Hearing Sasha's hopeful tone, Rutliux says "Definitely."
You head over to Lena at the temple and she is grateful to hear that Keeper Verik has been released from his imprisonment yet also saddened to hear that he was imprisoned. She offers to heal any wounds you might have, and actually even fishes out a wand of cure moderate wounds with 5 charges left. "I know it's not much, but we've kept this on hand for emergencies. I think this might qualify as the biggest emergency we've had in the Glade, ever. You'll use it better than anyone here could."
When you return to the council building, Verik has taken the opportunity to clean up the chambers that hold beds for you. They aren't super fancy or anything, but they are as safe as anywhere else.
The next morning, you find Keeper Verik surrounded by a stack of books. The man looks like he didn't sleep at all last night, and has evidently kept himself awake by consuming a large amount of coffee judging by the cup on the desk next to him and the smell in the air.
"Ah, you're awake. Good, I have learned a few useful things in my night of research."
Kiley doesn't look as if she had a good night's sleep when she walks into the library the next morning. Nightmares of turning into a snarling beast and slaughtering friends and family or of being hunted down by some giant talking wolf had plagued her dreams. At least the smell of coffee cheered her up a little.
"Good morning, Verik. Do you want to get something to eat first? Momma always told me it's never a good idea to drink coffee and not eat anything," she says.
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Rutilux on the other hand looks almost completely energized by his rest and in a renewed chipper mood. His dreams were amazing... he was throwing lightning from his barehands and the enemies he slew, instead of turning into charred corpses, became piles of gold coins.
If only the world worked that way.
"Indeed. Good morning!"
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Sasha walks over to the coffee pot, makes more, if needed, and pours herself a cup silently. Then she looks to the werewolf expectantly. Pheliks, on the other hand, had padded out, laid down beside his mistress, and, like any other cat, gone back to sleep in an instant.
Kiley looks at Pheliks with a mixture of longing and envy as she sees him lie down for Second Snoozing.
Verik looks up at Kiley and it turns into a stare for a little bit before he shakes his head as if to wake himself up from a dream.
"No, no, can't stop yet. I'll tell you the important parts of what I've learned, and then we can get breakfast."
He gets up and extricates himself from the pile of books surrounding him before moving back over to the desk with the coffee and getting himself another cup.
"The most pressing issue is that of our good friend 'Malrath'. It took me a while to dig up a reference to him that wasn't just using his name. But I finally found an old journal referring to him by another term: 'the barghest'. I remember hearing outlandish stories of barghests as a kid, but unfortunately what they actually are is not part of the knowledge I brought with me into adulthood."
"The second thing on the list is Lady Silvermoon. See, I looked into her and her family's records, to see if there was anything amiss before you head over to visit her today. And I found something quite interesting: she doesn't have any family on record. There has only been one single custodian of the well since the village was founded, and most likely before that. She has gone by many names since then, Silvermoon being her last alias. Ones before always have something to do with the moon, naturally to avoid arousing suspicion. Does the name Moonshade mean anything to you? That was the previous custodian of the well, but there is no mention of what happened to her or any 'changing of the guard', as it were. Whatever she is, she has been here for many, many years." he pauses a second to let that particular piece of information make its impact before continuing.
"And I think I know why. The well has a portal to the Underdark beneath it. Not a magical portal, mind you, just some sort of entrance. The Wood of Sharp Teeth has an extensive network of caves hidden somewhere deep below it, and I believe the Lunar Well is placed on top of one such means of accessing that network. What she, or anyone working with or for her, wants with the entrance into the Underdark? Your guess is as good as mine."
He says, finally collapsing into the chair behind the desk now that all of his research is presented before you.
Kiley listens, and starts wondering what a barghest is when Verik mentions it and Malrath being one. It has to be some kind of wolf-monster-thing, right? She shakes her head as she realizes she's getting distracted and tries to focus on what the councilor is telling them.
Moonshade certainly sounds ominous enough, but Kiley isn't sure she wants to jump to the conclusions that suggest themselves, not yet anyway. They had more puzzle pieces, now, and the picture that was starting to come into focus was not a happy one.
"I'm not liking where this looks like it's leading," Kiley says. "What did the records say about Malrath? Do they mention how he was viewed?"
