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>>2407466
Quest rules:
1. All dice rolled are assumed to be D100 unless otherwise stated
2. In most situations, only the first two dice rolls will be counted, if the threads become more popular this may be changed. This choice ultimately falls to the Lorekeeper, odd circumstances may cause him to overlook this rule (a ton of crits later down the chain for instance)
3. All dice rolls are final
4. Critical fails are considered to be between 1-5, Critical hits are between 95-100. Crits overpower any other roll except another crit. In the rare chance that a crit fail and crit success happen. The Lorekeeper will do something interesting from a story angle.
5. Near misses may occur, where a rolled number is close to the required threshold, whether over or under. This can have an impact on how the story proceeds. However these are up to the decision of the Lorekeeper.
6. Sometimes there are optional choices one may participate in, these will generally NOT be taken unless there are multiple posters who wish it, assuming there are multiple posters in the thread
7. There are often times choices with multiple parts, each part is counted separately, unless otherwise stated, sometimes rolls will be required before counting the second, third, etc, part
8. There will be “Time Limited” decisions, in which characters may only do a set number of actions, or ask a set number of questions within a conversation, or during combat. These will sometimes be clearly marked, and sometimes not if it adds to the story. If there are three choices allowed, for instance, each poster is expected to pick three choices in descending order. The first choice of the first poster, the first choice of the second, and the first choice of the third poster will be taken. If two first choices match, the second choice will be chosen of the following poster, etc. If there are fewer posters than choices allowed, the first poster will be given preference, and his second choice will be picked (so the first poster, second poster, and then first poster again), etc.
9. Interviews: Interviews will generally be a freeform set of questions that the readers have to ask the person they are interviewing. No hand holding here, I will purposefully leave up wrong answers or decisions, although for the most part careful readers will be able to tease these out. (Like saying you’re still a scribe even though that little story has been completely thrown out the window)
10. Rules may be subject to change between threads, but will not change during the same thread. These rules are what we will follow for the remainder of this thread.

>>2407470

Archived Threads: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive.html?tags=Necromancer+Detective+Quest

Discord (Meet the Loremaster himself, and get live updates and all that jazz): https://discord.gg/5sZYkz9 (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED)

Gab (until I resurrect my phone): https://gab.ai/Loremasters_Letterbox

Character List, includes main cast, supporting cast, and minor characters: https://pastebin.com/WaNDnpJQ

Chapter Summary: (I will be doing this after our first case is finished, I don’t have too much time to commit to it right now as it will be FAR more in depth than the brief recaps I’ve done at the start of these threads.)

>>2407474
“We should skip the sewer for now. I want to get this whole thing with the light rune settled first.”

“You’re acting lazier than I am Henry.” Cassius said. “Don’t like getting yer hands dirty?”

“I don’t want to get my boots dirty after the church did such a good job cleaning them.” Henry shot back.

“Well we should check in with Grom first, make sure we won’t be poking a beehive here. We can just sweep by the inn and I’ll be in and out in a few minutes alright?” Cassius said.

The trip over to the inn was uneventful, although a few people stopped and said hello to Jonathon. He knew quite a few people apparently. Cassius went into the inn without a word. A few minutes later he returned scratching the back of his head.

“So here’s the deal, Grom screwed things up for us a bit by pissing off the head of the local guild. He says he didn’t say anything that would cause the guy to lash out but I dunno. We can’t just wave our badges around and expect things to go well, so there’s that. Guy’s name is Fargis, and apparently he was close with the local nobility before … y’know” He finished.

“Regardless it’s by far the best lead we have. This whole thing stinks to the heavens.” Henry said. He didn’t like this one bit. But since he had only a passing connection to the church he’d probably be the best negotiator that they had right now. He certainly did not trust Jonathon to handle an operation requiring such tact.

“I’d rather not get violent, since y’know, they are mages and what not.” Cassius replied. “You’re gonna be doing the talking, since I’d probably just botch it. They have their own god damned language in there when it comes to the magical stuff, but you probably know all about that. Call me the second fists start flying though, got no problems with that.”

Henry decided he would DEMAND higher pay, even though he’d never really settled on it in the first place, a mistake he made due to panic more than anything else. He was REALLY pulling his weight now.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

As the group reached the Mage’s compound, Henry took note of something. There was now a guard in the gate house, and a few more people inside the actual courtyard inside. He figured that his best chance would be to find the man in charge or to talk to that Theo person he’d met earlier.


1. Try to find Theo
2. Try to find Fargus
3. Talk to the gate guard (write in)
4. Write in

Optional:
1. Ask Cassius a question (write in)
2. Ask Jonathon a Question (write in)

>>2407480
Find Theo. I figure we try someone lower in the chain before pissing off the one in charge.
Who was Theo anyway?

We could also ask around where and who makes runes

>>2407873
Henry, and thus all of us, don't know too much about the man, all we know is that he's some sort of secretary and maybe a door guard of the inner building.

As for the rune question, certainty, that'd be a fairly good question to ask Theo.

>>2407873
This sounds good, and we can ask how easily it would be to damage the runes.

>>2408196
>>2407873
gonna be posting tomorrow, just delaying for a little bit to finish the sidequest up

>>2407474
“Can the two of you wait here for a bit?” Henry said, as the group reached the gate.

“No complaints from me bud.” Cassius said, before leaning against the wall.

“I-I have to follow you I’m afraid.” Jonathon said, eyeing Cassius for a moment. Kid must’ve been real on edge with all the recent commotion. Henry wondered if he should ask him about it, maybe the guy who’d been pasted on the ground was his friend or something?

As the duo entered and proceeded through the gate, they caught a couple of looks from some of the people in the courtyard. One was practicing some sort of spell. Henry looked at Jonathon, who was completely oblivious. Only people with magical talent could actually see the spells being cast, most only saw their after effects. Henry smiled, that talent had proven useful on quite a few occasions.

I shouldn’t be expecting things to go wrong, Henry thought, he always did this, always had an escape plan, always tried to be as paranoid as possible. Well with what happened last night maybe for once he had a reason to be.

The lobby was the same as Henry had left it, with Theo still sitting behind his desk, although the coffee pot and the little rig that it sat on had been moved far enough away now that Henry would be unable to reach it. Darn, he could’ve gone for a cup.

“Oh hello again, and hello Cathar.” Theo said.

“We’re looking into the whole issue with the main tower’s light rune.” Henry replied. He just wanted to get down to business.

“Oh that thing again? Is that why you have the Cathar there? Look, I know that it’s VERY important but we’ve already told Hafford that we’re waiting for the prepared stone to be delivered from the Mason, apparently something is going on over there but we haven’t been able to find the man recently. If its that important he should send a few of his people there. I wish we could be of more help but without a stone to carve and enchant we can’t really do much. We certainly can’t repair a shattered one.”

(next section)

>>2409734
“Alright so then… wait what do you mean shattered?” Henry asked.

“The stone was shattered apparently. Thing wasn’t enchanted for strength, would’ve cost way more and the City didn’t see the need. I think they might reconsider now.” Theo relied. “I’m surprised you didn’t already know this.”

“Just shattered?” Henry asked, in disbelief.

“Would’ve had to been by some sort of sledgehammer or other blunt instrument, Hafford really believes it was by accident but we’ve told him repeatedly that it would’ve had to have been on purpose, even unenchanted the thing WAS a solid rock.”

Henry really didn’t want to deal with Hafford again. But this little piece of information meant that someone on the town guard. Or someone who had pretended to be a guard had slipped into the tower and shattered the thing. This was all set up, but it this was a bit too easy to find out, so either it was a ruse or the perps were just inexperienced or short on time.

“Jonathon, who’s allowed in the tower?” Henry asked, turning to him.

“I uh…only members of the guard and those who have been personally cleared by Hafford or Rodger, nobody else is allowed into the tower since it’s so important.” Jonathon responded. “B-but you don’t think that a member of the town guard could be involved? I know most of them. They’re not bad people at all, certainly not involved in any of this!”

Kid’s naiveté was inspiring.

“So why can’t you find another mason to make the thing?” Henry asked, once more looking at Theo.

“Main reason I assume is that the payment was already given, and Fargis probably doesn’t want to lose his investment on another Mason. I can give you directions to the guy we hired if you want, will save me the trouble if you can figure out what’s wrong.” Theo said, writing the directions down on a piece of paper and handing it to Henry.

“So you’re willing to leave the town undefended because you want to save some coin?” Henry asked.

“We’ll it’s not exactly leaving the town undefended, it’s just a single light rune.”

1. Ask Theo more questions (write in)
2. Ask Jonathon more questions (write in)
3. Try to find Fargis
4. Head to Masonry Yard
5. Head to Quarry (will bring Jonathon and Cassius)
6. Head to Sewer
7. Head elsewhere (write in)

Optional:
1. Ask for a cup of coffee (requires a roll for speech)
2. Write in

>>2409737
Aw shit, could Hafford be involved in this? Is this the reason why he went out investigating out town?

Question for Theo. Ask him if he knows why the mages don't want to help with the werewolves problem. Surely they would be affected one way or another if the town gets butchered?

>>2409860
Then go find the Mason.

>>2409737
On the way to the mason
>2. Ask Jonathon more questions (write in)
So tell me about Haffard and Rodger.

>>2409737
“So why the heck aren’t you guys lending a hand to the local Church, aren’t you guys in just as much danger as the rest of the city folk?” Henry asked, a bit confused.

“I mentioned them before, but I guess you didn’t hear. We have gargoyles. Little more than half a dozen of the things, not to mention the actual mages, including myself. A few little werewolves are not going to be a problem. On top of that the Gargoyles are enchanted for strength. Nothing’s going to happen within these walls. I don’t want to sound callous but we can afford to sit pretty.”

“So why aren’t any of you personally lending a hand?” Henry asked.

“Right now we’re all just following Fargis’ orders. I don’t think anyone here is willing to act against him.” Theo muttered out the last bit.

Henry sighed. It would be WAAAAY too easy had they been cooperative. Of course the people with actual magical abilities would be stuck up idiots. Only a mage could be so smart and so stupid at the same time. He mentally wrote down Theo as a coward and moved on.

On the way out of the compound, Henry waved to Cassius and he came running to catch up. “What took ya.” He asked.

“We’re going on a bit of a hunt now. Apparently the holdup is at the Mason providing the stone for the runes.”

“Good, I needed a jog today.” Cassius replied.

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>>2410425
>>2410425
The trio began to work its way through the city streets on the way to where the directions Henry got pointed. As they passed the outskirts of the Ghost District, Henry decided to ask a few questions to Jonathon.

“So what are your thoughts on Hafford?” Henry asks. “Don’t worry. Your answers will be strictly off the record.”

“Thanks… I uh… He’s a pretty good boss, even if he yells quite a bit, he’s just… I dunno, protective of the city? He’s lived here a long time, I don’t really know too much about his family or nothing. I do know he has a brother in one of the outlying colonies, but it didn’t get hit I don’t think. I’m sorry but I haven’t been a Cathar for too long. Do you want to know something more specific?”

“Maybe in a bit if I think of something.” Henry replied.

“So what about Rodger?”

“He’s a bit of a weirdo sir. He… he stays up in that tower most of the time unless he has to come out. Most of us think he’d marry the thing… if he could of course. I know the man has a wife but I don’t really know too much about his family.”

“Huh.” Henry finished.

As the group approached the masonry yard, something stuck out to Henry, the area was QUIET. His time in Celeste had shown that these areas were usually loud with the sounds of banging and clanking. He wondered what was up. As they rounded the corner and Henry took a look inside, he saw a single man leaning on a wall.

What we he doing there? He wasn’t working.

To Henry’s left was the actual Mason’s home, with what looked like a workshop of sorts on the first floor. There was a second but Henry couldn’t really see inside. In the yard itself was the man, unarmed Henry noticed, seemingly doing nothing. Something wasn’t right here but he wasn’t sure what that might be.


1. Approach the man and ask him what is going on
a. (by yourself)
b. (With Cassius)
c. (with Jonathon
d. (With both)
2. Sneak into the house (Sneak roll, 45 or higher)
3. Write in

Optional:
1. Speak to Cassius (write in)
2. Speak to Jonathon (Write in)
3. Write in

>>2410431
>1. Approach the man and ask him what is going on
>a. (by yourself)
Have Cassius be on the lookout.

>>2410431
alright, now that the sidequest is finished I can once more commit to this beast of a quest

>>2410631
This

>>2410431
Henry ducked back around the corner, the man hadn’t spotted him yet, and he didn’t want to blow his cover.

“Alright Cassius, here’s the plan, I’m gonna go up and talk to the guy. I’m the only one here not affiliated with the church. More importantly, I’m the only one not WEARING anything linking me to the church, so for all that guy knows I’m just a worried customer or something.”

“Got it, I’ll keep the kid here too.”

“I’ll just stand watch on the other side of the street I guess.” Jonathon said, in a huff. Kid had probably expected to be involved in this super important investigation, but he’d probably be more of a hindrance than anything at this point.

“If either of you see the guy make a run for it grab him, got it?” Henry said. The other two nodded. At least that angle would be taken care of.

Strolling as casually as he could manage, Henry entered the masonry yard. It was a fairly simple set up, basically just a patch of clear dirt surrounded by a stone wall. Inside were four piles, made up of stone blocks in various stages of completion. There was a table to one side filled with all kinds of tools. Lastly, there was a wooden shack in the far right corner, probably for storage more than anything else.

The man took a notice to Henry instantly. He kicked his foot off the wall and began to walk over. Dusting himself off as he did.

“Hey there what do ya need!” He called over.

Guy was putting on a decent act. Henry figured.


1. “I’m looking for the Mason in charge of this place”
2. “Who are you?”
3. “Why aren’t you working?”
4. “Can I go into the building?” (provide excuse if you want)
5. “I’m here to pick up an order, what’s been taking so long?”
6. Pull your sword on him (will NOT attack)
7. Bolt him, quarter charge (will stun him)
8. Bolt him, full charge (will kill him)
9. Write in

>>2411672
>5. “I’m here to pick up an order, what’s been taking so long?”

>>2411672
Looking for mason in charge then ask about the order

>>2411672
9. Ask him what the price for a stone cylinder that is 1 inch around and 5 feet long.

It's a pretty impossible request, so if he kinda flubs for an answer we might get an indication of if he's an actual mason or not.

