Sensing the implied question, your contact puts down his glass and replies, "Agent Kryzosiak at your service". Reaching across the table, he offers 'Pellius' a hand to shake...
At Briana's question, he talks about the fact that the old gods still have power in the wilds... and even the gods that she would recognise are worshipped in more 'traditional' manners, "You are a long way from the big city now Miss - if you are lucky, you probably won't have cause to deal with the folk upriver too much... 'xecpt at Ravenmoor, I guess. That flea-bitten town's about halfway along your route back to the Stairs... hundred miles or so upriver - you are going to want to stop there for provisions and, who knows, maybe they'll know something about Mr Kyle... Maybe he settled down with a nice farm lass...", he smirks at his last statement...
Joanna's eyes narrow slightly at the man's smirk.
So this is what the Consortium is like. Glad I found the Pathfinders instead.
As Briana and Agent Kryzosiak talk, Teldon studies Mr. Kyle's likeness then carefully rolls it up and stowes it in his pack.
Having downed a second glass of wine, Agent Kryzosiak makes his apologies and stands to leave, "It has been a pleasure to meet you Mr Crispin, I wish you luck in your endeavours and your search for Mr Kyle - I shall be moving on after the festival so we won't meet again. You want my advice? The rains are going to settle in soon enough...head north whilst the weather holds", and then, reiterating his thoughts on the customs in the wilds, "...and please, keep your wits about you as you head upriver"
"Thank you, and safe travels to you," Teldon answers the leaving agent.
Once Kryzosiak is gone Teldon orders a fairly extravagant dinner for the group including meat and fish, fresh bread with butter and jam, a potato and parsnip hash, and several varieties of roasted vegetables (plus a saucer of cream and some meat for Rowenna). "Eat well, everyone. It isn't healthy to live only on trail rations for too long, so it's important that we all take in some good food while we have the chance..." His business in town now completed, he joins the others in enjoying some wine as well. When all have eaten their fill and the conversation begins to wane he kisses Briana's hand and asks, "Shall we turn in for the night?"
This man was quite unpleasant, even if I can't say what I dislike precisely in him.
Arsith dines and takes just one glass of wine, chatting amiably with the other Pathfinders, trying to know them more
After toasting the Aspis agent, Zee remains mostly silent for the encounter. After his departure, she lowers her voice and leans in closer to her friends. "Our contact's family runs an import-export business in Magnimar. The eldest son was suspected of using the family business to smuggle pesh and other contraband, and later he 'disappeared.' Rumor has it that he crossed the Sczarni and they put an end to him. I don't recall the man's first name, but perhaps he hasn't been fed to swamp barracudas, and instead joined the Consortium. Either way, I'd rather avoid him now that we have the information we needed."
Zee agrees with Teldon's recommendation to have a good, hot meal tonight and to enjoy sleeping in a bed.
"The Storval Stairs are still many days' ride ahead, and only the village of Ravenmoor lies on our route. Ravenmoor... it has acquired a poor reputation among my people, and caravans tend to avoid it. Rumor has it that the people of Ravenmoor are not particularly hospitable to strangers, and don't want outsiders to spend the night in their village."
"He's evil," Joanna says quietly at Arsith's question. When Ziomarra mentions the Kryzosiaks' company, Joanna wishes that she'd been more in the know like her father. He probably would have picked up on that and the going-ons with the family.
Though she doesn't drink any of the wine, she does easily eat the most, putting away as much food as some big burly brute of a man. One has to wonder how the young woman stays so small considering how much she tends to eat.
When Zee begins to talk about Ravenmoor, Joanna begins to look worried.
"Why would they not want visitors? They are the ones that bring in coin and trade. It doesn't make sense."
When Things begin to wind down for the evening, she turns to Arsith, Nalathi, and Ziomarra.
"So, I think we know who those two are sharing a room with, should we stick with what we've been doing or do you want to mix things up?"
The night passes without much disturbance - the comparative luxury of a bed instead of a cot, bedroll and tent is, at least for one night, bliss. At some point during the night, there is a loud explosion that wakes everyone up yet it is only someone being overexuberant and letting off fireworks.