"That makes two of us," Ari concurs. "I'm guessing not favourably," though that really is just a guess as she's not familiar with the term 'barghest'.
At the information for the well's keeper, Ari's mind spirals off in various directions. "Do we know that it's the same person? Or simply that multiple people have adopted the same name - and maybe the same appearance and persona - over a long period?" She flexes her fingers. "It's either that or we're talking about one very old lady. Which means she's not human - though who'd want that? No offence, Sasha - or has used some kind of magic to prevent ageing." She pauses for effect before relaying the last possibility that has occurred to her. "Or she's no longer living." She scrunches her face up in distaste at the thought. "As for what she may want with a potential entrance to the Underdark? It's not the first time I've uttered these words since we've been here but 'nothing good' probably covers it."
"Underdark? Ugh, rare goods but without guarantee of safety. High Risk, dangerous rewards. "
What did the records say about Malrath? Do they mention how he was viewed?
"Most of the mentions are favorable, hailing his role as a founder of the village. The one that refers to him as a barghest, however, is full of venom and definitely not as positive. It was disintegrating and had nearly dissipated into nothing by the time I found it, but mentioned how dangerous and wicked the 'creature' really was."
Do we know that it's the same person?
Verik stops to think for a second, tilting his head inquisitively before replying. "I suppose we don't, but I didn't find any records of Moonshade or any of the 'others' before our current custodian passing or any mention of a funeral or burial site. I suppose it could be possible that they just didn't record it but somehow I don't think that's the case."
"As for what she may want with a potential entrance to the Underdark? It's not the first time I've uttered these words since we've been here but 'nothing good' probably covers it."
"Not much comes up from the Underdark, this is true. I don't know what's down in this particular entrance but I am sure that it won't be good, as you say."
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Shaggar chooses to be more forthcoming, as Verik seemed the most genuine person they have met... and his muzzle said 'trustworthy'. ”We have heard the name Moonshade before. There is a larger plot and it stretches into the world beyond this bubble. There is a silver liquid being transported in barrels bearing certain sigils. This substance makes animals bigger, stronger, and fiercer. I spoke of the buried temple we found beneath Friendly Arm. There was a scrap of paper there, we think is related to this plot. It said, "...shipment from Silvermoon Glade encountered...route through... failed to detect...in advance, leading to...ady Moonshad...I was unable to salvage the entire...await further instructions...”. I do not know if the drying of the lunar well relates to the creation of this liquid, but it may be.”
The gnoll beings drawing a crude picture in the dust. ”I do not know much of magic but I think there are principles. The origin point of a magical area is likely its center. Perhaps this cage is a column, but if not, I expect it is a globe. If we can figure out the centermost point in the village, then we will have some idea where to go in the underdark to find its origin after going down the well. Like this…” Shaggar's drawing
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Sasha smiles at Pheliks when Kiley sighs, reaching out a comforting hand to the other woman in case she would take it.
She laughs quietly to herself at Ari's mistake (thinking that Sasha was fully human), but doesn't correct the tiefling. If her eyes don't give her away, she won't volunteer anything more yet.
As she listens to Verik and Shagger, Sasha nods, obviously impressed with the intellect of the gnoll and the warnings provided by the werewolf. "Ominous tidings, surely. I'm less concerned with geometric-magical principles, but Shagger may be right. The obvious thing we must do is learn more about both Malrath and Lady Moonshade. If we are dealing with a worshipper of the Dark Lady, it would make sense for them to counter our Lady of Silver. A long-term, generations-long subterfuge would be very believable, unfortunately..."
Kiley returns Sasha's smile with a wry grin of her own as she takes the priestess' offered hand. The grim tidings, however, swiftly banish it.
"I think we need to see what's going on with Lady Silvermoon. Figuring out where the center of the magic is could take a while. We know that something's wrong with her and it's the clearest thread we have," Kiley says.
"If this were a big city we'd find ourselves a sage, haggle like hell, and see what lore could be passed on for a fair price." The halfling mmphs "It's almost as if adventurers aren't allowed to take a train of experts and shops with them. Trouble some that."
"I think by the time you have that kind of coin, you really don't need to go adventuring," Kiley says with a smirk. She starts to say something else, but the laughter and the light in her eyes fades as she looks away, a sad expression on her face.
