Fergus, a middle-aged man with shaggy copper hair and a crudely cropped beard of bronze and silver, scrambles awkwardly aware from the melee.
"Butcher? Scavenger?" He says. "Wha...? No, I'm the ostler..."
He takes a fighting stance to defend himself and only manages to reveal how little experience he has with fighting.
"It's just I saw something had gone wrong around here and... Well, not finding anyone alive anywhere else, and all the doors open and such, I thought I'd knock on the one that wasn't, if you understand me. No call for violence."
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
PBP "Beregost Blues" - Dungeon Master of Gnome Slaying +5
"Does this happen often my friend?" Sorasuna positioned herself near the ostler and threw an arm around him, not worried a bit about the fighting stance. "I think we are all just spooked about the bodies and the blood and all. Does this-" Sorasuna gestured widely at the dead in the street, "happen often? The innkeeper, rest her soul, didn't react as scared as I felt. It just seems odd to me... Her and your behaviour that is..."
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
DM: Adventures in Phandalin [Khessa], The Dread of Strahd[Darya], Dragons of Stormwreck Isle [Rook], Baldur's Gate Mysteries [4-Player] Player: Oona in MO's Icewind Dale Ru's Current Status
"A man walks into town," Rey said, getting into his face as best she could. "He sees all the dead bodies scattered about, and isn't the least bit scared?" She raises her daggers in a threatening manner.
"Oh, I'm scared alright, same as you... But they're done dead and there's nothing to be done, as I see it."
Still in his crude fighting stance, you note his eyes are especially wide as he speaks.
"You'll have to forgive me if I'm missing something here, they say I'm a simple man and I suppose they're right... Sometimes I don't understand people so well."
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
PBP "Beregost Blues" - Dungeon Master of Gnome Slaying +5
As you speak with Fergus, you begin to notice, while it's likely to be mid-morning, the sky is especially overcast. The sun is little more than an orange blob hidden behind thick layers of puffy gray clouds.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
PBP "Beregost Blues" - Dungeon Master of Gnome Slaying +5
"Not to worry!" Sorasuna releases the man and takes him in. "You are with friends now! Don't be so alarmed! I am sure none of these fine people will hurt you unless you attack first..." She looks over to Rey, pleading for her to stop threatening the ostler with a head nod toward him. "After all, you might know things as simple as you are. Even a simple man can be of use!" She slapped him on the back playfully and as lightly as she could and chuckled.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
DM: Adventures in Phandalin [Khessa], The Dread of Strahd[Darya], Dragons of Stormwreck Isle [Rook], Baldur's Gate Mysteries [4-Player] Player: Oona in MO's Icewind Dale Ru's Current Status
"That is what I would advise as well, Fergus," Orel says, scanning the room, "Any of you who wish to go should probably go with him. I'm going to to stay and get a closer look at what caused this death. But first, I'm going to dispose of these bodies." Orel finally moves away from the wall and exits through the door. He grabs the crone's body as he passes, dragging it to a clear spot in the center of the road. He then returns and pulls the corpse off the Inn's roof, stacking it atop the crones body.
"Wonderful idea," Rey said, putting her daggers away. "I'll go with you, Fergus! It was a huge mistake coming here. If you give me a ride, I'll help you load the cart."
A dull thump came from the wall, where Elaine was currently banging her head in frustration. Why was it so hard to talk to people? The rest of the inn had managed to scare and confuse the poor ostler before she could get a word in edgewise. She decided it was best to not harp on their failures, and move on so she didn't have to think about it.
"Before you leave, Master Fergus," Elaine interjected, attempting to half pull him away from the others. "Why don't I help you get cleaned up? And then we can perhaps get you prepared for the road." She smiled sweetly at him. "I'm a simple woman myself, and my friends have talked around in so many circles I can barely understand them. Perhaps we can work together to better understand what has happened."
"Wonderful idea," Rey said, putting her daggers away. "I'll go with you, Fergus! It was a huge mistake coming here. If you give me a ride, I'll help you load the cart."
Marius stands and brushes off his trousers from where he knelt, then gives his fancy bedroll a quick twirl and twist and tucks it into his pack.
"Rey, wait," he calls out as he slings his pack over his shoulder. "Wait a moment. We need to stick together. You're... well..." the young man ducks his head and looks for a moment like the teenager he is. "I don't want anything to happen to you."
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...
Did he really think her to be helpless? Good. "Oh, it's okay! I have the wonderful Mr. Fergus here to protect me!" Rey smiled in Marius' vague direction. If he thought her helpless, she'd milk it for all it's worth.
"Oh, okay," Fergus says, his smile growing and his eyes twinkling. Suddenly, Elaine's beauty has his full attention.
"But I don't know much, just that everyone's dead except you folk and Missus Dudley in there. I suppose it has something to do with that building being some kind of holy place once. But I don't know how it'll help to figure out what happened. Everybody's still going to be dead..."
