Tale #1: The Camel Train

[Samwell Turleton]

Ned may be the tidiest person in the Casketlands based on your first impression of the room. Every place where Ned’s belongings are in the room is impressively tidy. There is clothing crisply folded in a small pile, papers neatly stacked on a wood table, and a pair of boots neatly lined up at the foot of the bed. The room appears to have been swept clean recently but a little red dust has settled on the windowsill and on the floor below. On a side table next to the bed there are small jars with cork stoppers lined up carefully. The bed has an impression in the middle but the sheets are still tucked in at the sides and foot of the bed. Ned was perhaps sleeping on top of the sheets, you presume.

[jemmus]

Brimston finds all of this tidiness a little abnormal. What kind of fella spends all of his time folding his clothes and tucking in his blankets? But he didn't get that dust around the winda. Which might mean that it came in after he disappeared. And Molly said the door was locked. Ipso facto, he probably went through that winda. He goes over to it and looks around for signs of anything unusual or interesting.
Smooth (Investigate) [2d6-1] = 3-1 = 2

[Urson]

Tex Arcana
Tex sits up in bed, throws his knife at the door, then wakes up. Some damnfool stompin' around... he thinks.
A few minutes later, he walks into the dim hallway, still adjusting his hat. He's a small, lean man, sun- and wind-burned by years spent out in the wastes. Time has etched away the fat, so he's little more than skin, bone, and sinew. Occasionally, a small pebble or puff of dust comes from his clothes as he moves. A long-legged coyote walks at his heels.
Hey! Who's makin' all the damn noise out here! Ya'll woke me up! Ain't slept in a bed with real sheets since... His voice trails off as he moves down the hallway.
Worthless, find! The coyote stalks down the hall, sniffing at the air.

[Samwell Turleton]

Brimston walks over to the window and finds that the window isn't locked and there isn't a mechanism to lock it if you even wanted to. You look down in the dust and move your foot - you see that you have left a footprint and around it you also see what looks to be letters in the dust - is that a C with a line through the middle, or an E with a curve?

Tex throws his knife at the door and chips off a piece of wood. The knife sticks firmly in the door and then Tex wakes up. He walks lightly as he goes into the hallway with the dust shedding from his clothes in small puffs.

He shouts his question down the hall and his coyote Worthless stalks at his heels until it is given a command, there is no answer to who is makin' all the damn noise.

Worthless, find!, he says and the coyote approaches the open door sniffing at the air. It paws at the wood threshold into the room. This is the kind of behavior you saw it exhibit when you rescued it. You saw and knew that its litter was sick from eating some bad meat but this one was too small to get a share. It was saved by its size. It pawed at the ground next to its litter mates as they lay with tongues lolling out of the sides of their mouths panting in the shade of some rocks.

Worthless begins to snarl as it picks up the scent of Brimston by the window.

Tex deduces that the occupant of the room was ill. Brimston discovers his own footprint, some other glyphs in the dust, and that there is no latch on this window.

[Urson]

Tex Arcana
Tex raps the foot of his staff on the floor, the bell making an off-key 'clank'. Mister, was that you stompin' around out here? You woke me up from the best sleep I've had in weeks.
He glances at the coyote, noticing his behavior. Worthless says there was a sick man here- you got the gleet? Dust-rot, maybe?

[jemmus]

Brimston was deep in thought about what may be a c with a bar through it or a poorly-written e and the other glyphs. He's startled by Tex Arcana's and Worthless's sudden appearance, and especially by the coyote's snarling. Whoa, you fellas gave me a start there! Brother Brimston is my name, I'm a priest of the Bearer of Burdens. Raises his hands and looks upward for a second, then says, Pleased to meet you. That's a fine, err... canine you have there. Tips his hat while keeping an eye on the coyote. Notices that the stranger's clothes are even dustier than his own cassock and face, makes a mental note to remember to wipe himself down before tomorrow morning's sermon.

Well, I won't lie to you, yes that was me stomping. I'm sorry to have disturbed your sleep. You see, I was about to enter the room across from yours and I didn't want to startle any occupant. Who might possess a firearm, don't you know. Winks. You see, I'm trying to do a good deed and find a missing fella named Ned. This is-- or maybe was-- his room. I don't have the gleet or dust-rot or any other malady. If your companion there is smelling some kind of pestilence, it must have been on Ned. Or maybe on a visitor of missing Ned's. If you know what I mean. Takes a quick sidelong glance at Worthless to see what its mood or intentions might be.

[Samwell Turleton]

Worthless takes a more relaxed posture now that Tex is talking to Brother Brimston. Tex peers into the room and has a similar first impression, Ned may just be the tidiest person the Casketlands has ever seen. He notices the clothing, papers, boots, and small jars with cork stoppers lined up carefully on the bedside table.

Feel free to continue the introduction to one another or look around in more detail.

Tex doesn't necessarily know about Ned's disappearance although he may have heard the scream, or slept through it...your choice.

[Urson]

Tex Arcana
Ned? What do you mean? Ned's missing? He glances down at Worthless, who is sitting with his tail wrapped around his feet. No, I didn't hear no yelling, Worthless. If you heard somethin', why din't you go look?

