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Post by pastels on May 1, 2019 2:47:28 GMT
“Is there any purpose to this?” Astra wondered out loud as she watched the rest of the team take action in quick, consecutive beats. It was starting to seem ludicrous to her. The four of them fighting against one? And to add insult to injury the creature shrugged off their attempts and went back to digging. Her eyes narrowed. Was it affected by some sort of magical compulsion to burrow under the earth?
Ah, no matter. Questioning it yielded no answers. They should finish up with this and go on into the tunnels. Perhaps the source of this undead menace could be found there. The elf slashed her hand down in the air with an impatient sigh, summoning a strange, otherworldly orb which she flung at the diseased (or was it deceased?) man.
To hit: |JrUzRUi1d20+4 Eldritch Blast: 1d10+2 1d20+4·1d10+2
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Post by enchilada on May 1, 2019 6:48:34 GMT
The orb connected with his skin. And his body. An inhuman screech came from deep inside him, as he fell to his knees. His head flopped back, he clutched the shovel to his chest, he fell back further. His skin was pale and blotchy, his eyes were glossed over, more than they had been before. As he stared into the nothingness, he let out a final whisper—
“Shovel delivery-“
And then he became more lifeless than before, his stiff joints going limp, his grip on the shovel loosening.
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Post by 3personal5me on May 3, 2019 15:58:29 GMT
Stephen slung his bow again, approaching the body. He knelt and began a thurough inspection, everything from the wear on his boots to the tone of his skin. He looked for something, anything, that could be useful. Was this man otherwise physically healthy? Where had he been? How long was he digging? Questions floated through his mind as he worked.
(Hoping to make an Investigation check focusing on his actions, and then a medicine check focused on if he had plague or something. If I can only make one, I'll take the investigation check)
Investigation Check: x7sJ5Wpp1d20+6
Medicine Check: 1d20+2 1d20+6·1d20+2
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Post by enchilada on May 3, 2019 16:06:32 GMT
From the investigation check, his boots look very old, well used. He was extremely pale, he was quite skinny, and he had little if any real trace of being anywhere else. His clothes were plain and cheap, as was everything else about him. The mud on his boots wasn't particularly bad, just mostly in the soles, from digging.
The medicine check will get you that his skin was extremely blotchy, looks how Vanalika described the sickness but you wouldn't actually know in much detail.
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Citrine
Approved
6 Wild Blooded Sorcerer+ 1 Celestial Warlock
Posts: 328
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Post by Citrine on May 8, 2019 0:22:18 GMT
Can we grab some more detail from you Dreemie ( enchilada) as to what potential things we can do next? I think we're all scratching our heads and aren't sure what else to do. Any suggestions on checks we can roll, paths or clues we've missed, etc?
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Post by enchilada on May 8, 2019 7:50:51 GMT
I’d look to the horizon, maybe even look around you directly on the ground? If he was digging *for* something, where has that stuff got to? Maybe perception checks/investigation checks to see any movement in the soil/grass that’s not like, obviously been dug. Hope that helps!
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Post by 3personal5me on May 8, 2019 14:30:41 GMT
The detective stood, brushing stone dirt from his coat. He had learned all he could from the body, but it wasn't much. He looked around again. There was another piece somewhere.
"Citrine, I believe it was. A quick sweep of the area from above would be appreciated. Keep an eye out for more holes, recent trails, and of course people. The rest of us will search the immediate area. Malakbel, if you would be so kind as to continue that hope he was digging. Perhaps he was looking for something useful. Astra and I can start a spiral sweep leading out".
He didn't wait for answers. He was used to showing up at a crime scene, taking charge, and finding answers. Not everybody liked it.
Then again, not everybody did their job right.
He started walking in a spiral, put from the original hole, keeping his eyes to the ground.
(Perception check? Or investigation? Either way, it's the same modifier)
zelR0naG1d20+61d20+6
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Post by enchilada on May 8, 2019 15:47:02 GMT
It’s hard to determine much. People have been walking all over, any tracks and trails seem to have been obscured by more tracks and trails.
You do, however, find a human finger, or perhaps elven, something along those lines, some distance from the pit. Perhaps it was taken out by someone as part of a whole, and then dropped? It has similar qualities as the plague has been described, and is, obviously, very dead.
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Post by 3personal5me on May 8, 2019 15:57:46 GMT
Stephen stooped, inspecting the severed digit. Slipping a dagger out of his coat, he scooped the finger up, careful not to touch it himself.
Ideas whirled through his head. His mind was a storm of possibilities. A severed finger. A stiff digging up stiffs. Mysterious plague. He stood up and cleared his throat.
