Sivar lashes out with his fauchard at whatever part of the crane he can hit
"There's something moving in the loft area; sounds like a door, a hatch, something like that.", Burdock announces to the others.
Atop the barrel.
Sivar makes an attempt at attacking the metal claw.
Though denting, it still firmly holds him.
Father Burdock relays the information to the others.
Elsa & Father Burdock
Burdock moves to follow Thorn into the loft.
Elsa stays behind Father Burdock, trusting him to keep her safe.
Grint follows the others, keeping the back of the group safe, pr at least he tries to.
There are two wooden hatches, carefully crafted into the thick wooden parts of the warehouse's walls.
Both look recently opened, but the one in the back has less dust on it.
Sivar struggles free of the stupid crane thing then..
"There are two hatches there. See in this part of the wall. I think he used this one." Grint points out, the one with the least dust on it.
"It looks like it has been used more recently."
Thorn gives the man no time to rest silently following after.
Sivar wrestles himself free, eventually.
Thorn takes the most recently used hatch, while Grint confirms the hatch to be recently used after he reaches the loft as well.
Thorn carefully starts his descend of a ladder, which apparently lead to a hidden shaft within a section of the wall.
The pace of the sound of feet below suggests the invisible crane operator is assuming not being followed by adventurers. A door opens below and a calm pace follows.
The door leads outside behind the warehouse.
Water puddles from previous rain are scattered in the street.
One of the puddles has uneven surfaces.
A shimmering dark purple orb floats in the air 5 ft further from it.
Thorn will see if the Orb was anything he knew of before taking a slow peak around the door in that direction.
Despite his inspiration on magical effects, there is no motion or sound of a spell being cast.
No spell he has heard of matches it exactly either.
Thorn does however, see a few drops of red drop into the puddle, from somewhere invisible above it.
Best guess Thorn gets, is the blood is connected to the orb.
A blood rite for some purpose, maybe?
Burdock goes up to Grint and heals some of his wounds.
[ooc]Dropping a level 2 spell for CMW]
"We better make sure Thorn didn't get in over his head."
Thorn makes one last check to see if he hadnt noticed anything else before making his move
Taking in the situation he stepped forth from his position and swung his axe in the space he assumed the invisible creature might lay.
While Father Burdock casts a healing spell, Thorn goes on the figurative initiative by heading to - and hacking into the puddle's square.
The invisibility saves the bacon, as a "Huh, what?" follows his attack. After a more steady amount of blood drops fall down, dark tendrils spawn from the orb, which starts spinning rapidly.
Thorn resists whatever the tendrils were meant to do to him.
The orb shimmers, then disappears through the stones into the ground.
Meanwhile, the uneven surface in the puddle has returned to normal.
Something dropped onto the ground however, a trinket of sorts.
Thorn wonders if he disturbed the ritual checking the area for evil presence especially on the trinket.
Sivar will make his way to where Thorn is as well
There are no evil vibes coming from the trinket.
It has a mark on it though, but it's not a holy symbol.
Sivar sees whatever's left to see.
Puddles, blood puddle, Thorn and a quiet back alley street.
Grint comes close to the two on front as well.
"What happened here?"
Once again Thorns confidence wanes and he stiffens up but seems hard to tell that which he saw. " E-Every cultist uses invisibility it s-seems. T-There was an orb and b-blood. It attacked us both a-and then sank into t-the ground. The man got away d-due to my ineptitude. "
----------------
Somewhere below the ground, an evil is stirring.
*Darkness & ominous low sound cutscene*
----------------
Thorn picks up the trinket and simply looks at it. It didnt have any religious affiliations he knew of but a marking.
A grey eagle Grint mentioned earlier, is circling above the streets again.
More specifically now, near the warehouse.
The trinket is no mere ordinate trinket, it bears the signs of the dwarven craftsmen of old, pre-dating the dwarven exodus to the surface. Finer details and careful delicate details only done by grand masters of the dwarven jewel and rune craft.
They are historic examples, in the books of dwarven history, for aspiring master craftsmen. Despite generally considered a lost method, some dwarven prospectors and sages believe the forging method is only partially lost, and may still lie within the ruins of the dwarven cities of old, in the darklands.
