Mar 17, 2025 1:51 am
"Let's get to it then. Time's a wasting." Wolfram wanted to solve this mystery quickly and move on.
Chapter 2: One Bad Apple
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Mar 24, 2025 11:29 am
Victor’s forge stands a few yards from his shack and consists of four thick wooden posts arranged to hold a roof over the firepit, anvil, and tool rack. A cursory inspection turns up buckets of water, oil, a bench, and other things one expects to find. However, the firepit is cold and has been so for a couple days. Anyone looking around in the pit finds one coal that still glows, emitting dim greenish light. With his professional knowledge of magic, Tzal gets a sense that the light might be a stain from some potent curse.
In addition, Wolfram finds child-size footprints in the mud around the forge, barefoot and with six toes.
In addition, Wolfram finds child-size footprints in the mud around the forge, barefoot and with six toes.
Mar 24, 2025 6:02 pm
"Oh hey. Take a look at this."
Wolfram is squatting down in the dirt examining some footprints, tracing them with a finger. "Now this is odd. Child-size prints and whoever they belong to has six toes! Looks like Victor's been gone awhile. Coals are mostly cold."
Wolfram is squatting down in the dirt examining some footprints, tracing them with a finger. "Now this is odd. Child-size prints and whoever they belong to has six toes! Looks like Victor's been gone awhile. Coals are mostly cold."
OOC:
One set of prints suggestive of one child or many?
Mar 24, 2025 6:12 pm
Tzal scratched his beard and eyed the firepit. He noticed the green coal, which was emitting the faint light, almost separate from the other burnt ones. It was certainly strange to be a coal to burn for that long. Could it be something magical?
Getting closer but still maintaining a distance, he started uttering strange language as his eyes rolled back, showing his white pupil. He then looked at the coal intently.
Getting closer but still maintaining a distance, he started uttering strange language as his eyes rolled back, showing his white pupil. He then looked at the coal intently.
OOC:
Spending 1 charge and using Mage sense to detect if the coal is magical.Mar 24, 2025 7:27 pm
Wolfram confirms the prints belong to a single individual. Tzal senses that the coal indeed radiates magical energy.
Mar 25, 2025 4:22 pm
"A six-toed child? And some lump of coal that burns green, over here. Not sure what any of that means, but it's awful strange. If none of it has anything to do with Victor, then I'm the Prophet Jonsuel. He was going green, so maybe it was this weird coal in his forge."
Lauretta stared at Tzal and the coal warily, uncertain about the safety of being around the thing after what happened with the blacksmith. Casting a glance over at Wolfram and his weird tracks, she felt woefully unprepared to deal with any of this.
"This ain't a matter of normal life, the High One, or war. I don't know how much use I'll be here."
Lauretta stared at Tzal and the coal warily, uncertain about the safety of being around the thing after what happened with the blacksmith. Casting a glance over at Wolfram and his weird tracks, she felt woefully unprepared to deal with any of this.
"This ain't a matter of normal life, the High One, or war. I don't know how much use I'll be here."
Mar 25, 2025 5:32 pm
As Tzal's pupil returned to normal position, he turned to Lauretta, "This piece of coal is indeed magical, and I believe it's the source of the curse. How come Victor ended up having a cursed coal in his forge? Did he get it from the coal supplier? And what about this strange, unnatural paw print? Does the village have a mutated child?"
He then turned to Wolfram and said, "Where are the prints? Can you track them, perhaps?"
He then turned to Wolfram and said, "Where are the prints? Can you track them, perhaps?"
Mar 25, 2025 7:36 pm
"Right hrere around the forge. I can see if they lead anywhere." Wolfram stands up and tries to follow the tracks.
OOC:
Throwing in a roll...Rolls
Intellect - (1d20+2)
(6) + 2 = 8
Mar 26, 2025 10:13 am
Searching the area for prints turns up more of the same around the forge but they disappear in the harder packed earth ten feet away.
Mar 26, 2025 2:18 pm
"Bah! The prints do not go any further." Turning to Tsal he asks, "Can you find out anything more from the magical coal?"
