Flame and Flight

It was good to feel "normal" for a bit. Just having fun at the Festival of the Fawn with a lovely lady and taking it all in. I was even able to get in a pretty funny prank. I gave about a dozen kids a few coins to just follow a hungover guard around, walk in circles around him and talk his ear off. He'll probably be wondering for years why that happened! Mora even got in on it, swapping out Kanos clothes to something extremely gaudy. I am glad she decided to come but I fear her attachment to me may cause her harm now but more on that later. Unfortunately Hrena got pranked as well which I felt bad about. She had been through so much and now she was stuck with us. Too many out there would simply cut her open and take the stone. We needed to help her stand on her own two feet again.
 
Note - most of the party was pointing fingers at me for pranks on them. I swore to them I would not prank them ever. So I really need to remember that.
 
We discussed as a group my visions from them Wolf, more precisely the two banners I was shown. If Rojorn is "spirit touched" as Kano keeps saying it could be a good thing possibly? Is he the boy from my other vision in the ruined city with the pool of water with the reflected moonlight? Unfortunately for us the Widow was not allowing her son out at all which was causing quite the controversy. Not as big as the coming one but big for the time. We had to get Kano close so he could determine what was happening with the boy. Toblikai gathered up a bunch of kids to try and distract the guards but they weren't having any of it. I used my stone and the Illusion magic I had learned, plus some artistry Mora helped me with, and created an illusion of the stag which caused quite the stir. Then Toblikai was talking to the guards about letting Rojorn out to play. He wasn't making much progress so I stepped in to help "persuade" him a little to let the kid out.
 
I should probably take a small amount of time and put this note in. Though I was swaggering about town a bit I was also getting fairly nervous. It was only a matter of time before we would be found out as something or one of the major houses just wanted us gone or our stones. I was trying to keep a low profile somewhat which I MAJORLY broke myself but that is coming soon. Just so I remember myself correctly, inside I was not as confident as I was acting.
 
Back to Toblikai and the guard I was able to fast talk him a bit into letting the kid come out for at least a peak at this wondrous miracle of the doe. Kano then stepped in and gathered the children around for a story. For telling a story he asked a lot of questions of the kids but I found out later it was for a purpose. The answers given by Rojorn definitely were drastically different someone of his age would answer. He also made a remark there were octopus in the a cave off a cove which was really odd as this is freshwater! He said the other children didn't believe him. Well I was pretty skeptical too and a little worried. Maybe the boy had nothing to do with Galrix banner being restored?
 
We decided we would see if Rojorn was telling the truth and under cover of night we went looking for it. This freaked me out...apparently not everyone can see this cave opening and it looked like we were going to just be dashed upon the rocks and have to swim back. We sailed through the stone as if it wasn't there. I was finally able to see that something wasn't right there. We made our way in slowly and Kano did some kind of offering I think? These Octopus arm tips that were glowing were coming out of the water around us. Well we were already in it may as well just continue on! We eventually made our way onto a small beach and a...living area?
 
Turns out this is one of Cadya's daughters. A woman’s body by octopus tentacles for legs. She was actually fairly polite and after we let her know that we were not hunting her a sort of game started. I don't get the rules really but it's an exchange of information. She doesn't really give much. Rojorn had been down there but nothing really happened, she said. Kano told me she was likely lying and that there was something more profound going on. She also said her mother had interest in him which Kano said could be a lie or mistruth. So difficult to work with these shadow spirits. This was concerning though. It does lead me to believe that maybe Galrix banner remade has nothing to do with the boy? We definitely need to check this other house out which wasn't all that difficult.
 
Kano was able to quickly track down who they are and I was able to use the guiding gift of my stone as I was able to find them first. They are primarily miners in the northern part of the valley. House Setvori. The leader of the House died and his wife was assassinated soon after leaving a teenage boy as the eldest. Awesome. So it's either try and deal with Galrix Widow and this General or try to prop up this house that is falling apart. I know the Wolf has set this path before me but I'm really not sure what to do here. It was time to roll the dice and just simply ask for an audience.
 
