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Jubilex
The Faceless Lord of Chaos
Posts: 1920
(7/13/03 11:12 am)
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Potters Row
The night is a checker board of darkness and light, the moon alternately concealed and revealed by a curtain of patchy grey clouds that slide across the sky like hounds on the hunt. Sal'el, sufficiently revived from his brief encounter with the supernatural, leads the group due north through the lantern-lit streets of the old Lunar stronghold. The cobbled roads still murmur the chorus of marching feet, the ghostly echoes of legionnaires long since gone.
Sangraal, Ruglan, Draxim and Ulwe, each in their modest panoply of leather and steel, brandishing their battle-worn instruments, stride purposefully behind Sal'el. Madragar marches along with them, his senses in touch with the careless crowd through which they move and the cold night air above, Kyethe a silent scout.
The streets are crowded, as they were the night before. Pools of firelight illuminate hard, savage faces and dark silhouettes of mercenaries, treasure hunters, prostitutes, craftsmen, the occasional priest, old men, and homeless children slithering through the chaos of the night. Open doors along the roadway reveal raucous taverns and steaming brothels, their riotous celebrations spilling out into the muddy street.
Few take notice of the small band, being just another cluster of anonymous warriors in a town full of such creatures. The razor-edged look in their eyes, and the resolution in their ground eating strides, make some strangers reach for their weapons as the group approaches. Yet as they pass the revelers return to their drinking and sport.
Sal'el ducks down a shadow filled side street, and the party follows. Emerging again at another street, he points at a two story structure about sixty feet to the north.
"That's the Black Barrel. Past it and to the left around that row is the Coffin Nail. There is an alley to the east of the Nail. That is where I saw the dwarf murdered."
Edited by: Jubilex at: 7/13/03 11:14 am
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Tarondor
Madragar
Posts: 571
(7/13/03 2:46 pm)
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Re: Potters Row
"How many entrances does the Black Barrel have?" asks Madragar.
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Jubilex
The Faceless Lord of Chaos
Posts: 1922
(7/13/03 3:04 pm)
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Re: Potters Row
"Counting windows?" Sal'el smiles, his sense of humor returning after its brief and unwelcome absence. "The tavern is below the street, with private rooms in the back and above. There's a boarding house adjacent as well with its own entrance to the tavern. There could be a dozen ways in and out."
"Potters Row is a warren," Sal'el continues. "No one knows every passage or alley. Keep your eyes and ears open."
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Tarondor
Madragar
Posts: 572
(7/13/03 4:26 pm)
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Re: Potters Row
"Ulwe, Sangraal and Ruglan should go through the front door. You'll attract more attention, I think. Sal'el, Draxim and I can go in from the alleyway and sit at the back. We'll be there to back you up if things go bad, and we'll have an opportunity to intercept anyone fleeing out the back."
Edited by: Tarondor at: 7/13/03 4:26 pm
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Ulwe
Ulwe Suulosse
Posts: 126
(7/13/03 10:14 pm)
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Re: Potters Row
Stopping near to the Black Barrel, the sea-elf holds his hand up for a moment to quiet the group.
Ulwe asks "Sangraal can you sense any traces of our Enemy?"
The Arendalen priest of Orlanth's eyes narrow and his nostrils flare briefly as he also concentrates for the tell-tale traces of Chaos.
[Sense Chaos +6 take 20 ]
Edited by: Ulwe at: 7/13/03 10:26 pm
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Kenner
Draxim
Posts: 571
(7/14/03 7:03 am)
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Re: Potters Row
Upon reaching the rear of the building, Draxim will attempt to make use of the alleys shadows to lie in wait for whatever might pop out. If he can get a good view of the door, or through a window that would be best.
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Jubilex
The Faceless Lord of Chaos
Posts: 1924
(7/14/03 7:09 am)
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Re: Potters Row
[Like Sal'el said, there is no single back door to the Black Barrel.]
Ruglan and Sangraal cluster around Ulwe as he stands between the entrances of the Black Barrel and the nameless flophouse that rises to the south of it. The elf spends a full two minutes searching the surrounding area for traces of Chaos but finds none. There are simply too many people in the vicinity to sense such corruption with any accuracy.
Not far away Madragar and Draxim slink down a narrow alley and into darkness. The intermittant moonlight forces the wizard to grip the shoulder of his dwarven companion. The two splash through puddles of slick mud and step gingerly past piles of rubbish. The alley snakes west along the south side of the boarding house then splits at a T intersection. Draxim follows the north branch.
Edited by: Jubilex at: 7/14/03 7:25 am
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Ulwe
Ulwe Suulosse
Posts: 127
(7/14/03 7:39 am)
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Re: Potters Row
Ulwe shakes his head no.
