Guruthos steadies himself, then peers out the window (ignoring Thomas' question).
Joriannika was always early to rise, but she must have stayed up too long playing Leaptoad with Thomas, for she found the sun was up when she woke.
***
Alarmed by the sudden roar of... thunder? and the shaking of the whole building, she hurried downstairs to make sure everyone was all right.
"Are you okay?" she blurted at the same time Thomas spoke. Relaxing a bit when she saw that he didn't appear hurt, she nodded to him and repeated the question to Guruthos and Talia, moving to help Talia keep her ceramics and glass from crashing to the floor .
"What in tarnation was that?!" she asked from where she was helping. She craned her neck to see out the windows, wondering if there was an alchemist in town that had just made a fatal mistake.
"Maybe it was something you ate," Hanzo joked as he took the stairs down two at a time, still pulling on his shirt and vest. He pulled his chain shirt down over them, seemingly expecting trouble.
Darting to the door, he barrelled outside, getting clear of the building before looking in every direction for the source of the disturbance. His hands appeared ready to... do something, but he wasn't holding any visible weapons, so what was unclear.
The sun was in my eyes, Astrid!
"Sounded like something big came down." He answered her while looking out the door. After Hanzo had darted past him he added "I'll check it out, people might be hurt."
Guruthos turns and sprints up the stairs, thanking Pharasma that he did not trap his door, scoops up his bow and quiver, and rushes down the stairs and out the door. He curses himself for not having put his armor on before going downstairs.
Hanzo darts outside, soon followed by Thomas and then Guruthos.
Hanzo is first to spot the huge plume of dust rising to the northeast. He points it out to the others.
Nearly everyone in town is doing the same thing; rushing out, searching for the source of the tremors. There is gasping, gawking, and even gossiping.
Many of the residents decide they don't want to miss whatever is going on. They're locking doors, herding out their morning shoppers, and heading towards the pillar of dust.
It's not long at all before someone comes running from that direction, bursts into the Wise Piper and, out of breath, exclaims,
"The Witch Tower! The Witch Tower has fallen!"
Guruthos follows the crowd (on the outskirts), listening to chatter for more information on what this "Witch Tower" is, and staying vigilant in case this is some sort of ambush or raid.
Hanzo didn't consider himself a gawker, but man, did he have the urge to gawk. He moved after Guruthos, but joined the crowd as they trotted off to the scene of the collapse.
"What's this about a Witch Tower?" he asked the people he was walking with. "Did any witches live in it? Is this good news or bad news?"
"Oh my goodness!" Joriannika's face was painted with the horror she felt. She knew all too well what happened if people were trapped under falling masonry.
"Is anyone hurt? Where is it? Show me!" she demanded, leaving the fallen bottles and jars where they lay and running outside, with the intent to pull survivors from the rubble and determine if it was safe for any rescuers to get close.
"Thomas! Someone may need your help!" she called as she went.
Thomas was already at the door, when the man stumbled in. He held the door open for Hanzo and Joriannika and went out last.
"Let's hope not. It's outside the town, maybe nobody was near it."
As the horde of townsfolk began heading toward the source of disruption and destruction, Hanzo and Guruthos fall in step with them. Well, Hanzo does; Guruthos keeps pace but remains to the sides and shadows.
Hanzo sees how many of the citizens are blathering and babbling as they walk in small groups. When he inquires about the tower, two elderly women scoff and answer.
”You really must not be from around here. I mean, before you even spoke I could tell you weren’t a local, but even outsiders should know about the Canteclures!”
Just then, Joriannika runs by you, incredibly quick. Not pausing to talk... for once. Instead, she’s running towards the source, probably to assist anyone that may be hurt
”Don’t be rude. Besides, Belhaim, and all of Dragonfen, haven’t been under Canteclure rule for hundreds of years! We got her ladyship the baroness now. You want something juicy? Word’s already spread that there are at least a dozen dead kobold corpse in the at the crash! Now, cmon!”
Yes he can.
Kobold's? Guruthos grips his bow and keeps a watchful eye, but delays knocking an arrow so he doesn't frighten the locals.
