The Closed Eye (DM: Halford, Judge: garyh)

[Dunamin]

“Stay here until we come back.” Woe tells the unconscious, blind, crippled, tied-up cultist after hiding it properly in a thorn-filled part of the bushes.

“Let’s go do the knock-knock.”

He skulks around the premises of the mansion, studying the building for possible entrances and looking for any sight of activity. If everything is quiet and all lights are out, he sneaks over to whatever entrance the goblins and elves emerged from and waits for the rest of the group to join him.

[sblock=OOC]

Man I wish I was leveling up with you guys

At least you’re hero of the day, after taking out more than half the opposition . I definitely think it’s good for the group we got a striker.

Someone with Perception worth a damn should probably search the door(s). We all know what happens to Fighters that go in unprepared.
Here is Woe’s Aid for someone else’s Perception check[/sblock]

 

[KenHood]

Palindrome studies the entrance.

OOC: Perception (1d20+4=17) and Arcana (Detect Magic) (1d20+10=26). (Love my little skill-billy wizard!)​

"We are going to burn down the place when we're done. Right?"

 

[nerdytenor]

Tander takes a look at the entrance, and places his ear to the door, listening. He pauses to look down at his hands, clenching and unclenching them, and tries to keep the others from seeing his palms.

OOC: Perception 17

 

[Atriden]

Atreus looks at Palindrome with a huge grin " As intriguing as it sounds, it would be unwise to draw more attention to us and this cult. Our client wants us to be discreet and burning this house would raise to many questions, perhaps revealing our client and we cannot allow that to happen. Look at it this way, if we burn this house down, we can all kiss our potential bonus good bye and future work as mercenaries " Atreus joins Woe and skulks along with him. While running he eyes Woe suspicously and tries to get a better glimpse at his hand. " Interesting " he say's and starts to focus more on the objective at hand.

 

[KenHood]

"I can't even count how many things are wrong with your statement."

"No. Actually, I can count them, but I don't want to do so."

"First, you weren't at the original meeting with the client, so how could you know what was said?"

"Second, at the original meeting, our client stated that she hoped for our discretion, which is not same thing as requiring discretion."

"Third, burning houses down does not raise questions like, 'Who is your client?' It raises questions like 'Where is the fire brigade?' or 'Do you have any marshmallows?'"

"Fourth, you're working for Doddoddod. We never get bonuses. EVER. (Other than the bonuses we provide for ourselves.)"

"Fifth, if something bad happens, it reflects on Doddoddod, not us. Furthermore, he's such a nutcase about his 'reputation' that he pays through the nose to sweep anything unpleasant under rug--like that time Woe bedded the daughter, wife, and sister of the ambassador of the Kingdom of Jade, at the same time, while visiting Doddoddod for a divination about how faithful his wife was! Did you see that one in the papers? Nope!"

"Sixth, when people hire mercenaries, they don't hire 'nice' mercenaries. They hire bad-***, burn-down-the-village-and-loot-the-church hardcases that don't blink an eye at drowning cats and chopping down schoolhouses."

"Seventh... Dude. Dude! DUUUUUUDE! You're working for Doddoddod! We could walk back right now and say that we never found Arnest--or better yet, chop the finger off some hobo and say that it used to belong to Arnest, but 'So sorry! He's dead now!' and the old fart would harumph, mumble something about a good job, and go eat a gallon of iced cream sprinkled with pixie dust. If we fail, he just sees us as a bunch of 'fixer-uppers' anyway and will only give us second-, third-, and fourth-chances to help our self-esteem."

Palindrome looks down at his hand. Oddly enough, it has seven fingers.

"Hmm. I guess I did count them."

"Look, Atrocious, I can only surmise that you were hired to keep an eye on me, as was almost everyone else in this party in one form or another, at one time or another."

"Heck, I even drafted the note that Dudduddud uses to hire the people to keep an eye on me! (It was probably the version that mentioned his foul-mouthed apprentice and humble mode of dress or some such. I was the one that SUGGESTED that line because he was too blasted lazy to come up with one himself!)"

"But they realized--as I'm sure you eventually will--that they've got a pretty good gig, where they don't have to do much of anything, have next to no serious responsibilities or accountability, and can (literally) get away with murder. So, sit back, man. Enjoy the ride. It don't get no better than this."

 

[nerdytenor]

"Could we get on with it, please?" Tander interjects with uncharacteristic impatience. "Palindrome, if you must, let's burn the house down AFTER we have extracted our dear Arnest," he says sarcastically. Tander is desperate to avoid standing around with his thoughts for company at this moment. "I'll lead the way if I must." Tander straightens himself up as if to enter the mansion.

 

[KenHood]

Out of Character

Go, Tander!

[sblock=New Picture of Palindrome]Follow the link. Palindrome's Character Sheet[/sblock]

 

[covaithe]

ooc: Brain too fried to update today, sorry. Maybe later tonight, maybe tomorrow. I did look Palindrome over, and I'm happy to run with him as is for now. He can't be approved until some version of the retraining proposal passes, obviously.

 

[covaithe]

The elf's face whitens as he hears the deific voice comforting him, but he turns his face away and says nothing further. He is soon bound and gagged and deposited in a thornbush. You move toward the house cautiously.

The door that the recently-defeated enemies came out of is still ajar, swaying slightly in the breeze with a quiet creak. Peering in through windows and the half-open door reveals no sign of life. The rooms are simple and not decorated, though the furniture looks to be comfortable and clean. No obvious threat presents itself.

Palindrome studies the area for magic. There are four faint flickers of magical energy hovering near the house, one outside of each wall, some fifteen feet in the air. Inside the house, out of sight and roughly equidistant to the four hovering specks, is a slightly stronger aura with the same signature.

 

[KenHood]

OOC: Arcana. (To identify magical aura.) (1d20+10=14)