Azmerai looks at the sturdy door and the heavy shutters, obviously quite content with the safty of their hideout. While the building seems secure, it also looks quite looted and he knows their are desperatly lacking a lot of things, especially food and maybe clothing. But a safe place to rest is quite a good beginning.
"Maybe good place to start scavaging other houses?"
Shomari bares his teeth in a silent snarl as the last of the zombies falls, and then staggers away from the door. He winces as he raises his arm, and shakes his head.
"Broken ribs," he says. "If we can make this place safe, it will heal in a few days." His eyes drop to the floor as help is offered. "Thank you, but first we secure the building. Then we will see what can be done about my injuries."
He climbs up the stairs, as quietly as he can, to inspect the yellow blanket and get a look at what lies above.
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Unsure about the healing capabilities of the others (I know we have been traveling together but I do not want to assume Lilith knows what everyone can do) and unwilling to let Shomari stay wounded while their new home may still hold dangers, Lilith says Nonsense. I can fix that and it will only take a moment. I insist. Removing a small vial from her component pouch she dabs a bit of brown liquid onto the hobgoblin's midsection as she incants a spell.
This might make you feel a little strange for a minute or so, but it will pass. She explains.
Later after she sees the pile of broken arms and armor in the basement she notes happily with a laugh. It will take time, but I can fix these. all of them that have all their pieces. I will have to prepare Mending in the morning to do so, but I can do it.
When Azmerai asks about food, Turrey first feels his hands clutch protectively toward his backpack. Since the Red Harvest he's had thugs rob him, or try to. Who knows how long my supplies will last? ...Azmerai fought beside me though. And I know what Father Sevrille would do; a street rat might horde his supplies but a Cleric of Desna shares them.
Forcing his voice to sound more resolute in his decision than he is, he pipes up, "I have some food Azmerai. Mostly wandermeals, but they'll fill the belly." He hands Azmerai one and (with visible effort) turns to the rest of the group. "Is...anyone else...out of food?"
___________
Taking Polo up on his offer to explore together, Turrey follows the gnome, looking carefully for anything that might be of use.
The journal catches his eye. By the light of one of Polo's globes, he opens it to see what if anything is written there.
He'll also take a look at the door jammed shut with a spear. Does it seem to lead to another room in this building, or outside?
This place seemed so secure. Locked up tight. I hoped it had escaped much of the looting I saw in places like Magnimar but there doesn't seem to be anything left. I don't have any food left at all Turrey. Our statures mean we don't eat as much as the bigger folk but even so, these past few weeks have been hard. If anything things are getting worse.
He pauses before the door jammed with the spear.
Well I don't like the look of this....
To Polonius: "Yes, let's see what this journal says first. I'm wondering if we've stumbled into someone's maintained home, someone who just happens to be out right now. Given the lock on the door, this looks less like it was looted and more like it's been cleared out in an orderly fashion. Hopefully the journal will shed some light..."
Hearing Lilith add that she has some food, Turrey is visibly relieved.
I guess I shouldn't be surprised that most of my new companions are hungry. Of course most people are out of food by now, and they may not know how to fish like I do. It's too bad there's not another halfling amongst them though...noone tends to keep their larders stocked quite like a halfling.
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Now you have a chance to get a better assessment of the place, it looks less looted and more just...empty. Until your re-arrangement of the shelves and racks to better secure the doors and windows, everything had looked like it was in its right place, the product of an orderly mind. Just no stock on the shelves.
Lilith's investigation of the armor pile downstairs shows that there are mostly just separate pieces of leather and metal, odds and ends. She does however find two suits of leather armor that have gashes, tears and other damage, that should be suitable for repair with her spell.
Turrey's quick investigation of the journal reveals it as shop accounts. All completed regularly with a neat hand up until 6 months ago. Then the following entries:
5 months ago: Army came and demanded supplies in the name of the king. Provided all standard stock in exchange for a letter of writ.
