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Post by Dirac Sil on Aug 5, 2008 10:35:20 GMT
Dirac breathes in and out. Rushing will do no good, though he is aware that soldiers could flood at any moment.
"Hunters, watch my back - this might take some time," growls Dirac, trying to free his mind of the distraction of imagined soldier footsteps on the stairs. Another breath, and the man again fiddles with the dagger point in the delicate mechanism
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Post by Slavemaster on Aug 5, 2008 13:07:33 GMT
Corwyn:
The stablehand staggers whimpering out of the stable and towards one of the empty storerooms, apparently running to hide. No one pays him any attention, there is much confusement in the courtyard.
Some minutes pass. Sergeant Hurbert has come down from the gatehouse and is now apparently engaged in an animated discussion with the night shift sergeant, who points towards the keep. Some of the guards have come out in the yard, now fully armed and armoured and looking around. It appears that the two sergeants are discussing what to do next.
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Post by Slavemaster on Aug 5, 2008 21:04:58 GMT
Main group:
Dirac takes his time examining the door and lock - and there is indeed a trap there; three tiny metal nozzles are hidden in the doorframe. He plugs the nozzles with dirt from the floor and also runs his dagger down the door frame, cutting the mechanism.
The lock itself, however, turns out to be above his capabilities, or at least his equipment, so the hunters spend some time breaking it down.
When the door eventually gives way from your blows, you look into another bedroom, about half as big as the room with the dead woman, this one taking up one quarter of the floor. It is cluttered and unkempt, but lighter; the curtains are not closed over the high windows. You see an unmade four-poster bed, a table littered with flasks, books parchments and various items, a bookshelf crammed with books, with a couple of piles of books on the floor. There is a closet, and a writing desk piled high with books and paper. Some items seem out of place for a bedroom in an aristocrat household; a human skull is resting on the writing desk, used as a paperweight, there are a couple of stuffed animals and birds, including a large, flying reptile hanging from the ceiling. There is also a human skeleton hanging from a support in one corner, beside an anatomical chart hanging on the wall. Beside the door, you also see the trap; a big glass cannister, filled with billowing green smoke, connected to tubes that lead into the doorframe.
The room smells of chemicals, stale food and unwashed clothing. It is otherwise deserted.
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Post by Slavemaster on Aug 6, 2008 18:44:44 GMT
You spend a couple of minutes sifting through the mess in the room. It apparently belongs to the seneschal; several of the documents on the writing desk bears his signature, and there is also a fancy silver seal with a stylised "M". The paperwork is mostly administrative; ledgers and documents about crop yield, salaries and taxes, as well as a few letters from other nobles and notables in the area. Under the desk, you also find a locked iron-bound chest.
The books are mostly about heraldry and genealogy, particularly about the Ranval family, along with historical and judicial textbooks, including a heavy lawbook. There is also a lot of theological literature about Ishir. Some of the books, however, are more unexpected; there are a few books about herbalism and alchemy, several volumes about anatomy and surgery and one book about taxidermy. There are also a few books about occultism and mysticism. But the most unexpected is a book written in Giak, bound in black leather, with the title in silver letters, "Zazdaka Xhagvash gudjag".
In a small cabinet on the wall, you find half a dozen bottles and small phials, of different colours; one bottle of clear liquid, another one with a green powder, one small phial with pink liquid, two with red and one with a yellowish transparent liquid. In the same cabinet, you also find a gold ring with a large gem, which turns out to be of glass and hollowed out, to make a small compartment in the ring. There is also another gold ring, with a small hidden needle that can be folded into it.
The closet contains a wide variety of robes, shirts and clothing, with a dozen pairs of boots and shoes on the floor. They are all finely made and decorated with gold and silver thread and expensive fur.
A silver goblet and a pitcher half-filled with wine stands on a small bedside table.
The skeleton in the corner does indeed appear to be a genuine human skeleton. There are chalk marks and small numbers written here and there on the bones, and the anatomical chart beside it have several scrawls, doodles and annotations, such as "Reinforce clavicula before grafting replacement arm".
The state of the room makes it obvious that the seneschal does not allow servants into it.
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Post by Dirac Sil on Aug 7, 2008 11:01:46 GMT
Dirac frets around, checking out of the windows and at the top of the stairs. He regrets not hiding the bodies now, although the mess of the attack would have been visible anyway. Still it is now clear they must either try to escape, or go up the alternative stairs to find the baron, or evidence of his passage.
A sounds brings Dirac back to the room, and he seems the chest that Soul Spawn takes out. Despite himself, Dirac against feels the twinge of nostalgia. Working on the lock and detectign the trap that could have killed him was both frightening and yet - exciting.
