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A Gnomish woman, who rather subdued in her hair and skin color relative to what is 'normal' for a Gnome, but makes up for it with her ostentatious courtier's finery and an exquisite hat with a strange symbol made of precious metals and stones embedded in it, and a thick grimoire bound in some unidentifiable hide, strides confidently into the room.
"A true adherent of the Eye lives seconds ahead of others," She intones to herself.
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"Kon'nichiwa." Says the short Tien woman. She marries her fist and palm together and gives an abrupt bow in greetings.
The woman has a wide-eyed, inquisitive look about her and seems very fit. She wears peasant garb, and wood sandals, with a broad rice hat thrown over her shoulder and held there by a sting. Over in the corner one can make out a simple spear with a rough sack tied to its crossbar. They match the woman simple (even drab) garb and seem to be hers.
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Katarina looks up with surprise at the greeting, which sounds decidedly foreign to her ears. "Oh, hello! I didn't see you come in behind me," she apologizes. She hesitates for a moment, unsure of whether she should bow in response or opt for a more familiar (to her) sort of greeting. "It's nice to meet you," she continues, nodding her head in greeting before offering her hand for a handshake.
"I'm Katarina. What's your name?"
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Once done shaking hands and, in some cases, feet you all recall the reason for your gathering here in the rather dim and gloomy county of Versex in southern Ustalav. It was a letter, passed on to you via the Illustrious Master of Scrolls, Kreighton Shae.
It would appear, from your hurried briefing by the enigmatic Elf, that the Society had been contacted by one Dr Quolorum, an investigator into the Occult amidst his day job as Professor at the Sincomakti School of Sciences in Rozenport. The Doctor had requested the Society's aid in investigation a strange phenomena affecting Ustalav, which all seems to lead to one person, Lady Illirigarde.
Now, at the University and outside the office of Dr Quolorum you hear a slight cough as you suddenly realise the door to the office is now open and Gnome is stood upon the threshold to the office, deep violet hair and half-moon spectacles balanced on his nose.
"Welcome and Well met! You are my Hirelings for the foreseeable future then? I am glad you have enthusiasm! Now, I have a limited amount of time before I need to get back to my busy teaching schedule so we must be swift!"
The Gnome pauses a moment as if forgetting something.
"Oh yes! My name is Professor Quolorum, just Quolorum will do, no I will not respond to 'Prof' or 'Doc'. I wish to investigate the phenomena striking various parts of Ustalav and I have discovered that they seem to all revolve around one individual, Lady Illirigarde. Any questions?"
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Quolorum smirks as Fauxish raises her hand, unable to help himself at the student like behaviour exhibited by one of the Society. The Gnome also listens to Theoden's question before answering, his right hand stroking his chin as he nods his head.
"Wonderful questions! Well what I know about Illrigarde is that she was a dabbler in the Occult!" he begins with some enthusiasm.
"She played at Harrow readings and the like, also built a Manor somewhere before disappearing. As for the Phenomena, there have been strange happenings reported in Versex down South. I am not entirely sure what exactly, but that is what you are here for!"
He awaits any more questions before continuing.
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"Indeed it does," Chuckles Alexis. "But as ever, the pursuit of true mastery far more so!"
"There are always 'strange happenings' in Versex - it's practically what they do! If you can elaborate on specifics at all, it would be very helpful."
She thinks for a moment. "Where was Lady Illirigarde last seen?"
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"So this Lady Illirigarde has disappeared and all we know is that 'something' odd has been happening in Versex?" Katarina shakes her head, chuckling slightly. "I'd heard before that sometimes these briefings are a little sparse on the details and apparently they weren't joking!"
Her expression then grows more serious. "I've also heard that dabbling in the occult in Ustalav is a good way to find yourself on the wrong side of an angry crowd," she continues with a small shudder. "Let's just hope that Lady Illirigarde is still safe. And to add to Alexis' question, how do we know that these happenings are linked to her?"
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Quolorum nods thoughtfully once more, his head bouncing comically as if was a novelty ornament. He then rummages through his pockets until he finds what must be some notes on the situation.
"Well the Manor is off in Versex of course and your first fact finding mission will take you close, I have no doubts you will need to explore the Manor but I suggest you find out some more first!"
He takes a breath before reading from his notes, filling you all in on the situation.
"I’m told there is a small village called Dunhob only a few miles from Illirigarde Manor that could have useful information. No doubt the villagers have many stories about the phenomena affecting the region.
Additionally, before her disappearance Lady Illirigarde visited the locals occasionally to perform harrow readings and seances. Perhaps we could learn more about her research and disappearance as well. My contacts informed me the villagers of Dunhob are a particularly close-lipped and superstitious lot, so diplomatic finesse may be necessary.
There are also legends of a haunted tavern called The Lucky Lantern in Dunhob that I would like you to investigate. Your mission is to see what secrets the tavern may hold and interview one or two of the local villagers. Happy adventuring!"
He passes you a battered notebook with somme of his findings, bidding you add to them when you find out more.
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Close-lipped and superstitious? Wonderful...even though I don't know why I would've expected otherwise.