Elaine suddenly 'remembered' the baby rattle hidden in her breasts, and made a small show of removing it. She knew of her assets, and was not a stranger to using them to her advantage. "Master Fergus, would you care for some help getting situated for your ride back to Thorngate?" She asked, giving him a little wink. "I have heard such lovely things about the town, but I have never been myself. Perhaps you can share with me stories from your last visit."
Stone grabs Rey's arm and leads her out, "These two have Mister Festus covered. You're needed out here." As he leads her toward the growing mound of bodies, the monk states, "Life, Air, and Fire have left these bodies. They have no use for their possessions. That should be a fitting task you."
Stone begins working through buildings, looking for bodies and further signs of struggle or clues.
Grishkar Darkmoor, Necromancer of Nerull the Despiser Kelvin Rabbitfoot, Diviner, con artist, always hunting for a good sale Bründir Halfshield, Valor Bard, three-time Sheercleft Drinking Competition Champion, Hometown hero
Rey begins to protest as she's rudely dragged away from the others. But the mention of possessions makes her reconsider and she goes willingly. "Oh, I'll be glad to help lighten their corpses," she said with a grin.
As the bodies begin to pile up, Orel begins collecting wood from the houses with hearths. "We'll need to build a few pretty large pyres," he says as he passes the mysterious human. "We might be able to fit twenty of them to a pyre."
After a moment he rethinks his strategy for disposing of a hundred corpses. "Actually... let's use the church. It's made of stone... like a hearth. It'll burn hotter and quicker. I'll line the floor and walls with as much wood as I can." He nods at the idea. His investigation can't continue until the dead are disposed of, and right now they were the only ones that could effectively dispose of them.
Marius pauses as Orel passes. "Religiosity isn't exactly my bag, but would turning their shrine into a funeral pyre be... more or less than pleasing to them? The gods, I mean."
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...
"Gods don't exist in this world. Only beings powerful enough to make others believe they're gods," he responds. And those beings will come to fear him one day.
He continues his work, lining the inn-church with fuel. The beds will burn well so he leaves them, but he's sure to remove any of the group's personal property from the church.
Fergus, a middle-aged man with shaggy copper hair and a crudely cropped beard of bronze and silver, scrambles awkwardly aware from the melee.
"Butcher? Scavenger?" He says. "Wha...? No, I'm the ostler..."
He takes a fighting stance to defend himself and only manages to reveal how little experience he has with fighting.
"It's just I saw something had gone wrong around here and... Well, not finding anyone alive anywhere else, and all the doors open and such, I thought I'd knock on the one that wasn't, if you understand me. No call for violence."
"Does this happen often my friend?" Sorasuna positioned herself near the ostler and threw an arm around him, not worried a bit about the fighting stance. "I think we are all just spooked about the bodies and the blood and all. Does this-" Sorasuna gestured widely at the dead in the street, "happen often? The innkeeper, rest her soul, didn't react as scared as I felt. It just seems odd to me... Her and your behaviour that is..."
DM: Adventures in Phandalin [Khessa], The Dread of Strahd [Darya], Dragons of Stormwreck Isle [Rook], Baldur's Gate Mysteries [4-Player]
Player: Oona in MO's Icewind Dale
Ru's Current Status
"A man walks into town," Rey said, getting into his face as best she could. "He sees all the dead bodies scattered about, and isn't the least bit scared?" She raises her daggers in a threatening manner.
(Intimidation nat 1)
A dwarf with a canoe on his back? What could go wrong?
"Oh, I'm scared alright, same as you... But they're done dead and there's nothing to be done, as I see it."
Still in his crude fighting stance, you note his eyes are especially wide as he speaks.
"You'll have to forgive me if I'm missing something here, they say I'm a simple man and I suppose they're right... Sometimes I don't understand people so well."
As you speak with Fergus, you begin to notice, while it's likely to be mid-morning, the sky is especially overcast. The sun is little more than an orange blob hidden behind thick layers of puffy gray clouds.
"Not to worry!" Sorasuna releases the man and takes him in. "You are with friends now! Don't be so alarmed! I am sure none of these fine people will hurt you unless you attack first..." She looks over to Rey, pleading for her to stop threatening the ostler with a head nod toward him. "After all, you might know things as simple as you are. Even a simple man can be of use!" She slapped him on the back playfully and as lightly as she could and chuckled.
DM: Adventures in Phandalin [Khessa], The Dread of Strahd [Darya], Dragons of Stormwreck Isle [Rook], Baldur's Gate Mysteries [4-Player]
Player: Oona in MO's Icewind Dale
Ru's Current Status
He's shocked for a moment, then he laughs.
"First I'm supposed to be more alarmed, then I'm supposed to be less alarmed... How about I just be Fergus?"
He scratches his head.
"I suppose I'll load up my cart and head to Thorngate for good. No good I can do here."
"That is what I would advise as well, Fergus," Orel says, scanning the room, "Any of you who wish to go should probably go with him. I'm going to to stay and get a closer look at what caused this death. But first, I'm going to dispose of these bodies." Orel finally moves away from the wall and exits through the door. He grabs the crone's body as he passes, dragging it to a clear spot in the center of the road. He then returns and pulls the corpse off the Inn's roof, stacking it atop the crones body.
