On the Trail of the Bounty [Session 48]

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Current Situation

• (This session takes place 18-19 Nightal)
  
• Amphail seemed to be a fun and peaceful little town until hungry giants attacked and made us question weather a sack of potatoes counted as a missile. Alas, with the giants run from town, the Maybesitters must track their quarry, use the town's resources to prepare for their journey, and get ready for what lies ahead at The Sunken Tower.

Session Summary

• After the mayhem of the giant attack, the town square is cleaned up, and the sun is going down. Barrett asks around and this isn't the first Hill Giant attack. Two tenday ago, another giant coming from the north was stopped well outside of the town limits. Same news when the cult is asked about. No new information.
• Having been the ones, this time, to waylay the giants, the Trollmates are approached by a small crowd of congratulating and praising folk. Tylandar Roaringhorn works to associate himself as one of their buddies, as this seems more for optics than anything else. The gang politely extricates themselves to met up with Gen Cresstalker. Still, Roaringhorn is thankful and says if the group needs anything, they can ask. His nephew, Terrence, is put in charge of cleanup, much to his chagrin.
• Heading into the The Stone Stallion - one of the largest inns the group has ever been in - it's obviously attempted to make it look like a more refined establishment for nobles and the like, but the place is so massive, the decor is a bit lacking. Still, it's comfortable and will do fine. Standing at four stories, a glance at the board for room keys shows that there are plenty of vacancies.
• Gen recommends Mother Gothal's for dinner after this conversation:
  • Any time he was approached by cultists, Gen made a point of ignoring them. He has also instructed his drivers and crew to do the same. One time, a cultist did try so speak, starting with, "Hello, friend!" but Gen managed to speed up his team and did not directly speak back to the human man who called out.
    
  • He plans on painting over the bright red of his wagons to try and attract less attention from the cultists overall.
  • He expected Hiron Zail to arrive in Amphail four days ago, but has neither seen him or heard from him.
  • Having met Zail before, Gen is able to give a description: Zail wears a lot of green, and is extremely short for an Elf. A little hunched over, and very very very old. Long hair, and typically wears a hood and traveling cape, again, all green.
  • It's doubtful Zail spoke to any cultists - most likely he has only focused on his "errand in the north" and not let himself get distracted.
  • He'll head out first thing in the morning for Waterdeep with the rations and fresh goods. It will take him two or three days to reach the city.
  • Yes, there is a shrine to Chauntea that should have a font of holy water, at the very least.
    
  • Dhann says he can attempt to scry the Elf, and Barrett asks if Gen has anything of Zail's, and is given a small note detailing the food order for the Hall.
• Dhann settles the pay for Gen's room - with a very bored looking clerk - and pays for three more rooms for themselves as well, for one night. Gen heads to Gothal's for dinner.
  
• The group decides to look at the shrine before heading to Gothal's. It's quite large for a shrine in such a small town. It's its own building, yet more like a gazebo. Inside, and in the center is a fountain. Each quarter of the place is decorated for each of the four seasons. No one else is there at the moment, and in the quiet, it's really a pleasant space to be in. Dhann lights a bit of incense in the corner for winter and says a small prayer.
  
