You rush out onto the streets in varying states of dress. The sunlight is starting to peak through the fog, leaving the open streets bathed in hazy yellows while the alley is black. A crowd of people has begun to gather around the body and you make your way over. Being a relatively hodgepodge group and well-armed, people move aside for you.
The body appears to be of a human male in dark, fine clothing and is currently on its stomach.
Wren continues to Detect Magic while letting others examine the corpse. She worries more about foul magics in the area than anything else at the moment.
Elena rolls the man over. "What could have done this?" Her voice shakes as she is scared and asks Wren. She was used to the normal bar brawl or stabbing but not someone beheaded. Her hands shake and and tears begin to fall. She stands up, quickly backing away as she finally notices the head completely gone. "Oh my god!" She screams and looks to some of the bystanders for answers.
Bronin sees the body and the crowd. He first makes certain that there's no danger to Lena. Then he tries to take control of the situation. Allowing his natural presence and authority figure to calm the scene.
It will be okay everyone. I am Lord Bronin Dohari of Syradel. The authorities will be here soon and I will ensure safety until their arrival.
He spies the wide eyed woman that stayed at the scene and moves towards her to engage her in conversation.
He does turn his head and directs a quick answer to Lena.
Dullahan. Remember the Dullahan. .
You stride in, calmly taking charge of the situation like the veterans you are. Bronin's authoritative voice keeps the crowd back from looting the body, meanwhile Wren checks around for magical auras - finding none.
Elena screams, looking to the sky and then to the ground - realizing two things. The first is that the body appears to have smashed on the ground hard like it was thrown down or even fell. The second is that the body appears to be rolled on to something.
Seeing the wreckage and upon learning that the body fell, Wren casts True Seeing followed by a twist of her iron ring, then re-casts Overland Flight. She flies high in the alley to try to spot where the body might have come from.
She continues her concentration on Detect Magic.
Elena bends down and strains herself as she flips the body over. It rolls back onto her as she isn't strong enough and a bit of the blood begins to stain the edges of her nightie. "Bronin, give me a hand." She groans.
Adder moves to assist.
"Maybe I buy helmet."
He looks at the body he is flipping.
"Or Feather Fall."
Wren flaps up to the top of the roof as Elena and Bronin flip over the body.
The body has a round piece of wood sticking right out of its chest, a wooden stake like for fastening a tent.
On the rooftop, Wren spots two large piles of ash in the shape of humanoid figures, curiously stretched out in the morning sun which has yet to reach the alleyway.
Wren inspects the ash, trying to unconfuse herself.
Know (Arcana/Planes/Religion)
”It’s weird that it’s un-sun touched....what is going on?” Wren preens and ponders.
Elena reaches down and pulls the stake from the man's chest. She looks to Bronin. "He shouldn't be seen like this." She doesn't even think that she worries more about a spike in the man's chest and less so about his head lying a few feet away. "Where are the authorities?" She looks around confused before spotting Wren on the roof. "You see anything?"
As Elena starts calling out, there's an answer as a few guards run up with a mustachoied man in tail. He sighs. "Another bloody one. Clear off you lot! Nothing to loot here. Let me have a look."
He stalks over to the body. "Captain Hoptler here, please tell me you didn't take anything from the body."
Wren takes a look at the ashes, and deduces the body was not burned but instead actually converted to ash. A disintegration spell could do it, or it could have been a property of the creature itself. As she looks around, she also sees the shingles are a little bent at the edge of the roof.
Wren stoops to examine the bent edge of the roof, trying to put the pieces together.
Intelligence check
As Captain Hoptler approaches Elena drops the wooden stake. "Of course not. We are not thieves!" She glowers at the thought. "That was in his chest. What is happening?"
Adder moves to the side of the confrontation, not wishing to be in the center of a confrontation with the authorities.
Bronin helps roll the body over. He takes a look everything all at once, trying to pick up clues.
..... and notices the stake in the mans chest and nothing else...
******
When the Captain approaches, he smiles and takes center stage to work with the local constables.
Lord Bronin Dohari . Captain, I am sorry to meet such a prestegious watcher of safety and security in such a morbid situation.
Me and my entourage are just concerned citizens. Concerned primarily about the safety of a man of my social position, but also curious enough to know that WE are skilled and can help the best and brightest of the city.
working his charm a bit more.
See, in Syradel, up in the Riverlands ....
He waves as if everyone knows the place and it has a great reputation, but he also mentions it because most people actually HAVEN'T heard of his fledgeling (Former) kingdom. The man who mirrors your position in this city -- Warden Captain Kesten Garris is held in such high regard as to be considered the "alchemists glue" that holds the city together against all tribumalations.
He butchers the last word as he really doesn't use such fancy words.
Yes. Yes. Thank you Lady Lena. That is the word I was trying to come up with.
What say you, Warden Captain? Can we take a deeper look at this mystery of sad tidings?
