Realms Beyond Imagination-Reign of Winter (Inactive)

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"Watch out, there is a trap!! A rope designed to catch anybody opening the steamer trunk!!"

William smiles at the compliment and nods to the Chinese man. I know.

------

"A log? Now that's quaint. I'd have expected snares. I might be a tad out of touch with traps, anyone wants to try their hand at taking it down, in case the trunk isn't just bait?"

[Spoiler=Chinese]
"Sorry. nobody knows what is going on. There is a trap on the box. And no, nothing here is common. Not the snow, not the trap, not the box. Nothing!"

Fang shrugs, walks over, and tries to pick up the box.

"No!" William grabs Fang's arm to stop him from triggering the trap.

If successful
"Mister Singh, would you kindly tell our friend that the trunk is trapped and as I just finished patching him up, I don't like seeing my work go to waste? Or just that he's a ******** for falling into such an obvious trap."

Since Jazz can clearly see it is trapped, he will examine the area and find out how to remove the box without getting hurt by the trap, whether that means stepping off to the right side of it, the left side of it, staying low to the ground, removing it with a log from the distance, setting off the trap and then dodging, setting of the trap from a distance, etc.
perception: 4 + 1d20 ⇒ 4 + (3) = 7

I find myself suddenly with absolutely abysmal internet access on my holiday travels. My posting will be challenged through Saturday.

Not quite sure how to rule all of that, so here is what I'm going with.

Fang strides forward, the doctor calling out and grabbing his arm. Fang appreciates the doctor's medical skill, but has no reason to respect his wariness or combat skill as of yet. As he trips the trip line it snaps upward; snow bursts upward.

Trap attack roll: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (5) + 10 = 15

[ooc]I'm granting a +2 to AC to Fang, which gives him a 20 AC vs the trap. He knows it is coming, and William's actions act as an aid another.[ooc]

Branches crack and fall as a massive log sweeps through the clearing. Fang deftly ducks the projectile before picking up the heavy trunk. He finds the trunk to be full of the dresses and hat boxes of a wealthy young woman. Underneath the trunk, surprisingly, are two shot guns and a heavy box of shells. There doesn't seem to be anything else of interest in the clearing.

"Jesus Christ! What the hell is in that box?!"

Fang will laugh, then continue with his plan to bring the trunk over to the others.

"Good thing I didn't waste gauze on him earlier. No point in healing a suicide."

"A woman with 2 shotguns? This is just getting stranger and stranger isn't it?"

Jazz picks up the shotguns carefully and checks them to see if they are in working condition without firing them of course, he helps carry the stuff. These belong to somebody, we should return them if we find the person alive, if not, we use them against the people responsible for it. Honestly I'm surprise they didn't ask for the police's help,
this might be too big for the police to handle.

"F!!#in pigs don't give a s~!$ unless you're rich. And Rockefeller, he apparently don't think they're that useful neither. Otherwise why'd he bring in you weir-you fellas?"

Jazz finds the guns in working order.

"I find myself agreeing with you, Mister Brannigan. I came to do my job, I'm staying for the mystery. As for the guns, I'd say the kidnapped lady had bodyguards, one of which, well, attacked the ch- Master Fang earlier. So yes, we may be out of our depth here... But I want to know what caused this mess."

As they are still, William takes a moment to clean the rifle from the crusted powder that had caused the earlier misfire.

Once we are ready to move on.

You move on into the wood, slogging through the heavy drifting snow. The cold grows ever more bitter, wind cutting through your summer clothing. You descend a hill into a a narrow gully and you find that a game trail crosses the tracks you are following. You see the prints of a hoofed animal just before you notice the massive white elk stag up ahead. The beautiful creature stands nearly six feet at the shoulder, its antlers rising much higher than that. It stares at you calmly before, astoundingly, uttering words in your native tongue, in a deep, regal voice.

"Hello, forest travellers. And a fine afternoon. What is it that brings you into the wood on this fine afternoon?"

Fang is momentarily shocked, and then he bows low and says in Chinese:

"Brautigan, limey. I knew a Brannigan but you wouldn't wanna, trust me."sense motive: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (7) + 12 = 19

Digger cocks his head at the voice. "Well, hello, mysterious deer rider. These fellas are a group of experts here because, if you'll pardon my language, s*#@ is f@%+ed up. Been some killin. Ain't none of us trying to make things worse for you or anyone else. I'm wonderin if you know what the hell happened here."diplomacy: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (13) + 9 = 22

"Ah, yes, sorry."

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (8) + 6 = 14
"Alright, that settles it, I'm going crazy."

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (2) + 8 = 10

How is Haamid reacting? I'll definitely be telling him to calm down

handle animal: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (6) + 11 = 17 Down trick IS trained

"Greetings sir. We are trying to understand what is happening. How has Winter come to these lands? Who has been killing people?

I don't know if you understand him or not but my large friend here asks you to please not kill us all. I also hope that you don't try and kill is. I don't think that we're your enemies"

aid to Diggers diplomacy: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (6) + 6 = 12

The tiger has a catlike interest in the elk, but he isn’t especially hungry right now. He isn’t behaving as though the elk is unnatural.

"You are- you are all talking to an elk."
William rubs his eyes. "Ergot. I must have eaten some cockspur rye and now I'm hallucinating. Or a parlor trick, yes, that could be the trick."