• There's no one to confirm at present if the fountain is holy water, but most likely this is the case. However, Z is willing to attempt Identify, and Barrett ritually casts Detect Magic. Two respective rituals later, the water is confirmed to be holy. Dhann refills his two flasks of holy water, and drops 20 silver into the fountain as a thanks; five for each season. Ely squints at this, knowing that this seems to be a large amount for this particular deity and water refill.
• Ely suggests everyone go to the Stone Stallion to refresh themselves and recast Seeming on everyone so that the spell doesn't "run out" while they're out in public.
• Suddenly, Barrett calls everyone to attention, saying he's just caught sight of a glowing orb hovering near their heads. He immediately casts Detect Magic and is just able to catch sight of the orb winking out of existence. He is able to identify the school as Divination - it appears someone is spying on the Trollmates. But who, and for how long, is currently impossible to know.
• It's decided a short rest is needed and the group head into one of the rented rooms, and the Sanctum is activated:
  • Divination is blocked
  • Teleportation is blocked
  • Interplanar travel is block
  • Fog is left off
  • Sound is not blocked
• Heading to Mother Gothal's with a refreshed cast of Seeming, the group sees that the courtyard is pretty much empty this late in the evening. The two large wooden doors open inward and it really is a pretty place. Clearly like a tavern, but more of a festival hall, with empty spaces for dances and a small stage with a bard performing at the moment. He looks like one of the bard Z played with earlier in the day. Many of the people at the naming celebration seem to have crowded into here. A woman behind the bar appears to be the Mother Gothal herself. Older human female, early to mid 70's, with very fine blue and gold clothing, but not pompous in any way. She's slender, nicely figured, with long grey hair pulled into a bun and braids. She'd currently deep in conversation with two or three people at the bar and judging by their laughter, Gothal is quite charismatic.
• Z head immediately to the stage and soon has the place well entertained with even better music. Barrett waves to Gen, who is sitting with four of his hands. Barrett fetches five ales and heads over. Dhann sees Roaringhorn in a crowded booth to the side, as well as Terrence at a center table with his little gaggle of yes men. Roaringhorn waves genially at the group when he sees them. Barrett joins Gen, and sees that the four in the Gnome's employ are two humans, a Dwarf, and another Gnome. Sharing stories of the road, they say they haven't seen anything unusual besides the number of cultists and tales of the giant attacks. They haven't seen or heard of any griffins swooping around. The Dwarf and Gnome are from much further north and remark that the giants seem to be making many more raids than normal. Leaving the mountains, very hungry. The Dwarf says he hasn't been home for a while, but has heard that some of the crops are failing. It's bound to be what's sending the giants southward. He hails from Rivermoot and the Gnome from Calling Horns, a small village just outside the High Forest. The issue with the giants seems to have started three to four tenday ago.
  
• Dhann casts Locate Object, just in case, to keep a magical eye out for the relic, and lets Ely know. He also points out Terrence with the suggestion they steer clear. They take a seat at the bar, hoping to speak to Mother Gothal. She welcomes the two "newcomers" jovially and Ely introduces them as new in town. She's heard of Zail:
  • He doesn't live in Amphail, but Gothal lets him stay at the establishment when he needs a place to sleep. Sometimes he can't afford the Stone Stallion, so he spends the night on the rounded booth, that Gothal points out to the two of them.
  • He was last in town about five days ago, and visited Gothal, talking about something that seemed to be very exciting.
    
  • He said he was going north, looking for a tower.
  • There used to be three towers in the hills, and the closest was Dath Tirith, the Last Tower, one of the Nis Tirith. It is one of the Sisters' Towers. He'd found a quick way in, or something.
  • Zail most likely went alone.
  • He's usually in town every third tenday or so.
  • He seems to hail from the Dessarin Valley but no one has really been able to confirm this.
    
  • He does most of his drinking across the street, at The Staghorn Flagon. Perhaps the barkeep there, Unknown, could tell the gang more. (and before you leave the Staghorn Flagon, don't forget to kiss the bar! It's good luck!)
    
  • Her tavern/inn/festival hall is a retirement endeavor as Amphail was a holiday place for her and it seemed like the perfect place to settle.
• In the meantime, Z asks the other bards about The Greasy Cat and if they've heard of him. Someone was actually in Amphail looking, actually. Three tenday ago. The person was headed to Waterdeep, to "check there." No Rimpkin, the person was actually a woman. Strange looking, seemed poor.
• Gothal comes back to Ely and Dhann as they are readying to leave and she says that she remembers Zail going to find a bounty of some sort, and when the two ask if she means Chauntea's Bounty, she immediately confirms that yes, that's what Zail was after.
• Elyana goes to see if there's anything in the cushions of the booth Zail uses to spend the night at Gothal's but only finds two silver.
• As Dhann and Ely leave, the Warlock summons Mage Hand and deftly knocks Terrence's drink across the table and into his lap. Pissed, he smacks the guy next to him, saying, "You're such a klutz! All the time! Go get me another drink!"
• The two join up with Z and Barrett and make their way across the courtyard. The Staghorn Flagon sounds like it has a well sized crowd inside. It is a one and a half story building, tastefully rustic. The first floor is entirely the bar. Arleosa is a human and has strips of grey in her down hair. Dressed nicely, but with an apron, it's clear she's not afraid to get her hands dirty on the job. She looks overall to be an extremely pleasant woman.
  
