0 Azzy 0

Storm King's Thunder

"Of course there was a Nightstone. You think we named our damn towns by rolling a bunch of dice to figure things out?" Guradsman Shitass snapped. "This isn't a damn game you know." Though his attitude hadn't improved in the slightest, he did seem to relax slightly. There was the possibility he might not have seen the people before him as mere looters and might have upgraded them in his mind into the category of 'vagabond' or 'transient'.

"As I started saying before, he is Torem Breck." Sydiri cut in, now that it seemed the man was done with his outright accusations. "She is Alara Winterspell and he is Kaelen Zam." She continued, indicating first the Damaran woman and then the Tethyrian man. "We haven't the slightest clue why we were attacked for the Nightstone. We have had no trouble with giants before and would have given little complaint if they wished to examine the stone in peace."

"We can tend to burial rights between what is left of Lady Nandar's guard as our final duty to her line. You are welcome to stay in our town to rest and recover if you need to do so. If you are truly dedicated to helping discover what has become of our people, then I would offer you either the Nightstone Inn if it still stands or our own barracks if you desire." said Alara, after firmly rebuffing Tortetarte's offer.

Storm King's Thunder

"Ha ha." The bald guard stated mirthlessly in response to Tortetarte's questions. "Unless you lot are considerably more powerful than you look and happen to have a small fortune in diamonds to give up, there's nothing you can do to help." Unlike Sydiri, this guard does have a sword at his hip. When Tortetarte gets too close to the dead woman he lays a hand upon his hilt. "No thoughts of looting and desecrating the dead now. We clear?"

Sydiri, who doesn't seem to be paying attention to her fellow guard's rudeness, seems very distracted by Marcon's display. "Oh, well, your words are greatly appreciated?" She says, sounding somewhat confused. "Though, if truth be told, we managed to hold this keep only because they made no true attempt to take it. They appeared out of nowhere in a flying castle, dropping rocks from above. Once after all the townsfolk had fled and the bridge was broken did they descend to uproot the Nightstone, bring it back to their castle and depart."

"There are systems of caves about a mile North of our town. It is possible that our people have taken refuge there to wait out the attack." The Damaran woman added in. Then, when the Tethyrian seemed to be starting to speak up, she continued more loudly, drowning out whatever he might have been about to say. "While I realize it has been days since the attack and plenty of time for our people to have returned- if we have others willing to investigate, then what do we have to lose?"

Storm King's Thunder

"I am Sydiri Haunlar, these are my fellow guards. This is Tore-" Began the first of the group to have taken notice of the new arrivals. Unfortunately, she had barely begun to introduce the rest of her companions when the second guard she had been gesturing to interrupted her.

"The fuck it looks like happened here? We were attacked!" The bald Illuskan man spat out, rounding on the group. He glared first at one intruder then another before finally settling on Anchor. "And damn right you're too late. I suppose you just want to pretend to care long enough to loot what our people left behind when they fled."

"That's more than enough." Sydiri responded, making a sharp cutting gesture at the second guard as she spoke, eyes narrowing in anger at the outburst.

"But what of the people? They still haven't returned. The giants took what they wanted and left. That was three days ago. No one has come back, other than that pack of filthy scavengers." Chimed in a third guard, a Damaran woman with close cropped black hair. She spoke more calmly than either of the other two guards, but her eyes never left the woman lying on the table while she spoke.

"They're dead. Just as we will be soon enough if we don't pack up and leave." Added the morose voice of the final guard. A Tethyrian man with medium length brown hair, he leaned against a pile of rubble as he spoke sounding utterly resigned to the dire situation.

"We still have a duty to the town. Someone has to come back eventually, or at least a patrol from Daggerford or Waterdeep will learn of this and send help." Sydiri added, making an honest attempt to sound hopeful yet falling flat.

"If they even care, that is." The bald man interjected.

"the lady is dead, what duty does a guard have if the line they guard has ended?" The Tethyrian said with a small shrug.

"There's still the people of the village, someone should figure out what happened to them." Insisted the Damaran, taking her eyes away from the dead woman and finally turning to look at the intruders. She eyed the new arrivals as though weighing them each in turn, raising an eyebrow at the sight Tortetarte. Before she was able to say anything further, the one bald guard was speaking again.

"They're dead too most likely. Probably bandits. Maybe even those bandits over there." The bald man concluded, pointing an accusatory finger at Marcon.

