In Memory: The Broken Seal One-Shot IC

[Melville's Book]

OOC thread of doom (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?482645-In-Memory-The-Broken-Seal-One-Shot-OOC&p=20584531#post20584531)

Welcome to the small town of Arsimmon, a relatively new settlement, perhaps twenty years old, populated mostly by pureblooded humans. You'd heard that this place was a pristine example of what a less wealthy town could achieve as recently as a few weeks ago, but there was no evidence of that now. Community ties were broken in favor of looting and mugging, cracked and battered signs of boarded-up shops littered the streets, and the few remaining Clerics' homes were nearly engulfed in crowds of sickly men, women, and children.

Still, even those of you who might be swayed to aid the people here know that the only chance of making things better is to tackle the root of the problem... The crypt opened up by those miners. So you head towards the center of town, to likely the only people who will have any information on the crypt... The survivors of the Dragonrenders of Sha'al, who had an outpost in this town prior to the near-destruction of their order and almost certainly would've all headed here on account of it being the closest place to the crypt.

You arrive at the stone structure, approximately the size of a small manor, and see that where once it had been adorned with fine tapestries, it was now coated in rotten foodstuffs and torched in some spots. Even now there were a handful of peasants throwing dung or whatever else they could get their hands on at the building.

One especially exhausted-looking elderly man feebly shouts, "You were supposed to protect us!" before collapsing to the ground in a heap, seemingly no longer able to lift his arms to throw things.

The only designed piece one could still make out on the building is the metal plate at the highest part of the wall with the Dragonrenders' crest etched onto it. Most people's thrown objects didn't reach high enough to hit this, though a peal of some heavy, sticky fruit dangled off the side of it.

It isn't much, but this town is what you have to work with. Gather information and supply yourself to your hearts' content.

[dextercorvia]

Lysander approaches the mob with a sneer on his face and a raised fist for the keep. "Have those bloody renders even dared to show their face?" he asks the old man as he collapses.

[Sgt. Suitable]

Louise-Ann walks slowly through the town and her eyes reflect the sadness around her. She has her scarf wrapped around the bottom half of her face from the moment she saw the sickly people and hasn't spoken since.
Standing next to Lysander when he speaks to the old man she just helps him up, but takes a step back and keeps her distance otherwise.. preferring Lysander and the other to do the talking right now.

[Melville's Book]

The old man gives Louise-Ann a grateful smile as he's helped up, then turns his head towards Lysander, shaking his head with a scowl.

"O'course not, it'd be far too noble of those cowards to show their faces! Them rats set up a base here a couple years back and demanded we cater to their whims as they lounged about, readin' fancy books and drinkin' the best've our ale... And we let'um, 'cause they said they gotta do their research and stay'it their so-called full strength so they can protect us from the scaled demons, and we haf not another option... But the only thing they rended was their spirits-damned bellies, getting so fat off our labor that when a real threat showed up they rolled over and died onnit!" He worked himself up into a fervor as he spoke, then started coughing weakly when he finished, his legs shaky and his brow covered in sweat.

As he was ranting, the other protestors looked over and started eyeing the adventurers. They mumbled among themselves, one man whispering bitterly at how rich and healthy you seemed simultaneously with a woman excitedly blustering out a hushed garble about how you must be actual heroes.

[dextercorvia]

Lysander raises his voice slightly, "I've faced the scaled demons before and won. I'm well fed and healthy because I've fought for the lowlanders, and earned every morsel. But, unless this problem is stopped, no one is safe. The Cloudblight will descend here wanting this scrap of magic for their own."

[Sgt. Suitable]

Louise eyes the crowd warily, then gazes up at the sky for a moment. She whistles a short soft note and turns her attention back at the crowd.
She didn't particularly share Lysanders open hatred of the Cloudbound but she didn't have much love for it either. She had her own reasons for being here, away from her beloved marshes and stood by Lysander. She nods at his words.

The crowd was making her feel uneasy. She had seen before what could happen when desperation and fear got hold of a group of people with little or nothing to lose.
She carefully and slowly places her hand around the hilt of her great falchion and spits on the ground defiantly.

"We need to speak to the people holed up in here. We have a job to do and we intend to see it through. When we're done, we'll politely ask them to come outside so they can make their apologies."

