Nightly intrusions

Following that eventful night, I was hoping for a few calm days spent simple helping with the reconstruction of Wolf’s Rest. However, it quickly became apparent that this would not be the case.For both Hayley, Liliana and Allistan had been tormented by foul dreams that night. Now normally, this would not be a cause for alarm. But what made this more troubling, was the fact that it wasn’t the first time this had happened. In fact, pver the last couple of nights, each of us had experienced similar dreams. Though thankfully, I had been spared these for now.
 
Sensing shenanigans at play, Luke performed a magical inspection on the three of them. Which indeed revealed that there was a lingering illusion aura around them. And while this would typically suggest a powerful spell had been cast, Luke was convinced that it wasn’t the work of traditional magic. Regardless, the discovery confirmed that the source of these nightmares was supernatural in nature.
 
As we continued to speculate on what could be causing this, Pim came with the answer. Over the past few nights, while everyone slept, he had noticed an old woman mysteriously appearing inside the keep. She would then proceed to enter each bedroom, except for mine, and then leave before the rise of dawn. In his innocence, Pim hadn’t realized the significance of this and thus hadn’t informed us about this earlier.
 
We quickly concluded that the figure was most likely Aunt Patty. Though when asked, Pim could not confirm this since the woman was always cloaked in shadows. And he’d never met Aunt Patty before. On the off chance that the culprit was indeed not Aunt Patty, we agreed that it might not be the best thing to just go ahead and accuse her of things. Instead, we resolved to catch her in the act that very evening.
 
Speaking about Aunt Patty though, there was still the matter of Farmer Tommel’s curse. In order to finally get to the bottom of things, Hayley, Liliana and myself went to see him one more time. And while he was still limited to bedrest, I’m happy to say that his recovery was going well. This allowed us to finally ask him if he knew why he had been cursed and more importantly, by whom.
 
With a heavy sigh, Tommel asked us to close the door, not wanting his wife to overhear. He then proceeded to confirm that it was Aunt Patty who had cursed him. The reason for this was because he had acted rather rudely when last she came in order to deliver some gifts. Something that she had been doing for a while now. In fact the giant goose he was keeping in his shed was also one of those gifts.
 
While this certainly explained the curse, it raised a bigger question: why had Aunt Patty been bringing him gifts in the first place? Afterall hags rarely do such things out of the kindness of their hearts. Tommel then revealed that the reason for those gifts had to do with a deal that he had made with her a while ago. One day, while working in the fields, Aunt Patty had approached him with a warning. She claimed to have had a vision of the future, showing that his daughter, Niara, would die within but a few months. Though luckily for him, she had the power to prevent this. If he was willing to make a deal with her.
 
Desperate, Tommel pleaded with her and asked what she wanted in return. Aunt Patty then revealed that his wife, though she did not know it yet, was pregnant once more. All he had to do was give her the unborn child once it was born and in return she would save his oldest daughter. In his desperation to save Niara, Tommel agreed. The gifts, he explained, were her way of ensuring the child grew strong and healthy.
 
Honestly, I can’t blame him. Afterall he was given an impossible choice. A choice none of us can truly understand unless confronted with it ourselves. With these answers, we returned to the keep to inform the others.
 
For the rest of the day, we debated several potential solutions. As none of us wanted to hand over an unborn child to a hag, whether to serve as her next meal or suffer some darker fate. Confronting her outright seemed the most obvious option, but the pact with Keralon and her coven afforded her significant protection, tying our hands. The only alternative seemed to be to somehow prevent Niara’s death ourselves. Thus voiding the deal. Though without knowing when or how her fate would unfold, keeping her safe seemed nearly impossible. Afterall we couldn’t keep a constant eye on her for the next couple of months. With no immediate answers at hand, we shelved the problem for now. Afterall we still had some time before the child was born and more importantly, we had a more immediate problem at hand.
 
In order to set our trap, we carried on as usual. Retiring to our rooms at the normal time, pretending to sleep while waiting for our visitor to appear. Now to my greatest shame, I failed to notice when the other caught her in the act. Meaning that by the time I left my room, the others had already caught her and tied her up.
 
It was indeed Aunt Patty who was behind it all. When questioned, she admitted she had been entering our rooms to "eat our dreams," a common practice for hags of her kind. As for why she avoided me, she simply stated that elf dreams are less appealing to her than human ones.
 
When Hayley shifted the conversation to Tommel’s daughter, demanding details about the deal, Aunt Patty initially refused to comment. She claimed the agreement was made in good faith and insisted she had done nothing improper so far. Her confident smirk quickly shifted to one of anger and disgust as Hayley probed her mind for answers. With venom lacing her words, Aunt Patty warned us that we had made a grave mistake by crossing her and demanded to be released at once. Since we were not allowed to detain her indefinitely, we ultimately had no choice but to comply. And as she strode toward the edge of Lorewood, we realized we would need to tread carefully moving forward.
 
From Hayley’s mind-reading, we learned that Aunt Patty’s vision of Niara’s death involved her being devoured by a giant, frog-like fey creature while working in the kitchen. Though as to when this would happen, we had no clue.
With the immediate threat dealt with, we returned to our beds. Though we did agree that we would need to hire some guards soon in order to prevent this from happening in the future. But as for this evening, I offered to stand guard alone this evening. Afterall, I still felt guilty that I failed to notice their battle with Aunt Patty and wanted to make up for it. And also being an elf, I also require less sleep then them, so it simple made sense.
 
A few hours after everyone retired to their rooms, there was a heavy knock at the door. When I asked who it was, a deep voice demanded entry. I took a peak under the gate, but all I could make out were a pair of heavy boots standing in front of it. figuring that it was most likely a messenger from Keralon I decided to open the gate. And in the event that I was wrong, I was certain that I was more than capable of holding back a single enemy as I roused the others from their sleep. So armed with useless pride and overconfidence in my abilities, I opened the gate.
 
Imagine my horror, when I was immediately struck by a heavy scythe, the blade nearly cutting me in two. As I collapsed to the ground, I could see a small murder of redcaps charging towards the open gate. I tried to raise my voice in warning, but the blood pouring from my throat choked my cries. And as cold darkness overtook me, I offered one final prayer to whatever gods might be listening: to protect my friends and prevent them from being caught unaware.
 
And that is the stoty of how I died. A fool’s death, if ever there was one.