They burned it all. Everything that Momma and Papa had collected, the books, the artworks, the trophies from their adventures.
She shakes her head and turns back to Rutilux.
"Sorry, just-- sorry," she says quietly.
Rutliux isn't sure what that was, from smirk to ... sadness?
"Seems like maybe I should apologize to you. It's fine, lass. And I suppose there's some truth about not needing to, but perhaps some do it for the love of the thrill? I .. I could see the allure."
Shaggar's drawing
Verik takes a look at the crude dust drawing. "That...is certainly a possibility. One I haven't thought of myself; what is the actual source of the entire 'bubble' around the glade?" he says, looking around at the gathered books as if searching for an answer there.
"I hadn't considered the idea that these problems might have spread outside of our village. The fact that you had heard of Lady Moonshade before arriving here only brings more credibility to the fact that she is not human at least. Elf or the like, maybe, but my senses are telling me there's more to it than that." he thinks for a second longer, sinking down a bit into his chair before sitting straight up again.
"This silvery liquid, do you have any ideas as to what it might be? I can't think of any substance that would fit the bill. Moonwine doesn't do any of the things you described, although they could be adding things to it in order to produce those effects."
"I think you should go check on Lady Silvermoon, but be sure to keep your weapons close at hand. If she is compromised and my theory is correct, then she is likely very experienced and possibly powerful. I will continue digging into the archives to see if I can find anything out about what a 'barghest' is. Did you have any other leads for me to look into before you head out?"
"This silvery liquid, do you have any ideas as to what it might be? I can't think of any substance that would fit the bill. Moonwine doesn't do any of the things you described, although they could be adding things to it in order to produce those effects."
An idea occurs to Ari, though not fully formed. "What if," she begins, her tongue working as quickly as her mind. "What if the silver substance is liquid moonlight." Even as she says it, the idea both feels mad but also feels somehow plausible. "Hear me out: moonlight is silver, yes? And the lunar well, which collects moonlight and grants magical properties, has run dry. Maybe it's because it has been corrupted into something else - via a ritual or some other fell magic - and siphoned off. And we already have strong suspicions that someone is... let's say not acting in the best interests of the village," she finishes with more than a touch of understatement about the situation they are in. The tiefling looks around at the others, seeing if the they agree or can poke holes in the theory.
"Alchemical corruption?" The merchant ponders "or some sort of transposition?"
"I-- I don't know enough about magic to really say," Kiley says. "If Momma were still here, she'd know."
"Corrupting moonlight, alchemically or any other way, fits those who corrupted the Weave to make a shadowy mockery of it," volunteers Sasha. "Always the dark-sister has tried to mimic Selûne, and always the copy is lesser somehow than the original. Introducing madness - lunacy - into the divine light makes sense..."
"Lovely, makes it sound like eventually everyone here will go mad" THe halfling paces.. "Protection from evil might be of use?"
"I wish I had more than just words of encouragement to offer, but our resources here in the glade are extremely limited. Even before our recent issues we didn't have much in terms of luxuries and the like." Verik says before seeing you off. He does provide a few extra pieces of toast for the admittedly short journey to Silvermoon Manor.
The manor itself sits to the far north of the glade right above the fields. They still hold the ripe crops of the harvest season, ready for harvesting. The height of the corn and other produce turn the roads around the fields into a tunnel, creating an unnerving claustrophobic feeling as the group makes its way to the manor. Somehow you get the feeling that you're being watched from the corn fields, but every time you look and even stop to listen, you can't see or hear anything out of the ordinary.
Eventually you make it to the walled manor and see that the front gate entranced is closed but not locked, and you can see a hedge garden in the space leading up to the house. The hedges seem a bit withered, as if they haven't been taken care of properly recently.
On the other side of the fence are two men, sitting on the still running fountain in the middle of the hedge garden. They see you and call out without getting up or even really showing any concern.
"Go away! We're not taking no visitors."
"Ah, but what about if one of those visitors was a saleshin of the nigh legendary Freewind family? Able to arrange goods and or services to be set up before hand that might one day lead to even great prosperity for even finer folks? Why if you two are working for someone they might be right annoyed if you let this open of opportunity slam into the face of fortune to bash the nose of better futures. Don't you think?"
