Kingdom of Artume, River Kingdoms - Toilday, Rova 12th, 4723 AR
The sun hangs in the orange sky just above the low hills beyond the Selen river. One by one, crickets start their evening performance, and as the cool east breeze hits your faces, you look downhill to the south to see the wooden palisade surrounding your destination - the Dewfoot Hamlet. With the area around the fortification peppered by small farmhouses, fields, and enclosures, the Hamlet seems like a community focused on agriculture. Various animals are being herded back to their pens for the evening - pigs, cows, sheep, but most prominently, horses. The sight would be quite idyllic if it were not for the smell of manure and something far worse that you can not seem to pinpoint. If you were to guess, a mix of blood, eggs, salt, and various scented oils, presumably to hide the other smells.
Waiting a few moments to take in the surroundings and to brace yourselves against the ongoing assault on your nostrils - one that probably won’t lessen with proximity - you start moving down the hill towards the gateway in the palisade. You move past multiple farmhouses, and most of the locals give you a wave or nod as you go past. Others are too focused on their evening work to notice you, but all eyes you meet seem welcoming, if curious. Moving past the farms, you approach the palisade. Judging by the stone arch and scaffolding surrounding the entrance, it seems to be in the process of being upgraded. A small group of workers, exhausted after a full day’s work are packing their tools and getting ready to leave. They eye you as you walk, and joke that you’re the new crew for tomorrow.
Once you pass through the gate, you see a small circular square surrounded by small buildings, mostly storefronts with their individual stalls being packed up for the night. Almost in the middle of the square, you see a well. The road itself continues around the well to form a street heading deeper into the Hamlet. A hundred meters in or so, the road ends in another circular square with a well, but this square easily eclipses the first one by size alone. The diameter is almost three times as large, rows of young trees planted to make shade, and there is a well, a low-ish podium, and several hitching posts.
If you stand in the middle of the square, you can see it branches out into five other streets, not counting the ‘Gate street’. Exactly opposite of the gate, you see a large house on a small hill, surrounded by a hedge fence - your client's residence, as the Captain’s missive describes it. You look at each other, note the sunlight slowly disappearing, and ponder your next move.
Lanni smiles and waves at the various farmhouse locals as they all pass through town.
"What is that smell?"
:⁂:
"I know there is manure. Anything you don't recognize as normally part of a pig farm?"
When they reach the center of town, Lanni asks the others, "Well, we should probably check in first, right?"
Focus: 3/3
Animist slots:
C: ◆ Guidance
C: ◆◆ Light
1: ◆◆ Command
1: ◆◆ Fear
2: ◆◆ Dancing Shield
2: ◆◆ Heal (H +1)
3: ◆◆ Sound Burst (H +1)
Apparition slots:
1: ●
2: ●
3: ●
Lore: Fortune-telling, Underworld
Spells:
C: Telekinetic Hand: ◆◆ Sustained, 1 bulk unattended object moved telekinetically up to 20 feet.
1: Ill Omen: ◆◆ 1 creature within 30 feet, Will save, Failure: Misfortune on first attack roll or skill check, Critical Fail: Misfortune on every attack roll or skill check.
2: Invisibility: ◆◆ 1 creature touched, Target becomes invisible until they use a hostile action.
3: Veil of Privacy: 10 minute cast, 8 hour duration, target 1 creature, Counteract check against all attempts of magical detection, revelation, and scrying.
F: Discomfiting Whispers: ◆ Sustained, 5-foot emanation, Misfortune on attack rolls to all creatures that start their turn in the area. If their attack misses, they take 2d6 void damage.
Lore: Farming, Herbalism
Spells:
C: Tangle Vine: ◆◆ Target AC one creature, -10 foot penalty to speeds for 1 round. Immobilized on critical success.
1: Wall of Shrubs: ◆◆◆ 1 minute, 60 foot long wall within 120 feet, provides lesser cover.
2: Gentle Breeze: ◆◆ 10 minutes, 40 foot burst within 60 feet, Improves Medicine checks.
3: Safe Passage: ◆◆◆ Sustained, 10x10x60 terrain, Area becomes safer to travel through.
F: Garden of Healing: ◆ Sustained, 10-foot emanation, 3d4 healing.
Lore: Battlegrounds, Heraldry
Spells:
C: Shield: ◆ self. Shield has hardness 10 and you can shield block with it. 10 minute cooldown after shield block.
