Post by Derthaad on Feb 4, 2022 14:50:50 GMT
~excerpt from Derthaad's ledger
Week 3, 1499
22nd of Hammer
There has been a rumor floating about in Daring Heights, with conflicting details but with one thing common: "La'vara is gone." Whatever this La'vara thing was, I was soon to find out. Sgt. Grimes approached me regarding this topic and illuminated me on that La'vara is a farming village in K'ul Goran. As a prep, I've looked into this at the HQ to see what I can find. The little maps that we had about K'ul Goran's settlements mainly the most important of them, from Port Alaca and Za'Suul on the coast, to Zot Goran, Maray and Jarvenhol into the mainland. La'vara wasn't visible. There was only a slight mention of it in some random letter. My curious self agreed upon this job and went to meet the rest.
I was early in Portal Plaza, at least earlier than my colleagues since the square is already full of people going in and out of the portals each going to their respective jobs. The morning was a pleasant one, even though it was in the middle of winter, cold and with snow covering the rooftops, the morning sun felt lightly warm. Not long after I arrived, my winged friend Tayz joined me. We chatted a bit until we were later joined by two new faces: a white tabaxi by the name of Snowey (fitting name) and the halfling known as Nimble, whom I have only met a week earlier on Kavel's lamia quest. The tabaxi was a cleric of Mistra, the only goddess that I view as such. Gods aren't common among dragonborn. One too may millennia have passed in which the dragonborn's prayers have not been heard, one too many millennia in which the dragonborn were alone and have to crawl from whatever pit they were. However, I would say that Mistra is among those very few gods that I acknowledged as such within dragonborn society, for it is she who directs and controls all magical flow on Toril.
Whilst Tayz and Snowey were discussing clergy business, we heard a call from one of the portals. We turn to find a female air genasi in loose robes, with the sigil of a lyre buttoned onto them; the sigil of the god Milil. Milil is of the two gods worshiped at the Temple of Two Faiths, the other being Umberlee. The genasi introduced herself as Storm. Initially she seemed stoic and strict upon first laying my eyes upon her, but that stoicism quickly dissipated and replaced with excitement and surprise:
"By Milil, you actually came. I didn't think anyone will come."
"Well, of course - I added - when you ask for help from adventurers, they'll come."
We found out the reason for her surprise is that Za'Suul doesn't have as many adventurers as Daring Heights, so such a request would have gone over people's heads over there. We also learned the reason to why she called us was:
"The village of La'vara is gone." - Strom said
"Gone?"
"As in, it's empty, there are no tracks of anyone leaving the village and yet in the span of a couple of days everyone is gone."
"Excuse me, but how do you lose an entire village?"
"Oh no, the houses are still there."
"My point stands."
"We can discuss more details on our way there. Shall we?"
Still confused about her statement we followed the priestess back through the portal she came. Upon stepping through the portal we were hit by a heatwave. We arrived in Za'Suul, in K'ul Goran. As far as my limited knowledge of Kantas goes, K'ulGoran is located on the large island of Joran, outside of the gulf. The maps I have seen at the Academy show as if the landmass like a corner piece that has been ripped from the main land forming sort of an inner sea. The island seems as if it provides the Dawnlands protection, at least from the elements. I'm no sailor, but I can say that the inner sea seemed a lot calmer than the surrounding ocean. As a result, many cities have been built on the coast surround this sea, one of which is Za'Suul. Unlike the DH, this city is surrounded by arid plains, which was noticeable in the weather. It felt more like an early summer day in Daring Heights than what one would consider a normal winter day. Can't imagine how hot it must be during summer. Storm was kind-hearted and went ahead and bought a backpack for each of us, each containing water, rations, a bed roll and a prayer book to Milil. We informed her that we, as professional adventurers, already have gathered whatever we needed for this job, but we thanked her nonetheless. We also told her that she was missing a few key elements, such as a rope, a torch, maybe pitons and, if possible, a compass and a map. Storm herself wanted to become an adventure like us since she found this to be exciting since we get to visit all of these new places.
Without wasting much time, we head towards La'vara and on our way there, Storm enlightens us on the situation. A few days ago, people started going missing at such a rate that the village seemingly became abandoned over night. Patrols reported the disappearance the moment it happened and said that there were no tracks leading to and from the village. They didn't enter the village due to fear of there being a curse laid upon it. Their fears were increased when later patrols reported that the cattle were being moved, clothes were still being hung and fireplaces were still being lit, despite there being absolutely no one in the village, which was further proven by the fact that, during the evening and early night hours, the houses weren't being lit except for the dim sliver of light coming from the lit fireplaces. We were suspecting that this may be the activity of ghosts, but due to the patrols not entering the village we have no way of making any preliminary conclusions as to what this might be.
