*Upon noticing William Armand face brightens* Now for Goran's oiled wheels, if its not other than William , the non-bully, if I don't know you better i could swear that its fate that we end traveling thru the very same lands that often huh? ..,*Armand stops for a moement and narrows his gase at him as if studying him* You aren't following me aren't you? *The moment pass fast * Well.. anyway .. if you do it won't matter much... Have you seen something related about the SSGEMP?
This people seems strange, they avoid most of my conversations about, they don't even want to listen to the good things that a mechanical well would do to their town and the lies that the SSGEMP must be telling them .. . again.. you haven't seen anyone of that nefarious organization around here right? Well .. at least there are no elves with their ill disease ... .
But i am speaking too much ... what are you doing here?
*The man haven't stopped talking in like 2 minuts, speaking fast as a gnome and noding thrice at the end as if any words of his mouth would make any sense *
Oh and hello to you too * he waves with the metallic arm to the blacksmith as he spots him in the house*
Arfur finds himself in what passes for the Realty office. Not really an inspiring office he can almost feel the lack of love within. Undaunted and realising at once what is really needed here, he articulates for the staff. "Hello yes ..colour! diversity and luxury foods, thats what you need here. Now we need to see who can get the goods moving and where to serve and store it....oh and after those adventurers have finished pointing their swords and maces into every nook and cranny they are going to remember they like a nice Inn to stay in....sooo...we have some work to do...am I right! am I ever...say whats the trouble anyway everyone seems a little...down ?"
Borris's forehead becomes dotted with beads of sweat.
William begins to meticulously noting down everything he finds, keeping it to a collection of facts, a sort of investigation or field report. He keeps a copy with himself and hides another copy just in case. Moreover, he continues his duties as a paladin of The Hand of Virtue, as a craftsman and as a investigator. He tries to find out if somebody traveled through the village before the incident, or any strange happenings took place long before the tragic event: where and ruins unearthed or discovered, or are they known to the people here? What is the history of the family, are there any troubles, problems etc known? In regards to the latter question, he tries to identifiy key persons to the villages social and spiritual life.
Upon meeting Armand, he greets him with a polite nod and a small smile.
"Greetings to you as well, Armand. A surprise to see you here." He grins at the man's remarks on following him. "Hardly so, but it's sure a nice thing to see a familiar face.
No, I have not heard anything about them. ...Hm. It's actually the first time you mention them to me, I think. Would you enlighten me towards who or what they are? Some sort of nefarious group of corrupted wizards, warlocks and engineers?"
He pauses for a moment.
"I am here patrolling the lands, trying to keep the people save from the evil that always lurks and lingers, and to help them where and how I can. Something bad happened here, and I'm trying to find out the what, the why and the how. Tis place sure has seen enough war, hardship and madness."
When Armand addresses the smith, William turns around and greets the man with a nod.
The blacksmith smiles at Armand and comes to the door… he seems very interested in the metal arm, and when William finishes speaking with Armand he begins asking all kinds of questions related to the design, function, schematics, etc.
The staff of the realty office seems a little put off by Arfur at first, but warm up to him rather quickly… they can tell an enterprising and cash-flush individual from “a mile away.” The owner, Basil Cheshmore is a well-educated Halfling, and definitely keen when it comes to business transactions. He tells Arfur of the pure potential waiting to be “plucked like ripe fruit” in the realty market. He has several plots of land for sale in the area, without structures, but “prime” for vineyard planting. The rocky soil cannot be tilled effectively for traditional farming, but vines would do rather nicely.
In regards to the troubles… Basil conveys to Arfur everything he knows of the events. Everything seems to coincide with what he has heard previously, except for one little tidbit of information. Evidently, there is an old legend of something like this happening previously… several generations ago. He does not know any details though… his knowledge of the event seems general at best.
//If interested in land purchase, we can discuss that. There will be restrictions and other considerations to go over though.
