"Oh, well, it's locked, but I can let you in," Lelywn says, proceeding to do so. "There haven't been any services since Trilliss disappeared."
Tristain will put off posing until a better time, going the rabble in the chapel.
"What happens if no one else knows us? Then maybe we need to start again? Start all over?"
"Starting over isn't horrible, though our 'birth' was a bit rough." Kyffin is glad for Lelywn's keys. "Thanks."
He'll head into the church and give it a careful search. He's pretty much just looking for the priestess and, presuming she's not still here in some corner or other, signs of a struggle - any leads at all really.
There are no signs of the priestess there, nor signs of a struggle.
Tristain enters the chapel and looks around, hoping that the place seems familiar.
Perception
"I don't remember any of this. Do I?"
"Well, she's certainly not here. Let's go see these Sleepless Detectives, if they're not napping, and learn what we can. Still no wands..." he shrugs and prepares to head out to the detective agency.
Albert strolls around the place, looking for anything that's amiss.
"Ain't nothing looking odd to me."
Despite the fact that the place does not seem familiar to Tristain, he's able to find what he assumes was the priestess' office, where he finds a number of items that seem like they would be magic and which do, in fact, radiate magic when he checks.
Wand of cure light wounds (37 charges)
Wand of cure light wounds (48 charges).
Scroll of bless.
Scroll of remove paralysis.
Potion of haste.
oil of magic weapon.
Potion of eagle's splendor.
Potion of resist energy (cold).
Potion of cat's grace.
Potion of bull's strength.
Finding magics, Tristain takes a moment to identify them, but does *NOT* take any of them.
Spellcraft - DC16
Spellcraft - DC16
Tristain casts Read Magic to ID the scrolls.
Spellcraft - DC20
Spellcraft - DC16
Spellcraft - DC18
Spellcraft - DC18
Spellcraft - DC18
Spellcraft - DC18
"Well, if and when we need to buy wands, we can leave money here. But I don't see a need for it yet."
Tristain looks around a bit more, before deciding that there isn't much more for him here.
"Uh, now where?"
Kyffin nods as Tristain leaves the goods there. "Yes, let's find the priestess first before we dip in to any of this. Bad luck to steal from a church, and leaving some money out in the open makes me nervous too." he shrugs as she's found to be not here.
He thanks the artist, and watches to make sure he locks up the church again. "Let's press on." he suggests.
He'll wander about the town, trying to get a feel for it. "We'll hunt the witch tomorrow, yes?" he asks the group.
"Aye, witch hunts. Never anything bad happen with those." Heinrich agrees with complete sincerity.
You spend the rest of the day wandering around the village, which seems a dreary place above and beyond the weather. Those residents who bother to look up tend to have a bleak expression on their face, though whether that's because of your presence or not is hard to discern.
As you wander, you spot these places of note ; several buildings also seem to have the strange, disturbing murals that clearly were the source of the angry crowd you dispersed outside Lelwyn's studio:
Binter’s Smithy: The center of Thrushmoor’s tiny dwarven community, the workshop is run by Kletta Binter. Binter is more inclined toward creative handicraft rather than the noble (and lucrative) art of weaponsmithing. For this reason, she produces quaint ornaments such as lamps made from old copper pots and vases created with scrapped lead tiles, which she displays on the lawn in front of the workshop.
Builders’ Hall: This sturdy and elegant two-story edifice appears to house the skilled builders of Thrushmoor.
Depository: This large building is used by the population of Thrushmoor to store coal and lumber, both for retail selling to the population and for wholesale trade. Annexed to the depository is Thrushmoor’s icehouse, a well-insulated, partially interred shed, where large blocks of frozen freshwater from Lake Encarthan are packed tight during the winter.
Farmer’s Square: This series of buildings in eastern Thrushmoor houses a granary, a bakery, and an ox mill run by the community as a whole.
Fish Market: It now holds the stalls of three fishmongers’ families. The atrium shared by the stalls is illuminated by an amber-colored crystal lantern.
Fort Hailcourse: The seat of Thrushmoor’s military garrison and of the town’s magistrate, the building stands on the eastern crest of the double hillock at the north edge of town.
Gibbet: Perched on a tiny headland on the lake’s shore, a wooden scaffold supports the town gallows. A tight metal cage hangs as a sort of counterweight to the gallows.
Healer’s House: This modest home also functions as the workshop and clinic of the town’s alchemist, Sentilar Ruoy. The aging halfling provides healing and other alchemical elixirs and tinctures to townsfolk.
Iris Hill: The residence of the Lowls family, Iris Hill stands atop a hill on the northwestern edge of town.
Old Chapel: A long-abandoned temple of Pharasma at the end of a long path to the northeast of town.
Smokehouse: A business for preserving fish pulled from the bountiful waters in the lake and nearby reservoirs.
