[pnpgm] Game Update #72 - File #589 - Z'leyra looks into the past
Scott Adams
longshot at cybermax.net
Tue Feb 16 08:53:49 CET 2010
HT Alias/Player Character Name Type Status/Notes Sex
-- -----------------------------------------------------------------
R1.John Haight...........Arawn.............Druid .Normal/Alfar Ma
??.Chris Wells...........Ben'dar...........Warrior.Normal/Human Ma
R4.Tom Corckett..........Caladan...........Wizard Normal/Human Ma
W2.Marcel Liberty........Chion.............Sailor..Normal/Human Ma
W3.Ryan Torres...........Farseeker.........Warrior.Normal/Human Ma
--.Tobie Bonahoom........Fremea............Sidh....Normal/Faerry Fe
R2.Mark Murtha...........Kell..............Trader..Normal/Human..Ma
Do.David Sanders.........Kiet.Sunan........Acrobat Normal/Human Ma
R4.J H Hooten............Raban.Usherwood...Bard....Normal/Human..Ma
W2.Robert Maxwell........Strie'bog.........Bard....Normal/Human..Ma
R1 NPC...................Shu.Yeoh..........Wizard..Normal/Human..Fe
W4.Wout Broere...........Unali.............Ninja...Normal/Human Fe
...Thomas.Magann.........Whitney...........Scholar.Normal/Human..Ma
R1 John.Stowman..........Will..............Hunter..Normal/Human..Ma
R4.Alex Koponen..........Z'leyra...........Healer..Normal/Human Fe
R1 NPC...................Zhou Kiwat........Noble...Normal/Human..Ma
Animals: Corona [Eagle] Z'leyra, Tef'wo (Horse) Ben'dar,
Cover Story Info: [HD- House member, F-Foreigner, N-native non house]
Arawn aka Arawn as Teacher to daughter [F]
Ben'dar aka Bu Da as Horse expert [F]
Caladan aka Ca Lu as Guard/Archer [N]
Chion aka Capt. Chu Mai as Sailor Trustee [HD]
Farseeker aka Fu Sa as Guard [F]
Fremea aka Lin Mong as Noble child [HD] [Disguised]
Kell aka Swan as Trader [F]
Kiet aka Kiet Sunan as Zhou's servant [F]
Raban aka Toban Nu as Entertainer/Guard [F]
Strie'bog aka Sun Zhu as Entertainer [N]
Shu aka Shu as Niece [HD]
Unali aka Tun Au as Zhou's wife [HD]
Whitney aka Whitney as Herbalist/Tailor [F]
Will aka Sun Tzu as hunt master [F]
Z'leyra aka Kakita Junami as Healer [F]
Zhou aka Zhou Wa as Baron Noble [HD]
Game Web Site - http://www.funport.com/longshot/pbem
Public posts/actions to pnpgm at abroere.xs4all.nl (mailing list)
Private emails (not public actions) to longshot at cybermax.net
Game Update #72 in sequence (file #589)
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Admin Notes: None.
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[Recap]
From Z'leyra: [Re: Actions]
["After the Akasha, if done, I will call upon Shu's spirit...
GM: Ack. Who is this "inn spy" you speak of?]
I was referring to the person Kiet mentioned that might have
tailed him from the inn
-----------------------------------------------------------
He then proceeds to help the others pack Shu's belongings,
occasionally taking a look out the windows for any signs of
trouble.
GM: Ack.
From Fremea: [Re: Actions]
Fremea will change before they leave the room and make sure
there is nothing else left behind that can be traced. She will
also make sure that Shu's blood is 'unusable' by anything else.
She will keep a very close eye (paranoid now) on anyone coming
close or looking too long.
GM: Ack. Paranoid? Gee whiz. A GM should never make players
paranoid! Maybe I'm doing a bad job.
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[New Stuff]
[Julis 25th, 1634TH]
[Location: Middle Katai Plains, Shantou Province, Shantou city]
[Time: 2:50am - Night 2 in Shantou]
It is now around five minutes since Shu's body has been
discovered. Zhou has just left the room upset that the
people around him are going to cast more magic to put the
mission at risk to learn of a killer's identify.
