1. Winter Festival of Newville

You and your companions come over the rolling hill to see the forested valley under the shadow of Mount Strumpet. A large clearing where the village of Newville sits is surrounded by endless banks of twinkling white snow in the light of the winter dawn. The icy tranquility of what would otherwise be a breathtaking view is marred by thin tendrils of smoke rising from various cottages and buildings that are visible even from this distance.

You each received this letter from Albo.

Elias looks out upon the landscape seeking out the home of Albo, Now which one is it? This is a game he likes to play with himself whenever he approaches civilization so that if something were to happen he could spot the buildings of Importance quickly and make his way there as fast as possible, it's also useful to know if you see a specific building under attack what is inside to determine the motives of the creatures.

Anne walking with the party looks down to see the village of Newville with an excited smile on her face.

"I think we should just walk on down there and ask around until we find Mr. Albo like check the local inn and Tavern. Maybe he can take us to go talk to the Mayor so we can find out what is needed of us. If they don't need us right away, we can just take the day to enjoy ourselves. " She said a moment later after licking a snowflake off her dainty little nose.

This was her first time attending a Winter Festival and getting to finally see a village after just looking at mountains and snow for a while was a welcome sight to see. Anne is looking forward to having everyone enjoy themselves before the work ahead.

Looks like a friendly place as all halfling towns do.
I re-warm my boots with another incantation of Prestidigitation.
Just curious, does the snow below us show many or any tracks of other people arriving?

Gimdrus who has been behind the group always complaining about his short legs simply note One don't need to ask to find a tavern. It smells miles away. Halfling bread and ale ! Let' s go before I drown in my own saliva!
and don't waste time admiring the view enjoying the leading position of the party for a short moment.

Anne nods. "How about you lead on then Gimdrus and we'll follow? C'mon everyone, let's go!"

She starts to follow Gimdrus who is apparently walking ahead of the others towards Newville.

Yes. Nog says in agreement Let Grimdrus lead the way, i could go for a slower pace. Its cold, and the soon we get to a tavern the sooner i can get my bones to stop hurting. he says as he shivers with the group trying to use his blanket as a cloak to keep him warm.

Anne smiles at that and follows Gindrus with Nog, Wyce and Elias following them towards the Tavern of Newville looking forward to a delicious meal and drink.

But the smile is soon to be dropped as you and your companions quicken your pace down the last ridge and into the valley of the village proper, you see that destruction has been visited upon this idyllic rural community. Several corpses lie in bloodstained snowbanks, and the wails of villagers wracked with pain and sorrow break even the snow-muffled silence of winter. Something far worse than a bad fruitcake has been visited upon this winter wonderland…

Nog looks for survivors, either on death's door or severely wound. Using "save the dying" or his medicine skills where appropriate.

Anne looked at the grisly scene around them in shock. Tears slowly begin to fall down her face.

"What happened here? This is terrible. What kind of heartless person or monster would do such a thing? This is supposed to be a time for joy, cheer, and peace in the world! I was looking forward to going to my first ever festival. Now its ruined. I hope we can find the survivors and take care of them as well as find out what happened. Hope we can find Mr. Albo too. " She said with disappointment.

What a tradgedy!
I will follow Nog and help as well as I can having no related skills.
Nog, how can I help? I mostly use Prestigitation to clean wounds.
While helping, I inspect the wounds to see if they were inflicted by beasts or by weapons.

Elias Breaks off into a run towards Albo's house hopefully he would find Albo there but Perhaps Not Albo could very well be trying to help others or even worse dead.

Uhhhh Nog grunts in hesitation, clearly having reacted on instinct and not thinking this trough You can help me find survivors for now. he says glad that he's not alone in want to help the villagers.

Anne looks around and tries to look for Albo, the mayor, anyone who is still alive to ask them what has happened. Though she is heartbroken, she is determined to help out.

She shouts out "If anyone is alive out there, please let yourselves be known! We are all here to help you. "

The dead are not fresh, it must have been several hours. It is true that during the night it is difficult to work or do much . But this morning the town is somewhat alive people are busy trying to put some sort of doors on the house opening, helping to carry the dead.

