Daunton's Dead Shadow (DM:Ukingsken, Judge:????)
skotothalamos
formerly roadtoad
[sblock=ooc]
I'll probably be good by the end of this week, so as long as we don't hit combat til next week, Vrrsk't can stoically follow the group around and I should be okay.
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I'll probably be good by the end of this week, so as long as we don't hit combat til next week, Vrrsk't can stoically follow the group around and I should be okay.
[/sblock]
covaithe
Explorer
[sblock=Coming soon to a thread near you...]Between some not-entirely-unexpected incompetence from Virgin Media and the fact that I totally underestimated how much work it is to move house, I'm a day or two behind where I'd hoped to be on this game. But I'm making good progress, and hope to have it started up this weekend. Thanks for your (continued) patience.
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covaithe
Explorer
And here we go...
The address on the paper from Belingras proves to be a nice house in a modestly well-to-do neighborhood on Daunton's upper west side. The streets are conspicuously quiet as you approach, except for the sound of teams of carpenters working hard on several homes. On inspection, they seem to be installing reinforced doors and fancy new locks. Clearly word of the murders has circulated through the neighborhood.
The house in question is easy to spot, since a pair of Daunton's city guards in well-oiled chainmail and polished halberds stand in front of it. The guards nod and step aside as you approach. Clearly they are expecting you.
The inside of the house is a horrible mess. Actually, there are two different kinds of horrible mess. Throughout the house, there are signs that it was thoroughly and invasively searched: pillows are slashed and the stuffing spilled out, desks smashed to flinders and the remains combed through, drawers upended, their bottoms punched through in case they be false, and cast aside in heaps. The walls bear regular signs of heavy impacts, here and there actually breaking through the surface plaster and splintering the wood beneath. Whoever did this was looking for something.
The other mess, though is concentrated in one room. A grand central hall, surely the pride of its owner once, has been hastily cleared, and five bodies lie there in the middle of a huge, ragged pool of blood, still sticky in places. Each body is bound hand and foot, gagged, and has been repeatedly slashed and stabbed many times in careful patterns.
[sblock=Skill challenge: Investigate the house]Six success before three failure. Primary skills are perception and thievery; those skills count toward the challenge any number of times. Also available are up to one success each from Insight and Dungeoneering. Skills available may change, depending on what happens. Everyone has to go once before anyone can go a second time.
Any other skill can be used to try to provide a bonus to a primary skill check, if I think it's appropriate. Be creative, but realistic.
[/sblock]
The address on the paper from Belingras proves to be a nice house in a modestly well-to-do neighborhood on Daunton's upper west side. The streets are conspicuously quiet as you approach, except for the sound of teams of carpenters working hard on several homes. On inspection, they seem to be installing reinforced doors and fancy new locks. Clearly word of the murders has circulated through the neighborhood.
The house in question is easy to spot, since a pair of Daunton's city guards in well-oiled chainmail and polished halberds stand in front of it. The guards nod and step aside as you approach. Clearly they are expecting you.
The inside of the house is a horrible mess. Actually, there are two different kinds of horrible mess. Throughout the house, there are signs that it was thoroughly and invasively searched: pillows are slashed and the stuffing spilled out, desks smashed to flinders and the remains combed through, drawers upended, their bottoms punched through in case they be false, and cast aside in heaps. The walls bear regular signs of heavy impacts, here and there actually breaking through the surface plaster and splintering the wood beneath. Whoever did this was looking for something.
The other mess, though is concentrated in one room. A grand central hall, surely the pride of its owner once, has been hastily cleared, and five bodies lie there in the middle of a huge, ragged pool of blood, still sticky in places. Each body is bound hand and foot, gagged, and has been repeatedly slashed and stabbed many times in careful patterns.
[sblock=Skill challenge: Investigate the house]Six success before three failure. Primary skills are perception and thievery; those skills count toward the challenge any number of times. Also available are up to one success each from Insight and Dungeoneering. Skills available may change, depending on what happens. Everyone has to go once before anyone can go a second time.
Any other skill can be used to try to provide a bonus to a primary skill check, if I think it's appropriate. Be creative, but realistic.
[/sblock]
covaithe
Explorer
[sblock=Wiki love]As part of working up to starting this adventure, I went through the previous one and took some notes for the wiki, which you can find here: Broken Wards. Check it out if you feel like it, and feel free to clarify anything I've missed or messed up.
I've started a similar page for this adventure, which I intend to (try to) keep up as we go along: Daunton's Dead Shadow
For what it's worth, this is in the "new wiki".
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I've started a similar page for this adventure, which I intend to (try to) keep up as we go along: Daunton's Dead Shadow
For what it's worth, this is in the "new wiki".
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Last edited:
RedBeardJim
First Post
Morvannon looks around wide-eyed at the destruction. "Whatever the motives here, I doubt very much that greed was among them. There's a lot of items still here that would fetch a good price to folks like the Red Boots."
[sblock=Mechanics and OOC]Streetwise skill check tohelp a primary check: 1d20+10=21[/sblock]
[sblock=Mechanics and OOC]Streetwise skill check tohelp a primary check: 1d20+10=21[/sblock]
Oni
First Post
As the neighborhood grew nicer and more orderly Magnus seemed increasingly out of place. He hardly seemed to notice though as he stumped his jangling way along the streets, instead his attention was captured by the work being done on the various doorways. More than once he stopped and watched with intense interest until someone pulled him away.
