Mayhem in the Graveyard - RPLOG
Participants
Date
23/6/479
Log
It is a hot, muggy evening and the air is full of the drone of summer insects as the sun dips over the horizon. The Potter's Field lies a short distance outside the walls of the city and is, unsurprisingly, in ill repair. Looking at the place, it is hard to believe that anyone could notice intruders here. The walls are overgrown with climbing vines and crumbling in some places. There is a large, rusting gate of worked iron, but it hangs crookedly upon its hinges. Outside the walls of the graveyard itself lies the caretaker's cottage, which is considerably better kept. A stooped old mole stands outside the cottage with a lantern hanging from a long walking stick, apparently expecting visitors.
Kazel is clad in her shiny silver armor that covers every inch of her body and peers at what lies before her through the slits in her ventail. She checks the straps of her shield as she makes her way towards the little cottage, nodding to herself, seeming to be satisfied. She addresses the mole as she gets to him. "You the one who called for aide?" She looks around herself to see if others are approaching as she waits for an answer.
Zuri steps up alongside the rest of the approaching beings. The small spotted salamander skips along happily, eager to get back into the 'action' of Freesword contracts after months spent doing much more glamorous but far less exciting work. He peers over at the walled graveyard, stretching his neck up as if it would somehow help him see over the walls from this distance. "Huh.. " He hurries on after his brief pause, rejoining the group and greeting the caretaker with a big bright smile and a wave.
Rokarion walked behind the excited salamander, idly humming to himself. A cool breeze can be felt around him, tickling his aromatic petals for hair. "Greetings, gentlebeing. I hear that your graveyard is supposedly haunted. Let us hope it is just a couple of unruly children." he says with a cocky smile.
Angus slings his musket over his shoulder, making sure the repaired leather strap isn't going to snap anytime soon. Walking up to the cottage he squints a little from the lantern, ears folding a bit from the irritation. "Heard you were having a bit of a problem?" He asks as he looks around at the others who have joined. "Evening Zuri, Rokarion. Long time no see."
Not too long after Lord Solacious himself arrives, so would a short, orange feline known as Lidara, clad in his usual purple robes, but actually without his backpack for once. Instead, he has a pistol on his side opposite the dagger, along with a shortbow and quarterstuff slung across his back in place of the pack. As they approach the cottage, the cat does pause for a moment to eye the graveyard a bit warily, though his attention would quickly return to the cottage and the being in front of it. By the time he reaches it though, most of the questions he could have asked have already been asked.
As the summer insects are buzzing through the air, Cara rushes past the outskirts of the city on her way to the graveyard. As soon as the light of the lantern becomes evident, she rushes torwards the light. Upon making it to the site of the cottage, she slows down to a stop and walks over to the old mole. She smiles to all of the gathered beings who happen to be around the cottage and speaks nonchalantly "Does anyone know exactly where the noises were heard?"
"Let's hope, yes," Cassidy says, nodding at Rokarion's words, testing the string on her bow as she stands next to Angus before slinging it around her back once more. "But whatever the reality of the situation is, it's nothing we won't uncover and settle, with any luck."
The mole blinks in surprise at the motley crew who have arrived on his doorstep. "Well, shoot," he says, "I wasn't expecting the whole guild to show up." He nods at Rokarion. "I expect that's all it is," he says, "Just some kids messin' around in the old 'haunted graveyard.' I'm just too old to go chasin' them off and my no good apprentice has run off. Said he got religion or something." The old mole waves his lantern toward the rusty gates of the graveyard. "Doubt it graverobbers," he says, "The poor souls in there got nothin' worth taking. I don't got much to pay you with myself, but if you can get those hooligans to clear off, I'll see to it that all of you get a hot pie from the Missus."
Kazel raises an eyebrow under her helmet. A hot pie is a lot less than she usually charges for her services, but she is already out here. She gives a sharp nod to the mole and marshes towards the gates of the graveyards, giving them a push as she gets to them and eying the area behind them-
Zuri smiles wide on seeing Angus. "Hiya! Long time, yea! Glad to see you out and about. I-" He was about to ask Angus a bunch of questions when his tirade is interrupted by important talk. He nods at the caretaker. "Yea! Probably! But best be safe than sorry. Even if it is kids, a graveyard is no place to be playing in.. dangerous and all." He nods as the rest of his sentence, showing not much additional emotion until the hot pie is mentioned. He blinks. "Pie? Oh.. oh wow!" He turns to the rest of the group. "Okay gang! We have to find whoever's messing about in the graveyard. It's imperative that we set up a full cordon around this place and stop then!"
