Chapter 1 - Amateur Style Mercenaries

[Antman9]

(Aedilberct) [Defense: 11][AR: 0] (HP: 30/30)
Action: Relaxes

Aedilberct relaxes a little then eyes the spot where the beast had previously been digging, he mumbles to himslef, "Hmmm, I wonder..." then moves to the straw pile and begins moving straw around.

[MonkeyWrench]

Aedilberct Summary

As Aedilberct starts rifling through the large pile of hay he comes across what can only be described as a foot. Further investigation reveals that said foot is attached to a slender and slightly tanned leg, and that the leg has a twin with a foot attached to it, and a torso, and some arms, and... he found an unconscious Dalish woman.

Looking over the womans features she seems to be fairly young, with smooth tanned skin and white, possibly bleached, hair. Tattoo markings cover her face and arms, she seems to be wielding two Dalish daggers and is covered in light leather armor, the same make that the Dalish hunter, that he helped kill the Blight Wolf with, is wearing

[Beefy]

((Sorry about that. Tried to post from my phone since I had access to wifi, but not my laptop.))

Malzahel's knees buckled once the beast went down. He fell to one knee, but worked through the pain and exhaustion, standing. His injured leg was shaking, but once he noticed Aedilberct going through the hay, he remembered. "Eshara!" He climbed down as quickly as he could, going over to the hay and joining Aedilberct. He knew he completely ignored Athras, but that didn't matter to him right now. Eshara was injured, maybe dead. His friends were missing too. Once he knew Eshara was okay, he would have to go out and look for them. Once he saw Eshara's foot, he quickly moved the rest of the hay off of her. Please don't be dead... please don't be dead... Once he was certain Eshara was still alive, he would say his name to the elf who asked it. "Malzahel."

[MonkeyWrench]

No worries!

Currently just waiting for action or words from GW and Rhal, Since this isn't combat I'll give them till later today before moving along, they can just be stoic!

[Antman9]

(Aedilberct) [Defense: 11][AR: 0] (HP: 30/30)
Action: Inspects the creature in the straw pile

Aedilberct, surprised at finding legs in the straw, clears away as much debris as he can and checks the young woman for breathing and then for visible wounds, while continually watching his back for predators.

[MonkeyWrench]

Summary Post

As Aedilberct shuffles along the hay, uncovering the unconscious Dalish, Malzahel calls out the elves name, Eshara, in despair, quickly making his battered and bitten self towards the ladders and sliding down them and limping his way over to the pile of hay. Malzahel all but pushes Aedilberct out of the way as he checks over the elf, visibly sighing in relief that she remains among the living.

After the crisis seems to be done for the moment, Malzahel struggles to stand up but does so and turns to the group gathered before him, looking over the human, elf, and dwarf, he gathers his wits and thinks back to the questions asked of him from the elven mage, choosing to answer with just his name. Athras gives Malzahel a nod, "Malzahel then, what can you tell us of this place? What has happened here? Is that Dalish there the only person you are with?" As the elven mage questions the newcomer Hamish drags the Blight Wolf over to the ledge of the second floor and sends the beast carcass careening off the edge towards the bottom ground with a huff, calling down to the group, "I've never seen such a beast before, but I do know when I see darkspawn corruption, and this beast stinks of it. If there's one thing I know of darkspawn, there's never just one..." he grip tightens on his two axes as he looks about, a wary expression plain on his face.

Words? Actions? Dance battle?

[Beefy]

((Dance battle. xD))

Malzahel shook his head. "I've never been to this farm before. All I know is that it is completely deserted. I've searched this place and i've seen nothing. No farmer or his family, no farm hands, no animals... nothing but this thing." He gestured to the Blight Wolf. He glanced over at Eshara when Athras asked if she was the only Dalish he was with. He almost forgot! "Ha'aven and Eleara... they... they were with me when I got here, but once I was attacked, they were gone." He winced when the Dwarf, Hamish, said Darkspawn are rarely alone. "So they were probably...?" He shook his head. "No. They are Dalish hunters. No finer fighters in all Ferelden. They would not allow themselves to be felled by creatures so base."

[GreyWolfVT]

Moving along

As the beast draws back from his bite Malzahel grits his teeth and shakily lets loose another arrow, scoring another side gash along the Blight Wolfs flank. It's leg suddenly drops from the pain, halting its movements for a brief few seconds. However, those few seconds are all Hamish needed to swipe down with his two axes, scoring a small glancing cut with the first swipe and then bringing his full weight down upon the creature with his next swipe, cleaving into the creatures back. Dark blood, almost black, sprays out from the massive blow and the beast crumples to the floor of the second level. The blood oozes down Hamishs face, luckily none of it enters his mouth or eyes before he can wipe away the dark and twisted liquid. After the battle looks to be finished Athras climbs up the ladder to the second level, joining Hamish and Malzahel. he inspects the beast and then turns to the Dalish hunter, "It is good that the creature did not kill you. What is your name? Can you tell us of what has been happening here? Are you with anyone else?" As the Elven circle mage questions the mysterious arrival Aedilberct puts away his wand, unable to use his arcane lance spell before the beast was slain. Looking over at the hay pile he can see that the beast was certainly there and trying to get at something, deep claw marks gouge the dirt floor and hay is tossed aside.

