This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Finn Of’Gren perception: 9 Finn says nothing, instead using Argentus’ words as a distraction to slowly and carefully sidle a little further away from her partner. Still, however, being careful not to approach the stranger yet, and doing her best to make it appear she is sweet and innocent.
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We're doing one small murder-y thing for a bigger, better reason. The ends justify the means.
The stranger appears to be a male dwarf, but there is something starkly odd about him. He wears tarnished and clearly battle-bruised armor, no shield (which, Finn, you recall seeing ample storage room for in the guard chambers) and appears utterly unmoving at the base of the stairs. Whilst most dwarves are fairly stolid and stoic in nature, the very stillness of this stranger's stance is unnervingly still, almost slack, as though lacking the strength to hold himself up with rigidity and purpose. His languid words slither up the passageway once more, and you can just see a faint grey glint in his eyes refracting off of some distant light source.
"You come for a... prisoner?" The stranger seems to consider for a moment. "I will guide you. I am one of the... guards here. There has been much fighting, and it is not safe. Come, I will guide you to your prisoner."
He takes a few steps back and nearly out of sight before turning his eyes back towards you. Again, they glint steadily with a pale glare.
“Thanks, really,” Finn says, taking a tentative step backwards and holding her rapier just a touch more ‘at the ready.’ She looks over at Argentus and pointedly raises her eyebrows and kind of nods her head back. “Retreat?” she silently asks.
“You’re a peach to offer but it seems you have your own issues to deal with. We really shouldn’t trouble you at a time like this,” Finn continues, not trusting this whole situation.
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We're doing one small murder-y thing for a bigger, better reason. The ends justify the means.
Shrugging at Finn, Argentus looks at the *dwarf* and says, “Indeed, safety seems in short supply these days. Come show yourself clearly that we might decide if it is safe to follow you, for your aspect seems odd to me.”
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Gerrard Feldren - Human Noble in Ghosts of Saltmarsh
Kerric Brightblade - Elven Warrior in "Apocalypse"
The figure retreats down the passageway with a heavy step, as if not hearing you, though your voices certainly ring loudly in this confined space. He is nearly out of sight now, around the corner.
“Finn, do you have any way to shed some light on this situation? It would seem unwise to follow that creature without knowing more about it,” asks Argentus, still holding a defensive position.
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Gerrard Feldren - Human Noble in Ghosts of Saltmarsh
Kerric Brightblade - Elven Warrior in "Apocalypse"
“I could light a second lantern but besides that, I got nothing,” Finn answers, goosebumps raising on her arms. “Well I do have a creepy feeling about it all…”
“What kind of guard invites you in without giving you the third degree first? Tell me that. And after a fight? After we came through a locked door to even see him? Something is way off here… bones hidden in snow, the only guard creepy as heck…” Finn shivers again. “I say we retreat to the horses and discuss a bit.”
Assuming Argentus agrees and they slowly backtrack to the horses without incident, Finn will close the first door she can between them and the courtyard and then rig it with an alarm using some string and a small bell from her backpack…
“I think this place is lost,” she says as she works. “Not sure who or what, but I think everyone is a goner here. Whatever that dwarf was, they weren’t right.”
“We just came to interview a prisoner. I’m not sure solving the mystery of what is going on her is part of our mandate…” Finn pauses and considers. “But I must admit, I am curious. Just not sure the two of us can tackle whatever befell this entire fort.”
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
We're doing one small murder-y thing for a bigger, better reason. The ends justify the means.
While he is fine falling back and regrouping since they lost their element of surprise, Argentus is reluctant to abandon their investigation so soon.
"How about this--we push forward a bit more to see if there is more than just one strange looking dwarf guarding the prison. If we meet stiff resistance, we can retreat here to the horses, then take them to the visitor's house our guide went to stay in tonight," suggests the tribal warrior.
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Gerrard Feldren - Human Noble in Ghosts of Saltmarsh
Kerric Brightblade - Elven Warrior in "Apocalypse"
Finn agrees. Part of her knows leaving this for someone else to deal with is the smarter tactic but another part of her can’t help but want to solve this puzzle herself.
“Do we want to try and find a different route? Or check under the snow to see just how many corpses are there?” She asks, partly just thinking aloud. “But no, coming from an unexpected route would be good but the other tunnel is blocked and we don’t know the layout for the fort to know a second path.”
“Alrighty but if this goes wrong I’m totally blaming you…”
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
We're doing one small murder-y thing for a bigger, better reason. The ends justify the means.
Approaching the tunnel, the dwarf-guard is not in sight. The dark cavern yawns in front of you as you cautiously approach. Night has now fully fallen, and the gloom of the cavern seems to cling to your very eyes as you enter.
