Day 24 (continued)
The party ties up the two prisoners to the tree that had once been a brute. They take a short rest. Temerity plays a soothing and deeply insulting song about gnomes whilst they rest. The adrenaline dissipates. Lavender feels that the ring is cold beneath her gauntlet. She turns her back and removes her gauntlet. The air around the ring is starting to freeze but it does not hurt her. She calls Anaphel over and explains that something unusual is going on. Anaphel takes a sharp breath. Lavender feels awkward about the situation. Anaphel flinches away from the cold in the ring. They are confused. They touch the ring again and a cold pulse shoots through both of them. Lavender suggests maybe seeing the alchemist in the letters when they get to the city. Anaphel is uncertain if this is wise.
Lavender and Anaphel are surrounded by a conspicuous mist. Gage and Mary-Ann wander over to have a look. The ring is fairly standard silver. The gem is clearly arcane. Theren wanders over but cannot tell what the magic force is. Lavender removes her hand from the group, feeling protective over it. Lavender asks Anaphel if someone should attune to it. Anaphel mentions that Lavender already is. Lavender cannot think what she has done to attune to it. She frowns. She is disturbed by this thought. She puts her glove back on and dismisses the subject.
Gage searches for nettles/herbs for tea-making but the battle has trampled the plant life. Lavender suggests keeping moving. Gage wants to wait for the prisoners to come round to interrogate them. Lavender asks Temerity if he wants to interrogate the prisoners. He has been poking the prisoners with a stick. Chikatika is also poking the marauder in the ear. He continues to cry for his mother.
Temerity mentions to Mary-Ann that he can mind-read the prisoners. Lavender smoulders about the thought that Temerity can read minds. Theren is too tired to notice the implications of what has been said. Mary-Ann slaps the captain awake. Temerity casts zone of truth around the prisoners.
Both prisoners are affected by the zone of truth, as are Theren and Gage. Temerity is not and Lavender, Anaphel and Mary-Ann are outside the zone. Temerity uses detect thoughts on Theren. He asks Theren what his name is. Theren winces in agony as he states his name. Temerity asks him further questions. Theren confirms answers, although he is furious at Temerity.
Temerity uses detect thoughts on the captain. He states that his name is Greg and that he was told they could get some gold from a letter. Temerity probes deeper. He asks about their boss. He is the head of the thieves’ guild in the city of Adalens. Temerity gets a vision of the captain receiving the letter. The letter states that M. Mayfield is a good target. He tells Mary-Ann that she was the target. Temerity’s detect thoughts switch to Mary-Ann. She is thinking that this is true – it is not her first rodeo. She has fought bandits before.
Temerity asks if anyone else has any questions, given that the bandits were not after the party. Gage tries speaking thieves cant. The captain realises that it’s thieves’ cant and responds in kind. Gage asks where the captain met the thieves’ guild head. He says in the city. The captain says that the thieves’ guild operates in every tavern in the world. Temerity asks him where his money is kept. Gage intimidates the captain and learns where their money is buried by a lake house nearby. Temerity sees a visual from the captain’s mind of the lake house.
Gage asks the captain what they would do if they were set free. The group decides that Mary-Ann should decide their fate, given that she was the target. She strolls up to them and stabs them in the stomach with her knitting needles and leaves them to bleed to death. Lavender is a little concerned by this but does nothing. Mary-Ann asks Gage for her tea, but Lavender wants to leave – she doesn’t want to drink whilst the thieves are dying.
The party decides to head to the lake house to try and steal the money. Runcible circles the area and spots a flowerbed near the lake-house with a weird spot – the flowers are only just starting to grow, rather than blooming. Temerity sends Korako to inspect the spot.
Lavender investigates the lake-house – there doesn’t seem to be any movement. She thinks maybe a couple of people are sleeping inside. Temerity suggests that Gage sneaks into the house and pilfers any goods. Gage picks the lock and enters. It’s smelly. He steals the kettle. There’s a dinghy nearby but nothing trustworthy. Theren sees that Gage only found a kettle. He enters the hut with Runcible. He finds some silver but nothing of significance. The hut is empty. The party decides to take a rest in the house once they have dug up the gold. Korako digs up 70 gold pieces and Lavender is given it for safe-keeping. They also find a black cloak with red lining. Theren detects that the cloak does something but cannot determine what it does. Mary-Ann doesn’t want to take the risk if she doesn’t understand it. Temerity is reluctant to wear it because he thinks it will make him look odd. He agrees to wear it eventually.
The party rests overnight.
Gage and Theren are happily nerding over the letters, trying to decipher them. Anaphel is cooking, Lavender has removed her armour and is resting. Temerity looks at Lavender looking awkward, as Gage and Theren discuss her family members sending these letters. Temerity uses detect thoughts on Lavender. She is thinking of Angelica and Anise, her teenaged sisters. She hates one of them. The other one she is fine with. She also feels a lot of guilt. She is also thinking of Orris’s allegiance, as well as her own.
