D&D II Act One Scene IV(a) - The Dead in Osinzir

Fourier

The gondolas ascend to the top of the bridge, which spans about half a kilometer stretching over to the palace.

About a thousand armed guards line the bridge, arranged in pairs on each side. Dotted among the guards are statues of the nations former rulers.

Banjo

Retula pats Mr H on the neck, whispering
"I'll take the 500 on the left you ta- what? Ok fine, let's just use the bridge."

She crosses, taking a good look at the statues - if this all goes badly she might be meeting some of them later. She also notes how the guards are armed.

Fourier

The statues are about the height of ten men. Most of the rulers are in the same expressionless pose, in robes, looking forward. Some of the more interesting ones show dramatic scenes from their life. A man leaping with fire in his hands, another strangling a demon, a woman holding her lover as a robed figure hovers over them both.

The guards are armed with steel Qiangs.

Banjo

She'll do her best to memorize faces. Any indication what killed the lover?

And then over the bridge we go

Fourier

He simply lies dead in the snow, represented beautifully by chiseled quartz.

Retula crosses the bridge, the giant castle in front of her. More guards line the path up to the front gate. Near the gate are two mature golden dragons.

Banjo

"ok beaky chops, which way now?"

If convenient she'll hail the dragons.

Fourier

Hetyaro indicates that Retula is to go around the castle. The dragons lie quite a distance from her and Hetyaro.

Suddenly a blue spherical portal opens in the courtyard. The Osinzir guards seem unconcerned.

Banjo

"go round? You sure there's a reason you brought me up here, other than your psychotic need to see me broke and homeless? Oh I see. You reckon those gold dragons and the dwarfs were... You know... "
She makes a lewd but unrecognisable hand gesture that gives far too much away about the debased nature of activities on the plane of shadows.

"Good thinking. Ok, round we go."
And around she goes.

Fourier

Banjo wrote: »

She makes a lewd but unrecognisable hand gesture that gives far too much away about the debased nature of activities on the plane of shadows.

OOC: At who?

Banjo

Fourier wrote: »

OOC: At who?

Ooc : At the bird she was talking to. Codename Lady Havesham. Why does every throwaway remark have to turn I to me destroying property and getting killed?

I suppose anyone with good enough eyesight and a passing familiarity with how those 4 armed wolf faced nightbreed do it might have seen it and taken offence... Here we go again

Fourier

Retula goes around the building, following Hetyaro.

Right there in Osinzite and Common is a plaque announcing, as Hetyaro intimated, Merculin's Townhouse.

Banjo

"ok, this place is huge, we don't know what we're looking for, and we're short on time. Humphs, clip clop the grounds a bit. Hetyaro, aerial sweep then help me out, shoulder style."

Retula casts guidance on the bird in case that helps his perception then heads for the front door, knocking if it's not open.

Fourier

Mr. H on his walk around the house, sees there is a pantry room to the left hand side. Hetyaro, flying to the first floor, sees a bedroom, with a fresco of a panther and a long bed, with some kind of grey device attached to another one, shaped like a box, via a rope.

Banjo

Retula heads inside, if possible, checking out the pantry first.

Fourier

Opening the doors she steps into a lobby with a black crystal chair and a strange flat disk near a box, on which is depicted a man on a bird. The writing on the box is in some unknown language.

On the West wall is a closed door and the pantry entrance. On the East wall, two closed doors.

She walks into the pantry, which contains rows and rows of cans, with the same strange writing symbols on them as the box.

Banjo

Does she recognize the origin of the symbols, eg she knows what infernal looks like even though she can't read it.

Also, is there a can opener?

Fourier

Banjo wrote: »

Does she recognize the origin of the symbols, eg she knows what infernal looks like even though she can't read it.

Also, is there a can opener?

There is a can opener on one of pantry shelves.

The writing is not of any form she has ever seen.

OOC: She'd recognise the orthography of almost all of the Player's Handbook languages.

Banjo

She takes 3 cans, the can opener and goes to inspect the box next door with Hetyaro on her shoulder.

Fourier

The box contains more of the language, as well as multiple pictures of this man in various situations. Little else can be told of it.

OldGoat

Mags sticks his head out of the portal and looks around, noting the unconcerned guards. He takes a deep sniff of the air.
"Ahhh, fresh. Nice."

He, playing up the human side of his mixed blood, walks over to the nearest guard and engages in conversation.
"Hello my man. Nice spear! I'm a stranger in town and looking to get settled. Could you point me in the direction of anything that might be of interest, like other strangers, places of entertainment, food, accommodation, mysteries, easy money.
Also, is that portal destination determined by music. I mean, if I play a tropical island kinda beach party Waikiki vibe will I end up on a tropical island at a beach party? That'd be pretty cool.

Start with the food."