As you step across the threshold of the tunnel, an odd sensation briefly passes across your minds. A voiceless cry, piercing and driving away all intelligent thought for a brief moment, whispers through the ether and coils coldly upon your minds. With a gut-lurching crackle, the grip tightens, and you feel for a moment as though something would like very much replace you as the operator of the body that we so often take for granted.
Roll a wisdom saving throw. Finn, roll at advantage.
With bated breath, it seems like your minds freeze for a moment, then it passes, but the shadows further in the tunnel crawl with a cruel twist on your sight, as though the walls were lined with wriggling worms, leeching at your attention.
A throaty shout, something between a scream and a battle-cry echoes up to the mouth of the tunnel. It is followed by dull thuds and the unmistakable clash of metal striking metal with lethal intent.
Moving forward, spear at the ready, Argentus says, “That sounded like someone very much alive—and in trouble—let’s see if we can help and get some answers about this accursed place.”
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Gerrard Feldren - Human Noble in Ghosts of Saltmarsh
Kerric Brightblade - Elven Warrior in "Apocalypse"
Rapier at the ready, lantern held as far away from her as possible, Finn moves forward with Argentus doing her best to peer into the darkness. "First chance I get I'm dropping the lantern and trying to lose myself in the shadows. Fear not, I won't be leaving you... I just prefer attacking from the dark."
With that said, Finn prowls on until they see their foe...
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
We're doing one small murder-y thing for a bigger, better reason. The ends justify the means.
Stepping forward towards the bottom of the stairs, the shouts continue and you observe a warm glow of lantern-light spilling out onto the cold stones. The passage carries on straight at this level, heading off to your right at a sharp angle, though the lantern light and shouting now comes through an open door directly in front of you. Looking within, you are treated to a sight of carnage.
Once, this was surely a guards-hall of some kind. A long, rectangular room, with walls interrupted by regular fire-places fitted with roasting spits, with long tables running the length of the chamber (nearly 40 ft, with a high ceiling) it is now the site of battle. The tables are shattered along the middle, creating a space of unstable footing in the middle of the room where seven figures strive for the high ground, with two more off to the left hand side of the room.
The figures in the room seem to form three distinct groups, which I will identify here in order of your familiarity with them thus far:
1st Group: On near half of the room from you, these three figures appear to be dwarves, but there is something definitely off about them. Dressed in unkempt guard's armor, they do not use weapons but instead appear to try and maul and batter their opponents with closed fists and bony-clawed hands. Their skin is drawn and appears slightly shiny, taking on a greyish pallor, and they fight, most unnervingly, with nearly no sound whatsoever beyond ragged breathing. One of them appears to be wounded - by appearance the same figure that originally greeted you on the stairs, who now holds his side with one hand while black ichor drips from a gaping wound in his chest.
2nd Group: With unkempt beards tucked into emaciated waist-belts, these four dwarves in prisoner's garb form a phalanx-wedge that currently holds most of the middle-ground, despite its unsteady footing. Wielding improvised weapons and shields, their battle-cries are tinged with desperation as they beat back the two grey-skinned dwarves from the first group. One of them, with a shock of bright red hair waving high above his bushy eyebrows, raises a rusty sword and screams a battle charge, sinking his blade eight inches deep, point down, into one of the gray-dwarves shoulders. He receives a crushing blow to the chest for his trouble and is knocked to the edge of the uneven terrain where he remains down, knocked out.
3rd group: Two other dwarves, one of them in guard's armor and the other in prisoner's garb, crouch by a door on the far end of the hall. The guard is actively tying a tourniquet around the leg of the prisoner, while casting panicked glances towards the faltering phalanx in the middle. "Hold, lads! Hold!" He cries, turning his attention towards the fallen dwarf and squeezing his eyes shut, briefly. A faint reddish glow flashes from his hands towards the wounded leg, and the bleeding appears to stop. Picking up his weapons, he charges towards the middle, battle hammer already swinging.
From the first group, the injured dwarf turns to you and gazes with dead eyes. More of the same black ichor oozes from his gaping mouth as he lumbers towards you, rasping out a bubbling screech.
Roll initative!
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Finn Of’Gren perception: 9
Finn says nothing, instead using Argentus’ words as a distraction to slowly and carefully sidle a little further away from her partner. Still, however, being careful not to approach the stranger yet, and doing her best to make it appear she is sweet and innocent.
We're doing one small murder-y thing for a bigger, better reason. The ends justify the means.
-- Eleanor Shellstrop
The stranger appears to be a male dwarf, but there is something starkly odd about him. He wears tarnished and clearly battle-bruised armor, no shield (which, Finn, you recall seeing ample storage room for in the guard chambers) and appears utterly unmoving at the base of the stairs. Whilst most dwarves are fairly stolid and stoic in nature, the very stillness of this stranger's stance is unnervingly still, almost slack, as though lacking the strength to hold himself up with rigidity and purpose. His languid words slither up the passageway once more, and you can just see a faint grey glint in his eyes refracting off of some distant light source.
