Game Thread Whitehorn. - Page 8

Sakure · #**106** 04-16-2012, 08:26 PM

In the libraryThere was a delightful laugh, full of youth and merriment at Marcan's well thought out response. "Very well, if you wish to take the staff to it's original host, so be it. Though I don't interpret him as it's rightful owner. Time will tell if you are prepared to see this quest to it's end!"

The flames in the hearth turned violet, and with some more carefree giggling the visitor was gone. She hadn't even bothered to exit her chair. She simply ceased occupying it...

The flames returned to their proper color, waging wars between oranges and yellows as the room fell into silence. Only the free spirited Marcan and his burning tobacco were left.

Humafan · #**107** 04-17-2012, 11:23 AM

Dedrik raises his eyes and snout toward the guard and lets out a whimper. The dog bites at a portion of Grabbag's clothing and tries to drag the bugbear toward the gate. He barks unaggressively at the guard a few times and paws at the gate as if he wants it to be opened. He grabs at Grabbag's clothing yet again and pulls him toward the gate before repeating the barking and pawing.

For unknown reasons, it seemed this guard dog believed the bugbear needed to be allowed into the manor.

Master of Monsters · #**108** 04-17-2012, 08:14 PM

The guard pauses at the dogs strange antics, and leans down to take a closer look. "Hey! Wait a minute. This is not one of our guard dogs! You, take your mangy mutt and be gone with yourselves. Your friends will be out soon, this not to worry. Those horns were some fool halfling that some how slipped by, but don't worry, surely he is dead by now." With a hardy cackle, the guard slipped in through the guard door and slammed the door shut behind him.

~*~*~*~

In an apparently empty room, Marcan wonders where he should go from here. With obvious clue as to where his friends might be, the choices one could make are limited.

~*~*~*~

Norris bristles a little as the others turn to face him, but otherwise remains silent until spoken to. "About the strong hold? Hmm, well, it is built into the side of a cliff, so a frontal assault is the only choice. Defenses should start tough, but I am sure it is nothing a worthy group like you couldn't handle. Otherwise its pretty nondescript. Large, with twisting and winding tunnels. Easy to get lost. There was an underground river that ran through it if I remember right; and there was this sort of unholy presence the whole time. Something big, and evil. Much more powerful then mere goblins, but we could never figure it out. As for orcs, they were active in the area, but not with that tribe of goblins. We eliminated every goblin of that tribe that we knew of." Norris says in a strictly business matter, but it seems that any more information wont be given without some convincing, some smooth talk, maybe.

"As for the night of the theft. I spoke to each guard personally. I even paid a priest to invoke a discern lies ritual to help with the process. None of the knew of that, this I am sure off. As for shifts, they were all as usual, changes are highly frown upon. How ever those orcs knew about the staff, it did not come from internally. Aside from Marit, and the three men who died, no one saw or heard a thing." Norris paused and thought for a brief second. "Oh, Marit did give us one piece of information." He said as he walked over to Charles' desk and thumbed through a file sitting open on it. After a few pages, he removed the page and held out for who ever took it. "The orcs were wearing this symbol."

sammichweasel · #**109** 04-18-2012, 08:56 AM

As Norris finished his story, Biqqesh would have rolled his eyes, had he any. His tale was full of holes, and generally uninteresting, for all he mentioned the staff. No description, no chain of custody, no nothing! "Did this cleric bind you to truth and ask you questions, Norris? Just to cover all potential outlets of information, you understand." The golem didn't actually appear interested in his own question, despite its provocative nature, and instead leaned down to look at the symbol, drawing from his vast experience to see if he could recognize it.

Humafan · #**110** 04-18-2012, 11:17 AM

"...surely he is dead by now." The words had scarcely left the guard's mouth before doggy Dedrik sprinted through the small dog door at the base of the gate. He almost shouted something to Grabbag, but held his tongue, not yet wanting to reveal he was anything more than an ordinary canine. Filled with a rush of adrenaline at the thought that one of his pack was dying or dead, he cast his eyes in every direction. The "mangy mutt" raced to wherever the source of commotion was in search of Marcan.

Olorian · #**111** 04-18-2012, 06:14 PM

Tarya listened intently at Norris's account of what had happened. This one has a lot of pride... Someone has stepped on his p...., obviously... But is it all true?

The half-orc didn't ask any new questions. If Norris didn't want to tell anything more, well, that was his decision. He probably had his own motives for choosing to keep information behind, if he actually did. People and their lust for power and recognition... it seems it's the same everywhere we go. When the symbol of the orcs was shown, she scratched her hairy ear instead of the tusk, having the feeling she had never seen this before. A wild guess did escape her lips, though. "V... for Vendetta? Vecna?"

hvg3akaek · #**112** 04-18-2012, 07:15 PM

In the libraryMarcan wasn't surprised when his strange conversationalist vanished - anyone who worked for his mother should be able to do such things easily - and indeed, it was partly because they were still so hard for him that he did not wish to return just yet.

Sitting still in his chair, the back of which faced towards the room's doorway, he calmly finished off his pipe, pondering both the messenger, and the message. Did his mother really need him, or was this a ploy to weaken the group, to allow this mysterious woman to grab hold of the staff before them? Was his mother really involved, or was that, too, a deception cast by the woman who would not show herself?

