[Game Thread] Welcome to Belhaim

[zevonian]

Everything shook. A brown fox scurried up its friend's leg, almost as if a human child wanting attention in a time of need. Alun crouched low, trying to help his friend, trying to keep his balance.

Seconds passed. Things went back to stillness. Some semblance of stillness anyway. Dania looked to Alun. Raufinus, who had agreed to see the wizard, was tending to the lady of the tavern.

"When all here say they're well, I'm up for checking whatever caused...whatever that was...first."

[Coelubris]

Dania nodded, and said softly "I'm okay, check the others, I'll see which way everyone is running." She rose, her six foot four height and very slender build a stark contrast to the more muscular members of their party, no matter what their occupations might be.

[DoverianDragoon]

Rone stood in the shaking doorway throughout the tumult, one hand steadying himself against the inn. When Talia shrieked, he turned just long enough to see her duck under the bar.

He didn't wait for any other reaction, and he didn't take the time to check on the innkeep; her chosen path was clear. His needed to be equally so.

He joined the crowd of townspeople rushing to investigate the disturbance, one hand on his sword and the other holding a scrap of cloth to his mouth, to hold out the dust. He wasn't so much following them as he was simply heading in the same direction. He didn't look back at the inn to signal the others, but he couldn't have been that difficult to pick out of the crowd.

[Avelestar]

Raufinius finds Talia under the bar, breathing sharply and clutching at her chest. She forces a smile and pants out a reply between breaths, "I'm fine dear, just in shock. Been deathly afraid of thunder since I was a babe." She accepts the half-orcs hand and stands up, steadying herself on the bar. With a smile she nods towards the door, "You best follow your friends." Turning his head, Raufinius sees the tail end of Dania's skirts slip out the door and follows after. Used to working in situations of fire and smoke he has a cotton face mask on before he's crossed the inn.

Having been the first one to spring into action Rone found himself running to the north east towards a huge plume of dust on a large hill on the outskirts of town. Alun was a few moments behind, but a gap quickly formed between the two as Rone's muscular figure charged ahead and the witch choked back coughs and tears from the dust. Ever close to her brother's lead Dania was only a half step behind him, producing a scrap of cloth for him and urged them forwards.

Though it takes only a few short minutes to traverse the town most of the dust plume has subsided and begins to settle down onto the town. Rone is the first to arrive, pushing past a gaggle of townsfolk too scared to venture up the hill. "I ain't going near the wizards place." "I only just hung out the washing, its going to be ruined!" The rest of the party is only a few moments behind and slows as they see Rone surveying the scene calmly.

A few hundred meters to the right is a large mansion, presumably that of the wizard Hunclay. But before you lie the ruins of what the locals call the Witch's Tower, you remember passing it on the way into Belhaim and though it looked very old, it was definitely intact at the time. You also remember the two people standing nearby scratching their heads, young men under the employ of the sheriff. They are young, barely men, and are obviously inexperienced. Both look very nervous and murmur between each other.

 

OOC: Two walls remain of the first two floors, the rest is a pile of rubble on the floor. You never really caught the names of the two young deputies, but they were polite yet quiet when arresting you yesterday. Would people like me to post links to pictures instead? I know some people check in on their phones and lots of pictures can chew up bandwidth quickly.

[zevonian]

"Was anyone hurt?" Alun stifled his cough long enough to loudly ask the gathered folks. "Injured? This way!" The air was too thick for him to just spot those with minor wounds, so just waving towards himself, and the others he had arrived in town with, as he spoke seemed like the best thing to do. There was no lilt of kindness in his words. Just matter of fact, trying to expedite things. Trying to keep busy. Trying to occupy his mind lest he be overwhelmed and go into shock.

"You two." Words for the deputies now. "Was anyone living in that tower?"

oodm Contingency: If anyone actually approaches Alun with a claim of a wound, he gives them a looking over. Folks that are going to need an obvious bandaging job due to bleeding, he'll wave towards Raufinius, thinking the man has a doctor's bag and the skill to use what was inside it. Anyone else, such as a claimant of a twisted ankle or a couple bumps and bruises from falling down...well he'll use a torn shirt or breeches and his best facsimile of kind words to facilitate tending to someone...and then subtly use Healing Hex to cure their wounds.

[Avelestar]

The townsfolk look at Alun blankly, murmuring to each other but not moving from the bottom of the hill. With the dust clearing you can see none of them are injured. The deputies are also uninjured and turn to face Alun, one with short cropped blond hair and a wispy mustache stammering out a reply. "I uhh...no sir! That's the Witch's Tower, ain't no one used it in centuries." The other deputy is stockier with short brown hair and a piggy nose and is currently prodding the brick farthest away from the tower. Surprisingly the brick doesn't seem to care very much, but piggy nose keeps doing it for the sake of looking like he's doing something. "You don't think Hunclay had anything to do with this do you Letha?" he says as turning to face his partner. "Oh, I remember you lot. Sorry about the whole arresting thing."

