Sorry, Sora, but I agree with Shy on this one. I was certain that's what we were doing. Ammy says, patting Shyness on the back out of nowhere.
As far as this church, do you really need a building for it? And would this really be the best location?
Sora shrugs. "As I understood it, we were only looking for a place to go. I didn't think there were any plans beyond that yet."
"Also, building stuff is Himnon's idea, not mine! When I say 'rebuilding the Church', I don't mean it literally! Speaking of which, Himnon, we don't even know what exactly whoever this is deals in. I don't get the feeling that they're the type suited for what we're trying to do."
Reno crosses his arms and stays near by to Shyness as she tries the door of the abandoned manor. If anyone unsavory was lurking within, he'd protect her from it.
Ysolde knocked on the door of one of the inhabited manors, and we're waiting to see who answers.
There is a scrambling behind the doors, as it is obvious people are moving about and moving things
WHATTAYAWANT!GETOUTTAHERE!LEAVEUSBE! is shouted rapidly through the door
"Shy? One place here is bigger than the others, opposite side of town, but not in any less terrible a state. There's some statue on it I don't quite trust. I think that's the place you want, though I doubt it's what you expected. Something's up here. The vagrants here are worse than normal too. Be careful."
That statue hangs in Sora's mind. What is with that thing? Think...
Many years ago, a powerful wizard named Dirastratus fled his homeland after a ritual to speak to the dead he conducted went very wrong. Hunted by witch hunters and hired mercenaries
alike, he fled for many years before finally settling in this abandoned manor. Here he lived for hundreds of years, a couple miles outside the nearest city. Occasionally warriors came for him but none ever returned. About 100 years ago all word of him vanished...perhaps he is dead?
This statue, is actually a magical device of some sort, a replica of the one that caused the horrible disaster in his home land. While it was never clear what it was supposed to do, it was very clear what would happen if it was ever used again.
What will happen if it is used again? You tell us!
"I gue- ohhhh, no. No way." All of a sudden, Sora seems quite agitated. Her wings flutter rapidly. "That statue is bad news. You ever heard of Dirastratus? Guy botched up a ritual to speak to the dead. Dead talked too much, lots of stuff got wrecked across his homeland due to the noise level reached. That manor's where he lived, and that statue is a copy of the thing that made all the bad stuff happen."
"That thing needs to be destroyed. No doubt. I hope this contact of yours wasn't planning to USE that thing." C'mon, think! How do we break it? How can it be destroyed or permanently neutralised or whatever without setting it off?
"Certainly there is a way to destroy it safely. I might know something about it. But the owner would certainly need some convincing before he would allow us to do that."
"Whether we know about how to destroy it or not, we should go closer to the manor and investigate it personally," the paladin suggests. He feels a bit more confident now that he's wearing his own armor and girded with his own weapon again. No more sparkly breastplates.
Himnon figures that, like with anything else if you can remove its power source it won't work. How to do that? Well ya gotta see it first
"Indeed, the manor might be the place to go to find out. I hope the owners will be more helpful than the ones to whom we spoke over here."
Reno nods at Himnon. "Let's go investigate the manor's statue ourselves, then. No time like the present." and with that, the paladin is off down the cobbled road, gesturing over his shoulder for the others to follow.
"Can we stop talking about going to the place and just GO TO THE PLACE ALREADY?" Amaranth moans, like a spoiled child
"We hardly spoke on the way here and now all we are talking about is this spooky house. If we're going to go then let's go!."
Our heroes make there way through the city, and due to Sora's warnings, they are able to avoid the most dangerous of the vagrants. They exit the other side and make their way along the path to the manor, that is increasingly overgrown. Obviously people do not come out here often. Eventually bushes grow higher and you are closed off from everywhere, but the path, then it opens out onto a weedy field, about 60 feet away you see the statue. It is a globe of some sort on a pedestal. It looks to be made of bronze, or brass and glass, there is an odd, dim glow inside it, and there appears to be various buttons and wheels and levers on the pedestal.
More interestingly there is a muscular orc, with a bow on his back and spear at his side, to go with his peg leg who is fiddling with the controls., as he does the glow becomes sparks and a fizz of sorts.
Further you can hear people pushing their way through the brush around you.
What do you do?
Answer the following
What is the general stereotype towards orcs?
What are they most renowned for?
Where do they live?
What are they known to be good at?
What are they known to be crummy at?
I think that is one question for each person
Himnon nears the statue, keeping enough distance so as not to disturb the orc, and examines it for a power source, and tries to figure out how it could be disabled.
Apparently, the task is a bit too difficult for him.
Orcs have extremely acute senses. They can tell someone's presence without seeing him, through sound, smell, or a "second sense" that gives them a feeling someone is present. Whatever the case, it's very difficult to surprise an orc.
Ys recoils at the harsh reaction to her innocent inquiry, and Antares flared from his usual golden hue to a glaring red one. She follows the rest on their way, moving up toward Sora during the journey Is it just me, or are the people here kinda mean?
"Welcome to the world at large, Sis. Most people aren't like this, but there are more people like this than I'd like. Not everyone can be as nice as back home." Sora sighs, unhappy with this, but puts on a smile and looks back to her sister. "Suppose they have a reason to be like this though - the place is a mess. Conditions don't seem so great here. Bet we can help do something about that though, right Ys?"
"Come on Shy, don't talk about him like he's not right there...but yeah, that's an orc." Admittedly though, with the state of the town and what he's doing, there's some questions raised here. All she could hope is that he was better than the Tunnel-Keep at least...Sora looks around the area. Maybe by seeing how people were looking, what was going on, she could figure out the circumstances here.
For some reason, she tastes blueberry. It's kind of distracting.
As the group stumbles upon the orc, Antares reacts instinctively, surrounding Ys with a glowing aura. her eyes glow gold as she casts them around, before muttering a simple spell, to reveal magic in the area.
Ys, the contraption is practically blinding you with magic...You actually aren't totally sure how it works, but it is definitely necromantic. For sure.
What recently happened? The orc and his companions spread out to check th area. The orc made his way directly to the contraption and started fiddling with it.
What is about to happen? The orcs companions are about to be on top of you
Who is in control? Based not he above...the orc
I don't think I have missed anything else. I see you have a DR but you biffed the roll, and took an xp I think, so I let that be rather than give some kind of negative effect. Am I missing something?
Shy takes a step out and the orc immediately looks up, warily, with his hand reaching to his hand crossbow, which he has, somehow kept loaded and strapped to his side.
Best move on now. He says is a beautiful baritone.
Anyone paying attention notices that the rustling in the bushes stops as well.
What do you do?
Careful Shy, he's a necromancer I say quietly, stepping up behind shy, and extending antare's sheild to her, before beconing to Sora, and whipering to her We're kinda surrounded, what do we do?
"I don't know. I could try and take off, maybe you could go with Shy, but that leaves everyone else even if it does work. For the moment, just go along with things. Doesn't seem like he's immediately hostile. We might be able to manage this alright. If we have to, we bail out, or fight." Keeping an eye out, Sora steps forward, gently catching Shy so she doesn't go ahead of Ys's shield. "Do you mind letting us know what's going on? My friend has someone here we'd meant to see. I don't know if that's you or someone else, but they were meant to be here. Is there a problem we might be able to help with?" Sora's stance is neutral, but she's wary. This wasn't right.
What's going on here?
Personal business friend. I am not sure who you are here to see, but I, and my friends are the only ones here.
He goes back to work I suggest you take off, and come back later
He pauses
Wait a moment. What are you doing here?. He says, with his musical baritone