Ling keeps rolling the ring between her fingers, curious to know what exactly it does. She keeps checking drawers and cabinets in the dining room, but without being too thorough. Her phone bings, indicating Natasha has responded. "Seems no shadow hunter was registered here, so either a downworlder or a rogue one." She is about type a reply when she opens the the last drawer of a dresser she was going through and finds a little tranished silver pot with mother of pearl detailing. Her fingers tremble slightly as she opens it, the shape all too familiar to her. Without looking away, she pockets her phone and uses both hands to open the pot. It really is... It contains a creamy, translucent ointment. Ling breathes in deeply and quickly closes it again, stashing it away in her jacket. She gets up and makes her way to the servants' door: "Nothing here, I'll move on to the next room. We'll split up and take the downstairs, alright Alaris?"
"Works for me, darlin'," Alaris responds before heading into the next room.
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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...
The windowless dining room has two additional doors towards the front and rear of the house. Ling also spots a servants' door disguised amongst the wooden panelling.
When Alaris enters the room towards the front of the house she finds a drawing room adorned with comfortable sofas, wing-backed leather armchairs and a drinks cabinet. A billiards table stands in the centre of the room, and here, again, there are also no windows. The entire room has an after-taste of cigar smoke.
Nikolai shouts back to Ling. “No, but it might! Best wait until I have a chance to fully investigate it. Magic can be tricky.”
Without realizing it, Nikolai ends up i the drawing room with Alaris. He notices the windowless setup and examines the drink collection. ‘Interesting.’ He thinks about his own favorites and it always goes back to his youth... Perhaps he could glean some more information from this man’s collection.
Ling finds a servants' kitchen, modern and well-equipped. Some wine glasses are left in the dishwasher, some kind of black residue inside them. She licks her finger and touches it, rubbing it between her finger to see if it is just wine or blood. The consistency is pretty viscous, it smears over the tips of her fingers, leaving brownish-red stains. Blood. And no windows anywhere down here, but there was that big one upstairs... strange. Seems pretty vamp friendly, but what about the study? As she stands there wondering, her left hands turns over the little pot inside her jacket pocket.
Alaris grins as the warlock comes up from one of the other doors. "Are you thirsty, Nikolai? Because I tell you, all this sneaking has made me ready for a taste of something."
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...
Nikolai winks at Alaris. “Let’s take a little smell to check the quality first.” He removes the bottle of old cognac, opens the cap, and takes a deep smell of the vapors coming from within...
The cognac smells of strong alcohol and the warmth fills his lungs as his mouth waters slightly in anticipation of the wonderful taste. Suddenly a thought hits Nikolai. With the bottle still in hand, he turns and begins to scan the room... and there he finds it. A tiny little lens on the speaker of the sound system. He lets out a powerful curse in Russian. “It’s time to go!” He yells loudly.
Ling can her the faint voices of Nikolai and Alaris two doors down. A taste of something... maybe I could just sneak a little taste myself. Swiftly, with the movements of someone who has done this a thousand times before, Ling flips open the lid of the little silver pot, dips her thumb inside and stashes it away again. For a split second, she stares at the glistening ointment on her finger. Whatever, a little won't hurt. She runs her finger down the inside of her forearm, under her sleeve, where nobody should be able to see the shine on her skin. Immediately, the effect kicks in and she feels energised, pumped. Everything feels heightened, like she could do anything. Definitely try on a little round piece of metal, at least.
Nikolai is always too careful! Let's see how this works! Grinning, she slips on the ring. Suddenly, Nikolai's and Alaris' voices stop. "Guys?" Ling shouts, but no answer. She looks up and through the window, she sees a bird - frozen in midair. What?! She slips back out of the kitchen, through the dining room and towards her friends in the drawing room. There they are - also frozen mid-movement. Without considering the possible dangers, Ling bends over laughing. Hilarious! I am SPEEDY GONZALES!! She runs two laps around them and draws a smiley face on Nikolai's cheeks and a little heart on Alaris' forehead. Then she heads back through the dining room to check out the other room.
