The morning sun has only warmed the air enough to turn last night’s snow into a light misting rain. The puddles in the road have a layer of glasslike ice on them.
Your time with Oswald, the coroner, is coming to an end. He hired you to accompany on this part of his circuit for the past few weeks. His reluctance for the arrangement (and annoyance at having to supply you with mounts) confused you at first. But you soon gathered he would rather have kept the money for himself, and the decision was out of his hand. The business of death is a profitable one and Oswald means to keep his share.
The hamlet of Greymoor is the last one. After this, you are free to move on. Minus the horses, returned at his demand as he makes sure to remind you.
The farmlands have given away to the woods, one that would be enjoyable in more favorable weather. They are thick but not oppressively so. There is a strange mix of evergreens among the expected bare trees, but you are more anxious to get to a warm fire than to ponder it.
You see Greymoor as you make the turn, a handful of buildings in a decent sized clearing. Only one with a second story, which you assume to be the inn Oswald mentioned. Much like many of the previous settlements you’ve visited.
But there is a sharp difference. Despite the weather, there is a handful of people standing in a loose circle in the middle of the square. Their gaze is directed downward, but you can’t yet see at what. You glance at Oswald and see that is an unexpected sight to him as well.
As you draw closer, some of the faces turn toward you while the others remain looking down. Confusion at the sight of you three clears as they recognize Oswald. The whispers are too low for you to catch them. You can make out a female half-orc, standing six and half feet tall. Her red hair is pulled back into a messy braid. Her shirt, pants, and boots are in varying shades of brown. She towers over the human woman whom she has her arm around. The woman has her cloak pulled around her, but her hood is down, and you see brown hair streaked with grey.
Across from them is a male dwarf, thumbs hooked into the belt that also holds the end of his bread safe from dragging on the ground. His leathers are black with silver trim. Next to him is an elf, black hair loose around the face and arms crossed over the chest. The clothes are in golds and red but muted either from time or just as an effect of the grey day.
The last to look up does so with a quick movement. You catch a flash of white hair and grey skin under the broad brimmed hat and eyes that dart between each of you before the head makes a quick scan as if expecting someone else to appear. Thin hands are worrying a corner of a leather apron that has a row of small pockets sewn into it.
The circle does not move as you pull up, but your height advantage allows you to peer over to see a dead body at their feet.
I am a centaur with a chestnut-colored body and white dapples around my rump. I am about 6 feet tall and weigh about 500 pounds. I have bright green eyes, fair olive skin, and chestnut-colored long hair too.
I bet Oswald is happy that he did not have to supply me with a horse! lol
I look at the dead person lying on the ground and gasp!
I am a tiefling thief with purple-ish red skin and scales riding a black horse into town. Traveling with Oswald's group was interesting. Even though they were suspicious of you at times. They didn't outright hate you. Which was refreshing.
I do my best to hide myself and my horse behind the others in the party. Not wanting to draw attention to myself or get blamed for the death either.
I'm actually not completely hated in the area, but something like this can turn people's minds quite quickly. So I want to keep my reputation as intact as possible. However, I'm still curious.
Description: Female human around 5'7" with shoulder length Black wavy black hair pulled back into braids making an intricate claw pattern around her crown. She has brown eyes which have flickers of gold with the light. She has an slim fit build hidden by her cloak which is adorned with faint patterns long worn almost to the point of fading, but they are clearly symbols of nature. Her Chainmail peaks out from slits and tears in the in the cloak. She wears a large claw amulet on top of her cloak. If looking carefully you can see in her hood is a small mouse sleeping. She is riding on a beautiful horse with a rich deep coat like the color of her eyes. The horse has streaks throughout it's fur like flakes of snow. Oswald said it's name was something magnificent, but She would affectionately call it Dewy.
Action:
Seeing the crowd clear before us, I notice the woman being held noting it in my mind before I look and see the body. I am not surprised by this.
