Bard and Breakfast, part 5
Log Info
- Title: Bard and Breakfast, part 5
- Emitter: Faranmidahn
- Characters: Sabina, Burai, Ashes, Lokir, Lysos, Bannon
- Place: RPFive: Vornhearst Estate
- Time: Monday, July 20, 2020, 7:07 PM
- Summary: The group questions Maeble further about Gerzan, getting some information that he seemed to be from Blar, or Sendor. Ashlee examines the Blood Bath room and finds the bath destroyed. Bannon, Lokir and Lysos explore the grounds and outbuildings, they find a human tooth, but not much else. Burai questions Veriford casually, determining the man is from Isobar. It seems further investigation will be in Blar, but the group has to decide what to do with Veriford. After some discussion they determine a trick to drop him off at a Temple is the best approach. The hunchback is convinced, his lizard familiar returned, and the group gets back to Alexandria and gets rid of him.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Appearing, in Order =-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Sabina 5'4" 130 Lb Human Female Tsuran woman of dark hair and green eyes Burai 6'10" 280 Lb Half-Orc Male Brawny half-orc, primal and uncivilized. Ashes 5'11" 177 Lb Hobgoblin Female A somber arvec in grey clothes with a skull face Lokir 5'4" 140 Lb Wild Elf Male Dark eyes, dark hair, and dark stubble. Pointed ears. Lysos 5'6" 105 Lb Human/Tsuran Female Dark eyes, dark hair, olive skin, a jotun-sized chip on the shoulder. Bannon 5'9" 195 Lb Human Male A shorter man of Tsuran heritage, with a thin moustace and goatee. =--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--= -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= As the GM =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Faranmidahn 3'3" 35 Lb Halfling Female Albino Lucht woman in black leather armor with a BIG spider =--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=
Last time, on Bard and Breakfast:
The party, taking their leave of Greenholme with a begrudgingly compliant Veriford in tow, ventured to Liatris' former home of Mornhaven, where the inciting elements of local events unfolded. After some interaction with the Village guard, wherein they learned the fates of Ellastra's followers, and the likely public opinion of their expatriate bard, they sally forth to the Vorhearst Estate.
Some of the hands are uneasy after the former matriarch and her doings are mentioned, and, despite the vibe some of the get from the adventuring crew, they bring Maeble, former senior maid to Madame Vorhearst, who is now helping to manage the operation.
She gets a little unnerved by Bannon, but, she does bring the group into the Manor's study and digs out hidden letters, and the vampiress' diary, finding notes that indicate a possible suspect, one Gerzan, somewhere near the Blar border...
GAME: Lokir rolls knowledge/geography: (15)+1: 16 GAME: Burai rolls knowledge/geography: (16)+6: 22
Bina looks over the letters and diary as well as listning to her party's thoughts on the mater. She then waits for Maeble to return and giving her a smile she asks, "Can you tell us what happened to the bathing tub? I for one would like to lay eys on it or what's left of it. Make sure it isn't used in that way again."
Burai loiters outside of the house with Veriford, so that the latter doesn't hear anything the party deems he doesn't need to know. Burai occasionally casts dubious glances at the main entrance. But otherwise he does his best to keep a close watch on their...prisoner? No, that doesn't seem quite accurate. Parolee might be a better term for it.
GAME: Ashes rolls stealth+3: (11)+10+3: 24 to Faranmidahn GAME: Faranmidahn rolls 1d20+4: (19)+4: 23
Ashes vanished at some point during the review of the diary and the questioning of Maeble. It wasn't clear when, at one moment she was lurking at the corner of the room, staring quietly, the next time anyone looked she was gone. A quick check by anyone so inclined would verify she didn't drift under a couch with the dustbunnies, or into a corner or up a fireplace flue. She's missing.
Until she isn't. The ashen arvec walks in the door from the hallway. "The bath has been destroyed, or removed. Someone has tried very hard to scrub the blood from the stone. The furnishing are gone. The chamber itself has been cleaned and may actually have been gone over by someone in the know."
She pauses, then adds in her quiet monotone, "It feels solemn, empty rather than vile. Comfortable." For Ash, perhaps.
Lokir , having assisted with the review of the diary, considers the findings. "Blar? Blar...I once travelled to the borders of Blar from near Alexandria. Was many weeks, mounted..."
Lysos huffs, puffing the hair up on her forehead briefly as she considers what everyone seems to have dug up. When Ashes shows up, reporting the fate of the bath room, she smiles brightly. "Well, that's one thing we can take off of the list then, right? So does that mean we're in for a long trip, then, to find this Gerzan?"
