Cairn: March of the Undead Critters (Finale)

Tonight was our final episode of Cairn. Here's last session, and here's the very first one. Some thoughts on the game, before we begin.

Cairn had something of a troubled production; it was a Mike Nystul Kickstarter, and he basically took the money and ran (for this and a couple other ones). But another company swept in and finished the game, and it's actually pretty cool. The focus is meant to be on the town of Cairn and keeping it safe, and there's enough material in the book to run a campaign from first level all the way to 14th (I know, because I did). 

Now, it's got some issues. There are some missing rules (how do you regain Magic Points? Not in the book), and it pretty clearly wasn't playtested at higher levels, which is a not-uncommon problem. But I can honestly say it was a lot of fun and even as the game was ending, I was still coming up with more potential adventures. So it's kind of a shame that it has a stigma on it, and that there's another RPG with the same name that's basically eaten the space it takes up. 

So! Last time, our heroes were in a spot of bother. Ratatosk Longberry had fled in panic (rather, he'd commanded the woodland sentinel he'd summoned to flee), and Russelet Leatherwind was flitting after him. Rumdiggle Sunsong had had the bear knocked right the hell out of her, and was sitting unsteadily near the bank of the Swiftwater River, while Snootabur Shadowbough was comforting her. Snootabur opines that maybe they should just dig into this evil den and burn it, and Rummy agrees that's probably wise. She wants to get everyone together, though - there's powerful, evil magic in there, and she doesn't want to face it alone.

Russ, meanwhile, catches up with Ratatosk and tries to talk him down. He manages to get through to the panicked squirrel, and while Ratatosk refuses to go back to the riverbank right now, he stops and makes camp. Russ sends up a signal arrow, and Rummy and Snoot eventually make their way to the tree. They decide to rest and recuperate. Ratatosk forages for some mushrooms, and Rummy plays a song to boost everyone's spirit. In the morning, they head back, but Russ sends word to Cairn and gets some other citizens here with arrows. They want to be able to send fire into this den once Rummy cracks it open.

Rummy turns into a stripefang and digs into the den. She feels the Disharmony slam into her, but she holds it together and peers in. There's no one in the den, but there's writing on the walls. It's all very rambling and incoherent, but she sees reference to "stabbing the heart of Cairn" and "vengeance for the Great Ones who Marched on Cairn but were Rebuffed." 

Pondering this, Rummy figures that Master Wickerdrey, the squirrel hero who lives in the mansion south of town, might be considered a "heart", but then, the Town Hall might also. But on the gripping hand, this is all very strange. It's a bubble of concentrated Disharmony, and it hasn't seeped into the river? It seems like a distraction...or a trap.

Rummy calls a hold and the folks with the fire arrows douse them, and she calls in the other Knights to have a look. Snoot and Russ think this over and then chorus "Puddleleaf!" Professor Puddleleaf, you'll recall, was (is?) a beaver scholar who, waaaaaay back here, created a crystal that held the Disharmony from all of Cairn. That turned out to be a bad idea as the crystal "leaked," and eventually Puddleleaf turned Dire and fled. But this kind of manipulation of Disharmony as magic, that very much seems like him...

At this point, Russ hears large animals crashing through the woods, and sends one of his sentries to check it out. Moments later, he hears a scream, and the Knights race to find what happened. They are not prepared for the horror they find - the sentry is dead, crushed by the jaws of some huge animal, but left bleeding on the ground amidst footprints. Russ notes prints from a ripper and a stripefang, and calls for the Knights to follow. Ratatosk summons another sentinel to carry them, and the citizens of Cairn mount up as the tree carries through through the forest.

Russelet flies ahead, and sees the ripper, the stripefang, and a gnasher...but they're all undead! Blood gushes from wounds, and they just keep charging through the brush, heading south toward Cairn (although Russ realizes that on their current course, they'll miss the town proper and wind up near the Lodge...or Wickerdrey's mansion). He flies back and informs the others, and Ratatosk steers the tree around the zombified creatures, getting ahead of them. Rummy turns into a ripper and together, the Knights set up a barricade. 

The monsters reached the barricade, and the gnasher just climbs right into the gaps in the logs to bypass it. Rummy catches it on the other side and smooshes it into the ground, but it keeps wriggling (and bleeding), trying to escape. The stripefang tries to climb the barricade and Snoot shoots it with blazing arrows, knocking it back and setting it alight. Russ sends his barrage of arrows at the Ripper, but the undead bear climbs up the tree, snapping at Ratatosk. The sentinel tosses the ripper off of it and Ratatosk casts a spell to entangle it.

Snoot finishes off the stripfang, and it falls, burning, a bloody mess. Rummy mushes the gnasher into the dirt and it bursts (ew!). The ripper keeps fighting, but eventually the arrows and one decisive blow from Ratatosk's tree-staff fell it...

...but during this fight, Russ hears the alarm bells in Cairn! He flies off and sees that these creatures have only been a distraction. A horde of undead chipmunks are besieging the cairn, the pile of stones that gives the town its name, pulling them out of the pile and digging into it. And overseeing this disgusting army is Puddleleaf himself, astride a skeletal, undead creature...the hodag!

Russ fires arrows at the crazed beaver, but Puddleleaf points his staff at Russ and the Knight feels cold magic hit him. Some of the fur on his chest goes white and he coughs, but retains his composure and fires again. Puddleleaf slumps forward, apparently dead, but the chipmunks continue their assault.

The other Knights join Russ, and Snoot realizes that if the chipmunks continue the cairn will collapse, probably destroying the Cider Mill Inn and the Citadel! Rummy charges in and smacks Puddleleaf's body right off the hodag, but the assault continues! Snoot runs up, grabs the staff out of Puddleleaf's dead paw, and sees that it is adorned with shards of crystal not unlike the Disharmony battery that Puddleleaf made long ago. Steeling herself, she lifts the staff up and snaps it.

A blast of Disharmony knocks her back! She picks herself up, and the chipmunks and the undead hodag collapse, finally dead. The citizens of Cairn emerges from hiding, and Snoot, now Discord, grumpily goes to the cairn, grabs a rock, and replaces it. 

Everyone stares at the horror around them, but a moment later Anima Loregood, daughter of Alyere Loregood (owner of the Cider Mill Inn), joins Snoot in replacing the stones. One by one, the citizens join the effort, rebuilding the cairn, moving the bodies of chipmunks, and cleaning up the place.

It takes some days, but they burn the undead corpses and cleanse the site. Puddleleaf's body is put in a barrow until spring, when the Knights undertake their final journey together - they bring the body and the broken staff to Red Rock Circle, so that Redscale can once again destroy the crystals (and perhaps shed some light on what Puddleleaf was trying to accomplish). 

Redscale doesn't really know, because he doesn't know what's in the cairn, if anything - no one does. Puddleleaf was an enchanter, and so it's not a terribly hard leap that he learned to infuse bodies with magic as well as objects. His body is interred and warnings carved on the outside of the tomb. The Knights reflect that they knew him when he was trying to save Cairn from Disharmony. Everyone has the potential to be Dire.

The Knights, weary from their many adventures, retire and go their separate ways. Ratatosk Longberry goes into the woods to try and study and lessen the ecological impact of so many dead chipmunks, and later returns to Cairn to train others in alchemy. 

Snootabur Shadowbough stays in Cairn and draws maps of her many travels, and studies the cairn and its history, trying to learn its secrets.

Rumdiggle Sunsong splits her time between performing at the Cider Mill Inn and traveling with the Stormwind Circus, both as a musician and helping to wrangle the performing animals.

Russelet Leatherwind, as he grows older, finds Cairn too loud and busy. He moves further out into the woods and continues coordinating the sentinels and guardsmen.

A year later, when spring arrives, the Traveling Knights venture into the Shady Forest to awaken the dryad from her winter slumber, as has become tradition. They are young, inexperienced, but brave and clear-hearted: Mimsy Underroot (a mole priest/rogue), Loy Coverloud (a glider scout/acrobat), Anima Loregood (a hedgehog enchanter/swasbuckler), and Astar Moontail (a glider marksman/paladin). Maybe someday, they will be as famous and beloved as the first Traveling Knights, and we'll hear their stories.

FIN

Cairn: Into the Woods

Back to the village of Cairn, and the woods lovely, dark, and deep beyond. Here's last time.

The Traveling Knights want to nip this "oozy chipmunk" issue in the bud, so they gather up some supplies and head out of town, heading north into the Shady Forest. They decide to first pay a visit to Gene Stormwatch, a weasel who used to be an adventurer of some renown. He lives in the woods and keeps a garden (so he's a g-g-g-garden weasel). Fun fact: He's distantly related to the Ebonblood family. 

They Knights arrive and find Gene picking squash in his garden, and tell him about their experiences with the pika and the chipmunk that make the Stalker sick (rather, Ratatosk Longberry explains this and everyone else tries to keep up). Gene notes that he hasn't seen a lot of chipmunks this season, and the Knights worry that this might be a bigger problem than they thought. Ratatosk scampers off to try and catch a chipmunk to talk to, while the others talk with Gene. He shows them on a map where the Stalker pack has moved to (heading west). 

Ratatosk sets a snare for a chipmunk and runs up a tree to wait. He apparently baits it really well because a chipmunk steps in it, and Ratatosk runs out and calms the (understandably stressed) creature. He casts Speak with the Small and asks about what's going on with the chipmunks, and the little fella says that it's normal for daggerbeaks and stalkers and so forth to catch some. This season, though, it's been worse - there are creatures that smell of rot and blood, and they take chipmunks away. It's not in any one place, and it's not a creature that he recognizes. 

Ratatosk concentrates for a moment to try and find Unnatural stuff, feeling for icky stuff in the forest. But it's not stationary and it's not one thing, it's more like a mobile group of small Unnatural feelings. Ratatosk heads back toward the cabin to talk with the others, and puts the chipmunk in a backpack to keep him safe.

When they get within sight of the cottage, though, and see Gene, the chipmunk panics and runs ("oh, right, weasel"). Ratatosk explains what he learned to the others, and they decide to have Ratatosk call up a dryad. All of the Knights can talk to the dryad (as opposed to the chipmunk), so they sit under the tree where Ratatosk caught the chipmunk and he calls out the tree spirit.

The dryad emerges and sits on the forest floor with them, yawning a bit (it's autumn, so it's nearly time for dryads to sleep). The Knights ask what the dryad has seen or felt, and it says that there is a feeling the Shady Forest, something dark and Unnatural, and it's affecting a lot of the animals. She mentions that just recently, a group of gnolls died and were revived - dead, but walking! The Knights realize, after recalibrating their clocks to "tree", that she's talking about the attack of the Blood-Walkers a couple of years ago. She advises them that they might try and find the Stalker pack, as they will be more knowledgeable about animal dealings. Once things are dead, she as a dryad doesn't have much to do with them (and fungal spirits...are not friendly). 

