Quentin makes it to the door drawing one of his new "extra" potions. He takes a large gulp and breathes fire out of the door, aiming a bit low to limit the range of collateral damage.

The jester rat guy gets hit for 14 damage with the following options:
+ one level of fatigue whenewer any damage is taken
+ armor piercing 4
+ will linger for 3d4 next round with the same above modifiers
- unless he evades by Agility -2 as per page 100 (if applicable)

20:56, Today: Secret Roll: Quentin Fox rolled 14 using 3d6, rerolling max with rolls of 4,5,5.  Firebeath +2, extra damage +2, lingering +2, fatigue +2, AP 4 for another +2.
20:49, Today: Secret Roll: Quentin Fox rolled 1,4 using 1d8-1,1d6-1, rerolling max with rolls of 2,5.  Rerolling it.
20:49, Today: Secret Roll: Quentin Fox rolled 3,1 using 1d8-1,1d6-1, rerolling max with rolls of 4,2.  Rerolling it.
20:49, Today: Secret Roll: Quentin Fox rolled 3,3 using 1d8-1,1d6-1, rerolling max with rolls of 4,4.  Alchemy for FULL MAX EXTRA FIRE BREATH.

Hunter staggers back from the smouldering bookshelves and heads for the door in a stumbling coughing run.

Jenkins is chasing the rat monster but staying out of reach. She's more interested in knowing where it runs to than attacking it.


15:53, Today: Hunter Gallagher rolled 2,5 using 1d6-1,1d10-1, rerolling max with rolls of 3,6.  athletics. -1 smoke fatigue. – 2,5

"Stop!"  Aeress wondered how he got away from her with such ease, but didn't think about it too hard or she might not be running after him.

Seeing the fire go out and spotting a rat monster running for the side door from where she was out front, Piper urged Mosii into a sprint for the corner of the library.


Piper rolled 5.  Run.

A roll of 5 plus a pace of 8 should put them right at the corner.

Kai chases after the Jester-thing, slowing only a moment to pull his chakram from the doorsill.  He notices streaks of green blood.  "Looks like I did hit him."

He turns onto the street, but after a few yards he is suddenly racked by a cough.  The adrenalin of the fight is wearing off and the smoke from the fire is setting in.

"Hell!"

07:48, Today: Kai Wasser rolled 1 using 1d6-1, rerolling max with rolls of 2.  run, -1 smoke inhalation.

Okay, maybe taking that -1 smoke wasn't such a good idea after all.

Seeing the fire under control and being extinguished made Lirian to feel victorious. She stopped a little to rest and take breath, despite the smoke made breathing difficult and irritated her eyes, and her musculature was soaring after the effort

Suddenly, she heard a crack on the floor, and she realized it was about to collapse. Fire might be out, but the weakened floor could not hold the weight of the book shelves… She tried to move not to fall with them.

15:21, Today: Secret Roll: Lirian rolled 1,2 using d10-1,d6-1, rerolling max with rolls of 2,3.  Agility roll (-1 due to smoke/fatigue). – 1,2. I guess failure….
This message was last edited by the player at 14:24, Tue 02 Jan.

As the creature escapes from the door on the side of the library Quentin is able to blow hot fire on the creatures back setting it ablaze. Even in the daylight and smoke, the fire gives way to screams as the thing runs off with people in toe. It makes it into the city and collapses before the fires damages. Some guards run up and seem wary of the creature one of them throwing a bucket of water on it to put it out. By the time that you get close they have surround him just in time for you to hear,

"Get the irons boy. This thing is going to the king. Find a crate to throw whatever this in."

You look between the legs of the men and realize that while badly burnt from the flames there's still signs of life but the creature does not move. It seem for now, it's too weak to do much of anything.

A few of the guards seem surprised to see a goblin and Mouseling showing up, "By the gods. What has this city come to.", says one of the men.

Meanwhile, back at the library Lirian hears the creaking floor just before the snap happens. All the sudden there is a shift in her footing as Hunter barely manages to jump back from the edge. Smoke flies everywhere filling every crack of the giant hole that is left as Lirian and anything library person hangs on the edge for dear life. Near the edge you can see that down below is a pretty decent fall and a minor fire is still down in the basement of the library which likely housed old relics of the past.

OOC: Make a strength check (including Lirian) to pull yourself or someone else up from the caved floor.

16:52, Today: Secret Roll: Lirian rolled 4,4 using d6,d6, rerolling max with rolls of 4,4.  Strenght roll. – 4,4

"This, uh, creature, is connected to a fire set at the library, and potentially to the rat problem and disease here in the city."  Piper exclaimed after Mosii bullied his way past the legs of the guards so the pair of them were within the loose perimeter of men, better to be seen and heard.

"We have a doctor who has been investigating the sickness.  Please allow him to examine this creature while it's still, uh, fresh, before it gets crated off."


Looking to Jenkins, Piper asked of the goblin, "Jenkins, can you go get Quentin and lead him back here?




Back at the library, given their last set of orders to 'put out the fire', the elementals see more burning down below and sluice their way into the basement to begin dousing the flames there.