An odd look comes over Arawn's face as he watches Zhou exit the
room. Taking a deep breath and then exhaling Arawn is heard to
mutter, "I hope the explanation is worth all this."
By now the room and hallway is crowded with people. Now 13
remain in the room or hallway. Caladan watches Z'leyra and
arawn talk about more magic to investigate the scene. He
sighs and faces the others. "It is a dangerous thing you do
here if you cast all this magic. For each one you do you
put us further into danger. I would rather not be part of
this. I'm going downstairs to watch out for trouble." With
that he heads out of the room and downstairs back to the tavern.
Ben'dar, Chion, Strie'bog, Whitney and Will all remain quiet
still as Zhou leaves the room. They all mingle in the hallway
and seeing what will happen next.
Arawn continues to study the room but doesn't gleam much from
the room itself. He briefly watches the party as they mingle
or just stare into the room. When his eyes pass over Ben'dar
his vision narrows and seems to linger just a few more seconds
than usual for some reason. He then turns to Fremea and wonders
if this person could be trusted or not. But looks can be very
misleading and hard to figure out even for a god who may be all
knowing. He has seen mere mortals trick even a god with good
cunning and double speak. Course the god would never claim such
happened but it does occur.
Fremea places Shu's dagger back onto the table and gathers up
the maps for the party. They will need to be kept safe though
by now likely some have already memorized the maps.
Raban stands with shoulders slumped at the sad sight in front
of him. Regret and anger filling him. He knows he would've
heard someone come down the hallway. Just a bit ago he heard
the small old woman who owns those shoe stores lumber down the
hall to the latrine. If he could hear the wood creak for that
frail old woman he would've heard an assassin who should have a
moderate to heavy body frame.
Unali stands in the north west corner of the room watching
the others. She crosses her arms and frowns at the sight.
But she seems to be in deep thought at the moment.
Farseeker chases Zhou into his room. "You are just going to
pack up without even speaking to the party about Shu? Some
kind words?"
Without glancing over his shoulder he grabs his leather bag
and satchel. He begins to place tunics and pants inside. "We
will have time for that later. We simply have no time for it
now. Especially if Arawn or Z'leyra cast ...do more things
in that room."
"I thought Varange was cold blooded." Farseeker mutters.
"This is not how to run a team and be a good leader."
Zhou turns around and glares at Farseeker. "Unali is the
leader now, my role is cover. " He walks up right in front
of the warrior. "Don't underestimate my emotions. I mourn for
her and have for weeks But time is critical we could very well
be surrounded by the military now. They waste time by trying to
argue how best to talk to the dead. My mission is to see the
Vong dead, not to put us into danger. They go off shopping for
items in town like there is no risk. They enter taverns and
ask about rumors. They get followed and tell us HOURS later.
They are reckless and I for one do not wish to be killed due
to poor thinking."
With though Zhou turns and resumes packing. "Tell Kiet I
will need him to help us pack right away if he isn't having
fun over there. We will also need to clean the room. Figure
out how to cover and remove the blood and gore."
Farseeker turns around to leave. Zhou stops and then speaks
once more. "Farseeker. If we had time this would be different.
But we don't. Please. I need you to go downstairs and stand
guard. If you can go outside and look around. Too many
of us are up here and blind."
Farseeker simply nods and sighs. He then exits the room
and heads for the stairs.
Z'leyra knows the spirit of Shu has likely passed on beyond
the barrier into the next world. It soon becomes clear Arawn
chooses not to cast magic at this time. Even though Z'leyra
has not voiced her wish to do the Akasha spell she considers
it for several long moments. The risk of failure could be
disastrous to the hotel much less the party. Detection wise
the spell is a rare one and not common everyday so the risk
of detection could be ultimately low but the magic casting itself
might be detected as pure magic. Whether they can detect that
and pinpoint is the risk not the actual Akasha spell. She
fears for the risk to herself as likely she could have a fair
chance of failure without her magic toys and staff. Over the
last 2-3 years she has only cast the spell itself 2-3 times.
Once in Clima she tried to divine the use in order to trick
the results. But the forecast failed and the Akasha backfired
leading up to a very wounded Trembyl by slime. He might have
died that day but did not. Then again later she used it in
Caladan's village and later in the Vassa Sacred forest to gleam
information important for the party.