As you approach, the crowds get more congested so that you're forced to push through in order to see, not that it helps much because of the dusty, dirt-filled air. When it finally subsides, you can easily see the source of the crashing sound: a stone tower in the distance collapsed to the ground, leaving a large pile of rubble and debris with a plume of dust still lingering above. You aren't sure how high the tower was before the crash, but only the first two floors remain, the second's interior exposed from destroyed sections of the wall. While most of the crowd is maintaining their distance, a small crowd has gathered around the rubble of the collapsed tower. Only fragments of the first and second floors still stand. Black stone and broken wooden debris lie scattered down the hill's southeastern slope, and a rocky ramp of sorts leads up to the tower's second floor. In front of this small crowd, at the site of the collapsed tower, two locals putter about aimlessly. You recognize them as two of the guards from last night, when Gribb was arrested. One wanders about scratching her head, and the other stands with hands on his hips, chewing on a stalk of grass, staring at something in the rubble. The sudden collapse is suspicious enough, but even more troubling are the bodies of two kobolds crushed under the debris.
The first guard speaks up with uncertainty in her words, "This is... bad. This is bad, right? Why are there kobolds in the Witch Tower?"
The second shakes his head. "Hell if I know. It's a shame Benhovy insisted on leaving for Cassomir last night. Told him to wait 'till the morning, I did."
These deputies are clearly out of their element. Someone from the crowd suggests checking to see whether the wizard Hunclay knows anything about what happened, given that his manor shares the hill with the tower. The deputies argue for several minutes, over who'll knock on the wizard's door.
What do you do?
"By Cayden's cracked cup! What a mess!" Thomas stopped in awe of the ruins. That wasn't somehow you, was it?
He wasn't sure how to react to the dead kobolds, though. Do we need to help them? He never met any, but they're typically not very well received.
Then he happens to overhear the two provincial looking guards. They seem familiar, didn't he run into them the day he arrived here?
Guruthos surveys the area around the site, looking for possible ambushes. He then checks the crowd for anyone acting "odd" (as though they might have some knowledge of the events. Once satisfied, he quietly eases away from the crowd, doing his best to stay unnoticed, and makes his way around the back of the tower to see if a new perspective can give him any idea what might have occurred.
GM - up to you if you wish to use these or roll your own. I'm fine with either.
It seems Thomas doesn't remember anything from the last two days. Joriannika is quite the distraction...
Joriannika had turned to hide her face in Thomas' shoulder when she saw the bodies under the wreckage, but she slowly released him and turned when she realized that the bodies had been kobolds. Still terrible, but at least it hadn't been children!
"What on Shelyn's green earth..." she murmured, casting a quick eye over the ruins to make sure they weren't in immediate danger of collapsing further, and possibly hitting the guards wandering blithely about under them.
Unfortunately, it was hard to judge anything without getting closer and doing a few tests. Just in case, she called out, "Be careful! There might still be unstable walls that could fall on you!"
Hanzo looked around for Guruthos - he could have sworn the elf was lurking about nearby when they were headed for the tower - but he seemed to be gone. Putting on an "aw shucks" smile for the villagers, he drawled, "Well, my momma always said I didn't have much of a head for book learning. I didn't even know there was a baroness, living right here in town? Did she live in that Canteclure tower, or something? I sure hope she's all right!"
Hoping that his slightly mentally impaired questions would draw the villagers into speaking more about what they knew (people always liked to look smart), Hanzo stood and listened, and watched in case kobolds were about to jump out and do something interesting to the guards.
This was quite exciting. Who'd have thought there was some action in this small, hidden village.
Thomas decided to do his daily good deed and addressed the two deputies. He didn't have any problem with talking to some wizard. He had seen and met a lot of strange folk travelling through his home port.
"Guys, I couldn't overhear your dilemma. You need to take care of the crowd and clean up this mess while also wanting to talk to the old wizard living up there... You can't do both. How about I check grandpa Hunclay for you and have a closer look around up there?" He pointed at the manor and the rear of the ruins.
Having heard some of the locals' rumormongering, she recalls that Belhaim was named for Lady Tula Belhaim, a dragon slayer who was awarded the title of Baroness and given stewardship over this region. Her legions of admirers built this town. She eventually married a fellow slayer named Arturic Canteclure and together they built a castle on top of this hill. "The Witch Tower" was the last standing remnant of the castle.
Hanzo, no one seems to be listening to you. Put you keep your ears open, listening to their conversations. The most intriguing issue now is the absence of someone named Hunclay. Most of the locals go on about how "that old wizard" has wanted the witch tower demolished ever since he came to Belhaim.
