Kaul
time for doubt is over, i attack her from behind, sword two handed.
(initiative should be +2 for dexterity)
The carpenter continues to grapple with Hengist. Grabbing the Fighter's spear, he kicks off the wall and vaults into the air above Hengist's head, pivoting around the spear's shaft. Hengist jerks the spear to his right, hurling the man to the floor, before bringing his spear down in the man's face with a sickening "crunch!" Blood flows from his face, pooling and running between the boards of the wooden floor. His body spasms as Hengist pulls back his spear, then lies still.
Dagmar pushes a chair off her back, then clambers to her feet, slightly unsteady.
A thumping, creaking sound begins at the top of the ramp, as a woman comes trundling down into the workshop. Halfway down, she spots the body of the carpenter, and pulls up short as she lets out an ear-piercing shriek!
"What have you done to my husband?! Murderers!"
She raises a hatchet in her hand, shouting as she hurls it at Hengist. The axe spins end-over-end before clipping Hengist in the cheek as he tries to ducks, drawing a thin line of blood.
Hengist take 1 point of damage
"I'll KILL yo-"
The ramp upon which the woman stands begins bouncing, and she catches her balance, looking up the ramp in confusion. She has just enough time to raise her arms and shrink back before a sword sprouts from her back, running her through. She grabs at the blade impaling her for a moment, then collapses, drawing Kaul's arms down with her, both his hands wraped firmly around the sword's hilt.
An awful silence descends on the workshop.
Kaul
“We need to find evidence of the carpenter being something wrong, or we will be acused of murder”
ill start searching the house for odd stuff.
[quote="Kaul"] "We need to find evidence of the carpenter being something wrong, or we will be acused of murder" [/quote]
Kaul looks slightly panicked by the thought. He pushes the woman's body off his blade with his boot, and she lolls down to the bottom of the ramp, bonelessly. He looks around, as if searching for something to wipe the blood off on, then, looking increasingly worried, heads back up the ramp.
The home above the carpenter's workshop is a single room. There is a table and several chairs, three beds, a couple of chests or blanket-boxes, a large armoire, and a hearth. The space is quite dark, as the shutters are all closed.
Where is Kaul looking?
Hengist the Fair
"Gods and demons. I’m not sure how he saw through my cunning ruse, but at least we know he was up to no good.
Dagmar, grab that pack but keep a torch out please. There’s only one thing to do now."
Saying this, Hengist… searches the body of Neddy the carpenter. Looking specifically for anything odd or out of place for a villager, amulets or holy symbols.
Kaul
i will look in the chests, and then i will look for hidden compartments in the floor and walls.
[quote="Hengist the Fair"] "Gods and demons. I'm not sure how he saw through my cunning ruse, but at least we know he was up to no good.
Dagmar, grab that pack but keep a torch out please. There's only one thing to do now." [/quote]
Dagmar dutifully gathers up the pack, pulling a torch from it, then looks to Hengist expectantly while stealing worried glances at the street.
[quote="Hengist the Fair"] Saying this, Hengist... searches the body of Neddy the carpenter. Looking specifically for anything odd or out of place for a villager, amulets or holy symbols. [/quote]
The body of the carpenter appears unremarkable. It's hard to imagine that this man nearly killed a seasoned warrior such as Hengist the Fair! His clothes are plain, the only thing of any note a finely wrought clasp at his neck in the shape of a bird - a raven, perhaps - with outstretched wings. His dagger is another matter, and the bladed is finely honed, the artistry of its make unmistakable. How a man such as this came to posess such a weapon is a mystery.
As Hengist pads the man's remains in his search, a small bubble of blood forms on the carpenter's ruined face at his nose. It appears he yet breathes!
[quote="Kaul"] i will look in the chests, and then i will look for hidden compartments in the floor and walls. [/quote]
Two of the chests are unlocked, and are cedar lined, containing clothes, blankets, and other household textiles. The third chest, similar enough to appear made by the same hand, is locked. Kaul then begins prodding around the room, looking for hidden compartments or openings...
