Adventures of John Strange and Aurelius the Gnome

[ewancummins]

So uh yeah, I think it is your turn to post anyways, so feel free to let it rip.

IC.....

Aurelius wakes you. Opening your eyes and looking about, you see stars in the night sky out the window the the old bakery's oven room. The dying wisps of a small fire drift out of the big stone oven.

"Boss, it's about one or two hours past midnight, I think. Are we going to go get the furs now?"

John yawns, then stretches. Standing, he stretches again. "All right, Aurelius. shall we? And please call me John, not boss, ok?" The amnesiac man pats the gnome on the shoulder. Nodding, he grins. Turning, he exits their makeshift repos place. Knowing that the gnome with follow, he makes his way back to the furs'
location. They both eye the building and anything awake. John will listen closely. He puts his fingers to his lips.

OOC: Does John know if Aurelius can see somewhat in the dark?

Listen check: http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2634639/

19.

You see lamplight coming through the sutters of some of the ground floor windows. The light seems to be moving, perhaps carried by a person walking the halls and rooms.

Listening closely, you hear faint sounds from within the strong-house: footsteps, doors opening and closing, etc. For the most part, though, the building is quiet.

"Let us keep close to the shadows so noone can see us. I think the furs were brought in by a wagon, so we will follow the wagon tracks we saw earlier, Aurelius."

They do that.

OOC: I asked but am asking again, does Aurelius tell John he can see a little bit in the dark?

John seems to recall that gnomes can see pretty well in dim or gloomy conditions.

Following the wagon ruts leads you to one of the two doors in the back of the building.

It's a big wooden door, wider than usual. A heavy brass ring hangs where a latch or knob might be a a smaller door. There is a brass lockplate on the door, as well.

You don't hear anything through the door, nor do you see any light through the crack between the heavy wooden panels and the jamb.

John motions to Aurelius with his hands that he will attempt to pick the brass lockplate. Moving forward, he removes whatever tools Aurelius has given him and begins the painstaking but slow process of picking the brass lock.

OOC: Taking 20 on picking the lock, with Aurelius guarding. Whatever small light source we have, John will guide the gnome in how to keep it as dimly lit as possible. Unless of course we can see enough for John to pick the lock

The stars and moon provide some light, the night being bright and clear. The clouds of the day have vanished.

Aurelius has fashioned a little torch from an old oily rag out of his pocket and a stick. After a few minutes, he's managed to set it on fire. With this additional light, for a few minutes' time, you can work at opening the lock.


A little later, as the miniature torch dies, you hear the last tumbler slide into position. The door is now unlocked. Trying it, it doesn't budge much. It feels as if it is blocked by something- possibly barred from the inside.

The stars and moon provide some light, the night being bright and clear. The clouds of the day have vanished.

Aurelius has fashioned a little torch from an old oily rag out of his pocket and a stick. After a few minutes, he's managed to set it on fire. With this additional light, for a few minutes' time, you can work at opening the lock.


A little later, as the miniature torch dies, you hear the last tumbler slide into position. The door is now unlocked. Trying it, it doesn't budge much. It feels as if it is blocked by something- possibly barred from the inside.

John frowns. First, he looks for a window close enough that he could open. Secondly, he looks closely at the two doors. Removing his dagger, he hopes he is right. He holds it in his hand and tries to slide it between the crack of the two doors.

There is a window nearby with hardwood shutters covered in strips of dull bronze. You might be able to pry the shutters open.

Checking the crack of the door with your dagger, you run into an obstruction. As near as you can tell, it's some kind of a wooden beam or shaft laid crossways across the inside of the doorway at about waist level. It is pretty solid and probably weighs a lot.

Note- that window is set rather high, about five feet off the ground, It's narrow, too. You wouldn't fit through it, but the gnome could squeeze through pretty easily.

You jimmy open the window without making too much racket., besides a sharp little crack as the window-sill splinters.

With the window open, you get a look inside the room. You see that it is large and contains several bozes and barrels. You can sort of make out what might be a door at the far end of the room. The lighting is only what little that the moon and stars can provide, and much of the interior scene is in deep gloom.

Getting Aurelius inside is easy. A little boost and he's in. He creeps towards the right, going for the door that you unlocked.

