Quivering Corruption (DM Lerus)

Moneus takes the group into the residential district, back in the east part of town. The party even walks by the semi-burned Leadstopper home on their way to a different alleyway. Suddenly, the tiefling stops, looks at you, looks around to make sure no one is watching, and knocks on an unmarked door in a random home that looks no different from any others around it. A few seconds pass before a middle-aged dwarven man opens the door with a frown on his face. His expression changes once he recognizes Moneus, and silently steps aside to let the group in. The tiefling slips a pouch onto the dwarf's hand and leads the group upstairs.

The house is decorated like a normal home. Through one of the open bedroom doors upstairs, CRAP sees a dwarven lady with a more impressive beard than her husband putting a young dwarven boy to sleep. She politely closes the door and goes back to her motherly care-giving. Moneus moves on and knocks on the door of a different room. He waits a few seconds and knocks again. There is no response. His expression looks less confident now. He knocks harder. The child in the other room starts crying. Moneus knocks even harder, this time clearly attempting to break the door down. The mother shushes her youngling.

Moneus takes out his thieves' tools and opens the door quickly. The sparsely furnished room has a working desk as its centerpiece. Large curtains and pieces of paper float about as a brisk breeze enters the room from a carelessly opened window. The shutters flap in an asynchronous manner. A female silvery-white dragonborn in hunched over the central desk, a tonged shortsword sunk deep into her back. Her blood fills the desktop and is beginning to drip onto the floor.

Moneus simple says: "No... we tarried too long..." and freezes in place.

Graxx looks at the body and places his hand on Moneus shoulder and gives a brief squeeze before taking deep breath and exhaling out trying to remain calm.

Graxx will go the window sill.  And look all around it and outside of it if he can get outside.  Does he see any bloody footprints or anything that could be used to track the assassin?

Survival:  10

Utar almost bumbles into Moneus' back, then his eyes go wide and he is given pause as well. He should have come with Moneus after their fight at the docks. He should have left the temple with Moneus after their return to town. At least he might have been here when...

Utar suddenly thinks back to the execution of Rillo Leadstopper. Burral stood there in her armour, swinging the sword, carrying out sentence. Until that moment, Utar had just assumed his old comrades were living their lives, oblivious to him living his, just as he was busy doing. Years at seminary; then as a nomadic cleric, traveling the roads; lately in Phlan. Nothing that had touched them had so far been able to touch him. Until now.

Shaking his head, focusing his eyes, Utar sidesteps Moneus and takes in the scene before him. Breathing slowly, he reaches for the familiar weight of his amulet, casting [spell]guidance[/skill]. Reaching his other hand out, he lays out on the back of Litta's neck, trying to gauge whether she is still warm to the touch, whether this is recent.

Medicine 20 plus 3

From the moment the stoutling shuffled inside, Doozey is at a complete an utter loss for words. Moneus' knocking had already filled with him with a nugget of dread. But after seeing the scene itself? A scene bearing the body of another lifeless Dragonborn... because of him, or so he silently blamed himself for? He could not tear his eyes away from it. From her.

His eyes only grew wider as another scene played before his vision. A companion, a friend, and perhaps.... perhaps something more stood on her hands hands and knees over him, shielding him from the obsidian blade that might've pierced his skull. The stoutling began to tremble as started to lift...

And then he's back in the present, squeezing his eyes shut and muttering again to himself. This time those closest might catch the word, "Not now.. Not now.." several times, prior to the stoutling taking in a deep breath in through the nose. At this point, as if sensing the turmoil, Tater's pops his head out of the back, and looks at him almost worriedly. Seeing this, Doozey hardens his expression, and turns to look about the room more. "Ears open, Taters." He whispered, knowing the beast would stay on the look/ear out for anything lingering int he room as he went over to help whoever had a mind to examine it.

Tater's Perception: 15. (in case it comes up, adv. apply to sight and sound).

After the initial shock of walking in on a second crime scene in two days wears off, Neya first puts a consoling hand on Utar and gets to work looking for clues around the room for anything that may point to either who may be the culprit or where they might be.

Perception with Doozey's help: 20

As she looks around, she addresses Utar and Moneus, but mostly Utar, "I've been mostly avoiding this question because I don't know how painful the memories are. But, considering the circumstances, I guess asking it was inevitable. When your unit was still together, who were you fighting?"

Utar's shock is palpable. Once he gets a hold of himself, he approaches Litta and checks her pulse. She is dead, but her body is as warm as his own. The pool of blood is also still expanding and there is no sign that it has begun to dry just yet. All in all, it is safe to assume her assassination happened no more than a few minutes ago.

Doozey's reaction, at least outwardly, is not too different from the tiefling's and the half-orc's. He takes a few seconds to let the scene sink in before asking his newly bonded beast to listen around. Taters hops off the stoutling's shoulder and begins to follow a sound trail. You can't tell exactly what he picked up, but the creature is clearly moving towards the opened window.

Graxx is already examining the window by the time the almiraj points to it. The tribesman can't find anything wrong with the window itself, probably signaling that the perpetrator was quite skilled.