(the letter is tucked in the back of the ledger, and lists around a hundred items of stock, mostly swords, spears and suits of armor. It states that recompense can be sought from the government once the current state of emergency is over)
4 months ago: Things are getting desperate in town, there is scant food as supplies are low and hunting is scarce. Have traded away most of the surplus items we had. There are a few more things we could repair and trade, but we don't want to let go of our weapons. Illness is becoming a factor now, the priest is getting sick.
3 months ago: The pirest is dead and we have had to hold off a number of attempts to raid our home. It is difficult to adjust to not helping your neighbours, but what can you do when you are struggling to feed your own family? Desna help me, we tried to be charitable to start with, but there is so little to go around now. The risen are increasing in number, the streets are no longer safe even in the sunlight, there seems to be more of them arriving each day. Food is almost gone. We haven't seen the group from the Dragon in a few days, maybe they have some supplies we can gather, presuming they moved on looking for somewhere better.
1 month ago (last entry, the writing has changed and is less neat now): Finas went hunting for food a week ago and has yet to come back. I fear the worst. I hope we can gather some supplies and head out to somewhere safer. The children are quiet now, I fear for them in these times, they deserved a better childhood. I leave this journal as a record of our being here, and just in case you come back Finas, we're going to try for Magnimar like we discussed. Maybe things are safer in the big cities and the King's army has managed to secure it. I'm not going to update this journal again.
There are smudges on the page as if water had dripped on the ink as it was drying.
Turrey and Polonius investigate the barred door. They don't hear anything beyond it and Turrey is very sure of that. Judging from the depth of the room it likely leads to another storage space rather than outside, you can hardly hear the rain down here at all. Turrey, despite the smell of damp and mildew down here, thinks he can smell the faint stench of dacaying corpses on the other side of the door.
Shomari takes a closer look at the yellow blanket on the stairs. It is sized for a child and has a flower of some sort stiched on it, and it is still warm. At the top of the stairs is a locked metal trellis, which encloses the stairwell, designed to separate shop floor from living space you presume.
There is a slight bulge in the wall on the south side, which corresponds to where the chimney for the forge below would be.
The wall has been cleverly designed so that the forge heats the entire building. There would be a fair amount of smoke still though, and it would be a devil to clean without magic.
Lenneth gets a wave of slight relaxation from Indigo and a familiar presence in her thoughts Food?
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Turrey shares the journal with the group. "Brethren. This explains some of what happened here. It seems we are indeed the first looters to break into here. I don't know how likely the family that once ran this shop are to ever return, but we can pray for their health and keep it in good care while we are their uninvited guests."
"In terms of opening that cellar door...I suppose we ought to at some point. For now, I think we should explore more upstairs first, and likely have a mean and tend our wounded."
Taking out some wandermeals, he says, "I had the honor of serving as a Cleric of Desna...back when that meant something. There's an empty space where my connection to the Tender of Dreams once was, but I haven't forgotten her benediction. I'll bless bread in Her name for myself and any who respect Her.
"Holy Builder of the Heavens, Tender of Dreams, and Guide to Weary Travelers, please hear our prayers. We dedicate this bread in your name. May your starlight ever fall on our paths. May we be strengthened, and graced with your luck, that we may do your work in the world."
With that he hands out wandermeals to whoever requests one.
After breaking bread together, Turrey offers to check out the locked area above.
Azmerai will gladly take one, bowing his head in thanks.
I guess Turrey will tell us what he read.
Azmerai suddenly looks grim. Little food left, we need more!
He ponders for a while and then says:"This is good place to sleep. Also good place to stay while we explore town. River close, maybe we can fish. Killing deer in wood, maybe, but hard to find. Maybe we can loot houses, two check,2 guard. Some people hide food in secret place."
@Turrey: As your improvised tools manipulate the lock, you adjust your footing to get a better angle, and hear the distinct click of a pressure plate being depressed. A wave of tiredness washes over you and you struggle to stay awake.
