Conspiracy Theories

General Summary

The party decided to split up and investigate the rumors about strange noises and sightings, fearing a darkspawn attack might be imminent. One group searches for Yana, daughter of tavern maid Vania, the other group heads to question store owner Julia at the market place.

Everything and Nothing

Maxfield and Mira enter the “Everything and Nothing”, a small general goods store at the corner of the market place. Store owner Julia is talking to a teenage boy called Lukas and she wishes him and his family farewell before he leaves with the things he bought. Another customer in the store, a young man, is looking for coffee, but Julia has to disappoint him by informing him that she doesn’t have any available currently. She offers further help but the man leaves her standing where she is without further ado and continues looking around the store. Julia returns to Max and Mira who have some questions about the strange lights and noises, and Julia confirms that she heard a weird noise at night while staying at her sister’s house at the southern wall. It was an inhuman howling that sent shivers down her spine, although she didn’t see any strange lights on said day. As Mira and Max are about to leave the store she stops them and asks if they are adventurers of sorts. She tells them that a little more than a week ago two travelers bought some supplies at her store but couldn’t pay the full price yet. They said they would return after finishing a job near town, and she kindheartedly agreed, but hasn’t heard of them since. She promises a reward if Mira and Max return with news of the adventurers’ whereabouts and says that Guard Captain Aeris might know where they went, potentially they were even doing a job for him. Julia gives a description of the two as well, a man and a woman, wearing leather armour, normal build, long brown hair. The conversation is interrupted at one point by the other customer who asks Julia if she happens to sell buttons – she is a bit confused at the request, particularly when the man asks to buy all the buttons he could get from her for 5 silver. He eventually leaves the store with a bag full of buttons of all shapes and sizes, much to the confusion of Max, Mira, and Julia. As Max and Mira leave the store shortly after he is still around and decides to follow them through town as they start searching for Guard Captain Aeris.

On Patrol with Guard Captain Aeris

Meanwhile the rest of the party find Yana in conversation with the Guard Captain of Schwarzstein, Aeris, who is on patrol near the temple. They overhear that Yana would like to go on patrol with him too, since it’s the last chance for her before her family leaves forever, but he refuses firmly. As the party approaches and wants to talk to Yana he gets protective and leads most of the conversation for her, dismissing the rumors of weird sightings the party reports about. He explains that only a few days ago he had sent some men to investigate the mine entrances themselves, and none of them could find anything supernatural or odd, definitely no darkspawn activity either. He says that recently two adventurers headed to the mines, seeing themselves as some sort of heroes that would uncover the secrets hidden there. But they haven’t been seen since, and his men also found no trace of their whereabouts at the mines. When the group announces that they want to investigate the mines as well he advises against it – it is safest in town, the desert and hills are dangerous territory. Yana isn’t impressed by his attitude, convinced that she saw strange lights, although she’s not sure if they were magical or not. Mira, Max, and the weird button guy following them, eventually find and join the group and also ask Aeris about the adventurers, but he is just exasperated by the fact that so many people seem to believe that something odd is going on at the mines. It also seems as if Julia and other citizens have been pestering him a lot about the strange sightings. Mira asks if there is a reward in for them if they return with interesting information or findings from the mines, but Aeris says that she’d had to ask the Proconsul about that. He isn’t against information, he just doesn’t believe in the rumors or any foul play. Yana wants to join them only to be stopped by Aeris immediately, but Max offers that she could be the group’s lookout in town while they were gone, to inform them about anything weird that happened while they were gone. They decide to head to the mines next, after talking to Val one more time and informing him about what they’re up to. The weird button guy keeps following along, and after being asked he introduces himself as Auron. He thinks the group are the most interesting people he’s met so far in Schwarzstein, and so he’d like to come with them for a bit, if they don’t mind. He seems nice enough, despite a bit weird, so the group lets him tag along.

Never Work without Pay

As the group arrives in the caravan camp Val isn’t overly impressed by the idea of Mira and Max investigating the mines, but he won’t stop them. He thinks should something happen to them he would surely find replacement in town, and if they’re successful and achieve something positive, the Proconsul might be more in favour of the Desert Crows than he is now (although he doubts it). He isn’t surprised either that the guard doesn’t seem too eager about helping them. In the end Val gives Mira the advice to not do any dirty work for the town without asking for payment before returning to his tent.

We’re definitely not mercenaries, but how about payment?

