"As for the remains, I can't speak for my companions but unless any of them object I'd be happy to keep an eye out. We'd be interested to hear anything you might know or have heard about recent ghoul activity."
Hollie pauses to try and recall what she’s heard of ghouls. But then turns her focus back to the new gentleman. ”Sorry, I just don’t understand. What do you think to learn from them? Seems like an unsettling field of study.”
Krovek is very interested to hear what this latest person has to say about ghoul activity and his particular interest in it. Certainly raised some red flags. He continues to keep a stupid grin on his face as he struggles to be friendly.
[dice=K. Religion]1d20+5
Hollie pauses to try and recall what she’s heard of ghouls. But then turns her focus back to the new gentleman. ”Sorry, I just don’t understand. What do you think to learn from them? Seems like an unsettling field of study.”
The man watches as Hollie asks the question, and adjust his spectacles. ”An academic exercise. There seem to be more of late than there once were. I have a number of hypotheses about them - but I have only dissected a handful. I require a larger sample to confirm or disprove my hypotheses.” He looks at Lunal and Shae, who don’t seem to have reacted to him, and then back at Hollie, though he gestures to Cator, ”it seems that your companion has no issues. Have I answered your question to your satisfaction?”
Holding his cane and with his round glasses, the Varisian man looks quite owlish. The line of his mouth is thin. ”The man who was brought in earlier - he may die of the malady without assistance - if you do this - and heal at least the disease from him - I promise we will keep him until there can be a cure for his shattered mind.” He sniffs ”if that sweetens the pot for you, at all.”
Lunal frowns, trying to assess if dissecting the corpse of a ghoul or ghast could have any kind of malicious intent behind it.
Regardless, Lunal did not like this man. He was hard to read, and had that kind of intellectual snobbery that reeked of self-proclaimed superiority.
But they also didn't know what kind of alternative was to be had. The party was certainly not equipped to handle difficult illnesses of the mind, even if they had the time to do so.
So Lunal frowns at the owlish Varisian with an mix of uncertainty and disapproval. "Yeah, fine. I guess. But we're gonna be back to check on things."
Hollie folds her arms. ”Something like that might be able to be arranged, though I would insist that such a dangerous creature’s remains be studied within the confines of the Sandpoint Cathedral. That way there are plenty of priests on hand to help dispatch it should it manage to return to life...death...whatever it technically is.”
Zeren shakes his head at Hollie's suggestion, "no, I do not wish to move my things to Sandpoint. Zantus could hardly dispatch a living ghoul, and I would not need his help, regardless."
He sighs, and says, "if you change your mind and wish to bring me remains you find, our door is open. You will likely find ghoul infestations nearby, though it seems you wish to find them without my map. Otherwise, I expect our business is permanently concluded, yes?" He gestures vaguely, "you may see yourselves out. Please do not return without remains - we will consider further visits to be trespassing, and may need to escalate the situation" he adjusts his spectacles, "to the proper authorities, of course. Good day."
With that, he closes the door in front of him, and locks it with an audible click.
As they leave, Hollie muses ”Well, those guys seem to be in the right place. Crazy and rude,” as she tests the saddle on Midnight. As she swings up into his back she adds ”We do need to try and come back and help Grayst, though. But first we need to deal with this issue with Foxglove. I still can’t believe this is him. It seems so sudden!”
She turns the reins on Midnight and heads him back for town. ”We need to go warn and report to Belor and Zantus what we have learned. At dawn, we can ride for Foxglove Manor.”
"Sounds good to me," Shaedeen says. The look of concern on her face, however, may indicate she wants nothing to do with Lord Aldern Foxglove or his Misgivings.
On the ride back to town, Hollie makes it a point to hang back a bit from the others to talk with Shaedeen.
”Hey...I know this isn’t comfortable for you, for us. You know, confronting Lord Foxglove about all this. I know he likes you, and you may even like him. Which makes things a bit awkward...ugh...I feel like I’m fumbling my words. I dunno what I’m saying...but...are you okay?”
