[IC] Seven Days to Live (Nature Team)

[Breton]

The royal palace of Malen Vale is a huge, ornate building. A long balcony runs almost the entire length of its city-facing wall, and it is here that once a year the queen of Malen addresses her people to provide the annual foretelling. You find yourself standing in the courtyard, like innumerable other denizens of the city, looking up expectantly at the balcony. As you watch, a man's high pitched voice rings out, amplified by magics woven into the balcony itself.

All kneel for her highness, the Lady Magbaine, Queen of Malen, Grand Seeress to the Autarch of Augur, Lady Ruler of the city of Malen Vale.

The voice belongs to an elderly half-elf, reading from an ornate scroll. After making the announcement, he rolls up the scroll, and then carefully removes his golden spectacles, kneeling along with the crowd below. To his left an elderly woman wearing the traditional robes of the court wizard does the same, and after a few seconds, a black-haired figure in an elaborate blue silk dress walks through the archway connecting the balcony to the palace interior.

People of Malen Vale she says, smiling down at the crowd, the time has come for the great consultation, where I will pray to Augur and convey to you the omens of the year to come. But first, let us pray that it will be a foretelling of peace, good harvests and plentiful growth!

The lady lowers her head, and closes her eyes. Some of the crowd do the same, but not many. After a minute of silent prayer, the queen looks briefly back towards the crowd before turning her face to the sky.

Great Augur, grant your humble servant your auspice for the coming year... A golden light surrounds the queen as she falls into a trance, but then the light seems to change, turning red. The queen's eyes glow black, and she speaks in a deep voice which reverberates around the courtyard.

[Breton]

There will be no harvest.
There will be neither peace nor war.
The people of Malen will wither like leaves in a fire...

Several isolated screams come from the crowd at the dire prediction.

...and by the seventh dawn...
...their number will be counted on fifty hands.

Suddenly everyone in the courtyard starts talking at once, and people jostle into each other as everyone tries to storm the exit back out into the city. On the balcony, the Queen turns to the court wizard, her smile faltering.

Was it good news?

The elderly half-elf, court wizard and queen engage in panicked conversation over the next minute as the crowd continues to surge out of the courtyard. They've apparently either forgotten or are beyond caring about the voice amplification magics woven into the balcony, and you keep hearing fragments of a hushed conversation between them.

Looking around, you see several people standing near to you - the only ones you can see who aren't panicking.

[Breton]

Spoiler: OOC

Show

This is the IC thread for Randall Thimbletorp, Thalyr Moonbow, and Rinn.

To get you into the swing of rolling, the discussion happening on the balcony is barely audible, and maybe you can catch a few snippets of the conversation with a listen check. You can flow with the crowd and eventually end up in the city, or you can try strength checks to elbow your way out as a group and reach the streets considerably ahead of the crowd.

For those of you who have forgotten, people typically need a few things to survive - food, water, shelter, and not being beaten with clubs by doomsday cultists. If your goal is going to be survival, then you might want to focus on seeking out and securing these. If you want to stop the disaster, it's going to be tough, but you'll need information. You know several locations in the city to begin with, and you can learn about other places and resources with local knowledge, gathering information or by asking people. Things will be pretty quiet for the first in-game day, after which time things will get interesting.

None of you know much about the setting, but your characters do. To reflect this everyone can make Knowledge (local) checks for specific questions untrained at a -5 penalty. If you have ranks in Knowledge (local) then you can make a penalty-free check as normal, and more specific knowledge skills (religion, arcane etc) can also be used to roll for answers on relevant questions. In addition, news in pre-newspaper societies travels by word of mouth, so don't feel bad about using gather information or just asking NPCs to get an idea about events in the city and wider world.

Finally, not everyone in your party will necessarily see eye to eye about worthy goals and necessary actions, if you physically leave your party for more than a couple of posts, you will get your own thread for the duration of the separation. Good luck.

City Map
Walking from the Palace to Kirk Gate takes around an hour on empty streets. The unlabelled locations are generally shops, homes and warehouses, and I will use them to point out where things are as they come up. Alternatively, you could visit them in game to find out what they are.

Country Map
Walking from Malen Vale to Nerris takes a day, and to By Far and Port Weddrin takes four days. There seems to be little to draw you out of the city for now, though you're probably less likely to encounter people out in the wilderness. Riding makes travel on the roads considerably faster, but a group moves as slowly as its slowest member.

