Borderlands II - This is the OLD game thread

[JadedDM]

Daos will definitely go with Fraso, as he has a strong and even personal interest in solving this little mystery.

[Jenara]

"I am n"I have a curiosity to see what we haven travelled all this way to see, I would be intriged to see if this is indeed one of my Mothers people." Angel says when asked, she obviously has some interest, although she fears she cannot add anything constructive to the examination of the body.

[Stik]

[OOC]So it's Daos and Angel with Fraso [/OOC]

Mayor Sertulius, with obvious relief, delegates Neeri to lead you to where the body is stored. You are flanked by a pair of armed men who from the look of their gear, at least, appear to be of slightly better quality than the two guardsmen you met at the Pond tavern.

At the foot of the promontory upon which stands a lighthouse is a small door set into the rock face. Two men stand guard at the door, beneath a temporary awning. Neeri hands one of the men a small sack and requests that they stand down to let Fraso enter.

As the two men standing guard open the sack and dig into the food inside, Neeri says: "It's our ice house. My uncle thought we should preserve the body as much as possible, so we put it in there. I will see you when you come out. I am not going in there again."

"I understand, young man. The sight of death can be unpleasant to those not familiar with it. As one ages, however, and experiences more of life, one becomes better equipped to process such things and - oh, equipped - my equipment. It is is still on the wagon. I wonder, Master Neeri, if you might send for my tool case. My man Hiric will know where to find it."

This leads to a delay of about half an hour, after which Salia shows up trailed by a soldier carrying a large leather case, like a salesman's sample case. The man gently lays the case at Fraso's feet and stands aside, looking anxiously at the doorway in the rock face.

Fraso looks at the case as if wondering what to do next. Finally, seeing that nobody has volunteered to carry it for him, grudgingly picks it up himself. Meanwhile, one of your escorts opens the door with a key while the other lights a lamp. Then, with a brief pause, the man holding the lamp walks through the doorway into the tunnel.

It is cold in the tunnel, even more so because of the contrast from the sun outside. The lamp ahead of you sways, throwing wild shadows as the man holding it walks along the uneven floor. Your breath steams in the chill air, catching the rays of the lamp and making strange shapes.

You only walk about fifteen yards down the tunnel, but if feels like a hundred, before the tunnel opens into a room. The ceiling is low, but the room is wide and long, and full of ice. In a cleared space to the left of the door sits a wooden crate, casket-sized but very crudely made, covered with a tarpaulin. Around the outside of the box, and on top of the tarp, are packed head-sized blocks of ice.

The guardsman holds the lamp in one hand, and keeps his other on his gladius. "The corpse is under that tarp. All due respect, but someone else can uncover it."

[JadedDM]

Frowning slightly at the guards' squeamish attitude, Daos steps forward and lifts the tarp, revealing whatever is underneath it without any ado or dramatic flair.

[Jenara]

"I have seen my share of bodies in a bad state of repair. I am not squeamish." Angel goes to lift the tarp, but is interupted by Doas, she instead holds back any attempt to vomit.

She takes a look concentrating on the armor, looking for signs of Elevn Heritage.

[Stik]

It takes a moment to clear the blocks of ice off the oilskin tarp, but once the ice has been moved, Daos lifts the tarp away easily. You are greeted with a powerful and unpleasant stench, despite the ice – decay, seawater, and other less pleasant things.

It is in bad shape. It has clearly been in the water for some time, and has been picked at by scavengers, leaving exposed bone in several places. The smell is powerful Seaweed clings to it in places, and there is sand all over it.

Fraso ignores the stench and dons kidskin gloves to examine the body by the light of the guardsman’s lamp.

The body is certainly elven in its proportions, long and lean and tall, with a slender skull. Both eye sockets are empty and one is surrounded by an expanse of bare bone. Much of the face and parts of the scalp are missing, exposing the muscle and bone beneath. The nose is gone, and half of the top lip, exposing sharp teeth with prominent canines. The one remaining ear it long and pointed, like an elf’s.

The left arm has been severed messily above the elbow.

The body is clad in a suit of armor unlike anything Angel has seen in her years as a legionnaire. It is composed of various metal plates interspersed with mail, but unlike legion segmentata it is asymmetrical, and highly decorated with enamel work and small decorative stones. The spaulders are large and like the rest of the suit are finely articulated. The mail is made in the six-in-one pattern employed by elven armorers, rather than the four-in-one more commonly seen, and the intricacy of the articulations and the overall aesthetic design of the armor suggest a skilled elven artist rather than a human smith, but the suit does not resemble anything coming out of the Adri forest, or even Celene.

An empty sword scabbard hangs from the belt, its mouth wide.

“Well, it’s clearly not human. The shape of the skull resembles an elf, but the dentition is all wrong,” he looks at the lack of understanding on the others and says: “the teeth. They’re wrong. Look:” he turns the head slightly, and pushes the mouth open. “The canines are too long. The other teeth, too, are too pointed. And the lower jaw is heavy, for an elf, probably to support those teeth.”