"We need to make sure that we have everything we can find here, found. That's a long way to go just to investigate. Do the notes give an actual location or directions? otherwise I'm sure the border is a long place to search." ,Bina says softly.
Maeble has a sort of vaguely guilty melachnolic air about her as the party studies the notes and journal, clearly wanting this all to have either never happened, or perhaps, one day, to be something they can all leave behind them. Sabina's question seems to cut to the heart of her and she sags some, opening her mouth to respond when the ashes Arvek suddenly appears in the- the hell?? The woman starts, looking toward the corner the ghostly one was seen last and, "What, when-?" blink. Deep breath annnnnnd out. "It's as she says." A little shake of her head, and, "The Truthspeaker brought several sunguard with him, and... they helped us destroy it, to clean it but...."
Outside, Vriford, still trying to figure out whather he can get away from the Orc, after his last attempt ended in such a spectacular, painful failure, keeps doing the good boy thing. Besides... they have Carbuncle.
"But...?" Ashlee says, looming as she does and staring at Maeble. She is passive, unthreatening, her clothes hanging in the dishelved way she keeps them. Her entrance interrupted some interesting statement, so she hopes her quiet vigilance will encourage it to come forth.
GAME: Bannon rolls Perception: (4)+14: 18 GAME: Lokir rolls perception: (4)+7: 11 GAME: Lysos rolls perception: (18)+5: 23 GAME: Sabina rolls sense motive: (10)+7: 17
Bannon has spent the majority of the interview and searching time with his eyes towards the world outside of the house. He casually tours the area alongside whichever others choose to acompany him, making congenial small talk with the workers and trying to steer clear of spooking the pigs, which is harder than one might think! At one particular point, he does bend over to pick something up off the ground. A tooth. A human tooth. He offers it to Lokir with a quiet rise of his eyebrow, before he turns to continue his search.
Burai watches lazily as a few of the adventurers seem to uncover something. Then he turns towards his charge to see if the mage noticed. Then a thought seems to occur to him. "Veriford, where are you from?"
Perhaps feeling that she'd be of better use as an assistant, Lysos slips out after Bannon. Trailing him, but doing her best to stay out of his way while keeping her eyes peeled for anything that looks out of the ordinary.
Lokir glances at the tooth in his palm, and then discretely slips it into a pouch, witdrawing a fresh potato in the same motion. Skewering it on an arrow, Lokir places his newly enlisted, many-eyed sentry on watch, letting the potato stick out of his quiver and giving the spud a prime vantage point.
Burai is outside with Veriford and the horses at the gate, Lokir, Lysos and Banon are searching the yard, eaving Ash & Sabina inside with Maeble.
Sabina smiles sadly at Maeble. "I can only imagine what it was like here, Miss Maeble. Living here and doing as she wanted you to do. Keeping the books and the secrets. We aren't after you. We are after someone else. At least I believe we are. A vampire. A true one. Or another vampire like your mistress was. Likely this Gerzan person. We ant to make sure nothing like this can happen again. Thats all. So if you know anything or even think you know something that might help us... please. Tell us."
Ash moves quietly over beside Sabina, finally standing beside the colourful Tsuran. In an attempt to seem like warmer company, she holds her hand out towards the peacock on her shoulder. Then, she looks away to watch Maeble as she answers 'Bina's questions. She nods a little as if to suggest she's not here for the maid either.
Bannon looks towards Lysos with a frown, glancing towards the the farm hands and ensuring they are far enough away to avoid eavesdropping, "I'm guessing they disposed of bodies out here. It's a more remote area of the farm, but damn, they must have smelled something." He then shakes his head, asking, "Do you think there's an innocent person here at all?"
"What? Ah... Isobar." Ahem, "....sir?" Veriford answers skittishly, almost like he's expecting to get kicked for not answering fast enough. He does wonder about hte adventurer's roaming the premisis, but doesn't chance snooping.
Maeble sighs at Ashley's prompting and, "....we still don't like to go into that room..." she says, hugging herself and looking away. She closes her eyes a moment, then fixes Sabina with a haunted, rueful expression, "She wasn't always a monster!" she protests, but seems to catch herself and hangs her head, "... I don't.... remeber most of what she did.. there were things she only trusted to the men John, Errol and Deke... The man, Gerzan.... he was here a before.... He was.. he dressed in Sendorite fashion, but he was too tall, too reedy."
"I... I don't know, Bannon," Lysos tells him with a small shake of her head. Sounding perhaps just a little distance, or a little subdued compared to normal. She looked at the teth, but only briefly.. a hand on her stomach maybe showing what the remains reminded her of. "Some people can be oblivious, I suppose.. and maybe some didn't have any choice but to go along, right?"
