Session 33 - Gossip and Secrets
General Summary
31 Amberspell
Meeting up in the common room of the Salty Siren, the party breakfasted on hearty porridge and discussed the plan for the morning. Deciding that more information was always useful, the party left the inn to explore the tiny village of Cliffside.The inn stood between the cliffside and the village green. A tall pole with a bell stood in the center, but otherwise the green was simple grass. Across the square from the inn was the stable where the horses had been left the night before. To the left was a larger looking building that appeared to be both shop and home with a sign out front proclaiming it Deravk's Goods. Another shop of some sort sat across from the general store, tho there was no sign proclaiming what they sold. The remainder of the village iwas a dozen or two small houses nestled around these four in a semi-circle along the cliffside. Most of the buildings are wooden and show signs of aging in the salt laden winds.
As Ell stepped out of the Siren he spotted a small girl sitting on the steps of the general store, softly crying to herself. Hurrying over to the child, he asked, "What's wrong? Why are you crying?"
The girl looked up at the young noble, and between quiet sobs said, "The brambles ate Vela....I saws it. She ran under the brambles chasing a mousie and the bush moved! Picked her up and squeezed her tight. It started to come towards me but I ran. I ran super fast "
"Oh no," replied Ell, playing the sympathetic ear. "Where was this exactly?"
The girl pointed westward, towards were a few trees were visible above the houses. "At the pond. It's only a little ways outside of town. Mama lets me and Vela go up there sometimes."
"Sounds like you may not want to go there for a while?" said Ell with a wry grin. Denye nodded and agreed, "It doesn't sound very safe. I'm sorry about Vela."
The girl looked heartbroken at the name and wailed, "Now I don't have anyone to play with," before breaking down into sobs again.
Over the party radio, for those with earrings, Denye said, "We really should go check it out. I don't think we're going to find much of Vela, but we should at least make sure it doesn't happen to anyone else."
"Agreed," replied Ell in like manner, "and I'm pretty sure Vela was a pet so we should be okay. I want to take a look at the site as well."
Denye trilled a laugh and said, "Well I wasn't planning on hunting blights by myself. I assumed that at least some portion of the party would come with."
A moment later another woman, presumably the girl's mother, came out of the shop saying, "Now Celia, I told you we would get you another cat." Looking up to take in the party she smiled and said, "Welcome to Cliffside, I don't recognize y'all so you must be traveling through." Turning her attention back to the girl, she added, "I do hope you ain't been telling these nice folk those tall tales. We talked about that."
Denye's feathers bristled and she snapped, "We were attacked by similar blights outside of town yesterday. I suggest you take your daughter a little more seriously, ma'am."
The older woman looked nonplussed for a moment or two, "What? Plants attacking people? Besides...we went back to the pond after Celia came back crying. There weren't even any brambles near the pond."
"If they weren't moving you couldn't have spotted them," Denye said, "they look just like regular plants."
"These are living beings," growled Janora, "She even told you they could move. Did you not think that they might have gone elsewhere to hunt."
Safina blinked several times before responding weakly, "I just thought the cat ran off and she was making up a story...she does have quite a vivid imagination."
While they were talked, Vellikar knelt down in front of Celia and asked, "Can you tell me again what happened to your friend? You said she got squeezed?"
The little girl nodded, "Vela and I had gone over to the pond, but not getting in the water...like Mama told me. There was a mouse...or maybe a chipmunk. Vela chased it into the brambles and all of a sudden some of the vines pulled themselves out of the ground and wrapped around my poor kitty. The thorns cut into her and crushed her...her meowing was sooo sad." Breaking off, the young girl began crying again.
Vellikar patted the girl on the head, "There, there, it's okay. Did anything else happen, did she change or stop mewling?"
Celia shrugged, "It happened fast. All of a sudden the plant grabbed her. I started to move towards her, but more of the bramble uprooted itself and came toward me. I was scared, so I ran home to Mama....but she didn't believe me."
The druid nodded, "That was absolutely the right thing to do. You were very brave and very smart."
Denye asked, "Very brave. Do you think you could do one more brave thing? Could you show us where it happened?" Looking up at Safina, the wizard hurriedly added, "With your mother's permission of course."
