She looks back and forth from Cassius to Narciso and then you can see her visibly relax."Oh Alfonso sent you, thank the gods! He would think of Kurt. He's such a kind man." A tear falls down her cheek and she attempts to hide it with a brush of her hand. " I'm sorry for my reaction. I was just so worried. I was out on a delivery for the shop when I was attacked by these...these... creatures!" She spits the last word with contempt. " Luckily the guards dispatched them and as soon as it was deemed safe, I ran here." She begins to tear up again and hugs the boy. She notes the slate and shudders at the blood, "Di... Kel Hayl." She thinks for a moment and then says slowly, "Sorry, I don't know what this means. We have some contacts in Kel Hayl, but I don't recognize what this first word is." Her voice catches in her throat, and she looks at the floor. Her eyes gaze around the group and then down at her son. "But please, thank you for making sure my son was safe, and if you promise to help my husband I'll give you anything I can to help you." She smiles slightly and then nods her head.
Almost as the words leave your mouth, you hear a knock on the door and a broad-shouldered man steps into the shop. He is well armored and clearly bears the insignia of the king's guard. He glances around the room and notices the boy, then yells behind him, "He's here, Devin is alright!" You hear the sound of shuffling feet from behind and a woman bursts past the guard and into the room. She is wearing a pale blue dress that is stained with blood and dirt. Her dark hair is pulled back into a bun on the back of her head, and you can see a wand on a belt at her waist. "DEVIN!" She shouts and darts forward toward the boy. He jumps away from you and rushes to meet her as well. "MAMA!" He hugs her tightly and she kisses his cheeks. Tears stream down her face and she clutches at her son. "I was so worried about you, are you alright."Her words come out in a rush as she looks him over. Then as if realizing you are in the room for the first time, she looks up at your group. "Who are you? Did you hurt my son? Where's KURT!?" She takes in the mess around the room and then frantically looking for something. GAH, I already posted this once and then my comp crashed again.
The boy looks up at the half orc, and looks concerned. His head tilts down to the raccoon nudging at him and he wipes the tear stains from his face. A small smile replaces the fear and then begins to speak, slowly at first but growing confident with each word."Birdies! Big scary birdies. They came for daddy. He told me to hide." He looks about to cry again but bites his lip and tries to give what you assume is a brave face. "I heard him yell and hit them. My daddy wouldn't give up, he fights hard." A proud glow touches his features thinking about his father, his voice quavers as he continues, " Daddy knows lots of magic, he can beat anything. He's strong." Hmm... I'd say roll a knowledge(local), Sense Motive, or Linguistics to figure out the message.
The boy tenses as Kiernan lifts him up off the ground. However as Natalie's magic works its way into his body you see the cuts on his feet seem to shorten and lessen in severity. He sighs audibly and looks to the witch. "Daddy...they took my daddy." His eyes shine as though he is about to cry again but he sniffles and holds it in. His eyes glance around at the strange group, and looks up into Kiernan's eyes. "Please find my daddy. Please..." He lays his head against the mans chest and resumes a soft sobbing.
Narciso:
You notice a small chalkboard on the floor near the rear door, off to one side. On it you notice some letters smeared in blood, it says "Di(smudge smudge) K(smudge)(Smudge)ayl." Rodger draws your attention to the closet off to the side. As the door swings outward you hear a sharp intake of breath and more whimpering. Inside curled up on the floor is a boy, no more than 10 years old. His brown hair hangs over his face and is clearly mussed. His clothes and face are dirty but appear to be nice despite the grime. The floor of the closet is littered with broken glass jars and you notice there are cuts on his bare feet. He looks up at you and you see streaks where tears cut through the dirt on his face. He lets out another whimper and then sobs.
As each team steps through the doors you notice how messy the place actually is. It may be a shop that lacks order in general, but you can clearly see the place has been ransacked. There is a metal box on the ground behind the counter with coins scattered around it. Claw lay in the box and on the counter around it. As was noticed from outside there is a line of blood and feathers that leads from the counter area to the rear door where a pile of broken glass lays inside the shop floor. In the back of the shop is a storage room filled with trinkets and all manner of magical gear. There are broken items all over the floor, shattered vases, claw marks on the shelves and smashed furniture. Alright, if there's anything you want to investigate while inside do that first, and only AFTER that click the following spoiler! After searching: Off to one side of the large main room there is a single wooden door that appears to be a closet. You hear what appears to be a whimpering sound from the other side of the door. It's soft and sounds very pathetic."
