Fire and Ice 14

General Summary

19 Arodus 4713

While we were in this little pocket of summer, we decided it was a good place to stock up on food. So we moved slowly and spent the time hunting and gathering. We were able to restock our food supplies sufficiently for...well, I'm not exactly sure how long but for a while.   I have to admit, I do feel a bit weird that we stopped the worgs from stalking and hunting their prey, and then immediately went off to stalk and hunt our own prey. I know hunting for food is just a natural part of life, and it's never bothered me. I just feel a little hypocritical, I guess. Still, at least we didn't go after the giant elk.  

20 Arodus 4713

We reached an old, abandoned village today. It had obviously been abandoned for a long time. Most of the buildings were in ruins and buried in snow. There was an old temple of Desna at the top of a hill still in fairly good shape, though.   Grinner went ahead to explore the village. When he looked in the open door of one of the relatively intact buildings, there was a person inside, who spoke to him, telling him to return to the children in the churchyard.   There were no children in the churchyard.   Grinner went into immediate panic. He ran about screaming that there were ghosts and we had to leave immediately.   The rest of us weren't quite so determined to run, so a few more of us went up to investigate what Grinner had seen. There were indeed people in the old barn, and they seemed to think we were all newly arrived children, and we should go join the others in the churchyard. As I said, there were no children in the churchyard, but the people seemed very confused.   When Valeria and Siona saw and spoke to them, they noticed something the others hadn't. The features of these people were an illusion, hiding that they were actually undead creatures. Cassy was able to determine that they had to be creatures called...um...I actually have no idea how to spell it. Basically, they were a kind of undead that was created when someone blasphemed and abandoned their faith. During daylight hours, an illusion makes them look alive and they even believe themselves to be alive. At night, the illusion drops. It also drops if they come under attack of any kind, which is what we naturally did.   Bronwyn was injured in the fight (just a mild injury), but there was some worry because these creatures are known to be disease carriers. However, Bronwyn informed us that she's immune to disease. Some sort of protection afforded her by Sarenrae.   Even though the undead priests were destroyed, we were fairly certain there was still something unnatural going on, and of course, Grinner wanted to leave immediately. Bronwyn, however, said we should stay, that this evil had to be destroyed. Ten-Penny agreed with Grinner, but the rest of us determined we should stay. So we went to the churchyard.   Last gasp of the sky! I'm not sure I can write what we experienced. Just thinking about it... I can barely hold my pen, I'm shaking so hard.   In the churchyard, we heard the sound of children crying, and then we were overwhelmed with visions of trolls and wolves slaughtering children in the churchyard. There had to be a few dozen children and they were all so helpless. The visions lasted mere seconds, but the screams and cries still echo in my mind. I suspect this experience will haunt me for a very long time.   According to Cassy, this kind of haunting would repeat after a set period of time, probably twenty-four hours. We had until then to exorcise it. Valeria could prepare the correct spells to consecrate the area and destroy the haunting, but not until the morning. Until then, we resumed searching the village, and found a few items in the temple itself. These included a magic ring that lets you fall from great heights without harm. Grinner took it and repeatedly jumped off the top of the temple. At first, I thought it was incredibly insensitive to be fooling around after what we had experienced and what we needed to do. But then, I guess we all deal with traume in our own way, and I shouldn't be quick to judge.   Even though the haunting would probably not recur until a full day had passed, we didn't want to take any chances. We camped outside the village.  

21 Arodus 4713

Valeria prepared the necessary spells and cleansed the churchyard and temple today. We all felt a great wave of relief when she finished, so we're reasonably certain it worked.   We speculated about what had happened in the village in the past. We suspect that the children were under the care of the priests of Desna. The village appeared to date back to the time of the "Witch Wars" when Baba Yaga conquered Irrisen. Presumably one of her armies arrived in the village and started killing the children, and the priests were forced to watch. That was what caused them to abandon their faith, which is why they were cursed to undeath. We can't say for sure this is what happened, but it seems likely.   We wanted to leave some sort of offering to Desna in her temple. We didn't have anything specific to Desna's faith, so we left some tea and honey.  

22 Arodus 4713

We reached Ellsprin today, the village where Nadja was hoping to relocate her family to. We were just approaching when we noticed someone lying in the snow outside one of the homes on the outskirts of the village. We went to investigate and were ambushed by a group of fey creatures, screaming about "human vermin". Two of them were small humanoids that zipped about at incredible speeds. The third was a tiny figure that looked like it was made of sticks. The fast ones were creatures aptly called quicklings, and the stick figure... I can't remember the weird name that thing had. I'm just going to refer to as the stick creature.   They were incredibly difficult to kill because they were incredibly difficult to even hit them. The quicklings ran about all over the place and the stick thing...it stayed up really close to Valeria and Ten-Penny, giving them a tough time. We eventually prevailed though.   We then checked the home, where we spoke to a woman. She was initially frightened of us--well, me in particular. I used a lot of burn in the battle. I even reached my limit which I've never done before. My flame aura was raging. Once we convinced her we were there to help, she explained what was happening.   Her name was Maret. Years ago, she had had a relationship with a satyr and gave birth to a boy who was half satyr, half human. The people of the town would not accept the child, so she was forced to give him up. Later, she met her husband (the man now lying dead in front of their home) and began raising a family. She now had two other young children. Today, these fey showed up with her first son, Garen, apparently out for revenge for how she had treated him.   It was at this time that she asked us how many we had killed. Three, we told her. She informed us there was another, and that one must have her son. We immediately started a search.   The remaining quickling had Garen tied up in the barn. She attacked us at first, but when it was clear she couldn't stop us alone, she turned on Garen, screaming, "We did this for you!" She injured Galen badly, but we were able to take her down before she could kill him. Valeria was then able to heal him.   We learned from Garen that he had met the quicklings a few days ago. They had seemed nice, so he told them about his background. They became enraged at the "verminous humans" and promised to avenge him. He didn't want revenge, as he didn't hold anything against his mother, but they wouldn't take no for an answer. They tied him up and brought him along, saying it was for his own good, to "toughen him up".   Garen was very nervous about meeting his mother, and initially wanted to just leave without seeing her. However, we convinced him he should talk to her. We also confirmed that she wanted to see him.   It was a very joyful reunion, tinged with sadness at Maret's husband's death. Maret was very grateful for our help, so she rewarded us with one of her husband's most prized possessions, a magical ushanka (a kind of winter hat). Grinner took the hat and wore it proudly. He looks pretty ridiculous in it, but he always looks kind of ridiculous, so it suits him.   Well, gotta run again.  

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