Session 4: The White Moose

General Summary

The party meets for breakfast. They relate to Michael about the crystal they found in the mine. He doesn't immediately recognize it but hangs on to it for the moment. He feels it's time to share some information with the party and leaves to set up a presentation in his room. In Michael's presentation he explains his origins in the astral sea and his racial enemy, mindflayers. Veld and Natali find the presentation fantastic and applaud at the end. Veld gets his pamphlet signed. Michael reveals the origin of his current name, and where he came out it. He also gives a brief presentation on gith anatomy. Bhur and Galanodel decide to exit the presentation early and try to ask Marta about where the town speaker might be. The party stops by the mine and finds the survey ongoing. They return to town and stop by The Blue Clam to wait. They find a posting for a hunt of a white moose up in Lonelywood. Veld & co fish. The party kills some time fishing while waiting for the speaker to return. They collectively catch nearly a dozen quipper, enough to feed the party a meal. The speaker returns and marks the job complete. Veld attempts to intimidate the speaker unsuccessfully. The party is paid their 50gp. The group travelled up to Lonelywood, quickly finding Nimsy Huddle, the speaker of Lonelywood. She elaborated on her posting to hunt down the White Moose terrorizing Lonelywood Forest. The bounty is 100gp for the head of the White Moose. Serafin petitioned for citizenship as a member of Lonelywood. Speaker Huddle explained that only those who own property or have spent a significant amount of time in Lonelywood were considered citizens, but she also hinted at a possible resolution if the party successfully disposed of the moose problem. She also told of two druids that had come through town in previous months, Vurnis and Ravisin, who made proclamations to the effect that every town in Icewind Dale should make humanoid sacrifices to Auril. The party spends most of the rest of the day hunting the moose to no avail. They return to town to question some of the trappers attacked, they got a little useful information and many exciting but likely untrue stories. They decided to spend the night in town before heading out again. The party continued searching, finding another normal moose. Communicating with it Natali tried to get it to direct them to the white moose. It gives a direction and they follow the tracks. After some time they are attacked by the banshee of Lonelywood Forest. A spectral arrow pierces Natali unexpectedly and she nearly falls. Natali summons her totem to temporarily bolster her party before falling to the banshee's mournful wail. With the totems protection the rest of her party remains standing, managing to defeat the banshee and revive the unconscious Natali. As party continued on the trail of the suspected white moose they encountered a desperate pack of wolves. Despite the lack of numbers the wolves attacked the party, trying to take down @Natali in her axebeak form. They managed to take down her wildshape, and the confusion of that plus the loss of half their pack broke their morale and they fled. Continuing on the party encountered a fox patiently stalking a hare. Choosing not to intervene they watched as the fox managed to catch the hare and secure its meal. Peh'Tar, acting mainly on instinct attacked the fox, injuring it and scaring it off. Natali chased after the fox and left the hare and some herbs where it had gone to ground. Not far from the fox and hare encounter the party found the tracks they had been following led to a lightly wooded slope with some signs of architecture. A large triangular crystalline structure rose from beyond an elevated berm. On the berm they saw evergreens growing and amongst them what appeared to be a stone table enclosed by a half circle of pale blue crystalline pillars. North of the berm the saw a delicately carved gazebo made of white stone, and south of the berm they could just see the tops of some white stone statues.