You see Aurelius moving about inside the room. He checks out the boxes and barrels. You would probably be stealthier than he, but he's not loud by any means.

After doing that, he grabs what looks like a crowbar from on top of a box, and then moves out of your sight.

A minute later, you hear him grunting with effort. Something creaks and there's a dull thud from within the shadowy room.

The big door opens up a little. Aurelius sticks his little hand through to wave you into the building.

John enters and begins inspecting the boxes one by one, hoping to find the furs soon.

You find some pickled herring, salt pork, nails, gunpowder, flour, bales of cotton, and lead ingots. No furs!

Some of the containers are empty.

A close search turns up an empty crate with some bits of black, gold, white, and brownish-red animal hairs in it. The top is open. Something is written on the side of the box, but it's hard to make out in this poor light.

'I can make some light for us- how much do we need?"

"Enough to read the writing on the box."

Aurelius snaps his fingers.


A glowing lantern-shaped form of light appears out of thin air, hovering near the box!

Now you can easily read the letters chalked on the box:

UPON RECEIPT-TRANSFER TO M. KOENIG'S PRIVATE QUARTERS UPSTAIRS
PRIORITY

"Well, Aurelius, that was quite amazing! Now, we need to get upstairs to Mr Koenig's quarters."


OOC: So if we are in the building, then we will try to find us some stairs to get upstairs to Mr Koenig's bedroom pronto.

You find a single door leading out of this room and deeper into the building. It is locked, but you make short work of that.

The hallway is dark, or would be if not for the glowing lantern that trails after you.

"Boss, we won't have this light for long. If I banish it now, we'll be in the pitch black and even I won't be able to see."

The short hallway runs left to right. At the right hand end is another door. At the left hand end is a stairwell going up.

"Ok, Stairwell it is, buddy. Let's pray for some luck, Aurelius." John walks quickly over to the stairwell and begins climbing the stairs.

As you near the top of the stairs you catch a glimmer of light that's NOT coming from the magic lantern hanging above you.

You hear footsteps coming your way, up there on the second floor.

Aurelius tugs on your pants and points at the light, his mouth open in a silent question.

Putting his finger to his lips, John points to each side of the stairwell and then he and Aurelius. He hopes the gnome understands and goes to one side of the stairwell, hiding in the shadows. If the light comes down, he would let it pass then sneak upstairs. If it passes, he will still go up.

The gnome hides as directed.

The light at the top of the stairs grows brighter. The footsteps become louder. Now you can actually hear someone breathing very close to the open archway at the top of the stairs.

A man's arm holding a lantern comes into view!

What are you doing? You have a second or two at most to move or otherwise act before he comes fully into view. If he turns his head down the stairwell, he may spot you or Aurelius. Remember, you have a magic light following you.

John looks at Aurelius and points at the light following them. He mimics a thumb across his throat and points at the light again. He points at the light and shakes his head no three times.

Aurelius gulps. His eyes are big and shine like a cat's in the magic lantern's eerie glow. He closes his eyes and gulps again.

The lantern vanishes. The stairwell is dark again.

The man at the top of the stairs comes fully into view now. He's tall and well-built. He wears a shirt of iron mail but no helmet or cap. In one hand he carries a stout cudgel, in the other hand he holds up the lantern. He turns to look down the stairs...

Ping, Ping

You hear a faint sound from someplace behind the guard.

He must hear it too, for he turns around just before he might have spotted you. His back is now exposed to you.

OOC: Probably Aurelius creating that. However how many stairs are there? And noone is to be killed as per thin wererat dude. Even if John makes it up the stairs fast, how will he get by this man? The built man can probably take John easily. I will wait for your how many stairs there are and how far the man goes before I post

You are close to him, lunging distance.

The stairs are not long, just a single flight.

You can always go non-lethal, slug him in the back of his noggin. Of course, you don't know if your guy is actually good at sneak attacks.

Is it worth the risk? You decide...

[ewancummins]

An explanatory note: This is all stuff that Tarlyn played out solo. His PC was not with the party, so I let him get several hours ahead of the timeline. I'm posting some, but not all of it now. More later.

I'll be doing the same for Alain- he wasn't ahead, but he was seperate and his miniadventure took quite a few PMs to resolve.