Strange Sightings

General Summary

After a more or less turbulent morning a group of travellers met in the town Schwarzstein. Some of them have stayed there for a few days already, others arrived with a refugee caraven led by a group of mercenaries. Joining the caravan might be a safe way out of this remote town, but beforehand there might be some interesting things to discover here as well.

Uncomfortable Breakfast Smalltalk and a Tour around Town

Jeska and Harold witness an argument between caravan leader Val and an older man who seems to be an important personality. He throws the mercenaries out of the town, threatening violence should they dare to return. A young boy, one of tavern maid Vania’s children, is observed calling the important man his grandpa. Both Jeska and Harold decide not to pester either of them – whatever the reason of the argument was and whatever the boy and his grandfather discuss, it is none of their business. While Jeska slowly walks in the direction of the marketplace, Junius introduces himself to Claudia, Maxfield, Mira, and Brenda, who all sit at a table together in the Golden Sun Inn. Brenda seems to be visibly uncomfortable with the small-talk, and initially the encounter is a bit awkward, everyone looking the weird mage that approached them up and down. Junius eventually takes a seat, recognizing that Claudia as well seems to be far away from home and not quite fitting in this backwater village. Soon after the conversation started, the boy who had argued with his grandfather outside enters the tavern boldly, recognizes the group at the table as travelers and strangers, and offers them a tour around the town of Schwarzstein. Brenda seizes that moment of distraction and quickly returns to her room. The boy introduces himself as Donnic, and the group gladly pays him 5 copper each for the tour. Harold also joins them as they leave the tavern and start walking along the main road of the town, Donnic having to say something about seemingly each and every building and the people living there. It is a small, but a clean and neat town. The group sees a couple of people preparing for the journey out of town with the caravan, but it is not like hundreds of them are fleeing in panic.

The Banana

Jeska is the first to arrive at the market place, which is not as busy as it probably could be, with about half of the stalls empty. Jeska decides to buy some unknown fruits from one of the farmers, a banana and a few slices of pineapple – and much to the shock of the farmer takes a big bite out of the banana including the peel. The farmer gives some short instructions on how to properly prepare and eat the fruits, then Jeska continues with the comment “Weird food you have up here.”

Obsidian Cats

The rest of the travelers arrive at the marketplace (only Claudia noticing that Jeska was up to something at the farmer’s stand), and Donnic offers to lead the group to the temple of Schwarzstein, or leave them alone for some shopping. Claudia buys a small figurine of a cat made from Obsidian – the woman selling the items and jewelry explains that while Obsidian isn’t mined in Schwarzstein anymore, she can still find the odd fragment here and there (for example in the river) to create her items. Donnic later confirms that the mines have been sealed many decades ago and the mining business hasn’t been providing for the townspeople for a long time anymore. Back then obsidian and iron were the town’s lifeblood, but today it really is the river and farming, allowing them to survive in one of the most remote and dry areas of the Imperium. Junius also buys a cat figurine as well as a necklace made from obsidian.