"I cannot find any sign of our foes, though that does not mean they are not about. There are always those which serve greed and vice which can be as lethal as a Shad..."
Ulwe cuts himself off and continues
"Well then lets be careful for anything." Ulwe points to the front door with his spear* and then suggests :
"Ruglan you first then Sangraal and I will follow last in. Once inside let's take a moment to get our bearings and then steer a course."
[*Ulwe is not armed with a Longspear anymore and never was. He has a shield and a shortspear... Strange time-space continuum fluxes ![0]](http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/alien.gif) ]
Edited by: Ulwe at: 7/14/03 7:41 am
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yucatanyeti
Sangraal
Posts: 584
(7/14/03 8:08 am)
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Re: Potters Row
Sangraal glances about as if suddenly aware of his surroundings.
[OOC: I have no intention of fighting this thing that killed Qadras. Let Sal'el go and start looking for information on the female dwarf trader with a northern accent and 8 earings in one ear. Shes our one lead. We can go in this bar, but I think its just a waste of time. We need to locate the female dwarf.]
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Jubilex
The Faceless Lord of Chaos
Posts: 1925
(7/14/03 8:31 am)
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Re: Potters Row
The alley:
Draxim and Madragar move through the irregular, winding alleyway around the block of low wooden buildings. At one point they step over a large lump of something with a pungent odor. They hope it is a sleeping drunk and not a rotting corpse. The alley doglegs around the boarding house, splitting off into two other directions, one of which is almost entirely clogged by a low makeshift shack, long since abandonded.
Draxim and Madragar are presented with a half dozen doors along the length of the alley, only two of which aren't locked. Draxim listens carefully at each one but hears nothing.
The tavern:
Sal'el says, "let me go in first, and give me a full minute before you follow." The cunning footpad then disappears down the short set of stairs leading into the Black Barrel.
A minute later Ruglan pushes his way through the entrance. The scene within is not a little confused. The room is large, with distant lantern light visible at least fifty feet off into the smokey gloom. The ceiling, however, is barely seven feet in height, with thick wooden rafters plunging down into the tavern at regular intervals. There are numerous tables thick with the detrius of Raven's Gate's nightlife: soldiers, mercenaries, traders, boatmen and many folk of indeterminate vocation. Nearby a rosy cheeked dwarven female (brown hair, no earrings) hustles through the crowd with no fewer then eight mugs of ale in her dexterous grip.
Ruglan, Ulwe and Sangraal don't see Sal'el at all, and stand at the entrance of the tavern scanning their surroundings and looking for a place to sit. Such hesitation clearly marks them as newcomers for anyone that cares to notice, and they quickly draw more than a little attention. Ruglan seems to blend in fairly well with the riotous crowd, but Sangraal and Ulwe's distinctive armor, and particularly Sangraal's gleaming holy symbol leave little mystery as to his profession.
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Jubilex
The Faceless Lord of Chaos
Posts: 1926
(7/14/03 8:50 am)
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Re: Potters Row
[The map of Raven's Gate has been updated in The World forum.]
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Ulwe
Ulwe Suulosse
Posts: 128
(7/14/03 10:12 am)
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Re: Potters Row
Ulwe scans the crowd for any sign of Sal-el. He is also on the lookout for an unoccupied spot preferably near a wall for the three of them to sit.
(spot +4)
He nudges the Yelmite and and says "We'd better find a seat."
[ooc: the Black Barrel is where Qadras met the Dwarf-woman trader. It is probably NOT a waste of time to investigate here. Re the shadow: we may have to go to the Temples to ask for help/warn them of the Chaos in the midst of Raven's Gate. This is NOT something we can ignore.]
Edited by: Ulwe at: 7/14/03 11:13 am
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Jubilex
The Faceless Lord of Chaos
Posts: 1929
(7/14/03 12:23 pm)
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Re: Potters Row
Ruglan pushes into the crowd and the murky depths of the tavern. The priests follow close behind him. Never before has even the veteran watchman seen such a band of hard-bitten mercenaries, cutthroats, brigands and unmitigated scum as the men gathered in the bowels of the Black Barrel. Everyone is armed, their weapons leaning up against the walls and laying in piles on nearly every table.
Using his girth and the boss of his new shield as a wedge, Ruglan forces his way through a gang of loitering sailors and drops down into a rickety wooden chair. Slamming his shield onto the center of the table, Ruglan makes what appears to be the correct intimidating gesture of dominance over this little corner of the tavern. The sailors give Ruglan the hairy eyeball, but then slowly weave their way toward a row of kegs near the back wall of the establishment.
The table is rectangular and jammed against a massive wooden column supporting the rafters above. Ulwe and Sangraal quickly move into the available chairs.
