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Executive Summary: After an old man was killed, a battle with snakes and a mysterious druid led to the discovery of the dead town herbalist, thence an investigation as to the significance of the silver charm led to Rowyn's house. 66 Spring 2946 Tavern, Oakmoss Lisa Marie went out back to look for magic things. She found some silver geegaw she'd recently picked up radiated moderately strong magic of some sort or other. Annah entered an archery competition and, with her first shot failed so miserably that she was laughed at by most everyone—including me. Her next shot also missed. However, her third was much more accurate. She participated in a few more rounds until being washed out. She got an honorable mention ribbon. Suddenly—a scream! I along with Annah, Lisa, and Sheik ran toward it. At the other end of the fair we saw five fairgoers entangled, just as we had been before. The dark magic was afoot again! Lisa saw someone in some sort of peril in the herbalist's tent, so she tried to walk toward the fellow but was entangled as well. Annah ran forth and got to him. She tried to cut him away but it was no good. Instead, she tried to pull him out but that failed too. I tried to get up to him but was stuck too. Luckily, Annah tore the victim free. Alas, he was unconscious. He had numerous poke marks as from a thorny bush. We suspected poison! To the chapel with him. Chapel Help was quickly summoned but the cleric wasn't hopeful. Upon further examination, this seemed not to be Tonio, the herbalist, much to our surprise. We searched his body in the meanwhile. He had a note on him asking him to meet the note writer at the herbalist's tent. Also, the note had directions for Oakmoss. Naturally, we set out to backtrack the directions but Lisa said she had an appointment for someone named Gunderson. She wanted to see whether he knew anything about the silver charm she found in the circle of stones. While we waited for the appointment, Sheik discovered that the herbalist's tent had a large tear in back, right where someone might sit. Sheik, it turned out, was also a herbalist and so put his trained eye on the situation. Nothing of especial note was discovered other than what has already been mentioned. Castle The first thing Gunderson said was a request for us not to steal anything. Lisa then proceeded with her inquiry regarding the silver rose charm. Alas, he did not know anything about it. He suggested a number of experts in the area. But first, he suggested we investigate the woods and find the missing herbalist. Woods Mordrick took note of our entry point so as to better facilitate our egress in the near future. Suddenly, a foot! A booted foot was spotted. Investigation revealed it was attached to an old human male, long dead. And by "long," I mean within the past three hours. An investigation of the body could not reveal the cause of death due to the pronounced state of decay. He had a scabbard that was absent its dagger. By accident, we discovered that the back of his head had been bashed in. Someone brought up burying the poor chap. The druid objected until it was brought up that either we burn it or bury it. Mordrick tried to make Rosemary dig the grave but the result was a most horrible failure. After much commotion, we were distracted by an especially thick fog that rolled in very quickly. Snake attack! I killed two, but Lisa was bitten twice before I could kill them. She was wracked horribly by poison. Despite this, she voted for pressing on to find any more snakes to kill them before they killed any innocent townsfolk. The fog disappeared a short distance away from where we were, casting suspicion on the nature of the fog. As we progressed, we upset a bunch of crows which attracted our attention to a set of boot prints. Investigation revealed that the person had stood there for some time, perhaps waiting for us. Oakmoss Guards were informed as to the fate of the Oakmoss herbalist. They dispatched themselves. As it was getting toward evening and some of us were astonishingly poor—including Lisa who was suffering terribly from her poison. Having pity on them, I bought a room for myself and for Lisa, then bought a good dinner for us plus Annah. After that, I tended to Lisa's needs as she was horribly wracked with pain. Everyone else went to the fair. 67 Spring, 2946 Chapel I took Lisa to the cleric. It was more help than I gave Lisa. I suppose ice water and hot wax is not an appropriate treatment for poisonous snake bites. Oakmoss We escorted Esmerelda back to the tavern. During the walk, I interrogated her. She didn't remember seeing anything yesterday. She said the last thing she remembered was that she dropped a tray. She believes there were three patrons, strangers, in the establishment at the time (dark ale, black ale, and elven wine, all male). She did not remember their wearing any armor. They were half elf and used Darthen coin. She did not overhear their conversation. Inn Horace and Ruth were the innkeepers. They said there were no two human, one half elf combinations staying at the inn. Meanwhile, Annah sat down to make a sap for herself—until Lisa's prodding to visit a sage named Rowyn interrupted the effort. To prepare for the trip, we all bought things for the trip from the general store. I bought a waterskin and two days' worth of rations. I assumed there would be some place to buy food once we got there. After awhile, we eventually set out. The Outdoors It was a good thing I brought rations. Mordrick didn't do such a good job of providing for us, despite his assurances that he would. Another problem: shelter. Fortunately, Annah built a primitive lean-to—that she slept in. I was left to endure the elements during the night. And, Mordrick built a raging fire for us that was promptly put out by the drizzle. 68 Spring, 2946 Annah volunteered her lean-to to me, but Rosemary warned of danger. Mordrick spoke with animals and determined that Rosemary was warning of snakes. Annah crawled in and cleaned it out. It was quite comfortable. 69 Spring, 2946 Rowyn's After some awkward introductions, Lisa made with the questions while we ate a magical meal (heroes' feast). After consideration, Rowyn said she would mediate upon the matter. I managed to ask the wise Rowyn about things dragons, but, alas, she was of no help. I was most looking forward to consulting her library, but incredibly she didn't have one. In fact, she said she had only one book which she said she couldn't lend me. What a strange, crazy place. All that money spent on such a nice estate and no books! Anywhere! I had to satisfy myself with walking around a garden. Lisa came out a short time after I left and we enjoyed the garden together. One hour and five minutes later, we returned. She said that it was a miniature version of a giant silver rose, which was from a castle that only appears once a month, over in Arlen. Lisa knew about this apparently, from multiple stores her father told her. It seemed to involve finding one's true love. Someone named Gift seemed to have had it at one time. We were invited to stay the night and told to ingore giant vortexes of light. 70 Spring, 2946 In the morning, we enjoyed another heroes' feast. Annah expressed surprised at the occurrance of two such feasts in a row. The reason, apparently, were the guests in the house. I asked Rowyn what we should do next but her advise was to cleanse the forest of every druid within. The advice was not helpful. Instead, she gave Lisa a magic wand and gave Sheik a Heward's Handy Haversack. I got a 20-pound tent. Mordrick got nothing. What a strange, strange hostess. I wonder about Annah now. Quotes "Days since wild dog attack: Zero." "Thank you, kind . . . lady." "I blame myself. If you hand a monkey a gun and the monkey shoot someone." "Would you like to sell it?" "Keeping it real 'cause we're keepin' it real. True, dat." "I need a one-sided eamuff." "You have a new hip, James?" "There's no way we lost 10,000 copies of Charmed. Well, maybe it was that one guy with the baggy pants who was looking for Sports Authority." "I put the seeds with the dead body." "I'm a great doctor—I found out when this man died." "You say you've been bitten by two poisonous vipers and you're feeling poorly. Hmm.... Could be anything." "We're going to leave him to the lemurs." "I am passionate about the safety of … you." "I can see to read." "Wuffle wuffle." "In retrospect, I guess I should have questioned the badger three days ago. Of course, doing so would yielded results incompatible with my conspiracy theory." "Lisa." |
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