The Knights decide to crash for the night and then in the morning track the Stalker pack. Gene cooks them dinner and they forage a bit for things to supplement. Rumdiggle Sunsong changes into a bear to sleep, and Russelet Leatherwind flits into a tree. Snootabur Shadowbough just curls up into a spiky little ball, as is the way of her people.

In the morning, the Knights head out (Snoot mentions to Gene that her mother lives on a farm nearby and likes having company). They head northwest, through the Shady Forest, and start tracking the pack. Russelet, of course, is an expert tracker, and he and Ratatosk check things from above while Rummy and Snoot walk along the forest floor. 

Soon enough, they see a pair of wolves flanking Rummy. Ratatosk calls down to her, and she promptly faints dead away (in the way of her people). Russ fires a couple of sleep arrows at one of the wolves, and it stumbles and starts wandering off. The other wolf breaks off and follows it, and Ratatosk casts Speak with the Small and talks with the wolves.

They address him as "food," which is a little off-putting, and he tries to get them to talk about the sick wolf and the chipmunk, but they're more concerned about why one of them is sleepy. Finally they agree to lead Ratatosk back to the leader of the pack so that she can answer the squirrel's questions. 

The pack-leader, though, is also more concerned about why food is talking to them. She does confirm that there was a chipmunk that was dead but walked, bled forever - she calls it "brackish." There's a bit of kerfuffle as Rummy takes bear form, the wolves smell the bear and the leader calls for a general evacuation, but eventually they learn that the wolf pack found a dead daggertusk on the banks of the river (they ate it, but no one got sick). The daggertusk was killed in a strange way. The wolves also reveal that the sick wolf was accepted back into the pack after the Knights helped her barf, so all's well there.

The Knights travel all through the day and reach the Swiftwater River as the sun sets. They can feel Unnatural energies as they approach the bend in the river, and Russ sees the tracks of a daggertusk - but walking on two legs. They decide they don't want to mess with this at night, so they fall back and make camp. Rummy, still in bear form, takes the first watch. 

As she's watching, she hears a whisper from the dark: "Bloody bones, bloody bones, rise ye up!" And someone starts walking through the woods towards them. She wakes the others as the creature comes through the trees - it's bipedal and nearly as tall as Rummy's ripper form, but all made of bones. Its skull is clearly a daggertusk, but the other bones are longer than they should be and it's got fingers. It emerges into the Knight's camp, and Snoot plants an arrow in its skull, cracking it down the middle. Horribly, the skull starts to bleed.

Russ fires more arrows, including an incendiary one, and the creature's blood catches fire and it bursts into flame. Ratatosk summons up a tree to animate and protect them, but the marksmen fire arrows and knock the thing to pieces. The bones collapse and melt into the ground through the puddle of blood, and all is quiet.

The Knights are too riled up to sleep, so they start trying to investigate a bit. Ratatosk mediates, trying to use his senses as a druid to pinpoint the source of the Disharmony, but it works too well. He feels the Disharmony from the river, but it grabs his consciousness and eats it. Ratatosk, now in Discord, panics, and has the tree turn and run ("NOPE NOPE NOPE"). 

Russelet flits after him, while Rummy and Snoot go check the riverbank. Rummy lets her instinct as a bear take over, snuffling and feeling around in the water, and finds an opening into the riverbank, about the size of a beaver's den. But when she puts a paw in, she feels the same horrifying Disharmony that Ratatosk did. It hits her so hard that it knocks the bear right out of her, the bear skin falls off and melts, and she's left standing there in her possum form as Ratatosk runs away in a tree.

There is powerful evil here, necromancy that the Knights have not seen, and they'll need to go into the den to understand it.

Cairn: The Oozy Chipmunk

Yesterday was the beginning of our final Cairn adventure! Here's last time.

It's been a few weeks since the death of Brock Westarwart. It's now early autumn, the days still long and warm, and the denizens of Cairn are starting to harvest the stuff that gets harvested at this time of year. 

One afternoon, Snootabur Shadowbough gets a letter from her mother, who lives on a peanut farm outside of Cairn. Her mom asks if Snoot can visit - there's a "wee problem." Just if she has time.

Snoot immediately finds the other Traveling Knights and translates. If mom says it's a "wee problem," it's probably a bigger issue than she's letting on. Also she never says "just if you have time" unless it's something immediate. The four of them head out of town and reach the farm as the shadow lengthen and twilight falls.

Snootabur's mother, Kinkin Shadowbough, is out working the fields in her adorable sun hat and greets them all warmly (she recognizes Rumdiggle Sunsong as the composer of "Yeet the Noodle" and says that she often sings it to herself while working, which delights Rummy). She takes them to the edge of her farm and shows them the issue - there's a whole section where the peanuts have been dug up and removed, and the area brushed over to hide the tracks. 

This, of course, is what Russelet Leatherwind is great at. He examines the area and finds that the trails leads into the woods, where he finds multiple sets of tracks. Snoot looks carefully and sees that the tracks look like they belong to pika, which is weird. Pika absolutely would take peanuts from the farm without asking (pika have a loose sense of property and ownership), but they wouldn't cover their tracks because they wouldn't think there was anything wrong with what they were doing. The Knights follow the trail (Kinkin goes back into the house and starts on dinner), and they wind up in a clearing between three oaks.

Ratatosk Longberry scampers up the tree and talks to a bird there, and the bird informs him that the pika dug into a hollow beneath the tree. Rummy plays a song to reveal hidden things, but nothing appears (Russelet easily spots the covering on the hole, however). The Knights brush back the covering and find the snoot of a young pika.

Snootabur asks this pika ("I'm a lookout! I never looked out before so I don't know if I did it right...") to talk to an adult, and a grown pika emerges. He introduces himself as Tritch Diggerheart, and confirms that it was his people who ate the peanuts. They covered their tracks, though, because they're being pursued by a stalker (a wolf). 

The stalker has been hunting them for a few days, and there's something wrong with it. They had to drop the provisions they were carrying and the stalker ate them, and it also took one of their number (at this Tritch becomes quiet and somber). They didn't approach the farm because they didn't want to lead the stalker there; for the same reason, they haven't headed towards Cairn.

Snootabur tells them to gather everyone up, and they head back to the family farm. Kinkin is happy to have visitors ("och, I haven't had so much company since your father passed!") and starts working on a bigger batch of peanut stew ("Snoot, asks your friends if they eat crickets, I can't remember!" - by the way, Kinkin Shadowbough sounds exactly like Nicky from GBBO, and I wish I had a supercut of her talking). Rummy turns into a bear and plops down in front of the farmhouse, and Russelet takes to the sky to see if he can find the stalker.

It isn't hard. He finds the creature stumbling through the forest. It's obviously in bad shape; Russelet can hear it panting and whining. He flies back and warns the others, and they take up positions to watch. When it breaks the treeline and sees the Rummy-Bear, it snarls and prepares to charge, but Russelet puts two sleep arrows in its snout and it collapses.

Rummy holds it down (just to be sure) and Snoot fashions a quick muzzle for it. Ratatosk looks it over, and sees bites on its haunches - it's clearly been driven out of its pack. He guesses the stalker might have been poisoned or sickened somehow, and he senses a hint of Unnatural on - or in? - the creature. He decides that it may have eaten something that did this, and mixes up a quick emetic. 

The wolf responds quickly, vomiting up the contents of its stomach, and then shakes off the poison and scampers off into the woods (away from the damn bear). Ratatosk pulls on a pair of gloves and examines the goop, and finds, horribly, two bodies within. One is a pika, obviously the one that the troop lost. The other is a chipmunk, horribly mangled...but somehow the body is still bleeding. 

Ratatosk assembles the Knights and explains this, and they decide to split up. Russelet flies back to Cairn to fetch Whisper Greendawn, the priestess. Snootabur finds Tritch and tells him that they've recovered the body; Tritch quietly informs her that the dead pika was his husband. Kinkin offers him a spot in the Shadowbough family plot, and Tritch tearfully accepts. They bury the pika, marking the grave with the traditional pika headstone - one word, "Stay."

The Knights fashion a litter to take the chipmunk's body towards Cairn, and meet Russ and Whisper on the way. She casts a cleansing spell and drives something away from the body, some powerful, but worse, deliberate magic. Ratatosk has seen this kind of necromancy before, back when the Knights encountered the mysterious and horrifying Blood Walkers. The oozy chipmunk carcass stops bleeding and now just smells gross rather than gross and Unnatural, so the Knights decide to burn it just to be safe.

That done, they decide to get some rest and then head into the woods and try to track backwards and find where the stalker ate the chipmunk to begin with. Russelet goes to find a tracker and woodsman he knows to get a sense of where the wolf pack's territory generally is. If there are more of these bleeding chipmunks out there, the Knights need to find and eradicate them.

Cairn: Ratatosk Nearly Gets Eaten...Again

At a certain point, you have to ask yourself "am I just too delicious?" Here's last time.

The Knights get some sleep, and in the morning they reconvene at the Cider Mill Inn for tea and cricket frittatas. They talk about what Brock Westarwart's (the evil wizard bullfrog cannibal they're hunting) next move might be, and Ratatosk Longberry pulls out some note where he's considered who else Brock might be angry with.

See, Brock was the mastermind behind the Worm Rustling Caper (which began here), but the Knights foiled that and got most of the worms back. Giggs Boggleworth was the mole that helped Brock with the rustling (thanks to Brock's Charm spell), and Brock has already visited horrific revenge upon the mole. The Knights are probably also on his hit list, maybe Meester Snufflestar (the mole whose worms were rustled). He might be mad at Moriarty and Knuckles, but they're far too big for him to eat (we hope!). So who does that leave? Maybe Ripark, since the mole proprietor of the Root did help them (if somewhat reluctantly) resolve the worm rustling issue.

The Knights decide to go to the coast and talk to the otters; maybe they know aquatic hiding spots where Brock could be laying in wait. They find one otter smoking some fish, and he tells them that most of the guys are out in the bay fishing or clamming or whatever, but when they come in for lunch he'll point someone their way. They decide to take a boat out to the lighthouse island, as the lighthouse rubble has probably cooled enough for them to investigate.

They row out and Russelet Leatherwind, an expert fisherman as well as tracker, surveys the area and checks the eddies and tides and figures there might be a tunnel going into the interior of the island. It'd be impossible to get to without diving, though. Snootabur Shadowbough is willing, but the Knights decide that doing that without a buddy is unwise, so they send up a signal arrow and momentarily an otter swims up. He accompanies Snoot into the water and into a tunnel covered in seaweed. The tunnel comes up under the lighthouse, and Snoot figures that someone (that is, Brock) probably dug their way into the lighthouse's cellar. When the place collapsed, it mostly flooded.

