"No reason not t' go, t'get this over with already," 'Khar says, clearly frustrated with the whole endeavor. Instead of fighting the bunyip or anything interesting, they were still stuck chatting with a bunch of fools.
The ceiling of this abandoned church has mostly caved in, and while the church’s two-story steeple still stands, the bell that once hung within appears to be missing.
Originally the heart of Ravenmoor, this old church of Desna has been abandoned for many years. The iron bell that once hung in the tower has long since been scavenged for its iron, which was used for things like tools and horseshoes. An investigation of the ruined interior finds a single crude idol of Desna, more akin to a gourd faced and straw-stuffed scarecrow than a proper statue, sagging against the pulpit wall.
Otherwise, the church is empty and unused.
Perdita looks around with curiosity and some concern.
"Abandoned and ignored for decades. An odd thing for a town which claims to revere Desna?"
She shivers slightly. "Suddenly this festival concerns me more."
"Indeed," Henry says as he examines the idol more closely and pokes around the chapel a bit to see if there's any thing else of note. "Something about this feels distinctly unwholesome."
Tassa stands for a moment, thinking about the history of her own small village, unsure how much to say.
Finally she mutters, "Is it so surprising? Life in a village like this is cruel. It's a wonder that more villages don't turn away from the gods and look elsewhere for answers."
She pauses and then says, "Well, I'm not quite sure what to expect at this feast, but I certainly hope there'll be something to eat there. And hey, we might even learn more about Surely Dead Mister Kyle.
"So...shall we?" As she pauses her stomach growls, audibly.
Urick glances around at the temple with utter contempt for its miserable state. The neglect was excusable, but the plundering was just downright blasphemous.
"They can turn away from the gods, but that doesn't mean that the gods will turn away from them," he replies as he peers at the sad excuse for an altar. He shakes his head slowly. "This village's troubles must run deeper than just a few neighboring monstrosities."
Smiling slightly at the sound of Tassa's growling stomach, Urick nods. "Yes, it should be starting soon. We may be unwelcome here, but we were invited... so let's learn what we can."
"Lets get'er over with," 'Khar says, leading the way out of the church. Whatever their reasons for not worshiping Desna, 'Khar didn't care. If they were lucky, perhaps the feast would turn out to be something dangerous like some of the others had insinuated, but at this point he was pretty sure it would be dull and pointless like the rest of the trip so far.
The group meanders back over to the festival grounds just as the festival bonfires are being lit. All around the grounds are huge piles of wood being lit up to provide light, and strings of lanterns hung from sticks which are shoved into the ground. The festival grounds, a wide area of flat green grass, is laden with tables covered in food and chairs for people to sit at. A makeshift stage sits in a center area.
The tables are laden with the strangest collection of food... Huge, black mushrooms, a salad made from flayleaf (a mild drug when set on fire and inhaled), deep-fried silkworms, smoked tick legs, and blood-engorged stirge sausages being among other things.
Games dominate the first couple hours of the feast, including something called a "dreamer's leap", where villagers leap over a bonfire, a starknife-throwing competition using an old set of historical starknives once carried by the town's founder, a wrestling contest involving catching and pinning a greased pig, fights between trained ravens and a three-legged race. Later on, there will be the crowning of the Founders' Feast Queen, a young woman judged from a group of nominees (identifiable by their flower crowns) to be the loveliest woman in town.
Urick inspects the festival's robust assortment of exotic foods with a raised brow. Having spent many a night in the wilds of Ustalav, there were all sorts of strange foods he had resorted to eating. Seeing some of them being served as delicacies however, was another thing entirely.
"Nothing sinister going on so far," he comments as he chews on a black mushroom - easily the least offensive-looking thing on the table. He eyes some of the events going on, most of which seemed innocent enough.
'Khar looks at the food laid out, wondering how it was that they didn't manage to get any game at all. Hunting wasn't so difficult that a feast should consist of bugs, bugs, bugs and more bugs. He frowns at the smorgasbord of inedible things and sighs before turning his attention back to the festivities.
Henry elects not to indulge in the feast just yet. It doesn't seem to be quite to his palate. Instead, he watches the festivities from a little bit of a distance, making note of the competitions and dishes served. They seem oddly Desna inspired for a community that's all but abandoned their church. He briefly considers his knowledge of the faith for any frame of reference. He also tries to make note of where any of the locals are that they've already met.
Perdita neither eats nor drinks anything provided at the feast, she wracks her brain trying to remember where such a bizarre selection of food has been served before?
You're sure you've read something somewhere about all this.
And yes, Shel Lupescu is one of the beauty pageant contestants.
