previously... Prelude — Sandpoint

[Jubilant Thunder]

Noriko Kaino

 

"Yes, we actually passed it on the way here." Giving a brief reply to Darhana she then turns and bows to the gnome. "Thank you for your information, we will seek out Sir Jasper." With that she turns and leads the way back out into the street.

 

"Simple, but insightful." Noriko nods in agreement with Kaichar's assessment as they walk towards the Mercantile League building. "It is the most likely explanation."

[iantruesilver]

Exiting the town hall, the walk back towards the Mercantile League building on Market Street is relatively the same as it had been the way there, generally uneventful besides the morning activity rousing to the day in Sandpoint.

 

Strolling down Main Street, the theatrical play's poster once again catches Noriko's eyes, although she knows her sister Ameiko would likely disapprove of any attendance of what she might otherwise dismiss as some half-wit drama put on by a two-bit clown, referring to the theatre's director Cyrdak Drokkus.

 

(( Noriko may make a Knowledge (local) check ))

 

Passing the General Store, something else... or rather someone else catches the eyes of Lars as he walks by.  An attractive young redhead has been lazily placing items out onto a table in front of the store, and as the group make their way down upon the street's loose gravel and dirt, the young woman's eyes linger for a moment longer than what might seem appropriate upon the half-elf's form, but then she flips a tress of her flame-coloured curls out of her face, and turns her backside to the road and its current tresspassers once more.

 

(( Lars may make a Knowledge (local) check ))

 

Continuing on their way, the party find the almost triangular-shaped building, which appears as though it may have perhaps been constructed by forcibly mashing three different roofs into one, though it sports a rather grand stonework entrance on the side facing Market Street.

 

Within you find a spacious office, with a notice board adorning one side of the interior, posting various ads for local jobs.  As you enter, you spot several people at the far end of the room, seemingly engaged in a heated discussion.

 

   

[TheFred]

 

Bianca trails along behind the rest of the group, lost in thought. The... um... demon druid? Well, whoever he is, his mention of wolves gets her to thinking. She didn't think it was normal for them to attack humans, but perhaps she should read up on wildlife habits when she can get back to her books? At any rate, that doesn't sound like a problem for her - can't they just send a couple of guards back to the Pyre with the workers? Surely there must be more going on?

 

At the League building, she looks around uncomfortably, hoping that one of the other, more confident people here will ask to interview the Pyre workers.

Edited December 31, 2022 by TheFred (see edit history)

[pdwalt]

Lars was about to reply to the tiefling when the woman's behavior caught his eye. He thought about her a bit losing his next words.  Thanking about the woman, following the group by instinct. Somehow he found himself upfront near the heated discussion.    OOC Specifics   Short Statblock|CisMale NG Half-Elf Rogue (unchained), Level 1, Init 4, HP 10/10, Speed 30 AC 18, Touch 15, Flat-footed 13, CMD 16, Fort 2, Ref 6, Will 2, CMB +1, Base Attack Bonus 0 short sword +4 (1d6+1, 19-20 x2) dagger +4 (1d4_1, 19-20 x2) javelin (3) +4 (1d6+1, 20 x2) studded leather (+3 Armor, +4 Dex) Abilities Str 12, Dex 18, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 14, Cha 8 Condition +1 to attack rolls to those that threaten Shalelu; +1 perception to detect traps and to disable device skill to disarm them; +2 saving throw vs enchantment spells and effects; immune to magic sleep. low light vision

 

[farothel]

 

Darhana looks around, seeing if there's someone else to ask questions to.  Otherwise she would head to the people arguing.

"Excuse me, we're looking for Sir Jasper in connection to a job around the Pyre?" 

[iantruesilver]

Lars Only

The attractive young redhead at the General Store is Shayliss Vinder, the younger daughter of the store's proprietor, Ven and Solsta Vinder.  Lars still remembers first meeting her the first time, a young boy of ten shortly after having arrived in Sandpoint, barely getting by here and there between the generosities of some of the townsfolk.  Though she likely doesn't remember it herself, it was this young lady, who must only have been a little girl back then, that Lars remembered first showed him a small bit of charity.  My how she's grown...

 

Sir Jasper Korvaski is Sandpoint's town planner, effectively administrating much of the official day-to-day business that occurs in town from land ownership, construction, shipping, to anything short of matters requiring the town council's direct approval.  He is entrusted these duties by the four noble families who technically split equal ownership of the Mercantile League, but in reality take little physical part in the current everyday operation of the place.  What started out as one of Sandpoint's worst-kept secrets, Jasper is now openly in a relationship with the director of Sandpoint Theatre, Cyrdak Drokkus.

