D&D Adventure #3: Vicious Circle

[deject]

Damn fucking right he's appraising; Forenrond's riding Humbug, one of these bad boys:

Coffee Zebra?
Clay Zebra?
Poo Zebra?

[Dog Pants]

Half horse, half zebra. A zorse.

[Dog Pants]

What's happening in town Grimmie?

[Grimmie]

Thor will be joining - although I'm not entirely sure where we left it with regards a mount.

IIRC You wanted a bear, and we agreed a mini "Thor tames a wild bear!" adventure would be more fun than "Thor purchases a horse".

[Grimmie]

Sorry, was away last night - will see if I can churn a post out at lunchtime!

[Grimmie]

Someone appears to be being burnt at the stake - quite an archaic method of execution even for a town like Orhedge. However Forenrond will have been informed by one of the church billets about this "traditional" approach to capital punishment during his time in the town, and burning is the punishment for murder! The whole town is gathered at the green, where a platform of stone has been erected, upon which a crispy humanoid figure groans and wails, flames licking at his torso and throat. It's a revolting sight, and could be quite difficult for some of the more refined among the town to stomach, but the peasants and commoners turn out in droves to gawk.

The whole event is nearly trivialised then the local butcher tosses a whole hog at the base of the stake, which immediately begins to crackle and pop, filling the air with a second scent of cooking flesh. In such a small town, murders are uncommon, and bringing a perpetrator to justice is celebrated by everyone.

[Dog Pants]

I'll ask the billet who the kebab is and who it was he killed.

[Grimmie]

As I explained to DP on XFire, the Billet I was referring to was in the past, someone who had simply explained the punishment system.

You guys can pick and Search someone specific to ask, or do a Gather Information check to ask around and get information.

[Roman Totale]

I shall do a Gathering of Information.

Oh my goodness me!

20,+5

Shafuckingzam! I hope I haven't used up all my good rolls straight away.

[Dog Pants]

Good work, my search (on xfire) left me stumbling about walking into horses.

[Grimmie]

Great roll!

The murder victim is a "Steven Pyn", a human male in his thirties, he worked as a broker at the office of commerce and was stabbed yesterday. The man on the stake is "Arthur Latham", who was found at the scene with the murder weapon, a knife. He is also human and in his thirties. It seems that this information was covered before the burning began, so everyone's quite confident about this.

However, it becomes difficult to discern gossip and rumor from truth in such an excitable crowd, here's what you hear:

* Arthur protested his innocence right up until his last breath, and some people were sympathetic to his pleas
* A couple of people speculate that Arthur is a Vampire
* Some people have heard that Steven was "butchered like a pig", while others say he was stabbed once and left to bleed
* A small crowd of people are convinced he belongs to a blood-cult
* Arthur was a family friend of Steven and his wife, Emma

[Baliame]

Well, it looks like Arthur now knows...

Thoroar puts on his monocle.

...what's at stake.

I will send you my updated character sheet sometime when I do remember to fix it. Please poke me continuously if I forget to.

[Dog Pants]

Shankley stares in horror at Thoroar. Save vs Pun everyone.

Does any of this size up for me Grimmie? I don't trust the guard and the thought of an innocent man suffering this grizzly fate is repulsive. I'll try to find out who the people sympathetic to him were.

Information Gathering:
Roll(1d20)+2:
9,+2
Total:11

Not bad for a socially inept half-breed anarchist.

[Roman Totale]

A mystery! I love a good mystery!

I worked with a Warlock detective once. He had bright blue eyes, wild colourful hair and shot magic from his hands! A fine detective, but alas he met his demise at the hands of a jealous husband - a local fisherman who suspected him of cuckolding his wife. I still remember the little ditty I was singing when it happened

Row, row, row your boat
Gently's on the scene
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily
Hear your good wife scream

I have no idea how he found out about the indiscretion. Oh well.

You know a broker at the commerce office could have had a lot of gold. Or access to it at least. Can't hurt to follow up a few lines of enquiry I suppose!

[FatherJack]

To outsiders Thor looks as if he wants to fight something but can't really decide what, but the party recognises his look of one of concentration. The pun has completely passed him by.

Dammit! This is why I don't come to town much, my Pappy warned me about this sort of thing. Hrmph, and they call me the savage.

He scowls at the town in general.

What do you know about vampires - does burning kill them? I guess they don't generally use knives to kill people though, huh? Know anything about this blood cult thing?

An idea seems to come to him.

Glibberig, you seem ta have the gift o' the gab with the ladies - maybe you should have a word with the widow.

[Grimmie]

Does any of this size up for me Grimmie? I'll try to find out who the people sympathetic to him were.

As far as you can tell just acquaintances around town. Arthur seemed to keep himself to himself for the most part, and had been lodging with Steven and Emma for some months. There's a ripple from the assembled crowd as the groans of pain seem to stop and the flames start to lick either side of Steven's face - most of his body now charred and black. On the positive side, the hog tossed on to the fire smells wonderful.

Your lines of enquiry are stopped short by a slender elven man running in to the crowd, yelling for the executioner to stop. His cheeks are bright red, and he coughs and hacks as he struggles for breath.

Ghk! Chk! S.. Stop! Stop! Douse the flames!

His voice is barely heard over the crowd, but a number turn to face him. You yourselves are in ear-shot however.

Another murder! Koff! Just the same!

He's exasperated at the sight of the column of smoke rising from the centre of the green, and slumps back down in the middle of the cobbled road to get his breath back, panting sharply.

[Dog Pants]

Ahhh, nuts. Res pls.

Damn guard, couldn't find their arses with both hands and a map. You can't just go burning people.

Shankley looks utterly repulsed. Have I ever seen this elf before? I know there's the ex-adventurer type who kicks about.

[Grimmie]

He just looks like a commoner to you, his dirty clothes are just slightly more colourful than the other dirty clothes people wear.

A few people wander over to see if he's okay, patting him on the back (which only seems to exacerbate his cough).
The masters of ceremony are already hauling buckets of water over the fire, and once Arthur's been extinguished they cover him with a thick cloth.

The town guard look sheepish.

[Dog Pants]

I'll try to get in close, before the guards do, and get a quiet question in.

Who died?

[Grimmie]

Good mister Lahaed! It was awful. I found him discarded at the back of Prince's!

Prince's is "Prince's Wine", an elven inn.