A Missing Puzzle Piece

General Summary

Arriving at a dead end at the top of the mine path, some questions still remain unanswered. The party decides to stay just a little longer and make sure they didn’t miss anything important.

Blighted Mines

Before heading back to town Jeska and Maxfield decide to have another look at mine entrance 16, where they had discovered the small footprint in the dust in front of the entrance. Jeska determines that it’s too narrow to be dwarven, so it has to be of an elf or maybe a small human. Since elves are rare to be seen out here they come to the conclusion that probably some of the town’s children had been sneaking around the mines. Maxfield then notices a weird rotten smell coming from inside the mine, something they had missed the first time they had been there to have a look at the lock and chains. The rest of the party is called over and a torch is lit that Max then throws into the dark mine shaft. It seems to continue for quite a bit, since the torch isn’t able to light it up in its entirety. After a short discussion on what to do next the group then decides to attempt to enter the mine by picking the lock. The rotten smell indicates that something is inside, living or dead, and if it’s darkspawn or some kind of other creature they need to warn the town about it. Claudia attempts to pick the lock, but fails – it is extremely intricate and can probably only be opened with a key without damaging it. Jeska starts another attempt, Claudia lending a hand and pointing out the difficulties, and after a few minutes the lock is open – then breaks into three pieces that can’t be reassembled. Whether this was to happen by design or if the lock was exposed to wind and weather too long and had become weak is not clear. In any case though, the door is now open, and the group carefully enters the mine shaft. It is quite narrow, and Maxfield actually has to duck a bit to not hit his head. The light of Claudia’s lantern reveals that after 20 or so feet the tunnel is collapsed and continuing further into the mines seems impossible. But then Jeska notices a hole in the wall to their right, well-hidden between big rocks and a protruding stone wall, so that it’s not easy to spot, especially when looking into the mine from the entrance. Junius and Auron don’t notice a change in the magical aura of the place, the veil is thin… but Junius has a bad feeling that he can’t quite pin down. The hole is very narrow, but wide enough so that Jeska, Mira, and Claudia can squeeze through into a small chamber that lies behind. It seems like it also used to be part of the original mine, potentially a storage room. There are no further exits, and the room seems to be the origin of the foul smell. On the floor are several dark spots that turn out to be rotten food. Chunks of meat, banana peels, more or less rotten and about to turn into black mush. One of the corners of the room smells like feces and urine, but there are no visible traces of either. In another corner Mira discovers a weird spot on the wall: a thin black web, almost vein-like, seems to have spread across the wall in this area, giving off a disgusting, sick smell. The longer Mira looks at the spot more she is convinced that the black veins are pulsating. Jeska notices her staring and then recognizes, based on what she saw in Kal-Sharok, that this veiny spot is a sign of the Taint and immediately pulls Mira back from the wall. The rest of the party now questions whether it’s even safe to be in this room, when it’s tainted or a tainted creature lives here. Claudia suggests to try and get rid of the tainted spot, but none of them are sure how to accomplish that, so they decide to attempt to burn it. Maxfield reaches through the hole in the wall (because his arm is the only thing that fits through) and hands Claudia his torch. Burning the tainted veins seems to damage them, but it is also causing an awful stench and worried that the taint could become airborne now the group quickly leaves the mine shaft. The problem is now that the door can’t be resealed, since the lock is broken. Mira promises Auron another button if he melts the two chain ends together with his fire magic. He does try, but fails. His flame spell doesn’t get hot enough to melt the iron. The party decides to go to town to find a new lock to reseal the gate – ideally without letting anyone know that they broke this lock in the first place and entered the mine shaft, which is most likely strictly prohibited. On the way back and down they have another quick look at all the mine entrances they pass, but number 16 really seems to be the only one with a weird smell coming from it. The sun is starting to set meanwhile and the day slowly comes to an end.