Theren and Gage discuss that they need to get to the city and find “the alchemist” and “Corbin”. They think that the necromancers are against Auriel. Anaphel mentions that to take on a goddess you would have to weaken her somehow. Anaphel mentions that Auriel is weakened at the moment. Lavender says that she is her champion. They discuss getting more followers to Auriel. Theren is reluctant – he feels it would anger his patron. Gage suggest that the party isn’t enough. They would need thousands of followers.
Lavender wants to get moving. She decides they’re leaving in the morning.
Day 25
The party awakens refreshed. Lavender did not sleep too well, but is energised for the journey ahead. They continue on the path to Onasea. Theren and Mary-Ann realises that there’s 2 days until the full moon and that moon’s grace is the full moon. Theren and Mary-Ann also know that there are those who celebrate the full moon.
Lavender sets a gruelling pace. Everyone keeps up, although Temerity is fatigued from carrying Chikatika.
They enter the village – there’s a fish market near the docks. Everything seems quiet. The sellers keep looking at the water. Theren can hear the water lapping against the docks. Fear grips his heart. He starts having a panic attack at the scope of the water. Mary-Ann and Temerity notice a couple of boxes stacked near the docks. There is a circle with a feather inside.
Temerity speaks to a fisherman. He mentions disappearances and that no-one is willing to venture out too far. Temerity, Lavender and Gage offer to help. The fisherman says that the disappearances started about a month ago. Lavender asks when the next boat is leaving for Adalens. He says that boats that leave do not come back. The fisherman states that Corbin might be able to help but no one has seen him since it started. The fisherman said his friends would likely be down at the tavern. Mary-Ann asks who he is. He responds that Corbin was the best ship captain they had.
Theren speculates about the contents of the third letter – Lavender was supposed to be directed to Onasea to be taken by Corbin to Adalens but that something went wrong. Mary-Ann suspects that the pearl in the letter is actually a real pearl. Mary-Ann thinks that the shipment the party was protecting is related to the third letter. Mary-Ann also suspects that the contents of letter 3 is what led Corbin into hiding.
Mary-Ann looks at letter 1 – something is causing nature to die. Seek the alchemist – there is an alchemist in Adalens who knows something about this. He either saw something happen or worked something out.
Mary-Ann looks at letter 2 – she thinks that something is getting worse. Auriel is referred to in some way. The stone is probably an actual stone of some sort.
Mary-Ann looks at letter 4 – something is happening at night.
The party heads to The Slippery Eel tavern. It’s a quiet tavern. Mary-Ann looks around – this place is too quiet and the party is being looked at with suspicion. Temerity ignores the suspicion and strolls up to the bar. He begins a performance.
Lavender tells the barkeep that they’re looking for Corbin. A fisherman bangs down a glass and says that Corbin was asking too many questions. Lavender provides some coppers for his information. She asks when Corbin was last seen. He says he swore it was the other night, down by the dock. His ship is still moored here. The ship is called the Albany Castle. The fisherman seems to think Corbin was a good man. Lavender asks about ships heading to Adalens. He doesn’t think there’ll be any ships – the journey is too treacherous.
Gage asks the fisherman if Corbin was the only one seeking too much knowledge. It broke the fisherman’s brain. He sees the world through his beer goggles.
The party heads to find some food. They leave Temerity playing in the tavern. They acquire some fish dumplings and head to the docks to stake out the ship. As Theren approaches the dock, his water panic begins again. He hears a voice in the back of his head – a life for a life, boy. One day, when you’ve forgotten this fear, when you’re truly happy, I’ll collect. Theren returns to the tavern to sit with Temerity because he cannot cope with the water. He leaves Runcible with them, so he can bring messages if needed. Everyone else heads to the ship.
Mary-Ann investigates the quay side. Nobody suspicious appears to be around or any guards for the ship. Lavender approaches some guards. Gage suggests pretending to be the convoy and trying to deceive their way onto the ship. Gage tells the guards that he brings a letter to the captain Corbin. The guards suggest going to his house but the guards don’t know where he lives. However, one of the guards thinks his father saw Corbin down the north end of the dock.
Mary-Ann looks around the north dock. She can see some footprints. They are leading to a set of stairs down the northern end of the docks. It is low tide. There’s a sandy, rocky section that heads round a corner. They arrive at a sea cave.
Anaphel and Gage head into the cave, as they have darkvision. Anaphel notices a tripwire across the entrance to the cave. Gage sees that the tripwire connects to a sprinkler system. It smells like petroleum. Gage disarms the firebomb trap.