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How it went:
Ok, so the first session of play is officially over. They're all noobs, but it wasn't as bad as I was expecting. Two of the players were actually half-decent (for their first time). They're all rough around the edges, and a couple just don't see to understand that they're supposed to basically be their character (don't tell me your character is telling the other characters about the posters, actually tell the other characters about the posters). But there was an overall improvement over the course of the 5.5 hr session. One of the characters is still without skills & feats, so we just pretended he had none for the sake of the first session. The rest of this entry will detail the events of the evening. It will probably be quite long.
What happened:
First, the characters were filled in on the ending of their character's histories: they all met each other on a boat heading to Abarjo, realized they were all in search of adventure for some reason or another, and decided that it would be worth teaming up so they could handle the more difficult (and higher paying) missions. They landed early in the morning on the 20th of Quiet Moon. After paying the various fees, they went straight to the closest inn (Sea Legs), rented their rooms for that evening, and bought themselves porter. The scene begins with our five mismatched adventurers sitting quietly at the bar minding their own business.
The bartender is a large bald man. He's wearing a green vest and a simple pair of brown pants. He has a gold nosering and is polishing an empty mug. There are three occupied tables in the tavern. The group of four, two brown-haired men, a blond woman, and a brown haired woman, sitting at the table closest to the door are wearing the same uniform at the two brunettes and the blond man sitting at the table furthest from the door: a blue tabard with a silver crocodile on it, simple chain mail, a varying assortment of swords, and other mismatched and descriptorily unimportant clothes.
The center table is occupied by three male sailors, and a farmer in plaid. The farmer's hands move as he speaks and the sailors seem enraptured by the story. From the party's position at the bar, they can't hear any of the conversations.
On one wall is a dart board, a set of stairs on another leads up to the party's already rented rooms, and a third wall holds a number of tacked posters that you haven't had the chance to look over yet; across the fourth wall is the bar, where our five mismatched adventurers, a male human sorcerer, an female elven fighter, a female half-elven rogue, a male half-orc barbarian of the boar clan, and a male dwarven paladin of freedom, sit drinking porter and slowly realizing that they've only two coppers to their names and are afflicted by the curse of unemployment.
After a few moments of silence and glancing around the room, the women get up and make their way over to the posters, while the human approaches the table of sailors looking to hear a part of the story.
There are five posters.
The first poster, written in a delicate old-lady handwriting, reads "Have you seen my husband? He's 5'9" tall, about 175 lbs, has brown hair and green eyes. He has a birthmark on his right hand covering his thumb from the knuckle to the joint. His name is Peter Milakov. If you have any information concerning his wherabouts, please contact Marla Milakov at 26 Beggars Lane. He's been missing since the 13th of Quiet Moon. Last seen near the Wheat & Chaff tavern. Reward for information leading to his discovery."
The second poster, written as though stencilled using a thick brush, reads: "Hunters Wanted: The woods around the southern logging road have become treacherous due to many nuisance bears. 2 GP/ Bear Pelt. See Volodya Rasputin, 13 Greenfinch Grove."
The third poster, obviously produced en mass by some sort of press, reads "Visit Bulgakov's Bazaar! Strange and Mysterious items at a bargain of a price! Coming to the Market District during the 4th week of Quiet Moon. One Week Only! Don't Miss Out!"
The fourth poster, carefully printed to appear both official and legible, reads: "Party of five wanted to track down the Low Town Slasher. Inquire with Captain Tatiana at Prostos Arms for details. Generous Reward."
The fifth poster, written using extreme and crazy characters, reads "It’s all a plot! The Government is responsible for the recent Disappearances! They’re trying to keep us enslaved! The wealthy should not rule us! Rise up with the XAOS and overthrow our oppressors! Freedom or Death! Rally outside Trade Hall in the market on The 1st of Ice Moon!"
The women gossip about the posters in Elven for a while. The half-elf wants to hunt bears. The elf is arguing for hunting down the low-town slasher.
