| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Deth asks if he can keep the Holy Text of Erastil. He quickly looks through it for any funeral ceremonies that might be appropriate and says the words over the two graves. 'I really hope this is a book to Erastil and not a demon' he thinks. 'Otherwise this is how several horror epics start.' While looking for the funeral descriptions he keeps an eye out for illustrations, hoping to find a picture of Erastil and maybe the winged figure.
"I'm excited to take a look at those fields but perhaps we should finish our business inside the walls first," Momo rubs her hands together. "Perhaps the last building is a clinic or a tailoring shop."
Deth will hold onto the wand of goodberry. "Sounds good Momo. Let's finish our exploration."
14 identifies the other text as a copy of On Government, a political treatise written in a poetic style. A book that played a part in Andoran’s People’s Revolt and sparked the Red Revolution in Galt, allegedly inspired by conversations with Talmandor himself.
This long, rectangular building appears to be a home, though larger than many beyond the palisade to the south. It has three windows, all covered with wooden shutters, and a single door facing northwest, which is unbarred and slightly ajar.
Simple wooden furniture is in disarray throughout this residence. Tables and chairs are knocked over and pushed aside, though none appear willfully broken. Articles of clothing and household items are scattered across the floor as if they were examined briefly and discarded. A large pallet bed is visible in a separate room through an open interior door. A third room with no windows is next to the bedroom but is completely empty.
Although the home has been ransacked, there is no evidence of foul play or personal violence. A casual search reveals any number of common domestic items, such as boots, spare cloaks hung on pegs, cookware, and plates and mugs—sundries that one might find in any dwelling.
Treasure:
The gold wedding band is worth 125 gp
Perception
"This place is empty. It'd make a nice home for someone, though. Let's see what the other buildings hold," he says, turning to leave.
Momo looks around the building with some disappointment. "Just a house? Who lived here?" Momo, seeing nothing of interest, agrees with Nox.
Momo stands at the doorway leading into the house and leans against the wooden frame. "This might be the nicest home inside the palisade. Perhaps we should consider living here instead of the Court House... but I agree with Nox, we should look at the other houses before making our final decision." Momo isn't one to live in a town, but with the unfamiliar wildlife, Momo supposes the town life couldn't be worse.
Delia notices a ring on the windowsill and points it out to her companions. "Clearly a band of dedication." She points out the circles and leaves it to others to examine while she continues to search... "Ah, what's this?" She pulls out the chest and quickly determines it's locked. "Momo, if you so please?"
"Ah, what's this?" She pulls out the chest and quickly determines it's locked. "Momo, if you so please?"
Momo pushes herself off of the door frame and approaches Delia. She pulls out her to fiddle with the lock. Upon opening her backpack to retrieve her kit, Momo spots and remembers
Momo picks up the mechanical arachnid and winds up it up with the key. She sits the freshly wound companion onto the table. "Scuttles," Momo instructs, "Examine this building thoroughly and bring me anything of interest." Momo watches scuttle about in exploration.
"Hmm...
"Interesting box," Momo comments. "Is there anything else we should look at here?"
"That's not right," Momo mumbles to herself, jostling a tool in the lock's opening.
Momo opens the lid of the box and turns it towards Delia. "Look at that!"
Momo picks up a chair and sits on it. She looks around the room for curious at to the critter's progress.
Deth see the wedding ring, but not before Delia remarks on it and picks it up. While Delia and Momo deal with the chest, Deth examines the floor. "Some barrels set here." He motions to a spot on the floor. "But they've been moved." He walks slowly to the doorway, intent on the floor. "They've been rolled to the door." He steps outside, tracking the elusive barrels.
"Who or what would have taken barrels out of a home? And why would barrels even be in a home? That's just strange altogether...maybe someone was doing experiments here and used the barrels for something like that," Nox thinks out loud. "Anyone think they can track down the barrels? I've got to find out the answers about this disappearance as well!"
Before Deth and Nox run off to chase down the elusive barrels, Aenon raises his voice. "Comrades. If you would lend me your ears, I have a matter I would like settled before we move on." With that, he gets down on his knees in swift, practiced motions and bows his head deeply. "I have failed you." He states simply. "I turned and ran when I should have stayed by your side. And though I know this shameful deed will be difficult to forgive, I beg that you give me a chance to redeem myself."
After speaking, he remains bowed over.
