stonegod's Expedition to Castle Ravenloft: Ch. II [IC]

[DEFCON 1]

He begins rumaging around the desk, agitated, a pale thing of a tongue darting to the corner of his mouth.

"Are you in need of aid? If not, would you mind answering a few questions?"

Jarrith strides into the room with a rapier outstretched. "But before you answer that... please bring your hands back up where we can see them." He throws a quick glance at the three undead, then back to the man at the desk. "Whatever you might need to find on that desk... it'll have to wait until we've left this room."

Sir Khensu also follows along the others into the room.

**********

OOC: As per standard orders here in the castle so that we don't need to mention it each and every time... Jarrith will use Detect Evil before every door (as I assume Ashlyn will use Detect Undead as well).

 

[stonegod]

OOC: No one else aside from Jarrith and Khensu has entered the room---Ashlyn and Marot are at the door if I recall. The room isn't terribly big (30 ft. sq).

[Detect evil: Jarrith detected the presence of evil on the other side. If given enough time, he would find three moderate and one faint aura somewhere in the room.]

"Whatever you might need to find on that desk... it'll have to wait until we've left this room."

The older man's closes on something on the other side of the desk just as Jarrith says this. He seems to growl a bit but moves his hand away, looking at the Stalker with bitter eyes.

The other three in the room back towards the farther wall as the two enter.

[Kn: Religion fail (Marot, Ashlyn)]
As Jarrith and Khensu move into the room, Ashlyn and Marot try to get a better look at the undead. They are heavily robed, however, and having made no sound or other aggressive action, do not give any indication of what they might be.

"Are you in need of aid? If not, would you mind answering a few questions?"

The man bares his teeth a little as if in a sneer as he listens to Marot. "Aid? I am not in need. Must work, must work." His eyes smolder on Marot and the others. "Why? Why? You interrupt, why? I have no business with you." He grumbles under his breath, but still loudly, "Hate paper. Smells. Cuts. Ink bleeds. Cuts bleed. Tear it, slash it. Yessss." He licks the corner of his mouth again absently.

The others stare silently as the man rambles.

[Haven't rolled the Diplomacy check yet, as that takes a minute of interaction first (He's not hostile, so no need to rush it).]

 

[Stormwind]

Ashlyn is surprised, first by the presence of a non-undead being where she had not expected one, seemingly co-existing with three undead creatures, and although she can't quite remember what type of undead they might be, she is certain that they are undead.
Then, her companions reaction, as if they are not aware of the danger and deceptiveness of the three undead in the room, surprises her even more, so instead of charging in, Ashlyn instead simply stands in the doorway for a moment looking with dissatisfaction at her companions and the current situation before moving into the room. As she moves into the room Ashlyn speaks but four words, looking particularly towards Jarrith and Khensu as she does so, "Suffer no false life"

Ashlyn moves towards the far wall to stand directly between her companions and the three robed figures. The fourth figure, not being undead, does not warrant so much of her attention, and for the most part she ignores him whilst watching the three undead with cold hard eyes. Her raven, upon her shoulder, also seems poised to attack.

 

[DEFCON 1]

"Suffer no false life"

Sir Khensu looks over to the lady paladin and nods sagely. He doesn't forget what they are are here for, but this odd situation should be assessed before jumping to any conclusions. "I am curious to what we have here, as I'm sure you are too. Let us give them a few seconds, hmm?" the shifter whispers to her while sliding over towards her.

Jarrith moves forward towards the man, both rapiers out and his feet dancing lithly as though he's expecting to move any moment now. "What business are you working on, old man? Something for Lord Sergei? Hmm? And who are these three... associates... behind you? Making sure the job gets done?"

 

[s@squ@tch]

Marot the Diplomat

The orange haired man blinks a couple of times, then starts out with a somewhat cockneyed accent:

"Aye," Marot says while giving Jarrith a knowing nod,"He's clearly in the service of our good friend Lord Sergei."

He points to the rest of the group and continues talking to the seated man with the odd tongue.

"We've done some work for the young Lord and now we have been invited into the 'fold', so to speak, to spend some quality time with our new patron."

"He thought it would be a good idea to go 'round and introduce ourselves to his other associates and get all acquainted with 'em. So, I guess a nice hi, how are ya is in order?"

He cracks a wan smile.

"Plus we wanted to give the castle a good look-see, so we get nice at home."

"Speaking of which, after we're done talking to you, good fellow, we wanted to get a peek at the library -- could you steer us in the right direction?"

OOC: Diplomacy +12, Bluff +15 to try and get on this soon-to-be-dead guy's good side so he loosens up that odd tongue of his.

 

[pathfinderq1]

Tessa was a bit confused when she did not hear the immediate sounds of combat from within the room. What was going on in there? Surely whatever lurked within could not have overcome the minds of her compatriots so thoroughly...

She began to move up cautiously, angling her approach so that she was not in line with the door. As she moved, she took one quick glance towards the door where they had originally entered the larger room- just in case...

OOC: Move up, so that she is just to the left of the doorway- somehow making an entrance holding the Raven icon and a shield blazoned with the device of the Sovereign Host seems like it might be a poor addition to Marot's bluff. She will try to get where she can move to the doorway quickly, if needed (say a five-foot step).

 

[stonegod]

[Marot's Bluff: 16 (yes, he rolled a one). Old Man's Sense Motive: ??]
The man glares at Marot as he speaks, agitated, but seems to buy his story... but then seems to catch something. "Lord not be hiring. False. Liar! Leave Lief to his work!"

[Marot's Diplomacy]
Seeing the man get suspicious, Marot tries to smooth things over quickly. Distrust still smolders, but the man licks his dry lips again, picks up his quill, and pointedly ignores the group. A low, incompressible muttering spews from his lips as he does so.

His 'companions' remain where they were, silently fixing their gaze on the gathered.

 

[DEFCON 1]

Jarrith sees the man delve back into his work and ignore them once more. He throws a glance over to Lady Ashlyn, whom he can tell is fully prepared to act. "Lady Ashlyn... as this fine gentleman doesn't seem to want to favor us with some answers... perhaps you might have a better time of it dealing with his associates?" His implication that perhaps acting against the undead directly might loosen the man's tongue once the they've been dealt with, plus his flexing of his fingers on his two rapiers, hopefully is understood.

 

[s@squ@tch]

OOC: Is there only one visible exit from the room we are in? (the map kind of looks like this room connects to the double door antechamber (K26)?)

 

[stonegod]

OOC: Is there only one visible exit from the room we are in? (the map kind of looks like this room connects to the double door antechamber (K26)?)

Two exits, one on the west (the one you entered) and one on the east (that the undead are blocking past Lief).