Cairn today! Last RPG of the year, in all probability. Here's last time.
The Stormwind Circus travels north, eventually reaching its final stop before heading back towards Cairn: The village of Brandybuck Junction. The Junction is mostly hedgehogs, weasels, hares, and mice, and they're interesting in that they don't have a mayor or a leader. Instead, they vote on everything.
The circus travels near the area where the inspiration for "Yeet the Noodle" happened, and Ratatosk Longberry waves to the Rock Circle druids (safe to say they can't hear him). He gets the brilliant idea to combine the performance of the song with some percussive fireworks and maybe a choreographed version of that battle, and scampers off to talk to Sumna Stormwind about it. She tells him to talk with Fosted Startail, the acrobat, about working up the act.
The circus arrives in town and starts getting set up. Rumdiggle Sunsong heads out of town near Dulcimer Lake, and communes with the animals a bit. She sees a wading bird with long spindly legs that she hasn't seen before, and sits quietly, taking in the scenery.
Russelet Leatherwind fashions some arrows, while Ratatosk goes zipping around talking to the folks that he needs to in order to get his act set up. He finds Rummy by the lake and pitches the idea to her, and then zips off back toward the circus. Rummy feels a cold chill go down her back, but isn't sure why.
Snootabur Shadowbough goes into town to meet some of the locals and get a feel for the place. She hears someone call her name, and a bat glides down and lands in front of her. He introduces himself as Coleru Waxwing, and is a big fan of the Traveling Knights and of Rummy in particular. He's a minstrel himself, you see, and has become enamored of the Knights' exploits and the stories thereof (which bemuses Snootabur a little - what stories?). He invites the Knights to his house after the show for a glass of dandelion wine, and Snootabur agrees and says she'll talk to the others.
The circus performs, and Coleru is sitting front and center and cheers loudly for everyone. When the show is over, the Knights visit him in his home, and he is delighted to meet them. It turns out he's an alchemist as well, and he and Ratatosk compare notes and formulae. He tells the Knights that songs have traveled about their adventures - he knows about the battle with the Bloodwalkers, and their tragic loss of Professor Puddleleaf. He even gets his lute down and sings them that ballad.
He gets them all a glass of dandelion wine and toasts them, their adventures, and their willingness to help others. They stay a bit and finish their drinks, and then head back to their beds - it's been a long day and night.
Rummy wakes up to Oof, the daggertusk in the circus' animal act, nudging her. She senses confusion, fear, and loneliness in him, and shakes herself awake. Rummy generally sleeps among the roustabouts, and they're all gone. Their bedrolls are still there, but every single pika and other Favored has vanished. No signs of struggle, and no trace.
More than a little concerned, Rummy goes to find Snootabur, and then the two of them go and wake up Russelet. He flies around the area and realizes that everyone in the circus, and everyone in the village, is gone. They find Ratatosk in his lab working on fireworks, but he hasn't seen anyone this morning. As far as the Knights know, everyone must have vanished after they went to sleep last night.
Ratatosk climbs a tree and talks with a bird. The bird says that the people here were taken against their will, but it isn't sure by what. Something that didn't have a scent, and didn't cast a shadow.
The Knights check through the circus and confirm that everyone's gone, and then Rummy calls upon the powers of the ripper to help her track some scents. She smells the people, but not anything else, so they were grabbed by something with no scent. They follow the scent through the village, and they stop at Coleru's house to look about.
Ratatosk looks into his kitchen/laboratory, and finds the five glasses he served the wine in last night. But only four of the glasses have the scent of wine! Ratatosk grabs the glasses and rushes them back to his lab for testing, and discovers that the fifth glass - presumably Coleru's - only had water in it. But the other four have traces of a liquid that, according to the tests, is water, but has the scent of wine and is clearly magical. Curiouser and curiouser.
They search Coleru's place a little more carefully, and Russelet finds perches in the upper level of the house, labeled "Coleru," "Plum," "Mella," and "Wish." Coleru has a family - but where were they last night? Ratatosk quaffs a Truesight potion and looks around the place, and sees Coleru's lute shimmer. He hands it off to Snootabur and goes rummaging around in the lab again.
Snoot finds a piece of paper in the lute, folded and sealed with wax. Snoot frets over opening it, but Russ takes it and breaks the seal, revealing...a blank page. Ratatosk, still under the Truesight's effects, can read it:
I, Coleru Waxwing, husband to Plum, father to Mella and Wish, do commit my soul to the care of the Bright Ones. Should I die, I hope I am remembered in song at the Lakewater Tavern.
Ratatosk also finds three jars in a lock box in a locked cabinet. Testing it, he discovers that two of them are spider venom and the third is some toxin that he's never seen before. All of this looks bad, and yet, still so many questions.
They keep following the scent, through town, and reach the Lakewater Tavern on the northwest end of the village. They look around and see a harp set up on the stage, and the table nearest it has a formula written under it. Ratatosk copies it down and guesses it might be an antidote or antivenin of some kind.
They keep following the scent out of town, and eventually come to a Titan ruin. It's a circular tower, but it's long since collapsed and been overgrown with moss. Nearby, a fountain, bubbling up with clear, clean water. But the water smells like dandelion wine, and there are handprints set into the stone all around the fountain. They're different species, and placing their hands on the handprints elicits a shudder, but no other response. One of the handprints, obviously that of a bat, has a bloodstain, but there's no trail.
Russelet hears rushing wind, very briefly and very faintly, while looking into the tower. Ratatosk peers in with his Truesight, and sees, for just a second, a hole leading deep into the earth. Favored are tied up and stuck to the ceiling, weakly struggling to get free. The very sight of this puts Ratatosk into Discord, and he backs away from the sight.
Rummy sings "Yeet the Noodle" to raise everyone's spirits, but then they hear something approaching. Russelet tries to take to the air, and a weaver (very large spider) leaps on him! Two more of the creatures approach, but Ratatosk casts a spell and tangles them in the weeds. Rummy collapses (possum, it's an impulse) but manages to shake herself awake in a moment and calls upon her power as a shifter. She charges at a spider and bites it, while Ratatosk maintains the spell and Russelet and Snootabur fire arrows at the creatures. It's a hard battle, but eventually the weavers are dead and the Knights are victorious, if exhausted.
Snootabur builds a fire, Rummy plays music and Russelet retrieves arrows from the corpses. Something terrible is happening, and the Knights need to figure it out.
No comments:
Post a Comment