That's exactly what we did. Of course there was an old "friend" there, one of the guards who was in the caves when we fought Galrix. He was of course very wary of us showing up but I insisted Galrix had to be done away with. The Wolf led me down that path. Now she has led me here not as a kidnapper but as a protector. I don't know how much he believed but he did let me see him. Just me alone. I get it, I would be overly cautious too and, as I said, the dice had rolled and now they will land however they will. It turns out the kid had a great deal of information on us already. I think he believed me when I told him that I was there to help. He said his advisor was telling him to cower in his rabbit hole and take a defensive position. Who was this fool? I told him yes you can do that but it's sure death. Run out through the field! Yes you may die but you may also escape and live to fight another day. At the very least you would die a free man rather than a rabbit in a hole. He also said his House motto is pretty literally help the people because the people help us. I know the Wolf was right about this House and it's the right one to back but how? He also let me know House Grigor was starting to raid his lands. By raid I mean literally burn down villages and slaughter people. One last thing - apparently they are having some "misunderstanding" with the Tiila. We need them as allies so need to get this resolved quickly. I sent word that we need to meet with Vigil Galaea and work out terms that would benefit both sides.
 
One more thing - apparently Galrix house owes them fair sum of money they do not plan on paying back so their house is in a bit of a financial slump.
 
My journal is a bit out of order. I met with Sabin Setvori before we went on our midnight excursion to check out Rojorns story. I also should expand on House Grigor. Apparently they were literally a band of mercs with a heavy hand that got stuff done for Galrix. They amassed quite a bit of wealth and basically asked Galrix for Lord title and were given it. They haven't stopped their heavy handed ways and it must be put to a stop quickly. I don't care who's in power, killing innocent people like that is unacceptable.
 
The next day we all met with young Lord Sabin. He knew about everybody and gave some pretty specific details. If he had this info what info did the Widow have on us or any of the large Houses? I was liking being here less and less. The talk went well but he said that he had a personal favor to ask of me in private. One thing led to another in discussion and he asked me if I trusted my companions. I responded with “I trust them with my lives” which will be important in a bit. He explained he believed his adviser was being controlled or spirit touched or something along those lines. His alchemist said there was an extremely rare root that could be used to brew a drink to determine if he was or not. Rare as in RARE. Like expensive and difficult to find. We told him we would find this for him. We also decided the refugees we accumulated might fare better with his people then anywhere close to Riverwatch and he agreed to take them. After that we went our separate ways for now.
 
As for trusting everyone, Hrena told me to my face I was an idiot to say that. I didn’t know her, I didn’t know for sure I could trust her, you’re dumb for saying that. I see why she would say that but the Wolf led us to her. That’s it I don’t need anything else.
 
We enjoyed the rest of the Festival until the children were chased inside. Soon after a child was saying the Fawn was here prancing in the fields and he was! The Wolf was also here and I knew it was her implicitly. Then a huge wash of emotions came over me. Sadness and remorse literally driving me to the ground. I thought this was a bad omen for the land. Maybe the Wolf caught up too early and the harvest would be horrible on top of our issues? We would later find out that wasn’t the case but that wash of emotions...it was frightening. The rest of the night I was merely present. I let Kaen play in the fire (we got her a new lantern!) and spent the last peaceful night we will likely have for some time.
 
We learned the next morning there was an extremely botched assasination attempt on the Widow but no further details. We met with Lordling Sabin and he was booking it out. We got the refugees to him and I also asked him to get Mora out of here. Toblikai wanted to stay and though I was itching to get out maybe we did need to stay and gather information. It would be a blessing and a curse. We did get something out of it but the cost may have been too high.
 
We ditched the Warehouse and Kano had a guy who found us a new place. Goes by the name Gilz but I doubt that is his real name. He is also a “simple fisherman”. OK and we’re just simple farmers and nothing else. This is also when we found out that a “new House” was rising and was being considered as the ones who sent assassins. Oh ya and that new House is me. It seems Kano’s stories have caught up to us and I knew we needed to get out QUICK. Also House Grigor put out a hit on me! That’s when we came up with a plan so crazy it worked to perfection even with my added touch and we all got out. We would hit House Grigor and the Widow with one blow. It would take Kano promising favors and Galrix torque. If we could have sold that for half what it was worth that would have been great. This would end up being worth it though in the end and the Widow would get it back.
 