Failing that, 1 and 5

>>2411870
Make a roll to see if Henry would know that, I can guarentee neither cassius or jonathon do

>>2411672
As the man approached, Henry took the time to get a good look at him. Nothing about his face really stood out, the guy did have a somewhat patchy beard, and a messy swath of brown hair. He wore a basic tunic with brown trousers. It was like he was trying his hardest to NOT stand out. The only other thing Henry noticed about the guy was a series of scratches on his arms. Whatever they were Henry doubted they were from ‘work’.

“I was here to pick up an order that got lodged a while back, what’s been taking so long?”

“You’re here to pick up a block of stone?” The man said, stifling a laugh.

“No jackass I’m here to make sure that it’s completed.” Henry responded.

“Well what is it that you were looking for?”

“I ain’t a mason and I don’t remember the exact name of the dang thing, I’m here on behalf of someone else anyways. Look do you know where I can find the guy in charge?” Henry asked, getting into the act.

“No, fraid not, he left pretty quickly on a business trip. Far off location, he won’t be back for a few more days.” The man responded.

Well didn’t that just work out swimmingly. Henry figured that either this guy or someone working with him had done something to the mason. Issue was he wouldn’t be able to prove it. Maybe he could get him to slip up?

“Look I ain’t leaving till I get what I came for.” Henry responded. Hey it WAS the truth.

“Then yer gonna be waiting here a long while pal.” The man responded.

1. Who are you?
2. “Why aren’t you working?”
3. “So where exactly did the Mason get off to?”
4. “Well what are you gonna do about my order then?”
5. “Can I go into the main masonry building?” (provide excuse if you want)
6. Pull your sword out on him (will not attack right away)
7. Bolt him, quarter charge (will stun him)
8. Bolt him, full charge (will kill him
9. Call in Cassius, Jonathon, or both
10. Write in

>>2412655
>3. “So where exactly did the Mason get off to?”
And
2. “Why aren’t you working?”

>>2412655
“So where did the Mason get off to?” Henry asked.

“Uh… Graingarden” The man responded. “Don’t know much about the trip. He left yesterday, won’t be back till at least tomorrow.”

Wait, Jonathon had told him earlier that Graingarden had been hit by werewolves. Henry wondered if he could use that information against the guy, throw him off a bit.

“Why aren’t you working, even with the Mason gone there is seriously nothing for you to do around here, like get MY order done?” Henry said, pointing at the man.

“I’m not an apprentice or anything… I’m uh, hired help. Yeah, I’m just paid to do heavy lifting for the old guy. He paid me to watch over the place while he headed out, guy trusts me with everything don’t cha know. Heck he even trusts me to deal with all the angry customers this little trip will cause. Apparently the pay is really good on it, some church or something. Look is that all ya need?”

“So he didn’t leave you any projects or anything to do? Seems like a good waste of coin if he doesn’t have you sweep up or something.”

“Ey pal, I ain’t making judgements about your life. No need to do that shit with me.”


1. “So what is your name?”
2. “Can I look inside the building, I want to make sure my order was placed properly” (will bring you inside, maybe there are clues?)
3. “What’s the pay like?”
4. “Graingarden was hit by werewolves recently, why the heck would he travel, by himself, out there?”
5. “You know I don’t believe you for a second.”
6. “I ain’t dumb, what’s the real story?”
7. “I want a refund until my order is finished!”
8. Pull out your sword (will not attack right away)
9. Bolt him, quarter charge (will stun him)
10. Bolt him, full charge (will kill him)
11. Call in backup (Cassius, Jonathon, or both)

>>2412744
>7. “I want a refund until my order is finished!”
Especially since my order won't be finished.

>>2412747
2. “Can I look inside the building, I want to make sure my order was placed properly” (will bring you inside, maybe there are clues?)
Maybe we can ask this if he refuses the refund?

>>2412744
>5. “You know I don’t believe you for a second.”

>>2412837

I really do not like the idea of going in there where ewe could be easily ambushed. If we go in, we don't do it alone.

>>2412850
Ahh True.Taking back my vote.
>>2412744
>>7. “I want a refund until my order is finished!”

>>2412850
Agreed.

>>2412856
>>2412857
yee this drunk motherfucker has ideas

>>2412744

I actually think we should quarter-bolt him and bust inside. Reduce the number of potential enemy by one, our mason may still be alive inside and need help, AND if we have a stunned enemy, we can interrogate him.

>>2412744
“I’m DEMANDING a refund until I can get the order delivered.” Henry said. He might as well go for broke. Henry hoped Cassius wouldn’t mind, especially since that man still owed him his 25 silver coins he’d been promised.

“First off, we don’t do that here. Second off you don’t even remember what the freaking order was for so I doubt you even know what the heck the price was. Third off it wasn’t even your money so no way in hell am I just gonna give you it.”

Right, shit, you had said those things hadn’t you…

“Look bud, I don’t believe you for a god damned second, why the heck would he just leave?” You yell a bit, maybe a bit too much, cause the guy looks like he’s about done with you.

“I think I’ve put up with you long enough bud, beat it.” He says, cracking his knuckles. Shit hasn’t this gone well.

“Wait a moment…” You respond, trying to think. “I didn’t mean”

“Uh huh pal.” The man responds, beginning to inch a bit closer.

I don’t think I have too much time left, he looks a bit ticked. Henry thought.

1. “So what is your name”
2. “Can I just look inside the building real quick? I want to make sure my order was placed at least.”
3. “What’s the pay like?”
4. “Wait, Graingarden was hit by werewolves recently, why would the guy just travel there by himself?”
5. “I ain’t dumb, what’s the real story.”
6. Pull out your sword, guys only got his fists (will not attack instantly)
7. Bolt him, quarter charge (will stun him, potentially knock him out)
8. Bolt him, full charge (will kill him)
9. Call for backup (Cassius, Jonathon, or both)
10. Back out, and get outta there (run away)
11. Write in

>>2412885
one issue with this is it can knock the guy out, which will mean you can't ask him anything till he comes to. I'm also not treating time as something to be just thrown away either, so pick your choice carefully

>>2412908
>5. “I ain’t dumb, what’s the real story.”
Especially since Graingarden's been hit by werewolves.

>>2412913
so do you want to bring it up?

>>2412946
Yes

>>2412913
Support

>>2412910
At this point just quarter-bolt him. If we need to find a way to wake him via magic or some other fuckery, so be it. We're also clearly heading to violence rn.

>>2412908
“Look asshole I ain’t dumb, this whole thing doesn’t make sense, what’s going on here?” Henry demanded. This whole thing had stunk since you first set foot in here.


“Alright pal, now you REALLY are leaving.” The man said, grabbing Henry’s arm.


“Graingarden got attacked recently, why the fuck would he just be going there alone? It’s dangerous as all hell around there right?” Henry said, in desperation now more than anything.


“I ain’t saying another fuckin word to you shithead.” The man replies, dropping all pretense of politeness. “I’m throwing you out, and if you come back I’m calling the town guard, alright?”

Henry didn’t see himself TALKING his way outta this one.


1. Draw your sword on him (will not attack instantly)
2. Draw your sword and attack him (may kill him)
3. Bolt him, Quarter Charge (will stun him, may knock him out)
4. Bolt him, Full charge (Will kill him)
5. Call for backup (Cassius, Jonathon, or both. Please say which)
6. Allow yourself to be thrown out
7. Write in

>>2413064
>5. Call for backup
Johnathon
>I already brought the guard. Just in case yall try to screw me over.

>>2413064

Cards on table, I had a few ways that I figured this would go. This was NOT one of them

>>2413082
Supporting. I wanna know what's going on w

>>2413064
Henry decided enough was enough.

“You mentioned guards before right?” Henry asked the guy.

“Yeah, asshole, I said if you don’t beat it I’m going to fucking call the town guard and have them haul you away to the jail or something.”

“WELL LUCKILY I BROUGHT MY OWN!” Henry shouted.

The man froze up for a second, and then looked around curiously.

“I SAID I BROUGHT MY OWN GOD DAMN IT!” Henry shouted again

“O-oh was I supposed to do something there?” Jonathon called out from a little distance away. A few moments later he poked his head around the gateway and looked into the courtyard.

“Oh I was supposed to run in all heroically wasn’t I?” Jonathon said, a bit embarrassed. “Y-know you could’ve told me the plan beforehand…”

“F-fucking god damn it.” Henry muttered, before turning back to the man. He had frozen up. He seemed to be focusing in on Jonathon. Henry felt the man’s grip on him loosen then release completely. The man proceeded to back a few steps up.

“Oh fuck me.” He muttered to himself. Jonathon had begun to saunter into the yard now, still a bit uncomfortable.

“So what do you even w-want me to do Henry?” Jonathon asked, eyeing the man.

Henry looked to Jonathon for a moment. “Fucking detain him so I can search the building you nitwit!” What a fucking moron.

… Oh wait where did the guy go?

Henry turned back around to find the guy had seemingly vanished. Another second of looking showed that the man had scaled a pile of stones and was leaping over the wall in an attempt to escape. He was escaping DIRECTLY opposite to where Cassius was.

MOTHERFUCKER

1. Chase after him (write who you will bring with you)
2. Let him go
3. Write in

>WE WOULDN'T BE A DETECTIVE QUEST WITHOUT A CHASE NOW WOULD WE

>>2413144
>2. Let him go
Fuck running.
Lets get into the building before the goods walk off.

>>2413165
Yell for Cassius to follow him.
Not that it'll do much good.

>>2413144
Send Jonathan after him. Useless mook

>>2413144
3. Get Cassius to chase him, if possible.
3. Have Jonathon take up point position as we investigate the mason's shop (he's expendable).

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>>2413144
Henry stood there for a moment in disbelief. He was about to call to Cassius when saw the man run past him and VAULT over the stone wall. Henry would’ve followed him, but he would’ve rather looked inside the building then getting himself all tired and sweaty. Besides, Cassius could probably handle a single unarmed dumbass. As the sounds of shouting died off, Henry turned back to face the main building and started heading towards it.

“Shouldn’t we help him?” Jonathon asked, concern showing in his voice.

“Nonsense kid. If someone else is willing to do the work, let them. I think Cassius would do a better job than either of us anyways.” Henry didn’t doubt for a second that Cassius would catch the guy. He just hoped the man wouldn’t be too sore about not lending a hand.

As the two turned toward the building, Henry got a good look inside. The thing was fairly plain, brick on the ground floor and a tudor design on the second. There seemed to be a tiny attic space on the top floor, but Henry couldn’t really get a good look from the ground.

“You head in first Jonathon, I’ll back ya up.”

“W-why me?” Jonathon asked, fear creeping into his voice. “What if there are peop-“

“Because you’re a Cathar and it’s your JOB.” Henry replied, giving Jonathon a shove. Boy was far more expendable than he was, he would rather not be risking his own neck unless he had to. Henry had gotten a bit too chummy with death the other day, no need to tempt fate now.

After checking the door way for any obvious traps, Henry let Jonathon proceed then followed behind him. The room was fairly simple. Wooden floor, some joists in the ceiling holding the second floor up. A few windows allowing a good bit of light inside to show a few bookshelves, a desk full of papers, a stairway leading up, and a few other racks full of tools. This was probably the main workshop, upstairs would likely be actual living quarters. The place was full of far more dust than would’ve been expected. That story the guy had sold him wouldn’t hold much water.

“So what are we supposed to do?” Jonathon asked.

“I want you to guard the doorway so we don’t get any company. I’m going to do some investigating.” Henry replied.

Decision:
1. Look on the desk
2. Look on the bookshelves
3. Go upstairs
4. Open windows to get air into the room
5. Write in (get creative)
6. Leave

Optional: (will do these if the ideas are good)
1. Demand Jonathon do something
2. Talk to Jonathon (write in)
3. Ask Jonathon a question (write in)

>>2416165
Apologies about the grammatical errors here, I'm embarrassed

>>2416165
Optional:
1. Ask our boy J to do a quick sweep of the house, starting with the upstairs.

Decision:
4, Open the windows
5. Look for the stone disk that was being prepped for the light rune, maybe it got done.
2. Check the desk for clues. Letters that may tell us where the mason went, strange orders to far-off villages, etc.

>>2416165
The first thing Henry did was open the windows. He could hardly breathe in here as is and choking to death on dust was NOT the way he pictured himself going out. The next thing he did was to get Jonathon to scope the rest of the place out. Admittedly the guy’s polearm was not well suited to the indoors environment, so Henry lent him his short-sword and sent him upstairs with a friendly push of encouragement. That would get him outta his hair for a few minutes at least.

The next thing on his to-do list was to look for the light rune. This whole problem could probably be solved if the thing was already done and could be sent off to the mages guild… alright that was a pretty big stretch but it WOULD improve things quite a bit. He searched around for a minute or two but was unable to find anything, as he began to head towards the desk a worried Jonathon came back downstairs.

“Uh, you might want to look at this but there is a good deal of blood upstairs.” Jonathon said, “I mean like a LOTTA blood, no body or nothing, so maybe the guy is fine.”

“Fantastic, great, a-may-zing.” Henry said. There went his big lead. Regardless this whole thing was INCREDIBLY brazen, the fact it had gotten this far was some sorta miracle, what bunch of idiots were doing this? Certainty not trained. So a buncha amateurs. If you wanted to murder someone there were far cleaner and better ways to do it that would leave behind far less of a mess. What was odd was that no one had heard it. Wouldn’t a thing like that have been reported?

“Anything else?” Henry asked.

“Uhm… I did accidentally, and I do mean accidentally…” Jonathon stammered, wincing slightly.

“Out with it kiddo.” Henry said, rubbing his face a little.

“T-there was a tripwire and it was attached to these, I might’ve… uh, hit it?” Jonathon finished.

Jonathon was holding a couple of BOMB RUNES in his hand, had they gone off Jonathon would be dead and so could he have been. Fucking hell.

(next section)

>>2416379
“You can’t active these through a tripwire…” Henry muttered. They’d would’ve had to be DIRECTLY activated by a mage to function. It was somewhat of a limitation of these runes but it also HUGELY increased their safety. Regardless, whoever had set them up was a moron, or at least completely unskilled with actual magecraft. The whole affair spooked him plenty.

“So it’s fine then?” Jonathon asked.

“Yeah… yeah it’s fine…” Henry muttered. Jonathon seemed to calm down right away. Probably happy he hadn’t screwed up AGAIN.

Henry went back to the desk, a bit shaken. Whoever had done this wasn’t COMPLETELY stupid, setting up trap like that was at least TRYING to cover your bases. But he got the impression they didn’t know exactly what they had been doing. Wouldn’t surprise him, the more he learned about this plan of theirs the more he felt that they had barely put any time into planning it. The only reason it had gotten this far was because of the unrest that’d recently befallen the capital and the shit that was probably causing here.

