Chapter 10: Eye of the Storm

[Jeff]

Team K[/b]

Eren smiles grimly. "I wondered." She sighs and looks out the window out over the city. While the vantage from the enclave is perched atop a large hill, many structures in Stormreach rise higher. 

He points to a distant Lyrandar airship tower, around which no fewer than four vessels hover. "Every house has mustered. The Twelve has also grown tenser lately and less cooperative."

She turns away from the window and sits again. 

"Greigur will want to speak with you. All three of you. He knows of the race for the Eye and is taking a practical stance on the subject.  Unfortunately he is away today. If you return tomorrow I will arrange the meeting. Do you require lodgings here?" It's clear she is referring to the enclave itself.  

[Darren]

Kal begins to rise. It is clear that this meeting, however brief, is over. "My thanks, Eren, but no. We have arranged for lodgings in the city and we have several other meetings to attend today. There are leads we must follow and time is running short." Kal looks up at Eren through lowered eyelids, making sure she understands his meaning. "Please tell Lord Greigur that time is of the essence." Rising fully, Kal gestures to Condign and Streko. "Let us not take up any more of Eren's valuable time. My thanks to you, Eren. We shall return tomorrow morning."

[Ken]

Team B

Mar 1, 2012 10:17:35 GMT -4 Jeff said:

Belarin is sensing nothing further about Shorak's tenement, though more careful inspection could be made inside each apartment. Meanwhile, Shorak finds nothing unusual about the door or doorframe. He doesn't think it's been tampered with. The interior of the building remains dark and desolate. It looks like it's been lived in until just recently, but it feels like it's been abandoned for much longer.

"All seems quiet," says Belarin softly to his two friends, "at least in a magical sense. Let's not tarry outside. This is one moment where Nerrin Blackwell does not wish to draw attention."

Allowing Shorak and Adamant to continue their roles as Nerrin's bodyguards (for the benefit of anyone who may be watching), Belarin doesn't move forward without an indication from one of them.

[Joe]

TEAM K

Streko stands, walks up to Eren, takes her hand and presses his lips against it.

"An honor, my Lady Eren. We are at YOUR service, should you have need. Good day!"

With that, Streko follows Kalarian out of the Compound toward, well, only Kal knows where.

As he reaches his friend's side, he looks up with a slight frown. "Too much?" he asks in his native tongue.

[Dave B.]

Team B

Shorak nods at Belarin's assessment. He slips the key into the lock and turns it. Opening the door, he crosses the threshold while motioning for Belarin/Nerrin and Adamant/Redoubt to follow.

In a voice for only his two companions, "Shall we do a little investigating?"

[Brian]

Team K

Condign watches impassively as Streko bids farewell to Eren, then offers a slight bow of his own. As he turns to leave, he gestures for Rinti to accompany them.

Once outside the enclave, he waits for Streko and Kal to finish whatever they are talking about, then he says, "It may prove helpful if I were to make contact with one of these tieflings. They are here for a reason, no doubt. And I would prefer to know that reason before we find out the hard way if it involves the Eye."

[Dave W.]

Team B 

Mar 3, 2012 0:43:58 GMT -4 Dave B. said:

Shorak nods at Belarin's assessment. He slips the key into the lock and turns it. Opening the door, he crosses the threshold while motioning for Belarin/Nerrin and Adamant/Redoubt to follow.

In a voice for only his two companions, "Shall we do a little investigating?"

"Yes, let's," Redoubt motions for Nerrin to go inside. The warforged scans the rooftops one last time before following in.

Once he moves his large frame in, he turns and shuts the door.

[Jeff]

Team K

Once you're outside the enclave proper, Rinti walks up to Kal. She pets Tangat, then looks him in the eye. "Azalar? The Eye of Azalar? This is some magical item you're looking for? This is what everyone else is gathering up to look for?" She gestures at Stormreach as a whole. Her voice is somewhat sedate.

[Jeff]

Team B

Shorak turns the door....

And within minutes finds that his apartment seems largely untouched. It was sparsely furnished to begin with, and he ate or removed all food before taking his stowaway trip aboard the Merrow Down, so it doesn't look like there was necessarily an intrusion.

However, each of you notices something different.

Shorak sees that above his door (he doesn't notice this until he turns to look back toward it) there is a mark carved into the threshold—in fact, burned into the surface of the wood—some sort of sigil. (While the building is stone, the landlord had wood paneling installed throughout to refurbish it all.) He doesn't recognize it at all. It's either a rune in some other language or else some sort of mystic glyph.

Belarin, meanwhile, walking through Shorak's small bedroom, hears the muffled creek of floorboards through the ceiling. From the apartment above Shorak's on the fourth and top floor.

Adamant, finally, while always on guard for outward threats, moves by the window. He glances at the rooftops again, remembering the roguish man watching them earlier. No one's standing lookout this time, but he does see a cloaked figure pushing through the crowds, approaching the building.

[Dave B.]