The Temple of Schwarzstein

In front of the temple the group led by Donnic meet again with Jeska, who overhears Donnic telling the others about the temple – it isn’t dedicated to one god in particular, as the ones in bigger cities, but instead houses shrines to all of the gods. The temple also isn’t as big and extravagant as most city temples, but at least the entrance door is impressive. The group decides to enter the temple together to have a look at it, and Donnic officially ends the tour, offering though to stick around for further questions.
The temple seems entirely deserted, although well-kept. Junius seeks the shrine of Andoral and takes a few moments for himself to talk to the god of slaves. Mira is suspicious and skeptical of the shrines and gods as such, as is Jeska who thinks this is all very weird, although they both accept that everyone is free to believe in what they want, and so they remain quiet. Harold prays at the shrine of Lusacan, while Claudia notices a door within the temple that seems to be leading to a backroom, approaching it quietly. Maxfield in the meantime isn’t very subtle and decides to splash around in one of the water bowls sitting on the shrines, water going everywhere. As Claudia is just in front of the backroom door, a boy suddenly opens it from the other side and stands before her. He seems very surprised at the amount of people in the temple. He excuses himself and tells them to ignore him, carrying a tool box and claiming he needs to fix the squeaking front door. He doesn’t seem to be a priest. Claudia tries once more to get into the backroom, but that door also lets out a loud squeaking sound and the boy notices, asking Claudia not to go in the backroom. He then also notices that Maxfield had messed with the water, asking him to be more careful and respectful in the temple after Max claimed that he had stumbled into the bowl. The boy then explains that he’s the temple’s caretaker. Harold agrees with him, gently but firmly reprimanding Claudia and Max and telling them to behave. Jeska then offers to help the caretaker fix the front door, while the others remain at the shrines a little while longer. Claudia notices that a gemstone of sorts seems to be missing from the relief at the shrine of Dumat, the eye socket in particular, and the caretaker explains that that gemstone has been missing since he was a kid and his father once even was accused of having stolen it. He eventually introduces himself as Jonas, his whole family before him had been caretakers of the temple as well, even after the priests were driven out of the town. Nowadays it’s only travelers who come to pray, the inhabitants of Schwarzstein seem to have lost the faith in the gods. Jonas notes that he also feels similar. Still, he doesn’t want to leave the temple or the town, even though he knows he has no future here: he’d feel like disappointing his father by letting the temple rot. The group then learns that his father died of the taint a few years ago, and Harold inquires if a lot of people die of the taint in the town. Jonas says that that’s actually not the case, although recently someone died who was a respected member of the community: tavern maid Vania’s husband Johann. He was a soldier who had returned from the battlefield tainted, and he couldn’t be saved and passed away a few weeks ago, leaving Vania and their children without husband and father. For more details Jonas suggests talking to Vania herself, which Harold plans on doing. The group also learns that Jonas doesn’t have a very high opinion of the Desert Crows, having heard rumors that their leader has a criminal background. Also, more and more good people are leaving the town together with the mercenaries, and Jonas is upset about it.

The first strange Rumors

As lunchtime approaches Junius and Harold return to the Golden Sun inn, while Mira and Max stay at the marketplace for the time being to look around, and Max ends up also buying an obsidian figurine to send it back to his mother. Claudia and Jeska take up on Donnic’s offer to lead them around town a bit further. He leads the two towards the east gate and notices his older sister on the wall, pestering the guard there about a rumor she heard about weird lights and noises. She jokes that apparently Donnic found new “victims” for his tour of the town. Claudia and Jeska ask Donnic about the rumors she mentioned, and Donnic doesn’t seem to believe in them. Apparently several people saw weird lights in the hills where the mines are, others heard strange noises at night. Donnic leads the two to Schwarzstein’s mill that is located at the river. Jeska is sure to have seen the design before, and Donnic confirms that the half wind- half watermill building was constructed with the help of the dwarves about a century ago.

Lunchtime at the Golden Sun

Eventually all members of the group reunite at the terribly crowded Golden Sun to have lunch together and exchange news, especially about the rumors. Maxfield has the suspicion that the weird lights might have to do with darkspawn activity in the mines, since they learned from Jonas that the mines were sealed because of increasing darkspawn activity in the lower tunnels. He and Mira decide to inform Val about their suspicions, just in case there actually is an upcoming darkspawn attack. While they sit together in the inn they see Brenda come back downstairs, leaving the inn with a determined look on her face. Vania then comes to sit with Harold, after the busiest time of the lunch period is over, just to properly thank him again and asking if there’s a way to repay the favour of him paying for her and her family to leave the town. Harold doesn’t want anything in return, apart from her taking care of her children, which she promises to do. He then inquires about her late husband, and she still seems to be hurting a lot from his loss. According to her, Johann was brought home by two fellow soldiers whom she did not know, already sick and weakened. She and his mother took care of him as best as they could, selling many of their belongings to pay for various cures and potions that were meant to save his life. In the end though, while the attempts to cure him seemed to have kept him alive longer than he would have had without them, he eventually passed away due to the taint. Harold also learns that currently Johann’s mother is ill as well, although not from the taint. Vania says it is just a cold. She then thanks him one more time before she has to return to her work duties.
Harold decides to go look for Donnic once again, while the rest of the group make their way out to the mercenary camp set up across the river, outside the town border.

