The party camps and spends the next day exploring the rest of the area around the Broken Tower before heading south. While they find lots of beautiful untouched woods and fields and an incredible amount of signs of wildlife nothing of note bothers them as they travel.

Continuing their exploration they soon find a clearing that stands out from the others before. This one looked to have been inhabited a long time ago with a crude lean-to shelter set up near the forest's edge that was all but rotted away. The clearing had at one time been used to grow some kind of garden but years of neglect had left it horrendously overrun.
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:22, Thu 01 Oct 2020.

She suddenly stops moving, turning she seemed to be looking long and hard at the shelter for several moments. "There is something very evil about that shelter." Gripping the hilt of her sword she will slowly and quietly make her way over to it.

As the day wears on the dust of the road and the rigors of the trail once again conspire to strip Ursion of that severe, authoritarian air that he had worked hard to perpetuate.

His beard was coming in once again, and his hair was mussed, his gray uniform now a sort of mottled brown from the dirt and pollen of the brush they had pushed through.

But this was the real work, not some high minded speech or toothless writ. The law required him to abandon the comforts of civilization, and so he had. Wherever these malefactors fled to, he was charged with pursuit.

He dismounted stiffly, hitched his horse to a stout scrub oak, and once again took up his shield and truncheon. His helmet strapped chaffed, but he paid it no mind as he walked with Rangonda towards the shelter.

While her bottom wasn't as sore as the previous day in the saddle, Erlin was still tired of riding, so she was ready to stop and take a break.  The old, dilapidated wooden shelter seemed a harmless old ruin, but clearly there was more than meets the eye.  She carefully dismounted and pulled out her bow, quickly notching an arrow.

"They have evil shelters now?  I mean, I've stayed in some pretty crummy places in my day, but evil?  Those guys think of everything..."

She glance around, to see if any nasty thing hiding might come out - and get an arrow in its face.

"It's not entirely off-base." Renee chimed-in response to Erlin's statement, as she floated-down off her saddle: a little worn, but otherwise in nominal condition from the long ride. Her magic had combined with the saddle leather and the previous night's cookfire to make her smell of lightly smoked apples and lavender crème. "I have read tales of evil-worshiping witches who dwell in animated huts that move-about on chicken legs."

She moved to stand just behind Ursion and Radgonda, making it clear that she took any possible threat very seriously.

As Radgonda brandishes her sword and approaches the shelter the wind seems to pick up and what seems to be the usual background whispers of leaves rustling takes on a more sinister edge to it.
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:19, Fri 02 Oct 2020.

"...what the...?" She froze for a moment, looking around for a second then suddenly pausing again. Another step forward, a growl, then another pause and shake of her head. "...son? I was his daughter. Now get the hell out of my HEAD!" She yelled out pointing her sword toward the shelter. "SHOW YOURSELF!"

Tosk followed the others up to the hut and as Radgonda suddenly said the place was evil Tosk wasn't sure as he didn't have a spell ready to detect evil but he saw the symbols on the hut.

"The symbols on the hut are to Gozreh, the god of Nature.   He said before the wind started up.

Falco opened his mouth to say something, and then Radgonda spoke about evil.

"Not any great knowledge about evil, but there might be something in that. Nature itself is keeping clear of this hut - that doesn't suggest any safe sanctum I don't believe." He carefully took out his sword, not to attack just yet; but to be prepared.

"What's going on", Erlin asked, confused, and seeking a target to plug, "who is she talking to?"

Radgonda shouts out but there is nothing there, only silence and emptiness and a general sense of dread in the air.

Ursion scowled and muttered something about witchcraft. If the Paladin was screaming at nothing in particular that certainly did not bode well for the rest of them.

He stopped his advance, shared a private look with Renee, and began a more circuitous route in order to inspect the shelter from a different angle.

Renee's eyes narrowed, then flashed as she opened her third eye and began to scan the area, looking for magical auras.
"Radgonda, please communicate what you're experiencing."

---

Cast Detect Magic, and here's a spellcraft and knowledge: arcana roll to try and figure out what's going on.

12:58, Today: Renee Esca rolled 23 using 1d20+8 with rolls of 15.  Knowledge: Arcana.
12:58, Today: Renee Esca rolled 9 using 1d20+8 with rolls of 1.  Spellcraft.

"A vision of my father, but there was...things wrong in it. In it he was strangling me, but not only that I feel as if something was strangling me out here..." It was evident something had affected her, she was breathing heavily trying to catch her breath. Recovering it more like it. "The evil is not as strong as it was, but it is still here."

Visions were tricky things - sometimes they came from the gods, to tell you things you needed to know.  More often, though, they were spells from malefactors, trying to mess with your head.  While Erlin didn't mess with that kind of magic, it seemed reasonable to her that whoever was doing this must be close by.  If their attention was on the ruined hut, perhaps the one doing this was hiding elsewhere, perhaps the woods nearby?
Especially if the evil presence is not as strong as it was initially - that implied movement.  Evil fey creatures?  They were definitely not things anyone wanted to anger.

"We should stay together, but look around, clumps of bushes and trees and the like.  Who or whatever is doing this is probably leaving tracks.  If we can't see it they might be feigr, what you Southerons call Fey."

The Old Crone from her village was actually from the Land of the Linnorm Kings, and usually called them Fej, but it was pretty much all the same.  Up there they were commonplace; Erlin herself had never encountered one, but she knew all kinds of stories and songs and poems involving them.

[Language unknown: "Ultihi eenthuwer o itarol"], she called out in her native tongue, [Language unknown: "e se evst i urce..."]
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 20:21, Fri 02 Oct 2020.

Renee scans around, concentrating where Radgonda was "attacked."

Tosk's tribe had dealt with witchcraft as a few of the elders were witches and much of their magic was evil.  Perhaps that was what was happening here, he didn't know.  Tosk though kept his eyes wide and ears open to try and find anything that may be hidden.

09:32, Today: Tosk rolled 21 using 1d20+4 with rolls of 17.  perception check.

"There is a faint abjuration aura coming from inside the hut, but the area is otherwise clear of magical energy." She looked at Radgonda. "Including Dame Radgonda. I recommend we proceed forward."

Radgonda narrowed her eyes at the hut. "Let's clear this thing out." She said as she began to make her way towards the hut once more. This time her longsword staying out and ready and her senses staying more alert. "And let's all stay more alert than usual, this place is obviously foul."

[OOC: 14:46, Today: Radgonda Lebeda rolled 5 using 1d20 with rolls of 5.  Perception.]
This message was last edited by the player at 18:47, Mon 05 Oct 2020.

Erlin moved forward cautiously with the others, keeping her eyes peeled, with her bow notched and ready to fire.

(00:17, Today: Erlin Bjorksdottir rolled 19 using 1d20+4 with rolls of 15.  Perception.)

Falco also looked around cautiously, but let the others scope it out at a closer angle.

23:40, Today: Falco Corras rolled 9 using 1d20+7 with rolls of 2.  perception.

Moving closer the party doesn't see anything moving. While there are gaps in the walls of the leanto none of them are large enough to get a clear view of the interior.

Currently the door is closed though so to fully explore the old hut someone is going to have to open the door.

Ursion paused only slightly, just long enough to not collide with anybody else also moving towards the door, and then advanced on the wicked little shack.

When he reached the door proper, he tested it with his boot to see if he could nudge it open with his foot.

Seeing Ursion move forward, he moved forward to aid support - he could use missile weapons easily enough, but he quickly summed up that most of their compatriots would prefer to hang back to offer missile support, which meant that he needed to be up front with Ursion.