Session 2 - Information and Threats

The party does some looking around in the secret room they found behind a bookshelf of Azriel's. There's another mirroring the one they walked through, that they did not open. The center room appears to be a little office, with a single desk and walls lined in books and pinned up papers and sketches.
On the desk and the walls and the bookshelves, they find the following information:

The Town of Leeside

They find some old ghost stories about the town of Leeside, as well as some history about the town and how it used to be a very small mining town before it was completely wiped off the map by an unknown event. Additionally, they find a zoomed in map of Leeside that appears to be dated somewhere in the late 180s to 190s. There's some farmland out back of some buildings, and the two main features appear to be a church and a tavern. There's also something marked off the back right corner of the map, but it's too faded and smudged to actually read.
Some of the books on the desk seem to be folk tales about the town of Leeside. When read, they imply ghosts haunt the dawn, mysterious disappearances, and a beast that looms over the whole ghost town. They’re told like ghost stories one would use to scare a child.
Leeside used to be a mining town on the up-and-up that was doing very well off. They were on track to become a city, what with all the trade and exports that were slowly building up over time. The mine was plentiful, was bringing in people from all over looking for steady work, and the trade was bustling. In the early 100s, something had changed and Leeside fell off the map. People stopped going there, the ghost stories started up, and people began to go missing when they stopped into the town so people started to avoid it.

Adventuring Tales by Magnolia

There’s a few fiction books about adventuring parties, mostly by an author named “Magnolia”. The party recognizes them as they’re a pretty popular fiction work in the major cities. There’s a bookmark in one called “Grammy’s Country Apple Pie” and each of the books have notes in them, highlighted and scribbled in. Most of them seem to be analysis of the character’s motivations, what makes a “hero” and an “adventurer” and the questions of what makes a person a “good” person.

Letter from a Loved One

Azriel, I remember meeting you. That’s likely not a surprise to you, but maybe it is. When my daughter met you, she was thrilled by your iron will, your determination to do something good. She wanted you to take up arms with her, join her adventuring party and slay monsters, bring justice to Kauvet. You’d entertained the idea for a while after, an adventuring party building up around you and her with thoughts of adventuring to Leeside to find out what truly happened there decades ago.
You didn’t go there, though, did you? Your reckless enthusiasm brought you nothing but the inside of the Presch estate, your future locked in place by your family. Her reckless enthusiasm brought about her and her party’s death. They’d left without you that day. They haven’t been back.
Do you think about them often? I do. But of course, she’s my daughter. How could I not? I wonder if your youthful vigor still holds the test of time, that you find some way to break the bonds of your family and become more than just a bystander in a world of bystanders. You’re worth more than that. Isla was worth more than that.
As much as it pains me to read them, I do appreciate your letters. I hope you’re doing well. Jeanine Farhallow

Azriel's Journal

There's a marked page in a journal that leads to the following journal entry.

Day 39 of Spring, 204 AL This life is suffocating. Decades of confinement to these walls and grounds have made me weaker, more susceptible to the horrors that my parents fear will take me one day. My only solace these years has been with the guards who train me, letting me use my frustration in a productive way as I train my body and my mind. I fear that that has all come to an end, the glaive hanging solemnly on the wall across from me as I think of it. I’m not progressing anymore, and there’s only so much that can be done in a static environment.
I’m unhappy. Most of these journals are filled with complaints a million times over, I know this, but I truly am unhappy. I have no companion here, just family and their employees. I do not see people anymore, do not make connections. This prison is a place I must break free of.
I should make plans to go to Leeside. It’s only right; an atonement for my past cowardice. It’s my duty.

After this journal entry, there’s a couple of pages that seem to be indecipherable drawings of a pathway to get out of the Presch estate and head up north to Leesides. Some are labeled, some aren’t, but they seem to be rough plans that have many holes in them before this journal ends, the pages having run out. There’s no more journals in here dated past Day 39 of Spring, 204 AL.
After they've gathered all of the information, Eloise Moonwalker, seemingly flustered, runs up to lead them back downstairs. As the party goes to leave, Eloise catches sight of Kalmiya Presch carving something into the marble walls with the dagger she'd "stolen" from Etyo. When spotted, Kalmiya takes off with the dagger. Eloise yells something about how Cormac and Isla are looking for Kalmiya before apologizing, saying goodbyes, and running off after Kalmiya.
The party leaves, and sets out on their adventure to Leeside. They encounter a traveling salesperson who selling magic items for ludicrous prices. They are a Harengon woman named Binby Bleeker. They find a variety of magic items, but when told the price by Binby, Buxton-Clive and Reese don't seem too pleased with it. Reese threatens to eat Binby, baring her fangs, and Binby cowers while offering a generous discount. As the party leaves with their new items, Binby is packing her things up.