GM Rednal's Legendary Planet AP (Inactive)

Game Master Rednal

The farmer snorted a bit. "If we were sick, you'd know. Make your check, but be quick about it - the sooner we're gone, the better." he said. "Onessa Jerreth is our sheriff, but we haven’t seen her in a week. There was a group of village elders, too, but most of them are dead — except maybe Hagrim Foss and Rexel the Apothecary. No camps I know of - anyone who's managed to flee probably kept going. No foreigners in town when it started, either - just came out of nowhere one day."

"We won't detain you long, good man. Can you tell us where Mr. Foss and Rexel might be?" Arialora says.

Taking 20 on heal checks with the 3 of them, for 27 each, should still be reasonably quick. Looking for any signs out of the ordinary. "Is there an inn of sorts in this town that could still be operating? If not, could we stay at your place if our business takes longer? We could prevent plundering and increase the chances it won't be burned down once this whole thing is over and you can come back here-"

The woman remained quiet as Eliphas looked over them - but all three of them seemed to be clean of whatever plague had infested this town.

"Hagrim is the high priest at Silverstone Hall. He and his acolytes survived the violence, but I haven’t seen anybody leave their temple in days." the man said, watching warily. "Rexel's an eccentric old gnome. He sells medicinal powders, tonics, and cure-alls out of his treehouse south of town. It’s on the other side of Old Mill Pond. The only inn is the Hapless Harpy. It’s located in the center of town, near the White Oak. Not sure if it’s still open for business, but it’s owned by Vessa Cormindi, and she let many of us take shelter there during the worst of the violence."

"Thank you," Arialora says when Eliphas finishes his inspection. "We will do what we can to help the other villagers and get to the bottom of this. Won't we?" she asks the two men. I certainly hope they'll help. But we've only just met, I can't presume to speak for them just yet. They've been very helpful so far though. Stop worrying, Lora. It'll be fine...

Maverick pauses for a moment in contemplation before addressing Arialora, "A strange disease mysteriously appears and drives people to mindless violence? I'm not certain how useful I'll be in fixing the problem, but I'm certainly willing to investigate. Perhaps I can find something that the local clergy can use to cure the people, or we can uncover the source of the disease to prevent it's spread? At the least, it's an intriguing problem that merits study, and we likely won't be able to pursue our own research until the town is safe again." The young elven man turns to the farmers and adds, "We'll be happy to do what we can for your town. Hopefully we meet again under better circumstances, when you return safely to your home."

"Well, I was told to come here and investigate by my superior. It was on a mysterious request, but I can't leave before finding out what is going on here. So, I will definitely help, Arialora."
Upon hearing Mavericks address: "I am glad to hear you think that way. From the little we managed to talk about in the past few days, I gather that you're a learned man, with a broad base of knowledge, which will definitely be handy in this endeveaour. I would have asked you to stay and help, but you offering to do so yourself is a welcome surprise!"

Finally, he turns to the farmers, too:"You all seem to be clear and show no signs of illness. While that is no guarantee that you are healthy until we find out what kind of disease this is, it is good enough to send you on your way and wish you a safe journey. Thank you for the information you kindly provided. I apologize, but I didn't catch your own name?"

"Ambrin Redthistle. I own this farm. My family’s lived here for three generations... but I don't reckon we'll be coming back this way." the farmer said, glancing back towards the fields with a haunted expression. "May Old Deadeye watch over you while you're here." he added, patting the horses and starting to guide them towards the river raft.

After helping the farmer's family across the river and returning to the town, Maverick turned to his companions. "Let's see if we can't find someone who might know more about this disease. I suggest we head to visit the gnome, who may have collected detailed notes about the disease's progression. Since he lives on the south side of town, we may as well proceed, cautiously, through the town and see if we find any other survivors along the way. Any other suggestions?"

Eliphas considers their situation for a moment before he answers Maverick:"If on our way to this gnome we come near the inn, I would like to check if they still grant refuge to travellers and citizens. While the sun is still high, eventually we will need a place to spend the night, and I'd like for us to secure a safe such spot before sun-down...so if we find out the inn won't take in strangers, we can already be on the lookout for intact, defensible buildings left by their owners."

"That sounds like a good plan to me," Arialora agrees.

"Then lets not waste any more time and get moving!", Eliphas states as he takes point moving southwards through the city.

