethilur's husky voice sounds once more in Setsuna's head. There is a reason why it is said that those who seek to help others who have experienced great trauma often end up hurt themselves. Do not let the thing that drove your lunatic mad claim your mind as well.

*****

Taladron

Perhaps frustration has honed Taladron's aim. Or perhaps the quick step behind the table has improved the angle of his attack. Whichever the real reason, Taladron's gob of acid smacks right into the back of the head of the nearest zombie, rapidly dissolving the petrified flesh and bone. While the zombie turns to see what has assailed it, the foaming acid eats away at its skull with a loud sizzle, revealing ivory bone and pulpy grey matter even as it slowly keels over onto the floor.

Zombie 4 is now dead.

*****

Sirus

A powerful sweep of Sirus's leg sends the remaining two zombies sprawling once more, whereupon he proceeds to crack the wrist of the nearest one with a choicely-placed stomp.

*****

Brin spontaneously casts CMW on herself.

*****

New Event

With Sirus and Red keeping the last two zombies effectively pinned in one corner, you all seem about to finish the lot off when a stern, almost paternal voice floats out of the stairwell.

"That is quite enough. It took me a long time to gather my servants, and I would much prefer it if you didn't decapitate all of them."

Those of you who look up see a wizened man dressed in simple farmer's rags framed in the open doorway, his body and face puckered with age but with two keen brown eyes gleaming like hidden knives within the heavy wrinkles. Even as he taps his fingers in what seems to be impatience on the door frame, those of you with sharper eyes note the tell-tale sparkles of arcane energy shimmering just above his spindly limbs, as well as the hovering mirror images in the air behind him. If the shuffling sounds in the corridor behind him are any indication either, this old man has not arrived alone.

He looks appraisingly at Sirus, unafraid, then sweeps his piercing gaze around the room. "I shall presume that my landlord, Mister Erin Habe, has gotten his dastardly self into trouble and thus tossed me under the proverbial wagon. But that is of no consequence. You are looking for something, I assume. Answers, I think. I wish to be left in peace with my servants to conduct my experiments. We both want something. Could we not parlay?"

At the sound of the old man's voice, the zombies on the ground freeze and mechanically rotate their heads to stare up at him, waiting for further instructions.

Sense Motive DC 12
The old man seems sincere enough. At any rate, he certainly thinks he has nothing to fear from any of you.

Detect Magic and Spellcraft DC 16/17
Yes, magic. The old man has both Mirror Image and Mage Armour cast on him.

Perception DC 17 (no taking 10)
Judging from the scuffles and creaks of the stairs, there are at least two others on the stairs behind the old man. They may or may not be zombies. And there is no telling how many more there might be behind those two.

NOTE: Combat is still ongoing. But talking is a free action. If you choose to attack, I will proceed with the initiative order but with the old man added in.

*****
Initiative Order
> 22 - Z2 - prone
17 - Rico
16 - Z1 - prone
14 - Red
13 - Setsuna
10 - Taladron
8 - Sirus
5 - Brin

It is now Zombie 2's turn.

*****

Battle Map
http://imageshack.com/a/img703/3889/cx8u.jpg

[bcool999]

Taladron
HP 25/25
AC 13

At the appearance of the old man and the temporary reprieve from battle Taladron is both relieved and worried. He has no Idea what this man may be capable of, but from the spells protecting him he is definitely a fellow Wizard, or perhaps a Sorcerer.

"Very well, if you wish to parlay then introductions are in order. My name is Taladron. I will let my companions introduce themselves as they wish, and yes we do require quite a few answers."

[maggie_mcknife]

GM Post

A thin smile creeps across the old man's face - you get the impression that he is not used to the gesture. "I have other names, Taladron, but you may call me Caizarlu. If it is answers you would have - truthful answers, no less! - then I would ask in return that your party speaks no word about my being here and that you permit my servants and I to leave this place unmolested and without pursuit."

[Desril]

Setsuna

Between the combat and considering Maethilur's words in the still thinking part of her mind, Setsuna's reaction speed to Caizarlu's appearance is abysmally slow, but she holds off her attack when he starts to talk with Taladron. Keeping Maethilur at the ready, the tiefling's eyes move toward the necromancer, but routinely stray back to the nearest zombie, in case it starts to attack any of her friends. "We can not promise you that if your servants are a threat to the people of Sandpoint. We found a zombie like these lurking near a murder scene, and we know the murder was done by another undead. If we are to parlay, we will need proof that you are not the one we are after."


Sense Motive (1d20+1)[20]
Perception (1d20+1)[12]
Spellcraft (1d20+7)[11]

[maggie_mcknife]

GM point

"Ah. So you found Lucian. I presume he is no more? A pity then. I waited long to harvest his body from his lover's embrace. Nevertheless, if he was clumsy enough to be caught, then perhaps it is just as well that you saved me the trouble of putting him to rest once more." Caizarlu spreads his long fingers and shrugs before steepling them together. His eyes take on a hard and calculating glint as he considers Setsuna's words carefully, chewing over them one by one.

"So. You are deputies, of a sort. You are looking to solve the murders that were committed this morning. And you believe it was committed by one of my own... Well then. I can assure you that Lucian had nothing to do with those murders. I had only bade him to keep watch over the scene. Had you not disturbed him, he would have harmed no one. But come now. I want guarantee of safe passage. If it is an undead that you hunt, then there is no one better than myself to give you the answers you need. As for the proof..." Caizarlu grins smugly. "You will hear for yourself why my servants are guiltless of this deed once I have your word."

[ProudGrognard]

Sirus

Sirus remains poised, energized but not tense.

"You are. A necromancer. You have created. Abominations. The only way. You are going. To escape. With your life. Is either. By surrendering. Now. And destroying your. Abominations. Or. By giving information. On something. More important. Than your crimes. And then. You will be. Heading. For prison.

You. Are not. To continue. Your work. Here. Or elsewhere. As Pharasma. Is my. Witness.

Either way. Your role. In the. Recent crime. Will be. Determined."

Emmm.... sorry guys and gals. There is nothing more Sirus can do.