Site Rules & Guidelines --- Focused Feedback Mega Threads --- Staff Quotes --- Homebrew Tutorial --- Pricing FAQ
Please feel free to message either Sorce or another moderator if you have any concerns.
"Wonderful idea," Rey said, putting her daggers away. "I'll go with you, Fergus! It was a huge mistake coming here. If you give me a ride, I'll help you load the cart."
A dwarf with a canoe on his back? What could go wrong?
A dull thump came from the wall, where Elaine was currently banging her head in frustration. Why was it so hard to talk to people? The rest of the inn had managed to scare and confuse the poor ostler before she could get a word in edgewise. She decided it was best to not harp on their failures, and move on so she didn't have to think about it.
"Before you leave, Master Fergus," Elaine interjected, attempting to half pull him away from the others. "Why don't I help you get cleaned up? And then we can perhaps get you prepared for the road." She smiled sweetly at him. "I'm a simple woman myself, and my friends have talked around in so many circles I can barely understand them. Perhaps we can work together to better understand what has happened."
PBP: DM of Titans of Tomorrow
PBP: Lera Zahuv in Whispers of Dissent
PBP: Evaine Brae in Innistrad: Dark Ascension
PBP: Cor'avin in Tomb of Annihilation
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...
Did he really think her to be helpless? Good. "Oh, it's okay! I have the wonderful Mr. Fergus here to protect me!" Rey smiled in Marius' vague direction. If he thought her helpless, she'd milk it for all it's worth.
A dwarf with a canoe on his back? What could go wrong?
"Oh, okay," Fergus says, his smile growing and his eyes twinkling. Suddenly, Elaine's beauty has his full attention.
"But I don't know much, just that everyone's dead except you folk and Missus Dudley in there. I suppose it has something to do with that building being some kind of holy place once. But I don't know how it'll help to figure out what happened. Everybody's still going to be dead..."
Elaine suddenly 'remembered' the baby rattle hidden in her breasts, and made a small show of removing it. She knew of her assets, and was not a stranger to using them to her advantage. "Master Fergus, would you care for some help getting situated for your ride back to Thorngate?" She asked, giving him a little wink. "I have heard such lovely things about the town, but I have never been myself. Perhaps you can share with me stories from your last visit."
PBP: DM of Titans of Tomorrow
PBP: Lera Zahuv in Whispers of Dissent
PBP: Evaine Brae in Innistrad: Dark Ascension
PBP: Cor'avin in Tomb of Annihilation
Stone grabs Rey's arm and leads her out, "These two have Mister Festus covered. You're needed out here." As he leads her toward the growing mound of bodies, the monk states, "Life, Air, and Fire have left these bodies. They have no use for their possessions. That should be a fitting task you."
Stone begins working through buildings, looking for bodies and further signs of struggle or clues.
Characters:
Grishkar Darkmoor, Necromancer of Nerull the Despiser
Kelvin Rabbitfoot, Diviner, con artist, always hunting for a good sale
Bründir Halfshield, Valor Bard, three-time Sheercleft Drinking Competition Champion, Hometown hero
Rey begins to protest as she's rudely dragged away from the others. But the mention of possessions makes her reconsider and she goes willingly. "Oh, I'll be glad to help lighten their corpses," she said with a grin.
A dwarf with a canoe on his back? What could go wrong?
"Well, I'm... I'm... I'm..." Fergus stutters. "I'd be happy for the company. It's a few days' ride, though, and how will you get back?"
As the bodies begin to pile up, Orel begins collecting wood from the houses with hearths. "We'll need to build a few pretty large pyres," he says as he passes the mysterious human. "We might be able to fit twenty of them to a pyre."
After a moment he rethinks his strategy for disposing of a hundred corpses. "Actually... let's use the church. It's made of stone... like a hearth. It'll burn hotter and quicker. I'll line the floor and walls with as much wood as I can." He nods at the idea. His investigation can't continue until the dead are disposed of, and right now they were the only ones that could effectively dispose of them.
Site Rules & Guidelines --- Focused Feedback Mega Threads --- Staff Quotes --- Homebrew Tutorial --- Pricing FAQ
Please feel free to message either Sorce or another moderator if you have any concerns.
Marius pauses as Orel passes. "Religiosity isn't exactly my bag, but would turning their shrine into a funeral pyre be... more or less than pleasing to them? The gods, I mean."
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...
"Gods don't exist in this world. Only beings powerful enough to make others believe they're gods," he responds. And those beings will come to fear him one day.
He continues his work, lining the inn-church with fuel. The beds will burn well so he leaves them, but he's sure to remove any of the group's personal property from the church.
Site Rules & Guidelines --- Focused Feedback Mega Threads --- Staff Quotes --- Homebrew Tutorial --- Pricing FAQ
Please feel free to message either Sorce or another moderator if you have any concerns.