//Three.
//Five
//Three
She bends over toward the drawing slightly exposing her bosom, to the glee of a couple of her more ardent fans, and blows a gentle long drawn out breath upon it. Immediately to her newfound fans the animal shapes begin moving, morph into three-dimensional constructs, and start interacting with each other in a cute and cuddly manner. The crowd is awed by this and there are shouts of pleasant surprise as they gaze in wonder at the spectacle. The half dozen little animated animals continue to cavort with each other as Ravana grins, then things quickly take a dark turn. The following is a description from several perspectives of the unfolding events and ensuing chaos… because for some reason, not everyone sees the same thing.
Michael: The little animals instantaneously take on a more sinister appearance, darkening to a jet black color with pinpoint glowing red eyes. They leap into the air and land on various people in the crowd, sinking into their flesh and disappearing. To your horror, one has landed on you in a similar manner. You dig at your arm trying to pull out the black chipmunk you can feel crawling around inside you. Minor lacerations begin appearing as your fingernails cut groves into your skin, some of them breaking off at the quick. The feeling of fear that grips you is overwhelming. You see the mouth of one of the nearby patrons stretch open to the size of hula hoop and black hornets fly out into the room in a dense cloud and start stinging everyone. Then you happen to glance at one of the patrons who has flung himself over the bar top. He is screaming “My eye is eating me! My eye is eating me!”… All the while stabbing himself in the eye with a silver fork. As he dies you notice there is nothing wrong with his eye. No indication it is “eating him.” Your own malady seems to dissipate as you recognize this.
Tori: The animals all roll into little balls and begin combining into a dark mass. The dark mass unfurls into a large black cobra that strikes out at two of the nearest patrons. It then turns to you and in a motion almost faster than the eye can follow strikes you, sinking large fangs into your hand. Your body immediately feels like it is burning from the inside out. You fall to the ground foaming at the mouth. Your head lolls to the side and your fading vision sees the man stabbing out his eye with a fork. As you start to slip into unconsciousness you realize the same thing as Michael, and the gut wrenching feeling of fear begins to dissipate. You roll over and vomit onto the floor.
Edward: Who happens to be a little further away than the rest of the crowd, watches as the patrons awe over something after the beautiful woman bends over and blows on the drawing. He is a little puzzled because he did not see anything happen, except for her blowing on the bar top. People then begin flailing about, screaming about things attacking them, about body parts rotting away, and other horrific things. Nothing seems outwardly wrong or attacking them though, except for the damage they are doing themselves. As he drags a man out of the fireplace coals who was attempting to climb into the fire box screaming that he was freezing to death, he sees the beautiful woman Ravana transform. Her head changes shape into that of a great white tiger and she lunges at a patron, clamping her teeth around his throat and ripping it out. Blood arcs into the ceiling rafters. She kills two more people before she is at the door, at which time she turns and says in a growling voice loud enough for Edward to hear it… “My children will be avenged.” Then she is gone into the night. Edward is stunned, but has no doubt that of all of the madness transpiring in the room, that was the one “real thing” to happen. Now all that remains are dead and maimed patrons. Those still alive are slowly coming out of their delusions, confused and crying. Dogs howl in the distance.
//I will be officially calendaring this quest. It is open to all… not just affiliates of the Silver Buckle. Remember that I award quest XP for significant forum work related to my quests. If you plan on attending, please use this thread to insert yourself IC. The quest will be fairly short, probably about an hour or so, light on the RP, and heavy on the combat. Creature DC will be high for this one. I’ll respond to all posts and lines of inquiry/investigation between now and the quest date, and please feel free to use your creative writing skills here... You can shape how things turn out with forum work.
-Rave
Heloise runs from the kitchen at the screaming. Michael's wife Elaina, also in the kitchen, hefts a long-handled knife and joins her. At the sight of the carnage, Heloise orders Edward to check for Elly, Andrew and Katelyn upstairs and Elaina tosses the knife beside the stage and starts bandaging, ripping strips off her apron. Edward spints for the second-floor door. Helly screams for Clarisse, if the young elf maid is close by to hear, to come get the children. If Father Xander is staying at the inn during one of his periodic attendances (//Masterjack NPC, Aeridinite), then he'll be fetched as well.
Michael, shaking, slaps the parchment over the picture on the bartop, then starts to move bodies - living first - to where they can get help, also doing basic triage, albeit with less skill.
Staff rush to see if Father Xander is currently at the inn, but word returns quickly after looking at the ledger that he is not on-site.