The Stain: A tap house.
"We'll hunt the witch tomorrow, yes?" he asks the group.
Tristain stops walking. He looks at Kyffin.
"Why? Why do we care about the witch? Why don't we go visit Lowls and see if he remember us or something?" Tristain asks, wondering why it was up to them to hunt witches.
"Frankly, I don't care either, but Lowls is supposed to be out of town, so I don't think we'll be able to see him. If you want to trudge up to his place, we can do that in the morning, but I think it'll be a waste of time, same as the witch."
"Besides, the others agreed to go and it may be where the priestess went/is hiding." he looks to the others for their thoughts on what to do next.
Tenebrynn adds after Kyffin explains, "Plus, if we're so unliked already, maybe helping the town solve the witch problem, whether really a witch or not, will make them like us and offer to help us get to Lowls." She says this as a corked bottle slips into her magical bag.
Tenebrynn can't help herself and, probably unknowingly even, pockets the oil of magic weapon. =)
"I say we hunt down this so called witch. Likely just a cutthroat robbing people and throwing them in the bog, but still an evil we should squash. Ain't right for whatever it is to be preying upon these townfolks."
After exploring for a bit, you eventually make your way back to the Silver Wagon and, after a meal, find your way to your beds. You wake in the morning.
It's like you're a kender!
Kyffin sleeps soundly and dreamlessly for the first time in a while, which is nice. He awakes somewhat refreshed, and performs his morning obligations. He hopes that today some things may be made clearer, but he doesn't hold out much hope, for that hope.
At breakfast with the group, he doesn't see the point of another meeting with the woman this soon. "She'll probably just disrespect us some more. C'mon, let's go see this Toli person." he says without much gusto.
Tristain seems very disinclined to pursue the witch. "It doesn't make any sense. Are we going to pursue every rumor and superstition? Nah...I'd rather find out if someone knows me. If not, I doubt traipsing about the swamps looking for a witch is going to help anything."
"She'll probably just disrespect us some more. C'mon, let's go see this Toli person."
Tristain declines to go with.
"Instead, I'll continue to ask around town. I think I'm going to go visit the Healer Sentilar. Healers sometimes know things...and if we were injured or sick, we might have visited in the past. And then maybe I'll go sit for that portrait. I've never posed before...I don't think. I...I would like to start my new life with a solid picture of who I am."
Tristain eats a bit more breakfast.
"Maybe you'll go visit Toli and we'll meet up after I see the Healer and we discuss from there?"
Tenebrynn nods brightly at Kyffin's suggestion, her hair wafting around as if in some unfelt breeze. "Sure. Cesadia said he was a fisherman, right? So we'll start by the lake?" She then turns to Tristain, "Do you not like Winter? The person, not the season. She helped us a lot. Cesadia is her boss. Clearing up this problem, whether a real witch or not, will shine well on Winter. Now that I mention it though, Winter's a Pharasmin, isn't she? She'll probably want to know the priestess here's gone missing." Her cheerfulness at the thought of exploring the lake and speaking with interesting fisherfolk dims at the thought of disappointing and worrying Winter with more troubles.
Tristain ponders his day.
Heinrich sniffles, feeling worse by the day.
"Hrm. Heinrich doesn't look good. Let's stop by the healers hut first, but after that... whatever. You want to go off on your own, fine, go. I don't think we'll learn anything from the witch either, but it's the only thing I see to do right now other than blindly wandering around town asking people if they know me."
He spits on the ground, "I'm not that desperate yet. Let's go to the healer. Maybe they've got a wand we can buy." He stomps off in that direction, assuming the rest of the group is following along. If not, he presses on anyway in his anger.
Heinrich sniffles, feeling worse by the day.
With Kyffin in tow, Tristain heads to the healers.
As you make your way to the Healing House, you're interrupted by a loud cry.
"Kyffin? Oi, Kyff! That you, mate? I haven't seen you in a right shake! Where you been, eh?"
The man who's calling out starts moving in your direction.
Kyffin instinctively puts his hand on his blade and eyes the man carefully. Assuming he does not recognize him he replies, "Keep your distance mate. I've had a bit of an accident, and do not remember you. Too many have come for me in the interim to trust anyone fully, so just take it easy and let's chat."
Keeping some distance between them, he continues, "How do you know me?"
"Accident? That's horrible, mate. Ol’ Meb said that you got shipped off to Briarstone Asylum, but he’s always making up stories about folks, so I assumed he was just taking the piss. Oi, we were friends, you know? No memory? Is there anything I can do to help?"
"I was send to the Asylum! I think it was a job, but it's possible that a job messed me up and put me in there first. Hard to know."
"You wanna help? Tell me about who I was before, and what was the last thing you saw me doing?"
