Sheeeyat.
Sense Motive:
Perception:
Rholf:
Edwin tilts his head as he gazes at the stranger, then shrugs.
"A valid question. And one that I would be glad to spend an evening discussing. Even if we did not solve the conundrums of generations of emotional and religious questions, I feel certain that I would find your viewpoints, enlightening."
"However, at the moment I am on a timetable. If you would excuse me for a moment ser?" Edwin bows slightly, but politely, and turns to assist Larissa. Trusting Rholf and Leik to guard and watch their new acquaintance.
It's not magic. It's drooled on though.....not a good thing. Lycanthropy can be passed through drool....
"Yes, there is some risk. I said stop whining, I'll deal with it. I'm not having my hired men going off howling at the moon or whatever ratmen do. Oh be quiet - If my friends aren't back by morning we'll get you to the temple of Pharasma. Shhh."
"Easy for you to say, toots; you're not gonna turn into one of them bastiches!"
And the nosferatu waits; you guys are able to eventually do in all the vamp spawn.
Edwin keeps looking over his shoulder at the unusually patient Vampire. Capital 'V'.
'Why not?' He thinks to himself as he and his companions stake, slice and soak the final vamp in the coffin.
'If you live long enough, I'm fairly certain anyone could learn patience,...'
"And nor are you, not while you're with me. Come along."
Deciding that she'll get no rest before her hirelings hurts are tended, Alinya tows him back round to the front of the inn in search of a carriage.
"The temple of Pharasma, and quickly!"
Alinya makes it to the temple......due to her friendship with Rholfy they hook her henchman up with some goodies......
"Quickly!" shouts the albino excitedly; "we must make haste!!!"
Edwin keeps looking over his shoulder at the unusually patient Vampire. Capital 'V'.
'Why not?' He thinks to himself as he and his companions stake, slice and soak the final vamp in the coffin.
'If you live long enough, I'm fairly certain anyone could learn patience,...'
He seems to be asleep standing up.....
As they watch the last vampire from the coffin smoulder from the effects of the last splash of holy water, Edwin eyes his nearly empty bottle of holy water with a silent sigh.
'I hope I don't need any more of this. Immediately.' He thinks as he tucks the bottle back into his jacket.
He looks at Rholf, then Larissa and Leik. He straightens his collar and tie.
"Good evening sir." He addresses the latest arrival,...
Alinya makes it to the temple......due to her friendship with Rholfy they hook her henchman up with some goodies......
"Quickly!" shouts the albino excitedly; "we must make haste!!!"
Alinya makes a generous donation for a simple casting of remove disease.
"There now, that wasn't so bad, was it? Thank the nice acolyte, and we'll be on our way. Another hour of study for me, then some sleep. And I'm sure you have some alcohol or a bar fight to be getting on with.
As they watch the last vampire from the coffin smoulder from the effects of the last splash of holy water, Edwin eyes his nearly empty bottle of holy water with a silent sigh.
'I hope I don't need any more of this. Immediately.' He thinks as he tucks the bottle back into his jacket.
He looks at Rholf, then Larissa and Leik. He straightens his collar and tie.
"Good evening sir." He addresses the latest arrival,...
He laughs.
"oh,....if you only knew....how mad the sire of those things would be....."then,
"so. The golem. What's in it for you? Why do you care?"
"The golem is the victim of false accusations. There is significant reason to believe it did none of the harm it is accused of. That is enough for me."
"The golem appears to have some very un-golemlike qualities. Were it a normal golem, the only issue would be finding its maker and bringing them to justice. As it stands thus far, the larger issue appears to be the injustice being done against a creature not unlike yourself in some respects, and then there is the secondary issue of locating its maker. Sometimes, sir, what is 'in it' for a person is merely to see what right be done."
"So, you feel that the golem is.....sentient? I.....I find it hard to believe that, because, long story short that just should not be. And yet,.....well,.....I'm a corpse and I'm talking to you.
What does it say?"
He laughs.
"oh,....if you only knew....how mad the sire of those things would be....."then,
"so. The golem. What's in it for you? Why do you care?"
Edwin gives his companions a sidelong glance.
"Oh, the way this groups luck runs, we might still find out,..." he murmurs wryly. Then smiles pleasantly as his companions answer the question first.
Edwin shrugs.
"Do you mean what do we gain, literally? Nothing substantial. We can give the usual tropes, protecting the innocent, finding and punishing the true guilty parties, and so forth and so on. And they may be true, depending upon the speaker." he nods politely towards his companions.
