Trolkarl's interjection seems to break whatever tension seemed have built between the wizards. Dimmick turns to Trolkarl, "I appreciate all you have done, Trolkarl. And your honesty. I see four dead giant rats here as we discussed. I wanted you to be certain that I am dealing with you honestly as well. If you prefer to discuss financial matters at the end of our discussion, I am fine with that. We are here to determine those things about what happened here, exactly. Seems we got a little side tracked by the mention of a message," a quick glance to the wizard and back to Trolkarl. "Which way did this half-orc go? Also, sacrifices?! Where did that happen?"
The wizard relents a bit but continues to be strange in affect. "Azzariol you say?" He bends to the sand and draws an image in the sand. It is just like the amulet around Craddock's neck. "Did you see anything like this?," he asks.
“We did,” says Hoid, “on an amulet worn by Craddock the Coward. Let me show you to the alter that was destroyed by Kraven. That is where sacrifices appear to have occurred.”
Dimmick seems to have just now come up with four after being shown two, and then shown another two. "Are you saying that those dead people, my friend, was sacrificed to this Azzariol?!" He turns to the wizard. "You seem to know about this. What are you going to tell me?"
The wizard accepts Dimmick's challenge without much apparent concern. "I know of Azzariol, not about what has happened here," he corrects Dimmick. "That entity is a powerful demon who lords over an entire plane of the Abyss. It is not surprising to learn of sacrifices being made...." he trails off. "My apologies. I realize this was your friend I am talking about now." The wizard quiets after this.
Dimmick leads the way to the other chambers looking about. He stops and stares at the altar that has been destroyed and the stains on it and in the sand around it. He walks over to the pile of sacks and goods along the wall. He examines a few of the items more closely. "These are from your brethren at the Shield," he says to Kragen and Hoid. "They may be pleased to have it returned to them. I will see to it and let them know of your involvement in the recovery."
He then walks into the room with the blankets where you dug down to find the strongbox. "Is this where you found the box with the parchment other items you showed me?"
The dockhands head down that tunnel. After a short time they return. "This leads to a ravine on the beach north of town. Nobody down there now," one of them reports to Dimmick.
Dimmick asks, "Is there anything else that you found down here?"
"I have sensed none other than our group since we have been underground," the wizard adds, oddly helpful.
Erbert stares / glares at the wizard for a hot minute, trying to sort out whose quill is longer. As he glares at the wizard, his eyes almost glow red for a moment, and a tiny shower of sparks appear behind his head, for emphasis. “Fine. We can look at this together. But you better tell what you know about this, we solve this together, see? Plus I want to see what you think of it, maybe you have some ideas, but you better be forthcoming. Fine!” Erbert brings out the piece of parchment from the box and shows it to the wizard, lying it on the ground for all to see and puzzle over. “It seems to be in undercommon, something… I just can’t make it out. Can you?”
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
A wizard is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to.
The mage and Dimmick look down at the parchment. After a moment the mage stands upright and states, “This is gibberish. Why do you think Undecommon is involved?”
Chadwick peers over the shoulders of the bristly wizards and sees if anything from his mostly ignored history and religion studies might help make sense of the chicken scratches.
He was forced to endure those studies, maybe it make actually be helpful other than avoiding the switch of his instructors?
/Huh, so that's what the 20 looks like on these dice.
Erbert sits down on the ground criss-cross-apple-sauce like it is story time, and he’s reading a book to a child. “Can’tcha see it here, man? Look at how these letters are displayed? Boy, they must be lowering the standards in the arcane brotherhood. Seems like they’ll let in anyone now. Well me and the chickens living under your porch can tell that this is undercommon, just jumbled up, a puzzle, that I was working on. Guess it is over some people’s heads….” Erbert looks at the parchment and continues to puzzle over it and puzzle over it, until his puzzler is sore…
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
A wizard is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to.
Chadwick stares over the shoulders of the wizards leaning further and further in unaware of the concept of personal space while lost in "thought". After a while a light sheen of sweat appears on his brow, then he grunts. Huh, if you say it's elvish I'll take your word for it. Now what it does remind me of is when I was a cadet and we busted a ring of brigands that were working in cahoots with the local constable. Clever elf fellow, named Tillion I believe, was the one who figured it out the where using some kind of letter swapping trick to pass messages so folks wouldn't catch on. He would have made a damn fine cavalier if he hadn't gotten the plague and fallen off his horse.
He steps back, takes off his gauntlet and starts massaging his temple like he's trying to ward off a headache.
