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Hey all, I think I'm just gonna call it. I'm sorry, but with my long-running game on a sort of hiatus now, I just don't have the attention span to be checking Paizo. There are too many other things I care about doing. Thanks for showing up and writing with me, though!
Li'Omrut sits down at a game of roulette. The roulette table has a mixed audience of ages and genders, but all are fixed on the table. Buy-in at the table is ten gold, which Li'Omrut is able to slap down with no trouble in exchange for some chips. He finds that people are pretty tight-lipped about their private affairs here, although they are friendly about other things. Definitely as an underground establishment, people have to be careful about what they reveal. Nobody says anything to Li'Omrut about all the legal trouble that he's in, either. Even if they were to say something, after all, there was always the chance that he would beat them to death. Nobody wants to be beaten to death by a demon. Taime sits down at the bar and orders a bottle of red wine. The bartender
Alright, I think I agree, we seem to have lost Eliana. And it seems that Karthan is considering swapping to a different character? Anyway, I can play Eliana if her participation is all that Karthan needs to keep going. And I'm sorry for slacking on the posting -- I'll get back to it now. I'm just working and going to school! There's a lot to think about, let alone creative writing! Yes! You may research spells. I am comfortable with custom content, but I do want review power over any proposed additional spells. I expect to dictate the spell level of proposed spells and potentially to add expensive material components if the effect is too powerful to be repeatable.
I believe the answer to Karthan's dilemna is to find the other PCs, right? I mean, you're right that it's not a good idea for him to handle those ghouls all by himself, or even both him and Eliana. He does have Leadership, with a cohort and a small cadre of level 1 NPCs that'll follow him into battle against ghouls if you want. I'm having a dilemma too, in that it doesn't seem like anyone wants to do anything. I'm happy to just RP, maybe if it were at a different speed. I guess I just am looking for more deliberate actions from the party -- or more questions.
When you get a chance, perhaps when someone else has gotten the chance to post as well, would you write a description of that gather information tactic, also rolling a Gather Information check and the d4 for the duration, and deduct that 7pp from your current PP total?
I hope your daughter is healthy and safe, Li'omrut! Don't worry about holiday slow-down, Taime. Just try to drop in later with a post about what Taime is doing to gather information. Speaking of that -- I understand that Isabela is... selling her body? For money?
All sorts of people come into the parlor while Isabela watches. There are many, perhaps fifty, so it's difficult to get a read on individuals while watching the crowd -- but there are several distinct types of people. Dockworkers and other daytime heavy laborers come in to gamble away their day's earnings in hopes of doubling their pay. A few of the town's wealthier patrons -- merchants and the like -- know that you have an advantage if you come in with more money to lose than your opponents have to pay, so they bring cash wads. Young people, not all harsh physical laborers, come here to while away a fun evening with their sweethearts. A few skeezy-looking roguish types are here as well, with their deep pockets and their concealing cloaks and disarming smiles, here looking for an opportunity. That's not all, of course. It's difficult to sum up a room full of people with just stereotypes. Some of the patrons are just drunks, here to sit at the bar and forget about their troubles.
Happy Christmas season! We have a new update, so I'm ready to see some actions.
