Re: Strange Aeons Gameplay Thread

[Drekkle]

"Hopefully," Vadoma murmurs, following suit.

[Aviana]

Endrit, meanwhile, goes to check how things are with Winter.

[maswoon]

Junmai sharpens his blade again out of habit more than out of need.

[Nix Machina]

Winter looks up as Endrit approaches. "Good evening. I trust everything is going well?"

[Aviana]

"Seems to be," Endrits answers with a small smile. "The children seemed to enjoy a story I told earlier, which was an entertaining sight. How are you?"

[Nix Machina]

"As well as can be expected." Winter sighs. "There's a lot to do to make sure that everyone's okay here. I think we'll be able to hold out for a while, but we hardly had the chance to plan for any kind of long-term. If we end up stuck here for too long, we're going to start running out of supplies."

[Aviana]

Endrit tilts his head, considering. "What would do the most good to help with in the camp?" he asks, slowly. "I know our group needs to focus on finding any clue or resource we can while we're out, but those aren't particularly long ventures by necessity."

[Nix Machina]

"Honestly? Just keep doing what you're doing." Winter smiles. "Telling stories to the children, helping people out where you can, and keeping morale up is going to be important if we're going to survive to make it out of here. I'd hate for you to get us out of here only to find that the people you'd been trying to save were dead, or scarred mentally and physically."

[Aviana]

The bearded man gives a small smile and nods. "And I trust if you feel something needs more immediate aid, you would say so?"

[Nix Machina]

"Of course." Winter nods. "If anything comes up, I'll be sure to let you know."

------------------------------------------------------------------------

The night passes. Cracks of thunder from outside echo throughout the cathedral, and green flashes occasionally light up the interior, casting shadows on the sleeping denizens inside.

Finally, a new day dawns.

[maswoon]

The group heads to a new courtyard, where high asylum walls hedge in this spacious courtyard garden. Only thin breaths of sickly fog seep in from overheard, though beyond it’s just as thick as ever. Misty wisps slip between leafless trees and simple benches, giving the impression of silent beasts prowling through the garden. A nightgaunt wings out of the sky and attempts to make asay with Vadoma. Junmai, quick on the draw, unsheathes his sword in a torrent of blood. ”You won’t be taking anyone away, bastard!” Junmai bellows, striking a final blow against the challenged enemy. It quickly crumples to the ground, releasing Vadoma. Junmai smirks and begins to clean his blade once again.

[Aviana]

”Fine work, Junmai,” Endrit comments, inwardly disappointed at his own failure. Perhaps practice would be in order later. ”Vadoma, are you all right?”

[Drekkle]

Vadoma nods silently, shrinking further into her coat as her cheeks burn from the indignity of the nightgaunt's attack.

[maswoon]

Junmai claps Vadoma on the shoulder. ”Don’t worry about it. Everyone needs someone to watch their back, it’s why we’re all travelling together. Strength is found in teamwork.”

[Drekkle]

Vadoma winces as Junmai claps her on the shoulder. "Right. Teamwork," she mutters, thinking about how much use she's been so far.

[maswoon]

Junmai goes to help Endrit with his investigation, casually whistling and confident his words had the desired uplifting effect.

[Aviana]

Endrit examines the area, occasionally pausing and looking a little puzzled when the powerful winds change directions. He sees a sturdy wooden shed in the northeastern corner of the courtyard. On examining, he finds the door unlocked, and tilts his head at the sight within. The bearded man gestures the group back to the hallway to get out of the wind.

Once inside, he sets his attention to mending some of Vadoma’s injuries, and explaining what he’d noticed. ”Did any of you hear the strange noises on the wind?” he asks first, frowning slightly as his healing magic does rather little for the girl’s injuries. ”I heard things like flapping wings, low growls, rustling steps, though it all seemed to be coming from a distance. No particular direction either, which seemed unlikely. The shed also houses a descending staircase, which is likely worth further investigation.”

[Drekkle]

"Thanks," Vadoma says quietly, after initially cringing away from Endrits touch. "I did hear the noises too."

[Drekkle]

The staircase within the shed ends abruptly in a chasm which seems to have no bottom. A torch is lit, then dropped into it, Vadoma's lips moving silently as she counts the seconds until it finally clatters to the ground below. "That's at least two hundred feet, maybe two hundred and fifty," she says, backing away a bit from the edge with a shiver.

[Grit]

The Kobold raps at the mouth of the shaft with disdain, then turns itself around, scuttling away from the abyssal drop.

"Cover hole, come back later." The lizard clicks. "Sssee what sskitters out."

[Aviana]

”I don’t believe it’s possible to cover this hole, but the concept is sound,” Endrit comments, frowning and joining the group in leaving.

They return to the hallway and follow the path to another hall with four doors. The new hallway seems to eventually open into a small atrium, but they decide to check the four doors first. In the first room, a bed and a low table are perhaps all that are required for a patient to quietly convalesce here, but the accommodations hardly look comfortable. A portion of the tiled ceiling has given way, allowing heavy bricks to fall across the bed and floor. Fortunately, no one seemed to be in the room when the collapse occurred, and after a quick look, the group moves on.

Three figures lie dead in the next room. Two wearing yellow robes lie slumped on the floor, having suffered repeated vicious blows to the face. A third—an old man easily in his eighties and wearing a light cloth dressing gown—has fallen back across the bed. He is dead, but has a satisfied smirk on his face and still grips a sturdy leather boot with blood on its heel. The boot’s partner lies on the floor nearby.

Endrit and Vadoma examine, and quickly determine that the cultists were in fact killed by the boot. "I wonder if this boot explains the other dead?" Endrit wonders aloud, carefully prying the weapon from the dead man's hand. "They had their heads smashed as well."

[maswoon]

Junmai smirks. "Must have been quite the warrior to do this many people in with a boot. Would have probably been a hell of a fight!" the samurai chuckles. "We should count ourselves lucky he's dead, certainly!"

[Drekkle]

"Probably not, Endrit," Vadoma says, looking at the boot. "This boot is from Angier's, a famous and distinguished leather maker shop that has the royal warrant for leather working. I'd say the people in this room killer each other, so someone else must have attacked the others. Though, they could have been under the influence of something similar?" Vadoma pauses several seconds to think, before adding, "The boots would also probably be valuable, if they were cleaned up."

[maswoon]

"I mean... should we take 'em, then?" Junmai asks, cocking an eyebrow. "I guess loot is loot, right?"

[Aviana]

”Boots are hardly of any use to the dead, and the living may yet need them,” Endrit answers easily, picking up the weapon’s partner as well.

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