The Dragon Room
Almost the entire west wall is made of stained glass windows in this room. Each of these painstakingly detailed pieces of art show dragons battling each other or brining terror to a human community. The very center window, however, does not allot any light through. It is almost as though someone built a wall behind this window, though no doubt it would have looked beautiful if light shone through it. This window depicts two dragons warring as burning human flee below. The centerpiece of this window is a piece of black glass, cut in the shape of an eclipsed sun.
The eastern and northern sides of this room house cased weapons and armor, decorated with dragon artwork. Most of it seems very well crafted, and are probably quite valuable.
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Seeing the weapons, Haldis decides to enter and examine their design. He also pays particular attention to the floor where the center window would direct it's light were it not blocked.
Scratching his head, the hulking brute peers closely at the scenes shown in the windowscapes.
OOC: Does anything like familiar, terrain, geography, etc.?
Okay, let’s see how best to answer these examinations. Well, the problem with following the light is that it’s currently night, and storming, so there’s very little light actually getting through. Also, the shadow would move with each hour, so it’s not consistently on any one spot. The weapons look interesting, and you can tell that three are enchanted. The terrain on the windows does not look familiar, except for one which may be Castle Avernus. Above the mass of towers is a large, black dragon, surprisingly not attacking the landscape below it.
Aleks walks into the room, and after an initial look around, walks over to the window with the eclipsed sun. Is there anything unusual about it? And what's this about a wall on the other side?
Well, you can’t be sure that there’s a wall specifically on the other side, but something is definitely blocking out the light. The window, while quite beautiful, is completely devoid of any identifying landmarks, it seems to be only for decoration. Ella walks in too, muttering something as she fingers what looks like a silver knife.
Well, I want to know what's on the other side. I'll feel around the casing, see if I can find a way to open it, see if any panes are loose. I'm assuming this is an outside wall. Is it? You said there are other windows on this wall. Are they on both sides?
If I can't find any way to check the other side, I'll wait till no one is looking, and I'll Sever the lead holding in a section of glass (just one panel, in what I assume is a typical stained glass window of many panels held by thin veins of lead) just large enough to fit my hand through.
If no one notices, I'll peak through, and if it makes sense, reach in and feel around. If anyone notices the glass come loose, I'll look embarrassed and mumble "It just came loose."
Well, conveniently enough, the window comes right out. Just a little pressure on its casting and it pops right out, almost as though it was designed to do that. On the other side is a large, folded up piece of canvas. As you reach forward to collect the item, it falls to the ground and opens, revealing an elaborately detailed map of the realms. All of The Core, The Shadowlands, The Amber Wastes, and all other known clusters appear on this map. As it turns out, there was another, clear window behind this one, keeping the map in place.
Oh, and all of the windows are on the west wall. Windows on the other wall would lead into bedrooms, and Theone wasn’t completely immoral.
Rennac is the next to enter the room, slowly analyzing the whole room before approaching the window that isn't letting light through. He inspects the edges of the window, then turns and walks over to a suit of armor, carefully examining it. "Any ideas about how one could get a feel for what's on the other side of that window?" says Rennac, somewhat disappointed as he moves on to the next suit.
OOC: Damn, I did that take forever to post thing again... can I assum ethat takes place before he pulls the window out? If not, forget the majority of that last post.
That's fine. Now let the great debate of who gets the first plot item begin.
ooc: Oo oo oo! Me me me! Actually, since it fell open on the floor, I assume this debate will take place in character.
ic: Assuming everyone else saw this (or, at least the people present: Haldis, Aleks, Ella, and Rennac), Aleks says "Why would anyone hide this?" He picks it up, and spreads it out on any handy table. Will he find any significant markings, handwritten notes, or anything magical or special about it?
"I found this, so I think I'll just keep it, if it's all the same to you," he says, to anyone listening, not really asking.
"... if it be 'Finder's Keeper's, then I guess that makes me the finder," says the giant as he reaches over the shoulder of Aleks, his meaty hand covers the majority of the map and he palms the canvas, lifting it into the air.
Okay, time for a more in-depth description I suppose. There are no personalized markings on this map, no “x” marks the spot or anything to that effect. The map itself is very, very large. Charts of this size are usually used either as posters, or for generals, so many people can interact with it at once. However, that being said, it’s rather inconvenient to use to find the quickest path anywhere, even for the giant. Unfolding takes much longer than unfolding a small, simple map of the core, which are easy enough to get.
However, while this map is simply a generic chart of Ravenloft (oh, just so you guys know, no one in Ravenloft actually uses that name to describe this world. That would be like calling “Earth” “The White House,” Ravenloft is actually the name of Lord Strahd’s castle. That’s just what we use out of game to mean the whole world, the core and all the clusters) that does not make it unimpressive. The map is incredibly detailed, showing trade routs, historical sites, shortcuts, even known mistways, done in an incredible, perfectly legible rendition. It may not be magical, but it would certainly be useful.
ooc: ooohhh! allow me to reconsider my actions.
ic: Haldis stands over the table, glaring downwards at all the detailed information. "Who says you get to hold onto this little man?" He doesn't step closer to Aleks, however his physical size alone is enough to unsettle most people.
Rennac looks down at the map, scans over it a few times and speaks. "well, that's nice detail... don't need it, don't care about it, don't want it, have fun guys." With that he walks back to the door and leans against the wall, at this point only interested in seeing how the conflict pans out.
ooc: Much better. I was considering Severing his wrist, which would have been not only rude, but also, in retrospect, kind of silly over what isn't quite the amazing revelation I expected.
ic: "Does it really mean that much to you? Well, how about we share it? The butler probably wouldn't let it leave the house anyway. Or, since it's clear that Theone liked to hide things, we could go see if we can find enough other things to be able to split fairly."
Windows. What else is there in the room to check? Inside armor. You said a few weapons are magical. After moving a few things to weigh down the corners of the map, a subtle hint to people that Aleks would prefer it stay where it is, he'll go around and start looking inside bits of armor, behind weapon cases and stands, and tapping at the walls.
"We're on a treasure hunt, so says Theone's will. Get hunting, or that prick downstairs will beat you to it."
Ella walks up to the map and begins examining it.
The walls appear to be real, the armor seems empty, and the weapons don’t appear to be hiding anything. Anyone with the Ghostsight power would be able to identify it with about half an hour of meditation. Otherwise, spellcasters could figure out what they are with a few hours of work.
Oh, and I forgot to mention, the map has the eclipsed sun symbol on the bottom right-hand corner.
ooc: It keeps failing to post my comments. This begins to distress me.
Also, by 'identify it' do you mean the enchantments on the weapons, or something else? I may have justification to figure it out. Would Ghost sight and spell casting together shorten the time?
And of course it does. What doesn't?
ic: "Well, since we're all so full of trust and kindness, would anyone care to accompany me to loot - er, search, the rest of the house, or will we just assume that anything found will be brought to the attention of all?" Aleks grins as he says this.
