Dawn breaks on the third day of Fallwane, and the adventurers rouse from their slumber.
Making their way down to the main hall of the inn, Kristov and Lucia find a passed out Sturmberg lying in a pool of his own vomit. A quick and firm nudge of the foot from Lucia wakes the dwarven warrior from his stupor.
With a belch, he stumbles out of the Humming Swine and makes his way to the river for a bath.
Meanwhile, Kristov notices something odd at the bar. One of Faus’ animals skulls is sitting there and weighing down a scrap of parchment. It’s a note from the strange sorcerer. Kristov barely makes out the handwriting but is able to understand that the poor mouse-man was terrified by the undead and has struck out to confront the source of his fears.
“You know it’s serious because he left a skull behind,” Kristov says to Lucia.
They see Bodlo is already at the bar quaffing ales and shoveling porridge into his mouth while muttering about the loss of his arm. In the corner, the mayor of the town is doodling away in a book while her pet bird perches on her shoulder.
Lucia decides to speak with the mayor once more, hoping to get more insight onto the plague of restless dead storming the village.
“Good morning, I’m surprised to see you in here so early mayor. Are you recovered from yesterday,” Lucia asks while deftly trying to spy into the journal.
The mayor looks at the druid with a glassy stare and smiles. “Oh I got used to the commotion around here a while ago,” she says. “Always seems to be something or other, but I pay it now mind.”
The woman catches Lucia spying on the drawings and perks up, “Are you an artists as well? Would you like to see? It’s not often I meet anyone who has the time to make art.”
The book is filled with drawings of the same figure over and over again. Lucia notices that it appears to be a man of a rather stern nature. The pages were made with charcoal and what appears to be a clay-derived paint.
The druid asks if she can have a drawing to keep with her and the mayor readily agrees.
“Oh!” The mayor exclaims, “I never got to tell you my name. It’s Halinde Stillmoon. If you need any provisions, just mention me. It’s the least we can do.”
With that, the mayor becomes engrossed in her drawings again and is already hard at work on another sketch of the mysterious man. Lucia walks away with a sense that not all is right with the mayor’s mind.
Meanwhile, Sturmberg has stumbled down to the river. Before he notices the fisherwomen hard at work, he strips down and douses himself in the waters of the Elya River.
Startled when he hears murmurs and giggling, he turns to see the women staring at him warily. The spell is broken when a young girl yells, “That’s him! That’s the man that saved everyone!” The women then give Sturmberg small smiles and return to work. Embarrassed, Sturmberg quickly dresses again and makes his way to the smithy. He’s almost there when the girl stops him and gives the warrior fishing line and some hooks.
“My mom and the other women are thankful,” the girl says. “Please accept these. It’s all we can spare.”
With a nod, the dwarf takes the small but precious gift and walks into the smithy. Inside, he sees two stout women hard at work at the forge. He mumbles about fixing his helmet, clearly uncomfortable at the formidable but sweaty and half-clothed smiths working the forge and anvil. The women laugh at his shyness and say, “For the hero of Heartwater, we will gladly repair your armor. Come back at noon and it will be ready.”
Sturmberg hurries back to the inn just in time to catch Lucia and Kristov on their way out. The merchant and druid decide to visit the temple to see if the priest knows more about the tide of undead. Sturmberg says he will work on convincing Bodlo to come with them despite his sour mood.
The pair is surprised at the condition of the temple to Wyrm. The building is in full splendor compared to the rest of the hovels and buildings in town. The inside of the temple has bas reliefs depicting various events in the history of the Congregation of the Serpent, and even more tapestries rich in color.
An old, ancient even, man tends to the cleaning of the temple. He hobbles about in robes of green and yellow. Finally turning to see the adventurers, the old man welcomes them in warmly. After brief small talk, Kristov asks, “I have to know. How do you keep the temple in such good order? I would think it would have been damaged with all the undead raids.”
The priest lets a small laugh out and responds, “I am not without some training in the ways of magic. The priest who trained me taught me well enough to make a few wards against evil spirits and the undead. Someday I hope to train one of the villagers before I die.”
The wyrm priest tells the pair about calamity over the past few weeks before mentioning that it all started after a group of strange pilgrims came through town. “Hard men these were,” he says. “Never seen pilgrims with such weapons. But the roads are dangerous these days as more people travel about. I shouldn’t judge them.”
Lucia quickly whips out the sketch Stillmoon made. “Is this one of the men that came through,” she asks.
The priest ponders the drawing for a moment and nods in affirmation. “It’s a close enough likeness,” he says. “That looks like the leader of the group. It’s funny, he wanted to know all about these ruins near the lake. I told him those would have been stripped bare years before I was even born but he was quite keen on it. Said it was part of their pilgrimage.”
Kristov pondered aloud, “What is it about the ruins that would interest them? Is it special for some reason?”
The old priest replied, “My master told me stories that it dated back to the time of the Shardmaidens. But I can’t imagine many of those are still around. Surely there’s nothing left out there.”