The room reeks with the same filth that attacked the Knights yesterday, and Snoot has to hold her breath, but she looks around the room and sees names scrawled into the walls. Giggs Boggleworth. Ratatosk Longberry. Russelet Longberry. Keeble Brownberry. Rumdiggle Sunsong. Snootabur Shadowbough. Ripark.

Snoot and the otter swim back out and report all this to the Knights. The "hit list" is mostly what they figured, other than Keeble, the Lord Mayor of Cairn, being on the list. They head back to Cairn to go and warn Ripark and Keeble.

First they head to the Root, and inform Ripark of what's happening. They ask about Underground tunnels that might lead from the rivers to or near Town Hall, and Ripark says that there is one that, with a big of digging, could get you there. The Knights split up - Snoot and Rummy go to warn Keeble, while Ratatosk and Russ go to Ratatosk's lab. He has an idea about a concoction that would let him detect where the bullfrog has been, and with a few alchemical mixtures comes up with a powder that fizzes and goes blue when it touches frog-slime.

Meanwhile, Snoot tells Keeble what's happening, and Keeble gets a little panicky - he's a mouse, after all, and even the Awakened mice of Cairn are under no illusion as to what bigger animals think of them (that is, food). The Knights suggest he move his office to the Citadel for a while, and he enthusiastically agrees and starts putting together a go-bag. 

Rummy turns into a bear and scoops him up to take him to the Citadel, but then a hedgehog runs up and tells Snoot that something is happening at the Cider Mill Inn! Snoot and Rummy rush over there, and find everyone pouring out of the Inn and a cloud of stinging insects swarming around. Snoot finds Alyere Loregood, the proprietor, and asks her what happened. She says that suddenly, a swarm of insects - deerflies, horseflies, bees - just starting appearing and stinging people. She saw one of them just kind of evaporate - "Magic bugs," mutters Snoot. "This might have been a distraction." She sends up a signal arrow.

Russ and Ratatosk hear the arrow and rush out of Ratatosk's house, but when they get to the bridge over the Bramble River, they spot huge frog's eyes staring up from the water. Russ wastes no time, he lets arrows fly. He hits, but the arrows spark against the frog's skin, almost like it was metal! Brock opens wide and his horrible sticky tongue smashes into Ratatosk's face, yanking him into the river and then into Brock's mouth.

Ratatosk shrieks in terror and pours a bunch of sneezing powder into Brock's face, but it does nothing. Brock punches Ratatosk in his kidneys and the squirrel realizes with horror that Brock is trying to eat him alive. But Ratatosk has a secret weapon - Direward Powder! He mixed up this powerful alchemical solution and combined it with oil to make a paste, and now smears it on himself desperately. Meanwhile, he can hear the thump thump thump of arrows hitting the outside of the frog's body.

The Direward Paste works, fortunately. Brock spits Ratatosk out and growls "I'll eat you yet", and then vanishes into the water. Rummy and Snoot, hearing the commotion, arrive and Rummy scoops Ratatosk out of the river. 

Ratatosk is bruised and battered, so they run him to Omat Thunderhop, the hare healer. Omat casts a healing spell, there's a crackle of lightning, and Ratatosk springs up, perfectly healthy. The group of them talk over their options, and they come up with a plan.

They mobilize the citizens of Cairn. The smaller animals - mice, rats, squirrels and so on - are sent to the Citadel or to higher ground, away from the rivers. The big animals, the possums and beavers and otters, patrol the banks. In particular, the beavers search the riverbeds. It doesn't take long to find something. A beaver surfaces with a bullfrog, much too small to be Brock - it's Bryla Slipperskin, a frog druid (the Knights met her once before). She alive, but unconscious. Ratatosk isn't a wizard, but he recognizes this spell - it's called the Hand of Glory and it induces a magical sleep. He sprinkles a little Ennervating Powder on her and she wakes up with a start.

She explains that Brock found her and Charmed her, and convinced her to unleash the swarm of bugs at the Inn. ("Yeah, he does that," mutters Snoot.) They talk a little about Brock, and Bryla reveals that in addition to being a wizard, Brock is a scrapper, expert in hand to hand combat ("that explains my kidneys!" says Ratatosk). Scrappers are capable of honing their bodies to be armor-like, and their hands to be lethal. The Knights note this, but they feel they can win this fight. After all, they have two marksmen and a goddamn bear. 

They get some nets and soak them in Direward solution (with the help of Asta Ringrunner, Ratatosk's mentor), and then set them up at chokepoints across the Bramble and Swiftwater Rivers. Ratatosk goes out to the banks near the Observatory and pretends to forage - he's the bat. Russelet and Snootabur set themselves up in with clear sightlines, and Rummy, still in bear form, hides as best she can.

They don't have long to wait. Ratatosk suddenly starts wandering in circles, confused. Snootabur spots Brock slipping out of the water, and fires an arrow. That signals Russ, who sticks three more in the frog's torso. Rummy charges in and scoops up Ratatosk, hoping to pull him out of harm's way ("Oh, look, I'm in the sky now"), but Brock still isn't done. He launches his tongue and it smashes into Ratatosk's chest, pulling him again towards the frog's maw.

But Snootabur is ready. She fires an arrow and skewer Brock's tongue. It goes limp and Ratatosk lands on the ground. Brock pulls his tongue back (without his intended dinner), but can't get his tongue in his mouth. He gurgles, and collapses, dead.

Rummy walks up and prods him, and then picks up his body. She stares quietly, perhaps saddened - she never wants to kill another Awakened, even a Dire one. But the sounds of celebration go up as the other citizens of Cairn see the "monster" defeated.

The Knights take the body to the Lodge so that Whisper Greendawn, Omat Thunderhop, and Asta Ringrunner can examine it. Snoot asks if there's something on the body, some indication of how Brock became Dire. Omat finds no injury or abnormality (aside from how big he's gotten), and Whisper gently explains that most of the time, becoming Dire is a matter of falling so deep into Discord that you can't get out. The darkness isn't something that happens from the outside. In Brock's case, it was hunger, and that hunger consumed him.

Omat tells everyone to leave; he intends to cut Brock open and examine his stomach. Ratatosk stays, and what he sees during that autopsy will haunt him forever. But it's over. Brock's body is burned on a pyre, to a gathering that the Knights find maybe a bit too celebratory. Rummy sits near the pyre and plays a somber song, but the other Knights don't join. They're all coping with this in their own way.

Summer continues and the days grow longer. What further adventures await the Knights? And how many more adventures can their souls bear?

Cairn: Burning Lighthouses and Mole Funeral

Back to Cairn, here's last time.

The Traveling Knights awaken on a beach some miles from Cairn, having traveled out here to learn the truth about what happened to Giggs Bogglesworth, the uncle of their friend Mimsy Underroot. They have, you'll recall, discovered something horrible - Giggs was dragged from his home and presumably devoured by some terrible aquatic creature. The Knights have heard it described as a "fish" or a "sea monster," but their investigations have led to a perhaps worse conclusion: it might be Brock Westerwart, a bullfrog wizard that they tangled with once before. 

Ratatosk Longberry wakes first and forages up some breakfast for the others. He also provides a shot of enervating draught to Rumdiggle Sunsong; the possum has been up for far too long and being diurnal again isn't looking fun. Snootabur Shadowbough and Russelet Leatherwind likewise rouse themselves, eat a quick bite, and then they all get on the boat to head back to Cairn.

On the way, they discuss the situation and decide they'd better drop in on Moriarty Sprit, the diabolical criminal mongoose that they've imprisoned on the lighthouse island in the bay south of Cairn. That lighthouse was the place Brock was using as a lair the last time they saw him, and while Moriarty might or might not aid him, it's still a good place to check out. Russ sends up a signal arrow as they approach, and they see two guards, Numen Strongtail (a rat) and Blessat Wavekiss (an otter), in separate boats, watching the island. They all three head to shore; the Knights inform the guards they need to search the island.

The instant they step on land, all of their hearts sink. Disharmony takes hold, and each of them feel the guilt, sorrow, and hunger of the land. Ratatosk, in particular, remembers the last time they fought Brock - he nearly killed him with an accidental overdose of a sleeping potion, but now he reflects that if he had, Giggs would still be alive. 

Snootabur whispers "how about a song?" to Rummy, and Rummy grabs her lute and strums out something everyone can enjoy. Spirits thus bolstered, they head into the lighthouse. Moriarty descends the stairs, a little less put together than last they saw him, and they realize that there's no way this level of Disharmony is just from him (though he's not helping it). He asks to be released; they refuse, of course, but tell him he's to be moved to the mainland. Russelet goes out to the beach to fly back to Cairn and have the constable get the cell ready, but before he takes off, Ratatosk starts casting a spell to help quell the Disharmony here.

He barely gets the spell going, though, when the floor of the lighthouse's bottom level explodes upwards in geyser of filth! Russelet, acting quickly, shoots it with a fire arrow and it catches fire, but continues lashing out. Snoot leaps up to the staircase to help Moriarty get down, and Rummy, not having enough room to go full bear, makes herself tougher and stronger ("armor of the ripper, speed of the stripefang!") and blocks the filth from getting out. Numen and Blessat fire arrows at it, as does Russ, but the fire spreads to the staircase.

Snoot leaps down, and realizes she's lost track of Moriarty. Russ finishes the filth-creature off with a couple of well-placed arrows, and Rummy smashes out the door, initially hoping to put out the fire. To that end, Ratatosk summons rain, but it's too little, too late - the lighthouse is going to burn.

Ratatosk does notice one of the boats inching toward the water, and focusing in a bit, spots Moriarty trying to escape. He shoots a pellet of sneezing powder at the rogue's face, and that distracts him long enough for Rummy to close in and Russelet to tie them together with a rope arrow. With Moriarty recaptured, the Knights have Blessat and Numan stay here to make sure nothing crawls out of the wreckage. Russ flies back to the mainland to get manacles and so on ready for Moriarty, and Rummy and Ratatosk row with him on the boat. Snoot decides to swim back - she's athletic enough to handle it.

Midway, though, something yanks her under. She pulls herself free and yells for help, but no one is in earshot. All she can do is keep swimming - she can't outpace whatever it is, but if she can keep her head above water maybe she can get to shore or near enough.

Russ lands and has Juffin Longbottom, the constable, get shackles for Moriarty. The boat lands and Rummy takes Moriarty away. "You know this place can't hold me," he hisses. "Just let me go. I'm not staying in Cairn."

"But you'll do crimes wherever you are," retorts Rummy. She does offer to bring him a pie, though. Despite himself, Moriarty says "cricket." 

Back in the water, the unseen assailant pulls Snoot under several more times. Gasping for air, she finally gets near to the shore and yells for help. Russelet, fortunately, is still there and hears her with his keen bat-ears, and alerts the others. A bunch of otters leap into the water and swim out to save Snoot, and Russ spots them from above. Before they reach Snootabur, he also sees a shadow under the water - a big bulbous body, long muscular legs - looks like a bullfrog!

