[WFRP] The Bloody Crown X [Archive] - Page 5 - Giant in the Playground Forums

Thragka

2019-07-14, 04:59 PM

Urgrim

Urgrim bowed to the Rinn. "Some, Rinn, that I believe is worth delivering. But little conclusive, and little good.

"I can confirm the sorcerer Klammenberg is in Zhufund. Just last night, myself and the group I have met through Stubbs laid a trap for him. He foiled it. I will relay the events leading up to it and what we have learned during this time. The most important facts are these: Klammenberg indeed commands powerful witchcraft, and by conferring with the umgi priests, we are reasonably sure he has brought a zangunaz to the city and is helping it feed. I personally believe the zangunaz is Varag Kol himself, raised from the Red Pyramid, but on this we cannot be sure.

"I am collaborating with the grombolg Stubbs, Commander Sieghard of the city watch, the Imperial witch Holt, and a priest of the umgi temple named Schreiber. I understand that Sieghard and Holt are þegns of the lord Sforza, but it seems that their queen is ... not fully aware the severity of the threat.

"Klammenberg came to the city at the same time as the recent thirsting plague. He masqueraded as a physician, and manipulated sick umgi into becoming prey for the zangunaz: he would instruct them to feed on red meat and sleep with their windows open, then mark their homes in the ancient picture-script found on the Pyramid. The umgi who died this way were found empty of blood. Of the few survivors we have interviewed, there are scattered reports of seeing fell hounds in the streets at night, or pale figures they see as personifications of death.

"When I joined Stubbs' throng, a similar murder had just taken place of their last member: a knight of no mean skill, clearly easily overpowered and again drained of blood. It was after this we conferred with the temple, in particular a priest of Schreiber's order, who conjectured the involvement of a zangunaz. Since then, in the past two weeks, two more elders of the umgi temple have been found dead and exsanguinated under similar conditions.

"Holt meanwhile has discovered the extent of Klammenberg's power: he makes people forget they have seen him. He did it to me last night," he said grimly. "Klammenberg walked right past me as I lay in wait for him, even waving to me - and then I forgot, until Holt detected the witchcraft on me some minutes later. She has learned how to sense when someone has recently been affected by this witchcraft. Once made aware of it, the victim's memory can be jogged and the curse can be broken, but without this it seems Klammenberg's anonymity is nigh invulnerable. It is ... a significant tactical advantage that he has over us. According to Holt, it seems that a significant portion of the umgi population near the area worst ravaged by the plague have also been affected by this sorcery.

"Last night, Schreiber moved his elder colleague to the safety of the castle and, with the coordination of the watch, we tried to present the priest's home as a tempting target and trap Klammenberg there. The sorceror was present - as I said, he managed to curse me - but evidently he saw through our plan. I am concerned about exactly how he did this, but at present that is unknowable. Nonetheless, upon detecting my affliction, Holt managed to help us track him some short distance towards the plague-afflicted quarter before we lost him.

Urgrim sighed. "It is frustrating that I have nothing more to tell you, Rinn, but I hope even as little as that will aid the defence of the hold."

LCP

2019-07-14, 06:20 PM

Urgrim

"You've told me plenty," said Elmendrin, looking grave. "So the humans were right, then? This warlock of theirs is inside the city."

"I have been reading the old records with Skorgrund. If this is the same creature our ancestors wrote of then it will be a threat to all of us, given time. You say the human queen does not take it seriously?" She fixed Urgrim with a steady gaze. "I can speak with her. Or give you some of our own clansmen if you think you know where to find this Klammenberg. This is our city as much as hers."

OOC: IIRC Elmendrin already knew about Astoria - wasn't Astoria getting attacked the impetus for Urgrim joining the investigation?

Thragka

2019-07-15, 06:07 AM

Urgrim

Yes, mentioning Astoria's death was both to recap, and to highlight the connection to the later priests' murders.

Urgrim considered his words before speaking again. Grimnirs az, this is why I wanted Sieghard here. "Well ... the human queen almost seems to be ... wilfully ignorant," he said, a little sheepishly. "Her concerns, ah ... There is some tension, I think, between her and Commander Sieghard. The commander is focused on the threat but ... I think she either does not believe, or does not want to believe, the threat that Klammenberg could pose." Urgrim swallowed. "I'm not sure he has actually told her of the zangunaz ... for fear that she will ridicule him and remove him from his post, and then he can do nothing to fight it." Urgrim lapsed into silence for a dozen heartbeats, despairing at the madness of pride.

He collected himself and spoke up again. "I wanted to relay this to you so you can best protect your city and your people," he said with a nod. "I agree that this threatens the Dwimmulhold as much as Zhufund - and far beyond. I have no understanding of how you should best treat with the umgi queen. As for the clansmen - while the umgi city watch seem capable, it is Klammenberg's sorcery that keeps him out of our hands. Holt is researching for ways to counter this. So she tells us." His gaze briefly danced about the room as he considered. "But, if - or, as I believe, when - we must come face to face with the zangunaz, I would be grateful for dawi by our side."

LCP

2019-07-15, 07:44 AM

Urgrim

Elmendrin didn't look entirely surprised. "Aye, well," she said, "humans can be that way. Their heads are too high off the ground." She glanced back at her papers. "I'll speak to the lady Sforza in due course. In the meantime, it sounds like Stubbs and his friends know how to work around her?" She let the question dangle for a while before pressing on. "Whatever resources you need, Jotunsson, you know you can call on us."

Thragka

2019-07-15, 08:33 AM

Urgrim

Urgrim nodded. "Aye, the Commander seems to know how to get things done." He hoped that 'due course' wouldn't come about too soon - then chastised himself. Lives were at stake.

"We appreciate your support," he continued. "I also hope to find a smith in the hold who can dip some crossbow bolts in silver - the umgi priests say the zangunaz are weak to such weapons. Could you recommend somebody?"

LCP

2019-07-15, 10:37 AM

Urgrim

Scratching a message in inky klinkarhun on a scrap of parchment and sealing it with her signet ring, Elmendrin handed it to Urgrim. "Take this to Grunda at the forge," she said. "She will see to it."

Like the rest of the Dwimmulhold, the Dwimmulsons' forge was not particularly large by the standards Urgrim was used to - but it did seem to be equipped with all the tools the Dwimmulsons needed to turn out quality metalwork. Grunda appeared to be the senior smith, with thick arms and coal-black hair tied back in a tight working braid. Shooing her apprentices out from underfoot, she took the note from Urgrim and read.

"Says I'm to give you whatever you need," she said, warily. "Within reason." Urgrim wondered if that was her own addition. "What is it you want?"

Once Urgrim had explained his request, she sniffed, seeming a little disdainful of such a simple task, skill-less task. Calling her apprentices back, she set them to find the materials. Soon enough, the forge was full of the acrid smell of molten metal. Gunda peered over the younger dwarfs' shoulders as they worked, making sure they kept the points on the quarrel-heads they drew out of the crucible. Bolt by bolt, Urgrim's stockpile slowly grew.

OOC: This will take a fair chunk of the day - how many bolts does Urgrim want them to make?

Adelbert

Late in the day, Adelbert saw Hieronymus return to the Temple. He had been by his house on Summer Street, and thanked Adelbert absent-mindedly for his care of Euthymius. It seemed Elsa had already filled him in on the events of last night, though some of the minor details he had slightly garbled. Regardless, he was eager to share the story with the other priests.

"So we know your man is watching," said Balios, sounding unimpressed. "I don't see how this helps us. What good is a snare if the beast won't take the bait?" He fixed Hieronymus with a challenging look. "You called us, Hieronymus. Here we are. What are we going to do?"

"Brother Schreiber has suggested conducting rites of banishment through the Old Town," said Hieronymus, unfailingly polite. "That certainly seems a worthwhile plan to me... but we have heard nothing from the Captain's men on the matter. That was the original plan, was it not?" He looked to Adelbert for confirmation. "To have guards."

"Geheimnistag is in two days," said Liebrecht. "We have many preparations to make for the holy day. Perhaps afterwards we can make arrangements for these rites."

"Two more days of waiting," said Balios, wrinkling his nose in distaste. "I suppose Jocasta and I can stand the stink of these streets for two days. If we must."

-Sentinel-

2019-07-15, 08:49 PM

Elsa's short hair was still dyed, so she just had to put on some more makeup to hide her identity again before she tried to walk a dog in the quarantine area; if Klammenberg was looking out the window of whatever house he was holed up in, she did not want him to know that she was snooping around.

OOC
How much are a leash and collar? I'm assuming it's rather negligible compared to Elsa's wealth.

RossN

2019-07-15, 08:50 PM

Elsa and Adelbert

Adelbert looked gloomy himself. 'I'm completely out of ideas Elsa, and to be honest at this point I think the only way we'll catch Klammenburg is he is overconfident enough to attack us directly - and based on our performance I'm not sure it is overconfidence.'

He nodded wearily as she left. 'I hope you have better luck with the dog.'

Adelbert

If anything Adelbert's already low spirits plunged further with this interview with the three priests. Privately he was beginning to agree with Balios, but he couldn't say so with Hieronymus here.

'We're still hoping to entrap the necromancer before we begin our rites,' Adelbert said.

LCP

2019-07-15, 11:46 PM

Adelbert

Balios gave a discontented snort at the idea of more indefinite delays. Adelbert suspected the Taalite’s ostentatious distaste for every minute he had to spend within the city walls was at least partly for show - certainly with the way he smelled himself he had no grounds to be complaining about the aroma of the city streets.

“Well, I suppose all we can do in the meantime is wait and see,” said Hieronymus. “I will be quartered at the castle for the next few days, I believe, until the Captain’s men believe the threat has passed. But it should be no obstacle to my coming here during the day.” He made the sign of Verena’s scales. “Have faith, brothers. The justice of the gods grinds slowly, but exceedingly fine.”

Elsa

Dragos’ men had kept a chest of leashes and muzzles in the same room as the cage for the hounds. Fitting up the calmest of the dogs, Elsa led it back through the river gate and into the Old Town, doing her best to keep it from snapping and slobbering at children, street cats, and once at its own reflection in a water-butt. The big mastiff weighed almost as much as she did, and she had to put all her strength against the leash whenever it decided it wanted to head in a different direction.

By the time they reached the quarantine district, the dog had become a little more manageable - perhaps because it was getting used to her, or perhaps because the city’s feral cats still seemed to shun these streets. Turning onto Tower Street in the sundial shadow of the old minaret, it looked fearful and alert, its ears twitching as it turned its head from side to side. It had stopped marking street corners and signposts some streets back.

Stopping at the same spot where they had lost Klammenberg the previous night, Elsa stood and watched the dog. Panting in the midsummer heat, it looked imploringly back at her. It looked like it would rather be anywhere but here.

Stupid mutt, said Morrslieb, flapping down to perch on Elsa’s shoulder. What are you doing with these creatures, anyway? he asked, a little jealously. They are only good for meat.

-Sentinel-

2019-07-16, 08:34 PM

Stupid mutt, said Morrslieb, flapping down to perch on Elsa’s shoulder. What are you doing with these creatures, anyway? he asked, a little jealously. They are only good for meat.
Elsa's lips curled with amusement. I wouldn't know, she replied. Never eaten dog meat before. I might try it, if my furry friend proves useless.

She gently shook Morrslieb off her shoulder; she was trying to stay incognito, and most citizens of Savonne did not have ravens perch on their shoulders.

The dog's reluctance to continue was not entirely unexpected, but still somewhat frustrating, as Elsa had been hoping it would only happen in the immediate vicinity of a specific building. She had not truly managed to narrow down the source of the evil aura, and it would be pointless to try to force a dog so large to go where it did not want to go. Perhaps she should have picked a dog that could be caged and carried, like Ludo's little mongrel.

Well, at least, I can try to pin down the approximate limits of the no-go area. See if it covers the entire quarantine quarter, or just part of it.

She pulled the dog away in a new direction away from the evil presence, stroking its fur reassuringly. But soon she was heading back towards the cursed area, from a direction perpendicular to the one she had attempted at first.

OOC
Elsa is willing to spend as many hours of the day as necessary on this endeavor. I know we're already aware of the limits of the area that was officially under quarantine, but I want to try to "shave" its edges; whittling down the area like a block of wood until we have the smallest possible zone where the dog refuses to go. It would also be useful to know if the area is made up of entire blocks as if deliberately targeting them, or roughly circle-shaped like an "area of effect".

Around sunset, Elsa will go make sure Hieronymous is headed back to the castle. She knows the old man can be damnably stubborn.

LCP

2019-07-16, 10:03 PM

Elsa

The dog's disquiet seemed most pronounced on the west side of the old quarantine, particularly around the junction of Tower Street and Half Moon Alley where Astoria had been found. It even seemed to extend a little south of where Irene's cordon had been set, down towards Bridge Street and the river gate. With its ears flattened against its skull and its head held low, the big mastiff seemed to be trying to make itself look small and submissive. It only recovered some of its former energy when Elsa finally turned back towards the docks.

Locking the dog back in its pen, she went go to check on Hieronymus. True to form, the priest was dallying at his chambers in Summer Street, coaxing Euthymius into a little brass cage. Trying to suppress her impatience, Elsa escorted both priest and bird back to the castle.

Festag, 33rd Vorgeheim - Saga

The sun had scarcely come up on Festag before the sails of the Dancing Jenny were seen upriver. Going down to the docks to greet them, Sieghard spoke with Nat as soon as the stolid old tollkeeper had stepped down off the boat. The shipment had gone smoothly, he said, with no trace of trouble along the way.

Up on the Rock, the dwarfs were preparing for their festival. Colourful banners bearing the rune of Grimnir had been hoisted outside the gates of the hold, while down in the low town Dwimmulson merchants were buying up livestock for the feast. This was a day many of the human traders of Savonne had been waiting for - everyone knew the dwarfs were rich, and there was no sense butchering a prize pig before the Dwimmulsons' feast day.

At the Temple, the priests were making their own preparations. This was Geheimnistag eve, the day before one of the most sacred dates of the calendar - particularly to the Morrites. Already the atrium was packed with people come to make their offerings to the gods, and Raqiyah's initiates were sweeping and scrubbing until the ancient stones fairly gleamed. Liebrecht and Grigore were overseeing their work, while Jocasta was sitting out in the Garden of Morr in the shade of a small cypress tree, Balios having taken himself off some place less crowded. Raqiyah, as usual, was not to be seen: once again she had secluded herself in the sanctuary to commune with her god.

OOC: The festivities in the Dwimmulhold will kick off in the evening. Let me know if you have anything to do beforehand; otherwise as soon as Thragka's ready I'll move ahead to that. If anyone's interest in going along with Urgrim then do say.

RossN

2019-07-17, 11:16 AM

Adelbert

In between being run ragged with his duties at the Temple Adelbert tried to find time to meet up with Ludo to arrange soldiers for the consecrations.

'The more and the more reliable you can find the better,' he told his friend. The priest was looking harried - even under normal circumstances this would be a busy time. 'I think you have a good idea in attempting to 'cleanse' the murder locations. At least Astoria's. I'll round up Hieronymus, Jocasta and Balios and get us started.'

LeSwordfish

2019-07-17, 01:31 PM

"Those who were with us in Rivermouth," Ludo said immediately. "As few of the new folks as possible, only veterans."

TheSummoner

2019-07-17, 04:51 PM

Sieghard

"I would hope there wasn't any trouble," Sieghard told Nat. He gestured to where birds were picking at Dragos's corpse. "Not after we dealt with the smuggler threatening the boats. Good to hear everything went smoothly, though. There's still a few of his men running around. I doubt they'll try anything for fear of ending up like their boss, but no reason to get careless."

Once he had finished his business with Nat, Sieghard went to find Elsa. "We're running out of options," he said. "What do you think about just heading into the area we know he's been hiding and searching buildings? The quarantine area wasn't too big. I'd take time, but I'm out of other ideas."

-Sentinel-

2019-07-17, 09:50 PM

"We're running out of options," he said. "What do you think about just heading into the area we know he's been hiding and searching buildings? Quarantine are wasn't too big. I'd take time, but I'm out of other ideas."
Elsa nodded. She had a bad feeling about the festival; if someone wanted to sow fear and chaos by murdering a public figure such as a priest, tonight would be an excellent time to do it.

She described to Sieghard how her dog had seemed especially nervous on the west side, near the site of Astoria's murder. "I know we'll be throwing subtlety out the window if we just knock on doors, but we're being out-subtled anyway. Still, if we narrow it down further, we'll be less likely to lose the element of surprise. Can we find an excuse to knock on doors? I don't know, maybe a chimneysweep offering to come over tomorrow and do some cleaning. Someone with a good memory for faces, who can tell us what the person who answered them looked like."

She put on an upper middle-class woman's idea of a working-class man's accent: "16 Tower Street was an ol' scrawny fella with white hair comin' out of his ears. 17 was a freckled blonde lass with big hips. She was carryin' a baby, still had her tit out. 18... huh... funny, I don't remember that one. Yes, there was someone, a man, but I just sorta... forgot to notice any details. Sorry 'bout that."

She resumed her normal voice. "And that's how we know where Klammenberg is."

LCP

2019-07-18, 06:44 AM

Adelbert & Ludo

Hieronymus looked a little surprised to hear that Adelbert's plan was to move now, but seemed please to have an excuse to get out from under the Morrites' Geheimnistag preparations. Gathering up Jocasta from her seat under the cypress tree, they went looking for Balios. Jocasta said he had been planning to walk up the Rock, to get away from the crowds.

They headed through the North Market, then partway up the switchback path that climbed to the Dwimmulhold gates, but saw no sign of the weathered old Taalite. Taking a seat on a boulder to rest his creaking knees, Hieronymus suggested they wait and see if Balios would pass them on his way back down, but he still made no appearance. Noon passed them by, the sun beating down on the steep face of the Rock, and Adelbert and Jocasta made the rest of the ascent, leaving Hieronymus to rest. Balios was nowhere to be seen - only the Dwimmulson gate guards, who asked them brusquely if they were bringing supplies for the feast. When asked if they had seen Balios come this way, they shook their heads and shrugged.

Hurrying back down the crag, the three priests headed back to the Temple, retracing Balios' most probable path to make sure they hadn't missed him. On Gods' Row, at the gates of the Garden of Morr, they met Ludo and his men coming the other way. Hanna, Gustaf and Ingwald were with him, along with a handful of other Thorns who had been blooded at Arrow Heap. Greeting them, Hieronymus made his apologies for Balios' absence.

"I'm afraid we can't find him anywhere," he said. "We had said this would wait until after Geheimnistag - perhaps he's taken off on some other errand. He always was an independent spirit."

LeSwordfish

2019-07-18, 07:52 AM

"Another priest is missing?" Ludo asked. He didn't even really wait for a response. "Johan, run to the castle, find Sieghard, tell him a priest is missing, get him and the wizard here as soon as possible. The rest of us, we're going to start knocking on doors."

He grabbed one of the posters of Klammenberg and showed the rest of the soldiers as Johan left. "I was planning on keeping this quiet but I suppose you'll have to know now. This is who we're looking for. He's a magic-user, and he has a spell that can make you forget him. I want you in pairs. Hieronymous and Herr Schrieber will show you which way to go: for each house, knock on the door. If there's no response, come and get me. For every two or three houses you do, come back to us and we can ask you if you saw him: with the poster, that usually makes people remember."

"Keep your bows ready. If anyone runs, call for help and go after them. Got it?"

As the soldiers began to seperate, he turned to Adelbert. "We're not going to lose him again. Where did you say you thought Balios would be?"

TheSummoner

2019-07-18, 02:13 PM

Sieghard

Sieghard made his way to the temple as quickly as he could, bringing Roth and half a dozen halberdiers with him. "When was the last time you saw him? Earlier this morning?" he asked. If priests were starting to disappear during the day, it meant Klammenberg was growing bolder.

RossN

2019-07-19, 03:14 AM

Adelbert

Adelbert let out a low groan. 'Independent spirit or no he's probably already dead. This is my fault - I should have tried to keep him out of Savonne.'

With a grim look he turned to Ludo. 'I don't know where he has gone, but Balios was going somewhere quiet. Unfortunately there a few enough places like that here... maybe somewhere on the exterior of the rock?'

LCP

2019-07-19, 04:52 AM

Hieronymus put a withered hand on Adelbert's shoulder "Nil desperandum, Brother Schreiber. The sun is still up, is it not? And Father Balios is not a frail man. If he has been taken, I think there is every chance he is still alive."

"He told me he was going up the Rock," said Jocasta, firmly. "But we looked for him there. I don't think he would have gone climbing on the rockface." She shook her head and looked to Sieghard. "I saw him leaving the Temple, just after dawn. He seemed normal."

The route from the Temple to the foot of the Rock followed one long, straight street as far as the North Market square. Ranging up and down, Ludo and Sieghard's men banged on doors, holding up torn handbills with the sketched likeness of Klammenberg's face. Not everyone was at home, and of those who were, not everyone wanted to answer the door to the Captain's soldiers - but among those who did, none seemed to recognise the face on the poster. Elsa saw few traces of Ulgu along the street either - nothing outside the ordinary.

It was mid-afternoon by the time they had covered the full length of the street, coming to a halt at the edge of the North Market. It being a Festag, there were not many stalls set out, but the busy to-ing and fro-ing of the soldiers between the houses had attracted its fair share of onlookers. There were around a dozen houses where no-one had answered the door: for each of them, the Thorns dutifully reported back to Ludo as they had been instructed.

LeSwordfish

2019-07-19, 07:07 AM

"Alright." Ludo said, a little punctured but still driven. "Elsa, any way of telling if he's in one of these houses?"

LCP

2019-07-19, 08:05 AM

Elsa could sense nothing out of the ordinary. Then again, unless he was physically standing in front of her, there was probably little out of the ordinary to sense about Klammenberg's presence. Necromancer or not, he was (presumably) just a man.

TheSummoner

2019-07-21, 01:35 AM

Sieghard

"None of them seem to have been magicked?" Sieghard asked Elsa. "None at all?"

"I can't imagine none of them saw him if he passed this way. He can make them forget, but if they haven't been magicked, it isn't that. Balios may have taken another road from the temple... Which would mean Klammenberg could've ambushed him anywhere..."

LeSwordfish

2019-07-21, 04:31 AM

"Did you say you were trying something with the dogs?" Ludo asked Elsa. "Any luck with that?"

-Sentinel-

2019-07-21, 12:01 PM

The priest's disappearance worried Elsa more than his murder would have. It suggested that their enemy's plan went beyond killing priests. Perhaps he was meant to be killed in a certain place and at a certain time; be it to cause the maximum amount of panic, or as part of some sort of ritual.

"Did you say you were trying something with the dogs?" Ludo asked Elsa. "Any luck with that?"

"I wanted to know which blocks of the city, more specifically, were under an evil force," explained Elsa. "The area where the dog wouldn't go is mostly on the west side and a bit south of where the quarantine was imposed, near the spot where Astoria was... ambushed; Tower Street and Half Moon Alley."

She hesitated. "Then again, perhaps the dog merely responded to residual magic around the place of the murder. I wonder if it would react the same way near the house where Costanza died. I didn't check.

LeSwordfish

2019-07-21, 01:06 PM

"Okay, well, maybe bring it here and see if it reacts." Ludo said, looking down at Stoutheart. "And I can take this one for a walk to the bottom of the hill and back."

TheSummoner

2019-07-21, 02:01 PM

Sieghard

"We don't have time for that," Sieghard said, frustrated. "One dog is as good as another for this. If you need to see how one reacts, Stoutheart is already here."

He turned to Adelbert. "Let's assume Balios didn't take this road. Do you know anything about the man? The sort of route he'd prefer to take if he was headed to the Rock?"

LCP

2019-07-22, 05:19 AM

"This is the most direct way, isn't it?" said Jocasta, a little unsure herself. "He doesn't know the city well. I don't think he'd have taken the back streets."

Hieronymus nodded. "I can't think of any simpler route," he said. "Although of course when one is headed for the Rock, one doesn't have to worry too much about getting lost."

Stoutheart, meanwhile, didn't look like a dog who had sniffed out anything out of the ordinary. Taking Ludo's sudden attention as a sign of impending treats, he sat up and begged. Cajoling him into trotting in the direction he wanted, Ludo led the little terrier off across the market square, right to the foot of the Rock. Even on a Festag, the North Market was full of smells that Stoutheart seemed to find fascinating, requiring constant course corrections to keep him on track - but Ludo saw nothing like the reaction he had seen from his hound at the site of Astoria's death.

-Sentinel-

2019-07-22, 10:46 PM

"Well, that's one question answered," noted Elsa a bit impatiently, regarding Southeart's normal happy-go-lucky behavior. "And time's running low. Most people will be headed to the festivities around sunset, I'd wager. Have any of you given thought to my chimneysweep plan? Clearly people are leery of opening their doors to guards. Doubly so for people with a good reason to hide from us."

She paused, thoughtful. "We don't need an actual chimneysweep... just someone who can look the part. If anyone asks why they've never met him before, he can explain he's just moved into town with the flock of refugees and is looking for customers."

TheSummoner

2019-07-23, 04:32 AM

Sieghard

"Or we could just knock and if they don't answer, start kicking in doors," Sieghard suggested, no less anxious than Elsa was. "He knows we're on to him. No reason to send a man alone and risk his disguise being seen through."

