The locals huddle around in groups of 4 to 8 and await the arrival of the funeral wagon.

Some of the townspeople give the party dirty looks and a few point as they whisper to each other.

Horst can be seen milling about the crowd.  Some of the people pat him on the back in greeting and most seem to humor the older man.

Some of the locals swill wine and other drinks, and an enterprising tavernkeep has brought a wagon led by a donkey that has a keg of ale on it and a casque of wine.

He's doing a brisk trade.

========================================

Minutes later, a boy about 10 years old runs into the graveyard.  Oy, the wagon's startin' down the street!  Be here in about 10 minutes!

=========================================

A fat woman and her two children move through the crowd selling bits of cloth seeped in blood.

Get'cher killer's blood!  Got it fresh from the scene o' his death.  A silver each!  Get 'em while they's wet!

A minute or so later two young men move through the crowd offering the same thing for sale at 2 silvers each.

The killer must have bled more than a stuck pig!

And the worst is yet to come:

About five minutes after the little boy yelled his announcement, a fat man with a blood-stained apron waddles through the crowd with a wicker tray of various pieces of what look like meat.

Got parts of the Shadow Slayer's brain here, and a thumb and part of his heart.  Got one of his kidneys too!   Come and get the parts nice an' fresh.

A little woman with a black shawl looks over the meats and starts to laugh.  The fat man shoos her off and shouts out about his strange wares again.

Bethany and Drake can see that as he shoos her away, she pockets something small from his tray.

She moves off, letting some children look over the bloody items.

Denira twitches.

"Stay sharp and stay near the body." she calls to the party. She storms over to the man selling the meat, aware that she is leaving a hole in their defences. She doesn't bother going over to the blood seller. As soon as she reaches the fat man in the apron, she examines the meat and once satisfied it isn't human she walks back to her post. If, on the off chance she thinks it is human she will attempt to confiscate the meat.

OOC: Heal check to identify meat = 26

The meats seem to come from a variety of creatures such as a cow, goat, and...maybe a large fish.

You don't see this "thumb" he claimed to have, though.

Denira gets back into position and scours the crouds for anyone acting or looking suspicious. That "thumb" was likely stolen for a reason & Denira couldn't take any chances.

OOC: Spot check = 14

==========================================

FROM DM:

The townsfolk eye masked Denira suspiciously, but if she makes eye contact, they look away immediately.
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:42, Sun 11 June 2006.

Drake shows little or no emotion as the job begins, but does nod to the women who offered the rose, politely acknowledging her gift.  He slide the flower into his belt with his free hand, for his other keeps his shield ready.

As Denira spars with town hero, Drake merely watches, not taking sides. He does not want to insult a man who the town respects, but he also respects the level of duty Denira is taking for her job.  Drake has been done many duties such as this and in many towns as he traveled.  He likes to keep a low profile and not show disrespect for those who are of the town.

Taking his patrol with shield only, he begins to see the odd behavior of the townspeople, selling blood and meat. Drake wonders if this is a local custom or if this is a "special" occasion. Either way, it makes his a little uneasy.  He sees a women take something from the meat-seller, and tries to eye what it is, but the other people interested made it hard to get a good look.

As Denira moves to inspect the Meatman, Drake moves away from the crowd, not wanting to get too distracted by it.  Also, Drake catches some of Bethany's conversation with the half-elf.

A big group of people come into the cemetary and people make way for them.

Soon they make their way close to the pyre.

One of the men seems to attract most of the attention from the others in the cemetary.

This man is dressed in a white shirt with dark brown pants and a black vest.  He is a bit overweight, but in no way fat.  He seems rugged, perhaps having seen some adventure a decade or so ago.

Radcliffe is with the group of people, and he nods and smiles at the members of the party he spoke to before.
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:47, Sun 11 June 2006.

Looking to the crowd and the reaction of the "special items" being sold just enrages Bethany.  Another reason she thinks to her self why she dislikes the way humans act.  Gripping her blades tighter she inadvertly ignores anything the half elf has to say to her and starts to dart her eyes back and forth.  The old lady who pockets something shiney is a disturbing thing to Bethany as well.

Before she can yell a warning to the vendor the group of people she is supposed to wait for start to come up the path towards the pyre.  Moving so if the time came she could run towards the dead body Bethany awaits.  Whispering to her self ^{I hope some fool runs towards the body, give me a true reason to hurt one of these humans today.}

Bethany still has the image of the old lady in her mind and wonders what in the nine hells did she pocket.

OOC: Bethany and Drake: if you want to search for the old lady, you can still do so and stand near the pyre.

I need a Search skill check at -4 to the result if you stay near the pyre or without the negative modifier if you move around through the cemetary.

Drake watches as the group moves near. It does not pass his eye that many of the people seem to be attracted to one man in particular.  Drake sees no need to leave his position at the pyre, but glances around to see if he can trake the lady that caught his eye at the meat-seller.  The crowd has mixed much though and he did not really get a great look at the women to be able to distiquish her from any other townfolk.

Drake continues to watch for signs of trouble, but honestly feels that too much is being made of this funeral.

