vedim did not join us for our morning run
last night he asked us to meet him at the lucky sable inn once we were ready to leave
he was there as promised but he barely waited for the svestjarb' to stop before he jumped in
we weren't far when we heard a sudden commotion of bells and shouting but vedim offered only his "not right now" expression
once well past bedem he showed us a necklace we'd seen before and said "rochus kraal belonged to the emerald claw"
... problem solved?
it took a few hours of navigating through the taiga with what directions dorein gave us (and scrying through the ambiguous parts) but we made it to the lodge without incident
morran stayed with the svesti
naturally spark went directly in the front door "as a distraction"
as the rest of us approached the back we caught whiffs of the worst scent – a new worst scent – meat but rotten meat but somehow spiritually rotten on top of that
it got so much worse when we opened the door
the odor came from a single room just off of the mud room we'd entered so vedim said something about a banishment and ducked in there so the rest of us could keep moving
the kitchen held 3 surprises
i recognized one of the staff there as "falke furnau" because i saw her in a framed windowpaper in the lucky sable – she's the innkeeper's daughter and also a published academic
why was she working so far outside her field?
... oh wait her field is necromancy
i'll come back to that
the staff were skittish but zer'atesh did something psionic that ... didn't just calm them but sent them into a sort of ennui such that they merely shuffled out the back
i didn't know he could do that and i'm still working out how to feel about that sort of manipulation of others' emotions
after they left i could see that they were working in front of a beautiful cooktop made by the celebrated artisan and craftspony "spruce tip"
it feels out of place here ... in several ways
being a hunting lodge there are even more preserved animals used as decoration here than i've seen anywhere else
bears and wolves and deer and ... the head of a svest'
some of them housed undead spirits – likely what fulke was actually hired to do – and attacked when we got near
their whispers were like frostbite
it was a struggle not to turn and run screaming into the night
but we fought them off until relic could put them all to final rest with magic he calls "gentle repose"
after that we had to disarm some nasty traps upstairs but that's where we found the "honored guests" – kohai and 5 others! safe and sound and happy to see us
segor brand hid in another room but relic found him and encouraged him to explain his actions
he wanted to translate the diaries found with relic so he could find a way to get a ship through the storm barrier around relic's homeland of "rokugan" in hopes of reopening trade routes
so he abducted some monks to help him
rude
of course i also asked about the cooktop
he bought it from "dara lanner" in breland who told him it was from the everglow but said nothing about the artist!
what sort of art collector doesn't care who made the art?
after looking through his collection we found another item from home ... and a receipt bearing a familiar brand of destiny
i wonder if anyone back home knows that double deal is exporting more than just food and supplies to adar
so much for leaving nothing behind
kohai and the students with him will take segor and his wagon to atur where they can meet with the other students
then they're all off to korth along with a note from vedim that will ensure segor brand stands trial for kidnapping
tomorrow we head toward teryk but tonight we're making ourselves at home in his lodge ... or as at home as we can be among this decor
at least we have a very nice cooktop to use