-Sentinel-

2019-07-23, 10:08 PM

"I'm mostly worried about our ruckus all over the neighborhood giving him plenty of time to run or prepare," said Elsa. Not to mention that breaking down doors and inviting burglars in would not endear the Thorns to the locals. "But if you want to keep things simple and quick, I could go feel each door individually and try to detect the presence of dark magic. If a vampire or something similar spends a while under the same roof, it's sure to leave a mark or aura. And this time we've narrowed it down to a manageable number of possible buildings."

Of course, that plan rested upon the assumption that the vampire lived at (or rather, inhabited) the same place Klammenberg did.

"I should go alone. Can't have a bunch of clanging soldiers with me. Don't worry, I'll have Morslieb keep an eye out."

OOC
I figure we need to keep things rolling, so I'll take the initiative. Elsa will wear her hair dye, makeup, and inconspicuous clothes. She will try to sense mostly the wind of Shyish, as well as dark magic, around the doorway and windows of each house in the area she established yesterday.

Magical Sense 88: [roll0]
Fortune: [roll1]

LCP

2019-07-24, 03:59 AM

As Elsa took off towards the Old Town, Hieronymus and Jocasta exchanged worried glances. The militia milled about aimlessly, waiting for Sieghard's command.

"They're not even looking for him!" Jocasta said to Adelbert, her frustration with the to-ing and fro-ing clear in her voice. "Only for this Klammenberg. I'm going back to the Temple. Maybe someone else saw which way Balios went." She looked up and down the street, as if hoping her mentor might spring suddenly from the shadows. "It's got to be better than chasing ghosts."

RossN

2019-07-24, 11:21 AM

Adelbert

'We better escort you there,' Adelbert said quickly to Jocasta, a sudden premonition of yet another priest vanishing in the twinkling of an eye filling his mind. He turned to Hieronymous. 'You should also go back Father - clearly it isn't safe out here and will be getting less safer by the moment.'

LCP

2019-07-24, 06:31 PM

Elsa

As Sieghard's soldiers escorted the priests back to the Temple, Elsa made a beeline for the quarantine district. Coming to a halt at the crossing where Astoria had been found, she looked down each street in turn. It was a lot of houses to check.

The shadow that hung over Savonne was thick here, as she had felt every night since she'd started sleeping at Adelbert's lodgings on Half Moon Alley - but it was just that, a shadow, not a beacon in the dark. She paced the length of Half Moon Alley, then started down Tower Street, stopping in front of every door as she strained to see the things that danced on the edge of her sight. By the time the sun had sunk below the level of the jumbled rooftops, she was still none the wiser.

"You looking for something, miss?" said a craftsman on his way home from his workshop, a leather bag of tools slung over his shoulder. "You were looking a bit lost there."

Not Elsa

Outside the temple, Jocasta tried her best to press the people of Gods' Row for anyone who had witnessed Balios' morning excursion. A country woman by her manner and voice, she had difficulty getting anyone to pay much heed.

"I'll make sure she stays within the temple walls tonight," Hieronymus said to Adelbert, looking worriedly out over the darkening streets. "But... do send word as soon as you find him." He paused, swallowing an unpleasant truth. "If you do."

TheSummoner

2019-07-24, 07:54 PM

Sieghard

Sieghard glared at Jocasta. "If Balios is in danger, it is because Klammenberg has him. If we find one, we find both."

"This is taking too long," he told Adelbert back at the temple. "I'm taking my men and going after Elsa. She's one woman. Magic or not she can't cover the whole area on her own."

Sieghard will head to the center of the quarantine area with half of his men and knock on doors until someone answers. Assuming he doesnt stumble across her on his own, he'll have the other half find Elsa, then report back so we can regroup.

He'll ask the people who answer first if they've seen Klammenberg (showing the poster) or Balios, then assuming they haven't, for information about who lives in the surrounding houses. Families, single men, no one at all? And how well do they know the people who live there?

-Sentinel-

2019-07-24, 09:45 PM

"You looking for something, miss?" said a craftsman on his way home from his workshop, a leather bag of tools slung over his shoulder. "You were looking a bit lost there."

"Hmm? Oh, my cat," said Elsa, having prepared that excuse just in case someone found her behavior odd. "I'm sure she'll turn up eventually." She briefly met the man's gaze, just to make sure he was who he seemed to be, and smiled innocently.

The sun was getting low. Soon, creatures that feared the light would start coming out. Perhaps it was best not to be alone in these streets. As she walked away, she mulled upon her fruitless search. Was she completely mistaken about the area she should have searched? Did she grossly overestimate the amount of residual magic their mysterious undead foe would leave behind? Was there magic capable of concealing other magic? Was this entire neighborhood some kind of giant bait to waste the time of the Captain's wizard?

On the way back, Elsa came upon Sieghard and his men. "Nothing useful," she reported in a half defeated tone. "The entire area is shrouded in dark magic, but it doesn't point me anywhere specific."

OOC
As I said IC, I think it's preferable to pick locks rather than kick down doors. We don't have enough certainty, and while property damage would be easily forgiven if we find what we seek, failure would make us look like not only thugs but incompetent ones. I'd rather be just one or the other, or preferably neither.

LeSwordfish

2019-07-25, 03:32 AM

"Let me help." Ludo said, reaching up to put a comforting hand on Jocasta's elbow. "I can ask around." Johan had just jogged up, and took the instruction to return to the castle and fetch another dozen or so of the militia with thinly-veiled despair. After watching him go, Ludo turned and moved off into the people on the streets, asking for information on Balios rather more smoothly than Jocasta had been able to.

OOC
Gossip vs 62: [roll0]

Charm for Jocasta to persuade her to go inside: [roll1] vs 72

RossN

2019-07-25, 05:16 AM

Adelbert

'I'll send word Father,' Adelbert promised, anxiously watching until he was sure the two senior priests were actually inside the Temple before moving to join Ludo.

LCP

2019-07-25, 08:15 AM

Ludo & Adelbert

It was late in the day to be asking who had passed that way in the morning, but Ludo was nothing if not adept at sniffing out a story. Overhearing his loud questions, a street-corner beggar volunteered that he had seen someone matching Balios' description, talking to a man he had taken for another beggar. The man had told Balios something that seemed to concern him, he said - he had seen the two of them take off together, heading in the direction of the river. There wasn't much difference between that and the direction of the quarantine district, Ludo noted.

Ludo's copy of the Klammenberg poster - by now somewhat creased and dog-eared - didn't seem to spark any recognition in their witness' eyes. Smacking his red-stained gums, the man shook his head.

"I mean... I din't get a good look at 'im, but 'e weren't dressed sharp like that man in yer picture," he said. "Jes' a ratty old cloak and hat. I don't think he had a beard?" He sounded uncertain. "Looked like another feller on the beg, but I ain't seen him on this pitch before."

Sieghard & Elsa

The arrival of Sieghard and his troop soon cleared the evening crowd off Tower Street, or at least the part of it that they were on. Beginning the slow process of going door to door, they worked their way up from the south end as the sun sank below the horizon. There were a lot of doors on which to knock.

Most of the denizens of the Old Town would open their doors if the militia hammered on them long and loud enough, though many seemed more than a little reluctant - the people of Savonne had had more than enough recent experience of soldiers at the door. They shook their heads and mumbled at Sieghard's questions, wanting nothing to do with whatever trouble was brewing - but at one house, his description of Balios did ring a bell.

"Aye, I saw a man like that this morning," said the woman at the door, a seamstress in her middle years. "Taalite? With the stick with the antlers and all. He went down Sundial Passage with some ragamuffin." She pointed up the street, to where a tiny back-alley led off behind the old minaret that gave Tower Street its name. "Don't usually see that lot in town."

LeSwordfish

2019-07-25, 09:22 AM

"Was he wearing, um, bandages?" Ludo asked, gesturing at his face. "How tall was he?"

LCP

2019-07-25, 11:05 AM

Ludo & Adelbert

"'Bout his height," said the beggar, pointing to Adelbert. "I didn't see no bandages."

RossN

2019-07-25, 11:51 AM

Adelbert

'If I turn out to be the villain I'll have to congratulate myself on disguising myself from myself,' commented Adelbert dryly. He glanced at Ludo and gestured in the direction of the quarantine district. 'Time to rejoin our friends?'

LeSwordfish

2019-07-25, 12:36 PM

Ludo nodded, watching the reinforcements he'd asked for arrive, a tired Johan leading the way. "The militia can guard the temple, we can help better with the investigations."

LCP

2019-07-26, 03:31 PM

Urgrim

High above the others and their struggles, Urgrim was making his way down from the Dwimmulhold gates into the interior of the Rock. The deep halls were already growing stuffy from the heat and smoke of the lamps by the time he arrived, his own humble contribution to the Saga tale-telling tucked into his waistcoat. Almost every member of the clan was packed into the Dwimmulsons’ humble feast-hall, and the ale was already flowing. At the head table, the Rinn held court in a splendid gown of red, blue and gold, the rest of the clan elders gathered around her.

A limestone figure of Grimnir had been set up in the centre of the hall, a small wooden dais before it. The first food of the feast began to be carried out, and a hush fell over the assembled dwarfs as Skorgrund creakily ascended the dais. He noisily cleared his throat, and set his heavy book down before him.

“Clansfolk!” he began, his rough voice resounding from the walls. “Clan friends. We have all paid a heavy price to be here tonight. The first Saga since we have returned to our home!”

The Dwimmulsons thumped their tankards against the tables and cheered. Skorgrund held up his wrinkled hands for quiet.

“Six years ago we left our hold. Six years ago we let the manlings know that we would suffer no preening elf to call himself king in the low town.” He thumped his fist against the cover of his book. “We kept our word! The elf is gone, his faithless followers have been cast down, and Clan Dwimmulson have returned to the Rock!”

This time the cheer was deafening. Turning, Skorgrund gestured stiffly up at the statue of the ancestor god behind him.

“Tonight, in Grimnir’s sight, we will honour those who sacrificed the most to bring us back home. Their names are carved in the stone of our hearts, and we will remember them.” He raised his hands. “So in the name of the ancestors, let us drink!”

The whole hall echoed the elder’s words, then set to fulfilling them with a will. With Skorgrund having retired to the high table, dwarf after dwarf climbed the dais to recount tales of bravery from the siege, or their self-imposed Uplands exile. The Dwimmulsons had certainly taken their share of losses in the war against Belehir - watching the procession of tale-tellers come and go, Urgrim reckoned they had enough real fighters among them to match at most one of Sforza’s regiments.

Of course, a handful of dwarfs could have held the Dwimmulhold against an army - provided they had the supplies to last. Watching the cooks wheel out platter after platter of food from the low town markets, Urgrim suspected that the Dwimmulsons were not quite so above the concerns of the human city as they liked to make out.

TheSummoner

2019-07-26, 03:38 PM

Sieghard

Sieghard nodded and then placed a schilling in the woman's hand. "For your help," he said before heading up the street she had indicated.

If there's any people on the street, Sieghard will ask after Balios again to try to find where Klammenberg took him from there. Presumably anyone who saw him was affected by Klammenberg's illusion, but it's been shown not to be foolproof.

LCP

2019-07-27, 04:54 PM

Non-Urgrims

Sundial Passage led east off Tower Street, towards Red Square. The houses here were old and somewhat dilapidated, some of their doors still marked with the faded chalk crosses of the plague.

No-one was abroad on the street, itself scarcely wide enough for the open gutter that ran down its centre. A flutter of wings from overhead made Sieghard look sharply up, but it was only the bats leaving the tower.

From the back of the line of halberdiers behind him, Sieghard got word of new arrivals: Ludo and Adelbert, returning from the temple.

LeSwordfish

2019-07-27, 06:35 PM

"Balios came this way with another man." Ludo said. "About Adelbert's height, dressed like a beggar. Didn't sound like Klammenberg or Udolf."

"Are we ready to start kicking doors in, now?"

TheSummoner

2019-07-28, 12:44 AM

Sieghard

"Wouldn't surprise me if Klammenberg is disguising himself now," Sieghard said."Everyone in town knows what he looks like. Of course he'd make himself look different. Damn posters..."

He looked up at the tower. "Seems a good a place as any to start." He stepped forward and reached for the door, but then stopped. "Hildebrand," Sieghard began, "That alarm spell of yours... Is it possible that Klammenberg could know how to do that as well?"

I'll save kicking for if quieter methods fail. Maybe I'm paranoid with the magic alarm thing, but if I was a magical criminal, I'd be using that sort of spell to tip me off to anyone poking aroun dmy hideout. We'll have Elsa sense the door, then if she finds something try to dispel it, then Sieghard will try the door, then if it's locked, we'll either have Ludo pick it or if you're concerned about time just skip to kicking it down.

Thragka

2019-07-28, 01:11 PM

Urgrim

Urgrim barely touched the food on offer as the procession of dwarfs recounted their tales, only sipping on half a cup of beer to still his nerves. With the demands and stresses of the hunt for Klammenberg in the low town, his attempts at drafting what he thought of as The Lay of Thrunrik were nowhere near as advanced as he'd hoped. He could not yet tell a full tale that he felt would honour the old ranger's memory. But this was Saga, a time for recounting of old heroes. He remembered the celebrations of his youth in Barak Varr, and how his heart and mind soared to hear the ancient epics recounted then. Ideals of honour and adventure and artistry were all bound up in the knots of memory and nostalgia in his head. He had created some little art for this night, and it was an account that lived in being heard. Even if not finished, it were even more cowardly not to offer it up to the hold at all.

As the buzz around the dais settled, and a pregnant silence asked the hall if there were any more waiting to speak, Urgi pushed himself to his feet and climbed to the wooden platform. He looked out at these people that he did not really know, and who did not know him, and wondered if he were a complete fool. He took a deep breath, and the motion of his chest made the opal talisman of Valaya shift in his pocket. He recognised the sensation, and clung to it. Looking out at the sea of expectant eyes, he could not have explained why he was here, why he deserved to be, or what he hoped to give to these people. He thought of his mother, imagined her in the crowd, smiling up at him. He slammed his eyes shut and balled his fists, and suddenly could not help but count the digits of each hand. Lokri. Vardin. Skargan. Baragil. Thrunrik..

He took a deep breath.

He shouted.

"Wyrd bið ful aræd!"1

Would they recognise the Old Khazalid? In Barak Varr, many knew at least enough of ancient sagas to recognise the most popular verses. Too late; he was going now. And already, he felt more comfortable, for he was well practised as a rorkaz in deafeningly enunciating the archaic syllables. Each word stood alone; he spat and roared every syllable slowly and completely.

"Swa cwæð eardstapa,
earfeþa gemyndig,
wraþra wælsleahta,
winemæga hryre."2

Urgrim opened his eyes. The scene was set. He launched into the recital he had prepared in modern Khazalid.

"So. The Spear-Dawi in days gone by
And the kings who ruled them had courage and greatness.
We have heard of those princes’ heroic campaigns.

Dwimmul hight3 a dawi!, scourge of many tribes,
A wrecker of pump-wagons, rampaging among urki.
This terror of the grobi had come far.
An outcast of the mountains, he would flourish later on
As his powers waxed and his worth was proved.
In the end each clan in the outlying peaks
Beyond the sand-road had to yield to him
And begin to pay tribute. That was one good king!

So. Times were pleasant for his people then,
When the umgi of the lowlands were upright clan-friends.
We swore oaths by the banks of the river Azril:
Oaths of war on the elgi, and grobi, and thaggoraki
Whom we cleared from the land, the forest and the hills;
And then oaths of peace. Our trade made us wealthy
And together we built three great cities on the plains.
Zhufund, where Dwimmul's sons would after remain,
Zaraz Irkul, cut of the living rock
So even the umgi could not be sun-touched
And far Yar Urbaz, beyond the Giant's Teeth.
We had no need of mountain-clans. Anyone with gumption
And a sharp mind will take the measure
Of two things: what's said and what's done.
The umgi and dawi, the people of the river,
Spoke with words of honour, and in deeds of kingship
Established our sway over all the rich strongholds
Of this heroic land.

Until finally one, a fiend out of the South
Began to work his evil in the world.
Varag Kol hight3 this once-umgi demon
Haunting the lowlands, marauding round the hill
And the desolate sands; he had dwelt for a time
In misery among the banished monsters -
Nagash's clan, whom the ancestors had outlawed
And condemned as outcasts. For the unlife eternal
The elgi slavers from beyond the whale-road
And the thaggoraki had exacted a price:
Nagash got no good from mornduraz and blood
Because umgi and dawi made him anathema
And out of the curse of his exile there sprang
His grim zangunaz - Varag Kol was one.
Where he walked, the land died,
And the dead walked behind them.
Up from the South, up through the sand-storms,
Gods-cursed Varag Kol came greedily loping.

The kings of the three cities renewed their oaths,
And the strongest umga leader was not inclined
To allow the uzkular to retain unlife:
They considered that unlife of great insult
To all folk everywhere. Time and again,
The umgi warhosts worked to defend
Their peoples' lives, laying about them
As best they could with their ancestral blades.
Stalwart in action, they kept striking out
On every side, seeking to cut
The walking dead down. When they joined the struggle
There was something they could have not known at the time,
That not blade above earth, no umgi's art
Could ever damage their demon opponent.
He had conjured the harm from the cutting edge
Of every weapon. But his going away
Out of the world and the days of his unlife
Would be agony to him, and his alien spirit
would travel far into fiends' keeping.

Time and again, when the war-hosts clashed
And seasoned fighters got flushed with blood
They would pledge themselves to protect their kin
And battle the undead with whetted swords!
But when dusk came and day crept out
Over each upturned, blood-spattered field
The floor of the battle-sites where they had fought
Would be slick with slaughter. And those who died
Became Varag Kol's enslaved, and the living armies dwindled.
Men were disheartened. So dawi got ready,
Donned our wargear, indifferent to the cost
Of an unquiet death; baraz had been forged
So we must meet the menace under sky
To keep the honour of our people safe:
No enemy's threat could crush us in it,
No vicious magick would undo our oath.
And a weapon we lent to the umgi
At that moment was of no small importance:
The dawi gifted them a shafted weapon,
A proud and gleaming spear tempered with runes
By a rune-smith who had worked wonders
In days gone by. Then the Azril folk
In armies side by side flooded the plains,
The glint of iron and steel and of gromril
Like the sun on the river bursting its banks
And pushed the unquiet dead back to the west
To far Yar Urbaz. With skrund and drek,
The dawr throng garaz took their damaz.
The bloody swathe that Living and Dead
Cut through each other was everywhere.
No one could miss their murderous feuding.
Varag Kol's pride and prowess as a warrior
Were feared by all; but they had confidence
That they could hold out against that horde of undead,
Defend their wives and the ones they loved
From the shock of his attack. He retreated for shelter
Behind the city walls. Then the umgi king swooped
On the uzkul at bay, his banner swarmed
Into their refuge, and Azril forces
Drove forward to destroy his camp.
There in their gray hairs, Longbeards
Were cornered, ringed around with swords
And came to pass into unhappy fate.
And it came to pass that the king's umgi
Were slain by Varag Kol's hand, and by his minions.
It mattered not who went for him in anger,
They were split open so that blood came spurting
From under their skin. The dawi throng
Still did not flinch, but mustered fast,
Charged back with a harder stroke;
The demon turned and took them on.
No warrior, no clansman or brave umgi
Could land a blow against the deathless lord.
The throngs, divided, lost their conviction
And warriors buckled and bowed their bloodied heads
And dropped to the ground. But their doom was not held off.
Though they were cut deep, they rose again
And cut their brothers down cruelly undaunted.
At last, a thegn hefted the spear
And smashed murderously against Varag Kol
Past the witchly shield. And the demon collapsed!
The jackal of people was sheared of unlife,
And those enslaved to him found peace in death.
Khazukan Kazakit-ha! It is always better
to avenge dear ones than to indulge in mourning.
For every one of us, living in this world
Means waiting for our end. Let whoever can
Win glory before death. When a warrior is gone,
That will be his best and only bulwark.
Khazukan Kazakit-ha!"

Urgrim threw a fist into the air with the final line, and held it there, his arm quivering, his face contorted in intense passion, and only relaxed when he'd let his breath return to him.

1. "Fate remains wholly inexorable," one translation of a line from The Wanderer.
2. "So spoke the wanderer // mindful of hardships // of fierce slaughters // and the downfall of kinsmen," - the following lines from The Wanderer.
3. hight. archaic English, "was named".

-Sentinel-

2019-07-28, 05:53 PM

"Hildebrand," Sieghard began, "That alarm spell of yours... Is it possible that Klammenberg could know how to do that as well?"

Elsa found it a bit jarring to be called Hildebrand, even for the sake of appearances in front of the soldiers. Surely no one was stranger to the fact that she and Sieghard had been in many scrapes together.

"He may very well know an alarm spell, yes," she answered. "I think all lores of magic have something with this kind of purpose. But if he does know such a spell, and if he did cast it, there's little we can do about it in any case."

LeSwordfish

2019-07-29, 06:19 AM

"I don't really care." Ludo said. "If all we can do is make him move again, so be it. Let's spread the men out so if he's here, he can't escape."

He marched up to the nearest door and pounded on it with all the strength in his small fist. "Open up, in the name of the captain!"

OOC
PLAN:
Knock on each door. Anyone answers, check if they've seen Klammenberg. If they have recently, we go from there. If not, we search the house - presumably too many houses to search thoroughly, but at least check he's not got someone at knifepoint in the bedroom.
If nobody answers, or if they refuse to open, kick the door in, search the house. More thorough search on empty houses.
Halberdiers block the ends of the street, and circle to see if there are any back doors from the houses, which they guard.
Each house should be searched by either Elsa, Sieghard and a dog, or Ludo and Morrslieb.

Command test to get people to open up: [roll0] vs 57.

LCP

2019-07-29, 06:36 PM

Not Urgrim

Ludo’s most commanding tone was unfortunately not as commanding as he might have hoped, coming as it did from about four feet off the ground. There was no reply to his insistent knocking until one of the halberdiers put his boot to the door, breaking it open with a resounding crack. The people of Sundial Passage didn’t seem to be able to afford very good locks.

Ludo had barely stepped over the threshold when the inhabitants of the house decided they were at home after all, and came rushing down to see what the noise was about. There were two of them: a woman in her mid-thirties, and a slightly younger man whose flushed face, furtive manner, and back-to-front tunic made Ludo wonder whether he lived here or was just visiting.

The woman did most of the talking, standing up to the armed men barging into her home with plenty of courage but little effect. She hadn’t seen Klammenberg, she said, or anyone resembling Klammenberg, and when her husband heard of this (Ludo noted the young man didn’t step forwards to identify himself as said husband), he would have Words. Heedless of her protests, the militia trampled up and down through the house, throwing open every door and checking every window. No trace of lurking necromancers was found.

Taking their leave, they began working their way down the alleyway. Sundial Passage was short compared to Tower Street, but still there were a good number of houses to search. After the first few, it seemed like the neighbours had heard enough doors being kicked in to be ready the first time the soldiers knocked.

Two or three of the people they spoke to showed some recognition of Klammenberg’s picture when they were shown the poster, though they struggled to remember when they had seen him – all they could pin down for sure was that Klammenberg had been seen more than once on this street. None of them seemed to be harbouring him in their kitchens. The party had worked their way about halfway down the alley and the night was growing thicker when they came to another house where no-one answered the door.

Tall and narrow, it stood with its back to the old Arabyan tower. Its lower walls looked like Arabyan work too, but more floors had been added in the Imperial style, a rickety superstructure of timber and plaster that leaned out over the street. The windows were dark and dirty, and it seemed no-one had even tried to wash off the white plague cross on the door. No matter how long or hard Ludo knocked, no-one answered.

A few strong kicks broke open the door, and Ludo stepped inside. Letting his eyes adjust, he saw he was standing in a cramped entrance hall. Four doors led off it: one at the far end, and three to his right. On his left, a narrow staircase led up to the floor above. The wooden steps were dusty – in the dust, he could see bootprints, as of a man coming and going many times.

The house remained dark and quiet, no-one coming running to the sound of the break-in. The air had a queer, musty smell to it, like ash and sweet spices. Stoutheart had scarcely got one sniff of it before he started going berserk, running back and forth and barking at shadows. Ludo had to grab the little dog to stop him tripping the others as they filed in.

“Hello?” called one of the halberdiers, blinking in the dark. “Anybody home?”

Silence.

OOC: I’ll assume that to cover the ends of the alley has taken 4 men (2 at each end), and to watch the back doors another 4 (assuming from the division of labour in your post that you’re checking 2 houses at a time), leaving you with 4 halberdiers on hand for house searching – 2 with Sieghard + Elsa and 2 with Ludo + Adelbert. The two search parties will only be roughly the width of the alleyway apart at any given time so can easily be called back into one group.

Outside you’ve got a good amount of moonlight, but inside this house it is dark as described – you’ll need light sources to search.

Urgrim

Khazukan khazakit-ha! the hall roared back, hammering their tankards on the tables in acclamation. They did that for every tale on Saga night, but to Urgrim’s ears at least it sounded particularly loud. Looking around the hall, he saw Berki among the throng, hammering as hard as any of them.

