The next morning, after a good night's sleep, Elspeth pulls the party aside before they are about to head out, giving them the doll that Amelia was carrying, telling them that she wanted them to have it for saving her, so that they don’t forget about her. Apparently she named the doll Elsa. She brings the party a bunch of coffee, which Gaia tastes for the first time, finding the taste surprisingly pleasant.
As they get on their horses, Elspeth is impressed by their courage, and gives them each a small waterskin of some of their preferred liquor, or liquid luck as she calls it. They each thank her for her generosity, then say their goodbyes as they set forward into the fog, heading south towards Starfall Basin.
After about a day’s travel, they reach their final checkpoint before their destination, the small town of Applewatch. Hundreds of apple trees scatter the hillsides, with a valley heading west, cutting through the mountains. Some houses are spread about the vista, with most of the town and trees above the fog line. Near the main road however, a collection of houses can be found, one bigger than the others, with a bunch of commotion as there is a large gathering of tents outside it. Most of the travelers heading south that left before the party has set down for the night before the final stretch. The prospects of getting a room for the night seems grim, but as soon as they step inside, the gnome innkeeper tells them that a group of drows have already rented and paid for their room, anticipating their arrival as they were heading the same way. The innkeeper takes them to their room, prompting them to ask about the supposed bandits in the area, but the innkeeper tells them that it is not a worry, the losses they cause are already accounted for, and they rarely harm travelers, merely taking what little gold they carry before setting them on their way. The party is perturbed by this, and has half a mind to head into the nearby forest the bandits make their home, but decide against it, at least for now.
As Raenerys, Gaia, Miryks and Quill all take their seats around a table, surrounded by cheers and good alcohol, there is a group of people sitting at a nearby table that are giving them a severe case of stink-eye. Quill walks over to ask what the problem is, with an old guy spitting on the ground in front of her, telling her that they best be moving on, as they don’t take kindly to their kind around these parts, referring to their status as “adventurers”.
Raenerys walks over, telling him to calm down, but he is unwilling, so she pulls out one of the basilisk tongues from the bag, and smacks him clear across the face with it. This causes a full blown bar brawl, with fists and feet swirling around, hitting both friend and foe. The agitators are taken care of by hanging them onto the antlers of a taxidermied elk hanging above the fireplace. Both Quill and Miryks get knocked out, but are brought back by the others.
Suddenly, a couple of guards make their way inside, demanding everyone to calm down, taking away the agitators after cutting them down. The innkeeper is not happy, but a bag of gold placates him for the time being, and with Quill offering to keep the tavern entertained by her stories, all seems to be well.
As the dust has settled, Raenerys goes to bed, tired. Gaia has a moment alone with Miryks, asking about her past, learning that she is from this continent, and heading home to check in on her parents, but doesn’t divulge where they are, only that it is a long way south. Gaia leaves it be, not wanting to push too hard, and then joins the others as they too settle in for the night.
𐡸
The next day, as there was no bandit attack in the night, the party gathers their horses, and heads south for the final stretch before reaching Starfall Basin. After about half a day's travel, the sky darkens, with the sun disappearing, revealing the starry sky above. Taking a few steps back returns the day, so they realize they have reached the darkened barrier they heard about, finding it to be fascinating, as they can see the night sky as it appears in spring, due to the position of the sun relative to them.
After a few more hours, after moving around a cliffside, they finally see it. A large city built into the side of both mountains surrounding a large waterfall, with the starry sky above, and people of all denominations, but mostly those from the underdark, wandering around comfortably. They ask around for directions to whoever is in charge of the city, the mayor or something like that, being told to head to a certain building up in the hillside.
They decide to stable their horses first, heading across the bridge to the opposite side of the river, finding a rather large stable with a large amount of horses kept within. A middle aged orc stands in front of a particularly agitated horse that won’t seem to calm down. Myriks attempts to calm it down, but gets kicked in the face for her troubles. As she tries to communicate with it to find what is wrong, she learns that it has a lot of pain in its foot. The orc leans down, noticing a large splinter right up its foot, and pulls it out, causing the horse to immediately calm down, grateful to Miryks.
