| Logs |
2008 November 09
| When The Bough Breaks |
| Realms |
Retired
| Reality Fault |
General Info
 |
| Realms: Bough Logs |
First Movement, Sixth Verse
The group is standing at the bottom of the stairs. The tower is eerily quiet, even with the sound of the nether-squall outside, and made all the eerier by the discovery of -- so far -- what appears to be the remains of three elven guards.
Norris waits for Tomas's call, being the eldest and most experience...he's steadfast and patient. One has to be, when you're a smith.
Jareth moves to his place in the middle, knowing a fight isn't his forte.
Tomas looks around. "Be as quiet as possible. Me first, Jareth in the middle, and Norris follows," he says. "Also, if you see anything like that vial, Don't Touch It."
Norris doesn't have to be told twice in that regard. "Yessir." he asserts, hefting his weapon. He grins reassuringly at Jareth, gesturing with the head of his hammer.
Tomas starts carefully up the stairs.
Jareth follows after Tomas. Even though he's not a warrior, he pulls his knife from the small of his back. He leaves space enough behind Tomas to make sure he's got all the room he needs.
The second floor of the tower is appears a little narrower, more square-shaped. It appears to be dominated by a single large room, with two solid wooden sub-rooms to either side. The stairs from below come up to what looks like a solid oaken table, at which there is a chair and a large book and writing implements; there is a similar sprawl of clothes and armor here, as if they had been in the chair.
Norris is slightly crouched as he follows behind Jareth...not because he's sneaky, cause that'll never happen. In order to give Mikal a clear shot if she needs it. Of course, give how large he is, even crouching doesn't give that much room.
Tomas says, "We'll pick up the book on the way out. It may be a log or something. Let's search this floor."
Jareth waits until Tomas says it's clear and then starts to look around the room.
Norris goes over and nudges the clothing the chair. "Seems t' be another suggestion that mebbe folkds just dissapeared wi' out much o' a fight...unless they never heared fightin below an got took by s'prise. Or got poisoned.
Tomas moves in to listen at the next door.
Norris isn't that good at searching, and Mikal and Raph have the stairs they jsut came from covered...so he moves carefully towards the other end of the main room,, peering at the twin set of stairs up. "Sure got an awful lot of stairs fer a single tower," he murmurs. He peers at the hole in the ceiling he sees when he gets to the back of the room. "Wunder what this is fer." he thinks aloud as he covers the stairs at the far end.
(Oddly enough, the group doesn't seem to notice just exactly when Mikal is present again; the first they notice is when Raphael gives a soft 'wurf' sound, and rubs against the young forester.)
Norris looks up the hole...it seems to be a hole that goes right up to the roof, through the third floor entirely.
There's a faint puddle on the floor, probably from melted snow. Closer examination reveals a kind of pully system just up out of reach, some kind of dumbwaiter or lift to get small items to the top of the roof quickly.
Mikal watches the guys searching, then whispers to Raphael to watch the stairs. She silently moves over to the table, glancing at the book. She knows what books are -- they're full of important information for nobility. She unshoulders her backpack to load the book up in it.
Tomas wonders why they didn't put the cover on it. Is this how the thing that killed them got in?
Norris hunhs, nodding to himself as the reason for the hole becomes clear. How very clever.
When Tomas and Norris seem to be OK with the room, Jareth moves to the door on the right and, possibly stupidly, taps on it lightly with his knuckles.
Tomas jumps three feet and out of his skin at the sound of the knocking.
The book -- which looks like it could be a good five pounds, is filled with neat, official-looking writing, apparently separated into timed entries. For the most part it looks banal and plain.
Mikal gives a startled squeak at Tomas' reaction, diving under the table with the book.
Tomas says, "Name of the wee man, you just cost me 10 years growth!"
Jareth raises his head and looks around, head cocked and brow slightly furrowed. He knocks again, louder this time.
Mikal stays silent under the table, clutching the book to her, until she's figured out what's going on, and why Tomas is reacting so violently! Once she realizes it's likely a false alarm, she sighs in relief, tucking it away in her backpack... then freezes, looking up suddenly. Her voice is soft, "Hey. D-d-di- um... did anyone e-" She falls abruptly silent at Jareth's second knock, head up and listening alertly.
Mikal whispers silently to Raphael, [Did you hear another noise somewhere in the tower too, Raph, when Jareth knocked?]
Tomas tries to calm down. "Be quiet! You're not calling on your Aunt Millie for tea.
Mikal shhhhh!s at Tomas, still listening.
Raphael makes a quiet sound of affirmation to Mikal. There is no response to Jareth's second knock.
Tomas says, "What, Mikal?"
Mikal makes an exasperated noise, then whispers (not realizing she's cautiously dropped her voice so others in the tower hopefully can't hear), "I thought I heard something the first time Jareth knocked!" She glances at Raphael, adding, "Raph heard it too."
