Author Topic: In The Silverbuckle Inn (Read 5575 times)

RollinsCat · « **Reply #40 on:** March 02, 2012, 11:47:25 AM »

Months of Andeux and one harrowing, deadly rescue party later, Andrew reviews the Straum situation. The Buckle elemental and mind wards are re-done, there are (slightly larger) kittens running amok, and a fancy letter is received. Andrew seeks his wife and friends for a private conversation. "I've found the name of that gnome from Leringard that we ended up being threatened by - Lucien Krale. And in my notes I recall when we were talking to that information broker on the Lerginard docks, the 'Nose', may Ilsare - " Winces, breathing hard for a moment. "...may She bless his soul. He'd started to say something about the feuds before he was killed, it was 'Raz', and I'm certain he's not talking about elven sculptors. I think Alice Straum has handed us the second half of that, 'Razor Backs'. Straum said I'd lose everything and extended that to all of us, so putting that together I believe that Krale is one of the top men in this group and Straum and perhaps her son are members. Why Krale's making a play for Mariner's Hold I don't know but this town has enough problems without him.

"We have enough information to move this to Leringard, and more than that, I'd like to take my big red target of a body away from our patrons least there be innocents hurt. Even better, we have an invitation to the Grainger - Vaeleenara wedding." He holds up an engraved heavy pressed paper note, scribed in purple ink.

"We know Bork the Orc is probably working for Krale, and we know Bork is stonebound, so I'd opine that Krale is as well. We'll have to keep that in mind and capture rather than kill. I say we take this party to them, and see if we can't do some cleaning up. What do you think?"

Nehetsrev · « **Reply #41 on:** March 02, 2012, 12:48:07 PM »

Well, Boss, as I'm sure you know by now, I'm a bit of a self-starter. So, I took the initiative to do a bit of digging regarding the boar's head symbol out on the streets. People are afraid of these "Razor Backs", no one dares talk about 'em. Those who do, only in whispers and in dark shadows in back corners. As far as I can gather, the Hogs as I'm going to start calling them, are a secret society of sorts linked to slavery and eventual world domination.

I also think I've discovered the reason why Alice was so vengeful toward Arelius. They weren't just in love at one point, she bore his bastard son, Duncan. This I deduced from the remarkable ressemblence between Duncan and Arelius that I noticed when examining portraits of Duncan.

*then she pulls out a crumpled note from a pocket*

While I was snooping about for information on the Hogs, I discovered this in my pocket. Our friend "Nose" may have been stone-bound, because this says I should meet "Nose" in the sewers at a given location, date, and time. Of course, it could very well be a trap... Anyone want to volunteer to be my invisible, in the shadows, back-up for this meeting?

*she grins, knowing she's likely surprised Andrew and surpassed his expectations yet again, which could mean more bonusses in her immediate future (assuming she hasn't already bankrupted him).*

RollinsCat · « **Reply #42 on:** March 02, 2012, 12:55:18 PM »

He pulls his spectacles off with a hooked thumb and drops them to the table, favoring Jetta with a warm smile. "Fine work - very fine work. I suppose a bonus is in order, yet again. I'll be that invisible, sneaking backup. Some song power behind you can't hurt.

"Someone needs to work on finding Duncan, and we have other leads to follow up on still." Looks at the others assembled.

Jilseponie Wyndon · « **Reply #43 on:** March 02, 2012, 06:26:20 PM »

*Melody perks up* I'm good at poofing! Can I come, can I, can I, can I?

Nehetsrev · « **Reply #44 on:** March 03, 2012, 06:38:09 AM »

Yes, you can come... but only if you stay quiet and hidden the whole time, Melody.

//Meeting is set up for Tonight (Saturday, March 3, at 8:00pm EST).

RollinsCat · « **Reply #45 on:** March 03, 2012, 08:29:37 AM »

"Jetta is the primary contact, Melody. I've got quiet feet and song so I'll be her close backup, but it's assumed that neither you nor I are supposed to be there. You will be our eyes behind - farther behind, so if there is trouble you can warn Jetta and escape. Don't say my name, forget I'm there...that leaves Rook your warning and one more ace in the hole if things go badly south."