The otters rescue Snootabur and pull her back on shore. One of them has a blob of slime on his paw, which Ratatosk eagerly analyzes. It's frog mucus, but it's got lingering magic to it - a wizard frog would certainly fit the bill. All evidence points to Brock...but where is he? If he was making a lair on the island, that's gone. 

For the moment, though, the Knights have other issues. Mimsy approaches them and asks Snootabur what happened. As gently as she can, Snoot tells Mimsy the truth - Giggs was pulls from his house and into the ocean by some Dire creature, probably Brock Westerwart. She weeps for him, and then asks the Knights to come to a remembrance for her uncle Giggs tonight. She informs them that at a mole remembrance, no one speaks, lest they catch the attention of the Death Mole. 

That night, the Knights attend the service (Ratatosk does his level best to keep still and quiet, but Russ has to hand him a candy to nibble). Afterwards they all go to the Root and drink some musty fermented drinks, and quietly talk about Giggs and what happened to him. The Knights know who they're looking for now, but they aren't sure where to look. They decide to get some sleep.

Cairn: Monster Fish

Yesterday, we return to the world of Cairn. Here's last time.

It's summer in Cairn, and one glorious afternoon, Ratatosk Longberry is out scampering about in trees, as is his usual midday activity. He feels the leaves of the tree start to nudge him deeper into the forest, and never one to ignore tree-related weirdness, follows along. He winds up at the tree that Desayd the dryad lives in, and she emerges in a squirrel-sized avatar and greets him.

She tells him that she had another dream, similar to the last one. But in this one, she was crawling along on or in the ground and being pursued, again by something hungry. She felt cold, clammy hands on her before she woke up.

Ratatosk ponders this, and then scampers off to tell the others. He finds Snootabur Shadowbough on her porch, snoozing, and reports the dryad's dream. Snoot advises waiting until evening when the others are awake and meeting up at the Cider Mill Inn, and also invites Whisper Greendawn, the priestess of Cairn's Lodge of the Bright Ones, to join.

That evening, the five of them - Ratatosk, Snootabur, Whisper, Rumdiggle Sunsong and Russelet Leatherwind - get some dinner and talk over the dreams. Whisper notes that dryads and other elemental spirits - ondines, gnomes, and suchlike - experience the world differently than the Awakened, and therefore have different relationships not only with the natural world, but the divine forces like the Bright Ones or the Primal Powers. She advises focusing one whatever details were the dream: the cold, clammy hands, the obvious hunger. Rummy notes that "hands" might be metaphorical, just something seizing or grabbing the dream, and that although snakes (like her pet Arthur) are not clammy, they're often perceived to be and might feel that way in a dream.

Russelet, ever the pragmatic one, calls up one of his guards and asks if anyone has seen anything weird of late. No one has, but Russ tells them to increase their patrols and be on guard. Better to be forewarned and all that.

The Knights decide they really need more data before they can really take action. Rummy sings, everyone makes merry, and Ratatosk, the only diurnal one, heads home. He's opening his front door when he hears a horrible whisper 'pon the wind: "I'm coming for you."

He gives out a yelp and runs back to the Inn to find the others. He tells Rummy what he heard, and she offers him a bed for the night, which he gratefully accepts. He considers, too, that while he doesn't know of a druid spell that allows casting words to the winds, a wizard or sorcerer (who use slightly different forms of magic) might. And wouldn't you know, the Knights have run afoul of someone who is a) a wizard, b) perpetually hungry and c) cold and clammy: Brock Westerwart, the bullfrog who masterminded the worm rustling scheme (and who very nearly ate Ratatosk!). They decide to discuss this in the afternoon when everyone's awake.

In the morning, Ratatosk wakes early and leaves quietly (you know, for him). But no sooner is he outside than a guard runs up and informs him that Mimsy Underroot, one of the teenaged troublemakers whom the Knights met during the whole "Marma" debacle, has just arrived at the coast after rowing all night. She needs to talk to the Knights; something is very wrong.

Ratatosk wakes the others and they all head to the longhouse, where Mimsy is sipping a cup of tea surrounded by concerned otters. She tells the Knights that she rowed out to visit her uncle Giggs Bogglesworth, who's still living in a shack down the coast. She got there yesterday, but smelled something unholy from the shack and saw something lash out - something that was decidedly not a mole. She isn't sure what, though, and moles don't have great eyesight. She rowed all the way back to Cairn for help.

The Knights immediately mount up and recruit a couple of otters to row them out to the shack. When they arrive, they spot something moving in the shack, but aren't sure what. They all sense the Unnatural, though - whatever it is, it's evil. Ratatosk casts a spell and calls up tangling grasses, but the thing inside bursts through the door and splorps right through the plants! It's a wave of filth, and makes straight for the characters. 

Snootabur and Russelet fire arrows at it, and it lashes out at Snoot, but she deftly dodges out of the way. Rummy turns into a bear and claws it, and Ratatosk dons a satchet with an alchemical powder to drive it back, but it isn't easy to corral. Ratatosk lights a torch, and Russelet uses the fire to light the fuses on his firework arrows. He sends one straight into the ooze, and it bursts and burns.

The Knights catch their breath and search the area. Whatever this thing is, it came from inside the shack. They note that there is no food of any kind inside, and there's no sign of Giggs, other than furrows in his table. It looks like he was pulled away from it forcibly. Russelet takes to the sky and spots tracks up on the ridge near the house, but they're not mole tracks, they're goblin. Ratatosk talks to some seagulls and learns that a "monster fish" ate Giggs. It opened its mouth from the water and lashed him with its tongue, and swallowed him like a pelican (which, Ratatosk notes, is about the scariest thing a gull could think of). 

The Knights send the otters back in one of the boats; it's getting dark and they want to track the goblins. They gather some food - bugs and stuff - that the goblins might like, and follow their tracks to a big goblin camp. They walk up with Rummy playing a calming song, and the goblins don't respond with hostility (mostly they're happy to have the snacks). They say that they saw Giggs get pulled into the water, but didn't see the creature that did it, just its big, shiny eyes.

The Knights decide they'll head back at first light. While they're not entirely sure, it's sounding more and more like Brock might be the creature they're looking for. If that's the case, he's only grown bigger...and hungrier.

Cairn: The Gavel Falls

Today was Cairn. Let's doOOOOOoooo it! /flashheart

Our heroes have learned the truth about the murder of Ladd Ringtail - that Knuckles, at the behest of Moriarty Sprit, killed him. They've captured Knuckles, but Moriarty escaped after knocking Russelet Leatherwind out. 

The Knights head back into town and split up. Knowing that time is of the essence, they decide to try and find Moriarty as quickly as they can. But he's probably go to the Underground, and navigating that area is difficult without a guide.

Snootabur Shadowbough goes to visit Ladd's parents, and asks if they know anyone in the rat community that might help the Knights. Ladd's father, Alum, takes her to his cousin Merton Ringtail. Merton is shady, he says, but he was fond of Ladd. Snootabur asks Merton to help them go into the Underground and look for Moriarty, and he's initially unenthused ("oh, why don't you just twist off my tail, salt it, and serve it like jerky?!"), but does agree in the name of getting justice for Ladd. He does say that the instant his chances of getting stabbed go up he's out of there.

Ratatosk Longberry goes to the Root to talk to Ripark ("oh, you again") and asks for help with the Underground. Ripark considers, and says that he can't guide the characters through the Underground ("It would violate something I can't even explain to you"), but does agree to them get into the Underground through the entrance in the basement of the Root. It's one of the few fixed points in the Underground, he says.

Meanwhile, Russelet and Rumdiggle Sunsong talk to Knuckles, or at least try. Knuckles admits that he "brained" Ladd, and that the "boss" told him to do it, but he's not saying much else. As they leave, Russ hears Juffin Longbottom and Severin Prideheart (the Constable and the Captain of the Guard, respectively) talking about execution. 

The Knights meet up with Merton and head to the Root. He leads them through some twists and turns, and then stops them. "He's up ahead," whispers Merton. Russelet drinks an invisibility potion (courtesy of Ratatosk) and sneaks up. And indeed, Moriarty Sprit is in a big storeroom - weapons, clothes, spices, food, all kinds of stuff. He's packing a bag, quickly but deliberately, but then Russ loses his footing and slip into the room. Moriarty perks up, and then blows out his candle and vanishes.

Russ moves to the corner and grabs for a bow hanging on the wall (he didn't bring his because the potion wouldn't have concealed it). He loses track of Moriarty, however, and the wily weasel sneaks up and clunks him on the head, knocking him out. But the Knights hear this and rush in!

Ratatosk spots Moriarty and leaps on him, holding fast. Moriarty slashes at him with a sword, and then drops it and draws a dagger. Snootabur nocks an arrow, but Moriarty flings a knife and snaps the string on the bow. Ratatosk casts a spell and the roots in the ground curl up and hold Moriarty fast!

Rummy turns into a snake and strikes, trying to paralyze Moriarty with poison. It just seems to make him mad, however. He bites at Ratatosk, and Snoot bonks him with her staff, but then figures waking up Russ might be a better idea. She shakes him awake and he grabs one of her sleep arrows and shoots it into Moriarty's shoulder, but he still doesn't drop.

Rummy curls her snake-tail around his snoot to keep him from biting, Ratatosk cancels the spell, and Snootabur runs in to tie him up. They finally get him immobilized and tied to Snoot's staff, and haul him back to Cairn.

Later that night, the Lord Mayor Keeble Brownberry sends for the Knights, and they find themselves meeting with Keeble, Juffin, Severin, Whisper Greendawn (the priest of the local Lodge), and Asta Ringrunner (the town's alchemist). Keeble explains that while the law of Cairn means that punishment is at his discretion, he wants input from everyone here.

Juffin and Severin advise execution, but the Knights (and Whisper) are firmly opposed to capital punishment. As Rummy points out, it's something you can't come back from. Keeble notes that there's precedent - a Dire otter once sank a boat in the bay and killed a bunch of citizens and was then put to death - but that was a long time ago and he was, after all, Dire. Juffin notes that Moriarty not being Dire isn't exactly a point for mercy - if he's not Dire and he still did all this, why let him live?

Russelet recommends exile, and sending word to other communities not to give aid or comfort to these miscreants. Exile sounds better than execution, but, as Asta notes, doesn't that just drive them to associate only with those who flaunt the law? And doesn't that put other citizens at risk? 

