Calder thinks moving on before Clara and Ameiko find something else to wake up is a good idea.
Clara smiles in reply to Shalelu's question. "We found way more than dusty bones. Look at these fungi I collected!
"On the minus side, the dusty bones tried to kill us. Totally worth it though! I can't wait to see what we find next on this adventure!!"
Clara then busies herself for the rest of the night looking at them through her magnifying lens, sniffing them, chewing them, boiling them, and otherwise doing her best to learn about them and their properties...or at least to brew an entirely new fizzy drink out of them.
x 14 = 336/11,000
x 14 + 336 = 630
x 14 + 630 = 1,106/11,000
x 14 + 1,106 = 1,442/11,000
x 14 + 1,442 = 1,750
x 14 + 1,750 = 2,044
x 14 + 2,044 = 2,324
x 14 + 2,324 = 2,674
x 14 + 2,674 = 3,010
x 14 + 3,010 = 3,346
x 14 + 3,346 = 3,822
x 14 + 3,822 = 4,074
x 14 + 4,074 = 4,326
...4,634
...5,026
...5,460
...5,782
...that’s 17 weeks of work...and we are halfway there. Unless we houserule something along the lines of the special materials cost doesn’t factor into the craft price...we are looking at 34 weeks or so to craft. As opposed to 3 weeks if we don’t factor in the special material cost...
The party rests in the giant-barrow for a day while the akhlut passes by. When the creature's magical blizzard has finally died down, Tallak unmolds the stone wall he had created to keep them safe and the group continues on. The giant-barrows present no further major obstacle before the caravan leaves it behind, although the weather is getting a bit worse as the caravan climbs farther north.
After just three days, the caravan reaches a fork in the road. Coming back from his advance scouting mission, Ulf has a query for the group. Ahead are two different paths, and he can lead the group along either one, depending on what they want.
To the northwest is lake country, called Hasanaliat by the local Erutaki peoples. More populated than the other route, the northwest route passes through an area called Bearleg Lakes before having to ford the Taraska River and getting back on the Path of Aganhei to climb the High Ice. Ulf says that while this route is traditionally safer, it is also a bit slower, and higher-population, which not all of his clients always like. Frost drakes and wikkawaks (arctic bugbears) are also common in this area.
The other route, due north, is through hill country. The area is called the Gaarjuk Hills. The terrain is rougher, the population lower, but the route is faster, and there are many fewer prying eyes. There is a friendly Erutaki village called Rimakak in the Gaarjuk Hills which Ulf has visited in the past for haven, but largely it is empty, snowy mountains which are occasionally visited by a boreal manticore or a group of ettins.
"Either path is feasible, Ulf?" says Aiko. After the events in the cave, she is unruffled, and indeed seems to spend a great deal of her time scouting, not especially bothered by the hazards of the terrain. As always, her uncanny stride carries her atop the snowdrifts without sinking in.
"If you have a recommendation, then of course that should be strongly considered," she says. Then she adds, "Otherwise, I would always recommend the path with the least eyes."
Clara nods sagely. "Great grandpa Umbilicus always said, the road less traveled leads to the coolest reagents.
"And if those empty mountains get boring, I promise to stave off the boredom with pranks and fizzy drinks."
"Clarabibulus," says Aiko, carefully using the gnome's full name, "I've heard you mention fizzy drinks, but the only one I've seen is the explosive one that you used in our recent combat. I presume you do not mean that you would give people explosives to imbibe?" Her brow is furrowed with legitimate confusion.
Ulf nods at Aiko's question. "Aye, I've taken them both. They can fluctuate in danger depending on the group. I've taken several caravans of drug-merchants or criminals through the Crown, and they all prefer the hill country. However, lake country is much more bounteous and most caravanners prefer to take the lake country because you can stock up on provisions there."
Ameiko and Sandru both speak up, Ameiko supporting the lake country (she wants to take it easy on the group, and she's always wanted to see Bearleg Lakes!) and Sandru supporting the hill country (they know now that at least something is after Ameiko. The fewer eyes, the better).
Clara's alchemical experiments with the grave mold yield a lot of failures, but eventually she manages to create one fizzy drink. Different uses fail to see results until she spills some on some nearby frostbitten plants, and they immediately enliven up, shaking off the frost and becoming vibrantly green!
”Subtlety is more important, I would council,” Tallak says, now wearing the wolf skull mantle he made as a helmet and cloak. ”There are enemies after us. Best make the task difficult for them.”