The group leave the camp again and as they return to the town they are immediately stopped by guards and the Proconsul himself. Calvis has a calm but stern attitude and asks what business they have with the Desert Crows. He has seen them leaving town to head over there for the second time already and since the mercenaries aren’t allowed in town anymore he wants to know if they work for Val. Junius says that he offered his services for the Desert Crows, but they don’t reveal right away that some of them work for them indeed – they claim that they only travel with the caravan. When Calvis comes to the conclusion that the group are indeed looking like they are just a bunch of travelers, he orders the guards to stand relaxed and lower their swords. He alludes to a remark Junius made that he is also far away from home and would rather be elsewhere, similarly like the mage. Upon being asked he reveals that he isn’t the Proconsul of such a remote town by choice (“The perks of being born a non-mage in a mage family.”), but he still feels loyalty to Schwarzstein and the safety of his people is his highest priority. Still he doesn’t show a lot of interest in investigating the mines as the groups ask if he’d be willing to pay them a reward should they find something interesting. Instead he offers a reward of 50 silver to the person who brings him any sort of information on illegal businesses or activities the Desert Crows might be involved in. Be it smuggling, piracy, theft, or just generally endangering the lives of the citizens traveling with them or the town as such. Jeska doesn’t quite believe his good intentions with the citizen’s safety, because if he was truly concerned then he would be more alarmed about a possible darkspawn attack emerging from the mines. He dismisses the rumors as well, and Jeska asks if he ever was in the middle of a darkspawn ambush, to which he replies that he was. Jeska says “Then you should know better”, but he doesn’t seem bothered by her words. In his eyes, the people of Schwarzstein are safe in their town, protected by walls and the guards, and they don’t have to fear anything as long as they stay here. They are in danger travelling with the Caravan though, and pay an outrageous amount of money that basically ruins their livelihood, without any guarantees that they will even make it to an allegedly safer place. Eventually Calvis leaves, but his offer of payment for information on the Desert Crows stands until the caravan departs in the morning.

Investigating the Mine Entrances

After the encounter with Calvis and seemingly no chance to be paid for their investigation the group still goes on their way to the mines – if anything, their curiosity has been piqued. They cross a strip of desert in-between the town and the mountains, where Auron finds a piece of Obsidian peeking out of the sand. At the bottom of the path that leads up to the mine entrances Mira discovers a piece of charred wood, potentially from the adventurer’s campfire. Max, skilled climber and scout, leads the party up the not very well-kept and potentially dangerous mountain path. Junius and Auron notice that the veil seems to be thin in the area, leaving a tingling sensation. They come across the first mine entrance eventually, labelled with a “1”. The entrance is about 6 feet high and 4 feet broad, a few steps into the mine shaft there is a massive metal grate with a door, the door wrapped shut several times with a very heavy chain and lock. Upon further inspection it seems like the metal is slightly rusty on the surface, but it hasn’t been tinkered with. It’s impossible to look further into the mine, as it’s very dark. Claudia proceeds to try and open the lock, but is very quickly interrupted by the others who fear that, if there is some kind of creature inside the mine, it might be able to come out if the door is unlocked. Jeska and Harold examine the surroundings more closely, and Jeska discovers a footprint, probably coming from an armoured boot by its shape and size. Harold can’t find any hints about someone having tinkered with the door or metal grate, everything seems fine. The group decides to continue further up the path along the mountainside, thoroughly examining all further entrances they discover, but they are all in a similar state as the first one: sometimes there are footprints, but the chains always look untouched and the gates are sturdy and intact.

