March 25th, 2023
Bellum, Dolorem 25th, 1193
A messenger arrives at Ralzer’s; the Inevitable Order can see Ty about her follow-up meeting later today– Expounder Victoria will be her contact. Ty meets with Victoria, while Ralzer and Sigmund will meet with Nadal about going to Westermoor. Nadal gives us a Citrine Sending Stone to stay in contact and will provide basic provisions for travel such as rations and a cart and mule.
During Ty’s meeting, Victoria finds a few passages in the language of the Architects– an obscure language that has existed for a long time, but has never been translated. The Architects worshiped celestial beings called the Outer Gods. The Outer Gods have yet to be proven to exist and are said to be beyond good and evil; they have been deemed too foreign to ascertain their motives.
The Architects attempted to contact these beings over 1200 years ago, which is the last that Victoria has heard of them. It was at this time that a group of adventurers fought the Architects in some kind of ice cave in northern Ironwald Downs. She is uncertain if the cave, or the inner structure, still exists, but she pointed out it’s location on a map. The adventurers were of great power and renown: Rocalder, a powerful spellcasting archer, Lament, a serpentfolk bard with a commanding tongue, Volcasious, a lizardfolk bastion of defense, Maelthorne, a dwarven cleric of a god that no longer exists. The Architects were attempting to use the Scepter of Ages, a powerful artifact that deals with time travel, to summon the Outer Gods to our world.
Victoria asks about who wrote this book; Ty is uncertain, but the founder of the Hallowed Cliff monastery is Hoarse Blackstone. Victoria recognizes that name as General Hoarse Blackstone, a famous adventurer of days past. She can find someone to attempt to translate the passages, but it may take a few weeks for them to arrive in the city.
We will leave for Westermoor on the morrow.
Iustitia, Dolorem 26th, 1193
We start our journey to Westermoor, which will take four and a half days.
Terra, Dolorem 30th, 1193
We arrive in the afternoon at Westermoor, a lumber town. On the approach, Sigmund notices darkwood trees which are quite expensive. We establish lodging at the Old Boar Inn. We hear from Lucas, the proprietor, that the town is having an issue with it’s food supply for the last three days. When we ask further about this, we are directed to Lady Cirthana at the Courts of Justice (church of Angelique) or Laurel, the local herbalist at Roots and Remedies. When we ask about the other group that we are trailing, Lucas remembers them and that they spoke to the town drunk, Dodd. Dodd frequents this inn in the evenings and we should be able to meet with him then.
At Roots and Remedies there are a couple dozen sick people waiting outside. Laurel believes the source to be a fungus called Black Scour, which is not native to this area. Laurel and Sigmund discuss possible remedies, and she consults a book left to her by her grandmother. Within there is a recipe for a cure, but it includes three items Laurel doesn’t have; a pickled root called rats tail, elderwood moss, and ironbloom mushrooms. She says that elderwood moss grows on very old trees and there are likely some old enough in the Southwood Pines, the forest around the town. The mushrooms. which grow in darkness near iron, are not known to be around the town, but there used to be a monastery of dwarven crafters at the edge of a nearby crag that could be a likely spot for them to grow. Laurel remembers a hag named Koldun’ya, whom her grandmother had dealings with, that lives somewhere in the forest and may know about the rat tails.
We next go to meet with Cirthana, who complains that the lumbermill consortium has a very strong hold on this town; the townsfolk seem okay with working to death for them and they pay well. The consortium is headquartered not far out of town, Jarlben Trookshavits is the foreman. Milon Rhoddam is a lumberjack, and what they call a wanderer, who may know more about the hag.
We head back to the Old Boar and meet with Dodd. He babbles about talking to stars while camping deep in the woods. He says the stars literally came down from the sky to talk to him; they spoke into his mind with images. After which, he drew a lot of maps and gave one to Tinley. He has since gotten better. He gives us directions to where he thought the last group of investigators went.
Forte, Frigus 1st, 1193 Winter Solstice
We look for Milon in the morning at the consortium and have a brief meeting with Jarlben, who directs us to Milon. Milon is very helpful and his nephew is afflicted with the taint; he gives us directions to the old trees and the hag’s shack. It’s a long journey, since we need to go around the river, and we immediately set out.
Near the lake we find a fox in a trap and, while freeing it, are ambushed by a hobgoblin. About an hour later we encounter a large camouflaged pit trap, but avoid getting hurt. We set up camp not far from the pit, in case something comes to check on it. During third watch a kobold zombie wanders into camp from the southeast and stares at our fire. It’s wearing a sign with “shaman” poorly written on it in Draconic.
Bellum, Frigus 2nd, 1193
We find a really big darkwood tree with several bodies hanging in it’s branches. A really large snake with arms and a draconic mouth attacks us; we kill it. Sigmund climbs the tree and releases the three bodies. Amongst their gear is a signet ring with a flaming hawk on it. We recover the elderwood moss and continue on towards the monastery.
While on our way to the monastery, two wolves ambush us.