Before making this pronouncment, he'll take not of any rapiers of better quality than his own, and consider making an exchange under the justification of 'provisioning.' He might also examine the enchanted things, depending on the answer to the questions above.
Yeah, I mean that you’d be able to figure out basic enchantments that are on them. However, ghostsight and spellcasting would not shorten the time, they are two completely different methods of achieving the same thing. Using ghostsight to identify an item is concentrating on the magical aura around it, actually seeing patterns in it, and eventually, after you’ve shut out your “normal” vision enough, seeing only the manna in the item. Of course, this only works for items that have general enchantments, things that you would be familiar with. On the other hand, spellcasting is the “ungifted” way of doing that. For those who are blind to the world around them, there are spells, which are commonly known (even if they aren’t on your list) that just tell you what enchantments are in the item.
Also, this room doesn't seem to have rapiers in it, they're more longswords and that sort of thing.
Huh. Well, will the spell approach tell me anything that the ghost sight won't?
Oh all right. Aleks stares fixedly at the enchanted weapons, trying to figure out what the hell they do.
Okay, you're going to need to meditate for half an hour. Is that okay?
Since my other option is to let Curiosity drag me into a dark room and do things that I will never be able to bring myself to talk about even with my counselor, yes.
If this were a stereotypical D&D dungeon crawl, I'd be the one who says "Okay, we know it's trapped, now lets see what the trap does," and springs the trap.
Oh, and that invalidates my entreaty to search the house, since I'd obviously prefer that not start without me.
Here we go: "Let's make a deal. You stick around a bit, wait for me before you start tossing the place, maybe study that map, see if we can't get some idea how to get wherever we're going to look for the dearly departed, and I'll tell you what these enchanted weapons do. How 'bout it?" And he settles in to stare at the weapons.
"Instead, I'll take the entire map and hold on to it for the time being. I'll then help you, for the time being."
The giant begins the artful folding of the large military map, "I don't see any reason to speak of this to the others."
"Well, I won't tell anyone about your plan to ransack the place, but I'm not joining you either. If you'll excuse me, I'd like to take a look at the other rooms and see if there are any other hidden items or doors that might tell me how all this has happened."
With that, Rennac leaves the room and moves methodically from room to room, since he has nothing better to do and he figures bringing up the bookcase again will only lead to annoyance or arguments.
Tom finally steps into the room, he had marvelled at the artwork on the way to the room. His eyes scan the room and linger uncomfortably on Ella for some reason, and then he walks up to the giant. "What's this map here for? A nice treasure map left by the late Lord?" He grins and gives the area behind his ears a few scratches.
Well, seeing as the next room over is a bedroom...
Rennac walks into the guest room. Even this room seems richly furnished, with silk sheets, finely crafted tables, and a large painting. Theone himself may have at one point occupied this room, because the painting is of the Lord himself, along with Harrow, back when they were both younger men. In this painting, Theone shakes Harrow's left hand, the warrior's right hand is nothing but a bloody stump wrapped in bandages, and Harrow wears an eyepatch.
Any word on what I've been staring at?
Yeah, seeing as there don't seem to be any actions for that time. There are three weapons, two swords and a mace. The first sword is very average-looking, rusted, and has a small dragon carving in the hilt. Its aura suggests that it has some form of flame enchantment, but it's weak at best, probably won't work all of the time. The other sword has a black and a green dragon fighting up its blade, and it seems to have the ability to resist large amounts of damage, along with being uniquely sharp. Finally, the mace is a Dragonbane weapon, it actually hates dragons. When fighting dragons, it will hit especially hard, and will always return to its master.
"Hrm," looking down at Tom, "... no, I don't believe this map contains the location of any treasure. It does seem to contain a great amount of detail, and for that I shall keep it."
"All right. These weapons would be worth some money, but unless we're to fight dragons, they're nothing amazing. Getting them past the butler might be more trouble than it's worth, right now.
"So, shall we continue our search?"
And what do you mean, able to resist large amounts of damage? The blade? It's really hard to break? Hardly seems special, steel being fairly hard to break itself.
Yeah, it's more resistant than normal. This doesn't seem to specifically be a collection of magical items, it's more meant to fit with a theme. Anything magical is probably there by coincidence.
"Search? What for? I could help," Tom says, excitedly. He suddenly appears rather childish. "I'm good at finding things, especially if I have help. Or am helping." He grins a toothy smile, more eager to join a team than anything.
"... Suppose I'm game."
"All right. Lets go."
A floor plan might be good. Or maybe we could work off of the Clue map, or Kill Dr. Lucky. If you're up to it, pick a map and edit the post to include it as an image.
Anyway, away we go. To the bedroom, I guess. Aleks will do the predictable things: look in the closet, open drawers, look under the bed and behind the painting. He'll also keep an eye out for enchantments and anything that looks like it might be concealing anything.
Tom follows, but asks "What are we searching for?" as they enter the bedroom. He sniffs the air a few times, and then begins to tap the walls and floor, searching for hidden compartments.
Sure thing, I'll get you a floor plan as soon as I can.
As you guys are checking the room, Ella walks in and takes a look at the painting. "Um...I-I don't mean to bother you, but isn't this a bit odd?" she asks. "Harrow's missing his hand and eye in this painting."
"Hmmm, the Harrow we've seen has a mangles eye and arm, but thay are, in fact, still attached to his body, that is interesting... Though we can't take for granted that his ee is actually missing in this picture." Rennac considers for a moment, "What exactly are you trying to imply here anyway?"
"Oh, n-nothing..." Ella pauses. "It just seems odd, in the story I heard Harrow was hit by a battlemage. The fireball nearly killed him, and completely destroyed his arm and eye. He seems to be getting along just fine, from what I see."
So, what's going on here? Does the story match the painting or not? I'm confused.
Sorry, let me be more clear. The story goes that Harrow lost his arm and eye in the battle, and only because of Theone did he live. The painting would seem to agree, as his arm is a bloody stump and he's wearing an eye patch. However, Harrow is downstairs, right now, with a mangled, but functional, arm and eye.
Ahh. I see.
"Well, we'll have to see if we can get the details out of him. However, it doesn't seem all that likely to be relevant to our immediate concerns."
If this room has been thoroughly ransacked, Aleks will move on, hopefully dragging the rest along. What's next?
"Perhaps we should check downstairs, a building of this magnitude would most certainly have a well designed cellar. Not to mention cellars are usually used to store items, and who knows what we may find down there." The giant flexed involuntarily as he stooped through the doorway to speak with Alexis, his action causing the frame to creak and splinter.
He seems not to notice.
Well, this particular wing of the upstairs is devoted entirely to bedrooms, except for the aforementioned “Dragon Room.” Downstairs there are a lot of other rooms, which will show up on the map, once I find one. But, just to get you started, Eleni went past the library, so there are probably some other rooms down there. Edwin seemed to know his way around this place, and he went downstairs.
