The Fall From Grace

[DeletedUser]

Oren
"So then! Have you any idea as to what Rothaw's motives could have been? I'm guessing power, since he already has enough money."
Crux paused before replying; “I dunno, as you say he was the High Treasurer, he had all the funds he needed, he was at the top of his ladder, so it can’t have been power, it must have been something personal. The real question is, did he commit all the other murders, and who killed Lord Uurden?”
They relentlessly road on down the dirt roads of the land, farms and villages flashing by, Heading south the roads were fairly empty, trade from Fraldr to the south had slowly frozen up as the country had fallen foul to plague, fearful of the spread of disease all the countries bordering Frald had closed their borders, turning Frald into a sickness-ridden tomb. Those not infected with the plague had taken to their boats and sailed south across the great sea, seeking refuge in whatever unknown lands lay beyond the horizon.
Meanwhile Oren and Crux neared their destination, the fifteen-acre estate of the late High Treasurer lay before them surrounded by spiked wooden fences, its wide green fields and dark forests full of game, to be hunted when Rothaw had visitors. Not that Rothaw would be hunting anytime soon.
Turning right, Crux rode down a long lane through a forest, which led to the small stone keep in the centre of the estate.
After several minutes the tress gave way to a large open space, in the centre stood a large stone keep around which were situated various thatched buildings, stables, pigsties and the like. Servant’s quarters.
Strangely though, no servants could be seen scurrying about the keep and it’s grounds, in their place were the heavily armed estate guards, the crest of Rothaw (threes snakes surrounding a dark four-pointed star) painted onto their kite-shaped shields.
“Oi!” Came a shout to their right.
They turned to see the local Warden, sword in hand, strolling towards them.
“You two! Get out of here! This is a crime scene! You have no authority here! Clear out!” The man’s strong southern accent evident in his speech, the consonants in his speech accentuated.

Raerrith
Raerrith strode down the stone corridors leading to Lord Uurden’s quarters, Sir Krane and Daniel flanking him, servants and nobles alike coming down the corridor quickly turned at the sight at the inquisitors.
Eventually they reached Uurden’s quarters, turning right Raerrith tried the handle of the door.
Strange. Raerrith had posted two guards to make sure nobody went in to tamper with any evidence. But now both of the guards were missing, and the door was locked.
Raerrith frantically tried the doorhandle again, it would not budge.
From inside the room, came a clatter, probably as some metal object was pushed onto the floor.
Someone was inside the room, someone who shouldn’t.
Raerrith swore, desperately looking around for guards.
“KRANE, BLACKBURN, GET THAT DOOR OPEN! NOW! DO IT!” He screamed, drawing his sword, he moved a few yards each way down the corridor, shouting for guards.

Briccone
As the Inquisitors moved in different directions, Leo turned to Briccone. “So,” he began. “We’re to go and ‘collect information’. What are we going to do? And what are we going to do about Carbos?”
He asked, he would have put the first question to Raerrith, but the High Inquisitor didn’t seem to be in a mood for asking questions.

 

[DeletedUser]

Krane knew the doors of the castle were solid enough to take some time to simply bash open. He also had no skill with a lock pick but he knew one trick he had been taught by a wayward young lad he had once trained at request of a despairing father.

Using his sword he thrust it into the crack between door and frame, close to the lock mechanism, and with a violant pull he levered at the wood while driving his armoured shoulder hard into the door itself.

There was a loud crack and then the door gave. It threw Krane off balance but he kept hold of his sword in case of an attack as he stumbled into the room.

 

[DeletedUser]

Raerrith
Beyond the now-broken door lay Uurden's room, completely tidy except for a few parchments and a few other objects lying on the floor.
In the room, two hooded figures, clad all in black, stood, both were holding swords in their hands.
The first lunged at Sir Krane, swinging his sword in a wide arc, aiming to decapitate the Inquisitor.
The second pulled out a small hand crossbow and took aim at Raerrith, before loosing.

 

[DeletedUser31931]

As the local Warden approached Oren dismounted and replied "There is no need for that, I am Inquisitor Smil and this is Inquisitor Jade. We were here to investigate Rothaw's manor for reasons that will remain undisclosed. Now tell me: Why is this a crime scene?"

 

[DeletedUser]

Oren
The Warden stopped several paces in front of them, he paused, looking at the Inquisitorial badges pinned to their tunics.
"Sirs, this is a crime scene because everyone in the manor and the surrounding grounds has been killed by person or persons unknown, hell, even the livestock and wildlife. Aside from me and my men, there isn't a living soul for miles." Said the warden, explaining why the place seemed curiously deserted.
"See for yourself, come with me." He said, gesturing, he lead them over to the cluster of small huts where the servants would have dwelled, he lead them into the space between the huts.
There lay a scene of horror, men, women and children lay dead on top of stakes which had been planted into the ground, creating afield of human trees.
Being impaled wasn't a good way to go, first the murderers would fetch a pole, then they'd carve the end into a blunt point, blunt, not sharp, if it was sharp, the victim would die too quickly. Then the point of the pole was smothered in lard, before being inserted up the victim's rear and being planted into the ground.
Gravity would do the rest, the victim would slowly slide down the pole as said pole moved up through the victim's body. It was a long and painful way to go.