House Grigor has multiple buildings in the city including two warehouses and a barracks on the docks. Gilz and Kano came up with a plan to hit burn down the warehouse, have Kano’s ship captain and crew hit the warehouse and we would plant the torque and a note on a high ranking person out of that barracks as if he was trying to sell it and implicate the Widows General in it as well. I was kind of leery about it because they wanted to light the warehouse on fire but they assured me they had a plan to collapse it into the water. Not sure about Gilz but I trust Kano so I was in. House Grigor needed a hurting put on it anyways.
 
Like I said the plan went off without a hitch. Kano was able to get this high ranking man and drown him and plant the torque and note (which I wrote earlier but didn’t mention). We lit the fire, I let Kaen feed it a bit faster so it would burn quicker and all went great. I grabbed Kaen and turned to run to the end of the docks to the rendezvous point but it almost felt like something grabbed me and stopped me. These people need to see me. They wanted to declare war on me covertly, I would show them we were here and not to be trifled with. I turned back and came out from behind a corner and several of them saw me clearly. I smiled and turned and ran to the rendezvous point. That’s when it hit me what a bad idea that was. Now they knew for sure that it was me. We were already in some danger but I just heightened it. No turning back now I guess. Like I told Lord Sabin, run free and you might make it but at least you’ll be free if you die. I also thought about Mora. She had been seen with me surely so we would need to gather her and her family and bring them to Setvori lands as well. I can;t force her but I really hope they decide to come.
 
We got out and met up at the old Lighthouse we had found before. When we arrived there was some spirit there weeping. At first Kano thought it was some woman who had lost her husband at sea but no it was a spirit. This is getting all too common now but the spirit went away after a fre minutes. Kano’s shipmates arrived and our share, EACH, was 5,000 coins. Hrena didn’t even know what to do. I knew it was a nice help but we are going to need every coin we can get. We camped there for the night and got word from the city. My House was now at war with House Grigor and Galrix. The Widows General was set to be executed. Well Kano set out to make me known and I am now Known. It was time to get even further away from Riverwatch. It would be impossible to try and settle down around here. Our best bet was to find this spirit root and get to Setvori lands quickly. I think we all had the same idea at the same time. It was time to find our trickster friend in the forest.
 
Since Biggins Stop is right by the forest I figured it would be a great place to find him since we’re kind of a big deal there. They welcomed us but we didn’t have time to have a party though we would pretty much end up doing that anyways! They also let us know the Fawn had been through so I was much relieved there. We went out of town to find our friend and quickly did so. He gave us some more of his wine (just a drop is all that is needed) and after all we had been through I was ready to relax for at least a few hours. He tried to flick it into Amaris mouth but it hit her eye. Apparently it is WAY more potent that way. Kano was plastered drunk. I was drunk. Hrena didn’t want anything to do with wine after she found out that people with ill intention will sometimes drug it. I don’t remember much except for somehow Hrena was...talking to our friend somehow and suddenly she was like he’s leading us to the area it is. OK let’s do this!! I sobered up as nightfell and realized, again, this was yet another bad idea.
 
We got the area and started searching for the root. That’s when the balls of light started showing up. Light spirits Hrena said through our guide. I could feel the tension in Kaen as she wanted to lash out at these things. Our campfire wasn’t very big so I tried to pull fire through the stone and initially it didn’t want to but it worked the second time. She leaped out and quickly destroyed two of the things absorbing their...explosion I guess is the right word? Toblikai is able to make his weapon flame (I NEED THIS!) and that was effective against them. We quickly destroyed them and continued searching for the root. Hrena told us she was tired of doing all the work (well don’t be the only sober one….) and was going to take a rest. No worries she deserves it. We searched for almost an hour when she stood up and said oh….woops are you guys looking for this? That I already found? I laughed out loud. Now that was a good prank!