Session 76: Where the Heart Is
General Summary
The party arrives is Hofsa in the evening, arriving at Obadiah's cabin, which is small and homey and, despite his being away for a while, is well-kept and looked after. Returning to Hofsa with eyes of a bit more experience in life, Levi realizes that the older woman, Alda, who takes care of Obadiah's cabin has romantic feelings for his grandfather, which is part of why she takes such care of his place. However, Obadiah seems oblivious to Alda's affections. Obadiah remain at his cabin, but Levi takes the party out to tour his home village.
Many of the shops are closed or closing for the evening, but Levi takes them around the town which is small and everyone knows one another, and everyone they come across happily greets Levi's return, asking him about his grandfather's well being. Along the tour, Levi is bumrushed and tackled by a girl about his age, Hilda Gunndottir. She is one of his age peers and they grew up together, with her wanting to be a shieldmaiden and warrior. She would always tease Levi by wrestling with him and trying to pin him. However, Levi realizes with her pinning how and where she presses against him and he realizes that this teasing has actually been flirting all of this time. Levi tries to discretely make her aware of Tertius, but she is oblivious to his subtle attempts. Levi takes the group to the Howling Kettle Tavern and Brewery, the town's pub. Hilda joins them.
Upon entering the tavern, the barmaid, Astrid Kaelson, greets Levi and realizing that these are friends of his that he is with, she offers to feed them for free, bringing out the extra food left over from the dinner meal. Siv Arnidottir, one of the barmaids and a skald, performs Northlander songs at the hearth and is joined by Myohn and Aisling who accompany her music and singing with their instrumentals.
Levi also notices another age peer, Alrik Lothbrok, this one a bit of a rival, glaring at him as he sits with Hilda. Levi realizes that all of this time, Alrik has liked Hilda who has ignored him for Levi.
Illevaere notices a deep cough from one of the patrons, recognizing it as an early symptom of ash lung, a non-magical illness, but one that can cause lasting damage to a person's lungs if not treated properly. Illevaere heals the man by absorbing the illness themself, and the man recognizes Illevaere's sigil of Caena, The Mother of Plagues, stating that the woman that runs the apothecary, Matilda, has a shrine to Caena in her shop.
After performing, Aisling is approached by three sisters, Ingrid Fairbraid, Solveig Fairbraid, and Birgit Fairbraid, who marvel at her makeup and ask if she can also paint their faces. Aisling shares her makeup and offers suggestions and techniques to the girls who marvel at it. After the girls leave, Aisling is approached by a warrior. He tells her that he wears war paint in battle, but he always breaks out and gets rashes once he takes off the paint, plus he had hoped that he could have some that matched and brought out his eyes better. Aisling helped him with new war paint and tips to keep the acne and rashes away.
The party decides to settle down for the night. Levi and Tertius decide to stay in Obadiah's cabin. Nortle and Tiarjead take the rooms in the pub. Myohn accepts Hilda's offer for someone to stay in the extra room at her family's place, and Hilda is interested in getting embarrassing stories about Levi. Illevaere makes camp out at the bone pile at the edge of town, and Aisling creates her tiny hut and stays there, centered between the party in the center of town.
During the night, Myohn awakens to the sound of faint singing in the distance. As he heads out to investigate, no one else seems to hear it, at least until he finds Kåre Hundar, who sits at the edge of town at the border of the moors, listening to the music. He tells Myohn that he has never known anyone else that has heard the song. He tells Myohn about how he was drawn in and caught up in The Wild Hunt when he was young. He was only a part of it for a few moments, but it felt like months to him. Since his return, he has felt a longing and an emptiness.
Myohn recognizes the song as The Longing of the Wildbound, a dirge sung from the perspective of one who has left the Hunt and feels the call and longing of it. Myohn translates the lyrics since they are sung in Sylvan, and it is the first time that Kåre has understood the words. They search the moors for the source of the singing, but cannot find it and return to Hofsa. Myohn tells him that they might come across the Wild Hunt and tells him that, with the party's approval, he can join them, and he agrees to meet the party in the morning at the tavern.
The party meets up at the Howling Kettle in the morning and Astrid provides their table a hearty breakfast on the house. The party agrees that Kåre can join them. Nortle sees a young boy of about nine watching her and mimicking her every move. Nortle approaches the boy, Sten Jorsson, who tells Nortle that he likes turtles, and says that he even had a pet turtle, but it died, but his father said that it was okay since turtles only live for a couple of weeks anyhow. Sten rushes out of the pub and returns a bit later with his father's round shield strapped to his back, pretending that it is a turtle shell and he resumes mimicking Nortle.
