Dark Tidings

[Posterboy]

As the chaos erupted around him, Tate scanned the crowd, hoping to locate Esgalwen. She was, however, by Grimbeorn's side and, by the time he spotted the ranger, a crowd of Beornings separated the two of them. Tate resigned himself to stay near Hathcyn. The man had impressed Tate with his courage in facing the bull and he appreciated the Beornings quick wit.

Tate did what he did best when he didn't have his mouth open -- he sat back and observed, taking in as much information as possible. In particular, he was listening for who these dead men were, what was their stories, what had they done in life, and how were they killed.

But Tate was also after something more... he was listening to the pulse of the people, what this news did to their collective heart.

[Posterboy]

  Tate is looking to gather and understand the information he's receiving around him... so I'm rolling his awareness and insight skills. If needed, Tate will invoke his "curious" trait... Tate's mind is always trying to know more about the world around him.

[/Awareness Rollb]

Rolled 1d12 : 3, total 3

Rolled 4d6 : 6, 3, 5, 5, total 19

[/Insight Rollb]

Rolled 1d12 : 7, total 7

Rolled 2d6 : 1, 4, total 5

[Telcontar]

Hathcyn spotted the Dale man and the two were soon side by side. He gave a quick nod of his head toward the front of the crowd for he was equally curious. Like a snake working its way through the tall grass the man wove his way forward on the crowd. By instinct the man seemed to be able to read the folks and know which way to step and where he could advance to workhimself forward.

[Eclecticon]

The Beornings' womenfolk set down their needlework and, regarding Esgalwen neutrally rather than as an outlandishly-dressed intruder, silently move inside the house to go about their grim business.  The magnificent beasts o Beorn's house bring stools and chairs, mead and cheese, and the impromptu council begins in earnest.  Æthelwold Red-Eyes, taking his seat, spits upon the ground and bluntly says "forget Viglund and his people's crimes.  I met those men well south of here, on their way further down the Anduin to see justice done for a foul murder in Stánford." 

Standing, Claudas Bare-legs bellows "in this, we are agreed.  The Viglundings are a nuisance, nothing more.  A murder there has been, and two more to allow the guilty man's escape!  This strikes at the heart of our folk and must not go unpunished!"   

Within the house, the women begin the arduous task of undressing the two corpses.  They know their work well, and do not ask for Esgalwen's assistance, instead allowing her to simply watch, and handing her the dead men's bee-shaped cloak pins and the four darkly fletched arrows once they are pushed through and out of dead flesh. 


Still going!  Hopefully next week will be less mental. 

An Awareness roll for Esgalwen:

1d12 : 11, total 11
Rolled 2d6 : 1, 6, total 7

[Eclecticon]

In her service to the Stewards, Esgalwen has seen many Men slain in battle, and it is obvious to her that the arrow-wounds were mortal to both men.  Why, then, the cutting of Merovech's throat, she wonders. 

So wrapped up is she in the question that she does not realise for some moments that she is being addressed.  A red-eyed young woman stands before her, a bloodstained sheath in her hands.  "I said," she repeats, "to tell my lord's son that my father's sword is missing." 

[tomcat]

Two in a row...looking grim for Esgalwen.
Broken from her thoughts, Esgalwen nods to the crying woman, "I will tell him right away. Please, it will be returned, but might I take your father's scabbard with me?" There was hesitance. "I promise you - both the scabbard and the sword shall be returned to you."

There was a conviction in the Ranger's eyes that lent the woman release, and slowly the empty scabbard was given. Esgalwen nodded and placed a hand of comfort on the woman's shoulder, while the other reverently held the sheath.

"I will return with news to you."

And with that, Esgalwen returned to the forum of thegns and her companions. A quiet fell over them all and Esgalwen wondered if it were because her news demanded attention, or if it were due to the fact that a woman had entered the chamber. Part of her knew why Grimbeorn had sent her - he had seen her in battle and knew she would have a keen eye towards the wounds dealt...still part of her had felt dismissed.

Esgalwen shook the thoughts from her mind and strode confidently to where Grimbeorn sat. She ignored the eyes that were on her, as she did. Once there, she bent in close to speak to the Master of the House. She did not whisper, but the words were for Grimbeorn and for him to make judgment.

"I have looked over the bodies, Grimbeorn. The arrow shots were lethal, but yet sill the throat of Merovech was opened. So either, the man was slain with knife and then his body disgraced with arrows, or the opposite is true. Either way - it is a message being sent. Here is the man's scabbard - it is empty."

