"Oh really...? Certainly like to hear what thought you've got. My team would need time if you've need for them. Myself, I've got naught but empty boxes in my itinerary." He looks at the sky, and then his armhair. "Dress for rain if you're goin out this afternoon."
"Enemier, yes." Norton smirks answering Green, "We cheliaxian experience very little freedom of speech, so we tend to allow us some freedom in speech."
"I understand your concerns, but we can asses their attidude while we bring them food, is a much better way to judge people than hitting with a stick. After we can decide if we want them as friends, or we are better off with them as foes."
"I reckon the lizards are more belligerent then you think, we found them fighting the gnomes, and when we were there angry and suspicious looks weren't spared, expecially from the younger ones. Supplies and equipment could, if not tilt them in to fighting, at least in being a better stronghold for us."
"I understand you have a lot on your plate right now, if you want, I can take care of the foreign policy while you concentrate on more pressing matters."
Furiel shows the gnomes his magic laboratory. "You have room here to expand, but magical and mechanical experiments will be conducted on all things. I was thinking we would need help with siege engines and equipment, so I have fellow gnomes we found working with the Stag Lord at work already. A very capable dwarf is in charge of the overall construction. You will find many earth children here."
Furiel takes the valuable ioun stone and gives instructions to have it sold and powerful war materials purchase: a Staff of Fire and two belts of giant strength.
"Sorry to break it to you, but there's a tiny crack in this... worth a fraction of what you might think. Don't worry, General, we'll get there."
"We've already been working with the Broadhammers, and we're taking Rillo and Bunyon on as unofficial apprentices. They have a good start."
*** *** ***
The sky is overcast as you ride from Stagfall.
The land directly northwest of Tuskwater Lake is fertile flood plain. There are several tiny rivulets - now dry with the past week of little rainfall, which snake all around a 1 by 3 mile swath of land. The narrow end faces the the beach and points like the indentation of a finger toward the distant scraggly woods.
It is just before noon when cool and warm buffets of wind begin to compete, and the clouds darken on the west horizon.
A slight sprinkle begins as the dark clouds reach overhead. Further to the west you see bright breaks in the rainclouds, so it may just be spotty rain for a while.
Further along the edge of Tuskwater, you see the remains of a cobblestone wall and foundation of a building. Stitched skins are draped over the dilapidated framework of the 20' by 30' ruined structure.
You do not immediately see anyone when you spot the ruined cobblestone structure - about 125 feet from your position.
"Master Sharpaxe, do you reckon those could be the ruins you are looking for?"
"Interesting. To be completely honest, I don't know exactly what I'm looking for...but I'd hope dwarven built stone would have lasted better than what I see from this range. Anyone else up for a closer look about with me?"
Rojeune pulls Sonechka and Furiel aside before you depart.
"From what I understand, the rightful claim to this cloak leans toward Furiel. However, since the magpie is a loaded symbol, I think it would be best for both sides if it were not worn by the General of Stagfall."
"I hope this will be a suitable replacement. They are crafted using the same process." She hands Furiel an Eagle Cape, then to Sonechka she gives a Magpie Cape... as well as a few feather tokens.
Sonechka gives Rojeune one of her chilly smiles. "I had been admiring this cape. The possibilities afforded by this magic are intriguing, both from a reconnaissance and a tactical standpoint." The raven haired witch quirks an inquisitive eyebrow at the Magpie leader. "I hadn't thought our conversation had reached so many ears. Your sources are very good. Thank you."
*****
The Green Man can't help but snort out a surprised laugh at Norton.
"Eh..."Enemier"? Is that how they talk in the courts of Cheliax?
I will freely admit that I liked the idea of trying to convert some people from his side to ours, and if the idea can be done then maybe we should.
But we will need more information, are there farmers? Are there soldiers we could use?
I doubt they would appreciate us recruiting them only to then banish them when we find out they are too morally corrupt to be allowed to stay..."
Sonechka nods at Green. "I fully support the idea of winning over Vesket's people by persuasion rather than by force. If we can show them they would be better off with us than with him then it might give us an advantage once things come to blows. But we must also be able to show them we can protect them. Food is all well and good but if Vesket is a threat to their lives they will not be likely to choose us over him. And we know too little about them at the moment. We can and should plan for the possibility, but there is always the chance that more violent action will be required."
"As for helping Ahn'gur'Frok...I certainly would not say no to helping potential allies, but I doubt they would want to raise a claw to help us fight, or enter a fight themselves."
