Missing Merek

It has been a while since Merek went missing, a human who's been described to you as being just under six feet tall, somewhat muscular, with a dusky skin tone. He has longish dark hair which falls to his chin, and he is further described as having disturbing golden eyes and black attire. In short... he could be practically anyone in Alexandria.

You are informed that he's been taken by a tall vampire with pale skin (obviously), short black hair that is well coiffed, and bright green eyes of an unnatural hue. If you see either of the individuals you are requested to let the city guard know as soon as it is possible as the vampire in question is associated with a number of other disappearances.

After being led to the place where Merek disappeared, you are left quite alone to do your work. The city guard trusts adventurers to know what they're doing, and for the most part they don't want to know what that is.

Delilah is here; curiously not accompanying her sister, perhaps proving that the two are separable, but only rarely. (They may be twins but they're not literally joined at the hip after all.) The golden-haired sorceress is taking the time to inspect her pistol, making sure all the moving parts are working properly before she loads it and pushes it back into its holster. "Alright then," she inquires, crossing her arms. "Anyone know how to track a, uhh, vampire and his boyfriend?"

Morgan takes a look to who is with her "Does anyone know if anyone tried scrying for him?" She is hoping they did and have some info on that. "If not and if you have a hour I can cast the spell."

Selerik is reading a novella about a vampire whisking away someone to turn into their unwitting servant. It is less a romance drama than a penny dreadful, but it is what he was doing when news came across him. How could he resist an opportunity to see one in the flesh? So here he is with the other adventurers and a big smile on his face. "I wonder if all vampires are tall. You know I've never heard of a halfling vampire. Maybe they're immune?"

Morgan finds a quiet place to sit down as she gets a silvered mirror, says some arcane words that is making it glow.

With Morgan's scrying your only real plan you settle in for the long haul of waiting for Morgan to cast her spell. After the designated period of time passes, the mirror she uses as a focus begins to resolve with an image. It's an image of a man with longish black hair, in black clothing laying on the ground. He is laying in an unremarkable alley and looks... rather like someone tried to beat him half to death. There are several bruises on his face and neck, which is all of him that you can see, and he looks rather pale for his complexion.

While Morgan did her thing, Selerik took a stroll to find the crime scene. The bloody mess where it all went down. Boy, did he find a mess. Scraping up some blood he took it back to the others, doing his own mojo far enough to the side as not to disrupt what Morgan had going on. "Bit of blood from an unlucky lad, tell me the fortune he's had."

GAME: Selerik casts Blood Biography. Caster Level: 10 DC: 18
GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+23: (6)+23: 29
GAME: Morgan rolls Knowledge/Local: (8)+12: 20

Delilah doesn't really know what she can contribute right at the moment. Spells for finding things (or people) aren't really her forte, she prefers setting people on fire as a purpose for magic. She spends the time leaning against a wall, performing some personal grooming on her fingernails, while she waits for Morgan and Selerik's results.

Selerik looks disappointed when the blood briefly glows, then doesn't do anything. "Lazy blood. Well, that at least confirms he is still either alive or undead. The blood of the dead always talks." Selerik looks over to Morgan curiously.

Morgan sigh "He is stuck behind a bar most likely. I have a feeling he was in a bar fight and tossed behind it, I could teleport us there but there is a danger doing that at a place I don't know."

"Let's not be doing any teleporting, then." Delilah smiles cheerfully as she pushes off from the wall. "So, he's not dead, and he's behind a bar. There's no shortage of bars around town, of course, but... Well, while I don't know Merek very well, I suggest we hit the streets and ask around, see what bars had fights last night. Then we can narrow our search."

GAME: Morgan rolls diplomacy: (13)+1: 14
GAME: Selerik rolls diplomacy: aliased to Perform/Oratory+7: (2)+25+7: 34
GAME: Delilah rolls diplomacy: (9)+11: 20
GAME: Morgan rolls perception: (13)+13: 26
GAME: Selerik rolls perception: (10)+14: 24
GAME: Delilah rolls perception: (19)+0: 19

You seem to have a bit of difficulty, as there were a number of fights behind various bars last night, leaving you with little choice but to search them one by one. As you do so, you pass by the Ironbrew, which by all accounts of those nearby was surprisingly quiet last night. As you duck into the alley to ge to the next bar quicker you notice a figure behind one of the barrels. Namely the figure of the man whom was scryed. He looks even worse up close than he did from far away.

Morgan says as she sees the body "Well anyone wants to see if he is alive, or do you want to roll him for drinking money and report it?"