BOY

Talking to Donnic Harold learns that the boy is both sad and excited about leaving the town. Harold assures him that he will adjust to a new life more easily than he thinks he would right now. He learns that not only Donnic, his mother, and his siblings leave, but also his grandmother – but his grandfather won’t, because he is the town’s Proconsul and can’t leave everything behind as easily as them. Harold also tells Donnic about his daughter Sophia, and that she is travelling a lot and he hopes to hear from her again soon.

Back at the Caravan Camp

Meanwhile the rest of the group encounters Teresa and Konstantin in the mercenary camp as they do an inventory check and Teresa informs Konstantin about what happened with the Proconsul (again). Max and Mira inform Teresa about the rumor of strange lights and their suspicion that it has to do with darkspawn activity. Junius, being a mage and versed in knowledge about spirits and the Veil, has an additional theory that the situation could have to do with darkspawn only indirectly: if a lot of people died in the mines it could be that the Veil is thin in the area and that the lights are actually spirits. Teresa thinks this could be a likely explanation as well and promises that she will inform Val – she isn’t too fond of the idea to directly deal with any threats concerning the town, as she thinks the town’s guards should take care of it themselves. The Desert Crows are mercenaries after all, and they won’t work without sufficient pay, endangering their own people. The group suggests that the mercenaries could get on the good side of the Proconsul by helping out, and Teresa admits that that is a fair point, and she will tell Val about it, but she won’t make any promises about helping with any threats endangering the town. In the end Jeska then announces that she’d also like to join the caravan the next morning as a passenger. Teresa doubts at first that Jeska would be capable enough to defend herself, despite Jeska claiming that she can handle her crossbow quite well. She wants to make her pay the full price. Max then speaks for her and convinces Teresa that despite being small Jeska definitely seems to be able to take care of herself just fine (“She’s just the right size to shoot someone in the crotch!”). Teresa is amused by that and gives Jeska a “small” discount. Junius later proceeds to slightly rub that in with Harold, who had to pay the full price, but also says that he might be able to impress the mercenaries should there be a fight ahead of them. Claudia quickly returns to her tent to hide the cat figurine she bought at the market, and on the way back to the village runs into Korinne for a moment, and they have a brief exchange about the temples of Schwarzstein, Wegrest, and Vol Dorma – Korinne saying that the temple of Vol Dorma is truly beautiful.

Let the Investigation Begin

Once more the group gathers at the Golden Sun, discussing what they learned and agreeing that there has to be more to the rumors and lights in the night. Mira asks Vania what she knows about the rumors, being a tavern maid and probably hearing a lot of weird stories on a daily basis. Vania confirms that there have been rumors about lights in the hills, but she also doesn’t seem to believe they’re true. A good friend of hers, Julia, the owner of the Everything & Nothing store, claims to have heard weird noises though, so maybe she knows more about it. Vania’s daughter had been talking about the rumors as well when Claudia and Jeska saw her on the ramparts. The group decides to split up once more, Max and Mira deciding to go and talk to Julia, the others walking through the town searching for Vania’s daughter.

Notes

In-Game Date: 13th Cassus, 888 TE; late morning
Highlights:

• Jeska eats a banana for the first time – just taking a big bite, including the peel, much to the horror of the farmer selling it; it tastes odd, and he demonstrates how to properly eat it, and that she needs to peel her pineapple slices as well; Jeska concludes “Weird food you have up here” then walks away from the farmer who just says “… Thank you?”
• Harold is the dad of the group, but Jeska isn’t the mom; Max: “Daaaad, mom’s eating bananas again!”
• Banana Dwarf
• Maxfield didn’t even see the banana eating happening and wants to mention it when putting a good word in for Jeska with the mercenaries
• “She’s just the right size to shoot someone in the crotch!”
• “Hey boss, we adopted a dwarf!”
• No one prevents Mira from jumping in the river to have a bath
• Mira is upset that the tavern doesn’t sell water as a drink, only alcoholic beverages
• Harold is Kratos, approaching Donnic saying “Hey BOIII!”
• Max wants to adopt Jonas or put him in his backpack
• Max put his hand in one of the water-filled offering bowls at the temple, splashing the water around, much to Jonas’ dismay; he later proceeds to wipe it away with a rag and his foot
• Harold tells his companions to behave in the temple, telling Maxwell to clean up the water and Claudia to not pry into Jonas’ backroom, truly defending his dad-status

Report Date

10 May 2018

Primary Location

Schwarzstein