Serissa · « **Reply #46 on:** March 05, 2012, 12:18:34 PM »

I've no idea where to even start looking for Duncan, but I suppose I can try. If we're going to Leringard, perhaps I could go on ahead. I'll be safe enough staying at the Arms, I think, and I can spend time in the warehouse and docks areas looking for bargains. I'll let it be known that I have inexpensive good luck charms for journeys and healing for those who need it.

I'll also discreetly ask about Duncan, describing him and asking whether he's been seen in the past or recently. I suspect he's hiding another girlfriend from me...

Someone will have to take care of my Fangy for me though, and let him sleep on the bed. I don't think I should take him with me.

RollinsCat · « **Reply #47 on:** March 07, 2012, 10:59:10 AM »

//dang it Lonn, if you're making us wear the cow suit and galoshes for our secret meeting, Jetta's in back this time!

RollinsCat · « **Reply #48 on:** April 08, 2012, 11:38:55 PM »

A message is sent from Ilsarian to Aeridinite to Ilsarian, a most ironic daisy chain for the words that were passed on...

..."find Kurn. He's the one you need to speak to".

Kurn? From his wife's lips, nearly a profanity. But Duncan was ahead of them and the Razorbacks behind. Kurn it was. He could go hunting...or he could be smart and take a cue from the spiders.

"Tell that green-teethed son of a leisure woman to come to the Buckle if he wants what I owe him, and no place else."

Of course, he didn't owe Kurn a darned thing. But the pirate didn't know that and his greed was one thing the innkeep could count on. Free booze upon arrival would doubtless soothe any ruffled feathers. And so he left word for the new brewer, Sebair, to lay in a few extra kegs of the strongest ale and returned to his office.

It wouldn't be long now.

RollinsCat · « **Reply #49 on:** May 24, 2012, 11:45:47 PM »

Word is discretely sent to those previously involved* of a meeting at the Silver Buckle to disseminate information prior to some actions being taken.

Silver Buckle meeting room, eight-thirty eastern (one hour before quest time).

//*Others may show based on rumor or happenstance, of course.

RollinsCat · « **Reply #50 on:** May 29, 2012, 09:48:00 PM »

Information on Duncan and others is sent to the Buckle - and the meeting time is changed to eight*...

//*Eight pm eastern to meet, we'll have to type fast

RollinsCat · « **Reply #51 on:** June 06, 2012, 10:47:36 AM »

Huddled outside a cave of teeth, the intrepid adventurers begin to wonder if perhaps tea and cookies on the ship wouldn't be preferable to tentacle-things that are slowly driving them mad...but then, in daylight, they are apt to think the greater part of it merely a dream. They believe themselves creatures of broader intellect and have lived the distinction between the real and what creeps in the corners of one's eyes; this is another mystery to be solved, yes?

...but it will not be day inside that cave, and in the darkness feebly lit, they'll once again see the limitless stream — flopping, hopping, croaking, bleating —surging inhumanly through the spectral light in a grotesque, malignant saraband of fantastic nightmare...

//part II of Finding Duncan tonight!

cbnicholson · « **Reply #52 on:** June 06, 2012, 01:48:38 PM »

Charlie barely sleeps as dark dreams crowd his sleeping hours. In the small hours of the morning after one particular bad dream he sits up suddenly yelling out the name of "Rachel!" Looking around, he rises and loosens his stickers in their respective sheathes and begins pacing around the campsite, muttering sourly about taking the last watches. "I can't sleep no how anyways."

lonnarin · « **Reply #53 on:** June 06, 2012, 11:40:34 PM »