Someone shouts from atop a roof about 2 blocks from the cemetery Here comes the wagon!  Wait..

There's TWO of 'em!

Murmurs go up around the gathered groups of people.

Two wagons?

Someone else die?

I heard the mayor's wife is sick.  That's why she ain't here with him.

Sick ain't dead, Mertyle.

Mebee 'tis a fake, ta throw folks off.  Ya know, like "Ohh, which wagon has the body" type thing?

You listen to too many bard's tales, Mona!

----------------------------------------

A few minutes later, a man dressed in leather armor with a bronze chestplate on rushes up to you after having talked with the group the mayor and Radcliffe are in.  (That group stands next-nearest the pyre from you.  The rest of the townsfolk are kept back about 30 feet from the pyre by men dressed like the one approaching you.)

Mayor just told us, one of the wagons is a fake.  I mean, the wagon isn't fake - that's real, of course.  The body inside is fake.  Not even a body, but a wood sculpture wrapped in a shroud.

The real wagon...I mean, the one with the <i>real<i> body inside it is driven by a man with a white flower in his hat.

The other rider has a red flower.

Both wagons'r gonna apporach the pyre, one to each side.

Stick with the wagon driven by the man with the white flower.

Got it?


The guard awaits your reply.

Drake nods in acknowledgement, but quickly turns and whispers as he passes Denira.  "We had better watch both wagons".

Drake doesn't have a good feeling about this.

Denira nods as well, both to the armoured man & to Drake all at once.

If we stay with the one wagon that'll present it as the target Denira thinks to herself Or maybe that is the intention? she thinks it better not to ponder on this further and decides to guard the white flower-hatted driver's wagon.

OOC: I think we should call the wagon driven by the man wearing the white flower in his hat the 'white wagon' and the other the 'red wagon' to avoid confusion and obtuseness.

Satisfied with your replies, the guard nods once and hustles back to the mayor's party.

When he reaches the group, he speaks to the mayor and the mayor smiles and waves to you.

Randcliffe also waves, and his smile, though less apparant, speaks a bit more too you.

(If anyone wants to try to decipher it, a Sense Motive skill check, DC 13 would tell you.)

Elodeir stayed around the others, intending to do as directed, standing guard by the wagon they were told to guard, while keeping an eye on the other as well, not at all convinced it was the wagon being guarded that would contain the actual corpse.  That did sound awfully blatant, after all.

Drake does not trust the situation and fears that they are being set up.  All is not well and then he sees the Bard trying to talk to them from the distance. Is he trying to warn us?" Drake wonders.

As the wagons approach, Drake positions himself close to the Pyre and towards the front side of the wagons.  He will make sure that he is in between both frontends of the wagons vs. being between the pyre and the "white" wagon.  That way he will be able to react to both sides of the crowd or to either wagon. He still does not draw a sword, but keeps his shield ready.

The crowds try to get closer to either the front gates of the cemetery, on top of some crypts, barrows, and mausoleums for better looks, or in front and around the pyre.

Two people get past the mayor's guards and try to grab at the lit flame, but you manage to stop them.

They are dragged off by the guards.  It's obvious they're drunk - this early in the day.

People grow more and more excited as the wagons draw close.

They are now a block away.

Some little children dance in a circle with a cabbage in the center of the circle.  Each gives it a kick at the end of a line of the morbid song they sing.

Aye, aye, the killer's dead.

They'll poke out his eyes

They'll chop off his head.

Aye, aye, the killer's dead.

His body'll be cut

His blood will run red.

A young woman with jet black hair and a wide brimmed hat moved slowly through the crowd watching the commotion with an amused expression. She wore a plain back shirt and a well made skirt of a utilitarian nature. Now and then the girl would stop and pickup conversation with the people in the crowd, smiling and nodding and occasionally laughing with whomever it was.

As the news spread among the crowd that there were two wagons she did as everyone else and stood on tip-toes to try and see what was going on.

Folks start to crowd the pyre and the mayor holds his hands up high and says in a loud but jocular voice.

All right, all right.  Give some room for the wagon to come with the body, or they'll be no show, eh?

Give some room for air to get to the fire, too, all.

Keep it orderly and we'll all have a good time.

Some of the crowd calm down a bit and the mayor whispers to the bard Radcliffe.

The elf nods and strums on his ebonwood lute.

The tune he plays is calming, and most of the folk who hear it stop jostling each other and pay attention to the music.

The wagon will be in the cemetery gates soon.

OOC: Meaning tomorrow when I post.  Just giving you some last few hours to prep, RP, plan, etc.

PM

PM

Glancing from one person to another does nothing to settle her nerves for the carnage she is sure will happen.  Looking back to her companions she does not feel at ease even with the skill she knows they hold.  But in any case she wishes this to be over or for something to happen besides the bards song calming the week willed humans that flood this area like rats to a wheel of cheese.  Not wanting to disrespect her employer but the sight of all these humans is making her ansti to say the least.

OOC: Drake's actions are pretty much already in place. My last post anticipated the wagons to get to the pyre much quicker than they did.  Just wanted to remind DM of my intentions.

OOC: Look for the wagons to arrive tomorrow!

PM

PM