(S04) A Town Most Curious

The damage to the town was minimal, and only a few of the settlers were killed, most of the them brave Neverwinter soldiers who gave their lives to protect the fishers caught in their boats during the attack. Now that the threats are removed, the party can inform the settlers that it is safe to return to Leilon. With the immediate threat to Leilon eliminated the settlers moved through the main street, towards their camp, the temporary staging ground they used as their living area until the town was deemed safe enough to live in. Grizzelda Copperwraught thanked the The Leilon...Some? and invited them to spend the night with them - she also mentioned that there would be a town council on the morrow that they were invited to attend, even having a vote due to their status as protectors. The settlers return to their work: construction, farming, fishing, and otherwise building their new home while our heroes stayed until nightfall in the town to scout it out and search the bodies of the slain cultists.

Effie searched all the bodies of the slain cultists with the help of Siax's eagle eyes. This was primarily intended to find the map or lenses that the cultist corpse (See (RP04) Questions of the Dead) had mentioned were needed to find the way to the Storm God's Mouth, where Sovendahl Erkinze was meant to be based at. Neither were found, but instead 1300 cp, 20 ep, a carved bone whistle, a tattered map of the Swamp and a braid made out of seaweed were recovered. Taking a moment to duck behind a building Effie tried to get into contact with someone, but their response surprised her not only by it not being in code but also by it's aggression.

- Hi! It's Effie. Heard that your garden isn't doing too well, have you thought of getting help? Gardening isn't easy, a bee could sting you. 
- Effie? I need help, I'm in a cave that we ARRGGHHHH NO. NO. YOU WERE SENT TO KILL ME. NO I WILL KILL YOU FIRST.

Meanwhile Pine busied himself by moving the cultist bodies outside the city, laying them to rest in the swamp ground there. None of them had lingering souls, possibly a side effect of their worship to Talos but the work had to be done regardless. Idris and Arya both wandered around the town, the paladin coming across the locked Shrine of Lathander and the inquisitive druid finding evidence of muddy tracks in a building next to the mysterious Planar Beacon. Eventually Falcon, Factoré and Ghelryn joined them as well, Factoré immediately setting off to identify anything magical while Falcon exchanged a meaningful look with Siax, seeing that the younger ranger had something to tell him.

Arriving at the Settler camp as the sun was setting, the party was surprised to see how vast it was consisting of circled wagons, tents, cooking fires, and supply containers. It seemed the people they had met when approaching the town where only the folks working in the town when the cultists attacked. The true number of settlers seemed to be around 200-250. Even though they had just been attacked it seemed the settlers wasted no time and had arranged a town council - afterwards the work to restore the crumbling town would continue. The The Leilon...Some? were given ample space to camp and rest which they did so. Ofcourse, they did set guards, the newcomer Arya seemingly being content with as little sleep as Siax who would take the second watch with Falcon.

The Watch

Time for Politics!

Daybreak arrived and the Leilon Council was imminent. The council was imminent and was being held in the largest tent in the camp. The tent was stuffed with random furniture and while an attempt was made to make it look official it still resembled a massive storage closet.

Most of the time of the meeting was taken by briefing The Leilon...Some? and deciding which part of the town should be focused when the rebuilding resumed. While our heroes seemed to want to focus on making a palisade they were disappointed to find out that Leilon was lacking lumber. They would be starting to cut the trees in the area but it would take much time to treat the waterlogged swamp plants to make effective lumber. So instead, focus was made to rebuild an area intended to house the Leilon Guard. Since both the The Leilon...Some? and Hazz Yorrum voted for this, it became the defacto priority. Construction of the Watch would mean better patrols from equipment to training.

Secondary priorities would be:

1. The Fishery, headed by Valdi. The faster this is done, the faster Leilon can start catching fish for food and exports.
2. The Town Square, headed by Grizzelda Copperwraught, mostly intended to open up some housing.
3. The Temple District which would be mostly Rhogar Merrygold repairing the Shrine of Lathander.