Since the fall of Captain Pike your dreams clear up significantly. Still, images of his many eyed and tentacled visage haunt you frequently. What was he exactly? Somewhere between beholder and flayer, perhaps aboleth? Many eyes of madness, slathering teeth once feasted on brain matter, and tentacles from his maw. All three beings worked under his dreaded mind control, luring pirates, slavers and slaves alike into their den, drowning them and planting their vile minnows into their brainless husks to be turned into scaley creatures of the deep. Elohanna in particular feels most distrubed by these images, an affront to the sanctity of life and beauty alike. Nature holds no place for such creatures of warped dementia. The echoes of the experience sound in your mind like the ringing of a gong. "You will never be Daniel, what are you? The Legacy or the Epitath?" wonder the Poetrs. "Slit their throats as they sleep, take ALL the treasure! One way split!" Jetta awakens in a cold sweat at night remembering how close she was to giving into temptation. "You're weak, drown. There is no escape!" How could Naldin's strength help him grasped by tentacles drowning him? "It's all clear now, so clear... I see it all the path to power. They died, I lived, the sole survivor of my ship. I am the superior!" thinks the castaway mage Armand. And Andrew. Poor Andrew. What beauty can one dream of when one has gazed into the most hideous mutations of all? It's enough to drive one back to the bottle...

"The sacrifice is accepted" An innocent pygmy mouths silently in horror as he slumps forth dead. "Lungs fill with water, lungs will form gills. Go forth into the water. Live there. Die there." You choke, grasping at your neck for phantom gills. "The ancients sleep below, lost cities rise, tower over all!" Your head throbs, pulses with pain with every echoing heartbeat. And yet as you think these thoughts, a tiny little upbeat voice shrills in the back of your head, high-pitched, but comforting.

"Aww shucks, you're all perfect, just the way you are!" Thank you Self-Confidence Otter. "Believe in yourselves. Stay true to yourselves. Trust in yourselves and your allies." Somewhere deep inside an otter claws through the tentacles and lays a whiskery kiss on your brow, and you awake, rejuvinated. A light at the end of the tunnel? We'll see. Next we face Duncan and the Lost Moot.

RollinsCat · « **Reply #54 on:** June 13, 2012, 07:10:14 PM »

Lonn, nothing posted, is this tonight?

lonnarin · « **Reply #55 on:** June 13, 2012, 08:52:02 PM »

Going to have to skip this week. Got backed up at work and didn't have anything posted yet. Next week 6/20/11

RollinsCat · « **Reply #56 on:** June 20, 2012, 11:34:29 AM »

The residual nightmares are bad; the drinking is worse. This time, he's only going through the motions. There is little joy in intoxication. It is a constant reminder that he'll need to recover and it will hurt. A lot. But for the pirates, appearances...was that it? No, it was the baby bard, and how he wishes to his Muse that he'd never touched that first bottle no matter how depressed he was. It's just not fun anymore.

But a new song written, yes, and a new determination to find audiences and touch them and always the Heartsong. Perhaps some duets with Raina, or some storytelling...after this is done, Ilsare guide their hand. Minu will help him dry out. He'll survive. He's survived worse.

The halfling's jolly voice drags him back. Lifting a pint of some middling quality ale with the Smoking Bone's fearless leader, feeling the antiseptic wash over his throat, he and a few of the others pick the man's brain for the upcoming Moot. How does one act? What kinds of protocols are there? What rules, if they exist at all? How tough is Duncan, how many bodyguards does he usually take...

His mind keeps drifting to the caves. "Captain Pike" is dead. Knowing they've managed that should feel like victory unto itself and it weakens Duncan's position considerably, as Pike was the only true backer of the man. Yet Nose's words keep coming back. How on Ilsare's sweet song will he find a way to make a child slaver repent? Can anyone raised by Alice be considered even sane enough to understand their wrongs? Who would choose to walk to the gallows rather than fight to the death?

And how was he going to protect Minu from all the blood that was about to be shed?

RollinsCat · « **Reply #57 on:** July 11, 2012, 09:54:52 AM »

Duncan captured and the children (any pygmies) sent to safety, the intrepid band boards the Siege Perilous and heads for Mariner's Hold to work out serious Mommy and Daddy issues for a pirate....

...or do they?

RollinsCat · « **Reply #58 on:** July 11, 2012, 11:42:40 PM »

He's been asleep for over a full day. He doesn't feel good on waking - not that he's physically any more than tired, but what he did...what they did...it makes him feel - icky. Unclean. He's never forced his will on anyone quite like that before. It wasn't the Heartsong, thank the Muse. It was him, his will, Minu's magic and Tralek's magic, all pressing down on Duncan until the man broke. It didn't matter that there wasn't another way. He'll never feel good about it; he's glad, very glad, he didn't try to dominate the man through Ilsare's Heartbeat, but rather through a hold song, his normal magic.

