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  1. - Top - End - #91
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    Default Re: AA's Carrion Crown: The Haunting of Harrowstone

    Benedikt stands in one corner of the room, his arms crossed over his chest, listening in a brooding silence. The Whispering Way... he thinks. The name is fabled within the Order, their secret enemy, yet the mysteries of its purposes are held tightly by the masters. He frowned. Perhaps I have underestimated the gnome. To know so much... He frown turns to a sort of grimace; here he once again had proof of how little he was valued, to be denied such important information.

    "We can speak to Grimburrow about this cache if we wish," Benedikt cuts in, his voice steely, sounding apathetic to the point. "But we need to know what the Way is interested in at Harrowstone, otherwise we will fall into the same trap as Lorrimor." He frowns, staring into the fire. "Yet I see no connection between the prison and the lich-lord. It does not make sense."
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  2. - Top - End - #92
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    Default Re: AA's Carrion Crown: The Haunting of Harrowstone

    "Lorrimor himself raised promising course of action: investigation via Pharasmin archives," she replies helpfully to Benedikt. "Would be happy to begin inquiries tomorrow." She blinks, reconsidering. "Erm, actually, little desire to participate in persuasion of venerable clergyman. Will visit archives after success. Assuming request taken well. Could be banned, chastised. Never know. Personally, will survey town for alternative viable locations for substantive research pertaining to Harrowstone in case meeting with Father Grimburrow infelicitous."
    Last edited by Leviathan; 2014-05-20 at 05:58 PM.
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  3. - Top - End - #93
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    Default Re: AA's Carrion Crown: The Haunting of Harrowstone

    "Petros saw a connection. He just didn't take the time to record its details in his journal, but he clearly indicates the Way was doing something at the prison", Ulric adds. He seems lost in thought for a moment. Typical of you, Petros... Never show the solution outright.

    "There is also this matter of the people who died in the fire. What fire? This was of interest to Petros, because he thought it was of interest to the Whispering Way..." Suddenly, the weariness of travel, and the high emotions of the day bring their weight to bear on him. "Enough scratching heads for now. Since Miss Kendra is kind enough to host us, I'll go find a bed... Things always become clearer in the morning."

    He climbs the stairs to look for place to stay.
    Last edited by Gwynfrid; 2014-05-19 at 07:48 AM.

  4. - Top - End - #94
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    Default Re: AA's Carrion Crown: The Haunting of Harrowstone

    Music: Unquiet Night

    Your grim conversation winds its way on into the night, the hearth's embers smouldering down to ashes. Somewhere outside, an owl hoots, and the wind rustles the thin pines. One by one, you break off, heading up to the wood-panelled guest rooms, their four-poster beds draped with burgundy curtains, full-length mirror and heavy furniture looming around you. Or perhaps you simply sleep where you've sat.

    But the night is unquiet, and dark dreams haunt your sleep.

    Morning comes, pale sunlight streaming through the windows of the old house, flooding it with a welcome light. Particles of dust float lazily down over the Professor's curios and bookshelves, visible in the sun's rays. Kendra is up early, if she's slept at all. The dark circles around her eyes testify that she too has had a difficult night.

    She offers a weak smile from the house's kitchen, a tiled room with a soot-covered stove and chimney pipe, and countertops cluttered with glass jars and bottles. It seems as much an amateur alchemist's laboratory as a kitchen. "I've made some food, if you'd like," she offers with a voice that suggests she herself isn't hungry. "It's in the dining room," she adds, gesturing down the hallway, to a spacious room filled by an antique wood table, its face embossed with gold ornamentation. On the table, a communal bowl of piping hot porridge sits, along with a pitcher of wine, a kettle of tea, an an assortment of pastries.

    But only a few moments after you've seen all this, there comes an urgent knocking on the door. "Miss Kendra, Miss Kendra!" comes a boyish voice, shouting. "The monument!" Kendra looks around, confused and alarmed, then makes for the door.

