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[berelinde]

Plot Post, Rael's Team

 

Summary: Rael's team enters Edred and Mirren's house to find Mirren and Brella's remains.

 

As you approach the farmhouse, you notice a meal laid out on a bench beside the door, fruit, stew, and a mug of beer, as if someone set out dinner for a farmhand who never returned from the fields. The stew is probably spoiled - as if anyone could eat after seeing Eshara and what was left of Keltin - but the fruit looks fresh. Whatever happened here, it could not have happened more than a day or so before.

 

Spoiler

 

The door swings open soundlessly, the hinges well oiled and the latch shattered, and you walk in to find a body laid out on the floor. She appears to have been in her mid-forties. Her face is lined with worry and with hard work, but her light auburn hair is untouched by grey. Her simple farmer's dress (and the flesh beneath) is torn in deep, horizontal gashes, four grouped together about an inch apart. To Etienne, Rael, and Tessa, they resemble Ehsara's. To Tempest, they look like Keltin's. Broken crockery lies on the floor around her, as if she had been carrying the supper dishes toward the hearth for washing up after the evening meal. The hearth is still vaguely warm, but the cauldron has long since boiled dry.

 

Based on the woman's age, you must have found Mirren, the Fuldor family matriarch.

 

Spoiler

 

Looking past her, you look through the bedroom door to see a pair of feet sticking out from the hem of a blood-stained skirt. A younger woman lies just inside amid the wreckage of a sewing basket. Unlike the older woman, her hair is black, swept back in girlish braids from a freckled, once-pretty face. Her body bears claw marks like the others, including a deep laceration through her neck. Judging by her age, she must have been Brella, the Fuldors' sixteen year old daughter.

 

Spoiler

 

Emerging from the bedroom, you see stairs to your right. The Fuldor farmhouse has a second floor.

[TreeHuggerHannah]

"Maker rest her soul," Tempest said quietly when they found the woman's remains. They would have a second corpse to burn, sadly, rather than a second survivor to bring to safety. "Those marks are the same as the ones we found on Keltin's body. They look like claws..."

 

Tempest was distracted from what she was saying by the sight through the open door. 

 

"No!" she cried, her voice coming out loud and raspy. "Maker, no!"

 

She ran to the girl and knelt beside her. Tempest put a hand against the girl's cold cheek, then closed her eyes and concentrated, her palm warming and pulsing with the faint blue light of a healing spell that would do absolutely nothing. It was beyond even a mage's powers to heal the dead.

 

Silent tears dripped down Tempest's cheeks, falling on bloodstained fabric and the girl's pale, lifeless face.

[mysteriouspast]

Rael was examining the matriarch's body when she heard Tempest scream from the other room. The sound made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up and she did not think twice before running to the mage's side. What she saw was heartbreaking: Tempest, kneeling over a young woman's body, trying to heal her between sobs. 

 

Rael covered her mouth in horror at the scene then knelt down next to Tempest and gently encircled her in her arms. Attempting to hoist the woman to her feet, she whispered, "Come away. Don't look at this any longer."

[Lorien19]

Laurelin gasped,
She felt a strange bitterness,in her mouth,like swallowing poison.
She ran towards the dead boy and knelt besides him.
Whenever she was convinced that she finally made her peace with death,with the fact that life was brutal and harsh,she'd encounter something gruesome enough to make her reconsider it .
The forest was notorious for claiming many lives and usually she was unfortunate enough,to find their remains as she explored it's depths. It wasn't something she was unfamiliar with,it was natural.
But still,the sight of a dead child,was something that caused her great pain and sadness,for a reason she couldn't understand.
She looked at his wound,a severed windpipe "At least,he didn't suffer"She thought to herself and sighed.
Suddenly her vision blurred,it took her a while to realise that they were actually tears,until she felt them pouring down her cheeks.
A sentiment of embarrassment ensued,as soon as she remembered,that she wasn't alone.
She abruptly averted her gaze,making sure that,this small demonstration of sentiment went unnoticed and spoke in her sternest tone.
"The man bears the same wounds as Keltin and the elvhen woman."She cleared her throat "They were attacked by the same creature."She paused and looked at the boy,for some reason she froze.

[TreeHuggerHannah]

Tempest startled reflexively when Rael's arms went around her, her instinctive reaction to any unexpected touch - the conditioned response of a person for whom, for many years, physical contact had meant pain and fear rather than comfort.

 

After that first moment, though, Tempest realized consciously what was happening and understood she was in no danger. The tension in her muscles eased, and she allowed Rael to steer her away from the corpse.

