Beginning Day: 10th of Lowsun
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Our adventuring party rose with the dawn, and moved in the grey twilight down to the lake front. As they approached, they found a small wooden boat tied to a rock at the shore that had not been there the night prior. To the distance in the north, they could just make out the shape of a cloaked figure with a long, thin sword at its side.
"Percival!?" they cried out, but the figure merely waved jovially and continued on its way. A moments indecision among the party to decide whether to follow was all it took for them to miss the figure vanishing. They briefly attempted to locate tracks or some other path to follow, but they had all blundered onto the scene haphazardly, and in the confused tracks, nothing could be found. Aelar argued fervently that the group should set off in immediate pursuit in the last direction they had seen him, but was overruled by the others, who wanted to take the boat into the lake to examine the stone.
Kaladan and Merla, both well-accustomed to travel over water, took the boat into the lake alone, being unable to fit anyone else into the small craft given the dragonborn's size. Upon arrival, Kaladan's Divine Sense detected a trace of a holy presence emanating from a faintly glowing symbol carved into the side of the stone facing to the south east.
Below this, a second symbol, slightly smaller and not glowing could be made out etched into the side of the stone.
Moving their craft in a circle around the stone, Merla spotted a ring of yet smaller symbols just below the surface of the water, and quickly committed the entire lot to memory.
Upon returning to shore, they shared what they had found, Merla making a half-way decent sketch of the symbols in the shoreline sand. None could decipher a meaning, although Naivara was able to recognize that they were likely not directly magical in nature, and that they did not belong to any commonly spoken tongue - perhaps being an ancient language of some sort.
Deciding there was nothing further to be gained in the area, they set off in the direction of Fallcrest City, opting to try to take the more direct, but less well-traveled route through the dense forest, rather than backtracking several Ks to the main road up through Newford. They eventually made their way to the original crossroads where Aelar, Kyla, and Merla had met several days prior. Seeing that their options were to take what amounted to an animal-worn path through the thick forest directly to Fallcrest City, or to take the clearly more frequented path again up through Newford, they overrode Kaladan's objections and set off for the small town.
By early evening they had arrived, and the groups separated to visit the various townsfolk who served as merchants to the surrounding areas. Merla and Damaia immediately legged it to the local inn, where Merla negotiated with the owner, a rotund human named Sadon, for a few hours of bardic performance in exchange for drinks and a meal for her and Damaia, on the singular condition that no sea shanties be played. Her first song sang the tale of Kaladan the Paladin in the battle at the stone, and was well-received. She quickly launched into a far more embellished tale of Kaladan's heroic intervention and defeat of several hulking, twelve-foot tall Vine Blights with glowing red eyes and dripping demonic shadows. As she finished her tale, a single ethereal copper musical note hung before her in the air for a moment before vanishing into the evening and the applause.
In the town center, Naivara entered the town hall, just as Edmund, a young man in his early 20s, was closing up for the day. She learned that while there was no library in town, the alchemist was most likely to know something of odd languages in town, and that if she were looking for maps, then the Town Watch was likely her best bet.
Across the small town, Aelar, Kyla, and Kaladan visited the local blacksmith, Sybbyl, with whom they left their gear for inspection, and from whom they bought a few score of some old but serviceable shortbow arrows she had laying around. They got directions to the local alchemists place, and while Kyla and Kaladan headed to the inn, Aelar walked confidently into the closed up alchemist's shop, where he, and Naivara who had joined him, met Elel, a jovial and sarcastic young elf. After a brief lesson concerning doors, and their purpose and usage, he obtained a few scrap pieces of paper to scribble the symbols upon from memory, and purchased a small pouch of willowbark. Naivara asked if Elel knew anything of the symbols, but he did not, other than recognizing they had no particular alchemical significance. As they left, the townsfolk children began running through the streets, dancing around them, and playing with miniature cornhusk dolls.
Back at the inn, Kaladan threw Merla off her game by yelling a request for "Freebird!" from the back of the room. Befuddled, she launched without thinking into a sea shanty about a parrot and his human, to the relative displeasure of the crowd and a grumble from the innkeeper. Outside, Aelar overcame long odds and great personal turmoil to catch a pair of lightning bugs, one of which he immediately squashed while putting into a pouch for keepsies. To Damaia's great delight, Kyla practiced transforming into an adorably tabby cat, albeit one with stubby little legs, and the two played together for a few minutes while watching Aelar trip over his own feet chasing lightning bugs.
As they were getting ready to turn in for the night, more of the town children ran into the inn, chasing each other and playing at fighting with their corn dolls. The group learned that the town had been seemingly overrun with the things since a peddler had come through several days prior and sold them to virtually all the children.
"FIRE! FIRE!" voices cried out in the night long after the group had settled in to sleep.
