Olkedo Session 9

General Summary

Our adventurers make it to Croatoan. They learn from Rasputia's mother Lucinda that she believes a ghost cursed Croatoan. She believes she angered the ghost by releasing it from a jar she found in the ruin outside of town. Pam confronts Rasputia about stolen medicine. They investigate the ruin outside town and inside they find a coffin with a note in Orgenic. It matches Captain Stancliff Preston's handwriting. They dig in the basement of Lucinda's house where Tavaris disappeared and find a tunnel leading away from the house. They explore the tunnel and find some strong majimonsters that they are not able to defeat. Nieve has a strange compulsion to go further down the tunnel and Brick has to grab her before she does. They run and narrowly escape with their lives and collapse the tunnel behind them. Once out Brick investigates where the tunnel went and discovers it was going toward the Scar. As they leave town Rasputia's sister Cabrina attacks them. They learn after defeating her that she has joined a gang and has been stealing from travelers and other towns to keep Croatoan afloat. Out on the road they encounter the mysterious stranger they met in Faversham who introduces himself as Bakl-vah. He tells them what he knows about the stones and gives them a copy of the elusive The Tales of Captain Preston.

Detailed Summary

Our protagonists enter Croatoan. The air here is dusty and dry. As they enter town they see three women sitting on a porch. Rasputia recognizes them as her mama Lucinda, her sister Marvell, and her sister’s wife Pam. Rasputia runs up and hugs her mama and sister and nods at Pam who nods back icily. Rasputia asks how things have been going and Lucinda tells her that the crops aren’t doing so well, but that they have been getting by on trades with other towns. Rasputia is surprised that trade has been doing so well since she left, and Lucinda explains that it is something her brother Dareion and her sister Cabrina have started doing. For some reason, Rasputia introduces her friends by different names. She introduces Jebedaiah Bateman as Clayton, Nieve Powell as Marsha, Brick as Jericho, and Toshi Ryoko as Cletus. Toshi corrects her and says, “Actually, it’s Toledus.” Lucinda invites them to sit and talk on the porch. Jebedaiah shares some rations with the women. Lucinda asks where they came from and where they’ve been. Nieve tells her that they went to an altar where a creepy shadow attacked them. Jebedaiah mentions that they went to a cursed town called Green Valley where everything was black and barren but they saved them heroically. Lucinda asks if the shadow they saw was a ghost. Toshi explains that the shadow was a Majimonster. Marvell looks at her mama and asks, “What’s all this about ghosts all of a sudden?” Lucinda tells them a long time ago she found a ghost jar. She explains that she started Croatoan and when she first got there there was an old Maji ruin close to where she wanted to settle. She checked it out to make sure there wasn’t anything dangerous about it. There were some Majimonsters around the outside. She got the impression they were standing guard. She defeated them and went inside the ruin. Jebedaiah is surprised that such an old woman is a binder. She says she was young once too, and continues her story. Inside the ruin was a large coffin, with the image of a person carved on the lid. In the palm of the carved figure’s hand was a glass jar. It didn’t look like there was anything in it, so Lucinda picked it up to look at it. A sound startled her