A few villagers come over to the group, who still seem to be standing in a group simply judgmentally watching everything. They're a group of burly young farmer boys, probably no older than 20. "You're adventurers, huh?" says one, and another swats him. "Duh! Don't say something so obvious, you'll make us look dumb!" They have a small squabble before presenting a face to the group again. "The uh... the greased pig match is about to get started, and uh... We were wondering if she," says one of them, pointing at Perdita, "Would go up against us." He keeps a straight face, but his buddies snigger. Apparently the idea of Perdita covered in oil is funny to them, for whatever reason...
Tassa's mouth waters as she smells the feast. She grins when she sees smoked tick legs. She scoops a healthy portion onto her plate, and then straight into her mouth. "Hhrunch. Hhrrrm. Hhhmm. Delicious! Do you have these where you come from, 'Khar? No? Oh, you've gotta try'm!" Tassa holds out a few from her plate.
She wanders among the tables sampling the flayleaf salad (which isn't quite the same as her mom's) and the deep-fried silkworms (which are hard to get wrong). It had never occurred to her before to eat stirge but the smell of blood from the sausages makes her mouth water.
"Mmmmm, interesting. Can you believe--as much as these pests have annoyed me over the years--I've never thought about turning the tables on them?"
She's gnawing on a sausage when the boys approach Perdita, and Tassa raises an eyebrow, wondering how her companion will respond.
"C'mon!" sniggers one of them. "It'll be fun!"
Henry sighs again and rubs his eyes as a few of the local boys decide to cause trouble. "Really now. I hardly think it's appropriate to ask a lady you've just met such a question. I would think your mothers would have taught you how to be polite to a lovely young woman." He tries to keep his tone light, making it sound like both a reprimand and a bit of a jest at the same time.
"Aw," says the leader of the group of boys. "None of you want to come wrestle with us?" He points at Khar. "Not even you?"
Another one leans in and says softly, "Nah man, he looks small. He wouldn't stand a chance."
The group of boys laughs and saunters away, high-fiving each other on their sweet jokes.
Henry sighs as the boys wander away. He'd met more than enough young men like that at the university, but it seemed that the foolishness of teenagers was universal. With them out of the way and Perdita not being hassled, he tries to see if he can get a minute to talk to Miss Lupescu when she's not surrounded by a gaggle of other girls.
Shel gladly leaves her friends behind to chat with Henry when she notices that the professor is looking for her. "What's up, adventurer guy?" she asks with a grin. "Are you enjoying the Feast? You don't really look like it." She looks around before leaning in and murmuring to him, "Maybe after, we can fix that." She winks at him.
Henry blinks. He'd heard stories of students desperate enough to try to 'improve their grades', but he'd always assumed that they were nothing more than stories. He finds himself at a distinct loss for words to find a woman so much younger propositioning him. "I believe your father might be unhappy about that," he says as gently as he can manage. "I think I might be about your father's age now that I think about it."
The professor shakes himself. "Ah, but I actually have a question that I never had a chance to ask you. Last time we spoke, you mentioned that Mr. Kyle was... interested. And I find myself quite curious if he spoke to you at any length before or perhaps after you... showed him the town's bounty as it were."
Shel laughs at Henry's attempt to deflect, but says coyly, "Yeah, I spoke to him... maybe I can speak to you about our town's bounty too."
"I wouldn't worry about my father... He doesn't have to know anything. Besides, it's not like I get the chance to do anything fun around here most of the time."
She's got some kind of ulterior motive in trying to lure you somewhere for intimate activities. Her persistence and flirty attitude is also hiding something... Could it be fear?
Henry swallows hard and feels a slight blush come to his cheeks. It's been far too long since he's had a partner. "Ah..." It takes him a moment to think of what he can possibly say. "Um... I believe I may be a bit... old for you. But I would not be entirely... opposed to speaking in private. Platonically! Of course." He mentally curses himself for suddenly sounding like a school boy again.
"Of course, of course, 'platonically'. Well, I'm sure I could have a lot to share with you." She winks again. "See you after the feast, hunk. You know the Chenowitz place?" She points at a nearby derelict farmhouse. "Meet me there after the Feast Queen vote." With that, she turns to saunter back to her friends.
As the boys turn to leave, 'Khar turns from his disinterested observation of the festival to return the taunt. "All y'have for sport is wrestlin' a pig? Ain't even huntin' somethin' real," he says dismissively. "Friendly fight'd be more interestin'. If I'm so small should be an easy win for y'all, but maybe all y'all can handle 'round here are pigs," he says with a grin, cracking his knuckles. "'course maybe could be convinced t'deal with th'pig if I get t'keep it after I kill it though," he adds as an afterthought, considering that a whole pig would make for good eating.
Henry shakes himself and tries to regain at least a little bit of his composure. "Very well. I'll see you shortly then Miss Lupescu."
The boys laugh it off and walk away, claiming that fighting on Feast Day is bad for morale.