Meanwhile, the human is approaching the sailor's table. As he approaches the storyteller, he begins to pick up a part of his story. "and I ran as fast as we could, but the screeching just got louder and louder. We turned down Deadpan Alley and that's when we saw it sihouetted against the moon. A great winged beast! Alexa and I, we wheeled around, but the thing was too fast. It carried Alexi into the air with it! No one has seen Alexi since, and the beast," he wimpers a bit, "the beast has seen my face. It'll be hunting for me next. That's why I need passage on your boat. Just as far as Bojestva. I've got to leave the city, maybe it'll follow me and leave my wife and daughter alone. Will you help me?" The sailors turn to each other and confer among themselves in low voices for a few moments. The sorcerer turns back to the bar with a thoughtful expression on his face, he can hear the sailors assent to take the poor farmer with them when they leave town the next day.
Upon arriving back at the bar, the human discovers that the half-orc has drunk not only his own beer, but also the elf's and the humans, and to top it off, the dwarf seems to have taken the half-elf's porter for his own. He slaps the half-orc on the back of the head and informs him that he now owes him four copper. The human then relates the story he just heard to the half-orc, and the dwarf overhears.
The women return to the bar and begin discussing the bear hunt and the low town slasher. Being unable to remember many details, the human fetches the low town slasher poster and brings it back with him (Item Acquired: Poster 3!). After some discussion, they decide that they should atleast get some details about this low town slasher and head toward the door on their way to Prostos Arms to speak with "Tatania" (as they continue to mispronounce her name).
As they move toward the door of the tavern, it swings in quite abruptly, missing the half-orc's nose by a mere couple of inches. The half-orc tells them to "watch it" and is pushed back into the room and told to take a seat. The person in the door is a tall, well-muscled woman with cropped red-brown hair and green eyes, wearing a blue tabard with a silver crocodile emblem over a blue-grey chain shirt, a pair of manacles hanging from either hip, a bastard sword strapped to her back, and a dagger attached to the strap that runs across her front, walks in. Her face is somewhat reddened and several tears mar her pretty face.
The inn goes silent and everyone turns to the woman expectantly. Though cracked because of tears, her voice is clear and commanding when she speaks.
"Thank-you for your attention. I have some bad news. Ivan was found a short while ago. His... his throat had been ripped up pretty badly, and there were odd knife wounds all over the body. I don't think he suffered long, but..." She wipes a couple tears off her cheeks. "Well, he's dead. As a result I have decided to raise the reward for whomever captures the low town slasher with my entire year's salary. The reward is set to 500 gold for a party of five." She turns to the bartender who has poured two shot glasses of whiskey. She downs one shot quickly, and places the other in the center of a vacant table.
"Break's over. Back to work." Both tables of guards rise immediately and make their way out the door, offering their condolences to the woman on the way. The woman sinks into a chair at the empty table, her head sinking into her arms. The bartender brings her a full mug of porter and offers his condolences.
The party looks at each other, and then decide that this woman must be Captain Tatiana, the head of the city guards. The dwarf looks at the half elf and says "That's more than two gold." The half-orc gets up and approaches the table, making a few stupid and possibly insulting remarks, invoking the ire of the good Captain. The human comes to the rescue, pushing the half-orc out of the way. He inquires about the killings, requesting some information on them so they have something to work with. Tatiana hands them a notebook with a small map at the back, and tells them a few things. This is the information they recieve:
From Tatiana:
Over the past two weeks, 10 people have been found murdered in the Low Residential Area (aka Low Town).
All have had their throats torn horribly, and odd three-bladed knife wounds over their bodies.
The slasher title was given by the local paper because one of the first bodies found has several gashes cut across his side in addition to the current wounds.
The murders seem to be moving toward the center of the city, the first body was discovered near the palisade, and the most recent just a couple blocks from the market.
From the notebook:
The sorcerer thanks Captain Tatiana for the information and the party makes it's way out into the bright sunny day. They make their way out to the Market District, because the line of the murders seems to predict that the next murder will happen close to there. The ward is pretty empty at this time of the year, it having been three full months since the last trading run. There are still a good dozen kiosks or spread blankets about with hawkers trying to sell a number of different items. But the prices are rediculous and the quality is unimpressive. The PCs notice Bulgakov's Bazaar and decide to stop in.
