Arcade's Journal: To Kindric
…a fine day for travelling despite the snow. Still a few weeks until Solstice....
…encountered a mage at an inn wielding a wooden staff topped by a wizard head. Curiously, it’s eyes seemed to follow you. He was accompanied by a bodyguard, apparently foreigners. He was not a friendly sort….
…truly astonishing. Heard shouts and cries for help on the road ahead, and arrived to find the mage and his entourage dead at the hands of bandits. While we engaged the bandits, Tom-Tom went after the leader and a small group, who appeared to have stolen the wizard staff and run into the woods. We were holding our own, when a massive explosion rocked the forest. A gigantic creature which seemed to be composed of living fire appeared, consuming the bandit leader and his men. It began to advance towards us through the trees, setting them alight. We found that the wizard staff had somehow returned and was lying upon the ground.
To be blunt, I grabbed the staff and we fled back to the inn. When we arrived, a fire-quenching group was being formed. Am quite disappointed, as the group would not allow me to go and assist….
...on the way to Dayhill, pesky horrid centipedes the size of tree trunks ambushed us from below the snow. No match for us. I was glad we decided to face them down after our last performance….
[Ed. This was how Arcade acquired the staff, which was to provide a great deal of assistance and amusement. More details to be revealed as they unfolded. Keep your eye on that stick, it moves fast.]
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Arcade’s Journal: Dopplegangers in Winter – Crellar’s Inn Part 1
...grateful to find an inn just before snowstorm hit. We encountered a party consisting of a cleric Rofan Fairfax, Lyons the mage, and others. Lyons was quite friendly, and asked to examine my unusual staff. I complied, wondering if he could tell me anything about it. Suddenly the mage’s eyes rolled upwards, and he fell unconscious to the floor. Most curious. We woke him up, but he could not explain what had happened to him.
The inn belongs to Gardis Crellar, an ex-adventurer, and his wife Gertrude and their sons Kellog and Kelsey....
...dark doings. During the night, Lyons was found murdered, but witnesses swore they had just seen him about the inn when he was already dead. We suspected doppelgangers. The investigation was going nowhere, when we got lucky. Two guardsmen wearing Thurrian family livery were mounting to leave on horseback, when their horses spooked and refused to carry them. This seemed unusual behavior for the horses of trained cavalry officers. A confrontation with the two revealed them as the doppelgangers, and we slew them. Who knew that animals don’t care for doppelgangers? Must remember that.
...before we left, I met the daughter of a Kindric merchant headed for Rampart and gave her a message for the Thurrians, warning them of a possible doppelganger plot.
Rofan has attached himself to our group. He is a priest of holy Galanna of the animals, but I suspect that he is actually insane. He tends to preach and try to convert disciples, and apparently has been healing for money. Specifically he has been healing “pigs, and fat women,” he says. Refers to things he finds objectionable as “The Devil’s Fruitcake”. I suspect that it’s going to be difficult to get rid of him.
[Ed. As with many P’Cat adventures, this one came back to haunt us in a big way. As did the PC Rofan. More later.]