Riverport: Twilight:

Voldred:  As the Cultist prepares it's next attack, you put up a shield and back off.  You feel an odd warmth against your back, at first you think it is an unexpected wound, but no, your pack has seemingly began to grow unusually hot, like it's been resting by a hearth too long.

The Thief takes a shot as the Cultist recovers from it's attack  Attack: 26 Damage: 12

Right between the eyes, their head explodes in a torrent before it falls to the ground and shatters like ice.  +500 XP.

"Phew...What would you do without me, huh?  Lose a precious artifact, that's what. You both alright?"

"ugghhh mostly... I think I can still walk."  Twill rubs her back  "I don't think I can take another hit, definitely not another hit like that."

"Well, take a breather, and get ready to climb, looks like Barracuda is getting desperate."  says the Theif, looking down at her legs.  You notice the thin layer of water on the ground has risen up to your ankles.  The thief immidiately catches onto a gutter and climbs up onto the roof of this house.

Corvidae: Castle District

Iam:  The Kenku flutters down to you, landing on a nerby gatepost and following you along.  "Greetings, greetings, deputy statue.  A very quiet, quiet morning it has been, much too quiet for my liking.  Seems like everyone decided to sleep in today.  Very Very Strange."

You get closer to the door, and notice that the door is inscribed with a familiar symbol around it's doorknob of the residence, The Emperor's seal. It must provide some kind of added security to the door....as you get closer, you notice the seal has been methodically broken, an Arcana check could help you identify how.  Just looking through the windows reveals no activity in the house, there is a carriage nearby that is untouched. 

You stop for a moment...the horses that pull the carriage are lying there with their eyes closed.  A Medicene check is in order.

Corvidae Castle District

"Thank you for your assistance. Did you or your fellows see anyone or any thing leave or enter the house from the time the carriage with myself left last night until this moment?" Iam will ask the helpful Kenku while pinning the badge back to his chest.

He takes a look at the breaking of the wards noting that it seemed to happen from the outside. Unusual for someone or something to break in to a residence by the front door. Then he will move over to inspect the horses strange behavior.

Arcana 11

Medicine 10

Animal Handling 16 (if it would tell him if this could be natural behavior)

Riverport: Twilight:

Seeing the enemy fall, Voldred looks at Twill. "After we're done here, we need to find a job that actually pays. I don't have any healing magic, and after buying armor I don't have money for health potions either. Which is starting to worry me about as much as the heat coming off of the stone."

Saying that, Voldred tries to find a way up he can actually take with his moderate dexterity. If he finds such a way, he will follow the thief.

Nae smiles softly at Vir
"Im not much of a combatant myself, all this is fairly new to me. I think the best course of action for you is help where you can, but stick close to one of us so we can keep an eye on you."

Nae looks at the cave "I think if we're checking it out we should all stick close"

Small Cave Near Riverside Village:

Nae, Noldeme, Xamodas:  ((You know, I've actually almost called Noldeme 'Pertuie' by mistake every time I post lol, they seem to have the same syllables to me (Nol-dim-eh, Per-two-e), neither of which are probably the actual correct pronunciations.)) Noldeme got +50 XP, for what reason, a mystery.  

Vir nods "I will stay back then, or at least in between.  Definately not good at those things, but I know strength isn't everything.  I learned it the hard way."

The cave comes in front of a small clearing between the hills, the ground oddly weathered down to a flat, partially frozen dirt which  has melted into mud.  The cave itself has a large stone partiallly covering the entrance, acting like a natural roof.  There is just the ever faintest whiff of an affronting scent as you approach that you can't quite identify in the air, the cave seemingly it's source.  Something rotten, perhaps, this could be an unmarked grave, it wouldn't be the first you've encountered.  It could end up being yours if you are not careful.  All of you can see in the dark, but if you wish to light the way, do should do so now.  

You move ahead in tight formation, you need to keep a straight line if you don't want to be squeezed together. The color in your vision slowly shifts to nothing more than ink on paper.  Noldeme notices the ground has patches and streaks of black leading inward that get thicker as you continue inward.  You all see something at the edge of your vision, a sneering skull of a goat with twisted horns, whose eyes are illuminated with a faint red glow.  The smell has gotten stronger.