He felt an itch for treasure he had not had in a long time as a mercenery, and eagerly, though still outwardly cool, walked across to try his hand at the lock.
It was almost like old times, except for the dead soldiers and chance of discovery any moment
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Post by Slavemaster on Aug 8, 2008 11:50:24 GMT
Main group:
The heavy iron-bound chest remains shut, and you spend some time breaking it. It is well made and the wood breaks before the lock does. When the chest is finally ruined, a couple of jingling pouches fall out of one of the holes you have made; the chest is filled with leather pouches, each filled with silver and gold lune. There must be many thousands of lune here, along with at least one pouch containing precious stones. You seem to have found the cash box of the barony. In the bottom of the chest is about a dozen gold ingots, and you also find a couple of leather scroll cases containing paperwork; deeds to various farms and breweries.
The contents of the chest is valuable, but nothing unusual - until you find, at the bottom, two pouches of black silk filled with kika, the Darkland currency.
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Post by Slavemaster on Aug 8, 2008 12:00:04 GMT
Corwyn:
From the dark stable, you observe the two sergeants discussion. Vymon, the night watch sergeant, is yelling at his colleague, who is pale with fright.
"I don't care what the seneschal said, Hurbert! Something is very wrong here! Yes, I know what I saw, but if the strangers have hurt ole Dirko, I want to find out about it!"
"But... please Vymon, if those men could take out the captain and the seneschal, what hope do you..."
"You are, as the good seneschal often tells you, not in possession of all the facts. Not to mention your senses! I'm not going to explain all to you, but what we have here is either treachery, or a mistake of some sort. Either way, we owe it to the captain, not to mention his lordship, to find out. You can stay here and watch the gate. I'm going in!"
With that, sergeant Vymon turns on the spot and yells out a series of orders. By now, the newly awakened night watchmen have donned their armours and rush out of the barrack. A dozen soldiers line up behind the sergeant, and they start to move up towards the keep. Around the courtyard, the servants stare in bewilderment and fright. Sergeant Hurbert looks flustered, but turns towards the remaining guards.
"You heard! Get up on the battlements you lot, and keep on your toes!"
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Post by Dirac Sil on Aug 8, 2008 19:12:51 GMT
Dirac's eyes widened, and memories of hordes plundered, hordes never as impressive as this, came back to him. His heart raced, and he found himself smiling, found his palms itching.
"we haven't time for this," he said, but did not even think to look around for soldiers attracted to the noise until much later. His eyes skirted over the coins, riches it would have taken decades to accumulate providing he hadn't lost his life pointlessly on the field of battle for some insane lord of these northern lands first.
To distract himself, Dirac looked at the scroll case, an unusual item. He gingerly opened it, and saw the papers for what they were. "Deeds to lands," said Dirac dismissively to the rest, but put them in his coat quickly. If the baron were ousted, then no one would challenge if a farmer sudden;y possessed his own land. That gesture could make a powerful, obliged friend in a region that otherwise required your death for crimes of murder and robbery.
Dirac realised taking riches was not wise, nor practical. Certaily if they were captured, any coin or gems on them would be incriminating. That did not stop Dirac taking a second pouch filled wiht coins as a symbolic gesture, and some of the plainer, untraceable yet hopefully valuable gems for himself as a nest egg.
"we should leave," said dirac, coming to his senses, "even accidentally, anyone could discover the soldiers downstairs. We need to find the baron or leave, but we need to do either quickly."
Dirac moved to the top of the stairs, fiddling with his dagger nervously.
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Post by Michael of Eshnar on Aug 8, 2008 22:25:30 GMT
Corwyn floats dramatically through the stable wall and extends a ghostly finger to point accusatorily at the two sergeants.
"Vymon... Hurbert..." says Corwyn, deliberately making his spectral voice sound more creepy than it already was. "The curse of the Dark God Naar is upon this place. The Baron is a traitor to Naar and Seneschal Matino has already fled this accursed place." Corwyn accentuates his words by continuing to jerkily point at each sergeant in turn, fixing each man with a iron glare.
"The captain has betrayed us all and this form you see before you is the manifestation of the Dark God's baleful glare upon this castle. Flee now to your wives and children and consider yourselves lucky to have escaped the taint of true Evil... or remain and become twisted as I have, the soul stripped from your body even as your flesh decays from your very bones and you are bound to this blasted site as a withered parody of all things wholesome and true."
Corwyn raises him arms dramatically and levitates ten feet into the air, hanging just above the guards' reach. As he writhes in the air, apparently shaking with the fury of one betrayed, his ectoplasmic form flashes through the visible light spectrum and appears even more terrifying than before. (OOC: This is when Corwyn uses his Frightful Presence again.)