Grimbeorn took the empty sheath. Esgalwen added, "Is this a grudge that we are seeing, or another incursion by your neighbors to the north? If the former, than this is a brutal murder within your house. If the latter...well, it would seem that Viglund by taking the Dwarves and slaying these men most cruelly, is challenging you. And I say it is you because it is now well-known that Beorn will see you as his heir."

[tomcat]

Still going!  Hopefully next week will be less mental. 

An Awareness roll for Esgalwen:

This dice roll has been tampered with!
1d12 : 11, total 11
Rolled 2d6 : 1, 6, total 7

What TN were you looking for, Paul? While both of the Awareness rolls were 's, mine at least was two which would given her an Extraordinary success if the TN was 12.

Let me know, so that I may either mark my sheet or consider her abilities for shite.

[Eclecticon]

  Sorry, Doug - the TN will be 14 unless I specify otherwise. Esgalwen has had some bad luck, it's true, but at least you're getting it out of the way early!

[Telcontar]

  doug, welcome to the player side of the boards.

[GandalfOfBorg]

"There are yet still questions to be answered before action can be justly taken.  Where was the boat found?  Was that the site of the attack or was it elsewhere on the river? I don't recall looking close enough but the arrows, are they of Vig-make?  I agree that cutting Merovech's throat was an act of provocation, an unforgivable one at that, but could this attack be connected to the taking of the dwarves meant to divide or divert our attention or the other way around?"

"Let us start with a full account from those that found the bodies and proceed from there."


  Where is Stanford?  I also have a sneaking suspicion that this party is gonna get split.

[Telcontar]

Hathcyn called from just beyond the inner ring of the circle.

"What of Odo? The sword of Merovech was known to be fell and just, and the tongue of Odo to speak with wisdom. If the sword was taken from one was the tongue taken from the other? If they have both been denied in death their greatest tools in life this is more than a slaying. This is a blood fued."

[tomcat]

"The ladies did not speak of any mutilation of Odo," answered Esgalwen to the young newcomer she had not yet met. "But I will check on it to ascertain such a vile deed."

Leaving Grimbeorn with the dead man's scabbard, Esgalwen quickly ran to the house where the bodies were being prepared.

She looked to the ladies working there, "Odo Peace-Speaker and lawmaker...has he a tongue?"

"Wha...?"

"His tongue, woman! Has it been removed?" Esgalwen did not mean to speak so curtly, but her ire had been raised and justice was calling. She watched as the women moved to the man and opened his mouth.

[Eclecticon]

And therein, swollen and blackened with spreading corruption, lies the tongue of Odo Peace-Speaker.

[Eclecticon]

Some more rolls:

Esgalwen

1d12 : 4, total 4
Rolled 1d6 : 2, total 2

Grimbeorn

1d12 : 7, total 7
Rolled 3d6 : 6, 4, 6, total 16

Hathcyn

1d12 : 2, total 2
Rolled 3d6 : 5, 4, 5, total 14

Tate

1d12 : 7, total 7
Rolled 3d6 : 2, 2, 5, total 9

[Eclecticon]

Their vigour restored by the mead-horns in their hands, the boat-bearers tell the assembled crowd once more, and in more livid detail, of their finding the boat yesterday afternoon at a well-known fishing spot some miles to the south.  "Stuck fast in the thick reeds, so it was!  Took us near an hour to drag it clear.  We looked, of course, but found no sign of those as loosed the arrows.  Mayhap they shot from across the river?" 

Roan Buck-Shirt, having muttered to himself for a few moments, raises his own reedy voice.  "I remember now.  They came by us at the Old Ford not two days past, Merovech and Odo, may they lie peacefully, and a third man.  Younger, I would guess he was, strong of arm and dark of mien.  Captured, but not subdued, if you follow me." 

Further speculation is hushed by Esgalwen's re-emergence, to relay the news that the tongue of Odo is yet intact.  Grimbeorn and Hathcyn, though, barely hear her, drawn as they are to the arrows, still blood-slick, that the Dunadán bore forth.  Not by any hand of Men were they wrought.  The man of the northern vales recognises the feathers of the carrion-birds that flock in the foothills of Gundabad, and the lord of the hall remembers a night years ago when arrows such as these flew in the light of burning buildings at Mountain Hall. 

Unless some great deception be afoot, this killing is the work of the orcs of the Misty Mountains.