Episode 2 -- Flight from the Raven

 <-- 

The team started the session in the tunnel that started in the zombie room.  They had been walking through the tunnel's darkness for about 20 minutes. Lumi was in the lead.  Daumpney was in the back, though his player was absent.  Mortimer was next to last. Arpina was behind Lumi. They reached the end of the tunnel, which was where an old wooden ladder led upward to some faint sunlight.

-->

Part I: Escaping the Tunnels of Evil and the Fiery Aftermath

Lumi discerned a broken wooden box on the ground in the very dim light.  Gold coins were scattered around it.  There was also a broken cloth bag of black powder.  She did not at first discern the powder was gun powder.  But gradually they realized the entire tunnel reaked of black powder and they were coated in it.

Lumi gave Mortimer the box when he asked her if he could have it for his lock collection that  he uses to hone his lock picking skills.  By general agreement she kept all the 200 gold pieces from the floor because the brewery owed her more than 200 gold pieces.

The old wooden ladder looked rotten and every rung on its 60 foot length looked ready to break.  Mortimer proficiency with his climbing kit helped him establish a safety line up to the surface as he ascended the ladder first.  Daumpney was last up.  He retrieved Mortimer's pitons as he climbed.

At the ladder's top they found they were adjacent to a windmill near the plateau that holds the mansions of Raven Brook's wealthiest families.  They smelled smoke coming from the well and ran away from the well fast enough to avoid the explosion of the hole they had just exited.  Mortimer also saw some large black feathers near the well head that he was certain were the feathers of his friend and secondary mentor Kenny the Kenku, the only Kenku anyone in Raven Brook (or maybe even all of Astren) had ever seen.

At this point, Mortimer realized he had not seen Kenny in about a week.  By everyone's estimations, Kenny's leatherworking (and rodent handling) skills were far superior to Mortimer's.  Mortimer was now certain his primary mentor, Gilly the Dwarf, would have advised Old Tom Tanner to send Kenny to the brewery instead of Mortimer if Gilly could have found Kenny.  Mortimer was certain Kenny could have exterminated all those rats single handedly or even traversed that cellar without alerting the rats.  Gilly often told Mortimer Kenny was the best rogue Gilly had ever met.

To everyone's astonishment, the far off Raven Brewery exploded at the same time as the fake well exploded.  Everyone ran down the hill to the chaos surrounding the flaming remains of the brewery with the intent of helping contain the fire.  When they got there they saw numerous villagers running to the brewery with water buckets to douse the fire.  The team thought first to protect themselves from the gun powder that permeated their clothes by wash in a fountain before fighting the fire.  When the old beer mistress  saw them she immediately screamed accusations of the team deliberately destroying the brewery.  Then some villagers who heard the old woman started chasing the team.

The team fled through the front entrance of the nearby church and barred the door behind them.  Villagers were pounding on the doors as the elderly attending priest (who was better known to Mortimer as the despised head of the orphanage) greeted them.

They explained to the priest that they could not have been deliberate saboteurs of the brewery because the church had assigned Daumphney and Arpina to solve the brewery's infestation.  Lumi explained that she was there by coincidence to collect money owed to her.  They insisted they had been framed for the brewery's destruction.  But the priest responded that he knew Mortimer might have been there for dishonest purposes.  Mortimer explained that they found a zombies and strange texts under the brewery.  He then showed the priest the copy of the "Pulchra Morte - The Beautiful Death" that he had picked up in the zombie room. The priest immediately declared the book was a "forbidden text" and confiscated for it for the church. He then let the team escape through a back door of the church. Mortimer discretely stole 18 gold pieces from the church's tithing box before they left as compensation for the confiscated book--though he had never felt a need to justify stealing from the church.

The team walked in the fields outside the village as they discussed their next moves. They resolved to go to Arpina's family mansion to pick up some things and then spend the night at Lumi's house in the seldom visited woods on the opposite side of the village.

They slept overnight at Lumi's little house in the woods. Before they went to bed they resolved to trek north into the mountains to find the secret tower shown on the map Mortimer took from the desk in the zombie room.

In the morning Arpina shared an extremely intense and disturbing dream she had that night. She told the group the dream started with a fiery sky filled with black birds. Then numerous white birds took to the sky and started killing the black birds. <-- Lily thinks there might have been only two birds. I think Riikka said this was a vision sent by Arpina's god. Lily does not remember this and does not remember sharing this detail with the rest of the group. -->

Part II: The Road to Oak Pine

The group started walking on the road north out of Raven Brook early the next morning. Their goal for that day was the little hamlet called Oak Pine (population 50), where they were certain to find warm food and the lodging they would need to avoid the rain storm they were expecting that night.

About half way o the walk to Oak Pine, a heavyset man on horse back approached from the opposite direction. He was pulling a young red skinned woman on a chain that trailed his horse. The chain was attached to her neck and secured with a lock. The woman had horns on her head and her bare feet were bloody. She clearly was in pain, very tired, and her stumbling showed she was having difficulty keeping up with her captor's horse.

