The sun rose in the east like in all the days before it.
What was different about this day was that Vyria Draigh's fiancee Alvar the Tanner was missing!

He is a heavy sized man with blond hair who can usually be found at his shop or at the Inn.
Vyria expected him at the Inn for his usual breakfast this morning and sent Rowen's boy Glenn to look for him.
Glenn was unable to find hide nor hair though he tried for some time.

Alvar's tanning shop is near Tobias's tower at the edge of town, as the smell of tanning is not something most people want to live near.

Though people in the town talked about them as a strange match, they did seem to be truly in love.
This was good because at her age, there had been concern with her finding someone.

While Alvar didn't always have breakfast at the Inn, he did spend most of his free time there.
He also had a reputation of not missing his meals.

Glenn showed up at Tobias's tower because "you never know" and besides, he was curious about the tower.

It so happened that Yseult had taken a chance to spend a night in the town, instead of her room at the keep, and overheard Vyria's distress when she came down from her room.

Jeffery was doing prep work in the forge when Glenn came by asking if he or his father had seen Alvar.

Soon word spread about town that Alvar was missing.
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:46, Sat 20 July 2019.

When Yseult heard that Alvar was missing, it was from Vyria, and it was early, for the tanner took his breakfast quite early before opening his shop.  Yseult had also been raised on early mornings, so he had not been missing long when she had joined Vyria in the inn's common room.  They sat together, as Vyria tortured herself with the possibilities.

"Perhaps he's just gone for a walk because he has something to think about, " Yseult said.

She was younger than Vyria, but the most available person to latch on to.  Yseult had come to town on a rare day of leisure from chores and learning to be a lady, although to Tolay thinking, part of learning to be a lady was knowing all aspects of estate management, which meant they heartily endorsed firsthand experience.

When Alvar didn't turn up, Yseult sent Glenn back to Jeffrey at the first chance, to tell him to meet her at Alvar's shop.  "Shouldn't we go and look for clues?" she suggested.  Whether Vyria agreed, Yseult was determined to get out of sitting around.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:21, Sat 20 July 2019.

If one's countenance could be described as the weather on a certain day, that of Tobias Draigh was cloudy with a chance of storms. Standing near a part of the crumbling wall that surrounded his broken tower, Tobias stood with one hand on his hip, the other reaching out to touch a wilted plant. He'd recently gotten a start of wolfs' bane from the Ol Witcher woman, one of their first strained exchanges in several weeks. She'd given him instructions on how to transplant it, which he'd done to the letter in a south-facing alcove of lichen-covered, sun-bleached stone. Rich soil, augmented with a tuft of wolf fur and watered with flask of spring water obtained in the Dark-shadowed Forest north of town.

"Dead again... Dead. Always death..." he was muttering to himself when he heard someone running his direction. Turning, he saw that it was Glenn, a boy from town. He was rattling on about something involving the reclusive wizard's sister.

"Alvar? No, he's not here. No, I've not seen him. He's probably just busy at the tannery and didn't make it to breakfast this morning. My sister has a way of being overly dramatic. I'll head over in a bit and tell him he's causing a panic in town. Run along now."

After the boy had left, Tobias turned back to his dead plant, the clouds that were the hollows of his eyes had grown darker as a seed of concern began to grow in his gut.

He dribbled a bit more of the spring water on the withered plant, not really thinking it would help, but refusing to admit that much of what he touched tended to wither away...

Suddenly his eyes flashed as if like lightning in the storm. He spun around and began to make his way toward the tannery in an effort to get his mind off his failure.

Rising early as was the norm for him, Nevyn freshened up, put on his clothes, grabbed his travel-bag and other essentials and finally grasping his staff firmly in a hand headed downstairs. His dark hair was neatly combed back from his forehead to fall towards his shoulders, and the expression on his face was serene as always. Though he looked to be only in his late twenties, Nevyn's face and eyes betrayed a wisdom found in one far older.