Rafons Run: Road to Glanyrafon

Tsahil:  ((I understand, like put them out of their misery))  You draw a blade and walk up to the horses.  The Caretaker puts his hand out, stopping you for a second. perhaps he left the horses alive for some reason?  He looks at you, at you can see that even behind the steely gaze there is a great sadness, waiting a long small moment before muttering "The throat, make it quick." before putting his hand up to his face and looking away.  

You board your horse, the driver frowning but understanding your reasoning. "Just don't leave me behind."  You ride for a bit, just slowly to get your barings as the driver takes out some navigators tools.  "Hmmph, more than half the time these things never work right out here...even the stars don't look right.  Long as the compass points north we should be fine, and even then there's The Tower.  Might not be able to find the road, just keep an eye out for a river or stream."

73

As you travel, you suddenly hear the crunch of bones beneath your feet.  You look down, and see the shallow graves of soldiers all around you, all of their bodies, armor included, are split in twain from the head to the pelvis.  The cuts are completely clean, leaving not even a splinter.

Rafons Run: Road to Glanyrafon

"I don't like the looks of this place..." Tsahil thinks out loud. "Any of you know what the hell happened here?" he talks to his companions, while looking for any clue - footsteps, teeth marks on the bones, anything.

Perception check (if it's investigation, just subtract 1): 12

 Since I have 3 exams this week so I need time to study. If I go dark until the weekend for some reason, that's why, but I will try to get at a response in here in or there during breaks.

Infinite Shelf:

Ulrich:  Elan stops and takes a deep breath, letting out a sigh.  He begins to recite what sounds like prose or a passage from a scripture.  "Temperance 1: It is impossible for something to be truely lost, only saved for later, or changed into something new.  Temperance 2:  If something is lost it is remembered; if it is remembered it still exists.  If it exists it can still be found.  Temperance 3:  If it is forgotten, it no longer exists.  If it no longer exists, it is DOOMED."  He continues walking

"In short...I don't really know.  This place is like an afterlife for things, or a limbo perhaps.  If a tree falls in the woods, and nobody was around to hear it, the sound goes here.  That's all I can really say, that and the fact that Spearhead likes to manipulate it for secure-mostly secure storage,  and to use it as a shortcut in the city.  If you find something you lost here and take it, well, that's probably against the rules, but we are the exception to those rules, aren't we?"

Elan stops and turns a corner, as you follow him, the shelves suddenly vanish and you are in a clean white room.  You turn around and see nothing but an ordinary shelf behind you lined with books, some vials, and old clock, and an abacus.  "Took the backdoor I see?  I was wondering how you would get here on schedule."  You see an old, old looking silver dragonborn close a pocketwatch he was looking at.  The room suddenly has wooden floors and ceilings, and is lit by several lanterns,  portfolios of many shapes and sizes are stacked as neatly as possible throughout the room.  

"Good to see you, Curator.  Are the items ready yet?" asks Elan

"Actually, your about 5 minutes early, please, have a seat."  he gestures to some chair shaped stacks of portfolios by his desk which, is also portfolios.

Infinite Shelf:

Ulrich was concentrating more on Elan's words than on his surroundings. He had been silently repeating the 3 Temperances to himself when he suddenly stopped short. The relative darkness of their path had been replaced with white walls. He looked from side to side, trying to gather when the shift had taken place. A look behind shows a shelf that was not there before (or was it?).

He spun around again as the sound of the voice. The dragonborn in front of him, he was sure he had not see before. Nor had ever seen one of such great age. 

Ulrich's head snapped to one side, than the other as the room once again changed around him. "Just when I think I have some sort of an idea..." he whispered to himself as he moved toward the 'chair' and sat carefully down.

"Good day to you. I hope our early arrival is not an inconvenience."