 

Aesrick Battlehorn is guildmaster to the Carpenter's Guild, whose members built the vast majority of the buildings in Sandpoint.  While some of his workers may say that Aesrick came to Sandpoint from his homeland of Janderhoff for his fondness of working with wood instead of stone, rumour has it that he may have in fact been exiled for some horrible crime.

 

Daviu Stoica is one of the guildsmen working under Aesrick.  When not working on a contract, the superstitious Varisian can often be seen with his friend Cornel Parandici, drinking their faces off at the Hagfish.

 

The feisty redhead clinging to Daviu's arm is none other than Katrine Vinder, Shayliss's older sister.  Perhaps this is confirming proof, but rumour has it that young Katrine has been "shacking up" with one of the workers at the lumber mill lately, which supposedly has drawn some vehement protestations from her father as a result.

[iantruesilver]

"Your men were given their retaining fee. They're essentially abandoning the contract here. Now if they want to get paid in full, you've gotta convince them to go back and complete the work." The man within the group with neatly trimmed black hair stated plainly. He is dressed in a well-polished suit of half-plate armour which sports the holy symbol of Abadar.

 

"Weel ah kin assure ye ain't none o' thaim hae a mynd tae gang back, sae ye kin juist gie it up Jasper." The red haired dwarf argued back, his accent thick but his words are blunt and cuttingly direct. The muscular form underneath the apron belies a life steeped in labour.

 

"We can't give them the rest of the money if they walk off the job when the work isn't even done Aesrick, you know better than that!" The Abadaran knight Jasper makes his matter-of-factly, and though his opponents appear to be becoming somewhat agitated, his tone remains clearly calm and composed.

 

"Ah hear whit ye'r saying, bit ah an' a' hae na reason tae distrust mah men, 'n' thay say th' steid is cursed. Cursed!" Saying this, the aproned dwarf Aesrick waved his saw back haphazardly in gesture, almost hitting the other man behind him.

 

"How do you expect honest folks like my poor ol' Daviu here to make a living if you won't even pay them?" The fiery young redhead spoke up as well, adding fuel to the fire, seemingly in defense of the aproned young man beside her who remained curiously quiet all through. "What if he were to have to support a family all of a sudden?"

 

"Mynd yer ain business Katrine, ye'r nae makin' anythin' better flappin' thare gums, sae ye best juist shut yer bridie nook." The dwarf derided the girl sharply, cutting her off.

 

Peeling his attention away from his critics, the knight turned to the inquiring blonde elf, "Listen, this really isn't a good time..."

[farothel]

 

"It probably never is," Darhana said bluntly, holding out the leaflet with the job that she still has, "We were told to check with Sir Jasper about this job here to get to know the particularities of what's going on there.  And from what I heard from your conversation, you were essentially talking about the same thing.  We just want to know what's going on and we were directed here."

[iantruesilver]

The Abadaran knight took a long moment to stare at Darhana, then heaved a heavy sigh before answering, "You know what, you're right."

 

"You're probably best to speak with Daviu here, he's one of the two witnesses, I suppose that's what you'd call them..."  He continued as he looked to the others, then paused as his gaze met that of the aproned young man, "Well, that's if you're alright with that."

 

"Whatever."  The young man finally spoke up through this whole ordeal, though his tone seems to suggest some amount of resistance around the issue, "I'm still not going back there though."

Edited December 23, 2022 by iantruesilver (see edit history)

[TheFred]

 

Bianca eyes the conversants nervously, not quite sure what to make of them, but trying to take in as much as she can in the hopes of spotting a clue.

 

This must be Sir Jasper, but she doesn’t know the dwarf, who appears to be in charge of the workers. This young man here must be Daviu, and the attractive redhead seems to be his girlfriend. Bianca isn’t sure what women like her see in burly, uneducated fellows like this, but whatever it is it seems that many of them do.

 

So far she can tell, though, the dwarven gentleman wasn’t at the site… remaining silent whilst Darhanna conducts the interview, she listens to what Daviu has to say.

