At the Bargain of Ages...
The whole group (with the exception of Sigmund and Mark, who, having obtained a gold coin each, go shopping) boards the ship, Scott leading the way and Morton and Niklas following closely behind. Ascending the gangplank, they come upon the main deck of the ship, and it certainly looks rather impressive, if a bit cold and saturated with metal. There appear to be several robed people walking about. Morton, realizing that the fact that the most useful mage of the group seems to have her magic hand bandaged, expresses concern over this fact.
"Oh dear, what happened to your hand, Erin?"
"It was pretty weird, I accidentally animated a knife and it stabbed me straight through the palm! Then it got bandaged and stuff. Now it's all good," she says, waving the ball of bandages that now is her hand. Morton nods, though he feels Niklas pull on the clam rather impatiently. Duty calls, he supposes.
"Er, I'll be back after I help Chef Niklas with this."
"I wonder where the crew quarters are."
As the group converse, some of them preparing to go about their actual business, one of the robed people, a rather peevish-looking woman in a dark red robe of about thirty five years from the looks of it, walks up to them.
"May I ask what you're doing here?"
"May I remind you who is financing this trip, good woman?"
The woman looks a bit intrigued by this remark.
"You may, actually. Do so."
Some of the other undead begin to move to do what they were going to do.
"No, wait. Don't go anywhere just yet. We need to establish some things."
Outside the ship, Sigmund and Mark go on separate shopping trips. Sigmund looks for a weapon shop, but fails to find anything deeper within the town. However, he also manages to successfully avoid getting irrevocably lost! Mark, meanwhile, looks for some fishing gear, but there don't appear to be any stores offering such goods, and neither are there any lying around. With that being a resounding failure, he looks at his contract for the first time, examining the rituals needed.
Okay, so one, addressed to Jolly Vito, requires him to bleed a restrained living being and draw specific sigils with the blood. Uncomplicated, that. The second, addressed to Nicholas Tensworth, requires him to remove a rib from a being and then stab said being in the heart with it, then carve an elaborate rune around the stab wound with a knife. The third is addressed to Yuhan the Warlock, and it involves removing a being's limbs one by one, then throw them into a fire started in the center of a magic circle, ending with throwing the being itself when all the limbs are removed. In each case, the victim must be alive until the ritual's conclusion. So, to put it simply, he needs some manner of restraints, a bad attitude, some surgical implements, presumably, and possibly a bit of chalk for the third ritual. Rope shouldn't be hard to locate, and neither should chalk. Surgical implements... well... better find those, then.
Unfortunately, he can't think of a single place where he might get those. It's not like there's surgeon stores around here.
At the square of Emlocke...
Darren decides that he doesn't need this. At all. He tries to escape!
[Darren will roll: 3]
However, the worming into his skull that was attempted moments ago continues, and he feels a peculiar loss of control at the moment. He tries to move, but then decides not to for now. After all, where's the rush? It's perfectly nice here, you know. Besides, he can yell his news out to the group from here.
"Yup! There's definitely something in there! Tried to get in my head!"
The dog, who appears to be listening to something the whip man's telling it, nods at Darren's instruction, then shakes its head at the whip man.
[Master magic roll: 5+1]
It then barks loudly, catching the building (and Darren, to a lesser degree) in the blast!
[Building stability roll: 3]
[Darren endurance roll: 6]
Darren sort of giggles ticklishly while the building behind him shakes begins to crumble, the facade of it sliding bit by bit into the pit. For some reason, Darren feels better. Like something big has been distracted from his tasty mind-vittles for a bit.
"Flee quickly. Dangerous place," it says to Darren, who happily obliges, coming back to his two allies.
The whip man, upon seeing all this, can't help but try something. It involves twirling a wooden pentacle on his finger, but what it actually is, the others can't rightly say.
"Ghosts howl," the dog states matter-of-factly, looking at Darren. "Try howling. At building."
However, before any more progress can be made, the dog pricks up its ears. The whip man smells the air. Both of them look somewhat bothered by something.
"Something's coming."
Author
Topic: Life Begins At Death - Epilogue: We Live And Live Again (Read 565180 times)