Tightening the strap on his klar, Karmid pulls out the key and tests it in the lock then stops suddenly.
"Should we knock first? Just...in case? What if there are more ghouls here?"
"Strange woman." Drasven remarks as he watches her leaving.
"It seems that Karmid's and my presence seems to have scared her off. I truly wonder what did she intend to do."
=========================================================================== =============
Drasven looks at the big man as he voices his question.
"Ghouls in a city as big as this not detected?" he pauses.
"I'll be really worried about the city itself to have fallen into suh a state but one cannot be too careful in this." he steps back to give himself space.
So about that house...I've being told by the friendly locals that it's being boarded up at street level."
Ro waits by the door for Karmid to unlock it.
"I'll take a quick listen."
Ro puts her ear up against the door trying to hear any noises from inside the place.
"We have a key so we're not breaking in. No need to knock. Wait until everyone's ready to go in before opening the door though"
Ro surreptitiously slips her starknife off the hanger on her belt and into her hand. She holds it low and pressed in close to her leg so it's not easy to see.
Ro listens at the door but does not pick up anything out of the ordinary. The house seems quiet.
While scanning the street, Lia and Jili do notice that there is a passing group of three guards that is beginning to take some interest in them, however.
Frowning, Karmid uses the key and opens the door...legally and waves everybody in.,,
Drasven walks in......
The key opens the lock of the front door with little effort as everyone files into a large foyer with a Keleshite carpet on the floor. Several doors lead from this room including a set of double doors in front of you and two door to the left. One of the doors to the left is open a crack while the rest are closed. A spiral staircase leads up to the second floor to the right.
The house smells very musty as if it hadn't been lived in for quite some time, and many dust motes can be seen in the small beams of light that crisscross the foyer through the boarded-up windows.
As you are getting your bearings, you pick up the sound of quiet knife chopping coming through the cracked door to your left.
A strangely familiar voice calls out, "Please come in. We heard at the last minute you were coming and with the servants gone, the wife and I are throwing together a quick repast in the kitchen."
"Who in the Hells is that? Servants??"
"I thought this place was empty?" Drasven says with some confusion.
Ro freezes in place at the sound of the voice. Then she quickly takes an inventory of doors or entrances into the room.
Unsure what to do, Karmid looks at Ro and readies his hammer...just in case.
Ro is at a loss as well. She keeps her starknife in hand and replies with a "Hello, thanks!", hoping to get them to talk again so she can identify the direction it's coming from with certainty.
Lia waves to the 3 Guards with a friendly smile, before being pulled along by her companions.
As she enters with the others and hears the voice, she exchanges a quick glance with Flutter, before responding:
The male voice from the kitchen continues. "Come on in, we're almost done with the appetizers."
Hmm?
"Aren't they both dead?" he whispers to the rest as he grips the stock of his crossbow tighter.
Karmid nods wildly.
"I'm pretty sure I remember turning them and their whole 'evil' house to ash...with Lia's help. Resurrection magic? I've heard about some pretty weird stuff nobles pay for to stay alive longer..."
"I think they are Not-Me's. If it was resurrection they'd probably kill each other all over again if they do it with both."
"Aye, coming in. Thank you."
Lia starts to move towards the direction the sound comes from, speaking until she makes visual contact with someone: "You know, Iesha, I wanted to thank you for your Scarf and...FIREBALL."
DC17 Reflex for Half
"Oh." Drasven notes dryly
"We're saying hi." he sights his crossbow down the sights as he moves forward to stand firmly in front of Lia once she's fired her spells.
Ro knows exactly what Lia is up to as soon as she starts a spell. For a split second she feels the urge to counsel caution and restraint until they know more, but only for a split second.
Nah, burn 'em.
Ro readies to enter the kitchen after the flames subside.
Looking around agog, Karmid steps back...
"Did we just invade a home and...torch it? Again?"
"Go Lia." Jili whispers. "We know they are both dead, and gone. We did that ourselves."
Staring at Lia, Karmid waves his klar around.
"WHY do I suddenly feel like a mad 'voice of reason' here! Amongst THIS group? Really? Ro? We have NO evidence of ANTTHING yet...they could be paid actors..."
Karmid knows he's reaching for anything to stymie his cohorts sudden aggressiveness.
"Do you feel like talking to dead people....again?" Drasven pokes Karmid seeing that the big man was wondering why they decided to go full pyro.
