The party sets out straight off from the tavern.  With full bellies, and in a slightly happy mood, either the cider, or the prospect of a payday, both can be mildly intoxicating.

Following the directions are simple.  Only crossing along the edge of RavensKeep wall, with its grotesque gargoyles, and carved walls, is the least bit daunting.  The rest of the walk is lovely and easy.  It is Springtime and the miles of farmland is dotted with workers plowing ground, planting seeds, mending fences and the like.  It is a lovely part of the world and full of hard working and generally friendly if not a tad superstitious folk.

Having left early, there is no need to rush and it is more of stroll than a hike.  It is just as the directions say, the land begins to rise, there are more trees, more animal farms, sheep and goats and cattle grazing the new grasses on the hills, by afternoon, resting beneath the shade of trees.

When you come at last to lane leading up into Branches Farm, it is clear you have arrived,  by the description it would be easy, but there is also a nice wooden sign announcing it. The path leads up through a mix of trees and the property is edged in many simply stacked stone walls.


ooc: More to come tomorrow, just getting this started!!

Experienced with walking and playing her instrument, Delta pulls her lute in front of her, and sings a cheery traveling tune.

"Along the ridge, and thru the vale,
the muskrat waved his skinny tail,
the sun was high the clouds were scarce,
far behind he had left his cares,
The road ahead was long and winding,
adventure there, he dreamt of finding..."

and on and on, the muskrats adventures were humorous and varied, but always ended on an upbeat note.
This message was last edited by the player at 07:25, Wed 08 July 2020.

Vala finds herself smiling at the gnome's song, as inappropriate as it might be to the serious business of glorious adventure.

'A fine song skald,' she says, then glances at her other companion. 'And what of you Elf? What do you think of our task?'

Tanyl shrugs.  "Spend a week, get paid regardless of whether we figure out the mystery -- sounds like easy money to me."

As the others converse, Delta switches to a quiet hum to accompany her strumming. The city had been fascinating, but being out in the countryside felt very much like being home.

Whenever Delta sings and plays along the route, many farm hands, or their children, stop and listen, some even cheer.  Isn't often they are treated to such in their fields.

Turning up the nice stone road into Branch Farm, it rises, and you pass a path on the left with a painted sign of yellow and black, that says beware...hives!!.

You continue through more and more organized groves of apple and even a few pear trees.  Stone walls and well groomed landscape speak to the care of this place.

You arrive at the main house, to find it very small, but charming, and well kept.  Small gardens surround it, already even in the Spring with a variety of herbs, and vegetables growing, truly the owners have green thumbs.

Approaching the small house, a man comes round and sees you.  He's about five feet tall, and thin and wiry, you'd think him a youth except for his graying thin beard.   He waves and walks over.

"Hello, what brings you to Branch this late in the day?"

Thriving on the approbation, Delta seems to walk a foot in the air at the attention from those they pass by.

As they approach their destination, the young gnome places the lute back behind her back. For reasons unknown even to her, walking up playing and singing seemed like an unprofessional look for adventurers, even if this was her first professional, for-pay, foray...

She chuckles quietly at her own wordplay.

At the sign warning of hives, she pulls out a pipe and stuffs it full of cheap tobacco, lighting it up and puffing away  merrily. She half remembered some fatherly advice about bees and smoke, and her Da usually knew of what he spoke, even if she didn't listen as well as she should have.

Spotting the man who comes out to greet them, Delta hangs back a little, willing to let the others do the talking, while she inspects the farm house and its environs curiously, and will no little admiration. It appeared well loved, she rather hoped they did own the land...

Vala waves and moves over to greet the man; her tones confident and business like: 'Well met, we are up from Stormhaven. I am Vala and this is Delta and Tanyl and I bid you greetings Mr Branch.'

She looks down at the man (not from a sense of superiority just from being more than a head taller than him.) 'We were told by Gorblin Thar of eerie and frightening business here at the farm and have signed our services to investigate and aid you.'

Tanyl appeared ready to say something, but stops.

He looks around as Vala speaks to see if there's anything noteworthy to be seen.

Branch nods and smiles,

"Thank Melora!  We've been in a state, my missus barely comes out of the house.  Well met, just call Branch, everyone eventually does!"  He small man is clearly full of energy.

"Let me show you around, and get you settled in.  Guess you saw the hive path, we get our own honey to use in the cider.  In face, we grow almost every ingredient ourselves.   All about this area are the orchards, some small gardens both for us and the cider, our small coop of hens, and further up the road here is the cidery and barn.  Up past the house are some wooded lands and then it rises up to open fields, that's were we range our sheep and goats.".

As he talks, he leads you up to three nicely kept buildings, one is a small but nice guest house, one the cidery, one a hay barn.  All around are barrels, full of apples, oats, and the like.  It is clear the guest house will be yours.

ooc:  If you have not checked "maps", there are now 3 maps of the Branch Farm.

"If you could, sir -- where was it that your wife encountered the wolf?"

It all seemed quite nice. Delta waits for a pause in the conversation to let Branch know how much she had enjoyed the sample of their cider she had drank at the Hog's Head.

When Branch mentions the wooded lands with the fields beyond he glances in that direction, assuming that was a likely spot for the attack to have happened, but she waits for a reply just the same.

She tries to get some sense of how mew everything looks, and if she gets a chance asks Branch how long they have been here.

"Are there any old tales or legends that might speak of the previous owners, or why this beastie might think it has a claim?" she asks.

OOC: Off to check the maps!

Vala seems content to let the others ask questions for the moment, instead investigating the 'guest house'. Given she spent much of her journey to Stomhaven sleeping under the stars a chance to stay indoors was a pleasant one!

 Branch leads back down the path towards his home, "Well, no tales as such.  Sightings of stuff, superstitious folks live out here, but nothing dire.  Always been a haven for me.  Grew up here, my dad and his dad before owned the farm, not sure beyond that.  Was my granddad that first planted apples.  He and dad both just sold them at the road side and in the city once a week, did well enough.  Twas' my idea to begin turning them to cider"


About half way down the way to the house, he veers to the left and heads up through the orchards.  Beneath them is mostly spring grass, and no real paths but he leads straight along a ways before coming within sight of the far edge of the orchard.  He stops and looks around, and points to his feet. "This is where I found the Missus, out cold".

" So was the tale rightly told to us? It killed a sheep, threatened your wife, then left without harming her when she passed out? That is mighty queer, clearly it would like to avoid violence, it could have completed it's task right away, or half at least."

She glances about. Does she see the blood anywhere, showing where the sheep might have been slain? While no tracker, she does look for crushed grass, paw prints, or any spoor or other sign of the wolf-dog-thing.

" Whatever their claim, it seems you have a generation or two of history here. Unless you recently expanded your holdings in this direction?"

Wiping her hands, she stand back up to her full height of three foot five inches, and wipes her hands on her trouser legs.

"Delivering the message was clearly important to it. We need to learn more..."

'Exactly,' Vala agrees. 'Do you have any neighbours or rival brewers who might want to take your land? Or ruin your trade in other ways?'

Tanyl joins Delta in the effort to survey the area for clues.

Branch glances around, clearly a little uncomfortable being back in this spot, scratches his head.

"That's about the measure of it.  If you want to question the Missus, she'll be up for it but wait till morning, she already doesn't sleep well since it happened, hate to bring it up just before night." He sighs.  "Two sheep, actually, and damn strange for sure."


" Haven't expanded the farm, and don't know of any of my neighbors or even other brewers who have anything against us.  Guess you could canvass round and see but please don't tell them I suspect them, would hate them to think that."

Tanyl, walking a bit away from the place steps in low place in the grass, just a natural low spot but it's held moisture and his foot sinks a bit.  Leaning down, he sees a print.  He is no tracker but it could be a dog, or wolf, it is very big, and has long claw marks.  Showing it to the others, Delta compares that print to Tanyl's print, and concludes based on how deep it is, the animal must weigh about twice what the elf weighs.

"That's one big doggy," she mutters. She wonders if it were a Were, perhaps. She thinks about the tales she had heard about the changing-folk, did they speak?

If/when they are alone, she asks the others if they know anything more about them.

"Might also be a druid though, maybe, right? They are always thinking the land don't belong to no people..."

OOC: If I need to roll against my Int about that Were biz, feel free to roll for me.
This message was last edited by the player at 09:41, Sun 12 July 2020.

"Something was here . . . something big," Tanyl agrees.  He looks a bit further, to see if there are more tracks indicating a direction that the beast might have traveled.

Vala looks thoughtful. 'Could it be a gnoll? In bad light or to someone who has never seen one before they might seem wolf-like.'

A further search of the area reveals nothing else noteworthy.  While you are searching
around, Branch spends time looking at the trees, looking at their leaves, clearly just
checking for their well being.

"That is an excellent thought.  They are just civilized enough to be able to lay claim to lands.  But have there been any in this area before?"

Rather used to being overlooked and ignored, Delta simply walks in little circles looking for any other clues.

PM

A dwarf approaches the group, smiling. In a loud voice he says: "Greetings, friends! I am Janek. Seems Gorblin was a little late in hiring me, but here I am. Hope to be of service!"

Turning to face the newcomer, the little gnome turned and bowed with a flourish of her floppy hat, the feather dragging on the ground.

"Welcome Janek, my name is Delta. Well met!""

She has hair of silver, and eyes of blue, and a twinkle in her eyes over her slightly over sized nose. She has a sword on her hips and a lute on her back, but she wears no armor, only slightly worn, slightly more colorful than normal clothing.

" So far we have only learned that this is the spot where the talking wolf accosted Missus Branch, and found an over-large paw print in the soil, there..."  she said, pointing to the spot.

'Well met Janek,' Vala said strolling over. She is the tallest of the four, though she'd be tall in most companies - a human woman with dark slightly curly hair, brown eyes and a fair complexion. She is fair of face too even if her brusque stride, armour and blue cloak all mark out as more warrioress than maiden. The hilt of a bastard sword is visible behid her shoulder.

'I'm Vala and Delta speaks wisely. We've been busy thinking up what might have happened but gotten no further yet. Another pair of eyes can't hurt!'

Farmer Branch moves over and nods to the newcomer, "Welcome Janek, I'm afraid it is getting late and I still have the chickens to put up before I settle in.  Can the rest of you show Janek to the guest home.  It is humble but you'll find food and drink for you in the cupboards.  There are apples of course, but not fresh, and please don't take any out of the barrels, it may not look like it, but I have them sorted."

"If there is nothing else, good luck, feel free to do, well, whatever it is you do.  We'll be locking our doors and won't open them again till dawn, no matter what we hear".

Tanyl gives the newcomer a glance, but says nothing in acknowledgement.  He doesn't look happy . . . but then, he doesn't look unhappy, either.

Before Farmer Branch can go, he asks a parting question:

"Seems strange that whatever it was would kill just two sheep.  Have there been any disturbances in the night?"

“A baying some night’s “

"I think we should dine, then return at dusk,"

Tanyl nods.

Janek bows slightly to the farmer "Thank you!" He examines the footprint but he is far from being an specialist. Turning to his new companions, he says "Dinner sounds fine. Has anyone shown interest in the farm lately?"

"We've stopped off there, and we are headed back now. It looked very nice! Join us!" Delta offers, checking to see that Farmer Branch has nothing else here to do.

As they head back, she rambles on, " The missus saw the beastie, but she is resting, so we can't talk to her till tomorrow it seems."

OOC I don't see where the description is.

Returning to the cluster of buildings at the end of the path, you find the guest house is unlocked.  The main room has a large wooden table with chairs, a stocked cabinet with plates, cups, utensils, and a pantry with cheese, bread, apples, dried meats, and many small kegs of cider.  The only other room has two single beds and a larger double, their are also two cots leaning against a wall, and plenty of sheets, pillows and blankets to make yourselves comfortable.

You settle in and have a nice meal.

ooc:  please let me know what you plan to do over the course of the night.  I don't  plan to RP every minute of it, so come to a consensus, and also how you'll sleep, when, where, and who will keep watch if anyone.  thanks.

Piking out the cot furthest from the front door, Delta leaves the beds for the large folks to sort out. None of them would be as comfortable in the cot as she, she suspects.

The room doe not seem to offer a place to cook anything, so she heads out to find some firewood, and with any luck start a cooking for outside. She has a small collection of cooking utensils in her pack, and she will cook up a little sumpin-sumpin, soaking the water in a few spices, and slicing up a few apples to soak in boiling water with a pinch of cinnamon for dessert.