If there is a superior they answer to, maybe he can at least get them talking and get a chance to ease in. Sometimes folks are open to trade when they'd not be open to talk.
Sasha notes the hedges and directs Pheliks towards the ones on the left, following him and apparently ignoring the two men. "If they approach me to start a fight, they will regret it..." she whispers to those nearest as she passes them.
The gnoll steps through the open gate, leaving it open behind him, and shakes his head. ”Unfortunately, sayyid, that will not do. Councilman Verik has sent us on village business to speak with your mistress.”
The news absolutely does surprise them, a concerned glance passing between the pair before they respond. Rutilux's ploy isn't enough to distract them, unfortunately, seeing as how the moment the gate is opened the two werewolves reveal themselves as such by standing up as they transform into their hybrid forms and draw longswords.
"We said no visitors." the right hand one snarls.
"She isn't in any state to receive them anyway." the left one adds, snickering.
Init
23- Kiley
22- Ari
19- them
14- Rutilux
5- Shaggar
3- Sasha
Kiley has heard enough. Ruti hears her take a couple of steps back before sprinting forward and vaulting over the hin as she pulls her sword free of it's scabbard. Perhaps it speaks to her courage that she's willing to rush two beasts the same size and shape as her friend, Shaggar, after seeing what he is capable of when riled, but more than likely it points to her lack of foresight and thinking in these situations.
If the revelation of the guards as werewolves was supposed to be a surprise, Ari was certainly ready for it. Their lack of subtly does not impress her and she is already moving before the transformation. Unfortunately they are too far away for her to easily attack them so she moves away to the side, circling around ready to seize the opportunity when it presents itself and allow Shaggar and Pheliks direct routes to engage.
"Use a silver weapon if you have one," she calls, "and you'll be pleased to know I don't think any of you are stupid enough to encourage it, but don't let them bite you unless you fancy spending the next full moon with fangs." Taking her own advice, she switches one of her daggers for her silver-shod one and bounces on the balls of her feet ready for an attack.
Kiley lands a massive strike against the red werewolf, slashing a deep cut across its chest, and yet it doesn't fall under the wound. Its tough hide did deflect some of the blow after all. Seems as if silver weapons will be extremely valuable here.
The two werewolves strike back, each one picking one the two women next to them.
The werewolf Kiley struck lands a blow that threatens to become more severe, but she luckily dodges out of the way in time to avoid any significant damage.
Init
Round 1
23- Kiley
22- Ari
19- them
14- Rutilux
5- Shaggar
Round 2
23- Kiley
22- Ari
19- them
14- Rutilux
5- Shaggar
3- Sasha
Rutilux steps forward then lets loose a scream that only the werewolf Kiley is fighting hears, to others silence, to that werewolf? Piercing winds and thunder!
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”… but don't let them bite you unless you fancy spending the next full moon with fangs."
The gnoll chuffs. ”Every moon I spend with fangs.” Not understanding the particulars of the disease, Shaggar wonders if he’d become a were-gnoll or maybe a were-hyena. The worse option was being lessened to a beta predator like a wolf. That was barely a step above a domestic dog…
A were-retriever – how embarrassing.Putting aside these musings, Shaggar watches how the creatures move and shrug off blows before rushing in, trying to end the wounded werewolf with a combination of ferocity and skill.
HP: 20 / 20 | AC:16 / T:11 / FF:15 | CMD:17/16
Arrows (20):
Arisen 2HP (1):
Effects:
Arisen - Die at -18 HP
The other wolf takes 6 damage and is dazed for a round.
Shaggar's axe hits it hard right after the sound wave blasts him, and deals a devastating blow. Yet he still stands (for now).
With the first were-wolf down, Kiley turns her attention to the one Ari and Shaggar strike at. She studies how it moves for a moment, then strikes.
Pheliks rushes into the fray, biting at the remaining werewolf as Sasha takes aim with her crossbow and fires into the melee, muttering to herself about, "...too many people in the way..."
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"And they suit you well," Ari reassures Shaggar as the gnoll rushes in with a mighty chop of his axe. "I'm just less sure I'd look so good if I were sporting a pair." She's never going to be able to swing with the same heft but caught between four of them now, Ari is confident of getting her timing right to catch the werewolf off guard.