Rodger:
You can see into the front room of the shop and you can see the blood seems to trail back through a doorway into a back room. Natalie: *facepalm* You attempt to discern magic in the area and your arcane senses reel from the amount of magic in the area. It overwhelms you and you can't tell anything specifically. That was a great roll, but you're in a shop that sells magic items. It doesn't particularly help.
Kiernan:
PM me and we'll discuss this :P You pass through the streets relatively unhindered. As you make your way to the shop you notice that there seem to be scorch marks randomly around the city. It seems that the attacks weren't specifically located at the palace, but they are much more infrequent farther from the palace. After a mild walk you approach a relatively large single level shop. Above the door a sign hangs with the words Oleon's Oddities. In front of the building is a porch like area with various items laying around. Pots filled with seeds, glass jars with strange specimens, and various wood objects with strange symbolic lettering on them. The set of double wooden doors are closed and you don't see any movement around the shop. Perception checks please and thank you :)
The wizard looks up as you pat the blank wall, "Oh... sorry." He waves a hand absentmindedly and goes back to moving paper on his desk. The door appears and you head out into the hallway. Perhaps by luck or by some act of the gods, you manage to find your way back out of the castle and find yourself standing on a quiet street. The sun is just past midday and people are still cleaning up from the attacks. Are you going directly to the shop or is there another path you would like to pursue?
Alfonso glances at Kiernan, "He runs a specialty shop near the Baldis Square. He is a member of my order and knows quite a bit about summonings. He might be able to help figure out what is going on with the bird creatures." He turns to Rodger, "They are piecing together what they can, but I'm not sure as of yet... I was in the middle of discussing it when you arrived." His gaze glances uncomfortably to Narciso as the half-elf speaks eloquently. As he finishes his flourishing, the wizard shakes his head slowly. "Unfortunately not. As I was saying, I was discussing it when you arrived. The guards are looking into it and I will contact those I know who can help." He averts his eyes and then sighs heavily."Which is why I have asked for your help. I was not planning on calling in civilians, but I suppose any help would be greatly appreciated. Please make haste finding out anything you can and then return here." When you're ready to leave let me know. And you know vaguely where the shop is and it won't be hard to find
SenseMotive: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (14) + 2 = 16 Alfonso looks at Narciso and then around at the group. He rubs his chin for a moment then gives a slightly impressed smile. "Oh thank you so much! The kingdom thanks you. If you could please follow me to my quarters I need to retrieve something that may help you." He motions to your group and leads you off to a side of the large throne room. He opens a wooden door and ushers you into a hallway. As you walk he comments to Kiernan, "Ahh yes, Tengu. The guards mentioned humanoid birds. Hmm... it's troubling yes." After walking past several guards and open doorways you arrive at a stone arch that appears to dead end into the wall. He waves a hand and suddenly a wooden door stands where a blank wall stood before. He opens the door and you follow him into a small room about 15 square. Shelves line the walls filled with various items that look magical in nature. A large wooden table stands in the middle of the room and you can see a birdcage in the corner covered by a cloth. Once you are all in the room he begins to speak again. "Uh.. .please close the door behind you." he waves a hand again and the veil drops over the door turning it to a blank wall. He begins to rummage around on his desk until he comes up with a well worn parchment. "Ahh, here we go... yes. I have a colleague here in the city that might be of some help. His name is Kurt Oleon, and he knows quite about about the groups of Tengu in the area. Show him this letter from me, and he will know that you are helping the kingdom. I wish I could go with you, but unfortunately my place is here." He gives a half-hearted smile and looks to you. If you have anything you wish to ask him feel free otherwise we'll move on to another part."
Narciso:
The woman is obviously Queen Dorean, wife of King Darren. The man with his arm around her is the King's younger brother Thomas, who you might know is the head of the city guard. There are various nobles from around the country. You recognize the man who approaches you is the court wizard Alfonso Mesnek. The man gazes at Kiernan and he flicks glance at Narciso. " There is something strange about you." He looks to the guard and they confer for a moment. As he turns back to you he looks slightly calmer, but there is a hint of wariness in his voice. " Ahh, I see.... you aided in the dispatch of the creatures. Thank you most kindly. I am Alfonso Mesnek, aide to his majesty King Darren, and head of the Order of the Staff." He bows slightly and looks at the group surrounding the throne, then back at you. "Perhaps since you would be willing to help me out looking into this matter. I have my hands full with the politics of this, but maybe you could help me find out what has happened. I can tell that there is significant magical skill among you." His eyes once again drift to Kiernan. "Please say that you will assist us, think of the Queen." He gestures behind him at the weeping woman.