" how many should I cook for?" she asks of the others.

If they discuss the plans for the evening, she suggests the go out to the wooded area again, to see what there is to see.

"Master Janek, not sure how much you were told, but the big doggo talked to the farm-wife, or so we are told."

She sliced up a few red apples and dropped them into her pot, stirring in a bit of butter as well, if there was any in the larder.

"I don't recall hearing that the Were-folk speak much in other forms. Perhaps a Druid? In my experience, they have been known to think that people might not own the land they live on, now and again."

As the food simmers, she checks the darkening sky, watching the first few stars pop out, if it is clear enough.

The beastie didn't kill the missus, so I don't want to be blade-forward in this this, if'n you catch my drift."

Tanyl hesitates, then confesses: "If you're offering to cook, I'd be grateful for some food.  And once it gets darker, I'm content to scout.  I can see reasonably well in the dark, and can be unobtrusive."

Delta tosses on enough for two...

Vala commandeers one of the beds, sitting down on it with a thoughtful expression. The barbarian warrioress was more used to roughing it and this made a pleasant if slightly strange change.

'I wouldn't say no to some food Delta,' she speaks up. 'Thank you. Your idea about a druid is interesting. i don't think I've ever met one before. Are they strong in battle?'

Tossing another portion of the fire, (and a bit more in case the Dwarf opted in later) the young Gnome pores over her limited experience with the pastors of the earth, as Da would call them.

"They certainly can be, from what I have heard, they are in touch with nature, and more powerful ones can cause lightning to fall from the sky or the ground to shake violently."

Her voice drops into her normal storytelling cadence, but she struggle to keep her information within the bounds of what she had heard without too much exaggeration.

"While I do not think they hate the cities of man, they certainly are no fens, and they strive to make sure nature gets her fair due."

She takes a sample of the boiling meat, and adds another pinch of salt. In a small pan she is stirring a few handfuls of flour in fat into what she hopes will make a decent gravy.

"I haven't seen it first hand, but tales tell that they can change shape. You never know when a bird or a fish might be a druid, spying to make sure you don't take more'n you need, or causing pain when a clean death would do the job.
I imagine if one felt the need, he might begrudge the branch family their efforts here."

Taking out her cup, she steps back and lets everything finish cooking, while pour herself a smidgen of the Branches fine cider from one of the small kegs, before offering it to Vala.

"Just a thought mind you, this entire thing has me mighty confused. We should ask if the beastie ate the meat from it's kills..."

She gets lost in thought for a second, then scurries back to her pots and pans, preparing to serve up the meal.

"Oh, I also dont turn an offer of food. Unless it smells funny and that smells good." He drops his pack in near one of the cot. "We should scout for sure." He looks at the barrels, trying to figure out how the apples are sorted.

Delta serves up a very good dinner.  There are barrels all over the place, sitting near every fence, and building, many with lids but some without, and a lot with apples in them.  Hard to tell if or how they are organized.

ooc: Where to you scout, does everyone scout at once, all together, how late do you start (like sunset, midnight, whatever) and for how long. 

Tanyl had volunteered to scout, Delta was just curious how close he wanted the others to be, in case of trouble. While the elf did still spook her a bit, she had grown fond of him during the course of the day...

Tanyl waits until well after dusk; within an hour of midnight.  "I will see what is to be seen for an hour or two, and I will focus on the area where the creature was seen," he advises.  "I don't expect trouble even if I see anything, as I will seek to avoid it."

"I will join you, if you don't mind. I am small and quiet. Well, mostly. When I don't drink much or if there aren't people telling jokes." Janek says, smiling.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:27, Wed 15 July 2020.

As Tanyl seems to wish for a small party, Delta will bed down early.

Tanyl frowns as he looks, unblinking, at the dwarf.  Then he sighs.  Then another moment passes.  Finally, the elf blinks and says:

"As you wish."

Janek's arm begins to raise but then drops suddenly. He smiles again and goes to his cot to rest. Better not tap the elf in back. "Someone lock the door, please. I don't want to wake up with a wolf licking my big nose."

Tanyl slips out an hour before the middle of night, shutting the door behind him.  The others, rest or sleep.   It is not quiet by any means, crickets, frogs, night owls and whip o' wills all create a tapestry of noise.  Outside, it is not that dark either, between stars, moon, and a million fireflies.  Into this, the elf slips on quiet feet.

Tanyl looks around . . .

Tanyl is able to stay fairly quiet, he observes many natural wild animals going about their nightly business, a fox, several deer nibbling the lower sweet leaves of the trees, once a thrush crashes from its ground nest and gives him a start.  Near the end of the two hours, he is standing still and hears a loud crack of a stick behind him, probably 20 feet away.  At the same time, he barely hears what sound like words, but they much further away and he can't make out what they say.

Tanyl will sneak, under as much cover as possible, toward the voices in the hope that he can get close enough to understand them.  Or something about them.

As Tanyl turns to follow the voices, he sees, about twenty feet away, a large animal.  It is hard to see, even with his elvish vision, it almost blends into the dark woods.  It lets out four ear splitting barks, and then dashes away through the woods.  Tanyl gets a bare sense of the thing, its head is as tall as he is, and it must be over 250 pounds but moves like scared cat, agile and leaping through the woods quicker than a deer.

Back in the guest house, the others, asleep or not, are awakened by the four barks, that echo through the dark night.

Given that it ran and is presumably gone, Tanyl watches the path it takes in flight.  He then approaches the area where it was standing to see what, if anything is there.

But his on guard: four barks could be a signal.

Startled awake by the sound, Delta slips on her robe and pads to the door, peeking out into the night. She doesn't need to light a light of any kind...
This message was last updated by the player at 21:19, Thu 16 July 2020.

Tanyl's best guess is that the creature, was there, keeping an eye on Tanyl himself.

Do I see or hear anything?

Delta pulls up, eyes wide when she peers out the door.  She hears nothing but just outside the door, a huge pool of blood surrounding the mangle body of a small deer.

Closing the door in panic, Delta throws the bolt, if there is one, then rushes to tell Vala and Janek what she saw.

"We need to check on Tanyl" she said, as she put on her clothes and shoes then strapped on her belt.

Tanyl . . .

PM

PM

Tanyl heads after the creature and soon passes beyond the orchard, heading up through a field of deep grass, but stops.

Something in him, feels exposed.  For whatever it is, he backs away, and heads to the farm.

Whatever drew him back, instinct, intellect, wisdom,  it saved his life, that night.

Tanyl reports upon returning, and concludes:

"I don't know what it was.  But it knows we're here, and I suspect it also knows why we're here.  I think it was there specifically to watch us, just as I was out there to watch it."

Janek wakes up with the gnome shouting and while he is putting his belt on, the elf returns and tell his tale. Janek listens with attention. "If I am not wrong, we have a few hour until dawn. We could try to go out in force or just set watches for the rest of the night. I am for the second option since we don't even know the place well."

"Hard to hide from a creature that uses scent more than sight, if'n it be a wolf like creature." Delta offers, peeking outside again.

If it appears clear, she steps outside, leaving the door open, and examines the dead deer for marking, how it was killed, etc.

" On the doorstep, almost like a gift from the fey. Though more gruesome."

After she has gleaned all she can, if no one else shows an interesting, Delta will pull her dagger, and begin gutting and cleaning the poor thing. She isn't skilled enough to turn it's skin into leather clothing, but she can turn the meat into a few days worth of good eating.

"Waste not, want not, and Gram would say..."

The deer was mauled to pieces. Consistent with what a big dog or wolf would do.

"I can think of beasts and non-natural beings who could do what we have seen, but none are likely to claim these lands as their ancestral home.  I wish I could've gotten close enough to hear what it was saying, or at least the language it was speaking."

Tanyl looks outside.

"I think it could have killed me if it had wanted to.  It didn't.  I wonder why that is . . . "

Janek examines the area to see if there are dragging marks.

"This was no natural killing. This thing was savaged, torn to shreds." Delta shakes her head, wondering at the pain the poor little creature must have felt. "The message seems to have gotten more serious, it seems."

Stabbing at the remains with her dagger, Delta wonders at how much could be salvaged. Maybe a stew?

Looking up in the direction of the elf, she rises to her feet. "But it still didn't kill a person. I wonder if there is a reason for that?"

If Vala has joined them, she asks for her opinion on things. Then to Janek...

"Did you say it had been speaking? But you imply there was only the one? Could it have been casting a spell? Was there a second voice?"

Tanyl responds: "I'm not sure how many there were; at first I thought it was one, as I got closer I thought it might be two.  The barks could have also been meant as a form of communication.  And while I saw only one . . . thing, that one hid well and it could have had a companion."

OOC: In one of the posts DM Pawn referred to "voices" -- I don't know how much to read into that.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:58, Fri 17 July 2020.

Listening will her full attention, Delta inquires if Tanyl could perhaps mimic the talking sounds. "It might be a langauge one of us speaks." She didn't want to brag, but compared to human folk she felt she spoke a lot of tongues. She was uncertain how many the others might speak.

Once the party had had a chance to look around, and share their thoughts, she again turns to Tanyl. "Do you think we should head out after it tonight, or should we wait till daylight?"

OOC I know what you mean, too often I read more into a DM's comments than they mean.

ooc: understandably, trying to describe things can get confusing,  i've often written something up I think is quite clear (cause I already know what it is I'm describing), only to cause mass confusion when folks read it.  For this case, Tanyl heard what sounded like a single voice, but it was in the distance, not close by like the creature was, so likely it was not the barking creature that was speaking.

Also, I blush at the compliment, but I'm no Dm Pawn, thanks though!!

OOC: Consider it a promotion. :)

"I didn't get close enough to the voice to recognize it as any more than talking.  And I'm not sure there is anything to be gained by going out more tonight."  He shrugs, indicating indifference.

Clearly confused by the reaction of Tanyl, Delta scrutinizes him for a second, then shrugs.

"What about you two," she says, turning to Janek and Vala, "Want to go see if we can track this thing at night?"

Vala nods. The warrioress, lulled by the unfamiliar comfort of a soft bed had been slow in reacting. Now, armoured and with her sword at the ready and her lucky blue cloak over her shoulders she looks in the mood for danger.

'Absolutely,' she pauses and smiles. 'Though you might be doing more tracking than me skald. I can hunt well enough but my eyes are only human.'

For no noticeable reason, Delta rushes over to Vala and tries to give her a hug. The night had turned unsettling for the little gnome, and she found the "only human" Vala comforting.

Surprised but not unsympathetic Vala returned the hug. 'Don't worry little friend, any wolf coming near us will end up a fine new cloak.'

Tanyl sighs.

"Well, if you insist on going out there, I won't abandon you to the effort."

The elf stirs and stretches in preparation for a return to the night.

With the help of the others, Delta does her best to recover what meat she can from the small deer, and her efforts are worth it.  Once working at it, she finds the damage is mostly exterior, meant for effect more than any damage.  She manages a goodly amount of clean venison for at least a breakfast and stew to be proud of.   In fact, a quick search of the area find almost no blood trail at all.  As if, the deer were subdued or killed near bloodless and then brought to the door and savaged there.  Clearly a message for the adventurers.  What message though, a warning, a threat, a gift.  Hard to tell.

The four set out and spend some time looking around the farm, however, all is exceptional quiet.  Peaceful even, and in an hours time.   Nothing of the creature or creatures is found.

As the party wonders whether to return and get some sleep, a scent catches there attention.  Smoke.  True its a cool night, but this smells like sulfur and its coming from down the road, down towards the Branch's house!!!

"Oh no! What has happened?" Delta cries, racing in the direction of the farmhouse.

Tanyl runs too.  As fast as he can.

'Careful!' Vala cries out, 'it could be a trap!' She runs all the same with the others.

Janek also runs, knowing he wont catch the elf and wishing he had a longer ranged weapon than a dagger.

The party races full speed to the Branch home.  Even as they come within sight of it they see the large doglike creature disappear into the orchard opposite the home at great speed.

The home faces away from the road, and as they get closer, it is clear the smoke is coming from the front side of the home.

Circling to the front porch, they find a lot of smoke, but very little fire, there are a few small pockets of fire scattered along the porch, there is a slight smell of sulfur to the smoke.  Working together, tossing loose dirt, the party quickly extinguishes the fire.