Cator considers asking Shae and Hollie about their history with Lord Foxglove but, seeing that this seems to be a sensitive situation, tries to remember everything he knows first.
Drawing a blank, Cator hesitantly asks "Um, so who is Lord Foxglove?"
Shaedeen sighs, uncertain what to say in response to Hollie's concerns. At last, she pulls off her backpack and fumbles through it, producing a letter she hands to Hollie.
My Dear Shaedeen,
I had hoped to speak with you in person before departing but alas fate seems to of frowned on such a meeting. I can not disparage it though for it was surely fate that also brought us together. The short time we have spent together has been a great joy to me and I do hope it has been for you as well. As I have said I must see to my responsibilities at Foxglove Manor but I assure you I will be counting the days until I can return to your company.
Yours,
Lord Foxglove
(The letter is written in a strong flowing hand and pressed flower petals of various colors are contained within it.)
"I'm not entirely sure how I felt about him. I think I was attracted to him because, well, he was attracted to me. He made me feel wanted...special. And the idea of becoming a lord's lady had its appeal as well." Shae leaves things at that for now.
To Cator and the others she says, "Lord Aldern Foxglove was in Sandpoint when Nualia's goblins attacked. He was surrounded by the little creeps and Hollie, myself, and our other friends rescued him. In appreciation for our help, he invited us on a boar hunt in the Tickwood--even gave us all horses." She gives Thunderclap a couple quick pats on the neck.
"Lord Foxglove took a liking to me...even invited me to join him at the playhouse on a date, but he had to return to his estate for business. That's when he had the note delivered to me."
After a short silence, Shae concludes, "I never heard from him again. And I never corresponded with him, either. We've been too busy dealing with Nualia and the fallout from her plans. Plus, I sort of found someone else that I know I care about in the meanwhile." She gives Hollie a worried smile. It dawns on Shae just then that the best way for Foxglove (or whomever is tormenting her) to hurt her is to go after Hollie.
Cator sees the letter and has a realization Wait we know Foxglove wrote that letter, so we can compare handwriting. Anyone here who is particularly good at that?"
Hollie reads over the note as Shaedeen explains who Lord Foxglove is. She finishes just as Shaedeen makes her last statement, which leaves her in a silent state of flustered and blushing.
"Grayst is a goner without some help, and he could be our best lead. I think we gotta tell the Sheriff what's up. I don't really give a damn about the rest of them and whatever business they're hiding."
Later, as the discussion turns to love letters, Krovek jumps in. "Gimme them letters--I can compare 'em."
Krovek uses his "incredible" skill at handwriting analysis to study the writing.
Lunal watches Krovek with a mild mixture of confusion and amusement for a moment. "Oh come on, give me that."
The handwriting is not a perfect match, but it’s very close, and any difference might be attributed to the difference in the writing materials.
Leaving the odd business in the rear view, the party makes the short trip back to Sandpoint. It’s about 4:15 pm when the party returns to Sandpoint, and Hemlock notices the group coming back almost as soon as they get enter town. With him is a bearded man in a straw hat, with a nervous and wild-eyed expression. Hemlock stops everyone, and says, ”as if we didn’t have any more to deal with - Maester Grump here, a farmer from down south, has told me quite a tale. Go ahead…”
The farmer seems to stutter and babble for a moment, but takes a few deep breaths and continues in a provincial dialect, ”scarecrows, dagnabit! Walkin’ scarecrows! They’ve been comin’ from the ol’ Hambly place! We rustled up a posse to investigate but the posse got eaten! Almost whole lot, even the dogs!” He’s shaking and says, ”they were dead, but ate like starving animals! Sheriff says you folk can help us!”
Hemlock has been listening carefully, but turns to the group and says, ”I know it’s a lot to ask but I believe Grump. I will send four deputies out to help, as well, if you’d like. I can’t say what you’ll find. Could you check out the Hambly place? Perhaps this is related to the murders, as well.” He looks annoyed slightly, at the situation ”I would do so myself - but I’m still doing constant patrols in town.”
Cator tells Hemlock "Yeah I suppose there is a chance they could be related." Then Cator turns his head to the group and says "Could be worth checking out yeah?" and then turns to Grump "did you actually see the walking scarecrows? You saw them eat the posse?"