Tomas whispers, "What did it sound like?"
Mikal adds unhappily, "Too much talking to know for sure on that second knock... but I..." Her voice trails off, and she blinks at Jareth, "Why did you knock a second time, Jar?" She thinks a bit, then answers Tomas' query with, "Startled."
Norris listens to the others, hefting his hammer assuredly, but no matter how he listens, he doesn't hear what the others did. Yet he stays patient and alert.
Tomas looks puzzled. "It sounded like something was startled when he knocked? Could you tell where it came from?"
Mikal finishes packing the book away, then rises and walks over to Jareth, where she leans around him and opens the door, swinging it wide. Still quietly she adds, "Yes, and no. Sorry. Raph isn't sure where in the tower it came from either -- but I don't think it was here."
Jareth grins at Mikal, "To see if they'd make that noise again. I heard it, too." He tries the knob on the door.
The door opens easily, and inside it looks like Jareth has found the kitchen.
Mikal grins up at Jareth as her hand slides just under his to open the door. "That makes sense."
There is a number of shelves and larder, all neatly-kept, as well as a fireplace -- currently with only the smouldering embers of a fire -- upon which there is a large kettle. A couple of bowls with fruits are on the main preparation table, as well as a slab of preserved, salted meat.
Mikal blinks at the fireplace -- then abruptly whispers, "Cover me, Jareth, please?" as she whisks over to the fireplace. She kneels by it, her hands hovering over the smoldering embers as she tries to assess how many hours it's been since the fire was left untended.
Tomas looks for remains in the room.
No remains appear to be in this room. To Mikal, the fire seems to have spluttered out about six hours ago. AS she's there, she notices that the kettle has the cold remains of a savory stew in it.
Mikal glances over her shoulder at the others, "This fire got left untended, I think, about... six hours ago, guys? So... this happened fairly recently, and the soldiers were fine, even though it was a netherstorm, until then. So... did the netherstuff get down in here through the middle hole in the roof or something, maybe?"
Tomas says, "We don't know. Snow did, but we don't know anything about nether stuff to say."
Mikal nods to Tomas, rising to her feet again and dusting off her knees.
Norris says, "Asides that, wouldn't much diff unless all th' chothing wuz unner the hole, hey?"
Mikal blinks at Norris, "What?"
Norris smiles. "Ahm sayin...dun think the netherrain melted everywun, 's all."
Mikal nods slowly, "No, me either... but maybe whatever did it was carried in on the air or something? It had to either be invisible, or drift everywhere fast enough that no one raised an alarm -- or even moved much! You know?" She walks across the way and, once she's sure at least one of the guys is watching, she cautiously opens the other door as well.
Norris hunhs. And shrugs. "Mebbe?" he responds, not ruling it out, but inable to offer a clever response back.
Tomas sighs in exasperation.
The door that Mikal tries is, apparently, locked.
Mikal huhs! in startlement, then turns to the others, "Hey, this door is locked!" Tomas goes over to back Mikal up. She looks back at it with interest, "Must be important?"
Mikal studies the lock for a bit, then hmms, and kneels down in front of it after pulling a little piece of wire from her belt pouch. She looks back over her shoulder at the others, beaming, "Hey, look! This lock is just like a hunting trap!"
Norris grins. "Ah'll take yer word fer it, Mikal."
Mikal looks pleased -- she feels productive and useful again!
Tomas opens the door slowly, keeping alert for any surprises.
Jareth grins down at Mikal and saunters over, patting her shoulder.
The door opens, and beyond the group can see what looks like the tower's armory. A number of bows, sheafs of arrows, as well as bundles of spears, as well as whetstones, mineral oil, many spare jasper arrowheads, and a variety of polearms to fend off attempted siegers.
Tomas looks for remains, like we found below.
Mikal ooohs at the weaponry, tiptoeing in to admire the many nice examples of the bowyer's trade.
Norris peeks in, his eyes wide. "Wow." he murmurs. He's awful curious...but he doesn't move. He takes his guard job seriously.
Mikal comes out a moment later, smiling, "They do nice work! But let's finish exploring first, yes?"
Tomas says, "No more rooms on this floor. Time to move up."
A quick check shows another crumple of clothing... and this one with a bowl of cold stew spilled on the floor beside it.
Mikal nods to Tomas and waves to Raphael, whispering to the raptor wolf, "Stay right near Tomas, and sing out if you sniff anything weird, yes?" She stays back herself, nocking an arrow again for cover for those going point.
Mikal adds over her shoulder to Tomas, "Weird. Who eats dinner alone, in a locked room full of weapons?"
Tomas says, "Maybe he was grabbing a quick dinner while he was working."
Jareth waits until the room is cleared out of people before having a quick search.
Mikal blinks, and a heartbeat later adds, "Well, we know now the problem that killed them was a spirit form kind of thingie. The door was locked, after all."
