Varielky dashes to join the others. The Bakar Elite watch her go, but remain at the amphitheater door. Here is a map. You four are now together at the red X.
There is no further sound or anything else from up above where you saw the spellcaster. You hear music from the performance as it continues to drift through the air. Too, there are small birds and squirrels in the little arbor, and one or another sometimes moves up in the branches, where you also hear a slight breeze blowing through the leaves. There is no sign of humanoid movement or anything like the dark shapes seen earlier. Under the branches, your view to the amphitheater is obstructed, but in the right position you can see the lanterns at the doors, and bordering the reflecting pool. The ground is landscaped in gentle up and down curves, and paths wander through the little park.
Do you go to examine what Pookie saw at the purple X on the map? You don't see anything there now from your current position.
I'm assuming you're on the defensive and have eyes & ears wide open. Just to keep things moving, I'll assume you guys do together whatever the first responder indicates.
If you move to the purple X:
All, roll perception saves. Do you do/say anything while walking over there? Or do something else?
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Varielky reaches the others. "Are you all okay? I saw some light appearing, disappearing, then appearing again with a figure I could not see prior. Then the figure ran away. What happened?"
As Varielky is not aware of what Pooky saw, she obviously doesn't have any reason to walk over to the trees, unless the others start going there, in which case she'll follow.
In case the others decide to go, here's my Perception check, so I don't hold everyone for the entire day just for a single check: 7.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
We're all right. I think we are being flummoxed. We ought to head back to the theatre post haste! If there are any shenanigans in progress we ought to be moving inwards to the theatre, rather than away from it...
Perception, for when they get to line of sight of the theatre entrance...8
We're all right. I think we are being flummoxed. We ought to head back to the theatre post haste! If there are any shenanigans in progress we ought to be moving inwards to the theatre, rather than away from it...
Perception, for when they get to line of sight of the theatre entrance...22
The theater is exactly the same. You have a gut feeling that the Bakar Elite have the entrance covered.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries //Dev Horndin Curious Critters
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Regardless of what Ednyss says, Mittens begins moving to (purple x). He quietly shouts to the party, "Come on! They went this way!" As he approaches, he thrusts his staff upwards and casts silent image. 60 feet above him, large red words fill a fifteen foot cube that read PERIMETER BREACH. The words pulsate to draw attention as he casts his second spell. As loud as he can, he uses minor illusion to scream out, "Suspicious figures by the aquaduct heading along the trees!"
Mittens’ illusory klaxon-shout has been going on for about 30 seconds when, from the square red-stone towers nearby, doors open to the parapet walkways, and two imperial blue liveried guards step curiously out of each one. They look along the wall at one another, gesture in confusion, and shake their heads. Then they see Mittens’ flashing illusory alarm. All four look along walls and see Varielky, Ednyss, and Mittens moving carefully down the treeline. They note that Mittens’ staff is raised and magically glowing. The guards ready heavy crossbows, aim them at Mittens, and shout “HALT!”
Varielky, Ednyss and Mittens have just reached the purple X. There is nothing there, but they do make out, another 50’ east of the purple X, two humanoid forms lying side-by-side on the ground under a tree, just within the arbor. Neither of the humanoid forms moves.
The Bakar Elite at the theater entrance hear and see Mittens’ illusions, though the scream is rather faint at a distance. They see Dolkum approaching them at a run with weapon drawn. As one, in a single smooth motion, they draw long slightly curved blades, ready their shields, and shift into defensive stances, their eyes boring into Dolkum.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries //Dev Horndin Curious Critters
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
(OOC: As I read the others' messages, I knew exactly that this is about to happen lol.)
Varielky raises her shield in front of her but doesn't reach for the sword. "Don't shoot! We saw something suspicious and came to investigate. We are employees of one of the guests attending the opera tonight!" Enough people wanted her life already. Besides, dying to an arrow near an opera house has nothing glorious about it.