Everyone was angered to see this maltreatment of the girl.  Daumpney asked the horseman why he had a prisoner.  

"I found her in a whore house in Dhun Morul.  I am taking this demon to the church in Raven Brook to collect a 2000 gold piece bounty", the horseman said.

 "I am a monk of the Holy Church of Eternal Light.  I order you to surrender your prisoner to me!", Daumpney said.

The horseman refused and started spurring his horse forward.  Daumpney assumed a fighting stance while Arpina and Lumi reached for their weapons.

Hoping to free the girl without violence Mortimer impulsively interjected, "We will pay you gold for her.  How about 18 gold pieces?"  This obviously insufficient amount was the amount Mortimer stole from the church the previous day.  It was the idea he could think of on short notice.

The man ignored Mortimer and spurred his horse hard.  The girl fell on her face and was being dragged on her chest by her neck down the road.

Mortimer quickly unfurled his raven-feathered whip, wrapped an arm of the man in the whip, and pulled the man backwards off his horse.  The horse continued forward even faster as the man landed on his back in the dust. Arpina leaped at the chain and put her body between the road and the girl's body.  In spite of Arpina's armor, this was injuring Arpina greatly.  Fortunately, Lumi was able to quickly befriend the horse and it stopped.

Mortimer jumped to the red skinned girl and with a courtly bow and flourish of his hand he helped her off Arpina.  Then he released her from her chained neck restraint by picking its lock.  She gave Mortimer a necklace made of bones that had a white bird-shaped pendant attached.  The necklace was speckled with flecks of blood.

The girl did not speak any language known to the group.  The team tried communicating in every language they knew.  So she pointed to herself and said "Ashura".  Arpina similarly introduced herself, and the rest of the group to the girl.  She reached out to Mortimer and said "Friend".  Lumi and Arpina gave the woman the horse man's boots and cloak.    When Arpina asked the girl where she was from, the girl drew a tower in the sand.  There was a flame within the tower near its base.  Or maybe it was a lantern rather than a tower.

For a few minutes Mortimer was paying scant attention to Lumi, Arpina and the red skinned woman.  During this time Lumi and Arpina were showing the map they grabbed from the horse man to the girl and making gestures at it and the girl.  The girl made gestures as well.  Then the girl calmly walked off into the forest where she disappeared.

Daumpney had been standing over the prone horseman and delivered several hard blows.  The man was splitting up blood. Mortimer intervened to stop the beating saying, "I'll pay you 18 gold pieces for the girl.  The alternative for you is this whip."  Lumi shouted she would be keeping the horse as well.  The horse man still refused.  Mortimer went back to the girl to watch Arpina heal her feet.  Lumi then became so angry as she contemplated how bounty hunters like the horse man had mistreated the so many of her Elven brethren that abruptly slit the horseman's throat.  He died immediately.

Lumi's bloody act of vengeance completely surprised and unhinged Mortimer.  He objected strenuously after the murder on the grounds it would inhibit future robberies on this road as people would avoid it and be on greater alert for trouble.  Plus this particular man would not be available to rob in the future.  To Mortimer, this killing just seemed totally against the ethics of a professional criminal. But every other member of the group rejected his arguments.  They explained this man would have brought the law down on them if he had been allowed to live.  Mortimer realized the debate was over and he had lost when Arpina sarcastically offered him money to drop the matter.  

Lumi, Arpina, and Daumphney searched through the horse man's belongings.  Lumi found 200 gold pieces.  One of them found a map of the region.  Then they continued walking down the road with the man's horse while Mortimer dragged the dead horse man from the middle of the road a few hundred feet into the forest.  Mortimer buried the man in a shallow grave under a cairn of rocks and dirt before catching up with the others some time later.

Part III: Dinner Time At Oak Pine

The rest of the team's walk to Oak Pine's Hopping Pony was uneventful and quick enough to beat that night's storm.  They arrived at dinner time and immediately booked their rooms and meals.  Lumi paid for everyone's food using some of the money she gained from the slain horse man.  Everyone order large meals.  Mortimer ordered a bottle of peach rum.

The pub area had many diners and drinkers, some of whom appeared armed and potentially dangerous.

Lumi chatted up a farmer named Grint who gradually unwillingly revealed privately to her that he was a Dwarf or descended from Dwarves.

On the advice of the proprietor, Mortimer played dice with a local man named Robert.  The stakes were rights to drink Mortimer's bottle of rum.  Mortimer won the dice game and then brought the bottle over to Lumi's table to share the bottle equally with Grint and Robert as they all had a good time feasting and discussing local life.  Roger or Grint mentioned a gang of dwarven bandits prowling the roads north of Oak Pine.

<-- The session ended at this point -->