As she's speaking a white owl circles down and lands on a thick piece of padding on her shoulder. The marks on the padding suggest the bird has spent many hours by her side. It too seems to eye the crowd suspiciously, as if emphasizing with his human compatriot.

[wkwkwkwk1]

Lagging behind the rest of the adventurers comes a Dragonborn of Bahamut. Otherwise covered in full plate armor, the naked head stands out, green- and blue-tinted scales reflect the sunlight, while the golden eyes shine with their own fire. The missing helmet dangles from a hook in the saddle of a muscled horse with a noble gait.

Making his (or is it a her?) way to the edge of the crowd, and asks politely to the first person he finds, with a surprisingly soft, if somewhat deep, voice, "Excuse me, could you please direct me to the crypt's entrance?"

Andras will normally speak in Turquoise, but will switch to Golden Rod when speaking more loudly.

[Melville's Book]

The group of people seemed to nod at Lysander, some still a bit suspiciously and others growing more enthusiastic. They looked to Louise-Ann, and some, especially those who had been enthusiastic to Lysander, looked frightened and backed up a bit.

"W-woah," the excited woman from the crowd said, putting her hand on the shoulder of the man who had vocalized his bitterness. "Please, no more... None o' us are wantin' unneeded violence... If these folks can try to solve our problem more'n the plastic cowards in the manor, the better they be a little rich'n well-fed already, eh?" She seemed to be saying this almost more to diffuse Lou's tension than out of wholehearted belief in her own words, though.

The crowd murmured among themselves again, until the bitter man spat on the ground in the general direction of the stone building and spoke up. "We ain't got any intention o' getting in your way, lad 'n lass, so we'll stop throwing things while ya go talk to them if you need, but we ain't got any sway to them, so you'll have to figure for yourself how to get 'em to open up for ya. Cuz anyway-"

He was interrupted, however, when some other people in the tiny crowd began to scream. Andras' presence had ignited another wave of panic in the group, and almost everybody stumbled and fell over themselves to get away from the dragonborn. Most of them incoherently shouted something about the dragon-men coming for them, and one man even pulled out a knife. The woman started shouting, much more lucidly, about how she'd seen Andras' kind before and they weren't dragonkin, but only a few of the people in the crowd listened; of the ten peasants who had been there, six were in panic mode, while two (including the bitter man) were listening to the woman, and the old man who had collapsed seemed too tired to react at all.

[Sahleb]

Iberin spoke up. "Please people! Sir Daymen is a friend!"

He walked up to the knight, and casually put a hand on his armored shoulder. It was perhaps a little theatrical, but the tall man in the light grey robes needed to convey that the dragonborn was definitely not attacking, and one hundred percent safe to approach.

I figure that Iberin and Andras probably know each other, what with them being in similar lines of work and all. I hope that's okay with you, 4wk1.

Also, this probably involves a diplomacy check, so here we go; [roll0]

[Sgt. Suitable]

Lou nods at the bitter man when he states they'll stop throwing things for the time being. Her hand moves away from the weapon and she visibly relaxes a bit. When the people start panicking about Andras' arrival Lou ignores the spectacle.
Instead she turns to the building and inspects it for entry points. Open windows or some such, however unlikely. She whispers something at the owl on her shoulder and it immediately takes off to take a look at the state at the state of the roof.

After her inspection she steps up to the door and knocks on it a few times. If the people have indeed stopped throwing for a moment the knocking should be able to be heard, and trying to get in the normal way is worth a shot she figures.

[dextercorvia]

Lysander growls a bit himself at the approach of the dragonman. He sets aside open hostility upon hearing that this isn't one of the cloudblight, but he is naturally distrustful of any dragonkin. I'll put up with his presence for now, but as soon as these others aren't needed... Lysander's thought turn back to the problem at hand.

He follows the woman to the door, looking for any sign of someone watching from a window. "I can send a message inside that we aren't hostile, but I doubt that will work. We will probably have to find a way in to ask any questions."

Spot [roll0] Looking for some potential place of entry (besides the front door).

[wkwkwkwk1]

Keeping a relaxed stance, the dragonborn, instead of reaching for a weapon, instead raises his hands in a gesture of peace and, smiling gently, addresses the nearest people, "Hey, now, everything is alright. I have come in peace."