The shadows in the feast hall seemed to have grown deeper and darker since he spoke the name of Varag Kol, reminding him unpleasantly of the catacombs of the Red Pyramid. Heading back to his seat, he was accosted by one of the keepers of the kegs before he could sit down.

“You’re one of them who ranged out with Thrunrik, aye?” he said. Hefting a small barrel to the top of the pile, he tapped it and poured out a tankard for Urgrim. The barrel itself was marked `XXXXXX’. “Here,” he said. “This one’s for you.”

-Sentinel-

2019-07-29, 10:47 PM

Elsa's breath grew still as she stared at the darkness ahead. She had a bad feeling about this house... or perhaps a good one, given that this was likely the house they were looking for.

At any rate, she had a feeling.

Surely the noise from both the broken door and the dog had already given them away, so some light would not be making things worse; if something was waiting for them, they had given it ample warning to prepare its ambush. She quietly pronounced a light spell on her staff.

OOC
Channeling: [roll0]
Light 3+: [roll1]

LeSwordfish

2019-07-30, 02:42 AM

"Think we've got something here." Ludo said. " You two, go and watch the door to the temple: that funny smell might mean they have a way through. Bar it, don't let anyone past, keep asking each other if you've seen him."
Releasing Stoutheart's collar so the little dog was free to run to the end of the road and hide behind a halberdier's legs, Ludo advanced into the house, following the footsteps, sling in his hand.

"This isn't magic, right?" he asked Elsa quietly.

TheSummoner

2019-07-30, 04:22 AM

Sieghard

Sieghard took a deep breath. This is it...

"No," Sieghard said. "We've already got men watching the temple. And if this is where Klammenberg and his monster are, we'll want every blade we can get." he said.

"Footprints lead up," He muttered. "Check the doors down here to make sure there's nothing behind them to follow us, then we'll head up. Finding the priest comes first, we can do a more thorough search after."

LCP

2019-07-30, 04:55 AM

Not Urgrim

One by one, they threw open the doors on the ground floor, revealing dark and empty rooms. The nearest to the front was a bedroom, seeming largely disused. Behind it was a badly depleted store-room and a little room barely bigger than a closet, containing an old tin bath. The door at the back of the hall opened onto a large kitchen, with a fireplace, a back door, and a cellar hatch at the bottom of a short flight of worn stone steps. In one corner was a haphazard pile of dirty dishes and half-eaten pie crusts - perhaps the source of the sour scent of decay that lingered there, distinct from the strange smell in the hall.

Returning to the stairs, Ludo and Elsa ascended in single file, emerged onto an equally narrow landing above. The light of Elsa's staff showed many tracks on the dusty floorboards - footprints and also wide scrapes, as of a heavy object being dragged.

Two doors led off the landing, one in the rear wall and one to the right. Both were shut. Behind them, another flight of rickety stairs climbed crookedly up to a third floor. There were marks in the dust of those steps as well, but not nearly as many as on the first flight and the landing. The dry, musty smell seemed slightly stronger up here.

Elsa Only
There was something in the stagnant air of this house that set Elsa's teeth on edge. Shyish and Ulgu hung like dust-motes around her, slowly curdling into something darker. In every shadowed doorway she half expected to see the shape of black feathers and iron nails...

RossN

2019-07-30, 05:29 AM

Adelbert

Trying to hide his astonishment at them having actually found something Adelbert tapped his fingers at the hilt of his sword and followed Ludo and Elsa up. Putting an ear to the closed doors, starting with the one to the right he listened for... well anything.

OOC:
Perception: [roll0] vs 66 (86 with acute Hearing Bonus)

LeSwordfish

2019-07-30, 05:42 AM

Ludo pressed his ear to the left door, listening intently.

OOC
[roll0] vs 48 perception.

total perception

Ludo has the Sixth Sense talent, if that helps. Not that we're expecting to be ambushed or anything.

TheSummoner

2019-07-30, 07:44 AM

Sieghard

Sieghard's eyes lingered on the tracks. Were they from Balios or from the vampire's other victims?

"Bodies," Sieghard said. He doubted Klammenberg had an inconspicuous way to dispose of them. It wouldn't surprise him if he didn't even care. "You're smelling the people they've killed. Ready yourselves, I'd wager what we're about to find is worse than any battlefield."

He drew his sword. "Blades plated with silver, or blessed by priests," Sieghard repeated. Well, we don't have silver... He turned to Adelbert and offered his sword. "Time for a quick prayer before we go in?"

LCP

2019-07-30, 07:50 AM

Not Urgrim

Adelbert could hear nothing at his chosen door. At first, Ludo thought he heard nothing either - but listening closer, he realised he could just make out the slow rhythm of someone breathing.

Thragka

2019-07-30, 07:55 AM

Urgrim

“You’re one of them who ranged out with Thrunrik, aye?” he said. Hefting a small barrel to the top of the pile, he tapped it and poured out a tankard for Urgrim. The barrel itself was marked `XXXXXX’. “Here,” he said. “This one’s for you.”

"Aye," Urgrim nodded. "Gods rest him, and the others." He took a swig from his tankard and made an appreciative face. "Thank you."

He made his way over to where Berki sat. "Mind if I join you?"

LeSwordfish

2019-07-30, 08:10 AM

Ludo raised his hand for attention and pointed at the door he was standing by. "Nothing in here," he said, his voice just a little above a whisper, nodding and pointing. "Try the door on the right," he added, shaking his head and continuing to point left.

He held up his crossbow and tapped the bowstring, looking enquiringly at Sieghard. The silver crossbow bolts?

LCP

2019-07-30, 08:12 AM

Urgrim

After weeks of drinking human liquor, the brew Urgrim had been given tasted like it had been made by the Ancestors themselves. Was that Bugman's? It tasted like Bugman's

Berki welcomed him when he came to sit down. The young dwarf was looking better than Urgrim remembered, more recovered from the ordeals of the desert.

"That was a good tale," he offered - high praise from another dwarf.

OOC: It's Bugman's! You are immune to Fear for [roll0] hours, but must test T at -20 or become Stinking Drunk.

RossN

2019-07-30, 11:30 AM

Adelbert

Adelbert flushed with embarrassment at Sieghard's request. Rather than admit the blessing was beyond his training he made the sign of the scales in the air with his forefinger before touching the weapon and incanting a quiet prayer to Verena.

TheSummoner

2019-07-30, 01:48 PM

Sieghard

Sieghard looked back at Ludo and nodded. He gave the halfling a moment to load his crossbow and then threw the door open.

LCP

2019-07-30, 03:40 PM

Not Urgrim

The door flew open without resistance, and Sieghard stormed through into what turned out to be a slightly shabby drawing room. Two men were standing against the far wall, close up against a connecting door to the next room. One of them jumped practically out of his skin, while the other just turned to give Sieghard a level stare. The air in the house was just as hot as the night outside, but Udolf was still wrapped in his coachman's gear as if ready to weather a winter storm. Holding Sieghard's gaze, his gloved hand moved slowly to the pommel of the sword at his belt.

"Gods, you gave me a fright," said Klammenberg, recovering a little of his composure. He stepped behind an upholstered chair that was leaking straw from one of its seams, putting both it and Udolf between himself and the doorway. "What did you have to go and do that for? Look at that," he said, pointing to where the door handle had taken a chip out of the wooden wall. "You've damaged a perfectly good wall."

The man didn't look like Sieghard remembered him. When they'd dealt with him over the dragon's tooth, he'd looked sleek, comfortable, well-fed. Now he looked gaunt and tired, with new streaks of grey in his hair. His fine clothes were looking faded and worn, and he'd shaved off his little black beard, though already dark stubble was growing back in. Around his neck hung a bundle of talismans and charms that looked more suited to a village wise woman than a sophisticated Imperial scholar.

"Is there a reason for this intrusion?" he asked, putting on his most innocent face. "We weren't expecting visitors."

RossN

2019-07-30, 06:28 PM

Not Urgrim

Adelbert appeared, looking from behind Sieghard. He gave the scholar an appraising look.

'Alas Herr Klammenberg, I am fairly certain whatever your other crimes there is a witness present who can accuse you of attempted murder and theft.' A sardonic smile crossed his lips. 'I must ask the clergy of Morr about dissecting your brain after your imminent death. I'm sure it would be a fascinating study.'

-Sentinel-

2019-07-30, 07:23 PM

Elsa's hand tightened around her glowing staff. Klammenberg's strange behavior was most likely some kind of stalling tactic to confuse them into hesitation. Angling her body so that she could keep an eye on both the inside of the room and the hallway (Where is the vampire?), she murmured the words to raise a mystical shield all around her.

Klammenberg might feel the disturbance in the Aethyr and panic into attacking them; it did not bother her. They were as ready as they were going to be, which did not seem to be his case.

OOC
Aethyric Armour, using Magic Focus for double Armour Points.

Channeling 88: [roll0]
Casting 5+, playing it safe: [roll1]
Chaos die for Magic Focus: [roll2]

Success. Elsa now has the maximum of 5 Armour Points, for a total soak of 9, for the next 6 rounds. I suggest we move quickly to avoid squandering this advantage.

LCP

2019-07-31, 03:48 AM

Not Urgrim

"Schreiber," said Klammenberg. "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised to find you here. Though I must admit, seeing you alive and well at the old priest's house did come as something of a shock." He edged a little more behind Udolf. "You know that business in the Karst wasn't personal. More the Norscan's idea, really. But then I assume you must be the one who scuppered our plans at Manann's Keep, so we're even, really, aren't we?"

His eyes flicked to Elsa as she began chanting her spell, but he did nothing. Having got over the surprise of Sieghard's sudden appearance, he seemed surprisingly calm. "You know I bear you no ill-will, Schreiber," he said. "Never have. I hope you'll take it as friendly advice when I say, you're making a mistake."

As Klammenberg spoke, Adelbert thought he heard movement somewhere above them. They all heard what followed after - the creak of a footstep on the stairs.

Adelbert Only
Adelbert felt the hairs on the nape of his neck stand on end, his owl amulet suddenly seeming to hang very heavily against his breast. The shadow he had felt over the city this last month was here, in this house, pouring down the old staircase like coiling billows of fog. The strength of the sensation made his skin crawl.

Elsa Only
As she finished her incantation, Elsa felt a flicker of something similar elsewhere in the house. Klammenberg had done nothing, she could see him clearly. Someone else was casting spells.

Looking round at the sound of the creak, she felt a chill in the pit of her stomach as she saw the same oily blackness she had seen at Kheneb-Ptra-Urush begin oozing from the walls. It ran down the stairs from the floor above like a slow-moving waterfall, black vapour breathing from its surface. Thin rivulets of it welled up between the floorboards of the landing, flowing towards the feet of the unsuspecting halberdiers...

LeSwordfish

2019-07-31, 04:00 AM

Finally, finally, finally.

Ludo's face was grim with satisfaction, and the crossbow point didn't waver, even as whatever-it-was trod on the floor above. "So what's not a mistake, then. Just let you keep killing people? Both of you drop any weapons you have on the floor. No spells. We're going to gag you both."

He looked back at one of the halberdiers, hovered at the bottom of the stairs. "Call everyone back. Surround this house and move in."

RossN

2019-07-31, 05:33 AM

Adelbert

'You live like a rat in a gutter Klammenberg and you think I made the mistake?' Adelbert uttered a short bark of laughter. Then his eyes widened as he felt it.

'The shadow approaches down the stairs, ready yourselves,' he told the others before reciting a prayer to Verena. <'Oh Lady of Mysteries lend me the fortitude to serve you...'>

OOC:
Channeling: [roll0] vs 53
Blessing of Fortitude (5): [roll1]

TheSummoner

2019-07-31, 01:21 PM

Sieghard

"Because of your vampire? Only mistake was not killing you sooner." Easy enough mistake to fix, though. He grabbed his shield and rushed Udolf.

If the vampire is coming, that changes things. Before, I figured Klammenberg was the bigger threat and armor + defensive rolls would serve against Udolf and it would be better to try to take Klammenberg out quickly. Not going to let them bring their full strength against us if it can be helped, though.

I'm also a bit wary of this possibly being an illusion. If so, Sieghard is entitled to a WP test to resist it, right? And if that's the case, I also imagine you'd want that to be a secret roll. Disregard this if there is an illusion and Sieghard realizes it's not really Udolf or something of the sort, but otherwise...

Charge attack on Udolf.
[roll0] vs 66
[roll1]

[roll2] vs 66
[roll3]

[roll4] vs 66
[roll5]

LeSwordfish

2019-07-31, 03:43 PM

"It's coming!" Ludo shouted down the stairs. "Get ready!"

He turned back to his crossbow, adjusted the aim minutely, and - finally, after so long searching - shot Klammenberg in the throat.

LCP

2019-07-31, 04:16 PM

Klammenberg flinched at the last moment, sending Ludo’s bolt skimming the side of his neck. He clapped a hand to the wound, and it came away daubed with blood. That didn’t look like an illusion.

Beside him, Udolf was too slow to even draw his sword from its scabbard before Sieghard was on him. Slicing through the silent coachman’s heavy coat, Sieghard’s blade struck mail – but even so, he thought he heard ribs crack under the force of the blow. Udolf didn’t even grunt, taking the hail of blows that Sieghard rained down on him as unflinchingly as a wooden post.

From somewhere beneath them, perhaps the kitchen, they heard a bang like a slamming door. Elsa had no time for wondering what it was – her attention was focused entirely on the figure that was now descending the stairs.

It could have been a man, once. Tall, taller even than the Jarl, it was gangly and scarecrow-thin, its skeletal frame shrouded in ragged black. The cloth wound around its wizened hands couldn’t hide how unnaturally long its fingers were, nor how their long nails curled into claws. The musty smell of natron and grave spices gusted before it, mingling with the coppery tang of fresh blood.

Its face was one Adelbert had seen in visions, standing before the Gates of Morr – but terribly changed. Eyes that had been deep brown pools gleamed red from sunken sockets, a nose that had been proud and aquiline rotted back to nothing more than slitted nostrils. Where the skin of the man in his vision had been lustrous and dark as the Southlanders’, now it was shrivelled and ashen grey, stretched so thin over his proud cheekbones that it seemed little more than a mask for the skull beneath. It was as Burhan had said: it was the face of Death.

Elsa Only
The mundane horror of the thing on the staircase was only a pale echo of what Elsa saw with her second sight. The liquid darkness flowed from him like a mantle, a wellspring of true Dhar shot through with the amethyst light of Shyish. Motes of magic buzzed around him like carrion beetles, suggestive of a protective spell much like Elsa’s own.

At the Bright College, she had attended lectures by powerful Magisters whose presence had felt like the heat of an open hearth. Standing before this creature felt like standing in the breath of an oncoming storm. She had felt power like his only in the presence of the Book of Nagash.

OOC: Due to the sheer amount of Dhar boiling off him, when you’re within 24 yards of this guy you must use the Dark Magic talent.

Adelbert Only
The cold weight of the owl pendant against Adelbert’s skin seemed to anchor him to the real world as he gazed up at the figure on the stairs. In the eerie light of Elsa’s staff, his shadow was not human – it was the shadow of a gigantic hound.

Fixing the men before it with an implacable stare, the creature stretched out one long-fingered hand and began chanting, dust-dry words that cut the air like knives. Even Ludo felt a shiver pass down his spine as the shadows began to gather around him...

OOC: Terror checks for all with LOS to the man on the stairs. I’m guessing that’s Adelbert, Elsa and all the halberdiers except the one Ludo sent for help. Sieghard definitely can't see him, Ludo I think is up to LeSwordfish. Sorry I haven't had time to make a map yet.

Halberdier terror:

[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]

Stairs man starts Channelling: [roll3]

Klammenberg has taken 5 wounds, Udolf has taken 15.

RossN

2019-07-31, 04:55 PM

Adelbert

Adelbert shook his head in a split second daze, then narrowed his eyes and jabbed a finger at the undead thing. 'It's corporeal! That means we can kill it!'

Taking a deep breath he stepped to Ludo's side and placed a hand on the Halfling's shoulder, intoning a blessing.

OOC:
I'm guessing Ludo is far enough away I have to use half action getting to him, so no Channeling.

Blessing of Fortitude (5) on Ludo: [roll0]

-Sentinel-

2019-07-31, 05:29 PM

Elsa could feel the dark magic spilling from the creature, and knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that she was dealing with not only a monster—that much was obvious—but a spellcaster. Whether or not it was responsible for the enchantments she had attributed to Klammenberg was a moot point; it was here, right now, and it was far and away the most threatening thing inside the building.

Recovering from her initial horror at the sight of the abomination, she began weaving a spell of her own. She felt herself inadvertently picking up some of the ambient dark magic, the way one might scoop up bits of bone in a cheap stew despite all efforts to avoid them, but there was no time for caution. She had to go all-out, because every instant counted against a monster that had killed Astoria before she could even get her blade wet.

OOC
Elsa passed her Terror test.

Fireball. I know Elsa uses that a lot, but it's just so convenient. I'll also use Magic Focus for twice the number of fireballs. Tzeentch's Curse almost guaranteed.

Channeling 88: [roll0]
Casting: [roll1]
Dark Magic, because according to LCP I can't avoid using it near the monster: [roll2]
Chaos die: [roll3]

Damage:

Location: [roll4]
Damage: [roll5]

Location: [roll6]
Damage: [roll7]

Location: [roll8]
Damage: [roll9]

Location: [roll10]
Damage: [roll11]

Location: [roll12]
Damage: [roll13]

Location: [roll14]
Damage: [roll15]

Edit: Minor Tzeentch's Curse. Above-average damage rolls, but I'd gladly trade two of those 11-damage rolls for a single chance at Ulric's Fury.

Planting her feet and squaring her shoulders, eyes blazing orange with Aqshy's wrathful energy, Elsabeth Holt faced the creature descending the stairs and unleashed a white-hot fireball at its desiccated flesh.

LCP

2019-07-31, 06:27 PM

Elsa’s blast of fire was so bright that it momentarily eclipsed its target from view, slamming into the creature in a roiling cloud of black and crimson. As the after-images cleared from her eyes, she watched the red embers slowly wink out, leaving only a veil of black smoke… which settled to reveal her enemy, completely unharmed.

Red-hot sprites danced up and down the length of her staff in the aftermath of the power she had channeled, burning her hand and causing her to drop it in surprise. The light of her spell of illumination winked out the second it left contact with her skin, plunging the house back into gloom.

In the drawing room, Klammenberg snarled a pained incantation, still clutching a hand to where Ludo had shot him. A cloud of shadow exploded from the floor at his feet, billowing out in an instant to blot out even the thin moonlight filtering through the grimy windows. In the pitch blackness, Sieghard heard the scrape of Udolf unsheathing his sword, but his enemy’s swing was lost in the dark. On the landing, the militiamen cried out in terror and confusion, blundering blindly into one another as they searched for an escape.

Whatever sorcery the creature on the stairs was working, it clearly didn’t need to see its victims. Adelbert heard its dry, sonorous voice cutting through the darkness, speaking in the dead tongue of Kheneb-Ptra-Urush. The incantation reached its crescendo and a cold wind swept down the hallway, bringing with it the rustling whispers of the dead. Ludo staggered, feeling an icy weight settle in his chest – it felt as if the wind had torn away a part of his spirit with its passing.

As the whispers slowly died away, he heard something else. There was a great deal of shuffling and thumping coming from below. That didn’t sound like more halberdiers...

OOC: No fireballs break the soak of the creature on the stairs.

RossN

2019-07-31, 08:45 PM

Adelbert

Adelbert gritted his teeth and gestured to where he hoped Ludo still was in this inky blackness. 'Courage my friend. The gods are with us and feel their strength flow through you - do not ever give up!'

OOC:
Channeling: [roll0] vs. 58
Blessing of Courage (3) on Ludo: [roll1]

LeSwordfish

2019-08-01, 07:31 AM

The gods are with us.

If they were, they didn't seem to be doing much so far, but Adelbert's words did make Ludo feel a little better. Still, they were entirely in trouble. Dropping to his hands and knees, he crawled around the edge of the door into the room - between Klammenberg and whatever that thing was, he'd take the wizard.

TheSummoner

2019-08-01, 12:59 PM

Sieghard

The darkness was concerning. The sounds - both the spellcasting and the banging from below even more so.

"Hold the rear!" he shouted "Whatever's down there, stop it from getting in the way!"

Lashing out blindly, with more force than finesse, he tried to bring Udolf down.

Since Sieghard's defensive rolls are similarly penalized, I don't think he'll get very far relying on them. All out swift attack on Udolf. Sieghard is still at maximum advantage from last round, so that cancels out the darkness penalty.

[roll0] vs 76 (51 WS +5 Best Sword +20 All Out +30 Advantage -30 Darkness)
[roll1] Damage

[roll2] vs 76
[roll3] Damage

[roll4] vs 76
[roll5] Damage

And a command roll for the halberdiers to hopefully stop them from sunning away blindly and being torn apart.
[roll6]

-Sentinel-

2019-08-01, 03:17 PM

How how how how how ran through Elsa's head, in a mixture of frustration and horror at her fireball's utter lack of effect on the creature. It must have been under a shielding spell similar to hers in both nature and power; and unlike her, it did not seem to need to brute strength to punch through her protection. She could feel the life energy literally drain out of her under the effect of the monster's magical assault. There was no telling how many more of those attacks she could take before her soul was ripped out of her body.

What could she do? It seemed to her that they were badly outmatched, even were it not for the utter darkness that had descended upon them. She hated to admit it, but a tactical retreat seemed in order... just as soon as they found their bearings.

Morrslieb! she called, linking her mind with her familiar's. Hear the noise inside the house? See the window closest to the noise? I might cast a fireball through you at that window. Just be ready.

I will be, said Morrslieb, communicating to her through images rather than words that he was about to perch on a neighboring rooftop and stare straight at the window in question.

In the meantime, Elsa had to get rid of this utter darkness if they hoped to make good their escape. She grasped the strands of Ulgu with her mind and attempted to tear apart the spell that Klammenberg had woven with them.

OOC
I'm assuming Morrslieb needs a round to locate the appropriate window and get in position.

Meanwhile...

Dispel 13+, full action: [roll0]
Dark Magic: [roll1]

Channeling vs. 58, assuming Klammy has Magic 3: [roll2]

Edit: Arrrgh. :smallannoyed: Still undecided about whether I should re-roll this.

LCP

2019-08-01, 05:26 PM

Swinging wildly in the dark, by luck or intuition Sieghard’s first blow struck home. It was like hacking at a side of beef – Udolf didn’t cry out or flinch, only trying to push through the hail of blows to come to grips with his attacker. Sieghard felt a cold hand reaching for his face, carrying with it the sour scent of pickled meat.

He chopped it aside, finger-bones shearing under his blade, and hammered another blow into the darkness. Finally, he felt something give – there was a heavy thud as Udolf’s body hit the floor. At the same time, he heard Elsa’s voice ringing out from the landing behind him. Orange sparks danced like fireflies through the unnatural dark, burning Klammenberg’s spell away to nothing. By the sickly moonlight lancing through the window, the party could again make out the scene around them.

Udolf lay at his feet, the coachman’s body horribly hewn and mangled. What little blood oozed from those deep wounds was tarry and congealed – whoever he had been in life, Sieghard guessed that Udolf had been dead for a long time.

Behind him was Klammenberg, looking a little surprised at the premature loss of his cover. He took one look at Sieghard and bolted through the connecting door, slamming it shut behind him. Sieghard thought he heard the scrape of a chair being set against it.

Out on the landing, Elsa banishing the darkness seemed to give the militiamen back some of their spirit. None of them would be getting out of here if they couldn’t secure the stairs – picking up the weapons they had thrown down in their wild flight, they pushed forwards past Elsa and Adelbert, interposing themselves between the wizard and the monster on the stairs.

The shuffling sounds from the foot of the stairs had grown louder. Peering over the rail, Adelbert saw shapes moving in the shadows down there. A shaft of moonlight picked out a familiar face as they came closer – Balios’, lolling deathly white atop the open wound of his neck. Witchlights gleamed in his blank, dead eyes, just as they had in the dead of the Mere.

He didn’t have long to look. The creature on the stairs stretched out its hand again, the plaster on the walls around it crumbling and rotting as the energies of death surged around it. Another wave of necromantic energy swept the landing, rattling the walls and sending dust drizzling from the ceiling with the force of its passage. Adelbert felt the breath ripped from his lungs, a deathly cold spreading through his chest. Dust-dry voices whispered in his ear, calling to him from beyond the grave…

OOC: I made maps!

Downstairs:
https://i.postimg.cc/hPsmRgKZ/Vamp-House-Downstairs.png

Upstairs:
https://i.postimg.cc/KcM7w4pZ/Vamp-House-Upstairs.png

For those without Night Vision, you can make out your surroundings, but it's too dark to see much detail. All tests involving vision are at -20 and fast movement near obstacles may be risky.

RossN

2019-08-01, 05:48 PM

Adelbert

'Gods damn it if I die I'll hunt you on the next plane,' Adelbert hissed through his pain at the creature on the stairs. 'We'll both be dead - and on even terms then.'

Trying to keep body and spirit together he whispered a prayer to Verena, then moved for the doubtful safety of the door to try and get out of sight of the thing.

