Expedition: Bianca to the North Woods - 03 Aug 2021

[Marullus]

As they look more closely, they see it is odd-shaped and not like a tower you'd expect. It appears to be a broad, square building with many windows, but which is sunken into the sodden earth and now also tilts at a precarious angle. There is no lower level or door - presumably that level is long submerged. The lowest level has half-buried windows, shuttered against the mud. A half-story above, a set of makeshift stairs rises to an open window-frame. Two more stories rise above before the rakish tilt of the roofline with a smoking round chimney upon it.

The stairs are made of metal, extending out of the mud, their beginning somewhere underground as the building sinks into the swamp. The square building of strange construction lets them ascend the stair to the tilted window above, entering the ancient construction. Maelenor and Bianca's close examination surmises that it is likely an Ellurian building at least six millennia old and from prior to the cataclysm. The smooth stone walls without sign of a mason's tools hint to magical construction, lost arts of an ancient civilization. Everything shows signs of a willworker's touch, though long suffering from entropy and decay of years, not of foul play or foul magic that you can discern.

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Entering through the tall, door-size window, you find a spacious chamber, about 30x40', running longways along the windows. Floor to ceiling glass allows you to see out to the crowded foliage of the swamp outside where the tinted nature prevented you from seeing in. The room was once opulent, long ago, with carved flourishes in the decorative moulding around the ceiling, carved wood wainscoting, and thick, plush carpet that appears attached to the floor, stretching from wall to wall. You aren't sure what color the carpeting was originally, but now it appears to be a grey/brown. Three ancient upholstered couches (such that you've only heard of for royalty in the largest cities of the southlands, and even then not so fully apportioned as these) molder and creak with their vast age along the walls. Steady amber magical light glows from sconces attached to the walls.

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The woman has retreated to the only visible exit - double doors of engraved solid wood, stained black by design and age. She holds her lamp, the steady glow of magical light within, her hands upon the doors at her sides. You can now see her clearly, almost. She wears layered veils over her body and hair, her forearms, calves, and feet exposed. Her upper face is covered by an off-white porcelain mask, only her red lips and delicate chin exposed. "You may shelter here, but no further," she says, counting the six of you in the room, plus bear and dog. "Meals will be delivered soon."

Malenor asks the lady in the tower, "Do you know me, woman?" Looking around the room, Grizzly Woman asks, "How long have you been here lady?” The woman remains dubious and guarded as she responds. "We exist eternal and we know all of you... You come from the south, returning to the center of all things. Change comes with you... vibrations along the strands of time which find their way to us. We are curious of you; more can be learned of your doom in person than at distance and your coming to us is not accidental... nothing truly is. But all things must pay their cost - if you have something of true value to offer, more of your fate can be revealed. Or you may continue in blindness, it is of no concern to us."


Date: 06 August 2021, 10:10pm
Distance: 13.5 miles
Light: wall sconces
Effects: None
Injuries: Grizzly Woman (minor wound), Halla (minor wound), Bianca (minor wound), Willow (minor wound)

[Modric]

Malenor

Us? We? I only see one of you. Where are the others?

[Starbeard]

The Grizzly Woman

"That is mighty kind of you Lady. What is it that you take to have true value? Are you talking money or miscellanies?"

[Zhym]

Clint smiles and nods in appreciation. "Thanks all the same, ma'am, but I don't think I want my fate revealed. What if I don't like my fate?"

[Rusty Tincanne]

Invisible, Winnie crosses half the room (though staying near the walls)like towardsman, as quietly as she can, in an experiment to see is aware of her. She suspects she can.
If the woman appears to be able to see her, Winnie will drop her invisibility and ask, Who are you? How do you come to be here? Why are you studying us? She wonders if the woman would value songs and stories.

[Marullus]

Her face is impassive, her tone still dubious and taking on an edge as she replies to Modric. "Do you expect the whole of us to come and answer the door? I am the Keeper of the Door, and that is enough."

She visibly softens as she turns to Grizzly Woman. "Precious metals are to no avail to us, but all being have something to offer." Huckleberry grunts and flops down, doing a roll on the rug.

She regards Clint a long, silent moment, then dips her head in respect.

Winnie sneaks through the room, the plush carpeting divoting under her feet. The woman appears to be ignoring her, but pointedly, and you decide she is aware of you. You drop your invisibility enchantment and repeat the inquiries asked earlier by the Grizzly Woman. The woman finally turns and regards her, staring for a long, dubious, moment at the human woodland witch. "Let it suffice that I shall bring you dinner... it seems I cannot make you drink."

The woman steps backwards and closes the double ebony wood doors.

