The Birth Of A New Species: IC.

[Korney]

"Well, this was interesting information." sais Flowdy putting his writing tools into his bag. "Ogodei, I believe you are some kind of druid? Could we rely on you to follow this "dancers" tracks?"

"If they have been attacking the guard lately we could watch over there."

[ReaderAt2046]

Well, since nothing more seems to be happening this evening, I guess we'll skip forward to the next day (you all enjoy a fine sleep.) So it's a bright new day, what do you want to do with it?

[DualShadow]

Before the day skip;

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"While I know the basics of tracking, I fear I am not a trained tracker. But I am not against trying."

Waking up to the not yet bright new day, Ogodei enjoys a walk outside for no reason other than to see the rising sun.

It was when the sun was fully raised that the Easterner returned to the inn to awaits his new companions to get ready. How do you want to use this new day?" he asks openly to the group, "We could give this tracking idea a try."

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Sorry Korney, I must have missed the notification about someone posting.

[ToySoldierCPlus]

"My pride wants us to wait for that governor to get the news about our credentials back. My reason says we don't have time for that. If you're willing to try tracking the things, that may be our best idea."

[Korney]

"I agree with Marius, let's not wait. We should start looking arround where the last abduction took place." Flowdy sais while eating some breakfast with the others.

"Let's see first how well we can hadle it Ogodei, I heard some stories about your people using wolves to track, sorry if I assumed too much. It wasn't my intention to sound racist." apologizes Flowdy.

After that he pack his few things and starts walking towards the barracks.

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OOC: I said barracks because I suppose it was there. I don't remember where the Inn customers said it happened. If they nevr did, I ask the Innkeeper before leaving.

@DualShadow: I'm not used to druids, but can't you summon a dog or a wold or something with track?

[ReaderAt2046]

On the way to the barracks, the image of Lady Natalia (the Spymistress) appears before you, traced in silver fire.

"Recieved message relay from Governor Eddard Stark questioning your credentials. What has happened? And who's the Easterner? Over."

The spell shifts to Reply mode.

[ToySoldierCPlus]

Marius replies quickly and professionally. "Governor refused to see us on arrival; attempted to use credentials to meet; he got upset. He appears incompetent or corrupt. Easterner's a druid. Over."

[ReaderAt2046]

The image of Lady Natalia nods once and then winks out.

[Korney]

Flowdy clears his thoat "Well, I guess we will find no more obstacles from the governor."

"Or maybe even more" he whispers.


"So, Ogodei, do you have anyone to report to?" Flowdy starts a little chat wit the Easterner, they don't really know him, and he doesn't speak much. He tries to know more about the place he comes from, his social position, his skills, whatever information he could share as small talk while they reach their destination.

[ReaderAt2046]

[OOC] You guys can still post your conversation on the road to the barracks, this is just what happens when you get there (unless something unexpected comes up.)[/OOC]

The two guards at the door bar your way with their spears. "I'm sorry, you're not allowed in until your credentials are verified." says one.

[hoverfrog]

"You are mistaken. Our credentials have been verified. We received word from Her Royal Highness, the Lady Natalia, half an hour ago. Now get out of our way!" Seric is in no mood to put up with any more of the obstructions that the governor is putting in their way, "Unless you intend to use those spears on the duly appointed agents of the royal family I would move if I were you."

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Diplomacy [roll]1d20+2[roll]
Intimidate [roll]1d20+1[roll]

[DualShadow]

In answer to Flowdy's question, the druid answers with a neutral tone not wanting to say too much about himself right now "I have elders to report to, but no fancy mean to do it."

When the group arrives before the guards he smiles at their attempt to stop them and waits to see their reactions to Seric's brash words.

[hoverfrog]

I'm just gonna roll those dice again...properly.

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Diplomacy (1d20+2)[22]
Intimidate (1d20+1)[14]

[ReaderAt2046]

The guards are clearly torn between two alternatives.

"Sorry, but I haven't heard anything about your credentials being verified, and I daren't let you in until I do. Still..."

Before he can continue, the door opens behind him and a couple more soldiers pop out. One of the new soldiers addresses you.

"Oh, good. The governor has just recieved the verification of your credentials and is now ready to see you in his office."

You are politely ushered through the building into the governor's office. The governor is seated behind his desk, clad in Stark grey-and-white and busy writing something. Copper is perched pertly on a chair off to the side. She is clad entirely in what seems to be a single crimson ribbon wrapped around and around her, and tied off between her breasts with a bow. It covers all the important bits, but it looks like it ought to come undone at any moment.

