In the aftermath of our encounter with the creatures, we
lick our wounds and assess our options. Little
light can be shed on the attack or the nature of the attackers without the
light of dawn; fearing that the dead citizens of Carrock may rise or present
some other evil, I suggest that the dead—both the creatures and the citizens of
Carrock—be burned. If nothing else, it
will serve as a grim reminder that danger has not passed.
Crude alarms and preparations are made to warrant against
additional attacks, or at least provide some means of notification in the case
that something else happens. With little
more to add to that effort, we retire for the night, accepting Drachus’ offer
to stay at the Inn of Carrock. Audric
tends the worst of my wounds with the blessings of Mystra, and we sleep.
We awaken in the morning, and the town—as expected, the
townsfolk are abuzz with rumors, most of them pure conjecture about the nature
of the beasts. Tussugar looks much the
worse for wear, having recovered little over the night. No words are shared. Rould assists the hunters, so we leave them
to their work while we rest, recuperate, and see to our training. I take a few opportunities, throughout the
day, to inquire of Drachus and his wife of any magic users or history of magic
around town—extended family with “gifts”, old scrolls or tomes passed down or
inherited from previous generations, oddities turned up from passing merchants
or unearthed when plowing a field.
Audric ministers to the folk of Carrock, investigating in his own way,
hoping to turn up rumors or news as well.
The effort is not fruitless; we learn that a married
couple, Reginald and Ethelenda—historical figures of prominence within Carrock
that started construction of the tower, which still lies unfinished in the
center of Carrock—were companions of Tussugar.
We also learn from a grandmother of Carrock that “Everybody knows that Aibreann is actually the daughter of Reginald and Ethelenda, and that
Bartley and Emmet aren’t her natural-born siblings.” We had guessed the latter, but the former is
news—perhaps of some significance.
Later in the day, while searching for Drachus to attain
permission to visit the tower of Carrock and explore within, we find him with Aibreann, who appears emotional—as if the result of some conflict or unpleasant
discussion. Tussugar lumbers from the
room shortly after, perhaps having participated in the affair. Though it takes a few ales to lubricate the
conversation, we eventually learn more of Tussugar as he recounts the tale of himself
and his companions, the “Spine Breakers.”
From the tale, we learn that the acolyte’s daughter and bowmaster’s
widow was Tyoness, priestess of Shadfeld, slain by Korvich.
Rould returns late in the day with news. The hunters followed the tracks into the
wood—several miles—while they were not able to find signs of the third
creature, the tracks originate from a location called Oldkeep, a ruined
stronghold. Tussugar has heard of Oldkeep and has been there many years ago.
Man last inhabited it several hundred years ago.
We are interested in exploring Oldkeep, but not
until fully healed and until we’ve trained, and also not unprepared—we discuss
our conversation with Drachus, and our request to explore the tower of
Carrock. Tussugar ensures us that there
are no treasures to be found, but we’re not convinced—reluctantly, he agrees to
speak to Drachus on our behalf regarding the matter. Tussugar will not travel to Oldkeep with
us, but Rould consents to—and Tussugar informs us that Drachus will allow us
access to the tower.
The third night, we are awakened in the dead of night by
alarms. Audric dons his armor, and we
leave the inn to investigate. The alarms
are coming from the west part of Carrock.
We bump into Drachus, who seems unsure how to proceed—we inform him that
he needs to stay at the Inn and lead, and to organize and control the townsfolk.
The west guard has seen torches approaching along the
road. I send the guard back into town to
alert the hunters—they need to know the potential for threat, to gather their
bows and spears, and to get into the wood and be ready. I assume the guard post while Audric waits
in cover; we wait for whoever—or whatever—it is to approach.
When they draw within a few dozen steps, their
approach stops. They appear to be
humanoids and armed, though not heavily armored. We’re unable to make out details in the
torchlight, so I grab a lantern and approach, slowly. As I get within a dozen paces, one of the
figures calls out “Zeb?”, surprised.
Erathmar! Four of them are men of
Erathmar’s caravan; two of them are women, who we later learn are villagers
from Shadfeld. They’re carrying three
large bundles—corpses of victims from the attack on Shadfeld who Erathmar felt
should not be left for the crows—all on foot and ragged as if worn from travel.
When Shadfeld was attacked, several people fled the
village. The caravan was among them, and
they took shelter in the forest for multiple days. The road east was closed off by Malar cultists;
a number of villagers traveled west towards West Tower. When the way east cleared, Erathmar led his
group to Carrock. They found the bodies
along the way and didn’t want to leave them behind. We traveled east immediately, however, and
did not encounter Malarans—confirmation that some phenomenon of time seems to
have occurred.
Tussugar recognizes the women as townsfolk from Shadfeld;
the Inn of Carrock is made ready for unexpected guests!
With dawn fast approaching and adrenaline still fueling
our actions, we aren’t able to return to rest.
I’m interested in confronting Erathmar to discuss his experience of the
attack on Shadfeld—it was a complete slaughter.
The next afternoon, Emmet approaches us. He informs us that Maglarosh wants to see
us—perhaps our prisoner has recovered?
He leads us south into the woods along a winding path to a crude hut in
the woods where Maglarosh is waiting.
Seated on the ground next to him is the boy, still not fully recovered
but lucid.
“This is Selben,” he says. “Selben hails from a village called Three
Streams, to the north. He became lost
and his memory is not intact.” The boy’s
voice is shaky and unsure. When asked
about Three Streams, he tells us that the last thing he remembers is that he
and some other villagers were investigating a cave in search of villagers
that had been disappearing over the course of several weeks. He doesn’t know what happened to anyone else
he was with, or anything about the cave.
He doesn’t know how long ago it was, or what happened since. When asked if he remembers anything about his
arrival at Carrock, he has no memory of anything before the last day or two.
Though we have started to discover some answers, we are
left with yet more questions…