Turrey slumps down, sitting on the step and leaning his head against the ironwork bannister of the staircase, now fast asleep. The rest of the group hears the sound of a hand bell ringing. It is fairly loud in the close confines of the shop, and you hold your breath, hoping that the sound won't carry over the rain to anything lurking outside. After 10 seconds or so, which seem like forever, the sound stops. You strain your ears to hear, but you can't hear anything outside over the sound of rain. A gust of wind rattles the shutters on the windows, but nothing else happens.
Azmerai looks up, gulping a last bite of the wandermeal. Looking upwards he checks if anyone else has heard the noise. Grabbing his halberd he slowly walks the stairs up as stealthely as possibly.
Somewhat shame-faced, Polonius asks;
Turrey. I hate to be a burden, but anything you can spare...
Later, when they explore more fully, Polonius runs his eyes over the journal and remarks;
They will be sorely mistaken if they think Magnimar is in any better position than here. At least not when I fled for my life... I hope they made it. I hope someone makes it out of this awful mess.
Invariably his mind wanders bck to his son. Somewhere out there in the wilderness surrounded on all sides by death and danger.
His mind snaps back to the present as he hears the bell rininging out. He rushes updtairs to find Turrey unconscious and the gate still locked.
Turrey! he tries to rouse him without success.
He's ok. Just unconscious - some kind of spell maybe...
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Looks like some kind of sleep magic. that means it was not placed here to ward against the undead. Turry should be fine. Wait, I think I heard something. Lilith states excitedly. Who is up there. she calls out. We want to be friends. If you are friendly come and show yourself. We have food and water we can share.
The infusion of infernal energy simply reminds Shomari of the ethos of his people, and the strength he draws from it puts a grim smile on his face. He feels his bones knit, and
"I am in your debt," he says to Lilith, and then grabs a piece of wandermeal to chew on. He nods to Turrey. "And yours."
He feels the warmth of the blanket and folds it carefully, dropping it to the floor below, out of the way of the steps. He stands behind Turrey as the halfling attempts the lock, and is there to catch him as he falls. When Lilith calls out, he stares at her, shocked. Their entrance may have made secrecy and stealth impossible, but there was no reason to announce that they knew someone was there. He hauls Turrey down to the bottom of the stairs.
BTW first roll was perception second roll the one with +0 was stealth
Btw did we find something like a barrel or anything that can hold a bit of water like a large kettle?
@Polo: You check Turrey over, your knowledge and experience tells you it looks like the effect of a non-lethal magical trap, he will likely wake on his own shortly.
@Azmerai: There is a barrel or two downstairs that might have been used for holding wood or similar, but they are not watertight. You'd need to spend some time with supplies to make them useable, or else use magic.
@Lilith: You recognise the effects of the 1st level arcane spells sleep and alarm, cast by a low level caster. You are familiar enough with their use in magical traps to say that the effect may recur if the trap is triggered again, but there is no guarantee either way.There might be a passphrase or similar used to disable the trap, but again, no way to know for sure without detailed inspection that could set the trap off again.
You call out to upstairs, and after a brief pause hear the following shouted down the stairs to you
Get out!
It's a child's voice
Groggily and with an aching head, Turrey regains consciousness. His eyes still blurry and cursing his carelessness, the child's voice from upstairs shakes him back to alertness.
To his companions, "May I try to speak to the child? As you saw in the journal, the family worships the Tender of Dreams. She or he might trust a member of their own clergy."
Calling upstairs,
If the child is willing to come down, Turrey will suggest to his companions that they back away into the back of the shop (especially Shomari and Azmerai) so as not to spook the child.
There is a tense silence after Turrey calls up the stairs... the rain continues to lash the window shutters like they were drums.
Then the child answers,
Do you have medicine?
Another pause
The priest can come up if there is medicine
Even to an untrained ear, the voice sounds desperate now.
Hearing a little childs voice, Azmerai looks guiltily at the big weapon in his hand. He looks at Polonius and opens his mouth to say something, but slowly thinking better of it and just waves at the little gnome and the halfling. Then he slowly retreats to the corner and sits down to look as non threatening as possible. Finally he undoes his armor and opens his chest to prepare for the night.