    It opens to reveal a boy of about thirteen, his face dirty, wearing a farmer's cap and an oversized vest. "Miss Kendra!" he repeats. "Sheriff Caeller wants to see you and the strangers at the monument!" He stops, looking at you as you follow Kendra. "Er, meaning no offense."
    Last edited by ApatheticAbacus; 2014-05-19 at 10:43 AM.
    "Life is hard. Then you die. Then they throw dirt in your face. Then the worms eat you. Be grateful it happens in that order."

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  5. - Top - End - #95
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    Default Re: AA's Carrion Crown: The Haunting of Harrowstone

    Eliazar stirs and rubs his eyes, clearly looking haggard from his restless sleep. He's about to pour himself some tea when the news comes and stumbles after the others when they depart.

    "Storm and salt it's already begun!"
    "Reach down into your heart and you'll find many reasons to fight. Survival. Honor. Glory. But what about those who feel it's their duty to protect the innocent? There you'll find a warrior savage enough to match any dragon, and in the end, they'll retain what the others won't. Their humanity."

  6. - Top - End - #96
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    Default Re: AA's Carrion Crown: The Haunting of Harrowstone

    "I wonder what this could be about." Rastan yawns a bit, then looks for his cloak before heading out to see why their presence was requested.
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  7. - Top - End - #97
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    Default Re: AA's Carrion Crown: The Haunting of Harrowstone

    It has been a fitful rest, filled with dreams all worse than the previous one, culminating in one where Ulric saw Professor Lorrimor raising from the grave, transformed into a vampire and biting into a helpless Kendra's delicate neck. Come morning, he doesn't speak much, but looks at his hostess' and his fellow pallbearers' faces only to see traces of an equally unpleasant night.

    After tasting the hot porridge with caution, he fills up a cup of tea and sits down to satisfy a weak hunger. That's when breakfast is interrupted by the young lad. Something wrong. The warrior's reflexes kick in, and without further ado, he runs upstairs to retrieve his falchion - no time for armor - and rushes back. "Ready. Lead the way, laddie."
    Last edited by Gwynfrid; 2014-05-19 at 01:09 PM.

  8. - Top - End - #98
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    Default Re: AA's Carrion Crown: The Haunting of Harrowstone

    Emil wakes early. It feels strange to be back in his childhood bed once more, but stranger still are his dreams. The young man dresses and washes quickly, emerging into the kitchen looking as well-coiffed and prepossessing as usual but with a dramatic yawn.

    "Good morning," he says to his new companions as he seats himself at the table. No sooner has he done so when the frantic knocking brings him to his feet again. "The monument? What could have possibly transpired there that we're being blamed for now?" he says bitingly. "Or does the Sheriff merely wish to welcome us all to the town? In any case, I suppose we have no choice but to go." Emil seems bitter still about the accusations levelled against his uncle, a bitterness from which the sheriff seems to have no exemption.
    Last edited by RocketMan; 2014-05-19 at 01:04 PM.
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  9. - Top - End - #99
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    Default Re: AA's Carrion Crown: The Haunting of Harrowstone

    Briar yawns blearily, rubbing her large eyes as she emerges from her room, looking slightly more dishevelled than usual. She is muttering profusely to herself. "Superstitious to view dreams as indicative of state of being external to the dreamer. Excepting in cases of patterned divine abilities: oracular vision, deific commandments relayed through dreamscape... Disturbing character of personal dreams no more than representation of imbalance of bodily humours, stress from prior evening. Nocturnal imaginings without reality; will pay no heed," she says with a sniff, dismissing her nightmares away.

    She's in the middle of sprinkling her bowl of porridge with some strange blue-green leaves from one of her pouches ("Aids digestion, infuses body with three essential nutrients, adds flavour") when the commotion happens. With pursed lips, Briar takes a defiant bite from her breakfast, unhappy at being disturbed. But her curiosity gets the better of her, and she trots along to the door. "Monument to what, precisely?" she wonders aloud. "Town nondescript by most standards."
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  10. - Top - End - #100
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    Default Re: AA's Carrion Crown: The Haunting of Harrowstone

    "Oh, it's the Harrowstone Monument, Miss," the boy replies to Briar. "Er, Memorial. Same thing, right. I'm Pevrin, by the way," he adds blithely.

