Shackled City - Life's Bazaar

Chapter One: Gone In The Night
Cauldron, late autumn, shortly before nightfall.

IC: Steady drizzle falls from the ash-gray sky. The crowded, rain-slicked buildings seem especially bleak and frightful this evening, hunched together beneath the tireless rain. A few lights burn in their eyes, but mostly their shutters have been closed for the night. The scent of chimney smoke fills the air. The din of water trundling from the rooftops can be heard, splashing into dark alleys, and turning street gutters into rivulets.

A sudden, plaintive cry for help splits the evening air. It seems to come from somewhere close by.

OOC: Please use this introductory post to establish why your character is out and about on this rainy evening. It's a great opportunity to reveal something about your character's personality. Please conclude with your character's response to the cry for help.

-CH

Fenrik was drenched. Not because it was raining hard, but because of how long he'd been stuck out in it. His brown hair looked like a thick, black, thing matted to his skull. He stood across the street from the inn, blue eyes glaring at the closed door and shutters. Stupid inkeeper...it wasn't as if it was a crime to compliment a lady on her looks.

Sighing, Fenrik walked along the street idly. Never did figure out if it was the guy's wife or his daughter. Maybe it didn't matter. He tapped the rapier's hilt on his belt as he walked. Besides, it was just a polite comment, not an offer or anything. Well, it could have been an offer...should have been. Alright, he was a little blatant on intent in there.

At least Fenrik wasn't tired...he grinned, that had been the whole point of the compliment. One day, he decided, one day he knew he'd win. Then, he heard a cry. Now, Fenrik's ears are well designed for hearing cries of distress, and he could pinpoint nearly the exact age and sex of the crier if it was quiet enough. Here, with the rain, it wasn't. So he dreamed. A young, beautiful, and probably also drenched woman was in need of help! A ha! Perfect!

The grin on his face grew, and he dashed off towards the sound, hand on his rapier's hilt and doing his best to look dashing in the current state of being soaked.

Vishan "Shan" Xandrythar pulled his gray cloak tighter about him as he walked through the wet dusk. Rufus, the gray wolf-hound, walked by his side, seemingly oblivious to the drizzle. A few days ago Shan had struck up a conversation with a pretty female merchant from a passing caravan heading to Cauldron. The merchant told him some rumors about the place. One of the rumors involved his famous wizard grandfather, whose name Shan bore. It seems the great wizard spent some time in the city of Cauldron in the year before his disappearance, setting up an instant magical tower there. He stayed for quite a while, for reasons unknown. The strange lights and sounds from his tower created all sorts of rumors. It's not often that a wizard of Shan's grandfather's repute sets up shop in a distant city. Why was he there? And why did he disappear again so suddenly?

Shan did not let the pretty merchant know that he was Vishan Xandrythar, grandson of the great wizard of the same name. Sharing his grandfather's name was difficult. Even though he thought it might impress the girl, Shan found it hard to live up to people's expectations of him. So he travelled as simply Shan, The Gray Trader, seeking to learn of the world.

His curiousity piqued by the stories of his grandfather in Cauldron, and by the merchant's sweet smile, Shan joined up with the caravan. He didn't get anywhere with the flirty female, who failed to mention that she was engaged to be married to one of the other merchants, but he did, at least, make it to Cauldron safely. He spent the day in a tavern, resting from his long journey and talking to the local city folk, learning about the city. Posing as a trader, he had a plan. He would seek out a magic shop, one that bought and sold goods from adventurers, one that his grandfather might have done business with. Perhaps he could get a job there as a scribe or salesman. But the people at the tavern didn't know of a magic shop. He was talking to the wrong crowd.

Shan had purchased a room for the night, but riding in the caravan wagons all day had made him a bit stiff. With Rufus by his side, he went out to walk and stretch his legs, and explore the city a bit before it got too dark. Hearing the cry for help, he moved towards the sounds.

Thalon stepped down the heavy stone steps from the inn, pulling the door closed behind him. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Normally, he would have rejoiced as the rain fell, welcoming its pure and clear droplets upon his face, where they would wash off the grime and dirt from a long day's travel, refreshing him and carrying with them the scent of blossoming flowers and dense, towering trees. Not so in Cauldron. The air here was hot and heavy during the days, smoke-filled and dark, and he did not like its implications: to Thalon, it seemed as if the air and earth themselves were at war perpetually, struggling, but neither side gaining the upper hand.

Even the rain that falls here feels sticky and dirty. I shall not remain here any longer than I have need to.

