Gallows's page

Trusting Lothian's grace (and his chainmail) to protect him from the spider's bite, Gallows reaches out to grab the spider from Brother Zilroy's head.
Initiative: 1d20(+3)=9, Grapple: 1d20+4=24
I believe the spider gets an attack of opportunity; if someone else grabs it before me, he'll just swipe at one with his sword.

Sword at the ready, Gallows walks to the hole on the left wall and peers in with his remaining eye.
Perception: 1d20+2=17

"It looks like it keeps going... I'll check it out." Miasshirra takes a moment to light one of her own torches then hops down into the next room. Once there, she looks more closely for signs of recent goblin passage.

Gallows chuckles at Rynia's remarks.
"Who knew fungus was such a competitive business? I'll say a prayer for this soul the next time toadstools are on the menu."

Gallows' smirk makes his scar shift, making it look like his mouth goes all the way to his eye.
"Clearly, he was picking mushrooms. All the rage among our social betters, right?"
He heads behind Miasshirra to check out the opening in the opposite wall.

Gallows chuckles to himself dryly as Tusker speaks to the rat. He addresses someone seemingly in the rafters...
"And people tell me I'm strange. Can you believe that, Lothian? ... Yeah, I guess you'd know better'n anyone."
He draws his longsword from its scabbard.
"Well, in we go. After our distracted "guide", of course."

"Aye, it wouldn't be proper to leave the house unexamined. No telling what new menace could move into the vacancy."
Gallows goes through his portion, counts out 25 gold coins and returns them to Father Fabitor.
"Lothian gets a quarter and since I don't see him around to collect, maybe you should hold this for him, eh?"
I believe Fabitor has said each of us would get 100 gold.

Gallows scratches at the scar on his cheek, occasionally turning his head where no one can see to get under the eyepatch. 'Always flaring up, the damned thing.' he can be heard to mutter.

"All's well that ends well, then. What's next? We can do another long look through that "haunted house" for anything we missed, mayhap."

"Before we go see Father Fabitor, though, does anyone else think these guys're too dumb to think of this on their own? Have you asked 'em if anyone put 'em up to this, Tusker?"

"I say Father Fabitor. They're all the proof we need that the haunting was a hoax, since they'll admit it and he can manage getting them to the Brotherhood of Redemption or wherever he sees fit to send them. We look into either disguising them to get past the neighbors or ask the Watch to keep an eye in case of some... unpleasant developments. As much as I love a lynch-mob, they tend to make a mess of justice."

"Not that justice isn't messy. It often is. Do you know what they say about watching someone make sausage or the law?"
Gallows smiles, causing the scar on his cheek to distort and almost disappear.

"Aye, Father Fabitor may be the best person to take care of 'em. Failing that, I know a stern old dwarf at the orphanage that can knock the sense into 'em. Heh. Worked on me, right?"
Gallows chuckles dryly at his own joke.
"There's always the guard, too. I'd say the real problem is keeping the neighbors off of 'em on the way out. Ptolus is a pretty tolerant place most of the time, but you never can tell."

" 'The righteous man wages war with a just blade and a merciful heart', so sayeth Lothian and so we praise him with our deeds."
Gallows touches the ankh of Lothian to his eyepatch in supplication.

"Though I suppose I'll have to do some measure of penance for the one that caught on fire... Anyhow, let's take a look around at what they may have been doing up here."
Gallows will search the area as best he can.
1d20+1=10

Gallows pulls off his cloak and starts beating out the flames on the goblin.

"Someone grab the other one.", he says,"And in my defense, a fire elemental started the other fire. And they shouldn't ought to have thrown that bottle at me, coming in all peaceful-like as I was."

"As if losing one eye weren't enough.", he grumbles.

Gallows' face darkens as shattered glass falls from the doorjamb about his shoulders. He pulls a flask of alchemist's fire from his belt pouch.

"I've had about all I can stands, I can't stands no more!!"

He throws the flask at the armoire, hoping to flush out the goblins.
Ranged touch vs. the armoire: 1d20=18

"Ah, hearing voices.", thinks Gallows,"That takes me back."

