You and a party of friends are out bar-hopping in the cold night. You are not expecting a fight, thus the only armaments and protection you have brought are light weapons and armor. Nor are you planning on exploring any dungeons, so you haven't brought any dungeoneering equipment. But you have of course discussed the possibility of one day embarking on an adventure with each other, so even if the tools are not readily on hand, the thought is nearby.
Curtains of water fall from the sky as you traverse the labyrinthine walkways of Sharn. The stone and wooden paths wind around and between the towers and spires high above the ground, forming a complex latticework that can be very confusing on evenings such as this. The rain falls hard, running off higher walkways and balconies in drenching waves, making it difficult to see much more than a few feet ahead of you. The distant glow of everbright lanterns, barely visible in the soaking gloom, does little to light the paths on this warm, wet evening.
Spot DC 18
You spot a figure in a dark cloak moving quietly through the rain on the skybridge ahead. It seems to be avoiding the dim pools of light cast by the everbright lanterns, preferring to stay to the shadows. Lightning flashes, and you see a shape on the stone floor of the bridge in the brief illumination. The figure quickly reaches the railing of the skybridge, then slips over the barrier and disappears into the darkness and the rain.
Walking in silence, Slip stays close to his associates, while he does not fully understand the meandering from inn to inn, it is best to keep an eye on his friends. However, that said, he seems more focused on the pleasant ran pouring over his form, bringing a pleasant sheen to the wood and mithral of his body.
Kyl walks quietly, smiling at the sound of the rain bouncing off his friend's metal body. Kyl held is focus, like he always did. He looked around, and noticed a man on the bridge. He didn't think much of it...... until the man jumped off the bridge.
It had been a strange night for Talakhad, he did not drink, but the Seer had told him he needed - they all needed - to learn about those they lived amidst, the Kalashtar could not afford to make enemies of the people of Sharn and there was too much distrust as it was. Still he had always been personable and he seemed to fit in with this odd group well enough, and they were agreeable company. He did, however, wonder if Havakhad had quite this in mind, theri little group could hardly be called representative of Sharn's populance.
The cacophanous sound of the torrential rain was almost soothing as they walked ducking under walkways. As they walked to yet another bar the Kalashtar observed his companions, pleased at Slip's obviouys enjoyment of the rain.
And then he saw a figure through the rain, and before he can think anything of it the figure has disappeared over the side off the bridge.
"No!" Talakhad screams raceing forward in a desperate, and undoubtedly futile effort to save the person.
OOC: If he cannot see the figure, or the figure is falling....
"He just jumped..." He says lamely to Kyl, stunned, "Why? Why would anyone?" And then he recalls how the figure seemed to be avoiding the light and a dark suspision grips him. Swiftly he rushes to the shape on the bridge hopeing that his suspisions will not be confirmed.
Nevin happily strolled along the walkway despite the inclement weather, his cheeks a glow with the warmth of liquid cheer. He was certainly enjoying his new found freedom since he had left Arcanix. He wondered what all those old greybeards would think of him now. That caused him to chuckle to himself. His internal merrymaking was interrupted by exclamations from the odd assortment of people around him. He looked around at them blearily still half grinning to himself.
What's going on? You say someone jumped?
Nevin peered off into the darkness trying to see what had gotten them so worked up.
I will give megamania and Graybeard until I get home from work tonight (about 6:00 pm Central US time) to have a shot at a Spot check before moving on. Everyone else hold on making another post until the next update.
The skybridge ahead spans the distance between platforms attached to the sides of two different towers—Dalannan Tower and the Kelsa Spire. A body lies on the floor of the bridge, and you can see a mixture of rain and blood pooling around it. A leather satchel, still clutched tightly in the body's hand, lies in the expanding puddle of water and gore.
As Talakhad rushes forward, he clearly catches sight of something that was not previously in view.
OOC
Sorry about the file size. I'm not really sure why it is so big. I think it is because I enlarged the jpeg when posting it to the excel file. If it is an issue for anyone, let me know. I did zip it down to make it more manageable.
Kazmin walks slowly around the city as he has done often since his arrival, searching for his human friend. Many of the humans and other beings around him seem to be happy. Perhaps they had been drinking too heavily this evening.
Pulling his cloak tightly around him to help keep out the infernal rain, which seem so unlike the pleasant plant soakings of his home forest, he continues his stroll. Suddenly, he stops and stares intently. For a moment, he thought he saw someone trying not to be noticed. It must have been the strange magical light playing tricks upon his eyes for now Kazmin sees nothing except for the other late night walkers.
"Assassins!" Calls the Kalashtar raceing to the body. He checks for a pulse - knowing it is almost certainly futile - and finding none snatches up the satchel hopeing to save its contents.
"Summon the guard!" Talakhad calls back to his companions, as he rolls the body over and with a silent prayer to il-Yannah - the light - closes its eyes with gentle care. He murmurs, "Rest in peace stranger, I hope you go to the light."
__________________ Characters: Living EnWorld and L4W
I would like to clarify that I am assuming you all know each other and are traveling together this evening. You may not be the best of friends; some of you may have only come to the city recently. But you know each other nonetheless. I will leave the circumstances by which you came to know each other to you. You can leave it as a background detail that is unimportant, or you can work it out on the OOC thread. At any rate, you are already a group.
Talakhad's continued cries caused Nevin's cheery mood to evaporate, obviously something was really the matter. The young conjurer shook his head and tried to clear some of the fog, then jogged to his companion's side to see exactly what he was yelling about.
Is he...
ooc
Unless there's a reason not to, or someone stops him, Nevin will try to find the authorities after seeing the body himself.
__________________ Oni
"Each man, one way.
Each horse, one stance.
Each church, one buddha.
Each master to his own technique."
Kyl rushes to the kalashtar's side. "Where are these assassins?" he quietly asked. He was unwilling to summon his mindblade, for he could very easily see himself being blamed for this man's murder.
"He stepped off the bridge." Talakhad replies as he begins to go through the fellows pockets looking for identification papers, or anything else that might offer up a clue to the fellows identity.
__________________ Characters: Living EnWorld and L4W
Even under normal circumstances, one should be a fairly competent climber to navigate the towers of Sharn, being fairly strong and/or having several ranks in the Climb skill. With the rain pouring down, the DC is increased by 5 due to slickness. So I wouldn't recommend it unless you are a proficient climber. A failure in your Climb check by 5 or more is likely to result in plummeting to your death. The DC is currently 15.
Leaving the tending of the slain fleshling to the others, Slip moves himself off to the side, into a reactionary overwatch position, south and east of the bridge, at an equal distance between the two everburning lanterns there. Once in position, Slip will keep his eyes peeled to watch over his comrades.
Some of you are suddenly startled by the sounds of an approaching climber over the noise of the rain. Those of you who are aware of the approaching climber have a moment to prepare (standard actions only during the surprise round if you wish to assume a hostile status against the climber).
Here it is in jpg format. Significantly smaller size. There wasn't any way to do an XLS file that was decently sized unfortunately because of the graphics I was pasting into it.
Linear Mode
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