Corvidae Market District:

Orina:  Your insight tells you that, well, he seems to know there's a Stoneshield family member around here somewhere, but he certainly doesn't seem to know where he's going.  Maybe he is using some kind of magic to guide him, but there really isn't any way to know for absolute sure unless you follow him around for who knows how long.  Pretty sure if he knew exactly where to go, he would have called a taxi cart (then again, he might not be the wisest grape off the vine).  

Hainsley says  "Well, the only things I've seen flying before are birds and myself,  and I'm pretty sure I'm not a bird.  Maybe I can get some answers there, or at least maybe we can swing by the castle and have a look at...whatever is inside castles, or at least admire the architecture.  Kind of seems like we're heading that way already."

Your insight pings you a thought...most likely, if you tell Finn you're going elsewhere, he'll probably just keep following you anyway.  He might need some persuading, deceiving, or perhaps you'll need to try and slip away; He doesn't seem to be paying much attention anyway.

Corvidae Castle District:

Iam:  The Kenku nods it's head. "I saw Liadon Illphelkiir acting somewhat suspicious last night as he snuck in through the back door last night.  In the morning, Aust left for some kind of errand in this cart, he returned about an hour ago with a woman who looked like Mistress Illphelkir.  I heard him shouting for a Master Illphelkiir as he went inside and I haven't heard anything since."

The sigil is broken, you only know what you can assume about the Emperor's seal.  You notice that a candle just inside the door is still lit, although burned down to a stump as if it had been forgot to be put out.

You move over to the horse, which seems to be completely asleep.  It's breathing is really, really low.  There is a small pool of blood by the horse, but it has no visible wounds, or at least nothing you recognize as one.

This certainly isn't normal behavior, and you can't seem to stir the horse awake even if you try.  

"It is strange, strange" says the Kenku.  "That horse was put way last night, yet it sleeps here in broad daylight.  Bad, bad feeling I have."  The Kenku begins to back away from the scene slowly.

Corvidae Castle District 

Iam taking these events in is quiet until he notices the kenku backing away to remove itself from the situation. " Yes, so it seems. Thank you for your assistance. You may return to your normal activities."

Turning Iam heads to the front door. Suspicious of the candle he takes a four foot rod from his card and snuffs the candle out with it. Putting it back away in the card, he will enter the door calling out loudly, "Hello! This is Iam Unsure! I was here yesterday evening. The caretakers have asked myself to come here and make inquiries."

Iam looks around carefully as he enters hoping for a reply.

Perception 14

Investigation 7

The Cave

Xamodas pauses at the front of the line as the skull comes into view.  He huffs to himself, then without breaking line of sight to it, growls back to the others.

"Is that our mark?"

Riverport: Twilight

Voldred:  You manage to follow the thief's path, though it isn't as easy for you as it is for her.  Twill has trouble, but even with her injuries and being a dwarf she is suprisingly quick on her feet.  By the time Twill manages to pull her self up the water has a chance to splash up on her leg, and the shock form the cold gives her that last boost up.  Meanwhile, the heat from the stone in your backpack is growing hotter by the second.  You hear a chanting voice in your head that you can barely ignore  "Gestalt annehman...Gestalt annehman...Gestalt annehman-"

"Help!  Something's got me!" Twill cries out.  "It's got me by the the foot it's-"  Twill's voice becomes an odd mix of anguish, joy, and confusion.  "It's a rope!  Wait...Voldred, this is THE rope.  Why is it here- ah!"  suddenly Twill is jerked towards the rising flood.  

Rafon's Run: Road to Glanyrafon

Tsahil:  The driver shrugs.  "Something sharp, I reckon.  If we're lucky these bones are from long, long ago.  Whatever's done this hopefully been locked up or vanquished like the rest."  

You tiptoe your horse ever so carefully around the bodies.  For a second, you think you see something small moving amongst the bodies..then your eye catches only a faintest of glimmers it the air, you cannot tell where, but you see it, like a gossamer strand in the wind- You suddenly feel a slight sting on your face, you realize an incredibly thin cut has opened up on your cheek.

