Kel chuckled at Ura. "Figuratively, not yet. My Forging however was quite typical for pain. As were my marks of service come to think of it..." Careful to keep the arm under foot, Kel gave the elf some Help taking off the armor, having some experience with it.
Cutting some of the Arbitrator’s platemail straps, and with some assistance, Ura managed to dismantle the rest of the playing that covered D’armes now ‘half-arm’. Examining it, as best as she could tell, there was no visual indication that the necrotic disease/poison had spread to the rest of the body (ie no rotting flesh, noticeably blackened veins, nothing out of the ordinary to the extent that any of the party would know what to look for considering little knowledge of Dragonborn and of the poison). Beneath the armor, his shoulder was covered in a skin tight black cloth, but the rest of his skin wore the armor directly against it. The inside of the plates actually showed an imprint of the scales on his skin; almost as if the metal was molded against his scales themselves.
His arm had multiple scars of differing shapes and sizes, though none of them seemed fresh. The scales matched the same red color on his face, and could likely be assumed to be the ‘normal’ coloring of his skin. From an actual medical standpoint, Ura manages to surmise that he is in fact alive, though in bad shape.
"Oh, well, that's a relief for now... he's still alive, guys," Ura tells the others, after inspecting D'Armes closely. "Just barely, though. I don' t know what the rest of you want to do, but I'm staying here. The minute we leave him alone, our luck dictates something will come in and slay him." She hops up onto the table before D'Armes and sits crosslegged there, chin-in-palm, watching for any danger to his body as if her life depended on it. Well, it probably did, come to think of it.
Perception: 7
Readied Action: Leap off that table and put some hurt on anything that attacks D'Armes while she waits for what she thinks will be an inevitable guard investigation.
Still, even as she tries to "keep watch", she can't help but think to herself - even though D'Armes was covered with that skin-tight black cloth, boy, was he built like a rock. "Really too bad he's the last," she mumbles to herself distractedly, with a little sigh.
Uthal simply nods to Ura and uses his limited skills and lack of tools to check over the dragonborn. After he's done he walks around the room, examining the swords.
Kel takes a position kneeling before the Arbitrator, adjusting his position so the arm is beneath his right boot as his left knee rests on the floor. He gestures (Thaumaturgy) behind him and the fire turns a shimmering gold, low and constant. He bows his head and keeps his eyes half-lidded. He prays quietly, first in Infernal and then again in Draconic.
"Be with me when my fire's low, when the blood creeps, and the nerves prick. And tingle and the heart is sick and all the embers dying glow.
Be with me when this mortal frame, is rack'd with pangs that conquer trust, and Time, a maniac scattering dust, and Life a furious burning flame.
Be with me should my faith run dry, and mend the fires of latter spring, of smouldering ash that stings, scattered embers and then die.
Be with me should I fade away, to point the term of mortal strife, and on the low dark verge of life, the twilight of eternal flames."
The party continues to examine the unconscious body of the dragonborn knight. After the ordeal he had faced that night, it was likely that he wouldn't be coming around anytime soon. His breathing was shallow, but it at least, existed.
D'armes's face was mostly that solid red color, even between the spines with the webbing like feature between them. Unlike his exposed arm, his face and head were void of any war wounds to speak of. However, many of the spines seemed to have gold grafted to the scales. Since both he and Kel had a cultural overlap of sort, this may have been similar to the gold grafted on Kel's horns, a sign of his religion.
As Uthal examined the swords, they seemed to be almost identical; all of them the same length and shape, as the Arbitrator's that was currently leaning against the table. The blades were approximately five feet long and about five inches wide, at the base. The grips were all a black wrapped leather-like material, adding another 18 inches to the weapon's length, when including the pommel, which itself was a six inch spike. There was one key difference between them though. In the cross section where the guard and the blade and grip all intersect, there was a medallion welded to the weapon; and each medallion displayed a different picture, some much more detailed than others.
