Session 04 Report
General Summary
[session 04: 24.01.2024]
21st of Deepwinter / Hammer moon 1489, year of the warrior princess
the moon is waxing
The 21st of Hammer moon begins with the slow drawl of what could have once been called a sunrise, but is now more like a mockery of it, the heavy twilight hanging over the world never quite lifting. It is however, somewhat lighter than it was when the party headed to bed. Everyone, aside from Plotter, wakes up feeling quite refreshed, although some remember their dreams more than others.
Primrose dreams of the sun slowly freezing until the ice has eclipsed it entirely, with it bringing darkness and freezing cold into the world. The ice itself seems to burn until it slowly turns black. In the darkness, the sun eventually dims out entirely.
Annie dreams a lighter dream, of a summer long past, back home in Neverwinter. She dreams of castle walls, the heady scent of wisteria in the air, leaves rustling softly in the wind. In her dream, she plays with her brother, chasing him across the garden. They both laugh, but the dream ends when a voice calls her to return back home to dinner.
Vilu also dreams, a nightmare of a more abstract sort. In their dream there is a long tunnel made of ice possibly, ever-winding until they can’t be sure which direction they came from. In their palms they carry a cube of ice that melts, rivulets of water running down. But the ice itself does not melt. In your dream, there is a sense of urgency.
Viridian sleeps without dreaming, or if she dreams, she does not remember what upon waking.
As the party ventures out to perform their morning routines, have some breakfast and figure out their next game plan, they notice that alongside their tents there seems to be a new crafted cover that seemingly imitates the concept of a tent, albeit poorly. The chwinga have built their own nest next to your tents, a little cover from the wind where they sleep together. They join you for breakfast, and agree to take you to the Kind Man, whom they promised to show to you previously. As you pack up your things, Viridian offers her morning prayers to Mielikki, Primrose also gets ready for the next phase of the Moon and orients her pendant accordingly. Annie sets up her disc, and the chwinga eagerly hop on for a ride as it becomes clear that they are leading you towards Targos, and following the road is quite easy without them leading.
[dm note: apparently this will be written in plural you now. deal with it]
As Targos is one of the several lakeside towns, the road is slowly leading down. But from farther up, you can already see the faint reflection of Maer Dualdon, one of the several lakes in the area. Viridian is quite familiar with the sight, being from one of its coasts, after all. The town of Targos has high walls, but curiously only half of the city is walled, its outer edges more scattered towards the wilds and becoming a shanty-town of its own the closer you get to the wall of the Old Town. But before you get that far, the chwinga stop near a house at the outer edges of the town, where neighbours are scant few.
The house belongs to Miss Elva, and elderly human woman who every so often receives deliveries from the shopkeeper of Triglio’s General Store, an elven man going by the name Morven Duskbrook.
You get questioned at the gate to the Old Town by a guardsman dressed in Targosian militia blue. He wears the emblem of a black ship, which indicates him to be part of the townsguard.
Targos is… clearly much older than Bryn Shander, its alleyways narrow and winding, with a lot of the buildings having more than one storey. You can also see that a lot of the second and even third floors are much newer make, as if the townspeople simply decided to build on top of the older city as they saw fit. All in all, it feels as if it’s crowded, both by buildings and people. You also notice that several of the buildings are charred and blackened, as if a fire had taken place but left the buildings standing. Some of the buildings are clearly newer, or been rebuilt. Annie remembers her brother Alcor mentioning it in one of his letters, how an execution had gone wrong and set the whole market ablaze, some fifty years ago or so.
Triglio’s general store stands tall next to the quaint market square, an oddly-shaped round building in three storeys, with almost a tower-like quality to it. As you walk in, a little silver bell chimes you its hello in primordial, and alerts the shopkeeper of your arrival. You find that Morven Duskbrook is an older elven man of quite formidable height but seemingly of rather faint constitution. He beckons you in and shares with you the story of how he is indeed companionable with the chwinga of these parts, as he’s saved both Miss Elva and the chwinga from one another, and has struck an agreement with both to provide the occasional gift. (the fork you’ve seen one of the chwinga carry around is actually one of Miss Elva’s silverwares, mistakenly identified as a gift)
You learn that Morven has been the shopkeeper for quite some time in Targos, but Triglio’s is an even older establishment, he has merely come to the possession of it over time. The store sells mostly everything one might need in their daily lives, with one exception - not a single trace of fish or fishing-related items can be seen in the store.
