"Refuges from Innenotdar starting coming into Seaquen and Gate Pass about forty years ago so the forest must have caught fire around then. But as to how or why the fire started that has never been discovered." Torrent answers as she looks at the collection of weapons.
"We should move them out of here and see to burying them if possible." she says nodding to the two dead tower guards.
Over the next hour the group searches the tower and readies themselves for a well deserved rest.
On the first floor of the tower the group discovers nothing but weapons and arrows - lots of arrows - and the two dead guards. The guards died of starvation and thus avoided the fate of the dire bat. They learn of this from a journal found on the second floor...
On the second floor the group finds the only furnishing in the whole tower. A large round table sits in the middle of the room atop which sits a number of items.
The first is a holy symbol carved of wood with a small tree in the center. A moon below and the sun above are partly covered by the tree.
<Religion check to ID>
The second thing is a journal written in elvish with the name "Bhurisrava" on the cover. During the rest of the evening the group pours through the book and learns some insight into the elven cleric called Bhurirava (elven for "defeated in no battles"). The book covers Bhurisrava’s last few weeks in the tower, mixed with musings on the nature of faith. It appears that the priest underwent a conflict of faith as he faced death, and that he wished
to convert to a healing faith before he died, but did not know how. He also recounts the tales of many refugees who spoke of fires that simply would not go out. The elves of Innenotdar tried to save their home, but not even magic could put out the flames. His last passage reads as follows...
I tire of spending my days rescuing the burning bodies of survivors and tending to them to no effect. The last survivor I found was a woman who still believed that the Living Wood of Innenotdar could not be abandoned. She asked my help looking for her boyfriend. We found him in a hidden basement under the Shrine of Anyariel, where he had gone to curse the Anyariel name, along with a dozen other of the townsfolk. The fire had somehow burned in from the roots of the shrine, and they had long since been claimed. Though not dead, they are despairing, and their curses haunt me. The woman saw her beloved and fled me into the woods, seeking an impossible death. I found myself hoping something ate her.
I never learned her name. I can do this no longer. To whatever god hears the prayers of the doubting, please give me the strength for the task ahead of me. I am going to deliver the despairing to the mouth of the White River upstream, where at least they can have some reprieve from the fire. May someone find what I have hidden. It would help bring to justice those responsible for the destruction of my beautiful homeland, for which otherwise none shall shed tears.
Also among his writings are notes on some items he calls
dream seeds, explaining they were taken from the corpses of goblins who had helped set the fires. According to a speak with dead spell, the seeds are supposed to create prophetic visions of a “dream realm,” but Bhurisrava felt no effect when he tried one, and he risked not take another (due to the warning). He filed them away, figuring they were useless. The goblins had been natives to the caves under the forest, hired by an orc who claimed to be Ragesian, but Bhurisrava could find out no better information from them.
The last thing on the table is a large wooden map of the village beyond the bridge, with small carved figures placed amid miniature buildings to represent possible ways to defend the town.
And on the empty third level the group discovers a secret compartment in the wall that contains spell components, material for creating scrolls and potions, and a pouch labeled
“For later study.” The small paper pouch contains seven small, blackened seeds shaped like claws. A sleeping face is drawn on the pouch, and written in Goblin are instructions:
“Take one for visions of the firemaker. Do not take more. These are poison.” That have been translated to elvish.
"So now we know who set the fires." Torrent says as the group gathers sitting and listening amongst their bedrolls, on the third level of the tower.
"We should get some rest. I think tomorrow will be a very big day for all of us."
[sblock=Item List]
2 masterwork composite longbows (Str +1)
200 arrows,
2 masterwork shortswords
2 masterwork longswords
2 daggers
2 masterwork chain shirts
holy symbol
journal of Bhurisrava
area map (not portable but can be recalled from memory by a PC)
alchemist's lab, portable
2 antitoxin
2 weapon blanch, silver
2 weapon blanch, cold iron
bloodblock
antiplague
materials for creating potions (100gp)
materials for creating scrolls/transcribing spells (150gp)
7 dream seeds[/sblock]
Natural 20. ))