For a change Calder agrees with Ameiko. "Populated, or not the hunters will come. I would prefer to meet them in an area with some resources if we need to resupply."
Ameiko seems dissatisfied by the conclusion, but with her strongest allies generally agreeing on hill country, Ulf grunts and waves the caravan forward. The caravan rumbles northwards directly towards the High Ice.
It is less than a day of traveling before the caravan comes across a sheer cliff. Ulf assures the group that the cliff is perfectly expected and normal, and that he knows a path down that leads down the cliff. A couple of hours of searching manages to find the path (relatively treacherous but at least thick enough to allow a wagon) but ends the day. The caravan rests at the top of the cliff, and in the morning spends the entire day navigating down the cliff. Each switchback presents significant problems, requiring a team of strong people to help lift each wagon in order to help rotate them.
The following day, the caravan rumbles into the vicinity of the small Erutaki village of Rimakak, on the shores of Lake Nallishoot. Ulf says that he has a few friends that he wants to check in with as long as he's here, and perhaps the party can acquire some Erutaki booze as well. However, as the caravan draws near, it becomes clear that not all is well in Rimakak. It appears completely deserted, at least from a small distance. No lights shine from within the building, no hunters roam the forest, and no fishers sit on the water's surface. Even in spring, no children run and play. Ulf frowns. "I wonder where everyone is..." he murmurs.
Aiko tries to keep Ameiko's spirits up along the way. "Don't worry, we can always come back this way again... if things go awry in the hills we may wind up backtracking."
As the village of Rimakak appears, she looks concerned and pulls up the fur-lined hood of her parka. "Something has gone horribly wrong," she says. "Calder, what do you think? Should we check for tracks by the lake? Fishermen would've been out there. Or we could go straight for one of the village buildings."
Not knowing the village, or it's people Calder scans the area, looking for any sign of activity?
Squinting, Calder thinks he sees a vague shape moving between two of the buildings. Distance makes it a bit difficult to make out details, but it looked... wet?
Calder points to where he saw something moving.
"Something is moving in there." he warns the others. "We should investigate while the wagons set up for trouble."
Vashta frowns. She kept quiet over the last few days, unusual for her, uncertain which route was the right choice. This new danger, however, has her feeling more herself as the adrenaline starts to flow again, her heart starting to pound. She makes sure her cestus is on her hand, its weight becoming a more accustomed accoutrements after years of her first instinct being to flee or defuse danger before ever needing it.
"A moment, darlings," she says. "Let me see if I can determine anything."
HP: 55/55
AC 17 (moderate fortification), touch 12, flat-footed 15, CMD 17
Fort +4, Ref +7, Will +5/+8 (+1 vs. charm/compulsion)
Tricks: 2/6 (Vashta, mesmeric mirror; Aiko, false flanker)
Touch treatment 0/6
Spells: 1st 0/5; 2nd 1/4; 3rd 0/2
Effects:
Tallak moves to the front of the caravan atop Nightfang, and looks over the town. ”Well,” he grunts, ”we won’t learn anything from here. Let us get closer.”
With Vashta at the front, Tallak and Calder right behind her, the group advances towards the village. They must get within sixty feet of anything to be detected, so they get pretty close. Ameiko and the others stay back with the caravan just in case there are ambush predators or... whatever happened to this village... nearby. Ulf, however, accompanies the group.
Vashta keeps getting the unsettling feeling of her detect thoughts spell going off as it detects a thinking mind in its area, but before she can dig her feet in and concentrate enough to detect their thoughts, they move farther away. It seems that whatever it is is always behind the next building.
This village isn't large, so it's easy to see that at least in the village grounds themselves, violence isn't what took the village. Looking inside of the buildings, most of them seem packed up in an orderly fashion. There are a few that seem merely abandoned, but even those have apparently been picked over and have nothing of true value.
As you investigate, a dark shape darts out from one of the buildings and races towards the lakeside!
Calder his been watching carefully, when the creature bolts for the waters he draws his bow and shoots at it before it can escape.
Calder's arrow pierces through the creature, killing it instantly. When it isn't moving, it's clear to see. The creature is like a goblin, but with the lower half of an octopus instead of legs. It's less than three feet tall.
Tallak rides up to the felled creature and looks it over. ”Grindylow,” he says before spitting on the ground near it.
"Seems unlikely that just a few of those little creatures would wipe out a whole village like this," says Aiko. "The Erutaki are hardy survivors. These monsters probably have some... help."
