(Adventure) The Haunted Halls of Stonepike

[Guilt Puppy]

"I ain' paranoid 'r suspectin' o' nothin'," Sturm says, always indignant when he misses the point.

"'nyway, if'n ye care what this beastie is, ye'd best figure it ou' sooner 'n later, fer when I'm done with it not e'en its own mum'll ken from nothin' what it were."

Sturm's eager to get on with things; at the moment, that may mean talking with Lord Stonepike, but only if it'll get him one step closer to being face-to-face with whatever face he's s'posed to stick a scythe in.

 

[Aranel]

Aranel had finally wandered downstairs looking clean and fresher (or more so than she had for days) and in high spirits. Sitting own and helping herself to the largest amount she could eat, the Elf hummed to herself.

After listening in to the conversation she finally piped up again. "You never did answer me last night Telerin." she almost scolded the human in a playful manner. "But I had a thought, claws, vicious shredding, perhaps this beast is a werewolf...though I don't know why the bloodtrail would suddenly stop."

 

[Uriel]

The Page waits until you are all ready, and then leads you out of the Inn, across the courtyard (that has a much more wholesome look in the daylight) and once more into the Doors that lead to the Hall.

*********************************************************

A half an hour later, you stand in the Council room of Lord Freldrin Stonepike, Chamberlain Stogrim at his side. Several Dwarves are i attendance, and all (you included) are seated at a long table.
the Lord looks off to one side listlessly, the Chamberlain whispering into his ear occassionally, smiling and trying to bring a smile to his face, to no avail.
Chamberlain Stogrim, you have found, is an omtomistic fellow, if a bit frazzled.
The total deaths, as he tells it, are now at 24 in just over two weeks...

A door opens and a youngish Dwarf enters, slightly too-tight vestments marking him as a Priest of Chennet.This must be Brother Helad, the ranking Cleric at the Hall.

You have been listening to details of where attacks have hapened 9always inside the Halls, never out in the village), a Map upon the table marked with red X's. There seems to be no discernable pattern, with attacks taking place all over the place. There are indeed Crypts, as several of you discussed, and one of the first attacks was there (The second, in fact).



OoC:Map coming tomorrow. Feel free to ask questions of the following Dwarves in attendance:

Lord Stonepike
Chamberlain Stogrim
Brother Helad
Captain Bron of the Guard

 

[nimisgod]

"Lord Stonepike, my name is Sir Ishmael of the Wooden Sword, once squire to the dwarf Paladin Sir Mazan Ironsoul." The halfling spoke solemnly yet with emotion. He remembered the events of last eve and took the Dwarf Lord's grief to his own heart, empowering his own voice. "I offer two things, Great Lord: my condences for thine fallen subjects and my vow. Upon my master's grave, I swear to thee that these dwarves shall be avenged!"

Sir Ishmael looked to his companions to introduce themselves, knowing that he could not do them any justice if he did so himself.

OOC: will wait for the map before any questions

 

[dpdx]

After his introduction, similar to the one he gave the Chamberlain last night, Rurik asks his questions in Common for the 'benefit' of his group. He waits for an answer to the previous before moving on to the next:

"Can ye tell us if the causes of death looked similar fer all tha victims?"

"What ha'e ye done with tha remains of tha victims? An' ha'e those remains been a'tall disturb't?"

"We seem ta think tha' our victims was defenseless agin' tha beast, e'en when armed. Captain Bron an' Broth'r Helad, wha' is tha current number o' enchanted weapons amongst tha Guard, and ha'e any'un with such a weapon scored a blow that ye can tell agin' tha beast? Do we ha'e none o' tha beast's blood?"

"Did any o' tha victims look drain't o' stren'th, or jus' torn up like las' night's victim?"

Rurik pauses after the last question, in case anyone smarter than him has something to ask.

 

[Guilt Puppy]

"What were 'ese twenty-four doin' when they got 'it? I reckon we jes' do what same thing, 'n then tha' vexin' thing'll show up'n answer all our questions worth askin'."

 

[Aranel]

Aranel eyed the map, thinking to herself. At Sturm's words she gave him a long slow look. "Why that's a wonderful idea dear Sturm. We can all stand around with our hands over our eyes and our backs turned and wait for it to surprise us. Maybe it would even like a game of peekaboo. You never know." she scratched her temple thoughtfully.
"And I don't have any questions I want to ask it. Unless you really think it will actually agree to stand deflenceless and not move while we kill it. Or if it kept any treasure."
Aranel covered her mouth after a moment,this was not the best place for sarcasm. She gave him a slight sheepish grin. "Apologies, my tongue spoke before my mind thought."

She did have an actual question for everyone else. "Did anything at all happen before the attacks began? Perhaps you turned out a traveller...or perhaps there was a strange creature sighted...maybe anything as mundane as funny tasting water." she asked the surrounding Dwarves hopefully.

 

[Guilt Puppy]

"Why that's a wonderful idea dear Sturm. We can all stand around with our hands over our eyes and our backs turned and wait for it to surprise us. Maybe it would even like a game of peekaboo..."

Sturm nods, missing the sarcasm. "Kvit ye, Aranel... Though I'm thinkin' we shouldn' 'ave our 'ands o'er our eyes, so'n I can use 'em fer graspin' me scythe..."

He leans over toward Rurik and Thurgan (who I'm sure are conveniently both in on the same side): "Silly point... Where'd she learn 'bout battlin'?"

 

[dpdx]

Rurik grimaces at Aranel's comments.

"I dun take kindly to th' idea o' settin' ourselves up as bait, an' I dun think 'es what Sturm meant, neither. Least, I 'ope not. But we sure could try n' figure where tha beast'd be, when."

 

[Keia]

Thurgan gave a non-commital grunt to the conversation between Aranel and Sturm, but later gave a wink in Aranel's direction. IT seemed to him that some good questions were asked. He just shuffled his feet and waited to get on with the hunting . . . then he had a thought.

"Mebbe we might need a special kinda weapon to harm t'beastie, . . . wood 'er silver 'er somethin' er other," Thurgan mumbled more to himself than to anyone in particular . . . being somewhat nervous he spoke his thought out loud.