1: Runic Weapon: ◆◆ Weapon becomes +1 Striking.
2: Enlarge: ◆◆ 5 minutes. Target becomes size Large. Clumsy 1, +5 foot reach, +2 status bonus to damage.
3: Ghostly Weapon: ◆◆ 5 minutes. Weapon affected by Ghost Touch rune. Can suppress an existing rune if needed.
F: Embodiment of Battle: ◆ Sustained. You gain martial weapon proficiency equal to your simple weapon proficiency. You gain the Reactive Strike reaction. You gain a +1 status bonus to attack rolls and damage. You gain the critical specialization effect for your weapons wielded. You take a -2 status penalty to spell attack modifier and spell DC.
Lanni can't quite put a finger on the smell. It reminds you of something, but it's somewhere in the back of your head, struggling to remain buried. It's definitely animal-related, and while not a pleasant smell, it doesn't cause any negative emotions within you.
Colonel Tipper moves his shield to his back and goes over to the well in order to draw some water.
As he is doing this, he says “Think we have time to wash up before seeing the client? Hate not looking my best when first meeting someone.”
"I don't see why not. A few minutes one way or the other won't change things, right?" Lanni discreetly checks the bottoms of his own shoes and wrinkles his nose at what he sees. "Maybe I should join you."
After washing up, Lanni goes to the front door of the large house. He casually raps on the door. "Hello," he calls out.
Taking turns using the well in the square, the party quickly cleans up the mud and other substances from the trip. You collectively approach the manor near the river. As you enter the grounds, you notice a surprisingly out of place pile of debris resting to the side of the gate. A handful of workers move cartwheels full of what seems to be broken stone blocks. They look at you as you enter the yard and quietly nod to greet you as you move past.
While the hedged-off grounds are easily the largest in the hamlet, the manor itself is a humble one, given the circumstances - single story building made of stone, treated wooden roof, about 40 feet across with a little terrace to the side, leading into a garden of apple trees and flowers of various colours. To the other side of the house, you see a water wheel next to what seems like a small pier extended into the river.
The front door is ajar, and a trail of dust and small pebbles leads from the interior all the way to the debris pile near the hedge. You step to the front door, and knock a few times. After a few attempts, a female dwarf appears in the hall, wiping dust and grime off of her forehead and hands into a dirty rag. She is dressed in simple clothes, and while not torn, it seems they saw some rough times in the recent days. Her black hair is tied in a large knot above her shoulderblades. "Hello..." she gives you a curious glance, and a a sudden spark of realisation comes to her. She approaches further wipes her hands and offers a handshake.
"You must be Began's people! We're just wrapping up for the day. Doing some-" she pauses to consider her words. "reconstruction. We'll get to that in a moment. I'm Talin Dewfoot. Eh..." she pauses as she looks at the debris on her floor. "A moment, please. I'll be right with you."
She turns and addresses the workers, shouting with a commanding voice "Alright, everyone, pack it up! Leave everything where it is. I'll see you tomorrow morning."
The workers move their tools to the side of the walkway, and start gathering up to get some rest for the night. Once they are out of the gate, Talin looks at you. "Long journey? Can I offer you anything before we get down to business? Some wine, something to chew on?" she asks as she splashes her face in what seems like a temporarily repurposed birdbath.
"Are you Talin?" Lanni asks. "A bite to eat would be appreciated. And some more information to chew on. We weren't given much details on what we are getting ourselves into here."
Colonel Tipper chimes in “Yes, a snack and something to wash it down with would be most appreciated.”
With a tilt of his top hat, the colonel says “I’m Colonel Ballastknot Tipper of the Viridean Brigade, at your service madam. You can just call me Tip.”
Although the place is a mess and he recently cleaned up at the well, still Tipper takes the time to wipe his feet as he enters the building.
"Hmm... Some big ranks here. Okay, okay. Yes, I am Talin. I oversee this community. Kind of. Let me bring you some snacks while I clean up. Be right with you. Please take a seat in the garden." she ushers you to a gazebo in a small apple orchard next to the house. She disappears into the house to reemerge a minute later with a plate containing dried apple chips, a pie, a carafe with red liquid and a few glasses. She gently puts the plate on the table in the gazebo. "Please help yourself to whatever you fancy. I'm a mess. Unfortunately, I don't 'do' servants so you will have to pour and slice yourselves. Just give me a few minutes."
