[IC] The Cult of Brannulv, Chapter 2

[Xihirli]

Lana smiled right back at him. "Hi, Imrin! How are you? Have you been in this cave before?"

[Fay]

Rose, somewhat wary of the stranger, decided that the safest approach was to pretend that she hadn't noticed, so as to not cause alarm.

Spoiler: OOC

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Roll: Deception (1d20+3)[16]

Hoping that the ruse succeeded, she also attempted to catch some glimpse of the cause of this behaviour.

Spoiler: OOC

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Roll: Insight (1d20+3)[22]

[Zergrinch]

Zarron notices Imrin's actions and engages in some observations of his own.

OOC
Rolled twice in Discord. Insight 16 to notice Imrin's espionage. Insight 22 to try and guess why he's doing it and gauge what he's thinking.

[Izzarra]

"This is my first time here. We lost many a good dwarf in that mine. You said that some of them died in combat defending the mines, others from a plague. There is no honor in dying of sickness and we do not know who died of what cause. It will be difficult to perform the proper ceremonies..."

Rose and Zarron notice that Imrin has not been scoping out equipment and has been showing no signs of aggression. Rather curiosity, sneaking peeks at your faces as if trying to figure out something but not wanting to want to talk about it.

Spoiler: OOC

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Rose's Deception was a pass.

[Zergrinch]

"I am very sorry for your loss, Mr. Imrin sir. Did you lose any member of your family?" Zarron takes out his pan flute and begins playing something melancholic.

Performance: (1d20+6)[18]

[Xihirli]

"If it makes you feel better, the plague wasn't just a disease! It was a horrible curse that not even my power could get rid of completely. Is dying from a curse honorable?"

[Izzarra]

"Everyone in the clan are like family. Though I was not close to those that worked this mine."

---

"Disease, curse, there is little difference."

[Valmark]

"Well... A magical curse created by a cult dedicated to destruction sounds a lot more important then a common disease. So... Perhaps they'll have more honor in death" Ghiso offered, honestly having no idea why it mattered.

"Speaking of which, first time? Is it because you didn't actually live here before now?" he tried changing the subject.

[Zergrinch]

"Mr. Imrin sir, how big do dwarf clans get? Do you all live together in the same place? How do you organize your families? Is there a father and a mother, and children, or is everyone raised by the clan? Do you have a school? Do people ever leave the clan? Like for example to marry?"

Zarron decides that Imrin is cool and decides to milk information about dwarves and their culture from him.

[Fay]

Rose meanwhile continued to listen to the conversation while attending to various tasks.

[Izzarra]

Imrin answers some of your questions before you bed down for the night.

- Imrin is from the dwarven city of Arathol.
- Clans can grow to be several hundred strong.
- It is common for members of a clan to have their housing close together. Large clans sometimes have their own districts in cities.
- Dwarves can leave a clan to join another to forge a bond between clans, they can be exiled form a clan for breaking laws, sometimes they might leave of their own accord out of disgrace.
- The leaders of dwarven cities are elected by a council of clan leaders. Orinn of clan Ashenforge is the current Grand Forman of Arathol.
- Meat, funguses, hard bread, strong cheese, and root vegetables are common in dwarven cooking. Imrin is fond of fondue.
- Most of what the dwarves do for fun is rather similar to what they do for work.
- Imrin avoids talking about family related things.

After spending the night you break camp and set out.

Moving on you go through the cavern with the glowing beetles and finally arrive at the large cavern with the lake.

Daylight and water are pouring in from a giant hole in the ceiling. The lake covers most of the floor on the northern side of the cavern. On the side of the lake are the ruins where cultists were sacrificing people.

[Zergrinch]

Zarron's first order of business is to try and ascertain if there is anything out of place. Have the cultists returned, and if so, have they left any traces that made the scene different from the last he remembered?

OOC
Uh, I'm not sure what to use for remembering things, so here's a general D20 roll. (1d20)[17].

[Xihirli]

Lana gulped and, against her best judgement, dove into the water to look for clues that were submerged, since only she could breathe underwater and investigate for any real length of time there.

