(Seeds of Evil) B. 2 Windstrom's Bow

[Tenshi]

B. 2: Windrom's Bow

Honey Town
The House on the Hill (Caste of Adrian Landoval, Count of Honeytown)

After four days of enjoying Count Adrian's hospitality in the form of room and board at Honeytown's finest inn, the Heroe's of the West Gate found themselves summoned into His Lordship's pressence after lunch.

Odan Marko was waiting to greet them, and a group of maids brought them hot tea and mulled mead.

Odan was the eloquent and professional investigator who'd greeted them at the gate--a silver haired man in a green silk jacket with gold brocade. He had explained to Narunir that the Seargent's true nature was a surprise to him, and he was indebted to their group for revealing it. When the oni had began thrashing around and crawling towards it's head, Odan gravely flipped the body back over drove a poniard into it's heart, and then used the adder's belly to send an Acid Arrow spell into the monster's chest. He watched gravely as the beat died, stone faced but pale. "May the gods treat you with equity and escort your soul safely to its home," he said in a stoic voice. "And may Tyr look with mercy upon me."

"His lordship will be here shortly," he explained, offering them a toast with a mug of spiced mead. "And Grandmother Aisha as well. I hope you haven't found our hospitality lacking? These have been busy days."

* * *

Foothills of the High Moore
North-West of Honeytown

Though bellow the High More it was a brisk and pleasant spring, and they could see the blooming dales of Honeytown from ever rise, the wind off of the More was bitingly cold. Joel Winterfel and Lahnu Orcborn found a spot where a bit of spring thaw had wet the dust. Sure enough, they found another set of the tracks they were looking for--big feet, but without enough weight in the steps to be a human or even elf of that boots size.

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Roll Survival to study the tracks?

 

[lilithsboy]

Balenore takes a piece of toast and the mead offered.
Sir I believe I speak for everyone when I say that your hospitality was gracious. I take it we shall wait for Count Adrian and Grandmother Aisha before we begin?"

 

[dancrilis]

Baltana

After speaking with Balenore and she believed coming to an understanding of each other, she had spent the next few days alternatively between estiblishing her presence in the property portfolio of the city with a dance hall which could also be used as a fighting club, hiring people to effectively manage it in her absence - it cost a bit but hopefully it would allow people to blow off some steam in a friendly manner and eventually provide her a revenue stream which she could use for other projects, and drinking and eating to her content. She was not overly religious but hopefully Sharess would smile on the lot of it.

As such despite some nightmares relating to her heritage and feeling it was closer to her than ever she was in a much better mood than when she was on the road a few days ago, she had however reverted her clothes to more traveling attire.

"Agreed, it has been a most pleasant stay, and hopefully productive" offering a smile "but I take it you would like something from us outside a review, so while we wait maybe you could give at least a generic overview of what is occuring?", she took some toast and began sipping the wine, but not gulping it.

Daily Aura

Awakened Hag Heritage:
As you grow closer to your hag nature, you occasionally manifest signs of supernatural evil. Each day at midnight, there is a 50% chance you radiate an evil aura for the purposes of divination spells and spell-like abilities for the following 24 hours. On these days, you also cause minor displays of corruption nearby—such as curling pages or spoiling milk—at the GM’s discretion.

She is radiating an evil aura this day.

 

[Daredevil]

Joel Winterfel

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Tracking: 26

“Look at these tracks,” Joel said, crouching over the dusty spot. “They almost appear elven, but they're too light. They could be halfling tracks from the weight on them, but the feet are too big. These are goblin tracks. The local scouts are right. Goblins are scouting Honey Town. We could have real trouble.”

 

[Jovialtraveler]

Lahnu nods scowling at the boot print and trying to find out how many there might be by examining the area surrounding the print.

