A Shadow Looms — IC

[Fialova]

"Well piecing together clues is not the same as piecing together testimony, but I can talk to him. How is Tobias? Is he well enough to speak?" Marcus asks. That damn Presius, I thought he would be trouble. Want to kill yourself, go jump off the roof and run around town til those things get you. Don't fuck up our stronghold.

[ratwizard]

"Yes, Princess Liviana," Cassia explains to Leonidas, giving him a curious once-over as she does. "We've been doing our best to keep her protected here. Ensure that you do not endanger that goal."

At Marcus, Cassia shakes her head. "No. Even with the Princess' prayers and a few droplets of that salve, the wound is deep, and in his belly. He's lost a lot of blood."

From within the door behind Cassia, you hear loud, wailing cries.

"Shutup, ya nut!" Smock calls, his searching for the kitty interrupted.

"Stop," Cassia says, force in her voice. "Don't rile him up any more than he already is." Weasel snickers at the exchange, but freezes up when Smock gives him a nasty glare.

[Fialova]

"And I assume that is where you are keeping Presius?" Marcus asks. He walks towards the door before an answer is given, pushing past Smock should the man still be int he way. Let's get this over with, he thinks as he goes to open the door.

[ratwizard]

"Yes," Cassia says as Marcus begins to approach. "Hold on, what are you doing?" she asks, not moving. Smock steps aside for the armored man.

[Fialova]

"Well if I can't interrogate the victim I might as well start with the assailant," he says matter-of-factly, as he turns to face the woman. "I may not have been a guard, but I did make my living on investigating crimes for people." As he speaks he motions towards the suit of armor he is still wearing from their venture into town, before adding, "and I am not at much risk of bodily harm."

[ratwizard]

"We didn't get much other than his babbling, but here's hoping you'll have better luck. But be quick about it," Cassia says, opening the door for Marcus to enter.

Presius sits upon the bed, blood smeared on his cheeks, his hands, an arm, and across his tunic. He looks up suddenly as the door opens, eyes wide.

[Fialova]

"What's the deal here?" he asks, once he enters the room. He looks down at the man, disgusted by his appearance. If he is as crazy as he seems might be best to just off him and be done with it.

[Scratcherclaw]

Leonidas's eyes widen as Cassia confirms the princess as royalty, rather than a pet name for an escort. I wonder if she'd even remember me. I've met her a few times at Society functions, right? Or was that the wine in my eyes? He ponders for a moment before being brought back to reality by the wailing from within the room. He grimaces, watching Marcus enter the room.

"How many of you lot are there here anyways? I've not seen many large groups of survivors. Except for that one earlier, but not much of em left anyways," he says with a shrug, glancing at the unconscious orc. He's got a lot of blood on his hands.

[ratwizard]

"The deal?" Presius asks, standing up, his chest rapidly rising and falling in shallow breaths. He begins to walk toward you carefully. "Marcus," the man says, seeming to remember your name. "You were the first one to find me after... everything. You pulled me from that pantry."

He looks closely at you as he approaches. "You said I... how did you say it... yes. You said I did what needed to be done. Do you remember that?"

Outside the room, Cassia eyes the unconscious frame of the orc who is dragged inside as well as the other survivor, before turning back to Leonidas. "About twenty. Who's he?" she asks, nodding toward Builo.

[Fialova]

"Do you mean to say Tobias was... turning?" Marcus asks, recalling the conversation from the night they met. His family, all dead. He said they were turning. But how did he know, I wonder. "Or, if you aiming to stab yourself, is it you?"

[BartNL]

With the people around of him distracted, Varon grabs the logbook from his backback and starts to skim-through the book to find out what's it about.

[Scratcherclaw]

Leonidas stares at the orc for a moment before returning Cassia's gaze. "Some arse hellbent on killing us and his companions to keep this construction warehouse to himself. He seemed to know Marcus," the man offers with a shrug. He'd better not try to stir up trouble here too or I'll kill him myself.

[ratwizard]

"Turning? All of us are turning. It is only a matter of time before each of us become fragments of our former lives." Presius points to Marcus as he draws even closer. "You, me... everyone here."

Cassia's eyes light up. "Did you say construction warehouse? If they were willing to fight to the death, then... Was it well-stocked?" She breathes heavily, calculating. "We could fortify this tavern. Or build a wall along the streets as Marcus said."

