Chapter 2: One Bad Apple

Mar 10, 2025 10:32 am
After spending several weeks at Traveler's Rest, the time had come to move on. You left the small town behind in search of more adventure. After some time, you found yourselves in the village of Two Forks.

The village of Two Forks covers the land between two forks of a sluggish, muddy waterway named the Flenderish River. Ten buildings crowd the triangular bit of dryland and two stone bridges cross each tine of the fork to connect dirt tracks to the handful of farms that surround the community. About a mile to the southeast one can spot the tree line of an old growth forest; locals took timber from that wood and used it to build homes, shops, and the temple.

The people of Two Forks have little to their names. What things they brought with them from the old country they have had to trade or repurpose to stay alive. Many people still wear the clothing they wore when they fled their homelands, albeit clothing stitched and patched. Most show signs of hunger, being thin and with dark hollows around their eyes. They did manage to plant a few fields and harvest a crop, so the threat of starvation has passed.

As you draw near the village center, you spot a woman in her mid-fifties wearing a shawl around her curly gray hair. She seems to be arguing with two tall, heavyset men with ruddy, red features. They are standing in front of a shack, and a few bystanders watch, worry creasing their faces.

"You two are to stay put and keep him inside no matter what," says the woman. "Do you understand?"

"Yes, Elder," the men reply.

The woman turns to the villagers. "Please remain calm. Victor is very ill, but we are going to try to help him."

From inside the shack, something kicks at the door, causing the structure to shake...
Mar 10, 2025 10:51 am
Tzal looked around the small town, wondering what befell these people and how they were struggling to keep up with their poor condition. His eyes darted towards the group gathered in front and the elderly lady. He was not going to ask anything, but as soon as the shack door impact could be heard, he walked closer to talk to the woman, "What seems to be the matter here?"
Mar 10, 2025 11:10 am
The woman looks over at you. Her eyes widen slightly when she sees R3N-L3, but she quickly pushes her surprise down and offers Tzal a wan smile as she leans on her cane. "Good day to you, travelers. Adventurers, unless I miss my guess? I'm Elder Myriam. Normally we'd offer a warmer welcome to you, but we're dealing with a bit of an incident.

"This is the home of Victor, our town's blacksmith. Late last night, Victor attacked another resident, Ruprecht Allson. Hearing the commotion, Ruprecht's neighbors called for help. Bill and Pete here showed up soon after,"
she continues with a nod to the burly men, "but it took both of them to drag Victor back to his shed. They claimed Victor looked pale, a bit greenish, and his eyes were bloodshot, almost as if he had been drinking. But everyone knows Victor rarely touched whiskey."

The elder looks around before leaning closer to Tzal. "Maybe you lot would be willing to help us sort this out? I've got some coin saved up I can pay you with," she whispers.
Mar 10, 2025 1:44 pm
"I could disable him for future inspection." R3N-L3 offered in a monotone, before pausing as he realized how perhaps the offer might be taken, so he clarified. "I do not need to fear infection by any disease or ailment. And it is difficult to harm me. Therefore, I could likely secure him with minimal risk of overall damage to human life."
Mar 10, 2025 2:26 pm
"Good day to you Elder. I'm sorry to hear of your plight. As our clockwork has said, it's the best course of action for him to take a look at your blacksmith."

More coin? Wolfram would be happy to separate the woman from her coin.

"We will get to the bottom of it, rest assured."
Mar 10, 2025 5:21 pm
Lauretta followed passively at the back of the group, listening to how they intended to handle the situation. After everything that happened with Aazim, being more tactful was important to her. This group demonstrated what they can achieve while working together, but that wouldn't be possible if they all went their separate ways. Fortunately, those that remained all seemed more amiable in their dealings.

Hearing that the blacksmith had fallen ill in some way, her own worry began to rise. Preventing plague out here in the Borderlands was never easy; she knew firsthand how that could go. The priest placed a gentle hand on R3N-L3's metal shoulder, stepping forward to join them.

