"The Six from Shadow" (IC)

[3SecondCultist]

In the creeping dark, the priest whispers to Synia, "Do you know when he will return? He was there, he blotted out the sun! Nothing could stop him!" The expression on the old man's face is something akin to horror, and yet there is an element of wonder there.

[Mordokai]

"Hush father, we shall save you. However, that might not be easy. I see no key to your chains. Do you know who did this to you and where they might be hiding the key? And what is this about blotting out the sun? What are you talking about?"

[3SecondCultist]

The priest, after taking a minute to compose himself, responds. "It was him, the torturer, the eternal, the undying one! He has kept me from my rightful Lord, and so my suffering has been made manifest. There is no escape, for anyone. This world will burn." He starts as if to speak again, but breaks into a coughing fit instead.

[Mordokai]

Her voice tighteting a bit, Synia forces herself to continue speaking as normal. "Father Markus, this is most important. We need to know as much information as you can provide. We've been working on stoping the undying one for a longest time and we feel we are close to achieving victory. Yet, it seems the fiend has set a plan into motion we are not aware of. You may be the only who can help us. We need you to remember as much information as possible. Any detail, no matter how minute or unimportant it may seem will benefit us greatly."

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Bluff - (1d20+24)[29]
Diplomacy - (1d20+30)[40]

[Denomar]

The sounds of a grisly death are nothing new to Mordrent, he is surprised though. Donovan hadn't seemed like the type to so casually throw his life away. Seeing no reason to throw away his own Mordrent goes to search another room of the house.

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Search check to find anything that I might have remembered Cho'sul using personally. It'll have nostalgic worth if nothing else.
(1d20+1)[13]

[Grim ranger]

Deciding to try his luck with the spiky and by the sounds of it pretty painful obstacle barring him from entering the room Synia ventured into, Cynath first draws his rapier and pokes it cautiously through the illusion preventing him from seeing further and meeting no resistance steps through, sighing almost imperceptibly in relief as he is not cut up on the spot.

Casting a sour look at Donovan, the rogue stays silent, only poking his hand back through the wall to give "all clear" signal to the rest of the party before continuing to listen the exchange between the priest and Synia.

[3SecondCultist]

Father Markus seems to falter, his breath becoming more ragged. "I... I cannot tell you too much. The last day of light, the assault of the beast, and then I was... I was here, with him! He took the light, and turned it do darkness! It is ALL HIS!!!" After this last, thunderous outburst, the man finally collapses, lifeless.

[Grim ranger]

Stepping next to the priest and checking his pulse to be sure he really is dead, Cynath clicks his tongue behind his mask and looks mildly annoyed. "Congratulations, you just managed to get the only source of even somewhat reliable information we thus far found alive to talk himself to death". He casts cold look at both Donovan and Synia before withdrawing from the corpse, shaking his head. "Now what we do? I believe Cho'Sul did not see fit to leave us much in way of reliable information" he says bitterly, turning his back to the pair and trying to think instead of fantasizing about chocking Synia and Donovan alike to death in their sleep... It is a fantasy he knows will never come true, but one can always dream.

[Mordokai]

"Well, you're the one with divine connection here. If you can't think of anything to get results from corpse, none of us can. As for information, there's enough books in here, we're bound to find something in them. And there might be other secret rooms. We'll find something. In the meantime, I guess reading a few of these books can't hurt." With that, Synia takes a couple of books down. She can read them later, when she has more time.

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Taking a look at the library, does it have anything on the subject priest spoke about? I guess Search would be appropriate for that.

search - (1d20+6)[9]

[3SecondCultist]

Mordent: As your associates investigate the mysteries of your former master's laboratory, you have been scouring the ancient rooms to find anything of personal value. All of a sudden, you hear a rather loud knocking at the front door of the mansion.


Synia: You have spent your time looking through old musty tomes on the history of the region, and so far have found nothing of value.

[Grim ranger]

Casting somewhat pointed look at her, the rogue gives his reply in somewhat clipped tone. "I will see what I can do. I will have to meditate and ask for the powers that be to grant me something that can wring out answers from a dead body... At the end of the day, that is".

Starting to inspect the laboratory himself, he collects anything that looks expecially valuable or useful, but leaves the book-browzing for others. "You might want to write the questions down in advance... the kind of magic that would allow him to tell us something worthwhile in his current, posthumous state is not usually very long-lasting".

DM:

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Rolling for Search check to spot any useful or valuable, looking items to be hoarded from the laboratory.

(1d20+13)[29] (Search)

[Mordokai]

"Well, so much about that. I give up. Dyrnwyn, maybe you should try. You're, shall we say, more familiar with the subject. In the meantime, maybe somebody should check on Mordent?"

