Metropolis (The World in Waiting) - Chapter One

[Bront]

Vulgrath looks to Ghost and shakes his head, saddened. "Unfortunately the girl has no soul, much of the magic that I can summon does little to help, and that which would effect her would be harmful."

Waiting to Taran to speak, Vulgrath continues. "Our priority is this child's welfare, rather than what this 'Zimmerman' wants. Have you learnt anything of the location of her soul, or the harvesters?"

"I have learned that the likely culprets are the Yellow Cult. Apparently they were a somewhat run of the mill cult untill reciently. Their priests were described to have powers beyond anything others had seen, and managed to route a group of 30 merceneries. I believe I know a sewer entrace from above that may be close to where they are, but perhaps where I found the girl might be a place to start as well.

I have a contact, Delilah, working in Giante's stall, who is trying to root them out, and believes this Giante is connected to him somehow. Giante is a merchant who sells teeth openly. Supposedly he sells teeth from already dead victems, including humans and other races, but they looked a little too good for that to be the case.

Meanwhile, I located Ghost emerging from the sewer I was heading towards to explore in looking for the Yellow Cult, and heard he was looking for a little girl, which is why I brought him here."

 

[Festy_Dog]

There is a tugging at Ba'aktar's leg and the small child smiles, winks, then runs for the stairs with the rest of his group swiftly following on silent feet. The three thieves don't even notice the children as they step into the room to claim their prize.

"Them dirty &^&@#%# priests!" The voice of Yu'olan was unmistakable. "All our trouble fer this!"

From the vault a small bag is tossed into the room, spillinga few dozen golden crowns across the hard floor. Ulam swiftly grabs once, wipes the blood from his hand, and stares at it in the fading light.

"Deez fings aint even dem ol' coins you waz speekin about Ollie...we bin jibbed!"

Hentre walks from the vault, head shaking. "Well, at least we kin sell deez kiddies for a few extra coins at least, or maybe jus' dere gizzards..."

Ba'aktar was relieved. Finally they could retrieve the money and take their leave, then no more nice but creepy children, for better or worse. This wan't to be the case though, and when the children seemed to flee upstairs Ba'aktar's first reaction was that the treasure room was trapped and they were getting out of the blast range. He was ready to sprint, but when it was a small bag of coins rather than a wall of flame that emerged from the open door he figured it was alright to stick around. Nonetheless, it wasn't the vast treasure he had expected it to be.

He crouched down to inspect the small sum of coins while the others ranted.

"Better to not be messin' with the young 'uns I advise," he let the halflings know, "Me thinks they didn't need those priests lookin' after them. Hell, it could've been them lookin' after the elderly priests. Yu'olan, you remember when I warned you about this place being full of spell-slinging kiddies? I don't think that guess was too far from the truth. Those kids seem to have strange powers, ones that I didn't mess with after gettin' a taste, so we could be best off jus' cuttin' our losses and findin' somewhere we know we can actually earn some coin from rather than messin' with things beyond our understanding."

Ba'aktar's thoughts went to the children who were now upstairs, or possibly outside the building making their escape already. What kind of things did they have to see in order to make it to the door?

 

[Phoenix]

He crouched down to inspect the small sum of coins while the others ranted.

"Better to not be messin' with the young 'uns I advise," he let the halflings know, "Me thinks they didn't need those priests lookin' after them. Hell, it could've been them lookin' after the elderly priests. Yu'olan, you remember when I warned you about this place being full of spell-slinging kiddies? I don't think that guess was too far from the truth. Those kids seem to have strange powers, ones that I didn't mess with after gettin' a taste, so we could be best off jus' cuttin' our losses and findin' somewhere we know we can actually earn some coin from rather than messin' with things beyond our understanding."

[sblock]Diplomacy check (DC 12) +6 - Failure
Ulam Diplomacy check (DC 10) +16 - Success
[/sblock]

Yu'olan slowly picked the small bag up from off the ground and slowly tipped the handful of coins into his other hand, making a slow methodical clinking sound as each coin hit the growing pile. "Well me an' the other two didn't have much problem upstairs..."

"Yeah!" The small Ulam interjected, stabbing his blade at the air in front of him. "C'mon, we kin get some cash fer dem little blighters, ded or alive!"

"Preferably alive little man." Yu'olan obviously had a line that he wouldn't cross. "Right, we go upstairs and round 'em up. Remember, no killin' the little ones, they are worth more alive!"

 

[D20Dazza]

Ghost Hound Elf Bard

Meanwhile, I located Ghost emerging from the sewer I was heading towards to explore in looking for the Yellow Cult, and heard he was looking for a little girl, which is why I brought him here."

Ghost stretches and speaks to the elder "I can confirm the involvement of the Yellow Robes who, I think, are cooperating with the Hunters. I was on the hunt for the Hunters, if you'll pardon the pun, and was attacked by ghouls. While I do know some Ghouls on a personal level these ones were not interested in friendship and instead tried to eat me. Not wanting to end up a meal I retreated and, upon leaving the sewers, met up with my short companion here.

