Dragonwriter
First Post
Rufus helps with the search, but doesn't expect to find much else here.
[sblock=OOC]
Take 10 on Search for an 18 in each room.
[/sblock]
[sblock=OOC]
Take 10 on Search for an 18 in each room.
[/sblock]
Valley of the Dead: Chapter 2 "Home of the sleepless"
- Thread starter Myth and Legend
- Start date
Myth and Legend
First Post
Rufus searches the children's bedroom quickly. He doesn't find anything of worth in the children's "treasure hoard" - a wooden sword, a helmet fashioned from an old tin pot, a half finished embroidery of a meadow with the sun shining over it are all the belongings the children had hidden away in a chest below one of the beds.
Next to the other bed he finds a piece of flat, grey rock, like one would find at the bottom of a rapid stream. It's the size of a man's palm, and it seems to have been used as a canvas. A set of eyes have been drawn with white chalk, watching from what appears to be darkness around. It is a somewhat disturbing drawing for a child to make.
The door opposite of the children's bedroom and a bit further down the hallway is a room used as a toolshed, with a door on the other end of the small room that leads to the barn. The toolshed holds nothing of note apart from farming implements, two saddles, a woodcutter's axe and a hunting knife of obviously mundane quality.
Zinerath's thin arms covered with wiry muscle, hold deep reserves of unexpected strength. His scythe flashes and tears the toolshed's door to splinters with a loud crack. A second hit dislodges the remaining pieces of wood from the hinges and sends them flying across the room.
Going back to the corridor and across it lies the final third door and to the left is the staircase that goes up. The door across the hall is barred, and it takes Zinerath several minutes to break it open as it is a bit thicker than the other one and it had a thick wooden beam reinforcing it from the inside.
The room beyond reveals a horrid image - this once was the master bedroom it seems. There is a wide, two person bed on the right, a barred window and a dresser with a mirror across the room, something of a luxury for common farm folk. Here the group discovers the inhabitants of this household, lying dead and lifeless with pale skin and unblinking eyes. A brown haired woman still clutches a baby's corpse close to her chest, both frozen in death as if this were a grim painting. The father, the little girl and her brother all lay scattered about the room, still and empty, the remains simply reduced to hollow husks of what used to be vigorous bodies.
The little girl lies stiff and staring at the ceiling, she has auburn hair and blue eyes. She appears to be wearing a medallion around her neck. The little boy is brown haired and brown eyed, lying on his side with the cudgel in his hand.
The father used to be a strong man, obviously having been used to the life of a serf who toils for his liege-lord. He has a thin wedding band on one finger, which matches with his wife's. The father's corpse still clutches a rusty longsword.
The family seems to have had barricaded itself in side the room and nothing had been able to break in until Zinerath came with his scythe. They appear to show no wounds or blood. Searching the room reveals a loose plank in the floor, where a small sack of gold lays hidden, as well as the Decree of Serfdom for this land and the house, signed and sealed by Baron James Balar of Angelwatch Shire.
[sblock]You find 34 gold, 22 silver and 56 copper pieces in the bag.[/sblock]
Next to the other bed he finds a piece of flat, grey rock, like one would find at the bottom of a rapid stream. It's the size of a man's palm, and it seems to have been used as a canvas. A set of eyes have been drawn with white chalk, watching from what appears to be darkness around. It is a somewhat disturbing drawing for a child to make.
The door opposite of the children's bedroom and a bit further down the hallway is a room used as a toolshed, with a door on the other end of the small room that leads to the barn. The toolshed holds nothing of note apart from farming implements, two saddles, a woodcutter's axe and a hunting knife of obviously mundane quality.
Zinerath's thin arms covered with wiry muscle, hold deep reserves of unexpected strength. His scythe flashes and tears the toolshed's door to splinters with a loud crack. A second hit dislodges the remaining pieces of wood from the hinges and sends them flying across the room.
Going back to the corridor and across it lies the final third door and to the left is the staircase that goes up. The door across the hall is barred, and it takes Zinerath several minutes to break it open as it is a bit thicker than the other one and it had a thick wooden beam reinforcing it from the inside.
The room beyond reveals a horrid image - this once was the master bedroom it seems. There is a wide, two person bed on the right, a barred window and a dresser with a mirror across the room, something of a luxury for common farm folk. Here the group discovers the inhabitants of this household, lying dead and lifeless with pale skin and unblinking eyes. A brown haired woman still clutches a baby's corpse close to her chest, both frozen in death as if this were a grim painting. The father, the little girl and her brother all lay scattered about the room, still and empty, the remains simply reduced to hollow husks of what used to be vigorous bodies.
