Champions of the Spheres - IC

[pi4t]

OOC thread.

The early-morning sun shines through the windows of the Grinning Troll. You are all gathered around a table. You've been making your final preparations for rescuing Lilya, and are now preparing to make a move. Your employer, Guildain Haldenfrond - a well dressed, rather stout man - has been giving you some unwanted advice, while anxiously wringing his hands.

"As far as I can see, there are two places you could look for clues. First, you could try that big rock. You know, the one where the letter said to put the gold? There's been a report of some figures being seen around there. Makes sense the scum would be keeping an eye on it - making sure no one else takes the gold they think I'm just going to put out for them. Secondly, you could try to follow Lilya's own path. We know where she was going. She was visiting the grave of my dear wife, a short way to the west. You know the place? Good. That's the most likely place for...for...you know. Lilya to have been taken. It's been a couple of days, and the sheriff's men didn't find anything, but you might still have more luck."

Of course, you're already aware of all this, having discussed all this and more with one another over drinks the previous night. But Haldenfrond seems eager to be able to contribute something to the rescue of his daughter.

Guildain removes a piece of parchment from his pocket. "Here. It's the letter I was given. I don't know if it'll be much use to you, but there might be some clues you can figure out from it."

Spoiler: The Letter

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haldenfrond.
If you wish to see your daughter again deli er fifty gold pieces to the big rock north of town.
you ha e one week.

Close inspection of the letter reveals that the writer has a most peculiar handwriting. All the characters are separated, and different copies of the same character all look virtually identical to each other.

"Thank you for agreeing to do this for me. I owe you a great debt. And I will repay it, as we agreed. Bring her back, and you get the full 50 gold, and a discount of one quarter the price on all my stock." Haldenfrond suddenly looks very serious indeed. "I'm putting a lot of trust in you here. Don't mess this up."

Some of the Haldenfrond's seriousness fades. He points towards the door. "Go on! You're wasting time! Hurry up and rescue my daughter!"

[Anachronity]

Lorhanna plucks out a quick series of three even notes from her lyre, followed by an inquisitive fourth higher note. She maintains eye contact with Guildain as she does to 'direct' the question towards him, then takes a handful of coins from her belt and cascades them from one hand to the other. She ends the question with furrowed brows and a slight tilt of her head, looking curiously at him.

[pi4t]

Haldenfrond looks confused. "You'll get the reward once you've brought Lilya back safely. Not until then."

[jscape2000]

Targan speaks up, "Sir, I believe my companion means to inquire as to whether you intend to pay the ransom? Certainly, we shall endeavor to rescue dear Lilya, but the risk to here would be far less should you pay the bounty, and then we hunt down the ruffians, rather than endanger her while we mount a rescue. The kidnappers have given us know reason to believe they would not fulfill the bargain they have proposed. And, like cornering any beast, a desperate brigand will become more unpredictable."

[pi4t]

"Ah, I see. Well, I'm not so sure. Even if they do hold up their end, you'd have to track them down very quickly after that. You can bet they'll try to disappear, move somewhere else and do the same thing again if it works here. And that's assuming they actually do what they said. I've heard stories of a group of bandits which just kept demanding bigger and bigger ransoms, until they couldn't afford to pay. If this is them, or some sort of copycat...

"Still, keeping Lilya safe is the main thing. I'll pay the ransom, if you really think that's the best approach."

[Anyr]

One group member seemed just as anxious as Haldenfrond. Varia Drake paced back and forth. Objects vibrated with arcane energy as she passed them. She wasn't some random, detached mercenary. She was a close friend of the victim. The monetary reward barely mattered to her. Lilya's safety would be reward enough. Varia surveyed her fellow recruits.

"So, are we ready to go? Every second counts."

[Frog Dragon]

"We'll get yer daughter, if she still breathes."

Heraeus glances towards the door. "They gave a week for her ransom. We should find out who they are, if they be honorable as far as brigands go, or beasts simply. In the case of the latter, every second counts. In the former, paying the ransom could secure more favorable ground to find them afterwards."

