Realms of Dread [IC] Chapter Three

Rafael's and Skybolt's Online Campaign
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Realms of Dread [IC] Chapter Three

Post by ewancummins »

Rardi...

Rardi stirs in her cell- as much as she can stir, bound as she is and now shackled to a cold stone wall in a narrow , lightless cell [of course, the dwarf can see in the dark, not that the bare cell affords much of a view]. Things are a bit fuzzy- someone sapped her, back there on the beach. Her head throbs.

The door to the cell swings open, groaning on its hinges. Light stream in from the hall. Rardi's headache worsens. Two of the bailiff's men stand in the hall. One holds a bucket, the other brandishes a short sword.

SPLASH!

Cold seawater is thrown in Rardi’s face.

''Wake up, you disgusting sack of offal! The bailiff is here to talk with you. ''

The Bailiff of the Rock appears in the doorway. A scribe with pen and paper stands behind him, waiting in the hall.

''That's enough, men. Stand fast, and aid me if she tries anything foolish.''

He enters the room. Rardi cannot reach him- her chains are too short. She cannot speak, for the filthy gag is still stuffed in her mouth.

'' If you'd like to tell me what happened last night, in your own words, I will have that gag removed. I warn you- any attempt to use magic will result in you being subdued by blows and your gag replaced. I know that you'd like to escape. Don't bother trying, or you'll only make your situation worse than it is now. You won't get away from us- or from the detachment of Purple Dragons that the local commander has graciously lent me. ''



Shana

Shana runs. The hounds are howling, somewhere not too far behind her. She has done a lot of running since the fight on the beach. She's soaked with sweat.

The sun is a bit higher in the east, and it's shaping up to be a hot and muggy day.

The whole of the small island is now swarming with Cormyrean soldiers, angry locals [armed with gaff hooks, boning knives, and fishing nets], and hunters with bloodhounds! Everywhere Shana turns, she sees enemies bent on bringing her down. Some clever soul has ordered all civilian boats to cast off, so no easy route of escape presents itself. The only vessels moored on the Rock are those of the Purple Dragons- skiffs under the guard of fierce looking marines.

Ino

Ino blinks as the sack is pulled from her head. Bright light brings unbidden tears to her eyes. As her vision regains focus, she sees that she’s tied to a chair in a cramped, not-so-clean stone room. The light is from lanterns hanging in all four corners of the chamber. Five men are in the room with her. All are well armed, save for a scribe. Two wear the uniforms of Purple Dragons. The other two armed men she recognizes as some of the bailiff's crew. The only exit is closed. Ino sees motion on the other side, through a small barred window.


One of the bailiff's men speaks.

''Alright, Inovidil. Here's the deal: we're going to remove that gag. You'll then tell us exactly what happened at Blackpillars. Don't lie, if you know what's good for you. Try any magic and we'll beat you like a Calishite slave beats rugs, understand? Oh, and then we'll burn your book of spells.''


Blaise

Blaise is locked in a clean cell. His gag is still in, and he's still bound. After a little while, someone comes by to check on him. The bailiff's man is backed up by a Purple Dragon marine.

The local man says-

''We're going to bring you some food and drink, mister. Here, hold still...''


He pulls a knife and moves into the cell to squat next to Blaise. In an almost friendly tone, he relates the following information:

''The bailiff says you are going to be released very soon, and to please be patient. You must remain in this cell until he questions you. Nod if you understand me.''

Alain-

Alain has already spent the better part of the morning stumbling around town, searching in vain for his friends. Without as much as a note from the others, he simply does not know where they are- or were. Dead dog tired from no sleep and still a little drunk, he gets lost. He really needs to rest...


Threan

Threan has just finished leading the bailiff's men and the soldiers on a thorough search of Blackpillars. The gnome had little trouble with the traps left in place, and was able to successfully conclude the search.

The army officer in charge says to the gnome, as the search party returns to town,

''So, was that what you'd expected to find, Master Threan?''
Delight is to him- a far, far upward, and inward delight- who against the proud gods and commodores of this earth, ever stands forth his own inexorable self.

-from Moby Dick (Hermann Melville)
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Post by steveflam »

Rardi tries to shake the grogginess from her head, then looks straight at the Bailliff. She nods once to the man. Once her removes the gag, she swallows, and clears her throat. "Fer truth purposes, ta see if I be lyin or not, a priest kin help ya with that, else how ye gonna be knowin if I be tellin the truth or not. Whether ye chose to use one or not, is yer perogative, not mine. I talk when ye be ready."
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Post by Lord Skybolt »

"Yes it's about what I expected Lieutenant . " Replies Threan to the officer .

Later at the Bailiffs Office he asks one of the Guards"Could I take a look at the Delthrins Journal ." "I need to verify some conclusions I have reached after our search of Black Pillars ." Musing to himself out load .
"Evil only endures when good people remain silent ."
Tony inspired by Thomas Jefferson .
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Post by kintire »

Shana curses as she gazes out across the bay at the boats.

