Death Blooms
It was a cold and lonely sort of day, and the night is not looking much better. Now that darkness has fallen the world is shrouded even further by the thick fog that had permiated the daytime hours. The sky is dark now, no sign of stars much less the moon. A faint wetness hangs in the air clinging to everything that it touches. It's a night for morose thoughts. Somehow the raven that has settled itself on this darkened street feels quite at home. It caws and flaps away, leaving a feather behind that drifts to the ground.
In the fog it can almost be missed, a body laying on the street. The corpse is... colorfully displayed. Flowers blooming out of places never meant to see the outside world. There is a black mask settled on the face of the corpse, and it sits there on the street... waiting to be found.
"Talk about trying to create a grimdark scene." Charlotte says as she puts a dagger into the belt she has. "Flowers coming out of his butt? Yuck. Or he ate a lot of compost." Her left arm rests upon a nice looking rapier too, but she seems rather relaxed.
Munchcunchmunch.
Stena has a bite of her apple as she looks down at the body. "Welp," she says, "Time to get the guards."
Seems like she's seen this sort of thing before. She's not... innured to its awfulness but distracting herself with food.
Back home, Olav's tribal shaman used to talk a lot about a raven he'd seen once, travelling in the south. All kinds of stuff about it being a bird of omen and stuff. Olav had ignored all of that, really. But this one seemed somehow serious, and besides Olav's dogs were fascinated by it. Of course, when the bird flew off, they became far more interested in the corpse. Olav followed the dogs, finding Charlotte and Stena looking over it. "Off," he tells the dogs, before they try to eat the body. "What killed him?" he asks, curiously.
The earlier fight had been dirty and desperate and Rondel had only scraped by the skin of his teeth. The trudge back to the filthy little inn he made home had been a miserable one, and the resulting 'bath' outside had been far from comfortable. But he'd gotten clean and his gear was clean-ish, which meant that after a nap and a few hours writing in his journal, the young hunter was ready to return to the night.
So the blackclad figure was prepared for the sight he'd stumble upon, torch held in his left hand illuminating the scene as he emerged from the billowing fog. He did not speak at first, merely approached the scene, getting so close that he could nudge the still figure with one high quality boot. He tilted his head at the sight, before looking up at the four who were there already. He glanced over toward the man who he'd met before, before studying the two new women.
"Somehow, I suspect he did not pass naturally."
Was that humor? It was impossible to tell.
GAME: Olav rolls perception: (19)+8: 27 GAME: Charlotte rolls perception: (15)+11: 26 GAME: Charlotte rolls heal+2: (7)+2+2: 11 GAME: Rondel rolls perception: (5)+6: 11 GAME: Stena rolls Perception: (1)+0: 1 (EPIC FAIL)
"You know," says Stena as she studies the corpse.
Intently.
"This is a really good apple." Munch.
Charlotte whistles. "This'll be hard to investigate. With this person being split from head to toe." She says popping her neck. "Sadly...I'm not all that adept at forensics."
As Charlotte presumably studies the body in detail, the man in black speaks.
"Check the neck. There is a dead man preying on citizens. This man and I barely escaped with our lives against the beast."
Olav pokes the flowers curiously. "Lilies," he says. "Mums. Chrysanthemums. And a black mask." He shrugs. "Weird."
"I think he's been murdered," adds Stena, deducing it brilliantly. A nod. "No, seriously. Let's get the guard, eh?"
"Mmmm....Dunno if that's what did this, but....well....We have to ask if anyone saw anything." Charlotte then looks to Olav. "I don't think the guard would be able to help. They'd likely get in the way."
"Yes, what little I have seen of the city watch does inspire me. When bards sing of heroes, one gets the impression they are not singing about these...'men'."
As he speaks, Rondel drops to one knee to give the corpse more illumination...and his right hand reaches for the figure's mask, to try and gently pull it off the face. Unless it's sticking to the flesh, then he won't force it.
"Aw, the guard isn't so bad," Olav says. He starts looking around the area around the body, looking for anything that might be related to it... blood streaks, abandoned weapons, names written in the victim's blood in the street, whatever.
The mask comes off easily revealing a not unhandsome - if quite dead - man. The mask itself is plain and black like a masquerade mask.
GAME: Charlotte rolls knowledge/local: (9)+10: 19
"...yeah, this is weird," says Stena. Munch, munch. She tosses the apple core over her shoulder. A hand goes to the haft of her rather large greataxe. "Oi. We can seal the area off while we wait for the guard. Let's make ourselves nice and visible in this stupid mist and fog because the evening is not terrifying enough already."
Charlotte says, "If you're scared, you can go and get the watch yourself."