and she dropped the jar and it shattered on the ground. A mist rose up from the broken pieces on the floor and took the shape of the person carved on the coffin. Lucinda thought it must be the ghost of the person entombed there. The misty figure gave her a look of horror and then vanished. When it vanished she felt a feeling like a thread snapping, or a connection being severed. Jebedaiah mentions that they have felt that before too. She says she didn’t think so at the time, but with Rasputia talking about curses lately she’s been thinking maybe the ghost cursed the place. She explains she didn’t make the connection at the time because it was several years later that the first disappearance happened. The group asks about the disappearances and Lucinda tells them that every few years someone disappears from town. She knows some of them just left because she still receives letters from them, but others disappear without explanation. No one knows what happened to them. Lucinda asks if they’ve ever seen any ghost or ghost jars on their travels. Jebedaiah tries to explain that ghosts don’t exist but Nieve stops him. Lucinda invites them in and offers them bread and jam. The group decides to rest and the three women show them to their rooms. Pam makes up Rasputia’s room and asks her if she found anything useful on her travels and brings up the medicine that Rasputia stole from her. Rasputia maintains her innocence, but Pam doesn’t buy it because Gretta Jenkin told her all about the medicine she received from Rasputia. Pam tells her its hard for her to keep everyone healthy when she doesn’t have the supplies to do it, and mentions more of her supplies have gone missing since Rasputia left. She leaves in a huff. Rasputia then goes to see her mother before she goes to bed and gives her the 3 Amphiboils the party caught earlier and says she hopes that water monster can help with the crops. Brick flies up in the air with Sandroc to scout the area. The land around Croatoan is pretty flat. He sees an old ruin outside of town. They all go to bed. Rasputia goes to Nieve’s room and tells her about the night that Tavaris disappeared. In the morning Jebedaiah offers some eggs that his chickens laid. Brick’s Sandroc also lays an egg. Brick asks if there are any seeds he could buy. Lucinda says there is not much that they can spare but they might check with Dareion at the general store. Jebedaiah goes out to the field seeing that the crops look dry and starts watering with Verdigrime. Rasputia, Nieve, Brick and Toshi go to the general store. Dareion greets his sister. Raputia gives him a bar of soap. He asks where she’s been. Rasputia summarizes their whole journey up to that point. Dareion asks if during all that they found the solution to the curse. Rasputia tells him, “Sure did, you’re welcome. We get a discount right?” Brick asks if there are any seeds for sale that might not be available elsewhere. Dareion says he has some cow beans from D’Asiago. He can get a 5 lb bag for 10 suls. They buy the cow beans, 3 agates, and an ornate rainbow pocket knife from Dareion. Dareion mentions that Cabrina has been finding fancy stuff like that. She has been working for Dareion and to the surprise of everyone, she has been doing a good job. Dareion says she stays out longer than planned but she always comes back with a good haul. She goes to D'Asiago and Cross Corners, and he doesn’t exactly know where all she goes. Dareion also mentions that a trader named Isidora Blackwood stopped in town a while back. Dareion says she gave them a fortune.