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Survival: Track
Roll (16) plus stat (+1) plus skill ranks (+5) plus class skill bonus (+3) plus Track (+2)= 27

She stoops down to the ground, careful not to touch anything that might a clue, eyes panning slowly back and forth. What she lacked in social skills she made up for in other areas, and this was one of them.”a few footprints doesn’t mean much, but goblins don’t travel alone. See if you can find any more, and keep an eye out for wolf tracks. That could mean trouble.” Brief, but informative

 

[Revelations]

Malach gives a quiet nod to the man, speaking up when he’s been quite quiet before. “You’ve a lovely town and are a most gracious host. I have no issues waiting for those who are not here. If this meeting is truly an important one, I see no reason to start when others could miss crucial information… But like our friend says...” He speaks calmly, nodding to Baltana. “Perhaps a general overview of what’s going on wouldn’t hurt.”

 

[Illven]

Olivia for her part was getting more more distracted by the cute maids offering them drinks and snacks.

"It is not lacking in the slightest." Olivia mumbled checking out one of maid's racks as she leaned over to pour Olivia tea.

"Any idea why the demon would um... Pick this town?" She asked.

 

[Tenshi]

Green eyed and russet haired with a nice low neckline trimmed in lace, the maid colored ever so slightly as she felt Olivias eyes.

Aramina grinned and smiled fondly at the two. When the maid moved on to pour her tea, the girl in leaves looked up into her eyes. "You're very pretty. What's your name?"

She blinked, then whispered, "Elisa, m'lady, but I shouldn't distract from Lord Odan right now."

"Oh, sorry."

Odan gave Elisa a quiet nod of approval as the short skirted girl moved on, keeping their drinks full.

"That is actually a matter of some concern to me, Lady Olivia. The demon," he glanced at Bale--"I believe you said a type is called an Oni? The demon may have simply chosen Honey Town because it thought it could get away with making it's mischief in a small, out of the way town. I fear, though, that there may be others working similar mischief in nearby towns and cities.

"The humanoids of the High Moore have been paying a great deal of attention to us lately. Small, seemingly random raids have grown progressively more common all year, but now our scouts--both local and hireling--are reporting more tracks than those small raids can account for. Worse, tracks of mixed races of humanoids. What does tell you all?"

 

[Illven]

"Huh....." Olivia murmured, following the maid as she walked and ogling her rear as she bent over.

"Oh um... mixed races of humanoids. An invasion is driving the lower classed mixed races away from their traditional homeland."

 

[Daredevil]

Joel Winterfel

“Will do,” Joel replied as he made his way around the scene in a wide arc. “And I'll keep my eyes open for wolf prints.”

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Tracking 19+12=31

 

[Tenshi]

Both scouts were in top form that day!

Lahnu, taking careful note of smudges, bent grass, and the occasional indenttation in soft earth decided that 6 seperate goblins had moved along this trail.

At first, Joel couldn't find any wolf tracks, but then he noticed--higher up the hill, with less view of Honeytown, moving through rocky terrain where the tracks would be harder to spot--a scratch mark from a small lance in a saddle-cup. This lead him to the tracks of two warg riders. There, he also spotted other tracks with them...

Four heavy humanoids with metal toed, hob nailed boots. They were tall as humans, the stance told him these were nto the oversized feet of golbins. They were also heavier than most sons of men. These were surely orc prints!

 

[lilithsboy]

Balenore nods That or something is organizing them possibly to take the region if worg and werewolf were to smell each other chances are the canine in each of them would cause a fight over territory yet we came across both in a realativly short distance from each other.... They are not so overwhelmed by their naturally territorial urges to fight if there is a bigger prize at stake by not fighting.

 

[dancrilis]

Baltana

She shrugged and nodded at the others observations "it tells me that you didn't have the resources to properly respond to the initial small raids and so confirmed to whatever caused them that you would not have the resources to respond to escalation".

 

[Jovialtraveler]

Lahnu frowns, standing up. “At least six goblins, probably more. You find anything?” Not a fan of small talk, she liked to get right to business. She walked up to Joel, looking at the tracks he’d found. “Hm.” She put a hand on the hilt of her short sword, looking around like she expected an ambush. “Must have met up here. But why?”