The morning comes around soon enough and you wake to find a warm autumnal day greeting you... Somehow the town is a lot less vibrant in the morning - almost as if the entire town is struggling beneath a hangover. Indeed, the barkeeper, taking your breakfast order mutters something about 'it'll be like this for the next damned week... Partying all night and then slow, slow, slow during the day'
In the morning, while Briana performs her rituals, Teldon heads out to run a few quick errands. He restocks the group's provisions, drafts a letter to Lady Heidmarch alerting her to the presence of the Derro and hires a courier to deliver it, and buys a small bundle of wild flowers from a young girl selling them in the street.
Returning to the inn, he grabs breakfast for three and delivers it to his room along with the flowers.
With your business in Galduria complete and no further leads on Elias Kyle, your stay in the town ends. Passing through the northern gate, your route takes you past the show grounds where various tents and stalls are being set up - the driver from the caravan you accompanied into Galduria recognises you and, having thanked you for examining Errol, wishes you luck on your journey.
True to Agent Kryzosiak’s word,you find that in heading north from Galduria, you leave civilisation behind… your first day back in the saddle is spent on a well-maintained trail which will eventually deliver travellers to the city of Riddleport – but that is not to be your destination. Approaching a long-dead willow tree that mournfully sags over the Lampblack river, you find the junction that splits the journey towards either Riddleport or the village of Ravenmoor and the Storval Stairs beyond it.
Trusting that Elias Kyle hasn't headed towards Riddleport, you turn to the east and follow a little-used trail up along the river’s west banks into increasingly dreary landscapes of bogland and bleak moors. In all, you travel along this poorly maintained trail for three days - during the day, the preponderance of ravens in the skies gives subtle encouragement that you are on the right track to Ravenmoor, but as the sun sets, the mosquitoes come alive. For the three days that you are in the saddle along this trail, you see not one sign of other folk... It seems that the moors, boggy as they are, clearly could not sustain agriculture and furthermore, there is the constant risk of mis-step and a slow suffocating death in drowning mud...
On the second day, after a reasonable night's rest, there is a moment of excitement to break the monotony... a dark shape, carried on surging water, flows down the rive towards you - for a few minutes it seems that it could be a corpse, maybe even the missing Elias Kyle, yet when Joanna and Arsith - sodden and exhausted - drag it to shore, you find it to be the rotten remains of a large hairy goat... Letting the goat be carried away by the river, you return to your saddles and trudge onwards...
The trail itself often winds away from the river and soggy boglands to avoid the worst of these pests, but once you near Ravenmoor, insects become a constant annoyance.
You arrive in Ravenmoor an hour before noon on the fifth day of your journey - fortunately without having been rained upon once. As you approach the village you hear a boy's voice crying, “Aaaaaaplesaaaauce! Here boy! C’meer boy!” followed by some whistling, as if a child were seeking a missing puppy. This comes from the tall grass growing to the left of the road.
I'm in for anything that can help someone finding back his loved ones... Even if it's only a stray animal!
Arsith stretches and gets down from her horse when it stops. She doesn't seem too much bothered by the long hours of riding.
During their ride, Teldon points out some of the butterfly fetishes. "Kryzosiak may have been right... These sort of charms are more closely related to tribal rituals than to anything you're likely to see in a modern, civilized church of Desna; though I suppose holy symbols are, in a sense, a vestige of this..."
***
He draws his horse to a stop as Arsith dismounts. Reaching into his pack he pulls out a scrap of dried meat from the rations and tosses it on the ground in the path near where the rustling noise is coming from.
Joanna follows Arsith's lead and pulls to a stop. She wasn't as sore as she had been the first few days, but she was no natural-born rider.
"Well then, let's not take too long," she says as she follows the warpriestess of Pharasma.
Dismounting and walking, with some caution, towards the long grass that lines the poorly maintained trail - Arsith and Joanna are surrounded by a cacophony of insect noises. Even though it is close to midday - and such a noise is normally confined to dusk and dawn - the sound of cicadas, crickets and the thrumming of wings fills the air...
Catching a glimpse of something dog-sized moving within the foliage, they move into the grass as, getting closer, the young voice calls out again, "Come here Applesauce... Come on feller!!! I got chores to do and Father'll whip me if he finds out that yer got loose agin"
Throwing the dried meat to the floor, in an earnest attempt to draw what is assumed to be a domesticated pet out into the open, Teldon provokes an entirely unexpected chain of events...
