D&D 5E [D&D 5E] Tattered Memories: An Adventure in Tethyr (COMPLETE)

[CanadienneBacon]

[section] Brue frowned at the wood. Waterkeep? From Chult? She tried to mentally piece together what she knew of the politics between Chult and...well, wherever the deuce she was now. Her brain fogged; she'd been banged upside the head within just the last few days, and it was hard to think. Brue stood up, put keg in the corner of the room and then, thinking better of things, re-arranged the kegs so that the one she'd just hacked into was hidden behind the stack of other kegs. She kept the third of the hacked-off false waterkeep lid in her hand, however. "I'll take this to Sir Greycastle," she brandished the piece of wood.

Brue prevaricated. "It seems off to me, too. It's spongy, which is weird. I don't know that Greycastle will know what it is, but can't hurt to bring it to his attention." The genasi once again replaced the prybar in its original position. When she was satisfied she hadn't left too much of a mess, she took the lid and went in search of Greycastle, hoping it was noon. It wouldn't do to bother him earlier than he expected her.[/section]

 

[CanadienneBacon]

[section] Before she left the storeroom, Brue added as an afterthought to Janelle, "Was this your last barrel of this type of ale from the supplier? Maybe you could hold off serving any more? Just for a bit, until Greycastle has a look at the false bottom we found. If the keg does turn out to be the source of the sickness, it wouldn't do for others to continue drinking the beer." Brue waited for a response from Janelle.[/section]

 

[Forged Fury]

"The only ale we have now is from the Kirgard garrison. Should I stop serving it? That might ruffle some feathers..." Janelle replied.

OOC: In case it wasn't clear, waterkeep is naturally spongy.

 

[CanadienneBacon]

[section] Brue paused. "When did you run out of Preston's ale? If you think you've used up all of his ale and that the Kirgard barrels aren't similarly 'short,' then I think you could continue to serve the Kirgard. The last thing we want is more fighting. I'll go find Greycastle, have a chat with him, then I'll pop back in here." [/section]

OOC: Off to find Greycastle. Brue wants to show him the waterkeep. Her plan afterward is to return to the Mossy Nymph's storeroom, where she wants to take a look at the kegs from the Kirgard garrison. After that, I suspect a trip to Boddynock will probably be in order.

 

[Forged Fury]

"We ran out shortly after the guards blockaded the town. I expected Preston to return a few days ago, but I'm sure he just bypassed the place when he saw the blockade." Pondering Brue's comment, Janelle finished, "The Kirgard barrels have all had the expected amount of ale. We'll keep serving it... assuming any one will ever buy ale here again once they find out what happened."

Brue nodded and said, "I'll tell Greycastle what we've discovered. Surely his word will help the folk of Mosstone understand."

The earth genasi left the Mossy Nymph and headed east along The Main, arriving at Greycastle's door after a short walk. Checking the sun, she was confident she wouldn't be disturbing his work. Knocking on the door, Brue heard a gruff "Come in!" and entered the house. Greycastle glanced up from a ledger and said, "Well, what did you find out?"

 

[CanadienneBacon]

[section] "Janelle and I had a look at the empty kegs in her storeroom. She said she normally takes delivery from Preston, and he had been due to make a delivery but Janelle thought the quarantine had prevented Preston from doing so in the last week. When I asked her if anything seemed amiss with Preston's last delivery, she said one of the kegs was short. We went into the storeroom, and it looks to me like the keg in question has a false bottom. I found this," Brue held out the section of spongy waterkeep for Greycastle to inspect. "See how it's spongy? It's waterkeep. It's a wood from Chult, and it's oft-traded in Calimshan, I think. Well, anyway, it absorbs readily enough, but it can also radiate a substance it's soaked up. Leak it, like. I pried apart the false bottom on the keg, there wasn't anything stored in false bottom, but this waterkeep was there. It'd been crafted to fit the interior of the keg. I'm thinking someone soaked it in poison and then put it in the keg."