"Purple Dragons: avenging a Necromancer and diabolist!"

She spits, and then considers the situation. Nothing for it.

Carefully, she works her way down to the shore, at the point as close to the mainland as she can get. With a wave of her hands she murmurs a spell, and the placid rolling sea is replaced by an image of... the placid rolling sea. She eyes her handiwork and smiles slightly, then steps down to the water's edge and begins to swim towards the mainland. But unlike the real sea, her image has no head emerging from it, no telltale wake, just the placid, tossing waves. As she reaches the end of the illusion, she treads water for a moment, and weaves another.
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Post by ewancummins »

Rardi's cell

The bailiff calls for water.

''Perhaps you are thirsty.''

Rardi is very thirsty. Her mouth is dry and sore, the gag having been left in so long.

The guard who had doused Rardi now brings in a tin cup, full of sloshing liquid.

The bailiff takes the cup in hand. He doesn't offer it to the dwarf.

''Don't worry, Rardi. This isn't what I gave your friend Ironheart for a drink.''

The guards chuckle.

''I want the whole truth. Priests and holy relics and oaths will come later. For now- I'll trust you to tell me the truth because you and I both know how unpleasant things will get for you and your friends if I even suspect that you are lying to me. Isn't that right?''

He stares at Rardi with cold gray eyes, utterly devoid of kindness or sympathy.

Then he takes a sip of the water.

''Ahhhh...that's nice. Now tell me what happened.''
Delight is to him- a far, far upward, and inward delight- who against the proud gods and commodores of this earth, ever stands forth his own inexorable self.

-from Moby Dick (Hermann Melville)
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Post by ewancummins »

Threan, in the office


The guard answers the gnome-

''His journal? Yes, the Bailiff said you'd want to look at it. It's not to leave this room, of course. He wanted to know if you thought the same thing he thought, after reading the last couple of pages. I dunno what that was, though, he didn't tell me anything about it.''

Threan is given the journal, under the watchful [but by no means unfriendly] gaze of the guardsmen and begins to read. He starts near the end of the little book.


After a few minutes of reading, the gnome scowls and mutters a soft curse. After another minute of reading, he begins nodding to himself as if confiming some unspoken surmise. He flips back through the journal and reads more...
Last edited by ewancummins on Wed Aug 19, 2009 7:19 am, edited 1 time in total.
Delight is to him- a far, far upward, and inward delight- who against the proud gods and commodores of this earth, ever stands forth his own inexorable self.

-from Moby Dick (Hermann Melville)
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Post by ewancummins »

Shana-

It's a long swim through surprisingly cool waters, but Shana makes it to the opposite shore, finding herself in the Marsember seaward docks. It's still morning. People are going about their normal daily routines. A fishwife bawls out orders from her stall. A girl pushes a cart full of live shellfish along the waterfront, offering these to passers-by for a copper each. A patrol of Marsember City Watch [the militia to which her comrades belong] tramps by, marching in step.


[OOC the swim took some time, so you aren't 'in synch' with the rest of the party, but that doesn't matter ATM.]
Last edited by ewancummins on Wed Aug 19, 2009 2:44 am, edited 1 time in total.
Delight is to him- a far, far upward, and inward delight- who against the proud gods and commodores of this earth, ever stands forth his own inexorable self.

-from Moby Dick (Hermann Melville)
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Post by steveflam »

"As ye probably know, we belong to a task force assigned by Commander Rask. We was investigatin Delthrin and suddently got called off the case, sayin it were officially closed. We getted put on another smugglin case.

We din like it, an it were me idea ta go ta BlackPillars. I went with me captain Archedius an Inovidil. Tha others went ta look at the smugglin case. We arrived at the place, then to his home. Found a way in. We knowin nuthin bout traps so we sprung one by accident, battlin what is called a Kyton. That's s demonic beast in case ye dunno what it is. Anyhow, we got beat up pretty bad but defeated it. I healed our wounds which is why ye don see no scars or wounds on me from it's chain.

Then we entered a lab and had to contend with some undead beasties which I turned away. Priests of Lathander can do that. We came upon what appears to be Delthrin's lab where he conducts vile experiments to create undead horrors an worse, includin hus undead child. I be gettin to that in a bit.

So we find this creature, an octopus headed one, nailed into a cage. It's four limbs. Also it's head was clamped in some vile device. O course I be fergettin we defeated Delthrin and tied im up and gagged him jess before. He isn't dead to me knowledge. Now this creature, a mind flayer it is called, we freed it as I said. It wanted Delthrin for questions o its own an me Cap'n, Archedius accompanied it wherever it went with the two, I dunno.

Now we ran into the rest o tha others soon after, an the gnome kinna ticked me off so I left. Outside I ran into a woman fleeing. I magically held her an approached er. A child was in her arms an it slid to the ground an hissed at me. It did have a veil but I got a good look at it and knew it ta be undead. NO child deserves that fate. I offered the woman two gems ta git outta the city an never come back, cause most likely if the child be found it be destroyed. That's all I gots ta say about that."