Rokarion nod his head at Angus, "And a good evening to you, Angus." the youth answers before looking back at the mole, "You might want to get yourself another apprentice then." The plant being looks towards the graveyard, "Very well, scaring children for pie. An acceptable diversion." Roka shakes his head and pats Zuri's head as he walks towards the graveyard, "Relax, dear. You will get your pie by the end of the day, no need to fret."
Angus perks his ears up, looking around at everyone that had showed up, taking note of who was joining and what new faces he might be encountering. As Zuri and Rokarion starts talking to him he smiles, giving them a nod as it was indeed good to be out and about again! "Well a pie is always nice. Warms you up more then coin" He murmurs, watching Kazel walk up to the gate he waits to see what they find while letting everyone else talk and ask their questions.
Lidara throws a quick glance of his own around the group, and... wow, there really was a lot of Freeswords here today. His attention, however, thankfully is drawn back to the conversation before he could miss too much important stuff. "Hopefully it is just some kids," is all he really has to add for the most part. When pie is mentioned though, he does get a slight grin on his face and even lets out a giggle at Zuri's reaction. With that though, the orange feline simply turns to follow after the rest of the group to the graveyard, his attention flicking over to the grey fox as the move, and... a slightly curious look forming in his eyes. Seems he's thinking about something.
Cara smiles slightly for a second from the idea of a pie, but her expression remains focused as she keeps her right gauntlet covered hand on the hilt of her sword. From there, she looks to everyone else and speaks, "This might be paranoia on my part, but we should move as a group. That way, we can handle whatever might come at us quickly and easily." She glances towards Angus, Rokarion, Zuri, and Cassidy before continuing, "It's nice to see that I get to work with you guys again." She nods towards the graveyard gates and she begins to slowly walks to the front of the group before glancing towards Lidara, "Thanks again for helping." Then she turns around and she waits behind Kazel in case anything comes up.
Cassidy watches Angus for a moment before tilting her head as she sets off with the others. "It's been a long time since we have worked together. I hope being a father hasn't made you too rusty with that rifle there," she teases light heartedly, giving her cousing a playful prod on the shoulder accompanied with a grin.
The graveyard gates squeals like a thousand damned pig souls as Kazel shoves it open, revealing the shabby cemetery beyond. It looks like someone has done their best to maintain the grounds, but they are fighting a losing battle. There are all sorts of scattered, stone markers, though there is little order to their positioning and very few seem to bear any kind of engraving. Everything is overgrown. There are a few meandering footpaths that are probably meant to wind through the graves in a thoughtful way, but in the dark, hot night they just look shabby.
The mole waddles gamely along with the group to the gate. "I'm trying, son," he says to Rokarion, "But you can imagine how hard it is to find an apprentice caretaker for a regular graveyard. One for beggars and criminals is a heluva lot harder. Lot more traffic here, for one. I mean the dead, o' course. The living don't come here real often and it's hard to find a young being willin' to handle the dead like we have to. We do our best to see that everyone gets a spot. For as long as we can anyway. Gotta lot of turnover here too. Some folks only get a decent grave for a year or two. Eventually they all end up in the bone pits over yonder." He nods to a distant corner of the shabby graveyard. "Real tragedy, this place," he sighs, "Y'all come back when you're done and we'll have a little reward for you."
Kazel looks back at the others to make sure they are following along and steps forward through the gates. The heavily armored bat is somewhat careful to stay on the path as she heads forward, but her real focus lies on making out any shapes and movements in the darkness ahead of the group.
Zuri nods quickly at Rokarion. "I hope so! It would be a shame to be promised pie and then get no pie..." He walks alongside the others, standing at ease as he expects no trouble from this place. It's just a cool graveyard! Full of criminals! He listens to the mole's description, nodding slowly. "Wow.. so, they get unburied and reburied over there? That's... kinda sad." He stays behind Kazel, peering in through the gap between her and the opening left by the gate.