There was an urgency to his steps this morning though, for after breaking his fast he intended to head out of the village today for a few days to Willow's Edge; he had never visited the fort before and intended to go there to ask the guardsmen if they had seen any unusual traffic coming in from the west. As the journey would take a couple of days Nevyn intended to make preparations for the trip, such as purchasing travel rations, camping gear and perhaps an old horse that would make the journey easier.

Seated at his favorite table and digging in to his usual breakfast of eggs, bread and cheese he was startled to hear the commotion about Vyria's fiance being missing. At first the mage did not speak, thinking the Tanner had simply been busy with work and lost track of time. But when the lad Glenn was unable to find him and the young lady present at the inn, Yseult, appeared concerned as well Nevyn decided to speak up.

"Let us not be hasty my lady, perhaps Alvar fell asleep in his shop, or had a visit from some relatives and is busy entertaining them," Nevyn said gently to Vyria. Glancing towards Yseult he added, "Yes, perhaps a visit to his shop might be in order before raising any alarms. He could be there snoring away for all we know."

Not needing sleep and while my friends are in town asleep for the night, I spent the early evening just outside of town scouting and last few hours resting atop Tobias's tower meditating.

When morning approached, I gathered my equipment and started heading in to town. When I saw a boy exiting the tanning shop and running quickly in the same direction I was heading. So I decided to follow.

As he entered the inn, I was not far behind. Inside the inn the air was thick with tension and unease.

Wondering what was going on; and seeing some of my friends already awake and having breakfast, I head over to find out.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:11, Sun 21 July 2019.

When Glenn came back with the message to meet at Alvar's shop Jeffrey couldn't help but believe that something was amiss as Alvar was always easy to find. Believing that something was really wrong, Jeffrey finished what he was doing at the forge and told his father that he was going to find out what was going on.  He grabbed his weapons and donned his armor and headed over to Alvar's  as quickly as possible. As soon as he got there he tried to find Alvar and when he couldn't he began looking around outside the shop to try to figure out what had happened to him.
This message was last edited by the player at 11:09, Sun 21 July 2019.

Being fleet of foot, Jeffery was the first to arrive at the tanning shop, moments ahead of any others.
With a quick once around the outside of the shop he made several observations.
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:34, Mon 22 July 2019.

Tobias arrives just after Jeffery makes his quick circuit of the tannery.
While the early morning sun casts a fine light on the shop, the picturesque look is ruined but the stench. It is a cross between an open sewer and rotting meat.
What few people that are about, don't linger in the area except those that live nearby.
They seem oblivious to the smell.
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:15, Mon 22 July 2019.

Yseult and Nevyn are leaving the Inn just as Dumoss arrives.

After being filled in on the details that are known so far, the three friends head towards the Tannery.

When they get across town, Jeffery and Tobias are already there. Just as the building comes in sight, the three see them open the front door and look inside.

Nevyn was quiet as he walked with Yselut towards the tannery; he did not know much about the noblewoman save that she lived in the keep yet also mingled with the villagers and common-folk on many occasions. He did not think it prudent to prod into her life though, at least not at the moment. They had more pressing matters to attend to.

The smell of the tannery permeated the air well before the building came into sight, and Nevyn was forced to cover his nose with the sleeve of his robe as they walked up to the building. He noted others had gathered there as well, including Tobias.

"Well met, I hope you did not eat before coming here. I did and already regret it," Nevyn remarked by way of greeting.

The presence of Jeffrey at the tannery added a bit of gravity to the situation, but Tobias shrugged it off. Walking up to the front door, he banged on it a few times and then tried the handle. Behind him, he heard other footsteps along the narrow road. Glancing over his shoulder, Tobias saw several more people from town, some of them covering their noses. The smell certainly didn't bother Tobias however, the smell of rot and death was a familiar one to him... everything smelled that way to the young wizard.

Pushing the door open, Tobias called out, "Alvar? Where are you? Get out here, you're causing a panic. Alvar?"

His suspicions raised, Tobias looked carefully around the shop to see if anything was out of place. Though he didn't frequent the tannery, few people did, he was here probably as much as anyone else simply due to the proximity of his sister's fancy to his own dilapidated tower.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:19, Tue 23 July 2019.

