Caio slips ahead of the others as they look around the foyer. He bounds upstairs and begins looking in the various rooms, eventually finding the taped off study and entering it.
Inside the study is a large mahogany desk and several bookshelves. A huge window runs the length of the right hand wall, and there's blood spatter across the floor, with a little yellow plastic marker besides it.
Ling shakes her head as Caio charges ahead, and says to the others: "I guess upstairs first then!" As he disappears up the stairs, his image distorts and he seems to move... faster? She turns to Alaris and Nikolai, checking their faces, but they seem to observing the same phenomenon. Suddenly tense, she puts a hand on her weapon as she carefully descends the stairs. "What on earth is that... distortion? Nik? Warlock magic or fey?"
Nikolai’s eyes flare as they pick up the magical essences. He frowns as he tries to identify the source and recognizes it as transmutation magic. “It’s a type of magic that changes things. In this instance it seems to make things move faster. I know of magic that does similar things, but I have never seen it utilized like this before...”
"Doesn't sound too dangerous!" Without a second thought, Ling follows after Caio. "Maybe we'll be back down before Alaris even makes it to the living room, ha!" Upstairs, she hears Caio in the taped-off room and takes a look around herself. As she approaches the study, she almost bursts out laughing: It like Caio around the room like speedy gonzales! Before she enters the study, she checks out the other doors. A linen closet, towels, alright. Before the closet, there is another door which leads to a bedroom. Ling takes a brief look around, but finds nothing out of the ordinary. After peeking into a few other doors, Ling gets bored and decides to just skip ahead and head to the study too.
As Ling searches the study for traces of missing books, she notices two things. First, one of the drawers in the desk is hanging askew and no longer closes properly. Second, while there are no gaps between the books on the shelves, one particular bookcase has clearly had its contents rifled through. The various volumes seem jumbled, rather than the neatly stacked rows seen on the other shelves.
Ling carefully inspects the bookshelf, checking its sides, the floor, and the boards behind the books. She feels around for any possible switches or buttons, any hidden compartments. Finding nothing, she finally looks underneath the shelf and sees something shiny, metallic? Lying flat on her stomach, she sticks her arm underneath as far as it will go and fishes for the object. Her fingers find something and she carefully nudges it towards the edge of the shelf until she can turn it there and slowly push it forwards, far enough to grab it and pull it out. It is a chunky silver ring, with no design or ornaments on it. It looks like several entwined strands of silver, tightly twisted.Turning it over in her fingers, she holds it up for the others to see.
Alaris heads down the hallway on the ground floor towards the rear of the house. She peeks through the third entrance on the right, a broad set of double doors, which seems to open up into a large dining room of sort. A long dark-wood table runs down the length of the room and one of the walls is adorned by an enormous, stylised painting. The picture shows an angel emerging from a great lake. A white haired shadow hunter stands before it, surrounded by a circle of runes, and two others lie wounded in the foreground. A blonde boy lying in a pile of blood and a red-haired girl wielding a stele.
"Aww son of a..." Alaris curses bitterly, staring at the painting, their usual fierce energy stymied by the growing dismay they feel.
The paladin edges back towards the door and shouts, "Down at the end of the hall! I've found something... Well you'd better just see it!"
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Eshuvenniel Kazander Ravid,Valor Bard and Acolyte of the Goddess of Luck Caradoc Langham, Halfling Rogue - Lost Magics - Epic of Pre-made Proportions! I'm not looking for heaven or hell... just someone to listen to stories I tell...
As she holds up the ring - knowing better than to simply slip it onto her finger, after all who knows what sort of fey or warlock magic it could be - Ling notices the drawer hanging askew. She pulls on it and it swings open like a cupboard, revealing small safe that looks like it has been ransacked. She moves to inspect it further, but suddenly hears Alaris shouting downstairs. Quickly, ling pockets the ring and heads downstairs to see what her friend has found.
