Lance grunts affirmatively in response as Kuro and Garret leave. "Stay safe, you two," he calls after them before they shut the door.

Having arrived at the door of Tainya and Parthia's room, Narerka halts, then make a powerful knock.

"Lady Parthia, teigna, we have decided that everyone should gather in the dining car, for safety. Could you come with us ?"

Last edited at 13/05/29(Wed)09:19

Parthia sighs before she shoves all of her important papers into a brown leather knapsack. "It would appear that we're needed elsewhere. Let us be off, then."

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Tainya nods, and stands from her position sluggishly, as if she'd been sitting there for days. She then follows Parthia and the rest of the group, intending to finish her trance once they've gathered.

Shortly after the members of House Phiarlan join the group, Miri returns, leading her daughter by the hand. Kuro and Garret are next to arrive, bringing good news : the next stop is only an hour and a half away. If they can hold out for that long, then it'll be the town watch's problem, and everyone can travel by the relative safety of an airship.

Trying to get rid of his sore throat, Kuro finally asks a drink to Flint. Once that's done, he decides to approach Tainya again.
"Sorry for the inconvenience, but it might be better to stick together until we arrive there."

Tainya looks over the group nervously, then addresses Kuro in a serious tone, "Sir, ah 'eard it mentioned zat ze train will reach ze next stop in a mere 'our and a 'alf. Zat surely means ze killer will make a move before zen."

With everyone gathered, Narerka leads the group to the dining car while Kuro takes the rear position. The people gathered march past the grisly scene, Parthia in particular trying not to look at it. It's a very tense march through the rain, the sky darker than it has any right to be at this hour. At least it's not a long walk.

Miri prestidigitates everyone dry upon arrival, then sits at the nearest table. She huddles over Mari, who keeps staring at Kuro. Flint, meanwhile, obliges the warlord's order with some hot cider, then brings a hard drink for Mr. Goldsmith. The dwarf is much less animated than he was earlier, staring at the foamy drink with a distant look. His guardian brought the strange device that Cidri was working on and looks to be engaged in a ritual of some kind. And Garret tries his best to console the dwarf.

Cooke solemnly removes some trays from the food cart to reveal a set of fresh pies as dessert, but he doesn't bother with any bravado. His heart doesn't seem into it, and he retreats to a corner to fiddle with a rock the size of his fist. Raki sticks with Narerka, gazing sleepily out the windows as the dismal landscape blurs by. Just another hour to go...

Then Parthia responds to Tainya's concerns, whispering, "With all of us gathered here, I don't think it'd be feasible for even the craftiest killer to attack." Saying this, she still glances around the room warily, expecting something to jump out at any moment and prove her wrong.

Thanking Flint for the drink, Kuro throw stares to everyone, as if trying to find someone lying in the room. Unfortunately, the warlord wasn't born for detective work. Who knows, maybe in another life.
After a while, however, Kuro notices Mari's looks, and attempts to talk with her.

"Hey there, little lady. My name's Kuro Nobunaga. I'm from the group who caused trouble to your mother a while ago in the carts. I noticed you have been looking a little nervous, maybe there's something you want to tell us?"

Mari seems to regret drawing Kuro's attention, and hides her face behind a thick leather book. Miri doesn't regard him well, either, and attempts to console her kid. The child slowly murmurs something from behind her book that sounds an awful lot like "Thank you, Ku-ro."

"Thanks?" says Kuro, scratching his head.
"What are you thanking me for?"

>>4258
Still muffled by her book shield, Mari replies, "Fr' saving home from bad men." This prompts Miri to look at Kuro incredulously, saying, "Him? This man right here?"

The book weaves up and down as Mari nods.

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"Oh, is that so?" Kuro wonders.
"Well I have fought many battles, I would need to ask where you two are from."

Mari flips open her big leather book to reveal several drawings made in crayon on each page. She turns the pages slowly while looking for something in particular, while Miri answers Kuro, "Well, we used ta live in Metrol before the Day of Mourning. We - er, that is Mari, Erik(that's my husband), and myself - joined with some of the survivors and trekked towards Gatherhold. Before we got there we had to make camp several times, and whenever we did, these rotten brigands--"

Miri gets cut off when her daughter shoves the book in her face. She looks between the illustration and Kuro, then grins nervously.

"Heh... Gods, I guess I owe ya an apology. Sorry for screaming at you this morning, and thanks for all you've done."

Mari flips to another page and shows the open book to Kuro. It depicts what looks like herself, her mother, and another person with a big scar on their face, with the caption "NOW WE TOGETHUR AGEN" under a sunny sky. The little girl is beaming.

"I hate to ruin the mood of this sappy feelgood story of yours," Raki interjects, her face showing just the opposite, "But we still have a freak on the loose, and I'd like to get everyone's alibis ready for the city watch."