Gallows advances for the rear bedroom, since the situation is in order. Hand on his sword, he calls slowly in common:

"Put your weapons down and you will live. Resist and, well, don't resist."

Gallows goes for any that haven't been caught in Rynia's color spray.
Is this where we resurrect the Use Rope skill?

"Aye," whispers Gallows,"no justice in killing unarmed, sleeping goblins. There's nothing to suggest they've killed anyone. I'm sure the knives are a 'just in case' measure, right? Here's what we do: block all the exits, the rest of us start hog-tying goblins. If they fight with lethal force, we respond in kind."

Stepping gingerly through the hall, Gallows silently takes up a position by the door opposite Cadwyn and Zilroy.

"Can anyone tell if this is several people, or just one person who has used it many times? I don't really have that kind of experience."

"Not sure. It looks like several of the little buggers, but my opinion ain't enough to hang anyone on. Well, let's see what's up there."

He starts up the stairs, his good eye looking for anything strange on the way.
Perception: 1d20+1=10

As the others examine the kitchen and door, Miasshirra begins checking the room for a cellar or trap door, making little hopping motions as she tests the floor.

Perception (1d20+5=11)

I think you need to fire this Rogue, unless she starts rolling better.

The one-eyed paladin raises an eyebrow at the mention of an Old God's nether-parts, but doesn't say anything. Borderline heretics like himself should usually avoid theological scolding.

"I think it matters little. Like Ms. Rynia said, it's likely they know we're here, if they're around at all. I suspect the house may be empty to begin with. When night falls it may be a different situation. We should look around some more, see why they're faking the haunting."

" 'In a land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king'. See those footprints?", Gallows points to the small prints left in the dust near the chains, some still intelligible around Cadwyn's prints.

"And look at the dust around the walls out there. Some strange cleaning habits; this ghost needs to have a discussion with his housekeeper. Heh."

Perception: 1d20+1=17

Gallows takes as much in as he can with his good eye and says little. He takes up a position near the other door, taking a moment to press his ear to it and listen.

"Are you all right, Ms. Rynia? Perhaps the ghost is starting with mild inconveniences in order to build tension, hence your unfortunate toe. Watch your ears; it may know the Wet Willie."

Gallows takes a deep breath and opens his good eye.

"I sense no evil from the house. Let's go inside; I think you've charmed enough of the neighborhood that they'll be pleased regardless of what we find."

"Strange smell, eh? Could well be a ghost's victim if someone went in to investigate or a dead body got stuck between floors. That happened once in the orphanage; we noticed the cat was gone one day and couldn't find him. He was an old cat to begin with, you know, so we just figured he had croaked somewhere. 'The cat that croaked', that's funny. Like a frog. Anyways, around summer it started to smell really bad by the girl's dormitory and Father Davrel had to crawl up there and take a look after we tried a few things, since he was the only adult small enough to do the job. There he was in the crawl space, poor fellow. The cat, not Davrel. I don't feel sorry for him being up there, just the cat. Hmm. I maybe should have kept that one to myself."

"Or it could be that the ghost is allergic to soap. Hmm. Maybe that's the trick to holy water, besides the Divine Grace of Lothian."

The paladin turns toward the house, oblivious to any reactions to his monologue, and closes his good eye in order to focus on the aura of the house.
Using detect evil on the haunted house.

Gallows, previously occupied with looking over the block, butts into the conversation.

"Has this spirit had any house calls recently? Curious children or vagrants?"

Gallows raises an eyebrow at the felf's information.
" 'Murthul', hm?"
He repeats the name a few times, turning it over, savoring it.
"Murthul. That's a killer's name if I've heard one and I don't need Lothian to tell me. Hurm. Murthul."

The one-eyed paladin offers a handshake to Miasshirra.
"Greetings to you. Name's Simon. But you should call me Gallows. Everyone else does."