"hmmmn" I look to (centaur) nod my head motioning toward the woman. Trying to hide the motion by leaning in to pat the neck of my stead, "there there Dewy, scary, I know but we are ok, right Dandy?" as Iook at the centaur next to me and try to give a reassuring smile while I scan the crowd again, noting all the characters but my mind wanders. I ponder how much it would cost to keep him. I had grown very fond of him over the travels, my stead not Oswald. Oswald seemed like all the others who employed me coin coin coin. Thinking this leads my eyes to go over the scene one more time stopping on the pockets of the last to look at our party. I lean forward to scratch Dewy's ear as I look more intently at this character and their pockets when I hear a tiny squeak from my hood. I whisper "Yes, I know Filbert, but I can't help the dead. No. I wasn't... shhhh!" I however don't stop looking at the pocketed stranger and say loudly, "Oswald?"
Oswald gives a dismissive glance to the body then focuses on the half orc and woman. "Sagh. Henriette. I'm here to investigate Ser Thames' death."
The half orc scowls, taking a step forward. "And no interest in the death before you? George Gilly. Our blacksmith? You had use of him on your last visit. But no thought, no care for him now?"
"He doesn't understand decency, Sagh." The woman sighs, then looks the three of you over. "A different troupe, as usual. Only keep them as long as you have to." She gives a quick wipe of her eyes. "Ser Thames wasn't the only death. Do something, Oswald. Or come the spring enough of us will have words to share with your employer. In person."
Oswald's lips tighten. "Very well." He looks at each of you in turn. "Let's see if you have been paying attention these past weeks. Look at that," he nods towards the body, "talk to them" a wave of the hand toward the townsfolk, "and make it quick."
A loud exclamation comes from the dwarf, along with a headshake. "Should have known. I'll see if the water's boiled enough to free George." He makes his way past the others. As you watch him go, you notice that the snow of the night before remains between the buildings, protected from the rain and sun by the roofs and walls.
Sagh's snorts, her eyes fixed on you all, then nods. "Fine." She looks at the rest of the townsfolk. “Help them best you can. Oswald! You can keep your horse right there. You’re not setting foot in my inn til George is seen to.”
Henriette gives a smile as she walks toward the three of you. “I don’t supposed this is what you signed up for. But please? Try your best?”
(If someone would like to look at the body, roll Investigation check to see what you find)
I rolled a 9 on the investigation check. And that was with my +2. I did roll a 21 on perception. To see if I notice anything else from the scene(how the snow of the night before remains between the buildings), or clues from around the area the body was found in, and/or noticing anything from the villagers standing around the dead body. Dandelion was a hermit in a forest for a long time and is very wary of strangers. She does not want to go and talk to the villagers alone. She asks Bailey and Filbert if they would go with her.
Dandelion, you carefully move closer. Henriette touches the townsfolk in front of you on the shoulder and motion them to move aside. She gives you another reassuring smile and moves to stand next to Sagh again.
The glances the townsfolk give you are guarded, but not hostile. They seem more unsure as to what help you can actually offer. There are low whispers amongst them as they continue to stand around George's body. There seems to be a general reluctance to leave before he's been seen to.
You take care not to touch the body, but you can see that there is a long laceration on George's back. It seems to start from about his left shoulder blade and goes across to his right hip. It looks deep enough to have reached his spine and severed it. You know this damage could only have come from a blade of some sort and not with bare hands. There is not much blood in the ice around the body. It could be because of the rain but somehow you don’t think so.
You look around. The snow between the buildings is about a foot or so deep. You look at the two storied building and see a sign with the name Greymoor Bend.
The body is laying a few feet in front of its alley, the head pointing away from it. The alley is about three feet wide and extends maybe 20 feet back. Beyond is the side of a shorter building and past that you see the woods.
There are no footprints in the snow. But something makes your eyes linger on it.
Nodding to Dandy I dismount Dewy keeping Filbert on my shoulder. My chain mail making way more noise than I would like and it is clearly written on my face. "there There Dewy" I rub his snout, patting his neck again. I drop his reigns. "Wait here ok bud" Quietly in Draconic I look at my tiefling companion, "You good?" and then I follow beside Dandy rounding to the other side of the body watching carefully. Noting she has seen something, so I nod and look closer. *assuming I see the same thing* I then turn to the light haired man with the hat and all the pockets. I roll a 17 perception check. Seeing what I can tell about this person and crowd around him.
