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Grey Mouser, thief

"Shall we, Hoom?" asks Mouser.

Hoom Feethos:

"Ready Grey."

Bo calls for Sephus once the Constable is out of sight. He gives the bird the signal for surveillance and motions for him to follow the man to see where he goes off to next. If we have to wait around for the scouts to get back anyway, we might as well try to gain some more information.

He is a bit surprised that Grothnak is willing to allow two of us to go off own their own when he was so dead set against splitting up earlier. He wonders if he will ever understand a warriors way of thinking.

Hoom Feethos:

"What do you think, head due south through the woods until we hit the stream and then follow it west to the bridge, hugging the bank as we go. We'll need to cross at the bridge at the water way as it gets much thicker as we go east. After that there is not much cover. Our options are not to cross the road and continue south. There is a split fence that runs along the road almost to the inn. It might provide us with enough cover to get close enough to see if any activity at the inn. If thats not close enough it will be hard to get any closer without exposing ourselves. Our other option is to cross at the bridge and continue to hug the river bank until we are far enough passed the road that we can head south to the dwelling blocking the Inn. Then use the building as cover and sneak around the east side to get a view of the north side of the Inn. From there we will have a view of the kitchen and the inn keeper's room."

Telkis creeps over near the others and talks in a low voice. "If the hermit were 'one of them' it seems to me more likely he would have tried to decieve us with friendliness..." He ponders for a moment. Looking to Bo he asks "Do you suppose he's a... I mean that his episodes are... well, you know, the wolf and all, I... oh, never mind. It's a stupid idea. He's probably just mentally disturbed." Telkis will creep back over to his tree covering the path and talk to Finster, explaining that, as soon as it is morning, he'd like him to try to find out from the local mice what they know about the tunnels under the inn. He's not willing to send him out on an errand in the dark, when he might be eaten by an owl.

"Aye," says Mouser to Hoom.

Together they move off silently in the dark shadowed woods.

Ingrid Esthof, cleric
Ingrid proposes to move away from the shack and retreat back into the woods while waiting for the scouts' return.

ChubbyPixie wrote:Telkis creeps over near the others and talks in a low voice. "If the hermit were 'one of them' it seems to me more likely he would have tried to decieve us with friendliness..." He ponders for a moment. Looking to Bo he asks "Do you suppose he's a... I mean that his episodes are... well, you know, the wolf and all, I... oh, never mind. It's a stupid idea. He's probably just mentally disturbed."

"That's not a stupid idea at all, tiniest & mightiest of all tiny warriors," says Ingrid. "In my experience many of the lykanthropoi can function as (an albeit weird) but human. If they have a strong will and the help of a few very special herbal dews, they are able to stay in control when the fit strikes. But seclusion is also bad for your brains. So we may never know. What is obvious, that no were-man-wolf is behind these happenings. Just doesn't look like that."

"Many people think that lykantrophy is demonic possession, but then why can't even a powerful exorcism cure the malady? Huh?" - it's obvious, that this topic is rather relevant to Ingrid's interests. It is also obvious, that she isn't as much entertaining or enlightening her mates, as rather continuing an older argument from the past in her head.

"But this is not the case," she shakes her head, returning to the eerie forest patch in Briarsgate.

Day Five
Between 10 and 11pm, Thursday, October 20th, 576 CY.
Village of Briarsgate, the Hovel of the Hermit (27*)
Full moon, partly cloudy, damp, cold, misty.





Grothnak curses the fearful old hermit for not trusting the strangers at their word.
The adventurers move away from the hovel, but are careful to remain within sight of it. The hermit's wolf stops barking.

Telkis looks up at the full harvest moon emerging between the clouds, and Ingrid discusses that which the full moon brings.



The gnome opens his pack and explains his plans for the morrow to Finster the mouse.
"Very good, sir! Thank you ever so much!" squeaks Finster before settling in for what he expects will be a cozy, restful night's sleep.

The adventurers send out their scouts:

From his leafless perch, Sephus the crow monitors Chief Constable Allard's departure.



