D&D Adventure #3: Vicious Circle

[Grimmie]

Peeling bit of bandage away, you can see that they are nude underneath. There don't appear to be any possessions in with the coffins, and it's not apparent where they could be from a scan around the room. Rlig and Christina appear to be dwarves on closer inspection of their shorter, broad coffins.

[Dog Pants]

No evidence of removed hearts presumably.

Right. I don't want to be implicated in this if found because I don't fancy being burnt at the stake, and fiddling with corpses isn't going to look good. Cutting the bandages also might throw a red herring into the guards' investigation, and while they've proved incompetent so far they might still manage to get their man so I don't really want to send them on a wild goose chase, so I'm going to put them back as they were. If there's nothing else to see I'll creep back upstairs.

[Roman Totale]

Whilst Shankley pokes around the corpses, Glibberig will saunter over to the Prince's Wine, the Elven inn. For a drink. And a chinwag.

Initially I'll just do a bit of socialising - drinking, bit of light music. Low key stuff (for Glibberig anyway). Once I've been at the bar a bit I'll move the conversation with the Innkeeper on to the murdered elf.

What about Enkah, eh? Terrible way to go, terrible. Same way as that human fellow I believe. Fred over there* was telling me that they knew each other as well - in the militia or something. Bit strange that isn't it? Did they often mix?

*'Fred' will be whatever passed out random drunk Glibberig has managed to identify (I'm assuming someone will have told him a name, but Fred is just a filler as I can't think of anything elven)

[Grimmie]

No evidence of removed hearts presumably.

No, the dwarves don't look like they got friendly with a knife, they're just a couple of slightly stinky stiffs.
Just moving upstairs, or planning on getting out of there?

--

It's getting really late now, and (assuming you're doing this at the same time as Forenrond's raiding,) Prince's are calling last-orders by the time you've blended in and had a drink or two. The bar is tended by a tall, tan-skinned elf called Darrow and his partner, a fairer skinned elven woman named Nedair, she's sipping at a tall glass of clear liquid.

They're a little surprised that a Gnome is "mingling with tall folk", but are happy to serve you, and are otherwise quite polite when you speak to them.

Lahaed and Pyn? I suppose they must have known one another, but I've never seen Stephen set foot in here.

[Dog Pants]

I'll just move upstairs right now, I want to try to find an autopsy report or inventory.

[Roman Totale]

His family and friends must be terribly upset. Do they live in the town too?

[Baliame]

Alright, I'm going to take 20 on the sense motive for skimming through the book. Let's see what that yields.

[Grimmie]

Alright, I'm going to take 20 on the sense motive for skimming through the book. Let's see what that yields.

.. What's your sense motive score? Rank + Int modifier instead of Wis modifier, please.

[Baliame]

It's rank 0, I'm not sure if my +3 INT then applies.

[Grimmie]

Update time!

I'll just move upstairs right now, I want to try to find an autopsy report or inventory.

Search and Move Silently please!

---

His family and friends must be terribly upset. Do they live in the town too?

No, I don't believe so - they probably live in High Meadow. Enkah was never one for city living.

---

It's rank 0, I'm not sure if my +3 INT then applies.

Yup, that's a 23 then. You can use it untrained (Players guide pg. 63) It will take you all night to read through the book (approx 6 hours), which means you won't have your eight hours of rest needed to prepare spells the next day (Player's guide, pg. 178), unless you want an extra-long lie-in, or to read it later on. Totally your choice.

[Baliame]

I'm only missing a Detect Magic and I'm fairly sure some of the others have that so I don't mind not getting a full night's sleep.

[Grimmie]

I'll post results once Forenrond/Glibberig finish what they're doing during the night then.

[Dog Pants]

Search:
Roll(1d20)+3:
17,+3
Total:20

Move Silently:
Roll(1d20)+8:
3,+8
Total:11

Good job I'm a sneaky blighter.

[Roman Totale]

Sounds like a lonely life for him here - no wonder he joined the militia.

These murders are peculiar though aren't they. What do you make of them?

[Grimmie]

Search: 20
Move Silently: 11

There seem to be a stack of official looking papers on the desk next to the..