[pdwalt]

Lars address the dwarf, "Master Battlehorn, forgive the interruption, but I believe an investigation of the site is in order, to determine the nature of any curse, and to resolve it, if possible.  We, "Lars points to the gathered group, "are interested in that as our leader has said, "motioning at Darhana as he says so. "Perhaps discussions about work not paid might wait to see if the problem can be fixed?"   Turning to Jaspar, Lars adds, "Lord Korvaski, it is entirely understandable to not pay for work not yet done, but let us investigate if this new challenge is something that has arrived recently, or was always present and not disclosed before the project was bid."  Lars pauses two heart beats before adding. "A witness acount will indeed be useful, but so will timeline of when things started to be strange before whatever happenned happenned. And any oddities seen when the work began, too."   OOC Specifics Apologies for being late. Internet has been wonky (water pipe freezing has made a mess of things) . Short Statblock|CisMale NG Half-Elf Rogue (unchained), Level 1, Init 4, HP 10/10, Speed 30 AC 18, Touch 15, Flat-footed 13, CMD 16, Fort 2, Ref 6, Will 2, CMB +1, Base Attack Bonus 0 short sword +4 (1d6+1, 19-20 x2) dagger +4 (1d4_1, 19-20 x2) javelin (3) +4 (1d6+1, 20 x2) studded leather (+3 Armor, +4 Dex) Abilities Str 12, Dex 18, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 14, Cha 8 Condition +1 to attack rolls to those that threaten Shalelu; +1 perception to detect traps and to disable device skill to disarm them; +2 saving throw vs enchantment spells and effects; immune to magic sleep. low light vision

 

[iantruesilver]

"'N' who's aff tae 'investigate' this curse, yew‽  'N' wha th' hell urr ye by th' by‽"  The dwarven guildmaster began rather defensively, argumentative as perhaps to thwart any attempts by this new group of would-be adventurers in distracting away from his fight for his workers' fair compensation.  But then as Lars continued to elaborate, Aesrick's tone softened a little bit, eventually fading almost to a mildly discontent grumble, "Och.  Ye'r serious...  Weel, in that trial..."

 

"Alright young man.  You don't have to sell your point to me, it only benefits the town in general to have the issue resolved for work to resume on time."  Jasper Korvaski made a slight tilt of his head toward Daviu, indicating the standoffish young worker, "Well, if you're here to ask questions, Daviu here's your man."

 

 

[farothel]

 

"So, master dwarf, what have you seen that disturbed you so," Darhana asked the dwarf, hoping she would be able to understand his explanation as she had trouble with his accent.

[iantruesilver]

"Weel ah ain't exactly gaen ower thare masell tae see whit curses that steid," the dwarf grumbled under his breath the first part of his statement, but then continued in a more convicted tone, "Bit tis nae lik' ah care tae anyhow!"

 

Then turning to the young labourer he suggests, "Laddie, mibbie if ye tell thae folks whit ye encountered, thay micht be able tae hulp resolve this thing eh?"

 

"Man, I keep telling you, I ain't going back there!" At Aesrick's behest, the young worker finally begins with a testimony in earnest, "There's something evil in that place man, Cornell and I barely made it out alive."

 

"Anyway Cornell and I, we never wanted to go out to that place.  But we knew we wouldn't get no work anyways if we didn't."

 

A long sigh preceded the next part that Daviu had to confess.  "The others... they wanted to set up camp inside the crypt at night. But Cornell and I we weren't having any of that. It's enough we was working in there all day, no way we were gonna sleep in there too, nope! Might as well be sleeping in a casket, am I right?  But none of them wanted to listen to us, said we're being superstitious. Even laughed at us too. So we just pitched our tents outside the Pyre on the side of the hill unlike those fools."

"Sure enough, two nights ago the two of us woke to some gods awful chills in the middle of the night, even though there was no wind. The lantern had gone out, the campfire with it. We were some out of it still, half awake when we heard that wretched screaming, so we just ran."

"We still aren't sure if it was human or animals, but it sounded like some'n' excruciating is all I'll say. By the time we got down in front of the entrance, it was too late. All the horses were already bleeding to death. So we ran, and we didn't bother to look back..."

Edited January 5, 2023 by iantruesilver (see edit history)

[Naimless]

Kaichar

 

The gangly tiefling keeps to the rear of the group, almost cowering away from the heated discussion. He can't help but lean in, however, once the young human tells his tale. "Not wolves then." He surmises, his eyes shifting thoughtfully even as his third eye remains fixated on the young laborer. "Fey can be tricksy. Maybe that explains it?" For all his brutish appearance, Kaichar certainly has a mind worth something. Maybe he'd never be a great scholar, but what use were books in the wilderness?