Arnholde selects Festus to explore the tower, and the dwarf's companions agree to volunteer as well. "You will follow Hodd and Mulle,"Arnholde says, referring to Letha Mulle and Varyl Hodd, two of the remaining sheriff deputies. Townsfolk, with their heads out their windows, encourage the group as the make their way through town with their escorts and ultimately begin their trek towards the plume of dust rising into the sky.
A small crowd of locals has already begun to assemble at the foot of the ruins, which share a crudely deforested hilltop with a large manor. Only fragments of the first floor, and next to nothing of the second floor still remain of this two-story tower.
Tower Ruins.png (221.36 KiB) Viewed 1119 times
Black stone and broken wooden debris lay scattered down the hill's southeastern slope, and a rocky ramp of sorts lead up to what was left of the tower's now exposed second floor. Mulle and Hodd amble about cluelessly, seeming not confident in how to proceed.
"Look. What is that?" a local voice calls, pointing to what appears to be a clawed hand sticking out from beneath a pile of wreckage.
Sylvan calls out. "Something's not right! What has clawed hands in these parts? Whatever it belongs to, there's probably more!" He runs to the nearest rise of rubble and looks around, spear at the ready.
He will not obey orders from anyone in the town to stop or cede the top to another. He won't however, push anyone out of the way.
Festus removes his axe from his back and stores his crossbow and with axe in hand approaches the rubble and the clawed hand. "Careful now, Shorty...that thing may just be knocked out. If'n it were strong enough to break down the tower..."
Festus hovers near the halfling, ready to attack if necessary.
Sparrow observes the townsfolk for a minute. Hoping to see if anyone has an odd expression or a look of contentment about them. He then moves to the clawed hand group, thinking they might need backup if whatever it is rises to attack.
Fulp will watch carefully, ready to attack if necessary.
Dandelion - female half-orc beautyqueen in training (The Lone City in the Wildlands) OSRIC Halfpint - female halfling badgirl wannabe (Lab Lord- The North Marches) LL Mark'd - charismatic human fighter (Lab Lord- The North Marches) LL
Ciar carefully closes to within a short swords' length of the clawed hand protruding through the rubble and begins poking at the palm side of it to test its reaction. Festus moves up alongside his halfling companion and, after observing the lack of reaction, cautions that the creature may simply be unconscious and not actually dead. Ciar carefully begins to clear away the surrounding rubble to get a clearer look at the form the hand is connected to, and discovers it belongs to a kobold. Mulle and Hodd look at each other puzzled expressions. “Ain’t seen many of them in these parts,”Mulle offers, an assessment that Hodd confirms with a surprised nod.
At the same time, Sylvan begins prodding at a nearby pile of rubble with his spear, being overlooked by Fulp, and while Kassal seeks and easily locates cover amongst the rubble piles. Sylvan’s initial efforts produce a second kobold body crushed under the mass of fallen debris.
---
“Someone needs to check on wizard Hunclay,” one of the locals is overheard saying. ”Yeah, maybe he knows something ‘bout what happened?” agrees another. “Maybe he had somethin’ to do wit’ it!” proclaims a third. Deputies Mulle and Hodd begin arguing over who will knock on the wizard’s door.
Sparrow keeps an eye on this buzzing crowd and attempts to gauge the reactions of the local observers to see if any of them have an unusual interest or display an odd expression over the sight of the fallen tower.
---
With everyone focused on their intended tasks, the arrival of Lady Origena Devy and her advisors initially catches everyone off guard. She apparently has been in place long enough to overhear the crowd begin to buzz about Hunclay, and the arguing of her inept deputies, because she makes her presence known with a barking command:
“Mulle. Hodd.” she calls out, with more than a hint of frustration detected in her voice. “You two make yourselves useful and both of you pay a visit to Hunclay. Report back to me immediately.”
The authoritative voice captures everyone’s attention, and she wastes no time in capitalizing on this brief interruption.
“Guards. You keep this crowd at bay.” she orders before turning her attention to the party members.
Noticing their decisiveness and perceived competence of the party members: “Today might be your lucky day.” she starts. “Mulle and Hodd here clearly can’t handle this without the Sheriff to hold their hands, and I want to know what happened here.” she states, not caring whether the deputies are still within earshot. “You seem to be a capable bunch. If you go in there and look through the rubble—find out what happened here, and why there are kobolds in my town—I’ll pay the lot of you 500 gold pieces.” Before the group even has a chance to confirm their interest, she adds: “And while you’re looking around in the ruins, keep an eye out for any signs of our local eccentric, Hunclay. It seems somewhat suspicious to me that he hasn’t made an appearance. Let me know what you find.”
With that, everyone returns to their activities.
No additional kobolds, beyond the two already discovered, are found after a more thorough inspection of the debris in the area, but Mulle and Hodd return and report that a third kobold corpse, this one terribly charred, was found lying at the foot of the wizard’s doorstep. That, and there was no response from Hunclay to their calls.