Mar 26, 2025 2:21 pm
OOC:
You can use Trickery on attribute rolls outside of combat btw. But I also forgot to use Prayer, so there's that lol.Mar 26, 2025 2:25 pm
Tzal shook his head, "No idea. That coal is definitely cursed. Unless we have a coal supplier who could have given such a thing, I don't know how it ended up here. Maybe we can ask around if there is a child with 6 fingers in the village? Or we can ask who supplies Victor with coal."
Mar 26, 2025 2:53 pm
OOC:
TheForsakenEvil says:
[ooc]You can use Trickery on attribute rolls outside of combat btw. But I also forgot to use Prayer, so there's that lol.
Mar 26, 2025 2:59 pm
With the lack of imagination and constant persistence unique to something that did not need to eat, sleep, or suffer the ravages of time, R3N-L3 would begin trooping out across the hard-packed earth in the direction of the tracks, scanning the ground in front of him to see if the tracks picked up on softer ground.
Mar 26, 2025 4:21 pm
Lauretta's frown deepens as Tzal confirms the accursed nature of the glowing coal. Seeing Wolfram stumped with the tracks wasn't encouraging either.
"Feels like we only found clues that gave us more questions. We'll have to ask around about this six-toed child and the coal source in the hopes somewhat can point us in the right direction."
The stomping thuds of the heavy clockwork passing by caught a curious look from the priest. His unorthodox nature and unique approach to problems certainly kept things interesting, if nothing else.
"Feels like we only found clues that gave us more questions. We'll have to ask around about this six-toed child and the coal source in the hopes somewhat can point us in the right direction."
The stomping thuds of the heavy clockwork passing by caught a curious look from the priest. His unorthodox nature and unique approach to problems certainly kept things interesting, if nothing else.
Mar 26, 2025 5:12 pm
R3N-L3 clomps and stomps all the way out of town, crossing a few acres of farmland. At the edge of the grain field, you come upon a dense forest. At the forest’s edge, you see plants crushed by the passage of several creatures and chicken feathers here and there. An obvious trail leads deeper into the woods...
Mar 27, 2025 3:20 pm
The clockwork looked down to examine the creatures and chicken feathers thoughtfully for several minutes. You could almost hear his thinking. Chickens usually produced chicken tracks. The tracks he was looking for was not a chicken track. But maybe the thing hunted chickens. After an even longer time, he abruptly bent down to pick up the chicken feathers, gathering them in a pouch. Then he stomped back across the field to the others.
"There is a trail leading into the forest. It is likely a game trail that the prey may have made use of. Difficult to tell. Someone may have hunted a chicken there. Suggestion: Incursion into the forest, after confirmation that the village used to possess chickens that recently went missing."
"There is a trail leading into the forest. It is likely a game trail that the prey may have made use of. Difficult to tell. Someone may have hunted a chicken there. Suggestion: Incursion into the forest, after confirmation that the village used to possess chickens that recently went missing."
Mar 27, 2025 4:38 pm
Lauretta blinks a few times, looking at R3N-L3 quizzically.
"The six-toed child walks the forest and hunts chickens? That sounds more like some kind of gremlin than a child. I don't see much of a point in making sure the villagers actually lost chickens. It's strange regardless. But it's the only lead we have for right now. Good work, Renly. Hopefully it's not just some wild goose chase."
After taking a couple of steps toward the forest, she looks to the others, seeing if they're inclined to follow.
"The six-toed child walks the forest and hunts chickens? That sounds more like some kind of gremlin than a child. I don't see much of a point in making sure the villagers actually lost chickens. It's strange regardless. But it's the only lead we have for right now. Good work, Renly. Hopefully it's not just some wild goose chase."
After taking a couple of steps toward the forest, she looks to the others, seeing if they're inclined to follow.
Mar 27, 2025 4:48 pm
Tzal raised his eyebrows when he heard R3NL3's new findings, "Hmm, this is interesting. Did you say that there is another trail there? It can be a different thing, but worth checking on still."
Mar 27, 2025 7:24 pm
"I agree. It doesn't matter why the chickens. What's important is that we know something is heading into the woods that has one or more chickens. Let's go look."
Wolfram wastes no time following Lauretta.
Wolfram wastes no time following Lauretta.
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