"We should start by following her trail. Better the brigands don't know we trail them."

[jscape2000]

Targan nods at the wisdom of Heraeus' plan, and rises from the table.

[Anachronity]

Lorhanna, having been prepared to elaborate, instead nods when Targan correctly interprets her. From there she simply listens, nodding again at Heraeus's plan and rising to leave with the others.

[Holy-hunter]

One of the group had sat in silence during the whole exchange. Her pale blue eyes distant and elsewhere while her semi elven ears caught and held every word.
Her simple dark cloak was drawn tightly around her body and she rest a hand at her breast-line where a bulky amulet lay hidden beneath. As the conversation came to a conclusion Raeh stood up. She wasn’t an imposing figure. Being short, petite, slender and with soft features. Her dark hair, somewhere between stages of regrowth and recovery, sat uneven and choppy around her ears and neck.
Despite her meek stature, she held an aura of confidence and surety. As the others began to leave, with steady purposeful steps Raeh strode towards Guildain and put a hand on his shoulder. She was one of few words but when she did speak her words were often filled with impact.

“You will see your daughter again Mr Haldenfrond, to you that I promise.” she said with a gentle reassuring compassion and firm unwavering sincerity.

“Did your daughter visit your late wife often?” she asks. Half interested in the answer, half using the question to open the topic of the deceased. Once breached Raeh would further question about Misses Haldenfrond. Gaining her name and attempting to familiarise herself with the type of person she was.

The questioning would then turn to briefly asking who could do this, who was desperate enough, if the family had any enemies or personal grievances, was Lilya hanging around any new people?

With a final reassuring nod Raeh turns and joins the others heading towards the graveyard. A place she had been spending too much time over the last year.

[pi4t]

Raeh engages in a brief conversation with Haldenfrond. She learns that his wife's name was Irilia, and she died of a sickness several years ago, when Lilya was ten. To hear Guildain's description, she was as wonderful a person as one could ever hope to meet - he clearly still feels her absence deeply. Guildain and Lilya generally go out to visit her grave together about once a month; on this particular occasion Guildain was unable to come due to urgent business in his shop, to Lilya went out alone. It's about an hour out of town, in a glade near the river which Irilia always loved. You bring up the possibility that someone knew they would be going and had gone ahead of you, but Guildain says they only even started talking about it when they saw the weather that morning.

Haldenfrond admits that some of his competitors might be a bit annoyed at him for undercutting them, but he thinks it's very unlikely any of them would stoop to this. And if Lilya has been meeting new people, she certainly hasn't mentioned it. He does, again, bring up the bandits he mentioned before. The Black Hunters. You've all heard about them before; not least from Haldenfrond's own tavern stories. They were known for kidnapping relatives of wealthy people and demanding ransoms. But they were defeated a couple of years ago, when they pushed their luck and kidnapped the husband of a retired adventurer. She sent messages to her old party, and they turned out not to be quite so retired as all that. The bandits were believed wiped out, and became just another tavern story. Haldenfrond seems worried that they've somehow survived, and moved to the vicinity of Oakhelm.

As you go, Haldenfrond checks whether you want him to go and pay the ransom, or whether you think it would be better to hold off for now. He points out that if he's going to, it would be a good idea to be accompanied - the designated location is a good way out of town and rather isolated.

[Holy-hunter]

“Not yet.” Raeh replies. “Give us a day or two.” she encourages with a soft reassuring smile. “We will get to the bottom of this, I promise. May I please take that letter though?” she asks softly, looking towards the parchment, intrigued by its unique lettering.

Once outside and reunited with the others, Raeh speaks.
“I do not believe it will take all of our eyes to retrace the young woman’s steps, instead I would prefer to see what I can learn of the townsfolk and the lettering of that message. There may still be clues here.”

Raeh’s mind seemed to be made up.
“Since we are here I will start with Aldir Colwatch and hear of the tavern gossip then I believe the sheriff might have some insight. This path could be for naught so I understand if I am left doing this alone, please just keep me informed of your progress. We can meet back up here tonight.”

