Connor pauses and whistles for Whitetalon, "Take him down!"
The spriggan turns and stands his ground - growing to giant size as Whitetalon approaches.
;
;
;
Whitetalon shreds the spriggan and tears out his throat before he can raise his halberd.
Around you the keep falls silent.
"Well done, my friend. Circle around and let us know of others show up." Connor tosses Whitetalon a whole rabbit from his pack.
He leads the rest of the exploration of the keep.
The entire keep should now be revealed on Roll 20. The rooms have all been described.
"Hmm, probably shouldn't have killed them all. No one to interrogate, " Connor ponders a bit belatedly stroking the bears growing on his chin after days of travel.
"Let's scour the place for tracks that arent the sproggans and see if we can get a sense of what happened to the community. It bother me that there are no bodies. I think these creatures would've killed them and there would be blood, signs of a fight, residual corpses or something."
He spends deliberate time looking for tracks.
Ezekial and Connor find traces of spriggan tracks headed to the the town's two story inn - the Waterhorse.
Seres is able to deduce from the direction of the under water tunnel that it likely connects with the well in the keep's courtyard.
"Have we checked every building in town?"
"Did they escape during the assault?"
Connor attempts to determine the age of the tracks and goes to recheck the inn regardless.
Connor determines that the tracks are at least several days old.
"I think we might as well examine the Waterhorse Inn. We haven't been there yet, the tracks lead there... it's the next obvious clue," says Veronica.
After ensuring the entire keep is explored, he leads the party to the Inn.
The Waterhorse is a two-story inn that stands just off the village commons. A sign above the door depicts a rider clinging to the back of a madly galloping horse with a green mane and a fish’s tail extending from its hindquarters. The inn’s walls are painted a cheerful shade of yellow to complement the red shutters.
The first thing you notice upon approaching the front door of the inn is a single word hastily scratched into the wood of the front door in
Common — “NOMEN.”
"'Nomen'... does that mean anything to you guys?"
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"Girls are OK?"
Seres will peer through the window.
Seres sees a simple but well kept common room. He notes that the tables are set with rotting food. Within the common room he sees a single occupant - a giant-sized spriggan that stands silent and perfectly still. The fey is facing a paper-strewn table in the corner of the common room, one hand clutching a book.
Seres will quietly watch the frozen spriggan for another minute to be sure it isn't a trick, then he will back away and tell the others.
"There must be some clue here. Let's go in, but beware those papers."
"We need to talk to him. Figure out what's going on. Let's not surprise him, but we should cover the exits just in case."
"Find something of interest, there? Anything we can assist with?"
Seres enters with Connor, adding in the First Speech. "Do not consider violence. You are far from home."
The spriggan remains perfectly still as you enter. Seres and Connor both notice that a shimmering nimbus of amber surrounds the spriggan’s unmoving form.
"Huh," Seres marvels as he nears the immobilized spriggan. "As I suspected... the papers or book were trapped with a sepia snake sigil. The spriggan must have triggered it and gotten himself stuck."
He looks around the papers, trying to determine the subject.
"Well, when he is freed, we may have a prisoner to interrogate."
"Interesting. Let's bind the murderous bastard first. I'm sure we can find some chains at the blacksmith"
When Connor moves to bind the Spriggan he notes that the back of the spriggan’s skull is a shattered mess of blood and bone, though his face betrays no notice of this mortal wound.
Seres notices the books on the table have the titles Iobarian Prehistory, The Centaur Skyles of Central Casmaron, and The Untold Heritage of the Taldan Armies of Exploration.
Ezekial notes that the book being held by the Spriggan is titled Secrets of the Rashalka Mounds, by Ernst Gavinport.
Seres winces seeing the terrible wound. "Is he still alive?"
"It does appear mortal but if he isnt dead yet, there is a chance he could be healed. Someone want to give that a go as we bind him?"
"Of course," says Veronica, and prepares to heal the spriggan while Zeke brings back bindings.
The spriggan’s wound closes with Veronica’s healing. The spriggan remains silently transfixed on the tome as you bind him.
"The sigil should wear off soon. I wonder what smashed it from behind." He looks around the area.
Hey everyone, super sorry for being a literal ghost but I'm only a few weeks from graduating my degree and getting my registration as an RN so that's absorbing all my time lately. This is the first time I've remembered to even look at this site in god knows how long so just letting everyone know that I'm probably looking at being out of touch for a couple months+.
Seres knows that the sigil should wear off within the next twenty four hours.
In addition to the copious research material spread out in front of the stricken fey, Seres notes that the inn's first floor consists of the common room, a kitchen, a bathing chamber, store rooms, and a wing for the proprietor's family. The second floor consists of six guest rooms, all of which, save one, appear to have been unoccupied.
"Alright, let's camp here and keep this guy under watch. Let's finish searching the town then each take a room ... after we search the previously occupied one. Should use this time to rest up."
Ezekial finds that the occupied room contains more books and scholarly works. He notices that many of the books are authored by one Ervil Pendrod.
Ervil Pendrod is a renowned scholar and composer. Maestro Pendrod hails from Oppara’s Kitharodian Academy. He is known for his studies of the indigenous ethnicities of ancient Iobaria.
"I sure can use a rest," says Veronica. "Let's see if one of these rooms has a window that I can crack open to catch a breeze..."
The priestess is clearly looking for a rest after the sudden action of the fighting against the spriggans, but she also checks under the beds and in the closets... just in case... since people have been disappearing, after all.
"Evil Penrod? Great name ..." Connor raises a sarcastic eyebrow. "Think he may have been staying here or someone who really liked his line of work?"
Veronica finds nothing of interest when she searches the closets and under the beds. The night passes uneventfully.
In the morning, as you sit drinking coffee, the sigil binding the spriggan dispels - releasing the bound fey. The spriggan stares at the tome in front of it for a second before realizing that its hands and feet are bound. It then begins to howl and thrash - knocking the table and the assorted books to the ground. You notice that several letters and pieces of parchment paper with charcoal sketches fall from one of the books.
Seres holds up his hands and addresses the spriggan in the tongue of the First World. 'Iff'n yer ken me speakin', natter like'n or Taldan fer them.' He nods towards the humans.
'Shut yer gob. Yer kin've snuff'd it. They ain't be hearin' yer belting,' Seres adds with a grimace. 'Now wag yer chin and be tellin' us what ye did to the humans what lived 'ere.'