The first item on the selling block is a pickled skull that once belonged to a necromancer. The skull was owned by the necromancer, and therefore his own, it wasn't the one attached to the rest of his body however. Anyways, Bulgakov, in a thick accent of some kind, claims that the skull, when worn about the neck will allow the wearer to jump ten feet vertically (but says nothing about landing). The price is around 200 gold. Then Bulgakov tries to sell a crooked fingerbone, said to be enchanted with the power to do something of no actual significance (as in, i can't remember all of my own BS), it was running at 10 gold. The half-orc said he just wanted something to pick his nose with. Bulgakov, of course, had just the thing: a tiny fly, in a tiny jar, that was said to fly up the nose and live off your snot. Guaranteed to render the user immune to the common cold. He could have it for only two copper. The half-orc was very tempted, but just decided to pick his own nose anyways. A final item was a short-staffed executioner's axe, guaranteed to cut through absolutely anything. Only 2000 gold, which is still way out of the PC's price range, and thus went ignored. The PCs left the place, not really believing any of Bulgakov's products did what he claimed (except the half-orc).
On the way to Sveta Riasanovsky's (16 Low St), the PCs pass the 7th & 8th murder scenes and decide to see if the guards missed anything. After a few minutes of searching, they find a single feather: white with a black bar and a red bar. When they arrive at Sveta's, the notice that the otherwise relatively shoddy building has a nice door. They knock, and Sveta comes running to the door. She's your stereotypical vain blond-haired, blue eyed ditz. She turns out to be totally useless and spends a lot of her time pining for Nikolai, who she hasn't seen in a couple weeks. The half-orc intimidates her trying to get some info out of her, but that just makes her cry and run up to her room. The door being left unlocked, the half-orc enters and makes his way to the kitchen. He pockets a carrot and notices the stew over the fire. Unthinking, he tries to lift off the lid with his bare hands and recieves a nasty burn as a result. The half-elf and elf make their way in and try to ransack the place, but only find a very pathetic love letter to be of some interest, but niether of them are willing to read it, so the dwarf does. The half-orc finds something to remove the lid with and then starts spooning the stew into a bowl hungrily. The first scoop only yields water. The second soup yields a sock, and the half-orc realizes that it's not stew, but laundry. Dissappointed, he yells up "You have no food!" and storms out eating a carrot. The others follow.
They decide to visit Bloodsnout next. Bloodsnout is suffering from a bit of a hangover, but when the half-orc calls up to him in orcish, he rushes down wondering if it's his drinking buddy Sammy. A little uncouth, he invited the PCs in and shares some orcish moonshine with the half-orc, the two of them getting right wasted in about a half-hour of discussion. Bloodsnout had a disagreement with Gromsh because Gromsh had stolen his job unloading crates at the docks. He claims now that Gromsh is gone, he can get his job back whenever he wants, which will be right after he finishes celebrating at the Coin Changer. The PCs learn a little bit of gossp about the low town slasher, claiming that it was sent from Bojestva because the head merchant in Bojestva disagreed with the building of the cana between Fluval and Gorod, and that there have been some demon sightings in the farm district. A quick visit to the Coin Changer verifies Bloodsnout's alibi, and leads the PCs to check out the Wild Boar where "if anybody were to hide, that'd be the place."
On the way to the Wild Boar, the PCs spot a blond-haired woman in a guard's uniform huddled near some refuse at the back of an alley. The woman is rocking back and forth with her blue eyes wide open. She's chanting: "Order in blood, pathways open" over and over again. The half-orc draws his double-axe as they enter the alley. The woman begins screaming "Keep it away! Keep it away from me!" and huddles further into the alley. The sorceror manages to convince the half-orc to put away his axe, but a cat runs by and out into the street, and the half-orc pursues it trying to kill it for food. Eventually, Captain Charisma (the sorcerer), manages to calm the madwoman a bit and gains the following tidbits:
"'He's coming,' that's what it said, 'and there's no way to stop it'"
"It... it wasn't human."
"Aaah! It's here! It's right behind you!" (The PCs look back to find no one behind them).
"It looked into my soul! As though it were rummaging around for something."
"Fangs. I'm sure I saw fangs. But in the day? How can it be out during the day?"
