(I’ll put this in a spoiler later but I’m a little time crunched and on mobile view. Insects count as beasts for spell purposes, and totem barbarians get free speak to animal rituals. I thought that they’d probably be good informants for the ship, as kinda silent fly on the wall, nobody (especially the villains) would even think about them being used against them)
(Edit: and honestly with the whole maggot thing, I thought the dm would just say some offhand thing about there being a spider nest or a lone fly or something on the crime scene, and I’ll admit I got kinda excited about the idea of 8 int barbarian cheesing his way to win the murder case single handedly)
Crispy's eyes unwrinkle in confusion, back to stoic focus in the dark, waiting for someone to make a false move. How insects were involved, that she missed, but she'd be there is someone trips up - which she was so hoping someone would. Her fingers trace the contours of her new brass knuckles.
(I’ll put this in a spoiler later but I’m a little time crunched and on mobile view. Insects count as beasts for spell purposes, and totem barbarians get free speak to animal rituals. I thought that they’d probably be good informants for the ship, as kinda silent fly on the wall, nobody (especially the villains) would even think about them being used against them)
(Edit: and honestly with the whole maggot thing, I thought the dm would just say some offhand thing about there being a spider nest or a lone fly or something on the crime scene, and I’ll admit I got kinda excited about the idea of 8 int barbarian cheesing his way to win the murder case single handedly)
Ha! Cool idea! Never thought of that one. Oh, to be a fly on the wall...
“Yes, I will go to bossman now, murder case is moot if we no get paid, ha ha!”
He turns to go to the captains quarters, but turns to his allies with sudden inspiration.
“Maybe not useful now, but maybe you two should be looking into necromancy and other arts to speak to the dead, if we keep getting into these situations, yes?”
He then goes to the captains quarters and knocks on the door half shouting “Mr. Boss man, you should be having body guard yes?”
Liam watches Gregor make his way to the captain's quarters with a faint smile. For a frequently brutish half-orc, the man was certainly proving to be full of surprises.
"He has a point," Liam says quietly as he turns back to Nia, "magics like that WOULD prove useful in a situation like this. I don't suppose any of your dreams have revealed anything like that to you yet, have they?"
Nia sighed. " 'Fraid not, big bro. I can fake it with Thaumaturgy, but not actual necromancy. Which maybe if we find a suspect maybe we can scare the truth out of him or her?"
"Well, before we can attempt that, we'll have to find a suspect, so hopefully Crispy and Chubb have some success there."
He looks back over towards the forecastle and the grisly scene within, his face thoughtful.
"I want to examine the body again, to see if I can determine if it was a magical effect that caused the signs Crispy observed or if it was purely physical."
As he walks back to the murder scene, he glances again at Nia.
"This part will be rather gruesome, do you want to come in with me or wait here on the deck?"
Nia nodded. "I'll go with you, as much fun as I'm sure it'd be to sneak up on Crispy and put Crown of Madness on her I'd probably be more useful here."
Nodding at the logic of Nia's decision, Liam opens the door to the forecastle and steps inside. This time, rather than focusing his attention on any lingering magics in the room as a whole, he's going to examine the body directly, looking for the signs/effects that Crispy noted before and trying to determine if he knows of any magical effects or rituals that might cause such injuries.
Not sure exactly what would be appropriate here, or if the DM will even allow yet another check, so I'll put a couple of different ones and the DM can either accept or disregard as needed.
So let me set the scene. Chubbs and Crispy are sitting watch in the crew quarters. You can see that Rumi and Daalmin have retired to their bunks- but lanterns are still on and you can sense they're not resting as of yet. Each bunk is seperated by a curtain, however only three are drawn closed- Rumi's, Daalmin's and someone elses- you're not sure. You see another 6 bunks with curtains open.
Gregor has made his way upto Ruven's quarters and is knocking to inquire if he would like a body guard. His door opens to greet Gregor, slightly ajar. He says "I have obviously chosen the right people for this task. I appreciate your skills out here, Gregor. Thankyou." He closes the door and shortly afterwards re-opens it and hands you a tall glass of fine Dwarven whiskey. "That should keep you going." He says with a yawn. As he closes the door, you hear a lock, and a light 'tinkelling' sound, almost like tiny bells ringing for a second.
If you would like to converse with Ruven some more, please feel free to RP it.
Liam and Nia, are up on deck having another look at the murder scene. You both see Gregor conversing with Ruven, and taking a post outside of his room. Liam inspects the body, and with such good roles, uncovers the following: You can still sense some sort of arcane presense on the body and in the room. However most of the water has drained now, but Gorum's body is still unusually wet. You take a moment and realise that signs are leading towards the bathtub. There are bloody slide marks and a slight arcane pull leading you towards there. The bath is currently hidden behind a half pulled down shower curtain.