The only thing left to look at was what was on the table. Henry spent about twenty minutes looking over the papers, and discovered something unnerving. The mason had the light rune order marked complete several days ago, but it had never arrived, this meant that it had to have been taken or destroyed.

Henry sighed, turning back towards the room, this was just fantastic.


1. Head upstairs
2. Leave, you’re done here
3. Write in

Optional
1. Demand Jonathon to do something (write in)
2. Talk to Jonathon (write in)
3. Ask Jonathon a question (write in)

>>2416383
>1. Head upstairs

>>2416383

1. Head upstairs

Can we necromancer the blood once Jonathon isn't around? Can we use our skills in any real way here to gather info?

After that I think we should examine the upstairs, then see if w can find any plans for the light rune, maybe we can ask another mason to make it ASAP.

Also, steal the fuck out of the runes. They're evidence, at least (maybe the mage guild can help here?).

>>2416587
we need a body to do anything with, sadly Henry doesn't know any blood magic as of yet... that sorta thing is generally used by vampires and shamans.

>>2416591

I'm going to continue drinking and see if I have any other ideas for what to do here.

>>2416383
Henry wouldn’t be finding anything else in this room. So the only other place to look was upstairs. After snatching the bomb runes out of Jonathon’s open hand he proceeded upstairs. As he went up the steps he kept an eye out for any more surprises, but almost disappointingly there were none. Jonathon had been fantastic at clearing traps out. The creaking from the stairs gave a sense of suspense, although Henry already knew what he would find at the top.


The second floor was fairly plain, a rug on the ground, a few windows, a couple bookshelves, a dresser, and a bed. The bed was covered with a good deal of blood, and was seemingly missing a blanket. Beyond that the room looked normal. The man had probably had his throat slit in the bed, quietly. Which would explain how there had been no noise, and how the blood hadn’t soaked through the floor into the room below. That much HAD been planned. The probably missing bedsheet would’ve probably been used to roll the body up and carry it out. It would be far less conspicuous than carrying a corpse.


“Find anything sir?” Jonathon called up the steps.


“Nothing I can use.” Henry called back. This whole thing was a mess. The mason had been killed after the order had been placed, probably last minute. Then a random guy had been planted here to draw suspicion away for a period of time. It would not have worked for too long, so Cassius’ appraisal that the werewolves would strike at full moon seemed to be supported by the evidence.


Henry turned to the window and opened it up, he needed fresh air. It was rather stuffy in here. He sighted Cassius with a couple of Cathars walking back down the road towards the masonry yard gate with the runner in tow. The man was in what appeared to be handcuffs and was being led with a chain attached to them. Cassius didn’t look worse for wear. The chase had probably been fun for him.


Henry turned back towards the room, he had enough now to easily prove the man was lying, but there were SEVERAL important questions to ask. Where was the light rune, where was the body, and what had happened here?


The other important question would be what he would tell the Mages guild, they CERTAINTLY were not getting their blasted stone now, which meant that the light rune would likely be delayed past the time it would be needed.


The light rune would’ve been too heavy for a single person to move, and a group would’ve drawn attention. Based on the rough precautions the group had taken, Henry figured they would’ve considered that. He looked back into the yard for a moment, trying to piece things together. He saw Cassius wave at him and motion for him to come downstairs, perhaps he could figure out more during the interrogation?


1. Head down and begin the interrogation
2. Keep looking around (write in)
3. Write in

Optional:
Demand Jonathon do something (write in)
Talk to Jonathon (write in)

>>2416666 (checked, holy shit)

Heading to bed, gonna start up again tomorrow, probably around 9ish eastern, I'll update more in the discord when I have a better idea.

Can we use the bomb runes? How do they work?
I suggest we keep them just in case.


Are there any places here where they could stuff the light rune? Maybe bury it or something?

What we need to know, why this has been gone for so long unnoticed. He has been dead and missing for several days. I hard it find it to believe that the authorities weren't notified.
I'm really starting to suspect the guard captain. All of this would have been too suspicious to just be left ignored. We just came into town and identified a likely place (sewer grate) where they could be coming and leaving town but the local police didn't think of it? It smells fishy.

>>2416666
Could the light rune have been buried on site or something like that?

>>2416995
It can be activited with a pulse of magical energy. About 0.1 of a charge of ANY kind of mana to be precise. He needs to be within a few hundred meters of the thing, but he doesn't need visual sightline.

>>2417554
So... If we're carrying them on our person and somebody zaps us with magic, they will explode?
Yeah, maybe we should leave them alone unless we have specific idea what to use them on.

>>2417574
depends on what safeguards are built into the thing. Some of the more expensive ones have a specific 'code' you need to enter into them for them to go off. However these are cheap pieces of junk.

Yes they could go off if an opponent with magical talent noticed

Things are generally used as landmines or boobytraps, they CAN be set to activate if a certain condition is met (like something stepping on or near one for instance)

>>2416995
I think we should consider that it has maybe been hidden within the town.

1. We need to see entrance/exit logs for anything that might be a massive chunk of stone, probably covered or hidden in some manner. We also need to look in the logs to see if anything has been obviously changed/edited. We might be able to figure out what day and time they moved the stone, who was guarding the gate, and maybe a lead on who moved the stone.

2. I don't feel well-enough informed about how much the average guardsman knows, or the size of the town, but the traitor would need to know which mason got contracted by the mages' guild (assuming there are more than a few mason's capable of this kind of work). If these are easy-to-come-by facts, then they tell us nothing. If they're harder to know or kept deliberately secret, that implies that someone in the mages' guild or high-up in the guard is the traitor(s).

Let's also note the fucking BOMB RUNES point to someone in the mages' guild, or a group of traitors with at least 1 in the guild.

>>2417629
if you are worrying about the size of the town, I drew a map for JUST such a reason, its attached to the second post of the thread.


1. Good thinking, Henry can probably have a look now or after the interrogation.

2. There is more than one mason in the city, all that they're doing is getting the stone itself prepared, all that's needed is a stone with a flat surface to carve the rune onto. It also has to be large enough to contain the magical energy required.

as for the bomb runes, they were IMPROPERLY used, had they been correctly set (with magic, not a tripwire), jonathon and maybe Henry would be dead. So its likely not anyone in the mages guild.

>>2417630
>map
If it hasn't exited the city, then dockyard warehouses are a great place to hide anything large and nondescript amongst other large nondescript things.

If it has, the quarry's a great place to dump a large piece of stone.

>no way for a rune to be created in time
Shit.

>Bomb runes
Can you just buy these as a random citizen? Are they easy to make?

>>2417667
the docks might be a good place to look, or the quarry, but I think you're forgetting something, this is a MASONRY yard.

yeah the stone itself could be prepared fairly quickly (by fairly I mean within a day or two) but the actual etching of the rune and the enchanting takes longer. Seems our villians did a BIT of planning here.

As for the bomb runes, they are fairly simple to make, but they can only really be used by a mage with sufficient experience/training. Its as useful as a normal rock to most people.

if you have further questions there is a Q&A room in the discord, good place to ask, I generally respond as quickly as I can

Anywho, to anyone else I'm going to be going forwards with the actual interrogation tonight, I think you could ask the guy some good questions. Lets hope it goes better then round one.

File: Stone Masonry Interrogation.jpg (4 KB, 275x183)

4 KB JPG

>>2416666
Henry sighed to himself. He didn’t really want to do the interrogation, but why else would they have brought the guy back here? He thought about apologizing to Cassius but dashed that idea. That would be admitting guilt. He didn’t really want to say sorry for not getting himself all tuckered out. As he strolled back down the creaky stairs he took a moment to collect his thoughts, he had a bunch of things to ask the guy, but now he had all the time in the world, and a couple of mean looking guards, and Cassius, to make sure things turned out better.

“They’re waiting for you sir.” Jonathon said, pointing outside. “Kinda weird they want the uh, hired help to do this, I guess that’s why they hired you.”

“Yeah yeah.”

As Henry strolled outside he took another good look at the yard. A bunch of stone piles, the main entrance with a metal gate, a shed in the back, and a workbench with some tools on it. In the middle of the yard were a couple of guards, two he didn’t recognize, who looked like they really didn’t want to be there. One waved over in Henry’s direction and Henry began to wave back when he felt Jonathon rush past him. Well shit that was embarrassing.

“You need to head back to the castle lad. Hafford’s calling anyone who isn’t needed here to begin some patrols out in the forest. Heck he’s even personally leading one of them!” One of the Cathars said

“I-I” Jonathon said, looking to Henry, then Cassius for a moment. “Fine, alright I’ll head over.”

With that Jonathon departed. Henry thought the whole thing was a bit odd, but whatever, things had been weird and disorganized from the get go.

The painfully plain man was in rougher shape then when Henry had spoken to him last. His clothing was ripped in places, covered in dirt, and just not pleasing to the eye. He had a nasty gash on one leg, and a blackened left eye. Cassius in comparison was completely untouched, with the exception of being a tad bit sweatier.

>>2419280
“Give you trouble?” Henry asked, half-jokingly.

“Nah, most fun I’ve had since I’ve gotten here. Although I want you to handle the questions, I generally don’t do that sorta thing. It’s usually Grom’s thing and he’s back at the inn, sides he can question the guy later, assuming we don’t just hang him.” He grinned at that… jeez.

“I fucking told you I didn’t do nuthin!” The man cried out, before getting a kick to the back for his troubles from one of the Cathars.

“Don’t speak till spoken to, you’re in a lot of trouble as is bud, no need to dig a deeper grave for yourself.”

Henry sighed before cracking his fingers, time to get to work.

======= Begin Interrogation ======

Evidence:
1. Bomb Runes: Trap place in the Masons room, not something a mason would generally have on hand, and highly suspicious
2. Blood Stain: Large blood stain on bed, signs of premeditation based on location and seeming lack of noise when act was done. Its only assumed the victim had their throat slit, as the amount of blood loss by itself isn’t lethal.
3. Missing Blanket: Seems a blanket might be missing from the top of the bed, assumed to have been used to carry the body out
4. Mason’s Manifest: Manifest showing the Light Rune was completed
5. Graingarden story: The story he gave doesn’t make much sense, considering Graingarden was attacked recently
6. Attempted escape: the man attempted to escape on sighting Jonathon, not exactly innocent behavior
7. Write in (feel free to get creative, if you have a hunch you are welcome to use it, but it will be treated as a hunch unless backed up with something)


1. “Alright bud, come clean, who are you”
2. “Your story is full of shit and you’re going to tell me who the fuck you are”
3. “Where the fuck is the light rune, I know it was completed.”
4. “You’re a weird sorta guy to run from a guard”
5. “We know you’re with the werewolves, it’ll go easier for you if you talk”
6. “Hello there, I think we got off on the wrong foot last time, my name is Henry, and you are?”
7. “Cassius, did you pat the guy down?”
8. Hit him in the head
9. Zap him a bit (will use 0.1 of a charge)
10. Write in

>The way this goes is you can select a decision and pair it with evidence you’ve gathered, you can use multiple pieces of evidence for one statement/Question, and vice versa. It’s a new system so stick with me.

>>2419283
>6. “Hello there, I think we got off on the wrong foot last time, my name is Henry, and you are?”

>>2419283
Throw bomb rune at suspect to see how he reacts. Light toss onto crotch, enough to hurt.

Make sure he's well tied up first.

also
>7. “Cassius, did you pat the guy down?”

File: PAIN.jpg (26 KB, 448x360)

26 KB JPG

>>2419283
“Hello there, I think we got off on the wrong foot…” Henry began. He grabbed the two tied together bomb runes from one of his pouches and casually tossed them onto the man’s lap, right in between the legs. The man’s hands were cuffed behind him so he couldn’t even try and stop it. About a minute later, after the man had gotten over the pain, Henry continued.

“My names Henry, and you are?”

“Fuck you.” The man responded.

“I wouldn’t be so rude friend.” Cassius said, his calm demeanor and sweet tone hiding his cruelty.

The man took a moment to compose himself. Then he noticed the rough patterns carved into the runes. Henry took some pleasure in watching the guy squirm.

“H-HOLY SHIT.” He said. The man feebly tried to scramble away before a couple of strong hands held him back. With the Cathar’s there he wouldn’t be moving an inch.

“Kinda odd you even know what that is, just being some hired muscle…” Henry trailed off. “Regardless, I can make them go off and just take your jewels out if I really want to.” Henry said. It was a bald faced lie, the things would kill all of them at this range, but the man likely didn’t know that. “So you better get to talking if you want to be hung as a man instead of as a woman.”

>>2419338
“F-fuck.” The man muttered to himself.

“Man your parents must’ve hated you if they named you Fuck.” Henry said. “Seriously though, start talking or you won’t be able to for a bit, if you catch my drift.”

“My name is Cliff, alright, I got roped into this shit. I don’t got any choice in this alright, few of us do, okay?”

Well how about that, Henry smiled, he was in his element. The Cathars were sharing looks with one another, and Cassius was trying to stifle a laugh. Henry figured he should’ve gone into theater.

“Cassius, did you have time to search him?” Henry asked.

“Nope, spent all my time catching him, holding him down, and bringing him back here, give me a moment.” Cassius patted the man down and rooted through his pockets until he found a piece of paper.

“Here we are.” He said, holding the thing up like a trophy. “Looks like a map of the area.”

Henry had a look, it was a VERY rough map of New Haven and the surrounding forest, a couple of areas had X’s on them, points of interest to be sure.

Evidence:
1. Bomb Runes: Trap place in the Masons room, not something a mason would generally have on hand, and highly suspicious
2. Blood Stain: Large blood stain on bed, signs of premeditation based on location and seeming lack of noise when act was done. Its only assumed the victim had their throat slit, as the amount of blood loss by itself isn’t lethal.
3. Missing Blanket: Seems a blanket might be missing from the top of the bed, assumed to have been used to carry the body out
4. Mason’s Manifest: Manifest showing the Light Rune was completed
5. Graingarden story: The story he gave doesn’t make much sense, considering Graingarden was attacked recently
6. Attempted escape: the man attempted to escape on sighting Jonathon, not exactly innocent behavior
7. Map: A map of the region with a bunch of X’s on it
8. Write in (feel free to get creative, if you have a hunch you are welcome to use it, but it will be treated as a hunch unless backed up with something)
Decisions:

1. “So what was your plan here”
2. “Who are you working for”
3. “What do you mean you don’t have a choice?”
4. “Where is your hideout?”
5. “Why haven’t you come forward earlier?”
6. Write in

>>2419340
>6. Write in
>So, what were your orders, and who issued them?

