CH. 9: Winter is Coming

[djhyland]

Arulia stops looking around for danger and starts, for the first time in a long time, really observing her surroundings. She's always, for some reason, been able to notice things that her sisters have trouble seeing, like the source of the draft that always kept their bedroom colder than the rest of the house, or even the best of the hiding places her sisters would choose when they were younger and still interested in playing hide-and-seek games. Maybe, she thinks, her sharp eyes can find similarly hidden details in this room, and maybe even clues as to Belzor's current whereabouts.

(OOC: Arulia is attempting to use her heightened half-elven senses to search for secret doors or compartments in the room.)

[spyguy1503]

Ne-Chanz also describes the girls to the two. "Have you seen or heard of them?"
Sense Lies and Motive checks.

[chese780]

Felran just keeps looking around, inspecting the weapons on the wall/wherever they are.

(OOC: We have motive checks? Waat?)

[JadedDM]

Haahqae, Gregeddin, Tulbas, Arulia, Gobax and Shima (Deserted Building)
Shima looks over the snake statue but finds no sign of any moving parts. If it is a petrified snakeman, he has no way of knowing for sure. It seems unlikely though. One would think a petrified snakeman would look better; this one was crudely made.

He, Gobax, Tulbas and Gregeddin all work together to topple the statue over. With the four of them, it tips over easily and breaks into several large pieces upon hitting the floor. Everyone in the room feels a tingle go down their spines as the magical field it was generating is dispersed.

Only Haahqae and Tulbas realize what just happened. Belzor must have enchanted the statue to radiate an anti-scrying field. That was how he evaded the clerics of Takhisis and their divination spells. When they broke the statue, they ended the spell. It is no longer protected, so anyone who wanted to could scry on it if they chose.

Arulia searches the room carefully, but finds no secret doors.

(OOC:
Haahqae makes a spellcraft check [TN 12] (1d20): 5, pass.
Tulbas makes a spellcraft check [TN 17] (1d20): 10, pass.
Arulia makes a secret door search check [TN 2] (1d6): 5, fail.)

Kendra Greylock (Outside the Ivy Inn)
"So what now?" asks the woman. "Are you bringing me in instead or can I go?"

Felran and Ne-Chanz (Una's Weaponsmithy)
"I'm fine," says the girl. She looks to be around 14 years old. She winces as she finishes wrapping up her hand. "It was my fault. I was clumsy."

The owner, Una, listens to the minotaur describe the two women. "Not familiar with them," she says. "But unless they work for the army or the church, I doubt they'll ever come by here. They are the only ones I can legally sell weapons to." As far as Ne-Chanz can tell, she isn't lying. But he's never been good at telling the difference.

Felran examines some of the weapons on the wall. He sees a masterwork long sword. The pommel has been carved to resemble five dragon heads screaming in unison.

(OOC: Not formally, but I do sometimes let a WIS check stand in for one.

Ne-Chanz makes a WIS check [TN 8] (1d20): 16, fail.)

[chese780]

Felran turns to the owner, "That must mean that this sword is for someone special in the army. Tell me. If anyone were to have made this *motions towards the mw longsword*, It would be you correct?"

(OOC: Details on what the sword is made of and if it has any ornate inlays would be nice.)

[TristenC]

Grubnick searches the area beneath and behind the statue for any secret doors.

[Chris1234]

"So, what do we want to do next?" asks Shima. "I'm happy to try and help. Even better though if whatever it is might produce enough coin to put food on the table."
He shrugs disarmingly to show he wasn't complaining.

Shima goes back to the store room to the west of the hallway (but the cheap pink jug) and looks around for any moving/sliding stonework or doors etc.
Then looks for anything vaguely valuable.
(The price of a few meals would count as vaguely valuable at this point).

[Haahque]

"Well that was interesting. It appears that the statue there was used by the cult to prevent any spells from scrying them. Now that the protection is gone, I imagine the church will find out about this place eventually, so we should probably tell them about it, and mention that we wiped out the resistance here. Who knows, maybe they'll be grateful enough to give us a reward worth a meal or two."

[TristenC]

Grubnick shakes his hea regretfully, They need to know Belzor escaped somehow... that way maybe they can find and stop him...

[HorizonsDream]

"I don't think you actually did anything, so you are free to go," Kendra says. "If you don't have a home to go to," she adds. "I can give you a few steel pieces so you can stay at an inn tonight, and get some food."

[djhyland]

Arulia can't help but sulk a bit in disappointment. It's not that she's disappointed that Belzor escaped--she'd rather not put her life or those of the others at risk if she doesn't need to, but that there's nothing of value here. Somehow, she'd convinced herself that taking this risky job would solve all her family's problems.

"I suppose the best thing to do now is to find the thieves," she says. "Unless anyone has a better idea?"

[Chris1234]

From the storeroom Shima calls out, "Who's Belzar anyway? Why were you after him?"

[spyguy1503]

"Hmmm...." Ne-Chanz mutters. He steps over to inspect the sword. "A fine piece of work. Who is it for?"

[JadedDM]

Haahqae, Gregeddin, Tulbas, Arulia, Gobax and Shima (Deserted Building)
Gobax doesn't see any hidden doors under the now broken statue. Likewise, Shima doesn't find any secrets in the storage room. It contains a number of barrels and sacks, a few crates and an old, green rug that is rolled up. There's an old vase, a bear skin rug, and a pile of rags. A dresser contains several human sized brown robes.

Kendra Greylock (Outside the Ivy Inn)
The woman chuckles. "If I were homeless, they'd have shipped me off to the slave mines already. I have some people who look after me." She turns away, but looks back over her shoulder. "You're a weird one. I don't think you're a good dragonarmy soldier, but that's a good thing. See you around." She heads down the street, disappearing into the crowds.

Kendra notices that it's getting late. The party will be starting in an hour or so. She still needs to get home, change, and then get to the prefect's estate, too.

Felran and Ne-Chanz (Una's Weaponsmithy)
The sword is made of steel. It does not have any special inlays. "There is one more weaponsmith in the town," the smith says to Felran. "In the Merchant District. Named Querida." She shrugs. "I'm better."

To Ne-Chanz, she replies, "That one? Nobody, really. We're just using it as a template. That's how all the swords we're making for the army are supposed to look."

[mgbevan]

Gregeddin tries to lift the mood of the group, "At least Belzor can be tracked now, which should help stop any more abominations being created, and the church may compensate us for our efforts... But that is not a guarantee." Gregeddin pauses thinking for a minute. "As for something that I can do to help towards compensation, since we did promise it initially, I undersatnd that a number of you are staying at the local inns. I know this costs money in rent and to put food on the table, so I offer that you can stay with me if you'd like to reduce your living costs and don't object to the company. It might not be much with a group of us jammed in my house, and I'll need to find some more furniture to sort out sleeping space, but this is something I'd like to offer in appreciation."

The bard continues, "As for what we do next, I think this has lead us to a dead end. So we should keep a look out for those thieves and report our findings to the church."