Illevaere and Tiarjead head to the Moorleaf Apothecary, and meet up with Matilda Osgood, warning her of the ash lung, and asking about wolfsbane. She says that she has a supply of it, but the problem is that it needs to be ingested, so it isn't too useful against werewolves. Illevaere mentions turning it into incense and Matilda excitedly considers it, believing that it might work. She offers to dry and powder her supply of wolfsbane for the party. She tells Illevaere that the longer they wait, the more she can provide as she will send her children out to collect more, but it will need to be dried and powdered. They also speak of Caena and Matilda's appeasement of the Mother to keep the town safe from disease, as well as infection from lycanthropy.
After leaving, Tiarjead sees one of the guards using a spear with a flourish that is dragonborn in nature. She talks to the guard, Ivar, who says that it is a style of the old dragonborn hero, Varkath Flame-Tongue, who had a history with the clans on Llywelyn. Tiarjead shows how the addition to the spear is actually useful in combat to pull off scales or armor to make weak spots for piercing weapons to strike and Ivar immediately begins to practice using the spear in the way that Tiarjead showed him.
Aisling and Myohn head to Huldra's Veil Clothier shoppe and find that the three girls who approached her for makeup tips work here with her mother who runs the shoppe. While she doesn't have the magic gear that Aisling is looking for, the girls happily get Aisling bows and Myohn matching bowties.
The party decides that it is probably in their best interest to head out the next day to try to find the Moonwell and the apex werewolf. While they strategize at Obadiah's cabin in the evening, they hear screams followed by an alarm bell ringing. As the party rushes outside, they see that there is a three prong attack from werewolves attacking the small village, catching the town off-guard with how organized the attack is, as opposed to the feral assaults that they are more frequent.
The Longing of the Wildbound
Once I ran with shadows swift, beneath the starlit sky,Hounds at my heels, the wind in my soul, a fire that would not die.
But now the world is silent, the thrill has faded gray,
Each heartbeat a hollow echo, as I wander lost by day.
O Hunt, O Hunt, call me back to you,
Where the wild winds cry and the dark shadows flew.
For here I am but an empty shade,
Without the wild chase, my spirit fades.
I left the Hunt, I broke the chains, but now I feel the loss,
For what is life but a shadow pale, a hollow trail I cross.
No longer do I ride the storm, no longer do I fly,
Without the call of the Hunt in my veins, I feel I slowly die.
O Hunt, O Hunt, call me back to you,
Where the wild winds cry and the dark shadows flew.
For here I am but an empty shade,
Without the wild chase, my spirit fades.
The forest whispers, the moonlight sighs, and still my soul does yearn,
For the thrill of the night, for the fire and fright, for the paths I cannot return.
They say the Hunt is danger, a storm that never sleeps,
Yet in its grasp, my heart would race, now it's only silence it keeps.
I watch the world from afar, like a dream too pale to hold,
Life’s colors washed away, my blood has grown so cold.
Take me back to the thrill, the wild call of the horn,
For only in the Hunt did I feel truly reborn.
O Hunt, O Hunt, call me back to you,
Where the wild winds cry and the dark shadows flew.
For here I am but an empty shade,
Without the wild chase, my spirit fades.
So I stand on the edge, where the mist and wild collide,
Longing for the storm, and the thrill I once defied.
For life is but a hollow road, and fate but a cruel jest,
If I cannot ride the Hunt again, I shall never find my rest.
Levi Obadiah Kilgore
Chaotic Good Human, Northlander (Marked by the Beast)
Barbarian 11
Barbarian 11
115 / 115 HP
STR
17
17
DEX
14
14
CON
16
16
INT
14
14
WIS
12
12
CHA
9
9
Nortle
Chaotic Good Tortle (Sailor)
Warlock 9
Warlock 9
57 / 57 HP
STR
15
15
DEX
16
16
CON
13
13
INT
10
10
WIS
10
10
CHA
12
12
Aisling Hawthorne
Neutral Good Half-Elf (Entertainer)
Bard 5
Paladin 6
Bard 5
Paladin 6
75 / 75 HP
STR
12
12
DEX
18
18
CON
12
12
INT
7
7
WIS
14
14
CHA
18
18
Illevaere Solandra
Chaotic Good Wood Elf (Outlander)
Druid 10
Druid 10
83 / 83 HP
STR
11
11
DEX
18
18
CON
16
16
INT
14
14
WIS
20
20
CHA
12
12
Myohn Leerick
Chaotic Neutral Salamar (Entertainer)
Bard 9
Bard 9
75 / 75 HP
STR
11
11
DEX
19
19
CON
17
17
INT
15
15
WIS
15
15
CHA
20
20
Snirk
None Kobold (Burnfist Clanmember)
Paladin 1
Paladin 1
10 / 10 HP
STR
10
10
DEX
15
15
CON
10
10
INT
8
8
WIS
14
14
CHA
17
17
Tertius Greyhall
Neutral Good Human, Daoine (Noble)
Fighter 6
Warlock 2
Fighter 6
Warlock 2
50 / 50 HP
STR
8
8
DEX
16
16
CON
11
11
INT
15
15
WIS
8
8
CHA
18
18
Report Date
29 Oct 2024
Primary Location
Secondary Location
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