[KAUAI]The Rod of Seven Parts: Of Hexes and Gems

[Voadam]

The man shrugs and says, "Dunno. Just got here a few minutes ago. Them guards're actin' funny. Why're they facin' the gate, and not the crowd?" A woman carrying a basket of vegetables leans across the man and says, "Been here 'bout an hour now. I heard one of the priests say that these twelve just up and turned on one another, but if you're asking me, that don't explain why them two," and the woman points at the dead guards, "are missing their heads. Can't no mortal do that with their bare hands."

"No. Tis a rare talent for a mortal. Thank you Goodwoman. Which set of priests here? Can you tell what church?"

 

[Voadam]

Voadam does a quick mental correlation of the Citadel Gate to the map of the city he saw earlier, trying to figure out whether admiralty troops are out of place here or not before asking about their presence.

ooc kn geo+7

 

[Ambrus]

Maelicent, trying to remain discreet, offers Voadam his opinion though he himself only understands half of what he's saying seeing as how he's merely paroting what he's heard about such black robed dead-collectors from Frane. "They look like tha undertaker mages from tha Tower o' Xylla."

 

[CanadienneBacon]

The woman and the goodman both look at Voadam funny. "Xylla, a'course. Black wagon an' all. Yer not from here, are you?" The woman with the basket squints at Voadam and then steps backward away from him, suddenly uncertain. Doing so allows her a view of Maelicent and she shrieks, "Goblinkind! Goblinkind amongst us! Goblinkind!" The crowd, already nervous, steps backward away from Voadam, Maelicent, Gamad the Albino, Chev, and Brakkus atop Chop Liver. Voices hush and fingers point from the edge of the crowd ringing the companions. Several of the pikemen facing the broken portcullis do an about face and openly stare at Gamad and Maelicent. A uniformed man with silver braid on his epaulets at the end of the curtain wall gate starts to bark at the out-of-rank guardsmen who stare but then follows his mens' eyes to Gamad and Maelicent and stops barking at his men. Striding over from the smashed portcullis to Brakkus, the silver-epauletted guardsman points at Maelicent and loudly questions Brakkus. "You there, with the horse! These your friends? What is that THING doing here? These folk are riled up enough, if that THING is with you, get it the hell away and quick." The officer is short-tempered, impatient, and seems afraid.

[sblock=Brakkus]This man is a Commander within the Admiralty. That's a middling high rank, which bespeaks that something important has happened here. Normally, an ensign or maybe a lieutenant would be sent to deal with a mundane disturbance. The fact that the Admiralty dispatched a Commander is telling. This man doesn't seem like a desk jockey. He's of good height and bulky with muscle, which is fairly unlike most of the officers within the Guard. He's also not just any plain jane guardsman, he's "Navy." Brakkus has him pinned for Blue Guard, one of the city's most elite units, generally well-revered and not to be trifled with. Blue Guardsmen are known to like a good fight and rarely lose, and are oft-forgiven by higher ups.[/sblock]

 

[CanadienneBacon]

Voadam does a quick mental computation and decides that Admiralty troops regularly mix with the city guards but that their presence here may be because the citadel gate is very close to the Admiralty's administrative buildings just a short jaunt away to the east. The Admiralty's here either because of their proximity or maybe because something serious has happened; it seems like the carnage took place maybe a couple of hours ago. They could be secondary troops at this late stage.

Voadam and Maelicent both give a quick look at the broken portcullis and note that the wall of thorns and overgrown foliage that normally shrouds the gate is intact. There are no large holes, spider-shaped or otherwise, in the bower of thorny vines that block the gate.

 

[Ambrus]

Maelicent panics and bolts towards cover the moment the female begins screaming, desperately trying to reach a hiding spot before the rest of the crowd take notice of him.

 

[CanadienneBacon]

[sblock=Chev]The cassocked priests are wizards from the city's Tower of Xylla. The Tower takes in all the city's dead. To save space in the city and quell disease from running rampant, most of the bodies in Teggest are given over to the Tower for cremation. With enough money or stature, one may procure a burial either in the family mausoleum, ossuary, crypt, or perhaps even in the exalted gardens banking the front of the Temple of Madriel within the city. Burial at Madriel is reserved for a rare few. The Tower is fairly efficient at this duty; it's a little odd that hours after the apparent attack, they're still loading bodies. There were either more bodies or they were late in arriving. Besides acting as carters for the dead and undertakers, the Tower mages are mages in full and run a wizard's guild.[/sblock]

 

[CanadienneBacon]

The officer confronting Brakkus turns to look back at the companions and notes that Maelicent is no longer there. A heavy frown clouds the officer's brow. Turning back to Brakkus, the man grunts. "Goblin loose in the city. Fine report that'll make. You traveling with these folk?" The officer turns to Gamad and Voadam and points, his brow furrowing even further. The woman with the basket continues to screech about goblins until the man beside her jabs her in the side quite hard and whispers something fierce. The woman falls silent but her eyes fix on the companions, as do the eyes of the rest of the crowd.

 

[Mista Collins]

Eying the man who is apparently in charge right now, Chev tries to reason with him. "He is with all of us and means no harm." Looking to the gate and the dead bodies, Chev continues. "What happened here other than the rumors that some people turned on each other? How many dead in total so far?"

 

[Ambrus]

The Gudwulf warrior, weary of getting caugh in a panicked giant-kin stampede, doesn't stop running for several blocks as he darts from cover to cover. Eventually, having wedged himself in the shadow between a wall and a water barrel, Maelicent stops to look for signs of pursuit or that an alarm has been sounded.