[maggie_mcknife]

GM post

Caizarlu's grin merely widens as he chuckles softly. "Have some decency, Pharasmin. Your goddess is the one true judge, is she not? Then why send me to a mortal jail for a crime I did not commit - a crime that I am moreover willing to stir myself in aiding you solve? Nor is there any law in these parts that prohibits one's flock from being the dead who walk at night. Nor, in fact," he adds with exaggerated carelessness, "is there any law in this corner of Varisia that bans the worship of the Pallid Princess. As for how my servants have come to me - many I rescued from the charnel houses and poor hospitals, where their loved ones left them to die. Others have come my way courtesy of the Doctor Habe, when they died of perfectly natural causes. Are you going to throw me in jail for being the only one to see the potential of those deemed useless and unfit, those whom polite society does not wish to see?"

"Take for instance, that new patient upstairs. I assume that he is the reason you have arrived - for no Watch ever came to investigate the Doctor before. The Doctor is a fool who dabbles in illnesses of the mind but not of the body. Would you not like to know what it is that ails him?"

[Miraqariftsky]

Still wary, Rico glares at the necromancer
Then flicks the blood from her blade
Shoulders her battle-table
And tucks her sword
In her arm's crook

"Arright, arright, y'all. Stann' down..."

Rico says, then reaches into her coat
Among her pockets, fishes about
Then brings forth a little book
Magnimarian LAW:
Constable's Edition

She gives it a good flip to the right section
---bookmarked, with marginal notes---
Rumbles, hems and haws
Flips the book closed,
Pockets away

Then the halforc constable sheathes her sword,
Waves down the others. And snorts.
Takes out her notebook...

"...nope. Freedom of religion edict clearly states folk be free ta pray to whome'er they care ta pray to. 'Slong as they don't violate any OTHER laws. Destruction o' Property, Murder, Assault, Rape, Disturbin' th' Peace... monkey's arse, this Unjust Vexation thing needs ta be fixed, though.

Arright. KAI-ZER-LOO, wassit? Sorreh, I can't, in good conscience, grant that as it is. We'll be needin' sufficiently full cooperation, in info an' in deed, if need be. Ye be a scholar, aye? Yer paperwork'd be much appreciated as well. Anything an' everything. We'll make our own copies, don't worry. An' no, we can't be lettin' y'all just traipse off--- Bit fer bat. We'll need yer own assurance o' non-aggression an' non-malice. 'Msure ye unnerstan'? Comprende?"

[ProudGrognard]

Sirus

Sirus appears umoved.

"I am not. Going. To debate. Theology. Or ethics. With you. If you. Created these. Undead. And if you. Are responsible. For the diseased man. Upstairs. Then. I. Do not. Care. To hear. If you. Consider these. Your flock. Your children. Or your family.

They are. Abominations. Chained spirits. To a dying. Flesh. And they. Will be. Destroyed."

[Bhaakon]

Brin

"ILLEGAL?!" Shouts Brin, no longer able to contain herself any longer in the face of the fast-talking Caizarlu's sophistic drivel. "Look in your book, Rico, and tell me if it is legal here to molest a corpse, to rob a grave, to hold a body in slavery regardless of its state of decay. Tell me if the mere act of dying a pauper means that a man's remains become the property of the first nutter with a spell book to stumble by."

She shakes her head, glaring eyes never wavering from Caizarlu's face (well, one of them. Can't really tell which is the real face). "You might, MIGHT, walk out of here if we like your answers, but you'll do it alone. Your research will be burned. The dead will be placed in a proper grave. Will you be joining them?"

[maggie_mcknife]

GM post

"Burn my research? Such haste does not befit you, madam. What if my research is what you need? But if that is your condition, then who am I to argue? A closed mind will open no doors. And since yours are already shut to reason..."

The old man shrugs again and pointedly turns his back on Sirus and Brin to face Rico and Taladron. "You heard the good madam... constable, is it? And Master Taladron. I will take no paperwork with me, since it is to be all burnt on the altar of piddling ignorance. In fact, I shall burn them myself, as a gesture of goodwill. You may also search my person and my humble workroom if you will. I carry nothing on me but my purse and my clothes. But I will not leave here without my servants." At this point, Caizarlu shoots a glare over his shoulder at the two of you who have protested most vehemently thus far.

"I am an old man. My servants care for me and aid me in my infirmities. I confine myself to honing my craft. Do you honestly think that I would be hiding in the basement of a madhouse with that twit of a doctor and his two thugs if I had designs on murder and mayhem? Not all of my kind seek to raise armies to blacken day into night and to fill the air with screams, you know. No. I paid Doctor Habe to let me stay here, where I could rest from prying eyes and closed minds, to do my research in peace. Rest assured that if I leave, you will not hear from me again. Nor my servants. Clearly they have no capacity for field research."

[bcool999]

Taladron

Taladron turns to his companions to let them know his thoughts on the matter.

"As a scholar, I don't feel right about burning any research no matter the topic. Also, while I respect your devotion to Pharasma, Brin and Sirus, I feel that we need to look at the whole picture here. I don't believe that Caizarlu is the one who committed the murders, but I do believe that since there are undead involved that it might be best to enlist the help of someone who would be quite knowledgeable on the subject. Also as to whether or not to take what he knows by force, I will fight when I have to but I feel that violence is not needed here since he stopped the fighting to talk with us, so if you want to keep on fighting do it without me."

At that, Taladron snaps his fingers and Red shrinks back to normal size, and Taladron finds a nearby chair to sit in. Once he sits down he adds with a grimace, "I am not like Nualia where I force others to talk through violence."

[Desril]

Setsuna

Torn between not particularly wanting to fight Caizarlu but also knowing the Pharasman opinion of how necromancers should be handled and that two of her comrades were of the Lady of Graves' faithful, Setsuna takes a moment to figure out just what to do. As Taladron states that he won't be joining in if their friends decide to fight, mentioning Nualia as well, the tiefling resolves to end this peacefully as well.

Sheathing Maethilur, Setsuna adds her voice to the wizard's, "He is right, there is no need to fight. We know it was an undead that killed them, but it was not a zombie like these or we would recognize the smell. Would it not make sense to ask a necromancer about the one we are hunting rather than arrest him? If his servants have hurt no one, there is no reason to destroy them either."


Diplomacy doesn't work against the PCs! Sorry Bhaakon and Grog for siding with bcool on this one, Setsuna just doesn't see him as really guilty of anything except maybe being a little unpleasant.

