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Honoring Those Who've Gone

by Luce

We pulled into the shore at Temidaea with the thick fog at our backs, shrouding the sea. There is a path inland through the forest. Led by Cassandra's guiding hand, we ventured onto the path until the trees broke to reveal plains in the headlands, much higher above sea level than expected. Across the plains sits a village with a manor on a hill.

The Village

It seems the people of this place left in a hurry, though the clues stop there as to why they did so.

In the middle of a village, an oak from Teir Shannigray lay surrounded by stones in a kind of memorial. Though it lacks any kind of magical property now, it was once planted to bring some of the elvish magic to Temidaea (as Deltavros' second-in-command was from Teir Shannigray).

The Manor

With little else to see we ascended the hill and entered the manor.

The torches were lit and fireplace roaring when we entered each room.

In the den, the fireplace whooshed out as we entered. Lord Rohrouk tried to relight the fire, inadvertently summoning a half-dozen skeletons. More entered the house form outside, and we found ourselves surrounded and divided. It was a hard battle, but we won.

The party took a rest outside, without Rohrouk -- our lord took his break in the family room by the fire. There was discussion about combat, for neither of our wizards are equipped for battle the same way the rest of us are. In the kitchen, Eragon found something written in tar (in Elvish) on the wall:

What must be given / must be taken away

The investigation continues, with some discussion about different species and their reproduction & sexual parts (after spotting a Greek-esc sculpture or three). Other than the laughs the group continues upstairs, and Eragon finds Deltavros' journal during the time he ruled. Notable contents include a continued nightmare that plagued Deltavros: the one monster that got away, "a massive wolf with a maw of fire", the "ashen wolf".

"Southward, southward to Himaeus."

Eragon read from Deltavros' journal where his next stop was -- in Himaeus, to the south -- and that's where we're heading then. It seems there's more to the journal that Eragon hasn't explained yet. And Lord Rohrouk seems to have... changed -- something about him has changed -- since we entered the manor of Deltavros (OOC: spoke to ghost [Phoebe?], acq. her son's/someone's [new] sword). Rohrouk explains he hears the voice of Phoebe, Deltavros' wife in life, before returning Luce's blade. Phoebe explains to Rohrouk that an orc from somewhere south, with a similar sawtoothed blade, "sought to live forever" and "stole a gift that didn't bring them much fortune". Luce stormed off to the entrance of the manor before he heard more.

Just as we left, Eragon and Avrios barged into a previously locked room on the first floor. Earlier we heard a man crying from the inside, but upon breaking the door in we found only gold coins (340gp) and more tar-writing (Common this time): "I'm sorry" over and over again.

"Is everyone but me fucking haunted?"

More visitors

As we (finally) left the manor, we spotted lights in the outskirts of the village. We sought to avoid the new visitors by leaving the hilltop manor in the opposite direction before circling around back to the village. The group, noted by the light they carry, stopped at the tree that kept our interest. It was then we recognized the lightbearer as the dwarf Stinthad of the Steel Company (with all present).

The Steel Co.

We stopped once more at the felled Teir oak in the village before heading back to the sea. The dwarves recognized us, by our ship of course. Most of our information was from the youngest (and most talkative), Urist.

The kobolds sailed directly towards Himaeus (and beat us there)

The good Lord Rohrouk info-dumped the dwarves: how the Teir oak protected (protects) the isle from the fog before pirates cut it down and took some with them. His gave them his full name: Lord Rohrouk Argiid. But it was Rohrouk that incited the dwarves to arms. They told us to make our peace before the fight.