Oh, and I think I’ve come up with a point-distribution system, taken from the Mage system of experience points. Whenever we come to a close in a chapter, I will give out points, based on whatever plot points you managed to find. So, for example, when you leave the manor (yes, this game does in fact continue beyond this particular house) you’d get your points. Generally, you’ll get one for every plot point that any group of people manage to uncover, and an additional one for the person who played a key part in the uncovering of said point. For example, you have found Theone’s map, that’s a plot point, and you’ll all get a point for it. However, Dan uncovered it, so he’ll receive a personal point for that. Don’t worry, there are plenty of other things to find in this manor. And yes, though you haven’t allied with her, Ella was present when you discovered Theone’s map, and therefore she gets a point as well. Were you to split up at this point, the points would not be distributed throughout every PC. However, you’d have a better chance of uncovering the clues yourself, and therefore getting the personal point.
"The cellars are a good idea. Let's check them out."
Would we get points for bumping off the competition? Ella would never see it coming...
Haha, no, not specifically. However, you would get points if you had a good reason for killing her. For example, let’s say that you deduced that she was the murderer, and had conclusive evidence to that effect. Then killing her would be a plot point, and you’d get a point for that. This isn’t to say that everything that you have to do has to advance the plot, but there are goals that in any chapter to meet, clues to be uncovered, even if you went in a completely different direction. You could forget about Theone right now, and run off to Paradon, and do god knows what, and still get points. I’d just invent a different checklist. Also, don’t expect to get all of the potential points in a chapter, it’s pretty unlikely. For example, in this chapter killing the murderer would count as a plot point, but you might not even figure out who the murderer is in the first place. Finally, lots of these points roll over to the next chapter. The murderer will still be an important part of the plot, even after this chapter is finished, and finding him or her will count as a plot point no matter where or when you do it (provided that you can actually prove it. The reason for this is so you don’t just go around guessing, you need to actually know who killed those men) and killing this person will be worth another plot point.
"I agree, the cellers are always a good place to look, but I'd also like to see the rooms Lady Eleni went to check out as well. After all, I would think rooms near the library are more important than the cellar."
"Well, that depends on what you consider important. Wine, for example, is far more often found in cellars than in libraries. Also, dead bodies. Or buried treasure. One never knows what one will find in a cellar. Libraries, on the other hand, tend to contain books."
"... right, plus we may learn a bit more about the potential where abouts of Theone or... something." The giant has begun to loose interest it would seem.
He backs out of the doorframe and begins walking down the hall examining any hanging pieces of artwork or window ledge that a shorter man may otherwise overlook.
Okay, in the interest in not pushing active scenes onto older pages, I’m gonna post the cellar in this scene.
You walk down into the dusty basement. Down the long hallway are rooms, filled with wine. Theone was quite a critic in his time, and his collection of famous vintages was legendary. You snicker as you pass by a room labeled “Borcan Wine. Drink at Your Own Risk.” It’s a common joke that “Borcan Wine” is poison, but in all truthfulness Borca produces some of the very best vintages in the world. Edwin is kneeling in a hallway, tapping on a wall.
"What are you doing over there, have you found anything of interest behind or around that wall," boomed the giant of a man.
"I remember this house had a variety of secret rooms and passages, and there was one somewhere down here. I just can't seem to remember where it was."
"If you can find it, I may be able to open it." The rippling muscles up and down his massive, tree-trunk sized arms speak volumes of Haldis' intended meaning.
Tom steps out from behind the giant, and walks toward Edwin. "Where have you been tapping around already?" he asks, ready to continue the man's work. Again, Tom sniffs the air around the walls. He says to the giant, "Was Theone a srtong man? The passageways might not need incredible strength to pull open. But either way, a nice big muscle never hurt anyone. Unless the muscle was being used to hurt someone. Then I suppose that the person would get hurt..."
After watching the others tap the wall with no result, and doing so himself, perhaps near some of the wines, Rennac loses interest and starts upstairs.
"Well if you'll excuse me, the murder is far more interesting to me than exploring a mansion that I don't really care for. I ask only one thing, please tell me if any of these passages you find end up in the library, this murder is troublesome as it is."
Tom stands up straight, and faces Rennac. "Sir, if you are going to try and figure out who this killer is, I think you may want to see something. On my way here, I came upon a corpse, killed by stab or sword wounds. He looked like he was on his way here, and he was naked, someone obviously took his clothes. There is an imposter here." He pauses uncomfortably. "Mayhaps I should have said this sooner?"
Rennac turns around, stunned, and also incredibly interested.
He begins to speak quicker than usual. "Indeed, thanks for speaking up, this changes everything. If you don't mind, was there anything specific you remember about the corpse? and where was it?"
"Uhm... Well, it was definitely freshly killed, male, and as I said before, naked. I assume he was to be one of the guests, but someone here murdered him and came in guise. I have a suspicion or two, but I'd rather not discuss them here," Tom says, quitely. He looks nervously at the people around. "But I will say that the imposter can't possibly be the giant--he is far too large to match the dead man, Eleni--the man wasn't a woman and was not tattooed, Harrow--other than his stab wounds, he didn't even have any scars that I noticed, or Ella--again, it was a male corpse. But I don't know much about magics and how that would affect my suspicions..." He seems unsure of himself, and then his yellow eyes grow with fear, it is apparent that he realized that Rennac could be the killer. He calms quickly, though, rubbing the back of his neck near the hilt of his sword. "I need to go back upstairs, you are welcome to join me. We can talk while we walk," Tom says, and he heads back to the main floor, looking for Daryl.
Just a sec, something happens on your way up. As you’re walking out of the basement, Harrow comes tumbling town the steps, barely missing you as he hits the rock floor. Up the stairs stands a humanoid creature of light, vibrating furiously. It most certainly has humanoid features, (eyes, nose, etc.) but they are all vibrating too quickly to distinguish. Then, just as you register this creature’s existence, it flees, stepping out of the doorway with more speed than a creature of this size deserves.
Tom stops and runs down to harrow, grabbing him by both hands in an attempt to help him up. if he is concious, Tom asks if he's alright, if not, Tom says to the others with a kind of calm urgency, "He's not consious, shall I take him to Daryl? And anyone know waht that... thing was?"
Eying the crumpled form of Harrow, Haldis stands fully, his head brushing the ceiling slightly.
"Perhaps, that... creature is linked to the body you stumbled across in the forest. It is likely that the two are related in some way. But, we are safe from accusation... aren't we."
Harrow is conscious, but grabbing his right elbow. “I-I think it’s broken.” He mutters. His mangled fingers twitch.
Oh, and this might be a good place to bring this up, just in case anyone thinks Harrow’s stuff is the Hand and Eye of Vecna. Those items are in the Greyhawk world, and look slightly different. Those artifacts are mummified, Harrow’s hand and eye are mangled and cancerous. It’s actually just a weird coincidence. Just thought I’d bring it up.
Tom helps Harrow to his feet, supporting his weight if nessisary. "What happened? What was that thing? Something sent by our mysterious assailant?" Tom looks to the others. "Can anyone here cast a spell or do something to fix up his arm?"
