"We follow the tracks." Konrad said. "We don't have much of a choice here. Blades out, and we see where this takes us."
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”So…there was no fight here. And death came from a large blade. Like an axe. Either it was the Dullahan, or someone who wanted to disguise the murder. Whomever did this was strong. Strong enough to take her head before she realized it. So he was also stealthy, or was trusted by her. That should narrow down the suspects, no?” aye talked to keep himself calm. He wondered, to himself, if he should just loot the place for enough coin to skip town…
Konrad cursed. And then he cursed some more. "Cowards. Damned cowards leaving this to us."
"Well. This is a crime scene, right? Just that. And we are watchmen. So it's our job to figure out what happened here." He said out loud, trying to make this seem as mundane as possible. "Figure out who did this. Bring them to justice. Get the town to pay us a bonus. So let's get to it. Whomever did this did it recently, and there should be some signs. Or clues. Or...something. Let's just look."
Face pale, Konrad looked to his companions and said "Damn this. Damn this all. We are raising the entire watch. Now. Raising the militia too if we can. I don't care if this is the Dullahan, a bandit, or a confused halfling who confused the captain's head for a block of cheese. Whatever did this is going to die, and it's not falling on our shoulders alone. So let's go and raise the alarm!"
Konrad walked forward. "Sergeant!" He said, relief in his voice. "I am so glad to see you here. You see, we are new at this job, you know? We could really use some advice on-scheisse!" He cursed, leaping back as he saw her head on her lap.
"Not a bad idea. And if anyone asks what we are doing there? Well, our job, right?" Konrad said, gladly walking towards the welcoming light.
"Works for me. Let's get going before we all catch cold standing around."
Konrad mumbled an acceptance as he stepped back into the cold night air. His plan on “patrolling” their way to the tavern still stood.
"Stop talking. There is someone coming to the door." Konrad said, his sword now in hand. He didn't hold it up in a threatening manner, but it was firmly in hand should it be needed, a clear sing of how on edge he was.
"Well, we are safe here." Konrad said. "I only see two options here. The first is we wait here, in safety, until the night is out. Or we head to the tavern for a drink. While I know that we don't have much in the way of coin, this is certainly a night worth wasting what we don't really have." After a moment's thought he said "Wasn't that dangerous looking man heading to the tavern? While I wouldn't want to drink with him, if that damnable monster is back, it would be good to have a blade like that on our side. So let's head over there. Do our job 'patroling' the streets, make sure we are seen by the townsfolk, and maybe use this night as a way to weasel our way into a drink or two."
"Let's wait here for a moment." Konrad said. "I really don't know what is happening with the mist out there, but it felt right to come here. And now that we are here, it feels...safe? Whatever is happening, it would at least be good to get our bearings first."
Have fun! Or not, but I hope you do
Konrad said, out loud ”Sigmar protects the truth by the stone!” He didn’t know why, but it felt right. ”To the temple.” He continued, his voice full of confidence.
"Don't flee! Sigmar is with us!" Konrad called out, unsure of where the confidence was coming from. Seeing such a solid warrior as Felver leaving would have usually caused him to follow suit, lest he be forced to stand alone against whatever was in the darkness. As it was, he held his ground, straining his eyes to see what might be out there.
Success +2 Konrad froze, first in terror, but that was fleeting. A look of serenity passed over his face as he heard a voice blessing him in the name of Sigmar. While he was not a holy man by any definition, he was a religious one. ”Heldenhammer be praised.” He declared, his blade in hand. With his God’s blessing, he felt resolved to face whatever the night had to throw at them.
Konrad drew his blade, not caring how foolish he looked. Eyes wide open, he looked around for any threat that he could see.
Konrad likely walked towards the raven, and the grace, his hand on the hilt of his weapon. He wanted to see what the grave was for, as he recalled ravens being messengers of Morr. Was this just an overactive imagination, or was there something they were supposed to see?