• The Trollmates find open seats at the bar and drinks are served. It's obvious that Arleosa is flirting heavily with another man on the other side of the bar.
• Asking if the group are new in town, as she doesn't recognize them, they say they're in for business, to meet up with their friend Zail, and she laughs and affectionately calls him "Little Hiron!" She mentions she hasn't seen him for several days. Everything she then says matches up with what Mother Gothal told them, besides the new information she she gives in an informed whisper; that Zail seems to have found himself a teleportation circle of some sort.
• Continuing:
  • Two Silverhand sisters built the three towers, but Arleosa isn't sure which two. They were built about 200 years ago.
  • The Towers were supposed to help guard the areas further south but have since seemed to have disappeared or sunk into the places they were built.
  • Zail said he would be "fast" because he could teleport in and out of the tower, apparently. He even showed Arleosa an old notebook with a sketch of a teleportation circle inside.
  • She doesn't know where he got the notebook, and he seemed very hush hush about that, but he'd been looking for it "for a while."
  • Zail is a treasure hunter "mainly in his own mind."
  • Supposedly a spirit named Sibia inhabited The Sumber Hills and kept them free of buildings, which is perhaps one reason Das Tirith has sunk beneath the ground. It was thought that one of the Silverhand sisters was able to make a deal with the spirit, allowing for the tower to be built, but maybe that deal has since been broken, and the tower is no longer allowed to stand in the pristine hills.
    
  • The owner of the general store, Yarnic Blodhlar, might know more. "But I do hesitate to send you over there, really, I do. He's a bit unsavory."
  • Besides running the general store, he spends much of his time studying odd creatures and is a passionate taxidermist.
    
  • Z asks about the Greasy Cat: a strange, tall, formal gentleman came in using a cane, hunting the Cat, and did indeed introduce himself as Rimpkin. He had a title, but she can't remember what it was. She sent him to Yarnic's, if he was "hunting."
    
  • In Das Tirith there are rumored to be many magical items, as the sister that tower was built for liked to collect them.
• Barrett casts Detect Magic another time to check for an orb watching them, at Ely's ask, but doesn't see one. Besides some of the patrons having a little glow in pockets, nothing important or threatening seems to be seen. Arleosa asks if he's just done magic, and Ely covers by prestidigitating some sparkles between the Monk and the barkeep, and Arleosa's delighted with it, saying that Gothal's been doing much of the same, and while she herself hasn't performed in some time, it seems like a neat trick to be able to do.
• She also informs the group that if they're looking for magical items, they didn't hear it from her, but they just need to ask the shopkeepers to have a look at their "special" items. As she puts it, "Everyone's got something."
• Barrett recalls seeing a dot on a map of the Sumber Hills - from the atlas from Drezlin Nandar's library - and if the lands haven't shifted too much, perhaps this narrows down their search to a four mile area. And being in a horse town, maybe Roaringhorn, due to their having saved his Naming Day, may be able to sell or lease four Amphail Greys or Blues.
• Barrett suggests saying they need horses for an errand, but Dhann suggests pitching to Roaringhorn that they'd like to see if the horses his family breeds are as good as they've heard. Apparently he sounds just a bit too well versed in how one buys and sells horses, and Barrett squints, suspicious, but Dhann is clear in saying his family has never bred or sold horses, he simply likes them and happened to grow up around such animals.
• Z's picked as the best person to barter for the horses and is freely given four horses for a free one tenday lease. They're Amphail Blues (Dhann's happy).
  
• The group sees a Tiefling matching Arleosa's description. He's about 30, long red hair with small black horns, and he does indeed look a bit creepy. He's headed out after finishing dinner. This must be Yarnic.
• Ely runs after him and gets his attention, and he asks what she needs? He sounds nice enough, if a bit slimy. Ely says that Arleosa said he's knowledgeable in the area around the Sumber Hills and he might know where one of the sunken towers might be. He says yes, and has a couple of maps, but only of the general area, and thinks the tower is just a myth. When he asks how Ely and the group might make his time worth his while, they start talking about the creatures called Ladzu and ask if he's heard of them. He's taken enough with them to allow them into his closed shop and there are taxidermy animals everywhere. He gives them a look at a map of his, and it looks different than the map from the atlas. It's newer, no tower mark, and some hills seem to have moved since the atlas was written.
• Ely asks if he's ever seen a mindflayer skull and once on the subject of weird creatures and taxidermy, he shows the group down into the basement, which is packed full of bizarre animals in all stages of being stuffed or displayed. On a central table is the body of a baby Kruthik, and a leg is missing. He wants a more whole specimen, or a more mature one. He tells the group to watch out for these in the hills, and says if the group can bring him some samples, he'll let them copy the maps of the area he has. Kruthiks tunnel, liking the hills, and he doesn't know how big they can get. They're certainly exotic. The babies don't seem to have any acid or poison of any sort. He lends them a Bag of Colding to store anything they can get.
  
