Our troup from dragonreach congregated once more in the store-turned-tavern for a lunch prepared and served by mathis ⸴ and we were joined by more than a few stragglers from outlying homesteads who had heard that the adventurers were trying to pacify steepfall · Among the visitors was a man who asked if he could join the table i was at (with some of the pride members and some of the newer adventurers) ⸴ and after we graciously told him he was welcome ⸴ he sat and introduced himself as a member of the planar knights ·
The pride gave polite greetings ⸴ the newer adventurers had no idea what he was talking about ⸴ and as for myself ፧ I could not help myself and was staring accusingly at him · With my one remaining good eye · He took very clear note of this and acknowledged my attitude ⸴ and said to our confused tablemates ⸴ «let me tell you why he's glaring at me like that ·» though he insisted his organisation was not «the bad guys» ⸴ he willingly confessed that they were responsible for starting the current elemental war ·
The planar knight went into animated discussions about his group's plan for rearranging the planar cosmology ⸴ and i listened as long as i could before i finally had to leave the building to avoid snapping at him · Instead i happened to find blue and zorian and lun and velnaeus outside ⸴ and ended up venting to them instead · Zorian and lun in particular ⸴ being new to our company ⸴ did not know that the planar knights artificially instigating the elemental war early ⸴ was the reason why my whispering with the bear that fateful harvest afternoon went awry and i gained my scars while losing my sight · When they had graciously allowed me to get all of my frustration out ⸴ i did admit that i still preferred the planar knights plan ⸴ which would only sacrifice a relatively few amount of people now ⸴ as opposed to the current status of the cosmology ⸴ which would result in the continuous deaths of more people over more time ·
While we were still outside ⸴ a man came running up sobbing about orcs that killed his father ⸴ and his mother and sisters were hiding in their farmhouse three ghurries' run away · We responded right away · Jote (who had joined us outside) and i got the man to a seat and simultaneously calmed him down while getting him to recall details that would give us more information ፥ meanwhile dustie went into the tavern to marshal people to assist us · We had all ⸴ i think ⸴ made the assumption that these were the same orcs zorian ⸴ lun ⸴ jote ⸴ and others had encountered earlier ⸴ simply passing through the land looking for their missing shaman · But the farmer boy told us that rumours about orcs roaming the region and attacking farmsteads had been going on for weeks · Until this attack ⸴ he had thought they were just that - rumours ·
Once we had enough people and enough information ⸴ the farmer boy was ushered into the tavern to be fed and better inspected for his own wounds ⸴ while our group made a quick march in the direction he had indicated his mother's farmstead was · Nothing of significance happened on the march there ⸴ including any relevant conversation ፥ i will therefore skip ahead to our first view of the farmstead ⸴ with scattered orc raiders clearly in view ⸴ green against the dry brown and budding gold of the wild spring ·
Whether by accident or design i ended up taking one of the commanding roles of our rescue ⸴ possibly because i had been the first one gathering the information · In any case i could not have asked for better compatriots ⸴ because everyone understood instinctively what to do · We stayed in a close formation ⸴ occasionally reining in someone stepping forward alone too far ⸴ and annihilating the orcs who came in wildly and usually only one at a time · We forged a path into the actual house ⸴ found the mother and her young daughters hiding ⸴ and protected them while our scholars and archers held the orcs off on the basement stairs ·
Before long we all realised we had to get out of where we had garrisoned ourselves to prevent our fatigue from allowing the orcs through ⸴ so the other swordswingers and myself began a heavy trudge back outside ⸴ assisted by the mages and some of my own meagre spellcraft · The power to magically rip an opponent's weapon or shield from their hands was something i thoroughly enjoyed practising ⸴ and gave us more openings so that everyone could get out of the house ·
By the time that was accomplished ⸴ the raiders were all but a few killed ⸴ and we made short work of the rest · One solitary orc growled some sort of threat i couldn't hear over the wind before jogging off ⸴ and when velnaeus turned to me and asked if he should go eliminate him ⸴ i at first said no before realising we did not want the survivor bringing back a second army to threaten these farmers · I told velnaeus to fly ⸴ and he sprinted immediately across the field and into the brush where his elemental prowess was more than enough to extinguish the last orc's life ·