Agreeing, the woman stepped inside and gathered cloaks for the two of them and then all together they set off for the pond. Celia, sorrow now replaced with joy about going on an adventure, ran ahead to show them the way. As they walked, Ell began to charm the woman and asked about anything else strange or odd happening around the village.
Safina shook her head, "Can't really say as I've heard much. Fishing's been a bit poorly the last few moons. From what Jarvel tells me, the canna are having a particularly active mating season. He says it has upset most of the schools in the regular fishing areas."
After murmuring appropriate condolences, Ell asked, "Have there been a lot of strangers in town of late?"
Safina shrugged, "A fair few...but we are on the road after all. There's usually one or two through every couple of days. There's a few we see on a fairly regular basis, once or twice a season."
Vellikar asked, "Has anyone gone missing recently? Either in town or maybe travelers who who have a regular schedule?"
"Nobody in town," replied Safina shaking her head, "Can't really say about regular visitors. Only one I can think of would be Gavin Tinkertop, but he's not really late so much as due...if you know what I mean." Dropping into silent thought for a bit, she added, "I have noticed that there aren't any mice or other rodents about. I guess you could say that is odd. Not that I'm complaining...beastly little things. But here is the pond, just as I told you, no briars."
Indeed it was. The small pond was fed from a small spring on one side and lay in the shade of a dozen or so birch trees that made up this small secluded haven. Looking around it was clear that there were no briars or brambles, but it was clear that some of the dirt around the pond had been uprooted in recent past.
Vellikar held up a hand for silence, before shaking his head, "There are no birds in the trees nor anything scurrying among the bushes. Something unnatural is definitely going on here."
The party spread out a bit and started looking around for any other signs. At about the same time Denye and Jilken both spotted a patch of dirt stained a rusty red-brown. Celia confirmed that was where brambles had snatched the cat.
Finding nothing else of interest the party headed back into town escorting the little girl and her mother. As they walked Denye suggested to Safina, "You may want to keep Celia close for a while. We will do our best to find and neutralize the source...but even then these things stay active and dangerous for a couple of weeks." Turning to Celia, the wizard added, "Thank you for telling us about this. I'm sorry we can't do more for you, but I believe you. I also believe you were very smart to run away."
Safina nodded and looked down at her daughter, "I'm sorry I didn't listen to you. We'll see about getting you a new kitten soon, but for now I think you are going to have to help Mama in the shop for a bit."
Leaving the two villagers at the shop the team began discussing what to do next. Jilken wanted to take Ironheart out for a bit and see if they could find any other sign of blights or the Gulthias that spawned them. Disturbed by the lack of animal life Vellikar and Ranunkel decided to go with the elf as well.
Gather the horses from the stable the three of the road out of heading west for a bit along the road before breaking off and heading cross-country in expanding arcs around the town. It wasn't long before they found birds perched in the trees, but for more than an hour's of riding there was no sign of ground life around the village.
The rest of the party chose to stick around town and headed over to Hidden Treasures a odd looking curio shop. Pushing through the door they were greeted with a space filled with shelves. Almost all of what was on display were carvings and sculptures made from driftwood, coral, or shells. A long counter blocked off the back of the shop, with a door leading into a back room covered with a shell curtain.
As Ell approached the counter, a voice called out from the back, "Be with you in a moment." In truth it was more like a minute before the curtain parted and a tall, muscular half-orc stepped out wiping her hands on a cloth. "Sorry about that, the salve was almost ready to come off. Welcome to Hidden Treasures, what can I do for you folk?"
Ell flashed his second brightest smile, "We are just stopping in town and we heard that you had some interesting items. Can you tell us about any of them? I understand you find most of them while diving."
The woman smiled and nodded, "I do, I do. Everything in my shop is either from below the waves or made from materials that were found there. Most of what I have are my, art pieces I suppose you would call them. Occasionally I'll find things from ship wrecks and the like. I do have a few potions and lotions, quite a few pearls, or seaglass?"