"You come for a... prisoner?" The stranger seems to consider for a moment. "I will guide you. I am one of the... guards here. There has been much fighting, and it is not safe. Come, I will guide you to your prisoner."
He takes a few steps back and nearly out of sight before turning his eyes back towards you. Again, they glint steadily with a pale glare.
“Thanks, really,” Finn says, taking a tentative step backwards and holding her rapier just a touch more ‘at the ready.’ She looks over at Argentus and pointedly raises her eyebrows and kind of nods her head back. “Retreat?” she silently asks.
“You’re a peach to offer but it seems you have your own issues to deal with. We really shouldn’t trouble you at a time like this,” Finn continues, not trusting this whole situation.
We're doing one small murder-y thing for a bigger, better reason. The ends justify the means.
-- Eleanor Shellstrop
Argentus:
Shrugging at Finn, Argentus looks at the *dwarf* and says, “Indeed, safety seems in short supply these days. Come show yourself clearly that we might decide if it is safe to follow you, for your aspect seems odd to me.”
Gerrard Feldren - Human Noble in Ghosts of Saltmarsh
Kerric Brightblade - Elven Warrior in "Apocalypse"
The figure retreats down the passageway with a heavy step, as if not hearing you, though your voices certainly ring loudly in this confined space. He is nearly out of sight now, around the corner.
Argentus:
“Finn, do you have any way to shed some light on this situation? It would seem unwise to follow that creature without knowing more about it,” asks Argentus, still holding a defensive position.
Gerrard Feldren - Human Noble in Ghosts of Saltmarsh
Kerric Brightblade - Elven Warrior in "Apocalypse"
“I could light a second lantern but besides that, I got nothing,” Finn answers, goosebumps raising on her arms. “Well I do have a creepy feeling about it all…”
“What kind of guard invites you in without giving you the third degree first? Tell me that. And after a fight? After we came through a locked door to even see him? Something is way off here… bones hidden in snow, the only guard creepy as heck…” Finn shivers again. “I say we retreat to the horses and discuss a bit.”
Assuming Argentus agrees and they slowly backtrack to the horses without incident, Finn will close the first door she can between them and the courtyard and then rig it with an alarm using some string and a small bell from her backpack…
“I think this place is lost,” she says as she works. “Not sure who or what, but I think everyone is a goner here. Whatever that dwarf was, they weren’t right.”
“We just came to interview a prisoner. I’m not sure solving the mystery of what is going on her is part of our mandate…” Finn pauses and considers. “But I must admit, I am curious. Just not sure the two of us can tackle whatever befell this entire fort.”
We're doing one small murder-y thing for a bigger, better reason. The ends justify the means.
-- Eleanor Shellstrop
Argentus:
While he is fine falling back and regrouping since they lost their element of surprise, Argentus is reluctant to abandon their investigation so soon.
"How about this--we push forward a bit more to see if there is more than just one strange looking dwarf guarding the prison. If we meet stiff resistance, we can retreat here to the horses, then take them to the visitor's house our guide went to stay in tonight," suggests the tribal warrior.
Gerrard Feldren - Human Noble in Ghosts of Saltmarsh
Kerric Brightblade - Elven Warrior in "Apocalypse"
Finn agrees. Part of her knows leaving this for someone else to deal with is the smarter tactic but another part of her can’t help but want to solve this puzzle herself.
“Do we want to try and find a different route? Or check under the snow to see just how many corpses are there?” She asks, partly just thinking aloud. “But no, coming from an unexpected route would be good but the other tunnel is blocked and we don’t know the layout for the fort to know a second path.”
“Alrighty but if this goes wrong I’m totally blaming you…”
We're doing one small murder-y thing for a bigger, better reason. The ends justify the means.
-- Eleanor Shellstrop
Argentus:
”Fair,” says Argentus, heading back out towards the dark tunnel with his longspear in hand, “Just keep the way well lit.”
Gerrard Feldren - Human Noble in Ghosts of Saltmarsh
Kerric Brightblade - Elven Warrior in "Apocalypse"
Approaching the tunnel, the dwarf-guard is not in sight. The dark cavern yawns in front of you as you cautiously approach. Night has now fully fallen, and the gloom of the cavern seems to cling to your very eyes as you enter.
As you step across the threshold of the tunnel, an odd sensation briefly passes across your minds. A voiceless cry, piercing and driving away all intelligent thought for a brief moment, whispers through the ether and coils coldly upon your minds. With a gut-lurching crackle, the grip tightens, and you feel for a moment as though something would like very much replace you as the operator of the body that we so often take for granted.