[Valmark]

"Since you're here to check out the cult I'll assume you'll keep traveling with us?" Ghiso asked Imrin for confirmation "This was the place where the cultists cursed the lake. It was purified by a cleric- which also watched over the bodies of those you lost. I... Know it's nowhere near the amount of time and purification your kin needs before their judgement, but I hope it's still better then no rite at all"

[Fay]

Rose, still in the mindset of being in a cave and thus not on the lookout for places to use her magic seeds, walked over to the ruins. There didn't appear to be any danger lurking in the room so curiosity guided her here, trying to determine what these ruins might have once been, looking at the architecture, trying to find any distinctive carvings, statues or any signs of what these buildings would've been used for.

Spoiler: OOC

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Rose trying to learn about ruins. Investigation: (1d20)[10]

[Zergrinch]

"What are you looking for, Miss Rose, Ma'am?" Zarron pipes up as he sees her studiously admiring the architecture that he frankly found boring.

[Fay]

"Oh, I'm just curious as to what these ruins once were. Who built them? What were they used for?"

[Zergrinch]

History: (1d20+1)[17]
Investigation: (1d20+2)[5]

"Umm, I think they were built by..." Zarron then regales Rose with whatever he recognizes or remembers from second-hand tales he heard.

[Izzarra]

Imrin tells Ghiso "Yes, I will come with you to see who did this." ... " I thank you for doing what you could. We will have some of our clerics come up here to perform further ceremonies for the dead."

Looking around the ruins you feel confident that the cultists have not returned yet.

The water is still devoid of life, it will take a while for it to recover from what happened.

With Imrin's help you piece together that this is probably the outer limits of the lost kingdom of Aeldun. Some of the loose stonework has dwarven markings, but Imrin assures you that this is not a dwarven outpost, they were probably hired help. The large anvil in the center of the ruins is a solid indicator that this used to be a forge, they likely harvested wood from the surrounding forests, baked it into charcoal, and used it to fuel the forge.

[Zergrinch]

"They haven't come back. Maybe we should look at other places on this map, maybe this location here," Zarron points to the location of the mark that is closest to where they are in.

[Xihirli]

Lana surfaced. "I didn't find anything down here," she said. "Is there anything as a hint in the little house?" She went to the little house with the little bed, looking for a journal or something.

[Zergrinch]

"Um, Miss Lana, I don't think we're _{investigating this ^place,}" Zarron calls after the water genasi's departing figure.

[Xihirli]

"But we want to find out where they went, right?" Lana asked as she lifted up a rock. "A clue!"

[Zergrinch]

"Umm, what is it telling you?"

[Fay]

Rose quietly wandered around the lake and looked at the place. She tried to imagine what this place might have looked like in a less defiled and disturbed state. Plants growing on the wet walls of the cave, drinking the sunlight filtering in from above. Bushes near the edge on the surface growing slightly downwards and outwards to catch the sun. The few scattered bushes on the ground around the lake larger and more numerous. She went over to a few and took out her bag of magic seeds and planted one in the soil, thinking "I don't know if this will work but I hope so. This lake has seen too much death in recent times, it deserves some life."

[Izzarra]

A small bird flies down from above landing on a root that is coming out of the wall from one of the trees above. Is sings a few notes before flying away. Maybe it is a sign for Rose that she is doing the right thing, or perhaps it is nothing. The spirits work in mysterious ways.

---

The worked stone that Lana picks up has a simple symbol carved into it. Similar to several others that Imrin has point out. It is just the mason's mark of the stoneworker that shaped it many years ago.

[Xihirli]

Lana put the stone in her pack. "Alright, what was the next step?" She asked.
"We go to the nearest place on the map?" Then she hummed and took a few minutes to cast Detect Poison and Disease.
"Hey water. You're all clean now, right?" She asked.

Spoiler: OOC

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Just a quick pass to make sure there's no more plague left. Then I'll be good to go.

[Zergrinch]

While en route to their next destination, Zarron takes out a dagger and prunes himself a nice smooth ten foot pole for exploration purposes.

" You wouldn't happen to know where we can get some ironwood, would you Mr. Imrin sir? These wooden ones keep breaking or dissolving on me," Zarron laments to the dwarf as he straps the pole vertically on his overloaded backpack.

[Izzarra]

You depart from the cave and set off along the path down into the valley.

Imrin tells Zarron "Ironwood, that is an elvish thing right?" Imrin looks at all of you again, carefully studying your facial features. "Aren't all of you elves, why would you be asking me?"

[Xihirli]

"No, only the pretty one is an elf," Lana said, and gave Taara a little peck on the cheek. "Unless... Rose... are you an elf? Because you are also very pretty..." Lana looked suddenly unsure of herself.