Once the fire is out and smoke clears, you notice two oddities.  On the front door, are two large paw prints, burned into the wood about five feet from the ground, and leaning in the doorway is a wooden log, maybe 3 feet long and four inches in diameter.

Chasing the creature had seemed like a good idea, but top priority was clearly checking on the Branch family.

"Sulfur?"

Once the fire is out, Delta searches the house for their employers, hoping to find them in better shape than the dead deer.

The creature, whatever it was, had so far showed no interest in hurting anyone, which was good, she hoped that trend hadn't changed.

Tanyl examines the log further, trying to determine if there's something special about it, or what it's purpose might be.

Janek joins Tanyl then checks the footprints. he tries to find difference between the two of them.

Delta has to knock on the front door to rouse the Branches, they hadn't even noticed the fire, but assure her they are fine and seem reluctant to fully open the door during the night.

Janek, who has some dwarven experience with forges and the like, studies the paw prints on the door.  They are truly burned into the wood and match each other very closely.   As for the sulfur, well, he knows there are compounds that burned create the smell, as well as rotten eggs, and of course, well known is the smell of things of the occult.

Vala, not the first to arrive, and the only one without night vision, catches only a moments glimpse of the creature as it flees.  A very large dog to be sure, but in the flicker of the fire, she is almost sure its mostly green with brown patches.

Tanyl examines the the log, or branch, and finds its hollow, and within its core, a parchment has been rolled and placed.

Relieved that the family was okay, Delta is fine with them not wanting to open the door all the way.


OOC - I thought it was the home that was on fire, was it the guest house?

ooc: you are correct, it is the Branch home.  They just were in the back bedroom, and did not notice the fire.

Tanyl pulls out the parchment and examines it.

"Those footprints are too similar." Janeks speaks and then looks at Tanyl, wondering what the parchment contains.

The Parchment:



"We, the Ekaitz clan, did trade our lands in agreement for payment of 200 nuggets of platinum.  Payment we never received.  We have returned and claim this land our own.  Leave, perish, or pay what is due us.  If you pay, leave the platinum, in full, by the old hilltop well.  Pay and we shall leave and not return".

"Well, we know the 'who.'  Or at least their name.  Has anyone heard of the Ekaitz clan?"

Ekaitz is a name that you may have heard of before, nothing you'd likely have any depth of knowledge but they weren't just a clan, but nation.  They lived along the sea long, long ago, natives to the place where Stormhaven is now.   It's possible some later family or clan took up that name as well, but you'd know that much history.

PM

"Well, mystery solved.  And in less than a day.  What shall we do for the rest of the week?"
This message was last edited by the player at 14:54, Mon 20 July 2020.

Vala frowns as the parchment is read aloud. 'That seems a very long time ago, unless they were Elves?-Oh and did anyone else think that wolf-dog looked green?'

After making sure their employers were safe, Delta joins the others. The note makes her eyes go wide.

"How odd. Could this be the truth? That seems like a lot of platinum too me."

At Janek's comment, the Gnome also examines the burn marks in the door.

"What do you mean by too similar Janek? Do you suspect something?"

At Vala's question, Delta searches her memories...

OOC - Did I notice a color to the dog? Was it running on all fours?

"Well dont know for sure. But perhaps they werent made by claws but by an instrument?"

Everyone saw the dog run across the road, but three with night vision, which is clearer but doesn't reveal color.  It was on all fours.

Janek's instinct is correct, the two burned prints are the same.  Perhaps the dogs feet are the same, but most animals have a distinct left and right footprint.

Explaining to Vala the inability to see colors in the dark, Delta apologizes for not being able to verify her impression.

"What would it being green mean, I wonder?"

Having no clue, she turns to Janek's point.

"Could have been a brand I guess? Are there any hairs or stuff in the marks?"

"Yes, I thought about a brand. Or perhaps a supernatural thing has perfect paws. But it seems to be about money. I suggest we talk with our employers."

After a few minutes, the door opens and Branch comes out, now wearing a simple brown robe. He still looks half asleep.

Looking around, he shakes his head.

After hearing about what the group has encountered this night, smelling the sulfur, seeing the burned paw prints on his front door, and looking at the scroll, he sighs.

"I am afraid this is all more than I bargained for.  I am glad you folks arrived when you did, you may have saved my home tonight.  But I fear some supernatural force at work here, a curse or devil dog.  I shall go into the city tomorrow and meet with my agents.  The price is steep, almost a year's worth of profit, but if it buys us our peace and happiness back, I will be good and done with it.  I do hope you will stay on for the week, to be sure the creatures honor their side of the bargain.  Thank you again, there is still a few hours to rest before dawn, I will come see you before i leave tomorrow".

Though he tries not to show it, he is clearly and truly frightened now.

Tanyl hesitates, sighs, and seems to be debating with himself.  Finally he speaks up, looking like he regrets saying anything even as he says:

"There is no curse; nothing supernatural; no devil dog.  No ancient nation reclaiming ancestral lands.  It's an elaborate ruse; a ploy; a con, designed to make you think all of that so that you'll pay the money."

"I don't think it is a curse, some magic may be involved, I don't know but not a curse. Did you fire anyone recently? Anyone tried to buy your business?"

"Maybe paying them is for the best? They seem able to best our efforts with ease."

At least they would earn their full pay that way. If her skills at illusion were stronger, she might suggest staking out the place where the payment would be dropped, but she had no such skills.

" At the very least we should return to town and do some research on such things, green wolves, and old debts. There must be something in the mages guild library. Besides, we should guard the platinum as they bring it back from town. If they are criminals, they wouldn't pale at trying to get paid double."

"Or demanding more money.  And I can't believe I'm saying this, but we really haven't tried to do anything as of yet."

'I am not much for libraries,' Vala says, the very word having an unfamiliar roll in her mouth. 'But there is the Mercenaries Guild? Maybe some adventurer there has tales of facing green phantom dogs?'

Having just been given the run around by their foes, and heard Tanyl say they probably could have killed him if they had wanted too, Delta has little confidence in facing the enemy, but if they were going to, knowledge was always a good friend.

"I was for trying something, but tonight's chances seem to have have passed. I say we return to the city while Master Branch gathers the platinum, and we all ask around in our own way for information."

She gazes off to the horizon, gauging how much more sleep they might get before morning.

"If this were just about money though, I feel there were easier ways to go about it. There are too many odd specifics about this kerfuffle, something else is going on"

A yawn and a stretch and a longing look back towards to guest house all reflect how tired the little Gnome is.

" That doesn't mean we won't try though. Janek, curious. Why platinum? Is there anything about this metal that strikes a chord? They asked for a value, it is true, but why such a rare metal, instead of gold or silver? Any thoughts?"

The group continues to talk and discuss plans as they return to the guest house.

ooc: please continue that conversation if you wish, but I'm going to move on


There are still a good 3 or 4 hours of night to get a bit of rest, though no one sleeps particularly well with the events of the past hours still rattling around in their heads.

Morning comes with a bit of light drizzle and fog, but Ms. Branch comes to the guest house carrying a large basket, draped over with a cloth.  In it, fresh bread, honey and blackberry jam in jars with the Branch family emblem on them,  and two bowls, with farm fresh and steaming hot scrambled eggs and the other with linked sausages.  There is also a flask with chilled apple juice.

Ms. Branch looks slightly older than her husband, but is still beautiful in a simple and plain way, with sandy long hair, with just a touch a grey, and freckled skin.

"Branch has told me of the horrible goings on last night, I am so relieved you are all here. Enjoy your breakfast while it is warm, I need to help Branch with the morning chores as he's leaving for the city soon.  I am much put at ease knowing you'll be here to protect me while he is gone".

Jumping up from her cot, Delta takes the basket from Missus Branch.

"This all looks delicious, thank you ma'am. Do you perhaps have a moment to tell us of your encounter?"

She wont push, but she is curious, hoping to discover, among other things, if the dog/wolf thing was green, like the one Vala saw.

Ms. Branch recites the tale almost exactly as you've heard it, she does add that the dog had intelligent looking eyes, and that afterward, when she awoke, she said had such a peaceful sleep.   When Delta prompts her about the dogs color, she looks thoughtful for a moment.

"It was dusk, so I hesitate to mention this, it seemed strange, but it looked spotted, like it was brown, and green..."

Her eyes lighting up at the description, she looks to Vala.

"Green! My friend thought it looked green too! I am hoping that is the kind of detail that will help us get to the bottom of all this. Thank you so much Ma'am, for your information, and this delicious meal!"

Slipping her robe over her tattered jammies, Delta takes a seat, and starts sorting out the food, waiting to see if anyone else has any questions.

Typical of herself, she gives herself a smaller portion than the others, though she does slather her jam on pretty heavy.

Yum!

"Ma'am, if you don't mind my asking; and pardon me for prying.  But have you and your husband recently come upon an unusually large some of wealth?"

Ms. Branch answers.

"I don't handle the finances, but, we are...well, wealthy.  I mean compared to most.  Our farm is thriving, it wasn't always easy but we've done very well over the years.   But nothing lately has changed, its been a long and slow path to where we stand.  I'm not sure what you ask, but ask it plain, we are beyond our depth's in this, I'll not be offended by your questions.  I, well, fear for you all....and, what you do, risk your lives this way.  I'm glad I'm not your mother".

Janek bows his head and smiles at Ms. Branch.

"Thank you very much for the breakfast. I am impressed with the chilled apple juice. And thank you too for letting us ask questions. Any disgruntled employee, relative or neighbor? Any offers to buy your business?"

Neither of the Branch's have any enemies or buyers they are aware of.  They only have one hired hand, a young neighbor's boy who just works odds jobs.  They do hire a few full time folks during the Fall harvest, but they don't know of any ill will.

Branch is happy to have some protection for his journey back from Stormhaven, but feels strongly at least two should stay at the orchard with his wife.


ooc: So who is going to the city, who is staying, and what will you be doing during the day.  All going well, Branch should be there and back before by just after midday.  He has a mule and wagon.

"It just struck me that the price demanded is rather exorbitant.  I was curious to know whether you and your husband had come into some unexpected wealth that might attract . . . untoward interest."





"As I said, I suspect this to be a con of some sort.  And if it is, it may be that I have some contacts in Stormhaven that might know something about it, or its perpetrators."

Branch shakes his head.

"The farm is prosperous over the past few years, but we haven't come into any extra funds. Gloria is a distant relative to Stormhaven nobility.  Not too many around here know that, but if they did, it might make think we had access to some wealth".  He shrugs, "Still don't see how it could be a con".

"I would like to go, but I can stay. I believe my sources and Tanyl's probably share some common information."

Nodding and munching while she listens to the others talk, Delta enjoys the meal greatly.

"I would like to go, I have some access to the mage's guild storehouse of knowledge. I would like to look into the history of these Ekaitz peoples, and the Ekaitz clan. Also they might know what might make a wolf-dog spotted green and brown."

'I think I better stay,' Vala says, taking a moment out from enjoying her meal to speak. 'I don't want to leave you two without guard if things turn violent.' She smiled ruefully. 'Besides I'm not much for libraries and the only friends I've made in Stormhaven are right here.'

Tanyl summarizes his understanding of the party members' preferences.

"Then . . . Delta and I should go back to Stormhaven with Mr. Branch, yes?"

Being included in Vala's friends list makes the young Gnome smile.

"You'll be safe with her! And Janek of course."

With a jam covered smile, Delta nods in agreement with Tanyl's statement.

So it is that Tanyl and Delta join Branch on his wagon headed back to Stormhaven.  His mule is young and strong and makes good time.  The duo will have around 4 hours to check their sources.

Back at the farm, Gloria is glad to have Vala and Janek nearby however, she says she will be busy moving about the orchard feeding animals, checking the hives, and the like and that she doesn't need them to guard her, just glad they will be nearby.  She in fact is not that worried, now that a payment has been asked for, she is confident those responsible will give them some time to procure it.  She has a sensible kind of mind.


ooc: Please let me know what you are going to do.  Vala and Janek, you going to hang out in the guest house, or do something else.   Tanyl and Delta, what are you going to start with, if you are going to research topics, pick the first/most important one on your mind, if you find anything on it, I'll let you know if you have time to look for anything else.  Four hours isn't much time.