Kaul
ill search and then if still have time try to open the chest.
Hengist the Fair
Raven(?) clasp goes straight in Hengist’s belt pouch. Dagger gets eyed admiringly, but stays right where it is for proof.
While he does this, Hengist says “alright Dagmar, leave me that torch and go and find… Miska, I guess. Tell him we need a healer for a man who attacked us, and stay with him on the way back.”
If she gets out without incident, Hengist mutters “guy can’t always have worked in the dark,” and looks around for shutters, preferably on the rear side of the building.
[quote="Hengist the Fair"] Raven(?) clasp goes straight in Hengist's belt pouch. Dagger gets eyed admiringly, but stays right where it is for proof. While he does this, Hengist says "alright Dagmar, leave me that torch and go and find... Miska, I guess. Tell him we need a healer for a man who attacked us, and stay with him on the way back." [/quote]
Dagmar nods and heads out of the workshop.
[quote="Hengist the Fair"] If she gets out without incident, Hengist mutters "guy can't always have worked in the dark," and looks around for shutters, preferably on the rear side of the building. [/quote]
There are window openings in the stone foundation on either side of the building, covered by heavy wooden shutters. You pass over the body of the carpenter's wife at the bottom of the ramp, and manage to heave open those in the eastern wall. Considerably more light floods in, illumnating the gruesome scene. There are also swinging doors, similar to those on a barn, at the front of the workshop. These could presumably be used to block the open south end of the workshop from the street.
[quote="Masov"] 'Oi! Ho! Out of the way, and be about your way!' Masov pushes through the crowd to the door, dragging Miska with him, and motioning Gwydion to hurry up and follow. 'Official businesses, ways, and means of our good Lord Mallory and constable Thorsdun!' [/quote]
Masov begins to move forward, although it's not really a crowd at this point; more like a half-dozen curious onlookers. Miska and Gwydion hesitate, undecided.
"Who are you, then, to order us about?" demands the heavyset woman in a voice that reminds Masov of nails on slate. She seems somehow more imposing than the armed and armored man standing just behind her. Before the bard has a chance to reply, Dagmar comes rushing out of the front of the carpenter's home, looking about frantically. She spots Masov, Miska, and Gwydion, and appears immediately relieved, hurrying over to speak to Miska.
"Your pardon, miss. Miska, Master Hengist says he needs you right away. Someone's..." here Dagmar pauses, eyeing the woman standing a few feet away, "...uhh...hurt."
[quote="Kaul"] ill search and then if still have time try to open the chest. [/quote]
Kaul spends the next few minutes searching the home for hidden compartments or doors. On the verge of giving up, and hearing nothing from below, Kaul shoves the last bed aside to check the floor beneath. Sitting on the wooden floor is a strange, ornate wooden box, perhaps the size of a backpack. Its surface is intricately carved with what looks like a leaf motif, though there is something outright troubling in pattern. Kaul continues checking the floor around the box, and finds nothing.
Moving back to the chest, he begins working on the lock...
[quote="Gwydion"] Gwydion smiles at the boy and begins to ask another question before catching Masov's body language. He then purposefully attempts to catch up to Masov and slip past him and into the structure. [/quote]
Slipping past Dagmar, Gwydion heads into the building, the stares of the few other townsfolk following him. A young, balding man with tight brown curls makes the sign of the evil eye at him.
Entering the carpenter's workshop, Gwydion's eyes take a moment to adjust. Sunshine streams in from a window on the right, the light falling on the bleeding corpse of a middle-aged woman, sprawled dead at the foot of ramp leading up into the ceiling. On the other side of the space, a man lies bleeding out on the floor from a terrible head wound, various wooden handicrafts spilled on the floor around him. Hengist stands near the open window, holding a strip of cloth to his forearm.
