[WFRP] The Bloody Crown XI

[LCP]

Ludo, Urgrim & Elsa

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"Even if we did leave," said Rudi, motioning towards the door, "how're we supposed to find our way? We can't see more than a few feet past our own noses in that."

"Do we even know how many of the others are still alive out there?" said another Thorn. He looked around at the others, who seemed a little shocked at the suggestion. "Well, do we? I don't see the point in risking our necks to rescue dead men."

"You said the Jackal's wizarding up the storm," said a third to Elsa. "Can't you wizard it away?"

Ingwald said nothing, sitting on a chunk of rubble in silence. It was quite unlike him to be so quiet, but he still looked pale and shaken from his brush with the spectre. At last, in a small voice, he spoke.

"If we leave, they'll kill us," he said. He nodded to Elsa. "They'll kill her, then they'll kill us. And then maybe we end up like that," he said, looking to the heap of dead Caerforters behind the gates, "or maybe we end up like them."

He took a long pause.

"We all knew we might be risking our lives, when we joined the Captain's army," he said. "But what comes after?" He took a deep breath. "If the commander's still out there, will he thank us for trying? If when the Jackal comes, it's our dead hands around his neck?"

[LeSwordfish]

Ludo, Elsa, Urgi

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"Even if the spirits are still around when the storm clears, at least we'll be able to see them." Ludo offered. "And I bet Sieghard's-"

- hesitation. Was now the time? **** it.

"- I bet Sieghard's spear will be able to hurt them too. I reckon i could put a bolt into the garden from here, or you could use that sounds spell: we can at least synch up and try together. Let me try and get to Sieghard."

[Thragka]

Ludo, Elsa, Urgi

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Urgrim's entire face was a craggy frown. "We do need to find the other two," he said, nodding. "The best chance any of us will have to get out of here will be together. Though I don't know why his spear would do any harm to them." Since when had Sieghard used a spear, anyway?

[-Sentinel-]

Elsa, Ludo and Urgrim

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"Let me try and get to Sieghard."

"Are you proposing to get out there alone?" asked Elsa, who did not like the idea at all. "We could try... but be careful not to get lost on the way."

[LeSwordfish]

Ludo, Urgi, Elsa

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"I was alright there for a short time before," Ludo said, "I think I could probably find my way across there now... it'd be more challenging getting in, but there might be gaps in the walls like this, or I might be able to open the door if it's not being watched."

[-Sentinel-]

Elsa, Ludo and Urgrim

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Elsa pursed her lips. "We'll leave the door open for a little while, in case you run into trouble and need to get back inside quickly. Perhaps you can grab an end of my rope as you go? This way, for the first thirty yards or so, you'll be able to find your way back if needed."

[LeSwordfish]

Ludo, Elsa, Urgi

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"Leaving the door open would be good but I'd rather take the rope with me." Ludo said, clambering back down his own rope to the Thorns. "I might need it to get over the wall. Thirty feet won't get me very far."

He pulled a scrap of paper out of his pack, scribbled a quick note on it and tied it to a small chunk of rubble from the roof: if he couldn't get into the building he could at least throw a message through the window.

He helped the Thorns to heft the door ajar a little and, once he was satisfied that there were no spirits immediately visible outside, pulled his cloak back up over his mouth and nose. "I'll give it a few tries to get in and then circle back around to here. If I'm outside and can't get back to the door, I'll shoot a crossbow bolt at the ajar door: that'll be your cue to cause a distraction or come and rescue me or something. If I get lost i'll try to clear the storm and meet up with the thorns on the outside, maybe we can track Nahorek wherever he goes next. If I'm not back in half an hour or so then... that's probably what i'm doing. Probably."

"Wish me luck!" he added, and stepped outside into the storm.

OOC

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Scale Sheer Surface at +30 again to get down the rope on the inside: (1d100)[22] vs 56

Concealment (1d100)[23] vs 69 opposed vs (1d100)[85]

Ludo's plan is essentially to take the same route as he did to get here - so going through the ruined buildings that we've sheltered in.