Gallows takes the holy water and potion with a nod to Father Fabitor. With a wry smile he asks:
"What can you tell us about this restless spirit and its trouble with the neighbors? Too many guests? Revelry at all hours? Or just terrible personal hygiene?"

Gallows nods to the others, taking a quizzical look with his good eye at the elf with the tail speaking to an acolyte, but he says nothing. He'll return to the boarding house near the orphanage where he stays and offer up his nightly prayers (and penance for whatever real or imagined sins he had committed) before going to bed.

Gallows wrote:

Gallows nods to Rynia and Cadwyn.
"You are welcome to join us, if it please you madam, sir."

To Father Fabitor, he replies:

"I'm willing to aid your parishioner. But I have an unrelated question: do you know anything of children born with strange runes on their bodies?"

"I've heard of such things brother," says Fabitor. "There are legends of children born with birthmarks shaped like arcane runes. Legend says these individuals are harbingers of great change. Whether that change be good or bad is hotly debated by some scholars. Why do you ask?"

Gallows nods to Rynia and Cadwyn.
"You are welcome to join us, if it please you madam, sir."

To Father Fabitor, he replies:

"I'm willing to aid your parishioner. But I have an unrelated question: do you know anything of children born with strange runes on their bodies?"

"You really think that Phon might be in deeper trouble, Gallows? Oh my...I never even considered that. That would just be my luck -- I try to help someone out and just make things worse. The story of my life..." Zilroy sighs gloomily.

The one-eyed paladin lets the thought remain incomplete and scoops up his share of the money without comment.

"I would caution against giving Phon any false hope, Brother. We haven't resolved the why of it yet and even if you cut off a snake's tail, it'll grow back. Such are the scum of this city, even as they crawl on their bellies. They are craven now, with their feet in the fire, yet still they dream of revenge."

Gallows turns his head to and fro to sweep the Chapel with his good eye, as if already calculating a defense.

Gallows will also make a Knowledge (nobility) check to see if he recognizes any of the high-born adventurers at his side, if that's possible. Knowledge: Nobility=1d20+4=12

Zilroy Specterbane wrote:

"Hello, we're looking for a young lady named Phon. Father Fabitor was looking after her, I think. Are either of them in at the moment?"

"Of course, Brother. You are expected."

The young man leaves for a few minutes and returns with Father Fabitor. "Good evening," he says. He is about to say something else, but hesitates. Then he says, "Good heavens, have you been in a fight? There's blood on your clothing? Are you hurt?"

"He wanted us dead and didn't really respond to being asked nicely to cease and desist. You could say things got... heated. Likely had it coming for a long time, but it is a pity that we weren't a bit more gentle."

Gallows rubs the brown whiskers on the scarred side of his face.

"Not sure what a 'myrmidon' is, but there were a bunch of thugs and lowlifes. Is that what that word means?"

He kicks Cran's limp boot.

"Here's our myrmidon right here, dead as a doornail and his secrets taken with him to whatever Lothian has in store. And since giving that Adderwood the beating he fully deserves would likely leave us with little valuable information and a huge stain on the Lawbringer's opinion of us (and our nice clothing), we've little else to go on."

The grim paladin takes the offered hand in a brief grip and fixes Rynia into his good eye.

"Call me Gallows, Miss. Whatever your motives, this neighborhood is in your debt."

Gallows gladly hands over Adderwood. When they walk off, he exhales and touches the symbol of Lothian around his neck.

"Aye, as my Brother has said, thank you all for your assistance. The Lawgiver smiles upon such acts, so we are told and so we believe."

Adderwood rolls his eyes as Gallows and Zilroy attempt to reason with him. "You got attacked because we knew the hit didn't go well and that some one would be coming after us. As I said, minding your own business in the future will improve your longevity." His tone is condescending. His voice has a pinched, nasal quality that furthers his 'lecturing school marm' sound. "It's not as if this girl was anyone important. I can't see your interest in the matter."

While this discussion takes place, the City watch approaches our heroes. A sergeant says, "What's going on here, who's responsible for this?"

The fire is now well under control. A little more effort from the volunteers and the newly arrived fighter and sorceress should finish off the process in short order.