 

"I'm sorry," she said. "You must think I'm hopelessly weak. It's just... I have children, you see. Two are teenage girls not much younger than..."

 

She gestured vaguely toward the body, and shuddered.

[mysteriouspast]

With her arm around Tempest, Rael carefully walked out of the bedroom, making sure to place herself between Tempest and the gruesome sight. "Please don't apologize," she said softly. "I could barely look at it myself and I don't..." she stopped herself and looked at the mage, who scarcely looked old enough to have a young child, let alone teenagers. "I'm sure it was extremely traumatic for you then," she continued when the girl's feet were safely out of vision. "Will you be alright?"

[ChachiBobinks]

Etienne had settled on one knee alongside the woman, hopelessly feeling for signs of life. She was obviously past gone, but he felt like he had to be sure. Maker, the gore. His hand rose to his mouth as he climbed to his feet. "This is... horrendous." 

 

Blinking rapidly, he rubbed his nose and headed for the nearby chest. "We need a blanket or... a sheet, or something," he murmured, mostly to himself. His hands had just touched the lid when Tempest screamed out and he, lost in though, startled and pulled his staff. He was to the door just strides after Rael and ready to attack, but stopped dead in his feet instead. 

 

Like he'd know how to respond to that. His hand flew to his mouth again and he turned swiftly, pacing back to the door. 

[TreeHuggerHannah]

Tempest drew a few deep breaths, and nodded.

 

"I will," she said. "This is just... tragic... but mourning the dead does nothing to help the living."

 

She still couldn't get the image of the dead girl out of her head. And, judging by what they had seen so far, Tempest wasn't optimistic that the other children from the farm would be found alive. Would she be forced to see a corpse that reminded her of her son, too?

 

"I just need a moment, if that's alright. Then I'll be ready to move on. Thank the Maker my own children are safe and among friends while I'm away."

[berelinde]

Beldin stared at the workbench, counting the tick-marks beside the items of a list too blurry to read. He looked at the lamps, their steady burn uninterrupted by the horrors they illuminated. He looked at the coils of rope hanging neatly on the wall, on the spices and garlic, at the provisions put aside for a winter their owners would never see. He looked anywhere but at the bodies.

 

His gaze fell upon a wooden horse, its paint barely dry. He picked it up and placed it carefully beside the child.

 

"Ride him in the Beyond, little man," he said. His voice broke. Shoulders shaking, he knelt beside the child and smoothed the boy's hair before closing his eyes.

 

He stood, jaw clenched, and turned toward the door. His fingers fumbled at the latch, as if fixing it would somehow set everything behind it to rights, but it came apart in his hands and clattered to the floor.

 

"There are seven more," he said grimly.

[berelinde]

Rael's team Follow-up Post

 

Etienne makes a Perception(Sight) test (15 vs TN13) and spots a book on a sideboard. It seems to be a diary.

 

Spoiler

Edred's Diary

 

20 Harvestmere: Well, that's one more abandoned farm. The Harleys are gone to Vintiver to stay with the Pecks until they find whoever did for Coalan's boy. I sent Drull to make sure the place was locked up, but he says they don't even have locks on their doors. They must not plan to be gone long, he said, as they left all their clothes and tools behind. At least he found the place. Never met a man who had so much trouble with right and left, but there you have it. "Second house up the lane on the right," I said. I thought he might walk in on the Guirks, if they haven't left, too. I expect the lot of them will come back to find that squatters have moved into their fine houses. Keltin isn't happy about being kept to the farm of an evening, but after what happened to Rory, you can't blame a man for being cautious. At least Drull's pleased. 

 

21 Harvestmere: Hann and Drull fixed the smoker door. Hann's been making good progress with the bacon, and will probably have the lot of it cured and smoked in a two or three days' time. Quint likes his horse. I have to keep telling him he can't play with it until the paint is dry. Brella's done good work on that apron she was embroidering for Kesla. It will make a fine Satinalia present. The quiet is good for something, at least. Mirren's put up nine bushels of apples in sauce. I reckon that will get even Borren through 'til next harvest.

 

22 Harvestmere: It's quiet around here without the Harleys on the other end of the lane. Drull's been going over to scare the crows off the pumpkins, but I told him to stop. If they can't be bothered to bring 'em in to keep off the frost, why should we trouble ourselves to ward off the crows? I told Keltin he can go to the Arbor tomorrow night. I don't like the idea, but there's been no living with him. The baby's been fussy. Faleen's worried, but that's new mothers for you.

