Marnie manages to settle everyone down and extinguish the lights (and the heat) for the night. Even as the sick sailors spend much of the night coughing wetly, you all manage to sleep pretty well, without the dark dreams of the night before.
You head out early the next morning. A thick fog envelops the town; it's eerily quiet. The town square - where the weekly market was yesterday - is vacant and filled with garbage. Seagulls quietly jockey for position to get the best scraps. You cross the bridge, and head out through the city gate on the northwest edge of town, where two half-awake old guards sullenly watch you leave. The city gate (#1 on the map) consists of a small stretch of wall and a single gate; the wall is old, crumbling, and badly worn by centuries of weather.
Omen retraces his steps from yesterday, right at the crossroads, right at the fork, up the long, sandy, heavily-rutted "Coast Road". It takes a couple of long hours. A pair of guards on horseback pass you, headed west, wearing the green reed of Saltmarsh. They are more heavily-armored than the guards in town; they wear chain mail and wield longswords and heavy crossbows. Otherwise, the road is empty.
During their trek Omen will share all the info he has gathered.
Omen will discuss the stray dog like tracks he saw on his way there.
Finding the residence and a set of boot prints that seemed to go along the path to the residence. Omen will discuss the exterior of the residence and the cliff it is built on. Then Omen will share the map he mad.
What he did by going close to the residence and listening, finding and hearing nothing.
Omen will then tell the party of his return trip and Muriel whom he got information about the resident, an alchemist that most thought was abrasive if not evil.
Omen will discuss something he is uneasy about.
First is that the alchemist disappeared. "it's not uncommon" he says "But local rumors , according to Muriel, was he spoke with the dead and kept a library of books that caused some fear."
Omen pauses a moment then says "Its not uncommon for folks to have ideas and spread rumors of such things." Omen waits a moment then says "But, I am not sure if those boot prints led to the house or not. The only questions that comes to mind is, were they made by the owner of the property? Has he/she returned?"
Omen waits, letting the information sink in. Then he says:
"If Muriel's information does us well, I'd like to develop her as an informant." "It would be good to have our own network in this town and the countryside for the business."
Omen then says "Shit, I just remembered, the fiddle player at the Empty Nest, Larr, Muriel stated he had been inside the residence a while back and she said you could get information from him if you ply him with strong drink.
Finally, across from an old cherry tree and a bit of wall, you find the overgrown path Omen described. There are once-cultivated fields nearby, prime agricultural land by the looks of it, but long untended and rank with weeds.
Through the lifting fog, you see the dilapidated and obviously long-abandoned house a few hundred feet down the path, standing perilously close to the edge of the cliff. The decrepit building sits on the highest ground in the area. Around it, a stone wall has crumbled in many places, exposing the interior grounds. An ornate metal gate lies open at the near end of the path. Wild flora grows throughout the inner yard, but all the years cannot hide the evidence of a well-tended garden that once sat here. Near the house, the rotted wooden roof of a water well rises out of the tall grass. On the northwest side is a collapsed porch or patio, covered in debris. Most of the windows are boarded up. A few stunted trees grow here and there, and the grass and brush is waist-high.
A few more details: There is a side door near the well. (The main entrance faces the cliff, according to Omen.) The stone wall is about six feet tall, but it has partially collapsed in several places. The wall once enclosed a large garden, but a few broken gardening tools and tangles of weeds are all that remain. A single rosebush near the gate has overgrown the wall and choked out most of the other plants. It's now a big thorny mass along the north end of the garden.
"A bit late for that now."Red teases Omen, flicking him a glance "unless you want to take the couple of hours to walk back talk to him and come back again. Though, I don't believe he was at the Empty Nest during the day yesterday. So you might have to find out where he was as well..." She turns to focus on the house.
"I don't know if you guys have any specific plans of checking this place out. I'll admit my normal operating procedure is to just walk in and wonder around."
(Does the rosebush grow along the entire north wall?)
Kas listens to Omen's scouting report. "Sounds like you had a much more productive trip than we did. Brinehald, the head of the Temple, is a really nice guy. Useless, but really nice." He gives them a brief recap of he meeting, including the old priest's request that they retrieve the bodies from Sinker.