The door at the top end of the dining room leads to a room with beige tiled floors and a large selection of potted plants. A large number of shoes, boots and coats are stored at the side of the room, and a short staircase leads up about half a story to a decked conservatory with a table and chairs. Through the many glass plains, Ling can see the garden stretching back away from the house. Every branch and leaf is perfectly still, despite that fact that it has been a windy day. The world is utterly silent.
Nikolai stops as he looks down at the camera. Maybe... just maybe... he grasps the tiny lens with his fingertips and with too much gusto he pulls it away as a tiny cable snaps and the lens comes free. His eyes wide, he turns to Alaris. “Well, if they didn’t know we were here before. They probably do now.”
With her heightened senses, Ling immediately notices some unusual herbs in the conservatory. She glances briefly at the garden, but it seems ordinary. Returning her attention to the plants inside, she inspects them a little closer. These one is popular with the fey, this one with werewolves, this is used in potions I believe? Hm. Between the different herbs and all the coats, this place seems to be frequented by many different downworlders.
Ling zips back through the dining room to tell her friends about her findings, but they still appear to be in the exact same position that she left them in. Impatient to tell them, Ling pulls off the ring and things start moving again. To Alaris and Nikolai, Ling appears out of thin air right next to them.
When Ling pops out of thin air, Nikolai gives a start and immediately begins to gather eldritch energy in his fists, but then allows it to dissipate with a sigh upon recognizing Ling. He frowns for a moment in confusion, then gives her a very stern look. “What did I tell you about magic being dangerous? What did it do?”
Ling doubles over, laughing and pointing at their faces. "Look at you, look at you!" Once she gets a hold of herself, she quickly fills them in on what she found in the kitchen and the other room, as well as the effects of the ring. She seems impatient and finishes up by saying: "Well if they come for us, that will save us the trouble of finding out who they are! Let them come, ha! We haven't finished checking upstairs anyway, you need to take a look at the books, bookspert! Haha... bookspert!" She goes into another laughing fit.
Nikolai raises an eyebrow at Ling’s silliness, but initially assumed it to be an after affect of the ring’s effects. Then he spots the little heart on Alaris’ face and chuckles. He starts to understand Ling’s laughter as just part of her quirkiness. “You are too goofy,” he shakes his head with a rueful smile. “We best do this quickly. I imagine we may have company soon.”
Nikolai gestures for Ling to lead the way as he follows behind, taking a moment to let his eyes linger upon her figure. ‘Don’t get distracted.’
As the others continue poking around downstairs, Caio runs back up to finish scouting the other rooms. But as he walks down the hallway, something catches his eye. Runs to the top of the stairs and calls down "Hey guys, there's more weird shit up here. This house isn't right."
"Oh I can do quickly, you asked for it!" Ling winks down at Nikolai and slips the ring back on, expecting time to stop, but - nothing happens. "Oh?" She tries a couple more times, but again, no effect. Puzzled, she holds up the ring a little too closely in front of her face, staring at it.
A second later, a new idea seems to have hit her and she runs up the stairs. "You are right, it's too big. You stay here, I'll see if there's some secret room downstairs or something!" Instead of splitting into two groups of two as usual, Ling hops over the banister and begins to search for a hidden entryway downstairs by herself. She quickly searches the wooden panels and the wallpaper, but finds nothing indicating an entry. Turning around, she opens the door to the front room where she finds a sitting room with a large bay window. It contains comfortable looking sofas, a coffee table and a television. Upon brief inspection, it seems perfectly mundane. Moving on to the next one, she finds a utility room. Again, it seems entirely normal - except for that hatch! Ling hesitates for a moment, but feeling fairly invincible, she decides not to wait for backup but open it right away. A wooden staircase, covered by carpet, leads downstairs and out of sight.