Quickly shaking off the woogies I was feeling I reply to the human. "I'm fine." Afterall people are just eyeing you up for now. Not hurling rocks at you to chase you out of town. So at least you're not being wrongfully blamed for anything. I look around the scene. (I rolled a 9 for perception.) I don't see anything terribly informative. Just a lot of scared and concerned locals.
"Stay put bud." I say patting my horse as I dismount. I join the others of my group looking over the body. I decide to kneel down to give the body a closer looking over. (I rolled a 20 for investigation.)
Bailey, you see that Dandelion is concentrating on the body, so your gaze goes around to the townsfolk.
It falls first on the individual with the interesting apron. You see that what you thought was a human male is actually a female drow. Her eyes are darting around, then suddenly snap on yours.
“George wasn’t the first.” She shakes her head furiously, her voice in a whisper that just reaches you. “And he won’t be the last. I’ll be next, I just know it! But I don’t know why!”
Her hands worry the apron even more. “You can help us, right? New eyes, you’ll see something we’re overlooking. You have no reason to protect whoever is doing this. They could be watching us now, or even standing here.” The last of her words fade a little as her head whips around again, looking behind her as well.
You watch her as you listen to her words. Everything rings true. She’s scared and is certain she’s going to die.
Arianise, you become fixated on the body to avoid having to meet the gazes of the townsfolk. You see that George had a small bald spot on his head. The large gash in his back, with its own thin layer of ice.
Your eyes continue in a line along his legs and toward the strip of snow beyond. You tilt your head as you walk closer to it. There’s a faint streak of red, towards the bottom of the bank. But there’s something odd about the ground underneath the streak.
Taking out one of your daggers, you start to dig into the snow. With care, you come upon the streak of blood, frozen between the layers of the snow, and leading down the alley. Continuing to dig, you find a deep gouge in the frozen ground that continues under the snow.
Sagh tracks you with her gaze, curious as to your movements. As you dig deeper, she moves closer and looks over your shoulder. Her eyes widen and she rushes to the front of the inn and grabs her forgotten shovel. Moving carefully around you, she heads further down the alley and begins to dig as well.
As the others watch, the two of you work with care. Bailey and Dandelion notice the dwarf exit the inn with a large kettle of what you assume is the hot water he spoke of. He sees where everyone’s attention is directed toward and walks to that side of the building.
After a time, you and Sagh have cleared a path down the alley. Everyone can now see that there are a number of gouges in a rough line between the body and the woods beyond.
Arianise, you look at the gouges. The positioning of them feels like footsteps, made during a run. But they are too deep, too far spaced to be from a human.
Looking at the snow I see something odd about the ground underneath the streaks of blood. I take out my dagger out to use it to help dig through the snow to uncover and follow the bloody streaks in the snow. I try to be as respectful as possible. Both out of wanting to preserve as much of the evidence as possible and also out of respect to the victim.
The sight of blood has never really bothered me all that much. Which is a pretty good thing considering how much of it there was. Following the lines of blood and gouges in the the snow with your gaze you think out loud to your companions, "I think these are footsteps, but I'm not sure what could have made them. They are too deep and far apart to be human though."
I rolled a 13 on Survival and I take a look at the tracks that were made hoping to figure out what made the tracks, how long ago, and where they lead to/coming from.
I slightly glance my eyes towards George's body and note Dandy walking over following the trail. "Dandy, don't let them destroy anything important ok?" Then giving the drow an empathetic look, I say "I'm sorry what is your name? and why do you think you are a target?" thinking a thousand questions while I await her response, deciding the next logical question would be "Do you know why George was targeted? and how many others have there been?" If I ask about George I would glance over the body but quickly recover my eyes back to the drow to be sure I did not lose her confidence in speaking.
Batter up!
Let's learn some D&D
Hi!
Hope I'm posting right. Hi!