We later arrive at the edge of the village and indeed it seemed abandoned. Tayz and Nimble did an initial scouting from above and upon returning they confirmed what the patrols have reported: cattle in their pens, clothes hung in the sun that seemed to be bleached and smoke coming from chimneys. Storm was reluctant to enter, which is understandable since she hasn't done this kind of thing before, but I told her that if she wants to become an adventurer, she will be dealing with more just like this. We also reassured her by the fact that we have two clerics that can help her with her wounds in case of an attack. Oh, how right I was about that. Aside from the place being abandoned there was nothing out of the ordinary. There were no tracks leading to and from the houses outside of the normal ones on what seemed to be the usual pathways of the villagers, there no signs of struggles to indicate that a fight happened. There was nothing. It felt as if the villagers have just completely vanished and yet, upon seeing the clothes and smoke, they still remain. Theories started whirling in my head, trying to figure out if I have heard or read about something like this.
We arrived at what seemed to be the inn of this village. As everything, it seemed normal, no signs of any struggle, nothing to indicate something out of the ordinary. Except there was something: a steaming pot and a few steaming bowls of porridge. The food smelled bland and uninteresting in terms of flavor and composition but it was steaming hot, as if someone just made this. We decided to look around for other clues regarding what might have happened. Snowey was searching around for anything of note. Nimble found the inn keeper's ledger, its last entry was about 5 days ago, and before that there was a mention of an elf-looking individual dressed in black clothing entering the inn - someone who may have had a connection to all of this - and it says that he has a room upstairs. In my search behind the counter, I found a trophy from a couple of years ago "Best Cattle Award" that looked like a shield. As Snowey approached me, we both saw it; a shadowy creature, humanoid, with long sharp claw-like fingers. We saw it just as it attacked Storm, slashing her back. I recognize the beast as a skulk, a creature from the Shadowfell that can only be seen by a reflective surface or by a child.
In my mind, if the skulk was able to slash at Storm's back it meant that it still had a physical presence in this realm, even if we didn't notice it earlier. So, in my attempt in making it slightly more visible, I decided to just throw the bowl of porridge at it. I know, not the best of projectiles to try and damage it, but the reasoning was to try and at least have some sort of outline as to where it may be and helping my allies see this thing. After my allies were able to acquire two other mirrors, we managed to deal with this thing and tend to Storm's wounds. Thankfully, with two clerics, she was healed well but she was still in a state of shock from the ordeal. It is at this point that Snowey said that she was smelling something bad, putrid, coming from under the floor. Luckily, our Nimble friend had a crowbar at him, thus allowing us to remove one of the floor planks which, to our surprise and horror, was very easy, revealing a dead body underneath. We weren't able to identify it, but by clothes alone we were able to guess it was one of the villagers. Moreover, resting on top of this body, was the arm from another one. Now we know what happened to the villagers.
I went upstairs to see what I can find regarding this elf fellow, Tayz joining me, and to my surprise, quite literally, I got attacked by another skulk. My friends bellow weren't doing great either, as they also got jumped by more of them. After Tayz helped me deal with this thing and joined the rest downstairs, I moved forward. The upper hallway had two doors to the right and it ends in a window. As I approached the first door, I realized why we didn't notice the skulk from earlier downstairs and the one that jumped me. As I was going upstairs, the wood creaked, as well when approaching the door and not just for me, but for Tayz as well. I realized that their physical presence does not extend to their feet. While they may look like they have them when looking through a mirror, they don't seem to have a physical effect, allowing them to move without a trace. As I approach the door, I lay my ear on it and I can hear a faint male voice. By this point I am fairly sure that elf person mention in the ledger may be behind it. I bust the door open and, to no one's surprise, the male, pale-skinned elf in dark clothes, who proceeded to pull out a dagger and lunge at me. The surprising part in all of this, as a small child behind the elf, sitting on the floor. After a short scuffle with this bastard, who apparently only speaks elvish, the rest of my companions arrive and Tayz uses his Hold Person spell to restrain this guy.