Looking inside, it can be seen that while there were hides spread over a couple of wooden beams the special knives used to scrape off the hair were still on their shelf.
On a sturdy table in the shop itself, a hide was staked out and an even strip had been cut, about three fingers wide, down one side.
The blade used to cut the leather is still laying on the table.
Hanging on a nearby peg is a soiled and stained apron.

The cover at the top of the ladder leading upstairs is open and the door to the backporch is closed.

The fireplace looks to have no fire in it and the shelves for storing food appear to have been rifled.
Some of the containers have been knocked over and there is a mostly eaten apple on the floor.
This message was last edited by the GM at 10:38, Tue 23 July 2019.

Alvar watched as his friends gathered in front of the tanner's shop. He had been somewhat sick with a rough throat last week, yet now he had recovered mostly, which was good. He headed over to the tanner to meet with his friends.
This message was last updated by the GM at 00:05, Tue 23 July 2019.

Jeffrey sees his friends have arrived and tells them that Alvar does seem to be missing. "I have seen something that seems strange to me though, there is a small pile of coins on the bench just inside the door. Why would Alvar leave them like that?"
This message was last edited by the player at 22:07, Mon 22 July 2019.

Tobias drifted over to where Jeffry stood near a bench by the door. There were, upon the wall, several baskets.

"He didn't leave them there, someone else did. Look, there's one basket missing..." he pointed to where the closest spot near the door was vacant. "Someone else came in and found Alvar gone, took a basket and left some coins as payment either for the basket or what was in it, or perhaps, some other outstanding debt."

The Haggard, as the townsfolk called him behind his back, shrugged and then decided to poke his head up through cover of the ladder leading upstairs.

Upstairs was dimly lit by a window, at the end over the front door.

In reply to Oracle (msg # 17):

"Ah, how could we miss looking up there? Do you see anything amiss up there, Tobias?"
This message was last edited by the player at 21:34, Tue 23 July 2019.

"Amiss or a mess?" he asked, now passing more words than he'd spoken to another person in more than a week. "The latter for sure."

He climbed the rest of the way up and took a look in the chest as well as a closer look around the bedroom. This sort of thing would have been considered very rude by nearly everyone in the town, but Tobias had a certain interest in the welfare of his sister, and the fact that Alvar was missing seemed a plausible reason enough to snoop a little.

A quick dig into the chest revealed where Alvar stored his winter clothes and extra blankets.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:05, Tue 23 July 2019.

Tobias climbed back down and shut the hatch at the top.

"Nothing obvious. Maybe we should look out back?"

Well the others are inside looking, I remained outside and noticed that there are deer tracks on the ground near the door of the building. They are somewhat scuffled by other people's footprints but away from the building and towards the north they become clearer.

I called to the others to come outside and check what I found, and suggest we follow the deer trail.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:25, Wed 24 July 2019.

In reply to Dumoss Nindir (msg # 22):

"Well done Dumoss, deer tracks this close to Alvar's tannery is certainly unusual and almost certainly a real clue to what is going on here." Jeffrey agrees with Dumoss that they should follow the tracks.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:06, Fri 26 July 2019.

Tobias's quick look out the backdoor of the shop reveals the expected things while letting in more foul odors.

"What is that stench?" Alvar asks.

The neighbors have paused their morning chores and are craning their necks to see what the disturbance was that had attracted a small crowd of people at the tanning shop.

It is highly unusual for people to gather in this area with the smell of the rotting hair and meat from the skins as well as the human waste used to chemically treat the leather.

Even the pig pins next door was thought to smell better.

Whispering could be heard between the neighbors by any that listened.

In reply to Oracle (msg # 26):

"That horrible stench is a combination of all the different liquids necessary to tan leather. The pigs over there certainly don't help either. It always smells like this here, but we are wasting time, we need to follow the tracks, Alvar may be in real trouble and I think we should do everything we can to help." With that Jeffery motions to the tracks and begins to follow them. "Come on Dumoss, you are the best tracker we have, aren't you?" Of course after his time with the hunters, Jeffrey isn't a bad tracker himself.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:27, Sat 27 July 2019.