GAME: Charlotte rolls perception: (15)+11: 26 GAME: Olav rolls perception: (17)+8: 25 GAME: Malik rolls Perception: (13)+5: 18 GAME: Stena rolls Perception: (7)+0: 7 GAME: Rondel rolls perception: (15)+6: 21
"Huh," Olav says, walking towards a nearby shop door. "He came from in here, looks like." He tries to open the door.
"You think the guard is gonna have any more of a clue than you do?" The new voice comes from somewhere in the back, the tall figure becoming more visible as he moves through the mists. "They'd probably just write it off as natural causes. They're paid to protect the living. Once they're dead, they become much less of a priority." Malik moves up to the crowd, peering at the body curiously. "That's why they usually hire out on stuff like this. Besides," he adds, "if the guard starts to get too good, the Guilds are gonna have something to say about it. Probably something snide and threatening. Cut into their business, after all."
Charlotte turns and heads to a shop next door to the scene. She knocks on the door. "Hello? Mind if I talk to you for a sec?"
GAME: Olav rolls 1d20+3: (11)+3: 14
Still on one knee, Rondel reached down with a gloved hand, to turn the corpse's head to the side. With his Everburning torch providing illumination, the hunter spoke aloud to the group.
"Look here, something punctured his neck. It does not look like a fang, unless the predator was especially small. Somehow, I doubt that is the case."
When Malik approached, Rondel spared little more than a glance before returning back to study the corpse.
"When I was a child, I sometimes needed medication. It was administered through a device that punctured the skin."
He did not mention how that same device often rendered his mother catatonic, and how she grew to crave those delusions by the end. Some things were left unsaid.
There's a woman in the shop across the street, one who pulls her curtain closed as her door is knocked on. "G'way! We aint seen not'in 'ere!"
"Well," begins Stena.
"You could always take 'em to the Vardamans and ask 'em to ask them questions for us. I'm told they can do that kinda thing. GEt the corpses talking. Why, I hear that when they're really bored, they get a bunch of the dead to sing for 'em." Where the hell did she get another apple to start munching on? Because she is.
Her eyes track Charlotte, now, though she listens to what Rondel has to say. Turning back towards him, she blinks her eyes. "Issat right?"
Charlotte sighs softly. "Ma'am...if you don't help us out, whoever killed this person may come for you next. We're trying to stop that person, but we'll have a harder time if you don't help us."
Charlotte is...also...no longer listening to Stena.
Malik watches as the woman closes the curtains, the movement catching his eyes. "Sooo... someone wanna try to sweet talk her, or should I get to work on getting us inside for aggressive negotiations?" He looks around at the others, waiting to see what they say, and looking for all the world like either option is good with him.
While Charlotte and the others try to question the neighbor, Olav tries to enter the bakery and look around.
"Hanging around a corpse while threatening shopkeepers, I feel is a poor course of action. We might need to contact a guard after all, if only to provide transport to a church."
Olav then goes back to the body, searching it for keys.
The woman opens up her curtain and stares down at you. "'an talkin to ya might be a quick death too!"
GAME: Charlotte rolls diplomacy: (3)+6: 9
"At least there's a chance we'll stop him if you tell us what you know." Charlotte says before looking to Olav. "Do you have anything positive to say?"
Finishing her apple, Stena sets aside the core, dabs her mouth with her hanky and then places is strategically over the body.
"That was really bothering me," she tells everyone, just in case they needed to know /that/.
GAME: Malik rolls Diplomacy: (1)+3: 4 (EPIC FAIL)
Rondel has been focused on the body. Should Charlotte return to the group, however, the man will speak idly in that low gravelly voice of his, while continuing to poke and prod.
"Have you tried bribing her? Ignoble sorts, they are ruled by their pockets. I have some gold pieces to spare, if you wish not to spend your own."
"You realize she can hear you, right?" Malik looks over to Rondel, raising an eyebrow. "There's nobody else out here. Everything you say is just -- all the sound there is." He shakes his head, looking up at the woman briefly before turning back to the body. "Besides, whatever she has to say probably isn't worth paying for, or she would have already tried to leverage it. She's a businesswoman." Way to be diplomatic, stranger.
Without another word the woman closes her curtain, seemingly convinced that Charlotte has nothing to say that will convince her.
"Welp. She's not gonna help and she was the only lead we had. Lets go home. Whoever did this is likely to strike again because we can't get any information from someone who saw it." Charlotte is pretty loud about this....
GAME: Charlotte rolls intimidate: (14)+13: 27
Charlotte's words cause the curtain above to shake, and then distantly there's the sound of footsteps. Finally the door to the tannery opens up showing a small goblin woman. "Whattya... I mean..." She wrings her hands. "I really aint seen much."