Karthan and Eliana take off for the rest of the afternoon. Karthan meets with his men and his lieutenant, and explains the situation. He lets them know that they'll need facilities and readiness for training a bunch of commonfolk into the sorts of people that would guard the town. After the meeting, his company breaks into small groups to talk about the most important lessons for a new recruit, and about finding some sort of horse corral for the actual martial training. Afterwards, the pair visit a local lawyer and head up to the fort previously occupied by Avacynians. The best local lawyer -- at least one that isn't definitely corrupt -- is a middle-aged man named Goffred. Goffred has short brown hair, a stylish goatee, a beautiful mahogany-paneled library, and very good advice for the pair of heroes about signing contracts with the Guild. He assures them that, if they negotiate with the Guild regarding his own fee, he will help to represent them at their meeting. At some point during the day, the pair also receive a visit from a magical cat. This cat informs them that there are three people inside a rough bar in the bad part of town that want to meet with them -- a demon, a witch, and a vampire. The pair hike up the nearby hill on the landward outskirts of town to visit the Avacynian Fort. The building isn't large enough to be called a true castle, but it is surrounded by a stone wall. It has a cobbled courtyard within the wall, and also a stone keep at the center of the courtyard. There are also stables (although they should obviously be empty). The place doesn't seem to have received maintenance since the Avacynians were killed in last year's unpleasantness. The wooden bridge that leads over a small creek nearby the place's entrance, for example, creaks and appears sodden. When the pair arrive, they find that the portcullis has been dropped, though. Eliana doesn't find that much of an obstacle, however, and takes to the skies to review the interior. While circling, she and Moonwing both spot activity inside. Watching her from shadows and corners within the fort -- ghouls! At least a dozen of them, darting from pillar to pillar or from stables to keep. Who knows what else might be hiding within the castle. Clearly if the pair want to inhabit this castle, they'll need to take care of the ghouls first, but... two heroes against an unknown force of undead seems dangerous. Perhaps some preparation time is necessary first. - - - - - Isabela heads out and murders someone she deems acceptable so that she can continue going on without desperate hunger. While she does so, Taime and Li'omrut wait in their small room for evening to come, so that the gambling hall downstairs would fill up with people. At some point, the bartender comes upstairs to find them and take the room card, which she stamps with a stamp marked 'AM'. She sneers at them that they seem like an odd crew, that they forgot the room card, and she reminds them that payment is due at departure or at the end of the week, whichever one comes sooner. It's three silver per room per day. Before the evening, Isabela comes back, looking satisfied and happy with herself, and it's only a short wait longer until the gambling parlor opens up. After sundown (which isn't late here in Havengul) patrons begin to stream into the basement parlor. A few at first, but eventually the place gets lively and rousing and full of activity. Drinks are sloshed on the floor, dice is cast on felt tables, and money changes hands every few minutes. Also navigating around the floor are various poorly-clad waitresses. The kitchen in the back is loud with the sounds of frying pans, and platters of potatoes and battered fish pass everywhere. Isabela, Taime, and Li'omrut are looking for some past employees of Mr. Sotos. They think perhaps here is a good place to start looking, because this is a gathering place for the city's underclass -- and certainly fired household servants should drop into poverty. They don't know what these people look like. Maybe it's time to ask around?
I guess I disagree that what you do is in my purview (I think what you do is the only thing not in my purview), but I can see I haven't offered clear enough information yet. I'll be more thorough in the future.
Isabela thinks her current location, the rousing gambling hall and low-rent boarding house, is a great place to start asking around, looking for people who have lost their jobs and dropped down into the poor underclass.
You want to investigate the dead guy, huh? That's one of several objectives I saw mentioned. What's your first step towards that? As for Eliana and Karthan -- it looks like y'all have the whole day to do what you want, if you want to declare priorities.
Ok so Taime/Li'omrut/Isabela are going to wait for night and then go out. What are they going to do, once they do go out?
The doors in the boarding house are marked with rotating signs marked 'occupied' and 'available'. In each hallway there's a sign reminding patrons to bring their 'room card' (a small card located inside the room) down to the proprietor. About half of the rooms are full. The rooms themselves are narrow dorms. A twin bed, a chest, and an empty washbasin (with sign directing patrons to the nearest well) decorate each room. It takes about five minutes to find a room with a window. - - - Karthan, Local Politics Knowledge (DC 15 K. Nobility or History): Havengul is governed directly by its merchants' guild, who enact specific laws regarding taxation, commerce, land-use, trade, and other such mercantile affairs. The merchants care little for social or legal policies beyond those that affect them, and they have their own mercenary guard to protect their own affairs.
Informally, Havengul is a bit of a wild frontier town. Before the Eldrazi, dispute mediation and justice for wrongdoers was provided by the Avacynian church, but since their archangel's fall many of the former lawgivers disappeared or melted into the common populace. The common people have thus been without a protector for some time now. It is common practice for individuals to mete out their own justice, such as with adultery, theft, and assault. Common punishments are demends for remuneration and beatings. Karthan's military experience provides him with an avenue for training, but there is no way to turn a random gaggle of commoners into an organized and experienced force instantly. Karthan will have to be careful with who he recruits, because a good guard still needs to be loyal to his town, perceptive and insightful, and a good fighter. Karthan thinks two dozen guards will be enough to start with.
She eyes them suspiciously for a moment, before letting out a 'bah'. "You just want to go upstairs? Fine, why didn't you say so." She waves her hand and then goes back to focusing on her ledgers. "I'll make up a bill when you've decided to leave," she adds, like an afterthought. Now with access to the upstairs boarding house rooms (and with nothing much going on in the downstairs area anyway) the trio move through the parlor and up a narrow wooden staircase. Once they go up a floor, they find themselves in a cramped hallway. The staircase goes up another level, and on this floor there are eight crowded doors. Not a soul in sight.
