[WFRP] The Hour After Midnight

[amgodtic]

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Upon arriving back at the wagon and finding out that Raffy and Lothar are not back yet, Seth's worry starts to turn to panic.

"We need to find them. Fast. Shallya's mercy, I hope we're not already too late..."

OOC

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I guess we'll all make some sort of check to try to find Raffy and Lothar, but outside of maybe gossip, I'm not sure what sort of roll it would be. I'll just give you a d100 roll here, you can apply it as makes sense.

(1d100)[23]

[goblinpaladin]

Raffy the Danger-Stricken and Lothar the Impetuous

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"Easy there, Henrik." As Lothar turned around, his sword clattered to the ground. "There, I'll s--" His hand blurring, the soldier wrenched his spare sword from its sheath, lunging for the mutant in the same motion. "--ee you dead!"

In the back of Lothar's mind, he hoped Raffy was still conscious enough to hold that claw from his throat for just a moment...

[LCP]

Raffy & Lothar

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Puderbrand’s face just had time to contort into a snarl as Lothar lunged towards him, the muscles in his arm tightening – they froze as the soldier’s sword stabbed forwards, two feet of shining steel driving into the mutant’s throat.

Blood dribbling down over his collarbone, the scarred man let Raffy fall, the youth drawing in a great, gasping breath of air: looking down at the sword, he tried to say something, bloody bubbles forming in his mouth instead of words. The hideous claw twitched and spasmed, the dagger falling from his human hand – his eyes rolling up into his head, Puderbrand crumpled back onto the floorboards, stone dead.

Behind them, there was a clang as the survivor’s improvised weapon fell to the floor, the pale man raising trembling hands in a show of defeat.

“I surrender! Please – I – I didn’t mean it... don’t kill me!”

[goblinpaladin]

Raffy et Lothar

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Lothar didn't even turn. "Yeah, you just stay there, mate. Move an' I'll track you down, an' I'll be real unhappy about it." The soldier crouched next to Raffy.

"Raffy, mate. You breathin'?" Shredding some cloth from his doublet, Lothar attempted to bandage Raffy's throat to stop the bleeding. His battlefield training was mostly to cover light wounds, blade injuries and the like- throat injuries caused by crabmen was somewhat beyond his experience. Well, survivors of such were... the fish-beastmen attacks he had helped drive off in his younger days didn't usually drop humans they had by the throat.

Having done the best he could, Lothar stood and turned on the survivor of the mutant gang. He picked up his blood-stained sword, and, glaring spoke: "We have some questions, Dagen..."

[LCP]

Raffy & Lothar

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Raffy seemed alright, if a little stunned - Puderbrand's claw had broken the skin, but not done any serious damage.

As Lothar's attention returned to him, Dagen quailed a little, raising his hands a little higher. Now that the immediate pressure of battle had ceased, Lothar could see where Puderbrand and his 'men' had come from - a large trapdoor stood open behind the surviving man, a ladder leading down into darkness below it.

"I'll answer!" said the survivor. "Please don't hurt me!"

“Alright then, mister Dagsen,” said Lothar, keeping a wary eye on the man. “Why don’t you tell us what you’re doing here? Starting with old crab-hands over there. We know what he was up to. What was he doing with Karlsen’s blackpowder?”

Dagsen swallowed.

“Henrik... Henrik said it was an insult that they were building it up again. The Temple of Sigmar. He was the one that blew up the old place – he pulled us in. I never wanted to be a part of this!”

“The Court didn’t like it, though. They cut him off, cut off his money. Said he’d bring the Hounds down on our heads, or the Templars or worse. But he found it somewhere else – one day, just came back with a great bag of gold in his hands. Enough to buy powder from Karlsen’s store, when the Court wouldn’t help him get hold of it no more. He rented out this place...” – Dagsen swallowed hard - “killed... the old man that owned it. He had us digging our way into the sewers. He said... he said we couldn’t get the powder in the way we had to the old place, because the Hounds were watching, so we had to go under. He could make this fuse that would burn in the damp... Friedrich would come and take the earth away in his cart, dump it outside the town so no-one would know we were digging.” He faltered. “I didn’t want to do it, sir! He made me!”

Dagsen’s voice was cracking – there were tears of terror in the man’s eyes.

“Please, sir, I don’t want to burn!”

“And the apothecary?” pressed Lothar. “What did he have to do with this?”

“Pilserier? Henrik used to go talking to him – I always guessed he was some kind of middle-man with the Court. Henrik seemed to fall out with him when he split off from them. I don’t know no more, sir, I swear!”

[BloodyAngel]

Illiiya Jaelrae

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Illiiya looked about the wagon nervously, not feeling comfortable with the place in the least.

Stillness and must... She said softly to herself, turning to Ithelus, Everything dead. All still and lifeless. Can't move, can't see... can't even scream. Frozen forever. Ith... I don't like it here.

She looked around the room nervously, not quite willing to actually touch anything, and constantly turning to look back over her shoulder, or gazing off into a dark corner somewhere as if she could see something in it.

