“NO, HE’S FINE!” The boy snapped at Kel’s suggestion to go see the Sergeant. Immediately recognizing his change in demeanor, and dropped his gaze, ashamed of his outburst. “I’m sorry, but he is a light sleeper and was told that he required rest. He’s been up there since early yesterday.”

Still looking down at his feet, the boy sighed heavily. “It’s been stressful. Nearly the whole guard that was on duty has been sent to the priory at some point tonight, and none have returned. I don’t know if they’re alive or dead at this point. If they are alive, then I suspect the only reason we haven’t gotten word, is because they’re in trouble and need help. And there’s nothing I can do.”

Uthal looks the boy over. "You seem like you have more to tell us little boy. Best start doing that." 

Intimidation: 1

Anearis listened for a while, still a bit shook from his encounter with the banshee. The young guard seemed very defensive when asked about the Sergent. The others had noticed it too, though their method of making him talk were a little more...brash. 

’’Please. Tell us what happened to your Sergent. We only wish to help. And we can only help if we know what you know. And what about he priory? Why send so many guards over there? What trouble is there?’’

Persuasion: 16

The boy grasped both his arms, hugging himself. “DON’T RIP MY ARMS OFF! Sergeant York caught something from a lady down at the docks. That’s why he’s bed-ridden. I wasn’t supposed to say anything. Please don’t grind my bones for your bread.” Uthal’s attempt to intimidate the boy into divulging more information, worked better than probably Uthal could hope for. And it seemed that the boy’s imagination wandered into some very specific grounds regarding what he believed a threat from a Goliath entailed.

The boy dropped to his knees, tears welling up in his eyes, as he turned to face Anearis. “Please, don’t let him eat me. I’ll tell you whatever you need to know. The first patrol that went to the priory never checked in, so another was sent to find out what was going on. Same thing. Eventually when the fog rolled back, it never left the area around the priory and cemetery grounds. The Captain feared the worst and some of the royal family had been visiting the priory. He didn’t know if they were still there, so Just in case, he mounted a rescue with everyone still on hand. The sergeant and I were left to man the barracks. I don’t know what to do, I’m just a clerk!”

"Why does everyone think I'm going to eat them? Humans taste terrible. Much to stringy. And what's with the arms, knees are much better to disable." He turns his head away from the boy and gives a quick smile to Ura. "So your sargent upstairs never met the undead outside? And he's fine, apart from having a floppy gentleman's sausage?" 

Anearis kneeled down and placed a hand on the boy shoulder.

"Calm down. No one will eat you. This one will not touch your arms or any other of your limbs." Anearis took a reassuring tone when talking to the young guard. "You say the royal family was in the priory? When was that?"

Ura, hidden in the shadows apparently so well that the boy completely forgot about her existence -- well, who could blame him, when Uthal was towering over him and giving him that dour look -- waved at the others and pointed upstairs, making a few expressive faces.  She hoped they'd cotton on to what she meant… the essence was which, I don't trust guards as far as I can spit, and I want to find out if that Seargent York is really just under the weather, or turning into a whole-body version of the Arbitrator's Hand.  

… who the hell am I kidding, they probably think I'm sneaking off because I have indigestion.  Well, whatever.

With that, she crept out the door and looked around, trying to slink her way upstairs, towards the source of the noise.

(Ura is looking for Seargent York upstairs.  Let me know if I need to roll anything special to find him!)  

Kel closed his eyes, took a moment to keep from laughing, composed himself with minor effort, and opened his eyes again. Ura was making a series of...gestures with raised eyebrows. Anearis was consoling the young clerk with Uthal standing over them like a gargoyle and Anders being as stalwart as Kel had ever and only seen him. Whatever news of some royal family at the priory was no concern of his. The issues he had to contend with were more pressing and distinctly undead and possible one living with crustaceous house guests. ...how did that go? I know a girl who dresses in brown...she makes a living going down... "She's a diver." Kel muttered to himself with a short burst of air from his nose to keep from laughing. All of this was just suddenly funny to him in the not so funny kind of way one finds themself after surviving something. He chalked it up to lack of sleep and quietly motioned to Ura's back with a waved hand. ...play on... He moved to follow her up the stairs.

"Of course the royal family was here."

Still kneeling on the floor, the boy switched his attention between Anearis and Uthal. “No, he hasn’t been out of the barracks since before sun-up yesterday. But whatever she gave him had him in the worse way. A healer saw him about it, during the day. As long as he isn’t disturbed, he should be fine.”