>>2419340
LOOK AT MAP, pass to Cassius. We need to get on this ASAP in terms of locations.

>>2419348
Support
also
>Attempted escape: the man attempted to escape on sighting Jonathon, not exactly innocent behavior
>5. “Why haven’t you come forward earlier?”

"Give us one good reason to believe that you're just a lackey. You were here alone. You could have left ages ago."

>>2419340
Henry took a good long look at the map. There was a single X where the town’s main sewer exit was, one on the bridge Henry had seen from Duncan’s boat. There were two in the forest, one to the north and one to the northeast. Did they have multiple camps?

“So you never tried to come forwards with this earlier.”

“YOU WOULD HAVE HUNG ME YOU ASSHOLE.” The man shouted, before getting a hard knock on his head from Cassius.

“Shut up already, you’re hurting my ears. Trust me. A good hanging will do your wretched soul some good. You’re not even human anymore, and next full moon you’ll be out in those streets butchering people.”

Henry clenched his jaw. He had been on both sides of this little stage play in the past. So he knew how the man was probably feeling right now. But the way Cassius could mention such things without a care implied some things he didn’t want to give the spotlight to. He was an Inquisitor after all, and the black robes were there for more than to just stand out.

Henry coughed a few times to bring the man’s attention back up to him. “Look bud, who are you even working for, and what are your orders? Cause right now I don’t have any reason to believe you aren’t in on this and are trying to save your own skin.”

>>2419445
“I already know you’re gonna hang me either way” The man muttered. “Look they are bossing around those who are … afflicted…” The man trailed off looking at the ground. “Look I never hurt nobody, not even during my first moon alright, I’ve always gone-“ The man was stopped from a kick to the jaw by Cassius.

“Don’t try to stall for time.” Cassius remarked. “Answer the question.”

“L-look, they know where my family is and are threatening them, I think that’s the case for a good chunk of us… there are only a few who are really into this whole thing, they’re the real monsters alright?”

The Cathars were exchanging glances. Henry hoped this sob story wasn’t having an effect. He’d heard plenty in his time and this one wasn’t that interesting, but the Cathars might have different opinions. He hoped that they wouldn’t try to stop this or god forbid let him go, the man had admitted to being a werewolf at this point.

“Look, a lot of people are going to die on the full moon, and while you aren’t saving yourself you’d be saving them.” Henry said, kneeling down. He hoped that he was being sincere enough. This whole affair left a bad taste in his mouth, the last thing he needed to do was botch it. “I need to know what this map means.” He said, holding the thing out.

The man’s eyes didn’t show desperation anymore, he had accepted his lot. “Fine, but make sure you torch that bitch and the big guy, those damned lovers deserve to rot on the damned tree more than anyone else I’ve ever met. Make em suffer for all the suffering they’ve caused.”

>>2419454

“The main camp is that x up there.” The man said, motioning to the south eastern x “That one is for where they bring the new people to see if they can be trusted or threatened well enough. Those they can’t… they kill and feed to that bitches bitches.”

“What?”

“Vive, her name is Vive, the big one… Yolk, he called her beast touched or some shit, they’re the leaders of this whole fucking thing. They’ve made people die real bad at camp… like vines and shit.” He trailed off shuddering.

Fucking hell, at least Yolk was dead, or Henry hoped. If that man hadn’t been Yolk he would’ve hated to see who the “big” one was.

“I don’t actually know what their plan is, there are only a dozen or so of us, maybe fifteen at most… maybe one or two in the outlying areas. It seems to involve the city somehow.”

1. “Is that really everything you know?”
2. Ask Cassius to spare him (will not work, but you can still ask)
3. “I don’t think we’re getting anything else outta him”
4. “Where the fuck is the body of the Mason?”
5. Write in


Evidence:
1. Bomb Runes: Trap place in the Masons room, not something a mason would generally have on hand, and highly suspicious
2. Blood Stain: Large blood stain on bed, signs of premeditation based on location and seeming lack of noise when act was done. Its only assumed the victim had their throat slit, as the amount of blood loss by itself isn’t lethal.
3. Missing Blanket: Seems a blanket might be missing from the top of the bed, assumed to have been used to carry the body out
4. Mason’s Manifest: Manifest showing the Light Rune was completed
5. Graingarden story: The story he gave doesn’t make much sense, considering Graingarden was attacked recently
6. Attempted escape: the man attempted to escape on sighting Jonathon, not exactly innocent behavior
7. Map: A map of the region with a bunch of X’s on it
8. Write in (feel free to get creative, if you have a hunch you are welcome to use it, but it will be treated as a hunch unless backed up with something)

>>2419460
>8. Write in
>Do you know where the light rune is, and what happened to the mason?

>>2419460

"what's up the with exes over the bridge and sewer grate?"

"Tell us who killed the mason and where did they take his body, where is the rune if it still exists?"

"Who supplied the bomb runes, who are the non-werewolf connections in town?"

>>2419460

“What’s with the X’s over the sewer grate and bridge?” Henry asked.

“I don’t know nothing about that… really, I promise!” The guy said, clutching at his head. Cassius had made a threatening motion.

“Who killed the mason, and where did they take his body?” Henry asked.

“I think it was Yolk, but I really don’t know, it was already done when I was put here alright, I don’t want to hurt nobody.” The man was pleading a bit. “I didn’t want to hurt you before right?”

“Where is the light rune?” Henry asked. “The one for the central tower, there is no way you just moved that thing.”

“We broke it into pieces and threw em around the yard, nobody even asked about the noise since y’know, that’s normal around here.” The man said, moving his head around to gesture to the different piles.

Well that had been easy, and also god damn it, that meant that the main tower wouldn’t be getting any light now.

“Who supplied the bomb runes, is there anyone in town who is connected to this, anyone who isn’t a werewolf?”

“I-dunno… I don’t think so, honest!” The man said, terrified. “I know the two of em, they don’t like normal people, they said they were gonna kill em all tomorrow. I d-don’t think they’d work with any.”

1. Finish up here
2. Talk to Cassius (write in)

>>2419509

1. Finish up here
2. Talk to Cassius (write in)
3. Ask him more questions (write in)
4. Punch him
5. Zap him (will use 0.1 charge)
6. Write in

>>2419509
>they said they were gonna kill em all tomorrow
>Could you tell us about this?
>You don't want people hurt, this information might even save lives, so please tell us.

>>2419509
>2. Talk to Cassius (write in)
We need copies of the maps made and distributed to Talm's riders, they need to then deliver them to the forest patrols. This needs to be a coordinated, preemptive attack. either that, or we need to prepare an ambush, get them as they come in the grate and bridge."

>>2419513
Ask the guy for any more information on any of the other members of the...cult? what are we dealing with here, a supremacy group?

>>2419528
Pagans

>>2419513
I want to do something nice for our witness/criminal here. I want him to die painlessly.

I figure we can get him drunk, drug him, or both. Given our cover story is that we were a mage, we could probably bring up some combination of drugs (nightshade/atropine, some sort of opiate)

We should ask Cassius what he thinks first, we need out story to hold.

"Hey Cassius, any way we can help him die painlessly on the tree? We owe him that, at least."

>>2419509
Ask him how they got the light rune broken in the tower.

Ask him for Other in their group. Any names or other things to go around like occupation.

Ask him when this all started. The aggressive recruitment of if he doesn't know when he was recruited.

>>2419513
Couldn't we get a blacksmith to make a metal rune to use?

>>2419589
Let's not talk about killing the guy in front of him. Grom needs to question him too, he'll have right questions.
We should bring him to him personally asap.

“How did the light rune get broken in the tower?”

“Dunno about that, I think it was one of the guards, they ain’t letting anybody else into the tower. I know that much.”

“Do you know anyone else in the group?” Henry asked

“No, people was from all over alright, buncha outlying hamlets, few from the shantytown, one was a guard I think?” He murmured, “I’m telling the truth!” He said, as Cassius made another movement toward him. “O-only a few of em were enjoying it, I think they was the leaders, used some funny words, like… manfool I think? I don’t know what the hell they was going on about, but they really hated the city for some reason.”

“How the hell did this start?” Henry asked.

“Well last full moon, I… I hunted with them… I… they met me then, honest.” The man finished

Henry sighed, he knew too little about how werewolves functioned, from what he understood they were much more common along the frontier. Maybe he could ask Cassius in a bit.

“Alright I’m done with him. I don’t have anything else to ask.” Henry said, sighing. He didn’t really know the whole backstory with the howlpack, but the names might mean something to Grom, Cassius didn’t seem to know much.

“Look Cassius, can we give the guy a painless death at least, he was cooperative… and” Henry started after the man was out of earshot. The two Cathars were bringing him up into the jail in the center of town. He was going to be guarded at all times by them in case he got any ideas.

“I hope you aren’t soft about this, fucker deserves a hell of a lot more than a hanging.” The calm demeanor and friendly face had slipped for a moment, revealing a lot of pain and anger. This was personal for the man. Henry hoped Grom would be a bit more reasonable.

“Fine I won’t ask you about it again.” Henry said, holding his hands up in mock surrender. Cassius let out a little laugh, the ‘normal’ Cassius had returned.


1. Head out with Cassius (write in location)
2. Meet back up with Grom
3. Head to Quarry to meet with Johnny (option to go alone is open)
4. Go to sewer entrance
5. Write in

>>2419639
Can we reassemble the rune and pour molten iron into it, to make a temporary rune?

no

it wouldn't hold together

>>2419639

>2 Debrief Grom
Suggest he get in touch with search parties immediately.
>3. Head to Quarry to meet with Johnny (option to go alone is open)
Gotta tell the skellyfren what's up, make sure he doesn't do anything dumb. Alone would be less dangerous re: Cassius, but more dangerous re: Werewolves

>>2419639
>2. Meet back up with Grom
And have him go with you to the sewer entrance.
Talk along the way.

>>2419639
Henry shook off his unease that had resulted from Cassius’ behavior. Every man had something that set them off, and from Henry’s experience this wound of his ran deep. It would be better to ask at a more opportune time, if at all. He really didn’t need to be on the bad side of a man like that.

“Alright slick, lead the way.” Cassius said, cheery and calm once more.

As the group departed from the yard, a few questions ran in Henrys mind. First of all was the Masonry yard itself.

“So what’s happening to this place?” Henry said, pointing back at it.

“It’ll probably be given to the man’s closest relative by blood, or the church will go off the man’s will. Probably a priest will do it, ain’t worth the bishop’s time.” Cassius still had that smirk, man was happy from a ‘job well done’.

“I have a feeling it wasn’t just petty theft that got you thrown outta the guild, you’re a natural. Hard to find talented people who are willing to do a few dirty things to do the right thing, we’re lucky Grom ran into ya.” Cassius said, changing the topic.

“I… I’m not sure if I’m happy with that.” Henry said, maintaining cover. He’d done what he’d had to in the past, and the same held true now.

“You’ve probably just saved a buncha lives with that little show.”

“Any idea on how to find the traitor in the guard? We can’t just torture them… right?” Henry said, a look from Cassius implied they might indeed have to torture one of them.

File: Central Plaza.jpg (225 KB, 1536x1024)

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>>2419756
>>2419756

“So what do you want me to tell Grom?” Henry said.

“Getting a bit big for yer britches ey? I will give Grom the report or whatever, and don’t worry you’ll get credit and what not, I just want to make sure he understands everything.” Cassius said, dismissively waving his hand away.

The pair was approaching the central square now, and the area had its normal buzz of activity. It would’ve been hard to believe that less than a day ago there had been a werewolf attack here. The hole in the roof where the guard had been flung through had even been patched with planks. That was some speedy work.

“We should attack as soon as possible right?” Henry said. “I mean we know where they are and a-“

“We don’t know if the man is telling the truth, he might be lying to buy his people time. So that’s something we’ll need to check.” Cassius said, looking towards the inn. “Secondly it takes more time than a few hours to prepare an attack like this, tho I don’t blame you for not knowing that. Lastly, we’d need to clear it past that bastard Hafford and I don’t think he’ll be back for a bit. So my hands, and thus our hands, are tied on that end.”

Yay Bureaucracy

“Regardless we should discuss this with Grom, or at least I should, you’re welcome to join us but maybe you want to get back to that kid of yours, or see that merc, he’s been waiting a good few hours now. Probably the last bit of downtime you’ll get until the raid gets sent out.”

1. Head into the inn to meet with Grom
2. Head to Charles at the church
3. Head to The sewer alone
4. Head to the Quarry to meet up with Johnny
5. Head to the mages guild (write in reason)
6. Head to peddler’s row (write in reason)
7. Write in
Optional:
1. Ask Cassius a question (write in)
2. Demand your damned 25 silver for bagging the big werewolf
3. Write in

>>2419761
>2. Head to Charles at the church
>4. Head to the Quarry to meet up with Johnny

In that order, keep an eye on if we're being followed.

>>2419786
Go with this.
And be especially wary of tails.

>>2419761
calling it here for tonight, I'll start back up tomorrow I think, tho I won't be able to run late.

>>2419761
“I’m gonna get some sleep or something then.” Henry said, “I can probably rent a room somewhere, we won’t be leaving for a few days after this right?”

“If everything goes to plan.” Cassius responded. “Although in this job nothing ever does.”

“Here take the map, before I forget. I don’t want you to be forced to run after me.”

“Great, now Grom can look it over and ask me a bunch of boring questions.” Cassius said, chuckling a bit.

As Henry worked his way up to the church he took a few unneeded turns. As he looked back he didn’t think he saw anyone, but one could never be too sure. This was one of those paranoid habits that had probably kept him alive so long while working out of Undertown, and the need felt doubled after the near death experience last night. Henry NEVER wanted to repeat that again.

As Henry approached the gate of the church, he noticed something different. The two guards were gone, replaced by younger looking Cathar. He couldn’t be more than fourteen. Henry was surprised that there was more than one young Cathar on the force. He figured Jonathon had had that market cornered.

Henry didn’t really want to do the whole meet and greet. So he decided to just flash the Inqusitior’s insignia and then stroll on through. He wanted to see how Charles was doing and to maybe form a plan for the coming days. They’d need to be ready to move out towards Yorkshire after this whole thing was over with.

The holy grounds were the same as Henry had left them the prior night. Though there were no guards within the perimeter now. The patrols being run must be pulling them from all over, Henry thought. With one last look behind him to make certain he wasn’t being followed, he entered the abbey.

