Chapter 3: Things better left alone

[Golden Ladybug]

I clapped my hand shut, the green flame I had conjured vanishing in an instant, and I grinned apologetically at the barman.

My ears perked up at Alyera's question, and I racked my brains for whatever details I could remember about the pirate we'd been sent to find. I didn't find much.

"Yeah, I was too busy having teleportation sickness to hear too many details...I think Lucien was right, though; we're looking for a One-Eyed Burt" I gave the bartender a look, and let my gaze linger on the hand that held the gold coins Alyera had laid out.

"You wouldn't happen to know a One-Eyed Burt, would you, Beznik?"

[BelGareth]

The barkeep smiles a big raucous smile, displaying his yellow modly teeth for all "One-Eyed Burt! HA!" he yells, most everyone in the tavern heard his yell, whether by design or accident "Yur in luck! He's been ere since ta start o tings! You'll catch im upstairs in is room, third one down on tha right!."

He keeps his smile on his face but closes his lips around his rotting teeth, picking up a mug and a dirty smelling cloth he continues to rub it, cleaning it somehow. the pirate at the end of the bar stirs a little but continues to imbibe himself while the other patrons start to talk in a low roar.

[GuyFawkes]

Lucien

He does not like what he is seeing from the reaction of the patrons after hearing about One-Eyed Burt. But it is to be expected. His focus though is on the pirate at the end of the bar. His reactions are odd, as if he is reacting to their presence.

He elbows Alyera. "Hey, that pirate seems like he's checkin' us out or something," he whispers.

[SamBurke]

Alyera begins to make a snide remark about men, but thinks the better of it, leaving the awkward sentence hanging in midair like a freshly executed convicted, guilty as charged. "Thank you, good bartender. As a courtesy, this building will be left unscathed. Should any occupants attempt to harm us, they will... not be left such."

She walks up the stairs with a fierceness, readying herself for anything.

[Golden Ladybug]

I waved to the Pirate, and whispered to Alyera as she went past "You guys go figure out what this One-Eyed Burt knows about all this; I'll make sure his friend over there doesn't interfere"

Then, I sat down at the bar, and twirled my staff round once, and allowed my magic to wash over me, the field of force forming an invisible armour around me.

I watched the Pirate carefully, trying my best to look like an unconcerned badass... but internally, I was panicking; why the hell was I planning to pick fights with pirates?

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I haven't posted the spells I prepared today, yet. Here they are, with one Mage Armour crossed off already (the other one being there in case of another fight in more than four hours time, or if someone else needs some more AC).

0 - Conjure Snowball, Caltrops, Acid Splash, Prestidigitation, Ghost Sounds, Detect Magic

1 - Mage Armor, Mage Armor, Summon Monster I, Silent Image, Silent Image, Colour Spray, Comprehend Languages

2 - Invisibility, Invisibility, Acid Arrow, Acid Arrow, Acid Arrow

[Sparrow]

Until this point, Ralph had been in some trance, seeing how unchanged the tavern appeared even through all that had happened. Finally, he snapped out of it and joined the others.

When Alyera walks up the stairs, Ralph simply follows, also preparing for the worst.

[Fireheart]

Ma turns her head quickly, trying to decide between following Alyera or remaining with Annalyn.

She shakes her head and as she walks past Annalyn, scream if you need help, I'll run right back, she whispers as she follows the others down the hall, remaining toward the back to listen for Annalyn.

[SamBurke]

Alyera nods, and glides up the stairs, hands twitching and ready. "Everyone, stand outside the door with care... I doubt One-Eye is a very courteous fellow."

[GuyFawkes]

Lucien

Lucien looks at Annalyn, then to the others, thinking. There's three of them going up to meet One-Eyed Burt. He doesn't think low of her; he knows he can handle herself. But just to be safe,

"I'll stay with Annalyn," he says.

[BelGareth]

Alyera, Ma and Ralph -

You head up the stairs and move down the hall until 2 doors pass you, as you reach the third door a pallid odor assaults your nose and you have to cover it, lest you retch the contents of your morning feast on the floor.

The air shifts slightly and a fresh wash of odor smashes into you, something in the back of your mind tingles and then fades.

Moving on you see the door and prepare to knock on it.

knock, knock....knock knock.

Ralph stands close to Alyera as she rasps her knuckles on the hardwood frame, his hand instinctively going to his blade. The hall was dark, and the shadows seemed long here.