Edited by: Jubilex at: 7/14/03 12:25 pm
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Ulwe
Ulwe Suulosse
Posts: 131
(7/14/03 12:52 pm)
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Black Barrel aka Mos Eisley
Ulwe mimics Ruglan's gesture and tosses his shield onto the table as well. He leans his spear against the column and pulls his oaken cudgel from his belt laying it on the table.
He compliments the Sword-bearing Brooslayer:
"Nice work."
Then he huddles close to his companions gestuing for them to move close.
"Right, now we may have to wait some time before anything presents itself. We may wish to book a room in the flophouse. It would present us with greater access throughout this wretched hive of scum and villany."
He then pulls his holy symbol and wears it conspicuously outside his armor. Eyeing up the sailors, Ulwe takes a moment to guage them and their demeanor.
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yucatanyeti
Sangraal
Posts: 585
(7/14/03 1:52 pm)
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Re: Black Barrel aka Mos Eisley
[OOC: Sean you are right he did meet her here, ok the bar is not a waste of time. I stand corrected.]
Sangraal places his monster flail on the table, mindful not to hit anybody with the metal head. Then sets about maintaining the hardest face he can.
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Ruglan
Ruglan
Posts: 184
(7/14/03 2:03 pm)
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Re: Black Barrel aka Mos Eisley
Ruglan will get the first round for the table. He looks at Sangraal and says, "Ooooh, that's a mean face!" He laughs heartily and then stares down anyone who pays attention to the table.
Edited by: Ruglan at: 7/14/03 2:09 pm
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Tarondor
Madragar
Posts: 573
(7/14/03 4:25 pm)
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Meanwhile, out in the Alley...
Madragar looks up and down the alley to see who's watching, and make sure that a line of retreat is available.
"Can you climb that wall?" he says, nodding to the wall across the alley from the Black Barrel.
"Also, regardless of what Ulwe says, if we see any sort of undead 'shadow' back here, we run."
He smiles. "Or you can scream first, then run, if you're a stickler for good form."
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Jubilex
The Faceless Lord of Chaos
Posts: 1930
(7/15/03 8:40 am)
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Re: Meanwhile, out in the Alley...
The Black Barrel:
About half an hour passes with Sangraal, Ruglan and Ulwe attracting little attention. The band of sailors Ulwe was watching seem to be fairly typical river folk, and take their roaming celebration to another part of the tavern. The three nurse their ales for a time before Sal'el pushes his way through the crowd and drops into an open chair beside them.
"I'd say we're in luck, but... Well, I'll explain. The dwarf woman was here alright, and met with Qadras [kah'drahss]. Her name is Kreillah [kray'la] and she came into town just a few days ago. No one saw the cloaks or the sword change hands, but later she was seen with a man called Bucket."
Sal'el smiles, clearly entertained by the name. "Who's Bucket? Well, it wasn't hard to find that out. Everyone knows him and in fact he's here in the tavern right now."
Sal'el points off into the crowd of rolling drunkards to a far corner of the tavern. There, seated on what looks like a sturdy oak crate, is a man that Sangraal initially takes for sacks of gain stacked to the rafters. Bucket is easily the largest human any of them has ever seen. He must be over seven feet tall with immense, fat jowels and beady porcine eyes set into his enormous face. No neck to speak of, Bucket swills ale from a pitcher while quarts of the stuff slop down onto a filthy leather jerkin. His hands are the size of dinner plates and as they watch Bucket guffaws at some private joke and knocks one of his (much smaller) companions clear off his feet. The man tumbles to the ground like a child run over by a warhorse and Bucket hardly notices.
"So, we're in luck... sort of. They say he works for a man called Gudr [ghuder] who's mixed up in some shady work, so I'm told, but no one's talking."
The Alley:
Draxim scales the alley wall easily and perches at the top scanning the length of the alley. Madragar crouches down beside what's left of a dilapidated rain barrel and waits.
Edited by: Jubilex at: 7/15/03 8:44 am
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yucatanyeti
Sangraal
Posts: 586
(7/15/03 9:02 am)
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Question of the night
"Now what?" whispers Sangraal. " I say we grab Kreillah and get out of here. She has the information we want."
Sangraal eyes Bucket with a sidewaays glance.
"Hes a monster."
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Jubilex
The Faceless Lord of Chaos
Posts: 1931
(7/15/03 9:08 am)
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Re: Question of the night
"No one's seen Kreillah since yesterday," Sal'el continues. "But that doesn't mean she's not still in town."
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Kenner
Draxim
Posts: 572
(7/15/03 11:18 am)
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Re: Question of the night
If Draxim sees nothing he will come down from the wall and carefully explore the makeshift shack. He will try to find a decent place for Madragar and himself to hide and watch the alley.
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