Tomas says, "Or something that could get through the keyhole."
Mikal grins at Tomas, then goes back to staring up the stairs and waiting for the others to lead the way there.
Tomas waits to find out what Jareth found.
Mikal blinks, then adds slowly, "Or... it was..." she abruptly lowers her bow, trotting back into the room with the stew. She sniffs cautiously at it, trying to figure out if it has the scent of the powdered poisonrose from the floor below.
Tomas asks, "Anyone have a jar? Something we can put some of the stew in?
Tomas checks to see if there is a clean empty jar in the pantry. If not that something that can be cleaned out with a minimum of fuss.
Mikal frowns, then patters over to the pantry shelves, pulling down a small clay jar with a cork stopper. As she spoons some of the stew into it, she calls back to the others outside, "I can't tell if it's poisoned or not, guys... but I don't really know how to, you know?" She'll tuck the little jar into her backpack.
Mikal comes trotting back out, nocking an arrow again, "So, up now?"
Norris points. "Couple nother floors, hey?"
Mikal grins cheerfully at Norris, "Lead the way!"
Jareth blinks several times and then whistles low and quiet as he slides open a compartment hidden in the wall. He holds up an odd coin with what seems to be a grain of sand in a hole in the center. With a quick motion, he scoops them into a pouch he makes of the front of his tunic. The blade he finds, he tucks into his belt, figuring he'll show it to Norris for his perusal in a moment.
Norris grins goofily. "If Tomas, says t'." he demures.
Tomas starts up the stairs.
Norris moves up behind Tomas. "Yew wait fer Jareth, keep 'im safe." Norris suggests to Mikal and Raph.
Mikal nods, already covering Tomas. Raphael is following the older man up the stairs already.
Jareth comes out of the armory, holding his tunic out in front of himself. He's looking sort of amazed.
Mikal glances sideways at Jareth, then goes back to covering the folks going up the stairs. Softly she murmurs, "You can use my backpack for whatever you found, Jar, if it's not messy."
The third floor has a wooden table here with a number of seats around it; this is apparently the common area or marshalling area for the tower's guards. A circular staircase starts here, starting around the hole in the floor that leads to the next floor down; from here the dumbwaiter mechanism is easily accessible and it can be seen to lead upwards. A circular staircase begins here and leads upward towards the top of the tower, five stories above.
And here Tomas spots two more piles of clothing and armor at the table, with cold bowls of stew before them.
Mikal remains steady at the foot of the stairs, still with an arrow knocked, waiting for the all clear from one of the folks in the next room. At Raphael's silent reassurance, she lowers her bow and turns to smile curiously at Jareth, "What do you have, Jar?"
Jareth nods and tucks the coins into Mikal's backpack before slipping in front of her and on up the stairs, following where he's supposed to.
Norris looks at the bowls of stew regretfully...he misses his mother's stew. It makes him sad that he's likely to never taste it again.
Tomas looks around for any sign of anything.
Mikal blinks at the coins going into her backpack, then brightens, murmuring quietly to herself, "Oh, awen!" She pulls one of the coins out, adding a moment later, "In a silver coin instead of copper, though." She nods to herself, tucking the coin away as she adds, "Must be why the awen is larger." Tomas goes up the stairs. Jareth nods and murmurs.
Norris watches Tomas go. "Shoul' ah wait here, r' follow yew, Tomas?" he calls up at the guardsman.
Mikal trots up the stairs after Jareth, following them all up the stairs. She goes floor by floor, letting them get safely to the next landing before she trots swiftly up and starts covering again.
Jareth murmurs to Mikal, "They were hidden. With a knife."
Mikal nods interestedly to Jareth, "Do you suppose the knife is a magical thingie too? Was there one of those grains of sand in it?"
The roof is quiet. It is large and circular, with battlements surrounding it. From here, the group can see the top of the wall -- the tower appears to have been constructed later, simply as a means of setting up a watchtower to look over the wall and out beyond it. The part of the tower looking out past the wall has a medium-sized ballista here, which is probably what the spears in the armory were used for.
And beyond the wall... is the Wyrd.
It looks much like any vast landscape, though it looks a little 'off' with no curvature to make things out of sight below the horizon. But from here they can see all sorts of landmarks: snow-capped mountains in the distance that seem to be miles high, and closer forests and plains. Beyond that, any features far off are difficult to make out, though there appears to be some sort of settlement many leagues away.
There is a sprawl of clothing and armor here as well, beside which is what looks like a bronze-tiped wooden spear.
Mikal looks a bit longingly at the forests... then sighs, turning to look back at the lands that are supposedly the demesne of Raven and Winter.
Tomas examines the remains for any sign of anything.
Mikal takes a careful look at them to get the lay of the land, so she can travel more swiftly there. If she has the time, she'll go back and study the Wyld in the same way.
Jareth shakes his head and shows Mikal the dagger. "Just the blue stone. It's really lovely, isn't it?"
