You managed to make a deal with a merchant heading south, and travel with him through the forest and to your destination: a small village named Freefield. The trip is peaceful, your presence apparently enough to scare off any bandit that would have attacked your caravan.

The village seems peaceful enough. Despite being so close to Death Forest, they seem more focused on growing wheat then on the logging industry. Most of the buildings are made of wood, except for a rather fancy manor overlooking the area, and a strangely designed stone building spouting billowing white smoke.

The smell of garlic and spices fills the air as you reach the tavern, followed closely by the sound of a crowd mumbling.

After finding a good place to leave his pony cart outside, Spriggy headed into the tavern. He was unconcerned about the murmurs coming from the townsfolk, since any stranger was usually the talk of the town in a settlement as small as this one. He was certain that rumors were already flying out of the mill at a shocking pace.

Spriggy nonchalantly walked up to the barkeep of the tavern and asked, "Say, would you happen to be able to tell me and my friends who we should talk to about the animal attacks happening in these parts? We have come to take care of the issue, if nobody else has beaten us to it."

Sir Gorrid remained outside and studied the area, trying to get a sense of the place.

quote:

15:08, Today: Sir Gorrid of Torr rolled 11 using 2d6+3 with rolls of 2,6.  Discern realities.

What happened here recently?
Who's really in control here?
What here is not what it appears to be?

Russel finds a comfortable place near the cart to hang out. If any of the local kids come nosing about, he will ask them what they have heard about animals in the area causing trouble.

"The animals? Mom says we have to stay away from the forest 'cause the animals are agry."

"And that we have to eat our greens, and go to bed early, or they'll come and eat us in the middle of the night!"

The discussion rapidly turns into a list of all the ways the kids' parents are using that threat to get them to obey, making you wonder how they ever kept their children under control before.


Gorrid gets a sense that despite a few windows being boarded up because they lacked shingles, there's no signs that the animal attacked all the way into the village itself. As for who is in charge, the stone manor seems like the most probable home for them, if only because the richest person in the village tends to be in charge.

The second stone building is quite intriguing too. You can see a cart of wheat waiting to be milled, and you can hear the sound of metal being forged inside. But despite the smoke it gives, you don't see any place to store fuel outside.


Inside the tavern, some of the villagers seems quite surprised at Spriggy's declaration. "See? I told you Gordon would hire someone!" The barman shouts.

"Yeah, to keep milking us..." One of the nearer drinkers mutters. "The only one who could pay you guys would be Gordon. He lives on the hill, next to his forge and mill. You can't miss him, he's the one who doesn't have to get dirty for a living."

Sir Gorrid contemplated the unusual building.  A forge that didn't require fuel.  A village suddenly subject to unusual animal attacks.  He had a sinking feeling he understood what the problem was...

He strode over in that direction and headed inside.  He wanted to understand exactly what was powering the forge.

Buck followed Sir Gorrid, quietly taking in the village as he walked. He takes up a post, waiting outside the door as Gorrid entered the strange building.

Spriggy nodded and gave his thanks. He left a coin on the bar as a token of appreciation, then headed back outside to share his news. To Russel, he said, "They say Gordon is the one to speak to. Aparently he's the only one in town rich enough to pay us." He gestured to the big house on the hill. "I guess we should wait for Buckthorn and Gorrid to get back, eh? Or do you know where they are? We could bring the cart to them." He began idly petting Lydia, his pony. He wasn't in a rush, and so he was fine with waiting a bit.

Lydia shakes her mane as Spriggy pets her. Looking toward the manor, you notice Buckthorn and Gorrid reaching the other stone building. The two are not too far apart.


As Gorrid enters the forge, you get the impression that the building must be one of the oldest of the town. The place is pretty cramped, with base material well stacked along the walls, and tools hanging from the ceiling for lack of space. The demand for the blacksmith's work must have increased along with the size of the town, but no attempts were made to enlarge the forge, or replace it.

And when you look at the hearth, you get a good idea why. It's exterior surface is marked by various glyph, some glowing red-hot around the hearth's opening. Inside is a roaring fire, looking far hotter than that of a normal forge. And yet, the inside of the room feels cool and comfortable.

The blacksmith hammers at hot piece of metal until it cools, before turning to you. He's a young man, with brown hair far longer than you usually see on someone working next to a fire, and clothes that would have given heat stroke in any other forges you've seen. "Hello! Are you the adventurers Gordon hired?" He asks.

"We are responding to his flyer.  We have not yet spoken.  I was curious to see what manner of forge consumes no fuel..."

The knight examined the forge closely.  He'd have to have Spriggy take a look at the runes.  He was more interested to determine whether the flames showed any sign of sentience.

quote:

10:40, Today: Sir Gorrid of Torr rolled 8 using 2d6+2 with rolls of 3,3.  Discern realities.

What here is not what it appears to be?

With some time on his hands, Buckthorn finds himself admiring the stonework of the forge building. As unnatural as crafted stone structures are, Buck often found himself drawn to them. Rocks being the most  difficult material the land has to offer, he held a respect for the deliberate determination of its crafters.