Rokarion nods, "Indeed, such a pity. You might need to ask ask the crown for help. I would have thought that they were obliged to fund a place like this." With a yawn, Rokarion saunters forward into the graveyard. The plant being's pace makes it seem that he is here to take a leisurely stroll rather than get rid of any troublemakers. Rokarion goes down the winding paths of the graveyard, eyes taking in the sights as well as any movements. "The place could certainly use some flowers here and here."
Angus frowns a little, that lantern was going to be a bit of an issue if they were looking for their targets. Quietly unslinging his rifle he does look to Cassidy for a moment. "Heh, I'm still as good of a shot as ever." He answers, sticking his tongue out at his cousin before he switches back to silence, his stance wide while his foot falls remain quiet, trying to linger just at the edge of the lanterns light.
Lidara gives a quick nod to Cara at that. "Probably a good idea for us to stick together, yeah. Strength in numbers and everything. And thank you for helping too." That said though, his attention goes back to the gate, the cat's ears folding down against his head for a moment whenever it's opened up. His attention quickly returns to the mole though, the orange feline continuing to listen, though the only thing he actually adds is another nod at Zuri's later statement, along with a quiet, "Yeah." Once the rest of the group starts stepping into the gate, he throws one more glance over to Angus before simply shrugging to himself and beginning to follow behind everyone else, his steps light and cautious while his hands linger a bit closer to the weapons at his side.
The feline slowly begins to walk into the graveyard and she unsheathes her sword. She begins to look around the dilapidated graveyard markers and sighs, "Maybe better care should be given to these." As she continues to walk through, she walks forward and waits for everyone else to appear behind her. Suddenly, she gets a rather bright idea and walks back to the rest of the group. The green markings on her body light up and she attempts to figure out if any corrupt callers might be in the area. Her skill in sensing them might not exactly be the best, but it's better than nothing at this point.
"Good to hear. I wouldn't want word to get out you've gone soft," Cassidy says with a wink, pulling her bow around into her grip again. "Can you imagine how many people might try to take advantage of that rumour?" She slips to the middle of the group so that she had people on all sides between her and whatever might approach.
The mole and his lantern remain at the cemetery gate and the warm light is soon left behind for the damp darkness and the hum of summer insects. A discussion on graveyard practices and finances will have to wait for another time.
It is quiet in the graveyard, aside from the sound of the night bugs, an occasional froggy croak from somewhere in the darkness, and the consistent clank, clank, clank of Kazel's armor. The place seems pretty much abandoned. Wobbly rows of mismatched graves stretch out in all directions with only the rudest of markers to show where the dead might be. Tall, drooping trees are randomly scattered around the grounds to provide shade in daylight hours and to provide a fairly consistent screen along the high, stacked stone walls of the place. It looks like there is a lot of ground to cover.
Kazel lets out a quiet groan as she presses forward, she much prefers it when the enemy comes to her. If there even is one. She rolls her shoulder and draws her broadsword just in case there is one. Looking over her shoulder she takes a couple of seconds to make sure everyone is following, before her attention turns back on the road ahead.
Zuri is quite relaxed, given the circumstances. Free ride to pie in this salamander's mind! He grins up at Rokarion, sensing an opportunity he can't give up on. "Not everyone can have beautiful flowers everywhere they go." He giggles and hurries off, stepping towards the other side of the group to peer towards the other side of the graveyard rather nonchalantly, as if nothing ever happened. "Huh.. The caretaker was right, there's really nothing worth stealing here." He pauses, then adds. "I mean, totally from the point of view of a Freesowrd who's, uh.. done his sort of cleanup before. Not.. not that I want to.. steal anything." Not anymore, those are old days. He steps off from the group to go peek behind one of the rows of graves, as if expecting something interesting to be there.
Rokarion giggles at Zuri's comment and shakes his head amusedly at his pilfering observation. With a yawn, Rokarion eyes one of the trees and nonchalantly walks towards it before he begins climbing upwards, looks like he is either intent on lolly gagging or using the tree as a watchtower of sorts.
Angus keeps wary, the hammer on his musket down with his finger away from the trigger. He finally notices a glance from Lidara, blinking for a few moments as he turns his gaze to them with a curious look before focusing back on the task at hand. Staying at the tail end of the group he keeps his eyes on the shadows, looking and waiting for any movement as he keeps his musket at the ready.
Lidara keeps his attention on the graveyard rather than the conversation for the most part, though Zuri does get another slight giggle out of the cat. After all, he doesn't know many of the group he's with, and now wasn't exactly the time to get to know them. This time though, it's him who misses the look from Angus, the cat focused more on keeping an eye on the area behind the party, his hands now on the hilt of his dagger and grip of his pistol, neither of which had been drawn quite yet though.