"Also the house was boarded up recently. I guess we found the reason."
Ro just shrugs at Karmid. Her expression is the kind one wears when, after eradicating the ants in the kitchen last week, one finds they are back the next.
"Do you really believe any of that Karmid?"
Flabbergasted, Karmid stares at her.
"What? I don't know...we could have at least made SURE who and what they are...were...before roasting them in their own juices!"
"Either we were played for suckers at the Misgivings, or we're being played for suckers now. Which do you think it is? Remember how anxious I was to get here before word made it here about what happened at the Misgivings? Obviously we didn't."
As Lia steps around the corner, she sees Aldern and Iesha Foxglove happily preparing food in their kitchen. Both look as if the events of the past few months have not occurred, and are both in the bloom of their youth. They look up and smile when they see her, but their expressions freeze when she launches the spell at them. With lightning-fast reflexes they both drop behind the island in the center of the kitchen and avoid the worst of the flames.
Drasven Hammers
Lia Tani
Karmid Groundbreaker
Rojava Brishen
Jiliana Dalca
Aldern and Iesha
"That was not very nice!" Aldern calls out as both launch themselves themselves from a crouched position through a second door to the right into another room.
Everything in the kitchen that can be on fire is now on fire or at least smouldering, including the shelves that line the wall, the island work table in the center of the room, and the one against the wall to your right. There are two other exits from this room, both of them open. The one straight ahead leads to a small darkened chamber, while the one ahead and to the right seems to lead to the dining room; that's the one Iesha and Aldern dove through.
The room everyone but Lia is standing in contains three doors: one to the kitchen (where Lia is now standing), one to the left that is closed, and a double door ahead (that might be the room Iesha and Aldern moved into). There is a also a spiral staircase going up to the second floor.
Karmid looks helplessly at Ro.
"I...don't know what to do here. Are they hurt?"
He then back up to the front door where they entered.
The dwarf moves towards the room he thinks the two might have gone.
"Well you just saw two dead people very much alive. What do you think?"
Lia turns invisible, then moves to follow Aldern and Iesha.
"I'd hope they're hurt. Look Karmid we're being conned. We know what happened at The Misgivings. Just grow a pair and help us find them."
Ro goes to the double doors and throws them open, looking for the two villains behind the voices.
Reluctantly Karmid raises his hammer and follows Ro without another word, resentment flashing for only a moment across his face.
Jili moves toward the other door bow out ready to fire.
Lia follows Aldern and Iesha into what appears to be a formal dining room, although the table and chairs have been covered by dust cloths. The two dash to another set of double doors at the far end of the room but find them locked. Iesha begin fumbling around in her pockets, seemingly looking for a key.
Ro throws open the doors to the dining room from the foyer. She easily spots Aldern and Iesha trying to leave via the double doors that seem to go to a back courtyard.
Drasven on seeing the couple in the room, in a commanding voice orders the Lesha!
"Do Not Move!"
Prohibition (Su): As a standard action, you can command a creature within 30 feet to refrain from committing a particular action (including any referenced in the spell forbid actionUM). If the creature performs the named action before the beginning of your next turn, it takes 1d6 points of damage + 1 point for every 2 cleric levels you possess and the effect ends. This is a language-dependent effect. You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Wisdom modifier.
Iesha stops in her tracks as she fumbles through her pockets, her eyes fixed on Drasven.
Aldern looks her up and down, sizing up her condition, before taking a step back and throwing himself bodily through the glass door, and picking himself up painfully on the far side.
Ro strides into the room and begins to castigate the pair for all manner of offenses. She tears into them for their horribleness impersonating dead people to harm them, their stupidity in believing for a moment it would work, and their craven, skulking service to some low rent master who put them up to the poorly conceived stunt.
As Ro casts her spell, Aldern bursts into flame on the veranda, while Iesha steels herself against the onslaught.
,
Drasven lines up his crossbow and takes his shot at Aldern seeing that the imposter has already reached outside.
His shot hits the edge of the door instead..The dwarf stays where he is and calmly reloads.
Tired of all the violence, Karmid sets his hammer down a moment and taps his holy symbol tattooed on his chest then waves at the garden past the door speaking words in Shoanti.
Tired of all the violence, Karmid sets his hammer down a moment and taps his holy symbol tattooed on his chest then waves at the garden past the door speaking words in Shoanti.