She asks everyone to step back and give her some room. All
But Arawn and Unali slip out of the room. The others are
outside and have to crane necks to see over shoulders or shift
occasionally to let others view inside. With this many people
in the hall though it is likely to cause some concern especially
this late at night.
Z'leyra in a low voice explains her plan to view the Akashic
record. For some this is just meaningless words but then
she explains she will try to cast an illusion after the spell
to show everyone what she saw. The spell will be cast upon
the room itself but is limited to the room and will not show
anything in the hallway or balcony. Even with the window
window shade up the spell will not reveal the assassin as he
would be if at the window. A limitation of the spell itself.
She knows she might have a 20 minute slice of time to view
the past within the last couple weeks. While it might be good
for some to enjoy the room's events over he last weeks the need
for facts is more critical. Some would like to have seen the fun
bed activities like Ben'dar or Raban but it would deter from the
need for truth.
The problem the Healer has is what time does she need to view?
Even the wise old healers at Ticasi didn't know how death could
be factored and sliced up. Facts like how long it took a body
to cool down after death was argued and debated. But no set
formulae was figured out. Based on Shu's body temperature she
has been dead likely for as short as 10 minutes or as long as
an hour. So it leaves a 1 in 3 chance of seeing the right
general time of death. The ink on the maps is well dried but
ink dries fast in this summer heat. So that could be as short
as minutes. The same goes for the blood which is dry for the
most part. The heat the room keeps is slightly above normal
room temperature. the fringes of the pool are matted and dry
while the center is moist which doesn't give clues on how long
it has been here. But based on past experience it has to be
likely within the last 30 minutes. Z'leyra guesses then
that the best time frame is 5-25 minutes ago. She decides to
try the 5-25 minute period just before Fremea entered the room.
She plans to cast a forecast spell to see if the spells will
work. Arawn has seen her try these methods to circumvent the
Fates. Just cast a divination spell and see if the spell to
cast will work. It is simple really. But Arawn finds it amusing
that mortals would dare try this. To annoy the Fates is to bring
terrible problems on that person. The Fates do not like their
methods which to them are set in stone to be simply avoided if
the result isn't liked. This is why he knows the gods will fake
results to prevent mortals using tricks like Divination, detection,
Knowledge, luck, wisdom and even Time travel to trick the
Fates into a result the wizard wants. This is why the gods
of mischief demanded all magic results have some random variety
result that could mean failure or super success even with no
chance of failure.
Suddenly up the stairs comes the tavern night clerk. The
middle aged man is dressed in simple city clothing but looks
frazzled with a busy night. He stares down the hall at the
group of party in the range of 8 people standing in the hall.
"What is going on here?" He whispers loud enough to be heard
but not tot to wake the other guests. He comes closer and
suddenly Raban and Ben'dar block the hall so he doesn't come
close to see inside the open door to Shu's room. "Where is
Baron Zhou?"
From the other side of the hall, Zhou enters back into the
hallway hearing the talking outside. Zhou walks close and
glances briefly inside Shu's room. Z'leyra is in the midst
of casting a spell based on her words and gestures. He sighs
greatly and frowns then turns back and taps Raban to step aside.
Zhou turns the clerk around and guides him few feet away. "I'm
sorry to have our people here. My daughter had an accident
and bumped her head. Course her teacher, bodyguard and other
servants came to help. They will be out of your hair soon.
In fact I'm afraid pressing matters force us to leave tonight."
He pauses and wonders if he should've announced this in case
the clerk tells others but it is too late now. "Please have
the horses prepared if the stable boy can be found. We'll be
leaving before sunrise."
"It is just these people..." He waves his hand at Ben'dar and
some of the others. "They don't belong here right now. They.."
the clerk then realizes what Zhou has said. He suddenly realizes
that he'll lose some money. "Was there a problem with the room
or food or services? Can I fix any issue you might-"
"No. The place is excellent. It is just we have far to
travel and wish to avoid the morning rush out of the city."
Zhou explains and then reaches in and grabs a silver coin.
"Please see to the horses?" He places the silver coin into
the hand of the clerk.