    Following along beyond the messenger boy, you're led down one of Ravengro's country roads, across a small cobblestone bridge, and out through a dirt path running through one of the outlying farmer's fields. Pevrin chats blithely away as the memorial comes into sight.

    It's positioned along the bank of Ravengro's river, a twelve foot stone statue of a man with a sword and shield held high, like a warrior of old. The craftsmanship is good, though nothing exceptional, and it's chipped and weathered in places with age. You're still too far from it to get a good view, though you think you can make out something red there, when a trio of men intercept you.

    The middle one is sun-baked, with a light blond-brown beard that he scratches as he sizes you up. His functional brown coat is nondescript, save for a simple cloth badge sewn onto it bearing the sigil of Ustalav. The other men are similarly dressed, one gangly, one slightly overweight. "Sheriff Caeller," the middle man introduces himself, without extending a hand. "Not too often we get so many strangers 'round town at the same time. Not too often we get strange goings-on either. But now we got both," he says. "Let's take a walk."

    He waves a hand, and he and his deputies start leading the way down toward the river and memorial. As you come closer, it becomes clear that the plinth of the statue has been smeared with bright red blood, which pools in the grass at the statue's base. The act wasn't random either: the blood has been splashed into a messy but recognizable "V" shape... "Now," Caeller says slowly, looking squarely at each of you. "I gotta be wondering where something like this comes from. And since there're so many strangers in town, I figured I'd start with you." His weathered hands drum the hilt of a worn longsword at his belt. "Any notions on that?"
    "Life is hard. Then you die. Then they throw dirt in your face. Then the worms eat you. Be grateful it happens in that order."

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  11. - Top - End - #101
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    Default Re: AA's Carrion Crown: The Haunting of Harrowstone

    "I assure you, none of my companions, nor Kendra, could have been responsible for this, Sheriff. I was awake most of the night, and I'd have seen any of us leaving the Lorrimor House. And before you ask why I'd have been awake that long, I'll have you know I suffer from chronic insomnia." Eliazar replies, his tone curt from a lack of sleep, the bags under his eyes clear.
    "Reach down into your heart and you'll find many reasons to fight. Survival. Honor. Glory. But what about those who feel it's their duty to protect the innocent? There you'll find a warrior savage enough to match any dragon, and in the end, they'll retain what the others won't. Their humanity."

  12. - Top - End - #102
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    Default Re: AA's Carrion Crown: The Haunting of Harrowstone

    "I know nothing of this, Sheriff" Rastan is quick to say. "If you're suspicious of why we're still here, you can verify in Lorrimor's will that we were asked to stay here with his daughter. I cannot speak for anyone else among us, but I doubt they would have any reason to do, well... that." The cleric gestures toward the blood on the statue. "I wonder what the shape is supposed to mean. Does 'V' mean anything to anyone here?"
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  13. - Top - End - #103
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    Default Re: AA's Carrion Crown: The Haunting of Harrowstone

    "My respects, Sheriff. My name is Ulric Izzorden, of Wissant, servant warrior of the Dawnflower. Like my companions here, I am in Ravengro as willed by Professor Lorrimor. This is the first time I see the memorial, and while I don't know what it commemorates, I am saddened to see this repelling handiwork on it. You have my word that we spent the night at Lorrimor Manor, and had nothing to do with this deed." This introduction done, the half-masked man looks at the monument intently, in grim silence.

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    Diplomacy (1d20+7)[16]
    Also, Detect Evil on the markings.
    Last edited by Gwynfrid; 2014-05-19 at 09:11 PM.