[BFace]

Tessa stood over the dead woman, unable to look away. There was a lot more blood here than when…No.

 

‘Get yourself together, Tess.’ She took a deep breath, then immediately regretted it. Tessa took several shallow breaths through her mouth, until she was reasonably sure her gorge was going to stay put.

 

She studied the gashes that crossed the woman’s body.  What in Andraste’s name could do such a thing? Her study was interrupted by Tempest’s cry. Tessa had her weapon in hand before she realized that the woman had discovered another dead one.  Having her hand around the hilt of the blade steadied her a little, so she hauled it back over her shoulder, keeping one hand wrapped around the hilt.

 

She felt almost frozen in place, utterly at a loss as to what to do now. It had been a long time since she had felt this utterly of no use. She watched Etienne look for a covering for this poor woman and she hoped her voice was steady when she spoke.

 

“Etienne. Do you…is there…Have you ever read about anything that could do this to someone?”

 

As she waited for his response-he seemed to be holding up better than she, herself, was- she tore her gaze away from the woman on the floor at her feet and looked around, noticing a stairway.

 

Maker, what would they find up there?

[mysteriouspast]

Once she was certain that Tempest was steady, Rael turned her attention to the other two. Somehow, dealing with Tempest's pain helped her push her own horror aside, at least for the moment.

Etienne was talking with Tessa while looking for something... She couldn't say what. They both looked stricken as she imagined her own face to have a similar pallor.

Tessa was looking at the stairwell with trepidation. Rael stood next to her and said in a tremulous voice, "I don't like the looks of those stairs, either. I suppose that means we'll need a look."

[ChachiBobinks]

"No," he replied to Tessa morosely. "I've not. I have to admit I've not studied much into creatures, land bound or beyond." He paused in his thumbing through the book to think, but shook his head instead. "Though I wish I had. Regretfully, I hadn't realized the importance of such studies until now." 

 

Oh, how his mind ached as he rushed to pull together details. Things read in the book, overheard on the farm, and told to him the night prior all sloshed together. He had confidence that it would all come together shortly. But in the interim, one line stood out to him. 

 

Rael joined Tessa, he walked to the two, gloved thumb stuck between the pages at 22 Harvestmere. As he held the book out to Rael, he gestured as slightly as possible to Tempest, then furrowed his brow. Leaning in, he whispered, "There may be a baby out here somewhere." The words left his mouth and his gaze shot upwards. He listened for... Maker, anything. A sign of life, a faint cry, anything that would indicate that there was life up there.

 

The sort of life they'd want to encounter.

 

"We've got to hurry." 

[BFace]

"There may be a baby out here somewhere."

 

At Etienne’s whispered words, Tessa had to make an effort not to sway.  Maker! Oh, Maker, let us find at least some life.

 

She gave Rael a look and spoke softly. “Etienne, stay here with Tempest. Rael and I will go…” She swallowed. “We’ll go up there and…see. Are you good with that, Rael?”

[mysteriouspast]

Rael nodded grimly. She did not, no, could not say how little she hoped that they would find the infant unharmed. Even if the attackers had spared it, the chances of a baby surviving alone for days... She shuddered and glanced back at Etienne and Tempest before turning back to Tessa. "Go," she said, preparing her crossbow for a quick attack. "I am at your elbow."

[TreeHuggerHannah]

Tempest was embarrassed that her companions seemed to be handling this better than she was, but she was struggling to pull herself together. Although she was no longer in tears, she still felt shaken and drained. 

 

The others were talking softly, but Tempest didn't have the energy to focus on them. If they wanted her to know something, surely they would come over and tell her.

 

When Tessa and Rael started to head up the stairs, Tempest assumed they were all going. She did a mental inventory and decided she would be able to manage that... unless there was an equal or worse horror on the second floor.

 

Etienne was closest to her, and she had not yet apologized to him for her outburst. She managed a weak smile at him, and said, "I'm sorry. I don't do well with this sort of thing. I can't help but think of my own children. I'm alright now, though. Shall we go up?"

[ChachiBobinks]

Etienne nodded to them both and gave Rael's shoulder a squeeze. "Be safe," he said quietly. "And yell if you need us." Pursing his lips together, he closed the book and tucked it under his arm. 

 

Time to distract Tempest.