[Bhaakon]

Brin

Brin's jaw drops in disbelief as Taladron and the tiefling take the necromancer's side. Let the man walk? What are they thinking? He has zombies right there. I can't believe this...it must be a ploy. Yes, that's the only way it makes sense. Get the information, then turn on him anyway. Better than beating it out of him later. Torture is unreliable, unpleasant, and Rico seemed like the type to get a stick up her rear when it came to mistreating a prisoner. Or the wretch could end up dead, like Habe.

"Speak what you know, then, and we'll see if your information is worth free passage." She says to Caizarlu, unconsciously clinching and relaxing the fingers of her left hand. "For your sake, I hope it's good."

Yeah, there's no way she's letting him walk out of here.

Bluff: [roll0]

[maggie_mcknife]

Red

Unable to disguise her relief at being returned to her usual size, Red sighs quietly to herself, massaging the bruises under her armour. If this whole thing could be resolved without more fighting, that would be good. Getting beat up all the time was no fun. Still, it was odd to have so many undead close by and not be fighting them. She ought to keep her kukris out, just in case.

Wiping shreds of grey flesh off her blades by scraping them against the edge of the table, Red then joins Rico on the other side of the room, flashing her friend a quick grin. It was good to be small again.

*****

GM post

Sense Motive: (1d20)[6] vs Brin's Bluff - failed

Caizarlu flexes his thin hands in satisfaction, cracking his finger joints. He's pleased enough with the assurances of most of you, even if Sirus and Brin continue to glower at him the whole time.

"Very well. My knowledge for the safe passage of myself and my remaining servants. First of all - to the point. My innocence. The man upstairs - the patient who arrived yesterday? Most puzzling symptoms, really. He is mad - oh yes, he is. But he is also in a fever that will not break and his body rots though he still draws breath. Did you have a chance to see him? Examine that wound on his chest which will simple healing magic will not stauch?"

The smile on Caizarlu's face is wan with the pleasure of expounding on his craft. "It is tooth-marks that he bears. He was bitten by something undead, yes- but not by a zombie. Have you ever heard of a zombie leaving a helpless victim alone after a single bite? No. Zombies do not that have that capacity of self-regulation and thought. That is why they make such apt servants and why their hunger is ever so ravenous. Which leaves us with only one other option," he says slyly, holding up a finger.

"A ghoul. He was bitten by a ghoul. His illness then, is the ghoul fever. The ones who delivered him here thought it was shock or infection, or perhaps even his insanity. But no. It is definitely ghoul fever, and being thus weakened already, he will die of it within this day or the next unless a masterful healer plies him with the right spell."

Caizarlu is supremely confident, almost haughty, as he looks Brin straight in the eye. "The Doctor told me that the patient's madness was caused by his witness of a brutal murder. Do I guess aright that at the scene of the crime, there was a most almighty stink of decaying flesh? And that perhaps, just perhaps, the body of the one murdered was marked as though clawed by some large beast? Have a look at the hands and feet of my servants. Their nails are blunt. Zombies do not claw, though they might punch and bite. They are simple folk and they are slow. Their flesh is preserved by the same magic that moves them. But ghouls - ah. Ghouls are speedy. Their bodies reek, for they continue to moulder, though far slower than is normal. Ghouls are predators. They hunt and give chase and they rend their prey most cruelly when they have caught him. I dare you, madam, to tell me that any one of my servants, meek lambs that they are, are the ones responsible."

[ProudGrognard]

Sirus


"You seem. To believe. That the question is. Whether you. Or your servants. Have committed. The murder.

It is not. I believe. You. That. You did. Not.

However. Just. The creation. Of any. Undead. Is vile. And blasphemy.

Your. Information. Is valuable. Yes. But is it. Valuable. Enough?"


The thing is, I am afraid that Sirus will jump in if Brin attacks. This IS blasphemy of the worst sort, after all. He is a bit lost now spiritually, and if a cleric of Pharasma shows the way, he will follow.

[Desril]

Setsuna

"A ghast would make sense, but then why would it be leaving notes for us to find? It would want to stay hidden as best it could, would it not?"

Trying to figure out what Sirus could have done to get a ghast's attention is enough to silence the tiefling for a moment, long enough for the monk to give his speech to Caizarlu. Realizing that the situation might deteriorate if left as it is, Setsuna does her best to defuse the issue, "Sirus-san, these zombies might be vile, but so long as he is not hurting any one, it is not our place to judge him. The Mother of Souls may disapprove, but she will judge his soul when it is his time. I do not think it is for us to decide when that time will be, so long as he harms no one."

It isn't like it was with her...he may create dangerous things, but if they aren't hurting anyone then he hasn't done anything wrong. It's not as if he's done anything worse than I.

[maggie_mcknife]

GM post

Knowledge (religion) DC 15
Ghouls are intelligent and cannibalistic undead who feed on corpses and living flesh alike, paralysing live prey with toxins in their claws before devouring it. They tend to lurk close to civilisation so as to have better access to their food sources.

Elves are notably immune to a ghoul's paralysis. However, there are rumours of particularly strong ghoul pack leaders known as ghasts whose ichor is so foul that not even an elf's natural immunities can overcome it. Ghasts are supposedly able to be identified by their especially noxious stench.

"Oh, I don't know, Pharasmin. How much is the life of a madman worth to you?" retorts Caizarlu, quite at ease despite the threat of violence. "I could have kept quiet and let him succumb. The chance to observe a living man in every stage of ghoul fever is a rare one indeed. But maybe you prefer to let him die instead, to rise tomorrow as a bloodthirsty thrall of the one who bit him? His madness cannot be cured, of course, but your speedy action might just preserve what remains of his life. Strange. And I here I was thinking that Pharasmins valued every life, no matter how lowly. Perhaps I stand corrected."

"Oh, and I might mention this, Pharasmin. Ghouls are not like zombies. They roam in packs, obedient to the strongest among them. There is no such thing as an isolated ghoul sighting. One ghoul is always the herald of more to come, and their pack grows larger with every fallen victim. If you wish to even have a chance of eradicating the pack, you must possess the skill of tracing their lineage to their leader, which itself requires records of each and every sighting or attack in the vicinity. I am pleased to inform you and madam angry elf that there fortunately does exist such a skill, along with the required records and that there is even a map. Alas, they all exist only in here. I am not stupid, Pharasmin."