After getting Ambrin's family across the river (and yourselves back again), you're able to proceed another hundred feet down the road. As you get closer to the city, you come across a large building to your right. (Area A4)

A 30-foot grain silo rises here, its ground-level door slightly ajar. The top of the tower also includes another door accessing a narrow, wooden walkway overlooking the town, river, and nearby lake. As you get within 60 feet, you can see a plump, middle-aged woman in an ill-fitting white dress walk onto the granary's catwalk. She seems to be singing - not especially well - but a little stranger is the fact that her dress appears to have been drenched in an unknown liquid. It's not blood - there's no red giveaway on the gown.

"Excuse me ma'am," Maverick calls out, "We're new in town and heard that you've been having some trouble. Are you all right up there?"

"Perhaps we should stick to the plan, and deal with all the infected after we determine if we have help. If we stop at every building on the way with someone in it, we might never determine what the herbalist knows."

"I know you are new to human lands, Arialora, but let me assure you, that is not normal behaiviour for us. Neither does she exhibit the mindless aggression of the earlier victims. There is the herbalist, but if possible, I would try and find a few puzzle pieces myself, too, because we neither know if that apothecarian found out anything, nor if he is involved in some way."

Eliphas approaches the granary, while Maverick calls out to her. If she reacts, he will continue moving, trying to get inside the granary and looking for a way upwards.
Stealth: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (7) + 6 = 13

If the woman does not respond to Maverick, Eliphas will "mimic" her, and start singing whatever it is she sings.
Perform(Sing) - untrained: 1d20 + 2 - 2 ⇒ (11) + 2 - 2 = 11 penalty meticulous

Arialora shrugs, and remains silent. She is unwilling to argue with her new companions. Instead, she takes up a rear guard position, watching their backs while they interact with the woman.

Keeping an eye out for anything that might sneak up on us. Take 10 on perception for a 17.

The woman didn't seem to be listening to the three of you - she continued singing her mournful tune, moving into the second verse as she stared up at the sky. In every syllable, you could almost feel her sorrow and loss, and she was clearly advancing towards something. It simply wasn't clear what.

She's totally going to jump. Why are we wasting time!? She's clearly mad, we should be finding a cure to help her, not watching her embarrass herself. Arialora maintains her vigil over the group's rear, her arms crossed over her thin chest.

Eliphas takes off his Cloak: "Arialora, Maverick, help me, please-"
Holding one end of the cloak, his intent is clear...Eliphas expects the woman will jump, and wants to break her fall using his cloak...sufficiently to keep her alive even if she will hurt herself.

This woman seems gripped by sadness AND madness. I need to make sure it's really her own decision to end her life before letting her commit to it...

Arialora grunts, and then walks over to take part of the cloak. "I'm not that strong. I hope she doesn't think we want her to jump,"

Eliphas smiles at Arialora: "Thank you...but i doubt it will be a matter of physical power. You are not strong? Neither is my cloak. It was made to keep out rain and wind, not break the fall of plump woman-..."

Finally, the woman reached into her pockets and pulled out a small, straight object - something you recognized a few seconds too late as a tindertwig that she lit before touching it to her dress. With a loud roar, the entire thing went up in flames, and the burning woman jumped straight off the top of the silo.

Dexterity - Maneuver fast enough to slow her fall at all?: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (15) + 2 = 17

Perhaps a deity somewhere was smiling at your efforts - the woman had far too much momentum for the cloak to completely stop her, but it did slow her down slightly as you managed to maneuver just well enough to catch her with it.

Fall Damage: 2d6 ⇒ (4, 2) = 6
Fire Damage: 1d6 ⇒ 3

The good news? Despite the thud as she hit the ground at a slightly slower speed, she was still alive. The bad news? She was still on fire, mere inches from your skin. The other good news? You were now in a position to try and put the flames out.

Shocked at the woman's self-immolation, Eliphas reacts instinctively...casting Create Water, covering the woman and what remains of his cloak.so there's wet cloth to wrap her in, rather than just roll her around on the floor-

Shocked at the woman's actions, Maverick quickly starts patting out the flames with the tattered cloak. "Excellent thinking Eliphas, keep the water coming!"

Is the woman still conscious?

"Oh no!" Ariella exclaims, dropping the cloak so that Eliphas can work. Didn't expect the fire. This town just keeps getting creepier.

The water splashed over the injured woman, weakening the flames, moments before Maverick started smothering the rest of the flames, and the woman let out a groan. She looked dazed and groggy, but was still conscious - and there was no telling what she might do once reason finally returned to her.

