The Eye of Anubis: Book Two

[lostboy]

Khalil was absently feeding pieces of his uneaten sausgaes to Karsh, wondering why Barovians insisted on serving pork and alcohol wiht every meal, "still you enjoy it eh my friend" he whispers to the hawk.

Suddenly he catches sound of the noise outside and joins the professor at the window. "This does not look favourable, we should make ready" he says watching the mob approach

[OOC: Listen: 17]

[Nathan of the FoS]

Charles had not eaten much in the way of breakfast; he was out in the stable tending to Kejser when he heard the shouting of the mob. Curious, he went around the corner of the inn just in time to hear the Bard of Barovia's closing argument. "Judged guilty," he mutters sardonically, ducking back behind the wall. A brief moral struggle follows.

Can I justify an attack from ambush on an unsuspecting foe? Would it even do any good? Cut off the head and the snake dies...but shouldn't we at least try to prevent bloodshed?

Damned chivalry.

Stepping around the corner of the building, Charles fires one of his pistols in the air. "STOP! STOP, IN THE NAME OF STRAHD!" he shouts at the top of his lungs.



OOC: Listen 10.

[DocBeard]

Sausage. Awesome. Sure, the beer was just bitter water, but sausage is sausage, and Tomas savored the flavor...

And then, all hell broke loose.

Standing up, the Lamordian warily gripped the hilt of the sword his old mentor gave him, looking out at the angry horde centered around the bard. "I, uh." Tomas pauses, trying to get his barings, fiercly fighting the rumbling in his head, as though a storm front had...

(Listen Check: 4 - 9 = 1)

He could try talking to the crowd...if he knew a word of Balok. Damnit. He's all but useless in situations like this. "Well, you guessed right about the musician." Tomas deadpanned, turning to catch the Bard's eye...

(Detect "Evil" towards the Bard. Man, it needs a better name than "Detect Chaos, Innocents, and Fiendish Influence".)

[Kaitou Kage]

"There's a proverb among sailors that fits the situation pretty well," Kuzan murmured once he saw the mess, "'A ship can't sail without its main mast.' If we have to fight our way out, I think this mob will be more likely to disperse if we can stop the bard."

The priest shook his head. He'd heard from many others on the expedition that the Barovians were a particularly xenophobic people, but this was just too direct, too targeted. Stefan wasn't dead when the bard took him out, and the bard had deliberately walked in to make a fuss. Unless he somehow knew the expedition was coming, he had no reason to consider the band a threat.

"I think he knew we were coming and doesn't want us to go any further," the priest said grimly.

[Rock of the Fraternity]

Listen check: 9

Lia, who had been eating in a corner of the room with her back to the others, rises swiftly when the noise draws closer. When she sees what is going on, she utters a low moan of panic and staggers back from the window.
'A mob! A flaming lynch mob! What to do, what spell ...?'
When she hears the others discussing taking out the bard, she stops making panicked noises and her eyes narrow disturbingly.
'Invisibility, yes. True strike plus Invisibility, that'd work for me. But I wouldn't stand much chance out there. So maybe ...' Loathing the thought, Lia looks to Alikhain, then taps her on the shoulder.
"Do you think you could take a man down and keep him down, if he couldn't see you coming?" she asks her quickly. "And do it so the rest of those bushwhackers are too afraid to keep coming?"

[DocBeard]

...is he doing it wrong? How did...

The Lamordian stumbled backwards, wide eyed, feeling overwhelmed by the smell of ozone and the flashing pain behind his eyes. "It's like he's not even there..." It's impossible. Right? The Sight always detects /something/, but....Tomas blinks, pulling a handkerchief and whiping the blood from his nose. He has to be doing it wrong.

"I'm totally open for suguestions." Tomas admits, trying to shake the brief, overwheming horror off and square his shoulders.

[NeoTiamat]

Karl's Folly
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"Well, well, well, the smooth-tongued one."

Dimitry raised a hand to the baying mob behind him. In a moment, it stills. It was readily apparent that the Bard of Barovia was the absolute master of the crowd. By his will it would attack, and his will held it at bay.

"Speak quickly, honeyed assassin. I think your lieing cries for mercy will be a fitting epitaph to your treacherous life." Dimitry's soft voice cut through the air. "Come now, any lies to save your hide? Or to save the life of those two murderers with you?"

[OOC: Spot check.

Also, since Dimitry is letting you talk, you have one minute to try various dialogue options or such.]