You all know there are supposed to be nine crew on board, excluding Ruven. You know that; 1. Gorum is dead, 2,3&4. Rumi, Daalmin and one other member is off duty, 5&6. Orvi and another Dwarf are up the mast in the hot air balloon cockpit, 7, 8 &9. Are down in the crew quarters pedalling rotors which drive the ship forward.
Getting a sudden sense that all is not well or as it seems, Liam motions for Nia to stay quiet and stay back near the door.
He then moves as carefully and quietly as possible (Stealth please don't fail me now: 8) towards the bathtub and moves the shower curtain to see what is hidden there.
He then moves as carefully and quietly as possible (Stealth please don't fail me now: 8) towards the bathtub and moves the shower curtain to see what is hidden there.
*Squelch* *squish* *squelch* as you make your was over to the curtain. You pull it back and peek around- nothing. Nothing, but some bloody water pooled in various parts of the tub. [I'm going to use your previous investigation roll here]. You eye it over as you pull the curtain back fully. You almost disregard it entirely until you notice something very strange. You notice that the... shower head, is dry...
Edit: I should make clear that this is one of those bath/shower combinations.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
"But where did all the water come from then?" Liam mutters to himself, not at ALL liking the signs of this. His mind immediately jumps to possible elemental magics.
Arcana: 8
This check is specifically to determine if Liam recalls any kind of water elemental type of creature that could be the cause of this scene.
Edit: Well I like that ROLL...now to wait and see the result...
Can you be a little more specific? Are you thinking of summoned creatures like elementals, or natural creatures? Either way, we'll keep that arcana roll, but roll a nature check also for me.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Intention is creatures of a magical nature, such as the basic water elemental, which ARE frequently summoned for specific purposes or can be found "naturally" in locations steeped in elemental magic, such as anywhere with a portal to the Plane of Water.
Nature: 12
Well damn...apparently Liam knows his stuff at the moment...
Gregor decides that the elf man probably has a lot on his mind, is probably doing something important and will come out if and when he wants either his or somebody else’s company. He instead spends his time rigorously standing guard and straining his eyes and ears for anything possibly out of the ordinary, while trying to recall anything out of the ordinary in the crew before the incident happens, any particular behaviors or tics that stuck out.
"It's clearly not a vampire" Crispy says, leaning against the doorpost in the room where Liam is looking into the shower. "Something might have come UP the drain."
(I’ll put this in a spoiler later but I’m a little time crunched and on mobile view. Insects count as beasts for spell purposes, and totem barbarians get free speak to animal rituals. I thought that they’d probably be good informants for the ship, as kinda silent fly on the wall, nobody (especially the villains) would even think about them being used against them)
(Edit: and honestly with the whole maggot thing, I thought the dm would just say some offhand thing about there being a spider nest or a lone fly or something on the crime scene, and I’ll admit I got kinda excited about the idea of 8 int barbarian cheesing his way to win the murder case single handedly)
Crispy's eyes unwrinkle in confusion, back to stoic focus in the dark, waiting for someone to make a false move. How insects were involved, that she missed, but she'd be there is someone trips up - which she was so hoping someone would. Her fingers trace the contours of her new brass knuckles.
(facepalms)...I completely forgot about totem barbarians being about to ritual cast Speak with Animals. Definitely makes more sense now.
Ha! Cool idea! Never thought of that one. Oh, to be a fly on the wall...
Last to know and first to be blamed...
As a free action, can I regret my life choices?
“Yes, I will go to bossman now, murder case is moot if we no get paid, ha ha!”
He turns to go to the captains quarters, but turns to his allies with sudden inspiration.
“Maybe not useful now, but maybe you two should be looking into necromancy and other arts to speak to the dead, if we keep getting into these situations, yes?”
He then goes to the captains quarters and knocks on the door half shouting “Mr. Boss man, you should be having body guard yes?”
Nia smiled at Liam. "I can do it. Sooooo. Where would a vampire hang out here, I don't recall seeing any coffins."
Liam watches Gregor make his way to the captain's quarters with a faint smile. For a frequently brutish half-orc, the man was certainly proving to be full of surprises.
"He has a point," Liam says quietly as he turns back to Nia, "magics like that WOULD prove useful in a situation like this. I don't suppose any of your dreams have revealed anything like that to you yet, have they?"
Nia sighed. " 'Fraid not, big bro. I can fake it with Thaumaturgy, but not actual necromancy. Which maybe if we find a suspect maybe we can scare the truth out of him or her?"
Liam nods at Nia's response.
"Well, before we can attempt that, we'll have to find a suspect, so hopefully Crispy and Chubb have some success there."