OOC:
Channeling: [roll0] vs. 58
Blessing of Healing (5): [roll1]

Move!

LeSwordfish

2019-08-01, 05:52 PM

"Worry about this plane first!"

Ludo leaned through the doorway and pointed his crossbow up at the horror. At this close range, it was almost impossible to miss. He didn't do any of the things Sieghard had taught him about shooting: didn't slow his breath or aim from the shoulders or anything clever like that. He aimed the crossbow at the creature, whispered a prayer to anyone or anything that might be listening -

- and shot it in the chest with a silver bolt.

TheSummoner

2019-08-01, 06:26 PM

Sieghard

Sieghard looked up from Udolf's corpse. The sounds from downstairs were drawing closer. "Everyone in here!" he barked, "Bar the door behind you!"

He wasn't sure how they'd escape or even if they could, but if not, he would make sure to make his death a costly one. He turned his attention to where Klammenberg had fled - he wasn't going to let the bastard get away with his life.

-Sentinel-

2019-08-02, 05:24 PM

"Everyone in here!" Sieghard barked, "Bar the door behind you!"

"Right away! Any chance we can get a flame in here?" Elsa growled, seemingly unaware of the irony of being the one to ask for it. This was no time for cheap cantrips; if anyone less useful than her could light so much as a damn match, it would free her to put her magic to better use.

Squinting against the darkness, she threw a hastily put-together fireball above the nearest halberdier's head and at the monster on the stairs, then moved into the next room, leaving space for Adelbert and the others to follow.

OOC
For simplicity's sake, I'll defer to LCP and assume Elsa has too much on her mind to figure out that Klammenberg is in the other room until Sieghard smashes the door.

Fireball, Magic Focus = double number. (I know double Damage may seem better vs. crazy high soak, but I prefer better odds at Ulric's Fury.)

Casting 12+: [roll0]
Dark Magic: [roll1]
Chaos die for Magic Focus: [roll2]

Minor Manifestation.

Location: [roll3]
Damage: [roll4]

Location: [roll5]
Damage: [roll6]

Location: [roll7]
Damage: [roll8]

Location: [roll9]
Damage: [roll10]

Location: [roll11]
Damage: [roll12]

Location: [roll13]
Damage: [roll14]

Then a half move into the other room. Exact location doesn't matter (she has Movement 5), so long as she leaves room for the others to come in. Also, she saw the layout of the room before it went dark, so she knows she'll bump into furniture if she moves too far.

Edit: Bleeeh, should've gone for double Damage. :smallyuk: All this bullsh!t was 2 wounds, at best. Could've been up to 7. Ah well, hindsight is 20/20.

LCP

2019-08-03, 01:14 PM

Ludo’s bolt slashed across the darkened landing. Inches from its target, it burst into black smoke, just as Elsa’s spell had done. Unlike Elsa’s spell, Ludo thought he saw the creature flinch. He ducked back into the cover of the doorway, trying to control the hammering of his heart – he had seen the thing’s baleful gaze begin turning towards him.

Elsa’s second blast of fire blotted it out before their eyes could meet. This time when the smoke cleared its tattered clothes looked mildly singed – but the others were already stampeding through the doorway, not waiting to see what retaliation it had in store. Ludo flattened himself against the doorframe to let them pass, holding his crossbow close.

Piling into the drawing room with the rest, Adelbert slumped against the rear wall, a killing cold in his bones that all the prayers in the world couldn’t seem to drive out. The only light came from the little window to his right – looking out of its grimy panes, he saw it overlooked a shelving section of the kitchen roof. The black shadow of the Arabyan tower rose up behind it, Morrslieb shining bright behind the spire.

At the other end of the room, Sieghard was kicking apart what was left of the door Klammenberg had shut behind him. Klammenberg backed cautiously away into the shadows, keeping the chair he had blocked it with between himself and Sieghard. He muttered a hurried incantation, but nothing happened. The strange words of the spell ended in a much more comprehensible Reikspiel curse.

“Well, this is just typical,” he said, circling slowly sideways with his hands raised palm-out. “A big man with a sword, lashing out at what he doesn’t understand.” He raised his eyebrows at Sieghard. “I did tell you you’re making a mistake? Unless you speak any High Nehekharan I’m probably the only man who can get you out of here alive.”

As Klammenberg spoke the words, a tall, thin shadow loomed in the doorway to the landing. Ludo leapt back to avoid the withered talon that reached for him, feeling his heart race as the creature swiped through empty air.

Its smouldering eyes swept the room, passing slowly from face to face. In a cracked voice like the slamming of a stone tomb, it spoke. None of them could understand the words, but it sounded like a question.

“He’s asking which of the, ah, barbarians is the leader,” Klammenberg volunteered. “I think that means you.”

OOC: The monster soaks Ludo’s silver bolt and takes 1 wound from Elsa’s fireball(s). Elsa gets a nosebleed from Tzeentch’s Curse.

Maps:
https://i.postimg.cc/tC5tk92Q/Vamp-House-Downstairs.pnghttps://i.postimg.cc/t44dm8M1/Vamp-House-Upstairs.png

If Sieghard turns to look at the ?vampire? he will need a Terror check same as the others.

TheSummoner

2019-08-03, 03:15 PM

Sieghard

"I understand you're responsible for what your friends did in Rivermouth," Sieghard said, voice dripping with hatred, "And after that, there's not a single thing you could say or do to save your life, you son of a bitch."

If Sieghard turns to look at the ?vampire? he will need a Terror check same as the others.

If you're putting the choice in my hands, then I'm going to say Sieghard is pretty damn focused on Klammenberg until either he's dead or the vampire does something to specifically draw his attention. All out swift attack on Klammenberg.

[roll0] vs 76
[roll1]

[roll2] vs 76
[roll3]

[roll4] vs 76
[roll5]

Probably going to FP an extra half action afterwards, but I want to see the results

RossN

2019-08-03, 03:41 PM

Adelbert

As interesting as this conversation was Adelbert felt it would best continue in his absence. Turning to the window at his right he opened it and started to climb out. However far away the roof is it was almost certainly less deadly than the vampire...

OOC:
Okay I guess this is a Move to the window to his right and fiddling with the window which probably eats up half a turn on its own.

LeSwordfish

2019-08-04, 06:58 AM

"You didn't like that, did you?" Ludo said, bravado in his veins. He was too close for another shot, so instead gripped one of the silver bolts in his hand and stabbed with it like a dagger, trying to keep the creature's attention on him while Adelbert made for the exit. "Don't think you can hit me, though."

OOC
Quick Draw silver bolt, swift attack with it.

[roll0] vs 28
[roll1] damage at SB-2 for an improvised weapon. I'm just crit fishing here and trying to keep it on me.

If closing a door is a free action, and the door opens into the room, I'm going to do that, too!

-Sentinel-

2019-08-04, 08:22 AM

Elsa wiped the blood from her nose. She was pushing herself to the limit and she knew it; sooner or later the Aethyr might lash back in a far deadlier way. But right now she could not afford to be cautious. She grasped as much of the Winds as she could as she prepared her next spell.

She was aware of the approach of the living dead in the stairs. They could not be worse than the monster, but they were a distraction, and distractions at the wrong time could be the death of them. If she could both block their way and shepherd the creature into their room, they might stand a better chance.

OOC
Curtain of Flame, using the spell ingredient (shred of tapestry singed by fire). Magic Focus for double Damage, bringing it to Damage 6.

Orientation and location: north-south, in the hallway. I know this isn't slightly RAW, but is it possible to put the Curtain on the edge between squares, where it will only affect a space two squares wide instead of three? If not, Elsa will cast it along the outer (western) wall. This isn't a magic missile, so nothing says this requires LOS.

Casting 12+ (counting spell ingredient): [roll0]
Dark Magic: [roll1]
Chaos die: [roll2]

No Curse, amazingly!

Damage on monster: [roll3] (oh hell yes)
Damage on "B": [roll4]

LCP, is the zombie in the stairs affected, even though he's on a slightly lower level? If so, you can roll damage for me.

As her wall of fire went up, Elsa turned to the halberdier standing in the corner to her left: "You! Block that other door!" She did not care whether he did it with the nearby chair or with his own body, so long as it got done.

LCP

2019-08-04, 05:42 PM

“What my friends did?” said Klammenberg, sounding genuinely perplexed. He stepped backwards, raising the chair between them. “What, did they cook your favourite pet?”

Sieghard’s first blow smashed the chair to firewood, leaving Klammenberg with only two splintered chair legs and a startled expression. Whirling forwards, he slammed the hilt of his sword into his enemy’s face, sending him tumbling to the floor with blood streaming from his nose. Sieghard drew his blade back for a killing blow – but before he could bring it down, Klammenberg clutched the bundle of talismans around his neck, babbling a word in the strange tongue of the creature in the doorway.

Light flared between his fingers, and the necromancer’s body broke apart into a roiling swarm of black scarabs. High-pitched, eerily human squeals filled the air as Sieghard’s sword crunched down through the swarm, mashing glossy black carapaces beneath its edge – but for the half-dozen or so beetles he crushed, hundreds of others were scattering every which way, vanishing into the cracks between the floorboards. In moments, nothing remained of Klammenberg but the wreckage of the chair and a few fallen drops of blood.

Looking round, he saw at last the monster the others had been holding off. Its black rags and long, scarecrow limbs reminded him of nothing more than the jackal totem at Rivermouth. The sight of the chewed bones that had lain beneath it flashed before his eyes, filling his stomach with ice and turning his blood to water.

Ludo however was master of his fear. Lunging at the monster with nothing more than a crossbow bolt clutched in his fist, the halfling stabbed gamely at the creature’s emaciated body. Twisting aside from the hated silver with supernatural grace, it hissed like a snake and bared its teeth, revealing long, canine fangs in its almost fleshless jaws. Vampire.

Adelbert had got the window open, and was perched on the ledge ready to jump when a dry roar and a blinding flash signalled the ignition of Elsa’s latest spell, filling the landing with fire. Staggering forwards from the sudden wash of intense heat, the creature screamed, little fires kindling in its robe.

It straightened to its full, looming height, its red eyes finding Elsa behind the press of bodies defending her. Silhouetted against the flames, it stretched out its hand, and Adelbert heard it begin to speak the ancient Nehekharan tongue once again. Looking down into the dark night outside, he swallowed, closed his eyes and jumped.

Adelbert had scarcely made the jump before the vampire completed its incantation, the necromantic power it unleashed sweeping the room with the force of a gale. Elsa watched as the two halberdiers guarding her fell, their skin greying and shrivelling before her eyes. She felt invisible icicles spear towards her heart, saw Ludo smashed flat to the floor as the third militiaman was slammed against the wall.

A maelstrom of Dhar was roiling around the creature now, shot through with the morbid light of Shyish. She had managed to make it angry – but trying to match this was like spitting into a storm.

~

Landing heavily on the kitchen roof, Adelbert felt pain shoot up his leg as he turned his ankle on the old tiles. It would have to wait – above him, the glass in the window blew out as the vampire completed its spell, forcing Adelbert to roll aside to dodge the raining shards. He could feel the foulness of its magic drifting on the air, a taste like ash and grave dust in his mouth.

It was another drop of perhaps four yards to the street below, though it was hard to judge in the darkness. Looking along the tiny side-passage over which he stood, he could just about make out moving figures and shouting voices on the street beyond. Ludo’s reinforcements were arriving – he wondered if they knew what they were walking into.

OOC: OOC stuff here since the OOC thread is now full. New OOC is here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?594521-WFRP-The-Bloody-Crown-OOC-XI&p=24069871#post24069871). Please post your character sheets first and give others time to post theirs.

Falling damage for Adelbert: [roll0] - 2 wounds, he's OK!

Zombie Balios moves through the curtain of flame, taking another Damage 6 hit: [roll1] - +2 crit. Using Sudden Death for these guys. Rolled it on an external roller, he's toast.
Zombie #3 moves up behind him, taking a hit at the end of his turn for being adjacent: [roll2] - +1 crit, does not trigger Sudden Death.

Start of Round 5:

Our friend goes for another Withering Wave, targeting everyone but Adelbert and Sieghard:

[roll3]
Dark Magic: [roll4]
Cast!

If successful, damage:
[roll5]
[roll6] - technically I should roll for Fury on this but it's a beefy crit already and I can't add more rolls to this post, so I think we can let it slide.
[roll7]
[roll8]
[roll9]

He then takes another hit from the Curtain of Flame since he hasn’t moved: [roll10]

I may need some crit rolls. For simplicity I'll treat all Withering Wave hits as being to the body:

[roll11]
[roll12] - Snapped Like a Twig. Helpless, Sudden Death, risk of permanent waist-down paralysis after combat.
[roll13] - Snapped Like a Twig
[roll14] - Unpleasant Blow -20 to everything for 1 turn.
[roll15] - Squished Gizzards - Helpless, Blood Loss, Sudden Death.

https://i.postimg.cc/7YV0YYJt/Vamp-House-Upstairs.png
https://i.postimg.cc/28mnDByB/Vamp-House-Downstairs.png

TheSummoner

2019-08-04, 07:38 PM

Sieghard

"What are idiots you doing?" Sieghard snarled. He pointed towards the window. "Go! I'll hold it off, get out of here!" He grabbed a halberd from the ground and stepped into the monster's path. "I'll be right behind you!"

Sieghard steps into the space Ludo is currently in (I'm assuming someone will be trying to get him out the window), grabs a halberd from one of the helpless halberdiers (quickdraw), and makes a standard attack.

WP test this roll to try to overcome the terror penalty.
[roll0]

[roll1] to hit vs either 61 or 41
[roll2] +6

Huh. Klammenberg has fate points. Can I at least have given him a badass scar?

RossN

2019-08-04, 08:10 PM

Adelbert

As tempting as it was to lie stunned and whimpering on this section of the roof Adelbert had to get down on the ground proper. Dragging himself to the edge of the roof he called out in the direction of the soldiers:

'Quick over here, help we've got wounded stuck on this roof!'
OOC:
Jump!

Agility Test #1: [roll0] vs 55
Agility Test #2: [roll1] vs 55

-Sentinel-

2019-08-04, 08:44 PM

"You! Curly! Do as he says!" Elsa barked to the last halberdier standing, the one she had ordered to the other door earlier. She pointed imperiously at the window. "Leave this to Sieghard and I. We've fought bigger and uglier at Manann's Keep."

As for Ludo and the other two halberdiers, they seemed in a really bad shape, possibly on Morr's door; Elsa was not sure how they could get them out of here in one piece, but she was determined to try, even though her very soul felt like it was being drained out of her body with every passing moment.

She turned her attention to the monster and prepared a new fireball, putting as much raw power as she could into it.

OOC
I'd really like to get out, but I've no idea how to roleplay Elsa choosing to leave Ludo behind.

Elsa technically gets to act before the mail-armored Sieghard, so she can strike before he gets in the way.

Channeling 88: [roll0]
Fireball, Magic Focus for double damage: [roll1]
Dark Magic: [roll2]
Chaos die: [roll3]

That's... two minor Manifestations.

Location: [roll4]
Damage: [roll5]

Location: [roll6]
Damage: [roll7]

Location: [roll8]
Damage: [roll9] And a possible Fury!

Edit: 6 extra damage rolled in the new OOC thread.

LCP

2019-08-05, 04:49 AM

Elsa’s fireball blasted into the vampire once again, the raw power she was channelling burning through the channels of her body and making her shorn hair crawl with witchlights as it stood out straight from her scalp. Her target didn’t flinch. Stepping over Ludo, it caught Sieghard’s borrowed halberd in one bony hand, using the leverage of the long weapon to sweep him out of its path. It was all Sieghard could do to hold onto the haft – for all its withered appearance, the thing was as strong was one of Sforza’s ogres.

Grabbing one of his fallen comrades, the last standing halberdier began dragging him back towards the room where Klammenberg had fled. Elsa tried to fall back too, but it was too late – a grey hand shot out to catch her by the arm, wrenching her shoulder out of its socket as it dragged her back.

Blood sheeted down her arm as the creature’s claws sank into her skin, bones grinding and cracking under its grip. Looking up into its ancient, deathless eyes, she saw her own reflection – small, pale, terrifyingly mortal.

OOC:
I'd really like to get out, but I've no idea how to roleplay Elsa choosing to leave Ludo behind.

Picking him up and carrying him to safety could have been a start...

Have made a temporary OOC thread for use until all the character sheets are up, here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?594554-Vampfights-temporary-OOC).

I write the vampire catching hold of Elsa for dramatic effect, but mechanically she’s free to break away if she wants to – just write her being slippery as an eel.

RossN, I’ve left Adelbert’s actions out of this post because I’m giving you an official GM Are You Sure. There’s friendly soldiers just within yelling distance. They could catch you, or fetch you a ladder…

Maps:
https://i.postimg.cc/28mnDByB/Vamp-House-Downstairs.pnghttps://i.postimg.cc/Vsh5pjXR/Vamp-House-Upstairs.png

LeSwordfish

2019-08-05, 07:22 AM

Ludo landed hard on his face, tried to scramble to his feet, and such intense pain sheeted through him that he came down hard again. His legs didn't seem to be responding properly, and it was too painful to move his arms, and he thought his nose might be broken, which was just great, wasn't it, and something in his jacket pocket was digging painfully into his chest. Over his shoulder he heard the cracking noises as more of his halberdiers died, and the howl of pain from Elsa as her arm was snapped. Adelbert at least seemed to have escaped the room, and presumably Klammenberg was dead, but... even given courage by Verena himself, he was afraid.

What was that in his pocket?

He heard Adelbert's voice, clear as day through the pain. "Thank you, thank you for everything." Had Adelbert not escaped or - no, it was a memory, of when he had left them during the war. "Farewell, my friend, until we meet again."

His head was starting to swim now, and he wondered if he was about to pass out. Or die, of course. And of all the things to think of now, why did it have to be such an unhappy memory? Why this, why-

"I can buy another easily enough."

He knew what was in his pocket.

With an immense effort of will he rolled over onto his back and spoke, holding back the clawing darkness with the last of his strength. "Elsa! My jacket pocket. Adelbert's holy symbol. The vampire-"

"Here. May the goddess watch over you."

OOC
If this works, it's awesome. If not, it's incredibly warhammer. In Ludo's pocket is Adelbert's Owl pendant of Verena, that he gave Ludo back in thread 8 when he was exiled.

TheSummoner

2019-08-05, 02:25 PM

Sieghard

"Let go of her!" Sieghard shouted, swinging at the vampire. "Go!" He repeated. There was a note of pleading in his voice. "I won't be far behind, I promise."

His armor may be down, but we have no clue how many wounds he has and if Klammenberg had an escape method, I wouldn't be surprised if the Vampire does as well. Whether Elsa stays or flees, keep that in mind.

Roll to try to overcome terror
[roll0]

Swift attack vs either 61 or 41 because Elsa gives outnumbering.
[roll1] to hit
[roll2] +6

[roll3] to hit
[roll4] +6

[roll5] to hit
[roll6] +6

-Sentinel-

2019-08-05, 06:14 PM

Elsa wailed in pain as her arm was almost ripped out. Through a haze that was not just from the smoke, she briefly locked eyes with the vampire, and her heart skipped a beat as she saw her doom reflected in her opponent's pupils. But she was not one to dwell on her own mortality; there was nothing she could do about death in general, and so she chose not to concern herself with it, except when it came to delaying it.

She turned her flash of terror into outrage. Outrage at the beast that dared to grab her by the shoulder, like a bony old Altdorf magister about to punish an unruly apprentice. Outrage at Sieghard begging her to save her own life, as if they had not braved many dangers together, as if he did not need her in this instant; she was fairly certain she had harmed this particular creature far more than he had, so far. Even outrage at poor Ludo; she was glad the halfling was alive (for now), but what he was asking of her was ridiculous. This was not a Sigmarite tale, where the abomination could only be destroyed by true faith, which Elsa lacked in any case. This was boring old real life, and in real life, monsters died from much the same things that also killed men.

Gritting her teeth against the pain, she wrenched her arm free from the vampire's grip and began to channel her magic into a fireball. "UNHAND ME!" she snarled, though well aware it did not speak her tongue. "This is our city and our kingdom! This is our era! I swear by everything I believe in, creature, tonight an immortal will die!"

OOC
Fireball, using a ball of sulphur as a +2 spell ingredient (since I'm down to Magic 2).

Channeling 88: [roll0]
Fireball, Magic Focus for double damage: [roll1]
Dark Magic: [roll2]
Chaos die: [roll3]

Arrrgh. :smallfurious: Failed the casting roll by ONE, due to being at -1 Magic (which knocked my Channeling bonus down to 2). After all this dramatic speech.

Only two fireballs, since Magic 2.

Location: [roll4]
Damage: [roll5]

Location: [roll6]
Damage: [roll7]

Wasted a nice Fury, too. :smallfrown:

Now I'm really hoping Sieghard can kill it, or Elsa is sure to die. (And worse, her proclamation might turn out to be false.)

The drama of her little speech was somewhat undercut when the fireball fizzled out above her palm.

LCP

2019-08-06, 02:26 AM

Elsa did not have long to reflect on her failure. The vampire's long arm lashed out as quick as a spider's, catching her by the shoulder. Withered claws speared into her, her own blood pouring down the creature's arm as it lifted her one-handed off the ground. For a moment, it held her gaze, studying her face like a specimen under glass. Seemingly satisfied, it threw her aside without so much as a word, flinging her against the wall with bone-cracking force. Elsa rolled senselessly to the ground, a great pool of blood spreading under the ruins of her arm.

Sieghard's halberd chopped into its back, the impact reverberating up Sieghard's arm as if he had cut into a tough old tree. Baring its long teeth, the creature turned on him, moving almost too fast to follow. Its claws shrieked like knives from his armour, denting plate steel with their terrible strength. The others' bodies lay littered around its feet. He was the only one left.

The entire landing was ablaze now, thick brown smoke billowing through the door to pool against the ceiling. Eyes stinging, Sieghard wondered whether this creature needed to breathe. Sieghard certainly did.

OOC: https://i.postimg.cc/SR0M1Lk1/Vamp-House-Upstairs.png

~

Out on the rooftop, Adelbert could see the smoke pouring out of the open window above him. Orange flames were licking out of the one to its right, Elsa's fire spreading hungrily through the old house. Its ruddy light gleamed on the halberds of the militia as they hurried to the sound of his voice.

Reaching up, they caught him as he lowered himself off the edge of the kitchen roof, setting him carefully on the ground. Turning, Adelbert found himself in a circle of worried, unfamiliar faces.

"What happened?" one of them asked. "Where's the commander?"

TheSummoner

2019-08-06, 02:57 AM

Sieghard

"You bastard!" Sieghard spat, swinging wildly. He knew he was going to die. He knew it and he didn't care. All he cared about was that he kill the monster in front of him before he did. Kill it. Cripple it. Cut off an arm. Anything.

[roll0] Terror recovery

All out swift attack. Probably only have one round no matter what I do.
[roll1]
[roll2]

[roll3]
[roll4]

[roll5]
[roll6]

LCP

2019-08-06, 04:11 AM

The vampire flitted out of the path of Sieghard's first blow, moving with preternatural speed. Whirling after it with an energy born of desperation, Sieghard struck at it again, the point of his halberd scoring down the side of the creature's cheek. Grey flesh tore like dry paper, revealing the white bone of the creature's skull beneath. The creature reeled, a single drop of black, brackish blood falling to the floor beneath it.

Screaming, Sieghard drew back the halberd for another swing. Before he could bring it down, the thing before him dissolved into a maelstrom of whirling, black smoke. The darkness enveloped him, filling his nose with the scent of dust and incense.

As quickly as it had appeared, the smoke began to contract, coalescing into a new shape. What stood before him no longer wore the shape of a man: instead, it took the form of an enormous, coal-black jackal. Only its eyes remained the same, burning red through the shadows of the burning house.

Sieghard swung for it, but the creature was too fast. It sprang out of the path of the descending halberd, reaching the lip of the open window in one long bound and leaping into the dark.

~

Out in the alley, Adelbert heard a clattering rain of tiles behind him. Looking up, he hoped to see his friends making their escape - instead, he saw the gigantic hound poised on the kitchen roof, silhouetted against the green orb of the Chaos Moon. The militiamen yelped and swore, recoiling in fear as the jackal turned its blazing eyes towards them. It was foolish to read expressions on that canine face, but Adelbert could have sworn it seemed to recognise him.

Another moment and it was gone, leaping down off the roof and out of sight. Behind it, the house was burning merrily. flames licking out to brush the walls of its neighbours...

OOC: Combat time is concluded! Klammy and the vampire have both left control range, so the zombies on the lower floor have collapsed like puppets - though no PC currently has that information IC (with AK (Necromancy) Adelbert might be able to figure it out).

RossN

2019-08-06, 04:18 AM

Adelbert

All that for nothing... Adelbert reflected bitterly as the vampire escaped.

With an effort he dragged himself back to the fire. 'Your commander and comrades are in there! One of you run to the hospital and get a healer, the rest help me put this fire out.'

OOC:
How far away is the river or any wells?
Are bucket chains viable?

TheSummoner

2019-08-06, 04:48 AM

Sieghard

The adrenaline drained from Sieghard as quickly as it had overcome him. They may have won, but it certainly didn't feel like it.