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acrobatics... psych, more Survival(Track) checks.
9+5 ranks,class skill (+3)+1 wisdom+2 Track class feature= 20

She looks around, trying to discern the answer to her question. “Likely meeting up to form a war band with each other. One of us should go ahead and find out more while the other reports what we found.”

 

[Davian_Veq]

Abigail Marteau
Abigail shifts in her seat. Some rest had been had by her these past few days - when she was not assisting the local shrines, she had taken the opportunity to revel with some of the others - for what good is protecting the world if you cannot also enjoy it?

“The accommodations have been most generous for the town’s circumstances, Odan. As the others state, I do have a few concerns over the safety of some of the villagers - how are they guarded during their working hours? Have you had many strikes on the undefended, people going missing? I am worried that there may be something larger afoot, even than just these wargs, werewolves and wily Ogres.”

 

[Anla'Shok]

Ty Grinned "Your hospitality has been marvelous!" she took some of the offered tea but had not eaten them yet. "Though I will try and help war is not exactly my forte." after saying her piece she started to eat and drink and let the those better suited to planning take the lead.

 

[pods6827]

Narunir

Narunir smiled from his place, taking one of the offered teacups and sipping from it. "Indeed, rarely have I ever been able to sleep so soundly my first night in a new place." The tea was quite an impressive blend as well, he'd have to try and get his hands on a bag or two of it before they left. "If the raids are becoming more frequent and a war band seems to be forming," he mused, setting the cup down, "It implies that the local leadership of the various disparate groups has been strengthened, perhaps by a strong central figure. A powerful warlord, or a mage of frightening skill?"

 

[Tenshi]

“Very astute, all of you,” the Count's voice preceded him through the door. The middle aged warrior himself wore ornamented full plate and surcoat with the same ease another man might move in a heavy jacket. His arm was politely lent to an aging woman with nut brown skin and a remarkably firm and curvaceous body for her advanced years. On her face was writ a lifetime of laughter and sorrow in crows feet, smile lines, and a few faint scars. She wore a green gown, brown leather jacket, sandals, and a golden cornucopia medallion—the holy symbol fo Chaunteah the Earthmother.

“I'm pleased you all came. Allow me the honor of presenting High Harvestmother Aisha Earthlight.” The count then—despite only one meeting with most of them, managed to introduce them all to Aisha.

“Pleased to meet you all,” the old woman said as she settled into a chair.

The count took a seat of his own. “It takes a particular sort of orc or hobgoblin to unite multiple tribes. There's a degree of inteligence and diplomacy—however savage—required that few of their kind can muster, but also the strength to physicaly dominate any challenger. More often than not, it is not a humanoid that creates these situation, but a more powerful and dangerous creature.

“I'd like to know who or what is doing this, but not if it means sending my scouts too far onto the Moore. I value their lives far more than that.

“So, my scouts are on full duty. My veterans are drilling the militia for dangers to come. My son rides to Lord Delt with reports on all we've learned. And now, a full third of my night watch is under house arrest pending inquiry into their behavior under the influence of this 'oni.'

“My town needs friends like you all right now—and we can afford to be generous to our friends.”

 

[lilithsboy]

Balenore nods to the lady, whom he recognizes as the person who purchased two vestments from him, and consideres his options for a few moments before replying.

Forgive me for asking such an obvious question but has anyone scryed the region? Surely with these raids happening some of them have left possessions or even body parts which we could use to establish a firm connection. It would take little time and would answer all the questions about what we may or may not be up against.

 

[Tenshi]

"I've tried three times," Ausha replied, "using items from the fallen that I believed might possibly have belonged to another.

"It's extremely difficult to scry blindly like that. One attempt just lead me to the corpse of the goblin I'd taken it from. One was resisted. The last..." she gave a bittersweet sigh, "Lead me to a preadolescent half orc girl. Apparently she'd given her father a lock of her hair when he went to war. I followed her as long as I could but didn't learn much. The camp was in the midst of a maze of hills and gorges and mostly occupied by women and children. I believe it included the families of maybe two hundred orcs, with maybe 25 men in their prime to secure them.