Tori begins to push herself from the floor, then sags back down and retches once more for good measure. When she manages to get to her knees, leaning over with one hand to support her, she manages to get out only something that sounds like a very foul dwarven curse.
Despite the chaos and things in need of attention, she takes a moment to collect her thoughts, closing her eyes and slowing her breathing while separating back out the real and the delusion, letting the black fade from her sight and rubbing her arm across her mouth, and replaying the events prior. This takes a little longer than under normal circumstances, of course, and she seems... Irritated.
When she manages to get herself to her feet, she is in motion and stays in motion for what is likely going to be a very long night. Starting at first for the clinic and stopping again when people explode into motion, she looks around for someone quick on their feet and sends them off for the authorities to report the attack.
For those less injured that wish only to leave, she'd prefer everyone passed muster first and makes that known, wanting those in the building to be checked for latent magic or lingering effects...
However it might look, she stands for a moment in the chaos, looking over the ones that fell to magic and where the ones who were unaffected were standing to get a rough idea of the area of effect while she has the chance, in order to gauge if it were a manner of distance or if some were simply passed over while others were not, and how far. She lifts the parchment to see what remains of the drawing, studying it for a moment before covering it once more, checks the area where the woman had been sitting and the path she took to get out for anything that may have been left behind before the area has too many bodies racing through it, and then joins the others in triage.
The Silver Buckle Clinic doors are flung open to receive patients, and the most damaged moved there for more intensive healing.
After disembarking, Iri makes her way through the busy dockside traffic, from the docks to a fruit stand to the Buckle. She walks in the door, notices people, and begins talking.
"Hey there! Have..."
The looks on people's faces and the abnormal nature of the tavern sounds do not take long to register. She tosses her half-eaten apple into a corner and shuts up as the training from her mercenary days kicks in. She readies her axe; watches for attackers; checks on injuries; looks for Tori and Andrew; and listens for any shouts for assistance, equipment, or supplies.
The commotion had brought Elohanna from the kitchen, and brought out her daughter, Clarisse as well to help assist with the wounded. Both rather confused with what had happened since neither were present, but both jumping to help assess and tend to the injured, along with Father Xander peaking his head out from his room. "Dear Aeridin, what in the... " cut off by Clarisse handing him a bandage as she tended to Michael. She couldn't even ask how or why, as they worked as a practiced team to tend to the more severly injured, and then the more minor. Those guests that were more of a threat to themselves or others, were either sedated or put to sleep with the use of the Al'noth to calm them down.
Elohanna jumped into her own training, trying to help those she could, one at a time, healing prayers and bandages, being spoken and wrapped and hands pulled away from wounds, from those that had been affected by the magic. She still wasn't sure what happened but helped whoever she could, reacting and moving almost on automatic, as her guests has been attacked by something unsettled her. Who and why in the back of her mind, but her attention more focused on doing what she could to help, her daughter and Father Xander.
*Curious about the noise, Katelyn came downstairs just in time to join Elohanna in tending the injured. She also used her Eye for the Soul to check for soulstones and the possibility of resurrecting those who had died.*
Once first-class healers are on scene, which seems to take not very much time, Tori steps out of the bustle and glances around at those present. Spotting Iri, she lifts a hand and then tips her head toward the door. She pauses in the doorway to wait for the halfling, and then her briefing is, well, extremely brief. "Min' magicks."
She does expound on what she would like to happen in the next few hours, which at least proves a little more informative. "Need some magicker in here afore too long for to sniff this out. Miz Elly'll take a look after while, like as not, but I ain't sure if or how much time matters with magicks like it does with foot tracks. Lotta healin' bein' flung 'round, too, might mix things up."
Holding a hand up for a rough approximation of the woman's height, she gives a quick rundown of her appearance and demeanor. She adds, though, "Took the door exit, but either she grew some teeth or had a pet, 'cause 'em folk what in her way got mauled by some bigguns." Tori steps out with Iri to look for physical signs of mage or pet's passage, herself even to the point of seeing if there's a path of howling animals, and perhaps to hunt down a sniffer. Should they part ways, Tori only lifts one finger and adds a sharp signal ending in a closed fist.
//Any mages want in, happy to accost ya for an excuse, here
After Tori recovers sufficiently to be mobile she is able to grab a gawking patron who seems to be doing nothing more than taking up valuable space and sends him to notify the guard. He quickly places his threadbare cap on his head and exits through the damaged front doors. Her suggestions about the dangers of latent magic are well received and the medical staff immediately makes this part of their observation protocol, detaining even those that were not obviously injured to look them over.
