Homebrew system thread II, part 2

[Simon_Jester]

OOC:

[Facepalms]

Panzer, you dolt, it's winter, the night's over twelve hours long, there's plenty of time to stand watch AND get enough sleep in one night...

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

It's too short a rotation, that draws too many people in, probably draws too many eyes towards it, makes too big a deal of the whole business and may- actually, it seems as if it has- inspired someone to go and do, well, something. One shift change, two sets of guards, that would have made sense- too much to expect the same pair to stay alert and ready to react all night, maybe two even- but that many?

People would have seen glittery coloured things, remember. Larric's explanation would have been convincing enough for anyone in earshot, the smell mattered a lot, but most people didn't actually see it, and once the game of whispers had been going for a few rounds you can guess what it all mutated into. The men who did the digging would have been able to tell the truth, but not everybody believed them.

When Alfred gets down to where the hole is, there's a shaking guardsman and a body.

'We were attacked,' is the explanation you get. 'More than, more than one, he's just,'

'Stop flapping about like a wet hen.' The other, older guard says. 'We're upwind of that here. That one,' gesturing with the head of his spear, which has been cleaned, 'tried with two of his mates to circle round behind us. He must have been half mad because he just ran straight on- tried to knock me over. Impaled himself. The other two thought better of it and fled. Don't think they're still out there but, well.'



Oh, and apart from that, Dale wanted to have a look at Sigbert; not a very intensive one, but what it looks as if has happened is that he was physically healed at exactly the wrong moment. The post- operative shock that accompanies healing, when you're already deeply angry, depressed, miserable and frustrated at having been defeated, having your community overturned, having the meaning of your life smashed to the ground by evil bastards is precisely the wrong time to be put through it. The flame of his soul is almost guttering out- or in modern terms severe psychological trauma, barely functional.

Person who did this to him was likely the priest who was at best a part- time healer and probably knew no better, and revenge is irrelevant considering he was probably killed himself maybe only seconds afterwards. He's certainly not around.

[Panzersharkcat]

(OOC: Goddamnit. Keep forgetting the longer days. I suppose 16 guys instead of 24 wouldn't have been any better, though. Four hour shifts probably would have been best... Bah. Too late for that, now. And I wish Feral was more active.)

"Blast it. We'll see if we can find them in the morning. In the meantime, I'm changing the guard shifts to every four hours. Hopefully, that attracts less attention."

(OOC: Probably a band-aid on a ripped-open torso but eh.)

[Simon_Jester]

OOC:
Frankly, if you're quasi-military you get used to short nights once in a while because of watches- though in high summer it's probably better to stick to three or four watches so everyone can grab at least the six hours or so necessary for basic function. Frequent rotations are best saved for very important things that are guarded conspicuously, from a nigh-unlimited pool of manpower. Sir Alfred's manpower probably isn't really that unlimited; I'm not sure how many loyal men-at-arms he has handy, but it's not going to be hundreds. More like 'several dozen,' tops, including the functional equivalent of weekend warriors.

IC:
Is Larric awoken by the commotion? Possibly not; if so he grumbles, mutters "did any of the bottles break?" If not, he'd effectively leave Sir Alfred to sort it out, probably not in such bald and impolite terms as that. If so, he's with Alfred. when this happens

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

No, there were apparently no breakages. Nothing obviously seeping out of the ground anyway, and if Alfred doesn't order them to, the guards aren't going to think of digging it all up to check.

If Alfred's going back to bed, nothing further will be reported. Not necessarily nothing going to happen, just nothing reported. Come the morning, what's the plan?

[Simon_Jester]

Larric does the usual morning ritual- splash water in face until he approximately wakes up, find some light breakfast. This time he'll grab a few portable eatables (lump of cheese, chunk of bread, something like that) and head off for the storage site, to check on it, telling Sir Alfred (if he's awake) or one of the guards (if not).

When he gets there- is the body there? If so, GAH!

[cue the shakes for a few minutes]

If not, UGH!

[cue shorter shakes when he sees blood all over or something]

Anyway.

He probes the underground site with Insight and Substance- has anything leaked, seeped, or exfiltrated to a significant degree?

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

The body has been rolled into a heap beside a rock, and isn't instantly obvious.

Doesn't seem to be any obvious leakage, nothing detectable, (and seven mana back), but a small leap of logic- the larger ones are either raw ingredients or finished, diluted and ready for use; the smaller ones are the concentrates, or the extremely dangerous ingredients that aren't needed in bulk. Arsenic, fluorine, wonderful stuff like that.

The armed force available to the family is more or less a third of a third of a half of the people, the third who are any good and who can be spared of the middle third by age- not too young and ungrown and not too old and knackered- of the crazier/more disposable, male half of the population, plus a few outliers in all directions- maybe sixty total.