[Fialova]

"Oh yeah?" Marcus asks, incredulously. "And how do you suppose that is? We haven't been scratched by those things yet, and so far that is all we've seen turn man into beast." This man seems too far gone. If the others weren't all right here I'd just leave to die in the streets. Hopefully someone else is of the same mind and we can get rid of him.

[Scratcherclaw]

"Aye, loads of bricks and whatnot. No wonder they guarded it with their lives," Leonidas says to Cassia, smirking as she grows excited at the prospect. Glad to know this crew's got some brains. Well, most have brains, he thinks, recalling their shouting from the floor below.

[ratwizard]

Varon

[SHOW]

As you crack open the logbook taken from the warehouse, you skim the pages. Most of the pages are dry, mundane descriptions of the movement of goods in and our for those weeks.

The dates on the pages indicate this book must have been for the last month's movements in and out of the warehouse. There are listed several shipments of bricks (no mortar unfortunately), stacks of cut timber, and even recently a shipment of clay roof shingles.

Toward the end, you find something of note — the day that everything turned to shit, the warehouse crew were expecting a shipment from an arriving Imardanian-based boat. It was noted to have been carrying more timber from Arenport, and was called Inévitabilité. What strikes you as interesting, however, is that a ship carrying Imardanian goods would have had to cross the Forelle Sea. This would mean they likely had a well-stocked boat with a trained, armed crew aboard to protect themselves from piracy during their journey.

Marcus

[SHOW]

"The Pantheon's punishment," Presius says in reply as he steps a few paces away from you. "We've brought it upon ourselves."

From below you all, on the ground floor of the Gilded Mare, you hear a pair of screams and a scramble.

[Scratcherclaw]

With his catlike instincts taking over, Leonidas' eyes widen and he jerks his head towards the source of the noise below. "That can't have been anything good," he says, drawing his daggers and inching towards the stairway towards the main floor. He peers over the banister, trying to gauge what's occurring.

[Fialova]

"Perhaps," Marcus says, not convinced by the man's words, but also not interested in arguing with someone clearly so messed up in the head. He opens his mouth to speak again, but the sound from below draws his attention.

"Watch him like before," Marcus says to Smock as he walks back out of the room and shuts the door. He doesn't wait for the man's response, instead moving towards the stairs down to the ground level to check out the source of the commotion. I swear to all the gods, these people...

[FinalTemplar]

As he hears the scream, Aurelius begins moving immediately. He sprints down the stairs, a hand on the grip of his sword as he hopes to intervene before anything bad happens.

[BartNL]

Varon tosses the logbook in his backpack after hearing the screams, and quickly follows Aurelius and Marcus down the stairs, hands on the hilts of his blades.
Fuck... Fuck... Fuck... Can't have anything nice these days. Second fight these fucks are getting us in, and we stilll haven't had a meal.

[ratwizard]

Cassia and Smock bar the door to Presius' room, standing guard once more. The several of you pad down the rest of the corridor, where another staircase down leads. With Aurelius leading the way, you tear down the steps and into the ground floor of the Gilded Mare tavern — where a throng of townspeople have pushed themselves away from the center of the room and up against the walls.

In the center, a man, groaning in agony, lays on his back, slowly trying to sit up. Beside him, a young woman has a boot pinned down on one of his arms, and another man is pressing a long wooden club into his chest to hold him down. You see the downed man's eyes glow an unnatural green, and he writhes under the combined efforts of the other man and woman.

Marcus

[SHOW]

This is — was — Tobias, being held down for now by Athena and Mahren.

A few heads turn your way as you enter, but most are focused on trying to get back to safety.

[Fialova]

Marcus looks on in shock as he sees that the man moving is none other than the stabbing victim they were meant to investigate. "When did he start moving?" he asks, stepping into the room and closer to the man who is holding Tobias down. "And did he manage to harm anyone?"

[Scratcherclaw]

Leonidas's eyes widen at the sight of the pinned man, the eyes glowing a sickly green. He lurks forwards, but stays behind Marcus in case something goes awry. "This kinda stuff happen often here?" he asks Marcus, cautiously watching the turning man. "And what are we waiting for? Put an end to this."

[ratwizard]

"Just now," another woman in an elegant, dark blue dress says to Marcus, her eyes distant and unfocused.