Stepping out into the night, they were quickly recruited into a bucket brigade bringing water from the large fountain at the town center to a smaller house tucked several hundred feet off at the edge of the woods. They found a modest one-story house engulfed in flames, the owners huddled with their child a short distance away. Upon hearing the child crying about his lost doll, Sir Thomas, who protected him, Damaia valiantly charged into the burning house.
Wading through smoke and ash, she managed to find a few small, charred pieces of the cornhusk doll near the foot of one of the larger beds, and brought it out to the child before rejoining the brigade. Over the next hour or so as the town worked to put out the fire, both Naivara and Kaladan stopped to inspect the area for magical auras, and both felt a faint sense of something magically sinister coming from the boy's hands.
As the fire was finally put out, and the townsfolk returned to their beds, our gang was left by the ruined house alone. Upon further inspection, they found a small strongbox under one of the larger beds. The lock was scratched, and one corner had been pried open. In a burst of strength, Kaladan tore the lid from the box, scattering the small handful of copper pieces that remained inside. Exhausted and confused, they all went back to sleep for the evening, and awoke the next morning, eager to continue to Fallcrest City.
Heading downstairs, Merla negotiated with the tavern keeper's young son Lief to trade his own cornhusk doll for a bone flute of hers. He agreed, on the condition that first she give him a few hours of lessons on the flute, then he would give her the doll. While Merla patiently taught the young boy, Kaladan, Aelar, and Kyla retrieved their gear from the blacksmith, all in good working order, and purchased a few miscellaneous items from her as well. They stopped briefly in to see Elel as well, again purchasing this and that, and Kaladan obtained a small pouch of unknown contents.
At the Town Watch, Naivara was attempting to negotiate a fair and amicable bribe with Orin, a dwarven functionary that served as gatekeeper for the Watchmaster. Quickly overcome with frustration, Damaia grabbed the dwarf, lifted him bodily off the ground, and shook the living daylights out of the creature until he relented. Eager to have them on their way, Orin scurried off and returned with a map, shooing them out of the building with all haste.
After inspecting their new map, they returned to the inn to pick up Merla, who had by now completed her trade and received a doll in kind. Naivara took it, and upon closer inspection of this intact specimen, immediately identified it as an evil possessed totem, used to carry out task for a master, and could even be crafted to contain small spells. Merla nonchalantly tucked the possessed demon cornbaby into her pouch and named it Horace.
Apparently done with this small town, and unconcerned about the dozens of remaining possessed dolls, our group set off down the road toward Fallcrest City.
"Percival!?" they cried out, but the figure merely waved jovially and continued on its way. A moments indecision among the party to decide whether to follow was all it took for them to miss the figure vanishing. They briefly attempted to locate tracks or some other path to follow, but they had all blundered onto the scene haphazardly, and in the confused tracks, nothing could be found. Aelar argued fervently that the group should set off in immediate pursuit in the last direction they had seen him, but was overruled by the others, who wanted to take the boat into the lake to examine the stone.
Kaladan and Merla, both well-accustomed to travel over water, took the boat into the lake alone, being unable to fit anyone else into the small craft given the dragonborn's size. Upon arrival, Kaladan's Divine Sense detected a trace of a holy presence emanating from a faintly glowing symbol carved into the side of the stone facing to the south east.
Below this, a second symbol, slightly smaller and not glowing could be made out etched into the side of the stone.
Moving their craft in a circle around the stone, Merla spotted a ring of yet smaller symbols just below the surface of the water, and quickly committed the entire lot to memory.
Upon returning to shore, they shared what they had found, Merla making a half-way decent sketch of the symbols in the shoreline sand. None could decipher a meaning, although Naivara was able to recognize that they were likely not directly magical in nature, and that they did not belong to any commonly spoken tongue - perhaps being an ancient language of some sort.
Deciding there was nothing further to be gained in the area, they set off in the direction of Fallcrest City, opting to try to take the more direct, but less well-traveled route through the dense forest, rather than backtracking several Ks to the main road up through Newford. They eventually made their way to the original crossroads where Aelar, Kyla, and Merla had met several days prior. Seeing that their options were to take what amounted to an animal-worn path through the thick forest directly to Fallcrest City, or to take the clearly more frequented path again up through Newford, they overrode Kaladan's objections and set off for the small town.
By early evening they had arrived, and the groups separated to visit the various townsfolk who served as merchants to the surrounding areas. Merla and Damaia immediately legged it to the local inn, where Merla negotiated with the owner, a rotund human named Sadon, for a few hours of bardic performance in exchange for drinks and a meal for her and Damaia, on the singular condition that no sea shanties be played. Her first song sang the tale of Kaladan the Paladin in the battle at the stone, and was well-received. She quickly launched into a far more embellished tale of Kaladan's heroic intervention and defeat of several hulking, twelve-foot tall Vine Blights with glowing red eyes and dripping demonic shadows. As she finished her tale, a single ethereal copper musical note hung before her in the air for a moment before vanishing into the evening and the applause.