  14. - Top - End - #104
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    Default Re: AA's Carrion Crown: The Haunting of Harrowstone

    Benedikt follows the lad down the road silently but swiftly, his long strides threatening to overtake the boy. He comes to a halt as the crumbling monument comes into view, studying it with an inscrutable look on his face.

    "If you're accusing us, Sheriff, I think you had better say so," Benedikt says in a deadly, hushed voice, his expression level and eyes dark. He keeps eye contact for a long moment, defiantly not breaking his gaze. Then he steps around the Sheriff and his guards to get a better view of the statue. "This shape, does it mean anything?" he frowns. "Dr. Zendlebiddle? Is there any connection with our previous discussions?"

    He kneels down, inspecting the base of the statue and the ground around it, gloved hands brushing swiftly over the plinth, skirting the borders of the V shape. "Blood or paint?" he murmurs.

    Spoiler
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    Survival to look for tracks or any other evidence of what happened here.

    I'll take a 20 if I can, for 24. If not, Survival roll: (1d20+4)[18]
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  15. - Top - End - #105
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    Default Re: AA's Carrion Crown: The Haunting of Harrowstone

    Briar adjusts her eyeglasses and takes a long look at the defaced statue. She waves off the sheriff with a distracted "Doctor, not vandal," before pacing around the pedestal of the monument, unless stopped.

    She gives a shake of her head to Benedikt's question. "Previous discussions certainly indicate present situation more untoward than assumed by local constabulary: likely related to situation alluded to in diary of late Professor," she replies. Then she shrugs. Of course, always other possibilities. However, perplexed by nature of the desecration, namely, Taldan character "V"..."

    She reaches out a finger, dabbing it in the red fluid that makes up the V. She gives it a sniff with her little nose, raises it up to the light, then takes a drop as a scientific taste.

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    I'm not sure which is more appropriate, so here are some rolls to identify the paint:

    Craft (alchemy): (1d20+9)[18]
    Knowledge (nature): (1d20+8)[23]
    Heal: (1d20+9)[27]

    As well, here are some knowledge checks to see what relates to a V symbol in Ustalav:

    Knowledge (history): (1d20+12)[16]
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  16. - Top - End - #106
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    Default Re: AA's Carrion Crown: The Haunting of Harrowstone

    While the Briar and Benedikt examine the statue, Emil practically fizzes with indignation, directed toward the sheriff.

    "So you thought to round up every stranger in the village, did you?" he says witheringly. "Because that 'V' is so spine-chillingly petrifying that it could not possibly have been the work of a local. Well, you've found us out, Sheriff," he exclaims, throwing his hands up in a mock gesture of surrender. "You discovered our secret collusion; your most heroic intervention has saved your town from being blanketed in red 'V's by our shadowy cabal. Maybe," he says with a cold, sarcastic smile, "someone will give you a medal. The King, perhaps."

    He shrugs. "Or maybe, just maybe, it might occur to you that a group in mourning are unlikely to have crept out in the night to vandalize your statue."
    Last edited by RocketMan; 2014-05-20 at 07:22 PM.
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  17. - Top - End - #107
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    Default Re: AA's Carrion Crown: The Haunting of Harrowstone

    The Sheriff scowls slightly, backing down in the fact of Benedikt's bluntness and Emil's cutting reply. "Alright, alright, I'm not accusing anyone. Just doing my job." He looks to Kendra. "Miss Lorrimor, can you vouch of 'em that they were with you?"

    Kendra nods. "I can, Sheriff." She looks over the memorial with a frown. "Who would do this? It seems so... senseless."

    Caeller returns a blunt shrug, and one of his deputies scratches his head, apparently wondering the same. The other opens his mouth to say something to Briar as she walks right past him. But then the gnome takes a taste of red stuff covering the plinth, and he seems too surprised to comment. "I'll be damned if I know, ma'am," Caeller replies. "Me and my boys never seen anything like this before. I'm just really hoping it's not people blood."

