11. Return to O'Hare

[Stonjuz]

Shannigans repositions himself at the ready. He eyes around the corner of the establishment, turns and says, "The Sleeping Dragon seems to have slept thru the attack quite well. That board right there, and that....thing. Other than that.....Compared to that building over there, it's still brand new."

[onlyme]

Kaltar whispers his earlier suggestion about moving the kids to a friend's place into Ewell's ear, for him to impart to the boy, as he seems to have the best rapport with the youngster.
"we can then press on to the temple which seems the obvious next step with no worries about these little ones' safety." he finishes..

Ewelll asks, Young man, do you have a safer house to go to, or do you feel safe enough here?

[Computer +1]

Strom listens to the exchange between Ewell and the boy in silence. When Ewell mentions a safe house Strom speaks up. We cannot abandon these children and move on. We also cannot take them further into danger. Some of us should stay guard them and perhaps use this place as a gathering point for any additional survivors we find. His face turns red as he adds I will not see any more innocents die here.

[Alethan]

"Sod it all, what is takin' those blokes so long?"Gwillt asks nobody in particular...

"What's that, Shanny?" He looks at the other buildings. "Yeah, wonder why they burned some and not the rest?"

[dmw71]

Grim notices that Shanny isn't also in the room, shrugs his shoulders and heads for the stairs up.

Grimnail shrugs his shoulders once he realizes the halfling he was addressing is no longer in the same room. Knowing he will be of little assistance in the discussions with the young children, he spots the stairway heading up in the northeast corner of the main room. He decides to take a look.

For following is for tooleychris only:

Please wrap your actions inside a 'spoiler' tag when replying with your actions, unless your actions are something the rest of the party will be aware of.

---

You ascend the stairway in the far corner of the room which ends at a door, which I assume you'll open. The door opens into a hallway running east-west (or west-east, if you prefer). A series of doors stagger either end of this hallway.

Upper Level

Code: Select all

____w______w_____W_______
|       |     |    |___v|
|   9   |  8  |  7 |  |v|
|       |     |    |6 |v|
|___x___|___x_|_x__|_x|x|
|                       |
|___x_______x_______x___|
|    |    |    |        |
| 13 | 12 | 11 |   10   |
|    |    |    |        w
|_w__|_w__|_w__|___w____|

v's = stairs
x's = doors
w's = windows

[dmw71]

Shannigans repositions himself at the ready. He eyes around the corner of the establishment, turns and says, "The Sleeping Dragon seems to have slept thru the attack quite well. That board right there, and that....thing. Other than that.....Compared to that building over there, it's still brand new."

"Sod it all, what is takin' those blokes so long?" Gwillt asks nobody in particular...

"What's that, Shanny?" He looks at the other buildings. "Yeah, wonder why they burned some and not the rest?"

The pair come to the conclusion, whether accurate or not, that the invaders did the most damage in the immediate areas they entered, leaving the further parts of the city relatively unharmed.

---

Ewelll asks, "Young man, do you have a safer house to go to, or do you feel safe enough here? Landon insists on remaining in his parents inn. "This is where me parents are gonna look for me." he insists. "Besides, I can take care of meself" he stays, efforting to raise the longsword he still holds in his hand.

Strom, listening to the exchange between Ewell and the boy in silence. "We cannot abandon these children and move on. We also cannot take them further into danger. Some of us should stay guard them and perhaps use this place as a gathering point for any additional survivors we find." His face turns red as he adds "I will not see any more innocents die here."


The kids will not leave the inn. I just need to know how the party plans on proceeding.

[Alethan]

Gwillt waits outside with Shanny...

[onlyme]

Ewell looks at the little boy with pride and says, Young man, you have the bravery needed to be a great knight like me one day. He chuckles and teases, Your swordfighting skills may restrict you to being a ranger, however. Are there kitchen knives you can use instead? They would be much more effective, if you need it. Keep your lady here safe, and we will return to you.

He turns to Strom, I believe they will be safer here than out in the unfamiliar streets with us. Let's just patch up that window, best we can. and hurry onward.

[Stonjuz]

Having thoroughly scannied the immediate area, the halfling, Shannigans, goes up to the ranger and says, "We should walk thru the winery, in that direction, on our way as we approach the fires." He motions to his winesack, with isn't sitting as low on the belt as before. "I bet everyone needs to fill up, and I bet they forget to look for some while they are inside."
He stands back and gets another full view of the Dragon and tries to visualize this being his place someday.

[dmw71]

While Shannigans and Gwilt replenish their supplies in the wine locker, the group inside the inn goes about patching the broken window to the best of their ability. Ewell looks at the little boy with pride and says, "Young man, you have the bravery needed to be a great knight like me one day." He chuckles and teases, "Your swordfighting skills may restrict you to being a ranger, however. Are there kitchen knives you can use instead? The boy simply scoffs at the knight. "I can handle it," he insists, tightening the grip on his sword.

As the makeshift repairs on the window near completion and the group prepares to set out, Ewell says to the boy: "Keep your lady here safe, and we will return to you."