RP talk and actions!

DM Rolls:

DM Roll, Malzahel Longbow: [1d6] = 1, [1d6] = 4, [1d6+5] = 6+5 = 11, Damage: [1d6+3] = 3+3 = 6
DM Roll Hamish Battle Axe: [1d6] = 3, [1d6] = 6, [1d6+2] = 6+2 = 8, Damage: [2d6+2] = 10+2 = 12
Darkspawn Blood Poisoning: [1d100] = 18

Hamish speaks "aint got a clue what's goin on here but we're tryin ta figure that out. My name is Hamish call me Ham if you wish."

[Antman9]

(Aedilberct) [Defense: 11][AR: 0] (HP: 30/30)
Action: Questions Malzahel

Aedilberct allows Malzahel to tend to the sleeping woman. Seeing the man's emotions, Aedilberct is not offended by the man's abrupt intervention of his task. He listens intently to the conversation while peeking out the main door. "There's no room for mistakes here," he thinks to himself.

Calling from the doorway, "Have you searched every building Malzahel? From which direction did you come? We have come from Vintiver, to the west." Aedilberct makes a quick search of the interior of the structure, peeking into dark corners, peering out openings to the outside, searching for anything of use or significance to their current situation and task, while listening to conversations and waiting for a reply from Malzahel.

EDIT: Perception Check: [1d6] = 4, [1d6] = 3, [1d6+1] = 4+1 = 5; Total = 12

[MonkeyWrench]

Antman, give me a perception roll for that search.

Since I'm not taking stunts for this you can simply roll me a macro of [3d6+mod], or you can sparse it out to keep everything the same, doesn't matter to me.

I'll break out a summary after the search roll and giving Beefy time to respond to Antman, if he feels so inclined.

[MonkeyWrench]

Search Summary

As the others fully introduce themselves and speak of what they know so far Aedilberct begins searching the barn with a more scrutinized eye, checking over and under pieces of machinery, popping open crates and opening sacks. He finds nothing of any real interest until he walks over towards one of the corners near the back of the barn area, the back half of the barn ascends a couple of steps and opens out into wooden platform for the pieces of equipment and goods that they the farmers did not want laying on the dirt floor. As he walks along the platform a low pitched groan emanating from a piece of floor. As he bends down and checks it out he notices that there is a piece of floorboard that comes up and reveals a small hidden compartment that looks like it was dug out, resulting in a secret stash. a moment later he stands back up and walks back towards the doorway to the barn area. He calls from the doorway, asking his own questions of the Dalish Hunter, "Have you searched every building Malzahel? From which direction did you come?"

PM'd the list of goodies for Antmans discretion and RP opportunity. Also removed the last part because you all didn't come from Vintiver, your current destination is Vintiver.

[Beefy]

"Yeah. All of them." Malzahel replied. "No one was there." When asked which direction he came from, he purposely kept it vague. "We came from the south in pursuit of Eshara over there. We've had a few troubles in our clan recently."

[MonkeyWrench]

So many lies! You people are so distrustful of random strangers wielding weapons

Going to give some more time today for either Antman, Rhal, or GW to chime in. If it looks like they're busy then I'll go ahead and just move things forward... searched all of the houses indeed... Ha!

[GreyWolfVT]

I can't keep up with this pace so the dwarf remains silent
Hamish cleans his weapons and just stands around silent and watching for more to slay in battle.

[Antman9]

(Aedilberct) [Defense: 11][AR: 0] (HP: 30/30)
Action: Questions Malzahel

Aedilberct returns form his search. "Found this letter, some coin, and a couple of potions. We can squable over the details later. We have more important matters to attend to." He hands the letter over to the others.

Letter

My love,
I cannot wait until we are together again. I can't remember the last time I had so much fun than when I was with you at the last festival.

I have been saving up enough money to leave this boring farm, I don't care that my father does not approve, he never listens or understands me, unlike you... I have decided to leave in the next few days, Father has said that there have been strange things happening, people disappearing and shadowy figures in the woods but I know it's just his attempts to keep me here.

I will send this letter the next time I go to Vintiver to sell our goods, then I will leave shortly after.

Until I see you my love,
Ellise.

"Seems as though there have been strange happenings here for some time." Aedilberct eyes Malzahel and then moves back to the main door to see if everything is still quiet outside. "We should make a secondary search of these dwellings before we move on. Just in case anything was missed. Always good to have a second set of eyes. Let us wake the woman and keep moving."