Still smiling, Caizarlu taps the side of his skull knowingly. "Constable. Taladron. Ma'am devil-eyes. In consideration of the consideration you have shown me, I will draw you this map. I will even explain it to you. But I will not do so unless those who have threatened violence on me withdraw to where they cannot strike at me. I do not trust sir Pharasmin here not to hack off my head once I have divulged its contents to you. I will likewise order my zombies out of the building to where they will pose no threat. Deal?"

[ProudGrognard]

Sirus

Sirus once again remains impassive. His fists clench for a moment. And then he relaxes.

So be it. Pharasma forgive me, but these controlled zombies are better than the unknown, predatory ghoul. If I am making the wrong choice, forgive me.

"You have. My word. That I will. Not. Harm you. Or. Your zombies. If you. Provide. The information. You just described."

[Bhaakon]

Brin

Brin shoots Sirus a look that could peel paint off a barn, unable to believe that he'd extend a pledge of nonviolence to include Caizarlu's zombies. The man himself might be allowed to leave unmolested, but to be confronted by undeath and not act to end it was not something Brin could do, even if it meant she'd be fighting alone.

Still, the man was talking, and she didn't want him to stop now. The best thing to do is tell him what he wanted to hear. And it was even the truth, as far as it went. "Ghouls are nasty enough business that certain crimes may be overlooked in the name of expedience. I'll not hack off your head, provided you share its contents."

[maggie_mcknife]

GM post

Caizarlu merely sniffs disdainfully and glares at Brin. He is as good as his word though - once Sirus and Brin have been shunted upstairs, he mutters something to his remaining zombies, who immediately pick themselves up with slow tottering movements and lurch out the front door of the sanatorium.

It is also about this time that the various illusory versions of Caizarlu fade out with the ending of that spell, though the tiny gleams of arcane energy surrounding his person do not. Grunting as he shuffles towards one of the tables in the workroom with the careful poise of someone doing their best not to jolt their aching joints, he eases himself onto a stool and draws a crumpled sheet of paper out of a small leather pouch at his waist.

The paper turns out to be a coffee-flecked map of the region surrounding Sandpoint, obviously ripped out of some book a while ago. Caizarlu coughs hoarsely as he smooths it down against the table. "Attend to me now. This is your town, where I sent Lucian to watch in case a ghoul emerged from the river at night. This is the sanatorium." The tip of his forefinger suddenly glows with a weak white light, as though some invisible firefly had thought to rest on it, such that wheresoever the old man points on the map, his finger leaves glowing after-images that linger on the torn page.

Detect Magic and Spellcraft DC 15
You realise that impressive as this looks, this is likely to be a simple Prestidigitation spell - the after-images will almost certainly fade after an hour. Still, it is a rather useful scholarly trick for highlighting study material.

"It is difficult for me to leave this place, as you can see. But the Doctor's servants are always in and out to run errands or to go about their business. They do so love to update the Doctor on what is going on. So I learn, by paying attention, a little more about the world around me. And when there's suddenly too many tall tales about graves that've been ransacked, an oversized bat with green eyes like flame, and mysterious sightings of foul-smelling strangers with pale skin and sharp teeth... The Doctor thinks of these as mere ghost stories told by drunk farmers. But I, on the other hand... I know what these really are."

Caizarlu's finger draws a broad stroke down the map, tracing the winding path of a waterway with the incongruous name of 'Soggy River' all the way from its ending in the marshes up to a patch of forest labelled 'Whisperwood'. "For the past two weeks, there have been sightings of a skaveling and of roaming ghouls all along this river but none on the main road. My servants saw the skaveling hunting goblins in the marshes, but the ghouls were all seen closer to the Whisperwood forest. Particularly about the farmsteads. You might wish to inspect the farmers soon, constable, lest the ghouls decide to eat them instead of just wandering about. If they haven't already. Now, if we go by the dates of the sightings, in reverse..."

Caizarlu presses his finger lightly against the map at intervals around the Soggy River, the Brinestump Marsh, and the farms that dot the Whisperwood Moor. The pattern is clear - the earliest sightings were all around the Whisperwood itself. "I do not know if the skaveling infected all those ghouls. I would doubt it, since it seems content to feed on goblins. But I am sure that if you are to find the leader of this pack, you would have to start from the forest. The fact that no one has been reported murdered in the past weeks save for the attack that brought the new patient here and the most recent one in your town would suggest that either the ghouls have been most cunning about their work or that the ghouls have come a great way. Perhaps from here? It is the only abandoned burial ground in these parts."

Those who bend to look closer find that Caizarlu now indicates a place labelled as 'Pauper's Grave', less than 2 miles east of Sandpoint. Meanwhile, the old man peers at each of you, the glow fading from his finger. "I have told what I know. Now. I am going to ask one of my servants to return and he will assist me in walking out the door. And I do not expect to be followed. Are we most clear on this?"

Knowledge (religion) DC 15
Skavelings, also known as ghoul bats, are massive undead able to infect those they bite with the sickness known as ghoul fever. Their existence most often comes about when some necromancer or the other raises a deceased dire bat or mobat. Due to their prodigious size, it is not unheard of for certain daemonic beings to use them as flying mounts and guardians.

*****

Brin and Sirus

Perception DC 14 to hear everything being said below without moving down the stairs.

Caizarlu's voice is muffled by the distance but if you strain your ears, it is possible to pick up words here and there. Next to you, the Doctor's eyes stare lifelessly ahead, his skin already fading to a waxen pallor as his body cools.

Should you choose to look around you, you note that there are six doors on this floor. Given the sliding panels on the doors, they are likely to be patient cells, though as to whether they are occupied is impossible to tell for now.

You have gained a map. Sirus and Brin are currently upstairs next to the Doctor's body, but they can reach downstairs in a single move action. Everyone else is downstairs. The zombies are outside the house.

*****

ANOTHER MAP
http://imageshack.com/a/img580/9730/n1qz.jpg

[bcool999]

Taladron

Taladron rubs worriedly at his chin as Caizarlu describes the situation in the Whisperwood. Given the distance from Sandpoint it is likely that the ghouls could have amassed quite a number of compatriots. Hearing about the Skaveling is also worrisome. Looks as though the way to stop the murders will be paved in the black blood of undead. Taladron thinks bleakly to himself as Caizarlu makes ready to leave.