[quote="Gwydion"] He then immediately attempts to mimic the constable's voice, saying loudly, "There's nothing to see here. Move along." [/quote]
Outside, attention is drawn from the elf to the confrontation brewing around Masov, then back to the workshop again, as what sounds a bit like Constable Aramis Thorsdun calls out from the building.
"When did Aramis get here?" asks the young balding man.
"I've a mind to give that oaf a tongue-lashing! Where was he when this...this, whatever happened...was happening? ARAMIS! I demand to know what's going on!" The heavyset woman places her fists on her hips, but makes no move towards the workshop.
"I thought young Milo was fetching the constable..." says another woman aloud.
Kaul
“this look weird… and elvish” pointing at the box whit the leaf.
[quote="Kaul"] "this look weird... and elvish" pointing at the box whit the leaf. [/quote]
Kaul almost immediately feels foolish, having caught himself talking aloud, realising he is alone in the carpenter's home. Though it sounded as if some of his companions were in the workshop, below.
Hengist
Curious, Hengist bows to see if the carpenter’s wife has a matching clasp, but I’m not otherwise searching her body now. Straightening up, I look around. Is there anything else in the room reminiscent of that eldritch chair?
Speaking to Gwydion as I look around, “it’s not what it looks like… well, it kind of is actually, but the carpenter attacked first. He definitely was hiding something, I just don’t know what. Do you know anything about medicine?”
[quote="Hengist"]
Curious, Hengist bows to see if the carpenter's wife has a matching clasp, but I'm not otherwise searching her body now.
[/quote]
She does not appear to have anything of the sort.
[quote="Hengist"] Straightening up, I look around. Is there anything else in the room reminiscent of that eldritch chair? [/quote]
The chair still sits on a box near the entrance to the workshop, and looking at it once again creates a queasy sensation in the pit of your stomach. What kind of person would sit in such a thing? Looking around the workshop, the other pieces seem dull and lifeless by comaprison. After some minutes of searching, near the back of the workshop you find several small pieces of carved wood, each engraved with whorling leaf patterns wholly unlike the plain geometric decorations on most of the furniture. Hengist is startled to realise they give him the same uneasy feeling as the chair...
Gwydion
“Nothing.” Gwydion frowns. "Nothing at all… "
“Miska,” he says with a typical local accent, “Delay them. This is… not good.”
Taking stock of the situation, he elects to help his companions search the remainder of the premises, hopeful that something incriminating can be located quickly.
Masov
takes advantage of the sudden delay and hops up to the door, making sure it's closed. He stands outside against the door, shading his eyes tand craning a bit to look over at the palisade as if he's expecting more garrison to arrive.
((Sorry, mixed up my “M” companions.))
[quote="Gwydion"] "Masov," he says with a typical local accent, "Delay them. This is... not good." Taking stock of the situation, he elects to help his companions search the remainder of the premises, hopeful that something incriminating can be located quickly. [/quote]
[quote="Masov"] takes advantage of the sudden delay and hops up to the door, making sure it's closed. He stands outside against the door, shading his eyes tand craning a bit to look over at the palisade as if he's expecting more garrison to arrive. [/quote]
Masov realises the front of the worshop can be cloased from the street with a pair of doors, one on either side of the opening. He swings them closed, then stands in front of them. The heavyset woman moves closer, her armed companion at her elbow, "You, there! Who are you? By what right have you blocked off Eduard's shop?"
As Masov looks away from her up the street towards the gate, he sees several figures round the corner onto the street, with a young boy in the lead. It looks like constable Thorsdun...
Masov
'We are simply waiting for the return of Constable Thorsdun, m'lady, to continue his investigations of the maladies investing this settlement. I believe he's rounded the corner just now,' Masov points, 'and he'd have proper authority to comment upon the current proceedings; I wouldn't dream of it.'
Masov raps on a door, cracks it open just enough to lean his face in. 'Look alive, deputies, Constable's on his way back over!' then closes it right back up.