 

[DeletedUser]

The effort of breaking the door open had thrown Krane off balance, preventing him from bringing his sword to bear. That was probably a good thing as he suspected he would be required to take the man alive.

Leaving his sword low, Krane used the momentum his stumble had already created and rushed forward, keeping low beneath his attackers sword and driving his shoulder into his stomach before driving him violantly backwards. If he could force the man backwards into his friend then all the better.

 

[DeletedUser]

Sir Krane
The first attacker was driven backwards by Sir Krane's attack, the hooded figure stumbled before falling backwards onto the floor.
Meanwhile the second attacker loosed the bolt on his hand crossbow, the bolt flew across the room. Raerrith dived to the right to dodge it, but was not quick enough.
The bolt slammed into the High Inquisitor's shoulder, forcing it's way through his mailcoat.
Raerrith roared in pain, dropping his sword, he clutched at the bolt embedded in his left shoulderblade.
This commotion gave the first attacker time to scramble to his feet, before drawing back into a fighting stance, beckoning Sir Krane forward.

 

[DeletedUser]

Sir Kranes first instinct was to rush to protect the High Inquisitor but he fought it back. Raerrith could look after himself and the assailents were first priority.

Krane took up his own stance, sword held low at his hip with bladed out but tilted slightly up over. He watched his opponent carefully. He suspected the fight would not be easy, especially if the plan was to take him alive.

Slowly Krane moved forward, sword ready. When he engaged the man in front of him, he kept his pace steady and measured, focusing on defence until he had the measure of the man. Without appearing obvious he attempted to lure his opponent towards the windows and the heavy drapes which hung there.

 

[DeletedUser]

Sir Krane
The first attacker stayed in his position, eerily standing perfectly still, a living statue, poised to spring into deadly action at any moment.
Meanwhile the second attacker was not so still, after putting away his hand crossbow, he drew a kukri out from his cloak and advanced towards Sir Krane.

Raerrith
The High Inquisitor collapsed to his knees, trying to grit his teeth at the immeasurable pain running through his system.
His hands clutched at the small crossbow bolt, with an almighty tug, he wrenched it out of his shoulder, however, the metal point had detached from the shaft and was still buried in his shoulder.
"GUARDS!" He screamed again, hoping to summon help. He looked up at Daniel, who was standing next to him.
"BLACKBURN! GET IN THERE NOW AND CAPTURE THEM! NOW!" He yelled at the top of his voice.

 

[DeletedUser31931]

Oren examined the scene. It was a gruesome one but nonetheless they had a job to do. Now they had two jobs. He turned to Crux and said "Crux, ride back and get the Scourge, see if she can bring one of these people back to life to tell us who did this." At the mention of the Scourge the Warden stiffened. Oren was glad to see her reputation preceded her. "Warden, I want your men posted all around here on watches and the rest patrolling the manor grounds. The slightest sign of anything strange and you come and find me and tell me. I am going to go investigate Rothaw's Manor." He stood there and awaited a reply. Inwardly he sighed, guessing that Crux was probably going to object. Never-mind, he held senior authority over Crux, so Crux would have to do what he said.

 

[DeletedUser13682]

The door was locked. That couldn’t be good at all. That and the clattering of an object behind the door of the supposed empty room indicated one thing. The theft or destruction of evidence. Daniel pulled his sword while Krane pried the door open with his sword and shoulder. Behind the broken door, two hooded men were in the room, one with a sword, and the other with a crossbow. Before Daniel could do anything, Krane had tackled the swordman (using the momentum from opening the door), and the crossbowman fired, hitting Raerrith in the shoulder. Daniel moved to check on Raerrith, but was ordered to capture the men.

Entering the room, Daniel saw one assailant standing still, while Krane advanced toward him. The crossbowman had now become a khukuriman, was also advancing toward Krane. Daniel drew his poignard along with his already out sword, and advanced toward the khukuriman. Daniel attempted to knock this assailant out the same way he knocked Rothaw out. Since they weren’t on a beam high up in a hall, Daniel didn’t believe he would cause this assailant to fall to his death.

 

[DeletedUser]

For a moment Krane thought he would be facing a man on both sides and he silently prayed to the gods that if he was to fall, it would be with two dead bodies at his sides. Then Daniel appeared and he felt a sense of relief. He was glad to have someone competent at his back.

