Storms of Change, Part 2

[silentspace]

Dunathar moves into the room and performs a coup-de-grace on the first human (javelin thrower) while Filbert heals Adromon. As Filbert heals Zanock, Dunathar positions himself over the other human, raising his morningstar above his head, about to bring it down with full force on the priest of Hextor.

The priest wears chainmail. His morningstar is on the floor next to him. He has a silver holy symbol (Hextor's symbol) around his neck. He has a ring of keys hanging from his belt. He wears no backpack or pouches.

The javelin thrower wears scale mail, and has a quiver of four javelins (plus one that hit Dunathar). There is a large wooden shield strapped to his left arm, and a longsword on his belt. He wears no backpack or pouches.

Both sets of armor look new and well-tended.

On top of the desk is a quill, ink, and a piece of parchment with writing on it. Blood is splattered over these items (apparently from Dunathar's arrows or Adromon's glaive, judging from the direction of the splatter). The desk also has drawers. Testing the drawers, you find them to be locked.

 

[Seonaid]

Rowyn looks away from Dunathar's grisly task. I know this is necessary, but somehow it doesn't seem right either. She glances at the paper on the desk.

 

[silentspace]

Rowyn steps to the desk, looking at the parchment. At first Rowyn thinks it is a scroll of some sort, probably magical. Then she begins to recognize some some of the runic letters. Actually, it looks like a mix of alphabets all thrown together! There are some Common letters, some in Dwarven, and what was that... Infernal! Not that Rowyn could read or understand these letters, but her studies of ancient texts had at least familiarized herself with them...

The letter is written in some sort of code. Fortunately, Rowyn has some skill in Deciphering a message such as this!

She stares at the letters. Was it a simple code, transferring one letter for another? She studies the text for a minute, but can't make heads or tails of it. Perhaps if she sat down, and studied it for a good twenty minutes or so, she might have better success...

[Rowyn's now a minute ahead of the rest of you, in case anyone wanted to post anything time-critical. Time Warp!]

 

[Seonaid]

[Ahead of the rest . . .] Rowyn sits down with the letter, and looks more closely at it. She squints as if that will help and moves the parchment closer to and farther from her face for the same reason. Her brow furrows in thought.

 

[Verbatim]

Dunathar's face was grim as he began to wipe his weapon clean and began to gather all the useful items he could for his companions. Stripping the arms and armor off of the fallen bodies, Dunathar placed them against the desk and watched as Rowyn began to examine the desk. When he heard that the drawers were locked, Dunathar tried the keys from the fallen priest first before breaking out his "tools".

 

[silentspace]

Dunathar’s morningstar slams down on the second human’s head with a sickening thud, killing him. The dwarf gathers the captured equipment and places it by the desk. Examining them, he sees that all the armor and weapons, save the javelins, appear to be of masterwork quality.

Taking the keys from the cleric, Dunathar tries them on the locked drawer. One of the keys works, and the drawer opens. Inside the drawer are three books, some more writing supplies, and a small locked wooden box.

--

Rowyn climbs up onto the human-sized chair and studies the paper. Minutes pass as she scans the paper, looking for patterns. She starts to wonder - does she have the skill to do this? Is it a Code she's capable of Deciphering? Wait... with a sudden insight she starts to see a pattern! But no... that was only partially it... it was more than just a simple transposition of letters. Were they re-arranged as well? That could be it... maybe not all words were rearranged the same way...? Did it have something to do with the number of letters? Or perhaps the line on the page...? It was quite a complex arrangement.

The others watch as Rowyn sits at the desk with the piece of paper. Her eyes fly over the page every which way. Her fingers tap on the desk as she seems to count with them. Without taking her eyes from the paper, she grabs the quill and starts scribbling notes madly on the margin...

A few minutes later she is finished, and holds up the parchment:

Dear Lord-General Nazdin,

The preparations are nearing completion. Just yesterday, I sent the last payment to Aygar. Once again, your foresight is supreme. I am just a lowly functionary in Hextor’s army, but I apologize for myself and on behalf of my Church for doubting your vision of re-creating the war-bond with Aygar’s trolls. You were right, with the proper gifts, and exploiting their resentment of Warden Ricsten's increased attacks, Aygar has decided to re-join us. Rangark has also been helpful with this. I was wrong to doubt you, just as I was wrong to doubt that we could establish this base so close to Shillen without them noticing, led by a minor priest of Hextor such as myself, and without the use of powerful magic, even!

You will be pleased to hear that through skillful negotiations with various humanoids here, I have ensured the safety of the ca...

The letter stops there, in mid-sentence.

--

Just then there is a faint sound through the closed door. It sounded like another door closing.

 

[Hurricain]

As soon as Devan hears the name General Nazdin, fury runs through his veins. Many emotions assualt young Devan at that moment , the memory of many loved ones and friends. As he looks down toward his bow , he sees his knuckles turning white from the grip. Only then does he take a deep breath and regain his senses.

"How can one being bring so much pain to so many." He whispers under his breath. The question vanishes as soon as he hears another door close.

Looking down at his wounds and the other party members he wonders just how they might survive another fight. The thought is pushed aside as he follows the lead of the party members.His Bow ready and in hand.

 

[Manzanita]

Manzanita

Manzanita nods grimly at Dunathor's coup de grace. "Bitter times require bitter deeds." She takes a few moments to study the other books in the desk. When she hears the sounds outside, she perks up. "We must prepare ourselves. Does you wand have more power, Filbert? Devan looks like he could use some help." She places her lantern on the desk, to shine directly at the door, then fits an arrow to her bow, and draws back the bow slightly.

 

[Verbatim]

Looking down at his unconscious companions, Dunathar's throat became dry and he wondered how many battles had they backed themselves into by coming this way. He quickly forced the dark thoughts away, and slid the priest's morningstar into his belt.

~They will not take me down for not having a means todefend myself with...~

As Manzanita inquired into the healing wand Filbert had, Dunathar leaned down once more and grabbed the four javelins from the pile.

"I will try to buy us some time while Filbert uses his wand...."

With that, Dunathar tried to blend into the shadows as best he could once he was out of the lantern's glow.

 

[Seonaid]

Rowyn reads the letter to the group grimly. "It must have been one of those two"--she points to the dead humans--"was writing this as we entered." At the sound, she looks up, startled. She grips her crossbow tightly and prepares for another battle. Fharlanghn, save your children! she prays. We cannot survive another fight like the one we just finished.