None of these people have kids…
Polonius steps forward and tries to sound reassuring.
Hello. My name is Polonius, what’s your's?
He moves up beside the locked gate and sits on the step nearest.
Is someone hurt? I’m no priest but I might be able to help. I know things are scary right now. he looks around almost conspiratorially and whispers; You know what, I’m pretty scared too. But I’m not as scared as I was before I met these nice people. Why don’t you open the gate and we can talk properly, maybe I can have a look at what’s making you feel bad?
Shomari glares at the gate, keeping silent. Hobgoblins, as a rule, are not a reassuring sight to human children, but as Polonius goes up, he climbs down and picks up the yellow blanket, waving it at the gnome to get his attention and then tossing it up.
Catching the blanket, Polonius continues;
Did you leave your blanket here on the stairs? Here, if you just open the gate I can give it back to you.
Turrey nods at Polo's approach and adds, "That's my friend Polo. He's a gnome. A bit funny looking but friendly, and better with medicine than I am." At least that's true now. I can still remember what it felt like to channel Desna's healing energy through my body, as though the stars themselves were passing through me. But now...
"It's your choice, honey. Tell us what you want."
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Very slowly, in the darkness of the upstairs floor, a shape appears from the shadows. The first thing Polonius and Turrey see is the tip of a crossbow bolt, pointing straight at them.
Then the child comes forward two steps, still safely away from the gate, but into the light enough that you can see it's a little girl. She's maybe 10 years old with short, dirty blonde hair tucked back behind her ears, and a face streaked with grime.
She looks the pair of you over, seeing the blanket and glances downstairs too. She seems to be wavering, fighting back heavy emotion, and then the tension seems to drain from her face. She looks you in the eyes
My brother is sick, and you have medicine. So let's trade. I'll let you stay, downstairs, until he's better if you help him, deal?
She moves to unlock the gate with a key from her belt pouch. The crossbow is no longer pointed directly at you, but she's hanging on for dear life to it and keeping her distance.
Just one of you she says in a rush, like it's only just occurred to her.
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Turrey nods to the girl. "Brother Turrey Butterhill, at your service. I understand only wanting one person right now, and Polonius here has the skill in medicine so why doesn't he come along. I'll wait downstairs, but am happy to come up later if you'd like. Or, as Lilith was just saying, I could bring you up some bread and water and pass them through the gate."
Polonius deliberately ignores the crossbow and smiles at the girl.
Hi. he says simply, just imagining how ridiculous he must look with his shock of blue hair and beard - streaked with white, clothes torn and stained. Still, no one exactly looked their Sunday best anymore.
It's much easier to talk without the gate in the way, huh? Why don't we go and take a look at your brother and then I'll introduce you to my friends? What was your name again, I've got a memory like this old coat - full of holes!
The big half-orc is straining his ears but tries to remain silent, so not to spook the childs.
She reaches out tentatively to Lilith's offered bread, and gently takes some.
Th..thank you she manages.
Turrey gets a brief half-smile for his words, before the girl ushers Polonius deeper in to the darkness of the upstairs floor.
She pauses and turns back to address Lilith and Turrey.
My name is Kaiya, my brother is Evane.
She walks after Polonius.
Polonius checks over the small form of Kaiyas brother and, although he cannot determine the nature of the illness, he knows that it's effects are terminal.
He sighs deeply and shakes his head.
What a waste. This world is taking everything from us.
He spends a few moments mixing a harmless array of dried herbs and powders in a flask. The concoction has mo medicinal properties whatsoever, but the girl didn't need to know that. Sometimes a lie told with good intentions is a kindness.
He soaks a rag in the mixture and gently squeezes it between Evanes parched lips so a few drops of liquid runs down his throat.
Then turning back to Kaiya he says;
He'll be comfortable for a little while now. Sit with me moment. he gestures to a space beside him on the window sill. Tell me what happened to your brother, Kaiya.
