Kylan readily agrees, and waives at the carriage as it leaves.
"Well; I'm going to have to change into my good rags!" He said with a wink. "But seriously, I need some better clothes and a good bath. Where can I get that hereabouts?" He asked aloud, looking around.
The inn has baths and Jak’s General Store will have clothing.
If the children have all been accounted for, time for a trip to Jak's general store, then the inn.
"I agree. I good meal and a good nights sleep is what everyone needs at this point. Let's meet up at breakfast to decide on what we should do next."
Looking at the state of his clothing he adds
"We can get some better clothes as well, these have seen better days. Who's up for a trip to Jak's?"
Kylan is going to Jak's first for proper clothing.
"I will go with you to this 'Jak's' place, whatever it is," Batu says with a smile.
After some baths at the inn and a good meal, you head over to Jak’s to buy yourselves some nicer clothes for the dinner that evening.
As seven approaches, you congregate on the road leading up (literally) to Kreed Manor. For all of the squalor of the majority of town, this area has clearly seen some care and coin, with clean cobblestones instead of mud and smooth river stone mansions instead of dilapidated wood and peeling paint. You’re greeted at the front entrance by a butler in pressed livery and escorted into a posh siting room, where you are offered drinks. Several well-muscled footmen stand ready to attend any need (and keep an eye on you) while you wait for your host. A display case contains an array of merchants’ seals, some still stained with dried blood. Whether intended or not, you all receive the impression that your host is a powerful, wealthy, and ruthless businessman.
After cooling your heels for ten minutes, the double doors to the dining room open and reveal Jurin and a short, cruel-looking man in rich velvets. ”Welcome, friends,” the cruel man says, smiling broadly (though it doesn’t touch his eyes). ”I am Thuldrin Kreed. I am so pleased that you have accepted my offer to dinner. We have much to discuss. Please, come through.”
He steps aside and motions for you to come ahead into the dining room.
Glancing away from the merchant's seals, Kylan grinned as he strode through the doorway.
"Pleased ta accept yer kind invitation yer lordship. I must say ye got a magnificent estate!" He said, glancing about the dining room.
"Quite nice," he agrees, smiling.
The elegance of the mansions and the richness of the Kreed manor has Oryn's head spinning with wonder and awe. Never before has he seen such wealth. His common upbringing has taught him to respect and obey those who possess great wealth so he is speechless at Mr Kreed's invitation and enters quietly and does his best to keep his head down while also admiring the lavish display of comfort and luxury.
"Thank you, and you are most welcome. I cannot thank you enough for the safe return of my son. He has described what he experienced with the kobolds. I would be sending my men to eradicate that whole group for what they did, but it sounds like you already took care of that. When you leave here tonight, you will find yourselves considerably richer than when you came."
Drinks are brought in and offered, and Thuldrin seats himself at the head of the table, motioning for everyone to also sit. Platters of food are brought out, with footmen to hold them while you take portions as you like. Thuldrin makes a good-faith effort at polite conversation, but his cruelty and greed bleed through in his opinions on things and general comments he makes. His son Jurin looks decidedly uncomfortable whenever his father lets his true colours show through.
After dessert, Thuldrin sends the servants and Jurin out of the room. When the doors are closed and you are alone with the Lumber Consortium boss, he says, "Now, before you go, I do have another matter to discuss with you. I understand that you are the folks who cured our little fungal plague from out town water. I appreciate that. Word of Falcon's Hollow being a plague town would have significantly curtailed lumber merchant arrivals and made it harder to sell our darkwood stock. Unfortunately, we seem to have another plague on our hands. This one hasn't made it into town yet, but one of my cutyards has been completely locked down with some sort of pox. I have reason to believe that this new plague is an attack by the fey community in the Darkmoon Vale. They hate that we harvest darkwood trees and are often launching little skirmishes at my men. I would like to hire your group to go out to that camp, see what can be done for my men, then make contact with the few queen Syntira at her court somewhere in the Vale and deliver my terms for her halting of these biological attacks. You will be paid handsomely for this service: 10,000 gold coins for ending this plague and getting Syntira to back off. Or kill her, if it comes to that."
”I will send you with written assurances you may present to my men at the cutyard. Without it, they would likely take you for spies and deal with you accordingly, such as I believe you encountered at another cutyard you tried to visit awhile back. I have many locations cutting timber in the Vale, but so far, only one has reported this disease, likely because it is the closest to Syntira’s ‘court’.”
|
Marioc is dressed with light and practical new clothes. He contemplated buying a hat, but he noticed he doesn't have to avoid the sun much lately, so he refrains from it.
He seems to enjoy the food and is interested in the new job. He says "Well, talking to a fey queen will be interesting in the least. And I don't mind the extra gold either." He stops there, thinking the implications that he is up for it are enough.
Oryn nods his head at the offer knowing both the monitary value and usefullness of the darkwood but is unable to respond verbally.
"We shall go and speak to her then! Hopefully she is agreeable," he says with a smile. "I am confident we will be able to deal with this accordingly and in a proper manner."
Happy that his minions the local heroes are up for the task, Kreed finishes the evening rather quickly, sending you out with your letters and bundles of money. Your rooms at the Goose and Gander have all been upgraded to the best available, and all paid for. Given the grumbles you hear in the common room, some people had to be removed from those rooms to make space for you, though while some may glare at you when you aren't looking, they all force smiles on their faces when you are.
The next morning, you are able to do your shopping in earnest (whatever you had previously decided upon) and by mid-afternoon, are ready to head out towards the cutyard. Getting there will require you to camp outside, or you can choose to enjoy your posh rooms at the inn one more night and leave first thing in the morning. It's not like people are dying or anything...oh wait...