Team B

Shorak points at the sigil above the door and asks Belarin/Nerrin if he recognizes it. "What do you make of this?"

Noticing Adamant/Redoubt looking out the window, Shorak asks, "Any sign of our rooftoop voyeur?"

"Except for this symbol, everything is as it should be. We should search all the apartments. I'd be interested to see if there are similar sigils in them."

[Dave W.]

Team B

Mar 4, 2012 12:23:57 GMT -4 Dave B. said:

Noticing Adamant/Redoubt looking out the window, Shorak asks, "Any sign of our rooftoop voyeur?"

"Ah, yes... Or rather no; nothing on the rooftops but there does seem as though you will be receiving a visitor shortly. There is a person intent on this building and equally concerned with hiding his identity."

"Perhaps it is your landlord or a neighbor. No doubt it is a character flaw but I am suspicious."

Adamant watches the figure noting his approach.
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i don't need a map or anything but does it appear as though this person is going to use the front door? Adamant would want to meet him at when he enters.

Also would a perception check give me more details: is the figure tall or short, fat or slim, armed? That sort of thing.

[Jeff]

Team B

Adamant regards the approaching figure, who will reach the front door to the building certainly before Adamant can meet him there. Shorak's apartment is on the third floor. The figure is cloaked, human-sized, probably of medium build, and has no obvious weapons (even a longsword would be evident, though anything smaller could be concealed in the drab cloak).

[Darren]

Mar 4, 2012 11:09:00 GMT -4 Jeff said:

Team K

Once you're outside the enclave proper, Rinti walks up to Kal. She pets Tangat, then looks him in the eye. "Azalar? The Eye of Azalar? This is some magical item you're looking for? This is what everyone else is gathering up to look for?" She gestures at Stormreach as a whole. Her voice is somewhat sedate.

"Yes, Rinti," Kal says without looking back at her. "Now you are part of a secret. Can you hold it?" He stops short, looking down at her, waiting for her reply.

[Ken]

Team B

Belarin/Nerrin says softly to Shorak, "Who's your neighbor?" He points to the ceiling and then does a walking motion with his index and middle fingers. "Someone's home."

He notes Adamant's comment about the approaching visitor, and then continues speaking to the drow. "Shorak, did you fashion any sort of 'emergency hatch' out of this place? Just thinking ahead..."

He looks at the sigil. "Let me see if I can determine what this is.... Since it hasn't exploded on us, I'll be slightly less fatalistic and suggest it could send a signal that someone is now in the room. Hmm. Nerrin is making me decidedly less cheery." Within his consciousness, he says, Hello, little friends. Forget Nerrin for the moment. I've changed my mind again. Ha! What do you make of this symbol?

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Belarin's Arcana check to identify the sigil (plain old knowledge, not detecting auras): Arcana check on sigil (1d20+15=28)

[Jeff]

Team K

Rinti's eyes grow serious. "Yes I can." Then she softens and smiles innocently. "Where can I take you next, my lord?" She looks to Streko and Condign, too. "My lords?"

[Darren]

Team K

"I believe a quick shopping trip is in order," Kal says lightly, as though just an hour ago he and his companions weren't killing an ettin in the street. What a strange life they lead....

"All of this," he points to his pack, "has become tiresome to carry. I need something like what our good Lord Streko carries. And somewhere were I can acquire mystical ingredients. Do you know of such a place?"

[Brian]

Team K

"And if we run across one of those banks," says Condign, "I would not mind running in. If I have shares of gold, I think I may want to start carrying a small amount."

[Jeff]

Team K

Rinti shakes her head slightly, as if amazed at the request. For a girl living in coppers and maybe the occasional silver coin, the prospect of going somewhere where you could actually purchase or sell magical equipment—going for dozens, if not hundreds or thousands of gold coins—seems to dazzle her.

She lets out a curious sigh. Kal can see she's trying to play along like it's no big deal. "Let's see...aye, of course...there are quite a few places we can go."

"There may be more places, but as I hear it, there are three places you can go if you want magical...stuff. There's the Citadel of the Twelve..." She gestures toward Coasthold in the eastern part of the city.

Kal and Streko both know of the Twelve, though they've never personally been involved in it. The Twelve is an alliance and council of arcane spellcasters from all the dragonmarked houses, the closest thing to an organization that has all the houses working together. They have operations in every major city, and certainly Stormreach is no exception. Wizards and artificers of both House Jorasco and House Deneith would be there.

"And there's Stormreach Forge here in Forgelight...where House Cannith has connections."

"Then there's the Splendors of the South, a shop in Marketplace. Gnome-run, more private than the houses...."

Condign:

"And if we run across one of those banks," says Condign, "I would not mind running in. If I have shares of gold, I think I may want to start carrying a small amount."

Rinti shrugs. "The only bank is the Kundarak Bank. In Silverwall." She gestures in the same direction as the Citadel of the Twelve.

[Dave W.]