Borris heads out for the village where the burning event occurred after consuming his beans… and they soon do the trick. In a short period of time he finds himself having to locate a secluded bush to empty his bowls… and it is a “healthy one.” Soon large black flies are attracted to the aroma. He fumbles through his supplies and after a frantic search realizes he does not have any more of the convenient tissue he likes to use to clean his “tukkus.” He grabs a few leaves from an unfamiliar piece of vegetation, finishes business, and hits the road again. After a mile or two he develops a serious itching rash in his nether regions. After another mile or two he begins to understand what happened. (A plant very similar to poison ivy.)
//Please RP this in the forum and in-game after the quest date has been set. ;-)
William’s thorough investigation begins to pay off, and the pages of his field journal begin to fill-in.
Sally Mae was the only daughter of Justin and Matilda Mae. They were 7th generation residents of the area. The family trade was glassblowing and related glass works, and Justin worked out of a small shop attached to the now burned down dwelling. Most households in the village still contain some of his family products.
Although it is entirely possible that strangers passed through the town prior to the incident, nobody William has spoken to remembers anyone worthy of suspicion.
There are no ruins in the area. Over time destroyed buildings in the village were demolished and replaced versus being built on top of.
The history of the family is where you hit some “pay dirt.” This particular family experienced a similar event 5 generations ago. On the nights of two separate and consecutive full moons, family members were discovered as dried out and mummified corpses in the morning. No cause was ever found.
Key persons in the village’s spiritual life are Cinestral, a low ranking priest of Toran and Balustrus Hobkines, the tavern owner in the village’s only tavern named “Gravel.”
Orn spends some time with Naoniasa and Vesichi and finds they are pleasant to be around. You quickly determine that you like them both.
Martin gives that old comforting smile you are so used to. When you ask if there is anything further you should know, he says, “These are trying times for the people of this land; sometimes the rebuilding can be as difficult and daunting as the fighting that makes it necessary. Unfortunately I do not know a whole lot about the people of this particular village. I’m hoping William will already be there and gleans some information he can share with you. When I was there I felt danger though Orn… please be careful. Also, please ensure a formal and detailed report is prepared for Lance with the outcome of this investigation. I am sure he will eagerly await word from you.”
William studies and talk with Cinestral, to see whether the man has sufficient mental strength and integrity to resist attempts of deceit and such. He also tries to find out what he knows of that hunch that there's some evil near the village and what he knows of the Mae family, where they get their resources from and whether there are places they were going regularly.
He then takes an evening off and makes copie of his notes, including his recent findings, and hands one copy to the priest and the other to the smith, telling them both that there might be some reinforcements coming from Hilm or elsewhere, and that he would be going on a patrol. He also gives them both a small amount of coin, enough to pay for food and room for up to two people.
He then goes looking for Armand and asks him wether he wants to join him on his search for what he describes as "a vague lead on some evil lurking nearby". He gives Orn and other people that might be coming from Hilm another day to arrive, then he sets out with whoever is coming along.