• Ely says farewell in Infernal and Yarnic replies in kind, a bit surprised.
  • As they turn to leave Blodhlar's Wares, Yarnic calls out, "Oh, and if you do go hunting in those  in those dunes, rumor is there's an old clay golem up there. I've never talked to someone who has seen it directly but if the stories and rumors are to be believed, you'll want to be careful." He pauses for a moment, "As a matter of fact, since you're going to be doing me a favor, I think I've got a journal around here that talks all about that Golem. Ah! Right here." He hands you a page that has clearly been torn from some sort of monster manual that has all the details you could hope to learn about a clay golem. Ely quickly turns to receive the journal, thanking the gruff Tiefling for the extra information. "We promise to return these in the morning."
• Back at the Stone Stallion for the night, the group discusses their plans. The Sanctum is activated:
  • Divination is blocked
  • Teleportation is blocked
  • Interplanar travel is block
  • Fog is left off
  • Sound is not blocked
• Ely plans on casting Seeming first thing in the morning, and thanks to being lent the Pearl of Power, Dhann can Send one more person that night. He prefers to send Father Evencrest to let him know they have a lead on the Bounty, and asks Ely if she can contact Ander Blackwood to then get in touch with Elminster Aumar about Das Tirith. Dhann could also Send Erky, as the Gnome let him know that the home of Vincent Trench has recently been ransacked, and he has added some security to Trollskull Tavern. Additionally, Erky received a message from Renaer Neverember for the Trollmates.
• Dhann Sends to Evencrest:
  • "Got lead on target. Sorry, need to speak carefully. Goods leaving tomorrow morning. Look for three wagons. Moving as quickly as we can. Helm's blessings."
    
  • Response: "Thanks to Helm that you are okay, and the wagons are coming. Situation is desperate. Signs posted all over town. You are wanted for questioning."
    
• Dhann gives the Pearl of Power back to Elyana and lets the group know what response he got back. There's frustration and concern all around at the notion of being subject to a scry, at any point, by an unknown party, and unless in the Sanctum, they need to be even more careful about what they say out loud.
• Before retiring for the night, Ely reaches out to Ander:
  • "Hey Ander?"
  • "Hey Ely!"
  • She asks him to ask Elminster what he knows about the Sunken Tower, and where they may be able to find it. Ander asks Elminster and comes back, saying that everyone needs to get together and hold hands. He shimmers slightly in the room. Ely tells everyone to do this, and he then becomes visible to all of them.
  • He's very happy to see all of them lets them know the tower "used to belong to Silverhand, but it sunk." Ely is annoyed to hear information they already know.
  • Elminster relays to Ander the group should use Locate Object to find the tower, if they focus on a specific ring. He manifests an image of it: a small ring with two pearls set into it, that swirl around each other. It will make the Locate Object spell work up to half a mile away.
  • Ely commits the image to memory and Barrett casts Minor Illusion for it.
  • "Be really careful. He says there's still stuff in there. I don't know what that means."
  • Dhann asks Ander if Elminster can tell them what it is "they're supposed to be sure to do" before getting to the Sunset Hills, and, confused, Ander says Elminster said to bring a spoon. He doesn't know what that means, either. (Barrett reminds the group he has two spoons, both from Elminster, so they're not left totally wanting!)
    