Brue continued. "I don't think Janelle did it. She knew something was off with the keg because it ran short. But she helped me check out the keg, and she seemed both surprised and concerned about the possibility that her ale might be the source of the plague. I don't know about this Preston bloke. Never met him. The timing's peculiar, though. Janelle ran out of Preston's ale in the last week, I think. She's been serving Kirgard ale from the garrison since then. She didn't think the Kirgard stuff was off, so I didn't see any reason to tell her to stop serving that. Didn't want to risk another riot. Folks have enough to worry over as it is."[/section]

 

[Forged Fury]

Greycastle remained silent while Brue relayed what she had uncovered. During her report, he frowned several times in concern. At the conclusion, he finally spoke up, "Given what you've found, it sounds like there is evidence that this plague had a hand in guiding it. With that said, we don't know for certain that this waterkeep contained anything untoward, but the fact that the plague started within hours of this keg being emptied seems like more than a coincidence."

Scratching his chin, he continued, "Preston Roundhill has been delivering beer to these parts for years. This doesn't seem like him at all. I wonder if he's been back this way since the delivery... I'm sure the Kirgard garrison will want to speak with him at the least. I'll make sure to mention it to Captain Holt this afternoon during the provisioning." Musing aloud, Greycastle continued, "Since the beer has run out, does that mean the plague is airborne? I know we've been taking precautions with the bandannas, but if it really is airborne..."

The paladin let the words linger in the air, considering what other measures may need to be taken to slow the progression of the plague.

 

[CanadienneBacon]

[section] Brue considered. "I don't know how sickness spreads. But if it's the beer that's causing the harm, wouldn't it have to be drunk to make someone ill? Maybe the bandanas are not necessary. I bet Master Boddynock would know more about sickness, he's an apothecary, after all. Or is there someone else in Mosstone, a healer maybe, that I could ask?" She paused. "I don't know that Preston put the waterkeep in the kegs. He's just the deliverer, right? Anyone could have put the waterkeep in there--could have happened at the distillery. Or even at the garrison outside the walls, though that'd be harder because I should think the false bottom would need to be in place before the keg was filled."

Brue waited a long few seconds before continuing. "I'd be careful who I mentioned this to. Folks seem upset and tired as it is, and we wouldn't want to rile them making willy nilly accusations about beer or the town's well water. And I don't want Janelle to suffer any decrease to her custom, especially not when all of Preston's ale has already been consumed. That reminds me, I'd like to return to the tavern to look at the Kirgard kegs, to see if they've been similarly tampered with. Janelle said she thought not, but I want to be sure. I'd also like to pay a visit to Boddynock. And I think we should check the town's water, too."[/section]

 

[Forged Fury]

Greycastle gave it some thought. "As far as the sickness, I've seen a bit of it from my time during the Reclamation Wars. Depending on the plague, it could be passed through drinking, eating, breathing, injury, or any combination of them. I think the only thing we know right now, assuming the other barrels haven't been tampered with, is that the beer is probably okay to drink. I won't stop Janelle's custom if the barrels come out clean. Unfortunately, we don't have much in the way of healers at the moment." With a sigh and shake of his head, the paladin adds an addendum to his thoughts, "Druids..."

"Roundhill is a brewer and merchant," Greycastle continued. "The beer is very likely his, it's distinct. One of the regulars would have noticed if it wasn't his brew. Not that it means Preston did it. One of his assistants could have done it at his brewery, but since he sells beer up and down the Trade Way, it's seems scattershot... although someone who wants to cause a plague isn't likely right in the head in the first place."

With a dark slash of concern on his face, Greycastle continued, "But I hadn't even thought about the well. If it's true that it's been contaminated too, and it makes a certain sense as we know the plague has spread pretty widely and can be passed by drinking, it means the whole town is in danger. It also means there maybe someone still inside the town responsible for it. There's no way that would be a coincidence. I agree with your assessment that we need to keep this to ourselves. I'll ask Holt about whether his guards have run across Roundhill but won't tell him why, you go and check the rest of the barrels to make sure they're clean. If they're clean, we can figure out where to go from there."

 

[CanadienneBacon]

[section] Brue nodded her agreement. "Right. I'll go back over to the tavern and have a look at the Kirgard barrels." She left the third of the lid's worth of waterkeep with Greycastle, smiled wanly at the grizzled knight, then quit the cottage in favor of regaining the Mossy Nymph.[/section]