[LuckyStrike]

Jack picks up on the mood change in the crowd. The large grey wolfhound was lazily chewing on a bone moments ago but now stands on top of the food cart growling at anyone who so much as looks their way.

Randall, donned in his cooking tunic, hushes the dog as he strains to hear what is being said on the balcony.

Spoiler

Show

Listen:
(d20+6)[22]

[Breton]

You manage to make out a good bit of the conversation.

It sounds like the Queen, the spectacled half-elf, and a voice you assume to be the court wizard are discussing the prophecy, as well as mentioning some kind of ritual. They sound alarmed, but they don't doubt the foretelling's authenticity.

Spoiler: Listen DC20

Show

... hells happened? ... not normal! ...
... felt the presence of Augur ... true connection ...
... We need ... use 'that'? The ritual?
... will take days, if there's even ...
... we should evacuate, move as many people ...
... That's pointless ... pushing people into peril ...
... we should fortify the palace ... surest way of helping the people ...
... if we pin our survival ... fail to complete the ritual ...
... keep the people calm ...

After a while the noise of the crowd increases, and the conversation becomes completely inaudible.

[wkwkwkwk1]

Thalyr's senses struggle to understand what is being said. He moves towards the nearest wall to avoid the moving crowd.

"Solonor Thelandira and all the gods of the forest help us all..."

Spoiler: Listen

Show

(1d20+7)[23]

[Breton]

Thalyr's impressive sense of hearing is able to pick up the snippets of conversation in the DC20 spoiler.

It sounds like they're discussing some kind of plan, but they don't seem to have much hope of its success.

[wkwkwkwk1]

Thalyr looks around for someone else that isn't panicking

Spoiler: Spot

Show

Is this even needed?

(1d20+7)[21]

[Breton]

Thalyr looks around for someone else that isn't panicking

You can see two other people who aren't panicking standing just a few feet away from you: a wild elf dressed in the simple clothes of a monk, and a halfling chef, with a large grey dog. Even the dog seems to be unusually calm, standing guard on top of the halfling's food cart.

It's not clear what drew these three people to stand close to each other. Maybe they recognized something of themselves in each other -experience, power, an unusually intense spark of life- or maybe it was just coincidence. Whatever the reason, the composure these three show clearly sets them above the frightened masses around them.

OOC: Spot wasn't needed this time, but it's fine to include any roll you think might be relevant.

[wkwkwkwk1]

Thalyr elbows his way towards the monk and the halfling, trying to get their attention

[Holy-hunter]

Rinn was very much a wild elf, he stood barefooted amongst the crowd with his long wavy messy dark brown hair fluttering in the wind, his clothing was as plain and simple as can be with some light adornments of plant woven accessories.
The only thing out of characteristics for him was the fine looking composite longbow slung to his back, even his javelins and siangham's looked of wild and savage construction.

But it was true, he held the still silent serenity of a monk, face tilted to the sky, eyes closed, he was a calm rock in the growing waves of commotion around him.

The final contradiction between this characters behaviour and nature was his apparent age, looking no older than a teenager this elf could only be just passing his 100th year. His soft bright features still gleaming with the innocence of youth.

Rinn had been intently listening, hoping to hear what others couldn't but as Thalyr begins making his way through the crowd he tilts his head to him, smiling as he opens his eyelids revealing his off-looking murky white eyes.

Spoiler: Listen

Show

(1d20+14)[20]

[Breton]

Rinn manages to make out quite a lot of the conversation over the din of the crowd, hearing the conversation in the DC20 check spoiler.

As the three figures watch the crowds surge past, a small group of people approach them. The group consists of an old man riding on the shoulders of an enormous younger man with black hair, and they're followed by two teenagers - a boy and a girl. The old man looks like he's trying to preach to the crowd, and they all seem to be members of some kind of religious order.

Without warning, the teenage boy tries to grab Rinn, shouting into his face.

Did you hear? The end times are at hand! Join us! Join or perish in the fires of the unworthy!
Grab: (1d20+3)[21] Grapple: (1d20+3)[8]

OOC: If you beat his grapple roll you can break free, otherwise he holds you while spouting his religious doctrine. Combat reflexes also allow you an AoO if you'd like, which might prevent him from grabbing you.

[Holy-hunter]

Rinn feels no need to object to the young boys actions, instead he just smiles to the boy, simply allowing him to grab him and say his piece.