Charlotte turns back and looks to the goblin woman. "But you DID see something." She says as she offers her left hand to the goblin woman. "Whatever you saw may help.....and we need that help, ma'am. Please help us."
Eventually, Rondel stands up to his normal height, dusting off his hands of this mess, and looking around.
"This murder appears to be man-made. This might be the result of some sort of cult, or some gang trying to send a specific message to someone. In any case, creatures do not appear to be responsible."
From the tone of his voice, it sounded like this detail was causing him to grow less interested. Indeed, he was looking around with his torch, trying to look for any patrolling guards, either nearby or in the distance. Perhaps he wanted to wash his hands of involvement with this.
Malik steps away, leaning against the wall as he lets Charlotte negotiate with the goblin woman. Looking over to Rondel, he adds, "Men are the worst monsters of all. At least the others usually have a reason. Or at least an excuse. We do it for fun and profit."
There's a large, crimson and smoke gray scaled Sith'Makar standing about wearing armour made of welded steel plates and makeshift artifice. She observes with an inscrutable expression, her nictitating yellow eyes staring at the various people surrounding her rather. For now, Izpapalotl says not aware, her rows of jagged teeth gleaming faintly when she bothers to part her scaled saurian jaw.
The woman seems uncertain for a moment before finally nodding. "I saw a man; a tall bald man in dark clothes leave the body there. He spent a few minutes o'er it and when he left it looked like that. He went thatta way."
Darius has been silent up until now and says, "We could use someone who is versed in solving crimes." He narrows his eyes, "I don't have the experience myself to figure out who, what, where, when and why."
"Dark Clothes? How dark? Like black?" Charlotte asks the woman. She's definitely listening to every detail.
Olav is considering just breaking down the bakery door when the witness provides an additional lead. He looks around. "Shall we see if we can find the killer?" he suggests, pointing in the direction she indicated. He tries to pick up some tracks.
"There you go," Malik tells the others. "Tall bald man in dark robes. No great mystery here. And nobody has promised payment for risking my neck." He seems a bit disappointed by that, all in all, stepping away from the body and giving the others a nod. "Good luck in your endeavor." And with that, he slinks off into the mists again, whistling happily.
GAME: Olav rolls survival: (18)+8: 26 GAME: Charlotte rolls survival: (8)+2: 10 GAME: Stena rolls Survival: (8)+0: 8 GAME: Itzpapalotl rolls survival: (4)+0: 4
Olav looks around and nods. "This way," he says, and starts moving north.
GAME: Darius rolls survival: (12)+0: 12 GAME: Rondel rolls survival: (5)+6: 11
Olav leads you northward, following some tracks that for the most part only he seem able to find. Eventually the tracks lead to a house, one that is all boarded up and decrepit with age. There seems to be no one home.
Olav checks around the building for other entrances/exits.
Rondel considered not following, but figured he was in for a copper, so might as well see it through. When they get to the house, the hunter looks behind him to the group.
“It might be better if I go in front. If there is danger, it will hit me first. And whatever hits me first, shall not live to regret it."
Darius follows along, hand on the hilt of his greatsword and says, "Does anyone get the feeling that we are in some gothic horror play? A murdered person and a haunted house... all we need now is for some demonic creature from the Abyssal Planes to jump out and attack us."
"It's like Gobber Girl detective, only none of us is a detective and not a one of us has a magnifying glass," says Stena, glancing about back and forth. But she does nod towards Rondel, bringing her greataxe up and over her shoulder with a great deal of controlled caution.
Charlotte sighs as the rest move off. "Get inside....board up your home, and don't come out for anything. We'll take care of this." She says before she leaves. Hopefully, the woman does just that.
She follows along, but puts a hand on Rondel's shoulder. "Let me go first. I'm a real pain in the ass in a fight." She then smirks. "A ROYAL pain in the ass."
Darius moves to the door and says, "Allow me..." With that, he pulls his heavy booted foot back and attempts to kick the door down as he draws his greatsword.
GAME: Darius rolls strength: (18)+5: 23
The hunter gave the woman a glance, noticing her stature and obvious good breeding. Immediately, the tall man relented, lifting his hat and tilting his head in a formal gesture.
"Of course."
Even still, he looked up toward that house, and pulled the hand-axe from his belt. He imagined that a bastard sword would be a cramped fit in such an enclosed space, and besides, one hand was holding a torch.