"Wouldn't walking scarecrows just be even better at their jobs?" Lunal postulates, only a bit tongue in cheek. Lunal shrugs. "Well anything taking out dogs deserves to be looked at, sure let's go rescue the crows."
Hollie, without even leaving her saddle, replies ”Yes, we will go check it out immediately. If we hurry we might make it back before too much of the night has passed us by.”
She tugs on the reins and turns Midnight around. ”Keep the deputies here, Sheriff. Keep the town as safe as you can. We will attend to this.”
Draxtherian says nothing, but his eyes are filled with pride.
She’s growing into her destiny.
Shaedeen wordlessly follows as Hollie leads the band back into the hinterlands around Sandpoint.
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Krovek talks to Kazaht in Orcish. "Sorry, friend. We're getting right back on the road. Got some walking scarecrows to put down."
He checks a few things before he goes.
"Pretty sure those folks you got holed up in jail didn't do it, Sherriff, unless they know how to make undead or somethin.' Prolly good to let 'em go home to their family n' all. And hey, ya ever heard of a guy named Caizarlu Zerren? Says he owns most o' Habe's Sanitarium, which is pretty weird since ya'd think Habe would own it."
Cator tells Hemlock "Yeah I suppose there is a chance they could be related." Then Cator turns his head to the group and says "Could be worth checking out yeah?" and then turns to Grump "did you actually see the walking scarecrows? You saw them eat the posse?"
"I saw thems start, from a hill nearby, durned things were vicious, but I ran away!"
Hemlock nods, "thank you, and good luck."
Hollie looks up to Draxtherian flying nearby and calls out ”Care to fly around and see what you can see? Try and locate any of these things you can and let us know where they are!”
Her arms gain those same dragon markings, but instead of a silver glow, they now glow golden briefly before fading.
Draxtherian’s head tilts as he feels a strange sensation before he smiles a wide, toothy grin and lifts off high into the sky before zipping down over the farm in a dive, pulling up to buzz about 20 feet above the ground for his search.
Draxtherian flies low and straight over the ground. As he approaches the closest scarecrow - it sits happily on its perch, a silly grin on its face. The party approaches this scarecrown along the road, following the dragon as it flies above the farmlands.
He banks to turn west a little and approaches the next closest one. .
Draxtherian begins circling the wriggling scarecrow and calls out ”Over here!”
Hollie turns Midnight in that direction and begins trotting forward to close the distance.
Hollie gets an intuitive sense that there's something happening near Draxtherian, though it's somewhat hard for her and everyone else to hear Draxtherian at this distance .
Meanwhile, the thing continues to struggle in its restraints! It hisses at the flying thing near it.
Drax drops down and hovers in place in front of the animated scarecrow.
Drax badly injures the ghoul by snapping at it, biting through its shoulder and tearing away a lot of flesh - tight, smelly, and disgusting.
With a snap, the wires attaching the ghould to the cross-post are broken, and it lands on the ground. It looks up and hisses at Draxtherian, licking its lips!
Draxtherian dispatches the ghoul just after it lands on the ground, and flies the distance back to the others with the creature in its claws.
Draxtherian unceremoniously deposits the undead filth in front of the approaching group. ”This is what I found. I could smell the death on it and dispatched it.”
"Ghouls aren't smart enough to play dress-up...are they?" Shae asks the others uncertainly.
Hollie looks at the thing, doing her best not to recoil in disgust.
Draxtherian returns and says ”There are a lot of these. We should be cautious, but I can go ahead and check them once you are all near. If it’s a ghoul I can begin eliminating it before you get too close.”
With the plan in place, it becomes relatively easy to hunt down the scarecrows that are ghouls, and the scarecrows that are just scarecrows. They are spaced out enough that none seem to become aware of the attacks on the other ones, and so each is caught by surprise by a combination of Draxtherian's maw, and all the other attacks.