Sighing, the elf strode out on the street and made his way through the narrow alleys, feet stepping on stone everywhere they went.

This town is dead already, they just do not know it yet.

Passing between two looming structures, Thalon is suddenly roused from his thoughts by a piercing cry. Instinctively, he crouches down, his back to a nearby wall, the stones cold and clinging against his back.

That cry ... it almost sounded like a ...

Hands flexing over the hilts of his trusted kukris, the elf quickly scans the road for the quickest route toward the source of the sound. Having found it, he will approach quickly, but not at an all - out run, sticking close to the buildings.

{OOC - Could I make a listen check to try and determine the manner of being that uttered the cry?}

Ryltar said:

{OOC - Could I make a listen check to try and determine the manner of being that uttered the cry?}

Click to expand...

OOC: Certainly!

IC: Crouching low against the sides of the nearby buildings, Thalon perks up his keen ears as he carefully moves towards the sound of the cry for help.

[Listen Check]
-CH

"Ugh, does it have to rain so much here?" Aleria thought to her self as she walked through the city, she stops for a moment under an awning that provides partial protection from the rain. She leans her quarter staff up against the wall and attempts to wring out her hair and to examine it closer.

With a sigh she flips it behind her and grabs her staff. "I should have asked Kip for more of that lotion before I left, its going to be a nightmare to comb it out once I find a place to stay." Thinking of her mentor brought a smile to her face, for all his supposed crankiness he was a good man, he brought her in and treated her with care and respect.

With another sigh she walks back out into the rain. "First things first get a room and then tomorrow start checking out the elven communities, hopefully someone here will have some knowledge of her birth parents. More then likely just like the dozens of other cities that she has been to no one will no any..."

Her thoughts were interupted by the cry of help and instantly she brings up her staff in a defesive stance. She almost takes off towards the sound, but the the words of her mentor remind her that it wasn't unheard off for thieves to pretend to be the victim luring would be heros into a trap.

She pauses for a moment and casts mage armor on herself and then cautiously goes towards where the sound came from.

<hide +3 move silently +3>

Brokkus whistles to himself as he wanders the streets this evening. Even though the rain, he can't help but be happy in this place. For months he has travelled, seeking this place. When he heard tales of a city nestled in the caldera of a volcano--a volcano!--he couldn't resist going there.

This kind of place was exactly what he had left the monastery for. This place perched so precariously between earth and air. Brokkus gives thanks to Obad-Hai for making this moment possible, and straightens his soaking green tunic over the scale mail it's clinging to in the rain.

Having just recently arrived, Brokkus has yet to see any other dwarves here. For that matter, he isn't even sure yet if there is a temple of Obad-Hai here. Perhaps he will find one on his walk tonight.

Brokkus turns up his nose at the sight of sewage being washed toward the lake by the rain. But even that is not enough to dampen his mood. He resumes his whistling--a song of the deep places under the earth which he learned as a small boy. A twinkle returns to his eyes.

Suddenly he hears a cry!

"What was that?" he mutters to himself. He begins to lumber toward the direction of the cry, making no effort to hide himself but simply loping down the middle of the road.

"Perhaps I can be of some use if someone is hurt and needs healed," he thinks to himself.

But he grabs the handle of his waraxe just in case...

Aleria successfully casts Mage Armor on herself before stealthily moving towards the sound of the cry.

All: The characters follow the noises to the mouth of a mist-shrouded alley, wherein they see three figures assaulting a fourth, who lies face down on the wet cobblestones. One of the attackers lifts the victim by the hood of his cloak and thrusts him against a wall as another growls, “Stay away from the orphanage, you got that?”

The third assailant appears to have been keeping a watch out, and so, has no trouble spotting the small crowd that has assembled at the mouth of the alleyway. Dropping one hand near the hilt of a short sword, he shouts menacingly, "Hey! Bugger off! This don't concern you!" As he does so, PCs notice that his face is painted half-white, half-black, as though some crude attempt at mimicking a harlequin's mask.

[Actions?]

-CH

Shan only looks at the scene for a moment, before leaning casually against the alley wall and commenting "How rude! But since we're here, let me ask where you got your make-up! Did you apply it yourself? It looks quite good, actually. Are you part of the circus, ord does it mean something else?"

Shan smiles at the others who've gathered at the alley entrance, and looks around, getting the lay of the land.

((Before Fenrik acts...have to ask for a Spot check to see if he can determine the gender of the others. Yes, he's the bad. ))