Session 35: Blackwater Report
General Summary
The party manages to make it out of the forest around noon. A clear day ahead of them, the kingdom of Baal fully within their sights in the rolling hills of the holy kingdom. The faint smell of ash wafts through the air, as in the distance down the road, the party spies a pillar of black smoke coming from several miles away.
Ayame looks out at the horizon out the carriage window before poking her head back inside the carriage to look at the rest of the party, sebastian continuing to mush on the clydesdales. "Should we check that out?" She says pointing to the pillar of black smoke.
"We're going to have to, no? Its on the way." Nahemah says with a shrug.
Eleanor squints looking at the column of smoke, but shrugs. "It's not part of our job so normally I'd just try to pass by it without gettin involved. Up to yall though since its on the way."
"Well... Since its on the way we probably should... No need to go around." Ayame says ushering sebastian forwards.
The party gets close to the column of smoke, before realizing that it has come to a town. Just outside of the town, a signpost, broken and stepped on along the road, reading, 'Blackwater, Population 200.' The number being scratched out by what looks to have been a knife or sword. Blackwater itself looked at one point to be a small hamlet, a cozy looking one were it not for all the buildings being freshy burnt ruins of charred posts jutting up from the earth. The corpses of many villiagers lie face down in the muddy streets as the sound of sobbing can be heard from between the ashen remains of what looked to be a general store, and a smithy, its furnace long since burnt out, and its anvil nearly covered with rubble.
Nahemah looks upon the desecrated bodies as the party passes them by, silently praying for them.
"Do you think the ones who tried to hold us up? They seemed kind of... wimpish to do this." She says before peering towards the crying sounds, stopping the carriage.
Now in the town, the party sees that the only surviving building is a church, though with a partially collapsed roof, and holy symbols seemed to have been forcibly removed from the walls. It looks that a temple of Tutella had been raided.
Eleanor rubs her chin as the carriage stops, everyone starting to exit the carriage. She looks to Ayame. "Might be it too considerin they certainly did not seem like true guardsmen." She says looking back over the ruined hamlet, letting out a sigh. "I'll never get bandits. I stole stuff, sure, but mostly from hoity toity folk."
Sebastian gets down from the carriage for Ayame to climb up onto his shoulder.
"There seem to still be people alive over there, maybe we could help." Ragia says pointing to the sounds of sobbing.
The party makes their way to the alleyway between the burnt down buildings, to find a woman, middle aged with simple, muddied attire. She openly weeps while holding the head of a slain young man, who was stabbed in the belly and bled to death. She strokes his face while kneeling in the dirt, looking inconsolable. The young man wearing a smiths apron, and well worn boots.
Nahemah runs over getting to the woman dropping down next to her on her hands and knees. "Ma'am, what happened here?"
The woman sees Naomi approaching and quickly tries to stop her sobbing, wiping her eyes on her muddy sleaves, but can't bring herself to speak. She simply clutches onto the mans clothing like its her only lifeline.
Nahemah reaches out and gently rubs the womans shoulders in a soothing way. "It's okay, we're here now. Nothing will happen anymore."
The woman sniffles and just holds the man again, petting his cheek. "B-bernard... M-my poor rbernard..." She manages to say with a scratchy throat. "They killed m-my son."
"Who did this miss?" Ayame softly asks.
The woman nearly breaks down again, looking like she is about to speak, but instead, she points to the cold forge in the ruined smithy, where a pair of legs can be seen dangling out from it. "He... he got one of them."
Nahemah doesn't look at the others but says quietly. "Can you all check that other body? I'll stay with her."
Eleanor, her arms crossed, looks over and approaches the forge. "I'll take a look." she says pulling the body out. From the waist up, the body looks to be tremendously burnt. The smell of slightly off cooked pork and burnt hair comes out of the forge along with the corpse as it is removed. Teh armor is somewhat brittle, but a few bits and baubles are found upon the skeletonized body, including on his belt. Easily, Eleanor finds the crest of the kingdom of Cinerosa. The kingdom the party just came from. The symbol notating a basic rank of the non dragonslaying forces from within the kingdom.
Meanwhile, Ragia has been keeping an eye on the carriage for all this time, and happens to see the doors for the church open, and two children running out and helping a man with a bleeding stub of a leg into the church. Ragia makes a note of this, and hops down from the carriage, running over to the party. "The church seems safe. We should bring her there."
Eleanor clicks her tongue in annoyance and shoves the body onto the ground, rummaging through whatever is left of the corpse. "Armor here's Cinerosian, but if those folks we met out of the city are any indication, I doubt its a proper soldier."
"Well if the two are at war... it could be..."
"Pretty sure the guild would've mentioned somethin about it, not to mention most settlements around here are already dealing with Anguish. Not as much time to ruin each others lives." Eleanor says, finding nothing else of note and standing up, kicking the corpse of the soldier.