Keep the Loot

First of all the group returns to the Everything and Nothing, to let Julia know of the fate of the adventurers – although they omit the part where the two had turned into animated corpses that they had to fight. Julia is pleased in particular to see Max and Mira again – but not so much when she spots Auron among their travel companions. Julia seems upset still that she didn’t get her money back from the two adventurers and offers the party to keep whatever loot they found with them. She wouldn’t want to resell the items that had been buried with the adventurers. Jeska then offers to pay the debt of the adventurers for them – and Julia is reluctant about accepting the offer but still very thankfully does. In return Jeska receives a couple of bandages that will hopefully come in handy during her further travels. Julia also confirms that the adventurers bought a whole pile of torches and candles, as well as rope and a tent from her. Max then asks her about the arrows they found, and Julia says that the blacksmith Hager is more the person to ask about weaponry than she is. Also for heavy-duty locks she recommends paying Hager a visit. The group bids their farewells and goes to look for Hager

Criminal Scum

Hager’s store is still open and he in fact recognizes the arrow that killed one of the adventurers as one of his own (although the group doesn’t let him know where they found the arrows). Hager explains that he’s specialized in tools used for farming, and that he mostly makes weapons for the guards as well as anyone else who needs them to defend their property, like farmers or merchants. The group inquires if he also happens to make locks, which he confirms – but it turns out that the lock they’d need to reseal the mine entrance is way beyond their budget. They ask for a short consideration time, then Claudia starts a distraction by wanting to see some of Hager’s handmade daggers and throwing knives. He leads her to a backroom just behind the counter, and Mira uses this moment of distraction to grab one of the locks, then walks right back out of the door. Particularly Harold is appalled by this behavior, but to escape Hager’s wrath once he discovers the theft the rest of the group quickly leave the store as well.

LIE FOR THE MONEY

In the cover of the beginning night the group flees the market place. They decide to split up: one group returns to the hills to reseal the mine, the other group will try to find the guard captain for a reward and asking him some further questions. Harold, Claudia, and Auron take the stolen lock and leave the town again, running in the direction of the mines. Now that they know the way up it hopefully won’t take too long. The group remaining in the town run into Guard Captain Aeris soon after. They first of all tell him about the two adventurer’s fate and show him the arrows they were killed with. He seems truly appalled by the fact that he and his men hadn’t discovered their bodies themselves. He also confirms that he owns arrows similar to the ones the adventurers were killed with, so it has to be someone from the town that murdered them, which he is very concerned about. He promises to immediately start an investigation after informing the Proconsul. He keeps the arrow the group gave him as a piece of evidence. And he admits that he should have been more thorough in his investigation and probably wasn’t because he didn’t believe any of the rumors being true. The group explains that the adventurers probably threw torches into the mineshafts to light them up, so this could be one possible explanation for the lights people had seen in the hills. Julia would be able to confirm the purchases, and the torches were still in the mines too, where some of Aeris’ men had even spotted them, but not deemed important or suspicious. The group decides then to not tell the full truth about their discovery in mine shaft 16 – worried that if they were to receive a reward they could be denied it if Aeris knew that they had illegally entered the mines. Jeska steps forward to inform him that she was convinced that mine 16 was tainted, and it could be that there is darkspawn in there that’s about to break through. Aeris believes her and informs them that he will immediately send some of his soldiers to the mine to secure the entrance, should something come out. He also promises to talk to Calvis about a reward for their help in this investigation and indeed providing him with interesting new leads. In passing they also mention that they found a small footprint near the entrance to mine 16, and Aeris says that it could definitely be that some kids snuck up there – he knows a few troublemakers who would be capable of it. The group also met a couple of adventurous children during the day who seem like they would sneak up to the mines – but what they were doing there is still a mystery.

