Goodman Games

The old man's wide eyes dart from one of you to the next, uncertain. Then he relaxes a bit and speaks.

"My name is Cobb, I'm a, well, I was a schcolar from Silvergate. A college and I, Ruren Asterat, came to this town about... about... many nights ago. I, I'm sorry I can't recall. It's been so long. We were travelled north to reach the Hinlan Forest on our way west to Ordrett. We were caught in a sandstorm not far from here, and during the storm a a large brute of a man appeared, he offered us shelter in his town. Naturally we agreed - what Carthan would be foolish enough to wait out a storm in it's very berth?"

The old man sighed, "It wasn't so terrible at first, no. The locals were very unfriendly, but on man in particular, a priest, though I'm not sure of what faith, recognized immediately that I was a scholar. He introduced me to a variety of artifacts taken from what he claimed were a lost civilzation. The artifacts fascinated me and I wanted time to study them, but then something... something happened. Strange things seemed to come in the night, voices, footsteps... growls. We locked ourselves in this dusty old inn and dreaded even to look out our windows. The townsfolk never seem to be around past dark, those that do always seem intent to keep us indoors. Something is out there..."

The old man shook his head, "But I'm rambling, please forgive me, it's been days since... well." He sighed, "My colleague Ruren became convinced that the artifacts, this town, and the strange noises were somehow connected. Against my wishes and the will of the townsfolk he set out to learn more - and I haven't seen him in two days, at least. I have no idea what's going on, and now the innkeeper won't let me leave! It's madness!"

Ox rubbed his chin and flicked at his braids. "Where's the innkeeper now?"

The old man shrugged, "If he's not downstairs - and by your presence I'd say he wouldn't be - then I have no idea where he or anyone else in the town has gone. They seem to vanish... every night. Madness."

"So, you mean tellin' me that there might be some sort of wacko jack preacher using some sort of evil set of artifacts to make the townfolk all vanish at night and unfriendlylike and your friend went off to investigate and hasn't come back?"

Almarath smirked as he said it.

"You just be knowin' that this has to be connected to our missin' kids, right? That seems to be how the world be workin' lately."

He turned his gaze to the old man, his rifle never moving away from its mark.

"You seen any kids lately?"

The old man didn't seem to recognize the biting sarcasm in Almarath's voice. "I don't know, they kept the artifacts in the town hall, I only saw them once. But what do you mean about children? There aren't any children in this town, none that I've seen. The folk here, don't seem right for babes."

"Well, fellows, I suppose we should be searchin' the rest of this Inn and then movin' on towards the town hall, doncha be thinkin"? The elf said, his hands lowering the rifle a bit.

"I don't care what you do," The old man said, "I'm not leaving this room. Go on, get out of here, before those things outside come looking. They seem... drawn to the noises we make. Go! Go away!"

The old man pulls the covers of his bed over his head and just sits there shivering.

Ox gave Almarath an expression that looked kind of like an oblvious cow. "Let's go." He said, turning back towards the hallway.

Almarath couldn't blame the old man for wanting to stay in his room. He dug around in one of his pockets and threw a six-gun bullet at the old man.

"You know, just in case something more than shadows come bumping in the night."

He turned on his heels and headed towards the next inn door, just in time to watch Ox kick it in.

The next inn room was empty, even of a bed. It looked like it hadn't been touched in years.

Ox snorted, backing away from the cloud of dust. "Maybe we should find the inn keeper. We'd stand a better chance learnin' where those kids are, from what you're saying."

Almarath nodded and began to search about for some sign of the innkeeper's whereabouts.

Search Check: 1d20 (17) + 11 = 28

Gathering the others to him, Almarath proceeded to the bottom floor of the inn and begins to search about in the innkeeper's office, carefully searching for anything of the children's or some clue of their passing.

Search Check: 1d20 (12) + 11 = 23

Ox took a sniff of the inn keeper's office and growled, "Smells like wasted meat in here."

Ox isn't too far off, either. Your search uncovers a creaky board just below your feet, and you grab it and yank it open to reveal stairs leading into a cellar of some kind, it stinks like decaying flesh in various stages.

Aristrina and Duran took point, shoulder to shoulder, and with weapons raised. Aristrina reached out with her senses and looked for the distinctive aura of undeath.

Almarath fell behind them, with his rifle just overhead and ready to take anything that moved.

He looked over to Ox and indicated he should take up point.

"Let's head on down. Or should we get that horse lover we ran across before we go on down?"

"Saw him climbin' 'round outside," Ox said, "I'll get him."

He returned to the doorway and stepped out into the cold air. It felt too cold for this part of the world, colder than even the high peaks of Stormwind. Ox didn't like it. A thick fog was beginning to form around the buildings.

"Hey druid, you out here?" Ox called, almost whispering. Something was making his hackles stand on end.

"Ssh." came the whispered reply of Kazi, as he crouched low into nearby shadows, almost willing himself to become invisible. "Something is watching us...."

Search check: 1d20 (18) + 1 = 19

Ox hunched lower, his instincts hadn't done him wrong yet. He edged closer to Kazi, eyes alert.

Listen Check: 13

"I don't hear nothin'." Ox said.

Kazi, your search of the growing fog seems to give you a hint of a shape moving left and right, but it's so fluidic within the chill air you can't make out what it is.

"I can't define it. There's something out there, in the fog...it moves as if water, though concealed by fog and the chill air." Kazi replies, his voice barely above a whisper, an eerie edge to his voice. "What's going on in there?" he asks, with a slight jerk of his head towards the interior of the inn.

Ox glanced behind him. "Whole lotta bad vibes. This place is all kinds of weird."

They heard the growl, very close.

"Maybe we'd better get indoors." Ox said, backing away, "That the sound of a predator, though I ain't ever heard any beast make that noise."

Kazi nods his agreement to Ox, motioning for him to move inside first. However, Kazi doesn't join him. Instead, he drops down from the roof onto Shinki and grabs a potion, with the intent to feed it to his faithful mount...

Ox frowned at the horse. "Maybe you should send your horse away." He said, "Or keep it in the stables? I dunno if you wanna be leaving it out here."

Kazi merely nods, as he slowly feeds the potion to Shinki. Once that is done, the Onizashu dismounts and whispers something into the ear of the mount. The horse shakes his mane as if in brief disagreement, then gallops off towards the stables.

Kazi looks back up at Ox, then heads in through the Inn's front door.

The horse makes it safely to the stables, and in an odd display of intelligence, it pulls the door closed behind it with its teeth.

Ox backed against the door and waved Kazi over, "C'mon. I don't wanna meet what's out there."

Almarath waited patiently for the others.

"So, we going to get this party started or what?"