If I know William Sir, he will have some information already that we can work with. He is a tenacious one. *Her smile grows a bit one moment then a look of determination replaces it.* I.. we .. will becareful Sir, whatever danger or.. evil lurks in that village we will find it and do what must be done. I will make haste and go, but before I do, could we say a prayer together Sir? *Once the prayer is done, Orn is true to her word and prepares herself to leave as soon as possible to find William.*
*To the mention of the remark of the first time saying about the SSGEMP, Armand looks genuinelly surprised* Really? I can't believe this, its maybe that it was lost among many things i say, because its something that i refer often , some strange people the ones that call me strange may even say that i may be obssessed with them but that is just because they don't know how dangerous that organization is, One day they made a huge bomb that caused that all the corporal fat of one town changed beetwen bodies, that was a very chaotic situation that took a long to fix. They are crazy... not like the inocent Catapultable **nods sagely*And yes the Secret Society of Gnomes for Evil and Maniatical Purposes or SSGEMP, they are deviants who turn science into.. well. . bad science , they are experts in golemology and other turn outs into evil mean things.*As he explains about finding people and figting evil * Oh good on you, its good to always do that. Leaving us engineers time to well.. do engineering. I guess.*As the smith asks him about the arm and the machinations he explains that he did not forged the metallic arm per se, just design it for it to fit his arm and had it done by a gnomish smith at the Clockwork academy, this last model at least, he informs proudly to the smith that his "Arm-and-me Mark VI" its the lastest model of his elemental enhacer, it serves to several functions and is able to change raw power into elemental forms and viceversa, making more potent or reducing the capabilities inserted in the core batteries, he goes rambling in gnomish pseudoscience that actually probably would make sense to gnomes and seems to wild to actually have any sense of logic, but well. .. for some unknown and ilogical reasons work**After the first day, the man seems to be working on the areas around the town, offering to "fix and improve" things around the town, he probably won't get much success due the ankwardness of his methods and after the first explotion of one of his attempts, the town may see him with even more suspision as all out of the blue he announces in loud voice*- Get off the way !!!*Once said that he runs over to a nearby body of water and submerges himself into it as his arm start to show and unhealthy hot red color, as he goes out of the water and after a lot of steam before he returns to the town as if nothing had happened, this is where William may find him de second time as he activates a Dryier on him (gust of wind )*But of course William, non bully, I will lend my aid to the task, its not like this people its letting me help too much anyway ... Where we going again ?
Arfur steps outside a moment with Basil Cheshmore taking a break in pondering the market situation when they hear some serious noise. They arrive on the exciting main street in time to see Armand throwing his arm into water and a rush of steam. "Aha you see the kind of anxious moments adventurers bring to a village Bas." He explains leading the halfling out. "He spreads his arms wide in a an expansiver manner "I have big plans, and things as you can see are gathering pace. Too much pace for wine growing my over eager money making friend. No if we want to make some honest true we need a better Inn, something resolute enough to withstand the odd hot arm incident, misfiring spells, and drunken sabre rattling...if you get my drift. Now as I see it some residents may be on the move for the right, and I trust, lower price....however when the adventurers get going doing their stuff, prices might rise. Aha we can have some delightful colours and artwork some fine fabrics, hmm well robust and fine fabrics and we will bring them in...Hurrah, I give you the new Center!" He looks at the true counting realter only shaken slightly from his dreamy path."Well thats the plan anyway, I might even help these arm burning loafers get things moving." With a little more authority than he seemed to command in the business world he suddenly draws forth a rather fine rapier which oozes al'noth and goes through a brief but deadly routine before returning the rapier seamlessly to his side.
It was a beautiful day. It started out like a beautiful day. The birds were chirping. The weather was light. The sky was clear and a sense of spring was in the air. Borris was in a good mood. He started out in a good mood. The cranky, frightened, townsfolk, who had left their mark on his digestive system, where well behind him. He slept in the woods, hunted in the woods, and was quite relieved that his beans had done their job properly. Yes Borris was quite relieved in deed! The only slight aggravation was when he realized he had failed to pack the special kind of tissue paper the humans taught him to use in the cities, but even in that, a return to using nature's specialty paper, random leaves, while far less efficient, somehow appealed to his Orc side and made him feel more at one with nature.
Yes. Borris was beginning to have a beautiful day. Having deposited the byproduct of his inner workings into the soil, he set off further down the path on route for the small village.
His spirit was light, and there was a song in his heart.
"Beans, beans, the musical fruit. The more you eat the more you...."
But then, a certain light, vaguely noticeable sensation, distracted his singing. A preliminary indicator, of some greater issue, began to tickle at him, from a nether region in the back of his mind. It began to tickle him in the back of his body as well. Tickling playfully in the back. Tickling, tickling, tickling... Itching… In the "back" In his rear. In the part of his rear where itching can be most unpleasant.
Itching there!
In THAT place.
Easy enough. A simple scratch will do. He scratched himself.
"...The more you eat the more you..."
Almost as if in answer to his scratch, the itching seemed to get progressively worse.
He scratched more...
"...The more you..."
Itching, scratching! Itching, scratching!!
Itching itching!!! Scratching scratching!!!
He stopped walking altogether.