Though some of the people gathered scowl at the detective, they begrudgingly admit she has a point.

"Gatherhold...? Oh I remember now! That place sure brings me some fond memories." Says Kuro, almost completely ignoring Raki, with a proud smile on his face.

Then, replying to the detective, Kuro says what it should be already obvious.
"I was right here playing cards with Sir Gardain, Narerka, Lady Sophie, Melech and Sir D'Jorasco. Tainya, Mark, Flint and Cooke were also here, but as you already know Tainya left at some time before the body was found by us."

Tainya replies to her charge warily, "Madam, ze killers actions, zey make no sense. At least not wit ze current information. I zhink we need to operate under ze assumption zey will attack again--zey will need to, in order to actually disrupt ze conference."

To Raki, she relates, "It iz as ah said before, ah was approached by miss Miri in ze game hall, and 'eaded to meet Cidri. When ah got zere, 'e was dead, an' ze door locked. You already know ze rest from wat ah related earlier."

Parthia nods grimly. She looks uncertain when she says, "We'll be fine," and it doesn't sound reassuring at all.

Miri stares at Tainya blankly for a moment, then, very carefully, says, "Begging your pardon, miss, but from when I collected the dishes to first discovering the body, I was with Mari here." To which Mari nods her head, not understanding what's going on. "I didn't even see you until I got back from checking on her after bringing everyone back."

Last edited at 13/06/02(Sun)11:53

Tainya shrugs idly, then replies, "Zat may be, miss, but you or someone 'oo looked very much like you was ze one who called me away from ze car wit' ze ozers gathered."

Raki looks between Tainya and Miri, face scrunched up in concentration and dragonmark flaring. Finally she says, "I can't tell if either of you are lying. So there's a mystery person that looks like Miri here that lured her out to the room?"

"May I add something?" Parthia d'Phiarlan says suddenly, surprising Raki and continuing before she has a chance to reply, "I was in my room reading the entire time, and there was a faint but constant amount of noise while, I assume, Sir d'Sivis was tinkering with something. Now, at some point, I heard Sir d'Kundarak's voice. Some time afterwards, the noise stopped altogether."

The warforged Mark replies sternly, again cutting off Raki, "I can assure you, miss, that Sir Goldsmith was in the dining hall until Miss Miri alerted us. As most of the people here can--"

There's a loud clapping noise as the detective stomps her foot on the hard tiles, shouting, "Quiet! All that I'm hearing are a lot of contradictions and no explanations. Can somebody please explain what the hells is going on?"

"So that's it. Well, it seems the killer has shapeshifting abilities." Says Kuro, in a strangely relaxed tone.
"If that's the case then anyone right here could be culprit, as the killer could have taken someone else place."

Last edited at 13/06/02(Sun)12:47

Kuro's remark draws a collective gasp from the assembled persons, who warily regard each other for attempts on their lives. Except for Raki, who sternly tells him, "Alright, before you go and give everyone a heart attack, could you please explain why the culprit would be some kind of shapeshifter as opposed to, say, a person wearing an ordinary disguise?" She's frowning at him, possibly because the disguise was her idea.

"Disguise? Ah I hope at least mean illusion magic, as a normal disguise would be far too unreliable for an extended deception," Tainya comments, with not a hint of irony in her voice.

"Simple enough, milady. The stories seem to imply the culprit not only managed to deceive two persons using different appearances in a very short time frame, but it also perfectly mimicked their voices. Besides, anything able to capture or seal it's victims souls is probably not short of magical resources."

Kuro's explanation, along with Tainya's suggestion, is seemingly enough to supplant Raki's disguise theory. It is around this time that the train starts to quickly decelerate.

"Very well," she concedes, "Perhaps it is a shapeshifter. I suppose we'll be letting the authorities know soon, so that should be all--"

The detective is cut off yet again as the entire train shakes. The Lightning Rail is suddenly moving at full throttle again, and almost everybody is knocked down or almost falls over. Through the windows you can see the station zip by, and something else. A sea of glowing eyes and glinting metal, some of it from swords and weapons. Once or twice there's the distinct sound of metal smashing against metal echoing through the cars before the scene passes by. Nothing to see but a serene, green field, as if what you just saw was just a waking nightmare.

While others are picking themselves up off the ground, Raki retrieves her glasses and, agitatedly, shouts, "Hells, Hells, HELLS! They were waiting for us?!"

Tainya seems rather smug, given the situation. "Ah told you, ze culprit would not act unless it had taken precautions to make sure we could not escape so easily."

"So the Lord of Blades is collaborating with an assassin to make certain we fail," Parthia summarizes, wiping a trickle of sweat from her forehead. "One that has the ability to change its appearance and voice, as well as prevent resurrection from succeeding. Fan-freaking-tastic."

