Brankx listened to the story in silence, taking in the whole story. He looked at the mayor with a friendly smile. "Bein' a mage meself, i can vouch that men who learn magic are men of logic and reason. If he has his senses, i'm sure we can convince him to help us. If he doesn't come, then maybe we can learn of location of th' crystals....maybe i can learn from him to learn to make them meself."

He pauses, then continues. "As fer the storae area, maybe we shoud have a quick look there. It is closest, it may hold something of use."

He looked at the Mayor. "Why won't th uards go into th' storae area? What is th' reason?"

"What?!" Ballast exclaims, with more force than he had intended.  "Because the crystal is in pieces, the village will turn into ice and die?  Why- what- it-"  It is not precisely possible for a warforged to sputter, but Ballast makes a valiant effort.  "This is exceedingly relevant information!  Yes, by all means, we must find this Lars Heyton and make things right.  Any trips to the storage area should be, by necessity, brief."

As she listened to the description of the dire nature of the town's situation, the young cleric's smile slowly faded to a fully serious and thoughtful expression. "By the Holy Beard of Pelor I promise to do my best to save Korthos from the frosty doom you speak of." Looking seriously over the others in the party, Cumarinda added, "Let us investigate the secrets of this storage area and then make our way towards finding Lars Heyton!"

Oddly the barbarian turns and leaves without saying a word. Strange.

The mayor watches him go and looks at the group."That man? Strange isn't he? Anyways thank you for helping the village and myself. We are grateful. As for the storage area, everyone is afraid to enter as I mentioned a guard who was inside came out and fell into a coma. He did have bite marks but hard to tell what caused them. They were small if that helps."

Brankx looks on as Fenris turns and leaves. He shakes his head, mumbling. "Damn moody elf."

He looked at the Mayor as they described what happened, and nodded. "Whatever bit him caused th' coma. We have been warned so we know what to look fer. We won't be long anyway there."

Cumarinda watched carefully as the barbarian elf starts to leave. Nodding as if coming to a decision about something, she stands quickly and turns to address Ballast, "Ballast, your care for the welfare of this village who are strangers to you speaks to me of the goodness of your character. That makes you a blessing to those around you. Thank you."

With a fresh smile spreading across her face, Cumarinda brightens like the rising sun on a clear morning. With her voice returning to its usual cheerful tone she says to the others, "Let us catch up with Fenris and together we'll move forward."

While speaking she gets up and moves to follow Fenris.

Outside they look for the barbarian. Standing near the storage area, is a guard who is talking to the brute. They seem to be arguing and finally he open up the door and looks at the other people.

Cumarinda quickly catches up with Fenris and the guard. She looks curiously to each of them and asks the guard, "Was there a problem between you and my elf friend?"

Ballast hefts up his new shield and nods at the mayor before heading out to the storage area, feeling a need for some swift action to solve this problem before tackling the more complicated one of the village's lost crystals and mage.

"What is wrong with this room?" he asks the guard there.

Brankx, a step behind the others, nods at the mayor with a smile. "Let us look around and get to th' bottom o this"

The dwarf walks behind balayst, chewing on his lip, thinking. "Maybe there's a spider or some other bug....causes th coma." He muttered more to himself than the others. When they arrived at the storage area, he looked up at them all. He held off any questions...the others had asked already

"He wants inside and I was told to not allow anyone inside. And its several rooms not one. And the guard that went inside was found in a coma and is badly hurt. He may make it. No one knows whats inside. He was found near the door inside. No one wanted to go in out of fear." The guard responds.

"The mayor has asked us to assist.  We will try to find what harmed your companion.  The mayor is in the inn, if you wish confirmation," Ballast says, nodding towards the inn.  "The sooner we can determine the danger, the sooner we can determine if there is anything further that can be done to help your fried.  Cumarinda is very skilled in healing."  He says the last with a gesture at the priestess.  If the guard is willing to let them in, Ballast will open the door and settle his new shield on his arm, his magical sword in his hand, then enter to see what lies within...

Cumarinda nods and smiles, speaking in a calming, reasonable voice with persuasive tones. "My friend and ally here," she says indicating Ballast, "as well as my elf warrior friend," she adds indicating Fenris, "Are both here with me and my dwarf companion to help save this village from its many troubles."

The young fire color haired cleric steps closer to the guard with an warm confident smile and a hand on the holy symbol around her neck. "I am Cumarinda, priestess in service to The Sun Father Pelor who brings light into the world. In the name of Great Pelor, I have come with my companions to bring hope and healing to those who need and destruction to the servants of darkness and evil. Please let us go inside."

The barbarian watches the cleric and shakes his head. He crosses his arms, staring at her. The whole 'worshiping anything' didn't work on him. He makes his own path.

