The Path of Least Resistance (Group 1 IC)

[Keld Denar]

Karo

Karo whirls on Ashe, left arm raised, fist clenched, eyes dripping fire. Catching himself nearly instantly, he relaxes, and with a sigh, nearly melts as the tension flows out of him. Sorry. I don't know how exactly to explain her. She is me. A part of me, like a familiar, but more. She is an extension of my subconsious effort, a mirror of myself.

Those things. They were trying to keep a part of myself away from myself. Like, if someone were to grab your arm and pull on it, except that its your soul, not your arm. As far as I can tell, she is ok. Which is good, I couldn't imagine what it would feel like if a piece of me died.

[RavenGirl]

Ashe

Ashe raises her arm, palm outwards, in a peaceful gesture towards Karo, then lowers it as the tension fades.

Like an eternal companion. I don't understand completely, but I imagine anything that hurts her would be agonising to you. I suppose we all- she looks at at Tannop, then to the ground for a moment, we all have things about each other that we don't understand. All of this is like a puzzle and we're just three of the pieces.

She looked about. Those creatures seem to be gone now. If you're able to continue, Karo, I think we should climb that ladder and investigate. It would be good to find those other two pieces of the puzzle here, before the darkness claims them, too.

[Azaril]

You cautiously approach the Argonth, and upon noticing signs of your movement the light flashes four times then stops; this time, it has stopped for good.

The closer you get, your heads start to swim with the pressure of magic yet you feel drawn to continue. One moment the feeling forces all sense of comfort away from you, and the next it disappears with the distinct feeling that you have passed through a barrier of sorts. It wouldn't be far-fetched to imagine the Argonth had some kind of magicl barrier surrounding the fortress, but it would have also been something that had been included in the brief if that was the case.

Now that you're close enough that the shadow of the fortress looms above you (it's floating 30ft above the ground), the air grows even colder and your horses shift restlessly, your bodies starting to shiver. The shadows themselves seem considerably darker than normal, and the horses hooves sound across the soil as though it was frozen. When you look down you can clearly see ice crystals clinging to hardy blades of short grass, and any exposed skin begins to feel the bites of the cold air.

What you didn't notice from futher away is that a narrow ramp leads from the Argonth down to the ground on the far side, secured by several large metal pitons sunk deep into the soil. You know from the paperwork you were handed that it is the normal docking ramp that is lowered when the Argonth stops at a town or city, and it would lead to the only external entrance on 'ground' level.

The ladder that was dropped down seems to be a standard rope ladder with thick, sturdy-looking wooden rungs. You doubt that there would be any problem with climbing it as it looks well maintained and barely used. The only potential issue is a fear of heights, as the ladder ascends at least 100ft up to the platform that outlines the residential area of the Argonth. The ladder passes by several windows on it's way up, but from where you are you see no signs of light of movement through the glass.

You get a strange sense that the fortress itself—if it was even possible—is trying to make you feel incredibly unwelcome.

[Ditto]

Tannop

Spying the ramp yonder, Tannop asks his companions, "Are we certain this ladder is our best bet? We do have paperwork for legitimate entry for us - and our horses - and it might give us better intelligence on the nature of affairs on the Argonth. Something seems very amiss here with the whole environment... even aside from the unscheduled stop."

[Keld Denar]

Karo

what other options do we really have? There is mischief afoot, but if we don't investigate, we will never find out what it is, or how it connects to our certain...destiny.

Karo dismounts, pulls a stake and a length of leather thong from his pack. Driving the stake into the ground, he hobbles his horse to the stake. Patting the magnificent creature on its flank, he pulls out a few tools and a bit of jerkey from his saddle bags. Sheathing a dagger and sword at his belt, he ties another leather thong around his glaive. Looping the magnificent weapon over his shoulder, Karo reaches for the base of the rope ladder.