Azmerai takes his holy symbol and searches for a spot to hang it on the wall. Kneeling before it he says his prayers:"Goodess Saranra, please watch house. Is good house. Safe. We need strength for next day to kill undead. Will kill next undead in your name as my gift to Goddess of Sun." a bit sheepish he looks up Also please bless child. Hard life for them. They weak, need bigger ones to take care. Please make Azmerai strong to better help weak"
He got sick last month. Ma said it was thé same sickness as the priest staying with us had. Same thing as got him. We put him in the cellar with the rest. He kept whispering about a palace of dreams. Evane didn't say anything like that, he just held my hand
She looks at Evane and a tear tracks down her cheek.
He hasn't eaten since ma left, he just sleeps.
She looks at the floor. You can see a small wooden crate with half an apple wrapped in paper, and a mostly empty jug of water.
My ma went out to get supplies a few days ago, try to get food and medicine so we could go to Magnimar.
She looks at you
She's not coming back is she?
Those left on the ground floor can hear something in the basement, a squeaking noise of some kind.
Polonius tries hard to keep the pain from showing on his face. He wants nothing more than to give her reassurance, to tell her their mother might be ok; might just have got cornered somewhere and had to hunker down for safety. But how could he? Some lies were a kindness. Other lies just prolonged misery.
His thoughts turned to Benvolio. Ben had become a quite talented sorcerer in his own right despite his young age – so maybe there was hope that he really was out there somewhere. But Polo couldn’t help but wonder if all this time he had been telling himself the same lies…
His fingers began tracing the rose amulet at his throat, his wife’s amulet.
Amelia...
What would you tell her if you were here, sweetness?
Polo turns back to Kaiya and puts his small hand on hers.
Kaiya. The world has changed, I wouldn’t be doing you any favours by telling you otherwise. he says with a sad smile. I don’t know if she’s coming back, sweetheart. And that’s the truth. But what I do know is that she will do absolutely everything she can to get back to you. And if she can’t, then you have to know that she wouldn’t risk as much as she had without loving you both very much. That’s how you should think of her – strong and brave and fighting to keep you both safe.
He cannot avoid the inevitable and Evane’s ragged breathing is deafening in the stillness of the darkened room.
Kaiya. he looks at her seriously. You already know your brother is very sick. Now I need you to think of your mom ok, just like I said – brave and strong. Because Evane is fading away, sweetheart. There’s nothing I can do for him except keep him comfortable and make sure he doesn’t feel any pain.
The girls eyes begin welling up immediately and he can see she is on the very edge of losing control. Her whole world is coming to an end, just as his did when Amelia died and Benvolio left. It’s a pain he knows well and one that no child should have to bear.
Hush now, hush. he says, taking her in his arms. Don’t let him hear you cry, ok? Why don’t you just sit with him; I’ll stay with you, if you like? We can both stay here and keep him safe until he’s ready to go. He won’t feel anything, I promise. He’ll just drift off to sleep.
What is this noise, we checked downstairs! Grabbing his halberd he looks at the others."I go check. Someone help, please! Two better than one!
Shomari cocks an ear and follows Azmerai and Lilith, sibat held at a defensive angle. As you approach the bottom of the basement steps the squeaking gets louder. Lilith's magical lights bathe the room in a bright radiance and you attention is drawn to the barred door. The broken spear is still jammed in place, however you see movement at the bottom of the door...and realise the squeaking is coming from dozens of rats that must have just finished gnawing their way through the wood of the door and are now streaming in to the basement!
Lenneth is one flight up, so 20' of movement will get you to the bottom of the stairs (G3). Turrey is two flights up, so 40' of movement away. Should Polonius want to join in, he's 60' and a currently locked door away
You suspect that the rats are likely fleeing the fire in the middle of town, no matter their source though they appear driven mad, all pink eyes, lashing tails and grinding teeth.
Seeing the rodents move Azmerai will yell:" Polo, HELP, NOW. Rats... too many.
Then he will attack with his halberd. Without PA.
Seeing that his sweeping strikes do not really hurt the swarm he will retreat to the forge, first stepp moving away from them to prevent an aoe