[LCP]

Ludo

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With some reluctance, the Thorns pulled the gate open again - just wide enough for Ludo to slip out once again into the buffeting wind. Dust stung his eyes, but with his cloak pulled up over his nose and mouth, none could get into his lungs - considering what was waiting out there, a badly-timed cough could be his last.

Keeping one hand on the wall, he crept his way around towards the more ruined buildings he had passed through before. There was more cover there - intact as it was, the blue-tiled building left him feeling awfully exposed. The dust came in gusts and billows, sometimes thin, sometimes so thick he could scarcely see his own hand at the end of his arm. As long as he kept the open ground of the plaza on the left, he told himself, he was going the right way.

It wasn’t long before he heard the soft clinking of chains. Ducking behind a chunk of rubble, he held his breath and waited as the noise grew louder, a hazy, translucent figure drifting through the dust-clouds to his right. The spectres had a certain terrible grace about them, the way they floated through the air with no regard for the raging wind. Ludo felt like a fish sheltering in a reef, watching the shadows of sharks scull past overhead.

It hadn’t seen him. When he was sure it was gone, he continued on, stopping to listen at the slightest sound. The dust was settling over the bodies he had passed the last time he’d been this way, making them almost unrecognisable in the low light. Ludo tried not to look too closely at their faces.

At last, a flaw in the wind let him see a little further, briefly revealing the swaying treetops of the walled garden across the broad avenue that led out of the city. He was right across the street - but between him and the gates circled the ghosts. He counted at least three before the dust closed in again. Ducking back into cover, he heard the dragging chains of the nearest as it passed him by. It sounded like they were making circuits of the compound. Perhaps they were looking for a way in - or perhaps they were looking for anyone desperate enough to look for a way out.

[LeSwordfish]

Ludo

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Ludo paused and thought. If there was a door into the building behind the courtyard it would be closed, so no sense just throwing his note over the wall.

OOC

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• Any windows that Ludo can see anywhere on the building?
• Are the spectres guarding the door or circling the building?
• Is the entrance to the courtyard gates or doors? I imagine if they're the same size doors as on the tiled building, they'd be tough for Ludo to open by himself. If they're gates, do they look like they're bolted?

He slipped a rock into his sling, waited until the procession of spectres was a little thinner than before, and then flung it down along the side of the building, hoping to draw their attention away from the door.

OOC

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Blue arrow: stone
Red arrow: Ludo as soon as the spectres aren't looking. He's going to run to the corner - I can't imagine anyone can hear anything in this - and then sneak to the gate.

[LCP]

Ludo

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Ludo's sling-stone vanished into the dust, another dense billow cutting visibility to almost nothing. Waiting for a heartbeat or two to listen for any movement, Ludo put his head down and ran.

The wall loomed up out of the dust ahead of him. Dashing along its length, Ludo raced for the gates - in the dust billowing through the plaza, he could already hear the metallic slither of chains. Reaching the iron gates, he threw his weight against the nearest - and with a painful squeal of rusted hinges, it swung open.

Inside, the wind blew just as fiercely as out. He was standing in what looked like an overgrown orchard, two rows of gnarled fruit trees stretching back to the doors of the squat, domed building at its centre. Those doors were old oak, bound in rusted iron. They were shut.

[LeSwordfish]

Ludo

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Unconcerned with closing the gate again - he had no idea if the spirits could catch him here in the garden and no intention of finding out - Ludo sprinted through the storm and began pounding on the doors frantically, before putting his shoulder to one and trying to shift it. "Let me in! Let me in! It's me, Ludo!"

[LCP]

Ludo, Sieghard & Adelbert

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Adelbert was marking down the last of the carvings on the floor when there came a hammering at the door. Someone was shouting to be let in. Over the muffled wailing of the wind, it was difficult to make them out - but they definitely sounded like someone alive.

Hanna opened the door, and Ludo came tumbling through. Covered head to toe in dust, he looked almost like a ghost himself. More dust billowed in after him, until the Thorns heaved the door shut once again.