Date: 06 August 2021, 10:20pm
Distance: 13.5 miles
Light: wall sconces
Effects: None
Injuries: Grizzly Woman (minor wound), Halla (minor wound), Bianca (minor wound), Willow (minor wound)

[Alethan]

Willow stares at the door with a questioned look on her face.

"What did that mean? 'It seems I cannot make you drink' she said before she left. Is she unable to make beverages for us to drink? Or is she unable to force us to drink something?"

[Zhym]

"Both?" answers Clint. "I mean, if she can't make a drink for us, she can't make us drink it, right?"

He takes a long, long moment to think. A really long moment. "I hear you can take a horse to water but you can't make him drink," he ventures, slowly. "But whenever I ride a horse to water, he always drinks. So what I want to know is, who are all these people whose horses don't get thirsty?" The expression on his face is entirely sincere, as if he's hoping to get an address book.

[Bluehorse]

Bianca

Still standing near Grizzly Woman. Am I the only one that feels like we might have just wondered into a spider's web?

[Alethan]

Willow flashes a quick smile.

“I did mention we shouldn’t let our guard down.”

[Modric]

Malenor

Can one our thieves either open the door or hear noise beyond the door?

[Zhym]

Oh, yes. Let’s do what the powerful witchy lady who took us in told us not to do. That’s certain to end well.

[Modric]

Hey, us chaotics don't follow the rules!

OK, so she said to "go no further", but that doesn't mean we can't listen to what's beyond the door or open it and look in, right?

[Zhym]

IC:

Clint notices Malenor eyeing the door contemplatively. Not that Clint would ever have used the word "contemplatively." But he seems to know what the elf has on his mind.

"We are guests here," Clint admonishes pointedly. He takes a position in front of the door. "It would be rude to our host, the very powerful nice lady who sees invisible people, to do what she asked us not to do."

He glances at Willow and Bianca, both clearly ill at ease. "But we should keep watch tonight. I will take the first shift."

[Modric]

Malenor

Malenor shrugs off Clint's comments, and responds glibly, You can't blame a fly caught in a web for trying to escape.

Malenor will check for hidden and secret doors per his racial skill.

[Zhym]

Clint looks confused. "Trapped?" he says. "The door we came in is over there. No one's stopping you from using it."

[Modric]

Malenor

Responding, No, I'll stay in the web, but let us know if any spiders come while we're sleeping.

[Marullus]

(Your party has no thieves. )

The party prepares to settle down for the night and sets a watch (any particulars?), contemplating the open window exit and the closed double doors both with a certain trepidation. Malenor examines the whole room with his keen elven eyes, but finds nothing resembling a secret passage. He does note several large ovals on the walls which are less faded with light and time, indicating that wall hangings were removed from this chamber.

It is about that time that the double doors briefly open, allowing four large wooden trays and folding stands to float into the room before they close again. They stands are erected and the trays land upon them. Each tray is laden with steaming hot prepared foods - savory roast chickens, bowls of mixed green and herb salads, broiled steaks, buttered carrots, cheese-laden baked potatoes, trenchers of soup, fresh baked breads, and sweet deserts with sugared berries and whipped cream. (Good Meals for eight people, plus the dog and bear)

Date: 06 August 2021, 10:40pm
Distance: 13.5 miles
Light: wall sconces
Effects: None
Injuries: Grizzly Woman (minor wound), Halla (minor wound), Bianca (minor wound), Willow (minor wound)

[Rusty Tincanne]

He takes a long, long moment to think. A really long moment. "I hear you can take a horse to water but you can't make him drink," he ventures, slowly. "But whenever I ride a horse to water, he always drinks. So what I want to know is, who are all these people whose horses don't get thirsty?" The expression on his face is entirely sincere, as if he's hoping to get an address book.

Winnie, now visible, pats Clint affectionately on the shoulder. An intriguing question.

She agrees with Clint on the matter of manner. Though it is meant to be taken in broader terms, the universe will balance itself with your actions. Threefold. Let us not test the patience of our hostess(es) and be left to the boglings we were warned against. Winnie walks out the entry window and sits down on the stoop, staring out into the wilds.

When the food arrives, she allows Mrs. Dash to sniff at it. If the dog seems to think it is edible, she will eat a small amount, commenting on the odd nature that their hostess did not come back to join them, and perplexed by the source of the foodstuffs. I have a whistle that might summon some rodents. If the come, they might tell me what they know of this place and it's occupants. Do you all think it is worth doing, or an affront to our hostesses?

[Alethan]

"If you can do it discretely, Winnie, more information is always better. I still have a nagging feeling that we should be even more concerned that the bogmen we were warned about are avoiding this place..." Willow replies quietly.