Anne walks up to one of the survivors and asked "Excuse me but can you tell us what happened here? My name is Anne and we were invited to the Newville Winter festival by a man named Albo New."

She would try to help out in town whatever they need her to do too like gathering firewood, clearing debris, and other things like that.

Anne looks to see if she can find the mayor so she can go find out what happened here and if there is any way that they can be of assistance.

Albo comes to the party and says: "My dear friends, at last, you are here. We have been attacked by a group of Crueltide Elves, they stole every piece of metal and every tool they could get their hands on. Then at the stroke of midnight, they began to slaughter the Halflings living here. After that, they and their leader fled into the night with cries that they would return for "Twelve Bloody Nights of Clawsmas." It is terrible, many of my friends have died." He looks down...

"That's terrible, Albo. I'm so sorry that happened. Is the Mayor okay? We definitely need to go take care of those hooligans after we make sure everyone is ok here." Anne said a moment later.

What could they possibly want with all that metal? Nog says completely confused why someone would need to steal metal and tool.

Albo looks slightly injured.

Why would.... ? And flee? From who? Any sense ? Gimdrus is just as confused, but not for long
OK. What matters is - are they threat to return real? Maybe they just want to flee this place?
Gimdrus shakes his head rejecting his own idea.
Could you show us where you saw them fleeing. With so much stolen goods they should have left some tracks! Or do you know where these elves come from ?

Anne sees the halfling woman who is in charge and waves to her in greeting.

"Greetings! My name is Anne. We were invited by Albo to come here for the Newville Winter festival. We are so sorry for what has happened. Is there anything we can do to help? Albo filled us in on what happened here. I hope everyone is ok. " Anne said a moment later.

"I do not know where they went. I could not see them flee, i was too busy helping the wounded." Albo says to Grimdrus

Anne nods and follows Lucinda to the festival tree with the rest of the party.

Wyce follows to the Festival Tree but is more interested in Gimdrus' questions of where the villains went. There must be tracks in the snow.
Hey ranger he says to Elias, can you tell which way the villains fled?

A thick blanket of snow pockmarked by blood and dirt covers this long, low valley. As you and your companions make your way toward the village, you see several small huts that were undoubtedly homes to the farmers who tend these fields in the warm season. Most now lie in ruin. Collapsed houses and crumbled stables are all that remain of most of these simple and welcoming homes. Several humans and halflings are sullenly dragging the corpses of their fellow villagers from the snow or futilely attempting to repair their broken homes.

With sadness in her voice she explains.

This is, or rather was Eastern Field

"That's terrible Ms Lucinda. I hope everyone will be able to rebuild all of the buildings including the Tavern if it got damaged. The festival tree is very beautiful though." Anne noted a moment later looking on at the ruined village .

Gimdrus express his sorrow and follows Lucinda silently.

"So Albo told us you were attacked by a group of Crueltide elves and whatever creature or monster is their leader and that they'll be back for twelve days of bloody clawsmas. They also stole your tools. What do they need with the tools and would you like us to stay and protect the village in case they come back? Because we're happy to help in any way that we can." Anna said to Lucinda New after looking at the festival tree.

If everyone has reached the festival tree, Anne will ask Lucinda "How can we help you deal with these miscreants and get your festival back on track? Just curious. We were planning on getting a good meal and drink to rest here at the local Tavern but I feel you all need help first before we can even think of resting our feet up."

Anne sighs after her questions get ignored and gets out a piece of beef jerky out of her pack and eats it silently.

Nog just follows the group.

That sounds like a crueltide elf's song.

Albo will follow Lucinda to lead the others to the Festival Tree.

Agreed.

Anne says to Gimdrus as they follow the party to the festival tree "Mind if I walk with you, Gimdrus? Its pretty lonely up there and it's too quiet. I'm definitely looking forward to resting and getting a good drink and meal after we find out from Lady Lucinda what has been going on. Hope we get to this special tree soon."

How could you think about food and drinks with so many dead all around Gimdrus is surprised, but in voice he only answer Lonely will feel those poor halflings who lost their family members last night. I don't mind some silence in the respect of the dead souls.

Anne nods at that in agreement and apologizes before going silent again.

There are some leftovers from the festivities and you will be able to eat and drink as you wish. I am terribly sorry for not being able to receive you as you deserve after the long journey you've been through. Says albo to Anne and Gimdrus.