The Knights consider, and then investigate a little more. They bring in Jiddie Littlebrook, the rat who acted as Moriarty's face in all this. Jiddie tells them what she knows: Moriarty had her solicit support for Moriarty's pick for Lord Mayor in the upcoming election (but doesn't know who exactly that pick is), in exchange for preferential treatment in housing. She knew nothing about Ladd until after he was already dead, and expresses sorrow and remorse at how things turned out. Russ asks her why she should be allowed to stay in Cairn; she explains she has nowhere else to go. She and her brother and sisters came to Cairn from the hamlet outside Crystal Rock after the Knights destroyed the strange magical crystal there, but only she survived the journey (and lost her tail in the process). 

Next, the Knights talk to Knuckles. In so doing, they realize that Knuckles is slow, and while he's big, strong, and violent, he's not necessarily dangerous by nature. He says, in fact, that he doesn't really like hurting people, it's just what he's good at. The Knights ask if he'd be willing to put his strength to use for the town, and he says he would.

They bring in Alum Ringtail and his wife, Bernit (Ladd's parents) and explain the situation to them, and ask what they think should happen to his killers. Alum says that if he'd been asked that yesterday, he'd probably have said "drown them both," but knowing their names, he's not quite so willing to say that. On the other hand, he doesn't think he can face his son's killer every day, but on the gripping hand, he isn't comfortable with anyone dying on his say-so. 

The Knights also send word to Ripark, feeling that the Underground should have a voice in this. Ripark sends a note back, in his customarily terse way, and says that there will be no complaint from the Underground no matter what happens to Moriarty. 

And, finally, they talk to Moriarty. He advises them to kill him - he refuses to take responsibility for anything, refuses to show remorse, and outright states that the first time the cell door is open he's going to disappear. 

The council reconvenes, and discusses all of the options. Jiddie is the easiest; she is sentenced to go to the Lodge and apprentice with Whisper Greendawn as a priest. Knuckles is going to remain incarcerated, but slowly be reintroduced to Cairn and given work, with an eye toward bringing him out of Discord and, eventually, sending him to Goblin Glen or the maybe the circus, somewhere he can be of use. 

Moriarty is to be incarcerated at the lighthouse, guarded at all times, and checked on by the Knights on a regular basis. If he ever shows true remorse and a desire to rehabilitate, that option is open, but as Whisper points out, she can't force anyone to accept the Bright Ones. Juffin disagrees - he feels that Moriarty is too dangerous to be allowed to live - but he accepts the decision of the majority.

Keeble thanks them all for their help, and tells them to go and get some rest. He has some very serious proclamations to write.

Cairn: The Investigation Continues

Today was Cairn! On we go. Here's last time.

Night falls, and the Knights continue their inquiries into who killed Ladd Ringtail. Snootabur Shadowbough starts retracing Ladd's steps, starting with the Brookflower Inn (since they know he got dinner there). Russelet Leatherwind joins her, but is still grieving his friend and hangs back. Ratatosk Longberry heads for the Root, intending to ask Ripark, the proprietor, about the strange metal discs that seem to figure into this case. Rumdiggle Sunsong, knowing how rumors can spread and worsen, spends some time in the evening going around the town and playing songs for people to help keep them calm. 

Snoot talks to some of the folks around the Brookflower and learns that Ladd went to the Root. Knowing that Ratatosk is going to talk to the patrons therein, she and Russ continue on and track Ladd's movements south to the longhouse where the otter fishermen of Cairn gather in the evening to drink some beer and sing some oyster shanties. They welcome Snoot, sit her down, and put a pint in her paw, and when they hear Ladd's name they get somber and raise a mug to him. They confirm that they saw him the night he died, walking east towards the bridge. 

Ratatosk, meanwhile, talks to Ripark, but the old mole is less than forthcoming. He shows Ratatosk one of the metal discs and Ratatosk does some quick alchemy to it, and determines that it's made of silver and it's pretty useless. Metal is risky anyway, because it saps Harmony, but this isn't even functional metal. Ripark snaps it right back up, though, and claims that it is useful, but isn't answering any more questions.

At this point Rummy joins Ratatosk, and when she walks in they both hear the drunken "wa-hey!" of Jellin Berrytail. Jellin is, like Rummy, an opossum, and has made his interest in her clear on the occasions they've met him. He waves at them from a dark alcove, but then someone pulls him back to his seat.

The Knights walk over and find that the alcove's inhabitants are Moriarty Sprit and his bodyguard, Knuckles. Neither of these people are savory sorts, and the Knights ask after Ladd. Moriarty claims that Ladd was here last night, had a glass of mushroom beer, and left. A couple of times during the conversation, Jellin tries to pipe up, but then yelps as though someone was poking him in the ribs and Moriarty refills his mug. He does, however, manage to get the word "Sell-su?" out.

Back across the bridge, Russ and Snoot find themselves close to the main construction site (recall that Cairn has been expanding, and so groups of workers have been working to build more housing). Russ takes to the sky and spots a bat fluttering around the site, and calls out to him. The bat lands to talk to the Knights, introducing himself as Rink Fellswoop. He says that he's been helping out by tidying up the construction site after the workers leave in the evening - he's not strong enough to be a lot of help during the actual building but he does want to contribute, as a new arrival himself. He says that he talked to Ladd briefly the night he died, and pointed him toward where the folks doing construction were staying - the groundhogs have a temporary warren, the beavers have built a lodge on the banks of the Swiftriver, and the hares are mostly staying near the Cider Mill Inn. As far as he knows Ladd went to go talk to the groundhogs.

Back at the Root, Ratatosk and Rummy leave, but turn the weird word that Jellin said over in their heads. Rummy remembers that there's a mole named Selisu Vergildirt - she remembers because she found the name "Selisu" very euphonious and was thinking of including it in a song. Figuring that she lives in the Underground, they pay a visit to Mimsy Bogglesworth (it takes a few tries to find her house), and Mimsy guides them to Selisu's place. As they approach, they spot another mole watching them, but when they call out to the mole, he(?) vanishes down a tunnel.

They knock on the door and Selisu answers, but is paranoid and careful - she even asks if the Knights are there to murder her. When she realizes who they are, she lets them in, and says that she talked to Ladd at the root. He was asking questions about the construction sites, and grilling Ripark pretty hard, but Ripark wasn't talking. Selisu, however, told him something that interested him: "Jiddie ain't a mouse." 

An aside: Jiddie Littlebrook is (supposedly) a mouse, a recent arrival in Cairn, and has taken on the task of coordinating the construction crews and projects - definitely something for someone with managerial skill! But if Jiddie isn't a mouse, what is she? Ratatosk guesses maybe a very small rat, and Selisu confirms this. But why hide one's species? Residents of Cairn don't generally care, so there must be some other reason.

Whatever the truth, Selisu has been told that she'd better stay in the Underground if she knows what's good for her. The Knights make clear that she should tell them if she needs help, and then they try to blunder their way to the surface ("I swear this changes every time we're here," says Rummy). 

They surface near the construction site, just as Snoot and Russ are finishing their chat with Rink. They exchange what they've learned, and Russ and Snoot are just as confused as to why Jiddie would lie about her species. The only thing they can think of is that the various species common to Cairn do develop reputations - groundhogs are stubborn, pika are thieves, mice are industrious, and so on. Rats are believed to be sneaky and untrustworthy, so if someone wanted to avoid that stigma, especially as a new face, pretending to be a mouse might help. 

The Knights decide to get some sleep, but to get up bright and early and talk to the construction workers as they head in to the site. Russ heads back to the Roost to look over the day's reports, while the others head for home.

In the morning, they meet up and, as planned, intercept the group of workers heading to the site. The groundhogs aren't terribly forthcoming about Ladd, but one of the beavers nods to Snoot and hangs back to talk to her.

The beaver - one Copky Ripplesplash - reveals that the construction workers and the new arrivals in Cairn have all been told they'll get the best housing and other perks if they support someone to replace Keeble Brownberry as Lord Mayor. He doesn't know who, though. He does know that Jiddie Littlebrook is this mysterious person's mouthpiece, and she's been the one coordinating all this quid pro quo nonsense. Copky says that he's seen one powerful person put a whole town under their thumb, so he's not interested in seeing that happen again. And then he mentions that his mouth is numb, and collapses.

Snoot calls for Ratatosk, and Ratatosk yells at whoever's nearby to fetch a healer. In the meanwhile, he tastes Copky's waterskin, and determine it's been poisoned! Snoot asks some of the other beavers, and learns that waterskins are hung up every night to drain and dry, and then refilled in the morning and handed back. The beaver that filled the waterskins looks just as surprised as anyone, so Snoot guesses that someone switched Copky's skin for the poisoned one while he was on his way here. 

A hare healer, one Omat Thunderhop, scampers over and casts a Panacea spell on poor Copky, purging the poison. Copky doesn't have any idea when he got the poisoned waterskin, but whatever is going on here, people are willing to kill to keep it quiet. The Knights have their work ahead of them!

Cairn: Murder in Springtime

A new spring in Cairn! Here's last time.

Winter melts away, and the citizens of Cairn emerge from hibernation (or y'know, just being homebodies). The Traveling Knights get together on the first day of spring and traipse out of town to go wake up Desayd, the dryad. On the way, they chat about their winter activities - Ratatosk Longberry, in particular, has been fermenting and storing foodstuff, and Rumdiggle Sunsong is interested in the process. She's also been thinking about animal husbandry and how that might work in Cairn.

As they're walking through the forest, a voice says "Halt! Who goes there?" The look up and see Ladd Ringtail, the rat guardsman and protege of Russelet Leatherwind (introduced waaaay back here). He slides down a rope to the ground; he was on night watch and he's headed home.

They arrive at the tree and Russelet forages a bit to find some berries to offer the tree. Rummy plays a song, and Desayd steps out of the tree and stretches. She chats with the Knights, and tells them of a strange dream she had. In the dream, she was a flying creature, soaring over familiar landscape, and something was chasing her. She couldn't describe the hunter, but she knew it - it was a familiar creature, and it was hungry, but she couldn't turn to see it lest it catch her. She warns the Knights that she seldom dreams, much less like this, and worries it might be a portent. 

The Knights head back to town, and someone yells to Snootabur Shadowbough that the Lord Mayor wants to see her. She goes to see Keeble Brownberry, the Lord Mayor - he wants to go over plans for the earthwork amphitheater that Snoot wanted to make. They'll need to wait until the ground thaws a bit, but it's good to have a plan. 

A few weeks go by. More people are moving to Cairn - the circus and the Traveling Knights kind of inadvertently made the town seem like a great place to live, so more and more families are showing up. Construction on new housing begins, with larger animals (beavers, groundhogs, and hares, mostly) taking point on building and a mouse named Jiddie Littlebrook coordinating the efforts. Food and resources are stretched a little tight, but everyone pitches in. Russ even comes up with a way to string a net up near the river and catch midges and mosquitos, which make for good pies for many of the inhabitants of Cairn. The town is changing, but everyone is rolling with it well.