 

[Tenshi]

Honey Town
The House on the Hill (Caste of Adrian Landoval, Count of Honeytown)

"My court magician tried once as well, Adrian added. "His results were no better. Alphonso is a powerful wizard but the years are beginning to tell on him."

"Scrying is beyond my abilities," Odan added. "The price of diversifying one's studies."

"We do have a specific task we'd ask of you," Adrian continued.

Aisha nodded her agreement. "There is a tomb in the foothills of the high Moore were rest the mortal remains of a mighty ranger much favored by the wandering god Gwaron Windstorm. Legend has it that from time to time someone will be lead by the tomb by a vision, where they will face challenges and receive talismans of power.

My granddaughter and I have both had such visions these last two nights. They included you all and two others.

"I would like you to leave as soon as you can be ready. Take my granddaughter and meet up with the two others--who are scouting the Moore as we speak. Go together tot he Tomb, receive what aid you can from the gods, and return to aid us."

 

[lilithsboy]

Lady Ausha you learned more than enough, unfortunately it is bad news.... 200+ orc families and an unknown number of goblins working together.... Orcs and goblinoids are natural enemies, that is not to say they cannot be convinced to work together, but it is not a simple task. It would seem that the best theory to go on is indeed an organizer, one of great enough power to overcome racial tensions at least temporarily. The night still screams it's thirst for blood so whatever is supposed to be fixed here has not been yet.

Is this the same granddaughter you bought the gift for then? You must be very proud she has reached the point she is capable of working such at item at such a young age, judging by your appearance I would not have accredited you with being capable of grandchildren yet. I will aid it retriving this amulet if that is what is required.

Balenore sips his tea and waits for the others to make up there mind.

 

[dancrilis]

Baltana

She took Aisha in as she entered an attractive older woman by any measure she decided, hopefully if she reached her own advanced years as herself she would be able to hold herself as well.

The talk on magic was more interesting to her in the reverse applications of it, such as others spying on her or them, but there was little she could likely do about it and it seemed difficult to use anyway.

So she focused on the more immediate issues, "no reason it couldn't just be a powerful orc or goblin, or a partnership between two such powerful entities intelligent enough to exploit an opportunity together rather then get in the others way" she had mentioned to Balenore that some hags might develop in advance of the normally known abilities of there kind and she had no doubt that any humanoid could also - and speaking and working out an agreement was a fairly basic skill to being in a position of power, "but without knowing more I would not want to jump to conclusions".

Nodding to the count "you have been generous so far so I am happy enought to help out, although additional compensation is always welcome" she offered with a grin "is your granddaughter capable of taking care of herself or is protecting her going to be something we need to put special thought into, and if she is not capable of self defence does she at least know her limitations?" she disliked escorting those who could not defend themselves, but those that didn't know they couldn't were almost impossible to keep alive without restraining them.

 

[lilithsboy]

Oh it need not be another entity Baltana, but what you have at that point is an orc tribe of over 200 fighters with a goblin tribe capable of matching that force, otherwise one would simply wipe out the other, that have now combined to create an even greater fighting force....

Oh and she will be more than capable of taking care of herself, the item I was commissioned for takes a certain degree of power to wield at all, there should be no need to put any more thought into protecting her than we would ourselves.

 

[dancrilis]

Baltana

She shrugged "depends on what you mean by matching it, risking any of your orc fighting force against smaller goblin force for no gain isn't smart - especially if you can work with them for a larger pay off than you could get alone, and that is ignoring any personal connection between people" shrugging again "but all this will likely play out or not when we know more".

She would take his word on the granddaughter so held her tongue, but still wondered about the counts expectations - he likely wouldn't be happy to have her die but was it collateral damage which could be forgiven or was it a slight on his entire family which he would try to have them swing from a rope from, nobles could be finicky she had heard.