While Ura’s departure from the room was as unnoticed as if she had never been there to begin with, the lack interjection to Kel’s less stealthy movements from the room either indicated that the boy no longer cared about hiding the Sergeant’s condition, or his attention was elsewhere; perhaps still focusing on not being eaten, or beaten to death with his own arms.

”The royals? A party of the Berossus’s came through. Last I know they were still at the priory, but that was yesterday around noon. They could easily have been gone by now, but I don’t know for sure.” The boy seemed to be regaining some sanity and composure, assured by a feeling of compassion from Anearis.

Leaving the room through the only unknown door, at that point, Ura and Kel found themselves in a hallway.  Immediately to their right (east) was another door, but to the west was a staircase leading to the next floor up.  The hallway continued further west, around the staircase, leading to additional rooms on the ground level.

The staircase could continue up to the third floor as well, but a platform let off on the second floor, right at an open bay sleeping quarters.  Rows of bunks on either side of the walls, with trunks at the foot of each. It wasn't difficult to find the good Sergeant York. Since the clerk on the first floor claimed that York was the only other person in the barracks, it was easy to deduce that he was the living lump on one of the beds. Some pieces of armor rested atop the trunk, by his feet, and a wool blanket was pulled over him.

The Sergeant laid on his side, turned towards the east, so his back was towards Kel and Ura's general direction, but a whispered sing-song voice, barely heard, was coming from the man.

"I know a girl who dresses in black...she makes a living on her back." The voice was faint, without any conviction behind it.  The same as you'd expect from a mumbling drunk, a sleepwalker, or simply someone completely delirious and out of it.  Either way, it was the voice of someone not aware of the arrival of two new visitors.

Ura was pretty sure her eyeroll, had it made any sound, would have been loud enough to wake the hapless Sergeant York from his drunken slumber.  Looks like this guy could use a few pointers on how to do his job, she thinks wryly as she carefully places her pamphlet, "How To Be A Guard," amongst York's possessions.  She then creeps around to the front of the bed, careful not to be seen, just to check what she can make out of York's exposed skin.  It doesn't sound like he's being overtaken by black goo, but she leans in as closely as she can just to be sure, inspecting him carefully.

(Uhh… medicine? 21 )

Satisfied or not with her inspection, she'll signal her findings to Kel and then, of course, take the time to rapidly rifle through the room, silently searching for anything that might be of use before what she's absolutely sure will be the next impossible suicide mission the Arbitrator would likely ask of them next.  Heck, with Anaeris in the mix, they might even take prerogative.  Ura grimaces at the thought.

Investigation: 21

Finishing up her search, she tiptoes past York.  Her feet slow, and then she glances over her shoulders, and can't resist whispering:

"Sergeant York thought he was a man of steel,
But he wasn't a match for Tymora's Wheel.
York made a bet against She and Lost,
Now he pays the streetwalker's cost.
Curled up in bed, poor sod in pain,
Think twice 'fore visiting the docks again."

Shrugging, she steps past Kel and takes a quick look into the western rooms, just to be sure they're empty (of valuables) as well.

Uthal looks down at the boy with a slight bit of pity for his sorry state. "Well there's your problem right there. Those royals aren't worth the men you sent after them. They're all criminals, on the run for crimes against decent folk and starting things exactly like what's happened to this city." 

Kel watched Ura as she skulked about hither and thither. He scowled at her intentions but he made no move to stop her either, there was a good chance she could find something of use in their current situation. She whispered something to York it seemed. Kel let her pass by, crossing the floor over to the bed beside York, rested his greatsword against the wall, and took a seat. In the same quiet singsong voice he finished the Sergeants line. "She's a bed tester." Kel smirked, resting his elbows on his knees to lean forward a bit. "I know a girl who dresses in yellow, she can make any grown man bellow." Sick or not, another living soul might have something useful to say, seeing as he is a Sergeant in the city watch he might know where they could procure some supplies.

Barracks Second Floor:

Ura comes around the other side of the bed to see that Sergeant York's eyes are closed. He had scraggly silver hair, and a scruff on his face in desperate need of a shave.  It would appear that the 'singing' she and Kel heard were the words of a sleep talking man, and judging by the empty vials on the table next to the bed, a heavily drugged sleep talking man.  The only exposed skin of the man were his neck and face, though aside from his flushed red cheeks, his skin showed no unusual signs.  Ura could confirm that the man was not cursed or poisoned in any way resembling that ailment which had affected the Arbitrator.