And then one morning, as Russelet is at the Roost (the guard house for his rangers), he hears someone yelling "Help! Help! Murder!" A young rat with a fishing pole is screaming for assistance, and when asked, he says that he was walking through the construction site on his way to the river to fish for minnows when he saw a dead body, partially buried in the dirt. He didn't know who it was - it was a rat, but he didn't recognize it and he ran to get help right away. Russelet sends a couple of his guys out to look and questions the fisher-rat a bit, and then heads down to the construction site himself.

When he gets there, he realizes his rangers are in shock - he was expected horror, but this is different. He approaches the body and realizes why - it's Ladd Ringtail, his friend and protege. Russelet, kind of numb, checks the body. Someone bashed Ladd on the head with something big and heavy, like a club, and then put a sack over his head (just a spare sack from around the site). There's not much blood here, so it looks like his body was moved. There are far too many footprints to track anyone, but there aren't any drag marks, either, so if he was moved here it was by an animal big enough to carry him (which is consistent with someone strong enough to do this damage). 

The rangers find the other three Knights - Snoot is at home working on the theater plans, Ratatosk is out foraging, and Rummy is heading home to go to bed. The Knights are all told that Russ is at the construction site and needs them, and they go racing out to help him, but all are horrified by the truth of the situation. Murder in Cairn is nearly unheard of.

Snootabur goes to tell Keeble, while Ratatosk starts questioning people and trying to figure out Ladd's movements last night. Rummy and Russ have the truly awful job of going to inform Ladd's family.

Keeble receives Snoot and initially starts talking about the theater, but is shocked and appalled to hear the news. He immediately worries about how the new arrivals will perceive this, and tells Snoot that he'll need to let Juffin Longbottom (the groundhog constable of Cairn) know about this. Snoot agrees, and asks to have Ladd's body moved to the ice house for the moment.

Ratatosk asks around and finds that Ladd was not on guard duty last night, but some folks heard that he went to the Brookflower for dinner. Ratatosk heads there and talks to Quirkly Shallowleaf, the owner. He explains the situation and it becomes rapidly apparent that Ratatosk is probably the worst person to be delivering this news ("You mean there's a murderer hiding in Cairn?!" "No! He might be hiding in the woods."). Quirkly wasn't here last night, though, so Ratatosk goes to find Sarafina Bushytail.

Meanwhile, Rummy and Russ go to the Ringtail house. Bernit Ringtail, Ladd's mother, receives them and they talk on her patio. She takes the news about as well as can be expected (which is to say, not well), and isn't able to answer questions or provide much information. His father, Alum, however, keeps his composure enough to say that Ladd left last night intending to get dinner at the Brookflower. Alum said that he noticed his son had his bow with him, which he normally didn't carry if he wasn't on duty. He didn't think anything of it at the time, though.

Ratatosk visits Sarafina at home, and after her initial shock tells Ratatosk that she overheard Ladd say that he needed to talk to Russelet, but that he had something to do or "look into" first. She thinks he was talking to Trixat Flutterwatch, the night bartender. Ratatosk scampers across town to talk to Trixat before she falls asleep (she's a bat), and she confirms that Ladd was there, he had dinner, and then he said he had to find something out before he talked to Russ. She also mentions that Ladd had a piece of shiny, silvery metal on him - "the kind that the moles seem to like."

Snootabur heads back to the construction site, and finds that Juffin is there in the midst of a group of groundhogs. They're trying to get back to work, which Juffin isn't allowing. They finally decide to go clear some land south of here ("My people," muses Juffin, "they're not happy unless they're busy"), and Juffin talks with Snoot. He asks that she remember that since this happened in Cairn proper it's really his investigation, though of course he's happy to have the Knights' help. He also tells her to look out for Russ - this has got to be hitting him pretty hard.

Russ and Rummy console the Ringtails as best they can. Russ promises the Knights aren't going to rest until they bring Ladd's killer to justice, and they will of course help with arrangements or support any way they can. They leave, and all four of the Knights meet up again.

They examine the body and Ladd's possessions. He's carrying a snack pouch on his belt and a quiver of arrows, but no bow. They don't find the metal that Trixat mentioned, either. They decide to split up and continue the investigation. Rummy and Snoot head to the market to talk to Eliza Grayhair; maybe she knows something about this metal he was carrying. Russ and Ratatosk go up to the Roost to talk to the guardsmen and see if they know anything about what Ladd was investigating.

The guardsmen are somber and quiet, but they stand up when Russ arrives. None of them are sure what it was that Ladd was doing, though, and none of them saw the metal piece he had. Russ tells them all to be careful and to watch out for each other. He goes to his office and falls asleep. Ratatosk lets him sleep; he has another idea.

At the market, gossip is already spreading. Rummy and Snoot talk with Eliza and ask about the missing bow and the metal piece. Eliza points them at Flynn Rippleward, an otter bowyer, and Estu Scrabblescamp, a pika trader. Rummy, recognizing the nervous tenor of the people, plays a soothing song while Snoot goes to question folks.

Flynn, after admiring her bow, tells her that he's familiar with Ladd's bow but he hasn't seen anyone trying to trade it or pass it off. He promises to keep an eye out, however. 

Estu is much more helpful. She did indeed give Ladd the silver piece; it was one of four she had. She promised all of them to Ripark, the mole that runs the Root, in exchange for a jug of fermented mushroom juice ("So fresh and musty!"). She notes, however, that she agreed to give him "some silver", which is exactly what she did give him. She isn't sure what Ladd wanted with it, and he seemed uncomfortable. 

Rummy, also a nocturnal creature, takes her leave and heads home to sleep. Snoot and Ratatosk wind up at the Root, each following the same lead. The Root is closed during the day, but Ripark is there cleaning glasses. Snoot explains what's happening, and Ripark confirms that he traded silver for mushroom juice. He agrees to bring in a silver piece so that the Knights can see what it looks like, but he doesn't have it here - come back tonight. Snoot mentions that he doesn't seem too sad or even shocked by the news, and Ripark says that every time there's a crime in Cairn, the investigation always winds up at the Root. "I'll shed a tear for Ladd Ringtail later," he says. "Right now I just want to make sure that my folks don't get accused." 

The Knights rest up - apparently tonight, the investigation continues at the roughest place in Cairn.

Cairn: A Pleasant Boat Trip

Here's last time! 

The characters kill some time until the evening, when the four teens - Bert Stubtail, Mimsy Underroot, Loy Covercloud, and Anima Lovegood - are meant to come to the town hall and officially apologize for their Marma shenanigans. When the time rolls around, they see Bert arrive with his father and Anima walk up with her mother (and a crowd of sibling hedgehogs). But the other two, Mimsy and Loy, never show. This lingers just long enough to be awkward and then Keeble Brownberry, the Lord Mayor of Cairn, asks the Knights to find out what's happening. 

Rumdiggle Sunsong and Snootabur Shadowbough head to the Underground to find Mimsy, while Russelet Leatherwind and Ratatosk Longberry fly and scamper (respectively) up into the trees to find Loy. Rummy and Snoot talk with Mimsy's grandmother, who tells them that she left a few hours ago and she assumes that Mimsy just went to the town hall. No help there.

Up in the trees, Russ and Ratatosk talk first with Bitta Covercloud (Loy's little sister) and then his father. His father tells them that Loy left for the ceremony earlier; he (his father) was busy and was planning to catch up later. He's immediately worried about his son, and rightly so - Bitta comes running out of his room with a note. 

 Russ and Ratatosk realize that the teens must have left from the bay. Ratatosk heads off south as fast as his little legs can carry him (which is pretty fast), while Russ swoops over to find the others and bring them up to speed. They all head out to the bay, and Ratatosk catches up with Symeon Quickminnow, an otter that's helped them out with nautical things before. He and the Knights head up and down the banks and talk to the other fishermen, and eventually talk with a beaver shipwright named Jonna Thunderclap who tells them that he is indeed missing a boat. The boat they stole isn't really seaworthy, though - Jonna figures it has about an hour on the bay before it would start to sink. 

The Knights and Symeon row across the bay to the lighthouse island, which they last saw when they fought with Brock Westerwart. They find that someone has dragged a boat up on the beach, and Russ deduces that they brought it out of the water, dumped out the water, maybe fixed it, and then set out again. Russ and Symeon circle the island by air and water (respectively), but find no trace of them and no wreckage. So that's good; no evidence of disaster. 

The characters, with Symeon's help, figure that the teens must have headed east - if they'd gone west they would have been seen. They get back in the boat and head west, stopping on the peninsula near the Wickerdrey Manor. There's no one on the dock, but there are lights on in the mansion, so Russ and Rummy go and knock.

Master Wickerdrey answers. Wickerdrey is a squirrel, old and gray but still strong. He's a hero of years past, supposedly he saved Cairn from something years ago, but no one really knows what happened and he doesn't talk about it. He talks with the Knights (and addresses them as such - even knows their names!), and then comes down to the dock to meet the others. He's happy to let them look around, but he hasn't seen anyone on the water today. 

He agrees to sail on ahead of them in his one-man craft; he gives his walking stick to Russelet for safekeeping. The characters follow in their boat. Russelet studies the stick, and realizes that there are carvings on it, but they're too small for his bat-eyes. Ratatosk peers at them and realizes that the carvings tell a story, but he can't tell where the story begins or ends ("Squirrels can't really read each other's writing," he explains). 

The characters sail on, and eventually Master Wickerdrey swoops back and tells them that he can't go any further in this craft. But, he says, he remembered something that might be relevant - a couple of years ago, in the autumn that preceding the winter that brought the Worm Squirts ("that was a bad time," muses Rummy), he saw a mole in a boat heading east. He thought it was odd - moles are not normally known for their love of boating. And this mole had what seemed like all of his possessions, so it looked like he was leaving Cairn. The characters muse that maybe this was a relative of Mimsy? Might be unrelated, too.

Wickerdrey heads home (but asks that Russelet bring his stick back at his earlier convenience). The Knights head on east as the sky goes dark. Russelet flies up, tethered to the boat, and scans the coastline, and up ahead sees a fire. 

They stop the boat and the four Knights head up on foot, figuring that if it is the teens, they don't want to scare them off. If it's not, well, they're close to Goblin Glen, and they have history with the goblins thereof. They try sneaking up, but Snoot misses her footing and goes quills over tea kettle down an embankment (but sticks the landing, as she is an acrobat). 

The campfire is unattended. Russelet looks around and finds tracks, but they are neither glider nor mole - they're goblin. Ratatosk casts Speak to the Small and talks to a hermit crab, who says that there were people here but they ran off "into the shadows". The Knights hear something whizzing by their heads. Snoot and Rummy think maybe it's bugs, but Russelet knows projectiles when he hears them. He fires a flare arrow into the dark and it sticks in the embankment, illuminating four goblins firing darts from blowguns. 