He's not sure if he can trust this man, but he's willing to hear his story. He turns to the others, "I'll catch up if you don't wanna wait."
"Last thing I saw you doing? Oi, you was poking around Pier 19, you was, you and your other friends here," says the man, who at some point during the conversation (re)introduces himself as Keldrin Mon. It looked like you were stuffing something up underneath the dock. That’s a pretty good place for safekeeping if you knew you were going to leave town for a few days, I guess. Don't tell me about the Asylum. Don't want to know any details! Anyway, everyone’s still scared of that pier, right?, after that creature melted Jano, Mernil, and Keyrn a few years ago, so no one was going to go poking around your stuff.[/b]
"Who you were before? You was Kyffin, right? Worked for the Count, doing stuff for him. I didn't ask too closely. I heard he left town just before you turned back up. So you're not still working for him, then? Makes sense, I guess: There's new people at Iris Hill. Some of them are pretty creepy; certainly not from around here. Lots of people not from around here seem to be around here now, come to think of it. Those nobles ... Probably has something to do with wherever the Count got hisself off to.”
--
You make the rest of your way to the Healing House without interruption. Entering, you find a small lobby, where a handful of people -- including a couple children -- wait. They're being tended to by an aging halfling, a fringe of white hair around his otherwise bald pate. He keeps up a muttering commentary that you can barely make out, something about being busy now that that charlatan priestess with her "faith-based cures" having disappeared, and how science is clearly more reliable.
Finally, he turns to you, his eyes widening at Heinrich's pallor.
"Well, it's clear to see what you need. Got some sort of sickness, don't you. Come along, come along, let's see what we can do for you. And the rest of you? Just making sure he got here OK, or do you need my services as well?"
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"Yeah, that sounds right, ah, Keldrin. At least it syncs with some of what I've already learned. Look, I don't mean to be disrespectful, but I still don't remember you so I gotta keep things close to my chest. You seem like you're trying to help though, and I do appreciate it."
"I'd keep back from that pier though. We got into some hairy s$~% at the Asylum, and it sounds like it started before that. Keep your head down, and have a beer, or three, on me!" He flips the man a few gold by way of thanks, and apology. "When I get my memory back, we'll have a beer together, and laugh about all this!"
He quickly catches up with the others, and shares with them what the man told him. "We should check out that pier after this. Might be some clues there for us - or at least some useful gear."
When they reach the healers he mumbles, "Dunno if you have anything for memory loss, but if so, we sure could use it."
"But Heinrich here is sick, and should be tended to first. We have some cash."
"Oi, thanks, mate! Y'didn't need to do that, but I'm not going to complain!"
--
"Excellent," the halfling -- Sentilar Ruoy -- says. "I certainly won't be working for free."
FFS, yes. I totally agree, but I've posted that both in and out of character here so we can discuss and try to find a way forward. I get that this part is really frustrating.
No, you're not the only one who feels this way, we need better posts and pushes if we're going to keep this AP going. To not post or post empty doesn't help.
I want to play and enjoy this game. I want you to enjoy the game. But that means you need to participate and push and react. I don't like feeling like others aren't contributing and we're waiting on them to do something...anything.
Blerg. I'm going to help Kyffin chase down this lead. I hope you will too.
Tristain freezes as Kyffin is accosted, and slowly moves behind the big man. His eyes expand with worry.
Worked for the Count? I think we knew that. Didn't we?
Know (local) - Keldrin Mon
Know (local) - Iris Hill
* * *
"Well, it's clear to see what you need."
Tristain gathers his courage to speak to the halfling.
"Excuse me, Mr. Sentilar, sir? Can I ask you a question before you help my friend Heinrich? Do you...do you recognize any of us?" Tristain points to Kyffin, then Tenebrynn, then Al, then himself. "We kind of lost our minds. Our memories...and we were hoping you knew any of us."
Tristain has no recollection of Keldrin.
Iris Hill is the residence of the Lowls for many, many years. It stands atop a hill on the northwestern edge of town. Although it has fallen into a state of disrepair, the manor and its annexed buildings are by far the most impressive civilian structures within Thrushmoor.
--
The halfling scratches his head, as he looks over you.
"I'm sorry, lad, I can't say that I do recognize any of you," he says. "A couple of you maybe look familiar, but you know you big folk all look a bit alike. I can check my records -- one has to keep good data, you know..."
Heinrich grumbles to himself, out loud. "Apparently I start bar brawls and Kyffin makes friends with halflings and Counts. Excellent. I shall add that to the list of things I do not know." He sneezes loudly and sniffles, acting sicker than he probably is.