"I can help you to the door if you wish." offers Taladron as Caizarlu makes to call his servant. "It may be best not to tempt the pair upstairs by bringing an undead back in the building." That said he holds out his arm for the old man to hold onto for the walk to the door.

[Bhaakon]

Brin

Brin's elven ears are good for something beyond standing out (literally and figuratively), as she picks up the thrust of Caizarlu's explanation from upstairs.

She turns to Sirus, letting out a low whistle. "A pack of ghouls and a skraveling, whatever that is. Some other sort of ghoul? I'm unsure. Whatever the case, it's not good. Worse than this man and his zombies, I think..."

Her face screws up, a reflection of her mental division. "But he parades those abominations about in front of me. I don't think I should let him go. Can let him go."

[ProudGrognard]

Sirus

"Consider. This.

If we. Destroy. His abominations. And then. Let him. Go. As was. Promised. Then. He will. Make. New ones. In his. next. Stop. Thus. We will have. Been. The cause. Of the. New. Creations.

But. If we. Let him. Go. Then. The abominations. Will be. Tamed. and. Under control.

There are. Bigger things. Afoot. After this. We should. Talk. There have. Been. Things. You should. Know. I do not. Think. You are. Here. By chance."

Sirus lowers his head in remembrance.

"Now. Should we. Check. The cells? And there. Is. One more. Man. Ready. To become. Undead."

[Desril]

Setsuna

'Ma'am devil-eyes' bows her head to the necromancer as he reveals everything he knows about the situation, "Thank you for your help, Master Caizarlu. I hope you will forgive us for forcing you to leave, but given the circumstances I do not think we could have reached a better agreement."

Turning to Rico and then the others she continues, "We have already come this far, the Whisperwood is not far, I think we should look for clues around there first before we check out this 'Pauper's Grave' do you agree?"


Spellcraft [roll0]
Religion [roll1]

Diplomacy to try and get Caizarlu to leave on a good note, not hating us in the future [roll2]

(Realized I had more to say than I thought I would, I'll go fetch Brin and Sirus next post probably, if no one else does)

[maggie_mcknife]

GM post

Downstairs Folk

"Hah! Perhaps this is when I slip in a word about meddling youngsters spoiling a good thing, eh? But no. I will be content with what I have. Still, I will accept your assistance, Taladron." The necromancer's joints creak as he regains his footing, a grim smile on his face. Hesitating a moment before clamping onto Taladron's arm with his bony arms, Caizarlu slowly hobbles over to the front door.

The zombies have wandered down the steps in the meanwhile and are milling aimlessly about in the sanatorium's vegetable garden. A sharp command from Caizarlu has them tramping out from among the cabbages, whereupon the largest of the four zombies immediately kneels at Caizarlu's feet in a practiced motion, while another forms a stirrup with its hands for him to use as a step to clamber onto the back of the largest. Now seated quite comfortably on the back of the largest zombie, Caizarlu spares a thin smirk at Taladron.

"A final word then, to requite your kindness to an old man. It goes in the old Varisian lore that full-blooded elves are immune to the fell caresses of ghouls. This rumour is quite true. But it does not hold true for their pack-leaders, the ghasts. A ghast merely has to brush its littlest finger against you for you to seize up and freeze like any other. And the only way to identify a ghast is by its most potent stench. Are we quite clear on that? You might wish to inform your kinswoman, lest she try blasting the head off a ghoul with her waning goddess's power, only to discover when it is too late that she cannot escape its clutches. A-hup! "

With that morbid last word, the zombies lumber to their feet and if unimpeded, trundle down the dirt path leading away from the sanatorium at a funereal pace, Caizarlu riding on the back of the largest like a spindly king out for an afternoon ride.

*****

Red

Red narrows her eyes from where she watches Taladron and Caizarlu at the door. Only when the necromancer and his zombies set off on their way does she lower her blades and sheath them again. What an odd old man. He was most definitely Varisian, if his accent was anything to go by. But what had he been doing in the sanatorium in the first place? It was all too nice to be true. Maybe there was a trap somewhere.

Wincing as the bruises brush against her new armour, Red slowly ambles back to the others, one hand hugging her ribs. Her old leather had been so much more comfortable, but it'd been quite unsalvageable after Thistletop, with far too many rents to sew back up. At Rico's insistence, she'd finally splurged on some Tien-style mail wrought of mithral, and she supposed that if she hadn't worn it, the zombies would have probably punched through to her guts. All the same, it felt weird to be wearing something so expensive. The number of hot meals and showers that she could have paid for with that gold... perhaps even a little house somewhere, with lots of cats and a warm fire...

"We should... report back. To the Sheriff." Red replies in response to Setsuna, glancing at the open door to the basement. "Mister Grayst... he will need... healing. And there are others... we cannot leave them. Or the Doctor's body. He left... very quickly. This place may not be safe yet."

[Bhaakon]

Brin

"You're right, Sirus. There's no solution but to kill him, and doing so would break both of our promises." Brin huffs her frustration. "It just rankles me, letting an admitted necromancer walk away. In the future, I wouldn't not offer such a creature anything more than an arrow in the gut."

"But there's more to do here. If Habe and Caizarlu were hiding a man with ghoul fever, who knows what else they have here? We should check on the patients, and give this place a thorough accounting." With that she begins poking around the upstairs of the sanitarium. She's not foolish enough to loose any of the 'guests,' but she'll look through any windows in their cells, as well as search for anything else of interest.

Perception to search: [roll0]

[maggie_mcknife]

GM post

Brin's Perception check/ Anyone who does Perception DC 15 for searching level 2 and 3 of the sanatorium
A quick survey of the cells on the second floor reveals only two of them to be currently occupied.

In the north-western cell, a bony matron, shrivelled with age and her hair tethered in a messy bun, snores soundly on a pallet in a corner, twitching her bare feet as you peer through the sliding panel. Given her age, she would appear quite harmless, save for the thick manacles that chains her securely to her bed post. Over in the south-western cell, those who look through the sliding panel must quickly jump back as its hulking occupant immediately spins and lunges for the space with a wolfish snarl, hurling his body against the door with sufficient force to cause the whole frame to shudder. Fortunately for you, the other cells on the second and third floor are unlocked and unoccupied, with only neatly folded sheets on mattresses within.