Marcus

[SHOW]

aka Princess Liviana

[Scratcherclaw]

The young man loses focus of the future corpse at the sound of a somewhat familiar voice. Leonidas looks over and grins for a moment, before it fades as quickly as it came when he notices her vacant expression. I guess I'd be down too if my family's kingdom was in shambles. He looks back towards the pinned man for a moment before deciding to allow Marcus to handle it. He seems competent. I'm sure he'll end this before anything bad should happen.

He quietly steps over towards Liviana. "When that watchman said the princess was here, I almost didn't believe her," Leonidas says, giving a weak but caring smile. "Are you alright, your highness? I can't help but notice something off. I'm not sure if you remember me, Leonidas Calvus. We've crossed paths a few times."

[FinalTemplar]

Aurelius looks down at the writhing corpse of the man. "M-Marcus... should we ... kill it?" He asked.

[Fialova]

"Aye," Marcus says. "But it should be disposed of as well. We cannot have that... thing rotting up this place. Who knows if whatever this affliction is can spread from being too near a corpse." He reaches for the sword at his side, something he'd not had to wield for a long time. "I'd suggest the rest of you stand back," he says, motioning for Leonidas and anyone else who has crept forward to step away from the creature.

[BartNL]

Varon steps in, puts his hands on Marcus's shoulder and calmly says:
"Marcus, how about we get him to the roof first. Killing him here is going to be more trouble in the long run. I'll drag him up myelf if you want."

[Fialova]

Marcus stays his blade for a moment, thinking on the suggestion. He turns to the man, saying, "these things can somehow turn us into them as well. It would be dangerous trying to carry it to the roof while it can still lash out. You sure you want to take that risk?" he asks the man, eyeing him intently. "If it turns you, then you'll be next to be dumped into the street."

[ratwizard]

"Yes, I'm quite alright, thank you," Princess Liviana says, giving Leonidas a cursory glance — and then a proper one. She turns to face you. "I... I'm afraid I don't remember the name, but you do look familiar. Perhaps a ball?" She looks back at Marcus and the others, apparently preoccupied.

The reanimated form of Tobias writhes under those pinning it. "Whatever you're going to do, do it quick," says the young woman pressing a boot to its arm. "Tobias here isn't too happy with us."

[BartNL]

"If this is contagious, killing him right here might be worse than taking the risk of getting him up. You don't see butchers working from their own living room either right?" Varon says, realising that this might be a lot more trouble for him than it's worth.

Varon empties his backpack quickly, by opening the compartments and holding it upside down. With his backpack in hand Varon slowly moves towards the pinned thing on the ground, puts the emptied bag over it's head and takes it in a chokehold.
"Alright, no room for mistakes now. Girl, I didn't catch your name, could you hold his arm? Varon asks the girl standing over the thing. "Aurelius can you hold the other arm? Once you two have the arms, I'll slowly get up and move upstairs. If anything funny happens, we need to pin it to the ground together ok? Marcus, I'd appreciate it if you went ahead of us, and club guy, you stay behind us."

Mechanics

[SHOW]

Grab attack:16(1d20) = 16+7= 23 VS ref.

walk backwards up the stairs towards the ladder once the other character are in position. Varon won't try to drag Tobias up the ladder yet.

[Scratcherclaw]

"Aye, a ball probably. Some Society function, I'm sure," he says halfheartedly, noticing the Princess's preoccupation with the undead within their walls. I suppose we can wait til things calm down a bit to get reacquainted. He raises an eyebrow at Varon's plan, keeping back and watching with great interest as the man attempts his plan. If he ends up infected too, I'm not waiting to haul him to the roof to kill him.

[ratwizard]

Varon is able to deftly pull his bag over the pinned figure's head. Its groans become muffled, and it thrashes against the effort, but stays down for now.

The woman with a boot on its arm shakes her head. "I don't know who the hell you are, but I'm not holding his... its arm all the way up those stairs, and that ladder. I've seen what these things can do."

The other man holding a club against the creature nods. "I'll tag along. You sure you don't want me to, well, just hit him really hard in the head?"

"I can, if need be," Guthrik says, coming down from the steps and drawing closer. He taps his staff on the wooden floor with a thump.

Weasel shakes his head, his arms crossed. "Nah, we can just slide me blade into his eye. Precise, straight to the point."

