The party gathers in the morning, a lay brother bringing their horses and cart around to the Chantry courtyard. The reverend mother pays them as promised, and the proprietor of Dane’s Refuge brings over paid-for provisions for their journey, as well as a small sack of coins containing the mayor’s pay for Loran, Erin, Mikhail, and Richard.

OOC: If you haven’t already, be sure to add 1 week’s worth of rations to your character’s inventory. Also, Loran, Erin, Mikhail, and Richard will each add 50sp to their character’s listed money; Fost will instead add heavy mail to his inventory.

Do you folks want to keep the 100sp from the reverend mother separate from your personal funds, or would you rather split it up now (20sp each)?

Sally tells her cousin that she’ll visit Erin’s farm to pass on her message, so, without further ado, the group pulls away and takes the bridge over the creek in the middle of the village. Heading north out of town, they follow the highway past several farms; they find folks working the fields, and most wave hello to the travelers, especially when they see Erin’s familiar face among them. The guard points to the path that leads to her family home as they pass by.

Farmer and Mrs. Benn invite them to stop for lunch and share a cold porridge in exchange for their company. After a pleasant hour, the group continues north until they reach Master Dainan’s farm as the sun starts to set. Dainan meets them at the road and invites them in.

“Where are you folks taking Miss Erin, here? I’ve never known you to be one to stray far from the village, young lady,” Dainan says as one of his sons begins to collect the horses to take to the barn.

"No place she doesn't want to go. Obviously." Laughing as he held onto his staff, he would let Erin and the others from around here take charge in this case. However, not to say he wouldn't try to contribute, but it was more as a supporter than anything else. Otherwise, he felt it more necessary to keep an eye to the road and horizon. Just incase there were any angry people following in their wake.

OOC: I'd rather keep that separate.

"Special mission this time. I am a courier!" Erin said excitedly, almost beaming on the spot as she did so. "Trouble and dangers abound as of late, so I was tasked to send the word and hopefully get some help while at it. Things so troublesome that we need to travel like so." She pointed at her peers. "You ought to take care of yourselves out here too, alright? Be on your toes."

Richard simply enjoys the brisk walk through the countryside without having to watch his and his companion's backs. He nods with a smile at any farmer they meet and eats with appetite when porridge is offered.
He stands a little behind, letting Erin do the talking as she's clearly more familiar with the people here. Nonetheless he greets Dainan and looks him up and down.

Anything noteworthy I can see on Dainan?

Fost greeted the family with respect and smiles, especially after Erin had shared her story with them.
The stay at noon showed to be amicable and Fost sincetely thanked the couple for sharing food and news.
Yes, these were definitely people worth protecting.
As they reached evening and a New site he briefly wondered if these were supposed to be warned about potential Dark Spawn incursion, but left that delicate decision in their new member's expertise.
Still, he troed to learn whetjer they had heard of the missing templar and whether she had passed their home.

The older man’s lips curl up slightly at the girl’s energy. “Then I’m glad to have you ‘round us,” he says warmly. Fost, Mikhail, and Richard get the impression that Master Dainan probably knows his way around the business end of a spear, at the very least.

Mikhail sees no angry mob, nor a mildly agitated loose association, for that matter, coming up from behind or waiting for them within view ahead.

To Richard, Dainan doesn’t present himself as a man of any real means, neither in his dress nor in his comportment; however, the farmhouse appears in good repair, as does the fence line along the road. It seems what wealth he has, he puts it into his dwellings.

Fost then inquires about Ser Andra. “Yes, she came this way,” the farmer replies. “But, let’s talk about such things inside, eh? I always keep a kilderkin of the Goodales’ brew - best ale in Lothering; let me pour you all some from the tap, and I’ll tell you about the lady templar’s visit.”

Dainan gestures for the travelers to join him inside.

Richard's eyes light up when the good man offers ale. He smiles and opens his arms wide as he walks passed the farmer "Well, I won't say no to that. I've heard tales of liquid gold, hidden by the best brewers outside many a town."

Fost grinned despite the time of day.
"I would not say No either. ", he agreed with his friend and followed inside

"Gladly." Erin went inside along the rest. "With some luck, you should be perfectly fine even out here. I am more worried about people like my parents, at least you get your fair share of travelers around here."

The ale is as promised, very excellent, and quite smooth for something so robust. (More sensitive or discerning palates could say the brew is a bit heavy on the bitter elfroot.) It’s almost soothing on the throat as it goes down.

Dainan details his conversation with Ser Andra as he pours each guest (and himself) a cup; she arrived some days back and asked about a dwarf named Brogan, saying he gave reports of an apostate north of the fork.