The house has several windows and a front door. All of which are heavily boarded. It is squished between two buildings so that you can't get around it. So Darius steps forward and busts the door in. Shards of wood spray everywhere, and as you enter the house you realize how incredibly dark it is in here. Much darker than it is outside and that's saying something. In fact you can't see at all for a moment. Even the everburning torch seems to be darkened by the dim lighting inside.
Olav joins the gang checking out the inside.
Clacking her jaw once the several hundred pound Sith-Makar falls in behind Olav. She follows, clanking only slightly as she walks along the roads. When Darius speaks Izpapalotl shifts her yellow, unblinking eyes to the man and shrugs. Her voice comes out as a rumbling hiss. "If it was that simple I would considering it a kindness." The creature gives a shrug at this. "And in either case we will learn the truth of it soon enough."
Izpapalotl stares into the darkness, blinking periodically. Her yellow eyes almost seem to glow in the darkness, though this makes it no easier to see. Finally, she gives a brief nod. "The demon idea seems to be more plausible by the moment." This she seems to find a fairly satisfying conclusion.
"...oh that's not ominous at /alllll/," says Stena with a sigh. "...should've gotten the Daeusites to turn up, oi." She pinches the bridge of her nose.
Charlotte says, "And that's helpful HOW?" She says as she says a word, and draws her rapier, which begins to glow.....that is engulfed in the darkness as well. "We need to dispel this.""
Darius lights his Everburning Torch and holds it against the blade of his greatsword as he steps in and says, "Wrong person for that... where's Deak when you need him or Kruulvog for that matter..." Naming a few of his adventure partners that he ends up adventuring with on Guild jobs.
"I am neither priest, nor speaker of secrets. My job is more physical. More visceral"
Rondel stared at the darkness of the house, twirling his axe in his other hand. Curiously, his steel walking cane was now tucked in his belt, now that he was holding both torch and weapon.
GAME: Olav rolls perception: (14)+8: 22 GAME: Darius rolls perception: (5)+5: 10 GAME: Charlotte rolls perception: (2)+11: 13 GAME: Itzpapalotl rolls Perception: (12)+5: 17 GAME: Rondel rolls perception: (6)+6: 12 GAME: Stena rolls Perception: (16)+0: 16
You see figures on the verges of the light, small ones. You can hear the pitter-patter of small steps rushing up the stairs to your right. Almost you catch sight of whatever it is... but not quite. Hushed whisperings fill the air, and to your left you hear a dull thud.
"Careful -- they're kids!" Cries Olav.
"Small fleshlings heading up the stairs?" There's a nod when someone yells that it is kids and the enormous lizard heads for the aforementioned stairway, tilting her head back as her gaze follows the steps upward. "Is one of them involved in what occurred? It could be a trick..."
"...oh for.."
Stena is caught off guard by that. She's seen the same thing. "Kids! HEY! KIDS! STOP THAT!"
Very good, Stena. That'll work.
GAME: Rondel rolls BAB: (12)+2: 14
Rondel's reflexes were too good. Violent movement and thudding to the right of him, meant the blackclad man spun around, launching one of those well-made boots outward to strike at whatever tried to sneak up on him.
Darius blinks and then calls out, "Fluffy! Time to play!" A reddish-purplish huge dire panther bounds inside the place and all of sudden, a huge purr erupts as Fluffy starts to chase the kids chirruping for them to stop so that she can cuddle them.
Rondel kicks the person hard, and the light shows a little old lady with a cane now sprawled out on the floor. Meanwhile the kids are running upstairs, laughing and fleeing in the face of Darius's pet cat. Not that they're afraid of it, more that they can get away with playing tag now that their caretaker is down and out. The little old woman struggles to her feet with the aid of her cane, and peers at you. "What do you want? Come with the guard again to take my kids away?"
"We're looking for a killer," Olav replies. "Any idea who that might be?"
Fluffy bowls a small child over and start to face wash them with her long rough tongue, purring loudly, happily.
Rondel looked down at the woman, narrowing his eyes. His hand-axe was still in his hand, even as his left brought the Everburning Torch closer to the woman, to better illuminate her features. There was no heat or danger of fire, she would be perfectly safe. In the light, Rondel's grey eyes shone like two distant, dangerous stars.
"To specify, we're looking for a bald man in robes. Do you house such a figure? Are you complicit in his crimes, eager to house a wolf who preys on the lamb?"
GAME: Rondel rolls intimidate: (7)+9: 16 GAME: Itzpapalotl rolls intimidate: (4)+1: 5
Darius leaves the group to talk to the old lady and sheathing his sword, walks up the stairs and kneels down where Fluffy is 'attacking' a child and says, "Hi there, this is Fluffy, it looks like she likes you. I'm Darius, a heroic warrior attempting to right wrongs and save damsels in distress. Will you talk to me for a moment?" He gently grabs Fluffy by the collar and pulls her off the child so that they can breathe.
