LOF: Awakenings

[Larry_OHF]

Simon Locke

Just being told to rest easy did not make it any easier. However, this Joseph did appear to be an accomplished professional in the art of magical persuasion and to all appearances he at least seemed to be sane. Not in the least comparable to the likes of the drunkard Oley. Then again, this Joseph had proven that his magical arts could hide reality and make things appear one way or another as he saw fit. Not a great way to earn somebody's trust...however Joseph had been forthcoming in his abilities and was indeed proving he had nothing to hide...or was this all a massive illusion to sway the truth from being noticed whilst laid out in plain sight? !!

Simon's head reeled now. He could more fully appreciate the way Edward had described his encounter with this stranger.

At any rate, this man had proclaimed that he'd assist in keeping the town safe, and since Simon still held this man as honorable in his word, he realized that he must expect honorable actions from Joseph.

"Yes, it is true that our town has been beseiged even before your visit by those that are not known to frequent our land. Adventurers have been passing through here lately as though something indeed was in the air and I fear that some inevitable event is about to unfold, whether outside the influence of these outsiders, or maybe in consequence to them."

Joseph continued on in showing the whereabouts of each adventurer in their present location in and around town until the mirror finally found the one that Simon knew as Sever. The town's hero who had entered Lockesville a stranger and rescued a small boy from the fire at the warehouse. He had also led a team to stop an escaped convict who had been busted out of jail by a mage who had been the one to set the fire at the warehouse as a distraction. The last he had seen of Sever and his partner Pandaros, it was at dinner a few nights ago before they headed out to go by Vindson's place to pick up their gear they needed so as to investigate the reports of a monster out in the wilds nearby the town. However...the mirror showed that instead of working with his new team, Sever was standing right outside this very door listening to this very conversation!

Enraged by this disgraceful act, Simon bounded over to the door, opened it, but taking consideration to close it again behind him and caught Sever standing there.

In a forced calmness that held back an ocean of anger, Simon said:

"Since you have honored us twice in the past, I will give you the consideration of explaining yourself before I have the guards throw you in jail, Sir. What mockery of my hospitality brings you to my door while your team is placing their lives in danger?"

[ 03-09-2007, 11:55 AM: Message edited by: Larry_OHF ]

[Larry_OHF]

GM Post

Pandaros: Your expert eyes learn what most others walking in the same direction would not. You see the prints of various animals in the vicinity as well as the passing of children at play, days past. Your search leads quickly to a small trail that seems to not see a lot of traffic. It leads deep into the forest directly East. There are signs of a cart heavy laden with something that has come from the woods into the direction of town and the same cart returned again, having left its load at Lockesville. This happened perhaps a month ago.

Xaver: You explore the surrounding farms, noting how simple these people live, yet do so merrily. As you walk towards the fields of one family's farm, you see a man out in his corn field who in turn stops picking corn and eyes you with more curiosity than you feel comfortable with.

[Morgeruat]

An old man stumbled into the inn, his arms and legs sticks contained within loose robes, socks were mismatched and although his shoes seems to bein good repair, one was a brilliant shade of orange, and the other was an equally brilliant purple (despite otherwise being a matched pair). White hair was combed down, but straight as wire, and an old cane that creaked perilously and even seemed to bend under the slight weight of the man. As he surveyed the room his eyes locked on the bar. He stalked over, sounding not unlike half a sack of straw being shaken, a dry rustle that drew attention, but not grating like nails on slate. The smell of foul drink surrounded him like a cloud, and told that either he'd been at the bottle for some time already, or had drunk himself to sleep last night.

"Starting early today, eh?"

"No help for it, I'm afraid, I've got some work tonight and I need to be clear by then, so I intend to get piss drunk now. I'll have three shots of dwarven gutbruiser, and a glass of liverslapper, filled to here." He held his hand to near the top of the glass and eyed the drink greedily as it was poured and set out for him.

[Larry_OHF]

Grant, the NPC Innkeeper

Meet Grant, the nephew of the previous Innkeeper. Grant was placed in this position recently by inheritance when his uncle was killed by the heroes after having helped Sergio the evil mage with the jailbreak of Tanor Kolbite, a murderer.

Grant, having no previous experience of running an Inn, found himself overwhelmed by the responsibility of it, but ever since he became the new patron of the Inn, he has been working hard to not only maintain a high level of quality to the Inn, he has also discovered a way to make many improvements. Just one of those improvements was that downstairs in the commons area where there were many seats available to rest in, Grant realized that most visitors would like to have drinks available without having to cross the street to the more busy Pub. He also decided to add a few items to eat and made a menu such as basic breakfast items and a few snacks as well, and on weekends he would even cook up some juicy steaks if the week had gone well. All of these changes reflected well on the establishment and many people were grateful for it, all except the pub master across the street. In order to attract the visitors to leave the Inn and visit his business, he had to lower prices and offer other incentives. He had to keep a nice-looking waitress on staff who knew her worth and got paid heavily for it...as well as getting to keep a large percentage of the tips.

Grant now seems to be in full control of the quaint little Inn and one might have never known that he had been so green to business only a short while ago.