The proprietor looks Isabela up and down and then scowls. "Why, you in here looking for work again? You know we don't open for customers until sundown." "Last time you were here you did a great job, but now I haven't seen you for weeks. And who's this here with you, anyway?" "What do you want?"
Helpless against Isabela's dominations, the random commonsperson (taking a cart of fruit and vegetables from his farm on the outskirts to town) turns to follow her and walks up towards the Sotos estate. Once they reach their destination, he comes to his senses. After a few moments looking around to try and figure out what he is, he turns and runs away yelping once he's gotten his bearings. Still, he brought Isabela a cart and she didn't have to do any labor. - - - With a cart gathered by Isabela, Taime and Li'omrut are able to pile up a comfortable set of stuff for the demon to hide in while the women push him across town. Given that the two women are fairly inconspicuous, they are able to move without being noticed much. Sinri returns to Taime in the middle of the walk, having delivered his message to Moonwing. - - - Karthan and Eliana's message is received well by the merchant elite of the town. They preen and groom themselves at the thought of having their very own town guard, and having to do none of the actual organizational work to do it. Julius nods at Karthan's proposal. "I agree to an initial meeting," he says. "We should be able to get the full council together in, hmm, three days' time. I will deliver a formal invitation by messenger-boy to the Order and your tavern, if that suits." He reaches forward to shake hands. His handshake is dainty, delicate, and soft. He smiles. His smile seems a bit slimy. "I look forward to doing business with you." - - - After a walk across the city, Taime, Li'omrut, and Isabela arrive at their destination: Alleyway bar and gambling den 'Cameron's Place'. Isabela knows the owner, whose name is Rosalina. She's a hard-bitten profiteer who knows the only way to survive is to not take any s+*! from anyone. Since it's about noon, the place is in cleaning and restock mode. A few young serving boys wipe tables, wash dishes, and lug barrels of ale (empty out, full in) around the place. The lights are dim, so the wooden hall seems even darker in contrast to the daylight outside. The place is recessed into the ground, so three stairs must be descended in order to enter. It's full of tables of various shapes and sizes to accommodate various card and board games, chairs taken out of the garbage, and a large central bar. A boarding house (owned separately) is upstairs. Rosalina, a muscular, 50-something human woman, is at the counter, going through the previous night's ledgers, a pair of square glasses perched on the end of her nose.
The three merchants glance back and forth at each other at Karthan and Eliana's proposal. Following the dramatic events of the previous night, two of the city's most respected defenders coming to them and offering to protect their interests? A most intriguing proposal. Julius steps forward to meet Karthan and Eliana's gazes. "We speak for the Guild, but it's true, we cannot make decisions on their behalf. Give us your proposal, and we will bring it to our next council meeting. There, we will discuss with the other members whether to accept." The merchant rears his head back, brushing his carefully-oiled hair behind his shoulders. "What exactly are you proposing here?"
I have been slow as well. Thank you all for continuing to RP and figure out what you want to do -- that's p much what I've been waiting for.
Karthan:
Karthan doesn't know much about the specific duties and responsibilities of each member, nor of the structure of the Guild itself. However, he knows that the Merchants of the Guild comprise a council, that there are eight members on that council, and that their deliberations generally decide the fate of the town's economy. Each member of the council is a rich merchant with dealings in a number of businesses, and their day-to-day duties typically involve meetings, negotiations, ledger-scanning, and signing agreements.
Karthan knows they prefer "master" as a prefix, rather than "mister". Karthan approaches the merchants with a kind word and a smile. The guards detect no threat from him and ignore him (although they give somewhat furtive looks to Eliana), continuing to pass out grain. Meanwhile, Julius Lambourghini, the fattest and most jewelry-encrusted merchant of the three, steps forward with a smile to address Karthan. "Ah," replies the merchant, "Sternmason, a loyal man-at-arms. Thank you for your compliments. We do our best, as do all citizens of Havengul, to help our neighbors get through difficult times of strife. It is our duty, is it not, to offer freely that which we have in plenty?" He smiles and then gestures with an open hand. "What can I do for you, Mr. Sternmason?"