Removing his cloak from over his face, Ludo immediately regretted here - the air in here stank of rot. He was standing in a gloomy antechamber, its once-fine furniture collapsed into heaps of mould and mushrooms; through a keyhole arch ahead, he could see another chamber where Sieghard and Adelbert stood beside a well, with a sickly tree growing beside it. Nine of the Thorns were with them, including Hanna and Gustaf - they looked more than a little surprised to see him.

[LeSwordfish]

Ludo, Sieghard, Adelbert

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Ludo's heart sank at seeing the numbers in there. Could there really be less than two dozen alive?

"I've come across from the other group," he said. "We're hiding out in the other building: Me, Elsa, Urgi, and a dozen or so men. The spirits don't seem to be able to get in there: I suppose it's the same thing here?"

He came forward into the main room. "Mother Mala's here. She came over and asked Elsa to surrender and go to Nahorek alone. She refused... I nearly got her." He was apologetic. "Got her right in the face but she got away, she's pretty spry."

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard, Adelbert, Ludo

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"They gates seem to keep them out," Sieghard replied. His relief that Ludo, Elsa, and Urgrim still lived was dampered by hearing how few others had escaped the storm. "And us stuck in here. How did you even manage to get past them?"

[LeSwordfish]

Ludo, Adelbert, Sieghard

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"I don't think they're magically perceptive," Ludo said. "I was able to sneak past them like a person. Silver bolts don't affect them, but Elsa's magic does. What about the spear?"

[RossN]

Adelbert, Sieghard & Ludo

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'They are vulnerable to the spear and also blessed weapons,' Adelbert said. 'How many of the spirits could you see? Are we dealing with multitudes or just a few?'

[LeSwordfish]

Ludo, Sieghard, Adelbert

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"Lots," Ludo said. "Hard to see through the sand but there's always at least a few. I don't think it's safe to assume we can take all of them."

"How many weapons can you bless?"

[RossN]

Adelbert, Sieghard and Ludo

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'Probably not enough for all without angering the goddess with my presumption,' Adelbert admitted, face falling. 'So it looks like we're stuck here until the storm ends - if it ends - and the vampire gets away free.'

[LeSwordfish]

Ludo, Adelbert, Sieghard

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Lowering his voice so they weren't overheard, Ludo shook his head. "I don't think we can rely on this storm blowing itself out soon - not soon enough that we'll be fit to fight when it ends. I don't know about you but I don't trust the water here."

"I was hoping you'd have a better idea, because the best one I've got is that we put a small group together and go after him. No way that one spear, one wizard, and a few blessed blades can protect the whole group against those spirits, and we'd just get separated, it'd be a death march. But with only a few people..."

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard, Adelbert, Ludo

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"Some of the weapons have already been blessed," Sieghard said quietly. "We considered fighting our way out, but the men were... reluctant... to leave the safety of the walls, blessed weapons or no."

"Do you think it would be possible for the whole group to sneak to where the others are? From there, maybe we could try to make our way to where they were holding the Caerfort prisoners. I have my doubts we'd find anyone alive, but it may be worth trying..."

[LeSwordfish]

Ludo, Sieghard, Adelbert

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"I don't think I'd want to bet on it with that large a group," Ludo said carefully. "They're decent stealthers but if we get surrounded or ambushed again..."

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard, Adelbert, Ludo

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"Then what would you recommend?" Sieghard asked. "The vampire won't be idle. We can't just sit around doing nothing."

[RossN]

Adelbert, Ludo and Sieghard

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'I agree with Ludo we should try and go after the vampire directly, in a small stealthy group. We can't win by playing by his rules and I refuse to believe we've accomplished nothing better today than get some of our people killed.'

[LeSwordfish]

Ludo, Adelbert, Sieghard

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Ludo nodded. "That's the best idea I have. If Nahorek really wanted to talk to Elsa, that might be enough that he doesn't attack us immediately, and if not then we might be able to free the rest of the Caerfort people, or find Klammenberg or Mala... make enough of a fuss of ourselves that he has to drop the storm and come to us. That might at least give the Thorns an opportunity to get out, and any of the Morrites that are still alive."

