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The din of ringing steel and the simmering heat of the forge makes Smine’s Weaponworks easy to find, beyond even its sterling reputation and its well painted sign. An open sliding door leads into a work area filled with apprentices, each toiling to fuel the ceaseless demands for weapons to feed the city’s famed Arena of Aroden. One of the workers, a grim-faced halfling woman barely taller than her own anvil, flashes a smile and points to a narrow staircase at the back of the smithy. Climbing the stairs provides a small respite from the din and the heat, with hanging bowls of cloves and aromatic bark making a heroic, if futile, effort to cover the smell of coal and sweat.
The Pathfinder Lodge above the smithy resembles an adventurer’s boarding house, providing an excellent cover for the comings and goings of the Society’s agents.
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A handsome, but serious looking half elf in full plate armor walks in. A holy symbol around his neck and he wears a cloak of red with gold trim. He has a bastard sword in a scabbard and he carries a pole arm, a fauchard with him as well. He nods to those who are here. Greetings. I am Sir Kidron Quintus, knight of Last Wall.
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A short, stocky human, dark-haired and bearded with a complexion that looks permanently windburned, enters behind the kobold. A greatsword is sheathed over one shoulder and a greatclub over the other, and four javelins hang in a quiver from his belt. He wears hide armor over a light knee-length tunic decorated with bright embroidery around the collar and cuffs, plain wool trousers, and leather boots. He nods at the rest of the group and smiles a little, looking down after making eye contact. "I'm called Kimmo."
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Soon after your arrival, a door to a kitchen opens, and a soot-smudged dwarf dressed in a leather apron steps out: Venture-Captain Holgarin Smine.The dwarf’s gestures brusquely to a table within the kitchen, his hands wiped passably clean of the ash and grease of his trade. An assortment of bread, cheese, and cider has been set out on the table for refreshments, as is a bizarre doll made of dried wheat stalks.
“Hope the journey went well.” Smine greets. “Dangerous these days. More dangerous further west, so suppose I shouldn’t complain. Where's the rest of ya” His short sentences almost matching the staccato cadence of the forges below. “Hmmp, won’t waste your time. Ever heard of the Mosquito Witch?”
Smine grins and leans across the table, picking up the grotesque doll. Beady, painted red eyes and a needle-like snout is barely visible through shaggy wheat-stalk hair, and six handless arms are clutched to the doll’s chest. “Local legend. Ugly thing. People claim it lives near a town out here called Shimmerford. Hunters have been trying to catch it for over fifty years. No one has managed to. Villagers sell the failed hunters dolls and souvenirs instead. Fun for all.” He frowns and sets the doll down “Not now, though. Mosquitoes and bloodseekers started plaguing the villagers. Killing livestock. Swarming people outside. Getting into food. Been happening for a year or so. People are starting to leave the town entirely. They blame the Mosquito Witch. I don’t. Doesn’t matter. It’s a problem either way. You’re going to stop it."
He pauses to give you some time to think, and perhaps ask some questions.
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"Oh my, it's so hot here!" complains a vine leshy before she closes the door behind her, only to find herself running late for the briefing. With a raised eyebrow daring anyone to stare, she maintains her composure as she settles into her legchair companion adorned it with plush pillows for comfort and glittering accessories, almost treating the legchair like her throne. The legchair makes a click-clacking sound with its hooves as it carries the leshy into an empty spot for the meeting.
Fortunately, they arrives just in time before Smine begins the mission briefing. As Smine finishes speaking, the vine leshy, adorned with a tiara of colorful flowers and thorns, raises her hand.
"Greetings, good sir," she begins smugly. "I am Sunshine of Happiness, and this is my legchair companion, Upuan," she introduces herself with a wave of her hand.
"I have a question: who is this Mosquito Witch?"
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Try this link for temporary handouts, will correct the original when I'm on my computer.
The captain turns his head to Sunshine of Happiness, and smirks as he responds without skipping a beat.“Looks like this.” Smine wiggles the wheat-stalk doll. “Missing the wings, though folks disagree about that piece. People claimed to see it a while back. Some claim they saw it more recently. No one’s proved it. No one’s caught it. No one’s sure what it is. Would be exciting if we found out.” Smine smiles wryly. “Don’t expect us to.”
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Sunshine cringes at the sight of the doll.
"I thought it was just a rag for wiping grease off, why are you flailing it around here? It's... ugly," she comments, cringing once more. "Well then, it seems we need to find out what the truth is about this 'Mosquito Witch'." she adds, now air quoting the 'Mosquito Witch".
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The captain's eyebrows slightly raise, "It's ugly, but it raises a point and piques curiosity! Shimmerford the name of the town, did I not mention it? As far as I know, the whole town is built on he idea of the witch, Never been there myself. Small town. Cheery place. Tourist attraction. Sells Mosquito Witch dolls, masks, bread. See them in the markets here sometimes. Hold a big festival for the witch once a year. I’ve never gotten to go. Too busy.”