Burai peers at Veriford. "Isobar," he nods, trying to place it on his memories of a map of Ea he saw once. Most likely on the wall of the adventurer's guild. Because what self-respecting druid would carry a map. He looks at the adventurers and seems tempted to go see what they're talking about, but after a glance at Veriford he decides to stay put. "How long have you been in Greenhome?" he continues his low-key interrogation instead.
Ash looks at Sabina, "They won't be giving us answers. Gerzan might, if we can find him. I think we've found everything." She turns her head to stare at Miss Maeble, in case she might volunteer additional information. Mentally the mourner is reviewing other things that might have been missed, one last time. Nothing is leaping to mind.
She looks around, "We should wake Irshya, decide how far we're going, book tickets."
After spending a little more time in thought that perhaps he intended, Bannon nods his head and then turns around, "Let's go back in there, share what we've found, and then continue on with our investigation. I think we have a fair shot at putting an end to whatever caused this."
Bina sighs. "Sendor is a big place. As is the border. Could you provide us with a better description? Habbits he might have had? Markings or scars? Anything to narrow down the serach at all?" she asks Maeble. To Ashlee she mutters. "I'm all for searching but I'd rather do it in a few weeks time rather then months."
Lokir nods and shrugs. "If we can get a good story out of it...or at least a few verses...I suppose it outweighs letting it die of old age..." Lokir eyes his companions. "Oh...I suppose that's not as practical an option as it might seem..."
GAME: Faranmidahn rolls 1d20+8: (15)+8: 23
Lysos gives the area they found the remains one last look... then, mirroring Bannon's earlier motions, extends her gaze to the farmhands in the distance. A sigh follows, and a small shake of her head as she turns about and skips quickly to catch up to the airman as they return to the others inside.
The adventurers return to the manor, seeing the younger woman, much like Maeble, taking care of doling out seconds as the crew continues to dine. She looks to them, uncertain for a moment, but goes back to her tasks while the dinner table continues their banter unimpeeded.
Veriford frowns, maybe getting some steel along his spine, but seems to think better of it, "Not long, maybe two and a half months, now. Shortly after bandits raided the place, they were still rebuilding, but I'm not much for tools." he chuckles dryly, then gets into a sort of coughing fit.
Maebel, herself, seems a little frustrated, but, she closes her eyes and brings a hand to rub at her temples, "I wish I could, he was...old... not like your friend(?) out there, but he was rather weathered... almost leathery, but... he had the sort of eyes for a woman that makes her skin crawl, but he was very.... polished, he had a very measured way of speaking." She seems to have a moment's inspiration and, "He wore one of those thin blades, and he wore his coat like they do on the east side of Sendor, well tailored, but common colors, so he was well off, yet not presenting any nobile affectations."
The Tarienite listens and nods slowly as each point comes out. Matching the bits of information to her inner scam artist and tricksters ways, trying to come to a profile for the man. "So. We're likely looking for a well to do merchant or a lesser noble in disguise. Someone presenting from Sendor if not from there. Older. Polished. Tall and thin with a rapier. Likely following the same ways as Bannon does. Perhaps even the same profession but for himself."
GAME: Lokir rolls knowledge/local: Trained Use Only: 0 GAME: Lokir rolls 1d20+1: (15)+1: 16 GAME: Bannon rolls Profession/Airman: (20)+6: 26
Entering the room just in time to hear Maeble launch into the description furtively, Bannon narrows his eyes and crosses his arms. His head tilts to the side as he listens, then he begins to nod his head slowly, "We should start looking at Sevenport." He lets that hang in the air for a moment before he drops his arms, "The leather skins from the wind and bein' a little closer to the sun, and the speech patterns be measured to be heard well above the wind." He looks towards Sabina, "It's basically where Dragonier, Sendor, and Bludgun meet. Ok bars, fairly comfortable jails, big merchant and trade presence. Based on what she's mentioned so far, I believe that's a good place to start."
Lokir perks up at the mention of civilization. "An ok bar and fairly comfortable jail sounds like a standard recipe for a successful evening. Count us in." The potato on Lokir's shoulder bobs up and down...
Bina nods, getting to her feet and moves over to Maeble, offering the other woman her hands. "Maeble. If there is anything we can do for you or the town, send to us and let us know. If another shadow creeps up like..well, you know... Call to the city for aid and send for us as well. This place has suffered enough already." She gives Maeble a kind smile and then turns to the others. "Sounds like we're hearded for a airflight."