[FinalTemplar]

"I can take his arm." He says to Varon. "We'll dispose of him, no problem." He glances at Marcus before walking over, firmly grabbing the .... thing's, wrist.

[Fialova]

Marcus sighs, and puts the sword back onto his back. "Very well, have it your way," he says. This better not get out of hand. We just found these people and they seem competent. It would be a shame to lose them all just as they arrive. I'd be stuck with just fucking Smock and Weasel again. The man moves ahead of the others who are holding the turned Tobias, staying in front but not too far that he couldn't take the creature out if needed.

[BartNL]

Varon alters the headlock to free his right arm, holding the body closer to him than he is comfortable with, and twists the second arm behind the things back. Then Varon lifts the turned man up from the ground.
"Let's go."

Mechanics

[SHOW]

Drag re-Tobias:
walk backwards up the stairs towards the ladder Varon won't try to drag re-Tobias up the ladder yet.

[ratwizard]

Varon and Aurelius lift the reanimated corpse of Tobias carefully, locking its arms in place. The many others in the tavern give the men a wide berth as they take the stairs, dragging the corpse quickly up to the second floor.

As they move through the corridor, Cassia and Smock press against the wall to allow passage. "What? Tobias?" Cassia asks, staring incredulously. "How did he turn?"

The corpse struggles to break free from your combined grip, but fails. Instead, it begins thrashing out and writhing once again, but you manage to keep its arms pinned behind its back. All it can do is flail its legs as you drag it along until you reach the ladder up to the roof.

Mechanics

[SHOW]

Fails check to break free. Misses Varon, misses Aurelius.

[Fialova]

"Not sure," says Marcus sternly. "But now we have to deal with it," he cpntinues, moving to the ladder and heading up. "After this we need to check if anyone else seems to have been wounded by those things. We don't need more people turning on us."

[BartNL]

"Any of these rooms have a window that would fit a man?"

Mechanics

[SHOW]

Drag re-Tobias:
Assuming there is a suitable window, enter the room and walk towards the window.

[ratwizard]

Leonidas

[SHOW]

The other survivors of the inn spread out into the tavern level after Varon and the others drag Tobias' corpse up to the second floor. Immediately, the room is filled with a nervous hubbub as the others chatter about the violent encounter between Tobias and Presius.

Liviana turns back to you, her hands white-knuckled as she anxiously twirls the signet ring on her finger. "I'm sorry, you were saying something? About the Society balls?" She sighs. "Gods, what I would give to have them back."

Cassia nods. "Any of the guest rooms here. We haven't had a chance nor the supplies to board the second floor windows yet." She turns to Smock. "Go help. Open that door for them," she says, pointing to one of the other rooms at random.

The lanky man frowns and pushes off the wall he was leaning on, walking over to a spare room and pulling the door open.

Meanwhile, the other human survivor from the warehouse crouches in the corner of the corridor, checking on the unconscious Builo, keeping his distance.

Mechanics

[SHOW]

Gimme a Strength check, those of you who are going to try defenestrate the bastard.

The Who and Where

[SHOW]

Calepha Avenue — Western Plaza — The Gilded Mare

Tavern Level

Burtin
Drozga
Rorsi
Jozanta
Bessia
Matilda
Mahren
Liviana
Athena
Bastia
Isdren
Elene
Tomas
Leonidas
Guthrik
Redros
Weasel

Inn Level

Smock
Cassia
Presius
Marcus
Varon
Aurelius
Tobias
Human Survivor
Builo (wrists bound, unconscious)

[Scratcherclaw]

Leonidas breathes a sigh of relief as the reanimated corpse is dragged upstairs to be disposed of. Let's hope they don't screw this up and kill us all. His wandering thoughts and worries are interrupted as the princess's voice rings freshly in his ears. "Ah, yes," he says, grinning weakly at the woman. "I was saying I'm sure we'd met at one." He thinks back fondly of such simpler days for a moment. "You and me both, your highness."

He glances out into the rest of the tavern briefly, gauging the rest of the survivors he'll be spending his days with. Plenty of people holed up here. They must have plenty of food too, he thinks, food having been on his mind all day. Shaking himself from the food-related trance, he turns back towards Livania. "Might I ask how you came across this lot? You're an awful long ways from the palace."

[ratwizard]

Leonidas

[SHOW]

"I didn't choose it, exactly," Liviana says, her eyes falling to the floor. "I was supposed to be leaving Vizidel on a ship bound for Imardin. When everything started, my... personal guard told me to wait in here for a moment."

