Morning, Monday, May 9, 1650. Weather, cool, fresh smelling; the trees and grass seem as green as they can be. There is a moderate breeze from the southeast, coming from the land. It is clear as a bell. The moon is a half moon, one day after the first quarter.
The party is on the edge of Stavanger, on a low hill where the forest towards Store Stokka, the lake, can be seen, and the sea as well, north of you. There's a road on the right that will lead west along the coast, and a familiar pathway to the south that you know will lead to the lake and ultimately, through the trees, to Mimmarudla.
What do you wish to do?
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I pull out my Bloodhound token, visualize Valda in as much detail as I can manage, and then speak aloud, "Hunt."
I'm just going to check out a game store that opened in the neighborhood. I'll be back at my keyboard soon.
The stone transforms into a silky coated Scottish setter, then takes off in the direction of Store Stokka.
I follow it.
As per Lothar's request, I'll have cast Cure Light Wounds earlier before we set out.
It gives back a total of 6 hp. Avail yourself at your discretion, Lothar.
Thank you, Engelhart. 3 to me and 3 to Fjall. He's at full, I'm nearly there.
[Back]
Engelhart did have Sunday as well to heal people; so just now, I don't know if he's using his heal on Sunday and reserving the one today, or using the one today. Please clarify.
Lothar, the bloodhound will take the party to the lake, then round Store Stokka until it gets to the precise place where you saw Valda last. You recognize the place; the trees, the opening in the wood, as where you said goodbye to Oddsdrakken, Petar and Valda.
The setter will begin to circle.
I'd also like to know if Pandred has used the bottle today.
Alexis: sorry, hadn't realized Saturday had been the day of our return. That makes the heal take place on Sunday, naturally.
Also, it seems the extra day will mean natural regeneration will have topped off Lothar with no need for additional ministrations from me, meaning I'll still have my cure for today.
As for the bloodhound: do we see any other human presence or traces of it 'round these parts?
For the record, I had already accounted for the rest on Sunday. After the Cure on Sunday I'm at 28 out of 34. I'm okay with riding out with that amount, we can save the spells for today until they are needed.
No way, my friend, you're full one way or another. I'll have cast Aid on Sunday as well, if the Minor doesn't get the job done.
Sorry ... human presence or traces of "what" around these parts?
The hound will, after about five minutes, pick a direction and start off ~ in the direction that you saw your friends heading three days ago, last Thursday. The setter's behaviour is different, now. Where before, it seemed to know precisely where to go (presumably, the last place where the party saw Valda, etc.), now it seems to be wandering somewhat as it actually tracks.
The hound does not lose the trail, however, though it does wander a bit, as someone might as they stumble over the wilderness. Remember, these three did not have Lothar to show them a good route.
Apparently, they started along the shore, intending to swing around the east end of the lake ...
But then, abruptly for some reason, they reversed their direction, heading west instead. There's no indication as to why. However, clearly they were still fine, as the hound leads you along the south shore of Store Stokka, continuously westward and north.
It occurs to you that the tower you saw on Thursday is nowhere to be seen.
Alexis: to clarify, as an actual army of men passed through these parts recently, they might have left some treaded path leading somewhere interesting, opened some access of importance, dragged something out of interest, that sort of thing.
The wooden tower's absence certainly qualifies as one such item, and I would definitely like to have a looksie if it would not delay us unduly.
Sorry, I thought you might mean the looked-for Valda and co.
Apparently, the battle never did approach the lake. Lothar sees no indications of even the most marginal trampled ground.
[still have to eventually get the scout/forest stuff worked on; Tuesday night proved unworkable and now I have no time until tomorrow]
Any answers for Engelhart?
I used the bottle yesterday to help top myself off. It should be available for our journey today. No sense using it any other way.
d4: 3
Perhaps they spotted the froglings over the lake, or something to do with the tower, or even just met someone who advised them otherwise.
Either way, let's see what the Hound has to show us.
Continue tracking, then?
If possible, I will use my telescope to take a closer look as we pass by, but I think our priority is to continue tracking.
All you can really see is that the tower is no longer above the tree line.