Shadow Queen

Mira and Max want to report back to Val about their discoveries, while Jeska and Junius want to look for Vania’s children. In front of the Golden Sun Inn they spot Lukas, who is talking to Detlef, the Sun’s owner, and is just about to bid his farewells. Jeska stops Lukas as he turns to leave. He seems more timid than his two siblings so the first thing she tells him is that he’s not in trouble in any way. There isn’t a lot of information he can (or is willing to) give them, only that he was never up at the mines and that that would more be a thing his sister would do. He says he saw her going in the opposite direction before leaving, explaining that he still had a lot of packing to do before the caravan would leave in the morning. The group splits up once again, Junius and Jeska going to look for Yana, while Mira and Max still want to report back to Val – Mira though doesn’t believe Lukas and is convinced something is up with him. She gives Max a knowing look, so he waits, keeping a watchful eye in case there is trouble and making sure no-one follows Mira while she follows Lukas. She manages to stay in the shadows, moving quietly and unseen, instinctively sensing Lukas’ next moves and therefore being able to stay out of sight. She follows the boy to a small house in a back alley that he enters. Mira decides to sneak up closer to peek into the windows. She sees Lukas and Donnic, packing seemingly everything they own into a couple of luggage bags piled up in the main room. There is a door leading to another room, but Mira can’t look inside, so she decides to sneak around the house – but this time Lukas sees her as she passes one of the windows, and he immediately runs to have a look. Mira panics and attempts to hide below the window, but Lukas spots her and is very upset, asking her to leave right now. Mira stays and wants to talk to him, but Lukas is having none of it, coming out of the house with a broom that he swings at her. Mira deflects the attacks, still not leaving and attempting to talk to him, until the first neighbors start to look out of the surrounding houses to see who’s causing such a commotion. Mira runs back to Max, who didn’t see any of the argument and thinks his lover truly is one with the shadows. They quickly return to the caravan camp to report back to Val, who is pleased that they returned in one piece and potentially also managed to get rewarded for their work by the town.

Brave Like Her

Jeska and Junius find Yana talking to Jonas in front of the temple – and the two teenagers seem to be having some sort of an argument. Jonas is pleading with Yana not to leave and to rethink her decision, but Yana is having none of it. Jeska and Junius calm the two down, then want to know if either of them ever snuck up to the mines. Jonas denies this vehemently, but after being pried for a bit Yana admits that yes, she was up at the mines. Jeska and Junius say they won’t inform the guard captain, if she’s being honest with them. Yana says she’s dreaming about becoming a guard, but the guards of the town won’t let her go on patrol with them. She is old enough, but for some reason they refuse to take her along. So she decided to go on a little investigation herself, after the adventurers had disappeared – kind of hoping she would find them and so proof that she is capable of being a guard after all. All she found though was weird drag marks in one place, and she also noticed the torches in the mine shafts. She can’t remember smelling something weird at mine 16 though, but she confirms that she was there and potentially it was her footprint that the group found. Jeska asks how good of a shot Yana is, to which the girl replies “average”. She wants to become better though, as she thinks it’s essential for a guard to be a good shot. She is lucky now and then, but still far away from being as skilled as guard captain Aeris. She isn’t carrying her bow and arrows with her, but she says she buys her arrows from Hager, like pretty much everyone else in town does too. Junius and Jeska then inform her that they think they discovered dark spawn activity in the mines, and that they actually went in there, which Yana seems very impressed by. Jonas in the meantime turns paler and paler listening to the conversation. Yana eventually leaves, because she also still has some packing to do, and Jeska and Junius stay with Jonas, who lets out a heavy sigh. He admits that Yana is one of the people he’s the saddest about that they leave. To Junius asking whether he “likes” her he turns red and says that he does, but she doesn’t like him back in the same way. They used to be good friends, but when he developed feelings beyond friendship for her Yana became distant. Then her father died and the estrangement between them became even worse. Junius says that he should follow his heart and that they could help him out, if he wanted to leave, but Jonas says that he’d still feel like disappointing his dad if he left. He wishes he was as brave as Yana, who is strong, has a kind heart, and would do anything for her loved ones… but he’s really not. Then they say their farewells, Jonas returns to the temple, and Jeska and Junius return to the Golden Sun to wait for the return of Harold, Claudia, and Auron.