Ratatosk and Rummy were looking a little too closely at the arrow and wind up momentarily blinded, but Ratatosk throws a spell in the direction of the light and the goblins are all trapped by entangling grasses (as is Russ, but y'know, everyone makes mistakes). Rummy calls on the size of the Ripper and tries to snarl intimidatingly at the goblins, but is facing the wrong way and winds up growling at the water. 

Russ and Snoot fire arrows at the goblins. One tears himself free and flees, Snoot wounds one, and Russ hits a couple with sleep arrows. Snoot then approaches the one remaining goblin and demands to know where the teens are. The goblin hasn't seen them, but does admit to finding their boat and burning it. He also mentions that there's a mole that lives down the beach a ways - they have a deal with him (he gives them worms and grubs, they don't eat him). 

The Knights head down the beach a ways and find the home of one Giggs Bogglesworth. He answers the door and immediately panics when he sees Snoot - "You found me! You tracked me down, all the way out here?!" Snoot stops him and says that they're not there for him, they're here for Mimsy. Mimsy, it turns out, is Giggs' niece, and she's there along with Loy. Loy is just about passed out, as he's gone through all of the sap candy and cider already. 

Ratatosk goes out and forages some berries for him, and Snoot talks with Mimsy while Rummy quietly plays "Yeet the Noodle" to help bump her Harmony a bit. Mimsy says that she kind of panicked - she feels that her grandmother would just be really disappointed and she doesn't want to deal with that. And then she talked Loy into going because she'd have missed him. She agrees, though, that she needs to go home. Giggs tells her that she can visit, and Snoot gently suggests that maybe he could come back and visit, too. 

Giggs reveals that he was charmed into helping Brock Westerwart rob Meester Snufflestar of his worms. Snoot informs him that Brock is a wizard and quite skilled at Charm spells, and that seems to be a load off Giggs' mind. The next morning, the teens get back in the boat with the Knights and head home. 

They finally apologize to Keeble, Sarafina, Eliza, and their parents. Mimsy asks to apprentice with Jonna, as she's become interested in boats. Loy gets into foraging with Ratatosk, while Bert joins the Junior Rangers with Russelet. 

Keeble invites the Knights to tea and confirms that they're going to stay in Cairn for the winter. They say that maybe they'd go on the road again in a couple of years, but this is where they live. Russelet returns the stick to Master Wickerdrey, and while he refuses to tell the story that's written on it (other than the refer to Highpeak Mountain), he does say that when he finally passes on he'll make sure the Knights get the stick. 

Winter comes to Cairn, as it does every year. This winter is extra cold and the frozen ground makes parts of the village inaccessible. The Knights pass the long winter nights and short winter days - Snoot makes plans to get some beehives. Russelet teaches some of the youths how to track in the snow. Ratatosk does some winter foraging and canning. Rummy makes plans to make a barn and get herself a boar, and do some animal husbandry like her friend Memm does. 

Next spring, doubtless some new adventure will call the Traveling Knights.

Cairn: Those Darn Kids

Cairn! Here's last time.

Our heroes go to the Brookflower to find Sarafina Bushytail, intending to ask about her experience being chased by the "Marma." They find, however, when they get there she's not in. Quirkly Shallowleaf, the owner of the Brookflower, says that she was so shaken by her experience that she's resting, and the night bartender, Trixat Flutterwatch is looking after her.

They head to her house, and Trixat answers the door. He tells them that Sarafina is feeling pretty delicate right now, and maybe they could come back later? He's pretty insistent, and so the Knights go and try and trace her steps. They find the point at which she started running, and it looks like someone jumped off a nearby roof and landed next to her. Russelet Leatherwind brings his tracking acumen to bear, and determines that whoever landed next to her has the posture and gait of a larger, leaner animal, like an otter or weasel, but isn't as big as they usually are. He also finds a tuft of hair on the roof. Ratatosk Longberry takes it and scampers back to the lab, and after some quick examination determines it to belong to a sugar glider.

Russelet knows that since the incident with the Blood-Walkers, some of the glider families from Sweetthorn Roost have moved closer to Cairn for safety. The Knights head over to the cluster of homes where they've settled and see a bunch of young gliders hopping about tree to tree. Snootabur Shadowbough starts juggling while Rumdiggle Sunsong plays along on her lute, and soon enough some of the gliders come down to watch. One of them chats with Snootabur, and Snoot quickly discovers that this glider (Bitta Covercloud) is probably too young and unfocused to be much help. She asks Bitta to find an adult, and she scampers off after her dad. Ratatosk follows her into the trees and talk with one of the adult gliders, and learns that there was talk of a second Marma, north of this cluster. A teenage glider named Astar Moontail joins the conversation - Astar is a big fan of Russelet and wants to join the guard when he gets older. 

Astar shows them to where he saw the Marma and tells them that it looked like it just appeared out of nowhere. Russelet figures that it probably appeared from over a rise, and he notes boot-prints identical to the ones that chased Sarafina. Following those prints backwards, they lead to where Rummy stashed the Marma costume...which is gone. 

The Knights follow the prints backwards, hoping to find where these thieves came from. In addition to the bootprints, which Russelet still believes are from a juvenile weasel or otter, they find prints from someone who lands and then jumps back into the air - probably a glider. And then there's one more set of prints, smaller than the boot-prints, but not as small as, say, a mouse? Whatever it was, Snoot finds a little hole where it dug up a bug for a snack. Hedgehog, maybe, or mole? 

The trail leads back around to the northwest side of Cairn, and the Knights find themselves at the Cider Mill Inn. They stop in and talk with Alyere Lovegood, and ask her about any young folks she might know that fit this general description. She says that Bert Stubtail, the son of Cripke Stubtail (whom the characters dealt with way back in the first story), is chummy with her daughter Anima, but she isn't sure where they were during the Marma's Day celebration. Alyere also tells them that Sarafina has apparently been telling stories about being chased by Marma last night, it's getting people in something of a tizzy.

They decide to split up. Snoot and Rummy go to the Brookflower to see Sarafina, while Ratatosk and Russelet go to the Root and see if Cripke is around. At the Brookflower, Snoot and Rummy enter to see Sarafina telling the story of the horrible Marma chasing her and giggling like a banshee. They interrupt before things get worse and talk to her, and she confirms that the "Marma" landed next to her out of nowhere, but she didn't really see it much after that. Then she heard high-pitched giggles coming from multiple angles. The Knights gently inform her that, in all probability, this was just a group of kids playing a prank, and Sarafina feels kind of silly. She asks Rummy to play a song with her, and Snoot relaxes and listens.

Meanwhile, at the Root, Ratatosk and Russelet find Cripke and talk with him about his son Bert. Cripke confirms that Bert was home when he came home on Marma's Day, but he does mention that he smelled the fungus-y earth typical of the Underground when he got home. The Knights file that away, and go to meet back up.

Snoot, in the meanwhile, drops in on Festa Lovegood, tending his worm farm, and asks about his sister and any gliders she might know. He confirms that Anima likes to hang with Bert Stubtail, a glider named Aloysius "Loy" Covercloud (maybe the brother of Bitta, whom the characters met earlier?) and a mole whose name he doesn't know. Armed with this knowledge, the Knights decide to go back out to the glider colony and see if they can find Loy.

On the way, though, they hear alarm bells from Cairn! A fire! They all rush back into town (except Rummy, who's here anyway, having taken the time to walk Sarafina home) and join the bucket brigade. The house that caught fire belonged to Eliza Greyhair, the old mouse who runs the Market, and the Knights hear rumors that the Marma did it! 

Once the fire is out, they find Lord Mayor Keeble Brownberry trying to calm citizens down. They tell him what's been going on, and he tells them that Eliza was chased into her home by someone wearing the Marma costume, and she got so scared she knocked over a pan of hot wax she was boiling to make candles and the house caught fire. Russelet talks to the citizens and reassures them that this was all just a big misunderstanding born of a prank, and the Knights go to find Bert Stubtail.

Bert is sullen and mumbly, but he does cop to the caper. He claims that he and his buddies found the costume in the woods, and Mimsy Underroot "made" him wear it to chase people around. The Knights tell Cripke to bring his son to see the Mayor tomorrow evening, and then the Knights split up - Ratatosk goes to talk to Alyere Lovegood about Anima, Russelet flies to the gliders to talk to the Coverclouds, and Rummy goes to the Underground to find Mimsy. Snootabur goes to the Lord Mayor to confirm that the youths will come to apologize. 

The Knights visit their respective offenders - Loy Covercloud is terrified and apologetic, Mimsy Underroot is cagey but ultimately acknowledges her role, and Anima isn't at the Cider Mill Inn, but Alyere makes it quite clear that she'll be having a stern talk with her daughter. 

Next session, we shall see how the apology goes!

Cairn: Touch the Scary Worm

The year draws to a close (in the game, I mean), and here we are!

The circus wends its way south from Brandybuck Junction, and through the Frogmire Marshes, where Ratatosk Longberry is delighted to harvest some marsh mallow. The characters meet a frog fisherman named Woodborn Brightriver (they meet him when Oof steps in his fishing pool, but they get it all sorted), who warns them that floods are coming. The circus diverts west and they wind up close to the Highpeak Mountains, and have the pleasure of seeing the Falls of Fire (a waterfall that lights up red when the sun hits it at the autumnal equinox).

Through all of that, the Traveling Knights persevere. They're each looking forward to getting home; Snootabur Shadowbough wants to get back to her worm farm and check in with Festa Lovegood (who is keeping the farm going). Ratatosk wants to show Ripark the worms that he found and rearrange all his stashes and caches. Russelet Leatherwind wants to talk with Juffin Longbottom and catch up on gossip. Rumdiggle Sunsong wants to nap, but she's also looking forward to catching up with Sarafina Bushytail. 

The circus gets to the Swiftwater River and the Knights realize they're just about home. They see beavers and otters in the river waving them on, and as they get closer Keeble Brownberry and Juffin Longbottom come out to meet them. They tell the characters that they've just made it - tomorrow is Marma's Day!

A brief aside: Marma's Day is the last day of the harvest. The children of Cairn dress up in scary costumes and chase "Marma" out of town. Getting to play Marma is an honor, and whoever does it typically takes off the costume and then comes back into town and tells a story about seeing Marma run away from Cairn. Traditionally, the person weaves in whatever problems Cairn has had for the past year to the story about Marma running out of town. All of the characters love Marma's Day - they love the cider, the roasted grubs (well, Snoot does), the caramel-covered...well, everything. 

Keeble asks if any of the Knights would like to be Marma this year, and Rummy enthusiastically volunteers. Russ, Snoot, and Ratatosk all chip in their talents to help with the costume, but it's late and that's tomorrow. The characters get some sleep, and the next day, Rummy sleeps in while the others get to work.

