At the mausoleum,
Philip finally decides that he should begin moving along. He floats through the halls of the dead and returns to the surface. Taking the trail away from the cottage, he floats to the inn. There is absolutely nobody on the road, so there is no need to phase into the ground. It does sound cool, so maybe he'll do that later, he thinks. He arrives at the inn and, just like the others, is greeted by the sight of a naked corpse on the ground. Nobody seems to be around.
Inside the inn, however, there are the makings of a great commotion developing!
Bruce, especially, seems to be in great trouble, being on the verge of having his vampirism revealed! How will he get out of this one?
[Protect the Masquerade roll: 5]
"Oh, it's the fangs putting you off. I'm sorry, good chap, I got a bit ahead of myself. You see, the fangs are part of my job. Vampires are becoming highly fashionable in noble circles, you see, and the market for sleazy vampire whores is absolutely booming. So, my fine employer, Almiria bless his soul, had the idea of starting a bit of a, shall we say, 'vampire escort' business. Unfortunately, that means I and many beautiful women had to glue false fangs to their teeth and avoid the sunlight for three summers. Well, you gotta do what you gotta do. So, you can see that my life isn't simple, so could you please stop overcomplicating it and allow me to do my job? Please?""Sleazy vampire whores, huh? What is this world coming to? But I feel your pain, man. We had to severely shorten the legs and arms of many servi some five years back when there was this great dwarf craze across the nation. Everybody had to have 'authentic mountain dwarves' serving their drinks and whatnot, it was awful. We couldn't use those servi anymore after the craze had passed, and we had to get rid of them. Lost many good men and women that way, I tell you.""Yes, yes, yes, right. Now, how about that room key?""Oh, Skip Rogers doesn't have a room here. They just use the portal conduit to get back to the university when they're done with the revelry. Guess you've been misinformed on the whole sleazy vampire whore thing. Hey, mind if I could get some of those whores? I'll pay, of course."[Vincent reaction roll: 5]
The barkeep pauses briefly to hand a nearby prehensile-tailed skeleton the drink he's been waiting for, clearly far too distracted by the prospect of sleazy vampire whores to really pay attention.
Vincent sits down in the corner, beer in hand, and gets ready to drink.
James, pleased that a bar fight has not started yet, just mingles with the clientele and enjoys the music.
Outside,
Samuel continues to skulk about. You know, there's an astounding lack of commotion inside the inn, considering that a mostly naked animated human skeleton just walked in. He reassures himself that mass combat isn't far away now, and continues circling the inn.
However,
Jordan is in the opposite predicament, being totally unarmed and in a standoff with an enraged bear.
"I say, wouldn't it be great if I had claws rather than these stubby, useless fingers? Oh well."He resolves to punch the bear in the eye!
[Jordan vs. BEAR: 5 vs. 5+1]
He swings with savage ferocity, but the bear has seen this coming, leaping into the air and landing behind him!
[BEAR vs. Jordan: 2+1 vs. 5-1]
The bear launches itself at Jordan, but he steps aside with the speed of a zombie martial artist! The bear is still on all fours and ready for action! How is the intrepid zombie going to escape this assuredly fatal obstacle?
Five 5s and a 2, for the enemy, no less. Whatever you did, it worked!
Oh, and the bear has +2 strength and +2 endurance, in case you were wondering. It IS a bear, after all.