Session 28
In the aftermath of combat, our heroes and their new found companion tended to their wounds and reflecting on the encounter. It would not be long before aid arrived in the form of the local rangers and two druids of the local council. Both these druids were familiar to Liaden O'Legal; one was Middyr, the kindly older member who had asked her for help, and the other her cousin Kujan.
The rangers started by fanning out and inspecting the area, but not before Pokziq 'Pox' Skirvet could collect a sample om the tainted sap for research. Sam Calas, feeling uneasy, reached out to his patron and made contact with his death mantle, seeking to know the exact nature of this undead affliction. Simultaneously, Pox cast his mind back to his prior learning to see if he had learned of any such disease. Sure enough Sam and Pox reached the same conclusion. These trees had been infected by Ghoul Fever.
While Pox and Sam looked for further clues, Liaden approached her cousin who seemed taken aback by her presence. They shared a few words, and while Kujan attempted to hide his surprise, Liaden was able to read the feelings deeper beneath the surface. Dread, fear and a sense of impending doom. Liaden asked if the two of them could catch up soon, an offer that Kujan accepted with trepidation claiming that he was very busy with council business.
After concluding their research at the grove, and giving the rangers the run of the area, the party thought it would be best to look into things a little more. Starting, of course, with asking Middyr about druidic magic, and how exactly these trees were maintained. After a brief conversation, they learned that ghoul fever, while able to infect these trees, would have needed help to take root properly. With this information, our heroes decided their next step was to try and find the source. Perhaps whoever was on duty at that grove a few days ago would be able to help?
Having reached the ranger barracks, Liaden wasted no time. The elf at the desk was bombarded by questions and struggled to keep up, with many of the other rangers nearby laughing at the chiding the poor elf was recieving. Eventually they found that the ranger that collected them, Henan, was not rostered on for the outer ring at all, but was rostered for his usual duty, late morning on the inner ring. Seeing this as strange, our heroes agreed that they should find and question the ranger. What was he doing there?
After travelling to the inner ring, it didn't take long for the party to spot Henan, he appeared to be talking with someone when the party approached. Henan seemed honest with his information, saying that he was out on his morning walk before he went to work. He claimed that he was approached by a druid who went to complete their daily preparations when they noticed something strange. While most of the party seemed to accept this, Pox read a little bit deeper. While Henan wasn't lying, it was clear to him that Henan was omitting information. Realising that without context this left our heroes at a dead end in the investigation, they decided their next course of action would be to catch up with Kujan, the man Middyr had asked them to watch.
Making their way to Kujan's home, they noticed that the street was quiet. They saw people actively avoiding it, and it didn;t take long for them to realise why. Standing out the front of Kujan's home was a tall, dark and imposing armoured figure. Their armour pieced together from different sources and their eyes glowing red; they watched as the party approached. Coming to a halt, Liaden was the first to try talking, receiving little more than a grunt in response. Kujan then leaned out of the second floor window to say that he'd be right down, but that they could let themselves in.
Entering the house, the imposing figure simply stared at them, grunting in response to anything they said. Thinking it odd that such a large and scary figure would be in a place like Silvaantar, Liaden and Pox started to look around. Liaden noticed a wall with parchment on it, push pins and been used to keep some scraps attached to the wall and they were connected by a thread. Meanwhile Pox snuck up the stairs, and decided to try listening into what Kujan might be saying in the study. He heard not Kujan's voice, but another. A feminine voice, bristling with malice and passive aggression. To Pox, it sounded as though the woman beyond the door was threatening or extorting the druid. Deciding he'd heard enough Pox decided to return downstairs, but not before taking note of the scents present in the study.
He relayed what he had heard to his allies, who then waited for Kujan to come down to greet them. When he did, Kujan attempted to lead them into the kitchen where he began to brew a pot of strong, highly caffeinated tea. Pox remained on the threshhold between the entryway and the kitchen, watching to see if anyone else would walk down. He saw nothing, but he smelled the other scent. While Kujan's scent was musty with the sharp note of the tea he was brewing, the other scent was sweet. Too sweet. A sickly sweet that assaulted the senses and made Pox's eyes prick with water. He followed the scent through the room with his eyes, as the front door was eventually opened by the large imposing figure outside. As the door then closed again, he watched as the figure began to walk off by itself, the scent now gone from the building.
While Pox attended to the scent, Liaden began to question her cousin. Starting simple with standard small talk before moving into more heavy subjects, such as the passing of Kujan's parents. Kujan, appeared to be in shock at the mention of their death before catching himself and reacting more solemly. It was now clear to Liaden that things weren't as they seemed. She pressed him deeper before Pox chimed in with a simple but poignant question: "Are you being watched?"
Kujan seemed to be frozen in place for a moment before making his way over to the wall of parchment. He lifted a piece to the wall and placed a pin in it. Ignoring the group entirely now. They asked again, and Kujan pulled the pin out, before replacing in it the same place. This prompted Liaden to look closer, it was pushed into a specific word on the page; "yes."
This seemed to be the only way Kujan could communicate with the party about his situation, to ignore their questions and push pins into parchment. They asked more questions, like how did his parents die. To which he responded that they weren't, they were being held somewhere. The pieces started falling into place; Kujan was being extorted, with his parents being held as hostages. He would have to do the bidding of whatever malicious force was holding them otherwise they would be killed.
The party, seeing the situation as dire decided that them staying here put Kujan in even greater peril, and thus decided to take their leave. As they left, Pox explained to them what he sensed and informed them that there was still a scent trail. Pox took the lead in an attempt to follow the smell, eventually arriving at a dead end alley, where the smell vanished.