A few people give wary glances at Mark, who deadpans, "No, go on. Enlighten me as to how I might have betrayed my charge and killed someone while conducting a game at the same time." None of them have anything to say and avert their gaze in shame.

"I think the best option is to remain calm," suggests Garret, "and consider the best course of action."

"It's as you said earlier, oui? Even killing every diplomat 'ere wouldn't stop ze conference. Therefore, other measures must 'ave been taken," Tainya looks around the room warily, then suggests, "Sticking togezer is an obvious good move... so it's most likely been planned for. Unless we are now irrelevant to zer plans, in which case zis is now someone else's problem. Not something we can plan for, ah zink. We should do somezing zey would not expect--go on ze offensive, perhaps. First, we rest up. Zen, as a group, zearch ze train, top to bottom."

The ramifications of what Tainya is suggesting take a while to set in. It does sound like a good idea. But Flint has a question.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but do you mean all of us, as a unit, searching together?"

"Zat is what ah suggest. 'Owever, ah understand zis may be impractical, but perhaps if we merely split into two large groups and kept ze two near each other it would be enough," Tainya elaborates.

The people gathered converse amongst themselves for a bit. It is decided that, obviously, the nobles will travel with their escorts. That leaves everyone else...

Mark has to drag Mr. Goldsmith off his stool to form the first group. Flint volunteers for the second. Miri glares daggers at Peren Cooke and waits for him to choose the second group, then goes with the opposite, taking Mari with her.

Thus far, group one is Mark, Gardain, Mari, and Miri. Second group is Cooke and Flint.

Pick a group before moving on.

Tainya will move over to Cooke and Flint's group and begin trancing again.

Seeing Tainya as a competent leader, Kuro decides to get into the other group.

Sophie suggests she and Melech move to the same group as Tainya to even out the numbers.

Taking Raki by the sleeve, Narerka joins Flint's group

With the 'teams' decided, everyone attempts to rest and recover their strength. It's a very tense, very quiet six hour wait, broken only by a grumpy pixie throwing open the back door and heading to the front of the train - scowling at everyone and irritably rubbing at his eyes. Several minutes later, Lance passes through toward the rear car, grimly nodding to everyone gathered. All there is to eat is the food that's already been set out, which shows no signs of spoiling.

Soon, everyone's rested up, but it's about 8:00 PM during an autumn month, and the clouds refuse to clear, denying you even a glimpse of moonlight. Thus, everything is shrouded in total darkness, save for the illumination provided by intermittent bolts of lightning; only Tainya can reliably see anything at this point.

The party gains the benefit of an extended rest. That means all your daily powers, encounter powers, healing surges, hit points, and item daily powers are replenished

While the group rests, Tainya attempts to discreetly mix another batch of poisons, in preparation for what's to come.

Prepare one dose of spotted toadstool venom, one dose of bloodroot poison, and one dose of carrion crawler brain juice.

Stressed by the circumstances, Kuro ends up waking up each fifteen minutes while he's trying to sleep. However, being used to power napping, even an uncomfortable rest is enough to restore his vitality. There will be time to sleep once the VIPs are safe. Once he's up and ready to go, he addresses to D'Jorasco.

"Sir, if we continue at this speed, do you know how long it take until we arrive to a neutral city? This meeting will have to be delayed, as your security is much more important."

Garret sounds worried and speaks slowly in response, "It was supposed to be a four day trip from here to Thronehold. But I don't know when we'll reach the next town."

By now, everybody sounds like they're waking up. Mostly it's moaning and groaning from other people who were looking forward to sleeping in plush beds instead of on cold, tiled floors. Conveniently, Flint reaches across the counter and flips a switch near the door, a couple of lamps slowly flaring to life.

"I can do you one better," the shifter says, having overheard the two talking. He fishes around in his pockets for a moment unfolds a worn scrap of paper. "According to this here travel itinerary, we'll hit the next town shortly after seven in the morning." He shows the paper to Kuro and Garret, asking, "Anything else you need?"

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Thanking Flint, the warlord adds.
"About twelve hours huh? Well it's late now, as long we successfully break through any kind of ambush they set for us then we should be able to make it in safe.
Oh well, do we still have something edible here? This might be a long night."

"Food iz a secondary concern, monsieur! If we 're finished resting, we must move quickly to find ze killer!" Tainya says a bit impatiently.

"As far I can tell" says Kuro, grabbing one of the sandwiches and giving it a suspicious look before biting it "the culprit might be on this same room. But just to be sure, yeah we should investigate the whole train, we might find a clue.

From the looks it seems you will be working with Melech and Lady Sophie while I'll stay with Narerka and Sora. I'm sure the killer won't have a chance to attack again as long we stay on guard."