[Ditto]

Tannop

Shrugging helplessly in assent, Tannop dismounts and slings his haversack across his back. Hitching his own mount to Karo's impromptu post, he grabs the foot of the ladder and begins to follow after. "It seems rude to run ladies-last, but I think it might be prudent in the vertical circumstances, milady," he says quietly to Ashe as they begin to ascend.

[RavenGirl]

Ashe

Ashe shakes her head. Something is indeed very wrong here, but we must investigate. And this ladder and signal is part of the strangeness. If needs must, we can retreat from here and investigate by means of the ramp.

Shivering, she adds, And it will be good to be inside, away from this cold. She looks up, doubtfully, before hitching her mount to the same post as the others. All her possessions are in her haversack or on her person, so with this she is ready to climb.

Ashe indicates gracefully that Tannop should go before her. Climbing is not my strong suit. Trust me, it is better that you go first.

She begins climbing slowly after the others, ready to use a spell to aid her if she finds the going too difficult.

[Azaril]

The ladder is indeed as sturdy as it looks and you all climb up successfully to the platform above. What greets you is nothing short of a surprise, even in these circumstances, as a dozen crossbows are levelled at you, wielded by uniformed guards surrounding you.

"Don’t make a move," a gruff voice barks the order at you. It originates from the stout dwarf standing in front of you, his charcoal grey beard woven together with strands of copper. "Show ye I.D," he makes a swift nod towards you, and a warforged—matching the description of Finias Wandhand, a wizard taking residence within the Argonth—approaches you carrying a wooden tray that holds three wooden bowls containing a clear liquid, "and drink these. One each."

"It is merely holy water, nothing sinister I assure you," Finias says, his voice strikingly pleasant and mellow in contrast to his burly mechanical figure, "so it shall do you no harm if it is not meant to."

"Don't take it personal, either," the dwarf adds, a scowl furrowing his brow, "if ye ain't undead and ye don't melt, I'll tell ye what's happening."

As you hand over your identification papers, since it would be wise not to disobey at this point. The liquid offered to you is indeed both odourless and colourless, and you do indeed sense the aura of something good-aligned coming from it.

[Keld Denar]

Karo

I am Karo d'Orien of the Couriers Guild. Karo hands over the papers. These are my companions and guard. We are here on official guild business. Karo picks up the bowl, and gingerly sniffing it, gulps down the water.

Now, that unpleasantness out of the way, why the high alert? I was under the impression that this fortress didn't make frequent stops.

[RavenGirl]

Ashe

This is a warm reception, Ashe states blandly as she hands over her ID, following Karo's lead. She looks around at the dozen levelled crossbows with interest: she suspects that the trio could survive the assault, incapacitate the guard, and leave, yet, seeing no reason to test this assessment, she acquiesces. She can't help, though, assessing the situation and playing war-games in her head: drop this spell here, strike at this guard, move this way, and the combat would be won. For Ashe, old habits die hard.

Little of this internal process is visible as she swills the liquid in the bowl, shrugs, and drinks it down.

[Ditto]

Tannop

I knew I should have cast Invisibility Sphere again...

Tannop follows suit with his companions, and takes the proffered bowl to down the water. The gnome chooses not to add anything to the conversation just yet, curious as to why this assemblage issued the non-traditional entry method.

[Azaril]

Immediately the crossbows are lowered and the dwarf gives a hefty sigh. He gives one quick nod before raising his head to speak to you all again.

"My name is Willum Grinnack, and I assumed command when the captain was killed. As ye can see, everything is not right here. We lost contact with the main crew of the Argonth three days ago, and since then this place has been crawling with undead creatures; the things that killed the captain. That holy water was just to make sure ye weren't the same. They look just like normal until ye get all close and personal. We've heard nothing from anyone since we stopped and sent out distress messages until we saw you." He looks towards Finias to give a more intellectual explanation of the situation.