Tanyl explains:

"My contacts aren't going to be found at the library.  I suggest that we separate and make plans to meet later."

OOC: I want to contact the Thieves' Guild.  I want to know (1) if there is anyone known who might be known to run this kind of con, and whatever info I can learn about such person, and (2) whether anyone is doing so with the Thieves' Guild's sanction, and if so whether I can get in trouble for interfering with a sanctioned swindle.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:25, Sat 25 July 2020.

Janek will offer to help Gloria or do some kind of work in the farm. He will try to talk about their business.

As an Affiliate member of the guild, Delta has some limited access to the library, but she is glad for the supervision as she was new to the library and was hoping to ask questions of the supervisor as well.

She gives him the basic run down of the situation, and if he has no specific suggestions, decides first to look into brown and green dogs first, then the The Ekaitz and the Ekaitz Clan next. She also wants to look up specific properties of platinum.

Vala bids a fond farewell to Delta and Tanyl, hoping to see them soon. As with Janek she offers some aid to Gloria if needed, though she is more interested in the dwarf.

'So tell me a little about yourself Janek,' she asks over a cup of cider. 'Have you been an adventurer long?'

Delta enters the Wizards Guild, greeted by the tall thin DoorWarden, Derien, who has white tuffs of hair on either side of his balding head.  Polite and firm, he leads Delta to the lower library where one of the stewards meets with her.

Her first request is easy enough to find, although thin on actual details.

The Ekaitz were the ancient coastal people of the Stormhaven region.  Long before any keep
stood here.  Several cultures have risen and fallen in the times since the Ekaitz vanished, but ever the harbor and seas have drawn peoples to settle here.  They worshiped a long lost goddess, Beltza Atarabi, who on ancient artifacts is sometimes depicted as a beautiful woman, other times as a large insect.   From ancient drawings, they were humans, with darkish skin, shorter and more stocky.  There are other details of them, mostly speculation, about their habits, boat building style, clothing, etc.


When she asked about the dog, the stewart inquires if the animal has shown any "magical" abilities?

Tanyl makes his way to Guildkeep District and there enters the Guild.  The receptionist at the desk makes light inquiries into the nature of his visit before sending a young lad of no more than 6 scurrying off to retrieve someone.

The someone is a large half-orc, that leads Tanyl to a private room.  It darkly lit with a single lamp, two chairs and a table between.  Once seated, neither men can see the others face.  The man introduces himself as Second Captain Ureechi.   After a rather long questioning, and answering.  Tanyl discovers that Ureechi agrees with his belief that its a con game, and confirms it is not sanctioned by the Guild and he will not get into trouble by interfering with it.  He is, in fact, intrigued by it and tells Tanyl, that once solved, if solved, if he reports back all the details of what he has learned to the Guild Scribe, they will pay him for the information

"Unsanctioned, you say?  Any idea who might have the ingenuity to do something this detailed, and the guts or stupidity to do it without the guild's sanction?"

"Guild business you get for membership, you want my take on it, it's ten gold, paid now".

"I can give you seven."

OOC: If it matters: I don't have ten. :P

The half-orc laughs, " Seven it is.  Guts and stupidity is the business we are in.  But they are more than that, they've done their research, picked a good target, executed it well.  My guess is they are from far away, and they've done this before,  more than once, far enough away we've not heard of it. Just a guess.  If they've put this much into it, they are likely willing to kill to keep their secrets, not just you, but the family too. If you are going to do something, I'd do it quick, while they still think they are going to succeed. Once the money is out of play, they'll try to cover up.  Wherever they are camping, it'll be close to being in sight of the well, they'll be watching it to see if someone brings the payday". 

"It spoke, which seems kind of magical to me. There was also some fire involved, and the smell of sulfer? There were two paw prints apparently burned into the door. According to my friend Janek they too alike to have been two different paws though. There was also a log left with the creatures demands stuck inside, not something a dog should be able to do by itself, I imagine. "

Tanyl considers asking for the half-orc's thoughts regarding the strange "beast," but concludes that the answer more likely lies in Delta's realm.

Besides, seeking more value from his discount seems unwise.

The elf thanks the half-orc for his time and promises to report whatever he might learn about the operation.

The steward nods and takes Delta to vast shelving filled with books on magical beasts, he adds,  "I asked because the Warriors Guild houses their collection of creatures here as well, our halls are better suited for books and scrolls.  If it had no magical abilities, you'd find it in their library".

I dig thru the books... is there any sense of organization among them? The Dewey Delta System perhaps? If so, I try to use it.

Delta begins digging through volumes of books, following leads like creatures with burning feet, dogs that talk, wolves that talk, creatures with sulfur smells, green dogs, wolves that can write, dogs who you can hear from a great distance, and on and on. Hours go by and nothing matches up. Her eyes are tired of reading and time is running out. She doesn't even notice a man has set down next to her.  He's elvish, and wears silken clothes, and a pendant with a Rose on it.  A member of the elite fighter guard in the city.

He pulls a few of the texts out, green dog, talking dog, spotted dog...and shuts the others.

"I can't spell it, its a KO SHE you seek.  An elven hunting dog.  Not magical, but smart, and loyal to its master."

" Ko she... ko she." She repeats it a few times to wedge it firmly in her mind. "Thank you! Wow, I don't think I was ever going to figure it out. Elven though, you say? Would you happen to know if there was ever an Elven band that called themselves the Ekaitz Clan? And is there anything special about platinum to Elves, aside from it being worth a lot of coin?"

She chats with the man, admiring his silk outfit, and rose pendant. She would never have anything as nice as all of this!

She chats with him as long as he is willing, then if there is any time left she will dig into the books he suggested would refer to the Ko She.

Janek and Vala spend a short time helping Gloria with some of the farm life chores, she puts them to work,  but they quickly realize, they are more in her way than helping, though she doesn't say so, it is apparent.

Retreating the guest house for a break, and a cider.

Janek gladly has a sip of cider, and leans back.

"No, my parents were shop keepers, merchants and traders, I hope someday to open such a shop right here in Stormhaven.  I've ridden a caravan guard, but this is my first real job, so to speak.".

Stroking his beard,  he responds, "How about yourself?"

The elvish man shrugs, "Platinum is worth a lot more than gold, easier to carry if you travelling with a lot funds,  elves like it for the same reasons everyone else does, and I've not heard of Ekaitz.  Come with me...".

The guard leads Delta through the stacks of books to the far wall, a door there opens into a smaller library and is guarded by a man at arms.  Seeing the Rose Guard, he merely steps aside to let him pass, but the man says.  "This soldier is looking for information on the Elven Dogs, Ko She.".

Her nods, "We have only a picture of one with a few details, MiLord, brought back from a traveller to the great forests beyond the Hinterlands, I will retrieve it for her."

The Rose Guard gives Delta a little half bow, and leaves her.

A few minutes later the man returns with a book, already open to a page.  The description just states, "Fast, Large,  Green and Brown,  Loud bark, Bites like a bear". And there is a drawing of it.

ooc: pic below


This message was last edited by the GM at 15:56, Sat 25 July 2020.

In reply to Janek (msg # 145):

'Adventuring is in the blood,' Vala says proudly. 'And in the soul. My ancestor was a great sellsword and commander and I'm following in his path looking to live up to him.'

The barbarian warrioress looks thoughtful. 'His name was like yours in fact. Janak. I wonder if that is a sign of some sort.'

Janek scratches his head,  "Mayhaps, who can say.  I'm sure you'll surpass him.  I hate to ask, but do you mind staying here, close to the lady of the house for a bit  Something is bothering me about all this I'd like to check about, won't take half an hour, just stretch my legs.  Before the others return, I'd like to set eyes about it."

Admiring the picture, Delta reads the accompanying text, if any.

"I don't see anything about it being able to talk though, is that on the next page?"

There is no more information on it other than three marks below it, 1,2, E.  The steward explains that meant that it killed one man, injured two, and escaped (they did not kill it during the encounter).

Vala looks surprised but nods at Janek's request. 'Good luck then, I have my sword at the ready if needed.'

Was this for me? I am not certain...

In reply to Delta (msg # 152):

Yes, for you.

PM

Delta and Tanyl run out of time quicker than it seemed possible.  Meeting up with Branch, he is ready with the wagon and mule.  He makes only one stop heading out through town, and its a general store.  He picks up some fresh foods, and also some "brown buttons", a bag of sweets made to look just like buttons but flavored with molasses.  He explains its Gloria's favorite treat from her childhood and given all that's happening, he thought to brighten her day.

The return trip goes by easily and without incident.

The three arrive back at the main house just passed the noonday hour.

If given a chance, Delta will buy a small bag of brown buttons for herself, to nibble on as they return.

She will do her best to save some for Vala, but only one makes it back to the Branch house.

Once there, she will share the tale of what little she learned. It will be a difficult personal struggle, but she will manage to offer the last brown button to her barbarian friend.

Tanyl relates what he learned.  Well, some of it:

"My sources indicate that whoever is doing this is likely not local, and has been lured by word of our hosts' wealth.  It's undoubtedly not their first time for a ploy such as this, and they have put a lot of work into perfecting it.  So much so that they are likely to simply kill everyone to preserve their secret.  We are likely safe for now because we haven't been able to penetrate their secrets -- but we will have to be prepared to attack and kill the perpetrators.

The well is the key to their plan.  They are likely near it now, watching.  I don't know if they would hide in the forest or if there is some other vantage point they would use, but wherever they are it is a place from which they can readily observe the drop point."

Vala happily munches on the brown button her friend had saved her, favouring Delta with a cheerful smile. 'My deepest thank yous little skald.'

Leaning in on the edge of her chair she listens to Tanyl speak and nods slowly and thoughtfully. 'What have you heard Delta?'

Embarrassed that she had been unable to save more of the confectionery treats for her comrades, the gnome speaks as to her studies.

"Sadly I didn't have the time to do as much of a study as I wished. I did discover a little about the Ekaitz. I did learn that they were human, however, which makes me think they are not as involved as I had thought, because I learned more about green-brown dogs, which I think are called Ko She, which are known to be loyal pets to Elves. Nasty things, with a serious bite! No reference that they can talk though."

She goes on, answering any questions she can, based on the previous posts.

Janek comes back from his exploration of the surrounding area.

"I found the well, it is on a hill.  I found a good hiding spot where I can watch to see who takes the platinum.  I will set up there before the platinum gets put by the well and not acknowledge anyone and just watch to see who takes it."

He grabs his pack with some rations in it and fills a skin with apple juice and heads out.  He will attempt to leave no trace of his passage.

TAnyl attempts to say something but is too late.  He replaces his impassive look with a scowl.

After a moment, Tanyl says:

"I wasn't aware that we'd decided to put the platinum out there.  And I'm not sure what the rest of us should do . . . "

Janek almost runs over Branch as he heads out the door, "Hang on there, Master Janek. Gloria insisted I come talk with you all at once".  You notice a young man is with him, by the looks of it, perhaps a member of the clergy.

"First of all, Gloria has made you all sandwiches, and apple tarts..." he chuckles.  "I imagine when this is all concluded, you'll not want another apple for awhile!
This is Matthias, my Factor in town sent him, to safeguard his investment so to speak.  I wanted you all to know that given Tanyl's instinct this is a hoax, a....con job as he put it, and I still don't see how that is possible.  But, truth is, I paid for services, and your intuition goes with that.  I've decided not to pay the fee until tomorrow evening.  You have till then to prove me wrong.  I am sure hope I am wrong.  I don't want to lose a years profit and all the fees it took to borrow it.

Janek will hold up, at the entrance of Branch.  "No good going on an empty stomach, eh?"

He will wait for a day to see what transpires.

"You know, if someone is controlling the critter, they probably aren't far away.  Maybe we should search the woods nearby, or set up watches in them overnight."

Tanyl nods to the cleric as he silently wonders if this means the party's pay has to be divided to include yet another person.

With Janek's return and suggestion, Tanyl replies: "I think Janek's suggestion of scouting in the night is good.  As I said, I suspect whoever is behind this is within viewing distance of the well.  I believe at least two of us can be stealthy, and that would be good because those we seek will not react kindly to being discovered.  Janek, you scouted the area: perhaps you could prepare a crude map, so we can plan our reconnoitering?"