"Found a staircase, checking out this cellar!", she shouts.
The lower level appears to house a wine cellar, primarily, as well as storage for a few household odds and ends. As Ling snoops about she suddenly hears a voice from behind her in the shadows.
"Finally," it drawls in a foreign accent. The voice is male and nasal, though well spoken. "Took you long enough."
She can just about make out the shape of a lanky humanoid figure, lurking in an alcove she hadn't yet seen.
Ling jumps and whirls around when she hears the voice, immediately drawing her Jian. "Show yourself, it's rude to lurk in the shadows!" She quickly looks around to see if anyone else is hiding down here.
"Oh, would that it were so simple!" Lings mysterious conversation partner exclaims with enthusiasm. Looking about, she can see nobody else but his slim silhouette down here.
"Put your mind to the problem, little Shadowhunter. Not everything is solved with muscle."
In the darkness, Ling swears she sees the tiniest flash of yellow from the dark figure.
Ling keeps the Jian held protectively in front of her torso and uses her left hand to pulls out her witchlight from her jacket pocket. She feels tense, but also excited. With each breath, she can feels her rib cage expand against the leather of her gear. The adrenaline drums through her veins and creates heady concoction as it mixes with the yin fen. Everything seems brighter, sharper. The wine bottles to her left shine and whisper of bacchanalian nights. I'm sure this place could host a hell of a party, if Nikolai were put to it, it would be amazing. The low ceilings of the cellar make her think of the dungeons underneath the institute, where she played as a child, conquering the most monstrous imaginary beasts all by herself. She could take this one down by herself too, she did not need to call for backup. Let's find out who he is first, but if tries to attack me, well, that will end badly for him. Who are you?
She holds up her witchlight and blows into it.
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Ling keeps rolling the ring between her fingers, curious to know what exactly it does. She keeps checking drawers and cabinets in the dining room, but without being too thorough. Her phone bings, indicating Natasha has responded. "Seems no shadow hunter was registered here, so either a downworlder or a rogue one." She is about type a reply when she opens the the last drawer of a dresser she was going through and finds a little tranished silver pot with mother of pearl detailing. Her fingers tremble slightly as she opens it, the shape all too familiar to her. Without looking away, she pockets her phone and uses both hands to open the pot. It really is... It contains a creamy, translucent ointment. Ling breathes in deeply and quickly closes it again, stashing it away in her jacket. She gets up and makes her way to the servants' door: "Nothing here, I'll move on to the next room. We'll split up and take the downstairs, alright Alaris?"
"Works for me, darlin'," Alaris responds before heading into the next room.
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...
The windowless dining room has two additional doors towards the front and rear of the house. Ling also spots a servants' door disguised amongst the wooden panelling.
When Alaris enters the room towards the front of the house she finds a drawing room adorned with comfortable sofas, wing-backed leather armchairs and a drinks cabinet. A billiards table stands in the centre of the room, and here, again, there are also no windows. The entire room has an after-taste of cigar smoke.
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 shouts back to Ling. “No, but it might! Best wait until I have a chance to fully investigate it. Magic can be tricky.”
Without realizing it, Nikolai ends up i the drawing room with Alaris. He notices the windowless setup and examines the drink collection. ‘Interesting.’ He thinks about his own favorites and it always goes back to his youth... Perhaps he could glean some more information from this man’s collection.
Valaith "Rimehand" Kalukavi - Chronicles of Arden
Ling finds a servants' kitchen, modern and well-equipped. Some wine glasses are left in the dishwasher, some kind of black residue inside them. She licks her finger and touches it, rubbing it between her finger to see if it is just wine or blood. The consistency is pretty viscous, it smears over the tips of her fingers, leaving brownish-red stains. Blood. And no windows anywhere down here, but there was that big one upstairs... strange. Seems pretty vamp friendly, but what about the study? As she stands there wondering, her left hands turns over the little pot inside her jacket pocket.