"I am Finnias Wandhand, one of the wizards of the Argonth. Pleasure to make your acquaintance my Lords and Lady." Finnias gives a small bow, nudging Willum to do the same, who does so with as much of a sincere smile as he can muster. "Our onboard religious leader has determined these creatures to be closely related to vampires, or their spawn. I say closely related because they seem to shake off all weaknesses that vampires seem to succumb to—including sunlight and being staked through the heart." His warforged features stay stoic, but his voice clearly has signs of extreme concern.

"We had a few captured in the church. Silver manacles seems to keep them from using their normal domination and alternate form abilities, and holy water only hurts them if we force them to drink. The only way we've been able to kill one so far is to cut off it's head. I didn't even need a silver blade for that," Willum says, quickly leading you towards a building that looks to be some manner of town hall, followed by the ever-vigilant crossbow force that greeted you.

Willum opens the doors of the large hall and invites you in. A lot of militia members are sat around dicussing matters, and some are pointed out to you to be the scouts that have been gathering information regarding the situation. He takes you to the side and sits you around a smaller table, leaving the scouts to carry on their discussion, having already given you cursory glaces. "There were fifteen of them three days ago, and now there's only six. When I heard that ye were House Orien I was hoping that ye had a message about some kind of backup, but when ye said ye didn't know what was going on I guessed not."

"We have one of these creatures still left in the church should you want to take a look at it, just to see if you have more information than we do. Just let me know if you wish to see it and I can arrange to have you escorted. For your own safety, of course." Finnias adds.

The scouting party stops their conversation and stands up, walking over to you with sour expressions on their faces, but you can tell that the expressions are not directed towards you. "Are you here to help us, or for some other purpose? Either way it doesn't seem like you'll be able to get out of here safely or unnoticed but we'll be able to accommodate you here for now. The residential area is safe, we have powerful wards capable of protecting this area from military weaponry and bombardment, and it seems to be doing the job. However whatever you did with those wolf creatures before also seemed to keep the vamp-things at bay better than anything we have been able to do. They just screeched and hid. What did you do?"

[Keld Denar]

Karo

We are on official Courier's Guild business. We have personal messages for Kari ir’Piquaro and Daevain ir’Tunna. Can you direct us to them? The message is of a very personal and sensitive nature. I understand the immediate crisis, but I would not be serving my post and my family if we did not first deliver these messages.

[RavenGirl]

Ashe

Ashe breathes more easily once the crossbows are lowered, and has a chance to look around her properly at the top deck of the Argonth.

Spoiler

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(1d20)[9] spot; though really I'm just looking for a general description. Buildings? I'm imagining the courtyard around the Tower of London now.

She bowed when introductions were made. As my papers say, I am Ashe Corus. It is good indeed to see some friendly faces; we have been long on the road, and... She paused. Something about the land is most ill. 'twas an ill-starred journey. She shook her head. And here we are, and things are grimmer yet.

Ashe shakes her head and looks concerned at the description of the undead; her hand goes to the hilt of the silver dagger at her waist. I have this, though I would hate to try to decapitate a vampire with it. I also have... other magical abilities.

She frowns. I am not certain of anything any of us did to drive off those wolves. I only hope that we have a similar effect on vampires. As for me, I would be delighted to aid you in any way that I may. She nods at Karo's speech. Yet as Karo says, our first duty is to discharge the messages we bear, before we might do aught else.

[Ditto]

Tannop

Tannop still loiters behind Karo, content to let someone else be the talker for one of the few times in his life. I make a living running my mouth, but these folks seem reasonable so far...

[Azaril]

"You deal with it. I'll see to getting some help around here." The dwarf speaks with a disappointed voice to Finnias, paying little to no attention to the scout.

"You'll have to forgive him," Finnias says. "We all made the assumption that you used the wolves as an aid to us. It's true that they disappeared when you came closer to the Argonth, but their intentions were not bad. They held the vamps at bay and allowed us to finalize the defences around here that have kept us safe. Willum has lost three of his brothers, all fighting alongside him during the attacks we have had here, so the possibility of aid had been the only hope he has seen thus far."

