A Touch of Music and a Job Well Done

After getting our delivery, the party set off for the guild hall and came across a clearing. In the center was a satyr. He was playing a beautiful melody with a gorgeous silver flute. Milo started to go into the clearing and after a few steps began to join in with the music. Aleera, seeing that her party was close to being trapped by fey magic, began to sing a countercharm. She drew the party out of the nice clearing and they slowly backed out of that area of the woods. As they got further away, Milo and the few others who had been entranced, snapped out of it. They wanted to go after the satyr and kill it but Aleera convinced them that it would be a bad idea and that it probably didn’t mean anything by playing to attract dancers to his circle. It was just fey nature to use magic to attract others. 

The party made their way out of the forest and back onto the road. At the juncture where they had left their horses they also spotted the horses of the other team. The group agreed to take the other team’s horses as well, to delay them even further. We made a slower pace in getting back but got in well before the other team. It was almost sunset when we saw the gates of the guild grounds. We turned in the horses and tried to find where the little girl was that we had bribed to delay the other team. Her father opened the door instead and just told us to leave the horses in the back and to come back in the morning for our deposit. We agreed and headed towards the house of the person we had to deliver to, hoping to turn in the quest and be named winners. 

We arrived at the house of John Mercy and delivered his package from the gnomes in the forest. He reluctantly gave us his signature and a time stamp on our quest scroll. Having our prize in hand we headed to the guild hall to turn it in. Upon arriving, though, we found the guild doors closed and locked for the night. Seeing that we would not win that night, the group headed towards their tent and posted Aleera’s sprite as a guard while they slept. As an added measure, Karris also asked that her magic snake swallow the signed quest form to ensure that it was not stolen in the night. With that done, the party slept, confident that they would win come morning. 

They woke up on the third day of Hammer, quickly grabbed some food and raced over to the guild hall. The party turned in the quest and were resentfuly induced into the Haven’s Cross Guild. The party spent the day celebrating and enjoying their new found freedom. Aleera took this time to go over a new weapon she had woken up with, one she hadn’t had before leaving Barovia. She had noticed that they all had new weapons that had been on their persons upon waking. Now that they had time she sat down in the privacy of their new accommodations in the guild hall. Being members had the added perk of always having somewhere to sleep while on guild grounds. The party had rented 5 adjoined rooms that connected to a central open area.

She sat on the bed and focused on the weapon she had found on herself. It was a whip. The whole was made of a tawny leather that, to be honest, looked like human skin. The handle was wrapped in leather and had tiny metallic protrusions coming out that looked like teeth. As she concentrated on attuning to the item she heard the faint sounds of carnival music. Looking deeper into the magic of the item she found that this was a soul weapon. Something forged out of a piece of her soul and it could be improved. The more she worked with this weapon, she felt she could make it stronger. She received a vision message that showed that she had to show merit against a beast but without the use of magic. This was going to be an issue as she loved using magic and used it often. 

Kariss focused on understanding where the group was. They knew they were on the island of Novos thanks to Kaladrax and they knew they were far from the mainland. She found a history of the island and began to read. Apparently, around 300 years ago, the island was “civilized” by the arrival of the elves. Later came the dwarves and orcs. This started a land war between the three races that ended in the inevitable rise of the elves as victors and with the help of the dwarves they drove the orcs away from where they wanted to settle. The dwarves, for their help, were awarded the mountain of Drakenforge and the surrounding lands to mine to their heart’s content.

The elves settled the land but eventually retreated to where the magic of the island was greater concentrated. These areas were the small isles to the northwest of the larger island. Since then the elves had had very little to do with the people of the “mainland” Eventually the humans came too and 20 years ago a treaty was signed between the elves, dwarves and humans to divide the island into territories. Since then, there had always been peace on the small island. The party went to sleep that night, full of knowledge and wondering what new adventure tomorrow would bring.