    He looks around, particularly to those who gave a courteous reply – Ulric, Eliazar, and Rastan. "Look, if Miss Lorrimor says you weren't up to nothing, that'll do till I can check that you were here for the funeral. You seem a fancy sort, knows what's what," he says, glancing sideways at Briar and Benedikt as they start to investigate. "So if you know anything that might help..."

    Ulric
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    Nothing detects as evil.


    Benedikt
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    The ground is wet, which is good for tracking. As you look down at it, you note a set of prints, human-like, the size of a man's foot, and apparently bare, without shoes of any kind. It's hard to make them out past the treads of the Sheriff and his men's boots. They seem to have paced around the memorial. But your attempt to trace where they've come from peters out as you hit a patch of harder ground.


    Briar
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    You can't identify the marking – it seems just to be a normal letter "V". On the other hand, the red substance is definitely blood. Rat's blood, to be precise, in sufficient quantities that the rat in question definitely died. Judging by its state, the rat was likely killed in the middle of the past night.
    "Life is hard. Then you die. Then they throw dirt in your face. Then the worms eat you. Be grateful it happens in that order."

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  18. - Top - End - #108
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    Default Re: AA's Carrion Crown: The Haunting of Harrowstone

    Quote Originally Posted by RocketMan View Post
    "Maybe," he says with a cold, sarcastic smile, "someone will give you a medal. The King, perhaps."
    "There IS no King, lad. Learn your damn history and some bloody manners!" Eliazar snaps.

    He turns his attention to the Sheriff again, clearing his throat.

    "Forgive me, Sheriff Caeler. Last night was rather hard on me. If there's anything we can do to help, I assure you we'll do it. There's...something else you should probably know. After the reading of Petros Lorrimor's will, we were given his journal to read. We have reason to believe that Petros' death at Harrowstone was no accident."
    "Reach down into your heart and you'll find many reasons to fight. Survival. Honor. Glory. But what about those who feel it's their duty to protect the innocent? There you'll find a warrior savage enough to match any dragon, and in the end, they'll retain what the others won't. Their humanity."

  19. - Top - End - #109
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    Default Re: AA's Carrion Crown: The Haunting of Harrowstone

    Benedikt completes his investigation, standing up as he frowns. Someone was here, that much is certain. But why the lack of shoes? he thinks, giving the footprints a final, lingering glance.

    He chuckles at Emil's tirade, looking vaguely impressed by his boldness. He laughs again darkly at Eliazar's retort. "I find that manners are often over valued. Sometimes it is necessary to get down to business." He nods his head at the departing Sheriff. "We seem to no longer be on the list of suspects – a good result, I might add."

    He continues, now addressing his speech to everyone. "There are footprints here, but they are... strange. Whoever did this was barefoot. A vagrant, perhaps? I do not know," he frowns.
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  20. - Top - End - #110
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    Default Re: AA's Carrion Crown: The Haunting of Harrowstone

    "Maybe they were sleepwalking?"
    "Reach down into your heart and you'll find many reasons to fight. Survival. Honor. Glory. But what about those who feel it's their duty to protect the innocent? There you'll find a warrior savage enough to match any dragon, and in the end, they'll retain what the others won't. Their humanity."

  21. - Top - End - #111
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    Default Re: AA's Carrion Crown: The Haunting of Harrowstone

    "I don't think someone who's sleepwalking would have so much blood available to them. What confuses me here is that it looks like whoever did this is trying to spread a message, otherwise what would be the point? But no one here seems to know what this means. Maybe it's a hidden message for someone else... although a macabre one to be sure."
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  22. - Top - End - #112
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    Default Re: AA's Carrion Crown: The Haunting of Harrowstone

    "We will try to see what can be done, Sheriff. Even while some of us may appear a little rough at the edges, we will all find an interest in this mystery, I'll wager."

    The masked swordsman considers his companions' ideas for a while. "A message... The letter V can mean any number of things, and the blood shows ill intent. Vengeance? Violence? Venom?"