The woman snifles. "They... they came in the middle of the night... and... and started setting fire to the rooftops. Thatch catches quickly... by the time..." She shakilly sighs. "By the time anyone knew what happened its..." She says with a puse, a pained expression returning to her face as she looks back to Bernard, stroking his face again. "We couldn't do anything..."
Ayame nods solumnly. "As my friend said, we should get you to the church."
"Yes, lets get you somewhere safer. If they come back you'll want to be somewhere with walls at the least. "Nahemah says, offering a hand to the woman.
The woman looks to the hand for a moment before looking back to bernard, giving another sniffle before leaning down and kissing his forehead. "I... I'll be back for you..." She says before standing up shakilly, using Nahemah's hand as a guide. The woman looks completely exausted, and looks to have been crying for a while.
The party starts making their way to the church, but eleanor pauses, giving the soldiers corpse one final kick before heading to the church with the rest of the party.
The group makes their way into the church, with a dozen people inside. Blood splattered on more than a few of the walls and coating a few sections of the floor. In the middle of a church on a broken pew, the man with a missing leg sees gauze being wrapped around his wound by a plainclothed man. A few children are moving around to different wounded people using the pews as well. Missing eyes, bleeding cuts, and giving them water and fresh bandages. Four of them are children, with one woman huddled in the corner, looking towards the wall, unmoving. Even with all twelve obviously alive, a large number of pews have been moved for the numerous dead that line the insides of the church, revealing thirty bodies, covered with cloth, most of them covered with splatters of blood.
Nahemah walks up to the first injured person she seees. "I'm here to help! I'm a cleric for Rhamansia." She says as she begins to tend to a woman missing an eye.
"I'm going to look for survivors." ayame says before leaving the church, as the man who finished tending the bloodied stump makes his way to Nahemah.
"At least the gods haven't fully abandoned us yet... We all appreciate it... I'm the surgeon of this town, Rugi." He says before going to another person, tending to their wounds as well.
Eleanor looks about, looking very confused and out of her element. She pipes up to Nahemah, clearing her throat. "I'm gonna go with Ayame... I'll probably be more help searchin since I suppose we're helpin here now." She says before she and Ragia both leave to explore the town.
As the party starts to explore,they find the carnage persists for way further than she originally thought. This was barely a blood bath, and much more akin to a full blown genocide of Blackwater. Whoever did this was no better than a monster. Ayame ends up finding the odd person here there, helping each person she finds back to the church, Sebastian carrying those the most injured back by hand.
Ragia searches throughout the town to find more resources, finding the town completely and utterly destroyed. The towns layout looked fairly new, even with a pile of burnt logs that seemed to be ready to set up a wall along the outer reaches of the hamlet, but even now it looks like this settlement will not return from its destruction.
Ragia makes her way back to the church, and approaches a man who looks better off than most, with a fresh eyepatch and his arm in a sling. "This town seems pretty new, what made you move in near the frontier at wartime?"
"Wartime?" the man says. "This was supposed to be a town of herb gatherers from the forest and the hillsides. There has been minor disagreements with our neighbors but... never war."
Ragia looks at Naomi, feeling confused. "Did I misunderstand the state of affairs of things around here? Sorry, we're travelers from far away."
A lengthy discussion between ragia and the people taking refuge at the church takes place. They speak of the politics between Baal and Cinerosa, having been friendly to one another for centuries. But throughout, there is always a hint of animosity between the two kingdoms. Cinerosa desiring the wide fields of grassland for additional training grounds for troups, decent farmlands, and a seccondary base of operations farther away from Anguish in order to bettter plan and gather resources. However, Baal cceeded from Cinerosa long ago when they kicked the dragons out of their kingdom, due to the varied religious beliefs of the people, and their views of moderation in terms of conflict against the dragons. The Kingdom of Baal also belives themselves to own land by divine right, refusing to give up holy land by any means neccessary.
Due to this slight animosity, and need for resources on both sides, an agreement was formed between the two kingdoms in 622, where Baal could gather resources within the norther forests, so long as Cinerosa could have fishing rights along the borders of the kingdom of Baal. There are more agreements between the kingdoms, but nobody within the church has read the entire thing, save for agreements of assistance during naval occupation on both sides, but their relationship has become more steady over time.
With Ayame being relayed this information after returning from her search, she sighs. "Well... If it were bandits we could hunt them down... Exact revenge... but I don't know what we could do in this situation... We could go after those who did this, butu where did they go and how many?"
Rugi approaches the party, his immediate duties tended too. "Nobody here has had an answer. I've been asking. Everyone who lived either fled, or had to play dead until their attackers ran away." He says with a sigh.
Its then that the door to the church opens, a fifth child making their way over to Rugi. "Mister... They took the food just like you shaid they would."
Rugi, sighs and looks exausted towards the child. "You checked every barrel?"
"There were no barrels, it was all gone. Even the mill was burneded." The child says quietly.
Rugi pats the child on the head. "Ok... go stay with the others, we will get you all food tonight..." He says back.
Nahemah pipes up, appraoching Rugi. "I can make food enough for everyone here. It must be eaten within the day I create it however..." She says at nightfall starts to befall the church.
