Please write in spoilers for the moment since you're not all together. Read stuff only from others in your group until further notice. I
strongly encourage interacting with each other. Within the groupings below, read anything not in spoilers or anything specifically addressed to you.
We Begin.The season is late fall. Winter has been skulking in the dead of night, leaving frost on the leaves in the morning as evidence, but the unseasonal torrential rains of the past month speak of Summer's tenacity, even this far north.
What news of the outside world reaches the tiny hamlet of Springley Downs and the elves of Fayland Water is poor. Traders speak of plague in the northern countries, striking down even the most hale of folk, though most of Escanthia seems to have been spared thus far. Refugees have been fleeing south across the Inland Sea, and few travelers come the other way. Still, with the Hallow Feast in the near future, everyone's spirits remain relatively bright (besides sour old Welton, who last had bright feelings the day before he was born).
The youths in particular are looking forward to the dance after the feast, as this year it should be a full moon, and who knows what could happen when there's a full moon during the Hallow Feast.
Group 1: Willow (zook), Boon (dna1), Isaac (flay), Snowy (shiki), Kara (skydrag)
[spoiler]
Willow --
[spoiler]You've tracked the shaman far to the west, traveling for weeks. He seems to be following the snow line, never straying too far in either direction. He seemed to stay away from the (mostly) human settlements he's passed, and therefore so have you. Last night he took refuge in some woods that seem relatively cultivated, signs that more humans or maybe elves live around here. Oddly, you lost the trail around midday during a squall, and holed up in a tree near a small dirt road after dismissing your spirit beast, hoping to find it again once the rain stopped. Before you can climb down, a wagon nears your tree. You observe the events below, and can interact at any time.[...][/spoiler]
Boon, Isaac, Kara, and Snowy --
You went with Squire Mainor to Silverhaven, an extra trip to trade for supplies for the Hallow Feast. It took you the usual two days to get there, at the Squire's plodding pace. In the market, you heard talk of the plague... people are worried, though the most optimistic are sure that it won't reach this far north. You even heard a few confident souls whispering that whatever causes the plague hates the cold.
After loading up the wagon with various and sundry goods, you've returned most of the way home. As you ride through the trees, you discover a riderless, saddled horse grazing under the trees. A little ways ahead a man lies face down in the mud.
Squire Mainor exclaims and rushes forward. After examining him briefly, he straightens up.
"Well, he's dead. Help me get him in the wagon, we'll take him back to Father Brelden for a proper burial."[/spoiler]
Group 2: Gilgrim (crazy), Kyle (drh), Noel (imperatork), Legion (phaedrus)
[spoiler]
Kyle, Noel, & Gilgrim --
[spoiler]Kyle's mentor Moonglow was the pretty elven lady who found Gilgrim in the spring pool, and has been nursing him back to health (Noel lives with Moonglow as well, she is studying his development and nature). Naturally, that means that Kyle has been doing most of the work entertaining the surly dwarven guest, as a "character-building exercise". At Moonglow's urging (and to prevent you from bothering her studies), the three of you have gone back to the spring pool ("Fayland Water") so that Kyle can try divinations to help Gilgrim find his way back home.
Kyle's divinations are not particularly sophisticated, of course -- pretty much the only one you can toss around with impunity is Detect Magic. You do so, and are very surprised that it lights up, pointing the way into the small cave opening that Gilgrim's exit created.[...][/spoiler]
Legion --
[spoiler]You hate getting wet. After all that time (millennia, probably) sealed away in that dark cave, alone with nothing but your many-hued thoughts, the roof collapsed and you got completely drenched. Just great.
Make a Listen check.[/spoiler]
[/spoiler]
Okay, go ahead.
