Twilight of the World [IC]

[Blockhead]

Darus Hammerforge

Without a word or even a glancing look at the others, Hammerforge slowly walks over to the closest bed on the right and hops onto it. Laying his warhammer and backpack beside the bed, he also takes off his helmet and places it in his backpack, exposing his bald head. Not even bothering to loosen or even take off his armour, Hammerforge laid down on the bed, staring up at the ceiling in anger and sadness.

Spoiler

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Chopped a bit off to respond to the below conversation

[El_Frenchie]

Arkturus Astamir

Looking at Darus, the elf sighs. "It was not in my intention to cause such devastation, if that makes you feel somewhat relieved. I measured the explosive, and I didn't believe it would be this potent. All missions carry a risk, Hammerforge. I know that, this is why Faëra stayed here, and why I counseled that you should have kept your companions out of this."

The High Elf's violet eyes stare in empty space for a few seconds. Faëra looks anxiously at the dwarf, the human and the dark Elf, for now, she was ignorant of what had just happened.

"Everyone should get some rest now."

Arkturus watches Faëra for a long while. He sighs again, showing that something unusual was troubling him, then sits on the first table facing the door, lying the scimitar down on the table. He motions to Faëra to sit down next to him and motions for paper. The young girl quickly straightens up, grabbing ink, parchment and sitting next to the High Elf at the light of the candle.

"Master... what happened?"

"Death. Lots of it. Now listen to what I say, and write it down. I am examining the blade for runes, elven or otherwise. I want you to take notes on any findings I have, when we're done, we're going to bed straight away, there is a lot to be done for tomorrow."

And then he begins to work tirelessly, getting sleep as soon as he gets a picture of what the black blade he has in front of him is or comes from.

[Blockhead]

Spoiler

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Would like to respond to the above, chopping a bit off the post before

Darus Hammerforge

Hammerforge looked over to Arkturus and said: "They were capable fighters, high-elf. They died trying to save me.... It is I who should not have gone.... It is I to blame for their deaths....

[El_Frenchie]

Arkturus Astamir ((Right before the inspection with Faëra))

The High elf looks at the sturdy dwarf for a few seconds in complete silence. "You had no true part in their deaths. We started a fire, I fuelled it. Things spinned out of our control, nothing could be done to stop it all. They were brave, believed in their kin just as you believed in them. What you have done isn't a breach of their trust to you, Hammerforge. Your coming here was driven by your dwarven ancestry. It meant that the whole operation was led without a fail until the very last moment. If you had gone with them, not only would the operation almost fail, you would have died with them. Fate has it that it spared you. Doesn't that mean something to you? Perhaps this is the hand of destiny that pulled you away from their path for you to survive and live to avenge their names."

The High elven eyes glint slightly in the shadow. He clears his throat, trying to make a point out of it all.

"Your companions were as brave and sturdy as any of your race. Their fate is to be mourned, but not to be dwelt on. Think of me as heartless, but what concerns me at the present is to bring the culprits to their fates with swift retribution. And I believe to do this, I need a sturdy Hammerforge dwarf at my side as much as Uther and Tellan."

The High Elven eyes then goes to rest on the black blade.

"We are not your friends, and it is unlikely we can fully understand your pain and sorrow, but we are here to help you achieve revenge over their senseless deaths."

[nothingclever]

Uther Ulridge

Uther, already comfortable in his robe, laid down in a bed and prepared himself to rest. "Well at least we have a clue to work with. If you're interested in revenge Hammerforge I'm sure they'll be ample conspirators to smite. I certainly look forward to it."

[Blockhead]

Darus Hammerforge

Hammerforge remained quiet for a while, thinking to himself and made a promise to himself to avenge their deaths. He then said: "If you want I'll take a look at that weapon in the morning, see if I can figure out who made it and what kind of properties it possesses, after all, I am, but a smith." He then turned over and promptly tried to fall asleep.

[Silverkiss]

Year 742, Summer 62 - Night

As everyone goes to sleep, Arkturus and Faëra prepare to examine the black scimitar. The work is tiring and they keep awake for many hours until the job is done.

