Session 44 - The Moonfall Mystery
25th Mar 2022 - 19:45 - 11:00
In-game timeline: Start of session: 1489DR Uktar 26. End of session: 1489DR Uktar 29
Our "Heroes" are travelling from Neverwinter to Baldur's Gate aboard the Raven's Nest ship and spending some quality time relaxing and studying - or throwing up in the case of Derrick. Iwee is a little concerned about some of the visions she has experienced while meditating, and encourages the others to share their thoughts and feelings a little.
Arriving in Baldur's Gate, the group stock up on some healing potions, and then decide to visit the local arcane school, hoping to find someone who could help recover Iwee's memories. The half-elf behind the reception is a little cold towards them, which seems to wind up Derrick to an unnecessary level. Whilst Iwee politely asks if anyone would be able to help her, Derrick becomes somewhat abusive and aggressive. He gets the group thrown out. Iwee is not angry with Derrick, just disappointed.
They opt to find a caravan heading to Elturel. They manage to find a cheap ride with a travelling merchant, who introduces himself as "Frank", and his sidekick "Bob". These are not their real names, but our "Heroes" unsubtly decided to give out aliases ("Susie" the gnome, "Mavis" the dragonborn, "Trevor" the tiefling and "Trigger" the human) rather than properly introduce themselves, and the merchant responded in kind.
The journey to Elturel takes a couple of days, but is uneventful. They decide to spend the night in Elturel, rather than travel to Moonfall in the late evening, staying in the Four Tuns Inn. The barkeep, Paddy Flanagan, tells the group that he is expecting a contingent from Moonfall to arrive the following morning, and maybe the group could return with them?
The next morning, the contingent does not arrive, which worries the barkeep, as it is unusual. The group, complaining that nothing seems to progress 'normally' when they are around, decide to head to Moonfall that morning, in case something has happened. Before heading off, Derrick visits a local cleric, Dragon, and attempt to 'discretely' ask about silvered weapons. With a possible friendly lycanthrope commune nearby, the cleric gives him slightly short shrift and eyes him suspiciously. Derrick is used to this. He backs off, which is unusual for him.
They head to Moonfall in the early morning, following a fairly well defined path for an hour or so. Upon arrival, they find a pretty little village with brightly coloured houses. However, nothing seems to be moving in the village at all. They cautiously head into the village and poke their heads into the first home they see, looking for signs of life. The house is well kept and tidy, but empty.
They check out the statue that is in the centre of the village, surrounded by pretty flower beds and a well-kempt lawn. It seems to be a statue of a halfling and bears a plaque beneath labelling the statue as Milo Bottlebanks, founder of Moonfall. With no obvious movement in town, they head towards what looks to be a large building, possibly the town hall, which has a smouldering pile of leaves in front of it, and seems to have some flickering light coming from the inside, beyond the main doors, slightly ajar.
The entrance to the town hall seems to contain a smouldering pile of leaves that smells faintly of blueberries. Nearby, on the steps leading to the main door, there is a lot of deep red liquid stained and pooled on the floor. Derrick decides to taste it and confirms that it is blood. In a village reputed to contain lycanthropes, Derrick decides to drink some random blood. Good luck with that one!
Iwee and Derrick head up the stairs to check out the interior. Jaxii covers their backs and ensures no one else appears suddenly around town. Karoshi heads to the back of the building to look for other entrances. The fighter and the bard look inside to see a gruesome sight. A number of dead bodies litter the floor and there is blood all over the floor and walls. Further investigation reveals that some adult humans seem to have been attacked and killed in a quite grizzly manner. Humanoid and beast footprints seem to imprint the bloody pools.
Stepping carefully around the bodies, and being joined by Jaxii, the three of them make their way to the room at the rear of the room, which seems to be a storeroom filled with barrels and chests, most of them empty and some of which seem to contains the remains of some dried leaves that smell of blueberries. A door at the back is locked.
Another dead body of an elderly human female lies on the floor. On her body they find a locket, a purse and two keys - one that unlocks the back door, and soon they are joined by Karoshi who has checked around the building and found nothing.
Iwee looks around and hears a little whimpering coming from inside one of the closed chests. The other key they found seems to unlock this chest and Iwee slowly opens the chest.
Inside she finds a young half-elven child, about 10 years old, looking very scared. Luckily it was Iwee who opened the chest, and she, along with Karoshi who speaks to her in elvish, manage to calm down the girl who introduces herself as Suriel Greystone.
They lead the girl out of the town hall, getting her to keep her eyes closed so she doesn't see the grizzly scene, and take her outside and ask her about the night's events.
Suriel explains that the adults go to a nearby cavern every month, leaving the children in the care of some adults, that Suriel called the Guardians. The parents should have arrived back before morning, but are nowhere to be seen. The Guardians were attacked by some humans and some lycanthropes. "Grandma Tara" managed to hide Suriel and she stayed hidden, too scared to emerge. Iwee is delighted when Suriel says that she knows Mr & Mrs Timbers, but the gnome is surprised to hear they have a young daughter named Poppy.
The party decide that they need to go to this cavern to find out what has happened to the other adults in the town. They are unsure what to do with Suriel - they are not keen to take her with them. As they are discussing what to do next, they spot a young gnome, perhaps in her late teens, entering the town and walking towards them. Suriel seems to recognise her and is pleased to see her. The gnome teenager introduces herself as Lispeth and says that she comes from Elturel and often visits Moonfall to help out around the town.
The party ask Lispeth if she would look after Suriel while they go looking for the adults and she agrees. She gives the party some general directions to where she thinks the cavern is to be found, though she hasn't actually been there.
We leave our "Heroes" determined to find the other villagers, hopefully including Iwee's parents, contemplating how they will break the news of what happened to the guardians, and the missing children.