Seeing the robed man approach, Andras' face lights up with a huge smile, showing a mouthful of pointy teeth, "Iberin!" He pats him gently in the shoulder, all the while grinning in delight. "I was looking for you, how have you been doing?"

IT's perfectly fine that they know each other :smallwink:

[Melville's Book]

The people are startled by the geniality of the dragonborn, and seeing that one of the nobler-seeming non-dragonkin was friends with him did all the more to smooth them. The status quo had been restored, at least; there was again murmuring of various sorts, but nobody seemed to be wanting to make a physical confrontation of it.

There was no response to the knocking at the door, and the building's singular unbroken window, a tall designed one on the second floor, was closed, and its covering material (likely the sheared horn of some animal, though it's hard to tell) was too opaque for anybody to see through it. There were two windows on each face of the building on the lower level, but each had invariably been boarded up from within with wood after the panes had shattered.

There is a trapdoor hatch on the roof. It doesn't have a visible lock or locking mechanism, but there's no way to tell from this side if it's locked from within.

[Sgt. Suitable]

Lou takes a step back.

"There's a trapdoor on the roof. I'll see if I can scare them enough to open the door."

She runs towards the wall and jumps onto it. She holds onto a latch and swings her other arm upwards. With astonishing footwork and smart placement of hands she deftly scales the building. Once on the roof she walks over to the hatch and checks if it's open.

Using climb like an ape:
She expends one daily use of wild shape to gain a climb speed equal to your base land speed for 10 minutes per Hit Die. This feat also grants you a +8 racial bonus on Climb checks and allows you to take 10 on Climb checks, even if rushed or threatened.

[Rizban]

A squat individual looks on from a short distance, though you can't make out its features due to the cloth wrapped around its head, leaving only the black eyes visible. It seems to be in the midst of the crowd without actually being part of it, though no one seems to pay it any special attention...

[wkwkwkwk1]

"Wait up!"

Excusing himself, the Dragonborn tears into a sprint and, with a final jump, unfurls his wings and soars high into the air, quickly catching up with the jumping woman. Landing on the roof, he offers his hand to help her up.

[Melville's Book]

You both get up to the roof without difficulty. As Lou tries the trapdoor, she finds it stuck in place from rust, but not actually locked. It takes some forcing, but eventually the door is jerked open with a loud scraping sound. A stale smell wafts up towards you, indicating that this room probably hasn't been accessed in months. It's hard to see much of the room from outside the door, other than a patch of stone floor with some dust on it.

[dextercorvia]

Lysander stands at the base of the building fuming silently to himself. This was supposed to be a grand strike at the cloudblight, and here he is stopped by a mere door.

[Sgt. Suitable]

Lou holds open the door for Andras and makes a gesture as if to say, 'after you'.
"Remember, we want to talk to them." She reminds the dragonborn gently.
"Just get them to open the front door and we'll be fine."

[wkwkwkwk1]

Andras nods gently in thanks as he jumps down the hatch, his wings moving on their own to assist his descent. He then holds his hands out to help Lou down.

Once again, he nods, and says, smiling, "Always. If we can, talking always comes first."

He takes a good look around the room, trying to absorb every detail to record later in his journal.

[Rizban]

The disguised person walks up to Lysander and speaks to him just above a whisper.

"You appear unable to climb... I might know another way inside... if you're interested."

[dextercorvia]

Lysander speaks lowly, but his words are definitely above a whisper. "Definitely interested. I can be quite convincing if need be, but stone walls and wooden doors do not seem to mark my words."

[Rizban]

The figure nods once then turns and walks around to the back of the building, preferably in an alley between buildings, looking for a spot of ground where he can begin digging. Should he find such a spot, he removes his gloves to reveal beast-like hands with long, curved claws, hunches over, and begins quickly shoveling the dirt away. He'll use his burrow speed to attempt to dig under the building and inside.

[dextercorvia]

Lysander follows the man. Surprise flashes across his face, but he quickly suppresses it. "That is a nice trick, friend. Color me impressed."