(OOC: I did not factor in lighting quite well enough. The guards on the walls have lanterns. They could see Varielky, Ednyss and Mittens BARELY at the edge of vision, because of Mittens' glowing staff, but you can tell they're having a hard time drawing a bead on you. It's dark. I'll assume up until now, Varielky has managed to keep her footing by following closely on Mittens' heels. Does anyone want to light a lantern or torch?)
The guards home in on Varielky's voice. When they see you three dressed in matching livery and hear Varielky's response, they relax.
One shouts back in a peeved voice, "Well turn off that blasted shouting! Come into the light. What did you see?" The four guards scan around the grounds within view, but don't see the forms on the ground you can see from your perspective, or anything else unusual. They lower their weapons and move closer along the walkway 25' up. You and the two pairs of guards now make an equilateral triangle. They are around 50' apart and each pair of guards is 50' from you.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries //Dev Horndin Curious Critters
Mittens keeps the words in the sky, but he silences the sounds with a snap of his fingers. He approaches the guards slowly so they can see he isn't a threat. Once he's in the light, he points to the bodies and says, "There's some people on the ground over there. Anyways, my companion saw some movement over here, so we came over and investigated. We found some dude up on the aquaduct, but he ran away before we could do anything. We saw people moving along the trees, and we were heading over to find them when you guys came out. If I had to take a guess, I'd say whoever we were tracking took out those two fellows over there. "
At about that moment, Mittens' spell durations come to an end. The guards peer but can't see what Mittens is pointing at. They yell back and forth for a minute, then one with a lantern says, "Hang on!" and walks back to the tower door she exited from, along with another guard. A minute later, you hear clinking and sliding at the base of the tower, and a heavy reinforced door swings outwards. The first guard steps out holding the lantern in front of her. Her crossbow is slung but she draws a short sword with her right hand. The other guard, a rotund dwarf whose eyes barely peek out under prodigious eyebrows, holds a heavy crossbow, loaded but pointing up and away. The guards atop the walls come as close as they can and peer down, still with crossbows in hand. "Where?" the woman says in a rough alto, a spindly Orracan with a narrow head, and very long nose over a very wide mouth. Her head makes the shape of an exclamation point, and her tall helm adds to the impression.
If you point at the figures, she peers and frowns, then yells "HEY! WAKE UP! TIME TO GO HOME!" in the direction of the figures. No movement results, so she spits, exchanges a look with the dwarf, and advances, holding the lantern aloft. Do you follow, or lead, or do something else?
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries //Dev Horndin Curious Critters
At that moment, you can look back and see another lantern appear from this side of the tower next to the aqueduct, carried by another guard. The guards on the walkway exchange words, there is shaking of heads. No one saw anything on the other side of the tower -- the aqueduct side, where you saw the spellcaster -- either, seems to be the result.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries //Dev Horndin Curious Critters
Satisfied that his commanding growl had the desired affect as a deterrent, Dolkum turns around and dashes back to his comrades, giving himself a smack upside the head for wasting time.
Satisfied that his commanding growl had the desired affect as a deterrent, Dolkum turns around and dashes back to his comrades, giving himself a smack upside the head for wasting time.
(OOC: Roger that, Dolkum's path leads him back to the aqueduct, then seeing his companions speaking with the guards atop the wall, his path leads him to the purple X on the map.)
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries //Dev Horndin Curious Critters
"Allow me to tag along," Varielky says as she follows in the lantern's light, "there have been a series of attacks that have affected my life recently. I want to see if this is related. I'm not sure whether I'd feel better knowing it is or isn't related, but I must find out."She really doesn't know what she'll do once she gets there. If they were poisoned, maybe she'll be able to pick up some hint about the culprits. If it's something else... it's not too surprising to find some assassin in a place like this. They fight dirty but they're very effective. Never underestimate those who fight in the shadows.
As you walk carefully with them to the prone figures, the spindly Orracan and bushy eyebrowed dwarf have this staccato exchange.