Of the one directly in front of, and the one to the left and to the right of Uthal (the three which he could see the clearest at the moment) there was a curved dragon head looking to the right, its mouth open and tongue out, flames burned in the background behind it; an octagon where the edges were slightly concave towards the center, and lines divided it into eight even triangles, four of the triangles that formed somewhat of a cross were etched to make them standout compared to the other four in between them; and finally a wolf-like head looking straight ahead, with spine like hair jutting out around it, almost like a mane.
Anearis feels relieved that D'armes is still alive. Being one of the rare people to have actually been nice to him since he came to this continent, he would have hate to lose him.
Once it became clear that the party would stay by the knight's side, whatever their reasons were, he decided to keep a lookout out of the window. He hoped to be able to spot the guards coming, should they arrive. The situation didn't look good for them, even if they were innocent. It might come to them having to run out of town.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Pas D'armes: 1
It's difficult to know exactly how long, but a few hours, most likely, pass by, as the party waits within the base of the Arbitrator's Spire. With no windows, and the only passage to the outside being back out through adjoining room of the shack, absolutely anything could have happened right outside, and none of you would have ever known. No help came through the door; neither the halfling Blemish, nor the guards from earlier had returned during that time, at least not that you were aware. ((Everyone has had a short rest))
D'armes lifted his exposed stump of an arm, as he opened his eyes, to observe it, since the rest of it had been removed. "I liked this arm. I used to hold my sword with it."
14 The sound of metal scraping stone came from beneath where Kel knelt.
Kel stirred from his spiritual watch and glanced up. His muscles ached, he wanted proper rest, and his stomach gnawed at his spine. "Good to see your fire still burns." Kel grimaced as he got to his feet, careful to keep his weight on the severed limb. "Some time has passed. A few candle marks. Your servant has not returned, nor has any of the Watch." He stretched his tense shoulders. "Do you have food stores here? We should fortify ourselves before heading out, wherever that may be to..." He nodded his head toward the Arbitrator. "With your permission of course."He glanced to the floor, looking at the limb underfoot. "I don't suppose you have a container in which we can lock this without worry do you...?"
"Upstairs, you'll find the kitchen one floor up." D'armes shook his head, attempting to fully regain his senses, and turns his gaze towards the floor where Kel is looking. He does so just in time to see his former gauntlet move itself, somewhere beneath the table, and out of their line of sight. D'armes let out a deep sigh, and slowly rose from his chair. "Canotak lemeb mrith vi lesla, filki zhaan vi stake erekess coi."
((In Draconic)) "Don't bother with a chest, just run a stake through it."
As he rose, he pulled a dagger from his belt, with his off hand. It was unclear if his last statement was intended for the group, or he was just thinking out loud.
"Hey hey," Ura says. "Good to see you back with us, even missing a limb. But you know, whatever was animating your arm was the same stuff animating the zombies we fought in Cathaan. I'm no doctor, but it didn't look like it had spread through the rest of you. Did you get a cut or something? How'd you get infected?" She pauses. "And where's your halfling kid Blemish off too? He ran like a bat outta hell from here. Kel thought he was going to get help, and I was expecting him to come back with guards, but so far… nothing. What's he up to, do you know?"
To Kel, she says "I'd be careful about touching it or bringing it anywhere... I guess that black fluid is a carrier of whatever nastiness is animating it. I'd say it might even be listening in on us right now, but I'm pretty sure arms don't have ears. Still, even so... I'd kill it with fire, if you get my drift, rather than take it anywhere for prodding. What if it takes over somebody else?"
Kel sharpened his gaze, following to where the Arbitrator was looking. He huffed through his teeth, having the distinct feeling that this was going to be a grueling day of no food, no sleep and fighting things that refused to stay dead. "Zi algbo." He responded to the Arbitrator. Raising his voice to the others "Hand has gone wandering under the table. Somehow it shifted my weight so mind the strength of it. Find it, impale it." Kel glanced over to Ura. "It was my intent to destroy it after it served as proof for the Watch, now that the Arbitrator has pulled through let us hope it is no longer needed." Rather than wield his greatsword inside such a space, Kel instead arms himself with his Mace and looks for the armored hand.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Anearis prepared himself to assist anyone who would come into contact with the wandering hand, while also keeping an eye open for any sudden movement. This situation felt odd to him.