When Piper mentioned Quentin, he was in fact observing the scene that he has sort of caused. From some distance, but still...

The noise from the Library was worrying, but thinking of it rationally, Quantin cannto help but notice that...
1. The body count of people in there should not change much by his absence or presence.
2. Whatever happened, people there are dead, fine, or in a position to shout for help.
3. Quentin, for the life of him, cannot just let the guards have the creature.

So, he picks up the book and the bottle and hurries to where the burned creature fell. He is beyond impressed to see the creature not dead yet.

"Yeah, irons, sure do. It faked being dead one time already." Then thinking of it, Quentin says. "I don't think we are pressed for time. Say what, we load the thing on my horse and get it straight to the king's lead surgeon, get the king's lead torturer and maybe some other men and start looking for answers." Then Quentin remembers he better explain how he fits in. "I'm Quentin Fox, a medic doing some research into things related to this plague, and I can well participate in the autopsy and in the torture... err, likely the other way around, and can also provide some background on the events, there is quite a number of facts that are worth mentioning."

00:51, Today: Secret Roll: Quentin Fox rolled 4,4 using 1d6,1d6, rerolling max with rolls of 4,4.  Persuasion to follow Quentin's plan (+1 upper-class dress, -1 fatigued).

Upon Quentin's arrival the two guards block access to the creature. Quentin and Piper are able to still see it but they don't seem to be following what either says. One man comes out from behind the two obviously a leader of the bunch.

"What is your business here?", says the man. He listens to the mouse with a raised eye brow and then replies to all parties. "You won't be taking this creature. It's property of the king now. If you would like to seek an audience with the king then talk to one of his advisors. I understand that you are involved in this but please leave this to the professionals. King has a ton of advisors who are likely as skilled as you."

It's clear that your first impression did not impress the man.

Piper looked up at Quentin.  The guards seemed unconvinced, and she assumed whatever she had to say wasn't going to sway them.  Most big folks where that way and she considered it courtesy enough when they simply managed to avoid accidentally stepping on her.

So Piper waited to see if perhaps he had another suggestion for them that they might be willing to acquiesce to, or if it was more prudent to leave the mostly corpse in the hands of the guards and head back to the library.

 Hunter looked around and  realized Liriam hadn't made it out. Still coughing, he went back inside to help as he could, and presently was helping pull people out of the hole.

"What's down there?" he asked, curious.

Jenkins ran back to get Quentin,  only to see him already hurrying over.  Therefore she just stayed out of the way,viewing proceedings from a distance, especially as she thought one of the guards had been chasing her through the crowd a couple of days ago.

13:21, Today: Hunter Gallagher rolled 0,4 using d6-1,d6-1, rerolling max with rolls of 1,5.  hunter strength.

"Gallagher!  What the--"

There must be other people still in there.  Damn fool.  The witch hunter empties his lungs to the the last of the smoke out then takes a deep breath.  "It's not like the fire will make me any uglier," he says with a humorless laugh.  He charges back into the library.

Okay I see no evidence Aeress succeeded at chasing the Jester, so assuming I failed, so per the OOC:

Aeress seemed to have been evaded by her intended prey, but things seemed awry within the library.  Cursing her luck that not only had an enemy she'd had her fingers up the nose of managed to get away from her so easily, but also so quickly, she dived back into the building to see if she could help anyone.

"Is everyone clear?"  She called out, waving a cloak to try to create a pocket of decent air in the smokehole.

Quentin is a bit irritated by the peoples' reaction, but does his best to control himself. "The business is catching the thing and making sure it ends up with king's advisors. That's for a start. So, no objections to king's claim on in, just was offering my horse as a transport. I don't need an audience with the king, one of the advisors will do, and I totally prefer to share an appointment with this thingy as the matters discussed would be highly related. As skilled as those advisers can be, they sure will need some raw information about the matters at hand."

Inside the Library, Lirian was nearly falling when she realized there was still some fire in the basement, Fearing the fire might climb again and destroy everything (or that important things were in the basement), she decided to let her fall trying to control the fall, so that she could extinguish it too and save whatever there could be there.

16:53, Today: Secret Roll: Lirian rolled 16,6 using d10-3,d6-3, rerolling max with rolls of (10+9)19,(6+3)9.  Agility: controlling the fall. Still raised Agility, -2 for difficulty, -1 for fatigue/smoke. – 16,6. Success with 3 raises!!!

She rolled on reaching the ground below, avoiding the flames and the ruble, and began moving to the small flames to extinguish them…

While approaching the fire, se saw the small water elementals comming to help her with the small fire (so I understand from Piper's msg #79)
This message was last edited by the player at 16:01, Wed 03 Jan.

Hunter is able to pull up the person who is hanging on an edge while he watches Lirian fall into the pit of smoke and blackness. He doesn't hear a scream but when he looks into the pit he sees that Lirian lands with surprising grace unharmed. The water elementals move towards Lirian trying to find a way down but just end up jumping. One of hits the flame with a thud and turns into a puddle not really reforming but managing to put out one of the main existing fires that continued to burn with a passion. The other elementals goto work putting out the rest of the flames.