At Thomas' inquiry, the one chewing a stalk of grass turns toward him and raises an eyebrow. He looks toward his partner, who looks almost ready to faint, then back towards the stranger.
"Sure thing, fella. Hell, I'll take all the help we can get. ...Mulle, you go with him. I'll take care of the crowd."
He then goes toward the crowd and starts attempting to herd them away.
Guruthos circles the ruined tower to survey for anything which might have caused the collapse, but finds nothing. Quietly coming around the opposite side and observing the interactions. He looks up and sees a raven circling the sky above, hoping the crowd will disperse while it still has the feast below to itself.
The deputy named Mulle gives a sharp turn of the head to her partner. She utters the beginning of several words but can’t seem to verbalize a coherent thought. Frustration? Fear? Probably a mixture of the two. She sizes up Thomas, then finds her voice.
”oh fine, I’ll go! But I swear, Hodd, if I die, I’ll haunt you for the rest of my life! ...your life! M... you know what I mean! “Talk Dark And Handsome” here will too! C’mon, let’s go.”
While Mulle and Thomas (and presumably Guruthos at a distance) head towards the neighboring manor on the neighboring hill, deputy Hodd walks back and forth in a wide semi-circle, insisting that the locals return to their homes or places of business, and should just go about their day.
A few people actually listen to him. Joriannika, however remains at the front, eager to assist in some way. Hanzo, meanwhile, is hoping he can cause others to lay down some knowledge in his own sneaky way.
Just then, a regal looking woman breaches the front lines of the crowd, accompanied by a younger man, maybe in his late twenties.
The deputy speaks up suddenly when his peripheral catches someone breaking the boundary.
"Alight now, madam, I meant it when I informed you all to stay back. I ain't trying to prevent justice, just injury. So get you big b-...baroness! ... I mean... Lady Devy...sorry m'lady..."
The Baroness is a svelte woman wearing a beautifully embroidered silk gown and generous amounts of makeup. Though aging, she carries herself well, keeping her short, white hair in a fashionable arrangement. She stands still, a portrait of elegance and confidence.
"Deputy Hodd, what are you doing, what is going on, where is Letha Mulle, and why are there kobolds in my town?"
Hodd doesn't meet her gaze, but humbly replies, "My lady....it seems the Witch Tower has fallen..."
"Varyl, I was born during the night, but not last night!"
"Yes, baroness. Well, Benhovy left before daybreak this morning with the other officers to escort a fugitive back to...Cassomir, I think. Me and Letha, I mean deputy Mulle, are the only ones still here. ...and ..."
He pauses. The baroness waits. And apparently a thought hits him. The man seems to gain a bit of momentum the longer he speaks, and he starts to sound a bit more confident.
"...and we heard that uproarious boom and came straight here once we saw the huge dust plume. When it had cleared, we noticed the kobold corpses stuck under the rubble... and we ensured everyone kept back in case it was an attack... Then I had the rather ingenious idea that Balthus Hunclay might very well be involved. When we didn't see him in the crowd, Mulle and I discussed who should go - since we obviously didn't want to leave the townsfolk or the potential crime scene. The thought of a Belhaim child running over to play and getting crushed like a worthless kobold, or to be abducted by one lying in wait... I couldn't bear it. ...uh...fortunately, a young man offered to go see if Hunclay was at home. So I sent deputy Mulle with him, you can see them from here, while I stayed here to keep everyone safe.... um, and now... here you are! And...that's what happened!"
Varyl Hodd grabs hold of his lapels and beams a wide grin at the baroness.
The baroness, apparently needing a moment to digest Hodd's story, turns to face the remaining crowds. She's obviously a little desperate for someone else's help than her witless deputies. Her eyes fall on two individuals she doesn't recognize. She gets Joriannika's and Hanzo's attention with a look that proves she knows you're not one of her denizens.
"You. You. Please, come here. Arnolde, disperse the crowd please."
The younger man, Arnholde, essentially begins doing what Hodd was earlier, but with more grace and authority, and with actual success.
Soon, nearly everyone has vacated, or at least stepped back a bit, except for Joriannika and Hanzo.
What do you do?
