Six Nights to Yearsend (Ptolus Group B)

[Lorthanoth]

"So... what are you saying, Bobbaros?" asks Verosh, "That the killers were known to the Knights? Incredible! But I think you're right. Known, or at least trusted..."

 

[ethandrew]

Bobbaros shrugs in uncertainty, "Known? Possibly. Trusted? Maybe, but certainly not mistrusted. But it's the door that makes me curious, since all the knights were killed, someone had to break it down to get out of here. Had to have been the murderers, and then why would they have been locked in here if not to trap them at the scene? This is purely speculative, but I would wager a bet that whoever the murderers were, they were set up to be caught." He finishes this with another shrug as he saunters off toward the stairs up on all fours.

 

[Lorthanoth]

"Then we need to talk to the culprits!" Verosh's temper gets the better of his reasoning again.

""Ach, but we also need to look at the other murder scene." he seethes.

 

[bedford]

"Let's take a look at the other murder scene before beating the truth out of the suspects."

 

[Deuce Traveler]

The 25th of Yearsend Month, 7:30 AM

Upon further examination, Kantris believes that whatever bashed the door down did it unintentionally, as the blood smear on the door matches to a large dent that most likely was the point of impact. A short-lived gnome was likely caught in between the blow and the door.

The Watchman answers Kantris and Glau, "Well, we did find another body of a Knight of the Golden Cross in the South Market district southeast of here... and the group that did this was supposedly seen by one of our Oldtown District Watchmen who was at the gate near where the river meets North Market, Temple District, and the Rivergate District. I swear, those murdering bastards got around! As for the bodies, we placed them upstairs with the rest in the altar room." He thumbs towards the nearby steps.

 

[Tychus]

Glau climbs the stairs. "Don't run off yet. There is more to learn here, I think."

 

[ethandrew]

Bobbaros follows Glau up the stairs, not exactly knowing what to expect. He has seen death before, as all in Ptolus had at some point or another, but this was different, it struck too close to home and tightened his stomach even before witnessing the bodies. At the top of the stairs he turned and looked back to survey the scene. The blood and destruction was everywhere, and so with a sigh, Bobbaros turns back around and moves into the room.

 

[Ilium]

Kantris nods at the guard's reply and says, "No report of anything unusual in the neighborhood then? Very well, let's have a look at the bodies." He follows the others up the stairs to examine the unfortunate knights. "You know," he speculates as they climb, "It's possible the door closed in response to the summoning spell being cast. An accomplished mage could set up a contingent spell that would cause the doors and windows to seal at a given condition. Such as a powerful spell being cast by someone other than himself." He carefully examines a window as they pass, looking for any sign that it, too, is locked or magically sealed.

OOC: I believe that would be possible with various non-core WotC feats (which I assume are available) like Craft Contingent Spell. Am I right? Want to make a Knowledge roll for Kantris on the matter?

 

[Deuce Traveler]

You head up two levels of stairs, following a trail of blood that gets thicker as you climb. It seems as if the fighting continued all the way up, as the stairwell shows the signs of weapons glancing off the walls. When you reach the top the Watchman takes you into a chapel of a kind, where there are several overturned pews and a golden cross hanging on the far wall next two two large windows. Despite your long campaigning years, you nearly retch from the sight and the stench. Three bodies are laid out close to you, one that looks like a pulverized gnome and two others that show repeated cut marks that have made their features nearly undiscernable. The Watchman explains that these three were found downstairs and brought up here by the Watch. Five other piles of body parts lay nearby, and it would seem as if the killers mutilated and cut apart these bodies and the Watch did their best to guess what went with whom. One such body may have once been a silver-haired woman in a blue dress, but you find that you cannot keep looking at such an atrocity for very long. Rags seem to have been ripped from the corpses and were used as makeshift brushes to coat the walls in red blood, and different symbols. There are lightning bolts, four lines that form the shape of hourglasses, and crimson-filled crescent moons and circles. One symbol is an amalgram of of a few shapes: two crossed lightning bolts are topped and bottomed by a third and fourth lightning bolt so that the four lines form an hourglass-like shape while a red-filled circle are inside the top and bottom of this particular hourglass, as if sand. This particular combination of shapes desecrates the golden cross hanging in the room.

OOC: Kantris does not believe that kind of magic was used in this case, but it instead seems as if something large smashed a gnome into the door with such force that it partially broke open the door and probably killed the gnome.

 

[Tychus]

Glau quietly takes in the scene. After an extended silence, he recognizes his companions' distress, and clears his throat, "Did I ever tell you boys about the time my great uncle Braun was captured by a giant? ..."

Glau proceeds to tell the tale of his uncle's escapades, while slowly walking around the perimeter of the room, studying the walls and being careful to avoid disturbing the bodies. He stops in front of the cross, pulls a small journal out of his pack, and sketches the symbols that are drawn in blood.

"So..." his story finished, Glau holds up his drawing. "These look familiar to anyone?"

[OOC: Glau uses Bardic Music (storytelling) to Inspire Competence on the next person to make a skill check (presumably a search, knowledge, or spellcraft check - I'm not picky). He also uses Bardic Knowledge to see if he knows anything about the symbols.]