Confused, and with no new leads, our heroes figured the only remaining course of action would be to speak with Melina, the reason they were even in Silvaantar in the first place.
The rangers started by fanning out and inspecting the area, but not before Pokziq 'Pox' Skirvet could collect a sample om the tainted sap for research. Sam Calas, feeling uneasy, reached out to his patron and made contact with his death mantle, seeking to know the exact nature of this undead affliction. Simultaneously, Pox cast his mind back to his prior learning to see if he had learned of any such disease. Sure enough Sam and Pox reached the same conclusion. These trees had been infected by Ghoul Fever.
While Pox and Sam looked for further clues, Liaden approached her cousin who seemed taken aback by her presence. They shared a few words, and while Kujan attempted to hide his surprise, Liaden was able to read the feelings deeper beneath the surface. Dread, fear and a sense of impending doom. Liaden asked if the two of them could catch up soon, an offer that Kujan accepted with trepidation claiming that he was very busy with council business.
After concluding their research at the grove, and giving the rangers the run of the area, the party thought it would be best to look into things a little more. Starting, of course, with asking Middyr about druidic magic, and how exactly these trees were maintained. After a brief conversation, they learned that ghoul fever, while able to infect these trees, would have needed help to take root properly. With this information, our heroes decided their next step was to try and find the source. Perhaps whoever was on duty at that grove a few days ago would be able to help?
Having reached the ranger barracks, Liaden wasted no time. The elf at the desk was bombarded by questions and struggled to keep up, with many of the other rangers nearby laughing at the chiding the poor elf was recieving. Eventually they found that the ranger that collected them, Henan, was not rostered on for the outer ring at all, but was rostered for his usual duty, late morning on the inner ring. Seeing this as strange, our heroes agreed that they should find and question the ranger. What was he doing there?
After travelling to the inner ring, it didn't take long for the party to spot Henan, he appeared to be talking with someone when the party approached. Henan seemed honest with his information, saying that he was out on his morning walk before he went to work. He claimed that he was approached by a druid who went to complete their daily preparations when they noticed something strange. While most of the party seemed to accept this, Pox read a little bit deeper. While Henan wasn't lying, it was clear to him that Henan was omitting information. Realising that without context this left our heroes at a dead end in the investigation, they decided their next course of action would be to catch up with Kujan, the man Middyr had asked them to watch.
Making their way to Kujan's home, they noticed that the street was quiet. They saw people actively avoiding it, and it didn;t take long for them to realise why. Standing out the front of Kujan's home was a tall, dark and imposing armoured figure. Their armour pieced together from different sources and their eyes glowing red; they watched as the party approached. Coming to a halt, Liaden was the first to try talking, receiving little more than a grunt in response. Kujan then leaned out of the second floor window to say that he'd be right down, but that they could let themselves in.
Entering the house, the imposing figure simply stared at them, grunting in response to anything they said. Thinking it odd that such a large and scary figure would be in a place like Silvaantar, Liaden and Pox started to look around. Liaden noticed a wall with parchment on it, push pins and been used to keep some scraps attached to the wall and they were connected by a thread. Meanwhile Pox snuck up the stairs, and decided to try listening into what Kujan might be saying in the study. He heard not Kujan's voice, but another. A feminine voice, bristling with malice and passive aggression. To Pox, it sounded as though the woman beyond the door was threatening or extorting the druid. Deciding he'd heard enough Pox decided to return downstairs, but not before taking note of the scents present in the study.
He relayed what he had heard to his allies, who then waited for Kujan to come down to greet them. When he did, Kujan attempted to lead them into the kitchen where he began to brew a pot of strong, highly caffeinated tea. Pox remained on the threshhold between the entryway and the kitchen, watching to see if anyone else would walk down. He saw nothing, but he smelled the other scent. While Kujan's scent was musty with the sharp note of the tea he was brewing, the other scent was sweet. Too sweet. A sickly sweet that assaulted the senses and made Pox's eyes prick with water. He followed the scent through the room with his eyes, as the front door was eventually opened by the large imposing figure outside. As the door then closed again, he watched as the figure began to walk off by itself, the scent now gone from the building.
While Pox attended to the scent, Liaden began to question her cousin. Starting simple with standard small talk before moving into more heavy subjects, such as the passing of Kujan's parents. Kujan, appeared to be in shock at the mention of their death before catching himself and reacting more solemly. It was now clear to Liaden that things weren't as they seemed. She pressed him deeper before Pox chimed in with a simple but poignant question: "Are you being watched?"
Kujan seemed to be frozen in place for a moment before making his way over to the wall of parchment. He lifted a piece to the wall and placed a pin in it. Ignoring the group entirely now. They asked again, and Kujan pulled the pin out, before replacing in it the same place. This prompted Liaden to look closer, it was pushed into a specific word on the page; "yes."
This seemed to be the only way Kujan could communicate with the party about his situation, to ignore their questions and push pins into parchment. They asked more questions, like how did his parents die. To which he responded that they weren't, they were being held somewhere. The pieces started falling into place; Kujan was being extorted, with his parents being held as hostages. He would have to do the bidding of whatever malicious force was holding them otherwise they would be killed.
The party, seeing the situation as dire decided that them staying here put Kujan in even greater peril, and thus decided to take their leave. As they left, Pox explained to them what he sensed and informed them that there was still a scent trail. Pox took the lead in an attempt to follow the smell, eventually arriving at a dead end alley, where the smell vanished.
Confused, and with no new leads, our heroes figured the only remaining course of action would be to speak with Melina, the reason they were even in Silvaantar in the first place.
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