Wren continues to try to puzzle out the bent edge of the roof.
”Squawk! I’m not sure what’s going on up here!” Wren flaps her feathered arms, trying to think harder.
Wren looks over the rooftop, trying to figure out what happened. She sifts through the piles of ash a bit, exposing wooden stakes jammed into the rooftops. She then finds a third indent near the edge of the roof.
The Captain looks over Bronin, clearly impressed with how the man is carrying himself. "Hmph, fine. I know a veteran when I see one. Don't interfere but you can observe. First things first, let's get the body out of the alleyway so we can have a look at it."
He looks up at Wren shouting over the rooftop. "Friend of yours? WHAT DO YOU SEE, MADAM?!"
He barks orders to a couple of the guards who grab the body by the arms, and start dragging it out. One guard pauses, removing the wooden stake from the corpse's chest. As the sunlight hits the body, it dissolves at an alarming pace. Within seconds, the guards are coughing and covered in ash as the two stakes clatter and hit the ground.
As Wren observes this, it starts to knit together. The bodies were on the roof, held in place with stakes. The third body wasn't staked properly and fell into the alley before the sunlight could hit it.
"Pharasma damn this!" shouts the Captain, kicking the ash. "What kind of elaborate hoax nonsense is this?!"
Wren looks over the ashen men, still confused. Are these vampires? But that one in the alley should have turnt to gas, maybe? Why did it not change? Where are the coffins and who did this?
"Friend of yours? WHAT DO YOU SEE, MADAM?!"
Bluff
"What?! NOTHING?! I'm not me! Who are you? Are you talking to me? I know nothing!" Wren lies very very very poorly, clearly she knows something, but is not saying it aloud.
She flutters her wings in confusion and worry.
Know (Religion)
Elena gasps as the body turns to ash. "What is happening?" She looks to the guards and stammers in her nightgown. "This...this was no hoax. We watched and heard as he was killed from the window there."
If these aren't vampires, Wren has no idea what they are. Vampires are notoriously hard to kill, but three steps will guarantee it according to everything she knows about vampire lore.
- Render the vampire helpless
- Drive a stake through the foul beast's heart, which slays it
- The beast will return if the stake is removed, thus you must sever its head, and anoint the head with holy water
And if all else fails, sunlight will permanently destroy any vampire.
Either these are vampires, or somebody really wants you to think they are.
"Hmph, fine. I know a veteran when I see one. Don't interfere but you can observe.
To which Bronin replies,
You are oh..so..right. We are veterans. And what you have here is not a hoax, but a mystery.Now, Grand Captain, we can certainly observe and we respect your wishes, but if you want answers to a bona-fide mystery...... We'd have to take some action.
What say you to allowing a few Vets use some "Bippedy- Boppedy -Boop" or some prayers to Cayden Cailean to check out these stakes and get answers to three or four piles of dust?
You can work on other problems the city has- and I promise to give you an update before the lamplighters come out tonight. How does that sound to you?
|
Lena sighs. This is going well.
We live in a world with dragons and mages. This sort of thing is par for the course, I fear. So, what creature has issues being staked?
She giggles a bit.
Sorry, wrong question. I guess all of us wouldn't react well to a stake to the heart. But what dissolves into ash in sunlight.
She hums a second.
One obvious answer.
Adder knows nothing of vampires, though he does have a string of garlic bulbs and a wooden stake in his pack. He instead inspects the scene for clues.
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Whiskeyjack rolled himself off his bed once more and stumbled to the window. Leaning out, he hollered, "Wha's go' th' birdbrain so squawkin' distressed now? Cannae a dwarf jes' ge' a good nigh's drunken sleep withou' ever'body suddenly decidin' t' take th' party ou'side in th' wee hours?"
One obvious answer.
Elena looks to Lena. "And what is that? What sort of man turns to ashes in daylight?" She asks scared of the answer as she holds one of the wooden stakes in her hand still. She looks back and forth between Lena and the Captain of the Guard. "Is something like this normal in this city?"
Wren floats about, looking for anything else she’s missed but doesn’t say anything in front of others...yet. She will circle around for a bit, then eventually go back to her room to offer her thoughts when everyone is there.
While I am certain that Honorable Lena has some thoughts on what this might be. Let us be granted leave to actually "check this out" - before spouting off women's circle fables told by those raising the kids.
Bronin meant to try to be far more polite and far less offensive to Lena, but the words tumbled out of his mouth as he tries get a "seal of approval" from the captain. Or, maybe Bronin is just lashing out a bit as he doesn't know the "obvious answer" and others in his group do.
He turns to the Captain,
My Dear Captain. Do we have your blessings to check this out? This stake in my companion's hand should do just nicely. With your permission of course!
Bronin smiles, trying to keep the charm going.
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Flames suddenly crackle for an instant over Lena's hands, and her eyes narrow.
bronin, do you think you can rephrase that last statement so I don't set your breeches on fire she says sweetly.
Elena, we are talking about vampires. Blood sucking undead. Human shaped monsters. she explains patiently.
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"Vampires!" Elena nearly yells. "Those stories can't be true. They go after Academy girls don't they. And have love triangles with werewolves... Are werewolves real too?" Elena had so many questions as her world was beginning to get flipped upside down. She clamps her free hand over the side of her neck and rushes back inside the Inn to hide in her room.
The Captain groans. "Look, I understand you lot may be tourists..." He gives Lena a side eye. "Well you sound like a local. But the rest of you probably think that Ustalav is run by a bunch of vampire nobles who engage in decadent sex parties. Unfortunately, that is not the case. Believe me, I have looked. Vampires have not been seen in Caliphas for centuries and to suddenly find dead ones seems an odd way for them to show up. I am convinced this is some sort of magical hoax meant to fool the slow-witted."
He sighs as Bronin pushes on about the murders. "Here is what I will say. You can look into what you want, but I will be clear that the murders are not the business of tourists and your time is better spent in the marketplace. What I can say is that there have been other, similar murders. At least six by my count, but if the bodies are being turned to ash it's hard to tell how many exactly. Now if you please, I'm going to question the innkeeper and see if he's missing three tenants."
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Adder leans forward.
"Tell me Captain, you search for vampires or sex parties? Is important so we know what equipment to bring."
He nods at the Captains reply, whatever it may be, and moves to follow Wren back into the inn.
Wren flutters and flits about, worried about vampires and what she is sure is a response to some sort of vampiric invasion.
We need to figure out who kilt these vampires and interview them. They surely know more than we do. Maybe they can help us.
The captain gives Jameson a withering stare. "I mean to say that there are no vampires in Caliphas and the hysterical mutterings of the peasants are to be disregarded. These murders are clearly not helping."
He looks to his guards. "Right, let's go question the innkeeper and see if we can't identify the poor sods. Maybe they're on the guest list."
With that they get ready to leave.
Seeing Lenas obvious agitation at his comments, Bronin does some verbal backpeddling.
Um... Yeah... Umm.... What I meant to say was that we have some smart people in our group and of course we can figure things out. If the Captain needed a hypothesis -- Lena thinks it's werewolves and vampires, because she's fought werewolves before.
Bronin takes a pause from his digging himself deeper into pit. He checks the body language of Lena. Literally. Making certain the hand still isn't on fire - or about to make him on fire.
When appears that people are headed back upstairs to debrief and work on the mystery. Bronin joins the group.
*********
Hey Whiskey or Wren- Any magics we can use on this stake to track down the original user? Locate objects? Something like that?
Wren stares at the captain as he denies the evidence that is right in front of his eyes. She looks over him and appraises the situation.
She floats over to whisper to Lena.
”With that captain’s denials, it might be he is a vampire himself...or under the influence of them. There is no reason to deny the obvious...he might be compromised or very, very stupid,” Wren gossips.
Elena continues to hide in her room, quaking in fear from the supernatural that should not be remotely real. She quietly paces, thinking and muttering to herself. "This is insane. It is all insane." Her whole life she had been sheltered in that small town. The world was so much bigger than she ever could have imagined.
There. There VestalElena. . You have nothing to worry or fear for we are powerful and sworn to protect you. This threat is upon the city and not specifically directed to you (or us). While I know that this big city feels strange to you - as it does me - your old town of Illmarsh just isn't the right home for you anymore.
Part of my heritage springs from a nomadic desert people. They have a saying, "Travel until you find an oasis that springs water that tastes the best to your tongue and no one else's". That seems to apply to you.... you are just trying to find the town or village that suits you.
I doubt that this city has your flavor water. It sure doesn't have mine.
***********
When all the party is together in the room and conferring on what is happening.
So...... what exactly happened out in the roofs and streets. I don't understand. There's talk of Vampires. But, I don't know a thing about vampires. I have heard of them, but each story is different. Like some vampires are TofuVampires? Or there's Twitards? Or LostBoys?
Bronin looks frustrated at being so confused. See the stories are all over the place. I once heard it took almost 2 minutes for a vampire to die after being staked .
"I be hopin' t'! Wha're ye lo' doin' ou' there a' this ungodly hour? Ain't i' enough tha' we spent nearly a for'nigh' sloggin through them trails an' now ye be wantin' t' be spendin' our first night in town gallivantin' off lookin' fer somethin' t' do other than eatin' an' drinkin'?"
"Now, wha's this abou' vampires an' such?"
Wren doesn’t say anything in front of the patrolman, nor any innocents or onlookers. She keeps her flapping beak very quiet for the moment, waiting until they are back into the rooms before discussing things aloud.
Back in the rooms Elena is visibly shaken and nervous. "W..we aren't involved in this. We can just leave this town and go somewhere else. Right? I mean these are Vampires we are talking about."