Content that the Sergeant would not be rising from his slumber as an undead demon intent of killing them, Ura's search around the room revealed the following:

• While there were several empty vials on the Sergeant's bedside, once still contained an unknown bluish-purple liquid.
• Two of the foot lockers (trunks at the foot of the bunks) were unlocked, containing between them, 3 silver and 4 copper, two sets of common clothing, a tunic with the northern city guard insignia (much like what the clerk downstairs was wearing), and a set of dark wooden dice.

Moving to the western end of the second floor, Ura found the farthest two doors to be locked. However, the room, next to the staircase was unlocked, and inside was a single bed, a wash basin, small desk and chair, and a wardrobe.  The desk contained blank parchment and an ink well.  The wardrobe had several empty hangers, and a towel.

Barracks First Floor:

For the first time, since any of the party had met the boy, did he show any sign of having a backbone (figuratively). At the mention of Uthal's discontent and negative views regarding the royals, the boy finally regained his posture.  Standing, he took a few steps towards Uthal, until he was face to face with the goliath. Well, face to belly with him. The boy stood right against him, puffing his chest while he craned his neck to stare up at Uthal. "Where do you think you are, giant?..You are still in the Kingdom of Cathaan, ruled by these very royals.  They're hear because of a threat in the capital city."

Suddenly, the boy began backing away from Uthal, eyeing the three of the party, within the room, suspiciously. "Come to think of it. Why would the Arbitrator send some mercs to assist, without coming himself? Especially ones so interested in the royals."

He looked around, now noticing the lack of the other two in the room. "Where'd the rest go?" Pulling a dagger from his belt, the boy practically leapt through the air, but just barely, as he bolted towards/through the door leading to the rest of the barracks. Acrobatics 6

Ura quickly pockets all of the "loot" that she found, though she does control herself and limit her grab of the empty hangers to a mere three.  She also makes sure to pick up the empty vials scattered by the Sergeant's bedside.  Noticing Kel giving her that look, she makes a face at him while continuing to pocket the vials.  "Listen," she says quietly to the tiefling, mindful of the sleeping man.  "If we run into more of that black goo that infected the Arbitrator, a vial seems like a good way to take a sample of it and bring it to someone who might know how to identify or combat it.  Well... maybe not the local clerics here, considering how screwed the priory seems to be, according to the kid downstairs."

She takes a look at the locked doors, then frowns.  "I'd like to try to get these open, but I bet I'll give the kid here apoplexy if I make some noise and he finds out.  If you want to stay with York, be my guest.  I'm going to check out the upstairs.  There may be a way to get eyes on the city from up there, and I want to see what the zombie horde outside is doing right now."

With that, she makes for the stairs leading upwards, as ever, trying to be stealthy.

Stealth: 19

"Seems reasonable." Kel stated quietly to Ura's explanation of collecting odds and ends not nailed down. He wasn't here to uphold any laws per se, and nothing she took looked as if it would be missed in a crisis, if remembered at all. He shrugged offhandedly and gave her a gesture with a hand as if to say play on. She continued. He nodded in response to her checking out the next floor. "Keep your steps light and let me know what you find out about the exterior guests, I will remain here in case our bedridden friend should wake." Kel made himself comfortable as best he could with armor and all and was content to wait and rest for a moment.

Uthal grabs for the boy. "Settle down boy, and think this through. If we wanted to kill you we would have done it when you were crying in the corner. Now why should I respect your royals when they don't respect me, I'm no citizen of your colonies. The threat they're fleeing is the whole justice system looking for them after a failed kidnapping and attempt to create undead creatures from me and my friends here. We were sent here to check on your barracks by the Arbitrator while he checks on the south."

Athletics: 22

Barracks First Floor:

The boy squirmed as Uthal grabbed him, thrashing around violently in the goliath’s arms. “Sergeant York! The barracks is under siege!” The boy swipes at Uthal with his dagger.

Attack: 8 Damage: 4

Uthal, predicting the boy’s intentions, managed to avoid the attack.

 Initiative:

• Clerk 17
• Ander 12
• Uthal 9
• Anearis 7

 Barracks Third Floor:

Ura reached the 3rd floor to find a more open floor plan, but not by much. The door that lead to the city wall was straight to the west. Next to some chairs and small desks. The eastern half of this level had an open door leading to a kitchen, and a dining room. 

Ura would naturally gravitate to the kitchen first for some snacks, and to look for some good blades she could repurpose as daggers next.  After pocketing some food (both in her mouth and for Dilthen in her pocket), she'd go back to investigating her surroundings and in general looking for a way further up, if there was a watchtower or parapet or spire of some kind.  She'd also still be keeping an eye out for unwelcome undeadish visitors around the barracks.

Investigation: 18
Perception: 12