No answer came.

Looking to Ma and then to Ralph she pushes lightly against the door which gives without any resistance. As the door swings open on silent hinges another fresh wave of stink hits you, this time it is all you can do to stop your self from gagging. A cloud of fat flies buzzes through the portal, around your head and off.

The room is dark and a feeling of ominous peril pervades your thinking, the curtains sway slightly as the air from outside manages to eek its way in.

Your light source barely manages to penetrate the room and as you tentatively move into the room, hands on weapons you slowly see the corpse on the chair.

The corpse sits on his rocking chair with a hollow smile splayed across his skull, several of his teeth are missing and an eyepatch hangs loosely across his sternum.

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Knowledge Nature/Heal check - to see how long he has been dead.

Lucien and Annalyn -
As everyone leaves the whole room abruptly stops talking, all previous noise gone with the suddenness of a storm. The Pirate at the end of the bar turns and eyes you both, as do all the other occupants of the tavern. You quickly notice the barkeep is gone.
"An why'n yu lookin fur One Eye Burt? Eh?" The man asks with a serious tone in his voice.

Looking at him for the first time, you can see he has mismatched eyes, one is blue and the other is milky white.

[GuyFawkes]

Lucien

As soon as silence falls on the room, he knows. They were all waiting for this to happen. Or at least everyone going up.

But what does this mean?\

He looks at the pirate, and his mismatched set of eyes. Could he be...? No, it can't be. Oh, crud.

His hands find their way to the hilt of his weapon and to Annalyn's wrist respectively, preparing to draw the former and drawing close the latter. He tries to steel his nerves, and hopefully manage to look unfazed.

"What we need with him is for us to know and for him to find out. Unless you're the One-Eyed Burt...?"

[Sparrow]

Ralph turned his head away from the man as his eyes met it.

He quickly makes a final sweep around the room with his eyes. He checks around the room one last time before letting go of the hilt of his rapier.

"Well, I suppose we won't get much from this man, or what is left of him I guess."

He kept his eyes from straying back upon the corpse. In the past few days he had seen more death than he did through the rest of his short life. It was all so new to him.

"How long has he been dead?" Ralph asked, still covering his nose.

[Golden Ladybug]

As Lucien began to tense up, I looked over the pirate, and saw what my friend had already seen. Mismatched eyes...

"Of course, if you ARE One-Eyed Burt," I said to the Pirate, "we'd be able to tell you why we're looking for you"

Conscious that the bartender had already fled the room, I raised my staff in readiness.

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Ready an Action to cast Color Spray right in this guys face if he attacks us

[Fireheart]

(in the pirates room)

Ma covers her nose and mouth with her arm.

Well that is problematic. Can anyone tell how he died?

[SamBurke]

Alyera steps forward to examine the body. She snaps, and a quick flashpan of golden light erupts from both hands, twisting instantly to her eyes. Again she examines the situation, looking for arcana or out-of-place dweomers. "This seems... oddly fake.." Her glinting, glowing, gaze shifts over the floor, walls, and ceiling, before finally coming to rest on the corpse in the chair. Circling it slowly, she examines the entire thing from a safe distance.
This will be you. If you don't kill them.
"The real question is, who is this man? If we know that, then how he died. Do you see any marks? Any illusions?" Carefully, she moves the body to a more upright stance. "And speaking of it, the way he's sitting... doesn't seem right. Too well-planned."

Turning to the other two, she asks, "Do you see any herbal items on him? Preservatives, poisons? Also, can we search the room a little?"

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Spells:
Detect Magic. Guidance. Guidance.

Heal - (1d20+1)[19]
I seriously need more ranks in that skill.

Also, what does he look like, specifically? I'm looking for, but not limited to: Broken bones (especially ribs or vertebrae), dislocated limbs (or jaw), cuts or nicks on his throat or its vertebrae (indicative of a cut throat), damage to skull, or other such indicators. Also, the position of his hands is important. How decayed is the body?

Perception - (1d20+8)[11]

By the bye, I do have a Phalactery of Faithfulness, so I'm warned if an action will harm my alignment. On a random unrelated note.

[BelGareth]

Lucien and Annalyn -
The ugly man looks at the both of you with a big a smile, which is somewhat disconcerting, his dark yellow teeth stained from tobacco and they shined in the light of the tavern with a sickly sheen. Several patrons are now standing and moving toward you, it is plainly evident that everyone is handling a sword at their hip, the promise of violence in their eyes, but, for some reason, not in their hands.

