Session 6

October 17th

V hears two more kobolds arguing in an unexplored room off to the side, and the party goes to investigate. By investigating of course, that means killing them. They quickly dispatch the kobolds and take in the scene before them. The small room appears to be storage for food and goods, and the kobolds had been gambling over a pair of lavish looking boots. V inspects the boots, which have an elvish inscription on the tongues when held side by side that says: “You only need to cross the finish line once to win the race”.

No one knows what they are. V puts them on. Nothing happens.

With nothing else to see in the room, they take their leave with the survivors in tow. They walk through the grasslands back towards the village, all quiet save for the dry grass rustled by the wind. Slightly ahead, they hear strange sounds almost like barking. The party is immediately on alert and sets the civilians back with Basil. V creeps forward to try and see the source of the sound.

They see a handful of beast gnoll through the bushes. Beast gnolls are humans corrupted by the beast, and slowly those people transform into ravenous creatures that transform the more raw flesh and blood they consume. The ones before the party look rabid with mangy fur and foam around their mouths. Della and Ophelia argue briefly about what to do, but Della yields to the reasoning that it would be too risky to fight them. Della is incredibly unnerved by the beasts and nearly gives the group away as they leave, but they manage to distance themselves without incident.

Gallienna is pacing outside of the village as they approach. She’s shocked and relieved to see the party return with the missing villagers, and leads them back to the main community tent. Gallienna and Sindre note that they don’t recognize the person who had been partially skinned, and the two prisoners said he’d been there when they were taken. The stranger is clearly not from the village (white), with a freshly shaven head.

Through the evening into the night people come through the community tent, speaking with the survivors, Gallienna, and the party. There’s an air of joy and gratitude throughout the small village. Someone tries to offer acorns as a show of appreciation, but Della politely turns down the gift. Gallienna comes over afterward to let Della know how significant of a gesture it was for her to offer the acorns, given the lack of trees around the area. V opts to depart given how crowded the tent has become. Eden is content with the situation and is more concerned with watching over the unconscious stranger, at one point commenting on Della’s uncertainty as they try to put a salve on his wounds.

the night, Eden notices strange things about the unconscious person. The blood is too thick and thin in strange ways, his body is too warm. Feeling uneasy about this, Eden wakes Ophelia and asks her to bind the man, just to be safe. While she does he goes to tell Sindre and Gallienna about the development.

October 18th

When changing the strangers bandages in the morning, Eden notices that his skin has started to grow back quickly. No one is sure what to make of it. Ophelia is frustrated as she wants to hunt down the gnolls, but agrees that it seems unwise to leave the stranger alone with the villagers. Sindre eventually comes out and catches up with the party, seemingly discontented by the explanation.

Della and Ophelia eventually leave to go foraging, while Eden and V remain behind.

They spend a while in the scrubland, Ophelia hunting small game and Della collecting yew. Hours pass, and the strange man continues to seemingly deteriorate. His twitches become more violent, and a few times his breath hitches. The party converges and watches as this man becomes more unsteady until finally turning over. He grabs at V unconsciously and his eyes fly open—fully white at first. Then he blinks, and his eyes appear a light shade of gray.

The stranger immediately freaks out.

Eden tries to calm him down, curing the wounds on his arms further in the hopes of expressing his good intent. As soon as the spell takes effect, the stranger stops, and stares at Eden

There’s a moment between the two of them. They look at Eden with a sense of recognition that startles Eden.

They’re very avoidant about their situation, and give a strange answer about not wanting to hurt the party or the village by choice. Inquiring further yields no straightforward answer, so finally Eden unbinds them. He stands, stretches, and with only a handful of parting words departs.

As soon as he walks out, though, Ophelia’s frustration begins to boil over and she snaps at Eden over his decision to let him leave uncontested. When Eden responds with the barest hint of passive aggression, V leaves to go speak with the stranger. Della follows close behind. V tries gently to coax him into coming back and speaking, while Della assures he should leave if he wants. The man seems a bit uncertain and looks across the path to meet Eden’s eye from the opening of the community center. Finally, they go to join the three of them.