The Prismatic Queen [D&D 5e Campaign]

[GinkyGotBack]

Paelis accepted the gold greedily, slipping it into a pouch he kept inside his armor for safekeeping. "I thank you for your kindness and generosity Baron, sir. Now if you'll excuse me, I believe I have some people to be saving." Paelis bowed whilst simultaneously walking out of the storage room, like something a silly court jester might do for a grand exit. He would then exit the tavern and after doing so would cackle to himself, the sound akin to that of a hyena's laugh. "Bloody fool, I don't believe I've ever met as gullible a person as him." He snickered under his breath. "Well, I suppose I do have some 'work' to do now. I better head to that backwash house before there's nothing left to loot."

Paelis then made his way towards where he figured the group was heading. He was lucky enough to catch up with them before they had gone into the house, however he was somewhat surprised to find two more people mingling amongst them. He waved at them, letting them know that their leader had returned from his negotiations. As he was walking towards the two newcomers he happened to hear them introduce themselves. "Newbies, eh? I don't remember the jolly ol' baron telling us anyfing about anover pair of 'elping 'ands." Something the others might've noticed about Paelis was that his accent had drastically changed from how it was back in the tavern. Some may have described it as cockney, whatever that means. "Are you mercenaries or somfing?" Paelis looked at the tall orcish man and waved his hand over his face looking for a response. Snapping his fingers now he bluntly asked the man, "Are you doing okay, friend? You're looking a little dazed if you don't mind me saying."

 

[disaster]

When the three from the tavern caught up with the tiefling woman who had already made her leave, Calla runs up beside her and introduces herself with a beaming smile. The tiefling held herself differently and it seemed fitting to try to be more formal this time. "Hi, it's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Calla and, um, I think your wings are really neat. I've never seen anything like them before."

She waved a hand in the air as Jiliana and Kuran approached and smiled brightly before introducing herself. Everyone was so unique and different, it was hard to keep her excitement hidden. She wanted to get to know everyone and listen to their stories but her smile faltered when she caught sight of the house from the corner of her eye. Calla reminded herself that this wasn't time for stories, there were lives at stake, maybe even their own. Her excitement quickly shifted into nervousness and she held onto her staff tightly with both hands, looking up at her companions for some reassurance. All of them seemed very confident, ready to face what might be within those walls. The baron wouldn't have asked them if they weren't all very capable, right? Calla took a deep breath and tried to gather as much courage as she could.

There was a murder of crows a bit a ways aways in the field and Calla rushed over, almost tripping as she crawled under the old board fence and into the field. Some of the crows jumped as she stumbled and distanced themselves from her, so she stopped and kneeled at the edge of the field. "Sorry to scare you! I have a really quick question for you all. I'll buy you some fresh meat tomorrow once we finish our investigation, promise. Have you seen anyone or anything suspicious around here lately? People going in and out of this house?" Or people going in and never coming out, she thinks glumly.

 

[Naxtaroth]

The crows looked up at the comparatively larger creature in front of them. Some cocked their heads, a few began speaking, though, not words. It was strange, because although the sounds coming from their mouths were still the typical caws that crows made, Calla could understand them clearly, as if they were words. The tones and nuances of each caw had meaning that Calla, due to the nature of her forest gnome lineage, could pick up on. Though they weren't full coherent sentences, a few phrases stuck out. "More like you." "Never the same." "Strange aura."

Jiliana turned, seeing the small gnome crouched by the crows. "Oi, small one, the house is right here." She made eye contact with one of the crows, who took off, the entire murder suddenly following suit, cawing wildly. The purple haired woman then turned and walked forward, putting a hand onto the door and pushing lightly. The man with her followed suit, seemingly not noticing the questions asked of him. Once inside, the space was cramped for 7 people. It was a simple living room, with a fireplace, a small table, and a few seats. Straight ahead was a doorway to another room, the right wall having a set of stairs leading upward.

Kuran lazily walked forward, leaning his back against the wall underneath the stairs. Suddenly, the wall gave in, a mostly hidden door opening up. Peering inside, one would see stairs leading down into a dark cellar. Jiliana grinned. "Well, Kuran, seems you're not so dumb after all." She then turned to the group. "Alright. Well, big man and I will go check that out, you five can split the duties of upstairs and main floor." With this she turned, beginning to follow Kuran down into the cellar.

 

[disaster]

Calla dashes towards the entrance of the house to catch up to the others. Once inside, she looks up towards Jiliana. "The crows told me there were people like us with strange auras that came to this area recently, and that they were never the same. Could it be new disappearances? Or maybe it's possible that our prep is actually part of a group?"

She didn't really want to separate from the others in a house where people disappeared in. "Let's go in groups as well. 2 downstairs and 3 upstairs," Calla suggests, looking up at the rest of her group. "It might not be safe to be walking about on our own in this place."

 

[GinkyGotBack]

Paelis followed the group inside, staying at the back of the pack for no particular reason. He was slightly peeved that the big stupid lug hadn't even blinked in his direction, let alone answer his simple questions. Paelis was equally annoyed with the state of the house, there wasn't even a hint of a dead body to be found. Just how in the hell was he supposed to make a living when there weren't any corpses to rob? Deciding to shrug it off for now, Paelis was going to eye the place for any valuables when the same idiot from before managed to stumble upon a secret door. Jiliana praised her cohort for his luck to which Paelis mumbled, "Yeah, just spawny."

The one thing that managed to pick up the swindler's spirits was when the gnome girl suggested they split up. A big, dung-eating grin snuck its way onto his face before he had even realized it. "Splitting up sounds like a swell idea, compeer! You're quite the numpty I really must say!" He would pat her head with the hand that wasn't gripped onto his rapier, rustling her hair like a father would do to his child. Little did she know, numpty was an insult back in Habogad, meaning stupid or unwise. Paelis had the thought that maybe there was somethings or someone he could loot upstairs, although something in his gut told him most of the good stuff was behind the secret passage. "I say me, the gnome and Jock over there," He would say pointing his thumb to the boy with the clockwork owl, "Head upstairs while you two ladies stay down here, and keep an eye out for anyfing suspicious." He would speak a little softer now, in case the two newcomers might've heard him, "Especially on those two. There's somefing off about them, and I can't say I trust them as far as I can throw them."

 

[GoodTeletubby]

A momentary look of confusion crosses Althaea's face as she looks at the unexpected passageway under the house, then looks back at the door where they entered the building.

"I suppose when you're this far out from town, nobody notices you dumping piles of dirt out in the fields at night when you're digging a secret tunnel."

Althaea frowns, bristling at the instructions, but after a moment considering that she has the better company, she shrugs and looks over at the tiefling, pulling her shortsword from her waist with her left hand, and bounces her crystal in her right.

"Just shriek loud enough that we can hear if something up there grabs you."

 

[Naxtaroth]

The baron's two soldiers descended into the cellar, leaving the party to search the rest of the house, The door closing behind them. An hour passes. As the moon hangs high in the sky, the party finds themselves reconvening at the entrance of the house. However, it seems that three members of this search party are not present. For some reason, the strange masked man with the mechanical owl has not returned. Also ,the door underneath the stairs hasn't moved an inch since the baron's soldiers went down. In fact, those two have been fairly quiet. Almost too quiet.