After a time, and some vague ranting about talking rats, flowers, and a winged creature, the PCs decide to knock her out and bring her to Prostos Arms, where they recieve a 10 gp reward (split 5 ways = 2 GP each), and a small amount of Tatiana's ire for having struck a city guard.
<More Coming, Broken into another entry>
Ok, so the first session of play is officially over. They're all noobs, but it wasn't as bad as I was expecting. Two of the players were actually half-decent (for their first time). They're all rough around the edges, and a couple just don't see to understand that they're supposed to basically be their character (don't tell me your character is telling the other characters about the posters, actually tell the other characters about the posters). But there was an overall improvement over the course of the 5.5 hr session. One of the characters is still without skills & feats, so we just pretended he had none for the sake of the first session. The rest of this entry will detail the events of the evening. It will probably be quite long.
What happened:
First, the characters were filled in on the ending of their character's histories: they all met each other on a boat heading to Abarjo, realized they were all in search of adventure for some reason or another, and decided that it would be worth teaming up so they could handle the more difficult (and higher paying) missions. They landed early in the morning on the 20th of Quiet Moon. After paying the various fees, they went straight to the closest inn (Sea Legs), rented their rooms for that evening, and bought themselves porter. The scene begins with our five mismatched adventurers sitting quietly at the bar minding their own business.
The bartender is a large bald man. He's wearing a green vest and a simple pair of brown pants. He has a gold nosering and is polishing an empty mug. There are three occupied tables in the tavern. The group of four, two brown-haired men, a blond woman, and a brown haired woman, sitting at the table closest to the door are wearing the same uniform at the two brunettes and the blond man sitting at the table furthest from the door: a blue tabard with a silver crocodile on it, simple chain mail, a varying assortment of swords, and other mismatched and descriptorily unimportant clothes.
The center table is occupied by three male sailors, and a farmer in plaid. The farmer's hands move as he speaks and the sailors seem enraptured by the story. From the party's position at the bar, they can't hear any of the conversations.
On one wall is a dart board, a set of stairs on another leads up to the party's already rented rooms, and a third wall holds a number of tacked posters that you haven't had the chance to look over yet; across the fourth wall is the bar, where our five mismatched adventurers, a male human sorcerer, an female elven fighter, a female half-elven rogue, a male half-orc barbarian of the boar clan, and a male dwarven paladin of freedom, sit drinking porter and slowly realizing that they've only two coppers to their names and are afflicted by the curse of unemployment.
After a few moments of silence and glancing around the room, the women get up and make their way over to the posters, while the human approaches the table of sailors looking to hear a part of the story.
There are five posters.
The first poster, written in a delicate old-lady handwriting, reads "Have you seen my husband? He's 5'9" tall, about 175 lbs, has brown hair and green eyes. He has a birthmark on his right hand covering his thumb from the knuckle to the joint. His name is Peter Milakov. If you have any information concerning his wherabouts, please contact Marla Milakov at 26 Beggars Lane. He's been missing since the 13th of Quiet Moon. Last seen near the Wheat & Chaff tavern. Reward for information leading to his discovery."
The second poster, written as though stencilled using a thick brush, reads: "Hunters Wanted: The woods around the southern logging road have become treacherous due to many nuisance bears. 2 GP/ Bear Pelt. See Volodya Rasputin, 13 Greenfinch Grove."
The third poster, obviously produced en mass by some sort of press, reads "Visit Bulgakov's Bazaar! Strange and Mysterious items at a bargain of a price! Coming to the Market District during the 4th week of Quiet Moon. One Week Only! Don't Miss Out!"
The fourth poster, carefully printed to appear both official and legible, reads: "Party of five wanted to track down the Low Town Slasher. Inquire with Captain Tatiana at Prostos Arms for details. Generous Reward."
The fifth poster, written using extreme and crazy characters, reads "It’s all a plot! The Government is responsible for the recent Disappearances! They’re trying to keep us enslaved! The wealthy should not rule us! Rise up with the XAOS and overthrow our oppressors! Freedom or Death! Rally outside Trade Hall in the market on The 1st of Ice Moon!"