Ell picked up a potion of water breathing while Janora bought a couple of pearls. The half-orc, who introduced herself as Avelia Shoalsands, brought out a sack, saying "I also have this if you are interested." Opening the sack, she displayed a thick yellow powder, "I call this chuckle dust." Taking a handful she threw it on the ground behind the party.
As the dust hit the ground, the sound of giggles began to fill the air, mixing with louder gaffaws, howling, and other forms of laughter. The sound lasted for a full minute before finally dying down into cackles. Denye immediately bought all Avelia had and Ell persuaded to her to make an exclusive contract with House Darnet for the chuckle dust. She agreed on the condition that she could still sell it to the local children.
Denye asked if the half orc had seen any signs of strange plant activity recently. Avelia blanched before nodding, "I have as a matter of fact. I can't speak of here on land, but I was attacked by seaweed almost a week ago."
Ell groaned as Denye turned serious. The Corva wizard asked, "Seaweed you say? Do you know approximately where you were?"
Nodding again, the half-orc said, "It was down in the bowl of the bay, half a day west of the village or so. There was an excellent growth of ironwood. I started to harvest it, just like any other time and some of the nearby seaweed started to wrap itself around my legs. At first I thought it was the just tangles from the current, but then it started to pull me backwards toward a large patch of the same type of seaweed. Thank the Mother I was able to break free and saw straight up to the surface."
Ell groaned again, "An underwater Gulthias tree too?"
Janora shrugged and muttered, "With our luck?"
Denye flipped her head back and forth in thought, "Or one tree that has access to both ocean and land? The other tree is supposed to be far north. But perhaps she didn't connect because it is not on the landmass of Ellebore. But it would still be on the same tectonic plate...." Chasing skytrails of thought Denye dropped into mumbling before falling silent.
Janora sighed, "Well we'll deal with that when we come to it. Anything else either of you want to look at or should we let this lady get on with her day." Seeing a familiar looking flicker in the half-orc's eye, Janora ushered the others out and just before leaving, in a low guttural but sharp language said, "Blessing on this house." Aveila's broad grin was answer enough, and with a nod Janora followed their friends out into the village green.
Stepping out into the bright late morning sun, team village found that a newcomer had just pulled into town. A shaggy haired gnome in a flat cap was currently setting up a small canopy and table next to a strange three wheeled cycle cart. The cart was festooned with a number of pots and pans while the back seemed to contain tools and various goods.
Seeing them, the gnome stopped and gave a wave. Ell took that as invitation and made his way across the green, with Denye and Janora following. As the young noble neared, the gnome pulled his cap from his head and gave a short bow. Rising with a flip of the head to clear his hair he said, "Good day mi'lord. You are clearly not from this village. I would say from the looks of you and your friends...a band of adventurers. If you have anything that needs mending I would be happy to take a look at it. I'm a dab hand at most metal work. Gavin's the name, Gavin Tinkertop, the top tinker on the Shipward Road."
Janora glared at the smiling man and said, "Nothing that needs mending today, thank you."
Denye, who had been examining the peddle powered cart, turned and asked, "Which direction did you come in from? Have you heard of any strange plant attacks?"
"Why yes!" replied Gavin, "I think it was ten days ago, north of Wyldcoast, I was camped at my usual spot, a lovely overhang by a stream. Halfway through the night, I woke to find fire ivy trying to choke the life outta me. I managed to break free and then used some of my acid to burn them. Gods I was itchy for days."
The gnome looked pained and gave a shudder before continuing, "I started staying with friendly farmers after that. Seemed like the wisest course. Quite a few of the farmers between here and the Forest have lost animals it seems. Folks have gone looking, but how do you tell a magic plant from a regular one if it's not moving? We can't be going and burning the entire countryside."
"That widespread already," chirped Denye with alarm, "we really must find this tree."
Taking their leave of the tinker, the group headed back to the inn where they met up with team recon. Ordering a tasty lunch of a rich fish stew and heavy dark bread, the group shared what each had learned and discussed what it meant. As they were finishing up, Grol appeared and asked if folks had made a decision.
Ell pushed away from the table and stood, saying, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, we're coming with you. But only because family is more important than whatever it is you've got going on."
