As the other team members attend to the health and well being of the poisoned locals, Ferdrin and Cade join a small group of rangers who scout the path ahead. The camp is being packed, ready to move out as soon as it is safe to do so.
While the rangers are good, finding and disabling several traps, Ferdrin notices one they missed. He spots some logs set to fall on travellers and a carefully placed rope, covered in vine, that looks to be the trigger. When the two Pathfinders point this out to the nearest of the Embeth Travelers, they receive a friendly, positive gesture and a friendly voice suggests, "Don't just stand there, make it safe."
Ferdrin uses a bit of magic to set off the trap. Logs coming crashing down and a voice rings out, "Noisy, but effective. As long as no one was hurt. Are you both ok?" The Pathfinders confirm they are fine as they assess the damage to the vegetation and realise what it would have done to them if Ferdrin hadn't spotted the trap.
Everyone who is travelling, gathers their supplies and equipment. Scouts and perimeter guards are set. Visser checks in with the team. "We appreciate your help, both with the treatments and scouting. Keep an eye out moving forward, as you've seen, we're good at spotting most dangers but the fey are tricky and we miss a few. It will be several days journey and we can't afford to rush as that increases the risks too much."
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“Sounds like we’re on the move.”
Unsatisfied with her healing performance, Chunhua nonetheless accepts she did her best.
The archer hefts her heavy pack and draws her longbow, eager to show the Embeth Travelers she remains a force for good under trying conditions.
“I’m good with breaking bread or breaking heads. Let’s see what the Faery Folk have in mind.”
The team are on high alert and prove that some are expert at spotting the fey's unwelcome gifts. Along the way they discover two poison dart traps and one more falling log trap.
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Eltran would try to disable the traps in case his companions allow.
“Well, I already told you that I - as chronicler of worlds - seek to emulate history’s greatest scribe by gaining insight into widely varying subjects! Thus, these mundane traps are easily circumvented via logic!!“ he says and starts to work.
Eltran struggles yet succeeds to disarm the first poisoned dart trap that is found, then handily disarms the later traps.
The team also notice the presence of a few friendly fey who help the travellers when they can.
The last night before expecting to arrive in Uringen, Jamel sits with the Pathfinders, shares a drink, and thanks them for their aid. He signals to a couple of youth, who bring over some of the Embeth hound's. He introduces on dog to each of the Pathfinders, using a more formal tone than they have previously heard from him. "If you make it through whatever shenaningans are going to happen in that town, your new companion will be waiting for you," he adds before bidding them goodnight.
The next day, approximately half a mile outside Uringen, Visser calls a halt to the caravan, gesturing the Pathfinders forward.
Raising his voice over the jingle of yokes and the rattle of wagon wheels, Visser booms out, “Halt!” Dismounting from his horse, he gestures down the road. “About half a mile down that road, you’ll be in Uringen. Desna smile upon you in that place.”
Visser pulls an oilskin folio out of his saddlebags.
“Since you’ve been right useful this trip, I was hoping you could carry these reports to Mayors Mieren and Ogden, since you’ll be in town anyway. I’ll put in a good word for you as well; maybe you’ll get something from them for it.”
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The team also notice the presence of a few friendly fey who help the travellers when they can.
“Can you or Eltran speak Sylvan, Freddy?”
Chunhua holds up a full bottle of Cab-Sauv and offers to open it for the fey. “Can you ask them for news of Uringen?”
On the outskirts of their destination, Chunhua is all for doing the Travellers' leader a favor. “No problem, Master Visser. We’d be happy to courier your reports.”
“Though is there any reason why you wouldn’t enter the village yourself?”
The archer checks her weapons and signals her readiness to the others.
Fighter buffs! What a joke!!
The fey are reluctant to interact and give the impression they avoid the town as well as most travellers.
The Pathfinders arrive at Uringen at about 6:30 the evening of the expected clock alignment.