  • A huge snowy owl swoops down on Ander's shoulder, and Ely asks if that's his familiar. "Oh, yeah! Isn't he pretty?" Ander doesn't know the owl's name yet, though. He hasn't been told.
  • Farewells are said, and Ander looks really saddened at having to say goodbye again so soon. The group tells him to take care of himself.
  • This is the first time in a while they haven't seen Ander covered in blood or in the middle of being distracted by something. Amid a variety of other weapons, the bear club Barrett gave him hangs on his belt.
• Dhann attunes back to the Amulet of the Devout, and Elyana uses Find Familiar:
  • Rascal poofs from her arms and is gone, moments later he appears on the other side of the room. "I'm still working on it. I can't carry anything that I haven't practiced with when I jump. But I can go really far. But the further I go away from you, the harder it is to bring back memories from what I see. Isn't it cool? Oh, and I learned a lot about being tough. The training was hard but ... well, I'm a whole lot tougher!"
    
• Thankfully, nothing disturbs the night, and in the morning (it is now the 19th) Ely looks in the Per Historia Arcandor Materia for information on the locator ring Ander showed them the night before.
  • There are several sketches of similar rings, each with a pair of pearls. There are seven of them, all created in a single set, each called "The Ring of Beacons." Each ring has a different set of pearls. One has a blue/green pairing, one has a red/white pairing, etc. The ring Ander showed them was white/white. They were supposedly made by Laeral Silverhand herself, for the Seven Sisters. They expand the range of a Locate Object spell.
• Dhann asks for Z to study one of the red books from Nandar's library with him, as he wants to see if he can find any descriptions on imbuing textiles with Shadow magic. Barrett blesses the search as well, and yes, the two of them do indeed find some information:
  • Still theoretical, but it seems to be possible to weave Shadow into fabrics. There are some scribbled notes seeming to question what one might be able to do with a garment imbued with shadow "Levitate? Disappear?" etc.
    • 1. Shadow magic, in its raw form, seems to be mostly inert. It must be formed into something or given a purpose to be dangerous. In this form, it is more like a raw material. Z suspects that the threads or tendrils can individually be sewn into the lining of fabrics much like regular thread. What's more, it can also be woven. A silver needle would likely be needed to handle single strands. Weaving it, however, seems as though it would require a specialized loom of some kind. And, the tendrils aren't really long enough to weave. It seems there is a piece missing in the process.
      2. Z is fairly confident that, once woven either on a physical loom or through some other magical means, the magic can be set with a purpose. His experimentation with the flying carpet, leads him to believe that the resulting "fabric" can be imbued with something like sentience. It is not unlike the summoning of an elemental or fey creature to do one's bidding. However, the process of setting it a purpose is still unknown to you both.
      3. Z supposes that, unless otherwise destroyed, a "creature" woven of shadow, would likely continue to attempt to accomplish its goals and may even be commanded by its creator/owner to change its purpose, much like the flying carpet.
      In all, Z's foundational research in weaving magical textiles has unlocked a lot of information about shadow magic, including the possibility of controlling it, if all the missing steps can be discovered. More research is certainly warranted. He thinks he can learn to weave silver into fabric to hold Shadow, or, weave inert Shadow itself.
      
• Barrett goes to check on the stock at the armorer, Z goes to fetch tarts, and Ely accompanies Dhann to the shrine of Chauntae to attempt scrying on Zail. Thankfully, the shrine is empty. Ely stays in the doorway nursing a morning beer while Dhann stands in front of the fountain. Holding Zail's note in his right hand, he traces a circle on the surface of the water while saying the prayer to activate the spell:
  • It takes longer than Dhann would like, but slowly an image comes into focus, albeit a bit fuzzy. An elf-looking male is laying next to a substantial pile of rock, almost like a wall, or he's in the corner of a room. There's also a lot of sand under the person. His right leg is missing beneath the knee, blood in the surrounding area, and he's breathing in a labored manner. He holds an empty waterskin and around him in the dark, out of sight, are clacking, skittering sounds. His clothing is torn. Just before the spell ends, Dhann sees him roll over slightly, and there seems to be a scrap of a teleportation circle underneath him, or something that looks similar to that sort of floor adornment.
• Dhann leaves hurriedly, snagging Ely, and causing her beer to spill. They need to get on the road as soon as possible, as Zail is injured, surrounded by gosh knows what, and most likely dying if they don't find him.
• As they're leaving, they see Gen doing the same, and Dhann asks him to tell Father Evencrest to let them know he makes it to Waterdeep. They're friends of the Father and he'll know who Gen met.
• With the addition of the horses, it will now only take the Trollmates a little over a day to get to the town of Red Larch on their way to the Sumber Hills. It's decided to push them and make even better time, and Ely, when the first round of Seeming runs out, casts it again to make the group look like nobles out for a dash through the countryside:
  • Z looks like a young blonde human woman
  • Elyana looks like a curly haired redheaded young human man with freckles
  • Dhann looks like a young brunette human woman (reminiscent of Tabitha)
  • Barrett looks like a big bearded, grizzly human man
• On the road, they pass multiple wagons of cultists, and a small regiment of Waterdeep guards that ignore the riders. Two griffin guards are seen, but headed south. Again, they pay no mind to the nobles out on their horses. Barrett casts Detect Magic four times through the ride, but doesn't notice the orb of Scrying following them at any point.
• Red Larch is a very small village and really only exists as a crossing point and last stop before the Sumber Hills. In the distance, the hills are covered in soil more than anything, with a bit of scrub. About three miles out from the town, Barrett catches something out of place, and sees what looks like too much smoke rising from the town. Even closer, the smoke doesn't look natural. There's also an odd, toxic stench in the air, almost chemical. And once Barrett points out the smoke, and upon getting a bit closer, about a mile out, the smoke is far too dark and wispy to be from a fire.
  