Thomas and the deputy approach the manor. He holds his nose at the smell of the burned kobold flesh. Since he can't remember any thunderstorm, he assumes the lightning was magical. "Wait a sec." He motions to Mulle, and casts Detect Magic in the corpse direction. "این یک متن تصادفی است"
Hanzo, surprised out of poking about at the edge of the mess, out of eyeshot of the guards, cursed mentally at having tarried so long that he'd invited a noble's attention, paused a moment to review to make sure it had been mentally, and then dutifully approached, not wanting to give the deputy any ideas about tossing him in jail for disobedience.
He cast a sidelong glance at Joriannika; she seemed unworried, or at least not worried by the presence of the Baroness. Summoning up a charming smile, he cleared his throat and said to the Baroness, "Good morning, your... Baroness-ship. At least, as good as it can be, circumstances considered."
Eyeing the kobold corpses, he grasped at what might be an opportunity. What noble didn't love thinking they came up with an idea? "It looks like kobolds brought down your tower. They can be nasty, if you get them in clumps. If only there were some way to entice people to do something about them..."
Joriannika immediately approached the Baroness, curious as to what the noble wanted with her. She eyed Hanzo as he spoke, but when she addressed the Baroness, her concerns were different. "I'm glad you weren't there to fall under the collapsing masonry, ma'am," she said with a small curtsy. "It looks like it might be possible to salvage something from the second floor, but you should send in someone who knows building, to be sure no one falls into the sinkhole or gets caught under any more rubble. I could do it if you don't know of anyone else, ma'am. I come from a family of engineers. Just let me know if you want anything from there."
Guruthos watches Mulle and Thomas from a distance, then slowly, quietly approaches them from behind, staying just out of swinging distance (in case he startles them). Smelling the burned flesh he peers between the two to see the corpse. As Thomas begins to cast, he tenses up, but does not act.
***Outside Hunclay's Manor***
Mulle's gaze darts to Thomas when he speaks some other language and looks like he's casting a spell.
"You're not a wizard too, are you? Wait, is Balthus Hunclay your actual grandfather?!"
Deputy Mulle is now in her own little world, wondering what she got herself into. Thomas hears the crunch of a footstep right beside him but is so focused he assumes Mulle is simply shifting her weight back and forth.
***At the Tower Ruins***
The baroness looks at each of you with an unreadable face as you speak.
"While I usually appreciate a proactive attitude, first things first. This tower, while old, was not in some great state of decay. We don't get very many passers-by. I think introductions are in order. My name is Origena Devy, baroness of Belhaim, and that lad over there is my son, Arnholde."
She waits.
Could be that the spell was not very strong and the residual magic had already faded. Was worth a shot. It didn't surprise Thomas to feel magic inside the wizard's house, too. That was to be expected.
"No, Mulle. I'm neither a wizard nor do I know the one behind this door. I'm merely slightly gifted with a few tricks up my sleeves. And this was a very minor spell to check for any magic at the kobold corpse. You know, just in case..."
He signs her to knock the door/ring the bell.
Mulle's eyes dart back and forth between the door itself, and the handle.
"W-what if whatever fr-fried this kobold fries me t-too? W-well, maybe I'll j-just knock and n-not touch the h-handle."
The deputy steps over the corpse and knocks on the door. All is silent and no one answers.
Guruthos moves around the side of the house quietly, looking for any open windows to peer into, or for signs of life outside the dwelling. If there are any open windows for him to look into, he will approach with caution to avoid sharing the porch kobold's fate.
The Elf, achieving the slightest bit of satisfaction from standing right behind the guard and the spellcaster unnoticed, sneaks back and checks the outside of the house. Every window is locked and the curtains closed. You believe all the lights are off, though with sun beaming down, who's to say? At the back of the house, you more clearly see what looks like an observatory that has a balcony, but the walls of this house are smooth with few handholds. It wouldn't be wise to try scaling up, you think to yourself.
As you ponder what to do, you hear the deputy from the front of house.
***In front of Hunclay's Manor***
After knocking and waiting a few minutes, Mulle is content enough to assume he's not home. She turns and gives an audible gasp.
"Uh oh! It's the baroness! Sir, we need to go back down, please! C'mon c'mon c'mon c'mon!"
With that, she takes off at a jog towards her partner and the new arrivals. Thomas sees that there are two new figures in the distance, that most of the crowd is dispersing, and that one of the newcomers seems to be addressing the familiar figure of Joriannika.