"When you checked out the house yesterday, did you go to the front door or the side door? We should follow the same route you used yesterday, so we know it's clear. If the owner or someone else is living in the house, they'll have to be getting water from the well, right? We should check out the well, see if there's still a bucket and rope and whether they've been used recently. Other than that, I agree with Red: a straightforward approach seems best. We should knock on the door and see who answers. If it really is the owner or some other hermit living here, we could wrap this whole thing up with a quick conversation. If it's something more sinister, knocking probably won't make a difference."
Qivys draws his warhammer. "So, this is the start of our adventures. I must say, I've grown to enjoy all of your company. I am glad to be here with all of you. Let Pelors might flow through our hearts and give us the strength of stone to make it through this trial" Qivys bows deeply to his friends. His sincerity is truly heartfelt.
"Hhmm, sorry about that guys. Shall we go beat some sense into this evil alchemist?"he clears his throat as he straightens his tunic, staring into the distance to avoid the uncomfortable situation he has put himself in.
(If no one object, or offers another plan of attack, Qiv will walk to the door that Omen indicates and knock thrice)
(Does the rosebush grow along the entire north wall?)
Red looks at the rosebush. Investigation: 4 The bush grows along most of the crumbling northern wall and quite a bit of the yard, too, although it doesn't quite reach the NW corner.
Omen stands and moves around to get better views at the residence and it's sides. He is looking for an escape route from the residence if needed. Investigation: 8
There are three doors - the side door nearest you, the porch door, and the front door. Most of the window panes are broken; some are boarded up, but poorly, with many gaps and a lot of rotting wood. The house is quite porous.
(If no one object, or offers another plan of attack, Qiv will walk to the door that Omen indicates and knock thrice)
"I just came to the corner of the building and sat for a bit and looked and listened. I don't have any insight about the interior though I did not hear anything significant."
"We could just go to the closest door. The quicker we're in, the quicker we're out." She shrugs. "Or we could go round to the "front" door, if we're trying to be polite and knocking. I don't fancy putting my feet on, or through the porch though, so I vote not that door."
The closest door is the side door, near the well. It's closed, fairly rotten, but looks functional. It has no window itself, although there are sloppily boarded-up windows nearby, to the left of it.
Kasimir squints at the well from a distance – Perception: 20 – and notices a couple of things about it. First, there appears to be no rope. Second, a cluster of small mammal remains is visible in the tall grass around the well (primarily mice, squirrels, and the like, by the looks of it.)
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Kasimir:
Seeing the lack of a rope in the well, "Anyone living in the house would probably need the well, so I'm guessing there's no living person in there." He starts to approach the well to look down inside, but sees the dead animals ringing the area. He backs away, pointing out the remains to the others. "I think we should stay well clear of that thing. Best case, it's just poisoned. I don't want to think what the worst case is."
He looks at the group, looking a little pale and shaky. "I'd like to change my vote for knocking on the door. I really was expecting to get up here and find some crazy old hermit, or maybe some squatters making scary noises to keep snoops away. Now I don't know what to expect. You all seem more accustomed to this kind of thing. I'll defer to your judgement on which door to use and how we go in. I am willing to at least check the door for traps."
(Whichever door is picked, I will carefully check the approach and the door for traps. Perception = 19)
"Okay then. Side door it is." Red says decisively, moving closer. She enters through the gate and walks up the path until she's parallel to the door before crossing the garden to reach it.
Red approaches the side door without incident. It's in poor shape – Red can see right through the gaps in the wooden slats. A dilapidated corridor lay beyond, some fifteen feet before turning left. A door is at the end, on the right. She finds that the interior woodwork looks rotten, cobwebs and dust are thick, and rubbish is scattered everywhere. Plaster fallen from the walls and ceiling lies strewn across the floor, and patches of mold cover the walls.
"Red, how bouts I head in first" he says, tapping his hammer to his chainmail. "I've a little more protection than you, if you get my drift"
Qiv will walk past Red into the corridor and use his Divine Sense. He will tell everyone of it's outcome before cautiously continuing through the corridor to the door at the end.
(OoC: Didn't know if everyone can see the outcome of DS.)
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Qivys
"First thing sound good to me. I struggle to sleep in this place anyway. Plus everything ends up smelling of fish!" He says with a grin.
With that Qiv sits down with a bowl of "mix" and a cup of the sour tea.
Omen
"Agreed" Omen replies to the party.
