The giant tree at the center of the village is easy to find. As you traverse the town, you do notice a few things. First, the townsfolk all wear matching orange tunics and slacks with yellowish-orange scarves and belts. A few pockets of the village smell awful, much like rotten vegetables. And there seem to be no children about.
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Thracius wanders through the village, his elven eyes scanning for signs of disturbance in this strange place, as an Elf he is aware of the rareness of children in his own culture, but to a village of humans? The lack of gleeful laughter was unnerving.
"First we see small foot prints to a used altar and now no children, I hope I am wrong in my current though process..." he whispers to his companions when they are out of earshot.
At the base of the tree, Thracius whispers a few arcane words in his mother tongue, before examining the tree with simple divination.
[ooc]Cast Detect Magic, in case their are any auras on the tree:
You notice the roots of the tree are afflicted with a blight, though the branches and trunk are not. The tree will not survive another decade at this rate.
Thracius sees no magic on the tree. Eleoheim thinks that villagers wouldn't mind talking to them but they don't take the initiative to.
"All my life, enjoying our little village? What brings you here stranger?"
"What's there to look into? Robori saved us from the mana storm. When Robori saved us, big trees with white bark and yellow leaves appeared in the sky and formed a shield. I’ve never seen trees like that. The storm rolled right over them!"
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Unable to sense any lingering magic, Thracius does examine the roots and shows concern at the blight evident there, wishing he could contact his kin to see if they could assist. Following Jaxal as he speaks to the locals he nods at their words.
"Fascinating, my own connections with the Magic of the woodlands is deep, I have never heard the like. Has Robari grown here long? Was the village founded due to their presence?"
"Robori has protected our town for only a few generations. Zuri, our current high priestess is the granddaughter of our first ever high priest of Robori."
The villager's shoulder's stiffen as Eleo's question. “We mind our own. We provide free food and shelter to those that need it. We tend to our garden and we raise our children right, away from the corrupting influences of the outside world.”
"Yes, of course. Though I thought I saw you all coming from the temple. Didn't you speak to her while you were there?"
The party goes back to the temple and high priestess Zuri greets you yet again. "How can I help you?"
"What do you mean? Explain. What is causing it?" She says with a little alarm.
"It has never been that way before so I do not believe so."
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Theacius looks concerned as he mulls over the facts they have found and speaks up quietly to the priestess, unable to be sure about what they have witnessed.
"Rumble indeed speaks the truth, the roots seem to be affected by Blight, common affliction to the trees of Kyonin, though the trunk was free from its curse. There was no magic lingering from the blight so I am unsure as to the cause thus far, but Robari has a few decades at most, unless the aource is found and treated.
We have seen warped Gnolls in the hills here, I wonder if dark magic was not the cause."
"Well if you can find out what is wrong, we would be most grateful. Robori would reward you for sure! So please find out."
"You can ask around though no one else has noticed anything wrong."
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Finding no further information, Eleoheim continues asking the villager a question.
"Are there other places in town you would recommend we visit? I am unfamiliar with this part of the world, and am interested to know more. Or perhaps there is a prominent villager you think would be good to speak with?"
"You can speak to Kato the weaver if you wish. He and his family
are very friendly. Yes, we wear simple clothing to honor Robori."
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Thracius nods to the priestess, unable to offer any more insight into their poisoned Tree, still finding it strange that no children grace the village, Thracius follows Belinda through the village. Looking down at their own attire, primarily green and embroidered in silver he shrugs elegantly.
"Their High priestess has not scorned us so far for what we wear so I assume we are fine. Our... Comapnion's journal makes out the villagers to be strange, but despite their faith in a tree and lack of children I find them to be almost pleasant."
Three sets of orange robes hang from the clothesline outside of this simple cottage. Two of them are sized for adults, while the other one is sized for a child. The orange flag on this house’s message box is raised. Orange curtains cover all of the windows. Someone knocks on the door and you are greeted by a man in simple clothing. "Greetings, you must be the outsiders I've heard much about. Come in. Tell me, what brings you to my home?" The man shows you in and a woman brings you glasses of a light reddish juice.
There is a bat roosting in the rafters.
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"Hello, I'm Belinda" says Belinda, extending her hand.
"We were hoping you could tell us about our missing friend. Anything you know may be of help to us.."
She sits and gazes around the room, her eyes finally landing on the bat in the ceiling.
"Are there many bats in this area?" she asks, curiously piqued.
"There is so much to learn. I was wondering about the orange dye as well, it seems a popular colour in the town.."
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Thracius gratefully accepts the offered beverage and takes a seat as offered, slowly sipping as they look around the room. The child clothing outside was the first sign of children living in this odd village and the Wizard was intrigued, but did not wish to upset anything by asking that until their companions had found more.
"Well met. Who is your missing friend? There are plenty of caves for bats to dwell in. If you are speaking of Bruce, he is a family pet. Orange is a color of Robori."
You hear the sound of a door being edged open and you see a small pair of eyes look at you from a nearby room.
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"Our friend is Amenira, she was living her for a few months and then vanished. We were hoping to track her down."
She admires the cloth, cracking a smile as she sees the child look out of the nearby room. She carefully doesn't bring it to the attention of the parents though.
"Orange is a lovely colour. Why is it the colour of Robori? I've seen many leaves turn this type of colour in Autumn..." she asks.
Looking up she smiles and waves to Bruce.
"Ah. She lives in the painted house, though she hasn't been around for a while. She makes toys for all the children. She’s an outsider, but she dresses like one of us. If she would convert to Robori, maybe she could join us someday. She has been gone for two months now, and people are starting to worry about her. No one remembers her saying anything about being gone for longer than her usual trips back to Alkenstar to send letters to her family. Orange is a humble color without the flash of the other colors much how we should be humble before Robori."
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Belinda smiles, though directs that as much to the hidden child as she does the parents.
"We had a quick look at the pained house last night, but needed to head back before curfew. Maybe we should look at it again. "
She pauses, trying to find a tactful way to change the subject.
"Tell me, do all the folk in Mercy get along.... I thought I saw one of the blacksmiths and carpenters exchanging words earlier.."
"Of course we do. What do you mean?"
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Spying the hiding eyes beyond the door, Thracius is glad to see more signs of children here, to have your children hide as strangers visit town is a goos precaution after all. Seeing his companions notice and choose not to mention it, Thracius decides to keep quiet too before turning to the weavers.
"What did you see of the Mana storm not long ago? I hear Robari summoned trees to prevent it hitting the town?"
"We all work in harmony here so we don't charge for our goods. My wife can take your measurements and I can start on it tonight if you wish. We saw the storm coming towards the town, but our faith in Robori protected us from it and it washed over us harmlessly."
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"Thank you so much for your time, and I for one would love an orange tunic. Something to remember Mercy by. Do you let outsiders pay?" she gushes.
After standing she tries to pass the door with the children behind it on the way out.
Why would they hide? Fear? Or are they being held against their will?
"We won't turn down a donation." Kato smiles.
You notice that what little you can see of the little girl is covered in plantlike growths.
"We have children. We just prefer to keep them away from outside influences, no offense. It's for their own good."