@Strikeninja
Apologies but this is a closed thread. We have the party already.
Hope to see you around the forums.
You did indeed.
The morning sun has only warmed the air enough to turn last night’s snow into a light misting rain. The puddles in the road have a layer of glasslike ice on them.
Your time with Oswald, the coroner, is coming to an end. He hired you to accompany on this part of his circuit for the past few weeks. His reluctance for the arrangement (and annoyance at having to supply you with mounts) confused you at first. But you soon gathered he would rather have kept the money for himself, and the decision was out of his hand. The business of death is a profitable one and Oswald means to keep his share.
The hamlet of Greymoor is the last one. After this, you are free to move on. Minus the horses, returned at his demand as he makes sure to remind you.
The farmlands have given away to the woods, one that would be enjoyable in more favorable weather. They are thick but not oppressively so. There is a strange mix of evergreens among the expected bare trees, but you are more anxious to get to a warm fire than to ponder it.
You see Greymoor as you make the turn, a handful of buildings in a decent sized clearing. Only one with a second story, which you assume to be the inn Oswald mentioned. Much like many of the previous settlements you’ve visited.
But there is a sharp difference. Despite the weather, there is a handful of people standing in a loose circle in the middle of the square. Their gaze is directed downward, but you can’t yet see at what. You glance at Oswald and see that is an unexpected sight to him as well.
As you draw closer, some of the faces turn toward you while the others remain looking down. Confusion at the sight of you three clears as they recognize Oswald. The whispers are too low for you to catch them. You can make out a female half-orc, standing six and half feet tall. Her red hair is pulled back into a messy braid. Her shirt, pants, and boots are in varying shades of brown. She towers over the human woman whom she has her arm around. The woman has her cloak pulled around her, but her hood is down, and you see brown hair streaked with grey.
Across from them is a male dwarf, thumbs hooked into the belt that also holds the end of his bread safe from dragging on the ground. His leathers are black with silver trim. Next to him is an elf, black hair loose around the face and arms crossed over the chest. The clothes are in golds and red but muted either from time or just as an effect of the grey day.
The last to look up does so with a quick movement. You catch a flash of white hair and grey skin under the broad brimmed hat and eyes that dart between each of you before the head makes a quick scan as if expecting someone else to appear. Thin hands are worrying a corner of a leather apron that has a row of small pockets sewn into it.
The circle does not move as you pull up, but your height advantage allows you to peer over to see a dead body at their feet.
So is this where we post?
I am a centaur with a chestnut-colored body and white dapples around my rump. I am about 6 feet tall and weigh about 500 pounds. I have bright green eyes, fair olive skin, and chestnut-colored long hair too.
I bet Oswald is happy that he did not have to supply me with a horse! lol
I look at the dead person lying on the ground and gasp!
I am a tiefling thief with purple-ish red skin and scales riding a black horse into town. Traveling with Oswald's group was interesting. Even though they were suspicious of you at times. They didn't outright hate you. Which was refreshing.
I do my best to hide myself and my horse behind the others in the party. Not wanting to draw attention to myself or get blamed for the death either.
I'm actually not completely hated in the area, but something like this can turn people's minds quite quickly. So I want to keep my reputation as intact as possible. However, I'm still curious.
Description: Female human around 5'7" with shoulder length Black wavy black hair pulled back into braids making an intricate claw pattern around her crown. She has brown eyes which have flickers of gold with the light. She has an slim fit build hidden by her cloak which is adorned with faint patterns long worn almost to the point of fading, but they are clearly symbols of nature. Her Chainmail peaks out from slits and tears in the in the cloak. She wears a large claw amulet on top of her cloak. If looking carefully you can see in her hood is a small mouse sleeping. She is riding on a beautiful horse with a rich deep coat like the color of her eyes. The horse has streaks throughout it's fur like flakes of snow. Oswald said it's name was something magnificent, but She would affectionately call it Dewy.
Action:
Seeing the crowd clear before us, I notice the woman being held noting it in my mind before I look and see the body. I am not surprised by this.
