Run Date: August 27th, 2022
Today’s session was quite the change of pace with the party doing a bit of information gathering regarding a hook that’s been brewing since around when we started.
PCs
Baldur(Pa): Lv1 Barbarian
Willow(Sh): Lv1 Cultist of St. Laurenia
Rebel(Sa): Lv2 Monk
In Search of a Cult
The group convened at their usual hangout in Riversmeet, the Red Tankard. After a bit of discussion about the danger level of the paths they’ve tread, the decision landed on traveling into the unknown. Bodies of eviscerated townsfolk have been showing up around the northern road during the last couple full moons. Rumor goes that the victims’ skulls were also carved with strange markings. So it was, after a bit of shopping, that the party headed out of the northern gate.
It took a little over half a day to arrive at the town near the most recent murder, Cathorp. Due to the start time, this meant that the party arrived just after dark. They headed for the nearby inn to ask about what happened and see about getting some concrete information to start their investigation. Baldur, being the crude one that he is, strode right up to a cask and started filling a mug. The innkeep and some of the patrons were about to step in when Willow noted that it’d be on her tab. Having avoided a confrontation, she quickly pulled the brutish man aside and sat him down. Rebel, meanwhile, hit up some of the farmers hanging around on the floor.
After a bit of discussion, Rebel and the party learned that the townmaster would be their best bet. With the first lead set, Baldur and Willow headed outside to set up a tent, and Rebel rented the last available bed in the inn and ordered a decent meal. After dinner, and before it was the night was too late, they hit up the townmaster's manor.
A dirty bearded man answered the party's call. He welcomed them into a humble house and explained what he could about the murders. The party confirmed the rumor of evisceration and strange markings, throwing out theories from bonewicces to faeries as the townmaster spoke. While he couldn’t offer any information regarding legends of such a thing, he told them where the victim had come from: a hamlet just over the river called Pestead. There were only a few more questions after that, and the party said goodnight.
Baldur was up early the next morning and hit up the river to do some fishing. He caught a massive lunker!.. of junk. After tearing it apart and finding a chunk of spiny driftwood, he headed back to the inn where the other two were having breakfast. In a loud shout, he asked if anyone wanted to buy said chunk of wood. The innkeeper shouted at him to shut up and everyone went back to their meals. After breakfast, and a stern talking to with Baldur, the party headed for Pestead.
Their trip was only a couple hours, and along the way they met a fishmonger named Wolfe. Being a jolly fellow, he offered to sell them a few fish from the barrels he was hauling to Pestead. Baldur nearly took him up on the offer before being reminded (for the third time, I think) that he was broke. Point of note; Baldur risked everything in an underground fight and lost due to a fluke. Willow and Rebel have been covering his expenses since then. Anyhow, Wolfe told them what he’d been hearing about the full moon murders, and how he hadn’t seen anything weird in his own travels. He noted, though, that traveling at night always had its dangers.
Once the group arrived at Pestead, they headed into a large barn where a farmhand had just helped birth a foal. He pointed them into the direction of the local leader, Rewyn, and Baldur thanked him with a slimy handshake. Around another corner and into a side shack they found Rewyn managing some paperwork and working on tools. The townmaster spoke first with Wolfe about the details of their business, and then welcomed the party into the shack.
Another round of Q and A began as the party learned a little bit more about the victim: his name was Balda, and his body was found by an old oak tree. He would often go to Cathorp with the townmaster to deliver wheat to the brewery, and noted that Balda always liked traveling. Rewyn was also forthcoming, after a quick check for eavesdroppers, that Balda spent a lot of time complaining about his wife. “He’d sometimes stay in Cathorp an extra day just for some free time.” It wasn’t long before the party assumed their victim was a cheater, and that the wife may have discovered his infidelity. Nonetheless, the priority was the crime scene.
When they entered town earlier, Baldur had thrown away his fishing “trophy” and it hit a tree. Turns out that said tree was the same oak mentioned by Rewyn. It had a large knot “shaped like a face” by the townmaster’s description, and stood well older than any of the living residents. Everyone split their duties; Baldur chopping off a limb to check for taint, Rebel pulling out her miniature Kairnite lantern to hunt for spectral trails, and Willow doing a proper check on the area.