Havengul's undercity is a series of clubs, parlors, boarding houses and drug dens in the city's darkest alleyways and corners. The sorts of places polite people avoid in the neighborhoods that wealthy people never go to (unless it's to pick up drugs from the neighborhoods). Still, to get Li'omrut there, he must be transported across the city somehow.
Karthan and Eliana reach the courtyard with the Merchant's Guild. The cobblestones that line this courtyard give the pair a break from the mud that floors the rest of the city. Some people throng in the courtyard, but somewhat fewer than on a nice or busy day. Strong workers are at work in front of the Guild, repairing the entryway damaged by the angel. In front of the workers stand three Merchants of the Guild: Russo Vermicelli, Antonio Benissimo, and Julius Lambourghini. The three are all fat, silken-clad, and jewelry-encrusted nobles. They have employed three guards and a couple of covered wagons filled with bags of rice. The guards are handing out the rice to passersby "with compliments from the Merchant's Guild". Isabela: Isabela can't think of any detective cases about this particular kind of murderer. At least, not current ones. Some time ago Isabela got involved with a case that was similar. It was a stilted wife who had taken the heart out of the chest of her philandering, indebted husband. Only humans did this sort of thing.
Isabela also knows that this man hasn't been paying his servants. He knows that many of them fled the household when his finances reached its critical point. Having lost their means of support, the ex-servants generally reached the undercity reaches and inhabit slums.
Isabela returns to the abandoned manor to find Taime and Li'omrut in the midst of a conversation about what to do next. Li'Omrut was just saying that all he needs to do is wait out a few days and everything will be fine. Karthan and Eliana walk down the street together towards the merchants' guild. They discuss the demon, payment, and the angel that attacked the previous night. The merchants' guild is open today, and giving away small bags of rice (along with a propagandized chat and a handshake) to visitors.
Isabela heads out into the streets. With the sun in the sky and the birds in the air, it's a much more cheerful day today than the previous day. People are out and about, though Isabela gets the general impression that they're smiling through their worries. No one pays her, a random blonde girl out to the market for food, a second thought.
Taime and Li'omrut head down to the kitchen and pantry. The dining room is totally separated from the kitchen in this house, and the kitchen is kind of tucked away inside of the servants' quarters. The pair don't run into any servants when they head down there. The kitchen was stocked when the unfortunate death occurred, so the pantry is full of oatmeal and rice and flour and nuts and cheeses wrapped in wax. There are even a few bottles of red wine. Other than that, there are some fruits and vegetables -- a few tomatoes, oranges, beets, and onions. The tomatoes are a little bit soft and out-of-date.
Karthan heads out into the city to ask around and see what peoples' impressions are of the previous night's events. In general, he gets the impression that people have mixed feelings about the mob. On the one hand, it was a literal angel that showed up. People still generally believe that angels are on the side of good, and that demons should be destroyed. However, the recent events have shaken their faith, and in the bars and coffeehouses all over the city rousing debates are occurring about how things are different now.
Li'omrut searches through the little girl's room, checking behind the mirror and underneath the bed, understandably suspicious that some ghost or zombie might be somewhere in the house. Fortunately none of those things are there. The room is safe -- if still a little creepy. Clearly no little girl lives here. Dust lies thick on the sheets, the dolls, and on the vanity. Taime goes through the man's business ledger, looking for evidence. It takes her a little while to absorb the contents of the graphs and tables, but eventually a picture becomes clear: formerly wealthy, Sotos' trading partners stopped doing business with him over the course of the last year or two. His fortunes have slowly dwindled. As any rich man does, he began to slow up on his expenses to preserve his fortune. Egregiously, it seems that he stopped paying his servants. Ongoing investigation or not, there's not much more to find in the office or the bedroom. Li'omrut, Taime, and Isabela are exhausted. Eventually they all find someplace to curl up and fall asleep somewhere in that mansion. Karthan heads back to the tavern. A few of the others are still awake at this late hour, and they greet him, but nobody stops him as he, too, falls into bed. Misana does what she can to console Eliana, but eventually the two cathars must also head to bed. The next morning is sunny and bright. The skies are blue, the birds are singing, and the flowers are blooming after their excessive watering over the last few rainy days. Li'omrut, Taime, and Isabela awaken to find that no one has bothered to come to the Sotos estate. The group is still alone in a mansion with a corpse. Karthan wakes with some work to do -- he has to try to convince the merchants to fund his endeavor. Eliana's scheduled commitment for today is to meet with Karthan.