Then Sephus swoops down to Bo in a flutter of ebon feathers, and caws and points southward with his black beak.

At Grothnak's suggestion, Hoom and Mouser separate from the group and move south to scout out the Golden Grain Inn (6). Accepting the wraith-like embrace of the cold, dark shadows, the pair of thieves disappear into the hermit's grove, quietly conferring on the many paths that lay before them.




Actions?
Hoom and Mouser, see PMs please.





Status:
Avril Hollysword, Half-Elf Fighter/Cleric 1/1: AC 7, HP 9/9, Spells: 2/3 1st lvl
Grey Mouser, Half-Elf Magic-User/Thief 1/2: AC 4, HP 10/10, Spells: 1/1 1st lvl
Grothnak Uthglukh, Half-Orc Fighter 2: AC 4, HP 16/17
Hoom Feethos, Elven Magic-User/Thief 1/2: AC 3, HP 7/8, Spells: 0/1 1st lvl
Ingrid Esthof, Human Cleric 3: AC 3(1), HP 14/16, Spells: 2/4 1st lvl and 3/3 2nd lvl
Long Bo, Human Druid 2: AC 6, HP 12/15, Spells: 2/4 1st lvl and 2/2 2nd lvl
Pelias Blanchflower, Human Paladin 2: AC 2(0), HP 16/19, Laying Hands: 0/1
Telkis Brassfang, Gnome Fighter 2: AC 0, HP 18/19

Magic:
Protection from Evil (Pelias): -2 to AC and +2 to saving throws against evil, in a 10 foot radius around Pelias.


*Map of Briarsgate
NPC List for Briarsgate

Telkis figets for a bit looking between the path, the hut and the full moon before finally creeping up near Ingrid once again. "So, hypothetically..." he begins in a low voice, glancing towards the hut agian "...say this hermit were indeed, you know... what does one do to combat such a creature? Have you some experience in these matters, or some learning? Can they be defeated with weapons like ours? ...or are the tales true about silver? Does belladona or wolvesbane actually work? Amazingly, I think I've got some in my pack. But, ah, I have no idea what to do with it or how it's used. Should one need it."

Ingrid Esthof, cleric

"Khorst always carried a small pouch on a string around his neck. He had belladonna in it all right, just in case a wolfie bites too deep, he said. Didn't specify what you have to do, though. Maybe you just eat it. He had his way with plants... He could make all kinds of infusions. Smoked them too, but he had a whole different pouch to store those dried herbs. They are good for soothing the mind. I never quite liked them, strangely enough they made me nervous, on the edge, rather than calm."

She smiles, spicing up Lycanthropy 101 with fond memories.

"Your weapon has to be of silver, but not just any kind. You have to take a chalice, blessed by a cleric, than melt it down, and forge a blade from it. I read about this in an old volume in the monastery's library. It also said that you have to inscribe the weapon with certain enchantments. And warned, that if you see a single werewolf, there surely are others around, they move in packs. I'm not sure this applies to our hermit here. There are lone wolves in nature, why not lone werewolves, older ones, maybe..."

"We fought a big black feline once... We couldn't cope with it, not even with Khorst's bravery and weaponry and old Kolde's spells. But we set a trap and finally caught her unaware, in her human form. Turns out, she was the daughter of a local noble, leaving her mansion every month to hunt. She claimed that this curse of the cat people ran in her family, that all members of the female line were prone to such uncanny transformations..."

Avril will leave her place of concealment to rejoin the others. She will listen at the discussion of lycanthrope with mild curiosity while the group waits for Hoom and Mouser to return. "If it matters," she says quietly during a break in the conversation. "I came to Briarsgate after hearing rumors my estranged father and uncle may be here. I imagine elves would be rare in this rustic human farming village, so my vote, if there isn't another more obvious course of action, would be to pay a visit to the elves cottage."