Mikal examines the knife carefully, like a hunter would: the stone gets a pragmatic look to see if it's flawed, and then the blade's balance, temper, and sharpness is tested.
The remains have one heck of an entry-wound in the back. In fact, the knife that apparently was used for the killing blow is jammed in between the lamellar scales.
Mikal smiles at Jareth as she hands the knife back, "It's very nice! The knife's a good one too. You might ask Norris for anything more about it?"
Jareth nods and tucks it back in his belt, "I planned to."
Norris is a little calmer now that we've confirmed taht there's no enemies left in the building. But now that they're in open air, he can't help but squint, wondering if Raven is still watching...
Mikal blinks as she notices the damaged armor Tomas is examining, "Wow, Tomas!" A moment later she puzzledly adds, "Is there no blood, or am I just not seeing it?"
Tomas searches for blood, and also looks for the cover to the hole. He says to Mikal, "No blood that I can see."
Mikal looks more puzzled. "Then... do the aelfar not bleed or something?" She murmurs, "Weird," as she goes back to staring thoughtfully out over the Wyld. She tries to pick out a path to the settlement.
Tomas says, "We don't know. We may have to ask them when we make it out of here."
Norris peers through the orange rain of the nethersquall, which seems to be not touching the wall at all. Through the rain, he thinks he can spot the tree where Raven was standing, and thinks he can make out the figure still there.
Mikal for her part thinks she can see a fairly well-traveled route through a forest that leads to the settlement, but from this angle and this vantage point it's not entirely clear.
Tomas looks over the knife in the cuirass as best he can without touching it.
Norris's brow creases as he squints at the figure...and then glances up at the rain, wondering when it's going to end...wondering what's keeping it there. The knife looks to actually be rather crude, not at all as elegant or as well-made as the alfar weapons Tomas has seen so far.
Mikal nods, pleased at that, then glances around at the others. "Let's finish exploring -- there were a few more rooms on the first floor, after all. C'mon!" She trots down the stairs after Raphael.
Jareth walks the perimeter of the little area, looking out over the whole area he can see. This is pretty amazing for a kid who has never been higher than the top of a tree.
Tomas tears off some of his tunic and carefully pulls the knife out without touching it. He then puts it in his belt pouch if it will fit. He looks around to see where everyone else is.
Norris looks at the others. "Seems lak we foun' all what's here...all what we might notice n'all, anyways. Figger we should go down an report t' th' others?
Tomas says, "We still have 1/2 of the first floor to check."
Jareth nods, "There are those other rooms Mikal mentioned. And I found this..." He slides the knife out of his belt and shows it to Norris.
Tomas asks, "Where did you find it?"
Norris hunhs and reaches out to take the knife curiously, studying it.
Jareth tips his head toward the stairs, "There was a hidden compartment down in the armory. Had some odd coins and that in it."
Mikal trots silently down the stairs after Raphael, humming almost inaudibly to herself. She's in a good mood -- they seem to have figured things out and everyone is fine! She follows Raphael to the door into the other rooms, standing back and nocking an arrow. At her nod, the big raptor wolf will reach out with one of his curiously shaped paw-hands and flip the lever to open the door. She doesn't think there's anything alive left here (especially since Raphael has sniffed around with no alarm), but she's going to keep Tomas's words in mind, and be cautious.
Tomas notices that Mikal isn't still on the roof, swears softly to himself, and starts down to find her.
The door opens easily... and almost immediately Raphael's hackles rise, and Mikal can hear it to: the sound of someone scrambling, startled, on the other side of the opposite door.
Norris's eyes open wider as he takes full measure of the blade. It looke like it should be ceremonial, what with the blade made of silver. But this is no simple silver. Silver tends to make a bad weaponmetal, what with it being softer than iron. But this silver is as hard as iron or steel. Not to mention it's perfectly balanced, which he tests by cutting throught the air with it, and flipping it in his hand. "This 'ere blade is amazin'." he murmurs loud enough to be heard. He tests the edge, and marvels at its sharpness.
Mikal blinks, then whispers to Raphael, [Get the others -- quick!] She steps back a bit so her nocked arrow can cover both this room, and the door slightly to the right of it.
The big raptor wolf bounds off, taking the stairs three and five at a time.
Jareth grins at Norris and nods, "Thought it was good, but you're the smith." He clears his throat a little, "Can I, uhm, have it back?"
The first person that Raphael runs into is Tomas, on the third floor.
Raphael makes an impatient sort of growling noise, having to leap up to the next landing before he can turn around and start bounding back downwards. He glances over his shoulder once to be sure Tomas is following -- then, reassured, he continues leaping swiftly (if heavily) back down towards Mikal.
Tomas follows Raphael.
Norris nods agreeably to Jareth. "Wish ah coul' find out who made a blade like 'at." he replies, handing it over. "'s a master's work."
