5e Game by me [IC]

[theasl]

"Well, that wasn't suspicious at all. I guess the King was right to be worried." To the first man, he says, "Killings, eh? Can you tell us more about those?"

[Gluteus_Maximus]

One of them steps forward, and the others whisper amongst themselves: "I heard it was the king's men", "Those assassins should march through Tartarus!", "They don't follow the tradition of 'Hired Arm'..."
"Every few nights for the last three weeks there's been a killing. The first night the whole house burned down. Every time it's been a rich man in town, all found the same way: As a pile of dust."
Then, another commoner steps forward.
"And just a couple nights ago, there was an attempted killing! Jerma Carrington was coming up to bed for the night when she caught a masked man pointing one of those machines at her husband, but she chased him away! But..."

[Hyperbolic sine]

Oh boy. What a mess we stumbled into.

"She...chased him away?" Barik asked, incredulous. What stopped the assassin from simply killing her too? It deserved investigating. "Good man, can you bring us to this Jerma?"

[Gluteus_Maximus]

"Wait, here she comes now with her daughter!" Someone shouts, and everyone turns their heads. You see a gray-haired woman n her late 60's with green eyes and wearing red silk robes. She is about 5'4" tall and standing next to her, just a little taller than 'Jerma' is a girl in her early twenties with long blond hair and blue eyes wearing a large skirt, helping them walk along. The gray-haired woman only has one leg.
"See, that's what happened. She startled the assassin and before they could get a clean shot at her they fired at her knee, blowing her whole leg off. The shockwave also sent them flying out the window over the city walls... We don't even know if the killer is alive."
Another man chimes in: "Oh, come on, you think that one man could survive a 100-foot fall from the aristocratic highlands?"
The old woman, Jerma, approaches Barik with her daughter being her second leg.

[Hyperbolic sine]

The...shockwave?

There had been no sign of any shockwave in the inn before - not anything powerful enough to defenestrate the device's wielder, at the very least. And if the shooter was going to shoot anyway, how did he intend to deal with such a powerful knockback? There was something that didn't add up.

"Sorry for your leg, ma'am. Forgive me for asking you to relive such painful moments, but could you go over what happened once again?" Barik politely asked Jerma. First thing was getting the full story, even if not necessarily the true version.

[Gluteus_Maximus]

She thinks for a moment, then says
"I came back from the bath and was almost up to bed to sleep. I usually sleep across the hall from Malcer--That's my husband--And I heard a commotion in his room, so I came in. First thing I saw was a dark figure holding something long, I think it may have been a weapon, and Malcer by the throat! I screamed, and that man turned to see the source of the sound, and I saw a long scar over his eye and a pitch-dark hole. He was wearing a hood and mask over his mouth, so I couldn't tell you anything else about him. When he turned he pointed the weapon at me but it seems he lost control of it and shot my leg. After that I started to fall unconscious, but before I was out I saw him fall out the window... We live next to the city walls, so he couldn't have gotten away in the city. Malcer told the city guard to watch out for any approaches so he couldn't have gotten back in... could he?"

[theasl]

"Well...that sounds like the first man who threatened us back in there. There's got to be some strange magic at play here...and I wonder if there's some sort of pattern with the murders beyond just being rich people", Krul thinks out loud.

[Gluteus_Maximus]

Hearing the commotion, the man comes out from the inn.
"Hey, what's going on here? The innkeeper's at the end of his nerves..."
He pauses, seeing that he's being stared at. A man tackles him to the ground.
"You match the description she gave of her assassin!"

[theasl]

Krul doesn't visibly react to the commotion yet, but readies to draw a weapon in case something bad starts happening.

[Hyperbolic sine]

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Apologies for going AWOL. It's been a busy week.

Barik moved between the now grappled man and Jerma, to shield her and her daugther from harm - just in case. "Careful! He's not alone!"

[Gluteus_Maximus]

The eyepatched man kicks the man who tackled him off. He pulls out the mechanism and holds it pointed upwards.
"I only sell these things, okay? If some guy came up to me one day and wanted to buy one for a considerable price, then I give it to him."
Someone near him starts to talk, but he interrupts.
"Don't give me any of that 'selling one of those is as bad as pulling the trigger' ****. If that's true then my supplier of powder is just as bad."
As someone starts to attack him again, Jerma steps forward.
"This is not the assassin. The man was taller, and he also didn't wear an eyepatch."

[theasl]

"Well, the assassin was in there with him - some sort of magician I'd say, from the way he moved. And there was another as well - tall blonde man?" Krul glances uneasily at the door, showing signs of being rattled by the whole affair for the first time.

[Gluteus_Maximus]

[OOC] This guy is the "guy who's some sort of magician by how he moved".

[Hyperbolic sine]

"Oh yeah? Then you won't mind giving the authorities a description of the buyer." Barik asked. Well, stated. "Or are you going to point that thing at me again?" he added, gripping his hammer to make clear that he wasn't going to go down without a fight.

[theasl]

Something clicks in Krul's mind and he finally recognizes the man in front of him as the same one who'd threatened Barik inside. He addresses Jerma: "Are you sure? He could have put the eyepatch on after returning to the city - and he did tell us inside that he'd killed before."

[Gluteus_Maximus]

Jerma shakes her head and says,
"This man has a straight scar behind his eyepatch. He couldn't be the one. Also, this one's shorter. Also, if he was, the city guard would have caught him. My husband told them to be thorough."
The man puts the device in a container on his belt, where it snugly fits.
"Okay, i'll tell you. In the past week or so there's been six guys through here all mysterious-looking. They all bought these things from me, most of 'em from the small town of Albet to the west. Apparently, they have a dealer there too but the dealer got lynched by the town militia. 'no powder, no killing' they'd say. **** Hypocrites. Anyhoo, they bought all my little hand weapons and when the sixth guy came through here he asked for one but of course I was all out. I had an experimental one and he took it just as quickly as the others. Seem's I gotta work on the recoil"

[theasl]

Krul's amused face has returned. "Did they by any chance say what they wanted to use them for? I mean, we know they were killing rich people, but any specifics?"

[Gluteus_Maximus]

"When you're in this business as long as I have been you know you never ask what's going to be done with the devices. Most often it's self defense, or they want to use it to get back at someone, or kill their parents' murderer, something like that. Always a motive behind it. If there's something you want done without purpose you get some swordsmith."
Jerma's daughter pulls Krul away. Jerma speaks.
"It is obvious that we will not get anything from being here. You may investigate my home, as much as you like."

[Hyperbolic sine]

"Hmm."

Well, he's right...you can't blame the smith if someone kills with his swords.

"Yes. If you'd kindly lead us there..." Barik replied to Jerma, nodding.

Then, the moment they got far enough from the crowd, so that there would be no prying ears, he said what he had been musing about since he was told about the faild murder. "Milady, if I may...I won't pretend we're anything other than warriors. We'll try, but I doubt we'll be able to find much by investigating. However, I believe the assassin will try again: if you'll allow us to stand guard at your house, we can lay a trap for him."

[theasl]

Krul isn't pleased to be taken away, but it sounds like the dwarf has got a plan, so he follows along. Investigating the house further doesn't seem like a bad idea, either.