"I could amputate it, or cauterize it, but I don't think either is needed. You should have mentioned this before now. We need to find that thing, and see if everyone is who they ought to be. Or we could ignore it and hope it goes away and doesn't kill us."
ooc: I go away for a little while and we get attacked by mysterious beings. Go figure. I'm still on vacation, so my posting will be sporadic. Jeremy, please just have me do whatever seems reasonable at the time, like tagging along if people head off to do something, or pitching in if we get attacked. I'll try to keep up, but I can't promise until next Tuesday.
Actually, for his arm, could I Animate the Inanimate on it and make the bones knit?
Sure, no problem, I'm used to having some people not being present. Unfortunetly, no, Harrow is not inanimate, so he can't be targeted by that spell.
Idea: I Sever the arm above the broken bit, Animate it, cause it to heal the broken bit, and then cause it to reattach. That's one use of Sever, and one, possibly two if you're being stingy, of Animate.
Assuming that will work: "This is going to hurt." Sever. Splat. Bleed. Arm moves like an inch worm on fire. Arm acts like a leach. Screaming throughout. Finally, heavy breathing from the pale subject, and nervous glances among the bystanders. Aleks wipes blood off his forehead.
Sorry, I should probably be a bit more specific as to how the magic involved operates. Basically, animating an object allows it to move, within the parameters of the limits outlined for it. There is a limit as to how precisely you can control whatever you animated, which means that you cannot do so on a subatomic level. So, you could animate a table to walk, but if it broke you couldn’t get it to repair itself. Also, not to seem nitpicky, but there are very different magics involved in animating an inanimate object (for example a table, suit of armor or sword) and something that used to be human bone. Animating human bone requires necromantic energy, destructive magic instead of constructive, so it requires a different spell. This is all just as well, because animating flesh and bone provokes a powers check.
Also, there are very few arcane methods of healing wounds, and even those that do exist typically require something to draw from: usually life. Long story short, if you want to promote healing, you need a priest, or perhaps a priestess. I wonder where you could find one of those?
Right then. Options: Cut it off, leave it be, or fetch Ella.
"Ella. Do something." He looks at her. (she came with us to the bedroom, so I assume she came down here as well) "Ella?" Aleks shakes her shoulder lightly. "Snap out of it."
Actually, Ella didn’t follow you all the way into the basement originally, but the crash is loud enough to bring her down promptly. She does need to be “snapped out of it.”
“Oh!” Ella says. She bends down and begins muttering, praying and correcting herself as she goes along. Basically, you manage to gather that she’s asking for help from some sun god. Once she’s finished, a glow spreads across Harrow, and his fracture is healed.
“Thanks.” Harrow says, gripping his withered hand, which seems to be shedding skin after being healed. “I don’t know what that was, I was walking out of the library when it grabbed me and flung me down the stairs. If I was ten years younger…”
"Not to hurry you, but with a creature like that running around, I think it might be best to go join with the others. It's quite possible that... thing tipped the bookshelf and was the one who stabbed the man outside. No matter what happened, it's dangerous and there's safety in numbers, along with a knowledge of who isn't there if it attacks again. Eleni might still be near the library, I think we should meet up with her." With that, Rennac takes off up the stairs and toward the library.
Tom looks at Harrow, says, "I want to ask more about this, but later," looks at Ella, gives her a strange look, and then runs after Rennac. There is safety in numbers, correct?
"Maybe. Unless one of that number is the thing, and or the killer. I say we stick together, in the group we have right here, the ones we know aren't that thing, and keep up our search." Aleks glances around for anything of interest.
So...I'm a bit confused. Are you going upstairs?
If it matters, I'm already up the stairs and around the corner headed toward the library.
"Damn it. Are you coming?" Aleks asks the remaining people.
Then he heads up the stairs, keeping an eye out for anything suspicious looking. Tactically, he tries to check rooms as he passes, making sure everything behind him is clear, but getting to wherever everyone is congregating is more important than being completely thorough right now.
Haldis growls slightly, but moves back up stairs. He begins to wonder why this inheritance would benefit him... as well as thinking of how to work the group against itself.
Sorry for the delay. Okay, you guys head up the staircase. The carpet it a bit roughed up, but beyond that nothing seems out of place.
Oi. We'll need a floor plan to conduct a decent search. I thought we were all headed to the library.
It's starting to feel like the movie Clue.
Well, it has the same basic premise. But don't worry, once again, Theone's manor is just chapter one, there's more stuff after this. Anyways, I added in a floor plan. The stairs in the building are, in fact, two seperate sets of stairs, one leading down, where you guys were, one leading up, to the dragon room. The library is the room marked "Dining Room," the dining room is marked "Den." Yeah, It's a map that I took from online, but it works.
Can you make it bigger?
Well, it's bigger, but we can't read the writing. No matter, seeing as none of it is accurate. Long story short, the dining room is in the upper-left, and the library is right below it. You were brought through the room below that on your way in, but you have not yet investigated it.
Tom follows the others, sniffing and looking around for anything unfamiliar. He pipes up, "Shouldn't we find Daryl? He should know about this..."
"Good idea. We should also gather the rest of the servants, then see what we can do about organizing a search. Theone would want this done with proper military discipline."
Do we know where Daryl would be found? If so, Aleks heads there and brings him back.
And Tom would go with him to reduce the chance of another attack.
Haldis nods, but then heads in a different direction by himself. His eyes constantly scanning the room, his fists clenching and releasing as he heads toward the room that no one has yet examined, to his knowledge.
Seeing the group split up behind him, Rennac swears under his breath. "We still need to find Eleni as well, is there some place we can meet once everyone is found? It's obviously best if we can get everyone together at once. I'd think a larger room like the dining room might be best." With that Rennac takes off toward the room Eleni went to.
By the way, where are Ella and Harrow going?
As Haldis enters the main room where everyone was escorted through he approached the main door and after examining it for a few moments, goes in search of a few of the larger and heavier busts, statues, and sculptures to prevent any others from coming or going... at least through the most convenient portal.
Sorry for the delay in posting, I haven’t had access to a computer for a few days.
Okay so first, getting Daryl. He’s in the kitchen (which is the room just to the right of the dining room) with two other servants. “I dismissed all of the others prior to your arrival, didn’t want anyone listening in that didn’t need to. This is my son, Alex, and his fiancé Lyra.” Alex is a head taller than his father, but otherwise the spitting image of the head servant. Lyra is a pretty young girl, probably not any older than Ella or Edwin.
Ella is writing something in the journal that she has been carrying, and Harrow is passively reading a book while he waits for the others to be gathered. Roshab has since exited the library, to who knows where.
The room that Haldis enters appears to be the main display room for Theone’s collection of artifacts. Busts, pictures, and historical items in cases are all around this room. A dark crystal is suspended from a chandelier in the center of the room. The ceiling is decorated with a mosaic of a red and blue dragon warring, with their respective breath attacks meeting over the chandelier. Eleni is in this room, and pays you little mind as you enter.
