Realms of Dread Chapter Two

[kintire]

Shana grins at Blaise

"Okay, through the village it is. You handle the traps, I'll take on the pies"

[BigBadQDaddy]

''That's very kind of you. Oh, there's my house, just up ahead on the left side of the street.''

Mara points out a humble little plaster and board shack surrounded by larger, but still hardly imposing, structures.

Mara opens her door [a big board fastened to the shack wall with rope] and rolls her cart inside the darkened hutch.

''Are you coming in for a bit, or must you go along now, Alain?''

Alain gives Mara a smile, politely shaking his head. "No, Mara I best be going about my patrols. Have a good evening and thank you for the company."

He then turns to walk away, turning back to face her after a moment.

"Tell me Mara, have you ever considered getting work during the day time?"

[ewancummins]

''Work during the day? I don't think I'd like that. It's too bright and noisy for my liking. I've grown used to the nighttime. ''

Mara smiles, stands on her tip-toes and kisses Alain on his lips, ever so lightly. Her soft breath bears the scent of persimmons.

Then, suddenly, the girl is turning away, walking into her small house. The door closes behind her, but Alain doesn't hear a latch or bolt being thrown or a lock engaged.


Alain stands alone on the street, in a fog that has grown thicker since he made his slight detour to escort Mara to her home. Somewhere in the distance, a bell is ringing midnight.

[ewancummins]

the rescue party, Fishgut Rock


Beneath the half moon, your band hustles through the streets of the village atop the Rock. No one accosts you upon entering the town. The one living being that greets you is a tabby cat, which shadows your party from the moment you enter the village. Few of the streets here are well maintained and properly cobbled, but there's hardly any mud to slow your way [unlike Marsember proper, where the larger mudpools sometimes swallow pedestrians up to the waist!]. The streets aren't laid out in a sensible grid, but are instead a crazy quilt of alleys, dead ends, cul de sacs, and tunnels.

It takes a few minutes to reach the center of town, a small plaza with a stone statue in the middle. The statue depicts a well armed soldier on horseback, and is lifesized or slightly larger. As you draw a bit closer, you spot an old man who is sitting at the base of this equestrian piece. Two covered trays and two mugs are laid out at his side. Seeing your party approach, he calls out in a reedy voice:

''Mudfeet! What are you lot doing up here on the Rock? ''

[ewancummins]

beneath Blackpillars-


Rardi opens the door. Beyond the doorway is a big room with a stone vaulted ceilling. It's so big that Archedius' torch fails to illuminate all of it. What you can see is a large storeroom or cellar of some kind. Dozens and dozens of wooden caskets are stacked against the walls, or laid out in rows six or seven high along the stone floor. The mothball odor is strong here in this huge cellar.

A quick look around will reveal that the caskets are all nailed shut with black iron nails.

The intermittent screaming or moaning sound is amplified and echoed by the acoustics of the vault, making it hard to pinpoint the source. It seems to be possibly coming from a spot deeper in the gloom, on the far side of this great chamber.

[steveflam]

Rardi doesn't hesitate. She calls upon the power of Lathander, the Morninglord, and casts Light on her mace. She holds it aloft in front of her, scanning the room and advancing a little. She tries to pinpoint the exact location of the moaning and screaming.

[VAN]

Inovidil looks around . She was ready to cast light herself but Rardi beats her in time, so she tries to pinpoint the sound as well.

[Archedius]

Occasionally scanning behind them as they go, Archedius listens as well.

[ewancummins]

beneath Blackpillars, in the big cellar-



Archedius listens carefully, as he attempts to discern the direction and approximate location of whatever it is that's making that strange screaming sound. Searching the great storeroom with his torch held high, the grizzled old warrior finds his way to a wooden door set into the rear wall, partly concealed from view by a row of caskets. Getting very near, he sees something moving on the surface of the door: a large wooden mouth! The lips are parted and the weird, inhuman cry issues forth from the dark space between them.

[Lord Skybolt]

"Oh we are just taking a nice night stroll is all (1)." Threan jovially says to the fellow in trying to convince the old fellow that he can just ignore them .








1.Bluff Check rolled 19+7 mod.=26 Bluff Check .

[steveflam]

"There be somethin rightly evil beyong that door, Arch. Me spell is actin up beyond it. This Delthrin is one sick person."

[Le Noir Faineant]

Shana grins at Blaise

"Okay, through the village it is. You handle the traps, I'll take on the pies"

Ironheart, quietly behind them, the giant rowing pole leaning over his shoulders...

[Ken of Ghastria]

"Oh we are just taking a nice night stroll is all (1)." Threan jovially says to the fellow in trying to convince the old fellow that he can just ignore them.

"Indeed," says Blaise, stepping slightly closer to the man. "We're friendly sorts. But it's very good of you to ask." His voice takes on a slight lilt, and his companions may hear the faintest tingle of a silver bell as the red-headed Blaise speaks.

OOC: Blaise is using his charm ability on the man (Will DC 16).

[ewancummins]

in the plaza, near the statue of the rider


The old man, heretofore eyeing your party with undisguised suspicion, suddenly turns very friendly in his manner.

''Oh! Well then, be most welcome, friend.''
He offers Blaise a morsel of sharp-scented yellow cheese from one of the two platters.

[Lord Skybolt]

After Threan see's that the man seems to have gotten a whole lot friendlier . He slips a way to scout a route through the town that will hopefully steer clear of people on the way to Black Pillars home of Delthirin .