She starts leaving, then stops and turns around "Pie is gooseberry and apricot, baked today for the workers. We were busy so they left me some. Back in a moment."
Talin disappears again, and leaves you alone for a few minutes. The gazebo offers a pleasant view of the Sellen River and the hills beyond, and the soothing splashes coming from the river itself are only occasionally interrupted by the buzz of insects. Several minutes later, you hear rushed footsteps from inside the house, and Talin appears with her own empty glass and another carafe just in case. Her hair is even darker than before, now that it is clear of dust and soot, but wet. She has a more presentable, summer dress and sits down with you.
"Right, sorry - I had to clean up. Hello again..."
You spend a few moments with small talk. She reveals that she used to roam Artume and a few surrounding kingdoms with your province captain and a few others back in her days, then decided to settle down here, and after she built her house, she decided to get into the pony and horse breeding business. A small ranch turned into a growing community...
"So now, I have a small settlement named after me." she smiles an accomplished smile with a hint of price. "Dwarves used to make fun of my name at the forge. Called me Sweatyfeet instead. Heh, the cheeky bastards. All good fun." Talin laughs at the memory. "That's why I left to begin with. The joke's on them. I brought some more recognition to the family name by founding" she makes air quotes at the word "this here community."
She waits for you to finish the offered snacks and drinks, and puts on a more serious face. "But anyway - you are here for a reason. And I have responsibilities as well. I will give you a crash course. For the last two weeks, we have had some curious happenings in the community. Sentries tell me they saw an increased kobold presence just beyond the farmlands. We know they live nearby. There is an abandoned quarry just south of here. They used to mine limestone there and drag it upriver to Artume City for construction. Not sure why they stopped and abandoned the place, but kobolds moved in. We have an understanding. They leave us alone, we leave them alone. We sometimes trade. Well, we give them leftover compost. They eat it, I guess? Anyway, they are not aggressive, but it's strange that they are moving around unannounced."
She puts her hands together. "The other thing... Fey. Roughly at the same time, there have been sightings of fairies and satyrs and whatnot. More than usual. In the forest just east of here. People tell me the fey play tricks on travellers on the road to Thom and Gralton, which is problematic - we export a quarter of our livestock to those areas, more or less. So it's bad for business. I would look into that myself, but I have more pressing issues here in town. Which leads me to..." she stands up. "Let me show you. Follow me, please."
She slowly moves to the front door and waits for you to catch up and invites you inside. This is the first time you actually see the interior. Both wooden floors and furniture seem well made, but nothing too flashy or fancy. The house is segmented in a simple manner. A main entrance hall, kitchen, a living room with a fireplace, a bedroom, and an office with a table and chair, otherwise filled with stacks of paperwork and ledgers in glass-paned cabinets. "I need to find a place to store that. Don't mind the mess, please." Talin adds as she gives you the tour. The 'mess' meaning the trail of dust and rock pebbles heading from the pile of debris in the yard all the way into the house, and down the stairs, presumably to the cellar.
Once you enter the cellar, there is an intersection. One leads to a winery with a small table, a few barrels, and a handful of wine racks. The other hallway, the one with the trail of debris, is a shorter one. The entire group barely fits in there, but interestingly enough, the trail ends underneath a dirty curtain.
"Gentlemen, I present to you, our treasury.", Talin gestures towards the curtain. "I know what you think: 'Treasury? Surely it must be picked clean!', and you would be right. But probably not for the reasons you think. We moved all content to a different location. We recounted multiple times. Nothing was missing. With one exception."
She lets the words hang in the air for a moment, and dramatically tears down the curtain, revealing a small room - empty, if it were not for the debris - roughly five by ten feet, "The door. It's the only thing that was missing. It was a nice door, too. Sturdy, and reinforced, several locks, I had it made by Zeerd and Symulli last year. Our master locksmith and carpenter, respectively. All chests were here, still locked, and full. BUT..." she waits again "the door was not just gone. It was like it was never there. Imagine my confusion, moving down to get wages for the people, I have my keys in hand, come here, and there's a wall. As if someone took down the door, and put a wall up overnight, right under my nose as I was sleeping. Front door? Locked from inside. Office door? Locked. I looked, and found nothing."
She looks back at you. "So... thoughts? Questions? Theories? I'm all ears."