After taking measurements between the drawing and the victims it is clear that there was some sort of area of affect. Those affected stood within an approximate 20 foot by 20 foot area. When she lifts the parchment to look at the drawing, the borders and background are present, but the animals themselves are missing. When she checks the surrounding area and path the woman took to leave she finds a tuft of white hair stuck to a splintered portion of the front door jamb. There is no other physical evidence found.
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Iri’s presence is a welcome addition to the security arrangements being made in case the creature returns. She is also a welcome asset in the triage efforts of the medical staff. She finds Tori both pale in color and in a horrible mood. Dwarven expletives are not in short supply.
Father Xander is actually found. It appears he had taken his travel belongings to his room before checking in less than an hour before the incident. He accepts the bandages from Clarisse and quickly begins administering to the wounded. Luckily there are very few patients requiring sedation.
With Elohanna’s assistance all of the immediate emergency treatment is completed. The total dead sit at seven. The injured requiring ongoing medical treatment totals eight. Those who were allowed to leave after minimal treatment and observation total five.
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Katelyn’s efforts to locate soulstones among the dead are fruitless. Unfortunately none of those patrons carried them. Her assistance with medical treatment helps facilitate an efficient triage though.
//Another post is in progress with some significant information…
Andrew is nowhere to be found, having left for Mistone to meet with Rodlin and others and having not returned yet. However, much later, much too late for decent people to be on the streets, a slim and petite young woman enters the inn. She wears small pouches all around her pink-aproned waist and carries a nicked, unsanded staff, and smells of griffon and bugbear blood with a pungent chaser of unwashed orc. An unwashed orc follows her in. Her brown right eye takes in the as-yet-uncleaned floors and the general disarray with immediate alarm while her purple left eye stays put. She heads straight for Michael. "What in the smelly dwarf happened here? Why is there so much blood?"
Mangus walks slowly behind the woman with the crooked eye. He is quiet and solum. He stands a good two feet taller than her and largely overshadows her as he stands behind her. At first glance they seem woefully mismatched yet some how, thier opposing dispositions share a kind of ballance. He looks as if he feels a bit out of place and his eyes are strolling thier way to the bar way faster than he seems to wish his body would. He is planely more at ease in seedier joints. He is covered in blood and filth. In a way he does fit in with the mess he and she are now standing among.
As the petite woman and tall humanoid stand inside the doorway assessing the cleanup, two well dressed Halflings enter, skirting around them. Edward immediately recognizes the Halflings as representatives of the Wisefoot Trading Company. He has seen them many, many, times transacting business with Andrew since the Silver Buckle and their associates were successful in rescuing one of their clerks, Riesaleah Nash, from a gang of wererats many years ago… He was not part of the expedition but he now recalls some description of several animal headed creatures being behind it. He remembered the Buckle shutting down for several days and an entourage of healers treating patients for lycanthropy. Things start adding up now. He’s not sure what this tiger headed creature was, or why she was here… but he suspected that past events had something to do with it
One of the Halflings named Jordan Belanboughue approaches him. “Edward, we heard rumors about the attack... Is there anything we can assist with?”
Michael looks up from a parchment, quill in hand. He nods to Lola but is brief. "A woman came in, flirted, said she was here because some of her kids died here, did some art on the counter, the art attacked us - we thought it did - some people killed themselves from believing what they saw. She also attacked people before she left." With that he signs the paper, points to Tori, and heads to a Mariner's Hold guard with the parchment.
Michael's larger, younger brother is visibly relieved at the offer, and gestures toward the clinic where Elly was last seen. "Far as what help we need, I'll send you to Elly, um, Mrs. Reid. I can tell ya though was a were. Head flipped right around to a tiger's. Said her children would be avenged. I'm gonna guess it's to do with that were-gang from years ago. Make sure your own are safe, since the Wisefoot name's linked to that whole mess. KAT!" He looks for the slight dark-haired healer. "KAT! Need your brain!"
Lola, in the meantime, stretches out with her still-young magical senses, feeling what Al'Noth is familiar and what is different. She focuses first on the drawing and the immediate vicinity. If the large man near her picks up on what she's doing, she will gladly join magical forces with him.
Kat finishes instructing a last patient on wound after-care and then answers his call.
"Hey Kat, I remember when the Buckle got shut down for that were business, but you were there for the whole thing - think ths is related?" The big blonde starts righting chairs and piling up broken crockery and glass now that the living and dead are tended to, but keeps his attention on the Deliarian healer.
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Topic: Silver Buckle - Shadow from the Past... (Read 4565 times)