"Sergeant, this gentleman is responsible for summoning the fire elemental that started the blaze. We sought to speak with one Mr. Cran in regards to an assault he arranged yesterday evening [ooc]right?[/occ]. The, Mister Cran in question (the corpse at my associate's feet), two other men, two dogs and this pile of offal decided to attack us."

With the fire under control, Gallows nods to Cadwyn as thanks for his assistance and saunters over to the rest of the group in time to hear the exchange between Yarag and the mage.

Yarag of House Rau wrote:

After the mage finishes his few spells, Yarag takes him by the arm, just to make sure he doesn't try anything silly.

"You owe us an explanation. Those men died over a contract on a little girl and you better have some good information for us. What do they call you, mage?"

Intimidate roll 10+4=14

"I don't owe you a thing," says the wizard with surprise and disdain. "I'm one of Cran's bodyguards. My name is Collus Adderwood. Mr. Adderwood to you. I fail to see why you cannot mind your own business."

"Of course, how dare we intrude so upon you after your attempt to kill all of us and set the whole neighborhood ablaze when all we sought was to speak to your employer. Mr. Adderwood, I must say that I find your sense of entitlement rather strange given the circumstances. Allow me to level with you, eh? Your boss is dead, your scabrous low-life comrades have run like the rats they are. All we want is information and you can go along to be someone else's toady provided the Watch don't want you for something. Who was Cran and why would he want Phon Quartermain dead?"

Diplomacy: 1d20+7=12
Aw, nuts. I guess Gallows' undisguised hatred foils his attempt at playing nice, once again.

"Gonna catch the neighbor's house if we don't start on the buckets. Keep an eye out, I'm gonna round up whoever I can."

Gallows runs down the street, calling 'fire' and tries to start a bucket brigade.

Gallows makes a wild swing at his assailant, coughing from the rising smoke on the ground floor.
Longsword: 1d20+4=10, 1d8+2=4

Gallows grins widely, despite the cut on his neck.

"You do that and I'll be a saint,"he replies to the thug,"and you'll still be nothing but street trash."

Longsword: 1d20+4=6, 1d8+2=8

Initiative: 1d20+3=5, Attack: 1d20+4=17, Damage: 1d8+2=5

I'm going for the nearest thug.

"I'll take a look around back, check out any other exits."

Gallows draws his own sword.

"OH, you're staying."

Gallows continues to smile broadly.

"I'm sorry. My young friend, he's a bit wound up. Being called a liar to your face when you know you're not tends to do that to a man. And a young man, well, you know what kind of firebrands they can be. To be honest, I don't know if I could control him if I wanted to."

He surveys the room with his good eye.

"We got off on the wrong foot. Allow me to introduce myself: my name's Simon. But you should call me Gallows, as in the leafless tree. I've wasted enough of your time, so I'm going to cut to the chase. You either stop lying to my face and spill some information on the Pale Dogs and the man that hired your extraordinarily inept muggers or I honestly doubt your little olive and feta business is going to be filling orders tomorrow. We know they were going to be payed, at this time, in this warehouse. This is the last time I'm asking politely."

"And by the way, feel free to call the Watch. We'll tell 'em our story, you tell 'em yours and we'll have a little get-to-know-each-other party right here in the office! Won't that be fun?"

Gallows turns a discerning (right) eye on the two bureaucrats as he pulls the note about meeting up here from his pocket and slides it into their view.

"If we're mistaken, I'm terribly sorry. But the man we apprehended yesterday in this grave assault had this on his person and we thought following up on it was the wisest course of action. Upright citizens like ourselves can't tolerate such lowlife, good-for-nothing scum on our streets, can we?"

The one-eyed paladin watches for a reaction, particularly from the fat man.

Sense Motive: 1d20+5=22

Gallows smiles broadly.

"How's the murder for hire business, boys?"

"Some reason we shouldn't just go up and talk to them?" Tusker asks quietly. "We're not going to learn much just standing around here..."

Gallows hides his holy symbol beneath his mail.