One of the rooms on the top floor, just opposite Grayst's cell, appears to be some sort of doctor's examination room. It is certainly rather well-stocked for such a sparsely populated sanatorium, with a large padded operating table in the centre, several half-empty bottles of tincture and tonics, and a cabinet along the north wall that is filled with all manner of obscure surgical tools.

Heal DC 15
The supplies and tools here are altogether far too well-used and unnecessarily invasive for what should be a sanatorium. Several of the tools and chemicals would appear to be dissecting implements of the sort used in a mortuary rather than a hospital.

Over on a small table by the cabinet, you discover a most curious contraption. What seems to be a modified brass seeing glass with double lens has been securely attached to a stand, with the objective end of the tube aimed at a tiny glass panel that seems to contain some sort of soot-coloured flake. For those of you of a more academic bent, you might perhaps recognise the contraption as a primitive compound microscope - someone has been conducting experiements up here.

Heal DC 18 (Do not use the same roll for this check)
The flake in the glass is somewhat decayed, but you recognise it right away as necrotic human skin, likely harvested recently from a dead man. Or perhaps from someone with gangrene - like Grayst, perhaps?

Those of you who search the Doctor's body and do the appropriate checks find the following items:

2 potions of CLW
+1 padded armour
Masterwork Dagger
Masterwork Manacles

[Desril]

Setsuna

"The orderlies left to go fetch Father Zantus to see to Grayst, did they not? I am sure he can tend to the others here. Though I suppose we should inform the sheriff, given that a man was killed here..."

Looking around and glancing down to the open basement door as well, Setsuna moves closer to it, "You are right though, there may still be some thing here. I will go look." Only a little paranoid about there being more undead below Setsuna starts down the stairs quietly, looking around for anything useful or deadly while trying not to make too much noise.


In case there's anything hiding down in the darkness, send devil-eyes and her darkvision!

Assuming no one stops her, Setsuna makes her way downstairs.
Perception [roll0]
Stealth [roll1] (It never hurts, right?)

[maggie_mcknife]

Red

"No... they will not... come back. They ran. I think they did not want... trouble. Jail. Or questions..." Red shakes her head wearily, closing her fist and rubbing her fingers against the branding scar there. It was hardly fair to blame them though - she would have done the same if it were her employer being investigated for something bad. And while it was hard enough to get by when you were short and stupid, it was probably even worse to be a smelly tiefling without the charm or manners to fit in.

Sliding out one of her kukris, Red nods at Setsuna. "I will go... with you."

Perception: [roll0]
Stealth: [roll1]

[ProudGrognard]

Sirus

After helping Brin search the premises, the doctor and the cells, Sirus moves back with the others.

"The place. Is empty. Now. The doctor. Was not. What he. Seemed.

So. The patients. Must be. taken care. Of. We must. Go back. Report. Arrange care.

And then. Continue. Tomorrow."

[Bhaakon]

Brin

"Yes, arrange care." Brin mutters, shaking her head. Foist this lot on the sheriff, you mean. Couldn't happen soon enough for me.

"If Grayst and the furry man upstairs are any indication, Habe was probably collecting the most dangerous cases he could find. I don't envy whoever takes them."

She follows Sirus to rejoin the others, heading down to help search the basement if Setsuna's makes it down without being attacked.

Basement search: [roll0]

[maggie_mcknife]

GM post

The stairs leading to the basement are constructed entirely out of ageing wood and the treads creak threateningly despite Setsuna and Taladron's attempts to creep down without alerting potential attackers. Somewhere behind them, Red winces at the noise before following them much more silently, sticking to the side and flattening herself as best as she can against the wall to keep the plank from sagging due to her weight.

The basement, if it could be called that, has been hewn mainly out of rock from the nearby cliff and is currently lit up by a pair of sunrods shoved into iron brackets on the craggy walls. Someone has taken the trouble to tile the floor with ceramic and to build hand rails along the east and west walls. Tools ranging from shovels to dissection implements are neatly arranged in cabinets by the north wall, while the south wall, by contrast, contains a massive bookshelf absolutely crammed with various books and scrolls. If not for the four tell-tale tables bolted to the floor in the centre of the room and acrid smell of embalming fluid in the air, the place might almost be passable as a wizard's laboratory.

Brin soon arrives to join those of you in the basement. A quick examination of the adjoining room to this one reveals it to be a quite empty bedroom with spartan furnishings. Caizarlu, it would seem, kept few if any personal belongings of note, and he has left no dead bodies behind to serve as evidence that he was here.

As Taladron browses through the shelves to see what they contain, Brin spots and fishes out a slim volume with a worn vellum cover and a stringy yellow ribbon that has seen better days crammed in between two fat encyclopedias on vampirism. Any scholar would be able to recognise this book for what it is - it would seem that in his haste to depart, Caizarlu has left behind his spellbook.

Meanwhile, Red kicks idly at one of the canvas sheets on the ground before spying a faint discolouration in one of the table legs. Kneeling and running her fingers along the leg reveals a hidden catch just under the skirt, which springs open, allowing a battered-looking wand of pale white to tumble out and clatter to the floor.

[bcool999]

Taladron

Taladron is so engrossed of his search of the bookshelves, Caizarlu has accumulated quite the collection... I wonder how many trips it will take to get these to my house..., that he almost fails to notice the spellbook Brin picks out. "Ahh, that must be Caizarlus spellbook. Strange that he would leave it here though I suppose we were rather pushy in getting rid of him."

If Brin will let him Taladron will take the spellbook. Otherwise, he will look at her curiously then get distracted by the sudden appearance of a magic wand. He will cast Mage Hand to bring it to him and then detect magic (Spellcraft rolled OOC) to identify it.

[Bhaakon]

Brin

"Strange indeed, no matter how hard we pushed." Brin replies to Taladron, carefully handing him the book without opening it. "Could be a warded fake, or just a spare. Either way, it's of no use to me. You'll put it to better use than the original owner, I'm quite sure."

She adds. "If we just sold the thing, and someone went to work creating more abominations with it..." she pauses, shaking her head in disgust. "Then I'd feel obliged to make sure that it didn't end well for them."