"There is nothing to forgive, Aenon. Ghosts are spooky." Deth says with a smile.
Nox crooked an eye at the undine. "Um, we all run sometimes. If you don't, you are a dummy. Remember me when I first saw the swarm? It happens. And hopefully it will keep us alive. So don't beat yourself up over it. No big deal at all.". He pats him on the back.
"Get up and let's go find out what's going on in this place."
Momo can't stop her mouth from dropping open in surprise when hearing Aenon's words. I hope they don't expect an apology from me. Momo felt embarrassed but she wasn't about to apologize for being scared. "We'll all probably have a moment of fear at one time or another." Why does he feel so responsible?
Aenon raises his head and looks at the party with a weak smile on his face. "I'm glad you see it that way." He says, and with another couple of almost ritual movements he is back on his feet. After dusting off his knees and taking a few deep breaths, he seems to be back to his old self.
"You'll have to forgive me if this came off a bit strange. I've been around Tian-Min for far to long, and I can't seem to rid myself of some of their customs." Aenon explains and wistfully adds. "My old captain always said that it's better to take responsibility and to air out grievances early, before they bring down the entire crew. She'd probably have my head for calling her old though."
"But enough nostalgia for now, let's go hunt down those barrels. Eh Deth?" He cheerfully asks the druid and starts heading towards the door.
There's an odd trail leading from the door out through the palisade gates
Momo gathers up and returns the mechanical arachnid to her bag. "Thank you for helping us look," Momo pats the small creature on top of its head.
Momo turns upon exiting the building to examine the outside.
Deth completely losses track of where the barrels were rolled to and completely misses the interesting tracks near the palisade until someone points them out to him. Instead his attention is on the surrounding countryside. It is brand new ecosystem, who knows what unique and wonderful creatures lurk in the woods and fields beyond.
Aenon follows the tracks with his eyes while walking with Momo to the gates. When they arrive, he crouches down to get a better look at the tracks. "Momo! Deth! I think I've found something!" He yells out. "I'm unsure what sort of creature left these strange tracks, but once again we seem to come across clues a week old. Could whatever left these tracks perhaps know what happened to the colonists?"
The name “Arkley” is carved into a wooden sign nailed next to the doorframe of this log cabin. A single, closed door faces northwest, and the structure has two wooden-shuttered windows. The architecture is otherwise the same as many of the other buildings.
You recognize the name Arkley, or specifically Rayland Arkley, as the leader of the first group of colonists who arrived on the Liberty’s Herald.
The only door is shut and latched, but not barred. The inside of the house stands in contrast to most of the other buildings in the settlement in that it is relatively organized and tidy. It contains plain wooden furniture, with simple amenities such as wall racks for weapons and armor, a modest dining table and chairs, and a sitting chair with a makeshift cushion and footstool. A separate bedroom features a wooden bed frame and pallet mattress, a boot rack, and a large unlocked chest of folded clothes and other personal items. The entire house is a study in normalcy.
Additionally, tucked under the mattress in the bedroom is a traveling spellbook. Additionally, a spell component pouch is tied to a brass ring bound into the spine of the book. Twenty-nine pages have been used, with 21 blank pages remaining. The book contains 10 0-level spells, eight 1st-level spells, and eight 2nd-level spells.
10 0-lvl
Acid Splash, Arcane Mark, Breeze , Detect Magic, Detect Poison, Disrupt Undead, Mage Hand, Mending, Message, Read Magic
8 1st-lvl
Erase, Mage Armor, Magic Missile, Obscuring Mist, Reduce Person, Shield, Unseen Servant, Ventriloquism
8 2nd-lvl
Invisibility, Mirror Image, Hideous Laughter, Gust of Wind, Protection from Arrows, Glitterdust, Cat's Grace, Bull's Strength
Inside the front cover is an arcane mark that reads, “Hendrake.”
You recall from the information presented when joining the colony that Rayland Arkley was a former military man, not a spellcaster. Why would he have this book?
Perception
Nox was getting distracted and gave the last house no more than a cursory glance. "These homes are getting boring. Anyone wondering what else we can find outside?"
"Looks like this was the home of the resident cleric. If I were to take an educated guess, I would say likely of Erastil."
In regards to Aenon, Delia joins the others in their thoughts. "No need to apologize, Aenon. I am sure at some point in our adventure we will all run in fear at some point."
"It would seem that no one has been here in three weeks or so... This riddle becomes more curious by the moment..."