File: This but old.jpg (8 KB, 283x178)

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>>2421752

The main room was nice enough, a few fur rugs on the ground and a few paintings on the walls, various fields and still lifes rendered onto canvas. Henry hadn’t given it much thought when he had left here earlier in the day, his priorities had been a bit different back then. There were a couple of women chatting to the right. Henry slowed down his walk to listen in.

“So the body just sprouted plants?” One of them whispered

“Never seen anything like it before, the Matron says that’s normal with their bodies, but it’s still unnerving.” The other responded. “But even she can only guess as to why it happened.”

Henry couldn’t stay around longer to get the rest of the story. He was already catching a sideways glance from one of them.

As he entered the room Charles was in, he saw the boy sitting on a chair by the large window in the back. Reading some sort of book, Henry couldn’t catch the title from this distance, but he figured it was at least interesting enough to hold an eleven year olds attention.

Beyond that, the room hadn’t been changed much, it was empty of people, and would afford them some privacy.

1. “How you holding up Charles?”
2. “How you holding up kid?”
3. “Has Johnny tried to contact you?”
4. “What have you been up to all day?”
5. “Never took you for the reading type.”
6. “So I’ve just gotten a man hanged, how’s your day going.”
7. “We need to leave here right now, find a place to bunk down that’s a bit less golden.”
8. Write in (get creative, and feel free to use some ideas from our last conversation with him)
9. Leave without saying anything

>>2421759
>5. “Never took you for the reading type.”

>>2421759
looks like the thread is autosaging now, god damn it

>>2421759
How you holding up Charles

Now in paranoid that the werewolves will try to kidnap this kid to its against us

>>2421759
2. “How you holding up kid?” <- everything alright?
8. What's been going on around here?
8. What are you reading?

>>2421759
“Never took you for the reading type.” Henry said plainly, as he wandered over to Charles and took a seat in an empty chair beside him.

“It’s all I could ever really do. I wasn’t allowed to leave the palace much.” He murmured. Henry wasn’t sure if it was to him or to no one.

“Do you want to talk?” Henry asked, a bit awkwardly. He really didn’t know how to deal with the kid, or kids in general.

“Yeah, I wouldn’t mind, the sisters are just ignoring me. I guess they’re busy what with all the danger around town.”

“What’s been going on around here?” Henry asked.

“I saw the Bishop giving a speech or something through the window.”

“How’d you know it was him?”

“He has a really pointy hat.” Charles responded. “I also noticed all the guards left, somethings going on but I don’t know what.”

“The town leaders are launching a raid tomorrow, so it might be that, I think they might be running patrols today if I heard correctly. They want to clear out these guys before the full moon. Hopefully they’ll succeed, or we’ll be in trouble.”

“We can’t just run like we’ve been doing?” Charles asked, turning his head to look directly at Henry. Henry didn’t really know where this was coming from.

“No actually, unless you want to be OUTSIDE the gates and the rune wards at night during a full moon. I know you’re a bit sheltered but even you should realize how dangerous it is out there.”

“Why are you doing any of this?”

“I… I’d rather not say.” Henry said, dodging the question. “It’s just that it was important to get you out of the Capital, alright? I’m actually the one person trying to help you here… I don’t get why you’d be complaining.” Henry cast a glance back at the door to make sure it hadn’t been opened. For the moment they were still alone.

“I suppose I shouldn’t, I’m sorry.” Charles said. “I just… I don’t want to be the reason for you dying. I’ve already gotten enough people killed.” Henry didn’t know what to make of that one, who else besides Peter had died?

“The main reason, is because of my trade you know… I don’t know what’s going to happen back home, I would’ve had to leave regardless alright? And if I die it’ll be my own damned fault.” Henry said, looking back to Charles. “People die all the time out here, and you can’t let it get to you. You have to … look you can’t look back. There ain’t nothing left for you back there. I know it ain’t pretty or nice but that’s how it is.”

>>2423272
Charles took a moment to look down at his lap.

“So how are you holding up?” Henry said, finally asking the question he had wanted to since he stepped into the room.

“I’m, I’m alright I think, I don’t know why but I don’t feel sad anymore. I feel like I should but I don’t…”

“That’s… normal I think.” Henry said. “I guess you weren’t there, but…”

“I never really got along with them, except for Regibald.” Charles said. “But they were still my family right?”

“I… I don’t know kid. I never really had parents growing up.”

“How could someone not have parents?” Charles asked.

“You really need to ask after everything that happened?” Henry said. He’d made things weird again, god damn it.

“So what are you reading?”

“Book about native plants… Its kinda interesting, the pictures are pretty.” Charles said.

Henry sighed, this hadn’t gone fantastic but at least he could have a normal conversation with him now. He hoped the kid was alright, but he was horrible at trying to tell these sorts of things.


1. Write in (speech)
2. Leave by yourself nothing left to say really
3. Bring Charles along to meet up with Johnny, might as well get the band back together.
4. Other?

>>2419761
>Head to the Quarry to meet up with Johnny
We need to let him know what's up and we're finally able to go alone.

>>2423294
Supportin

>>2423278
“Alright, do you want to get outta here, go meet up with Johnny, and figure out what the actual shit we’re gonna do?” Henry asked.

“Um, alright?” Charles asked. “You haven’t seen him yet?”

“A lotta shit has happened today, alright?” Henry responded, waving away Charles’ concern. “We need to figure out how we’re gonna treat things going forwards, cause just leaving the inquisitors is not gonna work, we need to figure out how we’re going to do this.”

As the duo approached the door, a quiet crash sounded outside of it. Henry had a guess as to what it was, but the idea was a bit too silly. When he opened the door, slowly, he saw Rosa the Healer sprawled out on the ground, again, due to her trying to snoop.


1. “Get up”
2. “Really?”
3. “So you do this for everyone who is here?”
4. “If you heard anything, I’d recommend unhearing it”
5. “The heck are you doing?”
6. Write in

Optional:
1. Offer a hand to help her up
2. Yank her up and hold onto her arm until she explains herself
3. Yank her up violently
4. Write in

>>2423882
>“So you do this for everyone who is here?”
And
>Offer a hand to help her up
But don't let go once you have her hand until we've finished talking.

>>2423882
“So you do this to everyone? Or do you just like me that much?” Henry said, offering a hand to the healer.

“I was just curious is all. I didn’t mean any harm by it. You’re this special investigator that the inquisitors brought in but no one is asking any questions about who you are, I just find it… uh, weird?” Rosa said, realizing she couldn’t move, Henry was holding her in a firm grip.

“You should realize it is impolite to pry into other people’s business, shouldn’t you?” Henry said, smiling with that fake sort of smile. He couldn’t pull off the exact same sorta fake smile Cassius could, but he could certainly be intimidating if he wanted to be.

“I…um… oh.” Rosa said, her own smile fading and a bit of worry showing on her face.

“While I certainly do appreciate you nursing me back to health and all. I would appreciate you to NOT go snooping into my business, or that’ll be a problem. Do we have a problem?” Henry asked, never letting go of her hand.

“N-no sir.” She said, some proper fear showing in her eyes. Good, better fear than suspicion.

With a small smile and a nod, Henry let go of the woman’s hand. He smiled a bit wider when he saw her scurry away a lot faster than was needed. Served the snoop right and he was letting her off fairly easy. He figured she wasn’t the spy, since she’d healed him in the first place, would’ve been too easy to let him die when he was all banged up. Regardless, he didn’t need a curious little cat digging into his business. Things were dangerous enough as is.

“Was that really necessary?” Charles said, a mix of awe AND fear in his voice.

“Sometimes you gotta be REALLY clear with people, or they don’t get the message. Sides I could’ve done way worse.” Henry said, wiping his coat off with his hands.

“I believe you.” Charles said, finishing the conversation.

>>2423992
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The Quarry was located to the east of the main town, just past the rune wards protecting the area. The thing had a square spiral ramp leading down into the lowest dusty reaches. Sounds of clanking and hammering filled the air. Sat conspicuously upon a stump not a hundred feet away was a rag covered man with an iron helmet and a shortsword at his waist. The man had been there a good amount of time, and was tapping his foot impatiently. Henry could tell it was Johnny, even though all the rags, they just sagged over his frame in such a way that was distinctive.

The sun had begun to fall from the sky now, would only be a few more hours until nightfall, and then the howls would start. The runes would prevent those things from being able to cross, at least Henry hoped so. The rune wards were massive weathered chunks of rock glowing with powerful holy energy. To a mage like Henry, they appeared as bright white lights that hurt to look at for too long. Even Charles seemed to notice that they were important. The kid had gotten out some parchment from his pack and was sketching them now. Just as well, Henry could just speak to Johnny alone.


1. “Sorry for taking so long”
2. “Enjoying the view?”
3. “So what are you doing out here? Couldn’t wait for me outside the church gate like a normal person?”
4. “You don’t want me to do some training with you now do you?”
5. “Miss me?”
6. Write in

Optional
1. Get Charles involved in the conversation

>>2423995
>1. “Sorry for taking so long”
Let Charles sketch the runes.

>>2423995
>1. “Sorry for taking so long”
>6. Where have you been? What have you been up to?


Later in our convo, if we want to train harder.
> 4. “You don’t want me to do some training with you now do you?”

>>2423995

“Sorry for taking so long Johnny, I got a bit sidetracked today. I should’ve come right to you.”

“I suppose you brought Charles here so we could all discuss one of your plans again?” Johnny said. His tone was different, a bit more tired.

“What have you been up to? Where have you been?”

“After having to play hero to the boy I had to slip away from the crowd that had gathered in the main plaza, I had to risk giving the boy over to the church officals, thankfully that seems to have gone successfully, and our cover remains in tack. Then I had to hide of course, lay low as you call it. I proceeded to acquire lodging for ourselves, an inn by the northern gate. Other side of town so we wouldn’t have to interact too much with those new inquisitorial pals of yours.” Now there was some disgust in there.

“Don’t like inquisitors?” Henry asked. He’d never actually dealt with any of them before. He’d never really considered them to be… people? More ruthless killing machines of the church, he’d seen the aftermath of a raid or two of theirs and knew they were not to be messed with, overall his opinion had changed quite a bit. Johnny seemed to have a different sort of feeling for them.

“On principal, I find them… distasteful, and I won’t go into it further. Although I’m hardly surprised you trusted them enough to come to your rescue. It seems your faith was well founded, and you even managed to avoid the noose.”

“I was expecting to die there, Johnny.” Henry said, plainly, almost a whisper.

“Then you’re more careless, and FAR more irresponsible than I thought. We both know the consequences if you die, I just wish you cared a bit more. But I guess that’s more your weakness than anything.” Anger had started creeping into Johnny’s voice now, he wasn’t referring to THAT whole thing now was he?

“You really think that whole deal would hold water, after all this time?”

“You don’t?” Johnny responded, he was still looking at the Quarry, happier times.

“I hope you don’t want me to do some training, because I’m too tired and still a bit sore.” Henry said, trying to change the subject.

“Trying to make light of all this? Even now?” Johnny responded. His tone was vastly different. What was going on?

1. “Let’s just head back to the inn and get settled”
2. “Well I still have a sewer to explore, want to come with?”
3. “Do you want to go fishing? Bridge might be a good place.”
4. “What’s got you all agitated, this ain’t like you.”
5. “What the hell are you going on about now?”
6. “I’m alive aren’t I, so we don’t have a problem.”
7. Write in

>>2424245
>2. “Well I still have a sewer to explore, want to come with?”

>>2424245
>in tack
>lol

Also, we gotta hash it out with Johnny, guy's a useful resource.
7. "If we want to live through this we need to be working well together. While I appreciate you renting the room and helping out with Charles, you need to level with me. What's got you agitated?."

>>2424245
“Look, Johnny, I’ve known you for a very long time now… I mean a long time for me! If something’s on your mind you need to let me know! We’re in this together, the two of us… three of us.”

“You never really cared about the child. You’re just doing this for yourself.” Johnny replied simply. “I should have realized sooner, yet I was too caught up in my own damned heroics.”

“What are you talking about? It’s the right thing to do!” Henry replied.

“Ha, you doing the right thing for the right reasons is laughable. You just want to go on another one of your crusades in an attempt to make up for past mistakes, feel like a better person than you are, am I correct?”

“Fuck off Johnny.” Henry replied, growing agitated. “I was in a good mood for once, we had a major break in this damned case-“

“That you didn’t consult me about, that you took on WHILE trying to do your ‘good deed’”

“Seriously Johnny, fuck off with this, I don’t need it. The town is in danger and–“

“When have you ever cared about that, when have you EVER cared about others?”

“Whatever, why do YOU suddenly care so much NOW?” Henry retorted, “You’ve never cared when I’ve done cases for people before.”

“Because for once your selfishness could harm an innocent. I don’t want your ‘grand plan’ to end up with the boy getting hurt, do you understand me?”

“Fine.” Henry replied.
As the two turned away, they noticed that Charles had been paying attention to the whole thing. Little late to try avoiding it now, Henry thought. Charles hadn’t said a word, probably didn’t know what to say, or was smart enough to not say anything.

“Look, we have a sewer to explore right?” Henry said. “It’ll be a good fun family outing.”

“Fine, but we leave the child outside and away from harm, under the watchful eyes of the town guard.”

“I wasn’t planning on bringing him inside in the first place.” Henry said.

1. Head out
2. Write in (continue conversation maybe?)
Optional:
1. Talk to Charles.

>>2424362
>Regardless of whether it's right, regardless if this is a "crusade," regardless if this is ego validation, if we solve the case, more people live. If we don't, more die. I'm open to talking about this later, but right now we have a sewer to explore, and we're burning daylight.

>>2424381
This sounds good.

File: EW.jpg (10 KB, 195x259)

10 KB JPG

>>2424362
“Regardless of whether it’s right or wrong, regardless if this is a crusade, a journey, or a harebrained scheme, regardless if this is just some ego validation or some attempt to fix the past. We solve this case, more people get to live, alright? Are you so much of a failure of a paladin that you can’t get behind that anymore?” Henry asked, he had work to do and couldn’t do with his servant being affected by whatever it was he’d come down with.

“We have a sewer to explore, and we’re burning daylight.” Henry waited a moment and let his silver tongue do its thing.

“Fine, but we aren’t finished with this, and no amount of fancy words will change the truth.” Johnny’s stare cut deeply.

The trip to the sewer grate was quiet and uncomfortable. Henry could swear he felt Johnny staring into him.

“Get over it already.” Henry murmured.

After what felt like forever, Johnny responded.

“Fine.”

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The guard tower stood tall over the sewer entrance. A guard looked down for a moment and shouted something at the group. All it took was Henry drawing his symbol and waving it around a bunch to get the guard to move on to more important things, like watching the horizon. .