[maggie_mcknife]

GM post

Rolled OOC:
Taladron: (1d20+16)[35]
Setsuna: (1d20+7)[16] - use as Aid Another, +2

The spellbook, perhaps to Brin's disappointment, is not a booby trap. Taladron is able to decipher Caizarlu's neat ink-strokes quite easily, with Setsuna doing her best to follow along over his shoulder.

Caizarlu's Spellbook contains the following:
Chill Touch
Mage Armour
Magic Missile
Obscuring Mist
Ray of Enfeeblement
Acid Arrow
Blindness
Command Undead
Mirror Image
Displacement
Stinking Cloud
Vampiric Touch
Cause Fear
False Life
Gentle Repose
Ghoul Touch
Halt Undead
Identify

The wand contains the Gentle Repose spell and has 17 charges left.

[Desril]

Setsuna

Feeling a little less tense now, Setsuna lets down her guard while she and Taladron flip through the abandoned spellbook. A quick glance around the room, after checking out the newly discovered wand, shows that there isn't much left to see here. "I do not think he left any thing else behind. Since the orderlies fled we should probably go get the Father Zantus, and Sheriff Hemlock so that they can take care of the ones who were abandoned."

Should no one try to stop her, the tiefling makes her way back upstairs and toward Pidgit's cell, There aren't any spare swords here, I should let him know it will be a while longer.

[maggie_mcknife]

GM post

Setsuna

Pidgit has grown restless in your absence. As you approach his cell door once more, he eagerly surges to the door and pokes his snout out, snuffling the air in excitement for the expected sword.

He takes your apology that a sword is currently unavailable unexpectedly well, simply nodding mournfully as his thin whiskers droop. (Maybe this has to do with the fact that he can't actually see Maethilur due to the angle of the sliding panel.) When asked why he wanted a sword at all in the first place, Pidgit sniffs loudly and sighs. "Pidgit once had many swords. But Doctor took all when Pidgit come here. So Pidgit haven't shave in many year. Not handsome. Sword to have hair cut, yes?"

*****

Moving on with the story...

Sirus, as the most fleet of your number, volunteers to run back to Sandpoint to report your findings to the Sheriff and fetch help for the sanatorium inhabitants while the rest of you remain to guard the place.

In his absence, hunger and the realisation that luncheon time was a few good hours ago drives Taladron to comb the sanatorium thoroughly in the hope of finding something to eat. Those of you who join in discover a small kitchen in one of the downstairs rooms with a mostly empty pot of cold vegetable soup on the stove and half a loaf of bread, the air heavy with the scent of tomato. Judging from the mess still in the washing basins and the onion peelings on the table, the orderlies probably didn't have time to do the washing up before your arrival. It is poor pickings for lunch, but those willing to raid the vegetable garden out front do find that the cabbages could probably be harvested.

Fortunately, the remaining inmates of the sanatorium remain tractable for as long as none of you attempt to approach the doors. If you elect to check in on Grayst, still bound with Brin's rope on the bed like an oversized grub, his swoon seems to have subsided into a feverish muttering as he tosses and turns on the bed. At the least, he shows no further signs of deterioration, save for his nose slowly bruising a rich shade of purple.

*****

It takes slightly over an hour and a half for Sirus to return with help. A muted churning of carriage wheels on dirt path outside heralds the arrival of Sergeant Hannah, Gareth, and a small detachment of watchmen driving the donkey paddy wagon usually used for transporting prisoners to Magnimar.

Perhaps to the surprise of those waiting, it is not Father Zantus who steps out of the wagon with Sirus, but Hannah Velerin, the chain-smoking dreamy healer who services Sandpoint's more minor ailments. At first, the choice strikes you as incongruous, but upon further consideration, it makes sense given what you have learnt about ghouls - should Grayst have died and turned while Sirus was away, Hannah's elven blood would have kept her safe from being paralysed.

Hannah is lucid enough, despite being obviously hopped up on some drug or the other. (Those of you who know why she self-medicates herself so can hardly blame her.) Floating into Grayst's cell, she goes straight to his side and gently cradles his forehead and cheek, pressing her thumbs to the corners of his eyes and his lips. "Cold. Sweating. Pulse going like a chariot stallion. Hff." She leans in closer and takes a deep breath, wrinkling her forehead. "And definitely gangrenous. Oh you poor, poor man..."

Hannah continues to tend to the limp Grayst, gazing up as those of you in the room, her jade green eyes gleaming with emotion. "It is bad. I spoke with Brother Zantus before I left and he feared as much - neither of us have the skill and power to restore this man. You would have to contact a high priest or chirurgeon in Magnimar... or perhaps Voon might have a scroll with the correct spell - but who knows, and even if he did, it would be expensive... But this man is running out of time..." The cleric of Gozreh bites her lip, her voice choked as she strokes Grayst's matted hair.

Ghoul fever needs Greater Restoration or Heal to be cured at this stage. That's a level 7 Cleric spell, which clerics only get access to at level 13. Hannah is level 3 and Zantus is level 5. You could buy Hannah a scroll to use, but would you?

[Desril]

Setsuna

"A hair cut? I could not find a sword, but I might be able to get you a razor or a knife soon. You will have your haircut today."

Since there's an hour and a half from here until Sirus returns, Setsuna will have spent the meantime searching for a razor or smaller, safer knife to give him, after finding a snack.

*****

Listening to Hannah's report on Grayst' health, Setsuna looks uneasy. "It might be better to take him to Magnimar, but if he is as bad as you say then he might not survive the journey. We can not just let this man die though, if we can buy something which may cure him I have no choice, I will go to Voon-san and see if I can find anything that may help."

There was a great deal of treasure in Thistletop, I can at least make sure that someone is saved because of that place. Thinking about the peaceful look on Cipriano's face when he died, and the feeling she'd had as Nualia's second life came to an end that gave her a sense of some part of the fallen aasimar being saved, her thought continues In this life, anyway.

[ProudGrognard]

Sirus

Sirus comes back as fast as possible, bringing dinner with him. The exercise has obviously woken his hunger and got his blood running. It was good to push his body now and then. On the way back, he appraised the guards on their findings.

When he hears Desril, he again stands silent for a moment.

"This is. An admirable. Sentiment. But it. Is. Misguided.