"Go now if you value your immortal souls! The Dark Shadow draws closer and I, a mortal man betrayed by your masters and empowered by the spirit of Naar, am only the herald of far worse things to come. Only distance from this dread place will save you now!"
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Hawk's Bane
Seasoned Player
Harbinger of Evil who's leaking like a drippy tap
Posts: 107
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Post by Hawk's Bane on Aug 9, 2008 3:45:48 GMT
Hawk's Bane just watched the others until he noticed the phials and bottles in the small cabinet. He took a closer look at them, and tried to identify them. After having done so, he pocketed them with the rings carefully and turned to the others, as they finish up with their find.
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Post by Slavemaster on Aug 9, 2008 8:58:41 GMT
Corwyn:
The soldiers and remaining servants watch in terror as you put on your show. They listen in horrified fascination. One of the soldiers beside Vymon is hesitantly raising his crossbow, but Vymon slaps it down, muttering "No, you fool!"
Some servants and less brave guards don't wait for Corwyn to finish his speech, but head for the gate immediately. After a bit of yelling and rattling the portcullis, the portcullis is raised and the people storm out. Most simply run in panic, including sergeant Hurbert, others back away hesitantly, not sure what to do, but soon they join the throng and disappear over the drawbridge. It only takes a minute for everyone to leave the courtyard and the surrounding houses, although you can make out that there are people still in the main keep, watching fearfully from the windows.
Only sergeant Vymon and two guards remain on the courtyard. Vymon drops to his knees and is almost crying.
"Please!", he pleads. "It was never supposed to come to this! So the baron really betrayed the darklords, did he? We did not know... None of us did, we only followed orders! He told us that he was the one betrayed! It was... it was that accursed ruby, was it not? Spare me, and the men loyal to the true gods..."
He indicates the two remaining guards who are by now carefully edging their way towards the gate.
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Post by Slavemaster on Aug 9, 2008 9:13:54 GMT
Main group:
When you have taken all of interest from the seneschal's chamber, you continue up the spiral staircase. One floor up, it leads out to another landing - the staircase continues up, and you can just about make out a door at the top of the stair, but you are on the top floor now, so that door presumably leads out on the roof.
From the landing, you look into a room taking up a quarter of the floor. It looks like another antechamber; there is a fireplace, with yet another of the stuffed animal heads this household seems fond of - this one is a great stag, with antlers almost as wide as the fireplace - and a couple of crossed swords beneath it. In front of the fireplace is a rather simple table with some chairs, and beside it a weapon rack, indicating that this is also a guard room.
Just like the antechamber on the lower floor, this one is lavishly decorated, with stucco in the ceiling, tapestries on the walls, and silver oil lamps set in the walls. There is also two ornately made sets of full plate armour, standing on each side of the one door in this room; a great double door in the west wall, bearing the coat-of-arms of the Ranval family. The door has a lock.
There are two high windows with painted glass, also bearing the Ranval family crest. They overlook the countryside outside the keep, so you can't see the courtyard. You can, however, see the road from the castle, and there are several people moving on it, apparently hurrying away from the castle with great haste. Something appears to have happened...
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Post by Michael of Eshnar on Aug 9, 2008 22:49:02 GMT
Corwyn fixes the sergeant with a anguished look and waves his hand in the air, gesturing at the far-off distance.
"Then go! Go far from these treacherous halls and consider yourselves lucky! The Dark God's blight approaches and, although I am only the tool of His wrath and not the divine hand that wields it, I have no interest in those who do not keep me from vengeance upon the traitors to Naar."
Corwyn's ectoplasmic form dims slightly as he drops his arm and awaits the sergeant's actions.
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Post by Dirac Sil on Aug 10, 2008 5:15:45 GMT
Dirac cursed when he saw the movement, people were fleeing from a danger, which would imply that those tasked to deal with danger were probably hurrying this way with alacrity.
"We have not much time," said Dirac to his companions, "if the baron is here, we must secure him. If the baron is not, we must escape!" Dirac turned fully to look to SS, shaking his head. "I do not believe the baron is here. I believe we should have followed the rider - him - towards the shrine.
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Soul Spawn
Gamer
Night Born Nad-Adez Konkor
Posts: 183
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Post by Soul Spawn on Aug 10, 2008 8:35:40 GMT
"It seems you could be correct, Dirac. Either the baron has fled or he is dead, but l agree we must make a decision. Corwyn has made excellent work of distracting the guard, so l am sure resistance is down to a minimum. Still, let us check this last room and then we shall away."
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