The entrance was fairly simple, an iron grate surrounded by a pipe like structure made out of stone. The current ran straight into the river itself, marshy fronds bobbing in the current. A trickle of something foul flowed outwards, but that was nothing compared to the capital sewers, and Henry wasn’t opposed to getting himself dirty. The whole clean clothes euphoria had properly worn off now.

The iron grate had a single large rust covered lock, although to be honest the thing looked like it could be pried off with relative ease. The whole thing looked like it had been plopped there and forgotten, truth be told.


1. Pry the thing open with your dagger
2. Check for traps (roll a d100)
3. Get Johnny to open it
4. Write in

Optional:
1. Speak to Charles
2. Speak to Johnny

Rolled 5 (1d100)

>>2424412
4. SEND CHARLES BACK TO TOWN
2. Check for traps

Rolled 73 (1d100)

>>2424420
This

>>2424412
The first thing Henry set about doing was checking for traps. Upon finding none, and being certain of it, he went to grab his dagger to pry the gate open, only to find it was missing from his belt. Shit, it had been stabbed into that bastard the other day. He might want to go back for it at some point.


He decided to just try opening the gate with his hands, and surprisingly, the thing opened easily. It didn’t even make a creaking sound, which made no sense with all the rust. Looking closer, Henry noticed that the actual hinges had been oiled recently, couldn’t have been too long ago.


“We might have company in here.” Henry said to Johnny. “Charles, you wait out here were the guards can see you, alright?”


“Yes sir.” Charles called back.


The sewer smelled of rot and decay, about right for a sewer. Henry thought. He would have to remind Cassius of this later, man was really starting to owe him now. Henry was worried for a moment that he didn’t have a torch when Johnny lit one behind him.


“Always come prepared right?” He asked, his more jovial nature returning. Not soon enough Henry thought.


1. Head into the sewer (roll 1d5)
2. Don’t go into the sewer (fuck that lmao)
3. Write in

>>2424459
>3. Write in
Did we bring a light source?

>>2424463
yes, Johnny has it

Rolled 4 (1d5)

>>2424463
Shit.I can't read.
>>2424459
>he didn’t have a torch when Johnny lit one behind him
Welp, ready our lightning and proceed.

>>2424459

3. Also, grab a stone or something, we need to scrape some sort of directions into the walls. Nothing fancy, just and arrow here or there.

>>2424459
Johnny, and then Henry, plunged into the dark, smelly sewer. The dim light of the torch was their only way to navigate this uncertain terrain. Henry had already drawn his sword in preparation and was making small markings on the stone walls so they could find their way back. Beyond the scattering rats and assorted muck they weren’t really finding much, Henry was just happy they hadn’t run into anything dangerous, although from what he could see back at the entrance, the runes guarding the entrance hadn’t been disturbed. The sewers here were far simpler than back home in Celeste, and beyond the whirrs of mana powered pumps and other systems, the sewers were quiet.

The boring slog was broken up by a rotting corpse lying on the floor, covered in rats. Henry never did like rats, even though he knew some who kept the as familiars. He’d much prefer something intelligent, like an owl. Regardless, he had a fairly good hunch about who this corpse belonged to, but he had to actually get near the thing, and a swarm of hungry rats was not what he wanted to deal with today.

“Do you want me to handle this?” Johnny asked, unshaken.


1. Get Johnny to Handle it
2. Get it yourself
3. Ignore the corpse for now
4. Write in

>>2424518
>2. Get it yourself
Johnny has the torch.

>>2424518
gonna call it here for tonight, stop back tomorrow to see who the fuck this corpse belongs to, and maybe a few more tidbits!

>>2424518
Get it ourself. Johnny needs to be ready in car someone attacks us.

It's a shame that you run sessions when I'm usually asleep.

>>2424518
2. Get it yourself

Johnny keeps lookout.

>>2424641
I live on the eastern coast of the US, and of late I haven't had the time or energy to do late night sessions. I'm gonna try to do a couple this weekend if I can.

>>2424518
>Get Johnny to Handle it
Also as much as I like owls they're actually really stupid, rats are actually probably smarter. You want a smart bird go for a corvid or a parrot.

>>2425139
Raven
It'll fit the theme

>>2424518
“Johnny, keep watch, I’m going to get a better look at the corpse, maybe figure out who it belonged to.”

“Just be careful.” Johnny replied

The corpse was in fairly decent shape, minus the fact it had been fairly well eaten into. The corpse wasn’t too old, as the familiar scent of rot and decay was not oozing off of it yet. The man had had a head of graying hear and a thick beard when he’d been alive, beyond that his face was too torn apart by rats to get a good look at. The body itself was wearing a tunic and trousers, nothing really identifiable. The assumed cause of death could be attributed by the slash along the throat, from ear to ear. The blood from it had dried into a reddish brown, the stain running down the front of the man’s shirt.

The rats were letting out the occasional chittering noise. The things weren’t afraid of Henry in the slightest, and even acted somewhat aggressively. Henry had a few options to choose from. He could try and scare them off with his sword, use lightning, or just leave the damned thing alone and call in guards. But if he did that he wouldn’t be able to get the damned thing talking. The head looked intact, and a little stitching of the throat would get it back into proper order. Henry always carried a needle and thread on him in one of his pouches.

Decision
1. Scare the rats with your sword
2. Scare the rats with a quarter charge of lightning
3. Scare the rats with a half charge of lightning
4. Scare the rats with a full charge of lightning
5. Grab the torch back from Johnny and use that to scare the rats (will remove it from Johnny temporarily)
6. Leave the corpse alone and head back to alert the guards
7. Leave the corpse alone and continue to explore the sewers
8. Write in

>>2426445
>1. Scare the rats with your sword and yell at them.

Rolled 13 (1d100)

>>2426505
making a roll

>>2426445
Henry waved his sword around at the rats and yelled menacingly at them. This didn’t have the intended effect, as they began running up the sword, onto his arm, then all over him. Normally Henry wouldn’t mind this, he’d been covered by way worse in the past, but generally slime, muck, rotting flesh and the like, DIDN’T BITE. It took him and Johnny about a minute to throw the last of the rats away. Henry was bleeding a tiny bit now, which wasn’t great considering where they were. He hoped he wouldn’t get an infection from this shit.

“I told you to be careful you know.” Johnny said.

“Shaddup, at least the fucking things are off of the damned corpse now.” Henry replied. “Sides I rather a bunch of rats attack me then something actually dangerous.

The corpse was no longer covered with rats now. Bending down Henry removed a ring from one of the half chewed fingers. I was a small band of copper with some sort of symbol on it. The thing would not be worth much, but it might be useful in identifying the stiff, or for allowing the Inquisitors or town Cathars to figure out who this was. There was nothing else of any note on the man himself. Henry thought he could hear something skittering around in the darkness but it might’ve just been droplets of water. Johnny hadn’t given a warning yet, but he’d rather get this business done now if he was going to.

1. Stich the wound up and cast an advanced necromantic summoning ritual to try and figure out who this guy was (will use 0.5 pip of black mana) (you have 5 total)
2. Get a better look at your surroundings
3. Leave and head out of the sewer, inform someone
4. Try to figure out if there are any ways topside into the city from here.
5. Write in

>>2426659
>2. Get a better look at your surroundings

>>2426659
2. Get a better look at your surroundings

>>2426659
Henry stood up and away from the corpse. He wanted to get a good idea of where he was, especially with all the skittering going on, shit was making him uncomfortable. The actual channel way they were in was T intersection, with the branches going deeper into the city, and the main branch flowing back outside. The skittering was coming from the left hand side, outside of the range of Johnny’s torch. The stones were well worn, to be expected from a town this old. Regardless, something stood out to Henry, there was a stone missing from one of the walls, and what looked to be a rune, glowing with green energy was inside.

Henry had been so focused on the corpse that he hadn’t noticed. As he began to walk over to the empty gap in the wall, the skittering began to grow louder.

“We might have a problem sir, get done whatever it is you want to do and let’s get out of here.”

1. Inspect the rune in the wall
2. Use Necromancy on the corpse to try and talk to it
3. Write in

>>2426996
>the skittering began to grow louder.
This sounds ominous as hell.
1. Inspect the rune in the wall
Then GTFO

>>2427004
>>2426996
It's a fucking trap. Don't inspect it just gtfo

>>2427004
This

>>2427124
This

File: EGGS DEE.jpg (275 KB, 1600x881)

275 KB JPG

>>2426996
Normally Henry would’ve taken the time to get a better look at the glowing rune before actually trying to touch the thing. Or just make Johnny do it. He didn’t have enough time to do the first, and was a bit too rushed to think of the second. So he decided to just cut his losses and get out of the sewer.

“We’re getting out Johnny, come on!” Henry shouted, before rushing back down the tunnel they’d come in.

Johnny was right behind him, running a bit faster than Henry thought was warranted. Until he saw the swarm of rats dancing in and out of the fading flickering torchlight as the duo ran back down the tunnel. Must’ve been a couple hundred of the damned things, that many could overwhelm and kill a man. They’d probably been attracted to the fresh blood from the newly opened wounds Henry was sporting. The body would probably be further devoured now, god damn it.

Henry saw the approaching light and leapt outside, landing in a heap on the ground. Johnny quickly followed, simply jogging outside, slowing down as he did. Must’ve been nice to not have any flesh left to be eaten. The rats were last, Henry panicked for a moment before watching them recoil on contact with the harsh sun. Fuckers seemed to not like the sunlight too much. Henry threw a couple rocks at them before they scattered, he even managed to nail one between the eyes.

“Well that went like shit.” Henry said, getting up and brushing himself off.

“You guys alright?” A worried Charles asked.

“We can talk alright, so yeah” Henry said.

“So what were you looking at before we ran? Something on the wall?” Johnny asked.

“A rune of some kind and my gut tells me it isn’t supposed to be there. But there’d be no way to know without asking the person in charge of the city or the guy who actually built the sewer. And I sure as shit don’t know who that is.” Henry responded. “I have no clue why a rune would need to be there, it wasn’t a bomb rune. That much I could tell, so it wasn’t a trap I don’t think. I actually didn’t recognize the symbol which was really odd.” He finished.

“So now what?” Charles asked, looking between the two.

Henry had a few options, the first of which would be to just head to the church and try and track down who exactly was in charge. The second option would be to head to where Cassius and Grom were, and figure out a plan with them. Lastly would be to return to the watermill to get his fucking dagger. He loved that thing, and REALLY wanted to get it before a scavenger did.

1. Head to the Church to try and find the person in charge
2. Head back to the Inn where Cassius and Grom are
3. Get your fuckin dagger back
4. Write in

Optional:
1. Send Johnny and Charles to do something
2. Send Johnny and Charles back to the inn by the north gate.


>>2427124
>>2427164
>>2427512
>all this paranoia is fun to play with, safe to eat

>>2428863
>2. Head back to the Inn where Cassius and Grom are
Have Johnny wait outside, and drop Charles off where Grom and Cassius are at.
Possibly even have Johnny wait a ways away from the inn.

>>2428863
“Let’s get back to the inn, regroup, and then figure out what to do. Only like, three more hours of daylight left I think?” Henry said, looking at the sky. The sun was slowly making its way down, making way for the moon to come up later.

“We’ve accomplished nothing though.” Johnny replied. “I don’t see what the point would be.”

“Oh contraire my bony friend, we found a corpse with a slash on its neck, that means quite a bit!”

“I don’t follow…”Johnny said, trailing off.

“Right, you weren’t there… let’s say I have an idea of who the corpse belongs to, and it would mean that I was correct in my guess of how our pagan’s will be attempting to enter the town tomorrow. Well, assuming they even survive the raid.” Henry finished.

“So shouldn’t we get guards set up here?” Johnny asked.

As the trio entered through the town gate, Henry once more flashed the badge, now that everyone knew who he was, wasn’t like it mattered anymore.

“From what I understand… eh… let’s say the guy in charge of that is a real piece of shit, so I doubt we’ll be able to spare any. Regardless, maybe I can convince one of the inquisitors to stay with me here on guard.”

“On the outside of the wall during a full moon.” Johnny rebutted.

“Maybe I can get one of them to stay out here by themself then.” Henry corrected.

The central square hadn’t changed since earlier in the day, except that there were less people inhabiting it, most of the people that had shopped had already gotten it done by now, although none of the merchants had packed up quite yet. Henry hoped that none of them would be making any long journeys.

The inn awaited untouched since the attack the prior night, and was humming with activity. Henry could see that the window to the Inqusitior’s room was hanging open, letting the breeze inside. He assumed that meant that at least one of them was inside.

Decisions
1. Enter alone
2. Enter with Charles
3. Enter with Johnny
4. Enter with Everyone
5. Write in

Optional:
Talk to Johnny (Write in)
Talk to Charles (Write in)

>>2429489
>2. Enter with Charles
Have Johnny wait in a nearby alley that isn't prone to visitors.

>>2429489
Enter alone. Have other two wait at the inn that Johnny booked for us.

Rolled 2 (1d2)

>>2429529
>>2429560

flipping a coin to decide

>>2429489
“Johnny, grab Charles and head away a bit, maybe grab something for the kid to eat?” Henry said, before handing his rag covered companion a few copper coins.

“I am here you know.” Charles responded. “I would appreciate being treated as a LITTLE more than cargo.”

“I wouldn’t trust you with money” Henry retorted. “Besides, I’m trying to think… fugit, nothing for it I guess.” Henry said, before heading inside.

As he headed up the stairs he could hear what appeared to be an argument coming from inside the room. He decided to knock a few times. He didn’t have time to waste on whatever bullshit was going on between the two of them.

“Henry?” Grom’s voice called from inside the room.

“No it’s the fucking werewolf.” Henry called back, before letting himself inside.

Cassius was sitting on one of the beds and had a dagger in his hand, which he awkwardly slipped back into its sheath on his leg.

“Old habit.” He murmured, before laying back down and closing his eyes. Apparently he’d been taking a nap.

Grom was sitting at a wooden desk that hadn’t been there when Henry had first entered the room. It had probably been added during his time being healed, but it must’ve taken a lot of work to get it up the steps. Regardless, all the papers that had littered the floor were now nicely organized on the thing.

“I heard from Cassius that you survived your horrible encounter the previous night. I wanted to personally apologize for getting you involved in all of this… it was a moment of weakness on my part I’ll fully admit.”
“Considering I’m still alive… its fine.” Henry said. He didn’t know if he really meant it, getting thrown through a window HURT. One other thing bugged Henry, the nonchalance that Grom had for the fact he had survived, like HE did things like that all the time.