Willow noted that the area was fairly flat and clear, and anyone could have easily seen a rendezvous from anywhere in the hamlet, but failed to locate any clues. Baldur had little issue chopping off his chosen limb and examining the wood. He noted zero signs of taint, corruption, or even a lack of health. Rebel, though lacking official priest training, managed to spot some trails along the trunk. At first, it seemed like snail trails, then sap, and finally strange, heat-like waves. With that information, she confirmed that the man did indeed die at that spot, and explained some of the information she’d learned talking with the Kairnite James.
After a bit of back and forth, they hit on Rewyn’s description of the “face.” Thinking, “Why not?” Rebel lifted her tiny lantern toward the knot and found a small hole. She stuck her hand inside to find a stone with a letter carved on it. They wondered for a while about legends or habits like carving a name into a tree before scooping out the rest. In total, they found 10, each with a single letter: A L S A D F E T L A.
With this handful of stones and no idea what to do with them, the party headed back to ask Rewyn where Balda’s wife could be found. They were still leaning on the theory that she murdered him after he got caught with his hands in the cookie jar, and the stones seemed to support that idea. After learning the woman’s name was Rebecca, they headed out.
In a fresh field they found a beast of a woman (Laker blood through and through) plowing a field with an ox. Based on the description, this had to be her, and she only solidified their theory once she opened her mouth. Rebecca had zero remorse for her husband’s death, “Ungrateful sod deserved what he got.” She told them about how he’d occasionally bring gifts back from Cathorp, but at some point he started ignoring her… in every way. It had lead to several arguments and soured their marriage. The worst part, however, was that she saw him sneak out and meet with a lady out by the oak tree one night. The party jumped on this and asked for the lady’s description; young, pretty, well-dressed, covered in thick make-up. They then asked about the stones they found in the tree and she shrugged it off. She wasn’t much for weird stories or folktales and preferred things that were more grounded.
Going over the pieces again, the group discussed what their next course of action would be. It didn’t take long for the stones to become the subject of conversation again so they asked Rebecca if her husband happened to have any. She told them she’d never seen them, but Balda was touchy about his purse. She noted that he didn’t have it when he snuck out at night, but she hadn’t seen it since his disappearance. “You’re welcome to check my house if you think you can find it.”
Off the party went to dig through a widow’s simple home. It was a well-organized space, though small. Baldur immediately started stomping on the floor to find loose boards while Rebel took a more cautious approach. Baldur didn’t find anything but a solid wack to his softer bits when he hit an already loose board a touch too hard. Willow and Rebel enjoyed that bit of karma and had a good laugh. While the other two examined the floor inside, Willow headed to check the outside of the house. She discovered a rather large animal nest tucked under the thatched roofing. It took a bit of reaching, but she managed to pull it down and tear it apart. The nest was old, dry, and big enough for a opossum, large bird, or raccoon to use. Afterward, she reached into the little hollow and ran her fingertips across a few strings, pulling out a small purse. Mission Success: Willow found more stones, not yet carved, and a few coins.
With this evidence, the party tucked the stones away and went back out to the field. Baldur, however, had skipped town after breaking a section of Rebecca’s floor. With a quick exchange, Willow and Rebel returned the money and offered to fix Baldur’s mistake. The widow sent the duo over to Rewyns workshop to get some supplies, and a while later they were back on the road to Cathorp.
Baldur, in his rush, ended up catching up with Wolfe and offered him company on the walk back to town. They had a good discussion about this and that before Wolfe headed up the northern road. Baldur decided to wait on his party by doing a second round of fishing. Rebel and Willow arrived about an hour later, just in time to see Baldur pulling up some dinner. They were in no mood to deal with this freeloader and just walked into the inn where they ordered some proper meals and started sorting their plan. Session time was almost up, and conversation drifted to downtime and general plans. Long and short? Baldur got cut off and told to work for a living while the two ladies went carousing back in Riversmeet.
Rewards
2xp
Afterword
I made it through the session despite having to BS my way through some mystery bits. All-in-all, I think it went pretty well, and there was a lot of theories being thrown back and forth about who the culprit was. Frankly, the players did most of my work for me. Baldur even joked about how everyone had it wrong and Wolfe was the real culprit. Better yet, the full moon timing and real time passage encouraged the group to start planning a couple sessions ahead of time with zero input from me. Proactive players are wonderful.
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