After a short interrogation in which Snowey acts as a translator for the elf, we learned that he was an assassin for the Shadar-kai and that he, along with the beasts, was summoned by the kid. Sadly though, the child confirmed this. Not only did we see the knife in his hand, the markings in elvish on the floor and a book opened to a section about summoning the Shadar-kai, but he also told us. He told us how he was bullied, how his parents kept putting him to work, how he only wanted to play, how he asked the Shadar-kai for their aid in having everyone gone so that he can be left alone. Poor kid did not know what that meant. The assassin said that the payment for summoning the Shadar-kai is the soul of the one who summoned them. Before we could try and get more info, I heard a magical explosion behind me and, as I was turning to see what the commotion was, the assassin leapt past me, grabbed the child and disappeared. My winged friend managed to miss his spell point blanc against a stationary target and it got away. The book on the Shadar-kai was left behind, which we gave to Snowey since she was the only one who was able to understand all that was written in the book and hopefully find out more about these guys and how did this kid ended up with such a book in his possession.
Our walk back to Za'Suul was gloomy and no one said a thing. Upon arrival in Za'Suul, Storm paid us and told us she will update the temple with what happened. I patted her on the shoulder, congratulating her on her first adventure. She said that she felt the adventuring job is not for her, to which I replied that she shouldn't give up, and that maybe, in the future, her craving for adventure may return and that we will be seeing each other again. She smiled and was kind enough to pay out teleport back to DH. Our friend Tayz, however decided to stay a bit longer and learn more about this city.
I do believe this will require a future investigation from my part. Snowey took the book to find out how it may have come into the boy's possession. Judging by the boy's and the assassin's telling, this seemed to have been a one-off deal. As much as I hate admitting this, it's best that it was solved this way, for these kind of pacts transcend space and if we have dragged this longer by killing the elf and taking the boy to the temple, another assassin may have come for the boy and more may have been killed in acquiring him.
~ this section has been written later
Snowey later dropped by the City Watch HQ and informed me on what she found with the aid of a researcher at the Academy. She said that the book belonged to a scholar, who is now on sabbatical, and that it had disappeared shortly after he left. They also found a series of marks along the margins of the pages that have been made later by some questionable merchants. How it ended up from the Merchants to the boy's hands is still a mystery. I thanked her, and told her that I may have a look into it at some point, however, unless another said incident appears later, it is highly unlikely I will be able to find anything since the information given is a bit vague. I may take a look at the book later on and see if I can find any information on those markings and hopefully find out what merchants may have had the book.
Week 3, 1499
22nd of Hammer
There has been a rumor floating about in Daring Heights, with conflicting details but with one thing common: "La'vara is gone." Whatever this La'vara thing was, I was soon to find out. Sgt. Grimes approached me regarding this topic and illuminated me on that La'vara is a farming village in K'ul Goran. As a prep, I've looked into this at the HQ to see what I can find. The little maps that we had about K'ul Goran's settlements mainly the most important of them, from Port Alaca and Za'Suul on the coast, to Zot Goran, Maray and Jarvenhol into the mainland. La'vara wasn't visible. There was only a slight mention of it in some random letter. My curious self agreed upon this job and went to meet the rest.
I was early in Portal Plaza, at least earlier than my colleagues since the square is already full of people going in and out of the portals each going to their respective jobs. The morning was a pleasant one, even though it was in the middle of winter, cold and with snow covering the rooftops, the morning sun felt lightly warm. Not long after I arrived, my winged friend Tayz joined me. We chatted a bit until we were later joined by two new faces: a white tabaxi by the name of Snowey (fitting name) and the halfling known as Nimble, whom I have only met a week earlier on Kavel's lamia quest. The tabaxi was a cleric of Mistra, the only goddess that I view as such. Gods aren't common among dragonborn. One too may millennia have passed in which the dragonborn's prayers have not been heard, one too many millennia in which the dragonborn were alone and have to crawl from whatever pit they were. However, I would say that Mistra is among those very few gods that I acknowledged as such within dragonborn society, for it is she who directs and controls all magical flow on Toril.
Whilst Tayz and Snowey were discussing clergy business, we heard a call from one of the portals. We turn to find a female air genasi in loose robes, with the sigil of a lyre buttoned onto them; the sigil of the god Milil. Milil is of the two gods worshiped at the Temple of Two Faiths, the other being Umberlee. The genasi introduced herself as Storm. Initially she seemed stoic and strict upon first laying my eyes upon her, but that stoicism quickly dissipated and replaced with excitement and surprise:
"By Milil, you actually came. I didn't think anyone will come."
"Well, of course - I added - when you ask for help from adventurers, they'll come."