The orc, Orvik, thanks the party for the help, asking if they require services for their mounts. And because of them being so helpful, offers to just keep their horses fed, paying him when they decide to leave, as they are unsure how long they will stay. He gives them a fair deal of a handful of gold per day of stabling, and starts tending to their horses. They ask him where they should stay themselves, and he immediately tells them to stay away from the Starfall View, as people tend to go missing.
They immediately find his altruism to be suspicious, so they begin probing him about more information, so he tells them that the inn is run by an earthkin woman named Petra, and that people tend to disappear after a few days of staying there, either on the road away from Starfall Basin or suddenly from the inn without notice. Gaia asks if he has seen any weird grinning people, but he is unsure, maybe a couple. There doesn’t seem to be any pattern about who disappears, affecting everyone as long as they’re not local to the town.
He also mentions that there have been a few spooky characters wandering about the city from time to time. One woman, Yelra, got all her candles stolen from the local temple to Lot, which the party immediately thinks might be related to the cult, with candles being a common item to use during rituals, and a baby was left on the steps of the temple of Ilene. There has also been some disturbances around the old mines a couple of miles south of the town itself. Other than that, he tells the party to keep their heads down, as people tend to dislike adventurers for various reasons. The party thanks Orvik for the help and heads back to the town proper to talk to the mayor.
𐡸
Raenerys keeps a look out for old people and big, blue eyes, as she was told to do, but none that seems to fit the criteria she is looking for. After walking up all the steps, they reach an older looking building, much older than any of the old buildings surrounding it, and knock on the door. They hear footfalls coming from inside, and a lean, older, human man looks back at them. They introduce themselves as adventurers, and are looking for the reward for killing the basilisks. The old man hurries them inside, and closes the door behind them rather frantically, before introducing himself as mayor Lorin.
Lorin asks for proof of the deed being done, and after witnessing the two tongues with his own eyes, he nods to himself, seemingly satisfied. He asks if the party would like anything to drink, but only Raenerys takes him up on the offer, getting a glass of wine. He then walks over to his office, and brings back a small chest, opens it up, revealing the hilt of a sword within. The party is unimpressed at first, but after he activates the weapon, revealing it to be a sunblade, the party is more intrigued. He says that for obvious reasons the weapon hasn’t seen much use ever since “that wizard” darkened the skies, and is happy to be rid of it. He throws in a chest of gold as well for good measure.
With the business concluded, the party takes the opportunity to inquire more about the weird happenings around the city. At first, Lorin seems apprehensive about the whole thing, very unwilling to tell the party anything other than the “official” story, which is that some people going missing when visiting, but after being pushed and assured by the party that they’re here to help, he tells them that some “creepy fucker”, a drow, came by some time ago, telling him to leave Starfall View to its own devices, and in return he wouldn’t be harmed. He apparently knew Petra, the innkeeper for a while, but a few years ago she became something of a recluse, never talking to her own friends and acquaintances, and only minding her tavern. The drow who threatened the mayor said that they had “friends everywhere”.
Properly disturbed by the idea of the town not being safe at all, especially since Lorin keeps looking around the room to look for any eavesdroppers, the party asks about the cult behavior, as they’re fairly certain it's unrelated to the disappearances. Apart from the regular kidnappings that happen from time to time, regardless of what is happening in Starfall View, there haven’t been any disappearances that he knows about. He heard about the candles, and mentions that there was a massive earthquake that hit the town shortly after the theft, so it might be connected somehow. After the quake, the cult activities died down, with the suspicious individuals leaving town basically overnight. Livestock near the old mines however still act on edge in that area, ever since the quake. Lorin doesn’t have the manpower or willingness to lose good people to explore the mines, as he is sure it would lead to no good, as they’re already having troubles in the new mines a few days south of the town.