He turns to Vala and Delta and says "If we find them: I think we should be prepared to take action.  If not tonight, then tomorrow.  The element of surprise can be important, but there is the problem of Vala seeing in the dark.  I definitely don't think it wise to rely on just on me and Janek, both because of what I sensed last night and because of what Delta learned about the Ko She, but I don't know how to suggest that Vala and Delta would best be involved.  And as for our newest companion,"

Tanyl turns to Matthias and asks: "How active a role do you intend to take in terms of safeguarding your benefactor's investment, sir?"

"Perhaps those who cannot see can serve as a last line to guard the family?"

Janek asks for some paper and a writing implement and goes to making a rudimentary map of the well area, indicating the best hiding spots, including the one he intended for himself.

Matthias returns Tanyl's gesture and says, "Hail and well met, all."


The young man who just arrived is wearing a ring mail byrnie, over which is a ceremonial alabaster cloak with gold trim and embroidery. The holy symbol of Erathis, a dark blue gear, is emblazoned on his shield and hangs from a iron charm affixed to a necklace. A footman's mace hangs from a belt loop at his side.

"I am Matthias of Golden Hall, Acolyte of Erathis," he says by way of proper introduction.



Matthias hesitates a moment while considering the elf's question, perhaps taken aback by how it was framed.

"I have come to see to the safety of Master Branch's family and to look into ill tidings of demonic sightings at this very farm. In these pursuits, I shall be quite active and would hope we could forge an alliance.

It is known, great deeds are made possible by a series of small deeds, brought together."
This message was last edited by the player at 01:49, Thu 30 July 2020.

"I am Tanyl.  You come at an opportune time; as you heard, we have one night -- at least -- to figure out who is behind the mystery.  Any thoughts you have on the matter are welcome."

"Well met and thank you, Tanyl."

"I would hear what you have discovered thus far..." he says.

Matthias then relates what he was briefed by the temple:

• Missing sheep
• Strange paw prints
• Talking wolf near an orchard or perhaps in the trees (?)
• Sulphur marks on doors
• Possible demonic influence somewhere on or near the farm
• Threats made against the Branch family

"I just arrived and have not had a look at the lay of the land, but understand the Dwarf may have already done so."

Should the conversation turn to staking out the well, as previously suggested, Matthias will insist he be on hand.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:33, Thu 30 July 2020.

Listening to the chatter, Delta sets about making dinner using the deer meat from the previous night. She makes certain to use no apples in the recipe. She hopes they made notice of this things she had learned, she felt certain they were important.

'Greetings Mathias, I am Vala,' Vala says. The warrior woman smiles and offers her hand. 'I have to say I'm glad I'm not the only one blind in the dark here!'

Matthias graciously takes Vala's proffered hand in his own and says, "Well met, Vala." The young man's grip is not too firm and there is a small degree of awkwardness in the gesture. He looks down at his hand, as though in gentle reproach, and then smiles.

In response to her comment about vision in the dark, he offers, "I may be able to assist there. For in darkness, let there be light."

Janek jokingly says, "If you all are finished flirting, I have finished the map."

He shows them a map of the hill area, roughly to scale, but showing the well and the surrounding area.  He points to a few areas on the map:

"I plan on hiding here.  I recommend someone hide there and there.  We might want to have the sighted ones come in as a decoy whilst we hide.  If they are loud enough, and they place a bag of rocks by the well, that might get the attention of anyone watching, while we come from the woods into our places.  Then they can come back here and guard the family.  We want to be in place long before dark."

"I wonder, though, whether they'd be particularly on guard while getting the payoff, particularly because they know we're here.  And if these Ko She are as dangerous as advertised, we are probably better off trying for the element of surprise instead of dealing with them at their most alert.

We could at least look for them at night, and hope to get the drop on them.  And if that doesn't work, we can try the "fake payoff" plan.

The drawback is: whoever it is doesn't seem to need light at night.  And if these Ko She are elven, there's a good chance whoever we're dealing with is too.  Which brings us back to accommodating the human members of our group."

"Perhaps we should check down the well, as well, well, well...." Delta offered, watching over her stew.

We also have to take into account that dogs have a very strong sense of smell."

Matthias listens to the group postulate different courses of action and nods in agreement or understanding as each point is made. Finally, after contemplating both options, he offers,

"I know I have just arrived, but it seems to me it makes more sense to hide at the well than it does to go trekking off into the woods at night in an effort to find our quarry. We can use whatever time we have before dusk to prepare proper hiding places and then it's just a matter of waiting to see, or hear," he says while giving a knowing nod to Vala, "what nibbles at the bait."

He looks at each member in turn, "At that point, I will produce the light we need and we will deal with our quarry."

He further reasons the problem with trekking off into the night in hopes of finding their quarry are as follows:

• It will be dark
• They don't know where they are going
• They will need light, which will be a beacon to anything trying to remain undetected
• There's a chance their quarry will head back to the well and the party won't be in place to meet them

"Wait, we haven't looked down the well yet?" Matthias asks. Then, he seconds Delta's suggestion.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:03, Fri 31 July 2020.

'I'm happy to wait; I think even a deaf dog could hear me blundering around at night,' Vala said, a rueful smile on her lips. 'And yes Delta is right let's check down that well.'

It is easy enough to find a sack and load it with enough small rocks to look and weigh about the right amount for the payment.

With the debate over what tactic to use in trying to confront the con dog still unsettled, and with several hours of daylight left, the group does mutually agree its time they checked out the well itself.

The five adventurers make their way through the various orchards, beyond those cultivated rows, they slip into actual forest land for a few minutes before coming to the spot Janek has noted on his map.  From there, you can see rolling fields of spring grass.  Some 100 yards away, at the top of a good size hill, sits an old well with a round stone base and wooden roof.

There is no sign of any people or dogs, but a few sheep and goats range about on small hills and fields feeding on the fresh Spring grasses.

The party is about to break cover, when someone walks out from behind the well, and heads down the hill in the opposite direction, a huge green spotted dog is trotting along side the figure, who is, unless you can't trust your eyes, Gloria Branch.

"I'm not sure I trust my eyes, and think we should chase them down; agreed?"

Tanyl looks like he's ready to sprint at the slightest bit of encouragement.

Janek quietly says, "I am not sure chasing them down is the best immediate course of action.  It might be best to confront her without the dog in tow.  Safer at least."

"But if it's not Missus Branch . . . confronting her later won't reveal much."

Tanyl still looks ready to sprint, but less so given the lack of unanimous support for the idea.

"Maybe try to follow them a bit instead?"

That works,  until the beast turns.

Stumped for what the best course of action would be, Delta waits to see what is decided.

Matthias whispers to his new companions. "Let's let them leave. They will likely come back."

He glances back at the well. "Perhaps searching the well might reveal more of the mystery..."

"There is something to be said to support that suggestion."

Tanyl realizes they would not have cover if he proceeded much further.  He waits until the moment their quarry disappears down the other side of the hill.  Once he can't see their heads over the crest, he sneaks forward, whispering back: "Check the well."

"Perhaps I should run back to the house and see if our Missus Branch is still there, this one could have been fake." If no one dissuades her, she will run back...

Matthias nods and says, "Run as fast the wind!"

Janek will quietly move towards the well and peer inside, also searching the exterior.

The four adventurers move up the hill to the well, trying their best to both remain as quiet as possible and out of sight of the dog and woman heading down the other side of the hill.

Delta vanishes in a full sprint back to the farm.

Reaching the well, an examination of the well is made.  It's very old for sure, well constructed according to Janek.  Oddly placed at the top of a hill and very deep, based on both the length of rope tied to its bucket, and by the old method of dropping in a rock and waiting for a splash.  True to a well, the splash echoes back up.

Those who watch, see the dog and lady continue down the hill, and into a patch of woods about 150 yards down the far side of the hill.

By the time the well is looked at, Delta has returned.  Master Branch is concerned, his wife went out to the check the orchards and did not return and he hasn't been able to find her.

PM

While Matthias, Vala, and Janek examine the well, Tanyl ducks low into the tall grass follows the dog and woman, nearly vanishing in the grasses.
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:36, Sun 02 Aug 2020.

Janek quietly says, "This is an interesting development.  If the missus wants to leave the farm, there are easier ways to do that.  If she wants the mister gone, why let him hire us?  Something isn't adding up."

Tanyl does his best to move silently . . .

" She was quite afraid of the dog before, I wonder if she has been ensorcelled in some way."

Delta also examines the well.

"Built on a hill is weird indeed."

See looks around at the hill, checking to see if it's shape appears abnormally round or high.

"Could this be a barrow? Perhaps you should lower me down into the well, something doesn't seem quite right here."

"We could do that, but is it a safe thing?"

Matthias leans over the well opening and peers down it. He tries to determine whether he can see the bottom, if there is a winch with a rope attached, and if the winch is operational. Additionally, he assesses the well's width and its interior walls to determine how climbable they appear. Lastly, he looks for any evidence of water along the lip of the well, perhaps indicating it has recently been used.

Vala nods at Delta's words. 'I know nothing of magic but I can well believe there is mind changing magic at play.'

She glances at the well. 'Delta I don't like the thought of you going down there alone. Could it take a human?'

"We could perhaps lower a torch first if we wish to be cautious, but I am fine going down by myself, and easy to retrieve. I worry that Missus Branch has been taken to ensure full payment though. If we are dealing with the fey, my suggestion is to make the payment. "

Further investigation shows the rope and winch both in good working order.  The well is only about 4 feet across.  It does not appear to have been used recently.


PM

Did my examination of the hill lead to any conclusions?

PM

The hill itself looks typical of those around it, it is not out of place in the landscape.

PM

"If we are to lower you, I recommend you take a torch and that someone watch down the well to tell us if we need to pull you back up quickly."

PM

OOC: Do you lower Delta down, head first, feet first, and with or without a lit torch??

(OOC)
I would say feet first and with a torch, but that is just one opinion.

Why don't I just sit in the bucket? And yes, I want a torch, dark vision has too many limitations.

"That works for me.  Please be careful!  Okay, I could use a little help on this rope, folks.  I ain't the brawny type."

With, hopefully, the help of others, Janek will hold the rope for the bucket as Delta attempts to climb on without falling in.

Matthis retrieves and lights a candle from his leather pouch. He places it inside a small brass lamp. "You don't need a torch down there. Likely to burn your hair off with a fire that big. Here, use this. It will do fine."

OOC: Let's lower Delta down feet first with the candle and lamp.

Delta takes the lamp, then climbs into the bucket, squatting down to keep her center of gravity below the mid-point.

PM

Luckily, Delta is rather Diminutive.  The bucket and rope are both in good shape and once she is well balanced, the others begin lowering her down the well.   It's very difficult to see much below where she is  sitting, shadows are cast wildly about by the lantern, and she occasionally wobbles as the bucket is not the steadiest of seats.  The going is slow, and its fairly scary descent.  You would estimate she is about 60 feet down, when Vala notices Tanyl at the bottom of the hill emerge from the woods below at a full sprint, waving his arms to get your attention.

Matthias holds the rope steady while turning his head toward Tanyl, "Here comes our elf...uh, oh, looks like something isn't right..."

He calls down the well, "Hang on Delta. Doing great," he says by way of encouragement, but his tone is decidedly distracted.

Tanyl continues running, but he's repeatedly waving his arm in an upward swoop that stretches out to the party and over his own head.

"Does it look like he wants us to come to him?" he asks Janek.

"not sure, but what an inconvenient time. "

Delta looks around for any sign of passage thru the well before her own. She also peeks carefully over the edge, to look down and see if she can see the bottom.

Vala frowns and reaches for the hilt of her bastard sword. 'The rest of you better guard Delta - I'll see what has Tanyl so bothered.'

Sword in hand the warrioress moves briskly  towards the elf.

Far below her dangling feet, maybe another 80 or more feet, Delta occasionally sees a glint of her lantern light rippling off the surface of water.   While straining to see below, she catches the slightest view of something moving along the wall, and the feint sounds a tiny clicks, something with a bunch of little legs is climbing up the well wall.  It is maybe 40 feet below her to her best guess.

"You can pull me up now," she calls, though she keeps an anxious eye on the wall near where the clicking is coming from.

At her urging, we will start to pull her back up, as quickly as we safely can.

Once within earshot, Tanyl pauses long enough to blurt out his scouting report.

