Shackled City, Act I - Life's Bazaar

[Scotley]

William Human Paladin

Turning to the Gnome, "Are their more of them here?" Then to his companion, "Are you alright Konstantine?"

 

[Dichotomy]

Konstantine's face becomes slightly pale, and she presses her hand atop the wound. "He stabbed me..." THAT'S not what battle wounds are like in the stories. The hero just keeps going and ignores the pain. OUCH!!

"Well, I am okay for right now. But let's avoid having that happen again."

The bard then turns to the locksmith. "Yes, do tell if there might be another one. No worries now, goodsir. Tells us what this is all about." Konstantine winces as she tries to smile cheerfully at the group.

"Oh!" The bard turns to her companions almost as an afterthought. "We should stop that one's bleeding, if we can. The church might be able to question him."

 

[Krug]

Eliara is miffed. "Pah... apologies that my arrows were of not much use..." the elf says, almost disgusted with herself. She picks up her arrows if they are still usable. She looks down at the creature, captivated by it's chameleon like skin. "It seems someone does not want us to ask questions."

 

[Scotley]

William Human Paladin

"Pah indeed, my axe was of little use as well. Unfortunately, if today is any indication, we'll get more chances."

 

[Mark Chance]

In death, the skulk's camouflaged skin changes color to a dull grey; its piercing blue eyes stare lifelessly at the ceiling. As everyone catches their breath, the red curtain parts, and Keygan Ghelve walks slowly into the room. His eyes travel to the bloody corpse on the floor of his shop, and then back up to the characters. It's hard to tell from the expression on his face whether he is relieved or frightened....it may be some of both.

Galen grunts in agreement with Konstantine's suggestion to stop the creature's bleeding, but doesn't move to do so. Instead, he walks by, staring hard at Ghelve, to wipe the blood from his spear onto Ghelve's curtain.

To Ghelve, the warmage says matter-of-factly, "Whether you worked with this creature willingly or not, it will appear as if you assisted us against it. I assume it has masters who'll be...displeased by your disloyalty. Come clean with us now, and at least we'll not also be your enemies."

 

[Krago o'the Mountain]

Turning to the Gnome, "Are their more of them here?"

Ghelve answers William, "No, just the one. They usually leave one here to keep an eye on me."

 

[Krago o'the Mountain]

Eliara is miffed. "Pah... apologies that my arrows were of not much use..." the elf says, almost disgusted with herself. She picks up her arrows if they are still usable. She looks down at the creature, captivated by it's chameleon like skin. "It seems someone does not want us to ask questions."

(OOC: One arrow is recoverable, the other too damaged to be of further use.)

 

[Krug]

"So tell us what you know of the disappearances," Eliara asks, placing the recovered arrow back in her quiver.

 

[Krago o'the Mountain]

The bard then turns to the locksmith. "Yes, do tell if there might be another one. No worries now, goodsir. Tells us what this is all about." Konstantine winces as she tries to smile cheerfully at the group.[/color]

Galen grunts in agreement with Konstantine's suggestion to stop the creature's bleeding, but doesn't move to do so. Instead, he walks by, staring hard at Ghelve, to wipe the blood from his spear onto Ghelve's curtain.

To Ghelve, the warmage says matter-of-factly, "Whether you worked with this creature willingly or not, it will appear as if you assisted us against it. I assume it has masters who'll be...displeased by your disloyalty. Come clean with us now, and at least we'll not also be your enemies."

Keygan Ghelve's shoulders slump as he sighs in resignation. "You're right. What's done is done, and I may as well tell you the whole story. Who knows, maybe you'll be able to help me out of this predicament I'm in."

The locksmith continues, "It all starts with Jzadirune. Any of you familiar with Jzadirune?" Looking at the blank stares of the adventurers, the gnome nods and continues, "I thought not. Well, it is...or more correctly, I should say was...a small enclave of gnomish spellcasters. I visited it several times in my youth, but stopped going there, oh, about 75 years ago, I'd say. That was when the Vanishing came. Never heard of the Vanishing either, I suppose? Well, it was this strange magical sickness...a plague, really...it swept through Jzadirune...caused those that caught it to slowly fade away into nothing, you see."

Ghelve continues, "Anyway, Jzadirune was abandoned then, and I never gave it too much more thought, and that was that...until about 3 months ago when I got ambushed by those things from below. They burst on in here, and my life's been a wreck since. Some of them...the tall ones...are just like that one," he points to the dying creature on the floor, "no clothes, no hair, and all of them with that color changing skin. They usually come up in pairs or threes and slink out of the shop wearing cloaks. Those blue eyes of theirs give me the creeps." Ghelve shudders before continuing, "There's also some shorter ones. They've got pale skin, big noses, and these soft black hooves for feet. They wear black cloaks and cowls that seem to help them hide in the shadows. Sneaky buggers, the whole lot."

"Anyway, they took me and Starbrow by surprise that night, and there wasn't much we could do, because there were a lot of them. They grabbed Starbrow and took him hostage and forced me to tell them all about Cauldron, which didn't seem too bad. But, then, pf course, that wasn't all they wanted...once they figured out my trade, they forced me to make them some keys which would open all of my locks. And believe me, in this town, I've made a lot of the locks. There aren't too many places in this city they couldn't get into with those keys. And, they wanted a list of everyone I've sold locks too...and that's a mighty long list. I didn't want to do it, but I was afraid they'd kill us. As it is, they've taken Starbrow back down into Jzadirune, and I'm not sure where he is. I can sense him, though, and he's hungry and frightened in the dark. And they always left somebody here to keep an eye on me, so I couldn't go for help, or warn anybody. You all looked like you could take care of yourselves though, so today, at last, I took the chance. I've probably signed Starbrow's death warrant," the gnome finishes sadly.

Ghelve looks genuinely remorseful. "I don't know why they've been taking the people down into Jzadirune. But, please, you've go to understand. I had no choice but to help them."

Responses/Questions?

 

[Krug]

"So what manner of beast is Starbrow? It seems all this is getting more and more complicated," Eliara asks. Black hooves for feet?What manner of beast is this?