...

Arkturus is on his bed, staring at the ceiling. Faëra is already sleeping in the bed besides him. Unable to sleep, Arkturus recalls what he learned from the blade.

The scimitar is well-crafted, even you can see that it is a masterwork. The blade is obsidian black, and unadorned. The hilt, however, has a small gem in it, and runes unknown to Arkturus. The blade does not possess magical energy by itself, but Arkturus thinks it can be used to amplify the karma of it's wielder. That, however, is a wild guess.

With his mind still disturbed by the thoughts of the fire, the murders and the misteryous swordsman, Arkturus slowly falls asleep...

-------
Year 742, Summer 63 - Dawn

As the Sun slowly crawls his way up in the sky, the group is awakened by a heavy knocking on the door. The doors opens, and Marcus puts his face in the room as everyone slowly gets up.

Marcus: "Oy oy, get up and eat something fellows. They'll come soon to get you."

The innkeeper leaves the room, letting you decide what to do next.

[nothingclever]

Uther Ulridge

Uther being the first to awake decided to head downstairs and heed the innkeeper's advice by getting something to eat.

[El_Frenchie]

Arkturus Astamir

Waking up, the high elf looks at Faëra sleeping soundly next to him. Wordlessly, he wakes her slightly, and the young woman puts a hand in front of her mouth as she tries to repress a loud yawn, smiling to him.

"Good morning master."

The High Elf gestures towards the door, asking her to bring back some food in the room and to tell Uther to come back up to eat in the room so that they could discuss the events of last night's raid.

"Anything else, master?"

"No, not really. Now leave me be."

The young girl leaves the bed sheets with grace and a smile to the High Elf, who hardly pays any attention to it, glancing simply towards her, as if he tries humouring her attempts at catching his attention. She then goes downstairs after brushing her hair slightly and meets with Uther, asking him to bring his breakfast upstairs to discuss things with everyone.

---

Soon after Faëra leaves, Arkturus simply sighs slightly, going to Hammerforge and waking him with a tap on the shoulder. "It's time for breakfast. You should go get some downstairs." Arkturus then proceeds to explain his findings on the scimitar during the night to the dwarven smith.

[Blockhead]

Darus Hammerforge

Hammerforge awoke slowly and stretched. He slide off the bed, yawning and nodded in acknowledgement at Arkturus. He picked up his helmet and and walked out of the room and downstairs to grab a hearty breakfast.

Once downstairs he noticed Uther and Faëra and mumbled a good morning to them before approaching the Inn Keeper and asking for bacon and eggs with a cup of ale. The ale was immediately brought to him and he drank from it slowly, awaiting his food to cook, while sitting down at one of the empty tables. Hammerforge was well aware of how alone he felt, sitting alone at the table, no other dwarfs to share in his breakfast, no tales to tell to the others and no songs to be sung when they returned home.

[El_Frenchie]

Faëra

"Sir Dwarf, I believe my master would like us all to have breakfast in the room, so we can discuss yesterday's events quietly.."

[Blockhead]

Darus Hammerforge

Hammerforge regarded the girl for a moment, then nodded and headed upstairs with his breakfast and ale without a word.

He arrived in the room moments later where he sat upon the bed and continued eating breakfast.

[nothingclever]

Uther Ulridge

Uther likewise went back upstairs to meet with the rest of the group in their room.

[El_Frenchie]

Arkturus

((*Kicks Tellan* :p))

"Alright, we're all here. I'm not sure myself, but what happened last night was out of the ordinary. The explosives held there created a monster of some kind. I don't know of any magic that could create something like this... Maybe sorcery? The man's eye was also something else."

He pauses.

"I'd like us all to take a moment to consider the abilities of the man we are tracking. I've also examined his weapon, and it seems it has a purpose. There is a gem here, and my guess is that it could be used to amplify magic. There's some runes I've never seen before... and the blade... is well-crafted, from what I can tell anyway."

He hands it over to the dwarf.

"Can you see anything else there yourself, Hammerforge? This could be an important hint."