Minu has left food and water, no ale or wine. Which is good because he has a very lot to transcribe and in between the sloped rolling of the ship, he scribbles as fast as he can remember what he heard.

To approach cove with safety, fly red sails.

To get in, mention Bork sent you.

Secret passage, adamantium ore, new passage - no buttress, tight, narrow, unstable.

Slaver dwarfs watch the children.

Lucian Krale comes to him, but maybe Katherian. Viceroy to Hogfather.

Hogfather - all will submit.

The Black Circle - agents, will obey?

Scrying pendant on Duncan same as Quayle's brother's?

Contract on Rael - five million True!

Agents in place to free Alice in Mariner's.

Agents (Black Circle?) in place in Prantz.

Bear the seal, signet rings with hog's heads.

Darkholme - one of Rael's old generals.

Spy base in Mariner's - brothel, man in white, mink, code name Weasel. Alice hates weasel.

Prisoners tranquil. Minimal security. Mistake. The water heals, even mother - surgery. The water heals. The wells, heal the wells.

Grue will die.

The rat listens, we watch him and the bird, they think that they are safe. They will die. Nose will die. Must silence the agent.

Nose is the rat. Quill is the bird. Two hundred thousand True each to kill.

After that spewing of conversational snippets, he sets his quill aside and examines the slaver's ledger again. The book only reinforces that lack of remorse he feels when thinking of Captain Slate and his ship being picked over for morsels on the bottom of the sea. It contains neat rows of numbers, slaves obtained and their sale cost; mostly children of all races, gnomes, and pygmies - small creatures. Easy to fit in narrow mine shafts. It details the location of the mining camp cove, the entrance to the Deep, and the the sales of the slaves to the Razorbacks. One one page Captain Slate mentions Darkenholme, one of Rael's old generals, going against Rael. This page interests him. Reading the thing through again, it occurs to him that removing this page, this one page, will make it look like Rael is involved. Dishonest but it would stain the dwarf's reputation in a way that most people would find unforgivable.

An interesting idea. He must bring that up...

RollinsCat · « **Reply #59 on:** July 19, 2012, 01:53:30 PM »

A lull in the fighting and a search of the mindflayer's room has them flipping through slave records. The faint coat of slime on the notes matches the feeling in his mouth - he hates mindflayers, and he hates slavery.

Really, he hates a lot of things these days. Dark elves, deep dwarves, slavers, squidheads...the list keeps getting longer.

The top level is secured to Kenshad's men. He's turned out to be a decent sort, Kenshad - uncomfortable perhaps with the fine line he walks, and aware he's possibly a little too far gone for Toran to forgive easily, but decent nonetheless. Certainly less law-chained than most Toranites while still being trustworthy. And for that, someone the bard will seek out again. They've rescued only a handful of slaves but they have the slave rebellion leader with them, that should help. While Charlie and Jetta scout he takes a second look at his notes, adding in large letters under his scribing of Duncan's forced testimonies -

BLACKHEART. NOT BLACKWATER. BLACKHEART.

Bloody oops.

Some notes catch his eye and he raises his voice to get the group's attention.

"I'm re-reading these notes and there are a couple things here we need to keep in mind; one, if we find Razorback signet rings, take them. I have a feeling we'll need them farther down the line.

"Second, we're still looking for a passage by adamantium...didn't we pass some of that farther back? Also, remember the code for the geomanced tunnels -" He taps it out. "- the control word is 'waterfall'. Or was it 'windmill'? Muse. Anyway, it may save our skins down here. Also, Darkholme was one of Rael's generals, lesser it seems but still - he'll be a handful. I think we should try to find him as soon as possible rather than fighting our way in one room at a time. I'm concerned he'll gather up the slaves as hostages as Duncan did and rig them if he has enough advance warning; I submit we remove him from his chain of command, that should confuse things if no orders are coming down and increase our chances of saving those kids."