The scout nods and speaks with a soft elven voice, "While it is a shame that you're not the aid we have called for, I can appreciate that you have a job to do. My name is Ilthranya and I'll help you find who you are looking for. If you will excuse me for a moment." She turns her back to you and strolls over to a table covered in masses of paperwork. By her attire you would assume that she had recently returned from a mission, and likely one of the people who signalled you to approach the fortress. Ilthranya collects a small board with papers clipped to it and walks back to you scanning the names, a small smile on her face.

"As they are nobility, it is likely that they were here in the residential area when the first attack occurred, thus safe," Finnias says.

"You're quite correct," Ilthranya replies, her finger trailing down a list of names to point them to you."If you see here there are indeed on the list of survivors, and they have been allocated to house twenty-four."

Eagerly beckoning you to a table, you see a basic map pinned to the wood. As Ilthranya clears the map of miscellaneous pieces of note paper, setting them neatly to the side, she begins explanation of how the residential area is composed.

She explains that the town hall and the church are central focal points to the residential area. Since the dead are not buried here, there is no space set aside for a graveyard and the two large buildings are less than ten feet apart. Surrounding the buildings is a sizable expanse of well-kept greenery, helping to make the area feel like less of a fortress.

Out from the central square are three rows of housing that encircle the open space. These are explained to be the houses for the main crew of the ship, including the captain and other officers.

Further out from the centre, the rest of the residential area is split into four evenly-sized quarters. The regular residents to the north, the nobility to the east, military and crew sharing both the south and the west; Ilthranya points you to the east, and jots down an address for you to use.

Looking at the map it is easy to see that each quarter is built with straight rows of houses with a central road linking them all together, very unlike the streets of a regular town. It’s easy to see that this fortress was built for military duty rather than a set of floating homes. It is nigh-impossible to get yourself lost.

After the explanation, the inevitable question is presented to you, "I can understand that you have a job to do, but when you return is there any help at all that you can provide? The fortress is in lockdown, which means no one leaves until help arrives. The only reason we signalled to you is because we thought you and the wolves had come as aid. Until this mess is sorted, I’m afraid you’re stuck here under military protocol."

"I’ve tried to explain that if some of us were to leave it would make better sense to try and figure out what is happening. However Willum, as much as he may mean well, was thrust in charge with no prior experience, so he’s laying down the military ways as law, and he’s being as stubborn as a, well, a Dwarf!" Finias says with a hint of frustration tickling his words.

Ilthranya genuinely smiles, sharing the same sentiment as Finias. "However that does come with some benefits. The entire residential area is completely safe as I mentioned before, and if there is any trouble the patrols will be with you within minutes. Just stay out of the church because we do have one of those things still in there, although it is well restrained. Come back here when you're done and we'll see what can be done."

[RavenGirl]

Ashe

Ashe nods to the elf when she returns with the list. Thank you, Ilthranya.

We are not here for that purpose, but we will aid you. I assure you we shall, once our task is complete.

She breathes more easily when she learns that the pair are safe. This may all be a wild goose chase for reasons beyond comprehension, but it is not a futile one, as yet.

Finias' frustrations also cause her to nod, and to smile wryly. There's no wonder he wants to protect what is still secure, given what he's lost. We are no strangers to figuring things out, or being driven to, at least. We have rather a long list. Yet all of this is at the top.

She bows deeply to the pair as the party left. Many thanks indeed for all of your aid. We shall find this pair as quickly as we might, for the sooner our duty is discharged, the sooner we can begin our new one in aiding you.

With this she walks towards the exit, and makes her way as quickly as possible to the address given her by Ilthranya.

[Keld Denar]

Karo

Nodding his thanks to Finnias, Karo hangs his glaive over his shoulder and prepares to leave.

[Ditto]

Tannop

As the trio hustles into the darkened streets, Tannop says, "Alright team, one leg of this jaunt nears completion... house 24, should be easy enough to locate with how regularly this place is plotted. It seems that one adventure begets another, though."