D'armes circled around the table, watching the floor as he spoke. "You talk to much, little one, but I will answer your inquiries best I can. And you may want to get down from the table; it has no sentimental value and is easily replaced, so if need be, I WILL go through it, to destroy my tainted hand."
Using his partial arm to bare weight against the table top, the Arbitrator knelt down, dagger at the ready. "I don't recall being injured in tonight's battle, so I don't know how this came about. As for Blemish, he's not much of a warrior, but somehow he ends up coming out. Much like a cockroach."
Evil Hand: 16
D'armes lower his head to be just beneath the table surface. "It's not under here." Due to the inability of the party to watch the table from all angles, the hand somehow got by them, to another part of the room. D'armes: 17 "There!"
D'armes, still kneeling, though upright, pointed with the dagger, towards the fireplace. Upon the mantle stood the gauntlet, upright with the fingers curled like a fist, except for the middle one, which stood erect.
Ura does a forward flip off the table and backs away from it, pulling out her bow and readying herself to shoot the hand if it appears within her range.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Roll for Initiative:
D'armes: 4
Evil Hand: 20
Ura: 22
Kel: 17
Uthal: 2
Anearis: 16
Ander: 1
Order of Combat:
Evil Hand
Kel
Ander
Uthal
D'armes
Anearis
Ura
The hand tosses itself down from the mantle and into the flames of the fireplaces. For just a moment, it is visible, on fire and scurrying up the back of the stone construction and out of sight, into the chimney.
Kel chuckled at Ura. "Figuratively, not yet. My Forging however was quite typical for pain. As were my marks of service come to think of it..." Careful to keep the arm under foot, Kel gave the elf some Help taking off the armor, having some experience with it.
Exitus Acta Probat
Cutting some of the Arbitrator’s platemail straps, and with some assistance, Ura managed to dismantle the rest of the playing that covered D’armes now ‘half-arm’.
Examining it, as best as she could tell, there was no visual indication that the necrotic disease/poison had spread to the rest of the body (ie no rotting flesh, noticeably blackened veins, nothing out of the ordinary to the extent that any of the party would know what to look for considering little knowledge of Dragonborn and of the poison). Beneath the armor, his shoulder was covered in a skin tight black cloth, but the rest of his skin wore the armor directly against it. The inside of the plates actually showed an imprint of the scales on his skin; almost as if the metal was molded against his scales themselves.
His arm had multiple scars of differing shapes and sizes, though none of them seemed fresh. The scales matched the same red color on his face, and could likely be assumed to be the ‘normal’ coloring of his skin.
From an actual medical standpoint, Ura manages to surmise that he is in fact alive, though in bad shape.
"Oh, well, that's a relief for now... he's still alive, guys," Ura tells the others, after inspecting D'Armes closely. "Just barely, though. I don' t know what the rest of you want to do, but I'm staying here. The minute we leave him alone, our luck dictates something will come in and slay him." She hops up onto the table before D'Armes and sits crosslegged there, chin-in-palm, watching for any danger to his body as if her life depended on it. Well, it probably did, come to think of it.
Perception: 7
Readied Action: Leap off that table and put some hurt on anything that attacks D'Armes while she waits for what she thinks will be an inevitable guard investigation.
Still, even as she tries to "keep watch", she can't help but think to herself - even though D'Armes was covered with that skin-tight black cloth, boy, was he built like a rock. "Really too bad he's the last," she mumbles to herself distractedly, with a little sigh.
Perception: As far as Ura knows, nothing outside this room, is happening.
Though nothing inside, is really happening either.
((Approximate best guess of the time, due to no clocks being about is around 10/11pm))
Uthal simply nods to Ura and uses his limited skills and lack of tools to check over the dragonborn. After he's done he walks around the room, examining the swords.