Ulf comes out of a building he's just been investigating. He grunts. "Maybe there are still some people nearby?" he offers. "Maybe a hunting lodge or an adjacent village has heard of the danger?"
"Or maybe we can go into the lake. The... grindylow? Was headed in there. Does anyone have a way to do that?"
"Ulf, dear, if whatever did this to the village is in the lake, perhaps we don't want to go there? Maybe there's more to explore here and see if we can learn anything else..." Vashta suggests.
At Vashta's suggestion, Ulf roots around for awhile. Other than the obvious normal tracks throughout the village, there seem to be a large number of tracks leaving the village and not coming back. Ulf surmises that a large number of the villagers made some sort of exodus. He also finds several tracks of non-human tracks. Obviously, there are the tracks of perhaps a dozen grindylows, as well as larger, clawed tracks of some large scaled creature. Ulf finds a few leftover scales.
These horrifying monstrosities somehow cannot reproduce with natural-born aquatic creatures, only with those felled by its curse. Those that are transformed are lost permanently, and develop a slavish obsession with their new "Mother".
Qallupilluks are strong and tough, and have some magic at their disposal, including the ability to summon icy storms, help their victims survive underwater, and charm unsuspecting victims into friends. A friendly qallupilluk might be persuaded to use its divination ability in exchange for sacrifices.
Vashta shakes her head at the tracks, with nature lore not her area of forte -- she's better at knowing about people and civilization thanks to her life experiences.
She looks around to see if the others can tell anything.
"Should we try to see where they went? I hate to be callous, but perhaps we should simply follow their example and move out of here before whatever chased them away notices us."
Tallak and Nightfang move about the village, taking stock of the strange situation and tracks. As he kneels beside some of the footprints and looks out over the lake, his eyes narrow. He moves to pull Ulf and Calder aside before speaking to them in hushed tones.
”We have a problem. A very dangerous beast has been preying on this village. A qallupilluk, a hag-like abomination that breeds by changing normal men and women forever into creatures of the waters. We either need to get the caravan away before it falls victim as well, or hunt it immediately.”
"We must find it and kill it," says Aiko immediately. "Is there any way to restore the villagers who've been changed?"
"Why?" Vashta asks. "It's safer to avoid conflict if we can. Let's away from here, and get the caravan back on the road..."
"And leave an entire village of Erutaki people to be turned into monsters by this creature? While we do have a goal of our own, that seems... somewhat cruel," says Aiko, her brow furrowing slightly. "Having the goodwill of any Erutaki traders or trackers that we save might also be useful in charting the next leg of our journey."
Ulf shrugs and grunts - seemingly his catchphrase. "I'm not averse to hunting monsters, but it seems like most of the people here left. It's certainly possible more might fall prey to the creature, if it exists..."
"I'm of a mind with Vashta. I would rather move on. But maybe we should ask our illustrious leader what she thinks?"
"If the legends of the creature turning people into watery monsters are true, that grindylow that we saw earlier may have been one of the villagers," says Aiko. "But of course I will defer to Ameiko's judgment." She inclines her head demurely.
"The village is empty? If there's no way to turn them back that we know of, and no one else to be turned into monsters but ourselves..." Vashta says. "Sometimes the road forces us to make hard choices, but making the wrong one can be fatal."
”We shouldn’t put our own at risk,” Tallak says, clearly perturbed.
As he walks away, he mutters quietly to Calder,
”We shouldn’t put our own at risk,” Tallak says, clearly perturbed.
As he walks away, he mutters quietly to Calder,
** spoiler omitted **
Away from home the next 10 days. Still have access to computer, but may be slow in responding. Bot me if needed.
Calder votes to move on. Growing up in the Linnorm Kings means he's used to settlements coming to a bad end, and we're here to get Ameiko somewhere, not adventurers.
As the group returns to the caravan (who are all primed and ready to defend themselves), the report is given that the village is just too dangerous to risk exploring and staying here tonight. Although Ameiko seems crestfallen to avoid going on adventure, Sandru and Shalelu agree with the group consensus. The caravan rumbles on, pushing itself a couple of hours into the night to make some distance before camping down.
"We should probably stand guard tonight, in pairs," Vashta says, thinking about what her childhood caravan did in dangerous places.
"Sandru, you and I can take first watch, dear. You can help keep me warm!"
Tallak nods and finds a spot to get some rest. ”I’ll take the pre-dawn watch.”
"Middle shift," says Aiko.