[Azaril]

You pour out of the town hall on your way to your destination. It doesn’t take too long to reach where you are going; a half hour at most. The houses in the area are well-built and spacious, each with its own distinctive features based on the taste of the occupants, and you can see through the windows that they are catering for more than their intended number. A couple of the houses are catering for the wounded, and you see people milling about trying their best to bring comfort to those in pain. There are a lot more injured people than you had expected, and few of them pay much attention to your presence.

The closer you get to House number twenty-four, the more you are filled with a sense of urgency. Your pace quickens without a second thought, and when the house comes into view you see a familiar blue-hued light emanating from the second storey windows. Before you have time to think, the door bursts open yet you hear no sound of it doing so. A woman whom you recognise to be Kari ir’Piquaro stumbles out followed by a group of young women—the blood stained clothes of those tending the recently wounded—with a look of terror marring their faces.

Kari turns to you, a flash of recognition encompassing her expression, and scrambles to her feet to run over towards you. You only hear her hurried footsteps once she is far enough away from the house, clearing any magical dampening effect in place. She doesn’t seem injured, but her clothes are dappled with fresh blood.

"It’s you!" She exclaims, trying to catch her breath. Her surprise needs no explanation when your hearts pound at seeing her face and a mutual understanding is reached with your gaze; it must be how it felt to find a long-lost sibling whom you thought had been dead.

"It’s Daevain doing all of this, and I can’t stop him. One of the injured people started turning into one of those creatures. We didn’t even know that was even possible or part of what is doing, then it lunged at me, at which point he just… snapped. Quicker than anything I’ve seen before he darted across the room, grabbed the thing by the throat and crushed it with his bare hands," she gasps a little with tears beginning to stream down her face. "That’s when the glow started and everything fell silent. His magic is doing all this. His mark was flaring white hot before we managed to escape. I could feel the heat from across the room. He’s not been able to do anything like this…" her voice trails, and her eyes fall to the floor.

"When I left him some of the others were starting to turn, too. He was fighting them off, getting us to leave in the silence. Please. Help him."

[RavenGirl]

Ashe

Ashe looks over at Tannop and gives him a wry smile, meeting his eyes. It's like we're caught in a knot of tangles. If we keep pulling, we have to find the right thread. Eventually. She paused. Right?

Why are there so many wounded? Ashe shakes her head as she peers in another window. These people must be fighting all the time, and yet the guards that greeted us didn't seem pushed to urgency. She glanced at the sky, looking at the height of the sun. Unless they come at night.

As their pace speeds on the way to the house, she shakes her head. Something isn't right. Their steps go from a slow walk almost to a run.

Ashe reaches out to Kari as she dashes to them, grasping her by the arm both to catch and reassure her. Listening to her rushed account, her eyes shoot to the window and back to Kari's wide-eyed face. She glances around at the others.

Damn. We have to go in. Her heart thrums in her mouth. She makes a quick series of gestures and murmurs a spell. I can speed us when we get there, even in the silence. A short spear of force appears in her hand, shimmering, around a foot long. She then runs to the door of the house, flattening her back against the wall beside it - if she reaches there in time. Her tiny owl flaps around her head, agitated.

Spoiler

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Casting Thunderlance; duration 8 rounds. Moving 30' towards the door.

[Ditto]

Tannop

"We're about to dive into a room full of newborn vampires, is that it? Brilliant..." Tannop grouses, as he hustles after Ashe to enter the house. As he goes, he casts Detect Thoughts, directing his attention to the room on the upper floor where they'd seen the commotion break out upon their approach. Hopefully they would get an idea of what they were going to be up against. "If this silence is filling the entire house, it will be difficult to communicate... let's all stay alert and keep our eyes on one another. We may need to get out in a hurry."

[Keld Denar]

Karo

The Mark of Passage does not care about zones of silence. If you need to get out urgently while we are inside, pump your fist twice. Karo makes the signal with his right hand, his left knuckles white on the haft of his glaive.

Running to keep pace with Ashe, Karo wills Kir'Seth ahead of him and through the shattered door.