Jareth beams at Norris and tucks it back in his belt. He slaps his larger friend on the bicep, "You'll be a master one day. Maybe we can find out after we're done here..." He follows after the smith's apprentice and Tomas.
Mikal is covering the door, but there is no further sound from beyond it.
Norris nods thoughtfully, clomping down the sairs, feeling more or less confident there's no one around to hear, now.
Eventually Tomas reaches Mikal, who has her bow out. Raphael has by this point bounded up the stairs to 'rrrf' excitedly and warningly to Jareth and Norris, and bound down the stairs again.
Tomas says, "What's the matter?"
Mikal murmurs to Tomas, "Raph and I distinctly heard something scramble on the other side of that door there!" She's standing stock still, her nocked arrow unwavering between the two doors. "I didn't want to go on without you guys."
Jareth blinks and speeds up his pace, trotting after Raph a little faster. If it weren't a really dumb idea, he would draw his knife.
Norris looks worriedly at Jareth, and pulls his hammer back out of its sling. "Stay b'hind me." he suggests to his friend, clomping down the stairs more hurriedly.
Tomas listens at the door between rooms 4 & 2.
Jareth moves out of Norris' way, murmuring, "By all means..."
Tomas checks to see if everyone is here.
Norris is the first down the stairs, moving cautiously behind Mikal...he doesn't ask what's going on, only assuming it's something potentially dangerous.
Mikal says, "*****EDITOR: it's the door to room 11, not room 2, that they're all at."
Tomas says, "Here's the plan. Jareth and Norris go to the open door to room 2 and make sure whatever it is doesn't get out of the tower. Mikal, Raphael and I will go up to the second floor, and back down to the room across the way, to see what is there. "
The room that the group is looking across is a storeroom, with various planks and tools such as stone drills and wooden plugs to repair the wooden walls of the rooms within the tower.
Mikal nods to Tomas, lowering her bow and whispering softly to Jareth and Norris, "Make sure you stay back to back, guys!"
Mikal trots silently off after Tomas, her bow still in hand but not at the ready.
Tomas says, "If something goes into room 2 and tries to get through the double doors, stop it as best you can, and call out for help. If it attacks, defend yourselves. If it surrenders try to bind it and call." He hustles up to the second floor. Once he is there, he starts sneaking down into room #3.
Jareth nods and does as he's told, pulling the knife he found upstairs instead of his normal iron one.
Norris is confused. "Wait...iffn there's sommat in th' room, why're you goin upstairs?"
Mikal follows with her bow at the ready, and Raphael covers on Tomas's left flank.
Jareth grins at Norris, keeping his voice low, "They're going up, over and down, buddy."
Norris doesn't seem to get it at first. And then his mouth makes a small 'o'. "Th' door locked?" he queries in the same tone.
After a minute or so of rearranging and repositioning, Jareth and Norris are watching the door in the entry hall, while Tomas, Mikal and Raphael go up to the second floor, across, and down. This side of the first floor is a mirror image of the other.
As Mikal and Tomas sneak down to the bottom of the stairs, they come face-to-face with what looks like a middle-aged man, who is also attempting to sneak up the stairs, and who has failed to notice them until this point. In fact it's not entirely clear how either group failed to notice each other until this instant.
Mikal snaps, "Freeze!" as her arrowhead points unwaveringly at the man's heart. Mentally she whispers, [Raph -- dart him and look down the hallway, then say if there's anyone with him!]
Tomas waits to see if the man freezes before acting.
The man acts quickly, not hesitating -- as he lashes out with a short blade at Tomas.
Mikal fires. He arrow flies true, striking the onrushing man.
The arrow shunks! into the intruder, making him cry out as he staggers back, the arrow piercing his chest.
Mikal has another arrow nocked and ready, still aimed at the man. It hasn't yet really registered to her that this is a man, not a monster, which is bleeding by her metaphoric hand.
Tomas says, "Don't shoot him again unless he tries something. I'm going to try to tie him up so Tyrsson can question him. "
Raphael notifies Mikal that there is no other present.
Mikal nods, lowering her bow and pulling off her backpack, "I have some rope."
Tomas tries to disarm the man.
Mikal murmurs a bit absently, "Raph, bite him if he does anything, please."
Tomas grabs the raggedly-dressed man and takes the sword away. He then holds him while Mikal ties his hands behind his back.
Mikal leaves a short leash of rope which she puts into Tomas's hands. After that she very pragmatically tells the man, "This will likely hurt. Fortunately I didn't use a hunting arrow," as she pulls the arrow and swiftly dresses his wound. She looks relieved once she's done -- she wasn't sure she could do that fast enough to keep the man from bleeding out. She picks up her bow and adds to Tomas, "Me and Raphael will finish up real quick." She follows the big raptor wolf deeper into the room, the same (cleaned) arrow nocked in her bow.