"Stop! Nobody move!  Move and your dead!" cries the Caretaker.  "Something just cut me! Only nicked me, my horse got hit too!  Something I couldn't see!"  As he cries out, your horse seems to stop in response.  

Riverport: Twilight

Howling in anger, Voldred quickly raises his hand to cast Magic Missile, directing the bolts to strike at the rope grabbing Twill, or whatever the hell else it may or may not actually be, before it has the chance to drag her into the depths, while staggering back, trying his best to shut out the persistent noise in his mind.

"This is really starting to get on my nerves!" Voldred shouts, unable to contain himself any longer.

It takes him a good minute to calm down enough to finally resolve himself to do quite possibly the most reckless thing he's ever done so far. Voldred casts Protection from Evil and Good on himself and takes the glowing stone in his hand to check if it can be something more than just a liability to him at this point. Perhaps he can take its power for himself? Or draw power from it to boost his own? Or maybe it will just explode in his face, or do nothing. Whatever happens, Voldred is quite too irritated to care much for the consequences anymore - he just wants this nonsense to end so he can rest, hoping the spell would protect him from the worst of it.

Rafon's Run: Road to Glanyrafon

"It happened to me, too" says Tsahil, cleaning up the blood from the cut. He looks trying to find anything to explain the cuts, and tries to listen to any movement, breathing, or sign of living things.

Rolls if needed:

Perception: 13; Investigation: 19; Nature: 2; Survival: 4

Orina (Bunny Knight) | Cordivae Market District

 Orina's doubts about Finn's sincerity double as she watches him critically; sighing, she figures Jogs would have already beat her about the head for allowing him to lead her by the nose like this for this long. Saying a little prayer that he'll actually listen to her advice, she decides to talk to Finn.

"Finn," she says, catching up to him.  "I just remembered something important that I promised Jogs I needed to do.  You remember Jogs, right?  My partner with the big hammer?  I don't think she liked you very much," she admits.  "Anyway, I don't want to make you late for this... er... festival... competition... well, whatever it was you were going to."  She presses into Finn's hands his portion of bread and cheese that she'd purchased.  "Here... it's my treat.  I really think you should find someone else to help you out, though, if you're dead set on entering this competition... I might not be back in time.  Good luck!  I'm rooting for you!"  Turning him back around, she gives him an encouraging shove in the opposite direction of the castle.

Persuasion: 23 + Guidance 2

Then Orina beckons to Hainsley, settling the hare under one arm and taking off at a pace as fast as her long legs will allow.  Taking a quick glance behind her, she makes sure Finn is distracted and not looking in her direction.  "Let's hope he doesn't follow us... I don't think Finn is going to try to help us at all, and I want to know what's going on at the castle too," she whispers to the hare.  Then she crouches down and ducks behind one of the busier market stalls, making herself as small as possible -- quite literally, by using her innate ability to disguise herself.  When she steps out again, Orina is only a little over 5 feet tall, and has the ruddy complexion, coloring, and appearance of a typical human woman making her way through the market.  She throws her cloak over Hainsley to hide him from prying eyes, and quickly makes her way towards the castle.

Curator's Office:

Ulrich:  ""Not at all, not at all." says the curator.  He reaches burnished hand into a stack of folios, and with a quick tug he pulls it out of the stack like doing a magic trick, and the rest of stack falls neatly back into place.  "Things are moving ahead of schedule, after all."  he opens up the folio and fingers through it.

As you wait patiently, the dragonborn seems to read you without looking.  "I can tell your a little shocked, I don't mind questions.  Not many dragonborn left up there, eh?  Well, at least being met with indifference is better than nothing, I doubt Zinnia would have chosen you otherwise." 

You recall hearing that metallic dragonborn were once considered an acceptable, if only barely stomached, race here due to their preceived lawful nature...you're not sure what happened to them...

...he pulls a small green card out from the portfolio, and lays it out on his desk.  You can see the image of the Deathclaw on it.  "This was the best we could do, I'm afraid, altering it's form would have most likely altered it's capabilties or worse."  He also pull out a small stack of various red colored cards.  "These will help you, and you are expected to return them if you can, but don't let that scare you into not using them-they're meant to be tested."  Inside the red cards appear to be the images of a dapper looking hat, a collection of wrapped candies, a pen, a set of eyeglasses, and a brick.