Delia spends a few moments examining the room and quickly find a pocket watch. Her eyes widen she realized the full historical value of the device. "By the moon and stars! Everyone, you must have a look at this! This is an amazing archaeological find, I do hope we find the others safe so I can learn where this was discovered!" She allows the others to look at the watch and quickly finds the spellbook and as she glances upwards, she spots the piece of paper. "Someone boost me up there!" She points at the parchment way up high...
Upon reaching the last building inside the palisade, Momo reaches into her bag to retrieve "Okay Scuttles, search this building and bring me anything of interest." Momo sits gently on the floor of the cabin.
"This building hasn't been entered for three to four weeks."
"Oh wow Delia, you found an ancient pocket watch and a spellbook." Momo doesn't know much about magic. "Err, Nox, who don't you take a look at the book. Maybe you can make heads or tails of it."
"Someone boost me up there!" She points at the parchment way up high...
Momo looks over at Deth and Aenon, expecting one of the taller of the party members to assist Delia. Out of curiosity, Momo orders: "Scuttles, retrieve that paper on the beam and bring it to Delia." Momo points to Delia to let Scuttles know who 'Delia' is. I wonder if Scuttles can actually retrieve items...
Delia beams at Momo's brilliant idea. "That's a great idea, Momo." She puts her hand on Momo's shoulder smiles at her.
Nox takes a look at the arcane spell book. "I can tell there's a good number of spells here, some quite powerful! But, they won't do me any good, since I have never been able to learn spells that way. I could use them as scrolls, but that would destroy that particular spell every time I used the book. Quite a quandary.". Nox takes the spellbook, unless someone protests.
The construct quickly scampers p and retrieves the paper. You discover that the parchment is actually four sheets that have been folded together and tightly creased. When unfolded, it proves to be the Talmandor’s Bounty colony charter. This legal document declares the island and the colony to be under the protection of the nation of Andoran, outlines the colony’s relationship to the Bountiful Venture Company, and enumerates the rights and responsibilities of all colonists. It bears the sealed signature of three members of the People’s Council, representatives of the Bountiful Venture Company, and every colonist that came aboard the Liberty’s Herald.
You know these facts as part of the debriefing and disclosures given to all colonists, and in fact likely signed a similar document themselves before joining the colony. The document is important for historical and legal reasons but is not intrinsically valuable in itself; a duplicate charter remains in Almas.
This document should have been stored in the Government House , where it would be safe and Rayland Arkley would have access to it anytime he wanted.
The charter also doubles as a passenger manifest for the Liberty’s Herald and provides you the names of all 100 original colonists. On the document there are small check marks listed alongside the names of the colonists, but not the colony’s officials....
"Hmm.. Hendrake.. Could this book have any connection to the other magical stash we found by the bed marked U. H.?" Aenon ponders out loud.
Curious as to what the girls have dug out of the woodwork, Aenon moves up behind them and attempts to read over their shoulders.
Momo picks up and coos at the small mechanical critter "Who's a good Scuttles? Who's a good Scuttles? You are! You're such a good little Scuttles!" Momo cuddles the metal arachnid, placing a kiss on the top of its head, before carefully returning the creature to the top of her backpack.
"Hmm.. Hendrake.. Could this book have any connection to the other magical stash we found by the bed marked U. H.?" Aenon ponders out loud.
Aenon has the same idea I had. "What is Hendrake's first name? What other names on the Charter have the initials U.H?" Momo peers over Delia's shoulder at the original charter.
"Do you think the check marks are of people that have died?"
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Watching Momo once more shower the metal construct with love, Aenon can't hold back a snicker. "You know Momo. I thought you'd grow bored with that thing, but I guess I'll just have to come to terms with the fact that you're seriously weird." He says as kindly as he can.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Deth continues to peer outside while his friends search the building, although he is happy that the charter has been found. Having a thought he looks for signs of mice infestation. The fields are close by.
14 had his attention taken by the charter. He scans the names wanting to be sure that Uncle Nini was listed. Once he confirmed Nini was on the list with a check mark, he wasn't sure if he was more anxious or relieved at the thought. "Why were the superiors not 'checked' on the list? Maybe the checked ones have been taken, and the fewer officials were eliminated? It's quite a mystery," Nox says, taking off his ever present hat, and scratching his head.