Anne nods. "It is okay, Mr. Albo. We need to help you, Lucinda and your village out first before even thinking of ourselves. It is a horrible tragedy that has befallen all of you and we'll do whatever we can to help. Even stay throughout the whole winter to help protect everyone here from these monsters. " She said a moment later.

The fields just north of Newville are filled with downed trees from the nearby forest. It is strangely quiet, with a blanket of snow hangs over the entire scene. Long, heavy logs sit in silent tribute to the industriousness of the sturdy News, though a great pile of felled timbers is buried beneath the roof of a now collapsed open-walled covering that recently came crashing down. Several dwarves and humans are milling about, each impossibly attempting to dig the valuable lumber free from this mountain of collapsed wood, all the while screaming frantically to one another.

A dwarf seeing the group coming yell at them.

Come quick, help us, four workers are trapped under the rubble, we need all help to save them !

"C'mon let's help them. Lead the way sir!" Anne cries out as she runs to follow the dwarf who is asking for help.

Wyce hurries to the workers and adds his muscle to the work to remove logs. The effort seems unorganized so he just grabs, lifts, and pulls.

Anne tries to lift the logs up too.

Nog will also help to remove the rubble.

It doesn't take five minutes for our adventurer to realize cleaning the rubble just by pure strength and by hand will take them several hours and it is not sure the people buried will last that long without help.

Strength is my best offering. I keep moving logs.

Nog has no other means of removing rubble other than with strength too

Anne tries her best to move the logs but she's not very strong. After several tries, she curses under her breath after getting a splinter in her finger. "This would be so much easier if I was a bear." Anne said a moment later.

Gimdrus is strong, that is probably all he is. He is doing right what the dwarf asked for is he not? " Would you shut the damn mouths to hear those buried! We could be hurting them, can't we?

Anne after being yelled at quickly goes quiet and keeps her ears open to hear if there is any wailing or crying or whatever coming from underneath the logs, rubble, and debris as they try to help move them out of the way.

I pause and listen with the others.

Albo stays quiet.

I hear a voice. Sounds very weak. I don't think we'll get to them in time working this way.
Does anyone have an idea for working faster?

Work it be better to roll the logs instead of lifting them???

Anne hearing the wind and birds sighs.
"Have a beautiful day my friends." She says to the birds before trying to roll the logs away.

We need to be careful about this make sure we're not stepping on those we are attempting to uncover. Have we another healer or am I going to be required to nce we uncover someone?"

"I'm a druid. I can heal if need be as I have some healing magic in my repertoire of skills. " Anne replied a moment later as she tries to roll a log out of the way.

Gimdrus understand that even if people underneath are still alive they can't help identify their location to allow focus their effort.

Next thing the Gimdrus will do - talk to workers/citizens to understand if any work organization could improve the chances i.e.:
1. When did the thing collapsed and how?
2. Anyone aware of the exact location of workers trapped under the rubble - this could help to focus the rescue effort
3. What was this structure before and are those who built it around suggest how to faster rescue people? i.e. dig beneath

The same citizen answers Gimdrus

Well the house collapsed yesterday evening during the attack, but the town was such a mess and it was really dark and except for some few dwarves like I, nobody could see so we had to stop until morning, we began again early, but we just heard the calls minutes ago.

And no, we gave no idea where they are. The structure was a house part of the wall tumbled and certainly the floor was almost destroy. They may have been saved by log or planks keeping some breathing space.

I may have to think more to find a fast way to move logs or planks.

I hear what seems to be 4 distinct voices he says But i still dont see a way we can help them. I can help with healing but it wont matter much unless we can remove the rubble.

If they survived whole night long let's hope they should survive few more hours. If they have been saved by occasional space between planks I prefer we do it slow and steady - we don't want new collapse, do we?

Wyce joins Gimdrus in moving logs.

Anne helps too by slowly removing the rubble and logs.

It takes four hours to move all the rubble and find four corpses.

The dwarf who called for help is crushed, and with emotion say to you.

Thank you for your help, it is too bad we couldn't arrive in time.

"No problem, Sir. Would you like us to help bury or cremate the bodies?" Anne asked a moment later.