...the thrumming of wings becomes intense and then, about ten feet from the dismounted women, the long grass is flattened by the downdraft of a winged creature taking to the air. The size of a small dog, with a pink carapace and a comically long proboscis, the oversized insect hovering ten feet above you is unmistakably a stirge - the same kind of insect that had taken roost in Natalya Vancakerkin's Underbridge hovel...
* * *
Day 1
Not noticing the butterfly symbol unitl Brianna points it out, Zee smiles at the sign... although she feels a twinge of unease at the aboutn of grime that had covered up the Starsong's symbol.
"A symbol of the Starsong is always a good omen," she remarks.
* * *
Day 2
Pausing while Joanna and Arsith drag the dead goat to shore, Zee notices an odd fetish hanging from a gnarled tree. Dismounting, she holds the hanging symbol by its cord and looks at it curiously.
"Hmmm... Another butterfy symbol. I am not familiar with this particular practice, however." Drawing her dagger, Zee carves a Desnan found-mark onto the tree, and signs it with her personal sigil.
Have I ever heard of fetishes like this before...?
* * *
Now...
She watches Teldon try to lure out "Applesauce," the child's stray puppy or kitten, and is startled at the giant bloodthirsty insect!
The words to a spell to immolate the foul creature come to mind, but she pauses a moment before she can comprehend what she's seeing...
"That thing is wearing a leather harness! Could that be a pet?"
The insect buzzes high above you for a moment or two before, seeing Joanna's horse unattended, it swoops down... it's barbed legs clutch onto the horse's neck and, secured, the creature stabs it's proboscis into Joanna's steed - it's carapace visibly reddening as it feasts...
Panicking at the sharp and unexpected pain, the horse rears up upon it's hind legs... Wild-eyed, it is ready to bolt...
"Hey Applesauce!!! Is that you over thair??? You leave them horses alone... Oh dang it, Father's gonna find out fer sure..."
Joanna barely manages to redirect her swing in time to avoid the "pet" currently sucking her horse dry.
"Kid, I'm no good with bugs. C'mere and get this thing off my horse," she says as she dodges flailing hooves as she goes for the reins.
"Easy, easy," she begins to chant calmly, "I know it's painful, but we'll have that thing off you in no time."
Teldon moves his horse in front of Jo's to try to box it in so it can't bolt off. "Does anyone have any way to put the stirge to sleep? Or the horse?" he calls out.
Can you get your pet to release the horse, my boy?We don't want to hurt... Applesauce.
At Teldon's question, Zee says, "Perhaps I can calm them both..."
Drawing her Harrow desk, she casts a spell. Ghostly images of cards fly from her deck, surrounding the cat-sized insect. The images shimmer and shift into a mesmerizing pattern.
As Joanna and Briana try, without success, to calm the spooked horse - Teldon and Arsith call out to the approaching voice. Over the whinnying, the stamping of hooves and the snorts of the other horses - for they are all starting to panic now - the voice calls back, "Say... Who's there? You seen Applesauce? Little Varmint gone done and escaped agin"
Stepping in quickly, before things get out of hand, Ziomarra uses her Harrow to calm both the insect and the horse...
With dulled eyes, the horse settles... as does the stirge, withdrawing its' bloodied proboscis as it watches the patterns of cards zipping through the air...
With the stirge briefly calmed, everything quietens and then a young boy, maybe eight years old, with a ragged mop of black hair, filthy home-spun clothes and mud caking his hands and his bare feet, bursts from the grass onto the trail. Upon seeing the stirge apparently being attacked by Ziomarra's magicks, he bursts into tears and cries out, “No! Don’t hurt him! He’s just a-scairt!”
"Don't worry, the magic will not harm him," Teldon states matter of factly, "it's just to calm him until you regain control of him... which you should do quickly."
"Applesauce!!! C'mere boy!!!"
As Ziomarra's cards fade from existence, the stirge takes to the air and, flying directly towards the boy, circles him twice and then nestles itself around the small child's shoulders. Reaching into the pocket of his filthy trousers, the boy pulls out a length of cord and loops it through a metal hoop on the stirge's harness.