Selerik is clearly disappointed to learn Merek merely lost a bar fight and wasn't spirited away by some vast sinister power. Still, the hunt must go on. When they finally find the right barrel with the right unconscious man beside it. "Oh, well." Selerik looks over to Morgan. "Guess we found him." Selerik points to the barrel next to him. "I'm more hoping the vampire is in the barrel. That'll be a better story than 'man loses barfight with vampire, found with ale soaked pants'."

Delilah opens her mouth, shuts it, opens it again, shuts it again, and then just... glares sheer hell at Morgan. "What the bloody hell is wrong with you?" she declares, "The guy's been assaulted, and all you care about is the loose change he might have in his pockets? How'd you *ever* get accredited as an adventurer? Just... stay there and don't do anything idiotic." She shakes her head as she stalks forwards, intent on checking to see if Merek is, indeed, still alive.

GAME: Merek rolls fortitude: (19)+6: 25

Merek blinks awake a bit, while he lifts up a hand to reach for whatever's there while he looks up, "What... Are the paladins safe?" he asks, while he does his best to stand, hand finding Delilah's face, "Oh no, the vampire has brought a woman with him, I won't be your bride! Eluna would not like that, I will not perform this ceremony!" He hasn't noticed it's adventurers that found him.

Selerik watches Merek intrigued, letting what is happening happen. Maybe it will be entertaining after all.

GAME: Merek rolls will: (13)+10: 23

Morgan pays no heed to what Delilah said. "No Merek it's just us." She says but is also wondering if the beer barrel idea is possible but answers "No I doubt it and if you smash it the smell of beer will stick with your boots for days."

Delilah kneels beside Merek, shaking her head once and laying a hand on his shoulder, and paying no mind to the hand on her face other than to squint a bit and lean back. "The vampire did not bring a woman," she replies, "My name is Delilah, and I'm not a vampire. Selerik and I are adventurers, and you're safe now. Ignore the idiot over there." She leans back, and rests her hands on her knees. "Can you stand? What happened to you?

Merek leans back on the nice wall, while he channels energy from the planes to heal himself, only enough so he can keep his attention to the place, then he looks up with a sigh. He winces a bit, and is trying his best not to move, as he looks to Delilah. "What... Oh, I... I went with him, it was the only way, no one has the power for matching him to fight." The male sighs a bit.

Morgan hmms "Last time I fought him he fled, but we had a lot of heavy hitters that time."

Delilah perks an eyebrow upwards. "Well, that was brave of you," she observes, after waiting patiently while Merek heals himself up a bit. "You might want to administer to yourself a little bit more," she suggests, "What you've been through has definitely left a few marks." She pauses, shifting to kneel on one knee, and making sure her robes settle properly around her. "Who is 'him', exactly?"

"I don't know his name, but it is a vampire that others seem to have managed to fight with," Merek explains, while he shifts a bit so he can keep channeling the energy while he speaks.

Morgan grabs a potion from her belt "Do you have enough magic to heal your self?" Asked as she does notice him healing himself "The vampire never gave his name as far as I know."

GAME: Morgan rolls perception: (20)+13: 33
GAME: Merek rolls perception: (6)+9: 15
GAME: Delilah rolls perception: (11)+0: 11
GAME: Selerik rolls perception: (12)+14: 26
GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+27: (16)+27: 43

Morgan says as she takes a defensive stance "Crap in coming attack." Is all she says as it's too late to cast a protection spell.

GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d4+7: (2)+7: 9

The dagger comes out of nowhere, and suddenly Morgan has a dagger sticking out of her shoulder like an exclamation mark.

GAME: Morgan rolls fortitude: (9)+8: 17

The woman falls to the ground suddenly. She doesn't seem to be breathing or anything…

Merek stands up to draw his black ancestral sword, while he shifts a bit so he can motion to the others a bit also, "Get her... From here," he says, while he seems like he's about to be on the floor again. He doesn't look like he's of any position to fight also.

Selerik blinks in surprise at the sudden dagger wound. "The blazes?" He isn't sure how to react to Morgan's condition, reaching out towards Merek as he makes a few arcane gestures. "The will of a hero to stand and fight, where they've already fallen, for others without spite."

Delilah rises to her feet, her pistol coming out of its holster as she stands. She pulls back the hammer with a loud click and sights down the weapon, looking for... what's going on here, exactly? "Let's figure out who's attacking us before we start moving," she comments, continuing to gaze over the top of her weapon and try to work out just where that came from.

GAME: Selerik casts Cure Critical Wounds. Caster Level: 10 DC: 20
GAME: Selerik rolls 8d8+20: (42)+20: 62

Given the circumstances... Selerik picks up Morgan and runs, the rest of you follow behind, and for some reason... the one that threw the dagger doesn't follow. Doesn't throw any more weapons at you. Eventually you'll get away and Morgan will wake from her deathlike slumber with a little start. You're all safe. For now.

-End