"hmmmn" I look to (centaur) nod my head motioning toward the woman. Trying to hide the motion by leaning in to pat the neck of my stead, "there there Dewy, scary, I know but we are ok, right Dandy?" as Iook at the centaur next to me and try to give a reassuring smile while I scan the crowd again, noting all the characters but my mind wanders. I ponder how much it would cost to keep him. I had grown very fond of him over the travels, my stead not Oswald. Oswald seemed like all the others who employed me coin coin coin. Thinking this leads my eyes to go over the scene one more time stopping on the pockets of the last to look at our party. I lean forward to scratch Dewy's ear as I look more intently at this character and their pockets when I hear a tiny squeak from my hood. I whisper "Yes, I know Filbert, but I can't help the dead. No. I wasn't... shhhh!" I however don't stop looking at the pocketed stranger and say loudly, "Oswald?"
Oswald gives a dismissive glance to the body then focuses on the half orc and woman. "Sagh. Henriette. I'm here to investigate Ser Thames' death."
The half orc scowls, taking a step forward. "And no interest in the death before you? George Gilly. Our blacksmith? You had use of him on your last visit. But no thought, no care for him now?"
"He doesn't understand decency, Sagh." The woman sighs, then looks the three of you over. "A different troupe, as usual. Only keep them as long as you have to." She gives a quick wipe of her eyes. "Ser Thames wasn't the only death. Do something, Oswald. Or come the spring enough of us will have words to share with your employer. In person."
Oswald's lips tighten. "Very well." He looks at each of you in turn. "Let's see if you have been paying attention these past weeks. Look at that," he nods towards the body, "talk to them" a wave of the hand toward the townsfolk, "and make it quick."
A loud exclamation comes from the dwarf, along with a headshake. "Should have known. I'll see if the water's boiled enough to free George." He makes his way past the others. As you watch him go, you notice that the snow of the night before remains between the buildings, protected from the rain and sun by the roofs and walls.
Sagh's snorts, her eyes fixed on you all, then nods. "Fine." She looks at the rest of the townsfolk. “Help them best you can. Oswald! You can keep your horse right there. You’re not setting foot in my inn til George is seen to.”
Henriette gives a smile as she walks toward the three of you. “I don’t supposed this is what you signed up for. But please? Try your best?”
(If someone would like to look at the body, roll Investigation check to see what you find)
I rolled a 9 on the investigation check. And that was with my +2. I did roll a 21 on perception. To see if I notice anything else from the scene(how the snow of the night before remains between the buildings), or clues from around the area the body was found in, and/or noticing anything from the villagers standing around the dead body. Dandelion was a hermit in a forest for a long time and is very wary of strangers. She does not want to go and talk to the villagers alone. She asks Bailey and Filbert if they would go with her.
Dandelion, you carefully move closer. Henriette touches the townsfolk in front of you on the shoulder and motion them to move aside. She gives you another reassuring smile and moves to stand next to Sagh again.
The glances the townsfolk give you are guarded, but not hostile. They seem more unsure as to what help you can actually offer. There are low whispers amongst them as they continue to stand around George's body. There seems to be a general reluctance to leave before he's been seen to.
You take care not to touch the body, but you can see that there is a long laceration on George's back. It seems to start from about his left shoulder blade and goes across to his right hip. It looks deep enough to have reached his spine and severed it. You know this damage could only have come from a blade of some sort and not with bare hands. There is not much blood in the ice around the body. It could be because of the rain but somehow you don’t think so.
You look around. The snow between the buildings is about a foot or so deep. You look at the two storied building and see a sign with the name Greymoor Bend.
The body is laying a few feet in front of its alley, the head pointing away from it. The alley is about three feet wide and extends maybe 20 feet back. Beyond is the side of a shorter building and past that you see the woods.
There are no footprints in the snow. But something makes your eyes linger on it.
Nodding to Dandy I dismount Dewy keeping Filbert on my shoulder. My chain mail making way more noise than I would like and it is clearly written on my face.