 

The last thing he wanted was to make the older mage think they were placating her, but Maker. She looked unwell. And his face showed his concern. She had children? Andraste's breath, what a concept! He was torn between awe that she could and empathy for how she had to have been feeling. Loss, he had dealt with. There were few things in his life more terrifying than the day when a friend vanished. Prior to his Harrowing, his stomach would seize each time a friend was called to visit the First Enchanter. So often, they never came back. They were then a memory, one they were advised to not speak of, lest it scare them all. But the emptiness was there. The bed was empty and their trunks, cleared out. He imagined that Tempest could easily imagine her own children on the floor, unseeing eyes open. 

 

He shuddered and ran his free hand through his hair. "Non, messere," he replied with the quick shake of his head. "I would like to find coverings for the bodies for now. And say a prayer. We should lift these spirits to join the Maker." 

[Mahumia]

Bartha felt strangely aware of the man standing next to her. 'By the Stone... you're standing in the middle of a massacre, but your hormones react like you're in some happy place? Grow up Bartha...' She scolded at herself in her mind and shook her head. 'Besides... he's human... they want either elves or their own anyway...' She glanced at Beldin. 'He's so tall! I could ride him.... no, NO, mind, don't go there!' She felt a blush appearing on her cheeks. In a corner of her eye she saw Laurelin emerge from the barn. 'Good, now get that mind out of the gutter and onto the task at hand.' She let out a sigh.

 

"I'm Beldin. I owe you my life from before. A name's a poor trade for it, but it's all I've got."

 

"Gratitude and a name are valuable commodities, I'm glad we were there in time to help you." She spoke more softly than usual, and  managed to produce a smile before averting her gaze again. 'Beldin... cute name!... oh, you nug!'

 

Her stomach dropped when she saw the devastated cellar door. She took a deep breath and hesitantly descended down the stairs. First she noticed the man, who had lost his last fight... than her eyes caught the body of the child. "No... " Her voice barely a whisper and her eyes filled with tears. She stood there, watching the horrible scene, as Laurelin ran forward and examined both victims. 

 

"The man bears the same wounds as Keltin and the elvhen woman."She cleared her throat "They were attacked by the same creature."

 

Bartha simply nodded. She opened her mouth, but closed it again as she did not know what to say. She watched Beldin as he placed a toy next to the child and encouraged the spirit to rest. She swallowed and blinked rapidly to stop more tears to form. She startled as she suddenly heard a loud noise behind her, when the cellar door fell to the ground. Turning around, away from the scene, she slowly started to make her way to the stairs.

 

"There are seven more," Beldin said grimly.

 

She clenched her fists. "Please... let us find survivors" She stretched out her hand when walking past Beldin, but decided to pull it back before it would reach him. 'Perhaps it is not a wise idea to comfort each other now...'

[TreeHuggerHannah]

Tempest was ashamed to admit how relieved she was to stay downstairs with Etienne. It wasn't fear for her life or safety, but the deep dread of stumbling upon another scene like the one in the bedroom that had so deeply undone her. There were at least two children on the farm who were, as far as Tempest knew, unaccounted for - a little boy and an infant. If they were found alive, one of the others could call for a healer. If not, Tempest was selfishly glad not to be the one who would discover another body lying in a pool of blood.

 

"Of course," Tempest said. "That's a good idea. And once we've searched the farm, we should give them a proper funeral pyre."

 

She hoped by then there would be more survivors, not more corpses.

 

"There are probably sheets in the bedroom we could use."

 

The idea of going back in the room with the dead girl was not appealing, but she owed it to the young woman to pay her that measure of respect, so she steeled herself and returned to the room to find linens, averting her gaze as much as possible from the remains.

[berelinde]

Plot Post, Rael and Tessa

 

 

Summary: Rael and Tessa discover Borren's remains.

 

 

The silence as you climb the stairs is not complete. Crows call to each other, their voices harsh, but distant. Floorboards creak and the wind makes the shutters clatter against the house. Sadly, you do not hear any human noises.

 

At the top of the stair, your fears are confirmed. The bedroom door hangs loose, the top hinge ripped from the wall. Beyond it, you see a child sprawled dead across the floor, his army of tin soldiers awash in a lake of clotted blood. Nine year old Borren's body bears the same claw marks as the other corpses you have seen.

 

Spoiler

 

Plot Post, Etienne and Tempest

 

Tempest and Etienne busy themselves covering the dead with bed linens. They pass the open bedroom window several times, but they are preoccupied with their grim task. As Etienne tucks the last corner of a coverlet under Mirren, he hears a barely-audible growl.