"Well, I'll be bettin you'll be talkin first little lady." He says quite simply, the obvious threat open to all.


Alyera, Ma and Ralph -
Searching the room you find the following:
7 x pieces of parchment
1 x cutlass
1 x dagger
7 x copper pieces
1 x Silver piece
1 x Silver brooch

The search of the dead man reveals a severe laceration to the throat, further inspection finds that the man was shackled to the chair, and you think he has been dead for several days.

You see no magical/evil aura's.

[Fireheart]

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OOC: Is there writing on the parchment? Is anything Magical?

Detect Magic

Ma shuffles through the parchment to see if anything is written on them. Given his position, and the manner of his death, I suspect this pirate knew something...but what?

[BelGareth]

Your minor cantrip detects nothing magical on the parchment.

[SamBurke]

Alyera spins on a dime and runs downstairs. "We're in danger, and so are the others!" Running downstairs as fast as she can, she pauses to look leisurely right in front of the door, her entire body glowing gold.
He did it to you.
"And I suppose you think that you'd be able to hurt an innocent girl however you so wished?" The anger in her voice is immistakable, the beginning of a blood-fury rage. "Well. You. ARE. KRIFFING. WRONG. Her voice explodes across the room, and her tiny stature seems to grow massive, surrounded by a stormy golden fire.

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Heroic Fortune. Tap Inner Beauty. Guidance. I really wish that this didn't mess off Alyera so much: she's wasting a lot of firepower. It's just that she is reading a lot into this. Grararahrhrahrharhggg.

+1, Guidance, +8, Hero Point, +2, Tap Inner Beauty.
Intimidate - (1d20+14)[34]

Intimidate. Also, I really wish I could use an actual expletive there. It'd just be too out of character.

EDIT: HOLY SHIP. To compare, that roll would be roughly enough to intimidate a Terrasque. Best 20 ever.

[Golden Ladybug]

The bar patrons slowly closing in on us, I frantically vaulted over the bar top, putting the solid wood between me and the uncomfortably large amount of steel in the room. I gave Lucien a desperate glance, before swallowing nervously.

This sort of thing never happened before I came to this crazy city!

I squared off, holding my staff at the ready "Yeah...no, that won't be happening. If you know anything about all these freaking zombies everywhere, or the huge dome of magical force surrounding the whole city, we' really appreciate it if you shared, but if you're just going to try and attack us?" I snarled, "Don't make the mistake of thinking we're just going to go down without a fight!"

...and that was when Alyera burst back into the room, the halfling seemingly filling the space with her presence. I reeled back slightly, shocked by the fury my friend had mustered against the Pirates. I'm glad that she wasn't shouting at me!" I thought to myself.

Surreptitiously, I reached into the component pouch at my waist, and pulled out a small piece of wool, and channelled a small burst of magic into the material. With a whisper, I released the spell, and suddenly the air around Alyera hummed with power. Hopefully, that would be attributed to Alyera herself, and not my spell.

Showtime.

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Ghost Sound, DC15, to make it seem like Alyera over there is just brimming with power (which she is), so that our good friends the pirates don't attack her/us.

[Golden Ladybug]

The bar patrons slowly closing in on us, I frantically vaulted over the bar top, putting the solid wood between me and the uncomfortably large amount of steel in the room. I gave Lucien a desperate glance, before swallowing nervously.

This sort of thing never happened before I came to this crazy city!

I squared off, holding my staff at the ready "Yeah...no, that won't be happening. If you know anything about all these freaking zombies everywhere, or the huge dome of magical force surrounding the whole city, we' really appreciate it if you shared, but if you're just going to try and attack us?" I snarled, "Don't make the mistake of thinking we're just going to go down without a fight!"

...and that was when Alyera burst back into the room, the halfling seemingly filling the space with her presence. I reeled back slightly, shocked by the fury my friend had mustered against the Pirates. I'm glad that she wasn't shouting at me!" I thought to myself.

Surreptitiously, I reached into the component pouch at my waist, and pulled out a small piece of wool, and channelled a small burst of magic into the material. With a whisper, I released the spell, and suddenly the air around Alyera hummed with power. Hopefully, that would be attributed to Alyera herself, and not my spell.

Showtime.