We found out the reason for her surprise is that Za'Suul doesn't have as many adventurers as Daring Heights, so such a request would have gone over people's heads over there. We also learned the reason to why she called us was:
"The village of La'vara is gone." - Strom said
"Gone?"
"As in, it's empty, there are no tracks of anyone leaving the village and yet in the span of a couple of days everyone is gone."
"Excuse me, but how do you lose an entire village?"
"Oh no, the houses are still there."
"My point stands."
"We can discuss more details on our way there. Shall we?"
Still confused about her statement we followed the priestess back through the portal she came. Upon stepping through the portal we were hit by a heatwave. We arrived in Za'Suul, in K'ul Goran. As far as my limited knowledge of Kantas goes, K'ulGoran is located on the large island of Joran, outside of the gulf. The maps I have seen at the Academy show as if the landmass like a corner piece that has been ripped from the main land forming sort of an inner sea. The island seems as if it provides the Dawnlands protection, at least from the elements. I'm no sailor, but I can say that the inner sea seemed a lot calmer than the surrounding ocean. As a result, many cities have been built on the coast surround this sea, one of which is Za'Suul. Unlike the DH, this city is surrounded by arid plains, which was noticeable in the weather. It felt more like an early summer day in Daring Heights than what one would consider a normal winter day. Can't imagine how hot it must be during summer. Storm was kind-hearted and went ahead and bought a backpack for each of us, each containing water, rations, a bed roll and a prayer book to Milil. We informed her that we, as professional adventurers, already have gathered whatever we needed for this job, but we thanked her nonetheless. We also told her that she was missing a few key elements, such as a rope, a torch, maybe pitons and, if possible, a compass and a map. Storm herself wanted to become an adventure like us since she found this to be exciting since we get to visit all of these new places.
Without wasting much time, we head towards La'vara and on our way there, Storm enlightens us on the situation. A few days ago, people started going missing at such a rate that the village seemingly became abandoned over night. Patrols reported the disappearance the moment it happened and said that there were no tracks leading to and from the village. They didn't enter the village due to fear of there being a curse laid upon it. Their fears were increased when later patrols reported that the cattle were being moved, clothes were still being hung and fireplaces were still being lit, despite there being absolutely no one in the village, which was further proven by the fact that, during the evening and early night hours, the houses weren't being lit except for the dim sliver of light coming from the lit fireplaces. We were suspecting that this may be the activity of ghosts, but due to the patrols not entering the village we have no way of making any preliminary conclusions as to what this might be.
We later arrive at the edge of the village and indeed it seemed abandoned. Tayz and Nimble did an initial scouting from above and upon returning they confirmed what the patrols have reported: cattle in their pens, clothes hung in the sun that seemed to be bleached and smoke coming from chimneys. Storm was reluctant to enter, which is understandable since she hasn't done this kind of thing before, but I told her that if she wants to become an adventurer, she will be dealing with more just like this. We also reassured her by the fact that we have two clerics that can help her with her wounds in case of an attack. Oh, how right I was about that. Aside from the place being abandoned there was nothing out of the ordinary. There were no tracks leading to and from the houses outside of the normal ones on what seemed to be the usual pathways of the villagers, there no signs of struggles to indicate that a fight happened. There was nothing. It felt as if the villagers have just completely vanished and yet, upon seeing the clothes and smoke, they still remain. Theories started whirling in my head, trying to figure out if I have heard or read about something like this.
We arrived at what seemed to be the inn of this village. As everything, it seemed normal, no signs of any struggle, nothing to indicate something out of the ordinary. Except there was something: a steaming pot and a few steaming bowls of porridge. The food smelled bland and uninteresting in terms of flavor and composition but it was steaming hot, as if someone just made this. We decided to look around for other clues regarding what might have happened. Snowey was searching around for anything of note. Nimble found the inn keeper's ledger, its last entry was about 5 days ago, and before that there was a mention of an elf-looking individual dressed in black clothing entering the inn - someone who may have had a connection to all of this - and it says that he has a room upstairs. In my search behind the counter, I found a trophy from a couple of years ago "Best Cattle Award" that looked like a shield. As Snowey approached me, we both saw it; a shadowy creature, humanoid, with long sharp claw-like fingers. We saw it just as it attacked Storm, slashing her back. I recognize the beast as a skulk, a creature from the Shadowfell that can only be seen by a reflective surface or by a child.