The Tower
The remains of what was once a two story tower now sit atop a gentle hill, cloaked in swirling dust. Stones still clacking and grinding as they shift and settle, and only fragments of the first and second floors still stand. Black stone and broken wooden debris lie scattered down the hill’s southeastern slope, and a rocky ramp of sorts leads up to the tower’s now exposed second floor. The tower’s ancient iron front door remains in place, but all the rubble blocking it from the other side prevents anyone from using it to enter the tower so entering the ruined building will likely be more difficult than it first appears.
Actions?
We can role-play the encounter with the Dutchess if you'd like, but also let me know what else you'd like to do. As always, feel free to ask any questions.
Ciar carefully moves closer to the ramp-like formation of stones leading to the remaining second story and examines it. Being the lightest one in the group, he is willing to quickly examine that level while the others work to remove rubble from the door, if that is what they intend on doing.
"Can anyone tell us, then, more about this tower? When it was built, whether there was some valueable item associated with it that would attract thieves, perhaps, or whether there might be a cellar buried below? Any useful information shall expedite our investigation for you.
Dandelion - female half-orc beautyqueen in training (The Lone City in the Wildlands) OSRIC Halfpint - female halfling badgirl wannabe (Lab Lord- The North Marches) LL Mark'd - charismatic human fighter (Lab Lord- The North Marches) LL
Sparrow begins to move around the side of the hill looking around at the scene of the blast. When he gets around to the backside, away from the destruction, he searches the ground for any signs of who or what might have been nearby recently.
Ciar begins to easily ascend the rocky ramp leading to what remains of the second story of the crumbling building while Sylvan looks on and Sparrow begins to circle the tower.
Still at the base of the tower, Kassal attempts to up the ante by negotiating for a 600 gold piece reward instead of the initial offering of 500 gold. For a moment it seems as if the baroness might burn through the spunky gnome with her gaze alone, but surprises everyone with her response: "Agreed," she sighs reluctantly, after realizing that her best alternate option would be to wait for the sheriff to return from Maginmar, which is still several days future.
Fulp queries Baroness Davy about the tower and its history. "My husband loved this cursed tower," she starts, "And the damned thing took his life a couple years ago." she adds, then begins shaking her head. "Hunclay, when he arrived here seven years ago, actually wished to purchase the tower from me." she starts. "Mentioning it blocked his view of the night sky. When he confirmed his intent was to see it felled, my husband refused to sell."
Composing herself, she continues. "I've actually come to think of it as his memorial." she sighs. "So, if while exploring it, you come upon any information regarding my husband's fate, there will be an extra reward for you."
But --" she starts, her eyes falling to the now mostly exposed form of the crushed kobolds. "I believe these to be the most imminent threat to the community. Make sure there are no more lurking about the ruins, and there is a basement level..."
"Also.... since this --" she says, indicating what's left of the tower, "-- was his long desire, the fact that Hunclay is not here is quite suspicious. He will be an elderly man with white hair and beard, likely to be wearing a robe with arcane symbols upon it."
"Please, make haste."
The group resumes its efforts in clearing and inspecting the debris. Festus remarks that the stonework of the tower was poor, and that if dwarves had built it, it never would have fallen. Baroness Davy replies coldly that the builders of the era did not have the good fortune of having dwarven stonemasons living in their midst, and that the dwarf was welcome to settle here if he wanted to offer his services to the community.
Private forum updates for Alethen and Sparrow with the findings of their respective efforts. Otherwise....
Festus cocks an eyebrow at the straightforward talk of the Baroness and thinks to himself that it might not be a bad place to settle down one of these days.
He then walks over to the iron door and examines it to see if it can be opened.
"Did anyone see anything before the tower fell"? tells the gnome at the gathered crowd. "Movement from the wizard perhaps, these little dogmen scurrying around, anything unusual at all?"
He will wait to see if the door can be opened and that the ranger can't find any tracks of note leading anywhere before exploring further
The tower’s ancient iron front door, while still in place, is completely blocked by rubble. Festus, upon closer inspection, concludes that attempting to clear the door could potentially distress the remaining foundation even further and would likely cause more harm than good.
In response to Kassal's inquiry, no one recalls noticing any activity around the tower before the collapse, and there haven't been any kobold sightings in recent history.
Sparrow begins visually searching the rubble for a possible way into the tower from the outside. He will climb up onto the rubble to get a better view if necessary.
Fulp tells the baroness that he will do what he can to help her. He then begins to walk the perimeter of the rubble, looking for possible ways in and under it.
Dandelion - female half-orc beautyqueen in training (The Lone City in the Wildlands) OSRIC Halfpint - female halfling badgirl wannabe (Lab Lord- The North Marches) LL Mark'd - charismatic human fighter (Lab Lord- The North Marches) LL