Morven does not recognise Annie’s brother when asked about him, but he points out there being an old temple of Torm in the northern part of the town that has since been converted to a shrine of Auril - he also warns you not to delve into their business, as it shall likely get you killed. Vilu in particular seems uncomfortable with the topic. You enjoy some nettle tea (good for the joints), but despite asking, Robin, an astronomer working at another floor of the store, does not join you.
Viridian sells her wolf pelt to Morven for a total of 3 gold 5 silver, and also fills their rations and the torch that was used on the previous journey. She also manages to get a note flown by one of Morven’s ravens into the deal, where the party decides to write to Dannika at Geldenstag’s Rest. Into the note is included Morven’s knowledge about the chwinga, their location, as well as well wishes for Miss Myrtle.
Morven has included into the agreement that the party shall deliver a package for him. The drop-off location he gives is the alleyway behind The Luskan Arms, the oldest public house of the town, a renowned pub and inn on the southern part of the dockside. The party ventures forth, and as instructed, give the covered basket to a mysterious person merely referred to as Cousin. As Morven instructed, they also find the drop-off barrel nearby. It has a scratched runic symbol on one side, clearly hidden away from most prying eyes. A diamond shape with a square inside it, with three horizontal lines within the box. The Cousin thanks you for your business, takes the still-sealed basket, and leaves the alleyway.
As the party walks back, Annie ponders the possibility of taking a northern route just to see the shrine to Auril - or what used to be Torm’s Temple, in case there are any clues to finding her brother. However, before they manage to get that far, there’s crowds gathering in front of the Luskan Arms on the dockside of the road. Turns out guards are trying to keep crowds from getting too close to what seems to be a scene of a murder. Viridian recognises the poor man (human, in his early thirties) as Donnic Durmoot, the son of the current speaker in Dougan’s Hole. His throat appears to be slit open, and he lies in a pool of his own blood. The party ponders whether there’s anything that can be done to save him, but unless he is taken to be resurrected, there is nothing to be done. The guards seem somewhat incompetent and rather rude when asked about what has happened. Primrose ponders the possibility of this being a political murder, as the man was, after all, the son of another town’s speaker.
With nothing much that can be done at the scene, the party decides to head towards the shrine of Auril, walking northway. On their way, they pass another establishment that seems to be more akin to a tavern than an inn, although even there folks seem to be mostly talking about the recent murder. Everyone is interested in the commotion, and as you walk farther away from the scene, the streets get more and more abandoned until you’re eerily alone. That might have something to do with getting closer to the shrine itself, which seems like most people try to avoid - including the rest of the party as Annie ventures forward.
The temple is old, and getting quite shabby with disrepair. On the front gable there is still faintly visible an engraved and painted gauntlet held up high, the sign of the god Torm - something quite familiar and homely, as she herself has attended some rituals with her brother, despite not being pledged to the god. However, most of the gable has been covered in ice, clearly in attempt to remove all signs of the previous god whose house of worship this place has been, and in his stead there glows a symbol of Auril. In a diamond shape, the middle of it is splintered into sections that resemble one singular snowflake.
Along the wooden walls of the first floor signs of old worship can be seen, both tormic prayers and more generic messages, from one knight of Torm to another. It is quite common, as many of them lead a life of traveling and performing good deeds for those around them, to then leave messages to one another at places of worship. However, many of the messages have been covered with what looks like permafrost, making the building almost glitter. Alcor’s message (a very simple, and quite Alcor-like “Alcor was here”) left up at a decent height is however, still uncovered. Emboldened by this, Annie takes out her dagger to carve her own message into the old wood right under his.
"Am in 10 towns; Where are you? Annie."
As she’s writing her message, balancing on her floating magical disc, Vilu can see the door to the shrine open on the other side of the building.
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