"You still with me, Ludo?" he asked, deflated. He began to move the wounded into the other room. He didn't know how he would get them out of the building, but until he figured that out, he could at least move them further from the flames.

OOC:
Keep in mind there's tons of neighbors who probably don't want the fire spreading that you can press into helping.

LeSwordfish

2019-08-06, 05:26 AM

"Can't move but still alive." Ludo said, his voice hoarse with smoke. "What happened to Elsa? Is she..."

TheSummoner

2019-08-06, 05:36 AM

Sieghard

"She's not moving," Sieghard replied with a pained expression, "And she's lost a lot of blood." Stupid, stubborn, brave, reckless, selfish, incredible, idiot woman. He had to keep it together - he was the only one who could get the others out. There would be time for grief later. He made his way to the window and shouted. "Is anyone there!? There's people stuck in here who need help! Can anyone hear me!?"

RossN

2019-08-06, 09:32 AM

Adelbert

'Sieghard?' Adelbert called back in disbelief. 'Hold on - we're getting help!'

He turned back to the soldiers. 'You heard your commander - we've got to put that fire out now.'

LCP

2019-08-06, 09:49 AM

One of the halberdiers took off running for the hospital at Adelbert's command, glad to be headed anywhere with fewer fires and daemon dogs. The others followed him to the front of the building, gawping up at Sieghard leaning out of the window. It was a long drop from this side of the house, around seven yards from the window to the street. Curling threads of smoke were already beginning to leak out of the windows on this side too.

Two of the militiamen grabbed a nearby water-butt, charging in through the front door to dash its contents against the flames now engulfing the stairs - but it was much too little to have an effect. This was not some cooking mishap, this was a battle conjuration of the Bright College, and after months without rain the creaky buildings of the Old Town were tinder-dry. Townspeople were pouring out of the houses to either side, yelling and babbling in alarm. Some carried blankets or pitchers of water, but it looked far from enough to stop the blaze.

Inside the house, Sieghard had found the surviving halberdier, shaking the grey and blasted body of his erstwhile comrade in a futile attempt to wake him. Grabbing him by the shoulder, Sieghard pulled him back into the drawing room to retrieve the others. They carried Elsa and Ludo through first; by the time they returned for the third of the militia, the smoke was so thick that they were both coughing and spluttering. Questing fingers of fire were crawling along the ceiling from the doorway, their hungry crackle louder than the shouts from outside...

RossN

2019-08-06, 09:55 AM

Adelbert

Adelbert cursed in Classical. He was not overly familiar with fires but even he could see the building was a lost cause.

'Grab the sturdiest blankets you can find. We'll try and catch them as they get out the window.'

Looking out he called up: 'Sieghard you and the others will have to jump!'

LeSwordfish

2019-08-06, 10:26 AM

"Oh of course." Ludo said. The last vestiges of the blessing of courage were still with him, and though his broken bones were grinding together and his voice was hoarse, he could still see the funny side. "Put me down, I'll do a backflip."

LCP

2019-08-06, 03:15 PM

Blankets at least they could find. The militia and a few sufficiently concerned citizens hared off in search of them, returning after a few minutes with a large blanket carried between them. They stretched it out beneath Sieghard's window even as the door to the landing collapsed in a cloud of embers, the hungry flames licking through...

OOC: The blanket seems like a pretty solid idea to me - I can't think of any test I want to enforce that wouldn't just be needless dice rolling. If you guys want to make the jump/be thrown you can do it automatically. For Sieghard in his plate armour I might roll a Strength test for the blanket-holders to see if they can hold onto the blanket when he hits.

LeSwordfish

2019-08-06, 03:17 PM

"Elsa first," Ludo urged. "Get her to the shallyans."

-Sentinel-

2019-08-06, 03:31 PM

The semi-conscious Elsa was only vaguely aware that someone was talking about her. She mumbled something incomprehensible, tried to shift to a more comfortable position, and moaned in pain from her severely mangled left arm.

TheSummoner

2019-08-06, 10:17 PM

Sieghard

"There's one more thing I want to grab if there's time," Sieghard told Ludo and the halberdier, "Shout if they're ready before I'm back." It was a risk, but he headed back into the room where they had fought and dragged Udolf's corpse back to the window.

Once the men below were in position with their blanket, he and the halberdier began tossing the others to safety.

If it takes a few minutes, then Sieghard should easily have time to grab Udolf. I'm hoping that his remains can be used to make Lady Sforza actually begin to take this seriously. Maybe the priests could learn something by examining him as well.

In any case, it's a lower priority than the escape. Elsa, Ludo, the alive but helpless halberdier, the conscious halberdier out of the burning building in that order. If there's time, Sieghard will toss the dead halberdier and Udolf down as well before jumping out himself. If the men below do have to roll strength and fail, will the blanket at least cushion part of the impact? I realize I could just use the time that they need to get the blanket to just take the armor off, but if I can use that time to get Udolf instead, I'll take the risk of leaving it on.

LCP

2019-08-07, 12:33 AM

Heading back for Udolf through the door he had broken, Sieghard was greeted by a wall of heat and choking smoke. Orange flames were crackling over half the room, little rivulets of fire reaching out towards where Udolf had fallen. Face burning, eyes stinging, Sieghard could just about make out the dead man's body, still lying where it had fallen.

OOC: Can I get a Toughness test to see if Sieghard can stand the heat?

I'm about to hop on a plane to Gatwick and then back to Chicago. Got a long wait at the airport so I should be able to post a bit in between the two, but just letting you guys know about the change of timezone.

Covering his face, Sieghard rushed over to the corpse, hastily picking it up and slinging it over his shoulder. Running back to the relative safety of the next room, he and the militia began carefully dropping the wounded to the safety of the blanket below. Behind him, the flames were creeping through the open doorway, crackling along the seams between the floorboards.

They pitched Udolf's body out last, followed by the halberdier and finally Sieghard himself. When his armoured weight hit the blanket, one of the men holding it lost his grip, and Sieghard spilled onto the hard dirt of the street with a pained curse.

"Here, commander," said another, stooping over Udolf with a look of apprehensive curiosity. "This one of ours?"

Behind them, there was a crash and a roar of flame as a part of the roof fell in, towards the back of the house. Flames were licking up higher than the chimneytops, and small fires were already spreading to the neighbouring houses as the alleyway around them quickly filled with panicked, half-dressed people.

TheSummoner

2019-08-07, 01:28 AM

Sieghard

"Theirs," Sieghard replied curtly as he got to his feet, "The only one who didn't get away. Watch him and if he starts moving again, stop him."

"I doubt there's any stopping that one from burning at this point," he continued. "Worry about keeping it from spreading to the other buildings. Hack apart and pull down parts of the homes next to it if you have to, just keep it contained."

[roll0] vs 54 Command to try to keep this organized. Sieghard is also going to be ordering around the people who live nearby - it's their homes, they're going to help save them.

LCP

2019-08-07, 05:40 AM

The halberdier looked baffled at Sieghard's instruction to stop Udolf from getting up. Looking down at the sooty, hacked-up body at his feet, he very slowly gave it a very careful nudge.

Sieghard's dramatic entrance and authoritative air quickly corralled most of the able-bodied inhabitants of Sundial Passage into helping control the flames, but they were short on water, and short on tools. Even as the militiamen tried to use their polearms to pull down smouldering tiles from the neighbouring roofs, glowing embers were drifting on the hot wind rising from the main blaze, kindling new fires wherever they settled on something that would burn. With the houses overhanging the alley so far that in some places their eaves almost touched, the fire didn't have far to jump.

Two more houses were ablaze by the time Adelbert's militiaman returned with the Shallyans, with a third, fourth and fifth beginning to smoulder as their inhabitants frantically tried to hold back the fire. Kneeling by Elsa's side, Sister Ioana looked wide-eyed at the shreds of the wizardess' arm, holding her hand over her heart and murmuring a prayer to her goddess. Feeling Elsa's feeble pulse, she quickened her movements as she realised her patient was still alive.

"Her shoulder is out of joint," she said, beckoning her young initiates forward. "We have to push it back in. Hold her steady." The white-robed girls took hold of Elsa, who murmured incoherently. Rolling up her sleeves, Ioana took hold of the mangled arm and pushed it firmly back into place. Elsa came to with a scream of pain.

There was a rending crash as the rest of the roof of Klammenberg's house fell in, sending burning tiles raining down into the alley. Looking up at the roaring flames, Ioana gestured urgently for her initiates to carry Elsa back.

"We have to get these people to the hospital!" she shouted to Sieghard, trying to make herself heard over the pandemonium. "Can you spare any of your soldiers?"

OOC: It's a good Command check from Sieghard and it allows him to whip the locals into line and stall the fire, but in these conditions you're going to need a lot more people and resources to actually put it out.

Things you're gonna need:
A bucket chain all the way to the river, and enough buckets to make it work.
Enough axes and fire hooks to pull down the most flammable parts of the neighbouring buildings faster than the fire can spread.
Enough people to do both those things. Currently you've got about 10 soldiers and 50-60 civilians; you're going to need several times that number, and the longer the fire has to spread, the faster the manpower requirements will grow.

Obviously this requires a fair bit of running about and coordinating people. 1 PC can coordinate 1 of the above tasks, using Command or any other appropriate skill; one person trying to do two is going to lose enough time and efficiency to make it an automatic failure. You can delegate the coordination of tasks to NPCs, but of course they don't necessarily have the same nice stats and Fortune Points that PCs have (and your choice of NPC to delegate to could matter).

Now would definitely be a good time for Urgrim to show up. The good news is that at least it's not a windy night!

RossN

2019-08-07, 06:42 AM

Adelbert

Adelbert found that he could walk. He took one long look at the fire before turning to Sieghard: 'I'm going to the Temple to try and bring back as much help as I can.'

Fighting his exhaustion and lingering pain the priest ran off (or loped off) in the direction of the Temple, making a beeline for the first senior priest or priestess he could see: 'Brothers! There is a terrible fire in Sundial Passage, and if it keeps going it will burn this entire city to ash! Everyone who can move follow me to help - and grab every bucket you can!'

At least given the endless hours the initiates spent in scrubbing floors buckets should be available here.

-Sentinel-

2019-08-07, 09:47 PM

Rolling up her sleeves, Ioana took hold of the mangled arm and pushed it firmly back into place. Elsa came to with a scream of pain.
Now that she was awake, Elsa had to fight hard to keep herself from passing out again from the pain. How long had she been unconscious? How had she ended up in the street? How were Sieghard and Adelbert and Ludo? Were Klammenberg and the vampire dead? She had many questions on her lips, but the people around her seemed too harried to be paying her much attention, save for the Shallyans, who were not here for conversation.

Not far from there, Klammenberg's house had become an inferno, and other buildings were catching on fire fast.

Oh. Oh, dear.

I'm in so much trouble.

Almost as an afterthought, she willed her wall of flames to go out. Not that it made much of a difference at this point, but it was not as if there were anything else she could do. Some things were beyond the ability of magic. Some things could only be accomplished by brave, hard-working men and women giving their all.

Her left arm was growing numb, as if all the nerves had burned themselves out.

She called Morrslieb to her side, and gave him a gentle pet on the head with her good hand when he landed. If she was going to die, she wanted him close.

He'll probably be pecking at me before my body grows cold.

TheSummoner

2019-08-08, 06:38 PM

Sieghard

Sieghard gave the priestess a funny look. Does it look like I have men to spare right now? "Norville, go with them," he grumbled, "Find a cart to help move the wounded."

"Roth we need more axes if we're going to make a firebreak," Sieghard said. "Plenty of weapon and tool shops in town - Take who you need and gather what you can. The owners can have 'em back when the fire's out. I'm gonna try to round up some more bodies." He glanced back towards the flames. "We'll need them."

[roll0] vs 54 Command.

Almost as an afterthought, she willed her wall of flames to go out. Not that it made much of a difference at this point, but it was not as if there were anything else she could do. Some things were beyond the ability of magic. Some things could only be accomplished by brave, hard-working men and women giving their all.

The magical part should already be out by then. Since Elsa's magic was reduced, the curtain only had a 2 minute duration. Definitely took that to get Sieghard and everyone out of the building and to fetch the priestesses.

Thragka

2019-08-10, 06:59 PM

Urgrim

"That was a good tale," he offered - high praise from another dwarf.
"Thank you," Urgrim said with a firm nod. "It's not finished yet, but I'm glad I got to share what I have so far."

Urgrim passed a happy time in the Dwimmulhold as the celebrations continued. After the shock of tasting real Bugman's, he stayed off alcohol for the rest of the evening; his emotions were unsteady, after the thrill of the recital, and he knew himself well enough not to do anything foolish. There were so many other sights and sounds and tastes to take in at the festival, that although not drinking was unusual, it didn't mean he couldn't enjoy himself ...

~

Merry and even a little intoxicated by biological mechanisms other than alcohol, the ranger was rosy-cheeked as he departed the gates of the hold some hours later, profusely thanking the unlucky sods still on guard duty as he passed out under the darkening sky. It was twilight; the sun had set, but the dome of heaven was still bright - much brighter than the caverns of the hold anyway. Humming as he loped, Urgrim cast his eyes upwards. Unlike most of his kin, he had a fondness for the jewellery of the stars in the night sky. At this hour, maybe on the horizon -

A dark column occluded the warm pallet of the dusk. Nebulous clouds of smoke were rising, the unmistakable dun of wood combusting. The ranger's gaze snapped down to the town below. There was a star, shimmering as beautifully as any in the sky - but such scintillation on the earth spelled doom for those caught near the raw, agonising beauty of the conflagration ...

"The city is burning," Urgrim said to himself, astonished. Then he spun on his heels and began running back to the gate of the Dwimmulhold, yelling and waving to the gate guards. "The city is burning! Zhufund is burning!" His heart rose in his throat as he realised that, lacking the perspective from the Rock, the umgi population would have no warning of how vast the fire could get in this dry heat until it raged around them. "We've got to help them!"

Leaving the guards to see and understand what he had seen and understood, Urgrim raced back down through the Dwimmulhold, down to the feast-hall. "Zhufund is burning!" Stumbling back into the celebrations, faces turned to him in amusement. Did they think this was another performance? "Zhufund is burning now." He looked to the high table. "It will be ashes by morning if the fire can't be stopped!"

After delivering this message, Urgrim will make for the fire, hoping to have clansmen at his back to help. It's up to the gods how early he spotted the fire, and how quickly he can find the party.

LCP

2019-08-10, 08:01 PM

Hurrying to help the Shallyans, Norville slung Elsa over his shoulder, doing his best way to ignore the way Morrslieb cawed and flapped around his head. Picking the rest of the wounded up between them, the Shallyans headed west for the hospital. Looking up at the fire, Sieghard had the feeling more people would be needing their services before this night was out.

~

Adelbert's shouting shattered the restful quiet of the temple, bringing priests and initiates stumbling sleepy-eyed to the main hall. Liebrecht's eyes widened as he reached the open door, and saw the fierce orange light flickering over the rooftops of the Old Town.

"What are you waiting for?" he demanded, rounding on his shaven-headed initiates. "Buckets! Quickly!" He cuffed the nearest gawping novice around the ear to lend them urgency. "Besnik, ring the bells. Wake the city!"

The long-faced boy turned and scampered for the stairs, while the others scattered in search of buckets. Appearing from the back in a baggy woolen nightdress, Jocasta pushed through them, stopping on the threshold with eyes as wide as saucers.

"That's the biggest fire I've ever seen," she breathed.

"It's going to get a lot bigger if we don't hurry," said Liebrecht, following hard on Adelbert's heels. "Come on!"

~

Rising a from their benches, a good number of Dwimmulsons followed Urgrim back up into the open air, some of the more unsteady on their feet shouting for him to slow down. Packing the ledge outside the gates of the hold, they jostled to peer down at the line of fire that was spreading in the dark beneath them. Over on the temple mound, bells were beginning to ring, their mournful sound carrying on the still night air.

"That's manling workmanship for you," volunteered one. "Nothing but matchsticks and kindling."
"We should leave them to it," said another. "It's their town."
"Did you knock your head on the way up, Hargun? I've got customers down there!"

Their bickering was cut short as they one of them noticed Urgrim already haring off down the winding path that led to the low town. "Hey!" they shouted after him, "Jotunnsson! Wait for us!"

~

By the time Adelbert returned to the scene, Sieghard's firefighters had been forced to retreat from Sundial Passage, the whole alleyway now a raging wall of fire. Fires were spreading north and south down Tower Street, the drifting curtain of smoke they sent up shedding embers over the roofs of the Old Town to the east. The old minaret loomed up through the billowing fumes, a black needle against the moons.

The arrival of the priests was a welcome sight, both for the presence of the priests themselves, and the mob of concerned citizens that followed after them. Jocasta pulled Bertelis back as he ran forwards to gawp at the flames, the boy's arms loaded with buckets. There was still no sign of Roth - but as Sieghard wiped the soot from his eyes, his ears caught a strain of something strange over the crackle of the fire. It sounded like... singing?

Sure enough, around the corner of Tower Street and Half Moon Alley appeared a couple of dozen dwarfs, Urgrim in the lead. They approached at a steady jog, singing either a drinking song or a marching song in their own guttural language - or, knowing dwarfs, both.

Coming to a halt at Sieghard's position, they took a moment to recuperate, some of them clutching at stitches they had developed on the long run down. They were attired for a feast, not for war, but Sieghard noticed they were still not short of axes.

"So," said one - through the dark and the smoke, Sieghard took a moment to realise it was the smith who had forged his sword. "Who forgot to put out their candles?"

TheSummoner

2019-08-10, 11:59 PM

Sieghard

Most people Sieghard would've ignored, but after the fine work the dwarf had done on his sword and given the dwarfs unexpected arrival to help with the fire, he felt that he had to give some answer. "A murderer called Klammenberg is responsible for it," he lied. No matter how angry he might be at Elsa for her recklessness, he wouldn't throw her to the wolves, "If you want the full story, it'll have to wait til the fire's dealt with." And until I've come up with one...

Sieghard will work to get the new arrivals organized. Priests and tag-alongs into a bucket chain. Dwarfs joining the soldiers in creating a firebreak since they brought axes and I doubt they care to let any umgi touch them. Do you want anothe roll or was the organizing roll from before sufficient to handle this as well?

If Roth hasn't shown himself by the time the new arrivals are doing what they need to be, Sieghard will go after him.

RossN

2019-08-11, 04:44 AM

Adelbert

Adelbert was almost falling over with exhaustion. Even with the heat from the flames he almost felt as he would never feel warm again, the pain from the necromancy like a ice shards in his soul. Still the appearance of the dwarfs raised his flagging spirits and with the rest of the priests he joined the bucket chain snaking down to the river.

Thragka

2019-08-11, 06:11 AM

"A murderer called Klammenberg is responsible for it[.]"

Urgrim nearly fell over out of shock. "What?" Jostling closer, he got a better look at the state Sieghard was in - and then saw Adelbert too. "WHAT? You found him? You fought him?" He looked around, awed, taking in the details of the scene, and the blood drained from his face. "By the gods. Is everyone alright?" A pause. "... Hildebrand?" he appended in a small voice.

In a brief moment, he had collected himself. ― Axes of the dwarfs!, he said in Khazalid. ― We cut firebreaks with the umgi warriors. He switched to Reikspiel and turned to Ludo. "Can you stand? Here, lean on me. If you can, you can give orders to the Thorns, and we can both translate to and from Khazalid."

LCP

2019-08-11, 11:21 AM

“We speak the umgi tongue well enough, Jotunnsson” said the Dwimmulson smith, clapping a meaty hand on Urgrim’s shoulder. Looking back, she raised her voice to the other dwarfs. “Come on, zakis! There’s axe-work needs doing!”

Rushing through the heat and smoke, humans and dwarfs alike bent their backs to the task. Roth returned shortly with what tools he had managed to gather, but the dwarfs were already doing a better job on that front than Sieghard could have hoped for.

Sieghard himself felt as if he was cooking in his heavy armour, exhaustion weighing down his limbs as his throat grew raw with smoke and shouting. Adelbert felt much the same, all his willpower focused on just keeping his feet. Jocasta was the next link along in the bucket chain, her face shining with sweat as she slung buckets with the best of them. Sooner or later, he was going to have to tell her about Balios...

They worked through the night and into the morning, the moons sinking back behind a wall of smoke as the sky began to lighten in the east. They could not stop the spread of the fire down Half Moon Alley and the adjoining streets, but the tireless work of the bucket brigade managed to halt it at Memmet’s Lane. North of the alley, the dwarfs made good headway pulling down the wooden upper storeys of the houses in the fire’s path, but were driven back when the flames reached the brandy barrels in the Butcher’s Head and the tallow stores of a chandler on Pie Street, roaring up above the rooftops with a new ferocity. Four of volunteers were dragged from the conflagration on Pie Street with burns to their face and hands, while in Red Square two of the dwarfs had to wrestle a woman back who tried to run into the fire, screaming something about her daughter.

Those two fiercest tendrils of the fire raced almost to the river gate before the frantic axe-work of Urgrim’s dwarfs managed to finally cut a firebreak in front of them, just a block from the ramshackle warehouses that leaned against the inside of the city wall. Pitch, turpentine and lamp oil all came into Savonne down the river; if the fires had reached those stores, the fight might have been lost for good.

As it was, when the sun finally inched above the eastern wall, the fire finally seemed under control. Smoke drifted from the blackened ruins it had left in its wake, a charred scar that stretched across the Old Town from Tower Street to the Street of Sorrows. It could have been much, much worse - but that would be little consolation to those who had lost everything. As the dawn illuminated the extent of the destruction, their voices began to rise on the breeze, clamouring in grief, confusion, and anger...

Geheimnistag

Elsa awoke somewhere quiet and cool. Blinking, she raised her hands to rub the sleep from her eyes - and felt pain shoot through her left arm, bright and excruciating. Her whole body felt weak and sick, like the world’s worst hangover. She felt as if just moving too quickly might make her bones crumble to dust inside her.

Her left arm was splinted and swaddled in bandages, a dead weight at her side. Looking over her shoulder, she saw Ludo sitting up in the next bed over, sipping from a wooden bowl of some kind of broth. Behind him, the figure of Shallya smiled mournfully down on them from a small stained-glass window, early morning sunlight picking out the bleeding heart on her breast in brilliant red.

“You’re awake?” said a white-robed initiate, entering the room with another bowl. “Shallya be thanked. Here, take this.” She pressed the bowl into Elsa’s good hand. “You need your strength.”

OOC: Everyone is at the same time, early morning. I'll leave those at the scene of the fire to formulate their immediate plans before throwing any more stuff their way.

A bit of book-keeping: I don't think Elsa picked her staff up again after she dropped it, so that will have been lost in the fire. Adelbert will probably want to check on his rooms on Half Moon Alley and any possessions he had stashed there.

Thragka

2019-08-11, 12:01 PM

Geheimnistag

The ache had built up, in his muscles and bones, as they worked from dusk until dawn to throttle the inferno, but Urgrim had been able to ignore the sensations thanks to the unrelenting urgency of knowing there was more yet to be done (or, more plausibly, the adrenaline). When it finally looked like they'd caged the beast, down by the river, the exhaustion finally hit him in full. He slumped back against a wall, and slid down to sit on his haunches on the ground as his vision went dark for a moment. He wondered what the death toll was.

He wondered how many deaths he'd been responsible for.

He'd made the decisions so quickly, in the furious heat of the moment, when his practised eye began noticing the locations of greater and lesser vulnerability in the combustible neighbourhood. He hadn't intended to take an authoritative role, but when he'd spoken, the team had listened, and begun to do as he said: pulling back from the lengths of houses that he reckoned could not be saved; sacrificing acres of the town to be burnt in order to race ahead of the embers and cut the firebreaks in advance at more strategic positions. It had seemed like a dream, just happening through him. It had made complete sense at the time, but now, like dream-logic, he was struggling to recall what had been so clear to him hours earlier.

There would have been people in some of those sections he'd condemned. He'd known that, hadn't he? He must have known it at the time. It wasn't that he'd ignored it, it had just been that he - he knew what had to be done, so he'd done it, without letting himself be anguished. Now he had the privilege to despair, and ask if it had been the right thing to do, if it had even been his choice to make. But the fire wouldn't have cared for the philosophy of the thing. It couldn't be reasoned with, or debated on morality. It did not know good, or evil, it just knew fuel and air when it found them, and in a way that made it all very innocent ...

A pitiful moan broak through his throat and lips like the wail of some dying beast, and then turned into a bout of coughing. Urgrim pushed himself to his feet. His body and his mind were knackered and numb. He wandered among the other dwarves, most of whom looked equally drained and dog-tired. He clasped arms and thumped shoulders, exchanging noises of gratitude, respect, encouragement, even quiet and tired pride. He wondered if they saw any difference in his eyes now.

Staggered and staggering, Urgrim shuffled back in the direction of the Temple and the source of the blaze, searching for Sieghard. When he found the commander, Urgrim simply sat down beside him, closed his eyes, and breathed heavily.

"I feel like the walking dead," he managed, in a cracked voice from his dry throat.

-Sentinel-

2019-08-11, 12:44 PM

So last night was not just a bad dream.