Marnie manages to settle everyone down and extinguish the lights (and the heat) for the night. Even as the sick sailors spend much of the night coughing wetly, you all manage to sleep pretty well, without the dark dreams of the night before.
You head out early the next morning. A thick fog envelops the town; it's eerily quiet. The town square - where the weekly market was yesterday - is vacant and filled with garbage. Seagulls quietly jockey for position to get the best scraps. You cross the bridge, and head out through the city gate on the northwest edge of town, where two half-awake old guards sullenly watch you leave. The city gate (#1 on the map) consists of a small stretch of wall and a single gate; the wall is old, crumbling, and badly worn by centuries of weather.
Omen retraces his steps from yesterday, right at the crossroads, right at the fork, up the long, sandy, heavily-rutted "Coast Road". It takes a couple of long hours. A pair of guards on horseback pass you, headed west, wearing the green reed of Saltmarsh. They are more heavily-armored than the guards in town; they wear chain mail and wield longswords and heavy crossbows. Otherwise, the road is empty.
Omen
During their trek Omen will share all the info he has gathered.
Omen will discuss the stray dog like tracks he saw on his way there.
Finding the residence and a set of boot prints that seemed to go along the path to the residence. Omen will discuss the exterior of the residence and the cliff it is built on. Then Omen will share the map he mad.
What he did by going close to the residence and listening, finding and hearing nothing.
Omen will then tell the party of his return trip and Muriel whom he got information about the resident, an alchemist that most thought was abrasive if not evil.
Omen will discuss something he is uneasy about.
First is that the alchemist disappeared. "it's not uncommon" he says "But local rumors , according to Muriel, was he spoke with the dead and kept a library of books that caused some fear."
Omen pauses a moment then says "Its not uncommon for folks to have ideas and spread rumors of such things." Omen waits a moment then says "But, I am not sure if those boot prints led to the house or not. The only questions that comes to mind is, were they made by the owner of the property? Has he/she returned?"
Omen waits, letting the information sink in. Then he says:
"If Muriel's information does us well, I'd like to develop her as an informant." "It would be good to have our own network in this town and the countryside for the business."
Omen then says "Shit, I just remembered, the fiddle player at the Empty Nest, Larr, Muriel stated he had been inside the residence a while back and she said you could get information from him if you ply him with strong drink.
Finally, across from an old cherry tree and a bit of wall, you find the overgrown path Omen described. There are once-cultivated fields nearby, prime agricultural land by the looks of it, but long untended and rank with weeds.
Through the lifting fog, you see the dilapidated and obviously long-abandoned house a few hundred feet down the path, standing perilously close to the edge of the cliff. The decrepit building sits on the highest ground in the area. Around it, a stone wall has crumbled in many places, exposing the interior grounds. An ornate metal gate lies open at the near end of the path. Wild flora grows throughout the inner yard, but all the years cannot hide the evidence of a well-tended garden that once sat here. Near the house, the rotted wooden roof of a water well rises out of the tall grass. On the northwest side is a collapsed porch or patio, covered in debris. Most of the windows are boarded up. A few stunted trees grow here and there, and the grass and brush is waist-high.
A few more details: There is a side door near the well. (The main entrance faces the cliff, according to Omen.) The stone wall is about six feet tall, but it has partially collapsed in several places. The wall once enclosed a large garden, but a few broken gardening tools and tangles of weeds are all that remain. A single rosebush near the gate has overgrown the wall and choked out most of the other plants. It's now a big thorny mass along the north end of the garden.
Red
"A bit late for that now." Red teases Omen, flicking him a glance "unless you want to take the couple of hours to walk back talk to him and come back again. Though, I don't believe he was at the Empty Nest during the day yesterday. So you might have to find out where he was as well..." She turns to focus on the house.
"I don't know if you guys have any specific plans of checking this place out. I'll admit my normal operating procedure is to just walk in and wonder around."
(Does the rosebush grow along the entire north wall?)
Omen
Omen kneels as everyone gathers and is observing the residence.
"Never walk into a place you don't have a plan to walk out of" he mutters to himself, recounting something his old trainer told him.
Omen stands and moves around to get better views at the residence and it's sides. He is looking for an escape route from the residence if needed.
Investigation: 8
Kasimir:
Kas listens to Omen's scouting report. "Sounds like you had a much more productive trip than we did. Brinehald, the head of the Temple, is a really nice guy. Useless, but really nice." He gives them a brief recap of he meeting, including the old priest's request that they retrieve the bodies from Sinker.