"All right. There have been two attacks now. We need to get everyone together and try to conduct a search. Is there any way we can seal the house, to keep everyone who's in, in?"
Aleks wants to gather everyone, and then divide into pairs or small groups to search the house.
"That is possible, in a way. The walls, doors, locks and windows are all warded, preventing physical or magical damage. However, even Lord Theone did not have the gold to make the house completely immune to harm. If we have a potent spellcaster here trying to harm us, or someone who's strong enough, he or she could get through. But the wards would not make it easy, and someone like me certainly couldn't break through them. All we have to do is close and lock the doors."
"Well, we've had two deaths and two attempted murders so far. Let's do it."
"We have an imposter here as well, Daryl. On my way here, I saw a dead body, stripped of all clothing, he was obviously on his way here. Someone is here who shouldn't be," Tom says grimly. He cracks his neck anxiously.
Well, if Eleni is with Haldis, then I suppose that means I don't find her. Rennac'll just move from room to room until he finds her, or gets bored, whatever happens first.
OOC: Sorry to interrupt the sequence of things, but this seems like the post that is universally checked. Anyway, from soon until December, I only have access to the internet for a short time each day, so my posts might not be as frequent as normal. (Or considering how much I've actually done recently, they might be.)
Oh, you find Eleni just fine.
Does the butler agree to help me gather everyone?
Oh, yeah, sorry, Daryl helps get everyone together. All the NPCs'll gather wherever you want, though most of them aren't happy about it. PCs'll have to decide if they want to come along.
I'll gather with the rest of the group, making sure that Eleni joins us as well.
To the Dinning Room!
"All right. You'll all be glad you're here in a minute.
"We're under attack, and we don't know by whom, or exactly why, although it would probably be clear if we knew how or where Theone died."
Pointing, "Someone killed two of your guards, and tried to kill you. Someone attacked Harrow, threw him down the stairs. We can only assume that they were trying to kill him, since they didn't stick around to apologize or explain.
"I propose that we proceed through the house in a more orderly than previous manner, searching for the killer. Anything else we find is a bonus, but I'd like to at least get out of here alive, and unhunted. If we have to split up, we'll make sure no one goes off alone. If someone else has to die, lets at least get a witness.
"Daryl has sealed the house. No one will get out, at least without leaving an obvious sign, like a hole in the wall.
"Oh, and watch out for secret passages. Apparently there are several."
I assume I'll have gotten interrupted at some point, but oh well.
Roshab and Eleni think that you're joking at first. "So what, we need handlers now?" Roshab asks.
The man in furs grunts and walks over to Tom, sitting down next to him.
Ella is predictably compliant. Harrow and Edwin are eager to help. "Excluding Daryl and his family, I probably know this place the best of any of us here." Edwin offers.
"Good, I think we should follow Edwin to each of the more sercetive places he knows about to look for any traces of recent use."
Rennac turns to Roshab and Eleni, "While I can understand annoyance at needing to stay in a group like this, it is now a necessity. If you leave, not only are you in more danger, but you are also more suspicious. If you leave it makes eveyone's life more troublesome, including your own.
Tom smiles to the man in furs, but inches away just a bit.
He looks back at the others and says, "Grouping would be good, especially since that would mean that if the killer is in a group, he wouldnt take people out, right? But what if the killer is not, in fact, someone who is here? What if it is someone hidden? Or something not human, or humanlike, at all?"
"Then there's safety in numbers, if the killer can take many or all of us at once, we're as good as dead anyway," Rennac replies matter-of-factly.
"But we still wouldnt find anything, or anyone, out! I can see your point, but I think that point needs to be sharpened. It's a little dull, is all I'm saying." Having terribly confused himself with the last statement he made, Tom inhales sharply as if to speak again, but instead sits back in his chair. "Nevermind," he says.
"If we go about it carefully, we can clear each room and be sure we don't miss anything. If one of us is the killer, then yes, hopefully we'll avoid giving an opportunity to off us, and maybe we'll find some evidence that will show who it is. If it's not one of us, then hopefully we'll catch him, or her, or it.
"Edwin, what do you know about this place?"
“Oh, well, let’s see…There was a passageway from Uncle Theone’s master bedroom down to the library, behind one of the bookcases. He mostly used it as a shortcut. Then he had an escape rout I believe, from the kitchens to a bit of farmland he owned. There was a secret room in the basement, where Uncle Theone kept his more exotic artifacts, and I believe he had another secret room in one of the closets. But keep in mind, I haven’t been here for years, and my uncle was certainly rich enough to take out some of these secrets, or add in a few new ones.”
"An escape route. Well, I guess we'll have to secure that first if we want to catch anyone. Daryl, you live here, do you know how to find any of these?"
"All except for the one in the basement, I never heard of that one. The secret room in the closet is where Theone left his emergency supply of money, it's how we've been taking our pay for the last five years. The secret passage to the library is well known, most of the servents use it. As for the escape route, that's an emergency escape. Theone insisted that we all know where it is, and where it led. He was afraid that someone would come after him, though he never said who. I always thought he was afraid someone would try to claim a ransom on him, but the one time I saw someone try, Theone tore the poor fellow apart."
"I-I think that we should check the basement." Ella adds.
Haldis, the giant snarls, "We just came from there, and why would an energy fiend throw one of the staff members down there if it didn't want us to find that entrance?!?"
"Well, I guess we could start from the bottom and work our way up. Lets get started." Aleks starts off in the direction of the basement, checking to be sure the others are coming.
Tom follows, throwing in a glare at Haldis for startling him with a sudden outbreak of loudness. And perhaps a little bit for his rude behavior to a lady.
Content that the search for the murderer can finally begin, Rennac follows those who have left toward the basement, making sure that everyone else follows.
Okay, assuming that you’re going downstairs…
Edwin walks to the wall he was tapping earlier. “It was right here last time I was in this house. But I think Uncle Theone changed something, I can’t find the switch to open it.”
"I'm not interested in the location of the toggle, but you say this wall blocks the supposed portal?" asked Haldis.
"Yeeaaahhh..." Edwin says as he backs up, suddenly understanding what you're about to do.
Nodding, Haldis walks to the wall, knocks on a few locations checking it for differing sounds, and seeming satisfied with his examination he takes a few steps back and dropping a shoulder rushes the wall with his entire might.
ooc: sorry for the delay in posting.
There's a loud crash as Haldis hits the wall. The wall, which is revealed to be a door, falls open as the lock is shattered.
Inside the room are several ancient treasures. A crystal ball, which anyone with ghost sight can recognise as being magical, is in the corner. It's too large to carry around, but it's the perfect addition to any evil lair. There's a large tapestry on the opposing wall, also magical, depicting a battle between a green and black dragon. There's a rusing amulet in the shape of a grinning mask hanging off a wall, also magical. Finally, there's a sword display case, which is empty.
Ella runs to the case, ignoring the rest of the room, and whispers "No."