The Orracan: “Dj’you see anything?”
The dwarf: “Nope.”
“Light from the Palace?”
“Nope.”
“So no alarm?”
“Nope.”
“They check it today?”
“Log said so.”
“That’s what I thought. Just so you know,” she says to Mittens & Varielky, “I don’t know what you saw, but you couldn’t have seen someone enter or exit on the aqueduct. A magical alarm rings in a control room in the palace facing the reflecting pool if someone tries to enter the grounds on the aqueduct. And the guard in the control room would alert us and send help. No alert, so no alarm. No alarm, so no one on the aqueduct. Eeeeewwwww”
This last she says as you arrive at the figures. It is the two men you saw before, one of whom said he had wagered and won on the arena fight. They are now shirtless, and bloodied, lying on their sides, facing each other. A dagger is on the ground near each of their hands, and it looks like they have killed each other in a struggle.
“Ohhhh boy,” says the guard in her rough alto, “I don’t wanna know what was going on here.”
“Nope,” says the dwarf.
That’s when Mittens’ alarm begins ringing, silently, in his head.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries //Dev Horndin Curious Critters
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
"Can you bring the lamp closer here? I want to make sure. Closer, I need to see their faces clearly."She looks at their lips, searching for the signs of poison she saw on everyone else who were poisoned.
Medicine? 7
If she finds signs of posion, she also carefully picks up one of the daggers and tries to smell if the posion was on it.
"Can you bring the lamp closer here? I want to make sure. Closer, I need to see their faces clearly."She looks at their lips, searching for the signs of poison she saw on everyone else who were poisoned.
Medicine? 15
If she finds signs of posion, she also carefully picks up one of the daggers and tries to smell if the posion was on it.
Investigation/Medicine? 14. +2 if Perception.
Varielky, Ednyss and Mittens have enough experience examining poison victims to have +2 recognizing it. There is no sign of poison. Varielky does notice one thing though. The mortal wounds on each footman look like they came from hand crossbow bolts, not from daggers.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries //Dev Horndin Curious Critters
Varielky dashes to join the others. The Bakar Elite watch her go, but remain at the amphitheater door. Here is a map. You four are now together at the red X.
There is no further sound or anything else from up above where you saw the spellcaster. You hear music from the performance as it continues to drift through the air. Too, there are small birds and squirrels in the little arbor, and one or another sometimes moves up in the branches, where you also hear a slight breeze blowing through the leaves. There is no sign of humanoid movement or anything like the dark shapes seen earlier. Under the branches, your view to the amphitheater is obstructed, but in the right position you can see the lanterns at the doors, and bordering the reflecting pool. The ground is landscaped in gentle up and down curves, and paths wander through the little park.
Do you go to examine what Pookie saw at the purple X on the map? You don't see anything there now from your current position.
I'm assuming you're on the defensive and have eyes & ears wide open. Just to keep things moving, I'll assume you guys do together whatever the first responder indicates.
If you move to the purple X:
All, roll perception saves. Do you do/say anything while walking over there? Or do something else?
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters
Varielky reaches the others. "Are you all okay? I saw some light appearing, disappearing, then appearing again with a figure I could not see prior. Then the figure ran away. What happened?"
As Varielky is not aware of what Pooky saw, she obviously doesn't have any reason to walk over to the trees, unless the others start going there, in which case she'll follow.
In case the others decide to go, here's my Perception check, so I don't hold everyone for the entire day just for a single check: 7.
Varielky
We're all right. I think we are being flummoxed. We ought to head back to the theatre post haste! If there are any shenanigans in progress we ought to be moving inwards to the theatre, rather than away from it...
Perception, for when they get to line of sight of the theatre entrance...8
The theater is exactly the same. You have a gut feeling that the Bakar Elite have the entrance covered.
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters
There! Everything picture perfect and in it's place in a picture perfect kind of way. Shields out everyone! Idiwala!