All goes well, until they come across a barely conscious man, clinging to life who almost has his head ripped off by the Dragon. Only the pre-emptive check saved him. The man is breathing shallowly and seems to be at the verge of death from a disease very close to that which affected Grayst. The man says feebly, "m...my name is Horran - Lettie may be alive - Horray and Lettie Guffmin..." he coughs up some black blood, "please help us!"
If Lettie is nearby, it isn't apparent.
Hollie tried to help the man gently to the ground as he tells his plight. ”Krovek! You mentioned maybe being able to help Grayst...can you help this man?”
"Magic has to wait until mornin'. I got some herbs, though. Doesn't hurt ta try." Krovek pulls out his healer's kit and begins to try and treat the disease to slow its progression.
"You gotta take a deep breath and tell us what's happenin' here, Horran." he says as he continues his treatments.
Horran coughs weakly, " cough... thank ...you...cough ... the monsters ... strung people up after infecting them with... some disease..." He isn't sure what the monsters are, but they looked like emaciated humanoids with sharp claws and teeth, and long tongues. They were led by one that was obviously more powerful than the others.
The party methodically clears out all of the scarecrows on Hambley's farm. A few of the ghouls seem to get close to freeing themselves, and obviously try to burrow into the ground, but are dispatched nonetheless. The party finds Lettie Guffmin a quarter mile to the south, in a similarly weak position, and Krovek mends her wounds as well.
Krovek knows that even with his treatment, it's very unlikely that a commoner at this stage of the disease will survive without magical intervention The party gathers up all the ghoul corpses into one location, to later deal with, and heads towards the barn. It's about 9:15 at night.
Hollie, her body tired, sweaty, and stressed from the repeated ghoul killings, slides down off of Midnight and tied him to the fence. She draws her rapier and twists the ring on her finger nervously as Draxtherian lands beside her, the dust of the road being blown about a bit by his wings.
She steps over quietly to the others and whispers ”So, house first then the barn?”
Shaedeen follows suit, tying Thunderclap's reins to the fence. Like Hollie, she invokes the magic of ancient Thassilon, calling forth the false life power from her medallion. Holding her light-bearing shield before her, she nods at Hollie and stalks toward the house.
Cator nods at Hollie, draws his sword, and then begins reciting spells to prepare himself for battle "seggr, um-huxan, varr"
Krovek armors up, his skin becoming hardened tree bark. And he channels his own life force into his cloak before healing himself.
Lunal touches Krovex's axe, causing it to radiate light, in case the barn was too dark inside.
Lunal surrounds themselves in nearly-invisible magic.
Finally Lunal breathes deeply for a moment, closing their eyes. After a moment their hair starts to float upwards, beginning to look like it's caught in a draft. Moments later the rest of Lunal's body follows. Then Lunal's fists clench and both effects dramatically spike, a rush of wind erupting upwards and Lunal steps forward onto the air. "Yes! Aha! Alright, let's get in there."
The barn is the larger of the two structures, constructed out of sturdy wood. There appear to be two large doors to the entry. As the party approaches, Cator hears the sound of movement inside. It's very faint, but it sounds like shuffling, bones clacking, and slurping - as if creatures are quietly eating meat.
Hollie focuse a moment while outside, through the walls, and knows that there are seven evil creatures of moderate power within the walls.
Lunal looks up and sees a window above the door. They 'walk' up to the window, zig-zagging back and forth as if going over stairs that occupy the same place in space, until the window is at eye level and the volatile caster can look through it.
Lunal walks back down. "Seven ghouls, inside the door and about fifteen feet to the right. They're currently occupied...eating." Lunal says, looking a bit queasy. "There's another door on the opposite side, but I think it best we make a chokepoint and hold a line against them."
Shaedeen looks to Hollie and the others before mainly mouthing the following: "I'll sneak over to the doors and, on your signal, open one so you guys can swoop in or blast them."
Assuming her plan isn't opposed, Shae covers the everburning torch affixed to her shield and creeps up to the door, hoping the ghouls will be focused on their grisly meal and not be fully on their guard.
Hollie nods and lets out a steady breath before moving up to take her place on the front line, with a snarling Draxtherian at her side.