The little girl lies stiff and staring at the ceiling, she has auburn hair and blue eyes. She appears to be wearing a medallion around her neck. The little boy is brown haired and brown eyed, lying on his side with the cudgel in his hand.
The father used to be a strong man, obviously having been used to the life of a serf who toils for his liege-lord. He has a thin wedding band on one finger, which matches with his wife's. The father's corpse still clutches a rusty longsword.
The family seems to have had barricaded itself in side the room and nothing had been able to break in until Zinerath came with his scythe. They appear to show no wounds or blood. Searching the room reveals a loose plank in the floor, where a small sack of gold lays hidden, as well as the Decree of Serfdom for this land and the house, signed and sealed by Baron James Balar of Angelwatch Shire.
[sblock]You find 34 gold, 22 silver and 56 copper pieces in the bag.[/sblock]
Scotley
Hero
Geryk kneels and anoints each of the fallen family members with a bit of holy water drawing the symbol of Lathandar with it on their foreheads. "We much bury them properly lest they join the unquiet dead here about." He picks up the deed. "I suppose we should return this to their liege, Baron James Balar, and report to him what has happened."
He takes a moment to examine the medallion around the little girls neck and the stone with the chalk eyes in more detail.
[sblock=skills]
Appraise + 1 = + 1 [Int]
Knowledge (History)* +6 = 5 [base] + 1 [Int]
Knowledge (Arcana)* + 3 = 2 [base] + 1 [Int]
Knowledge (The Planes)* + 3 = 2 [base] + 1 [Int]
Knowledge (Religion)* + 10 = 9 [base] + 1 [Int]
[/sblock]
He takes a moment to examine the medallion around the little girls neck and the stone with the chalk eyes in more detail.
[sblock=skills]
Appraise + 1 = + 1 [Int]
Knowledge (History)* +6 = 5 [base] + 1 [Int]
Knowledge (Arcana)* + 3 = 2 [base] + 1 [Int]
Knowledge (The Planes)* + 3 = 2 [base] + 1 [Int]
Knowledge (Religion)* + 10 = 9 [base] + 1 [Int]
[/sblock]
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"Too late for that, I suspect," Mei-Ying says softly...even her stoicism cannot completely shield her from the tragedy that hangs thick in this room. "These were slain by the shadows, I think...we already put them to rest."
She glances at the papers, and when they're read aloud she scowls. "Baron Balar, housing his people in a place like this. The high blood of your land has no sense of its place, or its duties."
She glances at the papers, and when they're read aloud she scowls. "Baron Balar, housing his people in a place like this. The high blood of your land has no sense of its place, or its duties."
Malachei
First Post
"Little is the care the human lords exert for their kin," the elf speaks. She had been a little behind, following the others almost soundlessly, except for the occasional movement of her silk robes. While wandering through the house and the area, Lórquelië closes her eyes and turns, as if wanting to take in her surroundings with an inner eye.
"What cursed existence they had become, is banished now, by the deed of Geryk. But what evil spirit has turned them into twisted reflections of their former selves?"
[sblock=OOC]
Lórquelië has Detect Magic active (persistent), she will use it from time to time.
[/sblock]
"What cursed existence they had become, is banished now, by the deed of Geryk. But what evil spirit has turned them into twisted reflections of their former selves?"
[sblock=OOC]
Lórquelië has Detect Magic active (persistent), she will use it from time to time.
[/sblock]
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Zinerath was, entirely, unmoved by the scene, he looked at them boredly as his grin gradually faded as the others searched the room. He gauged their expressions and it perplexed him; the hulk, its lesser kin, and the ghostly specters were show no empathy, but the mere farmhands who had not been subjugated and forcibly risen were shown reverence. This had happened with before, even with Geryk, but it perplexed Zinerath all the same.
He pulled his left lip back and up while rolling his eyes in annoyance; he was going to recall this later if the elf, or one of the others, gave him any grief latter. He breathed out through his nose with an annoyed sigh as he approached the bed and plucked off the blanket, walked over to the father, and draped it over the corps, taking care to make sure the head, and face, was entirely veiled, he then went back to the bed and repeated the process, covering both the boy and girl with the over sheet and then the mother and infant with the under sheet. He did so carefully, making sure the gunk on his hands did not get on or otherwise touch the bodies, and with purpose, but lacked any remorse, or feelings of any kind, towards the dead; it was a task entirely relatable to making a bed to him, and making a bed for someone, or ones, who no longer cared at that.