With no authority and no reason to stay, Thomas follows Mulle in a slow jog.
"Good morning, my lady." He bows politely towards the baroness.
Joriannika was mortified. In her worry and distress, she had completely overlooked common courtesy! "I... my apologies! My name is Joriannika, of Oregent." She hastily curtsied again, at Arnholde as well for good measure.
She looked relieved as Thomas arrived, prying the Baroness' eyes from her.
Hanzo was surprised. A noble who wanted to know his name? ...Surely that wasn't good.
Still, he was in a small town, she was a noble, and he had best get in good where he could, or at least avoid getting on her bad side. "Hanzo, ma'am, sir," he said with a bow when her eyes wandered back his way, including Arnholde in his bow.
After giving the house a good once over and finding nothing of interest, Guruthos follows Thomas and Mulle back to the crowd, no longer making any particular effort to hide himself, nor trying to be any more conspicuous than a tall masked elf might be in a group of humans.
Lady Origena maintains her composure, staring at Thomas. Her eyes momentarily shift to Letha Mulle, then to Guruthos. They narrow ever so slightly at seeing the masked elf, and she returns her gaze to Thomas.
She nods her head in a slight bow as she responds, "For you, perhaps."
She sighs for a moment, closing her eyes and pinching the bridge of her nose at the top, right between the eyes. Turning back to Joriannika she asks, "They are with you, yes?"
Once she receives confirmation that you four are together, she addresses you all.
"Today's your lucky day. Mulle and Hodd here can't handle this without the Sheriff to hold their hands, and I want to know what happened here. You seem to be a... capable bunch. If you go in there and look through the rubble - find out what happened and why there are kobolds in my town - I'll pay the lot of you 500 gold pieces. While you're looking around in the ruins, keep an eye out for any signs of our local eccentric, Hunclay. It seems somewhat suspicious to me that he's not answering his door. Let me know what you find."
Wow, 500 gold and the permission for what he would have done anyway. That seems to be the lucky day for curious Thomas.
"I'm sorry, my lady. A great tragedy of course. My friends and I would feel most lucky and honored to be able to help you."
Thomas: The baroness' eyes soften a bit. And thanks you for your assistance.
____
"I'll leave you to it, then. I'll be in my home, directly south of here, through those trees; simply follow the road leading back into town, but take a left before the bridge. When you've finished, you can find me there. Mulle, Hodd, please return to your normal duties, and try not to cause any trouble. Arnholde, see to it that they don't."
With that, Lady Origena Devy takes her leave and heads home. Her son herds the deputies back into town. With the exception of a few stragglers, the four of you are left standing outside the tower ruins.
Only fragments of the first and second floors still stand. The tower's ancient iron front door is still in place, but the deputies tried and failed to open it. Probably due to fallen debris and rubble behind the door. An enormous heap of cracked stone and splintered wood from the tower lies in a low mound, tumbled partially down the hill to the southeast. The mound of rubble forms a natural ramp that leads up to the now-exposed second floor of the tower above.
What do you do?
Friends? The elf's eye twitches a bit behind his mask. Is that what we are now? We're "friends?" A gravelly sigh escapes his lips, and he dismisses the statement knowing that this opportunity could keep him fed and sheltered for many seasons. He approaches the makeshift ramp, picks up a nearby limb and pokes around to check for sturdiness.
As long as you don't press too hard, the debris should hold. You'll have to be careful, though, to climb delicately.
Thomas suddenly remembered that he didn't have breakfast yet. "can we quickly head back to the inn and grab our stuff and maybe a quick bite? The ruins won't go anywhere." He looked at Joriannika with the best Bambi eyes he could produce.
It was Joriannika's turn to be surprised, mainly at the perfunctory and informal offer of the Baroness. Speechless for once, she watched the Baroness leave.
When Thomas addressed her, she shook it off and laughed. "Well, I sure didn't hear her say it had to be now! Yes, let's grab a bite. Working on an empty stomach leads to bad decisions, my mum used to say." She seemed sad at the memory, but her ebullient nature soon had her smiling again.
Turning to Guruthos and Hanzo, she gestured for them to join her and Thomas. "Looks like we'll be working together! Want to come back and have breakfast with us?"