The women gossip about the posters in Elven for a while. The half-elf wants to hunt bears. The elf is arguing for hunting down the low-town slasher.
Meanwhile, the human is approaching the sailor's table. As he approaches the storyteller, he begins to pick up a part of his story. "and I ran as fast as we could, but the screeching just got louder and louder. We turned down Deadpan Alley and that's when we saw it sihouetted against the moon. A great winged beast! Alexa and I, we wheeled around, but the thing was too fast. It carried Alexi into the air with it! No one has seen Alexi since, and the beast," he wimpers a bit, "the beast has seen my face. It'll be hunting for me next. That's why I need passage on your boat. Just as far as Bojestva. I've got to leave the city, maybe it'll follow me and leave my wife and daughter alone. Will you help me?" The sailors turn to each other and confer among themselves in low voices for a few moments. The sorcerer turns back to the bar with a thoughtful expression on his face, he can hear the sailors assent to take the poor farmer with them when they leave town the next day.
Upon arriving back at the bar, the human discovers that the half-orc has drunk not only his own beer, but also the elf's and the humans, and to top it off, the dwarf seems to have taken the half-elf's porter for his own. He slaps the half-orc on the back of the head and informs him that he now owes him four copper. The human then relates the story he just heard to the half-orc, and the dwarf overhears.
The women return to the bar and begin discussing the bear hunt and the low town slasher. Being unable to remember many details, the human fetches the low town slasher poster and brings it back with him (Item Acquired: Poster 3!). After some discussion, they decide that they should atleast get some details about this low town slasher and head toward the door on their way to Prostos Arms to speak with "Tatania" (as they continue to mispronounce her name).
As they move toward the door of the tavern, it swings in quite abruptly, missing the half-orc's nose by a mere couple of inches. The half-orc tells them to "watch it" and is pushed back into the room and told to take a seat. The person in the door is a tall, well-muscled woman with cropped red-brown hair and green eyes, wearing a blue tabard with a silver crocodile emblem over a blue-grey chain shirt, a pair of manacles hanging from either hip, a bastard sword strapped to her back, and a dagger attached to the strap that runs across her front, walks in. Her face is somewhat reddened and several tears mar her pretty face.
The inn goes silent and everyone turns to the woman expectantly. Though cracked because of tears, her voice is clear and commanding when she speaks.
"Thank-you for your attention. I have some bad news. Ivan was found a short while ago. His... his throat had been ripped up pretty badly, and there were odd knife wounds all over the body. I don't think he suffered long, but..." She wipes a couple tears off her cheeks. "Well, he's dead. As a result I have decided to raise the reward for whomever captures the low town slasher with my entire year's salary. The reward is set to 500 gold for a party of five." She turns to the bartender who has poured two shot glasses of whiskey. She downs one shot quickly, and places the other in the center of a vacant table.
"Break's over. Back to work." Both tables of guards rise immediately and make their way out the door, offering their condolences to the woman on the way. The woman sinks into a chair at the empty table, her head sinking into her arms. The bartender brings her a full mug of porter and offers his condolences.
The party looks at each other, and then decide that this woman must be Captain Tatiana, the head of the city guards. The dwarf looks at the half elf and says "That's more than two gold." The half-orc gets up and approaches the table, making a few stupid and possibly insulting remarks, invoking the ire of the good Captain. The human comes to the rescue, pushing the half-orc out of the way. He inquires about the killings, requesting some information on them so they have something to work with. Tatiana hands them a notebook with a small map at the back, and tells them a few things. This is the information they recieve:
From Tatiana:
Over the past two weeks, 10 people have been found murdered in the Low Residential Area (aka Low Town).
All have had their throats torn horribly, and odd three-bladed knife wounds over their bodies.
The slasher title was given by the local paper because one of the first bodies found has several gashes cut across his side in addition to the current wounds.
The murders seem to be moving toward the center of the city, the first body was discovered near the palisade, and the most recent just a couple blocks from the market.
From the notebook:
QUOTE
Murder 1: Human, Male. Name unknown. Found behind the Wild Boar by the innkeeper. No weapon found. Body had been picked clean of valuables, but that likely happened quite some time after his death.