The town of Uringen is a flurry of activity. Puffs of multicolored smoke rise from tall stone chimneys that emerge from steeply pitched rooftops, and people dressed sharply in black and white shuffle about the town, preparing for the convergence. The divide between the two halves of the town is stark. A wide street, 20 feet across at its widest, separates the static and unstuck portions of the town. Boarded windows and prominent “closed” signs decorate the static half of the town, whose residents speak in hushed and tense tones. In the unstuck half of the town, excitement and curiosity outweigh fear, and groups of people gather in the streets. Above it all, a four-sided tower looks out upon the town, with an enormous clock face decorating each side at its pinnacle.
In the middle of the street between the two halves, a pair of well-dressed figures appears to be locked in a debate, their words clipped and harsh. Their heated conversation is in Skald, with a smattering of words and phrases in Common.
The man rests his hand on the hilt of a rapier at his side, while the woman hooks her thumbs in the wide sash wrapped around her body. A tiny blue-skinned humanoid with iridescent blue butterfly wings flits behind the woman’s head, a miniscule pair of pince-nez perched upon his pert nose.
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Chunhua ambles up to the warring pair, relying on the party’s diversity and ready identification as strangers to provide a gap in the nobles’ argument for her to get a word in.
“Lord Mayor Knavar Mieren?” she shoulders her bow and holds the Embeth Travelers’ reports, out in front of her as a peace offering.
“Jamel Visser saw fit to entrust us to courier his regular report on the fey and forest to you, ser.”
The archer bows to the man before turning to the woman. “Lady Mayor Aurelia Ogden? Zhang Chunhua of the Pathfinder Society, and these are my friends.”
“We understand you have a problem with a deadline, and we’re here to help.”
*Bows*
The two arguing mayors startle a little as Chunhua takes advantage of a momentary break in the ongoing heated discussion.
Mayor Mieren stands a little straighter and starts to reach for the offered package until Chunhua includes his counterpart in her address. At that point an annoyed expression settles on his face while he crosses his wiry arms over his broad chest, shutting out Chunhua's attempt to engage.
Mayor Mieren provides a welcoming smile and takes the packet instead. A woman approaching her middle years, Aurelia Ogden retains some of her youthful good looks, the barest grace of silver among sun-bleached brown hair at her temples and crow’s feet around her brown eyes are the only real sign of her age.
“Excellent to see that my message was received and heard by the Society! I’m Mayor Aurelia Ogden, and this is my compatriot, Mayor Knavar Mieren. I trust your journey through the Embeth wasn’t too hazardous?”
She thanks Chunhua and briefly scans the reports before handing them to Mayor Mieren.
“Not unexpected news, but I will leave the details of the guard arrangement with Mieren. Right now, I must focus all my attention on my experiment—and I, for one, am happy that you are here to assist with it,” Ogden finishes, with a pointed glance at Mayor Mieren.
“Your role in the experiment is very straightforward. I will need several people to observe the westward-facing clock, and record everything you see or hear—taste, smell, or touch as well if it becomes necessary. As members of the Pathfinder Society, your experience with…unusual situations is legendary, and this alignment will certainly qualify as ‘unusual’—one for your Pathfinder Journals, I hope!”
Mayor Mieren accepts the package with a light scowl before departing.
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“I trust your journey through the Embeth wasn’t too hazardous?”
“Nothing we couldn’t handle, M’Lady. Uh, before you go, Lord Mieren …”
Chunhua holds up her right hand. “May I ask both of you what your recent disagreement concerned?”
“I understand there are many ways to plan and execute a strategy for the prosperity of an entire community, but if both parties place the good of their people first, surely there is a way forward that both parties can live with.”
“May I ask both of you what your recent disagreement concerned?”
His annoyance clear in his voice, Mieren answers, "A difference of opinion on the wisdom of outside interference and people who stick their noses where they don't belong." He departs abruptly, the tension clear through his shoulders as he stomps away.
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Eltran is totally eager to assist the experiment.
“I am absolutely happy to be here! I am a little bit of an expert in everything. Well, you can be happy that the society sent us! I can tell you more about our last visit to the plane of earth. But it is worrisome to know that you are fighting! Don’t worry! We’ll make sure you have security and insight mayor Mieren!!“ the uncharismatic half-Tian-half-Taldane man with the blood of elemental fire says.