Covered in Zombie Dust

Eventually they reach the entrance labelled as “10”, just before the path splits. At first glance it seems the same as the rest of them, but then they notice that the ground just before the metal gate looks disturbed. Upon further inspection it seems that someone has been digging in this area, and then trampled on the ground to make it appear flat again before covering it with sand. Junius and Auron notice a change in the magic around them – the veil is definitely thin here, but there is something else, something that makes them feel very uneasy. Meanwhile Jeska discovers that there is an unlit torch behind the metal gate on the ground, and the group speculates why it might be there. Junius then decides to have a look at the disturbed ground, digging through the earth with his bare hands until he finds a dirty piece of cloth. He tries to pull it out of the dirt– but as he does, a mummified hand burst out of the ground grabbing his wrist and holding him in place. Jeska and Mira immediately attempt to free him, Jeska stomping at the hand and Mira eventually being successful at dragging Junius away and freeing him from its grip. Simultaneously a second hand belonging to a different body emerges, and an enraged corpse tries to free itself from its shallow grave. One of its eyes is glowing, the other has been pierced with an arrow. Harold attacks the creature with its spear as it’s still in the ground, and eventually also the corpse that had grabbed Junius emerges out of dirt and sand. A short but intense fight against a male and a female animated corpse follows. Claudia is injured the worst, caught by the male corpse’s claws on two occasions. Being pretty much surrounded by a group of 7 people though the two undead creatures don’t stand a chance. The female corpse that was apparently already pierced by a variety of arrows, is the first to fall. Max aims with his longbow and his arrow hits right between her eyes, going through her skull and exploding it into dust and sand. Before she had already been hit between the shoulder blades by Claudia’s crossbow and backstabbed by Mira, who managed to tear a big hole in her chest. The male corpse is a bit sturdier and more aggressive than the other one, but a second stab with Harold’s spear, which the corpse grabs and tries to wrangle out of Harold’s hands, makes it distracted enough for a moment so Auron can strike from behind with his Arcane Lance. Jeska manages to injure the creature badly by shooting a crossbow bolt into its jaw, stunning it enough so that Claudia takes her chance and completely dislocates its jaw with a well-placed stab of her short sword. Junius, still recovering from the shock of being grappled by a corpse hand also manages to hit the creature with a burst of arcane magic, and he is also helping out Claudia after she got struck by the creature the first time with a heal spell. Auron eventually seizes the opportunity to strike when the corpse is almost down, taking a huge swing with his staff that Junius needs to duck away under, and pulverizes the creature’s head with a mighty blow. It collapses on the spot. Everyone is more or less covered in dirt and zombie dust, particularly Mira who was right beside the female corpse as Max killed it, but the group emerges victorious.

What’s going on out here?

Claudia’s injuries are tended to and the remains of the two corpses are investigated. The arrow stuck in the male corpse’s left eye probably was the original cause of its death, while the female corpse had an arrow in the knee and two further ones in her chest. Several theories emerge what could have happened to them, since going by the inventory they had with them and their looks it was likely that they were the two adventurers that still owed Julia money and that Aeris had seen before they went in the direction of the mines before disappearing. The injuries of the female corpse indicate that she probably tried to run away after witnessing her companion’s death, was shot in the knee and then in the chest. The group determines that it’s likely that they came back to life due to the veil being thin here, and two evil spirits passed through to possess them. They can only guess though why the veil is thin in the first place: is it due to the darkspawn activity decades ago, did many miners and civilians die here? Or were there even more adventurers buried in unmarked graves in these hills, killed by a so far unknown enemy? The arrows the group finds stuck in the bodies don’t seem like they were made by darkspawn, more human-made and probably easily available in stores in the area. Jeska and Max decide to take one of the arrows each from the female’s body to see if there is anyone in town equipped with similar ones. They suspect one of the guards, since the men sent by Aeris were most likely the last people out here before them. It might be that the administration of the town is hiding something and that the guards killed the two adventurers, then tried to cover their deaths up – but what would be the reasons for that? Something odd seems to be going on in the town, something doesn’t feel quite right. Among the belongings of the dead adventurers the group discovers a scribbled map of the paths leading up to all the mine entrances. A few more lie ahead and they decide to check the last entrances out as well before returning to town.

Still a few Mysteries to Solve

Similar to the lower entrances, the upper entrances all seem intact and haven’t been tinkered with. The path splits up and leads to two dead ends. Located at one end is mine shaft 16, where the group finds another footprint, although smaller than the ones they saw before. In some of the other shafts they see more unlit torches. In the area where the path splits Harold notices drag marks on the ground, but it’s hard to tell what has been dragged along here, and in which direction. It might have been the corpses of the adventurers, if they weren’t killed in front of mine shaft 10 but up here, but the party isn’t certain. There are no traces of blood or a fight, but it could be that they were blown away by the wind like most of the footprints. As they discuss further theories, also about potential hidden entrances, the wind suddenly picks up and an eerie howling noise echoes through the narrow mountain passage – it might be an explanation for the noises Julia heard, but Mira is skeptical. Why did Julia hear the noise only once, if wind seems to be common in the area? The sun is slowly beginning to set, and so the party has to decide if they want to investigate the mines further, or if they should return to town to share their findings with those interested – potentially also for a small reward, if they’re lucky. The big questions that remain after the investigation: Who killed the adventurers and why were they buried here? What happened in the mines that made the veil this thin? Were the mines sealed with the miners still inside back in the day, leaving them to their certain death? What were the strange lights people saw, the torches in the mine entries or something else? What kind of supplies did the adventurers buy at the “Everything and Nothing”, were they the ones to leave the torches in the mine shafts? Was the inhuman sound Julia heard only the wind? And whose footprints did they see at the mine entrances? Was it the guards that had come here to investigate a few days ago, or someone else?