"Finders keepers," Haldis speaks as he walks to the amulet and lifts it from it's resting place.
"I'll consider this as payment for rediscovering the hidden room," he says it with a smirk, but his body-language would suggest otherwise.
"Careful. It might be cursed. I might be able to give you a rough idea of what it does, if you want.
"And, Ella, what were you expecting to be there? Is there something you haven't told us?" Aleks' hand drifts towards the hilt of his knife.
“Oh…uh…I…I’ve been here once before.” Ella says, avoiding your gaze.
Edwin, having just put a few things together, yells out, “You! You were the girl I brought here, the reason Uncle Theone disowned me.”
Ella just nods. “I-I haven’t been completely honest with you. I am Ella, initiate priestess of Belenus, the sun god, but I am also part of-of another order.” Ella eyes your knife, and her hand slips clumsily over her own silver dagger. “Our-our duty is to protect the world from an-an evil creature, who calls himself “Eternity,” among other things. It-it’s the only true immortal in the entire world, and we’ve combated it for centuries.”
Ella speaks with more confidence now, surprised by her own nerve. “Eternity constantly tried to tempt others to follow it, to join it in immortality. But such longevity inevitably leads to corruption, just look around, liches, vampires, all immortal, all evil. Eternity is no exception, and my order ha-has stopped him, at the cost of many of our lives.
“Eventually, a few hundred years ago, a few of our members survived an encounter with Eternity, and noticed that he seemed to be powered by some inner light, li-like that creature that attacked Harrow. S-so, the only logical thing to combat it with was…” Ella pauses with shame. “Darkness. They created a sword, torn from darkness, called “Eon’s Bane.” It weakened Eternity, and they placed him in a vault underground. There he stayed, for a while. Until some rash youth, inspired with the promise of the treasures and riches of Eternity, opened the vault, and released the immortal.
“While Eternity was locked away, my order lost track of Eon’s Bane. We could not destroy the thing, but we no longer had any use of it. So no one watched it, and somewhere along the line, we lost it. Well, you can imagine the surprise of my superiors, when they heard that I had seen it, in Theone’s care.
“We believe that Theone, in searching for immortality, may have contacted Eternity, and made a deal with him. I came here hoping to get Eon’s Bane back, but it’s gone now. And-and Theone might…” Ella seems to lose her courage at this point and just falls to the ground, letting her dagger fall beside her.
"So Theone might be the one trying to kill us? Does it invalidate the will if we kill him?"
"Technically no, so long as we "provide proof of his death."" Harrow chimes in.
"Th-that's not what I meant, I don't know what that creature was, though Eternity has been described, in some accounts, to be able to move very quickly. W-we think that Theone may have set out to join Eternity, to become immortal, which leads to evil."
"Oh, don't give me that lecture." Roshab remarks, smirking as usual. "Immortality can't make you evil, unless you already were."
Ella is quiet for a moment, then mutters, "Either way, Eternity is evil, and if Theone joins him...my mother's old friend is damned."
"All right. If that thing is Theone, we'll put him out of his misery, and collect. If that thing is some undead horror named Eternity, then I'm out, and you guys can make your own call.
"Anyway, since you knew what you were looking for here, can you tell us what the rest of this stuff is, Ella?"
"Oh! Yes, hold on." Ella says, enthusiastic for once. She lifts her holy symbol, speaks a prayer, something about "revealing light." When she's done she says, "Well, the crystal ball is easy, it's a scrying device. The amulet is related, it blocks scrying. If we had the words of power to activate it, you could even surround yourself in an illusion that would fool scying devices. Finally, the tapestry isn't quite what it seems. It's actually a rug, or more accurately, a carpet. One that can fly and, I believe, think."
Roshab seems to have gotten bored and walks up the stairs.
"Scrying? How do we make it work?"
Aleks walks up, lays his hands on the ball, and says "Show me where Theone, or Theone's body, is."
The ball fills with mist upon your request, and briefly flashes red. "That means that it can't find-" Eleni starts, with a touch or boredom in her voice, but then the ball shows you an image of mountains. The ball flashes white, to reveal a forest of black and lifeless trees. Again it flashes, but this time seems to freeze in the white screen. Then the ball vibrates, and black seeps over the white, completely filling the ball. Then a deep, powerful voice can be heard, and the room shakes just with the sound of it. "Who dares try to spy on me?" it demands with a hiss.
Aleks hesitates a moment, then answers "Roshab, of Darkonia."
Just so you know, it's Darkon, not Darkonia, but your character wouldn't have made that mistake, so I'll assume that you said it correctly, unless you say otherwise.
There's a moment pause, before: "Clever enough to be out of the country before trying to spy on me. Tell me, what did you hope to gain by peering into my personal chambers?"
"I meant no disrespect. I mean to come to you, but I needed to find you."
Does the voice sound like Theone's, or do I think I'm talking to Eternity, or someone else?
Well, it's not Theone, that much you can tell. This voice barely sounds human, much less like your old friend. As for Eternity, it could be, seeing as you never met him, or whatever you're talking to, but it could just as easily be one of any number of other creatures that can block scrying. Now, this is basically a psycic contact, you remember that from my description of psyche? Basically, whoever's on the other end has enough psyche to cloak himself from you, but then again, you aren't really applying yourself. You could try to turn it into psycic battle, if you wanted, and you'd both struggle for control. You'd just need to get close to his power to break through his cloak, and see him for what he really is, but if he's much more powerful than you, he could freeze you, read your mind, or even worse, shatter it. Just so you know. Any anyone who invested heavily in psyche (anyone but Tom) knows enough to take over for you, or maybe help you out.
"Find me? And you had to resort to scrying to do that?"
There's a pause, then, "Well, what did you want to say? Speak quickly, before I send one of my agents to kill you."
Yeah, why not?
I'll try to bust through, enough to find out what I'm dealing with. Aleks grunts out "Anyone want to lend a hand?" and concentrates on the scrying.
Is there anything I can do to get some kind of bonus? Burn other points, or hit points, or something. Kick him in the knee to distract him?
Well, basically that "kick in the knee" would be a mindrape, going straight for his head, so to say. Even someone who's really weak in this area can get a mindrape off, if his opponent is concentrating on something else. The big example of this is, in the books that this system came from, the main character and a demon are fighting, and the demon is about to die. He decided to hasten his death a bit, and mindrape his opponent, just to learn his name. Despite his inferior psyche, his opponent was too focused on the physical battle to fight him off.
The problem is, this thing has its eyes on you, and as far as you know, might be sitting in a lounge, sipping tea, only thinking about you. Basically this would be like meeting an enemy on a battlefield, if his magical power is reflected by his ability to "hijack" your crystal ball, for lack of a better term, you'll have to fight to get into his head.
So, the battle begins, you throw your attack at him. It doesn't disrupt his cloak, and you can hear a painful laughter. "I see you're no beginner at this, but I'm not called The Wizard King for Nothing."
Eleni jumps in, putting her hand on the ball. With her help, you're able to withstand his significant counter attack, which knocks the breath out of both of you. "Ah, the Red Wizard's pet."