"Miss, are you all right? Do you remember what happened?"
Diplomacy: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (4) + 8 = 12
Eliphas voice is calm as he talks to the woman, but he knows better than to relax his guard, and it's rather hard to hide muscle tension without a cloak, so he may not come across as friendly as his training should make him.
She did not react before, maybe something took a hold of her mind, too.

With the woman no longer in immediate danger, Maverick reviewed the last few moments, searching for clues. The woman had clearly doused herself in oil or some other flammable item before climbing to the top of a grain silo and immolating herself... grain silo... and fire!

Suddenly alarmed again, Maverick jumped to his feet and began searching for any signs that the fire had spread to the silo itself.

Fortunately, the silo itself didn't seem to have been covered in flammables - merely the woman's dress, which was mostly ruined and still smoking after the... ah... incident.

As Eliphas spoke, though, she turned to regard him with an empty stare. "What does it matter?" she croaked out. "Why does any of it matter? He's gone... everyone's gone... there's no reason at all for me to stay."

"Your fault then, for not reacting. If you really mean to end your life, we neither have the ability to stop you from doing so, nor a reason to judge you. But you walked as if in a trance, and did not respond when we called out to you, and we assumed you were not acting out a conscious decision."

Eliphas relaxes, seeing the woman shows no inmediate hostile intent.

"Do let me state, however, that sooner or later everyone will be gone, lowest bug to mightiest god. Seeing no reason to stay because you lost someone? If everybody reacted that way, we would end up with a collective suicide as species. You may be confused because you lack purpose in life, which you thought you had found before. The point is, you can well find a different purpose that fulfills you. It does not need to end here-"

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (14) + 8 = 22
Mostly trying to calm her down, get her to take a deep breath. I mean it, if she wants to kill herself still, not going to stop her. Also, I would want to hear her story, but not asking currently because that would reinforce her negative feelings.

Confident there's no immediate threat, Maverick offers the woman his cloak and steps back to allow Eliphas and the woman some space to talk.

Arialora continues to watch, getting more and more nervous. We need to hurry. More of those mad men could come at any momemnt.

The woman's shoulder shook a bit as Eliphas spoke. "Thank you, I... I think I just need to be alone for a little while." she whispered, looking up at the cleric. "So much has happened here recently... it's not safe, it's not safe at all."

Oh well, again had hoped either of you would pick up on the convo...

"We have just arrived and are currently trying to find out what is amiss here. There's one thing you could see as an inmediate purpose already. Help us understand what is going on here, so that we may contain it and prevent other villages from suffering the same fate as Holver's Ferry. Could you give us a short account on what has happened here and why it's no longer safe? We have been assaulted by some people taken by madness, but the only other sane people we met yet were in a hurry to leave. We were on our way to the apothecarian for further inquiries, if you are able to walk, would you accompany us and tell us what you remember? I would especially be interested in knowing if there was a specific first person to exhibit this behaviour...my honest apologies, but I am not certain being alone is really the best for you right now even if you feel that way. It should not be that far, and you will need some medical attention for these wounds anyway, so please do come with us."

"Whoa, wait a minute! We don't even know this woman. She can stay in her house and wait for us, with the door locked. We'll come back if we find a cure or once the village is safe." Arialora says.

Consoling people after suicide attempts isn't exactly in Mav's skill set, and you took the initiative in talking her down. Besides, having multiple people crowd around her badgering her with questions while she's still on the down and injured felt too much like an interrogation instead of help. I'm still here though, so I'll chime in when I have something important to say.

As Eliphas calmed her, Maverick helped the woman to her feet. "We heard that the apothecary lives down this way," he said, motioning down the street, "Just outside of town. We're hoping that he might have some more information about the events going on here, and, if we're lucky, might have found a way to stop it or even cure it. Any information you have might help us repair some of the damage done to this town."

Maverick looked up and shot a sharp glance at Arialora as she spoke.

"Tá tú ag trusting ró de na ears bhabhta, col ceathrar. Tá siad ar tíre foréigneach ... le do thoil ár stair. Tá sí léirithe cheana féin ar a gealtachta trí féin immolation. Féadfaidh sí a bheith ionfhabhtaithe, níl a fhios againn. Go dtí dhéanaimid, tá sé sábháilte chun bogadh thart le strainséir a thuar," Arialora replies.