"Gotcha, yer rascal... You'll get me inter real trouble one day"
The stirge, oblivious to the rest of you...and to the horses from whom it had atempted to feed from...nuzzles it's bloody proboscis against the neck of the boy - and, as its wings gently thrum, you get the distinct impression that it is 'purring'.
"Awwww...that tickles"
Wiping a sleeve across a slightly snivelly nose, the boy looks at you, "Say... You folks ain't from 'round these parts are yer? You head'n upriver?"
Trying hard to hide her revulsion, Zee smiles at the lad. "That magic was just to calm both our horse and your...Applesauce...so that neither would get hurt. There will be no lasting harm, I assure you. But I'll be honest with you, my young friend: I have traveled all over Varisia, and I have seen many strange things... But I have never seen or heard of anyone keep a stirge as a pet!"
"Well, my father said he saw a wizard that kept imps and quasits as pets, but that was in Absolom," Joanna says.
"Oh, yes," Teldon replies (despite no question having been posed), "witches and wizards often have a special bond with a creature, commonly referred to as a 'familiar', and in Absalom all manner of familiars can be seen- including imps and quasits, but also lesser dragons, minor angels, and even stirges... "
Snivelling a little, the boy half-listens to the conversation between Teldon and Joanna before, with a voice that sounds as if he is being falsely accused of something, "Hey mister, I ain't no witch... Applesauce here ain't nothing but my buddy... He ain't a, what d'ya call it? A Familiar... No way!!!". As if to emphasise the point that it is nought more than a pet, he strokes the stirge vigorously beneath its mandibles - it nuzzles him back...
Calmer now, he replies to Briana, "My name's Ornigaard Korzha Miss Briana... and you are nearly at Ravenmoor, it's just a lil' way up the river 'til you get to the ferry... I could show you if you like?". Not really waiting for an answer, he starts to skip northwards along the trail, whistling a tune to himself - badly through missing teeth...
Turning back towards Briana, "Is that really your pet? Pa said cats ain't worth nothing to no-one - ain't enough meat on 'em for eating and they ain't half as good at ratting as a well trained stirge"
Glancing at Rowena, Zee jokes, "Teldon, I think we are familiar with familiars. And I think it's also clear that Applesauce is simply young Mr. Korzha's pet."
Dropping her voice to a whisper, so that the boy can't hear, she adds, "Our contact did warn us that the country folk up here have some unusual folk practices. Keeping stirges as pets must be one of them. The boy's attitude would indicate this practice is normal around here. I think we would be wise to keep an open mind."
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Arsith is shocked and disgusted by the young boy words
Eating cats? I'd never be able to do that!
Let's hope their minds are open too, Ziomarra... you'd better keep an eye on Rowenna.
"Oh," Teldon answers with some surprise, "I didn't mean to insinuate that young master Korzha here had studied magic at all, it was clear from his reaction to your hypnotism that he has not..."
Following Ornigaard along the trail, your horses quickly catching up with the young boy, he tells you that he’s got to get Applesauce back in his cage when he gets back but, if you do want to know anything about Ravenmoor, you should really ask his father. He pipes up quite enthusiastically, ”My Pa knows everything!!!”
The trail, running over the crest of a small hill, leads down to the river… and, on the far bank, a small village of no more than two dozen buildings. The majority of the buildings, positioned on a dirt track that runs through the village, are no more than single storey affairs with simple slate roofs and smoke coming from chimneys as a tell-tale sign of life - although there are a couple of buildings that stand out; an apparently derelict church and, looming over the river, a watermill with a slowly turning wheel. Positioned back from the main density of buildings, a two storey clapboard house stands on a small barren hill, looking down upon the houses below.
The trail leads down to a ramshackle shack that, with another on the far bank, flanks the Lampblack River here – the sheds house a flat-bottomed ferry that, as you watch, is traversing the river towards you. Tightly drawn ropes cross the river, part of a cranked pulley system that draws the barge across the churning black water.
