Turn 1:BegginingsAction: Usual routine, but try to get off work at the mine a bit early, citing a 'wild party' last night. Use the extra time to socialize and learn what people really know about the ruins, trying to not raise suspicion. Meet my drinking buddies at the end of the day...
Eating a quick breakfast before leaving for the day you lay down plans for meeting with some of the records keepers and perhaps the town’s lone historian. First though, there is always work. ! Attempting to leave your house you suddenly feel somewhat nauseous, as your mind turns to that strange coin that you woke up with. ! You needed to retrieve it before you felt comfortable to leave for the day; you pocket the coin and then walk out of the house. The morning is misty and cool, but otherwise calm, and within an hour you are at the mines. Arriving in time to get the work order for the day, you and the other 4 miners set to work. It's gruelling and hard work even though there is no large demand for much iron; as such the foreman isn't overly tough. ! You don't see or hear another of the miners for the entire day, the mines being deep and winding things older then the village. ! As the foreman passes by to notify you that it's lunchtime you make the excuse of a hard night and he hands you the 4 hours pay. Walking back down to the village along the packed dirt road with the sun overhead you decide to make a line for the large manor house. It consists of 4 or so buildings all connected together around a central courtyard, and though the old two story buildings could always use a bit of repair it's still impressive for a small village. ! Going into the library sections of the manor building you see Richard sorting a small pile of papers over at a desk, after a quick exchange of words you learn both that there is no books about the ruins or even the area surrounding Rutsett as well as that he found some particular book of cats in the ruin
(How would a book have even survived out in the elements.. you can't help but feel a bit worried by this.). Deciding to tell him about the coin on the way out the door you head out to seek other sources of information. Hours later sees no luck on the subject, people are either as clueless as you are about the ruins or refuse to discuss what they call 'tales made to scare little children'. !Just as you are about to give up and go to the inn to see if any of the others decide to head there, you are stopped by a very old and mostly blind man. "Son, I heard you asking about the ruins?" you reply with a quick yes and ask if he knows anything, "I do, a bit more than the tales they tell children. According to the old tales which have slowly vanished as the village forgets the past, it was once home to a man possessed by a daemon. He was supposed to have fled from his home in the village late at night, and by the time he was tracked down, he had built the entire stone mansion and walls. How a lone man built such a large amount of stone structures within the few days he was missing was strange enough, but the people sent in to retrieve him never returned. The weeks went by as attempts to destroy the house, kill the man, or burn it all to the ground, failed repeatedly. Other strange things began happening around the town with people going missing in their sleep, until finally the church brought in some priests armed with weapons. The monks managed to get inside and spread oil over the entirety of the building, nothing seemed to try and stop them. After it had burned to the ground, the priests left and everything returned to normal. Well at least that is what the survivors in the village told their children and grand-children afterwards." he turns around and walks quickly off into the dusk and mist. You then head to the tavern, to try and meet up with the others before it gets too dark to see out. Walking in you take a seat with the others gathered around a table near the corner of the inn.
Gained 16 c
Startled awake from terrible dreams, Bree goes to work early in the bookshop, and spends most of the day examining and experimenting with her artifact in the back room of the store, as well as reading excerpts from books related to daemonology and lost territories near the front. A dull headache persists throughout the day, attributed to the previous night of heavy drinking. After closing the shop early, Bree heads to the tavern to maybe catch one of her friends who was part of last night's shenanigans.
You wake up early in the Manor house, a large and slightly monstrous building comprised of a main house where you live, as well as several add-ons over the decades to accommodate the needed expansions in local government. It houses the records office and the local library, which is run on such a strict return policy that most people decide to just buy books rather than dealing with the owner. Also, the priest is housed in a side building that includes storage of the winter food supply in case of shortages. Opening the shop for the day, and eating at the same time, you gather a small selection of the texts that discuss daemons, daemonic events, or the qualities of a possession and move to the back room to study your object. !According to one text which claims to be able to "Identify Items and Persons connected or possessed by Satan and other Daemons", you should be able to just place the item on a bible and either it or the bible itself should experience some form of 'Hell fire'. No such affect happens, so you move onto another text, !this one mentioning the application of holy water for the removal of 'Evil Spirits'. Luckily you happen to have a small vial of holy water given to you by your father. A few drips does nothing to the object, and no other texts reference items as being possessed. !The ones referencing people all say that you should be doing things against your will, and apart from not wanting to be away from the object you are not being compelled to do anything. Putting away the manuscripts and texts you decide instead to try something different. !Leaving the amulet on the table, you walk out to the front room and leave through the front door, before getting more than a couple steps away you begin to feel sick and a few more brings you pain. Walking back to the back room you realize that you can only be about 50 feet from the object before it starts having any adverse effects. Trying one last thing, you pick the object up and griping it firmly, attempting to focus through it. !Just as you begin to feel like something was happening, the bell over the bookshops door crashes and you lose focus. A low 'whoosh' and dull 'thud' accompanies a blast of air slamming into the books on possession and possessed items that you were reading earlier. The pages seemingly shred apart, flying out of the open books, the vial of holy water shattering on the hard floors. You hurry out of the room as the last few pages tear themselves apart , swirling out of the books. !The customer is completely unaware of anything having happened, and after the sale, you spend the rest of the evening cleaning up broken glass and torn pages before making your way to the tavern. There’s most of your drinking companions gathered around the table in the corner, ! joining them you can’t help but notice that Marcus looks kind of tired yet pleased? You shrug it off, the dudes always been a bit weird running around in the forest shooting small animals.