A Sneaky Maneuver

Team “Reseal the Mine” arrive at mine 16 eventually. Everything is still in place how they left it, nothing seems to have gone into or out of the mine. Harold makes sure that the chains are extra tight, then they reseal them with the stolen lock. Upon descending down the mountain path, Claudia notices the flickering light of three torches approaching the path up the hill. They quickly take out the adventurer’s map of the area that Auron found, using it for their own advantage to not be spotted out here, because they assume that whoever the approaching people are, they might not be friendly or happy to see them. They follow down the longer path first, until they hear two voices ahead that discuss how to investigate the area. The group turns around, followed in some distance by at least one person, and arriving at the next intersection they see a soldier pass them by, not noticing them. Then they continue down the mountain path they came up, still unseen by the soldiers that had followed them along the longer path. The rest of the way down the mountain is clear and they return to the Golden Sun Inn, where Junius, Jeska, Mira, and Maxfield are already waiting to share the news of what they discovered and discuss theories on what is going on in this town.

Burial Rites

The guards as well as the Proconsul still are very suspicious to the group, but Vania and her children also seem to be involved in the weird events somehow – be it through the Proconsul himself or separate from him. Claudia has the suspicion that maybe they’re on the wrong path with their investigation entirely, missing an important piece of information, and something different is going on in Schwarzstein than what they assume. The supplies the adventurers bought, especially the candles, seem more like the doings of a cult performing a ritual rather than two innocent travelers mapping a mountain region. The group is convinced though that something is living in mine shaft 16 – potentially a ghoul or another blighted creature, not capable of digesting proper food anymore, which is why it’s rotting away. But who brings the food up to the mines? They remember that Johann, Vania’s husband and father of the three kids, died of the taint a few weeks ago, and they wonder now: what if he didn’t die, or was only assumed dead, and in fact turned into a ghoul now hiding in the mines? Potentially the Proconsul is trying to cover this up, the adventures discovered him, and the guards were ordered to kill the adventurers. Harold decides to ask one of the locals about the town’s burial rites, and spots Julia sitting at a table nearby. She explains that the people of Schwarzstein used to bury their dead before the Blight, but nowadays they wrap the bodies of the deceased in a piece of cloth, lay it to rest on a boat made from banana tree leaves, then put it in the river and set it on fire. The group speculates that maybe it could be that Johann’s body didn’t burn in its entirety and he maybe escaped the boat somehow. But they can’t be sure until they figure out who truly is involved in this whole mess and who is just an innocent bystander. It seems like an important puzzle piece is still missing that connects all the information they gathered. But it could also be that that piece is not located in Schwarzstein, but elsewhere. Harold remembers that Johann was brought to the town by two comrades, who left just as quickly as they came, which also seems suspicious. If Johann was sick, why would they risk bringing him here and infecting the whole town? And where did they go afterwards? Suddenly Auron remembers that he didn’t talk to the caravan leaders yet about wanting to join them, too, jumps up from his seat, and storms out of the inn into the night. Before going to bed the group decides to pay Proconsul Calvis a last visit – they still want to get their reward for helping with the investigation.

Nighttime Disturbance

Meanwhile it has gotten dark outside. The group asked around to find the Proconsul’s house, and manage to locate it not too far away. It is one of the biggest houses they saw so far in the town, and in one of the upper rooms there is still light. After repeatedly knocking on the door Calvis himself eventually opens, not impressed with the late disturbance. Some of the group are tempted to confront him with their theories of him covering up a ghoul living in the mines, but eventually they just want to ask him about their reward, because they depart in the early morning and they don’t want to leave empty-handed after helping to actually uncover something important. Calvis though ends up cutting the conversation off, in a “we do this my way, or we don’t do it at all” fashion, and closes the door in front of them. In her frustration Jeska takes her half-eaten banana out of her bag and throws it through one of the open windows into his house. With nothing else to do the group splits up once more, and everyone returns to their respective sleeping quarters for the night – Claudia, Max, and Mira settle down in their tents at the caravan camp, Jeska, Junius, and Harold return to their rooms in the Golden Sun Inn.