The problems of this place are connected to something much larger. Small things can be done now to sustain it, but a bigger problem must be solved before this place can become prosperous again.
— Isidora Blackwood

He mentions that Isidora brought some medicines too, which was helpful because Pam’s stock has been going missing. Brick decides he will give some cold remedies to Pam. They leave the store and decide to check out the ruin. They are not sure whether to bring Jebedaiah or not because of his predilection for stealing but they eventually decide to get him. They reach the ruin and try to open the door with various keys that don’t fit and eventually find that it is unlocked. Inside there is a large stone coffin in the center just like Lucinda described. In the palm of the carving’s hand is a circular depression where it looks like something used to sit. They examine the depression and try to fit various things in it but nothing happens. Nieve notices a compartment on the side of the coffin and picks the lock. Inside is a scroll. The scroll is in Orgenic which none of them know, but Toshi can recognize the words for key, beast, and sacrifice and what must be a name, Kadeen Benali. The hand writing seems familiar to Jebedaiah so he starts comparing the note to the various journals and notes that they’ve collected. It matches the note from Captain Stancliff Preston they found in Sunfall Cave. They open the sarcophagus and find an old skeleton wearing a gold necklace. The necklace has a worn coin-like pendant on it. Nieve takes it. They find the name of Kadeen Benali in the Record of the Old Empire that they have with them and find that he was a vizier to Emperor Oshiro. When they get back to Lucinda’s house Rasputia says she would like to examine the basement. The basement is a plain dirt basement with some preserved foods in jars on the shelves. Rasputia stares at the corner for a little bit then gets a jar of peaches and goes back upstairs. Toshi summons Wurmdra to dig and Wurmdra starts digging in the spot where Rasputia was staring. Wurmdra digs for a little bit and finds a tunnel leading away from the house. They go down the tunnel. They walk for a long time without really seeing anything. Nieve and Brick notice that they have been headed continually west toward The Scar. They hear a rustling up ahead. Three gross fungal Majimonsters that they have never heard of before attack! After a few rounds with the monsters they realize that they are way too strong for them and they decide to run. But as they do Nieve feels a strange compulsion to go further down the tunnel (Mystery Condition). Brick is able to catch her and knock her out before she does anything foolish. They manage to escape and cave in the tunnel behind them. Once they are above ground Brick flies up with Sandroc to try and guess where they walked based on the direction and how long they walked. He determines that where they ended was getting very close to the Scar. Rasputia tries to get Lucinda to leave Croatoan but she doesn’t want to go. They at least try to tell her not to go into the basement anymore, but fail to give her a very good reason. Eventually Brick tells her everything that just happened and then the adventurers decide to leave. As they are leaving Pam asks where they are headed. Rasputia tells her they are going to Bismuth. Pam asks if they go further north to Muscaria, if they could bring back some alchemical medicines and see if they can find an alchemical treatment for the soil there. As they fly out of town, some binders down below attack them with ranged attacks. Not about to let that go unpunished, they land and find Rasputia’s sister Cabrina and her friends have attacked them. Cabrina wants them to hand over all their stuff, saying that they need it more than they do. The party are not going to stand for this and fight back! They defeat the thugs and they take Cabrina’s pouch which contains 30 suls and a blue gemstone. Rasputia asks where Pam’s medicine is and Cabrina tells her she already traded it for food. Rasputia ends up feeling bad for Cabrina and gives her back her suls and gives her some of her rations, but keeps the gemstone and gives it to Toshi. Nieve gives the thugs some suls. The gang runs away and as they do they drop a silver necklace with a pendant in the shape of a hand. The party heads further north and sees a familiar figure walking along the plains. It the mysterious stranger who gave them the key to The Ruined Keep. He says, “Hello friends, I think it is time we talk more about these black stones.” They ask if he has been following them and he says yes. He followed them after Faversham and he saw what they did for the people of Green Valley. He said their actions there convinced him that they could be trusted. He also tells them that the people of Green Valley made it safely to Olkedo. He followed them to make sure they were safe. He explains that he thinks that the stones are fragment of a drajule of a great and powerful Majimonster. He believes the monster was responsible for the catastrophe that destroyed much of Rathana and created the Scar. He also thinks this great monster is now waking up. Strange magical occurrences have been reported all over Rathana, like what happened in Green Valley. Also old Maji ruins have been waking up after hundreds of years. He thinks these occurrences are related to the stones. He has been seeking out the stones because some people with bad intentions have also been seeking them out. He wants to keep the stones out of their hands. He asks if they would help him find the stones. They agree and Jebedaiah asks if he has The Tales of Captain Preston, and coincidentally he does. He gives it to them and says it should help them find the places where the stones are hidden because Captain Preston seems to be the one who hid them. He says it wasn’t easy to find because it seems someone has been taking them from libraries all across Rathana. Jebedaiah tells him that they think Akari Oshiro is the one who has been taking the books. The stranger can’t believe that is possible. He tells them to be on the look out for strange magical occurrences in their travels and try to stop them if they can. He says there is a researcher in Muscaria, Fygmal Tyqor, who has a device that detects the strange magical surges so they could use it to find where they are happening. They finally ask the stranger’s name and he introduces himself as Bakl-vah. They ask if he has heard the name Kadeen Benali, but he has not. He again suggests that they make their way to Muscaria, as someone at the college there would probably know more about Maji history. Jebedaiah asks how many fragments there are but Bakl-vah does not know. Brick pickpockets Bakl-vah as payback for their first encounter with him, and takes a note from his pocket. Jebedaiah asks what the great Majimonster is, but Bakl-vah has never found a description of it, and has never seen it. Jebedaiah then asks how he got interested in the stones and he says that he noticed the magical occurrences and where ever they were, the stones seemed to be involved too. Bakl-vah tells them he is headed south to the Jungles and takes his leave.