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Ghost Sound, DC15, to make it seem like Alyera over there is just brimming with power (which she is), so that our good friends the pirates don't attack her/us.

[GuyFawkes]

Lucien

The young half elf holds his ground firmly, his face showing no signs of being intimidated, but his heart is pounding inside his chest, and he can feel the adrenaline flooding his system, making his ears hot. He holds his gaze firmly at the pirate, his hands wrapped tight around the hilt, making his knuckles white.

He could not hold this tough facade however when Alyera came bursting down the stairs, making him step back and blink. He takes a deep breath and recovers, whispering his silent gratitude for the timely arrival. He steps forward, a smile creeping up to his face.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk...let us try this again. You little ladies will be talking first."

[Fireheart]

Ma quickly follows behind Alyera, a bit stunned by her sudden change.

Taking in quickly the scene, she raises her staff and glares at the pirates.

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OOC: Need to remember to switch out Arcance Mark w/ Prestidigitation now that we're all back together.

Readied action: First thug that appears to make a threatening motion (draws weapon, etc): Ma casts magic missile.

[BelGareth]

Top of round 1

{table=head]Player|Initiative
One Eyed Burt|20
Thugs|8
Lucien|-
Alyera|-
Annalyn|-
Ma|-
Ralph|-
[/table]

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[SamBurke]

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Crap in a black tricorner pirate hat.

Alyera steps forward, eyes flashing with untamed fire. "Who's gonna be first? Who wants to feel the burning fire of regret? The rending sorrow of remorse?" She glares from man to man, standing as tall as possible.

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Dat moment when you realize that you purposefully reset all your spells to be useless in this fight.

I'll soak damage and heal, I guess. If possible...

Good thing is that they're all at penalty from being intimidated.

Initiative - (1d20+11)[27]

Readying action to use a touch attack.

[Sparrow]

"Well, I guess it was foolish to believe we could do this without violence." Ralph said, drawing his rapier in his right hand and his new short sword in his left.

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Initiative: (1d20+3)[17]

What did we expect when we walked in here and started acting all tough in front of a bunch of drunks?

[Fireheart]

Ma continues to hold her spell, waiting to see who would blink first.

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Initiative(1d20+5)[6]

[GuyFawkes]

Lucien

"No talk? Right then. I was aching to try this new sword. Looks like the opportunity just presented itself," he says with a smirk as he draws the new sword and a dagger.

As he does so, the half-elf's image starts to waver and blur.

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Move action draw weapons.
Standard action cast Blur.

[Golden Ladybug]

I let out a deep sigh, and shrugged off my backpack, letting it fall to the ground. The sound of metal clunking on wood, and Lucien's comment, brought the strange Kusari-Gama that I had been taken on a whim to the front of my mind. Perhaps now would be the chance to use it?

I half bent down, keeping my eyes on the room full of thugs, and calmly retrieved the weapon, keeping it under the counter. I had no idea how to use it, and I was probably going to be more use at range, but it couldn't hurt to have it ready, right?

"You sure you don't want to back down? You're just throwing your lives away?" I said, a half-hearted attempt to defuse the situation.

But, to be completely honest, I had no idea whether we could win this or not.

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Initiative (1d20+3)[22]

And, since it may be appropriate to reinforce the Thugs/One-Eyed Bill's perception of just how amazing we are, and how foolish it would be to fight us, a bluff check (1d20+5)[22]

Ready an Action to Acid Dart the first enemy to act aggressively within my pitiful range...which means E8 and H4

[BelGareth]

Top of round 1

{table=head]Player|Initiative
Alyera|27
Annalyn|22
One Eyed Burt|20
Ralph|17
Lucien|15
Thugs|8
Ma|6
[/table]

The thugs surge forward and magic erupts in the dark dank tavern, Annalyn conjures up a dart of fizzling acid which misses her target by a wide margin slamming into a support beam and dissolving most of the wood there. Ma's Missiles take one thug in the chest and drop him to the ground, two gaping wholes seep lifefluid as he collapses. The others pull up short confused on what to do as Alyera casts a dweomer protecting everyone.

The man in the Tricorner hat grimaces and spits on the floor.

"What Rrr ye wanting from dear ol' One Eyed Burt?" he seems obviously irritated you were able to prevent his 'friends' from getting to you, but was refusing to back down. At a bet you would hazard this man has seen a lot in his life.