Russ uses bowstring to fashion fur and whiskers. Snoot makes a dragon mask out of paper. Ratatosk, as usual, goes all-out and makes some big wings that fold out when strings are pulled. When Rummy wakes up they help her get dressed and test everything out, and then everyone relaxes and enjoys the day. Sumna Stormriver has given the circus-folk the next couple of days off, but her brother Dirk has set up the games booths anyway. The kids of Cairn scamper around having a grand old time, and the autumn day dwindles quickly. 

Come evening, everyone gathers at the town hall (there's a big banner saying "WELCOME HOME TRAVELING KNIGHTS" on it). Keeble gives the traditional "look out! The Marma!" speech, and then unleashes Rummy! She runs around scaring the kids and then being chased, while Snootabur helps wrangle the young'uns and keep everyone more or less together. They chase Rummy out of town on the north end of Cairn, near the Cider Mill Inn, and she ditches the costume and comes back into town and performs her new song, "Marma." 

The party ramps up, everyone drinks cider, and the Knights do a bar crawl starting at the Cider Mill, working down to the Brookflower, to the Root, and then back up to the Brookflower. The three bars have very different vibes; the Cider Mill is where the kids are hanging out and playing games, the Brookflower is a more rowdy and adult crowd ("PLAY JA-JA DING DONG"), and the Root is rougher and seedier. 

Rummy is very drunk, and is singing with Sarafina Bushytail. Russelet does some three-card monte style shuffling, while Ratatosk corners someone and talks to them about fish-buttons. Keeble Brownberry, the Lord Mayor, finds Snootabur and congratulates her and the Knights on their clever idea to an extra Marma pop up to scare the kids.

Trouble is, Snoot has no idea what he's talking about. Keeble is a little too drunk for her to press the issue, so she finds Russelet. He puts on his bat-ears and listens to some gossip, and he does hear people talk about these extra Marmas. Adults seem to think it was a clever thing the Knights did, while the kids are talking about it in spooky "one of them was the real Marma" kinds of terms. Nothing sinister, though. Russelet flits up into the trees and talks with his sentries, but none of them have seen anything. He does a little tracking, but there's been so much foot traffic because of the Marma's Day festivities that he can't tell if anything's amiss.

The next day, the Knights continue getting acclimated to their town. Snootabur talks with Eliza Grayhair, the mouse that unofficially runs the marketplace. She says she saw one of the extra Marmas - far too small to have been Rummy, and quite agile. She saw it run away and leap off of a market stand. Snoot and Russ investigate, but all they find is a shattered clay cider bottle (non-alcoholic). Eliza mentions, too, that Sarafina Bushytail came to her early in the morning looking for blueberries. Blueberries are comfort food for her; she needed it because something chased her all the way home last night!

The Knights figure this might be a prank, but they decide they need to go talk to Sarafina this evening, just to make sure...

Cairn: The (Band)Leader of the Army Below

Music! Dancing! Spiders! Rocks! All of the exciting action of Cairn! Here's last time. 

The Knights have made camp near the fountain that apparently dispenses dandelion wine, near a mysterious otherworldly opening to a Titan ruin. They realize that while they did try to activate the weird stone handprints around the fountain, they didn't bleed whilst doing so, and the bloodstain on the bat-print indicates maybe they should. Russelet Leatherwind slices his paw and does so, and the pit opens. The Knights can see into the ruin, and they are horrified.

They see dozens - maybe more - of Awakened hanging from the ceiling, wrapped in spider silk. Terrifying spidery creatures scuttle around the walls and floor, and Rumdiggle Sunsong feels something watching them hungrily. She relays this, and Russelet fires a burning arrow into the dark. He illuminates the cavern a bit, and it does seem like the shadow-spider creatures shy away from the light. 

The Knights ponder their options here. Ratatosk Longberry notes that he could make some alchemical powder that would repel Dire and Unnatural creatures, but he doesn't have enough to protect everyone. Maybe enough to put a ring around the pit, to keep anything from getting out? Snootabur Shadowbough fires a couple of burning arrows into the pit, creating a ring of light, and the Knights figure maybe they could lower themselves down there safely. For that, they'll need some supplies. Rummy and Ratatosk ride Oof, the daggertusk, back to town to gather stuff, while Snoot and Russ watch the pit.

Snoot spots someone watching them from a distance, and calls out. The watch turns out to be Bluecap, a druid that the Knights met on their first trip out this way. Bluecap, a meerkat, greets them warmly, but tells them that Redscale (the head druid) is worried about what's happening out here. They explain what's been happening and Bluecap relates what he remembers about the legend of the Ruin and the Army Below. To wit, that if someone takes on the mantle of leader, they give the Army form and can command them. He knows the fountain is important, too, but doesn't remember why (this is all very much in the realm of mythology, he explains, no one ever really knew that this was real). 

The others return, and they talk through their plans. In the end, they decide to try and learn a little more before descending into the dark. Bluecap will take Ratatosk and Rumdiggle, on Oof, back to Rock Circle and talk with Redscale. Russelet and Snootabur, being stealthy, will enter the Dead Forest and find the lair of the Spider-Queen. 

The first group arrives in Rock Circle just before sunrise. Oof gratefully laps up the water the druids give him, and Redscale greets Ratatosk and Rummy warmly. Ratatosk explains what's happening in his inimitable style, and Redscale tells him that the legend that Bluecap had related is more or less accurate. The Rock Circle druids are happy to help in whatever capacity they can, of course.

Meanwhile, Snoot and Russ track the Spider-Queen's children through the Dead Forest and arrive in a clearing completely covered with webs. There's a boulder in the clearing as well as some dead trees. Snoot clears some of the webs away from it, and they both consider that if trees have spirits (which they do), maybe rocks do too? Snootabur gets right up close to the rock and start cleaning it, and the rock grows a face, and then somehow pushes her back. She picks herself up and starts a conversation. The rock-spirit introduces itself as Oomatai, and is grumpy and bitter. It says that the Spider-Queen's children live her and run all over the place, but when the New Moon comes the Queen's new children will show them what "fast" really looks like. When Snootabur introduces herself, it rolls her name around for a while ("Snoooooooooooooooo"), and it's still doing that when a bird lands and starts talking to Snoot. 

How? Well, back at Rock Circle, Redscale had asked Rummy if they'd like him to check on the other Knights ("You can do that?"), and then cast a spell letting him send his mind through natural phenomena - animals, plants, water - across the land until he found them. Redscale gets an update from Snoot, and then tells her that gnomes (the spirits of rocks, just like "dryads" are the spirits of trees) are extremely wise. They're slow, however, and they don't make decisions or answer questions quickly. Best thing to do is be patient. 

Snoot remembers what Oomatai said about the new moon, and relays that Redscale. Redscales notes that there are three nights until the new moon, and passes this information along to Ratatosk and Rummy. The Knights aren't sure what all this means, but maybe they have some time before the spider-creatures start eating the townsfolk? They decide that, in the morning, Rummy and Ratatosk will ride for the fountain again (with Bluecap), and the other druids will set out on foot. Their magic will help them make the trip faster, but the Knights will still make much better time riding Oof.

Meanwhile, Russ and Snootabur will continue talking with Oomatai and seeing what he can teach them. Oomatai is difficult. He's grouchy and dislikes the Spider-Queen, yet talks about her children, their speed, and how they eat living creatures (which he refers to "hedgehogs," not quite able to figure out the difference between species). Snootabur continues talking with him about the passage of time, life, death, the cycle of life, and he eventually warms up a little and tells her that the Spider-Queen has become the leader of the Army Below.

The Army Below, he explains, is imprisoned by the Ruin but also by form, or rather the lack thereof. Whoever takes control of the Army can grant it a form and a purpose, and the Spider-Queen has turned the Army into spidery creatures. But they've taken all those "hedgehogs" (that is, the circus-folk and the villagers) prisoners, and on the New Moon they will become the Spider-Queens new children. Hybrids of Awakened and spiders, they will be able to survive in sunlight and will rampage across the land, feeding.

Oomatai isn't so worried about this - all hedgehogs die and become worm food, after all - but Snootabur explains why this is a bad thing. Oomatai falls back into contemplation, and Russ and Snoot head back to the fountain to talk with the others. They rig up a pulley system using nets from the circus, rope, and Oof as muscle, figuring they'll be able to pull people out of the pit. Snoot arrives and tells them what she's learned. They have two more nights. They need to get down there and save people.

Snoot decides to go back and speak with Oomatai more. Rummy cautions her - if they're going into the pit in the morning (about the time the druids should arrive, according to Bluecap) maybe she doesn't want to be out all night? But Snoot feels that she's getting somewhere with Oomatai and doesn't want to leave him. She goes back and finds him silent, and curls up by him to wait for dawn.

In the morning, the druids arrive. Snoot continues her conversation with Oomatai, and the gnome finally reveals that he was jealous of the Spider-Queen and her children, and he wants to be moved away from them. Snoot offers to have his boulder moved to a living forest, somewhere that "hedgehogs" might visit him. First, though, she and the Knights need to destroy the Spider-Queen, depriving the Army of form. Oomatai offers to help, creating a tunnel directly to the Queen. 

Snoot summons the others, and Oomatai emerges from the boulder and punches his way down into the earth. The tunnel emerges at a dais, and the gigantic Spider-Queen waits. She hisses and clicks, leaping to the attack, but the Traveling Knights are ready for her!

Russelet and Snootabur fire arrows at her, while Rumdiggle takes on the aspects of the ripper, the stripefang, and the gnasher and acts as bait, goading the Spider-Queen into attacking. Ratatosk leaps on the Spider-Queen's head and jams a flare into its eyes, the marksmen fire blazing arrows at it. The battle is long and difficult, but the Spider-Queen succumbs to the fire and lays burning.

But it's not over! The Army Below is once more deprived of form, and starts attacking the Awakened prisoners. The Knights run to help, but Snoot realizes that there's no way they're going to beat an army, just the four of them. Rumdiggle has a terrible idea - she strikes a note on her lute, quaffs a luck potion from Ratatosk, and becomes the Leader of the Army Below.

The shadow-creatures take on the forms of baby versions of all of Rummy's friends, and she sits them down for a singalong. The others quickly get the prisoners out, with the help of the druids and the rope-pulley system, and when they're all free Rummy leaves them, knowing that no one has the will to remain the Leader for long without Disharmony dragging them down.

With everyone free, Coleru Waxwing lands and thanks the Knights profusely. He introduces them to Plum, his wife, and Mella and Wish, his daughters. They had been taken by the spiders, he said, and he didn't dare explain the situation directly because he knew that the spiders would harm them if he did. But he left clues, knowing that the Traveling Knights could solve this! Rummy tries to be mad about this, but after all, it worked, so she can't really be upset.

The circus stays in Brandybuck Junction long enough for their injured to heal. Sumna tells the Knights that given this delay, they'll be lucky to get back by Marma's Day, but the Knights don't mind. The folks in Cairn will understand.