She sighs, looking back up at you. "And, well, here I am." The Princess casts a wide gaze over the rest of the occupants. "We've picked up a few other stragglers like yourself. Mostly cityfolk. How did you get here? Marcus and the others found you?"

[Scratcherclaw]

"Ah," Leonidas says, almost imaging escaping off to a safe locale such an Imardin. "A shame you didn't depart before all of this. But it's good you've found someplace safe." He smirks briefly, pounding his chest with his fist while adding, "Now I'm no well-trained guard, but I'm sure me and the others can keep you safe." He glances back towards the tavern as Liviana does.

"Aye, they found me and the others who came with me. We'd been holed up in some dusty shop for too long. Haven't had a proper meal in even longer." His stomach lightly growls, but he does his best to try and suppress the noise. "How I could go for some fresh gnocchi or father's lasagna..." Or mamma's milopita, mmm.

[BartNL]

"Can you open that window too?" Varon asks Smock.

Mechanics

[SHOW]

Drag re-Tobias to the window and shove him out feet first.

Defenestrate: 14(1d20) +4 = 18 (no +1/2 level bonus (+2))

[FinalTemplar]

Aurelius attempts to hold onto the thing's wrist, though it's lashing about is having a toll on his already tired body.

Mechanics

[SHOW]

Aurelius STRENGTH: 2(1d20) = 2

[ratwizard]

"Yeah, yeah," Smock whines as he steps past and slides the window open. "Gettin' bossed around by the newcomers already, yeah? Just don't ask me to help with jammin' that poor sod out the window."

He steps back into the corridor, watching as the two men fight to shove the corpse into the window as it thrashes against their efforts.

OOC

[SHOW]

Waiting to see if Marcus is aiding this or not.

[Fialova]

Seeing the thrashing of the creature, Marcus adds his own weight to the mix. This is a stupid plan. We should have killed it before moving it.

Mechanics

[SHOW]

Strength check: 19

[ratwizard]

Varon, Marcus, Aurelius

[SHOW]

Varon and Aurelius struggle to jam the writhing corpse through the windowsill as its legs catch against the sides and impede their progress. In its thrashing, it wrestles an arm free from the Watchman trainee and rakes him across his shoulder.

Marcus grabs onto the legs and shoves brusquely, sending the corpse of Tobias out the window and you all let go. It falls from the second story, slamming against the cobblestone headfirst with a wet thud. Within a short moment, you can see crimson welling across the knapsack covering its head. It ceases moving.

Mechanics

[SHOW]

Two passed checks make a success. Re-Tobias hits Aurelius AC 23.

Aurelius

[SHOW]

The scratch wound on your right shoulder burns like hell, and you feel a throbbing, coursing pain radiate through your arm to your fingertips.

Leonidas

[SHOW]

"It's certainly kind of you to say so," the Princess says with a soft smile that doesn't reach her eyes. "Though I don't truly believe anyone is safe."

She turns back to you at your mention of food. "Oh, you must be famished!" Liviana says with surprise. "We've had many problems here in this inn, but thankfully food hasn't been one of them. Once... that man is taken care of, then we can see about serving lunch. It's nothing quite as palatable as gnocchi, obviously, but you won't starve while you're here."

[FinalTemplar]

Aurelius lets out a shocked yelp of pain, leaping back from the window as soon as the zombie falls out of it. He grabs his shoulder and winces in pain before kneeling down. "T-t-t-the f-fuck? M-Marcus, what is this p-pain?" He sputters out, though only barely. He stares at his arm.

OOC

[SHOW]

Aurelius would like to make a Heal skill check at +12 in order to figure out how to dull the pain, or perhaps see if he's been infected, somehow. Aurelius' nature skill check is also untrained at a +6, if that is required.

[Scratcherclaw]

"I suppose you're right," Leonidas says, frowning slightly. Will we ever be safe? He tries to shake the thoughts, focusing instead on his conversation with the princess. His eyes light up and he grins widely as she mentions preparing lunch. "Yes!" he says, almost unable to contain his excitement over the prospect of food. Realizing his outburst might be unfitting in front of royalty, he backpedals.

"Uh, I mean, that's good to hear. Maybe we might find a way to spice up these meals over time. Who's to say we can't come across a few spices lying about?"