Hey, I know it's been several days since a post from me! I've been stringing along from day to day, and actually going to sleep instead of staying up at night and posting. Will have another one for you soon.
Isabela's detection spell finds one source of magic in the room -- the silver dagger laying on the table where Taime put it down. Isabela's broad knowledge about everything allows her to rule some things out, but it doesn't point out any obvious culprits like more specialized training might. There's no famous local killer with internal organ removal as an M.O. No common spell does this, so it was probably done by hand. The precision of the would means it was either an extremely sharp claw very precisely applied, or it was done by scalpel. Scalpel usage implies the need for hands, which are generally not possessed by oozes, animals, dragons, plant creatures, etc. However, Isabela can't think of any one specific thing that this definitely is. Spellcraft DC 22: The dagger is enchanted with agile, meaning a person who is not strong can still deliver strong wounds with it.
Upon closer inspection, the corpse seems to be missing its internal organs. The lower half of the corpse is soaked in blood because something opened up the torso and removed the intestines, heart, liver, and lungs. The marks are too precise to be the result of some creature's claws. It seems that the incision was done by some sort of medical instrument. There is no obvious fatal wound, other than the hole in his midsection. One could conclude that he was operated on while alive, and that blood loss was the cause of death, but he seems also to have some strange damage to his body inconsistent with simply bleeding out. He seems to have been aged, which is a symptom associated with negative energy.
I want to give the three PCs in Sotos' house opportunity to search for clues and talk a bit about how to settle in, but this day is coming to an end. We'll move on to resting soon, and to the next day.
Karthan's underlings nod tiredly to their leader as the group walks back into the center of town. "We'll summon Deckard and the rest," they promise. "And meet with you by tomorrow afternoon. And then we'll be getting orders about enforcing some new rules around here?" Regardless of Karthan's actual answer, they salute and run off home. They'll sleep in tonight and go rouse the crew tomorrow. Deckard will make sure everyone is properly armed and armored and prepared to listen when Karthan shows up. Karthan meanwhile heads back to base camp. After a long day, with so much conflict to think about, the main thing on his mind is rest. - - - - Meanwhile, Eliana's friend Misana listens to her upset rant with empathy and patience, nodding along with the highs and lows of the story. The other Cathar tries to consider carefully how to respond to Eliana. She lays a kind hand on her friend's armored shoulder. "It sounds like you tried your best to do the right thing," she says, inclining her shoulders a bit and trying to smile. Her next response is colored by the disappearance of her smile and a small sigh. "I don't think funding can protect us from mad angels, though. You need someone strong to challenge an angel. You said you fought alongside that demon, right? What if we use some of that funding to pay the demon directly, but to protect the city from evil?"
The trio in Sotos' house head into the open door, discovering a dusty-but-well-appointed office. Bookshelves line the walls, and a window looks out over the dismal garden in the yard below. The rain has started again, and the office is filled with the 'tap-tap' sound of the drops on the glass. A desk dominates most of the room. Solid wood and decorated with a number of pointless knickknacks, the thing sits in the office's center. Two meeting chairs face the desk, but they are quite short, so that anyone sitting in them will have their eye-level be nearly at the level of the desk-top. Sitting in a leather chair behind the desk is a corpse. Taime recognizes the corpse as her client Sotos, though much of what she remembers about the horny nobleman's features have shriveled away. His white blouse is open in front, and crusted with old blood, and his torso and pants are both totally drenched with blood. It smells musty, like death. Unconcerned, Li'omrut turns and opens the next two doors. He finds two bedrooms -- one, a master bedroom, with a walk-in closet full of frilly suits, a vanity equipped with washbasin, and an immense round feather bed. The second, a little girl's room, with pink sheets, wooden dolls, a wardrobe painted white, a wall-length mirror, and hanging lacy sheets. Taime searches through the man's desk. She finds a few items of note, aside from the regular mundania of office supplies. A small locked box likely contains some important funds. A small leatherbound book, after a few glances, seems to be a ledger of daily business activities. Taime also finds a shiny silver dagger in one of the drawers -- perhaps used as a letter-opener by Sotos, but clearly intended in its design for sticking into the hearts of werewolves. Lycanthropic imagery features in small etchings along the blade.