Fourier

OldGoat wrote: »

He, playing up the human side of his mixed blood, walks over to the nearest guard and engages in conversation.
"Hello my man. Nice spear! I'm a stranger in town and looking to get settled. Could you point me in the direction of anything that might be of interest, like other strangers, places of entertainment, food, accommodation, mysteries, easy money.
Also, is that portal destination determined by music. I mean, if I play a tropical island kinda beach party Waikiki vibe will I end up on a tropical island at a beach party? That'd be pretty cool.

Start with the food."

The guard laughs.

"That's essentially how the gate works, we just sent somebody to Corrilos, I'm guessing you came from there. It's a bard powered gate.

Food and entertainment can be lacking here, it's mainly the palace with the other buildings being preserved for historical reasons, this is the place where Osinzir was founded, with most of the empire in the jungles to the South or on the moons, nobody lives here anymore. Nearest decent restaurant is on the moons, the nearest not decent one is around the castle, "The Kitchen" it would translate as in common, I think it's labelled as such. Though it's food for powering manual work, not for taste.

Any other strangers? A Shadar Kai went by a few moments ago, with a sentient bird and a summoned unicorn, I haven't seen anything that bizarre since last spring with the robot ghost. If you meet her, tell her the dragons want to see her."

OldGoat

"A bard portal, genius idea. Wonder why I never heard about them in bard school. Probably because I was not paying any attention, amIright?!

I'm guessing you see a lot of bards pass through here. Mind if I put a flyer on the portal about a gig that I'm putting together. It's the Woodshock festival and having a portal set up that can take us directly to the festival site would be a thing of logistical beauty. Roadies will love it.

Think I'll find this kitchen and try the food, manual labour or not food is food. If I meet with any Shadar Kai I'll be sure to mention the dragons request.
Bye bye guard and thanks."

Mags heads along the bridge in the direction of the 'Kitchen'.

Fourier

He sees the Kitchen clear enough, steam rising from the open fry at the back. Some workers from the Paddy field that feeds the castle sit about it with large bowls of meat soup.

Another, bigger, crowd has gathered outside a red mansion across the street.

Banjo

Fourier wrote: »

A Shadar Kai went by a few moments ago, with a sentient bird and a summoned unicorn

OOC : Given the shopkeeper spotted my retractable eye without it..uh... tracting, and this guy spotted a magically disguised unicorn and could tell the raven was sentient from a hell of a distance, is it safe to say I would be wasting my time taking Mask of Many Faces as an invocation if the grunt-level NPCs have this kind of power?

OldGoat

Mags is drawn towards the bigger crowd near the mansion. Audience trumps appetite. He ask a couple of lads at the back what's going on.

Fourier

Banjo wrote: »

OOC : Given the shopkeeper spotted my retractable eye without it..uh... tracting, and this guy spotted a magically disguised unicorn and could tell the raven was sentient from a hell of a distance, is it safe to say I would be wasting my time taking Mask of Many Faces as an invocation if the grunt-level NPCs have this kind of power?

OOC: Is there enough info to infer the last line?

Fourier

OldGoat wrote: »

Mags is drawn towards the bigger crowd near the mansion. Audience trumps appetite. He ask a couple of lads at the back what's going on.

One of the crowd turns to face Mags, a rich looking old woman in a floral dress.

"Somebody has entered a mansion, probably looking for an advantage in the race. They haven't used the mansion in the race in a long time. I wonder what they'll find."

OldGoat

"A race, huh? Alright, I'll go see what they are looking for. A little advantage might lead to a little extra coin from a gamblers purse for me.
Nice dress by the way, lovely silloette, it hangs well and you make it look good. I might get one just like it."

Mags marches up to the main door of the mansion, turns, waves to the crowd (irrespective of whether they are watching or not) then goes into the lobby.

Banjo

Fourier wrote: »

OOC: Is there enough info to infer the last line?

OOC : One of them sits in a shop all day accosting young women as they walk by. The other is a guard in a courtyard. Doesn't matter what level they are as characters, those are grunt positions and for PCs set a baseline standard by which the players have to judge all NPCs they encounter when guestimating what kind of power level and/or threat they're facing - if either of them have a problem with that, they need to look at their life choices.

Fourier wrote: »

The box contains more of the language, as well as multiple pictures of this man in various situations. Little else can be told of it.

Ku-uk-kuk!
"Maybe he's tiny and the bird is normal size?"
Kakraaaaw!
"No ****ing way! Look at that damned thing. It's not built for comfort, so like, it's built for purpose, and black crystal isn't exactly screaming rainbows, moonbeams and lollipops to me?"
Awk!
"Yeah, like, some of us aren't immortal extensions of some extraplanar spiritual presence? Don't be a dick. You want to get tentacraped, you go be my guest. I'll give you my ring and everything."
Ke-aw!
"Gross!"

