S1 E6: Willow Candler's Library
General Summary
A bit of fancy talking, a little exploring and a little shopping and outfitting, ending in the literal shadow of the Caves of Chaos.
We opened on the morning following the night at the tavern, getting a bit of breakfast and deciding on a plan to talk to the Serene Mistress Alba about events thus far, having realized they hadn't yet stopped in after their adventure with the Lizardfolk. They arrived to her performing a religious sermon, which they participated in or simply listened to (or merely tolerated, probably, in Xi Shi's case) from the back of the chapel. At the end, after the townsfolk who were there had headed off into groups of their own to socialize or head back home, Mistress Alba came over to them for a recap. She inquired about the tablets, and after a bit of persuasive conversation she seemed not terribly upset that the Tablet had been returned to the Lizardfolk - the 'Serene' part of Serene Mistress in her title suggests she doesn't often get upset about much, but her thought was that it hadn't ben the Keep's to take or the Party's to hold on to in the first place. But discussion quickly moved from there to the series of misadventures with Parson Naphan, the attack, the death of his two acolytes, the secret passage, and the hams. Where the parson had gotten to was discussed, and the question asked if there was any way out of the keep other than the main gate. Alba admitted that one could potentially go through the rain sewers or the actual sewer, but the openings were blocked by heavy iron grates. It went without saying that she hadn't seen him, but then she hadn't seen them either and they'd been back in town an entire day. The Chapel wasn't on a road traveled for much purpose other than going to the Chapel, or going up to the upper Bailey which was restricted access
Alba's misgivings about the Parson ran deep. Though she clearly is a person of gentle nature, whether trustworthy or not, she had already suggested there was something weird about that whole situation and she wasn't surprised that Naphan had turned out to be a flake, at the least, if not an active villain. Though she didn't know the specifics of his evil plans, she suggested that the surest route to thwarting them, whatever they were, were by enlisting the help of the town's wizard, Willow Candler. Unfortunately Willow was among the missing, though Alba explained that the circumstances were different; no one had seen her go, though she had the ability to teleport to some extent so perhaps no one would. But her home was empty and left unlocked; she had disappeared, but unlike the traders on the road who simply never arrived at their appointed time, Willow may have left of her own free will, rather than being taken. The heroes decided that they should go to the woman's home and shop to pick up the trail, and also left the Staff of the Bat Swarm there, inside the Chapel's lead-lined and magic-proofed vault. Alba told them that finding and, if needed, rescuing the magic user should be their top priority because of her power to protect the Keep, but not to expect her to be sweet, cuddly, or vulnerable. "She has a cute name, but she is not in any way, cute," Alba explained. That most of the townsfolk talked of her as a witch rather than a magic user, and that she was evidently an older woman without existing family, further set their expectations.
Willow's home had a guard posted outside, but under the authority given them by Mistress Alba, they had no trouble getting into Willow's shop and home, a narrow and wide townhome next door to the city bank. After some perfunctory poking around in which three healing potions and two magic candles were found, Xi Shi decided it would be wise for the group to stock up on more of these kinds of items from the Keep outfitter and the town trader. Most of the group followed along to replenish their stores, now that they had a better idea of the task at hand - a rescue mission, from a cave complex on the other side of deep woods. Lorfel stayed behind to examine the small library, which proved to contain a number of interesting mundane books, magic books, and - what he was looking for - spellbooks. He solved the riddle on one of these, the Book of Far Seeing, but overlooked the enchantment Willow had placed on it, to cause an hour of sleep to fall over anyone other than herself attempting to use her books inside her home. That the wards were not fatally dangerous, only inconvenient, tells them something about Willow, as does the fact that she left these books behind. The picture beginning to form is that she is an accomplished magic user - possibly not a wizard, per se, a catch-all term that the locals use that might not be technically correct.
Lorfel awoke just a few moments before the rest of the party returned from their about-an-our shopping excursions in which Xi Shi loaded up with additional gear and greatly improved their resources for an extended stay away from the Keep. Regrouping, they examined her study area more closely and found a number of interesting documents linking her to the Parson's same bat-demon being, as well as a map of the caves, drawn with an exacting hand. The document was festooned with scribbles and notably, some symbols they hadn't seen including an ominous-looking eight-pointed star.
They set out then, each picking up a horse from the stable, though not all of them could ride as well as the others. Though Willow's map had a series of lines drawn from the Keep to the caves, on the ground there was no obvious path in that direction, though it did show that the keep, Quindarin's collapsed tower and the Caves of Chaos were on a relatively straight line with with each other heading northeast. Wanting to avoid a slow slog through deep woods, and knowing that whatever had killed the human acolyte of Naphan's was still presumably on the loose, the party decided to go by the main road instead, making for a fairly pleasant and uneventful trek of a couple of hours to the place where the road to the east splits off from the less-traveled road to the caverns. After a little looking around, the party continued to the area of the caves.
The dead-end valley has terraces of limestone, evidently forming a series of winding natural caves, with a muddy bottom filled with scrub bushes and trees, many of which were quite large. Willow's map seems to superficially conform to the visible cave entrances which she had labeled A through K, though most of these were either higher up the wall and unreachable or hidden behind scrub plants or debris. The group finds themselves at entrance 'A', hesitating long enough before going inside to look up, and find the massive tree near the entrance seems to be laden down with old spiderwebs of exaggerated size. Small footprints with a flat sole and exposed toes are visible going to and from the entrance.
Rewards Granted
The Far Seer's Tome: This set of scrolls is contained in a blackthorn box inlaid with iron. It is locked by a riddle that must be answered before it will open: What is the difference between yesterday and tomorrow? Answer: Today
- Comprehend Languages, Detect Magic, Identify, Illusory Script
- Detect Thoughts, Mind Spike, Mirror Image
- Light blue candle, the surface seeming to be wrapped with a thin silver wire in a crossing diamond pattern: Blade Ward, up to 1 hour burn time.
- A whiter than white candle ('Vantawhite') that Rongo is pretty sure is a candle granting Protection from Good and Evil
Missions/Quests Completed
- "Willow Candler's Library"
- "Arrival at the Caves"
Character(s) interacted with
- Serene Mistress Alba Filorene
- Falco Nixon
Created Content
Report Date
03 May 2022
Primary Location
Secondary Location
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