Wyce expresses condolences to the dwarf.
He then steps away and goes to ask the Lucinda woman, Is there anything else we can do?

A massive pine tree covered in candles of bright wax, wrapped in strings of nuts, candied fruits, and lovingly polished apples sits in the center of the tiny village of Newville. It is a forty-foot testament to unwavering holiday cheer crowned with a twinkling silver star. Several News mill about the tree, halfheartedly singing cheerful songs that sound all the more mournful for their attempts.

Gimdrus thinks Too bad you guys only realized this late in the morning your friends are missing whole nigh but says nothing.

The tree is not the festival. Gimdrus state the obvious one at the tree. Lucinda, what do you plan doing next? The dead is dead, but how will you protect those still alive? Are you ready to fight back or want to abandon this town to save your people? I'm sure some of my friends would be up for a fight, but there are only 6 of us. How much of the Elves?

Anne agreed with Gimdrus.

"A festival is only good with people and those are few and far between. If there is any way we can help to protect and save y'all from these monsters, you need to let us know. And we'll be glad to have anyone here help that wants to fight with us that knows how to defend themselves. It's a beautiful tree but we need to be serious right now. Your town and people are in danger. if you want a chance at surviving, you need to learn to defend yourself and fight back. " Anne says a moment later.

Albo brings some leftover food and ale to his friends

Here, you must be starving. I think we have no choice but to fight these monsters. I think there are enough people in town to protect it against the next attack, now that everyone will be expecting it. I think we should use the time we have during the day to investigate where these creatures are coming from. There is a path going north to the forest, I bet they fled in that direction

Anne thanks Albo for the food and drink.

"Let's look for tracks and follow the path while we eat and drink then. Thanks for the refreshments, Albo." She said after taking a sip of her drink.

Thanks Albo.
Wyce needed the drink after working so hard with the logs.
Anne, a few more minutes won't matter. I'm going to sit here and eat.
After eating I'll be ready to search in the woods.

Anne nods and stands there eating her food and drinking her ale.

After she finishes, she wipes the crumbs off her face with her shirt.

"That's very kind of you Ms Lucinda. We'll go with you. Just as long as you promise to actually talk to us and answer our questions because mine have been ignored so far since entering this village. You told us we would talk at the tree but I guess we'll go to your house then." Anne said after she stretched her arms out.

So Albo's food was just an appetizer.
I agree with Anne's sentiment about the lack of information, but I try to be a little more tactful.
Thanks ma'am. We are anxious to hear details about the attack.

Nog follows the mayor to her home

Anne nods and follows the mayor to her house with the rest of the party hoping to finally get information from her about everything.

An as the group is about to follow the mayor a small halfling boy on tiny crutches, approaches holding out one hand covered in a frayed glove.

Could you spare one or two copper, please ?

He then begins to cough pathetically.

Anne looks through her pack before shaking her head sadly.

"Sorry. I don't have any copper." She says with pity.

I look at the boy and then at Lucinda.
Something is not right about an urchin approaching the mayor's guests.
I begin to suspect things are not as they appear.

Gimdrus catches Wyce's sight and isn't afraid to speak up directly:
Lucinda, Albo, would anyone please introduce us to the poor boy here. In such a small settlement I believe everyone know each other right? Unless this is an some evil creature that cast disguise self magic. Have you ever faced that wizard trickery ?

"Nice to meet you small Sam. I don't have much money on me so I try to save what I have." She says to him a moment later with a smile.

Hey Small Sam, I have something better than copper for you! Gimdrus hands him a ration from his backpack. Good luck!

Here, you can have this. Knowing what its like to not have anything, Nog hands the boy a Gold Piece.

"Here Sam, you can have this." Anne says a moment later and hands him a piece of pork jerky from out of her rations.

Hey Nog says a bit hesitantly to Lucinda I just remembered reading about a spell that could cure illness. Id have to prepare a bit to do it, but could i examine Sam to see if it would even work?

The boy is a little surprise and nod too.
Okay !

Anne waits patiently for everyone to head to Lucindas house so they can talk about everything without being distracted by all of these interruptions. She leans up against a tree and sighs.

