[Vanguard] Book 1 - Chapter 5: Tyresia, Town of the Dead

[pringerbeam]

[info] Stealth[blockquote]Rolled 1d20+5 : 19 + 5, total 24[/blockquote][/info]

[Mysticsage]

Taiga his tail bristling like a broom does his best to calm himself with a steady exhale as he moves to follow the man.

[info]Stealth
This dice roll has been tampered with!
Rolled 1d20+9 : 7 + 9, total 16[/info]

[Throndir]

Tyresia
Day 4 - Late Afternoon

[info]Stealth
[blockquote]Rolled 1d20+3 : 16 + 3, total 19[/blockquote][/info]

[Throndir]

Town Hall Cellar - Room
Day 4 - Late Afternoon

The sounds of scratching, slow and deliberate continued, but whatever it was didn't do anything more.

The room the man took you to wasn't all that large, though, it did have rows of wine bottles and other alcohol. It seemed like this particular room of the cellar was where the actual alcohol was kept. That said, there was a mattress here as well haphazardly placed on the floor with a pillow and some blankets. There were also a few sacks, some full of food, and another with various tools. There was also a large chest in the corner with a lock in plain view. Apart from that there were other evidence that someone had been living here, various empty wine bottles haphazardly placed in a corner, crumbs, and the like.

Once everyone was inside, he closed the door. There was a single chair in the small room which the man promptly made his way to and sat down, sighing deeply.

"Talk quietly." He whispered. "You're lucky the dead things were on the other side of town when you entered. Anyways... first thing is first, I'll pay everyone here handsomely to take me out of the town."

Town Hall Cellar - Room
Day 4 - Late Afternoon

"Wait." Jars announced as he stared hard at the man. "You're the mayor, aren't you? I'm from the Dian Cecht familia, the others here are my bodyguards I hired on the road."

"You owe my familia the payment." The merchant said sternly.

At that, the man seemed to have a mixed expression. Part anger, part hope, but eventually he settled with hesitation.

"Yes I'm the mayor. But you're too late!" He whispered fiercely.

"Not my problem. The horses we brought here had been pushed to their limits, and let me remind you that we arrived here on the 5th day of heading out. That's no small feat. It's your fault for not calling for aid sooner." Jars said smugly.

At this the man stood up quickly in a flare of anger, grabbing Jar's jacket from the collar. "How dare you!"

[pringerbeam]

     "Ahem..." Said Yuki as she stuck her katana in between the faces of Jars and the mayor. "I'm inclined to agree with Jars. It's time we got paid. We're here. The goods are here. It's payday."

[Asta]

"Horses... And money..." Sotu added flatly, still watching the door. Generally she didn't care much about anything that was going on around her, but at this point the group was so far from what they should be doing it barely fell into the category of "sidetracked" anymore.

[Mysticsage]

"If the whole town is as sick as it seems I doubt the horses were spared from the fighting," Taiga grimaced. "I can pull the cart to help us get where we're going and if we get lucky we can capture those axe beaks a while back."

Studying over the frightened man Taiga did his best to hide away his own predatory instincts. He did not want to add more kindling to this fire by showing just how disgusted he was that someone responsible for others not only let things get this bad but was now willing to run away.

"How did all this mess start in the first place and why couldn't you handle it yourselves?" Taiga finally asked the edge of anger clear in his voice but his face was otherwise a mask of neutrality. "What kind of illness is this anyway?"

[Throndir]

Town Hall Cellar - Room
Day 4 - Late Afternoon

"I'm inclined to agree with Jars. It's time we got paid. We're here. The goods are here. It's payday."

[info]Roll a social skill of some sort[/info]

"How did all this mess start in the first place and why couldn't you handle it yourselves?" Taiga finally asked the edge of anger clear in his voice but his face was otherwise a mask of neutrality. "What kind of illness is this anyway?"

"It started maybe... three weeks ago. Was just some coughs and fever going around. Look. This was the town that was granted to me by the kingdom, I wouldn't sully my name for some sickness that was going around. One wrong step, and I'd lose mayorship of the town. I worked too hard to just lose it!" He said, trying to defend himself.

"It was just some coughs and fever... It didn't seem that bad at first. That was when I sent the courier to Orario to make that order of healing potions. I figured I can water some of the placebo potions down and distribute it to the rest, it'd win me favor with the populace. Those who were really sick, I was going to give them an actual potion."

"It didn't end up that way though... Those who were the most sick... suddenly woke up late at night, feeding on whoever was nearest, even if it was their own husband or wife. The guard captain and guards of the town managed to quell that on the first day, but the night after..." He shook his head.

"More and more people got sick. And every night, those things would appear, made from the very people of this town. To make it worse, the ones we buried would rise from their graves... We eventually started torching the corpses to prevent the spread, but in the end what we did was too little too late."

"The wizard of our town, from Hemsut familia, sent a message to me before all hell broke loose, and I regret not heading over to his place sooner... Didn't really think much of him due to being in a different familia as our god." With that, he produced a crumpled letter and handed it to one of you.

It read:

Mayor Thaylor,

I've been experimenting with one of the bodies from the first night, and coupled with what Father Monsen told me, I have a theory I'd like to discuss with you.