As the forge seemed likely the oldest construct in the area for quite some distance, he curiously ran his fingers over its surface and began to quietly hum...

Buckthorn rolled 7 using 2d6+2 with rolls of 4,1.  Communion Of Whispers (Forge)
This message was last edited by the player at 18:35, Sun 03 Apr 2022.

Having seen where Gorrid and Buckthorn were, Spriggy began guiding his pony in their direction. "Looks like they are checking out the building over there. I wonder why."

"Oh yeah. Pretty impressive, isn't it?" The man points at the runes. "Gordon tries to pretend he made it, but we all know he's not skilled enough for that. We don't really know who made this thing, but it's too useful to ignore."

As he talks, Gorrid gets a good close look at the hearth. Even as close as you are, you don't feel the heat of the roaring fire. The fire seems normal, except for being strangely strong for it's size. The runes are more interesting. They resembles those used by orcish shamans, but engraved in a smoother, cleaner fashion.

Buckthorn feels about the building, and senses the presences of elemental spirits inside the building. They're small though, pretty much the equivalent of rats or small birds. You're not sure if they've been summoned here, or if they slipped in through a small gate to the elemental plane.

Spriggy gets closer to the building, and notices the building doesn't just look unusual, it's clearly been built in a very different manner than anything else in the village. More akin in architecture to the Nuatian Caliphate than the modern style of rest of the place.

"How long has it been here?  Also, what do you know of the job that we're here for?"

The knight frowned a bit at the sight of the orcish runes and uttered a brief prayer.

What here is evil?

When Spriggy got closer to the building, he could see why it had drawn his allies' interest. There was certainly something different about it.

He poked his head inside to see what his friends were up to inside. "You guys finding anything interesting in here?" he asked.

"Know anything about these glyphs?"

Sir Gorrid gestured to the engravings on the forge.

"Gordon could tell you more about the forge than I can. He's the one who knows how to make it work." The man sighs as he takes a seat. "As for the job, well... For the last month, a few people have gotten attacked when they went into the forest. It's not unusual for someone to get jumped by a wolf, or chased by a bear, but this month it got worse, with two or three attacks a week. We don't know what's causing it... not for certain, at least...

See... there's a druid who lives in this part of the forest. We don't know much about her, but we're pretty sure she doesn't take kindly to our loggers. Some of us think she's the one doing this."

As the blacksmith talks, Spriggy gets a good look at the glyphs. He easily recognizes them as old writing related to elemental magic. Specifically fire magic. The exterior enchantment is focused on containing the fire and heat into the hearth, while another (barely visible) set of rune inside the hearth opens a small gate to the plane of eternal fire.

The knight peppered the man with questions.

"Can you tell us a bit more about the attacks?  Did anyone survive who can describe what happened?  Anything common about who got attacked or when or where?  For those who didn't survive, what sort of injuries?  Evidence of feeding?

Also, tell us about the druid.  Where does she live?  What makes you feel she doesn't like the loggers?  Has anything changed in the last month - related to her or otherwise?  How old is the forge?"

"Well, most people survived the attacks. They pretty much all said the same thing. An animal came out of nowhere, and started biting or clawing at them as they fleed. The only thing they really have in common is that it happens in the forest, or close to it. I can't really tell you about those that didn't survive, we didn't really dare try to find the bodies of those that went missing...

And I'm not sure where that druid lives. I prefer not getting involved with her kind of folks.

For the forge... all we know for sure is that it was here before the village was built. Really, you'll have to ask Gordon if you want to know more."

While Gorrid spoke with the blacksmith, Spriggy continued to study the runes. He even went so far as to copy them into his song/spellbook. (In a safe way that would not cause the book to burst into flames, of course.) As he copied them down, it brought to mind a story he had come across a long time ago. It was a cautionary tale. A very old one, but certainly based in truth. About a wax candle-doll that played with fire magic in an unsafe manner. When it poked the "Eternal Flame," it received an eternal burn. A lit wick that could not be put out, causing the doll to slowly melt while it reflected on the error of its ways.

It was an obscure story. And had the sort of dark morals that only the oldest versions of fairytales could get away with.

But it prompted Spriggy to double check and make sure that the rune alignments hadn't been tampered with, and that there were no mistakes he could see that might suggest unsafe conditions. For all he knew, a small crack in the runes might be slowly leaking a "fiery fury" into the local animals, causing them to become increasingly agressive.

---

I would like to use my bardic lore to ask, "Is this forge sufficiently and properly protected to avoid the dangers of the plane of eternal fire?" Essentially, is it up to code?

quote:

Bardic Lore: Spells and Magicks

When you first encounter an important creature, location, or item (your call) covered by your bardic lore you can ask the GM any one question about it; the GM will answer truthfully. The GM may then ask you what tale, song, or legend you heard that information in.

"Was it always the same sort of animal that attacked?  Always only one?"