Watching Momo once more shower the metal construct with love, Aenon can't hold back a snicker. "You know Momo. I thought you'd grow bored with that thing, but I guess I'll just have to come to terms with the fact that you're seriously weird." He says as kindly as he can.
Momo frowns in thought. "It feels weird not to praise something with an ability to listen and follow instruction... even it it doesn't seem to have conscious." Maybe if I show Scuttles enough love, it will become sentient. Momo knows it's wishful thinking, but it couldn't hurt to give the mechanical arachnid affection.
Delia frowns as she reads over the papers after realizing exactly what they were... "These marks really must have something to do with what is going on here." She ponders over everything for a few moments and a flood of possible explanations pours through her thoughts. "What if the colonists were being spied upon by the little device here and the barrels were a way to smuggle people out? That sounds ridiculous... what is going on here?! We need to finish our investigation of the site quickly and then ponder the rest. The others need to be warned."
"Wha?! Scuttles?! No way! He would never do something like that!" Momo looks taken aback. "I don't think - I mean - Uhh, Scuttles didn't have any memories until we rescued him!" Momo is trying to rationalize Scuttle's innocence in her mind.
Momo shifts the conversation away from her pet: "The barrels do seem a bit strange, though. Why not store them in the Food Building or Tool Shed?" Momo tries to open the gate (if closed.)
Cross-referencing this name with the charter, they find one of the colonists was named Una Hendrake and there is a mark next to her name.
You can find a group of mice living nearby, though they don't appear too receptive to your advances.
The south side of the palisade fence is the only finished side. A large gate set in the fence can be barred from within. The gate is open, however, and the large wooden bar leans against the fence. Beyond the gate is an unpaved road where homes have been built or are in various stages of construction.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Deth leaves some food for the mice. Obviously this may be a endeavor that might take some time. 'I'll try the calling a fox tomorrow' he thinks. Seeing that everyone is ready, he starts through the palisade and starts checking the homes on the east side of the unpaved road (A14).
"Let's check the homes here. Everyone be alert to clues of what may have happened."
After passing through the palisades, Aenon attempts to resume his hunt of the elusive barrels. (And the weird thing with the starshaped feet) Following the tracks, he tries not to stray too far from the others.
"Let's check the homes here. Everyone be alert to clues of what may have happened."
Momo nods. If the original colonists were dead from murder and giant bugs, they wouldn't have any use for the items inside their homes. Momo enters the first home to the left and proceeds to enter the next home, then the next, then the next, etc. She searches for weapons, food, and other precious commodities.
Momo will also search for personal effects for clues as to who may have lived in the houses.
Nox follows the others on their searches, looking for any clue that might yield some information.
Perception
Rows of small cottages line the crossroads of two streets formed by months of regular foot traffic. The scene is silent and still. The houses are recently built, but there is no sign of life or activity. Many of these simple homes have no proper shutters, and in some cases even lack doors. Nearby, once-cut grass has begun to regrow undisturbed. Gardens and plots of farmland behind some houses have begun to grow wild as weeds threaten to choke out the vegetables and herbs.
Where to next? You've lost track of the footprints but they couldn't have gone too far...
Momo suggests to the party that they check out the first farm they come to. "Look, a farm close to the palisade." Momo points Northeast towards the patch of tilled dirt.
Momo pulls out her newly acquired bow as she approaches the area. Any more baby bugs?
Deth stays close by. "There doesn't seem to be any clue as to what happened to the colonists in the homes." he remarks after they hit the first few homes.
"Look, a farm close to the palisade
Once Momo lets Deth know about the insects he suggests. "How about we stay out of the fields for now. Let's just systematically check all the houses until we're satisfied that no one here or needs to be rescued and convince ourselves that no stone has been left unturned in our search for clues."
"Fine by me, Deth. I've still not found any clue about Uncle Nini and those houses are the best places I can think to check out. And we could always bait the bugs with some of the stored food here. When they come out to investigate, we pick them off one by one."
Delia nods. "I think that sounds like a fine idea, Deth."
"Let's do it then. And everyone keep an eye out for edible berries."
Atop a sloping hill stands a solitary cottage built apart from the rest of the colony. A stone well has been built not far from the house’s front door. A large stone near the entrance is painted with the words “Levin Farm.” Just south of the cottage is a tilled vegetable patch that grows wild from neglect. From the outside, it seems there is nothing unusual about the house. It has a thatched roof, a single entrance with a working door, and a few shuttered windows.