Murder 2: Human, Male. Name: Aldar Boarfoot. Nationality: Great Plains, Boar Tribe Known Foes: None local. Found in an alley between Beggar's Lane and Waif Street. Body had also been picked clean after death.
Murder 3: Orc, Male. Name: Gromsh Nationality: Geran Known Foes: Bloodsnout (8 Wait Street). Bloodsnout was seen at Coin Changer tavern around the time of the murder. Body found on the corner of Waif St & Low Avenue. Body also picked clean. Slash wounds on body in addition to knife wounds and torn throat. A tuft of brown fur, probably from assailant's clothes, found under victim's fingernails.
Murder 4: Clik-chi, Female. Name: Ska Nationality: Clik-cha Noi, Cli-cha-nay Clan. Known Foes: None local, but as a member of the Xaos (from pamphletes found on body), any pro-government individual could have done it. body found on Low Avenue just off Northern Logging Road. Something new this time. A message scrawled in blood on the wall: "With blood, order is obtained." Seems fitting under the circumstances. Valuables still on body, motive cannot be theft.
Murder 5: Human, Male. Name unknown. Body found by Lini Brighteyes, visiting from the Great Plains (staying at wheat & chaff). The body was located in the home of Kayla Strianna on Northern Logging Road. Her neighbours say she has been off in Bojestvo conducting business for about a month. None of them heard or saw anything. Lini was apparently dropping in to see if Kayla had anymore "beads". A new message in the victim's blood: "A circle drawn by order marked, he will be released soon." Somewhat puzzling -- who is he? Where is "he" being held? By whom?
Murder 6: Human, Female. Name: Ranya Kurbskii Nationality: Geran Known Foes: Sveta Riasanovsky, they were competing for the same man; Burian Sviatoslav owed here a rather large gambling debt. Boyfriend: Nikolai Pushkin, could not be found for questioning. Body found by Rurick Turgenev by the Northern Logging Road and Back Row. Blood writing found again: "It cannot be stopped, the overlord returns." What can't be stopped? Who's this overlord? Overlord of what?
Murder 7: Elf, Male. Name unknown. Body found by Rurik Turgenev again, he must be after the bounty. Body was found propped into a sitting position this time, seemingly with its back to the warehouse wall. A long streak of blood runs from near the top of the wall, as though it were dropped from above. No message on sight. Valuables still on body.
Murder 8: Elf, Female. Name unknown. Boby found by Rurick Turgenev same time as the 7th victim. Either the killer was surprised or he's speeding up and becoming bolder. Again no message. Valuables still on body, including an expensive opal necklace.
Murder 9: Human, Male. Name: Rurik Turgenev Nationality: Geran Known Foes: Just about every low-life in the Low Residential Area. Body found by Sergent Ivan Tolstoy and Private Vera Gogol while on patrol. Rurik must have stumbled too close to the killer. At least there was some visible reason behind this death. Body located only one block from the Market, at Frontline and Trolley. Bloody message: "There is only one order, stop looking and accept his sway." This guy is really starting to piss me off. I've doubled the number of patrols in the market & low residention/eastern warehouse areas. Hopefully we'll catch this bastard soon.
(This page stained with tears)
Murder 10: Human, Male Name: Ivan Tolstoy Nationality: Geran Known Foes: None. Body found at Trolley & Tasya by Private Grisha Mussorgsky and myself. Ivan's partner, Vera Gogol, has gone missing, suspected dead. Bloody message: Order marching circle round, Kylana's chains to be unbound, By rule of he we will prevail, Once he's released from his jail." I don't like how things are going. On a personal note, Ivan was a very close friend of mine. I've decided to add my year's wages to the bounty, hopefully someone will lend us a hand and have more luck than Turgenev.
Murder 2: Human, Male. Name: Aldar Boarfoot. Nationality: Great Plains, Boar Tribe Known Foes: None local. Found in an alley between Beggar's Lane and Waif Street. Body had also been picked clean after death.