“Anywho sorry about our squabble. I sometimes have to convince this child over here that rushing into things is a horrible idea. Thank you for the map by the way, it will prove invaluable.”

Grom went back to his task for another minute, scribbling a few things down. Then turned to face back at Henry.

“So what brings you back to my little slice of heaven today?”


1. “So what the hell is going on now?’
2. “Why the fuck were you going to throw a knife at me Cassius?”
3. “So I found a dead body in the sewers”
4. “I found something odd in the sewers, a body and what looked like a rune.”
5. “So how’s your day been going?”
6. “How have the patrols been going?”
7. “Anything I should be aware of?”
8. “Actually I just wanted to say hi”
9. (write in)

>>2429622
>4. “I found something odd in the sewers, a body and what looked like a rune.”
The body had this ring on it, and the rune glowed green.

>>2429635
And
Fuck rats.

>>2429622

Jokingly:
>2. “Why the fuck were you going to throw a knife at me Cassius?”

Then seriously:
>4. “I found something odd in the sewers, a body and what looked like a rune.”

>7. “Anything I should be aware of?”

>>2429622
“Well I didn’t just come here to say hello.” Henry said. “I found something that I think is important.”

“And that would be?” Grom asked.

“I believe I’ve found the Mason’s corpse in the sewers beneath the town, I wasn’t able to confirm it, but I did manage to snag this copper ring from him. Might allow the family or friends to identify him… he was badly chewed up by rats, and so was I for the record.”

Henry handed the ring to Grom. The man took a moment to inspect it, then placed it into his jacket pocket.

“Noted, that’s less useful than you think I’m sorry to say, Cassius informed me about the whole thing. Simply finding his corpse just proves what we suspected, but it’s better than nothing. At least the man can have a proper burial now.”

“That wasn’t everything.” Henry said. “I also saw a rune down there, had a … you wouldn’t understand I don’t think, but it was glowing green, never seen that sorta mana before, other than during the attack.”

“I’ve been told it’s the mana of the wilds.” Cassius said, speaking up. “Shame we don’t have the ability to see it, would be nice.”

“Quiet Cassius.” Grom responded.

“So why are you bringing this up?” Grom asked.

“Because it was found in the same place the corpse was, and it seemed like it shouldn’t be there. I don’t really know what sort of defenses this town has set up, but I’d figure they would’ve been near the entrance of the sewer, rather than further inside.”

>>2429756
“I suppose we could ask the Bishop... Hafford isn’t in town currently, off running his damned patrols.” Grom said, rubbing his temple.

“Come on then, nothing more to be done here.” Grom said, standing up.

“I’m still going to scout the damned place.” Cassius said.

“Like hell you are.” Grom responded.

“You can’t pull rank on me anymore bud, so yes I am.” Cassius responded. Henry thought he saw a smirk on the man’s face. He certainly saw Grom clench his fists.

“If. You. Must.” Grom responded. “Just don’t blow our element of surprise and DO NOT attack, if our intel is correct then we will be dealing with a good number of them. More than you can handle for sure.”

“If the intel is correct.” Cassius replied. Yes, he was definitely smiling.

“So where are you off to?” Henry asked Cassius.

“To scout the locations on the map of course. You’re welcome to tag along, Grom’s being too much of a killjoy. Sides, I haven’t done scouting in a lifetime!” Cassius responded. “and I could use the added challenge of you tagging along.”

“I’d recommend against it, considering you’re already deeper into this whole thing then you should be.” Grom said. “Regardless Cassius is confident in your abilities, which is something he won’t say about too many people, the choice is up to you. It certainly won’t make any difference to me.”

“So to the forest or to the Bishop?” Henry asked. He didn’t really need a response.


== Important Decision ==
1. Head with Cassius to go scouting in the forest
2. Head with Grom to meet the Bishop
3. Write in
Optional (will allow you to pause the main decision if you want)
1. Talk to Cassius (write in)
2. Talk to Grom (Write in)

>>2429760
>2. Head with Grom to meet the Bishop

>>2429760
>1. Talk to Cassius (write in)
>2. Talk to Grom (Write in)

So...neither of you want to investigate that rune? Figure out if there's something going on right. Beneath. Our feet?!

>>2429760

I misread the post. Seconding following Cassius.

Also, make the point that the ring is a good selling point for fully investigating the sewer.

Talking about the mason's body in the abstract will only do so much, but bringing in a piece of concrete evidence of his grisly demise is another.

We could even see if one of his friends could identify the ring can testify with us, maybe he has family. That would certainly put pressure on the Bishop to act (in whatever capacity he can).

>>2429760
While Henry could appreciate going to check the places marked on the map, make sure they were correct, not traps, and all that jazz. The idea of actually GOING THERE, and putting himself in danger unnecessarily did not. In fact he thought that was a HORRIBLE idea.

“No, I’m quite good staying on this side of the walls Cassius.” Henry responded.

“PFFT, you sound like a fuckin deacon.” Cassius responded, before bouncing off of the bed and back onto his feet. “Well I’m heading out then, you two lovebirds have fun.”

With that, Cassius left the room, leaving Henry and a slightly infuriated Grom by themselves.

“It’s not even worth being angry over, that man is just too excited for this job.” Grom said.

“Don’t look at me bud. I only just met the guy yesterday.” Henry responded.

Heck the whole idea of actually working with these people was really novel.

“Come on Henry, we have precious little daylight left.” Grom said. Heading the same way Cassius had a moment earlier. “I hope that man doesn’t ruin the raid, we won’t be able to plan a second one, and now things are beginning to become dire… I don’t know right now.”

“Well look, we aren’t doing all that badly.” Henry said. “ I’ve managed to kill one of them, probably their leader, and I helped capture another. All without blowing our own cover.”

“That’s the hope.” Grom responded. “You can’t take anything for granted, something Cassius has taken to heart.” Grom said. “Even if I don’t care for his methods exactly.”

They’d passed out of the entrance way at this point, and were heading down Central Plaza towards the Church Plaza. Henry spotted Johnny out of the corner of his eye. Henry stretched for a moment, a signal to Johnny. He saw the rag covered skeleton, and the boy, depart back down one of the side streets. Hopefully the two of them wouldn’t get into any trouble.

“I did have something else I wanted to talk about.” Grom said, as the two rounded the corner.

“I wanted to apologize for something else, Cassius was completely and utterly out of line giving you the interrogation… our jobs. This whole affair isn’t for most people, and I’d rather you didn’t feel threatened into this.”

“I’ve lived a far rougher life than you think Grom. I don’t mind it, I’m just happy to help really.” Henry said, only half sarcastically. He rather liked playing the ACTUAL hero for once.

>>2429876
“I find that hard to believe, but I won’t pry further. Regardless I’d appreciate full honesty going forwards, Cassius also shared that mage story… the man doesn’t really respond well to lying, neither do I really, but I’ve gained something in my years.”

“Wisdom?” Henry asked.

“Self-control.” Grom responded. “Far more important than wisdom I’d argue. Regardless, I don’t necessarily believe anything you’ve told me thus far, considering you were introduced by a smuggler. I don’t honestly care about your whole story, as long as you were willing to lend aid, which you have.”

“Well, gee, thanks.” Henry responded flatly.

“I do have one point of concern, why are you bringing along a child on this journey? Why would you agree to get involved in this case despite having him with you?”

“The kid… he ain’t a child no more alright? Sides I have the merc to look after him till we get to where we’re going.” Henry responded quickly. “And you made a good point about being able to protect us on the road, you mentioned a horde down there right?”

“You’re… correct. I won’t pry further then, just let it be known I think you’re being careless.”

“I appreciate it.” Henry said, growing annoyed.

“I do hope you realize why we’re doing this, I often question it myself.” Grom said, sighing.

“Where the heck did that come from?” Henry asked.

“I don’t like werewolf hunting, it’s distasteful, but necessary.” Grom responded. “I want to make sure you don’t have any reservations about all of this. I know we inquisitors swear an oath, and have training to prepare ourselves, but you haven’t been so fortunate. I want to make sure during our trip that you won’t let moral reservations cloud your judgement.”

“No worries about that.” Henry responded. It was one of the few truthful things about himself he’d told the man.”

Their conversation was stopped by a rather loud individual

“HELLO, PLEASE STATE YOUR REASON FOR ENTRY… inquisitor.” A rather well dressed Cathar asked.

“To meet with the bishop.” Grom said, unperturbed.

To be honest, the whole thing was laughable. A necromancer and an inquisitor meeting with an angel damned bishop to discuss a werewolf problem. He supposed he was the only one in on it though.


Decision (only pick 2 to ask, you may ask other questions)
1. Continue inside without asking anything
2. “So how do you know Duncan?”
3. “So how long have you known Cassius?”
4. “So how long have you been an inquisitor?”
5. “What is the deal with the undead actually?”
6. Write in
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

>>2429878
>5. “What is the deal with the undead actually?”

>>2429878
shutting down for tonight, will be getting a new thread together

>>2429878
Ask about Duncan.


You know, I kinda like Grom

>>2429878
The two entered the Holy Grounds, the place was pretty much the same, although there was now a single guard leaning against one the exterior wall. Some of the patrols must have finally concluded and the guards were now returning to their normal posts.

“So how do you know Duncan anyway?” Henry asked, trying to strike up a conversation once more.

“Believe it or not I’ve known him since we were children. Our lives just took very different directions.”

“You don’t mind that he’s a smuggler?”

“To be completely honest, no. Until my badge turns to gold I won’t really care about the business of trade. I generally focus on more pressing issues, such as this. Things that actually matter. A man trying to make a living by skirting bureaucracy is a far lower priority in my eyes, although that sort of opinion gets me in trouble occasionally.”

“Guess that’s why you got grouped up with Cassius?” Henry asked.

“Correct. I shouldn’t be surprised you figured that out, since Duncan recommended your talents.”

“Also getting things cheaper must be nice.”

“You’ve certainty been around that man.” Grom responded.

The duo approached the Church and entered, Henry saw the same old priest from the holy mausoleum, and luckily the man didn’t seem to recognize him. On further inspection, it looked like the man didn’t recognize much. Henry thanked his lucky stars that a half blind old priest had been the one to find him and not someone younger.

“So what’s the deal with the undead actually? I know the surrounding provinces tend to suffer from them, but this just seems odd, the road to Yorkshire is well traveled correct?”

“Aye, that’s why we’ve even been sent. According to a priest from a local hamlet they’re worried about being completely cut off, but according to scouts from the rider’s guild that will likely not occur. The horde is fifty to sixty strong at last count. A worrisome force to be sure, but nothing to warrant an immediate response. The issues of this town are more important. Due to its importance to both the capital and the coastal cities.”

“I see, makes sense I suppose.” Henry responded.

The two had made their way to the back section, but instead of going down the stairs into the cellar, they had proceeded into one of the adjacent hallways, deeper into the building.

“I shouldn’t need to tell you Henry, but we’re about to meet Bishop Marcus. Remember to use his title and show him the proper respect.”

“I have that covered inquisitor.” Henry responded

(next section)

>>2432321
The duo entered a fancy hallway lined with several nice paintings, some wood paneling, and even a bit of gold leaf on parts of the walls. The whole thing was a bit too opulent for Henry’s tastes, and this was just a small city’s church.

Grom approached a fancy wooden door and knocked a couple of times. An old man’s voice called out.

“Come in”

Grom proceeded to open the wooden door and step into the office. The space was fairly nice, a set of windows extended from one side of the wall, wood paneling from the other sections, a set of several bookcases, and a nice pair of rugs. The older man, sporting a pair of white robes with gold trim, and wearing a VERY pointy hat, was Bishop Marcus. Henry had always felt the whole pointy hat thing was a bit silly, but he knew better than to voice that opinion.

“Ah, Inquisitor Grom, and … oh you must be the man he hired, I’m happy to see you’re still among the living… too many have gotten their last rites as of late.” ‘

“We’re actually here on business. My friend and I had a few questions to ask you, if you have the time of course.” Grom responded. “I also have a copy of my latest report for your records.”

“Certainty Inquisitor, how can I be of assistance?” The Bishop asked.

1. “I found a rune down in the sewer that looked out of place, is it part of the city’s defenses?”
2. “I found a corpse of a man down in the sewer. I figured you would be the person to inform, I think I know who it belongs to.”
3. “So what’s going to happen to the man that me and Inquisitor Cassius caught?”
4. “I just wanted to say your hat is VERY pointy.”
5. “I have reason to suspect that Crusader Hafford is at the very least complicit in all of this…”
6. “We appear to have a mole on the inside of the town guard, I want your help in this matter.”
7. Write in

>>2431188
I'm really happy about that, guy hasn't had too much of a chance to talk till now, and I've been chomping at the bit to write more of him.

>>2432404
>1. “I found a rune down in the sewer that looked out of place, is it part of the city’s defenses?”

>>2432404
“Bishop Marcus, I found a rune down in the sewers of the city that looked highly out of place, it was far enough in that it didn’t seem to be a part of any defenses… it also gave off mana that didn’t appear to be from the church. Least none I’ve ever seen.”

“That is troubling. I can confirm we don’t have any such thing in our city’s defenses. Although there should have been a good deal of runes at the entrance and in the tunnel, you didn’t notice anything there?” Marcus asked.

“Not a thing I’m afraid, only the one rune. I’m guessing it was set there by our villains, although I don’t know the purpose of it. I would’ve done more investigation but I was chased off by a fairly large swarm of rats.” Just great, that meant that the group of werewolves had probably stripped the defenses off of the sewer entrance to prep for an attack… but that wouldn’t explain the rune itself, what was going on with that?

“You were stopped by mere rats?” Grom asked, a bit annoyed.

“Several hundred I’d estimate, they would’ve overwhelmed me had I not fled.” Henry answered.

“This is VERY troubling now.” Marcus muttered. “The city won’t be able to spare the troops to inspect the sewer further. The raid is going to be as early in the day as we can manage, so we don’t lose the element of surprise. I won’t be able to conduct a wide spread investigation until the raid is concluded.” Marcus concluded.


1. “I found a corpse of a man down in the sewer. I figured you would be the person to inform, I think I know who it belongs to.”
2. “There is really nothing you can do?”
3. “Why can’t you call off the raid to inspect this?”
4. “Perhaps we could get the mages guild to have a look?”
5. “I did want to ask more about the rats, is that normal for them to swarm like that?”
6. “So what’s going to happen to the man that me and Inquisitor Cassius caught?”
7. “I just wanted to say your hat is VERY pointy.”
8. “I have reason to suspect that Crusader Hafford is at the very least complicit in all of this…”
9. “We appear to have a mole on the inside of the town guard, I want your help in this matter.”
10. Write in

>>2432547
>4. “Perhaps we could get the mages guild to have a look?”