Cara stays quiet for a moment and she speaks to the rest of the group only to notice that some of them already branched out. "Oh yeah, the influence of Corrupt Court is possibly in these graveyards." From there, she keeps her sabre at the ready, and looks for any sign of movement from any possible members of the undead. She makes sure to listen to her surroundings as well.
"Hm. How bothersome. They should not be within the city," Cassidy says with a frown, drawing one of the arrows from her quiver, ears twitching as she looks around the graveyard. "I suppose it was too much to hope for just being a group of children playing around."
Neither Zuri's, nor Rokarion's methods of reconnaissance seem to yield much in the way of results, though the tree does command a rather better view of the place than traipsing aimlessly through the long grass.
The muggy heat of the evening starts to cool as night sets in in earnest and a chill breeze starts to blow. The group has come to an overgrown, weedy pond where they are greeted by the croaking of frogs and an occasional splash from whatever fish populate the mucky little water feature. A pair of broken benches are nearly hidden by the weeds. Looks like this must be the center of the graveyard.
Kazel frowns under the metal of her helmet. "You don't suppose that they will come out if we yell nicely, do you?" She chuckles at the thought as she continues to head forward, idly cutting at some of the high weeds that are in the way here and there with her sword.
Zuri steps back towards the group after his brave exploration of the delapidated graves. "Nothing this way!" He walks over towards the broken benches, giving one of them a prod with his foot. "Sheesh.. place really could use some fixing up. I guess not many feel the need to follow the text of the First Book to the letter when it's a criminal graveyard.." He looks towards Cara. "So.. you figure something evil is around here?" He doesn't draw his weapon yet, but he keeps one hand at the hilt. "Hm..."
Rokarion yawns as he finds a comfortable spot to relax on, making sure that he is covered with as much branches as possible. In his spot, the jasmine finally allows his vine to slither onto a branch and extend as far away from him as possible. With his vine hidden on another branch, the plant being begins focusing, causing the bud on the end of the vine to glow with white light. This way, Roka begins surveying the area again, hoping that if the enemy does have a form of ranged attack they will be trying to fire on the source of the light, away from his body proper.
Angus lets out a pent up breath, sighing a little as he slings his rifle. "If they really want to come out they'll come out on their own time I guess." He answers Kazel, as he keeps his eyes around. "The question is, what is here? If it was evil, don't think there would just be some noises."
At the mention of the Courrpt Court's influence being about, Lidara finally draws his weapons, the pistol in his left and dagger in his right, which upon further inspection would appear to be meant more for parrying, considering how large the handguard is. Another giggle escapes the cat at Kazel's comment, but it isn't until they reach the lake the he actually speaks up again. "If there is something that bad here, then we should probably find it as soon as possible." For the moment though, his pace doesn't change much, the orange feline simply continuing on at the same, cautious pace as before. "It would be nice to know exactly what from the Corrupt Court is here though, yeah."
Cara glares directly at Kazel for a moment, and sighs before turning towards Zuri, "Well, yes, I can actually tell when the influence of the Corrupt Court is nearby if I try and I found a trace of it but I'm going to need someone to cover me so that I can work on that." From there, gets back to looking for any other signs of the undead.
Cassidy keeps her own bow at the ready, a frown on her lips. "I still don't trust it. And feel free," she says, shrugging at Cara. "With everyone here, there's no better time than now to do what you need to do, I suppose."
The cool breeze suddenly become chilly and the singing of insects and frogs goes ominously and instantly silent. Something has just changed, and not for the better.
From his perch up in the treetops, Rokarion can feel the air of some kind of projectile whip past his head. Looks like the group has been spotted by whoever is out here! A flurry of arrows flies from the darkness, raining down on the group, though the well armored freeswords are uneffected by this first volley, arrows pinging and sliding off of armor. One notable exception being a single bolt that tears Angus's hat from his head and pins it to the ground!
Kazel hits her shield with the flat side of her sword a couple of times, sending a threatening sound of metal hitting metal through the silence, before she gives the others a sharp nod and raises the shield in front of herself and starts charging into the direction the arrows came from like this, the symbol of a rose that seemed to be etched in her armor suddenly vanishing.