"there There Dewy" I rub his snout, patting his neck again. I drop his reigns. "Wait here ok bud" Quietly in Draconic I look at my tiefling companion, "You good?" and then I follow beside Dandy rounding to the other side of the body watching carefully. Noting she has seen something, so I nod and look closer. *assuming I see the same thing* I then turn to the light haired man with the hat and all the pockets. I roll a 17 perception check. Seeing what I can tell about this person and crowd around him.
Quickly shaking off the woogies I was feeling I reply to the human. "I'm fine." Afterall people are just eyeing you up for now. Not hurling rocks at you to chase you out of town. So at least you're not being wrongfully blamed for anything. I look around the scene. (I rolled a 9 for perception.) I don't see anything terribly informative. Just a lot of scared and concerned locals.
"Stay put bud." I say patting my horse as I dismount. I join the others of my group looking over the body. I decide to kneel down to give the body a closer looking over. (I rolled a 20 for investigation.)
Bailey, you see that Dandelion is concentrating on the body, so your gaze goes around to the townsfolk.
It falls first on the individual with the interesting apron. You see that what you thought was a human male is actually a female drow. Her eyes are darting around, then suddenly snap on yours.
“George wasn’t the first.” She shakes her head furiously, her voice in a whisper that just reaches you. “And he won’t be the last. I’ll be next, I just know it! But I don’t know why!”
Her hands worry the apron even more. “You can help us, right? New eyes, you’ll see something we’re overlooking. You have no reason to protect whoever is doing this. They could be watching us now, or even standing here.” The last of her words fade a little as her head whips around again, looking behind her as well.
You watch her as you listen to her words. Everything rings true. She’s scared and is certain she’s going to die.
Arianise, you become fixated on the body to avoid having to meet the gazes of the townsfolk. You see that George had a small bald spot on his head. The large gash in his back, with its own thin layer of ice.
Your eyes continue in a line along his legs and toward the strip of snow beyond. You tilt your head as you walk closer to it. There’s a faint streak of red, towards the bottom of the bank. But there’s something odd about the ground underneath the streak.
Taking out one of your daggers, you start to dig into the snow. With care, you come upon the streak of blood, frozen between the layers of the snow, and leading down the alley. Continuing to dig, you find a deep gouge in the frozen ground that continues under the snow.
Sagh tracks you with her gaze, curious as to your movements. As you dig deeper, she moves closer and looks over your shoulder. Her eyes widen and she rushes to the front of the inn and grabs her forgotten shovel. Moving carefully around you, she heads further down the alley and begins to dig as well.
As the others watch, the two of you work with care. Bailey and Dandelion notice the dwarf exit the inn with a large kettle of what you assume is the hot water he spoke of. He sees where everyone’s attention is directed toward and walks to that side of the building.
After a time, you and Sagh have cleared a path down the alley. Everyone can now see that there are a number of gouges in a rough line between the body and the woods beyond.
Arianise, you look at the gouges. The positioning of them feels like footsteps, made during a run. But they are too deep, too far spaced to be from a human.
Looking at the snow I see something odd about the ground underneath the streaks of blood. I take out my dagger out to use it to help dig through the snow to uncover and follow the bloody streaks in the snow. I try to be as respectful as possible. Both out of wanting to preserve as much of the evidence as possible and also out of respect to the victim.
The sight of blood has never really bothered me all that much. Which is a pretty good thing considering how much of it there was. Following the lines of blood and gouges in the the snow with your gaze you think out loud to your companions, "I think these are footsteps, but I'm not sure what could have made them. They are too deep and far apart to be human though."
I rolled a 13 on Survival and I take a look at the tracks that were made hoping to figure out what made the tracks, how long ago, and where they lead to/coming from.
I slightly glance my eyes towards George's body and note Dandy walking over following the trail. "Dandy, don't let them destroy anything important ok?" Then giving the drow an empathetic look, I say "I'm sorry what is your name? and why do you think you are a target?" thinking a thousand questions while I await her response, deciding the next logical question would be "Do you know why George was targeted? and how many others have there been?" If I ask about George I would glance over the body but quickly recover my eyes back to the drow to be sure I did not lose her confidence in speaking.