GM Kyshkumen's The Dragons Demand

Game Master Kyshkumen

Zilch follows the gang to the local, podunk watering hole.

"Yeah, that Smyth seemed a bit too careless...almost like he wanted to get caught. But I've got to give him credit though, he sure hired good people to watch his poop."

If they arrive to the bar, Zilch will order a cheap meal of whatever and a few flagons of ale, trying to get the scent of poop out of his nostrils.

A young woman with dark hair greets you as you enter the common room of the inn. "welcome to the Wise Piper Inn, what brings you to Belhaim?"

"I thought all...that is.... yes, he was a little dense."

His eyebrows arch. "A little?" Either that, or he can put on the biggest act this side of the Sczarni.

As he settles into what passes for civilization, instincts from his upbringing return and he seeks to find something potable and edible. Tired of living of Heladel's twiggish fare of the woods, but conscious of his limited coin, he settles on an affordable vintage and any dish that is primarily meat. Definitely not any more Elven porridge.

As the woman approaches, he pulls his cloak tight over his ears, and squints so his eyes aren't so obvious. Responding to the woman's inquiry, "Cup of wine." Too few coins for a bottle of a proper vintage. Or even a glass. "And a slab of that." He simply gestures to whatever he sees or smells roasting on the kitchen's spit.

"Oh. The sheriff said a job, too." As I stoop to seek gainful employment in a backwoods inn. Bah!

"What my good friend means..." Candrana adds quickly, before the poor half-elf risks their shot at a paying job. "...is we've had a bit of bad luck with our last employer, and the sheriff mentioned you might take pity on us until another caravan or something comes along." Poor thing. You'd be crabby too, ಚಂದ್ರನ, if your blood was all muddled and such. Well, more muddled and such.

"So you've lost your jobs and are stuck here till something else comes along? Poor things, I have some soft beds and extra food for a few days till something else comes along. Wouldn't be proper to just leave you out on the street. Why don't you take a seat at one of the tables and I'll bring you some food." It takes her a few minutes to bring out a meal of fresh bread with cheese and honey, along with some watery mead. It isn't much but compared to what you were eating on the road it smells delicious.

Zilch's jaw drops from the unexpected niceness and decency from the woman.

"I'm speechless. Usually when I go into bars, I'm spit on or kicked or treated rudely. Please know how much your gesture of kindness means to me," Zilch says in a moment of profound awe.

He happily digs into the feast, all the while vowing to somehow repay the woman (maybe even with his spare coin...but let's not go crazy yet).

"Hey Aodan, pass the turtlecheese, please."

"Your welcome, but you'll have to excuse me as this is the start of the evening meal so it gets rather busy." You have noticed that a few locals have started filling up the tables while you waited for your food. While the common room isn't large it would keep a single server busy if all the tables were full.

"At least they're polite here. More than I can say for the city guard"

He watches as patron begin to seat themselves around the party, a little nervous being in a new town.

"We should take her up on the offer before some other poor souls get fleeced by the watch and are more down on their luck than we are."

Internally, he is somewhat disillusioned by the outcome of his first job. Being on the wrong side of the law was not where he wanted to start his career.

Suddenly the walls of the inn rattle as if shaken by rolling thunder.

1d20 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5 Perception

"Ezekiel, did you fart? That was a good one...my mouth was open."

Zilch returns to his meal, waiting for the odor to match the sound.

perception: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5

Candrana's nose wrinkles and she slips from the table. "I'll just go see if our host could use some help. No, no, don't get up...."

not sure which is funnier the comments or the fact that you both rolled the exact same thing.

Perception: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (14) + 4 = 18

A man bursts through the door of the inn and shouts, "Everyone come quick the Witch Tower has fallen!". All the patrons scramble to their feet leaving half finished meals and drinks, though one man comes back to take his pint with him, and follow the man back out the door.

"Which tower?" Zilch asks, confused.

"What is going on here, should we follow and see what's happening and risk having our food cool?" Grayson asks.

Zilch nods at Grayson's astute point.

"Yeah, who is going to watch over the free food we got? And what is someone takes our table while we're gone?" Zilch questions, keeping an eye on the important stuff in a rapidly-filling tavern environment.

While others have left their tables to check out the which? tower, Zilch eyes them to see if there might be any food to take or even a better table to move to.

"Come on, Zilch. There could be all kinds of opportunity in a tumbled tower. You don't want to miss out, do you? Grayson, it's entirely possible they have advanced snipe hunting paraphanelia, if say, the wizard were a snipe hunter, such as yourself. Come on!"