"Adventurers is the right of it, ma'am. Offering a helping hand is what we do best, as our bowman here said. Perhaps we don't go starting with the blacksmith first though, Renly? As stalwart as you are, it's not impossible he slips away, right? I'd say we avoid that risk and see if we can't find some other clues as to what's happened to him first. But, Tzal, you're the closest thing we have to a physician. What are your thoughts?"
Mar 10, 2025 8:30 pm
Tzal scratched his beard with a thoughtful expression. "I am not a trained physician, per say. But I dabble in concoctions and elixirs. It is hard to point out any ailment without exactly looking at the subject. Pale, greenish skin, bloodshot eyes? That doesn't seem to ring any bells. It's certainly a sort of infection because I haven't seen anyone with normal skin becoming green overnight."

He turned to the elderly woman, Myriam, "Did Victor have green skin before? You mentioned that he never drank whiskey, but did he venture out before this happened? Also, you mentioned that he attacked Ruprecht. We can get an idea of how Victor was acting or how he looked better from him. May we talk to him?"
OOC:
Tzal's profession is apprentice magician. I don't think he would know anything about disease, would he?
Mar 12, 2025 8:33 am
Myriam shakes her head. "His skin's always been a normal shade of color. Certainly not green. He mostly stayed in town, as far as I know. Ruprecht's in his house if you want to talk to him. His wife's tending his wounds."
OOC:
@Stalker05, you don't have enough information to make a check yet. But if you interact with Victor and see his symptoms firsthand, you might be able to make a roll to learn more.
Mar 12, 2025 12:31 pm
Hearing that Tzal hadn't any knowledge of the blacksmith's symptoms, Lauretta began to consider other possibilities than disease.

"We should question folk around town. See if Victor had any enemies or grudges. No telling if this is an infection yet. Could be a curse or a poison. All kinds of weird things in these lands."

The priest glanced at R3N-L3 as if to prove her point.

"Or if we really think it's a good idea, we can try to restrain the blacksmith. It's risky, especially with how little we know right now. But it's good to assess our strategies."
Mar 12, 2025 2:41 pm
Tzal eyed the shack and then said, "I think we should investigate this further. I would prefer seeing Victor to ascertain if there is actually an infection, but then again, if he is out of control, it would be a risky affair. I suggest we go and talk to Ruprecht first. Maybe he can give a better, more clear version of what is going on. We can also check on Victor's house. And if we don't find anything even after that, R3N-L3 can help us to check on Victor safely."
Mar 12, 2025 3:14 pm
"Oh I don't know. We are more than capable of restraining the blacksmith and I think we should. It would have two advantages: stop him from attacking any further, and allow us to question him and observe him. Or we can split up and do both. Someone else can go see Ruprecht."
Mar 12, 2025 3:24 pm
Tzal gave a questioning look at Wolfram, "What if its a contagious infection and you get infected?"
Mar 12, 2025 3:26 pm
"That's easy. I'll stare him down with a nocked arrow. We need not get close, just close enough."
Last edited March 12, 2025 3:27 pm
Mar 12, 2025 4:01 pm
"Let's not go drawing any weapons now if we don't need to. All we know right now is that there is a potentially dangerous and unwell man locked in a guarded shack. We don't know what's wrong with him, but the fact that he doesn't look himself means he might not be attacking people just because he's an awful man. So, it would be a damn shame if he ended up dead because we ended up leaping before we looked, right? Unlike what happened at Traveler's Rest, there's no one to save except potentially the man in there. So we don't need to go rushing into things. It would be mighty beneficial to be able to have a look at him. But if things go awry and something bad happens, would we be able to say we did our best to know what we were getting into if we just go and do it now? I don't think so. I'd say Tzal probably has the right of it."

Lauretta spoke calmly and with intention, trying her best to make the smart decision. Standing there, an intrusive thought crawled along her mind. What if the best thing to do for keeping the folk in this village safe is to just burn the damn shack down? Alongside it came the miserable memories of the plague that ran through her own village in her childhood. Clenching her fist, she buried the thought deep down.

"But that's just this priest's opinion. I'm not always going to be right. Those missing folk from Traveler's Rest couldn't be saved after all. What do you have to say, Renly? Maybe a Weird Wizard creation did it?"

The dry attempt at humor didn't feel as funny as it did in her head.
Last edited March 12, 2025 4:01 pm

You do not have permission to post in this thread.