 

Perception(Sight) (Tempest): 7+1=8 vs TN15 (fail)

Perception(Hearing) (Etienne): 14+2=16 vs TN15 (pass)

 

Plot Post, Bartha's Team

 

Summary: Bartha's team encounters a large pack of wolves as they exit the cellar. Combat begins.

 

There is little point remaining in the cellar, so the team exits. Beldin is already at the door, so he is the first upon the stairs. He is just in time to see a furry muzzle sniffing at the bloody air rising up from the cellar. More wolves soon appear behind the first, and more yip and clammor behind them.

 

The cellar stairs are relatively narrow - about double the width of a normal household door, and no more than four may approach at once.

 

Wolves' Initiative: 19(DD5) (link)

Bartha's Initiative: 19(DD6) (link)

Beldin's Initiaitive: 14 (link)

Laurelin's Initiative: 10 (link)

 

Those who roll less than half the wolves' initiative are surprised and will be unable to attack in the first round.

 

Of those inside the house, only Etienne has any inkling that anything unusual is going on outside (which he may or may not heed, depending on role-playing decisions). 

 

 

 

{Perspective shot from the front of the house. The wolves are not visible from the front door.}

 

Spoiler

 

{Perspective shot from the back of the house. The wolves will be visible from both the first and the second-story windows.}

 

Spoiler

[TreeHuggerHannah]

*posted in wrong thread, deleted*

[ChachiBobinks]

"Yes," Etienne replied insistently. "If that is the proper send-off, then I shall assist in every way I can." 

 

His hands shook as he tried to delicately maintain balance between keeping Tempest busy and listening for even the most quiet sign of struggle. Tessa and Rael were capable but he worried more about what they might find up there than he possibly should have. What if each room was filled with dangerous creatures? In the back of his mind, the voice that was oft silenced reminded him that he had things to offer them. He could protect them if need be. And the struggle to not rush up there and take the brunt of whatever could be found was a hard one indeed. 

 

He delicately tucked the deceased woman's hair beneath her head and the edge of the blanket went along with it. Those poor people. They had seen such horrors. 

 

And then he heard it. 

 

Etienne looked to Tempest with panic written across his face. "Don't speak," he mouthed out to her, as if it would do any good at all. Slow and steady, he slipped his staff off of his back and looked in the direction of the sound. 

 

3d6+1 → [5,1,4,1] = (11) Link

[TreeHuggerHannah]

Tempest nodded. "It is what is proper," she said, aware that for Etienne having lived in a circle all his life, in most cases the dead would simply disappear. He probably hadn't attended many funerals. Tempest herself had only been to one.

 

"Andraste was burned and her spirit returned to the Maker. So we hope also to join the Maker and be by his side forever." Her mouth quirked into a sad smile. "Or, in more practical terms, cremation greatly reduces the risk the body will become host to a demon or something else equally nasty."

 

She knelt by the dead young woman, and gently close her eyes. "Maker rest your soul," she whispered. "Merciful Andraste, watch over her. May she spend eternity at the Maker's side and in his favor."

 

Tempest tried to convince herself that the girl looked like she was sleeping, but it didn't work. The pale, blood-drained face, livid skin, and angry lacerations destroyed any illusion of peaceful slumber. Tempest tried to tell herself that the girl was better off now that she was beyond pain, but that didn't work either. Tempest would never be one to choose death over life, no matter how dire the situation. Where there was life, there was hope that things would get better. Death was the end of hope.

 

Intent as she was on her prayer, she didn't hear the wolves, but when Etienne warned her, she rose in careful silence, drew her staff, and motioned that she was going downstairs to help.

 

(It'll probably take Tempest a couple of rounds to get to them, but if combat is still going on when she gets there, an initiative roll: 3d6+1=9)

[berelinde]

{Tempest and Etienne are downstairs. As humans, they can walk (10+dexterity) yards in one round or run twice the distance. The house is not that big, but they will have to determine that the sound is coming from outside, walk to the door, open it, and follow the sound to the source. If they begin moving in Round 1, they might conceivably be able to attack in Round 3, but Tempest's initiative roll is <9.5, so she will not be able to attack until Round 4.}

[berelinde]

Combat Post, Initiative

 

Attack order:

Bartha

Wolves

Beldin

Laurelin

 

Because Bartha and the Wolves are tied on initiative, both will have initiated their attacks at the same time, but Bartha's blow(s) will land first. Therefore, the wolves will not change targets based on the outcome of Bartha's attack until the following round, but any wolf killed by Bartha's attack will not get a last bite in before death.

 

Bartha may attack at will!