Murder 3: Orc, Male. Name: Gromsh Nationality: Geran Known Foes: Bloodsnout (8 Wait Street). Bloodsnout was seen at Coin Changer tavern around the time of the murder. Body found on the corner of Waif St & Low Avenue. Body also picked clean. Slash wounds on body in addition to knife wounds and torn throat. A tuft of brown fur, probably from assailant's clothes, found under victim's fingernails.
Murder 4: Clik-chi, Female. Name: Ska Nationality: Clik-cha Noi, Cli-cha-nay Clan. Known Foes: None local, but as a member of the Xaos (from pamphletes found on body), any pro-government individual could have done it. body found on Low Avenue just off Northern Logging Road. Something new this time. A message scrawled in blood on the wall: "With blood, order is obtained." Seems fitting under the circumstances. Valuables still on body, motive cannot be theft.
Murder 5: Human, Male. Name unknown. Body found by Lini Brighteyes, visiting from the Great Plains (staying at wheat & chaff). The body was located in the home of Kayla Strianna on Northern Logging Road. Her neighbours say she has been off in Bojestvo conducting business for about a month. None of them heard or saw anything. Lini was apparently dropping in to see if Kayla had anymore "beads". A new message in the victim's blood: "A circle drawn by order marked, he will be released soon." Somewhat puzzling -- who is he? Where is "he" being held? By whom?
Murder 6: Human, Female. Name: Ranya Kurbskii Nationality: Geran Known Foes: Sveta Riasanovsky, they were competing for the same man; Burian Sviatoslav owed here a rather large gambling debt. Boyfriend: Nikolai Pushkin, could not be found for questioning. Body found by Rurick Turgenev by the Northern Logging Road and Back Row. Blood writing found again: "It cannot be stopped, the overlord returns." What can't be stopped? Who's this overlord? Overlord of what?
Murder 7: Elf, Male. Name unknown. Body found by Rurik Turgenev again, he must be after the bounty. Body was found propped into a sitting position this time, seemingly with its back to the warehouse wall. A long streak of blood runs from near the top of the wall, as though it were dropped from above. No message on sight. Valuables still on body.
Murder 8: Elf, Female. Name unknown. Boby found by Rurick Turgenev same time as the 7th victim. Either the killer was surprised or he's speeding up and becoming bolder. Again no message. Valuables still on body, including an expensive opal necklace.
Murder 9: Human, Male. Name: Rurik Turgenev Nationality: Geran Known Foes: Just about every low-life in the Low Residential Area. Body found by Sergent Ivan Tolstoy and Private Vera Gogol while on patrol. Rurik must have stumbled too close to the killer. At least there was some visible reason behind this death. Body located only one block from the Market, at Frontline and Trolley. Bloody message: "There is only one order, stop looking and accept his sway." This guy is really starting to piss me off. I've doubled the number of patrols in the market & low residention/eastern warehouse areas. Hopefully we'll catch this bastard soon.
(This page stained with tears)
Murder 10: Human, Male Name: Ivan Tolstoy Nationality: Geran Known Foes: None. Body found at Trolley & Tasya by Private Grisha Mussorgsky and myself. Ivan's partner, Vera Gogol, has gone missing, suspected dead. Bloody message: Order marching circle round, Kylana's chains to be unbound, By rule of he we will prevail, Once he's released from his jail." I don't like how things are going. On a personal note, Ivan was a very close friend of mine. I've decided to add my year's wages to the bounty, hopefully someone will lend us a hand and have more luck than Turgenev.
The sorcerer thanks Captain Tatiana for the information and the party makes it's way out into the bright sunny day. They make their way out to the Market District, because the line of the murders seems to predict that the next murder will happen close to there. The ward is pretty empty at this time of the year, it having been three full months since the last trading run. There are still a good dozen kiosks or spread blankets about with hawkers trying to sell a number of different items. But the prices are rediculous and the quality is unimpressive. The PCs notice Bulgakov's Bazaar and decide to stop in.