Whu.. Wh.. Hey, hey. You there.

The worker half sits up and rolls his shoulders, squinting in the very faint, dim cande-light.

Sshhh.. Get back to bed and stop makin' a racket, you'll wake everyone up.

If you want, you can make a Sleight of Hand check to pocket a piece of paper without him noticing.

---

Darrow interjects.

Messy, deliberate, not an assassin - somebody trying to weaken us from the inside for their own means.
Sowing the seeds of fear. Nobody wants to die like that, cut open like swine on a butcher's block.

Nedair nods, looking a little concerned.

[Dog Pants]

Ah bollocks. Such is the life of a level 1 thief. I'll try to get a lucky swipe in.

Sleight:
Roll(1d20)+5:
20,+5
Total:25

Hooah!

Then I'm going to get my head down, run like fuck, and hope he didn't recognise me.

[FatherJack]

At least we'll able to solve this crime!

[Roman Totale]

Well as the saying goes, we have nothing to fear but fear itself - and ravenous were-bears dressed in jester outfits. Oh no! Do you suggest a wear-bear dressed as a jester could have carried out these foul deeds? What strange times we live in, what with the frog enchanter and all.

I wonder though - what sort of group would benefit from such fear and terror? I heard Steven was a religious man - maybe the gods sent agents to test his faith.

Also, what do I need to roll to work out the location of Enkeh's home town?

[Grimmie]

Yeah, Forenrond snatches that shit right up no problem, and once you're safely outside you find that indeed, it's part of a post-mortem for Enkah Lahaed, and it appears to be the "juicy" bits.

Code: Select all

POST MORTEM EXAMINATION

Details
-------

Name: Lahaed, Enkah
Apparent Age: 235 years
At: Orhedge Mortuary
On: Earthday, 14th Patchwall, 560

Position of body
----------------
The body was lying prone at the left side of the alley in a pool of blood, the shoulders flat, but the axis of the body inclined to the right towards Prince's Wine. The left arm was close to the body with the forearm flexed at a right angle & lying across the abdomen. The right arm was slightly abducted from the body & rested on the ground, the elbow bent & the forearm supine with the fingers clenched.

Torso clothing was saturated with sanguineous material & torn from collar-bone to belly. The flesh hollowed from the victim's chest cavity was not located at the scene & remains missing.

Injuries apparent
-----------------
The cheek & chin were perforated with deep puncture wounds by nail or claw, & the flesh about the mouth & lips was bruised.

The shoulder was slashed thrice by nail or claw extending from the collar bone to the joint of shoulder & neck, down through skin & other tissues. A scroll of "detect poison" shows presence of a foreign venom in these wounds.

Part of the right pectoral appears to have been torn open with a sharp dagger (absent from the scene) in the image of a tear-drop & with great precision. The open wound extends down past exposed rib-bones & in to the chest cavity, exposing the matter of the rightmost lung, & the heart itself. The heart is punctured with a single stab wound that has caused abbrasive damage to the fourth & fifth rib.

The remainder of the report lists superficial information as to the contents of the stomach, and the medical condition of the other organs, none of which seem particularly damaged through the attack. It is noted that the muscles appear to be particularly relaxed, which is unexpected, but could be a result of the poison.

---

Nedair gives a worried look to her husband.

How much have you had to drink, Gnome? Frog enchanter indeed. P'raps that should be your last mug tonight.

A Knowledge: Geography check would help you locate his home town, but it's large enough that you would have heard of it before. It's east-by-south-east of Orhedge, and famous for having the largest concentration of elves in the local area living there. By all accounts it's an elven city, and the population has swollen to the tens-of-thousands. High Meadow, despite its quaint name, is quite the place.

[Roman Totale]

Hmm, sounds to me like some sort of beastie (boy?) - perhaps one with some sort of paralysing bite. Who mentioned vampires earlier? I'll have to get my toothpicks.

I think I shall head home you know. But the tale of the frog enchanter is true you know. Most perplexing.

With that Glibberig leaps of his stool, doffs his hat, and leaves.