• Elyana sniffs at the air, trying to see if she can figure out what that odd smell is. Barrett studies the black a bit more intensely, and Dhann removes the Glove to gain access to his hand, in case it is Shadow the group is looking at. As Barrett confirms, visually, that it's Shadow, Dhann's hand goes crazy, even from this distance, with the sensing of an entire town of Shadow ahead of them. Ely identifies the smell as a poisonous gas, and the only time she has ever smelled this is when she came across the lair of a green dragon. Damn.
• Dhann attempts a Divine Intervention, but the message doesn't go through, or is unanswered.
  
• Unsure if they can go through it, and no one liking that idea, the group skirts the town as much as they can to gain access to the Larch Path as well as see if they can gauge anything else about the town or what exactly happened. Ely is able to discern that the acrid stench is just a smell and is residual, and they can get a bit closer now without any damage. The wind, at least, is in their favor and is blowing the smell away from the direction they're traveling in.
• The Shadow absolutely coats the town. It swarms almost like a dark river on the ground, and blots out most of the buildings. Evidence of crashed wagons and, worse, bodies, show failed attempts at fleeing the devastation. The corpses, like the kobold back in Drezlin's library, are unmoving but squirming with tendrils. This close, underneath the smell of green dragon acid, lies the reek of new decomposition. Some buildings seem to have been crushed or smashed from the top, down, and clouds of green gas linger more thickly in places. The destruction to some of the buildings looks very similar to how Trollskull looked after the Shadow Dragon attack, leading the Maybesitters to theorize that either a Shadow Dragon with a Green's abilities attacked the town, or two separate dragons fought here, or worked together to obliterate the settlement. It's then noticed some of the clawmarks are smaller, some larger. While still all bigger than the ones left on the tavern, it looks like two differently sized dragons were here.
  
• Making their way east around the town, Dhann casts Clairvoyance from the saddle as he wants to see if there may be a rift to the Shadow plane or something of the like in Red Larch. Ely casts Protection from Evil and Good on him as well, just in case. Dhann chooses sight first with Clairvoyance, before switching midway to hearing:
  • The center of Red Larch unfortunately appears to be where a large number of people ran. There is a fairly substantial collection of bodies, of people of all ages in various stages of death. Dhann can't see any source of the Shadow magic, just that it's coating everything. It does appear to be thinning, though, like a moving tar.
  • While seeing if there was any sort of chanting or voice that might be maintaining the Shadow magic, that's not what Dhann hears. Rather, it turns out that some of the people that looked to be dead, haven't quite died yet. Rasping breathing, death rattles, the works.
• While Dhann is using the spell, the other three discuss their findings. The final deduction is that there were, indeed, two separate dragons. Ely is very sure one of them was a Green Dragon. The two were definitely of different sizes, and they aren't sure which dragon was which, but it's clear one was the size of an Ancient, and the other, an Adult. The overall attack looks to have been over a day ago.
  
• Coming out of the Clairvoyance, Dhann turns his horse away from the town, saying there's nothing they can do, and they need to press onward. Barrett agrees, and follows. Ely and Z do as well. Red Larch, it seems, is off the map.