As the youngsters rush about the house, Nikolai approaches the desk in the study and removes his tarot deck from the leather shoulder holster. He begins to systematically lay out his cards in a circle, tapping each one slowly with his left index finger and gesturing with his right index finger in the air above each card... as each gesture completes there is a glowing rune hanging above the care in the air. As he completed the ritual, taking special care with each rune... he finally closes his eyes and places his hand in the center of the circle. The runes begin to swirl as if an invisible vortex was pulling them towards Nikolai’s hand. One by one, they were pulled into his hand and when Nikolai opened his eyes once more they held a slight glimmer as a third, glowing blue eye appeared in his forehead... his third eye.
He immediately notices the glowing, magical aura coming from the ring Ling finds. “That ring holds magic, Ling. It’s coming from that.” As she picks it up, the aura disappears. “Huh... interesting. It stopped. Ling put the ring down again.”
Almost out the door, Ling stops and puts the ring down. "What magic? Will I turn into a frog? Come downstairs and let's see what Alaris found! We can come back here after."
Ling picks the ring back up and goes to find Alaris.
Nikolai watches the ring carefully and notices the aura does not reactivate, but the rings retains its magical essence. “Interesting. It must be a use-activated item. It had something to do with the time-altering effect. Bring it along, I can thoroughly examine it later.” He then follows behind Ling quietly, pondering the strange magical effect of the ring.
Ling jogs down the hallway, but skids to a halt when she sees the painting. "By the angel, that's the Summoning of Raziel! Is this a shadowhunter residence? Did they kill one of our own and we haven't heard about it?" Her face looks worried, then her expression becomes grim. "Or it could be a downworlder who knows much more about us than they should. Or... I hate to say it, but it could be a rogue shadowhunter. One of Sebastian's idiots? That would not be good." Ling looks around for anything indicating this to be a shadowhunter home, such as witchlight lamps or protection runes by the windows and entryways.
Caio turns as Ling and Nikolai discuss the ring in the study. "Maybe if I put it on and activate my speed runes I can go four times as fast as normal. Those warlocks won't even see me coming." he jokes before following them both out and downstairs.
Never having cared much for his history lessons, it's clear Caio doesn't immediately recognize the painting until Ling identifies it. The realization causes and almost nauseous look to cross his face. "****. None of those options are good." he's quiet as he thinks for a moment. "Should we tell the Institute about this?"
"I'll check at least if it's a shadowhunter residence - if we tell them about the picture, chances are they'll want us to stay away from this and let 'a more experienced team' handle things." Ling air quotes, rolling her eyes. "How about we split up, our book worm and you can take the upstairs, Alaris and I check downstairs and we send each other pictures of any other weird stuff we find? But be careful, something could be warded if they were expecting shadow hunters..."
Ling texts Natasha, asking if any shadow hunters live in the district. Since she's not found any runes, she takes a look around the rest of the room for anything indicating a downworld connection or any other hiding spots. When she's finished, she moves on to the next room down the hallway. Absentmindedly, she touches the back of her hand again as she plays with the ring. Holding it up, she shouts to Nikolai: "Would you kill me if I just put the ring on? I kinda want to see what would happen!"
Alaris doesn't detect any demonic or angelic presence in the immediate vicinity. Maybe the house must be explored a little further...
The Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - DM for Aiden, Bründir, Jex, Thurston, Valaith and Vark
The Chronicles of Arden: Hunters - DM for Alaris, Astrid, Caio and Shiva
Nikolai sniffs indignantly at Alaris. “That’s assuming the Russian is even seen by anyone. I’ll have you know I’m quite adapt and remaining unseen.”
Valaith "Rimehand" Kalukavi - Chronicles of Arden
Caio slips ahead of the others as they look around the foyer. He bounds upstairs and begins looking in the various rooms, eventually finding the taped off study and entering it.
Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - Vark Galestone | Half-Orc | Storm Sorcerer
Chronicles of Arden: Hunters - Caio Cypherien | Shadar-Kai | Inquisitor Ranger
Inside the study is a large mahogany desk and several bookshelves. A huge window runs the length of the right hand wall, and there's blood spatter across the floor, with a little yellow plastic marker besides it.
The Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - DM for Aiden, Bründir, Jex, Thurston, Valaith and Vark
The Chronicles of Arden: Hunters - DM for Alaris, Astrid, Caio and Shiva
Ling shakes her head as Caio charges ahead, and says to the others: "I guess upstairs first then!" As he disappears up the stairs, his image distorts and he seems to move... faster? She turns to Alaris and Nikolai, checking their faces, but they seem to observing the same phenomenon. Suddenly tense, she puts a hand on her weapon as she carefully descends the stairs. "What on earth is that... distortion? Nik? Warlock magic or fey?"
Nikolai’s eyes flare as they pick up the magical essences. He frowns as he tries to identify the source and recognizes it as transmutation magic. “It’s a type of magic that changes things. In this instance it seems to make things move faster. I know of magic that does similar things, but I have never seen it utilized like this before...”
Valaith "Rimehand" Kalukavi - Chronicles of Arden
"Doesn't sound too dangerous!" Without a second thought, Ling follows after Caio. "Maybe we'll be back down before Alaris even makes it to the living room, ha!" Upstairs, she hears Caio in the taped-off room and takes a look around herself. As she approaches the study, she almost bursts out laughing: It like Caio around the room like speedy gonzales! Before she enters the study, she checks out the other doors. A linen closet, towels, alright. Before the closet, there is another door which leads to a bedroom. Ling takes a brief look around, but finds nothing out of the ordinary. After peeking into a few other doors, Ling gets bored and decides to just skip ahead and head to the study too.
As Ling searches the study for traces of missing books, she notices two things. First, one of the drawers in the desk is hanging askew and no longer closes properly. Second, while there are no gaps between the books on the shelves, one particular bookcase has clearly had its contents rifled through. The various volumes seem jumbled, rather than the neatly stacked rows seen on the other shelves.
The Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - DM for Aiden, Bründir, Jex, Thurston, Valaith and Vark
The Chronicles of Arden: Hunters - DM for Alaris, Astrid, Caio and Shiva
Ling carefully inspects the bookshelf, checking its sides, the floor, and the boards behind the books. She feels around for any possible switches or buttons, any hidden compartments. Finding nothing, she finally looks underneath the shelf and sees something shiny, metallic? Lying flat on her stomach, she sticks her arm underneath as far as it will go and fishes for the object. Her fingers find something and she carefully nudges it towards the edge of the shelf until she can turn it there and slowly push it forwards, far enough to grab it and pull it out. It is a chunky silver ring, with no design or ornaments on it. It looks like several entwined strands of silver, tightly twisted.Turning it over in her fingers, she holds it up for the others to see.
Alaris heads down the hallway on the ground floor towards the rear of the house. She peeks through the third entrance on the right, a broad set of double doors, which seems to open up into a large dining room of sort. A long dark-wood table runs down the length of the room and one of the walls is adorned by an enormous, stylised painting. The picture shows an angel emerging from a great lake. A white haired shadow hunter stands before it, surrounded by a circle of runes, and two others lie wounded in the foreground. A blonde boy lying in a pile of blood and a red-haired girl wielding a stele.
The Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - DM for Aiden, Bründir, Jex, Thurston, Valaith and Vark
The Chronicles of Arden: Hunters - DM for Alaris, Astrid, Caio and Shiva
"Aww son of a..." Alaris curses bitterly, staring at the painting, their usual fierce energy stymied by the growing dismay they feel.
The paladin edges back towards the door and shouts, "Down at the end of the hall! I've found something... Well you'd better just see it!"
Eshuvenniel Kazander Ravid, Valor Bard and Acolyte of the Goddess of Luck
Caradoc Langham, Halfling Rogue - Lost Magics - Epic of Pre-made Proportions!
I'm not looking for heaven or hell... just someone to listen to stories I tell...
As she holds up the ring - knowing better than to simply slip it onto her finger, after all who knows what sort of fey or warlock magic it could be - Ling notices the drawer hanging askew. She pulls on it and it swings open like a cupboard, revealing small safe that looks like it has been ransacked. She moves to inspect it further, but suddenly hears Alaris shouting downstairs. Quickly, ling pockets the ring and heads downstairs to see what her friend has found.