He starts eating breakfast, Faëra seems like she wants to eat too, but stays on the bed, just watching Arkturus eat to replenish his strength.

"I'm not too sure about the details, but essentially the man uses a form of magic. Sorcery is most likely. He also seems to have contacts that are able to smuggle this powder into the capital. I don't think it'd be made inside the walls of the city. There'd be too much risk, if there is an accident, they'd want to be out of reach and out of sight."

He pauses for a second.

"There's bound to be traffic control at the edges of the city. If this powder was just overlooked by authorities as left-over material, then it could be smuggled in easily. But this also means that they'd have an idea where those merchants came from... hopefully."

He looks towards everyone and finishes his breakfast.

"Time to go. We should all be ready to go in a half-hour."

With that, he goes to Hammerforge and continues examining the blade with the dwarf, sharing what he found and his insights on the mastercraft weapon.

[Blockhead]

Darus Hammerforge

Spoiler

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Was kinda waiting for a GM update, Hammerforge will study the blade to the best of his smithing abilities and present whatever information he can gather to the others. Other than that I can't think of much else to do.

[Silverkiss]

The dwarf moves to examine the blade, finding everything that Arkturus already had; the blady truly is masterwork, and is finely crafted and adorned. However, Darus' trained eyes look not for it's beauty or the skill of his crafter, but for signs of who the crafter is, like a name or a distinct mark. However, he finds none. The obsidian blade is clear like the night sky, and nothing breaks it's perfect blade.

Moments after the quick examination, a knock is heard on the door. You hear an unfamiliar voice from the other side, asking you to open it. The man says he is there on behalf of Drogan, the veteran soldier who talked with you in the night before. He says you must meet the veteran, as he has important matters to discuss.

[Blockhead]

Darus Hammerforge

Hammerforge handed the blade to Arkturus and opened the door. "Where can we find him?"

[Silverkiss]

Darus opens the door, and he gets a glimpse of a tall man in it, wearing black robes. He doesn't have time to look at the man's face, thought, for he is punched and, because of the surprise, sent flying to the middle of the room. As Darus tries to get up, the man enters the room, towering over the fallen dwarf, while two others follow, heading for Arkturus and Uther, the closest ones to the door. The three men unsheat shortswords that were hidden inside of their robes, and move forward...

[Blockhead]

Darus Hammerforge

"OOOFFFF!" Cries Hammerforge as he slides across the floor. Picking himself up and wiping the small trickle of blood from his lip he growls. "Ya picked the wrong day ta mess with this Dwarf laddy!" He cried, diving for his warhammer and swinging wildly at the intruders.

[El_Frenchie]

Arkturus Astamir

The surprise of the attack caught Arkturus by surprise as he was getting his weapons ready. The short sword and the black obsidian scimitar were both on the table as he was rolling up his whip when the intruders burst through the door.

The surprise was short-lived and instinct quickly took over. Taking advantage that the dwarf was out of the way, he grabbed his short sword and threw it straight at the man dead ahead of him. Knowing this would only be a short distraction, the whip is unrolled and flies through the air, aiming for the same man's face.

Arkturus then quickly seizes the scimitar and joins the dwarf in the fray.

[nothingclever]

Uther Ulridge

Seeing that the men had already drawn their swords and were ready to fight Uther crouched and lunged at his assailant's chest trying to tackle him to the ground before he could begin to swing his weapon.

[Silverkiss]

The small invasion quickly grows to be a fierce battle, but then it ends as suddenly as it began. Although they got you by surprise, the would-be killers were weak and untrained, falling fast to your skills.

Darus, fuelled by his anger and sorrow, hastly hammered away at his assailant's leg, putting him on the ground. Then, with incredible speed for a dwarf, rose over the fallen man's body, bringing his hammer down twice on the robed man's head. A small pool of blood slowly formed under the man's face as Darus' anger faded away.

Arkturus' foe quickly fell as well. He managed, barely, to avoid the flying shortsword, but the whip got him in the face, and as he recovered from the hit Arkturus lunged forward, thrusting the scimitar to the hilt in the man's stomach. He gave a gasp as he looked in terror in the high elf's eye, and then fell to the ground, dead.