As the guardsman opens his mouth to speak, Fraso interrupts him: “I know what you are thinking, and no. It’s not a vampire, either. It was out in the water for awhile, and they had it outdoors during daylight. Sunlight would have destroyed a vampire, even a dead one."

He continues his examination.

“The ears…well, ear, anyway, looks distinctly elven, but I have never seen an elf like this. Or a human, either. The teeth are intriguing.”

“You know, I really wouldn’t mind taking him apart to see what’s inside. Maybe see if there is anything unusual about the digestive tract.” He looks at the body and says: “You wouldn’t mind being taken apart, eh?” his voice then trails off in the last few words.

[Jenara]

"This, I did not expect."
Angel looks to the corpse, the armor was not as she expected, nothing at all. As Fraso had said, there were small things that made the body not appear elven.

"Why.. Why would they think this was a Lich?." She ponders, checking one more time. "My Lord, if you need me no longer... I would like to see the spot where to body was recovered, it intrigues me."

[JadedDM]

Daos shows no sign of disgust or revulsion at the body, save for a slight twitching of his nose at the smell. "Not elven...perhaps only part elven then?" he inquires.

Upon hearing Angel's request, Daos says, "I will remain here then, with Master Fraso. With our heads together, I'm certain we can unravel this mystery."

[Ismaels-Legacy]

As Angel opens the door to leave she finds Bastian drunkenly arguing with the guards stationed outside. "But I'M a cleric of liquor! I'm supposed to be drunk!" he stammers with a half giggle trailing off at the end of his statement. He lazily lifts his arm and points through the door, not quite able to clench his fist, so it seems he's more beckoning beyond the portal. "There's one of my party, now! ANGEL! Ho, there! Angel! *Hic* It's me! Bastian! Remember me? How could you forget your friend Bastian! We've shared so many intimate details over drinks!" At least that's what he THINKS he's saying. Instead he slurs something along the lines of " 's mi party! ANGEL! Ho da 'ngel! 's me! Bas'ian! Forgot ol' Bas'ian? We share drinks!"

[Stik]

[OOC] Heeeeeeeeeeeey! Ish is back! I was getting worried about you. [/OOC]

Fraso's silence continues long enough that Daos actually becomes a bit concerned and speaks his name. After the second repetition, Fraso gives off a quick: "Ssshhh!" and continues staring at nothing, before finally shrugging it off and focusing on his present surroundings. "Apologies, my friend. Do you know that feeling, when you hear a name or a word or a song and it reminds you of something else, and when you try to figure out what or why, you get lost and forget what you reminded you of it in the first place. Like you might smell pomeganate, and you think of a place where you had a particularly good pomegranate salad, and while you are trying to remember the name of that eatery, you think of the street it was on, and then a bookstore on that street, and you forget all about your pomegranates. But worse, you realize that there is something you've forgotten, but you can't remember how to get back to it." Fraso stops, as if that had explained everything, even though it hasn't.
Daos has to prompt him again, to keep him on task.
"What? Oh, yes. That feeling. You know it? Well, something reminded me of a stray bit of lore that I ran into a long time ago. I just can't recall now exactly where, or what. And now I can't recall what it was that made me think of it. It was..." His voice trails off again, and he is silent for another moment. Then he shakes it off again. "No. It's gone. I am sure I will think of it again. Eventually."

[JadedDM]

"Yes..," Daos agrees. "If it is important, I am sure you will remember it sooner or later." Having nothing further to say on the subject, he continues to observe Fraso work.

[Jenara]

At first Angel frowns at the obviously drunken Cleric, she pauses mid stride, and slaps him lightly around the face. "I have been meaning to do that for a while. I would not go in there, if you value your meal. "
Turning from the room she takes the Cleric by the arm. "I have seen Villages burnt to the ground, bodies charred beyond belief... That body is like nothing I have seen." She looks at him one more time, "Look I am going to get that Captain to take me to where the body was found, you can stay here, or come with me, please tell Master Fraso where I have gone." She leaves Bastion where he is, heading instead back to the Bar.

[Ismaels-Legacy]

Bastian, always shocked to be slapped by a female (No matter how often it happens) stands there, his mouth agape, for a moment. When his addled wits return he does an about face, calls out "Wait *Pause for dramatic emphasis* for Bastian!", takes one step, and immediately falls flat on his face.

[Jenara]

Angel pauses, turns and stares at the fallen Cleric an amused look on her face, she shakes her head and smiles. "Sober yourself up, I will return soon."

[Tempest]

Elias, who has stood by watching Bastian's antics, steps forward and helps prop the priest up.

"I'll keep an eye on him," he says to Angel. "And stay near out employer. I'd like to take a look at the body myself, for that matter."