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (13) + 6 = 19

As soon as he hears the rumble, Aodan's eyes widen as he considers the implications - he has lived through earthquakes before, but didn't expect to encounter one here. His companions quickly distract him from that train of thought, and he shakes his head.

"Not a fart." Oh these folk are just lovely. How can the Gods be so cruel as to give one like Zilchus a beard and leave my chin so bare?

He pounds back the rest of his drink before joining the exodus, following the crowd out the door to investigate the hub-bub.

"Hope the Witch isn't still in it."

"Besides, this could turn into some work, and we're not really in a financial position to turn down some wages"

He grabs his pack, slings it over his shoulder and rushes out the door

The party leaves the inn and catches up with the group of locals as it heads east. As you follow the crowd down Canteclure road you notice a few more of the local shops. Baccus Smithy, Dodgion Livery, Belhaim Candleworks, Mason's Guildhall, what looks to be a local's residences, a place known as Melashi's and Delbin's Devices. The road leads to a bridge that allows passage over a small creek, on the other side is Odayalle's Furs, the building next to the cemetery appears to go by the name The Sunset house. You also notice a large manor which is located next to the ruins of what appear to be a collapsed tower.

As you approach the growing crowd that has surrounded the ruins you here someone comment, "what sort of creatures are those?" To which someone else replies, "I think they are kobolds." Pushing your way to the front you see a pile of rubble with two half buried bodies covered with green scaly skin. It looks like two of the sheriff's deputies are already surveying the destruction. The first is a young woman not much taller then 5'3" with dark brown hair, she seems to wonder around aimlessly while scratching her head. The other is a tall balding man with a large gut who just stands there hands on his hips chewing a piece of grass. The man eventually speaks up, "What do you think Letha? You recon these here kobolds had somethin to do with this?" The woman replies, "Well Varyl they are smack dab in the middle of it so they must know something?" After a few seconds of awkward silence one of the villagers speaks up, "Why don't you ask the wizard Hunclay if he knows anything about this?"
Varyl ponders this a moment while he chews on his piece of grass,"That's a fine idea, glad I thought of it." He then heads west toward the large manor.

Aodan looks at Ezekial, Candrana and any other of his dining companions that may have made their way to the tower. "Witches and kobols. Collapsed towers. Yeah, trouble." And where there is trouble, there is often chance for reward.

He slips quietly to the rubble, pulling his cowl back just a bit, to address Letha.

"You get kobolds around here alot?" Is this backwater so isolated that you abide such troublesome, fetid little creatures?

As Varyl heads towards the manor, the half elf takes a look around the approaches to the collapsed tower, looking for signs of where the kobolds, or any other despicable creatures, approached the building.

Survival (track): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (14) + 5 = 19 (+2 more for evidence left by humans)

"Not a fart."

Zilch looks at the man in wonder.

Ah. This man truly knows his farts. He must be a master.

Zilch follows Aodan (and the rest of the party) to the fallen tower, keen on seeing what is to be seen and wondering if he might be hired to rebuild the tower or guard the rebuilding of the tower AND definitely not hoping to loot a little something-something if he happens to come across it while checking it out. Oh no.

1d20 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 4 = 8 Know (Local) - Kobolds

"Aodan, master, how would kobolds take down a tower like this? Clearly, it would take more than them, right?"

"No we don't see many kobolds at all,"Letha says before she stares blankly at Aodan.

" Thank you, Ma'am, for the food! We'll be right back and I will come tell you all about whatever we find." Flashing her best diplomatic smile to the kind woman that fed them, Candrana heads out after the others.

arriving at the rubble site, she scans it for information.

perception, looking for information: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (15) + 4 = 19

"So you, mentioned someone earlier by the name of Hunclay, why do you think he might know anything more? Is he a suspect?" Grayson asks.

"Also how certain do you think these are Kobolds. Just because your locals see scaly skin, you shouldn't assume this is a Kobold. Do you mind if I take a closer look?"

Lethna turns and stares blankly at Grayson for a moment before answering,"Hunclay is smart, like a wizard or something, and he was always going on and on about how the tower was blocking his view of the stars." Her eyes go wide for a moment as she realizes the obvious."Yeah I guess that would make him a suspect wouldn't it? Now as far as these Kobolds go I can only go with what the crowd tells me, and the sheriff says the crowd is often right. Or it was the crowd is often wrong?" She stares blanky at Grayson again as she ponders this.