Corvidae Castle District:

Iam:  No response.  You open the door to the foyer, which is dimly lit from bits of sunlight coming through the windows.  Scanning the room, there doesn't seem to be much of a scene at first.  You can see somone laying out from another doorway, their feet sticking up, along with the occasional sound of heavy snoring.  You hear what sounds like something moving along the wooden floor, but turning towards it you see nothing there.  You spot a linen sheet on the floor that seems to be covering something small and somewhat round under it.  

You hear what sounds like the floorboard creaking above you, possibly coming from the attic, but nobody comes down from a set of stairs you can see.  You walk by the stairs and step in something, which seems to be a clear, slightly sticky water like substance.  A light flow of the stuff is coming from the top of the stairwell.

Curator's office:

Ulrich reaches for the card containing the Deathclaw first, sliding it into an inside pocket. "Understandable. Thank you." He looks at the other cards a frown forming on his face. "While I have been at a loss many times today, this collection of items is one of the most puzzling. A brick? What could that contain? And I do apologize for my behavior. The day has been most illuminating of my ignorance."

He takes each card and waves it a couple of times to further familiarize himself with the action.  "I would not have pondered any of the things Elan has exposed me to."

Corvidae Castle District 

Iam walks first to the legs in the doorway, to see if their body is whole and the sound of the snoring. After checking, he adjusts them so they will not drown if the liquid should make it that far. He will look around the area the doorway leads to continuing to listen for movement upstairs.

Perception 11

Riverport: Twilight:

Voldred:  The magic missle immediately snaps the rope-Twill scrambles up to high ground as soon as she is free.  You here what sounds like a high pitched screeching coming from the ropes as they scramble back into the water, while the part of the rope that's broken begins to scramble on it's own.  As Voldred composes himself, the flood begins to brew up violent waves, and you an see a shape rising up from the water in the distance.  A humanlike face with long hair, sharp teeth, and glowing yellow eyes on a long serpentine body.  Ropes pour from it's mouth and body like it's spewing up it's own entrails, which begin to worm their way up to you.

As you take out the stone, it feels oddly heavy, you realize that it is slowly beginning to turn your gauntlet into solid gold.  "We shouldn't have to wait much longer, not even a minute!"  Says the theif.  "if we could just hold out for- Hey, wait, what are you doing!"  You clutch the stone in your hand as crimson bolts of lightning begin to arc around you.  You feel, something, great and powerful and uncontrallable rise withing you and- The stone suddenly explodes in your face!

Your entire body feels like it's on fire, you are standing in deep water.  Through a crimson haze, you look down and see the serpentine beast before you, it's once monstrorous gaze reduced to pure fear.  You must be standing what feels like almost a hundred feet tall, towering over the creature, you look and see your fingers have become as sharp as the fangs of a serpent, your body looks almost nothing like your own, but you can barely focus on that.  You feel completely restored, as if you had taken a long rest, and you feel much, much stronger than you did before.  You feel as if you could reach down and tear the creature to shreds in an instant-and the roiling haze in your mind has filled you with the raging urge to do just that.

Roll for initiative.

Barracuda:  9

Rafons Run: Road to Glanyrafon

Tsahil:  You look again, closer this time, and see a faint glint in the air.  Your investigations are impeded by the fact you were told not to move, but you reach out towards towards a glint in the air.  You feel a pain as you real back, a delicate slice was taken out of your finger.  You hear the sound of something scurrying again, and you see that same glint laced along the ground.  You are positive that something in the air around you is cutting you, something that is extremely thin, sharp and difficult to see with your eyes.  Perhaps that thing you can barely see made it, or is making it?

You hear the sounds of panic from the driver.  "I think I saw something moving, we can't just stand still, we'll surely die!"  You can tell if you don't say something to him immediately, he is sure to try and bolt off (persuasion or indimidation check please).