Nodding, the guard lets them go into one area of the storage area. He mutters something along of keeping the mutt on a leash. But as they go inside, Fenris grabs him by the throat and has him pinned against the wall. Despite calling him her friend, the guard doesn't seem to care. Fenris holds him up, his feet barely touching the ground. He drops him and looks at the other party members.

If the enter after the guard unlocks the door (before hoisted up by the barbarian), its a small area. Straight ahead leads to a larger area. Several barrels line the room, all with caps. There's a door to the left closed. Also there is a passageway to the north leading downwards and to the right leading down as well. There are also barrels in the center of the room as well as bags of what can be assumed are flour.
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:15, Wed 27 Nov 2019.

Brankx, entering after the others, watches as Fenris hoists the guard up, and sighs, rubbing the bridge of his nose with his fingers. When he is dropped, he looks at Fenris with a sigh. "Makin' friends I see."

He walks up to the guard and looks at him. "My advice to Ye boy....don't insult people who are trying to help Ye damn town from freezing over....and don't judge a book by its cover. He may be an elf, but he could outfight Ye without breaking a sweat."

He looks at the others then the room. "Let's get this done an' fast....we have to find th' mage"

Ballast regards the guard who insulted Fenris with some disappointment.  "The guard is not a worthy foe.  Your honor is stronger than his words," he says to Fenris, mostly ignoring the guard in favor of keeping his companion on the likely more challenging task of cleaning out whatever forces or beasts were infesting the storerooms.  This village had more trouble than any six other places...

Once inside, Ballast looks at both passageways, and the door, and comments, "If the guard has a key to the door, we would appreciate having it."  Either way, Ballast goes to see if the door is locked.  If locked, he'll wait and see if there is a key forthcoming.  If there is no key, he will open the door the old-fashioned way, by forcing it (unless someone has a better idea).

After they take a look inside and Fenris puts down the guard Curmarinda asks the guard, "Please tell us what you know or have heard about what is supposed to be in here. Also I would appreciate if you would share any keys we might need."

She whispers softly into the guard's ear, "In Pelor's name, please excuse my rough warrior friend, he's not quite as patient as others might be."

The room remains as is. Fenris snorts at the warforged comments and stares at the dwarf. He grunts and looks around the room, pulling out his sword.

The guard has left and its assumed if he had anything, he would have given it to the group and he already mentioned what he knows-nothing other then finding one of the guards in a comatose state near the door. Well to anyone but the barbarian. The door is locked but there are two areas to check out-the north that leads downwards and the east that leads downwards as well.

Brankx (ignoring the glare from Fenris), takes in the area with narrowed eyes. "It would go faster if we split up....but if somethin' is here we may need the group."

He looked at the rest. "Mefelf and Balayst will take north, you two take the east. Don't move to far and if somethin' happens, call."

Before going any further, Cumarinda examines the room, especially the barrels and bags to see if she can determine their contents, preferably without opening them.

"Wait Brankx, hear me out on this. While speed might be gained from dividing our forces to search, prudence suggests that together we are best prepared for the unknown. In unity is strength." she cautions.


OOC: 13:44, Yesterday: Cumarinda Imbrex rolled 20 using 1d20+5.  Spot check.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:25, Fri 06 Dec 2019.

The cleric just spots odds and ends. Its a storage area used for storing some flour and other food items. Some look torn open but the barrels look untouched for some reason. Fenris grunts and starts to head down the north seeming to ignore the dwarf.

Ballast looks at the door, then at the barbarian, then back at the healer.  "I dislike leaving a closed door behind... though there is no reasoning with Fenris even at the best of times.  It seems we are going north.  Cumarinda, is the stuff in the barrels rotten?"

In reply to Ballast (msg # 414):

While moving with the others behind Fenris she answers, "The barrels seem to be sealed, I cannot know what is inside them. But if they were important I'm sure we would have been told what it was. Lets get moving so we can support Fenris when he finds trouble ahead."

"Brankx, I know you're smart as well as brave, please bear with us, we need your knowledge as well as your spells to succeed." she gently pleaded to the dwarf mage.

The dwarf glared after Fenris....it was true the two would nbever be friends, but there was a grudging respect for the other that they would (Most likely) watch each others backs when the time came. He shook his head and snorted as he walked away.

The dwarf follows Cumarinda and couldn't help but smile at the comments of the barbarian finding trouble. "Aye....he seems to be good at that." The dwarf listened to her comments about his bravery and wisdom, and waved her with a smile.

"Ye be a good lass, but call it as it is girl...i'm a stubborn dwarf who's a little smarter and less inclined to foolishness than most of his kind....but I appreciate ye kind words lass. We all have a part to play, and damn me, this is gettin' interesting."

He looks her in the eye and winks. "Besides, i kinda like getting that pointy eared mule riled up....he's as stubborn as me kind. Reminds me a bit o home."

The group follows the barbarian and he stands there in front of a closed door. Drawing his sword out, he grunts and looks at the other party members. It sounds like something is moving around in the closed room.