Tex enters the room, squatting to inspect the bottles on the nightstand. He squints, trying to make out the labels. Worthless keeps his spot at the door.

[jemmus]

Brimston
I was just about to take a look at those little bottles myself. They all have the same stuff in them? Are any of them empty? Like, Ned could have drank one?
Brimston doesn't mention the glyphs just yet, thinks That fella looks honest enough, be he hasn't introduced himself. He knows my name, but I don't know his. ot a good situation, in the event of woojy conjuring. I know the coyote's name is Worthless, but that's pretty useless. He tries to quickly and unnoticeably go into his Zone and he mentally speaks a prayer. Oh wise and mighty B.O.B., would you give me a little help here please? Specifically, would you mind telling me what these glyphs or sigils mean?
Conjure [2d6] = 7

[Urson]

Tex Arcana
Tex glances up from the bottles. Name's Tex. Tex Arcana. Occupation: Fool. he continues studying the bottles
investigate:[2d6] = 5-1

[Samwell Turleton]

Tex goes into the room to the nightstand and squints at the bottles. The bottles are all brown glass with worn paper labels on them. A few of the bottles appear to be the same and they have varying amounts of liquid or pastes left in them. You read the label of the bottles and see that there are some distinct types: Elijah's Topical Cream for Body Crawling Insects, Yellow 88 Wart Removal Tincture, Molly's House Sleep Remedy, and the last that only appears to be unique has a picture of a Coyote standing within the coils of a Red Snake.

Brimston says a little prayer. The wind blows a little bit against the window. The frame of the window rattles a little against the jamb. Brimston looks up and out the window and he sees a little activity in the street. His horse is looking a little uneasy at its hitching post. A wren lands on the back of Brimston's horse and it sings a little song, twee twee twee twee twee twee twee.

[Urson]

Tex Arcana
Looks like Ned is sick from a lot of stuff- or at least he thinks he is. Tex stands up, his knees making loud crackling sounds. He pulls the sheets down on the bed and waves Worthless up onto it.
Get his scent, Worthless- then we'll try and find him.

[jemmus]

Brother Brimston
Pleased to meet you, Tex. Yes, it does seem like Ned was concerned about his health, in addition to be overly tidy. That bottle with coyote and snake looks like woojy to me. I wonder if Ned drank any of the contents? I'd take the whole batch of bottles with me, if I were you. Ned might be suffering from warts, crawling bugs, or bad sleep when we find him. Anyway something funny's going on in the street, I got to go check on my horse. You want to come along?
Brimston heads down the hallway and toward the street, hoping to have a chance to tip his fairly new straw cowboy hat to Molly again along the way.

[Samwell Turleton]

Worthless jumps up onto and sniffs around the sheets and then comes back down to the floor. The sheets pulled down prove more interesting to the coyote. Worthless takes some deep sniffs. The coyote stalks across the room towards Brimston by the window.

I am assuming Brimston hasn’t yet moved from the window at this point but is about to if you want to interact with Worthless. I will move on to Brimston heading to the street soon.

[Samwell Turleton]

Please both of you roll an Assess.

[jemmus]

Yes, Brimston is still in the room waiting for Tex Arcana's reply.
Brimston looks down at Worthless. Hello there, fella. What are you doing over here when you're looking for Ned? Is his scent somehow on me?
Assess [2d6-1] = 7-1 = 6

[Urson]

Tex Arcana
Naw- he says you're standing in his way. He tells me Ned went out the window. No, Worthless, I ain't tellin' him that! It's rude, anyway.

Tex collects the bottles in his poke. They rattle and clink as he stands.
Let's go, Preacher. Worthless thinks he knows what direction Ned went.

[jemmus]

Brimston eyes Worthless and gives the coyote a kind of semi-baleful look. Alright, that's good news about Ned. Lead the way, Mr. Arcana. He lets Worthless and Tex Arcana get a little ahead, then lifts his cassock collar up, puts his nose in, and takes a quick sniff. Not too bad. Must have been something else that desert dog was insulting me about. It never occurs to him to think it strange that Tex and his coyote can speak to each other. Instead, he thinks, So Tex is connected to the Real too. He might be a good spiritual ally, if I can get him to understand the teaching.

[Urson]

Tex Arcana sorry- I meant to post, but forgot.

Tex moseys down the hall and out to the street, with Worthless at his heels. When they get to the area below Ned's window, Tex squats down and locks eyes with Worthless. All right, you bag of bones- FIND.
[2d6] = 9-1

[Samwell Turleton]

Tex and Brimston make their way out into the street. Brimston sees that his horse is shuffling a little and biting at the bit. It still is looking a little uneasy but it isn't clear why. The wren sitting on its rear quarters continues to sing its song, twee twee twee twee twee twee twee until Worthless gets into the street. The little bird flies off to the roof above you and near the window to Ned's room.

Worthless sniffs around in the street and heads around to the corner post holding up the porch roof. The coyote sniffs intently at the base of the porch before sitting down in the shadow and out of the sun.

Brimston's collar is a little musty smelling but it isn't so bad as to offend a coyote.