OOC

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Illiiya is the skittish type... but this is too good to pass up. Using magic sense to feel the area. In game terms, she doesn't really know how to shut it off... in fact, she used magic sense ALL the time. It's half the reason she's so spacy.

In any case, Magic sense roll! (1d100)[84] Needs a 56.

I shall determine her actions in the wagon based on how she does.

[goblinpaladin]

Lothar, Raffy, and a pile of bodies

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Lothar picked up his other sword with a clatter. "Yeah, sure." Leaning down, he wiped each of the blades on the corpse of Otto, watching Dagsen closely. "So, how many more of you are there, eh? Another nine, waiting in the sewers? Dozens in the forests?" He stood, sheathing one of the swords and levelling the other at the sniveling cultist's throat.

"Why don't you give me a tour, hey? And tell me about these mutations. When'd they start? What's your lot?"

[LCP]

Raffy & Lothar

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"There were five of us. Four of us working here, and Friedrich with the cart. That's all, I swear. Just the ones Henrik could make follow orders."

"Everyone had a different story. They kept it hidden, or they hid themselves somewhere where people couldn't see, but Henrik had a... a talent for sniffing it out. Then he knew - then you did what he said, or you died, either by him or by the Hounds. He was always changed - you look under his clothes, he had a little tail - but after he took out the old temple, his hand changed like you see there. He said it was a gift... from Him... that it showed He'd left the Court behind, that we were His chosen men..."

He avoided mentioning himself as best he could, but pulled nervously at the scarf around his grubby neck.

"You want me to show you the house? I can do that. There's... there's not much to see."

For the most part, Dagsen was right - the upper floor was dusty and unused, a bed that had clearly not been slept in in many weeks lying dirty and unmade. Lothar might have been tempted to dispute his assertion when they came back downstairs, however - around a dozen barrels of gunpowder were stacked up in a room adjacent to the kitchen, as well as a barrel of pitch, a great coil of rope, and a tarpaulin-covered table that Puderbrand seemed to have been using as a worktop.

"D'you want to see the dig?" asked Dagsen, nervously gesturing towards the trapdoor.

[goblinpaladin]

Raffy and Lothar

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"Sure." Lothar paused, and nodded at Raffy. "We've the blackpowder in the kitchen, a'right. If yer up for it, go through the pockets o' that lot," a jut of red beard indicated the corpses, "and then head back to the meeting place. I figure we should let the others know what we've found."

"As for you," the soldier shifted his full attention back to their prisoner. "I want to know who 'He' is. And then we might see about the digs. How far down they go?"

[Exeson]

Seth and the elves

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Ithelus hugs Illiiya and takes her outside the wagon, all the while re-assuring her. He looks at Seth, 'They can handle themselves, best to wait here for them than to go running around the place with no clue.'

[LCP]

Lothar & Raffy

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Raffy groaned a little, sitting up and nodding at Lothar's instructions. Dagsen stayed where he was, his eyes fixed on the point of Lothar's sword.

"We were nearly through. Henrik said... one day more, maybe, and we'd be into the old sewers under this place. But it's just a dead-end tunnel now."

At the soldier's other question, the man seemed to shrink into his clothes.

"I don't want to say His name," he said, mumbling so as to be barely audible. "Him," he repeated, pointing up. "The God."

OOC: I'll wait to be clear on the other party's actions before I autopilot Raffy any more, if that's OK.

[goblinpaladin]

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Lothar's sword nudged gently at his prisoner's chest. "Then give me a clue."

[LCP]

Lothar & Raffy

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Dagsen swallowed hard.

"I'll burn if I do."

[goblinpaladin]

Raffy and Lothar

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Lothar grinned. "I'll be nice, I promise. Just a clue. I ain't a Templar."

[LCP]

Lothar & Raffy

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Dagsen had shut up tighter than an oyster. Eyes wide and face pale, he shook his head.

[goblinpaladin]

Lothar & Raffy

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Lother sighed melodramatically. "Alright, but then your gonna show me your neck, mate."

[LCP]

Lothar & Raffy

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Shaking his head, Dagsen tried to back away - panic seemed to rise in his eyes as he realised the soldier was standing between him and any form of escape, only the open trapdoor gaping behind him.

"I won't do it. I can't," he muttered to himself, eyes flicking about for a way out. "I've told you everything I know!"

The man's muscles tensed - it seemed likely that he might be about to try something desperate.

[LCP]

Seth & the Elves

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“Alright then,” said Seth. “You stay. I’m going to find them.”

Without another word, he headed off in the direction they had seen Raffy and Lothar depart.

[hr]

Seth

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Asking on street corners for any sign of the youth or the soldier, Seth was lucky, a couple of people having remembered their passing – their trail brought him east, out of the Neumarket and into the outskirts of the old town. Crossing New Street, he found himself in a maze of little windy streets, all alike.