-

The four of them cross Cairn Road on the outside of town. The Larch path is only a few hundred feet ahead. Even in twilight, they can see it. The quiet is deafening. Even the horses seem to understand the magnitude of what has happened. On the left, the Trollmates pass one of the last farms before the path and come upon the Red Larch Cemetery. In just an instant, each of them recognizes that the cemetery is far too small to hold all the dead.

Suddenly, each of them hears a dog barking in the distance on the other side of the cemetery closer to town. Soon, they hear it again. It sounds ragged but it is definitely a dog barking. Within moments, they see running toward you at top speed is a medium sized, spotted dog. He's limping a little as he runs but he is still closing the distance pretty quickly. Suddenly, he stops dead in his tracks, he barks at the four and then turns back the way he came. He does this again and again, getting closer to the Trollmates each time. Then, they see it. What they thought was a spot covering the right side of his head, is actually shadow magic. It is swarming over his head, in and out of his eye, his ear, and his mouth. His tongue is hanging out of the left side of his mouth because there just isn't enough room in his head. His bark is clearly made ragged by the shadow magic coursing in and out of his throat. It is a truly sickening sight as they realize he can only see them from his left eye.

But still, he turns, he wants the group to follow him. In the distance they hear the sound of a baby's cry and the faintest sound of a woman, "Shhhh! Please, be quiet." The dog turns and runs toward the sound checking over his shoulder to see if they follow.

At the first sight of the creature running towards them, Barrett's bow is out, an arrow nocked and the bow sting drawn back taunt.  The kisser rests against the familiar anchor point at the top of his cheek bone.  He adjusts slightly for the wind and elevation, keeping the target squarely sighted. Upon identifying it as a common dog, he relaxes a little...until he sees the shadow magic coursing through the head and neck.  He tenses again, prepared to fire;  not out of fear or anger, but out of mercy.  No creature deserves to suffer like that. And then he hears the sad cry, followed by the faint voice.  He relaxes his draw completely, closes his eyes and takes a deep breath of the feted air. Things just went to a whole new level of complicated...

Dhann’s back has been on fire from the moment he turned away from Red Larch. That tugging, insistent pull in his right hand, even as the group widens the distance between themselves and the town - there’s so much of it, it- The animal sprinting towards them, and the bow materializing in Barrett’s hands has the Cleric’s gaze jerk from the path ahead of them. The dog, when close enough, is a horrible thing to see. To hear. And then that pitiful wail, followed by the desperate attempt to hush…gods. Dhann pulls his mount’s head around, slightly off the path towards the sounds. Gathering the reins into his left hand so his right is free, the Cleric slips the Glove back on even as he watches the dog watch them. Red Larch is one thing…yes, one can tell themselves that, but this? They have to-

“-Check, we have to.”

The urge to just start blasting spells towards the billowing dark wisps that rise from the town as they pass around is overwhelming. But they can’t do anything, they can’t help. Not right now. As much as Ely wants to, as much as it sickens and pains her to walk away like this, the Trollmates are only one group. They can’t save everyone, she keeps telling herself. They just can’t.

But she slows when Barrett stops and then Dhann. Looking over, she finally catches the sight of an approaching dog with shadow threads pouring out of its face. Out of fearful instinct, Ely and her horse back away even further down the path, away from the cemetery, from the group, from the notion that anything could have survived and she’s considering making a horrible, terrible decision. A baby cries far away and another voice comes faintly through the chaos, comforting the child. One hand grips the reigns tightly while her other wipes her watery eyes and runny nose. Feys damn it all. There won’t be much of a world left to save if everyone is already dead.

“We can’t… we can’t leave them in there.”

Nudging his horse forward a few more steps, Dhann turns to look at his companions, then back towards the voices. The Blue tosses its head in response to nearing the dog, sensing the tension in the group, but merely swishes its tail to express well-bridled agitation. Not knowing what to expect, but having a terrible idea - come what may, he projects his voice in a subdued, but carrying, call.

"Hello?"

Barrett, still with his eyes closed, nods slightly to himself when Dhann calls out.  He knew the moment he heard the cry that Dhann would never be able to simply ride on...although he did expect there to be a little more hesitation from the most paranoid member of the party. He opens his eyes, thinking, "Okay, so we're doin' this now..."

-

Next time on...

Ugh. This is the worst.