Konrad gave a frustrated groan. "Seen what?!" He snapped. "Sorry, sorry. Must be tired. Seen what?" He asked, more calmly.
Konrad nodded. "Right. Almost makes me rethink my career. Almost. Anyways, Ah...I just wish that we did have the coin to go to the tavern. This gig has our lodging paid for, but not much else." With a sad shake of his head he added "Let's finish the patrol. If we stick around that guy, then chances are he's going to do something, we'll have to get involved, and it'll be a bad night all around."
"Of course." Konrad said, taking a step back. "I was thinking of heading there myself once the shift is done. But don't worry, we won't stop or bother you."
Konrad stood beside Gottfried, his hand near his rapier. Not to intimidate, but for his own protection. There was no way he'd handle someone like that with fists, so why even bother? "As members of the town watch, we are here to help." Konrad added, an easy smile on his face.
I've enjoyed this. More than happy to continue...but at the same time, I think that going out in a blaze of glory is also very WFRP. I, for one, would much rather hit the final fight with 3 of us and die horribly than to just walk away. As for the DMing, I think that you did a good job. Like I said, I've enjoyed this. One issue we've had is that the holidays came up, and that tends to nuke things. Especially if things are slowing down.
Konrad was not quite sure what to say to them. But he was glad that they were at least talking, and not glared or blaming. "Trust in the Heldenhammer." Konrad said. "Stay home and protect your families. Have a weapon or tool at the ready if a militia is needed. But for the most part? Just don't panic. Come what may, we will all get through this together."
"It's...weird. Where did all the cats go?" Konrad mused. He then shook his head, hoping to clear such nonsense out of it. Here they were, walking around at night, with a potentially dangerous creature about, and he was thinking about cats!
Konrad muttered a thanks and took his leave. Standing outside he leaned against the wall of the temple and took a deep breath of the chill, mountain air. Once everyone was out, he turned to them. "I don't like this. Any of this. So our new bosses might not be on the up and up? What else is new? I'm just worried that, as the outsiders, whatever might come will be falling on our laps. We can't make a run for it, and we can't afford means of travel to get out of here. So all I can think of is going on patrol, for now, seeing what happens, and being ready to stand together for when the other shoe drops."
”Right. Right…so, what now? Go on patrol and see what come may?”
”Usually, you cut off a man’s head and he will be dead. We stabbed, cut and hacked away at a man without a head. While leaving someone with a pierced heart would usually kill someone, who can say with a beast like that?” Konrad replied. He felt a creeping sense of dread, wondering what it would take to put the monster down for good.
"Drunk wife beater tried to knife a guard." Konrad replied. 'Didn't end well for him." With a shrug he added "Don't really care about the leadership and any of their failings. No place is perfect, and I've yet to be in a town or city where everyone players nice." He added, not wanting to be out on the streets again. "Is there anything you need from us?"
Konrad nodded at the question. The secrecy boded ill for them and the town as well.
”Best time to be a corpse wrangler, right? Abundance of bodies, nobody wants to touch them.” Konrad said, his esteem for Brunhilde having risen considerably.
"Seems like it is in the purview of our job. So let's get to it, this body won't move itself." Konrad said, relieved that he had talked their way out of the mess.
"Everyone, calm down! Calm down. No, it wasn't Dullahan in the barn." He relayed the information of what happened, as they had all rehearsed. His voice was even and calm. "As for Dullahan, let's not worry about that. The Old Dark is ever an enemy, but does not Sigmar teach us to stand against it? The faithful will always stand firm." He said, repeating a line that he had heard from preachers all too often.
”Not until we know for certain. Murdering someone due to a bad feeling won’t be a good look.” Konrad said, his own blade in hand. ”Lets go investigate.”
Konrad shrugged. "Well. He was drunk, armed, and attached a member of the watch. Legally, all seems to be in order." He said. "Frau, if you would come with me, you are safe now and have nothing to worry about. I'll need to report this. Just remember, when the Captain asks..." Konrad proceeded to coach the widow, so that they would all have their stories straight when the inevitable investigation happened.