It was annoying, but it was something Geryk would likely appreciate him to do, and that made it worth doing for those who could not see hear or feel.
Once he finished the task he then looked at the room once more, and settled on the mirror, he gaged its size, anything larger than a small window he would take note, if it was a full length mirror he would keep his eyes on it and makes sure it was at least two arms reach away. Before asking, any of the casters in general “Do we know if that is cursed or otherwise enchanted?” while pointing at the mirror, if it was full length.
If the mirror was small enough that he did not much care about it he would, hesitantly, turn from it and leave the room before searching the grounds for a shovel and then survey the area for a cliché spot for some graves, before setting to work digging them, he was already filthy, he might as well be filthy, sweaty, and dirty.
He pulled his left lip back and up while rolling his eyes in annoyance; he was going to recall this later if the elf, or one of the others, gave him any grief latter. He breathed out through his nose with an annoyed sigh as he approached the bed and plucked off the blanket, walked over to the father, and draped it over the corps, taking care to make sure the head, and face, was entirely veiled, he then went back to the bed and repeated the process, covering both the boy and girl with the over sheet and then the mother and infant with the under sheet. He did so carefully, making sure the gunk on his hands did not get on or otherwise touch the bodies, and with purpose, but lacked any remorse, or feelings of any kind, towards the dead; it was a task entirely relatable to making a bed to him, and making a bed for someone, or ones, who no longer cared at that.
It was annoying, but it was something Geryk would likely appreciate him to do, and that made it worth doing for those who could not see hear or feel.
Once he finished the task he then looked at the room once more, and settled on the mirror, he gaged its size, anything larger than a small window he would take note, if it was a full length mirror he would keep his eyes on it and makes sure it was at least two arms reach away. Before asking, any of the casters in general “Do we know if that is cursed or otherwise enchanted?” while pointing at the mirror, if it was full length.
If the mirror was small enough that he did not much care about it he would, hesitantly, turn from it and leave the room before searching the grounds for a shovel and then survey the area for a cliché spot for some graves, before setting to work digging them, he was already filthy, he might as well be filthy, sweaty, and dirty.
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Myth and Legend
First Post
After careful studying and recollection the Cleric can't adequately pinpoint the nature of the girl's amulet, but he does recall that this symbol might have been mentioned in a book on ancient extinct cults.
[sblock]Do you bury the girl with the amulet or do you take it off her corpse?[/sblock]
The group has some trouble in digging proper graves, as the earth is sticky and clay like after last night's showers. By the time the remains of the farmers have been laid to rest the sun is already heading towards the hills that hide Angtelwatch and its walls from view.
Riding back to the army doesn't take long, as they have progressed along the main road and have just passed the junction with the dirt path that leads to the unfortunate farmer family and their residence.
The group rides towards the head of the column, Adelaide's lifeless cadaver tied to her horse (who had been hiding nearby and was not hard to locate). The sight causes whispers and comments from the riders, and several representatives of Lathander's Temple ride to meet the scouting party.
"Lathander be merciful, what has happened!" the warrior clad in red and white - Galen of the Seven Lakes, shouts with distress as he approaches the group and briefly touches Adelaide's back with sorrow written on his face.
"Who has done this! And why was this allowed to happen! ANSWER NOW!"
He shouts, raising the attention of everyone who is close by.
[sblock]Do you bury the girl with the amulet or do you take it off her corpse?[/sblock]
The group has some trouble in digging proper graves, as the earth is sticky and clay like after last night's showers. By the time the remains of the farmers have been laid to rest the sun is already heading towards the hills that hide Angtelwatch and its walls from view.
Riding back to the army doesn't take long, as they have progressed along the main road and have just passed the junction with the dirt path that leads to the unfortunate farmer family and their residence.
The group rides towards the head of the column, Adelaide's lifeless cadaver tied to her horse (who had been hiding nearby and was not hard to locate). The sight causes whispers and comments from the riders, and several representatives of Lathander's Temple ride to meet the scouting party.
"Lathander be merciful, what has happened!" the warrior clad in red and white - Galen of the Seven Lakes, shouts with distress as he approaches the group and briefly touches Adelaide's back with sorrow written on his face.
"Who has done this! And why was this allowed to happen! ANSWER NOW!"
He shouts, raising the attention of everyone who is close by.