Nog begins examining Sam. I'm a half Orc he thinks to himself, he doesn't correct her though as not many take kind to Orcs, half or not and he doesn't want to frighten the child.

@KirinOfDarkness You think it may be a curse, but it is way over your power.

Nog's action makes Albo think more highly of Half-Orcs. He nods at him in appreciation.

Anne then asks "Shall we head to your house then, Mayor Lucinda so we can discuss how we can help you and your village out from the attack over dinner? If so, please lead the way."

She'll then allow Lucinda to start walking first before she follows her.

Wyce is still suspicious.
We moved logs for no benefit.
Albo gave us food but Lucinda says "Let's go eat."
The cleric offered to help the boy but found nothing to do.
Wyce is anxious to get an explanation but he doubts it will come from Lucinda.

The boy is very happy and thanks all the people in the group

"Yes. 1. What do you need us to do in order for us to help protect you and the village from these Crueltide elves and their master who has caused such destruction to your town and your people? and 2. Do you know where their lair is so we can go face them ourselves or are you going to give us people that can fight to take them down? We are sorry this happened to all of you and ruined your festival but being invited by Albo and lack of communication and information is very bad form, ma'am. We would love to help you out... We just need to know how. " Anne said a moment later looking at the woman with frustration on her face.

Skeptical, Wyce inspects the supposed furniture pieces and, well, they do look like nails and hardware were removed.
He looks closely where a stove might have been. Hmm. Ash and soot.
So Wyce is becoming convinced the crisis is real.
A stove would have been heavy.
Are there signs of anything drug away?
I ask Lucinda, Is there a forge nearby where someone might want your metal?

Albo lets Lucinda take the lead and explain the whole situation to the company.

Gimdrus lets Lucinda take the lead and explain the whole situation to the company.

Speaking quietly to our group while Lucinda sobs,
This woman is too emotional to provide any useful details. We can either search the forest or wait here in the village. Either way those elves will likely come for the steel of our weapons and armor.

I say we go to the forest; take the fight away from the village.

"I agree with Wyce. We'll take the fight to the forest. " Anne says a moment later.

I have no problems with the dark Nog says confidently so we can leave now if the group wants.

What's "Orcus' Claws"? And how do you know they came from Mount Strumpet, if - quote - " The News of Newville never saw them coming down the hill"?
Gimdrus asks scratching his beard. I would set up an ambush in the forest if we new which way they will come and of they will.

Unfortunately Gimdrus, we don't know enough about the enemy to make an ambush. We'll have to go to them.
Nog, I also prefer to leave this evening. With snow on the ground any light will be enough for traveling.

"Yeah. We can always light torches if we can't see. Let's go tonight. " Anne says a moment later.

Baffling. Gimdrus still scratching his beard. Then counting his fingers he talks more to himself than anyone

1. Demon in company of goblins plunder halfling town and promise to return here next tonight
2. My friends want to leave town tonight and go to the Mount Strumpet, leaving town exposed to the attack
3. The reason to do so is - Lucinda insists we will find them in Mount Strumpet. But she admit none seen where they come from or followed them
4. Halflings, even Albo call those goblins "Crueltide elves" although they are damn goblins dressed like dolls

He rise his head and try to understand if anyone in the room is under some type of charm spell or something, because things just sound too weird for a conservative dwarf.

Well theres no reason to believe they will attack again Nog states As it seems that they already took what they needed from the village. They also dont know of our arrival so there is no reason they would come back here to get our stuff either. If we are to have any chance of catching up to them it would be now, otherwise there might not be a trail to follow. If light is an issue, i can always cast a light spell and would probably be better than a torch as we can hide it as needed

"I don't see how much it matters if they know we're here or not, Once a location has been defeated there is no reason for the conquerors to just leave the place alone, they know it's defenceless and will continue to pillage whatever they need in situations like this there are two most effective ways to defeat the enemy, first is to come back with a stronger force than you Initially had difficult because usual thay kill your troops the other which I don't think we'll be able to do is make them reliant on a recourse they steal and then stop producing and attack without that resource they will be almost defenceless I don't think we have the ability to attempt the second option and as is usually simply not the case we have the ability to attempt the first to not help them.