Taime, Isabela and Li'omrut push past new spiderwebs on their way down the central hallway and up the stairs. The grand stairwell has chestnut-wood banisters, plush carpeting, and paintings of the various members of the household hung up along its interior. The first is an elderly white man clad in an expensive smoking jacket with a pipe, wispy white hairs clinging to his head. The second is a severe-looking woman probably ten years younger, with curly salt-and pepper hair held up in a bun, wearing a plain black dress. Her face bears a deep frown. The third is a young girl (though the painting is probably outdated). She wears a pink frilly dress and holds a teddy bear in the painting. The stairs creak underneath the trio's feet as they ascend. The second floor landing has three gleaming mahogany doors leading to different rooms. One of the doors is cracked open, and a musty smell emits from inside. - - - - - Eliana leaves the chapel in search of her contemporary peer. After a short search in the limited compound, she finds Misana in the barracks. Along with most of the other monks, she was getting ready for bed, and had already changed out of her robes and into a comfortable gown. She was doing a bit of cleaning around the barracks when Eliana finds her. She looks up, brushing her messy brown hair away from her face. "Hey, Eliana," she says by way of greeting. "How's it going? I heard today was a bit rough in town."
The unlikely trio enters the house through the back, since that was where Taime uncovered the key. Unfortunately even a construct so small as Hexqin is too large to fully fit underneath a door. Luckily, there is nothing in the small mud-room at the back of the house. Just a few coats hanging from hooks, a few pairs of old boots, a few dirty gardening tools, and an assortment of buckets, boxes, cobwebs, and other garbage. Another door leads further in, to a central hallway. The entire house is dark, quiet, and spooky.
- - - - -
While it is already night when Li'omrut begins hiding, he waits around for a couple of hours. Once he figures he's really and truly away and clear, he heads out, climbing up the hill towards the manor on the seaside cliff. Once he gets closer, he sees Taime and and a blonde stranger waiting for him outside the house. The doors are locked, and neither of them have dared to enter yet.
Li'omrut: After awhile, hiding among the barrels on the dock, things go pretty quiet. The mob has passed by without finding Li'omrut, and they don't double back around this way to look for him. Perhaps they even gave up.
Yeah, we should probably leave Havengul at some point! But I think there are a few hooks to resolve (or decide to lay down) first.
Li'omrut: Li'omrut turns and tries to kick down the door. Once, twice, three times he gives it a strong kick, but in a rush he doesn't give it enough leverage. Just as he gives up, several members of the crowd rush into the alleyway. "Hey!" they shout. "He's over here! Hurry, come on!"
Then Li'omrut turns and leaps. His goatlike legs and huge strength give him the power he needs to fully clear the fence and onto the next street. He can hear the groans of frustration from the commoners on the other side of the fence. He can hear them start to bang on the fence in an attempt to break it down so they can chase after Li'omrut. Still, the demon turns and keeps running. With the head start he gets from the latest maneuvers, he's able to make it to the docks area before the chasing mob gets around the latest corner to see him. If Li'omrut is able to jump across the water, make it to the other side, he can hide amongst the barrels and other shipping supplies before the commonfolk can get the chance to see him.
Taime and Isabela:
Sinri takes off and gets a look back towards the town from a bird's eye view. Without spending several minutes flying closer and pursuing the signs and then several minutes back, there's a limit to what Sinri can see. All that's really visible is an orange glow from the torches, moving through the streets. Li'omrut: Li'omrut slips through the wall of the destroyed house and onto the next street over. His pursuers, just as he suspected, have to either slip through after him or run around an entire block in an effort to catch up, giving him the opportunity to get some lead on the yokel mob chasing him.
He turns down a street and keeps running, the sounds of angry people still driving him forward. Turning down an alleyway, he finds himself quickly at what appears to be a dead end. On the right is a solid plaster wall, on the left the backdoor of a small building.
Eliana is meditating alone in the chapel, so he is referring to her. Li'omrut is not there at the house with Taime, but I'll post what Taime can see from the hill and the next challenge in the chase when I get a chance today.
When Li'omrut bursts from the back of the merchant's hall without subtlety or caution, he alerts a few of the commonfolk rabble-rousers that were near the back of the crowd and had not had the space to get into the merchants' hall yet. When they see him, they hesitate for a brief moment before pointing and shouting, "Hey! It's that demon! He's running away!" More join the chorus. "We can see the demon!" they call, "He's running this way!" the shouts come. "Let's get him!" All the attention on Li'omrut means that, indeed, no one is paying any attention at all to Isabela or Taime. The pair are able to simply walk briskly away from the scene. Once they have made it down a block and turned a corner to find no pursuers, they know they've made it away unobserved. Taime, Isabela:
The manor house of Taime's former client was one street away from the docks, up a hill that ran along the edge of a cliff. The manor was on a beautiful green strip of land at the cliff's rise, overlooking the sea. It was also close to the borders of Havengul, with only a few houses up the hill on this side. At Taime's direction the pair of women head upstairs. Taime recalls to Isabela how the house had been strangely empty, though also locked. She displays the keys Sinri had acquired from within the house.