When they finally arrived at their destination, the mad dwarf had stood at the threshhold, eyes sharply perusing the threshhold from underneath a heavy brow. If one did not know him, all this attention to the liminal space might perfectly practical given the situation. He studied for a long while before entering the house and looking around.
Walking through the chaos Magnus made his way to the bodies. With a soft jingling sound he paced around them slowly, his staff clacking at regular intervals on the floors. Occasionally he would stop and cock his head to the side or walk off and confer with Kamotz in muted, though confusing, fashion or he would trace his stubby finger through the air trying to follow the patterns that had been cut in the victims.
[sblock=ooc]
Perception to aid Kamotz's next check. (1d20+4=7)
Are the patterns cut into the the victims recognizable as anything in particular. I didn't know what was appropriate to roll to recognize the symbology if there is any.
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When they finally arrived at their destination, the mad dwarf had stood at the threshhold, eyes sharply perusing the threshhold from underneath a heavy brow. If one did not know him, all this attention to the liminal space might perfectly practical given the situation. He studied for a long while before entering the house and looking around.
Walking through the chaos Magnus made his way to the bodies. With a soft jingling sound he paced around them slowly, his staff clacking at regular intervals on the floors. Occasionally he would stop and cock his head to the side or walk off and confer with Kamotz in muted, though confusing, fashion or he would trace his stubby finger through the air trying to follow the patterns that had been cut in the victims.
[sblock=ooc]
Perception to aid Kamotz's next check. (1d20+4=7)
Are the patterns cut into the the victims recognizable as anything in particular. I didn't know what was appropriate to roll to recognize the symbology if there is any.
[/sblock]
CaBaNa
First Post
It seemed that the nicer the houses got, the more intricate their trim and decor, the harder it was getting Magnus to keep moving.
The shifter failed to notice the mad dwarf pause in the entryway, and kept moving into the house. It wasn't until Kamotz noticed the silence that he remembered to pull Magnus through the entryway, pausing long enough for him to doodle if he wished.
Once inside, Kamotz surveyed the damage, and strolled each room, sniffing. Finally coming to the pile of bodies, and pouring attention over them... After his search he went to the kitchen to examine the refrigerator.
The comforting sound of Morvannon softly mumbling, and Magnus Jangling was heard as Kamotz made his food. Both were speculating on the case, offering insights into the turn out. Kamotz chips in what he has found, and helps to synthesize a good starting hypothesis.
[sblock=OOC]
22 perception towards skill check
1 Arcana
21 dungeoneering
11 nature
17 religion
(Knowledge skill to identify races of bodies.)[/sblock]
The shifter failed to notice the mad dwarf pause in the entryway, and kept moving into the house. It wasn't until Kamotz noticed the silence that he remembered to pull Magnus through the entryway, pausing long enough for him to doodle if he wished.
Once inside, Kamotz surveyed the damage, and strolled each room, sniffing. Finally coming to the pile of bodies, and pouring attention over them... After his search he went to the kitchen to examine the refrigerator.
The comforting sound of Morvannon softly mumbling, and Magnus Jangling was heard as Kamotz made his food. Both were speculating on the case, offering insights into the turn out. Kamotz chips in what he has found, and helps to synthesize a good starting hypothesis.
[sblock=OOC]
22 perception towards skill check
1 Arcana
21 dungeoneering
11 nature
17 religion
(Knowledge skill to identify races of bodies.)[/sblock]
covaithe
Explorer
Morvannon surmises that whoever ransacked this place must have been looking for something specific, rather than just to steal valuables.
Magnus examines the bodies, but gets distracted by all the blood. So much of it, intermingled from so many bodies...
Kamotz examines the bodies as well. They are all human: two older men, one in rich nightclothes and one in simple servant's garb; a middle-aged woman in a cook's apron, and two teens, a boy and a girl, both richly clothed. Kamotz notices that most of the bodies have their mouths locked closed, as if in a rictus of pain. But one body, the teen girl's, has a mouth that gapes open in a rather unlifelike way. Peering close, he sees several teeth are broken or chipped, their jagged edges still fresh.
[sblock=Status]Morvannon grants +2 to the next thievery check. Magnus grants no bonus. Kamotz gets a success, unlocking Heal as a primary skill for a single success. Regarding the patterns of cuts on the bodies, Arcana or Religion or Heal could potentially give different kinds of information.
1 success, 0 failures. +2 to next Thievery check. Vrrsk't, Grakk, and Vixo are up.
[/sblock]
Magnus examines the bodies, but gets distracted by all the blood. So much of it, intermingled from so many bodies...
Kamotz examines the bodies as well. They are all human: two older men, one in rich nightclothes and one in simple servant's garb; a middle-aged woman in a cook's apron, and two teens, a boy and a girl, both richly clothed. Kamotz notices that most of the bodies have their mouths locked closed, as if in a rictus of pain. But one body, the teen girl's, has a mouth that gapes open in a rather unlifelike way. Peering close, he sees several teeth are broken or chipped, their jagged edges still fresh.
[sblock=Status]Morvannon grants +2 to the next thievery check. Magnus grants no bonus. Kamotz gets a success, unlocking Heal as a primary skill for a single success. Regarding the patterns of cuts on the bodies, Arcana or Religion or Heal could potentially give different kinds of information.
1 success, 0 failures. +2 to next Thievery check. Vrrsk't, Grakk, and Vixo are up.
[/sblock]