>>2432547
>4. “Perhaps we could get the mages guild to have a look?”

>>2432547
“Perhaps you could have the mages guild take a look?” Henry asked.

“If only it were that easy child.” Marcus responded. “I don’t know if Grom informed you but we’ve got a fairly tenuous relationship with the guild as of now, due to things out of my control. We can’t afford to throw things into even greater disarray than they already are. You’re welcome to try and rally them yourself, although we’d deny any relationship with you if you did.” The bishop continued.

“Thank you regardless, Bishop.” Henry said. He hated having to remember his manners. Stuff like this took him back to darker places.

“We could attempt to strong-arm them.” Grom responded after a bit of silence.

“I respect your opinion greatly Inquisitor but this is something I cannot budge on, I have responsibilities to the church that preclude your investigation. Now was there anything else you wanted to discuss?”

1. “I found a corpse of a man down in the sewer. I figured you would be the person to inform, I think I know who it belongs to.”
2. “There is really nothing you can do?”
3. “Why can’t you call off the raid to inspect this?”
4. “I did want to ask more about the rats, is that normal for them to swarm like that?”
5. “So what’s going to happen to the man that me and Inquisitor Cassius caught?”
6. “I just wanted to say your hat is VERY pointy.”
7. “I have reason to suspect that Crusader Hafford is at the very least complicit in all of this…”
8. “We appear to have a mole on the inside of the town guard, I want your help in this matter.”
9. Leave
10. Write in

>>2432593
>4. “I did want to ask more about the rats, is that normal for them to swarm like that?”
Then leave.

>>2432593
“So do the sewer rats generally act like that?” Henry asked.

“I’m afraid I wouldn’t have the slightest idea, I’m not the town rat catcher, although I’m certain he would be of more help on that matter. The man is named Waltz and he lives near Renior Plaza, near the eastern end. I don’t know his exact house I’m afraid.”

“Well better than nothing I guess.” Henry murmured to himself.

“If that will be all gentlemen…” Marcus began.

“I cannot speak for Henry but I do have a few things to discuss, including a corpse Henry found down in the sewer. I’d like to recommend it for immediate recovery.” Grom went on.

“If you gentlemen don’t mind I’ll be excusing myself, I have a few things I need taken care of.” Henry said, leaving the office and the two church officials to themselves.

1. Head back to the inn near the northern gate, get some sleep
2. Try to track down the rat catcher near renior plaza
3. Head back to Central plaza and see if Cassius has returned yet.
4. Go into back to the mill to recover your dagger
5. Head elsewhere in the city (write in)
6. Perform an action (Write in)

Optional:
1. Go back to the inn and get Johnny, then do something else

>>2432802
>2. Try to track down the rat catcher near renior plaza

>>2432802
>4. Go into back to the mill to recover your dagger

>>2432811
>>2432914
I'll wait for the tie to resolve via another vote, otherwise I'll flip a coin

>>2432914
That dagger is fried, having that much electricity going through it would destroy it's functionality.

>>2432950
If we go to retrieve the dagger, grab Johnny first.

Damn, we should've said to Grom that we suspect we have a mole among the guards.... Or did Cassius report that already?

Let's go talk to the rstcatcher

>>2433079
shoulda coulda woulda, and no. Henry hasn't actually told anyone about this yet, we'd have to hope Cassius figured it out AND told grom...

>>2433086
Dang, I thought Cassius was there when we learned this.

>>2433086
Can we quickly tell that to Grom before leaving? Or maybe leave a note and tell some younger priest to pass it. Apologize in it that it slipped our mind to tell him.
Don't say that we suspect Hafford though. We don't really have much to go for that suspicion.

>>2433096
yes we can, I gave the option

>perform an action

>>2433099
Let's do that quickly and go talk to the ratcatcher. We probably have no envelope but at least fold it or something, won't stop it from the prying eyes but if the priest we give it has an ounce of decency he won't be reading it.

>>2433125
Unless the priest is in on it.

>>2432802
Henry began to make an exit before stopping abruptly, and turning back to face the two.

“Forgot something?” Grom asked.

“Yes actually, I wanted to mention that I have strong reason to believe there is a mole among the guards.”

“That is a serious accusation there child.” Marcus replied. “Do you have any proof?”

“The light rune in the tower was smashed and the lower sewer entrance is unguarded and its runes have been stripped, at least if my understanding is correct. This leads me to believe that our pagans are planning on using this route during their attack. The issue is that only guards or those approved by them would’ve had access to the tower. Meaning they would’ve had to have someone on the inside.

“Nobody could have sneaked into the place?” Grom asked.

“Nearly impossible, the stairway up is a straight path, and from what I understand they have guards in there at almost all hours, only someone with access to the schedules would be able to know if the place was unguarded. So only a guard or someone on staff at the castle could. They couldn’t have scaled the outside either, they would’ve been spotted, and that’s sheer stone.”

“This is very serious…” Marcus muttered, rubbing his chin. “I will inform Hafford as soon as he returns from his patrol, this needs to be dealt with quickly and quietly, I cannot risk the townsfolk learning of this information.”

“I agree.” Grom added. “We need to keep faith in the church strong during this turbulent time. I hope you agree as well Henry.”

“I do, no worries there sirs.” Henry replied, annoying politely, he HATED all of this bullshit. “So will the raid be canceled?”

“We’re too far in to really stop it now.” Marcus said. “We’ve called forces from a few locations, and we’d be made fools of if we suddenly called it off, additionally we might lose our window if we do call it off, which would leave us open to a counter attack for certain.”

“It’s regrettable but I agree here as well, our best option is to try and attack and weaken them, or hopefully destroy any force they have gathered. I doubt most of them will even be able to put up a fight, most are just commoners. It’s the few potential pagans I’m worried about.” Grom replied.

“Regardless this is valuable information Henry, and I’ll make sure to pass it down the chain, after tomorrow night it should be easy to figure out if any of the guards are afflicted.” Marcus finished

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

>>2433138
Henry quickly made his way to Renior plaza, he didn’t have too much more daylight remaining, maybe a couple hours max. He regretted not being able to go for his dagger, the thing meant a heck of a lot to him, but he supposed it was for the best. The thing would be a charred hunk of scrap metal after taking in so much lightning. Still, he would’ve loved to mount the thing on his wall back home. Heck maybe even Nessie would’ve bought it.

His thoughts were interrupted by his arrival at the square. The place was fairly empty apart from the occasional bit of foot traffic.

1. Try to go door to door (roll a d100)
2. Ask around (roll a d100)
3. Head to the castle and ask there
4. Write in

Rolled 8 (1d100)

>>2433146
>2. Ask around (roll a d100)

>>2433129
first off, a bishop ranks above a priest, Marcus is the bishop of the whole region, the new haven district and the surrounding districts

secondly he CALLED the inquisitors into town in the first place, diverting them from their inspection of the undead outbreak.

Rolled 58 (1d100)

>>2433146
Ask around

>>2433177
well that's a success, writing

>>243314
Henry began asking around for the ratcatcher. After a few failed attempts at conversation, he by chance spotted Jonathon heading away from the castle, which was a little ways up the road.

“EY JONATHON!” Henry called out, causing the Cathar to jump in surprise before looking around and spotting Henry.

“W-what? Oh hello Henry!” Jonathon called, waving back. “What do you want now?”

“I was looking for the local ratcatcher, name was Waltz.” Henry said, running up to meet Jonathon.

“I know him. He’s in um… that house over there!” Jonathon said, motioning back towards Renior plaza.

The house was crammed against the town’s main wall, packed in with a few other similar looking houses. It was a plaster and timber construction nothing special, but Henry wouldn’t have expected anything grand from a rat catcher’s domain.

“Why do you want to speak with him?”

“Part of the investigation, can’t talk about it right now, in a rush.”

“Oh.. okay. Just a word of warning, the man’s um… kinda weird? Generally stays to himself, most other people avoid him. I guess if you spent your days catching rats you’d go a bit ratty yourself… heh.”

1. Head on over
2. Ask Jonathon for help (roll speech 60 or higher)
3. Write in

Optional:
1. “How do you know about the guy?”

>>2433228
Well if he's a little batty, then you should come with me, being a protector of the peace and all.
Don't worry, it'll be "fun."
>2. Ask Jonathon for help (roll speech 60 or higher)
>Optional:
>1. “How do you know about the guy?”

>>2433228
Had over. Don't think we really need his help.

Ask him what he did when we separated

>>2433228
>1. Head on over
>2. Ask Jonathon for help (roll speech 60 or higher)

This guy could be important to the case, Jonathon, I would really like some help.

Rolled 36 (1d100)

>>2433245

>>2433864
>>2433535

failed roll and a vote against, without a successful roll we're going without

File: House.jpg (4 KB, 318x159)

4 KB JPG

>>2433228
“Hey Jonathon, bud. Can I ask you for a favor real quick?” Henry asked.

“Yeah?” Jonathon responded.

“I’m continuing my investigation at the Ratcatchers place and could use some back up, mind coming with real quick?”

“Um… no? I just got off duty, and I was just heading home. Besides that Waltz guy is harmless, unless you’re a rat of course.”

“Oh… alright thanks regardless.” Henry said, dejected. It was probably too much to ask the guy to shadow him everywhere. Even if it would be nice to have someone so expendable lying around in case Henry needed to make a run for it.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The Ratcatchers house was on the end of the street east leading out of Renior Plaza. The area was slightly drab, the houses not nearly as nice as in the central part of town. These didn’t compare to the slums of Celeste of course, the people who lived in these New Haven houses all had jobs. Or at least Henry assumed.

The door was a simple construction of oak planks, adorned by a knocker made out of simple iron. The thing had a light coating of rust on it. From noise coming from inside, and there was a fair amount of it, someone seemed to be home.

1. Knock on the door and introduce yourself
2. Try to find some way to sneak in (roll 2 d100)
3. Leave, you’re getting bad vibes all round
4. Write in

>>2439862
>4. Write in
Knock on the door and ask him to step out.

Rolled 10 (1d100)

>>2439862

4. Write in
Look around the back side of the house and adjoining alleys. Peep in a window if it is lit and we can hear no one moving around inside that room.

>>2439862
Henry went around the back of the house for a moment to try and get a look inside. The windows he did find were fairly filthy and one was even badly cracked. They didn’t offer him an good view inside, and to be honest were pretty shit at letting light into the place. He didn’t want to risk climbing up the house and making more noise, so he resigned himself to simply knocking politely like a normal human being.

Circling back around, he noticed the falling sun once more, not too much time left for today. He really hoped that this man would give him some critical information, or at least something, for his time. He headed back down the alleyway and around to the front door, giving it a couple firm knocks using the rusted iron knocker.

A few moments later, and Henry had begun to pace around. He wondered if the man was ignoring him now. He hadn’t made much noise searching around had he? Maybe this HAD been the wrong house. Or was the man about to spring a trap on him. However, the door opening broke his train of thought immediately.

“Who are you, did the rats send you?” A man asked. “If it’s the rats you can fuck right off, you don’t look like a rat though. Least I don’t think you’re a rat.”

Oh. Joy. The man really had gone a bit ratty. He figured that this was Waltz the ratcatcher though, the whole rat bit gave it away.

1. I was sent here by the rats
2. I was not sent here by the rats
3. Call him a jackass
4. I’m here to ask about a few things I found in the sewer
5. I’m here on official church business
6. “Oh this is the wrong place, sorry” (fucking leave)
7. Write in

>>2440067
>2. I was not sent here by the rats
The rats can go sod off.

File: Getting_Rid_of_Dead_Rat_Smell.jpg (41 KB, 800x429)

41 KB JPG

>>2440067
The door was open, but only a crack, Henry couldn’t make out the fact of the man he was dealing with. Regardless something awful smelling was coming from inside. Coming from a necromancer who lived in a sewer, and that MEANT something.


“I was absolutely, positively, not sent by the rats.” Henry said. The man was crazy yes, but he didn’t like rats, better to get on his good side.


This proverbial plan was all thrown completely out of the proverbial window when the door flew open, and a couple of filth encrusted hands lunged out and grabbed Henry. Before he knew what was happening he had been pulled inside the house. The place was dimly lit, the windows were covered in filth and grime, allowing minimal light inside. The walls were stained with something. The floor was in bad shape, planks that had begun to rot. But more than anything else, the place smelled BAD, like really bad. It hadn’t been cleaned in a long time, and there were HUNDREDS of rat corpses everywhere, some pinned to the walls, some skeletons being converted into obscene works of art, others were lining the walls, pinned by their tails.


Holy fuck


The man had long unkempt filth covered hair, and a manic look in his eyes. His clothes weren’t tattered. They were in surprisingly good condition, but were covered in deep layers of filth and muck. This had to be Waltz the Ratcatcher. Henry really doubted anyone else in New Haven had the whole rat motif going on.


“Good good, you weren’t sent by them, you have to come in where we can talk without them noticing. Were you followed? Of course you weren’t you would’ve checked, of course you did. Don’t worry about spies, I killed the last few, made it so bad that word would’ve gotten back, I know cause I see the fuckers across the street. Don’t come close no more, they finally learned.”


Waltz motioned up to above the door frame. The door of course was now distressingly closed. A couple of rat corpses were pinned above the thing. One had been skinned completely, and the other had its organs ripped out and pinned to all sorts of places on it. Henry was used to corpses but this was just obscene.


He felt one of those filth covered hands press over his mouth for a moment.

“Please don’t say anything yet, I still need to check to make sure we don’t have company… and who were you sent by if not the rats hrm? The church? … You weren’t sent by the tax man were you? I… I told him I was getting the money together… he said …”

1. Try to punch him (roll a 50 or higher)
2. Zap him (use half a charge, flip a coin to see if he gets knocked out)
3. “Please let go of me”
4. “GET OFF OR I FUCKIN STAB YOU”
5. “HOLY SHIT YOU SMELL AWFUL”
6. “BY THE FUCKING ANGELS WHAT THE FUCK.”
7. Say nothing and let him ramble
8. Write in

>>2440247
>5. “HOLY SHIT YOU SMELL AWFUL”

>>2440247
>6. “BY THE FUCKING ANGELS WHAT THE FUCK.

>>2440247
>8. Write in
YEE GODS THE SMELL

>>2440247
>>2440397

new thread is up