Retula takes a closer look at the disk, and if there's no obvious sign of traps she'll open the box.

OOC : What other situations is the guy on the box seen in, out of interest? Anything that demonstrates he's not tiny? Because Retula is on high alert for a psychotic sparrow-jockey right now

Fourier

Banjo wrote: »

OOC : One of them sits in a shop all day accosting young women as they walk by. The other is a guard in a courtyard. Doesn't matter what level they are as characters, those are grunt positions and for PCs set a baseline standard by which the players have to judge all NPCs they encounter when guestimating what kind of power level and/or threat they're facing - if either of them have a problem with that, they need to look at their life choices.

OOC: What I mean is, you don't know how they are doing what they did, or if even they did the act that obtained that info about you. They're also only two NPCs from the same area of the map/nation. There's no reason to assume either are grunts either, especially the shopkeeper, there have been powerful store owners before.

Fourier

Banjo wrote: »

Retula takes a closer look at the disk, and if there's no obvious sign of traps she'll open the box.

OOC : What other situations is the guy on the box seen in, out of interest? Anything that demonstrates he's not tiny? Because Retula is on high alert for a psychotic sparrow-jockey right now

On the back of the box the man stands with four boys and a woman in some kind of wheat field. From the images he seems normal sized.

The disk is reflective, Retula can clearly see her face in it. When angled correctly in the light there is a slight rainbow like effect on its surface.

Opening the box shows a grove that clearly is meant to hold the disk.

Fourier

OldGoat wrote: »

"A race, huh? Alright, I'll go see what they are looking for. A little advantage might lead to a little extra coin from a gamblers purse for me.
Nice dress by the way, lovely silloette, it hangs well and you make it look good. I might get one just like it."

Mags marches up to the main door of the mansion, turns, waves to the crowd (irrespective of whether they are watching or not) then goes into the lobby.

Mags enters the lobby and sees Retula looking at a box.

Banjo

Fourier wrote: »

On the back of the box the man stands with four boys and a woman in some kind of wheat field. From the images he seems normal sized.

The disk is reflective, Retula can clearly see her face in it. When angled correctly in the light there is a slight rainbow like effect on its surface.

Opening the box shows a grove that clearly is meant to hold the disk.

"Oooooh rainbows! Pretty! Ok, maybe it's not all doom and gloom, it could be a happy chair"
Prk prk prk!
"Don't be smug. Sure, let's do this."
She pops disc into the box and sits in the chair, ensuring she has the cans and opener handy.

And then notices Mags.

"Drummer boy?


What the absolute arwenassa are you doing here?"

OldGoat

"Off all the planes and all the stars somehow we meet up again. Call it fate, call it destiny, call it kismet, we are destined to be together!
...
Or it was just coincidence.
Anyway, good to see you again."
Mags goes into detail about wandering around, getting lost, finding a porttal and the audience outside the mansion.

"...and I've been asked to tell you that the golden dragons would like to have a chat."
So, whats in the box?"

Banjo

"I'll bet they do. Remember the dwarves, little dudes, worshipped another little dude who boned-n-owned a gold dragon, you know - those guys who wanted to get their little fimbrethili inside anything and everything with a heart beat? Had to kill them. I'm sure there's some kind of code says the dragons have to seduce and kill me back. That's how these things work isn't it? Oh, the warlock with the stretchy arms is dead too. Her house exploded in her pocket. Left the immersion on, I think. There's a lesson in there for us all. The devil guy went missing too. Last I saw he headed off into the jungle - I thought he was going back to the Dwarves or the inn, or maybe following you. I guess not?

Did you find the singer in the end?

Anyway, I'm like on a mission from god an' stuff? I have to put my unique talents for drinking tea and sploding things to work fixing the mortality rate around here. I have so much caffeine in my system right now? There's some kind of race, haven't really found out much about it but it's in 2 days and if I win... actually I don't know what happens, but like winning a race - isn't that reward enough? Totes! And you have to meet Death, I swear, if I hadn't been 6 feet under a graveyard already I'd have had to send a pidgeon to tell a funeral director to dig a hole and get a small coffin ready because like I literally died oh my queenie-i-oh! I think he might be a chick or a 'maphri but like it totally doesn't matter, right?

In the box? A disc. I just put it there. Don't know what it does, but I'm sure I'll be regretting it in a couple of minutes - you might want to stand clear. In case I transform into bird seed or shrink down into a tiny little sparrow-rider, Hetyaro said there's something interesting upstairs in the panther room. Oh, and here, I owe you 80gp - those sneaky dwarves had it! And if I die and he's still there, take that boring brown horse."

She whispers theatrically :
"He's really a unicorn! Shhhhhhhhhhh!"