"Of course zey could be lurking among us! But we need to eliminate other possibilities first. If zey ARE hiding among ze rest of the train we need to try and find zem!" Tainya insists, gesturing for effect. Sighing, she says, "If 'ou must eat, do it quickly. Zere are sandwiches right 'ere, after all. But we need to start ze search soon!"

Everyone appears ready, and somewhat antsy. Mark puts their attitude into words, speaking bluntly, "Shall we begin, or do we need an engraved invitation first?"

Current groups are :

Mark
Gardain
Mari
Miri
Tainya
Parthia
Melech
Sophie

Flint
Cooke
Kuro
Garret
Narerka
Raki
Sora

Everyone needs to make a perception check. Taking 10 is allowed.

Tainya will spearhead the group, leading and looking as carefully as she can while quickly moving about.

Perception: http://orokos.com/roll/120398 (18)

"Sure thing ma'am." Rushes Kuro, as he devours the rest of his meal.
Once it's time to investigate, he tries to keep an eye on everyone's in his group, and sticks together with Garret all of the time.

Kuro isn't Reiyasu: Perception (14) http://orokos.com/roll/120433

"Sure thing."
Narerka follows along the group, sticking close to Raki, his hand on his scabbard, ready to draw.

Perception check : http://orokos.com/roll/120696 (7)

"Yeah, al'right." Melech followed after Tainya and kept his guard up.

Perception check: http://orokos.com/roll/121852 (27)

Glad Tainya's taking the initiative, Sophie follows along, sticking with Melech.
"I do hope we find the killer soon, lest we lost any more lives."
http://orokos.com/roll/121864 (14)

With everybody ready, the investigation begins in earnest.

Serving Car - Literally nothing interesting here. This car probably wasn't even needed for the current trip, but was too much trouble to detach.

Kitchen Car - It's cold in here. It's very, very cold. Everyone finds the same things that Sora saw earlier. The big chests spewing out icy fog, the metal crates (full of meats and other perishables), the bottles of spices and herbs, the sacks and sacks of flour and sugar, and all the standard kitchen items. The cake beast from earlier stands docile inside its magic circle, gumdrop eyes fixed ahead. Mari refuses to go near it and has to be guided by her mother with her eyes shut.

Storage Car - No trace of the monsters from earlier. Miri was very thorough, and while the car doesn't exactly gleam, there's no trace of dirt, cobwebs, or slime that anyone can find. Inside the various sacks and crates, everyone is able to scrounge up a lot of (now worthless) pre-war bonds. Melech's keen eye discovers a false bottom in one of the crates, which contains 120 gold's worth of arcane reagents stashed away. None of the other objects share this trait.

Caboose - Lance is sleeping back here at the moment, laying on a wall-mounted cot held up by chains. The car has several wooden benches, likely to accommodate for third-class passengers. There's a set of controls back here that Kuro notes is similar to those at the front of the train, minus the eye-catching gadgetry and light shows. On opposite sides, two glass pillars glow with light from within, the personnel calling them 'back-ups'. For what, none of them know.

1st Class Cabin - In a hidden compartment of their luggage, Melech and Sophie happen to find a sending stone. Neither of them packed one, and it's unclear who this one is attuned to. Attempts to speak into it produce no results at the time.

Murder Scene - A closer examination finds the markings from earlier to be the remains of some sort of resin. The markings lead up the wall from the tub to the ceiling, and from the ceiling to the door. The markings are about arm's length. Melech finds a strand of hair caught on this resin that shifts colors when viewed from other angles, usually settling on blue. Investigating it would require a nature check.

Maintenance Car - There are a great deal of boxes filled with replacement parts for the train, and large sheets of metal to weld shut all but the most severe damage to the cars. While inert right now, a large stack of conductor stones is secured with ropes, to be used as replacements if anything happens to the existing track. Something in the center is covered by a big tarp, and removing it reveals an extending platform with a large mechanical apparatus on top. There is a place for somebody to sit, a base with various levers and switches, and two conical barrels extending forward from the base. When asked, the crew calls it an anti-theft measure.

Crew Car - Everything checks out here. Clean as a whistle. As you're checking things out, Lance passes through toward the engine car, and Thorn heads the opposite way shortly thereafter.

Engine Car - Four towering pylons glow with stored energies of the various elementals that fuel the train's systems. At least one of those elementals is visible through a thick pane of glass at the front: a huge wind elemental sitting inside an even bigger pylon with various pipes attached to its base. It's a bit obscured by the centerpiece of the car, a large globe balanced between gyroscopic rings. The globe barely seems to move at all, likely due to its positioning. From a control console extends an arm with a needle on the end that hovers over the southwestern area of Khorvaire. Approximately where you are right now. There's another arm that looks more like a lever; it's very conspicuous in how it's sticking straight up. Lance's personal effects are still here, and he's back at the helm.

By the time everyone is back in the dining car, it's already about seven in the morning, and from the windows you can just make out a city in the distance.