Team B
"Well, if you don't mind, Shorak, I think I would like to meet your guest at your door." Adamant moves to take a strategic position by the door.
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if the door opens out into the hall, Adamant will open it a finger's width (but he's got pretty thick fingers) and try to watch down the hall.

If the door opens into the room, he'll stand on the hinged side.

Hopefully that's strategic, otherwise I've lied in the narrative part of the post...

[Darren]

Team K

Kal frowns. He looks between the directions Rinti pointed, head swiveling quickly like a bird's. "I don't fancy the long walk," he says, "but I suppose it's better to cut off two heads with one sword stroke." Kal reaches down to idly scratch Tangat's ears. "Very well, let's visit the Twelve."

[Dave B.]

Team B

"Neighbor?" Shorak looks up at the ceiling. "That apartment has never been rented in all the time I've lived here. So there is definitely something not right here."

He points towards a short piece of rope tied off below the windowsill. "That's all that's left of my emergency escape route." He turns towards the door to his apartment and Adamant/Redoubt. "Well, let's see who this new guest is and then I would like introduce myself to the new tenant. I have many questions I'd like to ask." He draws his boomerang with one hand and his short sword with the other. "You can never be too prepared." He takes a position a few steps behind Adamant and waits.

[Ken]

Team B

"Yes, you should conceal yourself," says Belarin to Shorak. "If there is trouble approaching, let him stumble upon harmless Nerrin puttering about your residence first." He readjusts his tinted spectacles, smooths his greased hair, and resumes Nerrin's hunched posture.

As Adamant and Shorak take their positions, Belarin/Nerrin nods. Anticipating the new arrival's entrance, he then limps over to a spot in the apartment's first room and begins aimlessly sorting through papers and tools he finds.

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Jeff: Obviously, if Belarin's Arcana check revealed anything dangerous or otherwise important about the sigil, I may alter this post.

[Jeff]

Team B

Belarin eyes the strange glyph, searching his memory for anything familiar about it. He commits the image to his memory, then starts to sort through the closest room to the front door and act like Nerrin. After a few seconds of this, he realizes that he doesn't know what the symbol means, not by a long shot. But the voices lurking in his conscious and subconscious mind suggest after a few more seconds that it just might mean something in the Infernal tongue...

Standing in front of and listening by the apartment door, Adamant and Shorak hear the front door three floors down slam shut and echo through the corridors and stairwell. Then there is silence. Whoever just entered the building isn't necessarily coming up the stairs or, if they are, are doing so silently.

You hear the creak of floorboards above again, followed by the quiet sound of the apartment door upstairs opening and creaking open.

[Jeff]

Team K

Rinti nods and leads you away, out of the Forgelight district and toward Silverwall. She takes a circuitous route, seeming to lead you around the district of Respite, and then you reach Silverwall and have the same basic impressions about it as others might.

When you pass by the massive, dark green, and alien fountain-statue of Eldred's Pool, Rinti identifies it for you. Then she adds, "The thri-kreen, some say, are creatures from some other world. They don't think like us, they don't act like us. They spook even the Storm Lords, I hear."

[Darren]

Kal studies the statue, one hand on his chin, like a collector standing in an art gallery. "Do you think they're dancing? Or in supplication to their gods? Or being oppressed by some unseen master?" Kal scratches his face. "It's really quite fascinating," he muses.

[Brian]

Team K

"Whatever they are doing," says Condign, "I hope they do it away from us. See those multiple arms? And the claws on the feet? Too many attacks to defend against at once. It would be a hard fight."

[Joe]

Team K

Streko frowns at the hideous statue.

"They are in pain, can't you see? These, whatever they are, are failing against a power from above and around. They are suffering. They are being attacked. This...thing...makes me VERY uneasy. Let us leave before my skeleton leaves its skin and runs faster than I could otherwise catch it."

Streko begins moving...around and away from the fountain, keeping his eyes off it and forcing himself to observe his surroundings and the people occupying them...anything to keep his eyes off of it.

[Dave B.]

Team B

Shorak's ears practically wiggle as he keeps perfectly still, listening for the stranger that entered below and the surprise tenant just one story above them.

[Ken]

Team B

Belarin/Nerrin continues to sort casually about Shorak's things as though he's the only person in a one-mile radius. Once or twice, he picks up an odd trinket and dismissively mutters something that might be "Tsk tsk. I expected better taste."

_______________________
I'm not expecting the following to happen, but I have a solid track record of being wrong: Should Belarin be attacked immediately by whoever enters the door, he uses his sudden retaliation (eyebite) as an immediate interrupt. The wand isn't in his hand at the moment, so he won't get the +1 from that.

[Dave W.]

Team B
Adamant stands very still. His friends know that's deceptive; the warforged's stillness indicates focus.

Outwardly patient, internally there is motion. This may be a mistake. We had the initiative provided our visitor cooperated. But every moment he's gaining and we lose. And there is still the unexplored movement upstairs. If we only had a scout out.

A few more moments and we will have to change tactics. I'm sure Belarin and Shorak have figured this out.

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We'll let things ride a bit and see if the guys comes to visit.