Lanni takes a seat in the gazebo and snacks on some of the fruit. After hearing of the various goings-on, he mentions "Well, I don't know all that much about kobolds. Fey I am a bit more familiar with. But not these ones specifically."
-----
Lanni follows Talin through the house, not paying much mind to the bits of debris.
"Nothing was missing. With one exception."
"The door. Imagine my confusion, moving down to get wages for the people, I have my keys in hand, come here, and there's a wall. As if someone took down the door, and put a wall up overnight, right under my nose as I was sleeping."
Lanni bursts into giggles. He tries his best to laugh quietly to not disrupt the rest of the conversation.
:⁂:
"I would not... I don't have that kind of ability."
He gets his giggles under control and says to the other two gnomes he is with, "OK, so we have some fey that are being a bit more active than normal, some kobolds that are mobilizing for something, and we need to figure out if, how, and why this Symulli guy repossessed this particular door."
"What do you think? Talk to Zeerd and Symulli first? Since they are closest."
Tipper runs his hand along one of the walls. Looking at Talin, he says “Was there anyplace that the walls looked odd? Like it was dug up and then put back together?”
“You said the door was solid. Was it made of anything unusual? Something other than pine or oak?”
A Tengu walks in, wearing leather armor and bearing a shortsword at his hip. "My apologies for being late. How unprofessional of me" He says, giving an apologetic bow. "My name is Thatch."
He examines the site that Talin is marking and how unusual it is. "Could it be magic of some sort? Seems to precise to be anything else."
"Oh good, you made it here too." Lanni greets Thatch as he comes over. "Yeah, I would guess magic was involved somehow. Hard to tell now though."
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“You said the door was solid. Was it made of anything unusual? Something other than pine or oak?”
Talin thinks about it for a while. "It was a while ago, but it was made from sort of evergreen. Pine or fir. I mean I can go scour my ledgers if you really need that information. It was nothing imported or exotic if that's what you are asking. But it was a well-made door. Nice in its simplicity. Symulli might have kept a sketch somewhere if you want to know what it looked like. If she keeps those. Your guess is as good as mine."
Tipper runs his hand along one of the walls. Looking at Talin, he says “Was there anyplace that the walls looked odd? Like it was dug up and then put back together?”
"Nothing of the sort." she moves her hand over one of the other walls in the room. "Pretty much indistinguishable from this one. Same stone, same mortar, even the same moss and lichen. Like I said - as if the door was never there to begin with.
He examines the site that Talin is marking and how unusual it is. "Could it be magic of some sort? Seems to precise to be anything else."
"I mean, if you have a mortar recipe that solidifies perfectly over the course of 8 or less hours, you let me know, and we can sell that thing to every engineer or builder in the world. We will make bank!" she smiles. "Like I said - it happened throughout me sleeping. And I check the locks every night before I sleep and when I wake up. At this point, it helps me sleep and is a morning ritual. You know, check locks, drink a cup of coffee, take a-" she clears her throat. "Relieve yourself."
“Well, this is a real stumper! Was hoping there might be some sort of explanation why anything would go after that door. Doesn’t sound like it. Still have the locked door mystery of how as well.”
Rubbing his chin as he looks around, Tipper asks “Have you any clues?”
"I will be honest with you here. Since this door was one of the two doors that were protecting the treasury, it was reinforced, with multiple mechanisms and bolts that were inserted into holes in the stone upon locking. Security was a priority. As far as I am aware, it contained some complex clockwork, similar to a safe. It was actually pretty expensive. A few hundred gold, actually. So the obvious answer is price." she furrows her brow and scratches her temple.
"On the other hand, whoever... removed them... got through the front door, which is no simple feat either. AND-“ she raises her index finger "the actual contents of the room were - well, still are, just temporarily relocated - worth much more. Why go through the effort if you are not stealing cutrency, but a HEAVY, LARGE, CUMBERSOME door that is hard to move around? I am honestly baffled by the situation."
"Clues, no. That's why you are here, but I will try to help however I can. Feel free to look around. I assume magic was involved, but I don't dabble. I breed horses, can work a forge, and can clean up and close a wound. Even in my adventuring days, I swung a hammer and strategised. We had a mystic for sparkly things. No offense. It is an art, but I do my thing instead."
“Well, you might have just told us why the door. Sounds like it had clockwork gears in it. Somebody might have wanted the parts!”
Gesturing past the wall into the room, he says “Treasury wouldn’t likely have had any of those. Sure, the money could buy them. Takes time.”