Roll a wisdom saving throw. Finn, roll at advantage.
Argentus’ Wisdom Save: 13
Gerrard Feldren - Human Noble in Ghosts of Saltmarsh
Kerric Brightblade - Elven Warrior in "Apocalypse"
17 - Finn Wisdom Save…
“I’ve got a bad feeling about this…”
We're doing one small murder-y thing for a bigger, better reason. The ends justify the means.
-- Eleanor Shellstrop
With bated breath, it seems like your minds freeze for a moment, then it passes, but the shadows further in the tunnel crawl with a cruel twist on your sight, as though the walls were lined with wriggling worms, leeching at your attention.
A throaty shout, something between a scream and a battle-cry echoes up to the mouth of the tunnel. It is followed by dull thuds and the unmistakable clash of metal striking metal with lethal intent.
Argentus:
Moving forward, spear at the ready, Argentus says, “That sounded like someone very much alive—and in trouble—let’s see if we can help and get some answers about this accursed place.”
Gerrard Feldren - Human Noble in Ghosts of Saltmarsh
Kerric Brightblade - Elven Warrior in "Apocalypse"
Rapier at the ready, lantern held as far away from her as possible, Finn moves forward with Argentus doing her best to peer into the darkness. "First chance I get I'm dropping the lantern and trying to lose myself in the shadows. Fear not, I won't be leaving you... I just prefer attacking from the dark."
With that said, Finn prowls on until they see their foe...
We're doing one small murder-y thing for a bigger, better reason. The ends justify the means.
-- Eleanor Shellstrop
Argentus:
Nodding, Argentus responds, “Understood. As long as there is light so I can fight. Let’s go.”
Gerrard Feldren - Human Noble in Ghosts of Saltmarsh
Kerric Brightblade - Elven Warrior in "Apocalypse"
OOC: Checking in...A week with no posts, I think we are waiting on Jabthar?
Gerrard Feldren - Human Noble in Ghosts of Saltmarsh
Kerric Brightblade - Elven Warrior in "Apocalypse"
OOC: apologies - nearly through to a time when I can post more frequently! Thank you for your patience!
Stepping forward towards the bottom of the stairs, the shouts continue and you observe a warm glow of lantern-light spilling out onto the cold stones. The passage carries on straight at this level, heading off to your right at a sharp angle, though the lantern light and shouting now comes through an open door directly in front of you. Looking within, you are treated to a sight of carnage.
Once, this was surely a guards-hall of some kind. A long, rectangular room, with walls interrupted by regular fire-places fitted with roasting spits, with long tables running the length of the chamber (nearly 40 ft, with a high ceiling) it is now the site of battle. The tables are shattered along the middle, creating a space of unstable footing in the middle of the room where seven figures strive for the high ground, with two more off to the left hand side of the room.
The figures in the room seem to form three distinct groups, which I will identify here in order of your familiarity with them thus far:
1st Group: On near half of the room from you, these three figures appear to be dwarves, but there is something definitely off about them. Dressed in unkempt guard's armor, they do not use weapons but instead appear to try and maul and batter their opponents with closed fists and bony-clawed hands. Their skin is drawn and appears slightly shiny, taking on a greyish pallor, and they fight, most unnervingly, with nearly no sound whatsoever beyond ragged breathing. One of them appears to be wounded - by appearance the same figure that originally greeted you on the stairs, who now holds his side with one hand while black ichor drips from a gaping wound in his chest.
2nd Group: With unkempt beards tucked into emaciated waist-belts, these four dwarves in prisoner's garb form a phalanx-wedge that currently holds most of the middle-ground, despite its unsteady footing. Wielding improvised weapons and shields, their battle-cries are tinged with desperation as they beat back the two grey-skinned dwarves from the first group. One of them, with a shock of bright red hair waving high above his bushy eyebrows, raises a rusty sword and screams a battle charge, sinking his blade eight inches deep, point down, into one of the gray-dwarves shoulders. He receives a crushing blow to the chest for his trouble and is knocked to the edge of the uneven terrain where he remains down, knocked out.
3rd group: Two other dwarves, one of them in guard's armor and the other in prisoner's garb, crouch by a door on the far end of the hall. The guard is actively tying a tourniquet around the leg of the prisoner, while casting panicked glances towards the faltering phalanx in the middle. "Hold, lads! Hold!" He cries, turning his attention towards the fallen dwarf and squeezing his eyes shut, briefly. A faint reddish glow flashes from his hands towards the wounded leg, and the bleeding appears to stop. Picking up his weapons, he charges towards the middle, battle hammer already swinging.
From the first group, the injured dwarf turns to you and gazes with dead eyes. More of the same black ichor oozes from his gaping mouth as he lumbers towards you, rasping out a bubbling screech.
Roll initative!