Now, there are a couple of things that you can do here. One, you traded blows, you might be able to pull out before he attacks again, though you'll probably be down a crystal ball. Second, you could attack again, maybe with a little more help you could get a glimpse of what's on the other side, but whatever it is, this guy is tough. Or you can try something inventive, take your pick.
Oh, and for getting a bonus, mostly the only way to do that is to get aid. You could hang in there longer by burning up your physical endurance, actually taking physical damage, but not increase your power. Not to say that it's impossible, there are rumours of dark magic in Souragne that allow you to trade your blood for power, but you'd have to somehow get the spell in the first place. Failing that, there's always the "last ditch effort" way to get a little more power: scream out, and hope that something hears you. Problem is, that thing usually has a price.
Tom looks back and forth, thouroughly confused. His eyes keep darting from the crystal ball to Ella's dagger to Aleks to Eleni... Finally, unable to help in any other way, he kicks Ella's dagger away and puts his hand on his own sword hilt, anticipating a fight that will likely not even happen.
Ella scrambles after her knife and retrieves it.
OOC:Sorry it's been so long, I've been in the mountains for a week.
IC: Seeing everything happen from the background, Rennac quickly decides that his skills will be best used in a psyche battle, so he darts over to the crystal ball and lays his hand on it as well, preparing for ther battle that may begin.
Okay, I assume that you guys are going for another attack? In that case...
The three of you pour your power into one blast, putting a heavy drain on all of you. The attack seems to have caught your opponent off-guard, and you're able to push away the black mist surrounding him. On the other side you see an elderly man, sitting in a poorly kept, but richly decorated, laboratory. He wears regal, crimson robes, and a crown made of iron, with a single orange gem in the center. Now, there have been many "wizard kings," but the iron crown is a symbol of Darkon's ruler, Lord Azalin. Your venerable opponent seems to grin, before calling his shrowd back. "It seems that you have no little skill at magic. I have no interest in The Red Wizard's pet, but the rest of you might be...worthwhile. Seek me out, if you can survive the trip, and I might make an arrangement with you." With that the globe shatters, ending the connection.
Tom sighs and takes his hand off his sword hilt, his anxiousness phyisically departing from him as he stares at the shattered crystal ball. "What was that?" he asks, curiously. "I don't know much about magic, but that looked like it hurt," he added, his forehead forming three concerned creases.
A man's scream can be heard upstairs, followed by a loud "crack" and the sound of something shattering.
"Damnit! It's just one thing after another. Well, I guess it's time to go check out another attack, at least we know where we need to go now, well, let's move, lives hinge on our finding out what's going on."
"Well, it's got to be Roshab. He should have stayed with us. I guess we should go see if he's alive."
You guys run upstairs. You’re right, it is Roshab. Blood’s everywhere. But it’s not his.
Daryl, maybe dead, maybe not, is lying on a cracked table, bleeding from several cuts made from plates and wood. Roshab stands over him, grinning maliciously. “Well, it’s his own fault really. If he had just given these to me, he wouldn’t have needed to be hurt.” Roshab spins a key ring around on his index finger. The only source of light in the room is a candle Daryl was carrying, now lying on the floor.
First off, I thought Daryl was in the basement with the rest of us.
Second, Aleks casts Severance on Roshab's wrist (the one attached to the hand in which he's holding the keys), immediately followed by Destruction Manifest through Flame on his face. Then, just for good measure, Aleks is going to do his damnedest to drive his knife into Roshab's gut.
Through all this, Rennac snaps his fingers and a flash of light appears behind him, causing Rennac's shadow to be cast over Roshab and consequently his shadow, Rennac then concentrates and with any luck initiates contact.
Sorry, I wasn't clear about that. Daryl was locking up the house, as he wasn't actually a part of the game he wasn't looking for clues. If he had been down there, he hardly would have allowed you to take that amulet, or shatter the crystal ball.
Okay, order of actions. Rennac appears to have the fastest action here, a snap of the fingers, and light appears. He gets psychic contact, for a second. You feel Roshab’s mind, not a particularly powerful one might I add, reach for the chain around his neck, which, from inside his head, you see is supporting some kind of compass. The compass activates, and Roshab begins to glow, turning into that light-creature you saw hurling Harrow down the steps. The room lights up like the fourth of July, and your light source is drowned out by a far more prominent one. So, long story short, your shadow’s facing the other way now.”
Okay, this all happened before Aleks’ actions. The sever goes off, followed by the destruction manifest, both to no effect. Roshab responds to them like dust, as though he’s made of a million individual particles. “Like it? A little treasure from Theone, ‘Eon’s Compass,’ no weapon forged from a mortal can harm me, including spells.” You ignore his taunting and stab at him. He takes the hit, cocky that you can’t hurt him, and is surprised to feel the blade enter his stomach. Blood begins to pour out of his chest, as though he wasn’t protected by any magic. “T…tricky.” Roshab’s wound begins to heal, so he’s not bleeding out, but he’s hurt.
Severance again, this time straight across the compass. For good measure, Aleks grabs at the chain and jerks, hoping to tear it off Roshab's neck. And, because he's an irritating prick, Aleks is going to try and break his knee with a kick. His foot is not any kind of forged weapon. Loop-hole? He hopes so.
Haha, good thinking, but not the right time for it. Either Roshab intentionally mislead you about what his compass does, or he doesn't entirely understand it himself. Either way, your foot doesn't hurt him. Also, apparently whatever magic he's using here extends to his gear as well, so his chain and compass is just as well protected.
Just to be clear, he's not incorporeal either. So he can't pass through you, or walls, or anything like that. His "body" has a little leniency as to its shape, but it's also semi-solid. So you feel resistance when you hit him, but there’s no real damage done.
Eleni starts hurling spells at Roshab, to no effect. Ella’s too scared to move, and Edwin doesn’t seem like that much help right now either. The fur-man’s picked up a leg from the table and is smashing it into Roshab, fruitlessly might I add. Harrow, on the other hand, no pun intended, quite simply punches Roshab with his crippled fist, which the attacker seems to respond to.
er...by "attacker" I mean Roshab. Roshab's hurt by Harrow's punch.
Okay, time for stabby fun. Chest, stomach, arms, anywhere Aleks can reach, he stabs.
Okay, good response. Unfortunetly, it's also the one Roshab's most afraid of. He's putting most of his energy into keeping away from you.
Roshab's on his feet, and is much faster than any human deserves. He's like lightning, jumping around the room, hitting targets of oppertunity. Harrow's on the floor, so's Ella and fur man.
So, basic situation here: You know that Alek's knife hurts Roshab, and Harrow seems to have no trouble touching him. Alek can keep on trying to stab at him, and in a normal fight his warfare would give him reason to be confident. But Roshab's unnatural speed gives him an advantage, he can quickly and easily step out of the range of your knife. Any thoughts anyone?