GAME: Darius rolls diplomacy: (20)+4: 24
Izzy sways slightly while she listens to the discussion that is going on between the adventurers and the little old lady. She blinks a few time’s unusually for her, and turns to slowly survey the house. SIlence continues though really one might be forgiven for thinking she might be... Nodding off.
The child giggles and sits up, grasping Darius by the arm. "Gee mister! That's a great cat you have there! AND you save damsels?" The little girl becomes bashful. "Like me? I'd be happy to help you I sure would!" She gets a far away look in her eyes. "And you could rescue me like in the stories. Be my new daddy." She looks up at him with hero worship in her eyes.
Meanwhile the old woman is cowering in front of Rondel, cane in her fingers. "I swear I have no idea what you're talking about. I just watch my kids. Please... I'll tell you whatever you want to know!"
Charlotte walks up beside Rondel and places a hand on his shoulder and sighs. "She's too scared to say anything now." She then looks to the old lady. "Have you seen a bald man with dark robes around here? We're looking for him. he was sighted at the scene of a murder."
Darius is shocked for a second and for some strange reason, Fluffy is turned away and shaking, is that her feline version of laughter? Darius blinks and then smiles and puts a hand on her head and says, "Well... if you want me to rescue you, I need to know a few things, like what's your name first off?" Darius is struggling to stay composed but inwardly his head is spinning as he goes, . o O (This is not how I envisioned this going... at all.)
"...okay, I'm officially creeped out," is what Stena manages to say after a long moment.
The hunter was going to go harder, but the hand on his shoulder caused Rondel to look over at the woman, caused him to stay his hand for the moment...the moment until he looks over at Darius. His eyes narrowing, he spoke out toward the man.
"I would not suggest 'adopting' anyone from this household, until we have more information. Remember, we followed a trail from the body to this house. Everything is suspect."
His grip on his hand-axe tightened and lessened the more he stood here. It was easier when the goal was to just kill the zombie pig you were told about.
"My name is Aika!" The little girl is clearly excited to be able to help. She peers up at him with such hopeful eyes that it's practically heartbreaking.
The old woman shakes her head. "I hardly leave the house save to get groceries. It just went dark here a few moments ago and then you all came in." Her eyes flicker toward Rondel. "That's all I know!"
Darius ignores Rondel for the moment, focusing on Aika and says, “Aika, that’s a pretty name for a pretty girl like you. My friends and I are after a very bad man who’s bald and wears a black cloak, have you or any of your friends seen or heard of anyone like that around here?”
GAME: Rondel rolls Perception: (2)+6: 8
"Hullo, Aika. Would you like an apple?" Stena has another. Yes. She's holding it out to her. She seems unsettled by the whole exchange. A glance towards the others. She's letting them take point, honestly. This is all kind of new to her.
"A'ma is a bald man sometimes!" The little girl says excitedly, pointing to the old woman. The woman looks up the stairs and utters a curse in a male tone that sounds entirely unlike her 'normal' one. With unnatural grace she bounds backwards. In an instant she's at the window, standing at what seems like seven feet tall. How you could have thought this an old woman you're suddenly unsure. She touches the window and jumps right out of it.
GAME: Rondel rolls perception: (11)+6: 17 GAME: Itzpapalotl casts Jump. Caster Level: 2 DC: 13 GAME: Itzpapalotl rolls Perception: (9)+5: 14
Darius reaches out and hugs Aika to him and says, "Aika, you're a hero, you've just helped us find the bad man who hurt someone who might have had a little girl just like you. I'd like to chase after you A'ma myself, but I'm going to stay here and protect you and your friends." He then smiles and looks into her eyes, "I promise you that I will adopt you and find homes for your friends, ok? I am a hero of justice who rescues damsel's in distress after all." He winks at her and continues, "Someday, when you're bigger and stronger and older, I'll teach you to be just like me..." And people everywhere shudder at Darius ever making a mini-version of himself.
When the figure jumped, the black-clad figure of Rondel cursed and instantly was sprinting right back out the door, handaxe stuffed hastily in his belt as he instead drew that beautiful sword at his hip. He was running as fast and as hard as he could, funnily enough he started this 'mission' he was apathetic toward the result. But this figure eluding him stung at his pride more than he would admit. He strove to ensure that didn't happen.
As the figure goes through the window, Charlotte is right behind him. She's probably one of the faster members of the group (barring a monk), with her light armor and long strides. She doesn't even draw her sword as she chases him.
There's no sign of the man outside. He's gone without a single trace of him left in his wake…
-End-