As the youngsters rush about the house, Nikolai approaches the desk in the study and removes his tarot deck from the leather shoulder holster. He begins to systematically lay out his cards in a circle, tapping each one slowly with his left index finger and gesturing with his right index finger in the air above each card... as each gesture completes there is a glowing rune hanging above the care in the air. As he completed the ritual, taking special care with each rune... he finally closes his eyes and places his hand in the center of the circle. The runes begin to swirl as if an invisible vortex was pulling them towards Nikolai’s hand. One by one, they were pulled into his hand and when Nikolai opened his eyes once more they held a slight glimmer as a third, glowing blue eye appeared in his forehead... his third eye.
He immediately notices the glowing, magical aura coming from the ring Ling finds. “That ring holds magic, Ling. It’s coming from that.” As she picks it up, the aura disappears. “Huh... interesting. It stopped. Ling put the ring down again.”
Valaith "Rimehand" Kalukavi - Chronicles of Arden
Almost out the door, Ling stops and puts the ring down. "What magic? Will I turn into a frog? Come downstairs and let's see what Alaris found! We can come back here after."
Ling picks the ring back up and goes to find Alaris.
Nikolai watches the ring carefully and notices the aura does not reactivate, but the rings retains its magical essence. “Interesting. It must be a use-activated item. It had something to do with the time-altering effect. Bring it along, I can thoroughly examine it later.” He then follows behind Ling quietly, pondering the strange magical effect of the ring.
Valaith "Rimehand" Kalukavi - Chronicles of Arden
Downstairs, Nikolai finds the portrait to - ironically - be entirely mundane.
The Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - DM for Aiden, Bründir, Jex, Thurston, Valaith and Vark
The Chronicles of Arden: Hunters - DM for Alaris, Astrid, Caio and Shiva
Ling jogs down the hallway, but skids to a halt when she sees the painting. "By the angel, that's the Summoning of Raziel! Is this a shadowhunter residence? Did they kill one of our own and we haven't heard about it?" Her face looks worried, then her expression becomes grim. "Or it could be a downworlder who knows much more about us than they should. Or... I hate to say it, but it could be a rogue shadowhunter. One of Sebastian's idiots? That would not be good." Ling looks around for anything indicating this to be a shadowhunter home, such as witchlight lamps or protection runes by the windows and entryways.
Caio turns as Ling and Nikolai discuss the ring in the study. "Maybe if I put it on and activate my speed runes I can go four times as fast as normal. Those warlocks won't even see me coming." he jokes before following them both out and downstairs.
Never having cared much for his history lessons, it's clear Caio doesn't immediately recognize the painting until Ling identifies it. The realization causes and almost nauseous look to cross his face. "****. None of those options are good." he's quiet as he thinks for a moment. "Should we tell the Institute about this?"
Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - Vark Galestone | Half-Orc | Storm Sorcerer
Chronicles of Arden: Hunters - Caio Cypherien | Shadar-Kai | Inquisitor Ranger
"I'll check at least if it's a shadowhunter residence - if we tell them about the picture, chances are they'll want us to stay away from this and let 'a more experienced team' handle things." Ling air quotes, rolling her eyes. "How about we split up, our book worm and you can take the upstairs, Alaris and I check downstairs and we send each other pictures of any other weird stuff we find? But be careful, something could be warded if they were expecting shadow hunters..."
Ling texts Natasha, asking if any shadow hunters live in the district. Since she's not found any runes, she takes a look around the rest of the room for anything indicating a downworld connection or any other hiding spots. When she's finished, she moves on to the next room down the hallway. Absentmindedly, she touches the back of her hand again as she plays with the ring. Holding it up, she shouts to Nikolai: "Would you kill me if I just put the ring on? I kinda want to see what would happen!"
No... why?
Natasha's response comes, quicker than expected.
The Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - DM for Aiden, Bründir, Jex, Thurston, Valaith and Vark
The Chronicles of Arden: Hunters - DM for Alaris, Astrid, Caio and Shiva