Okay, with two persons weighing in, I'll take you to the next point of interest.
You move about another two miles along the lake, until you are almost directly north of Mimmarudla. Apparently at this point, they stopped and made camp. This seems strange, because they could not have walked more than three hours; but perhaps with the combat and their low hit points, they decided to go no further.
They made camp right on the lake, not more than twenty paces from the water. A look around suggests to Lothar that they were not there long. The amount of ash in the makeshift firepit they dug could not have burned for more than three or four hours.
The setter wanders around for a few minutes, following Valda's footsteps ... then it begins to make its way directly south, perpendicular to the shore of the lake. More or less towards Mimmarudla.
Captured...
That's what I'm afraid of. We'll see.
Let's press on.
There are no signs of a struggle. They seem to have collected their gear. And by the way that the setter's nose is on the ground, he seems to be following a trail by odor. Not someone being carried (though, of course, the magic item may just work this way).
The trail becomes quite disjointed once they climb the ridge south of the lake, jogging way to the west, then back to the east again, then to the west, five or six hundred yards at a time.
Perhaps trying to navigate around a band of frogs?
And soon after, the setter begins to wander in a looped pattern. You find a place where the ground is torn up. And then ten paces from that, another such place. Twenty paces further on, you find a broken dagger ...
It is Petar's.
Oh dear. This looks troubling. I pick up Petar's dagger.
We can spend a few minutes picking up clues here (and I do so), but I really do want to press on and find Oddsdrakken and company as soon as possible.
At this rate even if we find them we're not likely to find them in one piece. They weren't exactly ship shape when we sent them off.
To clarify: I mean I'll pick over the area and see if the broken dagger is all that's present before we move on.
It is not all you find.
A hundred paces from where the dagger was found, the setter takes you to a clearing where there are two graves. They are not side by side, but at least thirty feet apart. They are both fresh. One has been covered over haphazardly with clods of soil and some large stones, none of which are large enough or placed in such a way that they could be a marker; it is clear there is no marker on this grave.
The other grave is very neatly tailored. A cross has been made of sticks and leather thongs, and planted as a marker. It is a large mound; far too large for a halfling. The other rough grave is also too large for a halfling.
The setter wanders around the grave and begins to move on. Of course, the party unconsciously lingers. The setter gets about 30 feet from Lothar, where it stands and waits.
Well, this sucks. Hopefully our remaining comrades are nearby.
We may wish to return to exhume our fallen comrades to rebury them in sacred ground, but I think we should press on for now.
Valda isn't a halfling, and neither are these two. As far as I know we just sent the trio, which means these don't belong to any of ours.
Lothar, we could try looking for the others with the Hound as well. We'd know (assuming the Hound can track the dead) if either of these belonged to any of ours just in case.
I don't know if the Froglings had anything like religious practices, and I certainly don't know if those practices would have included a cross for iconography, but I'm willing to bet the answer to at least one of those is no.
That means these should be Stavanger's own, and it's possible that by exhuming them we might get a clue as to what's to come. They felt they had the time to bury them, but how deep? And why did they stay so close to Mimmarudla, instead of turning for Stavanger?
It seems to me, without knowing anything further, that we may have a decent shot of finding them at our old campsite, or even in the original Barrow itself.
There are a lot of ways this could have gone - my thinking is that one of ours is buried under that cross and one of the frog creatures might lie buried in the rougher grave - buried to avoid attracting attention, perhaps? The remainders might have lingered nearby.
Regardless, I think we should press on. We can come back, but we have a good lead for now.
Would it take terribly long for Engelhart to consecrate this grave?
Pandred, I think you misunderstood me. The graves are human-sized. I'm suggesting they're too big for Oddsdrakken, who is a halfling. They're a perfect size for either Valda or Petar.
Engelhart did not take ritual as a sage study, so his burial skills are no better than anyone else in the party. He hasn't reached a point where he could take up a pulpit (though it's inevitable that he will get there).
Alright, I continue following the hound.