With that Dolkum draws his hammer and shield, and continues moving towards the theatre.
Regardless of what Ednyss says, Mittens begins moving to (purple x). He quietly shouts to the party, "Come on! They went this way!" As he approaches, he thrusts his staff upwards and casts silent image. 60 feet above him, large red words fill a fifteen foot cube that read PERIMETER BREACH. The words pulsate to draw attention as he casts his second spell. As loud as he can, he uses minor illusion to scream out, "Suspicious figures by the aquaduct heading along the trees!"
Perception: 21
DM- Azalin's Doom
DM- Surviving the Unsurvivable
Mittens’ illusory klaxon-shout has been going on for about 30 seconds when, from the square red-stone towers nearby, doors open to the parapet walkways, and two imperial blue liveried guards step curiously out of each one. They look along the wall at one another, gesture in confusion, and shake their heads. Then they see Mittens’ flashing illusory alarm. All four look along walls and see Varielky, Ednyss, and Mittens moving carefully down the treeline. They note that Mittens’ staff is raised and magically glowing. The guards ready heavy crossbows, aim them at Mittens, and shout “HALT!”
Varielky, Ednyss and Mittens have just reached the purple X. There is nothing there, but they do make out, another 50’ east of the purple X, two humanoid forms lying side-by-side on the ground under a tree, just within the arbor. Neither of the humanoid forms moves.
The Bakar Elite at the theater entrance hear and see Mittens’ illusions, though the scream is rather faint at a distance. They see Dolkum approaching them at a run with weapon drawn. As one, in a single smooth motion, they draw long slightly curved blades, ready their shields, and shift into defensive stances, their eyes boring into Dolkum.
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters
(OOC: As I read the others' messages, I knew exactly that this is about to happen lol.)
Varielky raises her shield in front of her but doesn't reach for the sword. "Don't shoot! We saw something suspicious and came to investigate. We are employees of one of the guests attending the opera tonight!" Enough people wanted her life already. Besides, dying to an arrow near an opera house has nothing glorious about it.
In case you want a Persuasion check: 22
Varielky
(OOC: I did not factor in lighting quite well enough. The guards on the walls have lanterns. They could see Varielky, Ednyss and Mittens BARELY at the edge of vision, because of Mittens' glowing staff, but you can tell they're having a hard time drawing a bead on you. It's dark. I'll assume up until now, Varielky has managed to keep her footing by following closely on Mittens' heels. Does anyone want to light a lantern or torch?)
The guards home in on Varielky's voice. When they see you three dressed in matching livery and hear Varielky's response, they relax.
One shouts back in a peeved voice, "Well turn off that blasted shouting! Come into the light. What did you see?" The four guards scan around the grounds within view, but don't see the forms on the ground you can see from your perspective, or anything else unusual. They lower their weapons and move closer along the walkway 25' up. You and the two pairs of guards now make an equilateral triangle. They are around 50' apart and each pair of guards is 50' from you.
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters
Mittens keeps the words in the sky, but he silences the sounds with a snap of his fingers. He approaches the guards slowly so they can see he isn't a threat. Once he's in the light, he points to the bodies and says, "There's some people on the ground over there. Anyways, my companion saw some movement over here, so we came over and investigated. We found some dude up on the aquaduct, but he ran away before we could do anything. We saw people moving along the trees, and we were heading over to find them when you guys came out. If I had to take a guess, I'd say whoever we were tracking took out those two fellows over there. "
DM- Azalin's Doom
DM- Surviving the Unsurvivable
At about that moment, Mittens' spell durations come to an end. The guards peer but can't see what Mittens is pointing at. They yell back and forth for a minute, then one with a lantern says, "Hang on!" and walks back to the tower door she exited from, along with another guard. A minute later, you hear clinking and sliding at the base of the tower, and a heavy reinforced door swings outwards. The first guard steps out holding the lantern in front of her. Her crossbow is slung but she draws a short sword with her right hand. The other guard, a rotund dwarf whose eyes barely peek out under prodigious eyebrows, holds a heavy crossbow, loaded but pointing up and away. The guards atop the walls come as close as they can and peer down, still with crossbows in hand. "Where?" the woman says in a rough alto, a spindly Orracan with a narrow head, and very long nose over a very wide mouth. Her head makes the shape of an exclamation point, and her tall helm adds to the impression.