He looks back over towards the forecastle and the grisly scene within, his face thoughtful.
"I want to examine the body again, to see if I can determine if it was a magical effect that caused the signs Crispy observed or if it was purely physical."
As he walks back to the murder scene, he glances again at Nia.
"This part will be rather gruesome, do you want to come in with me or wait here on the deck?"
Nia nodded. "I'll go with you, as much fun as I'm sure it'd be to sneak up on Crispy and put Crown of Madness on her I'd probably be more useful here."
Nodding at the logic of Nia's decision, Liam opens the door to the forecastle and steps inside. This time, rather than focusing his attention on any lingering magics in the room as a whole, he's going to examine the body directly, looking for the signs/effects that Crispy noted before and trying to determine if he knows of any magical effects or rituals that might cause such injuries.
Not sure exactly what would be appropriate here, or if the DM will even allow yet another check, so I'll put a couple of different ones and the DM can either accept or disregard as needed.
Perception: 19
Investigation: 24
Arcana: 19
History: 15
So let me set the scene.
Chubbs and Crispy are sitting watch in the crew quarters. You can see that Rumi and Daalmin have retired to their bunks- but lanterns are still on and you can sense they're not resting as of yet. Each bunk is seperated by a curtain, however only three are drawn closed- Rumi's, Daalmin's and someone elses- you're not sure. You see another 6 bunks with curtains open.
Gregor has made his way upto Ruven's quarters and is knocking to inquire if he would like a body guard. His door opens to greet Gregor, slightly ajar. He says "I have obviously chosen the right people for this task. I appreciate your skills out here, Gregor. Thankyou." He closes the door and shortly afterwards re-opens it and hands you a tall glass of fine Dwarven whiskey. "That should keep you going." He says with a yawn. As he closes the door, you hear a lock, and a light 'tinkelling' sound, almost like tiny bells ringing for a second.
If you would like to converse with Ruven some more, please feel free to RP it.
Liam and Nia, are up on deck having another look at the murder scene. You both see Gregor conversing with Ruven, and taking a post outside of his room.
Liam inspects the body, and with such good roles, uncovers the following: You can still sense some sort of arcane presense on the body and in the room. However most of the water has drained now, but Gorum's body is still unusually wet. You take a moment and realise that signs are leading towards the bathtub. There are bloody slide marks and a slight arcane pull leading you towards there. The bath is currently hidden behind a half pulled down shower curtain.
You all know there are supposed to be nine crew on board, excluding Ruven. You know that;
1. Gorum is dead,
2,3&4. Rumi, Daalmin and one other member is off duty,
5&6. Orvi and another Dwarf are up the mast in the hot air balloon cockpit,
7, 8 &9. Are down in the crew quarters pedalling rotors which drive the ship forward.
"CoS" Rumble- Tabaxi Shadow Monk
Getting a sudden sense that all is not well or as it seems, Liam motions for Nia to stay quiet and stay back near the door.
He then moves as carefully and quietly as possible (Stealth please don't fail me now: 8) towards the bathtub and moves the shower curtain to see what is hidden there.
You notice that the... shower head, is dry...
Edit: I should make clear that this is one of those bath/shower combinations.
"CoS" Rumble- Tabaxi Shadow Monk
"But where did all the water come from then?" Liam mutters to himself, not at ALL liking the signs of this. His mind immediately jumps to possible elemental magics.
Arcana: 8
This check is specifically to determine if Liam recalls any kind of water elemental type of creature that could be the cause of this scene.
Edit: Well I like that ROLL...now to wait and see the result...
Can you be a little more specific? Are you thinking of summoned creatures like elementals, or natural creatures? Either way, we'll keep that arcana roll, but roll a nature check also for me.
"CoS" Rumble- Tabaxi Shadow Monk
Intention is creatures of a magical nature, such as the basic water elemental, which ARE frequently summoned for specific purposes or can be found "naturally" in locations steeped in elemental magic, such as anywhere with a portal to the Plane of Water.
Nature: 12
Well damn...apparently Liam knows his stuff at the moment...
Gregor decides that the elf man probably has a lot on his mind, is probably doing something important and will come out if and when he wants either his or somebody else’s company. He instead spends his time rigorously standing guard and straining his eyes and ears for anything possibly out of the ordinary, while trying to recall anything out of the ordinary in the crew before the incident happens, any particular behaviors or tics that stuck out.
(Insight(?): 10)
"It's clearly not a vampire" Crispy says, leaning against the doorpost in the room where Liam is looking into the shower. "Something might have come UP the drain."
Liam starts upon hearing Crispy suddenly so close at hand.
"Yeesh, Crispy, must you do that ALL the time?"