Café de Nuit

ewancummins wrote:
INTO HARROWDALE…
SIR CLIVE

Sir Clive soon leave the soft, damp earth of the farm belt and reaches the higher, firmer ground of Harrowdale-town.
A quick look back shows his prints have left a pretty good trail in the soft earth.

On the road into town he comes across an overturned wheelbarrow.
He soon locates the smoke’s source from a smoldering plank that lies on a grassy patch of ground on the northeast corner of a large masonry building.
Something black and stick bubbles on the smoking wood.
Looking about a little more, he notices that a rear door to the stone building is missing a panel of the same size. And that door looks scorched.
The pinkish-gray stone building has the look of a civic hall or a shrine, with bas reliefs and prettily carved pillars and the like, though the façade bears more decoration than this plainer area in back.
A frieze of the damaged rear door has been splintered and gouged.

Houses nearby look intact at first glance, apart from some boarded doors and windows here and there.

Standing alone in the street, Sir Clive hears faint laughter and whispering voices that seem to come from somewhere nearby.
Inside the temple, maybe? Beyond that darkened doorway...

ALAIN

Alain's companions have gone ashore to investigate the countryside and the deserted town.

He...

Bennedict's crossbow creaks as his grip tightens on the handle. A cold sweat breaks out on his brow.

"She'll be the one to find, then," he says, "She'll have the answers. But we'd best take precautions. Cover your mouths and noses. Maybe wear gloves."

He looks back, remembering the father. "Can you heal him? I'd rather be about this business and back on our way."

He looks around, confused. "Where is Sir Clive? He doesn't know what to watch out for."

Katrin looks around.

"I hope he wasn't foolish enough to go into town alone. We should do what we can for this man, and then head in. i think just after noon sounds like a great time to scout. If this threat came at night let's avoid the darkness until we know what we are dealing with and have a plan"

Adam wrote:He looks back, remembering the father. "Can you heal him? I'd rather be about this business and back on our way."

Klokulf looks up to the sun for a moment, then replies, "It will be a few hours before I can prepare the spell. That entails either waiting here until it is done, or resolving to come back when I am ready." He looks back to Randal's father. "Exactly how bad does your fever feel?"

ewancummins wrote:

ewancummins wrote:
INTO HARROWDALE…
SIR CLIVE

Sir Clive soon leave the soft, damp earth of the farm belt and reaches the higher, firmer ground of Harrowdale-town.
A quick look back shows his prints have left a pretty good trail in the soft earth.

On the road into town he comes across an overturned wheelbarrow.
He soon locates the smoke’s source from a smoldering plank that lies on a grassy patch of ground on the northeast corner of a large masonry building.
Something black and stick bubbles on the smoking wood.
Looking about a little more, he notices that a rear door to the stone building is missing a panel of the same size. And that door looks scorched.
The pinkish-gray stone building has the look of a civic hall or a shrine, with bas reliefs and prettily carved pillars and the like, though the façade bears more decoration than this plainer area in back.
A frieze of the damaged rear door has been splintered and gouged.

Houses nearby look intact at first glance, apart from some boarded doors and windows here and there.

Standing alone in the street, Sir Clive hears faint laughter and whispering voices that seem to come from somewhere nearby.
Inside the temple, maybe? Beyond that darkened doorway...

Clive preforms a quick scan of the immediate vicinity, he assumed based on the tracks he found that town-folk had left the area. Could the faint laughter and whispering voices be a trick of his mind, could it be some stragglers, opportunistic looters or worse yet monsters with human like intelligence?

As a veteran of war, he knows it is best to remain vigilant. He whispers the arcane command word activating his magical ring, equipping his monstrous like armor and bringing Mercy to his hands.

RocEter wrote: If Clive doesn't see anything in the immediate vicinity of him that would resemble a humanoid, then he will go to the temple.

INSIDE THE TEMPLE


Entering through the nearest door, Sir Clive finds the interior swathed in gloom.

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/91/bb/06 ... 138be2.jpg
Click here or open the image below in a new tab to get the whole picture. North is top of the map. Read scale as 2.5 feet per square, not 5.





Exploring the ground level, he finds the place in disarray, though the poor lighting does not allow him to easily assess the scene.
He passes through some offices or meeting rooms.
No one home...
In the main chamber, he sees many pews facing a high dais and altar, where the marble statue of a maiden stands under a row of black-curtained windows.

This temple looks rather larger than one might have expected for a small city like Harrowdale.
It could easily serve the entire district, though.

A curiously mixed scent of incense, hot coals, and rotten meat hangs in the stale air of the dim interior hall.

And although no visible fires burn and only a little sunlight creeps in at the edges of the curtains hung over most of the windows, the central part of the temple feels rather warm.


As he looks about, Sir Clive hears something scurrying about in the side rooms through which he has just passed.
Sounds too big to be mice, certainly...

Tittering laughter and a soft babble of voices rises from the direction of the shadowy altar and the metal statue.

Raen, with a frown on his face turns to Bennedict.
"We need to investigate that temple for uses of magic and go see what happened of that acolyte in the council hall. I am not a gambling man, but I would bet nothing nice is waiting us in the hall where she was, or still is, locked up."

IN THE DESERTED , GLOOMY TEMPLE...

Sir Clive glimpses something moving in the gloomy room to his north. A bent form, not large.
Thunk!Clang!
The impact hurts but Clive's vision remains clear.

Something flew from that direction and smashed into his helm!


TEKELI LI!
TEKELI LI!
Not from the doorway! The shriek comes from the altar.


A quick glance reveals a thing rising from behind the darkened altar and sweeping down the dais.
What--he cannot tell. Too dark in here and the thing's shape seems inconstant.
But he can make out eyes glaring at him. More than two, three, four...
Whatever the Hell it is, the thing laughs madly as it closes, somehow forming words at the same time it titters.


TEKELI LI !
TEKELI LI!

IA IA
SHABOATH!

OUTDOORS, NEAR THE LITTLE BRIDGE

Randal's Da rises to his feet , a bit shakily.

''Starting to feel better."
He takes a long pull from his water skin.
''Hehehee."

Alwina, standing nearby, stifles nervous laughter...

END OF CHAPTER