With that Raeh turns to head back into the Grinning Troll.

[jscape2000]

With a sudden thought, Targan pauses. "Actually, could I see that letter?"

He draws a jeweler's monocle from one of the many pockets on his outfit, and examines the letter closely, looking for the pressure marks that would tell him whether the letter was created by hand or mechanically, or if this is a smooth piece of paper created by magic.

[pi4t]

Targan and Raeh both investigate the letter. Targan looks closely, and finds the pressure marks he was looking for. They seem more consistent with it being written by hand than anything else he can think of. Under the jeweller's monocle, he can see minute differences between instances of the same symbol in the letter - they aren't completely identical, although they're close enough to make any scribe proud. He also scans it for magical residue, and finds none. This doesn't guarantee it wasn't made using some sort of magic device, of course, but the message itself is definitely non-magical.

He also notices something odd - a few of the letters ("w", "y" and perhaps "p" or "g") seem to be written in a different style to the rest. They're a bit messier in style, and seem more angular. It's hard to be sure, though, since you have limited material to work with.

Raeh is more interested in what the letter is made of. She sniffs at it. It smells, as one might expect, of paper and ink, and there's an undertone of something else. Some sort of earthy smell? It reminds her of something. For a while she has trouble placing it, but then it hits her. Bird droppings! It's faint, but the letter definitely smells of bird droppings.

Her other investigations into the composition of the paper and ink reveal nothing unexpected. The paper and ink are of poor quality, and smudge easily when she runs a wet finger over them. She runs her fingers over the page, but feels nothing unusual, either in the letters or in the two gaps where letters seem to have been missed out.

[Anyr]

Varia lingered restlessly by the door. She wasn't good at calm planning. She preferred fast, decisive action. On the other hand, making the wrong move might doom Lilya. Maybe the others were right to hesitate.

[Anachronity]

Lorhanna continues with the others to the site of the crime, occasionally playing short snippets and bits of melodies just as one might talk to themself. The tone of those segments is suitably curious and evocative of intrigue.

[Holy-hunter]

Raeh shares her thoughts and curiosities with Targan as she waits for an audience with Aldir.

She opens the conversation with some gentle flattery based around his business and then goes on to enquire if he has overheard any whispers of the recent events in his tavern.
Next she will probe into his thoughts on the matter, ask if there have been any new shady people floating around and finally dig up what he knows of the supposedly wiped out kidnapping gang.

Spoiler: rolls

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Persuasion (1d20+5)[21]
Insight (1d20+2)[11]

[jscape2000]

Targan lets Raeh take the lead, but chimes in with supportive comments when possible, aiming encourage Aldir to open up.

Spoiler: Rolls

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Rolling with Raeh's stats to reflect advantage from Targan's help
Persuasion (1d20+5)[8]
Insight (1d20+2)[6]

[pi4t]

The Tavern

Raeh begins to question the tavern keeper gently. Targan is eager to assist, but his "help" proves less than useful as he keeps interruppting Raeh's patient questioning to demand answers. Despite this, though, Raeh is able to question Aldir, who's quite happy to discuss matters so long as the pair buy drinks.

Spoiler: Deduct 1CP to pay for the drink

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Unfortunately, Aldir turns out not to know a great deal. There haven't been a lot of new people in town over the last week; it's not a great time for travelling, what with the goblins attacking places. Bands of ne'er-do-wells have been springing up, or creeping closer to town, which hasn't encouraged travellers either. A month ago one visiting peddlar was found by a passing farmer, knocked out, bleeding and with all his posessions missing. Aldir shakes his head. "I don't want to speak ill of someone who suffered that, but I think he should have stayed longer to recover. He was obviously still suffering from the blow to his head when he left. He insisted his attackers were giant birds!" The tavernkeeer chuckles at this absurdity. "I do hope he recovers his mind again, though."

You ask him about the kidnapping gang, but he isn't able to tell you anything you weren't already aware of. Most of his information seems to come from Haldenfrond and other travellers, and you've already heard it from them yourselves.