The man briefly attempts to struggle, but the piercing arrow in his chest drains all the fight form him, and he lies there, tied up, gritting his teeth and sweating from the exertion of not screaming in pain.
Tomas calls the other two to come over the stairs. "Once we check these last rooms we will take this one out to the guards."
Between Raphael and Mikal, the rooms are quickly checked for more individuals. If there are none, she'll quietly call for Norris and Jerath to join them.
so they can search more thoroughly.
Norris arches a brow, blinking at the disabled and bandaged man as he amlbes over with Jareth. "Well, shucks, that wuz easy." he drawls, leaning his maul on his shoulder.
Jareth mmms and crouches by the guy, smiling crookedly, "Tried to hurt someone, didn't you?"
Tomas says, "Don't get too cocky. This may be the first of many encounters we will have in this weird place."
Mikal is carefully not looking at the man... she's a little squicked at the thought of having shot a fellow human, so she's assiduously mentally dodging that thought.
THe man is to far in his own little world of pain to even answer Jareth.
The first door that Raph opens and Mikal checks, is just like any of the others, except this room has an actual body in it. It is raggedly-dressed, what little can be seen; it otherwise has a blanket covering it, but the outline is unmistakable.
Mikal calls quietly, "Need backup! Got a body here!" She continues to cover the body while she waits.
Tomas hustles over to the door. He carefully leave Mikal a clear line of fire and pokes the body with the butt of his poleax. The body does not react to the poking.
Jareth rises from his crouch by the injured man and moves over, ready to help if he can.
Norris stays where he is...those rooms are cramped quarters. And he is, as they say, big.
Tomas slowly enters the room to examine the body, leaving a clear line of fire for Mikal.
Mikal calls quietly to Norris, "Ask the guy how many were with him, Norr, please?"
Norris nudges the fellow with his boot. "Best yew shoul' save yerself more pain an hard ship, tell us if'n there were anyone else withya, fella." He's not really threatening him, merely pointing out the last time he was difficult, he got shot.
There's nothing remarkable at all about the body. The clothing looks plain and unimaginitive, well-worn and sturdy but also a bit ragged. No armor to speak of. A knife at the belt that looks not unlike the knife wedged into the armor at the top of the stairs, as well as a short sword.
The man winces, and stifles a cry as he gets nudged by the boot; the wound is still fresh. He keeps his teeth gritted, and says nothing.
Norris calls back, "e' aint talkin. Not sure ifn e' just not helpful, r' in too much pain t' talk."
Jareth calls back, "Let me come talk to him."
Tomas checks to see the cause of death.
Norris looks back at the man. "It's really t' yer benefit to come clean, hear? Ah mean, assumin yew don' want any o' yer friends t get arrows in th' belly. Mikal's a dang good shot...but yew know that, hey?" He's almost friendly to the man.
Tomas thinks as he examines the body, "I wonder if he even understands what they are saying."
Once the body has been revealed clearly to be dead, Mikal and Raphael move to the next door -- Mikal figures they might as well be useful while others are busy.
Jareth ambles back over and crouches again. He pats Norris on the calf, "Relax. The gentleman and I will have a little chat."
Norris grins at Jareth. "Ahm relaxed." he assures. And he is.
There is noting indicating what caused the man to have died.
In the next room, there is nothing; it is empty.
Mikal checks the next door with Raphael, then (if it too is empty) turns around and checks the final door.
Tomas goes to follow Mikal to the last room
The final door Mikal checks leads into the storeroom.
Mikal relaxes once she's sure there are no more nasty surprises waiting, putting her bow away and looking up at Tomas to curiously ask, "So how did the guy die, Tomas?"
Tomas shrugs. "He wasn't stabbed or strangled. His throat wasn't cut, his head wasn't bashed in, and he wasn't beaten to death. Either it was natural causes, or a poison."
The man grimaces, making an effort to physically look away from Jareth, unaffected by the mischievous goatherd's honeyed words.
Mikal nods gravely, thinking as she heads silently back to the others. She quietly asks Raphael to keep an ear out, and stands behind Jareth, resting a hand lightly on her friend's shoulder as she studies the bound man.
Jareth sighs a little and says in a quiet, regretful voice, "We're really just trying to figure out what happened here. It might be best if you just co-operated."
Mikal says gently, "Jareth would like to help you, you know."
Tomas looks around, and starts getting ready to move out. "Norris, get that man on his feet, and start for the door. Mikal, you and Raphael keep an eye on him. Jareth, we need to get this body out of here.
Mikal says quietly, "Wait, Tomas." She hasn't taken her eyes from the man. She repeats, "Jareth just wants to help you. Don't you want to cooperate with him so he can?"
The man remains turned away, and starts to shake. It takes a moment for them to realize he's crying.
Mikal blinks in surprise... then whispers to Jareth, "I -- I don't know what to do, Jar! Can you help him?"