When he is done Rinn nods to him then ignores him instead looking to Thalyr, once he's caught his eye he points to balcony and nods his head in that direction.

Foolishly, Rinn begins looking for a way to get into the royal palace, still grappled or not.

[LuckyStrike]

Randall turns away and lifts a piece of cloth from under the carts wheel. He swings back around holding a shiny well-polished repeater crossbow and hops onto the cart with it. Jack, the dog, steps off of the cart at the same time and stands between the halfling and the rabble. The hairs on his back stand straight up and his teeth show, threatening to all.

Randall's crossbow points at everyone of the gang but rests it tip pointing straight at the old man as Randall speaks.

'Unless you all wish to meet your end right here and now. I suggest you mosey on out of here right quick. I've dealt with pigeons scarier than you lot. I promise you won't so much as make a stain as your bodies fall to the ground..'

Afterwards there will be mopping to be done though. You can be sure.' He adds matter-of-factly.

[wkwkwkwk1]

Drawing his bow, Thalyr nocks an arrow and moves faster towards the group. He nods when Rinn points to the palace, indicating he heard.

[Breton]

The boy turns to look at the now heavily armed Halfling. He stares for a few seconds before releasing Rinn and wandering back towards the rest of his group. The teenage girl among them runs up to the boy and slaps the side of his head, an angry expression on her face.

As minutes pass, the crowd in the courtyard begins to thin. It looks like it won't be long before the bulk of the people have made it back into the city. The Queen and her attendants are still conversing on the balcony, but they've either deactivated the amplification magics, or they've lowered their voices considerably.

[Holy-hunter]

Rinn shrugs then makes his way towards the balcony, trying to get as close to the conversation as possible, he will attempt to climb the wall beneath the queen if it looks possible and he is not interupted by guards. He isn't aiming to get on the balcony, not just yet, but near enough to find out more.

Some times the fastest path was often the straightest one... Sometimes.

Spoiler: Checks

Show

climb (1d20+2)[20]
Move silently (1d20+6)[18]
Hide (1d20+6)[10]
Listen (1d20+14)[31]

[Breton]

Rinn tries his best to make a stealthy approach to the balcony. At a distance, he's able to use the milling crowds to hide his approach, but closer to the palace wall there's no cover at all.

When he reaches about forty feet from the palace wall, he sees a tall, blonde human in a chain shirt run up to him. He's flanked by two similarly armoured women with halberds. He draws his long sword as he approaches wild elf, speaking in a harsh barking voice.

Halt! What's your business here? You have come perilously close to intruding upon the Queen.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Those are some impressive rolls! Sadly Rinn doesn't make it to the wall, and at some point over the last few minutes the speakers on the balcony realised they could be overheard, and have either magically muted themselves or lowered their voices.

[LuckyStrike]

As the threat of possible mass murder is over for Randall he sighs. As the young wild elf walks away Randall calls out to the elf he saw with the bow drawn.

'You there! A word if you please!'

[Holy-hunter]

Rinn ceases movement, giving the approaching guards an acknowledging nod he then puts his hands together and offers them a gracious bow.
Standing back upright he leaves a hand on his own chest while the other motions to where the queen just was, he says no words but waits patiently with a slightly concerned puzzled look on his face.

[wkwkwkwk1]

Distracted by the Wild Elf, Thalyr is startled by the Halfling and aims his bow at it. He then realizes the Halfling is not a threat and lowers the bow. He approaches, while keeping the bow at the ready.

"What is it?"

[LuckyStrike]

'That could have gotten ugly and I couldnt help but notice you had our back. If I'm right, and I think I am, I give you my thanks.'

Randall jumps off the cart and stashes away his weapon while he talks.

'Still, with a prophecy like that I suppose things are going to get pretty bad soon enough. I doubt everybody will just sit with their loved ones and enjoy their last moments together.'

While he quickly with routinized ease packs up his things he continues.

'Inside that castle is about the safest place I can imagine right now and I plan to get me and my things in there as soon as possible. Might even get some answers, who knows?'

He pulls out three skinned hares and a string of garlic.

'I might need some help though, and you look like you can pass for a hunter type. The plan is just to walk straight in there. A chef and his companion, on their way to the kitchens. Carry these and follow me if your game.'

He hands the meat and garlic string to the elf.

'The name's Randall by the way. That there is Jack.'