Medicine: 14
History: 10
Gronk in Bastion, Kingdom of Medrin Elixisys in Talaveroth (Team 2) Uthal in Lost Continent of Theviranne
Kel takes a position kneeling before the Arbitrator, adjusting his position so the arm is beneath his right boot as his left knee rests on the floor. He gestures (Thaumaturgy) behind him and the fire turns a shimmering gold, low and constant. He bows his head and keeps his eyes half-lidded. He prays quietly, first in Infernal and then again in Draconic.
"Be with me when my fire's low, when the blood creeps, and the nerves prick. And tingle and the heart is sick and all the embers dying glow.
Be with me when this mortal frame, is rack'd with pangs that conquer trust, and Time, a maniac scattering dust, and Life a furious burning flame.
Be with me should my faith run dry, and mend the fires of latter spring, of smouldering ash that stings, scattered embers and then die.
Be with me should I fade away, to point the term of mortal strife, and on the low dark verge of life, the twilight of eternal flames."
Exitus Acta Probat
The party continues to examine the unconscious body of the dragonborn knight. After the ordeal he had faced that night, it was likely that he wouldn't be coming around anytime soon. His breathing was shallow, but it at least, existed.
D'armes's face was mostly that solid red color, even between the spines with the webbing like feature between them. Unlike his exposed arm, his face and head were void of any war wounds to speak of. However, many of the spines seemed to have gold grafted to the scales. Since both he and Kel had a cultural overlap of sort, this may have been similar to the gold grafted on Kel's horns, a sign of his religion.
As Uthal examined the swords, they seemed to be almost identical; all of them the same length and shape, as the Arbitrator's that was currently leaning against the table. The blades were approximately five feet long and about five inches wide, at the base. The grips were all a black wrapped leather-like material, adding another 18 inches to the weapon's length, when including the pommel, which itself was a six inch spike.
There was one key difference between them though. In the cross section where the guard and the blade and grip all intersect, there was a medallion welded to the weapon; and each medallion displayed a different picture, some much more detailed than others.
Of the one directly in front of, and the one to the left and to the right of Uthal (the three which he could see the clearest at the moment) there was a curved dragon head looking to the right, its mouth open and tongue out, flames burned in the background behind it; an octagon where the edges were slightly concave towards the center, and lines divided it into eight even triangles, four of the triangles that formed somewhat of a cross were etched to make them standout compared to the other four in between them; and finally a wolf-like head looking straight ahead, with spine like hair jutting out around it, almost like a mane.
Anearis feels relieved that D'armes is still alive. Being one of the rare people to have actually been nice to him since he came to this continent, he would have hate to lose him.
Once it became clear that the party would stay by the knight's side, whatever their reasons were, he decided to keep a lookout out of the window. He hoped to be able to spot the guards coming, should they arrive. The situation didn't look good for them, even if they were innocent. It might come to them having to run out of town.
Pas D'armes: 1
It's difficult to know exactly how long, but a few hours, most likely, pass by, as the party waits within the base of the Arbitrator's Spire. With no windows, and the only passage to the outside being back out through adjoining room of the shack, absolutely anything could have happened right outside, and none of you would have ever known. No help came through the door; neither the halfling Blemish, nor the guards from earlier had returned during that time, at least not that you were aware. ((Everyone has had a short rest))
D'armes lifted his exposed stump of an arm, as he opened his eyes, to observe it, since the rest of it had been removed. "I liked this arm. I used to hold my sword with it."
14 The sound of metal scraping stone came from beneath where Kel knelt.
Kel stirred from his spiritual watch and glanced up. His muscles ached, he wanted proper rest, and his stomach gnawed at his spine. "Good to see your fire still burns." Kel grimaced as he got to his feet, careful to keep his weight on the severed limb. "Some time has passed. A few candle marks. Your servant has not returned, nor has any of the Watch." He stretched his tense shoulders. "Do you have food stores here? We should fortify ourselves before heading out, wherever that may be to..." He nodded his head toward the Arbitrator. "With your permission of course." He glanced to the floor, looking at the limb underfoot. "I don't suppose you have a container in which we can lock this without worry do you...?"