"I have found a finger. It may seem early, but I believe I have a beginning of an idea". He strode through the grass, speaking confidently. "The option I believe most likely; the plague was purposefully spread. Those affected are being used and controlled. Perhaps the dead victims are reanimated. This man here was digging up more victims". He reached the group, his voice lowering to conversational volume as he got closer. "Other option; the plague itself causes this mind control".
He looked around the group, the finger held aloft on his dagger. "Thoughts?"
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Citrine
Approved
6 Wild Blooded Sorcerer+ 1 Celestial Warlock
Posts: 328
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Post by Citrine on May 8, 2019 16:01:03 GMT
((I get all documentary on this post. #SorryNotSorry)) Snapping into a straight up posture, hand saluting sharply to her forehead, Citrine beamed and crowed, "Aye Aye, Detective!" Hunching down to get a better lift off the firebird jumped into the air, wings spreading wide, to launch herself into the air. Her head dipped while her tail spread out from the skirt like neutral position it held to unfurl and counterbalance its owner into the air. Her feet skimmed the ground as she descended down the hill before banking to follow the swell. After the gliding takeoff it took no time at all to angle into the heights of the sky and ascend. Tight spirals took her 20, 30, 50, 80 feet into the air until the party were small indication on the ground, the holes even less so. She forgot her task for a moment, simply enjoying the view. A brief second of imagining the forest line burning flickered through her head, but she shook it off and kreed into the sky instead. Praise the sun. Right before she began searching actively a thought struck her. Wouldn't it be easier to ensure nothing was missed if she had someone to take a second look? Confirm a quick detail of 'one of these things is not like the other?'. Yes. Yes it would be. Flying in a steady circle Citrine sent a mental message to the keenest eye on the ground. "Oi, Detective. Care tae get ah bird's eye view? Ye can reply tae this message."
The affirmation was all she needed. Her wings left a trail of warm wax behind her, scent wise, as the firebird suddenly descended without warning. It took only a moment before the ostentatiously fun loving pirate to reach the ground - but not land. Instead? She stretched out her talons as if a preparing to a catch a honkin' sized fish and snatched them tight around Stephan's shoulders and arms. Her feet, with their reversed barbs and velco like grip, meant the detective wasn't going anywhere until she let go. It was graceful, it was wild, it was beautiful... Citrine that was. For Stephen? It was would probably rank on his top ten list of most abusive, jarring, and strange situations to be in. The snatch and grab only last moment before her wings angled backwards to lift them both into the sky, talons cinched tightly to ensure there would be no accidental drop. Circling high back to 30, 50, 80, now 100 feet into the air for the best vantage Citrine, in between looking around, grinned and looked down to the 'fish' in her claws. "Sae lad, whatcha think o' teh view from up 'ere?" Perception with advantage XsSLvrwZ1d20+6 or 1d20+6Stephen passively sees from above with a 16 1d20+6·1d20+6
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Post by enchilada on May 8, 2019 16:19:09 GMT
The rolling landscape was green and mostly barren, with hints of clusters of wild plantlife here and there. Then, there was the tree line, then, there was the grey stone.
It was a ways off, but it was certainly there. Grey, hard, obscured a lot by the trees but just visible, and once you saw it for the first time, it became so clear. While Stephen would have hypothesised it to be a cluster of rocks, perhaps the remnants of a hut, a village, an old dedication to the gods left to crumble — Citrine’s eyes were more trained to see at this sort of height. It was the ruins of a castle, a fort.
More pressingly, there was something coming from its direction, a straight line from the grey stone to the burial mound. Boxlike, with horses, and three figures. A wagon, empty, no cloth covering, making a decent pace, although, only time would accurately tell how decent of a pace was necessary to reach the mound before it grew fully dark.
Looking down, the path became clear, because it was etched into the ground, run time and time before. The brown of the mud was not distinctive, everywhere was brown or green, but the way the grass was pulled up into the rims, the tiny valleys created in the earth — that showed the straight line, it showed the few horse prints, it showed everything.
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Post by 3personal5me on May 8, 2019 16:35:37 GMT
Stephen pride himself of composure. He would never admit it, but he did. He was known for keeping a cool, level head, even in the most dire of circumstances. He was calm, he was deliberate, and he was in control.
But he yelped in surprise when he was suddenly hoisted off the ground. He had heard the wings cutting through the air, the softest sort of rustling. The sound of a bird of prey, massive in size, diving towards its prey at near terminal velocity.
As soon as this thought struck, he remembered absent-mindedly agreeing to something while he inspected the finger. The thoughts clicked, and he was only fifty feet in the air when he finally figured it out.
The finger had long since fallen to the ground.