"Yes, please, I have contracted some form of illness, possibly from following too closely to these people. Goodness knows where they come from, what strange illnesses they carry. Also, I am shivering with clumsiness and weakness in the joints. I would very much like to feel better again, please!" Heinrich submits to any examination necessary and tries to be civil, but his glowing personality leads him to grumbling and snark.
"The pier, or this Irish House, I think. Perhaps there are records of us there, if Kyffin worked for the owner, ya?"
Albert creaks along with the group as he complains about his knees and other joints. "Probably best we didn't go after 'the witch' right now anyways, I need another day of resting my bones."
At the healer's hut, Albert ignores the halflings complaints on faith baed cures and offers his healing services as trade for curing Heinrich. "If you would trust Erastil to tend your wards, I would be happy to trade my healing services for your efforts to cure my friend here?"
Kyffin feels good about what they learned of Keldrin. He thanks Tristain for looking into it.
At the healers, he asks, after Heinrich is tended to, "I don't suppose you have a wand of cure light wounds you'd like to sell? We went to the church, but the priestess is out just now."
When Albert offers to trade, he adds to the pile, "Sure, I have some curing as well if it'll help."
vs DC 10
While Kyffin is chatting with Keldrin, Tenebrynn pipes up, "Oh, you wouldn't know where we can find Toli, do you? Toli Remsatter?" She stumbles a bit over the name and its unfamiliarity.
Tristain is disappointed at not being recognized, but still the trip to the Healer has brought some merit: Heinrich is being looked at and Kyffin found an old friend. Both of these are good things.
Having lead this successful...uh...success, Tristain will follow the crew to the pier and to find Toli.
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The halfling harrumphs at Albert's offer.
"As if I would trust your faith-based medicine. Science, old man!" he snaps. "Science is the true answer to what ails us. Mix the proper amount of ginger and dragonroot and you'll chase away a cold in no time. Let's see your dirty special touch do that!
"As for wands, what part of your dogmatic drivel is blocking your ears? I deal in potions, mixed with excruciating detail. I see your sick friend here as vials that indicate he does, but as for the rest of you, clearly I can't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses... You, I can do nothing for. Him, I can teach how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death. The rest of you can stick with your foolish wand-waving."
At Tenebrynn's question, he scratches his head.
"Fisherman, I think? He's come in a few times, though not often. The lake air breeds hardy folk. You can probably find him down at the docks," he says.
"Ah, thank you. Much improved. Thank you." he says tersely, the color returning to his cheeks. Turning to Tristain, he harumphs. "No one remembers you, probably because you are the sort to keep your nose in a damnable corner, man and make no impression on anyone. probably best they don't recall you."
Hearing the virtues of alchemy extolled so adroitly, Heinrich nods vigorously. "Indeed, sir, indeed! I see you are a brother in the art! Shall we speak of formula and effects, sir?" Heinrich greedily pulls his battered formula book from his pocket and begins to compare notes with the wise and not at all greasy-haired halfling potions master.
"Science sounds very interesting! Can I learn too?" Tenebrynn pokes her head up from under Heinrich's elbow to catch a glimpse of his formula book, her eyes wide with ignorance. "Oh! What's that shape mean?" As she shuffles around to look at more of the sketches and equations, her hair continually wafts across the brusque alchemist's face, no matter how he twists his head to escape it.
Kyffin shrugs when his offer of magics and Alberts healing are spurned. Science huh? It'll never catch on...
He'll look for somewhere to slouch and wait patiently for the others. When the group is ready to go he suggests, "Docks? See what our package is and look for Toli?"
Albert says a short prayer as he presses a rough hand against Heinrich's shoulder.
"Let's check out those docks, a few things got me curious about them"
Tristain agrees with the docks after others are done sciencing. He gets science, he likes science, but he also acknowledges that sometimes science breaks down in the face of crying doors and rivers of blood...somethings don't make sense.
"Oh?" the halfling replies to his fellow man of science. "Let's see? Oh, not bad. I can see you're more of a dabbler. But this one would be far more effective if you grate the root instead of try to juice it. The fiber adds duration. I have patients now, but you should come back later and I can see if I can show you anything."
You make your way back toward the docks, near where you first landed in the village, as the rain picks up. It takes about half an hour -- during which the weather turns from gloomy to a heavy rain -- but you've eventually able to find Toli Remsmatter huddling under his rain cloak. He peers owlishly at you as you approach.
"Unforutnately I don't have the coin now, but I might be back, when things have calmed somewhat," Heinrich looks longingly at the formula book. "But I am happy to have met a fellow traveler on the road to truth." He leans in conspiratorially and pitches his voice quieter. "These people.. they have no such soul for the great work."
Bidding farewell to Sentilar, Heinrich thanks Al for the touch of renewal. "Ah, that does feel better. I think I shall simply need a night's rest before I am myself wholly, yes? Now, the docks? Smelly places, full of fish. But if we must..."