Turning his full attention to the swordsman, he smiled and moved forward. The man stood still but with the extra reach of his long blade he could use that to his advantage. He thrust out, leaning into the attack so that while it would not cause serious injury and would be easy to deflect, it also kept a good distance between them. Krane still hoped to goad the man towards the windows.

 

[DeletedUser]

Daniel & Sir Krane
The first attacker proceeded to unleash a storm of sword-blows against Sir Krane, who was driven back by the sheer ferocity of the attacks.
Meanwhile, the second attacker ducked just in time to avoid Daniel’s attack with eh pommel of his sword, the kukriman suddenly rolled to the right, slashing wide at Daniel’s legs as the figure got up onto it’s knees.
The slash was a wide motion, intended to disorientate Daniel, rather than wound him, a precursor to the kukriman’s next move.
With all the grace of an eagle taking to flight the attacker sprung to his feet and dived forwards, propelling himself towards Daniel’s chest, left arm raised to block any blows from above, kukri poised to stab the Inquisitor in the heart.
On the other side of the room the first attacker continued in his attack on Sir Krane, the swordsman’s lighting fast blows continued to rain upon the Inquisitor, who was forced onto the defence.

Oren
"Warden, I want your men posted all around here on watches and the rest patrolling the manor grounds. The slightest sign of anything strange and you come and find me and tell me. I am going to go investigate Rothaw's Manor."
“Yes, I will fetch The Scourge.” Crux replied, he stood silent for a few seconds, staring at the forest of dead before him, before turning and running back to his horse.
“Sir,” The Warden began.” The guards are already patrolling around the estate, however within the last hour we’ve been searching through the keep.” He motioned toward the large stone structure.
“And it’s just like here, the lady of the house has been impaled, just like the servants, all the estate guards who were on duty when the attackers came were impaled as well, they’re near the entrance of the keep,” The Warden explained, biting his lip, he continued. “But, inside, in the basement…. we’ve found something, something we don’t think was done by the same people who…” He gestured at the sickening sight in front of them.
“Well, it’s…come and see for yourself.” The Warden said, a twinge of fear evident in his voice.
Motioning for Oren to follow, the Warden moved away from the servant’s housing to the entrance of the castle.
As he had said, Lady Rothaw, adorned in a nightdress, lay dead atop a pole, as did about ten guardsmen.
The Warden led Oren inside, the entrance hall of the keep was adorned with tapestries and other rich decorations, Oren could clearly see the signs of a fight that had took place here, scuff marks lay on the floor, as did small droplets of blood.
He was led through the entrance hall, to a spiral staircase, where Oren was led down into a cold cellar, the usual supplies of salted meats and kegs of fine wine lay in their proper position, however, a more putrid smell filled Oren’s nostrils, his gaze was turned to a corner of the cellar, where there lay a narrow stone passageway, most likely hidden by some sort of clever contraption, now opened by the guards.
The Warden moved to the passageway and with his hand covering his mouth, began to move down it.
It was no wonder why the Warden took such a precaution, as the further down the passageway they went, the more rancid the smell became, Oren tried hard not to make himself gag as the smell of decomposing flesh became horrific beyond belief.
Eventually the passage ended in a doorway leading to the source of the smell, the Warden stepped through, and Oren followed.
Inside was an unspeakable sight, on the opposite wall was painted a picture of a black circle, with white runes painted within, illuminated by torches attached to eh walls.
These torches also eliminated the more horrific part of the room; the source of the smell.
On the other wall were hung the rotting carcasses of humans, men, women and children, all dead, their bodies covered in lacerations, with their chests slashed open, guts pouring out onto the floor.
“Oi, you, you need to get out of here.” Said the Warden, Oren looked up, but eh Warden was talking to a guardsman on his knees by one of the other walls, next to a pool of his own vomit.
Relieved to be away from the horrifying sight, the guardsman scrambled to his feet and dashed down the passageway, leaving Oren and the Warden alone in the room.
“There’s more, look at the floor.” The Warden said solemnly.
Oren turned his eyes downwards, on the stone cobbles of the floor was painted a much larger version of the black circle, with the same white runes painted on, however various human organs, intestines, livers, stomachs, hearts, bladders, lungs and all manner of body parts lay scattered within the circle, arranged in various self-contained patterns, some arranged to form other runes.
The Warden looked at him, hand still covering his moth, and raised his eyebrows.

 

[DeletedUser]

Krane continued to defend and move backwards, allowing the attacker enough of an upper hand to keep him following.
Then as Krane came to the windows with his back to the drapes, he allowed his attacker one last swing before lashing out with a powerful counter attack, intended only to buy time while he turned and ripped the drapes from their hangers and swung them around like a net intended to entangle his opponent.
In case the snare failed for any reason, Krane followed the move up by diving forward and throwing himself into a tight grapple. There were few men who could match Krane's strength and he hoped that with the aid of the drapes, he would be able to hold the man tight while Daniel dealt with the second.