"And they ARE all true, at least to a point. Depending upon your point of view. But the truth is,... I am intrigued. The golem appears to posses a sentience and will of it's own. Most unusual. And someone has gone to a great deal of trouble to not only hide that fact, but to commit several severe atrocities AND frame the creature for their actions. Again, Intriguing. But, for myself, the greatest crime is that whomever is behind this has the capacity for such a scheme, and chooses to squander their potential on THIS instead. It is an insult to those of us with true gifts, and I would see such upstarts put in their proper place." Edwin smiles charmingly.
"Indeed, I sometimes find that my own reasons sometimes sound trite and selfish even to mine own ears." He admits, almost appearing surprised to be admitting it to this creature that they just met.
"But the truth is, I detest wasted potential, I abhor violence as a means to an end or worse, an end unto itself, And I absolutely cannot resist the challenge of finding the truth amid all of the scattered scenarios that we have found ourselves investigating. THAT is my true reward. I get the pleasure of looking the culprit in the face and allowing him to realize that he has been beaten at his own game."
Edwin shrugs, again. "Alas, I suspect that my personal reasons will never gain me access to paladinhood. But I shall muddle through and comfort myself with the knowledge that I have assisted my companions with their own potentially nobler goals."
Edwin chuckles softly. "Ah, Apologies. I do sometimes fall in love with the sound of my own voice. I hope that we have suitably answered your questions?" He asks with a polite smile.
"So, you feel that the golem is.....sentient? I.....I find it hard to believe that, because, long story short that just should not be. And yet,.....well,.....I'm a corpse and I'm talking to you.
What does it say?"
"Indeed. It does posses and display signs of sentience."
He coughs softly. "Unfortunately, 'sentience' and 'intelligence' do not necessarily go together." He adds wryly.
"In short, he says he didn't do the things he is accused of. Unfortunately he does seem to have a temper problem. Which makes his assisting in his own defense,... difficult."
"I guess so. And, as I suspected, left me with more unanswered ones.
Violence is indeed the last resort of the base, but it does seem to be the natural state of the physical world.
Kill, eat, breed, die, stand up dead, kill some more, breed some more after a fashion.......
It seems to me that to abhor violence is to abhor the very state of natural law and existence."
"In short, he says he didn't do the things he is accused of. Unfortunately he does seem to have a temper problem. Which makes his assisting in his own defense,... difficult."
"How ironic. That that defense mechanism should damn him. The very same one that seems to have this seething herd of humanity here in Lepidstadt under its sway.
Indeed, that it should even have defense mechanisms....."
"I guess so. And, as I suspected, left me with more unanswered ones.
Violence is indeed the last resort of the base, but it does seem to be the natural state of the physical world.
Kill, eat, breed, die, stand up dead, kill some more, breed some more after a fashion.......
It seems to me that to abhor violence is to abhor the very state of natural law and existence."
"Hm. Interesting thought. Although there are schools of thought that would argue that, being sentient, we are above the laws of nature. At the same time, other schools of thought believe that 'civilized' man's very behavior proves natural law to be right. Ah well, perhaps we can continue that discussion later?"
Edwin smirks slightly. "And I never said that I eschewed violence. Far from it. Sometimes the simplest solution is the easiest, and possibly even the correct answer to a given problem. One can accept that, and still be disdainful of the act of violence itself."
Edwin shrugs. "At least, I have found that to be true."
"How ironic. That that defense mechanism should damn him. The very same one that seems to have this seething herd of humanity here in Lepidstadt under its sway.
Indeed, that it should even have defense mechanisms....."
"Indeed." Edwin unintentionally echoes the mysterious vampire.
"While we have found clues that may explain some of his origin, we have yet to uncover the entire story. Although I feel that we are very close. Indeed, despite his mysterious origin, we are actually very close to solving the riddles of his supposed crimes. Indeed, that is what brings us here tonight."
Edwin very slowly and deliberately reaches into his coin pouch, and withdraws one of the ancient gold pieces from it. He holds it up so that the other can see it.
"We are following an adage of mine that I use when solving more common crimes. I call it 'Follow the money'. Have you, perchance, seen these coins before?" he asks the vampire politely.
His jovial mood turns wan, rigid, stone cold disposition; deathly serious of a sudden.
"Where,...did you get.....that?...."
As Edwin produces the coin, Rholf tenses a little more, watching the vampire but giving quick, nervous glances at companions now and again.
His jovial mood turns wan, rigid, stone cold disposition; deathly serious of a sudden.
"Where,...did you get.....that?...."
"Lots of places - or the purses of lots of failed thugs, anyway. They all seem to have had the common misfortune of accepting money - this money - to stop our questions. We would like to know how those thugs got it. You seem to recognize it - perhaps you know where it started its journey."