"She's entranced somehow.  Four foes: the dog, two elf-kin, and what appeared to be a human spellcaster.  Caster's leaving in an hour; think he's got the platinum already.  The others may be preparing to rape Missus Branch.  Gotta move fast to make sure we get them all, especially the caster."

And with that he runs back where he came from but he doesn't enter the tree line just yet.  Once there he looks back to see where the others are.

The others haul Delta up in time to hear Tanyl's report.  Whatever was on the wall of the well, gave up the chase pretty quick once she was on the move, but the little clicking sounds in the dark below give her the shivers.

As soon as we haul Delta up, Janek is on the move in the direction of Tanyl.

Matthias joins Janek and the others, eager to come to the woman's aid.

Once she is caught up on the circumstances, Delta is quite livid at what is happening to Missus Branch, and is quite eager to do some damage to  the villains. Though she has no idea what an elf-kin is.

'Let's get moving,' Vala says, recovering from the shock of hearing what was planned for the lady and growing visibly angry.

Heading down the far side of the hill from the well, you reach the woods at the base of the hill and enter those.  It is a small patch of woods and the exit on the far side.  From the edge of that patch of woods you can see that about 50' feet ahead is a campsite with three tents in a circle with a fire pit in the middle.

Gloria Branch is sitting on a log at the edge of camp, with the large dog sitting next to her. Both with their backs to you.  The dog appears to be larger than she is, and is indeed brown with green patches of fur.

There is a taller man in black robes, and two smaller men standing at the far side of the camp near one of the tents..  The smaller men both have swords and bows, and are wearing leather armor, the man in back you can only tell has dark robes.  They are busy in conversation.

I indicate to the rest that I will use my skills to go around the camp to the far side.  I will stay about 50' from the camp until I am opposite to where I was and approach from that side.

There appears to be at least a moment to hastily plan, given that Missus Branch is in no present danger.

"How do you want to play this?" Tanyl asks, looking primarily at Vala.  "That dog is likely to attack first and fastest, and you'll have to intercept it.  We can pelt with missile fire; I've got a spell that could work on the caster if he doesn't resist it entirely."

'I can keep the hound at bay,' Vala says confidently, 'but I know little enough of magic. If you think the sorceror is a worse threat than the bowmen try and take him first before he casts a spell.'

Her large brown eyes flicked to the others. 'Everyone ready?'

Tanyl nods.  "Here's hoping it works," he whispers as he prepares to cast a spell.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:30, Tue 04 Aug 2020.

Delta loads her crossbow and draws a bead on the sorcerer, planning to get off a shot, then draw her short sword.

"I may be able to hold the sorcerer in place, Erathis willing," Matthias says. The cleric draws his mace while approaching the campsite with his companions.

OOC: Matthias' intent is to cast Command, "Halt", on the sorcerer. Obviously he needs to wait to do this until after the rest of the party has taken their actions.

"Your spell sounds better than mine," Tanyl says, grinning.  The elf abandons plans to cast a spell and gets out his bow instead.

Once I reach position on the other side, I will wait for the party to act, then I will attempt to get a surprise attack on the robed man, as he is probably the biggest threat.

Janek heads off to the circle wide around the camp and come from the back.

The others make quick preparations, all the while watching the campsite.  It is because of this you notice when the dog first pricks its ears, and looks alert.

ooc: If you plan to attack by distance, you got first, of you may begin a charge if you wish, or cast a spell if you are within range.  You may assume, the dog will be reacting very quickly.

"A lot's targeting the caster; going for the elfkin on the left."

Tanyl fires two shots  . . .


20:31, Today: Tanyl Miaras rolled 19,2 using d20+1,d6.  Round 1A -- arrow.

20:31, Today: Tanyl Miaras rolled 9,6 using d20+1,d6.  Round 1B -- arrow.

With mace drawn and shield at the ready, Matthias attempts to close distance to the sorcerer. "Release the woman, at once!" he calls out to the sorcerer.

OOC: Just noticed the Command spell has a range of 10 feet. I need to close to within melee distance to cast the spell.

Janek will wait for every enemies attention to be on the party approaching from the front, then he will attack from the rear, hoping to achieve surprise.  No battle cry, just the best silence his skills can accomplish.

Firing her crossbow at the spell caster, Delta is pleased to see it fly straight and true. She felt confident that was as good a shot as she had in her. As soon as the bolt is released, she places her crossbow on the ground, and draws her sword. With a sideways hop and skip, she tries to put a little distance between her and the others, out of concern for what the spellcaster might have in his pocket, and begins to move forward, silently (and with a little bit of guilt) hopes the dog-beast considers Vala the most obvious physical threat.
Sorry girl!


OOC: 04:43, Today: Delta rolled 19 using 1d20+1 ((18))
04:44, Today: Delta rolled 2 using 1d4 ((2)).

PM
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:31, Wed 05 Aug 2020.

Matthias and Vala charge forward with hopes of reaching the edge of camp.  As they charge, the large dog and one of the smaller elven men rush forward to meet them.

ooc: Vala and Matthias please roll d100 percentages

Delta fires her crossbow hitting the robed man, and Tanyl fires two arrows, one missing, and the other hitting.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:49, Wed 05 Aug 2020.

Everything happens so fast as Matthias runs to keep pace, perhaps even outpace his new companions. The rush of battlelust stirs within, which is good, because in truth the young acolyte is quite nervous.

Drawing to melee distance, Matthias raises his mace high overhead, crosses it over the emblazoned blue gear of Erathis in his shield, and shouts in a forceful voice, "HALT!" while locking eyes with the alleged sorcerer in robes.

OOC: Casting Command on the sorcerer. Creatures with intelligence of 13+ and/or hit dice of 6+ gain a saving throw against the spell’s influence.

Sliding forward thru the grass, Delta looks to close with the remaining Elf-kin...

OOC If I get close enough to attack...



13:14, Today: Delta rolled 11 using 1d20.  short sword swing at other Elf-kin.

13:14, Today: Delta rolled 6 using 1d6.  damage if that hit.

Tanyl fires twice more, at the same target as before.

He tries to observe the effect of Matthias's spell, which affects his aim.  Vowing to do better, he pays more attention on his second shot.

15:32, Today: Tanyl Miaras rolled 12,1 using d20+1,d6.  Round 2A -- Arrow.

15:32, Today: Tanyl Miaras rolled 15,5 using d20+1,d6.  Round 2B -- Arrow.

06:42, Today: Janek rolled 52 using 1d100.  As requested.

Vala charges towards the hound, blue cloak flying behind her, strong legs and thighs crossing the distance, yelling a barbarian warcry as she hefts the Starblade. Time to live up to her ancestor!

---

OOC:
11:07, Today: Vala rolled 21 using 1d20+1.  Attack with the Starblade.

Automatic maximum damage so either 11 (if the hound is Medium) or 19 (!) (if it is Large.)

Wow... first time playing a Fighter and my first hit is a Critical one!

Round 1 Summary:

Matthias and Vala charge forward with hopes of reaching the edge of camp.  As they charge, the large dog and one of the smaller elven men rush forward to meet them. Just as the two near the edge of camp, Vala swings at the dog and lands a massive hit deep into its shoulder, and Matthias calls out in prayer for the man in black to "Halt".  Both have a moment of joy in their success just as the ground gives way beneath them.  Although they only drop five feet into a pit, they wince in pain from the pointed spikes that lie beneath.
The smaller elf tries to spear Matthias but misses him.  The dog however takes out its rage but biting deep into Vala's shoulder.


Delta fires her crossbow hitting the robed man, and Tanyl fires two arrows, one missing, and the other hitting.  The second elf who has not charged, fires an arrow back at Tanyl but misses.

Janek moves forward to try and backstab, the man in robes, but as he approaches the camp, there is a hissing sound and a snare triggers wrapping painfully around his ankles.  His dexterity and fortitude keep him from falling or making additional noise.

Vala takes 1 damage from the pit spike, 8 damage from the dog
Janek takes 2 damage from snare
Matthias takes 2 damage from pit spike
Tanyl and Delta are uninjured



PC s      Class        Level    HP

Vala     Fighter         1     11/2
Tanyl    Mage/Theif      1     6
Delta    Fghtr/Illnst   1/1    9
Janek    Fghtr/Theif    1/1    10/8
Matthias Cleric          1     10/8


Dog has taken 11 damage,  Valley Elf (Robed) has taken 2 damage and was Halted from acting this round,  Grugach One has taken 2 damage, Grugach Two is uninjured

End of round One


I have the actions and attack rolls already for Janek, Delta, and Tanyl.  Vala and Matthias, you can climb out of the pit and still take an action to begin round 2.  Once I have Vala and Matthias, I'll post the round 2 summary.

Gasping at what happened to Vala and the cleric, Delta finds herself committed, and hopes she manages to avoid a similar pitfall...

Matthias winces when he hits the ground and rolls his ankle, narrowly avoiding being impaled by the spike. Once he has recovered from the effort, he lifts himself out of the pit, comes to his feet, assumes and charges the sorcerer.

"Stand down, villain!"

Unfortunately, Matthias is still a bit shaken from his close encounter with the sharpened stake in the pit.


13:48, Today: Matthias rolled 7,5 using d20+1,d6+2 with rolls of 6,3.  attack/damage vs sorcerer.

Vala mutters an oath in an unfamialir tongue and takes an impresive half-climb half-leap out of the pit. Unfortunately this takes such concentration that her weapon swing against the hound is wild.

---

OOC:

19:00, Today: Vala rolled 8 using 2d4+3.  Damage.
18:57, Today: Vala rolled 5 using 1d20+1.  Attack with the Starblade.

18:57, Today: Vala rolled 5 using 1d4+1.  Second Wind.

Round 2 Summary:

Matthias and Vala continue to fight the small elf and dog before them.  Vala gathers her strength and climbs from the pit but misses with her sword.   Matthias does the same with his mace, missing the small elven man.  Delta charges up meeting the second elf who moves to meet her.   Having seen the others run into traps, she is careful and avoids any of these.
Her attack though also misses.   Tanyl fires two arrows at the elf approaching Delta, one of them landing a solid strike, that elf falls to the ground,  Meanwhile, on the other side of camp, Janek uses his knife cut the snare around his ankles and creeps forward.  Taking his time, he stabs the man in the back leaving a trail of blood.

The elf facing Matthias tries to stab him with his spear, but misses.   The man in black robes, spins around wincing in pain, and speaks a single word and electricity crackles from his hand into the dwarf.  The dog again bites Vala.


Vala takes  5 damage from the dog, is healed 5 from her second wind
Janek takes 3 damage from shocking grasp
Matthias, Tanyl and Delta are not injured this round.



PC s      Class        Level    HP

Vala     Fighter         1     11/2
Tanyl    Mage/Theif      1     6
Delta    Fghtr/Illnst   1/1    9
Janek    Fghtr/Theif    1/1    10/5
Matthias Cleric          1     10/8


Dog has taken 11 damage,  Valley Elf (Robed) has taken 8 damage,  Grugach One has taken 7 damage (down for the count), Grugach Two is uninjured

End of round Two

Please post your actions for round 3

.

With a sideways wave of thanks to Tanyl for his pointed assistance, Delta now rushes towards the back of the spellcaster, who has turned to face Janek!


13:05, Today: Delta rolled 8 using 1d20 ((8)).
13:06, Today: Delta rolled 2 using 1d6.  Damage if +4 from behind is enough to make that  a hit.

Janek will drop his knife and swing with his broadsword.

06:12, Today: Janek rolled 14 using 1d20.  Attack.
06:15, Today: Janek rolled 5 using 2d4.  Damage.

(OOC)
I made an error on the roller, but corrected for it here.

Matthias circles the elf sorcerer, keeping his shield ready to intercept any weapon attacks, while looking for an opportunity to strike. The young acolyte's heart races as the world around him narrows to a dark tunnel in which only he and the elf exist. Of course, he had practiced for such occasions, but the real thing is altogether different.

If he weren't so scared, he might attempt to exchange banter with the elf, the way he had done in the training yard. As it is, he says nothing, and just swings his mace hoping to end this quickly....

OOC: Hit AC 1 for 8 points of damage.

15:21, Today: Matthias rolled 19,8 using d20+1,d6+2 with rolls of 18,6.  attack/damage vs elf sorcerer.

Vala winces in pain and calls up the strength of her ancestors. She is not going to be slain by a dog however fierce!

She lashes out with her sword trying to find some weak spot in the creature's hide.