Notes

In-Game Date: 13th Cassus, 888 TE; early afternoon
Highlights:

• Max is hypnotized by the weird button guy in the store and completely forgets about the investigation for a moment until Mira nudges him and tells him to ask something too
Max = Trophy husband! *flexes biceps*
• Julia to Max and Mira: You look like capable adventurers! – Mira: “Well, I am, but I’m not sure about him.”
• Auron just walking away from Julia in the middle of conversation
• “How many buttons can I get for 5 silver?”
• Mr. Buttons is the party’s new pet or on how Max adopted a son (“Yeah guys, we found a pet or something!”)
• “You’re so fired when you get back” to Mira and Max after they told Val that they’d investigate the mines
• Mira taking Val’s beer and taking a big sip, leaving him laughing but impressed
• Val really really cares for his people. Really, he does. (Harold: Ein richtiger Sonnenschein!)
• “He’s goes to the camp to play with his “buttons”
• Proconsul: “I hate mercenaries” – Mira & Max: *sweats*
• Maxfield *sweats* “Sure, we’re not mercenaries at all! …. MONEY! WE WANT MONEY!”
• Button Demon: Seduce? My time to shine! >:3
• “I can say as many ‘no’s’ as I want,” Harold to Mira after she told him off for saying “nononono” to Calvis as he asked if they were involved with the Desert Crows in any way
• Harold to the Proconsul: “Mira, you wanted to ask about money.” To which Mira greatly disapproved, because she’d never be as blunt – Calvis then says he actually prefers people being straightforward
• Auron is asked about why he bought 200 buttons to which he replies “I like to collect things.” Mira: “Do you also collect people?” - Auron: “I don’t kill people and collect them.” – Junius: “I think no-one was suggesting that.”
• Everyone is weirded out by Auron and his weird fashion choices and… choices in general
• “What’s an Avvar?” – “Auron, you can’t just ask people what the Avvar are!”
• The mine is very “miney”
• “In the distance you can hear… an ambulance!” (as it leaves the ambulance garage next to panda’s house)
• Junius to Auron: “So, you’re a mage?” – Auron: “Hmm… you could say that.” – Junius: “What does that even mean? You either are or you aren’t!” – Auron: :-)
• The veil is wibbly here. Oh no, now it got wobbly. It definitely got wobbly!
• Auron: “Do you mean, it got wobbly?” – Junius: “Yeah, it got more wobbly… I usually don’t say that out loud.”
• Claudia: “Harold, you can’t just ask people why they have shovels!” (to Harold after he was confused about where on his body Auron stores the shovel he apparently has with him)
• Junius wanted to get on his hands and knees
• Junius has a girly scream as he’s grabbed by the corpse hand
• Junius: Please cut off the correct hand, my insurance doesn’t cover it! (after several people think about how they might be able to free him without hitting him)
• Junius to Mira as she tries to free him from the zombie hand: “Please get the hand sanitizer ready!!”
• Junius cleaning his robes first before getting involved in the fight (Claudia probably like “I need a little help here?! Shake off sand later!!”)
• After Claudia is hit a second time by the enraged corpse, Junius: “I just healed that -.-“
• Auron waving at the enraged corpse after it was hit by his Arcane Lance and he got his attention
• Mira is covered in zombie dust due to Maxfield… but he still gets a kiss
• The “first blood” achievement of the game goes to Maxfield :D (including dramatic slow-motion death scene of the corpse)
• “Even dental records can’t identify him now”
• Junius to Claudia as they just begun their investigation: “You’ll need some healing magic at some point.” AND HE WAS RIGHT.
• Auron will pay the caravan in buttons
• INSIGHT CHECK

Report Date

08 Jun 2018

Primary Location

Schwarzstein