Sonechka makes an equivocal gesture with her head. "I don't doubt Ahn'gur'frok's willingness to fight, but his tribe has been winnowed by war and by sickness. They have been running from Vesket's lizardfolk, not fighting them. Even if they would accept our gifts I doubt they would be able to defeat them. And I'm not convinced Ahn'gur'frok would be willing to accept gifts from us at this point. He as much as said we need to prove ourselves to him before he could consider us allies. A gift from someone you don't trust is likely to be looked on with distrust, if it's taken at all."
*****
"Interesting. To be completely honest, I don't know exactly what I'm looking for...but I'd hope dwarven built stone would have lasted better than what I see from this range. Anyone else up for a closer look about with me?"
Sonechka nods at Dolgrym. "I would be happy for a chance to stretch my legs." She whispers something to her pet raven and the bird launches into the sky to make a circle around the ruins.
"We are exploring, aren't we? So let's explore."
Glaza returns and says there were no threats visible... Only creatures are some swine carcasses on the far side, but there are areas under the animal skin tarp which are not visible without getting closer. The floor is "broken into a hole".
The sheltered part of the ruins looks like a simple farmhouse. The outlying crumbling walls likely once divided small garden areas or pens.
"Doewnt sound too awful dangerous. Let's go take a look see.". As the dwarf begins moving in, he casts Detect Magic, and scans his surroundings.
"Wait! If this is a shelter, someone might live here.
If we simply barge into someone's living space, we might end up having a fight where none is needed.
We should explore of course, but let's see if there is someone home first maybe?"
"I agree."
"Well then grand diplomat, I guess you may have a chance to practice your craft soon, assuming there is someone home of course."
Dismounting and joining Dolgrym, The Green Man call's out.
"Ho there, is there anyone home? We only wish to talk."
To show his honest intentions, The Green Man places his weapon on the ground and takes a step forward.
Sonechka follows the others as they approach the possible residence, whispering to Glaza to fly up and give a caw if it looked like someone was going to attack them. She keeps her newly acquired cape wrapped around her chest, the black feathers as dark as her hair but not as glossy.
She does not put her spear on the ground, instead carrying the crudely crafted troll's weapon like a staff, but even armed with her spear and thorn-wrapped gauntlets she hardly looks as threatening as Green or even Norton. The witch looks over at Dolgrym. "How old would you say this stonework is?"
Though only a portion of the cobblestone foundation and exterior wall remain, it looks like a standard Varisian-style rural home - common over the past 80-100 years (Wood frame with stone walls for much of the first floor exterior, and stucco above), particularly in areas prone to flooding.
It is difficult to say how long it ago it was built, but likely more than 20 years ago from the state of the mortar.
No one responds. From your position, none of you detect a living presence within or around the covered ruin.
Norton closes in on the house, and tries to give a look in without sepping inside.
"I am Norton Ambrosi, my companions and I come from the fort on the lake, we were riding by. Is anybody home?"
Furiel sends Rocky to investigate.
Sonechka spoke quietly, pitching her voice so that only the group would hear. "Green, can you see if you can locate any signs of recent habitation? We may be yelling at an empty building." Though she has no skill with finding tracks she turns her eye to finding other signs that someone might live here.
"Good idea, there should be some tracks here that might tell us more..."
While you approach and investigate, Rocky returns shaking his head - as much as he can with a nearly non-existent neck. To Furiel this means no viable "targets" inside.
On the far side of the building there is a pile of pig carcasses mostly covering two decomposing human bodies.
You find smallish tracks leading to and from this structure. The other direction is southwest - toward the center of the hex. The most recent are less than 24 hours old.
The footprints go up to a low portion of wall rather than the front doorway.
As you reach near enough to peer between stone wall and tarp, you smell a pungent bouquet of soil, manure, and fungus. The inside of the ruined structure is filled with a filthy rainbow of mushrooms and molds. The floor has mostly collapsed into the crawlspace, and stones have been placed to form a path throughout.
"What could have ahappened here? This place has been ruined. Can anyone tell how long those two have been here?"
the bodies appear to have been there 1 to 2 months
Sonechka shakes her head. "That explains where the residents are. We should see if there are any clues to the identities of their killers inside." She heads inside the farmhouse.
Furiel enters the house with his earthen bodyguard.
"I guess the way is clear."
Casting detect magic.
As Sonechka steps through the doorway, small dusty puffs appear at her feet - a fungus planted just inside the doorway.
You do not know whether they are harmful spores, but regardless, it appears she stepped away before being coated.