[Melville's Book]

Roof Group

The room seems unremarkable at first glance, simply full of wardrobe-like cases, until your eyes come to focus on the cases themselves, and you realize with a start that the cases are glass or otherwise see-through and simply so covered in dust that they appeared solid in color. If you squint, you can make out what appear to be either weapons or tools of some variety, but without getting a closer look you can't be sure. The only other thing of note about the room is a door which seems to lead deeper into the building. It's a small, flimsy thing, certainly not built with reinforcement in mind... Almost seems like the door to a closet.

Ground Group

You make your way through most of the ground without issue, but your claws clang find great resistance at the base of the building, as it appears to be some sort of stone. Just as you wonder if you'd be able to claw through it, however, it surprises you by shattering on its own, coming down in chunks around your head that you quickly brush aside. The room you pop up in well-ordered, with fine tapestries strewn about and carpets along much of the rest of the floor besides where you popped up, but there's a distinct sense of emptiness, like this empty room ought to have a dozen people in it at any given time. There's a large, ornate mirror on one of the walls, and three of the walls lead to halls into other rooms, excepting the wall now behind you (which of course would lead to where you were standing before). You hear a bit of commotion a few rooms over, with people voicing concern at the sounds from your room.

[Rizban]

Stepping aside and brushing himself off, the cloaked figure motions for his new companion to enter the room and then takes up a position behind him, obviously preparing to flee if necessary.

[dextercorvia]

Lysander crawls uncomfortably through the hole. He stands and dusts himself off, attempting to appear unconcerned. However, it is obvious that the brief moment of being under the entire wall is disconcerting. "Sounds like I'll get the chance to talk to someone after all. Shall we?" The blonde haired man strides confidently toward the door. He ducks his staff as he opens the latch and looks at what lies beyond.

[Sgt. Suitable]

Lou's curious nature gets the best of her and she wipes off some dust from the glass of a few cases to get a better look at what's inside.

[wkwkwkwk1]

Confidently striding towards the door, Andras tries to open it.

"See anything interesting?"

Oh, wow. I just noticed our characters both confidently strode towards a door. Creepy coincidence :smalleek:

[Melville's Book]

Roof Group

Andras tries the door. It's locked, but merely in the preliminary effort to open it a number of splintering sounds can be heard. It obviously wouldn't be hard to simply force open.

Within the cases Lou wipes the dust off, fine weapons and immaculate trinkets are hung up in an orderly fashion, in stark contrast to the state of the cases themselves. From what you can make out through the still-unclean but dusted-off glass, there ought to be a small fortune's worth of stuff in these.

However, while dusting off the glass, you also notice that it's very warm to the touch, quite unnaturally so compared to the temperature in the room, and this heat doesn't seem to be radiating off of the case, as you only feel it at all when in contact with the glass.

Ground Group

Across the hall from the door Lysander opens, an older human man, likely in his mid-forties, stands with mouth agape, flaring his thick, bristling moustache. He doesn't appear to be armed, and is adorned only in a simple but expensive-looking fur-lined robe which leaves his hairy chest exposed.

"You, uh," the man finally stammers in a burly but shaky voice after a few moments of silence, "don't look like peasants."

[dextercorvia]

"Thank you. Sorry for the intrusion, but no one was answering at the front door, so we decided to try the back. My name is Lysander. I understand you have a crypt problem. Who is currently in charge of your order here?"

[Sgt. Suitable]

"There's some fine things here.. A trophy room of some kind. But it almost seems like there's a magical trap protecting them. It feels warm to the touch." Lou says as she steps back disappointed. She would love to pilfer the cases but realizes the mission she's on takes precedent.
"Any luck with the door?"

[wkwkwkwk1]

"Maybe we'll ask them about it. The door, well, it's the flimsiest thing ever."

To demonstrate his point, Andras near-effortlessly pulls the doorknob apart, leaving the panel of the door swinging on its own.

[Melville's Book]

Ground Group

The man scratches at his moustache, looking thoughtful. "Back door? But we don't-" His eyes glimpse over your shoulder, catching the hole in the floor, and he groans, grinning sheepishly. "Uh. Since you let yourself in anyway, the 'leader' as it were, Artorigus, is upstairs."

At that moment, the sound of wood splintering and snapping resounded through the house, and the man looked up. "What the devils is that? How much must this old place suffer in the span of a few minutes...?"