The mother was markedly but understandably grateful ⸴ and before we departed back to steepfall she mentioned something about the «curse of the sarr ghost» which quite obviously drew our attention - ghosts ⸴ undead ⸴ there was probably a connexion there · And sure enough ⸴ she answered our inquiries with a woeful tale about a family of sarr who had been persecuted and then the father was killed after trying to avenge his children · To top it all off ⸴ the sarr had been hanged from a tree in what is now steepfall ⸴ and his family's only heirlooms ⸴ a set of cutlery ⸴ had been reported stolen that very night and were never recovered · Remarkably a curious partial set of cutlery had been unearthed by some of our fellow adventurers earlier in the day · We set back out to the steepfall storefront with this news and a clearer sense of direction ·
By this point i was growing fatigued and needed to unwind for a while ⸴ and emric provided some relaxation in the form of gambling · Dragon poker had been the only game i had known but he taught me and velnaeus a few other games ⸴ which we won and lost gold over ⸴ before i decided to pull tight my pursestrings and step outside to stretch my limbs · When i stepped outside ⸴ however ⸴ who should i find but taios in deep
I rehashed some of the conversation i had missed with taios and ardos before heading back in to the tavern to watch other people try their hand at emric's games · While i sat there ⸴ velnaeus and taios were asked to meet mathis and trellis in one of the less damaged buildings where they were going to set up celestial and earth guild permanent circles of power ⸴ per lycergis' request · They departed and were gone for quite some time ⸴ until i heard taios cackling with laughter as he approached the storefront again · He gleefully shared upon our inquiries that mathis' ritual had experienced a minor backlash ⸴ and our esteemed elven knight was operating under the assertion that he was actually a high ogre · Barring that complication mathis successfully completed his circle ritual ⸴ and trellis' own circle ritual was completed with no incidents at all ·
While all of these things had been going on ⸴ brighter minds than mine had been labouring over the new clues about the sarr ghost and the silverware that the farmwife had provided us · This information and other clues gathered from around the area led us all to believe that the fork ⸴ hopefully the last piece of the cutlery set ⸴ had been secured in a second tower a middling distance away · If we could unite the silverware set and return it to the sarr's grave ⸴ we might eliminate or else drive away the undead forces before the dark of night could set over steepfall (and us) once again ·
A group of us swiftly gathered and set out for the tower ⸴ though the distance was a bit greater than we had believed and the sky grew dark earlier than we expected in the midst of this cursed woodland · By the time we arrived ⸴ we could tell some creatures were occupying the tower but not necessarily what they were · Directed by mathis (still mentally convinced of his ogre-ness and likewise more blunt than his normal florid and cultured elven speech) we fought our way through the little horde ⸴ room-by-room ⸴ searching as best we could in the dimness for the missing piece of cutlery ·
At some point some of us abruptly realised that the creatures that were throwing poisons at us were myconids · I battled with myself internally between the cautious fear i've had for the fungus creatures ever since they caused me to first resurrect a year ago ⸴ and a rage that wanted to leap forward and recklessly beat down every last one of them · Wisdom won out over emotion ⸴ with the aid of the fact that i was hemmed in by the front lines and was responsible for protecting our healers · And then suddenly mathis yelled out for us to make our way back to the exterior ⸴ presumably because we had found the fork (plus a few boxes of treasure the myconids had stockpiled in a musty closet we came across) ·
We made our way out ⸴ noting as we emerged into the open sky (though near-dark by this point) that many of our number had been infected with the green spores that the myconids' poisons carried · Healers and potion carriers became very appreciated very quickly ⸴ but velnaeus in particular seemed to be having a terrible reaction to his infection · He said he believed that he had something back in valbrough that would help to cure his body and ease his aches · We did not think he would be well enough to easily get there on his own ⸴ so i volunteered to accompany him back to valbrough ⸴ after making sure someone else would keep an eye on blue now that i would be gone ·
So set on our course ⸴ my elven friend and i slowly made our way to the old waystone we had first arrived in less than sixty ghurries prior ⸴ and let the waymaker network take us back to our more familiar city · Over velnaeus' objections i escorted him all the way to his point of lodging ⸴ and saw him inside ⸴ then crossed the village green to the healing house and checked the ledger of patients ⸴ healers ⸴ and guardians on call · Mercifully there had been only minor check-ins that day ⸴ and nobody at the moment ⸴ so i used one of the patients' cots as a place to rest my own weary bones as i have done before · The last thing i did before closing my eyes was stare up at the stars through the smoke hole atop the yurt ⸴ and ask them to keep watch over my friends in steepfall that night as well ·
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