There were fewer people passing here – and no idling beggars to question. Looking in at the mouth of a two narrow alleys, he saw no sign of movement – on a third, a pair of children were playing with a wooden hoop.

“Excuse me,” said Seth, stepping forwards – the hoop clattered to the cobbles of the street, both children looking up at him with wide eyes.

“I... was wondering if you might have seen my friends,” he said, hesitantly. “A young man with a feather in his hat, and an older man with a red beard.”
“Your friend has a big gun,” said one of the two.
“Yes! Yes, that’s... probably him.”

The other one – a girl – pointed solemnly up at one of the houses on the street. Its upper windows were shuttered, no light showing in its dusty windows. A tarnished lion’s head served as a knocker on the thick oak-timbered door.

“They were staring at Mister Aufsteder’s house,” she said, solemnly. “But then they went away.” She blinked slowly. “I think your friends might be burg-lars.”

[amgodtic]

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"My friends and I are chasing burglars. Of a sort... You say they stopped here, then went away; do you know which way they went, or where they were headed?"

[LCP]

Seth

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The little boy pointed back to the top of the street.

"They turned the corner up there. But they came that way too."

[amgodtic]

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Scratching his head in puzzlement, Seth rounds the corner and looks into the alleyway.

And sees the obviously demolished door.

Seth will attempt to move in slowly, listening carefully as he does so

OOC

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feel free to roll stealth/perception or whatever if you like, but I assume its unneccesary at this point

[LCP]

Seth

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Approaching the broken-down door, Seth thought he heard something - coming closer, a reedy, fearful-sounding voice became clear, somewhere inside the house.

"...can't... told you everything I know..."

[amgodtic]

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Not recognizing the voice, Seth pulls his sword and footpads through the house until he is in the adjoining room-or until he is heard and the voices stop, which is more likely to occur given that he isn't the most stealthy of people

EDIT: If he makes it to the adjoining room, he will then peer around the corner.

[goblinpaladin]

Lothar and Raffy

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Spreading his arms and lowering his sword-arm Lothar shook his head. "Easy there, mate. I believe you. Let's just take a look down them diggings, yeah?" The soldier tensed, ready to grab at his prisoner if the mutant tried to make a break for it...

[LCP]

Seth

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Stepping as stealthily as he could through the broken-down door, he found himself in a dirty, pokey kitchen - the first thing that drew his eye was the pair of muddy-booted feet sticking out of the doorway opposite him, the legs leading back from them and the bloodstain beneath them indicating quite clearly that they belonged to a corpse.

"Easy there, mate. I believe you. Let's just take a look down them diggings, yeah?" came a voice - Lothar's voice. Moving forwards, Seth looked down in alarm as a floorboard creaked loudly under his foot..

[hr]

Lothar & Raffy

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Calming down a little, Rudolf nodded, beginning to back towards the trapdoor - as he did so, there was a sudden creak from somewhere out of sight in the kitchen behind them... as of a foot on an old floorboard.

[goblinpaladin]

Raffy, Lothar, Corpses, and a Prisoner (walk into a bar...)

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Lothar tilted his head at the noise. "Here now- what's that- you have some other friends?" he hissed at Rudolph. Glancing at Raffy, the soldier tilted his head toward the door while keeping his gaze fixed on the prisoner.

[LCP]

Lothar & Raffy

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"No - I mean, Friedrich - but he's only supposed to come after dark!"

[hr]

Seth

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"Here now- what's that- you have some other friends?" came Lothar's voice, wariness creeping into its tone. The first voice Seth had heard replied:

"No - I mean, Friedrich - but he's only supposed to come after dark!"

[amgodtic]

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"Oy, Lothar! Seth 'ere." Sheathing his sword, Seth rounds a corner into view.

...and sees Henrik.

"...and THAT would be our man. Shame ya had to...MORR'S GOLDEN TOOTH RAFFY ARE YOU ALRIGHT?!"

[LCP]

Lothar, Seth & Raffy

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"Yeah, I'm good," croaked Raffy, sitting up a little straighter. He grinned. "Was just about to go looking for you. Looks like Mr Puderbrand was hiding more than gunpowder."

Getting slowly to his feet, he kicked the dead man's claw-hand out from under his tangled cloak with his good leg.

"There's barrels of powder in the next room. Our friend here was just about to show Lothar the cellar. Apparently Ugly here was trying to dig through to the sewers."

[amgodtic]

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Shaking his head at Raffy's condition, Seth continues, "Alright, um...you...you should see a doctor. And I should tell Ithelus and Illiya where we stand. Then Marius should send some people down."

Straightening his head up, Seth concludes, "Alright, I'll head out, collect the elves, bring Marius up to speed, and be back in a bit. Then we'll see about sending someone to walk Raffy to Rasen's place. We found some stuff in the wagon, Marius says we oughta ask him about."

Seth turns to walk, then takes a funny-looking step. Slowly, he leans against a wall, and starts to slide down to sit on the floor. He turns and says "Or maybe I'll just sit a spell, is what my legs seem to be telling me," with a sheepish grin.