Aedilberct will assist Malzahel in waking the woman if he allows it, then open the door and head the nearest building, if the coast is clear and the others consent to a secondary search.

[MonkeyWrench]

No worries GW, I know RL has been kicking your butt lately. If you want you can give me a brief summary of what Hamish would do in combat and social encounters and I'll do my best to follow it if you are unable to make a post.

Summary Post

As Aedilberct hands over the letter, letting all those that want to read it, he asks consensus for a secondary search. When no opposition comes forth he helps Malzahel bring the unconscious Eshara out of the hay pile and begins to shake her awake. The process takes a few minutes and almost seems like the Dalish Elf will not awaken, but eventually her eyes start to flutter. From everyone's first inspection of the Elf it would seem that she was covered in blood, any thoughts of it being as a result from the fall are rejected after noticing that the blood is dried and caked onto her skin, most likely several days old. her body looks bruised and dirtied, wherever she was it was not the cleanest place, nor the friendliest. Her body looks gaunt, as if she has not eaten for several days, but the toned muscle is still present in her 5' 3" frame.

Once her mind begins to awaken and her eyes take in the light Eshara immediately scrambles out of anyone's grip, tumbling in panic as her entire body shakes. She quickly grabs the knife at her waist and points it at everyone, her arms shaking and her eyes as wide as they can possibly go. Her breathing is very heavy and she looks wild from fright. Hamish stays where he is and remains silent, simply watching the encounter happen as he takes stock of his weapons.

During all of this Aedilberct turns to look out the opened barn door and still sees the open farm road and large house sitting on the opposite side, a trail of blood that they had seen earlier is still barely visible from his location.

Picture of Eshara:

NPC - Eshara.jpg (6.05 KiB) Viewed 509 times

Still wish to head over to the other building Antman? Or help deal with Eshara?

Everyone else: Actions! Or dance battle?!? Might help break the ice with Eshara!

[Antman9]

(Aedilberct) [Defense: 11][AR: 0] (HP: 30/30)
Action: Questions Eshara

Aedilberct checks the main door then turns back to watch the waking of Eshara. As she scurries away from the party and threatens with her knife, Aedilberct attempts to sooth her fears, "Everything will be fine miss, we are friends. No one here will hurt you." Aedilberct kneels down, some ten feet away, and tries to soothe her with words and a gentle posture. "We are here to help. Tell us what happened to you. Please."

[GreyWolfVT]

Hamish will attempt to follow the blood trail but he will not venture too far with out at least one of his travelling companions. He may be tough but he does not wish to get into something over his head alone.

[MonkeyWrench]

Summary Post

As Aedilberct attempts to sooth Eshara with calming words, Hamish quickly exits the building and heads out into the road, giving both directions a cursory glance as he inspects the blood, following it until it leads off of the road and seems to be leading towards the small shed like building that is adjacent to the large farm house.

Back inside the barn however Eshara quickly scoots back, getting away from anyone that comes near her, her arm shaking to badly for the knife to remain poised any longer and as such drops to the ground in her haste. She covers her head with her arms, slightly rocking as her eyes never leave Aedilberct, Malzahel, or Athras. She begins speaking in a hurried and hushed tone, her voice strained with sorrow, repeating the same words over and over again in some type of mantra.

"Harel Harellan, Harel Harellan, Harel Harellan, Harel Harellan, Harel Harellan, Harel Harellan, Harel Harellan, Harel Harellan, Harel Harellan, Harel Harellan, Harel Harellan, Harel Harellan..."

She repeats the words faster each time she says them, her breath becoming more and more insteady until finally, she quickly looks up at Malzahel, her eyes pleading for some type of help that not even she herself knows. She says one last word to the fellow Dalish, "Era'harel" her voice is breathless as she says it and as soon as she says it she begins to sag against the nearby pillar, her eyes beginning to shut as she once again becomes unconscious.

The group is stuck almost speechless as they just watched the Dalish Elf descend into a temporary madness and then pass out. As they look at each other with confusion clearly painted on their faces Athras is the first to speak, "Malzahel, correct me if I'm wrong, my dalish is a bit rusty but... Did she just say there is a traitor to the elves and they are possibly working with a Demon Mage? She sounded delusional at best..."

For those that can understand Dalish:

Harellan: trickster, traitor to one's kin
Harel: To trick or deceive. Dreaded, frightening, causing fear
Era'harel: demon-mage

As way of translation Eshara was repeating over and over again "Dreaded fearful traitor of the Dalish" then ended with "Demon Mage"

[GreyWolfVT]

Hamish goes back to the others and busts in with a mild amount of excitement in his tone "Blood trail heads to the shed across the road. Lets go investigate!" axe in hand and ready he heads back out and awaits the others near the road where the blood trail leads off the the distant shed. Alert like an owl at night on the prowl for it's meal.