    "There is also the matter of where the message was written. I must say, this is a very impressive statue. Miss Kendra, could you explain to us who is being honored here? Whoever did this may have an axe to grind against him maybe?"
    Last edited by Gwynfrid; 2014-05-22 at 10:52 AM.

  23. - Top - End - #113
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    Default Re: AA's Carrion Crown: The Haunting of Harrowstone

    "Blood," Briar concludes after her test. "Fortunately for scope of investigation, magnitude of malfeasance, not humanoid. Rodent blood, in point of fact. Killed last night, judging by coagulation, odour, viscosity."

    "Sleepwalking hypothesis not impossible, but without any basis in reality. Principle of Occam's Razor (razor reference incidentally well-suited to blood-related query): assume no levels of multiplicity beyond those necessary for answer to question. In laymen's terms: assume simplest answer. Complexity of task to kill a rat, drain its blood, walk to memorial, and draw a symbol on it makes sleepwalking improbable compared with alternatives – vagrants, pranksters, and so forth." She nods vigorously, as if this settles the matter.
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  24. - Top - End - #114
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    Default Re: AA's Carrion Crown: The Haunting of Harrowstone

    "Doctor, you are aware that this is Ustalav, where you can't swing a dead cat without hitting its angry ghost, right? Never discount the possibility of the supernatural in this place."
    "Reach down into your heart and you'll find many reasons to fight. Survival. Honor. Glory. But what about those who feel it's their duty to protect the innocent? There you'll find a warrior savage enough to match any dragon, and in the end, they'll retain what the others won't. Their humanity."

  25. - Top - End - #115
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    Default Re: AA's Carrion Crown: The Haunting of Harrowstone

    "Sleepwalking induced supernaturally, then? Indeed, cannot discount said possibility. But neither is it proven simply by being possible. Logical possible source: Whispering Way activity in area, if supernatural origin to act. In which case, why end secrecy with pointless vandalism?" The gnome shrugs. She wanders over to the base of the statue to see if there's any sort of inscription of writing on it (not of a bloody variety).
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  26. - Top - End - #116
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    Default Re: AA's Carrion Crown: The Haunting of Harrowstone

    "Also ghosts wouldn't leave footprints," Rastan mentions as the topic veers toward the undead, and area that he actually had some knowledge about. "They probably wouldn't kill rats either, unless they had an undying hatred for them or something."
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    Default Re: AA's Carrion Crown: The Haunting of Harrowstone

    "I don't suppose it would be possible to follow these footprints, Benedikt?" Emil asks. "No? A shame that the ineffectual bumblers who sadly compose our guard saw fit to stomp all over the crime scene," he remarks cuttingly.

    "I think Ulric is more likely on the right track here; I see no reason to believe that anyone sleepwalked," the young man muses. "It must be a symbol meant to send a message. Perhaps, as Ulric says, it is the first letter of a word. Or maybe it simply looks like a 'V' but has another meaning?" He shrugs, chewing on his lower lip as he looks at the statue. "It might be a sign to the other servants of the Whispering Way in the area. An instruction? A direction? Perhaps it is not a 'V' but an arrow pointing the way for the cultists to go?"
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    Default Re: AA's Carrion Crown: The Haunting of Harrowstone

    "Haven't had ghosts or any such at Ravengro far as I can remember," Caeller says. "Some folk say they're up at Harrowstone, but if they are, they stay there well enough." He's frowning, though. With the rapid back and forth, he's having a hard time following the conversation, especially as he's unfamiliar with the topic. His deputies just look at each other, confused. But what the sheriff does understand, he doesn't like. "What's all this about cultists? Some Whispering Way?" he asks with a scowl, his suspicion returning.

    Kendra, meanwhile, looks at Ulric's masked face. "It's a monument to the dead guards at Harrowstone," she says. "I think it's supposed to be Warden Hawkran, though Jarfa said once that it doesn't look much like him," she adds with a slight smile. Sure enough, as Briar checks the pedestal, she finds an inscription. "Warden Lyvar Hawkran, 4661 AR". "I don't know who's have a grudge against him, though," Kendra goes on. "He's been dead for fifty years."
    "Life is hard. Then you die. Then they throw dirt in your face. Then the worms eat you. Be grateful it happens in that order."