“Just a guess, but maybe someone wanted clockwork parts!”
Tipper will then go look more closely at the wall and the area around it, see if there is anything he sees or smells that is out of place.
"Yeah, it certainly is strange. I can't figure out what the point of blocking up a door would be. Especially not like this where it must have taken a lot of magical ability - and still wasn't all that effective. It took, what, maybe a couple of hours for you to bust down the wall and get to your stuff, right Talin?"
:⁂:
"Yeah, probably. My apologies. Two hours is an insultingly long amount of time to expect a Dwarf to need to go through a thin brick wall."
Lanni figdets a bit. "But as strange as this is, and as annoying as it would be to have your stuff messed with - I'm not seeing much more we can do here. We can keep our eyes open for information. But as far as doing something - how about checking in with the Kobolds?"
You look around the room for a while while others consider and debate options. It takes a while, sifting through the partially swept dust and rubble. Just as you are about to give up, something odd catches your eye. In this room full of dark gray stone, you notice... rust?
You bend over to look closer and pull out a small cylinder or rusted metal from the debris. The cylinder is hollow, resembling a tube of sorts. As you look over it under torchlight, you notice the inner wall is much less rusted, and lined with circular ridges. As if the ridges were scratched into the inner wall of the thing.
On the outside, a single straight line of material is protruding from it from one end of the cylinder to the other. Whatever that protrusion was, it rusted and broke off.
Tipper sniffs and looks around the room.
He bends over and looks at something, then pulls a cylinder out of the rubble. It looks like a rusted tube. He brings it over to the group and says “Don’t know what this is, but it is peculiar!”
He is holding a small cylinder or rusted metal. The cylinder is hollow, resembling a tube of sorts. He shines the torchlight near it and points out that the inner wall is much less rusted, and lined with circular ridges. It looks like the ridges were scratched into the inner wall.
On the outside, a single straight line of material is protruding from it from one end of the cylinder to the other. The protrusion looks like it rusted and broke off something else.
“Any chance this was part of the door?”
"Curious," Lanni comments as he takes a look at the strange bit of rusted metal.
"You have any ideas?" he asks to no one you can see.
:⁂:
"Really? That's even more strange."
“Any chance this was part of the door?”
The dwarf looks at the piece, and raises an eyebrow. "I mean that could be from any number of things. A tool of some sort?" she shrugs " This kind of rust doesn't happen in a year. I mean the rest of the door was in great shape. Probably not from this room to begin with. I can check with the guys that work on the wall when they come in tomorrow?"
"You have any ideas?" he asks to no one you can see.
Talin tosses a weird glance, then turns to the rest of the group, whispering "What's going on in there?", she points towards Lanni's head.
The dwarf looks at the piece, and raises an eyebrow. "I mean that could be from any number of things. A tool of some sort?" she shrugs " This kind of rust doesn't happen in a year. I mean the rest of the door was in great shape. Probably not from this room to begin with. I can check with the guys that work on the wall when they come in tomorrow?"
“Please do. I doubt the rust is natural, but it would be good to know if it was from something that used to be part of this room.”
Talin tosses a weird glance, then turns to the rest of the group, whispering "What's going on in there?", she points towards Lanni's head.
Getting a bit of a twinkle in his expression, Lanni quickly and silently* casts Telekinetic Hand and starts one of the bits of rock floating upwards. "Ah, I guess I didn't properly introduce mysel- Hey!" he shouts at the floating rock. "Put that down." He drops the rock and discontinues the spell while glaring at it for a second. Then turns back to Talin. "Anyway, I'm Lanni. Our resident haunt and paranormal expert. I can see why I was called in on this case. Bizarre disappearances of doors and other such things are what I deal with."
"I also make friends easily. Both living and ... less living."
Talin raises an eyebrow once, and then further and further as Lanni speaks. "Fascinating..." she notes, and thinks for a second as she looks around the room.
"Right!" she claps her hands together. "Well, I don't know what else to tell you here. Leave that rusty piece with me, I will ask about it tomorrow morning. Alternatively, you could take it and check with them directly at the White Goose Inn in the Central Square? That's where they are staying. Your call. I have a meeting with one of the town priests pretty early tomorrow, so I should go lie down. Unless there is anything else?"
"I'll let you keep it. It is getting late. The White Goose Inn is where we are staying, yes?"