The Grave

Lorhanna and Heraeus (and Varia?) get directions and head out along the main road in the direction of Irilia's grave. It's a pleasant walk - the sun is shining, the river is on your right, and you pass a few farmers and one man sailing a raft of logs down towards the town. (He gives Varia a cheerful wave, if she's present.)

As you travel, the trees of the Feywood, draw closer on the other side of the river. After about an hour, you reach a place where they come right over to your side, and the road turns away from the river. There's a small jetty here, on the north side - the logging camps are nearby, and this is where they make the rafts like the one you saw earlier. The grave is in there. Following the directions you were given, you don't try to walk in immediately, but continue along the road, skirting the wood, for about five minutes, until you reach a small path leading roughly Northwards into the wood.

The path is a little difficult to folllow in places, but you manage it. Here, at least, the wood is pretty pleasant too. Birds sing in the trees, and you see squirrels running up and down the trunks. Occasionally, you have to jump over small streams. The dappled shade is quite pleasant after your walk in the sun. After a while, you begin going downhill and can hear the sound of falling water ahead. Then you emerge into a wide clearing. At the Eastern end of this clearing is a cliff, about twice your heights, and a small river pours down from it in a waterfall before flowing away West. (Those of you who are trained in survival, or have a backstory involving living in the area or navigating the river, will be aware that the river splits into several streams around here and can't be navigated; this must be one of the larger courses.) Ahead to the North, you can see the land gradually rises again. The sunlight shines into the glade, making rainbows through the falling water. The area feels very peaceful, and its natural beauty is spoiled only slightly by the fallen tree that's lying right across the river.

At the edge of the glade, there's a small mound, with a gravestone at its head. Written on the grave are the worlds

Irilia Haldenfrond
Beloved wife and mother
Taken from this world too soon

Near the grave, you notice a crushed and trampled bunch of flowers.

[Anachronity]

Spoiler: ambient performance

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rolled a 26 on the discord

As the group ventures on, the occasional notes which Lorhanna plays begin to take proper musical form. Though no less sparse, they start to play subtly into eachother and form a larger whole in harmony with the woods, both the low roar of falling water and the chitterings and chirpings of its residents.

The impromptu piece grows more quiet and takes a solemn turn as the three(?) arrive at Irilia's grave. From there, she tries to look carefully about. Rather than looking for clues she prefers to place herself into the mindset of those involved. Where the kidnappers might have approached from, which way she might have fled if she had been Lilya, and any other insight she might glean. But if Haraeus or Varia begin to search about, she will prefer to inspire them with slow, ponderous notes and a bit of magic to aid their concentration.

If anyone attempts to investigate (or otherwise further the investigation with a check), Lorhanna will use Bless to give them advantage on the roll, and then if needed Greater Insight to add an additional 2d4 to the result

Spoiler: mechanics

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I'll use the earlier perform check to segue into my casting rolls, since in this case I'm not spending more than 1 SP and neither effect depends on my proficiency, so I can't actually fail.

If nothing more pressing presents itself after the others investigate, she herself will attempt to use insight to try to get into Lilya's headspace as she was being kidnapped to figure out where she may have tried to run or similar.
Insight: (1d20+4)[5]

[Holy-hunter]

”Well, another hint towards birds.” Raeh says quietly to Targan after thanking Aldir for his time and the drink, tipping him a further Cp. She looked at the measly 8cp she had remaining which only added to her hope that this all turned out well.

”I wouldn’t mind hearing from someone that no one else may listen too. Let’s go see this Granny Upperbrick.” Raeh says Leading Targan out of the tavern towards town hall.

Spoiler: Questions for Granny

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Raeh will not rush her but hold a special patience reserved for the elderly.
Has she heard of the kidnapping?
Who does she think did it?
Has this town ever had any problems with giant birds?
Does she find the letter strange? (Shows her the letter)
Has she had any strange requests lately?
(1d20+5)[19] Persuasion
(1d20+2)[14] Insight

[Anyr]

Varia journeyed with her fellow recruits. Under different circumstances, the walk would have been nice. It even came with musical accompaniment from Lorhanna. But Varia was too worried to enjoy the scenery. Still, she kept up appearances. Everyone who greeted her received the usual smile and wave. No sense letting her problems spoil their day.