The governor addresses you. "It seems that you are, in fact, what you have claimed to be. The Royal Spymistress, for reasons I cannot even begin to comprehend, has vouched for you. Thus, you do in fact have the right to ask questions of me regarding whatever it is you were sent here to investigate in the first place. That being said, I have before me a formal complaint which I will be posting shortly. I greatly hope that we can get through this quickly and without may having to add any further reasons to this complaint."

"So what in all the worlds brings you here?"

[Korney]

"Excuse me sir, but you seem to not understand the situation here. You seem to believe that we have somehow made anything disrespectful or inapropiate here.
When the truth is that YOU decided to ignore the messengers, YOU refused to take care of the problem on your town, YOU refused to report to our authority with menaces and poor taste even when we showed you our credentials, YOU are here with a half-naked woman receiving us as if we were mercenaries and still YOU have complains?!"

Flowdy calms down for a second before continuing "You will be lucky if you don't end up in jail after the spymistress reads our report, but unlike you, we are here to solve problems, not make new ones."

"We are here to investigate the mine, the problems in delivery and the rumours about the town. We demand full access to your town, the mine and the wharehouse. After what we have seen, we will also ask for a couple of guards to patrol specific zones we ask them to. And you will be accepting all this without questioning it." Flowdy don't usually lose his temper, but he can't handle stupidity in high-charges, people depend of this governor and he spends his days with whores.

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OOC: I don't know if this is intimidation or diplomacy so I will roll both and let the DM decide:

intimidate (1d20)[4]
diplomacy (1d20)[16]

[ReaderAt2046]

The governor grits his teeth and grasps the desk, hard.

"If you actually have questions to ask or even investigations to make, fine. It's a complete waste of any ordinary person's time, but I think you might benefit. But I tell you that it seems you have no purpose here other than to insult me. You accuse me of crimes without a shred of evidence, insult me to my face repeatedly, and now you have the gall to try to command me as though you were my superiors? I will not stand for this. If you have anything worthwile to say, then say it right now. Otherwise, get out of this room before I have you thrown out."

It is clear to the most casual observer that he is a hair's-breadth from losing his temper dramatically and violently.

Copper bounces up and down, giggling excitedly.

[hoverfrog]

Seric looks incredulously at the old mage, knowing that he has a very even temper. She then adds, "Governor, we are not enemies here. We all seek the same thing: an orderly resumption of work at the mines. Our task is to investigate and resolve this problem. Your cooperation is required and you will provide it. Do so in a helpful manner and this will be reflected in our reports."

She turns to Copper, "Young woman, what is your official capacity in this place? Perhaps our questions would best be asked without the presence of your whore." She says this matter of factly in a neutral tone, turning back to the governor at the end. "No sir, your own views of the difficulties, if you please."

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Diplomacy (1d20+2)[15] In an effort to make him less hostile.

[ReaderAt2046]

"The shutdown of the mines is just the result of one of those fits of superstition that sweep over the miners every now and again. One or two people start telling strange stories, some rabble-rouser or other fans their fears into a roaring flame, and everyone goes around scared of their own shadows for a week or two. Nothing to be done but ride it out. Any day now the miners will start running out of cash, and they'll soon be hungry enough to face their fears and see that it's all just a bunch of rumors. That's all there is to it, as I've explained several times."

Candace's only responce to Seric is a pert

[hoverfrog]

"I see and what of these, what were they calling them? Corpse dancers? What of our prisoner, the creature that attacked us on the way here yesterday? Are these just 'fits of superstition' too? Even if your assessment is correct what efforts have you made to limit these rabble rousers from causing trouble? Have you arrested the ring leaders, made an example of anyone, put in place a curfew, or limited the congregation of large groups? What intelligence have you gathered? We will need to speak with your scouts and those who claim to have seen the creatures haunting the mines. Have you increased patrols in the area as a way to reassure the superstitious peasants or put in place a posse system where they can accompany trained guards on patrols so that they can see that the dangers are not real but imagined? Have you dismissed the more obstinate miners and hired more willing workers from the nearby communities? For your sake I pray that you have some evidence of the efforts that you have made yourself to rectify this situation." She leaves unsaid that all he seems to have done is toyed with his floosie while the town flailed about blindly with no leadership at all.

[ReaderAt2046]

"There have been legends about the corpse dancers up here since as long as anyone can remember, but they haven't been seen for decades, if they ever existed in the first place. And as for talking with people who claim to have seen boogies, just go back down to the Silver Pick and ask anyone there. You'll get more ghost tales than you know what to do with."

"As for arresting or dismissing the miners, it would have been both impractical and ultimately useless. If I were to arrest miners for telling or listening to these tales, I'd have to arrest the whole town and I don't have the men (or the jail cells) to do that. Not to mention that it would do absolutely nothing towards getting them to work again."