Elsa wordlessly accepted the bowl of broth with a shaking hand. It was hot enough to be painful to drink, but she powered through it. The pain felt only fair, given how much pain the fire (her fire) must have inflicted. She felt sick and exhausted, not only physically but also mentally. In retrospect, the wall of fire she had put up had hardly even been necessary. They could have dealt with the undead shamblers easily enough.

She dared not ask how much damage had been done, how many people had died, before the disaster came under control. At least the city still stood, or at least, the part of it where the Shallyan hospital was located. Ludo was alive. And the others were fine, she assumed, or they would be here as well... unless they were dead.

No reason why they'd be dead. I woke up outside the house and they were alive. Or did I dream that?

And what of Klammenberg and the vampire? She had seen Udolf die, but not the other two, and in the confusion of battle and almost dying, she had not paid attention to what had become of them. She certainly had not seen their bodies.

Sieghard. I need you here.

TheSummoner

2019-08-11, 12:53 PM

Sieghard

Poor choice of words, Sieghard thought, but Urgrim had no way of knowing of Klammenberg's necromancy, Udolf's true nature, or the zombies.

"Same," he replied, "I'm grateful for the help though. You and the rest of the dwarfs. All of this would've been much worse if you hadn't showed up when you did." It was hard for Sieghard to gather his thoughts. So much had happened and he was more exhausted than he could remember being in a long time.

"We found Klammenberg," he continued after a pause. "Him and his monster. Found them, fought them, tried to kill them. Both escaped," he said bitterly. "Whatever it is they were up to, any proof of it burned with Sundial Passage." He turned to where the halberdiers were milling about "Bring Udolf over here. The dead man that fought for the enemy," he clarified. "This one was with them," he told Urgrim. "Haven't had a chance to get a good look at him yet, but he's not human."

LeSwordfish

2019-08-11, 01:07 PM

"I've been watching." Ludo said. He looked by some miracle intact, but his chest was wrapped in bandages and he was as exhausted as Elsa had ever seen him, with dark circles under his eyes. "Couldn't sleep so I watched through the window. Looks like it's out now."

"Sieghard got me out, and Adelbert. They were both alive when I was carted off."

Thragka

2019-08-11, 01:16 PM

Urgrim waved a hand at Sieghard's thanks. Helping hadn't been something he'd done out of choice, but necessity.

He tried to whistle at Sieghard's revelation, but his lips were dry and cracked, and an uncomfortable spluttering sound emerged instead. He opened his eyes and pushed himself back to his feet, to watch the halberdiers. "His monster. Was it - well, was it what we thought?"

Urgrim's nose wrinkled as the militia dragged something foetid towards the pair of them. "Grimnirs dongliz! That thing must have been dead for, well, months!" He broke into another spluttering cough and covered his face with his arm. Furtively, he looked around to see if any of the Dwimmulsons were nearby enough to have heard his obscenity. "I mean, ah ..."

Lowering his arm, he looked uncomfortably at Sieghard. "The others ...?"

-Sentinel-

2019-08-11, 01:17 PM

At the Temple of Shallya

""Sieghard got me out, and Adelbert. They were both alive when I was carted off."

"Thank the gods," breathed Elsa. "The vampire... did we kill it, at least?"

Now that his mistress was awake and speaking, Morrslieb ended his vigil and flew off, hunting for food.

LeSwordfish

2019-08-11, 01:19 PM

"No. It turned into a jackal... thing, and fled out of the window."

TheSummoner

2019-08-11, 01:24 PM

Sieghard

"It was," Sieghard said. He pointed to the dents in his armor. "The monster used no weapon but its magic. It did that with its hands. I drove it back. Wounded it. I'm still not sure how I did it, but somehow I did. It's still alive though. As alive as it ever was anyways."

"We lost a man in the fighting," he said. "The others are in the care of the priestesses. Still alive last I heard."

RossN

2019-08-11, 01:42 PM

Adelbert

Adelbert moved as if in a trance, sheer exhaustion weighing him down like iron chains. In some ways it was almost a relief, numbing him from the horror.

Eventually he found a moment to speak to the other clergy. 'I'm afraid... I'm sorry to say Balios died. He fell during the fight with the vampire and the necromancer.'

It wasn't even technically a lie. The Balios-zombie was dead and burnt to ash. Later perhaps he'd reveal the whole story to the others but at the moment he couldn't bring himself to shatter Jocasta like that. 'We fought the undead in that building immediately before the fire. Brother Liebrecht I think you best examine the being we slew, if that is the right word. Not the vampire himself or Klammenberg but some necromatic monstrosity.'

He led the clerics over to join Sieghard - and Udolf.

LCP

2019-08-11, 02:06 PM

Sieghard, Urgrim & Adelbert

Jocasta took the news of Balios' death with a numb stare. Perhaps she hadn't known the senior Taalite long enough for his death to hit her as hard as Adelbert had feared. Perhaps she simply didn't have enough energy left to grieve.

Udolf's body was still wrapped in those heavy clothes, now almost black with soot. It took some effort to pull the coachman's hat off his head, it being wedged down almost to his ears. Unwinding the scarf wrapped around his face, Liebrecht stared down into the dead man's face.

It was a human face, puffy and white as the belly of a dead fish. Black rot had eaten the soft tissues of his nose and part of his upper lip, but otherwise the skin seemed remarkably well-preserved. A strong smell of alcohol and brine wafted from the body, masking the foetor of rot beneath it. His blank, staring eyes were surprisingly vivid - a rap of Liebrecht's fingernail on one confirmed it was made of glass.

"He has been... embalmed, I think," said Liebrecht, hardly sure enough of himself to speak. Pulling down Udolf's collar, he revealed an ugly, blackened welt all the way around his throat. Sieghard had seen enough hangings to recognise the mark of a noose.

Liebrecht looked up at the others. "This body has been dead for months. You say he fought you? Here, tonight?"

TheSummoner

2019-08-11, 02:16 PM

Sieghard

"He did," Sieghard confirmed. "If you remove his coat, you'll find he's wearing armor beneath it as well."

LCP

2019-08-11, 02:32 PM

Sieghard, Urgrim & Adelbert

Stripping off Udolf's coat with some difficulty - the dead man's arms were heavy and stiff as logs - revealed a mail shirt that had definitely seen better days. Sieghard wondered what the last time Udolf had removed it was. Probably never. Dead men didn't need to sleep, or, from the smell of the padding underneath, to wash.

Everywhere the rusting mail didn't protect, Udolf's body and arms had been hacked to ribbons by Sieghard's sword - far more punishment than anyone living could have sustained. There was no blood around the wounds, whatever remained in Udolf's body having long coagulated in its veins. A deep wound in his gut revealed no sign of entrails within - just clumps of damp, stinking sawdust that spilled out when they turned the body over.

RossN

2019-08-11, 02:36 PM

Adelbert

Adelbert felt queasy just looking at it, but somehow managed to find his voice. 'We should probably take it to the Temple to have a proper look at it away from all this chaos, at least unless you object Brother Liebrecht. Sieghard you should come too - you actually fought this thing, and you too Urgrim given your own experiences.'

-Sentinel-

2019-08-11, 02:41 PM

At the Temple of Shallya

"No. It turned into a jackal... thing, and fled out of the window."

Elsa rested let her head fall on her pillow and sighed deeply. Turned into a jackal and fled. She believed it, but few people would; Captain Sforza and his wife certainly would not. It was as if all the planets in the sky had aligned to turn an unlikely victory into a bitter and inexcusable defeat. Not only had their enemy escaped to kill another day, but they could provide no concrete evidence that the situation in that accursed house had been as dire as they claimed—dire enough to justify all the damage they had caused.

To any outsider, this would not look like a desperate, heroic battle where mere mortals managed to put an unfathomably ancient monster to flight, but a self-inflicted disaster being explained away with wild and unverifiable claims.

"Well. At least the monster lost its hiding place. And we killed Klammenberg........ right?"

TheSummoner

2019-08-11, 02:54 PM

Sieghard

"I can't right now," Sieghard replied. "Someone has to explain all of this to Lady Sforza. And making her wait won't make it any easier. I'll join you when I can."

He gestured to Udolf's body. "Move him into the temple and keep watch over him to make sure he doesn't start moving again, but I don't want him buried yet." Perhaps if he could persuade Irene to come to the temple, Udolf's remains could be used to convince her to finally take the threat Klammenberg posed seriously.

LeSwordfish

2019-08-11, 03:00 PM

"Well. At least the monster lost its hiding place. And we killed Klammenberg........ right?"

"I didn't see." Ludo didn't have the heart to add that he hadn't seen a body when he'd been knocked down.

RossN

2019-08-11, 03:17 PM

Adelbert

Adelbert nodded slowly, expression grim. 'Yes, I suspect she'll want to talk to the rest of us too.'

He looked if possible even more weary than before. 'I must go now check in on my house to see if it survived the fire. Everything I own is there. I'll meet you at the Temple soon.'

Adelbert touched his holy symbol, closed his eyes and whispered a brief prayer.

OOC:
Channeling: [roll0] vs 53
Blessing of Healing (5): [roll1]

Thragka

2019-08-11, 05:02 PM

Urgrim

"I'll go with Schreiber," Urgrim said. "See you at the Temple. Hang on a minute, Schreiber, let me just see the Dwimmulsons off." He paced off to the closest remaining dwarf volunteer.

― I'm staying here with the umgi, he said. ― Would you do me a favour when you get back up to the hold, and take a message to the Rinn for me? It is the old enemy. Tell her I have confirmed that. It is the old enemy. I'll be in your debt.

Bidding thanks and farewell to the rest of the nearby clansfolk, Urgrim shuffled back over to Adelbert. "Right. To your lodgings, and then the Temple. Let's be about it as quick as we can, before I fall asleep standing up."

LCP

2019-08-11, 06:01 PM

― I'm staying here with the umgi, he said. ― Would you do me a favour when you get back up to the hold, and take a message to the Rinn for me? It is the old enemy.

A greybeard dozing against the handle of his axe woke with a startled snort. “Urks?” he demanded, looking around with wide, staring eyes. “Where?”

The dwarf that Urgrim had actually chosen to speak to squinted at him with a dubious expression. They had all heard his Saga performance - this one clearly wasn’t struggling to put two and two together, but seemed very suspicious of the answer. “The old enemy,” he repeated, slowly. “I’ll tell her.”

Urgrim & Adelbert

The house on Half Moon Alley was still standing, but was a charred shell of its former self. Touching the blackened remains of the door, Adelbert stepped back and watched them topple inward in a cloud of ash.

What remained of the stairs was clearly not climbable by anything heavier than a rat. Sifting through the ash and debris of the ground floor, Adelbert pulled up a floorboard to unearth his stash of coins and the treasures from Kheneb-Ptra-Urush, mercifully undamaged by the fire. Everything else - his clothes, his books, the furniture - was gone.

As he stood surveying the devastation, a slow groan of scorched timber alerted them to the fact that the gutted structure might not remain standing too much longer. Urgrim quickly pulled the priest out into the open street, and they hurried on their way to the temple.

~

At the temple, Liebrecht and his initiates had got Udolf’s body onto the mortuary slab. Naked as the day he was born, they could see clearly now the long line of dark stitching that ran up the centre of his stomach. A smaller, messier area of stitching sealed up the ragged hole where his genitals would have been.

“There is no sign of healing,” said Liebrecht, waving one hand over the stitches as he clutched a perfumed handkerchief to his nose with the other. “These were done after death. A common embalmer’s practice, to remove the organs before they can rot. Though usually performed with more respect.” He prodded the largest of Udolf’s wounds with a finger, pushing out another lump of congealed sawdust. “The body has been expertly preserved, I suspect through magic as much as the mortuary arts. I must revise my earlier estimate… I believe this man has been dead for at least a year.”

“All very well,” said Jocasta, looking as tired as Adelbert felt, “but what do we do with it?”

“The soul left this body long ago,” said Liebrecht. “I think we would be best advised to burn it.”

“That question can wait,” said Raqiyah, the other priests falling quiet and attentive as she spoke. “First - I would hear Brother Schreiber’s account of what happened in the Old Town last night.”

Sieghard

Leading his bone-weary soldiers back through the smoking streets, Sieghard tried to ignore the shouting crowds that clamoured for their attention at every corner. Some were begging for help; others hurled abuse, blaming the Captain’s men for their misfortune. “Where’s the witch?” one gap-toothed man shouted above the heads of the crowd, and others joined his chant. “Where’s the witch?”

A similar crowd was gathering outside the castle, Roth and his veterans turning to hold them back as the ahosi opened the gates for Sieghard’s returning troops. Falling in beside Sieghard, two of the Southlanders escorted through the keep and up to Lady Sforza’s chambers.

Irene was standing in front of a mirror, scrutinising her appearance with the kind of close attention that would make any of her husband’s courtiers wonder what they had done wrong. She was dressed severely today, in a gown of black and dark, dark green. She wore a corset that seemed designed to imitate armour, although Sieghard doubted it would stop an arrow. She would have to do that with her stare.

“Sieghard,” she said, turning to face him with a swish of silks as soft as the slither of a snake. “How good to see you… unburnt.”

She paused, her eyes flicking to the faces of the ahosi to either side of her tired, sweaty, soot-stained visitor.

“Where is Hildebrand?”

RossN

2019-08-11, 06:24 PM

Adelbert

Gone...

If Urgrim hadn't pulled him back Adelbert might have dropped to his knees were he stood. As it was he managed to gather enough of his wits to scoop up the gold and stumble towards the Temple.

Everything... gone. My home. My books. My tome of Verena. My research. my journal. Gone...

He barely heard Liebrecth speak at the Temple. What on earth did the cadaver matter when his books were gone? It was only when Raqiyah spoke that something cut through the fog.

'We eventually did find the house where Klammenberg and this were hiding. The necromancer was clad in enough talismans to drown a witch and though I am no expert I suspect they aided his charms concealment. They weren't expecting us, but it mattered little as the vampire was there.' He shuddered at the memory. 'I escaped through a window during the fight so you must ask Commander Sieghard for the final moments but I remember the monstrosity wielded very powerful magic that nearly flayed our souls from our bodies and seemed almost impervious to our own attacks. it also had a pack of mindless undead, zombies I believe they are called though happily our wizardesses fire burned them well enough. At the end I witnessed the vampire beast take the form of a jackal and escape. I believe we had wounded it, at great cost and we also injured Klammenberg before his flight but I have no doubt we'll hear from them again at some point.'

TheSummoner

2019-08-11, 08:32 PM

Sieghard

I can't lie to get her out of this, Sieghard realized. Even if Elsa actually had been innocent, Irene was convinced and there was likely no changing her mind. The best he could hope for was to convince her there were bigger problems.

"She's with the Shallyans, wounded," Sieghard answered. "The creature nearly tore her arm off." That ought to at least get her attention.

-Sentinel-

2019-08-11, 09:37 PM

At the Shallyan hospital

"I didn't see."

Elsa had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. If all this had been for nothing... Well, not strictly nothing, as Elsa was sure they had managed to foil... something. But it would certainly look like nothing to the people who held her fate in their hands. She only hoped her mistake would not cost the others their future. She was prepared to bear the full blame if need be.

"We need to get Sieghard and Adelbert in here as soon as possible," she said morosely. "There are many things to discuss. About what happened, and where we go from here."

OOC
And maybe Urgrim, but Elsa doesn't view him as a full-fledged party member yet.

LCP

2019-08-11, 10:18 PM

Adelbert & Urgrim

"The form of a jackal?" asked Hieronymus.

"A trick," declared Liebrecht. "If this beast is a shape-changer, surely it can assume any shape it pleases."

"But it chose a jackal," Hieronymus repeated. "Brother Liebrecht, you know I have nothing but respect for the beliefs of your sect, but the evidence..."

"He is still here," Raqiyah said. Once again, the high priestess' pronouncement seemed to silence the squabbling of her juniors. "I saw him in my dreams, more clearly last night than ever before. The darkness has not left Savonne; questions of what name it pretends to can wait."

"What do we do, then?" said Jocasta. "How do we fight it?"

"For today, we do what we have always done. We serve the people." Raqiyah stepped forwards. "The people will be looking to us to conduct the ceremonies. To show we are not afraid. Our neighbours in the Old Town will be needing us more than ever after this fire; we will not let them down."

Brother Liebrecht bowed his head and murmured something about instructing the initiates. Nodding, Raqiyah turned her blind eyes in Adelbert's direction.

"Brother Schreiber," she said, reaching her hand hesitantly towards him. "A word in private, if you please."

Sieghard

Irene blinked. The conversation was clearly already going off the path she had planned.

"Creature?" she demanded. "What creature?"

TheSummoner

2019-08-11, 11:46 PM

Sieghard

"The creature that killed D'Evangelisti and the priests," Sieghard replied. "We've been working with the Temple, trying to learn everything we can. It's taken some time, but we finally managed to track it down. Lady Sforza, I realize how this must sound, but the killer isn't human. I've seen it. Fought against it. The monster terrorizing Savonne is a vampire.

LeSwordfish

2019-08-12, 02:08 AM

A series of soft clicks announced Ludo's entry into the room, walking slowly and heavily with his weight on a human-sized cane that extended over his head like a bargepole. He moved up to stand next to Sieghard at the front of the room, and bowed his head to Irene. "My lady."

Thragka

2019-08-12, 03:10 AM

The Temple

Urgrim stood by Adelbert's side as the Verenan described the events of the night, watching his companion; this was the most detail the dwarf had heard so far of the altercation. When the other humans began arguing over the implications, though, he couldn't help losing focus, much as he tried to follow. This was a grand temple, for the Reaches, though he'd seen grander in Tilea. But this one seemed very umgi, he thought. All their gods, together, in this big open space, squabbling - yes, that was umgi for you ...

"You go on," he said to Adelbert when Raqiyah reached for him, through half a yawn. "I'll be, eh ... over here." He wandered to a bench and took a seat. His eyelids closed ...

RossN

2019-08-12, 03:41 AM

Adelbert

He is still here? Somehow, impossibly, the day had just grown worse.

'Of course Mother Raqiyah. Thank you Urgrim my friend, we'll talk later.'

He followed the senior priestess.

LCP

2019-08-12, 11:57 AM

Adelbert

Leaving the others in the mortuary room, Adelbert guided Raqiyah out into the corridor and - at her indication - through into the main hall. The high priestess didn’t seem old - not like Hieronymus, who Adelbert was sure had been born with a mental age of fifty-six. There was something ageless about her calm, unseeing eyes. Nevertheless, as he held her arm through the shadowed hall, Adelbert was struck by how frail and tiny she seemed, as if a gust of wind might blow her away.

Taking a seat on a stone bench, Raqiyah motioned for Adelbert to sit next to her. The main doors were shut, leaving the hall empty except for the two of them and a pair of initiates setting out candles for the holy day. The sun slanted in through the high windows, casting long shadows from the statues of the gods. Dust motes glimmered in the morning light, shining a little redder than usual through the smoke that still hung over the Old Town.

“This creature you saw,” said Raqiyah, “the vampire. Describe it to me.”

She listened closely to Adelbert’s description, without interruption. When he was finished, she sat for a long while in silence, seemingly considering the words that would follow.

“Ever since the death of the Estalian,” she said at last, “I have been seeking answers from Morr. Our god is the god of death and dreams, but my dreams have been… clouded. Not my own. I seek our enemy here, and instead I see… dust, and thirst, and darkness. A shadow in the south.” Her voice grew faint and monotonous, and her face grew cold and distant. “Rivers will run dry and the forests wither. The stars shall grow dim, flicker and die. And death shall reign from forever to forever.”

She blinked as if coming out of a trance. “Last night was the first time I saw the true face of the enemy. The same face you describe. Perhaps there was some… concealing enchantment that perished in the fire.” She smoothed her robe over her knees. “Or perhaps he simply feels he no longer needs to hide from me.”

“The necromancer may believe he is in control. He is not. This is something that has been building for a long time, perhaps as long as the stones of this temple have stood.” Looking up at the statues surrounding them, Adelbert found his gaze lingering on the statue of Morr, with the great, sleek hound at his feet. The likeness to the beast he had seen on the roof was troublingly close. “Whatever our lords and princes may believe, it will not be defeated without the help of the gods.”

Slipping out of her dreamlike tone, Raqiyah became more brusque and businesslike. “I have been speaking with Father Hieronymus. We have agreed that although your conduct has... not always befitted a priest of your order, your courage and commitment in pursuing this enemy cannot be faulted. We have need of that courage now, and it is past time you were anointed a Father of the Temple.” She turned her unseeing face towards the ceiling. “The Day of Mystery would be an auspicious day for such an elevation, wouldn’t you agree?”

Sieghard & Ludo

Irene arched one perfectly-plucked eyebrow.

“A vampire,” she repeated, her level stare giving no clue as to whether she believed the claim. “And did you kill it?”

RossN

2019-08-12, 12:53 PM

Adelbert

Adelbert's breath caught in his throat as he heard the High Priestess's words. For a moment he seriously thought he was going to faint then and there, his mind overwhelmed by this on the heels of so much else. He had to reach out, almost as if to balance himself from falling over.

'Thank you Mother Raqiyah, I am honoured. I shall do the Temple proud and I shall do Her proud,' he stressed the capital 'H'. Oh thank you my goddess for shining a trail through the shadows!

After a moment he found his voice again. 'Mother Raqiyah you spoke of courage. I am not sure I have it, for I do know braver men. I do know this however: necromancy is the creed of cowards and imbeciles. What sane man knowing there is such a thing as a soul would bind the immortal part of himself to a shambling corpse for eternity? To abandon the touch of a lover, the taste of food, the rewards beyond death that Morr himself offers? Klammenberg has a certain power but anyone who starts down such a path is a fool indeed.'

He paused allowing the words to sink in before continuing. 'And if the man is a fool how much more so is his master? How many centuries has this vampire swaddled himself in darkness, a slave to wretched impulses, hidden from the world like the runt of a rat litter? Can you even say something that clings to such a beggarly form of existence purely out of terror of death is something to be feared? Again there is power in his magic but examine him in Verena's holy light and we see a feeble creature indeed. No Mother Raqiyah the world will not belong to him or his kind, those absurd mockeries of mankind. The gods are with us. Morr with His wisdom and grace and Shallya with Her tenderness and my own patron the Lady of Mysteries who I love above all others. Those same gods who gave us minds and voices and free will. We'll win, I have not a glimmer of a doubt.'

He felt a smile cross his lips, the first he could remember for ages. 'And one more thing: we hurt the vampire. Oh it was strong as a mountain and old but it is as mortal as any of us and one day sooner or later its time shall come.'

LCP

2019-08-12, 01:35 PM

Adelbert

“Your faith is commendable,” said Raqiyah, “but you should not let it blind you. To fear is human. There can be no bravery without fear.” She kept her face raised towards the ceiling. “If you ask me if I fear the works of the Great Necromancer… then yes, yes I do. But I will fight them all the same.”

She rose slowly from her seat, feeling with her hand until she found Adelbert’s shoulder. “We will hold the ceremony at vespers. You should rest and prepare yourself.” Adelbert suddenly felt keenly aware of how filthy and bedraggled he looked, still caked in the soot and sweat of the fire. “Until then, Brother Schreiber.”

TheSummoner

2019-08-12, 01:38 PM

Sieghard

"No, but it is wounded," Sieghard replied bitterly. "I cut off part of its face, but it fled before I could deal the killing blow. It and the necromancer with it. Truth be told, I'm not sure how I managed even that much. The creature is monstrously strong. Swinging at it was like trying to hack down a tree."

LCP

2019-08-12, 01:56 PM

Sieghard & Ludo

“You cut its face,” said Irene, her voice as clear and bright as sunlight on ice. “And all it cost was burning down half the city. I assume that was you? There are a lot of very ugly, very dirty people outside saying they saw Hildebrand at the scene of the fire.” She cocked her head to one side. “One hates to leap to conclusions, but… fire witch… enormous fire…”

“I think I’ve heard enough of your ‘report’, commander,” she said, airily looking away. “You will be relieving Esteban at the pass as soon as he can be recalled. In the meantime, I want you and your men to disperse that mob outside the gate. If that’s something you think you can manage.”

LeSwordfish

2019-08-12, 02:11 PM

"And when the vampire sees that the only people who can fight it have been sent away?" Ludo asked. "It's targetting priests and healers. The necromancer kicked a lamp over as soon as he saw the wizard was there: her and Sieghard out of the city was exactly what he wanted. We came within an inch of killing them and you're going to send us away. Esteban is a good soldier but he doesn't know what we know, and he won't be able to protect you or the city next time the vampire decides to kill someone important."

LCP

2019-08-12, 02:34 PM

Sieghard & Ludo

“And how many people have you ‘protected’?” snapped Irene. “Constanza and the fish monk are dead. Your friend the Estalian seamstress’ daughter is dead. Gods know how many peasants have died in this fire. And even if I believe your preposterous story, the killer is alive.”

The two ahosi in the doorway exchanged looks. Taking a deep breath, Irene composed herself a little before she continued.

“I have no intention of sending Hildebrand anywhere, but it seems to me that one soldier is as good as another. And what you are good for right now is getting this rabble off my doorstep.” She fixed the two of them with the imperious stare of someone who had never been told ‘no’ in her life. “So do as I command.”

