Session 248 – Secrets of Tyland (Part 8)

 - GM’s note: More developments in Tyland Woods, including dealing with Red’s bandits, curing a poisoned villager and discovering catacombs beneath Tyland Mills

Day 15 – Towerday – 31st Day of Winterwane (Spring)

- The next morning, Grant visits the Mill Lady to ask to borrow a horse. He figures that will need one if he is going to escort Torius (the merchant) north to the edge of Tyland Woods. The Mill Lady has only one horse in her stable – a sturdy coarser named ‘Brick’ – but she consents to loan him the only horse that she has.

- Grant then goes to speak with Torius at the Good Omen Inn, and he quickly agrees to the Sheriff’s protection. Torius has two wagons and four hired guards - he knows that there are bandits on the roads to the north and is prepared for trouble.

- However, Grant’s plans are quickly derailed. Before leaving for Cutting Field, Ethan has patrolled nearby and visited the nearby River Caverns. On his way back, he witnessed poor Nadia (the youngest of the three sisters who manage the Good Omen Inn) being stung by a Nyrathi bee. She was minding her own business, collecting herbs and mushrooms when the cat-sized bee attacked. Ethan couldn’t stop it stinging her – he slew the bee but Nadia had already collapsed by the time he reached her. He knows that he can cure the poison using Eidolon but isn’t sure whether he should do so. Every time he uses Eidolon, it is obvious that he is manipulating gossamer reality and it sends a strong signal for those who can detect such things. He carries her to the Good Omen Inn and arrives just as Grant is finalising his plans with Torius.

- Nadia’s sisters are shocked and upset. Grant goes to fetch Marius the Black (the resident healer). Everyone seems to know that a Nyrathi bee-sting is fatal and they are already beginning to mourn this tragedy. Marius looks sadly at Nadia and says that she is doomed. He can slow the poison but he cannot save her. When pressed, he suggests that perhaps the faeries can help – he has heard that some live in the Forbidden Wood, but faerie help will come at a cost. There are Skull Flowers that only grow in the Thistle Swamp which are said to cure such poisons but they are very rare – they only grow in the skull of a dead beast. Lastly, there is the suggestion that Vendra may be able to help. However, everyone knows that she’s an evil witch. Ethan decides that he’ll head north to seek out Vendra. Grant offers the horse that he borrowed from Lady Marian, and Ethan departs swiftly.

- About an hour later, Grant heads north with Torius in the lead wagon. In mid-afternoon, they are attacked by Red’s bandits. The bandits want to take everything and Grant takes the opportunity to shoot their negotiator and wound Red in the leg. The bandits are surprised but they quickly retaliate, killing a number of the guards. Grant leaps off the wagon and begins a running battle through the forest, picking off the bandits one by one and trying to prevent Red from escaping.

- Torius panics and drives his horses forward at the earliest opportunity. The second wagon follows. Three of Torius’ men are dead and Grant rescues the last. Grant hunts down the limping Red and the bandit trying to help him flee and promptly subdues them both. The surviving guard decides to follow Torius and hopefully catch up with the wagons, and Grant starts the long walk back to Tyland Mills, carrying the two unconscious prisoners, one slung over each shoulder.

- Grant spots some unusually large birds of prey flying overhead on his journey back. He arrives after dark and he locks Red and the other prisoner captured in the dungeon of the Sheriff’s tower. He uses his Master of the Stair ability to make sure that the door itself cannot be opened unless he wills it. He then pours himself a glass of wine and considers that it’s been quite a busy day. Gareth and Tellurian report that all has been well in his absence. Mayor Prigg has found a place for Salthia to stay.

Day 16 – Wineday – 1st Day of Rainmoot (Spring)

- The first day of the new month is warm and sunny. Grant lets Lady Marian know that Red is in custody, and he organises for Marius the Black to treat Red’s leg wound. The other bandit, Bart, is gloomy – he is expecting to be hung for his crimes.

- Mayor Prigg, Old Olo, Lady Marian and Grant meet in the morning to discuss the upcoming Festival of Bees which will be held in about two weeks and will attract travellers and merchants from all over the region. They were concerned about security but Grant’s capture of the bandit leader, Red, gives them hope that the festival will go ahead without incident. Grant remarks that he wants to find Red’s hideout so that the bandits can be eliminated once and for all.

- Grant decides to interrogate Bart, but he finds Bart difficult to turn. In Bart’s mind, Red is a hero and a protector of the weak. Grant learns that Red’s hideout shelters women and children as well as fighting men. Red is the leader of a community, not just a group of bandits. He decides to think further as to how to approach this.

- During his musings, Alfrin (the hauflin) comes to visit Grant and requests help in finding his uncle. Grant asks him again to wait, and says that it’s too dangerous to head downstream to Cutting Field. He explains that Ethan is away for a few days but says that he’ll ask Ethan to journey with Alfrin when he returns.

- Another barge arrives in Tyland Mills. A woodcutter called Ennith has arrived. He has also not seen Breldo (Alfrin’s uncle).

- That evening at the Good Omen Inn, Nadia’s sisters Sylvia and Irina are subdued but busy. Salthia talks with Grant for a bit – she flirts with him a little and he admits that he’s interested, but he’s distracted at the moment.

Day 17 – Thunderday – 2nd Day of Rainmoot (Spring)

- Grant busies himself with Brother Horace’s and the old Sheriff Gideon’s diaries, looking for clues. News arrives that a Nyrathi Hive has been found about two miles away – it’s probably where the bee came from that stung poor Nadia. The townsfolk begin hauling wood to the nearby location as they want to smoke out the hive and then raid it of both honey and wax.