The journey took over an hour. Varia knew these paths well. The rivers in particular were old friends. Today she walked alongside them, instead of sailing on them. Eventually, the group reached its destination. The grave was in a beautiful spot. While the others searched for clues, Varia took a minute to pay her respects. She silently vowed to find Irilia's lost daughter. This family had already suffered too much.

[Frog Dragon]

"Whoever was here didn't care a hell of a lot for the grave, or was in a big hurry," Heraeus regards the gravesite, kneeling down next to the flowers. "Damn shame." His eyes scan the trampled area, trying to see if it leads anywhere.

[pi4t]

In Town

The pair of you leave the tavern, and head just round the corner to Granny Upperbrick's house. It's a pleasant-looking, well maintained cottage with a thatched roof and a small garden. Your knock - a nice loud one, as you've been told Granny can be quite deaf - is answered by a call of "I'm just coming!" followed a moment later by the door being opened by a grey-haired old woman leaning on a walking stick.

"Oh, hello, my dears! It's so nice to see you." Once she establishes that you've come to talk, she smiles. "I don't get many visitors these days, I'm afraid. Do come in. Sit yourselves down, and I'll put the kettle on and make us a nice cup of tea. Don't mind Beauregard."

Before you quite know what's happening, you find yourselves sitting down at the dining room table with Granny, with a pot of tea and a plate of biscuits, and Granny is offering you some of her homemade jelly. Beauregard, her cat, settles himself on Targan's lap and starts purring loudly. It takes some time before you manage to get down to business.

Has she heard of the kidnapping?

"Now, let me think. Yes, I think I heard something about a kidnapping. The Mosely's little boy, wasn't it?" You share a confused look. There's no one by that surname in town that you know of. "But we found him again, didn't we? Yes, I remember, I was helping look for him. Of course, I was a bit younger back in those days..." Granny rambles on about the old days for a while more.

Who does she think did it?

"Well, it was those smugglers. You remember, they were hiding in that old temple in the forest, and little Timmy went exploring and stumbled across them?" A few followup questions and you realise she's still talking about the incident in her past. When you finally get her to understand that you're talking about the kidnapping that's happening now, she only looks vague and says she doesn't know anything about that. But she hopes you can find whoever did it.

Has this town ever had any problems with giant birds?

"We had trouble with some pigeons at one point. Someone spilled a load of seed right outside the town hall, and they were flocking to it for months. I could hear them outside my window all through the day."

Does she find the letter strange? (Shows her the letter)

Granny goes to get her spectacles, then holds the letter at arm's length and squints. She's clearly having difficulty even reading it, with the strange writing and missing letters. She certainly doesn't notice anything odd about it, although when she realises it's a ransom note she expresses alarm and hopes someone will rescue the poor girl.

Has she had any strange requests lately?

This question sets Granny off talking about the strange things she's been asked to produce through the years, which somehow leads into a tangent about a badger. The upshot, as far as you can gather, is that she hasn't had any strange requests recently.

Addendum
The tea Granny gives you has a slightly unusual herby undertone. Not that it's unpleasant, quite the opposite in fact. When you bring it up, Granny tells you that she's fortified the tea with certain herbs from her supplies, which will clear the chest and improve the constitution. She lists the herbs she's used; neither of you recognise any dangerous names.

Spoiler: If you don't drink the tea

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Granny is clearly starting to get rather offended, and keeps encouraging you to drink up if you're about to go on an adventure. If you change your mind and drink the tea, go ahead and read the other spoiler. Otherwise, the conversation plays out in the same way but Granny is clearly quite upset.

Spoiler: If you drink the tea

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Granny is as good as her word. Whatever else sure may be vague on, she clearly still knows her stuff in regards to teamaking. You gain 4 temporary hit points, which last until you take a short or long rest.