"So are we going to go attack them or what?" Anne asked with impatience. "If we go fight them and defeat them, then these people will be able to rebuild and fortify their town to prevent something like this from ever happening again and they can have their festival again."

Defending the town will be a perpetual engagement. We would be here all winter.
Instead we should go eliminate the threat.
My compromise is stay and defend the village just this one night.

"I guess let's defend the village tonight then go after the monsters on mount Strumpet tomorrow morning." Anne replied a moment later.

I will call them goblins. Do not see any reason to change the name. And now if you don't mind - I saw some trees nearby. You, Lucinda do not deserve to eat cold food today.

Unless any of his friends stop him, Gimdrus is going to cut some trees to make some campfire if Lucinda' s house chimney is broken. He has an arsenal of bigger and smaller axes with him.

I will go with you, my friends. I have not ventured much outside of town but you will need all the help you can get.

Anne nodded. "If there is any firewood there, I'll cast druidcraft and start a fire there. Happy to help." She said a moment later with a smile.

Help is more than welcome Gimdrus would certainly use helping hands to bring cut trees to Father Newvus' Shrine. And could share an ax with anyone strong enough for cutting.

Once enough trees cut and delivered he will ask Albo Could we stay the night at your place, should we seek any other shelter?

Lucinda brings you to the shrine. The homes of Newville are all in a state of collapse and disrepair. It is almost as if they’d simply been put together by hand and never reinforced with any structural support. Almost every home in Newville has collapsed on itself and is now little more than a pile of its component parts.

This open-aired stone shrine undoubtedly once served as a place of worship for the News, but the altar and grand statue of a portly and jolly bearded human man in a stocking cap has been stained red with frozen blood. A massive base carved to look like a winter sleigh has been broken and sits in ruin before the once jovial statue. Several News, mostly children, are milling about. Some are quietly weeping.

Small Sam is happy to see the group again. Come with me and pray Father Newvus, he will send his agents of Winter Cheer to protect and defend us, an all will turn out just fine !

Anne uses druidcraft to start a fire at the altar after the wood is placed down and sends a silent prayer that everyone will stay safe from harm and that they all stay safe during the night.

Wyce stays to the perimeter of the gathering. He's not interested in their prayer session.
Out of habit, he discretely gestures in a way to communicate his faction membership even though he does not expect to find any other members in this village.
He is mostly concerned with watching for an attack on the village.

You can all stay at my place if you wish! Albo replies to Gimdrus

Nog doesn't partake in the prayer either. He feels if he did he would be betraying Lord Bahamut so he keeps to himself away from the prayer group.

After Anne prays, she smiles at Albo. "That would be great. Thanks for inviting us, Albo. " She said to him.

People are very happy with the fire an Anne feels somewhat better after praying.

The house of Albo if a mess, like all other houses, not a single piece of mail is left, the bed doesn't stand on itself alone, no table, no chairs are stable.Finally the sensible thing to do is just to stay on the floor, but the floor is quite cold. So all of Albo clothes and sheets and covers are used to try to make a half decent place.

There is still some times before the night, do you want to do something (go to the pub or anywhere else ?)

If Anne and the others didn't get their dinner, She'll probably go get hers at the pub before settling down for the night. She doesn't mind sleeping in her sleeping bag on the floor at Albos house. She's slept on the floor and ground before.

Anne will probably take turns with the others keeping watch and will go to sleep after keeping watch.

I suppose we need to stay alert and equipped in full armor till midnight. We could then go sleep but take watch, perhaps Lucinda could even find some volunteers with good perception to help with the watch. I would personally like to go sleep by midnight and take last two ours watch, can't sleep well in the morning.

Wyce considers how capable the locals might be at keeping watch.
Hmm. Okay.
I am going to sleep. It won't be good sleep in my armor, but that's what I'm doing.

Anne agrees. "I'll sleep in my armor too. I'll go ahead and sleep too." She says a moment later after lying down into her sleeping bag and falls asleep.

I'll keep first watch then he says Does anyone need a winter blanket? I wont need it while i keep watch

Anne shakes her head no. "If I get cold, I can always wild shape into a bear or cat to have fur to sleep in. I'm fine for right now though . Thanks for asking. " Anne replied with a yawn before going back to sleep.

The night is uneventful and our party is ready to move on.