In my mind, if the skulk was able to slash at Storm's back it meant that it still had a physical presence in this realm, even if we didn't notice it earlier. So, in my attempt in making it slightly more visible, I decided to just throw the bowl of porridge at it. I know, not the best of projectiles to try and damage it, but the reasoning was to try and at least have some sort of outline as to where it may be and helping my allies see this thing. After my allies were able to acquire two other mirrors, we managed to deal with this thing and tend to Storm's wounds. Thankfully, with two clerics, she was healed well but she was still in a state of shock from the ordeal. It is at this point that Snowey said that she was smelling something bad, putrid, coming from under the floor. Luckily, our Nimble friend had a crowbar at him, thus allowing us to remove one of the floor planks which, to our surprise and horror, was very easy, revealing a dead body underneath. We weren't able to identify it, but by clothes alone we were able to guess it was one of the villagers. Moreover, resting on top of this body, was the arm from another one. Now we know what happened to the villagers.
I went upstairs to see what I can find regarding this elf fellow, Tayz joining me, and to my surprise, quite literally, I got attacked by another skulk. My friends bellow weren't doing great either, as they also got jumped by more of them. After Tayz helped me deal with this thing and joined the rest downstairs, I moved forward. The upper hallway had two doors to the right and it ends in a window. As I approached the first door, I realized why we didn't notice the skulk from earlier downstairs and the one that jumped me. As I was going upstairs, the wood creaked, as well when approaching the door and not just for me, but for Tayz as well. I realized that their physical presence does not extend to their feet. While they may look like they have them when looking through a mirror, they don't seem to have a physical effect, allowing them to move without a trace. As I approach the door, I lay my ear on it and I can hear a faint male voice. By this point I am fairly sure that elf person mention in the ledger may be behind it. I bust the door open and, to no one's surprise, the male, pale-skinned elf in dark clothes, who proceeded to pull out a dagger and lunge at me. The surprising part in all of this, as a small child behind the elf, sitting on the floor. After a short scuffle with this bastard, who apparently only speaks elvish, the rest of my companions arrive and Tayz uses his Hold Person spell to restrain this guy.
After a short interrogation in which Snowey acts as a translator for the elf, we learned that he was an assassin for the Shadar-kai and that he, along with the beasts, was summoned by the kid. Sadly though, the child confirmed this. Not only did we see the knife in his hand, the markings in elvish on the floor and a book opened to a section about summoning the Shadar-kai, but he also told us. He told us how he was bullied, how his parents kept putting him to work, how he only wanted to play, how he asked the Shadar-kai for their aid in having everyone gone so that he can be left alone. Poor kid did not know what that meant. The assassin said that the payment for summoning the Shadar-kai is the soul of the one who summoned them. Before we could try and get more info, I heard a magical explosion behind me and, as I was turning to see what the commotion was, the assassin leapt past me, grabbed the child and disappeared. My winged friend managed to miss his spell point blanc against a stationary target and it got away. The book on the Shadar-kai was left behind, which we gave to Snowey since she was the only one who was able to understand all that was written in the book and hopefully find out more about these guys and how did this kid ended up with such a book in his possession.
Our walk back to Za'Suul was gloomy and no one said a thing. Upon arrival in Za'Suul, Storm paid us and told us she will update the temple with what happened. I patted her on the shoulder, congratulating her on her first adventure. She said that she felt the adventuring job is not for her, to which I replied that she shouldn't give up, and that maybe, in the future, her craving for adventure may return and that we will be seeing each other again. She smiled and was kind enough to pay out teleport back to DH. Our friend Tayz, however decided to stay a bit longer and learn more about this city.
I do believe this will require a future investigation from my part. Snowey took the book to find out how it may have come into the boy's possession. Judging by the boy's and the assassin's telling, this seemed to have been a one-off deal. As much as I hate admitting this, it's best that it was solved this way, for these kind of pacts transcend space and if we have dragged this longer by killing the elf and taking the boy to the temple, another assassin may have come for the boy and more may have been killed in acquiring him.
~ this section has been written later
Snowey later dropped by the City Watch HQ and informed me on what she found with the aid of a researcher at the Academy. She said that the book belonged to a scholar, who is now on sabbatical, and that it had disappeared shortly after he left. They also found a series of marks along the margins of the pages that have been made later by some questionable merchants. How it ended up from the Merchants to the boy's hands is still a mystery. I thanked her, and told her that I may have a look into it at some point, however, unless another said incident appears later, it is highly unlikely I will be able to find anything since the information given is a bit vague. I may take a look at the book later on and see if I can find any information on those markings and hopefully find out what merchants may have had the book.