Gained 40 c
gained holy water then,
Lost all texts pertaining to possession as well as your holy water.
Gained partial knowledge of
Air RazorTake the bow from my room and go into the woods as though hunting. When I find a suitably isolated spot, stop and tentatively experiment with the artifact to see what effect it is having on me exactly. Return by the end of the day to the village and seek out last night's companions.
Having woken up early and managing to get over any lingering shock while eating breakfast, you resolve to find out what exactly the artifact can do to you and possibly what you can do with it. !Gathering up your bow and arrows you set out to what you think will be the perfect spot. The morning is misty and just a bit cold, giving the woods a sort of sinister feel. Though having spent so much of your life in these woods you feel at home in the twilight caused by the ancient trees and hanging mist, running over gnarled roots you make great time towards your destination. Before long you arrive at the cave, a stone and moss hole underneath the roots of 4 great trees. Having hunted out the cave before for bears and wolves you know that there is nothing living inside, and the holes in between the overhead roots let in plenty of light while still keeping it very dry. !There is a few seats, a burnt out fire and a table in the old cave though it doesn't look used in a few weeks. Just a bit unnerved, having thought previously that you were the only one aware of the cave, you decide to just go ahead regardless. Setting it down on the table you initially try and see how far from it you can get, and much to your dismay you are only able to walk perhaps 50 feet away from the artifact before you begin to feel nauseous. !Trying to recreate what happened that morning, you try pulling the artifact into your hand but it only comes to you when you are but a few inches away from it, certainly nothing too useful. !Suddenly you are hit by a bit of inspiration, as if something in the local area or the ring itself whispered an idea into your ear. Taking up the artifact you focus on the remains of the fire, with images of growth and flowing water flashing through your mind. ! Feeling as though some part of yourself is leeching through the artifact, you see a shimmering in the air between your hand and the fire. In seconds the half burnt remains of wood begins to twist and writhe as though alive. The blackness of fire disappearing underneath fresh verdant growth and by the time you feel exhausted a small sapling with orange leaves is growing merrily where the burnt fire once was. A shaft of light that you feel wasn't there before illuminates the tree with light from above the cave, filtering down through a hole in the moss and overhead roots. Feeling drained, you stand there amazed, and something within your mind tells you that you should be able to do this again when you aren't so exhausted. !Packing up you head back towards the village with your new knowledge and taking your time to move slower through the dark forest you feel renewed appreciation in nature, and get the feeling that plant life is composed of elemental earth and water though that thought echoes as if not one of your own. !Only by the time you are back to town and heading to the tavern does the thought that someone was camping in the cave strike you as odd, only you and a few hunters that you've worked with are even slightly aware of the cave and all of them know how to get back to the village from there even if they were blind. Nothing has stopped the hunters from walking in horrific weather before and whoever was there spent a fair amount of time there as well. Just as the sun is falling you walk into the inn, noticing that most of your drinking partners from the last night have gathered around a table in the corner, you move to join them.
Learned spell school nature magic=earth+water
RegrowthLost 4 mana
Go about my day trying to, with as much tack as I can, see if any of my drinking buddies also got 'gifts'
Your breakfast is fairly boring, as is the walk through the mist in the morning to get to the library. The Library itself is part of the 4 building amalgamation that makes up the center of government, food storage, and records office for the village. It’s an old building that was originally just the manor house for the local head but it’s been added onto over the years as the village and its demands for governance grew. ! Your day is incredibly boring as the other librarian never shows up for work and as such you are stuck there for the entire day. The only bit of respite comes as Gerald shows up asking about books on the ruins, at this point you are too brain dead from boredom to really check through the whole list of books and instead just send him away saying that nothing exists. Instead you decide to show him your book and when he seems a bit perplexed by how a book would have survived the elements for however long it was up there, Gerald ends up leaving. ! Just as he walks out the door you remember to ask him if he found anything as well and turning to you, he just says yeah and flashes you some weird type of coin. ! The rest of the evening slips by and when it’s finally time to close up you can’t help but feel overjoyed; taking the pay for the day’s work despite no one actually signing out any books you lock the doors and head to the inn. Upon arriving you take a seat at one of the corner tables, and slowly the rest of your drinking companions wander in and take seats around the table as well.