---

OOC:
23:01, Today: Vala rolled 21 using 1d20+1.  Attack with the Starblade #2.

23:00, Today: Vala rolled 9 using 2d4+3.  Damage #1.

23:00, Today: Vala rolled 17 using 1d20+1.  Attack with the Starblade #1.

PM

PM

PM

Throwing caution to the wind, Tanyl fires at the dog.

He doesn't do a particularly good job of it, however.


19:52, Today: Tanyl Miaras rolled 6 using 1d20+1.  Round 3A -  Arrow.


19:52, Today: Tanyl Miaras rolled 5 using 1d20+1.  Round 3B - Arrow.

PM

Round 3 Summary:

Vala, exhausted and already having called on her inner strength, takes the sword she has sworn to make a name with and strikes a hard blow against the dog.  It digs deep into its flesh, and for just moment, the dog locks eyes with her.  Was it fear, or respect in its eyes.  A second later, her second swing decapitates the animal, and its body falls beside its head.

Matthias, through strength of body, or spirit, swings and slams his mace into the elf before him, there is a sickening crunch of the mans head as he falls dead.

Janek swings his broadsword and barely misses the robed man, and Delta and Tanyl also miss with their attacks.  Tanyls arrows fly by and Delta moving up behind the robed figure stabs but only cuts into his robes.

With everyone else down, the man in dark robes raises a hand towards the lady Gloria, who is still sitting horror struck on the log.

"Parley, or the lady dies now!"


No party member is injured this round.



PC s      Class        Level    HP

Vala     Fighter         1     11/2
Tanyl    Mage/Theif      1     6
Delta    Fghtr/Illnst   1/1    9
Janek    Fghtr/Theif    1/1    10/5
Matthias Cleric          1     10/8


Dog is headless,  Valley Elf (Robed) has taken 8 damage,  Grugach One has bled to death, Grugach Two is dead from its head being caved in.

End of round 3

Please post your actions for round 4

.

Assuming I can find an angle that only includes the spellcasters face, Delta raises her right hand (the one without the sword) and a ray of multicolored lights spray from her palm, bathing his face in light...

Quick as a flash, Delta raises her hand and speaks arcane words. The man in dark robes is surrounded by a myriad of colored flashing lights.  After a moment of turning and swatting at them, he falls unconscious to the ground.

The battle....is, ended.

Ms. Branch looks around for moment as if awakening from a deep sleep, and then rushes over, first to Delta,then Janek, and the everyone one else,  Tears flowing,

"It was like a horrible dream, I couldn't wake up from, you have saved me, bless you all!!"

In all the rush of emotions that pour forth, she swoons.

Janeck will hog-tie the robed man.

In reply to Janek (msg # 269):

ooc: Hog tie, something about that expression, and its appropriate, made me laugh! Thanks, I neede a laugh just now!

Tanyl goes into the tents, starting with the robed-man's, looking for something . . .

(OOC)


Oink!

It has to do with keeping from getting kicked.  For him, feet tied together,  hands tied between the feet behind the back.

Vala looks proud... and pale from blood loss. 'I think I could do with a healer.'

Her eyes drops to the dog. 'You fought well hound.'

Relieved that her gambit worked, Delta quickly sheathes her blade, and rushes to Missus Branch. She gently attempts to  tug the frightened women down to her knees, so that the gnome can reach her arms around her for comfort. If she cannot, she will be satisfied with embracing one leg.

"There, there, shhh... calm yourself. We have ye now darling, and soon you will be back in the arms of your loving husband. I spoke to him just a short while ago, and he is safe, and now, so are you."


If possible, she will stroke the woman's hair. She will open a skin of the woman's own apple cider, and offer her a sip.

As she does so, she looks nervously in the direction of Vala, who took quite a tumble. She had missed the killing blow on the dog-beast, but saw the result and knew her friend to be a fearsome warrior indeed.

In the back of her mind, she wonders if the spell-caster might have been an illusionist, and hoped to find a few more spells  in his good, but says nothing about it at this time.

If she gets a moment to speak to Vala though, she has a suggestion.

"I suspect that if we can get that dog-body back to town, and maybe get it to a taxidermist, we could sell it to the mages guild. Or failing that, make a few coins putting the body on display."

)Did we level? hehehe... just kidding, I like a slow game.
This message was lightly edited by the player at 01:42, Sun 09 Aug 2020.

Janek jokes, "Looks like dog stew for dinner...again."

Eye wide at Janek's comment.

"NO! I mean, no please Master Dwarf, I have some venison stew for us back home. This dog-beast is pretty rare, I think it's body can make us some money."

Janek laughs heartily.

Matthias stands, motionless, in shock, for a few moments after the brief but violent confrontation is over. The young man then doubles over and vomits, mostly water, onto ground. He shakes his head in equal parts self-reproach and embarassment, rubbing the sting out of his eyes, then glances over at the bodies on the ground near him.

He looks up and notices the dwarf laughing and shakes his head. The temple training grounds had prepared him to defend himself, press the attack, and other martial maneuvers; but, it had not prepared him for the taking of life and the casual disregard for a lost life.

Once he has somewhat composed himself, Matthias stands, and sees that Madame Branch is alright. Assuming she has not been harmed, he then forces himself to look at the faces of the fallen.

"I don't understand...what happened?" he says in a low voice while looking to the others.

Janek says, "They made a choice and paid for it.  We saved a life that would have been lost to what they decided, but is alive because we were here to prevent evil."

Matthias listens to the dwarf's explanation and then surveys the damage wrought around him and then looks at the dwarf once more and nods. "From many, one, stronger, may it ever be so." Matthias says the Erathian prayer in a solemn tone while placing his open palm over his heart.

The young man appears to be conflicted over something, but in the end he lets it go and says,
"Thank you, all, for being here."

Noting the despair of the young priest, Delta offers what words of comfort for him she has to spare.

"We saved one of them!"

Tanyl's search of the tents finds a spell book of low level. It contains:  Charm Person, Read Magic, Shocking Grasp and Ventriloquism.

Total coins recovered, including the payoff, 242 platinum pieces.

Three short swords, two short bows with 40 total arrows, two sets of leather armor.

The three tents are decent, easy travel tents that require just a single pole for one or two people.

There is a pot with ash that smells heavy of sulfur,  and a metal brand in the shape of the paw print.

The bodies of the two dead elves, both have leather necklaces with a twig and oak leaf tied on them, holy symbols as such for those with Druidic powers.

There are bits and whatnot of normal life, but nothing a great value.

Delta and Matthias together awaken and calm a very grateful Gloria Branch. And in short order, the party is marching back to the homestead.  Knowing Mr. Branch has a wagon and mule, they can plan to return and retrieve the dogs body, tents, and anything else they don't wish to carry.  They do have to carry the unconscious and hog tied elven wizard.

(OOC)
The advantage of hog tying,  you can carry him o on a pole or branch.

Janek will find d a fallen branch and ask Matthias to help him carry the image back.

Delta also suggests that once Missus Branch is safe, they search the area, very carefully, to find and disable all the traps, and fill in any pits.
She will give the short swords a look, to see if they are of better quality than hers. If not, she would like to take one, as a spare, anyway.
She will also want any cooking stuff they might have, salt cellar, spices, etc.
I forget how much the payoff was, is any of that 242 PP profit?

OOC: I assume the spell book is all mages spells? Not sure how that works here, could I learn any that are of the illusionist school, like perhaps Ventriloquism?

"Delta, if you can make use of that ventriloquism spell then be my guest.  As for the others: I think I can get a good price for them at the mage's guild."

And by the way, as far as that robed man is concerned: I know some people who would pay a lot if we turned him over to them."

"I suggest we interrogate him in the barn before we borrow the Branch wagon and carry him back to town.  It would be nice to see if he was working for anyone or if this was his own scheme."

Tanyl shrugs.

"Interrogate him if you want.  But afterward, I say we hand him over to some people I know will pay handsomely for our efforts."

"Agreed."

Vala smiles at her friend. 'A great idea little skald. I had been thinking maybe a cloak but I only wear blue green is an unlucky colour. We'll do as you say.'

Vala moves to comfort Mrs Branch and after checking on her turns to Matthias who she has noticed looks pale and upset. Confused but sympathetic the barbarian warrioress touches him by the arm. 'Do not worry my friend if this is your first battle, you did well! There was a time before my sword tasted blood for the first time so there is no shame in being surprised.'

Mr. Branch welcomes you back with great relief for his missing wife to be returned to him, unharmed.  As the tale of what happened is told, he has to sit down, clearly stunned by the danger of it all.  Two men dead, a powerful dog killed, and man captured, all of them conspiring to steal his money, and possibly harm his wife.

The campsite is cleared of traps, four more are disabled, the dog and all the gear returned to the homestead even as night falls.  The party returns Branches 200 pp, and keeps the 42 and all the gear for their efforts.   Delta even finds a few decent metal pans, and a pouch with a few spices she's not tried before.

"Thank you all, I am beyond words.!  It will be cool enough tonight, tomorrow I'll give you and the prisoner and dog a ride into town.  Tonight, you will drink my very best cider! "


ooc:  For any spells found, if a spell can be cast by both a mage and illusionist, it is the same spell and either could add it to their book.  Some,  of course, can't be learned until a certain level and that is still the same. 

Looking thru the spell book, Delta's eyes light up at the basics of ventriloquism. She runs her fingers over the page, and her lips move, just a little, as she reads.

"I think I can learn this one, given time."

She thrills over the cooking gear, and dips the tip of her pinky into the spices, one at a time, for a sample, keeping a glass of apple cider, at hand, to cleanse the palate.

"Can anyone think of a good use for the dog-paw brand, I sure can't, but it seems a shame to waste it."

She admires the necklaces, but doesn't want one. They are pretty though. She loves the tents, which are quite roomy on the inside for her. Unless told otherwise, she will take the best of the new short swords to keep at home, as a back up.

Not wanting to be rude to their hosts, she asks Tanyl when they aren't about, "Who pays us? There is two hundred gold on top of this stuff we found, minus Thar's ten percent."

As things wind down, she heats up the venison stew for a late dinner, but holds the new spices back until she has a chance to experiment with them. There should be enough for everyone, even the Branchs should they want some. While she doesn't impose, she does rather hope for some apple tarts or some such for dessert.

Tanyl takes a quiver with twenty arrows, plus enough to replace those he fired during the fight.

He responds to Delta

"Our wages?  I assumed the barkeeper but it could be that Thar's just the broker, the go-between, and it's Branch who's to pay the agreed fee.  We should tactfully find out before we leave.

The remaining spells I already have, so I say sell them to the Mage's guild.  And as for him,"

Tanyl nods his head at the living captor,

"Well, leave that to me.  Let's not take him into Stormhaven proper immediately; give me time to make contact with those who'd pay us for our . . . discoveries."

Tanyl smiles.  "As it is, we've made a decent profit -- 42 platinum to share."

Delta nods, trusting Tanyl's judgement on these things.

"Still, might as well get the gold, too."

Glancing over at Matthias, she dropped her voice.

"As to the spell caster, I  don't think anything done to him is too much, but the priest seems a bit soft-hearted, we should probably tread carefully around him."

Mathias bristles at Delta's characterization. "This has nothing to do with the nature of my heart..."

"If the sorcerer has committed crimes, he should stand trial. We should take him to the Storm Watch, so that justice may be done," Matthias says, trying to win others to his way of thinking.

The temple had not given him very specific instructions on this matter so he falls back on that which is lawful and in accordance with good order.

Deltas blushes at being caught, she had thought the conversation just between her and Tanyl.

Janek pipes in, "let me take him to the barn.  I have ways of getting someone to talk that would make all of you blush.  There are certain nerves in the body that, when properly tweaked, can make you want to die, but there is on death to be had."

Tanyl (who also thought Mattias to be out of earshot) is not embarrassed or apologetic.

"Justice can be doled out in many ways.  We just delivered justice to two thieves; I am sure that my . . . compatriots, will see that the mage is treated justly.  They can also get information out of him quite effectively.  And I would rather have the gold."

Delta buries herself in cleaning the pots and pans, ears still burning.

After an excellent meal, and some good Cider, everyone sleeps well and contented knowing they have solved the mystery and help the Branch family evade either a financial or life changing threat!

The next morning, the party returns to Stormhaven, Tanyl makes his contacts with the Guild who gladly take the captured man off your hands, in exchange for a pouch full of gold.