"When you checked out the house yesterday, did you go to the front door or the side door? We should follow the same route you used yesterday, so we know it's clear. If the owner or someone else is living in the house, they'll have to be getting water from the well, right? We should check out the well, see if there's still a bucket and rope and whether they've been used recently. Other than that, I agree with Red: a straightforward approach seems best. We should knock on the door and see who answers. If it really is the owner or some other hermit living here, we could wrap this whole thing up with a quick conversation. If it's something more sinister, knocking probably won't make a difference."
Qivys
Qivys draws his warhammer. "So, this is the start of our adventures. I must say, I've grown to enjoy all of your company. I am glad to be here with all of you. Let Pelors might flow through our hearts and give us the strength of stone to make it through this trial" Qivys bows deeply to his friends. His sincerity is truly heartfelt.
"Hhmm, sorry about that guys. Shall we go beat some sense into this evil alchemist?" he clears his throat as he straightens his tunic, staring into the distance to avoid the uncomfortable situation he has put himself in.
(If no one object, or offers another plan of attack, Qiv will walk to the door that Omen indicates and knock thrice)
Red looks at the rosebush. Investigation: 4 The bush grows along most of the crumbling northern wall and quite a bit of the yard, too, although it doesn't quite reach the NW corner.
There are three doors - the side door nearest you, the porch door, and the front door. Most of the window panes are broken; some are boarded up, but poorly, with many gaps and a lot of rotting wood. The house is quite porous.
Which door is that? The front (southern) door?
Qivys
"Omen, did you approach the house at all? Maybe peeped in a window?"
(OOC: Sorry, I thought there was mention of a particular door. Guess we'll find out now.)
Omen
"I just came to the corner of the building and sat for a bit and looked and listened. I don't have any insight about the interior though I did not hear anything significant."
Omen waits and listens to everyone's response.
Red
"We could just go to the closest door. The quicker we're in, the quicker we're out." She shrugs. "Or we could go round to the "front" door, if we're trying to be polite and knocking. I don't fancy putting my feet on, or through the porch though, so I vote not that door."
The closest door is the side door, near the well. It's closed, fairly rotten, but looks functional. It has no window itself, although there are sloppily boarded-up windows nearby, to the left of it.
Kasimir squints at the well from a distance – Perception: 20 – and notices a couple of things about it. First, there appears to be no rope. Second, a cluster of small mammal remains is visible in the tall grass around the well (primarily mice, squirrels, and the like, by the looks of it.)
Kasimir:
Seeing the lack of a rope in the well, "Anyone living in the house would probably need the well, so I'm guessing there's no living person in there." He starts to approach the well to look down inside, but sees the dead animals ringing the area. He backs away, pointing out the remains to the others. "I think we should stay well clear of that thing. Best case, it's just poisoned. I don't want to think what the worst case is."
He looks at the group, looking a little pale and shaky. "I'd like to change my vote for knocking on the door. I really was expecting to get up here and find some crazy old hermit, or maybe some squatters making scary noises to keep snoops away. Now I don't know what to expect. You all seem more accustomed to this kind of thing. I'll defer to your judgement on which door to use and how we go in. I am willing to at least check the door for traps."
(Whichever door is picked, I will carefully check the approach and the door for traps. Perception = 19)
(Looks like everyone is deferring to everyone else... Somebody should go ahead and decide upon an entry...)
Red
"Okay then. Side door it is." Red says decisively, moving closer. She enters through the gate and walks up the path until she's parallel to the door before crossing the garden to reach it.
Red approaches the side door without incident. It's in poor shape – Red can see right through the gaps in the wooden slats. A dilapidated corridor lay beyond, some fifteen feet before turning left. A door is at the end, on the right. She finds that the interior woodwork looks rotten, cobwebs and dust are thick, and rubbish is scattered everywhere. Plaster fallen from the walls and ceiling lies strewn across the floor, and patches of mold cover the walls.
Qivys
"Red, how bouts I head in first" he says, tapping his hammer to his chainmail. "I've a little more protection than you, if you get my drift"
Qiv will walk past Red into the corridor and use his Divine Sense. He will tell everyone of it's outcome before cautiously continuing through the corridor to the door at the end.
(OoC: Didn't know if everyone can see the outcome of DS.)