LeSwordfish

2019-08-12, 02:47 PM

"If you bring Esteban here, he'll be dead in a week, and in two weeks so will you." Ludo said. He was aware he was unlikely to persuade her this way but frankly had no intention to be sent away from the city by this nobleman's wife. He rounded on the two Ahosi at the door and pointed at the one on the left. "You! What metal are vampires weak to?"

LCP

2019-08-12, 02:49 PM

Sieghard & Ludo

The Southlander gave a startled blink. She looked to her comrade, then back to Ludo.

"I... I do not know this word 'vampires'," she said. "It means what?"

LeSwordfish

2019-08-12, 03:00 PM

Ludo turned back to Irene. "See? It comes through the door right now, you think they can scratch its face?"

He tried to moderate himself. "The captain will need to know about the fire anyway. If I may, I want to request that we put this decision to him."

Once again a "Charm" test for Ludo being an absolute ********: [roll0]

TheSummoner

2019-08-12, 03:27 PM

Sieghard

Sieghard stood in shock for a moment. He had nothing to do with the fire. If he hadn't been there, it likely would've been far worse.

"Ludo, shut up." Sieghard snapped. Sforza didn't believe the threat was real. He would take his wife's side. She was the one who needed convincing and Ludo wasn't helping. "The killer is wounded. That means we have time, so long as we don't squander it. And we have proof that the tale is true - the body of one of their minions." He paused. "Before Alvarr took the city, I warned him of the dwarf tunnels. After they used them to take it, the Captain said he regretted not taking my warnings seriously. We're only stuck dealing with this now because the necromancer was ignored for so long. If you send us away, continue to ignore this and not take the warnings seriously, you will lose Savonne."

LCP

2019-08-12, 04:10 PM

Sieghard & Ludo

"The captain will need to know about the fire anyway. If I may, I want to request that we put this decision to him."

“You may not,” said Irene - but Ludo thought he saw a flicker of worry in her eyes. She’d seen Astoria’s body, and they’d won her around by appealing to her sense of security before. Unfortunately, any rare self-doubt she might have been experiencing was banished by Sieghard’s intervention.

Locking stares with Sieghard, she stepped towards him, so close that he could smell her perfume over the stink of smoke that still clung to him. Sieghard had faced down orcs and daemons, but standing nose-to-nose with Irene, he found his signals somewhat fused. Somehow she contrived to be beautiful even when she scowled.

“Muzio may suffer you to speak this way to him,” she said, softly, “but you will not speak this way with me, commander. I am the daughter of Giancarlo Federico de Vela, cousin to the Prince of Tobaro, and you are a nameless peasant who should be grateful for our patronage.”

Holding his gaze without blinking, she straightened her back. She was only a few inches taller than Sieghard, but she had a talent for making people feel small.

“You want to show me a corpse?” she said, raising her eyebrows. “I will see it. After you have carried out my instructions.” Her eyes flicked to the door. “Clear the crowd.”

TheSummoner

2019-08-12, 04:25 PM

Sieghard

"The vampire won't be stopped by your names," Sieghard replied, turning to leave.

"Could've gone better," he muttered to Ludo. "What are we going to tell the crowd?"

RossN

2019-08-12, 04:33 PM

Adelbert

'Thank you Mother Raqiyah, and yes I admit I could do with a rest,' Adelbert answered, feeling almost too drained for the the occasion. He tottered off to wash, change into a simple robe - and then try and find something fitting today's ceremony.

Enroute he took the time to examine his 'wounds' if such were the right words.

OOC:
Heal: [roll0] vs 76

LCP

2019-08-12, 09:31 PM

Sieghard & Ludo

"Commander!" Irene's indignant voice rang after Sieghard as he walked out the door. "Commander, you will not turn your back on me! Sieghard!"

TheSummoner

2019-08-12, 09:46 PM

Sieghard

Sieghard was sorely tempted to keep walking. He was sore, he was exhausted, he was covered in soot, and he he had nearly died. After all that without even a chance to rest, he had little patience for arrogant noblewomen who seemed determined to ignore danger until it came to tear out their throats. He stopped and turned back to Irene.

"I was going to carry out your orders and clear the crowd," he said. He kept his words polite, but he wasn't able to keep the impatience out of his tone. "Was there something else you needed, Lady Sforza?"

The comment to Ludo was meant to be after we were out of earshot of Irene. Consider it a timesplit.

LCP

2019-08-12, 09:54 PM

Sieghard & Ludo

Irene looked a little surprised that he had stopped. "You bow when taking your leave of your betters, commander," she said at last. "You bow."

TheSummoner

2019-08-12, 10:54 PM

Sieghard

Sieghard silently matched Irene's stare for few seconds and then did an exaggerated bow. There were more important things to worry about than a bit of pride, even if he couldn't resist a bit of sarcasm as he gave her what she wanted.

LeSwordfish

2019-08-13, 08:25 AM

"She was a knight, of the order of the blazing sun." Ludo said as he left. His bow was barely more serious than Sieghards.

Outside, headed towards the crowd, Ludo shrugged. "Stick to saying it was the murderer?"

TheSummoner

2019-08-13, 12:22 PM

Sieghard

"Why is it always us having to deal with this?" Sieghard grumbled as they made their way up the wall. "She's the one in charge of the city. Does she even care about what's happening outside of the keep?"

"Many of you are angry," Sieghard said, addressing the crowd. "You're confused and you want answers. And you deserve to know what is happening." He paused. "The fire that tore through Savonne last night was no accident, it was started by the murderer Klammenberg. The same man who has been murdering priests under cover of darkness both here in Savonne and in the north before that. He is a mad man, a godless man, a man who wants nothing more than to bring ruin to those around him. We have been hunting him ever since we learned that he was in Savonne, and last night we found his hiding place. He chose to set fire to the building and flee rather than face justice."

"Klammenberg has been driven from the city. If he returns, he'll be hunted like the beast that he is," he continued. "The damage he caused and the lives he has taken cant be undone, but we will rebuild. Savonne has endured worse than the likes of him. We are stronger than one madman."

LCP

2019-08-13, 01:00 PM

Sieghard & Ludo

The crowd outside the gates was much larger than the one that had gathered after Constanza's death. Sieghard thought he recognised some faces from the chaos of the night before.

"You've been saying that for a month!" yelled a man from the back of the crowd, his voice taut with anger. "If this man's to blame then where is he?"
"Where are we supposed to go?" shouted a woman in singed clothing, holding an infant close to her body. A swell of voices rose up in support. "What are we supposed to eat?"
"Where's the lady Sforza?" demanded another, practically screaming to be heard above the din of questions.
"Where's my son?"
"Where's the witch?"

As the tide of angry shouting washed up and over him, Sieghard found himself very glad to be on top of a tall stone wall.

TheSummoner

2019-08-13, 06:59 PM

Sieghard

"Calm yourselves!" Sieghard shouted over the noise of the crowd, "Lady Sforza is meeting with the priests. They're working to make arrangements for those who have lost their homes!" It was a lie, but a reassuring one and more importantly, one he could deal with without them being able to see through it.

"If you've lost your home to the fire, head to the temple this afternoon and speak with the priests! They will be able to find you somewhere to stay until we've rebuilt!"

LCP

2019-08-13, 07:49 PM

Sieghard & Ludo

"Liar!" someone shouted, but no-one else took it up. For most of the people in the crowd, Sieghard's promise was exactly what they wanted to hear.

"What about the witch?" cried out someone else - a woman, by the sound of her voice. Sieghard searched the crowd, trying to match a face to it. "I seed her! I seed her set the fire!" She began chanting again, and this time a few voices joined her: "Where's the witch? Where's the witch?"

TheSummoner

2019-08-13, 08:46 PM

Sieghard

"Enough!!" Sieghard shouted, "The captain's wizard was with me when Klammenberg started the fire! She burned herself trying to keep it contained and is recovering! It might've spread faster and turned the entire city to ash if she hadn't!"

"I was there the entire night working to put the fires out! You saw me yourselves!" And if you didn't, you can at least see the soot. "I want the damage repaired as much as any of you, but crowding around the keep isn't going to make that happen! Clear out and let us get to work!"

Sieghard will spend 100 xp on an advance to int and roll perception to try to pick out the one who started shouting about Elsa.
[roll0] vs 51

Assuming command is appropriate, he'll spend another 100 on +10 to that and roll it to disperse them.
[roll1] vs 64
[roll2] reroll

Goddamn those are some terrible rolls...

LCP

2019-08-13, 09:20 PM

Sieghard and Ludo

People started booing before Sieghard had even finished speaking - clearly they found his denial about as convincing as a wolf in a sheepskin going 'baa'. Perhaps he shouldn't have tried to claim Elsa had tried to help put the fire out. Her skills did famously lean in the other direction.

A few people were slipping away at the edges of the crowd, but many more remained, taking up the chant of where's the witch? loudly enough to drown out Sieghard's voice. They clearly weren't going anywhere.

LeSwordfish

2019-08-14, 11:59 AM

Ludo turned to Sieghard. "I think we might just need to get the halberdiers in for this one. We don't need to hurt them, just get them to disperse or shut up. We can send a runner to the temple: that's the only place we can send refugees to. Maybe clear out some of the empty barracks for them."

TheSummoner

2019-08-14, 01:34 PM

Sieghard

"You may be right" Sieghard muttered, "We'll use the Volunteers though. Shields, not halberds."

He turned back to the crowd. "I've already given you your answer! Now you can either clear out or I'll have you cleared by force! You won't get another warning!"

We'll try intimidation before actually resorting to force.

[roll0] vs 61
[roll1] reroll

If this doesn't work, he'll round up the Volunteers. Their orders are to just shove them back from the keep with their shields. They are not to actually draw their weapons.

Are. You. F***ING. KIDDING. ME? Every single roll and reroll. It's like a 1% chance or something to fail all 5 of those

LCP

2019-08-14, 02:43 PM

Sieghard & Ludo

Sieghard's threats were met with jeers, the crowd beneath the wall caught up in the rush of their defiance. Descending the narrow steps to the courtyard, Sieghard began to gather his men. With Zollner on river duty, he struggled to remember the names of the other Volunteers, but soon enough he had a sizeable number gathered behind the east gate. The chanting of where's the witch? was audible even over the wall.

"They're after Mistress Hildebrand?" asked a soldier - Lutz, was he called? - still sporting the angry scar across his face he had won at Arrow Heap. Looking into the man's false eye, Sieghard reassured himself that the veterans of the battle were probably the least likely to join the townsfolk's witch hunt. "Bet if she was really here they wouldn't be so eager."

The gates swung open, and the Volunteers marched out, presenting a tight wall of black shields. The crowd edged back, a few more groups breaking away from its edge rather than stay to tangle with the Captain's soldiers - but bold voices goaded the others on, shouting taunts and demands. While the mob had shrunk to about half its original size, it still outnumbered the soldiers several times over.

"We want to see the witch!" shouted a woman at the front of the crowd, pushing against Lutz's shield. "Let us through!"
"She burned my house!"
"She killed my boy!"

A big man with wild eyes and a singed black beard shoved one of the Volunteers much harder, almost knocking his target to the ground. The militia shoved back, and the order of their line broke up in a brief, violent scuffle. When it cleared, two of the big man's friends were hauling him back by his arms, and a woman was rolling on the ground with blood pouring from her nose. Pushing herself to her knees, she spat at the feet of the soldier who had struck her.

"Brutes! Jackal take you all!"

The jeers grew louder, and the people towards the back of the crowd began to throw things - shoes, sticks, whatever they had to hand. The Volunteers sheltered behind their shields, weathering the hail of improvised missiles as best they could. A dead rat bounced off the shield of the man nearest Sieghard as he looked to his commander, the request for permission to draw swords clear in his eyes.

TheSummoner

2019-08-14, 02:52 PM

Sieghard

Sieghard shook his head. If there was any killing, he wasn't going to be the one to start it. "Shields up! Push them back! Break up the crowd!" he shouted.

LeSwordfish

2019-08-14, 02:53 PM

"They want you to think it was her!" Ludo shouted. "The killer kicked over a lamp! He wants the witch hunted down! Are you murderer's lackeys?"

LCP

2019-08-14, 03:17 PM

Sieghard & Ludo

Ludo's words cut through the crowd, and the hail of missiles slackened - whether because of what he had said or just that they had run out of things to throw, Ludo couldn't guess. Either way, it bought them a little breathing room.

"They're lying!" shouted the woman whose nose had been broken, clutching her face as she stumbled back away from the Volunteers. "They just want to protect their pet witch!"

The Volunteers were in no mood to make this a conversation. At Sieghard's command, they drove their shields forward, smashing into the crowd. More people fell, others jumping back to get away from the sudden crush. Another stamp and smash, and the mob began to waver, the vast majority of its members deciding that justice for the fire wasn't worth broken bones.

Not everyone came to the same conclusion. The big man who had rushed them before broke free of his friends' restraining grip, hurling himself at the militia with a fury that would have made Jarl Rorik proud. Two Volunteers went down trying to stop him, the three of them rolling to the ground in a whirl of flailing limbs until another soldier leapt in to help pin their attacker down. On the right, someone else swung a stick at the advancing soldiers, and was immediately bludgeoned into the dirt by two broad shields.

As it became clear that the militia weren't messing around, the mob broke apart and began to run, those who had taken a blow from a shield running somewhat slower than the others. Some lingered on the edges of the square to hurl parting projectiles at the soldiers, but most just ran. That was the great thing about mobs - once the people at the leading edge got an idea into their heads, the spread was quick. In less than a minute, the only people that remained were a few concussed-looking stragglers and the big man, now pinned to the dirt by no fewer than four Volunteers. Two of them looked like they'd be sporting black eyes come tomorrow.

LeSwordfish

2019-08-14, 03:31 PM

"We can let you up, right?" Ludo said to the man. "I'm sorry for what's happened to you today. Tell people... tell people to go to the temple for now, or to their friends homes if they have them. And we'll be making things right, making sure you have shelter and such, just as soon as we can."

"Seems we've found something to do with Dragos' house," he added to Sieghard. "Did he have any warehouses, too?"

RossN

2019-08-14, 04:23 PM

Adelbert

Having cleaned himself up and donned a clean if simple robe Adelbert departed the Temple on the quest for a suitable tailor to make him a robe befitting his new office. He was hardly confident he would he have a suitable set of clothing for this evening but hope sprang eternal.

OOC:
Okay I guess this is a Gossip test at Challenging difficult.

Gossip: [roll0] vs 36

LCP

2019-08-14, 05:00 PM

Sieghard & Ludo

The man on the ground gave Ludo no answer, but eventually stopped struggling. Making sure they held him tight, the Volunteers bundled him to his feet. When he didn't lash out, they marched him over to the edge of the square and let him go.

"Ranald's teeth, that smarts" said one of them, massaging his bruised face. He looked down at Ludo. "Man like that, maybe it'd've done him good to cool off in the dungeon for a while. Teach him some respect."

TheSummoner

2019-08-14, 07:07 PM

Sieghard

"Might've," Sieghard agreed, "But better to not give them anything else to get riled up. Start locking folk up now that it's over and we might up with another mob. I'm going to check in on Hildebrand," he told his men. "We'll escort Lady Sforza to the temple once I return."

Sieghard was still upset with Elsa, but despite that he was relieved to see her awake when he arrived. "How is your arm?" he asked.

-Sentinel-

2019-08-14, 09:01 PM

Shallyan hospital

Having been left with no one to talk with since Ludo's departure, Elsa was saved from her dark thoughts and self-recriminations by Sieghard's arrival.

"How is your arm?"

"...Not great," admitted Elsa. "Shoulder's filled with broken glass, and I can feel almost nothing below it. I can barely wiggle my fingers." She attempted a demonstration. Her index and middle fingers curled almost imperceptibly.

She paused, dreading what came next.

"How is your city?"

TheSummoner

2019-08-14, 09:17 PM

Sieghard

"A powder keg," Sieghard replied, darkly. "I wonder if we would've been better off just letting Alvarr have it until the people tore him apart. We tried convincing them you didn't start the fire. Doesn't seem like they believed it though."

-Sentinel-

2019-08-14, 10:35 PM

"Oooh, of course, whenever there's a fire, people assume the nearest fire wizard is to blame," Elsa scoffed. She paused, then lowered her voice. "Well. I was to blame, granted. But that's not the point."

Her face darkened even more. "What of Klammenberg? Did you kill him, at least?"

TheSummoner

2019-08-14, 11:01 PM

Sieghard

"He used some magic and got away," Sieghard said, still angry at himself for failing. "Turned into a bunch of beetles before I could finish him."

"The vampire got away too," he said after a pause. "But I managed to keep it off you at least." he shook his head and then glared at her. "It had us outmatched. It was obvious it did. Why didn't you escape when you had the chance do?"

-Sentinel-

2019-08-14, 11:23 PM

"Turned into a bunch of beetles before I could finish him."

Elsa blinked. "...Beetles. Well, that's quite a neat spell. I suppose it's too much to hope for that the fire burned those beetles to a crisp."

Inconveniently, it was also outlandish enough that no one who had not been there would believe it.

""It had us outmatched. It was obvious it did. Why didn't you escape when you had the chance to?"

Elsa matched Sieghard's glare with a glare of her own. "Escaped? While you stayed behind? We faced the Orc king together. We fought daemons and a ghost and Norscans and undead Norscans and... whatever it was that we met under Harmugstahl. You're not my knight in shining armor, laying down his life for his damsel. We are both seasoned soldiers, guarding each other's back, four times as strong together as we are individually. Or at least that's how I've always seen us. Is the feeling not mutual?"

"I don't have a death wish. I have a wish for both of us to live as long as we possibly can."

TheSummoner

2019-08-14, 11:56 PM

Sieghard

Sieghard spat at knight in shining armor "None of that nonsense," he said, his expression not softening any. "You were injured, I wasn't, and that monster was worse than any orc king or well creature. You would've wanted me to fall back if it was the other way around."

He sat down. The conversation was draining him. "I wasn't going to fight that thing alone and throw my life away. I would've ran as soon as you were safe. And instead, you wanted to be stubborn and almost got your arm torn off because of it. Guarding each other's backs sometimes means doing it while we retreat." he paused. "Don't force me to watch you die."

-Sentinel-

2019-08-15, 08:51 AM

Elsa was about to get into a lengthy explanation of how fleeing out the window in single file would likely have been more dangerous and time-consuming than staying and fighting the monster, but decided she did not have the energy for it.

"We could've killed it," she whispered, taking Sieghard's hand in her own good hand. "Well... no, we couldn't have, as it turned out... but at the time, it wasn't unreasonable to think we could. It was hurting. When it pushed past you to attack me, it looked like it was fighting for its life." Insofar as it could be said to possess life.

"What do you think it was? Is it true that it turned into a jackal? But it can't have been Nahorek, can it? Klammenberg said it spoke only Nehekharan. Have you ever heard of a god who cannot understand any living language?"

LCP

2019-08-15, 11:48 AM

Ludo

Ludo’s walk to the temple seemed to stretch out forever, though he must have walked it many times before. His bones ached, and the heat of the sun didn’t seem to warm him. Was this how it felt to be old?

Gods’ Row was already crowded with people, the temple mound rising like an island out of a sea of heads. Bands of townspeople left homeless by the fire huddled around the outside of the Garden of Morr, while inside its crumbling wall others were making Geheimnistag offerings at the graves of their ancestors. A snaking line was already beginning to form outside the open gates of the temple - this was the day when the veil between worlds was thinnest, and the people of Savonne had many prayers for their gods to hear.

Sending the militia he had brought with him on towards the docks, Ludo found Liebrecht and a number of his initiates working on the east side of the garden, where people were bringing through bodies that had been found amid the ruins of the fire. Liebrecht stood at a little gate, blessing the bodies and consoling the mourners as they came through. Seeing Ludo trying to get his attention, he passed the job over to one of his more senior acolytes, and walked with the halfling through the gravestones to a more secluded spot.

“Yes, I’ve heard similar accusations here,” he said, when Ludo told him about the events outside the castle. “And others that say they saw a great black dog running through the flames. Perhaps with time these wild stories will die down.” His solemn tone gave no clue as to whether he believed them himself. “I will speak to the others, but I worry you have promised more than we can provide. You can see we are stretched to the limit as it is. The dead need our care as much as the living.”

Liebrecht gave an involuntary yawn. He looked almost as tired as Ludo felt. Almost.

“The Shallyans may be able to help. They have, mm, beds, and such things. Aside from that, I don’t know how much more help the Temple can offer.”

They had come into the shade of one of the stunted trees that overlooked the cemetery wall, beside a patinaed statue that rose from one of the Morrite rosebeds. Jocasta was sitting there, twisting two blades of dead grass between her fingers. She stood up as they approached.

“I can help,” she said. “I mean, I want to. Any help I can give.” She looked around at the others coming and going through the graveyard. Perhaps she had been hoping that someone would bring in Balios. Ludo doubted the priest’s body was in any state to be recognised. “I’m not needed here.”

All

Gathering up Adelbert and Urgrim, Ludo led them back to the Great Hospital. The sun was high in the sky now, and it beat down on his shoulders like a physical weight. Feeling the sweat trickle down his back, he tried not to lean too heavily on his borrowed cane.

“Master Stubbs,” said Sister Ioana when she saw them arrive. “Feeling better for your walk?” It was clear she saw that the answer was ‘no’.

TheSummoner

2019-08-15, 01:08 PM

Sieghard

"That's a question for a priest," Sieghard replied. "But the part about turning into a jackal is true. All the more reason to hate it."

"Just be more careful," he muttered. "Even if we could've killed it, its life isn't worth yours. It isn't worth mine or any of ours."

-Sentinel-

2019-08-15, 02:31 PM

"Even if we could've killed it, its life isn't worth yours. It isn't worth mine or any of ours."

Elsa shook her head. "Trying to save everyone is noble, Sieghard, but you can't ignore the big picture. Many have died already, and many more will die before this is all over. If we fail, the desert will engulf the Reaches. Killing this thing is certainly worth a few lives, and the earlier that sacrifice is made, the more lives will be saved. I won't lay down mine if I can avoid it, but neither will I miss an opportunity to destroy the monster, knowing how much damage it will cause if we let it. Neither should you. So long as you choose to hold onto the only weapon we know to be effective against Nahorek, you have a responsibility to be on the front lines of this war. And I'll be right there with you." She paused. "As soon as my arm's healed," she amended.

She spotted something past Sieghard's shoulder. "Oh, here are the others." She forced a smile at their arrival, though she did not appear to feel too well.

LeSwordfish

2019-08-15, 04:16 PM

At the Temple
"Just for a few days." Ludo said. "We're opening up the Greenapple house, and maybe some of the warehouses, and we can probably redirect food from what we're sending to the captain" - that would go down very poorly but was the only thing he could think of - "we just need time to set that all up." He didn't add that the reason he didn't want refugees heading to the hospital was his fear for what would happen if Elsa was found defenseless.

He paused and cleared his throat. "How... how many were killed?"

At the Hospital
"Not at all," he said, smiling ruefully. "But there's too much to be done, isn't there? And too few to do it."

Seeing Elsa see them, he hurried over, the exertion of which was enough to force him to sit on his bed, wheezing. "How are you?"

After her response, he was straight to business. "I was thinking about Klammenberg and the thing and their relationship. Klammenberg talked like he thought he could call it off... but like it wasn't really under his control? Like, uh, like he might be able to persuade it, not like it was his servant. And all those charms he was wearing... And he looked terrible. All drawn-out. I don't think he's in control of the situation at all. I think he's its lackey. I think he's scared of it. I think he didn't know what he was dealing with and now he's lost control."

"Also," he added, "We should get ourselves some charms. If Klammenberg thinks they work, I'm inclined to believe him."

RossN

2019-08-15, 06:50 PM

Adelbert

Adelbert's spirits, giddy after his meeting with the high priestess took a dive when he encountered Jocasta. He didn't say anything but tried to look anywhere else than at the priestess of Rhya.

It was of course his fault that Balios was dead, yet another victim to the enemy's tally. In more somber mood he went with Ludo and Urgrim to the Hospital. The sight of Elsa shook him. Adelbert had felt the terrible sting of the vampire's magic but he also knew his body well enough to know he'd recover. Elsa on the other hand, and even Ludo, looked like they needed much more care. He was relieved it was Ludo who asked how Elsa was.

It was almost a mercy to get to business. 'Interesting theory Ludo, and I think agree.' He looked hesitant a moment before adding: 'Do you think he'll try and defect to our side?'

He drummed his fingers on Elsa's bedframe. 'As for charms, I am being made an anointed priest, a senior member of the clergy. Aside from certain secrets of the divine which may be of use to us I may be able to find more on protective relics... though, um, my existing library perished in the fire so it may take time to see what resources I have.'

-Sentinel-

2019-08-15, 09:03 PM

"Do you think he'll try and defect to our side?"

"Don't count on it," said Elsa. "When you get serious about dark magic, you have to cross lines of no return... sell parts of yourself for power. If Klammenberg freed a small god, he is very far gone indeed."

She winced visibly at the mention of the loss of Adelbert's library.