[Denomar]

Who could possibly be....

Ever business like, Mordrent goes to the door. Clearly whatever magic was protecting it did not reactivate when the door was closed, nonetheless he pulls his obsidian edged greatsword from its sheathe on his back, positioning himself so the sword is hidden behind the door he carefully opens it.

"Good afternoon. How can I help you?"

[3SecondCultist]

An elderly dwarf stands in front of the doorway, and seems genuinely shocked to see you. "Oh, pardon me sir. I didn't know you was stayin' here. Have ye heard about tha trial? I be givin' out free newsletters today."

[Denomar]

I'm afraid I have not. The Master of the house is away from town on a long vacation, in his absence news has been sparse. We normally do not accept fliers but I'm a curious man.

[3SecondCultist]

The flier, an ostentatious affair of gold and scarlet ribbon, is a formal, citywide invitation to an example of the "noble process of law", as it pertains to several "dangerous criminals" in Falcon Square, near the northern gate of Solstice. It is scheduled for the second hour, a little while from now. Apparently, the session will be hosted by Eos, Knight-Militant of Sirramar and the Captain of the City Watch.

[Denomar]

Criminals eh? What have you heard of them? And how many. If I'm to take the house staff for entertainment I expect it would be of sufficient...quantity.

Mordrent grins.

[3SecondCultist]

The dwarf fellow, blanching visibly at the ghastly sight of a corpse grinning at him, does the best he can to extricate himself from this situation without creating a stir. "Um, about five or six, couple o' thieves, and some murderers from the Nightsong Guild, I hear. Well, I'd best be goin' now." He walks down the street as quickly as his stubby legs can carry him.

[Denomar]

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As pointed out on the ooc page, Mordrent is completely covered in plate armor. It's intimidating, but it'd take quite a bit of effort to figure out he's undead.

Nervous fellow. Must have been the armor.

Mordrent wanders off to find his companions, especially Cynath, to let them know that it seems that some of his old friends are about to be executed.

[Mordokai]

In the meantime, Synia decides she has enough of the dank chamber and decides to look for Mordent herself. As she climbs the flight of stairs, she calls out. "Mordent, where are you? We wouldn't want you to fall to any of possible traps, would we now?"

[Denomar]

If you consider the kitchen a trap I agree with you. I think Pelak fell down the remnants of the oven.

He tosses the newsletter to her.

What do you think? Is it a trap?

[Mordokai]

"Good. In that case, lunch is as good as served." Cracking a smile at her own joke, she skims over the paper thrown at her. "A trap for Cynath? From what we heard, he has little sympathy for his former friends. For us all? It seems a little farfetched. What do you think?"

[Denomar]

"Seems a little obvious even to me. The messenger told me that there were 'Six' of them."

Mordrent's voice darkens.

"That coward in the sewer probably talked."

[Mordokai]

"Well, that's easy to check. We just send Donovan out and see if he gets arrested and hanged. Then we'll know it's safer for the rest of us to stay inside. But seeing this probably isn't an option, we better come up with something else. Maybe only one or two of us could go and see it and then report back. Cynath is good at hiding and I can blend in with crowd, they'd be hard pressed to find me out. Sounds like a good idea?"

[Denomar]

"Oh Donovan's alive? It sounded like he was eaten by a swarm of gnats. Must have thrown someone else in I guess."

Mordrent shrugs.

"If you think he'll go. That's fine"

[Mordokai]

"Always a prankster. But yes, he still lives. Though I imagine none of us will live much longer if we ever again pull trick like that on Cynath. He seemed... displeased, for one reason or another. But come, shall we explain the plan to the others?" With that, Synia extends a hand before her, gesturing for Mordent to take the position in front.

[Drynwyn]

Hey, it look's like I'll get my skeletal thief after all. Seriously, though, I'm not as certain as you that this is a trap. The dwarf seemed genuinely surprised that there was anyone here.

[Denomar]

"If the knights of Sirramar truly believe that We're in town, and they Know Who We Are. Then why cause a panic by telling the messenger that he's walking straight into the jaws of death?"

[Mordokai]

"Lets not forget that, by the words of Father Markus, Cho'Sul was preparing something big. Maybe the knights were onto him and now that's he's dead they'll be looking for us. Maybe it's a little farfetched, but we can't leave that possibility out. Like I said, one or two people would probably do better than our entire group. But if you all want to go, I can hardly stop you."

[Drynwyn]

We really should have "removed" that boy. However, only one of us is associated with the nightsong guild or a thief. It seems that this is a clumsy lure, if it is anything more than a coincidence. It could be a lure, however. Goodness generally means a profound lack of intelligence.