[Nathan of the FoS]

"Speak quickly, honeyed assassin. I think your lieing cries for mercy will be a fitting epitaph to your treacherous life." Dimitry's soft voice cut through the air. "Come now, any lies to save your hide? Or to save the life of those two murderers with you?"

[OOC: Spot check]

Spot check 20.

At the uncanny silence that falls as the Bard raises his hand, Charles realizes, with a sinking feeling, that this is no ordinary mob. Their ringleader's control is eerily strong...Buy time, buy time...the longer this goes the harder it will be for him to keep them together, and the longer we have to prepare...

"No lies, but solemn truth!" Charles says loudly. "Sons of Barov, you are deceived, but not by us! Smooth-tongued, honeyed liar you name me, Dimitry Koroviev. What then shall you say of yourself? You know well, bard, that when Stefan left the inn, he was a whole man. Any ill that has come to him since is none of our doing. Where is Burgomeister Sandeluscu? Does he know of your knave's speech, Koroviev?" Turning his attention to the crowd and attempting to make eye contact with someone else--anyone--Charles continues, "For shame, noble Barovians! Is the law of Barovia that of reason, honor, and justice, or of fire and sword? If any of us has done wrong, let him be judged by the proper authorities; we believe in justice. But let there be no Barovian blood spilt here."

I'll spend the 1 minute as described above, and make a Diplomacy check. 8.

That would be a natural 1. How tremendously cheering. (Modifier includes Charles' +14 and the -7 for Outcast Rating.) Oh well. We can say we tried.

[Kaitou Kage]

Kuzan had been watching the scene since Charles began talking when something caught his attention. Down the road, another small group of men was approaching. That could be bad. Very bad. The priest closed his eyes and intoned a quiet mantra to himself. He felt the warm presence of his deity bolstering his confidence and propelling him onward.

Something about Charles's speech seemed off, so Kuzan took advantage of the opportunity to pick up the tail end and pick up with a new direction. He stepped out of the inn and began speaking. Empowered by the divine, Kuzan's voice sounded stronger, clearer, and rang with greater authority. Even his normally halting Balok sounded fluid and powerful.

"Friends, we did not wish any harm upon you, your land, or your people," he proclaimed, "Despite the hasty actions of one, the rest of us do not condone her decision. We only wish to pass through your lands on our way to further distant realms. We do not want to see any of you hurt or killed -- in fact, we did everything to make sure your friend left here healthy and hale. If anything happened to the man last night, I assure you it was not by our hand. He left here alive and well, a fact that anyone who was here last night can attest to."

He decided against accusing the bard for now. If it came down to it, he'd throw the dart, but for now, he needed to soothe the crowd's minds as best he could.

Divine Insight to give me a +10 to my Diplomacy check.

Rolled a 16 + 4 + 10 on Diplomacy for a total of 30.

[Rock of the Fraternity]

"What do you mean, 'like he's not even there'?" Lia hisses, briefly shaking Thomas. "What are we dealing with? And what, in the name of the blasted Mists, is our game plan here? Fight or flight? And if we fight, how? Do we just target the bloody bard, or do we try and scythe down as many as we can? I don't favour our odds if we do the latter."
She glares at the other members of the expedition, her voice once again cold and hissing. "I can make one - one - person invisible for a brief time, so if the bastard can't counter that, we can take him by surprise. The only other things I can do is try to shoot him myself! So what do we do?"

[steveflam]

Allikhain looks at Lia and smiles, nodding to her. She moves closer to her so she can be the recipient of the spell. "All right. I promise I won't hurt him.... much" she whispers to Lia "though I'll wait this time heh."

After Lia casts the invisibility on her, Allikhain moves to within striking distance of Dmitry, waiting patiently to see what'll unfold.

Ulsaon bides her time ,holding a dagger in her hand under the table.

[Rock of the Fraternity]

"Just take him down," is Lia's cold and surprisingly venomous reply. "I don't care if you break his bones, so long as you take him down, keep him down and shake the rest of the mob out of it. Make it scary for them, make them think twice and turn tail if you can."
She glares at the rest of the expedition's members. "Unless I hear votes against? No?"
That said, Lia stands at bay while Kuzan speaks to the mob. If it looks like they'll attack, she immediately casts Invisibility on Allikhain and tells her to go out through a back door or side door and circle around, so the mob doesn't see a mysteriously opening and closing door or window.

