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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mahiro Satsu" data-source="post: 304676" data-attributes="member: 4970">Episode IV Tummarlin's Wake part 3From the woodland journal of Van Dyksun:...severely spooked by the ghost I saw in the halls. Considering what I’ve seen only in the last month—rotting corpses still walking, squirrels that turn out to be mages, a man thought dead for over 200 years die and then be resurrected—why, it is no wonder I needed some time alone in the woods to gather my thoughts. Most of the company had things that they needed to do, anyway.Since no one else would, I agreed to let Temuel Khiv show me around town. He was fascinated how time had affected Eveningstar, and droned on about how when he had been here before that there was only three buildings, including Redhand’s tower. I admit that I found my attention wandering.I finally was able to escape to the woods. While I was testing the new bow we found, I felt myself being watched. At first I thought myself still jittery from the recent events, but then I noticed a wolf. Looking into the trees, I saw someone. It was the wood elf who had been with us when we captured the slavers, but who had left us suddenly while we were in the caverns. She drew my attention to tracks—I don’t know how I could have missed them before—a large company of men and possibly orcs. So near town, too. I resolved to tell the others, and asked the elf to find out more. I think she will, but who can tell. She is as almost wild as the wolf her companion.The others were only somewhat interested in my find. I don’t think they trust my skills.Feeling that we needed to get on with our mission, before Lady Winter had her guards throw us into jail, I organized a trip to watch the sharrada herd by night, so that we could ambush any demon imps that came poaching. Saeita and Corwyn agreed to join me, although once on the high pasture, Saeita kept to herself. Shortly before midnight, I heard approaching footsteps. I gestured to Corwyn to notch the new bow—I’m hoping to teach him something about killing from afar, although it looks like he may not need my help. The footsteps turned out to be one of the villagers--a Vilnar or Veldar or something like that--I can’t keep these villagers names straight--and his two sons (one of which tried to escape, but was brought back bloody and crying by Saeita). He claimed that a man had paid him to poach just a couple of the animals each month, but I’m not sure of his veracity. While we were talking, we noticed a fire burning back in town. As we rushed back, it turned out to be the mill on fire and the guards informed us that the town had been attacked by demon imps. The others in our party had confronted the leader of the attack and bested them in combat, including something that I heard someone call a Bugbear. It looked strangely like the Owlbear that we had encountered near the halls--in some ways, I’m glad I had not had to face it.While the loss of life had not been high, the demon imps had burnt or defiled with that horrible green slime most of the crops. And the miller, although he had been able to save his wife and daughters by putting them on a raft and sending them downstream, had been unable to save himself. A wake was organized for the next afternoon.Vilnar’s mysterious employer was due to show up that following evening as well. I resolved to ambush him and discover what he was using the sharrada for. I informed Lady Winter of my plans, but was surprised to discover that she was blaming us for the imps attack on the village, even for their very presence in this area. I tried to get her to see things logically—that the sharrada herd had been in danger long before our impromptu company had arrived in Eveningstar, that the demon imps were likely a manifestation of the new influence of Bane in the area. Then she really surprised me by claiming that we fabricating this Bane fear to cover our inept actions. I told her that if she no longer trusted us, then we could simply leave and begone, but that we wished to get to the heart of the problem. I had to tell her about Vilnar, and she said that if we did not find his employer, he would be arrested in the morning.All night long I struggled to stay awake, worried by my conversation, and wondering just how long this company could stay together. The constant bickering among the two dwarves has begun to spread, I fear. I’ve found myself short-tempered with both of them as well, and I’ve noticed Daziel has taken to wandering away when the dwarves start in. Corwyn simply counts his money again, and Saeita seems lost in a trance most of the time. When the mysterious employer failed to show, Daziel asked our goddess Selune to help her determine Vilnar’s trustworthiness. What he had told us seemed to be true, but I knew the guards would be there momentarily, and without the employer, they would take Vilnar. I wrote a short note to Lady Winter to reflect what we had discovered with Selune’s assistance, but I doubt the Lady will care. I suspect if we don’t discover something soon, we will be joining Vilnar in the Lady’s dungeon.As we gathered later that evening--after I had gotten a chance to catch up on my missed sleep--we finished portioning out the loot that we had found in the halls. Unfortunately, the process was marred by greed, and Velm threw his portion back on the table and stormed out. Bronn abruptly left the table, and that’s when Corwyn informed us that a band of dwarves had entered town. I left in search of Velm, finding him talking to the dwarven caravan, then followed him as he led them out of town and showed them the first cavern that we had explored. As they returned to town, I asked to talk to Velm. I thought that he had resolved to leave our company, to take Bronn back to their home as he had originally intended, but I was surprised that instead these dwarves were here to open the passage to Aerundar that Bronn and Velm believed this cavern to be.I convinced the others to join me in tracking the company of men and orcs that the wood elf had pointed out to me. We started the next morning, ending up circling back around town until in the late afternoon we came right back to the cavern that I had been at with Velm and the new company of dwarves the night before. Except something horrible had occurred--as they had started their mining operation, they had been ambushed by men and orcs--the very group we had been tracking! If only we had been a day earlier! The lead dwarf was furious with Velm. I have a feeling that he thinks Velm did this on purpose. Looking at the map we had from Mellomir, the rest of the party is convinced that the entrance to Aerundar is not in this cavern, but further up the gorge. We decided to follow that map, and Mellomir’s journal, the next morning.</blockquote>

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