Stepping from the boat as you arrive at the shack, a crooked-backed, thin-haired man looks you over…
”You wanna cross over? The trail on this side o’ the river runs out not a mile north of here – if you folks are thinking of heading on upriver you’d best be crossing here. My ferry here’s the only way of getting over safely… ’specially seeing as the wolf in the water’s been taking some of the livestock recently”. Tugging at Briana’s sleeve, Ornigaard points out an unusual-looking skull – adorned with curled horns and long tusks - nailed to the nearby shack; he whispers that it’s from a water-wolf that got caught years back by the village elders.
”Little Master Korzha’s right – it’s a nasty brute comes down the Lampblack every so often to hunt. The ‘black’s a damn treacherous river – ya don’t drown, ya get bit instead…hence the ferry”, brusquely offering a hand to shake, the ferryman continues, ”Anyway, Skender Cardzi at yer service… those horses are gonna cost yer a gold each to get over – they’re flighty beasts and like to damage my boat…”
"A Water-Wolf!!!", Cardzi looks at Briana incredulously, "Guess they don't let you city folk near the rivers too often then? Your Water-Wolf is pure killer... Lurks 'neath the surface all silent like and when something comes a little too close - it charges... It'll gore you with tusks to wound, grab you with it's teeth and then pull ya under... It's a clever beast - knows how to drown it's catch. It's lair is somewhere upriver we think...best thing is to stick clear of the banks when it's prowling"
Cardzi turns to fix Ornigaard with a stare, "Like what happened to young Uriah three years back..."
And then back to the group, "So you folks wanna cross or not? I ain't 'ere for the benefit of me health"
As Briana engages the ferryman in polite conversation, Teldon attempts to assist in her diplomatic efforts...
Cardzi snorts gruffly as Teldon attempts to join in the conversation - looking at his horse and his baggage, "So, who are you supposed to be? Some kind of wandering librarian with all your books and stuff? Look, it's gonna take three trips to get y'all across and I'd like to get on with it sometime soon - five gold, s'my last offer"
Bemused, Cardzi looks at Teldon, "Mister, it ain't much if truth be told but this is Ravenmoor... Beyond here there's nothing but snarks and grumpkins 'til ya get to the Stairs"
Even the small child looks at Teldon with a quizzical expression...
The church immediately catches Joanna's attention. Her eyes hardly looking away as she absently introduces herself.
Those that look can see her holding on to the holy symbol hanging from her neck and stroking it with her thumb. From her worried expression and the way she seems to be off somewhere else, it's not hard to tell she doesn't even realize she's doing it.
Arsith was so lost in the contemplation of the strange skull that she didn't even hear the man mentionning a church.
As Briana pays the man, Teldon calculates the area of the boat and the feasibility of everyone dismounting and holding the horses bridle from the deck of the ferry as they cross (to avoid being bucked into the water if one gets spooked)...
With a leering grin, Cardzi takes the five coins from Briana, ”Thanks miss…like I say, it’ll take three trips to get y’all over the river. The ferry weren’t really built to take horses so it’ll be a squeeze”. True to his word, it does prove to be a cramped trip…first aboard are Joanna and Arsith with their steeds (dismounted and holding bridles as per Teldon's suggestion) and young Ornigaard (who doesn’t appear to have paid anything) - his stirge released and flying across the river. Cardzi stands at the helm and, once he is happy that the horses are secured, he starts to cranks a handle on the boat – with a lurch that sets the horses whinnying, it moves out across the river…
…and, no more than two minutes later, lands at the far side. Securing the boat, he offers Joanna and Arsith a hand as they disembark, ”Welcome to Ravenmoor folks, it ain’t pretty but it’s home to some good people”
Scampering away, Ornigaard tells Joanna and Arsith that they really should go visit his Pa, ”Our house is just past Lupescu’s Trading Post… Just don’t tell him ‘bout Applesauce roamin’ free… please?!?!” …and, with that, he is away up the dirt road into the village.
It’s a full fifteen minutes before everyone has crossed the Lampblack - Cardzi, having moaned about structural damage to the hull of his boat due to Teldon’s ‘damned horse stamping’, moors the ferryboat. Once he is satisfied the boat is safe, he slings a bag over his shoulder and points you along the northerly path where Ornigaard headed, ”The Trading Post’s up there if you are looking to stock up on supplies. Is there anyone y’all looking to pay a visit on whiles you’re in Ravenmoor?”