If you point at the figures, she peers and frowns, then yells "HEY! WAKE UP! TIME TO GO HOME!" in the direction of the figures. No movement results, so she spits, exchanges a look with the dwarf, and advances, holding the lantern aloft. Do you follow, or lead, or do something else?
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters
At that moment, you can look back and see another lantern appear from this side of the tower next to the aqueduct, carried by another guard. The guards on the walkway exchange words, there is shaking of heads. No one saw anything on the other side of the tower -- the aqueduct side, where you saw the spellcaster -- either, seems to be the result.
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters
Initiative6
Dolkum swallows and growls out in his best commanding tone - You there! On the theatre steps! Down your arms and kneel! Idiwala!
He continues forwards, slowing down to normal movement, and ready to defend himself and to start winging with his war hammer.
Satisfied that his commanding growl had the desired affect as a deterrent, Dolkum turns around and dashes back to his comrades, giving himself a smack upside the head for wasting time.
(OOC: Roger that, Dolkum's path leads him back to the aqueduct, then seeing his companions speaking with the guards atop the wall, his path leads him to the purple X on the map.)
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters
"Allow me to tag along," Varielky says as she follows in the lantern's light, "there have been a series of attacks that have affected my life recently. I want to see if this is related. I'm not sure whether I'd feel better knowing it is or isn't related, but I must find out." She really doesn't know what she'll do once she gets there. If they were poisoned, maybe she'll be able to pick up some hint about the culprits. If it's something else... it's not too surprising to find some assassin in a place like this. They fight dirty but they're very effective. Never underestimate those who fight in the shadows.
Varielky
As you walk carefully with them to the prone figures, the spindly Orracan and bushy eyebrowed dwarf have this staccato exchange.
The Orracan: “Dj’you see anything?”
The dwarf: “Nope.”
“Light from the Palace?”
“Nope.”
“So no alarm?”
“Nope.”
“They check it today?”
“Log said so.”
“That’s what I thought. Just so you know,” she says to Mittens & Varielky, “I don’t know what you saw, but you couldn’t have seen someone enter or exit on the aqueduct. A magical alarm rings in a control room in the palace facing the reflecting pool if someone tries to enter the grounds on the aqueduct. And the guard in the control room would alert us and send help. No alert, so no alarm. No alarm, so no one on the aqueduct. Eeeeewwwww”
This last she says as you arrive at the figures. It is the two men you saw before, one of whom said he had wagered and won on the arena fight. They are now shirtless, and bloodied, lying on their sides, facing each other. A dagger is on the ground near each of their hands, and it looks like they have killed each other in a struggle.
“Ohhhh boy,” says the guard in her rough alto, “I don’t wanna know what was going on here.”
“Nope,” says the dwarf.
That’s when Mittens’ alarm begins ringing, silently, in his head.
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters
"Can you bring the lamp closer here? I want to make sure. Closer, I need to see their faces clearly." She looks at their lips, searching for the signs of poison she saw on everyone else who were poisoned.
Medicine? 7
If she finds signs of posion, she also carefully picks up one of the daggers and tries to smell if the posion was on it.
Investigation/Medicine? 13. +2 if Perception.
Varielky
Varielky, Ednyss and Mittens have enough experience examining poison victims to have +2 recognizing it. There is no sign of poison. Varielky does notice one thing though. The mortal wounds on each footman look like they came from hand crossbow bolts, not from daggers.
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters
Dolkum looks the scene over also, looking carefully at the bodies.
Medicine 11
What do you suppose killed them?