The first item on the selling block is a pickled skull that once belonged to a necromancer. The skull was owned by the necromancer, and therefore his own, it wasn't the one attached to the rest of his body however. Anyways, Bulgakov, in a thick accent of some kind, claims that the skull, when worn about the neck will allow the wearer to jump ten feet vertically (but says nothing about landing). The price is around 200 gold. Then Bulgakov tries to sell a crooked fingerbone, said to be enchanted with the power to do something of no actual significance (as in, i can't remember all of my own BS), it was running at 10 gold. The half-orc said he just wanted something to pick his nose with. Bulgakov, of course, had just the thing: a tiny fly, in a tiny jar, that was said to fly up the nose and live off your snot. Guaranteed to render the user immune to the common cold. He could have it for only two copper. The half-orc was very tempted, but just decided to pick his own nose anyways. A final item was a short-staffed executioner's axe, guaranteed to cut through absolutely anything. Only 2000 gold, which is still way out of the PC's price range, and thus went ignored. The PCs left the place, not really believing any of Bulgakov's products did what he claimed (except the half-orc).
On the way to Sveta Riasanovsky's (16 Low St), the PCs pass the 7th & 8th murder scenes and decide to see if the guards missed anything. After a few minutes of searching, they find a single feather: white with a black bar and a red bar. When they arrive at Sveta's, the notice that the otherwise relatively shoddy building has a nice door. They knock, and Sveta comes running to the door. She's your stereotypical vain blond-haired, blue eyed ditz. She turns out to be totally useless and spends a lot of her time pining for Nikolai, who she hasn't seen in a couple weeks. The half-orc intimidates her trying to get some info out of her, but that just makes her cry and run up to her room. The door being left unlocked, the half-orc enters and makes his way to the kitchen. He pockets a carrot and notices the stew over the fire. Unthinking, he tries to lift off the lid with his bare hands and recieves a nasty burn as a result. The half-elf and elf make their way in and try to ransack the place, but only find a very pathetic love letter to be of some interest, but niether of them are willing to read it, so the dwarf does. The half-orc finds something to remove the lid with and then starts spooning the stew into a bowl hungrily. The first scoop only yields water. The second soup yields a sock, and the half-orc realizes that it's not stew, but laundry. Dissappointed, he yells up "You have no food!" and storms out eating a carrot. The others follow.
They decide to visit Bloodsnout next. Bloodsnout is suffering from a bit of a hangover, but when the half-orc calls up to him in orcish, he rushes down wondering if it's his drinking buddy Sammy. A little uncouth, he invited the PCs in and shares some orcish moonshine with the half-orc, the two of them getting right wasted in about a half-hour of discussion. Bloodsnout had a disagreement with Gromsh because Gromsh had stolen his job unloading crates at the docks. He claims now that Gromsh is gone, he can get his job back whenever he wants, which will be right after he finishes celebrating at the Coin Changer. The PCs learn a little bit of gossp about the low town slasher, claiming that it was sent from Bojestva because the head merchant in Bojestva disagreed with the building of the cana between Fluval and Gorod, and that there have been some demon sightings in the farm district. A quick visit to the Coin Changer verifies Bloodsnout's alibi, and leads the PCs to check out the Wild Boar where "if anybody were to hide, that'd be the place."
On the way to the Wild Boar, the PCs spot a blond-haired woman in a guard's uniform huddled near some refuse at the back of an alley. The woman is rocking back and forth with her blue eyes wide open. She's chanting: "Order in blood, pathways open" over and over again. The half-orc draws his double-axe as they enter the alley. The woman begins screaming "Keep it away! Keep it away from me!" and huddles further into the alley. The sorceror manages to convince the half-orc to put away his axe, but a cat runs by and out into the street, and the half-orc pursues it trying to kill it for food. Eventually, Captain Charisma (the sorcerer), manages to calm the madwoman a bit and gains the following tidbits:
"'He's coming,' that's what it said, 'and there's no way to stop it'"
"It... it wasn't human."
"Aaah! It's here! It's right behind you!" (The PCs look back to find no one behind them).
"It looked into my soul! As though it were rummaging around for something."
"Fangs. I'm sure I saw fangs. But in the day? How can it be out during the day?"
After a time, and some vague ranting about talking rats, flowers, and a winged creature, the PCs decide to knock her out and bring her to Prostos Arms, where they recieve a 10 gp reward (split 5 ways = 2 GP each), and a small amount of Tatiana's ire for having struck a city guard.
<More Coming, Broken into another entry>
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