While the others stand around, Dumoss starts following the deer tracks with Jeffery close behind.

Nevyn wasn't sure if following the deer tracks would amount to anything pertinent to this investigation, but it appeared the only lead they had and the others seemed keen on following them.

"Very well then, lead on," he muttered, his voice muffled by the sleeve of his robe covering his mouth and nose. At the very least it would give them an excuse to get away from the tannery and its smell. And who knew, perhaps Alvar spotted some deer and decided to try his luck at hunting one.

"Keep a look out for any human footprints along with the deer," he called out to Dumoss.

I hear Nevyn off in the distance. I tell Jeffrey.  I hurry back towards the trainers shop to get the others. "Will be right back, Jeffery."
This message was last edited by the player at 18:18, Sat 27 July 2019.

Nevyn was able to drop his sleeve as he followed Dumoss and Jeffery away from the tannery.
He caught up with them as they slowed to pick the hoof prints from the human ones as the area away from the tannery was more traveled.
This was made easier my Dumoss turning back towards him.

In reply to Oracle (msg # 31):

Jeffrey walks up to Edmond, "Hey Edmond, that carving looks like it is coming along well."
This message was last edited by the player at 04:19, Sun 28 July 2019.

Edmond looks up from his carving.
"Thanks. You're that Smith boy aren't you?"
Turning the carving this way and that in his hand.
"It's coming along. Been tough getting the legs just right."

The concern about Alvar was bothering him more than he had expected.

As Megan Swineherd was outside slopping the hogs, he forced himself to strike up a conversation with her.

"Have you seen anything usual this morning Mrs. Swineherd?"
This message was last updated by the GM at 20:45, Tue 30 July 2019.

"Good morning to you, Tobias."

"Seeing you out and about is already unusual but nothing like hearing Cenric the Shoemaker squeal like a girl when he entered the tannery."

"I was surprised myself seeing a golden colored deer dash out of the shop."

"Cenric asked me if I knew where Alvar was and said to tell him he'd picked up his basket of leather. I guess he was embarrassed about the squeal cause he didn't say anything about the deer and hurried off before I brought it up."

"Well I would say you have managed the legs very well." after a short pause "Edmund, have you seen anything unusual this morning?"

"Well now, I must say that having a deer run out of town is unusual."
"It being a golden color too."

"I grabbed my spear to get a throw at it but, it was too fast."
"Sure looked healthy. Someone is going to eat well if they can shoot it."

"You looking to hunt it, it went off that way," pointing towards northwest.
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:04, Thu 01 Aug 2019.

"That certainly does seem odd. I would want to try and track it, if anyone else wants to."

Well then, Let the Hunt Begin. The tracks lead to and through The North Gate of town.
Time to head north into the forest.

In reply to Dumoss Nindir (msg # 39):

"Lets go then"

"Thank you Mrs. Swineherd. That is most unusual."
Considering what he had just heard, Tobias decided to try and track down the deer.

He thought to himself that there must be some magic involved and he should try to learn more about what had happened.
There might be something he could use to further his own magical abilities.

That his Fae friends favored following the deer trail only made the decision easier, as did the thought of leaving the local stench behind.

"Mrs. Swineherd, please keep an out for Alvar and let him know we are looking for him, if you see him."

With that he hurried off towards the North Gate.

Muttering to herself and looking after Tobias and the others, "That is most curious."
"You'd think they had never seen a deer before."

After dumping the rest of her bucket, she headed back inside.

The group of friends followed after Dumoss as he tracked the deer across the fields outside of town. Before long they had reached the edge of the forest.
Even the morning sun on a partly cloudy day didn't lighten past the first line of trees.

As they were preparing to plunge through the weeds and brush at the edge of the woods, several children ran out. When they saw the friends, they hurried up to them.

The kids were disheveled. A couple had bits of twigs leaves in their hair. They reminded you of what you looked like at that age.

"Help help! The bear got Leland."

"We was playing in the woods like usual and Leland fell in."

"We're sure the bear got him! We heard it growl!"