"No I ain't. I'm talkin to the fella ridin it. You guys don't think animals talk, do ya?"

"But there's nobody riding it! Oh dear, this goes to add to the ergot hypothesis."

"I don't see anybody riding it. Are you seeing somebody? Or something? If so, what are you seeing? And by riding, do you mean physically? Or has it possessed the Elk and you can see the spirit?"

"Well, I don't exactly see him, but he's obviously there. Deers don't talk. Duh."

I'd like to retcon one thing. Successful sense motive checks reveal that the voice is not coming from the elk, but not clearly that it is coming from the elk's back. It is easy enough to think someone is using ventriloquism to make it seem like an elk is talking, and that allows our heroes to inject some reasonable suspicion without fully thinking about an unseeable speaker.

"Yes, I have seen these men with their guns and bows. I crossed their path and a few of them gave chase for a moment, but their man legs could not keep up with me in the snow. Do you now hunt these hunters? And if so, what powers do you bring to bear against them, other than your control of the strange cat, of course...?"

"Who, and what, are we talking to? Why do you want to know our abilities? I assure you that we are very capable and competent"

"I am the guardian of this wood, though it is much shrunken from days of old. And so, if you seek to oust those who have invaded it, I would wish to know what will enable you to do so."

"The Limey here," Digger gestures, "is a sawbones, the self-medicatin'sort, if you want my guess. Fang here's fought more fights than I've had hot dogs, and I've had a lot. Naajy here's a genuine psychic, and me, I'm just a handsome fella from Brooklyn."

diplomacy: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (15) + 9 = 24

I think Fang is still going to assume the Elk is a possessing spirit of some kind, cause I kinda like the idea that he's superstitious.

Absolutely, Fang. I love the current dynamic. Fang thinks it is an evil spirit, Naajy thinks its a good or at least neutral spirit, Digger thinks it is a trick of some kind, and William thinks it is madness. Not sure how Jazz feels about the whole thing.

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.

William glares at Digger, keeping a close eye on how the situation evolves.

"You are the Guardian of this wood. Is this wood part of the world that we know? Or have we crossed over into another Loka? I've heard many different stories of different Loka, but most say that there are seven higher and seven lower. Are we now in one of them?"

I am NOT an expert on Hinduism or other Eastern philosophies. I am just grabbing snippets from Wikipedia to fit my character background/ If I am insulting anybody by (mis)using real world philosophies like this PLEASE PLEASE tell me and I will stop

I'm also loving the dynamic where we're all seeing this in our own (totally false) ways :-)

First, Happy New Year, second, catching up

sense motive: 0 + 1d20 ⇒ 0 + (5) = 5 Though he is surprised the creature is speaking. Obviously you must some kind of new government technology invented for the next war to come. Are you a robot or a cyborg of any kind? Or maybe the government is manufacturing a new species. Can I touch your pulse to see if you have one? and if the answer is yes, Jazz will check feel up the Elk for a pulse and see if it is real.

Obviously? You daft, self-assured, arrogant oaf!
"Obviously here we have someone who's read too many a novel! O brave new world, that has such people in 't! Mister Brautigan, you're starting to sound like the most rational of the bunch!"

No problem with India. Also, Jazz, the word robot was first created in 1920, cyborg in 1960, you are quite ahead of your time.

"Mama Brautigan didn't raise no fools. Other than my brother Patrick."

"I am an animal of the world, just as you are, though I have indeed seen other worlds, for this is not the First. And I assure you that I am no sort of automata, but a creature of flesh and blood. There is some strange force moving upon the wood. You will find it at the center of the snow."

As Jazz steps forward, the elk snorts, its nose throwing huffs of steam in the chill. It lowers its antlers just a bit, making the threat clear. Come any close and we will have to lock horns...

"But I should hold you from your prey no longer, hunters. Go on your way, and may you fight well today."

The elk steps out of your way, giving you room to continue on the path if you wish.

You can continue the conversation if you wish, or move on. As for the Hindu bits, I don't think anything we are doing is troubling. And as for Jazz's vocabulary, it doesn't bother me too much, but automata is a more appropriate word.

Well that was odd. Why do I get the feeling when we move to the center of the snow, we will find a deep hole leading to a hollow earth as told by Jules Verne.
Yeah I try to stay within the time period, didn't know the idea of robots weren't around yet. I looked up Jules Verne and he died before WWI, which means all his novels where written before then.

Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth would definitely be around, and Burrough's Pelucidar was published in 1915, so the notion of a hollow earth is reasonable. It was even something that at least some people actually believed.

As the creature departs, Fang waits until he can hear it no more then says in Chinese

"Shall we proceed? I'm pretty sure that it was NOT an automaton, Haamid wouldn't have reacted like that to an automaton.

Fang thinks that the Elk was possessed by a malignant spirit. But I see no reason to think the possessing spirit necessarily malignant"

"Guess it don't really matter what he was. We got business downtrail still."

Well, we've already had so many odd things happen already Digger. First, frozen bodies, second, a guy that doesn't bleed when I cut him and third an elk that appears to be talking, not to mention these shotguns that I pick up, and we nearly got hit by that trap. Also, if that Elk was possessed by a malignant spirit, why didn't it attack us? Although I wouldn't count out the idea of it being controlled by a good spirit.