The pair whose shift it is when Larric wanders down to have a look seem sensible enough, they're not obviously nuts, but they are increasingly dubious about this. 'Now that some daft sod- one of the refugees I think- has gone and got himself killed over this the problem's not going to go away, is it? Some other daft sod's going to decide whatever it is is must be worth killing over and try to get at it again.'

Could have a point. You did pick a sensible spot to put it, fairly far away from where the people are and downwind- so to the east. At that point there is a wailing sound as someone, a woman wrapped up in a blanket and holding a knife, is wandering around looking for her husband who went missing in the night. She seems to be heading this way.

[Simon_Jester]

OOC:

Larric might be aware of fluorine, but if so he has a private nickname, and not a complimentary one. He dislikes certain elements; argon's another one. They irritate him deeply.

IC:

"Uh-oh." Larric probes gently at the swishes of cold morning air, trying to establish a bit of preparation-for-connection. "You... have either of you ever seen her with the dead man?" He's looking at the woman and trying to figure out if he's got range to talk for a bit before she gets close enough to interrupt. Probably not to say anything more than that.

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

Fluorine because it does far too much, and argon because it does nothing at all? There are a couple of other gags there concerning fluorine and irritate but I'll let you make them.

'No, but I don't think the Gods are in a giving mood this season- that it's only coincidence would be too much to ask.' the guard says, shortly before she spots the body bundled up in its' cloak and screams, runs over to it. Pulls the hood back to see the face, bursts into tears.

[Simon_Jester]

OOC:

Not quite, but those are the ultimate causes of the thing that does make him irritable about those elements.

Also, grieving widow. Wow. Nice complication you've dumped me in, Alfred... [shakes fist]

IC:

Larric murmurs "Oh, Maker..."

He's not even carrying his crossbow, by the way- wouldn't have expected to need it, and doesn't have the habit of routinely going armed at all times in civilized territory. A little knife in a pocket or something maybe, a tool, but not a serious weapon. Essentially unarmed unless he grabs something to defend himself with. Just in case this goes totally nuts, as well it might.

He takes a moment to settle his nerves, because he's going to be walking close to a dead body and he hates doing that. He gets himself pretty much under control, but it takes a bit. The widow will probably be too busy grieving to notice a delay.

I wonder if Dale would have the knack for this... Larric deduced fairly early on that Dale's background was as a priest of Dnor, the death-god. Ah well, he's not here.

He walks closer slowly, keeping a bit of distance in case she lashes out, moving to, oh, about her 10 o'clock or 2 o'clock, standing respectfully away from the body. He pauses, essentially giving her the initiative to speak or act, and planning to react. At least, that's the plan if she's not totally locked down, in which case he'll have some words.

OOC MK II:

I'm sorry, I'm a little too brainfried and tired to figure out an exact wording or the like, and frankly this is a plausible course of action for Larric. Sense of responsibility for what happened, whether it makes sense or not- but he doesn't know what to do because it isn't the class of problem he's a natural at.

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

The guards are a bit more skeptical suspecting a setup, she's the distracter and attention getter while the rest of the bandit gang sneak up on you; doesn't seem to be any immediate sign of that though, which is just as well because if it was Larric would be about to get stabbed.

Could so easily have been- but no, it sounds as if she's genuine enough. She seems to have passed into the anger stage anyway, between bouts of sobbing shouting at the body "Why did you have to go and leave me alone you idiot, you and your stupid dreams"- she's not paying Larric much attention at all. She will attract some if she goes on like this, though.

[Simon_Jester]

I don't know if I made it clear, but Larric was planning to stop outside of easy lunge range- time enough to at least react with a pressure wave and a dodge.

Anyway.

Larric will say: "Someone must have lied to him."

[Assuming a reply of the order of 'what on earth are you talking about,' or at least the same in its substance]

"Someone told him that a pile of rat poisons- and worse- was treasure worth fighting over. I know a friend with a big hammer who'll sort them out; it'd serve them right and more than right."

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

Yes, and it was a good idea to do so- she might just snap yet. She may have been expecting to have to drag him out of someone else's bed, hence the knife; someting like that does happen though- mainly it's a blank look Larric gets, but the reply is

'What, you mean it isn't stolen treasure, it's just worthless trash? What'd you go and kill him for it then?' Looking down at the body, she adds 'What's you get yourself killed for, you damn' fool-' which is as far as she gets before collapsing on top of it in tears.

She's attracting attention, though- you are a decent distance away from and downwind of the camp but not out of earshot, and she was making some commotion earlier anyway. She might not be a danger, too busy crying and she's dropped the knife, but the other people starting to wander over to see what the fuss was about do. Someone, inevitably, is going to put two and two together and get Zn(CH3)2 or worse, unless that train of thought gets derailed.