Candrana peers up at what's left of the tower.... Don't do it, ಚಂದ್ರನ. You know you'll end up in trouble somehow... Turning to the others, she grins, "Maybe someone should go inside and take a look. I'm pretty certain I could get up there."

"Where you going, Candrana?" Zilch asks, watching her try to climb. "Oh, you're going up there, huh? Is that where you think the good loot is? Wait. I'll come too, to help you look."

Zilch follows Candi.

Take 10 climb = 11 climb.

"Zilchus, Kobolds can be tricky. Especially if they have nets." Or if they can wield the magic of their distant kin.

"Grayson - looks like Kobold tracks. To and from the manor."
Not a good sign for that wizard, one way or another. Either he's in cahoots with the Kobolds, or their target.

Aodan keeps his eyes open for anything suspicious as Candrana, Zilchus, and Grayson explore.

Candrana nimbly hops up a few pieces of rubble and pulls her self up on the to second floor. Zilchus unable to duplicate her acrobatic prowess starts climbing up the rubble. He is making good progress until he is stopped by a stern woman's voice."Just what do you think you are doing? That is private property and I'll not have you using it for some sort of circus act." The voice belongs to an richly dressed woman with silver hair that she has pinned up with a silver hair pin. She looks over at Lethna and with the same stern voice says,"Why are you standing there staring blankly into the void girl? It is your job to keep this riff raff under control. Now where is the sheriff? I would have words with him as well for sending you down here by yourself." Varyl speaks up as he returns from his visit to the manor,"Begging your pardon Lady Origena, but the sheriff left fer Oppara earlier ta take a smuggler in for trial. Left me and Lethna in charge whilst he's away." Lady Origena lets out an exasperated sign,"well that is just perfect, have either of you two bothered to question Hunclay about this?" Varyl looks down at the dirt to avoid eye contact with Lady Origena before he answers,"Well I was just up there and found another of them critters all dead and crispy and when I knocked on the door I didn't get no answer. I thought about forcing my way in but reckoned that's what that critter was doing and didn't want to get all crispy myself." Lady Origena fumes over this for a moment and looks back up Candrana and Zilchus a sudden smile forming across her face."I don't recognize you two, are you just passing through. Perhaps looking for some work?"

Edit: Zilchus since you were climbing the rubble.

Ha. She's old...and looks like she's rich.

Zilch jumps down to answer the lady.

1d20 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 1 = 7 Acrobatics

While the jump down is neither graceful nor even anything that can be described except by the words 'floundering, clumsy, and/or inept', Zilch does move closer to the woman so he can speak without yelling.

"You know a lot about the circus, huh? Your mother must have been a carney. That dismount was pretty good, right?" Zilch asks. "You mentioned circus work?"

No knowledge here. Those are rocks, uh huh.

Lady Origena raises an eyebrow at Zilchus comments then looks to Lethna and says,"I take back every unkind thing I have ever said to you as this man is clearly more muddle minded then you." She then looks back to Zilchus,"I think I may have greatly misjudged you sir and I do not think you are fit for the job I had in mind."

Zilch walks away, both relieved and dejected.

"Not sure I would be good enough for the circus anyway. It was probably one of those fancy ones where to kept your clothes on anyway."

He goes back to climbing on the tower, looking for things of interest.

Take 10 climb = 11.

1d20 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 6 Perception

Circuses are stupid anyway. That dumb lady can take her stupid circus and shove it up her stupid piehole.

"Who, us? That is, yes. Pay no attention to Zilch. He's good with animals so we keep him around."

Candrana nimbly jumps down to face the woman properly.
acrobatics to jump gracefully to the ground: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (12) + 6 = 18

"ಚಂದ್ರನ ಕಿರಣ, ನಿಮ್ಮ ಸೇವೆಯಲ್ಲಿ, ಮ್ಯಾಡಮ್. ನಾವು ಸಹಾಯ ಮಾಡಬಹುದು ಖಚಿತವಾಗಿ ಮನುಷ್ಯ. ನಾವು ಯಾವುದೇ ಕುದುರೆಗಳು ಬರುವ ವೇಳೆ, ಸಹ ಇಲ್ಲಮೆ ಸಹಕಾರಿ. ನಾವು ಸಹ ವೇಳೆ, ಅವರು ಬಹುಶಃ ವಿಷಯವನ್ನು ಕೊಂಡೊಯ್ಯಲು ಸಹಾಯ ಮಾಡಬಹುದು." Candrana waits for a reply for a half second, "I'm sorry, I didn't think Elven would be a stretch for one of such *fine* breeding." That's not very nice, ಚಂದ್ರನ...but she wasn't very nice to poor Zilchus. It's not his fault he's stupid. He's only human.

diplomacy: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6

Aodan moves quickly and quietly towards the lady, before clearing his voice and removing his cloak, revealing himself in a dramatic gesture.
Stealth: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (9) + 7 = 16

"Forgive the rough mind and tongue of the muscle, my Lady."