[DocBeard]

"When I Look at him." Tomas explains with a shake of his head, "Normally I can get a little insight into the person's nature. It's a...mental discipline I learned at the university. But this man, it is like he does not exist. I...I must be doing it wrong, you're supposed to at least detect a shield or something..."

Tomas winces at the chattering in Balok, hoping that someone will convince these hard men and women to see reason, but quietly stepping forward to play the guard in case they start hurling things.

[NeoTiamat]

Karl's Folly
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"Oh my... a Dementlieuse dog hiding under the pride of Barovia? What will they think of next?" Dimitry Koroviev chuckled richly. Following him, the crowd roars laughter. "Listen to your friend, he at least has the barest wits given to him at birth."

"You are murderous, lieing foreign dogs. No, worse than dogs, for even the most rabid hound is still honest." The Bard of Barovia's voice whispered contempt into every ear. "You are vultures... stinking and treacherous, come to eat the rich meat of Barovia."

"Well you shall not have it! Though you slew Stefan so you could plunder his land, you shall not profit by your despicable treachery." Even in accusation, Dimitry's voice was soft and barely audible, while at the same time piercingly clear. "I proclaim thee murderers, thieves, and traitors, and you shall have the end of all of your ilk!"

The mob cheered its ascent, a deep, many-voiced cry for blood, for hatred, for fear and all its brethren. The baying of the Wild Hunt could not be more chilling.

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"What is all this!" Suddenly a new player burst onto the scene. "What is this unruly gathering?"

The newcomer was a short, slightly plump man with an elaborately waxed mustache and beard, and flanked by four Barovian soldiers, lean, lanky men well acquainted with the use of arms. A heavy silver chain of office hung from his neck, and a feathered cap topped his head.



"Ah, my Lord Burgomeister, what a pleasure..." Dimitry turned and bowed deeply to the richly-appointed man. The Burgomeister looked extremely skeptical. "There has been a most greivous crime committed, and we were all incensed with anger."

"I'm sure you were..." The Burgomaster, Konstantin Sandeluscu if Charles's words were correct, seemed to have a subtle wit contrary to his buffoonish appearance. "Well, now that I am here, we may all quiet down, hmm?"

"By the authority invested in me by Count Strahd Von Zarovich XI, and by the laws of Ravnika, I order this crowd to disperse." Sandeluscu's voice dropped an oratorical notch, turning from authoritarian to conspiratorial. "Don't worry, we'll figure out what is going on here, and there'll be a nice trial and everything. Now get home the lot of you before the missus finds out where you've been, hmm?"

Held at bay by Kuzan's divine oratory and dispersed by Sandeluscu's practical authority, the mob quieted. Slowly, by ones and twos and then by fives and sixes, the rioters returned to their homes. Only a few remained with Dimitry, three men who had the look of roustabouts, and a young girl who seemed nervous at being here.

"Now what is all this Dimitry?" Sandeluscu wasn't smiling.

"My Lord Burgomeister." Dimitry Koroviev bowed again. "I proclaim that a murder has been committed by the members of this caravan. I proclaim that last night, under the cover of rain and darkness, one of their number took vengeance upon Stefan."

"I proclaim that they tortured him! And that in their evil hunger for his land they slew him!" Even though he was now playing for a crowd of but one, the Bard of Barovia was as oratorical as before, his soft voice at turns sibilant and harsh. "And as his friend, and in accordance with our ancient laws, I demand their deaths!"

"These are grave accusations..." Burgomeister Sandeluscu tugged at his carefully waxed beard before turning to the Expedition. "What do you have to say for yourselves?"

[OOC: -2 Outcast Rating due to Kuzan's diplomacy and Sandeluscu's authority, and despite Charles's flub and Dimitry's incitement. Current Outcast Rating: 5]

[Rock of the Fraternity]

"Well, I can handle this much, I think," Lia mutters after hearing the discussion going on outside. Almost as an afterthought, she casts Invisibility on Allikhain. "For luck," she whispers before stepping out the door.
"I say this man is a fool to make such accusations," she replies out loud, her voice an ice-cold hiss. "We are travellers passing through and none of us would stay. How would we then benefit from meister Stefan's land? It seems evident that Barovians do not trust or like strangers, so none of us could stay here without attracting bad attention, and none would care to be our proxies."
She makes a dismissive gesture at the bard. "Ask anyone you like who was in the inn last night, and they can tell you it was this bard and his comrades who took meister Stefan home last night, while we remained here. Perhaps you should look elsewhere for murder suspects."