March 2-3: The Old 19th and Events Thereafter

[Marullus]

Gul-Marach, Priest of Vorn

Mathias makes his way down the stair. The Inquisitors get further ahead in the tunnels below. The moaning continues outside the doors. Time ticks, short and precious. Gul-Marach turns to Ballar Uh, "Restrain him." He looks down at the seagull-turned-vagrant, then to Morgan, Biblo and Zaent. "What would you do with him?"

[Mister-Kent]

Biblo
You easily snap off a sizeable section of a blood-candle from the central altar. It is surprisingly dry to the touch--in fact, observing the floor around the altar of overturned benches, the pool of blood Rolf left behind has been entirely absorbed into the waxy mass, leaving naught but reddish stains on the hardwood floor.

Poe takes position on your shoulder, regarding the newly revealed Zachariah with a quiet coo.

Zachariah
Your skin tingles--one thousand blunted pins prickling up each arm. The forced transformation from feathers back to plain bare flesh itches fiercely. Your eyes haven't fully changed back yet, but you can slowly feel the lenses revert back to their humanoid configuration.

Mathias
The broken stairs lead you down to an earthen tunnel, a dozen feet wide and not quite ten feet tall. It winds right, then left for a longer span, and right again. You can hear the soldiers at the far end of the tunnel, their voices echoing loudly.

What is the marching order going down? Mathias at the lead, then presumably Gul-Marach, and--? Anyone staying topside?

[Inferno]

Zaent Darkhand, elvish rogue:

Zaent looked at the mad vagrant."What the hell?! Who the @#$% are you? And what are you doing here?"

I agree with Biblo/Grognard. Let's send the stealthier ones first: Mathias, Ballar Uh, Morgan, Zaent. The second wave can sort out the Druid, if everyone is amenable to that.

[Fulci]

Yeah, let's keep the filthy/gorgeous, uhh, I mean, stealthy/magicky teams here as well. Mathias, Ballar Uh, Morgan, Zaent go down first. The rest stay back and sort out the Druid-gull.

Ballar Uh, fighter/assassin thing

Ballar Uh is getting ready for descent when the sea-gull turns back into a human.

"I remember seeing him at the marketplace," he says. "Wreaked some havoc there. Didn't seem to be connected with the Penitents or the Regent's men."

"Time is running out, we have to go down. I say, you interrogate this birdman and follow us later on. He might be pulled by the same tide, but that doesn't mean we are in the same boat."

After these words, he follows Matthias into the tunnel.

[Pulpatoon]

Zacharias Gull, late to the party

The vagrant, still on the ground, rakes his rough fingernails over his limbs, scratching at feathers he no longer possess. "I be Tar, Zacharias Tar. A sailor upon the seas of salt and of prophecy. Would ye welcome me aboard yer crew?

"There be strange tides at play in this quarter. An' I'd set me course into the typhoon and sink a dagger in the heart of the whirlpool, for the sake of this city. "

[jellyfish]

Morgan/Thief

"If no one objects, I'll take the rear," says Morgan carefully avoiding the seagull/druid with a barely concealed looked of disgust. Giving the druid a sidelong glance she mutters, "Hope you don't have fleas..."

Morgan descends following her fellow Delvers with an arrow nocked on her bow.


Sorry about posting sporadically, but it's been very busy between work, selling a house, and buying a new house.

[Inferno]

Zaent Darkhand, elvish rogue:

Zaent descends also, bow in his left hand. He glanced at it and noted the hour.

[Fulci]

Ballar Uh, fighter/assassin thing

Ballar Uh has his crossbow ready.

Sorry, forgot to add this.

[Mister-Kent]

It is now half-past the hour of nine...

(My next update may be rather involved, so I'd prefer to post it from home this evening. Feel free to continue investigation or interrogation, but I won't be progressing the tunnel venture until a bit later...)

[Marullus]

"Time is running out, we have to go down. I say, you interrogate this birdman and follow us later on. He might be pulled by the same tide, but that doesn't mean we are in the same boat."

Gul-Marach blinks, considering. "Huh. I didn't know he did analogies." He shakes his head, looking back at Zachariah Tar, who despite direction has not been restrained, and so far seems to not have needed to be. He considers those left in the rear group... which is only himself and Biblo, to deal with the bird-man. "Biblo, question this prophet and decide if I truss him like a boar and put him in that cupboard, or if he can be trusted to come with us. I will secure these chapel doors against the Sounders, as a precaution." Leaving Biblo in charge of Zachariah for the moment, he lumbers back to the doors, swinging them closed and hefting the crossbars back into place with his prodigious strength.

[Grognardsw]

Biblo and the Birdman

"What is this whirlpool you seek to stop? What do you know of Jovah and this church?"

[Pulpatoon]

Zacharias Tar looks up and Biblio. "Ye're the raven's mate, aye? I'd save ye the trouble of tying me up. I have drunk from the chalice of Proteus; I have tasted the inconstancy of the Abyss, and ye'd do as well to bind the wave. And I've no notion to scamper off, now have I?"