Stephen had never been more than twenty feet in the air. One particular case early in his career had taken him to a two floor house, and he was upstairs when the man he was hunting lit the place on fire. The place was a trap, and went up like kindling. The detective was forced to make a quick decision, and he decided to throw himself out a window. The resulting fall, while better than immolation, was still extremely painful. It was what prompted him to exercise more.
But this was completely different. The landscape sprawled out before him. It seemed almost impossible for his eyes to focus on anything. Between the jostling from the flight and the dizzying hight, he couldn't see much more than the green ground and blue sky. But he did see a road, leading away from the mound. He hoped Citrine could see more.
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Citrine
Approved
6 Wild Blooded Sorcerer+ 1 Celestial Warlock
Posts: 328
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Post by Citrine on May 8, 2019 22:42:06 GMT
Translating his yelp and frantic breathing Citrine chuckled and looked around herself, hand over her eyes to shade the sun. "Aye, ye're right, tha' does look like ah fine place tae venture towards next." Hovering in the air was nearly impossible with the added weight - she was just comfortable enough having him hoisted like he was within her claw grip. If he'd weighed any more or had more equipment on him? Well, it would have been an embarrassing mid-air flip and tumble they'd both would have been sent on back on the ground.
Even though they were doing serious business, serious investigating, and serious life saving work there was always time for play. And so? Satisfied that she'd seen the fort and figures moving through the path Citrine thought she'd have a bit of fun. The waxy smell was all around her now as she gave one final flap to move upwards, bent backwards like a gymnast, flip-soared in a wide loop-de-loop, then sent herself plugging downwards in a free fall via snapping her wings to her back -taking Stephen along for the ride.
It didn't take long at all for the two to fall from 100, 80, 60, 30 feet. At that point she snapped her wings back open to begin a coasting, much more pleasant, decent for the last bit returning to ground. Hovering her wings broadly she gently set Stephen on his feet and released her grip. His leather armor would have indents where she'd gripped as tight as she had.
"Well tha's a right fine flight! Knae ye'd be a grand help!" She looked over at the recovering Stephen, then back to the group. "We saw ah fort o'er through teh woods. Easy tae see once ye register et's hidin' there en the trees. Teh path should be just yonder," she gestured with a wing and hand pointing at the same time. "Straight goes right tae teh fort ruins. Oh! An' there's ah wagon an' at least three scamps headin' this way. Prolly come tae fetch whatever Sir Shovel Guy 'ere was diggin' up. Ye all find anything 'ere on eh ground?"
Her attitude and tone proved just how good a mood she was in, heart racing from the adrenaline of the free fall and the strength she'd just performed in carrying Stephen. It was like a weightlifting high, endorphins running through the blood. Her hair was not as tangled as you might expect, dreads and braids keeping most everything in place. A few feathers were out of place, which were soon begun to be put to rights by their owner bringing the limb in front of her chest so her hands could preen the edges. Vein she was, but at least this beauty break served a purpose. Couldn't fly if her wings weren't maintained.
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Post by pastels on May 9, 2019 4:02:58 GMT
Astra sighed as she walked away from the rest of the group, following the investigator’s order to inspect the area. She had not started much when Stephen went back to the center of the field and announced his theories—reanimation, mind control…. The elf stared back at him and the severed digit he was sticking up in the air. “That clears the matter up, somewhat… Though that also means that this is far more of an concerted effort than we first thought it to be,” Astra said. The words have barely left her lips when Citrine swooped down, caught the detective by the talons, and flew off. The human gave an undignified yelp as he went.
Astra sighed, again, and resumed her outwards sweep.
Moments later, the two returned with a great deal of hooting from the firebird. Astra was already in one of the pits at that time, her tome flat against her side as her free hand swept away the upper soil. At their discovery, however, she got up from her knees, alert. “A fort? Three figures?”
She clambered out of the pit, almost looking like one of the shambling undead with her form and appearance. “Hostiles? Or perhaps they’re like the mindless one over there,” Astra drew one dusty finger and pointed at, well… the shovel aficionado. “Not that it matters. If the path is clear, then they can be dispatched before they can rejoin their brethren at the fort.” It seems clear now that they would head there next.
Meanwhile, she kept her mind at piecing together the details she had found while the others were busy…
(Astra took a spiral pattern opposite of Stephen’s. Did she catch anything he might have missed?) Investigation: m_JGwTpU1d20+4 1d20+4
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Citrine
Approved
6 Wild Blooded Sorcerer+ 1 Celestial Warlock
Posts: 328
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Post by Citrine on May 9, 2019 15:50:31 GMT
Perception t62iU5rY1d20+61d20+6
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