[Khalil]

Raufinus made his way slowly towards the destruction. Ensuring that no one had been critically hurt on the way there. When he saw that no one had been injured apparently been injured he picked up the pace and fell in behind Alun. He looked around and over the young man's shoulder trying to see around the wreckage and was finally able to breath a sigh of relief. Raufinus had already been expecting more misery to add to his recent chain of misfortune, but his fate seemed to have spared the majority of the populace. Abandoned? His chin perked up and he lifted a hand to lower his mask just enough so that his nose would stick out from the protection. He began to step around Alun so and the deputies, so that they may continue their conversation. He looked over his shoulder and spoke not aware if he had interrupted any conversation. Where there any children seen playing around the area? He Tracking by using scent for general direcion of anybody or anything possibly trapped in the rubble. Dice Survival Check to Track: 1d20+1 (2)+1 Total = 3 sniffed up in the air trying to catch the scent of anything that might have gotten trapped underneath the rubble. Raufinus's heritage afforded him a more acute olfactory sensor than most people had, and he had used it previously in his line of work. But it had been a while and the dust or the rubble would possibly interfere with his out of practice nose.

[DoverianDragoon]

Rone barely replied to piggy-nose's apology. "... Mm." It was a response he was too fond of, frustratingly non-committal and evasive. He never seemed to notice.

He

Dice * Perception:

1d20+5

(7)+5

Total = 12

Dice * Strength check in case he needs to move some large chunks:

1d20+2

(7)+2

Total = 9

poked around the tower ruins, not really expecting to find anything but eager for something to do now that something had broken Belhaim's inherent monotony. Any clues or injured were likely to be hidden in the rubble, and so he went about it with calculated precision.

[zevonian]

"No one hurt? Fortune smiles upon the townsfolk."

Alun gave a smile. Either he was callous to the notion that a centuries old city landmark might have sentimental value to the people around him, or else he was genuinely pleased that there were no notable injuries.

"Right. To Hunclay's then."

He looked back to his sister, to see if she was going to follow him or insist they go elsewhere, and then made a step towards the wizard's manor.

[Avelestar]

Raufinius is unable to smell anything with all the dust in the air, and Rone walks up to the tower and finds a heavy iron door. The handle turns freely inwards but the warrior is unable to open the door, even when bracing his shoulder against it. From the tiny crack of sunlight he is able to get open he notices a large amount of rubble blocking the door in, far too much to be shoved aside. Walking around the rest of the tower he finds that two walls are still intact and the others are a large mount of rubble, piling up to the second floor. Looking upwards he notices that only the two floors remain and with the door blocked the only way in is going to be climbing up a slippery slope of rubble.

It appears that no one was near the tower at the time of the collapse and other than the odd bit of rubble tumbling down the pile is quiet. "Wait!" calls wispy moustache as Alun begins walking to Hunclay's, "Hunclay don't like visitors at all. Last time we had to go to..." Piggy nose elbows his friend hard in the side *oof* and chimes into the conversation. "If you wanna visit Hunclay you're welcome to, we might uhhh...make sure the townsfolk are safe!" The last part is said with far too much enthusiasm and wispy moustache's eyes widen at the idea. "Yeah, you go check it out and we'll keep any curious townsfolk from getting in the tower."

OOC: Climb check to make it up the slope, or you could head to Hunclays...or split up! They are your characters, not mine. If you do split up I'll be using secret tags for a bit, and then busting them open when you're back together again so you can see what went on. How do you do the fancy mouseover rolls? That's new since I've returned to the site! Not sure why it shows Dov's roll as being 'cheated' but Khalil's isn't though.

[Coelubris]

Dania looked around, and then whispered something in Elven and waved her hand in the air, looking like she was trying to wave dust away. Casting detect magicChecking what she could find by looking around as she examined the rubble.

[Avelestar]

[zevonian]

"Well of course you two should stay by the tower and tend to the townsfolk. Good plan." Alun gladly encouraged the guards to leave him alone. "Hunclay knows me. He might not want to have a long chat over tea, but he won't mind me knocking on the door to make sure he's well."

Alun looked around to see what Raufinius and Rone were up to. "Hey guys, I'm walking over to that mansion. I can meet you back here in an hour. Sound fair?"

[DoverianDragoon]

Rone stared at the dangerous pile of rubble for a few long moments, then shrugged and turned towards Hunclay's mansion. He raised an eyebrow at Alun as he passed him. The two lawmen got a more disapproving look, and Rone's hands balled into fists... but he walked by them without incident. This time.

[Coelubris]

Dania headed to Hunclay's with her brother, her pace relatively slow, given she had longer legs, and she looked very thoughtful indeed.