"Come on, pitfighter. Take him down. Or is he going to have to fight me next?" Konrad said, his hand resting on his sword.
Konrad shrugged. He'd get to duel someone eventually. Or perhaps he'd change careers. Avoid his dooming completely. Whichever paid best, he supposed. But at the moment it seemed like this was going to be a good old fashioned pit fight. He motioned for Felver to go on.
”In a duel.” Konrad said. ”And obviously I don’t believe in such. Death comes for us all and it can come from anything. If this were true then I could be as reckless as I wanted for anything but a duel!”
Konrad chuckled. "I'm more into legal duels. And for that I'd happily kill the man for a home cooked meal." He said with a smile. "It's pretty simple really. Trial by combat is quite civilized. You challenge him to a duel. I act as you surrogate in this. We throw him a knife. I run him through, and he bleeds to death, with my friend here being our legal witness." He motioned toward Felver. "Or give him his coin and he can do it less civilly. So really, it comes down to whether you want to give him a quick death from my rapier with the veneer of civilization, or you want him to beat him to death."
Konrad glanced at Gottfried. "How you want to do this? We can cripple him, for sure. Make it so he can't walk again." The duelist mused. "Or just threaten to remove his manhood if he shows his face in town again. Few would risk that." He offered, thinking as he talked. "Suppose killing him would be somewhat tricky, as we'd have to dump the body. That is, unless we claim self defense? Yeah...that could work. Say that we brought her and the little one to bring him home. He got physical. Tried to assault us, so we defended ourselves. Nice and legal, right?"
"Nothing to see here! Like we said, nothing here except catching a cold. Head on home. Go on now. If there was anything exciting there'd be a whole lot more noise than this. Off you go now, off you go!" He said, while making eye contact with the abused woman, subtly motioning for her to stay. Once he had a moment to talk to her without any of the crowd here, he said:
"We understand." Konrad said. "Come, walk with us. We'll protect you while the monster sleeps in an alcohol fueled stupor. With a blade, you can finish it by your own hands. Or we can wake him and give him a proper scare. It's up to you on how you want to handle this."
"That...isn't a bad idea." Konrad mused. "It would be nice to have our hands clean. Want to go over to her and get her to do it?"
Didn't check here before posting in gameplay. But the post stands as it is the natural reaction. And totally get the feelings...I've been having trouble with my games for the past week or two. But trying to get back into things.
"Oh." Konrad said. He saw the situation clearly. "One moment, let me talk to my comrades here." Konrad motioned for them to come over. "Back behind the crowd is the Reeve. She is walking quickly with the stonemason and a few others, didn't see them. All are whispering to each other. Suspicious. As for this woman, I've seen this before. The man inside is a wife beater. Can't miss the look in her eyes or tone of voice. Felver and I can handle the trash sleeping in there, but the rest of you? I think that you'd best follow the Reeve, figure out what is going on while Felver and I have all of the attention."
Konrad walked out, his blade sheathed. He breathed a sigh of relief, relaxed his shoulders, and turned to the crowd. "I know everyone is jumpy and all, but there's just a man sleeping off too much to drink. Everyone go home, there's nothing to see here. Uhm. Well, except someone trying to sleep." He said with a shrug.
Konrad breathed a sigh of relief. "Alcohol." He said, relaxing. "I can smell it." He said to Imrik. Turning back to the man, he walked over, hand on his rapier incase there was trouble, but with far less worry than before. "Hey there, friend! You alright here. We're with the town watch. Got called in on a ghost-chase and found you here. Doing a wellness check." He said to the presumbably unconscious figure.
+2 Ag for 50xp (AG 35)
Rapier in hand, Konrad crept forward. He wanted to get a look at whomever this was and to determine if they were a threat before he gave himself away.
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