#1 A Cursed Meeting, The Journey Begins

The Principal Performers:
Arrai Sahazar, Varis, Davric, Sir Martin, Aidoneus Luc, Luis
 
Supporting Cast:

Gathan - The Tragedy

Angharad - Half Elf Musician

Katrine - The Unfortunate

Quarion - Barrel Surprise

Morgan - Katrine's Father

The road had been fairly rough, but I made decent time and walked into Dolonde about midday. It would have been much a easier road to travel if I hadn't lost my horse in that last dice game. Dice are so much harder to influence than cards. Dolonde was a pretty prosperous looking place, they were setting up for a festival it seemed, heard whispers of a Blood Rose Festival as I made my way to a local inn. If I can't drum up a card game for some extra coin, maybe I can find some work I thought.
 
The inn was named the Cursed Candle. I made my way in and a bit hoarsely (from the dust of the road) asked for some mead and announced a game of cards if anyone was interested. The table was set and some likely fellows took seats. Coin was tossed and the cards were dealt, much to everyone's surprise it was a three way tie! Even with a bit of trickery that would have been nigh impossible to accomplish, but so it was. Those involved were good natured though so the coin was split back out and a round of drinks brought over. Turned out that one of them was a bounty hunter by the name of Varis, and they were looking for some extra hands to track down someone named Gathan for the city. They were in debt and the city wanted them to pay off the debt by helping with the festival so we'd need to bring them in alive. I'd never worked as a bounty hunter before and the gold seemed decent for the task so I agreed to give a hand. New experiences are always welcome in the life of a traveler. I explained that my talents lie with the arcane, magic hands, and my rapier. The others chose to join as well. A swarthy short man who goes by the name of Davric, a scout of some kind. A heavily armored fighter, a knight, by the name of Sir Martin. And a fellow who was at a neighboring table, a scholar by looks, perhaps a practitioner of the arcane like myself named Aidoneus Luc. Luc, they must be from Trabrycg, they spent time going over the bounty contract as is prudent when dealing with such things. As we left the inn to head towards the local livery, another person showed up to join our expedition. A somewhat bold one that's named Luis, perhaps a bard?
 
We arrived at the livery to rent horses. Our destination was to be a place called Kardan, where Gathan was last seen, a couple of days travel to the north. Unfortunately, I did not have money for the fee, but Davric paid the 3 gold for him. Make sure to pay him back. The first leg of the journey was uneventful, we settled in to camp and a group of hobgoblins interrupted our rest. The party successfully intimidated all but one who ran away in to the night. Sleepily, I walked up to the one hobgoblin left behind, scorched them to death (magic hands), and walked back to my bedroll after finding nothing of value on the charred corpse.
 
The final leg of the journey was also uneventful, we arrived at Kardan and split up to investigate what we could find out about Gathan's whereabouts. Luis and I headed to the local inn which turned out to be a mostly elven establishment, was a bit disconcerting to have my horns looked at so hostilely. As most seemed to be speaking Elvish, I cast Comprehend Languages and we attempted to get information from the bartender. They pointed us in the direction of the musician named Angharad who is playing at one side of the inn. They sang a song in Elvish which I was able to understand thanks to the spell.
 
At twilight a girl sings with longing
In the wood, in the wood
She sings of love and death
In the wood, in the wood
She lies down in the deepest sleep
In the wood, in the wood
And dreams of the renewal of hope
In the wood, in the wood.
 
Luis suggested that they take the lead, and they go to speak with them as I claim a table. And they fail quite spectacularly. The others arrived at the inn and as we compared notes of what they discovered, an overarching theme emerges of Gathan being quite the flirt, much to the local populace's frustration. Eventually, after multiple varied attempts by different members of the group, we gathered from Angharad that her friend Katrine and Gathan have gone missing together. They haven't been seen for several days, and were most likely at a place called the Stumps.
 
Gathan had been staying at this inn, so Varis and I headed upstairs to his room to take a look about. Didn't find much of interest, but I noticed a barrel positioned strangely below the window of the room on the ground. Something seemed off about it so we went outside to find out what was in it.
 
The rest of the group joined us as we made it to the barrel. An overpowering smell of rose perfume undercut with the scent of death greeted us as there was a man stuffed inside it. Dolonde smelled of roses, but Kardan is not preparing for the same festival. Examining the dead man's body, we discovered extensive burns around it's mouth, and the flesh was wrinkled and dry, like a drained husk. Varis seemed to be unsteadied by the sight and took a drink from his flask. Thinking back on my studies, I knew what killed this man. An undead monster known as a Glaistig, a particularly devious foe as it takes over a living host that it uses to move about and feed. Luis left to get the guards, the pair at the gate returned with him, and they recognized the body as a man named Quarion, someone who worked for Morgan, Katrine's father. We chose to wait at the inn until the guards were done with the body and to answer any questions they might have.
 

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