Branch sends word to Thar, who is quick to pay each of you the designated fees, and even includes an equal additional share for Matthias' help at the direction of Mr. Branch.

It takes a little time to sell all the additional items (the ones you've claimed, please add to your character sheets).   Even so, the adventurers tally up over a thousand gold pieces in the end.  Money enough to get a room at a nice inn, with hot baths, and comfortable beds, and a fine tavern!

ooc:  I have updated the "characters" tab to include both treasure and experience points.  Please add 214 gp's to your individual wealth.  You are welcome to rp any actions you want to take over the next few days (spend some of your money, hang around the tavern and recount your tales to the regulars, study, whatever).  Once the dust settles, I'll be opening the next thread.

Pleased to be back in town, though she had found the adventure invigorating, Delta makes her first order of business the disposal of the Ko She.

Heading to the guild she finds out if they would rather have to  corpse as is, for dissection, or if they do not want it, who they think might. Failing that, she will take it to a taxidermist.

Being flush for the moment, she thanks her land lady for her hospitality, and looks to find a room wherever Vala might be staying, if the valiant barbarian does not mind.

She will then head to the poor side of town and spend ten gold on a twilight feast in the name of her goddess Sehanine Moonbow for some of the poor children of the Narrows.

Whenever the party meets again, she will put forward the idea of pooling their cash and purchasing a small house, if such a thing is within their reach.

If she gets a chance to speak with Mattias alone, she will apologize. "I was only trying to protect your feelings Padre, honest, it was not meant with any slander in mind." She stammers thru her apology, probably treading close to accidental insults from time to time, but her earnest intent is clear.

Tanyl largely disappears once the loot is split, although he is seen occasionally at the Hogs Head Tavern.

Janek will spend time at the tavern, especially at dinner, but he will spend his days in the bazaar, seeing what might be gotten with a five finger discount.  Any coin purse left unattended, jewelry, fine clothing, etc.  He is, however, looking to go shopping at a weapons shop.  There, he is actually willing to part with some coin for a magical dagger.  He will approach the shop-keeper and ask, "Sir, do you have any daggers that would be better than these?" and he shows what he currently has.

"Here is what I got for the Ko She," Delta tells the others, when she sees them next. She pours one hundred and seventy four gold out on to the table. With quick and nimble fingers she divides it into five neat piles of thirty four gold each, then gives each of her comrades one more.

During her free time she has been pricing homes in the lower-middle class section of town, perhaps overlooking the graveyard, where she has taken to wandering in her spare time.
She would like two stories, with a cellar or basement, and a nice kitchen if possible.
It is probably out of their price range just now, but knowledge is a good thing, her Da always said.

It is typical of the young Gnome that she is rushing things, and trying to form her new comrades into a surrogate family, despite the fact that to date on Vala had shown even a sign of wanting to be her friend. The recent events, even with their bumps and occasional disappointments, had done nothing to crush her optimistic spirit. No doubt that was in the future...

OOC You might want to set up a side thread for Delta's random roleplays, so not everyone is pestered by them.

An hour before dusk Delta was found wandering in and around the Narrows, along the edge of the Bazaar.

She had been in town long enough to be known to the local orphans and urchins, and was in the process of gathering a small crowd.

The city guard watched her closely, but unlike her previous visits to the area, she had her own money and had no interesting in 'convincing' local men of means, who might be dipping into the local establishments for excitement, into paying for meals for the children.

As the sun dipped towards the horizon she had found a decrepit local park with some faded and forgotten monument in the middle and laid out cloths for everyone to sit on.

She had also found some of the poorer food vendors to gather round, trying to stretch her goodwill as wide as possible without it actually costing anything more. If she is going to spend ten gold, it might as well feed the children and go into the pockets of those most in need.

" Enjoy, children, in the name of Sehanine Moonbow." She was not the type to demand prayer, or even thanks: that served sufficient benediction for her heart, and she hoped it would make her goddess smile.

The food lasted but an hour, and as the sun finished setting, she licked the last bit of grease from a delicious rat-on-a-stick off her fingers, and pulled out her lute.

Strumming contentedly she sang a pleasant silly tune of visit to some magical, mythical country, where the water tasted like wine, and it was against the law to be sad... as the children wandered away into the night, pulled her cloak tight around her shoulders and headed back to her tavern, sipping at the last of the fine apple cider she had saved from her time at the Branch house.

Janek finds a weapon smith who nods to him, and drops back into his shop.

"What sort of dagger do you seek, I, well have many, but they are steep in price, tell me what you seek, and if I have it, I'll name the price."

In reply to DM Bard (msg # 305):

"I am looking for something that will do the damage of a sword, but be as easily hidden as a dirk.  Something that will be able to penetrate even the toughest hide.  Of course, I have limits on how much I can spend, but if I know what I am needing, I can work towards it."
This message was last edited by the player at 03:37, Thu 13 Aug 2020.

"I have a wide bladed dagger, will do the damage of a smallish sword, and is engraved with silver etchings, and forged in enchantment, allowing better aim and damage. Tis heavy so not much use for throwing.  I am asking 2500 for it".

He retrieves the weapon and shows it to Janek, and it is quite the blade.

Over the course of a few drinks at the tavern one night, the group pieces together the adventure they have just had.

The con was set with fear and magic.  The dog was key to the fear, being big and strange and well trained (or even charmed itself).   The two grugach's had druid abilities, able to speak with the Coshee, befriend it, train it.  The valley elf was a mage, and clearly charmed Gloria Branch.  Using the dog as his go between, he used his ventriloquism spells to make the dog talk.  Then, they used the dog brand and sulfur and some straw to "set the house on fire", never meaning to burn it down, just create some and the eerie burned paw prints.  With Ms. Gloria fanning the flames of her fear as she was asked to do, Branch was pushed to make the con pay off!  And it nearly did.

During one of Delta's visits to Ravenskeep, she notices a new sign on the entry gate, "Help needed, inquire within".  There is a small gate house.

Janek admires the blade, "Tis a nice blade indeed, but I am currently short of that amount by too much to even haggle.  At least, I know where I stand and what I will need to save up.  Thank you for your time."

Intrigued, Delta wanders in. If things seem worthwhile, she will seek out any of her comrades she can find, and bring them back.

The guard looks at Delta,

"I've seen you here lately, wondering around.  I'm sure you've noticed how nice we keep things.  You've probably also noticed there are parts of Ravenskeep with locked gates. Beyond which, maybe things aren't so nicely tended.  It isn't disrespect mind you, just some areas of the yard are very, very old.  When no one comes to visit anymore, we spend our limited funds on keeping up where people do visit.  West Lychen's Gate hadn't been opened in ages.  Last week, we heard noises in there, and checked it out the next morning.  Two crypt's had been broken into.  Grave robbers, despicable people.  Not sure how they got in, but we added an extra lock and chain to the gate, couple nights ago, it happened again, this time three more crypts.  We need some brave souls to try and catch them.  Turns out, one of the violated crypt's belonged to some high-dee-high up in Storm Heights, some great gone lost ancestor, not like they ever visited mind you, but they are none to happy about its disturbance and have offered 500 gold to any who catch the robbers.  And another 500 if they can retrieve an amulet taken from the crypt".

Janek makes his way back to the inn, sad that he is only a 10th of the way to that dagger.  He is incentivized to find a pocket to pick, but not in the daylight, and not near the inn.  Maybe they can find another job and he can "earn" some funds?

"Wow, scary stuff," the little Gnome responded, peering around. She wondered if they should dicker for more, but knew she wasn't the person to do it. "I think me and my friends would be interested in helping, but I need to ask them. Should we come back to you, or should we address someone else?"

She is pretty sure that whatever is going on, the crypts were probably busted open from the inside, which was a bit scary. She will definitely start hunting down her comrades and letting them know about the opportunity.

OOC Any info on my housing search?

ooc: There are very few houses for sale in Stormhaven, and even the smallest of them is outrageous in cost.  Stormhaven itself owns most all the buildings.  You can get a lease on a place, but it isn't as easy as having the money, there is the matter of who you know, you knows you, and how many palms get greased.  Boarding homes and inns are fairly common.  You will need more than 20K to even dip your toes in the water.

Delta, being the most social of the group, has no problem finding or getting messages to everyone to meet up at the tavern for lunch.

Janet arrives early and gets a table away from the crowd, near the back.

Having been busy, Delta shows up  second, and is a little surprised to see Janek has beaten her there. She waves, then leans close, trying to keep the news between the two of them.

"Hail, master Dwarf, I may have found us another job."

She hops up into her chair, and orders a drink, along with a sandwich and some pickles if the kitchen is open.

" There is some kerfuffle in the graveyard at Ravenskeep. The guard says they suspect grave-robbers. They may be right, but I'm worried that what was in the grave may have worded it's way out."

The idea clearly makes her nervous. When her drink arrives she takes a large swallow.

"Five hundred gold is the base pay, if we catch the grave-robbers. The same again if we can retrieve a stolen amulet. Decent money, eh Janek?"

Vala arrives soon after Delta. The others hadn't seen the warrioress much since they got back but she appeared little different having spent the past few days in taverns listening to tales of adventure, participating in (and winning!) drinking contests and simply wandering the streets - city life was very new to her.

'A new job always sounds good little skald,' she says cheerfully. 'I need to keep my blades sharp if I'm to live up to my ancestors.'

"Seems to me, the dead should just stay dead.  Anyway, work is work.  I ain't afraid and I do need some funds. We might want to make sure that priest is with us.  He might come in handy."

Perking up mightily at the sight of Vala, Delta shares the tale of the new job opportunity with her as well.

"I missed you!" she says, with enthusiasm.

She was really curious if the others (but mostly the barbarian) had considered her suggestion that they fins a place to live together. Houses, at least in the city, seemed to expensive, but perhaps a suite of rooms in a tavern? She didn't press the point though...

Tanyl saunters in, late.  He glides into a seat, and as is his custom listens silently.

When the others have spoken he shrugs.  "I agree with Janek; a job's a job.  If it is the dead roaming I'm not sure my skills are particularly useful.  But I don't have anything else at the moment."
This message was last edited by the player at 02:23, Fri 14 Aug 2020.

"Has anyone heard from Matthias since we got back" Delta asked. "As Janek said, he could be a handy one to have around, in a graveyard."

As though his ears were ringing, the young acolyte enters the tavern moments after Delta inquires as to his whereabouts. Matthias sizes up his new companions, nodding in brief to each, before gesturing to an empty seat. In his other hand, he carries a scrap of parchment.

"Mind if I have a sit and hear what you have in mind?"

"By all means, sit."

"Of course, sit sit. I was just discussing a job opportunity I have stumbled across."

"Would seem to be up your alley, as a priest: the dead may not be content to be still, and may be walking.

If not, may be the living disturbing the dead -- which can't be good.  Either way,"

Tanyl shrugs, believing his point to be made without further elaboration.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:41, Sat 15 Aug 2020.

Matthias takes a seat at the table and listens to Tanyl's concise account. The young man ponders the comment for a moment, perhaps waiting for more explanation. When none is forthcoming, he replies:

"I have had some training against necromancy, but I must confess, all that I have learned is theory."

He audibly exhales while smoothing his hand across the table's worn planks. "Even still, if you require my services, I would go."

Leaning back now in a show of confidence, whether genuine or not, he says, "besides, the only way to gain experience in something, is by doing it." As those words escaped his mouth, he could almost hear Brother Sebert saying them.

"In that case, the only thing to do, I guess is: stake out the crypts?  At night?"

He looks to the others for confirmation or other views (as the case may be).
This message was last edited by the player at 16:11, Sun 16 Aug 2020.

Janek nods, "Then I recommend we get nap in.  Don't want to fall asleep in a graveyard."

Delta claps in pleasure that they all seemed of one mind on this.

"Nap? No Janek, waiting until night time seems a mistake, lets go there during the day. Who would wait till nighttime to go into such a spooky place?" , oblivious to a century of cinematic precedent set in an alternate universe.

"But, I thought the guards you spoke with said the break-ins occurred at night?"

"Worth looking around, look for clues before they get there, no? Besides, maybe we can set up an ambush or something. Our ability to go there during the hours of daylight seem like an advantage to me."

"That makes sense," Tanyl grudgingly admits.  "No time like the present, is there?"