We cannot. Save. Everyone. Every man. We save. Someone. Else. Gets. Into danger. The creature. Responsible. For this deed. Is still. Out there. And probably. Making more. Ghouls.

Are we. To try. And cure them. All? And what happens. If one. Of us. Gets infected. And we do not. Have the . Means. To save him? Who will. Stop. The menace? What will. We say. To the people. Of Sandpoint. When they. Are overrun. By ghouls?

No. There are. A million. Injustices. And evils. In this world. We cannot. Blow. Everything. On curing. One.

This man. Could as well. Have died. In the attack. We must. Find. The one. Responsible. For all these. And stop him. Before. It is. Too late.

Is this. Noy. Why. We left. The other one. Go?"

[Desril]

Setsuna

Listening to Sirus words, the tiefling can't help but disagree. "That might be a problem, but I can not just let a man die because we might need to help ourselves later. No amount of gold is worth more than someone's life, I can not just let this man die when there is something I can do to stop it. I already know I can not save everyone," she pauses, thinking about the trail of bodies they'd left behind, both friend and foe, "but that does not mean I will stop trying."

[Bhaakon]

Brin

"This man was a petty crook at the least, and maybe worse. He associated with the murderer of his own will, the note we found proves that. Maybe that's not enough to deserve this fate, but his hand aren't clean in this."

The elven woman shakes her head sadly. "Sirus is right, with an entire pack of ghouls on the loose, there will be more who need saving. Perhaps those who are innocent, maybe children, maybe even us. Will you spent so lavishly on all of them? And when you run out of gold?"

She draws a knife from her belt. "The short blade is favored by my mistress for a reason. In cases like this, the swiftest end is also the kindest. I can do it quickly. He won't suffer any longer, and he won't be able to infect anyone."

[maggie_mcknife]

Red

At first, Red's hand reflexively twitches, reaching for her wallet. She had enough gold left over from buying the armour, and if the rest would go towards saving a man's life, then why not? But once Sirus and the odd priestess speak, Red lowers her head, almost ashamed, staring at her fists as she flexes her fingers one by one.

That was true. They couldn't save everyone. What if somebody more important needed saving? They'd need money then. But how would they know who that somebody more important was? It wasn't as though they'd know until after they'd saved that person. But Grayst was a crazy man. Did that matter? Was he worth less because he was mad and had been a bad person?

But she was here. She was still alive.

Red raises trembling fingers to her face, closing her eyes. Why had she lived? Why had she come back? Her life, so useless, a mere speck of dirt- just a stupid little girl, a failed thief, with hair like it'd been set on fire-

Gritting her teeth, Red moves to stand next to Setsuna, her voice low, her dark eyes filled with pain. "...Mister Fox. He paid everything... for me. I cannot... do anything less. I can... help pay."

[Desril]

Setsuna

With Red moving to back her up, the naive young girl from Minkai holds her ground against Brin's well-reasoned arguments, "If I run out of gold then I will find some other way to pay for what we need." Wracking her brain to come up with something, she hits upon an idea that in other circumstances wouldn't have crossed her mind, but in this case, "At the very least, Sandpoint owes me one favor for helping to save them from Nualia, if I can not save someone because I lack funds, I will call in that favor!"

Looking at the priestess' knife, Setsuna shakes her head, "Maybe his life will be painful, but he can recover and find happiness here too. We should not take that chance from him because it would be easier on us to simply kill him. Just because he is a criminal does not mean his life is any less valuable. He is dangerous, but not of his own choosing. His condition was forced on him, if we can cure him then he will no longer be a danger to anyone, and until then we can just keep him locked up safely."

[bcool999]

Taladron

Listening to Setsuna's passionate speech Taldron sighs a little to himself. She is still as naive as ever I see.

"Setsuna, If your wish is to see Grayst locked up for the rest of his life we could lock him in this room and wait a day or two, I doubt he has much longer. As for him finding happiness, I guess it depends on what delusions his broken little mind comes up with. You see, Ghoul fever does not have madness as a symptom, bodily decay and weakness yes, but not madness. So even were we to cure him he would spend the rest of his days trapped in the trauma that first brought him to this sanatorium. If you would wish that upon him then I will not stop you, but Pharasmas judgement may be kinder."

Going to give Desril/Setsuna a chance to reflect on whatever the detect thoughts that was cast earlier revealed and let Setsunas decision after that be Taladrons vote as well.

[Desril]

Setsuna

Taking everyone's words into account, Setsuna delays in answering, not able to decide what should be done given Grayst' condition and the madness not being something that can be fixed. "Is there nothing we can do for his mind? There must be something, he is still alive, there should be a way for him to recover...if there is not, then maybe it is for the best, but..." unable to finish her sentence, the tiefling casts her eyes downward, not wanting to believe that Grayst really had no chance at getting better.

[ProudGrognard]

Sirus

Sirus slowly shakes his head.

"Red. Grayst. Is not. Cipriano. You are. Not. Repaying. Goodness. With goodness. Think. Setsuna. Red. Think.

This. Is not. About. This man. This. Does not. End. Here. We will. Probably. Meet. Many. Like him. Are we. To save them. All? With what. Funds?

This man. Is gone. We must. Bring. The one. Responsible. To justice. And be. As efficient. As possible. In doing. So.

Important things. Are happening. We must. Choose. Our fights. Just some. Minutes ago. I did the same. By letting. The necromancer. Go. Despite. Being. Contrary. To what. I hold most. Dear. For. The greater. Good.

You must. Do. The same."

[maggie_mcknife]

Red

Red looks pleadingly up at Sirus, then turns away, unable to hold the stern half-orc's gaze. How on earth was she to explain that it wasn't anything that Grayst had done for her, but what Cipriano had done? Sirus wouldn't know. He hadn't died and been dragged back. He hadn't seen anything.

She'd said nothing since she woke up of what had happened to her on that side, even after Sirus had told the others of Cipriano's last wish. It hadn't seemed fair to burden Rico then and somehow, it was never a good time. She'd said a little to Setsuna, but not everything.

Blessed Cayden, what on earth had made her important enough for Cipriano to sacrifice himself for? She was just Red. Nobody very important. So why?

"... If you must." Red's voice is husky, a mere whisper as she bows her head and turns away, shouldering aside one of the watchmen, her footsteps heavy on the stairs. If Grayst was to die, she wanted no part of it.