A few issues were raised after.

1. A Gnome called Pinchwith Wigglehoof informed the council that he was preparing a convoy back to Phandalin and Axeholm to trade. As part of that he could acquire the limber the town needed but first he needed some protection as the roads have been quite dangerous as of late.
2. Breltora Red-Eye, a Half-Orc stonemason mentioning she was worried about the missing patrol of the Leilon Guard. Hazz Yorrum assured people that the patrol was scheduled to report back in a few days and that nothing was amiss. Pine spoke later to Breltora who didn't know much about the Mere Of Dead Men itself but further expressed her worry for her friend, a private Vester Jessup. 
3. The council seemed to want more presence from the guards and urged Hazz Yorrum to recall the troops stationed at the Planar Beacon. At the mention of the mysterious tower The Leilon...Some? inquired further, finding out a wizard called Gallio Elibro was working to disable the petrification field and allow the townsfolk to rebuild the ample housing around it.

The party spoke to the people of the town, Rhogar Merrygold informing Siax that he had not heard of someone matching the description  of Aubrey Silverspun but it seemed one of the children in his care had. The child had been given a coin by the elusive merchant and apparently stopped when he and his friends had almost approached too close to the deadly tower. When Siax asked to see the coin the boy however took off, Rhogar promising that he would retrieve it later in a more gentle manner. Effie tried to see if any of the townsfolk had heard of the various names they had learned by interrogating the cultists but gained little except various amount of food from Valdi prompting her to think if she really looked too skinny. She did learn however that there were a couple experienced deep sea captains in the town.

1. A Tabaxi called Stands In Tar who helms a Corsair called the Dancing Delight. Apparently she is known to be skilled and her skip fast and agile but she is also very reckless, having been shipwrecked more than a couple times.
2. A tall man called Kristoffen who has had decades of experience of being a somber, efficient and skilled captain. His ship is a beautiful Galley called the Ice Floe which is notable for the breaker at it's prow, designed to smash through ice or other obstacles. 

Finally, the time for talking was over and The Leilon...Some? decided to head to the tower. As the party made their way, Arya took the dagger she had found at night and stabbed it in the same spot, this time bearing a letter written by her. No one seemed to notice or challenge her. 

The Tower

Making their way to the building Arya had found the party quickly found themselves in a excavated tunnel. It was dark and dreary, with carved runes adorning all the walls. Idris, having the eyes of Savras to aid him, was able to read the incantation and even strengthen it by reciting it. It seemed to hold the petrification effect at bay but it had not been maintained properly so the walk was perilous. Opting not to use the rats as a way of seeing where the wards had failed the party nonetheless made it to the other side, with only a near miss by a distracted Effie.

Emerging from the tunnel, the party found themselves next to the tower, their arrival startling a trio of guards who had been busy playing cards under the scaffolding. The Guards seemed afraid and when pushed admitted that they had left the tower and refused to go back inside as they had seen a Ghost. They described the ghost as a having wild hair and burning eyes. Before the sighting they have had many odd occurrences: missing tools, strange chills, and spooky whispers.

Noticing the glances the guards shared the party pushed more, Pine quietly mumbling something about death and Effie reaching for her deadly rapier which made them admit that the wizard in charge here was acting oddly, appearing overtired, frequently seen at night wandering around in his nightgown and muttering to himself.

As the guards described. Gallio Elibro seemed exhausted with dark bags under his eyes, hair tousled and purple ink covering not only his hands but also his robe as he had absent mindedly wiped his hands on them. He welcomed the help of The Leilon...Some?, letting them know that he had found a way around the animated status on the next floor and had left the appropriate runes before each chamber that should deactivate them. He seemed happy that the party would be exploring, hoping they could clear whatever was stopping the guards from resuming their work of shifting the rubble that blocked access to the floors above. After some prodding by the party Gallio went to renew the tunnel wards. 