[ZFR]

Xaver

Xaver looked at the man for a moment and decided he was as good as any to talk to. It was Xaver's intention to try and learn if any of the farmers might have some information that could prove useful. However, he knew from experience that when dealing with such people, in answer to a direct question "Have you seen or heard anything strange in the forest?" he'd get a thousand and one stories about "monsters", "strange noises" and "suspicious-looking strangers", most of which had less than a grain of truth in them.
He'd just have to start a casual conversation and hope that in its course the farmer would say something helpful.
He turned to the farmer, and with a warm smile shouted "Good day to you Mister. Lovely day to be outside, isn't it?"

[Larry_OHF]

NPC Farmer speaking to Xaver:

The farmer straightened up and continued his eyeing of this dwarf with renewed suspicion. How many dwarves come around these parts asking about the weather?

"It's alright.

Are ye lookin' fer sump'n stranger?"

The farm that Xaver finds himself on looks about the same size as most other plots of land spread out across the countryside. However, where this man in front of him seems to favor corn crops, there are other types of crops on other farms of all kinds of vegetables and fruit trees. The smell in the air tells you that somewhere in the distance you'd find an animal farm in your searches before long, and a distant "moo" confirms this for you as soon as you think this.

The land for the most part is flat and its understandable why farming is so big here. Its isolation from other civilizations explains the lack of technology and social hinderances.

[Kazilan]

Pandaros

"A small, mysterious trail deep in the forest. Could there be anything more alluring, anything more dangerous than this?"

The scout shook his head and glanced back in the reverse direction. "The smart move would be to get the dwarf," he muttered. "But his stomping presence would alert whatever is out here for miles around." Pandaros set his eyes on the trail and started to move slowly along it. He checked his quiver, resting against his thigh, and held his bow at the ready. He would stick to the trail until his senses alerted him to a foreign presence, after which he would move into the vegetation to one side for cover.

"I suppose it can't hurt to investigate a little bit. So long as I use all my skills to remain silent and unseen." He paused for a moment to look up at the sky. "Sever, wherever you are, I'm starting to think you made the right move."

[Larry_OHF]

DM Note for Pandaros:

As you move along the trail, you come across footprints and stop to inspect them further. From their size and spacing, you determine that a human female must have come through here within about a week's time. As you look closer, you notice that the same size print leads away from the direction you are moving as well, but they are more widely spaced...perhaps to show that the female came running back from whatever it was that she found ahead.

You continue onward. Finally you come to a clearing and the bright light of day unobstructed by the trees shines on the scene before you. Instantly, you remember the words of Mr. Edward Locke from a few days ago when he gave you this assignment.

*“Within the last two days the dwelling of the woodcutter who had lived on the banks of the tarn at the southwestern end of the forest was destroyed. The body of the woodcutter was found among the broken boards of the collapsed walls of his home – killed by terrible blows and his bones shattered. It would seem that one of his dogs was devoured on the premises and the other two were killed and carried off, and all indications are that a single creature, a monstrous humanoid of some type possessing both great size and terrible strength has taken up residence within the forest.”

It appears that you have found out for youself the truth to that report. The wheel prints that you found along the trail thus must be the woodcutter's cart when he brought wood into town and returned with no load to weigh it down. But that's beside the point now.


* Words taken from Cyril's post in the Lockesville II game, page 3.


OOC>>>Reference Page 1, post 3 of this game (The Forest, by Cyril) for more information.

[ 03-10-2007, 04:15 PM: Message edited by: Larry_OHF ]

[dplax]

Vindson

At first impression it was another elf who had just entered his shop. There surely were many strangers around Lockesville lately. Once Vincent got closer though, Vindson could see from his face and slightly shorter ears, that he was a half-elf. He kept this knowledge to himself as he replied to the man's inquiry.

"Indeed, I am Vindson and I am the smith of Lockesville. My renown must have been exaggerated though, for I am simply an old-adventurer, who once his hand wished no longer to wield a sword started making them."

Vindson's eyes looked over Vincent's equipment.

"How may I help you?"

[Sever]

Sever

It took all of Sever's skill to retain his composure and disguise his genuine surprise at being caught red handed in the Lockes' manor by Simon Locke himself. For an instant, his brain practically cartwheeled inside his skull at the sudden demand placed upon it for a 'best possible' solution. Unlike many a close scrape in the past, there were no contingencies in place here. Nothing more than the most basic of thieving skills could get him out of this one and nothing less would. He was down to the barest fundamentals of his character. And to those attributes, he gambled.

No effort was made to try to hide the fact that he had been eavesdropping. None to ready himself one of the many pointy solutions at his disposal. None to make good a hasty retreat. All was spent in maintaining a facade of dignity as he melted away from his failed shadow and presented himself before Simon - as an equal, betrayed.

With measured words, Sever confronted his employer.

"Mockery? What mockery of your character presumes that my life is in any less danger? I have been honest with you, Simon. Since arriving in this town, no attempt did i make to hide my occupation; the very skills of which you and others in your community have seen fit to avail yourselves of. Little have i taken in return and nil by stealth. Others have died in your service for the promise of your coin and they did so because they hadn't the skills nor mettle to see it through. I presume to think that i differ. You put me into your service, Simon, and i do not intend to fail to the detriment of my comrades. You see me before you, Simon, doing.. my.. job.

With a single, determined step, Sever placed himself closer to penultimate in Lockesville's authority and matched his look of controlled contempt.

"You have not been honest with us, Simon..."