Norris was starting to do as Tomas said, and then stops when the man cries. He looks at the others, confused.
Jareth nods quietly to Mikal and reaches carefully to lay a hand on the man's shoulder, voice softly, "The other man? He was your friend? It hurts to have someone like that die, I know. What's been going on here? We really just want to help. We were sent on a rescue mission."
Mikal holds up a finger in a 'wait a moment' gesture to Norris, so Jareth has time.
The man nods, shakily, and his voice is a whisper as he rasps out. "Mordred... took pay from... Mordred. We're not.. we're not supposed to be the bad guys, he told us.. he told us we weren't the bad guys.... I'm just... I'm just an accountant, not... not...." He scrunches up his eyes tightly and *thuds* his head against the ground, weeping.
While they are talking to the prisoner, Tomas checks outside to see if the storm has passed.
Mikal is leaning to hear as well. When the man stops talking she whispers to the others, "What's an accountant?"
Norris's brow knits, looking unhappily at the others. The man may have attacked his friends, but they're not hurt and he is...so it's easy for the big man to feel sympathy. "Dunno." he replies to Mikal.
Mikal looks hopefully at Jareth -- maybe the clever goatherd knows?
Jareth murmurs to Mikal, "Keeps track of things, I think." He keeps his hand resting lightly on the injured man, "What happened to the others? The ones that disappeared?"
The man rasps out, "K-killed.... Didn't think it... it would ... be so hard.... oh, God...."
Jareth shakes his head, letting Mikal know he doesn't know. He keeps his hand resting light on the injured man, "What happened to the others? The ones that disappeared?"
Mikal starts to look a bit unhappy.
The man shakes his head, not willing to speak any more about it.
Norris looks puzzled now. Whatever the man is, he doesn't seemed to be a trained warrior. Why did he think it would be easy to take out real soldiers? He looks at the others. "A spect we neds ta know who this Mordred fella is."
Mikal glances around worriedly, then murmurs to Jareth, "Should we go now? There seem to have been an awful lot of dead people due to something this man knows, after all?"
Mikal glances at Norris, "The Seneschal mentioned him. He's a bad guy, I think."
Norris nods to Mikal. "Right then. We turn him over t' Tyrsson and be on our way, hey?"
Mikal nods slowly to Norris, "Maybe she can help him. I'm wondering if he's a dreamer too, you know? Can you help him up?"
Jareth sighs. He squeezes the man's arm gently and says, "May the One watch over your soul, friend." He stands and nods to the others, "We should probably go."
The group and their prisoner, along with the body, head out of the tower. Once they clear the nethersquall -- which does not seem to affect the intruder any more than it does them -- the alfar are around them, taking the prisoner and the body to a small medical area, while Tyrsson looks on, grim. "I take it you found something... ill in there," he says simply.
Mikal nods silently, wide-eyed, to Tyrsson. She's pulled the jar and the vial from her pack, and she hands them to the aelfar, saying simply, "Poisonlily, we think. We also think the man was duped by Mordred."
Jareth smirks, "We found empty clothes and a vial poison used to be in. Oh, and this." He pulls the knife out of his belt, "And there were some coins."
Norris wipes off his hands after turning over the unhappy prisoner. "LEss'n we expected, sirrah. Lots o' empty clothes where bodies shoul be, an no blood."
Tomas says, "Aye, 7 piles of clothes with no bodies, evidence of a struggle, and at least guard stabbed in the back." He hands over the knife
Mikal says, "Oh! Yes, that reminds me," she gives Tyrrsson a very puzzled look, "Do you people not bleed when harmed?"
Tomas reminds Mikal to hand over the book.
Mikal ahs! and nods, setting down her pack and pulling out the book. After handing that to Tyrsson, she waits expectantly for the answer.
Tyrsson shakes his head. "If you mean, aelfar? We do bleed. But when we die, our bodies -- and our blood -- return to the dreamstuff." He accepts the book grimly, flipping through it to the last page. "Ah," he murmurs. "They took in two mortals, not long after their last report; one was very sick. That was the last report." He looks up curiously at Mikal. "Poisonlily? Mordred? This does not bode well, I fear. If he's moving against the Winter Palace..... Well. It's not good."
Jareth ohs! and remembers something, he pulls out the strange necklace, "We found this on one of the... piles of clothes."
Norris blinks thoughtfully. "That coul explain things. Mebbe the soldiers took the folk in, an poisoned them...ergo they died wi'ou blood, but maybe not wi'ou a bit o' a scuffle when they realized they was betrayed, annat."
Tyrsson accepts the ncklace, and ahs. "Yes. Soldiers' tags. We wear them since... well, since our bodies essentially disappear when we are defeated, this lets us know just who died. They cannot normally be removed. Thank you. Once the nethersquall lets up, we will go in and... see whom of our fellows fell to these assassins."