Urick comes to the conclusion that as odd as their customs are, the villagers are in many ways perfectly ordinary. That only makes it harder for him to imagine what kind of ill intent must have befallen Elias Kyle. Something the mayor knows about, obviously.
"Surely even these folks must eat pork," he reasons with a shrug, guessing at the only possible motive 'Khar would have for taking the pig. He takes one last bite out of his mushroom which, all things considered, did not taste awful. Though he has no intention of participating himself, he seeks out the competition in question. Another village, another greased pig.
Henry makes his way back over to the rest of the group, looking a littel frazzled. "Well... this has been quite the day," he says, very much not wanting to talk about it. "Let's hope it doesn't get any more interesting."
Just as Urick goes over to check out the pig-wrasslin' contest, the Mayor comes out to the competition area to tell the contestants that the competition, has, unfortunately, been cancelled. "The pig has taken ill," he says. "And it wouldn't exactly be sporting for you to try to catch a pig that can't even run away." Through a chorus of boos, the Mayor raises his hands and apologizes before leaving to go attend to some other matter.
The rest of the Festival is surprisingly mundane. It happens monthly, apparently, and the villagers participate gladly in the whole variety of festival games. As the night goes on, the food disappears, all of it being eaten by the ravenous festival-goers. The mushrooms in particular are delicious.
At around two in the morning, two fresh bonfires are lit to illuminate the stage, onto which five girls wearing flower crowns walk up onto the stage to be judged. The most beautiful one is clearly Shel, who of course wins. What exactly she does win for being the village's loveliest girl of her year is not entirely clear, for the Mayor merely mentions that the honor of her participating in the morning's "rite" will come soon.
At that point, the festival seems to wind down. Groups of volunteers bring out bedrolls and blankets to the festival grounds. "Never fear," announces the Mayor, "the weather tomorrow is clear. It's fine to sleep out in the open tonight." Then, the Mayor's assistants throw dried flayleaf onto the bonfires. The flayleaf gives off a noxious smoke that begins to fill the festival grounds with a gentle haze. As this happens, the villagers begin to lie down to sleep for the night. "Let the Dream Tender guide you," says Andretti.
From across the ground, Shel winks at Henry and gestures towards the nearby Chenowitz farm.
Urick eyes the mayor with scrutiny when he announces the cancellation of the pig wrestling competition. The man was untrustworthy, even if he wasn't lying through his teeth at this particular moment. Not that there was anything overtly sinister about a pig being sick. Mayor Andretti's mention of a rite however, was another thing entirely.
The half-elf wrinkles his nose as the reek of burnt flayleaf fills the air. Taking note of who is and isn't present, he remarks to his companions, "Quite a few people have made themselves scarce."
"So it would seem," Henry said softly as the mayor tosses the drug into the bonfire. "There's something that doesn't sit quite right with me here, but I can't quite put my finger on it. Hopefully, Miss Lupescu can fill in the final blank on this whole matter. Stay on your guard." He mutters a message spell and links himself to Urick and Perdita before he slips away from the festival to go meet with the rather... forward young woman.
Henry walks away on some errand.
The smoke that fills the festival grounds is intoxicating. Tassa and Khar manage to keep their wits about them, but Urick and Perdita feel a subtle warping of reality around them. They get a little sleepy, a little slow, and a little silly.
"What do you want to know?" she winks. "I'll un-button a button for every question we exchange."
There is somebody hiding in the shadows of the building's rafters above you, watching and waiting for something. Whoever or whatever it is seems to be slowly climbing to position itself behind you.
Henry approaches the young woman already waiting for him. Then a movement in the darkness catches his eye and he can't help a small sigh. "If you can hear me, I believe that we might have trouble about to begin," Henry murmurs into the message spell. "It seems that Miss Lupescu's offer of information may have been a ruse. Not surprising, but some help may be appreciated." Then he straightens up and walks a bit closer.
"Miss Lupescu, I'm afraid that I've run out of patience for playing games. If the man attempting to ambush the man who's made it almost to fifty fighting strange monsters on a regular basis is a friend of yours, I suggest you tell him to stop before I'm forced to do something regrettable. If he's not, I suggest you explain to me what the town is hiding behind this festival so I can deal with him without you in the way." One hand is settled firmly on the hilt of his rapier and the other lays against his pouch of alchemical vials, ready to draw one of his tools should the need arise.
Not seeing anything interesting, and finding the haze irritating, 'Khar decides to track down the mayor, given that everything seemed off, and there was no longer anything of interest happening at the fire. "Gonna stay and breathe this stuff in, Urick? Perdita? If not, let's go find th'mayor and see what the bugger is up to," he says quietly to the two.
Thinking back to how the mayor smelled, he sniffs at the air, then crouches down where he'd last seen the mayor and takes another whiff. The flayleaf scent was strong, but he was quite sure his skill and keen senses would be able to overcome it.