The Wizard looks down at the parchment, over to Chadwick and back to Erbert. A brief sneer crosses his face. He stands, turning to Dimmick, “I’m finished here.” With that he walks to the ladder and climbs out of the sewer.
Dimmick is doing his best to hide a smile. “Be careful with that one, Wee Man.He is a snake.”
He then turns to Gneuman. "Sorry, I didn't get your name again?," extending his hand to shake. "Dimmick here. You said something about someone 'taking' Scampus after you left?"
Gneuman grasps the extended hand firmly providing a brief handshake, followed by a more casual bow. "My name is Gneuman." "As far as the presumed taking of Scampus' body, I have no knowledge or proof, of course." Gneuman begins to pace slowly and pensively, gently rubbing his chin. "That being said, there can only be a small number of possibilities. Three I have already presented."
Our weapons didn't seem to do anything to the rat bastard. I think I remember something about silver hurting those were-beasts, does anyone have anything like that? Or a spell that might magic-ify our weapons? I think I've finally gotten that smite thing down the vets were always trying to teach us, but I can only do that a couple of times a day.
Dimmick looks around the room, "I don't think there is much else to learn here." He turns to Trolkarl, handing him a pouch, "Here is the reward offered for finding Lonis. You have earned it. And my thanks. It was not desired news, but now I know what happened." Looking about the room again, "I will have someone come retrieve the dead for proper burial. And clean up the rest. Should I tell the dwarves at Mirabar Keep you will be staying at the Dancing Dolphin?," he asks.
"I am curious about Scampus as well. It’s true, I've been honing my skills with this blade, since fleeing Cormyr. But I don’t feel comfortable even calling Darkbane a magical blade. It seems, to be a force unto itself, a presence that guides me in ways I'm only beginning to comprehend.
I'm still learning and not even sure I am worthy to be its servent. It's as much a mystery to me as that parchment.”
“Dimmick, please let the dwarves know. We have no plans to end our stay at the Dolphin, although we cannot say for how long we will remain. Thank you for the knowledge you shared and for accompanying us in our return to this fowl place.”
Trolkarl's interjection seems to break whatever tension seemed have built between the wizards. Dimmick turns to Trolkarl, "I appreciate all you have done, Trolkarl. And your honesty. I see four dead giant rats here as we discussed. I wanted you to be certain that I am dealing with you honestly as well. If you prefer to discuss financial matters at the end of our discussion, I am fine with that. We are here to determine those things about what happened here, exactly. Seems we got a little side tracked by the mention of a message," a quick glance to the wizard and back to Trolkarl. "Which way did this half-orc go? Also, sacrifices?! Where did that happen?"
The wizard relents a bit but continues to be strange in affect. "Azzariol you say?" He bends to the sand and draws an image in the sand. It is just like the amulet around Craddock's neck. "Did you see anything like this?," he asks.
“We did,” says Hoid, “on an amulet worn by Craddock the Coward. Let me show you to the alter that was destroyed by Kraven. That is where sacrifices appear to have occurred.”
Dimmick seems to have just now come up with four after being shown two, and then shown another two. "Are you saying that those dead people, my friend, was sacrificed to this Azzariol?!" He turns to the wizard. "You seem to know about this. What are you going to tell me?"
The wizard accepts Dimmick's challenge without much apparent concern. "I know of Azzariol, not about what has happened here," he corrects Dimmick. "That entity is a powerful demon who lords over an entire plane of the Abyss. It is not surprising to learn of sacrifices being made...." he trails off. "My apologies. I realize this was your friend I am talking about now." The wizard quiets after this.
Dimmick leads the way to the other chambers looking about. He stops and stares at the altar that has been destroyed and the stains on it and in the sand around it. He walks over to the pile of sacks and goods along the wall. He examines a few of the items more closely. "These are from your brethren at the Shield," he says to Kragen and Hoid. "They may be pleased to have it returned to them. I will see to it and let them know of your involvement in the recovery."
He then walks into the room with the blankets where you dug down to find the strongbox. "Is this where you found the box with the parchment other items you showed me?"
“It is.”
"Which way did the half-orc go? Craddock?," Dimmick asks.
Hoid shows the tunnel where Craddock was last seen.
The dockhands head down that tunnel. After a short time they return. "This leads to a ravine on the beach north of town. Nobody down there now," one of them reports to Dimmick.
Dimmick asks, "Is there anything else that you found down here?"
"I have sensed none other than our group since we have been underground," the wizard adds, oddly helpful.