Rardi lays back on her makeshift cot and ignores the water, knowing she can create her own if she needs to.
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Post by ewancummins »

Rardi's cell


''That's very interesting. You certainly put a different color on it than Master Threan. He says that you said, and I quote...''

The bailiff unfolds a sheet of paper and reads aloud-

' I dun care what ye think about this scumbag, he's evil and done evil. Whatever the mindflayer does to him he deserves it an rightfully earned it.'

'' That's sounds to me like a motive for murder by proxy, Rardi. Care to explain this?''
Delight is to him- a far, far upward, and inward delight- who against the proud gods and commodores of this earth, ever stands forth his own inexorable self.

-from Moby Dick (Hermann Melville)
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Post by steveflam »

"I'm sure I said a lot of things about orcs, goblins and giants too. If I was guilty I'd a tried ta flee. I came freely and offered no resistance. Neither did Inovidil. We is innocent. If ye know anythin about Lathander then ye know our feelins on Necromancers. I din kill im, end of story. So unless ye gots his dead body in yer possession, then I think we bein held here fer no reason. An yer takin tha word of that gnome? Cause a him yer gaurds nearly killed two innocent people with his sielnce spell. Now go find a priest to verify me tale, he or she'll prove to ye I ain killed nobody. Otherwise this interview is over."

Rardi now closes her eyes, and turns her back to the Bailliff.
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Post by ewancummins »

One of the men in the hall is talking with another man, who had just arrived. The guard walks into the cell and says to the bailiff,

''Boss, you said to let you know when the search was done.''

The bailiff rises.
He leaves without saying a word to Rardi.
The cell door slams shut. Rardi hears the lock turn and a bolt slide home.

About twenty minutes later, the bailiff and his men come back into her cell.

''Bad news, dwarf. My men found Lieutenant Archedius, dead. Delthrin is dead, too. Delthrin's head was sliced clean off, and something removed Archedius' brains after slicing his head open like a melon. From what Master Threan tells me of 'mind flayers', I 'd say it's pretty obvious what happened to them both. ''
Delight is to him- a far, far upward, and inward delight- who against the proud gods and commodores of this earth, ever stands forth his own inexorable self.

-from Moby Dick (Hermann Melville)
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Post by steveflam »

The dwarf opens her eyes at the Bailliff's news. Her eyes narrow, then she blinks

"That's too bad about Archedius. But I still dinna kill noone. Bring on the truth spells. I ain sayin nuthin else." She lays back down and closes her eyes once more
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Post by ewancummins »

The bailiff looks down at Rardi and sighs heavily. He speaks, in a cold and level tone

''No, actually, you did kill Delthrin, the moment you agreed to give him to that fiendish monster. You admitted afterward that you had no concern whatever for his life and actually hoped he had died- even though you knew it was your duty to safeguard your prisoner. ''



The bailiff gives an order to his men.

''Gag her. If she resists, beat her senseless. Don't kill her. She's to stand trial.''
Delight is to him- a far, far upward, and inward delight- who against the proud gods and commodores of this earth, ever stands forth his own inexorable self.

-from Moby Dick (Hermann Melville)
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Post by VAN »

Inovidil looks around, not very surprised to find herself is a jail. She stares at the scribe for a moment showing no fear. She narrows her eyes and her gaze gets icy only when he said that he will burn her spellbook.

"You really know how to intimidate wizards...But this isn't my case I assure you. I have no reason to try any magic, if I wanted I could have done that before and not let the guards capture me. I know I'm innocent and I'll speak the truth. If you want you can call a cleric and ask him to verify what I'm saying with divination magic."

Inovidil's tone is confident one more time and shows no fear.

"If you permit me, I'll start from the day I got my ring, the one Lord Scoril gave to me and my friends for our help to Cormyr. You can verify this version as well if you want."

Inovidil narrates to the scribe their adventures and how they got the ring that gave them power to Cormyr. She continues narrating all the story with the children vampires and how she and the others helped during the fire and how they got in militia wanting to help the town.

She makes a short break to get the reaction of the others and asks:

"Please tell me iif you have any questions or I can go on."
- The first 2 Feats a wizard should take are "point blank shot" and "Precise shot"!
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Post by ewancummins »


Ino


One of the guardsmen interrogates Ino. [This is not the same one who'd threatened to beat her and burn her spellbook.]

''That's all well and good, Inovidil. Tell us about last night. Why did you break into Delthrin's home? Why did you let the dwarf kill him?''


He leans foward, making eye contact at a few inches. His breath is minty fresh.

''It was the dwarf's idea, right? Leave him with that monster? ''
Delight is to him- a far, far upward, and inward delight- who against the proud gods and commodores of this earth, ever stands forth his own inexorable self.

-from Moby Dick (Hermann Melville)
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