Storm King's Thunder

Inside these doors lies the great hall of the keep- at least, what is left of it. Half of the hall is buried in rubble and the sky can be seen through an enormous hole smashed into the southern side of the keep. Near the middle of the hall the shattered remains of an oaken table have been set up, where the body of a woman lays atop it. Around the table, four humans stand. By their appearance, they re likely all Illuskan and are dressed in guard uniforms. When you first start opening the door, the four of them all seem to be in the middle of arguing among one another.

As more people begin to enter the keep, one of the guards catches sight of your group and breaks of arguing. The others quickly follow suit and turn to see what has distracted their companion. One of the them, a tall red-haired woman, takes a step forward. Though her hand instinctively falls to her scabbard, it is presently empty. "Who are you?" She demands, sounding more weary than threatening "What business do you have invading Nandar keep?"

Storm King's Thunder

No ambushes forthcoming and still no signs of life in the inner bailey, Marcon makes it to the doors of the keep without incident while his companions loot the guard houses of every jar of toenail clippings they can find. Though there is no response to his knock, as the doors slowly begin to swing open he can hear the sounds of people talking within. Unable to hear exactly what is being said, he can nonetheless tell that they seem to be having a serious discussion, with more than one heated voice rising now and again in the conversation.

Storm King's Thunder

The food sitting out seems to be several days old at your best estimate. Within the footlockers is primarily spare sets of clothing and fairly mundane daily odds and ends- things such as mess kits, books, fishing tackle, soap, mirrors, or shaving kits. Also, there as various minor mementos that seem of little worth. Among these, there is a small wooden holy symbol, a small scrap of parchment with a faded emblem on it, a glass vial filled with nail clippings, a tiny silver bell with a ribbon attached, crudely sketched blueprints to what appears to be a tavern, a deck of cards signed in flowing script, and a sheaf of paper bearing hand-written poetry so terrible it could potentially be used as a means of psychological torture.

Theren sees nothing new beyond what Tortetarte and Marcon have already seen. As for an explanation of what might have happened? Well, any conclusions he might have drawn from smashed buildings and large boulders strewn about the town are about all he has to go off of still.

Storm King's Thunder

Though the door to the Eastern gatehouse is shut, it is neither locked nor barred. At a glance it seems to be a sort of barracks, with bunk beds and footlockers on one side and and assortment of tables and chairs on the other. Another recurring theme is present here as well- the guardhouse is empty of people and seemingly abandoned. Though, judging by half eaten meals and overturned chairs, it seems as though the guards here were forced to respond rapidly to some sort of situation.

As far as Marcon can tell, that rascal Evard has no tricks up his sleeve this day- assuming you would even be able to see through such a trap before it were sprung. In fact, a more thorough investigation of the Western gatehouse would ultimately yield the dead bodies of two men, dressed as guards and bearing the sigil of the fox and rose on their armor. The gatehouse is furnished much the same as the Eastern gatehouse, except that most of the furnishings in here are shattered and strewn about with the rest of the rubble.

Storm King's Thunder

While one of the gatehouses is shut tight, you can see some of the inside of the ruined gatehouse. Right inside the badly damaged doorframe is a large pile of rubble and debris centered around a large boulder that appears to have come crashing through the ceiling. There is blood crusted on some of the rubble and at least one body lying on the ground in a puddle of dried blood. Other than that, the inner bailey seems deserted.

So, while Marcon is currently checking the Western gatehouse and the rest of the party seems to be standing cautiously at the main gate. To your left, the Eastern gatehouse still remains closed and short distance away- about 30 feet from the gate, the doors to the keep are also closed.

Storm King's Thunder

Finally gathering the required courage, one of the "brave" adventurers finally decides to try the front door.

Everyone roll reflex saves.

Though this door can clearly be barred from the inside, it seems as though no one has done so. As such, when Tortetarte attempts to open it, he meets very little resistance. Swinging slowly open, you can see one of the all-too-familiar boulders that have been strewn about the town several feet in. In fact, for anyone glancing around the inner bailey, the large quantity of boulders present would make it clear that this was the most heavily bombarded location in the town. The door of the gatehouse to the right- the one of the pair that appeared partially collapsed, is swinging loosely on its hinges and shards of shattered wood and other items litter the area around the entryway.

Storm King's Thunder

Still nothing...

Carpe diem, gentlemen!