Chapter 1 - The Red Waterfall

"It's been a few months now," Patten says, wiping his hand on a piece of rough spun cloth. "The first of our village died at the tail end of summer.

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"The orcs? At least a few dozen is our estimation. It's hard to tell down in the mines though." he states.

Patten meets Kicsi's eyes directly. "I've heard rumors that other villages in the area are having the same problems but no one is traveling to find out for certain."

"Young, old, healthy, sick; there hasn't been anything in common that we can think of," he adds looking at Ghelin.

---

"I would be careful as well," the miner adds. "But we need to figure something out, and soon."

The cleric bids you both a good day and hopes that you are able to help. Ewan looks at Kicsi strangely when she starts speaking Dwarvish.

As you walk back to the home where the miner lives you overhear a great deal of consternation from the villagers. There is talk of the poisoned water, the fires burning uncontrollably in the fields, the shaking of the ground that occurred in Neverwinter.

"I'd say it's something to do with the crushing wave," one villager says to another as they hoist another pot of river water onto the fires to boil before drinking and cooking with it. And you finally learn where you are: a town at the foot of the Sumber Hills called Red Larch.



After talking with a few other miners, you are told that you should speak with Albaeri Mellikho [No. 18 on the map] who runs the stone work shop that handles much of the take from the mines

OOC: Down near 19 in the south of town.

You walk casually up the Long Road as the day becomes early afternoon. A sign set on two posts in a scarp of weedy lawn out front of a small house reads "Mellikho's Stoneworks." Just behind the house you see a quarry pit with a few men loading the stone onto ox driven carts. Further off in the distance you see the entrance to what must be the mines themselves.

"Stan!" a pot bellied woman of perhaps forty yells at one of the quarry men. "I want that last load ready to move by sundown!" She laughs at the man who returns her command with a smile and a bow of his head. She turns towards the four of you and eyes you up and down. "Something I can help you with?" she asks.

The woman's smile fades at hearing Ewan's gruff greeting. "I'm Albaeri," she says sternly. "And I would appreciate a tad more respectful tone sir!" she says to Ewan. Her face is hard but then softens into a smile for a brief moment when she makes eye contact with the others. The mention of the plague fades the smile from her face once again. "Yes, the plague has been trying to all of us hear in Red Larch. We lost one of our own just last week. Gerona was his name. Came back from the mines tired and slept for a day. The next morning his skin started turning red and before sundown the blisters formed and he died in agony." She bows her head in the silence for a moment before continuing on. "And now I've got my workers being scared at night by some men dressed in robes and wearing some sort of stone masks. Childish prank I'm sure, but its the last thing we need around here."

Her eyes dart back and forth at the mention of the men in robes. "I'm telling you, kids playing pranks that's all," she states again. "You want to test your mettle, get me back the treasure I left behind in the Tricklerock cave! Everyone seems afraid to go back there now since the plague started. We had a chest of gems we took from a mine some time ago. Bring it back and I'll share the take with you 50:50."

"Can't say I have heard of any, but since the plague started people try not to go much of anywhere. No one knows if its the water causing it if you ask me. All just a bunch of hearsay," she says.