Exitus Acta Probat
"Upstairs, you'll find the kitchen one floor up." D'armes shook his head, attempting to fully regain his senses, and turns his gaze towards the floor where Kel is looking. He does so just in time to see his former gauntlet move itself, somewhere beneath the table, and out of their line of sight. D'armes let out a deep sigh, and slowly rose from his chair. "Canotak lemeb mrith vi lesla, filki zhaan vi stake erekess coi."
((In Draconic)) "Don't bother with a chest, just run a stake through it."
As he rose, he pulled a dagger from his belt, with his off hand. It was unclear if his last statement was intended for the group, or he was just thinking out loud.
"Hey hey," Ura says. "Good to see you back with us, even missing a limb. But you know, whatever was animating your arm was the same stuff animating the zombies we fought in Cathaan. I'm no doctor, but it didn't look like it had spread through the rest of you. Did you get a cut or something? How'd you get infected?" She pauses. "And where's your halfling kid Blemish off too? He ran like a bat outta hell from here. Kel thought he was going to get help, and I was expecting him to come back with guards, but so far… nothing. What's he up to, do you know?"
To Kel, she says "I'd be careful about touching it or bringing it anywhere... I guess that black fluid is a carrier of whatever nastiness is animating it. I'd say it might even be listening in on us right now, but I'm pretty sure arms don't have ears. Still, even so... I'd kill it with fire, if you get my drift, rather than take it anywhere for prodding. What if it takes over somebody else?"
Kel sharpened his gaze, following to where the Arbitrator was looking. He huffed through his teeth, having the distinct feeling that this was going to be a grueling day of no food, no sleep and fighting things that refused to stay dead. "Zi algbo." He responded to the Arbitrator. Raising his voice to the others "Hand has gone wandering under the table. Somehow it shifted my weight so mind the strength of it. Find it, impale it." Kel glanced over to Ura. "It was my intent to destroy it after it served as proof for the Watch, now that the Arbitrator has pulled through let us hope it is no longer needed." Rather than wield his greatsword inside such a space, Kel instead arms himself with his Mace and looks for the armored hand.
Activate: Divine Sense
Perception: 2
Draconic: Very well.
Exitus Acta Probat
Uthal slings his shield and draws his warhammer again, readying himself to swing if he sees the hand.
Gronk in Bastion, Kingdom of Medrin Elixisys in Talaveroth (Team 2) Uthal in Lost Continent of Theviranne
Ura leans over the table she's sitting on and squints, looking for the gauntleted hand.
9
If she sees it, she'll bag it with the baron's generous spare pair of underwear.
Anearis prepared himself to assist anyone who would come into contact with the wandering hand, while also keeping an eye open for any sudden movement. This situation felt odd to him.
Perception: 10
D'armes circled around the table, watching the floor as he spoke. "You talk to much, little one, but I will answer your inquiries best I can. And you may want to get down from the table; it has no sentimental value and is easily replaced, so if need be, I WILL go through it, to destroy my tainted hand."
Using his partial arm to bare weight against the table top, the Arbitrator knelt down, dagger at the ready. "I don't recall being injured in tonight's battle, so I don't know how this came about. As for Blemish, he's not much of a warrior, but somehow he ends up coming out. Much like a cockroach."
Evil Hand: 16
D'armes lower his head to be just beneath the table surface. "It's not under here." Due to the inability of the party to watch the table from all angles, the hand somehow got by them, to another part of the room. D'armes: 17 "There!"
D'armes, still kneeling, though upright, pointed with the dagger, towards the fireplace. Upon the mantle stood the gauntlet, upright with the fingers curled like a fist, except for the middle one, which stood erect.
Ura does a forward flip off the table and backs away from it, pulling out her bow and readying herself to shoot the hand if it appears within her range.
Roll for Initiative:
Order of Combat:
The hand tosses itself down from the mantle and into the flames of the fireplaces. For just a moment, it is visible, on fire and scurrying up the back of the stone construction and out of sight, into the chimney.
As soon as the hand appears, Ura releases her shot.
Attack: 18
Damage: 5
Disadvantage attack: 24