With a look around it appears further disruption of what grows here can be avoided with cautious movement.
"Not quite clear. Watch out for these." Sonechka points out the fungus and pulls up the neck of her new cape to cover her mouth and nose as she crouches down to look at the fungus in the doorway.
Blistered Angel contact poison which shuts down your immune system.
Looking around again, the fungus and molds you can identify are all poisonous.
The bowl-shaped collapsed floor - trisected by stone paths - is filled with soil, fungus, and broken furniture filled with soil and fungus. (Toppled cabinets, shelves and bureaus...)
Some patches of fungus are packed with clumps of manure, offal, or dessicated detritus.
"So...mushrooms near the doorway? Are they dangerous?
There are tracks here, less than 24 hours old, and they both leave and enter via this wall over here.
I can't help but wonder if...uh...the mushrooms were planted at the door as a trap, because whoever left seem to have known to avoid them."
Sonechka backs away from the fungus, a grimace on her face. "That would be my guess. That is blistered angel. It shuts down your immune system, and all it needs is skin contact to get into your system. Nasty stuff." She looks at the room full of various fungus and molds. "It almost looks cultivated. Like someone is tending it."
"Hmmm, so you are saying my guess might be right? Well, I have the tracks, and they are fresh enough that I could follow them if we want to."
Little tracks, a greenhouse for mushrooms. Seems the doing of little people. norton asks himself if that is some kind of cultivation, or maybe some clensing ritual for human tainted places.
"Whoever is cultivating the mushrooms obviously didn't care to bury the two. It'd be worth tracking them down and teaching them a lesson about respect. Of course, we might find that they actually killed teh two, and we should bring them to justice, if so."
The Green Man walks over to the low wall where the tracks ended, curiously he peers over, trying to determine if there is a path one can walk to avoid the mushrooms and look a little closer at the interior of the building.
"There might be something inside that will tell us more, but I won't risk it needlessly.
Especially not when we can just follow the person who has been here instead."
Sonechka nods at Green. "We can always come back. This place isn't going anywhere."
Furiel directs Rocky to investigate the tarp. He will tunnel past the shrooms.
"Right, so once Furiel's elemental has had a look, we'll saddle up and follow the tracks again.
They are going towards Southwest, the centre of this area of our map."
The elemental returns empty-handed. Overall, you find nothing which goes against your assumptions regarding this location.
You begin to follow the trail in the drizzling rain.
The rain comes in brief light bursts as Green follows the tracks. A little under an hour later, you see the sunlight passing through the breaking clouds across the landscape ahead. There is a slight ridge about a half-mile from the edge of the lake - parallel to the shore. There is an oak two story building on the ridge. Five "harrower-style" carriages (firmly secured in undergrowth) sit on either side.
The footprints lead toward these structures.
The area between the ridge and the lake is filled with gnarled and blistered dark leafless trees. Most are fairly small, but fat-trunked. One tree in the center looks like five grown together - at least 20 feet wide.
Glaza leads you to a vantage point fairly well concealed about 250 feet from both woods and structures.
Lingering much closer would eventually get you spotted... should that be a concern.
"Sooooo, how do we want to handle this?
We don't know how many people there may be, or if they are hostile or not.
If there is a connection between the dead bodies in the ruins, then there is a good chance we might end up in combat down there.
But if we go in sneaky and they are NOT hostile, we might provoke them into violence...."
"If someone is provoked into violence because someone is cautious, then they are probably bad news anyway. Norton can go first and try to talk with them if they are a mind to listen. With our sneaky guy departed, we might as well go in fast and noisy."
"Hmmm, did he tell anyone why he left? I never had a chance to talk much to him, and he did not seem all that friendly..."
The Green Man rubs his jaw for a moment, thinking and postulating.
Eventually he shrugs, deeming the answer to his question unimportant at the moment.
"But it is true, at the moment we may not be too high on stealth, so maybe we should just approach openly?"
"I can go in, and assess the situation. If they are hostile, I think I can handle myself untill reinforcements come."
"I'm not good at sneaking. If scouting is to be done, I'd best hang back until needed. It'd be nice if the rest of us weren't needed," the dwarf whispers with a laugh.
"Well, I think we shall do it like this.
Norton will approach openly and attempt to assess, I will hang back, ostentatiously to care for our horses but giving me an excuse to get a bit closer.
The rest of you will find a position with good oversight, so you can see and be ready to offer support if things go haywire.
Since all three of you are spell casters, I will assume you each have something you can throw at range if need be."