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"A difference of opinion on the wisdom of outside interference and people who stick their noses where they don't belong."
Chunhua *blinks* but says nothing.
I thought we were invited ... not that it matters right now.
"Lady Ogden, if it pleases you, put us to work."
The archer bows. "No matter how precise or abstract your instructions, I will attempt to follow them to the best of my ability."
"Well, you don't lack enthusiasm at least. You have about 5 hours before you need to set up and be ready, though you may have a better idea if you need to do any other preparation or investigation beforehand. We also have some excellent quality products, if you wisht to make any purchases. You may have heard that our alchemical goods are somewhat enhanced.
"If you wish to relax, I recommend the Oaken Knot Tavern, you can rest up there before tonight's event."
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Chunhua is happy to accompany Eltran for a while, soaking up local gossip about what might happen when the faces align, based on any magical mishaps that may have occurred in the past.
“Where do the people who disappear for a time go?”
“Who is the pixie that accompanied the mayors? I thought the fey folk didn’t like Uringen.”
⚖ ⚗
At the alchemist’s shoppe, Chunhua leaves Eltran to his substance survey, while she asks the manager, “Does your apothecary ‘stay’ during the times that half the village disappears?”
“My goodness. It sounds like I described your business like it was a dog. My sincere apologies.” *Bows*
Later, when the Pathfinders meet up again, she asks, “Did anyone try speaking to the locals at the Oaken Knot Tavern?”
“Any good goss or rumors about what’s going to happen when the clock strikes midnight?”
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“Your role in the experiment is very straightforward. I will need several people to observe the westward-facing clock, and record everything you see or hear—taste, smell, or touch as well if it becomes necessary. As members of the Pathfinder Society, your experience with…unusual situations is legendary, and this alignment will certainly qualify as ‘unusual’—one for your Pathfinder Journals, I hope!”
"Observe and record tastes and smells? Does that mean we get second supper as a part of this? How delightful!"
...
"So where exactly are we supposed to make our observations from? Where's the best vantage point?"
The team finds locals happy to direct them to the appropriate merchants for their alchemical purchases. Most are currently enjoying their preferred watering hole, the Oaken Knot Tavern. It is also favoured by several of the fey who reside within the town.
Created from the wood that earned the tavern its name and decorated in intricately carved interlocking designs, the Oaken Knot boasts with pride about its resident bard, the grig Seripan.
Dressed in a long shawl dyed in a vibrant rainbow, with her hair wrapped up into miniscule braids adorned with tiny blossoms, Seripan is happy to spin a halfdozen stories about Mather Nithra’s plots and schemes to bring ruin to Uringen that end in embarrassment for that hateful being—but only before sunset.
Seripan happily accepts the offerings, seemingly most pleased with the wine. In return, Seripan offers several ditties as their method of sharing information.
“Uringen hasn’t been around that long, and even it was built on something older.
‘Bones of the earth, rise from the ground
Keep us sound, within your girth.’”
“’Reckless Rhona
Looked at her Tower
But was quite sour
For every hour
She heard every flaw.’
Turns out, no matter how long you prepare, you can’t get it right the first time…But I wonder if it was her first time making the Tower? The Tower does seem to work… mostly. That’s a lot of gears and flim-flammery, and it’s amazing that even one of those faces is actually useful.”
“Ogden wants to fix the tower to do what Reckless Rhona intended it for.
‘Time is just a door
Just step right through
In stolen cloak of blue
To the days of yore.’”
Seripan mentions that she has heard rumors from the forest that Nithra appealed to “The Many” to “cast out the intruders,” but Seripan’s rumors don’t mention any response to this alleged appeal.
A result of 35 or higher
Seripan also suggests the visitors may wish to check out the clock tower, "before all the fun begins".
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Ferdrin sits back in his chair at the Oaken Knot Tavern enjoying Seripan's tales and song. He takes great pride in complementing and thanking her in Sylvan between each.
So infectious is the mirth that's swept him up that he doesn't think too deeply about the stories...
On reflection he recognizes the name Rhona Ambros as one of the founders of Uringen and the architect of the tower. He tells his companions this between drinks.