A few minutes passed whilst the halfling pondered these thoughts, but eventually, his pipe was empty, and he felt it was probably a good thing to remove himself from the library. Not finding a bin, he emptied his ashes on the corner of the table - there was no heat left in them, but there was no sense in just dumping them on the carpet! With his pipe back in his chest pocket, he hugged the walls and tried to keep to the shadows, listening to and following the sounds of voices...

Master of Monsters · #**113** 04-18-2012, 09:02 PM

Biggesh studies the symbol for a few short seconds, before quickly remembering several events that involved Grummish on-eye, the god king of the Orcs and that symbol.

sammichweasel · #**114** 04-18-2012, 10:52 PM

Waving a bit dismissively, the golem sat back. "Gruumsh. Typical of the orcs; no surprise that one would carry this." The massive shoulders shrugged.

EngrInAZ · #**115** 04-20-2012, 11:09 AM

Corian listens intently to the information that Norris provides, trying to get a sense for what they would encounter at this stronghold. "As a military man yourself, you understand the importance of good recon. The success or failure of a mission often rests on the quality of the intelligence gathered about the target. With that in mind, is there anything more you can remember about this unholy presence, did anyone ever have any contact with it?" Corian taps his open palm on his right thigh, "What about this orc activity? Where was it in relation to the stronghold, and are you sure they were not connected to the goblins? Did you ever see any references to Gruumsh within the stronghold?" Corian relaxes a bit, trying to express a casual demeanor, "You understand, I’m not a fan of going in blind. I spent several years doing reconnaissance work, and I like to be prepared."

Master of Monsters · #**116** 04-22-2012, 12:34 AM

Norris sighed as the golem asked if he too was questioned. "You seem to not understand how the spell works. The caster gains the ability to discern truth from lies in anyone they come in contact with during the duration of the spell. Further more, the person does not necessarily needed to speak, as the caster could use body language and overall mood to discern the lies." with that, Norris shrugs and turns to the elf scout.

"The unholy aura was just that, an unholy feeling to the whole place. We could not tell anything else about it. As for the orc activity ten years ago; I would be more then willing to say that it was just random activity. It had no coordination or exact rhyme or reason. It was just your average orc activity; and no, there were no references to Grummish, or at least of that symbol."

~*~*~*~

Scared for Marcan's life, Dedrik decided it really was a good idea to head into the manor gates, however, as the dog/dwarf ran head first into the doggy door, he had found that it was now locked, by the sudden impact of him running into the unmoving portal.

~*~*~*~

After a minute of so of wondering about the manor and of guard dodging, Marcan was able to locate what he believed to be the room that his companions were in. Standing in the hallway at the door would provide the best listening, but the room next door appeared completely empty right this moment.

Olorian · #**117** 04-22-2012, 10:21 AM

Tarya Stargazer waited patiently for Biqqesh and Corian to finish their conversation with Norris and Charles Suha. The half-orc felt slightly overlooked when it came to knowledge about orcs, but she didn't mind. She had her own thoughts about the whole heist, and when the time came to go to that stronghold, things would unfold as they were bound to unfold. Fate was something that would catch you even if you tried to avoid it by going around certain problems on the road. She had learned the hard way, and by now, she knew the relativity of things.

For the moment, she or so I assume, with my low rolls earlier?couldn't spot any lies among what was said, even though she was almost certain that not everything their hosts knew had been divulged. It was as it was, and they'd have to deal with it. Nevertheless, if Corian wanted to ask more questions, she would wait. Flint was quite quiet for his doing, but she was sure the dog-like ball of muscles hadn't missed a word of what went on.

Dalinen · #**118** 04-23-2012, 12:31 AM

The dog-like ball of muscles was indeed tensing up in the corner. He hadn't missed any of the conversation, but nor had he learned much more. People always talk in circles, he lamented. If they were to hunt their prey, knowledge of useless spells, tribes gone or changed, and who could out-think whom would do little to advance their work. Leaning lazily on his spear, Flint longed to get moving. This conversation bored him. He gave a sympathetic look to his tusked companion and rolled his eyes.

Not one for social graces, he rudely interrupted the conversation before Suha could get another word in and alarm everyone with his ignorance. Stretching himself out and unbunching some of his massive frame, he looked at the grizzled captain Norris and butted his spear on the wooden floor, stopping only when he had his attention. Maps? I'll be needing detailed maps on how to get to this stronghold and the area around it. You mentioned an underground river? Did you discover it from inside the keep, or does a river flow into the stronghold? I'm no tactician, but a frontal assault on an armed keep is stupid. Not the work for a half dozen misfits. Sure as sh#t not for 36 platinum. A backdoor we can work with.

**Admin Sedracus** · #**119** 04-23-2012, 08:55 AM

Grabbag growled as he heard the guard talk casually about Marcan dying, but he grew really furious when Dedrik ran into the now-closed door.
"GRABBAG SMASH!" he yelled, kicking in the door.

Strength Check = 21

hvg3akaek · #**120** 04-23-2012, 08:38 PM

In the hallwayCareful to stick to the shadows, Marcan had gradually grown a little tired of the hiding game, and was not watching where his feet fell. There was more noise made than he would have wanted, but there also did not seem to be anyone around...apart from the voices of those who were drinking with his companions. And...someone else.

Carefully, Marcan edged closer, keeping behind solid cover, but listening to the voices. A dark purple energy started weaving about his hand, in preparation. If they needed rescue, he was ready...