Alaris grins as the warlock comes up from one of the other doors. "Are you thirsty, Nikolai? Because I tell you, all this sneaking has made me ready for a taste of something."
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...
Nikolai winks at Alaris. “Let’s take a little smell to check the quality first.” He removes the bottle of old cognac, opens the cap, and takes a deep smell of the vapors coming from within...
The cognac smells of strong alcohol and the warmth fills his lungs as his mouth waters slightly in anticipation of the wonderful taste. Suddenly a thought hits Nikolai. With the bottle still in hand, he turns and begins to scan the room... and there he finds it. A tiny little lens on the speaker of the sound system. He lets out a powerful curse in Russian. “It’s time to go!” He yells loudly.
Valaith "Rimehand" Kalukavi - Chronicles of Arden
Ling can her the faint voices of Nikolai and Alaris two doors down. A taste of something... maybe I could just sneak a little taste myself. Swiftly, with the movements of someone who has done this a thousand times before, Ling flips open the lid of the little silver pot, dips her thumb inside and stashes it away again. For a split second, she stares at the glistening ointment on her finger. Whatever, a little won't hurt. She runs her finger down the inside of her forearm, under her sleeve, where nobody should be able to see the shine on her skin. Immediately, the effect kicks in and she feels energised, pumped. Everything feels heightened, like she could do anything. Definitely try on a little round piece of metal, at least.
Nikolai is always too careful! Let's see how this works! Grinning, she slips on the ring. Suddenly, Nikolai's and Alaris' voices stop. "Guys?" Ling shouts, but no answer. She looks up and through the window, she sees a bird - frozen in midair. What?! She slips back out of the kitchen, through the dining room and towards her friends in the drawing room. There they are - also frozen mid-movement. Without considering the possible dangers, Ling bends over laughing. Hilarious! I am SPEEDY GONZALES!! She runs two laps around them and draws a smiley face on Nikolai's cheeks and a little heart on Alaris' forehead. Then she heads back through the dining room to check out the other room.
The door at the top end of the dining room leads to a room with beige tiled floors and a large selection of potted plants. A large number of shoes, boots and coats are stored at the side of the room, and a short staircase leads up about half a story to a decked conservatory with a table and chairs. Through the many glass plains, Ling can see the garden stretching back away from the house. Every branch and leaf is perfectly still, despite that fact that it has been a windy day. The world is utterly silent.
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 stops as he looks down at the camera. Maybe... just maybe... he grasps the tiny lens with his fingertips and with too much gusto he pulls it away as a tiny cable snaps and the lens comes free. His eyes wide, he turns to Alaris. “Well, if they didn’t know we were here before. They probably do now.”
Valaith "Rimehand" Kalukavi - Chronicles of Arden
With her heightened senses, Ling immediately notices some unusual herbs in the conservatory. She glances briefly at the garden, but it seems ordinary. Returning her attention to the plants inside, she inspects them a little closer. These one is popular with the fey, this one with werewolves, this is used in potions I believe? Hm. Between the different herbs and all the coats, this place seems to be frequented by many different downworlders.
Ling zips back through the dining room to tell her friends about her findings, but they still appear to be in the exact same position that she left them in. Impatient to tell them, Ling pulls off the ring and things start moving again. To Alaris and Nikolai, Ling appears out of thin air right next to them.
When Ling pops out of thin air, Nikolai gives a start and immediately begins to gather eldritch energy in his fists, but then allows it to dissipate with a sigh upon recognizing Ling. He frowns for a moment in confusion, then gives her a very stern look. “What did I tell you about magic being dangerous? What did it do?”
Valaith "Rimehand" Kalukavi - Chronicles of Arden
Ling doubles over, laughing and pointing at their faces. "Look at you, look at you!" Once she gets a hold of herself, she quickly fills them in on what she found in the kitchen and the other room, as well as the effects of the ring. She seems impatient and finishes up by saying: "Well if they come for us, that will save us the trouble of finding out who they are! Let them come, ha! We haven't finished checking upstairs anyway, you need to take a look at the books, bookspert! Haha... bookspert!" She goes into another laughing fit.
