Shara and Kendra made their way around the house quietly while the others caught up on the sleep they had missed with the previous night's vigil, trying to make as little noise as possible while gathering up notebooks, quills, and spare parchments. They left the house asleep as they made their way to the town hall.
There was once again a commotion in the town square, this time centered around Sheriff Caeler and two of his deputies. The two deputies were standing in front of the monument and the sheriff, normally so even tempered and affable, was turning the air blue as he shouted at them.
"...lazy, irresponsible, good for nothings! I ought to take both of your badges and..." The tirade continued as Kendra sidled up to one of her neighbors to ask what was going on.
It was another vandalism. The first night the bloody
V had appeared on the monument. The second night
VE had been scrawled there, although our heroes had been busy investigating the crypt that morning and had missed the disturbance. When it became clear that the vandalism was a continuing theme the sheriff had set two of his deputies to stand watch over the monument. Last night they had fallen asleep at their posts, hence the shouting. And it appeared that the vandal had taken full advantage of their lapse, for the letters
VES were scrawled on the monument in rusty, dried blood.
Kendra shuddered and pressed on, leading Shara to the town hall.
The archives were in the loft of the building, a high ceilinged room with rows of shelves holding folios of information. Most of it was transactional information, livestock sales and the like, with a section devoted to the minutes of town council meetings. The archivist, an elderly halfling woman named Esther, gave Shara a mistrustful glare but as a citizen of Ravengro Kendra was more than entitled to search through the records.
Although not particularly historically minded, Shara fared well with Kendra's assistance and the well cataloged materials in the library. Although she wasn't able to glean much personal information about them she uncovered five infamous names, the five most dangerous prisoners who were being held at Harrowstone during the fire.
Meanwhile at the Lorriomor estate the morning was leisurely. Most of our heroes were sleeping off the previous night's excursion, but Keanala drifted in a fretful, restless slumber. Her dreams were nightmares of being lost in a deep, dark wood, gnarled trees looming up and misty pathways confusing the mind. In her dream she wandered, deepening panic rising in her chest as she searched futilely for some beacon to guide her.
Presently she heard the soft, keening strains of a flute drifting through the trees. Far from comforting, the eerie melody seemed to fill her slumbering mind with dread. And yet she felt compelled to follow it, pressing on through her dream towards the source of the haunting music.
In the Lorrimor's spare room she rose, sleepwalking, from her bed and marched towards the window. Her eyes were closed, trapped in her dream, and yet her fingers moved unerringly. She opened the window and raised the sash.
The music in her dream masked the noise, but the sound of buzzing wings grew louder and louder.
In the dream world the music grew closer and closer, and as she approached it fear grew in her. She was almost upon it, the discordant music coming from just around the next bend. Louder and louder, until the woodwind seemed to be tearing at her eardrums. And then, just as she rounded the last corner, she awoke.
She found herself standing in the guest room, alone, near the open window. But a very real buzzing sound filled the air as two massive insects, easily the size of her hand and resembling massive mosquitoes, were flying towards her. Stirges!
They darted into the room and, as if of its own volition, the window snapped shut behind them. Keanala found herself trapped with the dangerous little pests.
Keanala, you are trapped in the guest room with two stirges. Constantine and Garland are in the next room and can arrive in 1 round if called for. I'm not going to map out this combat since stirges attach to their victims and tactical positioning is less important, but normally for combats I'll put up a grid map to maneuver on. For now just assume that everyone can reach everyone else in one move action.
Keanala, it's your turn, Garland and Constantine can post about arriving or reacting but should hold off on taking a turn until next round. I've also split the combat off into its own thread since it takes place early in the day and Shara and Kendra will be researching until evening.
Enemies:
Stirge 1 - 5 HP, 16AC, Fort +2, Ref +6, Will +1
Stirge 2 - 5 HP, 16AC, Fort +2, Ref +6, Will +1
Exeunt to Chapter 1.3 - link to a message in this game
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:18, Thu 28 Feb 2019.