[wkwkwkwk1]

Thalyr slings his bow, takes the hares and hangs them in his belt, along with the garlic.

"I am ready. You do the talking?"

[Breton]

The blonde guardsman's expression grows darker, though more from annoyance than aggression. He turns to one of the women holding halberds to his side.

Go and fetch Bruggish.

The woman takes off at a jog back towards the palace wall and passes through a half-open portcullis leading to the palace interior. A few seconds later she comes back out, leading a robed dwarf with a dwarven waraxe at his back and a wand in his belt. The dwarf stops in front of the blonde man to catch his breath before speaking.

What's.. -huff- what do you need captain?

Friendly interrogation. This one hasn't peeped since we caught him sneaking up to the wall.

The dwarf nods and draws his wand. The captain turns to Rinn.

You're going to feel something in a second. Just let it happen, and be sure to think your responses clearly. Your life might depend on it.

The captain nods at the dwarf, who waves the wand at Rinn, muttering a word under his breath.
OOC: Rinn feels something prying at his mind. He can try to make a will save, or deliberately fail it.

All right. Now, who are you, and what's your business this close to the Royal balcony?

[Holy-hunter]

Rinn shows no signs of agression but his feat slip apart as he comes closer to a ready and defensive stance.

He simply shakes his head at the dwarf as his eyes judge him, wondering if he has more answers of this ritual and the seven days or why they were talking of and forgoing evacuation.

Will save (1d20+5)[13]

[LuckyStrike]

Meanwhile a halfling chef and a hunter, completely decked out with official gear walk through the half open portcullis like its nobodies business.
Randall keeps his eye out for palace staff rather than guards as he would like to get a chance to talk to one before he runs into a guard.
If they would meet a member of staff or a guard who looks like he's going to object to them being there, Randall will walk up to him and ask for the kitchens saying they got turned around by the mob of people after the grim foretelling.

[Breton]

Rinn

The dwarf lowers the wand, turning to the captain. He's blocking me.

The captain sighs sadly, briefly pressing the heel of his hand into his forehead.

Take him in. We'll have to do a hostile interrogation. I'd hoped the chaos wouldn't start so soon, Augur help us.
And you! he says, speaking to Rinn now. I can already tell that you're going to be trouble, but if you come quietly you won't be harmed.

Initiative: (1d20+1)[8] (1d20+1)[11] (1d20)[18] (1d20)[11]


Randall & Thalyr

It seems that all of the palace guards standing watch over the courtyard are currently distracted, and Randall and Thalyr manage to make it all the way through the portcullis. Once inside, they find a large room decorated with shields and various weapons hanging from the wall. Wooden benches line the edge of the room, and on the benches are sitting a dozen guards armed with various swords, halberds and crossbows. Rather than being part of the palace proper, this room looks like some kind of mustering hall. The gathered guards just look at the intruders dumbly.

OOC: At this point Rinn can either surrender peacefully or roll initiative to try and resist arrest. If Randall and Thalyr want to try and help Rinn escape they can roll init as well, but otherwise the situation in the mustering hall hasn't quite bubbled over into combat yet. Since we're in a pbp, every individual acts together on their group's highest initiative.

[Holy-hunter]

Rinn will attempt to dodge the first advance, being on the full defensive and looking rather displeased at his attackers but when he realises and understands their seriousness he raises his hands in peace and will willingly go with them.

(Just gotta keep them on their toes, and distracted)

His ears much better then his murky milky eyes, he pays attention to all the sounds as he is escorted to wherever they take him, also sniffing in the new smells he may pass.

[LuckyStrike]

'Good thing you managed to snag some hares, they'll make a good base for the stew.' Randall remarks to Thalyr as they walk in.
He stops looking confused at first and then annoyed.

'Where the blazes are we now!? This bloody palace is too large Im telling you.'

He looks at the guards and addresses them all at once.

'One of you know the way to the kitchens? The master chef is going to be pissed as hell if we don't get there in time to start boiling the meat. You know what? The one that walks me there gets a turkey sandwich with brew-broth sauce.'

[Breton]

'One of you know the way to the kitchens? The master chef is going to be pissed as hell if we don't get there in time to start boiling the meat. You know what? The one that walks me there gets a turkey sandwich with brew-broth sauce.'

OOC: Make a bluff role to see if you're believed, and a diplomacy roll to convince someone to guide you to the kitchen.