I guess the job has just become harder, find the girls soul and get her healed and to Zimmerman within the next 2 days so she can enjoy her birthday bash" Ghost digs in his coat and withdraws the party invite that Zimmerman gave him and shows it to the elf and halfling.

 

[Phoenix]

Ghost stretches and speaks to the elder "I can confirm the involvement of the Yellow Robes who, I think, are cooperating with the Hunters. I was on the hunt for the Hunters, if you'll pardon the pun, and was attacked by ghouls. While I do know some Ghouls on a personal level these ones were not interested in friendship and instead tried to eat me. Not wanting to end up a meal I retreated and, upon leaving the sewers, met up with my short companion here.

I guess the job has just become harder, find the girls soul and get her healed and to Zimmerman within the next 2 days so she can enjoy her birthday bash" Ghost digs in his coat and withdraws the party invite that Zimmerman gave him and shows it to the elf and halfling.

Vulgrath nods his head gently and listens intently to the two as they compile their tale. "It seems then, that you both have your work cut out for you, and dangerous work at that. Unfortunately I know little of the outside world to assist you, but I have prepared something for Taran that you may both share."

The elderly elf reaches into the fold of his robe and draws forth six small dried bundles of herbs wrapped in a rice paper of sorts, each the size of an eyeball.

"These are Phesen*, I have perpared then in the eventuality that Taran would return looking worse for wear, but instead you may take them with you on your journey."

[sblock]There are many infusions created by the sewer shamans of Metropolis that rarely see the light of day, mainly due to the fact that they are powerful enough to draw the attention of unscrupulous merchants from the surface. Phesen is a more advanced fusion, usually only created my masters of the art. It combines the magic within two minor spells to assist the consumer, that of cure light wounds and lesser restoration.
[/sblock]

 

[Bront]

Taran hands three to Ghost and puts three in his pack. "Thank you Master, you are most kind."

"Ghost, I think we had best look back at this Zimmerman character. Perhaps he has ties to the cult and they specificly targeted his daughter. Unless you think you might be able to learn something if I were to take you to where I found her."

 

[D20Dazza]

Ghost Hound Elf Bard

"Thank you Elder, your generosity is most overwhelming" turning to Taran Ghost counters "or perhaps we could investigate these Hunters, I was told that they have become more active in the area near where we met. I think Zimmerman is a dirty rat but is not involved with his daughters abduction. I think we would have a better chance pursuing these Yellow Robes or the Hunters than Mr Zimmerman."

 

[Festy_Dog]

Yu'olan slowly picked the small bag up from off the ground and slowly tipped the handful of coins into his other hand, making a slow methodical clinking sound as each coin hit the growing pile. "Well me an' the other two didn't have much problem upstairs..."

"Yeah!" The small Ulam interjected, stabbing his blade at the air in front of him. "C'mon, we kin get some cash fer dem little blighters, ded or alive!"

"Preferably alive little man." Yu'olan obviously had a line that he wouldn't cross. "Right, we go upstairs and round 'em up. Remember, no killin' the little ones, they are worth more alive!"

Ba'aktar nodded at Yu'olan's words, and stood up in order to follow upstairs. It's not that he was actually cooperating, and intending to round up the children to sell for whatever sinister purposes could be in store for them, he simply figured there was no harm in following right now. Ba'aktar was convinced that the children would be harder to find than his colleagues would have liked, but if they were found... Well, Ba'aktar would be there, and he'd have to make his decision on how he'd react then. Maybe it was wishful thinking, but perhaps the children could fend for themselves, that boy certainly had Ba'aktar beat not a few minutes ago, he could still taste the dirt.

Nonetheless, he didn't want to see these little ones come to harm, but then how much good would protecting them now do if their caretakers were dead and Ba'aktar himself couldn't take care of them?

"Well, if you want to test your luck, I ain't arguin'," Ba'aktar conceded, and clipped his khora back onto his belt, ready to do his share of the work.

 

[Bront]

Taran nods "You're the expert on investigating. I'm just a simple druid from the sewers. I'll follow your lead. If you think heading back is best, then we best do that. No time to waste."

Taran tries to relate where he was in the sewers to where he was above ground, wondering if there is any corelation to where he was with the bodies and the girl in the well compaired to where he was investigating topside.

 

[Phoenix]

Taran nods "You're the expert on investigating. I'm just a simple druid from the sewers. I'll follow your lead. If you think heading back is best, then we best do that. No time to waste."

Taran tries to relate where he was in the sewers to where he was above ground, wondering if there is any corelation to where he was with the bodies and the girl in the well compaired to where he was investigating topside.

OOC:
[sblock]Where you found Stephanie is only an hour or so away from your home, still in this suburb (so nowhere near the Hunter's turf or your surface investigations).
[/sblock]