Rubbing her hands together, Lysos's smile has returned, if a little bit suppressed by the discoveries outside. "Adventure awaits... the chase is afoot? Our quarry shall not escape our vigilant.. uh... pursuit?" She scrunches up the lower half of her face, clearly unsatisfied with the way the last rolls off her tongue. "Oh, another spell in the air on an airship. I'm sure nothing will go wrong. This time."
The group convenes quietly, away from Veriford, to discuss his fate. Various options are raised, leave him at the farm, convince Maeble to keep around after explaining what he does with a glamour. The wonders of reincarnation are raised, as well as the possibility of a baleful polymorph. Bars and jails are suggested, as well as losing him off the side of an airship. The arcanists dungeons are raised as a possibility. A little frontier adventurer justice is suggested, and while everyone agrees that Veriford is a vile man, who was deceiving and using Liatris for his own ends, it's difficult to determine just how guilty he is. No one seems comfortable killing him in cold blood.
Especially Ashes, whose Goddess prefers she make the body presentable rather than help it along.
A decision is finally reached. Since the man has been so cooperative and docile, as well as deceptive, the party will use a little deception themselves. They'll inform him they will take him to a group that is very knowledgable about vampires, and release him there. This seems like an offer that will interest him, although he may take some convincing. They decide to make it as a group.
GAME: Ashes rolls bluff: (1)+0: 1 (EPIC FAIL)
Ashlee stares at Veriford, the sun glinting off her skull-markings, "You'll be fine."
GAME: Bannon rolls Bluff: (18)+12: 30
Bannon smirks, looking towards Ashlee for a moment then back towards Veriford, "Well, we've brought you this far, and you've been honorable. We'll take you the rest of the way." He glances towards Sabina for a moment and then looks back to Veriford with a nod, "We need to go back to Alexandria, but once there, we'll take you further on towards the knowledge that you seek."
GAME: Sabina rolls bluff: (11)+14: 25
Sabina nods to Bannon and gives Veriford a sigh, "Yes.. There is a place in the city that likely has many of the answers you seek. And the people there can tell you many things about vampires and the different kinds. And if they don't know I doubt anyone else does unless they themselves are a vampire." She gives the man a cool look. "Does that meet your approval?"
GAME: Lysos rolls bluff: (2)+13: 15
Lysos starts to choke a little bit, then covers it up with a cough, looking away until she's sure Veriford isn't looking her way. Then, watching Bannon for a few seconds as if trying to be sure of what he's saying... "Yeah. After all, all roads lead to Alexandria, which means all those roads lead everywhere else too right? You've been so cooperative. It would only be fair that we set you on your way. As long as you promise not to do anything bad, right?"
GAME: Lokir rolls bluff: (9)+7: 16
Lokir smiles as his potato turns a bright red. "Aye. Me potato can sniff bad from good a long distance. It's a skilled spud. Red means smooth sailing."
Lokir reaches back to pat the suddenly crimson tuber. "No hard feelings 'bout before, friend. We ancients know that petty grudges are for the young. Better to live, let live, and drink into the sunset."
GAME: Faranmidahn rolls 1d20+3: (10)+3: 13
Inside, Maeble doesn't quite flinch away from Sabina's comforting grasp, though she does shrink under her, "She was... a good.... a wonderful woman, once. Liatris... I can only hope she finds peace." A sigh and, "THank you, Miss... for all you've done. Gods see you safely through... and lay your justice on the monster who destroyed Ellastra's soul..."
Outside, Veriford seems a little vexed at being out of the loop for the first time in a while, and Ashe's opening statement doesn't fill him with optimism, but, with the adroit compounded word dancing the party issues forth, he nods, thinking perhaps he may have a chance at coming through this on top and he nods, "Sounds good to...." and he stops, looking with some bewilderment at the potato man...
The trip back to Alexandria is uneventful for the most part. People passing on the road, a little gossip about life in the big city as it were, or advisories about a felled tree along the road, nothing terribly presing. Veriford is a bit more relaxed once he once again has his hands on his lizard, considering what he'd do with what he intends to learn, oaths notwithstanding.
It has a certain kharmic charm, then, as the Alexandrian 'experts' to which he is introduced... are also introduced to his interests and probable proclivities, and there is another, quick, short altercation that ends with the old man unconscious with a hissing lizard standing over him. This one, however is bipedal, bronze... without a sense of humor.
The adventurers are thanked for their efforts, and recieve the compensations owed for the original venture, after being assured that Veriford will be scrutinized with much scrutiny. Much.
In time, after the group stretches their legs, gathers potential supplies and arranges passage, they gather anew on the platform, waiting for their transport to arrive....