The guard leads you through a series of doors and hallways until you come out in a huge room with a half domed ceiling. All around the room set in the walls are paintings of kings and queens leading up to a alcove at the head of the room where a large golden throne stands. Huddled around the beautiful throne are several guards, a woman dressed in a long flowing gown, and several men who you can't recognize. The woman is holding the crown you saw earlier and is crying her eyes out. One of the other men wraps his arms around her and says something indistinct that you can't make out. As you approach the throne, one of the guards breaks away and speaks in hushed tones with the guard who brought you in. He then turns and looks at you warily, " I'm sorry to have brought you all here for nothing. We don't need the help of outsiders to solve this." He glares at the guard who brought you in and starts to walk away. When you see a man break away from the group surrounding the throne and sweep toward you. His long blue robes sweep the floor around his feet and around his neck is a large silver star pendant. He moves quickly and comes up short in front of your group. He looks each of you up and down closely, finally coming to rest in front of Kiernan, " You... I felt your presence. Who are you? What are you doing here?"
The guard looks to each of you, and sighs. "Perhaps you could be of assistance to us in this time of need. You seem to know what you are doing and we could use all the help we can get at this time." He looks around quickly emptying streets and then gestures to your group. "Come with me, we must get into the palace, if you think this has to do with some sort of evil magic, perhaps we best speak to Alfonso. He is King Darren's court wizard, and oversees all magical elements in the kingdom." He waves you forward towards the looming palace before you. If you guys want to grab anything before we go inside let me know otherwise we'll move on.And I realize it's slow starting, but it will pick up.
You notice as you turn around that besides the few creatures that fought you there are several corpses littering the streets around the square. Various citizens are crying and holding injured limbs and several guards are cleaning up their weapons of blood and feathers. Cassius:
As you examine the scorch mark you see that it mimics a normal summoning spell, however there is a magical presence there that you can't quite place. Natalie:
As you examine the scorch mark you see that it mimics a normal summoning spell, however there is a magical presence there that you can't quite place. It seems to you that something is augmenting the normal magical energy. Something far more aggressive. One of the guards looks up and notices your group standing over the birds, "Are you alright, do you need any help citizens?" He then notices that they are unconscious or dead and sighs. "Ahh good, these are taken care of. Did any of you see what happened?" he looks clearly distraught and glances warily about.
Save: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (20) + 2 = 22 The bird shakes its head with a lound raucous squawk and looks perturbed at Natalie. Then before it has a chance to react, Rodger's blade slices through it's neck and its body falls to the ground. Alright the other 2 are unconscious and one is helpless. Feel free to coup de grace. I don't have much time now, but I'll be back later to move the story forward.
Rodger's blade barely misses the birds neck as it dodges out of the way. The crazed creatures let out a frenzied cry, and one lunges toward Rodger, while the other swings at Narciso.
Cassius and Kiernan are next, then the birds go again.
The bird creature seems to shrug off the spell. And looks furiously at Kiernan. It charges forward raking its talons.
Ok that's the end of round 1, round two starts now. Order is: Bird2, Natalie, Rodger, Bird3, Bird4, Cassius, Kiernan, Bird5. The other bird attacking Rodger swings in at him again.
Natalies turn, then Rodger, then Birdies!
Natalie's ray flies toward the birdman, but it doesn't seem to react and just squawks and glares in her direction. Rodger's slice cuts straight through bird creature and the body falls to the ground in heap of feathers and gore. As if enraged by their fallen comrade, two other creatures let out screams of rage and run in talons flashing at the Narciso. Bird3Attack: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (15) + 2 = 17Bird3Damage: 1d4 ⇒ 2
Rodger:
I answered your knowledge in the last spoiler for you. Here it is again: Rodger figures out that they are a form of Tengu, although their markings and feathers are differnt than ones he's seen. Cassius' bolt flies but ricochets off the bird's beak bouncing away harmlessly.Ouch...crit fail And Kiernan's hex goes off toward the bird on the far end. Save: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (12) + 2 = 14
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