Raenerys asks Lorin about anything in the town that might resemble a “big, blue eye”, and surprisingly, the mayor knows exactly what or who she’s referring to. There is a creature, a small one, maybe a deformed goblin, with one big eye that happens to be blue, that can be seen wandering around from time to time, buying food or fetching packages. It doesn’t seem to bother anyone, so he saw no point in exploring it, leaving it to its own devices. He’s sure they will spot it if they stick around long enough.
𐡸
As they leave the mayor’s office, Gaia tells Raenerys that she can be kinder when she asks questions, thinking her tone is rather harsh and direct, but Ranenerys shoots back, saying “I will not be lectured by a tree”, storming off ahead of them down to the riverside to take a closer look at Starfall View. Gaia can sense that there is a tone of insecurity behind the insult, so doesn’t take it to heart.
Before they head to the inn, Gaia wants to see if she can get some better armor, hearing the noise of a blacksmith around the corner, as the city is waking up since it is now evening. They come across a duergar working on a blade, who introduces himself as Kith. After perusing the store, Miryks buys a new dagger as her off-hand weapon, while Gaia places an order for a new armor which will take about a day to adjust to her size. Raenerys and Quill asks about any magical weapons or trinkets, but there is little of that in the town itself, but there is a wizard living in a tower across the lake south of them that might be able to help. He mentions that there is a boat that can ferry them, as they don’t carry their shipments “ever since that creature took up residence in the Whistling Mines”, indicating that trade has been halted until someone can deal with it.
Satisfied with their purchases and guidance, the party heads over to the inn, with Raenerys positioning herself outside, using one of her new spells to peer through the eyes of a recent arrival, a handsome elf who is clearly from out of town. As she sees through his senses, he is introduced to Petra, who puts him at a table, and makes him a drink while taking his food order. She sees no untowards about the interaction, but as she exits the view, Petra turns and looks directly at Raenerys who was standing outside. She quickly leaves with the others, feeling exposed.
Miryks, in the meantime, has turned herself into a spider, and is wandering around the inn to find a way inside. She spots an open window that leads to what appears to be the basement, but with no light, it is hard to navigate. She eventually finds a large vat with some kind of liquid inside. It smells sour, almost like vomit, so she decides to take a sample of it. She comes out of the spider shape, and begins to look around for a vial to keep it inside, noticing that every single bottle in the basement is perfectly placed and inventoried, which is unusual.
Ranerys takes another look through the eyes of the elf, overhearing Petra being told that “they are out of it”, so Petra will take a refill. She heads over to the back of the bar, and opens a hatch, heading downstairs, where Miryks is hiding.
Miryks finally finds a vial, but just as she grabs one, she hears the hatch opening, and immediately turns into a spider, not having the chance to put the vials back. Petra walks over to the vat, filling up a bottle with the contents within, and then notices the misplaced vials. She calmly walks over to them, putting them back where they should be, then speaks.
“We know you’re in here. Come out and talk to us.”
Miryks wastes no time, beelining to the window without getting a chance to take a sample. Petra walks around looking for the intruder, but Miryks manages to escape, just before Petra notices the open window, which she closes. Miryks looks through it from the outside, witnessing Petra putting a lid on the vat, then calmly walking back upstairs again.
As the party reconvenes, they tell each other what they have seen, and then Quill contacts Elara to give an update on the situation and what they have found. There doesn’t seem to be a way to counteract the effect once someone has been infected, but is happy to report that Finneas hasn’t been “taken over” by Legion again, indicating that they kept their word, and his wife has arrived, and is spending time reconnecting with him. Elara promises that she will update the party if they learn anything new, then leaves.
As it is getting late relative to how they keep their sleep cycle, the party decides to find some accommodations. They head back up to the western hillside to find an inn, ending up in the Granite Mug, a cozy inn owned and ran by a duergar woman called Nestra along with her husband Lodrin. By chance, Nestra is related to Kith, the blacksmith. She is more than happy to get them a room, giving them a good price and personally bringing some food for them, clearly happy to get any business at all. The party eats their meal in peace, then decides to go to sleep, hoping to learn more the next day.