The clerk pockets the coin like a trained thief. "Of course.
Please visit us again." He then glances back down the hall
at the rag tag group. Then back at Zhou. "Please ensure the
servants do not wake the others." He then turns and heads
back downstairs.
Meanwhile back in Shu's room, Z'leyra casts a divination spell
upon herself to see what she hopes to happen. The result seems
good and she inhales deeply knowing the next spell is dangerous.
She then casts the Akasha spell and enters into the trance.
Seconds later she comes out she sighs. She reveals she only
saw Shu slumped over and the blood dripping for some time though
accerelated by the time window. She knows she could simply state
the facts about Fremea but decides to simply show the truth.
She casts her illusion. It does indeed show Shu on the desk and
toward the end shows Fremea coming into the room and then picking
up the dagger. Then seconds later it seems Raban comes into the
threshold of the room. This seems to confirm what Fremea has
said but the illusion shows others that Z'leyra isn't simply
protecting her. Of course the illusion itself comes from her
own mind so could be misleading in some ways.
Knowing the risk is still great she decides the period just
before 2-25 minutes or in this case 26-46 minutes ago should
be good to view. Zhou shakes his head in disgust and grabs
Kiet. "Help us with the bags." He then storms back into his
room but Kiet remains transfixed by the spells.
Z'leyra then casts another divination spell, Akasha spell
and then the illusion once again. All seem to work once again.
This time though she sighs from the result not the lack of
knowledge. Her mind replays the scene and she casts it into
an area illusion the size of 1/10th of the room but in smaller
scale. The Illusion shows Shu working at the start of he illusion.
It appears she is working on the larger Katai map and drawing the
circle around the mountains. No one can see her eyes but the head
seems stiff and rigid as well as her shoulders. This must be
the ritual in effect. Some then realize this violation of privacy
for the ritual would likely offend Shu's spirit. She would not
want the ritual details to be revealed to the entire party. She
made that point quite clear. Arawn soon realizes this and wonders
if the illusion should be stopped.
As Shu seems to study the map she waves her hand over the map
and seems to go back and forth over areas. It seems to reveal
details the illusion or spells can't reveal. She makes X
marks in some parts and repeats it in other areas of the map
the whole process again.
Soon the illusion though in slightly faster form shows a odd
thing in the north-west corner. This is slightly behind
where Unali is now standing. A dark glimmer seems to
appear at the window. The window shades are both pulled down
and the outside is not seen. Even if they were open it would
not reveal balcony events during the time window.
Some squint at the illusion which is directly from the data
obtained from the Akashic record. Either it is Z'leyra odd
interpretation of the facts or the party doesn't understand.
The odd spot seems to be almost like smoke or fog. It is black
and oily looking.
The "smoke" seems to ebb into the room from the bottom of the
window for several seconds. It then floats along the west wall
behind Shu and past the bed. Once it is clearly behind
Shu's field of vision the "smoke" soon forms into a shape.
Kell's eyes widen as if he has seen this shape like one of
his summoned friends? The form grows into a humanoid shape
an seems to float silently toward the back of Shu. This
is when the party notice Shu's dagger is in a small scabbard
on the top of the clothes locker. The black smoke translucent
form grabs the dagger and draws it out of the scabbard. It
then quickly floats toward Shu. Once behind the small woman
one of the being's arms grabs her around the neck and pulls
it toward its body. Shu immediately flails her arms and tries
to fight but seems to fail. With the other left arm of he
smoke creature it uses the solid dagger and shoves with heavy
force into the head of Shu. The blood spurts north west toward
the bed and rear toward the clothes locker. Gore and blood
seem to pass through the being which at times has solid and
at times has no form at all. The being then drops the dagger
and quickly floats toward the window. As it does it loses
form and quickly fades away.
Shu slumps onto the desk and seems to be dead instantly from
the damage. The illusion then shows the room empty and still
aside from the blood drain and the illusion soon ends.
Actions? Comments?
Next Update...Friday...
GM: Reminder the maps Shu did has been on the website. Small
update for now. Though small I had to figure out a lot
of details behind the scenes. But it is enough for now.
GM: What is the plan for the room cleanup? Burn the room down
of the evidence? The gore? The blood? Any details on that?
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