Banjo

Banjo wrote: »

She pops disc into the box and sits in the chair, ensuring she has the cans and opener handy.

Looking sheepish, Retula gets up.
"Ok, so it's just a fugly uncomfortable chair. I mean reaaaaaally uncomfortable, feels like I was stuck in it for days and it's only been a minute. Never mind. Not everything can be an exciting gateway to adventure and tentacle hell. Let's see what that thing in the bedroom is and get moving."

So she does.

Fourier

She seems unable to stand up from the chair. Rising only a few inches off, it is as if carrying a ton weight on her neck, she collapses back down.

Fourier

Three beings made of shadow appear. They are eight feet tall and humanoid.

"What do you want to eat Master?" they ask Retula.

Banjo

"Such a loaded question. At least it's 'what' not 'who' - oh, sorry, look at me judging shadow creature's on appearances, I'm such a hypocrite, sorry. Tell me, muh'dude, what is on offer and what is the price of the meal?"

Fourier

"No price, just the canned food. We go to the kitchen, prepare something from it and feed it to you. You do whatever you want from that chair."

Banjo

".....and if I'm not hungry?"

Fourier

Banjo wrote: »

".....and if I'm not hungry?"

"Enjoy starving to death you disgusting material"

Banjo

"DON'T YOU USE THE M- WORD WITH ME, YOU ZEKYL-FART! I dance with the shadows, I glide through the gloom, I perambulate through the penumbra! I may be a little intangibly-challenged by your standards, but don't you DARE lump me in with those bread baking village builders!

You know what? **** you!"
She puts her feet up on the box the disk is in.
"Go make me a sandwich!"

Fourier

The shadows pause.

"She smells of...the Shadowfell...in the employ of the Queen. We apologise"

They bow releasing the spell on the chair.

Banjo

"Does this mean there's no sandwich?" She asks after exsconsing herself.

"So.... I don't get it. People come in, they sit on the chair, they're trapped, they hate you, you hate them and you have to feed them. Who gets anything out of this? Is it the chair? Is it just mad for the buttcheeks n you guys are cursed to serve it?

What's in the cans? I don't recognise the writing?

Do you guys know anything about a 'booster' hidden in this house?"

OldGoat

Banjo wrote: »

Did you find the singer in the end?

Anyway, I'm like on a mission from god an' stuff?

Hetyaro said there's something interesting upstairs in the panther room.

"Naa, singer was elusive, I only heard the song. I eventually stumbled into a portal that lead me here.

Mission from god? Reminds me of a ballad I once heard:
#It's 106 miles to Zinser, we've got a horse full of oats, half a pack of hobbitweed, it's dark and we're wearing stainedglasses.#

(OOC Bardic inspiration on Banjo on whatever rolls he needs for the next while. The 10 minute time frame of Bardic Inspiration is a bit redundant in this game format though so I'll leave it to Fourier to manipulate the timespace continuem to his hearts desire)

Right, I'm off upstairs to have a look at this panther room. Shout if you get in trouble."

Banjo

OOC : Aw shucks. Guidance on Mags. It's a roll-boosting love-in!

OldGoat

Mags feels a surge of added power and he faintly hears the strains of "The Infernal Galop" giving him guidance. He high steps his way to the stairs and ascend them.

(Thank you Mr. Offenbach)

Fourier

Banjo wrote: »

"Does this mean there's no sandwich?" She asks after exsconsing herself.

"You can still have one if you want...I suppose" the largest shadow says looking at the others confused.

"We've never let somebody out before"

"So.... I don't get it. People come in, they sit on the chair, they're trapped, they hate you, you hate them and you have to feed them. Who gets anything out of this? Is it the chair? Is it just mad for the buttcheeks n you guys are cursed to serve it?

"We're cursed to attend to the chair, by the Lich that brought us here and bound us. The chair is inanimate, it craves little.

However the oath of creatures of the Shadow to the Raven Queen and her power over us is stronger than any binding a mage or lich may place."

What's in the cans? I don't recognise the writing?

"Nothing strange, food of various sorts. The writing is from another plane"

Do you guys know anything about a 'booster' hidden in this house?"

"It's upstairs somewhere"

Fourier

OldGoat wrote: »

Mags feels a surge of added power and he faintly hears the strains of "The Infernal Galop" giving him guidance. He high steps his way to the stairs and ascend them.

The stairs lead him up to a long corridor, with two doors on its Southern side.

Banjo

Fourier wrote: »

"We're cursed to attend to the chair, by the Lich that brought us here and bound us. The chair is inanimate, it craves little.

However the oath of creatures of the Shadow to the Raven Queen and her power over us is stronger than any binding a mage or lich may place."

"Yeah, she's a super lady, that Rayray.

Wow. So what happens to the disgusting Materials who get stuck in the chair?

And if I smash the chair, are you free to go?"