[Kaelan]

Dirt will awake and stretch, and turn his thoughts to the tasks at hand for the day. Firstly, what the hell is a 'silver coin' and how is he going to go about getting these things. I'll ask Alfred when he gets up and about. Now to the most important task of the day - Breakfast.

Approaching the wail of the morning chorus and to check on our hole in the ground Dirt approaches Larric. It's looking to be the start of a good day as he has appeared to have already found food for the party to eat. Woman must be upset that he's not offering her any which is rather strange as Larric is normally a sharing type of person with those in need.

Must be a human thing.....

As a side note Dirt is armed (especially when wandering about human settlements from past experience).

[Panzersharkcat]

Alfred, who has finally made his way over there, and pieces together what happened. He attempts to hold her and console her. "You have my word that I will help find whoever lied to your husband and bring them to justice." When he's free, he will have her escorted away before trying to whisper to Larric, "Should I have Rohal fetch Snuffles?"

(OOC: This would probably be a good reason for him to be left behind for a while, IRL. Doing the paperwork for enlistment in the Air Force. Finished the ASVAB Monday. Trying to figure out the dual citizenship thing since I don't think I ever renounced being a British overseas national from being born in Hong Kong but not sure if that counts as dual citizenship. After that's done, I think it's medical stuff before I go off to basic training.)

[Simon_Jester]

OOC:

Whoa whoa whoa.

OK, I think we need to take a pause to discuss this; Panzer, you're going to be effectively unavailable in Air Force training? Did I understand that right?

Hm. Do we need to go a-recruiting then?

[Panzersharkcat]

(OOC: Not for a while, though. Though I should finish the initial paperwork by the end of the weekend, there will probably be a few weeks before I actually go to basic. I will let you guys know when it is. But after that date, I'll be gone for about eight and a half weeks.)

[Fiji_Fury]

Dale wakes up a little later than the others. Basically the Ogre stirring into wakefulness achieves the same for him. Dirt may be sneaky for an Ogre, but there's enough activity there from complete rest to bring Dale out of his own dreams.

He groans a little as he rises. Just prior to sleep and after he washed up the previous night he used a more thorough dose of Life magic to heal his shoulder, and it left him even more exhausted mentally than he had bargained for. Good news: he's pretty much back to 100% from the wound. Bad news: he feels like he has a persistent, though minor, hangover today.

Dale will politely ask the Ogre for food or directions to food then strap onto his person his various knives and sword belt. His bedroll, shield and leather armor (for all the apparent good it did) will be left behind, but he's not inclined to leave the weapons there amidst an unfamiliar people. It's not that he doesn't trust his safety without the weapons, but more that they are dangerous tools (especially the magic murder sword) and he doesn't want anybody messing around with them.

The sounds of anguish and grief draw his attention once he is up and out and he somewhat slowly makes his way over to the source, there to find Larric looking extremely awkward and Alfred directing some men-at-arms to pick up a body and the crying widow. The gathering crowd of curious townsfolk and refugees is a little agitated and Dale can hear snippets of speculation from them. He'll listen in to the crowd carefully to gather some intel on how the common-folk are taking this incident. Not knowing too much himself, he nonetheless trusts Alfred and Larric to directly address it and later fill Dale in if its important. In the meantime, the currents of the crowd may, or may not, lead to other issues, so he'll eavesdrop and mix with them.

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

Right. Ah, krutz. This isn't exactly a natural break point considering the stuff Alfred is about to have to do really, so we may have to push on in the short term to get to one.

Dirt's forgotten that humans don't eat their own dead again, hasn't he? He would know quite a bit about money from watching svartalfven at work; denominations and such he's completely ignorant of, but when they wanted a favour from each other, they could talk around the issue for hours, making threats and promises and fencing with words to find out how much it's really worth and what the consequences are likely to be, and a lot of the time they ended up double crossing each other anyway. When they actually need it fast, now, no questions, the one who needs it gives the other one lots of money and that avoids all the tedious, dubious blather.

The business down at the hole sort of fades away in tears and muttering, as the grieving widow is led away and the grumblers are shouted at and heave leadership and oratory exercised on them; settled for now but all it would take is an idiot or a bold bandit, it is going to take an unhealthily large amount of effort to keep that thing garded and protected after an incident like that.

Has anyone explained to Alfred's mother yet what happened, and how it came to be here? If you do bother to explain to Atheleyne that you couldn't leave it behind, and now you've temporarily interred it- on her suggestion too I might add- until you can manage to sort the useful from the dangerous, find buyers (that's how you get the silver coins) for the valuable stuff and incinerate the dangerous in glass- furnace heat or better, her solution would be simple; send for a wizard.