It is possible that some soldiers or someone saw their campfire on their way around the north edge of the lake on their way to the barrow, hence the packing up and moving shortly after making camp. If they went along with that group, it is my guess that they were attacked, and at least one person died, possibly Petar or a soldier. The other one is likely a frog, with it's lack of a marker. [That's my guess as a player, if my Ranger-senses say otherwise, well, I'm sure you'll let me know]
The setter leads you down from the ridge south of the lake and you recognize the country now. You pass a small camp where there is a single fellow who is cooking over a stove. Then another, similar camp, which is empty. Each of these has five or six tents.
I say we question this cook about the fate of the tower...
Do you?
Yes, absolutely.
(here's 5 coppers on how he'll tell us there never was any tower, to the best of his knowledge)
"The tower?" replies the cook. "Came down during the fighting, I expect. All of it's coming down ... or coming up, as it were. Place is covered with workers, you know. Scavengers."
Do you know anything about the two graves up the ridge? Have you seen anyone come through here [matching Valda's description]?
"Graves? There are graves everywhere."
He hears the description of Valda, then shakes his head. "There are quite a few women around. Can't recall one in armor, but then I've only been down to the entrances once. Perhaps you'll find her there."
He points in the direction of where Mimmarudla would be.
This seems suspicious. Where is the dog pointing?
The cook, referring to where you might find someone named Valda, is pointing in the direction where Mimmarudla would be.
Sorry, I wasn't clear.
In what direction is Lothar's magic dog indicating we should go next?
Thank you. The hound magic item, which is not technically a dog, is not pointing in any way. It is waiting in the direction of Mimmarudla, which it was taking you towards before you decided to speak with the cook.
Alright, I will usher us onwards.
No good luck so far, but I still think that we'd gain something by trying to get the hound to search our other two hirelings for a moment. They may have become seperated, or are buried in different locations if the worst came to pass.
Lothar's call, but I imagine he'd back your play, Pandred.
You don't have to go far before you find a gang of men building a large, open-walled shed, big enough for six transport wagons (without teams), with a partially thatched roof (about one quarter done). This is connected to a fresh new road that was apparently being hacked through the treeline, and now is at least a hundred yards long before turning into the trees. There are four men clearing stumps from the new road and about a dozen men making the roof for the wagon shed.
You don't see any wagons yet, but there is a pile of stone blocks, about eight feet high and twenty feet long, running alongside the far side of the new building. Can't tell how deep the pile is from where you're standing. Some of the blocks are flat stones, one to two inches thick, a foot or so across, in all shapes, while other blocks are cubes, ranging from six inches to a foot in size.
Can we see soldiers or officials with any recognizable livery?
I'm not sure how to put it, but did the cook seem off or unfriendly in any way?
Does this whole operation seem "above board", as it were? It's seems like an organized looting effort, but could these folks have disposed of what they'd have seen as interlopers? Could _we_ be in any danger?
All appears as an ordinary gang of workers. No, no livery, nor flag, but flags were expensive and work gangs didn't hang them (unlike today). The cook did not seem unfriendly, except that he didn't offer you coffee or food. But you don't look like the sort that are poor enough to require a handout.
You have no idea if you're in any danger ... but if you are, so too are the builders of the shed, from whatever you imagine might present you a danger.
Again, I politely inquire these workers as to what they're building and at whom's behest.
The answer proving mundane, I say we press on towards the barrow.
Without going into excessive detail, you learn that they're building a carter's post to handle the incoming material from the frogling lair. They're stripping the place down to the walls.
Let's keep on after Valda for now. The dead are dead and going to stay that way, and I'd rather see what fate befell the missing than inquire about workmen and grave robbing.
The setter takes you around the stack of stones. You see a line of donkeys emerging from the wood, loaded down with stone, each prodded by a driver. The setter takes you along a parallel path next to them... and after a minute, you see one donkey being directed by a familiar halfling.
Yaay! Oddsdrakken is alive! And our donkey! I approach, with joy.
Oddsdrakken!
I'll approach as well, eager to hear just what happened after we seperated.
Valda too must be alive, since the token was trained on her and we only stumbled across the halfling incidentally.
Let us hear his tale, should be quite the story.
Indeed, a witness to the tale will be more expedient than chasing a trail.
The next post is up.
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