Chapter 3 Days 2 and 3 - More of the Same

[TheTick]

(giving until tonight for any dissenting opinions)

[TheTick]

The door is not barred, and pushes open with a long creak.  Stepping into the entry room, the first thing the group notices is that there are no lights lit.  A small table by the outer door holds two oil lamps.  On the opposite wall are hooks for cloaks, with boots lined up beneath them.  The cloaks are gone.  A single chair is in the corner, presumably for putting the boots on.  There are several rooms on the ground floor, and steps up to the second level.

There is a foul smell in the air, to go with a musty dampness.  The smell gets worse by the stairs.

[TheTick]

The crew fans out to look into the other rooms.  The first is a storage room, more of a closet, with cold-weather and rain gear either hanging or folded on shelves.  A pantry follows that, a sizable one, but all the shelves are bare.  A few empty flour sacks lay on the floor.  The bathroom is simple, with a few pits that go through the floor into the ground.  There's a high window that has herbs hanging in it to sweeten the air, but from the looks of them, they haven't been changed in weeks.  The kitchen and dining area has a large stone oven that dominates one wall.  Cupboards sit open, also stripped bare.  The opposite corner has a table with 5 chairs.

[TheTick]

Ascending the stairs to the second floor, the smell of decaying flesh becomes overpowering.  There are five more rooms on this floor, starting with a sitting room.  A basket with knitting needles sticking out sits untouched next to a chair.  Books have been tossed on the floor and on the sofa.  There are two rooms appointed as extra bedrooms, and more books tossed on the floor.  Seafaring and navigation tomes.  There's a workroom, with a bench and a rack for tools - probably to fix the light when needed, though everything of value has been stripped.

The team dreads the final room, then, which turns out to be the master bedroom.  A double bed dominates this room. Beside it stand an open, empty wardrobe and a night table with a lamp. Clothes are strewn everywhere. The smell of death hangs heavy in here.  Lying on the floor is a body, which appears to be the wife of the lighthouse keeper.  She's been dead for several weeks at least.

[TheTick]

A trail of blood leads the group up the final set of stairs, where a male body lay decaying.  It appears to have been the lighthouse keeper, and judging by the stains, he put up one hell of a fight.  Imfei kneels and murmurs a quiet prayer as the rest step past, but the scene doesn't improve.  A storage room, once used for linens, stripped completely bare.  A children's playroom, filled with simple wooden toys.  A child's bedroom, with clothes thrown everywhere, and the body of a small boy next to the bed.  Another bedroom, and another child's body.  It seems the lighthouse keeper tried to keep whoever did this away from the children, but failed.

It's a welcome relief when the team steps into the light chamber, until they notice that it's been smashed to pieces, and the reflectors either destroyed or taken.  The oil reservoir was emptied out beforehand.

Spoiler: ShowHide

If you have any specific questions about what else you might've seen or things like that, now's the time, otherwise decide what your next move will be.

[pooka]

these were the actions of men, or humans I'd wager.  I say we repair the light and lay wait for them.

[Lotofsnow]

Bah, they've no reason to return here. All the murder and pillage has been finished. I believe it best if we brought the fight to them.

[pooka]

Aye, that suits me.  Where should we start?

[Sputnik314]

Not very much chance of us accurately finding the actual murderer.  I'd like to check this tower for a ryther pearl.

[TheTick]

Spoiler: ShowHide

Based on the discussions, I have you heading off towards the tower but not specifically down the beach.

Leaving the gruesome scene at the lighthouse behind, Yiki and Taggart lead the team through a stand of trees in the direction of the strange wooden tower.  It's not long before they signal a stop.  After seeming to study what's ahead for a moment, they wave Imfei and Bigsby forward.  Through a break in the trees they can see what appears to be a camp, with a few tents and a couple of wooden structures.  There's a cookfire under a pavilion on the far side, and another large, covered structure in the middle has what appears to be barrels and crates under it.  They point out two humanoid men kneeling next to some of the crates, going through them, and a tall woman standing back.  From her posture and the inventive stream of profanity she's shouting at them, it's easy to see she's in charge.  The tower is to the left, nearer to the beach proper, but the platform is high enough off the ground that what is on top cannot be seen.

Spoiler: ShowHide

See the map for positions, the numbered enemies (in black) are the standard guys, the C is the woman in charge.  What do you want to do?  Do you have any other questions?

[SteveRogers]

Bigsby places his finger over his mouth in a signal of silence to his companions.  Slowly he begins making his way to the right to maintain cover and shield himself behind the nearby storage structure.

Bigsby calls to mind the sound of the lizardman's voice and movement from earlier, imagning it amplified slightly and multiplied to the number of a small group and embellished with rage.

Muttering silently under his breath with eyes closed, Bigsby snaps his fingers quietly and unleashes the sounds in directions surrounding the people at the camp.

[TheTick]

As soon as Bigsby finishes creating the ghostly sounds, the female whirls around and draws her blade, a wickedly curved, thick blade.  "Hey you lot, did you hear that, over there?"  She points over behind one of the wooden structures.  "Go check it out and step lively!"  The two underlings share a look, then unsling crossbows and head in that direction, scanning the forest for signs of intruders.

Spoiler: ShowHide

Pausing here for what everyone else wants to do - the three are distracted and moved further east.  See the map below.

[TheTick]

Imfei slips quietly to where Bigsby is and concentrates, asking the Gods to help her see the souls of these men and women and discern Good from Evil (Detect Evil).  She focuses on each within range of the power granted her, and feels anger well up inside her.  Through gritted teeth, she whispers to Bigsby that each of these have committed evil, and then moves back to where Taggart and Yiki are waiting to let them know the same.

The three moved around enough for you to get a feel of each of them.  Knowing this now, what does everyone want to do?

[pooka]

I know you guys can't feel what I am feeling, but look at it this way.  They probably have loot.

[Lotofsnow]

With a nod in agreement, Yiki launches from the bushes, hurling himself across the field in but a moment. His gleaming battleaxe, held high with both hands, swings down in a diagonal chop at the shoulder of the unsuspecting woman.

Charge attack 1d20+8 : 18 + 8, total 26
Damage 1d8+6 : 8 + 6, total 14