Post
by Sharkforce » Sun Jul 11, 2021 1:43 am
Orlam Rolfsom, Journal Entry # 14: Community Service
After an extended absence, I returned to to the small village of Odhapur to continue my studies of the migration patterns of the local reindeer herds, a breed distinguished by their legs being almost an inch longer than other reindeer. Of course, when I say "my" studies, I really mean that I'm attempting to earn the favour of Restan Porrel, a well-respected Scholar who I hope will sponsor my own attempted application, by doing the most mind-numbingly boring job you could imagine. I had been here several months ago until I had been replaced by another intern, who it seems could not stand the sheer tedium of being in the exact middle of nowhere, so here I am again.
To be clear, it isn't that it is such an awful place by any means, there simply isn't much happening here is all. The locals have a single watering hole, and while I can't particularly recommend the taste it does numb the senses quite effectively. Apart from that,just about the only thing to recommend the place is that nobody goes there, if that's the sort of thing you need, in spite of it being not that far off from major trade routes in the area.
I was staying with Dornath the Elder (not like a village elder, he just has a son who is also named Dornath) who I had contracted last time I was here to keep a messenger bat so that I could keep in touch with what was happening in Throal. I mean, ostensibly it was to report back to Restan, but there isn't much that needs regular reports, and it isn't like the bat was doing anything the rest of the time. Anyways, seems the fellow had invested in a second bat only to find that there was not really any need for it... unsurprising in a place this small, I guess, but still, not good news for him. He'd been hoping to have some nice light work for his retirement, and it just wasn't working out. Well, I can continue to use his services, but I don't think I've got enough to keep two bats busy full time.
The news since I'd last been through (though there was plenty of what passes for news in this place otherwise) was that the kiln had exploded recently, seriously injuring a worker, Radha Seriman (the local herbalist) was badly overworked as people weren't getting better, and a group of Trolls had recently appeared, shepherds. Dornath was concerned that they might be trouble, but I don't think I've ever heard of Highland Trolls that are big on being shepherds, so I suspect they're just regular Lowland Trolls.
I was also surprised to hear that a number of other Adepts were in town... Orfen was there to help with the overworked herbalist, Keel was there to visit a family she had befriended, as well as a pair that I had not heard of previously named Caesar Bonaparte (a Human Illusionist) and Z'mokki "the great", a T'skrang Thief who held a very high opinion of himself. They were both a little vague on why they were there, actually. This many adepts is quite unusual, since as previously mentioned this place is the absolute middle of nowhere.
It seems the locals are a bit down on their luck, and the others want to see what can be done. I have to say, some of what seems to be going on in this village does seem rather odd, to say the least, with people simply not recovering from illnesses and terrible accidents happening far more often than you'd expect. I'd just come in from a round of following reindeer for a week, and this certainly sounded far more interesting than my other prospects.
So, lacking anything better to do, I agreed to lend a hand where I could. This turned out to be for the past, as I'll explain shortly, but at first it didn't seem I was making much headway. Dhavankar Astameen, the lead hand at the brickworks, didn't have much information of use, and as expected, I couldn't find evidence that anyone had somehow managed to sabotage the kiln. Z'mokki came along trying to find work for his friend (who, it seems, had already been offered a job and turned it down). I resolved to consider summoning some spirits to have a talk about the local clay, see if there was anything odd about it, but something else came up (more on that in a minute).
First off, Caesar and Keel had gone up to speak with the leader of the Trolls. As expected, they were not raiders, but shepherds, and actually wanted to invite everyone to come to a festival which they called (the word here is illegible, looks like someone "accidentally" spilled some ink right here). They had some sheep which produced high-quality wool, which they unfortunately (for them) had no idea what to do with. Personally, I sensed a business opportunity, and since I'm going to be stuck here for a while anyways...
But I digress. More importantly, Orfen had found something in her investigations. Well, sort of. She had found that they weren't recovering as they would expect, and asked me to examine one astrally, at which point I noticed that they seemed almost as if they had been drained of their ability to recover. We speculated that it might be that they weren't getting enough sleep, or (what seemed more likely) some sort of creature was draining them. And by "creature" I mean "Horror", because normal creatures don't generally do that.
We prepared some sleeping draughts for a few of the people who did not recover, and set up watches for a few others. Well, come morning the sleeping draughts had not done their work, and also, some sort of weird monkey-looking thing had snuck in where Caesar and Z'mokki were waiting, and there was a weird sticky cocoon in the thatching and signs that something had pressed through and then returned, which was far more compelling evidence. The thing never came where I stood watch, and our charge woke up feeling much more refreshed, but it had managed to do something to the others, and they still didn't recover. Caesar says he say the monkey thing press it's fingers against the sleeping victim's head as well.
We hired a local tracker to follow whatever was in the cocoon in the thatch (after finding evidence of cocoons in other people's thatch, though mostly not as fresh). Ogala Bukhal, who led the local militia (and also *was* the local militia, being the only member) asked us what was happening (which we didn't know a huge amount about, but she agreed creepy-looking monkey-things sneaking into people's heads and doing something was bad) and recommended Vela, a young dwarf, as the village's best tracker.
She was as good as promised, and led us to an unassuming copse of trees filled with cocoons. I figured this would be an excellent time to prepare to fireball (which honestly comes up far less than people would think), but before I could do anything a bunch of long, pale, sticky worms came out of the cocoons and started attacking each other. Happily, my Frighten talent did it's work and they were mostly rendered ineffective, apart from one that managed to entangle Orfen and give her a paralyzing poison. Also, the strange monkey-thing made an appearance, and unfortunately got away, so that problem still needs solving. It was quite frustrating, as it seemed to have the ability to disappear into the astral where we could not find it, in spite of our Astral Sight.
On the plus side, the festival was quite enjoyable. Keel put together a better path leading up to the shepherds (it was a fairly challenging hike), Caesar put on a nice play, and I hired some locals to provide some of their finest dishes, which were quite pleasant. I think that should be the beginning of a good friendship, and if I have anything to say on the matter, a business relationship.