"I've been thinking about Klammenberg's condition, too," she said, swiftly moving the conversation forward. "He might've been running himself ragged with his spells, or even feeding his own blood to his creature. But it could also be from merely living in close proximity with the vampire. That would explain the talismans, too; a way to dampen the dark magic."

She wished Klammenberg had left his charms behind. Or perhaps he had? Of course, to find them, they would have to sift through the charred remains of a destroyed building.

"I'm also curious about the evil aura around the house. Was it cast like a spell, or did it merely pool around the vampire? I'd like to go check if it's weakening now that the beast is gone, but I'm not sure I can even stand up. Ludo, you could walk your dog in the wreckage of Klammenberg's house, I remember he reacted strongly the last time."

She snapped her fingers, suddenly remembering something: "Speaking of dogs! Someone needs to feed and water the caged dogs at the warehouse. I didn't do all this work trying to tame them just to let them die behind bars."

TheSummoner

2019-08-16, 12:04 AM

Sieghard

"She's right," Sieghard said, "Did you hear the way he was talking about us lashing out at things we don't understand? He thinks he knows everything and that if everyone else was as smart as him, they'd be on his side in this. There's not a chance Klammenberg would turn against his monster, even if I hadn't tried cleaving his head off."

LeSwordfish

2019-08-16, 12:43 AM

"I don't think it's worth trying to turn him and his monster against each other." Ludo said. "I think he's at best too scared of it to do anything, and I think if we could make him think we were more dangerous than it, we might as well just kill him."

She snapped her fingers, suddenly remembering something: "Speaking of dogs! Someone needs to feed and water the caged dogs at the warehouse. I didn't do all this work trying to tame them just to let them die behind bars."

"Don't worry about that, I've put Norville on it. He's great with dogs, got that huge thing back home."

"You got anointed? Congratulations!"

RossN

2019-08-16, 03:58 AM

Adelbert

'Thank you,' Adelbert replied, unable to resist a proud smile. 'I'll need suitable garments if any of you know any tailors and the ceremony is to take place at evening.'

The priest stroked at his trim beard. 'Mother Raqiyah told me she saw the face of the vampire in a vision and suggested that either he is no longer bothering to hide from us or, as I prefer to think, some concealing magic was destroyed by the blaze. Investigating the house is probably a good idea.'

Thragka

2019-08-16, 04:03 AM

The word of Adelbert's anointing was news to Urgrim, the dwarf having more or less slept through the conversation at the temple during which he'd actually been standing up, let alone Mother Raqiyah's private discussion with the Verenan. "Congratulations," he echoed Ludo, not really being sure what this meant for their companion, but willing to celebrate it all the same.

He scratched his beard. "The Dwimmulson records say their ancestors had a weapon that slew the zangunaz, the first time. But if it even still exists, it's surely lost. And if the hold had a runesmith skilled enough in the old craft to forge us a new one, we would already know." He sighed.

Urgrim nodded vigorously at Sieghard's profile of Klammenberg's arrogance. "Thinking we can make common cause with him, thinking one can make deals with blasphemous forces - that's how the path to corruption begins. Klammenberg must die. That's - that's justice. That's what needs to happen, to account for his wrongs."

TheSummoner

2019-08-16, 04:10 AM

Sieghard

Sieghard shifted in his seat a bit. "Doesn't help us much if it's lost," he said, "How much do the records say about it anyways? Is it made of silver? The priests say that's supposed to work."

[roll0] vs 54 Fel for Sieghard's poker face. He doesn't want Urgrim to know that he knows (or suspects) anything about the spear. Oppose with perception if you choose to.

Thragka

2019-08-16, 05:31 AM

Sure, I'll roll Perception against 74 to see if Urgrim picks up on it. [roll0] Nope, he's far too tired.

Urgrim shrugged wearily. "I dunno, but I doubt it. Silver's too soft to make a real blade of. It'd be the runes that did the trick."

He yawned broadly, half-heartedly remembering to cover his mouth with a hand part of the way through. "Spears. In the stories, they're always spears, the old runed weapons. Ever see a dwarf fight with a spear? 'Course not, it's a silly idea. But in the sagas, it's always "spear-dwarves of days gone by". Couldn't get enough of them, apparently."

-Sentinel-

2019-08-16, 08:54 AM

'Mother Raqiyah told me she saw the face of the vampire in a vision and suggested that either he is no longer bothering to hide from us or, as I prefer to think, some concealing magic was destroyed by the blaze. Investigating the house is probably a good idea.'

"It is possible there was an enchantment there," said Elsa. She liked that idea. It meant her disastrous fire had at least accomplished something useful. "The dark magic was extremely strong inside the house, but I still couldn't locate the exact house from the outside. There had to be something other than walls keeping most of the dark magic inside."

Most, but not all. The magic had still bled into an entire neighborhood, which suggested the being had an impressive Aethyric "weight" even while passive. Even the most powerful wizard Elsa had ever met, Thyrus Gormann, did not bend the fabric of magic around him in such a way.

If that last part is incorrect, LCP, feel free to say so and I'll edit my post. I've actually no idea what being in Thyrus Gormann's presence feels like to another fire wizard.

She found it strange that Sieghard would skirt around the topic of the spear in Urgrim's presence. Then again, perhaps it was wise for now. Dwarfs were attached to their past and may very well seek to retrieve any artifacts their ancestors had forged, no matter how much the puny umgi might need them.

LCP

2019-08-16, 10:53 AM

Earlier, at the Temple

"Just for a few days." Ludo said. "We're opening up the Greenapple house, and maybe some of the warehouses, and we can probably redirect food from what we're sending to the captain" - that would go down very poorly but was the only thing he could think of - "we just need time to set that all up."

"It's not time that's a problem, it's space," said Liebrecht. "Where do you suggest we put them? On the temple floor?"

"Do we have to keep them inside the city?" asked Jocasta. "If it's only for a short time, there's more space outside the walls. Your soldiers have tents, don't they?"

He paused and cleared his throat. "How... how many were killed?"

"Difficult to say," said Liebrecht. "I have seen eleven bodies so far. There may be more to come." He bowed his head. "And there may be others whose bodies we will not find."

TheSummoner

2019-08-16, 02:09 PM

Sieghard

Sieghard nodded as Urgrim spoke. "And if there's no smiths, then there's no chance of making a new one. Still, it'd be interesting to know what made the old rune weapons so special."

She found it strange that Sieghard would skirt around the topic of the spear in Urgrim's presence. Then again, perhaps it was wise for now. Dwarfs were attached to their past and may very well seek to retrieve any artifacts their ancestors had forged, no matter how much the puny umgi might need them.

Pretty much this. He's worried if word got out to the Dwimmulsons, they'd want their spear back.

"If the vampire isn't able to hide anymore," Sieghard continued, "Then we might have a chance to finish it off. It's injured. So is Klammenberg."

-Sentinel-

2019-08-16, 08:55 PM

"Then we might have a chance to finish it off. It's injured. So is Klammenberg."

"It was injured last night," replied Elsa. "We don't know how quickly it recovers... Pretty fast, I would wager. And this time I won't be around to help."

She glanced at her wounded arm. "I'm not an undead being of great power, so it's looking like I'll be down for the count for at least a few days. I'd be grateful if someone brought me my books... I need to pass the time."

RossN

2019-08-18, 04:58 AM

Adelbert

'She's right, we need to recover. I sympathise Sieghard but you and Urgrim are probably the only ones who even can fight now. I might not be as badly hurt as Elsa or Ludo but believe me I'm far from healthy. I do think I'm hale enough to fetch your books for you Elsa.'

Adelbert shifted his feet. 'As I said before I'm being anointed this evening and I'd be happy if any of you would like to attend. I have other preparations to make, but they'll have to wait till after our talk with Lady Sforza.'

LCP

2019-08-18, 11:20 AM

Fetching Elsa her books was only a short diversion, the west gate of the castle being across the road from the hospital. By the time Adelbert had finished the trip, Irene had only begun her preparations to leave. Sieghard and the others waited in the courtyard until she was ready to grace them with her presence, trying not to fall asleep where they stood. The sun beat down like them like a hammer on an anvil, making Sieghard sweat in his heavy plate. Considering how much he had sweated through his gambeson during the fire, this probably couldn’t make him smell any worse than he already did.

At last, Irene emerged, flanked by an honour guard of Southlanders. Clean and gleaming by comparison to the dishevelled band that were waiting for them, they stood by in two orderly lines while the servants saddled their mistress a grey palfrey from the stables.

“Alright, commander,” said Irene, once she had been helped up into the saddle. “Let’s see this trophy of yours… if we must.”

The crowds packing Gods’ Row parted before them as they made their way to the temple, or were made to part. Many of the newly homeless called out to Irene as she passed them by, begging for some scrap of charity. She put on a caring expression and gave them empty, pretty-sounding assurances, but the ahosi made sure none of them ever came within arms’ reach of the lady.

Dismounting outside the temple doors, she passed off the reins to one of her guards. The petitioners inside the temple looked round in wonder as she passed among them, the smoke from the incense burners billowing in her wake. Even the Morrite initiates who were chanting the Geheimnistag names of the dead hesitated to watch the Captain’s lady go by.

The senior priests were less overawed. In the shadows of the mortuary room, Hieronymus looked over the ahosi who had accompanied here with disapproval. “It is not proper,” he said, “to bring so many weapons into the temple.”

“I’’ll apologise to the gods the next time I see them,” said Irene, drily. Not deigning to give Heironymus any more attention, she stepped forwards to examine the body on the slab. She evidently hadn’t been prepared for the smell - blanching a little, she produced a handkerchief from her bodice and held it over her hose.

“This is what you brought me here to see?” she demanded of Sieghard, her voice a little muffled by the embroidered silk. “It’s just a corpse.”

TheSummoner

2019-08-18, 02:58 PM

Sieghard

"This corpse was up, walking around and wearing armor a few hours ago." Sieghard said. He pointed to where his sword had hacked into Udolf. "The cuts are fresher than the body itself. And this is the same man who killed one of your people in Caerfort." He turned to the priests. "Brother Liebrecht, tell Lady Sforza what you told me about how long this man has been dead."

"It's necromancy. Foul magic worked by the same man who used the Norscans to attack Manaan's Keep."

LCP

2019-08-18, 03:52 PM

Irene stood for a while in silence as Liebrecht spoke in his solemn drone, still examining Udolf's corpse. When you really looked, it was hard to deny how strange the body was - the stitching, the sawdust, the stink of preservatives.

"Alright," she said at last. "Suppose I take your whole story of... ghouls and ghosts to be true. What difference does it make? Muzio always says, no matter how ugly they look, they die when you put a spear through them." She clung to the Captain's words for reassurance, but some of her scornful confidence seemed to have ebbed. "Where is this necromancer now?"

-Sentinel-

2019-08-18, 11:18 PM

Elsa was alone again, but at least this time she could study to pass the time and avoid dwelling on her guilt. She searched through the pile of books Adelbert had brought her and picked up the only one that she actually needed—but had not dared to request by name.

The war on Nahorek was getting very real, and idleness was a luxury she could not afford.

OOC - LCP only
Do I have to spend the entire XP cost of the ritual in order to know its ingredients and conditions? Or can I put a "down payment" of 100 XP to know these things, then decide if it's worth it to dedicate more XP to the venture?

TheSummoner

2019-08-18, 11:26 PM

Sieghard

"The Captain is right," Sieghard said, "Dead men can die the same as living ones - Udolf here is proof of that - but that's not what worries me. Klammenberg can raise the dead to serve him. Whenever and wherever he needs to. How many graveyards do you imagine there are in the Reaches? How many battlefields where the dead were thrown into mass graves? He can raise an army from the ground any time he chooses to. And even if we destroy it, he can raise another. Again and again for as long as he lives."

"As for where he is now," Sieghard continued, "I wish I knew. He used some magic to escape before I could finish him. Him and his monster both."

LCP

2019-08-19, 12:02 AM

Irene held Sieghard's gaze for a long while, thinking. "If he can do that," she said at last, "then why hasn't he done it?" She looked to Liebrecht and Hieronymus. "If he can raise an army at any time, why aren't we drowning in the dead?"

"The Garden of Morr here is consecrated ground," said Liebrecht, firmly. "We give our dead to Morr, and with Morr they stay."

"...Magic... always demands a price," said Hieronymus, his tone more circumspect. "Perhaps he simply does not yet have the power."

"And will he have it tomorrow?"

Hieronymus looked stumped. After a short pause, Irene gave an exasperated sigh.

"This is all because of Hildebrand's wretched book," she said. "No wonder the city is crawling with sorcerers, we might as well have invited them. Commander, do you actually have a plan to catch this man?"

TheSummoner

2019-08-19, 02:59 AM

Sieghard

"The Garden of Morr here is consecrated ground," said Liebrecht, firmly. "We give our dead to Morr, and with Morr they stay."

"...Magic... always demands a price," said Hieronymus, his tone more circumspect. "Perhaps he simply does not yet have the power."

"The Garden of Morr may be, but there are other places he could find dead men," Sieghard replied, "The Mere is full of orc skeletons, and there's a great mound of bones buried beneath Rivermouth and those are just the places I know of. And even if raising them is beyond Klammenberg's power, the vampire is another beast entirely. They may not have done so yet, but we shouldn't take the possibility lightly."

"This is all because of Hildebrand's wretched book," she said. "No wonder the city is crawling with sorcerers, we might as well have invited them. Commander, do you actually have a plan to catch this man?"

"His magic makes that difficult," Sieghard admitted, "He seems to be able to make men forget ever seeing him." He thought for a moment. "Wherever he is hiding, his monster is sure to be with him. Animals can tell when the vampire is near - they avoid it if they can and become terrified if taken too close. It's not much, but I'm afraid that's the best way I know to track them."

LCP

2019-08-19, 11:25 AM

"No," said Irene, "it's not much." There was a heavy silence. "I think I've seen enough," she said at last. "Thank you, reverend fathers, for your time."

Outside the temple, the ahosi formed a wall to keep back the Geheimnistag crowds as Irene emerged back into the sun. Many of the common people gathered closer all the same, hoping for some crumb of charity. The Southlanders' unsmiling faces warned them not to push their luck.

"Set a watch on all the gates," Irene said to Sieghard, "and set half your men to search the city for this necromancer. Street by street, door by door, I don't care. Use your animals. Tell the people that anyone who shelters him will share in his punishment." One of her guards stooped to help her up onto her horse. "The other half can help you get ready to march. Esteban should be here before the week is out. You'll leave as soon as he arrives."

RossN

2019-08-20, 11:21 AM

Adelbert

Albert hovered around uneasily as Irene inspected the corpse. As she was leaving he hesitated a moment, then hurried after and spoke up: 'Lady Sforza, may I speak on the Commander's behalf?'

LCP

2019-08-20, 12:16 PM

Irene looked down at Adelbert from the saddle, as if she had only just noticed him. She studied his face for a little while before speaking - perhaps she was just trying to remember who he was.

"Schreiber, isn't it?" she said. "Aren't you the one who volunteered to go see those players for me? Whatever happened to that?" She waited just long enough for Adelbert to begin composing an answer before cutting him off with an impatient wave of her hand. "Well, what is it? Say what you have to say."

RossN

2019-08-20, 12:49 PM

Adelbert

Father Schreiber, Adelbert thought in annoyance but managed to bite his tongue before saying it aloud.

'My apologies Lady Sforza I shall attend to those players. I just wanted to state that I believe Commander Sieghard is the best man to deal with this problem. Not just because he is a splendid and gallant soldier, though he is. While your armies are full of talented officers I believe what sets Herr Sieghard apart is his experience. I have faced many monsters in his company and speaking as an anointed member of this Temple, and an old adventuring comrade I can think of no one finer to deal with a monster. His counsel in these matters is a wise one.'

LCP

2019-08-20, 02:40 PM

"Experience," said Irene, giving Adelbert a doubtful look. "Perhaps you do not know Esteban Valdes, brother Schreiber, but he has been in my husband's company far longer than the commander. Your temple will be safe under his protection."

RossN

2019-08-20, 03:55 PM

Adelbert

'While I admit I am unfamiliar with Commander Valdes, Lady Sforza I suspect that battlefield experience may not be enough. Herr Sieghard has fought many horrors, the undead and worse and he has done so leading small ad hoc groups in unfamiliar surroundings. The vampire will be found by one familiar with hunting nightmares. Can Commander Valdes make such a claim?'

Adelbert gestured towards Sieghard. 'This is the man who delved into the Lost Library and who slew the Orc king. He kills monsters. He also makes an excellent team woth the wizardess. Will Valdes?'

LCP

2019-08-20, 04:43 PM

"A fine testimonial," said Irene. "I would be more inclined to listen to it if this necromancer had not already been running rings around him for a month."

She looked back to Sieghard. "You have your orders, commander," she said, "see them carried out." She wrinkled her nose. "And for Shallya's sake, take a bath. It smells like something died in that armour."

She started her horse down the hill, and the Southlanders went with her, clearing the worshippers out of her path.

TheSummoner

2019-08-20, 11:18 PM

Sieghard

Someone did die in that armor, Sieghard thought.

"You tried," he told Adelbert after Irene had gone, "But there's no convincing her to change her mind once she's made it up. We're just lucky she's finally acknowledging that Klammenberg is a real threat. It only took several murders and half the city burning down." He yawned. Gods, he was tired. "I've got a bit of property now. Belonged to Dragos before I carved his head open. We could fit some of the people who lost their homes into those buildings. Won't be comfortable, but it'll at least keep a roof over them at night. Might have to ask others to open their doors for those who won't fit. I think it'd be better if it was handled through the temple. If we just ask people to open their doors without keeping an eye on who does and who goes there, Klammenberg is sure to take advantage of it."

About what time of day is it and how long until Adelbert's anointing?

RossN

2019-08-22, 05:39 PM

Adelbert

'I think Klammenberg will be kept busy nursing his wounds for a while to come,' Adelbert replied. 'In fact the fact that we hurt them at all makes me think it will be a while before they appear again - if nothing else we've gone from a nuisance to... well, threat is an optimistic reading, but they will have to account for this.'

He stroked his beard thoughtfully. 'Frankly I'm not really the one you should be speaking to about the Temple housing people. Up until my own house was lost in the fire I didn't even live here myself. If you are looking for persuasive voices to open doors the Sisters at the Hospital might be a better bet.'

TheSummoner

2019-08-22, 07:46 PM

Sieghard

"I'm not suggesting the temple house people," Sieghard replied, "I'm saying the temple should find people whose houses survived the fire and ask them to open their doors. Then direct those who need somewhere to stay to them. And that it should go through the temple or else Klammenberg lure them in or trick them into opening their doors for him."

LCP

2019-08-22, 10:51 PM

Ludo

While the others spoke with the Reaches’ richest woman, Ludo was concerning himself with those who had suddenly found themselves among the poorest. The Shallyans gave him as much bedding as his militia detail could carry away, and soon he found himself supervising the establishment of a makeshift camp on the north side of the docks. Soldiers came and went as busily as ants, dragging the clutter out of Dragos’ old warehouses to make room for people.

There was no shortage of demand for the shelter they were offering. As the word spread, the scorched-looking crowds that had gathered around the castle and the temple quickly began to filter through into the docks. They were not the only ones, either – a few of the city’s beggars saw the opportunity to insinuate themselves into the crowd, along with Downlands refugees from the encampments that still huddled outside the north gate. Squabbles broke out among the waiting masses, and Ludo’s men had to bellow and crack a few heads to keep order.

By the time evening came, the Greenapple house and the first warehouse were both full to bursting, and the camp and the second warehouse were filling rapidly too. Many of those left homeless by the fire were carrying what remained of their worldly possessions with them, and the jockeying for space inside the buildings was almost as fierce as outside.

“We’re going to need to wash everything to rags,” said Ingwald glumly, as he watched two families bicker furiously over who deserved the last of the big tents. “Whole regiment’s going to get lice.”

“You say that like half of ‘em haven’t got ‘em already,” said Vilmar, leaning on his halberd. “Nothing wrong with a few lice. Proves you’ve still got some blood in you.”

Elsa

As the day wore on, the Shallyans’ infirmary was rapidly growing more crowded. Burn victims, coughing children whose hair was still thick with ash, even just people looking for a roof over their heads – they trickled in, one after the other. After one man with burns all over his hands stopped and stared a little too long at Elsa, Sister Stefania interrupted her reading to suggest that they move her to a more private room. “It’s not, ah, right for someone of your... stature, to have to sleep in the common hall,” said the Shallyan, nervously twining her long hair between her fingers.

The ‘private room’ in question was a spacious stone-walled chamber, just the other end of the cloister. Furnished for more long-term patients, it held four beds, each with a wash-bucket and a tall canvas screen for privacy. The back wall was dominated by a stained-glass window bearing the device of Shallya’s bleeding heart.

One of the beds was already occupied. A scrawny man with sunken features and a long grey beard, he sat up and smiled at the two women as they entered the room, giving them a cheery wave hello.

“How are you doing today, Herr Reinholt?”
“Very well, very well. Who is this?”
“This is Fraulein Hildebrand. She’s going to be sharing your room for a little while.”
“Ah! Company!” The old man beamed beneficently, with the air of an aristocrat making conversation with a servant. “And what is it you do around here, my good woman? No no, don’t tell me – you must be one of the new sisters!”

Leaning in close to Elsa’s ear, Stefania whispered:
“Reinholt has been with us for nine years. He believes he is Prince of the Reaches.” She glanced over her shoulder at the old man, who was still blathering blithely on. “We find it best not to take his illusions from him.”

“...of course, I regret I will not have the pleasure of your company for very long,” Reinholt was saying. “Once this unfortunate illness of mine has run its course I will be returning to my, aha, rightful abode in the castle. Any day now, they say!” A flicker of uncertainty crossed his broadly smiling face. “Just… as soon as they’re sure I’m strong enough. A lot of pestilence outside, I hear. A lot of… people. Someone of my station can’t afford to take risks.”

As Stefania hurried out, Elsa began to question the Shallyans’ wisdom in leaving her alone with a lunatic. It wasn’t much of a worry – even in her injured state, Elsa reckoned herself more than a match for Herr Reinholt. All skin and bones, he could barely have weighed more than Ludo – and besides that, he seemed more amiable than most anyone Elsa had met these last few months.

“So,” he said, brightly. “Have you been with the temple long?”

Adelbert

The sun sank down, and before the dusk had even darkened into night, the moons were shining brightly over Savonne. Mannslieb hung low and swollen over the river, its pitted face gleaming like silver. Morrslieb loomed even larger above it, the eerie light of the Chaos moon outshining that of its brother. It glimmered greenly from walls and rooftops, casting shadows as thick and black as tar. It ran cold fingers over the ashes of Tower Street, glinting from the blackened spike of the old minaret. Somehow, amid all the destruction, the slender tower still stood.

Down in the city, the streets had emptied. Candles were lit in windows, doors bolted and bells rung to keep restless spirits at bay. In the grand atrium of the temple, Raqiyah’s initiates swung censers of incense and chanted Classical plainsong, dedicating the night to their god. This was Geheimnisnacht, and there was no night of the year when Morr was more likely to hear their prayers.

In one of the more secluded chambers of the temple, Hieronymus was talking with Adelbert, going over the intricacies of the ceremony they were about to perform. “I must say,” the old priest was saying, “this has all come on rather suddenly. Usually in the cult we would require a period of study and seclusion… but I would never question Mother Raqiyah’s judgement. She is a very holy woman.”

“Once more, then,” he said. “I will present you to the high priest. You will swear the oaths of our order again, but this time on the Laws of Rodolphus. The most sacred relic of Verena in the Reaches.” He cleared his throat. “Raqiyah will perform the blessing, and then we will leave you in the chamber, to hold your vigil and commune with the goddess until the sunrise.”

He patted Adelbert on the shoulder. “I will leave you a little while to prepare yourself. We will be waiting when you are ready.”

OOC: If the others want to meet with Adelbert, this is the juncture to do it: the ceremony itself is a private priestly matter, and after that Adelbert will be expected to hold his vigil alone.

~

When Adelbert came through into the chamber, Raqiyah and Hieronymus were waiting for him. Two braziers burned to either side of a brass bowl of blessed oil, filling Adelbert’s nose with aromatic smoke. Their flickering light danced over the faded murals that wrapped around the walls, casting long shadows from the two priests, and from the shape of Euthymius on Hieronymus’ shoulder. Adelbert had seen that bird fall off its perch while trying to swallow a dead mouse, but somehow in the solemn atmosphere of the room even such a dumb creature seemed holy.

“Holy Mother,” Hieronymus began. “One comes before you to be judged upon the scales of the gods. He has trodden the path of wisdom, and faced the enemies of Verena’s Law. I humbly submit him to be anointed a Father of the Temple.”

With great reverence, he produced the ornate scroll-case that held the Laws. Adelbert had seen it before, down in the deep sanctuary where the relics were kept. Stamped with the seals of six gods, these were the founding ordinances of the Temple, laid down by the first priest of Verena to count himself among them. Hieronymus held it forwards for him to touch.

“Do you swear to safeguard knowledge in all its forms, from those who would cast us into the shadow of ignorance?” asked Hieronymus. “Do you swear to be an arbiter of justice, and preserve your judgement from fear or favour? Do you swear to put wisdom before wrath, and wield the pen before the sword?”