Ionjae, coming up the stairs last isn't aware of what has and hasn't happened, reaches for the largest piece of furniture within range and swings it impressively at Roshab.
Ionjae to the rescue!
Aleks will stick with what works, trying his hardest to keep between Roshab and any doors. Spells don't seem to help, but maybe someone else's attack will make him stumble long enough to get stabbed.
Rennac focuses, and despite the light source, his shadow reverses and once again heads toward roshab, where he once again tries to make contact. If that fails, Rennac will move his shadow to cut off part of the room, and use his ice pillar technique, hopefully sealing off a little bit of Roshab's movement. Failing that, block the door with ice and create a small number of clones.
Tom hacks at Roshab with his sword, activating its frost powers mid-swing. He mostly aims for vital spots like the neck or torso.
Wow, Ionjae decided to leave Hedgemere? This changes quite a lot for Varian.
Kidding, kidding, you meant Haldis, right? Okay, Haldis and Tom's attacks are more or less futile, but Roshab seems to be vulnerable to Rennac and Alek's attacks. While Roshab's dodging Alek, he forgets about Rennac, and accidentally steps on his shadow. Paralyzed, Alek has no trouble at all gutting him. He falls to the ground and the magic of the compass expires. Roshab's hair has turned a little greyish since activating the compass. On him he has Eon's compass, on a nice golden chain, and a purse with 100 gold in it. Upon closer examination, you notice that his ears are slightly pointed, a feature he managed to hide with clever manipulation of his hair. Clearly he had elven blood.
Daryl is dead. His son and soon to be daughter in law are crying, mourning the death of the kind man. Edwin says that Daryl served Theone loyally for years, and was possibly his closest friend.
Edwin and Ella are showing particular interest in the compass, and they aren't letting it out of their sight for a moment. The rest seem to have passing interest in it, Harrow more than the others, obviously it's an object of great power, and everyone wants it. Edwin's trying to claim it by right of his birth, it was his uncle's before it was stolen, and should have been willed to him. Ella says that "Eon's Compass" shows up briefly in scripts describing Eternity. Apparently the name came from the alias Eternity was using at the time, "Erik Olin Nor", or, using the initials, "Eon." She says that the item would be best served in the possession of her order.
"Well, if this is associated with Eternity, then there is no reason to allow it to continue to exist. If this is an object touched by evil, leaving it laying around will only make it harder to extinguish corruption an desctruction across the land... I say that we destroy Eon's Compass and this little arguement ends."
"Well, I know I don't want it, and it sure doesn't seem safe. Edwin, are you sure you want to keep that thing? But, can we use it to track Eternity? It is a compass, right?"
"We could run some tests, if I had a complete laboratory." Eleni says. “Give me a day or two, three at the most, and I could tell you as much about this trinket as there is to know. If it can find Eternity, I can figure out how.”
Edwin: “It’s probably dangerous, but if it was Uncle Theone’s, he must have had a good reason for having it.”
Ella: “We…we should hold off on destroying it, at least until we know if it can lead to Eternity. We can break it anytime, but if it could help me lock him away again, then we’ll need it in one piece.”
Fine, fine, that's true, it could still have an important use. But I don't think we can trust any one person with something like this, I insist that whoever has this for the time being be carefully watched.
Well, it seems that only Ella and Edwin are really interested. It also seems that Edwin's able to take advantage of Ella's timid nature, and is getting her to at least let him hold onto it. So, unless someone else comes in, Edwin's got it.
"Alright, now that this is all resolved, so long as Edwin doesn't get any crazy ideas, might I suggest we do something with those that are dead? It might be best to give those that have died a place to rest other than the floor." As he says this however, Rennac's eyes are more focused on Edwin than any of the scene around him.
Well, Daryl's son and soon to be daughter in law aren't keen on throwing out their dear old guardian's body. They want to give him a proper funeral. Absolutely no one seems to have a problem with throwing Roshab out into the rain, along with his grunts.
Tom leans in close, examining Roshab's corpse. When he stood up, he was holding the purse of 100 gold. "This isn't really Roshab, he's dead in the forest. This was the imposter, and the body in the woods wasn't elven at all." he said.
"Hmmm, well, we might as well get moving and take care of all this, we've been all over this bloody manor because of the mess, and I'd like to move on to other things." He turns toward Edwin and his soon to be wife, impatiance leaving his face. "I'm sorry if what I said sounded harsh or improper, I never meant to imply that Daryl, at least, should not have a proper burial."
OOC: Sorry about the delay in posting guys.
Daryl's son stands up after you guys clear out the bodies. "M-my father made it very clear to m-me a while back, that if h-he were to die, I was to t-take over for h-him." he barely manages to choke out between tears. "M-my apologies, I-I have been rude. My name i-is Johnathon, Johnathon Daryl. I-I believe that Theone h-had left some additional instructions b-behind." Johnathon staggers over to a painting and pushes it aside, revealing a large safe, only available in Mordert. He stumbles through the combination, even with his father lying on the floor dead he's faithfully obeying his missing master's orders. Inside there are a handful of items: a medium-sized satchel, a long, plain silver sword and a stash of letters. Johnathon flips through an already opened one with his father's name on it. "I-in addition," he quotes, "I, Lord Edward Terny Theone III, will the accompanying property, the letters included, to those whom they are addressed." Johnathon proceeds to hand you each a letter with your name on it, sealed with Theone's family crest, a muse wearing an owl-shaped helmet. The only remaining letter is Roshab's. "I-I guess we can't give him this one." Johnathon throws Roshab's letter back into the safe.
I'll e-mail you guys the contents of your letters soon.
Tom opens his letter immediately and reads it, struggling with a few of the more complicated words.
Oo! A letter! Aleks doesn't get much mail, what with the lack of a permanent address or reliable postal service, so he's a bit confused. Still, opening and reading are clearly in order, so he does.
OOC: All right, time for me to try to comeback from the brink of non-existance...
IC: After finally looking up from what must have been a very long letter, he begins to speak nonchalantly and to no one in particular.
"Well, that contained nothing of immediate consequence or use. Still it does say there's something interesting in this room. So if anyone wants to stay here and look with me, whatever this is wasn't actually willed TO me, so..." Rennac shrugs and folds up his letter, storing it in an inner coat pocket.
Tom looks at Rennac and rolls his eyes. "*My* letter was important, mister greedy. At least, to me. I don't care what was willed to me, I'm here because I was invited." Tom crumples the letter and pockets it. He looks over at the man in furs and asks, "Are you Tanton?" he asks him simply and flatly.
The man in furs, or Tanton as he's apparently called, nods without speaking.
Tom smiles and says "Thank you," returning the nod. "I really appreciate what you've done."
Tanton speaks, for what I believe is the first time. "What I've done?I've done nothing." His voice is low, gruff and unpracticed.
"Not recently, no, but I do owe you credit to more of my ability than I owe to my master. So thank you." Tom smiles and thinks for a moment. "Unless... You probably don't know why. You knew my father, My full name, also his, is Thomas Aconite."
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