Exploring a little, the party found a chamber on the first floor that had partially collapsed. Odd plants lined this chamber, Arya having seen them before in her home plane. After some looking Idris unearthed tiny bones which Pine, to his frustration, was unable to lay to rest owing to their fey origin. At this point the party split (which is always a great idea, you cover so much more ground - Tarbin Tul with Pine going outside to pray to The Dead Three, Arya looking at the chamber with the Fey plants. While Siax and Effie headed upstairs they were not as fast as the ever eager Idris who had entered a room that was covered with a myriad of books.

As he entered the large statue in the center of the room began to pivot to face him but Idris was able to perform the rune that was scratched by Gallio on the floor outside the room. However as he signed it the doors behind him slammed shut and numbers appeared in the wall, the script symbolizing the number 20. Then it was 19. Then 18. In desperation Idris looked for a way out, eventually performing the sign again which seemed to reset the count. Siax and Effie charged to the third floor as they saw no way to open the door and free the paladin as Siax could hear an odd noise from upstairs. However when they tried to go to the fourth floor they seemed to forget what they were doing and instead arriving at the third floor, having been caught in some sort of psychic trap. Idris, ever curious, sat on the large chair in the room and let the countdown hit zero. After all, how bad could it be?

Pine rushed in to the tower, narrowly avoiding falling masonry as an explosion rocketed the room Idris was in. As he arrived at the door he witnessed Arya turning into a field mouse and attempting to squeeze under the door. Alas, the following explosions trapped her under there but some quick thinking and Pine was able to leverage some masonry to free her. Sneaking forward, Arya made it to the room where she saw the following:

The chamber has been mostly ruined. There were shelves of books lining each side of the room, fire spreading quickly from one to the other but thankfully most of the smoke is being sucked out of a large hole where the windows used to be. Dominating the chamber is a large statue of an Elven woman. Her features are graceful but something about her expression feels alien. Cruel. Whatever is happening here seems to have animated the statues as you see her mouth move and the sound of that strange Elven you all heard before ringing out in a clear and sharp voice. In her stone hands sits a book and as she speaks a light emanates from it, forming a line that looks like liquid in midair. The line goes too Idris, who is sitting on a chair, looking up with wide eyes.

The first thing you notice is that Idris's arm is on fire. The next thing you see is that he appears unconscious, blood pouring from his mouth, eyes and ears. Before you can react his body jerks, and his hand raises to his head. Divine light springs out and his eyes suddenly clear. But he does not look your way, instead he continues peering into the light. As if sensing that he is awake once more the light starts flowing with an incredible speed, from the statue to the still burning Paladin. Idris's eyes go even wider. With your great insight you see that he is in great pain but there's something else there. Is it... awe?

The paladins body spasms and fresh blood pours out of his mouth, whatever he had just healed having been injured from this strange light. His consciousness wavering, you see that healing light flashes again keeping him somewhat whole. You now realise that he must have been doing this the whole time, keeping himself alive under forces that would have killed a normal person twenty times over. The light in Idris's hand fades now, his divine energy fully exhausted. It's now that Idris screams, a horrible yell of pure primal agony.

Alas, I know that some have read this epic chapter and have doubts of it's veracity; hopefully not you, my dear reader. I have seen it before, said from urchins on the street to acclaimed critics at the Neverwinter Eye. They ask me, how were you, Tarbin Tul, privy to such hidden events that no other saw such as the mysterious messages exchanged by the two newest members of the The Leilon...Some?. How could I know what befell these heroes in the mysterious Tower they cry! How, they gasp, do you know how these figures felt as events unfolded? Well to answer the above, I say this is a great evidence that media literacy has died as a skill in modern day Faerun! Do we ask how a painter acquired his paints or how the fabled wizard Blackstaff made his staff black?! Why is the humble bardic craft different?! No, questions like these only betray ones ignorant ways dear reader and I say this in utmost kindness - perhaps a return to schooling would benefit these questioners immensely.

- Tarbin Tul