Before your trip to Kharum, there was a small 4 man expedition, recently ventured into the darklands. They had plans for further exploration, but lacked funding. Yet....this trinket shows up.
Sometimes dwarven caravans sell their finely crafted jewelry on the Varisian markets, as rare items.
Some traveling scholars of small renown have carefully speculated about what ancient dwarven craftsmanship might be akin to. This trinket shows some delicate features they had speculated about.
But ancient items are rare, and are usually found at....?
Thorn seems puzzled and frustrated. " H-How is the Dwarf in t-the warehouse d-doing "
Have a look.
You return to the warehouse, surprisingly to find some of the coils of rope to now look like the bodies of dwarves.
Some dead, some badly injured and KO.
The dwarf you'd seen drop down earlier has stabilized and shows a very faint pulse.
Some carry, within their pockets, a woven sign of the Coterie of the Axe.
The one who dropped down wears aside it yet another, that of the Janderhoff city guard.
"By Torag's chinhairs, this is of ancient dwarven make, pre-surface emersion.", Burdock comments. "I heard there was an expedition to head into the darklands to find ruins with more examples of this stuff, but they had to back down due to lack of funds."
Thorn looks down at the Dwarfs and then back at Father Burdock. " S-Shouldnt we be h-helping them? T-the trinket is n-nice but y-yknow. "
"Aye, those that are still alive will need help, one way or another."
With the one that dropped down, Burdock burns a spell to heal him after etching dwarven runes of honor, glory, and prosperity.
When he wakes, Burdock will start talking to him, pulling out his holy symbol of Torag. "From dwarf to dwarf, talk to me here. What is going on here?"
8 dwarfs, including the one with both insignias, lie scattered upon the floor. A few have axe wounds, to your guess due to the shrieking of the gibber freaks. Father Burdock manages to stabilize 2 of them.
The dwarf comes to after Father Burdock applies some healing magics.
"Oh, mah head feels like it's been between an anvil and a hammer."
He rubs his temples to try and soften the throbbing, as he takes in Father Burdock's question. As he looks over Father Burdock, he smiles.
"Phew..somewhat better.
Eh, you're from one of the smith clans, aren't you.
You guys deliver some fresh supplies once in a while.
Mah name be Tark Stonefist, corporal with the Janderhoff city guard...formerly, given the situation, undercover with the Coterie of the Axe. We had captured one during a bold move outside their turf.
We questioned him, he eventually shared they were paid half a sum, other half upon completion, in exchange for capturing two blonde foreigners, both humans, by a blonde human foreigner They used this as a safehouse, with triggered invisibility and illusion magics it seems.
When in the middle of a meeting, this weirdo in a black came in from out of nowhere, claiming we were 'in the way of retribution'. He did something and two hideous, Torag knows what they were, things briefly showed, before we were under attack. Shrieking and fighting...we fell one by one."
He takes a look at the others, before his eyes rest on Elsa, which gives him a surprised look. "Hang on, you lass, you match the description! Elegant yet haughty air, platinum blonde and in company of a group."
Sivar has stabilise and is more than willing to apply the spell where it is needed.
He also has a fauchard which is now pointing in the direction of yon dwarves.. hopefully dwarves with no weapons?
Grint looks at Elsa and frowns.
"Again? Why are there people after you again? Is there something we should know Elsa? Are you a criminal in your homeland?"
Elsa, who had been busy brooding, snaps to attention with her eyes narrowed at Grint.
Do I seem like a criminal to you?! she snaps
I am a Jadwiga, noble born. A princess if you must know. I am no common street criminal.
"Well I am a common street criminal or was and I ain't got no one hiring expensive mercenaries to chase me. So what's your story? If we have to help you, you should give us as much information as possible."
Burdock is relieved to hear the news, undoing the bindings on the guard. "Good; I'd rather have the undercover agent as you stated versus the other way around. We've already dealt with the Coterie once. Did you hear anything about why they are after Elsa?"
To the others Burdock asks, "I think we need to find this other target of theirs. Sounds like he's in as much danger as you, lass."
Elsa replies to Sivar I'm sure you were. frostiness in her voice
Thank you Father. Elsa says to Burdock, in a much sweeter tone.