The vagrant stands up, gives his chest one last bout of scratching, and then pats himself down, checking his meager possessions. (Did his staff and shield make through his transformations, or are they laying in the road where he first turned into a seagull?)

Again, to Biblio, "Whirlpool? Oh, aye. The visions come upon me. This was a strong one—there is a terrible wave about to crash upon this city, and we have dismantled our defenses. The breakwall that once kept us safe has been torn down. We have invited the wrack and the ruin."

He sighs. "The fever of the prophecy tain't on me now. I'm as much audience t' me words as you. I reckon there's reason me feet carried me to this quarter, but can't rightly say. And I don't know Jovah, nor his church. Is that it, there?" He gestures to the sunken temple.

[Grognardsw]

"Aye, Poe the raven is mine. What are these 'defenses' you speak of?" asks Biblo.

[Mister-Kent]

Zachariah Tar
Upon your reversal to human form, your staff and shield, which had been melded into your avian form, clatter to the wooden floor loudly.

Mathias
As you descend into the passage, you find yourself immersed in your element--the darkness beneath the ground, the untouched womb of earth. With every step you can sense a gentle slope. Brushing your hands against the dirt wall surrounding you, your fingertips find little cracks, tiny creases that widen into greater fissures as they stretch up to the ceiling. Your keen eyes see the flicker of torchlight from the end of the tunnel.

Zaent descends after, then Ballar Uh, and then Morgan at the rear. Zaent, your infravision enables you to see the faint firelight that Mathias catches. The two trailing humans soon find themselves in utter darkness, forced to follow their strange allies closely. Before you all leave the light from above, you all notice lengthy striations in the earthen floor--long ruts that suggest large items have been dragged down here from upstairs.

Gul-Marach
As you approach the great double doors, you observe the melted wax on the door's handles. It's really rather ridiculous now--the stuff seems to be everywhere! There is even some on the door, in a pattern like writing. There were similar markings on the outside of the doors--that is, until you all saw the Captain wipe them away. The message before you looks like it says, "HEAR US" in large, desperate letters.

At the door, the sound of low moaning comes sporadically from multiple directions. You catch the briefest glimpse of something moving along the upper ridge of the crater. Humanlike, and lurching towards the drop-off where your party climbed down the ropes.

You close the doors, and bear the heavy crossbar into place.

Your Maps:

[Enoch]

Mathias, Changeling

Sighing softly as he runs his fingers over the ruined surface of the earth, torn asunder in the cataclysm that swallowed the chapel, Mathias bares his teeth in a feral grin as he creeps down the passageway after the soldiers. His feet brush softly over the slope as it falls away into the bowels of the earth, and the changeling follows after, hoping to catch a glimpse of the trailing guardsmen.

[Pulpatoon]

Zacharias Tar shrugs. "The Abyss puts the Prophecy in me eyes, and the Prophecy puts the Words on me tongue. The Words is meant to be heard, but I don't ken by whom."

[Marullus]

Gul-Marach thunks the beams in place and turns, striding back across the floor. He looks squarely at Zachariah Tar. "We descend, and move with secrecy. If you begin to be... 'moved' by your god, I will silence you myself, and do not promise it will not be permanent." He stares at him solemnly, letting that sink in. "If your god has you here for a purpose and you are warned regarding the defense of the city against the threats here, then you may serve with common purpose. Move."

He addresses Biblo as he walks towards the stairs. "Can you discretely light our path, or shall I light a torch? We must be within earshot behind the group, but not seen before it is time."

[Fulci]

Ballar Uh, fighter assassin

Ballar Uh moves carefully in the darkness, relying on his other senses - listening to the unidentified, small, strange noises of the tunnel, inhaling the foul air. He envies Mathias the gnome for his natural ability to see in such circumstances. A morbid thought enters Ballar Uh's mind... The Mistress Alea hand-picked each body-part she needed to assemble her most faithful servant, Ballar Uh. So what if he were to stab this little gnome in the back, right under the left shoulder blade, cut out those precious dark-penetrating-eyes, and insert them into his own skull?! He lifts his dagger, ready to strike--- but then stops. Madness, sinful thoughts in the darkness.

Ballar uh continues down the unlit path, trying to get in position, as close to the next section as possible.

[Pulpatoon]

"We descend, and move with secrecy. If you begin to be... 'moved' by your god, I will silence you myself, and do not promise it will not be permanent." He stares at him solemnly, letting that sink in. "If your god has you here for a purpose and you are warned regarding the defense of the city against the threats here, then you may serve with common purpose. Move."

Zacharias Tar: "The Abyss ain't me god, it jus' tis. But I take yer meaning. Don't fret, the Prophecies ain't like a fit of sneezes."

He collects his staff and wooden shield from the floor.

[Grognardsw]

Biblo, arcanist

Zacharias Tar shrugs. "The Abyss puts the Prophecy in me eyes, and the Prophecy puts the Words on me tongue. The Words is meant to be heard, but I don't ken by whom."

"Ah yes, of course, put it that way and it's obvious," mutters Biblo. "Well if the spirit moves you again, do let me know. Let us follow the others and be careful."