Nikolai raises an eyebrow at Ling’s silliness, but initially assumed it to be an after affect of the ring’s effects. Then he spots the little heart on Alaris’ face and chuckles. He starts to understand Ling’s laughter as just part of her quirkiness. “You are too goofy,” he shakes his head with a rueful smile. “We best do this quickly. I imagine we may have company soon.”
Nikolai gestures for Ling to lead the way as he follows behind, taking a moment to let his eyes linger upon her figure. ‘Don’t get distracted.’
Valaith "Rimehand" Kalukavi - Chronicles of Arden
As the others continue poking around downstairs, Caio runs back up to finish scouting the other rooms. But as he walks down the hallway, something catches his eye. Runs to the top of the stairs and calls down "Hey guys, there's more weird shit up here. This house isn't right."
Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - Vark Galestone | Half-Orc | Storm Sorcerer
Chronicles of Arden: Hunters - Caio Cypherien | Shadar-Kai | Inquisitor Ranger
"Oh I can do quickly, you asked for it!" Ling winks down at Nikolai and slips the ring back on, expecting time to stop, but - nothing happens. "Oh?" She tries a couple more times, but again, no effect. Puzzled, she holds up the ring a little too closely in front of her face, staring at it.
A second later, a new idea seems to have hit her and she runs up the stairs. "You are right, it's too big. You stay here, I'll see if there's some secret room downstairs or something!" Instead of splitting into two groups of two as usual, Ling hops over the banister and begins to search for a hidden entryway downstairs by herself. She quickly searches the wooden panels and the wallpaper, but finds nothing indicating an entry. Turning around, she opens the door to the front room where she finds a sitting room with a large bay window. It contains comfortable looking sofas, a coffee table and a television. Upon brief inspection, it seems perfectly mundane. Moving on to the next one, she finds a utility room. Again, it seems entirely normal - except for that hatch! Ling hesitates for a moment, but feeling fairly invincible, she decides not to wait for backup but open it right away. A wooden staircase, covered by carpet, leads downstairs and out of sight.
"Found a staircase, checking out this cellar!", she shouts.
The lower level appears to house a wine cellar, primarily, as well as storage for a few household odds and ends. As Ling snoops about she suddenly hears a voice from behind her in the shadows.
"Finally," it drawls in a foreign accent. The voice is male and nasal, though well spoken. "Took you long enough."
She can just about make out the shape of a lanky humanoid figure, lurking in an alcove she hadn't yet seen.
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 jumps and whirls around when she hears the voice, immediately drawing her Jian. "Show yourself, it's rude to lurk in the shadows!" She quickly looks around to see if anyone else is hiding down here.
"Oh, would that it were so simple!" Lings mysterious conversation partner exclaims with enthusiasm. Looking about, she can see nobody else but his slim silhouette down here.
"Put your mind to the problem, little Shadowhunter. Not everything is solved with muscle."
In the darkness, Ling swears she sees the tiniest flash of yellow from the dark figure.
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 keeps the Jian held protectively in front of her torso and uses her left hand to pulls out her witchlight from her jacket pocket. She feels tense, but also excited. With each breath, she can feels her rib cage expand against the leather of her gear. The adrenaline drums through her veins and creates heady concoction as it mixes with the yin fen. Everything seems brighter, sharper. The wine bottles to her left shine and whisper of bacchanalian nights. I'm sure this place could host a hell of a party, if Nikolai were put to it, it would be amazing. The low ceilings of the cellar make her think of the dungeons underneath the institute, where she played as a child, conquering the most monstrous imaginary beasts all by herself. She could take this one down by herself too, she did not need to call for backup. Let's find out who he is first, but if tries to attack me, well, that will end badly for him. Who are you?
She holds up her witchlight and blows into it.