- Checking on both Bart and Red, Grant finds Red in a very chatty mood. He seems to be taking his captivity very well, as if it is just a temporary annoyance. Red tells him that when he heard that his sister had been captured by Lord Korab, he did try to rescue her – but Grant got there first. Red appears annoyed that his sister hasn’t come to see him. From Red’s point of view, he’s been treated very poorly. When their father died, she got the castle, the title and everything else that went with it. He got nothing, and he’s been doing his best to survive (and annoy his sister a little – he admits that this is fun). He admits that many of his men go too far – they kill travellers as well as just robbing them – but he makes no apology for their conduct.

* Image sourced from Google Images

- Grant wonders what to do with Red. 

- That afternoon he realises that Digger John, the old prospector whom Ethan met in Cutting Field, has come to Tyland Mills. Grant seeks him out to ask what else he knows about Cuting Field. Digger John tells him that he told Ethan that he would stay, but after Ethan left, he got a bad feeling that this wasn’t a healthy place to be and he decided to leave.

Day 18 – Fireday – 3rd Day of Rainmoot (Spring)

- The next day it pours with rain, forcing the villagers to delay their plan to smoke out the bees. Grant, Gareth and Tellurian perform their regular patrol of the nearby areas. Grant spots a scroll tube in a muddy puddle, right in the heart of Tyland Mill, as if it has been dropped from the sky. Inside, there is a message that sounds like it has been written by a child or lunatic:

”You puny individual!

Bow in front of our might, and submit your will to your new Master (Us), or be prepared to face despair, pain, and, in the end, death!

To show Us your goodwill and submission, tomorrow morning leave a tribute in the place where you found this letter: a sheep (or equivalent), a bag full of valuables (be generous if you don’t want to experience the Fires of Death) or two sacks of food (tasty stuff).

Be ready to pay tribute twice a month from now on.

Your new Master, the mighty Lord of the Skies”

- Grant groans at this new annoyance and goes to check on the prisoners. To his astonishment, Red is not in his cell and the door is still secured. This means that either Red is still in his cell, or he has found another way out.

- Grant quickly ascertains that Red is not in his cell. There is a secret door out of the cell that Red was locked in, which leads to an old Tower Warden chamber. Red has clearly blundered around in the total darkness, tripping over beds and walking into things, trying to find a way out. A wardrobe has been pulled away from the wall and there is another hidden door and stairs leading down.

- Frustrated and annoyed, Grant tells the others that Red has escaped and goes after him. Using his darksight (a minor use of Umbra which doesn’t seem to disrupt Gossamer reality), he heads down into a series of catacombs that exists below the township itself. Grant has a very bad feeling about this place – the architecture and feel of the place reminds him of the River Caverns.

- Red hasn’t gone far – he managed to open one door of stone and then find a way back to the surface, emerging from a hole about two hundred metres from the Sheriff’s Tower quite close to the Dusker River. Red is a skilled woodsman but he is also injured. Grant goes after him in the pouring rain. 

- Despite Red’s headstart, Grant manages to catch up with him about ten miles away in the late afternoon. Red had been resting (his leg is in a great deal of pain) and is greatly disappointed when the Sheriff finds him. Grant helps Red back to town and back to a cell but it is well after dark when he arrives.

- In Grant’s absence, three members of the Steel Eagles have arrived and are waiting at the Good Omen Inn to talk to the Sheriff. Also, Ethan has arrived back with a cure for the Nyrathi Bee poison and it has been administered to poor Nadia. She has not recovered consciousness but both Sylvia and Irina seem greatly relieved that she will live. Tired and drenched from his long journey, the innkeepers make sure that Ethan is well looked after.

- Grant decides to delay dealing with the Steel Eagles as they aren’t causing any immediate problems. He checks on Nadia and then tells Ethan privately that he’s captured Red but also discovered catacombs beneath Tyland Mills. He doesn’t know how extensive they are but he fears the worst. 

- Ethan then explains how he journeyed north and found Vendra’s treehouse. She’s an old sorceress but he doesn’t think she’s an evil witch at all. She recognised Ethan as a Lord of Gossamer and was happy to help provide a cure for Nadia. Apparently there is another Lord of Gossamer here – Jacob – whom they both know [i](GM’s note – Ethan first met Jacob back in Session 28!)[/i]. According to Vendra, he is friends with the dwarves of the Hexenhoof Mines but she doesn’t know what happened to him when the ore supposedly ran out. She also doesn’t know anything about the fish-men or what happened at Cutting Field, but she is concerned about these developments. Ethan mentioned that one of her apprentices, a wizard called Tennelgast, has recently stolen a relic from her called “The Blue Book of the Skies” which can be used to enslave birds of prey. She asked for help to get it back and bring her apprentice to her alive. Grant comments upon the scroll tube that seemingly ‘fell from the sky’ only that morning. Ethan apologises for not spending more time asking Vendra questions but he was in a hurry to get back with the cure.

* Image on the left is of Vendra (actress Maggie Smith) and on the right is of Jacob (image by Nicolas Kole on DeviantArt)

- Grant says that he intends to search the underground catacombs and find out how extensive they are and whether they link up to the River Caverns. He plans to ask Gareth and Tellurian to set an ambush for the Tennelgast’s ‘tribute collectors’ and he asks Ethan to go with Alfrin to find his missing Uncle. Ethan agrees but says that he needs a good night’s sleep. He still wants to head to Cutting Field but he’s prepared to help Alfrin first.