The group inside the inn exit and locate Shannigans and Gwilt; replenishing their liquid supplies before turning their attention to the temple.



The party follows the trail to the north of the Sleeping Dragon, cautiously advancing on the temple. Shannigans stops the group short of the temple however. "The smells are coming from here," he says, indicating the longer, vertical building west of the temple (see '< Party >' on map). "I'm certain of it."

Code: Select all

                                                                                            =============================
                                                                                            |                            |
                                                                                            |                            |
                                                                                            |                            |
                                                               Smells?                      |       ______________       |
                                                               .  .    ...................> |       |            |       |
                                                              .    .                        |       |            |       |
                                                             .      .                       |       |     |      |       |
                                                           __v__     .                      |       |     |      |       |
                 |          ______________                 |  ?|      .                     |       |   --|--    |       |
                 |          |           ?|                 |   |       .                    |       |     |      |       |
            ____ |          |            |                 |   |       v                    |       |     |      |       |
            |  ?|| _____    |____________|                 |   |      ____                  |       |     |      |       |
        ___ |___|| |   ?|       x    x                     |   |      | ?|                  |       |            |       |
       /   \     | |    |       x    x                     |___|  \/  |__|                  |       |____________|       |
   ___/___  \    | |    | \     xxxxxx              < Party >    |                         |                            |
   |    ?|   \   | |____|  |                                     /                          |                            |
   |     |    \--|---------|------------------------------------/----------------           |                            |
   |_____|       |                  |                                             \         ============o===0============
                 |   ___________    |                                              \                      |
                 |  | Sleeping  |   |               ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~             \                     |
                 |  | Dragon    |   |              ~   ~  ~  ~  ~   ~   ~            \                    |
                 |  |  Inn      |   /\            ~ ~  ~  ~   ~  ~   ~   ~            \                   |
                 |  |    _______| _/  \          ~ ~  ~  ~   ~  ~   ~   ~   ~          \                  |
                 |  |    |     __      ^          ~   ~  ~ ~  ~   ~   ~   ~   ~         \                 |
                 |  |    |    |  |    / \          ~   ~   ~   ~   ~   ~   ~   ~         \                |
                 |  |____| ___|  |   /   \         ~  ~  ~   ~   ~   ~   ~   ~  ~         \               |
                 |         | wine|  / ___ \         ~   ~  ~   ~   ~   ~     ~   ~         \              |
                 |         |_____| | |   |__      ~~   ~  ~   ~   ~   ~   ~   ~   ~    ____ \             |
                 |                   |__   ?|    ~   ~ ~  ~   ~   ~   ~   ~   ~   ~    | ?|--\            |
                 |                      |   |   ~   ~  ~   ~   ~   ~     ~   ~   ~     |__|   \           | 
                 |                      |___|  %  ~  ~  ~   ~   ~     ~   ~   ~   ~            \          |
                 v                           %% ~~ ~  ~   ~   ~   ~   ~   ~  ~   ~  ~           \         |

[Alethan]

Gwillt puts his ear to the side of the building to see if he can detect any sounds coming from within. If he can't, then he'll sneak around the sides of the building, looking for a window to peak in. If he finds none, and ends up at the door to the building, then he'll listen at the door.

[dmw71]

As the party veers towards this longer building, Gwilt, and the rest of the group for that matter, hears the unmistakable sound of conversations taking place within this establishment. Though the tones are kept low, little effort is being taken to hide the fact that the place is occupied. Gwilt, when he takes a closer listen even believes he hears someone humming.

[Alethan]

OOC: Do they sound like they're speaking common? Doe they sound pleasant? Or is it a heated discussion? Guess the humming answers that, but just wanted to confirm.
Gwillt relays that information to the rest.

[dmw71]

OOC: Do they sound like they're speaking common? Doe they sound pleasant? Or is it a heated discussion? Guess the humming answers that, but just wanted to confirm.

While you're not able to make out the exact words being spoken, the discussions sound civil, and you suspect them to be conversing in common.

[onlyme]

I say we just knock on the door...Must have timed it to the annual temple homecoming covered-dish supper.

[Alethan]

Completely astounded that there might be people inside, possibly enjoying themselves (?), after half of the town was leveled and most of the town has been abandoned, Gwillt once again scans the surrounding area, looking for any signs of a lookout or watch before moving around to the front of the building.

[tooleychris]

DM just informed me Grimnail looked around upper level of Dragon Inn, found nothing, returned to party as repairs were finishing to window.

[dmw71]

While what is heard is hardly revelry, Gwilt is surprised to hear people congregating and possibly enjoying themselves so soon after the attack that befell the town. Yet, the available evidence (sights and smells) suggests that people are actually enjoying a meal behind the closed door.

While multiple distinct voices can be heard (but not understood), it's impossible to ascertain how many individuals might be found within.

[tooleychris]

Now dis be a queer things." whispering Grim
"Deys leavin der pups in da inn der lonesome, and havin a good'ol time in der? '
He looks to the others confused.

[dmw71]

DM just informed me Grimnail looked around upper level of Dragon Inn, found nothing, returned to party as repairs were finishing to window.

Yes, sorry for the oversight.