Ingrid Esthof, cleric

dmw71 wrote:"I came to Briarsgate after hearing rumors my estranged father and uncle may be here. I imagine elves would be rare in this rustic human farming village, so my vote, if there isn't another more obvious course of action, would be to pay a visit to the elves cottage."

Ingrid tries to recall the village's topography.

"Their cottage is quite secluded from other buildings. We can probably try reaching it sticking close to the southern side of the river and the small lake." "Hopefully we can cross the bridge unnoticed. That is the riskiest point of the trip. Let's wait for our scouts return, too see how they coped with it."

Day Five
Between 10 and 11pm, Thursday, October 20th, 576 CY.
Village of Briarsgate, the Hovel of the Hermit (27*)
Full moon, partly cloudy, damp, cold, misty.







After a short while, the party sees two dark shapes materializing in the eerie mist beneath the empty branches of the hermit's grove.

As the shadow men loom closer they slowly transform into Grey and Hoom, returning from their scouting mission to the Golden Grain Inn (6).

The party is reunited.


Actions?





Status:
Avril Hollysword, Half-Elf Fighter/Cleric 1/1: AC 7, HP 9/9, Spells: 2/3 1st lvl
Grey Mouser, Half-Elf Magic-User/Thief 1/2: AC 4, HP 10/10, Spells: 1/1 1st lvl
Grothnak Uthglukh, Half-Orc Fighter 2: AC 4, HP 16/17
Hoom Feethos, Elven Magic-User/Thief 1/2: AC 3, HP 7/8, Spells: 0/1 1st lvl
Ingrid Esthof, Human Cleric 3: AC 3(1), HP 14/16, Spells: 2/4 1st lvl and 3/3 2nd lvl
Long Bo, Human Druid 2: AC 6, HP 12/15, Spells: 2/4 1st lvl and 2/2 2nd lvl
Pelias Blanchflower, Human Paladin 2: AC 2(0), HP 16/19, Laying Hands: 0/1
Telkis Brassfang, Gnome Fighter 2: AC 0, HP 18/19

Magic:
Protection from Evil (Pelias): -2 to AC and +2 to saving throws against evil, in a 10 foot radius around Pelias.


*Map of Briarsgate
NPC List for Briarsgate

Ingrid Esthof, cleric

Ingrid is relieved to see the two scouts returning. She is also eagerly awaiting their report.
"Hoom! Mouser! How did it go?"

Hoom Feethos:

"The village is quiet. The constable was the only one about and he settled back to this shack. The inn is dark with no sign of life. It should be safe for us to travel to the inn, though I do suggest be follow the river and avoid the main road."

Bo is also relieved to see his comrades again.

So, now what? Should we go and check on the elves first or are we more interested in getting back under that creepy inn?

"Let us go," says Grothnak, "and see what is in the inn's basement."

Ingrid Esthof, cleric

Ingrid is torn between two positions. Her adventurer's blood is boiling. She wants to go down those damp, dirty, dreadful dungeon corridors and slay the... slay the what, exactly? The investigators are in total darkness as of the nature of their enemy. Is it a single puppet master? Or some disembodied power of unknown source? A secret lodge of hypnotic evildoers?

Ingird, despite her fiery temper, is still devoted to Khorst Maltess' modus operandi: gather information, prepare the correct weapons, and only then strike. But in Briarsgate sources of information are scarce. There's no guarantee that these elves are untainted, or hold any information on the evil. And the group should stop revealing themselves to everybody in town.

It is worth a try, though, as elves are famously resilient to mind control, or so it is written in "The Fae, Fair Folks, Their Kith And Kin", an old book she stopped reading after about ten pages because of the unbearable musty old library smell. Now she regrets her lack of knowledge on the subject. Admittedly, she did use the time not spent reading to practice wielding her mace & shield...

She turns to Avril, their resident elf (she is still not sure about Hoom: is the mysterious sneaky sorcerer an elf, or a half-elf of sorts?).
"Avril, do you think these elves can hold information we need? If not, we should only go to them after we explored the tunnel. We cannot risk exposure."