Erbert stares / glares at the wizard for a hot minute, trying to sort out whose quill is longer. As he glares at the wizard, his eyes almost glow red for a moment, and a tiny shower of sparks appear behind his head, for emphasis. “Fine. We can look at this together. But you better tell what you know about this, we solve this together, see? Plus I want to see what you think of it, maybe you have some ideas, but you better be forthcoming. Fine!” Erbert brings out the piece of parchment from the box and shows it to the wizard, lying it on the ground for all to see and puzzle over. “It seems to be in undercommon, something… I just can’t make it out. Can you?”
A wizard is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to.
The mage and Dimmick look down at the parchment. After a moment the mage stands upright and states, “This is gibberish. Why do you think Undecommon is involved?”
Chadwick peers over the shoulders of the bristly wizards and sees if anything from his mostly ignored history and religion studies might help make sense of the chicken scratches.
He was forced to endure those studies, maybe it make actually be helpful other than avoiding the switch of his instructors?
/Huh, so that's what the 20 looks like on these dice.
Erbert sits down on the ground criss-cross-apple-sauce like it is story time, and he’s reading a book to a child. “Can’tcha see it here, man? Look at how these letters are displayed? Boy, they must be lowering the standards in the arcane brotherhood. Seems like they’ll let in anyone now. Well me and the chickens living under your porch can tell that this is undercommon, just jumbled up, a puzzle, that I was working on. Guess it is over some people’s heads….” Erbert looks at the parchment and continues to puzzle over it and puzzle over it, until his puzzler is sore…
A wizard is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to.
Chadwick
Chadwick stares over the shoulders of the wizards leaning further and further in unaware of the concept of personal space while lost in "thought". After a while a light sheen of sweat appears on his brow, then he grunts. Huh, if you say it's elvish I'll take your word for it. Now what it does remind me of is when I was a cadet and we busted a ring of brigands that were working in cahoots with the local constable. Clever elf fellow, named Tillion I believe, was the one who figured it out the where using some kind of letter swapping trick to pass messages so folks wouldn't catch on.
He would have made a damn fine cavalier if he hadn't gotten the plague and fallen off his horse.
He steps back, takes off his gauntlet and starts massaging his temple like he's trying to ward off a headache.
The Wizard looks down at the parchment, over to Chadwick and back to Erbert. A brief sneer crosses his face. He stands, turning to Dimmick, “I’m finished here.” With that he walks to the ladder and climbs out of the sewer.
Dimmick is doing his best to hide a smile. “Be careful with that one, Wee Man. He is a snake.”
He then turns to Gneuman. "Sorry, I didn't get your name again?," extending his hand to shake. "Dimmick here. You said something about someone 'taking' Scampus after you left?"
Gneuman grasps the extended hand firmly providing a brief handshake, followed by a more casual bow. "My name is Gneuman." "As far as the presumed taking of Scampus' body, I have no knowledge or proof, of course." Gneuman begins to pace slowly and pensively, gently rubbing his chin. "That being said, there can only be a small number of possibilities. Three I have already presented."
Chadwick
Our weapons didn't seem to do anything to the rat bastard. I think I remember something about silver hurting those were-beasts, does anyone have anything like that? Or a spell that might magic-ify our weapons? I think I've finally gotten that smite thing down the vets were always trying to teach us, but I can only do that a couple of times a day.
Hoid
“Scampus expressed disbelief when Trolkarl was successful with his attack. The rat bastard mentioned that Trolkarl’s weapon was not silver.”
Dimmick looks around the room, "I don't think there is much else to learn here." He turns to Trolkarl, handing him a pouch, "Here is the reward offered for finding Lonis. You have earned it. And my thanks. It was not desired news, but now I know what happened." Looking about the room again, "I will have someone come retrieve the dead for proper burial. And clean up the rest. Should I tell the dwarves at Mirabar Keep you will be staying at the Dancing Dolphin?," he asks.
Trolkarl
"I am curious about Scampus as well. It’s true, I've been honing my skills with this blade, since fleeing Cormyr. But I don’t feel comfortable even calling Darkbane a magical blade. It seems, to be a force unto itself, a presence that guides me in ways I'm only beginning to comprehend.
I'm still learning and not even sure I am worthy to be its servent. It's as much a mystery to me as that parchment.”
Hoid
“Dimmick, please let the dwarves know. We have no plans to end our stay at the Dolphin, although we cannot say for how long we will remain. Thank you for the knowledge you shared and for accompanying us in our return to this fowl place.”
Dimmick nods to Hoid and the guards all make a hole for you to proceed back to the ladder....