"And I have put out patrols. They didn't see much of anything, but the rumors took that as one more piece of evidence for the existence of these boogies."

[Korney]

Not happy, Flowdy looks at his companions and say softly "Should we show this... man the guest we brought with us? Maybe he would start taking our presence here seriously once his arrogant blindfold falls."

I bet Copper could do this man's job better. He is just here waiting for things to get solved by themselves. This is not the place for a lazy man like him.
Flowdy's mind curses about the human stupidity and laziness, two of the things he can't stand.

[ToySoldierCPlus]

"That might actually be in our best interest," Marius whispers back to Flowdy. Focusing on the governor, Marius' eyes are hard as steel. "Legends, nothing. There have been sightings of the corpse dancers in town, which is enough cause for advanced investigation. That said, at least you're doing something, which, I confess, is more than you had me expecting thus far. Of course, that something clearly isn't good enough, as the mines are not operating, and the Spymistress herself felt the need to get involved in this. Have you done anything toward getting the mines running again, besides waiting?"

[ReaderAt2046]

The governor seems incredulous.

"You actually believe the storytellers? You do realize that not everything told in a tavern is necessarily truth admissible in a court of law?"

[hoverfrog]

"We live in a world where magic can summon creatures from the air, where the undead can be created and controlled by powerful priests and wizards, where mortal wounds can be healed at a touch or inflicted if they so desire, where fire and lightning are at the fingertips of anyone sufficiently powerful and where the planes themselves are home to creatures of unimaginable power. As a priestess I could drain your life force at a touch, maybe even kill you. Flowdy could drain your arms of all their strength by uttering a few words and Marius could fry you with lightning or with burning acid. Any one of us could use our powers to destroy you where you stand. Is it so farfetched to imagine other beings with even more frightening abilities?" She lifts her holy symbol up and stares him in the face.

"Why do you so blithely dismiss these things? Are you so ignorant of the powers at work in the world? Have you taken any efforts to investigate these claims, no matter how wild? Have you done anything at all?" Her temper was rising but she fought to get it under control.

[ReaderAt2046]

Governor Eddard grits his teeth.

"I know the difference between legend and truth. This. Is. Legend. Treating it as fact will only make the fit of superstition last longer, a fact you'd do well to remember, since you claim to want the mines to start working again."

[hoverfrog]

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Is it just a legend?

Knowledge Religion (1d20+5)[11]

"The story may be legend but the people are connecting real events to the legend. That alone makes it worth investigating. There may be no truth in the myth but something is frightening the miners and they say it is these corpse dancers. You have dismissed their concerns as legend rather than investigate them." Wondering what would convince him to help she latches onto an idea, "We left a prisoner with the guard when we first arrived. Have you made any attempt to question it? Have you seen it for yourself? If not I suggest we visit it now so you can see for yourself the sort of thing that would prompt people to grasp at superstitious ideas."

[ReaderAt2046]

"The miners are frightened of their own shadows, nothing more. Putting out patrols turned up nothing, and the rumors simply mutated so that somehow "proved" that there were monsters out. It has become clear that trying to disprove the rumors only makes them burn fiercer. Nothing to be done but wait for them to burn out."

[hoverfrog]

"And our prisoner?" Seric wondered if he were deliberately avoiding having to confront the problem.

[ReaderAt2046]

"What...Oh, yeah, him. What about him?"

[ToySoldierCPlus]

"Or you could send someone to investigate the mines, which is why we're here in the first place. Had you just done that, we wouldn't be out here and you wouldn't be being grilled for information that you are strangely reticent to provide. Fine, there are legends in the area of corpse dancers. From my understanding, a large vein of onyx was recently uncovered in the mines. I'm going to hazard a guess that you have no idea how undead are created, and inform you that, to my understanding, it requires onyx." Marius glances at Seric for confirmation about onyx and the undead, not being particularly versed in necromancy himself. "I'm going to try something a bit different, if I may. I'm going to attempt to construct a timeline of events leading up to our arrival here. First, a large vein of onyx was uncovered in the mines. Second, the miners became fearful of something lurking in the mines, presumably something that had not been there previously. Third, you refused to send anyone to investigate the mines and reassure the miners. Fourth, we were dispatched by the Spymistress when word reached her that the mines had shut down. Fifth, the people of this town started seeing corpse dancers appearing in the streets and dragging people off. Finally, we were attacked by a strange creature on our way into town, a thing you may want to have a look at that is currently occupying one of your jail cells. That's our prisoner, by the way. Have I missed anything in there, or does that sound pretty close to accurate?"