Knowledge(Nobility): 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (16) + 3 = 19 Does Aodan recognize her, and/or would he know anything about her family or what the nobles of this area that might give him insight/help in speaking with her?

"I have worked for the House of Olytriannus, and there are several of us passing through town who are more than capable to help protect and, perhaps, investigate, while the Sheriff is away."

Diplomacy: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (2) - 1 = 1

But after hearing Candrana's comments, he appears to reconsider his the woman. "But the Moon Beam is correct. If you can't even understand the tongue of true knowledge, perhaps you aren't as worthy as we first thought."

Lady Origena grips the arm of the young man beside her,"oh my Arnholde, it would appear we are surround by elves. They seem to have sharp tongues on them as well." She looks at the three adventures,"I sure hope there are more in your company as this is becoming most intriguing."

Stepping forward from the dead bodies, Ezekiel offers his hand to the lady

"Pleasure to meet you ma'am, my name is Ezekiel. My companions and I are guards recently arrived in town. We do have extensive experience with this sort of incident, and we'd be happy to offer our assistance if you're looking to hire a team of professional investigators."

"Ahh another one! You seem to have a bit of good sense in you and your eager for work, well today's your lucky day. Mulle and Hodd here can't handle this without the Sheriff to hold their hands, and I want to know what happened here." She looks at the four of you again and continues,"you see to be a bit more capable bunch. If you go in there and look through the rubble-find out what happened and why there are kobolds in my town-I'll pay the lot of you 500 gold pieces. While you're looking around in the ruins, keep an eye out for any signs of our local eccentric, Hunclay. It seems somewhat suspicious to me that he's not answering his door. Let me know what you find."

"Lady Origena was it? Nice to meet I am Grayson I was hoping to know a little bit more of your town history or of this wizard that is assumed to be a suspect. Any knowledge you can share might help in finding out what happened here". Grayson suggests.

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (20) + 0 = 20

"Certain, Ma'am."Candrana says as she begins hopping back up onto the rubble. [b]"what does this Hunclay look like?" She uses her best "nearly smiling" smile, the one her father taught her that summer they went to court.

Lady Origena sighs then tersely says, "My fool of a husband got himself killed poking around in that damn tower and I had come to think of it as his memorial. Then that Hunclay character moved into town and was constantly pestering me to tear it down." She looks over at Candrana adding, "Hunclay is an older man with long white hair and a beard, usually dressed in some gaudy robes. You know how these mystical types love to be theatrical with the big sleeves and ridiculous hats."

Zilch continues to look for loot about the tower. He grumbles about not being able to join the circus, still.

1d20 + 4 ⇒ (10) + 4 = 14 Perception

"What was Hunclay's role in the circus?!"

The Baroness leans over to Grayson but does no lower her voice, "This one is exhausting me", she says gesturing at Zilchus. "I do not know what good he will do for you, but my husband use to send mules in front of him to set off the traps, perhaps he will be useful in that aspect." She takes one last look at the group before saying, "I shall take my leave and return home, I hope to hear back about this soon otherwise I'll have to find someone else to go down there." With that she and the young man next to her depart and head back into town.

Map of your current location is linked up top. I will be GMPCing Ezekiel until he is able to join us agian.

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (13) + 0 = 13

His pointy ears perk up at the mention of 500 gold pieces.
"I'm sure we'll get to the bottom of whatever is happening! We'll find this Hunclay person, and why there are kobolds here, and why this tower collapsed!"

He gestures over to the side.

"The kobolds trekked between the tower and the manor... although it looks like only two of the three got out of the house. Maybe we should head there..." He starts following the set of three tracks which seem to lead to the manor.

Zilch follows Aodan.

I bet that guy can just smell trouble.

"What? But what about these ruins here?" Candrana drops down with a sigh. He's only half elf, you better go keep him out of trouble,ಚಂದ್ರನ.

"Ruins with who knows what lurking or a Manor that is likely trapped and has Hunclay's weird fetishes or back to the inn where we have a warm meal and a room to sleep in" Grayson asks, himself puzzled and out loud hoping someone else can help him make a decision.