20 c gained
go about my day, finish off any stone working jobs the villagers need done (if none go fishing) and then hit the tavern for a few drinks
After having breakfast, you head to work on the stone house you were hired to construct for the Harringoth family. It’s a pretty simple idea just a 3 room and one story house for them and their two sons, but after the last wood house they had burnt to the ground they decided to spare no expense on getting something safer. ! The load of stone is already there, as is the other items you needed so you set to work, ! It goes as smoothly as you could wish and the two children even help out as much as they can. At the end of the day you have a full wall finished in record speed with only 3 more to go for the house to be complete, having fed you lunch they give you some food and cash for the work before you say goodbye. ! Just as you get ready to leave it looks like the younger of the two children wants to say something to you, but gets distracted by a bird landing in the yard and runs off to play. Shrugging you head to the inn, specifically the tavern part for a few drinks as the sun starts to set. Heading into the bar you decide to sit with the group of your drinking buddies, who are gathered around a table in the corner.
Gained pack of assorted foods (2 days food)
15 c
After a breakfast of milk and bread, walk over to Ealdwine’s cottage and workshop, carry on working on the chair I have to finish, have a lunch of bread, cheese, and an onion, and then start cutting the oak spokes for the wagon wheel I have to make next. In the afternoon spend a couple of hours hunting for birds or rabbits in the woods (with my bow) before heading home for dinner by the fire. Hopefully a dinner including something I might have caught, otherwise it’s bloody cabbage and potatoes again.
Your breakfast is a tad boring but at least it’s satisfying, and the walk in the chill air is refreshing after the shock that morning. ! Getting to Ealdwine’s cottage you are surprised to find that your old mentor is not at home, deciding to just set to work instead you begin finishing off the last parts of the chair. ! It takes you barely any time to get done, and the silence is conductive to good work, just as lunch time comes around you are done and somewhat pleased with your handiwork. ! Ealdwine still has yet to show up, and investigating his cottage and workshop shows that he in fact is not anywhere around, looking in through the window it appears his home is in quite a state of disarray. ! You decide that it requires some explanation and forgetting your work you pop open the latch and slip into the cottage. Jars are broken and clothes are strewn on the floor, tables are overturned and you see that one of the chairs had been smashed. ! Panicking somewhat you search the house thoroughly and find blood dripped around the house as though there had been a fight. ! Now focused and looking for evidence of other people you head back outside and see scuffs in the dirt and grass as though someone had been dragged off by two or more other people towards the forest. Grabbing your bow and arrows so as to not waste any time you bolt off along the trail, your perceptive eyes and trained tracking instincts allowing you to nearly run along the well-marked set of prints. ! Despite this you don’t manage to find the end of the tracks before night begins to fall, and by now you’ve run for nearly 6 hours. The autumn sun falls behind the edge of the horizon as you slow to a walking place, studying the tracks for one last time before it gets too hard to see you can tell that your mentor Ealdwine is still walking in-between two or three large men, and the person bleeding is not your mentor but rather one of the apparent abductors. ! You have no idea how they could have outpaced you so much, though thinking back you never checked to see if the blood was dry and it’s not rained in days so it’s possible the tracks were made more than 24 hours ago. Heading back to Rutsett now would likely just let them get so far out into the forest that no one would ever catch up, and if it rains you doubt you could follow the tracks at all unless you manage to catch up with them by quite a bit. On the other hand you have no idea how far away they are now or where they are heading, since the direction they are going is to your knowledge just forest and wilderness for a very long distance.
Status's
Bree Wickerex
Health-9/11
Mana-0/4
Status:Fine
Marcus
Health-12/12
Mana-0/4
Status-Fine
Richard Ford
Health-7/7
Mana-4/4
Status-Fine
Jim
Health-11/11
Mana-4/4
Status-Fine
Osgar
Health-11/11
Mana-4/4
Status-Fine
Gerald Abernathe
Health-21/21
Mana-4/4
Status-Fine