-Olven

"His tower isn't too far from here... I'm unsure what happened with the rest of the town guards, but they were supposed to fortify the chapel. And many of our townfolk were to flee there. That was why most of those monsters weren't in this area of town, at least until you showed up." He said in a disapproving tone.

[Throndir]

Tyresia
Day 4 - Late Afternoon

Going along with Sotu, Mimsy glanced between both Yuki and Taiga. Both of them were reliable she knew, and a good thing it was as well, since the hume bunny felt that they were way over their heads with what was happening in town. Taiga was the biggest among them, while she knew that Yuki's clan did a lot to protect their village.

Mimsy smiled at her little sister as she stood by her placing a hand on the cat person's shoulder. Mimsy wanted to be the reliable older sister she always thought she was. But when it came to simply smacking things around, she knew that Sotu was perhaps the best at it. Although Sotu was the smallest in the group, Mimsy felt the safest being right there. If things weren't as serious as what the mayor had described, she would have found the irony funny.

Her thoughts soon went to the creatures they had seen earlier along the road. Were there hundreds here in the town? Were they monsters to be simply killed, or were they actual people? She knew monsters had to be killed, and she found the idea of getting rid of monsters in the world as an appealing thing, but what if they were people? Her thoughts continued on and on as she listened to the conversation of the group, her hand at times squeezing Sotu's shoulder perhaps tighter than she would have realized.

[pringerbeam]

[info]Diplomacy[blockquote]Rolled 1d20+2 : 1 + 2, total 3[/blockquote][/info]

[Throndir]

Town Hall Cellar - Room
Day 4 - Late Afternoon

"As if those potions would do us any good! Most of the town are dead!" The mayor retorted.

"That wasn't the deal!" Jars replied back angrily as he grabbed the mayor's hands on his collar and roughly released them. "We took on this request from Rakia on good faith, if this deal goes through, I assure you, the Dian Cecht familia, our alchemists, and our potions will never be sold to the Rakian kingdom again. Don't think that my god would tolerate broken deals. Do truly want that on your country? It would be your fault. How do you think Ares, the God of War, will like that? What do you think he'd do to the mayor who not only ruined one of his towns, but also ensured a lack of potion trade from Orario?"

[info]Jars is attempting intimidation with a Diplomacy (make request), if you plan on helping, state what you're doing and roll Intimidate, and Diplomacy.[/info]

[Asta]

Sotu stepped forward threateningly, she didn't like Jars, but she liked the impossibly stupid situation she and her sister had been placed in even less; the villagers being beyond saving didn't enter in the equation.

"The medicine is here... You'll pay."

[info]Aid another, Intimidate:
[blockquote]Rolled 1d20 : 18, total 18[/blockquote][/info]

[Mysticsage]

Taiga simply stands behind, Jars looking as large and looming as possible after he hears that explanation as he bares his fangs in displeasure to show just how bad this conversation could go for the man if he refused to pay his due.

He puffed out his chest and cracks his knuckles for emphasis.

[info]Intimidation
[blockquote]Rolled 1d20+1 : 3 + 1, total 4[/blockquote]

Diplomacy
[blockquote]Rolled 1d20+1 : 7 + 1, total 8[/blockquote]
[/info]

[pringerbeam]

     "Oh Jarsy, you're after my own heart. I knew I liked you." Said Yuki with a grin as she turned her katana blade and brought it up to the mayor's neck. "Guess what Mr Mayor, you're outnumbered."

[info]Aid checks
     Intimidate[blockquote]Rolled 1d20+4 : 16 + 4, total 20[/blockquote]     Diplomacy[blockquote]Rolled 1d20+2 : 14 + 2, total 16[/blockquote] [/info]

[Throndir]

Town Hall Cellar - Room
Day 4 - Late Afternoon

The mayor was quiet, especially after the blade was brought up to his neck.

"Fine!" The mayor finally said. "The chest over there has a bag with the full payment. This is the 10th day since making the request? So what would that be? 100 million?"

"117,554,750 vals." Jars stated quickly who had ran the numbers in his head just prior in the day.

The mayor clicked his tongue as he eyed Yuki. "Let me get the payment then. And where are the potions anyways? Left it outside?"

"They're with two others of our group, looking for horse replacements and lodging, though I suppose that's out of the question."

[info]Assuming Yuki lets him go to grab the money.[/info]

Soon enough, the mayor made his way to the chest, pulling out a key, then opening the locked chest. Inside were a variety of jewels and coins, he quickly took out one of the bags. "Count it first, it might be off." He stated as he handed the heavy bag to Jars. With that, the large man sat on the floor, and began to methodically go through the bag, sorting each of the coins by their denominations.

Suddenly the mayor spoke out.

"I'll pay another million vals if you're to investigate this letter." The mayor finally said as he waived the letter in the air. "The wizard Olven is probably dead... but he might have notes in his tower. I need something to give to the Rakian army when they arrive. It might help salvage what remains of my reputation..."

"And another million beyond that if you're to deliver the potions to the guard captain. My hope is that they're still fortified at the chapel."

[info]Jars is counting the money, it'll take him sometime, though others can help if you want, just state so and roll a UTI for how fast you help him.[/info]