From outside the temple, Lucia and Kristov hear the sounds of a fierce argument. It sounds as though a man and woman are fighting.
Hurrying to the Humming Swine, they arrive just in time to see Stillmoon slam the door to her cottage in Bodlo’s face. Sturmberg lets them in on what happened.
“Bodlo got bold thanks to his ale and started accusing the mayor of causing the rampage of the restless dead,” Sturmberg says. “He says that he’d still have his arm and tools if she hadn’t sent the men off.”
The dwarves stone master leaves the home in a huff and walks right up to the trio.
“Well, she’s not going to be any use.” Bodlo says. “If you’ll have me, I’ll travel with ye to find my tools and then repair your tower. It’s the least I can do for saving my life. And the sooner we leave this wretched place the better.”
Leaving Bodlo to get his gear, the party walks up to Stillmoon’s home and tries to call for her. Not getting a response, they lean on the door and hear the woman sobbing from inside. Lucia almost falls through the doorway before catching herself, it seems the mayor left the door unlatched.
Making their way into the house, they find it in complete disarray. The mayor has covered the walls and floors with drawings of the mysterious male figure. Walking deeper into the home, they notice that the art gets more and more grotesque the deeper in they go. Eventually it almost looks demonic.
Finding Stillmoon in her kitchen, they see the woman writhing on the floor in a state of manic agony.
“He needs me,” Stillmoon cries. “He wants me to tell him something!!”
When the trio can see her face, her eyes are completely glassy and bloodshot. The druid informs the others that the mayor’s state is not natural. Something foul is at play and Bodlo’s accusations have driven the mayor over the edge.
“Distract her for a moment,” Lucia says to Kristov. “I need to find a candle to get this spell to work.”
The merchant calls out to the mayor saying, “It’s ok. It’s ok. We’ll help you find him. We’ll pass any message you want to the man. Do you know where he is?”
Stillmoon turns to Kristov and says, “You will? You’ll find Brother Frynd for me?” But her eyes roll back into her head as it appears an internal battle is being waged in her mind.
Lucia comes forward with the candle, and with a quick prayer to Raven, she calls forth light to cleanse the mayor’s mind and spirit. As the spell washes over her, it seems as if years are returned to the mayor. It transforms her from a waif to a strong woman, full of life and vigor.
“What happened,” Stillmoon asks groggily. “How long has it been? Where is my husband? Are the townsfolk ok?”
The group slowly updates the mayor on the past few weeks as it was told to them. Eventually, the mayor confirms what they suspected. After the group of strange pilgrims came to Heartwater, Stillmoon began having obsessive visions of their leader, this “Brother Frynd.”
“He was trying to get me to tell him something,” Stillmoon says. “But I fought as much as I could. I hope my husband and the others are ok. I sent them to find the man but I fear the worst.”
The mayor implores the party to travel with her to find and stop the strange man and end the curse of undead on the town. While speaking with them, the mayor begins arming herself, picking up a dagger, bow, and leather armor. It’s clear there is more to this “artist” than first appeared. All of a sudden, Stillmoon stops and her eyes dart around the room.
“Oh no, I hope they didn’t take it somehow,” she says as she begins tearing apart the house. It’s not until she finds a small talisman that she calms down.
Sturmberg tries to get her to explain what the talisman is but Stillmoon merely mumbles something about a “family heirloom.”
Eventually, the group agrees to set out for the ruins in hopes of finding the “Brother Frynd” and his pilgrims.
It’s not long as they walk the river road that they hear screeching from above.
“Giiiive meee!,” “Nooo, giiiive meee!,” “Nooo, I waaant to eeeat the liiitle ones!”
Sturmberg lets out a yell, “They’re above us! It’s harpies!”
The twisted creatures with eagle-like wings and distended female bodies swoop down at the party, mouths agape and ready for fresh meat.
Undeterred, Stillmoon marches out from the cover of the brush and yells at the trio of harpies.
“Look around you ladies! There are five of us and three of you. We are strong and lean meat, we would not make a fine meal. However, I will give you some food. Take it and leave us!” She says.
The three harpies ponder Stillmoon’s message for a moment, astounded that one of the “little people” would dare talk to them. “Food?” The largest harpy asks quizzically.
Stillmoon and Lucia walk a bit closer and toss a bag of provisions toward the harpies. “Take this and begone,” Lucia yells before the pair dive for cover again.
The harpies screech but fly down and pick up the bag before flapping away quickly. The party all breathes a sigh of relief at not having to deal with the foul bird-women.
After a quarter’s-day march near the banks of Lake Varda, they eventually see the ruins of what could be a tower or temple in the distance.
Taking out his spyglass, Kristov notes that he sees movement at the site.
“Worry not my friends,” Stillmoon says. “I know these hills and the woods near the ruins. I can find us a place to make camp while we plan our next move.”
With the sun beginning to set, Lucia, Kristov, and Sturmberg look at the ruins in the distance and wonder what awaits them…
JesseFolk.com 