Grol only grunted in response and turned to stalk out the door, leaving the rest of the party to scramble up and after him. The man led the team down the cliff face to the dock where a small boat was moored. A tall orcish fellow raised a hand in greeting as Grol approached and then quickly began setting about prepping the boat to set sail.
As the team climbed aboard and found seats, Grol went to the back and came back with a number of black strips. Handing them out he explained, "Now this is just a safety precaution, but my associates and I really prefer to protect our privacy."
Most of the party objected to this request, but eventually gave in when Grol swore an oath that no harm would come to them while under his protection. Of course the blindfolds did little good when Denye left Helenwye on the dock and had the small pseudodragon follow after the boat.
The trip itself was a little more than an hour, though through her familiars eyes Denye could see that they just sailed out into the bay and around in circles for a while before heading back in to the coast. By this time Ell had also managed to loosen his blindfold and at first both were a bit confused as there was no sign of a cave entrance.
Indeed, it appeared as if Grol was sailing the boat directly into the side of the cliff, but as the boat slid through, it was clear that there was some sort of illusory magic over the entrance. The sea cave itself was large, almost 100ft to the back, with a wide rock shelf along one side with posts for mooring several ships...tho none were present.
After storing the blindfolds back in their case, Grol led Ell and the others up a ladder and towards a tunnel at the back of the cave. Along the way, the team spotted several other doors or side passages, but no sign of other people. When questioned about it, all Grol would say was they were around and taking care of business
After about 5-10 minutes, the man led the party down a side passage to a heavy iron-bound oak door, complete with small barred window and TWO heavy braces blocking the door from opening. Looking at it skeptically, Ell said, "So this is the magical door that opens on it's own and takes people? Including now my brother."
Jilken shook her head and muttered, "And it's about to take us too."
Grol lifted a shoulder in a shrug, "This is the fourth or fifth stage of door we've tried. It hasn't opened since the last group, including Gorscha got taken. What I don't know is if that is because we finally built one that will stop the threat or if they just haven't tried it yet."
Stepping up to the door, he lifted both braces off, standing each beside the door. Pulling out a ring of keys, he quickly shuffled through before pulling open the door. With a short bow he ushered them inside, wishing them good luck and promising to stay near the door until the party returned.
The tunnel beyond the door was pitch black, but widened out a bit as it began to slope down slightly. Denye pulled out her lantern as Jilken stalked ahead. The party made their way along the passage, for almost a quarter mile before finding any branchings.
The first contained a number of bramble blights, but with the small opening to the chamber it was easy to bottleneck the blights and they were quickly turned to ash. Another passageway seemed to be a morgue, with a dozen or so desiccated and dried bodies. Most were dressed in leathers or workman's tunics, most likely Grol's missing associates. Investigating the bodies found a bit of coin and a spell scroll case, but no sign of Ell's brother.
There was one small chamber where a patch of deep blue glowing mushrooms had taken over. Most of the party was hesitant about the mushrooms after the fight with Master Dark, but Janora took several samples for later study. The salt in the air grew stronger as the party descended through this tunnel system and it soon became clear that this part of the tunnels was often filled with water. There was now the occasional plant or moss growing up a wall and Jilken made sure to rustle each with the point of the spear.
Eventually the tunnel ended at a Y intersection. Choosing left, the branch went for about 50ft before ending in a cave-in. Coming up and looking at the state of the rock, Ranunkle said, "This fell 20 years ago or so. We could try to clear it, but no real way of knowing how far back it goes. Or if the tunnel is stable. Either way, I don't think this is what we're looking for."
Agreeing the party backtracked up to the Y and took the right passage. This was short, only 30ft or so before opening up into a larger L shaped cavern. The ceiling went up 70-80ft in places and looking around the corner to the right, it was clear that this was where the seawater came from as there was a long narrow pool blocking the way forward.
Patches of seaweed dotted the floor of the cave and several large thick patches of moss could be seen growing on the ceiling as the party stepped in and began looking around. As Jilken bent to examine a small sea pool, one of the patches of moss pulled itself away from the ceiling and dropped onto the unsuspecting elf. Wrapping itself around her, the moss blight began to squeeze.
Report Date
08 Oct 2021