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Once the party has finished their travel preparations, and had a light meal, the journey begins from the city of Tymon to Shimmerford in the River Kingdoms along one of the larger rivers heading south bound. As time passes along the river, the humidity feels heavier as the density of trees becomes evident. On the approach to the forested town, the thick black clouds hanging over the shoreline make apparent that they are not clouds, but a writhing black mass of mosquitoes. Though the mosquitoes are harmless, the incessant buzzing and bites become increasingly annoying.
Upon disembarking from the vessel, you recall the paper with the name given to you from the venture captain, Galia Farrsmith. But, before you are able to ask around, a gnome with blueberry-blue hair and copper skin emerges in front of you, eager to greet. "“Oh, thank goodness! Oh, thank goodness! You actually came! Smine actually sent someone! You must be them, right? No one comes here a-a-anymore unless they’re planning to help! Do you want to talk inside? My house is mostly mosquito free! Can I get you anything? My beet juice is also mostly mosquito-free! Would you like to sit down? A fresh haircut, maybe? Oh, thank goodness you’re here!” she speaks while wringing her hands and swatting away any mosquitoes that come near her.
Upon a quick glance, you observe a relatively dead town for what was described by Captain Holgarin as a vibrant tourist attracted town.
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Sunshine slowly draws her club while she stares at the writhing black mass of mosquitoes hanging above close to them. Thankfully, the happy gnome takes them into her house and she does not hesitate to enter.
"What happened here? Where are the people?" she asks before she seeps the refreshment that is offered.
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Galia let's out a huge sigh, “W-well, you probably noticed the mosquitoes. There’ve been a lot of bloodseekers, too. Those are mosquitoes that are as big as your heads! The little ones are bad enough, but the big ones have been driving people out of the town. One even carried off poor Mrs. McClairby’s cat, and some of them killed all of Mr. Rujat’s prize cattle. It’s been really, really, really awful around here! No one knows when it actually started, but it feels like it must have been months now!” She speaks with desperation in her voice.
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The Gnome happily refills the refreshments of boiled barley and sliced beets with hopes the Pathfinders solve this problem. She tries to lock eyes with Kimmo but fails to meet them."Err..Y-Yes, a lot of the homes have been abandoned recently, but there are a few old timers still hanging in there, er-r-rm, Mrs Lyons, the bell family, and even Anna!"
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"I'm sure they wouldn't mind, they want this p-p-plague gone as much as I do! It's killed our town livelihood. I mean, no one's going to stop you anywhoo..the town watch is gone.." She almost nearly cries as she finishes her last words. "I'm at a lost, Most people think it’s…” Galia lowers her voice to a whisper. “…the witch. I thought that maybe it could have been a c-cultist of Ghlaunder, but that turned out to be wrong, so I don’t know what else it could be.”
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The gnome turns her head unusually slowly towards Kimmo as her eyes widen. “Oh! Um. Yeah! Yeah! About that... um. So there was a Ghlaunder cultist who we found lived a little ways out in the woods! But when we found him the others got a teensy-tiny wee bit mad, and um... k-killed him. And then whacked him into pieces. And then burned his house to the ground with his body in it, and then salted the ground where the ashes were. But, um. The mosquitoes and bloodseekers didn’t leave. So I guess... it actually wasn’t him? I… I feel kind of bad about it now.”
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Galia explains that the town primarily worships Hanspur, a demigod of the waterways popular in the domain of the River Kingdom. Typically known as a travel god, he keeps waterways moving and floods those who displease him. After being well fed, you head to the brewery hoping some locals would be able to shed a bit more light to the mystery at hand. The loud buzzing of the mosquitos resume.
Just outside the brewery, a shaggy dog with cream-white fur bolts down the town streets, scattering the clouds of mosquitoes hovering above the ground. A woman’s voice follows after the dog: “Peaches! Peachy! Get back here!” A Tian woman in simple traveling clothes sprints into view a few moments later, stopping to stand by the dog. “Sorry about that,” the woman says, as the dog whines for attention. “I didn’t think there was anything out here but insects, or I would have kept a closer eye on him. My name’s Haru Kwon. What brings you to Shimmerford? It’s not exactly a popular destination right now.”
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"We are to investigate the situation here in Shimmerford. We are summoned to know whether the lives that are claimed here is the doing of the Mosquito Witch. And we will undo it once and for all." Sunshine shares the details of their mission.
"We just heard that a certain cultist was killed by the people because of the belief that he is causing it. With the cultist dead, the situation is still the same, given the fact that we are summoned here to do the job."
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The dog bounces around everyone as you engage in conversation. "Oh well, is that so. Not exactly the same objectives, but I’ve been traveling around the River Kingdoms, recording the local legends and customs. For obvious reasons, Shimmerford was high on my list to visit. I may have gotten more than I bargained for.”