Ptolus: The Legend of Longcoat

[Dave Turner]

In the sudden silence, Akilu's heavy breathing and low growl, which seem to animate his entire body, become noticeable. His companions' voices check the rise of his anger and he momentarily closes his eyes. He visibly relaxes and rolls his shoulders. The chair he lowers to the floor shows cracks where the darfellan gripped it.

Not sure what saved us there, the gear or the words. Still have the Watch coming down on us. Best to have an alternate means of exit. Let's see if I can pry that original door open.

Surprised by Jossen's tactic, the darfellan moves to the boarded-up door and tries to remove the boards.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Akilu yanks open the swollen-shut door, breaking several of the boards on the far side, while others merely point rusting nails inward at the group. Outside, the rain and the cold have picked up, the damp air raising unpleasant smells inside the Ten Bells.

There is a quiet creak upstairs.

 

[Erekose13]

"By Tuen what poltergeist is this? We need to speak to you and have little time." says Maugra putting away her holy symbol hoping she didn't frighten away the ghost with that.

 

[Cthulhudrew]

Vanden relaxes slightly, but stays wary. "Coraithe's spirit certainly doesn't seem to be very cooperative, does it?"

He picks up the candle he dropped, extinguished from the fall, and salvages what he can of it.

"Do any of you know the story behind her murder? Was it committed in this place? If so, perhaps there are some clues that might help us- provided Coraithe's spirit does not attempt to hinder us in our search."

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

With the thin light coming in from the newly reopened (after a fashion) doorway, the group can see that in addition to the staircase in the corner leading to floors both above and below the main floor, three doors stand behind the dusty bar, framing an ancient row of grimy bottles and a mirror so tarnished with age as to be useless.

 

[Erekose13]

"Do we want to split up for now? One group head upstairs towards the sounds and the other explore down here? We need to move quickly or the watch will find us here lurking about suspisciously." says Maugra.

 

[Trollbabe]

There is a quiet creak upstairs.

Garnet looks to the ceiling of the common room. "Sounds like our hostess maybe on the second floor."

"Do we want to split up for now? One group head upstairs towards the sounds and the other explore down here? We need to move quickly or the watch will find us here lurking about suspisciously." says Maugra.

Nods to Maugra then looks for the access to the second floor.

 

[Cthulhudrew]

"I will come with you and Garnet, perhaps between the three of us we can yet convince Coraithe to lend us assistance in our investigation." Vanden moves to the stairway leading to the second floor.

 

[Erekose13]

Maugra heads up stairs with Garnet and Vanden.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Their way lit by the lantern in Maugra's hand, half the group follows their shadows up the staircase as it rounds the corner up to the second floor of the Ten Bells, arriving on a long hallway flanked by doors on either side.

Aging floorboards, worn thin in the middle over decades of passage, creak eerily underfoot as if protesting the group's passage. Dust covers the floor, the cheap paintings adorning the walls, and the hooded lanterns hanging from the ceiling – a funeral shroud for an old building at rest.