The Grave

Most of the area is rock, but there is some dirt capable of holding tracks, and Heraeus is a skilled tracker and being given magical help. His search bears fruit. The ground is scuffed and marked with prints in the mud. Several heavy pairs of boot prints enter the glade by the same path as you, walk around for a while, then leave again - these probably belong to Guildain, and the Sheriff's investigators. Underneath them is a single smaller pair of boots...and several three toed talon prints. To your concern, the talons are enormous, a bit larger than your own feet, and you think you count at least six pairs. The boots came along the same path as you, while the talons, as far as you can tell, seem to have emerged from the trees all around the glade. There was some sort of scuffle at the spot you found the flowers, and then the talons all move north onto rock, in the direction of the fallen tree that lies across the river. You don't see any boot prints walking away from the scuffle.

[Holy-hunter]

Raeh, who expressed nothing but pleasantries during the meeting, shared with Targan her clear frustration with the long drawn out exchange once they were a decent distance away from the house.

“The temple could be something though.” she mentions to after apologising for leading him there.

“Oh and while she can really work a tea, let’s still make sure none of us rely to heavily on her for potions, sooner or later she is going to mix her roots up and who knows how that’s going to turn out. I’m amazed it hasn’t happened already.” Raeh chuckles softly, imaging the possibilities. ”I hope the others are having more luck, where should we go next? Lead the way.”

[jscape2000]

Targan thanks Granny for the tea. "It's truly wonderful. I'll have to come see you some day and help you gather herbs. I'd love to know the recipe."


After a polite time, he will excuse the pair. He suggests we check with Sheriff James next.

[Frog Dragon]

"Fight here," Heraeus points at the scuffle-tracks on the dirt, circling around them to avoid disturbing them. "The sheriff already trampled the tracks, but these are a bit older. Little boots. Like the girl's maybe." he says, as much to himself as to his companions. "And that's a talon," he continues, half-crouched following the trail. "Something with big bird feet picked up and carried the girl. This way."

[Anachronity]

Lorhanna follows Heraeus, trying to see things as he describes them. She makes out a few unusually large talon-prints once they've already been pointed out, but doesn't realize where they're headed until she's lead there.

She picks carefully upon her lyre all the while, being careful not to cross over from prompting to distracting.

[Anyr]

Varia stood up again. The hunt had resumed.

"Talons? That might explain the note. If the kidnapper can fly, things might get complicated."

Varia could also fly; Sort of. It was more like slow levitation. She'd be no match for an actual avian in the sky. Now more worried than ever, she followed Heraeus.

[pi4t]

In Town

The Sheriff turns out to be rather preoccupied by the town's defences. He apologises, but says he's only able to spare you a few minutes. You run through a few questions, but they only serve to verify what you already knew: she went out to the grave, never came back, and then the ransom note was delivered. The Sheriff sent a couple of watchmen to look over the grave in case there was anything obvious there, but they didn't find anything and he wasn't willing to risk a longer investigation right now. You also question the guards who were sent to the grave. You have time for more thorough questions for them, but don't get anything much there either. While their intentions were good, they're no rangers and are more used to keeping public order and helping cats out of trees than tracking down missing girls. They established there was some kind of fight, likely a kidnapping, but weren't able to work out more than that in the limited time they had. The only other unusual thing they noticed was a fallen tree which hadn't been there last time the Haldenfronds visited, but since there had been a big storm a few weeks ago they thought no more of it.

The Grave

The log is wide enough to cross the river on, which is convenient since the water looks rather tricky to wade through without being swept over. The trail picks up on the other side, and you're able to follow it. It leads roughly northwards, deeper into the Feywood. After a while, you start spotting other, older, talonprints, heading in the opposite direction. Perhaps surprisingly, the talonprints are always walking - you don't see any signs that they started flying at any point, either the ones you're following or the earlier ones in the other direction.

The trail doesn't seem to be going anywhere very quickly; it looks like you may have quite a hike ahead of you. Perhaps you should see how Targan and Raeh are getting on before you continue along this path.