 

[DeletedUser31931]

Oren felt sick but he did not throw up. Perhaps it was the intrigue of what had happened but the smell suddenly vanished. "It appears our friend Lord Rothaw has been keeping more from us than we thought." Oren said, "These appear to be druid markings, although I personally can not tell. Apparently Lord Rothaw must have been using local villagers for some sort of religious ceremonies." He began stroking the hilt of his sword as he always did when pondering something "Maybe that is why he was so agile," he murmured to himself, "but why did he need Lord Urden, and what did he get from Urden that meant he could kill Urden unless it was just a ploy to lead us away?" He stood there and realised the Warden was still watching him. "Have we identified any distinguishable pattern through his choice of victims? Have we identified any of the bodies at all?" Oren knew that Nyburn had been a specialist on runes and the type, maybe that was also why he was dead. The next best options he had was to try and find an expert in the city, but if these people were as thorough as they appeared to be he highly doubted that. His only other choice was Dist. As a magician he was most likely to understand the markings, that is if he would speak sense for twenty minutes.

 

[DeletedUser13682]

The attack, unlike last time, was not successful. The enemy ducked, and rolled to the right, slashing at Daniel’s arm. Daniel dodged, but was lead right into the khukuriman’s trap. He stabbed at Daniel’s heart, while he was still moving away from the fake slash. The khukuri went through Daniel’s cloak, and made a clang sound against Daniel’s breastplate. For a moment, Daniel thought he was a dead man, something that would probably make Raerrith secretly joyful. Luckily for Daniel, that was not to happen right now. The khukuriman was stunned by the failed attack, for a moment. “That was my good cloak. You’ll pay for that,” Daniel said, then thrust his poignard at the khukuriman’s chest, aiming not for the heart, but for a wound that would debilitate but not kill.

 

[DeletedUser]

Oren

"Have we identified any distinguishable pattern through his choice of victims? Have we identified any of the bodies at all?"
"No." Replied the Warden. "They're too badly decomposed, we can't tell you they are, if they are anyone that is." He answered, the Warden paused a moment, before speaking again; "Have you finished your examination of the room? I would like to get out of this room as soon as I can."

Daniel
Daniel's poignard slammed into the chest of the kukriman, who made a gasping sound as the long dagger went through his body.
The attacker looked down at Daniel's hand, which held the dagger that protruded from his own chest.
The kukriman then looked straight at Daniel, who could see under his hood.
Under the hood lay not a face, but a black mask, with white runes pained above the eyeholes, behind the eyholes lay a pair of brown eyes, they did not look fearful, but determined.
The kukriman acted swiftly, bringing his right arm up, he slashed at Daniel's face, as the Inquisitor did not have time to dodge, the blade connected with flesh, and Daniel received a wide slash across his nose and left cheek, a scar that he would carry with him for the rest of his life.
"Rydych yn dod gyda mi i'r lle poeth!" The kukriman said, each word dripping with hate.

Sir Krane
The swordsman parried the counterattack as Sir Krane ripped the heavy drapes from their hangers and attempted to entangle his opponent.
The swordsman moved quickly, diving to the side to dodge the attack, however Sir Krane's follow up grapple smashed into the attacker's legs, bringing him to the ground.
Temporarily winded, but still able, the swordsman pulled out a hand crossbow from beneath his cloak and hastily began to load it, whilst kicking with his legs, trying to distract the Inquisitor.

 

[DeletedUser31931]

"Have you finished your examination of the room? I would like to get out of this room as soon as I can." Oren understood what the Warden was getting at. The room stank of something terrible, yet Oren had the feeling that there was something too this room that was not just right. "You may leave Warden. I just want to examine for a couple of minutes longer." Oren replied, "Oh and whilst you're up there, is it possible that you could find me the blueprints of the manor? Examining them might allow us to find any more hidden rooms around the mansion." With that he awaited a reply and then once the Warden had left he began inspecting the stones on the floor and walls and the candlesticks, looking for anything that seemed out of place.

 

[DeletedUser]

(OOC: Zemmy, blueprints? )

Oren
"Yes sir." The Warden acknowledged, before turning and running back down the narrow passageway, eager to get away from the smell.
Looking around the room, Oren could not find anything that wasn't right, or at least, if he didn't count the dead bodies and the paintings.

 

[DeletedUser]

Ignoring the crossbow for the chance at ending the fight before it could be used, Krane pulled the attacker towards him by his waist and punched hard into the mans face with a gauntleted fist. He also used the momentum of the thrust to bear himself down on top of the assailant. Even if his weight didn't wind the attacker, it would put him far too close for the crossbow to be of use.