Rugi starts to light a few candles but nods in approval while the rest of those gathered look to Naomi with a small beacon of hope. "It would be greatly appreciated..." Rugi says with a soft nod.
the party quickly moves things around, setting up pews as a makeshift table, and moving the corpses farther away to keep them out of sight and out of mind for at least a light meal.
Nahemah casts her spell, her staff gently lighting up. "A true protector does not just defend against the invading forces of evil. No, a true protector cares for and helps those in need. The poor, those afflicted by the dangers of the world, even the huddled masses yearning for freedom. For them, we provide warmth, and respite, however brief it may be with this small offering." Food and water appear along the makeshift table, and everyone starts to grab at the food, with Rugi bringing food to the wounded first before feeding himself. Everyone eats quietly, with a dour and depressed mood spread throughout the church.
Eleanor grabs some food and sits near Ayame as the two of them eat. "So what now? Seems like yall are aimin to help these poor folks. We gonna try to cart everyone off somewhere safe or somethhin?"
"It depends on them." Ayame says between bites. "If they want to leave or rebuild, we could always bring them to our destination if they wish."
Hearing the conversation, Ruri approaches Ayame. "On that subject... We were hoping you would be willing to relocate us... All of the guardsman were killed during the raid... Even our priest. We have no food, no shelter... This kind of group would only be targeted on the road if we traveled on our own."
"I have room in the carriage for those who can't walk. I have no issue with your people traveling with us." Ayame says with a nod to Ruri.
Elanor nods as well. "If its on the way, I don't mind just actin as muscle anyways. Sort of already my job."
"We could certainly transport you." Nahemah says cheerfully. "It would be a long trip with all of the extra people though. Would it be quite alright if we searched the houses we can manage to get into for supplies? Some of your people will need clothes that are at least marginally more functional than what they're currently in."
"Blackwater was destroyed in the flames, and with our families killed. If you find anything, we can only hope it will help us... but all we have are the clothes on our backs." Rori says.
"Its also necessary that we take care of the dead tomorrow. We should spend the day sanctifying the corpses for your departed, and looking for supplies for the living." Naomi says to the group.
"I should take another look 'round the place for anything else to salvage anyways if we're takin a couple dozen folks with us." Eleanor nods.
"I'll go look for books... something to do." Ragia says as well.
After some brief discussion about the next day, and the party introducing themselves to the survivors of the town, the party settles down and gets some rest.
DATE: Vamendour 13/625
The next day, everyone pitches in to gather the 150 corpses from around the town. With 50 survivors ready in attendance, and a funeral pyre being prepared for the mass cremation, Naomi takes the lead in the funeral rites, with Ayame and Sebastian helping to move bodies, and Eleanor and Ragia looking around for supplies.
With the funeral pyres prepared, and an entire day taken, those remaining hold a candlelight vigil, with Rori speaking first. "The gods we had here abandoned us in our time of need. Rhamnasia instead came when it was far outside of her realm. Nahemah Dai'Gishkin, will you give our dead our last rights?"
Nahemah looks towards the rows upon rows of corpses upon the pire, holding out her staff as it glows gently while she speaks. "Those that have fallen are now of the everlasting. Their souls shall find unending peace, filled with warmth and joy. May holy archons guide and protect them on their journey to the after." At the end of her short speach, the light from her staff glows brighter, before lifting upwards into a cloud of glittering energy, which floats over the dead, and seeps into them, consencrating them.
As the final part of the ceremony, Nahemah allows her staff to stand upright, clapping her hands together, before putting them up to her lips and breathing deeply between her hands, as a wave of fire breaths out from between them, washing over the pyre.
The pyre sets alight, the survivors tossing their lit candles also into the flames before joining hands. Rori speaks up, addressing the crowd. "Remember that we lost our families, our loved ones to the flames. But in this new flame, they will live on forever in the after.... forever at peace until we join them once again someday. Get some rest everyone... Tomorrow we make for Our Fathers Mercy."
DATE: Vamendour 14/625
The next morning, everyone marched towards the next city, taking nearly the full day to keep everyone protected and together. Ayame helping the wounded onto the carriage, while she herself sat atop it along with Ragia, with Eleanor and Nahemah walking and protecting the populace. They reach the city gates of "Our Fathers Mercy," A small portside town with a stone wall to protect the populace, given a twenty five gold stipend each as thanks from the guards on duty, sell the drugs that their carvan was holding with even less of an issue, and given a four thousand gold bonus for being so quick in the delivery, and Ayame's carriage brought back to its normal operating condition.
The party takes a collective sigh of relief that nothing happened to the caravan of people, and gets ready to set out into the great unknown adventure of the world. Meanwhile, unknown to them, a man dips his quill into an inkwell next to him on a workbench, striking out a single line on a page in a well worn book.
Rewards Granted
Ragia finds a childrens picture book of the holy symbols of the top 10 deities of The Pondarac Pantheon.
4100gp