Manic with this new condition he started to wonder.
"Duh hell kinda leaves did Ah use?!"
//Responses will be forthcoming in the next couple of days, as well as a significant event. ;-) The other plot-line took center stage for a few days... Apologies. The in-game date for this quest will also be posted soon.
William finds Cinestral a knowledgeable and dependable individual, but his life experience is lacking. He is a young man and has not had much exposure to evil creatures or entities. To his credit though, the previous summer he was responsible for assisting the locals with the destruction of a zombie that rose from the local cemetery.
Justin and Matilda Mae collected most of their resources locally. The quartz sand used for their glass was dug from a pit about an hour’s ride from the town proper. The coal for his furnace was obtained from a seam running through some rocky ground a little closer to town. Most residents use the coal seam and are protective of this valuable resource. The coloring agents for his business were purchased from passing merchants. There was no specific source. He obtained what he could, when he could.
Residents seem to be comforted somewhat with word of more help. Some seemed a little concerned at the quality and type though. There have been some rumbling whispers concerning the strange man with the smoking arm and the recently arrived “Tusker” who has been scratching his rear-end so profusely. One merchant complained that he picked up some dried meat with his “Scratching hand” and then put it back on the rack.
The priest and smith are grateful for the coin and assure William that they will put up his assisting investigators in housing to the best of their abilities.
Orn and her companions Naoniasa and Vesichi make it to the village “Eaornath D’lisk” without incident. She is greeted by the town’s smith Risteotis Ironarms. He leads you to his humble shop the “Three Shoes and Nails” and sets you up in his stable. He is a little embarrassed at the accommodations and apologizes over and over, but the stall he gives you is clean and lined with fresh hay. Risteotis sends one of his apprentices off to find William to inform him of your arrival.
Armand receives deadpan looks when he begins explaining about the SSGEMP, likely because his explanations leave many more questions than he answers. Rumors begin to circulate in the tavern over evening drinks that there might be some type of evil gnome plot afoot, but no evidence can be presented except for the mad ramblings of Armand.
The Smith is very intrigued with the "Arm-and-me Mark VI" and asks more questions, even going as far as to offer a couple of suggestions on possible improvements. Armand has found a kindred soul in Risteotis Ironarms.
One of the residents is left scratching his head as Armand leaves him standing next to the well with a whole bunch of schematics scribbled over half a dozen parchments. After looking at them closer though he says to himself “You know, that crazy bugger might have something here.” He grabs a few of his fellows and after half a day they have constructed a screw like mechanism with a handle capable of allowing a child to recover huge amounts of water from the well with very little effort.
Some of the caution returns to the town’s residents though, after Armand emerges from the duck pond, steaming, and with an angry goose chasing him. The receptiveness to his help pretty much evaporates at that point.
Borris arrives in the village “Eaornath D’lisk” and immediately knows this will be an unpleasant experience. The itching is still present, but has subsided quite a bit. He occasionally hears whispered insults such as “tusker” and “giant goblin” but seems to successfully ignore most of these jibes. The general population seems to be avoiding him, and children are not allowed to be unattended in his immediate vicinity. There is little patience for his questions and he does not obtain any useful information, regardless of his good intentions.
While resting under a nearby tree one of the villagers approaches Borris. His straw hat is pulled low and his clothing covers all of his body parts. When he gets close he says “Theeze peoples ares stupidz sometimezze.” When Borris looks up at the villager he is amazed to see that the man has some half orc features. “My name Thrunt. I labor for hire to villagers. Take long time to get trust.” He smiles showing a large cracked canine tooth.
Basil Cheshmore rubs his hands together in a rather greedy fashion. “Yes, yes... I do see you’re grand plan. This has huge profit making potential! We will need to put together some capital very quickly though.” He raises a bushy eyebrow. “How much do you think you can front for this partnership my friend?”
He ducks and moves away quickly when the “Al’Noth oozing rapier” begins swinging in well controlled and deadly arcs.
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Topic: Trouble in the Hilm Protectorate? (Read 3137 times)
