CH. 14: Darkest Hour

[BishGada]

"Public execution!" Tulbas exclaims, then compose his nonchalant appearance again and says quietly, "This is a grave escalation in the way the prefect acted so far... The Hero of Haven? We have a hero?" Tulbas asks then remembers his meeting with Haaque and Kendra just before the gnome raised his performance and they fought the fire devil... "Do you mean Kendra? Is the Hero a woman? A blond tall woman? And the man who attempted to kill the prefect? Did you catch name by mistake?" he asks worriedly.

[JadedDM]

Tulbas Erogund (High Hand Inn)
The old woman nods. "Kendra, yes. They call her the Hero of Haven because she saved the market square from that monster made of fire. Although...after seeing her chop off the heads of two men, some feel conflicted at calling her that anymore."

"As for the men she executed...nobody ever said their names, as far as I can tell," she adds. "I wasn't there myself, so I'm just going by what I've heard from people who did witness it."

Gobax and Shima (West Haven Sewers)
The two move forward, and find another door. It leads northward, but has a big padlock on it.

[Chris1234]

Shima tries to pick the padlock.
If successful, he will open the door and look through (club equipped).
If unsuccessful, he shrugs, re-eqips with hte club and continues westwards.

[BishGada]

Tulbas suspected it might have been Gregeddin that was executed. He got himself punched when asking the guards about Gregeddin and he heard Gregeddin had tried to attack the prefect, but now that he heard the executioner was Kendra he exhale with relief. There is no chance in the world Kendra would kill their friend. Not a chance in the world.
"Thank you," he says raises up and leave few coins for his ale and the conversation.
He then considers going to the church but after all he has no news for the priestess and he can get updates from Magnus. Instead he goes to pay respect at Raetmal's grave.
'Dear Uncle. You would have never believed the changes in my life. On one hand, I passed the Test. You deserve all the credit since you were my true mentor all these years. You might have been proud at me... but... I turned out... Black.' Even in his mind he whispers the last word. 'I guess I was not worth your trust in me after all.'
After that he decided to visit Kendra, but on the way he goes to the market to look at the merchandise and listen to the talks in the street.

[Haahque]

I'm sure I'll figure something out. Maybe we can find or make a ladder somewhere. Until then, let's catch a couple winks so that we're fresh when the guards are sleepy.

If the smell in this room isn't too intense, haahqae will try and sleep (attempting to sleep for exactly 2 hours) in the antechamber, in a spot where he estimates he won't get in the way if anyone passes through and he won't pick up too much of the smell from the fragrant room. If he expects that he can't sleep here without fragrance, he'll make his way back outside to his spot that he found in the guard's room to rest.

[JadedDM]

Haahqae (Prefect's Mansion)
Haahqae curls up for the night in the bathroom, trying not to let the smell bother him.

(OOC: Does he lock the door to the bathroom or does he leave it unlocked?)

Tulbas Erogund (Marketsquare)
Tulbas wanders the market after visiting his uncle's grave. He spots the makeshift gallows that is already being torn down by the baaz. Blood stains are still on the pavement. However, the bodies have been removed already.

The execution is mostly the only thing people are talking about. Although only a handful of people witnessed it, word of mouth is ensuring the news is spreading quickly.

Gobax and Shima (West Haven Sewers)
Picking the lock, Shima opens the door and peers inside. It's a cross-section, with a door to the north, west and east. However, the room is filled with giant rats--maybe 9 or 10, including a few of those strange ones extra legs that he encountered before.

==========

Shima makes an open locks check [OL 50%] (1d100): 35, pass.

[Haahque]

(ooc: he'll lock the door, and in general he tries to leave everything as he found it before he sleeps)

[BishGada]

Tulbas stares a bit at the stains, then tries to hear if someone is telling the story claiming to see it first handed. If he hears such a person he will get close and ask for description of the whole process, "Don't skip any detail." he says as if eager to gossip and giving the person a feeling of pride for being the storyteller responding with a lot of excited expressions. After getting the details he continues to Norris's house where he met Kendra weeks ago.

[JadedDM]

Tulbas Erogund (Marketsquare)
Talking to the locals, Tulbas learns the details. The names of the executed were never given, so nobody knows them. Just that one was a dwarf and he was responsible for the elemental attack awhile back and the other a human who, supposedly, attacked the prefect somehow. Apparently, just before dying, the human pleaded with the audience not to listen to the Hero of Haven, that she was no hero at all, but a tool of an evil occupation and that the people needed to rise up. Some people feel he was right, some seem uncomfortable with the rhetoric.

Afterward, he heads for Kendra's place, the jewelry shop. Knocking on the door, he waits for her to answer.

[HorizonsDream]

After a few minutes, the sound of a lock turning can be heard. Kendra stands in the doorway after opening the door, looking as if she hasn't slept in a month. Her eyes are red, her skin is pale, and even a light sheen of sweat can be seen upon her face even though it is cold out. She stares at Tulbas blankly for a second as if she doesn't even recognize him before she finally speaks. "...Tulbas?" she asks, but her words are emotionless and cold.

[Chris1234]

Shima closes the door quickly and tries to close the lock.

[BishGada]

Hearing the lock being unlocked, Tulbas uncontrollably smiles. 'Finally a familiar friendly face... After all I've been through...' But when he sees Kendra his face fall. "Kendra." he says warmly. "Yes. It is I. You look ill... May I enter please?" he asks. As soon as they are in he offers to make her a cup of tea, and being used to making meals since his long stay with Raetmal and the shorter stay with Magnus, he quickly finds what he needs for that.
Once sitting he tells her, "And I thought I had a difficult time... If you seeks listener or company, I'll be glad to assist. Also if you want to be alone I'll leave." He says thinking to himself, 'This must be the emotional stress dealing with the execution. That was against her core soul... Similar to my own action in the Test I assume.' and he sips gently from his cup.

[HorizonsDream]

Kendra gently wraps her hands around the warm mug, and stares down at the liquid. Considering that he was offering a listening ear, and even offering to leave, she figured that he heard about the executions. "I've executed two people, and I can't justify my actions," she explains numbly. "I knew that I was ordered to execute the dwarf. He had tried to kill me, and harmed a number of citizens while trying to get at the army. Despite all of that, it is hard to justify killing him, but Gregeddin..." Kendra starts to choke up as she has a very clear image in her head as to what she did. She has spent a few hours replying the whole scene over and over again. She can clearly hear his voice pleading for his life, and she can feel her sword cutting into his flesh as if it was in slow motion. She bows her head to hide her tears.

[JadedDM]

Gobax and Shima (West Haven Sewers)
Without saying a word, Shima quickly slams the door shut and relocks it, before the rats take notice of him.

[Chris1234]

"That's an important room. Goes off in 3 other directions. But it got three times as many rats as those we just struggled with. And several that have 6 legs. Met those before; they're a lot harder. I suggest we have a quick search of this western dead end, just in case, adn then head back," comments Shima who then does the dwarven thing of inspecting for moving stonework and so forth in the western deadend.