Neya follows Doozey's hunch that they should check beyond the window itself. Neya does so after consoling Litta's past mates and looks at the nightly scene of tall homes flanking the residential streets of eastern Phlan. Surely enough, she catches sight of a humanoid figure, wearing baggy but otherwise common clothes, jumping from rooftop to rooftop and away from the crime scene.

(OOC: I'm curious to see how Utar will respond to Neya's question.)

"Honestly, for the first few years, I went after whoever I was pointed at, but time is short, she's still warm."

Utar keeps his hands where they are, one tightly gripped on his amulet, the other on Litta's back, fingers spread. Looking to Moneus, he adds, "I'm going to try something, if it doesn't work, we need to get her back to the temple. Likely Litta can answer the questions we have."

With that, Utar closes his eyes and begins to murmur, quietly at first as motes of light appear in the air around him. Utar's voice increases in volume, slowly building as the motes of light increase in number and are drawn towards his hands.

"I do not claim to be anything more than a lowly foot soldier, but I have added to your lustre. Torm, this dragonborn brought me to your path, since I have been your servant. Who has stood in as many of your righteous battles as I? Hear me now, though I have no right to ask, deliver our friend back to us, that we may add to your glory anew."

Repeating his words, rhythmically, over and over, Utar takes his hand from his amulet, and places it on the hilt of the sword, ready to draw it out should his prayer be answered. Roaring his words now, his amulet glows, an almost blinding light, as he attempts a casting of revivify.

 Doozey likely had to either grab something or hop up to hang off the windowsill. But once/if Neya passes along her sighting of the figure, he scrambles up if need be to try and spy the figure himself. Without it, unless given reason not to in the moment, he'll look to Tater's next, noting its curiosity, before then have a looking either way. The moment (assuming) he lays eyes upon the "fleeing" figure, it's almost like a switch flips on in mind. The world beyond the figure, if only for a few seconds, grows indistinct as the entirety of his focus narrows upon the figure.

"Marked." He whispered softly in some alien yet familiar tongue to Neya, having heard him spoke the word before in battle. After which, he is measuring distance between roofs, preparing to follow the figure's example to an extent. But if not even remotely possible, he is racing for the door by the time the light show began in full with tater's at his side. The Hunter was in charge now.... unless someone is able to catch or snap him out of the state.

If the above never comes to be by circumstances, he stands still by the windowsill, lost in thought until Utar's spell drew his gaze over.

Graxx sees Doozey go into kill mode and his eyes flare.

”They will pay!  Lead me Doozey!  Lead me to them!”

Graxx gets out his new Pike and wrings it with his hands.  His friend Utar has been hurt and vengeance will be dealt.

"I see someone on the roofs! I'll pursue from up there!" Neya says as she sweeps her hand in front of her eyes, allowing her to see through the dark of night (2 Ki points). "Do what you need to, Utar. I will need one of the sending stones so we can keep each other informed."

When the pursuit starts, she will use shadow step to get to the roofs engage and start after the figure.

(@MB: Please take 300gp out of your inventory.)

Utar answers Neya's question in a partial manner as he re-tightens the grip on his amulet. Moneus snaps out of his frozen state once the cleric calmly explains what he is about to try. Moneus tries to help by supporting Litta's body. There is little else he can do: "Come on, friend... bring her back to us if you can." He then says a short prayer to Torm. As Utar's voice rises, so do the light swirls around his body. As he finishes his incantation, he places a handful of small diamonds on Litta's opened palm (supported by Moneus) and the gems immediately absorb the light swirls before melting into the dragonborn's skin. With a loud gasp, Litta wakes up... barely. She does not have the strength to either rise or speak at the moment.

Moneus says: "I'll stay with her for a moment and then take her to the House of the Hand."

By the window, Graxx, Neya, Doozey, and Taters react to both the monk and the bunny. Neya makes sure everyone sees the fleeing suspect, who is about 120 feet away at the moment. Neya and Doozey each take a few extra seconds to cast a spell each, allowing the fugitive to increase their lead by another 60 feet. The monk cancels that addition by teleporting to a shadowy spot upon a roof (60 feet) and then running another 45 feet.

Doozey and Graxx also move though whether they jump onto the next roof (acrobatics roll please) or run to the streets, remains to be seen.

• Neya is 75 feet from the fugitive, and has eyes on them (lanterns and torches on the street help visibility too).
• Doozey is 180 feet away from the fugitive (before moving this round) but can magically tell where the fugitive is.
• Graxx is 180 feet away from the fugitive (before moving this round) and is following Doozey's lead.
• Utar is 190 feet from the fugitive and is not moving this round (took his "turn" to deal with Litta.)

(OOC: I'll need acrobatics rolls each turn someone is moving on the roofs. Neya gets a free pass this first round due to the teleport, but I'll need a roll from her as well next turn even if she repeats her skippity-skip.)