It is even later than it was, now. All seems quiet. Even the rain has stopped. The doors of the large two-story house are still locked, the windows still shuttered. Not a light comes from inside. Li'omrut:
Now chased by a crowd of a dozen angry commoners, Li'omrut's hooves squelch in the mud of the rain-soaked dirt roads. He can hear their shouts behind him, see the reflection of their torchlight on the backs of houses that he runs past. He knows that they will stab him with their pitchforks until he is dead or they are if they catch him.
Coming up is an opportunity to gain some distance. A wagon that recently carried ale is backed up against a wall, giving a convenient leg up on climbing up to the roof. Li'omrut could run at a distance, but would have to jump from roof to roof in order to keep going. In the other direction, the half-crumbled wall of a building that no longer stands offers a narrow crack which Li'omrut could squeeze through. Putting a wall in between him and the crowd would certainly buy him time.
Karthan, Eliana: The guard at the temple listens politely and carefully to Karthan's speech, though he seems a little bit puzzled. There were a lot of details in Karthan's story, though the issue wasn't whether or not he actually believed Karthan. He'd heard of the Sternmasons before, and was happy to assist one of their number.
He nods conspiratorially, opening up the door behind him and offering for Karthan to enter. "Alright then, young Sternmason," he says. "If you want to talk to the leader of our order, she's in the chapel." He pauses as he visibly hem-haws over what to do. "Go ahead on in, and be nice and respectful. It's sacred ground that you're on now."
Karthan and Eliana both have the same destination -- the chapel of the Order of Saint Traft. The chapel is near the edge of town, on the eastern side near the ocean. It's near the northern wall, and is surrounded by a wall of its own. The compound is small -- only three buildings. On one side is a bunkhouse fit for twenty monks and clerics, although the actual number of residents is much smaller. Just as well anyway. The place is uncomfortable with twenty people crammed in there. On the opposite end of the enclave is a gathering hall -- a wooden longhouse with one large chamber inside and a large double door on its wide interior-facing wall. The longhouse has a firepit, long tables, and a small meeting room with a small war-table. The center of the enclave is a stone chapel once dedicated to Avacyn, but since repurposed into a place of general meditation and faith. The place has a single guard, a stout and faithful man called Oleg. Eliana arrives first and can fly straight in with a friendly wave from Oleg. The inside of the compound is sedate but not completely without activity -- robed monks go from here to there, or return in the night from their day of administering medicine to Havengul citizens. The monks are respectful of Eliana and happy to see her, but generally keep their distance unless summoned -- as one of the only ones of her kind left in the world, she commands a certain intimidation. Karthan arrives a few minutes later with underlings in tow. Oleg steps into the pathway when he spots the mercenary captain getting closer. "Hail!" he calls with a friendly wave of his hand. "You're Sternmason, right? What business have you with the Order of Saint Traft?" - - - - Several servants stare to see an old lady walk right in through the back door, through the kitchen, and into the hallway where Li'omrut and Taime are hiding. Some of them try to ask what she thinks she's doing, but she makes it into the center of the house and speaks up to Taime and Li'omrut. Meanwhile, the crowd outside pushes forward with Eliana's flight away. Several members of the mob enter the main room of the merchants' hall. Taime, Li'omrut, and Isabela can hear muffled conversation through the walls between members of the mob and the merchant that Li'omrut had intimidated. The conversation sounds angry and loud, but no detailed words can quite be heard. However, it's clear that anyone hiding in the house has a limited amount of time before some people at least attempt to search for them.
Typically what I am trying to encourage and communicate here is that it is up to you to do something here. There is no authority that you can turn to that will solve the problems. If you see a problem and you want it to be solved, your characters are the ones with the power and willpower to solve them. Currently I am waiting on Taime/Li'omrut to decide on a course of action before moving that timeline forward. If they just want to wait in the kitchen until something happens, they should go ahead and post that. I'm also waiting on Karthan to decide on something to do before I have anything to respond to him with. He is, in effect, the most effective guard captain for the city. What does he want to do about this situation? Eliana has decided to fly away. Where is she going to go? I can respond to her once I have a destination other than "the sky".