Katarina sighs softly to herself but then nods, a look of determination on her face. "Right, well at least it sounds like we've got plenty of leads to work with. I guess we'd better get ready to head out for Dunhob then."
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Once the group is out of earshot of Quolorum, Katarina takes a deep breath and turns to the rest of her teammates. "Okay, before we get started there's something I need to show you. I didn't want to do this in front of Professor Quolorum lest we...er, I...wind up sidetracked."
Katarina kneels down and quickly produces some chalk to trace a small runic circle, with herself as the focal point. Her preparations complete, she begins humming a strange tune as she focuses her power on the circle. Her body begins to take on a blurry appearance and for a moment it almost seems as though there are now two figures standing in the same spot instead of just one...and then, an ectoplasmic form seems to step out of Katarina and into the room. His appearance is that of a man, probably in his mid to late 30s though it's impossible to tell for sure. He regards the gathered group with a look of apprehension.
"This...is my friend, Ashton. He'll be giving us a hand with this job though we'll have to be rather discrete about it, considering where we're going," Katarina explains, fidgeting nervously.
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Ashton laughs, a surprisingly human sound even though his voice echoes ever so slightly. "I like him already - not about to look a gift horse in the mouth eh?"
Relaxing his stance somewhat, he offers a respectful nod to Eldren and the others. "Like Katarina said, I'm here to help. I act as a protector of sorts. But since it sounds like the people of Dunhob jump at every shadow, I'll need to keep myself out of sight while we're stomping around there."
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With Katarina's grand reveal away from the Professor, you all head to the southern Ustalav county of Versex and make your way to the village of Dunhob, you see few people on your way to the village and those you do meet seem quiet and reserved, stopping only to give quick directions if pressed upon but otherwise keeping their heads down.
It is late afternoon when you reach Dunhob, a small village with two rows of thatched roof buildings and immediately your presence causes quite a stir amongst the local populace, who rarely get outsiders. One thing you notice is that an Iron horseshoes hangs prominently on the doors nearest to you.
The crowd murmur to themselves and do not speak to you, one villager begins to sob. Parting the crowd, a crotchety old woman steps forwards, Horseshoes in her hands.
As she gets close to you she shrieks. "Begone foul and evil spirits, back to whence you came!" and throws a horsehoe at Theoden, missing the man so that it lands at his feet harmlessly.
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"I think they object to your face." Fauxish whispers on tip-toe to the man nodding at the sobbing villagers. "Can you rub that stuff off. Maybe we could get you a hood to hide it and then a big scythe so you can prove how useful you are by helping around the farms."
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"Wait...they think that we're evil spirits?" Katarina asks, jaw still slightly agape with surprise from the horseshoe attack. She'd seen some strange and violent behavior from people before, but that had been a new one even for her.
After studying the sobbing and cowering villagers for a moment, she sighs and places her head in one palm. "Alexis is right, they think we're bad news. Ghosts, evil spirits, and what-have-you. This is going to be more difficult than I thought it would be."
Yeeeeep, definitely a good thing you're hiding out sight right now Ash!
She looks around at the others for a moment and then clears her throat. "Um, we're not spirits and we don't mean any harm. We're just here to look into some of the strange happenings that we've heard about and try to put an end to them," she says, trying to give the assembled villagers a reassuring smile.
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The old woman, second horseshoe in hand and ready to through, stops a moment to consider Katarins's words, ar Alexis' support many of the villagers make warding signs against evil spirits. Seeing that they are indeed not spirits, the crowd begins to disperse though many stay out, the oddity of visitors in the village breaking their usual routine.
The old woman moves up and snatches the horseshoe from the floor, eyeing you all critically.
"Help with what exactly?"
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Katarina relaxes a bit now that it looks like they won't be needing to dodge more horseshoes. "It sounds like there are many strange things happening in the area, right? There's the disappearance of a Lady Illirigarde and we also heard rumors about a haunted tavern," she explains. "But that's more or less all we've heard, so we thought we'd pay Dunhob a visit and try to find out more."
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The old woman looks at you all critically, as if still unsure that you are truly real or a figment of a twisted phenomena in this dark place. Listening to your questions she takes a moment to answer.
"“There are many fell spirits living near here, but our wards keep us safe. Still, we often get strange headaches or can’t sleep at night. But meddling folks like Lady Illirigarde often meet a bad end. That’s why we keep our noses out of it.”
She pauses to let it sink in before revealing more regarding the missing Lady.
"Lady Illrigarde was keen on studying the spirits around Dunhob. She used to visit every few months and do frightful divinations for us. But one night she did a harrow reading for old Veny at The Lucky Lantern, and he died. She left Dunhob after that and never returned.”
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The old woman thinks on it a bit more and shrugs slightly, obviously deciding to trust you with the story, such that it is.
“Lady Illirigarde performed a private reading for poor Veny, and it killed him. She said her harrow cards touched the mind of a dreaming evil. She left all her magic instruments behind and promised to return when she learned how to drive out the spirits. But she never did. A few years back an adventurer named Wulfer went into the tavern and never came out. That place is haunted.
Lady Illrigarde said nothing to us about where she was going, just that she would return and never did”
You feel that the woman has no more to tell you regarding the phenomenon, but she has given you a lead.