Below Lirian sees a number of different books and trinkets under the library which gives her a strange feeling. She notices that the stairs that connect are apparently lead up to a dead end but likely a hollow bookshelf from above. A secret passage? Why?

Aeress and Kai run into trying to see if anyone else needs help as a few of the library people come out of the smoking building. Each coughing and having a hard time seeing anything.

Meanwhile...

The guard lifts his hands in a display of aggravation, "Looks citizen. I understand. Right now our job is to secure this thing. We don't need any help with that. We have our own horses. If you want to Roland Stonecroft. He is the one managing this rat plague. What's your name? I'll let him know you are coming when we go back to the castle."

Quentin can tell this man is pretty hard-headed still he is giving you some sort of information.

Quentin is not quite sure if the man if the real guard or just jester's "plan B", but at least him naming names suggests he is real. Then again, Quentin is not sure if the jester's "plan B" will be coming and if the man will be able to handle it well. He says: "Quentin Fox. I'll try to meet Lord Stonecroft sometime today." Then he lets the men do as they will, but...
1. Gets his dogs and the horse together.
2. Attempts to conspire with Piper to escort the guards wherever they are going to go without getting too close.

Hunter grabs the edge of the hole, swings over, hangs and drops down too. He wandered around looking.

"Ti cant see a damn thing down here!" He growled. "Hey, where did that thing come from? Off the street or from down here?"

JENKINS!He called up to the faces peering down. "Call Jenkins would you?"

07:21, Today: Hunter Gallagher rolled 3,1 using d6,d8, rerolling max with rolls of 3,1.  Hunter notice. penalties for low light may apply? – 3,1

07:11, Today: Hunter Gallagher rolled 6,2 using d10-1,d6-1, rerolling max with rolls of 7,3.  Hunter agility.

Edit: I missed the ooc conversation re falling. Even so, if there is an additional -2 penalty, it s still a success.

This message was last edited by the player at 23:47, Wed 03 Jan.

When Quentin leaves the men be for a moment, Piper gets herself up on his shoulder so she can speak without having to be loud about it.

"I believe Hunter was given information and a letter about this Roland Stonecroft, from his cousin.  This cousin suggested if we could provide Stonecroft with evidence of what's going on, he would be helpful.  Maybe if we can get to him quickly, he can come see this rat thing when the guard get it to the castle, and put in a word to let you assist in whatever they're going to do with it."

Quentin is not quite sure about this plan: "I would be halfway satisfied if this thing does get to the castle. We would come empty-handed if for some reason it does not. I think that them handling it there is less of a problem if we can get the results out via Roland Stonecroft. Which way you think we should risk it?"

“Thanks, little friends” Lirian said to the elementals, as she saw them putting off the remaining flames. She then turned to look at the area to see what was there and in what condition after the ceiling had fallen over it. She then heard Hunter and calling for Jenkins.

“HI Hunter” she greeted him. “What in the hell happened with the Jester? I was too busy to aid you with him, but he seemed too easy to put down…

And please, let your goblin out. We’re not here to plunder, as anything here if property of the library”

Seeing she had problems on seeing details, despite her low light vision, she imagined how would Hunter feel near blind, and she started to sing again, this time what seemed a joyful song.

15:01, Today: Lirian rolled 1,10 using d8,d6, rerolling max with rolls of 1,(6+4)10.  Performance (casting Song of Light, 2PP). – 1,10

The area became illuminated, as the magic light began to bright (OOC: I guess the cellar is not larger than a Large Blast Template, otherwise she’d cast it as mobile to the top end of her staff)

Lirian illuminates the giant hole left from fire. The elementals finish off what's left of the fire before turning into little piles of water. Inside Lirian can see that this area appears to be very dusty even with the fire and smoke. Most of the books down here have bot been touched for sometime leaving her to believe the Elysia is unaware of this location. Judging from the area above where the bookshelf moves it appears its been hidden for a long time.

Everything seems rather normal but strangely enough inside she notices there is a specific case with a glass jar covering it. Looking inside she can see an ancient dagger that appears to be a normal dagger. Looking at the case itself, she notices it's locked. There is a keyhole at the very bottom of the glass which has chains that wrap around the glass.

Meanwhile

While the guards and loading the creature they finally get it inside of a cage. It takes about two or three men to haul it inside of the cage and then lock it on the back of a wagon which is using two horses. The guards start the trip heading towards the middle of town to the gates of the castle.

Kai looks on incredulously as Hunter drops down into the pit.  "Gods above!  What are you doing?!  This place is about to come down!  You looking for a deeper grave?"


Kai lets out a harsh whistle.  "Jenkins!  Get over here!  And bring some rope!"


Even with the light, the dust and smoke made seeing down in the pit almost impossible, but then Kai spots a mop of red hair.  "Lirian?!  Gods, we're supposed to be rescuing other people, not each other!"

"JENKINS!"