As it dons on him that wee little legs weren't going to get him far, Doozey unhesitatingly flips Neya his stone prior to their bamfing out(if possible). Turning to Graxx next, he shakes his head. "Even taking the rootops is too long for me." He admits. "Follow Neya and Tatter. If you fall behind them too much, and I see you going my own way, I'll try to get back on the right track along the way. But go now!" He requested, and then with hardly a look to Tatters, points out the window in the direction Neya fled.

"Elzo Neya Nissa!" He commands in halfling, knowing the shorter command to be more informative than any long winded one for the beast.

Run, Tattertot, Run!: 23.

Tatter doesn't even hesitate. Between a good night's rest and its secret history as a noble jester's companion, the beast leaped out the window onto the next roof and would bound after Neya; his sole objective being to follow and protect her to the best of his little ability.

Meanwhile, Doozey finally looks to Utar, opens his mouth as if to say something, only to immediately swallow the words. "I'm taking the streets. Do what you will." With that, he hustles his way outside as fast as possible to give chase.

The chase is on!

Acrobatics: 2

OOC: Oh no!

Utar takes his potion of greater healing and hands it off to Moneus. "She might need this before long. You might see if the goodwill I've fostered at the temple extends to a private room for a while. I'll keep in touch, brother."

Knowing Doozey has descended to the streets, Utar follows suit, clambering out the window and dashing after the stoutling.

Acrobatics 2

OOC: Oh no! Not again!

Neya keeps up her pursuit, with the hopes of catching up to and intercepting the alleged culprit (Using her move speed and shadow step).

Acrobatics: 19

If she catches up (hopefully, the trend doesn't continue), she try to use her quarterstaff to sweep the legs to slow or even stop the runner.

Sweep the legs! (nonlethal): 21 Damage: 10

Forgot advantage: 17

Seeing that she is still a ways from the culprit even after teleporting, she moves to close the distance entirely.

(OOC: Just to make it official, yes, Neya catches Doozey's sending stone before turning on pursuit mode.)

Doozey tells both Taters and Graxx to follow Neya out the window while he takes it to the streets. The fantastical rabbit has no trouble balancing on the inclines and hopping from roof to roof, and he is faster than anyone could have expected! Once he sees his new beast companion leaping, Dozzey turns around and leaves the home through the front door. It is the safer choice, but the stoutling does not make any headway toward the perpetrator.

Encouraged by the leaping feats of the tiny creature, Graxx steps on the sill and jumps. His leap takes him to the neighboring roof, but the barbarian does not land as gracelessly as planned. Instead, he goes straight through it, landing awkwardly on some stranger's kitchen. Debris fall on his head and some old lady screams for her life. (Graxx takes 9 fall and debris damage.)

Utar turns to hand a healing potion to Moneus, not witnessing what just happened to Graxx. The tiefling nods in agreement with the half-orc's suggestion and Utar turns to face the window too. He chooses to descend to the streets but decides not to bother with the front door. He pays for his decision by slipping out the window and hitting the ground with his back first. All the extra weight from his armor and equipment make the fall particularly hurtful. (Utar takes 10 fall damage.)

Both the cleric and the barbarian stand back up and move onto a wider street, the latter comically covered in brick/tile dust. The ranger sees them a few feet ahead.

(Another post coming soon.)

(OOC: As per our OOC Chat.)

The fugitive continues dashing and jumping, putting more and more distance between them and their followers. The exception is Neya (and Taters) who uses her knowledge of the shadows to close the distance. Neya is moving so fast (150 feet in one turn... monks!) she can even overtake the fugitive by a few feet! However, as she closes in, there is a mutual gasp!

@Neya:

Neya and the fugitive pause for a moment, staring at each other. 

• Neya has caught up with the fugitive, benefiting from darkvision.
• Taters is moving fast, but still 140 feet away from the fugitive.
• Doozey is 240 feet away from the fugitive on the streets but can magically tell where the fugitive is.
• Graxx is 230 feet away from the fugitive on the streets.
• Utar is 230 feet from the fugitive next to Graxx.

 Taters will continue to try and use the roofs as its play ground...

Acrobatics(DC ???): 13.

(No! Mr. Taters! Not you too! You were the chosen one!)

UNFORTUNATELY, being trapped in a cage for whoever knew long is not very conducive to practicing one's old tricks of a trade. And so it was that a magnificent flipping through the air ended... poorly, to say the least.

Perhaps he collided with some kind of flag pole, then slowly slide down it face first prior to gravity taking enough control to the rest of the body outright down.

Perhaps his horn got stuck inside said flag pole or wall, leaving him daggling there?

Or perhaps much like Utar and Graxx, the gravity decided that bunnies are not to be airborn.

Either which way, he would need a moment to compose himself. Meanwhile, Doozey continued to jog along, noting Graxx and Utar's states in passing, before just shaking his head and carrying on at a brisk pace.

Utar spends a moment looking at the sky, recovering his breath. Getting to his feet, he makes a mental note to check over the contents of his pack for breakages at some point but given the need to catch the assassin, he decides to beat feet after the stoutling.

Graxx wipes the dust from his eyes and blows some more out of this mouth.

Graxx gives chase on the road!