Arialora has spent her entire live amongst elves (over 100 years). She's not trusting of outsiders (read:non-elves). Hell, she barely trusts Eliphas, though that is changing. Also, from a tactical standpoint, I don't think its wise to take on someone we need to protect from this point. Better to stash her somewhere safe, and come back once we've cleared the village of threats. That way we're not walking along to have her ganked by a crazy people ambush.

Looking back to Eliphas and the woman, Maverick apologized, "I'm sorry for excluding you from our discussion. This is my friend's first time away from Kyonin, and she's found her experience unnerving. Please, I've completely forgotten my manners. I am Maverick Silidar, traveling scholar, and I hope that when the problems in your town are put to rest I might stay a while and conduct some research. May I ask your name, ma'am?"

I know, and it's an appropriate stance to take. Please don't misconstrue my character's response as being against you personally. My characters perceptions of the outside are tempered with a bit of confidence forged from fighting lesser demons that wander in from the Tanglebriar. After fighting demonic twisted wildlife, he's less concerned about a crazy woman.

Leave her behind and I think she'll probably just kill herself. Even if we're attacked and she's killed, the result would be no worse than if we left her behind. I'm also hoping the apothecary might be able to help her.

"Milda Vesk." the woman answered, seeming a bit uncertain about Arialora's intentions even after Maverick offered some reassurances. Strangers and outsiders were, after all, exactly that - though locals were clearly no safer to be around, given the recent events here. "I... I think I'd rather stay in my house..."

"Good idea, Milda. It will be safer here. We will return for you as soon as the village is safe for you," Lora says, trying to reassure the woman. "You will wait for us, won't you?"

Sorry, Mav, didn't mean to force you two to interact with her, I just didn't want to "hog the spotlight", so to say, and give you a chance to chime in, too. For what it's worth, I do agree that it's more efficient to let her rest somewhere safe. I do, however, think that this safe place should be at the apothecarians place. Not alone, by herself...plus who knows, we may gain SOME info on the way there...if there was a patient Zero, then that might be worth investigating.

Heal, Take 10, to quickly look over her: 10 + 7 = 17
"You may want to do that, Miss Vesk, but you are in shock. Even if we managed to put out the flames quickly, you have some burn wounds that need treating, and the fall may have broken your arm, by the looks of it. Only heavily bruised if you are lucky. I am travelling light, and don't have what I need with me, so all the same, it would be best for you to accompany us to the Apothecarian and rest in his care. Surely he has some manner of room for long-term treatment of patients who require it."

Sorry, Arialora, Eliphas is honestly worried she'll kill herself if left alone. We won't have her tag along any longer than necessary, but lets at least place her with some other person

Well, Lora won't argue it further, but in the end it's up to Milda. We can't force her to come with us without kidnapping her, which Arialora definitely would not be okay with.

Milda looked more than slightly apprehensive about following the three of you, but Eliphas' cajoling finally managed to prod her into a slow, tottering movement forward. Ahead, on the road, you could see two other notable-looking structures. On your left was another farm, with no sign of life, while a squat building lay just ahead of you. From there, the road branched out to both the left and the right. You could investigate either of the buildings or continue along the path.

If either of the others wants to investigate one of the buildings(or take a quick look at either) thats fine and we would let Milda rest a bit, but Eliphas would just take note of the buildings, remember them for later, and continue on to the apothecarian. Mostly because we don't really have an idea yet WHAT we are looking for.
Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (1) + 9 = 10 -Nothing unusual about these houses. Totally normal, why would I even go take a closer look, the architecture is not THAT interesting. Intended to observe the buildings for motion, listen for sounds, that sort of thing, anything that could be noticed from the outside...but alas, with that roll I suppose I'm rather indifferent.

As they walked past the seemingly abandoned buildings, Maverick made a mental note of the layout. We'll want to come back through here and make a careful search of each building liking survivors and clues once we get some more information from the apothecary.

Arialora watches the houses as they pass, worried that more monster people will pop out.

No motion was visible in or around either of the two buildings you passed - and if you weren't going in, you DID need to decide which way to branch around. Most of the village lay down the left-hand turn, heading south, but there were still a few on the north side as well. Or you could simply leave the road and cut straight across, of course.

Eliphas, if he was paying attention, would take the way south, as that was the direction given to them towards the gnome herbalists tree house. If there is an Old Mill visible in his field of view, he'll orient himself towards it, expecting to find "Old Mill's Pond" nearby.

However, since he is walking with Milda, supporting her if necessary, and distracted from his surroundings, he will simply follow the elves wherever they go.
I don't think cutting throught the fields is really a smart move, courtesy of monster people popping out of them...