[-Sentinel-]

Elsa and Urgrim

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"Come, Urgrim," said Elsa, pacing like a lion in a cage. "Let's go see if there's anything upstairs we can use."

At the very least, it would give her something to do.

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard, Adelbert, Ludo

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"And what about the others here?" Sieghard said. "They might not be the vampire's target, but they'll be in danger all the same if we leave them on their own."

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I'm up for the general idea of all this, but I think the specifics need to be hammerer out a bit more. Probably better to take it to the OOC after this. Thoughts in no particular order.

• I doubt the storm will hinder Nahorek. If he wants to come to us, there's no reason to assume the storm will disappear.
• Is it going to be more difficult/dangerous to try to sneak the entire group we have here than it is trying to sneak just Adelbert and Sieghard? I'm reluctant to just leave them alone.
• If we do get all of the PCs back together, what's the next step? My thoughts are see if any of the prisoners still live, but you know more about the situation outside of where we are than I do.

[Thragka]

Urgrim and Elsa

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Urgrim had been lost in thought. At Elsa's suggestion, he looked at her, shrugged affably, and followed her lead.

"Do you think we did the right thing, coming here, Elsa?" he asked, soft and wearily, when they were beyond the Thorns' easy hearing. A sadness hung about him. Perhaps, even by human reckoning, in that instant he looked his age.

[LCP]

Urgrim & Elsa

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The upper levels of the library chamber were a series of narrow ledges, each bearing columns that allowed the ledge above to lean a little further in as they rose towards the apex of the roof. Between the graceful pillars, hunched statues of gods or daemons looked down at the room below. Grotesque but exquisitely lifelike, no two looked the same - but there were certain detectable themes, of bird-like features and surfeits of limbs. Urgrim prodded one with the butt of his axe to make absolutely sure it wasn't going to move.

There was little light away from the open door, and the contents of the bookshelves that lined the walls of these upper levels were mostly in shadow. Much had crumbled away into dust, leaving only scraps of brass and leather bindings. Here and there, some of the volumes had survived the long years since Nath's fall better - burnished scroll-cases or heavy grimoires. Most were in the Arabyan script, but here and there were some in Classical. Elsa picked up a heavy tome with the design of a serpent eating its own tail on the cover, and coughed a little at the cloud of dust that rose when she opened it. The title was Chrysopoeia de Draescari - inside, between dense columns of Classical writing were what looked like alchemical formulae and illustrations. A lavish illustration of a tree sprouted arcane symbols instead of fruit, the gilded names of sages written along each of its branches.

[RossN]

Adelbert, Ludo and Sieghard

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'Will they?' Adelbert asked. 'The necromatic powers don't seem to be able to breach here, at least for the moment. It seems to me they'll be safer than we will.'

Adelbert had been racking his memory for any clue could recall about the nature of the spirits they faced. They had to have some other way of laying them to rest.

OOC:

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AK: Necromancy: (1d100)[61] vs 77

[-Sentinel-]

Elsa and Urgrim

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"Do you think we did the right thing, coming here, Elsa?"

Elsa paused to consider her answer. The question seemed rather academic; they were here now, and there was no going back on their earlier choices. "We had to do something, Urgrim. We had to do something about the people of Caerfort."

Who are almost certainly all dead now, unless Nahorek ordered his ghosts to leave them alone...

She could not bear the memory of the surviving Caerforters pleading for rescue. If they had died in grim resignation, thinking no one was coming for them, it might have been more merciful than for them to see their hope for salvation cruelly snatched away at the last moment.

"If we'd left them to die, we wouldn't have been able to live with ourselves. So we did what we thought was right. But we arrived too late. We had no way to know we'd be too late, so I don't think anyone could really fault us."

She shoved the newfound book inside her backpack. It had to be worth something.

"I don't have a straight yes or no to give you, Urgrim. I know only that we failed; whether it was worth trying is not for me to say."