The crowd boos loudly at Eliana, and its spokesman steps closer to her, a deep frown on his face. "You better step aside, cathar," he says. "I never thought I'd be saying this, but you're standing in the way of justice. We've suffered that demon 'collecting debts' for long enough. We've suffered the merchants that send him too long, too." The foreman pounds his iron bar against his palm. "It's best if you get out of the way now, before you get hurt."
Eliana, would you be so kind as to describe your idea for the local presence of the Order of Saint Traft? I am starting school tomorrow! Wish me luck!
The man stiffens when Eliana suggests that they could do nothing against the demon. "You callin' us weak, cathar? You sayin' it's better to let evil lie rather than face some danger?"
Karthan thinks back, trying to think of someone he could turn to for help. Unfortunately, the pickings are slim. Havengul has no real town guard, the Avacynians have lost their mandate from Heaven, and Innistrad as a whole was lacking a centralized authority. Karthan himself was the closest Havengul had to a guard captain, and he knows that many commoners, when faced with the same issue, would in fact come to him for help. The Order of Saint Traft, the group to which Eliana belonged, are Karthan's closest living allies in this effort. Karthan's underlings look up at him when he gives his report on recent events. "Yeah, it's been a terrible day. What are we going to do about it?" - - - Sinri manages to creep unseen across the building's roof, appearing to all to be nothing more than a cat. It doesn't seem like there's anyone standing directly near the back door, but in order to creep across the street to another alleyway, one would definitely have to be within view of the mob.
As Taime and Li'omrut duck into the house and head back into its depths, the torch-wielding crowd begins to spill into the courtyard, led by an old woman in a shawl and dress. The crowd is muttering and murmuring, and casts the courtyard into a harsh shade of orange by torchlight. When Isabela enters the courtyard, she sees two figures duck quickly into the merchants' hall, but otherwise sees only Eliana and Moonwing standing before the door of the large building. One man, a dockworker wearing overalls and wielding an iron bar, strides forward. A bruise mars one eye and his hairline has receded. He seems to be in his 40s. He points the bar at Eliana. "Cathar! Did you see where the demon went?" Meanwhile, Li'omrut ducks into the servants' quarters -- a cramped hallway positioned underneath other features of the house. The ceiling is barely six feet high in here, and the doors to other rooms are small. The passageway links to a chute that leads upstairs, the kitchen, an outhouse, and some small bunk-rooms. The servants try to avoid Li'omrut, but one of them explains that there is a back door through the kitchen.
The merchant in the doorway hesitates for a few moments in the face of Li'omrut's persistence. Then he capitulates to the demon's muscles. His shoulders sag as he sighs and points to a small door underneath the staircase. "Fine," he says. "You can hide in the servants' area. You can reach it behind that door. Just don't damage any of my servants." "When the mob comes, I'll tell them that you ran off somewhere else. Just know that you'll owe me for that favor... and I have some ideas on how you can repay." Then he turns to Taime, face screwed up in confusion. "What are you talking about? I don't know where Sotos is. He never showed up to yesterday's council meeting." Sinri flies up into the sky, high enough to see over the buildings. He then flies down the street. He finds that the mob is just about a block away. There seem to be twenty to thirty people, carrying a mixture of kitchen knives and clubs and torches. He estimates that they'll be at the town square in less than a minute, so he flies back and tells Taime, "They'll be here any second, hurry!" Karthan, meanwhile, retreats down an alleyway. Once he gets through the alleyway to the next block over, he is greeted by his subordinates -- Evan and Nadia. They led some of the townspeople away from the town square before coming back for Karthan. "Sir!" one of them calls. "What's going on?"
= 11
14 point buy = 14
25 point buy. I'll take it!
The door to the merchants' hall has been smashed down by the angel, so Li'omrut merely has to shout into the well-lit and luxurious interior. After a few moments, a very large man clad in finery, holding a small scepter cautiously comes down the central stairs. Poking his head down to the entrance to see the door on the floor and Li'omrut at the threshold, he waves his hands frantically. "No! No more trouble here! That angel came here for you. You have to get out of here!" As he shouts, the crowd down the street gets closer. The shouts can be heard echoing off of the nearby stone walls. The fat merchant quivers with fear. The street gets brighter with the orange light of approaching torches. |