Mikal shakes her head at Norris, "These soldiers here took in the two men who were secretly from Mordred, Norris. They didn't poison them."
Jareth nods solemnly, "I hope they were not close friends."
Norris shakes his head. "Meant the men poisoned the soldiers...mebbe mah words was mixed up."
Mikal gets a funny look, then glances over her shoulder. She blinks -- then shifts gracefully so she's got Norris and Tomas between her and Raven. The small human girl has just noticed Raven is no longer in the treetop -- she's a lot closer now, standing a short distance from where the two mortal assassins -- one live and one dead -- are being examined by the alfar healer.
Norris frowns. Something is tugging at his mind. "Sirrah, how many warriors man a tower?" he asks Tyrsson, then.
Tomas says, "Six to 12, they said."
Tyrsson makes a quiet sound. "That sounds plausible. Just the sort of thing Mordred would pull." He examines the knife, then nods quietly. "This is a knife placed in a tower, meant for special cases -- it's silver, and some things can only be harmed by silver. So it is useful to keep it in case of such an event." He nods. "Aye, six to twelve. There were I believe seven in this particular guard shift at this tower."
Tomas says, "And that's what we found. Nasty buggers."
Norris hunhs, counting on his fingers. "So it's reg'lar fer men t' share rooms? Ah mean...ah seen six quarters, innere."
Jareth nods and says, "Guess the knife should go back, then. What about the coins?"
Mikal says, "There were two beds per room, Norris. Oh! Thank you, Jareth, for reminding me." She opens the backpack again and scoops out a small handful of coins from the bottom, dropping them into Tyrsson's hands, "Here you go! Awen coins."
Tyrsson looks at the coins, and nods, "Ah, yes. We leave some coins in each tower in case they have a sudden nead to purchase supplies, or at the sergeant's discretion. Thank you for finding them."
Mikal beams at the unexpected praise, "Jareth found them! He's very clever."
Jareth laughs and slips an arm around Mikal to hug her briefly, "I'm mostly just lucky."
Norris looks abashed. "Sorreh...did'n look none too careful at th' rooms. Was paying attention t' stairs.
Tyrssen nods a little, then says. "Well. This was helpful. Thank you very much indeed! If you could take the logbook to the Seneschal, and let her know what happened. We'll secure the tower once the nethersquall has ended."
Mikal beams again, this time up at Jareth, "Da always said luck comes to those who work for it!" She grins happily at Norris, "You did the right things, though, Norr -- just what Tomas said! That's what's important!" She nods to the aelfar, relieved things went as well as they did.
Tomas looks around. "And now where should we go.
Norris nods agreeably...he's always been good at following orders.
Mikal tucks the book back into her backpack as she smiles at Tomas, "Back to the castle, to see the Seneschal."
Tomas says, "Lead on, Mikal."
Mikal re-shoulders the pack, then looks around hopefully, "Is, um, Iron Antlers around anywhere near?" She adds in a stage whisper, "I think we're supposed to pretend we don't see Raven too... I think?"
Tomas looks over where Mikal indicates Raven is. "Not much we can do about it one way or another, I suppose."
Tyrsson smiles a bit. "Oh, you don't have to pretend to not see her. You just won't be able to have anything resembling a normal conversation with her, that's all."
Norris looks at Mikal. "Why woul' we pretend not t' see th' Throne? Woul' she be offended cause she's not sneaky enoug'?"
Mikal blinks, doing a double take as she glances over her shoulder again. She hastily puts her back to Norris, looking around worriedly. Raven's no longer where she was a moment ago -- she's nowhere to be seen! "Uh-oh -- look! The dead guy's gone!" She's puzzled that the healer working on the living man doesn't seem at all worried.
Norris hums. "Aright...mebbe she is sneaky enoug'."
Mikal gives Tyrsson a confused glance, "But, but... but what happened to the guy?!"
Tomas shrugs again. "That's her job, remember, leading the dead to the next world. She's what my uncle called a pschyopomp."
Jareth says, "Well, they said she escorted the dead...""
Mikal blinks at Tomas, "A what?!"
Tyrsson mms? and looks over, and looks around. "Ah. She does that. She takes the mortal dead to Sheol. She is respectful of our need to find out who the dead are, but once there is nothing more we can learn from the body... she carries them to Sheol."
Mikal closes one hand onto Norris's wide leather belt, fairly sure she can't be whisked away by strange mythic characters without Norris noticing. She's looking a bit warily around her as she murmurs, "Umm... all right... can we go now?"
Tomas says, "A psychopomp. Someone who takes the dead to the next world. There are any number of them back home."
Tomas says, "Lead on, Mikal."
Mikal nods and heads for the shelter of the forest. Once there she scrambles up onto the fay-stag's back with evident relief. She's quite wary and cautious the whole way back -- which is her usual job, so probably no one notices.
Mikal is noticeably relieved again when they safely arrive at the palace.
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