Upstairs Group

You find yourselves coming out into what appears to be a master bedroom, with sparse but lavish furnishing including a vanity, finely-materialed bed, and small bookshelf next to a desk where several candles are lit, providing the room's only illumination. After your eyes adjust, it becomes clear that there's a figure silently peeking up at you from under the bed's covers with wide, glinting eyes. By their size, you'd guess it was a child, but from where you are you can't make out any precise features.

[dextercorvia]

"If you could tell us which room upstairs it would help to keep the damages to a minimum." Lysander smiles openly and gives a conciliatory shrug.

[Melville's Book]

Ground Group

"Er..." The man winced a bit, then shrugged back. "End of the hall. Master bedroom. I think they were taking a nap, but that's probably no longer a concern."

[wkwkwkwk1]

Looking at the bed, Andras signals for Lou to stop and, bowing politely, says,

"Good afternoon. Sorry for disturbing you, but... could you please direct us to the leader of this organization? It is a matter of high importance."

[dextercorvia]

"I'm terribly sorry to have bothered you, sir." Lysander nods to the others that have infiltrated the tower with him, and goes upstairs, following the man's directions. It's not right intimidating people in there homes, but we need this information quickly. If they had only answered their door, none of this would have happened. His justification would fall flat in the ears of any constable, but Lysander is used to having his way. Being stonewalled has left him feeling petulant.

[Rizban]

The cloaked digger continues to follow the one he helped inside but remains silent.

[Melville's Book]

As Lysander and the cloaked figure go upstairs and approach the door, the moustache'd man following not far behind, they hear the beginnings of commotion within the room.

"You don't just get to break in and then act all cordial! What sort of game are you trying to pull, dragon-faced scum!?" The child on the bed snarled, leaping out onto the floor and taking a combative stance. "Are you with the peasants!? Or some other group that wants to snuff us out now that we're weakened!? Cuz trust me, you won't get far!"

Now that they're out of bed, you can make out their features more fully. Very short blonde hair, round features, surprisingly well-defined muscles. By their voice, it seems more likely that they are indeed a human child (perhaps twelve years of age at most) than a halfling adult or some such. (OOC: You'd need a Knowledge Local to specifically identify them, assuming you suspect anything beyond "normal human child.")

[wkwkwkwk1]

Andras tilts his head and says, smiling, "I came to help you and you weren't answering the front door, what else was I to do?"

[dextercorvia]

Lysander raps sharply on the indicated door, then tries the handle. "Excuse me. My name is Lysander, perhaps you have heard of me. My associate and I have a mutually beneficial proposal to offer."

[Melville's Book]

The child looks warily from the door to the dragonborn that had just emerged from the closet, then suddenly throws their hands into the air and lets out an exasperated sigh. "Well, if you guys are strong enough to help, you'd probably kill me in a fight anyway."

The child looks through the doorway and shouts, "Elard! Make our guests something to drink." They then prop themselves back up onto the bed.

"So, introductions are in order, I suppose. I'm Artorigus, de facto leader of this contingent since my older brother was killed in the catastrophe." Artorigus says nonchalantly, then looks at Lysander and shrugs. "I haven't heard of you, but I'll listen to your offer."

[wkwkwkwk1]

Andras glances at the door, then back at the child.

"I'm sorry for your loss," he says, bowing his head respectfully. "I think I can speak for the four of us when I say we want to help. Where could we start?"

He looks around for a chair to sit down in.

[Melville's Book]

Artorigus held up a hand and shook their head. "No need to apologize. You lose people in a job like this. I'm staggering more from the damage to our organization as a whole..."

The moustache'd, hairy-chested man from downstairs clambered up the stairs and to the room, carrying a tray with some cups of tea as well as several empty glasses and a wine bottle. "Take your favorite, fellows... No alcohol for Master Artorigus, of course." He started twirling his moustache with one of his hands, a distant look forming in his eyes. "Such a young and brave soul should not be diluted by drink, though that's never stopped them from trying to infiltrate our stashes..."

Artorigus frowned and cut Elard off at this point. "My riveting escapades aside, if you want to help - did you give a name? - I'd say that the best thing you could do with whatever adventurer magic you've got is probably to just hole up here and help the doctors." They sighed. "What we really need is to take samples from that crypt, or better yet to find a way to re-seal the whole thing, but the creatures in that crypt killed dozens of us. I'm not sure such a small party could do better unless you're rather exceptional."