Kylan completes his shopping and is ready to move forward.
Oryn has purchased everything he needs and is also ready to move forward.
Seems like there are more votes for moving on now and camping in the woods. Kimi’s mother comes to sadly watch Rao depart. Rao also sees that Belinda, the attractive woman who greeted him that very first day, is also about in the streets—she offers him a sultry wave as your group passes by.
Once clear of the town, you make it roughly halfway to your destination before making camp for the night. You set your usual watches. Edgrin is uncharacteristically low key tonight, turning in early, but nothing unusual happens during the night, and you wake up to a dreary, grey, drizzly morning.
After breakfast (which Edgrin refuses), you continue on your journey, arriving at the lumber camp just shy of noon. The drizzle has increased to a steady downpour now: enough rain to be uncomfortable though not enough to hamper short range visibility to any noticeable degree.
The lumber camp is a large rectangle of stumps cut in to a thick stand of darkwood. Six large tents in two columns of 3 fill the northern half of the artificial clearing, while your approach is to the south. As you enter the southern end of the clearing, you hear shouts of alarm and weak screams of terror from beyond the northern row of tents.
Master Kylan walked through the rain smoking a pipe, the droplets spattering harmlessly off of the invisible Force Ward he had on around him.
At the shouts of alarm and terror, he hustled forward.
"C'mon lads! People need help!" He shouted back.
Double move forward (North) 60'.
Do I see anything at that point?
The top right tent shudders, as if something large just slammed into it.
"Right there with you Kylan!" Oryn shouts as he follows Kylan's lead and moves towards the tents.
Batu quickly follows after the others.
Edgrin puffs along but falls behind. "You go ahead. I'll catch up," the halfling wheezes and pants.
The northeast tent continues to shudder and move around, then the door bulges open as an enormous bear slowly emerges. Something is definitely off about this bear, however: it makes no vocalizations, grunts, or growls, and moves stiffly and slow. Parts of the bear also appear to be slightly rotten, with something strangely bright and colourful sticking out from the wounds.
The bear does notice you and as it turns to face you, you can see blood on its lips and face.
Order: Batu, Rao, Oryn, Edgrin, Marioc, Bear, Kylan
"Well this is most definitely no ordinary bear," remarks Batu as he launches a gathering of rubble at the creature.
From. Whine you, Edgrin calls out, ”Some sort of plague zombie. Don’t get too close, they tend to explode with disease when you kill them!”
The zombear ignores the sudden ice puddle.
"Another zombie?!? This forest seems to be full of these strange things." Oryn states with some trepidation in his voice. Despite all he has been through these past few weeks, he still struggles to get used to battling all these creatures.
"Get too close? No problem, I'll blast it from here."
Oryn sends an air blast at the creature from his current location.
At the sight of the creature, Kylan skidded to a stop and backed up a step.
"Holy Mother of Torag. That is a big 'un." He exclaimed.
He waived his hand at the creature. Currents of aether hurled a nearby metal bucket of wood shavings at it.
for a possible kinetic damage.
Batu and Oryn batter the zombear, knocking off bits of putrid flesh and releasing a fine yellow powder into the air, along with…wilted flower petals. The massive zombie bear seems to have been stuffed with hundreds of flowers!
Rao is up.
The bear slowly charges forward, reaching out to bite Batu.
and I need a Fort save
Kylan’s attack slams home, further injuring the dead animal.
Everybody is up. Don’t forget about Edgrin’s inspire courage, or his warning.
Kylan kept backing up the way they came.
"Don't get too close boys!" He called out. "Could get all explody!"
He waived his hand again at the creature. Currents of aether hurled a loose 2x4 board at it like a spear.
for a possible kinetic damage.
"Right! You don't have to tell me twice" Oryn replies as he sends another blast of air at the creature.
Taking a nasty hit, Batu steps in between his allies and launches more stone at the beast.
Oryn and Batu send air and earth in to rip the bear to shreds. A large cloud of sickly pollen fills the air as the beast falls to the ground, but you are all out of range and the pollen dissipates harmlessly.
There are still shouts and signs of combat coming from the other side of the tent. Moving up, you arrive just in time to see two lumberjacks land blows with their axes into the hide of a zombified wolf, also stuffed with flowers, as two other woodcutters emerge from the forest. Before you can shout a warning, the wolf explodes in pollen, covering both men (though they look to have already been covered in pollen, perhaps from the body of another wolf already lying dead). Two humans are also lying unmoving on the ground.
Seeing your group appear, the woodcutters grip their axe handles, and shout angrily, "You won't take us alive, scum. You want a fight, bring it on yourselves!"
Kylan stopped and held up his hands.
"Whoa there big fella! We're just here ta help!"
He pointed at them.
"If'n we could get ye ta wash all that pollen offa ye, we'll all be better off. Please." He asked worriedly.
Catching sight of the peering human, "Excuse me, sir! Yes, you, within the tent! Do you need help? Because we are here to help. There is no need to hide," he tells him kindly.
"Won't do any good, I'm already infected with your bloody disease, wretched fey-lovers. Maybe I should give you a taste of your own medicine."
The man advances a step, threatening not with his axe, but with his pollen-covered arms. As he reaches out, you can see white pustules on the skin of his arms.
From within the tent, a man reaches a pustule-covered hand out and pulls aside the canvas door. "Kel, I don't think these folks are working with the fey. They killed that bear creature themselves. I saw. Maybe you should listen to them?"
"Shut up, Inor. Go run off and hide some more. Only thing you're good for."
"He is right. We did put an end to a bear-like creature. It was unlike any bear I've ever seen. Allow us to help you. Please. Maybe we can cure you of whatever it is that ails you."