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    Default Re: AA's Carrion Crown: The Haunting of Harrowstone

    Quote Originally Posted by ApatheticAbacus View Post
    "Haven't had ghosts or any such at Ravengro far as I can remember," Caeller says. "Some folk say they're up at Harrowstone, but if they are, they stay there well enough." He's frowning, though. With the rapid back and forth, he's having a hard time following the conversation, especially as he's unfamiliar with the topic. His deputies just look at each other, confused. But what the sheriff does understand, he doesn't like. "What's all this about cultists? Some Whispering Way?" he asks with a scowl, his suspicion returning.
    "As I said, Sheriff, after Councilor Hearthmount read Petros' will to us, we were bequeathed a chest bearing basically several of his old library books that need to be returned to Lepidstadt after our month here is over. However, one of these books wasn't. It was his journal, and the real reason he bequeathed the chest to us to return was so we'd find this journal and read it. It turns out Gibbs was PARTIALLY right. There were necromancers at Harrowstone, but Petros was going there to STOP them. They are the Whispering Way, foul devotees of the Whispering Tyrant who enslaved our beloved Ustalav in the distant past, the lich lord my goddess fought against in her days as a mortal, the monster our order still keeps imprisoned beneath the Gallowspire. The Whispering Way seek to free him, and Petros discovered a cabal of them was attempting SOMETHING at Harrowstone. What, he never found out. He felt he was running out of time, and he had to act to try and stop them. And from what we can gather from the information he left us and the state of his body as it was described to us, his death was not an accident, but murder most foul. The Whispering Way loves their silence and whispers, you see, and so they break the jaws of the dead so Pharasma's faithful cannot call them back from beyond to question them, and thus reveal the cult's secrets. It sounds like they did this to Petros, who fortunately had a plan in case the worst should happen. Apparently, that plan is us. We were all more than just Petros' friends and colleagues, but also capable fighter in our own right. Ulric and I are both paladins, though we may serve different gods. Rastan's faith in Pharasma is great enough to put undead back in their graves. Emil, despite his impudence is almost as capable a mage now in his youth as Petros was in his prime. Benedickt apparently has great skill in tracking and bringing down dangerous beast from living in Lozeri. And Doctor Zendebiddle's briliant analytical mind figured this out long before any of us could. He didn't mean us to come here as friends, but as reinforcements. Wherever the Whispering Way goes, death and desecration follow. Petros knew that if he couldn't stop them, Kendra and all of Ravengro could be in terrible danger. And so he called us here to finish what he started. To find out what the Whispering Way was doing at Harrowstone, and contain whatever darkness they were trying to unleash."

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    "Reach down into your heart and you'll find many reasons to fight. Survival. Honor. Glory. But what about those who feel it's their duty to protect the innocent? There you'll find a warrior savage enough to match any dragon, and in the end, they'll retain what the others won't. Their humanity."

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    Default Re: AA's Carrion Crown: The Haunting of Harrowstone

    "That is indeed possible," Benedikt replies to Emil, mildly sounding impressed at the wizard's suggestion. "A sign to others in their organization... more likely, at least, than a man walking in his sleep," he says with the barest hint of a smirk. "And yes, they have ruining the trail, but what is life without challenges?" He raises his eyebrows. "They have only made our task more interesting."

    The slayer's face turns grim as Eliazar begins to explain the situation in full to the town's sheriff. If Lorrimor had wanted the whole town to know, he would have made as much clear. He takes a half-step forward, crossing his arms. "Careful. We do not know who is listening. That our activities are best left unknown is good. We will have to trust in your discretion, Sheriff Caeler," the man says, giving the guard a drawn smile that does not reach his eyes, a hint of danger in his voice.
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