Uther, in the meanwhile, quickly grabbed the only remaining man, disarming him with an elbow attack. As both went to the ground, Uther punched the assassin's face twice, making him go unconscious.

[Blockhead]

Darus Hammerforge

Hammerforge breathed heavily, beginning to calm down before slowly putting down his warhammer. "They all dead? We all alright?" He said slowly.

[nothingclever]

Uther Ulridge

Uther rolled the unconscious man on his stomach and placed his knee firmly atop his back to pin him down in case he came to while restraining both his arms at the same time. "This man is still alive, he's only unconscious. Maybe we can interrogate him to find out who sent them. Can one you hand me some rope so we can tie him up?"

[El_Frenchie]

Arkturus Astamir

"What in the hells was this..."

Arkturus seemed unusually unsettled. The violet eyes had regained their composure after the attack.

"I'm alright. This is bad. This is very bad."

Arkturus punches the wall next to him, it sounds like he hurt himself, but pays no attention to it. Adrenaline pumping through his veins, the high elf turns to the three companions.

"This is my mistake, I should have known this place wouldn't be safe. The man survived, and he'll be looking for us. We made everything go wrong..." The High Elven face looks grim as he ponders the alternatives. When Uther asks for rope, he simply nods and fetches some for him.

"We need to go. Now. This place isn't safe for us, or the other patrons. We need to head to the City's barracks and tell them what happened, hand them any evidence we have and -make- them keep us safe while we sleep." The High Elf starts packing his things when he finally remembers. He raises his head and looks up towards two terrified eyes.

"Faëra... I..." For an instant, remorse shows on the eyes of the High Elf. But only for a fleeting moment. He grimly goes back to packing, goes to Faëra and helps her up from the bed, asking her to get dressed as fast as possible. Finally ready, he moves to the door and motions to the rest of the companions to follow. And as he does so, he spares a moment to look at the dwarf.

"It seems I also failed keeping the people I care about out of harm's way, Hammerforge."

And with that, he steps out the door and hurries to the streets of the capital city, going for the Cities Barracks.

[Blockhead]

Darus Hammerforge

Hammerforge takes a look at the two dead bodies, before putting away his warhammer, grabbing his backpack and heading out of the Inn. Just before leaving, he gives the Inn Keeper a couple of coins and tells them of the dead men upstairs and apologies. He then followed Arkturus to the barracks, hoping Uther would bring the 'prisoner' along for questioning.

[nothingclever]

Uther Ulridge

Uther called for Darus to wait a moment while he prepared his prisoner. Seeing as the others didn't want to wait any longer Uther bound the man himself and quickly searched him for any concealed weapons. He tied the man's arms behind his back and then fastened a single short rope to connect his feet together so he couldn't move them far enough apart to do any more than walk slowly. He then shook him awake and simply said, "You're coming with us." Uther stood the man up, pushed him forward and told him to follow the dwarf ahead of them.

[Silverkiss]

Marcus, the Innkepeer: "It is I who am sorry, lads. I should have noticed they were impostors. You have my apologies."

As your group moves through the busy morning streets of the sprawling city, a few people look at you with curious eyes because of your prisioner, but that is not a rare scene, so there are no major commotions. Behind the group, a terrified Faëra carries a bag with her's and Arkturus' stuff, almost running to keep up pace.

You soon arrive at one of the city's many barracks, and find a lone guard in the building's door. He carries a halberd, and blocks the passage inside.

[Blockhead]

Darus Hammerforge

"Let us pass, noble guard. We must speak with Drogan. We also have a prisoner that we caught while defending ourselves against an attack." Says Hammerforge to the guard.

[Silverkiss]

Guard: "Hails ! You must be the ones Drogan talked about. Do come in, I will take you to him."

The guard turns around, entering the barracks, waving for you to follow him. He passes by a guard inside, and tells the man to stand at his post. He then leads you through many corridors and doors, until you find youselves staring at a big, reinforced wooden door.

Guard: "Drogan awaits inside. He is busy with some paperwork, but I am sure he won't mind your disturbance. Farewell."