Perdita gets out of the cloud the moment she feels it affecting her. She will try to find a clear site where she can Listen for the Professors words.
"On the way. Be careful," Urick replies, before breaking into a small coughing fit. He shoots 'Khar a look, his eyes watering slightly. "We have another problem on our hands. Sounds like the professor is in trouble."
With that the inquisitor follows after Perdita, his sense of balance ever so slightly thrown off by his skewed perception
Khar picks up on the Mayor's scent easily, leaving behind the drugged festival grounds out towards the edge of town. He picks up on many sets of tracks. They lead out past the derelict farms at the outskirts of town, and eventually lead to what seems to be a fallow cornfield. A path leads further into the cornfield, and two villagers stand at what seems to be guard at the entrance. They carry sickles in their belts.
- - - - -
Meanwhile, Urick and Perdita start to head over to the Chenowitz farm to support Henry.
Inside the farmhouse, Shel Lupesco smiles innocently. "I don't know what you could possibly be talking about," she says sweetly. As she does so, she pulls a sickle that's coated in poison from behind her back. As she does so, the man hiding in the rafters jumps down, sliding down a rafter and landing beside her. It is Andretti's brother Leonard, and he draws a sword from a scabbard on his hip. "You picked the wrong town to come to, buddy," he says before the pair of them leap at Henry!
Catching him by surprise, Shel and Leonard rush him. As Leonard runs forward, his face and body warp and twist. The face of a man falls away and reveals a twisted, faceless fleshy mass.. It whoops with euphoria as it swings its sword at Henry.
Henry manages to jerk out of the way of being cut apart by Leonard's sword, but the strange creature still manages to gouge a chunk out of the Professor's leather armor. He is ready for the second attack, and merely slaps Shel's sickle away with a bare hand.
They are ambush predators, and are adept at picking the weak spots in their targets.
Faceless stalkers greatly prefer their natural forms, and re-entering their natural form gives them a brief burst of euphoria which empowers them.
It's a cult of Ghlaunder, the Gossamer King, one of Desna's enemies. Ghlaunder is a chaotic evil god of pestilence, vermin, and infection. Their faithful love to infiltrate other religions and corrupt them from the inside, like a disease would.
Henry winces as the creature drops down at him and his body begins to warp and twist. "That answers several questions and raises several others," he mutters. He pulls out a vial of stimulants from his bag and gulps it down in one go. His breath catches for a moment and his eyes dilate until they're nearly all black. Then he draws his blade and fall back into a fighting stance, watching both of his opponents warily.
Both combatants continue to move forward, swinging their weapons at Henry. The creature that was Leonard Kriegler swings his sword at Henry and then follows it up with a heavy fist-blow, and Shel attacks him savagely with her sickle.
Henry dodges to the side, his increased reflexes and speed allowing him to evade both of Leonard's blows, and while Shel gets the drop on him, her blade merely scratches the surface of his toughened skin.
Henry weathers the attacks, gritting his teeth as blades and fists rain down on him. Then he lunges forward with his rapier, attempting to drive it into the stalker's chest.
Henry's blow is accurate and powerful, but Leonard is able to slide just barely out of the way of being impaled. Henry can feel resistance as his blade slides along the front of the disgusting aberration.
Just then, the farmhouse doors are thrown open by Perdita and Urick. The pair witness Henry being assaulted by both Shel Lupesco and a creepy faceless abomination.
Tassa, having grown up around Flayleaf, shrugs the smoke off. "Mom used to sometimes smoke that much before Noon."
She is gnawing on her last sausage when she looks up and sees Urick and Perdita walking off. Not sure what's going on, she decides to hustle along and join them.
Urick takes one step into the farmhouse, crossbow already in hand. Seeing the hideous creature assailing the professor, there is not an ounce of hesitation as he takes aim and fires, sending a righteous bolt flying right past it.
"That was a warning shot. Step away, or the next one will hit you between your eyes," he says with steel in his voice. "That goes for you too, Miss Lupesco."
Urick steps forward and fires a bot, though it misses terribl. Both Shel and Leonard can tell that the bravado behind Urick's voice is just a bluff. Still, now they're outnumbered.
Leonard cries, "Kill this one, then we get away!" and the pair continue to assault Henry with everything they've got.
Henry bashes Shel's sickle away with his sword and dodges Leonard's fist, but the faceless stalker manages to nick him on the wrist with his sword. Just a tiny wound, but still: first blood.
Henry tries to maintain a little space, shifting around the pair to keep himself from being flanked while his rapier thrusts and dances around the stalker's guard.
Perdita surveys the battle zone.
"How interesting. Dissecting you will be very informative." She doesn't make it clear as to which of the two she is referring to?
She than casts Bless on the party.