GM Venture-Captain Holgarin's page

Let me know where you place the doll Amada, it might just be important.

"Eh, I'm sure your friends'll fill you in on the way. Head over to the docks when yer ready. Tell them Holgarin sent you." The Venture-captain replies before returning to his smithy work.

"I hired you a boat. Good ship. Good crew. They’ll take you down the river to Shimmerford tomorrow morning. I’d stay inside while traveling, though. Clouds of mosquitoes are hanging by the shore and above the water. Doesn’t sound pleasant. Find a gnome woman named Galia. Not a Pathfinder. Knows me, though. Knows we fix problems. She’s the one who sent a letter about the situation. Would have a better idea of the situation on the ground. After that, find what’s causing the problem. Stop it. Report back." Smine offers you use of his guest rooms and offers suggestions on where to purchase supplies for the expedition. He also gives you the wheat-stalk Mosquito Witch doll as both a reference and an irreverent good luck charm.

If you're trained in occultism, you can roll a recall knowledge check about the Mosquito Witch.

Holgarin Smine replies, "Full of questions ain't ya? Never been this big of a problem. Never hired to investigate. Just sightings by the locals, mostly harmless. No idea on how its still around and kicking, maybe you'll find out."

The dwarf grunts in reply, "Guess I haven't rightly told you my name yet either, and you look like beginners, so, just in case you just signed up to the society, welcome, I'm Venture-Captain Holgarin Smine; try not to die." he says before looking back at the doll, "Been fifty years since people spotted the witch. Plenty of time to do something like this. It hasn’t. Just sticks to the forest, scares people, gives omens. Doesn’t send things into the town. Maybe something riled it up. More likely it’s a Ghlaunder worshipper. Something similar, anyway. Probably heard stories about the witch. Took advantage of them to cause trouble."

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.” His short sentences almost matching the staccato cadence of the forges below. “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."