Departure

Max, Mira, and Claudia are woken up before sunrise by the shrill bell in the middle of the camp being rung, calling for departure. Harold, Junius, and Jeska meet in the morning in the main room of the Golden Sun and leave together – promptly running into Proconsul Calvis, who seemingly had been waiting for them just outside. A bit reluctantly but with great earnest and honesty he apologizes to them for his behavior. He explains that he hadn’t quite been himself in the last weeks, his mind constantly occupied with his family leaving. He thinks Vania is making a big mistake by that, but it seems like there is nothing he can do to stop her. Then he takes out a little pouch of silver. He explains that he doesn’t have many funds to spare, because they are only a tiny desert town, but he had been informed by Aeris of their good work and would definitely like to pay them a small reward. It’s the least he can do to thank them for basically doing the job he should have been doing. Jeska manages to convince him to give them enough silver so that also those who aren’t present at the moment but also helped with the investigation get a fair share of the reward. Then Calvis excuses himself as he spots his daughter and grandchildren, who are just about to leave. They are accompanied by an elderly woman the party hasn’t met yet, but they assume that she is Johann’s mother, Vania’s mother-in-law. Calvis and Vania have a short, very emotional conversation, and the children are visibly sad about saying goodbye to their grandfather, too. Vania assures Calvis that her decision to leave is right, and that she feels like this is the only chance they will get to do so. Calvis has troubles understanding her reasons, but he trusts their judgement, hoping to see them again in the future. After short hesitation father and daughter share a tight embrace, the children join in. Then they leave, and Calvis stays behind watching them walk out of the town, before he disappears somewhere in the crowd that has formed in front of the western gate.
Mira and Max are already on watch duty with the other mercenaries, Claudia is back on her cart with Korinne, Thea, and Brigid. Jeska and Junius join her as they arrive at the camp, and Junius helps Jeska a bit with climbing into the cart. Harold spots Vania and her family in the crowd, and there is room for him on their cart, so he gladly sits with them. Val and Konstantin overlook the campsite from afar, coordinating the departure, while Teresa checks all the carts, her passenger list, and that no-one brought more luggage than what’s allowed. Once everyone is settled down, Val blows his horn and slowly one cart after the other leaves the campsite. The cart with Claudia, Junius, and Jeska is just before the one of Harold and Vania and her family. Just as they start moving a figure appears on the road: it is Jonas, running after the carts, waving madly at Yana. He wishes her safe travels and asks her to write him, and Yana yells back that she will. And with that the caravan leaves Schwarzstein for a long trip through the lonely desert of the Anderfels.

Notes

In-Game Date: 13th Cassus – 14th Cassus 888 TE; afternoon – early morning
Highlights:

• A weird smell comes out of the mine… must be weed smoking darkspawn
• Max: “Who wants to go find the stinky smell?? :D” - *unimpressed silence from everyone else*
• Let’s rub some oil on Max >:3c
• “So what did you guys find? :D” – “The Taint!! \o/”
• LIE FOR THE MONEY!!
• When Jonas says he doesn’t want to disappoint his dad, Mira, isn’t present, but she’d still somehow sense that he says that. Across the town you can hear her echoing voice “You can’t disappoint the dead!!”
• Max wants to buy a round of beer for everyone, because everyone did so exceptionally well today. Mira: *sweats*. She will never tell him how badly she messed up when following Lukas to his house
• Jeska: “I don’t wanna draw too much attention because we already stole something and molested a child… Well, not we, Mira did.”
• Harold: “COULD WE STOP BEING CRIMINALS?!”
• Max to Calvis in front of his house at night: “I think there is a ghoul living in your community.”
• Jeska throwing a banana through Calvis’ window, breaking something inside
• Max: “If something happens to Jonas I’m gonna kill everyone in this game and then myself.”
• Hager: “This lock will cost you 6 gold pieces.” – Harold: “Give us some time to consider this, we’ll need to talk to our rich friends.”
• Jeska: “I lick the wall!” – Mira & Claudia: “EEWWWWW NOOOOO!”
• Maxfield: *flexes his arm after passing the torch*

Report Date

30 Jun 2018

Primary Location

Schwarzstein