The dwarf had arrived two days before her visit, reeking of his people’s spirits. In his inebriated state, Brogan said he encountered a “harrowing” sight along the road, at an eerie copse of trees just north of the fork. He described it as some thin, hooded figure seeming to be draining the blood from a female form - the long shadows of the afternoon obscured any further detail, he said - which seemed to sizzle when it hit the ground. He heard “the shrieks of demons” from just past them, and believed the figure to be summoning horrors from beyond “your Fade.”

He also felt a strange stalking presence nearby, and, fearing the “blood mage” would turn on him, hightailed it as quickly as his legs could carry him. Brogan admitted to dipping heavily into his reserves afterwards to calm his nerves.

The rest of her visit was just small talk before she retreated to her room for devotions and sleep; the next morning, he says, she told him she would investigate the site of the encounter and the surrounding area, then, perhaps visit some of the farms to the southwest and southeast if she found nothing there. That was the last she saw of her.

“Until you folks arrived with your query, I thought she returned to Lothering by a different route,” he notes. “I hope nothing untoward has happened. I rather thought it more likely that the dwarf had been ‘drawing from his reserves’ much earlier than he admitted, and this was just his mind playing tricks on him. Now I’m a tad concerned.”

Fost listened to the mystery tale.
"What about the dwarf Brogan? Does he live nearby or was he just a traveler passing by?"
"I think we should definitely check the site itself and also ask around the various farms about the templar and where she may have headed off to next."

Drinking deeply, Richard smacks his lips after a rather large gulp.
He nods with a smile "Yes, let's go and investigate this demon summoning spot. I'm sure we'll find beautiful women and treasure beyond measure." He giggles to himself as he takes another big gulp.

The old farmer shakes his head. "He was a merchant in those spirits of his. Said he was bound for Ostagar after making some coin at the Circle."


"First, though, food and rest, eh?" Dainan offers. "If you're going after apostates and demons, you'll need a good night's rest."

Fost again thanked the man for his hospitality.
In a moment of being out of their host's hearing, he said.
"The idea was to warn everyone in the region about the threat, you know which one, no? Erin, what do you think?"

Erin frowned as she heard the whole tale and details. "We have an urgent message to deliver but if this place isn't too far off the road... If we can confirm these things, we may have more than one urgent thing to report after all." Thorough investigations would have to wait for the trip back but in her view, they could and should manage this much to satisfy their suspicions first, least they end up reporting on the lesser evil while the greater is left to fester unchecked by authorities. "Thank you, you have been of great help, we will look into this and report accordingly so that help is dispatched as necessary. In the meantime, you stay safe and don't go wandering too far into the wild. Better not risk some nasty encounter with something spooky out there."

Shrugging his shoulders as he sets down his mug. "I guess we got a nice meal... though that's meager pay for dangerous work." Looking at his old friend "I can't remember but wasn't there something we wanted to ask about? Someone named Fanner? Planner?"

"My place and my purpose is here, young lady. Thank you for the warning, though; if trouble comes this way, we'll send for help," Dainan replies.





The old farmer appears to overhear the last bit and says, "You mean 'Fancy'? Had a merchant stay over one night with his guard and she-elf pet; her name was Fancy. Come to think of it, it seemed like the merchant was the pet; she definitely had the stronger personality.

"They stayed the night after Ser Andra left."

Fost looked up in alarm. He had at first not realized whom Richard was referring to and had to be nudged about the trio. In fact, only their host's keen hearing was probably the reason for even remembering.
"Fancy the she-elf and two fellow with her, a young one named Tanner and the other... cannot recall. What was the Name of said merchant?"

"Arl-something, I think. Arlon, that's it. Squirrelly-looking fellow."

"Yes, same guy."
"You say they only arrived after the templar had already left?", Fost asked with agitation creeping into his voice.
He had not liked the trio, but had ignored them in the end. And now this!
"Did they mention anything ajout from where they came or where they were bound to go?"
If this would not fit with what they had told them themselves his suspicious would be justified.

"That Tanner fellow was pretty quiet; didn't say much at all," Dainen notes. "The she-elf, on the other hand, wouldn't keep quiet. Went on and on about how boring her 'old life' had been, how much more alive she feels. Openly amorous with the merchant. I always though elves were more on the demure side."

Richard nods as his companions start piecing it together. "Yes! Tanner, Arlon and Fancy! It feels like ages since we've met them." He turns to the farmer "And they stayed here? Did Fancy say anything about their next destination? Or did you see where they went?"

"They said they were stopping off in Lothering, then taking the road west to meet up with someone in Redcliffe. No! Wait, Fancy's exact words were 'friends from Redcliffe,'" he says. "Thought that was a bit odd, since there's nothing but that small wayside between. Unless she meant they were meeting at the Crossroads south of the village."

Fost frowned.
Far too many coincidences.
What if Fancy and her crew were somehow entangled with the mage they had fought at the Crossroads.
It took more savvy people than him to unravel that.

FIN

We'll start the revamped campaign with Story 201: The Missing Templar