She does, but perhaps she got cocky, for she expected to plunge her dagger in to the hilt but instead only catches the creature a glancing blow, the knife trailing a cut but nothing more.
Ari’s small scratch across the wolf’s face is actually enough to bring him down, surprising both him and Ari by collapsing to the ground to join his fellow.
Rutilux addresses the dead were wolves, "See this is why Trade is better than hostility. You picked the latter, and you're dead. If you'd picked the former, you could be alive.. and with shiny new buttonhooks!
Then he looks to the others "Nicely handled, folks. Did you hear what those two said about the lady?" He reminds "'"She isn't in any state to receive them anyway.'"
"I did. Let's hurry," Kiley says as she rushes to the door of Lady Silvermoon's home.
Kiley rushes forward past the two unconscious werewolves to the door, and prepares to open it. At the very last second, however, she sees the smallest part of a wire poking around the top edge of the door. It’s trapped!
Shaggar’s red-eyed stare follows Kiley as she heedlessly snaps at another piece of obvious bait dangled in front of her. He makes no move to stop or follow her, rather, he finishes the business at hand…
”Ari, lend me your silver dagger for a moment, please.”
He takes the dagger, angles it to slide easily between the ribs, and meticulously drives the blade into each of the werewolves’ hearts adding his body weight to the blow.
Only when certain they are dead, does he wipe the blade on one of the creature's clothes and hands it back to Ari, hilt first. "You have my thanks."
Seeing the time they are taking to do that, Rutliux searches the bodies for , well, loot, or perhaps more importantly a key for the door. He detects magic on them too.
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Ari looks surprised as her glancing blow is apparently sufficient to down the werewolf. She assumes it must have been suffering even more severely from its other wounds than she realised.
”Be my guest,” she says to Shaggar. She wipes the dagger on the dead creature’s torn clothing before holding it out ceremoniously in front of her balanced on both palms.
At the mention of a wire rigged on the doorframe, Ari sighs. ”I don’t suppose anyone enjoys wrestling with this sort of nonsense? It’s always ‘Ari, you look like you’d be good at this kind of thing.’ I look bloody stupid, they always mean.” Or dispensable. ”Why does nobody ever want to risk their own fool neck?” Still muttering to a string of curses to herself she starts look through her backpack for the set of rudimentary tools she keeps for suck unfortunate eventualities, before heading over to check out what Kiley has discovered.
"If you have some tools, I can try disarming it," Kiley tells Ari when she comes up.
"Nonsense , Ari. Your slender fingers dance with the tools of your trade like a Calishite veil dancer, you're just that good." Also, traps scare me. One can get KILLED tinkering with those.
Rutilux finds that each of the two has the long sword they were using, as well as chainmail and a light crossbow with 20 bolts each. Of much more interest, however, is the holy symbol hanging around both of the twos' necks: in the shape of that same spiral with the chain cutting through it diagonally.
Ari, with the help of Kiley's assisting hands, manages to cut the wire in such a way as to not trip whatever trap was sitting beyond the door and finds that the door isn't even locked. Whoever set it obviously wanted you to trip the trap.
The door opens into a rather simple foyer, a coat rack and shoe box sitting to the right side. It is otherwise empty, and straight ahead is another door. Once Kiley and Ari pass through the door, however, they see the intended trap is a cleverly rigged bucket hanging above the door way connected to the other end of the wire that the pair just finished slicing through.
Kiley is astute enough to hear the sounds of whispering coming from the room behind the door, although she can't exactly hear what is being said. The voices don't exactly sound human, but are familiar nonetheless somehow.
He takes the symbol cautiously, using a cloth to avoid contact, "Those odd symbols... Two longswords, Chainmail that might be suitable for fitting folks, or not. Light crossbow 20 bolts." He tells the others and decides to take the last item (The cross bow) if no one else wants it and the bolts, and one .. symbol. He'll need it so they can research it. He tries to hasten this to keep up with the others.
Shaggar takes an un-holy symbol, leaves the rest of the gear and follows the rest of the team in. He inspects the bucket in the foyer wondering what it contains and if he can take the bucket down and use it for his own purposes.
Chastened by the near miss with the trap, Kiley tries to sneak up to the door and listen to what's going on behind it.