A messenger- Mr Snuggles would do, come to think of it- to the court, to Lisanna it'd most likely have to be, to come and do the assay and incineration; that is part of the court wizard's duties anyway. At this stage she could probably do with the opportunity to get away from the place.

That means you can safely (for a given value of the term) turn your back on the toxic hoard for maybe long enough to go and take the measure, anyway, of de Berrey's fief and people.

On a recruiting note, now without the party being up to it's arse in wyverns is a reaonable time if anyone feels so minded, drop me a PM.

[Simon_Jester]

OOC:

Of course, if we take the party on a slightly different trajectory, Alfred has a great reason to be out of the game for several weeks' real time- he's resolving matters on his own feudal lands without the rest of the party being along to help him. And that makes it perfectly reasonable to come back to join us (say, because his father recovers). Convenient.

Alternatively he could become a quest-giving NPC, which would also work. Either way.

IC:

Larric, being about a quarter of a wizard and on the scene, was prepared to work out how to do it himself- but it'd have taken time and draw heavily on his alchemical experience. Lisanna is certainly eminently qualified to incinerate nearly anything. Much more so than Larric. I'm not sure about her assaying talents, but Larric can hopefully make himself useful in that capacity.

That said, yes- the alchemist says to Alfred's mother: "Up on the mountain, it was just us, I've been thinking like that too much. You're right, a wizard better at making a nice steel-melting fire would be just what's called for. I'll see what I can do to get things ready for that, if Sir Alfred doesn't want me to go faring with him today."

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

'If you are heading for de Berrey's demesne, go prepared for a fight. It's more war than I was willing to face,' Atheleyne states, 'especially in view of how things seem to be there. He was missing for a long time before being confirmed dead, and things were already getting out of control. A couple of old family feuds came out between the sub branches of the de Berreys, and as they started falling out, their retainers could literally get away with murder.

Some of them have reason to fear the law, now, and any kind of return of good order. Most of them want the nightmare to be over and to get back to something resembling normality, but it is the people of most leverage on the situation who are furthest out of control. We're loosely related to them so I don't enjoy admitting this, but the rot began at the top.

The rightful heir is almost certainly being held hostage by one party or another. I can hold what we have here, but I passed up my chance to be a shieldmaiden some time ago- it's yours to deal with.'

[Simon_Jester]

Larric looks at Sir Alfred.

"You aim to treat the little boy deBerrey as your own kin, you said." Unspoken: and that probably includes wrestling him loose from whatever robber micro-baron has him in hand...

OOC:
Panzer, do you think we can get enough done fast enough to have this over with before you go to basic? "A few weeks," you said...

[Panzersharkcat]

"And I do. How many men can we spare, mother? While I trust my companions' skill, I would like to have as many on my side as I can. I will also need tunics for my companions to show they are all in the employ of the House of Norden."
If Rohal is around, he'll say to him quietly, "At the hole we hid the chemicals is the body of a man deceived into believing he would find treasure there. I need you to track them down. I have sworn to bring them to justice but I must rescue the boy de Berrey."

(OOC: I'm hoping so. I'm trying to shoot for a January 29th ship out date. That is not definite, though.)

[Simon_Jester]

IC:

Hm, perception check for Larric, then. If he hears what Alfred says to Rohal (quietly), then he says:

"We need to get rid of that stuff, we need- I'll be honest, we need a bigger wizard. Can you send someone reliable to Qulan town for that, fast through country?" He glances at Rohal. "The other matter we can take care of too, but that's a job for sheriff-types*."
________________

OOC:

*I do not know if baronets formally have their own sheriffs the way barons do, but surely they have some kind of professional law-enforcer; a baronetcy here is that big to say the least. Setting them on the trail of anyone involved with disturbing the toxins might help discourage people from getting too close to them, too.

[Fiji_Fury]

Dale recognizes that the party has essentially become retainers of Sir Alfred and has the disturbing thought that Auburon felt the Barony was essentially doomed due to the "mundane politics" as he put it. That leaves everyone in an uneasy position. We either need to change the situation, strongly, or help Alfred's family carve out their little niche and weather the storm. Or run away, but that doesn't seem right to Dale. A final possibility is that Auburon was wrong - although given the Druid's record in Dale's experience, he would not bet on that.

"The boy certainly doesn't deserve to be held hostage... although from another point of view, your arriving with armed soldiers to take him into protective custody and assuming control over his lands may be much the same thing. Some people will need to die, and not all of them may be the ones currently causing turmoil. Tread carefully here; these actions could change the fates of many."