"Please come save him! Our folks will be real mad if the bear gets him."

In reply to Oracle (msg # 43):

Jeffrey tried to calm the children down and then asked, "Let me get this straight, did you ever see this bear or did you just hear it?"

Du'Moss; with much concern, says quietly to his friends so no one else over hears,

"Guys, I need to tell you something before we track down this golden deer.

I think we need to trap it and NOT kill it.

Because if what I believe is true.

The boot and deer tracks we found outside the tanner shop are made
by the same creature or person. And I think it is Alvar.

How to determine if this is the case I am still not sure.

And now this bear issue?

Alvar is a large man maybe he is following the deer and the kids mistook him for a beer?

Or if I am correct him transforming into a bear or back to Alvar?

Either way.

Let's make sure we take care in this hunt.
Keep a watch on what/who maybe following?
Make sure we protect whatever this is, and find it before anyone else."


...Edited for bad spelling, and format...
This message was last edited by the player at 01:57, Sun 04 Aug 2019.

"We heard it growl!"

"The cave must be his. We weren't sure before."

"Leland thought it might be bandits's or a dragon's lair and wanted to sneak in."

"We was just pretending."

"He slipped and slid deep. That's when the bear growled!"

Slightly out of breath after following the swift moving Dumoss, Nevyn had been about to comfort the children and ask for more information when he heard Dumoss's words, and his eye widened.

"Wait, are you sure Dumoss? How could this be, is Alvar some form of shapechanger?" he asked Dumoss incredulously, before looking around at the others to see if they had ever heard of this before. "Has anyone heard a rumor of Alvar being a creature such as this, or being under a curse?"

The children look desperately from one grownup to another.

While the friends had heard of shapechangers, in all the time they had lived in the town, they had never heard of anyone that had actually knew of any.
If Alvar was, he would be the first and had never been known to do anything unusual before.

Du,Moss responds to Nevyn, "I am not sure, its just a feeling. I do not know if he is a shapechanger, or if a Spell was cast on him in someway? It just the foot prints seams to combine at the Tanner's Shop, and only the deer ran out the gate."
This message was last edited by the player at 20:38, Tue 06 Aug 2019.

Du,Moss to the kids, "Can you point the way to this cave? And then run home while we investigate and sort this out."
This message was last edited by the player at 20:44, Tue 06 Aug 2019.

"You're overreacting Dumoss, Alvar - no doubt - saw the deer and wished to harvest it for the pelt. From its description, I'm sure he expected it would fetch a fine price, or perhaps he desired it for a particular project..."

But the seed was planted in the Haggard's mind. Could this be true? Tobias wondered. His own strange experiences with magic would certainly make him less of a skeptic, but it would do no good at all to feed wild speculation.

"Let's go fetch Leland out of whatever hole he's fallen into, then we can return to our hunt." He listened carefully for the children to explain where the cave was located.

With Tobias showing he was paying attention, Torr blurted out, "There's a big hole we like to throw sticks and stuff into not too far that way."
Torr and one of the other kids point towards the north and slightly west.
"It's a big old hole and pretty deep. Leland was on the side that doesn't hang over when he slipped."
"He tried to climb back out but, said his arm was hurt and couldn't."
"That's when we heard the growl and ran for help."

"Can you help him?"
"Please?"

The other children had very pitiful yet concerned looks as they waited for an answer.

In reply to Torr (the Oldest) (msg # 52):

"Of course we will help him. Come on people, we have a child to save, and Alvar to find." Then Jeffrey heads off in the direction the children pointed.

"Y-yes, of course," Tobias sighed. He was the least physically capable of the group. The lifestyle of study and research combined with perpetual sleepless nights filled with nightmares of unspeakable things when he did sleep, left him weak and then, his appearance being one much older than his youthful age. If it came to hauling the lad out of some dangerous pit, he wasn't sure he'd be able to manage. Glancing at the others, he turned to follow the children toward their dilemma.

Dumoss follows Jeffrey to the hole; thinking how big is the hole. I hope Leland is ok and I can jump in lift him out.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:25, Thu 08 Aug 2019.