"Yes,... someone seems to have gone to a great deal of trouble to try to stop us. The odd thing is, I cannot see anyone with this kind of coinage willing to part with it from his collection. It is worth more as a historic piece than as a coin. But there does seem to be quite a few of them floating around in the purses of otherwise common thugs." He adds, tapping his purse.
Whatever inner conflict may have been going on in Rholf's mind appears to dissolve as his nervousness subsides, and he says "Indeed. You do appear to recognize the coins. And unless I'm mistaken, your refinements appear to share the same approximate age as these mintings."
Once Larissa speaks, it's like he doesn't see you guys any more.
A litany of ancient and colorful swear words, some Ustalav, some unrecognizable, and some Atlan pour from his lips.
He reaches into his tattered clothing, producing vial after vial of chymickule, hurling them at the pile of coffins and crates in his tantrum, and at the walls, and the whole place bursts into flame.
He continues his cursing; he doesn't seem to be angry at the party or throwing anything at them per se, but......the building is going up in flame. Aye, he doesn't even seem to notice them any more.
"Hrm,..."
Edwin pulls his arm back, and hurls something of his own at the cursing vampire. His glove. With a wet 'smack' it hits the creatures cheek, and falls to the floor.
"I do beg your pardon sir. But you appear to be having a tantrum. While I am certain that there is a perfectly good explanation for your outburst, I surmise that here and now might not be the best time. And I do so hate to see a nobleman lose control of himself. It is unseemly." He says with just the right amount of disdain. The amount that would make any blue blooded nobleman exit the room in shame.
"I take it from your reaction that you do, indeed, know the coins origins. I ask you to share the information with us. In return, I can promise that we shall visit a proportionately accurate amount of unpleasantness upon the individual(s) in question."
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"Yesss..."
He's not reachable at the moment. Epic s@$&fit.
Rholf glances back at the door they entered this room by, then flings his gaze to the stairs the vampire came down...
"Leave him! We have to get out of here NOW!" Rholf yells above the roar of the building flames.
With a slight frown, Edwin nods in agreement with Rholf.
"'I'm sorry, the vampire you are attempting reach is not here at the moment. Please leave a note and he'll contact you at the soonest opportunity'" He mutters.
"Come along!" He says clearly, looking back the way they came.
"Shortest route and all that. Ladies first. Just because we're in a hurry is no reason to use bad manners." He says with a slight bow to Larissa, indicating the ladder.
Edwin snags his glove, not wishing to leave it to the flames. With a last glance at the tantrum throwing vampire, he shakes his head.
"I don't suppose that your natural body armor provides you with resistance to flames?" he asks Leik curiously.
"Because that might come in very handy, very shortly." He adds trying not to cough on the smoke already filling the room.
Larissa hustles up the ladder ahead of the men, alert for whoever might up on the next level ahead of them.
"I will go last. Fire is good, doesnt hurt me so much. It is hard to not admire such a blaze, but I am eager to see it from outside as well."
Edwin looks thoughtful, then grins as he claps the insectoid on the shoulder. (?!?)
"A most sensible desire. I believe I shall join you!" He says cheerfully.
He turns and gestures to Rholf.
"Up you go sir! No sense in letting the lady wait upstairs by herself! After you!" He coughs out the last words, his eyes stinging from the smoke.
Rholf books it outta there, trying to stay alert for possible attacks.
Larissa is looking for an exit from the building as soon as her head is above floor level as she climbs the ladder, but she will definitely note any occupants of the room and wait by the ladder for the men to join her.
Rholf books it outta there, trying to stay alert for possible attacks.
"Don't dawdle now Leik. It isn't polite to keep the lady waiting." Edwin calls to the insectoid as he follows closely behind Rholf as swiftly as it is safe to do so.
Leik brings up the rear of the escaping party, taking one last parting look at the insane vampire.
Leik sees him just chucking vials of inflammable nature and cursing and gesticulating......the smoke draws in,....and there's a cool breeze on sweaty bodies as you exit the burning building.
Not much action on the streets hereabouts. The back garden drinking facility is cleared out.
back in an hour
Alinya and her hired manarrive back at the inn. She pays him and congratulates him on a job well done. It's the verbal equivalent of patting a dog on the head, but she means it sincerely.
She retires to her scrolls and her inks and her slowly growing grimoire of arcana.
Leik exits the building and looks about to see that the others who were in there with him are safe, and then will admire the fire from a slight distance.
If he can do so on the sly without getting caught, he might *cough* coax a few pieces of burning lumber in the direction of other nearby structures.
You can just pay the cost on scrolls.
Leik: