That's right. They can take -no- actions until it's their turn.
Sure you can. You just don't slip past.
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Jasmine and Thearor leap forward and attack, but fail to land solid blows.
The ulfen warriors snarl and forget the gates, attacking with their huge battleaxes, slicing in great deadly arcs, but the elf and the barbarian easily turn aside the attacks.
Roary, Velinov, Kuazi, go!
Roary's falchion flashes out, catching the first Ulfen in the throat. With a savage twist, he drives the man back, pushing the body off his blade with a boot.
Velinov, Kuaizi, go!
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Seizing the window of opportunity, Velinov throws his hand out in front of him, fingers outstretched, and chants "mitior lucem!". Chromatic energy appears to flow through the veins in his arm towards his palm, pooling to a spherical shape like a drop of honey about to fall, before bursting out as a dazzling ray of blinding color that races towards the guard left standing.
Following the motion of the ray, Velinov's body weight shifts foward as he races towards the doorway.
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Alarmed by the violent falchion thrust, Kuaizi springs to action. His lithe form is barely perceptible as he performs an impressively swift series of flips and leaps over the fallen guard's body and allies in his path, smacking the back of the standing guard's head with his taloned fist from a flanking position.
Kuaizi repeats while twirling his bo staff in a free hand, "Surrender now! Drop your weapon! And we may spare your life!"
Velinov's blinding ray strikes the stone gatepost instead of his foe. When the mage dodges past, the furious Ulfen warrior tries to remove his head, but misjudges the illusionist's speed and his axe blade sparks off the same gatepost. Moments later, the tengu monk flashes past, striking the Ulfen across the back of the skull with his bo staff, causing the man to stumble and appearing to rise out of the ground behind him.
The guard seems disinclined towards a peaceful resolution.
Jasmine, Thearor, go!
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Jasmine will wipe the blood from her face and try to fix her clothes. She vomits a little bit at the sight before her, never in her years has she seen anything like that.
By god, did you have to cleave the guy in two. I know he was an obstacle, but...seriously. She turns to Kuaizi, While I do feel that violence is unavoidable at times, at least we can question the lone living fake guard. Hopefully he has worthwhile information.
Jasmine will stow her finely crafted dagger, check the straps on her leather to make sure t is secure. The nimbleness she tried to display was pathetic and she wanted to make sure her equipment wasn't the problem.
So...
The way is open to enter Greydog Manor.
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Nice job everyone. Hopefully that was quick enough to not attract any attention from outside. Perhaps we should close the door and clean up any outward signs of an incident before we progress? I guess I'll take this half of the guard to check to see if there's any useful information...
Velinov does a quick scan of the hallway to see if there are any guards before pulling out his dagger to prod through the slab of guard.
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Thearor puts his blade on the ground inside the gate as he starts moving the dead inside (and behind the walls so as not to be easily visible from the street). "Somebody get some fresh dirt over that." he says while pointing at the slowly growing blood pool.
Then he cleans his blade before putting it away.
You open the door to the master bedroom and are greeted by a blast of heat. A roaring fire blazes in the fireplace even though the day is swelteringly hot. A huge bearded man shivers under his blankets, his bed pushed dangerously close to the fire. A thin servant sits in the far corner by a window, fanning himself with a handkerchief. The bearded man looks at you and blinks a few times, then speaks through chattering teeth. “Are y-you P-path-f-finders?”
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Roary nods at the sickley man.. "Yes, Adril Hestram sent us to help.. What can you tell us about this curse that has been laid upon you? Well besides the obvious effects of it.. Do you know where you picked it up? Do you know if an item was involved? Anything you can tell us will be invaluable in finding out what is wrong with you.."
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Kuaizi observes the expressions and body language of the thin servant as questions are asked and answered. He wonders to himself, is this servant showing signs of anxiety from perhaps being in on something with the guards and wondering how we got past them, or if he is showing normal signs like mere concern for Skelg's well being?
Kuaizi also keeps an eye and an ear out periodically to hear or spot others in the manor from behind them, down the hall, or elsewhere in the manor.
The servant introduces himself as Tyros, and he seems honestly dedicated to Skelg's service.
Tyros explains, with occasional interjections from Skelg.
"A week ago, Master Skelg caught several Ulfen men in the basement vault. They were Bengeirr’s men, Skelg's enemy, but he mistook them for common thieves. They had lit a magical lantern Skelg had discovered long ago. When the light from the lantern struck Skelg, he began to freeze."
Skelg picks up the narrative. "When the light shone on a tapestry hanging on a wall in the hallway outside of the vault, a shimmering doorway appeared, frightening the intruders enough to flee the manor."
Tyros takes over as Skelg descends into shivering. "With Skelg in a weakened state from the immediate effect of the cold, the thieves easily escaped him and fled with the lantern and other valuables from inside the vault."
Hello?
"Just him," croaks Skelg. "Or anyway he's the only one that matters. I don't know where he is or how many men he has with him."
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Hmm, this poses a problem
She looks at the two men, seeing if they are being truthful or deceptive in any way
Satisfied and all is on the up and up. She turns to Skelg, do you mind if we go downstairs to check everything out. Perhaps they left a clue or something else down there to be able to find them sooner rather than later. I understand if you are hesitant in doing so, but we do not have any time to waste.
"Precious little," says Tyros as Skelg descends into another bout of chills. "But it hangs in the hallway outside. You can see it for yourself."
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The tapestry in the hall depicts an Ulfen longship on a rolling sea, mostly encased in an iceberg.
notices that a large lantern ring hangs from the mouth of the dragon figurehead, but no lantern hangs there.
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Kuaizi nods in agreement with Thearor and Roary. "We should proceed with caution." Just before they all start out, "Also, perhaps we should refrain from killing them. We might gather useful information. Plus, it is bad karma to kill... a discussion I should like to have at more opportune time."
As Roary begins to scan the manor, the monk silently follows after, keenly listening to the creaks he may hear from throughout the manor, in an attempt to discern if others are also moving about. He keeps his eyes peeled as well to spot others and perhaps evade an ambush.
"Th...they stole lots of things from the v...v...vault," says Skelg. "And y...y...yes, Bengeirr must be near. He was here two days ago. He and h...his men killed my guards and h...h...he came in and spat on me, cursing. H...he said “Now you’ll die in bed like an old woman." He left his guards to prevent anyone from saving m...m...me and tossed the corpses of my men into the vault in the basement."
"In m...m...my weakened state, I was unable to d...d...do anything to defend myself and hurriedly wrote letter to m...m...my friend Adril, hoping my old sparring partner would send help immediately. Then I had
Tyros s...s...smuggle the letter into the city."
Tyros continues the story. "After Bengeirr’s raid, one of Skelg’s men named Tirfyr walked into the portal on the tapestry to investigate.
He returned a moment later saying that it led to a ship encased in ice. He went back to investigate further, but after half an hour, the portal disappeared, trapping poor Tirfyr in the frigged landscape. Skelg recognized the ship in the tapestry as the funerary ship of his old enemy, Haldyr. He believes Tirfyr traveled to the ship and that the cure to his curse lies there."
Looking around the estate, you find nothing of great interest beyond the tapestry and the slaughtered bodies of Skelg's guards, supporting his version of the events.
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Kuaizi looks with mild awe at the painting. "Caw! Must be a magical painting. Yes, Thearor-san, that is a most sound plan."
Kuaizi turns to Tyros and Skelg once more, "Noble sirs, if I may trouble you once more. Could you please describe the man who stole the lantern? And where he might have likely fled? To residence of Bengeirr-san perhaps, which would be where?"
In accord with Thearor, he verbalizes to the group, "We should set out immediately to find this particular man, then return with the lantern."
"After Skelg-san is made safe," the tengu solemnly continues, "I humbly offer my assistance in burying the fallen guards. But ensuring the living remain alive must come first for me."
Neither Skelg nor Tyros know where Bengeirr is staying, nor even if he is still in Absalom.
Velinov discovers that none of the lanterns in Skelg's mansion seem to have any unusual effect on the magical tapestry.