[Game Thread] Chapter 1: Falling Blossoms in the Moonlight

[Timeless Prophet]

Eden smiles at Heilan’s remarks.

The Stagemaster and his assistant keep a brisk pace. After you cross the threshold of the iron gates, they slide closed behind you with a scraping racket. The fog curls around your feet and cloaks as you travel deeper into the garden. Hedges tower over you from either side of the path, and you can spot the occasional black lotus blossom within the hedges. The path itself is eerily quiet. You seem much farther away from the party than you should be. The music of the evening barely seems to be a whisper on the wind, and the scents of the festival have all but faded. The Stagemaster nods at Tania’s remarks but merely smiles back at her as his reply.

You walk for a minute or two and step out into a clearing. The fog rolls just as thick here and four passages break off in the ordinal directions. At the center of the opening sits a table. A woman, or what you would guess to be a woman, sits in a high-back chair and is draped across the table. A golden goblet lies next next to her on the table. Her pale skin stands in stark contrast to the dark wood of the table. Another chair lies overturned near the table and nearby a man lies face down on the floor.

”Ah wonderful! Surprises, surprises! You mentioned loving the classics dear friend and have we got a treat for you. Sometimes even my associates manage to exceed my wildest expectations. Truly and utterly delightful!” The Stagemaster beams at the scene laid out before the group. ”What we have here my dear ladies and gentleman.” He bows in a flourish of his cape and quickly rises back up. ”Welcome to the timeless classic of Islandra and Erido. Two ill-fated lovers who meet a mysterious end. You my friends…” He claps his hand together and his smile widens. The fog begins to swirl around and draw itself around him. ”Are tasked with unravelling this mystery...or perhaps more appropriately, providing a new set of eyes to this ageless tale. “

The fog at this point has reached the Stagemaster’s head and it swirls around and his smile vanishes. A small gust blows by and the fog dissipates. The Stagemaster is gone.

His assistant smiles and puts her hands together and bows her head to you. ”Always one for the theatrics of it all...I hope you understand. Dear guests, I invite you to complete tonight’s affairs at your leisure. You are meant to enjoy the intrigue of it and the show as a whole. It’s not designed to be experienced in any particular order...this tale is one plagued by a rather sordid history. Scholars have been unable to agree as to what exactly happened in the legend. The order of events and exact context of each depends on which particular telling you subscribe to. Nothing about this tale, even the tale itself, is a certainty. I encourage you to experience the different scenes of this affair.” She motions to the different passages. ”Or to stay here and investigate. The choice is yours.” She smiles once more.

The woman in the red dragon turns and observes the surroundings for a moment. ”Definitely peculiar. I didn’t seem to feel anything particularly magical...this entire place feels just a little off, though. I can’t seem to put my figure on it.” She turns back to the table. ”Rather grizzly affair if you ask me. Dead bodies everywhere it seems. I am not familiar with this particular tale...so it seems I may at least learn something interesting tonight.” She smiles.

[Tyger]

Ossicar smiled at the feminine companion, all the while he also took into his mind the nature of what was presented before him. He remained silent, but was obviously inclusive to the diminutive woman. The immediate issue which became apparent to him was the possibility that there was poison afoot within play here. He advanced over to the golden chalice upon the table and lifted the item. He sniffed the contents, ran a finger through the remnants of the liquid within, and generally attempted to Ossicar has the ability to basically identify any liquid within a container he holds for a period of time.assess the contents within. He figured he would at least start here... and see where everyone else began their investigations.

[Dragonsnack]

"I'm afraid I don't know anything about that story..." Tania says innocently. For now she keeps close to Jum'esh, and not too far from the assistant - though her question is really open to all of those assembled here at the scene of this macabre tableau.

OOC Or Dice Knowledge; History: d20+3 (12)+3 Total = 15 do I? Or would knowledge of this story fall under some other skill?

"Could you tell us anything more about it please?" she asks the woman in the spider-web gown, "and just what are the different scenes out there... oh, I'm afraid we don't know your name, or at least, what should we call you? Can you tell us more about these scenes, or at least what order they're in?"
As she talks she will blithely

Dice Sense motive:

d20+6

(19)+6

Total = 25

scan the activities of the other guests, trying to see what they might be doing, especially checking whether any might be secretly looking to the assistant for direction.

[Aosaw]

Heilan's eyes narrowed deeply at the sight of the dead bodies, but only for a moment before being replaced with a bright smile. "Quite right, Milady. Corpses aside, this has turned out to be a much more exciting masquerade than I could have ever anticipated."

He turned his attention to the scene before them. "It certainly looks as though they drank poison from the same goblet, which would suggest that they knew what they were doing." He frowned. "What's the legend, then? No sense walking around without our bearings. Does anyone know a version of the story?"

[GrazztTheDark]

Jum'esh racks his brain for what he can remember offhand about the tale of Which Knowledge check would that be, anyway? I'll take ten, if the DM will allow that.Islandra and Erido. He curses himself for not having his miniature library on him at this juncture: that would have made determining answers trivial. He also decides to investigate the scene using his magical training, in case the poison turned out to have an arcane source or in case there was any other sorcerous interference. He casts a spell of magical detection, focusing it on the scene at hand.

[Silverbreeze]

With her eyes darting this way and that, the fog swirling around her shoulders, the small halfling woman shudders almost violently, the entire experience giving her chills down her spine and making her heart pound in her chest. As the scene before them comes into view, she gasps softly, her hand covering her mouth in shock and surprise. "Is this some kind of game...? Or..." she wonders as her eyes dart this way and that.

Shiari glances around, slightly nervous as the Stagemaster leaves the group with the corpses, and the assistant begins to speak. She only half hears the words of the woman and the scene she weaves, and slowly begins walking towards the table and the bodies, her mind wondering at a dozen possibilities of death besides the obvious. While some of the other members of the party look around, she approaches the bodies and give them a closer look,

Dice Heal:

d20+8

(10)+8

Total = 18

examining for any obvious signs of death. Lacerations, wounds, something that may have happened besides the cup that's sitting in plain sight.