In the town center, Naivara entered the town hall, just as Edmund, a young man in his early 20s, was closing up for the day. She learned that while there was no library in town, the alchemist was most likely to know something of odd languages in town, and that if she were looking for maps, then the Town Watch was likely her best bet.
Across the small town, Aelar, Kyla, and Kaladan visited the local blacksmith, Sybbyl, with whom they left their gear for inspection, and from whom they bought a few score of some old but serviceable shortbow arrows she had laying around. They got directions to the local alchemists place, and while Kyla and Kaladan headed to the inn, Aelar walked confidently into the closed up alchemist's shop, where he, and Naivara who had joined him, met Elel, a jovial and sarcastic young elf. After a brief lesson concerning doors, and their purpose and usage, he obtained a few scrap pieces of paper to scribble the symbols upon from memory, and purchased a small pouch of willowbark. Naivara asked if Elel knew anything of the symbols, but he did not, other than recognizing they had no particular alchemical significance. As they left, the townsfolk children began running through the streets, dancing around them, and playing with miniature cornhusk dolls.
Back at the inn, Kaladan threw Merla off her game by yelling a request for "Freebird!" from the back of the room. Befuddled, she launched without thinking into a sea shanty about a parrot and his human, to the relative displeasure of the crowd and a grumble from the innkeeper. Outside, Aelar overcame long odds and great personal turmoil to catch a pair of lightning bugs, one of which he immediately squashed while putting into a pouch for keepsies. To Damaia's great delight, Kyla practiced transforming into an adorably tabby cat, albeit one with stubby little legs, and the two played together for a few minutes while watching Aelar trip over his own feet chasing lightning bugs.
As they were getting ready to turn in for the night, more of the town children ran into the inn, chasing each other and playing at fighting with their corn dolls. The group learned that the town had been seemingly overrun with the things since a peddler had come through several days prior and sold them to virtually all the children.
"FIRE! FIRE!" voices cried out in the night long after the group had settled in to sleep.
Stepping out into the night, they were quickly recruited into a bucket brigade bringing water from the large fountain at the town center to a smaller house tucked several hundred feet off at the edge of the woods. They found a modest one-story house engulfed in flames, the owners huddled with their child a short distance away. Upon hearing the child crying about his lost doll, Sir Thomas, who protected him, Damaia valiantly charged into the burning house.
Wading through smoke and ash, she managed to find a few small, charred pieces of the cornhusk doll near the foot of one of the larger beds, and brought it out to the child before rejoining the brigade. Over the next hour or so as the town worked to put out the fire, both Naivara and Kaladan stopped to inspect the area for magical auras, and both felt a faint sense of something magically sinister coming from the boy's hands.
As the fire was finally put out, and the townsfolk returned to their beds, our gang was left by the ruined house alone. Upon further inspection, they found a small strongbox under one of the larger beds. The lock was scratched, and one corner had been pried open. In a burst of strength, Kaladan tore the lid from the box, scattering the small handful of copper pieces that remained inside. Exhausted and confused, they all went back to sleep for the evening, and awoke the next morning, eager to continue to Fallcrest City.
Heading downstairs, Merla negotiated with the tavern keeper's young son Lief to trade his own cornhusk doll for a bone flute of hers. He agreed, on the condition that first she give him a few hours of lessons on the flute, then he would give her the doll. While Merla patiently taught the young boy, Kaladan, Aelar, and Kyla retrieved their gear from the blacksmith, all in good working order, and purchased a few miscellaneous items from her as well. They stopped briefly in to see Elel as well, again purchasing this and that, and Kaladan obtained a small pouch of unknown contents.
At the Town Watch, Naivara was attempting to negotiate a fair and amicable bribe with Orin, a dwarven functionary that served as gatekeeper for the Watchmaster. Quickly overcome with frustration, Damaia grabbed the dwarf, lifted him bodily off the ground, and shook the living daylights out of the creature until he relented. Eager to have them on their way, Orin scurried off and returned with a map, shooing them out of the building with all haste.
After inspecting their new map, they returned to the inn to pick up Merla, who had by now completed her trade and received a doll in kind. Naivara took it, and upon closer inspection of this intact specimen, immediately identified it as an evil possessed totem, used to carry out task for a master, and could even be crafted to contain small spells. Merla nonchalantly tucked the possessed demon cornbaby into her pouch and named it Horace.
Apparently done with this small town, and unconcerned about the dozens of remaining possessed dolls, our group set off down the road toward Fallcrest City.
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Ending Day: 11th of Lowsun
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